Here is some artwork I created on my iPod Touch using two apps. I took a photo of the hardwood floor in my kitchen, then used the Repix app to use brushes to style the photo. Then, I used the Aviary app to add the text.
Please let your listeners know that they can find my tech review, the Bengal Review, at bengalreview.wordpress.com.
I was going to talk about Apple and China Mobile somewhere in the middle of the show when I first started working on show notes late last week. Especially after December 18th came and went and there was no iPhone on China Mobile as had been rumored. Apple stock took at hit to. I was going to report on Wedge Partners Jun Zhang who pounded his chest and said he was not surprised and according to his research no deal will happen until the second half of next year. Ummmm No. Jun Zhang was a we bit off. Because on Sunday Apple and China Mobile finally announced a deal - and starting on Jan 17th 2014 - the iPhone 5S and 5C will be available on China Mobile - with pre-orders starting this week - Wednesday December 25th online. So Yeah Jun Zhang how did that chest pounding work out for you. Just sayin.
So what did apple have to say about the deal - quote Apple® and China Mobile today announced they have entered into a multi-year agreement to bring iPhone® to the world's largest mobile network. As part of the agreement, iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c will be available from China Mobile's expansive network of retail stores as well as Apple retail stores across mainland China beginning on Friday, January 17, 2014. iPhone 5s, and iPhone 5c, will be available for pre-registration from China Mobile's official website (www.10086.cn) and customer service hotline "10086" beginning on Wednesday, December 25, 2013. unquote
Apple also said Pricing details would be available at a later date - but with signups starting this week - how much later can the date be?
At this point there does not appear to be any indications that off contract - non-subsidized pricing for China Mobile would be any different than that for China Unicom and China Telecom.
But the deal with China Mobile does open the door to over 750 Million more customers. And that is significant even if only 10% of those customers are financially able to afford the iPhone - it is still a big potential serviceable customer base.
Overall - Kudos to Apple for finally getting this deal done. And Well Wall street was pretty happy today pushing Apple shares up $21 on Monday to close at $570 a share - boy I hope all of you purchased some Apple stock earlier this year when it dropped below $400 - I did. At $395. That is an almost 45% increase. Nice - but still below the peak of $700 back in Sept 2012. But at least trending in the right direction of late.
Those of you with the Tii App - should have received a couple of Tweets from me on Sunday - the first said Quote Jailbreak out for iOS 7.x - I recommend waiting a week at least before trying. Usually bugs in initial release unquote. Then after reading some articles and hearing some reports I sent a second one - quote Do not jailbreak at this time wait wait wait - Might be a malware issue unquote and a link to an article. Ok That week I said wait - make that a month. I do not recommend anyone jailbreak at this time. There are a lot of issues going on right now. There is a nerd fight - which is never good to get in the middle of. There may or may not be a malware issue with a Chinese App store and also a piracy issue. And there are reports of stock apps not working for a small % of users - but hey it is only the Safari and Mail app - so nothing major.
So first lets talk about the nerd fight a little. Seems Saurik - AKA Jay Freeman - who runs the Cydia store and is one of the most respected names in the jailbreak world was totally caught off guard by the release of the jailbreak - so much so that he said you are going to need to rejailbreak again as the version of cydia the evasion team released is not up to date. So there is a pretty good reason not to jailbreak right now. On Twitter Saurik said he has quote no clue what will or will not work, or even what evasi0n7 includes; I hope that people bear with me as I figure this all unquote
Per the nerd fight - Saurik and the guys from the evasion teams started going back and forth at each other especially when Saurik noticed the Chinese App store that is installed for Chinese iPhones has cracked - i.e. Pirated Apps. Not good. Then someone at the evaders team said he was back stabbing. From what I read it seems this Chinese App store - TAIG paid some money to the evasion team to release with it on there - and they did so even after Saurik had back in October recommended they don't. I did send Saurik and email and left him a voice mail to see if he had some time to talk for the show - but at the time of this recording I had not hear back from him.
Long of the short - this is a Nerd Fight and I want to see how this works its way out before doing anything.
For their Part the evasion team - put up a post on their site saying - that they are deeply troubled by the rumors and speculation surrounding this jailbreak - which is never good when you have to start your post that way. They did say they are very upset that piracy was found in the TAIG app store - and their agreement said there would not be any.
And finally they get to what I think is a big reason to wait.
Quote Many of you have also wondered why this jailbreak was released without Cydia and MobileSubstrate being updated for iOS 7. After we received the offer from Taig, we informed Saurik, our friend, of our decision to accept the offer. we received information that SaurikIT was working with another group to release a jailbreak ahead of us. We decided to release, knowing that Cydia, MobileSubstrate, and jailbreak tweaks would be updated after a few days, just as it always has in the course of jailbreaking. unquote.
So again - at this time Wait WAIT WAIT!!!!!
Other reasons to wait beyond the nerd fight - are the previously mentioned issues with some jail breakers having Safari and Mail not working.
Hi Rob,
I can't find suggested way to restore for jailbreak. Is there any chance you can do a post. That does the suggested steps for the jailbreak i.e. Doing reset network settings turning things off past. This may be helpful for the listeners.
Because you know there are going to be people that won't listen and still do the update or jailbreak. But it will be best that they do it the right way.Regards,
Levi
Hi Levi and everyone else.
I was going to put in a link to some tutorials on how to jailbreak - but I decided after re-reading all the issues going on - at this time I really can not recommend this jailbreak to anyone. Like I said starting out - wait a month on this one. Enjoy the holidays - visit family and friends - watch some College Bowl games - go to NMX and / or CES - and then wait for me to follow up on this in Mid January. Because right now - even if you have an extra iOS device - I don't recommend this jailbreak. Not Yet.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - THANKS_about_warning_jailbreak
OK that all said - some already did jailbreak
From the email bag -
Hi Rob,
You advised us all to wait to jailbreak but I just couldn't help it. As soon as I got the push alert from the Tii app, I immediately downloaded the jailbreak software. It was very easy to use and took very little time and effort. You just plug in your device and run the software. Some people have said they've gotten stuck on the Apple logo or even worse, received a trojan from the software. I've had none of these issues. Cydia works great but still has weird bugs since it isn't quite ready yet. I was able to download iFile, iCleaner Pro and Springtomize 2 without any problems. iFile and iCleaner work on iOS 7 but Springtomize won't. iFile and iCleaner don't officially support iOS 7 so you cannot buy them from Cydia legitimately; you will need to use the sinfuliphone repo to download a pirated version of the apps if you wish to use them. I was able to disable some launch daemons and delete some languages using these two apps and they worked perfectly. I would suggest people wait for Cydia to be updated before jailbreaking. Also, I accidentally left my passcode on before I jailbroke. Nothing bad happened.
Regards,
~Anthony~
Hi Rob,
so far my jailbroken iphone is very stable. requires multiple reboots during install process. once installed no problems. xbmc seems to be working still. most mods can’t install due to compatibility issues. weather app works fine this time. ps i am on iPhone 5 and iPhone 4s both now running 7.0.4.
Regards,
dev
So not all are having issues - actually most are not. But overall I tend to fall on the conservative side - and given the fact you will need to rejailbreak once they fix the issues with Cydia and iOS 7 and everything else I mentioned - I just don't see how I could recommend doing the jailbreak. I am not. Not until at least mid Jan.
Again please for your own good - wait.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Dustin_quest_cases_leather
Hi Dustin - Yeah the Apple cases are more about style over safety. You probably want to look at one of the cases from Ballistic. That said you can still break your iOS device in a case or drop it in water. Which is why as a min you want to look at - yup you guessed it a Squaretrade warranty.
And this is a good point to mention Squaretrade is sponsoring this show - they are who I have purchased my warranties for my iPhone 5S and my iPad Mini Retina. And you can get warranties for your iOS devices to - with a discount for being a Tii listener - which folks if you go to square trade dot com slash tii 2 - that is slash t i i and the number 2 - you will get a 2 year iPad warranty for just $89 - that is a savings of $35 off the normal price for being a Tii listener. Or if you need a warranty for a recently purchased iPhone go to square trade dot com slash tii - and that is $94 for a 2 year iPhone warranty. Or do like I did and get them both.
With square trade they will cover you if you ever jailbreak - which Apple will not - so if you are even remotely thinking of jailbreaking once the nerd fight is over - that is one good reason to look at square trade.
Once again the URL is square trade dot com slash Tii for the iPhone and slash tii 2 - t i i and the number 2 for the iPad warranties - Thanks Squaretrade for sponsoring this show.
Hi Rob
Can you help please? Is the Square Trade warranty available to purchase in the UK?
Regards, Steven B
Newbury, UK
Hi Steven - Squaretrade warranties are available directly to the consumer in the US and Yes in the UK as well. But those are the only countries at this time.
VOICEMAIL - CRAIG_NY_iPod_touch
Hi Rob
I have used Planner& for all Calander/Notes. Everything is loaded to iCloud. In Note you create your document, select Mail, send PDF. Also, since it is backed up to cloud I simply "search" any word and Planner& brings up EVERYTHING related to your search word. It's fantastical!
Regards,
Doug M
Hey Rob,
A few weeks back, a listener called in about no longer having the ability to search across all mailboxes in iOS7. I was also annoyed by this until the other day when I accidentally found out that it is in fact still possible, it's just no longer on the mail "home screen" if you will. All you have to do is go into any mail box, pull down to reveal the search box, and then type what you're searching for. Once you do that, you can pull down again and it reveals the option to select All Mailboxes (which seems to be the default) or select just the Current Mailbox. Hope this helps! Of course, you can also just use spotlight but who uses that? Btw...are we ever going to see the ability to disable spotlight??
Regards,
AAron M
Hi Rob,
I Was thinking about the confusion over Grandmas iPad Air and iPhone iMessage debacle. Seems the simple solution would be to Block the offending iMessenger.
Go Settings > Messages > Scroll to bottom > Select Block > Add a new Blocked Contact > Select the Contact from the list of contacts.
Don't have the offender in your contact List?
Open Messages > Select the Message > Select Contact (top right) > Select Info (the 'i' in a circle) > Scroll down to the bottom > Select… Block this caller.
Hope that helps.
Regards,
Chris in London
Hey Rob,
I have a fix for the Mason C. who wrote on ep 290. Where his wife changed her email address on her iTunes account and it's asking her to sign in under the old account.
I recently changed my email on my account and I did the following, all within iTunes...
1. Go to Store Menu (not iTunes Store) at drop the down Deauthorize iTunes of the old email address and the new email address. (This will get rid of the old cache and metadata within her account.)
2. Sign out of iTunes
3. Sign back into iTunes and Authorize only the new email account on iTunes.
Then finally restore the phone as a new phone. The back up will most likely still have the metadata within the settings so, I don't recommend restoring from backup. After that they shouldn't have any problems. I hope they find this helpful.
Thanks for the show.
P.S.
I also posted this on the Google+ page.
I am having trouble w/5s using emoji icons. Works fine on my iPad air, but on the phone when I touch one to include in a msg it closes the app.
I stopped by apple store & they told me to back up the phone to my Mac & then completely restore phone & ad the emoji app again. Nothing has worked. Is this just a bug in software? The emoji app was the first one I ever downloaded back when I first got an iPhone 3. I have no idea which one it was. Help!
This week over at our Google+ community for Tii listeners and really for anyone interested in iOS - looking for a place where spammers and Android fan bois are not allowed here are some of the posts we had. There was post about Qualcomm saying the 64 bit A7 processor hit them in the gut. One from Thomas K about Apples Podcast App and issues getting episodes. A nice trick on how to turn off your flash light once the screen goes to sleep. Which is tap on the home button and slide up on the camera. Sweet - much easier than bringing back up the lower dock and tapping on the flash light. That is one tip I use now.
There was a post from Melissa in Ohio about how to get her son started on developing Apps - the Standford courses were of course mentioned along with some other resources. And there was of course the mention of the Evaders Jailbreak along with my post saying don't do it. Plus a bunch of other posts. So if you have not joined yet - I highly recommend you go to today in iOS dot com slash community - or you click on the google plus banner in the upper right of the Today in iOS dot com website. Please join in and contribute or just look in for new info. It is a very civil google plus community the most civil one for iOS. And check out the post by Michael Clinton on what is a good iPhone 5S case - a bunch of great responses for that.
Also if you have already joined - could I ask you on Google+ this week as your christmas present to me - to put up a post mentioning both that google Plus community for your iOS using friends - and also this podcast. That is all I am asking for for Christmas - Just put up a mention on Google plus about that community and this show. And if you are not on google plus - please put up a link on Facebook or Twitter about this show. Which is really easy to do for anyone using the Tii App. That is what I want from Christmas - Some social media love from everyone listening to this episode. Thanks.
There is a new Apple TV Ad called Misunderstood - which seems to be liked by most and hated by a few. I am sure most of you have seen it by now - if not there is a link to it on youtube - that said best to pause the show and go watch it now - because - spoiler alert I am about to go over it - right now - Ok - Now that all have seen it that want to - I think it is a really good ad - It is about a young male - mid teens - that looks like he is spending all his time on his iPhone and not participating with family - but at the end of the commercial - we find out that time was spent making a heart warming video on his iPhone. Some just don't like the message - which I don't get it - it is sweet. Others overly anal criticize the fact he is recording in portrait mode but everything he shows at the end in in Landscape mode. Hint - there are apps that allow you to crop Portrait into landscape mode. There is one for a dollar 99 sneakily called - Video Crop & Zoom that will allow you to do this. So all those that think they are soooo much smarter than that kid and Apple Marketing - hey do a quick search in iTunes next time - this one took me all of 5 seconds to find. But in any case - If nothing else - those dogging the commercial technically helped me to help you point out there is a pretty good app out there that allows you to record in Portrait mode and then crop to landscape mode. Oh heck - You don't even need that app - I just messed around with iMovie - and if you record in Portrait mode - and then open the video in iMovie - you can tap on the record and then there is an option to pinch to zoom. So wow - Business Insider, TUAW and others were way way way off on their criticism of Apple on this recording. iMovie itself easily lets you crop / zoom a portrait recording into Landscape mode. And there are other apps as well. Anyway - I liked the commercial and I thought it was sweet - I know at that Age - it is what I would have been doing as well. And last Christmas - My nieces spent all of our Family get together on their iPad Mini making a video recording for the family to enjoy. And it was quite well done. So unlike when I was a kid where all you could do was if you were lucky record some video on your Bello & Howell 1208 - Super 8 video camera - and then hope you got a whole reel recorded so you could send it in while handing over your christmas money to you mom so you could get it developed - and then wait until the end of January to get it back and then spend the next couple of weeks looking at it and figuring out where to edit and then with a razor blade and scotch tape putting together an edited version that if you were lucky would not fall apart when running it for the family because the tape you used was not up to par. Ok now I am showing my age again. Point is - Kids these days have it really really really easy when it comes to recording and editing video - and can do so in a mater of hours what previously took months to achieve. And you can also upload what you did so everyone can get it whenever they want and did I mention the part about the cost of developing the film. Yeah - not cheap for a 12 or 13 year old back in the late 70's.
Thanks to Cretan for the heads up on this next one.
Which is that Apple appears to have acquired the Mapping Firm BroadMap. Broadmap does not offer any specific new feature for iOS users - but rather technology that is likely to improve the over all use of maps on iOS. Better is always good when it comes to Apple maps. AND While Apple has not officially announced this acquisition - there are some small subtle clues that indicate it is so - like the CEO of Broadmap saying they were acquired by a fortune 5 company and the rest of the senior staff changing their linked in profiles to say they work for Apple now. Yeah - kind of obscure little clues but if you are careful you can piece them together just so.
Switching gears - If you like Apple rumors - 2014 will be the year for you and early on you will likely find yourself digging through many about the iPad Pro - will it be a 4k video resolution? Will it be 12.9 inches - will it be $599 for the intro unit - plus more will it be's then After that there will be rumors about the Apple iWatch, the iPhone 2014 slash iPhone Pro slash iPhone Air slash iPhone 6 slash iPhone something. and finally there will be rumors about a full on Apple TV. Happy New Year.
2014 should be a fun year for this show. Lets hope many of the rumors pan out. Plus I will ad - we still need an app store for Apple TV and we need a new apple TV set top box.
There is a great article over in the Atlantic which really puts to rest about Android being a stolen OS. It goes over where Android was when the iPhone was first announced - and it was at that time not even a touch OS. It was running on a pretty ugly rip off of a blackberry with a physical keyboard. And the article goes over how when Apple intro'd the iPhone in Jan 2007 at Mac World - that Google knew they had to start over. Or as one of the Google people said quote What we had -- suddenly looked just so nineties unquote. Or as Andy Rubin said to one of the other Google people when he first saw the iPhone quote “Holy crap, I guess we’re not going to ship that phone. unquote That phone referring to what was going to be the first Android phone.
So again when one of your Android fan bois friends tries to say iOS stole from them - Just laugh and tell them they need to get their facts straight and that Android was going to be nothing like it is today - and it Changed radically to match / borrow / steal from what the iPhone offered. END OF STORY.
Remember that story from the last show where Samsung was shaking down their users who reported their S4's caught on fire by demanding they say nothing - take down videos and keep quiet if they want their device replaced - well kudos goes out to Nokia / soon to be MS - for making an offer of a free Lumia Phone to the Youtuber who read the letter Sammy sent. Nice way to jump in there and grab the buzz on this story and make yourself look good. And I do mean nice - in a sincere way - Sammy clearly mishandled this on a PR side - and Nokia showed they have some good PR people. I would like to say - Apple should have jumped in there - but yeah - Apple giving away something is just not in their DNA. Oh well - A lumia phone is still better than an exploding S4 any day of the week.
I was going to do this one last week - but we had so many articles slamming Android - I thought it might have been overkill. So I bumped it to this episode. And this is an article over on Clark Howard dot com talking about the FTC for slamming an Android App called Flashlight - that was capturing info on you and sharing that info with advertisers - even when users choose the option to not share their info. The devs of the app settled with the FTC over spying on its users. I love that it was still able to collect data after you said not to. Nice. Clearly that was just one app that figured its way around Androids great privacy features right - right - ummm no - per this next one.
Which is another one I wanted to talk about on Ep 291 - but again felt like I was harping on Android a bit too much - plus it goes with the last story so well. As this is one about Google removing a vital Privacy feature from Android - claiming its original release was accidental and it was just in the one version of Android. Want to guess what that feature was - Yup - it was allowing users to install apps while preventing the app from collecting sensitive data like the users location or address book.
I don't know what is more disturbing for Android users - that Google removed that security feature - claiming it was experimental or that all the Android devices out there for the most part as in over 99% - don't have the protection where an app like the flashlight app can steal their address book info with no way for the user to stop it. YIKES YIKES YIKES. No real need for virus software for Android - when the core OS is that insecure. Just Sayin.
Per the EFF whom I respect immensely - quote we would have to advise you not to accept the update to 4.4.2. But this is also a catastrophic situation, because the update to Android 4.4.2 contains fixes to security and denial-of-service bugs. So, for the time being, users will need to chose between either privacy or security on the Android devices, but not both. unquote.
Seems Android does not like AND - but rather they like OR. Nuts or Bolts - Boogie or Bacall - Privacy or Security. That is the Android way. Actually most Android users will not even get the option to choose anyway as the vast majority of Android devices can't upgrade to 4.4.x anyway. So the choices really are not between AND and OR - but between OR and NOR.
What app do you suggest to Enjoy others podcasts if they do not have their own individual app?
Kind regards
Mike
Hi Mike - I personally use the Podcasts App from Apple. I also like the stitcher app. I know Downcast and Shifty Jelly's PocketCast are also widely recommended - and at libsyn we also see good numbers from Podkicker and PodkickerPro. But per my own tastes - again I use Apples Podcasts App for those shows that don't have their own apps. But if they have their own app - then I use that - like for Mac OS Ken or WTF with Marc Maron for example.
Hey Rob, I too am at that decision point on whether to get an air or a mini.
I really like the portability of the mini, but now I have second thoughts after hearing you talk about eyesight and finger size. But then I am thinking that I can maneuver and use an I phone just fine with my chubby fingers and aging eyesight, so shouldn't I do fine with a mini? Wouldn't everything be even larger on the Mini that an iPhone?
Regards,
john
John the iPhone 5S has 326 pixels per inch. The iPad Mini Retina also has 326 pixels per inch, and the iPad air, 4th and 3rd gens all have 264 pixels per inch - just to put them all into perspective. I guess it just seemed to me that Apps laid out for the iPad on the mini retina were a little tougher to hit targets on than the iPad Air - which they are - but as mentioned - it is not any different than that of the iPhone 5S.
Today In iOS,
I would like to ask you what you think is the biggest reason for why so many apps are becoming free with in-app purchases/advertising?
Regards,
Ryan S
Taste testing is easier when the core of the App is free - but select features are locked down. So you get to see how the app basically works - and if designed well it lets you do enough to get hooked on it - and then you need to pay some money to unlock more features or in the case of Candy Crush so you can move forward even quicker. That said - I still see many many apps that are for sale in the iTunes store. But I could not tell you how the %'s of changed recently. Something to look at for a feature segment.
Hey Rob,
I wanted to touch on the subject that I've been hearing for many weeks now on the show. A lot of people, including myself, have had many issues getting the touch ID to work consistently. I have erased my saved fingerprints and re-added them many times in the last month or so. I stumbled on something by accident that seems to have fixed this problem. Turn off the animations and reduce motion by going to Settings>General> Accessibility>Reduce Motion, and turn it on. For whatever reason with this on, my touch ID works 100% of the time. I am so blown away by this! I used to get failures every single time I tried to use touch ID. I thought maybe it was cold weather or something like that. This seems to have solved it, at least for me. I hope this helps other people with this problem. I love the show!
Oshkosh Josh
Hi Rob,
I have about 150 small pdf files I'd like to get onto my iPad.
Then I'd like an app where I can go to an "index" document or page with the list of all of those documents and click on a link which will immediately open the associated pdf file.
Do you, or does any of your listeners know a best way to do this? What I've done so far is uploaded all of the pdfs to a personal web site and made an index page with the links as an html file, but I am concerned if the internet access goes down or is too slow at the time of the presentation.
The ipad will be connected via HDMI to a large screen TV. (I'm all set with how to do that)
Over at kickstarter there is one project I wanted to mention this week it is the Octofire 8 Port Turbo Smart USB charger - it reached its goal of 20k with over 28k already and it has until Jan 15th at 9:44 AM ET for you to pledge on this one.
Here is their basic over view of this device it is an Universal 8 Port USB Charger for iPhone, iPad, and Other USB Devices. Intelligent Device Detection for Optimal Charging.
So if you are someone like me and have way to many iOS device and other USB devices to charge up - this is a nice charging station to look at. Pricing is $45. Hey Christmas is coming and you are likely to get more devices you need to charge. Look for Octofire 8 in the show notes for Ep 292 over at today in iOS dot com. or search for it at kickstarter dot com.
Hi Rob,
In ep 291 when talking about the Zipac Kickstarter project you did a slip of the lip, you said "it is a USB to Firewire cable" but it is a USB to Lighting cable. opps!
Which is about Candy Crush and the developers being worried they are a one hit wonder. Ummm Yeah - why worry - you are. I mean the chances of making a couple of hit apps that are unrelated are slim. Even Rovio and Angry Birds - all the different apps that they have that do well - are just variations of the same them - RIO Angry Birds, Star Wars Angry Birds - one and two. But either you are throwing Fowl at swine or swine at fowl or putting a bow on said swine. For Candy Crush - I am guessing they will try to follow a similar theme - where they change out Candy for Hobbits, orgs or elves or some other sell out big media property. Trying to recreate a second runaway hit is like trying to capture lightening in a bottle. Which hey maybe that is the next runaway hit.
Oh I should mention Angry Birds Starwars two was free. Might still be free when you hear this. Thanks to all that sent in emails about that being free.
Hi Rob
I Love my Pebble. Attached is an audio file with a quick review.
Something I didn't share but it's worth mentioning since you're prolly going to be a Pebbler soon - be careful with the indie watchface app makers. Most are buggy and the servers they tend to use are "iffy" at best.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Best Regards
PaulG in Lawrenceville.
PLAY FEEDBACK - Paul_fdbk_pebblecomment
Hi Rob – regarding the Pebble smart watch, I backed this product on Kickstarter and received it I believe in March 2013. At that time I reported to you on this show that the software wasn’t ready, in my opinion, for release. Well since then they have really improved things and I now find it perfectly integrated with iOS. To squeeze the most out of the battery, I have settled for a basic watch face called Revolution, which is just large numbers showing the time and date. The beauty of the watch is getting all of my phone notifications on my wrist. I hear an email, text or app notification come in on my iPhone and all I have to do is check my Pebble to see if it’s important. I have used some nice apps like, SmartStatus, which shows the time, weather, battery level of the iPhone and the next upcoming item on your calendar on the face of the Pebble. Bottom line, I wear it every day and love it.
Regards,
Darrin
PLAY VOICEMAIL - PEBBLE_DAVID_KICKSTARTER
Hi, Rob.
Since you are anticipating receiving a pebble watch for Christmas, I thought you might be interested in the recently announced website from Pebble (see below).
New Pebble apps will have a more comprehensive and convenient distribution avenue, once the site is fully functional.
As for me and my Pebble, I bought it prior to manufacture when it was a Kickstarter project, and it has been in my possession for almost a year.
I listen to a lot of podcasts via a Motorola Bluetooth earpiece and with my iPhone 5 stashed in my pocket. When I am approaching a store cashier or a neighbor steps into the yard to chat, I am delighted that, instead of fishing out the phone or turning off my earpiece, I can pause the podcast (or the TII app) by just pressing a button on the watch.
When phone calls come in, a glance at my Pebble tells me who is calling, and with a touch of a button I can either answer or send the call to voicemail. And similarly, push notifications appear on my wrist announcing texts, breaking news headlines, or any announcements I have authorized.
The variety of watch faces is fun, particularly those that fill you in regarding the weather forecast. Some games are available, but I have not been drawn to them after playing once or twice. But more apps are coming, and the Pebble team has been excellent in updating software to meet new needs.
I have always worn a watch, but this one is so super cool that I imagine when it wears out, or the technology advances far enough, I will buy the next generation Pebble to work with my phone. I hope you enjoy the one Santa leaves you beneath the tree.
Regards, Lawrence M
PLAY FEEDBACK - CALLER_PART1_Pebble
PLAY FEEDBACK - CALLER_PART2_Pebble
Hi Rob,
A guy called in with a tip about closing out apps and using 2 or 3 fingers and said he wished there was a way to kill all, well an idea for any Devs that listen to your show, an awesome jailbreak feature would be to slide the first screen up when you go to multi tasking and since that's your home screen, the phone then force quits all apps, just an idea. Wish I was smart enough to make a program like that!
Regards,
Jason H
Jason - I believe there are apps like that already on the jailbreak side - not sure if they still work for iOS 7 - but I am sure they will work with iOS 7 shortly. Hopefully by the time I get around to jailbreaking in Mid Jan that is.
PLAY MUSIC from Misfit toys
We have a USell back this week as a sponsor - and that is Usell spelled U S E L L - who is an aggregator of buyers of mobile devices. You know you have some old mobile devices - be it iPhones, iPads, or dare we say it Android devices laying around that are collecting dust. Don't be your own little island of misfit mobile toys - sell them off to someone that will love them and use them and touch them all over. You remember how happy that The Charlie in the box was and the spotted elephant was when they found new owners - well that mobile device you have collecting dust or stuck in a draw can feel the same way. And when you go to today in iOS dot com slash usell - you can put a smile on your face too by getting cold hard cash. For example an iPhone 5 64 gb Verizon version right now will get you a top offer of $305 - that is $15 more than the same device would get you at that company that has the name of cheetah food.
Again go to today in iOS dot com slash Usell that is slash U S E L L - to get a bid and sell your old no longer being used mobile devices.
Hi Rob, I have had blue screen of death problems, since I upgraded to 7.0.4. One time, I actually got locked in the loop where it would give me the blue screen, reboot, and then back to the blue screen. The only thing that broke it out of it was to use the cable and open iTunes.
I've tried a number of fixes, including turning off iCloud synchronization for the iWork apps, which seems to have been an earlier problem. However, the only thing that seems like it is decreasing the number of times I get the blue screen, is to force quit all my apps a number of times during the day.
My suspicion is that some apps are not playing well with the 64-bit processor, since this problem seems to be reported on the 5s, and not the 5C.
I went to the Genius Bar, and they offered to replace my phone. But on some user forms, people have reported a reoccurrence of the problem even with the new phone.
If anyone knows what is going on, and if there is a way to fix it, please let me know.
Regards,
Bruce
Hi Bruce - If you have not done so already - make sure every app on your iOS device is updated via the App store App on your iOS device.
Next force quit your open apps - then go to settings - general - reset - reset network settings.
Once it reboots - rejoin your network - and then open an app you know to cause an issue and see what happens.
If you still see the blue screen of death - then your next step would be to do a complete restore from factory settings. But first on iTunes on your computer - make sure all apps are updated there as well.
Let me know if any of that works for you.
If anyone else has any suggestions - please let us know. 206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
Hey Rob,
I recently bought an iphone 5s and an ipad mini retina for my girlfreind . Then, I setup everything for her on both devices.
MY COMMENTARY - WOW NICE SIGNIFICANT OTHER ARE YOU - OK BACK TO THE EMAIL - -
When it came to the contacts part I setup her gmail account enabling mail,contacts, calendars and notes. I did the same for my iphone and it was a seamless gmail sync with iphone (as I understand is the case with ios7).
But for her iphone the contacts arent being displayed. Ipad however is showing the contacts correctly. She is shifting from an old blackberry so my idea was to use the bb desktop manager and export all her phone contacts in a csv file and import into her gmail contacts. Then with gmail contacts enabled on iphone there should be no issue. But it ain't happening. I am really frustrated. I have tried carDAV as well (doesnt work) but as I understand with ios7 its a seamless 2 way sync. Please help.
Regards Srajan,
Srajan - Have you checked your cellular data settings - make sure that you enabled cellular data for your contact syncing. In iOS 7 go to settings app - then Cellular - then scroll down to see what you have selected for use Cellular Data for - maybe you have it turned off for something - but really I did not see anything that would make sense in my settings. If anyone has any suggest for Srajan - please give us a call or send us an email.
Hi Rob
You were asking whether we listened to podcasts on set top boxes.
1. Normally, I always listen to my podcasts at work on an iPod Classic; I listen to your show always, along with MacBreak Weekly, iPad Today, and IMore. (Hate when Leo ends his show by saying "now get back to work" when I am at work.)
2. Lately, over Apple TV, I have been watching MacBreak and iPad Today. They're as good as any talk show I suppose. I've even listened to Today in IOS in the background over Apple TV -- that trend may continue depending on how much listening I get done at work.
Regards,
Keith
Rob,
Sometimes like now, I have you podcast air-playing to my AppleTV while I am working on cleaning up my house for the Christmas.
I do this when I have things to do around the house, I have in the past listen directly on the AppleTV.
Thomas
Tuscaloosa AL
PLAY VOICEMAIL - AARon_fdbk_set_topbox
Hi Rob:
In Episode #291, you had requested feedback regarding podcast consumption
on the AppleTV. I have two AirPlay devices: (1) AppleTV 2nd Gen in the Living Room and
(2) a Pioneer VSX-60 audio receiver (audio AirPlay only) located in the basement/theater room.
While I do not consume the podcast directly via the set top box, I do very frequently AirPlay
podcasts from the iPhone (both downloaded and streamed episodes) or MacBook PRO to the
AirPlay receivers.
I realize your stats would not show this usage, but I personally prefer to listen to the podcasts
via the better listening avenues when I plan to be in one of those areas for awhile.
Merry Christmas
Regards,
Mike Price
Attleboro, MA.
I did do some checking on my stats of the over 10.5 Million downloads for Tii to date - less than 2,500 have been via a set top box directly. Which is only 0.02% or 2 - 100th of a percent.
For anyone who is a podcaster AND you are hosting with Libsyn - I wanted to let you know for the New Media Expo - if you have a small poster 11 x 14 or smaller or some biz cards 4 x 6 or smaller and you would like them shown off at the Libsyn Booth - email me rob at libsyn dot com. If you are not going - you can snail mail them to me - if you are going - Just let me know and we can set up a time to meet at the show.
And If you are not going to the new media expo and are interested in getting into podcasting or blogging - this is the show for you - if you are already blogging or podcasting - this is the show to go to to connect with other podcasters and bloggers and learn how to better your craft. I have been to everyone and can not recommend going strong enough. This next one is <2 weeks away - Saturday Jan 4th - the 5th and the 6th. So when it ends you can stay a little longer and go to CES. Which is what I am doing. Which starts on the 7th. I hope to see some of you at NMX or CES in Jan - but definitely NMX as I will be speaking there and Libsyn will have a booth. Again even if you are not going and a libsyn customer email me rob@libsyn dot com to get me your cards or info to show off at the show.
SCHEDULE - NEXT EP Mid Jan - Maybe Mini Eps from Vegas.
Thanks again to our sponsor Squaretrade. Remember for your iPad warranty - just $89 for a two year warranty - you save $35 by going to square trade dot com slash t i i 2 - that is slash t i i and the number 2. the iPad Mini 2 with Retina is so light and easy to take with you it is truly a mobile tablet you will want to take everywhere - and that means the potential for accidents. Squaretrade dot com / tii 2 for your $89 iPad Mini and iPad Air warranty.
I also want to thank our other sponsor Usell - go to today in iOS dot com slash Usell that is the letters U s e l l - to get a bid and sell your old no longer being used mobile devices.
If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you get the most out of the show and it helps support the show at the same time - plus it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search for Tii in the iTunes app store.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. And don't forget to check out our new Moderated Google Plus community by going to todayinios dot com slash community.
And speaking of free things - Everyone can get something free - well actually 12 somethings free with Apples own 12 Days of Christmas oohhh - Wait - 12 Days of Gifts App - which is a free App for getting free stuff each day from Dec 26th to Jan 6th. One day it might be a song - another an app - another day it might be a book or a movie or more. Each gift is only available for one 24 hour period. And per Apples note - note not all content is available in all countries.
Again that is the 12 days of Gifts app. Thanks to all that sent in links on this one. Also if you launch the App early - there is supposed to be a free mini-Album from Lorde in there now.
From the email bag.
Hi Rob,
In Australia we got a early download of two free items
This next one I would file under the category - Well it is about time. In the US in the past for the most part if you wanted to unlock your phone from your carrier after your contract was fulfilled you had to ask really nice and cross your fingers. Some would some would not and some would sometimes unlock it and other times not - depending on who at that company you asked. This is well all total BS - the keeping it locked part. After a phone has lived out its contract - and met its contractual obligation - the Carriers should unlock it so you are free to sell it to anyone or use it anywhere you wanted. And finally the Five major carries in the US have agreed to do just that. The five being - Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-mobile and US Cellular. Supposedly unlocking your phones in the future with these carriers will be easier and simpler and met with a lot less resistance from said carriers. This is not something however that takes place immediately - As per the press release from the CTIA - quote These five leading companies will also recommend this set of principles for inclusion into the CTIA consume code for wireless service in accordance with the CTIA's bylaws. Upon adoption, these companies will move quickly to implement these principles, committing to implement 3 of these principles within three months and the remainder within 12 months unquote. Seems to me that 12 months is not moving quickly - and it could be a few months or more before they implement it - so you might be looking at spring or summer 2015 before this is all said and done. But still it is nice to see them agree to do this. Please note unlocking a phone that is designed for GSM - does not mean said phone will work on CDMA. So there are still technology restrictions. But it does mean your can take a Sprint phone over to Ting. Or an AT&T phone over to Straightalk.
Speaking of Straightalk - Straightalk and Net10 wireless - have both started selling the iPhone 5S and 5C. These are no contract / off contract phones for use on their service. While you do still need to get a month to month contract when you get them. For example a 30 day plan on Staight talk is $45 for unlimited talk, text and data. That is just for unlimited US calls. Bump that up to $65 a month for unlimited international calls. Net10 has a $50 unlimited plan for US calls - and it is $40 for every additional line on your contract. Pricing for the phones is $649 for the 16 GB 5S, $549 for the 16 GB 5C and $449 for the 8 GB 4S.
Not that we would recommend it - but if you don't have $649 at the moment - and you do have a walmart credit card - you can get 24 Months of interest free payments for the iPhone purchase. But miss a payment and you get totally hosed - and have to pay for all the interest at some probably grotesquely high almost loanshark range interest rate. Again I don't recommend this for anyone - pay cash or wait until you have the cash. Credit card debt you don't pay off each month is a bad bad thing.
As we mentioned on the last episode it seemed Apple was caught up on inventory of the iPhone 5S - and Uncle Gene Munster went out and checked at 60 US Apple stores and confirmed this with 100% iPhone 5S inventory for all different makes and models of the 5S. When Uncle Gene had last done said check two weeks prior in stock inventory for all models was only seen at 24% of the stores.
Uncle Gene also did a survey of potential smartphone buyers and found that 44% of those surveyed said - they plan to buy an iPhone in the next 3 months.
Brian White is also predicting that Apple will show a 28% quarter over quarter sales increase for this quarter. Which you know is well extremely just plain wrong and way way to low. Last quarter Apple did 33.8 Mil iPhone sales - last year in this quarter Apple did 47.8 Mil in iPhone sales. I don't see how Apple does anything less than that - and most likely it will be over 50 Mil for this quarter. But even flat sales yr over yr mean an increase of 41% this quarter vs last quarter. But hey you know that is why those Anal-ist get the big bucks. FYI The 4th quarter over 3rd quarter growth for 2010, 11 and 12 was 32%, 64% and 52% respectively. I should note the 28% if for Apple revenue overall as are those numbers. So not just iPhone sales - but still 28% growth is way to low when the iPhone and iPad sales growth quarter over quarter will both likely be well over 50% each.
Oh and how exactly is Apple doing at the 4 major carriers in the US - Well were Number 1 and number 1 and number 1 and number 1. Yes the iPhone 5S was number 1 at all 4 last month. And well also in October and September as well. So for three straight months the iPhone 5S was number one at all 4 major US carriers - and the iPhone 5C was number 3 at all 4 carriers the past 2 months as well. In September the 5C was number 3 at only 2 of the 4 carries - the other 2 it was number 2. Yeah - so for this current quarter it is sure looking like Apple should easily break past 50 Million iPhones sold. We will know more in about 6 weeks.
Enough with sales talk - lets talk iOS - and iOS 7.1 Betas to be specific - as in Beta 2 of iOS 7.1 which was released to Devs on Friday the 13th - because it is not bad enough to release a beta on a Friday - Apple did it on a Friday the 13th. That is either amazing moxie on Apples Part - we are talk Dual stainless steel sphere type moxie. Or desperation to get the Beta 2 out to devs to test so they could release the GM of 7.1 before the Christmas break.
Since all of the devs are abiding by the NDA they agreed to we have no way of knowing what is in the Beta 2 release - ok - just kidding. Singing like canaries the devs they are. And what we find out is that in the beta 2 - Animations are noticeably faster, Setting for touch ID and passcode have been bumped up to the main menu, List view in Calendar has been redesigned, there is a new option to turn on button shaped in settings -- General and then accessibility. There are new iPad wallpapers.
But there was one thing that went away.
The option to enable Dark Keyboard has been removed. What Beta 1 brings us - Beta 2 taketh away.
Given that last item - I am thinking that what we might see before Christmas Break is Beta 3. And that the Gold Master for 7.1 will not be until at least the week of Jan 6th.
I am hoping Apple is not pulling that dark keyboard - as a few devs have commented to me that was their favorite new feature in the beta 1 of 7.1
Speaking of updates - there was a quiet update or rather addition to Apple TV. With the addition of channels or Apps or whatever they are - for Bloomberg, Crackle, Watch ABC channels and KOR-TV. KOR-TV is Korean TV - no Not North execute my uncle Korea - but rather South don't judge us by what Samsung does Korea TV.
I did check out ABC Channels to see what was up there - and for shows like Agents of Shield - they have the last 5 episodes available - anything older and there are convenient links to iTunes on Apple TV to purchase those other episodes.
Apple needs to stop diddling around with Apple TV and just offer up an App store for it already. I would love to get a Libsyn Channel up there. Not that anyone really consumes Podcasts over set top boxes or anything - but it would sure look nice. Right up until I pulled the monthly user agent report and my boss asked why we did the Apple TV app again?
PLAY VOICE MAIL - TIM_CINCY_SMASHED
Speaking of smashed iOS devices this is a good point to mention Squaretrade is sponsoring this show - they are who I have purchased my warranties for my iPhone 5S and now my iPad Mini Retina. And you can get warranties for your iOS devices to - with a discount for being a Tii listener - which folks if you go to square trade dot com slash tii 2 - that is slash t i i and the number 2 - you will get a 2 year iPad warranty for just $89 - that is a savings of $35 off the normal price for being a Tii listener. Or if you need a warranty for a recently purchased iPhone go to square trade dot com slash tii - and that is $94 for a 2 year iPhone warranty. Or do like I did and get them both.
With square trade they will cover you if you ever jailbreak - which Apple will not - so if you are even remotely thinking of jailbreaking - that is one good reason to look at square trade.
As Tim found out - repairing your iOS device can be very expensive and then Apple will not even cover you after an incident. Get the square trade warranty now - especially if your device is still within the first 30 days of purchasing it.
Once again the URL is square trade dot com slash Tii for the iPhone and slash tii 2 - t i i and the number 2 for the iPad warranties. and square trade dot com slash T i i for iPhone warranties - Thanks Squaretrade for sponsoring this show.
PLAYVOICE MAIL - MARY_CLEV_FDBK_PDF_USE_DROPBOX
Hi Rob,
After hearing episode 290, I thought it only appropriate to send in a review of Week Calendar. I've been using this app for years. The built-in Apple apps are typically my preferred apps for everything, but this beats the Calendar app hands down. There are several different views, clean layout, and intuitive design. It is THE must-have calendar app.
Regards,
Lou V
Hi Rob - regarding the person having trouble with ringtones created on GarageBand not playing, I did have this problem during the releases of the developer betas of iOS 7 on both my iPhone 5 and iPad 3. One of the releases had a bug that caused problems with the audio files stored on iOS devices. Apple released a developer patch that reset the audio library. After the patch I still had trouble with ringtones, so I did a complete restore of my iPhone and iPad and then restored from an iCloud backup and that resolved the problem. I guessed at the time that the audio bug caused the problem with my custom ringtones. I wonder if the person having this problem ever installed a beta version of iOS 7? I would suggest backing up the device and doing a full restore. BTW, I haven't had any problems with custom ringtones on my 5S or Air.
Regards,
Darrin (Developer)
PLAY VOICEMAIL - HOWARD_FDBK_30PIN_to_lightning
Dear Rob,
regarding the caller on episode 289 looking for a way to search through notes, this is not a perfect solution for what he wants but I do have a post up on my blog for ways to mimic control F on an iPad or iPhone. It may help out some.
Here is a highlight of what you missed from the google+ community - at today in iOS dot com slash community.
Chris in london mention 0 % financing for apple products in the UK. Ben N put up a link to a review of the Relax App. Fancisco put up a link to the 12 days of gifts from the iTunes store. Ron B - put up a link mentioning that Instapaper was free for a week. Hope you downloaded it while it was free. Bob B posted about how the Apple Calendars 5 by Readdle enabled location services and was draining battery life and if you have that app and are having battery life issues to check the setting on it. Plus there were many other posts. If you would like to contribute or just be a lookey loo - head over to today in iOS dot com slash community and sign up for the community. This is a Moderated all things iOS community that does not tolerate Android fan bois - actually most of the time when someone asks to be part of the community and I check their G+ page if it is all Rah Rah Android - well no soup for them. This is just for people interested in iOS products and software and features - where we can post and comment about iOS products without it degrading into a flame war.
I love the title of this next article - it is quote Apple's iWatch Delayed to speed up iPad Pro Development unquote. I love it in the ironic way - because it was just a few weeks ago there was a report that said the full on Apple TV was delayed to speed up development of the iWatch. You would think with 146 Billion in Cash Apple could do a better job in managing their new projects rather than have to keep delaying one mythical product to help the development of another mythical product which is then delayed by a 3rd mythical product - just sayin.
I bought an XBox One as a family Hannukah present and I am so impressed with how well it completely unifies my home entertainment system. The Kinect sensor powers up and controls my TV, Receiver and cable box. It offers gaming, television, music and apps. It totally transformed my living room. Using the XBox One SmartGlass app on my iPhone and iPad, I can interact and control the electronic devices in my living room. And as I am enjoying it along with my family, all I keep saying to myself is, "why didn't Apple make this?" I wonder if they are working on something similar, where the Apple TV unites with a Kinect like sensor that works similar to the XBox One. Could something like this have been what Steve Jobs was commenting about when he said they figured out the TV. I have so much media purchased through iTunes and the App Store, I just keep wishing Apple made this.
I have to say Microsoft, in my opinion, has designed a beautiful product with a nice UI both on the TV and iOS devices.
Regards,
Darrin
Hi Rob - thought you might be interested in this link re blacklisted stolen phones in New Zealand
Thanks D R and this is per an article talking about blacklisting of phones in New Zealand - but blacklisting in a good way - this is when your phone gets stollen and you report it stollen - said phone is then blacklisted on all the carriers in New Zealand. If that phone can't be activated then in theory there is less reason for people to steal a phone. Unless of course said thieves want to ship those stollen iPhones over seas which while not unheard of - will definitely not be something the average crook can do - so again in Theory blacklisting of stollen iPhones should reduce over time the amount of Apple picking going on or it is possible that Apples own Activation lock will be what actually reduces theft - or maybe a combination there of.
I just saw that the promo is out from Netflix for season 2 of House of Cards - I am stoked - that was such a great series. Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright and the rest of the cast were amazing and the story lines were great. And I bring this up because I have been sitting on this next story for some time now. And that is that the iPhone is the Clear Favorite among the US House Members in Congress. 58% of them use an iPhone, 23% use a blackberry - and just 4 % use an Android phone. I guess that means the other 15% use a flip phone or some other feature phone. Of note the Character Frank Underwood on House of Cards uses a Blackberry - of course if you think about the things he does in that first season I am sure Apple is glad he is not using an iPhone - actually given his morales or complete lack there of on the show - I would not be surprised to see Frank Underwood using an Samsung phone in Season 2 - just sayin.
Thanks to Dr John for this next one. Which is a story about Android Security risks. While part of the article tries to say some stated risks are over stated other parts of the article states they are not.
From the article they have a quote from Andrew Borg, research director for enterprise mobility and collaboration at research firm Aberdeen He says he saw at a conference that gave him the "willies." quote
The demonstrator, a white hat hacker, took an out-of-the-box Android device and downloaded a game called Very Angry Birds, basically a clone of the popular Angry Birds game, from an app store. The device had the latest McAfee and Symantec security for Android, but the game contained malware that neither solution flagged Everything looked fine, and once the game opened nothing changed on the device. Then the demonstrator took out a laptop and was able to bring up a control stream where he could see all the smartphones that had downloaded the game and could inspect them and see all the emails they had downloaded. He then put the Android device to sleep and took a picture from the device remotely using the laptop. Normally, you hear a shutter sound, but this malware had turned off the audio, It took pictures and video, and all along it looked like the device was asleep. unquote
Again this is based on an example from a white hat hacker - but it is really scary what can be done with Android when it comes to malware.
Thanks to Dan for the heads up on this next one - which is an article in PC Mag where Seamus Condron tried to switch over to the Nexus 5 - and well decided the grass was not greener on the other side and came back to the iPhone. So if you are on the fence about switching - check out the article titled quote It's not you - its me - breaking up with the Nexus 5 after 24 hours unquote. Now some of you may say 24 hours is not enough time to know for sure. But I am reminded on when someone asked me when I knew my first marriage was not going to work - and well lets just say when she said I Do - I said - I Do??
So sometimes you do know right away you made a mistake - Seamus was lucky enough to admit that and make a change after 24 hours - I however needed 5 years to correct my mistake.
Just when you thought Samsung could not be any more slimy of a company they go out and do something that well I don't want to say surprises us - but lets just say even lowers the bar a bit more on how low can they go. The latest is that Sammy seems to be having an issue with their S4's catching on fire. Now no one out side of Samsung really knows how big of a problem this is - because if you report it to sammy - they send you a letter that says if you want a replacement you can not talk about it. Basically they blackmail you into signing away your freedom of speech in return for a replacement unit. There is a video on Youtube from Ghostlyrich who had his S4 go boom and catch on fire while charging - and he got this letter. Again it is really slimy for Sammy to do this - and it is opposite of how apple and even MS react when they have issues. And the worst part - no one knows if this is a really small issue or a more widespread issue - thanks to Sammy's blackmail offer. True story time - The other day I was out looking for a Blu-ray dvd player - and I had it down to two units - one from LG and the other from Sammy - I consciously made the decision to go with the LG one. I really will not be getting anything else from Sammy going forward - they just have proved to be to unethical a company for me to support. Hopefully Apple soon pulls all their component orders from Sammy as well.
Here is a tip sorta: Large Apps taking up space. Apps you like but don't use so much. Heres what I do. My iPad Mini and iPhone are synced with the same Apple Account my iPhone is 16GB. But the iPad is 32GB. So cannot have all the Apps on my iPhone that I have on the iPad.
remember that when you go to the AppStore App. Under updates, At the Top you see Purchased. Tap on that. Then you see 'Not on this iPhone' or iPad respectively. Tap on that. You will see all the Apps you purchased that are not installed on the device. You may have deleted an App from your device. Well it is deleted from the device but still purchased. Free or not. So say you have Apple's Numbers App but don't use it much. Delete it from the device. Save Space. Then it turns out you need it. Just download and install again. Over Wifi to save mobile data usage of course. Only takes a few moments to download again. Use it. Save your work. Then, remove the app again.
This way, large Apps need not take up space. Nice also to see Apps you previously used but forgot about.
Oh Apps like Games, with large GamePlay History. I'd keep those. But some, like Real Racing 3 will let you upload your gameplay history. So if removed, you can reinstall and just download your gameplay history from the server.
Hope this helps.
Chris in London
Hey Rob, I just discovered an interesting detail in iOS; the stars in the stock weather app actually move realistically across the sky just like in real life. Very cool.
Regards,
-Mike
Orlando, FL
Thanks Mike - but makes you wonder why that skuemorphisim is ok - but a yellow note pad is not.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - JOSH_CINCY_THINKG_PEBBLE
I mentioned on the last episode that the RECAP 2 call recorder was on Kickstarter. Well I have some audio I recorded doing a Skype to Skype call with Elsie from libsyn for our show The Feed - which by the way if you are a podcaster - even if you don't use libsyn you should listen to.
Here is a couple of minutes of our recording:
PLAY AUDIO CLIP FROM BEGINNING OF THE FEED 11
And I did not do any clean up at all to that. So you can hear what a great job the RECAP 2 does when recording Skype to Skype or FaceTime to FaceTime audio calls - or any other voip calls. And again it records phone calls - just that because of the phone system or POTS - it will never sound as good as VOIP calls. But still it does as good a job recording phones calls as any Phone hybrid out there at any price. And it does it for $50. Which you can get in on as a pledger on Kickstarter until Jan 14th - search for RECAP at kickstarter dot com. This really is a tool all podcasters should have in their tool kit or anyone that needs to record phone calls or Skype calls for what ever reason that might be.
And good news for Igor - he has hit his funding goal - so if you pledge you will get a RECAP 2.
Here is a new Kickstarter Project - and it falls into the category of something I find so unique I think it is worth mentioning - but not something I will get myself. It is called the ZiPac - spelled Z i P A C - They intro it as quote ZiPAC is a durable USB cable and case in one. Zip up your stuff, then unzip to connect your devices. No more tangled or lost cables. unquote. If you are into zippers this is the pouch for you. It is essentially on big zipper that when zipped up creates a pouch - and when unzipped - it is a USB to firewire cord. Very unique and a nice companion in your laptop bag. Price on this is $18 for the small case - $25 for the medium and $30 for the large. This project has until Jan 25th at 6:46 PM ET to fund - and so far they are just over 10% of the way there - they have a goal of $45,000 which seems a bit - ok very high for this. But again when it comes to unique products - this one is worth a mention - search for ZiPac - spelled Z I P A C in the show notes for ep 291 or over a kickstarter dot com.
We have a USell back this week as a sponsor - and that is Usell spelled U S E L L - who is an aggregator of buyers of mobile devices. You know you have some old mobile devices - be it iPhones, iPads, or dare we say it Android devices laying around that are collecting dust. Don't be your own little island of misfit mobile toys - sell them off to someone that will love them and use them and touch them all over. You remember how happy that The Charlie in the box was and the spotted elephant was when they found new owners - well that mobile device you have collecting dust or stuck in a draw can feel the same way. And when you go to today in iOS dot com slash usell - you can put a smile on your face too by getting cold hard cash. For example an iPhone 5 64 gb Verizon version right now will get you a top offer of $305 - that is $15 more than the same device would get you at that company that has the name of cheetah food.
Again go to today in iOS dot com slash Usell that is slash U S E L L - to get a bid and sell your old no longer being used mobile devices.
Thanks to Michael for this next one. And that is the App store now has improved search results taking you to the correct app when you mis-spell an app title. So now if you search for Angry Birds and spell Angry with an e or Birds with a Y - it takes you to Angry birds apps from Rovio and not to Hill climb racing HD. Which it used to as they appear to be gaming search results for some misspelled words for Angry Birds.
So what this means for you the end user is now when you search for a specific app but misspell it - you will like be presented with the app you wanted - rather than someone gaming search results - as Apple sorts based on how popular an app is.
I have and really like the Apple leather case for my mini. It is a tad overpriced but it is quite good. It gives the iPad a nice feel and removes that slipperiness that does make it feel as though it wishes to leap out of your hands and directly onto concrete.
This mini is really making my 4th gen iPad seem heavy.
Regards,
Kevin Barry
Hello Rob,
I listened to show 290 and am glad to hear that setting up your wife's iPad Mini with Retina was as easy as setting up my wife's.
I did set it up from scratch as you suggested and within 30 minutes she was reading a book on it and planned to FaceTime her friend that lives about 2 hours away.
I got her the red Smart Cover and she likes how it can be folded up to make a small grip for her hand if she needs it. On another note she is the Pastor at our church and wants to use it to preach from instead of notecards.
This is why I love Apple products. They make technology that people want to use and the customer thinks of ways to utilize their device.
Regards,
John D
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Arnold_how_full_is_too_full
Hi Rob.
Do you remember the crashing/blue screening problem from the start of iOS 7?
The one that went away in 7.0.3 or so?
I was just wondering if it came back in 7.0.4 for anyone other than me, or am I alone?
I'm using an iPhone 5S by the way.
Regards,
Dan from Orangeville.
Hi Rob,
I listened to all the feedback and TouchID issues in Ep 290, and it sounds like I am not alone. I think my phone is working better now, however I attribute it to upgrading from 7.0.3 to 7.0.4. I had not upgraded for a while because I heeded JailBreak Guru MuscleNerd's advise to not upgrade if you are interested in a future 7.x JailBreaking. I believe he said it was safe to do so, but he recommended not doing it anyway. Well, I decided that since it was probably safe to go ahead and give it a go to see if that made a difference, and ever since, (Knock, Knock, Knock) I am having a much better experience getting into the phone. I doubt that everyone else is in this position, but just in case, if you haven't gone to 7.0.4, you might wish to try that.
Regards,
--David
PLAY VOICEMAIL - TOM TX TOUCHID
Thanks to Tash for this next one - which just seems right out of THX-1138. Seems DARPA has come up with an iOS App that is a game to the end user - but when the end user is playing the game they are actually basically working for DARPA to help find bug in code the US government uses. DARPA calls this Crowd Sourced Formal Verification. The game in this case is call Xylem - The Code of Plants. My question is this - if people know the US government is using the game app to verify code - could not the enemies of the US game the system - for lack of a better phrase and purposefully give the wrong responses in the game? Or maybe I am just over thinking this and just wondering what government we are working for when playing Candy Crush or Angry Birds.
Filed under do you want some cheese with that whine - comes the story of AT&T's CEO complaining about subsidies and saying they are coming to an end because Carriers can no longer afford to foot up the bill. And well if you think that sounds as silly and stupid as I felt reading it - yeah you are not alone. Per the footing the bill part - yeah - very laughable - considering AT&T and Verizon lock you into a two year contract at a high monthly amount. While AT&T and Verizon - may do some up fronting with funds in the way of a subsidy - they more then make it back over that two year period. When they gladly lock you into another two year period with 2 generations later iPhones. If this is Stephenson's way of negotiating - well he might want to re-think it - most people try even harder to take advantage of you if they think you are an idiot. Just Sayin
A quick tip for those who still want Google Maps as their default map.
Siri can be used to access Google Maps by simply adding the term "via transit" to the end of your request.
Example: "I need directions to mom's house via transit."
Siri will then pass along the address information and allow you to
select Google maps as the app to use to fulfill your request.
Best Regards,
Kenneth S
North Port, Florida
Hello Rob,
Hopefully you or some of the listeners can help me out.
Recently, I helped my grandmother get an iPad air. I set it all up for her and everything’s working great. However, When we use Facetime video chat so I can check up on her, I’ll get iMessages from some total stranger under her her name in my contacts flipping out for me to stop contacting them. This even happened once when she and I were in the same room testing out the feature. So I know it’s for sure not her being confounded by this fancy new technology or anything like that.
My assumption is that it’s a bug with iMessages, but I don’t have the slightest clue as to how to fix it since it’s not like a text message or phone call that I can call my cell provider about.
This person is understandably getting upset and we’ve sent back quite a few angry iMessages back and forth. As they show up under my grandmother’s contact information, I don’t know what to do since it’s a feature we want to use. Again, this only happens when we use Facetime. After we end the session, that’s when I’ll start getting the iMessages from the granny impostor ranting for me to stop calling them.
Have you heard of this problem or know of any way to fix it?
We’re both running the latest iOS 7.0.4. Her on an iPad air and I’m on an iPhone 4S. I am a voiceover user, but I doubt that has anything to do with it. None of my other contacts have an Apple device that I can test Facetime with to see if it happens to them as well.
I would appreciate any suggestions or solutions you or your listeners may be able to provide.
Thanks,
Cris
Hi Rob,
Forgetting Price for a minute - which iPad should I get - iPad Mini Retina or iPad Air.
Regards,
Aaron
Well Aaron,
I think it comes down to three things.
1. Are you going to be mobile with this most of the time. If so - then the iPad Mini has the advantage.
2. How good are your eyes? Are you starting to trombone when you try to read things. If so go with the iPad Air - the text and everything is bigger and easier to read when held at the same distance.
3. How big are you fingers? If you have big fingers - you might find the mini tougher to hit the target spot on the screen vs the Air.
While my wife loves her mini - I personally like using the iPad 3rd gen better for things that don't need the faster processor.
For my own use if I was choosing - it is hands down the iPad Air. My wife says the opposite. And that is because she is taking it with her everywhere now sticking it in her purse or jacket pocket and she has smaller fingers and better eye sight.
You just need to figure out which of the three items above is most important to you.
Regards,
Rob W
PLAY VOICEMAIL - JUSTIN_PA_FDBK_ANDROID_ONE_YEAR
CHECK APPLE.COM for NEWS
For anyone who is a podcaster AND you are hosting with Libsyn - I wanted to let you know for the New Media Expo - if you have a small poster 11 x 14 or smaller or some biz cards 4 x 6 or smaller and you would like them shown off at the Libsyn Booth - email me rob at libsyn dot com. If you are not going - you can snail mail them to me - if you are going - Just let me know and we can set up a time to meet at the show.
And If you are not going to the new media expo and are interested in getting into podcasting or blogging - this is the show for you - if you are already blogging or podcasting - this is the show to go to to connect with other podcasters and bloggers and learn how to better your craft. I have been to everyone and can not recommend going strong enough. This next one is <3 weeks away - Saturday Jan 4th - the 5th and the 6th. So when it ends you can stay a little longer and go to CES. Which is what I am doing. Which starts on the 7th. I hope to see some of you at NMX or CES in Jan - but definitely NMX as I will be speaking there and Libsyn will have a booth. Again even if you are not going and a libsyn customer email me rob@libsyn dot com to get me your cards or info to show off at the show.
SCHEDULE
Thanks again to our sponsor Squaretrade. Remember for your iPad warranty - just $89 for a two year warranty - you save $35 by going to square trade dot com slash t i i 2 - that is slash t i i and the number 2. the iPad Mini 2 with Retina is so light and easy to take with you it is truly a mobile tablet you will want to take everywhere - and that means the potential for accidents. Squaretrade dot com / tii 2 for your $89 iPad Mini and iPad Air warranty.
I also want to thank our other sponsor Usell - go to today in iOS dot com slash Usell that is the letters U s e l l - to get a bid and sell your old no longer being used mobile devices.
If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you get the most out of the show and it helps support the show at the same time - plus it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search for Tii in the iTunes app store.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. And don't forget to check out our new Moderated Google Plus community by going to todayinios dot com slash community.
You know how much we love artwork created on an iOS device - and now there is this Amazing Artwork created on an iPad - with just a finger and the app Procreate - it looks like a photo of Morgan Freeman it is that detailed and vivid - but it is really a painting created on an iPad with just his finger. There is a video on youtube showing the progression of the creation which took the artist Kyle Lambert over 200+ hours to create.
Look for the link in the show notes for ep 290 titled - iPad Art - Morgan Freeman - Youtube. Really this is an amazing piece of artwork - and you would be hard pressed looking at the finished product to tell it is not a picture - it really really is that good.
Hi Rob,
I am on iOS 7.1 beta 1 and I am noticing a lot smoother app switching and keyboard is less laggy. Also Siri seems faster to respond. I wish they put flight tracking on Siri like Google now has. One bug is my App Store is showing 2 updates as a badge but nothing new to update.
Regards,
Dev
Hi Rob,
I saw a commercial yesterday where the couple was trying to make their Thanksgiving meal and accidentally broke their oven door. They asked their Google tablet "Can you barbecue a turkey" and proceeded to cook their turkey in their barbecue grill.
I decided to do the same query with Siri on my iPhone. I thought the response was a bit amusing.
Regards,
Myron U
And he sent a screen shot - essentially is you ask siri can you barbecue a turkey - it comes back with quote I found three BBQ restaurants in Turkey unquote.
And I got the same results. Oh Well - but at least she knows what Basketball team to root for.
Blackfriday on line sales numbers are coming out and shocker. iOS kicked androids Butt. Again. These are based on US numbers gathered by IBM and Adobe. What they found was
On average, iOS users spent $127.92 per order on Black Friday compared to $105.20 per order for Android users.
Ok that number is not butt kicking. But these others are.
iOS traffic reached 28.2 percent of all online traffic, compared to 11.4 percent for Android. iOS sales reached 18.1 percent of all online sales, compared to 3.5 percent for Android. That is over a 5x ratio of iOS sales to android sales.
These numbers are not counting online sales to apple.com or via the apple store app. No mention if they count amazon either. I am sure more and more numbers will come out soon. But based on these once again iOS user are actually consumers. Where as android users not so much.
When iOS users were not out buying other things with their iOS devices - they were out buying more iOS devices - Which I am to assume they will then use to buy even more other things. InforScout looked at the top selling items at Target on Black Friday and Shocker - iPad's were at the top of the list. Info scouts results are based on survey's of 3,000 shoppers at target on Thanksgiving and Blackfriday and what they found was Number item purchased with 8.2% of target sales was the iPad Air 16GB wifi. #2 with 7.5% of sales was the iPad Mini 16 GB wifi. and Taking the bronze in 3d place was the iPad Air 32 GB wifi with 2.4% of Sales. #4 was beats headphones at 2.4% as well. Nothing else was over 2%. The iPad 2 16 GB surprisingly was in at 8th place with 1.4%. The only other table in the list - the Nook at #11 with 1.1%. So iPads were combined at 19.5% of purchases. Wow. Well except when you get to InfoScouts next reveal and that is 40% of those 19.5+ % of iPad buyers - yeah they were Android users. You heard me right - 40% of those buying an iPad on Blackfriday weekend - were Android users. double Wow.
Over at Target Rival Walmart - they reported sales of over 1.4 Million Tablets on Thanksgiving evening alone. Most of that was for the $299 iPad Mini first gen - that you got a $100 Walmart gift card with. How do we know that - well back to the folks from info scout - they had the iPad Mini selling 13 times more units than the $99 Nabi tablet which was the other Thanksgiving night special. That makes the numbers pretty simple - 1.3 Million iPad Mini's sold vs 100,000 Nabi's sold - and that is better then what I saw in line at Walmart - where there was 1 person in line for the Nabi and well over 50 for the iPad Mini. I remember thinking looking at that one guy in line - wow - you are the dad giving the Action jackson this year. So sad. Anyway - over all - there are going to be 100,000 kids that get a Nabi tablet this year and in the back of their mind will think - when I am a parent - I will never do this to my kids.
And then there is some updated data from Fiksu. They were mentioned recently on the show - when they looked at iPad usage by version after launches. And what they found initially was the iPad Air was well out pacing the iPad 4 launch. And well nothing has changed there - with the iPad Air now 35+ days from launch more than doubling what they saw for usage of the iPad 4 - 35 days after it launched. The iPad Mini Retina - is at this point just a tad bit ahead of the iPad Mini from when it launched. So at least now it definitely is looking like an iPad Christmas - especially when you factor in that 1.3 Mil iPad mini's were last years version - and sold at one retailer in one hour.
So what did all this good news do to Apple Stock - Well Shockingly - no really I mean it - shockingly - it drove the stock price up. Seems Fundamentals and real good news is starting to win out on Wallstreet again. Apple Shares are now in the black for the year. All those that purchased some Apple stock the last time it dipped below $400 - raise your hand. Yes my hand is up. And kudos to you if your is up as well. Apple Stock ended the week at $560 a share. Also Apple seems to have tackled some inventory issues and lead times are dropping - right now for the iPhone 5S - all versions are listing 1-3 day deliveries - that is the first time they have reached that level for all models.
So Apple is seeing increased demand for product and increased inventory to quench the thirst of their customers. Seems to be a good combo - and a story line starting to win out over the negativity of Android fan bois.
Hi Rob
Johnny Appleseed here in Cincinnati Ohio. I got my iPad mini retina display white 32 gig Wi-Fi model at the Cincinnati Apple Store last Thursday. The interesting thing was that you were not able to walk into the store and purchase it and walk out. I had to order it online in the store and come back 2 hours later to pick it up. Little bit different way of doing things for apple.
Thanks
Go flyers!
Well My Wife's iPad finally made it out of Alaska and to our house on November 25th - which is one key reason for no episode last weekend - well that and it was Thanksgiving and my birthday and there was 3 Dayton flyer games on ESPN and well did I mention I had a new iPad Mini Retina to play with. So my thoughts on this. Wow is it slim - and beautiful and slim. Actually for me it is too small and thin without a case - and personally I like the size of the iPad Air better. But hey it was not for me it was for my wife and her opinion is different - she really likes the size - as she is taking it with her to wait in line for the kids and go out and about. She never took the other iPad - granted the other one did not have Cellular. So Yeah there is that small detail. Speaking of the cellular - setting up the free 200 MB a month with T-mobile was supper simple - I can't recommend the T-mobile version strong enough if you are in the US - that said they are all really the same version just with different sim cards - so if you did not get the t-mobile version just go to a t-mobile store and get a sim card for it.
In the first week she used less than 10% of her 200 MB allocation. What I basically did - well not basically - what I did did or actually did or something - well I set up her device when on cellular to only allow email and safari. As that is all she needs and wants. On top of that I set up email to not load images automatically. So now she has free cellular for her email and browsing needs and is no where near close to going over her allocation.
She loves the speed of it - going from a 3rd gen iPad to the mini retina is a 2 processor jump - and it is really noticeable on websites. I did get all her photos on there and I mean all - as in around 15,000 plus photos. And she well is costing me a small fortune in Printer ink printing out pictures to go in christmas cards.
I did decide to set it up from scratch and found most of her info sync'd over from iCloud for calendars and like with no issues. And setting up emails was great and even the folders she set up before were there even though we set up from scratch. I have to say the set up and speed of the mini reminds me again of why I love the iOS ecosystem. Granted my next iPad for me - will be a larger one to go with my larger hands - likely the iPad Pro if that ever comes to be.
My wife did comment to me that she felt the mini was just too thin and she felt scared holding it initially - afraid it was going to drop and break at any second. I did get the Squaretrade warranty on it - and that made her feel a lot better. But we also got a cheap case for it until some others I have coming in to test get here. And we are keeping the kids away from it.
Speaking of Squaretrade this is a good point to mention they are sponsoring this show - they are who I have purchased my warranties for my iPhone 5S and now my iPad Mini Retina. And you can get warranties for your iOS devices to - with a discount for being a Tii listener - which folks if you go to square trade dot com slash tii 2 - that is slash t i i and the number 2 - you will get a 2 year iPad warranty for just $89 - that is a savings of $35 off the normal price for being a Tii listener. Or if you need a warranty for a recently purchased iPhone go to square trade dot com slash tii - and that is $94 for a 2 year iPhone warranty. Or do like I did and get them both.
With square trade they will cover you if your jailbreak - which Apple will not - so if you are even remotely thinking of jailbreaking - that is one good reason to look at square trade - And well here is an email from one of the listeners.
Hi Rob,
I just (finally) received my gold iPhone 5s 64gig. I debated the warranty you have been recommending versus AppleCare. Apple has always taken amazing care of me when there has been any issues so it was a tough debate...until... I read the SquareTrade warranty info and flexibility and then looked at the discount you are offering us. I now have only one complaint on your advice: your discount lowers the THREE year warrant to close to Apple's TWO year coverage! I always give my last phone to my wife or kids and now when I upgrade in two years it will still have one more year under warranty! At a GREAT price. Thanks so much for giving us this discount.
By the way - my phone arrived past the 30 days from time of order that SquareTrade requires. I contacted them and they accepted my shipping invoice as documentation with no issue and issued the warranty. Very fast response.
Regards,
Jeff Tucker
Thanks Jeff - good point on the 3 year period. For 3 years on the iPad warranty it is just $119. Again click through to see the real discount. And the URL is square trade dot com slash Tii for the iPhone and slash tii 2 - t i i and the number 2 for the iPad warranties. Thanks Squaretrade for sponsoring this show.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Ken_FDBK_sharing_credits
Hey Rob,
My favorite holiday app of all time - Zen of Snow. It's absolutely peaceful and relaxing - a serene cabin setting in the snow covered mountains with some colorfully lit Christmas trees outside. Gorgeous!
Regards,
Jeff T
Hi Rob,
Per the listeners request for a question mark on the 1st screen.
The app "iaWriter", a note taking app, has punctuation marks, including the question mark, on the 1st screen.
- Jessi D
Hi Rob - I use the app called iaWriter and they add the ’?’ right above the main keyboard. There's also arrow keys and some other punctuation. It's a great app - syncs with Dropbox, and has a folder setup for files.
Regards,
-Dan B
Hey Rob, one of your listeners had asked about a keyboard with a question mark on the first screen. I type a lot of notes on my phone, and also found it somewhat annoying that all punctuation is on the second screen, I just bought a Bluetooth keyboard. Since I still needed it to be super portable, I ended up using the Celluon Epic, and I love it. No more pointless screen swapping to get at the punctuation.
Dan P, from Orangeville
Hi Rob
A gentleman on episode 288 was looking for a way to backup custom 'ringers' to his computer. The mac apps iPhone Explorer or Diskaid should allow him copy these and any other files to his computer for backup.
Regards
Brent
Hey Rob. Before I switched to T Mobile and when I was having the problem with the "never deleting all/some of my AT&T voicemails", I was told by an apple genius to call AT&T and ask them to "reprovision my voicemail". I did not want to do that until I made a record of whatever important voicemails were there. I had been thinking of switching to T Mobile, and made the switch before I ever took the "reprovision" step with AT&T. The genius was told me to specifically use the word, "reprovision".
So.....you might want to try that with the "zombie voicemails.
Grateful for what you do,
Scott, Milwaukee
PLAY VOICEMAIL - RON_PA FDBK2 - SIRI
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Justing_PA_SIRI
Settings - Privacy - Location Services - Scroll all the way down - System Service - Turn off Frequent locations.
That is another one to select when looking to save on battery life - thanks all that sent that one in.
I want to send a shout out to the 200+ folks already in the Google+ community - if you go to today in iOS dot com slash community it will take you to the page or click on the little google+ icon in the upper right of today in iOS dot com site.
Thanks to all that have been posting - quite a few since the last episode including ones about black friday deals - thanks for those. There are some posts about what podcasts people are listening to - and what apps they are using them to listen. Plus breaking news links and more iOS news. Again thanks to all that signed up and also to those contributing. today in iOS dot com slash community.
Thanks to Ben K for the heads up on this next one.
The AP is reporting that APPL will be launching iBeacons in their 254 of their US stores This weekend. Apple is supposed to be also launching an over the air update to its Apple store app to support iBeacon receivers. This all was supposed to happen starting on Friday the 6th - but as of close to midnight - the App store app is not showing an update.
Apple supposedly demo'd iBeacons to the AP this past week. quote The company demonstrated the technology to The Associated Press this week at its busy, 24-hour Fifth Avenue store in New York City. At this particular store, Apple has installed about 20 iBeacon transmitters, some of which are simply iPhones and iPads, which come with the capability as part of the iOS 7 mobile software released in September. The transmitters use Bluetooth wireless technology to sense your exact location. That's not possible with GPS, which don't work well indoors and aren't good at distinguishing between locations that are just a few feet apart. unquote
What does this mean to you - probably not a lot to start. Apple will get better tracking data on where you went in the store. But I doubt when you walk by an iPad Air you will get a push that says - "Stop - look to your left - Buy me - you know you want to. come on pull out that plastic and lets go home together" - I mean I guess Apple could do that - but they don't likely need to.
iBeacons works with iOS devices running iOS 7 - but not the iPhone 4 or iPad 2nd gen. But all the other iOS 7 devices it works fine with.
And well Apple has put out the following about this.
quote Apple has rolled out iBeacon technology at its 254 Apple Stores in the U.S., enabling shoppers to receive iPhone notifications about products and services via the Apple Store app. As the Associated Press reports, iBeacon transmitters use Bluetooth wireless technology to sense a shopper’s exact location inside an Apple Store and send messages based on the aisle or product a user is near. For example, customers walking by an iPhone table could receive messages offering to help them check their upgrade availability or see if they can get money for trading in an old phone. iBeacon technology is moving into other venues as well. The AP reports that Major League Baseball plans to use it next year to offer features like coupons and videos based on a user’s location in a ballpark.Read more: abcnews.go.com unquote
So there you go it is official - and NFC just got a little nail in its coffin when it comes to iOS products. It is Safe to now remove NFC from all future bingo cards.
Thanks to Erika Morphy for the heads up on this one. Which is Apple acquired Topsy - no not the Popcorn company - topsy the Social search and analetics company.
So why did Apple make this 200 Million acquisition - well it was not just to piss off Carl give me your 146 Billion Ichan. No but it could be about apple wanting to get more real time social media feedback for their iTunes Radio / iAds platform and also get that feedback for if / when they launch an Apple full on TV.
Or as Erika speculates at the end of her article on this - maybe Apple just wanted their engineering team. And maybe even some of their patents. Topsy by the way is on of the early partners with Twitter and they have what is known as firehose access to twitter - which means they get all the tweets - which they then go through and chart and track trends. Who knows maybe Apple is making the acquisition in hopes or resurrecting Ping - or not.
In the rumor but almost definitely a done deal front comes the reports this past week that Apple and China Mobile have finally signed a deal and iOS device will officially roll out on China Mobile on December 18th.
This also helped in pushing up Apples stock price but just a small amount.
At this point no real details to speak of. So just about the deal being done and when it kicks off. One thing analysts are stating is that apples current guidance numbers do not include the China Mobile deal - granted Apple had guidance out there for this quarter and this would impact about 2 weeks in the quarter. Once the deal is announced and people see what the actual selling price is - and if there are any subsidies for iPhones - that is when the stock price will be affected. This is a deal a long long time in the making. 759 million customer for China mobile is a big deal and even with a small % of that number 20% say being potential iOS users - that is a number that is still very big. Looking forward to seeing the devil in the details on this deal once it is made public.
A little update on this - China Mobile is reporting that it has not finalized a deal with Apple yet. So at this point it is still in the rumor stage. Which is fine - I think it is a foregone conclusion that a deal is coming - the real question is back to the costs - is this something that the top 5% of China Mobile users will be able to take part in or the top 25+ %?
iPad Pro rumors of the week - is that when the iPad Pro is announced - the 12.9 Inch screen will support 4K resolutions.
Currently the iPad Air is 2048 x 1536 - and Apple would like double that again and go to 4096 x 3072 - which is better than the 4k video resolution which is 4096 x 2160
Now some reports are saying there would be two iPad Pro's a lower resolution one launched in April - at the current 2048 x 1536 specs - and then in October - the 4K version with 4096 x 3072 specs.
Guess we will see - but when the iPad Pro is launched if it has worse PPI specs than the iPad Air - then the above migration makes sense. But it sure would be nice for apple to launch a product that does have the best resolution possible at the start.
Thanks to Russell E for this next one - which is about failure. In this case the failure of a weekly Tablet App / magazine called Encore.
But what is amazing is the difference in the level of failure between iOS and Android. From the article quote
We kicked off 2013 with 872 iPad downloads of the first edition. And just 48 to Android.
After that initial number, things fell away slightly for the next few weeks, and we didn’t exceed that initial number for a further 16 editions. We delivered 877 iPad downloads for that 16th edition. (And 12 for Android).
By now, a further learning was dawning upon us. There wasn’t much demand for an Android edition. In the end, we never did improve on that initial 48 downloads. In our worst week, our 19th edition of the year, there were just six Android downloads. Which was a bit discouraging, to say the least.
We resolved to press on with both though. And indeed, our overall number steadily grew.
Our 24th edition of the year was the first to deliver more than 1,000 iPad edition downloads (and 25 to Android).
unquote.
So even after the initial surge - then drop off - while iOS eventually grew larger then the initial number - Android never did. and I love this quote from the article quote - A few weeks ago we quietly stopped the Android tablet edition. Nobody noticed. unquote
Oh snap. One thing they also mentioned in there is they started with one platform that was just iOS they liked - and then switched to another that they did not like because it supported Android - and well - it is safe to say - if you are doing something for a tablet - and you make any decisions based around Android - you are making a bad decision. The sentiment was that they would have been much better off sticking with the original platform and just doing iOS - and well the numbers make a no duh type comment. Did we mention 40% of iPad buyers from black friday weekend are android users - Just sayin.
Thanks to Tim B for the heads up on this next one. Which is a really pretty graph - well pretty if you like Green and have an iOS device. If you own an Android device - it is just a downright depressing chart. and if you are an android fan bois it is one of those charts you hope someone like me never gets a hold of. What is said chart about - well it is about OS version support for released product. Green represents that said device is on the current major version. Yellow means it is one major version behind - orange is 2 behind. Pinkish is 3 behind - dark red is 4 behind and Black is >4 major revisions behind.
And then they chart months and years after a product is released. Here is what is simply amazing. Only two kinda 3is Major Andorid devices out of 16 were still on the current major version a year after release. I say 3 ish as the Nexus s 12 months after release was one revision behind - but a few months later was back on the latest version - but then quick faded after that. Also with Android devices - 7 of the 16 were on the first day they were released 1 major revision behind. With 6 of them never getting caught up. The longest any Android device stayed on the current major version - 1 Year - 10 months - that was the Galaxy nexus. The Longest an iOS device stayed on the latest version - 4 years 3 months. That was the iPhone 3GS. Which is now just one major revision behind.
Of the 9 android devices over that are 2 years or older - on the 2year mark - 5 of the 9 were 3 major revisions behind. 2 were 2 major revision behind and 2 were just one major revisions behind.
All iOS device were up to date on their 2 year mark and their 3 year mark.
So in a nut shell - if you want a device that has the latest and greatest software - because you now the OS is kind of important for touch screen devices - then Android is not what you want.
By the way the 16 Android devices are the top of the line devices - Nexus's - Sammy S2, S3, Note, HTC One, and so on. This chart as the author notes would look a lot lot worse if you went with lower end android devices.
I do find it very interesting - Apple definitely wants you to upgrade every two years - but realistically the life of an iOS device is at least 4 years. What that means is at the 2 year mark - if you purchased your iOS device when it was first released - it is just half way through its life cycle - that means it has greater value for resale. So to me this says Apple's plan to get to upgrade every two years - is to give you a device you can easily sell in two years that retains enough value to make it worthwhile to sell or pass on. And Androids strategy to get your to upgrade is to release devices that in two years have reached the end of their useful life - so you are forced to upgrade. Again interesting strategy - I kind of like going with the option where I am not forced to upgrade but choose to upgrade myself.
Johnny Evans has a post out on computerworld titled - Apple is winning the OS war - and he starts it with quote This won't be a popular opinion but the inconvenient truth is that Apple is winning the OS wars unquote
Well there is one thing he is wrong about - it is a popular opinion around these parts. Essentially he looked over that chart I just went over and then looked at the state of not just Android - but also MS Windows and OS X.
His conclusion is that only iOS is positioned well for the future. Why because with iOS you get uniformity of revision of the OS over the vast majority of devices. over 70% of iOS users are already on iOS 7. Where as the latest version of Android KitKat is at about 1.1% of Android users. As he points out with Android devices are out of date when they come out of the box and many can't be upgraded.
Eric Schmidt is up to no good again - and by that I mean he is communicating with the world. Google really should lock him in faraday cage somewhere. This time he put together a post telling people how to switch from iOS to Android - because he said many of his friends are switching from iPhone to Android - and by Friends I am assuming he means upper management at Android and by switching I think he means - you switch or your fired. Hopefully in two years when all those that switched find out their Android device is woefully out of date and they must upgrade - Eric will be so nice as to put up a post on how to switch back.
Now one thing Schmidt did say in the post that I am sure made many at google cringe is when he said quote "The latest high-end phones Samsung Galaxy S4, Motorola Droid Ultra and the Nexus 5 have better screens, are faster, and have a much more intuitive interface," unquote
Or put another way - these are the only Android devices worth a damn and the rest are crap. I am sure the folks at HTC, LG, Sony, Lenovo and the plethora of other Android manufactures were not at all feeling slighted.
Oh and his comments about them being faster - umm - yeah not anywhere even remotely close to true.
PLAYVOICEMAIL - TIP_JEFF_USE_FIND
Kudos to Matt for this next comment / observation about why Apple does not pre-load all the apps.
Hi Rob,
I think that one reason that the quality Apple apps that have gone free with IOS 7 are not automatically included in the stock apps is that they are also fairly large. Garage Band, Pages, Numbers, and iPhoto take up over 1.5 gb on my 16 gb iPhone and I haven't created anything with them yet. Adding Keynote and iMovie would take an additional gb of space. All the more reason to make 32 gb the entry level storage size for devices.
Regards,
Matt S. in winston-Salem NC
Matt - I am sure that is it - Apple does not want a 16 GB iOS device shipping with 4 GB of Apps pre-installed. Makes you think you have less space available then you do - that said - I don't think there should be 16 GB iOS devices anymore any way - 32 GB should be the entry level.
Hi Rob
For the gentleman on episode 288 that bricked his iPhone and can't restore, I had the same problem once and was able to connect my iPhone to a different computer and accomplish a restore. If this works , then once the phone is functioning he could try to restore from a backup on the original computer or copy the backup file to the new computer and try to restore from that. This worked for me once, so possibly he can use a friends computer and iTunes to unbrick his phone. I believe he needs to make sure the computer is logged in with his iTunes account and connected to the internet for the authorization process to go smoothly.
Regards
Brent
Hey again Rob,
regarding Jon's request in episode 289 about transferring itunes credit to a new account I think the best thing may be to just leave the account open and use it to gift apps to other accounts until the credits run out. As far as getting the old purchases to the new devices they will need to set up home sharing to do that.
One of your listeners called about the wifi and Bluetooth on an iPhone 4S not working, This did happen to me once as well. The switch was greyed out as if it was disabled, and nothing I did could change it. I heard of the "put it in a ziplock and place in freezer" thing, but it didn't work for me. Just so he knows, he wasn't alone. In the end, apple just replaced my phone.(Sidebar: before I forget, I had that 4S for the longest time(about 2 years) and never had that problem, but I then did one of those minor bug fixing updates, and then the wireless didn't work.)
Also, two callers had problems with touch ID, and you asked for feedback, I've never had a problem. None. Zero. Zilch. I love it.
And one question, anyone else with a 5S noticing that sometimes a wireless network that you know is there won't show up for the longest time? Just wondering if I'm the only one. (I mean it. It takes quite some time.)
Regards,
Dan, from Orangeville,
Hey Rob,
As someone who is running iOS 7, I can't stand using Apple maps. The area I live in is so messed up on Apple maps that I doubt I'll go back. It is sad but Google maps hasn't steered me wrong.
Regards,
Alex
Hi Rob
Listening to your most recent podcast and I had to stop to disagree. Apple maps is more popular ONLY because it is the default map. To make this worse Apple won't allow you to switch this default. Trust me, I love apple and dislike Google (generally). However, Apples approach to this is, well... very Googlelike!
Apple maps is worse than Google maps. You can't even zoom into a route and my wife recently had a fender bender fighting this frustrating feature gap.
Love your show and generally agree. This one however, I could not disagree more strongly. Apple needs to allow choosing a different map. If there is a way to do this (apart from jail breaking) if love to hear it!
Regards,
Tom in San Antonio
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Josh_cincy_fdbk_google_maps
PLAY MUSIC from Misfit toys
We have a USell back this week as a sponsor - and that is Usell spelled U S E L L - who is an aggregator of buyers of mobile devices. You know you have some old mobile devices - be it iPhones, iPads, or dare we say it Android devices laying around that are collecting dust. Don't be your own little island of misfit mobile toys - sell them off to someone that will love them and use them and touch them all over. You remember how happy that The Charlie in the box was and the spotted elephant was when they found new owners - well that mobile device you have collecting dust or stuck in a draw can feel the same way. And when you go to today in iOS dot com slash usell - you can put a smile on your face too by getting cold hard cash. For example an iPhone 5 64 gb Verizon version right now will get you a top offer of $305 - that is $45 more than the same device would get you at that company that has the name of cheetah food.
Again go to today in iOS dot com slash Usell that is slash U S E L L - to get a bid and sell your old no longer being used mobile devices.
I mentioned I received my RECAP 2 phone recorder - well I had a chance to try it out - and I did so by interviewing the Creator of the RECAP - Igor Ramos for Podcast411 - the interview was done using the RECAP and my iPhone where I called him on his home's cordless phone. I recorded the call on another iPhone in the boss jock app. If you would like to hear that interview - go to podcast411 dot com and look for that interview.
The version I used for the call - was the RECAP 2 - and that version is now part of a Kickstarter campaign - that just launched last week and will run until Jan 14th - this is a great device for recording Phone calls from your iPHone or Skype calls or FaceTime audio calls. I need to get a Skype or FaceTime call recorded and put on this show so you can hear the quality. For now you can hear how a phone call sound in the interview I did. The cost of the Recap 2 is $50 - just search for RECAP in Kickstarter dot com.
What I really like about this - is that it is a essentially a phone hybrid that plugs into your iPhone headphone jack and allows you to record on another iOS device - which most of us have now - be it an older iPhone or an iPad. And it does not require an external power supply and the really great part it is about 1" x 1" x 0.5" - it is smaller than the square reader.
So it is perfect companion for those that travel a lot but still need to do phone or Skype interviews when on the road.
If you go to podcast411 - you will see the full set up for the interview in the picture at the top and also as the episode artwork for ep 229 of podcast411.
Hi Rob, I found this kick starter project and thought you might like it. It is called the Life spot - two words with a dash in the middle.
Regards,
Nathan
Thanks Nathan for the heads up - and this is a nice product for the IT guy needing to get a charging center set up in the office.
While they say it is for Home or office - I can't imagine too many wives being happy with this.
What this is is a tower with multi-charging alcoves - where over all you could charge 8 different devices. Pricing on this is $65 and they have hit their goal of $25,000 - with over $31,000 raised - this project is only running until December 15th at 12:00 AM ET.
Right now the option is to get a tower that supports - 2 Apple 30 pin connectors, 2 lightening connectors and 4 Micro USB connectors.
If they hit their stretch goal of 50k - then you will have the option also of either all Apple devices only or all Micro USB only.
Thanks to Thomas for this next one - which is a post at Makezine dot com titled - An early look at the cortado - the Arduino you'll never plug in.
Ok - so if you go and listen to the interview I did with Igor - you will hear him mention that the RECAP is based on Arduino. Which is a hardware platform similar in a similar ilk as Raspberry pie - except not nearly as complicated.
What is special about the Cortado - is that you send your sketches to the board wirelessly. The module has an RGB LED, a 3 Axis Accelerometer, 8 digital I/O Pins with 2 option analog inputs - and what you can do with it - is really dependent on your imagination.
At this point you are either completely lost - or very excited - if the later - search for Cortado in the show notes for ep 290 over at today in iOS Dot com. If the former - sorry - I will turn off my inner geek now.
PLAYVOICEMAIL - DECLAN_imovie_issue
I asked declan
If he had tried force quitting all open apps - and then going to Settings --> General --> Reset --> Reset Network settings.
He did that and reported back that fixed his issue. It seems in iOS 7 more than any past version of iOS - closed apps are not really closed - until you do a re-boot. Great - iOS 7 is getting more and more like windows - just re-boot and issues go away.
Hi Rob,
I wonder if one of your listeners can help me with a problem for which I haven't found a solution on the Net.
I have two Exchange email accounts set up on my iOS 7 devices, and they both work fine apart from one issue - I cannot move emails between them or from my Gmail or iCloud email accounts to them. Whenever I try one of these moves, the Exchange accounts are greyed out, making moving impossible.
My work IT department can't solve it but said they couldn't see why it shouldn't work OK. Then they mentioned Apple Configurator (for deploying iOS devices in Enterprise), which they said could probably be used to allow moving between multiple Exchanges accounts. But when I had a look at the Configurator pages I got cold feet because I'm no expert and it looked pretty complicated. The last think I want to do is brick my device or do something nasty to my devices.
Does anyone out there have a solution that is simple and doable by a non-expert such as myself? Maybe I only need to follow a couple of basic Configurator steps?
Many thanks indeed,
David
Hi Rob. I really hate not knowing when I have a missed call. I can't always be near my phone, like when its charging. I'd like to know if there are any services or apps to email me when I have a missed call and if I'm lucky maybe even text messages. That way when I'm on my ipad or Mac I can know when I have missed such event. Thank you for your work.
Regards Luis
Hi Luis,
You might want to check into YouMail - they used to have a feature of emailing you when you got a message - not sure if they did that when you missed a call as well
I believe YouMail is still free.
And then Luis emailed me back to say yes it did what he was looking for - so if you are looking to get an email when you get a voicemail or miss a call - take a look at YouMail.
Ok - we got a bunch of feedback about touchID and it working or not working and possible why for the not working part.
VOICEMAIL - DRDAVE_fdbk_touchID
Hello Rob,
Last week I sent you an email about my iphone 5s finger print recognition problem. Subsequently I solved the problem which might be classified as "operator error" After you answered my email I went into settings and Touch ID and Edit. I touched the finger associated with my thumb and moved it around until the Finger line got darker as it recognized my thumb print. I notice that it was recognizing the print much lower on my thumb than what I had been using. At this point I did not rescan my finger. Going out of the settings and back into the normal phone mode I had no problem unlocking the phone using the new position on my thumb.
I attribute part of the problem I had with the phone having this "learning period" of the thumb print and liked the lower part of my thumb better than the upper part. The thing that was confusing about my problem was that the first few hours after I initially scanned my thumb, the phone would unlock on the upper part of my thumb.
Thanks for you help
Jim from Lakewood CO
Hi Rob,
I just got my Gold 32Gb 5s and I too have Touch ID woes. Though for now I am going to blame it on my ever so changing thumbprints. I know that sounds weird but Touch ID worked all weekend fine. However within a couple hours of work on Monday it wouldn't work. I am an electrician in in the industrial sector and my hands take a beating so I'm thinking the scratches and what not to my thumbs temporarily alter my prints (I've tried other fingers too-same issue). Other than that I'm loving my new phone. Huge improvement seeing I'm coming from a 4s.
Thanks for all you do
Dave T
Hi Rob
I wanted to respond to a couple questions that were recently asked on the show.
There was a question about the fingerprint reader on the 5S. I got my 5S on release day. Initially the fingerprint scanner would almost always unlock the phone on the first try. I live in Minnesota. I noticed that as the weather has gotten colder and my hands have gotten drier, I'm having more problems with the fingerprint reader. I frequently end up with enough bad tries that is makes me enter my code. I'm wondering if the dry, cracked hands confuse the reader.
There was a question about missing apps. I just helped someone migrate from a 4s to a 5s. He has iTunes back up his phone to his PC. I told him to sync the old phone before he brought it in, then sync the new phone when he got it home. I said that would take care of nearly everything and make the upgrade process really smooth. It migrated most things but not his apps. IITunes showed no apps for the phone. It turned out he had recently gotten a new work PC. He didn't have administrator rights. Something was wrong with iTunes on his PC. It wasn't signing him in. When he would try to sign in, iTunes crashed. Once he got that resolved, he was able to sign into iTunes and restore his apps.
Lastly, I noticed something about the 5s that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere. I had been using Bluetooth earbuds with my 4s. I would get periodic audio dropouts, especially if I got near someone else using Bluetooth. Using the same earbuds with the 5s, the dropouts are gone. They must have done something with the 5s to improve Bluetooth.
Joe in Minnesota
PLAY VOICEMAILS AROUND TOUCH ID
Justin_PA_fingerprint_sensor
Steve VA_TouchID
Woody_NJ_cmnts_touchId_skin_dried_out
ED_TN_FDBK_touchID
Jeff_FDBK_touchID
Hi Rob,
I was listening to your latest podcast & thought I’d add a few tips that really helped me to obtain consistent results using the fingerprint scanner. First, you’re right on the mark with making sure one tries to calibrate against as much area as possible around the center of the thumb or other finger. Here’s a few more pointers, based upon my experience:
a)While calibrating, lightly place the thumb or other finger on the sensor and do NOT move it until vibration is felt, indicating it is time to lift the finger off the sensor & gently placing it back on again. Don’t get in a hurry calibrating!
b)Likewise, when unlocking one’s phone, touch & hold. I usually press the button to activate the screen, then release pressure on the button, while leaving my thumb stationary, which works well for me.
c)With respect to (a) & (b), too often one lifts the finger or moves it before the scanning is complete. Once again, while calibrating, wait until the phone vibrates before lifting finger, and when opening the phone, lightly hold finger steady on the sensor—don’t move or slide thumb/finger until it unlocks. These two techniques resulted in consistent unlocking for me at least 90% of the time. My phone would still occasionally throw a fit & not read my fingerprint, but it would read properly again later in the day.
d)Final tip, calibrate each thumb or finger to at least two of the five memories. I have my right thumb to 3 of the 5, and my left to the remaining 2 positions, and haven’t had a single miss-read on unlocking since.
Oh, and for a security tip—I tend to control my phone using the tip of my thumb, so when calibrating & unlocking, I use the central part of my thumb (swirl area). Once my phone unlocks, I just slide my thumb off the sensor, which wipes it clean of the print, making it more difficult for someone to obtain a clean copy of my print off the phone.
MS just updated their Bing app for iPad to Version 2.0 - Ok - ok calm down - the episode is almost over you can wait a few minutes to update the app - no need to do it right now.
I mean first up you don't even know what was updated - like the revamped UI to match up with iOS 7 aesthetics. Or that you can now have images and bookmarks saved in the app and synced via MS skydive. Or even more importantly - you can now share search results for Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms - because nothing says oooppps like accidentally sharing a search inquiry for Cream Pie - when you really were looking for a recipe for a cream pie. And god forbid you share a search result when you are looking for an automated teller machine.
Any way v 2.0 of the ping App is out there waiting for you once you get through today's episode. Ok for the rest of you that stayed around - lets move on.
Thanks to all that sent in links to this tragic story. It is about another person that was electrocuted to death because they were using a cheap knock off charger. This was a 28 year old man in Thailand - who was electrocuted while charging up his iPhone 4S. Photos taken at the scene indicate it was a 3rd party charger. Look - Cheap - case - sure - Cheap earphones - No Problem - But Cheap Chargers - Big problem. Stay with just Apple chargers. Is it really worth dying over - and don't say well it was purchased here in the US or Europe so it is safe - wrong - some knock off chargers being sold in the US or Europe are the same basic chargers as the ones that killed or injured those in China. Either get the official Apple chargers or ones that certified by Apple.
PLAY VOICMAIL - Darren_issues_sync_ibooks
Hi Rob I've been following the discussion on making ring tones on the iPhone with GarageBand. Well I downloaded GarageBand, made myself a ring tone, and installed it to my phone all from my phone. I then go into my settings app and select my new custom ring tone. However the next time someone calls me only the default ring tone plays. I then go back into the settings and check to make sure my custom ring tone is selected (and it is, and it does play) yet when someone calls me the default ring tone still plays. Has anyone else had this issue? I am on a 32 GB iPhone 5S running iOS 7.0.4
Regards,
Dave T
PLAY QUOTE FORM GODFATHER PART 3
Noooooooo - I thought we were done with this topic. For anyone else that has created a ringtone via Garagband on your iOS device - were you able to get it to stick?
Hey Rob
I'm not sure if I'm missing something here, but is there anyway to attach a PDF file within the email app, like you can do photos/videos. It's a pain having to go to the PDF shelf in the iBooks app to send that file then go back to the address book because I forgot to copy the email address. Is there any app that does this?
Regards,
AJ
I AJ - Sorry - you can only select a photo or video to put into an email right from the email - Per a PDF - you need to go to the iBooks app select the PDF and then select the option to email it out. Now if you need to get that PDF into a specific email you are responding to - you go to the iBooks app - tap on the doc and tap to email it - then when the email opens with the PDF in it - tap in the email and select all and copy - and then go back to the email you need to reply to and paste it.
But sorry no simple way like with Photos or videos.
Hi Rob,
Since my wife and I got married about a year and a half ago she has been having issues with iCloud. After we got married she changed her gmail account associated with her iCloud to change her last name. Now her 4s, which originally was associated with her old gmail account, will prompt her to sign into iCloud using her old gmail account and password. Her iTunes account only recognizes her new gmail address which, is odd because we have synced her phone and even restored to no avail. Any thoughts on what's causing this or how we can get her iCloud to recognize her new email address?
Regards,
Mason C
Hey Rob,
I just found the obvious solution to an issue I have had for a couple of years. When I first got an iPhone, I started a long process of looking for an app to handle my Gmail.
I had always felt Apple’s Mail integration with Gmail was funky. Which I am told is because Gmail uses non standard whatsiwhosits. (That’s a technical term.) Before the update to Maverick, I was content to keep trying new Gmail apps to see if that was the issue.
However, with the recent updates to Maverick, my Gmail was more than a little glitchy on my Macbook. I ended up checking my multiple gmail accounts in my browser, and was even more frustrated with my apps for iOS 7.
My solution? I got an iCould email account. I had avoided that for years, but my crush on Google has been fading fast with the G+ integration of Youtube, and the issues with my Apple Mail not playing well with my Gmail.
I found out quickly that I had been missing out because anything that hits my iCloud email was in my Apple Mail, and iOS Mail apps instantly. This included the Gmail that I was forwarding through to my iCloud account. Even better, I had no idea that I could have three aliases, so I was able to delete several gmail accounts which helped untangle things that the G+, account switching, youtube has done to my stuff.
For the first time with my iPhone I am happy with how my mail sorts itself with the new iCloud rules, and iCloud account. I guess Google lost me. If Apple comes up with a viable alternative to Youtube, I’d have no reason to use anything Google at all.
I can’t be the only one that resisted an iCloud account for so long. If had known how slick that was, I would have done it years ago.
Thanks for your show. I love your work,
-Wolsey
PLAY VOICEMAIL - BRENT_OKC_unlocked_iphones
For anyone who is a podcaster AND you are hosting with Libsyn - I wanted to let you know for the New Media Expo - if you have a small poster 11 x 14 or smaller or some biz cards 4 x 6 or smaller and you would like them shown off at the Libsyn Booth - email me rob at libsyn dot com. If you are not going - you can snail mail them to me - if you are going - we can set up you bringing them to me at the show.
If you are not going to the new media expo and are interested in getting into podcasting or blogging - this is the show for you - if you are already blogging or podcasting - this is the show to go to to connect with other podcasters and bloggers and learn how to better your craft. I have been to everyone and can not recommend going strong enough. This next one is 4 weeks away - Saturday Jan 4th - the 5th and the 6th. So when it ends you can stay a little longer and go to CES. Which is what I am doing. Which starts on the 7th. I hope to see some of you at NMX or CES in Jan - but definitely NMX as I will be speaking there and Libsyn will have a booth. Again even if you are not going and a libsyn customer email me rob@libsyn dot com to get me your cards or info to show off at the show.
Thanks again to our sponsor Squaretrade. Remember for your iPad warranty - just $89 for a two year warranty - you save $35 by going to square trade dot com slash t i i 2 - that is slash t i i and the number 2. the iPad Mini 2 with Retina is so light and easy to take with you it is truly a mobile tablet you will want to take everywhere - and that means the potential for accidents. Squaretrade dot com / tii 2 for your $89 iPad Mini and iPad Air warranty.
I also want to thank our other sponsor Usell - go to today in iOS dot com slash Usell that is the letters U s e l l - to get a bid and sell your old no longer being used mobile devices.
If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you get the most out of the show and it helps support the show at the same time - plus it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search for Tii in the iTunes app store.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. And don't forget to check out our new Moderated Google Plus community by going to todayinios dot com slash community.
Well at the end of the last episode I said it was likely we would find out shortly about when the iPad Mini would go on sale and I would send out a push when it was announced. And then I finished the episode - uploaded it - made it live - I sent the push notification to All the great Tii App owners that the new episode was live - that was around 3:20 AM ET On the 12th and then I opened my email to find this waiting for me.
Hi Rob,
The apple store is up and the mini retina is available!
Regards, steph
and
Hey Rob,
Its 3:16 am ET in the morning and I just ordered my Pad mini with Retina display Wi-Fi 16GB - Silver
I will be receiving it Nov 20 -23
Can't wait to get it
regards,
Jeff From Cincinnati Ohio
Thanks Steph and Jeff.
And Per their emails I said to myself Hot dig giddy - and jumped on Apple.com and ordered me one of them Silver LTE iPad Mini with Retina and 128 GB of storage. And had it engraved - This is Mom's iPad go get your own. At that time it said it ships in 5 to 10 days with delivery set for between Nov 26 th and Dec 4th.
And then I sent out a Push saying the iPad Mini with Retina was available for sale. Ummm I mean First I sent out the push about it being available and then I ordered my Wife's iPad Mini - Yeah Yeah That's the ticket. In either case - the iPad Mini I ordered has shipped from the factory in China and is in transit with the new delivery date currently set for Monday the 25th. The iPad currently is in Anchorage Alaska - so it is in the US. It had spent over 76 hours and 15 Minutes in Hong Kong - earlier this week. What it did in Hong Kong for 76 hours and 15 Minutes is something maybe is best if we did not talk about it when it gets here. Hong Kong can be a city of vices. If all goes well - Monday the iPad Mini will be here.
It was Strange for Apple to just with no fan fare make the iPad Mini Retina available for Online order. Many said this is because Apple is facing a major shortage for the holidays. An in Apples low key Press Release announcing its availability - Phil Schiller said quote we’re working hard to get as many as we can in the hands of our customers. unquote Which does not sound awfully comforting for those looking to get one. And you would think delivery times would be slipping on Apple dot com if a shortage was truly in the cards. Except when I ordered mine originally - The delivery date listed on Apple.com for all but the 16 and 32 GB wifi units was listed as 5 to 10 days - with the 16 and 32 GB wifi units listed as 1 to 3 business days. And a week later the delivery dates had not changed at all. But then on Friday the 22nd - there was a delivery date change to 5 to 10 business days for all models.
Does this mean there is now a shortage and you will not get your before Christmas? No not if you order before the 7th of December. Anything after that and it is a crap shoot at best.
As for me it will be about a 2 week delivery schedule and I ordered with in 30 Minutes of it going on line - to no advanced warning. So think how things will be after Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Definitely best to order sooner rather than later if you want it for Christmas. Because - times are starting to slip just a little bit now.
I bought an iPad Mini with Retina for my wife today as a surprise Christmas gift. She has an iPhone 4 now with iCloud backup. When we go set the iPad mini up and it asks if we want to use her iPhone iCloud account to restore from, what do you suggest we do? I don't want her iPad to have a bunch of iPhone apps on it. Can she still use her same Apple ID but choose not to restore her apps but to start with the stock iPad Apps? That way she can download the iPad versions of the apps that she wants.
Regards,
John
Hi John,
If your wife has a whole bunch of custom settings / email accounts and other items she would rather not have to reset up - then use the back up - and just delete out all the apps she does not want.
However I tend to find starting from scratch will present less issues. Personally I gave this some thought per if I want to set up my wife's on order iPad Mini Retina from her backup of her current iPad 3rd gen - or did I want to start from scratch. And I decided it would be best to start from scratch - as it should mean a lot less likely chance of issues.
So I am literally going to give her a fresh start.
Then if she does not like the fresh start and misses all her book marks in the browsers and emails - I can then do a restore from the back up - after she asks me to - and then if anything goes wrong - well my Butt is covered.
Not that I fear the woman. But Change and my wife - are not things that go well together.
RW
Well I don't have my new iPad mini Retina or iPMR for those so disposed to speaking in acronimish. But I can at least see some iPMR porn over a ifixit where they lifted the skirt on the iPMR.
So what did we learn with this tear down. Well first Off - it appears Apple got a really good deal on a bulk purchase of Glue - because ones again they use it liberally inside the iPad Mini Retina - which means it is not an easy device to take about or service.
We also learned as expected it has 1 GB of RAM. The Battery in the IPad Mini Retina is not surprisingly bigger - now 24.3 WHr's vs the original mini's 16.3 WHr's - this difference in battery is why the new mini is just slightly thicker than the originally mini.
The A7 in the iPad Mini is the same exact one as in the iPhone 5S - which means it is running at 1.3 GHz - and not the 1.4 GHz of the iPad Air's A7 processor. So it is not the exact same processor of the iPad Air. More on that later.
Overall iFixit gives the iPad Mini Retina a 2 out of 10 for repairability.
On the plus side - the LCD and Glass are not fused together and can be replaced independently - and the Battery is not soldered to the logic board or other components - but with all the glue in there - forget about replacing the battery on your own - unless you do repairs for a living.
Any way for those looking for iPad Mini Retina porn - check out the link in the show notes titled iPad Mini Retina teardown - iFixit.
So now that the iPad Mini Retina is in the wild - that means Benchmark testings are being run. And unlike with Samsung that lies, cheats and manipulates bench mark testing - Apple allows for real testing of the devices. So how did the iPad Mini with the A7 processor do - Pretty much exactly how we hoped it would - And that is it smoked / destroyed / humiliated all other 7 and 8 inch tablets on the market. The only tablet that beats the iPad Mini Retina is the iPad Air. And while they are close - the iPad Air is running at 1.4 GHZ while the iPad Mini is clocked down to 1.3 GHZ - which is also where the iPhone 5S is running. For Speed benchmark tests - the iPad Mini Retina - is running about 1.5 to 2X the speed of the Nexus 7 for comparison sake.
There is one notable difference between the iPad Air and the iPad Mini Retina - And that is in color Gamut - as in the iPad Air's display is much better in this area vs the iPad Mini - so who does this effect - basically Professional photographers -
Will every day folks notice the difference - Not from what I have read or heard back. I will compare it to the iPad 3rd Gen once I get it - with it being the iPad mini retina. There was one other issue with issue in quotes - raised by Marco Arment. Who said there was an image retention issue for some units - and he has a test you could run. Interesting thing is I have read and heard from a few people - that when they ran this test on their new iPad Mini Retina - the testing of their device showed their new device was fine - but when they ran the test on their old iPad Mini original - the unit failed the test - which is interesting in that they never saw an issue. Mind you it is being reported this image retention issue is for a small % of units - so what is the test and should you run it? Well per the later part of the question - only run it if you think you are seeing an issue - and to run it Look for the link in the show notes titled - Image Retention on Retina iPad Mini
I will run this on my iPad mini when it comes in - and if you do run it - let me know your results.
I will talk more about this once I have one - but in the mean time there are some links to check out in the show notes.
I should point out one place where the iPad Mini Retina fell behind some other tablets was in the previously mentioned color Gamut test - where the 7" Nexus and Kindle tablets had better Color Gamut. You will likely see those test results mentioned over and over and over again. Because you know if they talk about any other specs - then iPad Mini kicks the but of those devices - like where it had over 35% more screen real estate or is 1.5 to 2+ Times faster in benchmark tests. Again if color Gamut is a huge thing for you - then you don't need me to explain it - and if you do - it is not a big thing for you - and likely not an issue at all for you. More on this in the next episode for sure.
Well, as promised the new Mini was waiting for me when I arrived home.
You believe it still had 7.0.3 on it? I mean ..
Well, anyhow, what is there to say. It's a great device.
Of small note as I've not seen this pointed out elsewhere, the new mini ships with the full sized iPad's 12-watt charger rather than the previous Mini's iPhone charger. The new Mini has a bigger battery.
Also, I was able to get on the t-mobile free data plan quickly and easily without calling anybody. I just set it up from the Cellular submenu under Settings. No numbers were required off of the unit itself which is important to me as I am blind thus no sighted assistance was required.
With regard to the Apple $69 leather case:
It fits well and looks and feels great.
The opening to allow access to the lightning port is large enough to allow a non Apple cable like my collection of Amazon Basics Lightning cables.
Regards,
Kevin Barry
So Kevin,
Were you able to get the free 200 MB plan from T-mobile right from the iPad Mini?
Any special steps needed?
Great news about the bigger charger.
Hi Rob,
Directly from the iPad mini. Nothing more than fill in new account info, without any payment info, in the cellular settings section.
It assigned a phone number and off I went.
Really couldn't have been any easier.
Regards,
Kevin
Hi Rob,
I got your notification about the mini 2 hrs. after it went live. Ordered a 64 gig, space grey Verizon. Web site said delivery Nov. 26 - Dec. 6. Unit shipped with a delivery date of Nov. 20. Arrived Nov. 18.
I love it. It came fully charged and ready to go. I love it.
Thanks for the heads up.
Regards,
Tom
Hi Rob,
I was browsing the Apple Store app on my iPhone last Tuesday and did a double take when I saw the link to reserve and collect an iPad mini with retina display. Pickups were only same-day so I got online at 6am the next day and reserved a 64Gb black/slate wifi model from my local store in Norwich UK.
Unboxing, I was amazed at how light it was compared to my current iPad 3rd gen which normally resides at home, it's size and weight just scream - "take me with you!"
The speed of the iPad is the second shock to the system - it flies. Apps like my daily newspaper which was unflatteringly sluggish to open on the iPad3 in over 20 seconds now opens in under 5.
The speaker is louder, with more depth of sound and better base. The display has the razor sharp crispness that I got used to with the full size iPad. My only criticism is that the icon colours lack a slight depth to them and appear very slightly paler or washed out. I am being picky here but there is a noticeable difference.
I was slightly concerned about reports on Twitter of some users complaining about image burn-in but i can see no evidence of this in my unit as of yet.
Lastly, I'm just starting to get into the new free Apple apps that I have at my disposal now, iMovie for one has loads of potential - they are not pre-loaded so need to be downloaded from the App Store.
You have to wonder sometimes what it is that Apple did to piss off the UK press - as it is rare I don't see major link bate - Apple bashing headlines - when it is an article out of the UK. The latest is the following headline from the Register in the UK - Quote Apple's new iPad Mini ALREADY set for Black Friday PRICE SLASH unquote. So does this mean Apple is slashing the price of the new iPad mini retina. NOPE - what it means are some stores are offering up gift cards to those that buy the iPad Mini on Black Friday - but that is also true for other tablets as well. In the case of Target - they are offering up a $75 gift card if you are lucky enough to get an iPad mini retina on black friday. You get a $100 gift card for the iPad Air.
Going to the email bag
Hi Rob,
I got Walmart's Black Friday ad on Nov 12th. One thing they listed is the iPad Mini (non-retina) for $299 plus a $100 gift card. There's a 1 hour in-stock guarantee, so if there isn't one available, you can still buy it for that price and pick it up later.
They are also giving $75 gift cards with the purchase of an iPhone 5S or 5C, plus discounts. The 5S is listed for $189 and the 5C is $45. With the gift card they are giving you $30 to buy the 5C.
Regards,
Myron U
Thanks Myron for that heads up. Folks if you hear of any other good Black Friday deals - please email them into the show. Or go to today in iOS dot com slash community and post up there any deals you find.
Apple released last week a minor update to iOS 7 going to iOS 7.0.4. As with an Dot zero dot X release it is all about the bugs man. The key one being the FaceTime Bug and there is a security patch. As always if / when updating to iOS 7.0.4 - which seems to be fine to update to - if you don't plan on Jailbreaking - more on that for jail breakers later in the show - but for non-jailbreakers - it does seem fine to update. I updated and have had no issues. As always before you update / upgrade. 1. Force quit all open apps - to - Back up / sync and back up again your iOS device - then do a reset - reset network settings - when your device reboots - make sure you reconnect to Wifi - and then go and do your update.
So iOS 7.1 Beta 1 is out to Devs. Personally I am holding off until at least the 3rd beta before trying it out.
That said here is what is new - one is there is now a second keyboard to choose from. The new one is a dark keyboard which is supposed to really help some that are sight impaired better see the keys. There is also improved contrast overall - where you have the option to reduce transparency turning the Dock and folder backgrounds a dark grey - so there are actually two options to chose - one called Reduce Transparency and the other called Darken Colors. I know a few of you were asking for help in this area - and nice to see Apple stepping up and helping out there. There is also a new HDR auto mode. Which it then looks at all 3 exposures and picks the best one for you. And now you can choose wether or not to upload all your burst mode photos. So far those are some of the biggest changes in iOS 7.1 Beta 1 found so far - more to come on this shortly. As always with the betas - I do not recommend them for anyone other than devs and testers of apps. And really if you don't like when things break or don't go right stay away from the betas.
Hi Rob,
I just got a new iPad Air 32GB by utilizing the Target deal last week to trade in my iPad Mini 16GB for $200. I also signed up for a Target "RedCard" to get an additional 5% off my purchase AND was able to do all this at a Target in Delaware (no sales tax)- so my total out of pocket expense was about $380. That helped me justify the jump from Mini to Air.
I wasn't planning on getting a warranty on this, but after listening to your podcast today and being reminded of the SquareTrade deal you offer, I just went for it. I usually always get Apple Care warranties on my iPhones because they have saved my bacon more than once by handing me a new phone on the spot while I was traveling. I always liked this aspect of Apple Care because when my phone goes down, I need it replaced immediately.
However, it dawned on me that this is not the case for my iPad. I could live for a few days without my iPad if I had to send it in for replacement with SquareTrade. And even though I only spent $380 on this, the replacement cost would be $600- so $89 for SquareTrade's extensive coverage started looking better and better.
I just wanted to let you know that your great offer (and reminder) had me go for it. If any of your other listeners were reluctant to go with SquareTrade for their phones due to the shipping time involved, I'd suggest re-approaching the topic for iPads.
Thanks again!
-Matt G
Hi Matt - thanks for taking advantage of the offer for the iPad warranties - which folks if you go to square trade dot com slash tii 2 - that is slash t i i and the number 2 - you will get a 2 year warranty for just $89 - that is a savings of $35 off the normal price for being a Tii listener.
Per matt's comments about turn around for repairs - I contacting the folks at square trade and asked them the following.
Hi Kenny,
Quick question - When it comes to getting an iPhone or iPad repaired.
What are all the options for squaretrade customers?
And what is the option that causes the shortest amount of time without the unit?
I was thinking you can bring the device to Apple store - and then squaretrade reimburses you? Is that one of the options?
Thanks
Rob W
And their response was Quote
Hi Rob,
Genius Bar is one of the options and also one of the best. With regards to shortest amount of time that goes without the unit, it really depends on the severity of the issue and what bandwidth the repair shop has. If you’re talking about a cracked screen, my recommendation would be to do some research of local repair shops online and then call them to see how quickly they can repair your device. We’ll reimburse you for the cost as long as you can furnish a receipt.
Regards,
-Kenny at Squaretrade
Unquote.
So you can get your iOS device repaired at an Apple store or at a local repair guy. Which is really nice for those not close to an Apple store. For iPhone warranties go to square trade dot come slash t i i - and for the iPad go to square trade dot com slash t i i and the number 2. And Yes absolutely 100% I am getting a square trade warranty for my iPad Mini when it gets hear and I already have one for my iPhone 5S. It is nice having that piece of mind.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Sharde_ringtones_tell
Into The Email Bag.
Hey Rob,
In episode 287 a viewer was looking for a way to create a ringtone of a song on an iOS device without syncing it to iTunes. The only app that I can think of that can do this is GarageBand. The app allows you to not only import songs from your music library into a project but also allows you to export that same project into a ringtone.
Regards,
Michael M.
Hi Rob,
I know that you can create a ringtone and apply it on the iPhone itself using the GarageBand app. It is now free with the iOS 7 update, so that makes it a much better option. I have done it several times and I can create a ringtone from a song I import on my iPhone. I hope this helps, as I have been doing this for a while and surprised you haven't heard it before. Keep up the great work rob. I look forward to this every week.
Regards,
Ben K
Hi Rob,
How are you?
Just responding to the caller on Episode 0288 about ringtones.
I thought you already mentioned this approach, but you can create ringtones using only an iPhone and GarageBand.
I outlined it last month in this video on my site here: http://appchasers.com/2013/10/17/how-to-create-ringtones-using-only-an-iphone/
Its not the most straightforward method, but it works.
I've experienced the samen 2001 error the 2001 error and did all the advised things on the apple site and on the internet. After bringing it in at an Apple store i got the iPhone replaced. It had something to do with a damaged baseband on the iPhone during the update or restore of iOS.
The Genius whas nog able to repair the baseband. so he gave me a new iPhone.
kind regards,
Paulo Dekkers
Hi Rob,
On episode 288 you had a listener ask how he could stream his content from his apple tv to his iOS device. By chance I heard someone talk about this just yesterday. From how I understand it his solution did not brighter the Apple TV nor the iOS device to be jail broken. However - since it was on a iOS/Mac developer podcast it did involve downloading, compiling and installing a application from GitHub. From what I hear applications like this one sometimes also appear on the AppStore but usually get taken down again pretty quickly (like the screen recorders I keep looking for). I didn't pay attention to it because I don't have access to any Apple TV but would gladly go digging after it again. But since this requires a developer account I won't do so unless anyone actually is interested.
From email and also posted up on the google plus community at todayinios dot com / community -
Hi Rob
How about asking people to share their favorite holiday aps?
Karen H
And one response was - Grinchmas - that from Carolyn P. If you have your favorite Holiday App - let us know what it is send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com - or put up a post in the google+ community.
Speaking of which here are a couple of the other items posted up there. From Carolyn M - she asked - What is your favorite podcast app to fully enjoy Today in iOS. There were 9 responses and they were - iCatcher, The Tii App three times, DownCast twice, the Podcasts App twice, and Stitcher. Go there and add in your own favorite podcast App for listening to this show and others.
There was also a post asking about is anyone has downloaded the iOS 7.1 Beta and what the new keyboard looks like - to which David D said the keyboard in iOS 7.1 beta is a big improvement and you can see the keys better and he changed over to the new black keyboard.
And there are other posts with other questions and comments and news - go to today in iOS dot com slash community to partake in that google plus community which by the way is a friendly no spam zone and no angry over compensating Android fan boy zone. I do actually look at public posts for those that apply to get in and if they have reviews or anything pro Android in their posts - I don't even let them in. I am going to air on the side of being too much of a gate keeper - as I am in other Apple / iOS Google+ communities and they are just run amok with Android Fan boys. So if you are someone that has been turned off by the name calling and vitriol found on other Google+ communities - this one is highly moderated. with a basic one strike rule. Again go to today in iOS dot com / community to request to join.
Ok - Quick redaction of earlier comments - here is a post about apple from the UK that is actually I think pro Apple - it is from the Guardian and is titled - Apple Maps How Google Lost when everyone thought it had won.
Remember last year when the world was completely killing apple over apple Maps - and I was saying - hey it is not bad at all - and I actually thought it was good. Yeah - well guess what once you took the tech press out of the equation it seems the majority of iOS users sided with me. In your face Android Fan boys posing as tech press. See Comscore did some looking at usage and when they found was that For iPhone owners - 35 Million in the US used Apples Map app in September compared to just 6 Mil using Google maps - and of that 6 mil - 2 mil were using iPhones that could not upgrade to iOS 6 and Apples maps app. So just 4 mil of iOS 6 and 7 users use Google Maps vs 35 Mil for Apples Map. Google clearly lost that battle. I know personally I can't remember the last time I opened the Google Map app - I use the Apple Map app and have for a long long time now.
Don't feel bad for Google - it was their refusal to allow turn by Turn that got them booted from iOS to start with.
And now it is very clear - Apples Maps is by far and really not surprisingly the clear winner of Maps on iOS. Not surprisingly - because people like using the default apps. Which is why the Podcasts App is the number one Apps for consuming Podcasts - more so than all the other apps out there combined and times by a few.
And while the Podcasts app much to my chagrin is not pre-installed - it does get installed in the group of free apps including Find My iPhone and iBooks. Why Apple does not make all their apps pre-installed apps can probably only be explained by an Accountant.
There is an article with Article in quotes and italicized - by Henry Blodget titled Come on Apple fans its time to admit that the company is blowing it. - and well The only thing it is time to admit is Henry Blogdet is an idiot. I mean Blind Monkeys throwing typewriters at broken clocks would be right more often then Mr Blodget and his link bait Apple loathing articles.
No sorry no link to his article in the show notes - because it is poppy cock to put it nicely. So for those asking for my thoughts there they are. He is basically calling for Apple to get in line with all the Android manufacturers and sell product for a loss so they can make it up in Market share. And then he skews and misrepresents market share - talking about the latest quarters numbers like they are installed base numbers - which they are not - and they were the quarter leading up to the launch of new iOS devices - this quarters numbers will be significantly different. So either Mr Blodget is an idiot in that he does not know better or he is for some reason purposefully misleading. Based on his past articles - I would guess it is a combo of both.
Hi Rob,
Jon from Orange County CA here. This is a link to a YouTube video i stumbled on which gives another reason Why NFC is a bad idea.
On the rumor front Apple is said to be either buying PrimeSense - or has already bought Primesense. The rumor of the deal being done comes from Calcalist in Israel - which is where Primesense is located and this is the company that makes the the 3D sensing tech in the MS Kinnect. Now if this all sounds vaguely familiar that is because the source Calcalist reported the same thing back in Mid July - at that time Apple was supposedly paying $280 Mil. This time they are supposedly paying $345 Mil. All Things D is saying their sources are saying it is in the works - but no deal is done yet. However the Guardian is reporting it now as a done deal. But they are giving Calcalist as their source. With Primesense stating the do not comment on rumors or recycled rumors - oh Touché.
Thanks to Tash and Dr John for this next one. Which also fits in the Rumor category - or the rumor of a delay to a product that have been overly rumored to be coming next year for the past 4+ years. And that of course is the Full on Apple TV. Seems NPD display search Analyst Paul Gagnon thinks the main reason for the delay in the full on Apple TV is Apple inability to secure deals for Proprietary content.
Now that is a reason I can believe - Apple would not want to launch an Apple TV with out the best ecosystem around it. But other rumors say the delay is because Apple is focusing on Wearables - yes because you know Apple has 146 Billion and 10's of thousands of employees and they do not have the resources or bandwidth to develop both a smart watch and a full on TV at the same time. Yeah not buying that either.
Per a full on Apple TV being delayed because of content - Well at some point Apple just needs to get it out there - let us Apple fan boys buy our new 4K apple TV and then Apple use the installed base to help convince studios offer up the content Apple needs - Of course if Apple had purchased Netflic a year ago when the stock was at $55 instead of $350 - it would have helped on that whole content thingy issue a bunch. Just sayin.
Seems the iPhone and iPad appear in an ad by China Mobile showing many devices. While not direct confirmation of the iPhone going to China Mobile - it is starting to look like it will be sooner rather than later for the iPhone on China Mobile.
Seems there is some text about December 18th and Jan 18th being potential dates for some sort of launch.
Interesting data out of the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners or CIRP - they looked at new iPhone buyer and what they found was that 20% were coming over from Android. That is up from 16% a year earlier.
They also found that 65% of iPhone buyers were upgrading from another iPhone. That is up from 55% a year earlier. Where there was a drop off was in owners of a feature phone - because there are a lot less of those folks who never owned a smartphone out there.
A new report about Mobile Malware is out or put another way - another report about Android is out. 97% of Mobile Malware according to the latest report from F-Secure targets Android. That is out of the 259 total Mobile Threat Families and variants that have been detected - 252 out of the 259 are found on Android. The remaining 7 are found on Symbian OS. And no threats as in zip none nada - were reported for iOS, Blackberry or Windows Phone 8. Which brings us back to the laughter at the Gartner conference when Eric Schmidt said Android was more secure than iOS. F-Secure gives a bunch of advice on how to secure your Android device and best practices and where to go to get apps. Or you could you know just get an iPhone or I guess a Windows Phone
Here is an interesting Hack done on a Galaxy S3 - Researchers - put software on an S3 and also a Nexus S - which allowed them to use the camera and microphones to figure out what passcode you were entering on your device. They created a side channel PIN Skimmer. With this they could get into devices over 50% of the time after just five attempts. Granted it is just by researchers at this time and likely never will be in the field - but it seems like it is much more likely for someone to hack your security that way then via a finger print hack. Actually it makes touch ID look more attractive -- especially when you think of the future of mobile payment options.
VOICEMAIL _ DAVE_TIP_BRICK_ISSUE
Hi Rob.
As in most recent podcast 31m46 from shavan ; mentioning a great app to report crimes, potholes etc.
I found this app very similar to a fantastic app I've been using here in Australia called "Snapsolve" it doesn't let you report crimes per say but basically let's you report anything council related ; eg. Damaged street light etc. with the handy feature of letting you take a photo tagged with gps coordinates. I've used it to report a pothole and within a week the problem was fixed.
Regards Matthew
Hi Rob,
Per other applications like the one in Hawaii to report civic issues and problems.
I have an app called “PublicStuff”. Information at <www.publicstuff.com>. The description on the app store is as follows:
Communicate directly with your community leaders to resolve issues in your city and neighborhood from anywhere in the United States!
Here’s how it works:
1. See something that needs to be fixed?
2. Submit a request and even attach a photo.
3. City Staff receives the request.
4. The City fixes the problem!
5. You get notified when the request is completed.
You can also monitor requests, provide comments and follow other requests in your community. Download the app today to get started!
It does not have every city in it but the list is growing. They suggest you make your community aware of it and they do have information for municipal administrations on the web site.
Regards,
Michael R M
Hi Rob,
I’d like to react to the caller to your show that told about an app on Kauai to help signal things to the police. Something similar exists in The Netherlands, where the app “Buiten Beter” (pronounced roughly like “beytuhn baiter” and literally translated to “outside better”) can be used all over the country to signal a wide range of issues to the local government. It requires a registration, so it is not anonymous, but once you’ve registered you can use the app anywhere, and based on your location the information is automatically sent to the right authority within the area where you’re reporting from. Followup is through e-mail. Things that can be reported through the app are varied, and nicely categorized into groups lilke, street lighting, garbage, broken water draining, or problems with the pavement. Like Kauai, The Netherlands is a small place, but it is less exotic and you may have other listeners there that can benefit from this app.
Best regards,
Rob Hooft
Hey Rob,
I've got a 5s running 7.0.3, I ordered 4 lightning cables from cellphoneshop.net and all 4 have been working perfectly. I'm guessing that some third party cables must still be working.
-Luke
Indianapolis
Hi Rob,
I have had my iphone 5s now for about 5 weeks and I can not get my thumb print to work good. I can get other fingers to work but not the thumb( either right or left). I have tried deleting it and adding it back several times but it just seems to work good for half a day and then gets harder and harder to have the fingerprint recognized. I have even tried to install the same thumb print in two different memory locations ( say finger 1 and 2).
Other than that one problem, I really like the 5s.
Any suggestions?
Regards,
Jim from Lakewood CO.
Hi Jim,
When you are setting up your thumb print - are you making sure to touch with all the different parts of your thumb - the sides, middle, top and bottom of your thumb print?
The more of your thumb print you give it when setting it up the easier it should be to unlock.
For me it works great - no issues at all.
Hi Rob,
I will try it again but the setup kind of coaches you to register all parts of your finger. I would be interesting to see if any of your listeners have had any problems.
Thanks
Jim
Hi Rob just heard the episode where one of your listeners was reporting problems with disappearing email account passwords and being asked to reenter them every few days.
I have had this issue myself prior to iOS 7 in since its launch as well. It happens infrequently and seems to happen to a number of my accounts. I currently have five different IMAP account that my phone accesses and it seems that this issue can happen with any of them. Typically restarting the phone for completely shutting down the mail app and relaunching takes care of this but I also do not know why it happens in the first place
Regards,
Chris
VOICEMAIL - PAUL_TIP_CLEANING_LINT
Well I received one of My Kickstarter Projects - this is the RECAP project - actually I received it twice. Well he sent me the one I funded - and I tested it out and it did not allow you to record on iPhones - but he had another version - the RECAP 2 - and he sent me a prototype of it to test out and it works great. This device is a little smaller than the Square - and I can connect the output of it from my iPhone to an iOS device and then record that call right in the boss jock app. This will work for a phone call, a Skype to Skype call, a FaceTime audio or other voip call. And the good news is he is launching a new kickstater project of the RECAP 2 - and this one is to support iOS device recordings. I talked with Igor the project lead a little this past week and will do an interview with him this weekend for podcast411 for my next episode and I will also try to get some of that audio over here on the next episode as well. And will of course mention it once the next Kickstarter project kicks off.
Again this is a very small and portable device and all you need is an iPhone and another iOS device and one 1/8" to 1/8" cord.
I want to say Kudos to Igor the engineer / designer of this - not just for getting me the iOS device to test - but also for hitting his date targets and for having a really good sounding device. And if all goes well - I will have an episode of Podcast411 where you can hear how well it works. I Probably will do something on an upcoming episode of the Feed as well. This really is a great device for anyone with two iOS device and is looking to record phone calls.
Thanks Kevin for the heads up on this one. Thingcharger - one word - is a unique / ingenious way to get charging modules for your iOS devices. Essentially what it is device about the same dimensions as a face plate cover for a single / two prong out cover. and about the depth of 3/4 of an inch. And you plug this into the outlet so it covers the outlet and at the top is a charging connector for your device.
The cost of this is $29 for one Thingcharger or or $58 for 3 ThingCharger or $87 for 5 Thingchargers or - well there are a bunch of options.
There is also a $9 adder for a lightening Tip. And a $5 adder for shipping in the US.
The goal on this was $25,000 - they blew way through it - and are currently at over $200,000 with 21 days left.
And you can stack these too - so you can plug a few into the same outlet - say in the kitchen - so in the morning your phone and your significant others phone and your iPad are all charged up.
Say at the office you can spread them around. Where there is an out let it can now be a charging station - with no cords.
Search for ThingCharger - one word in the show notes for ep 289 or search for it over at indiegogo dot com.
By the way I really really did not do this device justice - it is a really great idea and it looks great and they even have a power button so it is not drawing power when not in use.
We have a USell back this week as a sponsor - and that is Usell spelled U S E L L - who is an aggregator of buyers of mobile devices. You know you have some old mobile devices - be it iPhones, iPads, or dare we says it Android devices laying around that are collecting dust. Don't be your own little island of misfit mobile devices - sell them off to someone that will love them and use them and touch them all over. You remember how happy that The Charlie in the box was and the spotted elephant was when they found new owners - well that mobile device you have collecting dust or stuck in a draw can feel the same way. And when you go to today in iOS dot com slash usell - you can put a smile on your face too by getting cold hard cash. For example an iPhone 5 64 gb Verizon version right now will get you a top offer of $315 - that is $25 more than the same device would get you at that company that has the name of cheetah food.
Again go to today in iOS dot com slash Usell that is slash U S E L L - to get a bid and sell your old no longer being used mobile devices.
Thanks to Tash for the heads up on this next one.
Which is an article from TUAW looking at calculator accuracy. Essentially it is a test where you take the square root of 2 and multiply it by the square root of 2 - an accurate calculator gives you an answer of 2 - a not so accurate calculator gives you an answer of 1.9999 something. So when you do this with the Apple stock calculator the answer you get is 2 - so that is a pass for Apple. There were some other tests - which well are sooooo exciting I just don't want to spoil what they are - but I will let you know the results - iOS Stock Calculator passed the tests.
So go ahead and turn that calculator to Landscape mode and take advantage of the 16 digit multi function and as we now know very accurate calculator.
By the way in iOS 7 - Memory plus went away in Portrait mode - so if you want to use the memory of the calculator you need to turn it to landscape mode.
Thanks to Tash for this next one which is also from TUAW and it is about the App Roman Ruins HD for iPad.
So lets say you are a fan of the most excellent History of Rome Podcast - but you don't have the coinage to plan a vacation to Italy to visit the ruins of some of the places Mike talked about in his podcast series. Well now for less than Ten bucks. You can virtually visits the ruins of many Roman sites - with over 1,500 images and lots and lots of text to explain those images and the ruins they are showing. It is actually at the time I put the show notes together on sale for $4.99 - down from the normal $9.99 price. Again for all you History of Rome fans - this sounds like a nice complement to what you learn from Mike. Or if you are planning to visit Italy - you can use this to scope out where to go before hand.
I have an issue that I thought you or your listeners could help me resolve. When my kids were young we had only one Apple ID that we shared to buy apps, music, and games to a shared iPod. Now that my kids are older and have their own iTunes account and phones, I would like to transfer the iTunes credit to another account but can't seem to figure out how to do it. Everything I have researched comes back to "your just out of luck". I would appreciate any help or suggestions on how to use the iTunes credit so I can delete that account and be done with it.
Thanks for the help and love the show.
John in Lee's Summit, MO
Hi rob. Love your show. I have an iPhone 4, 4s and iPad 2 running iOS 7.0.4 and every now and then on the 4s my contacts in both the phone app and contact app disappear for no good reason. After turning off and on contacts in the icloud account page the contacts will reappear but then I have to reassign all the ringtones. Have you or any of your listeners have this problem or know of a solution
Again love your show
Scott Moore
Northlake IL
Hi Rob
I know Apple says the iPad Air should get 10 hours of battery life, but since my last full charge, mine is showing nineteen hours and 27 minutes of usage with 9% still left - and, yes, I ran it completely empty before the full charge. Can this be right? That usage has included watching a couple of shows on Netflix as well as a lot of gaming.
Regards,
Jon
Hi Jon - Yes sounds right. One thing Apple has always done is be conservative in their Battery Life estimates for their iPad line up. So for you to get 19+ hours is not a shocker. I am really looking forward to seeing what the iPad mini with retina does for battery life testing. If my wife lets me test it that is.
Hi,
I wonder if yourself or the listeners could help me.
I have moved from a Windows PC to a MacBook Pro. When transferring files I used HomeSharing on itunes to transfer the music and apps from my old laptop to my Mac and I think that is where I stuffed up.
I de-authorised the itunes on the old laptop, which has since gone. When I authorised the itunes on my Mac, it would not sync with my iphone 5, ipod touch and ipad. I managed to get the music to sync but I can not sync the apps. I have deleted them on the devices and then reinstalled them via itunes, I have also tried resetting the devices but still itunes will not sync the apps.
Am I doing something wrong, or is there some setting on itunes that I can not see?
Thanks for any help that you can give.
Kindest regards
Greg
VOCIEMAIL - BEN_IOS7_SIRI_ISSUE_Location
Hi Rob,
I'm curious if you or any of the listeners have an issue with the touch id sensor on the new 5s not working well after either swimming or taking a long shower/doing dishes, etc.? I swim frequently, and whenever I do, the touch id sensor has a lot of trouble with my thumb print for quite a while afterwards. I tried adding a new fingerprint during this stage hoping it might work better, but it does not. Overall Im not really pleased with how good the sensor seems to work for me, as I frequently throughout the day have trouble getting into my phone, taking 2 or 3 tries, and sometimes having to enter my code instead. I would appreciate your thoughts on this, and any suggestions you might have.
Love the show!
Thanks,
--David
--
Hi David,
I have not had that issue - but I have not tried it after a long swim or bath yet.
I would suggest if you are having issues in none water induced wrinkledge cases - that you remove all your finger prints or at least the ones you have issues for and retrain the finger you are having issues with.
When retraining - make sure to move your finger around to get the sides and the tip - not just the center.
For me it works great - it is rare I have to try a 2nd or 3rd time - and I can't remember the last time I had to enter the code - out side of after a reboot.
Rob W
Hey Rob:
Seem to have a problem on a iPhone 4S where the wifi turns off and would not turn back on. I'd go to settings and no matter how I tried I could not switch it on. Did all the usual things. Reset network, force quick apps, restarted and other things. Also affected was Bluetooth. I saw that several people had a problem with this and one of the fixes was put it in a zip lock freezer bag and then in the freezer for 15 min. I did this once and no help. Did it a second time and it worked. Is it a hardware or software issue? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Conrad
Hi Rob
I'm looking for an English keyboard for the iPhone that has a question mark on the first screen, with the letters. It is tedious to switch to another screen to access the ? mark. I have set up a shortcut where qq = ? but that leaves an awkward space after the last word and before the question mark.
If you are not aware of a solution please toss this one to the crowd.
For those looking to Jailbreak or are Jailbroken - what does Muscle Nerd of the iPhone Dev team say about iOS 7.0.4 and 7.1 beta.
Well first if your are jailbroken - avoid both.
If you are not jailbroken but running iOS 7.x already - then best to avoid both - but if you did update to 7.0.4 - no biggie - you are ok.
Per 7.1 beta 1 - he says just avoid it as it is buggy anyway. And basically if you are someone that wants to JB - don't do beta's any who.
But good news for those that might have updated to 7.0.4 - it will not effect your ability to jailbreak or so say MuscleNerd.
Hi Rob,
I have a IPad Mini with 6.X ios and jailbreak. since the jailbreak community reported that it is ok to upgrade to 7.04. Should I do so now before ios 7.1 gets released?
Regards,
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
No - not unless you want to be without a Jailbreak for a while.
There is no current jailbreak for iOS 7.x
Muscle Nerd is just saying later on when there is one - it is ok to be at 7.0.4 now. So they are not saying there is a jailbreak available now for 7.0.4 - just that going to 7.0.4 - will not exclude you when they finally release a jailbreak. Which will be sometime in the future.
Thanks to tash for the heads up on this next one - which is that the ereader app - Marvin - is free right now.
For AT&T customers that recently upgrade to an iPhone 5S - especially those that paid the extra $250 to upgrade from a 5 to 5S. If you want your old iPhone unlocked so you can sell it for more money. You need to call AT&T at the following number - You might want to pause here while you get the Notes app open and ready - ok - here is the number - 800-331-0500 - again 800-331-0500 - That is the number you call to ask to get your old AT&T iPhone unlocked - it needs to now be off contract - which if you upgraded to the 5S it is. You will need to provide the IMEI number - which you can find by going to Setting - General - About and then scroll down to find the IMEI number.
I bring all this up because listener David W - had an issue where he upgraded from the 5 to 5S - paid the extra amount for the Upgrade and AT&T was telling him No Soup for you - on the unlock. But once he called that number - AT&T treated him a little different and were there to help him out. Granted they did not unlock it yet - but that was an issue with their system. But calling that number they said they would help - and that is the number I called to unlock my old AT&T phones.
NOTE - this will involve a restore and upgrade on the software - or at least it did the last time I did it - and if you are jailbroken you will loose the jailbreak. Something to consider if jailbroken - But I think you will find you get more for an unlocked phone than a jailbroken phone anyway.
I will repeat the number again - 800-331-0500
VOICEMAIL - STEVE AZ FREE APPS
Hi Rob,
I must disagree with your statement from your item 288 podcast when you said that Apple should do away with the 16 gig version in the next iPhone release. I buy and will continue to buy, if still offered, this smallest size offering. I send all my photos to Dropbox and only keep about 200 songs from my iTunes library on my phone at any given point and then simply switch out what I'm not listening to and replace it with newer songs. I have lots of apps, and I always seem to have at least 4 gigs or more free on my phone at any given time. Lastly, the 16 gig is the cheapest phone to purchase. I like getting the top notch phone, but I think over $200 is unreasonable for a new top notch phone if you don't need larger storage space. I suppose if Apple wanted to offer 32, 64, and 128 as their new 3 size options but then made the 32 gig the $200 phone then fine. But that's probably unlikely.
Anyways, I just thought I'd share my perspective on how nice the 16 gig size phone can be.
Regards,
Tom in Raleigh, NC
Hi Tom,
What I was and am saying is that 16GB is too small for the current pricing. It used to be 4G - then was 8 GB and now 16 GB for the low storage option.
I think it should be upped to 32GB and the price should be what it is now for the 16 GB - $200 with subsidy.
I just think with the current size of apps - 16 GB quickly runs out if you have a bunch of apps.
So from my perspective I think the 16 GB - iPhone and iPad should be killed off and at the current pricing points everything move one notch up for storage. with 32 / 64 and 128 GB iOS devices matching the current pricing for 16 / 32 and 64 GB iOS devices.
Thanks for the feedback and for listening to the show.
Rob W
Hey Rob,
love the show. I am hoping that you or one of your listeners can help with this. I have set up quite a lot of keyboard shortcuts on my phone. Four example if I type my initials and the @ sign the keyboard shortcut inserts my email address. Now I am looking for a way to move these shortcuts to another device. This other device will not have the same iCloud ID so they will not transfer automatically. Is there any easy way to move these from one device to another
Regards,
Andy R
VOICEMAIL - SCOTT_WI_VOICEMAIL_not_deleting
Hi Rob,
I don't expect an answer to this question at this time. But, I find myself in a strange quandary. Do I get an 128GB iPad mini now or hold off until March in case the 128GB+ 12.9" iPad pro comes out?
It seems fairly clear that Apple is working on a pro version since "Air" was added to the iPad name.
I have a 64GB 3rd gen. iPad now. It does seem ironic trying to decide between a smaller sized iPad now or wait four months for a larger sized iPad.
I definately want an 64-bit based iPad. And, it will likely take at least three months for apps to start taking advantage of the new 64-bit architecture.
Regards,
Steven W
Hi Steven - ah yes the age old Question do you get the known and for sale technology of today or do you hold off for the unicorn riding, mythical and magical device of the future that has not been announced - but is surely going to make you rue the day you purchased the current top of the line device - for getting about how cool today's top of the line device is and how much you will enjoy it from now until when said mythical device is announced. Given there are no pictures of said mythical device - I think you are best getting the device you need when you need it - and that is available. So if you need an iPad today - get the best one available today and don't think or fret about what may or may not be in the pipeline.
VOICEMAIL - DRT_LA_EXPERIENCE
VOICEMAIL - JEFF WA QUEST ISSUE MAIL
Hi Rob,
I recall from a few weeks back that when you installed IOS 7 you ran into a problem with the counter on your email…it was showing multi-thousands of emails. What I don’t recall is whether/how you solved that problem.
When I got my new 5S two weeks ago, I had no problem restoring from my last backup of my old 4S, including the email counter. However, I passed that 4S on to my wife (wiped clean, of course) and when we restored from her last backup of her iPhone 4, she got a 10,000+ counter one her email icon.
Any help to be had?
Thanks in advance,
Jeff Grossman
Redmond, WA
Hey Rob,
Some listeners complained about iOS 7 in the last episode. My take on this is that people wanted *something new* from iOS and apple gave them a completely new OS. and now , the same people are crying we didn't want such a big change in iOS. Humans are always inertial to change and I feel as they spend more time with this version of iOS, they will start hating the way things are in iOS 6.
Plus a lady said that apple copied from android, i would like to say that apple hires people from the jailbreak community and those people work on making iOS more efficient.
So rather than saying that apple has copied android, it would be better to say that incorporated some jailbreak tweaks.
And she said that Steve wouldn't let apple copy anything if he was alive, I bet she hasn't read about Steve. He was never against stealing. He famously stole Xerox PARC and quoted Picasso that "great artist always steal" and present that thing in a better way.
Regards
Sanchit
VOICEMAIL - JOE_PHILLIP_FDBK_OK
Thanks again to our sponsor Squaretrade. Remember for your iPad warranty - just $89 for a two year warranty - you save $35 by going to square trade dot com slash t i i 2 - that is slash t i i and the number 2. the iPad Mini 2 with Retina is so light and easy to take with you it is truly a mobile tablet you will want to take everywhere - and that means the potential for accidents. Squaretrade dot com / tii 2 for your $89 iPad Mini and iPad Air warranty.
I also want to thank our other sponsor Usell - go to today in iOS dot com slash Usell that is the letter U s e l l - to get a bid and sell your old no longer being used mobile devices.
If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you get the most out of the show and it helps support the show at the same time - plus it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search for Tii in the iTunes app store.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. And don't forget to check out our new Moderated Google Plus community by going to todayinios dot com slash community.
Here is a photo I took from my car using my iPhone 5 and the 360 camera app to take a panorama. I used the built in photo editor to crop the photo and then the photogene2 app histogram tool to enhance the picture. Finally I used the photogene app on the iPad to put the Tii text in.
On Jimmy Kimmel last week they had on Arden a 5 year old wiz kid - that knows all the countries in the world and all their capitals. He is definitely one smart 5 year old - but he showed what a genius he was at the end of the segment. This is when Jimmy is offering him some free gifts - lets play that segment.
PLAY AUDIO
Brilliant.
Luckily I pulled the audio on this as soon as I found out as I did not think it would be around long. And well I find it interesting that Sony was soo pissed about this clip that they had Kimmel's team cut the end of the recording - so now when you go to the official version of that video on Youtube you will no longer see the part where Arden disses the Sony Tablet and says he is getting an iPad for christmas. Which is great news for me - because once Kimmels team edited the original and reposted the version sans the Pro iPad comments - the segment then became covered under fair use - as it became a newsworthy. So NOPE no need for me to take down this segment. Thanks Sony - and hey don't give Kimmels team such a hard time - it is not their fault you wanted to give a 5 year old genius one of your tablets - what did you think he was going to say?
I purchased a 32GB white/silver WiFi only iPad Air on launch day, and I am absolutely blown away. I must confess that even though I have used the iPad many times in the past, I am a first time owner of the tablet, so I may be a little biased due to the "noooob" factor. The first thing you notice when taking the device out of the box is how comfortable it is to hold. When naked, the iPad Air is so thin and light that you can hold it for long periods of time with ease and without fatigue. I went with a black Smart Cover, and highly recommend keeping this device as light as you possibly can by substituting a full case for some combination of a back skin, Smart Cover, or even a back snap case. In an attempt to keep this short, the last two features I drool over are the graphics performance and the wifi speed...WOW. Just play your favorite game, load your favorite app, or browse Safari and you will be pleasantly surprised with how sharp, smooth, and swift the device runs.
One final note, I have an iPhone 5S and have fallen in love with TouchID, so I am missing it somewhat on the iPad Air. It is not a huge deal, but it would be a cherry on top of the proverbial sundae.
Thanks for all that you do, love the show, and can't wait for the next episode!
Regards,
Bruce W
University of Virginia - Class of 2012
Thanks to Michael for this next one - which is about data from Fiksu which has a chart showing iPad Air adoption in the first few days of its release vs that of the iPad 4th gen and the iPad Mini. And well it is about 4 to 5 times greater after the first 3 days than it was in 2012 for the launch of the iPad 4th gen or the iPad Mini as well. Now this is not all that surprising at the iPad 4th gen really was not a big deal at launch - as it just upped the processor one gen and then added the lightening port - and came 8 months after the launch of the 3rd gen iPad. But still nice to see adoption of the iPad Air is greatly above that of the iPad 4th gen to the iPad mini vs similar time periods after launch. The data Fiksu crunched comes from data of millions of iOS device using the Fiksu silent apps. So looks like it is going to be an iPad christmas just like Tim cook said.
Speaking of Tablet numbers and data - Kudos to Apple insider for doing some fact checking on numbers from IDC for Tablet shipments - seems a year ago for Q3 2012 IDC said there were 27.8 Mil tablets shipped. Then when they released Q3 2013 numbers and compared to Q3 2012 - Somehow between the cushions IDC was able to find an additional 7 Mil Tablets raising the number to 34.8 Mil tablets shipped in Q3 2012 - that after they lowered their numbers for Sammy from 5.1 Mil to 4.3 Mil. Seems you can just move numbers around all you want on these things - because you know other than Apple no one ever report their numbers.
I did send an email to Tom at IDC who has talked to us in the past to find out how this 25%+ increase for Tablet shipments happened and why the 15%+ decrease for Sammy - plus why they are no longer breaking out Amazon tablet sales.
Which is a story about a 585% increase in tablet trade-ins to resellers. One of the rebuyers in the UK did a survey of 1,000 tablet owners and 15% plan on trading in their current tablet in the next three months to get a new one. And the new one they want - well 38% said it would be an iPad air with another 9% saying the iPad Mini. Which I find very interesting - because in the past it seemed the iPad mini sold as many if not more units that the iPad 4th gen. So to see a 38% vs 9% number - something seems off - even if this is a UK centric survey - you would still expect the numbers to be higher for the iPad Mini and close to on par with the iPad Air. Especially this time around with the iPad mini actually be the much better upgrade vs the last gen device. As the iPad mini jumped two processor generation going from the A5 to the A7. Guess we will need to wait for Fiksu to update with their iPad mini data as well.
A nice test of the iPad air was done by Anand over at AnandTech to see the battery life of the iPad Air acting as a mobile hot spot - and he compared his results per the same test he did over a year ago on the 3rd gen iPad LTE. The 3rd Gen LTE iPad lasted 25.27 hours on a single charge - and the iPad Air lasted 24.08 Hours. So while not identical it is still pretty darn impressive. Mind you this was just testing the two devices as a LTE hotspot. How they both do in real world day to day use will be a little different - But Apple is claiming the same battery life for both. Which us up to 10 hours of surfing the web on wifi, watching video or listening to music.
If you remember from my first gen iPad testing - I found the original iPad lasted 13.5 hours of video play back - vs Apples claim of 10 hours.
It seems Apple has done a few things in the iPad air to help with battery life - with the A7 being a key part of that - as well as the new touch screen.
FYI - there was a report out of Australia that was picked up and up and up and well mis-reported and mis-reported and mis-reported - it has to do with an iPad at a Vodafone store catching on fire and forcing people to evacuate the store. Well the mis-reporting part was were many many many sites reported it as an iPad Air that had caught on fire - it was not - it was either an iPad 3rd or 4th gen - but definitely no an iPad air. Apple does have said unit - or at least its charred remains and they are doing a post mortum on it and maybe we will or will not hear from apple what happened with said unit.
We need to Thank Binh N for this next one which is about the Screens in the new iPad Air - which the site Displaymate dot com - which is all focused on display tech - did a display shootout with the iPad Air, Google Nexus 10 and the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9". And what they found was in a nut shell the Amazon fire HDX was the best performing display over all they ever tested - with the iPad Air very close behind. And then the Nexus 10 - which was not close to the first two - but still better then most anything else out there.
In some tests the iPad Air was best - but over all the Fire HDX was just a little better over all.
Now one test they did not do - after doing ton of really technical tests was that for battery life.
They say not available yet - because to most users that one is kind of important - because no matter how good your display is - if the device is out of power - there is no color tests to be done.
Will also be interesting to see how the iPad Mini does - as it is the same number of pixels as the iPad Air - but in a smaller area. So much better pixel density.
Hopefully they update these tests with the iPad Mini - and also include the battery life tests.
If you want to geek out on the specifics of the tests look for the link in the show notes for ep 288 titled - Tablet Display Shoot-Out - Displaymate
Whenever there is an iOS device launch of late it is quickly followed by iOS device porn - in the way of iFixit stripping a device down and doing a full dis-assembly to see what makes it tick. And with the iPad Air launch - iFixit did not disappoint.
First thing we find out is the Battery has been reduced from a 43 WHr 3 cell battery to a 32.9 WHR two cell battery. Thus the big % of the weight savings between the 4th gen iPad and the iPad Air. But as mentioned before the battery life is on par with the past gens. So same battery life - just lots less battery. The LTE iPad Air supports 14 LTE bands, DC-HSPA+, UMTS, GSM/Edge, CDMA and EVDO. Whew. So one device to work around the world - or put another way when you buy a iPad Air for a specific carrier - the only thing different about it vs an iPad Air for another carrier is the sim card inside.
Per iFixit's repairability rating - not surprisingly it is low - just a 2 out of 10 - thanks to all the components that a glued in place. Don't expect anything different for the iPad mini 2.
Thanks to Dr. John for this next one. Which is a story at NBC news about the iPad Air being lighter on Apple's wallet. Now mind you take this report and the one it is based on with a grain of salt - as they are talking about findings by iSuppli on the value of the components inside. And since there is an A7 and M7 processor and a few other items specific to Apple - it is hard to get a true BOM cost. As some items are not on the open market. That said - we can definitely say a battery that was 3 cell and 42 WHr's and gets reduced to 2 cells and 32.9 WHr's - well you can expect a roughly 20% reduction in cost on the battery. Now iSuppli says the low end wifi iPad Air costs Apple $274 to manufacture vs $316 for the iPad 3rd gen when it was released. What this means to Apples bottom line - well we will get more of a feel for that at the end of January. But if these numbers are close to accurate - it means Apple makes about $42 more per unit sold. Or about an additional $1 Bill in profits. Hey a Billion here - a Billion there and before you know it - it starts to add up to real money.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Brent_quest_ipad_air_storage_which_one
Hi Rob,
I just finished activating the T-Mobile SIM card I ordered on-line. I'm beyond shocked, as it really is a free 200 mb plan.
The difficulty is getting to the right department. After dialing their contact us number, one needs to tell the menu system that you want to do a pre-paid account, but get to a live person. After that, they will verify your device model number (the number printed On THE DEVICE, not in the About section in Settings), transfer you to a pre-paid person who assigns a phone number and activates the SIM card.
They didn't need my name, my credit card, my nothing. Ten minutes later the iPad was connected to T-Mobile and getting data.
This will be great for me as I will not have to activate tethering with Verizon on my iPhone for $20 just to get email to my wife's iPad 2 when we go on trips.
Do you remember previously on the show I mentioned a site you could go to to check the availability of the iPad Air at your 20 closest Apple stores. Yeah - Apple did not like that service all that much and actually sent the own of the site - Apple-tracker dot com a DMCA take down notice. And as the owner of the site said per why he shut down the offering quote - I'm not really interested in picking a fight with Apple unquote. Shame that it comes to this - he was offering up a service to Apple's customers - Apple should have been offering on their own - a simple quick and easy way to see if the iOS device you wanted was in stock at a local Apple store near you.
I guess Apple did not like that any tech blogger or podcaster could quickly check to see availability of devices at any time - so that must be why they killed this service to their customers. Shame on you Apple - because all this info is still available - it just means more jumping through hopes with tech bloggers and Anal-ists will still do. The only one this really hurts is the consumer.
My thanks goes out to Mordy at Apple-Tracker dot com for offering this service. Hopefully Apple will buy the code from Mordy and put up this offering on the Apple site - Ummm Yeah.
My Guess is someone at one of the Anal-ist houses will be hiring Mordy on the down low to get them set up to check this info privately. IT is not that Apple turned off the ability for his code to work - just that they sent him a DMCA take down notice.
If you want to see an iPad Air Snuff film - there is one from Richard Ryan for RatedRR on Youtube. Where the iPad Air gets dropped on to dirt , Concrete, into water and then pelted by a 500 fps Airsoft bb machine gun and then finally shot by high powered rifles. They do lots of slow mo video - so if you are into iOS snuff films - you will not be disappointed by this one.
What was surprising about the video was not the damage the Cement or BB gun or the rifles did - but what happened when it was dropped from about 3 feet on loose dirt - that is what actually shattered the screen. Something to think about and remember when you are walking around with your iPad Air or give it to your kids to walk around with.
Look for the link titled - iPad Air fails torture test against soft dirt? in the show notes for Ep 288 at today in iOS dot com.
Into the Email bag -
Hey Rob,
I ended up getting a 32GB iPad Air in space gray. I got 32GB because I do use a lot of apps. I was amazed on how light and thin this thing is. For once I am actually worried about breaking it. I got it on Friday and here we are on Monday, and have yet to take off the plastic on the iPad. I am getting a case to ease my fear. This is by far the greatest iPad to date.
Regards,
AJ
Or AJ you could get a square trade warranty - and put your mind at ease.
And with that I want to thank our sponsor today which again is square trade. For those of you that just dropped $500 to $900 on a new iPad Air - you will be happy to know there is an iPad warranty for you - go to square trade dot com slash tii2 - that t i i the number 2.
When you go to that page it will initially show the warranty at $99 - but once you click through - it will then show the actual price as $89 - that's right for Tii listeners for a Squaretrade warranty for your iPad - you can save $35 off the normal price and get 2 years of coverage for just $89. It is almost a half pound lighter and that means you will want to take it more places and more places means more chances for accidents - and that is where squartrade comes in. It gives you a nice piece of mind. I have my squatrade warranty on my iPhone 5S - and will get one for my iPad Mini 2 when I get that as well. And you can get your warranty by going to square trade dot com slash tii2 - that is slash tii and the number 2 for your iPad discount of $35.
If you have a new iPhone that just arrived and is less than 30 days old - time to get a warranty for it as well - go to square trade dot com slash tii - for your iPhone warranty - links in the show notes for both those.
Thanks Squaretrade for sponsoring this show.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - marie_fdbk_ringtones_download
Hi Rob,
In response to Charde in ep 287.
She is looking for a solution to make a ringtone and apply it without a computer. This cannot be done (though I wish it could be). Yes "Ringtone Maker", and "Ringtones" are good apps but you still have to sync the ringtone to iTunes then back into the phone.
Regards,
David T
If you updated late last week or this week to the new version of the Facebook app - and now it is crashing on you - just delete the app from your iOS device - and then from your iOS device - re-install the app. That should fix it. Thanks to all that emailed in about that one. Actually any time you update an app - and then it starts crashing - that is the fix for it. We have seen this issue with the Tii app in the past - and I have seen it with other apps - and it is just a strange bug that has to do with corrupt data during the update. Don't blame Facebook to much on this - it is a strange bug to trouble shoot.
Hey Rob,
You asked for feedback on iOS 7.0.3 in regard to crashing and blue screening. Yup, iOS 7.0.3 does seem to completely fix my problems.
Regards,
Dan P
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Shavan_app_review
Hi Rob,
I have a great recommendation for a list app that will come up when you enter a store for the person who wanted it 2 episodes back. It's called "Any.DO". You can create one to-do item that will pop up when you enter the store, then add notes, and each line of the note can be crossed off as you get each item, and cross off the top item when your done with the whole list.
It's a good free to-do app and I highly recommend it.
Regards,
- Jessi D.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Fraser_answr_filters
Hi Rob-
As you requested, I'm sending a link to a video showing a few new features of the new iMovie for iOS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vxtjkUfaYY&sns=em
At 30 seconds, the audio was split to set a lower volume.
A new feature seems lower the volume of added music if video audio is left on and raise music volume if the video's audio track is muted. I like that.
At 3:34, I used a new animated text feature (new to me, anyway) and used slow-motion.
Rob love the show and wanted to give my thoughts on this Apple doesn't innovate BS. 1st every time I hear someone say it they never give a reason why and how.
Every step Apple takes is copied one way or another, thats proof of innovation right there, from the iMac right down to airplay. Here is a link to show why there is no NFC on iPhones and why we all from Leo to Jesus should leave the thinking to Apple.
Regards,
James W
Thanks James - and let me play the audio from the link.
Mike Elgan at Computer world also had a nice post on Apples plans with regards to iBeacons. The key feature about it is this - Every iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, 5C and 5S already support iBeacons if they are running iOS 7. So that means there are plenty of devices out on the market that support the use of iBeacons today. Some other a pplications for iBeacons - Self Service Check out - say at Costco or Sam's Club, EZ Pass style building access. Theme Park Family tracking and access to rides. And because of its very good accuracy - down to 1 or 2 inches - it can offer up Navigation aids for sigh impaired users inside a building. And of course just simple use as an ewallet type check out at the register.
The key though behind all this - is Apple has a critical mass of devices in the field that are ready to go today. Users of Apple devices are proven to consume / spend more then Android users. And Well it is not NFC - which Apple seems to be on the way to killing as a mobile payment option.
I guess one real question is how active or should I say involved is apple going to be with iBeacons - are they going to act an enabler of Tech only - or are they going to get in there and provide a payment system - where transactions go through Apple - with Apple taking a small cut - but in exchange offering up payment support from a company everyone knows of.
Regardless - how Apple participates - It does look like once you hear what iBeacons can do - you realize there is very little reason for Apple to support NFC - Apple likes to go with the best tech - and it does look like iBeacons is better than NFC.
Thanks to Chris in London for this next one - which is about Apple Getting Regulatory approval for their devices to work with China Mobile - now this did happen back in September - and there has not been any official announcement yet with China Mobile - but I had heard some other rumors that said announcement might be coming in the mid to Late November time frame - so I will through this out there now and see if in the next few weeks there is finally an Apple / China Mobile deal announced. With 740 Million subscribers - it represents the vast majority of the untapped and unaddressed global market.
Is it too soon to start talking about the next gen iPhone? I know many sites are doing so - and I will not even touch on the one rumor going around this past week - as well it is just plain link bait.
But one article I will lead off from - is an article back on Sept 17th I have been holding onto. It is from into Mobile - and it is not really because of anything he said specifically about the next gen iPhone or that he had any insight - Charles west simply put forth - 5 things the next iPhone needs to have.
Some of which I agree - some I don't.
Such as 1 - Battery Life - I agree - it needs to get better. The 5S had good battery life - but I would love to have 2 day battery life. 2 full days. IE undock on Monday Morning and not need to charge it again until you go to sleep on Tuesday.
He mentions NFC - Sorry not only is that not a need - that is something it seems like Flash and removable batteries and SD card slots - that you are just not going to see on iOS devices.
3 Bigger Screen - I think we are most likely going to see some sort of bigger screen in the iPhone 6 - along side the same screen size in the iPhone 5S - I am guessing at Apple they will want to A/B test so to speak a big and regular size screen and see how sales go. Maybe Apple goes all the way to 5 Inches on the iPhone 6 - or maybe we then go to iPhone Air - current design and iPhone Pro - 5 inch design.
4. More Memory and eliminate the 16 GB version - Amen on that - Why is there a 16 GB version of the iPhone 5S - I don't get that - almost as much as I don't get why there is no 128 GB version. Next year - 32 / 64 and 128 GB should be the storage sizes for the top of the line iPhones
5. Solar Powered Charging - This is one of those - well Apple has a patent for it - so they must be getting ready to do it items. I just don't see it. Apple has many many patents that never get implemented - I think this is one of those.
So I ask you what features do you want to see in the iPhone 6. If you have been listening to this show - you can pretty much guess - top of my list is support for 4K video recording and playback. Shot me an email to today in iOS at Gmail dot com or call the show - you know the number - and let me know what features you really want to see in the iPhone 6 that might even get you to upgrade from the iPhone 5S - and definitely would get you to upgrade from any other version of the iPhone.
I was going to talk about GT Advanced Technology ticker symbol GTAT - and about Saphire Crystals and 578 Million dollars in advanced payments from Apple and a new factory in Arizona and more - but then Dr. John - sent me an article right before recording this - and I pulled what I wrote and need to touch base with some friends in the Quartz Crystal world to get their thoughts on this - as it could change my initial thoughts on if we will or will not be getting a Saphire screen on the iPhone in the future. Hope to have more on that for ep 289 or 290.
Interesting article from Jonny Evans at Computer World. In a nut shell - it is found that High End US smartphone buyers are 5X more likely to pick Apple over Samsung. Hmmm - that is not what the Fandroid boys would have you believe. So how does he come to this conclusion - well by going by what Samsung said. See Sammy said only about a 1/3rd of all their smartphone sales are to Higher end customers which are ones that compete with the iPhones. So if you take the latest Comscore data - which had Apple at 40.6 % of US smartphone sales - and Samsung was at 24.9% and you divide that by 3 - then it is a ration of 40.6% for apple vs 8.3% for Sammy or a basically 5 to 1 ratio.
Seems the S4 sales have not been going as well as Sammy had hoped for too.
Thanks to Gerry for the heads up on this next one. Which is a post from the site - Network World dot com - where the author of the post Alan Shimel had this to say about the Samsung Galaxy S4 - quote Samsung Galaxy S4 may be the worst phone I ever owned unquote - which is also the title of the post. Essentially he goes over how bad a phone the S4 is when you look at the idea you might actually you know try to use it as a phone - which seems to be something he struggled with a lot with the S4. Funny early on I used to complain the iPhone was great at everything but being a phone - but that is no longer the case - at least for me - the iPhone is a really good phone and I rarely if ever have a dropped call anymore - which is something that for me was an issue for the Original iPhone and the 3GS - but since the 4 it has gotten better and the 4S was great - as is the 5S.
Under the category of how low can they go - Blackberry has called off their search for someone to buy them - presumably because anyone with enough money to buy them and dumb enough to hand over that money - is still stinging from loosing so much to Bernie Madoff. In addition to calling off their search for a buyer - they are getting rid of their current CEO - Thorsten Heins. The New Interim CEO - as if any CEO of Blackberry at this point is not an Interim CEO is John Chen. Or as I said back on Ep 267 - That in Waterloo they like to refer to them as CEO Du Jour.
thanks tash for this next one. Which is about Amazon looking a little desperate in one of their ads - where they try to take a shot at the iPad Air - by saying the Fire HDX is lighter than Air. umm - yeah it is also smaller - a 8.9" screen vs 9.7" screen for the iPad - which actually when you look at real estate the difference is much more - as the iPad is wider.
So screen area for the HDX is 35.6 square inches vs the iPad Air's 45.2 Square inches. So it is a screen reduction of 21.2% for the HDX - but There is a 18% difference in weight.
So yes the HDX is lighter - but it is not proportionately lighter - ok - yes getting overly geeky with numbers. But seemed an odd ad from Kindle - when you consider the iPad Mini is coming out and it is lighter than the HDX - although again its screen size is smaller at 7.9 Inches. which is 29.6 square inches. vs the 35.6 square inches of the HDX and the 45.2 square inches of the iPad Air.
Wow - never did that comparison before - 29.6 vs 45.2 inches. So the iPad mini is 65.4% of the iPad Airs screen size.
Just thought you'd like to see my new iphone 5s that was ordered on launch day and delivered by Apple store 2 weeks later.
After a week I noticed a slight bulge in the screen, overnight whilst on charge stand it got worse until this 2 days later….
Which is a picture of the screen bowed up at least .1 to .15 inches - which is close to half the thickness of the device.
I called apple care In uk and was told that its a known problem with faulty components on the battery making it expand! Do NOT use the phone and bring it into an apple store for a new replacement ASAP.
Regards,
Mike G, Brighton, England
Hi Mike thanks for the pictures. Folks if you notice any bowing of your device - do not repeat do not plug it in to the charger and immediately call your local Apple store. You don't want to mess around with Lithium iON batteries because after they expand then tend to ignite and that obviously is not what you want to have happen in the middle of the night when charging.
Yo yo Rob,
On your latest podcast someone asked about how to send apple feedback. For anyone, developer or not,apple.com/feedback is the place to do it. I am not a developer and I have used this frequently.
I plan to use it for the same issue another caller mentioned about albums not having their own folders in the music app. When you have a band or artist's complete catalogue, it's annoying to scroll through them all to find the album you want. If apple doesn't change this, I'll look forward to a jailbreak tweak.
Regards,
Tracy H
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Declan_answr_issues_charging_iphones
Hi Rob,
I first noticed this bug on iOS 7.0.2, but remains in 7.0.3: The standard Calendar app shows those from 1921 and back wrongly (calendars from 1922 and up show just fine). In 1920 for example the months show at Dec, Feb, Mar - there is no Jan and Dec is listed twice.
Regards,
Fabio
Hi Fabio - unless you are planning on traveling back in time to 1921 or earlier - I am guessing this would be what they call a minor bug. Besides if you are able to travel back in time to 1920 - I am doubting that Apples calendar saying the month is December - when it should be Jan is going to through you off much. My guess is you will just be hoping you don't get small pox or worse yet the Spanish flu. You know maybe Apple messed up the calendar on purpose so time travelers would not go back to 1920 - so they would avoid the spanish flu.
Hi Rob,
I know someone who would like to buy an unlocked iPhone 5s in the US to gift to someone in their home country. The Apple store said they don't carry them. Any options?
Regards,
Ken
Hi Ken - You want to get the Verizon version of the iPhone 5S - off contract - as that is the one that is unlocked and can be used anywhere.
Hi Rob,
Could you put up a survey question seeking how many days people have been waiting for their gold iphone 5s phones? I'm on day 48 with no end in sight and att likely botched my order some how (others who ordered after me on the same model have already shipped).
Regards,
Peter E
Hi Peter - sorry to hear your Gold iPhone 5S is MIA. If anyone else order 40+ days ago and is still waiting for their Gold iPhone 5S - please send and email or call in with when you ordered.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Quest_about_backups_syncs
Thanks to Tash for the heads up on this next one.
Which is an article at TUAW about how to back up your iPhones Text Messages.
For business or personal reasons I can see strong reasons to want to get a copy of all your text messages backed up on your computer. And this article goes about how to do that - for both Mac's and dare I say it PC's as well.
Look for the link titled - Backing up your iPhones Text Messages in the show notes for Ep 288 over at today in iOS dot com.
Thanks Thomas - and what this is is a project called UVindeSir - The Tiny UV index Meter for iPhone. And it is over at Indiegogo dot com. And well as the name indicates - it is a device you plug into the head phone port and it gives you a reading of the UV index and recommends what SPF protection you need. Price of this is $25 right now for early birds - this project has until November 29th to get funding - the Goal is $20,000 and so far they have raised just $3,700 - so they are a bit behind where they need to be. Seems people are more interested in funding RF ID chips to find their remote then they are about measuring the harmful UV rays from the Sun.
Search for UVindeSir at indiegogo dot com - or look for the link in the show notes for ep 288
We have a new sponsor this week - and that is Usell spelled U S E L L - who is an aggregator of buyers of mobile devices. You know you have some old mobile devices - be it iPhones, iPads, or dare we says it Android devices laying around that are collecting dust. Don't be your own little island of misfit mobile devices - sell them off to someone that will love them and use them and touch them all over. You remember how happy that The Charlie in the box was and the spotted elephant was when they found new owners - well that mobile device you have collecting dust or stuck in a draw can feel the same way. And when you go to today in iOS dot com slash usell - you can put a smile on your face too by getting cold hard cash. For example an iPhone 5 64 gb AT&T version right now will get you a top offer of $266 - that is $26 more than the same device would get you at that company that has the name of cheetah food.
Again go to today in iOS dot com slash Usell that is slash U S E L L - to get a bid and sell your old no longer being used mobile devices.
Thanks to Tash for this next one. Which is an accessory that is not an indigogo or kickstarter project - rather it is something you can buy now. It is the Slope - which is a stand for your iPad. What is special about this one is it uses a unique suction tech with microscopic suction. Essentially it is a nano foam. So you simple push your iPhone onto the stand is it stays stuck to it. And stays put - but is easy to remove and reposition. It really is a very elegant looking stand - which will set you back $60 bucks. Look for the link titled - Slope iPad Stand in the show notes for ep 288.
PC Mag had a nice article about 9 apps that have been optimized for the A7 Processor.
1 is Infinitely Blade 3. Which runs $6.99.
2. Is the free App - Argus - it is an activity monitor - that takes advantage really of the M7 processor.
3 is the free app - Pixlr Express Plus - from auto desk - which is an image editing program. Which by the way if you have an iPhone 5S - this is a must get app. Search in the app store app for pixlr express plus - three words with pixlr spelled P I X L R
4. Another free app is 123D creature - Also from Autodesk. Essentially this one lets you put 3D creatures into your photos. Yes gimickie - but cool none the less. And did I mention it is free.
5. Sketchbook Mobile is a $0.99 app - and it is the update to the old none optimized version of Sketchbook - and you guessed it - it is also from Autodesk. This is one app in the past that has been used multiple times for the show album artwork - and if you are looking at your iOS device as a creation device - and artwork is your thing - then sketchbook is a good tool to have in your tool chest.
6. djay 2 for iPhone - this app is $1.99 - and it is for all you iOS dj's that want to mix your own sets. And the new A7 version offers a new feature called Harmonic match for key detection and pitch shift which helps when you are doing a mashup - but if you knew what I was talking about you knew that already.
7. vjay for iPhone - which is $2.99 - because you know video is worth more than audio. Not. But anyway - vjay for iPhone comes from the same people that did djay 2 for iPhone. This app allows you to mashup videos, music and other media on your iPhone.
8. Total Conquest - which is a free game from Gameloft. If you are a fan of the history of rome podcast - this is the free game for you - as well this game is a social strategy game about the roman empire - and did we mention it is free.
And
9. Sing Karaoke by Smule - which is free - but there is an optional premium subscription - so it is a free-mium app. So if you are a karaoke bar fly - this app is for you.
So there are 9 apps optimize for the A7 and there are plenty of others out there now. I hope to talk about more for the new iPad's shortly.
PLAY AUDIO - MARK_NZ_issue_bricked_iph4
And yes folks Mark has tried putting it into DFU mode and recovery mode and nothing. He sent over a screen shot showing it with an Error 2001 occurred. He tried what Apple suggests for Error 2000 to 2009 and error 1604. So if anyone has experience of an iPhone 4 giving an error 2001 and you were able to get the unit unbricked - please let us know what you did - 206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
Hi Rob,
Wanted to give you my take on iOS 7.0.3 from the point of a
legally blind person. Although a lot of the features are great,
I feel Apple could've done more for people with visual
disabilities. I know I'm in the minority of the minority here, but a lot
of the backgrounds are too whited out for people like me.
Even with the Bold Text and Contrast buttons "ON" it does little to
provide contrast. The keyboards in particular for
Mail and Messages are nearly impossible to read without
VoiceOver being activated. I prefer the older iOS versions
with gray menu and keyboard backgrounds, and letters on the keyboard in bolder fonts, but I digress. Also, the invert colors in the
Accessibility menu can have the some effect conversely. I've
also heard normal sighted users say they don't like the plain, whiteout
look. My question is, "Are there any apps that can
provide some kind of overlay remeniscent of the older
iOS versions? If you or your listeners could help I'd be grateful.
Thanks for being the heads up for disabled listerners! Your
show is slammin'!
Rick-East Haven, CT
PLAYVOICE MAIL - Larry_warning_znitro_glass
Hi, Rob.
I want to give my son my jailbroken iphone 5 running iOS 6.1.2 on ATT. What is the best way to remove all of my content and info while still maintaining the jailbreak?
Also, how do I go about getting the phone activated with his number? Do I have to take the phone into ATT or can I just get a new SIM card?
Regards,
Chris
Las Vegas
Hi Chris - first to delete out all the porn links history - umm I mean info from your old iPhone - go to Settings -- General - Reset - then choose - Erase all content and settings.
That will clear out any potential embarrassing or confidential web browsing history and chat history and emails.
Hi Rob,
Can I play in anyway from an Apple TV 3rd gen to a iPad air in anyway?
Regards,
Michael
Hi Michael - not unless you Jailbreak your Apple TV at a min - and likely both devices. Does anyone out there know if there is a jailbreak app for Apple TV and an iOS device - that allows you to stream content from your Apple TV to your iOS device.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Kevin_crossman_beef_with_listening
If you have a 3rd Gen Apple TV - and an iOS 7 device - you can now set up our Apple TV using your iOS 7 device. Apple TV software needs to be updated to the latest version. More info in the show notes for ep 288 - look for the link titles Using an iOS 7 device to set up your Apple TV 3rd Gen
Speaking of which we sure are over due for a new Apple TV.
Not that I am really sure what a new Apple TV should offer for new features - other than the obvious - having an app store. But hopefully said Apple TV App store would be available for the Apple TV 2nd and 3rd gen units as well.
Thanks to Tash for this next one - which is an article from Lifehack on how to get iTunes Radio outside the US with out a Proxy server - which is also basically the post title. I will not go over how to do it - beyond saying it involves creating a US app store account and knowing a specific US address. So make sure you have a valid US address with zip code before trying this.
Thanks to Tash for this next one as well - which is titled iPhone 5S and 5C repairs coming to an Apple Store near you.
Seems they will soon be able to repair screens, fix or replace volume buttons, rear cameras, speakers and vibration motors on the iPhone 5S and 5C. Home buttons for the 5C will be on the menu as well - but the touch ID for the 5S is an off menu item due to the complexity of it. Expect more about this on future episodes - as right now it is all speculation and he said she said.
Starting with ios 7.0.2 and continuing with 7.0.3 I am getting asked for my apple id password everytime I access Reminders, calendar, settings, mail apps it seems to go away about 2 weeks after the update comes out but reappears after next update. Anyone have this problem and know how to solve this and keep it from appearing? Regards,
David M
Hi Rob. In ep. 287 you talked about the free iLife & iWork apps with new iOS and OS X devices. At about the 43:30 mark, you mentioned that free OS X iWork apps apply to Macs purchased Sept 1.
The iWork apps for OS X - Pages, Numbers, and Keynote - are free for Mac computers purchased after October 1, not Sept 1. OS X Mavericks is required for these. The download process is a little different as compared to the iOS apps; the OS X apps should show up in the Mac App Store on the Purchases screen - looking for them in the normal store will still show prices. If someone purchased a computer on/after Oct 1 and does not see the apps in their Purchases screen, they should use the “Up-To-Date Program” link on this page to request that they be added to their account: http://www.apple.com/creativity-apps/mac/up-to-date/
Also I’d like to point out that as with all iOS or OS X App Store apps - even though the apps are free with the purchase of a device, once installed the apps will show up in the Purchases section of your iTunes Store account in the App Store and can then be installed on any compatible devices that you own & use that same Apple ID on - so in my case, when I bought an iPhone 5S and got the free apps, I then installed them on my wife’s iPhone 5 and on my iPad as well - all free of charge.
Thanks Rob, I love the show!
"The Freakin Eurekan"
Hi Rob,
I think the "New" Mail app's red numbers are now correct and if we can call it a 'bug', it did really 'bugged' me! It seemed to have gone away with the most recent update to iOS 7.0.3 I'm very happy those very large New mail numbers are gone at least for now!
Did your 100,00+ number go away also?
I can't thank you enough, you're the best for iOS fans, you just make sense of all this complex and a bit confusing stuff we call Apple...!
Loren from 'not yet winter' Colorado
Hi Loren - now my iPhone is showing 93,518 unread email messages - Ugggg. But on the plus side the imap account I had issues with started working again - with me really not doing anything other than creating a duplicate account for that email address and then deleting the new duplicate account - which somehow caused the original one to start working again.
Hi Rob,
I'm in Sheffield, UK and purchased the iPhone 5S running iOS 7.0.3. Around twice a day when unlocking using Touch ID the screen goes black, the Apple logo spears then it seems to "soft boot". A springboard crash registers in Diagnostics and the usage statistics since last charge revert to hyphens. Any ideas?
Regards,
Alfred C
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Justin_PA_fdbk_lightnini_port
Thanks again to our sponsor Squaretrade. Remember for your iPad warranty - just $89 for a two year warranty - you save $35 by going to square trade dot com slash t i i 2 - that is slash t i i and the number 2. the iPad Air is not really as light as air it is still a pound and subject to the laws of gravity - and square trade is there to help you when your iPad becomes part of a newtonian science experiment. Squaretrade dot com / tii 2 for your $89 iPad air warranty.
I also want to thank our other sponsor Usell - go to today in iOS dot com slash Usell that is the letter U s e l l - to get a bid and sell your old no longer being used mobile devices.
If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you get the most out of the show and it helps support the show at the same time - plus it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search for Tii in the iTunes app store.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. And don't forget to check out our new Moderated Google Plus community by going to todayinios dot com slash community.
I made this artwork using Pages for iOS in order to create the text, and Photoshop for iOS to piece everything together. It was, of course, inspired by the new iOS 7 game center and also uses the iOS 7 font (Helvetica Neue - Ultralight).
I mentioned on previous episodes how to improve battery life on your iOS 7 device - and that if you have the new iPhone 5S - you should be getting great battery life - well it seems a few unlucky iPhone 5S owners may actually have units that have real issues with battery life and Apple acknowledged that yes there was a manufacturing issue. Apple said quote “We recently discovered a manufacturing issue affecting a very limited number of iPhone 5S devices that could cause the battery to take longer to charge or result in reduced battery life, We are reaching out to customers with affected phones and will provide them with a replacement phone.” unquote
So if you have a new iPhone 5S - and no matter what you do to improve battery life you can't - there is now one thing you can do that will definitely improve the battery life - take it your local apple store and get a new unit. As always - make sure you back up your iPhone to your computer prior to heading off to the Apple store. That is one nice thing About Apple - they are quick to replace a defective unit - and quick to get out updates to fix issues as well - iOS 7.0.3 fixed the level not being level. How long would it take for a fix like that to get out to the masses of an Android unit. Ok granted that is me trying to make lemon aide out of lemons - but still the nice part about iOS - is apple can get out updates to all users very very quickly - with no delay because of carrier versions of the OS.
Something is seriously wrong with the results of JD Powers latest Tablet Survey. Seems they have Samsung's tablet beating the iPad 4th Gen in customer satisfaction.
Here were my predictions for the Apple quarterly call - I said on the last episode.
Quote I will pin the number at 34.8 Mil iPhones sold. With at least 2.5 Mil being listed as Channel inventory fill.
I will say I think the iPad numbers will be lower than a year ago - which was 14 mil. I think Apple will actually report around 13.6 Mil iPad's sold last quarter. unquote.
So How did I do or more importantly how did apple do.
on the iPhone side - they sold 33.8 Mil (vs 26.9 Mil a year ago quarter and 31.2 Mil last quarter)
14.3 Mil in Channel inventory that is +3.3 Mil iPhones in Channel inventory for the quarter. 1.8 Mil in Transit.
So my predictions of 34.8 Mil iPhones sold with +2.5 mil in Channel inventory were not far off.
When you take out the 1.8 mil in transit - that leaves +1.5 Mil added to channel inventory which is 1 mil off from where I thought it would be and why I was exactly 1 mil high - or at least that is how I would spin it if I was Uncle Gene or one of the other Anal-ists out there.
On the iPad side Apple sold 14.1 mil units which was 0.5 higher than I expected.
Some of the other bits and pieces from the quarterly call - Apple had total revenue for the last quarter of 37.5 Bil vs 36 bil last quarter and 35.3 Bil in the yr ago quarter.
Cash is now at 146.8 Bil up just 0.2 bil for the quarter - the small increase in cash is based on the fact apple has been working over time to give money back to shareholders as dividends and to also buy back stock.
Apple really did not mention iPods on the call - but in their release info - they shows iPod sales at 3.5 Mil units down from 4.6 mil last quarter and 5.3 mil in the year ago quarter.
International sales for Apple were 60% of all sales.
And one point Tim cook tried to drive home in the Q and A section - was that the iPhone 5C - is not Apples low cost entry - today the iPhone 4S is the low cost entry to the iPhone world - and the 5C was never intended by Apple to be that 3rd world BRIC nation low cost entry all the ANAL-ists want it to be.
Overall I think it was a really strong quarter for Apple - but how did wallstreet see it - by End of Day on Tuesday Apples stock was at $516.68 vs $529.88 which is where it ended Monday prior to the call. So Apple stock changed negative 2.49% for that day. However it did go up a little during the week ending at 520.03 per share. The titles of blogs and newspaper articles ran the full spectrum - right after the call - but most were definitely slanted negative And many saying Apples Profits were disappointing. Now Mind you Apple came in at the high end of their guidance and above Anal-ist estimates - but some how the numbers according to a whole lot of articles disappointed. Of course those saying Profits disappointed - are also the same ones yelling for Apple to do a low cost iPhone. Hmmmm - So they want apple to buy market share at all costs - just as long as you know it does not hurt Profit margin. I really don't get and understand what these people are looking for.
Apple reported numbers better than any other tech company by a wide margin - yet they somehow disappointed many. By the way the iPhone only part of Apples revenue was $19.5 Bil - that is more than Googles $14.89 Bil last quarter - for all of Google. And it is also more than MS $18.53 Bil for the quarter. Yes for 2013 - a year people have been down way down on the iPhone and Apple.
Queue in REM's End of the world as we know it - well if that was legal in a podcast - Yes The iPhone product line alone beat out Google in each of the first 3 quarters in Revenue - and Apples best quarter for revenue will be this quarter by far.
Actually the numbers for 2013 are the following - and please please please keep these numbers in mind when you hear from the tech press and wall street about Apples disappointing numbers. In calendar year 2013 - Google has a total of $43 Billion in Revenue. MS has a total of $58.2 Bil in rev - and the iPhone line alone has a total of $60.6 Bil in revenue. Apple over all has $116.4 Bil in Revenue. Which is exactly 2X that of MS. And over $15 Bil more than MS and Google combined. Yes so keep those numbers in mind when you read about the demise of Apple this week and next week and the rest if 2013.
I was just thinking about this. Apples iPhone revenue last quarter was greater than Motorola Mobility, Blackberry and Nokia Cell Phone and Smartphone revenue combined last quarter. And by a pretty big margin at that. If someone had said in Jan 2007 - that Apple would have greater revenue from the iPhone sales - than any one of them - they would have been laughed at - to say the iPhone would be greater than all 3 combined would have been just crazy talk. And that it was actually about 3 times those three combined is simply unthinkable to the Rob of 2007 that started this show - even as big of a fan boy as he was back then - which you can hear by going back and listening to those old episodes some time.
Per how the Anal-ists did on their predictions for iPhone sales.
Closest to the hole was Bill shop of Goldman Sachs - with a guess of 33.73 Mil units sold vs reality of 33.8 Mil - so pretty much dead on.
The biggest muff goes to Ben Reitzes at Barclays Capital with a what was he thinking low guess of 29 Mil iPhones sold. And the biggest hit over the green was Mani Ghaesmlou with the Braeburn group with the overly optimistic guess of 38 Mil units.
I figured it would not be fair to go over iPad numbers - since Apple kind of gave away the basic range and definitely the max range - when they said they hit 170 Mil iPad sales this month. Which meant last month and quarter they were under 170 Mil and that meant the most they could have done was 14.8 Mil - but on 10/23 - a day after apple gave out that info - Alexander Pterc of Exane BNP Paribas - predicted 15.64 Mil iPads - Hello Mc Fly - anyone home. This is a quote Professional unquote anal-ist - that you know gets paid to cover these things. Yikes.
So given that and that most anal-ists gave their guesses before 10/22 - the closest to the hole was Turley Muller with Financial Alchemist with a hole in one guess of exactly 14.1 Mil units sold. The biggest muff is a tie between Matt Lew of the Braeburn Group and Mani Ghaesmlou with the Braeburn group with the low guess of 11.5 Mil sold - and yes that is the same Mani that was the furthest off too high for the iPhone. So basically he is just throwing darts at a dartboard.
On the way to overly optimistic side was Speculative Fiction writer and part time Professional Apple Anal-ist - Peter Misek from Jefferies - with a way over the green guess of 18 Mil units sold.
It is funny how the quote Pros unquote can be so far off - even though most are paid crazy amounts to be so inaccurate.
Sprint had their quarterly call and it is usually nice to check in on these things.
This last quarter Sprint sold 5 Mil SMART Phones of which only 1.4 Mil were iPhones. That is 28% of smartphone sales are the iPhone on Sprint. If those numbers sound familiar - it is because they are identical to the previous quarter where Sprint also sold 5 Mil smartphones and 1.4 Mil were iPhones. I had to go and do a double and triple check to make sure I was not reading an old transcript. But nope - they really did duplicate numbers.
In all the iPhone was mentioned 3 times in the call - all in one short burst. But that is 3 more times then the iPhone was mentioned in the AT&T quarterly call. Oh well. Gone are the days when it gets mentioned a dozen plus times on these calls. Sprint did say they were in a constrained inventory position with regards to the 5S and had a waiting list for some models.
I do need to slap Apple on the wrist for their very poor graph in their Oct 22nd presentation - when they showed all time iPad sales. I thought it looked off - but did not realize how off until David Yanofsky at Quartz super embossed the real graph over the one Apple showed. Apple kind of made it look a little like a hockey stick - but it really was more linear. when you look at the Apple chart at some points it would be as much as 30 mil units off. Yes their graph is smooth and curvy - but that is not actually how it is in real life.
Shame on Apple for putting up that chart. And kudos to David for being overly anal and calling out apple on it. Your my Hero.
one other interesting comment from Tim cook during the conference call - is that in the education market for tablet sales - Apple is at at 94% market share for the iPad vs all other tablets. Which makes you wonder who those brainiacs are that wasted their money on that 6% of non-ipad tablets.
According to this article, it won't be necessary to stand in a long line to get the iPad Air on Friday. It will be possible to order online with the ship-to-store option. I hope that's true because I have been making plans to show up at either the Apple Store or Best Buy a couple of hours before they open Friday so I can get the one I want. Now I may just need to wait until online orders are available and have one waiting for me at the store when I get there.
The other good news I got yesterday was that Logitech announced their new line-up for iPad Air. They weren't specific on when they would be available other than November but it means I may not have to use my older keyboard case with my new iPad air for too long.
Myron - thanks for the heads up - yeah it does seem from what is being reported about this Friday November 1st launch of the iPad air - that no one is really expecting it to sell out. However the iPad mini which does not have a ship date yet - that seems to be the one most are expecting to be in short supply until at least some time in 2014. If you are looking to get an iPad Air and live near an apple store - best to go on line at 12:01 AM PT on Friday and order you iPad mini for in store pickup later in the day on Friday.
Folks if you do get a new iPad Air this weakend - make sure to call into the show and let us know which version - wifi only or Wifi LTE and what storage level and why on the storage level - and also tell us your thoughts of the new iPad Air.
For those that want an iPad air - the folks at Apple dash tracker dot com have a tool to check for iPad airs in inventory at your 20 closest Apple stores. It sure does look like the 128 gb version is either in demand or no stock was delivered.
For example the wifi only unit in space gray 128 gb - was only available at 5 of the 20. Where as 16 and 32 gb were in inventory at all 20 stores and the 64 gb was available at 17 of the 20 as of late Saturday evening.
It does change a little for the silver version. 13 of 20 stores had the 128 gb version, and all 20 stores had the 16, 32 and 64 gb versions.
For the Cellular version the Silver version for Tmobile was available at 10 of 20 stores which is better than the 1 of 20 for ATT version and 0 of 20 for Verizon. The Sprint version was at 17 of 20 stores for the 128 gb version. Things look worse for the Space Gray version. In short it looks like Silver iPad Airs have better availability as do the lower storage options and the wifi only options. If you are looking for a Space Gray 128GB Verizon version - no soup for you - at almost any store in the US when I checked on a bunch of Zip codes. Actually of all the apple stores I could check on over 100 - only the Fifth avenue store in NY had one.
I point all this out not just for those looking for the iPad Air - but for those planning on getting the iPad mini 2 like me.
Look for the link in the show notes titled - iPad Air Availability - Apple-Tracker.com for ep 287 at today in iOS dot com
Hi Rob,
I arrived at the Apple Store in Canberra, Australia just after 8a.m. for the iPad Air launch. There were about 50 people in the line and Apple staff were handing out cards for the items people wanted to buy.
They were already out of 128Gb/cellular iPads so I looked elsewhere in the centre and on the phone but with no luck.
I have now ordered online, with engraving, and should receive it late next week or early the week after.
Thanks heaps for the show - always interesting and entertaining.
Cheers, Bert
Hi Rob,
In line at the Glendale galleria For the IPad Air I'm the 1st person here at 6am it's 7am and there is 6 people now across the street 600ft there the new Iphone store at the Americana there is 30 people in line. I will. E getting The silver 64GB iPad air today.
This is Tony from Burbank the only person who watches podcast on Apple TV signing off
Hi Rob,
I woke up early drove 45 minutes my local Best Buy store only to arrive at 7:30 and no one else was parking lot or even waiting in line. so I went to breakfast with next Best Buy at five after 8. I was in the store buying an iPad 32gig, I bought one for myself one for my mom for Christmas gift got two covers and left the store in about three minutes.
The new iPad Air reviews are out. And they are all for the most part very positive. Look Apple took a device in the iPad that had a basically 99% favorable rating and well made it faster and lighter. Duh of course the reviews are going to be positive.
ZDNET has an article to a bunch of the reviews. But the one article I liked was from LapTopmag dot com. They took the time to go through the many different pre-release reviews and come up with 5 complaints that were brought up from all the reviews.
1. No Touch ID - I agree with this - I was hoping they would have had touch ID - especially As I now find myself holding my thumb on my wifes iPad all the time waiting for it to unlock.
2. Cameras don't Wow - I find this a nit pick more than a complaint - I mean well I guess some are complaining - but really - don't you know what a tool you look like taking a photo with a tablet - just sayin.
3. A bit Pricey - again a nit pick. You get what you pay for and if you want to pay less - there is lots and lots of crap to choose from out there. Just make sure you make room in the draw in your desk - because that is where non iPad tablets quickly find themselves living.
4. Runs Warm - but then they note that it is not as warm as the 4th gen iPad when it is running full tilt. So it runs a little warm - but not as warm as the last gen. This is bad how?
5. No Display innovation. Umm it is already a retina display - where did they think Apple was going to go with it? Someone actually complained that when the iPad mini 2 launches the iPad Air will not be the best pixel density iPad. Oh My is all I can say - well All I can say on a G rated show.
Essentially for the iPad air it comes down to this for you. Do you want the 9.7" display or the 7.9" display. If you want the bigger display and you don't have a 3rd or 4th gen iPad - then the iPad Air will be a good choice for you. If you are like me and have a 3rd gen iPad and are looking for something a little smaller and a lot lighter - then the iPad mini will likely be your cup of tea. But I am biased as that is what I want. And yes putting the same number of pixels in the 7.9" screen that are in the 9.7" screen - means the pixel density is greater. So the mini while lighter and cheaper - will have a better display then the heavier and more expensive iPad Air.
Per speed tests - the iPad Air and iPad Mini should have identical results as they are basically identical internally.
So Rob you ask how did the iPad Air do on the bench mark tests. Well I am glad you asked - because that brings us to another ZDNET article that goes over some bench mark tests of the iPad Air vs past iPads. And well it blows the other iPads out of the water - as is to be expected based on the new A7 64 bit processor. On the Multicore Geekbench 3 test the iPad air was 88% faster than the iPad 4th gen and 432% faster than the iPad 2nd and 3rd gen and iPad Mini. It was even a little bit better when the single core test was done. Now mind you the iPad 2nd, 3rd and 4th gen and the iPad Mini all seem very snappy as it is. So while raw processing / bench mark tests show the iPad Air is much faster 2 to 5 times faster than those older iPads - you will not likely see that raw performance improvement with most day to day use. But it is alway nice to know you have it under the hood for those times you do actually need it. I am stoked to get the iPad Mini and see how it works with BossJock and exporting as an MP3 and see how that changes vs the iPad 3rd gen. Actually with the A7 chip on the 5S - encoding to Mp3 for a 60 sec recording takes 41 seconds. But on the iPad 3rd gen - a 60 sec recording takes 53 secs. So while the A7 is much faster you really need the apps optimized for the 64 bit architecture to see the real speed improvements - and for most apps you just will not see that. So if your main reason for getting an iPad Air or iPad Mini is you want to see great performance increases compared to your older iPad - unless said older iPad is the first gen - you are likely going to be disappointed for some time. Keep that in mind when buying the iPad Air - it is about the future when more and more apps are optimized for the A7 - not the present when only the apple apps are.
Oh and one other thing to remember - Apple changed the name of the iPad full size to iPad Air for a reason - it is so they can introduce at some point in the future - the iPad Pro. Come on you know it is true. So if you look at 9.7" and go I want it bigger - there is likely something in the pipeline that will make you happy.
One bit of good news not highlighted or mentioned or hinted at at the Oct 22nd event is that for those of you looking for a cellular version of the iPad air - but not on one of the big carriers - well the iPad Air is going regional. Some of the carriers that already confirmed they will be getting the iPad Air November 8th are - GCI, Bluegrass Cellular, C Spire Wireless and US Cellular - with US Cellular saying and you know what we are getting the iPad Mini as well. No date on the iPad mini availability as well Apple has not even announced that yet beyond the later in November mention at the Oct 22nd event.
T-Mobile is offering up a data plan starting on Friday November 1st where they claim - Free Data for life. Well 200 MB of free data every month.
I called t-mobile to try and figure out exactly what type of plan I would need for this and sadly the person I talked to did not know but kept trying to get me to sign up to some other plan.
What I do know from the site - is you can bring your own tablet that has cellular. So if you buy the iPad Air or iPad mini 2 with cellular at the Apple store you can bring it to T-Mobile and get this offering.
And to get the free 200 MB starter data as they call it you need to have an active mobile internet account with t-mobile - which it seems can be a $0 a month plan. But likely will cost you $10 to set up with their sim if you do not buy the Tmobile version of the iPad Air. So if what I understand to be true on this - is you set up your device to work with t-mobile by going to your local tmobile store and getting a sim card kit for $10 and creating an account which you set up as an On Demand data plan as a post paid customer. And then going forward you get 200 MB of free data each month. Now this is a good offering for those that don't do much away from the house surfing and when they do it is just checking emails or tweets. But if you are someone that plans on watching netflix at little suzzies Dance class on Monday / Wed / Friday for 2 hours a night - yeah this offer of 200 MB is meaningless to you.
I will try to get more info on this for the next show.
Hi Rob - I hope the delay getting out a new episode doesn't mean you are under the weather.
SIDE NOTE - Not me - I had a dog that was - she is a 16 pound pug and she ate an entire bag of oreos. She was touch and go but seems better now. To put that in perspective - that would have been like me eating over 12 bags of oreos. Yeah not good. Ok Back to his email.
I purchased a T mobile iPad Air at my local Apple Store. I turned off wifi and created a new TMobile account under settings and cellular. I am a new customer and don't have any existing service with them. I selected the default "On Demand" plan with zero minutes and zero charge. They only ask for the standard personal info, but no credit card needed. I then received an email welcoming me to T Mobile and saying I will receive 200 mb free from now until 12/02/13. I assume at that time I will get another 200mb. I expect if I use the 200 mb, they will push frequent notifications trying to get me to buy more. That will be fine for me and not a bother. If a person gets decent coverage, I think the T Mobile iPad is the way to go.
Also, if you pay for a plan on T Mobile and you use up your allotment of data before the end of the month, according to their web site, they don't just cut you off, they simply drop you to a lower speed. I had Verizon and when I reached my limit, I was cut off completely. This IMO is another reason to go with T Mobile.
Another also, I read on line, on any old iPads, if you get a new T Mobile sim, you can sign up and get the free promotional data. It doesn't have to be on a new iPad or one specifically targeted to T Mobile.
Regards,
Darrin
Darrin - Thanks for that info - It does sure sound like when I get my iPad Mini - it will be the t-mobile version. As I just need the cellular part for occasional use.
I want to thank our sponsor today which again is square trade. For those of you that just dropped $500 to $900 on a new iPad Air - you will be happy to know there is an iPad warranty for you to - go to square trade dot com slash tii2 - that t i i the number 2.
When you go that page it will initially show the warranty at $99 - but once you click through - it will then show the actual price as $89 - that's right for Tii listeners for Squaretrade warranty for your iPad - you can save $35 off the normal price and get 2 years of coverage for just $89. It is almost a half pound lighter and that means you will want to take it more places and more places means more chances for accidents - and that is where squartrade comes in. It gives you a nice piece of mind. I have my squatrade warranty on my iPhone 5S - and will get one for my iPad Mini 2 when I get that as well. And you can get your warranty by going to square trade dot com slash tii2 - that is slash tii and the number 2 for your iPad discount of $35.
If you have a new iPhone that just arrived and is less than 30 days old - time to get a warranty for it as well - go to square trade dot com slash tii - for your iPhone warranty - links in the show notes for both those.
I have been syncing my iPhone 5s via iTunes by clicking the choice to sync with iPhoto on versions 7.0.1 and 7.0.2 but now it has disappeared as a choice on iTunes syncing setup.
I did update iPhoto to version released yesterday (9.5) and I have installed the most recent iTunes 11.1.2
and am on Mavericks.
It shows the choice to sync to Aperture which I also have and another choice to sync directly with my Pictures folders but no more iPhoto.
Can you please offer any assistance or insight?
Regards,
Fraser
Ontario Canada
Hi Fraser - I am running iTunes 11.1.2 and iOS 7.0.3 - but not Mavericks - but what I am seeing is when my iPhone 5S is connected - and you go to it in iTunes on my computer and then go to the Photos tab - I am seeing iPhoto listed as an option to sync to.
From what I read - Mavericks still supports direct from computer to iPhone sync of Photos via iPhoto - as long as you are not set up to sync photos via iCloud. So check to see if you have iCloud sync set up for your iOS device or your Mac. I will say there is a lot of back and forth on the support forums about this issue and there are a few people that did say 100% they could still do this with Mavericks - and a couple saying 100% they could not. I tend to feel in those cases - the ones that can't have something set up wrong. But if no one could then I would say it was a mavericks issue.
Thanks to Tash for this next one - and this is an article more for the Mac OS X users - than iOS users - and it is about how some of the Mac Apps for iWork and iLife actually saw some features removed with their quote updates unquote. Seems what Apple decided to do is make the Mac Apps and the iOS apps more similar in feature sets - and they did this by moving the feature set up a little with the iOS apps and down a little with the OS X apps - so they are kind of moving to meet in the middle - which well sucks if you use the iWork and iLife apps mostly on your lap top. Hopefully Apple quickly adds back missing features on the OS X side and at the same time add those features to the iOS versions.
Hey Rob, my wife and I both just upgraded (her 4 and my 4S) to 5Ss and couldn't be happier! I LOVE THIS DEVICE. Also went with square trade warranties on both devices, thanks for the discount!
You mentioned in episode 286 that iWorks comes free if you buy a new iOS device. How do I take advantage of this? Is it iWorks for my device only or for my MacBook as well?
Thanks Rob! Updating to Mavericks now…
Regards,
Aaron M
Hi Aaron, Kyle and all the others that asked about this. To get your free iOS apps - Pages, numbers, keynote, iPhoto, iMovie and Garageband - on your new iOS device purchased after September 1st. On said new iOS device - launch the App store app. You should see a popup about Apples Apps - and you are then presented with the option to download All - for the Apple apps - and that includes the apps I just mentioned plus the Podcasts App, iBooks, iTunes U, Find My iPhone and a few others. Click download all to get them all. Again these apps are free on the iOS device you purchased after Sep 1st running iOS 7 or later. If you do not see the pop up when you launch the App store app - go to bottom of the screen for the App store app and select - Apps made by Apple. And you should see Free next to all those not installed already. Just tap on Free and start the install process. For those that see a price next to any of the apps from Apple - it means said device was purchased before September 1st.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Feedbk_703_fixes_issues_pages_numbers
I do want to talk a little about what you really get with the new Apple Apps that just updated.
From the release notes lets start with the Podcasts app.
First it is designed for iOS 7 as all these updates Apple apps are. The Podcast store is now in the feature tabs at the bottom - no more flipping over to the Podcast store and then back to your library.
Search is much much improved.
Podcasts now automatically update with new episodes - even while the app is not open.
You can also choose how often the Podcasts app checks for updates to your feeds.
And iCloud now keeps your subscriptions, stations and play position in sync with iTunes and Apple TV.
And as mentioned - the lyrics tab / show notes now show up.
Overall - I think the update to the Podcasts app was a very good update.
With the Garageband App - You can now create a song with up to 32 tracks using touch instruments, Audio recording and loops - This does require the A7 Processor. 16 tracks are available for the any other iOS 7 device except the iPhone 4.
It supports AirDrop and full 64 bit processing.
And you can record compatible 3rd party music apps using inter-app audio.
For Numbers - There are new Apple design templates - YAWN. You can animate data with new interactive column, bar, scatter, and bubble charts.
You can use AirDrop to send your spread sheet to anyone nearby.
You can share a link to your spreadsheet via Mail, messages, Twitter and Facebook - and anyone with a shared document link can have access to the latest version of the spread sheet and can edit it with you at iCloud.com You can export to .csv. And there is some coach tips for guided in app help you can turn on.
iMovie saw a bunch of additions. Share Clips and movies to iMovie theater. Adjustments bar for easy access to video and audio controls. Three new transitions - Slide, wipe and fade through black or white. Slow Motion - Cutaway - Picture in picture - and split screen effects. You can add the audio portion of video clips to a movie - i.e. you an strip out and use the audio from a movie.
You can duplicate audio or video clips. You can trim - split and reposition music and sound effects. Adjustable audio fade in and fade out. Share via AirDrop to send video clips and iMovie projects. Nice I am sure for sending video from your iPhone to your iPad.
If you have a movie you have created with the new iMovie and it uses some of these features - please email me a link to the video to share with the audience.
Keynote - my favorite Apple App - also had some changes. There are some new animations and effects - including updated Magic Move, Clothesline and more. New Apple designed themes.
You can animate data just like with numbers, you can use AirDrop to send your presentations. And like with Numbers - you can send a link to your presentation - and anyone using iCloud you send it to - can get access to view and edit it with you. And there are also coaching tips for guided in app help.
And not surprising of all the Apps - iPhoto seemed to have the most new features / changes. Not surprisingly because - Photos are such a big thing with the iPhone. You can order pro-quality prints and create and order professionally printed hardback photo books. So now you can totally blow off your entire family on the flight back from a vacation - as you work to get a book created of your vacation and all your significant other can remember is you played on your iOS device the entire flight and did not notice your 5 year old kicking the seat in front of him or that your 7 year old asked the flight attendant when they removed the weight limit for "stewardesses" and after that they did not get their drinks. Ok maybe best to create that photo book - at night when all are asleep.
Some other useful features of the new iPhoto - actually the most useful is the ability to delete Photos in the Camera Roll from iPhoto - something no other app can do as well as save edits back to your photo roll you just made. Which when combined with the advanced search controls - will hopefully make managing your photos where you keep the ones you want and delete those you don't need a little easier. You can share photos from iPhoto directly via messages. There is improved support for Panoramas in web journal layouts. And of course there is AirDrop support.
And Finally there is the Pages App - Now over 60 templates to choose from. Text formatting options added to your keyboard, There is the same animated data that is in Numbers and Keynote. There is also the same share a link and collaborative options via iCloud. You can now turn your documents into ebooks by exporting to ePub. This is one I am looking forward to using on my new iPad mini if and when I get that.
Apple realizes to keep people looked in - they need to offer up the best productivity apps - so I would expect we will see updates to all these apps on a rather regular basis going forward. If you find any neat new features in any of these apps - Podcasts App, Pages, Keynote, Numbers, iPhoto, iMovie and Garageband - let us know 206-666-6364 - that is 206-moon-dog or email us at today in iOS at gmail dot com.
Its back - The iOS daylight savings time bug that is. Yes in the US this weekend is Daylights savings and in the past that has usually meant some sort of issue. because I guess everyone that works on the code for this part of iOS lives in either Arizona or Indiana. Seems this year in the UK when they hit their daylight savings time - the wrong current time line in day view was the bug this time around. I guess expect the same in the US. Just becarefull looking at your day view in the calendar app on Sunday. And yeah definitely make sure when you get up Sunday all your alarms are still working. Who knows what else will pop up this weekend.
Levi needed a way to access notes in an old backup and the program I use is iExplorer by Macroplant. It's for both Mac and PC and I've been using their other program Sharepod for years. Which allowed me to copy music out of a defunk iPod, iPhone, iPad to your computer. It even would import the music into iTunes after it checked to make certain you didn't already have said music in your library. iExplorer is a newer offering which works for devices running iOS 7 and allows you to extract data from any old backup. Notes, Voicemail, Texts, etc... It does it all and you can download and use it for free (with some limitations) then buy it later if you like for $35. Here their website www.getsharepod.com Hope this helps, love the show
Dave Tarantelli in little Rhody
Hi Rob,
I heard a listener was wondering how to retrieve notes from an old iOS backup...well, I found this software that looks promising. Just thought I'd share it.
Hey Rob, I sent the email to you about the maps app lagging and Yes iOS 7.0.3 Did fix it.
Regards,
Robert
Great to hear the 7.0.3 fixed that issue.
Hi Rob,
I was wondering why my mail app keeps having me enter my password for my individual accounts? It seems it does this every 3 days? I fine this puzzling. Thanks
Regards
Jonah
Hi Jonah - I have not seen that issue with my mail on my iPhone - but my imap account stopped working on Thursday night so I am guessing something changed with imap and gmail and the iPhone on November 1st. Still trying to get it to work again - but my other accounts which are working fine are set up as pop accounts. Hopefully I will get that fixed sometime today after this episode goes live.
If others have been having issues with email and their iPhone since iOS 7 - please let us know. 206-666-6364 - thats 206-moon-dog or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Sharde_ringtone_app_direct_to_phone
Hi Rob,
Ringtone app with music already on your phone "RMaker"
Ringtone app to find already made ringtones "Ringtones"
Regards,
Simeon F
Hi Rob,
Ben here from productivitypad.blogspot.com, just listening to 286 and heard the caller ask about the "other" category. As you said most of this is real but some of it is not, particularly if you have had downloads such as podcasts abort and leave half finished files floating around. There is an app for PC and Mac that is free called Phone Clean that will clear that out for him. It works really well and has sped up several of my devices by freeing up memory.
Regards,
Ben N
On the last episode I had a question about tipping Apple store employees - and here is what I received back from an Apple store Blue shirt.
Hi Rob,
I work in Redacted at the Apple store.
I don't know if you got any feedback yet, but current apple policy states that no employees are allowed to accept any financial bribery. I've been offered for carrying a computer out to a car a car for an elderly man and turned it down. Also We regularly have our one to one members give us things like fruit and stuff (apples, bananas and oranges) when they come in for a training session. I think this is potentially a grey area. Though It may be okay because there isn't a direct exchange of goods (aka a bribe of discounted hardware, sessions) since there is not an actual two way transaction.
Regards,
Redacted
Hi Rob,
If anyone misses the flying icons in iOS 7.0.3 - Turning off "Reduce Motion" brings back the flying icons.
Regards,
Steven in Houston
VOICEMAIL - Jonathan_potential_answr_tweet
Rob,
Here is A handy tip. It might be true your nickname is Big Boy but you might not want everyone to know.
The tip is - How to disable nicknames for Messages, Phone, and Mail in iOS 7
Chris in London.
Thanks chris for the heads up on this. Yeah seems in the Message thread if you have a nickname applied - it is what is shown. Ok to kill this "feature" off go to Settings App --> Mail, Contacts, Calendars --> Short name (under contacts) then scroll down to Prefer Nicknames and turn it off. Which is exactly what I did. Because yeah that could get embarrassing.
There is a nice article on Cnet titled Lock the iPad to just one app. I know we talked about this when iOS 6 came out - but it is worth mentioning it again for iOS 7. essentially how it works is you first set up guided access feature. Setting - general - restrictions - guided access turn it on and set a 4 digit passcode. Then go to the app you want open it and quickly tap the home button 3 times. You can then pick places in the app where they can not touch. Note to self - need to do a tutorial on how to lock Netflix App into just kids mode. Seems someone was watching a few minutes of breaking bad recently and it was not me or the wife. Then after you do that and select with buttons to turn off - you hit the start button in the top right. To get out of guided access - triple click the home button and enter your 4 digit passcode. Did not catch all that - well look for the link in the show notes for ep 287 over at today in iOS dot com titled - lock the iPad to just one app - and check out the video link they have in the article. For parents with kids who like to get into apps on Mom's iPad you don't want them to - this is a nice feature. Especially on a long car ride and they are in the back seat and you don't want to worry about what they are getting into while you drive.
A few different posts out there about Apples plans to spend $11 Billion in Capital expenditures for fiscal year 2014 which started at the end of September. The first post I read said this would be a 57% increase from what they spent in 2013 - which got me all excited. until I read another post that said in 2013 Apple planned to spend $10 Billion - but only spent $7 Billion on new buildings and equipment. Seems the 11 Billion planned for 2014 is only 10% more than the 10 billion planned for 2013. The reason for the shortfall in spending for 2013 according to apple is quote largely due to a combination of some timing changes and efficiencies we were able to achieve unquote. In reality what most of the capital expenditures winds up being spent on is equipment that apple buys and puts in their suppliers factories. This is how Apple gets ahead of the competition - by enabling their supply chain to out perform the competition and by also restricting their suppliers from using that equipment for anyone but them.
When Carl Ichan talks about giving all that money back to investors - this is something he misses - Apple uses their capital very wisely - they buy the best supply chain in the world.
So back to 2013 - and the short fall - the comment about timing changes - really sounds like some product line was pushed out. And that in part will explain the 2014 expenditure increase - there is also the spaceship campus construction - ok - maybe not a good a use of capital as bolstering the supply chain.
I should put the expenditures into perspective in 2012 - Apple spent 10.3 Billion - 11 Billion is only 6.7% increase from 2012. Yeah - 11 Billion in that context and considering the space ship campus - it does not sound as impressive.
I have a question for you or for the listeners, I am looking for an app that can do speak detection and auto language detection. I mean that I want to let it hear some kind of a language and the app will tell me which language is it and do a translation for it. Is there any app like that?
Regards,
Alon for Israel
Hi Alon I am not sure if there is an app like that - but it may be coming to siri in the future.
ASK SIRI WHAT LANGUAGES SHE UNDERSTANDS AND RECORD THAT.
The interesting thing in the sentence is the SO FAR comment.
One rumor about what is next for Siri is a basically she becomes a universal translator. You say something to her and than ask her to say it in another language. The other person says something in the other language and Siri says it back to you in your language.
That would be a nice built in feature for iOS 7.1 - but likely it will be iOS 8.x. Why is this likely going to happen - well Apple did a hire a bunch of multilingual cloud experts and it is rumored that is what they are working on.
ASK SIRI WHAT IS THE GERMAN FOR New Features coming soon
We talked some time back about a couple of Russian Carriers no longer carrying the iPhone. MTS and Vimplecom. Well now seems they are back. Vimplecom signed an agreement with Apple and MTS acquires its iPhones through a 3rd party distributor to get around some rules laid down by Apple.
While their decision in the past to drop the iPhone was headline news - it seems their decision to go back with the iPhone was relegated to page 23 right next to the community happenings section.
Some great quotes out of MS about the free offering of iWork Apps to iOS and OS X users. “Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for communications, also argued that Microsoft’s tablets were better than Apple’s new iPads,” Pimentel reports. “Reacting to news that Apple was dropping its fees for its iWork suite of apps, Shaw said in a blog post, ‘Now, since iWork has never gotten much traction, and was already priced like an afterthought, it’s hardly that surprising or significant a move.’”
“He also downplayed Apple’s rollout of new iPad devices, saying Microsoft’s Surface and Surface 2 ‘are less expensive than the iPad 2 and iPad Air respectively, and yet offer more storage, both onboard and in the cloud,’” Pimentel reports. “‘When I see Apple drop the price of their struggling, lightweight productivity apps, I don’t see a shot across our bow, I see an attempt to play catch up,’ he wrote. ‘I think they, like others, are waking up to the fact that we’ve built a better solution for people everywhere, who are getting things done from anywhere, and who don’t have hard lines between their personal and professional lives. People who want a single, simple, affordable device with the power and flexibility to enhance and support their whole day. ‘ He did not discuss Apple’s surprising move to make its new Mac operating system known as ‘Mavericks’ available free of charge. “
When Apple offers a reduction in price to ZERO - for some of the best selling apps in the iTunes app store - it is not about trying to ship product collecting dust - like when MS reduced the price of the Surface tablets - nope this is about Apple improving the user experience of the Apple Ecosystem. Something clearly those at MS don't get or don't want others to get. So the quote is either one we can just as easily in this case blame on incompetence as we could on Malice.
Well seems Samsung was just fined by Taiwan's FTC - for paying for both Fake positive reviews of its product and for also paying for fake negative reviews of its competitors products. I mean it is bad enough to pay for fake positive reviews - but they went the extra mile and paid for fake negative reviews.
So to quickly go over Samsungs recent actions - 1. Fake paid reviews, 2. Cheating on Benchmark Tests 3. Continued copying of Apple products. 4. Admitted to sharing documents from lawyers to engineers the courts said they could not share.
Seems Samsung just keeps raising the bar on how sleazy they can be as a company. Makes you wonder how any one could be pro Samsung - I mean anyone not getting paid to be pro Samsung that is. I know the next time I hear or read anyone saying something nice about samsung - I will think they are just being paid under the table to say something nice.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Wayne_henderson_fdbk_upgrade.
Hi Rob,
With the new iPads that are coming out, I wonder if there's any reason to not get the iPad mini, since it has the same specs as the MAIN iPad. Is it really worth the $100 for the bigger screen? I mean the mini is technically a better screen with the same pixels. It has everything the bigger iPad does internally. It's weird people want a bigger phone and a smaller tablet. One thing that really stuck out to me as a sore thumb was this quote from the Oct 22nd event, quote The biggest request we've gotten is a retina display for the iPad mini, and we listened unquote that to me was a bad omen. I miss the days when apple didn't do what consumers wanted, rather they showed consumers what they wanted. Like Steve Jobs would say people don't know what they want because we haven't showed them yet. Apple shouldn't respond to customer requests, it's done so well telling customers what they want.
Anyways, I would love to hear your response on this, and I still hate the smaller side bezels even tho I'm in the less than 1% on that I'm sure
Regards,
Jason Higley
Hi Jason - First up if you don't like the smaller side bezel then the iPad mini will be a better solution - as I am guessing the smaller side bezel will be less noticeable on the Mini than the iPad Air.
I agree with you on that quote - That seemed like the most un-apple quote I have heard in a long time and I agree with you - I hope Apple gets back to showing us what we want rather than giving us what we ask for. No company gets ahead of the competition or stays ahead by listening to their customers. I am not saying they should flip the bird to us - but don't tell us you added it because we asked for it. Next they will be adding a micro-USB connector and a SD card slot plus a removable battery if they keep on that path.
Hey Rob,
You might already know this...
You can now use your iPhone camera to scan the numbers on the back of gift cards. It immediately recognizes the little box around the code and locks it in. It's actually pretty neat! And sure beats dealing with reading and entering each character.
I'm on 7.03, I haven't used a gift card for a year so I don't know when they implemented this..
Here is a Kickstarter project I have been waiting to mention it is the Genneo - G E N N E O - and it is a Mobile generator that you put in your backpack or laptop bag or jacket and as you walk the motion generates power used to charge USB devices i.e. iOS devices.
I have been waiting on this one I mentioned as I met the lead designer of this at a 1 Million cups event here in Kansas City.
Sadly right now they are a little behind their goal of $100,000 - Yup you know what I think about that high a goal. They currently have around $11,000 in pledges so they are 11% of the way there roughly. This one has a pledge period running until Nov 20th at 3:01 AM ET.
Pricing on this is $175 for the 2900 mAh version and $225 for the 3,400 mAH version, If you walk around campus or back pack - this is a nice solution to allow you to charge your devices just from the movement of you walking about.
He did a good job explaining how it works - they have some patents - and why they will be able to produce this in a production environment and why they will hit their time lines. Which would be very unique for a kickstarter project. They have an estimated delivery of Feb 2014.
Look for Genneo - spelled - G E N N E O - at kickstarter dot com or in the show notes for ep 287
Yeah delivery dates and Kickstarter are more a if all the stars align just right type date. Take the earphones I mentioned early in the summer - the Soundband. I think it originally had an October ship date for the first 100 - that date has now slipped to some time in Q2 2014 - probably best case at this point. So much for that being a Christmas or Valentines day gift. Maybe if we are lucky it will be a mothers day gift. But I would not be surprised at this point if it became a 4th of July day gift or Labor day gift. Oh well. Maybe Christmas 2014 is now covered. At least they keep sending updates. The Other two Kickstart projects I funded and am waiting for are the SOS Charger - Original ship date August 2013 - updated ship date Late November. The last or first one of the three I am waiting for is the RECAPs project that lets your record phone calls from your iPhone - they shipped out the initial 10 units at the end of September and are supposed to ship out the rest in November - so hopefully I have that to report on shortly - which by the way - Sep / November is what they original said they would do - so - really that one has stayed on schedule so far. Kudos to iGor Ramos the lead on that project.
Thanks to Chris in London for this next one. Which I kept pushing out to the next episode. It is about the GameCase - which brings a full size natively supported Gamepad to iOS 7 devices.
This is made by the folks at Clamcase - Now this is not supposed to ship until late 2013 or early 2014 - but if the folks are listening at Clamcase - You know I would love to get a review unit. For those that like to play games and like the use of physical controls - you can sign up for notifications at game case dot com - which I did and also requested as press eval units as well. We shall see.
I got bbm on day 1 and I am noticing huge battery drain since on my iPhone 5. Just a heads up since 20 million users joined bbm. I prefer iMessage.
Regards,
Dev.
Hi Dev - thanks for the heads up on the issues with BBM - so if you just installed BBM and your battery life is dropping faster than Market share for blackberry smartphones - now you know why.
Oh and I guess I should mention for those that did not know - Black Berry Messenger finally is available for iOS devices. Just search for BBM in the iTunes app store or look for the link in the show notes for ep 287.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Quest_iph5_issue_charging
Hello rob, I have an ipod 5th gen and my gmail whenever I launch it it just says "no offline messages" , but on all my orther gmail accounts, it works, any suggestions?
Regards,
Daniel
Hi Rob,
For years I've used the Reqall app & web service to send short voice transcription emails directly to my email. When the app is running only a single tap to record and another tap when done and the message is sent to their server where it can be routed as an email, reminder, or text message. I simply use it to send to my email and the transcript shows up in the subject line.
Reqall no longer works in iOS 7 and the service is being shut down. I'm looking for any alternative that is easy to use. Using the mail app with microphone button, dictation to siri, or dragon dictate all take much more time, many more taps, and can be a huge distraction. I'd love to hear of any alternatives that TIO listeners may know of.
Regards
--Ed in Lenexa
Dear Rob,
I upgraded to the iPhone 5S on launch day and I was extremely happy with the overall performance of the phone.
However, last weekend I broke my right collar bone during a bike accident and I lost the use of my right hand. Being right handed, this was a huge inconvenience. But because of the design of the iPhone 5S, I could still use the phone with my left hand and reach every corner of the phone. I also happened to have set up my phone to recognize both left & right thumb prints.
Being an Apple fanboy has it's benefits! I couldn't imagine any Sammy phone user trying to use one of those FAT phones with just one hand!
Tony L
San Francisco
Hi Tony - Sorry to hear about your accident - and I hope your recover quickly. And yes you are correct one handed operation on one of those phablets or 5" smartphones would be difficult at best.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Gary_issue_703_touchID
PLAY VOICEMAIL - DRMACKAY_703_imessage
For those asking about iOS 7.0.3 update and the ability to jailbreak in the future - At least according to Musclenerd - it is safe to upgrade to iOS 7.0.3 assuming your are already running iOS 7.0.x already. So Yes it seems ok to update. Which makes sense because in the past when a new Jailbreak came out - it worked for whatever was the latest and greater version - so if you just came home from the Apple store with a new iOS device - the day a jailbreak was made public - it would jailbreak your device. That by my definitions is a public jailbreak - and one I would promote.
I had a few people asking my thoughts on the testing done by OptoFidelity - testing the accuracy of the iPhones Touch screen vs that of the S3 and found the S3 more accurate across the entire screen with the iPhone being less accurate around the edges.
Sadly so far I have not see an official response from Apple. Some have said this inaccuracy on the edges is on purpose by Apple - so that when you touch at an angle towards the side of the screen - it purposefully off - kind of Apples way of Kentucky windage for you.
Apple has said in the past - as in the way distance past of 2007 - that they already change the target size for keys on the keyboard based on what the iPhone thinks you are trying to type. So if you are typing the word slow - by the time you get to the w the target areas for the W is bigger than that for the Q or the E or the S around it. Making it easier for you to hit.
My guess is the inaccuracies measured by the robots at OptoFidelity are on purpose and not a bad design - why else would there be a pattern for the inaccuracies. This is also the thinking of Nick Arnott over at Neglected Potential who wrote a really nice blog post on this.
It would be nice is Apple put out something official about this. If they do I will make sure to mention it on a future episode.
I saw a nice blog post for the blog - Dustview. The post was titled - iPhone 5S vs Nokia Lumia 1020 Camera Shootout.
As the article mentions the 1020 has the camera called by many as the current leader of the pack in smartphone camera. HOWEVER - once you read this article and see the side by side shots - you will see that not only does the 5S hold its own - over all - the 5S is really the better camera.
They did 10 different side by side photos - where each photo had some different condition to it. Some were about colors - some clarity some low light - some about zooming in. And in the end the score was 8 to 3. One of the categories they tied. So they could have really scored it 7.5 to 2.5. It is hard to audibly explain the difference in pictures - because you know a picture is worth a 1,000 words and there are 10 different photos with 2 versions of each - and that would mean 20,000 words are needed. Or I could just say look for the link to the post titled - iPhone 5S vs Nokia Lumia 1020 Camera Shootout - in the show notes for ep 287 at today in iOS dot com. But yes I was really surprised by the out come of this test as a few certain tech podcasters seem to be so high on the Nokia Camera - doubt they ever did a side by side test like this. That's ok - we realize it is fashionable right now to be negative about Apple - I am sure once the wind blows in the other direction they will be back in Apples camp again. Just Sayin
PLAYVOICEMAIL - Quest_arnold_musicapp_ios7
Long time listener Tash in Australia has been having a bugger of a time with her iPhone 4S since updating to iOS 7. It has slowed down and the battery life sucks - and she seems to have tried everything. Seems this is a wide spread issue in Australia.
Again for me in the US - upgrading to iOS 7 on my iPhone 4 - and it seems to be working better and faster and battery life is much much improved. I get a much longer charge out of my iPhone 4 running iOS 7.0.3 - then I do with my iPhone 4S running 6.1.2.
Any way if Anyone in Australia was having issues with sluggish performance and horrible battery life after updating to iOS 7 - and were able to fix the issue - please please please let us know.
206-666-6364 - 206 -moon-dog or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
Hi Rob
I am planning on getting the iPad mini with Retina Display. I would love to save money and get thee 16GB version. I know iCloud saves apps, music, and photos, but do you recommend using cloud apps such as DropBox for an iOS device? If not 32GB will be my choice
Regards,
AJ
Hi AJ,
Even with iCloud and Dropbox and Flickr - which are all great for getting some content off your iOS device to free up storage space - there is another issue.
Are you an App junkie ?
If so - go with 32 GB as a min - apps are getting bigger and bigger size wise due to the requirements of retina specs for images.
So if you have more than 50 apps on your iOS device now - go with 32 GB - if you just use the stock apps plus a half dozen other apps - and don't care about apps - 16GB when used with icloud, dropbox and flickr should work for you.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Michael_email_redbadges_turn_off_tip
Now I need a couple of paper cuts - Check. And now the lemon Juice. Ok - adding that to the paper cuts. CHeck - and I am ready for this next story. Which is for those lucky few that have google fiber. Google just updated their iOS app so it now works on the iPhone and iPod touch as well - and they added new DVR features. Per the aforementioned lemon juice in my paper cuts - that relates to the fact I live in the only city in america whose city council was incompetent enough to say no to Google Fiber and then when they were ready for Google fiber - Google said No Fiber for you. So now I am living in the only city in Kansas City metro area that will be with out google fiber. All I can say is everyone on the City council up for election in the spring of 2015 will be gone. And I am seriously considering running. Yup Overland Park made it so hard on Google to get approval - that Google picked up their ball and went home. Ok I am ranting - but I am still pretty upset about it. Anyway if you have google fiber or are getting ready to get it good news for you - you can take the Android tablet they supply with each hook up and put it under the kitchen table leg to balance out the table - and download the Google fiber app for any of your iOS devices and control it with a device you don't have to feel embraced to be seen using.
Thanks again to our sponsor Squaretrade. Remember for your iPad warranty - just $89 for a two year warranty - you save $35 by going to square trade dot com slash t i i 2 - that is slash t i i and the number 2. the iPad Air is not really as light as air it is still a pound and subject to the laws of gravity - and square trade is there to help you when your iPad becomes part of a newtonian science experiment. Squaretrade dot com / tii 2 for your $89 iPad air warranty.
If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you get the most out of the show and it helps support the show at the same time - plus it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search for Tii in the iTunes app store.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. And don't forget to check out our new Moderated Google Plus community by going to todayinios dot com slash community.
Remember that Bakers dozen of Battery life improvement tips for iOS 7 that I went over a few weeks ago on the show - well I put them together to make a snap guide - so if you have the snap guide app - just search for walch - W A L C H - in Snapguide and you will see my battery life saving guide and also my how to podcast from an iPhone guide. And of course if any of you have done a snap guide - iOS related or not - let me know and I will mention it on the show. Since well snap guide is iOS related - so even if your guide is for a better double chocolate chip brownie - let me know.
Hi Rob,
Thanks for the heads up! Your heads-up make your app way more valuable than the price!
Regards Robert F
And Robert is talking about the push message I sent out Tuesday Morning about the Apple event actually being streamed live. Yeah Apple. and if you have the Tii App - you would have or should have received said push.
Normally on these events I try to put the milk at the back of the store and you need to get all the way through the store to get to the breaking news of the event. But this time we will put it up front. So what was announced at the event.
Well to start off there was the video with the dots about designing things for how they feel and to delight the user. And how it takes time to do this and there are lots of no's to get to each yes. This was the Designed by Apple in California video we saw back at WWDC in June.
Then Tim cook came out with shirt untucked and did his update on numbers and rah rah
First was on the iPhone - 9 million iPhones first weekend. Old number - no new info on that. Then the rah rah video from Launch day of the iPhone 5S and 5C from different apple stores around the world.
Per iOS 7 - 5 days after it launched there were over 200 million iOS devices running iOS 7. Today 64% of iOS devices are running iOS 7.
There have been 20 Mil listeners of iTunes Radio - about 1/3 rd of the number of podcast listeners.
There is now over a million apps on app store and over 60 billion App downloads. Which works out to over $13 Billion paid out to Developers. That means also - lots and lots of free app downloads.
Getting into the meat of the presentation - First up was the update on OS X and Craig Federegi - this time with shirt untucked. I will not go over all of the OS X stuff.
Craig did comment about his untucked shirt - I think he has been listening to the show. Actually last event he was the only one with his shirt tucked in.
One feature from Mavericks - is sending your maps locations right to your lock screen on your iPhone - which is nice.
Another great new feature of Mavericks is it is Free - as in nada - nothing - no cost to you. And available today. Wow I mean not Wow on the Today part but on the Free part. Did not see that coming.
Then Phil Shiller with shirt untucked came out and talked about the new Mac BookPros. Better specs lower prices. Nothing about internals and fan noise. Drat. But the website for Apple and the macbook pro show it still with the asymmetrical fans introduced at the last update.
There was also some Mac Pro Porn - that led us to about the 40 minute mark of the presentation.
Then Eddy the Stuff Que came out with shirt untucked and talked about iLife apps -
New update to iPhoto for Mac and iOS.
New update for iMovie for iOS 7 and you can do picture in picture and speed up and slow down video on your iPad or iPhone. Sweet - I know recently we had questions about the best app for picture in picture video editing - it now seems to be iMovie is the answer or at least one of the first answers.
And there is a New Version of Garageband - finally. New look - new design. I need to hold off upgrading for a bit until I am sure it still is ok for Podcasters and well this podcaster in particular. I am excited and scared to try it out. Maybe I will wait until Thanksgiving to upgrade to Mavericks and the new Garageband - then at least I will have 4 1/2 days to get things figured out on my production side. If you are a podcaster and use Garageband I recommend you wait a bit.
There are also New versions of the iWorks suite - Numbers, Pages and Keynote.
Then finally at the 52 Minute mark the unthinking happened - An Apple employee came out on stage with his shirt tucked in. It was Roger Rosner - and actually he was the only Apple Employee at the WWDC even that also had his shirt tucked in - Roger my friends is the real Maverick at Apple. A Shirt tucked in, not going to drive a hybrid - likes red meat type of Maverick.
Tim came back at the 57 Minute mark and he led us into the iPad announcements.
But first he mentioned that Over 170 Million iPads sold - reaching that mark early this month. That means last quarter Apple sold less than 15 Mil iPads last quarter - probably right about the 14.6 Mil mark they had from the quarter before. Maybe later in the show we will get into speculation of iPad and iPhones sold last quarter which Apple will announce next Monday. Really not much speculation on the iPad number. It is somewhere south of 15 Mil and likely north of 14 Mil. But still all time said was earlier this month we sold our 170 millionth iPad. So it is possible if earlier this month meant two days ago - it is possible When Apple reports numbers the sold less than 13 Mil iPad's last quarter.
Tim as he likes to do - showed a chart on Tablet Usage share - As he proudly stated the iPad is used 4 times more than all those other tablets combined.
And today there are over 475,000 iPad apps. Not apps that just work with the iPad in stretched mode - but Apple that are either only for the iPad or have universal mode. Like the Tii App.
Then Tim showed a video of how people are using their iPads. It r was a nice mix of examples of where people are using the iPad to consume content and how some are using it to create content.
Then Phil came back to talk about the new iPads. Thinner lighter - more powerful - That sums up what Apple is now calling the iPad Air - Which is the new name for the 9.7 inch iPad and it has the smaller bezel - that had been shown in leaked photos all over the place for the past couple of months. the iPad Air is just 7.5 mm thick - 20% thinner than the 4th gen iPad maxi. The full size iPad used to be 1.4 pounds - now it is down to 1.0 pound. As expected the A7 Chip is the heart of the iPad Air and it is the 64 Bit processor that you have in the iPhone 5S - so All Android tablets will soon be destroyed in the benchmark tests - even if they keep cheating and try turning it up past 11. Oh And the M7 Motion processor is in the new iPad Air as well. Graphics are 72 x more powerful than original iPad. And CPU power is 8x more powerful than the original iPad.
Another areas of improvement is Faster Wifi. Mimo tech for wifi - which means Multi in - multi out - and it means faster streaming of content. The iPad Air also has improved / Expanded LTE coverage / bands.
But still the same 5 MP camera. There are dual mics to quote help with siri unquote and of course the key trademark of the iPad - it has 10 hour battery life.
Per colors available for the iPad Air - there is Silver / white and space grey / black. There is no Gold for the iPad Air.
Pricing Still starts at $499. And they will Start shipping Nov 1st in a whole bunch of countries Actually Apple had over 40 countries listed. Including the top 10 countries listening to this show. The US, The UK, Canada, Australia, China, Germany, Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden and France. You actually have to get to the 13 th country for top countries downloading this show - New Zealand - before you find one not getting the iPad Air on Nov 1st.
What was not announced - Well No Touch ID for the iPad Air. That was one of those yes it is / no it is not rumored features leading up to the event.
Then we got into the new iPad Mini. And my gut was wrong - they did add a Retina Display. And it Also gets the A7 Chip. Yup I am buying one for the wife. Camera stays the same at 5 MP. Per colors available there are two - Silver/ white and Space Grey / Black. No gold for you. Pricing for the new iPad Mini is now $399 - and it will be available later in November.
the iPad mini first gen dropped to $299 for pricing.
So the iPad product line is
iPad Mini 1st gen $299. iPad 2 - Still around at $399, iPad Mini with Retina display at $399 and the iPad Air at $499. Those are all in 16 GB versions and wifi. There are LTE versions available as well - add $130 to the price and add $100 to the price to go up one storage level to 32 GB or another $100 to get to 64 GB or another $100 to get to 128 GB for both the iPad Air and new iPad mini 2nd gen. $699 for the 128 GB iPad Mini at 128GB - $829 when you add in LTE. Go to $929 for the top of the line iPad Air.
Oh yeah there are New covers and cases. Yada Yada.
A quick wrap up by Tim and then the event ended at the 84 minute mark. Good event on the iPad Mini side - was really surprised to see both the A7 and Retina for the iPad Mini - but as I said on a previous episode - if it had both I would get it and I will. I really did not think it would have both - but glad it did.
Essentially or not even essentially - actually the iPad Air and new iPad Mini have the same specs except for the size of the screen and size and weight of the units.
The Battery life is still listed at 10 Hours for both units - that did mean a slight increase in weight for the 2nd gen iPad mini from 0.68 pounds to 0.73 pounds - or 308 grams to 331 grams for the wifi unit. The depth increased a tad from 7.2 mm to 7.5 mm - again this is for the iPad mini. The Camera is identical to the iPad Mini first gen - so no change there. Only thing new is the 3X video zoom on the camera side that is.
And the big changes really are going from an A5 to an A7 and M7 processors and also to the Retina Display. And well going from $329 to $399 dollars - there is that too.
The big changes on the iPad air are going from an A6X to an A7 and M7 Processors. And then the lighter weight and new length x width and depth.
There is the improvement in Wifi and the improvement in LTE - but those are very minor changes for most.
So overall - if you were holding off getting an iPad Mini - this event was good news. If you have an iPad 3rd or 4th gen Maxi - I am not sure the iPad Air is going to cause you to rush out and get a new unit. But if you had an iPad 2nd or 1st gen and were waiting for a new gen iPad and one you can use for most applications instead of a laptop - then you are probably happy - but still not at a point where you have to upgrade - more that it would be nice to upgrade.
If you are an anal-ist - you probably are not happy.
As if
That is because there was no new category of product - no iWatch, No full on Apple TV, No iUnicorn so to speak.
What Apple did in this event is what they have been doing for years - incremental updates to their products.
But they did some things I think were important - they released major updates to their iLife and iWork suites and are making them free to all new iOS device buyers and all new Mac Buyers. And they made Mavericks free - which means they will be getting most usable Macs up to the same revision level in very short order - don't under estimate the impact that will have on the whole iOS / Mac interaction ecosystem.
I'm completely underwhelmed with "the biggest breakthrough since the original iPad" they made the side bezel about half as thick as it used to be… I hate that because it makes it hard to hold in portrait with one hand… they made it thinner, they changed the shape slightly, they made it lighter, and it has the new processors that the iPhone 5s has… Phish! I'd rather have a 4th gen
Regards,
Jason
Hi Jason thanks for your feedback. I think having rewatched the keynote now for a second time - and having gone over the specs vs the last couple of gens of iPads - I think Apple does have an issue in that their iPads are sooo good - not only are people using them more - but they are likely feeling no real need to upgrade to the new iPad. Sure some maybe even many listening to this show will not feel that way and will rush out to get the new iPad. But for most current iPad owners - the changes today are not going to be enough to get them to upgrade now - and that really is not to take anything away from the new iPad's - but rather to point out one of the issues with 4 Times more usage being on an iPad - is that people are using their iPads now and getting along so well that the iPad dominates tablet usage. It seems Apple is getting to a point where a 4 to 6 year window for iPad replacement may be the norm - and that means slowing iPad sales if Apple does not actively court those current Android users of Tablets and try to convert them to iPad users - Apple could see a decline in iPad sales yr over yr if they don't actively pursue non-iOS tablet users. That said again this is more a testament to how good the iPad was - not about the level of upgrade in the new iPads - which I think is great - especially on the iPad Mini side. But even my Wife said to me after the event when I explain what was new - that she is very happy with the performance with her iPad - when she gets it out of the kids or my hands.
If you don't have an iPad - then the new iPad's represent the best offerings to get. If you want a larger screen - get the iPad air - if you want something for more on the go / travel type usage - then the iPad Mini is the way to go - but both are great devices - both have the 64 bit processors and both have retina displays and both give over 10 hour battery life - and both are faster and more powerful than any other tablet out there.
Hi Rob,
I was wondering why apple failed to mention in the keynote, that you can configure the new iPad Air up to 128 GB? I think that is a pretty important feature. And why the lack of touch ID?
Regards,
Jonah
I was actually surprised to see that the iPad Mini had the 128 GB option - the 4th gen iPad already had the 128 gb option - so seeing it carried over was not surprising - but it was very pleasant to see it for the iPad mini. That means I could get my wife the iPad mini and put every picture of our kids on that for her. That is huge deal for her.
Per the lack of touch ID - it is very likely - that some of the rumors about production capability not being there yet for the sensors may have been spot on. If some time between now and say WWDC in June - Apple releases a version of the iPad Air and iPad Mini with touch ID - we know for sure it was a capacity issue.
If they wait until next year - it might just mean it was a road map issue. As in Apple just wanted to keep that an iPhone feature only for now.
Of course it could be a third issue - a Margins issue - as in Apple is doing all they can to keep up margins.
PLAY VOICEMAIL_DON_AL_APP_CRASHES
Hi Rob,
With regards to Episode 0285 and your solicitation for anecdotes for iPhone 5s crashes...
I have an iPhone 5s 64GB Silver/White for AT&T running iOS 7.0.2; and yes, I have experienced numerous crashes.
Most of the time, the crashes occur when I switch between apps i.e. the app that I land on or switch from crashes.
And every once in a while, SpringBoard crashes! I see the grey screen with black Apple logo that one sees when one boots up the phone when that happens. The interesting thing is that I was on a phone call once when it happened. The phone call continued uninterrupted while SpringBoard crashed and boots up.
My wife's iPhone 5 (White 64GB AT&T) did not seem to have any problems running iOS 7 (again, I don't have the version info but if I have to guess, it would be 7.0.2). At least, I am not hearing any complaints from her.
Anyway, overall, we, a family of 4 iPhones (and numerous other Apple devices) love the new look & feel & sound that comes with iOS 7.
Regards,
James.
iOS 7.0.3
This update contains improvements and bug fixes, including:
• Adds iCloud Keychain to keep track of your account names, passwords, and credit card numbers across all your approved devices
• Adds Password Generator so Safari can suggest unique, hard-to-guess passwords for your online accounts
• Updates lock screen to delay display of "slide to unlock" when Touch ID is in use
• Adds back the ability to search the web and Wikipedia from Spotlight search
• Fixes an issue where iMessage failed to send for some users
• Fixes a bug that could prevent iMessage from activating
• Improves system stability when using iWork apps
• Fixes an accelerometer calibration issue
• Addresses an issue that could cause Siri and VoiceOver to use a lower quality voice
• Fixes a bug that could allow someone to bypass the Lock screen passcode
• Enhances the Reduce Motion setting to minimize both motion and animation
• Fixes an issue that could cause VoiceOver input to be too sensitive
• Updates the Bold Text setting to also change dial pad text
• Fixes an issue that could cause supervised devices to become un-supervised when updating software
For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:
Patently Apple had an article that falls into one of my favorite categories - Articles about how iPad usage continues to confuse Anal-ists.
From the Article - iPad owners use their devices most often when compared to other Tablet owners - duhhh - and an amazing 80% of iPad users are heavy users 10 or more times a day. In our house the two iPads are used so much by the 4 of us - that my wife complains she does not really have her own iPad. Something I hope to rectify shortly with one of the new iPad's announced today - shhhhhh - don't tell her.
From the Gartner report on usage quote Other tablet providers need to understand why owners of their tablets spent significantly less time on their devices unquote - Hint - because their tablets UI sucks and the ecosystem is far inferior. And the touch UI is laggy and the hardware feels cheep - and they really just wanted an iPad when they asked for an iPad - and did not want any tablet. Again - they wanted a GI Joe with kungfu grip and they got an Action Jackson syndrome. That is what happens when someone asks for an iPad and gets an Android tablet.
Still it shows that Gartner does not get it because they seems just as frustrated in trying to understand what I think is just so obvious to all of us. There is a big difference in the User Experience between the iPad and iOS ecosystem and that of the Android devices and their ecosystem with ecosystem in this case in air quotes.
And in this case this is referring to download traffic for iOS 7 actually surpassed that of Netflix on Carrier networks - when the iOS 7 upgrade was released.
Yeah - another reason to shy away from upgrading the first few days a new upgrade comes out.
In the Apple event - Tim Cook said 64% of iOS devices had iOS 7 installed. But Mixpanel found for its users that number was actually at 71% just 27 days after the launch of iOS 7. Per their stats from a year ago - it took iOS 6 30 days to get to just 61% - so iOS 7 is definitely in higher demand than iOS 6.
And what Dr. John is asking about is per T-Mobiles announcement they would offer free global data roaming and texts starting Oct 31st. This is for more than 100 counties. This is for its simple choice customers - and there is no extra charge. For Voice calls the carrier will chafe a flat rate of 20 cents per minute when roaming globally. And yes this works with the iPhone. Check with your local T-mobile store for more details before heading overseas. And while it is for over 100 countries - it is not for ALL countries - so you will want to confirm with T-mobile if you are traveling abroad that where you are going is covered. Not that I am at all trying to downplay this - as it is a very very nice offer. Just want you to make sure if you are traveling to Albania or the isle of Mann - that you are covered and not just assuming your are covered. Again this starts on October 31st.
And speaking of Carriers and data plans. AT&T announced a $5 data day pass for cellular capable iPads - or put another way a $150 a month data plan. Hmmm put another way does not sound as good as a $5 data day pass. That day pass also gets them a total of 250 Megabytes of data for that day.
There is also another plan - that gives you 1 GB of data usage over a 3 month period for $25.
Still these plans kind of suck compared to what was originally offered for first gen iPad owners - which was a $30 a month unlimited data plan which you could purchase on a month to month basis from the settings app. AT&T yanked that as we mentioned on the last episode and that resulted in a class action lawsuit against Apple and AT&T which they recently lost.
Hey Rob,
I know that you fully back SquareTrade and that they are one of your show sponsors. Just wondering what your take is on other iPhone insurance policies. My wife and I are Verizon customers and are about to upgrade her 4 and my 4S.
For the past year and a half I have paid $9.99/month for the Verizon Total Equipment Coverage and a couple weeks ago my sleep/wake button stopped working. I took it to a Verizon store and they offered to mail me a replacement phone but couldn't swap it out in store and, of course, directed me toward the Apple Store without telling me that Apple wouldn't be able to swap it out either since my phone was past the standard one-year warranty that comes with the phone. Not knowing that, I went to the Apple Store and they, of course, directed my back to the Verizon store where I went and then just had them mail me one.
I got my replacement phone a couple days later and sent my defective phone back to Assurion or whatever in their nice box with the shipping already paid, etc. No deductible, I'm pretty happy. Now the phone looks brand new but has some issues and is obviously refurbished. No deductible is nice but I would rather have a phone that lives up to my standards after paying $9.99/month for a year and a half.
Would I be better off getting AppleCare+ for $99 and paying their $79 deductible if there's an issue? Or getting SquareTrade for $94 (via the Tii promo code discount and paying their $50 deductible? Are they all the same refurbished pieces of junk that are riddled with issues? I'm trying to figure this all out before we purchase our new phones next week...
I would also like to know your take on the best place to go to for trade-in! My wife's is a 32GB 4 and mine is a 16GB 4S. I've price shopped online and Verizon's Device Recycling Program seems like it would offer us the most money for our old devices with Best Buy and Apple Store right behind them. I know online and in-store are usually different ball games. Any idea who offers the best trade-in value on the spot? We just want to put the money towards two new 5S.
Regards,
-AAron M
Hi Aaron - I can tell you what I did - and that is I spent the $94 and got the Squaretrade warranty for my new iPhone 5S - by going to square trade dot com / tii - if you go to that URL - you get $30 off the 2 year warranty and again that means it is just $94 for you - and me. I think the Verizon and AT&T warranties are total rip offs. $10 a month for 24 months is $240 vs $94 + a $50 deductible if you need it. So yeah definitely go with Squaretrade dot com slash tii for your warranty. And unlike Apples warranty - if down the line a jailbreak is made available and you jailbreak - with square trade you are still covered. I have had many listeners in the past that needed to use their square trade warranty and their results were very positive. You can even bring your iPhone to Apple and get it repaired and they will reimburse you.
Per the question of reselling - if you main goal is getting the most money possible - ebay or craigslist - if you sell via craigs list - also set up your exchange in the parking lot of you local police station. You can not be too careful when it comes to selling via craigs list.
PLAY VOICEMAIL LEVI_CA_iPhone_crashing
PLAY VOICEMAIL BRIAN_PAGES_BLUE_SCREEN
Hey Rob, this is Dave in Palm Springs California.
In episode 285 you ask if anybody was having problems with the blue screen of death on a 5S. I am raising my hand.
Whenever I try to copy something from Pages, Apple's wordprocessing, with the purpose of going to another program like, Mail to paste it, Pages crashes and I get the blue-screen-of-death, followed by a complete reboot of the iPhone.
Apple techs scratch their heads and tell me to reset all settings. That does not seem to help the matter and only infuriates me. Any suggestions?
Dave
PLAY VOICEMAIL - BEN_IOWA_LOCATION_BASED_REMINDERS
Hi Rob,
Thanks for a great show. I traveled to England, France and Belgium in the fall of 2012, about two weeks after the release of the iPhone 5. I bought the Verizon iPhone 5 on launch day. I knew that the Verizon iPhone 5 contained unlocked GSM radios inside it which would allow me to use the phone on most GSM networks in Europe. All I had to do was buy a prepaid GSM SIM card when I got there. Easier said than done.
When I arrived in London, I learned that the iPhone 5 used a nano-SIM which was fairly new at the time and I couldn't fine one from any of the carriers in London. I did some quick research and found that you could use a SIM cutter tool to cut down a regular SIM card to make it fit in the nano-SIM slot. I finally ended up paying someone from a small electronics shop to cut down a full size GSM SIM that I purchased from the mobile carrier called "3" (http://www.three.co.uk/).
The cut down card worked great in my iPhone 5 however I never saw LTE speeds in any of the three countries I visited. LTE rolled out much more slowly there that it did here in the States and I think it just wasn't available when I visited last fall.
A year later, I'm sure there is better LTE coverage and I'm sure it's trivial to find GSM prepaid nano-SIMs that will work in unlocked iPhones. I hope this story can help someone else.
best--
Rob
Hi Rob,
Did we lose the "Reader" function with the IOS7 update ? Or am I missing something in the settings ?
It seems to be missing in Safari and web articles that used to offer it.
This is evident on both an iPhone 4S and an iPad 3rd Gen., both running the latest version of IOS 7.
Regards,
SgtMac in Tidewater, VA.
Hi Sgt Mac,
You have to be on a site where there is a post for this to work.
And be on a specific post. Then Upper left of the screen next to the URL - tap on the symbol that is 3 lines same length with a 4th line shorter. That will switch you in and out of reader mode.
If you upgraded your older iOS device to iOS 7 and you seeing a keyboard lag when you are typing - no you did not suddenly start typing faster - you are really seeing a lag - well at least some people are. And here is how to get rid of said lag.
Go to Settings - General - Reset - and select - Reset All settings.
No not reset network settings - but rather reset all settings.
When you do this your iOS device will reboot and ALL of your settings and all of your customizations will be set to default. That means if you mad the font bold - yeah - reset. Turned off parallax - yeah reset. Wallpapers - yup reset. But hey if all of a sudden you felt like you were typing way to fast for your iOS device - then this is something to look into.
Still lots of reports and articles talking about the failure of the iPhone 5C and horrible sales of the 5C. And well they are pretty much BS - All of them spinning it negatively at least - some accounts show a 2 to 1 ratio of 5C to 5S sales - if that is true - that is outstanding for a unit that is nothing more than a year old iPhone 5 wrapped in plastic.
Those that expected the iPhone 5C to sell like hotcakes - well does not know much about iPhones or hotcakes. As I stated before on this show - I do not recommend the 5C to anyone - spend the extra benjamin and get the 5S with the 64 bit processor / better camera / touch ID / and a metal cases that looks elegant vs the plastic OMG look at me and these bright colors that is the 5C.
On the next episode we will be going over the Apple quarterly conference call
But we do have a little insight into how at least Verizon did with iPhone sales last quarter.
First up the iPhone was mentioned 4 times in the call. Which is twice the mentions of the last quarterly call.
The first time the iPhone was mentioned it was to talk about supply constraints of the iPhone.
The second time it was to say 51% of Smartphone activations were iPhones. that is 51% of 7.6 Million. That compares to 51% of activations the previous quarter for the iPhone of 7.5 Million smartphones. So the iPhone held its own at Verizon for the last quarter even though Verizon was severely supply constrained.
Chuck Jones at Forbes takes these numbers compares to last year and Kentucky wind ages for the addition of China, NTT Docomo and the 5C and comes up with an estimate of 36.3 Mil iPhones sold last quarter. To put that in perspective last year in that quarter there were 26.9 Mil iPhones sold. So that is quite a big jump - we will be going over the actual numbers on the next episode and will also see how the anal-ists did.
Per my thoughts - I think that 36.3 Mil sounds a little high - but then I have not been too good recently on these numbers. But for arguments sake - I will pin the number at 34.8 Mil iPhones sold. With at least 2.5 Mil being listed as Channel inventory fill.
I will say I think the iPad numbers will be lower than a year ago - which was 14 mil. I think Apple will actually report around 13.6 Mil iPad's sold last quarter.
Read: Apple's iWatch and wait approach. Maybe they are right and Apple slips the NFC chip into the iWatch first. If so, this would be a brilliantly devious way to get iPhone 5S owners to buy an iWatch too.
Woody
Hi Woody - well one thing not mentioned / hinted at or even remotely brought up is wearables today. So no your wrist was not one of the things Apple wanted to cover in this event.
And that means no iWatch in 2013 and who knows if and when such a devices will be launched - but expect rumors about a Jan / Feb event for the iWatch to start in 3, 2, 1 - go.
Do I think if when Apple does an iWatch - that the iWatch would have NFC - nope - I am thinking by the lack of any NFC support - Apple is showing they do not believe in the tech. Like they did with mobile flash.
So don't hold your breath for any Apple device to have NFC anytime soon if ever.
We will talk about iBeacons on an upcoming episode and explain why the lack of NFC in the iPhone is not a bad thing and may be a really good thing.
Analist - Ming Chi-Kuo of KGI securities is lately getting a rep of hitting the nail on the head with his predictions. So what did he say prior to the Oct 22nd event - well that the thickness of the new full sized iPad would be 7.5 mm and that is a check.
That it would be 20% lighter. Well if you want to get technical it was 28.6% lighter - and that means more than 25% lighter - and that means Nope on the 20% lighter. Too far off to give him credit. He said it would have the 64 bit A7X chip and an 8 MP camera. Ummm - technically 2 nopes - It is the A7 processor - not the A7X - so that sounds like speculation and not insight. And the 8MP camera guess is just plain wrong.
He did get the iPad mini rumors right - saying Retina and the A7 chip. And he said no Touch ID for the iPads and no gold colors. So he got those correct.
Now he did go on to predict the Mac BookPros would get improved battery life to 10 hours - ummm - no.
So again this is an Analist that is supposed to be one of the best on his sources or in my opinion guesses - and he was less than 50% this time around.
Thanks to all that sent in the link to this next one which is titled - Facebook Ads are 1,790% more profitable on iPhone than Android. The company Nanigans which is one of the largest ad buyers - found that the return on investment of a Facebook ad on iOS is 1,790% greater than the same ad is on Android.
The company was actually hesitant to report their findings as per what it would mean for Android ads and the controversy it might bring. Essentially what this means is right now based on current CPM's for Android ads - you loose money when you advertise on Android - and you make 162 % more cash than you spend when that ad is on an iPhone.
Put simply - there is a positive ROI for advertising on iPhone Apps and a negative ROI for advertising on Android apps - or put even more simply - if you are still advertising on Android Apps you are an idiot and someone will soon have your job and you will be on unemployment and only able to afford and android smartphone.
Good Technology whom we mentioned in the past - has a new set of iOS vs Android data available for mobile devices getting activated in the corporate world - and well it is iOS by a good amount.
In Q3 - 72% of mobile activations were iOS - 90% of tablet activations were iPads.
Android actually dropped from 30% in Q2 to 27% in Q3.
So once again iOS is showing it is the dominate force in the work world - and this has to do with the support and security built into iOS by Apple - and their efforts to go after the business marketplace.
Hi Rob. I just sent a voice memo to you and was wondering if you received it. I'm sorry there was no subject, but that leads into my question. Obviously being blind, I use voice over to navigate my iPhone five. The mail app it's self seems to work just fine, but when I'm in another application and the share menu pops up, navigating the fields trying to send an email becomes very quirky and darn near impossible. I was wondering if any of your listeners had this problem or if you new of a way to fix it. Thank you for the wonderful show my friend, you have taught me quite a lot. Regards.
Blind Joe
Hi Rob,
I have a similar email issue with apple mail indicating 4 flagged messages on my iPhone 5 when there are none. If more messages are flagged the count increases appropriately, and when all flagged emails are deleted or unflagged the counter remains at 4. Called Apple Care, they suggested reset all settings, and then did a hard reset with no effect. When I upgraded from iOS6 to iOS7 there were 4 flagged messages, maybe just a coinscidence.
Still looking for the solution.
Regards,
Mike from Chicago
Hi Rob do you know how to prevent or fix my maps/gps from lagging?
I'm a truck driver and really depend on this app. I've never had a problem until ios7. I've had my iPhone 5 for over a year now and never once had this problem and I use it every day.
On the app it shows where you are all the time with a blue dot, sometimes it shows me somewhere else then 30 seconds later it catches up to where I'm really at. Any suggestions I would appreciate it. I did close out all apps and reset my network settings, still the same thing. Please help!
Regards
Robert
Hello Rob,
Have you had the issue where your voicemails are reappearing after being deleted? I have a 5s and this has been happening since launch. I have att and am not sure if this is a carrier or apple iPhone/ios issue. Can you ask listeners? Regards,
Joe
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Scott_WI_voicemail_deleted
Hi Rob,
Love the podcast,
Candy crush level 266. I found it worked best for me to delete the addictive game from my iPhone. I play on my iPad at home. I have been stuck on this level for a while. It may be the end.
Thanks,
Lynn in Indianapolis
Hi Lynn - you definitely are farther along than anyone else that emailed / contacted the show - I had another person say they were stuck on level 147 - which I was stuck on for some time - but finally broke through.
Folks if you want to curse me - then download the free and highly addictive game candy crush - from your iPhone in the US go to today in iOS dot com slash candy - that is today in iOS dot com slash candy to download Candy crush for free for your iPhone - and let me know where you are.
Do you have a pristine original first Gen iPhone still in the box - never used - just sitting around collecting dust? No - Of course you don't because if you purchased an original iPhone when it launched - you quickly removed said device from the box and you know used that wonderful shiny new magical device. But lets say you purchased two that day and and you put one under your bed and wanted to sell that never open / used iPhone 1st gen - how much could you get - well one recently sold on ebay for $1,999 - which sounds really impressive until you think about this.
If you took the $600 you would have paid back in June 2007 and instead purchased Apple stock - which was going for about $120 a share - you could have purchased 5 shares at that time. Which would mean today those shares would be worth over $2,500 or actually over $2,600 when you add in the dividends - so yeah - while getting $1,999 for something you paid $600 for way back in the day sounds good - it is not as good as what would have happened if you purchased Apples stock instead of the extra iPhone.
That all said if you do have an original iPhone sitting around and it is pristine condition and you still have the box. You probably could get more then enough for it on Ebay to buy a couple of new iPads.
One item / rumor out there was that the EU could force Apple to give up on the Lightening port and go with the far inferior micro USB port. It is likely if push comes to shove - Apple will just start shipping iOS devices with the micro USB to lightening adapter to get around the rules recently voted upon in the EU. This is one of those items we will likely hear about again some time in the future when someone from the EU feels they are not getting the attention they need - so they force an issue with Apple to get them the publicity said EU politician seeks. While I was not a big fan of Apple switching to the lightening port last year - I still think it is much better than the micro-usb port. I like not having to figure out which way to plug in the cord.
For Parents out there with new borns - there is an app / baby monitor that texts you when the baby is crying - ummm Yeah. The app called WeMo Baby by belkin of all people - sync's the monitor up to an iOS device and runs off your homes wifi. Sorry - I just don't think this is the best idea - as it is not when your baby is crying that you are most concerned it is when your baby is possible choking that you are most concerned. Besides with my youngest child that was colic-y the app would have been blowing up my phone with text messages - My youngest son cried for 3 months straight.
Voicemail - Jonathan_issues_during_installation.
And what he is seeing is on the first home screen in the upper left there is an app kind of greyed out that is hovering over the app in the top left corner but offset more towards the side of the screen - I have not seen this on my devices running iOS 7.0.2 - which is what he was running on his iPhone 5. But if you have seen this let us know. Call or email the show at….
Is it ok to Tip Geniuses cash at the apple store? The last time I was helped by the Genius he really went above the call of duty and got me new phone. The time prior to that I was under the impression my laptop motherboard had to be replaced and was going to cost a few hundred dollars and they fixed it for free by cleaning out the earphone jack! Later I realized I should have tipped him but don't want to get him into trouble. Can Geniuses accept tips?
regards,
Keith W
Hi Keith it would be my guess they can not accept tips - well maybe it is ok in NY / LI - but out side of the NY area - where you basically tip for everything - I am guessing it is not ok.
But hey if any of my Apple Store associates that listen would like to write or call in un-officially and let us know the rules about tipping and the Guinness bar - it would be appreciated - 206-666-6364 - 206 -moon-dog or send that email to todayinios at gmail dot com.
PLAYVOICEMAIL - LEVI_CA_QUEST_PULL_NOTES
Hi Rob,
Please give your opinion on this. Thanks in advance for your insight.
And what this is - is an article saying that Mark Shuttleworth - the founder of Canonical - thinks that Apple is working towards a unified OS for both iOS devices and Macs.
My thoughts are no - I think they will move to be closer and closer with more cross over in feature sets - but I think future versions of OS X - will remain the Pickup truck - for the heavy lifting type applications - that you need the most powerful OS. And that iOS will remain the OS for the masses that is a lighter / less powerful OS that is ideally suited for content consumption and light content creation.
I don't see them merging into one - but I do see them becoming more complimentary to the other and having stronger and stronger cross over feature sets. I think this was indicated by Apple when they said Mavericks will be free to all - I think they want to get all users that can get upgraded to Mavericks up to the latest version - so as to make the interaction with iOS devices even stronger - and keep people locked into both platforms.
Of course it is. And this is about some exclusive iTunes content - well not just any iTunes content - it is about Lost doctor who episodes. These are the ones they just found this summer at a TV station in Africa. That seems rather a quick turn from discovery to iTunes exclusive. There are 11 episodes at a $1.99 each.
Thanks Don for the heads up on that.
PLAYVOICEMAIL - FRANK_LV_PART@_USE_THISONE
Hi Rob,
I think my favorite part of the keynote this morning, other than the new devices, was all of the pot shots against Microsoft. It was fun watching Apple make fun of Microsoft's pricing model.
It just goes to show the difference between a hardware company and a software company. Apple gives away the software to promote their hardware. Microsoft doesn't have that option so they charge for it.
For the iOS devices, there were basically no surprises with the iPad Air, other than the name. I think the rumor mill had that figured out pretty well. I was surprised that the chips is an A7 and not A7X. I'm guessing that means the A7 has plenty of processing power to handle the larger screen in the iPads.
The one unexpected twist was that the iPad Mini shares almost all of the same specs as the iPad Air, except, of course, the screen size. It really makes for a more difficult decision of which one to get.
I was disappointed that there is no pre-order. I was really hoping to get one next Friday but I don't plan to stand in line to get it so I will just order it online and have it shipped.
Myron U
At this point I do not see a ship date or launch date for the iPad mini - just a Later in November mention.
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Thanks again to our sponsor Squaretrade. Remember for your iPhone warranty - just $94 for a two year warranty - you save $30 by going to square trade dot com slash t i i
And finally thanks to Candy Crush for sponsoring this show - on your iPhone in the US only go to - todayinios dot com slash candy - Again in the US on an iPhone go to today in iOS dot com slash candy - and get ready to give up your extra free time. And I am at level 149 now.
If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you get the most out of the show and it helps support the show at the same time - plus it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search for Tii in the iTunes app store.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. And don't forget to check out our new Moderated Google Plus community by going to todayinios dot com slash community.
And that folks is going to do it for us today.
Well actually not really - After the outro and music - stick around for some additional Listener feedback. No comments from me - but please send in your comments about their comments.
4 generations of iPhone's (iPhone 5 and 5S make the 'T,' a white iPhone 4S for the first 'i' and a black iPhone 4 for the second 'i') make up this artwork with a couple of iOS 7 inspired circles to top it off.
I used the following apps:
A+ Signature - to add the circles
Snapseed to clean up and crop the image a bit
Regards,
Tim, WI
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Transcript for Episode 285
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I have a new moderated Google+ community for iOS, iPhone, iPad & Apple TV if you want to join - just go to - today in ios dot com / community
For many of you not in the initial grouping of countries the iPhone 5S was released to - Good News - 35 additional countries will be getting the 5S and also the 5C on Friday October 25th. And then 16 more countries including Albania will get them on November 1st. So by November 1st the iPhone 5S and 5C will be available in 60 countries over all.
I am not going to read off all 51 of the countries - because well some of you may be driving and I don't want anyone to fall asleep. But If you are in a country that does not yet have the iPhone 5S and you are waiting with baited breath - then go look for the link in the show notes for ep 285 titled - iPhone 5s in 51 More countries by Nov 1st -
Hi Rob,
I've been a listener since 2007.
Wanted to remind the caller from the #284 that both the Tyson Corner, VA and Glendale, CA Apple stores opened on the same day. Guess I have to represent the East Coast! Maybe it's a tie on which is the "original"?
Love your show, thanks for all you do.
Regards,
Tracy M
Hi Rob,
Last episode a caller stated that the Glendale Apple Store was the first. This is not true. The very first Apple Store opened in McLean, VA at the Tysons Corner Mall. The Glendale store opened 3 hours later. Just saying…
About the Tysons Corner Apple store:
— The first Apple store opened at 10 a.m. ET on May 19, 2001, at Tysons Corner Center in McLean, Va.
— The second Apple store opened three hours later, at 10 a.m. PT at the Glendale Galleria in Southern California.
Regards.
--Isaiah
Hi Tracy and Isaiah - Thanks for the follow up on that. I should have known that. I think I did know that at one point. Well I know it again now. At least until I forget it again. But either way - both stores opened on the same day at the same local time - but that mean the Tysons corner store was open for 3hrs by the time 10:00 AM PT rolled around.
Lets talk about making text more readable in iOS7 for those that were born prior to 1972 olympics.
First there are two things you want to do
1. Go to Settings --> General --> accessibility - Then turn on Bold Text - which will then result in a reboot of your iOS device.
When it comes back - you will see a nice increase in girth for the fonts on your iOS device.
2. Go back to Settings --> General --> Accessibility --> Increase Contrast - and then toggle on Contrast.
Finally if you want to increase the text size in some of the apps - go to Settings --> General - Then text size - and change the size of the text - this will be really noticeable in the Email preview and in the email itself.
Personally I found going to Bold was good enough for me and I actually reduced the font size on notch.
I just recently upgraded one iPhone 5 to iOS7 and bought 3 new iPhone 5s'. Only had this issue with one of the 5s but this fixed it. Just thought I'd pass it along.
They suggest one of three ways to fix the issue with FaceTime or iMessage.
1. Is simply turn FaceTime or iMessage off and then back on in the Settings app.
In the Settings app go to FaceTime or Messages - tap on them and then toggle off and back on the switch for each.
If that does not work
Option 2 is to Hard Reboot your iOS device.
That is where you Hold down the Power button and home button at the same time. Once you see the apple logo appear lift off the buttons.
Then if it still is not working - repeat from Option 1 - turning off and back on FaceTime and iMessage in the settings app.
And then if that does not work - Option 3 - which is really what I would call option 1 - Go to the settings app - then to general - then to Reset - and then to you guessed is - Reset network settings.
Once the device reboots - make sure to re-connect your wifi. Confirm wifi is working and then try FaceTime and iMessage.
Wondering how many people with issues are ones that when updating to iOS 7 - did not do the reset network settings prior to the update. Just sayin.
Now I should note - Apple has commented about the iMessage slash FaceTime bug affecting a small % of users - and they likely will have a fix sooner rather than later.
In the mean time their advice is essentially refer to some docs - that tell you to basically do what iMore and others including me are saying - Reset Network Settings. The Control Alt Delete of iOS . As in it fixes so many little glitches.
Recently I commented on the built in Level for iOS 7 and pondered why Apple would hide it inside the Compass app and not mention it.
Well now we have one possible answer - on the iPhone 5S - it is not calibrated correctly for some unknown number slash % of units. I noticed this when first playing with my iPhone 5S and saw that on my desk it was saying it has a 3 degree slant - which I thought was odd. Well now Gizmodo is reporting that it is the iPhone 5S with the slant and not my desk. And you know what they are right - I put an iPhone 4S and and iPhone 4 - on my desk and checked the desk - and both said it was level as in 0 degrees - but there right between them my iPhone 5S still said there was a 3 degree list. And now the mystery behind the hidden level is revealed - Apple did not want anyone to actually use it and see how off it is for some iPhone 5S owners - like me.
Although some have reported bringing their iPhone 5S with this issue into their local apple store and have been handed a replacement. I actually made a Genius bar appointment with Apple about my iPhone 5S - and when I went to the Apple store - I was told they are not replacing the iPhones with this issue - that a patch is coming soon - and that they had just heard about this issue mid week at the leawood store and when they went and checked -- ALL their display iPhones were off by 3 degrees just like mine. The Apple employee told me nothing to do now - just sit tight and wait for the patch. So that is what I will say to you if you have an iPhone 5S with this issue. Sit tight and wait - and well don't hang any pictures or book shelves using your iPhone 5S as the level for the time being.
Remember back to Ep 279 - And the article from Anandtech that I mentioned - come on think quick. Yeah well seems most in the Tech Press forgot too. As that article was about Sammy turning it up to 11 when the S4 detected a benchmark test. Or put another simpler way Samsung just being a bunch of liars trying to juice benchmark test and there by deceive the general population. Well I guess since it was Sammy - and sammy is so in bed with google - the tech press gave them a pass - everyone seems to have forgotten about it - so much so Ars Technica is claiming they just discovered this 2 months later.
By the way back then in Ep 279 I said the following: Quote
Whether it be the CPU or the GPU - you can't trust the results for any bench mark tests for the S4 - because they over optimized for those tests - and as such do not give real world comparisons. So any and all Benchmark tests that the iPhone 5S runs in September - and then is compared to the S4 - yeah take them with a big big grain of salt. unquote
So Yeah - when we talked about the 5S smoking - destroying - killing - obliterating the S4 in benchmark test - those results were against a juiced up S4. Yeah - Puts the innovation of the A7 64 Bit processor and iOS 7 into an even better perspective.
Now Anadtech and others are also reporting it is not just Sammy that are juicing their benchmark results. Seems almost all the Android manufacturers - save Google are doing this. So Yes any benchmark results from Sammy, HTC and LG - yeah they are BS. And not BS as in Bob Saggat - but BS as in what comes out the back end of a bull. ONCE Again - this needs to be stated strongly - APPLE did NOT repeat NOT juice their units. And to be fair - Google did not either with their MotoX and Nexus units. But that also explains why when looking at the Benchmark results - the 5S - totally destroyed the Moto and Nexus units - but then again - it did destroy the juiced units as well. But really the gap between the iPhone 5S and the android world is best viewed when looking at the big gap between the 5S and the MotoX for benchmark test.
Now can we really say we are surprised of such shenanigans to put it nicely from the Android phone makers - Nope - not at all.
One set of tests Android Phone Makers have definitely not found out how to cheat on yet - are the responsiveness of the touchscreen tests.
Hey want to guess who the big winners were - Well judging by my chipper tone - you would be guessing it is iOS devices - and you would be most certainly correct.
First lets talk about Tablets - the iPad mini was actually the top of the heap with an avg responsiveness time of 75 milliseconds. That is how long from when you touch to when there is a response on the screen os some sort. The 4th gen iPad was second with an avg time of 81 mili secs.
The Surface RT had a very respectable 3rd with an avg of 95 milisecs.
The Kindle Fire HD 2013 - was the top of the heap for Androids with a 114 Milisec time.
Then the nexus 7 at 135 milisecs and the Sammy Galaxy tab 3 8.0 with a time of 168 milisecs.
By the way the eye can notice changes down to about 10 milisecs - so that the Galaxy tab was almost 100 milisecs more delayed than the iPad mini - is a big big deal - as all the Android tablets will seem very laggy if you are used to using an iPad. Which is true for me - any time I try out an android device - I clearly notice that its responses to my touch - are well more icey then a scorned lover.
Taking these touch testing to a smaller screen resulted in pretty much the same thing. iPhones rule - Android's devices drool.
Note these tests were not done an the 5S - but were done when the 5 was the top of the line.
The iPhone 5 had an average response time of 72 milisecs. The iPhone 4 was in at 92 milisecs. The S4 was in at 114 milisecs, the Lumia 928 - at 117, the HTC one at 121 and the motoX at 123 milisecs.
Again iPhones to the winners circle.
Again they have not tested the iPhone 5S yet - but they did say those tests are coming soon. We will talk more about this in the future.
But for now there is one clear message from the results - if you are into games - that require good touch response - then iOS devices are for you.
And if you are used to iOS device - going to Android devices - there is going to be touch lag you need to deal with mentally.
However going from Android to iOS - things should seem much more snappy and responsive.
Previously we had a caller talking about on the touch ID to make it more accurate - you would create 5 fingerprint profiles for the same finger. Well now comes word of the opposite being possible - where you can use multiple fingers in a single profile.
You could use both thumbs on one profile and both index fingers for the next and so on - getting all 10 of your fingers in there for the 5 profiles.
Some have done even more than 2 fingers per profile - and supposedly the accuracy is still very good.
What you do when you are adding a fingerprint - is when you do the multi tap part - you just switch between fingers.
Personally I am just sticking with one for each thumb and just one thumb per profile and one for my wife. And that is it.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Kevin_fdbk_multiple_fingers_app_store
There is a nice site called iphone-check.herokuapp.com
Where you put in your zip code - and it shows you the Apple stores closest to you and some kind of close - and what the availability is of iPhone 5S's
So if you want to see if your 64 GB Gold iPhone 5S for AT&T is available at the local Apple store or the one 6 hours away - you can now do it. I kind of think it is cruel to know that at the leawood store 8 minutes away there is nothing - but at the mall of america 8 hours away - there is my precious Gold iPhone 5S for AT&T. ROAD TRIP. Oh wait - and now it is gone.
Just look for the link in the show notes titled - iPhone 5S availability checker - over at today in iOS dot com for ep 285.
On the last episode for saving battery life I gave a bakers dozen of tips that if used should greatly improve battery life.
As an FYI - I had an iPhone 4 running iOS 7 and an iPhone 4S running iOS 6.1.2 and I had charged them both up to 100% and then removed and let them sit around in standby mode. After 11 days basically not using the 4S at all - and just using the 4 as a calculator and to check the level a couple of times. Well the iPhone 4 running iOS 7 had 73 % of charge left - while the 4S running iOS 6.1.2 only had 21 % of charge left. So again if you are loosing more then just a few % of charge at night - something is not set right - with iOS 7. My experience is iOS 7 is better on battery life than iOS 6 - if you set things up correctly.
One of the items I did mention turning off is AirDrop - and I have had a few people email in asking about AirDrop and what you can and can not do with it. Especially questions with regards to using AirDrop between your iOS device and you Mac. Here is what Apple has to say about that quote AirDrop for iOS supports only iOS 7 devices. You cannot use AirDrop on iOS to share with OS X, and OS X users can't use AirDrop to share with iOS devices. unquote
So For now at least - You can not use AirDrop between your iOS device and you mac. Only between your iOS devices. Not sure if Mavericks will fix this issue - I hope it does - but for now - pre-Mavericks - It is just iOS to iOS device.
Some more info on AirDrop - For those that have no idea what it is - it is a way to share photos, videos and other files between for now iOS devices quickly and easily. Bluetooth and Wifi are both used to connect and transfer files. File transfer is very quick.
However as it used both bluetooth and wifi - you do need to be close to the other person to transfer - but not so close you need to bump them.
Essentially how it works from the end users perspective - is you select the file or files you want to transfer - then select the user or users you want to transfer them to - and they then either accept or deny the request. If they accept it starts to transfer right away.
You can also choose when turning on Airdrop to allow Everyone and that means anyone to see you to share with. OR just those in your contacts list.
Airdrop is a nice feature when you need to use it - but it is one I recommend you keep off until you are in need of it - as it is limited in range - if the person that wants to transfer a file is close enough to transfer said file - they are also close enough to yell at you to ask you turn it on. Obviously in a business environment - that might not be the best idea if you are in a meeting and your work mates are wanting to send you a butt crack shot of the boss bending over at the copier or worse a pic of your bosses Wale tale and your boss is a he. But in most cases a simple a hey turn on airdrop verbal request will be fine.
Jonny Evans had a nice post for you former or soon to be former Android suffers who just did or are about to switch over to the light side - known as iOS 7. He goes over how to move over your contacts, your calendar items, Your Media, and Your music, plus some info about Googles Apps on the iOS side.
I will not get into the specifics of the article out of fear of boring those of us fortunate enough to not have been subjected to the lagy fragmented Malware existence known as Android - but for those of you making the move - look for the article in the show notes for Ep 285 titled - A simple guide for Android to iPhone/iOS switchers
And well congrats on the move - you are now among friends.
Hi Rob,
I'd like to remind you of my first comments to Today in iPhone way back after Apple lowered the price by $100 after so many of us had purchased the very first iPhone. I wrote you and said I'd like to Salute Steve Jobs, I'll let him guess which finger I'm using!
Being the long supporting fan of your podcast I downloaded Candy Crush from the tii web site and now I'd like to salute you Rob. You sick sadistic person. Level 140? I think if you put that obsession down we'd get weekly updates. I'm stuck on level 30, my eyes are bloodshot, friends are whispering behind my back and I'm thinking of joining the local 12 step program.
Signed 'Determined to get to 31!!'
Steve R
Hi Rob.
I love your show. I'm in level 67 in candy crush.
Regards,
Boss in Nigeria
Hi Rob,
Per Candy Crush - Damn You - I'm Addicted Now.
Thanks
Tash in Australia
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John - just tap on he center of the photo - the white bars will go away.
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Hi Rob,
As a workaround for the listener who wanted to easily shuffle all songs in a genre but couldn't find the button in IOS 7, you can ask Siri and Siri will do it.
Kind regards,
Danny from London England
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Hi Rob,
In the latest podcast you mentioned callers had to be in your contacts
to be blocked. I have been blocking random numbers all week and none
of them are in my contacts
Regards,
Jesse H
Thank to Dick and Jesse and a FEW others that let me know - you do not need to have a call in your contacts to block it - you can also block calls in your recent call list. And it can be for incoming or out going calls.
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Hi Rob, still loving the show and the recent debates on innovation and screen size. The spooky music issue made me smile. I use only an ipad 3, and ipod touch 5, and wouldn't mind a bigger screen on my ipod but that's not why I mailed. I love the ease of asking Siri to wake me up in the morning, it's so convenient, but I'm now oversleeping almost everyday because the new alarm sound in Ios 7 is so gentle, almost relaxing. I can't find anything in settings to change the sound to something more 'alarming'. So I've now lost a great feature in IOS 6 and am now forced to use a 3rd party app to MANUALLY set a more 'rooster' like alarm. How did the guys at Apple make such an obvious mistake? The internet is showing others complaining about this but can find no solution. Do you or any of your listeners know a workaround? Many thanks,
Geoff, London.
Hi Geoff,
First per a larger screen on the iPod Touch - Apple already has an offering - the iPad Mini. Just Sayin.
Second per the alarms - I agree with you that the new ones just don't cut it for us heavy sleepers - which is why I went back to the original alarm - which you can do as well - by scrolling down in the ringtone options until you get to classic and tap there and then choose quote alarm unquote - which is the old classic - wake you out of a dead sleep alarm from iOS 6 and earlier. Hope that helped.
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Hi Rob,
This is for the gentleman who found he could not access iTunes Radio from the music app in iOS 7. I had the same issue. If you are logged into an iTunes account outside of the US App Store then you cannot see or use iTunes Radio. To get this feature you must quit the music app, log out of your iTunes account, and log in to an iTunes account using a US iTunes account. Then it will give you a pop up saying that this account is only valid for purchases in the US App Store and it will automatically switch you to the US store. Then relaunch the music app and iTunes Radio will now be available to you.
Regards,
Mike
Hi Rob,
Some people have complained about iTunes Radio not doing explicit lyrics, well I just discovered that if you hit the little "i" with the circle above it at the top center of the screen it gives you options and one of those is to turn on explicit with a slider. Didn't know of this was common knowledge but it was new to me and I wanted to share
Apple is trying to help you with your user experience with your iPhone 4S, 5C and 5S running iOS 7. They put up three different articles - for Tips and Tricks - one article for each of the phones.
These are nice articles for those looking to get more out of their iOS 7 experience - many of these items have been mentioned on the show - back during the reviews of the betas or since the release - but some may be new to you. They go over a limited number of tips for Photography, Swipe Gestures, Maps, Siri and more. Look for the links titled - iPhone 4S or 5C or 5S tips and tricks in the show notes for ep 285 over at today in iOS dot com.
And hey they even show the tip about finding the hidden level. So maybe they were not trying to hide that feature after all.
And speaking of the 5S, 5C and 4S - there is a video up on youtube showing all the iPhones even made in a side by side comparison. Sadly it seems many in the blogis-phere only wanted to look at that fact that earlier version of the iPhone shut down quicker than the current versions - which seems more to do with the iOS versions - and nothing to do with the speed of the units. In the very brief comparison of real world use to a website - the 5S clearly smoked all the other devices. The video really should be looked at more for the entertainment value in seeing all the iPhones side by side and not as a comparison of speeds of units.
Look for the like titled - iPhone 5S vs 5C vs 5 vs 4S vs 4 vs 3Gs vs 3G vs 2G in the show notes for ep 285.
Remember back to when the iPad first launched - and the cellular version was just on AT&T and if you got one of the early versions with cellular you could get an unlimited Data plan - and then AT&T changed the rules and you lost the unlimited Data plan - well of course the lawyers remember this - and one lawyer put in a class action suit against Apple and AT&T about the essentially bait and switch offer. And the lawyer won and Apple and AT&T lost - and if you were one of the early ones who purchased the GSM iPad before June 7th 2010 - you have $40 coming you way from Apple and AT&T- but probably not until some time in 2014. In all fairness to Apple - it was really AT&T that changed that plan offering and at the time based on Apples comments they were not exactly thrilled with that decision - I bet they are even less thrilled now they have to dish out some cash because of it.
Thanks to Tash for this next one. Which is an article on ArsTechnica - which has a conspiracy theory - that the iPhone 5C's biggest goal from Apple is to drive people to buy the 5S - hence the main reason for getting rid of the 5.
I mean that is crazy speak - if that was really Apples goal - they would take the internals of the iPhone 5 and then wrap it in plastic - plastic that yells - Hey 1974 called and it wants its color deck back. Oh and maybe throw in some cheesy swish cheese type
covers that make you subconsciously want to play a game of connect four and watch All in the family. But Clearly that is not at All what Apple did - so yeah that myth is so busted.
Because if this Myth or theory was true Target, Walmart, Best Buy and Radioshack would not be selling the 5C for $50 off already would they.
Now what I did find interesting is all the coverage a site that no one ever heard of before said Apple was cutting production capacity on the 5C from 300,000 units a day to 150,000 units a day. This site was again a site no one seems to have heard of before and is in chinese. For all anyone knows this is a 12 year old kid in his mom's house blogging this. That aside - somehow have a production run of 150,000 units is looked at at bad. Especially since they were likely running at what ever their real initial rate was for at least a month - and likely close to 3 months. Based on rumors from the summer on when they said full production started.
So if they were at 300,000 units for 3 months - that is 27 mil units. And that means 150,000 units is 13.5 Mil in a quarter. Neither is chicken feed - and both are very respectable. Given that high end estimates put Q4 iPhone sales overall at 45 to 50 Mil units. So if 15 to 20 mil are iPhone 5C's - that sounds pretty darn impressive. Either way reports of dismal sales seems to be exaggerated if Apple is selling 15 Mil or more iPhone 5C's. Because in the past Apple said there was at least 50% of the top line iPhone sales and then a mix of the other units for the other 50% - and that mix seemed skewed towards the lower end unit.
Even at 50 mil units - sold in Q4 - if the 5C was 15 mil of that - and the 5S was 25 Mil - that means the 4S would only be 10 Mil - and that means the 5C is selling better than the 4S did vs the 4 last year.
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Translation of article:
Phone5C listing due to its high price , it has not been all good, until we got the news that Apple's internal sales for iPhone5C did not place too much hope , October 10 , we learned from insiders , because the actual dismal sales , Apple has begun to reduce iPhone5C capacity , average daily production was previously iPhone5C 300,000 , now reduced to 150,000 .
iPhone5C had previously been considered Apple for developing countries, especially China and India, the launch of low-cost version , but the actual sale price and iPhone5S almost the same, before iPhone5S, then iPhone5, as plastic body iPhone5C no particular highlights , it is difficult to attract users also natural .
Apple's products in the country are popular , the price can be seen directly from the channel , the current iPhone5S Taobao price is still relatively stable, but iPhone5C BNM has dropped to 3,500 yuan, or 4,488 yuan despite Apple's official .
iPhone5C poor sales for the consumer is not a bad thing, as we have seen the gray channel prices have dropped significantly over time , Apple iPhone5C price adjustment will fall into place !
This article on Motley Fool is so bad. Clearly it was created as link bait - comparing the iPhone 5c to the Surface RT. He says that the 5c will sell "tens of millions", and then he says it may be this year's surface RT. What????
Kirby
Hi Kirby - Yeah anything that sells 10s of millions should not be compared to the Surface RT - 10s of units Yes - 10s of Million - nope. And as we just mentioned they are likely to sell over 15 mil 5C's in this quarter alone. Good to See Rick Munarriz putting the fool back in fool.com
Thanks to Dr John M for this next one - And it is an article from ZDNET which I think does a nice job of going over what they think Apples real mission is with the iPhone 5C - and that in a nut shell is not about selling more iPhone 5S's - but rather it is about selling less iPod touches and reaching out to the kids getting their first smartphone. And that to me makes sense. The 5C is not something I would recommend to listeners of this show.
But I can see as a parent if you have a kid and they need a new phone or their first phone - getting them the cheaper iPhone 5C makes a lot of sense - it is not as likely to break as the 4S - and they don't really need the overkill of the 5S's A7 processor. They are likely making calls - sending texts - sending emails - taking pictures - and playing some games. Plus you want to have them on an iPhone so you as a parent can track where they are. Sorry kids - that is what good parents do. Will be interesting when Apple goes over their financials at the end of the month from last quarter if they say anything about the 5C sales.
In the mean time all we have to go by are some sales estimates at US carriers by Canaccord for September. And guess what the iPhone 5S was number one at ALL four major US carriers. Shocker. But what was actually shocking is that the iPhone 5C was number 2 at AT&T and Sprint - and Number 3 at Verizon and T-Mobile. The Galaxy S4 was number 2 and 3 where the iPhone 5C was not. But that the 5C beat out the S4 at two carriers is saying the sales of the 5C are not horrible - unless you want to say the S4 sales are horrible as well. Again will be interesting to see what Apple says on October Monday October 28th at 5:00 PM ET when they have their next quarterly call. Strange that they are doing this call on a Monday - they are almost always on a Tuesday. And Apple has already warned - that they may exceed their previous guidance range when they report.
I'm a blind listener so couldn't make sense of the graphs.
Not sure if this is too long for the show, but maybe you could summarise.
Regards,
Adam M
And this is per an article from SMH.com - which goes over that in Australia at least the iPhone 5C is not selling well at all - at least not at the telcos - and not according to Localytics - which shows a very small % of iPhones activated are 5C's vs those 5S's activated.
One report in the article said one of the telco's received 10,000 iPhone 5C's and they only sold 500 of them. No in fairness a representative of that telco said those numbers were incorrect. Incorrect of course could mean they received in 10,500 units and sold just 500 or it could mean the sold 501 units. Or it could mean it is way off - but it does seem from the article and from Localytic stats - at least in Australia - they are not a big fan of Plastic iPhones.
Interesting numbers from Comscore - in the 3 month period ending in August - in the US - iPhone market share went up. From 39.2% in the quarter ending in May to 40.7% in the quarter ending in August. And android dropped between those periods as well. Again that is in the US - but still leading up to the pending release of a new iPhone - you would expect a drop off in iPhone market share - not a gain. Will be interesting to see the numbers for the end of November when they do their next pull of data.
Love reports about smartphone users activities - with iOS vs Android - because at the end of the day - market share is meaning less if all people on Android side do is make calls and send texts.
This time the report comes from Ben Lerer CEO of online publisher - Thrillist Media Group. He stated the iPhone generates 90% of mobile revenue at his company.
This disparity in mobile shopping led them to develop a higher quality app for iOS.
Jeremy Levine of Bessemer Ventures Partners said quote IPhone users simply spend more time on their phones, I see it across Yelp, Pinterest, LinkedIn unquote
And this news should be shocking to no one listening to this show. As I always said - People Get Android smarphones in general because they need a phone and people in General get and iPhone - because they need more than a phone.
When I was a kid my Mom would go out on the day after Christmas during the sales and buy us Christmas gifts for the next year. She would then come home later that day after shopping and say - Oh I bought you some really nice things for next year. Wow - 364 days to wait - wonder and imagine - Not saying it was child abuse - but definitely a session or two of therapy could be focused on those December 26th comments. I bring this up because Sir Jony just one N Ive did a recent interview with USA Today in which he said quote - “I would love, love, love to show you what we are working on now, but I’d lose my job, un-quote
Thanks Jony - I would love love love for you to show me to.
But at least according to All Things D and a few other sites - October 22nd may be the next time we get to see some of the things Sir Jony had been working on in the recent past.
This means Invites should be going out to the press on Tuesday of this coming week - give or take a day.
The real questions is will that event be iPads or Mavericks and new Apple Lap Tops or a combo of both.
I really need a Mac Book Pro with no fan. That is what I need as a podcaster - a Mac Book Pro that makes as much noise as an iPad - which is none.
Most of the money right now is betting this event at a Min will be the new iPad 5th gen. Most also expect a new iPad mini as well.
Based on what I am seeing on photos and video of leaked cases - what we should see at a min is a new iPad 5th gen - it will be in a case design that looks more like the iPad mini does now. Which means it will not be as wide - with the side bezel in portrait mode being thinner like with the mini. It would also have stereo speakers at the bottom and it would be thinner than the current iPad 4th gen. Additionally there would likely be two colors - White/silver and Space Grey.
Internally rumors say it will be an A7X processor - not sure that is a rumor as much as it is speculation / educated guess / no-brainer. So yes the iPad 5th gen should be a 64 Bit machine.
The camera is also supposed to get a bump - some suggesting it will get basically the same camera that is in the 5S. That seems extreme - but hey why not. They need to do something to differentiate from the 4th gen iPad - and a much better camera might be something one or two users want. Sorry I still feel like a dork anytime I try to use my wifes iPad to take a photo. The 5th gen iPad should also have touch ID. Essentially it would be picking up many if not most features from the 5S.
I think most of these rumors are likely for the 5th gen iPad Maxi.
Some other rumors are there might be a larger iPad - an iPad Maxi Mondo if you would - coming in at 12 or 13 inches. I don't know if this is the generation / year for this - maybe next year - and maybe introduced around WWDC - with launch in time for the back to College season. But not likely this year - this announcement.
There are also some rumors about there being a redesigned Smart Cover for the iPad 5th gen - with it having just 3 folds instead of 4 - yeah articles like that are why I need to drink 5 hour energy drinks now just to get through the show notes. Really 3 folds instead of 4 - how the heck does that justify 1000 words. What I would like to see is a keyboard in the cover like on the surface RT. Some more features in the cover is what I like - 3 folds - really.
Now where the rumors really start to go all over the place is when we talk about the next Gen iPad mini. Let quickly go over some of the latest rumors leading up to the event and then give my thoughts.
The rumor makers say the iPad Mini will or will not have a retina display or it will have a retina display but will not be announced at this months event and not announced until late Q1 2014.
Rumors say it will or will not have a touch ID. It will or will not have an A7 processor.
It will come in Gold / Silver and Space Grey.
It will have the same camera at the 5S.
It will print money and cure cancer and help the cubs win the world series.
Ok maybe not that last one - but I have seen some people say it will have the A7x 64 bit processor, Retina display, touch ID and 8 Mega Pixel camera all in the same breath - with out busting out into laughter.
I just don't see that happening - not anywhere near the price point of today's iPad Mini. Why - Because I think Apple showed us with the iPhone 5C - they are more interested in Margins then they are in market share. And Yes putting all those features into the mini at current price points would increase market share - it would also kill margins for the iPad line and essentially kill the iPad Maxi or at a min force Apple to reduce its price and margins as well.
My thoughts are Apple does need to make some changes to the mini. But I don't think we will see the A7 processor - and that also means likely we will not see touch ID. It will likely be the A6 processor - and possible the A6X - which would mean a retina display. I am still having a hard time accepting the retina display for the mini - something tells me it will not happen because battery life is more important to Apple. But you also need to put some gap between the iPad mini gen 1 and gen 2. And while I think the 8 MP camera is likely - I don't think going with just the 8 MP camera and the A6 processor along with a gold / silver and Space Grey version will be welcomed by the masses as a good upgrade. And definitely not accepted by the tech press.
If I had to put money down on what I think will happen of all the scenarios. I think the iPad Mini does not get updated in 2013. But some time Q1 or Q2 - it is updated and at that time it gets the A6X processor and Retina display. But still not the touch ID or the A7 Processor.
Scenario 2 is it is announced on the 22nd - it is just the A6 processor - and the 8 MP camera - with the new Gold / Silver / Space Grey colors - and a slightly lower price - going to $299 - but no retina display or A7.
Looks like I have some work to do for the next rumor bingo card.
I will say this - I would like to get an iPad Mini - but if the 5th gen iPad Maxi is an A7 64 bit processor and the 2nd gen iPad mini is the A6 32 bit processor - I will go with the Maxi - and not the Mini - it is that clear cut for me. I want the next purchase to be with the processor I can get the longest life out of - and I am thinking a couple of years from now I would regret getting a device with the A6 processor when I could have gotten one with an A7 - even if the price difference is what it is now.
Hey Rob,
As I prepared to package up my jailbroken iPhone 4s and ship it out to the ebay winner, I found these two links helpful for resetting my device and wiping the content without destroying the jailbreak or even needing a computer.
Hi David - thanks for the heads up on those links - folks look for the two links titled how to restore iOS 6.1.2 without losing jailbreak. One is a post and one is a youtube video. Links of course are at today in iOS dot com for ep 285.
And keeping that jailbreak helps get you more money when selling your iOS device - while wiping the data is well definitely needed prior to giving it over to someone that found you via craigslist.
Remember last year when Jessica Alba was doing ads for Microsoft's Windows Phone. Well seems Jessica does not either. As she has been seen recently out and about with her iPhone and taking pics at a runway fashion show. Per MS part they said her contract expired in May and that Ms Alba still quote uses her lumia phone from time to time. unquote. Camera pans slowly left to show Ms Alba's lumia propping up the table leg in her kitchen.
It is funny you have MS going with Ms Alba and Blackberry that went with Alicia Keys - and all they showed was celebs will go back to what they love the most - and in those cases it was the iPhone and in both cases it just turned into a stronger celeb endorsement for the iPhone then it did for either of the products they were paid to endorse.
Why do these companies go out and hire celebrities that are not already using their products. Why don't they just go and find a celebrity or two that are real users of their products and do the campaigns around them. I heard a rumor Nick Lachey and Bristol Palin are using a Windows Phone.
Or I guess the Windows Phone team could just create a bunch of hilarious viral videos making fun of Apple - yeah that could work.
Speaking of Microsoft - I mention this next one not because I want you to take them up on the offer but rather to point out how desperate MS is getting. Seems Microsoft is giving you up to $350 when you trade in your old iPad or iPhone to get a new Windows Phone or Tablet. Ummm Yeah - while they are at it they are also offering to cut you with paper and squeeze lemon juice into the wounds - that they will do for no cost at all.
So Blackberry first announced on Sep 18th that BBM - Blackberry Messenger would be released for iOS and Android for the weekend of sep 21st and then they announced that it was delayed. Of course in between those two announcements Blackberry also announced that they are laying off 4,500 employees. My guess is they had some issue more important to deal with then releasing BBM for the two platforms that combined were driving the nails into its coffin. Yeah this is one of those stories that got pushed from the last episode - can you tell. Yup best time to kick someone is when they are down.
Oh from the how wrong are they category comes the quote from Qualcomm's CMO Anand Chandrasekher who said the A7 was just a marketing Gimmick and that there is zero benefit to consumers.
So how wrong was he - well besides the bench mark tests where the 5S smoked every device running a 32 bit snapdragon processor - some running at 2x the clocks speed and with more ram. There was also Qualcomm's own PR department that essentially picked Mr Chandrasekher up and chucked him under the first bus that passed by. The PR department at Qualcomm said quote “The comments made by Anand Chandrasekher, Qualcomm CMO, about 64-bit computing were inaccurate,” unquote
The under the bus placement of Mr Chandrasekher was probably not just because Qualcomm is a big customer of Apples - but also more than likely that Qualcomm is pretty far along on their road map to get out a 64 bit mobile processor - and well all the money they spent on it and the efforts their sales team will do on selling it to the likes of Samsung are not best served by someone at Qualcomm saying it is all a marketing gimmick - even if that was true - which clearly based on benchmark tests - it is not.
Samsung after the announcement of the iPhone 5S with the A7 64 bit processor said - Hey we will be making a smartphone with a64 bit processor soon too.
Well of course they will - This is the company that was slavishly coping Apple products at every turn. But then its not like they are releasing a Gold colored Smartphone. Nope - they are releasing two gold colored smartphones. Really - no kidding.
Hey speaking of Sammy handsets - Gazelle saw a 210% increase in people selling Sammy smartphones during the iPhone 5S launch weekend vs a year ago launch weekend. Seems some people are moving on up to the iPhone 5S and the iOS ecosystem - and shedding the burdens of Malware and outdated OS's builds.
One thing I love about Eric Schmidt - is that he is always good for a face palm type quote every couple of quarters. And the latest one comes from a gartner conference when asked about Android and it not being secure he said the following:
quote not secure? It's more secure than the iPhone unquote
PLAY QUOTE FROM THE PRINCESS BRIDE
Now in fairness - I think we should play the whole exchange that took place - here it is.
THEN PLAY AUIDO.
I love the audible laughter you can hear in the background. Mind you this was not a conference of tech journalist or lay people - this was a Gartner IT conference - those in the audience are very tech aware and knowledgeable people and they found the comments funny - as in the same way looking back we find it funny when Eric Schmidt said in late 2011 that by the summer of 2012 the majority of TV's in stores would have Google TV embedded. or also in late 2011 when he said in 6 months time the majority of developers would be developing for Android before iOS.
Seems Mr Schmidt is picking up the baton left behind by Mr Balmer for mind numbing quotes. And as a podcaster covering iOS - I have to say thank you Mr Schmidt - you make my job easier and more fun. But I do have one request - next time - save those type of quotes to the lulls we have in-between iOS product announcements. I mean this would have been a great quote in mid December or early Feb. Just sayin.
Some news on the Smartphone competitor front - Panasonic has thrown in the towel. Seems the lack of Profits probably had something to do with it. As that is a pretty common issue for most Android smartphone manufacturers. Panasonic said they are going back to just making Feature phones - you know the clamshell type. Seems there is still a niche in Japan at least that are loyal to those devices. Of course that is a country where they sell more adult diapers than diapers for children. So I am guessing that market for feature phones is suffering some lets call it churn issues.
Hi Rob,
I am writing you just to let you know I bought squaretrade warranties for two iPhone 5s' that are now part of my family. Used squaretrade.com/tii and got a fabulous discount! Thanks much for all you do for us!
Regards,
Sergio
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Matt_NC_fdbk_ios7_tips
PLAY VOICEMAIL - MATT_NC_TIP_locking_ios7
Hello Rob,
I live in the UK and am thinking of upgrading from a 3GS to the new 5s when the dust has settled and they are freely available.
The 5s bought in USA is £160 cheaper than the same phone in the UK. Could you tell me if I buy a 5s in USA will it be fully functional in the UK? If so what do I need to look out for?
Love the show. I have been a listener for nearly 4 years now ever since getting my first iPhone.
Nev :-)
Hi Rob,
I'm planning on going to Italy next year. I've heard that a Verizon phones work on the carriers in Europe, and want to know if I should get an unlocked Verizon phone or if a subsidized Verizon phone would work as well.
- Jessi
Hi Rob,
I upgraded to iOS 7 this afternoon. The only issue I had was I had to manually turn off my iPhone and restart it before the 'App Search' feature would work.
Regards,
Dan
Hi Rob,
Just finished upgrading my iPhone 5 and iPad mini. After downloading update wirelessly I had to do the 2nd verification of the download install about 20 times on each device before it would install . It seems flawless so far. I am actually like it. I thought it was to cartoony in all the preview articles.
David L
East Brunswick Nj
PLAY VOICE MAIL - ANSWR_itunes_radio_issues_why
Hi Rob,
OS 7 was just release today and all I have to say is it's great. I enjoy the new look and feel of iOS 7. Apple did it right this time
Regards,
Mike L
Hi Rob,
Per iOS 7 - Wow, this is going to take some getting use to.
Regards,
-Luke
Hi Rob,
With all the attention for 'the look' that went into IOS7 Why, Oh Why did they pick a Kitchen Fan Exhaust Cover as the symbol for Settings?? C'mon, you know that's what it looks like!
Regards,
Steve R
Long Realty Foothills
Hi Rob,
Where is the control for Cellular data in iOS 7 - it used to be in Settings - Then General - then Cellular.
Regards,
Keith
Hi Keith,
In iOS 7 - Apple moved your cheese - or at least the Cellular settings - and if it had teeth it would have bit you. Not that cheese has teeth. Now it us under Settings - then Cellular - Yup not in General anymore - and Cellular is right up at the top - under Airplane mode / wifi / bluetooth you will then see Cellular. Apple bundled the controls for all wireless items together - as they should be. Was kind of a bad choice on where it was previously.
This week for a kickstarter project there is one called the Structure Sensor - two words. It is to be used to capture images in 3D. It connects to your mobile iOS device so you can capture 3D maps of indoor spaces. You can capture 3D models of object for 3D printing. This one had a goal of $100,000 - like I said HAD - it blew by that and is over $930,000 and counting and this one has until November 1st at 11:39 AM ET for you to get in on the action.
Pricing on this is for the low low price of $349 - and that is for the Structure Sensor for iPad. If you are interested in 3D printing this is one you will want to check out - search for Structure Sensor - 2 words at kickstarter dot com or in the show notes for ep 285 at today in iOS at gmail dot com.
I read on my mailing list (haven’t confirmed it) that apparently the Cards app which Apple made such a big deal about at the iOS 5 event apparently is gone.
By the way, thanks for being so fair about mentioning accessibility on your show.
Regards,
Sieghard
Hi Sieghard - Yup - the Cards app needs a sympathy card sent its way - I confirmed this with my contact inside Hallmark it is indeed dead - Hallmark is the company that did the actual printing and management of the Cards App for Apple - and they said it just never took off - and they were not surprised Apple killed it.
The Apple TV update was released last night. I haven't had a good look at it yet but it did brick one of my two Apple Tv's. The 3rd Gen went into DFU mode and wants the micro USB cable to connect to iTunes. My 2nd gen updated perfectly fine.
Issue with this is - apple didn't supply that cable with the device when purchased (I have nothing else that uses it) so I will have to go out and buy one to figure out what happened.
Regards,
Orland
Hi Orland - Yup as you found out the hard way Apple had a little issue with their update for 2nd and 3rd gen Apple TV's as in some of the Apple TV's were getting bricked and you needed to get a cord and connect it to your computer to un-brick it - Dooohhh.
Apple the Pulled that update - fixed the issue and has since re-released the update. So if you had not updated - you are good to do so now. What is new in the update.
Well quite a bit.
iTunes radio for starters is now on Apple TV - which I like. And if you like the music you hear - you can now purchase music directly from the iTunes music store from your Apple TV.
iCloud Photos and Videos are now added to your shared photo stream.
There is AirPlay from iCloud where you use your iOS device to play videos from iTunes in the cloud.
You can now also sync your podcasts and podcast stations across Apple TV and all your iOS devices.
So some nice new updates for Apple TV - if you can get past that whole bricking the device issue.
Again - now it is safe to update your Apple TV.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - LEVI_CA_ANSWR_JESSE
Hi Rob this is Jeff from Cincinnati ohio and it is 3am in the morning here. We'll I just ordered a 16 gig iphone 5s in silver from the apple store and it took about 1 minute.
It will ship in 1 to 3 days and I should have it by sept 30 - October 1
Regards,
Sleepy Jeff
Good morning Rob,
Just ordered 2 iPhone 5s' online. One gold 32 GB AT&T, and one space grey 32 GB AT&T. There was no option to pickup them up at the store at least in my area. The gold one is available to ship in 7 to 10 days, the "black" one is available to ship in 1 to 3 days. The Apple Store was very responsive. I ordered online from my computer with no problems.
Regards,
Sergio from Austin, TX
Hi Rob,
I ordered my Verizon 5s online at 12:01 and got 1-3 days shipping. As of 12:25all the gold models were estimating shipping in October. There are still good shipping times on grey and silver models.
regards,
Michael from Seattle
Hi Rob,
When I was in line at the AT&T store I was there until about 11:30 PM and the AT&T manager stopped and asked which model I wanted. I told her the Gold 64gb model. She then said she could save me the disappointment and time waiting in line. They only had the black/grey in 64gb. I then decided to go home and try ordering online. I ordered one from Apple. Thank you to Rebecca for saving me a bunch of trouble.
Wanted to let u know the outcome. I hope I get it quicker from Apple then I would have if I ordered it from AT&T. Kudos to Rebecca (Manager of the AT&T Store). We don't have a Apple store in town yet. They have not finished putting one in our Battlefield Mall.
-David D.-
Hi Rob, long time listener I have called the show before, long time ago that is.
Just to let you know this morning I went to the apple store in the palisades mall (NY) there was like 120 people in line around 8:15am the apple employees came out and said we have black and only black and for ATT only 16/32GB so I left.
Now at the ATT store in Clifton NJ there is like 30 people they said you can have any color as long as is black lol. But at least they do have 64GB black that is.
The manager said that they send a white phone for display and no Gold model not even for display.
I was looking for gold or maybe silver but I will buy a black one since I have 30 days to exchange.
Also a friend of mine is a manager at a different ATT Store and he told me yesterday that all if the NY and NJ area only got black 5s I didn't believe him but now I do :(
Regards,
Delvi A
From NJ
Rob,
Today I picked up a 64g black 5s. Fortunately, being in a small town I was able to walk up to the door and be the 5th person in line at 8 when they opened.
Transitioning from the 4s and I am very impressed. The speed increase of just opening an app in comparison, almost gave me whip lash. Not to mention how fast it was able to restore over 4,000 songs and who knows how many apps (total of 32g of information). I don't know if that is all thanks to the a7 but I don't care, because I love it. I was very doubtful about a finger print reader. However, after reapplying my thumb over 20 times to make sure it gets every edge and detail, my outlook has changed.
Where is the innovation? Just kidding. Coming from a 4s there is enough innovation to keep this guy happy for another two years.
Regards,
2LT Mason C
United States Army
I'm so ticked.
In Panama City FL I called just about every store that sells iPhone, no GOld iPhone. Not one was shipped. Verizon could not even order a gold phone. The system was down. Most stores received limited white and some black.
I called apple, waited for 6min and ordered two gold, 16gig and 32gig.Say ship time is Nov 5th.
For jail breakers out there - It looks like iTunes 11.1 and later are reportedly killing custom IPSW for the lasted version of iOS 7. What does this mean - well if you have an older device that is jailbroken you may / probably want to hold off upgrading iTunes - as if you need to rejailbreak - depending on the method you use - you might not be able to.
It may also mean it will be a little longer before an iOS 7 jailbreak is available as that adds one more thing the jailbreak teams need to work around.
When will we see a jailbreak for iOS 7 for the masses - is a question I get a lot. And the answer so far is not soon enough but also not any time soon - definitely not this month - and maybe not until 2014.
@planetbeing from the evaders team said the may have all the pieces needed - but not that they did. And Pod2G quickly followed up that even with all the pieced it may take a while and is long road. So for now - just realize there is not an untethered publicly available jailbreak for iOS 7 - so don't believe anything you might see looking like a press release or post for a site claiming to have a jailbreak especially if they are asking for money - there are a lot of scams that go on about jailbreaking when there is a new OS released. never pay to jailbreak. That is the best advice I can offer for now - that and be patient - it does look like this year they are ahead of where they were last year at this point.
Thanks to Sieghard for the heads up on this next one - which I don't think we mentioned yet - at least I could not see it made it on a past episode - as this kept getting bumped. But Apple is now making older versions of Apps available to devices running older version of iOS. So if you have an iPhone 3GS and are stuck at iOS 6.1.x - and an app updates to where you need iOS 7 or later - and if there was a version of the app available that allowed iOS 6 or later - that would be the version made available to your device running iOS 6.1.x Engadget is reporting on an older iPhone 3G running iOS 4.2.1 - it was able to download a version of Instagram that works with iOS 4.2.1. This is good news for all you like me that passed old iPhones down to your kids to use as iPod touches. This is a nice customer service feature added by Apple. Kudos to them.
It sucks to be a delta pilot. No Delta did not get rid of the Max Weight limit for Flight Attendents - as that would be a down right tragedy. But rather - something almost as bad. Seems Delta's IT department decided against the wishes of the Pilots - to go ahead and get in bed with MS and to go and sign an agreement to bring MS Surface tablets into the cockpit. Unlike American Airlines and Jetblue that already have the iPad in the cockpit - where they replaced flight bags weighing in at 40 pounds or more - Delta said they are ordering 11,000 Tablets from Microsoft and not Apple - in an apparent Marketing coup for MS - well that was right up until the part when the Delta pilots started bitching and saying Delta's IT department is in bed with MS and that the pilots fought hard for the iPad. And then all marketing buzz was lost. Now it seems they Delta will not be getting these tablets for another 2 years - because well the Surface is not actually qualified to be in the cockpit - kind of a small detail. So I guess Delta Pilots can cross there fingers and hope the Surface will fail - Which I guess is better then the one finger the Pilots seem to think their IT department was raising towards them.
Need to watch out for companies where the IT department forgets that their employees are their client and someone they need to listen to - rather than someone they can dictate to.
PLAY VOICE MAIL - BEN_CHI_IMAP_EMAIL_IOS702
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Quest_ios7_numbers_open_emails
Hi Rob,
What is going on with this app?
I can not clear the 5000+ "New/incoming" mail and I have tried to "mark as read" but it will comeback with 4 to 5000+ new, it's getting to be very annoying.
Any thoughts or suggestions.
Regards,
Loren from Colorado
Hi Rob,
Native Apple apps are crashing a lot on my iPhone 5S. Are you hearing about this from others?
Regards,
Michael
Hi Michael - I am hearing about this from other blogs where people are reporting a blue screen of death for the iPhone 5S - I personally have not seen this - and for me I don't notice many crashes - a few - but nothing overly annoying or more than I can remember before.
And I am not hearing about it from users much. But folks if you are seeing a lot of crashes on your iPhone 5S - especially the blue screen of death - let me know - 206-666-6364 - thats 206-moon-dog - or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
Hi Rob,
Possibly everyone else had already known this or may be ok with it,
but I have realized, to my disappointment, that ITunes radio is really
nothing more than a collection of static pre compiled play lists. They
play the same songs in the same order each time. If you choose one of
the top ones or if you create a station from an artist name the same
thing happens. It plays the pre compiled play list. Sure it is free
access to those tunes played in full length and that is an advantage
and an easy wy to discover and purchase them and I guess that is
entirely the point. I'm just a little disappointed it is nothing more
FYI and please give your thoughts on how US import ban on some Samsung devices being upheld is different from when Apple's products being banned were overturned by President Obama.
Thanks,
Dr. John M
Hi John well it is a Big difference. A huge difference a major fundamental mindblowingly different situation.
The Samsung Patent in question - was a "standards essential Patent" and was under the guidelines of FRAND - which Samsung was clearly violating and the ITC should never ever have granted that verdict against Apple. PERIOD.
It was a very bad decision by the ITC and hence why it was the first one over turned by a President since President Regan back in the 80's.
The one for the Samsung - is not about standards essential patents - but rather technology patents - that clearly Samsung was in violation of. Now whether some of those patents should have been granted is another story - like the rounded corners. But others - like the snap back and accelerated scrolling those - are legit and Sammy definitely "slavishly" copied those. And well in later devices of Sammy units they designed around those patents. But early devices - the ones banned - which are not for sale for the most part anyway - those clearly violated Apples technology patents - and that is why it was upheld - it was not about protectionism - it was about two completely different scenarios.
Thanks again to our sponsor Squaretrade. Remember for your iPhone warranty - just $94 for a two year warranty - you save $30 by going to square trade dot com slash t i i
And finally thanks to Candy Crush for sponsoring this show - on your iPhone in the US only go to - todayinios dot com slash candy - seems if you are outside the US that does not redirect you where it should - sorry for those that tried outside the US. But in the US on an iPhone go to today in iOS dot com slash candy - and get ready to give up your extra free time.
If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you get the most out of the show and it helps support the show at the same time - plus it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search for Tii in the iTunes app store. And I will do my best to send out a push if I get any info of importance on launch day.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. And don't forget to check out our new Moderated Google Plus community by going to todayinios dot com slash community.
And that folks is going to do it for us today. Well actually not really - After the outro and music - stick around for some additional Listener feedback. No comments from me - but please send in your comments about their comments.
Ok - first up - this episode is going to focus on three things iOS 7 update some tips / tricks. The new iPhone 5S / 5C's and your feedback. Normally when I prep an episode I have 30 to 40 articles queued up when I get ready to do my show notes - once I had over 50. This time I am at over 130 articles and on top of that I have over 85 new voice mail messages since the last episode and even more than that on the email side - I feel Like Carrie at the end of Season one of Homeland - when she had all those papers all over her apartment floor. And Saul walks in and sees it all. Well now I need to be Saul and figure out how to put it all together - so here goes.
I guess I should say to those that were waiting to update to iOS 7 - yes - go ahead and update now. Unless you need to jailbreak. All others it is safe to update.
And I think based on feedback from those that did already update to iOS 7, the first thing to talk about is Battery Life with iOS 7. Apple added some new features that are on by default that are lets just say not the best friend of your battery.
If you iOS device is set up correctly - it should only loose about 2 to 3% of battery life at night. And a brand new iPhone 5S should easily make it through a whole work day even with active use.
Again that is if it is set up correctly for Battery life.
I will say this - when I first got my iPhone 5S the battery life seemed fine. Then the next day it started to tank - really fast - even when a sleep I was loosing 10% an hour or more. I had an issue with the Test Flight - I know many of you are beta testers - and if you are set up for Test flight - and updated to a new phone - and did not let them know about your new phone to get it added to test flight - but try to download a new beta of an App - it gets into a vicious battery sucking cycle of constantly trying to redownload the app. So if you batter life sucks really bad - and you use Test flight - check to see if you have an app that is trying to redownload all the time and delete it.
But for everyone else that is looking for Battery life improvements with both new and older iOS devices - here are a bakers dozen of tips - and mind you some don't apply to all iOS devices running iOS 7 - like this first one.
1 - Turn Off Parallax - there are some that say this feature makes them motion sick - but really I just think they are looking at the battery % indicator and that is what is getting them sick.
Oh hey speaking of the Battery % indicator - I had a couple of people ask about that. To turn on or off the % for the battery - go to Settings App - then General - then Usage and then scroll to the bottom and you will see the toggle for Battery Percentage. Settings - General - Usage - and scroll down.
Back to saving said battery - To turn off Parallax go to the Settings App - then general - then Accessibility - then to Reduce Motion - and turn it to ON - Yes turn it on. Turning ON Reduce Motion - turns OFF Parallax - Yes Clearly someone at APPLE is just Messing with our heads on that one.
2 - is turn off Airdrop - unless you plan on using it now or in the next few minutes - there is no need to have it on. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to get to control center - and just tap on Airdrop near the bottom left - to turn it off.
3 - and while you have control center open - tap to turn off bluetooth. Again unless you plan on using it right now - no need to have it on.
4 - is also in the control center - turn down your brightness. I find if you set it about a 1/3 of the full setting - it will still look great.
5 - is to turn off background app refresh except for those apps you want that info for. Go to Settings App - General - then Background App Refresh - and then turn off all those apps you don't need to update in background - like any games. Or Yelp or Speed test apps or games - Yeah not need for games updating in the background - I don't suggest shutting this down completely - as there are needs for apps like Mapquest or other navigation apps to keep updating with your location info. But the more you turn off the better it is for battery life.
6 - Turn off Auto App Updates. Go to Settings --> then iTunes & App Store --> then under automatic Downloads - Turn them all off. Do you really need to have an update to an iBook happen automatically.
Please note - these choices are meant for those that want improved battery life - there will be tradeoffs with your experience - if apps updates are not downloading or apps are not getting the most recent info in the background - that means - you will need to manually get that info / updates done.
7 - Do not use Dynamic Wallpaper - Really - Why would you do that? Go to Settings then Wallpaper & Brightness - and make sure you select a static wallpaper - not one of the dynamic wallpapers. Oh and definitely not a panoramic Wallpaper either. I mean really do you have that much battery life you can just piss it away by putting up a panoramic view of your kid in on a soccer pitch as your wallpaper.
8 - Turn off Push mail and auto fetching of mail. Go to Settings then Mail, Contacts, Calendars - and go to Fetch New Data - Then Turn off Push - and set iCloud and your mail accounts to Fetch - and finally set Fetch to Manually. This just means the next time you check your email - you need to pull down to refresh - i.e. fetch new mail. You could also set that to hourly - but still if the purpose is to save battery life - just set it to manually.
9 - Turn off notifications for those items you don't need. No need to Mail - after making it manual in the last step. Plus no need for Photos or Game Center. Go through your list of apps and only select the ones you want to see updated info from in the lock screen. And deselect ones you don't need - like any game app.
10 - Change Auto lock to 5 minutes or less. For iPad's this one can be a pain - as if you are reading - it can lock on you too quickly So don't set for just 1 minute on an iPad. But 1 Minute may be fine for an iPhone. To make changes on this one go to Settings then General then Auto-lock - and select 5 minutes or 1 Minute or something in between.
11 - Quit Open apps in the background on a regular basis. If you have 183 apps on your iOS device - there is no reason to have 182 of those apps open in the background. Per the last episode to force quit an app - double tap on the home button - and then swipe up on the preview of the app - to close it.
12 - Don't set Alarms or Reminders based on Location. If you set up a reminder to remind you when you get home and it is 8:30 AM - that will mean it is constantly checking your location through out the day. Well right up until your battery dies that is.
13 - Location services - The ultimate battery killer - only allow it for those apps you absolutely need it for. Games - NO - Maps - Yes. And keep an eye out in the upper right for a purple triangle - that means locations services are on. You can not turn it off completely - well ok - you can - but you should not - because if you did - it kinda sorta kills most features of find my iPhone like for simple location search. Note - even if off you can still reactivate by enabling lost mode - but still you want to have locations services on and you want to limit it to apps that benefit you. Go to Settings then Privacy then location services and look at what apps have locations toggled on. You might be surprised. Like Tunein Radio or Shazam or Stitcher or a bunch of games - Yeah turn it off for them.
I know there are other tips about turning off LTE and even disabling keyboard clicks. But come on whats the point of having an LTE iPhone if you can't use LTE.
And I will say this - if you do all the things I mentioned above - and your battery life sucks - you may have a corrupted apps or backup you set up from or you may have a defective battery. What you need to do in this case to find out if it is software or hardware issue is to go to Settings App - then iCloud - then Find My iPhone - and disable Find My iPhone. Next connect your iOS device to your computer and back it up. Then Select Restore iPhone - this will delete out everything - and you should set it up as a brand new iPhone. Not from a backup. Note - this does suck to do - as it means getting emails and everything else set back up correctly. But you made a back up so you can restore from it later on. Just do this and then see if after a few hours if your battery life is better then it was or the same. If it is the same - take said device to your local apple store and see about getting a new device. If it is better - then you have to decide if you want to restore from the last back up - or just stay as you are and start the manual process of setting up the device.
Again I will say this - there is no reason not to see as good of or better battery life from iOS 7 then you did with iOS 6. On my iPhone 4 - after over a week in standby mode - the battery life was over 50%. And I had used it on and off during the week. Usually just as a calculator or to check something in the Settings App - but point is - I am seeing really good battery life with iOS7 and I would say even better for my iPhone 4 then I saw with iOS 6.1.3
Ok - So now that your iOS device is running all day plus - you can actually use it - and here are some new features in iOS 7 you might be interested in.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Glen_fdbk_ios7
Blocking Calls and Texts from someone - this is one we have had Parents of Teens ask about for their kids and those with slightly too clingy of an ex significant other ask about. And well now it is possible and easy with iOS 7. Note the person you want to block needs to be in your contacts - so if they are not in there - go to their recent call or text and add them to contacts. Once said stalker or Telemarketer is in your contacts - go to the Phone App - not the contacts app - but the phone app - then select Contacts - and then find the person you want to block - select them and scroll to the bottom and select - you guessed it - Block the caller. You will get a confirmation popup that says you will not receive Phone calls, Messages, or FaceTime from the people on your block list. Confirm that and they are dead to you or at least to your iOS device.
Into the Email bag.
Hi Rob!
I thought I'd let you know about a feature of iOS 7.0 that I haven't seen people talking about so much. If you open the Compass app and then calibrate the compass, you can then swipe from the right to the left and you will get a level app.
You can use if for surfaces like a bull's eye level and it will automatically change when you use the edge of your phone to check if something is level or plumb. You can also tap to set your own custom level to go by and tap again to reset.
The app works and looks great and is about as non-skeuomorphic as you can get. However, I question the decision to hide it in the Compass app where many users may never find it.
Best regards,
Eddy P.
Sweden
Thanks Eddy for the heads up on the hidden Compass App - Yeah not sure why that one is so hidden and I wish you could get to it with out having to calibrate your iPhone first. That can take 10 seconds to get calibrated and if you need the level - it is just a pain to get to. Hopefully Apple updates that so you can bypass the calibrate step and get right to the Level part of the app.
Another new feature I am using more and more is
SIRI and opening apps. You say Rob why do I need Siri to open an App - Well lets say you oh I don't no that you have 564 apps on your iPhone 5S and those apps are spread out over 14 home screens - which have 40 different folders with obscure titles distributed in some none logical fashion on said 14 home screens - and those folders have multiple pages. Yeah finding that one app you know the name of can be an issue. Now with Siri in iOS 7 just say - open T i i - and siri will launch the Tii App. Or Open Tag - which is nice for scanning a QR code quickly. So yes - this is a very nice new feature of Siri especially for those fellow App hoarders like me.
Back to the email bag.
Hi Rob.
One new feature that has not been widely talked about is the new keyboardfor us Voice Over users. One of the reasons I never set a passcode lock is that unless I was wearing a wired or wireless headset everyone in the area could hear me enter it. Not much security there. Now with IOS 7 I am able to enter text and numbers by drawing them on the
screen. Frakin AWESOME!
regards,
Keith W
Thanks Keith for the heads up on that new feature.
PLAY VOICE MAIL - Aaron_ios7_download_fdbk
Hi Rob
It appears when you listen to music such as Spotify, Pandora etc that the lock screen controls to pause, skip to next track etc do not work. They don't work in Control Center either. Any info or thoughts about this?
Steve from AZ
Steve - that is an issue with the Apps - and not with iOS 7 - well actually it is because of iOS 7 and changes - that those apps need to be updated to work correctly. Right now the version of the Tii App those listening on the latest version as of last week - would also see that issue - however the next version I am beta testing right now - has that issue fixed. So expect your favorite apps to be updates shortly to fix that issue / interaction with iOS 7. But again not really a bug in iOS 7 - as much as just something that needs to be updated in the apps to work with changes introduced in iOS 7.
Thanks to Chris in London for this next heads up on something new in iOS 7 - and that is MultiPath TCP. In a nutshell it allows you to send multiple data packets across different network interfaces at the same time. Or think of it this way you have a drink and you have three straws - a thick one, a mid size one and thin one - You could suck on just one straw and depending on the size you will get a certain amount at one time - or you could use all three at the same time and get a whole bunch of drink at once - and if it is a slurpie a major case of brain freeze. But with Multipath TCP - your iOS device can send and receive - data over Ethernet, wifi and 3G at the same time. Ok the send part would kind be like major backwash in my analogy above and that is plain gross - but nothing gross about Multipath TCP. However there is a question on when exactly it will be used. Because right now while it is confirmed it is in there - your iOS device is still just using one straw at a time. more I am sure about this in the future.
For those that did not wait and updated on the 18th and had no issues - congrats. And to those that did update on the 18th the day iOS 7 was release and did have issues - Well umm - I told you so. And I don't mean that in an iTold you so tone - but I told you so - because updating the first day of an update is a crap shout any year and even more so this year.
Into the email bag.
Hi Rob,
I should have waited to update. I heard your warning, but I ignored it. A friend had successfully updated, so I thought, why not? no harm trying.
The update seemed to download fine, but then would not install. I tired a bunch of times, then got smart and backed up my phone (I know, I should have done that first...) quit all my apps and tried again. And then... my phone went black. Woe is me. I spent the rest of day without my phone. When I finally got home and got it connected to a computer, I found out it was in recovery mode and I had to restore it. Then, to add insult to injury, it would not restore from the backup I'd done right before I stared. I finally got it to restore from a backup done the night before. Anyway, not sure what I did wrong, but I found out that I really should have waited, and backed it up to my computer as an extra fail-safe before I stared.
Regards,
- Jessi
PLAY VOICE MAIL CARL_PA_ios7_update_issues
Carl and others that had issues - I don't know if it is possible for Apple to have gotten their servers ready for the onslaught they had for iOS 7 updates. We will talk about the numbers shortly - but safe to say I way under estimated the % of iOS users that would be updating and I am sure Apple did too - just because it was much much higher than in the past from a % perspective and even more so from a raw numbers perspective.
In fairness to Apple - there probably has never been a crush on servers like that before - and that so many were able to update with no issues is actually a big deal.
One thing you can do if you are someone that is still having issues doing the update - and there are a few of you out there. Don't do the Over the Air update - that seems to be a common thread I hear from those still with issue - download the update on iTunes and update via the computer. Of course first make sure you update iTunes to version 11.1.
And make sure you close out all the open apps and go to Settings - the General - then Reset - then Rest network settings. That really does seem to help.
VOICEMAIL - Charles_IN_ISSUES_Itunes_radio
Chalres - When I have seen some other issues - a force quit of the app and a relaunch did see to help. I can't say I have seen an issue with iTunes Radio. But definitely try force quitting and relaunching iTunes - just because you reset the phone - does not mean it reset the App. You do need to force quit it to reboot the app.
If you did force quit it and it is still not working for you - then maybe you need to do a restore from back up. If anyone else has had this issue with iTunes radio not working and you were able to fix it - please let us know by giving us a call - 206- 666-6364 - thats 206 moon dog or by sending an email to today in iOS At gmail dot com.
Hey if you are interested in see some of the things in iOS 7 that will be fixed in future releases - go to the tumblr called sloppyUI. Link in show notes. And it goes over a lot of the places in iOS 7 where well Apple has been a little sloppy. Be it mis-matched fonts on a page or text on top of text. or where the status bar become unreadable do to the choice of background image and the color of the font. or inconsistent placement of options like Cancel OR - well you get the picture - there are many little items that need to be cleaned up in future versions of iOS 7 - and hopefully someone at Apple has book marked that account and is taking notes.
Well shortly after iOS 7.0 was released a person by the name of Jose Rodreguez living in Spain's canary islands - whom by his own admission has too much spare time - was able to figure out a by pass of the lock screen in iOS 7 and get access to Photos, email and Twitter. All with out needing to know the Passcode. I will not go through the steps required and there are many - but I will say a week after reported - Apple release iOS 7.0.2 - so If you have not updated to iOS 7.0.2 - you should do so now. This closes down Jose's bypass and another bypass that Lets Anyone make calls from locked iPhones to any number. So the two major Bugs with iOS 7 as far as getting around the lock screen were both patched with in a week and released to the masses - kudos Apple for the quick updates. That is a major advantage of the iOS ecosystem - when bugs and security gaps are found - Apple can quickly get a patch / update out to the masses. Where on the Android platform - it could be months if not longer for a new patch to get out to the masses. And depending on how big an issue it is - some carriers / or handset manufacturers may never push that patch forward. So again if you have not updated to iOS 7.0.2 - do so. Especially if you were using a beta of iOS 7.0 Gold Master. This gets you back out of the beta and onto the regular public release - with means no expiration date.
Play VOICEMAIL - Ben_ios7_voicememo_music
Hi Ben - Per the option for Genre in the Music app - it is still there - you need to tap on More in the lower right corner - and then you will see it. What you can then do is tap - edit after you tap more - and then pull down genre to replace one of the first four tabs at the bottom and that will get your Genre right where you want it.
Per the voice memo app - I have to admit I have not used it much yet - so I have not had it crash - but if anyone else is having an issue with the voice memo app let me know - right now I almost always use the Bossjock app for all my audio recording needs - because it is so easy to get my recordings to my computer via wifi from the app or uploaded to libsyn vis FTP - plus in the app you can under Settings and then setup - turn off AGC - Automatic Gain Control - and that greatly improves the sound quality of recordings on the iPhone.
So check out the app - Bossjock if you are looking for the best audio recording app for iOS devices. And they just submitted to iTunes a new version that is more iOS 7 compatible - which I have been beta testing for them.
Here is a bug found by one of our listeners. He writes.
Hi Rob,
I like to force kill all my apps and hard restart every once and
awhile to "start fresh". In ios7 I will force kill all my apps,
immediately do a hard restart - by pressing the Home and power button at the same time, but when my phone starts up, all the apps are there that I thought I closed. Is this just me? Is this a
bug?
Regards,
-Ryan F
Yes - Yes it is a bug. I put up a video on the Tii website showing this bug. Now this does not happen all the time or even half the time but it did happen once ever 3 or 4 times I tried. Granted - when shutting down your iOS device it is best to just push the power button and not both the power and home button together. When you do it that way this issue does not happen.
But here is the issue I see in the bug - if your don't have your device locked - someone could in theory do this procedure and then see every app you were working in and what you were doing last in each of those apps. It is not a major bug - but it is a bug - as I can't imagine it is meant to bring dead app sessions back to life.
Thanks Ryan for Pointing it out. I did have another listener say they saw something like this in iOS 6.x - but I could not get my jailbroken iPhone 4S to duplicate this.
Ok - I really did not want to mention this one but figure I better just in case - there was a fake Apple Ad for iOS 7 that was claiming a new feature of iOS 7 was making it water proof. Yes sound very unbelievable - because it is fake - 100% bogus -
sadly some that saw this bogus ad - which looks like it is an Apple ad - actually believed it. In the ad it states in iOS 7 your iPhone is able to internally detect water and shut off the electronics in the phone. Again totally BS - an iPhone running iOS 7 is not repeat not water proof. Thankfully no one in the audience emailed in asking if the ad was real. Just a bunch emailing in about the articles talking about others that believed it.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Steven_blue_dot_special
Steven - I hate to say it - but I think you are going to have to wait until there is a jailbreak - as that seems hardcoded in to put in the blue dot after an app is newly downloaded for the first time or updated - which then goes away of course after you launch the app the first time. Personally I like this much more than the banner that went over the icon - as some times depending on the artwork it was tough to see the banner. I guess for now all I can say is happy app opening sorry.
On the Last episode I said the follow with regards to how quickly I thought iOS 7 would be adopted.
quote 48 hours from when this episode goes up - there will be well over 22% and probably well over 33% penetration of iOS 7. And in 5 weeks that number will be pushing north of 66%. unquote
So How well did I do.
Well 48 hours later the adoption rate according to MixPanel - was an amazing 45+% - which is well over 33% but to be fair I was think 35% maybe upper 30's but not over 45%. And by Wednesday the 25th it was already over 60%. So one week to get to 60%. 8 days to get to 61.5% and the 66% number I mentioned for 5 weeks - looks like we will be at that level of adoption in about 2 weeks. This is all much faster than last year for iOS 6.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Mike_az_tmobile_no_gold_no_silver
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Rich_tx_in_line
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Jonathan_apple_line_fdbk
I got a wide array of reports on lines - however most were the lines were longer than last year - and the stock was very limited when it came to Colors and some carriers. I wanted gold for my first choice - and silver for my se cond choice - and I was 25th in line - and I only had the choice of Space Grey - which was very very very common report for the launch day.
I think we can now say the S in 5S is not Sensors or Speed - but rather shortages or stock out or at least for most people reporting the S in 5S stood for Space Grey.
I felt how things were handled at the Apple store in Leawood KS was not right - here is the email I sent to Tim Cook - because you know - I like to do those type of things.
PLAY EPISODE MUSIC IN THE BACKGROUND.
Hello Tim,
Thanks for your time reading this.
I wanted to share my experience and observations from waiting on line for the iPhone 5S and a possible solution for the issue.
After all stating a problem without a solution is just complaining - and that is not what this is.
The store I waited at was at the Apple Store in Leawood KS - which is exactly 1.1 Miles from Sprints world Headquarters. So at 7:30 AM when the Apple store employees announced they had Zero Sprint phones - it was at the least very surprising. Now I do realize that logistic issues with a global launch will mean certain locations would be with out certain phones. But where I think the real issue happened - was that people that had been waiting in line for hours (some over 12 hours) just were sent on their way empty handed with nothing to show for their time in line.
What I feel Apple should have done at that point was to get the names of anyone waiting in line that wanted a Sprint Phone and be put on a list where they would be contacted once a Sprint phone matching their request came into that Apple store.
Again I do realize issues will come up - but how Apple handled this issue this time I felt was not appropriate.
Luckily for me I am on AT&T and they had 64 GB 5S's. Sadly they did not have any of the Gold (1st choice) or the Silver (2nd choice) I wanted - but they did have Space Grey. So I took that and am very happy with it. Again however here for others - they were not happy - and once again when Apple store employees went down the line handing out the cards for phones - when they asked what you wanted - if they did not have it - those waiting in line should have been given a choice to get on the waiting list or to take what was available. I would have still taken the Space Grey - but there were other people waiting in line - that wanted a specific color - that just walked away.
These are or were Apple Acolytes - these are the people that spend all year long singing the praises of Apple / iOS and the iOS Ecosystem. I saw way too many of these people walk away with nothing after spending many many hours in line.
I think something as simple as a Pad of paper, where the Apple Store Employee writes down the persons name, Apple ID, and preferred phone configuration - would have gone a long way to keep those Apple Acolytes happy with their choice to evangelize Apple.
From my background - I have been waiting on line for Apple products and store openings since before the original iPhone.
I think it is safe to say this launch was the worst experience for those waiting on line versus any previous Apple launch - and I just hope for the next Apple product launch you will consider modifying your policy on what happens when someone waits in line only to find out the item they wanted was not available at the store. I am not saying this should be a policy all the time - just on launch day and just for those in line before the launch.
I hope you consider this very simple solution for the next product launch.
Best Regards,
Rob Walch
Host - Today in iOS
And to that - I got crickets chirping - not that I really expected a response - But I hope whomever reviews the emails or those at Apple listening now - do take into consideration that many that walked away from the lines empty handed - those people are not likely to wait in line again and their attitude towards apple in many cases has changes a little if not a lot.
Now not all issues this year waiting on line had to do with stock outages - in LA - there was a bit of a kerfuffle - actually a couple of Kerfuffles - first when two people waiting in line got into a fight and got themselves arrested. And then later on another fight broke out when a person who had hired some homeless men to wait in line for him - felt they did not get adequately compensated for their time waiting in line for said man and they started negotiating with their fists.
Another incident in Houston happened at an AT&T store where two men brazenly approached those waiting in line and pulled knives and demanded everything you've got from a few of those waiting in line. I say brazen as there were 10 people in line at the time. The crooks made off with several iPhones and an iPad and at least one wallet. Luckily no one was hurt and to AT&T's credit when they heard of the issue - they offered store credit for the value of their stolen iPhones.
Shockingly Apple was beat up by Wallstreet - when after the initial pre-order period for the iPhone 5C - Apple did not report pre-order numbers. So Wallstreet took that to mean the sky is falling. Or it could be the pre-orders were for essentially a year old phone wrapped in plastic with a slightly bigger battery. Of course Apple did not report the numbers - because Wallstreet does not understand about comparing Apples to Oranges.
Now at Apple stores where Anal-ists do measure the length of lines - there are reports that this year the lines were the longest they have ever been. Now some of that has to do with the past couple of years there have been pre-orders - and this year there was not for the 5S - and that really is the new device people were waiting for. No one was waiting for the 5C at the Apple store in Leawood out of over 200 people at 8:00 AM - Zero - Zilch - Nada - not one was there for the 5C.
So based on reports of Stock outs and shortages and no Sprint phones here - or no T-mobile phones there. What did Anal-ists peg for Sales of iPhones over the opening weekend.
Well uncle Gene put the number between 5 and 6 million iPhone 5S and 5C's combined. Saying there would be 2.5 Mil 5S's sold and 3 Mil 5C's sold opening weekend. Remember those numbers for mister munster.
And From the they didn't see that coming category - comes official word from Apple on the number of iPhone 5Ss and 5Cs sold opening weekend. Some Analists had it at 5 to 6 mil - others were more optimistic at 6 to 8 mil. I saw one really pessimistic estimate of 2 to 3 mil. But at the end of the day or well weekend in this case They all were well under the reality and that was 9 Million iPhones sold which shatters the opening day weekend. And I am sure it would have been higher if Apple had more stock of 5S's especially Gold and Silver. Now what is not known - is what part of that 9 Mill was 5S's and what part was 5C's and what % of those 5C's just went to channel inventory vs Customers hands. It is safe to say since there were lines still on Monday at Apples stores - that almost all 5S's sold - were in customers hands.
But to put the 9 Mil in perspective - The iPhone 3 was the first to do 1 million in sales opening weekend; the 3GS also sold 1 million; the 4 sold 1.7 million; and the 4S sold 4 million. The iPhone 5 sold 5 Mil opening weekend. So the 9 Mil is a big number - but there were differences - again - there are two phones - and one did not sell out. And it was launched in 9 countries this year two more than last year - and one of them is China - and you also add NTT Docomo in Japan. So big additions in available subscribers this year.
Now when Apple says sold - here is what they have meant for the past few years. Anything shipped out to a customer - so any on line orders that shipped. Any devices purchased and picked up at an Apple store - Any inventory at any apple store does not count as sold. And any units delivered to Apple carrier partners or channel sales - read - AT&T, Radio Shack, Best Buy, Wal-mart. So any 5C's sitting on shelves at those stores would count towards the 9 Mil. So clearly 9 Mil this year is not really 9 Mil into customers hands - where as 5 Mil last year pretty much all were to customers.
So lets go back to Uncle Gene Munsters estimates of 5 to 6 Mil - and how did he spin it after Apple announced 9 Mil - by saying you guessed it - that 3.5 Mil of it was in channel inventory. He then said 2.5 Mil were 5S's and 3 Mil were 5C's - and that 3.5 Mil were in channel. So lets get this right - Apple had 6.5 Mil iPhone 5C's avail on the launch but only 2.5 Mil 5S's? Ummm no way no how. There is just no chance for that scenario to play out. But rather than Uncle Gene admit he was wrong once again - he just tried to spin the numbers to match what he told his paying clients.
So how do we know Uncle Gene is wrong - plain and simple - usage reports from the 72 hours since launch. Localytics found usage of the 5S vs 5C at a 3 to 1 ratio globally. Not the 2.5 to 3 ration Uncle Gene tried to explain. Here is a more likely scenario - 6 Mil iPhone 5S's shipped vs 2 Mil 5C's - with 1 Mil of 5C's in channel Inventory. And that is how your 9 Mil breaks down - not per the illogical and fantasy numbers presented by Uncle Gene to try to cover his butt. Just sayin.
Will be interesting if come late October on the next quarterly call if Apple gives any indication of what part of that 9 Mil went to channel inventory vs getting in customers hands.
Apple Insider had a scathing post totally ripping apart often wrong Uncle Gene. I love this one part
quote In August, just a month before Apple launched its new iPhones, Munster described the iPhone 5c (which had already made several appearances in a series of spy photos) as having "lower end internal specs (processor, camera, memory, etc.) than the 5S/5 line up," estimating that the device would be priced at $300 without a contract.
He also wrote his clients saying, "we believe that Apple may exclude some software features, such as Siri, which we note was not an option on the iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 upon launch." He also expected Apple to discontinue the iPhone 4S, leaving it to sell an iPhone 5c, 5 and 5s.
This was profoundly wrong in every respect. The only things Munster got right were already public knowledge: the 5c having a plastic case and the same 4 inch display. Munster not only got all of his predicted details wrong, but also demonstrated that he had no idea of what Apple's overall strategy for the 5c actually was.
unquote
Ouch Ouch and Ouch.
The article goes on to point out many other Uncle Gene misques and gaffs. It is amazing he can find people to pay him for his advice. He was way wrong with too high an estimate o unit sales last year and he was way wrong too low this year.
Hi Rob,
9 Million in 3 days is 34.7 iPhones sold per second for that period.
According to 9 to 5 mac - Apple is now allowing customers to check iPhone available at their retail stores via the apple store app.
To check for said availability on the Apple Store App go to the buy iPhone page - add your iPhone to the cart and then choose - Check Availability -
You will then be shown a list of nearby Apple stores and the status of said iPhone at those stores.
It is also being rumored that some time in the next week or so - in store pick up for orders on line will begin again.
So it seems right now you can just check availability and then rush over and try to get said device - soon you should be able to order that device and casually head over to pick up said device.
Right now Anal-ists are estimated supply of the iPhone 5S will not meet demand until at least December - and if Apple announces a deal with China Mobile before then - expect supply to be constrained until at least mid Q1 2014.
If you want a new iPhone 5S - right now ordering on line might be the surest way to get one before thanksgiving. Or you can take chances and keep checking on line and hope to find a local store with exactly the version you are looking for - especially if what you are looking for is a Gold iPhone 5S.
So what exactly is in the iPhone 5S - Well the good folks at iFixit got their hands on a unit and did what they do and tore it apart. As with last years model taking it apart is not for the technically challenged or even technically moderate. You need to be really careful if you ever pull yours apart. with the 5S - there is a cable from the touch ID sensor to the base of the unit so if you pull too hard when opening it - you can damage that cable.
One other noted different this year is Apple securely fastened the battery in with glue - lots of glue. Most people will NOT be replacing their own batteries - this is going to be for the pros only.
Repairability for the 5S is listed as 6 out of 10 with 10 being the easiest.
But note the front glass, digitizer and LCD are all one component thus increasing the cost of repair.
Can you say square trade.com slash tii - to get your warranty.
Winners on suppling chips for the iPhone 5S are Qualcomm, Triquint, Broadcom, TI, Skyworks and Avago to name a few.
Initially when iFixit ripped apart the 5S - they could not find the M7 motion processor. But later it was discovered. It is made by NXP.
The A7 however is made by Samsung - so Apple is still in bed with Sammy for their processor manufacturing.
Please note - Sammy is like Foxconn in this regards - they are the job shop that manufactures the A7 - but it is Apples own engineers that did all the design work.
I found this quote about the A7 interesting.
QUOTE The switch to the A7 marks the first use of a 64-bit processor in a smartphone. Based on AnandTech's review, it seems that the bulk of the A7's performance gains do not come from any advantages inherent to a 64-bit architecture, but rather from the switch from the outdated ARMv7 instruction set to the newly-designed ARMv8.
The modern ARMv8 instruction set was designed for a 64-bit architecture. It does away with the legacy support of the last 20 years, which increases efficiency, improving performance without sacrificing battery life. UNQUOTE
And speaking of the Anand Tech review - they did some Benchmark tests - and how did the iPhone 5S do - well it smoked - toasted - and demolished the Android competition. When compared to other Smartphones for Javascript Benchmark - The 5S had a score of 416 ms - lower is better - 2nd place was the 5C and 5 - with 727 ms times. Then the LG Optimus G Pro at 879, The S4 from Sammy had two version one limping in at 920.3 ms and the other dragging in at 1,223 ms. Yikes.
In this Case - Apple took the Gold, Silver and Bronze.
Next up was the Mozilla Kraken Benchmark test. Again lower is better and again the 5S was the clear winner. or as Anadtech said simply amazing. The 5S had a time of 5,905 ms, vs 2nd place Moto X at 9,611 ms, the S4 at 9,838 ms, the iPhone 5 and 5C - were down at 13,919 and 14,011 respectively. Yes the 5S in this case was 2.3 X faster than the 5. And twice as fast as the HTC One.
Mind you these other devices are running at higher clock speeds and likely much higher power draw than the 5S.
In the Google Octane Test - You Guessed it the 5S smoked the comp. With a higher is better score of 5,500 vs just 2,999 for the S4, and 2859 for the 5 and 5C. Moto X came in at 2,454.
Yes - the iPhone 5S - beat all the other smartphones tested and beat them very very handily.
This is where Apple is innovating - at the heart of the device. Giving better - much better performance but also doing it at a much lower clock speed and power draw. Is that not innovation at its best.
Other Benchmark tests were done by Gizmodo - and Yup the 5S kicked butt and took names.
In the Geekbench browser scores - the 5S was the best with a higher is better score of 2538, Second place was the S4 - EU supped up version with 2077 and 3rd was the S4 - US version with a snapdragon processor with a score of 1797. HTC One came in 4th at 1717. And the iPhone 5 came in at 1278. So yes - the 5S was 2X he speed of the 5 and faster than all its comp by a big margin.
Another test for Graphics and again the 5S kicked all others butt.
So that is it in a nutshell - the iPhone 5S right now is the king of the hill by a wide margin for Smartphone performance results.
Now bench mark tests are one thing - but how it performs in the real world is key test - and I can say having played with my 5S for the past week - it is amazingly fast - going from a 4S to a 5S - is just a great experience. Everything is quick and snappy. There are no lags. Not that the 4S was bad or laggy or really an issue - it is just that the 5S is really fast. Just like the benchmark tests indicated.
I was leaning toward a new iPad mini this year - but given how nice the 5S with the A7 performs - I am thinking now I will just go with the 5th gen iPad - assuming it comes with an A7x Processor. More on that in the next few episodes. Lets stick to iPhones for now.
Each year after the tear down - someone or someones go out and figure out how much it costs to make the iPhone and then show shockingly how this is much less than what you pay for said iPhone.
First off - the aggregate cost from the BOM - does not take into account costs for design / development and testing - or more importantly - Assembly / Shipping / Packaging and Marketing.
Put simply even if you could buy all the components for an iPhone 5S at the $200 price they estimate - there is no way for you to assemble your own iPhone.
So what the BOM total is - is well irrelevant. Just like talk about how a $200 adder for the iPhone 64GB version vs the 16 GB is much to high vs the extra cost for the storage.
Ok - some of my thoughts on the iPhone 5S - Wow - It is soooo much faster than my 4S and the pictures are much much better - and the 3X zoom on the video is great. I joked about Slo-mo Being an over used feature in indie porn - but really it is a great feature for Sports coaches. I was using it this weekend for shooting video for my kids Football team I am the coach of - shhhh - don't tell the league we are not supposed to shoot video on the field. But I did and was going over one of the videos and I saw something in Slo-mo I totally missed live - And that was one player I thought broke up a play was not the one it was another player that came in first reaching for a flag and caused the runner to fall down - but in real time it looked like it was the second player that made the play. So there - you can have some nice real world use - and I sent the video to Max's parents to show them the great play their son made.
Thanks to Stephen W for the heads up on this next one.
Which is a mid to longer sizes blog post from TUAW titled On Apple - the new iPhones and points made and missed - which is a very good post and worth a read. But I will pull the one quote I really liked and agree with 100% and that is quote The bottom line here, and one people miss all the time, is that Apple designs products for people. Not pundits or analysts or even day traders. As Tron "fights for the users," so does Apple. unquote
KUDOS TUAW for that line and for the great post which was written by Victor Agreda Jr.
I really do think that sums this all up and what I said in the past - With Apple - we the user are the customer - not the pundits - not wall street - and definitely not the advertisers - as is the case with that robot OS. And as long as apple remains focused on us the users - I believe that the will continue to garner the lions share of Smartphone and iPad profits. And that means more cool features and devices in the future.
But for now I whole heartedly recommend the iPhone 5S for anyone currently using an iPhone 4S or earlier. Actually if you have an iPhone 4 or early no matter how you are using it - I 100% think you should upgrade. If you have an iPhone 4S - and don't take pictures or shoot video - and really just use it for dare I say Phone calls and email - and the occasional game of Candy Crush - then sure stick with the iPhone 4S - but if you use it to take photos - shot video - and run lots of apps and to create anything - images - music or more - then definitely upgrade to the 5S.
For those with an iPhone 5 - that is a harder call for me to recommend. If your iPhone 5 is your only camera and you have young kids or have your first child on the way - Oh yeah upgrade - if you can afford to. But for most iPhone 5 owners - I think you are best to stay the course and wait for next years iPhone 6 or iPhone 2014 or what ever it will be called.
Now if you have an none - iPhone - and well you are listening to this show - you probably were already thinking or planning of upgrading to an iPhone from your Android or windows phone - and YES absolutely it is an upgrade - as mentioned in the benchmark tests earlier - so for anyone outside the iOS ecosystem - 100% you should switch over. I think you will be very happy with the performance and feel of the iPhone 5S.
The Folks at Android Authority once again got an iPhone on launch day and dropped it on to the stone pavement - and guess what - when you drop an iPhone on the glass surface from 5 feet up on to a stone surface - something is going to break or shatter and it ain't the stone - it is of course the glass.
That is not a shocker or it should not be. The 5S did actually hold up very well when dropped on its back or side. Same with the 5c. But again the point is if you are clumsy - get a case. If run around all day and are always on the go - get a case. And also look at getting a Squaretrade warranty.
So whether you get an new 5S or 5C - you want to protect them if they break - you can put all kinds of crazy cases on them - or if you get the Gold iPhone you will likely go around el natural - Naked as in no case on. Excuse me sir is that the new iPhone 5S - Why yes - yes it is - I mean that is why you get gold - or why I wanted to get gold. And if you do around with a naked iPhone and still want protection - look no further than Sqauretrade for your warranty. Unlike Apple Care Plus - Squaretrade covers you even when your are jailbroken - Big kudos to Squaretrade for that. I often get questions about some specifics of square trade and I pass those along for answers - one recent question was Quote What happens with our Squaretrade warranty when an iPhone is replaced by Apple ? What happens when the phone is stolen and we get a new one ? unquote. The answer back from square trade on this was quote We cover multiple replacements by Apple and we even waive the deductible when you go to the genius bar for a replacement. We do not cover stolen devices but we will refund the unused portion of your warranty so you can use that to help pay for a new one. unquote.
If you go to the url - square trade dot com / tii - you can get your iPhone warranty for just $94 - even if it shows at $124 - just click through and as a tii listener your will see the $30 discount when you click forward.
If you have kids or are clumsy or plan to be out and about with your iOS device - you owe it your self to protect your investment - and square trade is a nice piece of mind to have - it removes a little bit of stress when you use your iOS device. Thanks Squaretrade for sponsoring this episode.
Oh and for the record I have had 4 different iPhones leading up to getting the 5S - and of those 4 I have had 3 broken screens while the devices were under two years old. Including one break when it was in a protective case an I stepped on the iPhone while it was in the pocket of my shorts on the bathroom floor. And One fell out of my lap on a southwest Airlines flight and the glass hit the bolt sticking up from the floor holding the seat down in front of me. iPhones break - Squaretrade helps cover the repair.
Yes - I am getting a Squaretrade warranty for my 5S.
Squaretrade dot com slash t i i for your $30 discount on your warranty.
We mentioned supply of the 5S was going to be constrained for a while likely until the end of 2013 if not longer. Well to help increase demand soon rather than later - it looks like Regional carriers Such as Alaska Communications, Bluegrass Cellular, Appalacian Wireless, C Spire, Cellcom, GCI, MTA, Nex-Tech Wireless, NTELOS, and Strata will be getting both the 5C and 5S sooner rather than later - with October 1st being the launch dates for those carriers - that is 11 days after the big 4 in the US. Also Canadian regional carriers - MTS and Sasktel will also be getting the 5C and 5S on October 1st. Note last year the iPhone 5 hit those carriers 7 days after the launch on Sep 28th. So it is a little pushed out this year but not much.
Ok with the 5S - one of the biggest and most talked about good and bad new feature is the finger print scanner. Lets first talk about the good.
It works really well - I never used a lock code on my iPhone except for a few times at a conference or traveling - and even then most of the times I did not use one - as I just found it a pain to re-enter my code all the time - as I am constantly locking and unlocking the screen. With the 5S and touch ID - it is simply amazing how quick and easy it is to unlock it.
It does take about 30 seconds to go through setting up a finger print - and I will recommend as the primary user you set up just your thumb prints - and you do both thumbs.
Hi Rob,
When setting up Touch ID, include your spouse/partner's fingerprint also ... just in case.
Regards,
Dave B
Palm Springs, CA
Thanks Dave - Yup I recommend that as well - Good to have one other person with access - plus not setting them up makes them wonder what you are hiding.
When doing the finger print set up - the instructions can be a little confusing - at one point it tells you in big letter touch the sensor - then in big letters lift up and then touch and then lift and then touch and then lift - and then touch - and on that last touch in smaller letters it say touch and lift multiple times. Make sure to get all around your thumb. Why I only recommend your thumbs we will get to in a few minutes.
To set up a finger print go to - Settings - then General - then - Passcode & Fingerprint.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - GARY_FL_fdbk_touch
Hi Gary thanks for the call - BUTTT let me tell you one really good reason NOT to use one finger for all 5 finger prints. Yes - it gets your false negatives close to zero - but you know what it is pretty darn good already - but the reason not to use one finger 5 times has to do with iTunes purchases - if you go to purchase something - how do you know which of the five profiles it is picking - which means you only have a 20% chance of it thinking it is the correct finger print for iTunes. If you want to double or triple up on the finger you use most to unlock it - go for it - but don't do all five profiles for one finger. And only do one profile for the finger print you are going to user for iTunes store unlock.
Which I believe will be the first one listed in your list of finger prints. And which you need to turn on right from the same screen where you go to set up finger prints.
Some of the other features around Touch ID many do not seem to understand are there.
1. If you reboot your iOS device - you must enter you security code. You can not use touch ID after a re-boot.
2. If you have not unlocked your iPhone in the last 48 hours - you will need to use your passcode.
3. If you get successive failed finger print scans - you will need to use your passcode.
So Apple has put in place some good real world safe guards to help make touch ID even more secure - on top of its already great ease and speed of use for daily access when you are locking and unlocking all day long.
Apple did warn that excessively sweater fingers can/ will be an issue. So if you are out for a jog on a hot humid day and you can't get a dry finger print - you can still use the passcode to get access.
I bring all this up because - as quick as That someone showed how to hack Touch ID.
The Chaos Computer club in Germany showed how they could take a very high res photo of a finger print from a glass surface and then create a fake finger print that can unlock touch ID.
Some have reported this is an easy hack - IT IS NOT. This was done by one of the worlds foremost experts on this type of thing. Does this mean your ex or soon to be ex could not hire a professional to do the same thing - sadly no - they if they have the money could.
Here is the process involved.
Quote First, the residual fingerprint from the phone is either photographed or scanned with a flatbed scanner at 2400 dpi. Then the image is converted to black & white, inverted and mirrored. This image is then printed onto transparent sheet at 1200 dpi. To create the mold, the mask is then used to expose the fingerprint structure on photosensitive PC Board material. The PCB material is then developed, etched and cleaned. After this process, the mold is ready. A thin coat of graphite spray is applied to ensure an improved capacitive response. This also makes it easier to remove the fake fingerprint. Finally a thin film of white wood glue is smeared into the mold. After the glue cures the new fake fingerprint is ready for use. unquote
Yes - they are talking about acid etching PC Board material - this is not something anyone Joe would know how to do. Again a professional determined can do this. You average thief - NO.
Now getting a clean re-usable finger print is not quite as easy as some link bait and fan-droid sites may make it out to be. And if you really want it to be secure - just use your pinkies to unlock your iPhone. I mean go a head and pick up your iPhone and start using it - how many times does your pinky hit the screen - for me it is ZERO. NEVER NADA. But this is where you need to pick between convenience and hyper security.
I will say this - even though Touch ID has been shown it can be hacked - the probability of someone lifting a clean finger print off your iPhone and it being the correct finger and them being able to etch a copy and then unlock it with in 5 attempts - we are talking a really really low chance of this happening. The guys that showed this working - set up the glass to be clean except for the one pristine finger print they placed on the glass - this was an ideal set up. And even then - they had issues and had to update their method to get it to work. And they knew that the finger print they had would unlock the iPhone.
And with all this talk about Touch ID being hacked lets not forget the most important thing - Touch ID - while not 100% secure - is a lot lot lot better than what I had for security before - which was Nothing. And which over 50% of smartphone owners use - which is nothing.
A good analogy on this is - How many people lock their front door to their house? How about your back and side doors? Really Why? Anyone determined to get into your house - will get in. A locked door will not keep out a professional - but you lock your doors - because you feel it will keep some people out of your house. And Touch ID is like that. Only much more secure than your house.
Plus I am sure someone will come out with a screen film to place on your iPhone 5S screen that distorts finger prints such that you can not take photos of them to use in this spoof. And just make sure you use a case that is not good for Finger prints as well - some sort of cloth or course leather material.
At the end of the day - Apple has presented a simply - quick and accurate way to use your finger print to unlock your iPhone. It is not 100% full proof - but for most people it is more then enough security to keep their content safe and it is much much better than what people used before which is nothing.
I did have some asking if Apple could or why did Apple not put in double authentication. Both Finger print and passcode. At first I thought - yeah - that would make it secure so even if someone did create a spoofed finger print from a non-smudged miracle finger print. They would still need to put in a passcode. And here is where I had an issue with that. Now you need two keys to get in - the finger print AND the passcode - not OR - but AND - and AND can be an issue - IF your finger print is hot and sweaty and you try a few times and it fails 5 times - then what? or your finger get burned or injured and don't work - then what?
Seems then you need to have a third passcode that if your finger print fails - you need to enter it. And it just seems to start getting convoluted. I don't know maybe Apple goes with a finger print and then 4 digit pass code - and if your finger print does not work after 5 attempts you need to enter a longer 8 digit passcode and then the smaller 4 digit passcode - but what if you forget the longer code. Just starts to get away from being what it was meant to be - a featured tech you don't even think about using - it just works and the tech gets out of your way.
One last note on Touch ID - it does not just have to be your Finger print you use - it has been shown to unlock with Toes, A cats paw, a dogs paw, a Nipple and even a mans Penis. So if your really want to make it secure well use your Pinky finger print and leave these other gimmicks where they belong - on Youtube as videos showing how low you will go to push something against the touch ID sensor.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - JUSTIN_PA_FINGERPRINT_HACK
PLAY VOICE MAIL - JODI_fdbk_internal_specs
Rob,
Just one thing I noticed upon installing IOS 7 on my iPad 4th gen. The weather app is now there. Never was before.
It's more verbose than previous versions as well which may be a mixed blessing.
Kevin Barry
Hi Rob,
Regarding iOS 7:
Did the MAIL app lose the ability to parse search by search fields "From," "To," "Subject," and "All?", did I miss something?
Regards,
Brent
Chicago, IL
Yup - sure looks that way - now you can search in all mailboxes or just the current one. That seems to replace search by From or To or subject or All. Now it is just All and either in all mailboxes or just the current one.
Hi Rob,
In 283 you said that you had to swipe right to delete an email in ios 6 and left in ios 7. Actually, in ios 6 you could swipe left or right. For those of us who did it correctly in ios 6 (left), there is no change.
Regards,
Don,
Hi Don - thanks for the email - and Yes you are correct - amazingly over all the time I uses iOS 6 - I never swiped left to delete - it was always swipe to the right.
Hi rob, the iphone 5s has a gorgeous 4 inch retina display. Why do people think a bigger screen would be better if it makes the phone more cumbersome to use in your hand. I think apple has done a beautiful job with the new iphone 5s and will continue to innovate in the future. I do agree with the user who has problems reading in bed that a bigger screen would help but will apple make a bigger screen i don't know but if they do will it be over 5 inches probably not. As for me i am perfectly content with the 4 inch screen.
Per the user who had problems with reading in bed they should try making the font bolder or bigger.
Also apple will only change the screen size if it will enhance the users experience. If they think that a 4.3 inch display will benefit me then i am willing to try it.
Regards,
Nathan
Yup - that is how I feel - right now I can get my thumb any where on the screen in one handed operation. Any bigger or much bigger and it becomes something you need two hands for - and that is what in my mind the iPad mini is for. But I will say moving up from the 4S to the 5S - that extra amount of screen size did make a bigger difference positively then I thought it would. Again for me the current size of the 5S seems perfect for one hand use.
Hi Rob,
What does the crescent moon on the status bar mean under iOS 7?
Regards,
Steven in Houston.
Hi Steven - it means you had Do Not Disturb turned on.
Shhhhh
Hi Rob,
I've been using iOS 7 for about a week now, and overall I really like it, but there are a few things that I'm missing, and I'm hoping they're hidden somewhere.
First I really liked the "speak" feature. When you selected text, one of the options that used to come up, next to the "cut", "copy" and "paste" features, was a "speak" feature that read out loud what was selected. I really liked this, but I can't find it now.
The other is that I can't seem to add attachments to emails. Am I crazy? This was something you used to be able to do right?
Another thing I can't figure out is the background update for apps, how do I turn this off on cellular? I don't want to use up my data, so I dis-allowed App Store using cellular data at all, but now I can't search for or download any apps if I'm not in wifi. Is there a better way to do this?
Thanks,
Jessi
Hi Jessi,
I am still seeing the speak option in iOS 7 - I see it in the email App, Safari and the notes app.
Where are you not seeing it?
Per Attachments - no - you could from an open document - email it out - but you could not select attachments to add to an email
Per turning off cellular data for app downloads.
Settings --> iTunes & App store --> Scroll to bottom turn off - Use Cellular Data
Hey Rob,
I have a question for those of us that use iOS devices in a corporate environment. What Ports are used in iTunes Radio? We are using iPads in our work environment, but the devices have gone off and accepted the download and our users went ahead and accepted the update. Now we have hundreds of users whom are now discovering and starting to stream iTunes Radio. I'd like to just get this blocked at the firewall for company issued devices.
Hi Francisco - I will through that one out to the audience - any IT people that can help - 206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
hey rob
My favorite new feature in iOS 7 is in the Mail app.
I have 3 different exchange accounts and I've just discovered that you can enable an "unread" folder which just displays all of your unread email regardless of email account.
this saves me a huge amount of time as I don't need to scroll and scroll and scroll to locate the unread emails buried beneath thousands of read ones.
to enable:
start mail
make sure you are in the mailbox view (not emails)
tap edit in the top left
tap to place a tick next to unread
tap done in the top left
that's it!
you can also untick options that you might not use (I never used VIP or flags) and rearrange the order of your mailboxes here.
Regards,
dEx
Nice Tip Dex - I actually just set my Wifes up for that option - and she likes it. Much easier than scrolling through looking for any un-reads you might have missed.
Hi Rob,
All the whining about Apple's lack of innovation is making me think the audience needs to be educated some more... I think this is how innovation works at Apple.
How do people do with our phones?
1. They take a lot of pictures. Innovation: Better camera sensor, true tone flash, image stabilization.
2. They lose their phones a lot. Innovation: Disable find my iPhone to restore + TouchID.
3. They actually use our phones. Innovation: Longer battery life.
4. They listen to music a lot. Innovation: iTunes radio and TouchID for easy buying.
5. They play games and other intensive applications: 64-bit, 2x faster than prior iPhone, M7 motion co-processor
That is innovation that is completely centered around what users do with their iPhones!
I do agree that a bigger screen would be nice primarily for reading but other than that it is clear Apple is in the forefront of useful innovation rather than feature creep.
One for the 30pin car charger and FM transmitter (iTrip) that I have for my car that has no aux/USB/30pin for iPhone music.
And another for use with a 6-feet USB/30pin cable I use to charge my phone on my nightstand.
I would not recommend the Lightning AV adapter as the initial reviews for it have been pretty bad due to the use of on cable processing that degrades the quality of the videos from your iPhone.
Thanks.
James Ang
Palo Alto, California
Hi Rob,
I was interested in the cable you mentioned on ep 283 and went to the website and clicked on the link but landed on a "Page not Found" page. Thought you'd want to know.
Regards,
Stephanie F
Henderson, NV
Hi Steph the company pulled the product from their site right after I released the episode. I contacted them about this and here is what they said.
Quote Hi Rob,
First, thank you for including CrossLink in your podcast. I regret to inform you that as of right now we have pulled the product from our website due to some compatibility concerns with the new iOS 7 update. There was an error that would automatically prompt when connected to the phone, so we are working to resolve the issue. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Regards,
Mara
unquote.
If and when they get this back up I will let you know - as I was planning on buying a couple for myself as well.
One question I saw of Google Plus was how do you decline a call in iOS 7 from the lock screen. As now in iOS 7 from the lock screen the option to decline is no longer showing - it does show if you iPhone is unlocked and you are using it. But not when locked.
Well you have two options - one is to hit the Power button twice at the top of the phone - that works as a decline.
Or you can tap on Remind me option - then select 1 hour. DO NOT repeat DO NOT select remind you when you leave or when you get home. Those too options turn on location services and drain your battery. Just select remind in 1 hour.
Ok so maybe iOS 7.0.2 did not fix all bugs - There is another one that was found in iOS 7.0.2 and it is one that gives access to your phone.
He has provided the following instructions on how to reproduce the bug:
1. Make a phone call (with Siri / Voice Control).
2. Click the FaceTime button.
3. When the FaceTime App appears, click the Sleep button.
4. Unlock the iPhone.
5. Answer and End the FaceTime call at the other end.
6. Wait a few seconds.
7. Done. You are now in the phone app.
Thanks again to our sponsor Audible for supporting this show - please visit Audible podcast dot com slash T i i for your free audio book download.
Also to Squaretrade for your iPhone warranty - just $94 for a two year warranty - you save $30 by going to square trade dot com slash t i i
And finally thanks to Candy Crush for sponsoring this show - on your iPhone go to - todayinios dot com slash candy
If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you get the most out of the show and it helps support the show at the same time - plus it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search for Tii in the iTunes app store. And I will do my best to send out a push if I get any info of importance on launch day.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired.
Next episode will likely be mid week of the October 7th - probably around the 9th or 10th. I will be at LA Podfest this coming weekend October 4th to 6th - which is in LA - If you are going please say hi at the event. It should be good event - if you are in the LA area and were not planning on going - and really like Comedy podcasts - you should look into it - go to lapodfest dot com for more info - some of the biggest comedy podcasters will be doing live shows at the event. And well I will be there - not doing comedy - but rather talking tech and business with regards to podcasting. lapodfest dot com for more info see some of you in LA. The rest I will talk to you again somewhere around October 9th or 10th. Maybe earlier if Apple has any breaking news before then.
And that folks is going to do it for us today. Well actually not really - After the outro and music - stick around for some additional Listener feedback. No comments from me - but please send in your comments about their comments.
The pic above is from the Apple store in Leawood KS.
9:00 AM CT
I have my Space Grey 5s 64 gb iPhone. It was not my first or second choice - but it was my third.
Based on the feed back below - that seems to be many peoples feelings - at least the ones of us lucky enough to get an iPhone 5S today. Right now based on the initial feedback it seems today's launch went very very poorly. You don't want people waiting in line for 3, 4, 10 or more hours walking away with out their first choice.
Leawood KS - Apple Store - No Gold 5S, Limited stock of Silver 5S and none at 64 GB, No Sprint iPhones.
Orlando - AT&T - Only Space Grey 5S
Glendale WI - Apple Store - No Gold 5S
Springfield MO - AT&T - only Space Grey 5S 64GB
Minneapolis MN - Apple Store - Only Space Grey 5S
Palisades Mall NY - Apple Store - Only Space Grey 5S - 16/32 GB only
Clifton NJ - AT&T - Only Space Grey 5S
Paris France - Bouygues Telecom - Only Space Grey 5S
Michigan - Apple Store - No Verizon 5S - just 2 Gold 5S over all
Saddle Creek - Apple Store - Only Space Grey 5S
3:53 AM CT
Reports from thos that ordered on line were 1. There was no pick up option - so you need to be in line if you want to get an iPhone 5S today. and 2. Those that their orders did not go through until 30 minutes or more after orders started are reporting October 10th delivery dates.
2:00 AM CT
I arived in line at 1:30 AM - I was 26th in line.
Apple employees already warned the line there will be very limited stock of the iPhone 5S - especially the Gold version.
With the forthcoming release of the iPhone 5S in gold I thought it would be appropriate for Tii to have a gold version as well. So I snagged your photo with a screenshot from your Tii web page and touched it up a bit using DrawCast. I then added the Tii Solid Gold text using DoodleBuddy. Finally, I turned it gold using PhotoSketch.
Thanks Thomas - and they are not talking every feature - but they talking about many features from these categories - Maps, Siri, Dictation, iTunes Store and App Store. look for the link in the show notes titled - Apple - iOS 7 Feature Availability for countries - some features are available for all - others - like Siri - Movie Showtimes are just available in Canada, the UK and the US. But if you are outside the US, Canada and the UK - which seem to be getting all or almost all features - you may to take a look at that page.
Ok - First thing - Per updating to iOS 7 I recommend to Wait a week. Wait until my episode next week to hear how it is going. Don't be the first to do it. When there are issues with an update - they usually happen in the first couple of days. Ok - that all said - I know most will not listen - so lets go over how to update.
If you are a jail breaker - you can not upgrade right from the Jailbreak - or usually you can not - so you will need to remove the jailbreak first and then update. You will want to move around some apps - especially if you have 5 icons in the dock or in rows. Get them back to 4 columns.
With regards to updating to iOS 7 - make sure you update iTunes to 11.1 if you are doing the update via your computer - Check your updates for this - yes you need to update to iTunes 11.1 - or at least you did for the GM made avail to devs last week if you want to upgrade from a computer - it is also likely you will be able to update right from the app.
Also Before you update to iOS 7 - I recommend the following steps to get your iOS device ready to update to iOS 7.
Step 1 - back up your iOS device to your computer and your computer to some other device and or service. Or back up your iOS device to iCloud.
Step 2 - would be Force quit out of every open app.
Step 3 - Go to Settings App - Then General - Then Reset - Then Reset Network settings.
This will do a full reboot of your iOS device.
Once it comes back on - go to Wifi - and reselect your wifi hot spot - and re-enter the password if needed.
Step 4 - Do the update to iOS 7.
When you do an update like this - with all apps shut down - maybe it is just my imagination - but it really does seem like updates go better.
Ok - at this point you are updated to iOS 7 - and you can start checking out some of the new features / changes.
And speaking of Changes to iOS 7 - here are some you need to know of.
1. I just mentioned force quitting apps - in iOS 7 it is done differently - You still double tap on the home button - but now you will see a preview of the open app above the icon for that app - you simply flick the app towards the top of the screen - and that will force quit the app.
2. Search on your iOS 7 device is different. Now to get to the search screen i.e. Spotlight - you can do it from any home screen by pulling down on that screen from about a half inch from the top. This will then give you the search bar.
3. Deleting emails - Previously in the mail app - you swiped to the right. In iOS 7 - you swipe to the left and then you can choose trash to delete or more. And more includes the option to move that email to a folder, reply, forward, flag, mark as read, and move to junk. Swiping to the left - See who said Apple was could not innovate anymore.
4. Taking photos - In iOS 6 and earlier - when you tapped on the shutter icon - it did not take the photo until you lifted your finger off the icon. Now in iOS 7 - your can tap and hold and it will take multiple pictures for as long as you hold down. This is not burst mode - unless you have the iPhone 5S - for all other iOS devices - you can tap and hold and get multiple photos at about one a second or about 11 to 12 in 10 seconds. Definitely not burst mode as some reported. Now mind you that is with an iPhone 4. With my 4S running iOS 6.1.2 - I was able to snap 21 pictures in 10 secs on average. 2 a sec is not bad - but not the 10 a sec you get with the 5S and real burst mode. Will be interesting to see what performance the 4S gets when I eventually update it to iOS 7.
5. in iOS 7 there is the option in the settings App - and then Cellular - to turn on and off the use of cellular data. so now you can see all your apps requesting cellular data so you can now turn off any you don't feel need to be communicating via the web. This is a really nice new feature for those with metered plans - as it shows you how much cellular data each app is using up - and gives you the chance to turn off any cellular data hogs.
6. Another nice new feature in iOS 7 - has to do with mail. You can now mark all messages in an inbox as read. In the mail app tap onto the email account - and in the inbox tap the edit button in the upper right corner. Then at the bottom right tap the mark all button - you get a pop up where you can then choose either Flag or Mark as read or cancel. Sadly this does not work for searching for a bunch of emails and marking them all read. Oh well.
7. for accessibility - in the Physical & Motor section - there is a new sub-section called switch control. One thing you can do with this new option is set up your iPhone where it cycles through the different buttons or icons on your screen
- and you can then tap anywhere on the screen to select or open that icon that was selected - this is a nice add for anyone having limited motor ability. On New iOS devices - iPhone 5 and new iPad and iPad mini - you are also getting the option to control selecting an icon or button by turning your head left or right. So it tracks your heads movement. You can even have it where turning you head one way is like tapping the home button and turning the other way is selecting an iCon or button. You can also now assign Switch Control to a triple home button push.
8. Activation Lock - which is one of the key reasons to update to iOS 7 - it is activated automatically when Find My iPhone is enabled. Which it is turned on under iCloud in the Settings app. Activation Lock requires you to enter your Apple ID and password to turn off Find My iPhone, or sign out of iCloud, or to erase the device, or to reactivate the device after an erase.
These 8 features are some of the key new features I felt are going to be used by most. There are many other new features - Please let me know which new features I did not mention you are using the most. 206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com
And again - just because you can update right away to iOS 7 - does not mean you should - let the Apple servers deal with all the stress from everyone else - and give it a week or two before you update. The only exception to that would be if you live somewhere where Apple picking / stealing is wide spread - in that case update early and get the new security features turned on. And as an FYI - by the time you hear this iOS 7 should be available to most of the world.
Hi Rob,
Listeners might like this for iOS 7 Wallpapers and Ringtones. Yes they can get on the 18th. But many like me won't update till the iOS 7 Jailbreak.
Regards,
Chris in london
Thanks Chris - he is talking about there being both new Wallpapers and ringtones / alarm tones in iOS 7. Which there are now some new default tones. Such as for the following
Ringtone is now this -
Text Tone is now this -
Calendar Alerts and Reminder Alerts - which are both now this -
So those are some of the new tones you will be hearing as defaults in iOS 7 - which you know is what most of us will leave them at.
Ok - Apples special buddies got their iPhones early and they have had their embargos lifted - so they can now give their reviews. This is the normal group of reviewers. Like last year I will give the last comments from their posts plus one or two other comments - and this way you don't have to spend to much time or any time reading their reviews. The ones I have are - uncle Walt at Allthings D and the WSJ, David No She is just a friend Pogue from the NY Times, Engadget Myriam Thankfully I don't work for Gizmodo Joire, Ed Baig from USA today, Jim Flavor savor Dalrymple from the Loop. And in that order we go.
Uncle Walt closed with the following:
Quote Overall, however, the new iPhone 5s is a delight. Its hardware and software make it the best smartphone on the market. Unquote. A couple of key points from his review - 1. Touch ID works and it works really well - it is not a gimmick. 2. Pictures we slightly sharper then on the iPhone 5 and low-light pictures were much less washed out by the flash. 3. His one disappointment was not with the iPhone 5S hardware - but with iOS 7 and that Apple still is not allowing 3rd party keyboards - read swype to be installed. And that is a definite legit complaint - and not one I can remotely defend or would want to for that mater.
Next up is Davide Pogue from the NY Times. He ended his article with quote Apple still believes in superb design and tremendous polish. The iPhone is no longer the only smartphone that will keep you delighted for the length of your two-year contract — but it’s still among the few that will unquote
Some other key points from his article: 1. Low light pictures are much better on the 5S vs the 5. And the new flash really works as advertised. Flash pictures look quote much much better unquote. 2. Touch ID is really convenient and works every time. Haters to this can quote go jump off a pier unquote. 3. Downside is that the New update is basically evolutionary not revolutionary - but I think at this point anyone looking for Revolutionary changes in the iPhone line this year or really probably any year going forward will be greatly disappointed.
Next is the review from Myriam Joire at Engadget. The last thing from the review which was the most in-depth was quote The 5s is a solid effort from Apple, but its true worth is yet to be determined. If developers come up with clever ways of using the 64-bit support, iOS 7 and M7 coprocessor to their advantage, the 5s has the potential of being the best off-year flagship phone the company has made. If not, a lot of people might just wait it out another year. unquote
Some of the key points from this very long review - which really was as long as all the other combined - are 1. The most underrated improvement is the Improvement to LTE. There are now 4 different SKU each designed for a different regions and operators. The SKU - A1453 supports an amazing 13 LTE bands in addition to other wireless standards like DC-HSPA, quad-band GSM / Edge and even quad-bad CDMA / EVDO rev A/B. And they point out this phone could technically work on all four major US LTE networks. Sadly this version in the US will only be sold locked on Sprint. The unlocked version in the US will be the A1533 - which is also the one you will get at AT&T. And it too will also work on all LTE networks for the 4 major carriers in the US. The A1457 is focused on Europe and the A1530 is meant for Asia. If you are buying an unlocked iPhone 5S or 5C - do your homework. 2. Per the finger print scanner - It was not perfect - when their fingers were sweaty it did not work - but you can still get access in that case by entering your passcode. So basically it is fingerprint for you for quick access or passcode when fingerprints are not working - sweaty or dirty fingers. It will also work with toes - as they said that was a fun fact. But there are users of smartphones that lost the use of their hands - and for them - they can also get the use of the touch ID scanner. One downside there was not an option to require both a fingerprint and a passcode. My guess - iOS 7.1 that will be added - as I wondered about that as well. I mean one reason to be on the iOS platform is because you have security concerns - given all the security and malware issues on Android - and if you are really interested in security it makes sense those people would want double security.
3. They did testing that indicated on board RAM is still at just 1GB for the 5S. Again this one was the most detailed of the reviews - look for the one titled - Engadget iPhone 5S review.
Next up is Eddy Baig from USA Today. His final thoughts in the review were quote I can strongly recommend either new iPhone but especially the 5s. But with iOS 7 dressing up your current device, you may not have to upgrade right away. unquote
Some of the key points in Edwards post are - 1. He was a little disappointed Apple stuck with the 4 inch display. Ummm was he really thinking it was going to be anything else - Earth to Edwardo - Hello Edwardo - time to come back down. 2. Many of the new features on the camera side have been available on the Android side - but the True Tone flash is unique. And while he got some great photos with the flash - it does take a little longer to take the photos while waiting for the phone to figure out the correct settings for the flash based on the surrounding light.
3. Ed stats Touch ID is not a gimmick - but rather something very useful for unlocking your iPhone. Seems to be a common theme among the reviewers - seems they were all looking at it as being a gimmick or remember the gimmick of a finger print scanner on the Moto Artrix of yesteryear.
And finally Jim Dalrymples review of the iPhone 5S where he ends it with quote The iPhone 5s is a brilliant phone with some great new features that help you in work and play. The fingerprint sensor, camera, and improved speed and architecture, make the 5s my favorite iPhone to date. unquote
Some other key points. 1. Again with Touch ID - Jim went into the review of the unit wondering if it would be good enough to actually make it useful and the answer after testing it is quote unequivocally yes unquote. So 5 for 5 on the finger print scanner. Jim even mentioned the finger print scanner is very very quick - much quicker then typing in a passcode. Although Jim and a couple of other reviewers did mention one downside - and that is you get so used to using Touch ID to unlock your phone - when using any other phone - you instinctively touch the home button to unlock it - and then get that whannnt whannnt waaa moment when you realize those other devices don't work that way. Not a bad thing for the 5S - just means if you use multiple device - it will get a little frustrating with the other devices.
Jim Also did a review of the iPhone 5C - so if you are one of THOSE people thinking about the 5C - you may want to look for his review of it in the show notes for Ep 283 over at today in iOS dot com.
Ok so while I glossed over some of those reviews to get to the heart of their reviews - I want to now talk about the new iPhone 5S in a little more detail and see how this ranks as an upgrade vs past upgrades.
First here are the things that are new / updated with the 5S. The biggie - the A7 - 64 Bit Processor. We do not know yet the amount of Ram in the device - the iPhone 5 had 1GB - so we know it is at leasts that much. There is 120 fps - slo-mo video recording, Video out is still at 1080p. Battery life goes from 8 hrs of talk time to 10 hrs - a nice 25% jump. The iPhone 5S is available on NTT Docomo - as a major new carrier. The Camera went from 8MP to 8MP - but the pixels at 1.5 microns - which is 15% larger than past pixels. The Flash is another major upgrade with the True Tone flash - from one of the worst flashes to the best.
The Camera for Photos gets Auto Image Stabiliziation. There is also Burst mode - where you can take 10 photos a sec - vs the 2 per sec of the 4S. For Video recording there is now 3X zoom, There is improved Video stabilization. Another big addition is the Touch ID finger print scanner. There is the M7 Motion Processor and finally there is improved LTA to support many many more bands.
In all the 5S is a major update - when you grade it as I have in the past to the other updates. Actually I did a scale of 1, 2 or 3 for minor, mid and major additions or updates. For example the A7 64 Bit processor gets a +3 - but Improved video stabilization just a +1, and Burst Mode a +2. Using this scoring method - in the past the iPhone 4 received a score of +30, The 4S a score of +29, the 5 just a score of +25, and the new iPhone 5S - has a score of +29. And that is with out knowing about the RAM upgrade or anything else iFixit finds when they tear one apart. If you have the Tii app - check the extras - Hopefully I remembered to add in the image as a PDF for this episode.
So again this is a major over all update when you look at all the new features and compare it to past updates. Last year - I said the iPhone 5 was not as big an update as the 4S was and if you had a 4S no reason to upgrade and it was even questionable if you had an iPhone 4. But this year I am saying - if you still have the 4S or iPhone 4 or earlier - then yes - you definitely want to upgrade. Per upgrading from an iPhone 5 to 5S - that really comes down to one question - how big of a photog are you? As much of the new updates / features revolve around the Camera. So based on what I have read and seen with regards to the iPhone 5S - I would say anyone with an iPhone 4S or earlier should upgrade - and anyone with an iPhone 5 - that is really into photos or shooting video - should also upgrade. Remember - if you do upgrade from an iPhone 5 - you will likely have to pay full price - but then make sure you get your old iPhone 5 carrier unlocked so that you can sell it for a nice price and likely make up much of the unsubsidized price.
I would love to hear back from you on your experience with the new iPhone 5S and 5C - let me know which version you got - 5S 64 GB Gold or 5C Pink 16 GB or anything in between. Let me know the carrier you are on - and if you do a speed test - what type of data speeds you are getting - that was one thing not mentioned in any of the reviews. Please give your opinions - do you have buyers remorse or are you tickled Pink - or Gold or Space Grey. 206 -666- 6364 - that's 206-moon-dog. or record and send in your feed back to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
I do want to point out I am not overly happy with Apples choice for Storage options for the 5S.
What I think Apple should have done - was the 5C - $99 - 32 GB of storage. Just one option.
Then offer the 5S - 32 / 64 / 128 GB of storage for $199 / 299 / 399
To me that would have made more sense - with an s at the beginning - but I am guessing it was about saving Cents with a C at the beginning that caused Appel to go with their current offering. Oh well - It will not stop be from Getting the iPhone 5S - 64 GB version and I am guessing Apple knew it would not stop most going with the offerings they did go with. Maybe next year they will go to the higher storage - when they add 4K video recording. Ok - probably need to drop that wish until at least Jan - or not.
I want to thank today's sponsor which is Audible. If you go to audible podcast dot com forward slash t i i - you can get a free audio book of your choosing.
Audible is the internets leading provider of audio books - with over 150,000 titles to choose from. So no matter what your tastes - Audible has some Audio goodness for your ears.
And if you go to the url audiblepodcast.com/tii - you can get a free audio book download to keep even if you cancel the service and pay nothing. This episode I have a listener recommendation.
Hi Rob.
Last week I recommended the Destiny of the Doctor series in honor of the 50th anniversary of the show
This week I recommend Billy Crystal's "Still Foolin' Em". The audio book available thru Audible has many chapters recorded "live" as Billy Crystal read parts of the book at one of his shows. The audience reaction adds to the pleasure of listening to the book.
Regards,
Jim C
Thanks Jim.
I also have a couple of recommendations - Both of which relate to Apple - First is Inside Apple how America's most admired and secretive company really works. It is almost 7 hours - The other one is Digital Wars - Apple, google, Microsoft and the battle for the internet. That one runs a little over 11 hours. But hey if none of those are your thing - no worries - Audible has you covered - with over 150,000 titles and every genre covered and if you wanted to get one of the stories mentioned or you could do so on us by going to audible podcast dot com / tii - thats audible podcast dot com / T i i to sign up for the Audible service and to get your free audio book download - offer good to just those in the US and Canada. Thanks Audible for sponsoring the show. And folks - please send in any audible book recommendations you have.
Did the people putting down the new Iphones watch the same presentation that I did ?????
Hmmmm let's see .......
5[S]
-Revamp operating system
-64 bit
-Advanced camera w/advanced flash
-Finger Print Scanner!!
-twice the speed
-new colors
Can't wait to upgrade from 4S
-and-
5[C]; wait until you touch it. When ipad mini was announced I said big deal, until I picked it up, and now I own and love it. Thanks for listening.
Regards,
Dave O
Ok - Lets get back to talking about the new iPhones and availability - and first up Warning Warning - looks like the 5S may be in short supply for the near future - this according to Anal-ist - Peter Misek - oh wait never mind - As that is Speculative Fiction Writer Peter Misek - who is about as accurate Michael Dell when it comes to all things Apple. Seems he is saying the iPhone 5S is having issues with the home button and will be greatly limited on the supply side - again - Don't you believe it. Misek - should just shorten his last name to Mis - as that really explains how he does on rumors and speculation. However Brian White - now at Cantor Fitzgerald - speculates the iPhone 5S will be in short supply because Apple did not choose to allow it to be pre-ordered.
Because you know when you are supply constrained - the last thing you would want is an orderly way to let customers order early and distribute the product just to locations that need the devices. Much better if you are capacity constrained to just send out products to stores willy nilly and hope you matched up your limited inventory with locations that have the most demand.
Ok - and I should add - since that report broke - there have been others saying Apple will be severely limited in supply. One source told all things D - iPhone 5S inventory on Friday will be grotesquely low. With All-things-D suggesting you will have to work for it if you want one on Friday.
Others are suggesting because of so many different versions - there are 4 different SKU's based on LTE and other Cellular standards, Each of those has 3 different colors and each color has 3 different storage options. Over all that means there are now 36 different versions of the 5S - and for the 5C - there are 5 colors and 2 storage options for a total of 40 different versions. Ok in the US that means there are half that amount - 18 and 20 versions for the 5S and 5C respectively that need to be at which ever store you are looking to buy from. And if said store is not an Apple store - you are likely not going to get your exact option. Even at the Apple store - how many of each version they stock is clearly unknown. But when local Verizon stores opened last year for the iPhone 5 launch - typical inventory was about 50 units per store. That does not bode well for a launch of two phones with 38 different varieties among them. Yup if you are near an Apple store that is the place to go to wait in line - everywhere else it will be a crap shoot to see if they have the specific version you are looking for.
Into the email bag.
Hey Rob,
Found out two tidbits of information. First, target will not carry the 64 gig version of the iPhone 5S. Secondly, the apple store has a limit on the number of iPhones each guest can purchase on launch day, However that limit is two per guest. So, if you have a spouse that needs to be at work while you stand in line at the Apple store, you can both still get iPhones on launch day.
Bonus tidbit: If you are looking to purchase a 16 gig or 32 gig iPhone 5S, target is taking preorders.
Hope that helps someone. Have a great day!
Regards,
David M
Thanks David. So folks if you are the type that must get the exact option you want - you have one of two choices for this Friday - Order on line starting at 12:01 AM PT - or get in line at an Apple store and get in line Early Friday morning - as the Apple stores will be opening at 8:00 AM local time to start selling in the US.
As mentioned on the last show initially the iPhone 5S and 5C will be available in the
US, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore and the UK!
In Japan that does include NTT DocoMo
While I don't really believe anything Peter Misek says - even closing your eyes and throwing a dart at a dart board will result in a hit every so often. Plus my guess is if there is a supply constraint - it is likely over the A7 64 Bit Processor and not the finger print scanner. But that is a guess. Really depends on if the manufacturer of the A7 is Samsung or TSMC - if it is the later - which it seems likely it is - that would mean some sort of learning curve / yield issues from their new 20 nm production and for handling an iPhone launch.
Some other indications that there may be an inventory issue for the 5S at least - is that the iPhone 5S stocked out in its pre-order really quickly - almost instantly. The only version left after the initial pre-order was the 16 GB Space Grey version. And it sounds like that may have sold out a few hours after pre-orders started.
So again - it may be hard to get an iPhone 5S early on.
Last week Apple had pre-orders for the iPhone 5C starting at 12:01 AM PT on the 13th and You know what would suck worse then having to stay up to 12:01 AM PT to pre-order the iPhone 5C if you are on the east coast - Well it would be Staying up to 12:01 AM PT on Friday the 13th to order the 5S and not realizing it was not going to available to order until Friday the 20th. Doooohhh. Seems that happened to a few people. So yeah - if you were one that stayed up last week on the 13th - well you needed to pay better attention to what I say on the show. Any way - Friday the 20th at 12:01 AM PT - is when the iPhone 5S will go on sale on line. And it also sounds like that is the time on-line orders for Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-mobile will also take place.
By the way if you are going to upgrade your iPhone and wait in line - make sure you back up our iPhone prior to leaving to go to the iPhone store. This way if you want to use that back up to get your new iPhone set up - it is really easy.
Interestingly - Walmart is already discounting the 5C and 5S a little - guess they are trying to get in some foot traffic - Walmart is offering the 16 gig 5C at $79 - a $20 discount. And will sell the 16 gig 5S for $189 - a $10 discount - if you get a two year contract that is. No pre-ordering of the 5S. Need to go to the store on the 20th to get at that price.
And if you want to take $100 off your new iPhone in the US - you can get it at Sprint - You save the $100 - if you are a new customer to Sprint. So you must be moving a number over to them for that discount. Check your local Sprint store for additional details.
I know a lot of people in the past and currently are asking which is the right carrier for them. And that is a subjective answer based on where your live and if your travel. If you are looking for the cheapest offerings - T-Mobile would be the lowest cost - Then Sprint - followed by both AT&T and Verizon. For example the two year cost for the 5S 16 GB at T-mobile is $649 for the phone upfront and $50 a month - or a total of $1,849. For Sprint it is $199 for the phone upfront and $70 a month = $1,879 - now if you move to Sprint - take $100 off - and then they move into first place. For AT&T and Verizon - it is $199 upfront and $80 a month for a total of $2,119 for two years. There are some other details for each - so that is a big picture look for close to the same type offerings. But at the end of the day - you should look at which carrier works best where you spend your most time. And if you travel - where you typically travel to. All over the US - then Verizon is the best answer. But specific cities - then it gets more muted.
Hi Rob
Thanks for your very informative show. I'm an avid listener. I wonder
if you have any insight into whether the 5S with Verizon will be able
to do talk and data at the same time. With the 5 I was somewhat
disappointed when I switched to Verizon and found you couldn't
multitask on LTE. I understand it is just a matter of adding an extra
chip. Do you think Apple has done that this go around?
Thanks
Mitch
Winston-Salem
Ah - that other data point when figuring out where to get your iPhone - and to answer your question - Nope - not on Verizon or Sprint. AT&T will still of course support Talk and Data as will T-mobile So keep that in mind when picking a carrier.
Ok - so lets go over a few tips to help make sure you can get your iPhone 5S on the 20th. IF you are going to the store - make sure you have your ID with you - does not hurt to also bring your current phone bill.
If you are buying on line at 12:01 AM PT - be online before that. Don't panic if things start to slow down on-line - especially if you are online and start trying to order right at 12:01 AM PT. Of course have all your account info - your payment info and your last 4 of the social security number for the person who the account is for on hand.
And the best way to order on line - at least according to Apple is via the Apple store app on an iOS device. Make sure you have you Apple store ID and password entered into the App. And make sure you shipping address is entered and your pick up address as well.
Have the app ready to go well in advance of 12:01 AM PT.
Note it may be possible to order on line at 12:01 AM PT for a pickup at the local Apple Store - I have read conflicting stories about if Apple would allow this or if all Online store sales are for shipping only. My suggestion - is to check out that option if you are waiting on line. In the past people that ordered on line the night before - got a different and shorter line the next morning at the app store.
If you are going to wait on line - bring a chair and depending where you live a blanket and make sure your current phone is charged up and ready to go. Expect to be in line for many hours.
If you think you will show up at 7:30 AM and get in and get out - you are going to be sadly mistaken. If you need to be at work at 9:00 AM - well first it sucks to be you on Friday - and two you better be on line or on the way there oh about now. If now is late Thursday evening. Point is Apple did not do pre-orders for the 5S - and that is different than past years - and some may have forgotten what the lines can be like.
So if you want to make sure you get the version you want and have it in your hands on Friday - then getting in line at an Apple store early - pre- 3:00 AM is going to be paramount - and again - make sure you check out the online ordering process to see if you can order on line for pick up. Nice to know when you are waiting in line your phone is ready for you at that store at 8:00 AM when the doors open.
Hi Rob,
I have now watched the Apple keynote of the September 10th announcement of the iPhone 5c and 5s and listened to your post announcement podcast. My initial impressions are "Bravo Apple." Once again, Apple is bringing forward a new phone, the 5S, with significantly better performance and significantly improved technology. As for me, the faster speed and the improved camera on the iPhone 5S are what I look forward to most. The enhanced security features are a bonus. I have a 4S that I have been completely satisfied with for the past two years, but I will be among the first in line for the new 5S.
I really do not understand the grumbling from some of your audience. As for me, I want Apple to keep the phone small. I want to do everything with one hand or by talking. The day that I need two hands to operate a phone is the day that I find another manufacturer. I say, keep it small and keep it fast.
America's bankruptcy courts are replete with companies that could not decide what they wanted to be and tried to be everything to everyone. From my perspective, the Apple leadership knows exactly what they want Apple to be and are staying true to their vision, designing and building cutting edge devices that make life better and are a delight to use.
Thanks to Chris in London for the heads up on this next one - which is something you will want to look into if you are upgrading from an iPhone 4S or earlier to a 5C or 5S. And plan to keep your old device. It is a USB Sync cable that on one end is the standard USB connector you plug into your computer or charger. And on the other end a not so normal connector that has three connections - On one side the the old 30 pin dock connector. on another side if the new Lightening connector and the last side is the micro USB connector. And it is just $18 - and it comes in a bunch of different colors. Look for the link in the show notes titled - The Last USB Sync Cable You May Ever Need - And yes they do say it will sync and charge any iOS device be it 30 pin or lightening - so it is not just for charging.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Bruce_answr_photo
Hey Rob,
Just listening to the latest episode and there's a caller named Ed that did the Apple trade-in and got a new iPhone 5 for his wife. I know you may have already thought of this and he as well, but if he's within 30 days since today is after September 10 he may be able still to return that iPhone and get his wife the new iPhone at no cost as well. Just a thought.
Regards,
Joe J
Hi Rob,
Five fingerprints can be stored on the device to unlock the iPhone but only one can be associated with your iTunes account so your kids will be able to unlock your phone, but will be prevented from buying apps, videos and music, which could save you from some very expensive bills. Your fingerprint data is only stored on your phone and it isn't sent over the internet or stored on Apple's servers, which should help keep prying eyes away from it and your data secure.
Regards,
Carson F in England
Hi Rob,
I'm currently on iOS 7 beta 6, do I have to downgrade to iOS 6 when the gold master is released next week?
Regards,
Craig S
Nope - You should be able to upgrade to the GM - but you may have to do it from your computer and not over the air.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - JONATHAN_ANSWER_ADAPTERS
PLAY VOICEMAIL - JOE_CA_ANSWR_ADAPTERS
PLAY VOICEMAIL - TRACY_ANSWR_ADAPTER
PLAY VOICEMAIL - ED_CHI_LIGHTENING
PLAY VOICEMAIL - TIM_BROWN_GETTING_5S
Hi Rob,
One of your listeners said Apple did not allow changing of dates and times on photos.
That isn't the case.
I had trouble with some pictures being out if sync due to slight differences in the time settings of the phones.
I changed the time settings using Aperture but you can do it with iPhoto too.
Please see attached link for method. This does a time shift for any set of pictures you choose to slot them where they belong.
You can look at the proper set of pictures and figure out the time shift necessary.
Essentially it is doing a batch change to the pictures. Then when you do a re-sort by date the pics should align properly.
It does take some effort but less than designing a presentation or iMovie.
Here may be the answer to presenting photos in the order you want.. For last weeks listener.
Chris in london
And what Chris is talking about is an article at TUAW about an app called PhotoPresenter - one word. And it helps get your iOS photos on to your Apple TV. And it does allow for you to put the photos up there in any order. Again that is PhotoPresenter - one word and it is $0.99 in the app store.
Rob,
First off forgive me because I love the show and I'm pointing this out in a good natured ribbing way.
Im listening to episode 268. 20:10 into the episode you mention a rumor about a certain home button that you laughingly dismiss. Not really worth a how wrong were they but a bit humorous none the less.
- Scott o.
Merritt island, FL
Hi Scott - thanks for pointing that out - Yup - missed that one. Here is what I said on that episode
quote From the way out in left field category comes the rumor on the next gen iPhones home button. Seems some sources in Taiwan were talking to Technews website - and they said the next iPhone could come with a Sapphire crystal capacitive touch home button that would incorporate a new fingerprint sensor. Ummm Yeah. unquote
Well guess next time http://technews.tw gives us a rumor from the supply chain - we need to take it a wee bit more seriously.
An Apple TV refresh may be coming some time today - the 18th - so you will want to check your Apple TV for any updates. It is possible and likely by the time you hear this the update is available and ready to install.
quote By NextWorth's count, the iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy S 2—the two premiere phones you'd be replacing in this two-year contract cycle on Android or iOS—are separated by a wide margin. The 4S retains more than a third of its original MSRP ($197 as of 8/29), while the S2 is down at 13 percent of its original value, which is well ahead of all other Android handsets from that generation. Meanwhile, you could have sold your old iPhone 5 for a healthy 36 percent of its initial value, as opposed to just 26 percent for the Galaxy S3. These are expensive products, which means those are big gaps, and again, the Samsung phones are the clear leaders of the non-iPhone pack. Everyone else fares much worse. The HTC One, a basically brand new and awesome phone according to all the Android fan bois, It only gets you $104 right now. unquote
Ouch that HTC One off contract is a $700 phone.
Yes one thing the Android Fan bois never want to talk about is resale value - because well I guess it just hurts too much for them to talk about it.
Here is another interesting bunch of stats. Android 4.3 - was released at the end of July. 5 weeks later - the total % of Android devices running Android 4.3 - was according to Google - less than 0.1%. Less than 0.1% - Sorry had to say that twice - not for effect - ok for effect. Still that is an amazingly low number. To put that in perspective. On Wednesday June 12th - already - 0.22% of iPhones were running iOS 7 Beta 1 according to Chitika's data. Which is really impressive when you think of how many devices that works out to. Which is about 450,000 iOS devices running the Beta in just 48 hours. So 5 weeks is less than 0.1% for a released Android OS - the latest and greatest. And 48 hours for a beta - on the iOS side gets you 0.22%. 48 hours from when this episode goes up - there will be well over 22% and probably well over 33% penetration of iOS 7. And in 5 weeks that number will be pushing north of 66%.
Resale value and access to the latest and greatest version of the OS right away - are two big draws for me as an iOS user.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Tom_fdbk_security
Hello Rob,
I noticed that within the past week the battery life of my iPhone 3GS (running 6.1.3) was severely degraded.
I also noticed the Location Services arrow appearing in the upper right corner when I hadn't used any apps that had access to Location Services.
This arrow would immediately reappear even after I closed all apps, did a complete shutdown and restart.
By going back into Settings-->Privacy-->Location Services, I was able to trace the problem to the new release of the Flickr app (v.2.20.1134) which just came out Aug 29th.
Apparently the app turns on location services IMMEDIATELY - even when the app has not been launched or used yet - which in my case was causing quite a bit of battery loss.
By turning location services OFF only for the Flickr app my phone's battery performance has returned to normal.
I have reported this as a bug to the Flickr folks
but I also thought you and the rest of the TII community might like to check this out if you are a Flickr-using iPhoneographer with a battery performance problem.
regards,
Jeff
Springfield IL
Hi Rob,
You mentioned on the last show that over 50% of smart phones sales between 3.5inch-4inch screen belongs to Apple. While this stat may be true, in my opinion it's not really saying much as most top tier competitor phones are mostly over 4 inches.
Maybe you're content with a 4 inch screen, I'm not. I want the screen to be wider as well as a little bit longer but mainly widen some more than what it currently is on the iPhone 5.
You can't deny that the Samsung galaxy S4 screen isn't a nice screen size for any football related activities this season :)
For you to say if we want something on our screens to appear bigger to simply hold the phone closer to our faces is exact reminiscent of Steve telling us we were holding our iPhone 4's wrong back in 2010. That's crazy talk!
Most of the people I come across with all want bigger screens, Rob. All of em. Even Donald Trump ;)
Regards,
•Gino
Bronx NY
P.S it isn't any innovation to increase a screen size, I agree with you 100% with that statement.
Hi Gino,
What I said was in the US - over 50% of all sales of Smartphones in the last 6 months to 4 main carriers - were iPhones and that means that over 50% were 3.5" or 4".
So again over 50% of ALL smartphone sales in the US on the 4 major carriers were 4" or smaller.
For watching video - The screen size of 4" vs 5" is 100% irrelevant - It is like saying a 1080p HD TV at 60" is looks bigger than a 42" 1080p HD TV - while giving no reference to where you are sitting.
When it comes to watching video - it really is all about how close you are holding the device. But a Galaxy S4 3 feet away will seem much smaller than an iPhone 4 1.5 feet away.
And no ALL of em do not want bigger screens. Again most people in the US at least are buying a 4" or smaller screen.
I will agree that some % of those buying the 4" screen - are doing so only because that is all Apple is making available - and do actually want a bigger screen size. It will be interesting to see what happens next year if Apple does release a larger screen - what % of buyers will go big and what % will stay with the current size. I would have to believe Apple has done market surveys on this and has some feel for that answer.
Hi Rob,
People who are complaining about the iPhone 5S's apparent lack of innovation are missing the point rather completely.
First, there are two major types of smart phone consumer: those who only want the functions we now consider to be standard: a phone with a browser, camera, calendar, maps and music player - and those who are interested in the varied functionality available with apps (like me - I have 350 of them).
The iPhone 5S - like the 4S - shows that Apple sees their future wedded to the app market (and since they are getting 30% of the app revenue, that sounds pretty smart). The new technology in the 5S - the 64-bit A7 and the motion coprocessor show that Apple is thinking forward to 2016 at the very least. This is the technology that will enable another quantum jump in both app capability and user experience. The problem is that, as with the 4S, that jump in technology is hidden from the casual user, and much of its promise won't be seen for another year or two.
That being said, I see a lot of people with Androids who are only looking at them for their standard features, and the larger screen is a very big selling point with them, particularly for photos and video. Even if the images aren't as good, they look much more impressive on a big screen. Of course the size of the phone starts to become a problem, which is why I see more women with big screen phones than men, since they can keep them in their purses.
I want a bigger screened iPhone, both for photos and for better web browsing; the trouble is that I don't want a bigger phone. But it seems to me that there is still a lot of wasted space on the front of an iPhone - and I would be more than willing to accept a phone that is 1/4" wider. Some smart engineering to make a full-face screen and an additional 1/4" would make the iPhone 6 an obvious leap forward in the eyes of all smart phone consumers.
Regards,
John K
Hi Rob,
I have a jailbroken Verizon iPhone 5 32gb that I got on launch day last year. I have AppleCare+, and I'd like to upgrade to the 5s, though I am not yet up for a subsidized phone through my carrier. My iphone has many dings on the chamfers, and a small chip in the screen- I don't use a case.
My initial plan was to use my AppleCare and trade in for a brand new 5 (which would have a better resale value because of the condition) and sell that to finance the upgrade. Now that the 5 is discontinued I wonder if I wait for a little while before I turn in my phone if Apple might run out of the 5 and agree to replace it with a 5s outright, or perhaps with a little extra cash.
The problem with waiting to turn in my phone is that after next Wednesday the new phone will come with iOS 7 and I won't be able to jailbreak it- which will lower the value on the resale market.
What do you think I should do to get the most money out of my 5? Do you know how apple has handled AppleCare replacements with discontinued phones in the past (I'm thinking of the 3GS)?
How much do you think jailbreaking adds to the value of an iPhone?
Thanks!
Michael from Seattle
Hi Michael - I believe there is a deductible from Apple Care. See how much that is - what will your out of pocket be for that? Then realize that if you get a new device it will not be able to be jailbroken - so that means you need to figure out the difference in price for a brand new iPhone 5 minus your deductible if any vs a chipped iPhone 5 which is jailbroken. Take a look on Ebay to see what they are going for in both situations.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - JODI_FEEDBACK_LACK_OF
PLAY VOICEMAIL - JODI_Part2_lack_of
PLAY VOICEMAIL - KEVIN_ANDROID_FANBOIS
Hey!
I wanted to respond to a listener that had mentioned about a way to control how much time your child plays on their device.
There's and app called ParentKit and does just that!
Hi Bud thanks for the heads up on ParentKit. Link in the show notes for Ep 283.
If you want to hear some more talk about iOS and Apple - I interviewed Ken Ray from Mac OS Ken for Podcast411 - ep 227 - you can get that episode at podcast411 dot com - or by searching for podcast411 in iTunes or the podcasts app. That should be up on Thursday with any luck and gives you something extra to listen to when on Line waiting for your iPhone.
And as always if you are waiting on line somewhere - send me emails and reports from the lines. Let me know where you are waiting - when you got there and how many others in line at that time and roughly how many in line at 8:00 AM. And also let me know if you were able to get the version of iPhone you wanted and what that was. I love to play the reports from the lines on the show. Send that in via email or make a recording from line and email that in or of course call into the show - those are the best - 206-666-6364 - 206-moon-dog.
Thanks again to our sponsor Audible for supporting this show - please visit Audible podcast dot com slash T i i for your free audio book download.
If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you get the most out of the show and it helps support the show at the same time - plus it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search for Tii in the iTunes app store. And I will do my best to send out a push if I get any info of importance on launch day.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired.
And that folks is going to do it for us today. Well actually not really - After the outro and music - stick around for a bunch of Listener feedback. No comments from me - but please send in your comments about their comments.
Before we get into the coverage of September 10th event - I want to go over the new news since the last episode - which is not much since it was just on the 7th for the last episode - and I want to go over some listener feedback - not with regards to the Sep 10th event - and then we will get into all that Apple announced and did not announce and follow that with feedback about the Sep 10th event. And for new listeners - I want to welcome you to the show and invite you to contribute some feedback - 206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog - or you can record and send in your feedback to today in iOS at gmail dot com - you can also send in text email questions - but then you know you are making me work by having to read your email and usually mispronounce the name of the town your are from. But really however you want to send in feedback - it is all greatly appreciated - just that you know voicemail message are slightly more appreciated.
Per the news thanks to Tash for the heads up on this first item.
Which is about Apple iOS App that need updating - as in the iLife app - iPhone, iMovie and Garageband - If you use any of these on your iOS device you will want to upgrade. Actually I would recommend you keep up on your updates as there will be many many different apps updating - now that iOS 7 is right around the corner. From now and until iOS 7 comes out - I would suggest once a day when you are on wifi - to check for updates and perform said updates.
And that leads us to what to do when iOS 7 is released. First - make sure you back up your iOS device to your computer or iCloud. If backed up to your computer - also back up your computer. If you are on a mac - fire up time machine and do a back up. Never hurts to be overly safe on these things.
Ok - Assuming your have backed up your iOS device to your computer and your computer to some other device and or service.
Now you can get your iOS device ready for to update.
Step 2 - would be Force quit out of every open app.
Step 3 - Go to Settings App - Then General - Then Reset - Then Reset Network settings.
This will do a full reboot of your iOS device.
Once it comes back on - go to Wifi - and reselect your wifi hot spot - and re-enter the password if needed.
Step 4 - Do the update.
When you do an update like this - will all apps shut down - maybe it is just my imagination - but it really does seem like updates go better. I know in the past when others had issues - I did not.
So again follow those steps before updating to iOS 7.
Next episode we will talk a little more about iOS 7 - and go over those steps again.
Please note if you are jailbroken and want to keep the jailbreak - do not upgrade or try to upgrade to iOS 7. You will need to wait.
Here is a piece that likely slipped under a lot of radars - It is about a new App for iOS released by Microsoft - it is the Xbox Music app. This is a paid music subscription service similar to Spotify. So for those of you that were hoping Apple would release a spotify clone - but instead got iTunes Radio - and just don't like the lack of specific song control - and don't want to go with Spotify - now you can shows Xbox Music. One downside for Xbox Music vs Spotify - is there is no offline mode for Xbox Music - like there is with Spotify. That is for no at least as it seems that feature will be added in the future according to MS.
PLAY VOICE MAIL - Answer_slide_show_computer
PLAY VOICE MAIL - Chris_Answe_Photos_specifi_order
Hi Rob,
On Ep 281, a caller asked how to avoid tolls in Apple Maps. Apple Maps does tell you when a route has tolls, but does not always provide alternatives without tolls, and neither does Google Maps.
Waze does. For instance, I live next to the end of a bridge across the San Francisco Bay, and when I select a location on the other side and my home and tap "Routes", it shows me two short routes going over the bridge, clearly marked "TOLL", and an alternate route going 50 miles around the Bay, in case I have more gas than cash.
I probably don't need to remind you that Waze is free and a very popular app, with 4 1/2 stars and over 4000 reviews in the app store, and which has been providing turn-by-turn directions longer than Apple or Google
Regards,
John H
PLAY VOICE MAIL - Answer_Time_lapse_photos
Hi Rob,
A caller on your latest podcast mentioned the speaker on her iPhone 4S had died. I too have a 4S and about a month ago my speaker started sounding distorted and them quit. About a week later it began to play again (quiet and distorted) for a few hours then quit again. I took it to a local repair shop and they fixed the issue, and said that they haven't ever really seen the speaker die on one before. Just wanted to let her know she isn't the only person to have this issue. Thank you for the great show!!!
Corey
PLAY VOICE MAIL - SPEAKER_ISSUES_iPhone4S
Hi Rob,
Just a quick follow up to my original email. I received my replacement phone from Verizon 2 days after I called them, I'm assuming it is a refurbished device but that's ok, it's absolutely beautiful. A quick backup of my old phone to my iTunes account, and then approximately 35 minutes to send all the data to the new replacement phone, and everything works perfect. Having replaced 3 different phones when I was on the Android platform several years ago literally had me feeling anxious about doing it with my iPhone, however, It could not have gone smoother.
Regards,
Shannon H in Fountain Hills.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Ed_apple_Trade_in_iPhone5
Hi Rob,
The listener asking about hardrives in ep 0281.
He wants something like a Western Digital My Book Live.
It runs from a LAN port in your router. All files can be seen on every pc/iOS device on that router via LAN or WiFi.
Also all the files can be accessed remotely via cellular/wifi from the iOS app.
I have the 3TB version and I can stream movies/play mp3/view photos anywhere in the world on my iOS devices providing I have a Internet connection.
The advantage of the LAN set up for the hardrive is that it works independently from your pc so the pc doesn't have to be turned on to access the hardrive compared to a USB hardrive.
Brilliant piece of kit and highly recommended.
Regards,
Ryu, Sheffield, England
Hello Rob,
I wanted your opinion maybe you could answer it in your next podcast or an email Leo is not recommending people download the new iOS 7 with an iPhone 4 or 4S he stated the processor may not be able to handle it do you think there will be a problem with downloading it on an iPhone 4 or 4 S ?
Regards Steve
Hi Steve,
I have been running iOS 7 on an iPhone 4 and it works fine for me.
Not sure what or why Leo is saying that. But then if you watched the Twit.tv coverage of the iPhone event you probably realized rather quickly Leo is not really up on the iPhone anymore. And what was the deal with having Scott Borne on there - talk about a worthless guest. He brought nothing to the coverage. Yes lets bring on someone that admits to not using an iPhone any more and is on Windows phone to talk about the new iPhone. So not only is Leo out of touch with the iPhone - so is one of the two guests he brought on. Hey no hate mail - I am not dogging Leo here - Scott Borne - Yup dogging him - it is just that Leo has moved to Android and his knowledge on iOS is not what it once was. That all said - back to your question.
Again for my iPhone 4 with iOS 7 Beta is working fine.
The only people I am recommend not upgrade are those needing to jailbreak. But from what I have hears and seen - And device officially supported for iOS 7 - should work fine - just make sure to do the upgrade steps I mentioned earlier in the show.
Thanks to Elsie for the heads up on this next one.
Which is a story about Find My iPhone that well shows the power of the apple eco-system very clearly. An iPhone user with a lot less common sense then most - Was at a store that he quickly ran into - back in the car was his 5 year old son. Who was soon joined by a car thief that made off with the car and the 5 year old in the back seat. Now obviously he will be hearing from his wife about this for well ever. And we can joke about this because also in his car was his iPhone. When the father realized what happened - he pulled out his iPad - because you know he thought enough to take that out of the car with him - but the kid - yeah who would want to steal him. Anyway on his iPad he pulled up find my iPhone and found and tracked his iPhone while calling police I am assuming on someone else's phone and letting them know real time where said car thief was with his car / phone and son. 15 Minutes later Police stopped the stollen vehicle and re-united the un-harmed child to the now Celebate Father. So once again the day is saved thanks to find my iPhone and the Apple Ecosystem.
Prior to the Sep 10th event lines started forming at the Apple store in NY - Are these die hard fans - nope these are just marketers - that know if you get in line early - crazy early - you get your 15 minutes of fame - even if it means camping out for over 20,000 minutes to get that 15 minutes of fame.
What they are hawking - who cares. More about line waiting later in the episode.
Best title I saw before the September 10th event was - quote What Hasn’t Leaked About the Next iPhone Is the Only Thing That Matters unquote.
What is it that we do not know about - what is it that was not leaked. It all comes down to What does Tim Cook say.
PLAY MUSIC..
So what did tim cook say - Well first off Apples September Event was held at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino. Tim Cook started by talking about the iTunes Festival event going on right now - which if you have Apple TV or an iOS device you can catch some nice music events.
Tim said that the free tickets of the Music events in London had 20 Million people requesting tickets and then joked it is like the demand on launch weekend for one of their devices.
Tim said that next month Apple will ship the 700 Millionth iOS Device.
Basically the First 15 to 20 minutes the normal recap of items - including another rehash of iOS 7 rather quickly.
The only thing of interest about iOS is when it will be available which is Sept 18th. So sometime on the 18th you should see iOS 7 available for download. This is for all the devices we previously said it would be available for - iPhone4 and latter, iPad 2 and later, iPod touch 5th gen, and iPad Mini
Tim came back and talked about was some of their premium apps. Keynote, iPhoto , iMovie, Pages, and Numbers - and that they will now all be free for all new iOS devices. So if you purchase a new iOS device any time after September 1st - you will be able to get those apps for free - more info on that in a future episode.
Tim then introduced the iPhone section - saying the iPhone 5 was being replaced by two new Designs. And they were killing off the iPhone 5.
Then Phil took the stage.
The iPhone 5C as expected was then announced - with 5 colors as expected. Blue, Yellow, Green, Pink and White.
Phil joked about the iPhone 5C and some photos we might have seen on the web.
Internal Steel-re-enforced inside - that also serves as the antennas. So it should in theory get good reception.
4" screen.
A6 Processor - same camera as the iPhone 5. So really the 5C is the iPhone 5 in plastic. And it has more LTE bands available then the iPhone 5. Or as Apple said quote More LTE Bands than any other smartphone in the World. unquote
Pricing for the 5C is $99 for 16GB
$199 for 32GB On contract.
No Off contract pricing given in the event - But $99 on Contract works out to $549 off contract pricing - which has been confirmed. and $649 off contract for the 32 gb version.
Yeah - no one is going to be saying the C in 5C stands for Cheap now. Costly - maybe - Cheap - nope.
Pre-order the 5C on Sep 13th - Delivery starts on the 20th.
The also have these $29 cases with all these holes in them for the 5C - don't get them unless you like dirt getting caught in your cases.
I have had a case sent to me in the past on the show I did not review that had lots of holes - and it was not something I talked about - because you know if you don't have something nice to say don't say anything. And I found it annoying all the dirt / lint getting in there.
12:34PM
Next to the iPhone 5S
Three Colors - Silver, Gold and Space Grey.
A7 Chip - 64 Bit. First 64 Bit chip for a smartphone - any smartphone. iOS 7 supports both 64 and 32 bit apps. With a native 64 bit kernel and libraries and drivers.
Up to 2X as fast as the A6. Not the 34% we heard rumored from Clayton Morris. Graphics 2X faster than iPhone 5 as well. And the CPU performance is 40x more powerful than the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G for that matter. On the graphics side performance has increased 56x since the original iPhone and 3G iPhone.
They showed a demo of infinity blade 3 and will be launched in the app store when the iPhone 5S hits the market.
The Phil intro'd a New Chip in the iPhone -The M7 - Motion chip or as they call it a Motion co-processor - Continuously measures motion data from the Accelerometer, gyroscope and Compass with out having to wake up the A7 processor.
On the Battery life front - 3G talk time = 10 hours - that is up from the 8 hours for the iPhone 5. That is a 25% increase.
Next was the New Camera.
A 15% larger active sensor area vs iPhone 5 and a Larger f/2.2 aperture.
And rather than try to get smaller pixels to get up the pixel count - they went with bigger pixels - which Apple says gets you a better picture - so this is still an 8 MP camera - it is just that the pixels are bigger in the sensors. Pixels are 1.5 micron - which is bigger than the iPhone 5 and bigger than competitors phones.
Lots of new behind the scenes features on the camera - including taking multiple photos when you snap a photo and then choosing the best one for you.
There is a new flash they are calling the True Tone Flash
Dual LED's that the camera looks at the surroundings and then adjusts the color of the flash to match that of the environment so the pictures look like what you were actually seeing. Apple says this is a the first time this has been done not just on a phone but on any camera.
They showed some examples - and lets just say - nokia can take that zombie commercial and retire it now. I have said before one of the biggest weaknesses of the iPhone cameras has been the flash - now Apple had made it one of its biggest strengths. Will be interesting to see how this works in the real world.
Auto Image Stabilization.
Burst mode - take ten photos in a short period of time - about 1 sec. This will be nice in football or other sport events for your kids.
And as mentioned in the past Slow Motion video. 120 fps Video at 720p. Forgot that rumor on the bingo card. ooopppss. Well this looks really good. And you can pick what part of the video you want to be slow mo.
The Third big feature on the iPhone 5S is Security - hence the S in the name.
Apple found about half of users do not set up a pass code on their device and Apple said they or I should say - we should set one up - as I am one that does not password protect my phone - except for when I travel.
As expected they introduced a fingerprint sensor in home button. Appel is calling it - "Touch ID"
Setting up is easy and you can use multiple fingerprints. And you can hit it in 360 degrees - so if you have your device in Landscape mode - it will read your finger print just as well if you are in portrait mode. So no worrying about matching up your finger in a specific orientation.
You can use your finger to unlock your device and also to do iTunes store purchases.
Per your biometric data -
"It's never available to other software." It's never uploaded to Apple's servers or backed up to iCloud."
Now I am not sure what Apples means by it is never available to other software - do they mean software other than Apples software - because they showed a person using their finger print to get make a purchase on iTunes.
They did say you don't actually press the home button to get it scanned - you just place your finger on the home button to scan. So Kids if you want to make an iTunes store purchase - wait until dad falls asleep on the coach watching football some weekend - and then gently place his finger on the home button and wahla - you just authorized a purchase.
Per cutting off peoples digits when you steal and iPhone - well you will need to cut off all of them - as you can use any finger your want.
Starts at 16 GB at $199, 32 GB at $299, 64 GB $399
Available Sept 20th. No Pre-Order for the 5S. Yes that means Apple wants you waiting in line.
Initially it will be available in
US, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore and the UK!
In Japan that does include NTT DocoMo
the iPhone 5C and 5S will be available in 100 Countries and over 270 Carriers by Dec 2013.
iPhone 4S stays in the line up - it will be the free offering for an on contract phone and will be an 8GB version.
The also had a new case for the 5S - which is a nice leather case. Multi colors - It will cost $39. It looks much nicer than the $29 cases for the 5C. The colors for the 5S case are Brown, Beige, Black, Yellow, Blue and Red.
Apple Did put up some specs on their site to help us out when comparing models.
On the Cellular and Wireless side. The 5C and 5S are identical. Same 3G and 4G specs. Same Wifi specs.
The also both have the same screen - which is the same as on the iPhone 5.
The iSight Camera for the 5S - is where you get separation between the 5S and 5C. The 5C basically has the same camera as the iPhone 5. Where as the 5S - has all the new bells and whistles mentioned earlier.
On the Video recording side - the 5S has the slo-mo video recording. It has the improved True Tone Flash you can use. It has what Apple is calling Improved Video stabilization.
And one item they did not mention in the presentation - 3X zoom on the Video Recording - FINALLY.
The FaceTime Camera - Is the same in the 5S and 5C which is the same as in the iPhone 5.
Ok so now that we now many of the specs and what was announced - how did we do on the Bingo card.
Well not nearly as good as I thought. Only one bingo. The ones that were on the card - the 5S, A7 Processor for the 5S, 5S same size as the 5 and the 5C - for that one bingo from upper left to lower right. Other ones on the sheet we had - Dual LED Flash for 5S, New iPhones Avil Sep 20th, Multi Color 5C's, Improved Low Light Photos for 5S. Improved LTE, Gold and Graphite 5S's - Well they are calling Graphite Silver. And the Finger Print Scanner for the 5S.
That means there were a bunch that did not happen. One interesting one - the iPhone 4, 4S and 5 Killed off. That one we had rumors of the 4 and 4S being killed off and then all three. But no rumors about the 4S staying active and the 4 and 5 being killed only. There was of course no 128 GB version announced - not yet. No new apple TV, No NFC - which surprised a bunch of people - Leo Laporte was not happy. The iWatch was not announced. Talk time was only 10 hrs for 3G - not the 12 Hrs being rumored. The 5C is costing significantly more than $400 off contract. at $549. The Rear camera was not a 12 MP camera on the 5S. Wifi 802.11 AC was not included - that's what I get for changing my mind on that one -should have stayed with my first decision and not included it on the sheet. China Mobile was not announced. And there was no talk about 4K Video recording or play back. Oh well I knew that was a long shot at best. The only one left unanswered is the amount of RAM - I am guessing it will be 2GB - since the A7 if a 64 GB chip. We shall see when iFix it gets ahold of one on the 20th.
Ok - now lets get into your feedback about the Apple event and what was launched.
I don't like to talk unfavorably about listeners calling into the show but Simply put that is Crazy talk. Saying you want Tim Cook out at Apple just completely relegates your argument to the level of a caller to coast to coast talking about alien abductions and illuminati conspiracies. Apple is the biggest tech company in the world - they make the lion share of Profits from Smartphones and even a bigger share of Profits from Tablets. The most important thing for Apple is their supply chain - and no Executive in the world has a better understanding of supply chain dynamics than Tim Cook - Yet Tim has to go? Why - because they did not build a phone with a bigger screen - A bigger screen is not - repeat not innovation - it is easier to build a device with a bigger screen. And if you want what you are looking at to look bigger - hold it closer to your face. And when you look in the US for the past 6 months - at the carriers with subsidies - what you find is well over 50% of smartphone sales went to iPhones - at 3.5" and 4" - seems many - if not most people are happy using their other hand for anything other than holding their smartphone. The facts Say something a lot different than what you suggest - and again calling for Tim Cooks head - well you to put it nicely is simply crazy talk.
Hi Rob, you've mentioned on previous shows that the rumor-mills spoil any surprises and leaves us feeling unimpressed. I see your point and have tried to look at this Sept 10th event and the iPhone 5S release with fairness. This is a very significant S-update for iPhone in many ways, and am impressed on many levels, especially with the camera/flash upgrade. Apple is still the clear leader in innovation, no doubt. But I was truly hoping for a real NFC/digital wallet solution that some rumor sites were suggesting. That is one frontier that I hope Apple conquers first (along with TV and wearables). Although I am now off contract and able to upgrade, I'll be staying with my 4S until a hopefully newly designed iPhone 6 with slightly bigger screen (and a digital wallet solution) is released in 12 months. For some reason I am not in love with the iPhone 5/5S hardware design. On what I will "buy" from today's event... iOS 7!
Paul from Bend, OR
Hi Rob,
As expected the crowd of people who scoured the web for info on the new iPhones over the last year leaving no stone unturned are now disappointed that there were no "surprises". The same thing happened to me when I snooped and found the wrapped Christmas presents in my moms closet at 6 years old.
The people saying that this isn't a big enough upgrade from the 5 should remember who this phone is marketed to : the iphone customers whose contracts are up for renewal! The iPhone 4S owners have themselves a very nice upgrade.
Love the show Rob
-Scott O.
Merritt island, Florida
Hi Rob
there is no pre order for the 5S I know you just sent out the push.
Regards,
Ken
Hi Ken and others that pointed that out - sorry about that I tried to follow up as quickly as possible that the 5S will not have pre-orders - via push. Part of the issue of following someone else's live blog - is they got it wrong. And I sent it with out fact checking.
Hi Rob,
I'm a little disappointed by today's announcement. Maybe its because I only saw the live blogs and not the actual presentation, but there wasn't much to get excited about. The 5C is basically the same iPhone 5 that I have but with a plastic back and slightly better battery. The best part of the 5C is that you can get it in 32 Gig instead of just 16 Gig so there is a reason to choose it over the 5S if you don't care about the faster speed and better camera.
The 5S is an incremental improvement but nothing that really stands out. I do like the better camera and flash but I'm not sure what to think about the fingerprint sensor. One thing that really jumps out at me is all of the cases that will need to be redesigned to even work with this phone. It will be difficult to design a waterproof case that can activate the fingerprint sensor so no more Lifeproof case. Maybe it will work since it is a capacitive sensor but it will take some redesign. Even the different shape of the flash means that many cases that fit the iPhone 5 won't fit the iPhone 5S, to say nothing about the 5C.
I'm apparently no the only one who thinks that way. Apple's stock took an initial nose dive but has recovered a little bit now.
Myron U
Hi Rob,
Now I see why no Live Event Feed watched some streaming UStream coverage. And now site restored watched the 5S Video.
Some nice features. The A7, M7, Touch ID explained. No NFC but use to make App purchases. Siri can do more. No more iPhone 5. Pricing seems fine. But we pay more in Europe. About half as much again on top
No sneak peaks. No one more thing. No Pro pricing… no iPad Mini news. Guess all thats coming for the October Event.
Overall, seems 5C the one they want to promote. 5S a stepping stone to iPhone 6
Rate 2 Stars out of 5. Not much of a Wow.
Regards,
Chris
Hey Rob,
So I have a question, If I got the iPhone 5 last year on the release date and signed a 2 year contract, will I be able to get the iPhone 5s this year with the 2 year contract discount on the release date. Please lemme know ASAP.
P.S this is what att sent me when I called the *639#
You are eligible for an upgrade with a partial discount off of the full retail price today. You may be eligible for an upgrade on 09/15/2014 or AT&T Next which lets you upgrade to a new device every year on 09/15/2014.
Regards,
Matt
Hi Matt,
If you want the discounted price - $199/ $299 / $399 - then you need to wait until 9/15/14
Right now you might get a little bit of a discount - but not much. Maybe $200 off. So Pricing is likely going to be
$449 / $549 / $649 For you.
Folks on AT&T if you want to check your status - call on your phone Star 639 Pound - and you will get back a text showing when you can upgrade with the full discount. Which for me was back in June.
Hi Rob,
I was really hoping they would at least come out with 128 GB version but it seems that what they came out with was incremental and not really worth upgrading.
Regards,
David V
Sent from my iPhone 4S
Hi Rob,
I love my apple products. I couldn't go back to the cheaper stuff even if I wanted to. With that said I find myself being envious of the things the cheap androids can do and of course their screen size. I often have to debate with friends and tell then why I think the iPhone is better. Sometimes I feel like johovas witness, trying to convince atheists why my way is better. Meanwhile looking at the awesome things they get to do in envy.
Why isn't our screen bigger yet? I know that sounds like a broken record. I know that's what all the android fans will point out when putting the iPhone down. However I am a hard core apple fan. I listen to podcasts about iPhones so you know it's true! I was truly hoping that this would be the year for a larger iPhone. The 5s looks nice. Love the fingerprint idea but I just feel we are getting ignored as consumers. They know we want the larger screen. I have seen online that they are filing patents for larger screens. Why wait till now? A larger iPhone with ios7 would be a galaxy killer.
I am excited for ios7.
Regards,
Rob stone
Hebron ky
A larger screen is very over rated - you want a bigger screen hold it closer. At least again in the US as mentioned - in the last 4 to 6 months - at carriers where phones are subsidized - the iPhones out sold all Android phones combined. And clearly kicked the Galaxy lines butt.
Hi Rob,
I really was hoping the 5c would be cheaper off contract. Will the price point be low enough to help sell phones in emerging markets, China, etc? That being said, it looks to be a solid offering. The 5s looks great as well. I like the camera update on this. No 1080p Slo-mo??
Will be getting this next April when my contract is up.
Regards,
- Dan
Dan - I am guessing there may be a third and cheaper phone in the works for BRIC nations - because the 5C is definitely not the answer for BRIC nations with regards to addressing the mid-tier price points. Which at $549 it does not do. Actually the 8GB 4S at $449 is still to high for the BRIC mid-teir price market. So maybe when/if Apple announces a deal China Mobile they will also introduce a lower cost version of the iPhone. But absolutely nothing changed with regards to addressing the BRIC nations with the Sep 10th announcements.
Hi Rob,
Just adding my two cents to the many emails you’ll probably be sifting through these next couple of days with the new iPhone release.
What strikes me most after checking out the 5c and 5s models is how when stepping back and considering the evolution of the iPhone line along with smartphones, the 4s still feels like the device that for its time in relation to the rest of the market upon its release was the most impactful. The iPhone 5, 5c and 5s have felt like a combination of incremental improvements, refinements and bug fixes to software and hardware. Whereas the 4s really had the air of a real breakthrough in specs compared to the for and its other peer phones. While not underwhelmed with todays’ new models per say, I can’t say that these new phones gave me that immediate impression of “wow” either. This could too be the new reality with so many leaks coming out than before where it’s impossible to keep any secrets under wraps.
Then again, maybe Apple does know how good the 4s was and is since they’re still going to manufacture it and kill off the 5 instead. Kind of odd considering that one would figure that they would prefer to get rid of all 30 pin connector devices.
So much for the 5c being a budget phone… I don’t know about others, but I’m sure not moved to drop $550.00 or $650.00 for a plastic casing device with cartoonish colors when the 4s will still be available at probably a pretty good price and more appropriate business oriented coloring. The tradeoff in specs isn’t that drastic either if you’re talking about a difference of $200.00 or $300.00 for an off contract 4s compared to a 5c if you don’t want to commit for two years.
All in all, today just felt like a weird iPhone day.
Regards,
Cris
Hi Rob,
I just watched the video of the sep 10th event and I am anxious to get my hands on the new gold 64GB model. I thought the improvements were mediocre like you predicted, but I'm due for a phone.
No mention of new iPad or Apple TV. Anxious to listen to your review later.
Laurie B
Hey Rob,
I was wondering what the new iphone fingerprint scanner means for most of the case makers out there like Lifeproof for example. do you think that will hurt their sales?
Regards,
~Bud VK
Yup.
Hey Rob,
I finally saw the keynote and I'm buying 2 64 gb slate iPhone 5s'! I've been ready for my upgrades since May and I was waiting for this moment.
I wonder how difficult they will be to order? Will the systems work this time? Especially with so many countries rolling out at once.
Also, 9/20 is my birthday!
Regards,
Kevin K
Metuchen, NJ
(Mee-touch-in)
Per the Pre-Order - Thanks to Thomas for checking from Last year - the Pre-Orders were available basically at 12:01 AM PT. So expect that to be the case again this year - if you plan on Pre-order the 5C or order the 5S - they likely will be available at 12:01 AM PT on the 13th and 20th respectively.
Hi Rob,
Why do you think Apple is not having a Pre-order option for the 5S
Regards,
Kevin
Hi Kevin - Plain and simple it looks like they are just trying to get you into an Apple store and get you to wait in line.
That is smart on their part. As I mentioned a few times recently - I was hoping Apple would release on the 13th with no pre-order so people had to wait in line again.
Last year Apple got slammed for the lines being to short. And the lines were short for one key reason - Apple made it way to easy to order on line.
The Negative reporting about short Lines at the Apple store was basically the start of the Apple stock decline. If you look back you will see the peak of Apple stock was right on Launch day last year or the Monday after. Then the negative press just started steam rolling saying Apple lost their mojo.
This year there will be lines a plenty at every Apple store. And lots of opportunities for local press to send a truck and camera crew to the Apple store to cover the launch. That is a lot of local and national press covering the iPhone launch with lots of long lines. That is what apple needs right now - a nice Perception boost. I know for sure I will be one of those in line waiting for my new iPhone 5S. Now to figure out if I want Gold / silver or What ever they are calling black.
For those that are looking to watch the video of the 5C / 5S announcements - look for the link in the show notes for Ep 282 at today in iOS - look for the one titled - Apple Events.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Review_Calculator_Spread
Quick request from listeners - that have an iPhone 5 and had upgraded from an earlier iPhone. What if any adapters have you purchased and found you use the most. Did you get USB to Lightening or Micro USB to Lightening or some other adapter. Give us a call - 206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog - or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com . Let new buyers of the 5S most of whom have not owned a lightning port device - let them / us know what adapters have you found were worth the money - and which never get used.
Hi Rob, I have an iPhone 5 and want to know if there's is an app that will change its notification behaviour based on my location.
By that I mean, to have notifications be more subtle when I'm at work and return to regular tones whenever I'm at home. Currently I simply use the on/off mute button.
If you or your audience know of a solution it would be of great help.
Thanx
@CarnivalVincy
Toronto. Canada.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Fred_quest_Cydia_spelling
Hi Rob,
I have an ongoing feud with a good friend who has a Samsung Galazy 3. I am a diehard Apple fan and all of my products are apple. After listening to her complaining about my tiny screen, I decided to do some research. As far as I can see, the Galaxy outshines the IPhone in every way except the drop test. You are the expert. Say it isn't so.
Regards,
Shawna W
Hi Shawna - Have them look at the features of the 5S - specifically the camera - which offers much better options than the S4. And now Finger print scanning. You friend will likely mention the big screen and the hands free swipe gestures. Well guess what the hands free swipe gestures are only needed because the darn thing is too bing to work with one hand - so if you have one hand occupied they realized you needed a way to set down your S4 and swipe over it. With the iPhone you don't need swipe above gestures - you can actually just use one hand to do everything. Look most of what Android fan boys and girls call innovation is nothing more than a bigger screen and gimmicks. And a bigger screen is not repeat not innovation. Getting a camera flash that sense the surroundings and then adjust the color of the flash to match - or adding a finger print scanner to the home button - that is innovation. What apple ads to the iPhones are features people want - not that they need because of other issues with the phone.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - KONA_ANSWE_HAWAII
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you get the most out of the show and it helps support the show at the same time - plus it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search for Tii in the iTunes app store.
Finally - Thanks again to our sponsor Audible for supporting this show - please visit Audible podcast dot com slash T i i for your free audio book download.
With the opening kickoff of the NFL season at hand, it seemed appropriate for Tii to have a helmet. So I used my iPad to snag a screenshot of the KC Chiefs helmet and used the free DrawCast app to remove the Chiefs logo. A quick swipe of my finger via the DoodleBuddy app to tag the helmet with Tii branding and Vella! Tii is ready to tee it up!
As expected and I think predicted way back in July on this show Apple sent out invites on Tuesday Sept 3rd to the next Apple event - which will be on Sept 10th - as also widely believed. So nothing shocking with the invite. I actually think it would have been much more shocking had it not happened when it did.
So we can now say it is official - Septembers special events torch has been firmly passed from the iPod line to the iPhone line. Well ok - it was passed last year - but still. now we can say it.
I know there is always special meaning behind the pictures in Apple's announcements. Many tech sites are saying their latest announcement resembles the default wallpaper in iOS 7, which will be released soon, and likely that same day.
Some say that it may be an indicator of the iPhone 5s being available in more than the standard two colors, or even the iPhone 5c being available at all.
One thing that nobody seems to have picked up on, though, is that to me the picture looks like that of a screen in landscape mode, but it has an aspect ratio that is wrong for the iPhone 5. The aspect ratio is the same as an iPad so could they be hinting at new models? Since the logo is in landscape mode, I thought about the MacBook Pro, but they aren't using that photo anywhere else for Mavericks.
Let the speculation begin, it will make sense on Tuesday.
Myron U
Hi Myron - I think the message is write in the text.
"This should brighten everyone's day."
As in a brighter flash for pictures.
Or maybe it means their is a new screen that is more readable in bright sunlight.
And if you look closely at the image and the bubbles what about the "S" you can draw between the bubbles to the right of the Apple logo - clearly that means something too? Right?
Hey and why are there only two Green, two yellow, two red, two dark blue and two orange circles - but there are 4 White, 4 purple and 4 light blue ones and why is there just one Violet and one Lime Green circles - what does that mean?
And well Thanks John for the heads up on this next one.
Which is about a silver ring around the home button of the 5S - which hey don't a few of those bubbles on the invite look like that. Actually Yes - Yes they do - and 4 of them to be precise - so there are exactly 4 circles in the invite that look like the silver ring being rumored for the 5S - and there are rumored to be 4 iPhone 5S's - Black, White, Gold and Gun Metal Gray. Interesting coincidence - or an Apple easter egg in the invite. I am thinking easter egg.
And lets not miss that if you flip the image - the white bubble on the left - which would then be on the right - clearly is a C - as in iPhone 5C.
Hey Folks - I would have had this episode out a couple of days ago - if I had not gotten so caught up looking for the hidden meanings in the invite.
But you know what at the end of the day there is only one thing we can say for sure - On Tuesday at 10:00 AM PT - Apple will hold an event - that will most likely validate many rumors we are confident about and kill off any from Digitimes.
I Just listened to the show in the car on the way to work.
I hope you are wrong with regard to /ac in the new iPhone. My hopes are pinned on the fact that the 2013 Airs have it as well as Apple’s new router. Still, I suspect it depends on whether chips exist that can do all the different wifi standards and take up no more room. I don’t know if that’s yet true or not. I have an Asus router that supports a/c purchased back in December and I’d like to use it fully.
Keep up the great work. Counting down the days till I can relegate my 4s to backup and travel phone.
Kevin
You know what Kevin - you convinced me to add in Wifi 802.11 AC to the Bingo card. I know I said no - But you know what I think I was wrong to say no. So it is on the bingo card - which I put out on Sept 5th - go to Today in iOS dot com to see the bingo card for the Sept 2013 rumors. And per past requests - I list them all in text at the bottom of the post - so they are voice over friendly.
But here are the ones I think are most likely slam dunks to be announced on Tuesday.
A 5S, An A7 processor for the 5S, 5S same size as the 5, A 5C. That gets us bingo from top left to bottom right.
Then from Bottom left to top Right. A finger Print Scanner for 5S, a 12 MB read camera for 5s - may even be 13 MP. NFC for 5S and a 128 GB version for 5S.
Then
Dual LEC Flash 5S, Multi color 5C's, Gold and Graphite 5S's and China Mobile added as a carrier.
Next group that is not a slam dunk but likely.
Improved low light photos - 5S, 12 hr 3G talk time for 5S, 2GB RAM 5S and Improved LTE 5S - actually for 5C to on that last one.
Plus New iPhones avail on Sept 20th and a New Apple TV announced.
Then the ones that fall in the 50/50 region.
iPhone 4, 4S & 5 all killed off, 5C costs <$400, and Wifi 802.11.AC.
And then the outliers I would be happy to see - but don't think they are likely.
iWatch announced, 4k Video Recording for 5S, and 4K Video out for 5S. Granted those last two were only on there because they are my rumors and not that anyone else has said them. So again I would be happy - actually very happy to see them - but considering no one else is predicting it - I think I might be a little out in front of the curve on those.
I think in the past 2 bingos on the card was the most we had - I think this year we have a legit chance for 3 or more.
Which kind of leads us into this next article titled - Why there won't be any surprises at next weeks iPhone event over at Mac Life dot com. Which basically is about how the rumor mill has gotten to the point where we are no longer surprised at Apple events. And well that means for those of us following apple for years and apple events in particular - those days of the one more thing or big surprise - well they are over. The Big reveal at Apple events is no more. It is almost like watching a movie that ends and leaves you asking that's it as you shake your head and walk towards the exit sign. You know like Promethus or Sucker Punch or the Abyss. So it is likely after Tuesdays event those looking to be surprised - wanting to be surprised - needing to be surprised - will be well anything but surprised and that will lead to some PED - Post Event Depression - which will be followed by Blog posts about how Apple has lost the magic.
So I say don't go into the event looking for any surprises - go into the event looking for confirmation on the details we think we know and how apples plans to integrate and use those new features.
That said - for the next episode - I would like to get your feedback. The next episode I am going to get out late in the evening of September 10th real late. But in time for the east coast drive time. What I would like is your thoughts from the event.
I will of course give my color and look for feedback on inter webs. But I really want your feedback for that episode. 206-666-6364 - thats 206-moon-dog or email it to today in iOS at gmail dot com - and please let me know if you plan to purchase anything announced on Tuesday.
One thing that is a little different this time around - is that Apple has confirmed it will be holding stand alone press conferences in China, Tokyo and Berlin shortly after the San Fran event. These are supposed to be video replay's for the earlier events. And it is rumored that the China and Tokyo events will be used to talk locally about the launch of the iPhone on China Mobile and NTT DoCoMo - which are the largest carriers in China and Japan respectively. So it is possible in one day Apple will add 2 of the biggest carriers in the world that do not yet have the iPhone. With China Mobile also being the biggest in the world period.
If true - this should help the iPhone with regards to Globally market share. We shall see.
The Long rumored Apple Trade in Program has finally kicked off. And well it is not all that exciting. This is at US retail stores and it is their Reuse and recycling program. Which is where you bring in your old iPhone and Apple gives you credit towards a new iPhone. To get credit you have to show said old iPhone still works by powering it on. How much you will get will depend on which version of the iPhone you have. To find out - bring your iPhone to Apple and see what they will give you. Then if you accept that amount - you will get credit towards another iPhone - that you can purchase as long as you get it on a carrier plan before leaving the store.
As you might expect - Gazelle and others like them will be offering more - as they need to compete. So if you want top dollar - get a prices from Gazelle and Next worth - first and then go to Apple and see what they offer. Or better yet sell it on Craigslist after you get the Apple quote - again meet at the parking lot of your local police station for your own safety - if you go the craigslist route.
And if you do decide to go through Apple - remember you will want to wait until after the new iPhone is launched before doing this - because anyone buying an iPhone 5 right now - yeah - what are you doing listening to this show? Just Sayin.
Now while it may sound like I am down playing Apples buy back program - that is one because I never sell my old iPhones - they are like family to me. And two - If I did - I would sell it on my own. That said - I would guess the majority of Apple owners - fall in the category - where they want Apple to do it all for them. And feel much more comfortable giving up a few bucks for the ease of going to an Apple store plus the trust of going to an Apple store with their old device and walking out right then with their new device. So I do think over all this program will be successful - it is just not something I would recommend to anyone trying to get the most out of their iOS device - especially if you have more time than money. I am going to guess quite a few iPhone 4S owners will be taking advantage of this offering.
Thanks to John M for this next one - which is a link to a chart about what happens to iPhone prices offered from Gazelle 30 days prior to an apple announcement an 30 day post the Apple Announcement.
Interestingly - the iPhone 4S - had a much better resell value than the iPhone 4. And also better than the iPhone 5. well at least where they predicted for the iphone5. But the lesson learned - is back in August when I said if you wanted to sell your old iPhone then was the time - well - then was the time and if you did not do it then - you better do it prior to the event on Tuesday - as after the event the values drop a bunch. If you looked at 30 days before and 30 days after the event - the iPhone 4S dropped about $90 in value, and the iPhone 4 dropped about $120 dollars.
I want to thank today's sponsor which is Audible. If you go to audible podcast dot com forward slash tii - you can get a free audio book of your choosing.
Audible is the internets leading provider of audio books - with over 150,000 titles to choose from. Wow - 150,000 titles - when I did my first ad for audible back in early 2007 - Audible had 35,000 titles to choose from if memory serves. Today they have over 150,000 titles. Sweet. So no matter what your tastes - Audible has some Audio goodness for your ears.
And if you go to the url audiblepodcast.com/tii - you can get a free audio book download to keep even if you cancel the service and pay nothing. And the book I am going to recommend this week is the book Kenobi Star Wars - It is over 13 hours of unabridged audio gold. If Star wars is not your thing - well shame on you - but Maybe Star Trek is - and if so then there is Star Trek Spock vs Q narrated by Leonard Nimoy and John De Lancie. This one is just 54 minutes - but come on look at who is narrating it. Either one could be your free audio book download. Or you can choose from over 90 different Star Trek titles, and over 130 Star Wars Titles, and he why not look at the over 290 Doctor Who titles.
If you like Sci-Fi or really any other genre - Audible has you covered - and if you wanted to get Kenobi Star Wars or any other story - well you could do so on us by going to audible podcast dot com / tii - thats audible podcast dot com / T i i for your free audio book download - offer good to just those in the US and Canada. Thanks Audible for sponsoring the show. And folks - please send in any audible book recommendations you have. And as they say May the Force be long and prosper.
19:39.156
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Answr_iclean_JB
Rob, regarding the question you got about using the iPad mini as a phone: I do this via theTalkatone App. I set up a Google Voice account and then tied it to my Talkatone App. I went into the in-App purchase portion of the Talkatone and purchased a premium account for $20 a year. It allows me to make calls just as with my regular iPhone. It works great!
Regards
Sterling
Hi Rob:
Although I do make an occasional call with my iPad mini using talkatone, I did use my iPod Touch for 2 years like a wifi iPhone. It worked out great for me. I actually wish I had stuck with that arrangement instead of getting an iPhone 5. My best arrangement was to subscribe to Skype for $3/mo for making calls. For text messages I used Pinger for free texting. Pinger gives you a phone number for free. You can receive calls for free with your Pinger number. I seriously considered a iPad mini as a phone. After experiencing my iPad mini for the last 6 months I definitely liked using and the feel of an iPod Touch for phone calls. I do the majority of my testing with family and friends using my iPad mini as oppose to the iPhone.
Regards,
Jim N
East Lansing
Hi Rob,
To help answer the caller on ep. 280 about using an iPad mini as a cell phone. I plan to do the same thing once my iPhone 5 contract is up. I plan to use the app Talkatone with Google voice for voice service. It will do voice and text, but texting isn't as fluid as iMessage.
I use the Google voice app for texting. I've been using this app long before iMessage was available to save money on a texting plan.
One of the downsides that I can think of is that you'll need to use some type of headset. Either wired or Bluetooth.
As for use at the gym, I would recommend a "bombproof" case with Bluetooth headset.
Moving over to an iPad mini or iPad maxi with cellular, could save you money each month. I currently pay $68 for 450 minutes of voice and unlimited data (I have grandfathered data) and pay as I use text. But with iMessage, my non iMessage text at most is 10 a month.
For the iPad data plan through AT&T, it's $30 for 3GB of data and $10 for each GB after. So in theory, you could cut your cellular phone bill in half by using the iPad maxi or iPad mini with cellular.
I like the Talkatone app. It's free to use with ads and it only supports the use of one google voice number. The in app purchase $1.99 for 1 month, $10.99 for 6 months and $19.99 annually removes the ads and allows multiple Google voice accounts.
Regards,,
Tim
Sacramento, CA
PLAY VOICE MAIL - Dan_Answr_slipstick
Rob,
Thoughts on guys with birthdays wrong date. Seems long ago issue with either his computer or device having the wrong date or time. Either in settings or from actual location or time. I seem to remember the issue with Location settings. Perhaps the solution is going to say Google Maps and having search his location. Whereby it will now set his time and location correctly. Then sync his Birthdays correctly. Try that.
I too like the idea of 80211.ac introduced sooner than later and the introduction of Gigabit Chip setsFor faster operation for AirDrop and better Battery power consumption in idle.
Regards,
Chris in London
Hi Rob,
For the issue mentioned by user with the birthdate off by one day error. Have him check time zones on all devices and dates.
Regards,
Jeff
Hi Rob:
A few years ago, I had a similar problem to the caller with Birthdays and Full Day Events showing up 1 day early on the iPhone. I solved the problem by getting my online services, Microsoft Outlook, and iPhone all on the same time zone setting.
Kind Regards
Brad
PLAY VOICEMAIL - KAREN_Birthdate_issue
Hi Rob,
On ep 280 one of your listeners asked for a camera app that would allow you to take pictures with both cameras at this time I have used the app dblcam - D B L C A M It does exactly what they're looking for.
Regards,
Paul K
Also from Paul H - he points out a few other apps that will do this.
So how big of an Add would China Mobile and NTT Docomo be for Apple with regards to subscriber base.
Well right now with 280 carriers partners in more than 100 countries that carry the iPhone - Apples has access to close to 4 Billion Subscribers - according to John P at All things D. Which seems high. But ok - we will go with it. Considering there are 4 Billion people in the world and not all have cellphones - that seems to cover most of the market - I mean how more is out there?
Well China Mobile has about 700 Million Subscribers and NTT Docomo - had over 60 Million subscribers as of March 2012 and as of August 2013 - over 15 Million using LTE.
So with those two carriers - Apple would increase their addressable subscriber base by almost 20%. Which would be great is all 700 million China Mobile subscribers were addressable - Most however are on cheap feature phones with neither the resources or desire to upgrade to even a cheap Android phone. I am guessing quite a good percentage of the 4 Billion subscribers of the 280 aforementioned carries also fall in that category as well. So if you cut that in half to 2 Billion potential current subscribers - and drop China Mobile down to about 200 Million - you are now really looking at increasing Apples addressable market base by about 13% - which really is quite good when you are talking about adding just 2 carriers to a group of 280.
And remember when the iPhone enters a carrier it is not at today - it has a double effect on market share - as not only does Apple pick up Market share - it also takes it away from Android. And in China - If Apple gets in place the same deal for access too the App store it gets with all other carriers - it is an even bigger win - as most Android smartphone - read basically all Android smartphones in China do not access the Google Play store.
And where I was going with all this - yes I was going somewhere - is that for those developers out there - these pick ups by Apple relate in even more users to sell apps to and even more reasons to stay with Apple first for development of Apps. Dang that was a long way to go for that. In summary - Adding China Mobile and NTT Docomo is a good thing for iOS devs. Note to self learn definition of Pithy.
And John is talking about the latest report out from Kantar WorldPannel which goes over Market share for Mobile OS's in the US and globally for Smartphone Sales for the 3 months ending in July.
In the US - The iPhone captured 43.4% of Smartphone sales - up about 8% from the year early period. Android dropped about 8% from the year early period down to 51.1%. And again - this is the 3 month period Ending in July - where no new iPhone was launched since September - and there were New Android galore including the Galaxy S4. Still iOS and Android combined for 94.4% of the US market - leaving scraps for Blackberry, Windows Phone and Symbian to fight over. Oh in the Fight for the bronze metal it does appear that Windows Phone is winning that with 3.5% vs 1.2% for Blackberry - ouch.
Globally - well the iPhone 5C can't get here quick enough and by Here I mean China Mobile and other carriers in BRIC countries.
I rarely use FaceTime but when I have, it was always "spotty" in connectivity. So I can't say that I noticed a problem of late. Perhaps your audience can share their experience.
Dr. John M
Gilbert, AZ
And John is referring to the article titled - Apple FaceTime Fix may not be working out for some unhappy users - via TUAW. This comes back to Patent trolls - The folks that I say are simply a waste of human existence. This time it is per the Patent troll - VirnetX - which one a case against Apple and FaceTime. Seems Apple had to reconfigure how FaceTime works to get around the Patent - and that jerry rigging - well you guessed it - means not as clean an enduser experience. Again I can't say enough bad things about Patent trolls especially this one - and I can't wait for the US legal system to wake up and do something about these leaches of society. They not only make the things we buy more expensive - they also now make them less usable - Thanks - Thanks a whole Fracking lot VirnetX - I wish upon you many a kidney stones and inflamed hemorrhoids and oh yeah Erectile disfunction and IBS. Yup that should do it for now. Oh and all the things wished upon by the guys with the french accents at the top of the castle wall in Search for the holly grail - yeah what they said too.
China Labor Watch released a report about working conditions in one of Apples suppliers Jabil Wuxi - and this time - Apples said enough is enough - and is fighting back - claiming the claims by the CLW are basically CRAP. Ok - that is not exactly what Apple said - but I am sure it is what they wanted to say. Instead Apple said Quote As part of our extensive Supplier Responsibility program, Apple has conducted 14 comprehensive audits at Jabil facilities since 2008, including three audits of Jabil Wuxi in the past 36 months. We take any concerns about our suppliers very seriously, and our team of experts is on-site at Jabil Wuxi to look into the new claims about conditions there. Jabil has a proactive auditing program of their own and they have an excellent track record of meeting Apple's high standards. unquote.
Jabil - in this case is not an Asian based company - it is actually headquartered now in Florida - and is a company I used to do work with - and visit a few of their plants in the past - including their Florida headquarters. They actually do quite a bit of assembly work in the US for military electronics. That said - they had this to say.
Quote We are troubled by recent allegations related to excessive overtime, unpaid overtime, and working conditions at our Wuxi, China site. An audit team is en route to Wuxi to thoroughly investigate these claims. While we are aware of the desire of many employees to work overtime, our goal is to regulate overtime to achieve a consistently high level of compliance with Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) standards. Other allegations, such 10-minute unpaid meeting times, were surfaced during Austermann’s audit in August and corrective action was begun. unquote
I bring up the point that Jabil is US based - and a lot is being made of employees in China being limited to 60 hours of work in a week - why because some in the US think it is wrong for those in China to work more than that - even if they want to.
Because you know in the US - we have those same rules - Right. Well actually umm no. Here is what the US department of Labor has to say. Quote There is no limit in the Act on the number of hours employees aged 16 and older may work in any workweek. unquote.
You heard that right in the US if you are 16 and working a factory job and want to do a double shift every day and work 80 hours in a week - the US government says go for it.
US human rights groups however feel the rules in the US should be ignored when putting their values on others outside the US.
But I guess those working in the coal mines in China - yeah those people we really don't care how many hours they work or the working conditions. My point is this - the press makes a big deal about the workers in China with some of the best working conditions in China - and who want to work more hours to make more money to send home to their families - but some in the US elite media put some wholier than thou standards out there - when if they really looked at the situation - they would see Apple has done more than any company in the world to help the workers in China - and I am glad Apple took a stronger stand this time. Soap Box I do now step down.
OK - lots of posts and reports about lower priced iPhone 5 at Walmart and elsewhere - heck you would be hard pressed to find an iPhone 5 with 16 GB at the $199 price - that said - don't buy the iPhone 5 - wait and get the 5S.
Thanks to all sending in reports of lower priced iPhone 5's
You know the reports that said that the gold iPhone might be called Champagne - and not gold - well not so fast says CIVC - which stands for Comite inter professional du Vind de Champagne - Seems they are ready to fight Apple in a legally battle if Apple tries to use the word Champagne to describe the color of the iPhone. Which hey if there is even a chance of a lawsuit with regards to Apple these days you can almost lock it in as a done deal - so looks like the Gold iPhone will be called Champagne - if history is any indicator on how things have playing out at Apple.
About all I will say on said lawsuit if it happens - is yup . I hate all these lawsuit stories.
Lots and lots of new pictures the past week with iPhone 5C's in their packages.
Essentially nothing new from the images - just more validation on what we already expect to be announced on Tuesday. Multicolored iPhone 5C's with plastic backs.
Thanks to nathan for the link to the gold iPhone 5S video - which is from Detroit Bork and it shows the case for the iPhone 5S in gold color. So if you can't wait until tuesday to see the gold iPhone 5S - you can got the link titled - iPhone 5S gold - Youtube in the show notes for ep 281 at today in iOS dot com.
What will you learn from it - Nothing you don't likely already now - but it just drives home that on Tuesday there is likely going to be a gold iPhone 5S announced.
Last Episode one of the listeners mentioned and I also pondered that there have not been any pictures of the front of the iPhone 5S and the finger print scanner. Well still no pictures of the Front of the iPhone 5S - but there were a bunch this past week of what is supposed to be the 5S's finger print scanner / home button. Seems a similar picture was up on iMore back in Mid august - so there was something out there before - but again - it was not the front of the iPhone 5S - it was just the alleged internal components.
What it does look like from the latest pics is that the iPhone 5S - will still have a physical click - so you can still push down on the button. And it may not be convex as originally rumored.
Can someone tell me why the WSJ piece about Apple testing out iPhones with larger screens sizes is such big news. The story reports that Apple is testing 4.8 to 6 inch screens for iPhones. Ummm - Ok - So what - I am sure Apple tests many many different sizes. Testing / playing with / tinkering with in the lab - is not really news. I would be shocked to hear Apple was not testing out lots of sizes. And past other rummors / reports - have said Apple was testing larger screens for both the iPhone and iPad - as well as smaller screens. Again Reports of Apple testing different screen sizes are not news - they are at best common sense. News would be Appel has never tested any sizes other than 3.5 inches and 4 inches for the iPhone - that would be news. And when I just said that - did it not sound crazy - I mean it felt crazy when I said Apple has never tested any size screens other then 3.5 Inches and 4 Inches for the iPhone - not once - not ever - Yup still feels crazy to say it - so again - To me it is not news that Apple is testing larger screen sizes. As we saw from the Apple V samsung trial exhibits - Apple does lots of different testing with prototypes of all shapes and sizes. and most never see the light of day. So sorry folks don't let this get your hopes up for a larger iPhone - not this year - not at least for 12 more months.
It looks like one of the carriers in China - China Telecom - may have confirmed the iPhone 5S and 5C names - as if we really needed any more confirmation - when someone with a China Telecom Weibo account sent the following message quote China has been chosen as [the/a]* first country where the iPhone 5S/5C will be shipped! Weibo preorder time! If you want to be one of the people who gets a handset on day one, click: . Those who successfully preorder will also enjoy a high-end gift bag. (Because the iPhone products haven’t actually shipped yet, detailed numbers and actual shipping information [may change]. unquote.
Nothing really shocking about this if true - I think the 5S and 5C are slam dunks.
And speaking of slam dunks - More evidence of a September 20th launch of the iPhone comes from supposed black outs for vacation on September 20th by AT&T and Verizon employees. So yeah now when you take the alleged vacation black outs of T-mobile / AT&T and Verizon and overlay them - looks like all hands will be on deck for September 20th.
Lets talk October or beyond rumor - seems there is word that Apple is sourcing a 17 Watt Power Supply - and why is that significant you ask. Well the Mac Book Air is a 45 Watt supply - and the iPad Maxi 4th Gen is a 12 Watt power supply. The 3rd gen iPad Maxi was a 10 W power supply. So what would Apple need a 17 Watt power supply for? Well if Apple wanted to do a 13 Inch iPad - then a 17 Watt Power supply seems to be just what the doctor would order. Or at least some electrical engineer in Cupertino.
This could be nothing or it could back up the past rumors about a larger iPad. So far the lack of any larger iPads surfacing mean it is very very unlikely we would see a larger iPad any time in 2013 - but something to think about come late November when the rumor mill starts back up in force.
Speaking of rumors for 2014 products here are a few more you may hear about.
iOS may be getting 3D gestures - this one is based on an Apple Patent - I always am very leery about Apple Patents and future features - it seems if Apple plans to use a feature in a patent - they have already implemented it prior to the patent being made public. This does not mean never - but again past history does not bode well for this rumor.
iPad Mini Retina is slated for early 2014 - according to a few different rumors - I find it not so likely - I think it is more about hopeful wishing or those that just think a retina iPad mini is needed more than it is. I would be surprised if we see an iPad Mini with a retina display anytime in the next 12 months.
And then there is the iPhone 6 rumor with a larger screen for mid 2014 launch. Is it possible and even likely that the iPhone 6 will have a larger screen - Yeah - sure - is it likely it will be mid 2014 - i.e. June - nah - I think the iPhones yearly refresh is now in the September time frame - just like the iPods used to refresh in early fall each year when that was Apples bread and butter - so to do the iPhones now and likely for the foreseeable future.
Now if we want to talk a little about October products - what we are likely going to see is an iPad Maxi 5th gen - which looks more like an over sized iPad Mini - i.e. - same screen size as all other bigger iPads - but with a narrower bezel on the side - so essentially like you photo shopped the iPad mini to stretch the screen to the size of the iPad 4th gen.
If you want to see how the 5th and 4th gen compare - there is a video titled - New iPad 5 parts leaked - youtube - in the show notes for ep 281 at today in iOS dot com. Thanks to all that sent that one in.
Interesting article from The Atlantic wire titled The science of the Apple rumor Mill - and it basically goes over that rumors come from two source with regards to apple product - either from someone at Apple or someone in Apples supply chain. And that basically today that really means the Apple supply chain - once you drop out the accidental left in a bar type goofs. They mention Tim Cooks - vow to double down on Secrecy on products. But essentially apple and Tim cook can only control what Apple owns and operates. And when you have such a vast supply chain as Apple does - and you limit overtime - well some people are going to do what they need to do to make a few extra bucks to send home - and there in comes the opportunities for those running rumor sites and youtube channels - they are paying for pictures.
Add in the ubiquitous nature of phones with cameras and you can see how it is basically impossible at this point to stop leaks in the supply chain. There is motive and there is opportunity and the is means. Not a good combo for mr cook and his doubling down on secrecy. All it really means is that those inside apple that should get access to prototypes are probably not getting access or the access they need to fully vet products. Of course the article did miss the 3rd source of rumors - the rumor mongers making up the rumors - i.e. - Digitimes, BGR, this is my next, and others - that just guess and say it is from a source familiar with the matter. or unnamed source. I guess at the end of the day I just hope Apples doubling down of security on their own folks does not get in their way of properly vetting new apple gear.
So Samsung as expected this week unveiled their smartwatch - and well based on what they unveiled - it is now clear that Samsung did not pick this week to show up apple - they picked this week to be shown up by apple.
If they unveiled this on a slow new week - ouch - they would have been flogged in the bored tech press. Well maybe not - since lately the google fanbois think Sammy can do no wrong - but still looking at their timing it seems pretty clear they hoped to be ignored - how else do you explain what they launched - which only works with a small number of devices - as in two.
Which leads us to this email.
Hi Rob,
You tweeted
quote Samsung timed their smartphone watch announce not to upstage apple but in hopes of being upstaged by Apple. Yikes it is bad.unquote
Where is your Proof? It's a crazy assertion .
John T
Ah speaking of Samsung / Android fanbois - aren't they so cute. You just want to squeeze them.
John - lets look at this disaster of a smart watch.
First up it just syncs with the Note 3 and Note 10.1 - eventually if it will likely support the S4 and S3 - if they get updates for Android to 4.3 for each carrier - who then puts their spin on the updates. Still all the devices it syncs with are large screen devices.
They added in a Video camera on the wrist band? So that means no changing of the bands. And who is going to be using that video camera?
Lets talk battery life - less than a full day. Yikes.
And size - the thing is huge. Ok for guys wrists - but even there it looks big - for women this is not going to be something they pick for any fashion reasons. If you are women and you shave your legs - this is probably not the smart watch for you.
There are 70+ apps available at launch with more coming soon they say. Lots more - except you can only put 10 on the watch at any one time. Yes constantly having to remove some apps and add others depending on what you are doing that day - Yummmy - Fun.
It does seems like Samsung Engineers sat around a white board and wrote down everything they could think of to cram into a smart watch - and then built this. Which is not a good thing. Because at the end of the day the $300 sales price of this is well crazy. For $29 more you can get an iPad mini that does much much more. Or for $150 less you can get a pebble that works with your phone and the battery lasts for days.
Reports so far are the UI is lagging - and that may just be because they are still working on the OS. Or it could be because it is laggy.
Either way - it just seems very big, very expensive and very complicated - for a device that really what most people just want is a device that lets them know who is calling, what texts or emails they just got and what those messages said - and oh yeah - what time it is.
I am not saying the Sammy Gear can't give that - but it gives so much more - with so much shorter battery life and for such an expensive price - it just does not seem like it was well thought out - and for this price and use case - it really looks like a bad option for pretty much everyone.
At the end of the day - I think this shows what happens when Samsung tries to design something they did not slavishly copy from Apple. Just Sayin
Hope alll is well. Have you seen the smart watch by Samsung? It really looks ugly and I'm not just saying that because I'm an avid apple fan. I guess they should have waited for Apple's iWatch to launched first so that they could have copied it to the T. Looking forward to a new episode soon.
Stephen M.
A shocker from Microsoft - they are buying Nokia's phone business - Ok - Shocker as in 1 and 1 is two. As in Ex- Microsoft Executive became CEO of Nokia that would be Mr Elop - and now the phone business and Mr Elop - are coming to MS - with Mr Elop being the likely successor to Mr Balmer.
I think if you go back and find the episode I talked about Elop heading up Nokia - you will hear I mentioned about this very likelihood. So yeah nothing shocking here.
I am sure the whole process of breaking off the phone business and moving under MS will go off with out a hitch and it will not distract anyone from either side of the acquisition. Because you know that is how all acquisitions go.
Wonder how long before MS also goes after Blackberry. I mean why the heck not - if you are going to in for a penny go in for a pound - at least then there is no more fighting for 3rd place - just sayin. Note to self - start looking around for some good how wrong were they elop quotes.
Hi Rob,
I don't recall how I discovered your podcast. Before I started listening (and now on your Tii app), I was considering possible changing from my iPhone to an Android someday (not soon, but maybe someday). Never going to happen now. Thanks for all the wonderful information, it is so educational. Fantastic show!!
Cheers,
Earl in Auburn, CA
Hi Earl - thanks for that email - I hope your don't mind I sent it to Apple and said - hey what does it take to get on the invite list for Apple events.
And speaking of reasons not to go to android - and that is Kaspersky labs is reporting that the Obad.a Trojan - they previously reported on May as the most sophisticated mobile trojan to date back then - which we also mentioned on the show - yeah - well it seems it is even more sophisticated and advanced then they thought. After studying it these past few months they found that quote the Malware owners have developed a technique which we have never encountered before. For the first time malware is being distributed using botnets that were created using completely different mobile malware. unquote.
See and here all along I was telling you all devs are developing for iOS first - clearly that is not the case - there is a whole group of devs that seem very dedicated to the Android platform - sadly for Android users this is the malicious developers - but still developers non-the-less - so Android Fan-bois - next time I say Devs don't develop for Android first - you remind me what I said on Ep 281.
Ok - so essentially what this is so important according to Kaspersky - is now Malware can quickly be spread on the Android side via MMS messages. Not just by downloading Apps from bogus Apps stores. Ah nice to see it brought to the masses.
So Kaspersky labs finishes up the article saying essentially as long as you upgrade to Android 4.3 you should be ok. Which as of September 1st according to Google was about less than 0.1% of all Android users. Ouch.
And now you know why the US government back at the end of July warned about the issues with Android.
57:03.062
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Chris_answr_CPU
Hey Rob.
This goes out to the question about an app for car maintenance. I use the "remember the oil app"
You can plug in car repairs as you go, from oil changes to gear oil and others.
I have used this app for approximately 3 months now. It has helped me keep track of my mileage and my needed repairs..
I can't remember I there was a cost to the app or not .. If there was it was well worth it..
Chris
I don't think you covered this yet in your podcast.
I'm torn between keeping my IOS 6 jailbreak and upgrading when the new IOS 7 is officially released. Although many of the tweaks I have are now built into the new version, I find it difficult to have to give up these:
- Smartwatch+ for Pebble (The Smartwatch Pro on the App Store is not the same).
- Orientation lock on iPhone
- f.lux for nighttime viewing
- five columns and five in dock
- WiFi Analyzer
I don't believe you've mentioned IOS 7 jailbreak yet. Is that because the links I see are fake? Or, are they not wanting to jump the gun about which exploit they will use so that Apple won't plug up the hole?
Thanks,
Mike in Oakland
Hay Rob,
I have had a couple of apps in iOS 7 beta that I have launched ask quote app name would like to access the Microphone unquote. Why would a game need to connect to my Microphone. Here are some screen shots.
Regards,
Don't use my name
Well DUMN - It looks like from the screen shots you are using an iPad - and I think these devs are doing a trick to see if you have a new or old iPad - as the original iPad did not have a microphone. So I think they are looking for the microphone so they can make sure the app is running on a fast enough device. I am not condoning what they are doing - just at why they might be doing this that is not evil. We had something like this mentioned recently with regards to asking for the front facing camera. Maybe these devs felt asking for the microphone was less creepy then asking for the front camera.
Per the Caller a few episodes back that asked about getting 15,000 photos off his 64 GB 4S and on to his PC he had this to say per listener feedback.
Hi Rob,
The app called PhotoSync that was mentioned on your show a couple of weeks back it worked like a charm.
I was able to transfer via wifi... over 15,000 pics on my 4s to my PC in about 2 hrs.
Thanks to those that sent in this next one - which is a kickstarter project that is DOA - It is the Meet Circle - no not m e a t as in dead meat - but m e e t circle. This one has a goal of 250,00 - shame on you. And has raised so far $30,000. It has until Sep 20th at 1:15 PM ET to get funded and well it is dead meat.
What is Meet Circle - that it matters - but it is a device that helps family balance their lives by managing how much time devices get on line. It adjust filter settings based on device - so if you 5 year old uses the iPad 1st gen - it gets one set of filters - but if Dad uses the 3rd gen - then well Keith and the Girl get through just fine.
Quote - Circle is not a router. It is a smart network device that “talks” wirelessly with your router and each household device continuously to filter and manage content based on the settings you desire. unquote
I think this project has some really nice features and as a parent I would love to have it - but the goal they set is as I said - shame on them. Maybe they will get some VC funds for this - but really with such a small percentage of their goal raised - I think this one is dare I say it a 3rd time - Dead meat.
But hey if you want an idea on what to develop over at indie go go and can do it for 30k - go look at the Kickstarter project called meet circle - with meet spelled M E E T.
Thanks to Chris in London for the heads up on this one.
Thanks to Tim and others for this next one. It is about a bunch of counterfeit apple products getting seized not in China or some foreign country or even some back alley in NY - but rather in a mall in Maryland. Essentially it was a bunch of conversion kits for making iPhones a different color - problem was many of the parts had apple logos on them - and that well is not a good thing - at least not for the person that purchased that inventory and now is looking at legal bills.
So for anyone thinking of bring over components from china and reselling them be careful.
I was wondering if there was an app that auto sends emails to VIP members when they email you and you are unable to respond because you are at work etc.....
Please let me know thanks
Regards,
Jonah
Hey Rob
Do you or any one know if there is a way to avoid tolls in apple maps or set any type of "avoidances"?
Any Candy Crush addicts out there. There is a great post titled - When games pretend to be games they aren't. And what it is is post about Candy crush and how - when you start paying for power ups and other items - the game actually gets harder. And if you get stuck at a level - if you go away and come back some time later - the goals for that level may go down. In other words - they rig the game to keep you playing if you don't pay for power ups - and make it harder if you do pay for power ups so that you will pay for more power ups. Some of this is alleged - others they say they observed. Again if you are a candy crush addict - this is a post worth checking out.
Hence why I have no quams at all - about changing the time ahead 3 hours to get more lives right away. Hey if they don't want to fix that easter egg - I am going to use it. If I was playing that game and on level 130 - that is.
Speaking of games you should not be playing - How about when you are sitting in a senate meeting going over the pros and cons of going to war with a country that has no qualms of gassing its own people. You would think in such a debate if you were a US senator - playing Poker on your iPhone would well not be a good thing - and hey guess what 99 senators not named John McCain would agree with you - ahhh - but that 100th Senator - oh well at least Senator McCain was not sexting during the hearings.
1:15:00.367
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Scott_quest_save_photos
Hi Rob!
I was wondering if you know how to stop iMovie from zooming in on my photos. I like to make stop motion animation and this hinders me from actually making that type of movie. I have an iPad and an iPhone and they both do the same thing
Regards,
Jonah R
Hi Rob.
I had an issue with my iPhone 4S yesterday and had to call Verizon for a replacement, just wanted to know if you'd heard of this before. My speaker sounds distorted and broken, with all sounds including music and podcasts, when I called Verizon they said it was a known issue. I had never heard this before so I was just curious if you had, thanks for your time, have a great day.
Shannon H in Fountain Hills AZ
Here is an email string I had recently with a listener.
Hi Rob,
Would it be safe to think an iPhone 5 case would work for the 5s ?
Regards,
Mike
I responded,
Hi Mike,
Define "safe"
Is it likely that the iPhone 5S case will work with the 5S - YES.
However - the 5S will likely have a dual flash - so if your opening on the case for the 5 is very small for the flash - that could be an issue.
I have seen a few that get really close to the flash on the 5. However I think most will be ok.
And he responded
Hi Rob,
Thanks for the answer - I was just starting to review cases (look at them) I've been loyal to Speck - the fact that nothing has been announced for new cases has sparked my interest. I'm a 4s user right now for the last two years, looking forward to the new release.
*** Possible something for your show
My credit card was comprimised - thus causing me to contact AT&T to update my payment - the customer service person then opened the flood gate - how pleased are you with our service, I advised her that when I'm not home my service is great -
I've been fighting for a free tower for home use with no success. - to push the conversation into a positive note, I asked if I was able to update my 2 iPhones to the new 5s - With a bubbly voice the answer was YES!, Great my response -
It seems to me that when I updated my phones two years ago, I paid some type of update fee, she said yes you did $36 per phone - and I responded that I didn't want to do that again - she used that empathetic sales training stating that since you do not have quality service at home - and no resolve to a free tower at home - I will now remove the upgrade fee from your next purchase. WOW $72 saved.
Not to develop a wave of complaints to individuals carriers - something your listeners may want to investigate for being loyal customers - who could enjoy some savings.
Kind regards.
Mike
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Seigart_quest_coverage
One last item and thanks to all that sent this one in.
I know I usually say when you hear about an Apple patent for something that is not already announced it most likely will never be announced - I think this next one clearly is an exception to that rule. It is about a very recently discovered Apple Patent for a fingerprint scanner in a home button. Now I guess we could say that by the time this one was discovered there were already leaked photos of the home button assembly - so I guess from some perspective - this one really is not an exception to the rule - as well the home button scanner was already consider pretty much a slam dunk -prior to this patent being found. Per the patent - it talks about a capacitive ring around the button / scanner to tell when a finger is over it - so you can rest your finger above the home button and get scanned without your know actually pressing the home button - which on iOS devices means quitting out of the app you are trying to get scanned into for. There is also other talk in the patent about NFC with the sensor. But rather than speculate any more about what is in that patent - lets just wait until Tuesday and find out for sure.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you get the most out of the show and it helps support the show at the same time - plus it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search for Tii in the iTunes app store.
Finally - Thanks again to our sponsor Audible for supporting this show - please visit Audible podcast dot com slash T i i for your free audio book download.
Above is a Bingo Card with many of the Rumors being thrown around for the next Gen iPhone (5S) and possibly lower cost iPhone (5C) and what may also be announced at the September 10th Event. These are not my predictions - just a listing of some of the rumors I think have even a remote possibility.
We will go over this Bingo Card on Ep 281 which will be out late this week and then again on Ep 282 which will cover what was announced at the Special event.
For those using voice over - below is the full list in Text - starting from the upper left going to the right and then dropping down and going left to right and repeating to the end:
Some sad news in the tech world - seems we are loosing another CEO named Steve. This time it is Steve Balmer - and he is being kicked to the curb at Microsoft. I think it is fitting to mention Balmer up front - because I will really miss his always entertaining quotes. The one quote that Steve Balmer however will always be remembered for is the one where he laughs at the iPhone back in Jan 2007. A clip of that starts off Tii - with Steve Balmer being the "I like it a lot" speaker at the beginning of every Tii all the way back to April 2007. Actually if you ever heard the promo for this show - it is an edited version of that interview. I like my version better. If you search for item space 0000 - in the tii app episode list you can listen to that promo.
So Steve Balmer - you or at least your quotes will be missed on this show in the years to come.
Speaking of which there is a post out there titled - If Steve Ballmer Ran Apple - and it starts - quote Bear with me, I know my premise is ridiculous. Imagine Steve Ballmer was right now the CEO of Apple,...unquote - and at that point I threw up a little in my throat - Someone please get me a crowbar I have a mental image I need to pry out of my head. Ughhh - What a horrible thought - honestly I could not bear to read the rest of the article - But if someone else has a stronger stomach and worst short and long term memory - please let me know what it said. Personally I think Tim Cook is the right person in charge of Apple. I am not saying he is better than Steve Jobs - I am not an idiot - no one is better than Steve was - but sadly - Steve Jobs is no longer with us - and for those that are with us - I think Tim is the right person for the CEO position at Apple - because of his Supply chain experience - Apples key strengths have been one figuring out which way the market was moving before others - and then being able to lock down the supply chain needed to support mass adoption of their products - that is not an easy task - and Apples management of the supply chain when the MP3 market took off - was key in keeping competition many steps behind Apple. So I will say this about the only thing more frightening than Steve Balmer as CEO of Apple may by Ron Johnson as CEO. Just sayin. But I don't loose any sleep with Tim Cook in the CEO position. And considering my entire 401 k is wrapped up in Apple stock that should say a lot.
A lot was made in the past week plus about Apples market share of Chinas' Tablet market. Seems that a bunch of domestic chinese companies have been flooding the market with low low cost feature poor android tablets. Most of the articles focused on Apple have just 28% of the market down from 49% a year earlier. What most don't mention is the market share for any other companies. Samsung is second in China at 11%, Lenovo was third at 8%, And then it rolls off a cliff an no one beyond that has more than 1%. So you are looking at well over 50 different manufacturers with less than 1% each. But some how most of the articles seemed to slip in a quote Shaun Rein managing director of China Market Research group where he said quote Apple has lost its luster in China in the past six months and is no longer the must-have product in any category unquote. Or is it that Apple still whom is still the single largest seller of tablets - is being surrounded by a sea of cheap crappy tablets. And since they have not released a new device in almost a year - there is just less buzz.
Even if the IDC numbers mentioned above are true - remember - it is actually a shipment number - not a sold number - and Apples share of the sold market will be higher.
I guess where I was going with this - is all these articles look at is market share of units shipped - and not market share of units sold - or more importantly market share of profits made in this market.
I would assume if Apple could keep capturing 85 to 90% of the Tablet markets profits - they would be fine with what ever Market share numbers IDC pins on them for units shipped.
There was one story that made the rounds last week - and it was about comparing the amount of electricity an iphone uses vs a refrigerator - claiming the iPhone uses more - or so it was re-reported by many. Umm - No. Ummm Not even close. First the source story was not just about the iPhone vs the fridge as it was re-reported by many. It was about all the electricity needed to build the iphone, and that the iPhone uses and that is needed to support the servers supplying it data - vs that needed for the Fridge. Sadly this story comes from someone discredited with a similar story from around 2000. And Really I have given this story more time than I should have - it is just that many sent in links to it and asking for my thoughts. And well I have only one link to put up and that is from Jonathan Koomey at Cleantechnica.com - whom I believe did the only really good post on this - not just calling out the originator of this story as a discredited attention grabber - but also going point by point why this time this story make no more sense than what he was discredited for in the past. Look for the link in the shownotes for ep 280 at today in iOS dot com - titled. Does Your iPhone Use As Much Electricity As A Fridge? (No Way!) | CleanTechnica - and then you will know the rest of the story.
Mike from Richmond, VA here. I had a couple of things I wanted to share with you.
First, I had no issues with the latest Tii app update on my iPhone 5 running iOS 7 beta 6.
Second, I found a cool feature in beta 6 in the messages app. When you're in a conversation, you can left swipe (and hold) to view a time stamp for each message.
Thanks,
Michael O
Hi Michael - thanks for the tip for iOS 7 Beta 6 - and thanks for feedback on the Tii App - and thanks to everyone else that sent in feedback - as you might have guessed - since there were two updates in about a week - one of them had some bugs. That would be the first one. But the main reason for the updates was to get them ready for iOS 7. One thing we wanted to do was make sure when iOS 7 launches the Tii App is already working with it as expected. So if you have beta 6 or later of iOS 7 - and the Tii app - please put it through its paces. Check all the great extra features - like the link list that is with each episode - call the show - email the show - download for Airplane mode play back. And more. If you don't have the Tii App - it is just $2.99 in the app store - get push messages and more - The Tii App is the best way to listen to this show. One of the other new additions in the Tii App is better VoiceOver compatibility - especially on the iPad version for the bottom buttons. Thanks to all that sent in feedback on that one.
I hope you are doing great. Just showing this article if you haven't seen it already. By the way I'm not sure if I'm the only one in my country Belize who listens to your show cause everyone I told never heard of your podcast but I'm spreading the word though. I'm avid fan of Apple due to their quality products and its seems that my Apple 'Vibes' is infectious 90% of my friends have Iphones and or ipads/Macs and I keep getting more friends to switch LOL. Looking forward to a new episode as always.Take care love the show.
Regards,
Stephen M in Belize
Hi Stephen, I see looking at my stats I have a few listeners in Belize - between 4 and 8 for any specific episode. Not sure how many of those other listeners you are responsible for - but thank you very much for promoting to the show to your fellow countrymen. And thanks for the heads up to the article at all things D - Which is another in a loooong line of articles / surveys / common sense - about how iPhone owners are more loyal than Android owners. This time is a report from CIRP - which stands for Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. Which looked at 4 quarters of smartphone platform loyalty survey's collected from July 2012 to June 2013. during that period 81% of iPhone users that purchased another smartphone purchased another iPhone. Vs just 68 percent of Android users buying another Android smartphone. Also from the data - nearly three times as many Android owners switched to the iPhone - as iPhone users that switched to Android. Reminds me of a word problem - If Bucket A leaks at a rate of 3x per month and bucket I leaks at a rate of x per month And if Bucket A starts with 30x in it and Bucket I has 20x volume in it - how assuming all leaks end up in the other bucket - how long before Bucket I passes Bucket A in volume.
Or put another way - when the Smartphone Market does reach saturation - it will be the amount leaking from the other buckets that fuel growth.
PLAY VOICE MAIL - Dick_canada_CleaninAPP
Rob,
In episode 279, a caller asked about an app for keeping track of classes. I use iStudiez (Universal) and Grades 2 (iPhone). They are excellent.
Thanks,
Lou Valencia
Hi Rob,
Per those interested in an iPhone with a wrist strap - I have used the Elan Passport wallet for iPhone - from Griffin with great success for all my iPhones.
In the Easter Eggs in Siri category comes one about Asking Siri who her favorite College football team is. And what she says is I always like to root for the underdog. I guess that makes me a fan of Oregon State right now. OSU by the way is 25th in the polls. So siri is rooting for whom ever is 25th in the college football polls and then shows you the top 25 poll. Siri will also answer that question for Mens and Womens College Basketball. But not for Baseball, Soccer, Lacross, Fencing, Voleyball, Bowling, Rowing, wrestling, water polo nor badminton. Seems only Mens Football and Men's and Womens Basketball peak her fancy on the college side. She will also answer the question for the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and MLS.
Speaking of Siri Easter Eggs - there is another one showing Apple Engineers have a sense of humor. Say to Siri - Okay Glass - which is the commend you would use for Google Glass - and she responds with one of at least 6 different canned one liners. Such as Stop trying to strap me to your forehead Rob it won't work. Or I'm not Glass and I'm just fine with that or I think that glass is half empty Rob, or Glass? I think you got the wrong assistant or Just so you know I don't do anything when you blink at me Rob, or Very Funny Rob. I mean not funny ha-ha but funny. Thanks to Steven for also sending in all those responses - so I did not have to write them all down. If anyone gets anything different when they say Okay Glass - please let us know.
Hey if you want to check out another classic Siri easter egg - say Beam me up - and see some of the different responses Siri gives you. My favorite is sorry captain your tri-corder is in airplane mode.
Thanks to John for the heads up on this next one - which is an Apple TV report. And it has to do with a new app you will find on Apple TV - it is for the upcoming iTunes Festival which will run through out the month of September. This is a free offering. So this is 30 days of concerts from 60 different artists. Including Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake and even Sir Elton John plus well of course 56 other artists.
Tuesday August 27th Saw Apple TV receiving some new apps that included apps for the Disney channel, Disney XD, the Weather Channel, the music-video service Vevo and the Smithsonian.
Per previous apps, such as HBO Go, the Disney apps require customers to verify their cable or satellite subscriptions before they can watch anything.
Nice to See Apple getting more and more content into Apple TV. I know the Disney Channel has been on Roku for some time now - as my kids watch it - so they will be happy to see it on Apple TV now as well.
If you have an Apple TV - next time you check it you should see the new Apps - if not check your software - you may be over due for an update.
Hi Rob,
If you haven't checked yet.
Disney Channel, Disney XD are only currently available if you are a AT&T
or Verizon FiOS. Not currently available for DirecTV or Dish subscribers.
There are no subscribers restrictions for The Weather Channel, Smithsonian
or Vevo channels.
One issue I have found is with the Smithsonian Channel; it doesn't have the
resume feature like the other Apps do, so if you are watching the Star Trek
featurette and you need to jump out for a long period (like go to sleep) and
you want to pick up where you let off, fast forwarding is you only option
with this app.
Regards,
Thomas
Tuscaloosa AL
Thanks thomas for the feedback. When you look at what Apple has been adding over the past year to Apple TV - it is almost as if they are building their own Cable TV network. Still a bummer some of it requires log in creds and that only some carriers count - like for me sure west is not one of the approved providers that will let me get access to the Disney Channel and Disney XD - yet - they both work fine on my Roku - hmmmm.
Quote - Bloomberg is reporting that Apple is to start an iPhone trade-in program this month aimed at getting users to upgrade at apple stores unquote - that from a report back in early June - Ummm no. But now this same story is being re-hashed - and again this is happening with in a month.
Depending on who you read the trade in program may start as early as this weekend at Apple stores.
9 to 5 mac is reporting it will be on August 30th - and AllThingsD says they indipendtly confirm the 9to5 report.
So this weekend Apple should be starting their trade in program - which really now is not the best time for users to take them up on this. Because as I understand it - you need to then get a new iPhone. And you don't want a new iPhone now - you want a new iPhone in mid to late September.
According to 9to5 mac - You must upgrade to a new iPhone on the spot and have it activate on the spot.
My recommendation still stands - if you are looking to sell your current iPhone - do it now - before the bottom falls out on what you can get - once the new iPhone is announced.
Once this plan is actually launched we will go over all the specifics. But for now - don't be going out and using this service with the new iPhone right around the corner.
One new Rumor on the iPhone 5S side - is that the new 5S will come not in 2 colors black or white. Or 3 colors - Gold being the 3rd - but now that it will come in 4 colors - with the 4th being Gunmetal Gray or if you are a pacifist - Graphite Gray.
Pictures are starting to pop up of this. In the last few days initial pictures were of one sim tray - which quickly moved to pictures of the stand alone gray 5S - to pictures of the Gold and Gray next to each other.
So If you wanted a new 5S - and wanted the world to know yours was new - but Gold was just to well Gold for you - then Gunmetal Gray may be your cup of tea.
On the rumor front for the 5S - one thing pretty much expected is that the new processor would be the A7 - considering last years was the A6 and the A5 before it and the A4 before that.
But now comes word that the A7 will be 31% faster. This comes from Clayton Morris or at least seems to track back to Clayton. His tweet was quote Sources are telling me the new iPhone's A7 chip is running at about 31% faster than A6. I’m hearing it’s very fast. unquote.
First 31% faster is not really very fast as he puts it when you consider apple promoted the A6 as over 100% faster than the A5 - which was also over 100% faster than the A4. However maybe the 31% faster is just in reference to the clock speed - but actual performance may be again over 100% faster.
I just don't see Apple getting up on stage and bragging about 31% faster. It has also been rumored the A7 could have 4 cores on the CPU side - and that combined with a 31% increase in clock speed could easily get you to 100% faster / more powerful processor.
Clayton however was not done - on twitter he also said. quote I’ve also heard there’s a separate chip devoted to motion tracking. Should be an interesting camera upgrade. unquote
Which means had gestures could be coming - like we have seen already for the Galaxy S4. If true will be interesting to see how Apple differentiates it motion tracking features from that of its comp.
Hi Rob - Is the compass sensor something they are likely to take out of a cheaper iPhone?
Regards,
-Dan
I don't think so - The iPhone 5C - should spec wise look pretty identical to the iPhone 4S - except for the multi colored plastic case - bigger screen and lightening port - but yeah other than that - the same as the specs for the 4S - which means - an 8 MP camera, Siri, 802.11 b/g/n - bluetooth 4.0, 1080p HD video recording, a gyroscope, Video recording Stabilization, and yes the compass. I would be shocked if the compass was not in there.
Per the colors the iPhone 5C will come in - it seems - White, Green, Yellow, Blue, and Red are the top 5 most seen colors. There was also some shots of a black one - but I believe the photos of the black one were actually fakes - and nothing more than cases for the iPhone 5 - that look like the rumored 5C. At this point I would not bet on black.
ADD RECORDING
But overall I think the 5C will be very close to the specs of the 4S - which it is basically replacing in the lineup. Please don't think of the 5C as a cheap phone - it is not a cheap or budget phone. This is just a lower priced iPhone. Right now the iPhone 4 - which is the lowest cost iPhone runs $450 off-contract.
The 5C will be somewhere between $300 and $450 dollars.
I would guess really in the $349 to $399 range. But if I had to pick a specific price - I would go with $349.
Now it is very possible the 5C released in the US might be - $399 - with all the specs of the 4S. And the one in China and India and Russia and Brazil - the BRIC nations - might be a different version - with a few features removed - and that might be the $349 version.
The real big question is When will the iPhone 5S and 5C be available.
Reports from Japan are that Softbank and KDDI will both get the new 5S and 5C and both will go on sale on September 20th.
And Ok - So I am officially now giving up on my pipe dream that the iPhone 5S would be announced on Sept 10th and released on Friday the 13th. I mean I still think it will be announced on the 10th. But now more and more evidence is starting to come in that the 20th of September will be the release date - T-mobile is now supposedly blacking out vacation for that weekend. Oh well - I really hoped Apple was going to do put more emphasis on people waiting in line to get buzz about that going again - but seems they are following last years schedule step for step. So with both T-Mobile report and the KDDI / Softbank report - it seems more and more like September 20th it is.
Thanks to DR for the heads up on this next one - which is just more back up on the Sept 10th announce date - this comes from Nuance - and they said in a post to their devs that iOS 7 Gold Master would be available on Sept 10th. Nuance is the company behind Siri. So you know they have a little bit of in with Apple - of course it could just be them reading the blogs - but that seems odd to say that publicly - and add to the fact they took down that message as well.
One rumor out there with regards to the 5S and 5C that is not per a sept release has to do with a Nov 28th release in china that is.
According to China's First Financial Daily - the new iPhones need to get through government approvals in China - hence the 2 month+ delay of launch in China.
However - Gray market iPhone 5S's and 5C's will be available on Sept 20th - if you know where to look and have the cash.
Some of you thought I would enjoy this next article - And I can't imagine why you would think that. It is about the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI and a survey they conducted showed that the majority of Malware targeting mobile Operating systems in 2012 was intended for Android. Android was targeted 79% of the time. Symbian 19% of the time, iOS was targeted just 0.7% and Windows Phone and Blackberry were targeted 0.3% of the time. And that was in 2012 - and we all know in 2013 - Malware infestation in Android has rapidly expanded and accelerated in 2013. And 44% of Android users are still using a version of Android that is most at risk.
In a nut shell they found Android an insecure platform - especially anything older than Android 3.0.
And again - why did you think I would enjoy that story?
Thanks to Kevin for the heads up on this next one. Which is about a dev who made Apps for iOS and Android - for sale on both platforms. And what he found was on the Android side - he sold 144 copies, Yet his app had over 50,000 copies pirated and installed. Yikes - think about that - 144 paying customer - 50,000 customers that paid nothing and stole the app. wow. Oh he had his app set up so he could see the number of installs. If you are wondering. Basically his app phones home when installed.
And you wonder why some devs don't even bother developing for Android.
By the way for those wondering he reported 1,114 copies sold on the iOS side.
34:51.969
PLAY VOICE MAIL - Mike_CA_Quest_transfer
Hi Rob
Hello from sunny London UK.
Thought you may like to know of a potential minor tweak to beta6.
In messages when sending group text or iMessage, it shows the initials of each group member that responds on the left side next to the speech bubble.
regards
Roger
Hi Rob-
Regarding the AppleTV rumor you mentioned, you noted that 42 inches is the most common TV size sold. The more pertinent question is: "What is the most common TV size sold to those who would be in the market for an Apple TV."
I think we can agree, the average US TV buyer will not be on the market for an Apple TV, which will likely not be inexpensive.
By the stats, Apple consumers are better-educated and more financially well-off than average.
Jonathan
Dear rob,
September approaches and its been all but confirmed that the iPhone5s (or iPhone 7 as it will secretly be referred to by all of us true TII believers!) will contain the fingerprint sensor. Isn't it strange that we haven't seen one leaked home button part yet? By this time last year every bit of the iPhone5 was seen in a thousand "leaked pictures". Apple has always fared better maintaining secrecy on the software front- mostly due to the fact your average Cupertino employee can't be bribed with a brown bag full of yen- but I can't believe there hasn't been ONE leak.
Hoping I'm over thinking things,
Scott O
Merritt island,Florida
Hi Scott - I have wondered the same thing - It is possible that Apple has had a tighter control on that part of the iPhone 5S - as you note we have not seen one leaked photo of the home button or the front of the iPhone 5S at all. Tim did say he was doubling down on security. We shall see.
to My wife - spoiler alert - jump ahead 5 minutes. Funny - thing - remember on the last show I mentioned I was buying my wife the Soundband Head phones - and hoping they get hear by Christmas - well now I really need them hear before christmas - as she washed her wireless Bluetooth loop ear buds. And speaking of the Sound band - they sent an email saying since they hit one of their stretch goals - they are adding some features.
The will now include the 3.5mm jack to give a wired option to Sound Band and they are upgrading the chip package reducing power consumption. So some nice additional features - check out the Sound band in Kickstarter - you have until Friday the 13th at 9:14 PM ET to get in on this one.
I did a search of the website and I don't think that you've featured this particular iPhone related Kickstarter yet. Looks interesting but because I use a Mophie Pro, I can't use it.
What really caught my eye is that they had a goal of $1500.00 and with Sep 10th at 7:48 AM ET being the cut off, they have 550 backers and pledges of over $29,000!
The project is called the Tuls
Regards,
-Kevin King
Metuchen, NJ
Hi Kevin thanks for the heads up on TULS spelled T U L S - because everyone forgets how to spell once they get on kickstarter.
And what it is are credit card sized tools made either of stainless steel or titanium. And how they relate to iOS is some of them can be used also as a stand for an iPhone and a wrap of the ear bud cords.
Pricing is $22 for a stainless steel Tuls and $33 for a Titanium one. There are other price breaks if you get more than one - and they have 4 different ones to choose from. Remember T U L S in kickstarter dot com.
Apple got busy lately with some App updates. Find My iPhone was updated. It seems to be an update more about getting ready for iOS 7 then about adding features.
Also Right after the last episode Apple updated the Podcasts app to version 1.2.2 - up from 1.2.1. What's new - well bug fixes - and that is all that is listed as being new. I am not going to state the obvious a .x.x update is much to minor of an update to fix "ALLLLL" of the bugs in the podcasts app - just sayin.
For all you grammar nerds or nazi's - Grammar Girl has a new Grammar Game App she just released - it is called Grammar Pop HD.
It is just a buck 99 in the app store. Just search for Grammar Pop HD - that would be two words and two letters.
45:07.312
PLAY VOICE MAIL - ERIC_QUEST_IPAD_MINI
Hi Rob,
I have a gmail account and use Picasa for my pictures.
It now seems like I will have to join or open an account in Google+
to be able to use Picasa and see my pictures.
Do you or any of the listeners know of anyway to just use regular Google and use Picasa.
Thank You,
Dennis
Hello Rob
I know every year you like to play a game of bingo during Apple's product announcements. Each square representing a possible new feature in the new iPhone. This year we have been hearing a lot about IOS 7, the fingerprint scanner, the gold iPhone, the A7 Processor, 128 gb storage, the updated camera, NFC, etc. But I have yet to hear any news or blogs about a feature I believe has great merit, Its the new wireless protocol 802.11ac. I think it will show up in the new iPhone, iPad, iPad mini, iPod Touch, Apple TV and so on. And with that, I believe that this deserves a square on your bingo board.
Kevin
Bountiful, Utah
Hi Kevin - thanks for the feedback - but I think we are probably one year too early for 802.11.ac. The number of Access points are minimal. But more importantly it was not until June the Wifi Alliance even started certifications on the AC draft standard - it is likely the iPhone 5S - was already done and in testing in April or May at the latest.
And Ratification of the Draft for 802.11.ac is not expected until Feb 2014. So again I think you are at least one year too soon on that. Maybe it makes it on the bingo card for sept 2014. Sure there were some early ac Access points on the market in late 2012 - but with the standard not finished - I just don't see Apple putting AC into any iOS devices at this point.
Hi Rob,
I have heard about an app that can clean up old temp files and overwrite previously deleted files to ensure they cannot be recovered; it does this by writing over a the free space on your iOS device (effectively filling it) then deleting its own data.
It is called iClean. Do you know if this utility is safe to run on a jail broken phone?
Thanks,
Mike
Hi Rob,
Is there a tweak that'll let me see what my CPU is doing in a corner of my screen like on Android?
Mac World had a nice article titled Fact or Fiction - Nine iPhone and iPad battery-saving techniques tested.
1- Screen Brightness affects Battery life - duhhh - fact.
2. AirPlay streaming from my device to a tv will quickly drain my battery. Actually nope not true. Not compared to playing the video right on your device. See item 1 for why.
And well I will not go through the full list since well that would be plagiarism - I will say some are pretty common sense. Like number 8 - Airplane mode saves battery life - hmmm turning things off could increase battery life - who would have thunk. Any way it is always good to refresh on these items. Look for the link in the show notes. titled Fact or Fiction. for Ep 280 at today in iOS dot com.
Ok one more news story and this comes from the dumber than dumb criminal department - these two guys lifted / stole / absconded a women's iPhone in the UK - they then went off on a nice little day trip to the beach - I guess to celebrate their new found ill-gotten gains. And they like other dumb criminals - start taking pictures of them selves - in their under ware at the beach. And we know this because - you guessed it the owner had photo stream enabled.
The owner of the phone said quote - I am guessing these gentlemen aren't quite aware of how iPhones work unquote - think.
Photos of said idiots were turned over to the police - and well justice is just around the corner for these gents.
Sadly however no more photos will be coming our way - as the owner has blocked use of the phone using find my iPhone.
52:38.501
PLAY VOICEMAIL - CEDRIC_QUESTION_CONTACTS
Hi Rob,
I'm looking for a camera app that can take photo from the front camera and from the back camera in the same picture, just like in the Samsung s4.
Maybe you or the Listeners can help me.
Thanks
Alon from Israel
Hi Rob,
I have the iPhone 5 running on iOS 6.1.4 and recently started backing my phone up to my computer instead of iCloud. Now I never had this problem with the cloud, but when I switched to my computer is when things started to get funky. I was away from my computer at a camp. My phone had about 40 notes, came back and only had 8, later that night the rest got deleted. My dad has had the same problem he has iPhone 4 iOS 6.1.4 backed up to our other Mac both running on OS X LION...questioned on what happened! Wanted to know if you know what is going on!
Regards,
The Figgmister
Hi Rob I have an iPod touch and love the apps and games available on the App Store.
But I also have an iPod Classic that plays awesome click wheel games. Where in the world did these click wheel games go? I was browsing the store in iTunes the other day and realized they weren't in there anymore. If you or your audience knows where I can get these games that would be greatly appreciated. Any way love your show keep up the good work.
Nathan
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you get the most out of the show and it helps support the show at the same time - plus it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search for Tii in the iTunes app store.
Here's a photo of a windmill I took in Holland. Processed with the incredible Painteresque app and the text added with Photostudio.
Regards,
Kevin C
=====================
Transcript for Episode 279
-----------------------------------
Ummmm No - Per the BGR report that iOS 7 beta 6 would be out the week of August 19th - quote According to their sources unquote. Hello BGR face meet mr egg - mr egg meet BGR face.
Actually looking at the ispw file for the iPad - it was last updated on August 8th - so that is when beta 6 for the iPad 3rd gen at least was ready to go. And when did it launch - well on Thursday the 15th about 4 hours after BGR made the post saying it would be the week of August 19th. See here is what happened - 1 they have no source - they just say that to make for link bait. 2 - they figured when the 6th Beta did not launch on Wednesday - Apple likely based on past experience would not launch on Thursday or Friday - so the 6th beta which was expected last week or this week - must now be coming out this week. So they put together a schlock piece claimed their sources told them it would be next week - but did not say which day - specifically - and were hoping when this week came around they could say - see our source was right again. There is no source. They are just making crap up in my opinion. And it was nice to see the egg on their face last week. Not that I revel in such things. Because you know that would be kind of petty.
Ok - now that I am done kicking BGR while they are down - which by the way is always the best time to kick someone. Lets get on with what is in iOS 7 Beta 6. First off it remained a nice over the air update. Well according to Apple this update fixes a Quote issue with iTunes in the cloud, where some purchases may download or play unexpected items unquote. So yes it is mostly a bug fix.
I could not find any new features in this version. And based on comments I saw from other devs - I decided to also update my Wife's iPad. So yes I was willing to risk life and limb for this version of the Beta. So far my wife is liking it - after I showed her how to delete emails that is. In iOS 6 for emails you swiped to the right. Now to delete you swipe to the left - and then can choose trash to delete or more. And more includes the option to move it to a folder, reply, forward, flag, mark as read, and move to junk. I guess swiping to the right to delete was sooo 2007.
Yes that is 180 degrees opposite of how you delete on iOS 6 and lower. Watch out for that one when iOS 7 launches.
One thing I am not sure I mentioned that I feel I should talk about here is where to change the flag for flagged emails to be an actual flag. Seems in the Johnny Ive Jihad to remove anything skeumorphic - now by default - a flagged email does not show a flag. My wife likes the flag more so then a different color dot. So to change it to a flag you need to go to settings then select mail, contacts, calendars and then select flag style and change it from color to shape - and then going forward flagged emails will show a flag next to them. Sure it is a minor thing - but sometime those minor things mean something to your significant other.
Ok - does anyone want to put a wager on who will have the first post after iOS 7 launches with the phrase Death by a 1000 paper cuts in title. Will it be ZDNet, Cnet, CNN, USAToday, TechCrunch, Gigaom or some other site.
Seems there were some reports about malware this past week - first lets start with those reports that involve real world - bad guy malware affecting many users. And for this of course we are talking about android users - And there was another big jump in Malware out there for Android in the last quarter with a jump of over 40%. Kaspersky labs reports detecting 100,000 mobile malware variations. Yikes.
How Android malware criminals get the malware out there is by downloading a popular app and adding the code to those apps and then uploading the evil version into one of the many un-official Android app stores.
However that was not the big news in Malware this past week or at least not the news the tech press choose to follow - nope the big news was per the researchers at Georgia Tech - you might remember on the last episode I mentioned the researchers at Georgia Tech that said they had a way to insert malware into the App store - and I did not address that part of the issue in that episode - just the other one about the power charger - but this is not about the power charger - this other group at Georgia Tech showed how they snuck some malh-ware into the iTunes app store - but making a dr. Jekyll type app - that works one way when being reviewed and then changes and acts another way after it is approved. And well now those researchers have presented their findings and how they did it this past week in a story in the MIT Tech review. They said they had the app live in the iTunes app store in March for a few minutes before they turned it off themselves - but that was long enough for them to download it to their iOS device and have it attack their devices. Which they and it did. Apple has said they made some changes to iOS as result of their findings. But it is still not clear how much changes have been made and if they would stop someone else from pulling this off - someone else who might be far less ethical that is. For now this is just about researchers doing a live test - and not about any actual instances of real world attackers getting an app in to iTunes app store and getting users to download it.
And lets be realistic this is about theoretical ways to get Malware into iTunes - why is this not as big an issue as with Android - because on Android - Criminals take a popular app - say candy crush or something else popular that is free - and then add their code and then upload that in one of the many many 3rd party app stores. That method of distribution only works where you are installing the app - the original is not also present. Which with iTunes it would be. So while many in the Tech press make this out to be a major issue for iOS users - simply put it is not - and is not likely to ever be a major issue.
Do I think that some devious dev has put an app into the App store that behaves one way when being evaluated and a malicious way after approval - Sure it is possible - but it is not likely that said app is getting any traction. As again - for the malware to get on your device you must first want to download it. And that part of the puzzle so far is not the same on iOS side as the Android side.
So all iOS users breath deep - this not the issue some would want you to think it is. Android Users - ummm yeah - if you download anything out side of Google Play store or Amazon App store then you are all still pretty much fracked. Just sayin.
12:41.375
PLAY VOICE MAIL - Jon_AU_Answer_fuel_app_car
Hi Rob,
As mentioned on the podcast my favorite Car Mileage app with most features and export options is Trip Cubby. I think they offer a car maintenance app also.
Regards,
Paul H
Hi Rob,
I've found Gas Cubby to be a great app for
addressing all of the callers needs from Ep 278.
Regards,
Brian L
PLAY VOICEMAIL BRIAN_ANSWER_GAS_CUBBY
PLAY VOICE MAIL - Shanon Answer Car Maintenance
Hello Rob,
Per the best automotive app that iOS offers. I just bought a 2014 Kia Forte fully loaded and I already did the hours and hours of research for the best app. This just happens to be my first app review ever, and I am not sure how long is too long for your reviews - I hope this isn’t overkill. The app is called AutoCare ($1.99) and just to clarify I am in no way associated with any of the developers of this app, I am just an average user so there is no bias in this review. I attached my review as a PDF.
Regards,
Zach L.
Thanks Zach - And those with the Tii App - you can see the review in the extras for episode 279 - that is the little e on the episode screen in the lower right side - tap that and then select the PDF - which I will title - Autocare App Review
Again that is for any Tii App owners. For those interested it is a very detailed review - and well worth the time to check it out. Thanks Zach.
PLAY VOICE MAIL - Dave CA_ANSWER_CAR_APP_RoadTrip
18:03.004
Hi Rob,
I was just listening to show #278 and hear the guy looking for a
performance tracker app for bands. One that I found that fits my needs
"Bands In Town" it scans your library on your phone to find what you
like. You can also manually add artists. It also has links to purchase
tickets. Hope this helps....
Regards,
Kirk G
Hi Rob,
In addition to the Indiegogo project, there is the app & site
Hey for the guy looking for an app for bands near you. An app I have works great! Called bandsintown
Regards,
The Figgmister
Hi Rob,
A listener asked for an app that showed local concerts of his favorite bands. I have been using iConcertCal for several years and find it a good resource. It can be setup to check your music library on your iPhone and filter local shows based on your current owned artists. Also, you can browse all shows by either date or specific venues near you.
Regards,
Charlie
Hi Rob,
iconcertcal does a really good job scanning your music collection and finding local concerts.
Flurry analytics found they were in need of some link bait - so they looked closely at they demographic data for iPhone vs iPad users. They wanted to see what groups skewed more towards the iPhone vs more towards the iPad. For the iPad what they found was if your Mom has a dog she takes to work with her at the candle shop she owns - She also is likely taking an iPad - as Moms, Pet owners and small business owners skewed the most towards the iPad. But if your hot and single sister lives in the city and shops at good will - then she is likely taking her iPhone with her while trying to pop some tags. As Value shoppers, Singles and Hip Urban Lifestyle peeps are heavily skewed towards the iPhone. By the way your social studies teach that moonlights as a real estate agent and plays poker for cash with the other teachers - yeah - he is probably has both an iPad and an iPhone.
FYI - Flurry runs a data analytics API used by over 350,000 apps and the data was based on a random sampling of 44,295 iOS users on their network in May.
There was an App called Matcha.tv - which is a social TV startup - which actually shut down in May. So why are we talking about a failed startup / app. Well Apple just acquired the corpse. What the app did was to provide a comprehensive overview of everything that's available to watch via cable TV providers, Streaming video services - think Netflix, hulu and Amazon prime. And also digital video stores - i.e. iTunes and Amazon. The app would allow you to manage what you watched, get video recommendations from your friends and social network connections and the like.
Now what is not known is if the reason the app was killed in May - was at apples request - or if it was killed first and then Apple came in and acquired them.
Either way - it seems like an app / tech one would want for say a full on Apple TV - just sayin.
Or maybe someone at Matcha.tv had some picks of Someone in Apples management team with their shirt tucked in and this was payoff for the negatives.
Remember when Foxconn was reported to be suffering because of the massive slowdown in iPhone sales. Well the slow down never was real - just the figment of many Android fan boys. And now Foxconn is reporting profits jumped over 40% yr over yr and this was mostly do to strong sales of the iPhone line. Yeah so while the demise of the iPhone was greatly mis-reported - so to was the financial shape of FoxConn.
We mentioned on the last episode that Tuesday the 10th will likely be the next Apple special event - at least according to Ina Fried at all things leaked by Apple - I mean All things D. And Ina followed up with some other events Apple will be stepping on the toes of if they do have an event on the 10th.
1. Is the intel dev forum - and I doubt Apple cares about that event.
2. Tech crunch disrupt - well actually last year Apple stepped on their toes - and they responded with a panel session to talk about the new iPhone - so if anything - Apple would like that PR.
3. Mobile Future Forward - now this is one I could see Apple wanting to totally eclipse - as it is per the name an event about the future of mobile - with speakers from Samsung, Microsoft, and Ericsson. Actually there are multiple speakers from Samsung. So yeah - definitely could see apple wanting to suck any air out of that event.
Hey Rob:
CNET is making it sound like a retina display on the Mini is a done deal... You've said not gonna happen... I'm skeptical... Is this a bunch of poo?
Keep up the great work - your last episode, 278 was one of my favorites... You were in rare form!
Regards,
Mari in Cleveland
Hi Mari,
What we know is that in the iOS 7 Beta - there is indication to a new iPad mini with the A6 processor - not the A6X which would be required for Retina.
Add to that the fact a Retina Mini would either weigh more or have a shorter battery life or both. Considering the iPad Mini is about being lighter with long battery life - I don't see a Retina iPad mini 2 coming out.
Not at least with a version without retina still being available.
But really - at this point I don't expect - nor have I expected a retina iPad Mini.
I will take code found in iOS 7 betas over "Un-named sources" any day.
So KGI Securities Anal-ist Ming-Chi Kuo is now saying the iPhone 5S will have a 128 GB option - this and a new version with a gold case - which we mentioned was also rumored by others on the last episode. His 128 GB prediction goes along with what I have been saying - 32 / 64 and 128 GB versions will be the options for the 5S - that to support the 4K video recording feature that for some reason I have convinced myself is coming.
And Lots and lots of talk about the gold iPhone 5S is popping up now. MG Sigler has a post on it - Rene Ritchie talks about it at iMore. And they talk about how they are hearing it from this source or that source - and how easy it will be to anodize it as gold - but I think what all the articles are missing is the real reason why Apple is doing a third color for the iPhone 5S. And that is the iPhone 5S - will look exactly like the iPhone 5. And if you are upgrading or buying the iPhone 5S - would you not want a way to say to the world - No - this is not last years iPhone 5 - this is the iPhone 5S. I mean - that is why I am going to get the gold version - Not that I am overtly vain - well not overtly. But more so - because I want people to stop me and say is that the new iPhone - and I can say - Yes - Yes it is - and hey do you listen to my podcast - well you should. So beyond the vanity - I am doing it for the PR value for the show - or so I tell myself. How are you going to justify getting the gold version?
By the way confirmation from All Things D on the gold color did get one thing wrong. iMore did NOT break this story. Macotakara did and they did so over two months before iMore re-reported on what Macotakara reported which actually was reported by many others before iMore and after Macotakara. I Just don't like that John P at All things D got that part of the story sooooo wrong.
Again the first real mention of a gold iPhone 5S comes MAKOTAKARA back in May. And the first pictures of any parts with gold color were on now where else dot fr back in early June. Those photos came from a post on Weibo in China. Point is there is no way All Things D should have given credit to iMore. John P at All things D tried to justify it in an email to me saying iMore was the first to confirm it. Ummm - no they did not confirm it - they just got an un-named source to say Yes all those photos you are seeing of Gold iPhones and parts - yeah thats real. But did we even need that from an un-names source - because picking between multiple photos from multiple sources or an un-named source - the photos from multiple sources are in my opinion much more of a validation.
John ended his email exchange with me saying quote Rob …
I’m entirely comfortable in my sourcing, and certain that we’ll see the device we’re discussing now in the months ahead. I wouldn’t have reported it otherwise.
J
unquote
Still - an un-named source is not confirmation - it is just more validity to a rumor. Confirmation comes from one source a public statement by Apple. Just Sayin.
Something occurred to me - Apple is Freakin brilliant - they hold back on NFC on past iPhones - so when Google introduces Google Wallet - guess what it flounders and struggles to get going. Google then makes comments about not supporting redemption of gift and loyalty cards and now it looks like Google may do away with all NFC support for Google wallet - and then in comes Apple introduces NFC for the iPhone - and instantly will make it work - while any confidence and excitement on the Android side has been dashed. Brilliant!!! - that is if Apple does NFC in the iPhone 5S and offers some sort of app to take advantage of that capability from Apple.
Nope not buying the other report from KGI Anal-ist Ming-Chi Kuo - who is saying the iPhone 5C would be in the $400 to $500 price range with out a subsidy. Actually what I really am not buying is that he say the iPhone 4S will then be the lowest cost iPhone in the $300 to $400 range. Nope - Not seeing that. Why would Apple at this point not kill off the iPhone 4 and 4S - and go with the 5C and 5S - and maybe the 5. Thus making all current iPhones at this point - 4 inches for screen size and sporting a lightning port. Just seems like that makes much more sense then selling the iPhone 4S in the $300 to $400 range - which is where I think the iPhone 5C will end up. Still on the fence about the life of the iPhone 5 - but I kinda am leaning to a two iPhone offering. the 5S and 5C - with the 5 going the way of the original iPhone - a short 1 year run.
We have a new rumor for the full on Apple TV and I have problem with the rumor. The problem I have with the latest rumor of the Apple full on TV is the sizes they are claiming - 55" and 60" and that is it.
NOPE - When / If Apple does a full on TV - it will start around 42" - Because guess what that is the size sold the most.
Other details from the rumor - it will not launch until the first half of 2014. And yup - even with it having a 4K display - which would come from LG display. with Gorilla glass from Corning over the top of the display.
From the You can't make this crap up category comes the story of some bumbling criminal masterminds. Seems these guys in the UK got the brilliant idea that if they could mail a package that supposedly has some iPads's in it to one another and insure the package - and then get the contents to disappear while in transit they could collect the insurance and make some money. They though what could they put in the package that would have weight - but then disappear - ICE ICE baby must have been the song in their head when the lightbulb went off - figuring the ICE would melt and when the package gets where it is going it - it would not weigh what it did when they had it weighed in for the shipment. Brilliant!!! they thought - what could go wrong. Well for starters - ICE in a package does not simply disappear - it melts and guess what water and paper - yeah not a good combo - and a couple hours after they dropped off the packed - the postal workers notice water coming out of it and watched and the packaging fell apart. Well you know except for the part with the guys name that it was going to and who insured it. In the end the two conmen did not get the insurance money but they did get 12 months of community service with 150 hours of unpaid work and were ordered to pay 500 pounds towards prosecution costs. Hey guys next time try dry ice. Or better yet - fill it with ants and leave a small whole for the ants to get out and don't pull the tab on the whole until you hand it over and put something in between the ants need to eat through to get out. So it buys you some time. Well you have 12 months to plan your next great caper.
There was a bunch of posts out there about a report from Canalys that showed 30 of the top 100 iPad apps in the US iTunes app store are not on Google play. Note - they looked at the top 50 free and top 50 paid apps. And as you may know the top 50 lists - are not top 50 all time - just the top 50 in the last week based on a combo of criteria based on new downloads and how often the apps were launched.
Now this title is somewhat slanted / skewed - because well 10 of those top 100 were from Apple. So the title could have also been
20 of the top 90 iPad apps not made by Apple in the US are not on google Play. And of the 70 that are - over 25% are not optimized for a Tablet. or spun another way 18 of the 70 that are on Android are not optimized for Tablets.
Granted one of the reasons you do get an iPad is for Apples Apps. And the ten Apple apps that made the top 50 are.
Podcasts
iBooks
Find my iPhone
iTunes U
Find My Friends
on the free side - in that order - and remember - the order has to do with how often they are used. So yes - People are listening to more podcasts then they reading iBooks.
On the Paid side the top Apple apps are -
Pages
iMovie
Garageband
Keynote
Numbers
iPhoto
And really - you need to include those apps - when looking at this - as 3 of them get you access to MS Office documents. And the other two are unique Apple Apps that have nothing really close to as good on the Android side.
So really for apps used by iPad owners - if they get a second tablet for the kids - they will find that tablet might be fine for Netflix, mine craft and Angry birds. But for any productive use of your time - working with Excel or Word docs - you are not going to find anything as good as Numbers and Pages. And Keynote is just so much better than Powerpoint - you are better off using Keynote on your iPad then Powerpoint on Windows 8 machine and forget about anything on an Android tablet.
Sadly they did not look at the apps from 101 to 1,000 - as that is where people find a couple of vital apps for their specific use. And it would be interesting to see what % of the next top 900 apps available on Android is and if they are available what % are optimized for Tablets. My guess is the numbers will look even worse for Android if you looked at that next group.
Honestly I started out researching this bit from the point of view the article was over blown and the differences are not that great for top apps - but when I looked at it more and did research and thought about it - really it is a big difference between the two. And that does once again explain the big difference in Tablet usage between iOS and Android tablets. Not only do people like using the iPad more - but all the apps they need are there for the iPad and they are optimized for the iPad.
Samsung is trying something completely new to them - something that will stretch their engineers to the point of breaking - what is it you ask - well Samsung is going to have their engineers design a product Apple has not announced. What I am talking about is the iWatch. Seems Samsung plans to announce their own Smart Watch in early September. How Sammy does with out Apple to slavishly copy from will be anyones guess. But likely the product will get buried by Apple news - as Apple will likely be sending out invites to the press around the same exact time as Sammy does their song and dance on their smart watch. Yeah - but with out Apple to copy - looks like they will be copying the Pebble.
39:12.077
PLAY VOICEMAIL Dan CA_Answer File Explorer
Hi Rob,
I've been using the Maxell AirStash. It's pretty straight forward, you load up your AirStash via usb or directly to the sd card from your computer (no wireless connection via computer) and access the files from the AirStash+ app on your iDevice. Airstash can use various sizes of sd memory cards (i use a 64 gb card), and it seems that they are staying on top of development as the current firmware beta allows for simultaneous connection to the AirStash and wifi internet connection. It's still in beta but shows that they're trying to improve the product.
If you're needing to pack a terrabyte of extra data this may not be for you. But if you're looking to double your current iPad or iPhone's storage this unit should do very nicely.
Regards,
Robert B
Hi Rob,
Does iOS have parental controls or apps that perform the level of control that the Kindle and soon Android tablets have in terms of ability to granularly approve app access and setting time limits on app usage? Of course the ability to have multiple accounts on a tablet would be essential.
If not, who do we talk to to get this functionality?
Thanks
Rob M
Hi Rob - Nope that feature you are talking about and is featured in a recent ad for the Fire - as a parent does seem like a nice feature - and one I wish Apple added - Where you can say in any day they can only play games for 30 minutes - but they can use educational apps for 2 hours or they can only watch netflix for 30 minutes and can use iBooks for 2 hours - or the like - that as a parent is a cool feature - and kudos to Amazon for adding that in. I don't think you will see that in Android overall - as I understand it that feature is something Amazon added to their skinning of Android - but I could be wrong. But for now you will not be seeing it on iOS either. Which means we as parents for the mean time will have to you know parent.
PLAY VOICE MAIL - Justin_PA_Answr_Photo_Transfer
Hi Rob,
In regard to David from 0278, connect the iPhone to the pc via USB cable. Open My Computer or Computer or File Explorer, depending on which version of Windows it is. You should see the iPhone listed. Click it to open, then drag & drop the photos and videos to a folder on the computer. No other software needed.
Regards,
Robert
Hi Rob,
Just heard the comment from a user about a program to pull photos off an iPhone using Windows. There are many different ways to do this and it depends on what you are doing.
I use Windows Photo Gallery, which is a free download from Microsoft, to download photos via USB under both Windows 7 and 8. I sync multiple devices, including my camera using that app. I highly recommend changing the default option to name photos by date taken + tag (or maybe even just date taken), rather than the default of the date imported plus tag. Otherwise you will get many, many duplicates because every photo and video will download to a new location every time you sync.
I also recommend pointing the directory to one that is managed by one of your cloud-based apps. I have my machine pointing to a photos directory under DropBox so each time I download photos they upload straight to my DropBox folder. That way I don't lose my photos if something happens to my computer.
Another option is to use iCloud and it will automatically download photos, however, I don't think iCloud downloads videos from your device.
Finally I suggest looking at cloud-based apps. For example, DropBox can be set to automatically upload all of your photos and videos from your camera roll to your DropBox account. It can work in the background and be set to only use wifi and not cellular. This will not only upload your entire camera roll to DropBox automatically, it will sync them to every computer you have signed into your DropBox account, whether is is Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.
Regards,
Myron U
Hi Rob,
As requested on the podcast this is my favorite app to transfer photos & videos wirelessly without iTunes sync to a PC. It is called PhotoSync one word. It is $1.99.
With over 60,000 photos on my iPhone it has been a lifesaver to transfer with multiple selection of a range of images and many transfer options to multiple devices and services with latest update.
Regards,
Paul H
Hi Rob,
In episode 278, I think there was a listener who asked about a solution to offload photos from an ipad. A possible solution is this innovative product which I bought before our summer vacation. It is the RavPower RP-WD01 with associated AirStor (free) app. The RP-WD01 is like a portable cloud with WiFi, a rechargeable battery (which you can use to charge your idevice via USB), SD slot and USB host interface. We used it to load movies from our USB video drive to iPads on a long plane flight, move movie files from camcorder SD to HDD, etc. There are other apps which can be used with the hardware for streaming, but we found it more efficient to fire up the RP-WD01, use AirStore to transfer an entire movie file to an iPad, then shut down the RP-WD01 and USB drive and watch the movie on the iPad.
The RP-WD01 is $45 on Amazon and a 1TB USB drive is currently $59 at Frys, so for a little over $100, you can have a 1TB portable cloud vs paying $50-100 for every 16GB of iPad storage.
Thanks for continuing to produce such a great podcast.
Jim
PLAY VOICE MAIL - JOE NY Answer _ Photo Sync
Justin, Robert, Myron, Paul, Jim and Joe - plus everyone else that sent in a response on this that did not get mentioned thanks for your feedback.
47:42.015
I mentioned the HOT Smart watch on the last episode and said if you were left handed and/or you wear your watch on your right arm - their speaker at the wrist would be pointed the wrong way - they did reply and say quote The watch has to be worn inverted screen and a setting in software will flip the display and touch. unquote
So they do have a software solution for using this on your right wrist for more info search for HOT Smart Watch at kickstarter.com
To my wife - jump forward 5 minutes to avoid a spoiler. Do it now. Really. Speaking of Kickstarter projects from Kickstarter - last week I mentioned the Sound Band - headset - that was the headsets that did not go in your ears but behind them. I showed this to my wife and she was I want them - As she hates earbuds in her ears as they always fall out. So I am now a backer of that project. Which means with a lot of luck I have a christmas present taken care of - If this is normal Kickstarter timing - it will likely be late in Jan or Feb - so with a little luck - I have a birthday or V-Day present for my wife.
Go back to Ep 278 for more info on the Sound Band - search for sound band - two words at kickstarter dot com. Yes - I know it was a little pricey at $135 - but getting a Present for your wife she will actually like - Well that is priceless.
Finally from last week - one more mention of Red Pitaya - no don't worry no talk about phase noise specs. Just that if you are looking to get one - they did say they will be contacting some Oscillator vendors about the option for a low phase noise oscillator to test / use with their system for improved performance - but I wanted to say if you want an introduction to someone at an oscillator vendor to get your own low phase noise Oscillator to use - just email and I will hook you up. OR at a min ask the Red Pitaya folks about getting a low phase noise source oscillator they did agree in email for advanced users that would be something that should be done.
Into the email bag.
Hi, Rob
I believe it was two show episodes ago that a listener wondered if Apple would ever make a wrist loop for the iPhone. I just happened to come across this very thing on Kickstarter. It is called the iString and the minimum pledge is for $12. It looks like a good product, but it needs many more backers to reach its funding goal. Here is the link:
Hi Janeen - thanks for the heads up on the iString which is for the iPhone - and not for the iPad - oh come on - How can I not do that joke - Any way the iString does not look like it has any chance of getting funded. It has less than $2k raised toward a goal of $20k and they have only until August 31st at 5:37 AM ET to get the rest. Again not likely as they have less than 10% of their goal raised and not enough days left. But folks if you want a carrying strap for your iPhone check out iString at kickstarter dot com oh and you better tell a few hundred of your closest friends as well - as that is about the only chance this one has of getting funded.
Hi Rob,
Did you see this kickstarter project yet?
Minimal Leather Wallet + iPhone Protection = Wally Case
Thanks Aric - this one is kind of in that gray area where it might get funded or it might not. They have a goal of 15k - and have raised just over 8k - and have 26 days to go. So in theory - they could and just barely should get funded. They offer a Black on Black version, a White and Black version and a White and Brown verson. And all three are priced at $40 - actually they only have 3 price options and they are all the same. $40 - kudos for keeping the goal low and the pricing options minimal.
Thanks to John M for this next one - which is a follow up to the story about Apple offering a buy back / exchange for 3rd part chargers in China. Well Apple has extended that 30 countries now. I will not read all - but if you are outside the US and have a 3rd party charger and want to exchange it for a legit Apple charger at a reduced rate - look for the link titled - Apple Third-Party USB Charger Takeback Program in 30 Countries in the show notes for episode 279 at today in ios dot com
Those of your that are fans of the SyFy channel will be happy to know they just updated their App to version 4.0 and are calling it SyFy Now - this app will let you see original SyFy programing directly on your iOS device - assuming you are a customer of Armstrong, AT&T U-verse, Cablevision's Optimum TV service, Charter, Comcasts Xfinity TV, Dish, Mediacom, Suddenlink, Verizons FiOS and Wide Open West. Yes this means Sharknado on your iOS device when and where you want it. And Defiance, and Being human and many of the other SyFy original programing.
Search for SyFy in the App store and look for the SyFy Now.
53:56.873
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Shavan_HI_ICLEAN
Hi Rob,
I am a student in high school and we are getting iPads for school this year and I would like an app the I could use to organize my virtual assignments. Could you or your listeners give me an app?
Thanks,
Love the show!
Carson
Hi Rob
I upgrade next yr Jun 1st
And I wanted to know once i upgrade can i tell sprint I don't want another 2yr contract i would like to have a One yr Contract is that Possible.
Regards,
Sharde A
Hi Sharde,
If you upgrade and take their subsidy - in other words you only pay $199 / $299 / $399 for the new iPhone 5S for the 32 / 64 / 128 GB versions (if that is what they are).
What you are doing to get that lower subsidized price is agreeing to a 2 year contract.
If you don't want a 2 year agreement with your next iPhone - you will need to buy it un-subsidized. But at Sprint - I don't think that would reduce your monthly payment - it would just mean you don't have a two year agreement. And likely when the iPhone 5S first comes out - Sprint will not sell any unsubsidized iPhone 5S's - they did not when the iPhone 5 launched initially.
Hi rob,
My wife and I love the show.
My question Is how do you block a spam for phone call without jail breaking your phone. Other than using the do not disturb feature.
The best to you
Saleem
Hi Saleem,
Thanks for listening and the kind words.
To Answer your question - Wait for iOS 7 to come up in about 3 or 4 weeks - and then built into iOS 7 is the ability to block phone calls, text messages and iMessages from specific people.
Really no good way to do it in iOS 6 - without jailbreaking - but again the good news is iOS 7 will be here shortly and it will be easy to do once you upgrade.
There was a post from Ina Freid titled - Apple faces hurdles attracting first time smartphone buyers - And basically the article tries to paint a picture that Apple is having a hard time getting new customers. Which is not what the data shows.
What it showed - for those in the US who previously owned a smartphone - Apple got basically 50% of those consumers. Samsung was in second at 29%, HTC 3rd at 9% and LG 4th at about 5%. Other was at 6%.
Ok - so far that sounds good. Apple with 50% of previous smartphone owners going with an iPhone.
For those that were first time buyers - Apple got about 35% vs Samsungs 30% and HTC's 8% and LG's 11% and other at 15%.
Still new Smartphone buyers I thought we were lead to believe were drying up in the US. And most users already have a smartphone in the US. Still 35% is not bad considering Apple does not have the low cost iPhone out there yet - and now when we talk new smartphone users - we are talking people with less income than that the average US consumer. That means lower cost carriers - and no subsidy. Hence the reason for the less than 50% mark for Apple. Which again at 35% is not bad - when we consider the lowest cost iPhone is a $200 discount of a two year old device - well at least until September 10th that is.
Will be interesting to see how those stats look in January for the 4th quarter of 2013.
For those of you / use with a Roku - They have recently updated their iOS App. What you can do now on the Roku 2, 3, new HD and Roku LT players and the Roku Streaming stick is play videos right from your iOS device to the Roku box. IE Airplay for Roku.
SOMETHING SEEMS FISHY
And I mention Roku because a company called Parks Associates released survey data that shows for US broadband households with a streaming video media device - that 37% primarily use a Roku vs 24% that use primarily use an Apple TV.
I find these result surprising to say the least - as the last time there was data provided on Streaming player sales - was way back in April by Frost and Sullivan and they said Apple TV lead the was with 56.1% of Streaming boxes vs just 21.5% for Roku. Ok I realize a lot can happen in 4 months - but someone here is clearly not right.
Ok actually there was that report at the end of May - where it had Apple TV at 71% of the sales and Roku at 27% and Boxee Box at 1%. That report was based on numbers reported by those three companies. Not survey's but reported numbers.
All I have to say is something seems fishy about the Parks Associates numbers. They are not anywhere close to the companies own numbers and the numbers from Frost and Sullivan. I did reach out via email to Parks Associates to get their feedback on why the numbers for their report are so different than past reports. At the time of this recording they had not replied - but if they do before the next episode - I will be sure to mention it then.
1:03:03.158
PLAY VOICEMAIL ROB_KY_STORY_MOM_IPHONE
Hi Rob,
I am a letter carrier for the USPS. I am wanting to get an iPhone but I have heard that it doesn't work in extreme temperatures or the battery doesn't function properly. I am outside almost 6 hours a day in 95 degrees and/or 10 degrees. Does the iPhone have problems performing in these temperatures as I have heard?
Regards, Mike A
Hi Mike,
The iPhone does not have an issue with temperature as much as having it sitting in the sun.
even on a cool day if it laying in the sun - depending on the angle of the sun - it can cause the temperature sensor to show it as over heating.
This happens to people put it on their dashboard and use GPS.
The sun actually causes it to over heat.
Keep it out of the sun and you should be ok.
Rob W
Hey rob,
Just an interesting observation :I was sitting out on the deck of my grandma's shore house the other day playing a summer mix. My iPhone was on the table, and I didn't realize in direct sunlight. The music stopped playing, and when I went over to check why, there was a temperature icon and the message : "iPhone needs to cool down before you can use it. "so I took it inside to a cool place, but thought it was neat apple would put that hardware inside and actually let the user know before frying their device.
Hope all the people and iPhone s stay cool for the remaining summer,
Chelsea
See it is all about perspective. Thanks Chelsea for that feedback.
Hi Rob,
Have you seen the movie bundles deal in the iTunes Store? There are some great deals on movies such as all 10 of the original Star Trek and Next Generation movies for $50 and the Die Hard series for $40 (it even includes the most recent movie).
Myron U
Thanks Myron - and remember folks - a Bad Star Trek movie is still much better then a good twilight movie. Just Sayin.
Hi Rob,
I would like to protect the portraits that I take with possibly a watermark. I would like to advertise by showing my portraits on the web. I fear that the images could be stolen or used in an unauthorized way. Do you or your listeners have any recommendations.
Regards,
Cindy Eisele,
Hi Cindy - I would suggest looking at the different episode artwork for Tii - each week someone sends in Artwork - they created on their iOS device and we mention the apps used. This week the app used to add text was Photostudio - but again - look through all the artwork for each episode - find one you like and listen to the first 2 minutes of that episode to find out the artwork used. There have been many mentioned about adding text to the picture. See that is the nice thing about this show - in the first 5 minutes of each episode - you have already received tips on apps to make artwork and been offered chances for promo codes - and found out a quote from someone that did not know what they were talking about - some other tech shows - the first 5 to 10 minutes is nothing but fluff about guests and sponsor mentions. Not that I would name any names. But I do value your time more so than some others seem to - just sayin.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired.
And a big thanks to todays sponsor - WARBY PARKER -
If you wear glasses like me you know what a pain it is to get new glasses and how expensive it is - my last pair cost more than a 64 GB iPhone. Especially after the eyeglass store put on all their adders. But Warby Parker is not like that. First on the price side for prescription Glasses they are $95 or you can go titanium for $145. And that includes the UV coating and a very nice case. No up sells. And these are nice fashionable glasses.
go to Warby Parker dot com to get your 5 pairs of glasses to try on for free shipped right to you door. Then when you find a pair you like when you are checking out use the promo code T i i to get free 3 day shipping on the pair you purchase. Great Glasses, Great pricing, and a great cause. Warby Parker dot com.
Here is some artwork I made by taking a picture of my living room carpet and then using the Aviary app on my iPod Touch! to add the text. You can find my tech blog at bengalreview.wordpress.com
On August 6th Apple updated the iOS 7 Beta to version 5. This included updates for all the iOS devices that will accept iOS 7 and updates to the Apple TV software. Beta 5 seems to be a lot more of crossing T's and Dotting i's with very little in the way of new features. Some of those updates include new icons in the settings app for items like Airplane mode, Wifi, bluetooth and the like. There is a new feature in Settings that lets you disable Control Center with in Apps - which is nice because some game apps do to how you interact - will cause control center to come up when you really just meant to slice some fruit in half or crush some candy. One other noted change is the start up screen will now match your iOS device. In other words a white iPhone will start up with a white background and a Black Apple in the middle and a Black iPhone will start up with a black background and a while Apple in the middle. Yup seems Apple is putting some more polish on the beta and that is good news as it means we are getting closer to a full launch of the Gold master to devs and by proxy closer to the public launch of iOS 7.
Rob,
I have a pet peeve with the new "pull-up" settings menu and I hope Apple will address it before Gold launch if you bring it up on your show. When you access the menu it has a lot of useful options available with the exception of a shortcut to the expanded main settings icon. I still find myself having to drill down through my icons to get to basic settings such as email and wifi networks, etc. Anything you could do to bring this to Apple's attention would be much appreciated. :-)
On Episode 277 which was released on August 1st I said quote What Apple might do is on September 3rd - they could send out invites to a special event - that would be on Tuesday the 10th. Then on the 10th they would announce that iOS 7 would be available the next day on the 11th for download or maybe even later that day on the 10th. And then introduce the new iPhone or iPhones - and say they would be available on that Friday the 13th. unquote.
From All things D on August 11th 10 days after my quote they said quote Apple is expected to unveil its next iPhone at a special event on Sept. 10, sources toldAllThingsD unquote. This from Ina Fried at all things D - and if you are not familiar with all things D - that is where Apple goes to leak stuff. So it seems like the 10th it is for an announcement about the next iPhone or iPhones. There was no indication in the article when the actual release date would be. I am still guessing on September 13th. Granted every times in the past that Apple announced a new iPhone there was at least a 9 day window from announcement to launch. But what if this Year - Apple was determined to get Lines back out in front of Apple stores. And what if they wanted to pump up Apple store sales numbers. Maybe just Maybe Tim Cook is coming around to the perception game that Steve Played like no one else. What if Tim says that on Friday the 13th at Apple stores the iPhone 5S goes on sale - and we will take orders on line on the 11th for shipments that start going out on Monday 16th. That might get a few more people in Line for iPhones - and longer lines for iPhone means more press coverage and that makes anal-ists happy. We shall see - but if Apple does release per this schedule it may mean they are getting back into the perception game. And really considering how bad Apple has been beaten down by the tech press / bloggers the past year plus - well it is about time they fought back a little.
Some interesting stats coming out of the resale market for smartphones - the iPhone 4 since April has seen its value rise 10% on the resale market. Over that period the value of the iPhone 4S however dropped 11.85% and the iPhone 5 resale value dropped just 3.75%. This based on successful auctions on ebay.
Conversely looking at the Galaxy S3 over that period the value dropped 27.32% and the Note 2 - dropped 35.54%.
Nothing really shocking there - iOS devices have always held their value much longer and better than Android devices.
Now if you are someone that is looking to sell an iPhone 4, 4S or 5 - now is actually the time to do that. As by the end of the month there will be a big increase in people selling iPhones to get ready for the iPhone 5S - so that means from this point forward pricing will likely only decline and will do so big time on September 10th.
Kudos to the Obama Administration for having the President Veto the ITC ruling that would have banned sales of the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 GSM versions at AT&T. This is something I harped on and said needed to be done and it is really great to see that the ITC ban was overturned - it would have set such a bad precedence it allowed to be enacted.
Also Kudos to Connie Guglielmo from Forbes and Florian Muller of Foss Patents as being the only two with in the first 48 hours of the Veto that I read to report on the Obama Veto AND actually mention the support from Verizon and Bipartisian support in the US Senate. Most every day folks have no idea on what the background of this case was - Sadly they don't all listen to this podcast. So all they saw was President Obama vetoed something that helped apple and hurt samsung and saw it as a political decision - which it was not at all. This was a standard essential / FRAND issue - and one if not vetoed would have had dire long term effects on consumer. Sadly most reporting on this did not take the time to do proper background checking on this - like was done at Forbes and by Florian Mueller.
From Florean Muellers article quote This is a victory for consumers and fair competition, and it also shows that Commissioner Dean Pinkert, one of the six leaders of the ITC, appropriately dissented from the majority decision, which was a total outlier with respect to injunctive relief over standard-essential patents unquote.
This was not at all about politics - as both sides of the isle had people with level heads saying this needed to be stopped / killed / vetoed. And it had people both friends and enemies agreeing this needed to be stopped / killed / vetoed. And at the end of the day - I believe the correct decision was made and long term - there are many many different legal articles that will now not fill up my email news feed. And after all is that not what it is all about - keeping my inbox and news feeds clear of all this legal clutter.
I had a couple of people send in links to an article from ShiftyJelly - the company that makes the Pocket Casts App for iOS and Android.
And they were disputing what people like John Gruber and my self were saying about Android Development taking as many as 3x the developers to support vs iOS. They try to dispute John by saying they do develop for both and they don't see that issue.
Well the company I work for has developed more Apps than Shifty Jelly and we have developed our apps for iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8. And we did not develop a few more - we developed a lot more.
I can tell you 100% - there is much much more time required to develop for AND support Android Apps.
Even though there are many times more installs on iOS than Android - we get more support tickets from Android.
Most of that is fragmentation related issues.
There just is no way you can test your app on all the android device before releasing a new version. That means you will have issue on some of the 11k + android devices out there. That is just a reality - unless you app is really really basic - if you develop for Android - you will have issues with some strange Android device or 2 or 100. It is just the way it is - and the more popular the app - the more likely you are to have your app downloaded to one of these outlier Android devices. So regardless of what it takes on the development side - if you stand behind your apps and offer support - you will see multiple times the support tickets on Android - that you see on iOS - in general - and that has to do with all the different versions of Android devices out there.
Another thing in General you will see with iOS apps is more revenue. A new Report from Distimo shows that Apple App store revenue still far exceeds that of Google Play revenue despite there being More Android devices and Android app downloads. Distimo Also looked at the top earning apps for Jul and Candy Crush leads in Generating the most revenue. It is estimate that Candy Crush earns about $800k per day in revenue - not to shabby. And speaking of Candy Crush - here is a little tip for you - if you run out of lives or get stuck on one of those Quests - where you can't do anything for 24 hours - and you don't want to contribute to that $800k in revenue by buying more lives. You can simply go into the Setting app and then to date and time - and then turn off auto time and move the clock up and you will get more lives - unlimited lives - as you just keep moving it forward.
Granted you will want to turn back on auto time when done playing. But if you are stuck on a tough level or at a quest - just change your time and just like that you are back trying to make cake pops. And don't think of that a cheating think of it as a hidden easter egg or Hacking or Exploiting a whole so freakin obvious - they should have known better but were too busy counting their cash to look at the code so you are obligated to take advantage of this now that you know.
Hi,
I am the IT Manager where I work and have just recently finished switching all of my mobile devices to iOS devices. It has made my life much easier as far as that department is concerned.
Thanks to Stephen for the heads up on this next one.
Which talks about some survey's of devs for iOS. One of the questions was are you working on updating your current app for iOS 7 - of 575 valid responses - 545 developers indicated that they were working on an update for iOS 7 - that is a 95% adoption rate.
Of those they then were asked if their new version of the app would require iOS 7 or would work for both iOS 7 and iOS 6. Surprisingly just over half said their new version would be iOS 7 only and not support iOS 6. I find that very shocking actually. I am hoping some of the devs rethink things - while updating an app to iOS7 is no small task - cutting out support for iOS 6 seems short sited - given all the original iPads, and iPhone3GS's out there - that just can't upgrade to iOS 7.
Another novel of a post from Dan Dilger at Apple Insider - this one it titled - Apple, Inc. iPad is obliterating Samsung, Google's Android in Tablet Profits. And well he says in great detail and specificity what I have been saying on the show in generality - which is Apple Makes the lion shares of Tablet profits. And at the end of the day Market share for units Shipped is completely meaningless - it is about who is make the mulla - the denero - the money. Essentially Dilger completely obliterates the Strategy Analytics report about Tablet Market share and shows that report is not just meaningless but very very misleading about what really matters - making some money - and not about stuffing the channel inventory.
Another report after Stratedgy Analytics came out about Tablet Market share and this one came from IDC. and this one was used and requoted about 100's and 100's of times by Android Fanbois to chid the iPad and how it is doing. Except they did not really look at the numbers quite right. Seems if you looked at the IDC numbers and then looked at what Google reported - it seems like what IDC was saying is that 1 out of every 2 Android tablets shipped into the Channel inventory is sitting on shelf somewhere.
I contacted Tom at IDC with this very leading shall we call it email.
Hi Tom,
I hope you are well. Thanks again for the last time we spoke.
I have a couple of questions about your new report on Tablet Market share.
The absolute best you can get from their graph is 14 Million Android tablets activated last quarter.
Can you explain the difference in your numbers and that from what Google is reporting.
Additionally for windows Tablets you have 2 Million Windows tablets for the quarter. Yet from MS own 10K report we know at best there have been 1.6 Million Surface tablets sold as of October 2012. If we went with 500k Windows tablets plus 14 Mil Android tablets and 200k other. That would work out to a market share for the iPad of 49.8%.
Pleas let me know your thoughts on the above numbers and the differences from MS and Google vs your numbers.
Are you just reporting about that pushed in the sales channel - and not actually sold - meaning there would be some 14+ Mil Android tablets sitting on shelves.
Best regards,
Rob Walch
Today in iOS
And Tom was nice enough to call back - and in a nut shell - he said he felt yes there were a lot of Android tablets sitting in the sales channel - probably not the 50% I am suggesting - but a good amount.
We also talked about the disparity in numbers when it comes to usage reports - and he with no leading or pushing from me - also came to the conclusion - that most of the Android tablets are crap - and people that actually buy these cheap $100 or less tablets - quickly - very quickly stick them in a draw and never use them again. And the reason that iPad Tablet traffic is going up - is when someone gets an iPad - they keep using it. He said with very few exceptions most of the Android tablets are not something users want to use.
He did suggest that the Activation chart Google shows - is based on Tablets accessing the Google Play store - but my searching on that indicates that is not the case - when Google reported the Tablet activations for Tablets all time - that included any tablets - including Kindle Fires. And as of the end of Last quarter - there were just about 71 Million Android tablets activated all time - vs the 150+ million iPads - or more than 2x the iPads sold as Android Tablets activated.
Tom did agree to come on the show when he releases a future study at IDC. And a big Kudos to Tom for spending the time to talk about how they measure and more importantly what he really thinks is going on in this space competitively. Hint - iPad is winning.
You know those reports from Strategy Analytics and now IDC saying the iPad market share for last quarter was down around 30% - you well surprise surprise - it is all BS. Not shocking when we know that on the usage side the iPad continues to gain ground - if just in the US and Canada - but still not what one would expect for someone hemeraging market share as Fanbois would want you to believe - But how do we know that those two reports are BS - beyond you know actual results from usage. Because - that can be biased by the fact most Android tablets are crap. Well we are able to look at a graph provided by Google about quote Total Android Tablet Activations unquote - Not partial - but total - including Kindles and any other Android tablets - and from the graph what we see is last quarter there were just under 14 Million iPads activated world wide - and yes that includes many many of the Crap sub $100 android tablets. Vs Apples over 14 Million iPads. So we know for a fact last quarter Apple sold more Tablets than Android Activated. Ok granted - if you through in some Windows tablets that would push Apple below the 50% mark - which by the way - is what we see from the Canalysis report - where they have the iPad at 47% of the Tablet market. Which is probably pretty close to reality - and definitely not the fairy tale being told by Strategy Analitics nor IDC.
24:50.154
PLAY VOICE MAIL - BRAD_LOOKING4CAR_MAINT
Hi rob for the user with the problem with his wifi not working. download the ios 6.1.4 ispw file and plug his device in. Go to the summery section of his device in the iTunes window. Then Hold down the SHIFT key on your keyboard and click on Update
Keiin
iTunes simultaneously. Then select the ios 6.1.4 ispw file and click update and that should fix his problem. Love your show keep up the good work.
Nathan
Hi, Rob! :)
I was just wondering if you (or anyone) knows if it is possible to stream video from an iPhone to your TV without using Apple TV? I do have a WD TV Live unit that's a few years old, with which I could upload the videos to a flash drive and then run them through the WD unit, but I would like to be able to directly stream content from my iPhone or iPad using Wifi, if that is possible.
Thanks so much, and -- as always -- love the show!
Under the category of link bait comes this next one from John C Dvorak - for his post titled quote - How the iPhone gets you laid unquote - and the essence of the article is if you whip out something in today's bar scene to show to the ladies - then guys what you whip out better not be 6 inches or 5 inches - nope it better be either 4 inches or 3 1/2 inches - and yes I am talking about it being an iPhone. Because showing off an S4 or a HTC 1 or Note - is the same as stamping Looser with a capital L on your forehead. Seems the Ladies only respect a man that can Facetime with them. Actually we talked about this a couple of years ago on the show - actually talked about it a few times in the past - and it is good to see that is still the case - go out with your iPhone if you are looking to hook up or spend that late night alone at the local greasey spoon reading tweets on your Android device from your buds that met Mrs Right - sent from their iPhones of course.
There was a report out from the site FixYa - that reported that iPhones were were the most reliable smartphones - They actually said the iPhone was 3 times more reliable than Samsung smartphones and 25 times more reliable than Motorola smartphones.
When I saw this report - which was re-reported a bunch of places I felt the claim while attractive for me and this show - seemed well a little questionable - and if you look at how they get the data - it is based on trouble tickets to their website - and the normalized for market share. Ummmm - No. I am guessing if iPhone users have issues - they will likely run to an Apple store or the apple forums not to FixYa - all this says is that for people visiting Fixya - Motorola smartphone users are 25 times more likely to report and issue compared to iPhone users. I am not saying that the iPhone is not more reliable than Samsung and Moto smartphones - I am pretty sure they are - but not 25 times more reliable or even likely 3 times more reliable. It just seems the data collection and assumptions used to get to the end results are too questionable in my mind to be valid - no matter how much I as an Apple Kool-aid drinker want it to be true.
What we really need to find this answer is to get the results back from a market where there are no Apple stores - and then see in the market the number of returns to the local Verizon, AT&T and Sprint stores - vs what they sold in the past. That is the only way to get a good number. And well that is not likely to happen either.
Thanks to Tony V of Brooklyn - Yoo - for this next one. Which is about Apple Launching a 3rd party Charger take back program in China. Think of those gun buy back programs - or dirty needle exchanges - and that is what Apple was doing - saying - If you have a 3rd party charger - we don't care who it is from - if you are in China - bring us that 3rd party charger and we will responsibly recycle it and then allow you to purchase one of our legit charges for just $10. You do need to bring your iOS device with you as well - so one they know you have an iOS device and two they can make sure you get the right charger for said iOS device. Kudos to Apple for doing the right thing - the non-evil thing.
Apple does not acquire many companies so any time they do - you have to assume they had a specific reason or need for said acquisition. And of course they are not talking - so that leaves us to speculate and guess. Like with Apples very recent acquisition of the company Passif - which is a silicon Valley bases low energy chip maker. And what do their products do - well their chips are communication chips that use very little power and include a radio that works with low power consumption Blue tooth LE. This technology quote has its intended uses in wearable health-monitoring and fitness devices unquote. Can you say iWatch. Now you might say - well if Apple just acquired them now - it will be a couple of years before we see their tech in an Apple product - except will maybe per the point that Apple tried to buy Passif a few years earlier. So it is possible Apple after integrating their tech into an iWatch found it would be cheaper long term to just acquire them - then to pay for chips for each iWatch. I am still holding out hope against hope of a 2013 iWatch. Which if it happens may mask my pain and disappointment on how my hopes for a 2012 iWatch turned out. Yeah - Not so good. Yeah each time I saw iWatch - I hear Recardo Montabum saying from Hells Heart I stab at thee.
One of the biggest non-annoucements for 2013 in my opinion has been that Apple has not announced a deal with China Mobile. Early this month Tim Cook was back in China meeting with the head of China Mobile. Hopefully these meetings were about crossing T's and Dotting i's and not about the beginning of negotiations. Surprisingly neither company gave any details of the meeting - beyond saying yes they met - which well considering there are photos of them together - would be touch for either side to deny.
Maybe the iPhone 5C is the device that finally will bring iOS to China Mobile. I am sure Wall Street would be very excited given the iPhone dropped to 7th place in China for smartphone sales.
Hello Rob,
I went to my local Bell store, here in Quebec,Can. and asked if I could pre-order the new iPhone. He told me no. Because it will not be released for another full year. I was shocked at his answer.
I asked what was his source. He replied that he is also an Apple representative and he was told that by Apple.
Does that sound right to you?
Regards,
Bruce.
Hi Bruce,
Per your question.
Nope - your rep is full of what you would call in Quebec - Le Crap
NO ONE out side of a few at the top of Apple know when the next iPhone is coming - and sure as heck not a low level service rep.
No way - no how.
Sounds like he was either messing with you - or has a serious esteem issue.
Hi Rob,
Thanks and one more question.
Is it ok to buy a apple tv now or later in the fall?
Regards,
Bruce.
Hi Bruce again.
The update cycle on the Apple TV is a little longer.
Apple TV 1 - Jan 2007
Apple TV 2 - Sept 2010
Apple TV 3 - March 2012
It does seems like it is due for an update.
However there has not been any rumors about a pending update. None - Zip - Nada.
But since it is just $99 or $75 if you get it refurbished - If you are interested in it now - I would say get it now.
But don't be upset with me if in Sept or Oct there is a new Apple TV.
As we mentioned earlier - September 10th looks like the date when the next iPhone or iPhones will be announced - lets assume for the moment one of the devices announced will be the iPhone 5S - as it seems to be called. Well what are some of the features - NFC - seems to be coming up more and more lately - especially as it relates to mobile payments - think Google Wallet - except practical, accepted and working on iPhones on any carrier.
Hi rob,
As you mentioned last episode, do you think the next iPhone (5s) home button will be with a wider because of the fingerprint scanner?
Love the show,
Alon from Israel
Well Alon - Another speculation about the iPhone 5S - is where the S might be related as in Sapphire - as in a convex Sapphire home button that is a finger print scanner - that is the latest rumor on how the finger print scanner is getting on the iPhone 5S.
So if this plays out the home button would be the same size roughly or exactly L vs width as the current home button - but it will be convex vs slightly concave.
The other rumor per the iPhone 5S is that there would be a 3rd color for the iPhone 5S - and that is gold. So you have a gold iPhone with Sapphire Home button and lens cover. Sounds like someone at Apple wants us to get our bling on. Maybe the S stands for Sugahhh - as in fine as.
Other rumors are saying that on September 10th it will not just be the iPhone 5S - that will make its debut - but also the iPhone 5C - lower cost iPhone will be introduced.
So what will be in the iPhone 5C - seems that an 8 Mega Pixel camera similar but not the same as the iPhone 5's and iPhone 4's camera.
Rumors are also popping up from Uncle Gene that the iPhone 5C would not support siri. Maybe this is technical - maybe it is purely marketing - one it keeps the siri servers clear of the mass market - and two gives you a point of differentiation - that said - I think the 5C will have Siri.
Expected sales price for the 5C is $350 to $400 according to various rumors. I still think $300 to $349. We shall see.
Now others are rumoring the starting price will be even higher - at the $450 to $500 range. That just seems to high for the entry level iPhone 5C. That $450 to $500 price comes from a source on Sina Weibo - which is essentially like saying a source on Twitter said Apple is going to …. Really does not mater how you finish that - it lost all cred for the source when you say it came from Twitter. Again I expect the lowest cost iPhone to be in the $300 to $349 price range.
There was this loud jarring sound coming from something in my room! I thought OMG, what is that, the carbon monoxide detector or something. It was an amber alert. Sounded like we're going to war or an emergency! I wonder if the other government alerts sound the same? :-). It was at 10:50 and dead quite in the room while I was in bead which added to the surprise
Regards,
Michael.
And Thanks to Michael for that email and link to a post about Amber alerts on your iPhone.
Yeah seems since recently there were a few Amber alerts sent out in various parts of the US - and those getting them have been asking about the alerts and if you can change the alert sound - and simple answer is ----- NO. While you can turn off Amber alerts and Emergency alerts as mentioned before on this show - what you can not do is change the alarm sound. Seems rather short sided on Apples part - if someone just can not stand the sound of the alerts - after 2 or 3 - They will be inclined to just turn off Amber Alerts. Better for Apple to allow custom alert tones - then to have a certain % of user just turn off all alerts.
Hi Rob,
Stick a fork in the Surface RT as well, it's done too.
And What Dr. John is talking about is that Asustek CEO Jerry Shen confirmed that Asus is killing its line of Windows RT tablets. Seems Microsoft is not the only one having a hard time selling Windows RT tablets.
Actually what the CEO of Asus said was quote - It's not only our opinion; the industry sentiment is also that Windows RT has not been successful, unquote. And just think that is a company with a good relationship with MS. ouch.
I love the title of this next article - quote Microsoft Surface Pro Gets Price Cut [Limited Time Only] unquote. Because you know the limited time part just means - the price reduction now will get even bigger shortly. In this case it was a $100 price reduction - expect a bigger reduction for the surface Pro any day now. Just sayin
I saw this post titled - Couple says app lets the iphone communicate with ghosts - and I thought cool an app for communicating with the Windows RT tablets - but nope it was just about talking with the dead. Boring. Just sayin.
43:12.344
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http://www.fanaddict.com
Rob
Here is an evernote tip.
I often want to clip just the main article from a busy web page I'm reading on Safari for iOS and save it to Evernote. I can do that easily on my desktop, but there has never been an easy way to do it on my iPhone. Well, I just discovered one. Just click the grey Reader button in Safari URL bar. It trims away all the ads and extra links. Then send to yourself using your Evernote email address. Very quick and simple!
Regards,
Woody N
Thanks Woody for the Tip - for those that use Evernote and don't know what their evernote email address is - open the Evernote app on your iOS device. Tap on your Name in the upper left - you may need to pull down all the articles. Then scroll down to "evernote email address" and tap it. And there you will see your email address and the ability to copy to clipboard or add to contacts.
Hi Rob,
I came across a reference to a 12.9" iPad. Have you seen many rumors about this?
Being visually impaired, I would definitely buy such a beast. But, I would want it to have 128GB of Sorage.
Regards,
Steven (in Houston)
Hi Steven,
I believe 100% that Apple has tested and built proto-types at this size.
Actually I believe Apple has built iPads of many many different shapes and sizes for usability testing.
However - I don't believe the 12.9" size iPad is anything we will see any time soon.
Given the so far complete lack in any interest at all of Windows 8 tablets that are larger than 10" - I just don't see why Apple would release a larger device. I don't think there is enough mass demand for it.
That said - I would love the larger 12.9" tablet as well. Who knows Maybe in 4 or 5 years - as OS X and iOS continue to morph together it will make sense. For the larger tablet.
Last episode I mentioned the Red Pitaya Project on kickstarter.
This is the one that is an oscilloscope board and a spectrum analyzer and more. I contacted them about the lack of a good low noise timing source i.e. a Quartz crystal oscillator. Here is their response.
Hi,
thank you for mentioning us on your podcast.
We are using 125MHz oscillator that was optimized price/performance wise and there is also possibility for external clock.
best regards, CRT
I did ask them exactly what it would support for an input - but no response yet. Hope to update them shortly. But I am still a little concerned if you plant to use this for good High Frequency work.
Here is an email I received from an listener.
Hi Rob,
I was excited to hear about the Red Pitaya kickstarter project. It certainly boasts an impressive list of features! I was especially interested in you mentioning this because this past weekend I JUST spent some time researching way to get oscope functionality cheaply for some electronics projects I'm working on.
The current pledge level to get a Red Pitaya is $360. If any of your listeners might be interested in a much cheaper iOS Oscope option now, I have a suggestion.
I found an iPad app called "Oscilloscope" for $10 in the App store. This app allows you to connect probes via a cheap ($30) USB audio interface, such as the Behringer UCA202 and the Apple Camera connection Kit ($30). The app is fairly robust allowing probing of 2 simultaneous channels, and also includes a function generator mode. Since the App is using the audio chain to input and output signals, the dynamic range of the app seems to be limited to within the audio spectrum (about 20Hz to 22kHz), so it would not be helpful for high frequency or high voltage circuits. But if you're just looking for a simple OScope/Function Generator on your iPad, you can get it now for a total of $70.
This may not be the highest functioning Oscope option available, but it does seem to be the best bang for the buck on the cheaper end of things. Great for hobbyists.
Thanks,
Matt
And here is my response back to Matt.
Hi Matt,
Thanks for the feedback - From what I can see so far from Red Pitaya - is it is not the best overall solution if you are going to be doing any highfrequency work - Say as a Ham operator - even though it has a spectrum analayzer as part of it - It seems their lack of a good quality timing source will deeply degrade performance at least for high end users.
For using it to trouble shoot your old stand up Arcade machine - it will be more than adequate - but so would the much cheaper solution you mentioned.
I am currently talking to the folks at Red Pitaya asking them why I am wrong in this assumption. We shall see what they say - but right now the Time source they are using appears to be sub-par for any high end uses and that will greatly affect the overall noise floor of their system.
They did however say you could hook up an external timing source - and I am getting more info on that.
Again thanks for your reply and findings.
Rob W
Yeah - so my guess is if you get this - and you have any serious work you will want to do - you will also need to get ahold of a good low phase noise 125 MHZ 5th OT TCXO from someone like Wenzel, Vectron or Bliley. Something with a noise floor down at least at -155 dbc. I am guessing what they are offering is something in the -115 to -120 dbc range. And yes now I am just showing off.
So expect to spend a few hundred dollars more for that good low phase noise Oscillator - and you know what even with a couple hundred dollars more added on - it would still be very cheap. Just a shame they did not think to include an option to get that as part of the kickstarter project.
Actually they responded with the following:
Hi Rob
Red Pitaya has a possibility to connect high class external clock, but for inital set of applications selected 7x5mm 125MHz CXO 3rd OT with 1ps of jitter (in 12k to 20Mhz range) gives a setisfying performance. Notice that this osc. can also be replaced with better 7x5mm oscillator.
One of the Kickstarter Projects I funded - and I don't fund many - is the SOS Charger - that is the emergency charger with the hand crank - that is great for those that going campaign or travel and find you are running out of battery life at trade shows and the like. Well if anyone wants to order one and did not get a chance when the Kickstarter project was open you can go to soscharger.com and order one now - while supplies last. Pricing is $44. Right now it is showing a September delivery date - wouldn't it be cool to have it delivered prior to me waiting in line for my iPhone 5S? I could use it when in lie to keep my iPhone and or iPad charged up.
Again go to soscharger.com if you are interested in this device.
For those that don't believe in the iWatch and think it is just a figment of my imagination or the imagination of some anal-ists - and for those that did not order a pebble or one of the many other smart watches that came since - now there is the Hot Watch - over at kickstarter dot com - and it has raised over 420 thousand dollars towards its goal of $150 thousand dollars. You have until September 7th to pledge for this one. Pricing on this one is $119 dollars for the basic version or $129 for the Silver or Gold finish. Delivery is listed as December 2013 - But think more along the lines of the NCAA final 4 if you are lucky - per how other smartphone watches have gone on Kickstarter.
So what is so special about this one that given all that came before it - it was still able to raise almost 1/2 a million dollars - well this one lets you turn you hand into a phone. Essentially there is a speaker on the bottom of the wrist that is directional up into your hand and you cup your hand and use it as your phone. Yeah we left handers are not going to like this one as it looks like it only works if worn on the left wrist as on the right wrist it will be projecting sound down towards your elbow and not your ear. If you are interested in smartphone watches and are not left handed - check out the video at Kickstarter search for Hot Watch two words.
Previously there was a few questions about a borescope that would work with your iOS device - I just heard about the iBorescope wireless borescope / endoscope for iOS devices. It is $203.75 from iFazz.com. If this is something you were interested in please look at the link in the show notes - titled - iBoreScope - over at www.todayinios.com for episode 278.
Thanks to Chelsea for the heads up on this next one. Which is the Sound Band - two words over at kickstarter dot com - which is well head phones better described as back of the ear phones. You put these on behind your ears - not over them or in them but behind them and that is how you hear. Yes - Neat - very neat. Goal on this WAS $175 k - which was a high goal - but since I am using past tense you probably figured out they are past their goal with over $340k raised. And you have until Friday the 13th of September at 9:14 PM ET to pledge to this one. How much will it set you back. Well that is the down side - $135 - which seems pretty pricey for wireless head phones even if they are behind the ear and not in it. But if you are someone that hates having your ear buds falling out - then maybe this is for you. Search for Sound band in kickstarter.
Thanks to Matt for the heads up on this next one. Which is about a malware scam targeting iTunes users with an email that says they are getting a $200 Apple store gift card. Ummm - Yeah - if you think that is happening and you click on the link - well my sympathy meter is not getting past 2 or 3. Obviously in this day and age - don't click on links in emails you are not sure where they came from or if they are promising you $200 gift cards. Too good to be true is often very bad for you.
We have mentioned Bento numerous times on this show. And it looks like this time it is being mentioned sadly - Filemaker has decided to kill off Bento. Seems it will still be available for sale until September 30th if you have not purchased it - but Filemaker is basically saying that it is focusing more on the filemaker product line and thanks to the ease of creating iPad and iPhone solutions - that Bento is kinda of sorta not needed anymore.
If you are a Bento user - and want more info look for the link titled Filemaker Inc terminating Bento in the show notes for ep 278 over at today in iOS dot com.
58:46.687
PLAY VOICEMAIL - APP_REVIEW_DEV_FREE_pixdub
Hi rob I looking for a wireless hard drive that I can transfer video and pictures I take with my iPhone 5, and wireless streaming would be a plus.
I've been looking at the seagate wireless plus 1TB model, everything about this hard drive sounds good but I can't tell if it will transfer video from phone to drive , only thing that i could find out is its ability to stream video and transfer pictures, I've downloaded the app and played around with it but its kind of limited not having the drive to see how everything works together
I was wondering if any of you listeners have this product and if it will do what I'm wanting
Regards,
Kevin in Illinois
Hi Kevin - I will send out a request to anyone listening that has used the seagate or any other wireless drive with their iOS device to transfer Video and pictures - please let us know what you used and how it is working for you.
Hi Rob,
I have videos on my iPhone 4 (4.0 OS) that are too large to email or store on my laptop. I would like to transfer them to a flash drive without connecting to my computer. I saw an ad for an 8 GB photojojo iflash that appeared to be designed for this purpose. Are there better options? Is there a way to do the transfer without using more than 100 MB or so for any app needed? I have only about 150-220 MB free on my iPhone.
Yikes Gail - sounds like you have a little to much on your iPhone 4 - and you need to get some files off ASAP. The 8GB version is I think $99 and it is for the iPhone with 30 pin connector. It should work how you want.
Per Kevin earlier - there is a $149 16 GB lightening version as well of the Photojojo - that will work with the iPhone 5 - but not sure if 16 GB will work for you as you mentioned looking at the 1 TB seagate drive.
Per the question - would I be willing to pay for App upgrades.
Yes and no.
I'd like to have the option to just continue with the current version that would work for iOS 7 but was not optimized for it, but wouldn't mind paying for some of the apps I use quite a bit if they were fully optimized. I'd imagine that after I'd had iOS 7 for a while & gotten use to it I might like to start exploring old apps that were re-written, but I sure wouldn't pay for them again right away & would be upset if they just stopped working.
--
- Jessi D.
HI Rob,
As to whether I would be willing to pay for upgrades to apps I already own, it will depend on how often I use a given app, and what the new features are.
Your question prompts two from me.Is IOS 7 so different from the preceeding versions that you expect that we will begin to see apps written specificly for it that either won't run very well on earlier IOS versions, or not at all? Also, in your opinion, is IOS 7 that much better than the preceeding versions, or just different?
Thanks in advance for any opinions. thanks for your podcast.
Arnold S
Raleigh, NC
Hi rob, I will not I repeat will not make my customers,my friends, the people who support my passion of creating software. To have to pay for a product of high quality twice . My customers will receive the utmost treatment that they deserve. I strongly believe in the apple philosophy that every product should be made beautiful in every way this includes the service they are given and the quality of the product itself. No developer should charge any of his/her valued customer twice with out good reason or cause any customer strife. If any one truly values their consumers than they will put them first. I love your show keep up the good work.
It is from same GaTech team who demo'd an iOS malware injection via a USB charger. But this is more dangerous methinks.
Lau and Wang’s findings are summarized in the white paper: "Jekyll on iOS: When Benign Apps Become Evil,” to be presented at the 2013 USENIX Security Symposium August 14-16 in Washington, D.C.
Well Paul - A quick update on the malicious charger attack that could put malware on your iPhone when you connect your iOS device to said evil charger. Apple has said they will patch the exploit in their next update of iOS. So looks like this theoretical threat will be squashed in the real world rather shortly.
I wrote an article that was in App Developer Magazine for their August 2013 issue - that dealt with Marketing communications advice for developers. You can find the digital magazine at Appdevelopermagazine dot com - This is a pay for magazine - but if you pay for it are already subscribed my article is on page 75 and it is titled - How not to promote your app to new media - and I go over a couple of classically bad emails I received from Devs that were just wrong in sooooo many ways - and I go over what those bad ways were and make some suggestions on what to do to better approach someone in new media to get them to mention your app.
1:07:38.312
PLAY VOICEMAIL - STITCHER_REVIEW_LONG OR SHORT
I had a listener by the name of chris asking for a good - legit - free way to unlock an old off contract iPhone 4S from Sprint so that it can be used on any carrier in the US. I am not looking for articles on this - unless you have specifically used that article to unlock your iPhone 4S off contract phone and then were able to get it working on T-mobile or someone else in the US. Please let us know exactly how you were able to get it unlocked - did Sprint do it for you?
As Chris said to me and I found looking up on this one - there is a lot of conflicted reports about how or if you can do this. So I am looking specifically for a response only if you have done this. Thanks
206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog or send an email to todayinios at gmail dot com.
Hi Rob,
Off a iPhone is there PC software you know of?
The phone is no longer used it is broke and not sync'd to iTunes
Please advise if u know of a possible way.
Thanks David D
Hi, Rob,
Listening to the show as I type
Think maybe the iPhone C. Maybe C for China being make for China Mobile. Not available in the US to start. But Perhaps not. Maybe for Color as you say.
Wishlist:
First Perhaps not iPhone 5S. But a move to iPhone Pro. Dropping the numbers. Being a cheaper standard iPhone 5C and a Pro model. Just saying.
Like to see induction charging, Gigabit data transfers. And Front facing or top and bottom Stereo Speakers as in the HTC One
All the rest you said. I think your right
Hope your checking my Mag. Plus 13,000 readers.
Chris
Hi rob, In the iphone 5s i would like to see a A7 chip with quad core processing. I would also like to see a microchip projector such as the one micro vision makes.any way love your show keep up the good work.
I found this next article interesting - as it talks about what I have been saying lately. The post title is quote tech blogs start noticing media bias unquote. From the article. quote I would venture to say that nine out of 10 bloggers writing high-tech hate Apple. Google, Android, and Samsung They're perfect, they can't do anything wrong, they're ideal, and everybody hates Apple. But Apple does have a small cadre of loyalists. unquote. He continues on quote the pro-Apple bloggers are looking at the way the pro-Samsung, Google, and Android bloggers write, and they're now starting to write about the media bias, and they're starting to write about the unfairness, and they don't understand it. I mean, they're chronicling how these pro-Samsung and Google, Android guys are faking data, faking news to make it look bad for Apple when it really isn't. unquote. Which again is what I was saying on the last episode - some of the Tech bloggers are starting to call out the Android Fanbois on their BS reporting and as I said I started to see the pendulum starting to swing back. Given the jump in stock price the pendulum might start picking up some momentum. Oh per the person I was quoting - that was Rush. Not sure if he is listening to this show or he just picked up on what I picked up on at the same time. Hey Rush if you are listening you have an open invite to come on and talk tech - sorry not politics allowed.
I want to mention that Podcast411 is going again - on Ep 225 - I interviewed Heather Ordover from the Craft Lit Podcast. Search for podcast411 in iTunes or the podcasts app or just go to podcast411 dot com to get that episode or any of our past interviews.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired.
And a big thanks to todays sponsor - WARBY PARKER -
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go to Warby Parker dot com to get your 5 pairs of glasses to try on for free shipped right to you door. Then when you find a pair you like when you are checking out use the promo code T i i to get free 3 day shipping on the pair you purchase. Great Glasses, Great pricing, and a great cause. Warby Parker dot com.
How is that for a link bait / attention grabbing title?
But if you look at what IDC just reported and what Google has reported - it is a title that you can actually justify - even if it is meant tongue in cheek.
Let me explain how I came to that title. IDC reported that last quarter Android manufacturers shipped 28.2 Million tablets.
The absolute best you can get out of that chart is 14 Million tablets activated last quarter. That means some 14.2 Million (greater than 50%) Android tablets were not activated - i.e. sold.
We could have also said Google confirms more iPads were sold last quarter than Android tablets. Again going with those numbers.
And if we look at IDC's numbers - for Windows tablets - they have 2 Million Windows tablets for the quarter. Yet from Microsoft's own 10K report we know at best there have been 1.6 Million Surface tablets sold as of October 2012. If we went with 500k Windows tablets last quarter plus 14 Mil Android tablets and 200k other. That would work out to a market share for the iPad of 49.8%.
This is a far cry from the Link bait - truth twisted headlines we are seeing on the Fandroid sites -
In this upside down world where everyone seems to be beating up Apple and misreporting stats from research firms. I found it really surprising that one of the best breakdown on the numbers per Tablet shipments / sales side, came from a post on an Android site. HERE
But again - one has to wonder what happened to those missing 14+ Million Android devices. Seems lots of shelf space is being taken up by all those unsold Android tablets.
To put into perspective how many unsold Android tablets there were last quarter - if you took all of them still in their boxes and laid them down end to end - they would stretch from New York city out past Salt Lake City. Just Sayin.
I took this picture of the sky on a not to bright evening near my home with the app that i received from your show called check me out. I then made use of the in app settings to add the text and some effects to the photo.
Regards,
Kurtly from Saint Luci
======================
Transcript for Episode 277
-----------------------------------
First up thanks to all of you - Tii has now been downloaded over 10 Million times - making it the most download iOS podcast of all time - well it already was - but now we hit a great milestone before anyone else covering this space. And that could not have happened with out you downloading and more importantly with out you contributing to the show. Per when that happened - it was on Monday July 29th at 8:30 AM Central Time US. Again thanks so much for all those that sent in guesses -I need to go through them and see who won and figure out what to send them - likely will be promo codes for upcoming apps. But will see if I can get something physical as well.
As I mentioned on the last episode - I was going to do a presentation on iOS to Kansas Fest - the Apple II conference here in Kansas City. Which again is something I have done each year since 2007. This year when I get there the person I deal with is all excited and say I don't know if you heard but Woz is here - as in Steve Wozniack. I got really excited - then I got really scared thinking I would be doing a presentation on Apple products to Woz - and I looked around and did not see him so I asked where he was - and the person said - Oh he is not here for your presentation he left to go to dinner - but he was here earlier and will be back all day tomorrow. So then I went from scared to sad. Whaaannt wannnnttt waaaahhh. Oh well - I still had a great time presenting there and look forward to doing so again. And now on with the show.
A little DIY tip for anyone that purchased or won the iRig MIC Cast Mic - If you get a tin of King Dog Energy Mints - The iRig Mic Cast Mic fits in the tin great - just cut out the foam to fit - and make a slot for you finger to pop up the 1/8" jack - you will know what I mean when you cut it out. But anyone I had an empty tin of King Dog Energy mints and realized it made a nice case for the iRig Mic. Yes 5 hour energy drinks and King Dog Energy Mints is how I am able to get out the show to you.
Apple finally got their Developer site back up and running and that meant they were able to release iOS 7 Beta 4.
Which then leads us quickly to what is different or new.
The first thing you will see that is new - is on the lock screen - there is now an arrow head letting you know which way to slide to unlock. Previously it was not clear on which way to slide to open up the iPhone.
In the Camera App - the HDR on/off option has moved from right about the shutter button to the top center off the screen - this is a much better location.
In the Music App - Shuffle All feature is back.
In the Maps app - The ETA is now displayed under the car icon.
In the World clock tab for the clock app - it now shows how many hours ahead or behind another city is from your current time. Nice feature add.
Under Settings --> Mail, contacts and calendar - under the Contacts part - there is now a new option for Shortname - and this lets you turn on short names - which as it says Short names are sometimes used to fit more names on screen. only names using roman characters are affected.
Notifications center lets you swipe through notifications from Today, missed or all
Siri now allows you to ask more complicated questions. But why can't the Mets make it to the post season each year - given how much they spend - still Siri has no answer to.
Plus there are a bunch of cosmetic changes / clean ups where Apple is making buttons and text clearer and more defined. I guess you could say they are starting to cross the T's and Dot the i's so to speak. Which is good to see.
The biggest news about iOS 7 beta 4 we will get to later in the show when we get into the rumors part of the episode.
Previously I said the ITC decision to ban Apple's iPhone 4 and original iPad running on GSM networks was a huge mistake and terrible mistake and setting a horrible precedence being the Patents in question we Standards essential patents held by Samsung - which have traditionally fallen under FRAND rules - meaning they should be licensed Fair Reasonably and non-discrimintely. Which is clearly not what Samsung was doing in this case. And by the ITC making this decision there will be huge repercussions in the years to come.
And all would be bad for the consumers. Well to put in perspective how bad this decision is - Verizon's Head lawyer publicly asked President Obama to step in and Veto the decision. Mind you none of the devices in this case run on Verizon's network - it is all about iOS devices on AT&T's network. So yeah when the competitor of a company about to be affected asks the President for help - that pretty much sums up how bad a decision this was. Hopefully President Obama has some smart people around him to explain the dire effects not veto'g this decision will have.
Oh and a little follow up - it is not just Verizon supporting Apple in telling the Obama administration to veto the FTC ruling - it is also Microsoft, Intel and Oracle. So yeah - many others even Apples oldest rival think this decision is Wack so to speak. Hey and even Jim Darymble from the Loop is jumping on this bandwagon asking or the President to sign this veto - remember - I said this needed to be killed as soon as it was announced. This is just a bad bad decision - and the only thing that could make it worse is for the President to do nothing. We shall see by the next episode what happened.
I saw this post and said – Wow – Forbes let this get published. Oh my.
It is a post where the author is claiming someone needs to fact check Apple Earning claim about Web traffic.
First it sounds like the author had not ever even heard of Chitika before – Yikes. They only have been reporting this stat for a couple of years. And Tim Cook has mentioned them multiple times before publicly. Not hearing of Chitika instantly says you are not in position to be writing anything about Apple or the Mobile space. Right or wrong - these guys have been reporting about mobile traffic for a few years plus.
Second She needs some basic Statistics training as she knocks the sample size Chitika used. It you actually looking at a sampling of data – where the data set is 100,000 users out of 10 Mil she mentioned – that gives you a +/- 0.4% confidence level. Seems pretty good to me.
Then she starts talking about iOS devices from Net Applications – to refute numbers from Chitika that were all about Tablets – The Chitika numbers were not about iOS over all vs Android over all – but rather just about Tablets – as in iPads vs the world.
And then finally she pulls in IDC numbers – which is all about “shipments” and nothing to do with webtraffic – you know actual use – which is What Tim Cook said – when it comes to use – maybe other people are shipping tablets and maybe those units that were shipped were actually purchased – but not many of those other tablets are actually having their users you know use them.
Someone needs to fact check this fact checker. Just Sayin.
13:05.562
PLAY VOICEMAIL - WOODY NJ ANSWR BACKUP REMINDERS
Hi Rob,
In item 0276, a listener was having trouble with home sync on a PC with iTunes 11. I had this very problem. Turns out that iTunes 11 doesn't like ipv6 as it is implemented on windows. When I disabled ipv6 and rebooted, my problems with Home Sharing went away.
Regards,
Christopher W
Hi Rob,
I just listened to ESP 276 and the request of a softball coach wanting an app to send out notices to parents of team members. A lot of teachers are using Remind 101 to that very thing...I think it also does so without giving up your cell number. I hope this is what they were looking for.
Regards,
Anne
Hi Rob:
For the listener wanting to edit/autofill pdf's: PdfPen from Smile may "help". Not sure if they support the autofill requirement or not, but using TextExpander (also Smile, as I recall) may help "fill" that need.
For the listener with the need for more than 7 days of browsing history, the Google Chrome browser stores more than
7d. I use Chrome as my preferred browser on my phone and my history currently goes back to April 30th.
Lost last week with the apple quarterly numbers were the quarterly numbers from AT&T. They said they sold 6.8 Mil smartphones in the quarter and more iphones than y/y. but also they had record android % of shipments. They did not actually give out numbers. But they shipped 3.7 Mil iPhones last year. And Verizon shipped 3.8 Mil this year - My guess is that is pretty much what AT&T shipped - other wise they would have bragged about beating Verizon. That would put iPhones at about 56% of smartphone sales.
Sprint had their call yesterday July 30th. Sprint said they sold over 5 Mil smartphones in the quarter of which over 1.4 Mil were iPhones - With out a calculator that works out to 28% of Smartphone sales - which is the lowest Apple saw last quarter % wise of the 4 major carriers - and they were only on T-Mobile for half the quarter - just sayin. What is it about Sprint users that keeps the number of iPhones sold at such a low % of smartphones?
That said Sprint says they are ahead of their committed sales volumes to Apple. And Sprint also said 41% of the 1.4 Million iPhone customers were new to Sprint.
Sprint made mention of LTE and that they just fired up their 2,500 MHz bands to go with their 800 MHZ and 1,900 MHZ bands already - and just had their first tri-band LTE device launched. With the expectations of later in the year more tri-band LTE devices would be available. So mark that one down on the Bingo Card - Tri-Band LTE - for the iPhone 5S and maybe even for the 5C, Oh - 5C - guess I am getting ahead of myself - we will talk about that in a few minutes. Per the bands for LTE - 800 is band 26, 1900 MHZ is Band 25 and 2,500 MHZ is Band 41. For those keeping track at home currently on the Sprint LTE iPhone it supports bands 1,3, 5, 13, and 25. - or really just band 25 if on Sprint. Regardless of all that - it does sound like an LTE upgrade is coming with the iPhone 5S this year - as had been rumored and well needed.
I had mentioned previous that one Quote Professional unquote Anal-ist - Edward Parker - at Lazard that had a prediction of 23 Million iPhones last quarter - here is his comments after last weeks Conference call - per his Huge miss on the iPhone sales numbers. quote
Mostly as expected, mostly. "June quarter results were respectable, especially given growing fears of weakening end markets. September numbers are headed lower again, but there's been ample talk of this in the market including a growing consensus that F3Q is the last shoe to drop. Unfortunately, commentary on new products was anything but illuminating, meaning that investors will have to hold on a bit longer before getting a clear picture of what the next product cycle means for the model. We think valuation remains reasonable (10x F2014E EPS) on our essentially unchanged numbers and view current levels as a good entry point. unquote
Huh? Last show to drop - I mean I guess if you talking about your clients fleeing Lazzard faster than Rats off a sinking ship sure - but if your talking about Apple - well All I can say is And this guy is getting paid to do this why???? Because really the only ones that seems dumber than Mr Parker are those paying him. Just Sayin.
On the last episode when going over the quarterly reports I said that most blogs would focus on the iPad sales number in the coming days / weeks. Well I looked at the first 24 posts about the quarterly call to come up on my news feed and what I found was 13 of the 24 posts had something negative about the iPad in the post of the title - with some being down right misleading such as Quote Apple's iPad Slips, and the Culprit May Be Price unquote from the Street dot com. or quote Surprise drop in iPad sales shows the market for Apple’s tablet has saturated unquote from Quartz. and quote Downturn in iPads promising for rivals of Apple: unquote from the ChinaPost.
But of all the articles I saw last week after the earnings call - by far the worst one belonged to the San Jose Mercury News - Titled - iPhone sales soar but lackluster earning put pressure on Apple. The essential gist / slant / BS of the article is time is running out on Apple if they don't pull another iPad or iPhone out of its hat this year - apple is doomed. A Company with 146 Billion in the bank - had a little bit more time than one quarter before they are doomed. A company that is making more than any other company in the US - and has 146 Billion in the bank and a supper loyal following. Yeah - that company is not on a 6 Month watch list - not at all - not even close. Some of the crap I read for you all - you don't realize the pain and well nausea I am saving you from.
Apple put up a page on their chinese site to show people how to tell if the charger they have is real or a fake. I guess this is great for anyone that already has one to check. But would this also not be exactly the info those making the knockoffs need to also build a better looking knockoff. Hmmmm - quite the quandary - a Damn'ed if you do - Damn'ed if you don't type Page. What I think would be a better way to tell people if the charger they are buying is a fake would also be to put up the prices for those retail. If you are paying 1/2 of that price - well then it is a fake. Of course then I guess the folks making the fakes could also raise their prices to match Apple stride for stride. Curses - those counterfeiters are always one step ahead. Here is a thought - with or with out the real charger - don't answer your phone soaking wet getting out the tub if it is plugged in. Yeah - that might help from getting you shocked.
One thing a few analysts and journalists picked up on from Last weeks Apple call - is that based on their guidance for this current quarter ending on September 28th - it looks like Apple would need to release a new iPhone during the quarter to hit said guidance. Apple gave a guidance of 34 to 37 Billion in Revenue with Gross Margins of 36 to 37 % for this current quarter. Well what did Apple do last year you asked - great question - Apple had 36 Billion in Revenue. And guess what - last Year Apple went from 35 Billion to 36 Billion quarter over quarter by yup releasing a new iPhone at the end of that quarter. So it seems this year if they want to hit anywhere close to the mid or top side of their guidance they need to yup - release a new iPhone before the quarter is over. Either that or release a new everything else.
So based on it appearing that Apple will release a new iPhone prior to September 28th - what date would it be. Already a few dates have popped up and sorta been squashed.
However Before we talk about potential dates lets look at what Apple did in the past as for the release date and where in the month it was released.
The original iPhone launched on June 29th 2007 - that was the 5th Friday of Month.
The 3G launched on July 11th 2008 the 2nd Friday of the Month
The 3GS launched on June 19th 2009 the 3rd Friday of the Month
The iPhone 4 launched on June 24th 2010 the 4th Thursday of the Month
The iPhone 4S launched on Oct 14, 2011 the 2nd Friday of the Month
The iPhone 5 launched on Sep 21, 2012 - the 3rd Friday of the Month
So what does this tell us - One simple thing - Apple has never launched an iPhone on the same day / weekend that it launched in the previous year or really any past years. Based on that - then My original thoughts of a September 20th launch would seem to be the one date it could not be.
However 5 of the past 6 iPhone launches have been on a Friday. So a Friday does seem likely to be picked again.
Based on Comments from Apple and outlook for the quarter for margins - as we said it seems likely the iPhone will be launching some time in this quarter - which end on Saturday September 28th. The 27th of September seems like it is really too close to the end of the quarter to make sense - so that leaves us with September 13th as the most likely date. What Apple might do is on September 3rd - they could send out invites to a special event - that would be on Tuesday the 10th. Then on the 10th they would announce that iOS 7 would be available the next day on the 11th for download or maybe even later that day on the 10th. And then introduce the new iPhone or iPhones - and say they would be available on that Friday the 13th. Again this is all wild speculation but still - I would not plan anything for any Friday in September at this point - if you plan on getting a new iPhone.
As I mentioned early iOS 7 Beta 4 is out and from it we can start to see some specs on what might be coming in the iOS device pipeline. One discovery in the code is that the next iPhone will likely be on an A7 Processor and surprisingly it will still be made by Samsung.
Seems the current iPhone5 processor goes by s518950 in the code - that is the A6 - but there is some code referencing an s518960 in the code - and that looks to be the A7 again built by Samy.
With the iPhone 3GS - the S meant speed.
With the iPhone 4S - the S meant Siri or Steve - depending on who at apple is talking off the record.
With the iPhone 5S - the S will likely mean "Security" as in the finger print sensor. Well I guess S could also just mean Sensor.
Also widely reported this week was the folder biometricKitUI - found in the beta 4 software. And that seems to back up the long running rumor about their being a finger print scanner in the next iPhone. There was also mention in the code about a photo of a person holding an iPhone "while touching the home button with their thumb" and this is supposed to mean the finger print sensor will be in the home button.
One other thing we seem to have learned from the Beta 4 software is on the iPad Mini side - no Retina display - the display will stay the same for the iPad Mini - which is not surprising at all - and what I have been saying all year long - there is no need to upgrade to a retina display at this time. Keep the iPad Mini as light as possible and have it run for as long as possible - better battery life and unit weight are more important to iPad mini users than is a retina display - if the retina display means so much there is the iPad Maxi. This was discovered in the code by seeing that the iPad mini will have the A6 processor in the current iPhone 5 - so that mean a nice bump in speed for the iPad Mini - but also shows it will not be the Retina screen - as that would require the A6X processor not the A6.
One of the other things in the past week to come out was a video of what looks to be the lower cost iPhone - we mentioned these before - as pictures had been circulating recently about these plastic backed lower cost iPhones. Actually the first pictures of the Lower Cost iPhone originally surfaced at Tactus.com blog on April 18th. And this matches up to the Video from a few sources of this lower cost iPhone shell.
Now these videos look very convincing - clearly there are multiple units floating around. Ken Ray from Mac OS Ken and I talked this week - and we both were flummoxed about not just how these guys got the units to shoot the video - but Why them? These were all no name folks - the one video that got the biggest traction was from a guy called detroit borg. We don't mean to disparage him - but early in the video when comparing it to the iPhone 3GS - he calls the 3GS - short lived. Ummm - No - The 3GS launched in Mid June 2009 and stayed in service and for sale until September 20th 2012 - I hardly call 3 years and 3 plus months short lived. Actually it is the longest lived of any iPhone. So quite the opposite. In another video - the guy doing the video refers to the lightening port as a 30 pin connector - doohhh. Still why did they not end up in Rene Ritchies hands or someone at BGR or Gizmodo - why these guys? On that front it sounded fishy. Plus the colors if real - wow - they are to say the least a flash back to the 70's and late 60's - the green looks like what someone's grandma had in her bathroom - it is the ugly 70's lime green. The colors looked no smelled fishy as well.
But all that smell was washed away - when a supplier audit report of Pegatron was released and it in - the reports talks about assembly people putting a protective coating on the plastic back of an iPhone. Or to quote the report quote "Today’s work is to paste protective film on the iPhone’s plastic back cover to prevent it from being scratched on assembly lines. This iPhone model with a plastic cover will soon be released on the market by Apple," unquote I am guessing someone broke an NDA there. Ooooppss.
So yeah any doubts about there not being a lower cost iPhone this year are now all washed away - that said I was already at 99% for the release of a lower cost iPhone prior to that pegatron report.
Alright so now that we know a lower cost iPhone is coming what will it be called - I joked it would be the iPhone Air - but a recent photo which may or may not be photo shopped - is showing it as the iPhone 5C. Actually it is showing a bin of empty cartons with iPhone 5C on the side. The C could mean color - as in it will be the first iPhone with colorful cases. Others might say the C means Cheap - as in the lower cost version. Some will say it is the C in polyCarbonate - yeah that is a stretch when you have to make the p the o the l and the y silent to get to that C. And the Anti Apple crowd will say the C stands fro Cracked as in what happens to your screen at some point in the next two years.
For now lets go with iPhone 5C for the lower cost and iPhone 5S for the high end - 7th gen iPhone.
What we are likely to see this fall is one of two scenarios. In both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S are gone from the line up.
In one scenario - there is the iPhone 5S - and the iPhone 5C. And that is it - the 5S would come in 32, 64 and 128 GB versions. The 5C might come in 8 GB and 16 GB versions - but likely just the 8GB version. It would be the free with a plan iPhone replacing the iPhone 4. And would likely retail for between $300 and $350 unsubsidized at T-mobile and the like.
The second scenario is the iPhone 5 - stays in the line up - as the $99 subsidized phone - with 16 GB only version. I am starting to think the first scenario is more likely - as Apple had indicated when it came to iPhone 4 vs 4S sales recently - most have been the iPhone 4 - which means people either wanted the best iPhone or the cheapest iPhone. So if that is how it is breaking - does not make sense to keep the iPhone 5 around - especially if they are making less on it anyway.
Per specs on the iPhone 5C - that is simple look at the specs for the iPhone 4S - and there you go - pretty much it will be the same specs as the 4S - but just 8 GB for storage. And it will be a plastic case. But same processor - same cameras - maybe - just maybe they go with the camera from the iPhone 4 - the 5 Mega Pixel vs the 8 MP in the 4S. but the rest is the 4S specs. Oh and it would be the 4" retina display of the 5 - not the 3.5 inch display in the 4S. And it would be the lightening display - so yeah - out side of the display and the camera and lightening port and the storage and the plastic back it would be just like the 4S - wow - kinds sounds a lot different when I say it like that. Hmmm. Ok - so not just like the 4S but more like the 4S than the 4. How does that sound.
Per the iPhone 5S - what do I think that will have for specs - will the A7 Processor - 2 GB of ram, a 12 Mega Pixel camera with dual LED flash for much better low light pictures. It will be able to record for slow motion play back at 1/2 x and 1/4 x playback speed - maybe even 1/8th playback. Again - This is going to just be such an over used feature by February you will hate the slow motion feature or at least your relatives will.
The 5S will have the finger print scanner - It will offer up improved and expanded LTE - as mentioned before - to cover all 3 bands for Sprint. And to cover many other bands globally. and it will come in 32 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB versions the added space will be needed to support my way out there prediction previously in that the 5S will offer up 4k video recording and support 4k video out. Hey Apple needs to really do something to jump the comp with this. As at this point it does not look like there will be NFC in the 5S - as there is no hints of anything to do with NFC in the beta code. Which could just mean they have done a good job keeping that code out while goofing with the other code that was released. And finally batter life will go from 8 hours of talk time to 12 hrs of talk time. Again if you take out the 4K video recording and NFC - well then there is definitely something else needed to make people want to get the iPhone 5S - so hopefully I am right about 4k Video being in and wrong about NFC not being in - as both added to the other specs would make for a nice device and a much nicer upgrade from the 5 then the 5 was from the 4S.
Come September we will see how crazy I just sounded.
Let me know what you think will be in the iPhone 5S or needs to be in the iPhone 5S to make you want to upgrade - Note - Removable battery - physical keyboard - SD card slot - will NEVER happen - so don't bother sending in those wish list items - so again send in your wish list items for the 5S to today in iOS at gmail dot com or call us at 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog. Will be interesting to see what items you think are needed that I did not mention.
Please find a link to recent press release from the Nation Federation of the Blind NFB - titled - NFB of Mass and Square inc to collaborate on accessibility enhancements to square register and square wallet.
Please do what you can to cover this, and encourage product, service,
and app developers to incorporate accessibility in to their offerings.
Regards,
Mika
Hi Mika - thanks for the heads up on this PR. Which I put a link to in the show notes per the title mentioned. It is nice to see square working to help on the accessibility side - especially around money - which in the use since all bills are the same exact size - is as unfriendly to those that are blind as it could possibly be.
Hey Rob, I knew you would appreciate this spin. My favorite part is that the iPad mini has failed to gain traction. These guys are ridiculous.
Ben from productivitypad.blogspot.com
Hi Ben thanks for the link - yeah seen a bunch of those Articles about iPad MarkeT share from Phandroid sites. What none of these phandroid sites ever mention are Revenue share in the tablet market and never ever ever - do they mention Profit share in the Tablet market. Or Total Market share all time. Just Market share from Last quarter.
The reason they don't mention Profit share is Because well the only one selling tablets at a profit is Apple.
Yes - there are a boat load of Android tablets being SHIPPED. Many are sub $100 and even sub $50 in price. Android tablets are flooding retail shelfs around the world - Are they actually being purchased? - that is a big question mark. But we know at least in the US and Canada - they sure as heck are not being used - as Apple commanded 84% of tablet traffic last month.
But yup folks you will see lots and lots of articles about the 67% of Tablet shipments are Androids last quarter - it is ALL BS - and completely meaningless - it is just about a ton of low cost Crap tablets flooding the shelves of stores globally. Even Google has said they are very disappointed wth the quality of Android tablets out there. Hence why they keep updating their Nexus 7. It was Also Google that last week said to date there were 70 Mil Android tablets activated vs the 150+ Mil iPads. So yeah over all Market share is still dominated by Apple at 68% - and when you look at usage share at least in the US and Canada - it is 84% and growing - not dropping. So seems like a lot of people are activating an Android tablet then putting it back in the box and returning it to the store.
And speaking of Market Share numbers for a quarter - Last Quarter iPhone sales in the US - moved up in to 42.5% of US smartphones sales. Android dropped to 51.5% and Windows phone moved up to 4% of the US market. It is likely that either this quarter or definitely next - Apple will get up above the 50% mark for US smartphone sales - when the new iPhone or iPhones launch.
A big hats off - kudos to Daniel Dilger at Apple Insider on the great article he wrote totally ripping to shreds the shlock report from Strategy Analytics that said Samsung was now leading apple in mobile profits - and as Daniel shows in great detail - that is not the case at all. Apple is still king of Mobile device profits - and I love at the end of the article - the outing he does of people from BGR, CNET, the Guardian, Forbes and even the Wallstreet journal that re-reported the crap put out by Strategy Analytics with out doing any fact checking. Seems everyone is in such a rush to report bad news about Apple knowing it will drive traffic - that they stopped fact checking or just look past obvious errors again all in the name of getting traffic to their site.
Daniel I raise my 5 hour energy drink in salute to you and the article you wrote. Link in the show notes titled - Samsung Electronics has not dethroned Apple, Inc. in mobile profits
Thanks to Santosh and John M and a few others for the heads up on this next one. Which well let me quote one of the listeners. quote Where is the integrity these days? unquote - that from John M - And in reference to Samsung - yes the same samsung that slavishly copied the iPhone - and iPad. Yes that Samsung - whom we already knew they had a low moral compass to start with - well they showed how low it actually is with the S4 - see Samsung is juicing the S4 for bench tests that is. They actually have code in the S4 that looks to software slash signs it is being tested by some of the popular bench marking software and then runs the unit hot or to put it another way - when they see benchmarking software they turn the dial to 11. Whether it be the CPU or the GPU - you can't trust the results for any bench mark tests for the S4 - because they over optimized for those tests - and as such do not give real world comparisons. So any and all Benchmark tests that the iPhone 5S runs in September - and then is compared to the S4 - yeah take them with a big big grain of salt. Anandtech had a very nice and long and detailed break down on this - but simply put - they tried to pull an A-rod - and they just got caught - and any records or results for the S4 with regards to bench mark tests should be thrown out. Hats off to Anandtech for showing Samsung to be well exactly who we thought they were all along.
And hats off also to IDC for slamming google on using a bogus report to say that the Nexus 7 outsold the iPad in Japan - when said report was clearly flawed - in that it did not count sales from Two big carriers - KDDI and Softbank - nor the 7 Apple stores in Japan nor did it count any of the Online sales from Apple.com in Japan. Yeah - so like IDC said a very flawed report - so flawed in fact - that IDC had the iPad at an over 2.2 to 1 sales ratio to the Nexus 7 in Japan. That Google would say when it was announcing the Nexus 7 v2 - that the original Nexus 7 outsold Japan is well baffling - according to IDC - because this report was so bad and so flawed. If you are going to cherry pick stats - at least cherry pick ones that are not total BS. You know a simple google of the BCN survey they used would have shown them it was BS - just sayin.
One more item - to bang on Android about - sorry- you guys sent in a ton of Anti-Android stuff this week - and well rightly so. But this next one is from the site Opensignal.com - and they do app development work for iOS and Android and have apps on both. What they found looking at their data was than this year to date they have seen 11,868 different android devices use their app - that is not 11,868 different users - no that number is over 680,000 just used for this report - So this is about 11,868 different Android Models / devices. Like the S4 or S3 or Note or… 11,868 different Android devices to try and support as a Dev has to be a bloody nightmare. That number is up from 3,997 for all of 2012. So it is not just bad - it has gotten way way worse this year. Hey Android devs you got to love that hockey stick yeah???
They also showed all the different screen sizes they had to do deal with which looked to be another bloody nightmare on the android side. No you know why the BBS recently said they have 3X more devs that are needed to support their Android apps then are needed to support their iOS apps.
Ok - I don't want to sound like I just pick on Android because they sell a lot - I also pick on MS and well they definitely don't As this listener wrote in to say.
Hi Rob,
I particularly love the line from Steve balmer Quote “We built a few more devices than we could sell. unquote - when talking about the Surface tablets.
Regards,
Tim, WI
Microsoft Reported on July 30th in their 10K report - the total revenue from Surface tablets for all of their fiscal year 2013. That means for the entire time the Surface tablets have been for sale. And that number was 853 Million Dollars - that is less than the $900 Mil writedown they announced. And given that the average Surface price is or I should say was in the $600 to $700 range - that means they sold less than 1.5 Million surface tablets since Oct 2012 when the RT went on sale and Feb when the Surface pro went on sale. During that period Apple sold in the 50 Million unit range. So yeah to say MS sold fewer units than planned is a big understatement by Mr Balmer.
And I should add - that 67% market share for Android tablets - that came from Strategy Analytics. Yes the same aforementioned Strategy analeptics that had their head handed to them over their shlocky reporting on Profits in mobile - well I mention them again because for Windows tablets in that report they had 2.3 Million Windows tablets shipping last quarter - considering - MS said they only shipped about 1.5 Mil since October - it seems not very likely all Windows Tablets shipments were 2.3 mil last quarter. Seems Strategy Analytics - is pulling numbers from their nether regions.
52.29.702
Hey Rob,
I got an email this morning about the update to iOS 7 Beta 4 and figured I'd have to do the drill again, but then got pleasantly surprised with the notification for over the air update.
And it worked without a hitch.
Regards,
John P
Hi John - yup - it was nice to see the over the air update for iOS 7 - and not needing to do the full update - that is a nice sign the update is moving closer to Gold master.
Hi Rob. Thanks for all your efforts and great podcast! I reported a bug with Apple in IOS 6. They seem to think they have fixed it, but I have no way to test it for them. Could you or one of your listeners help me out? Here is the summary of my bug:
Summary: Previous to IOS 6 double clicking the headphone button would go forward a chapter and triple clicking would go back while playing audio books (and podcasts with M4a and chapter marks). Now it skips to the next file or previous file. The same happens when using USB connected accessories to go back and forward.
Steps to Reproduce: Play an audio book with chapters. Double click the button on the headphones.
Expected Results: The next chapter begins to play
Actual Results: The next file begins to play
Regards,
Dave B
Rob,
I recently lost my wifi connection with my iPhone 4S. Not only did I lose connection but in fact the wifi option is greyed out in settings. After attempting many of the suggested fixes to no avail I discovered that the only fix is getting a new phone. I don't know if you or anyone in the listening audience has found something that works.
Regards,
Mason
US Army
And yes Mason tried the rebooting - the restoring - he is running iOS 6.1.3 - and is not jailbroken - if anyone else had this issue with iOS 6.1.3 - with Wifi dying - and you were able to get a solution - that did not involve a new phone - please let us know what you did.
206-666-6364 - that is 206-moon-dog - or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
Ok - lets get into some kickstarter projects. First up is the project Red Pitaya - two words - pitaya spelled p i t a y a - and what this is a Board that connects to your iOS device that combined with their app - turns your iOS device into an oscilloscope or a spectrum analyzer or signal generator or a frequency response analyzer or a PID Controller. Pricing on this starts now at $359 with the unit shipping in December. For $379 - you get one with the micro SD 2gb card with the Red Pitays applications already flashed and ready to run + power supply.
They have hit their goal of $50,000 - so if you pelage for this you will be charged for it - and hopefully you will get it as well. Most people might think $359 is expensive - but an oscilloscope alone will set you back $5k and a spectrum analyzer $15k.
The one thing I did not see in their diagram or assembly was a good low noise 10 MHz quartz crystal oscillator - so I am going to guess performance will suffer in this - don't expect to do any good alan variance measurements. That said - it does look interesting - if any EE's Hams or DIY's get this - let me know how it works out for you.
Actually I did send them an email asking about the timing source - This one I would recommend on holding off for a little bit on until they answer the email. Since the project has until Sep 20th before it ends and the early birds are already gone - no real need to purchase it today or even next week. I will let you know what type of reply if any I get on the next show.
This next Kickstarter project is called - iBlazr - spelled - i b l a z r - and what it is is a LED flash for smartphones and tablets. It plugs into the head phone jack. and will run you $39 and up -depending on the version you want. They have raised over $48k towards their goal of $58k and have until September 3rd at 4:00 PM ET to get the other $9+ k - which it looks like they should do pretty easily. But what is interesting about this flash - is that it has its own built in battery which you charge via USB with the flexible charger that comes with the device. It is a four LED flash - and their picture examples look interesting. They showing it shipping in December - obviously if you are going to get the iPhone 5S - this probably is not for you -but if you have the iPhone 5 or lower - and don't want to upgrade now or can't upgrade or if you have an iPad mini you use for photos - this might be a nice addition or present. Being this is kickstarter - think more toward Valentines day then Christmas - just saying.
Again this is called iBlazr - i b l a z r and it is at kickstarter dot com.
Thanks to Tash for the heads up on this next one. Which is about the Apple TV of all things. And that Apple has some refurbished Apple TV's marked down to $75. So if you were looking at that abomination known as Chromecast because of price - put that $35 toward an Apple TV - which is sooooo much more useful than the Chromecast - really - go and read the reviews. It is not what you think it is - and it definitely is not an Apple TV. And yes this is the Apple TV - 3rd gen - 1080p version.
Rob,
For iOS 7 what I would like to see is When developing an email, pressing and holding down the . It would be nice if .gov, and .mil be added to the list when the . Is held to provide additional options
Kind regards
Mike S
Hi Rob,
I've never received any iSpam but FYI just in case...
Here are instructions on how to report said spam messages to Apple.
Regards,
John M - Gibert AZ
Thanks John - and neither have I - but if anyone is quote seeing unwanted iMessages (spam) in Messages app, you can report those to Apple.
To report unwanted iMessage messages to Apple, please send an email with the following details to: imessage.spam@icloud.com
Include a screenshot of the message you have received.
Include the full email address or phone number you received the unwanted message from.
Include the date and time that you received the message.
unquote.
Or in iOS 7 - just block their spamish butt with the new block option.
Hello Rob,
Here is a Possible a subject you might like to cover.
Regards,
Mike
And what he is talking about is a post on iDownloadblog - which asks would you pay again for iOS 7 versions of apps you already own.
Essentially this comes down to the fact that iOS 7 is so different from iOS 6 in look and feel - many developers will choose to re-write their apps to make them more iOS 7ish in fit finish and feel. This will be a lot of work for the devs more so than past updates. So how do you think you would feel about having to pay again to get an app that is rebuilt from the ground up to iOS 7?
My guess is it will depend on the app - if it is one I am currently using a lot - then I might pay to get the new version - oh ok - I might send an email to the dev asking for a new promo code - but if I did pay for apps I would have paid for any I would be willing to send emails out to for a new version. But that would be for utility and productivity apps - for Games apps - no way.
I am guessing this will be a topic of greater debate as we get closer to the likely September launch of iOS 7.
Let me know your thoughts - 206-666-6364 - thats 206 - moon - dog or email your thoughts to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
If you are dev - also let me know what your plans are - are you going to fork you app at iOS 7 and make a new version requiring a new purchase - or will you make a new version optimized for iOS 7 which is just a free upgrade. I want to hear from both devs and users on this one.
In the past we mentioned how some hackers at Georgia tech figured out how to put malware on your iOS device - just using a malicious charger. Well they gave their demonstration at Black hat this weekend and showed the malicious charger to those in attendance. It involved an open source beagle board with costs about $125. The then plugged in an iPhone - and while it was charging - when a passcode was entered on the iPhone that triggered it to put in the malware - they showed it replacing the Facebook app with a malware version of Facebook - that went right in the same spot as the original app - so from the users perspective you could not tell anything had been done. They say this hack works on all iOS devices up to and including those running iOS 7 betas. They have made apple aware of this issue - so expect a security update to iOS 6 in the near future - plus some changes to iOS 7 before it is released. Expect more on this story in a future episode of Today in iOS and many other blogs posts on the inter webs.
Hi Rob
My mother-in-law recently had a massive stroke and has lost the ability to speak. I am hopping that the listeners can help with an application that we can use to help us communicate with her. She has the use of her left hand. I am look forward to the suggestion.
Regards,
Lawrence
Hi Lawrence sorry to hear about your mother in law. If anyone has some suggestions for Lawrence please let us know.
There are some accessibility features built into iOS for those with restricted mobility I would suggest you check out. Look for the blog post titled - Assistive touch - in the show notes for Tii ep 277 at today in iOS dot com. I am thinking you will want to go with an iPad - as it has more of the gesture controls. But again anyone that has experience with using an iOS device for someone with restricted mobility - please let us know what you suggest.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired.
And a big thanks to todays sponsor - WARBY PARKER - go to Warby Parker dot com to get your 5 pairs of glasses to try on for free shipped right to you door. Then when you find a pair you like when you are checking out use the promo code T i i to get free 3 day shipping on the pair you purchase. Great Glasses, Great pricing, and a great cause. Warby Parker dot com.
I took this photo using the camera from my iPod Touch 5th gen and put text on it with overgram. It's the apple IIe.
Regards
Daniel
======================
Transcript for Episode 276
-----------------------------------
Most of this episode is being recorded on Monday night - so that once Apple announces their quarterly results I can just record that part and put up the episode. Which means the part about Apples quarterly results will be at the end of the episode and some items leading up to that will be speculation that is proven wrong by the end of the episode. I also want to throw a quick shout out to any of the KFest listeners - as Wednesday the 24th I will be doing my iOS presentation to KFest - which is the oldest and now only Apple II developers conferences. Luckily for me they have that conference here in Kansas city and it is the one time a year I get to commune with my old 8 bit roots. Ok again at the end of this episode I will have the Apple quarterly results and my thoughts there of. And now on with the news. Well actually first is an email.
Hello Rob, have you seen the app "xRec" from the appstore? It lets you record your iPhone screen without Jailbreak similarly to the way DisplayRecorder does. Its 1.99$ and probably will get pulled from the appstore.
Hi Saleem - thanks for the heads up - I have not tested this - but from the description it does look like a display recorder clone. It just was approved on the 20th. And likely will be pulled from the store by the time Episode 277 comes out - so if you are a dev or anyone else looking for a way to do a screen cast recording on your iOS device and don't want to or can't jailbreak - then check out xRec - before it is pulled that is assuming it is not pulled yet - and the name of the app is spelled - X R E C - Also make sure to read the reviews before you purchase this - as it seems this one had the red bar up top indicating it is recording when you use it.
Under the category - Dooohhh - comes news that Apples Dev Center was hacked last week
- so if you were wondering why it was down - that is why. Apple said quote
Last Thursday, an intruder attempted to secure personal information of our
registered developers from our developer website. Sensitive personal
information was encrypted and cannot be accessed, however, we have
not been able to rule out the possibility that some developers’ names,
mailing addresses, and/or email addresses may have been accessed.
In the spirit of transparency, we want to inform you of the issue.
unquote
Yeah no sensitive personal info of devs was accessed - maybe just names, mailing addresses and email addresses - so you know nothing to worry about - unless you know you consider those items sensitive personal info.
Most likely if that info was accessed - what the hackers would likely do is launch a phishing attack next at developers from their quote nonsensitive personal info unquote. So just make sure if you are a dev and you get an email seeming to come from apple - don't trust it and don't click on any links - manually go to the dev center to log in. Do not repeat do not trust any links sent to you from emails that looking they came from Apple.
Last Week law enforcement Chiefs from San Francisco and NY City met with Apple and Samsung to test their theft deterrent solutions. With Apple this is the iOS 7 new feature for Activation Lock.
Initial rhetoric from the City officials went like this.
Quote While we are appreciative of the efforts made by Apple and Samsung to improve security of the devices they sell, we are not going to take them at their word,Today we will assess the solutions they are proposing and see if they stand up to the tactics commonly employed by thieves."
UnQuote - This via a joint statement from both lead officials. Both Have said they felt Activation lock is an inadequate theft deterrent and have pushed apple to put in a kill switch that permanently kills the phone. Here is the issue - Why kill the phone permanently if all you need to do is kill it for a period of time until you get it back. And the hassle of people killing phones in their coach. Not the best path to go down.
That said Both the City officials - Gascon and Schneiderman - made a big to do about getting together on Thursday of last week to test out the Apple theft deterrent features. Saying they would report the results. And then once they tested the iPhones - they said basically - umm never mind - we will report at a later date. Seems to me if they were so vocal about it not being adequate - and then did real life testing - they would be quick to pound their chest and say - see we told you we were right. But that is not what happened last week. So I am guessing what happened is they could not get around iOS 7's activation lock - and did not want to eat crow after being so vocal leading up to the event about needing a quote kill switch unquote. They did however give some nice parting shots at Google and Microsoft by saying that neither seem to be getting the message about smartphone thefts.
Again I think the biggest addition to iOS 7 is activation lock - and that if Apple has done it right - it will greatly help reduce the amount of apple picking going on - as it will be available to every iOS device running iOS 7. Which quickly will be most iOS devices. By the way Samsungs solution cost their users $30 a year as part of an annual subscription. So yeah - most people will not be getting that. Not that most Android users update their software anyway. Just sayin.
And now I would like to talk about this weeks sponsor - Which is once again Warby Parker. If you wear glasses like me you know what a pain it is to get new glasses and how expensive it is - my last pair cost more than a 64 GB iPhone. Especially after the eyeglass store put on all their adders. But Warby Parker is not like that. First on the price side for prescription Glasses they are $95 or you can go titanium for $145. And that includes the UV coating and a very nice case. No up sells. And these are nice fashionable glasses.
How the process works is you go to warbyparker dot com and you pick out 5 pairs of glasses you want to try on Or as they call it their Home Try on - and they ship the 5 pair out to you at no cost. You try them on for a few days and pick out the pair you like best and send them all back - shipping is covered both ways. Then once you pick the pair you like best you go online enter your prescription and place the order. At that point for Tii listeners - you put in the promo code T I I for free 3 day shipping on the final pair. And that is it. It really was an easy process. My Warby Parker glasses are my day in day out glasses - So they are not just an advertiser they are who I got my primary pair of glasses from. You can see them on me in my picture on the banner for Warby parker up at today in iOS dot com or in the album artwork for ep 260.
You can go right now on your iOS device to WarbyParker.com and pick your 5 pairs and get them sent to you to try on at no cost to you. But lets say after you try on the 5 pairs you and your significant other can't agree on THE pair - simple send them back and pick out another 5 pairs and repeat
- still at no cost for the try ons. They have a lot of great styles and the site is really easy to see the different styles and colors. And for iOS users that are starting to trombone on your iPhone - they also have a monocle - so you can use that as a reading glass to see the small font on your iPhone screen. Just sayin. Plus you know nothing says cool like a monocle. Except maybe knowing that when you buy a pair of glasses with Warby Parker here is the absolute best part - they give a pair to a 3rd world charity. So in summary. You shop hassle free and get days to try on your 5 pairs at your home to pick the ones you really like best - you pay 1/3rd to 1/5th what you normally pay for glasses and by buying a pair you are helping out someone in a 3rd world country to get a pair of glasses as well. Win Win and Win. Again remember when you do buy a pair use promo code T i i at the check out for your purchased pair to get free 3 day shipping. Thanks Warby Parker for sponsoring this show.
17:14.719
PLAY VoiceMail - Levi_AudioBooks_itunes & Levi_FV_headphone_extension
Hi Rob,
Per the caller asking about Reminder back ups.
Toodledo has an option automatically sync reminders to Toodledo.
Regards,
John M
Hi Rob,
For Kerry in episode 275 - try HABU.
It's does it own analysis and creates playlist based on multiple moods
categorisation or to use their words mood centric playlists.
Regards
Lenny, Chester. U.K.
John and Lenny - thanks for your help.
Hey Rob,
I am a developer and love the new iOS7 feature for auto fill in a
safari. Filling out simple contact info such as name, phone, address is a breeze.
I wanted to know if you or your audience know of an application that would allow you to auto fill a PDF file with the same
information. For example I receive a form at least once a day on PDF that requires my contact info. It would be awesome if an app could pull the form in and "auto fill" it with my information knowing where all the applicable fields where on the document.
Thank you for the help,
Regards,
Jeff B
Hi Jeff - I do not know of an App for autofilling a PDF doc - not sure if there is such an app for iOS devices - but maybe someone listening knows of such an app - if so please send an email to today in iOS At gmail dot com and let us know.
Some time in this past quarter - Apple hit a mile stone - in that they sold more iPhones all time then they have iPod's all time.
Now when it comes to revenue - the iPhone blew away the iPods a while ago. But in unit sales - It was just this past quarter where the iPhone passed the iPod in sales. There are now over 380 Million iPhones and over 380 million iPod's that have been sold all time.
Apple in its quest to create the better Map app has acquired two Mapping services - HopStop and then also Locationary. HopStop gives users door-to-door transit, walking, biking and taxi directions in over 300 cites worldwide. Locationary well according to their site does the following - quote create a neutral platform that distributors could use to broadcast data, and their subscribers could use to blend data from multiple sources into the highest quality composites. unquote
ummm Yeah. But somehow that is related to maps - and it is being reported as an acquisition to help Apple Maps.
Following up a little more on the tragic story of the Chinese woman that was electrocuted when answering her phone after just getting out of a bath. It does now look like their was a 3rd party charger involved. Which is what I said was likely the case on the last episode. Nothing official yet from apple on this situation.
Over on the site Quartz - the have an article looking at all the evidence out there to support Apple making a full on TV. Some this comes from the rumor of Apple reportedly buying the Israeli company PrimeSense - which created the motion sensing tech first used in the Microsoft kinect. This they figure would be used to allow you to make gestures to change channels and control the TV over all. They state that Apple would not be looking to ad this tech after market to TV's as tacking this onto TV's does not seem very apple - but rather having the TV built with the text does. Add to that Apps and you have some reasons they claim Apple will do a TV.
No mention of 4K video support - which I am still sticking to that an Apple TV will have support for.
More and more pictures are starting to roll out about a plastic lower cost iPhone. Some photos show multiple colors - or per Slash gear - there are multiple photos of a pastel Green case for a low cost iPhone up against a released iPhone 5. It looks like the screen size will remain the same. Actually it looks like it is a pretty good match up size wise with the iPhone 5 - and does not appear to simply be a case made to fit and iPhone 5. It does look to be its own stand alone unit and not just a case for an iPhone 5. I think what I find most surprising is that if this is the lower cost iPhone - that it is or appears to be the same screen size. I would have thought it would be cheaper to design and manufacture the lower cost iPhone if it was a little bigger on the screen size but with the same resolution - or a lower pixel density - depending on your perspective. But so far there have not been any photo leaks to suggest that - just a plastic version of the iPhone 5 with the same basic dimensions.
With AT&T and Verizon following in T-mobile's footsteps for the yearly upgrade plans, are you going to be joining that plan and have the latest iPhone every year??
Regards,
Sebastian
Ummm No. Here is why not. One I am eligible for an upgrade now - so when the iPhone 5S comes out in the next couple of months - I can get it at the subsidized price. Which for me will be much cheaper than the AT&T Next plan. Plus if I want to pay full price then I want a cheaper monthly rate for the plan. Which is what I would get if I went with T-Mobile. What I see from AT&T and Verizon - does not make sense or cents for me at least. Plus I like to hold on to my old devices - which in this plan you must turn in the old devices. So yeah - I will not be signing up for any plan that requires me to turn in my old iPhone - they become friends and almost a part of the family - I just can't discard them like that.
Great news for Android developers - Just when they thought all the best SDK's were iOS first or iOS only - they are given a shining beacon of hope with the a new Binder Kit that is being advertised as the first ever Android Remote Access Tool App binder & Builder - and this one is just for Android. This Dev Kit will allow unskilled users to easily package up apps. Quote ...This tool... is lowering the bar for people entering the... space unquote. Said Vikram Thakur who continued quote But it is only one piece of the puzzle - the user still has to figure out how to monetize it unquote. Which yeah all sounds standard for any devs - but having a tool kit that lowers the barrier to entry usually means you have a lot more entries - and more competition to monetize said Apps. Oh and did we mention - this is all about building Malware - Yeah this kit is being advertised in the hacker underground markets. And it allows the entry level hackers to take legit apps - add some malware and repackage them so they look still like legit apps. And the malware in this case does the normal Android malware stuff - allowing the criminals to remotely monitor the android device, make phone calls, send SMS messages, access GPS info, use the camera and microphone and access stored files. You know nothing to serious or anything. Just all good fun and games on the android side. Ironically - Mr Thakur from Symatec ends the article by saying quote “If somebody is offering you a free version of an app that you would have to pay for somewhere else, think twice,” T. Nothing is free.” To bad Samsung, HTC and Sony didn't head that warning before getting into bed with Android. Just Sayin
So MS Just wrote off $900 Million dollars for unsold inventory of their Surface RT and what do they do next - well release a commercial slamming the iPad of course which both the Ad and the write down come after they slashed and burned the price of the RT Tablet a week earlier. I mean really why would anyone buy the RT tablet at $349 - when you can get the iPad Mini for less. Of course with MS writing off the inventory - maybe people should just wait for an HP move - where MS drops the price to $100. I mean how long can it be for the true slash and burn pricing. Or Maybe they could have a special - Spend $100 on a Surftace RT Tablet keyboard and you get one free Surface RT tablet.
32:15.656
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Kevin_crossman_FB_Playlist
Hi Rob,
Per the listener asking about the app needing a front facing camera.
Unfortunately, if a developer wants to support iOS 4.3+ but restrict iPad 1 users from installing the build (usually for performance reasons), the only way to do that is to use the UIDeviceRequiredCapabilities key in the Application's Info.plist file to require the front facing camera. iPad1 does not have a front facing camera so it will not allow the build to be installed.
This is exactly the approach taken by Apple when iPhoto for iOS was released. It's a terrible hack but necessary in this case. I've used the approach with a number of applications with no problems, however these apps did use the camera so the I agree that it does seems a bit less creepy.
Regards,
Eric
Hi Eric - thanks for that answer and also to Andris and others that sent in similar responses. I guess one should never blame on Malice which can easily be explained by Incompetence.
Hi Rob,
Can you discuss why some apps require location services to be turned
on when it appears the app does not need them. Examples include some
apps that store files/pics (Photo Safe Pro), amongst others I have
seen.
Regards, John S
Hi John - Photo apps I can see needing location info - since one way to sort photos Is by where they were taken. So that makes sense. Some other apps however - like game apps - that are free - need location info for the Ad serving networks that supply them revenue to support that app so it is free for you to use. So my feeling is that if an app is free and it asks you for Location info - it is likely for the Ad networks they are working with - and that well is how they are able to make it free to you - so don't be offended or worried when a free app asks for you location.
Hi rob I found this in ios 7 beta three. If you put a panorama shot as your wallpaper on the lock screen. Move your iPhone as you would taking a panorama shot and the wallpaper will move the shot with you.
Anyway thought it was interesting love your show keep up the good work.
Nathan
Hey Rob,
Just happened upon a neat AppleTV trick. With the latest update, you can use AirPlay which, for me, means that I can listen to the audio over my stereo system (using AirPort Express) rather than through my weak TV speakers. This adjustment can be made in Settings by clicking AirPlay. But there is another, easier way: when playing music or a video on AppleTV all you need to do is hold down the Select button (the silver one in the center of the remote). This will give you a context sensitive menu that will include the item "Speakers" so you can change AirPlay without having to leave the song or movie.
This week we have a kickstarter project called MyType - which as the name might indicate is a keyboard. And yes a bluetooth keyboard you can use with your iOS device. This project had a very Rob approves goal of just $10,000 and they hit that and then some with over $75,000 raised and then some. What is unique about this keyboard compared to others out there is this keyboard is flexible and folds in half so you can put it in your pocket. Making this keyboard very portable. And it looks to have a good tactile feedback from the keys. The size of the keyboard when closed is 6.8" x 3.6" x 0.35" - to put that in perspective the iPad mini is 7.87" x 5.3" x 0.28". So it is smaller than the iPad mini Length and width wise and just slightly thicker.
Pricing on this is $59 and they will be shipping in October. Well actually early shipping is for September - which are all sold out. So if you are looking for a nice Christmas present for your significant other - this is a good one. You have until August 1st at 11:59 PM ET to get in on this. Over at kickstarter dot com Search for Mytype - one word - spelled M Y T Y P E .
So the Pebble smartwatch is now at Best buy - for $149.99 - Which kind of pissed off a few Pebble Kickstarter funders as not all the funders have received their Pebble watches. Seems like Pebble should have made sure to ship out and fill all Kickstarter orders before starting to ship to Bestbuy - Just sayin.
Guess that will make it easier for some to jump ship to the iWatch when Apple releases it.
Hi Rob,
Finally got my pebble! It has a "Kickstarter Edition" label on the back which is kinda cool and currently I'm sportin my "Apple eats Android" watch face which I generated on www.watchface-generator.de/
So far I love it. Can't wait to see what new apps and features are in the pebble's future.
Thanks to all that sent in info on this next one - which is that both Google Maps and Chrome Apps for iOS had major updates launched last week. One of the updates for Chrome is tighter integration with Google Maps and other Google Apps. Part of the big Google Maps app update is finally native support or universal support for iPads. There are also many other minor changes to both. If you are an active user of the google ecosystem - then the updates to Chrome in particular will be good news for you as you can set in the preferences to open up links with google apps such as the Google Maps App, Google+ and Youtube instead of via the Chrome browser.
Rob,
I haven't seen this in the news but there was a note about a recent update to the Google Maps app.
I'm an iOS developer and just at the beginning of last week I was looking at how to incorporate Google StreetView into an iOS app. I found it very frustrating that, in my opinion, the one important differentiator of Google Maps from Apple Maps was not available in the Google Maps SDK for iOS. I even posted to StackOverflow about it.
Then in the latest release, which was published July 17th, they added Streetview to google maps SDK for iOS.
FYI... I was just in Michael's (arts & crafts store) and they had $25 iTunes gift cards on sale for $20 (20% off!) No limit on the number you can purchase. I always stock up when I find a sale & thought maybe other listeners might like to know. It's a "back to school" promo, but I'm not sure if this is just in my area or nationwide. Sale runs through 7/27.
Thanks again for all you do for the iOS community!
Missi
Bellbrook, OH
Missi thanks for the heads up - and also thanks to Jim M - that spotted $25 iTunes Gift cards for sale at Bed Bath and Beyond - which has the sale running through July 25th.
Hi rob,
I just wondering, do you think that sometime in the future, apple will change the icon to a live icon like the windows 8 live tiles?
I wish they will...
Thanks,
Alon from Israel
Hi Alon - Apple kinda of has a live iCon in iOS 7 as the second hand is moving on the clock app. But will they allow something like that for a 3rd party app - probably not any time soon.
Hi Rob:
Follow-up on my previous photo upload to Flickr:
Pro
1. I have loaded thousands of photos thus far.
2. Memory usage on Flickr is trivial. Great feeling to see all that space.
3. In addition to iPhoto, I've found and use "Flickr Uploadr", a free Mac app (from the Flickr 'Tools' website). This latter application permits increased photo filing features.
4. If you have to download many photos at once, a Mac app called "Bulkr" works very well. It is free with limits. To unlock the app, there is a onetime fee. The free version is good enough for me.
5. On the iOS side, Flickring is a great app. No problems with the app so far, uploading and downloading. The developer has produced other apps I've used and knew that their work is high quality. The app is $2.99 and NOT universal. You'll have to pay for the iPad and iPhone versions.
Con
1. The Flickr Plugin for iPhoto sometimes displays a scary popup window stating that your previously uploaded album has been removed from Flickr. I would see this message when beginning to upload the next album. There were times when the album was deleted from Flickr and others when it wasn't. I don't know why the plugin reacted like this, but the solution is to upload all your photos and verify that they do reside on Flickr, before deleting them form your PC. Of Course, have the photos backed up somewhere else as well.
2. When the iPhoto plugin showed that weird behavior I described above, I began a search for another upload app and found Flickr Uploadr. The only problem I've encountered here is that the app sometimes deletes images from the queue that it failed to upload. Therefore, you must attempt to reload the images by beginning the process again, including the entering of photo meta data. This only happened once. Again, don't delete images unless backed up and uploads verified.
6. Flickr produces it's own (free) iOS app, but it is optimized for the iPhone (will work on iPad with resolution compromises). The user experience is significantly better if you use Flickring.
Tony V
Brooklyn, NY
46:57.501
46:57.501
PLAY VOICEMAIL - DEV_REVIEW_BIG_CAT
Hi Rob,
The App Video in Video is perfect for all my needs. A Huge thanks to all those who helped with the suggestion.
Regards,
Daniel.
Hey Rob, so you have any thoughts on when the next iPod touch will be released? Do you think they'll make any updates to the hardware, or just drop the pricing on the current models?
-Mike from Orlando
Hi Rob,
I would like to see in the next IPhone is a wrist strap like that on the iPod touch 4th generation. Because the IPhone has become the most used camera in the world, it would make sense to me that one could put this strap on so one would not drop it while snapping a photo, especially while taking a picture while leaning over the end of boat for example. Thanks for listening.
Dave From New Jersey
Hi Rob,
I have an iPhone 5 and an iPad mini. The safari history only goes back 7 days.
I would like to keep the history for much longer than that. It's frustrating to loose the history as I surf on short brakes and the the like. I know I can book mark by he way.
Do you know of a way I can keep the history. My phone is not jail broken so that is not an option.
Thanks for the podcast I listen to them in my truck driving around the UK
Last Quarter Verizon activated 7.5 Mil smartphones of which 51% were iPhones. Of the 7.5 Mil smartphones activated 5.4 Mil were LTE. Meaning only 2.1 Mil were 3G. That means worst case of the 3.8 Mil iphones sold - 1.7 Mil were iPhone 5's. But sadly no other info was given - it looks as if the iPhone 5 was again about 50% of the iPhoneS sold vs the 4 and 4S.
But lets not loose sight of the fact that 51% of smartphones activated last quarter at Verizon were iPhones AND how really impressive that is when you think that the iPhone 5 was on average 7 1/2 months old - vs the newly launched Galaxy S4. So not only did the iPhone kick the S4's butt - it kicked the collective butts of every other smartphone Verizon sells combined. That includes Windows Phones, Androids and Blackberry's.
From the last episode I made these predications quote I will venture to say Apple will have sold 28.5 Million iPhones in the last quarter. For iPads - I think we will see about 16.75 Mil iPads sold last quarter. unquote. So how did I do or more importantly how did Apple do last quarter?
Well on the iPhone side much better then most predicted - Apple sold 31.2 Million iPhones last quarter vs 26 Million the year ago quarter and 37.4 Mil last quarter. So definitely good news on the iPhone side and much higher then my optimistic prediction. Actually it was better then all the Anal-ists save one - Matt Lew of the Braeburn Group had a guess of 32 Million iPhones sold - so he was closest to the mark. Next closest was 30 Million by a few people.
On top of that Apple reduced channel inventory by 600,000 units - so year over year the increase was even more than the 26 to 31.2 mil numbers indicate. In the US iPhone sales were up 51% yr/yr and they were up 56% in Japan yr/yr.
On the iPad side they were lower than my prediction coming in at 14.6 Million iPad's sold vs 17 mil the year ago - when the iPad 3rd gen was launched and 19.5 Mil in the last quarter. So I guess 14.6 mil kind of should have been expected given the newest iPad mini shipped in November and there has not been anything new - and there was no launch - but still a bit of disappointing news there and I am sure what most of the blogs will focus on in the days and weeks to come.
On the Anal-ist side - William Power at Baird was the closest with a guess of 14.49 Million iPads sold. He actually was pretty close on iPhones with 29.02 Mil - that put him 4th on the iPhone list. Well done Mr. Power.
One thing Apple pointed out is that for the iPad there was a drop in Inventory of 700k units in the quarter vs an increase in channel inventory the year before quarter when the iPad 3rd gen. launched - so the drop from 17 to 14.6 was not nearly that great and again there was no new product launched this year. Tim Cook mentioned Web traffic stats just released for Tablets where the iPads have 84% of all Tablet traffic. And that is an increase over the quarter - so regardless of what is being shipped and maybe sold by the other guys - the end users don't seem to be doing a very basic thing with those other tablets per surfing the web.
iPod sales dropped again as expected to 4.6 Million units - down from 6.8 Mil in the year ago quarter and 5.6 Mil last quarter. % of iPod touches not given as is usual.
Cash on hand is now at 146.6 Billion up 1.9 Billion for the Quarter from 144.7 Billion. However during the quarter Apple did distribute 18.8 Billion in the way of Dividends and Stock buy backs - and had a net cash flow of $7.8 Billion. If the numbers don't add up - that is because Apple issued bonds (i.e. borrowed money) to do the stock buy backs - rather than repatriate the cash from over seas.
Over all revenue for the last quarter was 35.3 Billion dollars that is up slightly year over year from $35.0 Billion - and most analysts were expecting a drop there year over year.
To put Revenue in perspective for Apple v Google v Microsoft.
In Calendar year 2013 - Google has generated 28.1 Billion, Microsoft has generate 39.7 Billion. That is all year for each company for all product lines. By comparison - the iPhone line alone for 2013 has generated 41.1 Billion dollars. Yes the iPhone line alone for 2013 - two quarters with no new product launches - the iPhone line generated more revenue then all of Microsoft and all of Google - actually it generated over 46% more revenue than all of Google for the year. And then when you look at all of Apple Revenue for the year is 78.9 Billion Dollars. That is more than Google and Microsoft combined. So when you read posts about Apple having a dismal quarter - keep it in perspective.
Tim Cook was asked about up coming products and he said - We have a busy fall more details in October - now not sure if that means no new products until October - or that the next time they will get the gang all together for a quarterly conference call will be october - when he will give more details. Oh Damn you king of double speak. Why can't you give us one good piece of info to go by.
Apple Q2 2013 - Quarterly Report Summary:
Rev = $35.3 Billion (vs $35 Billion a year ago quarter and $43.6 Billion last quarter)
Total Cash = $146.6 Billion (up $1.9 Billion for the quarter from $144.7 Billion)
Last Quarter Sales:
iPhones Sold = 31.2 Mil (vs 26 Mil a year ago quarter and 37.4 Mil last quarter)
iPads Sold = 14.6 Mil (vs 17 Mil a year ago quarter and 19.5 Mil last quarter)
iPod Touches Sold = Not given as usual but over half of the 4.6 Mil iPods sold
All iPod's Sold = 4.6 Mil (vs 6.8 Mil a year ago quarter and 5.6 Mil last quarter)
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired.
And a big thanks to todays sponsor - WARBY PARKER - go to Warby Parker dot com to get your 5 pairs of glasses to try on for free shipped right to you door. Then when you find a pair you like when you are checking out use the promo code T i i to get free 3 day shipping on the pair you purchase. Great Glasses, Great pricing, and a great cause. Warby Parker dot com.
Attached the iPhone dial pad with your contact number displayed along with the corresponding digits tagged by the TII logo, I used PhotoForge2 to crop the Tii logo and LINE Camera to add the text and the cropped Tii logo's.
Apple as part of their way to celebrate the 5 years of the App store is offering some apps for free. Which if you have the Tii App you should have received a push on. Per the Free Apps they include - Barefoot World Atlas, Badland, Day One, Infinity Blade II, and more. Free for you from Apple for a very limited time. Look for the link titled Free App to celebrate 5 years of the iTunes app store in the show note for ep 275 over at today in iOS dot com.
First a How wrong was I segment - I said on the last show the Beta 3 of iOS 7 would be out on Monday the 15th - not Monday the 8th like BGR was saying - and well I was wrong and BGR was right. I still don't believe they have an inside source - because the ISPW file for Beta 3 was not completed until July 6th. Still They were right I was wrong. Lets see what they say for Beta 4.
Ok - So now that Beta 3 is out - which again came out on the 8th - what is new or different. First - In Safari - remember my complaint about when in the combined Search and URL box - that for the keyboard if you wanted to type say Tii.libsyn.com - you would have to type t i i @123 period ABC l i b s y n .com button. That there was no longer a period button on the keyboard for safari when typing in a URL - well that has been updated and there is now a period button - what is gone is the .com button kinda - what you do is tap and hold the period button and then you get .com along with .net .edu .org and .us that is of course if you have US in your international settings but if you have say the UK set for your international settings - then tapping and holding the period will give you .uk .co.uk .com .ie .edu .org .eu and .net Another new feature I have not seen mentioned is when in Safari - it now shows you thumbnails of other sites you have visited in a grid when you go into the URL / Search box. So essentially it is a show top sites feature for iOS's safari.
Other new features include larger status bar items on the lock screen, The Calendar App in monthly view now shows a small grey dot for the days you have something scheduled, Folders are looking a little lighter or more transparent. There appears to be a new font in Settings, Music App, The Weather App and I am sure others. And there are other UI fluff enhancements. Basically it was mostly about being more stable and closer to prime time.
Another reported change in Beta 3 is for non-retina iPads - that would be the iPad 2 and iPad mini - where iPhone only apps will now use the iPhones retina images in 2X mode rather than the lower res 480 x 320 images - and it automatically puts the apps into 2x mode. I think it was Chris in London that wrote in about RetinaPad in the past - which is a jailbreak app that does the same thing.
And The podcasts App is finally working in Beta 3.
Thanks to Jason for the heads up on this next one about Beta 3 - and something found in the code that could mean something for a future iPhone. Seems - That hidden in the code reportedly called Mogul - that allows video recording up to 120 FPS - which many are speculating means the next iPhone will be able to record at a higher rate so you can play back in slow motion. Which if true will soon become the most over used video effect for the money shot in Amateur porn ever - just sayin.
However I am still sticking with my theory that the next iPhone will allow for 4K video recording - which also fits in with the 120 fps rumor.
Small tip on iOS 7. When you ask Siri to set a timer, now you will see it counting down on the lock screen as well
Regards
Saviour
Hi Rob thought this was interesting if you have a dynamic lock screen wall paper on ios 7 beta you can use the parellex and the dynamics will move.
Regards,
Nathan
Hi Rob,
iOS 7 beta 3 is stable. No more shutting down apps at anytime.
Regards,
Kevin K
Hi Kevin - If it has Beta in its name all bets are off. Is beta 3 more stable than beta 2 - Well to me it appears to be - does it mean per your question apps are not randomly shutting down. Nope - Even the native calendar app is shutting down on me randomly. My advice is if you need to ask that question best to wait until it is gold master. And to put this in perspective - I have not put iOS 7 beta 3 on my Wife's iPad yet - because I fear the reaction I would get at this point with apps crashing. Again it appears better than beta 2 - but I am waiting until beta 4 to load it on my wife's iPad 3rd gen. And if you need your iOS device for Work - I still recommend you wait.
14:40.308
PLAY VOICEMAIL - JEFF_MUSIC_NOT_DIMMING
PLAY VOICEMAIL - JAVIER_MUSIC_LOWERING
Hi Rob,
Regarding the listener who wanted suggestions for avoiding drop-outs in his music from app and SMS notifications. The question reminded me that this bothered me too, and it prompted me to turn on "Do not disturb" on the phone. That seemed to have worked for me. I drove home listening to podcasts and when I got there I noticed I had an SMS from my wife waiting for me on the screen. As an aside, she is in my Favorite list in contacts and I have enabled disturbing by favorites in Do Not Disturb, but I guess it only applies to phone calls, not other notifications. That's a feature for me.
So, to summarize: Works for me, hope it works for him.
Best regards,
Nick
Hi Rob,
For sending messages to solicit votes for attending an event, simply use the calendar app and meeting invitations. In Ep. 274, someone was looking for a way to do this via text messages. I use this with google calendar sync. Responses come back in email, but you can see who accepted/rejected/ said maybe.
There is also a free app called 'ComeOn!' that assists in sending invitations in various formats and appears to aggregate those responses for you. I have not tried it personally.
Regards,
TroyK
Topeka
Hi Rob!
I am responding to DZ from New Zealand about an app for his baseball coaching. Unfortutunately, I don't have an app he could use, but I have some ideas of how to work around it.
1. He could use Evite. Yes, it wouldn't be texting, but it does allow everyone to respond and he can tally folks. It is an app as well, so he could access on his phone.
2. The reminders app... If he creates a "new list" in the app, he could list all the kids names. As they respond "yes", he can check the box and it moves to complete. Then he'll know how many are in complete are a "yes" and those not checked are a no or no response.
Hope that helps!
Thanks!
David
Dear Rob. In your podcast number 274, another listener (the football coach) was looking for an app to allow him to record names and if the parents have responded to his calls.
For things like that, you could use Numbers. They even have a template similar to that, and you could just change a column of cells to multiple choice, and fill in the data.
Hope it helped,
Dan
Hi Rob,
Per the guy looking for the 3.5 mm cable Have him go to monoprice.com they have all kinds of cables at the best prices.
Regards,
David Springfield MO
Hi Rob,
For the person from Tii Item 274 who wanted a headphone adapter to extend through the Lenmar Battery case, Mophie has a great one on their website. It is rugged and works perfectly.
It is free with a $1.99 pro upgrade and it works very well. I have used it for a couple of projects at work showing a wide shot of an operation with a close up detail shot inset with very good results.
Glad I could help!
Regards,
Mike K.
Barboursville, WV
Thanks to Dean in Ft Worth TX and Steve for also recommending this app. So Daniel - looks like Video in Video - 3 words is the way to go for your Picture in Picture needs via iOS. Let us know how that works out for you.
Research firm Kantar Worldpanel recently released a report covering the March to May period for smartphone sales in the US and they found that the iPhone increased its market shares by 3.5 points coming in now at 41.9% - vs the same period in 2012. Android increased 0.1 points to 52%. Blackberry plummeted from 4.6% in 2012 to 0.7% in 2013. Windows increased from 3.7% to 4.6% - showing Windows Phone 8 is likely going to be the 3rd place OS world wide and in the US for the foreseeable future. Blackberry with just 0.7% is basically at the point where they just need to turn off the lights and waterloo and call it a day. More interesting from the report - than even the death of Blackberry is that for the March to May period - the iPhone 5 was the single best selling smartphone at T-mobile despite it only be available for half of that 3 month period. Looks like from their calculations the iPhone 5 pulled in 31% of the sales share for the whole 3month window even though again it was just available for half the time frame. Interesting that the iPhone seems to already be more successful at T-mobile - than the iPhone is at Sprint. Actually when the next iPhone launches in the fall - it looks like only Sprint will show a less than 50% market share of Smartphone sales for Q4 for 2013.
Apple announced that the Next quarterly conference call will be Tuesday the 23rd at 2:00 PM PT. 5:00 PM ET. Which is perfect for me - as On Wednesday the 24th - I am doing what has become my yearly briefing on the world of iOS to K Fest - the worlds only remaining Apple 2 conference and again the only place I feel like a tech newbe.
In anticipation for that conference call Philip Elmer Dewitt at Fortune - has pulled together some predictions from Anal-ists on how many iPhones Apple sold last quarter. This ranges from a low of 23 Million from Edward Parker a quote professional analyst unquote at Lazard to a high of 32 Million from Matt Lew and indie anal-ist from The Braeburn group. The average estimate from the 28 Wall street pros and 17 indies is 27.15 Mil. For perspective - last year Apple sold 26 Mil. The previous quarter Apple sold 37.4 Mil vs 37 Mil the year ago quarter. So far for iPhone sales - there has not be a year over year quarterly decline in sales. So for Edward Parker to predict 23 mil - when Apple did 26 Mil last year most likely means Mr Parker is either smoking something illegal or has a short position on Apple. Since I will not likely have another show up until after Apple does the numbers - I will venture to say Apple will have sold 28.5 Million iPhones in the last quarter. For iPads - I think we will see about 16.75 Mil iPads sold last quarter.
Again we will get specific answers to these question at 2:00 PM PT on Tuesday the 23rd.
A couple of consumer satisfaction reports from Korea came out recently - and one thing they had in common was That - Apple Kicked the butts of Samsung and LG. Actually for one report it was the third year in a row where Apple had topped the customer satisfaction reports.
I got my first Amber Alert on my iPhone today since AT&T added that feature. It is definitely not something you will mistake for anything else. It comes in as a loud noise that is a bit like an alarm clock and is loud enough that everybody around you will hear it. With the number of iPhones in our office, if an Amber Alert comes in during the day, people might mistake it for a fire alarm!
Unfortunately with an alert that loud, I think a lot of people with just turn it off. Looking in settings I don't see a way to change the sound that plays.
Regards,
Myron U
Hi Myron - I also could not find a way to change the sound - but I have yet to get an alert. If anyone figures out how to change the alert sound for the Government Alerts let me know.
Hi Rob,
I recently got a second carrier update, 14.2. I have done some internet searching, but have found no definitive answer as to what this update did. Do you, in your infinite knowledge (and connections), know what this did?
Thanks,
Tim in Atlanta
Hi Tim - seems most people are confused on this one as the info on what it did / does is pretty scarce. Some report it removes the option for Tethering for anyone not signed up for a tethering plan. However I did not find that to be the case - As in the Settings app - under General then Cellular - Set up Personal Hotspot option is still there. I saw others say it speeds up LTE or T-Mobile devices as well. Some said they lost the emergency alerts they gained in the previous update. However again for me that was not the case as Government alerts are still there in the Settings app under Notifications all the way at the bottom. But if anyone else has any better info for Tim on what the Carrier update 14.2 does - please let us know - 206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog
More news on the iWatch rumor front - seems Apple has applied for a trademark in Japan for iWatch. This on top of several other countries Apple has applied for said trademark - sure does seem like there is an iWatch coming soon.
Some are already starting to pick specific dates for the iPhone 5S launch. Dave Smith at International Business Times predicts a September 20th release date for the iPhone 5S with a September 18th release of iOS 7. He goes on to predict that a low cost iPhone 6 as he calls it will be launched a couple of weeks later. FYI - I like to call the lower cost iPhone - the iPhone Air.
One of the other rumors coming out this month is that Apple is looking to buy a chip fab. It seems United Microelectronics Corporation is the Fab that Apple dare I say it finds to be the apple of their eye. That Apple is is working to get away from Samsung as a supplier is not surprising at all as Apple really had too much Samsung components in their iOS devices - and to say their relationship soured is a huge understatement. That Apple would actually buy a FAB seems a little surprising as Apple has tended to invest in equipment for suppliers - but not actually buy them - leaving them the flexibility to shop around. But maybe the situation with Samsung left such a bitter taste in their mouth they decided to get a little more vertically integrated.
There is a new Free app out there some are claiming could replace the Pill. The App is called Clue and supposedly tells the female user when she can not get pregnant - ummm yeah. It tracks a woman's menstrual cycle and Quote predicts the time one can have sex without fear of falling pregnant unquote. ummm yeah again. Because you know Young adults engaged in courtship will always in the heat of the moment whip out their iOS device and check their app to see if they can get pregnant. Ok - now the reason I mention the App Clue - is not to say they have none - I am sure statistically speaking it will keep most people from getting pregnant if you have it track you for multiple cycles before using it - and you don't start hanging around a new alpha female that throws off your cycle and all. But the main reason I mention it is because it can also be used to predict when you can get pregnant - and to me that is a more important use of the app - I know quite a few couples that have issues getting pregnant and if this app helps them at all with planning when it is optimal to try to split the egg so to speak - then kudos to them. But if you are a young adult not ready for a kid - probably best to stay on you birthcontrol - because to me this just seems a lot like - if you can cross your legs if can't cross your fingers. Just sayin.
Thanks to Tash for the heads up on this one - which is about the App alfred. Which I have to admit I don't remember ever talking about before. I Definitely have not used it - nor am I likely to ever use it - because it is being shut down. Seems Alfred was kind of a siri competitor which would recommend places for you to visit based on your likes. And I am mentioning this because the App had been purchased by Google in 2011 and is now being shut down by Google. So if you are using Alfred be ready on July 19th to bid him a final good bye as he is off to his final resting place along side Gizmo5, Jaiku, Meebo, Wavii and others at the Google Acquisition graveyard. Yikes over 35% of Google Acquisitions are already in said grave yard.
Speaking of Google and acquisitions - one that definitely is not in the grave yard is Android. And if you are someone with an Android device this next story affects you. Thanks to everyone that sent this one in - and everyone is not far from reality.
Seems There is a master Key on pretty much all Android devices that could give hackers access to any android device. This includes letting them steal data, eavesdrop or use it to send junk mail. And this lets call it BUG has been present in every version of Android since 2009. Yikes - that is over 900 Million devices - that are not easy to update. Not good. Essentially how this works is that hackers can break an apps cryptographic signature to turn any legitimate app into an evil nasty beast of a Trojan Malware app. And it goes completely unnoticed by the App store and the user. Because they are able to make it look like the app has not been tampered with - keeping the cryptographic signature in place.
At this point the team that found this out at Bluebox claims it is just theoretical and not in the wild yet. Except for you know the part where they explained how it works and what to do to make it happen. Yeah - and now all 900 Million Android phones will update with a security patch. Ummm Well no - because one there is no patch yet. And 2 Android users don't update their software anyway.
Since this vulnerability allows access at the highest level of the device - meaning it can get access to data from any app run on an Android device - if you are an IT person and you have Android devices on your network - you might want to look into this one pretty closely. Just Sayin.
Another reason this may not be in the wild yet - is all the hackers were busy with the other vulnerabilities on Android and creating the 90%+ of Mobile Malware for Android as it was. Yeah - what is that phrase out of the frying pan and into the fire - yup that is how it must feel to be an IT person trying to secure Bring your own devices to work that are Androids. Not fun.
And to say this is not the last we heard of this one is I am guessing a big understatement.
Thanks to Matt for this next one. Seems on Android - those Snapchat photos don't actually get deleted from the phone like you are kind of lead to believe. So next time you send a snap chat out to someone with an Android phone remember - they could if they wanted recover those photos. Granted it might take a little work - but those photos are not actually deleted on Android devices. Another reason not to send photos of you or private parts to others via snap chat and yeah - just to hang out with other iPhone users.
Thanks to Mark for the heads up of this next one - which is about Travis Snyder 25 of Virginia whom was recently arrested for breaking into a Wireless store in VA and stealing several iPhones. The big break in this case came when police discovered under the broken glass near the front door a Samsung Galaxy Phone that belongs to Mr Snyder. Seems in his excitement about getting his hands on some iPhones he forgot all about his old Samsung Phone. Not sure if this says more about the thief or his Samsung handset. Maybe we will say it was a little bit of both.
Thanks to John M for the heads up on this next one - which is about Microsoft slashing the price of the Surface RT Tablets from $499 to $349 for the lowest price version. That is the one with like no storage left when you get it. They dropped the price $150 also on the higher capacity version. The keyboard cover is still a $100 adder. Microsoft on their website is saying quote a Great tablet now at an even better price. unquote. And let the spinning begin.
35:19.456
PLAY VOICEMAIL - MIKE_LV_QUEST_BACKINGUP
Dear Rob,
You should mention to people who have not yet upgraded to iOS 7 and are suffering from the Wi-Fi issue that the Wi-Fi only IOS devices are having that I went against everybody’s advice to not upgrade if I use it for my day to day use because I would rather push up that little toolbar and toggle the connection then have to switch to settings every five minutes because Century Link and iOS seem to be incapable of getting along even if I turn all encryption off. I’m glad to report that Apple has fixed that issue in IOS 7 and if that is a big problem for certain users then I highly recommend doing the update because that alone makes up for the minor glitches IOS 7 has for being a beta.
Secondly, to those who have upgraded to iOS 7, do make sure that you backup your books in PDF format because the moment that you open up your iBooks for the first time all of your PDFs are deleted. Thankfully I had that check filled for wifi sync but a few developer friends of mine are now mining their old files trying to find those references again.
I appreciate the help, and congrats on the 10 million downloads. Love the show and love what you do with it.
- Cody
Hello Rob
iTunes and audiobooks. They have a purchase and download one time policy. I hear this is per the publishers. However audiobooks bought from audible are available in your library for multiple downloads. The other day I went to my Kindle app and tried to re-download a book. I got a message, "you have exceeded your download limit on this book." Long story short, back up your purchases especially of audiobooks.
Jim N
Hi Rob,
Why would a game like What's the phrase need a front facing camera? It's on my iPhone 4S but I wanted to play on my 1st gen iPad but it would not load. I just can not imagine why it needs a camera. And even less why it needs a front facing camera.
Let me know your thoughts.
Regards,
Robin J
Obviously Robin this app was developed by the NSA. Enough said - just hope they are not monitoring all the podcasts out there as well.
Seriously - I would be a little concerned - like you are - per any game app that does not have a need for a camera - saying it needs your front facing camera. To say it sounds a little big brother-ish is putting it nicely. It could also just be a creep developer collecting nude pictures of you. You just never know.
Hi-I listen to your podcast and wanted to share with you my experience with the Kickstarter project, Hoodi. Right from the get-go the customer service was (and is) superb! I got 2 Hoodis-one for my iPad2 and one for my husband's iPad 3rd gen. They have arrived and I love it! I got a hot pink one, my husband got a red one. I received an email when they were ready to ship. And today I unboxed them. There was a short description on how to attach them but being as I am 'old' (according to my 4 year old grandson), I went to the website and there were several videos under the FAQ on how to attach them depending on the model and the iPad. Easy peasy! Very nice experience all the way around. GREAT customer service. All buttons are accessible as is the volume. If it were a sunny day here I would try it outside but it's a cloudy, rainy day. I would recommend Hoodi. It would also be nice to use on the plane for privacy. Or in a library. So that's my review. Thanks for all your hard work in making the podcast! Judy
For Kickstarter this week is the project TurtleCell - which is essentially a case with retractible earbuds - so that they are stored in the case when you are not using them. Right now this is just for the iPhone 5. It will set you back $50. Right now it is not looking to good for them - they have raised a little under $17,000 towards their goal of $50,000 and they have until August 4th at 11:59 PM ET to raise the rest. But if you are someone that hates pulling the iPhone out of your pocket and having your earbud cord all tangled up. This is actually a pretty good solution. Actually would like to see apple do a case like this with their earbuds - and I think there in lies the issue. You have to hate tangled headphone cords enough to get a case with earbuds you don't know anything about. They claim the earbuds are good quality - and if you are interested in this one - you should check out the video. Search for TurtleCell one word in kickstarter or look for the link in the show notes for ep 275 at today in iOS dot com.
Ok - this next kickstarter project I was going to pass on mentioning - but since they went well past their goal of 40k - with over 140k raised - and since it was forwarded from Thomas In Tuscaloosa - I figured why not. And this is the Kickstater project call Poppy. Which turns your iPhone into a 3D camera. And the reason I did not mention it is - well when it comes to 3D movies and images - I am not a big fan. I think it is a little to gimickie. But hey - they raised over 140k so goes to show what I know. Pricing for the poppy will set you back $49. So if 3D is your cup of tea - then check out the poppy at kickstarter dot com. You have until July 26th at 10:50 AM ET for this one.
Hi Rob,
Goji Smart Lock for your home doors. I wonder if the outside piece is required, during the video it looks like it covers the outside deadbolt and serves as the camera. This works with iOS devices.
Hi Thomas - it looks like it replaces your deadbolt. not that it goes over it - but rather replaces your whole dead bolt lock with their own dead bolt lock and control. And then the goji has a cover on the front of their dead bolt lock - which you can open from the outside and still use a mechanical key.
Folks in a nutshell the Goji is a smart Lock system ideally for your front door that will allow you to lock and unlock the door remotely with your iOS device. It has a camera so it can send you a picture of who is at the door - and it runs on two AA batteries they claim will last a year - and you will get a text message when the batteries are running down.
This project is on Indiegogo.com - it is called Goji - G O J I - they have raised over double of their goal - and are at $242,000 and climbing. This project will go until August 3rd at 11:59 PM PT.
Rob,
Here is the next step closer to Star Trek, cool medical tricorder with your iOS device via Bluetooth LE.
And this one is called Scanadu Scout quote the first medical tricoder unquote and this is on Indiegogo. Their goal was 100,000 dollars. And they have raised almost 1.5 Million so far - but if you want this you need to act quickly - it ends on July 20th at 11:59 PM PT. This one costs $199 with an estimated delivery of March 2014. So what does this do you ask - It will check you vital signs - Heart rate & ECG - Blood Pressure - Temperature - Respiratory Rate and Oxogen levels in your blood - and it does this all by holding it to your forehead for 10 seconds. Which sounds really cool. Please note this is not FDA approved - and they can't call it a medical device at this time - and if you participate you will be part of their efforts to get it approved by the FDA. So make sure your read the full site - don't just watch the video. Look for the link titled Scanadu scout - scanadu is spelled s c a n a d u
There is a new product category of accessories coming out now - which are small USB to lightening or 30 pin adapters that you can put in your wallet or put on your key chain. I am going to call them Micro cord adapters. These are meant to be your emergency adapter cord for when your iOS device is running out of charge and you need to plug in somewhere to get some extra juice. One company blue lounge just intro'd one called the Kii - spelled K I I - which they offer 3 versions a Black USB to lightening version, a White USB to lightening version and a black USB to 30 pin version. Pricing is $19.95 for the 30 Pin version and $39.95 for the Lightening versions. The Kii is roughly the same length of your standard door key so it will not stand out on your key chain. Look for the link at today in iOS dot com for ep 275 titled Bluelounge - K I I
Pricing for this USB to Lightning micro cord adapter is $24.99. So much cheaper than the Kii - which is $39.99. This one also goes on your keychain. Pricing drops to $19.99 if you buy 10 or more. The Nomad is a little longer than the Kii - but again it is also almost half the price.
Thanks to Tash for this next one which is about an electric Moped or scooter depending on what you like to call them. This one is from Terra Motors and it is called the A4000i - yeah not so great a name. That aside - what this one does have is a dock for your iPhone - and it uses your iPhone to display info such as milage left on the current charge and such. Kind of important info for an electric moped. This one seems to be geared to city dwellers - especially those in Japanese cities where mopeds are very popular as are iPhones. No word on if it lets you read or send text messages or play a game of candy crush while ridding - I would hope hover that is not the case.
Hi Rob,
Here is a good article that suggests quite a few apps that would help designers. I already have many of these. Listeners should Download many of the free apps. I Also put a few paid apps on my AppShopper wish list.
And steven is referring to a post at creativeblog.com titled 85 best iPad apps for designers. Why 85 and not 100 is anyones guess but I guess it is a potatoe pahtahto type difference. I was going to read off the list of all 85 and then thought wow that would be awfully mean and boring - and what others would call a channel changer so instead I will say if you have an iPad and are looking for a large list of apps for designers then this is a pretty comprehensive list. That said - let me know what apps you think should be on the list that are not. Lets see if we can get them to 100. Send apps for this list to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
50:59.092
PLAY VOICEMAIL - RICK_QUEST_APPLE_MVNO
Hi Rob,
I would love to get your thoughts on this...
With all the 5S and "Mini" photos showing up on the rumor sites, wouldn't a new "Mini" iPhone at exactly the same screen size as the 5S motivate consumers to get the cheaper model? I'm sure the "Mini" won't have the power, the camera or the retina screen that the 5S has, but many will likely see the lower "Mini" cost as "good enough." I am afraid that a minor iPhone 5S update may be cannibalized by the new iPhone "Mini" - or whatever they will call it. I guess Apple couldn't call it "Mini" if it"s the same size as the 5S (just sayin')
Thanks, love your show.
Paul from Bend, OR
Hi Paul,
I would call the low cost iPhone - the iPhone air - not iPhone mini.
It will likely actually have a larger screen than the current iPhone or the iPhone 5S (which will be the same as the iPhone 5). As it will be cheaper to build with a larger screen.
It will also likely be launched outside the US to start. With about 70% of smartphone sales at AT&T and over 50% at Verizon being current iPhones - I just am not seeing the need for it to launch in the US. Eventually in the US yes - but at launch - Apple will have more demand for a iPhone Air - out side the US - where a lower cost device would open up markets and market share.
A special thanks goes out to Serge - who found an interaction issue if your iPhone is Jailbroken between the Tii App and the Guizmo DNS app with dnscrypt turned on - In that case the Tii App does not work - turn off dnscrypt and the Tii App works fine - so anyone having an issue with the Tii app and are jailbroken and have the Guizmo app - check to see your settings for dnscrypt.
The one dark side of Jailbreaking is JB apps tend to affect non-JB apps.
Which is about enabling a hotspot on your iPhone - with out jailbreaking. Note this is just confirmed for GSM carriers at this time. And only tested on T-mobile. Note this does require some technical inclination and the ability to actually change the APN yourself. Instructions are included. I will say this clearly - If you don't like when things go boom or break - stay away from this one. If you are not the person you relatives call for tech advice - this is not likely for you. But this is nice to know about for those that don't jailbreak or can't jailbreak - but still want to tether their laptop to their iPhone - which is a big reason many jailbreak in the first place. Ok I can put my hand down now. Also - don't attempt this the day before you get on a flight for a business trip. Look for the link titled How to enable hotspot tethering on iOS 6 and 7 - no jailbreak required. In the show notes for ep 275 at today in iOS dot com.
Thanks to Tash for the heads up on this next one. Which is the free for a limited time app - Viewmatic. Which is a quote top-ranked photo app unquote - and well it is free - so download it soon if you like playing with different photo apps. Which I am sure includes many of us. I am sooo looking forward to getting iOS 7 on my main phone - for one key reason - you can put lots and lots of apps in each folder. So with iOS 7 I will be able to consolidate my 4 or 5 folders with photo apps into one folder.
I want to send out Kudos to Philip Elmer DeWitt for his post titled - who says Apple's iPhone 5 is the most hated smartphone - which is a rebuttal and refuting of the hit piece from a london Tabloid that said the iPhone 5 was well the most hated smartphone and the S4 the most loved. Sadly that piece was picked up from mainstream press in the US - who forgot that whole you know fact checking thingy that was supposed to be banged into their heads for 4 years of J school. Philip did a great job tracking back where this BS came from - which is the Daily Mail. Who made up their conclusions based on some data from a We Are Social report about social mentions. Essentially someone at the Daily mail looked at just select bits of the report to make a link bait article. Like that there were more negative tweets about the iPhone 5 - because you know there was much much more tweets about the iPhone 5 over all. Like a 12 to 1 ratio of Tweets about the iPhone 5 vs the S4. But negative tweets the ratio was not 12 to 1 - it was just 2 to 1. Or you could say the S4 had a 6 times higher rate of negative tweets if you know you wanted to be accurate. Per the most loved part - yeah - that is no where in the report from we are social - and apparently was just made up by The Daily Mail. But if you know you go by number of positive mentions in social media the iPhone 5 would be most loved. Or you could you know go by sales in which case again the iPhone 5 is most loved. So the Daily Mail which had a post titled quote Apple's iPhone 5 is the most hated handset - while the majority of people love the Samsung Galaxy S4, study finds unquote - which as Philip showed is total BS - should have more accurately been titled - quote iPhone 5 most loved handset while S4 had 6 times the rate of negative feedback, study finds unquote. But I guess right now that is not really good link bait. Shame on the Daily mail for the article and shame on Mainstream US media for picking it up.
1:01:16.601
Hey Rob,
Thanks for the promo code to Primal Paleo. The app rocks and has helped me understand this Paleo thing better.
Regards,
Tony M
Hi Rob,
My wife and I have the iPhone 4. Also my mother-in-law has the same and we all want to upgrade to the newest, best phone.
Would you hold off on buying based on past announcements? Would you expect the new phone to be announced August/September???
Your opinion on this is the only one I will trust.
Thanks for all that you do.
Keith P
Cumming, GA
My recommendation is to wait until the iPhone 5S - which should be announced and released late Sep to Early October time frame.
I definitely would not update at this point to the iPhone 5.
I did some traveling to NY the week of 4th of July to visit my family back on Long island. Which was the first time I was able to use my new laptop bag from STM - the Velo bag I talked about a few episodes back. And I really loved it. The side compartment for the laptop and the top compartment to slip my wallet and iPhone into - really were greatly appreciated when going through security. The bag easily carried my 15" mac book pro, two iPads, 4 iPhones, a camera, chargers, power cords and more. If you travel and are looking for a new lap top bag - definitely check out the STM Velo Bag link in the show notes for ep 275 over at today in iOS dot com - The STM Velo bag is currently $79 in Amazon. And even if you are not looking for a new bag - if you travel at all for business and have a mac book and or iPad you travel with - this is a bag worth looking at. I picked the blue one - one because I like blue - but more so because it stands out from all the black bags out there.
thought I would let you know I just made my first snapguide, how to do control-f on the ipad - As in Control Find.
Regards,
Ben from productivitypad.blogspot.com,
Ben thanks for the link - folks look for the link titled - How to do control F on an iPad in the show notes. And if anyone else has a snapquide they did - please share with me. send the email to today in iOS at gmail dot com with a link to your snapguide.
When I first read of this next story I dismissed it off hand - one it was from a site I did not know of and two it was just not possible. But quickly the story showed up on the Wallstreet journal and Forbes / CNN. And it is about the tragic story of a young lady in China that was electrocuted. That part from what I read does not seem to be in dispute. But how her family claim she was electrocuted seems to me to be very questionable at best. Seems she was answering a phone call on her iPhone 5 which was charging at the time. And that is when she was electrocuted. Ummm - NO. not even remotely possible with an Apple charger and iPhone 5. All that is getting on the line is 5 VDC - and sorry that is not going to electrocute a mouse - and definitely not a lady. Now it is possible she had a 3rd party charger - which one article says it was not - but it is possible she had a 3rd party charger and it does not have the protections built in that Apples charger has. And it is possible here were some sort of short across the 3rd party charger that made the main cord go hot with AC - and then as reported she was getting out of the tub - possibly with her foot still in the tub she grabbed the cord. But it is sooooo unlikely this was an issue with an Apple charger and cord. Apple designed their power supply with safety in mind - there is an over voltage shutdown circuit and the isolation distance between primary and secondary circuits appears to go beyond the regulations required. So again I think it is very unlikely it was an Apple genuine charger. Now there are some 3rd party chargers that look like Apple chargers - that have in the past been reported to be quote "Tiny, Cheap and Dangerous" and sadly that is likely what this case will turn out to be - a 3rd party charger poorly designed and built - with tragic results.
Apple for their part issues a response where they said they were saddened of the ladies death - as are we. And Apple said they would investigate this further.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired.
Speaking of you and this show - in the month of July - Tii will hit a big milestone - in that we will reach our 10 Millionth download - That is a huge deal there are very very few podcast that make it to 10 Million downloads - and I really just want to say thank you all so much for making that happen. If you guys want to email in a day and time when you think Tii will cross over the 10 Million mark - please do so and I will see what I can get together for the winner. Or if you want to contribute to the winner let me know - either way email me at today in iOS at Gmail dot com.
If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you get the most out of the show and it helps support the show at the same time - plus it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search for Tii in the iTunes app store.
First - Happy 6 year anniversary to the iPhone - which first went on sale June 29th 2007 - if you want a blast to the past and a feel how it was those early days of the iPhone - go back to June 2007 and listen to the episodes I released the week leading up to the iPhone launch. It is a fun listen and gives you a good feel at least about my excitement and those of listeners to the show back then.
As I mentioned on the last episode - Apple would likely release the Beta 2 of iOS 7 on June 24th or 25th - and well they released it on the 24th. So kudos to Apple for staying on schedule at least when compared to last years schedule.
Funny article from BGR which I definitely will not link to - where they claimed a source told them the beta would be out on the 24th or maybe the 25th. Nice guys. See this is what BGR does - they take something that is pretty obvious - like this beta coming out on the 24th or 25th - and then say a source told them - when really they are speculating. Now - they can point to that article as validation they have a source - and next time they do a link bait article about a new feature they can reference said made up source. So let me try. I have a source at Apple that told me they are currently planning on releasing the beta 3 version of iOS 7 on July 15th or 16th. Now if that happens - which would be inline with the beta 3 of iOS 6 - I can pull that quote from the show and say - see I have this inside source at Apple. Any way BGR is just one notch above Digitimes when it comes to rumors - but they really play the game well.
Oh Wait - After I wrote that last piece - guess what BGR did - you guessed it they released a new post referencing their sources from that first post and how right they were. This time they are saying that the beta 3 will be out on Monday July 8th. Lets see how they spin it when they are wrong.
Off of soap box - and back to the news - The biggest change with Beta 2 - is that it is now available for the iPad's. There are other changes as well - such as well the return of the voice memo app. Ok not a new feature - but nice to see that app not gone for good. Both the new Male and Female voices for Siri are now available.
On the last episode we had Sieghard - asking about accessibility - and guess what there are some new features in the Beta 2 of iOS 7 for accessibility - in the Physical & Motor section - there is a new sub-section called switch control. One thing you can do with this new option is set up your iPhone where it cycles through the different buttons or icons on your screen
- and you can then tap anywhere on the screen to select or open that icon that was selected - this is a nice add for anyone having limited motor ability. On New iOS devices - iPhone 5 and new iPad and iPad mini - you are also getting the option to control selecting an icon or button by turning your head left or right. So it tracks your heads movement. You can even have it where turning you head one way is like tapping the home button and turning the other way is selecting an iCon or button. You can also now assign Switch Control to a triple home button push.
Staying with Accessibility options - one many people are going to use is Bold Text - seems the text is a little bit thin in iOS 7. So you can make it bolder. You can also still change the size of text. And they added an Increase Contrast option and a Parallax option. All with regards to text. How that helps in Reading Text I am not sure - I could not see a difference with it turned on or off. But I am sure someone in the audience can explain the advantage of this feature - 206-666-6364 - thanks.
I'm not sure if this was covered anywhere at all but I noticed the
attached screen in my settings app.
Regards,
Delmaurio
And what Delmaurio is talking about - is that in iOS 7 their is the option in the settings App - and then Cellular - to turn on and off the use of cellular data. so now you can see all your apps requesting cellular data so you can now turn off any you don't feel need to be communicating via the web. This is a really nice new feature for those with metered plans - as it shows you how much cellular data each app is using up - and gives you the chance to turn off any cellular data hogs. This is one of those minor 3rd tier updates that goes mostly un-noticed - but for those paying per MB for data or with data caps - it may be one of your most favorite new features. Thanks Delmaurio for sending in this one.
Another nice new feature in iOS 7 - has to do with mail. You can now mark all messages in an inbox as read. In the mail app tap onto the email account - and in the inbox tap the edit button in the upper right corner. Then at the bottom right tap the mark all button - you get a pop up where you can then choose either Flag or Mark as read or cancel.
Sadly this does not work for searching for a bunch of emails and marking them all read. Oh well.
Since Siri has launched we have talked a few times on how to get names in your contacts that Siri would recognize when you say them. Not much of an issue when the name is John Smith - but when the names are a bit more challenging spelling wise vs how the sound - then you had to help siri by putting in a phonetic spelling. With iOS 7 - siri lets you teach siri how to pronounce a name it does not understand. So no more need for phonetic spelling. Actually Siri will ask for your help when you say a name she or he does not understand. Additionally when Siri says a name - you can say "that's not how you pronounce SAID NAME " and siri will kick out the learning process for that name. It will ask you to say the name and then present you with a few options on how it thinks you said said name. It will then save your selection and use it for future reads of that name.
While talking about Siri - you can now ask siri to turn on your flash light - which in the middle of the night could come in handy.
Into the email bag.
Hi Rob,
Has this always been the case or new to iOS 7? It seems that on the iPad, the maximum number of home screen pages is 15. iPhone is still 11 pages.
Regards,
Steven W
Hi Steven - it does look like this is an increase from iOS 6 where there was a limit of 11 pages for iOS Devices. So now you can have 15 and not just on the iPads - I was also able to get 15 pages on my iPhone. So congrats Steve on finding that new feature add.
What John is talking about is an article on CNET titled - Apple takes swipe at Android with new Fragmentation chart. I find it interesting that Apple is now starting to publicize the fragmentation of iOS. Granted at 93% using iOS 6 vs 6 % using iOS 5 and just 1% on an earlier version - Fragmentation is not the correct word. But in the future after iOS 7 comes out - Apple will never again cross the 90% mark for its current version of iOS. I would go out to say they will never cross the 80% mark. That is not a slam on Apple - it is just right now with iOS 6 - the devices that Apple does not support are the iPhone original - iPhone 3G - the iPad original - and some early iPod touches. Overall that is a small % of iOS devices ever sold. But once iOS 7 launches - one key device will be on the outside looking in - and that is the iPhone 3GS - and unlike the iPhone 3G - which sold for just two years - the 3GS was for sale for 3 years and sold many times the number that the 3G sold. Add into that every iPod touch except the 5th gen. And you have a good % of active iOS devices that will be stuck at iOS 6 or earlier. Again - I find it interesting to see Appel tout the lack of fragmentation so loudly right now - as their chart really has only one direction it can and will go in and that is down. Still 75% or 76% or something like that using iOS 7 this time next year will still be much much better than the 4% using the latest version of Android - just saying.
Thanks to Matt for this next one. Which is about Tablet Traffic as measured by Chitika. But before we go over that - let me read a quote from episode 265 back in April.
Quote Chitika reported that iPad usage share for US and Candian traffic went up in March to 81.9% of all traffic - what is interesting this was the first monthly rise since December. Thoughts on this - well In December - lots of people were given / purchased non-iPad tablets. And they started using them in December and by March - well they discovered using them not as compelling as those with iPads - and that is why iPad traffic grew in March vs Jan and Feb - when people were still in a honeymoon phase with non iPad tablets. If this theory is correct - we should expect another rise in market share for April. Try to remember this one for next months report from Chitika. Chitika speculate the rise might be due to Apple offering refurbished units for sale on line - I am not buying that logic. Again I just think it is about Android users not having as good an experience with their devices as iPad users. unquote.
Again that was from Episode 265 back in April.
Ok so lets talk about the new numbers from Chitika. in May 82.4% of Web traffic on Tablets in the US and Canadian web traffic was from an iPad. 2nd place if you want to call it that was the Kindle Fire at 6.5%. 3rd Place was the Galaxy line of tablets at 4.7% and everyone else was barely 6%. So my Theory in April seems to be proving out - People don't like using their android tablets - it does not mater how cheap they are or anything else - the Ipad is a device people use - and Android tablets are not. And now that the honeymoon of those Android tablets - cheap or otherwise is over - the iPad continues to increase its share of usage as predicted back on ep 265 and borne out by Chitika's stats.
TIME CODE: 16:51.225
PLAY VOICEMAIL - NELSON_IOS7_BETA
Hi Rob,
I reported on iOS 7 before. I find it's growing on me. I am starting to like it more everyday.
Regards,
Dev
Hey Rob,
in iOS 7 Siri will still search Google. Ask Siri to "Search Google For…" and whatever. Siri will open Google and Search for said item.
By the way. My Magazine NēwTech in Flipboard. Now a week old, has over 2100 readers. Hope your taking a look now and then. Anything new comes up for iOS check there. But will still forward any item worth a mention by email.
I did like the like the credit-card size folding iPhone stand. A kickstarter project I believe. And Woz loves it too.
Regards,
Chris in London
Hello Rob,
I was wondering if in iOS 7 you can set "Do not disturb" schedule to be days of the week as well.
Love the show,
Thank you
DJ Medina
Hi DJ - NOPE
Hi Rob,
Per the promo code for Primal Paleo - Thank you so much, and thank the developer. Im familiar with Paleo idea, but this app makes it much more easily understood. I am going to finally give the diet a try :-)
As you know I have been complaining about the bloggers unfair treatment of Apple for the past couple of years - and then mainstream medias harping on Apple along with wallstreet for the past 9 months. Well seems others are starting to take notice to of this. Here is a good quote from Lee Chow - one of the co-creators of Apples 1984 TV commercial. Quote “I don’t know whether there’s this cynical bent to the media that decides, ok, Apple’s been a darling for many, many years and Steve Jobs was a darling and the products was amazing, so now let’s kind of scrutinize people and challenge whether they can do it anymore; whether their new leadership is good enough, whether their advertising is good enough, whether the kids in the store are smart enough – it’s a bit of a pendulum swing, “The thing that nobody remembers is that all thistechnology was invented by Apple and is being copied by the competition and people act like the new competition is as smart and as genius and amazing as the Apple company and of course I totally disagree with that, unquote. Thanks Lee for those comments. People talk about Android phones innovation and they point to the bigger screens - Wow - a bigger screen is no innovation - it is much much easier to build a smartphone with a bigger screen. Innovation is getting everything into the package size and screen size of the iPhone 5.
So there is this analist by the name of Peter Misek - whom we have mentioned a few times on the show - pretty much all the time he is mentioned it is about how wrong or crazy he is - Ken Ray at Mac OS Ken has affectionately nick-named him Speculative Fiction writer Peter Misek. And really that nick-name is as accurate as it gets. Misek is the guy that said a full on Apple TV would be controlled with an iRing you wear - ummm yeah. Or lets not forget Last summer when he said the Full on Apple TV was already in Full production - not pre-production but full production. Or In December when he said the iPhone 5S would be coming in June. Yeah how did those predictions work out. Point is every original rumor / report this guy has about Apple products is bogus - total fiction. Yet - when he downgrades Apples stock price it actually causes Apple stock price to drop over 3% in a single day - Wow - Talk about heard mentality on Wall street. They are listening to this guy why?
And This week we are again sponsored by ProXPN - if you go to Proxpn.com and use the promo code tii you will save 20% for ever off your account with them. As mentioned on the last episode proXPN is a VPN service that is easy, secure and cheap to use with your iOS device that lets you secure your internet connection against eavesdropping and masks your location and allows you to access your favorite sites regardless of where you are or are going. If you connect to public wifi's hot spots on any regularity - a private VPN is the way to go - and proXPN is really a great service with a great price - just $9.95 a month before the 20% savings for using promo code tii or just $74.95 for the year prior to the promo code. Which means if you sign up for the yearly account with the 20% discount it works out to about $5 a month. If you use promo code tii when you sign up - you also get a 30 day risk free trial.
I had an email from a listener asking the following about proXPN Quote
how many devices can I use with one user name? I have my iPad mini, wife has the iPad, we both have iPhones and the kids have our old iPhones, not to mention our desktop and laptop. Would I need to pay for a premium account for each device?
Unquote
And the response from proXPN was
Quote ProXPN supports as many devices as you wish to use. You can, however, only access a specific server, one at a time. For example, if you were to use your phone to connect to Dallas, you would have to use New York (or any other location) for your laptop. unquote.
As I mentioned I set up proXPN on my iPhone and it took about 1 minute and now when I need a private VPN all I do is open the settings app and right at the top between Wifi and Bluetooth I now see the vpn to toggle on. That's it that is all I have to do to secure myself and my data when I am out and about on hotspots.
Again to get the discount of 20% for the life of your service with proXPN - use promo code Tii at proxpn dot com - thanks to proXPN for sponsoring the show.
Thanks to Noslen for having me as a guest on his show iNoslen. We talk about some iOS rumors and more. Search for iNoslen in iTunes or the podcasts app to find his show - and look for episode 12.
I Have had more than a few listeners send in links for the iPhone 5 for Verizon, AT&T and Sprint at just $129 at Walmart and also AT&T has it for just $99. But here is my feeling - right now don't upgrade unless you have to. the 5S will be here shortly - and if you listen to this show - you are likely the type that will be disappointed come late September that you did not have the patience to hold out for the 5S back in late June / early July. Just sayin.
More and more component porn rumors about the iPhone 5S are coming out. I think at this point from what we are seeing on the component side - it looks to be a pretty strong argument that the next iPhone will be called the iPhone 5S - and it will on the outside look almost identical to the iPhone 5. With about the only difference so far being that it will likely have a dual flash. But length, width, depth, weight should all be pretty much spot on to the iPhone 5. This really is not surprising news - as it follows the iPhone 3G / 3GS and iPhone 4 / 4S road map.
So really the questions will be what is the key feature or features that are added to differentiate the iPhone 5S from the 5 - that would be enough to make many want to upgrade. Granted if you have a 4 or 4S - What is it that will make you want to upgrade as well. Remember - when going from the 4 to 4S - there were actually more feature upgrades - then there was from the 4S to the 5. I see some people with short memories or who are overly influenced by some talking heads - I see and hear them saying the S updates have been minor. Not so at All. The 3GS was a much bigger upgrade
than the 3G was from the Original iPhone. And again the 4S was a much bigger upgrade than the iPhone 5 and right on par with the iPhone 4 as far as how significant an update it was. But if you think I am crazy in saying that - look at the chart I did last year - comparing the new features for the 5 vs 4S vs 4 - and it is clear the 4S was a big update and bigger than the 5. I believe when the 5S is announced its new features will be greater than those for the 5. So once more - if you don't need to update now - you will be glad you waited until the fall when the 5S is released. Based on Photos that are now starting to circulate
and there are many of what is supposed to be the iPhone 5s or its components.
These photos allows us to speculate about some new features such as - 1 is a dual flash. another is the A7 processor. But based on printing on the processor it appears to be only have 1GB of RAM same as the 5. Based on the battery specs - it should see a bump up to 9 hrs of 3G talk time up from 8 hrs. Other items rumored but not yet confirmed in photos are a 13 MP camera, Finger Print scanner, NFC, 128 GB version and Multicolored cases. Which right now is not enough to get people overly excited about. There needs to be more. A couple of items I have not seen rumored anywhere yet - is 4k video recording and 4k Video out support. After all if Apple is getting into a full on TV - and it is going to be a 4k TV - then you need a bunch of 4K videos to show on it. There are still some other new features we are missing and may be surprises we don't hear about until the next iPhone dog and pony show.
Ok - per my thoughts on why I think a full on Apple TV would be a 4K TV - well recently I mentioned the new Mac Pro would support multiple 4K monitors. So that was one hint from Apple. Two - Apple does not enter a market that is mature - 1080p TV's are pretty much mature and are commodity priced at all your big box stores. So that leads to a 4K tv from Apple making the most sense. And speaking of sense the typical price for a 4K TV is in the 5k to 7k range right now. Granted that is for 55"+ sets. But there is one company in the $1,500 price range. Which I think would be the high end of where Apple would come in. 46" inches would be the size if there is just one - or 42" and 46" and or 55" inches for the top end. Maybe pricing of $999, $1199 and $1499 for 42 / 46 and 55 inches respectively. But hey we are getting ahead of our selves - because what good is a 4K TV if you don't have 4K content - and boy it sure would helpful if Apple had a way to oh I don't know sell digital media content. Maybe through some sort of digital media store where you could get TV shows and Movies. Yup sure would help. It would also help if people had a way to record home movies in 4k video on their iPhones - yup sure would help. See how these speculations come together.
Speaking of Predictions and Rumors - One I have not been able to buy into one bit is the rumors about the iPad Mini 2nd gen having a Retina display. I really feel this was started not by anyone who has used an iPad mini - but rather by those that look at spec sheets. If you use an iPad mini - you will see that the screen looks good as is - and if other reports are true - that since the introduction of the iPad mini - 60% of iPad sales have gone its way - there is Zero compelling reason for Apple to make the iPad mini 2nd gen a retina display. Nope - no how. And guess what one anal-ist - Richard Shim - is back tracking on his original prediction or WAG that it would be a Retina display and is now saying nope it will be the same as the original. But is also now saying the iPad mini 3rd gen with retina display will be out in Q1 2014 - well if at first you don't succeed guess guess again - or so it seems to be for Mr. Shim when it comes to his quote predictions unquote. Oh and I won't even get into his quote prediction unquote that the 2nd gen iPad mini will come with iOS 7 installed - Think!!! no duhhh - and the sky is blue and the Royals will not be in the playoff's - somethings are kind of stating the obvious and not predictions.
In the news of the weird - comes the following story of a Chinese women who had her Breast implant explode after she was lying on her stomach for 4 hours straight playing a game on her iPhone. Which of course leads to one obvious question - what game was she playing that is so good it can make a breast implant explode? Well the answer apparently is the game Dragon Summoner - I am sure this is not a PR stunt to bring attention to the game - because you know that would be so wrong. Well I guess this story could have been worse it could have been a guy playing the game for 4 hours when his penile implant exploded. Ouch.
Thanks to Ben N and Stephen W - for the heads up on this next one. Which is about the 614% growth Android has seen in the past year - when it comes to Malware that is. Yup 92% of mobile Malware is on Android devices according to Juniper networks or 97% if you listen to McAfee Labs. Either way - There are now over 500 third-party app stores that contain Apps with Malware. 73% of the Malware exploit holes in mobile payments by sending out fraudulent Premium SMS messages. Of course some just steals Android users personal info and photo and friends contact info and the like - so you know they are not all just about sending out premium messages - although some do both. But either way - are you not glad right now you decided to go with an iOS device - and not one of those swiss cheese security devices known as Android.
Thanks to Mark H for sending in the link on this next one - which is about the new Nokia ad - which is all about Zombies - even has music that sounds like that from the trailer of World War Z. Which by the way I thought was a really good movie. With a couple of small exceptions. Like when they made a US military pilot look a little skittish. That point aside - It was a good movie. Best one I have seen this year and a real good Zombie movie.
TIME CODE: 35:19.023
PLAY VOICEMAIL - RICHARD_FLICKR_IOS7_SHARING
Hi Rob,
iOS 7 has new mailbox options in Mail!
Tap the [Edit] button on the main mailbox list.
Show/hide any mailbox. Yeah I can now hide the All Mail mailbox!
There is a New mailboxes option where You can now add any sub-mailbox folder to the main mailbox list by tapping Add Mailbox.
Regards,
Steven (in Houston)
Thanks Steven - yeah - being able to add folders to put emails from your inbox into - and create those new folders right on your iOS device even for just a pop account is long over do feature.
Hi Rob,
To me, except for the fonts used, the new iOS UI looks like it was designed by Hasbro. It makes the iPhone look more like a toy phone. It looks very cheap. All of the art (scewmorphism) is all gone. :-( The End Call button is just a flat red bar!
I miss the style of iOS 6 already.
Regards,
Steven (in Houston)
And one thing Steven found out about the folders - I need to mention - is they are not always grey - they do change - based on the background image you have. So he had a very purple background image and that made his folders purple as well. So no direct way to change folder colors and none to do it per folder - guess we will have to wait until iOS 8 for that feature.
Hi Rob, I'm hoping your listeners can help me in my search for an app I'm after.
I coach a kids football team and I'm looking for an app that allows me to enter all the kids names and then as their parents respond to my texts asking for their availability for each upcoming game allows me to simply toggle a switch to 'in' or 'out' ( or something similar).
Ideally the screen would show a running total of those available, those unavailable and those yet to respond.
I've had a look through a number of apps but nothing seems to do what I'm after which I believe is fairly simple.
Regards,
DR
New Zealand
Hi Rob,
Hey rob do you or any of your listeners know of any video editing apps, jalibroken or not that allows somebody to edit another clip into a corner of a video, like pewdiepie or Tobuscus on youtube. Part of me thinks there isn't though. Thanks
This week one kickstarter project that stood out to me was the Lumu - spelled L U M U - and it is a light meter for your iphone that plugs into the head phone jack. They had a pretty modest goal of $20,000 - they are over 8 times that goal - that means they are over 160,000 dollars. And this one has until Friday July 12th at 5:00 PM ET before funding is over.
Pricing for the lumu is $99 and if you are a photog - you know that is a really good price. Plus now you don't have to lug around the extra light sensor unit - you just bring the lumu which is about the same size of the normal white dome in your light meter now. If this is something you are interested in - search for L U M U at kicksterter.com or look for the link in the show notes.
A while back there was a listener looking for an app to trace their route when hiking off the beaten path so to speak. A new free app was brought to my attention by the dev called RouteTracer - one word - and again well it is free. So if you are looking for an app to trace your path whether it be via walking paths or in the outback - check out this app and please send in a review and let us know how well it works. Again it is call Routetracer - one word.
Thanks to Tash for the heads up on this next one - which is per the update to the dropbox app version 2.3 - what are the updates you ask - well according the update notes they are quote Easily share a link to a folder.
Swipe on any file to quickly share, move, delete, or favorite.
Select and share multiple photos with your family, friends, and other humans.
And Bug fixes and other magical performance improvements to keep you happy. unquote
I wanted to let you know that the App - Vjay - spelled - V J A Y - is now free in iTunes - it had been $9.99 when I recently purchased it.
Regards,
Brandon A - Shawnee, KS
And folks this app is a mashup machine for your music and videos. It even includes 15 exclusive, free bonus video clips with Snoop Dogg and others. So if you are looking to create your own music video - here is your app - and get it while it is free. Search for V J A Y one word in iTunes App store or look for the link in the show notes for ep 274 at today in iOS dot com.
TIME CODE: 42:56.894
PLAY VOICEMAIL - MATT_NB_SELECT_LINKS
Hey Rob,
Thanks to you, I learned about the HBO GO app on AppleTV and just updated. Works great. Just need to go to the website to verify your provider and punch in a code. However, even though I have PG ratings set in Parental Controls, all of HBO's Latenight shows are now available to my 8 year old son, including Serena the Sexplorer. Doh!
Best,
Jeff in Burbank
Hi Jeff - thanks for the feedback - and I am going to guess Serena the Sexplorer is slightly different content wise than dora the explorer.
Hi Rob,
In episode 0272 someone asked how to display the TV shows from the ABC app onto their TV. The way to do this is to have a jailbroken iphone and download the DisplayOut jailbreak app (it cost a few dollars). Assuming the user already has the needed cables to connect their iphone to their TV, they simply turn on DisplayOut and then the TV show will appear on your TV. I got this working on an iphone 4s jailbroken on 6.1.2
Regards,
-Will
Hi Rob,
I have an issue I was hoping you or the listeners could help with. I need a SHORT and THIN 3.5 to 3.5 female to male headphone jack cord to plug my headphones into that will fit through the opening of the Lenmar battery case. I have bought four online and they are either cheap garbage that break/wear out, are too long, or are too large for the battery case. It seems like it would be easy to find but it has not been.
I tried Radio Shack and Fry's online and they did not have anything.
Regards,
Keith
Hi Keith - My suggestion would be to check out B&H photo .com and see if they have it. If anyone has any suggestions - please let us know - 206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog - or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com
The 3rd Jailbreak conference know as WWJC for world wide Jaibreak conference will be August 23rd and 24th at the Radison Hotel in New Rochelle NY. If you are interested in going you can learn more by going to Jailbreakcon.com - If anyone is going - I would love for you to send in reports from the Con.
Some interesting stats from Distimo - with regards to how some apps do sales and download wise. What they found is an app that was ranked at number 10 the top grossing app charts in iTunes was generating $47,000 a day in revenue. Definitely not chicken feed. If you were 50th best you were generating $12,000 a day in revenue.
No 10 for most downloaded paid app was seeing 4,000 downloads a day.
Interestingly they saw more downloads for Apps on the weekend with Thursday being their lightest day for downloads. Which is basically the opposite of Podcasts. Wednesday is the biggest day - and weekends are the slowest times.
One nice iOS vs Android stat. Per the Top Apps - iOS earns 4.6 times more than Android apps on google play store.
As you may have heard Both American Airlines and Jetblue now have iPad's in the cockpits to replace all those paper charts.
But what you might not know is that the FAA has approved iPads in the cockpits for small aircraft as well and good thing for pilot Raymond Cody - who had his entire navigation system on his instrument panel completely fail him during a flight. He then used his cell phone to call the FAA and with an app on his iPad and help from the FAA he was able to guide his plane to his destination with out any incident - outside of the whole instrument panel issue that is. And once again the day is saved thanks to iOS devices.
TIME CODE: 49:39.996
PLAY VOICEMAIL - BRAD_QUEST_IOS7_MORE
Hello Rob,
Just listening to episode 273.
You said when talking about new features “when you count things like calendar icon showing the current date and clock icon showing the current time”.
Thought I point out that my calendar icon in iOS 6 shows the current date, or, to be more precise, it speaks the current date since I am a Voiceover user. If the date is shown visually, well, then you have to subtract 1 feature from your list!
Regards,
Sieghard from Smithers in Beautiful British Columbia
Yup - I need to subtract one feature from the list of new features - you are correct - the Calendar icon already updates to the current date in iOS 6. Oooops. Thanks for the correction.
Hi Rob:
Once I heard of the terabyte offer from Flickr, I immediately began to get my photos transferred over.
Using iPhoto, I have been able to…
1. create Flickr albums (called "Collections")
2. transfer photos to the created or pre-existing Flickr albums
3. view Flickr albums photos.
Photo transfer from iPhoto is simple and relatively quick (bandwidth issues may vary).
There may be more functionality I have yet to discover. My goal at this time is to finish transferring the photos to Flickr.
Regards
Tony V
Brooklyn, NY
Hi rob I got a real quick question , why can't I find my audiobook in iTunes Match for a re-download when I need it I always have to sync to my computer to transfer it over,my audio book will show up in iTunes but its wanting me to purchase it again,can you give me any advise on why this is happening thanks love the show,
Kevin from Illinois
Hi Rob,
Is there a way to keep the notification center dialogs from lowering my music when I get them. I play my music in the car and every time I get a text or facebook post the music volume lowers, then goes back up. Its very annoying. I don't want to have to turn off each apps sound setting everytime I want to listen to music.
Setting the mute switch to Mute does not help - neither does setting the notifications to off / vibrate only. The music still keeps dimming.
Any help you or your audience can give is greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Andy
TIME CODE: 54:40.801
Radio Shack, is SELLING the iPhone 5 on Virgin Mobile. The phone will retail for $549, $649, and $749 for 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models respectively. And that all said - The only reason I mention this is if you want to be on Virgin Mobile. As it will not likely get the iPhone 5S until sometime next year around this time. For all others that will not be on Virgin Mobile - wait until September and get the new iPhone 5S.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired.
Speaking of you and this show - in the month of July - Tii will hit a big milestone - in that we will reach our 10 Millionth download - That is a huge deal there are very very few podcast that make it to 10 Million downloads - and I really just want to say thank you all so much for making that happen. If you guys want to email in a day and time when you think Tii will cross over the 10 Million mark - please do so and I will see what I can get together for the winner. Or if you want to contribute to the winner let me know - either way email me at today in iOS at Gmail dot com.
Thanks again to todays sponsor - Proxpn and if you go to proxpn dot com and use the promo code T I I - you will save 20% for life on your secure VPN account. Again proxpn.com use promo code t i i.
Next episode will be up toward the end of the Week of 4th of July - I will be taking this following week off. So next episode will be in about 10 or 11 days from when this one went up.
Here is a bit of artwork for your show. Hope you like it, the 3 apps I used to make this are: InstaText, Percolator and Brushes
Regards,
Gary from the UK
================
Transcript Episode 273
-------------------------
Hi Rob,
Here are some of the issues I found with iOS 7.
1- Siri after dictating iMessage, when you press edit you now edit on her screen. The problem is the magnifying glass has a window optic effect and you see what is there and what is magnified at the same time.
2- iTunes if you play with moving apps around and you have more than what iOS 6 allows it moves extras loose from folder.
3- iTunes PC users might need to restart after loading iOS 7 beta.
4- iRadio Canadians need to install with both iPhone and iTunes on US account App Store and can't switch sore to Canada unless want to re-install after (switching to Canadian App Store will wipe your station from memory)
5- iOS 7 has a learning process (as shown in keynote), larger apps might be sluggish for a day or so.
6- Calendar needs option Repeat other as it does on the web or will need to make 5 (one for each day of the week) entries.
7- text boxes in apps and web sometimes doesn't follow curser so can't see what you typed without tap hold for edit.
8- no upper bar (clock batter etc.) when viewing new multitask/closing stream. (Double home tap)
9- no time displayed on control panel. (I suppose after I can just pull down message center when in app that does not have the time after I turn on Bluetooth)
10- too thin letters on keyboard. Looks good but hard to see as Easily as old one it sunlight.
11- app folders too bright. Wish I can choose a color of all or each folder.
12 - updated folders do hold more items but they didn't tell iTunes for PC. If I put more than the old amount, if I connect to the computer and sync it spits them out.
All in all I prefer it over iOS 6 and previous. Wonder what Jobs would say to Johnny.
Regards,
Kevin
Hi Kevin - thanks for the feedback - but really you need to report all these items to Apple. If you are a dev and see any bugs - even ones you heard mentioned here - if you see it - you should report it to Apple. Where do you report this - well simple at bug report dot apple dot com. Remember Apple's Betas - are not public beta's like say Gmail - which is not a beta at all. But what Apple calls a beta is not what other call a beta - maybe an alpha. In any case if you are a dev and using iOS 7 - no mater how obvious on minimal you think a bug is - report it by going to bug report dot apple dot com.
Also per that last item with sync'g breaking folders - that must just be a windows bug - as it does not happen to me when I sync via a mac.
And now - lets talk about some of the new features - rather than bugs.
On the last episode - 272 - I mentioned over 20 different new features with iOS 7 that were announced at the keynote. Here are 14 that were shown at the Keynote and not mentioned last week - not by me nor apple - well not verbally - these are ones just listed up on the presentation slide and they are.
- Turn-by-turn walking directions - which I know quite of you complained about in the Fall - rightly so - that it was missing from the Maps app - so not so much of a new feature but a getting back of a lost feature from iOS 5.
- Inclinometer - I guess this is to tell you the incline you are walking when say in San Fran and using those turn-by-turn walking directions.
- Do Not Track option in Safari - Which you know was added to Safari on the desktop back in Spring of 2011 - just sayin.
- Long MMS support - Which is long over due.
- Scan to acquire Passbook passes - which if I some day actually use Passbook - I might get excited about - or not.
- Streamline MDM enrollment - and if you know what MDM is you are pretty stoked - and well work in IT too. Now note - this is not adding MDM enrollment - it is just you know making it streamlined - which is a way of saying our last implementation sucked - this time we did it better.
Plus
- Maps bookmark syncing
- Smart download of TV episodes
- Per app VPN
- Managed app configuration
- App Store Volume Purchase
- Handwriting recognition for multiple Chinese characters
- Chinese English bilingual dictionary
- Italian, Korean and Dutch dictionaries
And - with Newstand - you can now move it into folders. No more having to jump through hoops to get Newstand out of sight and mind.
Ok - so in all there are about 50 to 60 new features mentioned so far - when you count things like the calendar icon showing the current date and the clock icon showing the current time. For iOS 6 - Apple touted over 200 new features - You would hope for close to as much for iOS 7 - so it seems there are hopefully more new features we do not know about yet. Or are just overlooking and not counting because they are so small.
BY the way I have to thank Thomas in Tuscaloosa for once again putting together a nice matrix that goes over many of the new key features and which iOS devices will be getting them and which one there is no soup for you. Like with Photo Filters not being there for the iPhone 4 and 4S. You can see the stand alone post at Today in iOS dot com that is between episodes 272 and 273. Thanks again Thomas for your great matrix break down.
Into the email bag.
Hi Rob,
I'm surprised more people aren't talking about the fact that Google is no longer the default "fallback" for Siri in iOS 7. I think this is huge. Granted, we all saw this coming, but I still think this is important, as it's one more way Apple is kicking Google of their OS. I guess choosing Microsoft over Google is like choosing the lesser of two evils, but I personally think that Google search is better than Bing.
Also is Bing the default search engine for Safari now also?
Regards,
Max, Baltimore, MD.
Hi Max - well like I said on the last show I am guessing Microsoft out bid Apple to get bing to be the default for Siri. But per the question on Safari - Google is still the default for searching on there - with Yahoo listed second and Bing in the 3rd slot.
Hi Rob,
0.22% is significant? Really? Please elucidate.
Thanks,
John
Gilbert, AZ
And what John is talking about is that by Wednesday June 12th - already - 0.22% of iPhones were running iOS 7 Beta 1 according to Chitika's data. Which is really impressive when you think of how many devices that works out to. Which is about 450,000 iOS devices running the Beta in just 48 hours. That is a lot of devices with the beta and again with Apple a Beta is not a typical beta - it is more an alpha - especially the first few versions of the beta.
Now with all these people signing up for the beta - one thing to remember is betas have expiration dates - and it is kind of important to make sure you update your beta before it expires. And it seems some people dug into the code and found the Beta 1 expiration date is July 24th at 12:00 AM GMT. Which means expect Beta 2 sometime before The first week of July - Traditionally Monday's and Tuesday's were the days we saw new beta's - so expect June 24th or 25th for the new beta. Also In the past people forgot about the expirations and had issues - don't have issue - either update shortly after the new beta is available or downgrade. But do it well in advance of July 24th to be safe. I will of course let you know when new betas are made available.
Matt Gemmell - whom we have mentioned on the show in the past - had a nice post about iOS 7 from an aesthetic perspective. If Aesthetics are your thing - again this is a good post to read. Link of course in the show notes for ep 273 over at today in iOS dot com and look for the one sneakily labeled - Matt Gemmell. One of the general gists of the article is iOS 7 is more light and airy - where iOS 6 and before tended to be more dark and stark.
One of my favorite new features is Apples Activation Lock - which is essentially a kill switch - but for some reason some in Law enforcement are not as happy with this. And as near as I can tell the main reason for not embracing it is because Apple did not actually call it a kill switch - and oh yeah - law enforcement wanted some standard everyone could agree on - yeah good luck with that. Last week there was a smartphone summit held by law enforcement officials in which Apple, Google Samsung and others from the device side were at. I think the big thing will be how good of a job does Apples Activation lock do - and how hard is it to crack. Hopefully Apple makes it tougher to crack then it is for jail breakers to jailbreak. Of course none of this matters if users do not set up find my iPhone first - so make sure you do that - ASAP.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - JESSE_DEV_FEEDBACK
Hi Rob,
Please tell me there is a way to turn off auto app update in 7.
If there is no way to turn it off.... Let the chaos begin
Anthony
Australia
Hi Anthony, Yes there is a way to turn off auto app update in iOS 7 - but by default the option is turned on.
It is simple enough to turn off - but most people will not.
Want to put a wager on what version of iOS 7 it will be that it gets switched to off by default?
FYI - I sent that response to Anthony and he replied back that he is betting it is the first update after public release where it will be off by default. And I would say that sounds just about right - It is going to be a huge data hog for those that have a lot of apps and spend most of their time connected via cellular and not wifi. You will quickly be able to chew through your monthly data allocation just via app updates if you don't switch it off.
Hi Rob,
With iOS 7 - Siri is working much better on my end. Found apps sluggish at start but as I use it greatly improves as they said in the keynote.
Also In iOS 7 - Do you know if it is possible to lighten or change the color of the folder squares?
Regards,
Kevin K
Hi Kevin - sure would be nice if you could change the colors of the folder - so you could make Game folders a light shade of Green, and Podcast folder a shade of Purple, and books folder a shade of Brown and so on - but as near as I can tell that does not appear to be a feature of iOS 7 beta 1.
Hi Rob,
In iOS 7 You get to spotlight by pulling down the home screen.
Regards,
dev.
Thanks also to - Mark J, Max P, Chris in Cork, Nathan F, and all the others that sent in emails about now being able to get to Spotlight search - by pulling down from any home screen. Just don't pull down from the very top of the screen. And you can do it from any home screen of icons. Not just the first one - but from any.
Hi Rob,
So far I'm loving ios 7. One thing that was a letdown was iTunes Radio. I guess I have gotten spoiled by Spotify. But if apple ever released a on demand spotify like feature, I will drop spotify in a heartbeat.
Regards,
AJ
Hi AJ - for the first week I was enjoying iTunes radio - there were basically almost no commercials - save some in house stuff. Not surprising as it is not officially launched. But then this week - I can't get iTunes radio to work at all. Very strange. I tried wiping my phone clean and doing a new install - but still nothing. I am guessing it is on Apples side - but I have not heard anyone else complain - so either no one is using it - or no one is saying they can't use it or it is just me. If anyone else is having an issue with iTunes Radio not working please let me know.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - JESSE_FOLLOWUP_FEEDBACK
Hi Rob
I LOVE the new iOS 7 look i know I can't play with it because I'm not a Developer but I have No Problem waiting I'm so Excited and anxious about it. I do wish that airdrop was coming to the 4S but its cool still Love me Some Apple
Thanks Rob
sharde
From:LongBeach Ca
Well Sharde - the part about not being able to play with it because you are not a developer is not exactly true - Thanks to Binh and Chris in London for the heads up on how to install the iOS 7 beta without being a developer. Look for the link titled users able to install iOS 7 beta without developer account - THAT said - I don't recommend you install the iOS 7 beta unless you are a dev or unless you have an extra iPhone laying around. There are some out there claiming you should install it as a non-dev to help out with feedback - but that is kind of hogwash - Apple is not going to add major or even likely minor features based on feedback for the Beta. This is about identifying bugs in the beta and squashing them. And yes there are as mentioned earlier plenty of bugs in the beta - so Sharde my recommendation is if you only have one iPhone - now is not the time to be installing the beta. And just because the first beta is pretty stable - does not mean the next beta will be stable as well. Please folks just wait until the fall.
Ok and for those that did not wait - installed iOS 7 beta 1 and now have regrets - well this year you seem to be in luck in that you can downgrade - not something you could do last year. There is a link in the show notes for ep 273 conspicuously titled - how to downgrade iOS 7 beta 1 to iOS 6.1.x .
What I do find interesting is that I see and hear a few people complaining the loudest about iOS 7 - the look the feel the features - and when I look / listen to those complaining - they all seem to have one thing in common - they were complaining before iOS 7 was announced that Apple had to change iOS. So Apple did and now they are still complaining - so either their are chronically not happy or they are masters baiters - oh that did not sound good - master link baiters that is.
Oh and people that seem to like iOS 7 for the most part are people that liked iOS 6 before - good thing it had a 97% favorable rating. Maybe the other 3% - they are just never happy or just to busy baiting off in a corner somewhere - again - that did not sound good - maybe they are busy link baiting - yeah that's what I meant.
With all the stuff about what the US Government is or is not looking at when it comes to your data - One interesting bit I came across in a ZDNet article was the following
Quote Apple said iMessage and FaceTime conversations were protected by end-to-end encryption so no-one but the sender and receiver could see or read them. Apple said quote Apple cannot decrypt that data. Similarly, we do not store data related to customers' location, Map searches or Siri requests in any identifiable form." unquote unquote.
So it seems your data and privacy was a bit better protected if you use Apple services - well it seems that way - but who really knows. This is what they call a lead in to today's sponsor -
And This week we are again sponsored by ProXPN - if you go to Proxpn.com and use the promo code tii you will save 20% for ever off your account with them. As mentioned on the last episode proXPN is a VPN service that is easy, secure and cheap to use with your iOS device that lets you secure your internet connection against eavesdropping and masks your location and allows you to access your favorite sites regardless of where you are or are going. If you connect to public wifi's hot spots on any regularity - a private VPN is the way to go - and proXPN is really a great service with a great price - just $9.95 a month before the 20% savings for using promo code tii or just $74.95 for the year prior to the promo code. Which means if you sign up for the yearly account with the 20% discount it works out to about $5 a month. If you use promo code tii when you sign up - you also get a 30 day risk free trial.
As I mentioned I set this up on my iPhone and it took about 1 minute and now when I need a private VPN all I do is open the settings app and right at the top between Wifi and Bluetooth I now see the vpn to toggle on. That's it that is all I have to do to secure myself and my data when I am out and about on hotspots.
Sure I could play the NSA / Prisim Card - but that is not the reason I think you should use a secure VPN - Nope - I think it comes down to securing your financial info, securing your business info and getting access to sites that might be blocked where you live -
those are the key reasons I recommend looking at a VPN solution and ProXPN gets your IP addresses for those outside the US that look like US IP addresses - and you can also get ones that are from out side the US. Sadly the internet is not as open as many make it out to be - just ask anyone that wants to play online poker. Yeah my issue with the government is not them looking at my emails - but rather then not letting me play online poker.
Again to get the discount of 20% for the life of your service with proXPN - use promo code Tii at proxpn dot com - thanks to proXPN for sponsoring the show.
Every year Apple puts up a series of classes from Standford university on how to develop apps for iOS - and guess what this is a year starting with 2 - so they did it again. If you are interested in becoming an app developer for iOS - this is the series I will recommend people check out first when I get emails asking how to start developing. Look for the link titled Stanford U - Coding together - Developing Apps for iPhone and iPad (Winter 2013) - these series really have been very good in the past - and is where you should look first when you decide to jump into the iOS app dev pool.
Thanks to Chris in London for the heads up on this next one. Which is that AT&T announced Enhanced push to talk service for iPhone business customers. This is via a new app for the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S. From the AT&T presser - Quote With Enhanced Push-to-Talk capability, iPhone business customers won’t have to dial a number to call someone, and instead can push a button on the iPhone to broadcast a voice message to a group of people. The feature can be used over Wi-Fi, which gives U.S. customers more in-building coverage and access to the service through compatible networks and the company said it operates using the U.S.’s largest Wi-Fi network, which includes more than 32,000 AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots. unquote.
The App is available now in the App store for free and it is cleverly named - AT&T Enhanced Push to talk.
Hey Rob,
I took my phone out of my bag this morning and I saw this message on my home screen that said quote carrier settings updated new settings required for your device have been installed unquote . I'm not exactly sure what this update is all about, can you shed any light on this mysterious carrier update?
I'm on AT&T in San Jose Cali
So far I don't notice much of an improvement, I'm on the train commuting to work and I'm still getting the same weak spots along the way!
Mike
Well Mike - this is a legit carrier update. I actually just saw the same message on my iPhone 4S - and this has to do with emergency alerts that AT&T might need to send you - say if there was national emergency. So say tomorrow night I am sitting in the theater waiting for the midnight showing to start - and out in the real world Zombies start taking over - Now I would know about it via a text message. And if you think I am getting just a little excited about World War Z coming out this week - you would be correct. Actually the alerts are not just about zombies and tornados - which would fall under the imminent threat alert - there is also the Amber alert - which is the all to real alert when a child is abducted. And there is also the Presidential Alert - Which are alerts from the President as the name implies - but specifically what they would be is not indicated - other than to say with Amber and Imminent threat alerts - you can toggle them off - but the Presidential alerts you can not. Lets hope there are none of those anytime soon - because if you can toggle off tornados and child abduction but not the president - I am guessing the president would not be using it for something trivial. More along the lines again of Zombies taking over.
Thanks to Tim B for the link on this one.
Ok from Zombies we move into something even less likely - Apple device Rumors from Reuters. Seems Reuters talked to our old friends - People with knowledge of the matter - And these people said Apple is exploring launching iPhone with bigger screens as well as cheaper models over the next year. They said Apple is looking at introducing at least two bigger iPhone next year - a 4.7 inch model and a 5.7 inch model.
However another person with direct knowledge of the matter said quote - They constantly change product specifications almost to the final moment so you're not really sure whether this is the final prototype unquote.
The Depths Reuters will go to to dig up a story is simply amazing.
So while on rumors - lets go over some new photos out there about some possible parts for the next gen iPhone - these photos are of the front screen for the next gen iPhone - and guess what it is neither 4.7 or 5.7 inches - actually it is wait for it - wait for it - exactly the same size as the iPhone 5. About the only real difference is in the length of the cable on the alleged next gen iPhone screen - it is longer than that of the cable of the iPhone 5. And when the iPhone 5 found out the side by side pictures were released showing his shorter cable - it caused a great amount of jealously and embarrassment - not to mention a few extra rounds of therapy with Siri.
I don't think anyone will be surprised if the next gen iPhone is the iPhone 5S - and it has the same exact physical dimensions as the iPhone 5. You know like they did with the 3G and 3GS - and the 4 and 4S. Really at this point I would be shocked if it was not the case.
Thanks to all that sent in this next one - which is a post from Forbes titled Why has Apple Overpriced iCloud - Question mark - in case you did not realize that was a question. This question relates to the recent announcement by Yahoo - that they would be giving Flickr storage of 1 Terabyte for free to users. Not 1 Terabyte to all users to share - but 1 terabyte for each user. And that compares to Apple's offering of 5 GB of free storage for iCloud. Or worse its 55 GB for $100 a year offering. So the article ponders - if most of your iCloud storage is photos - and your only get 5GB for free with iCloud - but you get 1,024 GB's or one terabyte free from Flickr - and 5 GB is just scratching the surface of your photos - you might oh I don't know be more inclined to go with the free offering that just lets you upload everything vs the one you have to carefully manage. You know that whole convenience thing. Which was it not supposed to be the big selling point for iCloud. I do have to admit - I don't use iCloud for photos for one key reason - even at 55 gb's it is way under my needs for photos. So I guess I will ask Apple too - what are your plans for iCloud - and out side of sync'g book marks, calendars, reminders, notes, and contacts - what else do you want us to use it for - because clearly based on your pricing - it ain't photos. Please please Apple let us know.
Also in iOS 7 - there is now a place to connect your Flickr and Vimeo accounts - I have not tried this yet. If anyone has connected their flickr account to iOS 7 beta - how did it work for you? Give us a call or send us an email.
Thanks to Thomas in Tuscaloosa for the link to an article titled - Is google acknowledging Android is not secure - hmmm. And well if you ever think about jumping ship to Android - this article is a good read to slap some common sense back into your silly little head - and keep you safe and secure where you are with iOS. This is an article from the site - Malwarebytes - and it tries comically - to defend Android about its issues with Malware - not intentionally funny - but funny non-the-less. Again if you are thinking the grass is greener on the Android side and you want to find out - just read this article - realize all the Malware issues there are with Android - and then realize - that is not grass at all - but just a bunch of weeds mowed really short to look like grass - just sayin.
Nailed it - And here is the one of the first spoofs to the Apple commercial. This spoof comes from funny or die dot com.
PLAY APPLE_SPOOF_FUNNY
Hi Rob,
I was wondering if you have been able to find anything about accessibility improvements in iOS 7. Last year accessibility was specifically mentioned during the keynote, but this year nothing was said about it and I just tried a few Google searches tonight and could not find anything official from Apple.
One thing I really would love to know is whether the new SIRI voices we heard during the keynote will also be used for Voiceover because they did sound really good and while the current voice especially in High Quality Mode is not bad, it certainly does not sound nearly as good as what SIRI sounded like during the keynote.
Regards,
Sieghard from Smithers, British Columbia, Canada
Hi Sieghard - I have not found anything new specifically for Accessibility - but if anyone else knows of some new features on the Accessibility side please let us know - 206-666-6364 - thats 206 - moon - dog - or send in an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
Hi Rob,
Per the listener looking for an app that allows pausing of video recording - The app Vizzywig - allows for pausing of video recording then adding to that recording later. It is not cheap - it costs $19.99.
Regards,
Jesse D
Vizzywig - Video Editor and Video Camera by i4software
In your episode 272 a listener wanted to know if there was a good video recording app that incorporates pause while recording. There actually are quite a few out there, but the one I've gravitated to as the best of the bunch is called MoviePro (all one word). In addition to the pause feature, it is a universal app for both the iPhone and iPad and it has image stabilization for the newer devices which really enhances handheld camera shooting. It has on screen zoom buttons which are very smooth and professional looking to use (none of this jerky pinch to zoom and shake your phone at the same time stuff). If you prefer a zoom slider bar, you can select that instead of the buttons. You can take stills while recording. You can switch from front to back or back to front camera while recording. You can selectively lock autoexposure, autofocus and white balance, or do it on the fly by touching the screen then touch-and-hold the box that appears. You can choose a default orientation if you always shoot in landscape for your widescreen TV. You can select various video resolutions, frame rate, video quality and audio quality as well. You can set a recording duration, set recording time, even shoot in spy mode with this feature rich app. To round it out, you can upload any of your shoots in full resolution to Dropbox, YouTube, or Facebook. Wow, it looks like I just gave you an app review. MoviePro (all one word) is $2.99 in the app store, and worth every penny.
Thanks for your iOS 7 overview, Rob. Looking forward to hearing a lot more as each of these features it shaken out over time in the betas. Keep up the great work!
Aloha,
Shavan
PLAY VOICEMAIL - RICK_APP_SEE_LOCAL
Hello,
I thought you might find this device really cool and I know your audience would too so check it out!
This is for the Button TackR project on Indie togo
Hi Brian thanks for the heads up on Button Trackr - two words with trackR spelled T R A C K R - This project is a low power bluetooth tracking device with a range of about 100 feet. It works with iPhone 4S and later and the iPod touch 5th gen. It had a modest goal of $15,000 and has raised a we bit more than that at over 292,000 dollars and counting - well at least until Friday June 28th at 11:59 PM PT. 1 button tracker will set you back $25, 2 will cost $40, 5 will run you $90 and in a I'm not sure why pricing move - $95 will get you 10 devices. Want to guess which level is most popular. Search for button Trackr - two words in indie gogo dot com with trackr spelled T R A C K R.
Hi Rob,
I know you love kickstarter and thought you might like to see a small success that turned out from the site – you mentioned it back in episode 206.
Hi Orland - thanks for the heads up on this story which is about the company that introduced the TidyTilt Kickstarter project. Well they just were acquired by Logitech - Not bad for two guys that started their project as exactly that a school project at IIT institute of Design in Chicago. Congrats guys.
News about the company behind the app - paper - getting a little paper of their own - to the tune of $15 Million worth of greenbacks from VC's - the Paper app is used for drawings - see artwork from Ep 228.
ad of with paper and pen. Most such digital tools are "really complicated," said Fift
GamePop has an upcoming Game console - with an interesting twist - you pay a subscription price to get access to the games. So there is an initial $129 fee for the console - and then a $7 a month fee for all you can eat gaming. So why am I mentioning this here - well it seems they have figured out how to get iOS Games available for their console. Apparently - how this will work is not via Airplay - which is how you get games now from your iOS device to a big screen TV - which usually means a lag from slightly annoying to downright frustrating. As I was saying before I tangented - is that with the GamePop console they will do virtualization to run the game directly on the TV.
According to the company they are not using apples software - so Apple can't stop them - Simply app devs give them their code with some minor changes and it runs on their box.
But the question is will people pay $129 up front plus $7 a month to get access to games that are mostly for free on their iOS devices - just so they can play them on their TV.
My guess is it will all depend on exactly what games they get. I am guess they will need their Angry Birds / Fruit Ninja break out type game that is just on their console for this to really take off.
So Microsoft Office is now available for the iPhone - kinda sorta - as long as you have an office 365 subscription plan that is.
And no it is not available as an iPad optimized app - because you know that is about the only selling point for Windows Tablets vs iPad's - and it will be a little bit before Microsoft excepts the fact that iPad users can already open and edit Word, Excel and Powerpoint docs using Pages, numbers and Keynote - and guess what - no Live 365 subscription plan is needed for that.
So Yes - Microsoft rolls out Office for the iPhone and no - it is not all that exciting. I still just recommend you get Pages, numbers and keynote - and you will be able to open and edit Office documents. It works for me. Heck that is all I use on my Mac - I never bothered updating to Office on my mac - so I definitely am not interested in getting those apps on my iOS devices - and when it requires an Office 365 subscription plan - well it makes me wonder why I gave it this much space on the show. Just sayin.
Hi Rob,
Tell the guy with connecting to PC problems to
1) close iTunes.
2 shut off iPhone
3) open iPhone
4) start iTunes
[if not set to start on connection]
5) connect iPhone.
This worked for me.
Kevin K
Hi Rob,
I have never updated my iPhone 4S to 6.0 from 5.1.
Is it absolutely necessary to do this if I want to download 7.0 when it becomes available? Im hoping Siri will become more useful if I do and podcast management sees some improvements also. Would love to get your take on these.
Thanks!
Linda
Atascadero- The beautiful Central Coast of CA
Hi Rob
I was listening to some back episode 82 I think is was. There was an app call star cards that was recommended which I was looking for an app that would manage all the type of cards that I have from so many store. So far I am loving it
Regards,
Lawrence
PLAY VOICEMAIL - DAVID_THANKS_IRIG
Thanks to Mark H for this next one. So lets say on your iPhone you want to take a screen shot - simple - you hit the Power and home button at the same time and you have a screen shot - of the whole screen - but lets say you want to take a screen shot of part of the screen for a tutorial say. Well then you need to do what I mentioned - and then take that image and edit it in an image editing programing that allows for selective cropping. OR if you are jailbroken you could use the app Screenshotplus - all one word - and it is in the main repository - so a search for screenshotplus - one word - will find it - and the app is $0.99 - and it allows you to select the parts of the screen you want to take a screen shot of.
Which as a dev might be nice for doing a tutorial of your app. This is not meant for taking screen shots of snap chat pictures - so don't use it for that. Just sayin.
Thanks to Sanchit for the heads up on this next one. Which is another stats report from Chitika. This time looking at iOS vs Android use via its ad delivery network. They looked at traffic hour by hour and They of course found much more iOS traffic then android - except between 4 and 5 AM ET. That was the only time during the day Android had more traffic than iOS. Actually during the day and mid evening - iOS trounces Android. with the biggest gap around 10:00 PM ET. Then iOS usage starts to roll off. while Android usage is kind of flat through out the whole day. The only think I can figure is Android users are having a hard time getting to sleep at night what with all their worrying about Malware and all. Just sayin.
What is this - Apple TV news - Oh my. Well it was just announced that apple TV will be adding two more apps - HBO Go and WatchESPN which are now available ion your Apple TV. HBO Go user get unlimited access to their favorite and not so favorite HBO shows - WatchESPN offers one-stop video destination for ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and more. Those who receive ESPN through affiliated providers are eligible. Which includes - AT&T u-verse, Bright house networks, Optimum, Charter, Comcast, cox, mid-continent communications, Time Warner and Verzion - everyone else no soup for you.
Additionally - three other apps are now available for Sky News, Crunchyroll and Qello which offer quote live news, sports and current TV programing unquote. Actually Sky News and Crunchyroll are free for all - Qello requires a paid subscription. Crunchyroll is lots of Anime and Japanese programing for young males or so it looked.
You will need to do an update to your Apple TV to see the 5 new apps - but it was pretty quick update less than 10 minutes. And again this is live now.
Hey Rob
I'm looking for a good gif app for iOS. Do you or the listeners know of any such app?
Thank you
AJ
For Devs - One thing new I learned this week - thanks to Neil from the App Talk Photo - is that Promo codes do not expire once a new version is released. So you can get your remaining promo codes for your current version of your app - right before it is released - and then get more once your app is approved. And the ones from the past version will still be valid until they hit the 28 day mark. This means you could have more than 50 to give out at one time if you time it right. I always just assumed any promo codes from a previous version expired as soon as the new version was approved and your quota of 50 promo codes was reset.
Hi Rob,
For the last week or more I have been unable to open the TII app. The wheel spins until I finally get the message "Connection lost. Unable to contact server…" Any thoughts?
Regards,
Bruce
Hi Bruce - yes - there is a small % of people that get this issue - to fix it - delete the Tii App from your iOS device. And then on the iOS device in the App store app - with the same iTunes account ID - go and redownload the Tii App - as long as you use the same iTunes account ID - you will not be charged again - and after a new re-install - all should be good.
PLAY VOICEMAIL FEEDBACK OS10_9_NAME
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. Thanks again to todays sponsor - Proxpn and if you go to proxpn dot com and use the promo code T I I - you will save 20% for life on your secure VPN account. Again proxpn.com use promo code t i i.
Thanks again to Thomas from Tuscaloosa AL for putting together once again a Matrix that shows which iOS devices get the new features in the latest version of iOS. As with the past updates some features are only for the latest and great hardware versions.
I thought you might like my Tii retake/tribute to WWDC.
This artwork was created using InkPad for the iPad.
regards
Colin S
===============
Transcript Episode 272
-------------------------
Thanks to Michael for this next one. Which is about AT&T changing their upgrade policy. Before it was 20 months now it is going to 24 months for a 24 month contract. This for those whose contract currently ends after march 2014. Att and recently Verizon made this decision to help you when it comes time to get a new device. Now that there is no ETF to deal with so you can move over to a new carrier with no financial reasons to keep you bound.
Right after I did the last episode there was a new study released that showed 93% of iPhones were running iOS 6 in North America that is. That number should grow a little by the time iOS 7 is released - and it likely never going to be matched again. As there are so many iPhone 3GS out there - and they will not be running iOS 7 - but hey more on these later in the show. But it is amazing to thing that iOS 6 is on an amazing 93% of iPhones running in the North america - when Android's - well Android is in the low 30's for its latest version which has been out longer than iOS 6. Just sayin.
PLAY AUDIO - Jerry_KS_Asnwr_turning_off
Thanks to Jerry, Paul, Joe, Daniel and all the others that sent in answers for this - which again is you need to turn off vibrate on Ring - which Is sad - because at least for me - I need to have Vibration turned on for ring - as I keep the iPhone in my pocket a lot and I have custom vibrations for different people - and when I have my iPhone muted on the ring - I can still tell when I get important calls or ones I can probably ignore based on the vibration.
Hi Rob,
I work at a college that has the same repeated login every time you stop actively using the Internet connection. I installed chrome web browser which offers to save the login information, I do not know why but safari will not remember it. Not a perfect solution but the best one I have found so far.
Nick
Hello Rob,
Per the listener that said he had to keep filling out login info for his company's wifi. I only have a guess, but I hope it helps. Try going into settings, than safari, and tap the option "autofill" and turn on "Names and passwords" that might help you.
Regards,
Daniel,
Hi Rob,
I found a iPhone 5 black in the truck i drive at work. I thought it was mine and fell out of the pocket. I then press the wake button and the lock screen gave it away that it was definitely no my iPhone. since the iPhone was lock protected i had no way to contact the owner. I then tried siri and said call home and it instantly called the owners home. I have returned the device.
Just wanted to share with your listeners.
Thanks
dev
Hi Dev,
Thanks for the email - and that is good advice for folks to make sure you have your phone set up so someone can say call home and it calls your house.
For a second there as I read the email I thought your were going to say you said Call my Girlfriend and then your wifes phone rang - that would have been awkward to say the least.
Hi Rob,
Per the caller looking to Jailbreak an iPhone 3G - I used green p0isn to jailbreak my ipod 4.1.2
Regards,
Daniel
This week we are again sponsored by ProXPN - if you go to Proxpn.com and use the promo code tii you will save 20% for ever off your account with them. As mentioned on the last episode proXPN is a VPN service that is easy, secure and cheap to use with your iOS device that lets you secure your internet connection against eavesdropping and masks your location and allows you to access your favorite sites regardless of where you are or are going. If you connect to public wifi's hot spots on any regularity - a private VPN is the way to go - and proXPN is really a great service with a great price - just $9.95 a month before the 20% savings for using promo code tii or just $74.95 for the year prior to the promo code. Which means if you sign up for the yearly account with the 20% discount it works out to about $5 a month. If you use promo code tii when you sign up - you also get a 30 day risk free trial.
As I mentioned I set this up on my iPhone and it took about 1 minute and now when I need a private VPN all I do is open the settings app and right at the top between Wifi and Bluetooth I now see the vpn to toggle on. That's it that is all I have to do to secure myself and my data when I am out and about on hotspots.
Sure there are a ton and half of reasons I could give on why you should run your data through a secure VPN - Heck just ask the NSA - but outside of security another reason is to have your self getting access to sites that might be blocked where you live. and ProXPN gets your IP addresses for those outside the US that look like US IP addresses - and you can also get ones that are from out side the US. Sadly the internet is not as open as many make it out to be - just ask anyone that wants to play online poker.
Again to get the discount of 20% for the life of your service with proXPN - use promo code Tii at proxpn dot com - thanks to proXPN for sponsoring the show.
Thanks to Tony, Chris and others that sent in emails about todays WWDC event - hopefully all saw the Push message from the Tii App about this in time. I do have to say WWDC did stop for me in the middle - and I had to wait until Monday evening to see the good parts.
WWDC Starts off with a video subtly slamming Android. And talking taking time to get it done right.
PLAY AUDIO TO START WWDC
If Everyone - is busy making everything - how can anyone perfect anything?
We start to confuse convenience with Joy - abundance with choice -
Designing something requires focus
The first thing we ask is what do we want people to feel?
Delight - Surprise - love - connection
Then we begin to craft around our intention
It Takes Time.
There are a thousand No's - for every YES
We Simplify - We perfect - We Start Over
Until every thing we touch - Enhances each life it touches
Only then do we sign our work.
Designed by Apple in California
Tim that starts off saying those words mean a great deal to Apple.
He then goes over some of the Rah Rah numbers. Such as
6 Million Registered Devs - with 1.5 mil new Devs since last years WWDC.
He talks about how WWDC Sold out in just 71 seconds. And 64% of attendees are first-time attendees.
Then he went into the Normal Rah Rah about Apple stores. 407 stores in 14 countries. Now plus a video of the new Berlin store.
Then he talked about App Rah Rah stuff - >900,000 Apps in the App store now with 93% downloaded each month.
375,000 Apps are iPad specific apps - vs the handful of tablet specific apps for the other guys. There are now over 575 Million iTunes Accounts - more accounts with CC than anyone else online.
Apple has now Paid over $10 Bil to Developers. $5 Bil the last year alone. That is 3 Times more than all other platforms combined.
That all took up the first 10 minutes.
Then Tim Invited a company out to do a demo. That company is Anki and the demo was for AI for toys that well they proved they had a mind of their own during the demo. As they had to restart all the devices. Doohh. Actually the demo turned out well - where they had AI cars going around a track. Pretty cool And they are guys from Pittsburghs CM U.
That demo took 5 minutes.
Next up was the Mac stuff and OS Ten - Which again is not the focus of this show so we will jump over most of what they said. I will mention Maps and iBooks are coming to Mac OS X Maverick - yup no more cat names.
My biggest surprise here was how long Apple talked about OS Ten - which was 30 minutes. Plus Phil Shiller talked about New Macs for another 15 Minutes. In all Macs and Mac OS Ten took up 48 Minutes when you Add in Tim's updates on how Macs are selling. Which was more time later spent on iOS. If found that very interesting at iOS Devices and App sales make up the lions share of Apple Revenue. Just sayin.
Ok back to Phil Shiller - he did announce Mac Book Airs with the Hasswell processors to no ones surprise. But sadly no new Mac Book Pro's announced with the Hasswell processor. Which My credit card is however happy with.
Phil also talked about a new Mac Pro that will be made in the US - I mention it here for one feature it had - Support for 4K video. I have been thinking about a Real fullsize Apple TV - and to me it does not make sense for Apple to introduce a 1080p TV - there are so many of them. Apple likes to get out in front of others in a space. So what if the full on Apple TV iTV or whatever it is called - what if it was a 4K TV - at a much cheaper price then what is on the market now for 4K TV's - that to me is what a full size Apple TV would be about. Forget a 1080p TV with easy to use controls - like Gene Munster keeps pinning for - but rather a 4k TV. And I think this little mention of it with the Mac Pro - will be the thing we look back on and go oh yeah - there it was.
After the Mac stuff Tim Cook came back - and talked about iCloud's 300 Million users. And then introduced Roger Rosner - Who talked about iWork for iCloud.
I should point out Roger is the only person at Apple that actually tucks his shirt into his pants - Just Sayin.
No new iWork version / features were talked about other than to say a new version would be out later this year. Roger was mostly talking about working on iWork documents from a browser. Not just safari but also IE and Chrome. So iWorks is now a competitor to Google Docs. And they even showed iWorks in the cloud working on dare I say it a Windows PC. If you go to beta.icloud.com you can get a beta account for this now.
Ok - enough of this - Tim came back on to talk about iOS - and he did the obligatory Marketing Hype talk with numbers.
Over 600 Million iOS devices have been sold. For SmartPhone usage - iPhone users use their phones 50% more than Android users use their phones. Tim said this was incredible but maybe not surprising. Mobile Web share iOS is 2.5X Android. iPad is over 4 times more than all other tablets for Web Market share.
Per Updates of OS's - 93% are using iOS 6 vs well the fragmented nightmare known as Android. Actually Tim had a good stats if you do the math on Major Versions of OS - then iOS 6 is the most popular OS vs 2nd place Gingerbread version of Android released in 2010. Nice Spin.
Overall iOS Satisfaction is 97%. And Very Satisfied is 73% vs just 49% for Android and 32% for Blackberry. But hey windows phone did top 50% at 53%.
So iOS is by far the most satisfying OS experience - Hey I have an idea - lets drastically change it. And on that Cue Tim Cook introduced iOS 7 Quote the biggest change of iOS since the introduction of the iPhone unquote - because you know that 3% that were not satisfied - We will assimilate them at all costs. Just kidding. Yes iOS was getting a little long in the tooth. But it servered most users well. Now apple hopes it will serve them better. And how will they do that.
Well first and foremost as expected with iOS 7 the skeumorphic elements are mostly gone if not completely gone - and there were few not so subtle jabs at the old design - like when they showed Game Center and Craig Federighi said they ran out of green felt. But per the rumor of it being flat - I guess in some ways yes - as in the icons and controls are flat - but Apple also added depth to it. So it is layered with each layer being flatter.
First off all the stock icons got a major overhaul - some are still familiar looking - but clearly the icons were all rebuilt from the ground up. Which of course mean the folks at Samsung are going to be busy updating their icons - Doooh - did I say that out loud.
Many of the changes look good - Not so sure about the Compass app - I kind of liked the old skeumorphic design - the new one looks a little complicated.
Most of what they demo'd to start was just about aesthetic changes - although there were a few small features added - like in Weather there is now a view with a list of the different cities you are following - along with the current temp in each city - there is also a clock - which is nice to know the times of some other cities around the world at a quick glance. Well at least for the cities you are checking the weather on. They also added some Animations for Weather to show rain, lightning and snow - This is what they spent engineering resources on why?
Craig showed a new gesture on the iPhone - when you swipe from the left hand edge across it moves you out of the level you are in per that app.
One nice thing they did in Folders - no longer are you limited to one screens worth of items in a folder - you can have 100's of icons in each folder - so now your Games folder can be ALL your games - No longer do you need 8 different folders for games. 5 different ones for utilities. That is a nice change.
Notifications Center is now available from the lock screen - which is nice. Some had rumored / hoped for adding Settings controls in the Notifications Center - that was a block in the Bingo Card - Umm - No - not exactly - Apple Added many new features and they highlighted 10 of them - like they did in the past. The first one relates to Settings control - and it is called Control Center. Think of Control center as the yang to Notifications Ying. You swipe up from the bottom to get to it no mater where you are and that is where the control switches are.
You can turn on Airplane Mode, Wifi, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb, Adjust Brightness, Media Controls, Airplay and Airdrop (will get to that one later one), There is access to the camera app, calculator app, clock app and a new Flashlight app. So while it was not added to Notifications - it is what people wanted - one swipe access to your control settings from any screen. And note control center works when in landscape mode - so swiping up while in landscape will bring up control center - you don't need swipe from the normal bottom - but the bottom from how you are currently oriented. Which is how Notification center had always worked but nice to see they kept that with control center.
Next major feature was Multitasking for ALL Apps with great battery life. Craig talked about Intelligent scheduling and Opportunistic updates. That sounds a lot like It will happen when it happens - the iPhone knows better than you do when to check for stuff. Will be interesting to see how that all works out. Apps will now update in the background. No more of those red circles with number approaching 100 in the corner of your App store app. But most importantly with Multitasking is when you double tap on the home button - it will show all your open apps - but not just the icons - but also the Active screen for each app. And if you are in landscape mode and double tap - it shows your the apps in landscape mode. It does not rotate when you rotate - but if already in landscape mode - it will shows the apps you had opened in landscape mode still in landscape mode. Found that one on my own - I mean if I was using the Beta on my iPhone 4 - which of course I would not be doing. To force close out an app you now double tap to see the stream of open apps and swipe up on the app you want to close - no more tap and hold. And you can swipe up on 3 apps at a time.
Next up - are new features for Safari. First let me tell you of one thing that better get Fixed before this is out of Beta - there is no period when typing in the URL. So if you want to type say - tii dot libsyn dot com - you have to type t i i @123 button dot ABC button Dot Com button. Very annoying. Apple please add back the period button to the keyboard for Safari. One of the features mentioned for safari was the new tab view - which yes looks like chrome. You can now have as many tabs open as you want - you are not limited to just 8. So how do you close 25 open tabs you ask - Well that is simple you tap on the Private button when in tab view in the lower left and you are greeted with the question - Close all Pages - and the options to keep all and start private browsing or close all.
Next up was AirDrop - which was one item that was expected. It lets you easily find other iOS devices on your wifi network that you can easily share files from any app that supports it and as Craig said it is easy to share - just see all the other users available and tap on each one to share - no need to wander around the room bumping your phone with others. Nice little dig at Android and Samsung there. It does use Wifi - and files are securely encrypted when you are transferring them. This supports - iPhone 5, iPad 4th gen, iPad Mini, iPod Touch 5th gen. As it used the latest version of Wifi so sorry older iOS users no soup for you.
Next was the camera and the updates there. First he talked about you camera is really now 4 cameras in one - A Video Camera, a Photo Camera, a square Camera and a Panoroma Camera - assuming you have an iPhone 4S or later.
And you now have access to Photo filters - Hey Craig - 2010 is calling they want their slide back. Ok - I guess better late then never. Well unless you have an iPhone 4 that is - because photo filters are not there - at least not yet.
Next was the Photos App. Which the new features are about organizing photos into moments. Which seems to take some features from the Photo app on the Mac. There is also the added feature of shared photo streams for sharing photos. Since this is social - expect stories about teenagers and shared photo streams with naked photos hitting the news in 3, 2, 1.. go Ok well maybe not until at least iOS 7 comes out in the Fall.
Next is Siri. And as expected there are some new features for Siri. With Siri in iOS 7 you will be able to say play my last voicemail or Increase Brightness or turn on Bluetooth. They have also integrated Twitter and Wikipedia into siri. I guess I would be something like - Siri - tell me who is talking trash about me on Twitter. They also added web search results from Bing right into siri - Hmmm wonder how much that cost microsoft.
That lead into the next feature iOS in the Car - which works with Siri. So in the cars - on the screens in the cars - iOS will be there and you will be able to control it via voice. You will be able to make calls and play music, goto maps - get directions, Get iMessages read to you and you can dictate a response all hands and eyes free. iOS integration will be introduced in 2014 by Chevy, Volvo, Honda, Nissan, Kia, Scion, Acura, Infinity, Jaguar, Mercedes and ferrari.
Next was the App store - where they added in some features to make it easier to search in Age ranges for kids apps, Plus apps near me - which is the most popular apps based on your location. Hint - it is Angry birds. As mentioned before - the App store app updates your apps automatically. No more need to go through and manually update your apps.
After that was the Music App and new features. Yada Yada. And then they got into the meat of the new Music app - which is iTunes Radio - which is the previously rumored iRadio. Simply put the easiest way to describe iTunes Radio is to say Pandora. I mean sure they have different names - but beyond that - not sure what else is different. Ok - there is the option to tap on the price for a song in the upper left to purchase a song when you come across one you like. iTunes radio is in the music app on all your iOS devices that run iOS 7, it is on iTunes on you Mac and PC. and even on Apple TV. Or it will be shortly. iTunes Radio is as also expected Free and Ad supported. Like I said can you say Pandora. However if you are an iTunes Match subscriber it is completely Ad Free. It is just starting in the US for now - and it is live now. And they will add other countries over time.
Those were the big items they talked about. They then showed a screen shot of some other new features they did not get into - they included.
Phone, FaceTime and Message Blocking - which will come in handy for the recent mom that called in about blocking calls for her daughters ex. This to me should have been in the top 10. As should the next one.
There is a new feature called Activation lock - which is a big one - as it is Apples first real step at stopping Apple Picking - so they were listening. Strange they did not make this one a top 10 feature - but they did talk about it a little. With Activation lock - Thieves will not be able to turn off find my iPhone - and if they wipe it entirely - they will not be able to reactivate it. Because it will require your iCloud username and Password. Again this should be a big theft deterrent - assuming people turn on find my iPhone.
Other new features include.
Facetime - Audio - which is as it sounds - audio calls via FaceTime. Like Skype Audio - which they then actually showed a guy in a Skype T-shirt while briefly mentioning it.
There is Notification Sync - So if you dismiss a Notification on one device it gets dismissed on all your devices.
For those in China - Support for Tencent Weibo - which is a chinese version of Twitter.
Enterprise Single sign-on - which sounds like it may help the caller from ep 271.
View PDF annotations
Improved Mail search
Wifi Hot Spot 2.0 - which will be interesting to learn more about.
New Smart Mailboxes
Night mode for Maps and more which we will be talking about over the next few month as we get closer to iOS 7 being launched and as we get to other versions of the Beta.
Craig also mentioned on the developer side there are over 1,500 new API's.
60 fps video capture, New Multitasking API's, Barcode scanning, Directions API, Inter-app audio, and many many more. Like MFI game controllers - hmmmm - wonder if that will make its way to Apple TV - already had a few people emailing in about this one saying that Apple TV with game controller API's makes Apple TV a powerful game machine. We shall see. Kind of need that Apple TV app store that again did not happen - maybe at WWDC 2014.
iOS 7 will be available for the iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later, iPad mini, and iPod touch 5th gen officially in the fall.
It is available today for the iPhone for developers for iOS 7 beta 1. Note if you have an iPhone 4 GSM version - there are two to choose from. The Rev A one is the 8 GB version released when the iPhone 4S was released. So if you have an iPhone 4 on AT&T when it originally launched or soon there after - do NOT select the Rev A ISPW.
And Apple ended the Keynote with this
PLAY AUDIO TO END.
Ok - So we had a bingo card as those with the Tii App know and those that visited the site prior to WWDC and how did the Rumor Bingo card do?
First up - iOS 7 - yup that was announced.
Flat UI for iOS 7 - ok - I will give that one a yes. I still think it is both flat and layered - but each layer is definitely flatter. And part of that rumor was the killing of Skeumorphic design and that is a big Yes.
AirDrop to iOS - that is a big Yes.
And iRadio - well I give it a yes - even if it is called iTunes Radio - but the basic rumor is correct - a Pandora clone - and that is sure looks like.
And those 4 plus the middle square get us bingo. I think those were the 4 most obvious rumors going in and none of them surprised at all.
Other rumors that hit on the bingo card.
Expanded Siri Features
More Gesture controls / All iOS devices - Sure - they demoed some in the presentation for the iPhone.
iOS 7 for iPhone 4 and later
Audio Ads for iRadio
Apple Picking Prevention Feature - which was my own rumor added.
Those were all big yes's
Some Mostly / partially yes include
iWork 2013 - while now features were announced Roger did say it was coming later this year - so kinda a Yes in letter of the law - but not really spirit of the law.
Flickr and other Yahoo integration into iOS 7 - while not mentioned that I noticed sure enough Flickr integration is there in iOS 7 beta - along with Vimeo integration - kudos to Kevin crossman for calling both of those.
Settings toggles in Notification Center. Ok - letter of the law is a no - but spirit of the law would be a yes - as what people really wanted is swipe access to controls - and we have that now.
Dev access to Private API's - well there are 1,500 new API's including multitasking APIs - so it seems Apple did lift its skirt up a tad bit more with this version of iOS - so a kinda maybe yes.
And then there are the things that are strong no's like
Apple TV Apps / store - Nope
iPad 5th Gen announced - as expected NOPE
iPhone 5S - also as expected Nope
iOS 7 for A5 and later only - Nope - not that it was likely. Would have pissed off too many iPhone 4 owners.
Widgets on the Lock screen - While there is Control Center - I don't count that - so Nope
iMoney / Apples version of PayPal - which was a last minute rumor that popped up and that would be No.
Allow 3rd party Keyboards - Sadly Nope
Finger Print scanner Tech - Nope - but we will see that square back in the fall on the next bingo card.
Quote "over 200 new features in iOS 7" nope those words were not used.
iLife 2013 - nope never mentioned
iWatch - as expected - a Big Nope - but that will also return for the next bingo card.
Again don't feel bad for those labeled as No - as they will likely be back on the next bingo card.
Ok so what did some of you think of WWDC announcements and iOS 7 beta - since some of you already downloaded - well to the email bag we go.
First from the Email bag.
Hi rob
I jumped on iOS 7 after watching live wwdc… what a mistake i had 6.1.2 jailbroken. ios7 just feels light and unpolished. the icons look like they are designed by samsung. I think it was a mistake firing scott. also spotlight is missing on home screen but its there under settings…?
thanks dev
Hi Dev - I put yours first - because I want to point out - that iOS 7 Beta 1 - is a beta and the first beta - and as warned - don't upgrade to it if you need your iOS device for work or personal safety. Really it is just for devs - and I only would put it on an extra device. That said - I have found it pretty stable compared to past beta's - And by the way if your device is jailbroken - you do need to upgrade to iOS 6.1.3 or 6.1.4 first and then do the install of iOS 7 beta 1. I showed my Wife the new beta and she actually really liked the new look. Per spot light - I would imagine that is just not in yet but will be added in a future beta.
Hi Rob,
I can download .dmg file but not the .ispw
Regards,
Name omitted to protect the emailer.
Actually a DMG file is apples version of a Zip file - once you download a dmg file double click on it to launch the folder and then drag out the ispw file to your hard drive - then in iTunes hold down the Option key and click on update in iTunes and you will see a pop up finder - select the ispw file from your desktop and off you go to the update. Again if you are jailbroken - first update to iOS 6.1.3 or 6.1.4 first. Then after that do the above. And once more - you do need a dev account to download the beta. It is not available to the public yet.
Hi Rob - watched WWDC today & I'm wondering why they would launch iTunes radio when for years they've built the business of selling songs thru iTunes. If I can listen on iradio now, why would I ever buy another song?
Thanks!
Laurie B
Hi Laurie - The same could be said about regular radio - there is a difference to listening to Pandora and Live radio - then listening to the specific songs you want in the order you want. With iTunes Radio like Pandora - you create a station around an artist or genre - and then you get music that is picked for you - not the specific songs you want. Apple at least now makes it easier for people to purchase the new songs they may hear on the stations they set up - something they were not getting easily from Pandora. It just made sense for them to do a pandora clone - My guess is it just took this long to launch because of rights issues and contracts. I bet Apple would have wanted to launch this a year plus ago.
Rob,
With AirDrop and new photo/video iCloud sharing, doesn't this make Facebook and other social media sites redundant for people who value their privacy more than being social?
I have a few friends who have already quit Facebook because of privacy concerns.
Tony L
San Francisco
Yup - Many people only use services like Facebook, flickr, instagram and Youtube to easily share videos and photos - That said - I still think for the majority of people those services will still be their first choice. I think for many average users of iOS devices - iCloud is still this mystery meat so to speak. And people kind of go with the devil they know in those other services.
Hi Rob,
iTunes radio looks cool but it reminds me of yahoo launch from 7 years ago to make your own station like that
Regards, No signature
Hi Rob,
Did you see in the keynote just now, the second hand for the clock icon was going round. It looks like it must now show the real time rather than a static 10:15.
All the best,
David, from York, U.K.
Hi David - confirmed the clock on your desktop - yup it is now at the current time with the second hand moving accordingly. Interestingly they remove skeumorphic elements - but add other real world elements - like the clock mentioned here and the Weather animation mentioned earlier. By the way nice catch on the clock - I did not notice it until I read you email - even after playing with iOS 7 for a while.
Hi Rob.
I thought Apple did a great presentation today unveiling cool stuff from hardware to software and services... I just don't get and understand Wall Street. even with all the great stuff announced today Apple's stock is down!? Really? Are they nuts? This is just getting beyond ridiculous! Thanks for listening! Keep up the great work and can't wait to get my hands on OS Mavericks and iOS 7 this Fall.
Cheers,
Eli from Virginia
Hi Eli - Wallstreet will take a couple of days to make heads or tails of this announcement. And I also don't get them either. That said - I think iOS 7 announcement was a solid announcement - there was more meat announced then I thought - of course I had the bar set pretty low in my mind. That said - I think Apple did a lot of what they could to take that 97% satisfaction number they mentioned and move it to 98% satisfied. And the 73% very satisfied - I think that number will pop to the upper 70's maybe even the low 80's. Did Apple take some cues from Android and Windows Phone - sure looks like it - and hopefully they prove to be the right ones. I think one comment made today that stuck out to me - is that iOS 7 is like getting a whole new phone - but one you already now how to use - lets see how much people agree with that. But I think apple did a good job over all - even if I gave them some grief earlier.
Hi Rob, I loved the 2 min video at the beginning and the ios 7 video. That did I guess deserve a standing "o' since John Ive had to work on software which is new to him I think plus work on hardware & all in less than a year after canning Scott F! Finally we catch up to android or palm having cards and toggles! Its just a bit frustrating waiting a whole year to try and catchup . I still believe there should be more than a .1 update just like there are many little fixes/updates for the mac which were quite impressive like the maps link to phone and location in calendar and location aware in app store suggestions
I also love all the humor and jokes, that Frederigi guy is funny. Also felt the speakers had more personality like jobs did especially when Phil said theres no more innovation My Butt, loved it!!!
Regards,
Michael
Hi Rob,
Tim Cook was freaking awesome - He was as close to channeling Steve Jobs as he could get. And iTunes Radio is simply great - it blows away Pandora. Apple really upped their game today.
Regards,
Steven D
Steven - there you go again being a little too much of an Apple fan boy. Time to calm down a bit. I think iTunes Radio is an adequate clone of Pandora - and really that is all apple needs - as the Music app is installed on all iOS devices by default.
Hey folks I would love to get your thoughts on iOS 7 - especially if you downloaded it as a beta. What are some of the features you like the most - what are the ones you think are still missing that should have been in iOS 7. 206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog - or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
Thanks to Thomas in Tuscaloosa and Danielle in Pemberton BC for the heads up on this next one - which is a Kickstarter Project called - Smart Cargo for iPad.
This is one that is already funded in a really short time - in less than a day - and it had a goal of $10,000 - not high - but really impressive it funded in a day. This one has until August 9th for you to be part of. Sadly the early backer option is all gone. So this one will set you back $20 instead of $15. What this is is a container that works with your Apple Smart Cover - which offers you a place to store accessories - like a short charging cable, earphones, a stylus, a camera adapter, a pack of gum and a lipstick case. It attaches via magnets to your Smart Cover and then folds up with the cover - it really is one of those - doohhhh why did I not think of it ideas. Of course that is what people said about his first kickstarter project - Smarter Stand - yup - this is the same guy - hence one of the reasons he hit his goal so quickly. I recommend you check this one out before August 9th. Search for Smart Cargo - two words at kickstarter dot com. or look for the link in the show notes for ep 272 at today in iOS dot com.
One More Kickstarter Project - Thanks for the reminder on this one from Kirk G - this is yes another SmartPhone Watch - called Agent - The World's Smartest watch. This one had a goal of 100,000 dollars and has raised over $872,000. You have until June 20th at 4:00 PM ET to get this one. It will set you back $149 - which is a good price for a smart watch. Delivery is set for December 2013 - but by then who knows what Apple will have released. One near feature about this one is that it has inductive charging - so no need to plug in your power charger - just lay it on the charging stand. And the battery is replaceable. Which they also claim will give you 7 days of battery life with a full charge in Bluetooth mode. And if your device and your phone loose connection - IE someone walks off your your iPHone or more likely you walk away from your iPhone by accident - it lets you know with an alert. The front of it is glass - so it should hold up against scratches - and there are other cool features - if you are into collecting smartphone watches - the Agent is another one for your collection - or if you have been holding out for an iWatch - and want to hedge your bets for this years holiday season - check out Agent at kickstarter dot com or look for the link in the show notes for ep 272 at today in ios dot com.
PLAY AUDIO - PAM_CO_QUESTION
Hey rob,
I'm wondering if you or the audience know of a camera app that let's you not only take a video, but also pause the recording of the video and keep on recording to the same video, like it does on android.
Regards,
Daniel from California
Hey Rob,
I wanted to warn you and the listeners.
There is a fake survey being sent around that tries to get your identity from AT&T this is really not from AT&T is from someone outside masking themselves as AT&T do not take the survey. And they are offering you $20 or more if you take the survey do not take it.
Regards,
Ray W
Thanks Ray for the heads up.
Hey Rob,
I recently finished building my new PC running Windows 8 and I'm having issues with my iPhone 4S syncing to iTunes. iTunes is the latest version. I can plug my iPhone in but iTunes doesn't recognize it. The PC recognizes it but it doesn't pop up in iTunes saying that the iPhone can't be found. Any help would be great!
Regards,
Alex in Connecticut
PLAY AUDIO - Jeff_QUESTION_PLAYING_VIDEOS
Don't forget about the App give aways over at todayinios dot com - a new one is going up every day - and they stay active for 5 days - so check out the site now and check it out often to see if there are any apps you are interested in. I will take a little pause in doing those - and start up with just a couple a week - probably in the July time frame - each lottery takes up about one hour of my time to manage. So that is a lot of time each week when you do one a day. But I will do more - just need to dial it back a little.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. Thanks again to todays sponsor - Proxpn and if you go to proxpn dot com and use the promo code T I I - you will save 20% for life on your secure VPN account. Again proxpn.com use promo code t i i.
Above is a Bingo Card with many of the Rumors being thrown around for WWDC 2013 announcements. These are more geared around iOS related items - so nothing in here about new MacBooks. These are not my predictions - just a listing of some of the rumors I think have even a remote possibility.
We will go over this Bingo Card on Ep 272 which will be out late Monday evening (June 10th).
For those Using Voice Over - below is the full list in Text.
I took a photo of a few of our IOS devices & added text using Sketch Club using my iPad 3.
Best regards,
Doug (The Woodlands, Texas)
====================
Transcript Episode 271
-------------------------------
Rob,
Here is the info from the iTunes update to 11.0.4
This version of iTunes comes with several new features and improvements, including:
New MiniPlayer - the MiniPlayer now includes a beautiful new view that showcases your album artwork. In addition, a progress bar is now built right into MiniPlayer.
Improved Songs View. You can now enjoy your album artwork while in Songs view.
Multi-Disc Albums. Albums with multiple discs now appear as a single album.
This update fixes a problem that may cause iTunes to quit if you switch between wired and wireless syncing and addresses an issue that may require you to log into the iTunes Store repeatedly.
Regards,
Thomas
Tuscaloosa AL
Thomas - Thanks for the heads up on that and to the others that sent in emails on that. I am glad to see the update - because since the last show I have been having issues with iTunes not accepting my log in creds - and having to try over and over - and quit iTunes and try again. Since the update - so far that issue seems to be gone. So Folks if you have not updated to iTunes 11.0.4 - you should really think about doing that update.
This next story is one I wanted to lead with or end with - more so with end with because I am afraid I will get on one of my soap box type rants. This has to do with the ITC ordering a ban on the sale of some older iOS devices - with just the iPhone 4 being an actively sold device that the ban affects - and really only the iPhone 4 on AT&T at that. Seems Apple uses some 3G tech in the the iPhone 4 for AT&T that is covered by a samsung Patent - problem here is this is not some unique Sammy only feature - it is a standards essential patent - and Standard essential patents are supposed be covered by FRAND rules - Frand stands for Fair reasonable and non-discriminatory - And well this case is bad news for consumers - not so much for Apple - as it will not take effect for 60 days - and affects the importing to the US only - not the sale of what is already here - so Apple just brings over a little more iPhone 4's in the next 60 days and they can ride out the band until the next iPhone is released and they no longer need to sell the iPhone 4 AT&T version. No this does not impact Apple again this is disturbing because the ITC is sending a message that FRAND does not matter. FRAND is the glue that binds industry members together so they can for the greater good introduce devices that work together and on each others tech. The ITC in with this ruling just poured solvent on that glue. Apple and Sammy in this case were way off on what apple felt they should pay and what Sammy was asking - to the tune of 64,000 times greater - what Sammy was asking vs what Apple was offering. Now before you say Apple was offering to little - understand Samsung was asking for 2.4% royalty for every sold unit. This is for ONE patent - for one part of the iPhone that is a standards essential Patent - well there are 100's and 100's of patents covered in Cellphones. You can see how 100s and 100s of 2.4% royalties would be an issue. 2.4% on the non-subsidized price of the iPhone 4 works out to be $12. That means only three components on the iPhone 4 are more money - The Samsung NAND flash, The Samsung SDRAM, and the Display.
If President Obama does not over turn this ruling it could have a long term impact on consumer electronics in general. Samsung in this case for pushing a FRAND patent has done one of the most evil things anyone has done in this industry. I did not like Apple going after rounded corners and Sammy in their legal battles - but that is nothing compared to what Samsung and the idiots at the ITC just did with this ruling. The big losers are all of us consumers and innovation. President Obama is really our only hope on this case - If he over turns it he will send a clear message that FRAND patents can not be exploited like Samsung was trying to do - and given approval to do by the ITC. See I new I would get up on that Soap box. Down I do step. One last note - it was tough doing that last segment and not dropping F-bombs and other expletives - this really is bad news. Not just Rob over reacting bad - but really really bad news. Yup should have put it at the end.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Tyler_Mass_fdbk_siri_sounds
Hi Rob,
On episode 270 someone asked about Siri sounding differently on a new iPad than his iPhone. Siri uses the same voices that are used for Voiceover. On a new device, this is automatically a compact version of the voice. The dvice will automatically download the higher quality version of the voice at some point when the device is connected to wifi and being charged. As from as I know, there is no way of rredicting or control when this download occurrs, but that's why the voice eventually changes to the better version.
Regards
Kate
Hi Rob,
For the listener that complained about the apps being in "limbo" after doing a reset on the phone (episode. 269): I ran into the same problem myself. The solution it's simply to sync with iTunes. This will fix the apps being stuck in "waiting" to download.
As per the other issues with crashing, it is likely that the reset already fixed those problem; otherwise he can try to reset the ipad straight from the iTunes.
I hope this was helpful. Great show!
Regards,
Max P. Miami FLA
Hey Rob
As per keyboard short cut issues
Ok my issue was was that my shortcuts were not working and I couldn't delete them, they kept on coming back after I went back into general, and went back again into keyboard to see if my shortcuts were deleted.. To my unpleasant surprise there they were..
So I made sure my documents in my iCloud was shut off and went back to my short cuts and deleted them again and they were still there..
So this is what I did I deleted one of my shortcuts and did a soft rest - holding the home and power button at the same time - while in the keyboard menu. When my phone came back on I checked for my shortcuts and the one I deleted was GONE!!!! So I preceded to delete the rest of them and do a soft reset again while in the keyboard menu
After my phone came back on I checked my shortcuts and they were all gone and I went and made new ones and I can safely say it works.
I hope this helps some others that were having the same issue...
Regards,
Chris
PLAY AUDIO - Steve_tx_delete_email
Hi Rob,
I found this cool way to delete all emails in a folder or all matching search results without jailbreaking.
1. Tap the [Edit] button.
a. The button is on top if you are in a folder.
b. The button is on the bottom if you have searched for emails.
2. Tap on the first email in the list to select it
3. Press & hold the [Move] button at the bottom of the screen.
4. With another finger, tap the selected email and lift both fingers off the screen simultaneously.
5. Wait for the stack of emails to appear.
a. On the iPad, the emails will appear on the left. They will looked stacked.
b. on the iPhone/iPod, the number of emails will be shown at the top.
6. Move the emails to the Trash folder or any other desired folder.
7. If moved to the Trash folder, navigate to the Trash folder and then tap the [Edit] button again. Then tap the [Delete All] button at the bottom.
You're done!
Hope this helps. Now, if there was a way to delete all photos in an album…
Enjoy life!
Steven (in Houston)
Thanks to Chris in London. Which was really disturbing news - At first - as it seemed the person that did the Carrier hacks we talked about claimed to find proof that Apple with all the major US carriers were throttling data speeds - As I said Seemed and claimed - but after more investigation - the folks at Anantech have proven these claims to be false and Apple with the Carriers are not throttling speeds with code on your iOS devices. Any throttling happening is done by the carriers when you hit the levels they claim they will throttle you at. But there is no - repeat not code that is stifling the performance of your iOS devices on Carrier networks.
Hey we have a new sponsor this week which is proXPN - if you go to Proxpn.com and use the promo code tii you will save 20% for ever off your account with them. And what is proXPN - they are a VPN that is easy, secure and cheap to use with your iOS device that lets you secure your internet connection against eavesdropping and masks your location and allows you to access your favorite sites regardless of where you are or are going. To say there has been a lot in the press this week about the US Government spying on citizens - well that is to put it lightly. I will not get into that whole debate. But I will say this if for business, personal or financial reasons you feel you need a secure connection when at starbucks or some other public wifi hot spot - a private VPN is the way to go - and proXPN is really a great service with a great price - just $9.95 a month before the 20% savings for using promo code tii or just $74.95 for the year prior to the promo code. Which means if you sign up for the yearly account with the 20% discount it works out to about $5 a month. Less than one cup of coffee at said starbucks. If you use promo code tii when you sign up - you also get a 30 day risk free trial.
I set this up on my iPhone and it took about 1 minute - after you sign up for an account at proXPN dot com - you open your iOS device - tap on settings then general then VPN - then add VPN configuration. Tap on PPTP - Add a description and pptp.proxpn.com for sever - add your account username and password and tap save. That is it. Then in the future to turn on the vpn connection when out and about - all your do is open settings app and right at the top between Wifi and Bluetooth you will see vpn to toggle on. That's it that is all you have to do to secure yourself and your data when you are out and about on hotspots you don't trust or as the case may be per this past week - even if it is a location you do trust. I will talk more about their service on future episodes. Again to get the discount of 20% for the life of your service with them - use promo code Tii at proxpn dot com - thanks to proXPN for sponsoring the show.
Thanks to John for this next one which is about Apples plans for the future as far as hiring goes. Seems Apple is planning on upping their work force in Silicon Valley by about 50%. This from a report Apple submitted to the city of Cupertino with regards to its space ship headquarters.
Seems if Apple is hiring this many new people - it is not just for them to count cash - many of them will be working on projects and this most likely means more new projects. As Apple said before this Fall and 2014 will see new products - it could be a fun 18 months around here. Luckily I have this podcast to justify all the new toys I will be buying from Apple.
Thanks to Tash for this next one. Which is about Apple raising prices of the iPad and iPods in Japan. This Apple claims was done only because of issues with the week Yen. For example the 16 Gig iPad sold for 42,800 Yen a year ago - and now it is $49,800 Yen - an increase of over 16%. Apples official word on this is quote "We made some pricing adjustments due to changes in foreign exchange rates." unquote.
Lets get into some rumors - And it seems Apple is attempting to register the iWatch Trademark in Russia. This according to a report in the Russian Newspaper Izvestia. They are also reporting that apple already has the iWatch Trademark in Jamaica. I don't expect anything about an iWatch at WWDC next week - it would be a before the holidays type announcement - but that is what I thought last year - so go figure.
START BACK HERE
Thanks to John M for the heads up on this rumor. Which comes from Bloomberg - whom are reporting or is it who is reporting - well either way - Bloomberg is reporting that Apple is to start an iPhone trade-in program in stores - this in order to entice users to upgrade to the iPhone 5. The units traded in will be managed by Brightstar who will then resell the units in emerging markets - where the demand for low cost iPhones is the greatest. And where it will not cannibalize Apples sales of new iPhones. Again just a rumor - but kind of makes sense.
Another rumor a little less believable comes from the CEO at Gumdrop cases - who is saying the iPad 5th gen is coming next week - and he has cases ready to go. Now he has done this before - announcing cases before apple product launched - and is batting 800 - hitting 4 out of 5 predictions. But I think this time it will be a swing and miss for Tim Hickman CEO of Gumdrop cases - but even so - he will be happy as his prediction got him some PR - like a mention on this show. Tim also did send out press samples to Cnet. So he seems to have at least made something he claims is for the yet to be announced iPad 5. But for next week - I am still doubtful it will be announced then.
Thanks to Michael for the heads up on this next one. Which is a rumor about one item that is expected by most to be announced at WWDC and that is the iRadio offering. Which will be like Pandora. It is also being reported that Appleis iAd engineers and sales staff are prepping to support the launch of iRadio with Audio ads. Having Audio iAds would be a huge step for Apple - as it would be something I would be interested in for this show. Just Sayin - hopefully this one proves to be more than just a rumor.
I hope iOS 7 is more than just some stupid change in icons and borders and more hidden features! Why not up/down scroll on the home screen?!
Why not 2 finger gestures?!
Why not quick access to common settings toggles
Why not better notifications?!
Why not 3rd party app replacement of stocks apps?!
Why not faster smarter Siri?!
Why not a way more usual spotlight with recent apps or just get rid of it since almost no one uses it?!
Why not a way better more advanced app switcher like 2 rows (8 apps) and not block of the status bar?!
Do You think IOS 7 will work differently or just be some cosmetic BS
Regards,
Michael
Hi Michael - I think one thing most people agree on is iOS 7 will look different - it will look flatter - now the big question is will it just look different or will there actually be some substance behind the cosmetic changes. My biggest fear - is that Apple spent most of their time with cosmetic changes and not real functional changes. I really really hope I am wrong on that. Per Gestures - that is one area some are predicting iOS 7 will change as in adding many more - but not just for the iPad - but also some for the iPhone. Supposedly there will also be new sharing tools - such as bring AirDrop from OS X to iOS. Thus allowing users to exchange files between iOS devices or iOs and Mac devices if they are on the same wifi network. And there is also rumors about more Yahoo integration into Apple - enemy of my enemy is my friend type arrangement between Apple and Yahoo.
But beyond those items - the rumors are pretty thin - which has been leading me back to wondering if iOS 7 is more about cosmetic changes rather than feature ads / changes. Again I hope I am wrong there - and the 200+ feature changes they are likely to claim are not 198 meaningless changes.
What I don't expect at WWDC is any new iOS devices or Apple TV. I would like to hear about an Apps store of Apple TV - but I doubt that will happen. I think the only hardware to be announced at WWDC will revolve around Laptops and the intel Haswell processors - which may make it possible to greatly extend batter life for Apple Laptops while also improving performance. We shall see. I am still waiting for that mythical Laptop with no fan - that is what I need as a podcaster.
I may have a bingo card up on the site before WWDC on Monday. Check TodayiniOS for more info on Monday. But it is hard finding credible rumors to put in the boxes - even non-credible rumors are tough to come by for iOS 7. I will put out another episode Monday evening going over all talked about at WWDC - how late will greatly depend on how late it is before the video is available for WWDC. Speaking of which if you are a dev and not going or even if you are going to WWDC - Apple released a WWDC App - which is free - and you use your dev credentials to log into - Apple said they will be getting videos from each days sessions up that night. So if you had a few sessions to choose from at the same time - and could not clone yourself - now you can go see the one you missed.
Hey if you have an Apple TV and want to do a little more with it - You can now install Plex on your Apple TV jailbreak free. It takes a couple of minutes to do the install - and involves a few steps - but none seem overly burdensome. If you look for the link in the show notes titled - Apple TV users can now install plex jailbreak free - in the notes for ep 271 over at today in iOS dot com you will be able to see all that is involved. For those not familiar with Plex it is an app that allows you to stream video from a computer to an iOS device or Apple TV. If interested go to the bottom of the article and click on can be found online at the end of the article and that takes you to instructions for Mac and PC users.
Thanks to John for this next one - which is about a survey asking people who they like best - Google / Facebook or Apple. And the results overall were close to last years results. 83% of the people like Google, vs 72% for Apple, vs 60% for Facebook. The big change for Apple was in the under 30 group where their favorable rating dropped from 81% last year to 71% this year. Hope Apple is paying attention to all this.
Now I want you to remember these numbers as we go over these next three stories.
Thanks to All that sent in this first one - which is about a developer that says he thinks the Facebook App is behind iPhone battery drain - so if you are someone using the Facebook app and are seeing degraded battery performance - the Facebook app may be at issue. This dev found that the Facebook app was not shutting down properly when in background mode.
Thank to Steve in AZ for this next one. which is about Android and a new Malware called Obad - or more specifically - backdoor.androidos.obad.a - or again Obad. It is described as a multi function trojan and quote the most sophisticated malicious program for the Android platform yet unquote. What this malware does is it sends sms messages to premium services - incurring great cost to the victim. Yeah for Open.
And the third story is about a theoretical hack of iOS devices using a modified charger - that when your iOS device is connected to the charger - the charger can inject code into the iOS device. Again this is theoretical hack - in that it is just in the lab right now - but it is something that could be done outside the lab. However at this point there are no known cases.
So between these three stories which one got the most press buzz and attention? Well if you answered the nasty Android malware that can take over your Android device and send premium SMS messages. You would be wrong. I mean I can see why You would think that - with the whole - worst malware discovered in the wild ever - and it costing users money and it being the most sophisticated malware yet for Android. But nope the story about the theoretical exploit of iOS devices via charging cable - just in the lab - never reported in the wild - yeah that one is the one that got all the Press. Google is ahead of Apple in the survey we mentioned earlier why? or How? There is just now a huge anti Apple bias via online media and I think it is all about link bait - if you talk about Apple negatively it drives traffic to your articles. Traffic = ad revenue - so it is more profitable for many to pile on Apple and write negative articles - many of which are not close to accurate. And well guess what all this negative press is starting to effect consumer attitude. Sadly as long as these negative articles drive traffic - we will keep seeing them and more of them.
32:19
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Aaron_Tampa_Facetime
Rob,
Just tested FaceTime on LTE and it works. I'm on a grandfathered unlimited AT&T plan in the Baltimore area. Very clear & fluid. Works great.
Lou Valencia
Hi Rob,
I just downloaded Boxer to help triage, respond and manage email on my iPhone. The folks at Boxer are giving away a limited amount of free copies of Boxer and I thought you might like to claim one.
PS: Boxer is usually $4.99 and has multi-account support, Exchange, custom quick responses and more.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - QUEST_IPH4_SPEEDTEST
34:30.156
Thanks to Bill G for the heads up on this next one. Which is a kickstarter project called recap - r e c a p - hey you never know how things will be spelled on kickstarter. First off this project had me at goal - which is just $1,000 - that's right $1,000 - that is the lowest goal of any project I have ever talked about - They have already hit their goal - not surprisingly - with over $3,300 so far and they have until July 15th at 5:00 AM ET before this one closes down. So what is recap - well the name stands for records calls on PC. And it is a device you plug into your headphone jack on your iPhone - that then allows you to run a line out to your computer or another iOS device to record the call. It records both sides of the call. You could also use this to record Skype calls you do from an iPhone. Pricing on this is $50 - which is much cheaper than a phone hybrid - which this basically is. As I said they had me at goal - and I have pledged for this project - as having a good way to easily record phone calls is a big deal for a podcaster. This is supposed to ship in November - we will see how they do on the shipping of these. When I get this I will of course do a recording with it to play on the show. This project again is called Recap - and you can find it in the shows notes for ep 271 at today in iOS - or by searching for recap at Kickstarter dot com.
Hi Rob
Here in California, we have a large crafting community. Quarterly, there is a local festival that collects many of these crafters. You find all sorts of innovative "why didn't I think of that" products. One of the coolest products that I saw found a use for old books that will just take up space on shelves or fill landfills. They gut out old books, stack them up, and put iPad and iPhone charging docks on them. It is a brilliant concept and must be seen to be believed. They have an Etsy page for these. Link included
Hi Larry - thanks for the link as it really is a cool use of old books - and you are right the pictures are amazing. Folks look for the link titled Rich Neeley designs on Etsy to see this unique iOS device charges made out of old books.
Rob,
I thought the listeners would enjoy this snapguide I made on How to Make Great Smart Playlists in iTunes. which is also the title in Snapguide.
---
Also, I wanted to throw in a quick product review. I recently bought the Marware C.E.O. Prestige Plus for iPhone 5 case ($22.54 on Amazon, $39.99 elsewhere). It comes with a screen protector and clear back case, but that stuff is against my iPhone religion. The case itself is a holster case, very well made, quality material & workmanship, strong clip, and great fit. I'd highly recommend it to any iPhone 5 owners.
Thanks,
Lou V
Lou - thanks for the review on the Marware CEO Prestige plus case for the iPhone 5 and thanks for the link to your snap guide - which again people can find by searching for how to make great smart playlists in your snapguide app. And again folks if you have any snap guide guides you have created that you think the audience would be interested in - please email a link to me per your snap guide. send those to today in iOS at gmail dot com
IFixit got their hands on a new 5th gen 16 GB iPod touch - the one sans the camera - and they of course proceeded to rip it apart. And what did they learn - well there is no rear facing camera and it has just 16 GB of storage - two things you could have found out by looking on Apples website. Just Sayin. Oh and they slightly moved the mic - but that is it. Nothing really to report hear - other than nothing to report - no new chip used or anything that might lead us to some insight on the next iPhone. Sorry.
39:15.860
PLAY VOICE MAIL - JAMES_DAYTON_VIBRATION
Hi James - First - Go Flyers - Second - Good question. I looked around and could not find a way to get the vibration to stop when the alarm goes off with music. When selecting the song for the alarm - it does not vibrate - but when it is the actual alarm going off - the vibration is there. If anyone out there knows of a way to remove the vibration from an alarm when you select a song - please give us a call or shot us an email.
Rob,
Where I work there is a free wi-fi network, but it's a limited set-up.
Whenever I want to log on, I have to go to Settings, click the Wi-Fi, select the network, then wait for a page to pop up and enter the same 5-digit user name and password (same one for everyone), then the "Enter" button, and wait (anywhere from 5 to 20 seconds) for it to log on and present me with the company "splash screen".
For the most part, if my phone falls asleep, then I am logged off the network, and if I want to get back on, I have to go through the same process all over--the system has forgotten me.
At some point in the past (I think it was when I had my iPhone 4, before my current iPhone 5), I had managed to do something so that when the corporate log-in screen showed up, the user name and password were remembered and automatically entered, saving me about 18 screen taps each time, but I don't have that now, and I can't remember what I did in the past to have this work.
Any suggestions how to get this to work so that I don't have to re-enter a user name and password 20+ times a day?
Regards,
Gil
Hi Gil - This sounds like an issue with how your company has their wifi set up so as to constantly kick people off - for security reasons no doubt - but still a pain in the butt for you - I am going to through this one out to the audience - as I can't test this one as my wifi router is not set up to be such a P I T A. If anyone can help Gil - please give us a call or send us an email.
Hi rob I want to jailbreak my iPhone 3G 8gb running iOS 4.2.1 but when I tried evasion it did not work. My device died and it wouldn't turn on. I plugged it in to iTunes and it booted right up again. Any way if there is another EASY way to jailbreak other than evasion or jailbreakme.com please let me know.
Regards,
Nathan
I am going to through this out to the audience - if anyone has recently as in the last 3 or 4 months jailbroken their iPhone 3G - running iOS 4.2.1 - which method did you use. I don't have an iPhone 3G to test this on. send an email or voicemail to you know where.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - QUEST_SCREENBRIGHTNESS
42:48.631
Hello Rob this is Mike from San Jose, Thanks for replying to my email a couple weeks back. I have attached a voice memo and a website as a follow up.
Take care
Mike
PLACE VOICEMAIL - Mike_Registration
45:14.187
PLAY VOICEMAIL - LEE_CHI_IPAD_APPS_DOWNLOAD
PLAY VOICEMAIL - JEFF_CA_QUEST_IMESSAGE
Dear Rob, I want to ask your advice & maybe other listeners were wandering the same thing. I started the process to sign up for the free Developer account, carefully read the legal agreement. Saved a copy of the PDF into iBooks. The next step was a series of questions asking how long you've been a developer. Which platform do you develop for Mac ios safari etc. no where in each category of questions is there an option to choose I'm not an actual developer. I just want to get in to see what you can see thru the free account. To choose an answer in each category to get past the questionnaire would be lying, I don't want to lie to my beloved . What does one do to get past the questionnaire. What do you recommend I do? If this is a worthy topic it's ok if you reach into the mail bag & read it on the show. Just saying ! Lol Thanx Paula in NC
Hi Paula,
Repeat after me -
Ten Print Hello
Twenty Go to Ten
You are now a programer / developer
I would just say you are developer if you plan on being one.
These accounts are for those that are or plan to be developers.
I would not worry too much - especially as they did not give you the option to say otherwise. I really think they are also asking what OS you plan to develop for.
Now if they gave the option to say you are not a dev yet - that would be what I suggest - but again they did not give you that option. Shame on them. :) So your only choice is to pick the one OS you would someday like to develop for - regardless of never actually developing to this point.
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PLAY VOICEMAIL - PAUL_APPLE_PICKING
Don't forget about the App give aways over at todayinios dot com - a new one is going up every day - and they stay active for 5 days - so check out the site now and check it out often to see if there are any apps you are interested in - again I will be launching a new app each day at 12:00 AM ET until at least WWDC - based on your feedback and participation.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. Thanks again to todays sponsor - Proxpn and if you go to proxpn dot com and use the promo code T I I - you will save 20% for life on your secure VPN account. Again proxpn.com use promo code t i i.
Do you like Podcasts - Do you like to listen or watch podcast? Seriously - Because the EFF - The Electronic Frontier Foundation wants to help save podcasting - this is again a very serious segment - A patent troll out there has been going after podcaster sending them extortion letters and in some cased even filing lawsuits. And the EFF is Mad as Heck and they are not going to take it any more - but they need everyone that listens to podcasts to help out. The just need to raise $30,000 - which is not much at all - if everyone that listens to this show donated a buck - they would hit their goal. Ok granted the min amount listed is $25 - but you can donate just $5. There is a link in the show notes titled - Help Save Podcast - Electronic Frontier Foundation - Click on it and help out if you like podcasts and want them to continue - or if you just really hate patent trolls - either way your help is needed. And Yes I made my donation of $100 which at that time put them at over $20,000 towards their goal of $30,000. So yes I put my money where my mouth is. Again please help out - go to the link in the show notes about saving podcasting - it is the first link for ep 270 at today in iOS dot com. Actually now EFF is up to $25,000 - still please go there and lend you support.
Tim Cook this week was at the All Things D conference talking with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher on stage. During they conversation Tim Cook said quote On the general topic of opening up APIs, I think you’ll see us open up more in the future, but not to the degree that we put the customer at risk of having a bad experience unquote.
Hmmm - So what exactly does that mean? I can't imagine their definition of opening up more would meet the same definition as say someone developing as jailbreak app - but it sure would be nice to get some of the jailbreak apps and features no banned by Cupertino - officially sanctioned by Cupertino. This does sound a little like Apple realizing because of the amazing amount of interest in Jailbreaking that they do need to loosen up on the reigns a bit - but then again don't expect to see PDAnet in the App store anytime soon. Hopefully Tim's comments will be better expanded upon come June 10th.
Tim Cook was also pushed / nagged by Kara about using a larger screen on the iPhone. Tim Cook responded by saying there were tradeoffs with today's screens, including color, white balance and battery life. and saying Apples customers want Apple to weigh those and come out with a decision. Which to mean is interesting in that is the second time he made a similar comment about tradeoffs on screen size - last time I thought he was doing that to open the way for a bigger screen - by being able to say - we did the larger screen with out the tradeoffs - and now I am even more convinced that is the case. But then some people see German dictators in Kitchen ware - so I guess it just matters how hard you are trying to see something where nothing may actually exists.
Another very interesting quote from TimCook was quote After years of selling a few hundred thousand Apple TVs, sales have reached 13 million -- with half of those coming in the last year unquote.
So what does 13 Million Apple TV's relate to as far as market share goes in the set top box slash Digital Media receiver category? Well I am glad you asked and so is Philp Elmer Dewitt - well actually he is more glad than me as he took the time to write a post about this very topic - who would have thunk. Seems Apple TV's 13 million units sold - is more than double Roku's 5 Million units sold. And a bazillion times more than Boxee's Box which sold just 200,000 units before it was taken around back and put out of its misery. So Apple TV accounts for 71% of the market share for Digital Media receivers. This does not obviously count XBox's and play stations which have this capability - but well people are actually using for you know playing games not watching Mad Men or lost. In any case 13 Million units sales on a hobby is not to bad. It would make you think Apple is really taking Apple TV seriously - that is right up until you go to the newly redesigned Apple.com website - and try to find an apple tv for sale with out typing apple tv in the search box - I dare you - try it. At the top if you click on Store - your options are Shop Mac , Shop iPad, Shop iPhone, Shop iPod - and that is it. Oh wait I found it - you have to click on iPod on the top bar over all - and then you see Apple TV. Still for someone looking for Apple TV it was tough to find it.
One other thing Tim Cook talked about at All Things D - was wearable computing. And he basically said he thinks Google Glass best case is a niche product with out massive mainstream appeal. I have read where others that have them and know others that do - say Only those that are forced to wear them keep wearing them after the novelty wears off. Tim Cook did praise Nike Fuelband as an example of a product that already works well. He did say that most good wearable computing approaches today focus on doing one thing. That said - I still see an iWatch as something that is a morph of the Pebble and the Nike Fuelband. While Tim has dogged multipurpose devices before - we should not forget the iPhone is the ultimate multipurpose device - Phone / Camera / Email / iPod / GPS all in one device. So to think that the iWatch would combine the Fuelband and the Pebble is far fetched is not realizing Apple really does like multipurpose devices.
On Thursday May 30th Apple announced or told the Loop that they have sold 100 Million iPod Touches since they launched that device back in 2007. So how did Apple mark this significant milestone you ask? Well by giving the Low end iPod touch an up/downgrade today. Previously the low end was a $199 4th gen 16 GB iPod touch - now it is a $229 5th gen 16 GB iPod touch. From an upgrade perspective it received the larger 4" screen and faster A5 processor - on the downgrade side it lost the rear camera - now where did I put that camera - I just set it down for a second. It is available just in black on silver and it lost the holding button for the wrist strap - which does mean it is slightly lighter at 86 grams vs the hefty 88 grams of the 32 GB and 64 GB 5th gen iPod touches good thing they have that wrist strap. It is interesting Apple picked now to phase out the old iPod touch and intro the new one. My guess is that will have something to do with what iOS devices will work with iOS 7 - Which might mean only iOS devices with A5 and newer processors - that would then mean no iPhone 4 for iOS 7. Which when I put it like that kind of makes it sound like I am rambling like an idiot. Ok - maybe best to just wait until WWDC before starting rumors that the iPhone 4 will not support iOS 7. But still interesting timing.
16:31.437
PLAY VOICE MAIL - Richard Answer camera focus
Hi Rob,
Per the Listener with iPad 1 app loading issue.
Your caller might want to try logging out of his user ID on his iPad and logging back in. Seems to me I had an issue like this and it helped.
Regards,
Dan in Parrish, FL
Hi Rob,
Per the guy with iPad problem. he probably has a corrupt version on iTunes on his XP. Updates to iTunes do not fix iTunes issues as the original problems remain.
He should uninstall iTunes from his XP. His Backups will remain and stored in a different area. Reinstall iTunes after reboot. This should fix his issue. Of course cleaning out spy's and fixing registry might help as well.
Regards,
Chris in london
Hi Rob,
Does FaceTime work if u are calling internationally. I imagine it should if you using the receiver's email address?
Pls let me know if u do.
Regards, Tosin O
Yes - Facetime works fine internationally - think of it like skype. Just as long as both parties have a good data connection to the internet. Now if one of you happen to be on a carrier that blocks Facetime that would be an issue. Having a good wifi connection to the internet on both ends and you should be able to facetime from any two points on the globe. Well except in North korea or other countries that severely limit internet access.
Rob W
Hello Rob.
Wondering if you or your listeners can help me.
I'm wanting to print a booklet from my pages app on iPad.
It needs to be A4 folded in half eg x2 A5 landscape pages.
I have a epson xp405 AirPrint enable printer if this helps.
Ryu
Sheffield, England
Hey Ryu thanks for asking - to change that it is so easy click on the wrench in the upper right - then select document set up - then select the curved up corner of the document in the lower right - then just tap on A4 - then print - I mean wasn't that just obvious? Ok - in all honesty - I searched for that option for about 25 minutes or more. They did a good job hiding it down there. Luckily I did find it as I likely would not have recorded the show if I did not find it because I would still be looking. Some times I get like that.
I had a few people ask why I did not comment more about Tim Cooks US senate testimony and some asking about Apple and cheating on Taxes or not paying their fair share to the US government. Except - here is the problem with those questions - Apple did not cheat on their taxes and did pay their fair share of US taxes. The entity they set up in Ireland that was for their international business - and was connected to sales not in the US and hence did not effect what they paid for US taxes. Which as Apple put it they paid about 1/40th of all corporate taxes paid in the US last year. Tim Cook said to Congress Apple followed both the letter of the law and the Spirit of the law when paying their US taxes. What Apple has not done is bring Profits made over seas back into the US. Which really would make no sense for them to bring back to the US - as they would be taxed again on that money. Plus Apple can better use that money overseas to secure components and manufacturing capacity - and there is just no reason for Apple to bring that money to the US. Again Apple did not cheat on their taxes and did not move money to the Cayman islands or other tax cheating scams.
No Apple did no flash an iWatch in their latest iPhone ad - the one about people listening to music on their iPhone. Seems there is a scene in the commercial that a guy is drumming on a table and you see a biggish squarish looking device on his right wrist - making some speculate that is the new iWatch. Yes because Apple is so apt at giving unreleased product to Actors in commercials so they can be seen unclose by all those working on the Ad - and well everyone the ad goes out to. Yeah - just not going to happen.
Other rumors we can kill quickly - an iPad 13" version - nope.
Other rumors with regards to the next iPhone coming from the Japanese site Macotakora - which has had hit and miss results in the past - as the next gen iPhone coming in many different colors - think the iPod touch - And also coming with a dual flash. Finally it is rumored there might be a lower cost variant of this phone too. So rather then selling the iPhone 5 / 4S / 4 - there would I guess the 5S expensive and 5S not expensive - yeah the rumor was not to clear there.
Thanks to John M for pointing out Microsoft did update their Ad I mentioned on the last show - the one where they said the Asus screen was larger - when it was not. Seems someone in Redmond borrowed their 6th graders geometry book and a calculator and figured out they were wrong and changed the ad. Doohhh.
26:06.417
Hi Rob
I am writing in response to your caller who had the problem with Siri not working when he got the pebble. Thankfully Siri still works for me, but there has been a delay sometimes when I try to activate her up. I have seen that delay periodically since I got my pebble. The only Bluetooth devices I use are a Motorola speaker, a Jawbone earpiece and a JBL charge. The JBL charge is great by the way, I highly recommend it as a small portable speaker. It puts out great sound and also serves as a backup battery for your iPhone. It works great while camping.
Mitch from Winston Salem
Hi Rob,
Just wanted to contact you with a quick app review that I think other listeners would find useful.
I was looking for a way for my father to view photos from photo stream on his iPhone or iPad on their TV screen rather than having to play 'pass the iPad' around the table when they have friends over. Purchasing an Apple TV was an option but was an expensive way of going about it, plus it would mean a gadget hanging from the wall mounted TV which wouldn't go down well!
They have a DLNA enabled TV and Blu-ray player connected to wifi, so I searched the app store and came across SKIFTA. SKIFTA enables you to access music, photos and video from your wifi connected iOS device, and even better it is free.
The early releases were a bit slow and buggy but version .092 is pretty good and I was able to watch a film stored on my iPad and the quality was remarkable.
Some DLNA players are not visible on the network however, for these you can select 'Play on unlisted player' within the app. Then search within the viewing device for media sources labeled 'Skifta' under photos, video etc using your TV remote control.
Hope this review is useful, it saved me £99 which can't be bad.
Thanks for the excellent show, great job.
Cheers,
Julian.
Suffolk, UK.
Hi Rob,
We could use some help (backers) with the funded project - TapCaps. All we have gotten are updates. Alice Ning (TapCaps) had been updating us about every four weeks after the close of funding, the last update was on Jan 17th, 2013 and her last post under the comment section was on May 7th, 2012. Any help would be great.
We don't know if she has taken the money and ran with it, run out of money and hiding from all of us or has she been run over by a car?
Please see what you can do, other projects I have funded have shipped their items or they have been keeping us informed with updates on the status.
The funders of this project are worried that is like the iGode project but this one none of us have gotten a single product.
Regards,
Thomas in Tuscaloosa AL.
Hi Thomas - I reached out to Alice for comment yesterday via a couple of emails I found for her - and she did reply back - here is her reply.
Quote
Hello Rob,
Thanks for your email.
At this point, the only way that TapCaps can be brought to market is if it can be sold to a company that has a complimentary line of products. There's just no way I can bring it to market myself given the amount of initial capital necessary for a manufacturing run and what I've learned about the retail business.
There have also been a number of infringers on my patent which, unfortunately, I have the sole responsibility of enforcing so the legal fees have been a huge expense that used up my personal reserve. US patent law very heavily favors large companies and those with alot of resources.
Honestly, there isn't good news to share. I feel like a tremendous failure and have been working alot since I spent pretty much my entire life savings on this project. The unforeseen costs were just ridiculous.
I know I need to send an update via Kickstarter but I've just been waiting desperately for some positive news to share. I've been trying to sell the product and there have been many companies that seemed to be interested, but each keeps ending in disappointment. I'm now waiting on the final company to decide but the problem is that there has been too much competition in the market to make this a desirable product.
I caveated in the rewards that delivery of TapCaps was dependent on the successful completion of a manufacturing campaign so I've been trying to work out the numbers and see how there might be any way I can provide that number of rewards. I may send out the prototypes which may not meet expectations as to how they perform.
I am incredibly sorry for the disappointment this project has caused. How to resolve it is something I'm still trying to work out.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to provide feedback to your viewers.
Alice
unquote
So for any funders of Tapcaps - there is your update - it does not sound like the news you wanted to hear. Please note - all kickstarter and indiegogo projects are risks - We hope each one we fund comes to be - but sometimes - startups - never get started. And it sounds like this is the case with this one.
That all said over at Kickstarter there is a new project that just launched - hmmm new and just launched - guess that was redundant - anyway I thought this one was interesting. It is called the Arriba - a r r i b a - and it is for any iOS device with a lightning port. What it is an adapter that allows you to charge your iOS device with a 30 pin connector or a micro-usb connector. This way when you are out an about you are almost certain to find a charging solution for your device. It is designed to be placed on your keychain. They have a very modest goal of $8,500 (Way to go guys - You had me at goal - So far they have about $1,000 pledged - but they have 33 days to go - That is until July 3rd at 2:48 PM ET to be precise. The pricing for the early bird special is $25 - and they have about 400 of the 450 remaining. Even if you don't have an iPhone YET with firewire you might want to consider this as the deliver date is September which should also be when the next gen iPhone will be out. Note you can not sync your device via the adapter - it is just for charging. Search for Arriba - a r r i b a at kickstarter dot com or in the show notes for ep 270 at today in ios dot com. Good luck guys and way to keep the goal low.
Thanks to Tash for this next one. Which is about a major update to the Shazam app - including it going universal - meaning just one app for both the iPhone and iPad - no longer two different apps. It also added mapping features - which lets you see what songs are being tagged where. And there is also an auto tag feature where it listens to music playing around you automatically and tags songs without you hitting a button and this includes running and tagging in the background. I guess I am confused on the purpose of that feature I mean other than to drain your battery life that is. Anyway If you are a shazam user - go check out the update - and as always the app is Free - as in Zilch - zip - nadda.
Still not sure what to make of the report about an iPhone interfering with a regional jets compasses. The story reported in Businessweek and re-reported everywhere in the past two weeks - seems greatly over done. The supposed story is a regional jet taking off - noticed some issues with its compass around 9,000 feet up and the issue did not go away until the flight attendant had one of the passengers turn off his iPhone. Could an issue like this happen on a major jet - like a 737 or larger - probably not. After all most people don't turn their phones off anyway - most just turn off the screen and don't put them into Airplane mode until after you can turn the devices back on - so this is not a widespread issue - I kept waiting for a good rebuttal or confirmation of this story. All I could find in searching on this one - was a couple of other stories from 2012 time frame of pilots talking about smaller regional jets also having their older compasses effected by cellphones - and they know there is one active by the clickety clack interference that is the tell tale sign of a cell phone getting data. You know the sound the ones Blackberry make when checking for emails. Any way - I think the long of the short - if you are on a regional jet - turn off your cell phones - and make sure they are in Airplane mode before taking off and turning them off.
I have an issue I hope you or your listeners can help me solve.
I have the iPhone 5 with the latest version of iOS, but since I installed said version , my keyboard shortcuts don't work, even though they're still listed in the Settings menu.
I've tried deleting and re-creating them, to no avail.
Is anyone else experiencing this problem and is there a fix for my NON-jail-broken iPhone?
Regards,
- Tammy (near St. Louis) 0:-)
And that one I will send out to the listeners - if anyone has a solution for Tammy and her lost keyboard shortcuts in iOS after updating to iOS 6.1.4 - please let us know. 206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog - or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
Also, the latest post on my blog is a rundown of my favorite 100 apps. They are broken down by category and separated into 3 tables by device (iPhone, iPad, Universal). I created it to answer the age-old question of new iPhone owners "What are some good apps I should get?" I figured there are some listeners out there that would find it helpful. You can find it at http://lousbrain.wordpress.com/2013/05/25/top-100-ios-apps/.
In episode 269, a caller was having a problem with installing apps where they just said "Waiting…" I've seen this occasionally. What seems to work for me is update all your apps in iTunes on your computer, then connect your iPad and sync. I've also seen the issue with Siri not working right with Pebble synced. I'm usually in the car with the stereo connected through the headphone jack. It seems like microphone isn't picking up my voice. I haven't found a fix or workaround yet, but I'll chaco back if I do.
Thanks Rob. Looking forward to the next episode.
Lou Valencia
Hi Rob,
I bought an iPad 4th gen about two weeks ago. This is my first iPad. I
have had an iPhone 5 since the launch and I use Siri quite a bit.
When I first used Siri on my iPad her voice sounded muffled and more
"computer-ish" than on my iPhone. Comparing the two there was a
significant difference.
After a day or so Siri's voice changed and became just like the iPhone.
I had to exchange the iPad because of a small problem with the home
button, and Siri's voice was weird on the brand new iPad as well. I
compared Siri's voice on the iPads side by side in the Apple store
with a sales rep and he could easily hear the difference.
It took longer, about a week, but finally Siri sounds normal on my iPad again.
I have talked to several people at the Apple store and at AppleCare,
but no one has ever heard of this before. I am surprised, because
Apple is all about the customer experience, and having a voice I had
come to be familiar with change suddenly was an uncomfortable
experience.
Have you heard of this? Do you know what is going on with Siri?
Thanks,
Michael from Seattle
Hi Rob,
Here is a review of a jailbreak app.
I really like the MiniPlayer App by MPow and Surenix. The $1.99 App is a sweet Mini Player Widget that hovers over all your Apps to allow easy access to your music. Even from the Lockscreen in the Cydia Store
Similar in design to the iTunes 11 Miniplayer. Plays and controls your music playing from your Music Library and or Music Services like Spotify. Which through Settings can be set as a default. With variable Activator Actions and Gesture preferences.
New to the Latest version, is a Search Facility added to the Player. You can move the MiniPlayer by just tapping and moving anywhere you like. Tap on the edges and it closes to a small edge Tab. On the left or Right. Tap on the Tab and it springs to the Middle Screen for the iPhone and or iPad. Tap and hold Album Art and opens Volume Control. Tab on the centre with Scrolling album Artist name and Song info, brings up the Pause, Skip features. Tap on the Left to Close to Tab and as App Switcher Opens the Music App and Or Spotify or other Music Apps you Select in Settings. Swipe to Hide and other features. You can also change the Colour Theme to a Dark one or keep the Silver one.
Check out the Video. In Cydia. I really like this one.
Regards, Chris
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Gary_Mac_Database
46:01.156
Don't forget about the App give aways over at todayinios dot com - a new one is going up every day - and they stay active for 5 days - so check out the site now and check it out often to see if there are any apps you are interested in - again I will be launching a new app each day at 12:00 AM ET until at least WWDC - based on your feedback and participation.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you get the most out of the show and it helps support the show at the same time - plus it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search for Tii in the iTunes app store.
Looking at my June schedule I see I will be having an episode the evening of Monday June 10th - as that is the day Apple will have their Keynote at WWDC - and when we will see what is in store for iOS 7.
9 to 5 mac is reporting that sources are describing iOS 7 ad black and white and flat all over - kind of sound like a joke about what you get when you mix a penguin and a steam roller. Oh come on don't be such a Penguin lover. Any way - it seems all rumors are pointing to what could be the biggest changes to iOS since its debut 6 years ago. Most of the changes rumored however are bout form rather than function - in that iOS 7 may not do much more then iOS 6 - but it will look different doing it. Hopefully I am wrong there and on the 10th we are treated to a bevy of long over due new features. But personally I would say don't give up your jailbreak anytime soon.
And the 50 billionth app download was - Say the same thing. Downloaded by a Brandon Ashmore - whom I do not believe is a listener to the show - or at least never emailed in. Well congrats Brandon on the $10,000 iTunes gift card for downloading the free app - Say the Same thing.
Time for some stats. From Monetate ecommerce quarterly report for Q1 2013 - Tablet share of website traffic - the iPad is at 89.28% down from 91.68% the year prior. The Kindle fire dropped to 2.51% from 3.58% the year prior - and Android went up to 8.2% from 4.75% the year earlier. So still 9 out of ever 10 tablets on the browse ecommerce sites are iPads.
Thanks to Tash for this next one - which is about Spending for games. Seems iOS games last quarter trounced the amount spent on dedicated games. Like almost twice the amount was spent on iOS games last quarter then was spent on all the games for Xbox, Wii, Playstation, DS and PS Vita combined. Now in 4th quarter 2012 - Games for dedicated game machines did sell more than for iOS Games - but that was the Christmas quarter - however - Q1 sales for iOS games was higher than Q4 2012 for Dedicated games. Will be interesting to see future trend lines - but I am guessing that going forward iOS games sales will be all dedicated game sales regardless of the time of year. Which obviously is good news if you are an app dev for iOS making games.
Stableytimes had an article looking at the numbers from Samsung for the S4 that was just released - and it seems based on their deductions - Apple actually sold more iPhone 5's in the first month the S4 was released than Samsung sold of the s4 - that is not the first month the iPhone 5 was out - but rather this past month. You know 8 months after the iPhone 5 was released - and by reports in the press - you know getting killed by the S4 - well a funny thing seems to have happened - buyers are still buying the iPhone 5. Granted the Stableytimes article makes a few assumptions - but even if they are wrong - we are still looking at a situation where iPhone 5 sales and the S4 were about the same during the initial launch of the S4 - and not even close to holding a candle to the iPhone 5 when it initially launched.
John Kirk at Tech pinions had one of the best articles I read in a while it is titled - Android Market share is literally a Joke. And he goes about in great detail to point out many of the idiot bloggers jumping on apple about Market share - when they should be talking about Profit share. The Fact Apples is making the lions share of Cell Phone Profits and Tablet Profits is all to often over shadowed by Android's Market share per unit sales or should we say shipments. But as it is pointed out - Saying Android won based on Unit share is like saying a baseball team won the game because they had more hits - even though the other team had more runs. Apple has more runs than Android - and it just seems to be an inconvenient truth for to many talking tech heads. Any way - If you want a good read - I suggest checking out Johns article - it really was well written and dare I say filled with facts that many in the tech and financial press don't want to report on.
Hey but here is something that Market share and shoddy security get you - Malware issues. According to F-secure labs quote Q1 saw the first Android threat distribution outside of apps via email spam, the first targeted Android attacks, and the first Android advanced fee fraud scam. Additionally, examples of increased commoditization of Android malware surfaced. unquote. To continue Sean Sullivan for F-secure said quote Until now, I haven't worried about my mother with her Android because she's not into apps. Now I have reason to worry because with cases like Stels, Android malware is also being distributed via spam, and my mother checks her email from her phone." unquote. Stels is an Android Trojan spread by email which if they infect your Android phone can steal sensitive information from the device and monetize by auto placing calls to premium numbers. And good luck getting that money back from your phone company. Hey wait a second if this keeps up - Android might finally beat iOS for mobile spending. Well at least that is how some blogs will spin it. Just Sayin.
Play Voice mail - CALLER_ID_BLOCKED
Hi Rob!
In your last podcast, Mike (from Orlando) asked about the charging speeds of the iPhone 5, and if anyone else noticed an obvious difference, well, I can vouch for that one. The iPhone 5 certainly does charge much faster than the 4 or 4S.
At least for me. My 4S could be slow, but it takes just over two hours, while my friends iPhone 5 that I have been testing takes about an hour. Now he won't stop lording it over me.
Regards,
Daniel P
Hi rob,
I heard your podcast on the iPhone 5 charge much faster than the iPhone 4, and I would like to confirm that I noticed this on my iPhone 5. I have an iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 and my iPhone 5 charge much much faster than my iPhone 4, and that's really nice if you are in hurry and would like to charge your phone for 15 minutes or so, and that will charge a lot of your betters.
I also would like to ask, if you guys talk about Mac, because I never used a Mac before and I am thinking of changing from windows to Mac but worried about the Mac software as I am familer with Windows all my life.
Looking forward to hearing your advice on changing from Windows to Mac.
Thanks & Regards,
Amr
Republic of Yemen
Hi Amr - I try not to talk about Mac stuff on this show - there is the MacCast and Mac OS Ken for those types of talks. I try to be Platform neutral - that said - I am very pro Mac - and I would recommend the switch. But if you want some good info on the Mac - Check out the MacCast and also Mac OS Ken.
Hi Rob,
In relation to a question in episode 266 I gladly share my knowledge about how to organize pictures and sync them: I do work with "GoodReader". It's a great app to view (and edit) PDF's, pictures and various other formats.The most valuable feature in my humble opinion are the synching posibilities it offers. It connects to Dropbox, Skydrive, sugar sync, webdav, ftp, and even SMB servers just to name a few.
To sync pictures you just create folders and subfolders (!) on one of those hosts and push sync and it just works. You might want to downsize the pics to speed up both the sync and the display process.
Regards
Henry
Switzerland
Hi Rob,
The guy that wants to organise photos. If Jailbroken, Photo Organiser Pro. $0.99 does what he wanted. Some of the features include:
Move photos to any local album
Select a range of items by tapping with two fingers.
Select / unselect all items with one tap.
Sort Photos by name, size and date.
Regards, Chris in London
Hey Rob,
A listener in episode 268 asked about a borescope that is compatible with the iPhone, I found the DCiS1 - iBorescope wifi enabled with real time video capture.
I am writing this email for you listener from Sweden. You cannot use modified equipment on aircrafts without approval from your transportation ministry. I don't know of any iPad/iPhone boro scope equipment that is currently approved.
Thanks
Dev.
PLAY VOICE MAIL - Jason TN Answer Borescope
Thanks to Jim M for the heads up on this story. Which has to do with another hacked carrier update - this time for AT&T for LTE devices. that means the iPhone 5, iPad 3 and 4 plus the iPad mini. This hack enables release 9 DC-HSPA+ sweet you say - or ok - huh you say. In laymen's terms - if you have an iPhone 5 on AT&T - and have had issues with weakened signal reception - there is a good chance this hack will help you. If you want to get all technical or learn how to install this - which can be installed on a non-jailbroken right out of the box iPhone 5 - then you need to check out the link titled - Hack AT&T carrier update promises to improve LTE iOS network performance. which is in the show notes for ep 269 at today in iOS dot com.
On the last episode we said it was expected the US department of defense would green light the iPhone and iPad for use by Pentagon employees and other DOD personnel. Well that approval did come true. So iPhones and iPads running iOS 6 and later can be acquired by DOD employees. Congrats to those of you in the audience.
Thanks to tash for the heads up on this next one. Which follows up on the DOD approval for iOS devices - with the US Air force saying they will save a lot of money going with iPads - to the tune of $50 million over the next 10 years - and this is just from replacing flight manuals with iPads - as in reducing the weight on the plane by getting rid of the paper manuals. For example - a four person C-17 has 250 pounds of Paper manuals inside - which seems extreme until you read that the C5 has 490 pounds of paper manuals for its 10 person crew. That is a lot of paperwork.
Tim Cook was up on Capital hill getting drilled by Congressmen looking to score sounds bites and look tough on Apple so they can take those clips and run commercials with those clips in their next election campaign. Ummm I mean they were their to find out how to fix the tax system - Ok I almost said that with a straight face. To tell you what a farce the whole thing was - Senator Macain ends it by asking Tim cook why the expletive he needs to update his apps all the time. Yup they were taking it very seriously up on Capital hill. Apple did release a document to the press the day before Tim cook was grilled for soundbites. That document had a few sound bites of its own - like quote Apple is likely the largest corporate income tax payer in the US having paid nearly $6 billion in Taxes in 2012. These payments account for $1 for every $40 in corporate income tax the US treasury collected last year.unquote So will these appearances lead to any changes - nope - but like I said they did make for some good soundbites for some politicians for their next campaign. Color me cynical.
Thanks to Tash for this next one. Which involves governments and apple - except this time it is the Turkish Prime Minister visiting Apple because they are looking at buying a whole boat load and then some of Tablets for Turkish students. To the tune of 10.6 Million tablets. Regardless of who you are - 10.6 Million Tablets is nothing to sneeze at. Hopefully Apple will close the deal and we will be able to talk about this one again in the future. If any of my Turkish listeners have any more info on this please let me know.
The App Bang with Friends was removed from iTunes after a less than two week stint up on the store. Some are speculating it was removed due to the nature of the app - which lets you find out which of your Facebook friends want to well - per the name you get the picture - and for the kids in the audience yes we are talking about playing drums. Others think it was removed due to the name - as in it is to close to Words with Friends - and that Zynga might have put some pressure on Apple due to it infringing on its trademark for Words with Friends.
My guess is this is not Apple not liking the content and removing the app but it is just an issue with the name - Maybe the devs should have called it - secret crush. or something like that. Of course if they did - they would not have gotten all this free PR.
Hi Rob,
Finally! Facetime over "4G" is enabled already for me...of course to test it I had to be sure to turn off My3G first :)
Tim, WI
What Tim is talking about is AT&T finally saying all iPhone subscribers by the end of 2013 will be able t connect to and use FaceTime via cellular connections. By Mid June if you have an LTE device on AT&T even with an unlimited plan you will be able to do FaceTime. And as the year rolls on all cellular customers for iPhones will get Facetimes enabled. Again this time this does include even those of us old timers with unlimited plans.
Microsoft has some new ads out bashing the iPad and even using Siri to help them with the bashing. The Problem for Microsoft is when you do something like this you have to make sure your facts and info are correct - because we Apple fan boys are an anal bunch and real sticklers for a little thing called Fact checking. Seems Microsoft in the ads sometimes played loose with the facts - yeah lets say loose with the facts. Like when they show in one ad an Asus Vivo Tab smart and describe it having a bigger touchscreen - except for the small fact the iPad maxi actually has a screen with 3.55% surface area - dooohhh.
And then there is when Siri says she can't do powerpoint - well that is not really true - you can open powerpoint docs on your iPad with Keynote. Which is a far superior program vs Powerpoint any way - plus the reason Powerpoint is not an app on the iPad is because MS will not release it. So there is that whole disingenuous thing.
They also compare pricing at the end of one with them showing $699 for the iPad with 64 GB vs $449 for the Asus Vivotab smart with 64 GB - except the real price is $499 and it really only has about 30GB of available storage. So they should have shown $599 for the 32 GB iPad vs $499 for the 64 GB Asus if you wanted a realistic comparison. Still it is less - but you get what you pay for - unless of course you are trying to pay for 64 GB of storage on a Windows RT Tablet. Just Sayin.
I want to thank all that sent in links to this next one - which is about Google Announcing Google Maps with 3D - like iOS 6's flyover - well except it is not for mobile devices - just up on computers - and well it does not actually work as well as iOS 6's flyover - or as Apple insider put it Google Maps destroy's Manhattan. As much grief as Apple got about some of their map issues in the fall - it is very interesting to hear the crickets chirping when it comes to how bad Google Maps 3d looks vs Flyover - and it is not even able to run on a mobile device.
On the iOS side Google did announce there would be a new version of Google Maps App for iOS due out later on this summer. They said the new version will integrate info from Zagat and have a redesigned routing process that will now take into account traffic incidents and which advertisers paid more for you to drive by their stores - ooopps I made up that last one - but you have to wonder if that is not next. I can just see it now - Google Maps routing me by all the dunkin doughnuts in the morning - Robert wouldn't a warm lemon filled doughnut taste good right now - pull over on the right in 300 hundred feet. Ahhhh.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - DOC_IT_DEPT_MOVING_AWAY
Hi Rob,
I have a question I hope you or your listeners can help.
I would like to know how long should an Ipad 3 be charged for a full charge? I read a few sites that said 5 hours or 8 hours.. Which is it?
I don't want to under charge my ipad 3 or over charge.
Regards,
~ Maurice ~
Hi Maurice - There is no such thing as over charging your iPad - you can leave it charging until you need it. Your really can't under charge it either - but it is best to let it charge up to 100% for some time before disconnecting it - but if you need it grab it and use it and put it back on the charger when done. Sadly there is a lot of bad info out there on charging devices that comes from old technology and circuits for mobile devices. iPads and iOS devices use lithium ION batteries - and have charging circuitry to keep from over charging - this is not like the NiCad batteries in your kids Electric scooters - that if you don't charge up enough they stop getting a full charge - or if you forget about and over charge could blow up or catch fire - this is a much different tech and much much more user friendly. So my advice when not using it if you want to make sure the next time it is fully charged - just leave it plugged in until you need it.
Hi Rob. Sometimes when I click on a twitter link to on my 4S it say's that I need to update my Flashplayer to flash player 10. So what I would like to know is what does this mean? and how do I do this so whenever i want to watch a live Broadcast about an apple event.
Regards,
Sharde
Hi Sharde - simple and short answer - you can't do this - well not with the Stock Safari Browser - as it does not support flash. You will need to get another browser such as vBrowse - one word. That browsers supports flash. There are some others as well - but when it comes to stock apps Apples iOS does not support Flash - you must install another app to get flash on your iOS device - and vBrowse is one of those app - no jailbreak required - you can find vBrowse in iTunes.
Hi Rob,
Here something new in the UK. O2 has a new service called 'O2 Refresh'. Lets you have a contract and a new phone whenever you want. Sweet. Perhaps the Big Boy Carriers in the States will get the hint.
Hi Chris - the O2 refresh service is pretty much what the T-Mobile plans are now in the US. Basically - you can buy the phone outright or spread out payments over 24 months for the phone - and then get your voice and data plan as its own entity.
Lets talk about an indiegogo Project. This one comes from a company here in Kansas that I was lucky enough to see their 1 Million Cups presentation a few weeks ago. It is called Blumoo spelled B l U M O O - They have raised $9,000 towards a goal of $30,000 - and they have until Jun 25th at 11:59 PM PT to hit said goal - which they hopefully will do. What Blumoo is is a Bluetooth device that allows you to control your current stereo system via your iOS device. This means control as a universal remote for controlling your stereo system and also for streaming music from your iOS device to your stereo system. The Blumoo pod which right now will cost you $53 on Indiegogo - is a powerful Infrared transmitter that works with standard home theater equipment and allows you to control all your devices. And then there is also a standard 3.5 MM jack and RCA connections for the streaming of Audio to your sound system. If you are an audio file and have a high end home sound system - this is something you will want to check out - search for BluMoo at indiegogo dot com.
Thanks to Margaret S for the heads up on this next one. Which is also over at Indiegogo - and it is the Kinsa Smart Thermometer - Kinsa is spelled K I N S A. It has a goal of $50,000 and has raised $45,000 so far. They have until June 15th at 11:59 PM PT to hit their goal - which should not be an issue at all. So what this is is a thermometer that plugs into the headphone port of iOS device and then the other end is used to measure yours or your child's temperature. This is for Oral Measurements - for rather obvious reasons that thankfully they did not go over in their video. It is neat when you watch the video to see how the measurement goes - and I could see kids liking being able to see the reading when it is done - plus at night when you often are doing these measurements on your kid - having the iPhone there connected will make it easy - and since the iPhone powers the thermometer there is no issue of the battery being dead. They have an app that goes along with this that allows you to track readings and even interact socially with your friends. Pricing for this is $25 for the introduction unit. And there is a Mommy Special where you get 10 units for just $169 so you can share them with friends and family. And well there are other levels as well - if you are interested in this one search for K I N S A at indiegogo dot com or look for the link in the show notes for ep 269 over at today in iOS dot com.
I mentioned snapguide on the last show and the guide I created for how to podcast from an iPhone - which has had quite a bit of views - thanks all. This week I am going to mention one from Listener Lou V - who originally turned me on to Snapguide back on ep 263 when he reviewed it. This week I want to mention one of Lou's SnapGuides it is titled quote how to view the data that iTunes calls other unquote And it well does what the title suggests. I can't count the number of times I had an email or voicemail asking what that Other section for storage is that shows up in iTunes - and Lou's snap guide does a good job on explaining that.
And hey while there at Snapguide why not check out another guide by Tii Listener Noah Wiles - which is titled quote How to Adjust Home Button click speed sensitivity iOS 6 unquote - which well is what the title says it is - if you are interested in this one look for the link in the show notes per that title. Thanks Noah for the heads up and folks if you create any snapguides you think the audience would be interested in please let me know. Send an email with a link to your snap guide to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
For those looking for a keyboard for their iPad Mini or iPad that does not need to be charged up - Logitech just announced a $60 wired keyboard that plugs into depending on the version either your 30 pin connector or your lightning port. It is called the Logitech wired keyboard for iPad. It is just available now for pre-order. This is a pretty good looking keyboard and again if you hate having to charge up your bluetooth keyboard or leave bluetooth on on your iPad - this might be for you. Seems this is also geared to the education market. When this ships if someone gets one - please send in your review - I could not see when it would be shipping - just again that it was only available for pre-orders right now.
Rob,
I know you have recommended some glass repair places in the past but I
don't recall them offhand. Could you recommend someone? I know
SquareTrade does the warranties but do they do piecemeal repairs?
Regards,
Don
Hi Don - When my son dropped and shattered the screen on my iPhone 4S - Eric Castillo at iCare iPhone Repair came to my rescue. you can find him on Facebook - at Facebook.com forward slash icareiphonerepair
PLAY VOICEMAIL - AVEC_APP_FREE
Hi Rob,
You are killing me man. Every time I hear this I have to laugh: todayinios@gmail.com. Really? Gmail?
I have had a Pebble for a couple of months now. Since I got it, I have not been able to use Siri. I also have Panasonic link-to-cell, so several items show up on my Bluetooth list. Seems as if they do not play well together. Siri comes up but does not respond. Any thoughts?
Regards
Bruce
Hi Bruce Gmail is the best way I found to manage the large number of voicemail messages that come into the show - that would push most other email options well past their limits. So yes Gmail - it is what I recommend to any podcaster where they want to get voicemail messages. Per your other question about the Pebble - that one I have to through out to the audience. Has anyone else had issues with their Pebble and Siri not working - and did you have your iPhone paired with other devices?
Hi Rob,
I'm writing about wifi issues on the new iPad. I am using the app Doceri at school to present lessons via a laptop connected to a Smartboard (side note: Doceri is a great app for presenting Power Pts). Doceri connects the ipad via wifi to my laptop. My new iPad is having intermittent issues with wifi connections at school, At home there is no problem. I suspect I have a stronger signal at home or less wifi traffic.
I am not getting much help from school's tech guys, aside from the preverbal shoulder shrug.
Is there anything I can do to stabilize the wifi connection and has anyone had luck with antenna enhancers? I am going to try the homemade "wind surfer" wifi antenna enhancer.
Thank you,
Anne
Well Anne - sorry to hear of your issues - I will throw that one out to the audience - if anyone has had issues with Wifi on the new iPad - please let us know and if you found a resolution to your issue or know of an resolution to this issue - please let us know. 206-666-6364 - thats 206-moon-dog.
Hey Rob,
I have an issue with my iPhone 5 camera. All of a sudden, it doesn't focus anymore and the pictures are blurry. I am jailbroken, but it had been working with the jailbreak up until recently. Is there an easy way to fix this? I could take it into Apple and get a new phone, but if the iOS is at 6.1.3 or later then I won't be able to rejailbreak. If you know how to fix this without going to Apple, it would be greatly appreciated!
Regards,
Tony from Ellicott City, Maryland
Ahhh Tony - you have discovered the dark side of Jailbreaking - sometimes things break. I am going to assume you force quit all your open apps and then went into the Settings app - tapped on General and scrolled down to Reset - and then selected Reset network settings - I will assume you did that and it did not work. So in that case I would suggest you start by uninstalling any Jailbreak Apps you have - one at a time and see which if any after they are removed fixes the issue - if you remove / uninstall all your jailbreak apps - and you still have the issue. Well then you can do a restore iPhone from iTunes. This will not install the latest version of iOS. So you will still be able to rejailbreak if it removes the jailbreak. After all this - then check to see if it still has the issue. If so then you need to decide which is more important - auto focus for your camera or Jailbreaking. If the later - then upgrade to the latest version of iOS for your device. If not - then just keep it as it is .
PLAY VOICE MAIL - Hanny Egypt
For those looking for a bargain and in need of an iPad Mini now - Apple had dropped the prices on Refurbed 16GB units to $279 down from $299. So if you are a dev needing an iPad mini for testing - this is a good deal - remember refurb units get a new case and battery - so they are like new. The 4th gen iPad maxi refurbs also received a price drop down to $419 for a 16 GB wifi unit - previously they were $449. There are also price drops on higher capacity and cellular versions as well.
One of the things I am testing out that was sent to me - is the STM laptop bag - which I am really really liking - it is a well thought out laptop bag - that is both light weight and very versatile. One feature I really like is this little zipper compartment at the top - large enough to place your wallet and iPhone - which is perfect when traveling. It has a side zipper compartment for your laptop - so you can remove your laptop with out opening the whole bag which is great when being rushed through security and you can put your wallet and iPhone in a secure area in the bag also with out opening the whole bag - again another nice get you through security faster feature. Inside the bag there is a compartment for your iPad. And on the sides there are two pockets for an umbrella and water - or in my case I use the second one for my Power cord. Again - this way when traveling I don't have to open up the main bag. The one I am testing out is the Velo Medium Laptop shoulder bag for 15" Laptop again it is from STM. I will report on it again after I get a few trips under my belt. But so far I am liking what I have and plan on it being my main laptop bag for hopefully a long time. You can get this on Amazon for anywhere from $64 to $99 - I have a link to the $64 price in the show notes for ep 269 over today in iOS dot com.
iPhone fans of the App - Mailbox - that also have an iPad - well you will be happy to know there is now an iPad version for you as well. If you remember Mailbox was the app that was out just about 1 month when Dropbox dropped in and acquired them back in March. So far the feedback from listeners that use the Mailbox App on the iPhone has been overwhelmingly positive. Let me know your thoughts on the iPad app - did it live up to your expectations. 206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog.
Here is some feedback from one of the winners of the app - Brush with Jackson.
Hi Rob
Thanks for the promo code for brush with Jackson. My kids, four and six, have really gotten into it. Their teeth have never been cleaner. The app is strangely compelling for them.
Mitch
Here is some feedback from one of the winners of Yet Another Bird game - from when I did a test run on the site for the lottery last weekend.
Hi Rob,
The Yet another Bird Game is pretty intense, haven't tried it on my 8 year old. I hope he doesn't fly into a rage like he did the first few times he played angry birds. Thanks
for the app. Btw it works great on my 32gb sprint white
jailbroken ios6.1.2 iPhone 5. Sprint 4g is nonexistent in Phoenix and
3G is unusable even for Siri in the best coverage area. it sucks
considering I'm being charged a $10 premium for what
amounts to an average 7kbps Internet connection. Arizona is still not on any lte
roadmap and Phoenix is the 5th largest city in the country and we get
service like this? It's an insult. The advertisements that only sprint
offers true unlimited Internet for the iPhone 5 is true, it's just so
slow its unusable. Browsers and Siri off wifi simply don't work. What
a rip off. Please look into this and warn your listeners. Keith
W in Tolleson a suburb of Phoenix.
Hi rob,
A couple of things to report, there was a listener in the last show eps 268 that mentioned the tip, keyboard undock and split, with an iPad using the zoom finger gesture over the keyboard and it will split.
Is there anyway to enable setting permanent CAPS LOCk. Rather than keep enabling the caps lock button.
Many eps ago you mentioned a feature to increase the text size in messages in Setup/general/accessibility/large text size. As I am visually impaired, this is a great feature for my iPhone when reading and sending messages. The only downfall here is that if you read email messages containing HTML content, it can get garbled with the text merging, the only resolution is to reduce the font size.
Regards,
Alek in Waikiki Western Australia
Hi Alek Per your question on the Caps lock - just double tap quickly on the up arrow on the keyboard and that should put you into caps lock mode.
Hi Rob,
On my Windows 7 computer in Microsoft Outlook Contacts, I have the following folders listed:
Contacts
Contacts from iCloud(2)
Contacts in iCloud
Local contacts in iCloud
Contacts from iCloud in iCloud
Contacts from iCloud (from contacts from iCloud(2)) in iCloud
Group Name in iCloud
It used to be I only had one folder and it was synced with my iPhones and iPads and it work perfect, then for some reason it stopped syncing so, I found that signing out of iCloud and signing back in would fix it but then these folders started appearing. I use the one that has the most contacts and that seems to be synced properly.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Jim from Lakewood Colorado
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Lee Apps First Gen and Lee Part2 Apps
There is a report about a Urinalysis app for the iPhone - Basically this works by using the camera to look at test strips dipped in Urine. But it made me think - If I had time - how much fun it would be to release an app for Androids that said test you urine - just pee on this spot on the screen and see your results. Sort of a drug test by peeing on the screen type app -and then wait and see how many people actually used the app - because you know someone would. Like I said - if I had time - oh well - anyway I definitely am not suggesting anyone else do that - it would be wrong. Just sayin.
There was a lot of press about the two thugs in Las Vegas that snatched an iPad from a teenagers hands and the teenager did not let go - and he wound up being dragged under the SUV of the thugs and killed. Well the update on this story is they thugs were arrested and hopefully will spend a long long time behind bars. It is said that Apple picking - as the press and police like to call it has become such an issue - and you need to be aware of the issue - don't have your iOS device out in plain site if you don't need to use it. Keep it in your pocket. This is where I think an iWatch comes in - it would be great to be able to quickly look at text or email messages with out having to take your iOS device out of your pocket or backpack. It really is sad when stories like this pop up. And I do think Apple needs to step in and help law enforcement with getting back and disabling iOS devices that are reported stolen. There should be a data base with a list of all stolen iOS devices you as someone getting ready to purchase a used iOS device can check to see if the device is stollen. It would be great for apple to have an app for that. You put in the serial number and it reports if it has been reported stollen. And apple should have a way when ever said reported stollen iOS device is connected to iTunes - that it shuts down the device and reports its geolocation to the original owner. The tragic loss of life with this story will continue to happen if crooks find it easy to resell stollen devices - and Apple in my opinion really needs to step up and make iOS device not just unattractive to steal - but plain worthless to steal. That is the only way to really prevent others from suffering the same fait of the teenage in Las Vegas. Soap Box I step down off of.
For those that are fans of Podcast411 - I have good news - there is a new episode out - I interviewed Dan Carlin host of both the Hardcore History Podcast and the Common Sense with Dan Carlin Podcast. You can find that interview over at podcast411.com Good to get a new Podcast411 out.
Don't forget about the App give aways over at todayinios dot com - a new one is going up every day - and they stay active for 5 days - so check out the site now and check it out often to see if there are any apps you are interested in - again I will be launching a new app each day at 12:00 AM ET until at least WWDC - based on your feedback and participation.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you get the most out of the show and it helps support the show at the same time - plus it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search for Tii in the iTunes app store.
This is my first attempt at supplying you with album art. I took the picture of my satellite radio in my semi with my iPhone 4S & added the frame & text with You Doodle.
Regards,
Shannon in Fountain Hills, AZ
======================
Transcript for Episodes 268
------------------------------------
Seems the ATF - the US department of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms - is having issues unlocking iPhones and iPads - actually by difficulty - I mean they can't - and even when checking with other law enforcement agencies could not find anyone able to unlock passcode protected iOS devices - so they need to submit the seized devices to Apple to crack them. Which I guess has a 3 to 4 month back log of devices from law enforcement agencies that need cracking. I bring this up not to encourage Drug dealers to get iPhones - they already know about this - plus Apple will crack them - so it is a moot point - but for those in the business world - if you have sensitive data on your iOS device you can rest assured the data is secure - assuming you lock down your iOS device. Per Android devices - well I guess law enforcement agents just give the devices to their teen age kids and ask them to unlock them while they are eating dinner - just sayin.
Some people have too much time on their hands. Thankfully. And one of those people is at fortune and he looked at the number of tweets about the galaxy s4 durring the first four days of its launch and found there were 230,000 tweets. Compare that to the iPhone 5 and it had 2.9 million tweets durring the first four days after it launched. So over 10 times the tweets for the iPhone 5 vs the s4. Interesting. And here I thought reading all the blogs and tech pundits that the s4 was so far out in front of the iPhone 5. Guess not when it comes to regular smartphone users. Also many of the 230,000 tweets came from bots that sent our fake positive tweets on the s4. Ouch. The article in fortune also talked about where in the world one did better tha the other and reach of those tweets. But really the key takeaway is that the iPhone any new iPhone gets much more attention then any other new smartphone regardless of what some tech bloggers and talking heads would have you believe.
A little over a week ago the Pentagon cleared some Samsung and Blackberry Smartphones for use on DOD systems. However the iPhone was at that time not cleared - now comes word from a Pentagon spokesperson that some time this week iPhones running iOS 6 would be cleared for access to DOD systems as well. So if you were someone in the US government that really knows what happened at Camp Hero near Montauk Point and if the NY Knicks and the NBA really did rig the 1985 lottery by freezing the Knicks envelope - well now you can enjoy an iPhone too.
09:15:031
PLAY VOICEMAIL - ANSWR_FOR_STALKER
Hi Rob,
Per Blocking Text Messages and calls.
This might work, AT&T has a way to report SPAM Text messages.
Forward the text message to 7726 (SPAM)
As for blocking phone calls, I have a blank ring tone that I assign to the phone number.
I have made a phone book entries (yes entries, 4 so far with 17 numbers each)
Entry name: Blocked Caller
Ringtone: Blank 3 sec
Vibration: None
Text Tone: None
They still get thru but no ring, vibration or text tone. If they call or text while you are on the phone you can see "Blocked Caller" and you can press Ignore.
This should also help, the phonebook entry will also show the freq of the calls on the Recents then tap on the > on the entry to see this information.
Thomas
Tuscaloosa, AL
Thanks to Thomas and to a few others - that also sent in the same feedback. The biggest Issue I see with this however is that if you are listening to a podcast or music and a call comes in - and say your iPhone is in your pocket and you hit the play / pause button to stop the music or podcast - it will actually answer the call - AWKWARD.
Hi Rob,
Slight delay to listening to the last show. For the mother that wants to block calls and SMS FOR Her daughter iBlacklist if she is Jailbroken. I do not use it. But watched a Vid on Youtube about it. Seems to do the trick.
Chris in London
I want to thank Laurie B for the heads up on the email she received from AT&T - where they are offering a straight up exchange - where you give AT&T your iPhone 4S - and they give you an iPhone 5. This is just an iPhone 5 16GB - essentially they are giving you $200 for your iPhone 4S - and you then get an iPhone 5 for that $200 and a new 2 year commitment. Hmmmm lets see is this a good deal? Ummmm NO. Not unless you got the iPhone 4S in the last couple of months and it is a 16 GB version. But if you got the iPhone 4S when it was first released and it is a 32 GB or 64 GB version - best not to take them up on this. One you will soon be able to upgrade for low price or you can upgrade already for the lower price. And when you do that - your iPhone 4S can then be unlocked - and you can sell it on Craigs list or ebay for more than $200 - heck you can sell it on Gazelle for more than $200 already - granted not much more - but more none the less. But Craigslist - where you do the exchange in front of your local police station would probably be the best bet. And only take cash. That all said with the next Gen iPhone coming out in the next 3 to 4 months - it is really best to wait for that anyway.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - BRUCE_CA_IPAD_APP_DASHBOARD
15:25.437
Thanks to John for the heads up on this next one. Which is confirmation that Apple has begun the roll out of two-step verification system to at least 13 new countries. If you are in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Italy, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Germany, Mexico, The Netherlands and Russia all have users reporting the appearance of the new Two-Step verification - These countries join the US, UK, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand. For those that forgot what the two step verification process is - it deals with when you sign in with an Apple ID on a new device - you are prompted to enter your password plus a 4 digit code - which is originally set up on a trusted device. Of course you need to set this up ahead of time. Which you do by going to applied.apple.com - then select manage your apple ID and sign in. Then select password and security - and then under two-step verification - select get started and follow the onscreen instructions.
To say there was some pent up demand for the iPhone at tmobile would be a very accurate analysis. Consider tmobile Sold 500,000 iPhones in 3 weeks. Which is pretty good - but when you remember that is 500,000 unsubsidized iPhones it makes it really impressive. Especially when you consider the iPhone 5 was 7 months old when it launched. Will be interesting to see what the full quarter numbers turn out to be.
So how well are sales of the iPhone going at t-mobile - so well that they actually upped the price by $50 to $149 for the downpayment for the low end devices. Actually they raised the price by $50 across the board for the iPhone. So device pricing for the iPhone 5 at T-mobile with eligible plan is $629 for the 16 Gig version, $729 for the 32 Gig version and You guessed it $829 for the 64 Gig version. Like I said a $50 price increase across the board at t-mobile for the iPhone - because will sales are not sucking and t-mobile is testing out the price elasticity charts to see how they can maximize their profits. And again because sales volume of the iPhone at T-mobile does not suck.
Now if you are one of those on T-mobile with an iPhone 5 and you want to have faster network speeds for your data - good news - @joe012594 and @cooldayr2 have been doing some hacking and what they found out is they can increase your connection speed quite a bit. They hacked the carrier update. I will not even remotely try to explain how you can get this hack - other than to say if you are on T-mobile - you may want to check out the article titled Hacked T-mobile Carrier Update boosts speed in the show notes for Ep 268 over at today in iOS dot com.
Captain Obvious was out in force this past week on a bunch of blogs and well now this podcast talking about devices with iOS 7 showing up on server logs for sites - just a month before WWDC - Shocker - this happens every year at least a month before the new iOS is revealed to the world. Per those with the server logs One service Onswipe released some info on what iOS 7 users were doing. such as finding out which turntable to buy or looking for info on Apples stock price - because have you seen the price for some of those vintage turntables. Yup you will need to sell a few shares of Apple stock to get a good one. Will be interesting to see how much time iOS 7 gets in the WWDC keynote vs Mac OS 10.9 vs any other announcements. My guess is if it is a two hour keynote - 10 minutes goes to the opening we are great recap, one hour goes to iOS 7, 30 minutes for Mac OS 10.8, 15 minutes to some hardware bumps on Laptops - and 5 minutes wrapping up how great everything is that was just talked about.
From the way out in left field category comes the rumor on the next gen iPhones home button. Seems some sources in Taiwan were talking to Technews website - and they said the next iPhone could come with a Sapphire crystal capacitive touch home button that would incorporate a new fingerprint sensor. Ummm Yeah.
Imore had a nice photo comparison between the iPhone 5 and htc one. What they found is the iPhone 5 in most case took the best quality photos with one key exception. Low light That As I recently said is the area I most hope apple improves on in the next gen iPhone. I am starting to get excited for the next iPhone as I am one month away now from my upgrade date.
Hi Rob,
BBM Black Berry Messenger is Coming to iOS why in the Heck would they do this I don't care for BBM i have an iPhone Do you see Apple Pushing iMessage to become Available for Blackberry's.
Regards,
Sharde A
Hi Sharde - I think it is an interesting choice for Blackberry to do this now. This had been rumored for years - guess they finally figured at this point they need to do what ever they can to make their devices and services work with all those iOS devices in the work place - other wise - Companies might just give up on the blackberry altogether. Per Apple - If they are not willing to put iTunes on Windows 8 RT - I definitely don't see them porting iMessage to any other platform. Actually even if they did port iTunes to Windows 8 RT - which could be a money maker - I don't see them moving iMessage over to any other platforms any time soon - the whole idea behind iMessage is to get people to encourage their friends and relatives to get iOS devices as well so they can better communicate.
22:21.496
PLAY VOICEMAIL - MIKE_TO_UPGRADE
Hi Rob,
I noticed, somewhere along in the IOS 6 updates, that on my iPad Mini only (not my iPhone), on several applications, the popup keyboard covers the text entry box and time and date wheels. For example, on Facebook when making comments, the keyboard covers the message I'm typing and I'm flying blind. This also happens when typing messages in Words With Friends. When entering times and dates in the Reminder app, I have to close the keyboard to reveal the spinners.
I would appreciate any help.
Regards,
Matt S from
Winston Salem NC
Hi Matt,
On the iPad you can move the keyboard up and down.
Make sure you have the keyboard set up so that it is docked - and in the lowest position.In the lower right on your keyboard - tap and hold the little keyboard symbol - you should see it give you two options
Dock
Split
Select Dock and it will move down.
If it is already Docked then your choices will be
Undock
Split
Choose either one and see if that helps.
Hi Rob,
I just purchased an apple TV and am very disappointed by the Wifi connectivity - I will be returning it.
Regards,
Tash
Hi Tash - Make sure you have a good wifi router - My Apple TV works great now - previously my Wifi Connectivity was also very poor - but I upgraded to a Linksys E2500 router - and now it works great.
Also make sure the one you have is not one of those that Apple is replacing - They had some where you could not even connect via Wifi or it would constantly drop out. We mentioned that back on Ep 265 - right at the beginning of the episode. Well after the promo code segment that is.
Hi Rob,
Perr gmail contacts on iPad, like your other user I use carddav on both my iPad 3rd and iPhone 4S, works great
Re password
I use msercure on iPad, iPhone and windows 7 and 8 and syncs via Dropbox, great app not had any problems
Keep up the good work
Ed
Staffordshire, Uk
PLAY VOICEMAIL - FEEDBK_GOOGLE_MAIL_CALENDAR
Hi Rob,
Per the Google Sync Tip. Exchange ActiveSync will be disabled for "free" gmail accounts, if your users are paid gmail users they will still have the option for Exchange ActiveSync, otherwise, they do need to migrate out to CardDav. For existing free gmail users, they should continue to use Exchange ActiveSync on their phones that they don't "wipe and restore" or remove the account and try to re-add, up until July 31st
if you want to send you users somewhere to figure out how to setup calendar and contact syncing with Gmail, send them to this site, it does a clean job on how to run through the whole process...
This next Kickstarter project comes to us via Bridget at Orca PR firm. Which is called KeyProp - which is an item that looks like a key that can be used to prop up your iPhone - but since it looks like a key is meant for you to put on your you guessed it keyring - that way you have it when you need it. How this works is with an iPhone 5 they have one part of the key that plugs into the lightning port. But for iPhones that are Version 4S or older - you have another part that plugs into the headphone jack - either way it helps prop up the iPhone in landscape mode so you can watch a movie or netflix or some other vide on your iPhone. Plus now if you are out at a restaurant and are distracted by the hooters girl and someone grabs your iPhone - they can get your keys in one fell swoop. Costs for the KeyProp are $15. They have until June 1st at 3:00 AM ET to hit their goal of $30,000 for which they have only half way there. Which is interesting because I thought their goal of $30k was at least 2X from what it should have been. Remember folks keep the goal targets down to a bare min. If you are interested in this search for KeyProp - one word over at kickstarter dot com. Oh and for the $15 bucks - you also get a free download of their self-timer app - this way you can prop up your iPhone with the Keyprop and take a timed photo with their app of you and your significant other when there is no one else around to take said photo.
Thanks to Mark H for the heads up on this next Kickstarter project - and it is for those of you with an iPhone 5. It is called the Xistera - spelled X I S T E R A . What is the XiStera you ask - well really the question should be what isn't the Xistera - because you see it is one of those multi function gadgets - like the ronco rooter router 2 Plus indoor out door home and office footmessager and turnip peeler with 101 uses for the house wife - the Xistera will help you Position your iPhone, Secure it, illuminate with it , Wrap up stuff with it, Position it, Create with it and even pop a bottle cap with it. Now even though you can do more with the Xistera than the Keyprop - it only had a goal of $19,000 - I say had - because they hit that goal and are over $22,000 and growing - you have until June 8th at 11:59 PM ET to pledge the $20 needed to get one. However if you want the magnetic lens set included - it will set you back $30 bucks. And if you want the Pro Package - where you get one Xistera, he Mangentic lens set, Plus 2X magnetic telephoto lens + a rechargeable 32 LED light - it will set you back $60. So in summary the Xistera is a Bottle Opener, a Portait Stand, a Portrait Mount, a Key Chain Attachment, it has a lens adapter, an ear bud wrap, A Landscape Mount, a Landscape stand and a Capacitive stylus. Just search the link in the show notes for ep 268 titled Xistera - Kickstarter or search for X I S T E R A at kickstarter dot com.
Hi Rob,
I wanted to let you know about a new crowd-funded car mount from Mountek. They are on indiegogo, not Kickstarter. This is actually an upgrade to the version they previously released. We own three of the original mounts and absolutely love them.
The difference between the Mountek and other mounts is that it mounts in your CD player instead of a suction cup or other means. It works well and it stays where you put it. The design is universal so it works with any phone you might try with it, although the new huge Samsung phones might not fit. The current version is a friction mount, the new version uses metal "badges" that stick to your phone with a removable adhesive and rare earth magnets to hold your device in place. The magnets are supposed to be strong enough to work through most cases.
The new version also mentions a couple of additional uses such as a desktop stand and tripod stand. I'm not sure if the original works that way but I don't remember seeing it mentioned.
They have already reached their funding goal so no worries about getting one. They expect to ship in July. I debated whether to upgrade or stick with my current mounts. I chose to order the new model.
Thanks Myron for the heads up and review of the nGroove Snap by Mountek - which is on indiegogo - which you can find in the show notes for ep 268 or by searching at indiegogo for nGroove.
Per their goal it was just $15,000 - and as Myron mentioned they are well past it at over $21,000 - you have until Monday May 27th at 11:59 PM PT to get in on this.
For those of your using the Square payment system and having a physical point of sale i.e. a store - Square just showed off their latest stand for the iPad - with a built in Card swiper - it is $299 and it is pretty nice looking - so if your iPad has become your cash register or your are looking to make your iPad you cash register - well credit card register that is - take a look at Squares new Stand for iPad. Link of course in the show notes to an article over at TechCrunch on this.
Last week - I decided to finally update my Computer from Lion to Mountain lion - or for those that like numbers from 10.7.x to 10.8.3. While I was waiting for the computer to go through the full upgrade process I found my self with a little time on my hands and remembered there was an App called Snapguide I had been meaning to play with and create a snap guide.
Snapguides for those wondering - are short tutorials on how to do or make different things. Such as how to make lemon and rose cupcakes, or how to make watermelon mousse or many other subjects / items that do not involve desserts.
Well less than an Hour after I started I had created a snap guide about how to podcast from an iPhone. which if you search in the free snap guide app you will find when searching for how to podcast from an iPhone or if you look for the link in the show notes by that title. I found the app really easy to figure out and use. One trick I found necessary is that when doing a full screen shot for use in the snapguide - the top and bottom gets clipped - so to get the full screen shot to show - place your iPhone down on a table - goto your photo album - find the screen shot you want to use - then Pinch on the photo to make it smaller - and while pinching - use your other fingers to push the home and power button to take a screen shot of the shrunk photo - that new photo works great in the Snapguide. Again it is a free app and if you are looking to do some nice and quick how to tutorials - this apps works great and you can do it all from your iOS device. If you create any Snapguides - let me know and I will mention them on a future episode. Like how to wait in line for StarTrek Tickets for the Midnight showing.
The Financial Times is bringing its content to Flipboard. This after pulling it from iTunes recently.
Why would they do this - well to quote the Financial Times Quote "The issue is not so much a percentage, it’s the relationship between publisher and audience. Paying a 30 percent finder’s fee is okay. Paying 30 percent in perpetuity and not knowing who the customer is not okay."
So it was a financial decision made by the Financial times - who would have thunk. See Apple wants to take your 30% over and over and over again - seems Flipboard is not - and there will be some advertising revenue share as well. So essentially the Financial times figures a one time 30% fee for a smaller number of sales is better than an on going 30% cut month after month - even if it is for much more subscriptions. I think they will find their logic flawed. One would assume the overall audience size for iTunes store is much more than twice the size of the Flipboard App. So if you are getting over 2X the subscribers via iTunes - even with a 30% reduction for ever - 70% is still bigger than 50%. Which is the best case scenario and likely not even realistic for Flipboard. But hey it is a financial decision by the Financial times - who am I to argue.
42:25.156
PLAY VOICEMAIL - MIKE_FDBK_IPHONE5_FASTER_CHARGING
Hi Rob,
I agree on your opinion of the latest Samsung ad. I watch a little tv, and saw the commercial and felt uneasy and even offended after it was over.
No I realize why, you hit it on the nose on this one.
Regards,
Josue
Hi Rob,
I am in need of a little organization in my life.
I want the ability to manage my pics on my iPhone 5 by creating folders on my laptop and syncing them to my iPhone, then be able to move pics to these folders as I take them. If i create folders on my iPhone, I can move pics to them but the folders will not sync to my laptop. It seems that I can't do this with the iPhone as is.
Perhaps you or your listeners can point me to an app that will help.
Short time listener, but a total convert. Keep up the great work.
Thanks,
Frank M
Hi Rob.
With the old version of iTunes, when you time out when downloading a podcast you could click on the resume button and it would carry on dowloading where it left off so at the end you just had the normal podcast. However since they have upgraded iTunes, now when it times out when downloading a podcast cast and you click on the circle arrow, it starts to download the podcast from scratch again attaches it to the end of the previous attempt. At the end, when you listen to the podcast it plays all of the attempts it has made instead of one complete podcast. I have unsubscribed to the affected podcasts, then unauthorised my account, removed Itunes from my computer, downloaded the current version, install that, reauthorised my account and then subscribe back to the podcasts, but it still does it. I have looked my settings on itunes but I can't find anything for it. Have I missed something and I need new glasses or is it a bug with the current version of itunes.
Regards
Greg
Hi Greg - I have never seen that happen - but maybe someone else has. If anyone else has seen this from the latest version of iTunes - let us know and what OS you are on as well.
Hi Rob,
I hope you or your listeners have a solution to my problem. Being in the aviation industry we sometimes need to inspect narrow spaces. We usually use devices we call borroscopes. Those are small cameras in front of a rod. They do have small screens, that are not very bright, not very sharp (in terms of picture quality as well as intelligence) but they do cost a lot of money! Those boroscopes resemble the devices that doctors use to inspect your intestines… TMI
You may already notice where I'm heading - I am hoping this is not where the doctor is heading Sorry could not resist.
You and I (and many of my collaborators) do have very bright and very sharp screens with us, I wonder if there is an app and an external camera to connect to an Iphone or an Ipad?
From Boing Boing there is an article titled quote new law will fix the DMCA, make jailbreaking, unlocking and interoperability legal - your help needed.unquote - because you know how Boing boing likes pithy titles. What this is about is a bipartisan bill introduced to congress called the unlocking technology act of 2013. Something your great grand kids are likely to read about in elementary school on the 73 rd gen iPad mini's. One of the key provisions is that it would change Copyright law to specify that unlocking cell phone is not copyright infringement oh and the bill also legalizes the tools and services to enable circumvention as long as the tools are intended for non-infringing uses. Hopefully this bill gets through congress - see the link in the show notes to find out more about how you can support this bill.
For some reason news about the apple iPad 2 and later magnets and Pacemakers made the news again. Many reported it as a 14 year old discovers there is an issue with the magnets and the pacemaker - which there very well may be an issue - but what is strange is this same subject was talked about previously - because it was brought up in the news back in 2011 right after the iPad 2 came out. Back then some wondered what type of interaction there would be. Here is my advice - if you or a loved one have a pacemaker - and you are not sure if placing the iPad 2, 3 or 4 on your chest will cause issues - TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR and oh yeah don't put it or anything else with magnets on your chest.
52:48.062
PLAY VOICEMAIL BRAD_QUEST_DELETE
Hi Rob,
I currently stream video files to my iPad using air video server, which I love.
I am cutting up a bunch of old home video of the kids and the result is a whole load of short video files.
What I want is to steam random clips to the iPad. Kind of like a moving photo frame.
Just wondering if anyone knows of a streaming app that has a random play feature?
Thanks for the help mate
Adam
Brisbane, Australia
Hi Rob,
I would like to tell you about how happy my Mom was back on Christmas of last year.
Well I got the idea to get her a iPad mini so she could keep track of me on Facebook and talk to me on Facetime, I really wanted it so I could see her and make sure everything was going well with her.
Before this I would call her when I was traveling so she would not worry about me, well mothers never really stop worrying.
Just before Christmas I was talking to her sister about setting up a Facetime call on Christmas day, the main reason they live so far apart they didn't get to see each other and they are at an age travel wasn't possible for either one due to health and the cost.
Well she opened her gift and didn't know what it was, well most of the family has iPhones so everyone was telling her about the many things you can do with it.
I had to clear things up because I had restricted most of the apps to keep it as simple as possible, I had unrestricted Facebook, Facetime & photos for now and I had planned to unrestrict the others over time when she would be able to use them. When I started the Facetime call on her iPad she was so surprised to see her sister on this device and could hear her at the same time, well both of them where so happy. The iPad got passed around the room to each of the family members to talk to her sister.
Apple and facetime made it possible for my Mother & her sister to get together one last time As mom passed away this past January. I miss her very much she was a person that was Loved by everyone and was hated by no one.
Regards,
Thomas
Tuscaloosa AL
Thomas - thanks for sharing that story for this past Mothers day.
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PLAY VOICEMAIL - DAVE_NY_TIMEWARNER
59:19.417
Congrats to someone or someones - for being the 50 billionth downloader - and winning a $10,000 iTunes gift card. And for the 50 others that won $500 Gift Cards.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback it can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you get the most out of the show and it helps support the show at the same time - plus it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search for Tii in the iTunes app store.
Here is a photo I did on my iPhone 5 camera of my iPad 3 docked in my Brydge Keyboard from kickstarter - then I ran the pic through Snapseed to add the grunge, HDR effect and the frame. I completed the picture with an app called TEXT to add today in iOS.
Apple is doing another one of the App Milestone countdowns - this time it is for the 50 Billionth App download. And if you are the lucky downloader you will win a $10,000 iTunes gift card. And the next 50 app downloaders will win a $500 iTunes gift card. They are around 49.3 Billion and counting as of Saturday night. There is an enter to win without purchase or download - but I am not sure how you win a be the 50 billionth downloader contest unless you know you actually download and app - just sayin. Anyway - If you win please let me know.
And speaking of Apple downloads - if you have an iPhone 5 there is a new one waiting for you - it is iOS 6.1.4 - that appears to be just for iPhone 5's - and the key reason for the update is has an updated audio profile for speakerphone.
As with any update if you want to jailbreak or are jailbroken - this is not for you. If you have no intentions of ever jailbreaking - then well go for it. And you can choose to either do an OTA or connect to iTunes update on this. As always before any update - force quit out of all your open apps and make sure your do a back up first.
Comscore is out with another report on US cellular subscriber share for Smartphone users - and from the end of December to the end of March - iOS saw its share of installed base rise from 36.3% to 39%. Android dropped from 53.4% to 52%, blackberry dropped from 6.4% to 5.2% and Windows Phone stayed about even going from 2.9% to 3.0%. Of course when you look at manufacturers - Apple leads the way by a big margin with the aforementioned 39% vs 21.7% for Sammy, 9% for HTC, 8.5% for Moto, and 6.8% for LG. Remember this is not new subscribers or new sales - this is about installed base. So it is about All active cellular Samrtphone users - some of whom could have purchased their cell phones back in 2007 or earlier in the case of Blackberry users.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - JONATHAN_ANSWR_MOVIE
Hi Rob,
Listener Dan asked in episode 266 about an app to keep track of movies he has not yet watched. I use ToDoMovies (all one word) and it works great. It's only $1.99 in the App Store.
It has features such as full screen movie posters, notifications when a movie releases, and an icon to let you know if you need to hang around for a scene after the credits. It's very well done. Easily worth the $1.99.
Regards,
Lou V
Hi Rob,
Per an app to track movies that you have seen or wanted to see. The best one that I have found is called "Fayve" - spelled F A Y V E . Aside from the skewmorphic film design that will drive some crazy, the app tracks iTunes, Netflix, currently in theaters, and of course legacy movies. This app lets you rate various movies and then recommends movies based on your ratings of other and even suggests what rating it expects you to give.
They have recently added the ability to launch movies instantly, in say Netflix, just by clicking on it.
Now the app has faults, it does crash periodically, but they are quick to send out updates and it really useful. It truly is one of my Faves!
Regards,
Peter H from Austin, Texas
Hi Rob thanks for the show,
I don't know of an app specifically but there's a website called video ETA that I've been using now for quite a long time. You can add films that have not been released on DVD yet and it will remind you through email when they are going to be released on DVD and when they are released.
I've been using this for more than a year now and loving it. Hope this helps out!
Bryan
PLAY VOICEMAIL - THOMAS_ANSWR_PASSWORD
Hi Rob
I've been using PwSafe by App 77 Informatica ever since I moved to iOS about 18 months ago. It is very easy to use and setup. Once done, all you need to do is remember the master password for your safe.
It is then very simple to enter sites that you want passwords for into the database. If you don't have a password for a site yet, pwsafe will generate one for you. When you go to a site requiring a password, you fire up pwsafe then scroll down to the name of the site in your safe, tap on it and your password is copied to the clipboard. This is a good thing because the generated passwords are extremely cryptic. (for security reasons, it is cleared from the clipboard after a short period of time)
Another thing I like about the app is that it uses iCloud so all of my passwords are available on all my devices, including the Mac.
And finally, this app is available for the low price of free!
There is only one in app purchase and that is for Dropbox sync. I don't use the Dropbox sync feature but I wanted to support the Dev and ponied up the $1.99
I can't imagine that anyone would not love this app.
Bob
Hamilton, Ontario
pwSafe - Password Safe compatible Password Manager by App 77 Informatica e Servicos LTDA
Thanks Thomas and Bob on the recommendations on the Password apps - I also received an email from the PR person for the App - iKeeper Password manager - which cost $0.99.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - LEN_ANSWR AND LEN_PART2_ANSWR.
Back on Episode 198 - I said quote You know who in the US is not getting the iPhone any time soon - that would be US Cellular - they are the 6th largest carrier in the US and they turned down Apples offer of the iPhone stating Apple's Terms were quote unacceptable from a risk and profitability standpoint unquote. You know who is really happy about this news - that would be number 5 Carrier Metro PCS. As this will likely keep them ahead of US Cellular. MetroPCS has 9 Mil subscribers to US Cellulars 6 Million. A few years ago - US Cellular was ahead of MetroPCS. Where in 2008 US Cellular had 6.2 Mil subscribers to MetroPCS's 4.6 Million - just sayin. unquote. Well that was so Episode 198.
And now it is time for an update - seems that all the churn they were experiencing since that quote came out - is due to their users leaving to go where the iPhone is. in other words it turned out to be too risky and so unprofitable without the iPhone - they have changed their tune and now will be getting the iPhone. In the past 18 months US Cellular lost over 5% of their customers - ouch. Well if you stuck with US Cellular because I am guessing you had to - sounds like you will be getting the iPhone in the near future. No specific date has been announced - but I will try to mention one when they do.
I had a few people send links to articles about this next one and asking my opinion. And this next one is with regards to a chart put together by the EFF - and it has to do with Privacy of your info and how major companies protect your privacy or don't.
In this case they looked at 18 companies in 6 key areas with regards to Privacy with regards to protecting your data from the Government - and I will assume that means US government. They gave a Star for each company that protected your data for each category. The 6 categories were - 1 Requires a warrant for content. 2. tells users about government data requests. 3. publishes transparency reports 4. publishes law enforcement guidelines 5. fights for users privacy rights in courts 6. fights for users privacy rights in congress. Of the 6 the only one Apple received a star for was the last one - fights for users privacy rights in congress. That said AT&T was in the same boat. And Verizon did not even get a star. So if you are concerned about your data - the carrier is where you need to look first. Still - It was very sad to see Apple get such a low score. Twitter on the other hand received 6 stars. Google received 5 stars - so really Apple - time to up your game on the privacy side and get to at least 5 stars like google. Heck even Microsoft had 4 stars. Yeah per my opinion - I am disappointed with Apple on this one. Heck even Comcast and Myspace both had 2 stars. Yikes. Apple when you are behind Comcast on protecting your customers privacy something is really amiss. Oh and while I would like to think this chart from the EFF would shame Apple into improving - it seems a similar chart with similar results was also done by the EFF in 2012 and 2011 - so sadly there has been no improvement from Apple in the past two years - so don't expect improvement a year from now when the EFF is likely to do their 2014 report. But who knows maybe this year Apple realizes they do need to step it up and help protect their users data - especially since they are doing that whole iCloud thing and asking users to put their data in Apples hands.
Thanks to Mark H for the heads up on this next one. Which is for all of us with an original iPhone. It seems Apple typically obsoletes products five years after they are discontinued - and well guess what July 2008 was when the Original iPhone was discontinued and July 2013 will be 5 years - and that likely means the Original iPhone will be officially listed as Obsolete - which means it will become ineligible for service parts and service at Apple Stores and mail in repair centers. Or to put it another way if your original iPhone breaks - it becomes a paper weight. So if you have an original iPhone and you have an issue with it - and you have been putting off getting it fixed because Oh I don't know you have 4 other iPhones that do work - but for some reason you want to get the original back to working order you probably have less than 2 months to get it repaired.
The biggest news on the rumor front the past couple of weeks has been not about the next gen iPhone or iPad - but rather on what is going to be changed in iOS 7. And the one rumor that keeps coming up and from very credible sources - is the quote very flat unquote rumor - as in Johnny Ive is reportedly stripping out every skeuomorphic design element and 3D element and shadowing and just flattening the design to make it very minimalist but hopefully elegant. Some are saying it will look similar to the tiles look you see with windows 8. One of the other things rumored is all the basic Apple App icons will change. Because any of us that have ever created a tutorial to show how to use an iOS device - love nothing more then when the look of key icons change. Not to mention the over all confusion my Mom is going to face when I update her iPad and the mail app and safari app look different. Yup this should lead to at least 3 or 4 calls a week for the first few weeks. But again this is just at the rumor stage now - so it might all be a lot about nothing - but given some of the names reporting on these rumors - it seems more like Apple leaks to select members of the Apple ecosystem - as a way to lessen the shock when they show off iOS 7 - then just rumors made up by someone at the Verge or BGR.
One Rumor that has been around for a while was given a tweak last week - the rumor I am talking about is the mythical low cost iPhone. The tweak - is that rather than a low cost iPhone - it will be a lower cost - mid-range phone. Something coming in at the $349 price range. The tweak here comes from JP Morgan anal-ists Mark Moskowitz and Gukul Hariharan. They released a 28 page report laying out the thought process and justifications for apple to release said Mid-range market iPhone. They figure Apple would grab 20 to 25% of the $200 to $500 range market from their current 0% share. First that is not actually correct - as an iPhone 4 - currently sells un-subsidized under the $500 mark - it is $450 at T-mobile for a new iPhone 4 8gb version - with no contract. Now a new iPhone 4 - really is 2 generations behind on the silicon. What JP Morgan is talking about is a $350 - 16 GB - One generation behind Processor. So if it launches in the fall with the next gen iPhone - it would have the same A6 processor that is in the iPhone 5 - which at that time would be one generation behind - assuming the next Gen iPhone will be sporting an A7 processor. Essentially they would be looking to follow what they did with the iPad and iPad Mini. Latest and greatest would be in the iPhone - and year ago to older parts would be in this mid-tier mid-priced iPhone. The logic make sense for this - and the last Appel quarterly call - really hinted at such a product - so should we expect to see said mid-tier iPhone - Yes - will it be this fall - pretty likely - and the real question is - would this also likely be the phone on China Mobile when Apple finally gets on there - most likely YES. And very likely what has been holding up the deal. As with all rumors like this we will know when we know.
Thanks to Bob for this next one - which I really don't want to wait until 2018 to add to the how wrong were they segment. Lets just call this segment - Crap CEO's say. And in this case we are talking about Today's CEO of Blackberry. Or as they like to call the CEO in Waterloo - CEO DeJur. So what did Blackberry's CEO DeJur say that was so profoundly wrong and out there - just that by 2018 the Tablet will be dead. Or more specifically quote In five years I don’t think there’ll be a reason to have a tablet anymore, Maybe a big screen in your workspace, but not a tablet as such. Tablets themselves are not a good business modelunquote Oh My. And the world is Flat and heavier than Air craft can not fly. And this is the guy that is going to lead Blackberry out of the desert to the promised land. Come 2018 anyone want to put a bet on how many other CEO's Blackberry has had since Heins made that quote. Yikes - If I worked at Blackberry and heard my CEO say that I would be afraid - very very afraid.
Shhhh - don't tell the next ex-ceo of Blackberry - but CSS Insight is predicting that by 2017 there will be over 1 Billion tablets in use. Not bad for a tech that the next year there will be no need for.
From the oh no he didn't category comes the following audio clip of Bill Gates via CNBC:
PLAY CLIP AUDIO - BILL GATES.
So lets get this right iPad users are frustrated they can't type on the screen and need a keyboard - So they go out and buy a bluetooth keyboard - which is different from the Surface tablets how? Last I checked MS was not giving them away but rather was charging for their keyboard as well. That comment about keyboards was disingenuous at best or ignorant at worst - maybe he does not realize the Surface tablets don't just come with the surface and users have to pay extra - I guess that is possible - not like he would pay for one. Per creating documents - Seems like people are doing ok with Pages and other document creating apps. And per being frustrated with not having office apps - well Yes - I am sure some are - but please refer back to my comments about Pages being available - and not just available - but also the all time most purchased app on the iPad - ahead of even Angry birds - so seems many iPad users know about it. By the way Keynote - Apples competitor to Powerpoint is the 10th best selling iPad app of all time and number 11 is Numbers - Apples competitor to Excel. So 3 of the top 11 selling apps all time are the three apps that replace the need for office apps on the iPad. Number 19 all time is quick office Pro HD - which lets you edit office docs and view PDF files. Over all I think Bill's comments about iPad users being frustrated are as I said earlier - disingenuous at best.
Samsung has a new ad and again they take swipes at not just the iPhone but the iPhone users - showing them as old and out of touch. I was trying to put my finger on what it is I don't like about the Samsung ads vs the old Mac vs PC ads. And I think I figured it out. In the Old Mac vs PC ads - with Justin Long and John Hodgemen - It was about taking swipes overtly at the PC - as a machine - with some subtle undertones that if you use a Mac you are hip and not so much if you use a PC. But all and all it was Apple making fun of the PC and its issues. The Samsung ads however overtly take swipes at the iPHone users first and foremost and then go after the iPhone second. I think that is the biggest difference - and why I kind of have grown to despise Samsung. If you want to take swipes at the iPhone that is fine - but now what they are really doing is taking swipes at all of us. ironically - they point iPhone users as old - but in reality - from all survey's done - the demographic with the highest adoption of the iPhone is the teens - and they are also the ones with the highest plans of getting an iPhone - so the demographic they have the best chance with are the 40+ somethings - with bad eyes needing a bigger screen - and those are the ones they are making fun of - we will see how that all works out for them in a couple of years. Any way is someone tries to say their ads are no different than Mac vs PC ads - I would beg to differ - I think they are very different in tone and spirit.
Ok - This next story has so many levels of wrong - I just could not resist reporting about it.
A 14 year old boy met a Prostitute online - she agrees to come to his house for sex - Said Prostitute then decides why not just rob the 14 year old boy - so she pepper sprays him in the face - grabs his piggie bank - because you know some thing you just can't make up - and she also steals his iPad. The 14 year old then calls the police - AWKWARD - who are able to catch the Prostitute turned iPad thief when you guessed it - she turned on the iPad and it sent out its location via find my iPhone. Again all kinds of wrong with this story - but at least the 14 year old kid had find my iPhone active - and he - his iPad - and his piggie bank were all re-united. No word if the 14 year old will be cited for solicitation of a prostitute - but my guess is that after getting pepper sprayed and having to call the police - it will be a long time if ever again before he even thinks about hiring a lady of the evening. And cue in the music from Risky Business - well if playing the music was not against the DMCA that is.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - QUEST_CAMERON_PRESENTATION
Hey Rob,
In episode 265 someone asked if there was a car manufacture that offered wifi. In 2014 GM is partnering with AT&T to offer wifi in most of their models. Additionally GM will integrate Siri in a few models as well.
In episode 263 you asked what everyone's opinion of the new Apple podcast app. Overall I like the improvements, especially the ability to update and download new podcasts. One downfall is the ability for real time authentication needed for paid subscription apps. Therefor I still have to download those particular podcasts into iTunes and then sync to my ios device.
Regards
Jim from Michigan.
Hello Rob,
Somehow through taking photos and synching picture folders in iTunes I have managed to get a lot of duplicate pictures on my iPhone camera roll and albums. Do you k ow of an app or Cydia tweak that will search out and automatically remove duplicate photos?
Regards,
Mike S
Hi Mike - you know - I hate when that happens. And honestly I wish I had a good answer for you - hopefully one of the listeners does - because I need to clean up duplicates as well. Maybe this is something best handled on the computer side first and then you do a sync of the photos. If someone has a good solution for handling this duplicate photo issue either on an iOS device directly or off on the computer - please let us know - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or email us at today in iOS at gmail dot com.
Hi Rob,
Wanted to give you a heads up on another Kickstarter project that was delayed. This time it is the PhoneJoy Play which you mentioned back on Episode 252. They were hoping to ship in April - but now it is at least another 3 more months.
This week for a kickstarter project we have the Casetop - one word - which has until June 2nd for funding - currently they have $41,000 pledged towards a lofty goal of $300,000. What the Casetop is is a device to turn you iPhone into a laptop. You get a full keyboard and a larger screen - that you iPhone projects to. So a way to better view webpages on your iPhone - reply to emails - type on Pages and watch videos. They are saying December 2013 for a ship date - but hey this is kickstarter so figure some time in 2014 before you see yours. Pricing is either $250 or $300 - as they claim it is for both iPhones and Android phones - and it is a little unclear if you can get the $250 version for the iPhone or only the $300 version is for the iPhone. I sent an email to the dev about interviewing him - and he replied - so I hope to have that interview on a future episode. He also confirmed the $300 version is more iPhone friendly when it comes to fitting all the cables and connections - actually designed for the iPhones - and the $250 version is a generic version. Well what he actually said was quote Our Apple friends can use the Standard Frontbars in the lower tier just fine, however there isn't a location for the Apple Digital AV adapter inside the Standard Frontbar. It's more convenient to buy the Apple version, as it will be cleaner and less hassle. unquote. So if you like this - probably best to go with the $300 version over the $250 version.
Where I see this being of value is if you are currently traveling and taking your iPhone and an iPad Maxi with a bluetooth - keyboard - now you would just take your iPhone and the CaseTop. Again this is in Kickstarter and it is called Casetop one word. Hope to have John the dev of this project on the show before June 2nd.
Thanks to Tash on the heads up on this next one. Which is about the Kindle App and accessibility - or the lack there of in the past. And now with the latest update of the Kindle App - they finally have accessibility features added to the app. I have had more than a few people comment on the lack of accessibility features on this app in the past - and I am sure they will be happy to hear those features are added - even if it did take much longer to get them added then well everyone else in this space. If you were one waiting for this feature on the Kindle app - when you get a chance to test it out - let us know how it compares to its peers. 206-666-6364 - 206-moon-dog for calling in that feedback. Thanks
Google Now is now available for iOS. Google now works best for those using other google services such as Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Search. And the more of those services you use and the more you use them the more benefit you will get from google now. If you barely or never use those services - like if you use hotmail and search on Bing - yeah Google Now is probably not going to be your cup of tea. That said I now many of you do use all of those google services and others not mentioned - so for those of you Google Now is waiting for your download. Google users - please send in your feedback on your thoughts of Google Now for iOS. 206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog. Personally I am sticking with Siri. Oh for those that are not sure what Google Now is - because you know I did such a good job describing it just now - not - Google Now is in a nut shell - A location based predictive search tool and info assistant. Which based off your current location and past search queries will serve up the results it thinks you are looking for. It also has a card system so there is a little overlap there with Passbook. So think of it as a Siri and Passbook competitor. Again that is a very basic in a nut shell overview - I am sure those very heavy into the google verse will say I did it a dis-service. And I probably did - It is just not something I am going to be using. I am pretty happy with Siri and use it all the time. Passbook - however - not so much.
And staying with the subject - it seems when it comes to battery life - Google Now is a Battery hog.
And if you are using it you may already have seen your battery being sucked down faster than - INSERT INSENSITIVE AND/OR MOSGANIST JOKE HERE. Well lucky for you your iPhone does not need to face the same fate as the aforementioned hinted to item. You can tweak your iPhone settings for Google Now to keep it from draining your battery. Go to Settings in the Google Now App - it is the little gear shaped icon in the upper right - and then Privacy - and then find location reporting - and turn it off. It is turned on by default. Yes that is a little like neutering it - since it is a location based search service - but when you actually need to use it - you can re-activate location services. Or you can just use siri.
Now it is interesting that Google has come out and said - unt uh - not us that is causing the issue - to which some users are saying - ummm is to. So pretty simple - if you installed Google Now - and then all of a sudden notice a decrease in battery life - as has been reported by too many people to be a coincidence - then follow the steps just mentioned and turn off location reporting in the privacy section for the Google Now app. If you are not seeing an issue with battery life since installing the google now app - then do nothing and consider yourself lucky or at least luckier than those reporting they do have an issue.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - GLENN_QUEST_GLITCH
Hi Rob,
This is in response to a question about a way of showing usage of iPhone applications. Unfortunately this is a Jailbreak app, but the one I use is call "App Stat" and it works great.
Thanks to Ed for the heads up on this next one. Which is another update about how Gingerbread on Android - which was released back in 2010 - is still the most used version of Android today. Yup - 38.5% of Android devices active today are running Gingerbread. That would be like saying that the most used version of iOS today is iOS 3.x - ouch. Yup sucks to be a dev for Android.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - KEVIN_CROSSMAN_KUDOS
Hi Rob,
I went to return a Mophie Air today at the AppleStore, I was not happy with the button feel & the charging ability. I was ready to explain that fact, but I did not need to, I walked in found a clerk, stated I'd like to return the item, and within a minute or two was completely done! Amazing! The store was packed, and I fully expected the whole transaction to be a long process, boy was I surprised!
Regards,
- Dan
Hi Rob,
On the latest edition of TII you had a caller from Germany who did the car throw with his iPad. Apple replaced it for a reasonable sum.
This is not some sort of Apple once-in-a-while get lucky thing. Apple will replace like with like for a fixed fee for repairs either out of warranty or not covered. For example it's $200 for an iPhone in the U.S. It's all on the Apple site although not on top.
Regards,
Kevin B
Hi Rob,
I'm hoping you can help or send this one out to the listeners. I have been having a problem with my visual voice mail through AT&T that has lingered for several years now. It first showed up way back on my iPhone 3G and has been a problem intermittently as I upgraded to an iPhone 4, 4S and now on my 5.
The problem is that sometimes when I delete visual voicemail messages they automatically undelete themselves. Sometimes I will actually see them pop up in my visual voicemail after I delete them, other times they show up days later. This problem will be disappear for months then show up for short time then disappear again for a few more months.
I'm pretty savvy and have tried everything I can think of to fix it. I've cleared deleted messages, reset my voice mail settings from my end, upgraded to new phones and even had AT&T second tier support reset my entire voice mail system. It didn't sound like this was something even AT&T support had seen before.
I get a lot of calls for business and it's really embarrassing to return a call two weeks after I received it because I didn't realize I called them back a week before and deleted the message.
Any thoughts? Thanks.
Tim from Ventura, CA
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Answr_gmail_sync_contacts
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback it can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you get the most out of the show and it helps support the show at the same time - plus it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search for Tii in the iTunes app store.
Hi_Rob, hope you and your family are well. I produced this piece of artwork for your show with an app called Fakers Gold. It allows you to create your own newspapers and magazines. I have great fun putting my family and friends in them, and now it's your podcast's turn! Hope you like it.
Regards,
Geoff Green (London, UK).
==================
Transcript for Episode 266
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So if you have the Tii App - last week you got a push on the 24th saying that WWDC tickets would go on sale on the 25th at 10:00 AM PT - Thanks to Jeff I for the heads up on that initially. After I sent the push to all of you with the Tii App - I then sent an email to my boss and said if we wanted to send anyone we needed to buy the tickets as soon as tickets went on sale - because I felt they would sell out in 10 minutes maybe 20 minutes worst case. Wow was I off - they sold out in just 90 seconds. 1.5 minutes. oh my. So if you are a Father / son dev team - and you wanted to go to WWDC as a family event you could only buy one ticket at a time - which means there was no way for you to get through the process for both tickets in the 90 seconds it took to sell out - at $1600 dollars a ticket. For the 5,000 tickets. By that way that means Apple made about $8 Mil in ticket sales in under two minutes. And cheese - I thought getting on line at Southwest 2 minutes late to get my boarding pass was horrible - at least there I still get on the plane - even if it is at the end of a B group. Philp Elmer Dewitt at Fortune had a post on this and to compare how quickly Apple sold out this year vs past years in a chart - he had to go to a logrithmic scale. I did love one of the comments to the post quote Analysts were expecting a sellout in 89 seconds. This drastic miss on expectations clearly indicates that the growth of developer interest in iOS and OSX is slowing. unquote. Kudos to LTMP for his spot on snarky humor.
Oh and Per the Date of the event Apple announced that this years WWDC would be June 10th to the 14th. Which is kind of when people felt it would be. Given Tim cook's comments about no new products until the Fall - it seems WWDC again this year will be all about the software.
Interesting numbers and predictions out of the Yankee Group this past week. This comes from a survey they did of 16,000 US smartphone users. They found 91% of iPhone owners plan to purchase another iPhone when they can upgrade. While for Android the number is just 76% and 3/4's of the one quarter looking to switch are looking to get an iPhone. The Yankee group then Used those Loyalty numbers to project what the Overall Cellphone market in the US would look like in 2017 and what they found is come 2017 - the number one OS for cellphones would be iOS - not just smartphones - but all cell phones. And they have iOS with 42% of the market up from 2013's 20% market share. Android would be number 2 at 34% of the market - which is the same % they have every year from 2013 to 2017 according to their predictions. Number 3 in the list would be non-smartphones - with 12% market share - down from 2013's 32%. Windows phone in 2017 would be at 7% of market share. Although they show them with 4% in 2013 - Hmmmm - that does not seem likely. Blackberry will be at 2% in 2017 down from 3% in 2013. I guess some people just don't like change. Yes I am looking at my Wife on that one.
Interesting numbers overall. But the basic premise is that a much smaller % of iOS users plan to leave iOS - and a much bigger % of Android users plan to leave and over time that means More iOS users. Logically that all makes sense - and you can even prove out the math - except 2017 is a long way off - and there will be lots of product launches between now and then. I hope they are right - guess come 2017 if you are listening to this then please remind me to go over the numbers to see how they did.
And for the second year in a row - JD Powers has the iPad as the highest rated tablet. Shocker. Which means if Apple holds it loyalty numbers for Tablets like it does for iPhones - come 2017 - the iPad should also still be the top selling tablet. Surprisingly the number 2 tablet on the survey was Amazon's kindle fire - which runs an older version of Android and well is kind of cheap feeling. However the Survey rankings are based on a score from 4 different areas - Performance, ease of operation, features and cost. I am guessing the Kindle fire did pretty well in the cost area. I kind of gave up mentioning the JD powers survey's on the iPhone - because well it was year after year of the iPhone being on top. Guess the same is likely for the iPad.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - MARKUS_IPAD_RUN_OVER
Rob,
Yes you are able to close all the tabs in Safari on an iPhone/iPad/iPod.
This can be done in Settings. Go to Safari & toggle Private Browsing on or off and it will ask you if you want to close or keep all pages that are currently open.
Hopefully iOS 7 will allow an easier way to access Settings to make this easier with less taps.
Regards,
Mr. Nilo
Hi Rob,
Go to the Settings app > Safari and toggle Private Browsing On, tap Close All, then back off (selecting either). Done.
Lou V
Hi Rob,
For the guy (shannon?) in episode 264 who wants an app that updates budgets between his an his wife's phone: he should try "HOMEBUDGET". I find it does exactly this and after downloading you just enable family sync and you're live. I currently use it find it works perfectly.
Regards,
Tosin O
Hockley Heath UK
Hey Rob,
For the listener who wants a music app with a sleep timer. I would suggest "Songza". It also has nature sound playlists to help you get to sleep, like ocean waves, tropical rainforest, or thunderstorms.
Second a listener was looking for a banking app. I have recently found "Pageonce" and have loved it. If you sign in to your banking online account it can view and update all of your activity automatically. And if you pay bills online(credit cards, utilities, phone bill...) it can do that too, with alerts telling you when you have a new bill to pay.
Third to the listener in podcast hades. I use "iCatcher" I have never had a problem with it. You can stream or download any and every podcast automatically or manually over 3G/4G. It also has a sleep timer if you listen before bed.
AT&T had their quarterly call last week and gave out numbers for iPhone sales - which was 4.8 Mil iPhones sold last quarter out of 6 Mil smartphones sold overall. It used to be the iPhone was mentioned and asked about multiple times - this time however the word iPhone only shows up one time in the whole transcript for the call. Last year - it was mentioned 7 times. You would think for a device that made up 80% of AT&T's smartphone sales last quarter - it would have received a little more attention then it did.
Now interestingly last week when Sprint had their call the iPhone was mentioned 8 times during the call. Sprint sold 1.5 Mil iPhones last quarter and a total of 5 Mil Smartphones overall - so the iPhone was only 30% of Smartphone sales at Sprint - yet the iPhone was mentioned 8 times in the call. Guess it is one of those inverse things - no reason to mention it at AT&T since it is 80% of smartphone sales - but at Sprint where it is only 30% - people and by people I mean Anal-ists are wondering what is going on at Sprint and why the low % of iPhone sales.
My guess is over time if those loyalty numbers we heard about from the Yankee group earlier in the show are true - as more and more Sprint customer come up on their upgrade cycle - they will move off Android and onto iPhones - we shall see.
A Vietnamese Blog is reporting that the next iPhone will have a 12 MP camera and HDR recording. In the past early rumors about new Apple ware - coming out of Vietnam have proven to hold up - some times - and much more so than other areas - but not 100%. Does it make sense for Apple to go to a 12 MP camera - sure does - because most people love to play the numbers game and well Apple has pretty much improved the camera for each new version. After all the iPhone line is the most used camera line in the world when you look at uploads to photo sharing sites. And the iPhone is also been known for having the best camera over all -
and I would and anyone with a pulse would expect Appel to increase the camera - and guess what Sony's next gen camera module that is an upgrade from the one in the iPhone 5 - is you guessed it a 12 MP module. So yeah - this rumor makes sense - even if all they did was just connect the dots and speculate. Of course what the iPhone 5S really needs in the way of an improvement is better low light photos. That has been the one weakness for the iPhone line over the years - and hopefully something Apple addresses with the next iPhone. I think when the next Rumor Bingo card comes out - the 12 MB rumor will be right up there in the top left corner box.
There is a supposed leaked document out there from KDDI that claims the iPhone 5s pre-orders go live June 20th with a launch in July. Ummmm - No. The chances anyone and I mean anyone at KDDI or any other carrier at this time knows when the next iPhone will be launched and what it will be called - ZERO - Zip - NADDA - not the CEO of KDDI - not the CEO of AT&T or Verizon or Sprint or any other carrier anywhere in the world. Apple just does not share that info this early on. This is Apple we are talking about. And oh yeah there is that whole Tim Cook comment about nothing new until the fall too.
One of the reports coming out of the Bombings in Boston is that the bombers were planning on going to New York City the day they were killed / captured. And if they had gone to New York they would have set off bombs in Times Square. One of the key reasons they were killed and captured before they could actually carry out that deranged plan - was thanks to the Guy who they carjacked and forced to drive around with. The guy a 26 Tech entrepreneur had an iPhone and when he had a chance to escape - he purposefully left his iPhone behind because he knew he had find my iPhone turned on. He called the police and they used that feature to track the bombers and then confront them. Kudos to the guy that was carjacked for having the where with all to leave his iPhone behind and help save lives and really change the lives of many in NY that would have likely been injured or killed by those two lunatics. Which is now a good reminder - if you don't have find my iPhone turned on - now is a really good time to go and do that.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - RICH_QUEST_SIRI
Hi Rob,
I noticed today on Verizon's website that my upgrade date on my iPhone was moved from Dec 24th, 2013 to April 24th, 2014. Verizon used to let us upgrade 4 months ahead of our actual contract date so I assumed it was a mistake. I called Verizon to discuss this and they said it wasn't a mistake, it was their new policy to not allow anybody to upgrade early anymore. They are only allowing it if your upgrade date is before September of this year. I told the rep that I thought it was poor business ethics to not even inform us of this change. He basically said that's the way it was and if I had a complaint, I would have to write a letter to their West Area Correspondence Team in Elgin, IL. They won't even let you talk to them or email them. Anyway, just thought I'd let you & all the listeners know about this.
Regards,
Shannon H, Fountain Hills AZ.
Hi Shannon - Thanks for that feedback - Seems interesting they said Anyone before September could do the upgrade early - almost as if they expect or now of a big Phone launch in September. If anyone else has had there upgrade date change please let us know and your thoughts on this. 206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog - or email me at today in iOS at gmail dot com - and keep the language a clean as possible.
Hey Rob . I have been Listening since 2007.
I just got some Tmobile iPhones and they actually allow you to share you're 4g Internet with devices around you.
Just go to settings on the tmobile iPhone and and scroll down to hotspot sharing. They will give u a temporary pass key that you then log on with you're other devices. Sweet.
I now have 3 Tmobile iPhones in a family plan which we are currently paying just $30.00 a piece for unlimited service service. Every single phone I add is only $10.00 more for unlimited service which if I add two more will bring us down to a divided plan of just $20.00 a month plus the extra $20.00 that you would pay to finish paying off the phone itself. Still , way better plan than anyone else out there.
Regards, Sandy L
Hi Rob,
Greetings: I would strongly suggest the ios app: Pocket Casts. I rank it number one in reliability and flexibility. This app can import a unique podcast feed url not listed in their database of podcasts. Also, Pocket Casts supports PUSH notifications. It was created by a group of Australian developers (Shiftyjelly) but there is nothing that should prevent anyone from using it on their iphone.
in response to Bruce's question regarding a Podcasting app. My app of choice is Downcast. It is 1.99 in the App Store, but it is an extremely powerful and easy app to use. You can subscribe and update all your podcasts within the app, and create playlists that you can sort manually, by date or alphabetically. I use it every day and I can also vouch for the developer who is very quick to offer support for his app. This is my recommendation.
Regards,
Scott H
Hi Rob
This is a update since my email just over two months ago. I am happy to report that my brydge keyboard has now been replaced with a working unit of which I am now typing this email on. i am happy that in the end the story had a happy ending but to think the journey of two months to get to this stage could have been quicker and the brydge as a company could have dealt with the return processing a lot smoother without me having to chase them. The reason for the delay was they were not geared up to do international returns with mine being one of the first.
The keyboard has arrived in time for two conferences I am due to attend this week so it means I can leave my macbook at home and take the brydge. The keyboard has a lot to live up to when compared to the Zagg keyboard I have for my ipad 3 but I am enjoying the typing experience a lot better.
The lesson I have learnt from this experience is to think about my kickstarter backings in future so that I am not spending over £60, they actually have a product or the necessary permissions in place (eg iexpandr) and the product has a quick delivery time.
I'll get back to you in a couple of months to advise you of the long term thoughts.
Kind regards
Craig C
To Kickstarter we go - this week one of the projects that I found is the Hoodi - spelled - h o o d i - it is a magnetic shade for your iPad Maxi 3rd and 4th gen or another one for the iPad Mini - this project has a very modest goal of $10,000 and they are 41.57% of the way there and have until May 24th at 2:59 AM ET. So good chance they will make it. The hoodi costs $30 - and what the hoodi is is basically blinders for your Pad mini to block the sun from shinning on it so you can see what is one the screen - so if you are out at the pool this summer - you can use your iPad - and I am sure the hoodi on there will not hurt your chances with the ladies at all. But hey if you care more about reading your email then scoring with some hottie at the pool - then the hoodi is for you. Delivery for these is scheduled to start in July. This is kickstarter - so take that with a big grain of salt and a chlorine tablet to boot. In all seriousness - it does actually look like it could work - or at a min help quite a bit - for those of you that have used or tried to use the iPad at the pool - you know why this would be a good thing. Search for hoodi at kickstarter.com that is h o o d i - for hoodi that is not kickstarter.
There were a few of you when Microsoft introduced the Surface said you liked the keyboard. Well Surface keyboard envy you shall no longer have - as Logitech introduced the Logitech FabricSkin Keyboards for the price of $150 - which is not to bad - since the surface keyboard costs $100. Also with the Logitech Keyboard it is really a case and keyboard and it is waterproof - so while at Starbucks and someone walks buy and spills their coffee on your iPad you are covered - literally. This is for the iPad Maxi - 3rd and 4th gens. It comes in Mars Red Orange, Carbon Black, Mystic Blue and Sunflower Yellow. It does actually look pretty nice and they are taking pre-orders now. And with that - there really is no reason to look at the Microsoft Surface ever again.
I have heard from some that were saved from the Agony of Android that one app they do miss is Swype - it is a gesture keyboard that is pretty popular on the android side and it comes from Nuance - who has a relationship with Apple for its Voice recognition technology used in Siri. Well now a Swype exec has confirmed the company has had talks with Apple with regards to its Swype tech. What was not confirmed is what they talks were - it could be - Nuance saying Hey Apple - Hey Apple - want to see something cool - and Apple saying Thanks but not thanks. I mean those are talks. Hopefully however the talks were more along the lines - of Hey Nuance - Hey Nuance - want to see something cool - it is a check book. And now all they need to do is figure out the placement of the decimal point.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - MIKE_QUEST_IPHONES1
Hi Rob,
I have a First Gen iPad with IOS 5.1.1. When I am in the iTunes Store App for any length of time, anywhere from 30 seconds to 2-3 minutes, the app crashes. I can go back in, but it crashes repeatedly. I kill all the open apps and reboot the iPad and it lasts for a couple of minutes and crashes again. I even tried a factory reset with no restore. I think it's related to 5.1.1.
Is there something I can do to fix this or will Jailbreaking my iPad help in any way?
Regards,
Frank M
Hi Frank - I was going to respond - Nope not seeing this issue - can't help - but I would have only been half right - as I went and looked at my iPad 1st gen as well - and guess what - sure enough after a couple of minutes playing in the iTunes app - it quit and it did it again and again - even after closing out all other apps and doing a reset. So if anyone else has noticed this issue with iOS 5.1.1 and iTunes just quitting after a couple of minutes and knows of a fix - please help out Frank and I by letting us know what said fix is - 206-666-6364 or sending an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com. Oh and if you have a first gen iPad and think you don't have this issue - Well you might want to check the iTunes app store app out again - you might be surprised by what you find - I know I was.
Hi Rob,
Does anyone know of a app on ios that works like dashboard on Mac .could be good for apple to do this as it could ease the need for widgets. If anyone knows of one please help me out. Regards - Cameron B
Hi Rob,
Do you know of an iOS app that will show how many times an app has been used and or last time opened? I've gotten a lot of apps that I end up forgetting about. I'd like to use an app as I described to weed out what I don't use.
Regards, Gary in Boise
Hi Rob,
What is the best app or tweak on Cydia to backup all of my apps and tweaks that I have installed?
Regards
Max. Baltimore, MD.
Hi Max - One that has been mentioned before on the show and is recommended by Chris in London - is PKGbackup - Commercial version is $9.99.
Thanks to Mike for this next one. Which is about a jailbreak theme for iPads - that will allow you to make your iPad look and feel like a Mac. The Theme will set you back $3.50 and is from the repo - fnetdesigns.com/cydia/repo. Look for the link titled Transform your iPad into a Mac OS TEN Tablet in the show notes for ep 266 over at today in iOS dot com
Thanks to Tash for this next one. Which is about an update about an update to the Reeder App - as you may remember Google totally hosed a whole bunch of people with their decision to 86 Google Reader. Which is something the the Reeder App and many other apps relied on. Well v 3.1 of the Reeder app was just released and it comes with Feedbin and standalone RSS support. Feedbin being where many people that used to use Google Reader have migrated to. Important here is if you use Reeder and were using Google Reader - you can now import from Google Reader - and you have until July 1st to do so - as that is the pull the plug date for Google Reader. This update is for the iPhone version - iPad and Mac App users will have to wait just a bit longer to get their update.
I live surrounded by Towns that have announced or have Google fiber - to the East - West and North - their is google Fiber or at least plans for google fiber - but still no announcement that my city - Overland Park is getting it - but that is the rumor at least. In the mean time if you are one of the lucky few that does have google fiber - and prefer the iPad. Good news - you now can get the Google Fiber App for the iPad. At this point it is just for the iPad and not the iPhone - but Google did say an iPhone app is in the works and should be out soon - probably a lot sooner than any of us will see Google Fiber. Really at this point going into any features of the app would just be rubbing salt in our wounds. But hey if you want to be hated by all and you have Google fiber - go ahead and call in with your review of the Google fiber app for the iPad.
From the email bag.
Hi Rob,
I'm looking for a movie tracking app to keep track of movies I've seen and want to see. I'm looking for one that is able to combine movies in theaters now and movies on DVD or streaming. I see apps that do one but I haven't been able to find an app that combines both.
I don't see every movie in theaters, and then I tend to forget what I want to see by the time they are released on DVD or streaming.
Regards,
Dan
From Twitter comes this question
Hi rob. Could you suggest the best password saver for ipad. Regards,
@And_Costello
And since I don't use a password saver - I think it would be best to throw this one out to the audience - folks - what are your favorite Password saver programs - like One Password and the like - 206-666-6364 that's 206-moon-dog. or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
Hi Rob,
Would you or your listeners know how to get google contacts onto the iPad. I have tried setting it up like I did on the iPhone but when I go to settings: mail: add account and start to set up gmail, it doesn't give me the option to set up contacts. Only does mail, notes and calendar.
Pls help as I can search and find contacts on my iPad that are on my phone and thus can't FaceTime a lot of my contact.
Regards,
Tosin O in the UK
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback it can be a question or comment about something mentioned on the show or not, An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired and appreciated. If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you enjoy the show more and it helps support the show at the same time - and it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search Tii in the iTunes app store.
USE RECORDING
And once more thanks to IK Multimedia for offering up the 5 iRig Mic Casts to give away - if you want a chance for one of them - either put up a tweet about this episode or re-tweet of my tweet about this episode with #Tii added in and then email me about the tweet with twitter in the subject line - or just send an email with iRig in the subject line.
I recently took my family to Singapore for vacation and was able to take this picture of the Marina Bay Sands hotel. I took this picture with my iPad mini, removed the color with the PopAGraph app then added the "ii" with the app Over.
We will get to Apples quarterly conference call at the end of today's episode. I actually recorded most of today's episode
Monday night - and then will finish up the episode right after I listen to today's quarterly conference call. So there will be some speculation in this episode recorded before the call - and by the end of the episode we will see how good or bad said speculation was. Also a little clarification from ep 264 at the 57:20 mark - I said get a little ahead - as in ahead on my emails. I did not say what some of you thought I said - but I will say my wife thought I said it as well when I played it for her. And now into the news.
This first item was supposed to be on the last episode - but I assigned it to the wrong episode in my notes on evernote. Sorry about that. This is with regards to Apple TV 3rd gen - and Apple replacing units that have wifi connectivity issues. So if you have an Apple TV 3rd gen unit and it is having issues connecting and staying connected to your wifi network - look for the link in the show notes titled Apple TVs have wifi issues - and see if your serial number is covered as one Apple will replace - and then take it to your local Apple store and get a replacement. And please let me know afterwards how your experience went.
Chitika reported that iPad usage share for US and Candian traffic went up in March to 81.9% of all traffic - what is interesting this was the first monthly rise since December. Thoughts on this - well In December - lots of people were given / purchased non-iPad tablets. And they started using them in December and by March - well they discovered using them not as compelling as those with iPads - and that is why iPad traffic grew in March vs Jan and Feb - when people were still in a honeymoon phase with non iPad tablets. If this theory is correct - we should expect another rise in market share for April. Try to remember this one for next months report from Chitika. Chitika speculate the rise might be due to Apple offering refurbished units for sale on line - I am not buying that logic. Again I just think it is about Android users not having as good an experience with their devices as iPad users. But in any case - iPad usage at 81.9% of US and Canadian traffic does re-enforce that iPad users like using their iPads.
Thanks to Ed for the heads up on this next one. Which is more iOS vs Android data - this one is with regards to Ad traffic for mobile platforms. This being global ads across Oprea Mediaworks ad subsidiaries - AdMarvel, Mobile Theory and 4th screen with combined serve over 50 billion ad impressions each month. What they see is iOS in first place with 44.53% of all ad served. Android in 2nd with 31.26%, Other at 14.29%, Symbian at 5.6% and Rim at 4.23%. And when you looked at a % of revenue generated - iOS was even more dominate at 49.23% vs Android at 26.7%, other at 15.39%, Rim at 6.19% and Symbian at 2.46%. Per iOS break down - the iPhone was most dominate followed by the iPad and then the iPod touch. Traffic wise the iPhone was about a 5 to 1 ratio vs the iPad. On the Android side the phones were a 30 to 1 ratio vs the tablets. Boy going over all these numbers kind of makes you wish you had something from the folks at Durex - but hey we will get to that later in the show.
First off in the email bag we have the following:
Hi Rob,
I believe Ryan in Episode 0264 asked for a Music App with a Sleep Timer, not sure if this helps, but if he's happy to still use the Stock Music App then he could also use the Stock Clock App to turn off the music. Here's how too do it:
1. Open up the Clock App
2. Select Timer
3. Decided how long you want the Music to play for
4. Select the option 'When Timer Ends'
5. Scroll all the way to the bottom and
Select 'Stop Playing'
6. Hit the 'Start' Button.
It doesn't matter if you start your music playing before or after you've performed the above step, and as I'm sure you've guessed, when the timer runs out the music will stop playing.
Hope that helps, keep up the good work and always look forward to listening too your Podcasts.
Kind regards
Mark T. of Quarry Bank, England.
Thanks Mark and also thanks goes out to Jose, Darrin, Robert, Shannon, Bernard, Heather, Mitchell, Chelsea and a few others who also sent in the same reply on this one. Guess it is one of those tips I should have known, See even after 6 years of doing this show I am still learning new things. Staying on this subject.
Hello Rob,
One of my favorite apps is iHome+Sleep. Along with being able to set multiple alarms to wake you up with the music of your choice, you can also fall asleep to music. I first started using this app for the alarm feature but quickly fell in love with the app's sleep tracking function. When you want to go to sleep, you simply slide to sleep. When you are ready to wake up, you slide to awake. Under the Stats tab, you are able to see daily, weekly, and monthy sleep times, wake times, hours of sleep, and snooze cycles. If you need to adjust your times, you can do that too. I hope this helps!
Stacy
Rob,
A caller ask for an music app that allows you
to set a timer to have the music stop playing
after a duration (sleep timer).
With this iPhone app, you can enjoy Music with Lyrics, watch Music Videos and study using Special Mode and use an sleeper timer.
It works pretty good. When it gets to the time, it gradually lowers the volume and stop the music instead of abruptly ending the music.
For the gentleman who wanted to be able to keep track of his and his wife's daily spending, you could use a simple spreadsheet with built in formulas so that the balance updated after every entry and store it in Dropbox for easy access from both parties. This would eliminate the need to use the same iTunes account
Regards,
Kris
Hi Rob,
I’m emailing you in regards to your listener Shannon who was asking about an app that could sync expenses between he and his wife. I’ve tried several apps and have spent quite a bit of money on different apps hoping to find this type of expense tracking app for my wife and I. I finally found an app called EEBA. It’s an envelope budgeting app that can be used to create individual budgets for your monthly expenses. However I’ve found that by not creating a budget but rather just creating an envelope that’s labeled ‘checking account’, my wife and I are able to put in our daily expenses and deduct from that envelope-our checking account and it immediately syncs both of our phones. It’s completely free and I’ve found it to be extremely useful. Hope this information is useful.
Thanks for the great show!
Your listener from the state of Montana,
Scott
PLAY VOICEMAIL - SCOTT1 AND SCOTT2
PLAY VOICEMAIL - MAX_ANSWR_NUMBERS
WORST NEWS POST TITLE EVER - From CNN.com - quote Verizon iPhone sales tumble 33% unquote. Wow - how totally deceitful and full of link bait. CNN clearly is having issues when resorting to titles like that. Yes - quarter over quarter the number of iPhones sold at Verizon dropped - of course they did - the previous quarter was the first full quarter of the iPhone 5 and the Christmas quarter. Better to look year over year - and in that case the iphone sales at Verizon were up 25% - that is up 25% from last year - that is the news - not that iPhone sales dropped from Q4 2012 to Q1 2013 - of course they did. Also news - iPhones represented over 55% of the smartphones sold last quarter at Verizon - so Yes - All Android phones, Windows Phones, and Blackberry Phones combined were still not even close to the iPhones sold last quarter. For the record there were 4 Mil iPhones sold last quarter at Verizon. Interesting according to Verizon only about half of those were LTE - so per people saying Apple needs a low cost iphone - seems consumers already found it - as in the iPhone 4 and 4S. Well at least in the US where there are subsidies.
One thing I think not be factored into iPhone sales growth is the low cost carriers in the US. When I said on the last episode I thought there would be about 40 Mil iPhones sold last quarter - I figured some of that growth would be coming from lower cost carriers that have the iPhone - like Straight Talk - and Straight talk is reporting some good numbers as far as subscriber growth goes. Guess the question is how much of that growth is via new iPhone sales vs those people picked up on the used market. Plus looking at Verizon's numbers - there was a 25% gain year over year. And last year in the first quarter Apple sold 35.1 Mil iPhones - if that 25% gain was indicative of all carriers for Apple - then Apple should blow away 40 Mil iPhones sold and be closer to 44 Mil iPhones sold. We will talk about this at the end of the show with the actual sales.
Ok one more data point that might not bode well for my projections - this one from LG Displays - and they did their quarterly report on Monday and reported drop in production orders last quarter. Now Apple is about 30% of their business - and it is very possible that the drop in orders was from their other customers. So on one side we have Verizon and Straight talk showing good numbers - on the other side we have vendors showing not so good numbers. Will be an interesting end of the show today.
Changewave did a survey to measure the interest with consumers of an iWatch - and what they found is that 19% are interested in this device Actually 5% are very likely to buy said device and 14% are somewhat likely to buy said device. While 19% might not sound high - and some blog posts are titled over 81% are not interested in an iWatch. Which is link bait at best. But 19% of likely or very likely buyers for an unannounced product is actually 1% higher than the 18% of buyers interested in an iPad in Jan 2010 before it was announced. So based on that comparison - said iWatch if it was a real product would probably do pretty well. I know I am very likely to buy said product and I would guess so are most of you listening. Ofcourse there are a few things that could change that 19% - like Price - Specs - and oh yeah - the product actually existing. Which so far is well more than a minor detail.
On the has not been announced but highly speculated front is the lower cost iPhone rumor - and now there are some pictures of what is supposed to be the back casing of said lower cost iPhone - and if true shows it to be a plastic back - i.e. iPhone 3G and 3GS. Of course it could just be a plastic case for an iPhone 4 / 4S or 5 - since there are no dimensions given.
Thanks to Mark for this next one which will be of interest to our listeners in Iceland - especially the single listeners. The app is called islendiga App - and it is there to help icelanders avoid accidental incest. You bump your iPhone with the person you are looking to hook up with and it emits a warning alarm if they are closely related. I guess according to the article this is something that is a problem in Iceland. Where you go to a family party only to see someone you recently hooked up with. Or so says the article from USA Today. Now I was going to do a West Virginia Joke or an Arkansas joke - but actually in W. Virginia and Arkansas it is against the law to mary your first cousin - but you know where it is not against the law - NY and CT - yeah - so just remember that folk in the NY area before making fun of People in W. Vir or Arkansas. Just Sayin.
Thanks to John in Gilbert AZ for this next one. Which is another Android Malware story - this time about apps with malware that may have been downloaded up about 9 million times - but not from un-official Android app stores - but rather from the Google Play app store. Seems Google's idea of a walled garden - forgot that whole walled part. Ouch. Sucks to be an Android user.
Hi Rob,
Love the show. I'm always learning stuff and I love hearing about new products and apps.
Here's a little trick you might like. You don't need to jailbreak and you don't even have to have Siri. You can actually use Siri's voice for your ringtone. For example, when your mother calls, you can have Siri say: "WARNING...Your mother is calling. Would you like me to send it to your voicemail or ignore it?"
Or when you get a new voicemail... "You're so lazy. Because you wouldn't get up off your butt you now have a new voicemail!"
I've attached a couple samples.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - TIP_BRANDON_MOTHER
Here's how.
1. You need 2 iOS devices. They don't need to have Siri.
2. On device #1, make sure you have "speak selection" on. You can find this under settings>general>accessibility. You will want to adjust the speed too.
3. On the same device go to the notes app and type what you would like Siri to say.
4. On device #2 download create ringtones! From the App Store.
5. Follow the instructions on how to record your own ringtone.
6. On device #1 select the text and tap on "speak" at the same time as you tap "record" on device #2.
7. Follow the instructions in the ringtones app on how to sync the ringtone back to your device through iTunes.
8. Assign it to your mothers contact in the contacts app. Or your regular ringtone or alert tone under settings>sounds.
DONE!!
If you want to make the recording better quality you could use a device like the iRig between the devices. I haven't tried it yet but it should work in theory.
I have a 4s and am looking to go cordless. I mostly listen to podcasts and music with my headphones and want to know what are the best options for going wireless w Bluetooth that would allow me the same control I have with my wired headphones.... Thanks
Phil
Hi Phil,
The Plantronics Backbeat 903+ were ones recommended in the past by a few people - I went over other pairs on Episode 238
Durex the condom people - are launching I kid you not - vibrating underwear for him and her - that are controlled by an iOS App - so now when you are away from the one you love you can set up a Skype call and literally reach out and touch them. Yes by touching on the iOS app - it causes the other persons underwear to vibrate. Our I guess you could touch the iOS app and have it vibrate your own under ware - you may ask why you would need an app to do that - well you could launch the app while in a conference meeting and turn a boring meeting about last quarter results into a more stimulating meeting. Sure beats biting the inside of your cheek to stay awake - just sayin.
If you are a Time Warner Cable customer - you can now watch selected shows on your iOS device when out and about. As long as you have a Wifi connection or are jailbroken and running the tweak that makes your iOS device think it is on Wifi and not on cellular. Previously the Time warner cable app only would work at your location. Now you can take it with you. Search for the TWC space TV app in the iOS App store.
PLAY VOICEMAIL bruce_feedback_podcast
Hi Rob,
I really don't like the new podcast app. I have several stories I listen to that several episodes were uploaded on one day. Instead of playing episode # 1, 2, 3..., the podcast app plays 3 2 then 1. I can not control the order they are played even in a play list. Urg
You advised me to uncheck "use cellular data" to keep from using all my data downloading unwanted podcast and I am sure glad I did that. It automatically downloads when I am home on my wifi.
Regards,
Robin
Hi Rob,
I tried the podcast app only once and will not waste my time on it anymore. This is a major misstep for Apple along with Maps. The market may not be kind of more missteps. Samsung is biting at the heels but I'm committed to apples "closed" system where "we" are the customers and not the bait for advertisers.
I use stitcher and icatcher. I know you said the podcast app had a provision now similar to stitcher and that's good.
Stitcher now has a download and save option but I stream stitcher and use icatcher for downloads.
It looks like Facebook is trying discreetly to move in on googles advertising revenue with Facebook home. I expect google to do something.
I left Facebook. Didn't need the partyline. A good target to be hacked with all the membership was a big factor. I was spending too much time there.
All the best. And let's hope that the summer will be a boring news time for the USA. I am about 40mi from the explosion in West,Tx of the fertilizer plant. Our thin windows rattled and the bedroom door rattled. It was hard to believe but we thought it was thunder we didn't hear at the time.
Mike R
Hi Rob,
A listener asked about the best app to stream podcasts. The app that immediately come to mind, because I use it daily and was actually using it to listen to the Today in iOS podcast from which the caller asked the question. I am heavy podcast listener; however, I have not downloaded a podcast in a while. Since my iPhone 4S days, I have only streamed podcasts using the free app - Stitcher Radio. Stitcher streams just as well on the 3G, 4G, LTE or
WIFI networks. Stitcher allows you to mark podcasts as favorites or create playlists for your podcasts. It is called Stitcher because it stitches your list of podcasts together to create your own personal radio station. It doesn't matter whether the podcast is a daily, weekly, monthly or whenever they get a chance to update the podcast show, Stitcher will play the next available podcast with the newest content. You can place the shows in the order that you desire, so you can place the daily shows at the top so that you get the latest content first. The longer you listen to your personal show, the older content will play eventually play. You can jump to any show or even a particular episode of any show at anytime.
You can get recommended shows that are similar to the shows that you are listening to or have saved as favorites or in your playlists. So this feature allows you to find content that you may never know about if you were just listening to podcasts in the Apple Podcast app. Additionally, they have a channel called "Smart Station" that will automatically add shows to this smart station based on your thumb ups and thumb downs.
Lastly, They even have live radio stations that allows you to listen to live radio stations that are near your location or via category based selections like talk, sports, music or location. I love this app and I listen to it twice daily; in the morning as I
head to work and again or the return trip home. My car has a Bluetooth enable radio and I love streaming it into the car's stereo system, but mostly I enjoy it via my LH HBS700 Bluetooth headset, Jambone JamBOX Bluetooth speaker or BOSE QuietComfort 15 wired headphones.
Thought the listeners would enjoy this tweak. It adds a toggle in options in the camera app.
When phototorch is turned on, whenever the camera flash toggle is turned on (not auto) the flash constantly stays on instead of just flashing. Very helpful for night pictures.
Regards,
Levi
Hi rob !
Hey I was wondering - is there a fast way of closing all of the tabs in safari on the iPad/iPhone?
Regards,
Tash
Hi Tash - not that I know of - At least not with out Jailbreaking - if anyone knows of a way with a jailbreak to close out all the open tabs in Safari on an iOS device - please let us know.
Hi Rob,
Is there a backgrounder like tweak in Cydia that works with iOS 6?
Thanks!
Steven
PLAYVOICE MAIL - JIM_MI_THINKING_JB_QUEST
Hi Rob,
I went to register for the full version of PDANet for my jailbroken iPhone 5 today, fully expecting to pay the full $29, and was pleasantly surprised to see that the full version is on a promo sale right now for $16.
I couldn't find any info on the duration of this promo, but hopefully it'll stay on long enough for your listeners to get wind of it.
If anyone else out there has been holding off on buying the full version of PDANet, now seems like a good time to go for it.
-Matt
Thanks matt for the heads up - and folks if your were thinking about getting PDA net the full version - now seems to be the time.
One of the items I have been testing out of late is the Sound Cylinder from Definitive Technology. This is one of the best looking Bluetooth speakers I have seen - actually it is the best looking. It is beautifully crafter Cylinder that offers 2.1 sound - meaning it has 3 speakers - a left and right speaker and a subwoofer for bass from both left and right combined. 2Watts for each the left and right speaker and 4 Watts for the sub-woofer. If you like base this speaker offers some nice base. While it is a cylinder it does have a kickstand and a mounting bracket where you stick in your iPad so you can have your iPad mounted up on this and watch a movie or music videos. You can also mount it on top of your Mac Book Pro screen. There is a notch out that is the right size so as to not block your cam and mic on the top of the screen. For battery life they said it is about 10 hours - my testing seemed to go longer than that - as I was able to run it for at least 3 days with on and off usage each time through out the day. Dave's lounge sounded great. Now this is not a cheap speaker - this is a higher end speaker - it runs $199. The only downside I saw with it at all was when an iPad was mounted in it in portrait mode - if you bumped into it - it could fall forward - I did not see this happen with it when it was in landscape mode. So just be careful and I would recommend if using it in Portrait mode to make sure you keep an eye on it and push it back on the kickstand to make sure it is leaning back when you first mount it. But sound wise and looks wise it really is a beautiful and great sounding speaker. It also accepts a standard 1/8th inch line in if you don't have bluetooth. If you have a mac book pro or an iPad - this is a really high quality addition for nice loud and full sound. One nice thing with this speaker it switched effortlessly between my iPad and iPhone - with the speaker turned on and running my iPad - I turned off the iPad and turned on bluetooth on my iPhone and it connected with out having to turn off the speaker - some other speakers I have - required some effort to switch off. This one switched really easy between devices. Search for Sound Cylinder in the show notes for ep 265 over at today in iOS dot com.
A quick heads up Netflix updated their app on Monday the 22nd to Version 4.0. What is new you ask - well according to iTunes what is new is quote This new app release makes watching Netflix TV shows and movies an even better experience.
• Easy episode selection with a brand new episode selector on the iPad
• Redesigned audio and subtitle selector on iPad and iPhone
• Bug fixes
unquote.
I will say if you are JB and using xcon to trick it into thinking you are not jailbroken - you may want to hold off updating until it is clear wether this new version causes any issues with xcon users. Oh and yeah if you don't like change any change - yeah maybe you don't want to update either. But then again you are probably still on the original iPhone and this version does not work with it anyway as it requires iOS version 5.0 or later.
Hi Rob.
I am told that Bluetooth 4.0 exists in the iPhone 4s/5 and supports video streaming. Do you or your listeners know of a Back-up Camera that utilizes this and transmits video directly to the phone? If not, maybe a developer can start a Kickstarter project that provides this function! It would be nice if when I hit reverse gear, it would send me a notification on my iPhone and when selected, opens up the video stream.
Thanks for all you do.
Brian in Toronto.
Hey Rob,
Ever since two versions of iTunes ago, every time I sync my iPhone 5, about 20 songs sync every time. After much research on google and apple forums, my songs still sync.
The only thing I have now determined these songs have in common is there all songs I purchased on iTunes. They appear to be AAC. Do you know or have you heard of how to stop iTunes from syncing purchased AAC music every sync?
Thanks so much for you help and I really appreciate the work you do on my favorite podcast!
Steven In Virginia
Hi Rob,
Low on space? Have Pimp Your Screen installed? Check its storage usage! Settings -> General -> Usage. You may need to show all apps.
I was looking at my app usage and found PYS was using 550MB! Of course, one could just delete the app and reinstall it, right? But where is the fun in that? There has to be a harder way! :-)
For jailbreakers:
Install AppLinks from Cydia. This creates relabel directory names for all yout apps. Open AppLinks and click on the refresh icon in the bottom left. When done, close the app.
Using iFile (from Cydia), go to your home directory. Go to AppLinks -> Pimp Your Screen. Now you are in the app's home folder.
Go to Library -> Cache -> Three20. For me, there were 429 files that seem to average a little over 1MB each in size. Deleted all of the files to the Trash. Emptied the trash.
Now PYS shows 63MB. Much better!
I could not find any settings for PYS in-app or in Settings. So, I didn't see any way to force PYS to clear its cache.
Thought this might help some listeners.
You could leave out the jailbreak stuff if you want to make the segment a lot shorter. :-)
Tim Cooks started the call - he mentioned a lot more surprises in the works - but not till the fall and then across 2014. And he said Apple will be doubling capital returns - by increasing share repurchases and increasing dividends by 15% up to $3.05 per share.
Rev = $43.6 Billion (vs $39.2 Billion a year ago quarter and $54.5 Billion last quarter)
Total Cash = $144.7 Billion (up $7.6 Billion for the quarter from $137.1 Billion)
Last Quarter Sales:
iPhones Sold = 37.4 Mil (vs 35.1 Mil a year ago quarter and 47.8 Mil last quarter)
iPads Sold = 19.5 Mil (vs 11.8 Mil a year ago quarter and 22.9 Mil last quarter)
All iPod's Sold = 5.6 Mil (vs 7.7 Mil a year ago quarter and 12.7 Mil last quarter)
iPod Touches Sold = Not given as usual but over half of the 5.6 Mil iPods sold
Misc:
>850,000 iOS apps
>350,000 iPad Apps
>$9 Billion in App sales to Devs all time, and now over $1 Billion per quarter.
Tim Cook when asked about the 5" display - said there are a lot of tradeoff's for the large screens and they would not build a larger screen while those trade offs existed - which to me sounds like Apple speak for they are working on a 5" display.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback it can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you enjoy the show more and it helps support the show at the same time - and it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search Tii in the iTunes app store.
Here is one Story I thought many would like to know about and it has to do with being careful with what is in your hand when you are driving.
A Drive in CA was ticketed for looking at his maps app on his iPhone while driving. The driver in this case was a lawyer and fought the law - but you guessed it the law won. Sorry could not resist. Yup - Judges held up it was not legal to hold and look at your Smartphone while driving for any reason. So if you are like me and you are holding that iPhone while driving and have the maps going - time to put it down and keep both hands on the wheel - especially if you are in a hands free jurisdiction. And that is also why good turn by turn directions are needed with map apps.
A bunch of stores carrying the iPad line cut prices early this month. The iPad Mini is now just $299 for the 16 Gig Wifi version at Walmart and Best Buy. Additionally there were big cuts in the price of the 3rd gen iPad maxi. For example the iPad 3rd gen 16 Gig wifi model is now listed at $314.99 down from $449. If this sounds like a fire sale to make way for the next gen iPads - you would not be alone - well except for Wal-mart and Best Buy - said it had nothing to do with clearing inventory for a new product. Because you know price discounts on the iPad Mini which is still selling great - make perfect sense - just like 30% cuts in pricing for 3rd gen iPad maxi's - nothing to see here - just move along folks.
Did I mention we are sooooo over due for an Apple announcement of any sort. Yeah - this leads me to believe the next Apple Product announcement will be iPad specific.
Uncle Gene Munster when he is not dreaming of an Apple iTV - is at the local mall chasing down teenagers to ask them personal questions. Like you know what type of smartphone do you have or plan to get. And as in the past when Gene did this the results are positive for apple - very positive. Teens overwhelmingly prefer the iPhone. 62% of teens plan to make their next phone. Vs just 23% that expect to buy an Android. Oh and 48% of teens survey'd already had an iPhone vs just 40% last fall when Gene did the same survey. On the tablet side - 51% already own a tablet. Of those that do - 68% own an iPad. 17% plan to buy a tablet in the next 6 months with 68% planning on getting an iPad. With the iPad Maxi being the choice over the iPad mini at a ratio of almost 4 to 1. Yes for every 5 Teenagers that plan to get an iPad 4 of them plan to get the maxi - so much for the mini killing the maxi.
More data that is Apple positive comes from Comscore - They found that out of the 133.7 Mil Smartphone users in the US - Apples Market share went up 3.9% to 38.9%.
Still Not sure how much or what type or if there is any news in the near term that will do anything to break Apples stock out of its funk. Wallstreet just wants to hear only the bad news about Apple these days.
Oh hey lets just keep on with keeping on with Stats - This time we go back to uncle Gene Munster and Piper Jaffray - who looked at 10 of the top 100 Mobile websites - like answers.com, tumblr, linked in and Bleacher Report. Here is what they found - In March 66.4% were coming on an iOS device up from 65.4% in Feb. Android in March dropped to 28.7% down from 29.7% in Feb. A few sites and Munster himself try to analyze this data and what it means - but really - it just comes back to - iOS users use their devices for more than Android users. It is all about the engagement with the device.
Some more of the iOS vs Android consumption stats - this time from Libsyn.com the worlds largest Podcast hosting company. When they and by they I mean I looked at the stats for March for all downloads - over 51% of podcast downloads were to mobile devices - which is great news for podcasters. And when I looked at the downloads for iOS vs Android there was a 4.76 to 1 ratio of iOS downloads vs Android downloads. Still proving that iOS devices are for more than just phone calls - unlike most Android devices. I will try to look at these numbers each month going forward and by I I mean Libsyn.com will.
Hi Rob
I thought you might find this interesting :)
Regards
Ian from
Morecambe, UK
Hi Ian - Yes Indeed I did find this interesting - with this in this case being stats - yes more stats - and this time they come from Campaign Monitor - And they send out Email campaigns. And they track where those emails are getting opened. And what they found will not surprise any listeners of this show. 1. Mobile email clients opening the emails out gun those for desktop / PC's. And two of the mobile clients - Number one is the Mail client for iOS - with 35.6% of all emails opened. Vs 2nd place - Outlook at 20.14% and hotmail - yes Hot Mail in 3rd at 13.57%. 4th goes back to apple with Apple Mail at 11%. Sadly these numbers were last updated in August / September. Would be interesting to see if there was any change in numbers since then.
In the over before it is over category - comes the news that iSuppli just released a new report saying the Netbook category will be dead by 2015. Well except for the fact is it already basically dead. In 2010 - the year the iPad was released Netbooks shipped to the tune of over 32 Million units world wide. This year iSuppli says netbooks will ship a total of less than 4 Million units. Or less then how many iPads shipped since I released episode 262 of Tii. I would say if you go from 32 Mil in 2010 to less then 4 mil in 2013 - Yeah - that is dead already. No need to wait to 2015 to put the fork in it. Stick it in now and just say netbooks are dead and move on. Today if you want a net book - you get an iPad Mini and a keyboard case - and you are done.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Jesi_CA_answer_bank
Hi Rob,
In regards to the guy looking for a good banking app he can write notes in and other stuff, one of the best banking apps I have found is called Mint. It's free in the Apple App Store. It shows all your banking, lets you write notes on individual transactions, gives you the ability to set budgets, shows your credit card accounts you choose, shows all of your spending what and where you're spending money at. I highly recommend and only use my banks app for very specific things such as bill pay.
Thanks for the great shows as always,
Chris in Orange County, CA
Good morning Rob,
I hope this day finds you well. I'm hoping you or the listeners can help me. I'm looking for a spending tracker/ budget app. I've tried a few like iSpending, Manilla & Mint & they do a pretty good job. Manilla & Mint actually keep your balances current by communicating with your bank, not sure if I like that or not. I'm simply looking for an app that my wife & I can each have on our phones & when we spend or deposit money, either cash or debit, she or I would enter it manually and it would then update the balance on the other phone. I have a 4S & she has a 5, we do not share an Apple ID. I hope I didn't make this too confusing,
Thank you sincerely,
Shannon H in Fountain Hills, AZ
Thanks to Tash for this next one - which is another story where people are complaining about apples security - well kinda sorta. In this case the people complaining are the man - and they are complaining that Apples security for iMessage is so good quote impossible to intercept iMessages between two Apple devices," unquote This according to a document from the US DEA. So Yes the US Government intelligence and Law Enforcement agencies are complaining that iMessage is too secure. Which means if you are looking for a secure messaging platform to use at work - iMessage is the one for you.
Apple will report Financials on Tuesday April 23rd at 5:00 PM ET - I will time the next episode to come out shortly there after. With the Financial just about a week away it means it is time for the wrap up of the anal-ists with regards to predicting iPhone and iPad sales. As always Philip Emer Dewitt does a great job gathering up all the predictions. Lets start with the iPhone predictions. Last quarter of 2012 there were 47.8 Mil actually sold. This quarter the pros on average are predicting 36.4 Mil units sold vs the 37.9 Mil iPhones sold that the non-pros are predicting. On the extremes. Shaw Wu at Sterne Agee predicting just 32.5 Mil iPhones sold. And Michel Contant from The Braeburn group predicting 42.5 Mil sold. I find myself thinking the numbers will be closer to the 40 Mil units sold. We shall see.
On the iPad Side - last quarter of 2012 there were 22.86 Mil iPads sold. This past quarter the anal-ists are predicting an average of 18.44 Mil iPads from the Pros and just 17.7 Mil iPads from the non-pros. The extremes were Brian Blair from Wedge Partners at 13 Mil sold vs Stuart Jeffrey from Nomura at 21.72 Mil sold. I think it is very very safe to say that Brian is whack. And the real number should be in the 18.5 to 19 Mil range for sales last quarter - or so I think. We shall see on the 23rd.
Interestingly on the numbers being reported front - FoxConn reported it biggest revenue decline in over a decade last week - and quickly speculation went wild that this is because of a slow down in demand for iOS devices that foxconn makes for apple. Or maybe just maybe it could be about the other 40% or so of business at FoxConn that is not apple related. Remember FoxConn /Hon Hai also has as customers HP, Dell, Nokia and Nintendo - and well we all know how great sales of those companies products are doing. While we will not know for sure on the numbers until next week - I think it is more likely that the decline had to do with Apples PC competitors that are getting their butt kicked by iPads - then it is in any slow down of sales of iOS devices - which again is how many spun the news. On the 23rd we will see who was right and who was wrong.
T-Mobile has an offer that is well not the best offer - if you trade in your iPhone 4 or 4S - they will waive the down payment on the iPhone 5 - or put another way they will give you $99 for your iPhone 4 or 4S. Which is $50 less than Gazelle will give your for the iPhone 4 and over a $100 less than what they would give you for the 4S. Yeah - stay away from that deal with a 10 foot pole.
Hi Rob,
Just wanted to mention, T-mobile's new unlimited actually is unlimited. They don't throttle the new plans at 5 gigs.
This link says they will use throttling as network management only in the interest of fair use for other users on the network, which is the way it's supposed to be.
I'll reserve final judgment until I use it myself, as I am currently set to use on the order of 50-70 gigs a month.
I'm going once they have LTE in Louisville. I currently have AT&T and I get throttled after 2 days, although sometimes I can fool the throttling system. T-mobile's new plans are why I got an unlocked iPhone 5 as soon as they came out. Shame this old school A1428 isn't compatible with AWS HSPA+.
Regards,
Dennis F
And with T-Mobile launch late last week - how did they do on sales - Personally I was not expecting much - after all the iPhone 5 has been out on a lot of carriers already in the US since September. But that did not stop T-Mobile from having quote one of its biggest weekends in the history of the company unquote. Heck there were even reports of some lines at some T-mobile stores. Really lines for a 7 Month old Phone - wow - again this just goes to show the iPhone is in a world of its own.
It seems like forever since the last Apple new product announcement and the natives are a getting a restless. Which means the rumors are coming out of the wood work again. Lets quickly go over some of the latest once. MacRumors had some pictures of what is supposed to be internals of the next iPhone - one of which is the audio control cable - and if it is for a future iPhone shows it going to a push button for mute rather than a switch - which makes very little sense. Another rumor from John Gruber and a source of his I would assume is that iOS 7 is being delayed as it is taking longer and but that the next iPhone will be out when planned - just running on iOS 6 - and then later you upgrade to iOS 7. One possible reason for the delay is Johnny Ive is getting his hands dirty ripping out all the skewmorophic design elements. When it comes to rumors - Gruber has one of the best track records. Thanks to Tash for the heads up on this next rumor - which comes via Korean Times and that is that Apple is reportedly Dropping Samsung for its main chip supplier. Essentially that the A7 Main processor / heart of future iOS devices would be manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company - TSMC - and the Samsung is being given the old heave hoe - Which really is not a matter of if - just a matter of when. Given Apples and Samsungs relations ship and Tim Cooks history on the supply side - I have to imagine for the past couple of years - one of Tim's biggest priorities was facilitating a full and complete divorce from Samsung as a supplier. That is how Apple best hurts Samsung - pulling their business - not all those darn lawsuits.
Back to the rumors - on the iPhone 5S or 7th gen iPhone or next iPhone - or whatever - Rumors from Brian White of Topeka Capital have said device coming with scanning tech for your fingerprints. White then went further into fantasy land talking about an iWatch and possibly iRing - could be used to control an iTV all when you apparently took another hit from his iBong. Just Sayin. Back to the leaked component rumor front comes pictures of what could be the front panel of the 5th gen iPad. What was interesting on this leaked component - is that the bezel on the sides is much thinner than at the top and the bottom - unlike the current iPad - which is more uniform around the full bezel. In other words this looks closer to the iPad Mini's ratios than the iPad Maxi's current ratios for the bezel. Finally on the Rumor front were the ones from the Wall Street Journal with regards to the next gen iPhone which they think will be out this summer - Thanks guys for narrowing it down to between the end of June and end of September for us. Shocker if they miss that window. WSJ also thinks the iPhone is going to the land of Unicorns and Rainbows - well ok - just rainbows as in multicolor iPhones - just like the multicolor iPod Touches. Said next gen iPhone will have an A7 processor - duhhh - and a better camera - double duhhh. Yeah - not so much rumors are obvious predictions.
And on top of all those rumors last week - this week is the rumor that FoxCon has started ramping up the hiring of new workers for the next gen iPhone build. This according to both Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal and both siting sources familiar with the situation. Expectation / speculation is that production of the next gen iPhone will start any day now if not already - and that it will be out - well - this summer. But if they are ramping up now - I would expect it closer to the start of Summer rather than the end of summer like last year.
There are some rumblings about Apple jumping in bed with Yahoo where Yahoo would supply many of the apps run by google. Or I guess a better analogy is kicking google out of bed and inviting Yahoo in.
Many are reporting / speculating this is a done deal.
But really - How? Apple Already Kicked Google off the virgin iPhone you buy today in two places - YouTube and Maps - and we all know how well that latter one went. But even so - Neither were replaced by Yahoo. Plus Saying Apple is going to get in bed with Yahoo - missed the point Yahoo was already there - from the beginning no less - with the Stock App and the Weather App.
So really I am not sure where Apple could kick out Google at this point? I guess they could make Yahoo the default search engine - but supposedly Google pays a pretty penny to be the default setting for search - and Yahoo and Bing are already there as options.
Again I don't see where Apple could kick out Google and invite in Yahoo. The key thing is for Apple to keep approving the Apps from Google - so any user can download and use the Google apps when and how they like.
But saying that Yahoo is going to replace Google in Apples iOS bed - is not even close to accurate or possible at this point.
This next one is one I kinda sorta felt needed to be mentioned based on all those that sent in emails on it. So the story goes like this - Guy has iPad - he puts iPad on roof of car before getting in car - and well forgets it is there and drives off - some time later on said iPad flies off roof of car - normally the story ends there - iPad is lost or shattered - probably both. But this time said iPad flew off the roof of his car and hit the front of the a woman's car - again - probably the end of the story. except instead of bouncing off her car and shattering - the iPad embedded into the front of her car - not that she new it at the time. later on when the woman parked her car she saw the iPad wedged into the front of her car - so much so she needed a hammer to get it out. ouch. Which you would think is the end of the story - except for the part about the iPad still working and her able to open and app on the iPad and track down the own of the iPad. And that is the end of the story.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - SEAN_THANKS
Hi Rob,
I was using the iPhone's spotlight search to open the Tii app and I noticed that a Tii episode showed up in the search. I pressed it and the episode opened up in the music app. If you are among the podcasts app haters this is a way to avoid using it. I personally don't think it's that bad, but it is easier to read the episode descriptions from the music app.
Thanks for the show,
Dave
Hi Rob. I have video files in my iTunes library but the videos do not play on my iPad. In some previous versions of iTunes there was an option to change the format of a video so that it would play on an IOS device. Do you know if that feature is still available on the current version of iTunes? Thanks for your help. Jack P
Hi Jack, Yes that option is still there. Select the Movie you want to convert in the Movies library on iTunes - then go to "File" then to "Create New Version" and then select the version you want to convert it to. And your options are either iPod / iPhone version or iPad / Apple TV Version.
Hi Rob,
do you know of a good app that is a music player that has a sleep timer. i have i ipod running ios 6.1.3 that is not jail broken
love the show
thanks Ryan
Rob,
Thought I would share my experience with the new Pebble watch and a recent trip to Florida from Michigan. I backed Pebble last year, and received the watch 1 1/2 weeks ago, right before our Spring break trip to Florida with my wife and kids.
This watch worked (works) great with my iPhone 5. While the iPhone 5 was being used as the navigator with Waze and as our entertainment with Pandora, I was able to still able to skip songs from my watch. I was even able to monitor incoming emails and texts from my watch. It worked seamlessly.
Also, I was able to create a wireless connection on my Airport Express, and my three kids were able to play Mine Craft together on their iPad mini's. I was even able sneak into their game on one of their iPod Touches (4th gen) and mess with their creations. Wow! 4 users on wi-fi while driving to Florida. Perfect.
A Quick update on the SOSCharger I mentioned on the previous show - this is one I am funding - and it is again a hand held charger with a manual crank - yes you crank the arm and it generates the electricity to charge your iOS device. They are now up to over 2,600 backers and $100,000 - if you want one of these you have until April 26th at 2:59 AM ET to become a backer. This is a great device for those that go camping or are otherwise in places where they are away from power sources - like conferences.
It just cost $35 - and I am so excited about getting this one.
Search for SOSCharger one word at kickstarter dot com.
hey rob,
while I was eagerly waiting for your next show I surfed through the net and found out something cool for people who want to customise their iPhones.
www.anostyle.com is a really cool site you should check this out!
regards
Sanchit
Thanks Sanchit for the heads up on Anostyle. You know earlier when I mentioned in rumors about multicolor iPhones for the next gen iPhone - well anostyle lets you take your current iPhone 5 or iPad mini and change the color of the device. So if you want anodize your iPhone 5 or iPad mini to a color other than white or black - check out anostyle.com And yes this does involve mailing said device to them - so they can change the color - so if you can't live even a day with out your iOS device - then you will need to wait until this summer and hope the rumors were true about multicolor iPhones.
Hey Rob,
I wanted to show you this cool new accessory for the gear heads out there. It's a unit that plugs into the OBD II plug in your car and gives you real time telemetry and any codes that the computer throws. I think it's pretty cool. Check it out!
www.automatic.com/
Thanks and keep up the good work,
Alex from Connecticut
Hi Alex - thanks for the heads up on this. And what this is is a bluetooth module that plugs into your car and allows your car to talk to your iPhone. Now I should point out they are in pre-order mode - and not planning to start shipping until May. But if you are a gear head and really want to get better info from your car - this is worth checking out. Also one feature they offer is being able to find where you park. Since it communicates with the GPS of your device - once you park somewhere - each time it gives that info to your iPhone. It looks like however this is just going to be for the iPhone 4S and 5 - as it uses bluetooth 4.0. Go to automatic.com for more info. If anyone gets this - please call in with a review - it seems pretty interesting - and I did not even remotely touch on the features they list or uses of this. Pricing on this is $70
PLAY VOICEMAIL - Todd_AU_FEEDBACK
Hi Rob,
On my old iPhone 3G, I installed a modified version of iOS 3 called whited00r. When installed, it replaces the App Store app with an app called app market, it's more like a folder. When you open the app market app, it gives you the option to go to the app store, Cydia, Dropbox backup, and Time Machine. Time Machine is an app that allows you to easily look up, and install Older versions of iOS apps. They are cracked, however, meaning that if you install an app that was a paid app, it will be illegal. But you can install free apps, or if you have bought the app, I am guessing it would be fine. BTW, This also adds features like fast app switching, home screen wallpaper, voice actions, folders, and speed improvements to the overall experience of iOS on an older iPhone. Hope this answers the listeners question. Thanks for the show.
Whited00r can be found and downloaded for iPhone 2G, 3G, iPod 1st gen and 2nd gen at www.whited00r.com
Regards,
Cason
Hi Rob,
Per the person asking about apps for older versions of iOS.
Just Do a Google Search for apps that work with 4.2.1 there are lots of websites that show apps that will still work, I found a lot of apps this way, and installed them by using the app store on the device once I knew what apps would work.
Regards,
Karen
Hi Rob,
I have an iPhone 4S and randomly my push notifications for Facebook stop chirping when, I received a notification. It still shows that I have a new notification.. I went threw a few iso help threads. The most common fix that I have come across is to deactivate my Facebook account..
I was wondering if anyone of your listeners have a different remedy for this
Regards,
Chris S
North Bay Ontario Canada
Hi Rob
I have my jail broken ipad 1 running ios 5.1.1 and whenever I try to open up cydia, or any cydia installed app is crashes, not the ipad but the app, should I back up and then restore? Any ideas? Thanks, daniel
Hi Daniel,
I would try the following.
1. Force quit out of all open apps.
2. In Settings go to Reset - then Reset Network settings.
3. Relaunch cydia and see if you still have the issue?
4. If cydia is stable now - try launching some Cydia apps and see if they work fine.
5. If the cydia apps keep crashing - but cydia is ok - go in and start uninstalling cydia apps one at a time to get down to just the few you really want - and see if that helps.
If you can't get cydia stable to un-install apps - then you will need to restore. But I would try un-installing cydia apps first. Hope that helps.
Remember what I said on the last episode about the Evasi0n team not likely going to do a jailbreak again until the next major revision. Nailed it. As Pod2G said exactly that via twitter. After I released the last episode. Just Sayin. So yeah - if you want to jailbreak - do not upgrade past iOS 6.1.2
Thanks to Levi for the heads up on this next one. Which is the Jailbreak App Audio Recorder - which claims to be the first true iPhone call recorder ever. Before I talked about this one - I needed to download it and test it - which I did. I don't pay for many apps - but in this case I felt if it did what I hoped it would do it would be worth the $3.99. In a nut shell - not really. Here is why - for me with my iPhone 4S - you can only record calls when in speaker mode - Sound familiar - yeah the App Shavon recommended back on 260 does the same thing - and it does not require a jailbreak. Now one big big difference is with Audio Recorder - it puts a little record button on your phone app on the iPhone - so any time you make a call and go to speaker phone mode - it shows the record button. Upon hitting the button - you and the other person hear a This call will be recorded message. I guess some sneaky people who know before hand they plan to record the call - start the call and hit the button right away - and the message will play before the other person has a chance to answer - most of the time. But some of the time - people may answer quickly and hear part of the this is being recorded message - Oh - that would be embarrassing.
This app is a paid app as I mentioned - $3.99 - pay pal or Credit Card. You first need to add a repo in Cydia. The repo to add is http:// l i m n e o s dot net slash r e p o - limneos.net/repo.
Once you think you added the repo - you then need to choose install - and it will install the App - you then go to the Settings App - and find the Audio Recorder App - and tap on it to do the payment part. Once you finish paying the app is installed as a tweak - and part of your phone app. Which again - having that button right there - when in speaker phone mode is nice. But if you are not looking to spend money - Then go and listen to ep 260 and the App shavon mentions.
Not sure if this app does recording with the head set earbuds in use for the iPHone 5. But again for the 4S - you can only record calls you have in speaker phone mode.
PLAY AUDIO RECORDING TEST
PLAY AUDIO RECORDING TEST 2
Thanks to Tash for the heads up on this next one. Which is about the JB tweak called Grabby spelled g r a b b y - and what it does in a nut shell is offer up multiple apps you can select from your lock screen - you know how now when you are at the lock screen if you slide up on the camera you can get the camera right away. This makes it supper quick to get to your camera when you need it fast. But now with Grabby you could also add in some more apps like Messages apps when you have to text right now. Or the Phone app or the Music ap. You do need to add a repo to get to this. Which I will not even attempt to give out - just look for Grabby in the show notes for a link to an article at idownloadblog - that goes over this tweak and the repo needed.
Thanks to Tash for this next one. Which is to an article over at TUAW titled - Kindergarten.com makes apps free for autism awareness month - so if you have a young in - check out this article with a link to all the apps or search for kindergarten.com in iTunes to see and download these free for the month of April apps.
There was an announcement of a new conference this one in San Francisco on September 12th. The conference is focusing on the Tablet eco system and is called TabTimes Tablet Ecosystem which is brought to you by TabTimes (nope never heard of them either) in association with the Application Developers Alliance. This will be specifically at the Mission Bay Conference center at UCSF and costs $40 for the full day. I don't know if conference is as accurate as a daily seminar might be when describing this - but hey if you are in the SF area - have an extra $40 bucks and need an excuse to go an meet other devs - then here you go. Oh and the event is capped by the Tabby awards - the quote very first awards ceremony honoring the best consumer tablet apps worldwide unquote.
PLAYVOICEMAIL - Answr_Location_ARROW
PLAYVOICEMAIL - PAUL_PODCATS_APP_EXPERIENCE
Hi Rob,
I wanted to let everyone know about a new photo iphone app called tagCam. I am not the developer but a big fan of Farid Hosseini who is related to me by marriage.
tagCam is a photo sharing app that allows the user to "tag" your own picture to the photos you take.
When you take a picture or choose one you have, you have the option to "tag" a photo of yourself on top using the front camera. The tag can be moved and changed in color, zoom, change shapes and more. Your tagged photo can be shared through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or SMS.
Please check it out, and did I mention it is FREE
Regards,
Cheryl D
Hey rob
I was wondering if you or anyone in the audience knew about an app that will allow me to paint super accurately and precisely for the ipad. I want to make good artwork for an app I'm making. Regards - Daniel
Hi Daniel,
I would suggest taking a look at all the artwork that has been created as the album artwork for Tii over the past few years - and then looking at the apps used.
There have been some great pieces of art created over the years for the show.
Go back to ep 90 and start looking at the album artwork - then when you find artwork you like just listen to the beginning of the episode to hear which artwork was used.
Regards,
Rob W
Hi Rob,
I just upgraded to the iPhone 5 from the iPhone 4 and I am currently running 6.1.3. I have never jail broken any of the three iPhones I've had, but I now want to. My question is this: I am still covered under the one year standard warranty. If I were to jailbreak and have something on the phone stop working correctly that was not a jail breaking related problem, would Apple be able to tell that I had jail broken the phone even after doing a full factory restore?
Regards,
-Jonathan from Atlanta
Ok some personal info time. Last week I went to AdTech in San Francisco as I had mentioned previously on the show. I arrived late Monday evening - and all was going well. I checked into my hotel room - no issues - caught up on email - even got ahead a little - and went to sleep by Midnight. Around 2:00 AM Freddy Kruger crawled into my dreams slipped under my bed and stabbed me in the back. Or so it felt. I woke up to the worse pain then I had ever felt. And I had broken bones a few times, played rugby and have a bad lower back - but this was worse and internal. Not knowing what it feels like to die and fearing that might be the case - I figured it was time to get out of that hotel room. Not the obit I want - Podcaster found dead in Downtown San Francisco hotel room. So I decided to go to the hospital - again yes the pain was that bad - but through this pain and fear - I remembered to grab not just my iPhone - but also my charger and my cord. I am trained well in the ways of iOS. I went down to the concierge he got me a cab and off to the Hospital I went. When all was said and done - it wound up being that I had a kidney stone. Those that had one probably already figured it out - those that have not - I just can't explain the pain level. But any way that is my personal story on my trip last week. Not exactly how I figured my trip would go.
And Before we go today I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback it can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you enjoy the show more and it helps support the show at the same time - and it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search Tii in the iTunes app store.
Here is a photo taken with an iPhone 5 camera using the True HDR app and the Photo Pad app on the iPad 1 to edit the picture.
Regards,
Jim from Lakewood Colorado
======================
Transcript for Episode 263
------------------------------------
I am surprised nothing has been announced yet about WWDC 2013 - for those not in the know on that accronym - that is the World Wide Developer Conference for 2013. As soon as I hear about this I will send out a push. Last year it sold out in less than 2 hours. If you are a dev and hear about it - send me an email letting me know right away.
Last episode I talked about the NCAA March Madness live for iPhone app and doing the Tournament bracket as a group for Tii. Seems that is the only Freaking bracket in the world that locks it self down for the First 4 games on Tuesday. Wow - that kinds sorta sucked. Since most people were not able to get into the group bracket - sorry about that to all. I expected it to stay open until Thursdays big kickoff. and when I say that I mean it - as I did not even get my bracket picks in on time for it either. Dooohh. So next year - I will do the bracket challenge for Tii listeners on CBS main site and not through the app - because well that was not a good user experience. Sorry to all that missed out.
Apple has finally updated the Podcasts App and since this is an iOS podcasts - this seemed like the best first piece of news to start with. Some of the key changes. Well one it does not crash nearly every time you open it - so it is much more stable. I think Apple technically calls that quote additional Performance and stability improvements unquote - and it is the last item they list - but the first one as far as I am concerned. You can now create custom stations with multiple podcasts listing the most recent episodes - think of that as the Stitcher feature. Play lists are now synched - Yea or about time depending on your level of frustration. Apple killed their skeuomorphic elements - that is the items that look like real world devices - in this case the reel to reel player was axed.
I sent out a push on the Tii app asking for feedback on your thoughts about the new version of the podcasts app - and well it ran the full spectrum. Here is some of that feedback.
Hey Rob,
Per the new Podcast app. What a mess! Ended up with a million badges on each of my shows for long-ago listened to episodes. Also sorry that Apple via Cook & Ive are getting away from anything "skeuomorphic". I was always a fan of these touches. Guess Calendar will lose its blotter pad as well. Everything will be vanilla. How PC.
Regards
Jeff in Burbank
Hi Rob,
Looks like the podcast app has some likeable new features. For a starters I like the number that I haven't listened showing up much like being alerted that one has emails that haven't been opened.
Regards,
Earl, London Canada
Hi Rob,
I was thrilled to try out the new version of the Podcasts App, particularly with the iTunes Playlist support. Well, it's a mixed bag.
It did import my playlists for my Podcasts, and displayed the various Podcasts in order as defined by the Playlist. I noted that I had to go and reconfigure the display/play order for each playlist, but then it played the various podcast shows as I wanted them. YEA!
However, this morning when I grabbed my phone, I was shocked to see that it downloaded ALL of the podcasts' shows! Now it shows I have well over a thousand shows to listen to. So, it doesn't quite sync properly with iTunes. The Playlists are intact, only showing those that I wanted to, but each Podcast downloaded everything. More puzzling is when I look at the Podcast settings, they are still showing Auto-Download as off. So why did they download?
I think that this gets the app at least back to what the Music app used to support with respect to Playlists.
Regards,
brian
Hi Rob,
Per the new version of the Podcasts App - I really like the sleep button location and the ease of use. I also like the fact that it warns you when when the app will use your cellular data to download the podcast you selected. So overall I think it is greatly improved from apple's first attempt.
Regards,
José A Báez
Hi Rob,
Per the update to the podcasts app - let me tell you, it is a far cry from the disaster which was the previous version. I am relieved that it does away with most of the skeuomorphism of the previous version, as well as fixes the episode downloading issue and allows it to play episodes from the point at which you stopped listening to it, as opposed to possibly having to restart the episode. I have also found that the app is more stable while running behind other apps although I have noticed it randomly pauses sometimes still. But at least now it is usable.
Regards,
Jasen Szekely
Hi Rob,
Apple scored on the update of Podcasts. Improvements include, easy access to old and deleted episodes and a quick way to force an update of all episodes. Thankfully, the update did not "mark as unplayed" every episode of every podcast in my library.
Regards,
Jim
Hi Rob, I love the update to the Podcast app!!!! The update now let's you delete podcasts subscriptions or individual episodes right in the app. It also makes it easier to refresh. Couldn't be happier 😍
Regards,
Laurie B
Frisco, TX
Hi Rob,
The updated podcast app is crap.
Best Regards
Joel D
Hi Rob,
FYI - Podcasts version 1.2.1 addresses a problem with refreshing some podcasts and an issue with upgrading to Podcasts 1.2.
Regards,
Jim
Hi Rob!
You asked for us to give feedback on the podcast app.
Well, let me tell you I love it!
It is very easy to search and find whatever podcasts you're looking for and it's also very easy to press download and it just downloads it. For example, you can set it up for it to download only via Wi-Fi so you will not run out of cellular data if you don't have the unlimited plan.
Regards,
Jose Buenabad
As I said the responses ran the full spectrum - one person complained all episodes downloaded - I did not see that and did not hear it from others. Some like that the tape to tape reel is gone - some morn it - I fall on the morn it side - I liked that touch - even if completely useless. But looking at the responses overall more people than not liked the update of the Podcasts app especially when compared to the previous versions. I personally like it - one thing I don't like is they changed the go forward 30 sec or go back 10 sec option on the old versions to go forward or back just 15 secs on the new version. Also Remember if you have a limited data plan or pay for data on a variable rate - you will want to go to the settings app and then find the podcasts app and turn off cellular data - so that you are only getting downloads or streaming episodes via Wifi. I have used the Podcasts app a lot in the past - and I do feel this version is better as far as a stability point of view goes. Apple said to me previously their goal is to get the Podcasts app to be the best Podcatcher in the App store - are they there yet - Nope - but they did take a big step in that direction with v1.2 hopefully the next major update will continue that trend. And since they support playlists - lots of the feedback people sent in about getting MP3 files in does not fit anymore per the caller on the last show. So I will skip over that feedback and say try the podcasts app especially if you have playlists for podcasts - as they are finally supported now in the Podcasts app.
Well Apple rolled out iOS 6.1.3 back a little after the last episode went up. What is new with 6.1.3 - essentially it is just a security update - specifically for that lock screen bypass - that if you jumped through hoops just the right way you could get some access to the device - which we talked about previously - and now that bypass is blocked. Apple also patched some of the vulnerabilities used to jailbreak with Evasion - which means if you want to jailbreak - do not upgrade to iOS 6.1.3 - stay at 6.1.2.
Here is some feedback from listeners with regards to 6.1.3
Hi Rob
Just a quick email to say, wow is it me or is everything more stable & solid with iOS 6.1.3 or am I imagining it? I love the update to the Apple Podcast app & it's now 5 Stars from me & my app of choice.
Regards,
Craig
Liverpool
Hi Rob,
6.1.3 is out but only states fixes to the lock screen bypass and maps in Japan, any ideas on the others? (Break the Jail-brake)
Thomas
Tuscaloosa AL
Hi Rob,
Since we upgraded to IOS 6.1.3, our battery life seems to be greatly reduced. The location services arrow is always displayed, even if no apps are running. This is true on my iPhone 5 and my wife's 4S.
Wondered if others were having a similar experience.
So with all updates there are some additional issues found - and 6.1.3 is no exception. First up a new lock screen exploit has already been discovered - that will allow access to Contacts and photos. This latest one actually requires you to eject the sim card midway through a voice control initiated phone call. And it only effects owners of the iPhone 4 and 4S with Siri disabled. Yup lots of hoops on this one to. I guess expect iOS 6.1.4 any time now.
2,100 days ago the iPhone launched on AT&T and in a dozen more - April 12th to be specific - T-Mobile will finally get the iPhone. If you are a T-mobile customer that was holding out for the iPhone stuck with your old feature flip phone - then you long long wait is finally about to end. T-Mobile is changing things around an going contract free which means they are not subsidizing the iPhone. No More long term contract with ETF's - instead you pay upfront for the iPhone at $580 bucks for the 16 GB version or you put $99.99 down to start with and pay an additional $20 a month for 24 months to pay off the iPhone. T-mobiles main monthly plans will be $50 a month for unlimited talk and text and 500 MB of 4G data. If you go up to the $60 a month plan you get 2GB of data and the $70 a month plan gets you unlimited data, talk and text.
Pre-orders for the iPhone 5 on t-mobile start on April 5th.
Now if you are looking at taking your current unlocked iPhone 5 purchased for AT&T over to T-Mobile - your iPhone 5 will work on the t-mobile HSPA+ 21 Mbps and LTE networks. Though it will not work on T-mobiles HSPA+ 42 mbps network. The next iPhone 5 sold by T-mobile will support the hspa+ 42 mbps network plus LTE on T-mobile.
Now here is where it gets even more confusing if you have a CDMA iPhone 5 in the US - likely from Verizon or Sprint - it will only work on T-mobiles 21 mbps hspa+ but not on the 42 mbps hspa+ or LTE networks. But really chances of you having an unlocked iPhone 5 CDMA version are pretty slim right now. And you are best waiting until April 12th to get a new iPhone 5 if you want on t-mobiles network.
And if you are all confused about this don't worry I bet most people at AT&T and T-mobile and Apple are confused as well - One of the better articles going over this is from Gigaom - titled - Setting the record straight - T-mobile look for it in the show note for ep 263 over at today in iOS dot com.
CNET - also had an article talking about differences of the T-mobile iPhone. 1 - there is unlimited 4G face time. T-mobiles iPhone 5 supports HD Voice. Which is a hardware/software feature for better audio quality for phone calls. However HD Voice is one of those features that requires both caller and callee to have HD voice compatible phones. iPhone 5, S3, HTC One S and Nokia Astound.
One way the iPhone 5 is different from other t-mobile phones - it will not initially offer wifi calling at launch. Sounds like it might be made available later on as hinted by T-mobile but not confirmed by t-mobile.
So which plan is for you Sprint / t-mobile / verizon / AT&T?
Well if you go to unlimited every thing. Then you are looking at $110 a month for Sprint, Verizon and AT&T. Note unlimited everything means 4Gig of data on Verizon and AT&T. With t-mobile you are looking at $90 a month for unlimited everything after you add the $20 a month payment for the phone. With T-mobile after 5 gig of data they put the parking break on and throttle down your data. So looking at the 2 year cost for the iPhone 5 - it is $2840 from Sprint, AT&T and Verizon. It is just $2,260. Those costs count the $199 up front fee from Sprint, AT&T and Verizon and the $99 up front cost from T-mobile. So T-mobile will cost you $100 less to start out and $20 a month less going forward for a total savings of $580 over 2 years. Mind you this is when comparing the everything plans. Which does not actually include Mobile hotspots for Sprint at an additional $20 a month for 2gb of tethering. Hot spots are included in the AT&T and Verizon plans - but since they limit to 4GB you can't go crazy. T-mobile give you 500 MB of tethered data with the base plan and more data tethered at an additional charge.
Of course if you really want to save money - you could go to Virgin Mobile or Straight Talk. As Straight Talk will run you $649 for the iPhone 5 upfront - but only $45 a month for the unlimited talk, text and data plan for a total cost of $1,729 for two years which is $1,111 less than Sprint, AT&T and Verizon and $530 less than T-mobile.
Hi Rob,
Per the caller asking if there were any apps for the iPhone that alert you if you go over the speed limit: TomTom's very own iOS app has had this feature for years. I used this app all the time before the ios Google Maps app arrived last year. I don't use the TomTom app anymore but I'm sure it still has speed limit warnings.
REGARDS
Brent
Chicago
PLAY VOICEMAIL - BOB_VA_ANSWR_GPS
HI ROB,
For the caller enquiring, NAVIGON has Speed limit notifications customizable to alert you when you are 5, 10, 15 or 20 mph over the speed limit. There are many other great features!
Keith
And Navigon was also recommended by Barry, Brian, Mike and Damon.
Who mentioned the Navagon App lets you set different warning levels for urban (i.e., in-town driving) vs rural driving.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - ROB_ANSWER_GPS
Hi Rob,
The mapping app I use is Magellan road mate. It shows the current speed, E.T.A., speed limit, over limit sound, red highlighted speed limit.
Regards,
George B
Rob
I am a Schwan's man and use GPS Drive Motion-X. Speed turns red when you exceed speed limit. It is $10.00/year for updates. I have used it for 4 years with NO PROBLEMS. They are very proactive with great service.
Regards,
Doug
Dear Rob,
About the guy in episode 262 looking for a GPS app that has a notification when you are above the speed limit, Scout Personalized GPS has this feature and more great features that in my opinion every great GPS app should have.
Regards,
Jasen
Hi Rob,
I've been using CoPilot Live since 2008 It has fantastic features, and yes the over the speed limit alert settings 5,10, 15 mph over. Your is always informative.
Dr. Boyce, Kalamazoo Mi
Hi Rob
In response to the question regarding GPS navigation, internationally Sygic is a popular offline GPS navigation app although I don't think many Americans are aware of it. Living in Thailand I use it all the time and recently I downloaded and used the North American software during a visit to California. It worked superbly. The app includes 3D maps with settable warnings or alert for; railway crossings, speed limits, speed cameras, traffic notifications, and points of interest, just to name a few. It's available in the AppStore. It's not free. I have used both Garmin and Tom-tom and they both seem underdeveloped and basic compared to Sygic.
Thanks for the podcast.
I love it!
Joseph
Thanks to all that called in or wrote in on the GPS question - which it seems most GPS apps give you a warning about speed limits - the ones just mentioned again are the TomTom App, the Navigon App, Magellan Road Mate, GPS Drive Motion-X, Scout Personalized GPS, CoPilot Live and Sygic. So pretty much all the major 3rd Party GPS apps.
Here is one more option that is not GPS based.
Hi Rob,
SpeedHUD, a driving app shows you how fast you're going by displaying your speed on the reflection of your windshield. You place your iphone on your dashboard and it displays a reverse image of your current speed on the screen which gets reflected back on the windshield (works best at night).
HUD for those that don't know stands for Heads Up Display. Great tool for long distance commuters like me, I just set this on my dash and never have to look down at my speedometer, always keep my eyes on the road. BTW it also does KPH, and you can set warnings to alert you when you've exceeded a specified speed.
Regards,
Aric Boyles
On the last call we also had a listener asking about Phone Service in Thailand. Here is some of the feedback received on that.
Hi Rob
This is in reply to your listener who is travelling to Thailand in April.
There are three main carriers here, AIS, True and Dtac. Although I have a contract with True I would recommend AIS as, in my experience, they have better coverage. He can get an AIS sim card in the telephone section of most department stores or from their dedicated agent, Telewiz. There are Telewiz shops in most shopping malls.
On another note, if your listener was hoping to use Apple maps here, then forget it. They are only in Thai!! Google maps is very good or there is a dedicated map app for Thailand called Nostra which is free, in English and Thai, and contains a ton of information.
Hope this helps and thanks for the show.
Keith, in Thailand
Dear Rob,
Here's the info on the Cellular Operators for Thailand. For the best coverage, I'd go with AIS. They have many packages to choose from and you can get the SIM card from any local 7-11 Stores (or many other convenience stores). Generally, the cost and quality of cellular services are very good in Thailand. Hope your listeners find this useful. By the way, have a wonderful trip!
Best Regards,
Paul M
Rob
For your listener going to Thailand.
I recommend him to use TRUE as provider.
Buy a prepaid sim card at any 7-11 store of which there are thousends literally.
TRUE has the best 3G network and fast internet.
Regards
Joost in Bangkok
Hi Rob,
For the listener coming to Thailand, here is what he needs to know about
service providers.
There are three main providers - AIS / True and Dtac - all offer 3G service
and pay as you go plans.
I use Dtac - good coverage in the areas the listener is visiting and the
least expensive.
When he arrives at an international airport there should be a kiosk offering
free Dtac SIM cards but if not, 7-Eleven stores sell SIM cards for approx.
$3.00l and there is a 7-Eleven on every street in Thailand.
You can top up as well at any 7-Eleven.
With regard to data plans, I would recommend a 1Gb / Edge unlimited plan for
30 days which will cost approx. $15 Cdn. You can re-load with additional top
ups of 1 Gb of data during the one month for approx. $5.00.
Two cautions, he may need to phone Dtac customer service to activate 3G
service as well as purchase the data plan. That's easy, put the cash on his
number at any 7-Eleven and then phone 1678 > 4 to complete with a live
person who will speak English and make sure to have them confirm his phone
is activated for 3G.
Hope this helps.
Rob in Thailand
Hi Rob,
The best cellular network in Thailand is AIS. They are 3G in most of Thailand and 4G in select areas. Avoid Dtac. they offer spotty service and incredibly slow Internet access if available at all. The only other choice is True and I can't recommend their service either, even if their servise is better than Dtac.
Thanks,
Joseph
Rob,
Regarding carriers in Thailand. You can most likely can buy prepaid sim cards easily and cheapely in many locations including your arrival airport. Just remember to bring a sim card cutter as although micro sims are not unheard of they are not nearly as common as mini sims. I purchased a cutter for $6 a while ago and it works great.
Sincerely,
Kevin Barry
Hi Rob,
For listener Brad looking for an app to download youtube videos.
The McTube app will allow you to cache videos and make playlists. It'll cost $2 for all features, but is by far my favorite youtube app. Playlists Will have to be managed manually, but as far as I know it's the only option for making playlists of cached videos.
Thanks to Tash for the heads up on this next tip. And that is for those with a Mac and looking to import photos faster than with iPhoto. What you do is connect your iPhone to your Mac vis the USB cord. Open the Preview app - click on File then import from your iOS devices name. You will then see a group of files you can drag and drop anywhere on your Mac. This is nice if all you want to do is take a photo and bring it into your mac to use in say keynote or some other program. Once you see the icons of the photos you can easily drag and drop that photo to your desk top.
Thanks to Tash and Michael for this next one. Which is about Apples new two step authentication process for iCloud and new devices you add to your iCloud account. iCloud users can set up two-step authentication now for Apple IDs by going to appleid.apple.com and then select Password and Security option and going through the process.
More rumors on the 5th gen iPad. Top of them being it will be released in April - which means Apple better get on it and you know have an event to announce it. Also said April released 5th gen iPad will also have inductive charging. The reasoning behind this rumor is the 4th gen iPad was just a minor change from the 3rd gen - and now that sales of it are getting beat by the iPad mini - Apple needs to do something fast to right the ship of the iPad Maxi sales. Which I guess makes sense. If reports of iPad maxi sales are correct - and we should have a better idea of that in a few weeks when Apple does its quarterly conference call - then Yes I would expect the iPad maxi to be the next device Apple upgrades. I would also expect the case of the next iPad Maxi to be different than the current iPad in appearance - as it really has not changed much in the past 3 gens of the iPad.
This next one really is not so much rumors about Apple ware - but speculation - which is a fancy name for pulling stuff from ones back side. And the one doing the pulling from their back side this time is Katy Huberty of Morgan Stanley - yes the same Katy Huberty that has traditionally been the biggest bear on Apple. She is now speculating that the iPhone 5S will release this year with a killer feature that will be part of iOS 7. Essentially another feature on par or greater than Siri was for the 4S - will be rolled out with the iPhone 5S. She also is expecting the 5S to look identical to the 5 - just like the 4S was identical to the 4 on the outside.
And No Katy did not even hint at what said killer feature would be - as well she has limits on her speculation I guess. Or it is easier to look smarter later on if she is as vague as possible now. Just sayin.
Thanks to Steven W for this next one - which is about apple adding a new warning in the iOS App store if an App has in app purchases. With a message next to the app in the app store that says quote offers in-app purchases unquote. This I guess is in response to a slew of recent my 5 or 6 year old ran up X thousands of dollars buying virtual Gems / coins or veggies in some App. Because you know that whole restrict in-app purchase option is so hard to turn on.
Folks if you have kids and you give them an iOS device - set up restrictions - go to Settings - then General - then restrictions - then turn off In-App Purchases - it is that simple. I really have no sympathy for parents that give their kids an iOS device to use and don't turn off in-app purchases after all the reports in the past.
Hi Rob,
You seem to like making the distinction between Android shipping numbers and actual sales and devices accessing the Internet, making the point that iOS devices appear to be used rather than sitting on a shelf.
Well, add this to the figures - in a screenshot of the dashboard for the in house wi-fi network for a New England Patriots game this past fall, there are 10866 unique iOS devices compared to only 2915 Android devices. Pretty clear stat.
If one was being unkind, it might also be assumed that there might be more Android users - but they are either too scared to use their devices in public, or too scared to go out in public. But that would be unkind.
As always, I love your show and never miss it, so thanks. And hello to Chris from London and Tash - love hearing your tips.
Regards,
Russell Emmerson
Adelaide, Australia
Thanks Russell for the link to the screen shot showing those numbers.
You know another place iPhone 5 trounced the S4 - is on Twitter. As in how many people were tweeting about said devices when they first launched. There were 2.4 Million tweets about the iPhone 5 vs just 440,000 for the S4. Now some of those tweets on both sides were not always positive. If you go by comparing positive tweets - between the two then there were 1.75 Mil positive tweets for the iPhone 5 vs just 356,000 positive tweets for the S4 putting it at basically a 5 to 1 ratio of positive tweets for the iPhone 5 vs the S4. This based on tweets on the day the device was announced.
I was going to have my 4 year old son do the read on this next story because he likes to make up crazy stories. But alas waking him up at 2:00 in the morning to do the read would not sit well with mommy. This story is about Frank Shaw from Microsoft talking about how Windows Phone has reached a 10% market share in a number of countries and they have shipped more than the iPhone in seven of those countries. This is supposedly from data from IDC on world wide shipments from Last quarter. The New York times is reporting said seven countries are India, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Ukraine and a group called Rest of Europe. Will be interesting to see if Microsoft will also include numbers about units Sold - just sayin
Hey Rob
I'm going to be going to Canada in a couple weeks and I wanted to have a prepaid Sim for my iPad so I could use data in Canada. I have a verizon ipad 3 I just wondered if anyone could recommend or tell me how hard it's going to be or hopefully you can tell me how easy it's going to be to have a prepaid Sim in Canada.
Regards,
Chris J.
I will send this out to the audience - if anyone out there has taken a Verizon iPad to Canada and was able to get a local pre-paid data SIM card to work - please let us know which one you used and roughly what it cost and how much data you got. And of course if there was anything special you did to get it to work. 206-666-6364 - 206-moon-dog - or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
Hi Rob,
This is a review of the app Snapguide. It is available for the low, low price of free. The app lets anyone create a simple how-to guide and share it with the world. Browsing through the guides is fun and addictive. There are guides on anything from food to arts & crafts. You can learn some great and unique things. Creating guides is just as easy. You give your guide a name, optional description, supplies list and as many panels as you need. Each panel can contain text, a photo, or a video, along with a caption. Users can leave a comment for any panel or the overall guide, as well as "like" it. The app keeps track of how many comments, views, and likes each guide has gotten. As great as it is, and being free, there's no reason anyone shouldn't own it. I can't think of one negative thing about it. Enjoy and learn something new. You can follow me, user Lou Valencia.
Regards,
Lou V
Thanks Lou for the review. Remember folks if you have a favorite app you would like to review on the show - give us a call 206-666-6364 that's 206-moon-dog. Or send an email like lou did to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
Hi Rob,
I recently decided to gave a family member my old iPhone 3G as a gift.
I did a full wipe, AT&T unlock, and restored to iOS 4.2.1 (the last
iOS supported by the 3G)
The problem is, now that the phone has no apps, virtually every app I
try to install requires iOS 4.3.3 or later. From an apps perspective,
this iPhone 3G has become useless.
It's shocking how hard it is to find any apps that still run on iOS
4.2.1. Even very simple old apps. Previous versions of apps are not
carried in the Apple App Store and current versions just won't
install.
Is there a way (via Jailbreaking presumably,) to get and install older
versions of essential apps like Skype, Viber, Twitter, etc.? I'd
appreciate any advice from on the subject.
Regards,
Mazin
First - if you have an old iPhone first gen or 3G - best not to be sync'g said device any more - i know I have many apps working just fine on my original iPhone that if I ever sync'd up I would loose. But if someone knows of a resource or app - that make it easy to find apps for those older devices running pre iOS 4.3 software - please let us know.
206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog - or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
I went to Big Kansas City Conference this past week - want to guess where it was located. The conference was a Tech slash entrepreneur conference. At the event I had the opportunity to interview Adam Wilson Founder of Orbotix whom are the makers of Sphero. Sphero is a robot ball that is controlled by your iOS device - and also can be used to control your iOS device. Lets play the interview with Adam.
Thanks to Adam for his time. I had a chance to briefly play with the Sphero and I was really really surprised how easy it was to operate. This is nothing like the remote control Helicopter which is a lesson in controlling ones temper as your helicopter crashes and breaks. Nope the Sphero was easy to use right away - kudos to them on getting such a good UI. I have one coming my way and I am looking forward to seeing how my two boys do controlling it and will report more about the Sphero on the next few episodes.
List price of the Sphero is $130 - but you can get it on Amazon for $99 from Brookstone. Link in show notes.
Thanks to Tash for this next one. Which looked like a cool project - it is called Chargebite one word and it is on Indiegogo. Current pricing is $20 - and what it is is a device where you can transfer a charge from one iOS device to another. Or as they say quote charge bite is a revolutionary charger that charges your iPhone by transferring power from your friends iPhones. You can have one or two iPhones supplying power to one iPhone getting power. And yes there were so many jokes I could have gone with - all would have lost the G rating of this show. Again I said looked like a cool project - as in the past week since I have been following it - they have only managed to get $907 of their goal of $45,000 - they do have 38 days left - and it does look like a cool device. And right now you can get in on the early bird special pricing I mention of $20 - Then pricing goes up to $22 and then up to $25. Search for chargebite one word at indiegogo - with bite spelled b i t e
Hi Rob, have you seen this yet? It's an iPhone case that turns it into a satellite phone apparently without unlocking or jailbraking. A few other cool features too like a battery recharger built-in and emergency calling button that works even without the phone in the dock. No word on where or when you can get this, or cost.
Looks legit but ya never know. Just thought I'd share.
Hi Aric - it is a real product but just for the iPhone 4 and 4S - not the iPhone 5 - I contacted the manufacturer and was sent a brochure on the product. In a nut shell per the brochure their product does not - repeat does not cover any of the Americas. It does cover Europe, Asia, Australia, and most of Africa sans South Africa. So if your travels will bring you to North, south or central America or South Africa - this is not the product for you. No info on Pricing - but I did contact them about that.
Hi Rob,
I’m using the paid version of the Westminster Chimes app on my iPhone 4S, running 6.0.
The app works well, but after the last upgrade I no longer hear Voice Over announce the actual time (i.e. 5 O’clock p.m., 11:30 a. m., etc.) when the chimes sound on the hour & half hour.
I am wondering if there is an additional setting in the app &/or notifications center to bring this feature back.
Do you or any of your listeners have any suggestions?
Regards,
Adam
Hi Adam - some times after upgrades some apps have issues - You can try deleting the app having the issue and then with the same iTunes account - redownload the app - best to do this directly on the iOS device. Sometimes that fixes issues.
If anyone has any other suggestions - give us a call 206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog.
Hi Rob,
I continue to love your podcast. I was wondering if there is an app that would let an iPhone 4s (jailbroken, iOS 6.1.2) run an iPad app. TNT only has an app for iPad, and I would love to watch some of their shows on my iPhone 4s. Thanks for any help you can provide J
Janet
Hey Rob,
I am just wondering if you or any of your listeners know any good apps for typing Dvorak on an iOS device. I know how to change it so my bluetooth keyboard will by in Dvorak, but apple has not made dvorak an option for the on screen keyboard. Any help would be much appreciated.
Hello Rob, I want to review a cydia tweak called colored knob.It basically allows you to change the color of your slide to unlock knob. You can change it in every color you want. It is free in cydia and i enjoy it a lot.
Regards,
Nick from Greece
Thanks to Michael for the heads up on this next one. Which is about the iOS 6.1.3 update. Seems in the notes on what was updated - when mentioning bug fixes and other improvements - Apple gives credit for 4 fixes to the Evaders dev team that created the evasi0n jailbreak. Of course even more reasons if you want to jailbreak at any time to stay away from iOS 6.1.3 for now. But still nice to see Apple give the Jailbreaks some credit. Now there is some reports about iOS 6.1.3 being jailbroken with a tethered jailbreak - but given the issue with another pass lock bypass - it is clear apple will be releasing 6.1.4 shortly. If I was to guess I would say it will be after 6.2 is released before the evasi0n team releases a new jailbreak to the world.
Hi rob. - I Would love to see an update to this article titled My 10 favorite Apps to Share content between iOS and OS X .. Wondering if listeners can possiblly recommend their favorite iOS slash OS X sharing apps as I've just purchased my new imac?
What I want to know is also peoples favorite sharing apps between iOS X and Windows. But either way if you share data, images, videos, notes - whatever between your iOS device and your computer - lets us know what apps are you go to apps and what platform you are on. 206 - 666-6364 - thats 206-moon-dog or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com
Thanks to Tash for this next one. Which is about the free app Big Brother Camera Security. How this is supposed to work is if you enable the app and put it to sleep - if someone wakes the iPhone - the app is there asking for a passcode - and it takes a picture of anyone that tries to unlock it and emails said photo to an email you pick.
A couple of issues with this app - one you have to remember to launch it before you put it to sleep. So unless you think someone is messing with your iPhone and are leaving it there as bait - it is not real useful.
The other issue is - I could not get it to work right. But hey it is free. In theory when you go into Accessibility settings and turn on Guided Access - it should not allow you to minimize an app you are in. In theory - because a few quick clicks of the home button and the app quit or minimized. Again - I could not get it to work correctly - maybe it is an issue with my iPhone being jailbroken.
Anyway - the thought is nice - but the only way for this to really work well - is for Apple to build it in - or for it to be a jailbreak app - that is always running and part of the unlock screen. Otherwise its only real use is as a sting operation where you leave the app active and your iPhone where others can get to it to see who is getting to it.
Hi Rob,
On show 261 one of the listeners asked how can he make free calls on his iPad over wifi for free in the UK.
For BT customers you can download for free the BT SmartTalk App and you can add up to 4 IOS devices and link them to your account. It works both on wifi and 3G and I believe it works abroad too.
Also for O2 customer you can download for free the TU Go app from O2 and it works as you were using your phone for calls, voicemail and sms, and the main purpose is to use it abroad and avoid roaming charges.
I think due to competition we will see more operators offer same service soon.
For a free soft phone client you can use Talkatone and as for the best soft phone client I am using Acrobits Softphone SIP phone for VoIP calls for $6.99 and there are many VoIP providers in the UK with line rental as low as £2.50 a month on a rolling contract.
Hope this help your listeners
Best Regards,
Vangelis
Hi Rob,
Just wanted to drop a line and point out a small error in TII 262. It was stated that call recording is based on the law in the state where the recording is being made regardless of the other state. In fact it is based on the more strict of the states. So if anybody on the call is in an all-party notification state, then everyone on the call must be notified before anyone on the call can record. This is often done by advising that the call "may be recorded for quality assurance purposes" or simply by stating that it is a recorded line.
The All party notification states are: California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pensylvania, and Washington.
Regards,
Chris in Iowa
The MidwestGuru
Hi Chris - thanks for the heads up - seems there was one case where a precedence was set - Kearney v Salomon Smith Barney 2006 - tried in California - where it was determined that if a caller in a one-party state records a conversation with someone in a two-party state the caller / recorder is subject to the stricter of the laws and must have consent from all callers. Note this has not been pushed up to the supreme court - so that ruling could fall - but right now the only precedence seems to be if you are calling one of those 12 states mentioned - you need to give verbal notification. i.e. Hey I am recording this. You don't have to ask permission - but it seems you do need to give notification. Guess the feeling is if the person does not want to be recorded they will just hang up.
If this all seems confusing - remember this is just the US we are talking about - once you add in other countries it gets way way way more confusing. And hence why you are likely never going to see Apple build in call recording or approve apps specifically for call recording. It is just a legal nightmare.
Rob,
I assume that is you wearing Warby Parker glasses on the front page on
the Today in IOS website.
I like those frames, I think they would look good on my face.
Please tell me which model of Warby Parker they are.
Thanks,
Itamar
Hi Itamar,
Yes - those are my Warby Parker glasses in the photo.
They are the Sibley - Whiskey Tortoise Matte
Remember with Warby Parker - you can get them to send you 5 pairs to try on for free to see how they really look on your face.
Then when you actually purchase a pair - remember to use promo code - T I I - to get free 2 day shipping on the purchased pair.
Rob W
Before we go I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback it can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you enjoy the show more and it helps support the show at the same time - and it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search Tii in the iTunes app store.
I created this artwork with the app UPAD on my iPad.
Regards,
Greg Johnson
=======================
Transcript for Episode 262
-----------------------------------
Time for the NCAA tournament and that means pouring over RPI's Sagrin's BPI's and other rankings along with figuring out which teams have more seniors and who is playing close to home all to come out with the perfect algorithm to figure out this years picks. And then you get beat in your company pool by that strange old lady that made her picks by going for schools that have the same names as her cats.
This also means it is time for CBS to release their update NCAA March Madness Live App - You make your picks in the app and join the capital one bracket challenge and then you can watch each of the games right on the app. As with past years - the app is free and it is now in the App store for download. Good luck in your pools.
And this past week Apple Blinked.
And what do I mean by that - I mean Apple this past week leading up to and then after the release of the Galaxy s4 - they blinked - they blinked a few times. As in one they got very defensive about the S4 before it launched - with Phil Shiller going on an attack of Android that seemed overtly defensive in nature. He even made a comment about the S4 likely shipping with an old version of android - which turned out to not be the case. Then Apple blinked again after the S4 was announced - sending out an email many of you probably saw - which is a why people love iPhone type email and an accompanying website for said email - which goes over all the goodness that is iOS in a hey look at me kind of way that just seems soooo un apple like.
Apple needs to stop reacting and demeaning Android - and get on with announcing something new - anything new. The last announcement from Apple was back on October 23rd - that will be a full 5 months on Saturday since the last Apple special event. WOW - that is really long in Apple event timing. In 6 years of covering the iPhone I can't remember a gap that long. Something needs to be presented - because the press just keeps coming up with ways to beat down apple and worse when the press is not doing it - Apple is doing it themselves by Blinking like they did last week.
Into the Email Bag -
Hi Rob,
You may want to sell all of your Apple stock... Looks like Apple will not be around next year...
Check out this read from CNBC. The best part for me was "iPhone could go the way of blackberry?"
Thanks as always for the great show!
Regards,
Paul
What Paul is talking about is a post based on another IDC report - this time IDC put out a report with regards to Tablets shipments and IDC says in 2013 - this year - Android Tablets will over take iPads for Shipments. Not sales - Shipments. IDC is now predicting for 2013 - a 46% market share for iPads, 48.8% markets share for ALL android tablets combined including kindles. and 2.8% share for Windows tablets and 1.9 % for Windows RT and 0.6% for other. This update was not about Apple shipping less but rather IDC upping the number of Tablets they see being shipped this year now up to 191 Million units up from the previous prediction of 172 Million units. Mind you when it comes to actual dollars of SALES - Apple will still be well over 70% of Dollars spent on Tablets and probably somewhere well north of 90% on Profits in this space. That all said How did the blogs spin this news. Investor Business daily said quote Apple No Longer Tablet King unquote. The NYPost title was quote from Pad to Worse as Tablets boom Android passes Apple unquote. The Telegraphs post was quote Apple to lose dominant position in Tablet Market unquote. From Techeye was the title quote Apple is losing the tablet wars unquote and by far the worst title goes to IntoMobile with quote Android Forecasted to Decimate Apple in 2013 tablet market unquote.
By the way Amazon Kindle Sales are going sooo well - they just reduced pricing on the Kindle Fire HD LTE by 20% and the Fire HD by 10% - because you know sales are so good they need to reduce pricing. Let the Decimation begin. or not
Ben Bajarin had a great post about the issue with IDC's market share numbers. And that is why are Market Share Numbers important - it has to do with developers and where they should develop. But the issue with IDC's numbers is they make it sound like Android by the end of the year is where you should develop for Tablets. But just like with smartphones - we know that not to be the case and thinking Android is where you should develop is wrong. And he goes on to show very quickly why that is. In a nut shell - Android is not a single platform - it is multiple platforms where some versions have been forked - like with the Amazon Kindle. Or with the Chinese versions of Android - which over 90% do not even have the Google Play store installed. He shows a nice chart with %'s and it shows both Amazon's fork and the Chinese forks each are bigger than the main Android offering with Google Play. And none are close in size to iOS. Which again is why if you are a dev - IDC's numbers are misleading and totally irrelevant when it comes to where you develop for first - but hey you probably already knew that. It is the dolts writing blog posts about Android tablets decimating iOS that need a good swift kick in the rump. So I guess what we can say about IDC's numbers and Mr. Bajarin's analysis in summary is that if you though Fragmentation was an issue on the Android Smartphone side - well just wait - because its going to be just as bad on the Tablet side and as a Dev you should develop first for iOS Tablets - then next if you have a hit develop for Amazon Tablets and the Amazon App store, and then if it is a hit there move to the Google Play store and Android tablets in general. But again you probably already knew that if you were a dev.
This leads us to a report from ABI who is predicting with quotes around predicting - that by 2018 revenue from App sales on Tablets will by greater than revenue from Smartphone Apps. I will go out on a limb and say this will be the case by 2015. I think more and more people will be replacing laptops and desktops with tablets - and when you add in the revenue from iPad apps and Windows 8 tablets you will quickly see revenues for Tablets grow. Some one remind me in 2015 if I was right or wrong. Either way 2018 or 2015 - whenever it is that Tablet app revenue passes smartphone app revenue - the key point to make is iOS is where you want to start your dev work. iOS is for the foreseeable future the top App platform for revenue for Tablets - and 2nd place is not even close.
Remember when I mentioned earlier about Apple Blinking - seems they really did not need to - as the feedback on the S4 for the most part is - wait for it - Evolutionary at best - not revolutionary. OMG - where have we heard that type of response before. The word Iterative is thrown around a lot when talking about the S4. Others compare it to basically an S level upgrade you see with the iPhone series.
One comment I liked was from Brian White at Topeka Capital markets where he called the S4 quote heavier, Fatter and less refined than the iPhone 5" - coincidentally Heavier - fatter and less refined is exactly how my current wife describes my ex-wife. Just sayin. Another quote from White was quote One would believe that Samsung is crushing Apple in the mobile phone market. We believe this is complete nonsense. unquote. You go guy. Yes Android sites are putting up spec charts comparing well specs - But those are just for the uber fan boys to read. For regular folks - there is the issue of fit and feel - and the iPhone 5 is still the king there. The S4 does have a higher resolution screen - but once you get to Retina level what is the difference if you are at 330 ppi or 440 ppi. Your eyes can't tell the difference. It is like me encoding this show at 320 kbps vs 256 kbps - no one in the audience would be able to tell the difference. no one. Will the S4 sell well - Heck yeah - will it kill or seriously dent the iPhone sales - nope. At the end of next quarter the iPhone will still be the number one selling handset at AT&T and verizon. I guess the best reaction to the S4 - was the price of Apples stock on Friday - it was up $11 - and the reason it was up - was the general - Mehhh - reaction to the S4.
Thanks to Pastor Milt for this next one.
Which is a survey that shows Apple may not needed to have blinked last week at least when it comes to the Enterprise market. Good Technology - which is a provider of security and mobile tech - released a report on a survey they did of 4,000 of their clients including half of the fortune 100. In this survey they found for fourth quarter activations of mobile devices including smart phones and tablets - iOS devices made up 77% of activations vs just 22% for Android. And 0.5% for Windows Phone. I am going to Assume since there is less than 1% left for Blackberry - that Good Technologies does not work with Blackberry devices - and not that in the enterprise there was less than 1% activations for Blackberry - as that is just not realistic. That said when it comes to iOS head to head with Android in the enterprise it seems at least from Good's report - iOS kicked some major bu-taay last quarter - and maybe at least on the enterprise side - Apple needs to stop blinking and just get on with getting on.
PLAY VOICEMAIL MIKE_FEEDBACK_EP258_EMAIL
Hi Rob:
Per the question from Elsie on ep 261 about using the iPad as a second monitor - I use Air Display with my iPad, laptop, and iMac. The app works well and even allows you to use the 'touch' feature of the iPad screen. Be aware, that the window you drag from your computer to the iPad screen will shrink in size and requires enlargement to read comfortably.
Regards,
Tony V
Hi Rob,
A caller asked about AirDisplay; I have used it on my iPad for a while. It works well and without any issues. I use mainly with a Mac, but have used it with Windows too.
Regards,
Carl B
Hi Rob,
To answer the question about Proloquo2go being available in Spanish - its website is: assistiveware.com the app is only for english speaking countries right now. The site says they are going to work on support for other languages this year.
For the father of the low vission kid I would suggest looking at the site: applevis.com and their podcast. Also just recently in the App Store is the app via which is a compiled database like app of voice over useable apps. there is an education section inside it. Also from the same developer there is a app called: big brother which is a low vission designed web browser. these are free apps.
Regards
Christos H
Hi Rob – Responding to the listener wanting to find an assistive communication app that can handle the Spanish language, I unfortunately lost my ability to speak about 2 years ago and use the app “Speak it!” on my iPad, iPhone and Mac. The app allows you to buy additional voices. I do speak English and Spanish and purchased the Spanish language voice and it works fine.
Darrin
PLAY VOICEMAIL - BRUCE_2_ANSWER
Rob,
Per Ep 261 and the Guy in the UK that wants WiFi calls. I use Tango. It will search your contacts for other Tango users and show them. Otherwise message your buddy to download Tango so you can call them free. Also available on Android. Can make Video Calls, Message, Chat too cross platforms.
Regards,
Chris in London
Hi Rob
Per the listener question on ep 261 - The best app I've found for free text and telephone is Viber. Others I tried were textplus and heytell.
Viber has worked well among family and friends in Canada, US, UK,NZ and France.
Still free, I believe.
Regards,
Skip
Hi Rob,
I had issues with the promo code for Warby Parker.
Could it be that the promo doesn't work when ordering your first 5 try-on pairs, maybe it only works when you buy your first set of frames? It's a little confusing because there's a place for a promo code when you check out after choosing your first 5 frames to try on. The regular shipping is already free, but I thought the promo would give you free 2-day shipping.
Regards,
Aric B
Hi Aric - the Promo code - tii - for warby parker is just good for when you are at the final check out and are purchasing a pair. So folks if you got the 5 pairs to try on - that was all free - no need for a promo code. Once you pick your pair and are purchasing a pair - that is where you put in the Promo code to get the free shipping. And I am still loving my new Glasses I received from Warby Parker - if you get a pair let me know what pair you select. And I should mention Warby Parker also has just sunglasses - so if you are looking for nice sunglasses for the summer - check them out warby parker dot com - and use promo code tii when you are purchasing a pair. That is after your do the 5 pairs for the home try on part. And no Warby is not paying for this extra promotion - I just really like what they are doing.
If you like Apple products but are looking for a lower price - one way to get a lower price is to get a refurbished iDevice. And for the first time Apple is now listing iPad Mini's in the refub part of the store - along with iPad 4th gens. Supplies are limited and my be gone by the time you hear this. Discounts on the mini were between $30 and $40 and there was $50 discounts on the iPad 4th gens. Go to store.apple.com - then scroll down on the left side look for Special Deals - and the click on Refurbished iPad.
And speaking of special deals - Radio Shack has a $50 price reduction on the iPhone 5 and 4S - but only for those getting a Sprint contract. So the 4S is now just $49.99 - and the 5 starts at $149 - but again it is just for Sprint and just for new activations only. Thanks to all that sent in the emails on that one.
Speaking of Apple and money - it is being rumored - that Apple will shortly announce that they are going to bump up their dividend. How much a bump is not known - currently it is at $2.65 a share a quarter - and anal-ists are guessing the bump could put it in the $3.00 to $5.30 a share a quarter range. Where ever it ends up it seems most anal-ists are in agreement that a bump is coming and might even be announced this week. Thanks to Paul for the heads up on this story.
There has long been anticipation / desire / angst on Wallstreet about Apple and China Mobile working out a deal to get the iPhone onto China Mobiles network - the largest one in the world per subscriber numbers. And now there may be signs something is coming soonish. China Mobile announced they are spending almost 7 Billion US dollars on equipment to build out their 4G network. This many speculate is being done to handle the tidal wave of bandwidth usage from iPhone users once they do bring on board the iPhone. Combine an Apple / China Mobile deal with the launch of a lower cost iPhone - not a low cost - but a lower cost iPhone - and that might be what WallStreet needs to get back on the Apple Bandwagon. Like I said earlier - it has been almost 5 months since the last Apple event - big news is overdue. Maybe an announcement of the China Mobile deal could be that next major announcement.
There was a very good post from the Harvard Business Review - with regards to the iWatch. They were not giving a rumor on what they heard - but rather took a practical look at a local Apple store to figure out what it is the iWatch would do.
They saw on the wall at the Apple store a Fitbit one and zip Physical sensors. There is also the Scosche Rhythm heart rate monitor, and the Jawbone up activity and sleep sensor, plus the lark life physical activity sensor plus the iHealth wireless blood pressor wrist monitor. And HBR speculates that if you want to speculate what the iWatch will do - well just look at the wall - and those devices are a good indication on what apple is likely to build into their iWatch if they do one. After all - Apple via their Stores has lots and lots of data on what is selling and what is not - and if those sensors are selling well - Apple knows it and can build in those features to their iWatch.
So in short - they think the iWatch will be a combo of the Pebble and the Fitbit / Jawbone up / Nike Fuelband.
And you know I really really hope they are right.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - RYAN_FEEDBACK_TWO
Hi Rob:
Just tried to buy a Kindle book for my daughter on Amazon, to be used on my Mini. Seems Amazon is preventing some books from working on Kindle for iOS. What the frack...?
Mari
Hi Mari - thanks for the email and screen shot - which shows a little message saying that book was only available for Kindle Fire, Fire HD and Kindle for Android. At first I guesses it was a formatting issue - But a search on the book you sent an email about which was - Pete the Cat and his four groovy buttons - I see it is available in the iTunes book store for $10.99 - and there is also an App in the iTunes store - Pete the Cat: School of Jam - for $0.99. Plus a few other Pete the cat titles on the iTunes book side. So maybe the reason it is not available via iOS for Kindle is because it was already in there on the iTunes book store side and might be a rights issue - where if it is in for iTunes it can not also be there for Kindle store. Either way it is available now in iTunes book store.
Hi Rob,
Just before I ditched my TomTom a few years back for more up to date map apps on my iphone TomTom had released an update that gave you speed limits for the road you were traveling. It even warned you when you went over the speed limit & again when you were 10 over. Is there a map app on iOS that does this - I have tried a bunch, but perhaps I just missed the option? If not, is there a stand alone app that will do similar?
Regards,
CH
Well folks if anyone knows of a good turn by turn navigation app for iOS that alerts you when you are going over the speed limit - please let us know - 206-666-6364 - thats 206-moon-dog - or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
PLAY VOICEMAIL JUSTIN_MICROCELL_ATT_VOIP
Over on Kickstarter there is a new project that I have been waiting for. It is called the SOSCharger one word. Ok well actually the title is the SOSCharger Self-powered iPhone and Smartphone charger. It is a small hand cranked charger. Pricing for this is $35 - and they are already well past their goal of $27,000 - with over $48,000 already and they have until Apr 26th at 2:59 AM ET for funding.
They have an internal 1,500 mAh battery which you charge with the crank - and then you connect to the iPhone and it charges it up. They say 3 to 5 minutes of cranking the unit gets you 5 to 12 minutes of talk time. I can see this being a big hit for hikers. No need for waiting for the sun to come out to charge up your device - just use the hand crank. And like I said this is one I had been waiting for so yes - I did order one of these - Figure it will come in handy the next time I am waiting on line for an iOS device launch or at a trade show or if the power goes out. The estimate an August ship date - But hey this is kickstarter so if I get it by October I will be happy. Again to find this one search for SOSCharger one word at kickstarter.com
Hi Rob,
Just wanted to inform you of a review that was on your show just exactly about one year ago. I have been listening to all the reviews of the Bluetooth since I have been interested in one. I heard this review about a year ago and researched it and kept the email that I researched it with. I finally got around to buying this Motorola Universal Bluetooth headset HX 550 and let me tell you something it is a great Bluetooth. It sets up instantly with the iPhone 5 and works very well. I have been texting using Siri And other things without even touching the iPhone it is a great Bluetooth I'm glad I listen to your show and the caller that called in one year ago around this time in March thank you very much for the review of this Bluetooth. it is a great Bluetooth I bought it at $43 now is markdown the $39 on Amazon get yours soon.
Thank Rob
Doug
Cincinnati
Thanks to Tash for this next one. Which is about the iFlashDrive HD - which is essentially a dual dongelled Thumbdrive where one end is a standard USB connector for plugging into your computer and the other end is a 30 pin connector for plugging into your iOS device. This allows you to exchange files via this thumb drive between iOS devices and between iOS devices and computers. In a meeting with someone and need to swap some files - this will let you do it. Anyway if this seems like something you are interested in look for the link in the show notes titled - i-FlashDrive HD.
CBS has introduced a new iOS App for iOS devices - this app delivers some CBS TV programs to your iSO device for free - most 8 days after the air date - but some available 24 hours after airing. SO NCIS, CSI and the Good wife for example are available 8 days after airing - but The Young and the Restless being they are restless show up 24 hours after airing - as does the Late show with David Letterman - who is not young - but I guess is still restless. However some shows are not available at all in the app like The big bang theory or the Mentalist. The later having to do with a clause in iOS about offering shows that are direct rip offs of Physch. Just sayin.
Thanks to Steven for the heads up on this next one - which is that the Stargate SG-1 Unleashed Ep1 app is now available - this is for all the stargate fans in the audience - Justin et all. Search for Stargeate SG-1 unleashed in the iOS App store.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - DAN_APP_REVIEW_PAGES
Hi Rob, I was wondering if you or any of the listeners could let me know what would be the best way to buy and activate a Straight Talk iPhone 5. I know Straight Talk now allows you to buy the phone directly from them, but that model uses the Verizon cell towers and I am interested in using the AT&T cell towers. Would it be best to buy an AT&T iPhone to use with straight talk or would it be better to buy the Verizon one as I have heard that it comes factory unlocked. If you or the listens could answer this question it would be greatly appreciated.
Regards, Ryan
Hi Ryan,
First it depends on where you live and plan to travel to. You need to check with straight talk and find out what type of coverage and on what network said coverage is for where you live and where you plan to travel. If it is that AT&T would be the better coverage for you - and they are not offering up a GSM primary iPhone 5 - then go to Apple and get an unsubsidized one - make sure you let Apple know that you plan to use it on Striaght talks GSM i.e. AT&T backbone as opposed to their CDMA i.e. Verizon backbone.
If anyone has purchased an iPhone 5 on Straight talk - do you know if you are on their GSM or CDMA network?
Give us a call - 206-666-6364 - thats 206-moon-dog
Hi Rob,
I am planning a trip to Thailand for a 2 week holiday.
I am trying to find out what the best carrier would be for me to use while I am there. I bought my 4S directly from the Apple Store here in Canada at full price with no contract and unlocked so it’s no problem for me to put in anybody’s SIM.
I am leaving on April 13 and thought I would see if you could put this out to the TII community because I am almost sure somebody has done this before me and maybe you even have some listeners from Thailand who would know who the best carrier is with respect to service quality and coverage. I’ll be in Bangkok for just a couple of days, then I’ll be in the northern area, most likely Chiang Mai and for the rest probably on the islands of Koh Tao and Koh Samui.
Any information is greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Sieghard - Pronounced “seeghard”
PLAY VOICEMAIL - TRACY_BUGS_JB_GOOGLE
PLAY VOICEMAIL - JOE_FEEDBK_ANDY
Joe thanks for the feedback and kind words - but I do disagree - I feel 100% when you write an article about switching - you make the article about yourself - and that is what Andy did - I read the first of the three parts - and that makes it even worse that it is three parts - you can say what ever you want in that article about it not being this or that - but the end of the day - Andy is a smart guy and he knew exactly what he was doing - self promotion - or as I call it when anyone does one of these type of articles - Self Mastabatory journalism - with journalism in quotes. Andy does not get a pass on the criticism because he was a host at one time of the 2nd podcast launched about the iPhone. With this podcast of course being the first - nope Andy gets no pass and I 100% stand behind my comments on the last show and this one - If you write an article about switching to and from any OS - you make it about you - and that is something Andy knew when he wrote it.
hi rob...
I am a longtime listener to your podcast. I had a question that maybe you could throw out to the tii universe if you cannot answer this yourself.
I have an iPhone 5 on Verizon and use downcast to listen to all my podcasts. I was wondering if there was a way to add youtube channel feeds into downcast to listen to them like podcasts. I have not been able to find an app, or cydia tweak to be able to do this easily. help! I would be willing to change podcast apps if this was an option in another app or tweak.
Brad
Colorado Springs, CO
Hi Rob,
I know that you corrected yourself about the iPod touch battery percent yesterday, but I wanted to let you know there is a way to get the percentage. If you turn on Voice Over in the accessibility settings and touch the battery the iPod will say the percent left. While not the easiest way to check it does work.
Thanks for the show,
Dan
Hey Rob
Here is a quick thing Matt can try to fix up the issues he is having with his iPhone and Windows Vista machine (if it hasn’t already been said yet). I’m just listening to this episode now and I know there is another one since then, so if this has been suggested, please ignore.
Here goes.
1.Make sure the PC if off and that the iPhone isn’t plugged into it.
2.Pull the power cable out of the PC
3.Push the ON button on the PC a couple of times (yes, the power cable is out)
4.Put the power cable back
5.Turn it on
6.Connect iPhone
7.Works?
Thanks for the great podcast and if I were living in the US I would damn sure be heading over to eff.com and backing the shield act.
Cheers
dEx
PLAY VOICEMAIL - SHAVAN_LIVE_MONEY
PLAY VOICEMAIL - TODD_PART1 AND TODD_PART2
Before we go I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback it can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you enjoy the show more and it helps support the show at the same time - and it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search Tii in the iTunes app store.
I just drew this on Doodle Buddy for iPad. With Doodle Buddy you can create awesome drawings on tons of backgrounds and even use cool stamps. Doodle Buddy is also available for iPhone and iPod touch. I got the picture from fotopedia app.
Regards,
Rob Spokane
=======================
Transcript for Episode 261
-----------------------------------
A new version of the Tii App is finally out. This version is optimized for the iPhone 5. Other new features include.
-Now have the ability to rearrange episodes on star tab
-Improved app accessibility for the visually impaired
-New filter to show premium episodes
But the one not listed for some reason is the ability to now change the direction you can playback the episodes. Before when the episode you were listening to ended it went to the episode released before that - an older episode. Which I never liked. If I fall behind on a show - I like to listen in the order they were released. And now you can do that. Say you are behind on episodes you can now set it under the Settings section under more - to play from oldest to newest. Thus go to ep 258 play it - when it is done it will automatically start playing ep 259 and so on. I know a few of you asked for that feature in the past - and I am happy to say it is finally here.
To find the Official App for this show search for Tii in the iTunes Apps store - it is just $2.99
Hi Rob,
I have been trying all day to bring up the TII app. I just says "loading." Are you having any problems with your website?
Regards,
John M
Hi John and anyone else that just upgraded the Tii App and are having issues with it getting stuck at loading.
First a Big Thanks for supporting the show.
Second - Sometimes when the app upgrades come out for the Tii App - some of the new downloads get corrupted.
To fix this first delete the Tii App off your iOS device.
Then on your iOS device via the App store app - while logged in with the same iTunes account you originally purchased it with - go and re-download the Tii app - as long as you are in the same account your originally purchased the Tii app with you will not be charged again.
Sorry about the issue for those effected.
A post over at the Washington Post warns those that are participants with the Thrift Savings Plan - which I understand is for federal employees - or so the article makes it out to be - to stay away from an app in iTunes called TSP Funds - this is not an official app of the Thrift savings plan - and possible very bad things could happen to your retirement plan - if you use this app. Again if you are part of the Thrift savings plan - and you saw an app called TSP Funds - run away - run away. Link in the show notes for ep 261 over at today in iOS dot com titled TSP warns participants against free iPhone app from Apple store
It still mystifies me on the Apple stock price drop - and all the negativity towards Apple - you would think if you read blogs and listened to Podcasts from a certain four letter network - that consumers have given up on Apple - and you would be sooo wrong. Another survey backs up that the blogs have it wrong. Yankee Group survey'd consumers intending to buy a tablet and found number one in the group was Apple - with 47% of those intending to buy. Number 2 at 23% was Unsure slash don't know. Number 3 was Amazon at 7%. Sammy was 4th at 6%. So clearly the iPads are the most desired tablets amongst those intending to buy a tablet. Good news for Apple.
Among those Using Tablets - as measured by Chitika - it is over 81% of web traffic currently coming from iPads. So usage stats are also good news.
Then there is the smartphone side of things - and guess what Apple keeps increasing its market share in the US for smartphones. Yeah that's right Apple keeps increasing share. Actually if you look month to month - Google has lost market share the last 2 months and 3 out of the 5 previous months - while apple has not lost share any of those months. Increasing share by 1.5%, 1.3% and 0.7% for Jan, Dec and Nov respectively. Android over that period lost 1.1%, lost 0.3% and gained 0.1% respectively. Actually in the past year Apple went from 29.5% share of US Smartphones to 37.8%. For those that can't find their calculator app That is a 8.3% market share increase in the past year vs only a 3.7% market share increase for Android - and again in the last quarter they as in Android lost share. These numbers are via Comscore.
Another report backing up that Bloggers and wall street types have it so wrong is about what Flyers prefer - no not Dayton Flyers - but Airplane Flyers also known as passengers. When Gogo inflight - the largest US provider of inflight wifi just looked at the devices requesting their service in 2013 and they found that 67% of them were Mobile devices - tablets or smartphones. And Among mobile devices 84% of them had an i at the front of their name and an Apple logo on the back. Just 16% were Android devices. Actually when they broke it down further for Smartphone devices - about 74% were iPhones - and about 26 % were Android and blackberry and Windows devices made up just 1% signing up for the service in the air.
So at least per the air traveler segment - iOS devices rule the sky.
From web Video Company OOYALA - iOS video usage doubles usage from Android devices. Combine that with an over 5 to 1 ratio we saw for Podcast Downloads in Feb for iOS vs Android at Libsyn - the worlds largest Podcast host and it is all just More evidence of the people use their iOS devices - and Android users put them in a draw somewhere. Just Sayin.
With all this good news for Apple on the iPhone and iPad side - I am still flamuxed by the lack of any real coverage of said good news - and the complete lack of response on Wall Street.
I also saw an interesting post about the Galaxy vs iPhone lines and by Interesting I mean skewed badly towards samsung. The post spun it that the Galaxy line was catching up to the iPhone line in sales - which I guess is better than some others I read which have Sammy ahead - which it is not. But this post showed a chart that said in 2010 there was a 4.3 X advantage for iPhone over Galaxy lines - that dropped to 2.6 X in 2011 and 1.8 X in 2012. Which assuming their numbers are correct - since Sammy does not release numbers - was skewed to miss a bigger picture number - actual sales - see I could spin it this way. In 2010 the iPhone out sold the Galaxy line by 32.4 Mil units, in 2011 the iPhone increased that gap to 54 Mil units and in 2012 iPhone sales increased even more to over 59.4 million more iPhones sold than Galaxy series phones. See depending on how you spin it - the picture can change quite a bit. Any way expect much more of these pro Galaxy S4 type posts once Samsung officially announces the S4 and lists its specs later this week. And when you hear all that doom and gloom for Apple this week - remember what I just went over.
Correction from the last show - Per the instructions on how to get the Battery % turned on for the iPod touch - I was wrong - There is no option on the iPod touch - the instructions I gave were fine for the iPhone and iPad - bot Apple in their infinite wisdom decided not to have the option for Battery % on the iPod touch. Huhhhh. Well Any way I assumed it was there - and well you know what happens when you assume.
Also had more than a few people email in saying they got the recording App Shevan mentioned on the last episode and said they could not get it to record phone calls. Here is the work flow if you want to record phone calls.
1. Launch the phone app - make a call and put it on speaker phone
2. Minimize the Phone App
3. Launch that recording app and then hit record.
You need to go in that order to record the phone call. If you hit record first - it will stop recording as soon as you launch the phone app. So make call first - put on speaker phone - minimize phone app - launch recording app - hit record.
I did that on the app with an iPhone 4s and it worked fine. I did hear from one person that on an iPhone 4 he could not get it to work - so it might just work for the 4S and 5. But it definitely works for those devices.
Hi Rob,
Wanted to use my iPad as a second monitor via wifi, but the apps I've come across have bad reviews :( I'm wary....
Any thoughts?
Have you used either of the below?
Air Display
XDisplay
Hi Rob,
Per the Guy with Vista and an issue with sync'g.
The answer is he has a corrupted iTunes App. To fix
Simply make sure Vista Updates are installed.
Delete/uninstall iTunes. Reboot.
Go to Apple.com/iTunes and download new iTunes Version. Choose the correct configuration for his system. 32 or 64 bit.
Install new iTunes. Connect iPhone. Should now detect his device. Pervious Backups and Playlists etc should still be there as they are stored in a different place other than in iTunes itself.
So in short. Delete/uninstall and reinstall iTunes.
Regards, Chris in london
Rob
In response to the question about the Wilson Sleek Cell phone signal booster.
I have been using the 'sleek' for a year now and would be lost without it. I have one for the car and one for the house since I am entirely dependent on cell phone and data. I do live on the fringes (signal wise) in the woods of Pennsylvania, hilly terrain. The sleek boosts cell and data signal significantly. We've found just placing multiple phones in contact with the sleek broadcasts signal to all where without - NO usable signal is present. There are multiple antenna options for different situations. It is powered by USB (AC/12V). Reduces drop outs while mobile. Nothing I don't like about it. A life saver. Highly recommended.
Regards,
Bob A
Hi Rob,
Thought I'd share this great iOS email tip - Can't believe I didn't already know about this.
Tim thanks for the heads up on this tip. which has to do to getting back to your draft emails quickly very quickly. Open the email app - and in the lower right corner tap and hold the compose new email button. That is the square button with a pencil over laid on it. That is all you have to do and it will pop up all your draft emails from all your accounts. I was surprised to find 2 drafts in there from 2008 - ooopppps Tim thanks again for the heads up on that tip from iMore.
Hi Rob,
The caller asking about an app to load money to pay for food etc. Ok PayPal, it is working its way in to stores, I have seen it at Dollar General at the checkout CC machine. I have used it when associate needed to paid me for ½ of a hotel stay, it worked great (no extra cost to me or the sender).
It will work everywhere that takes an debit CC, if you can get the PayPal debit CC on that account.
To see the stores that take PayPal without the use of a debit CC go here:
Well your iOS device is a little more secure now - well more specifically your iTunes store account is more secure now.
Seems iOS devices for well ever were sending your username and password info when you went to sign in to iTunes - they were sending it un-encrypted. No Https. Yikes
What this means is if you were on a public or shared Wifi network and you went to log into iTunes from your iOS device - your info was available on that network to anyone else connected to the network and sniffing packets.
Again - this issue is now fixed - and Apple is now using Https when communicating between iOS devices and iTunes stores.
Still pretty embarrassing it took this long to fix.
Speaking of issues with iOS - It seems there are some reports of issues with iOS 6.1.2 - issues as in bugs. Now I am not hearing of them from users - but if you have an un-jailbroken iOS device running iOS 6.1.2 and have seen any bugs - especially around the Camera app - let me know and let me know which specific iOS device you are using. 206-666-6364 that's 206-moon-dog or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
I want to welcome back today's sponsor which is Audible. If you go to audible podcast dot com forward slash T I I - you can get a free audio book of your choosing when you sign up for a new account.
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and if you have not seen the trailer for World War Z - I recommend going on your Apple TV and search for that trailer - it looks awesome. And now you can get a jump on the movie by getting one of those audio books or any of the over 100,000 other titles Audible has to choose from by going to audible podcast dot com / T I I - thats audible podcast dot com / T I I for your free audio book download - offer good to just those in the US and Canada. Thanks Audible for sponsoring the show. And folks - please send in any audible book recommendations you have.
Ok - lets get into some rumors. One of which is the iWatch will be out before the end of the year - to which I can only say I thought it was going to be out before the end of last year - so yeah - I can buy that rumor and will likely buy that device is said rumor is true.
Also on the rumor front iMore says they learned Apple is planning to release the iPhone 5S slash iPhone 2013 this summer - August is the month they claim - and that the next gen iPads - iPad 5th gen and iPad mini 2nd gen may also debut as soon as April. I hate those May and as soon as rumors but nearly as much as I hate this next one.
So with all the rumors running around - how do you know for sure when one is false - well for starters it could have this title quote iPhone 5S to Come with a Stylus unquote - yeah one like that you really don't need to read any further. Oh the other way to tell if it is false - Digitimes is quoted somewhere in the article. Like with that rumor about the next iPhone coming with wireless charging. Which we also move into we are sure it is false category.
One of the things about rumors is the willingness of sites like ZDNet and others to run with them - when they make Zero sense - even though the writers try to make sense of them - a perfect example of this is the rumor out of China Times - Not to be confused with Digititimes - but quickly making a run at Digitimes for quality of rumors or lack there of. Anyway their latest rumor is Apple for their low cost iPhone is going to use the Snapdragon processor from qualcom rather than their own A-series processor. Yes because nothing says saving money like using someone elses chips and then having to redo your software to work with it. ZERO chance - repeat Zero chance on this rumor.
And when you step back and look at all the new rumors for the iPhone 5S just in the past week - the different rumors have it launching in June or July or August - depending on which report you read. It has a stylus - not it does not - it will have wireless charging - and no it will not - there will be a low cost iPhone with a processor other than Apples - and finally the rumors about it having Fingerprint sensors and is on track for a june or july launch. Or put another way the kitchen sink - yeah it was thrown around a little this past week.
Here is some feedback I received about one listeners thoughts on the low cost iPhone.
Hi Rob,
I jut wanted to write this time to say that I really hate this crap
about the plastic IPhone. This sounds like a cheap piece of junk
called an IPhone and stripped of any build and material qualitys that
make anything an IPhone to begin with. This thing is said to not even
have a glass screen if these people are correct. An IPhone with a
plastic screen?? What the frack?? Beyond ridiculous. It should not be
sold in the U.S. But if it won't be sold here, then what these people
are suggesting is that an entire year will be skipped for a new
generation of the IPhone. Just this plastic piece of crap version of
the IPhone 5. That's like telling a high end manufacturer of some
product that they have to make an econo box version that shares the same name as the
real thing so that everyone can have said product with the same name.
That is in large part what they are giving in to if they do this and
if they sell it here at all.
Regards,
James M
Well James thanks for your thoughts. I do think if they do a plastic iPhone it will not have a plastic screen - I think they will stay with glass with the rest being plastic just like with the iPhone 3G and 3GS.
Hi Rob,
At what point in the iPhone upgrade cycle do you think it makes sense to wait for the next version? I have an iPhone 4 and I'm eligible to upgrade now to the 5. Do I wait for the 5S (or whatever they end up calling it) or just get the 5 now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Love the show.
Sean in Denver
Hi Sean,
That is a tough question. After the first 5 to 6 months - it becomes a question of how bad do you need the new phone.
Since we just passed the 5 month mark - right now I would say it is very likely in the next 5 months a new iPhone will be out.
So if your current iPhone is meeting your needs - then I would suggest waiting.
However if your current iPhone has a shattered screen then well you may want to look at upgrading now. Personally at this point if I got an email from AT&T tomorrow that said I could upgrade to the iPhone 5 - at the full subsidized price - I would pass and wait for the iPhone 5S / 6 / 2013 model to be out.
We mentioned google glass on the last episode - well now comes word of the first bar to ban Google Glass. The 5 Point Bar in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood said if you have google glass you no welcome round here. The reason for the ban - I mean other than for PR - is quote it's because its kind of a private place that people go unquote - when referring to the bar. So essentially this is a patron privacy issue. And guess what this is not going to be the last business to say no to google glass on the property. As google glass makes it easy and not obvious to record video when you are wearing them.
Expect more and more and more of these type of stories in the future.
It appears in the Niche demographic of Men with Mutten Chops there is now 100% Android Penetration as Andy Ihnatko switched to android. People asked for my comments on this - well really this is just an example of a Journalist looking for PR and making himself the story. Look in the last 100+ episodes - this is the first time I could find a reference to him Nuff said - actually too much said.
One Thing people with Mutton Chops will need to worry about is Mal-Ware - as on the Android side it is growing faster and faster. 79% of all mobile Malware in 2012 was on Android. Symbian came in second at 19%.
Yeah - I could see how that would be an issue with Bring your own device to work policies.
Now Apple was not entirely unscathed in 2012 - they had iOS at 0.7% of Malware threats. But no threats were found in the last quarter of 2012.
Plain in simple if you don't want to worry about Malware - get an iOS device.
Hey Rob,
I have a 3 year old daughter that is legally blind and I have been searching for good apps she could use on my old iPhone 4. Do your listeners know of any good apps that she might enjoy?
Regards,
Alex in Connecticut.
Folks if you know of some good pre-k apps for kids with voice over features please let us know - 206-666-6364 - thats 206-moon-dog - or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
Hi Rob:
I recently purchased an Otterbox Defender for the iPhone 5 and I love it. This is my 3rd case for the 5. I wasn't planning one because I think the phone is beautiful. The problem is that the phone is so sleek, I kept "panicking" when I couldn't feel the phone in my pocket!
With the Otterbox Defender, this is a non issue because it adds considerable bulk, which might not please some, but is great for me.
This is one well designed rugged case. Everything fits extremely tight with nice port covers, screen protector etc. it even has a porthole in the back to display the magical fruit logo.
I don't plan on dropping it but I'm pretty sure it will survive if I do. As an aside, I could be wrong, but I think this is definitely geared towards the male species.
It comes with a rugged swivel belt clip that securely holds the phone, but I'm not really fond of these carriers.
If there is a negative, I would say that it would be with the instructions. I could not for the life of me get it apart after I removed it from the packaging. Fortunately there was a video on YouTube that gave the little bit of help I needed.
Overall I am extremely satisfied with this case and just ordered their Defender case for the iPad Mini.
Regards,
Bob
PS. You look nothing like I envisioned which is not a bad thing, because you look very much like a friend of mine 😀.
PLAY VOICE MAIL - CHRIS_QUEST_LOOSE_SOUND_DOCK
Hi Rob - After hearing about the Kickstarter project for the Ube Wifi Connected Smart Light Dimmer in the last episode, item 260, I decided to look into light automation for my house. I didn't realize there is already a product on the market called the Philips hue. The starter pack comes with a small round base station that plugs into your router and three light bulbs. It was super easy to hook up and get working. You can control the lights from an iPhone, iPad app or your computer, from your house or when you are away. You can control the intensity, the color and set timers. They are sold exclusively at Apple stores. I have only had it for a few days now, but really like it.
Regards,
Darrin
Hey Rob,
Two quick questions. 1. Is it possible to get the clock on the lock screen to be a face clock and not digital? (Non-jailbreak) 2. I go hiking a lot and use my iPhone as GPS to track my hikes but it just eats up battery. So I'm looking into getting a solar iPhone charger I could take with me. I'm asking if anyone has a good recommendation or anything to keep in mind while researching witch one to get.
Thank you.
Love the show,
DJ Medina
Hi DJ - for your first question - No - no it is not possible - you need to jailbreak if you want to change the clock on your lock screen.
Per question number 2 - There is a solar back pack - or more precisely - a back pack that has Solar Photo Voltaic charging cells right on the back back. But it ain't cheep - to the tune of $225 - look for the link in the show notes for the Voltaic OffGrid solar Charging backpack.
Hi Rob,
Saviour from the Faroe islands here! First of I like to say that I follow your podcast every week. I was searching on kickstarter for new cool projects and I found this one. Check out this progect it called Thermodo and it's already reaches it goal.
By the way, thanks for leting me know about the iTunesU Stanford Unvercity course for iOS Development!
Best Regards
Saviour
Hi Saviour - thanks for the heads up on the kickstarter project called thermodo - t h e r m o d o - and what it is is a tiny thermometer you plug into the headphone jack for it to work.
This way you can measure the temperature right where you iPhone is. It is $25 and they way blew past their goal of $35,000 - with over $130,000 raised and growing. You have until April 9th at 2:00 PM ET to get in on this one. And kudos for them in keeping down the goal. But a big minus on the over a dozen different pricing levels.
Hi Rob,
This looks great but I guess they didn't get the memo on a conservative goal. But they say everyone who backs will get one regardless if fully funded or not.
Down side, will be $250 after going retail.
Regards,
Name lost.
And this is per the indiegogo project called Buddy Bluetooth Watch - yes another blue tooth watch. This one has until April 11th at 11:59 PM PT before funding is complete - they have a goal or $320,000 and have raised $74,000. Which by Smartphone watch type projects is not much.
They are asking for $150 for a pledge for the black one - there are other more expensive options for other colors. If you are someone that is now collecting all the bluetooth watches out there you can check this out by searching for Buddy bluetooth watch over at indiegogo dot com or looking for the link in the show notes for ep 261.
Per what makes this one different - Size - as in this thing is Huge as in gigantic as in get away from me with that thing - big. Definitely not for the lady's. Ok there are other things that make it different - but I will leave that up to those that are interested in Bluetooth watches to check it out to see what they are.
This next story is one you probably wish was run at the beginning of the winter - but here is now. There is a product called AnyGlove that lets you put a drops of a liquid onto your gloves that the gives those parts of the glove capacitive touch capabilities. Or put another way - put this goop on the finger tips of your gloves and you can use those gloves you added the goop to with your iOS devices. Well once the goop dries that is. It costs $19.95 and you get about 550 drops per bottle. Link in the shows notes for this again it is called AnyGlove one word.
Hi Rob,
I'm looking for a free way to call using my IPad over Wifi from the United Kingdom ( London England ) can you advise ?
Thanks
James B
Hi James - I will throw this one out to the audience - what methods if any are you using to make free phones called via Wifi with your iOS device.
206-666-6364 - that's 206-Moon-dog or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
I have had a few people ask about upgrading their unlocked iPhone to iOS 6.x and keeping their unlock.
Here is the deal - if you iPhone is carrier unlocked - you are ok to update. Now here is the important part - Carrier unlocked means it was authorized by your carrier - i.e. AT&T to be unlocked - you got an email from them or Apple saying you could unlock it and needed to restore the device at the end of which you saw a message on iTunes saying congrats the phone was unlocked. That is Carrier unlocked. If you paid some guy $50 via Craigslist and he unlocked it for - that is not carrier unlocked and upgrading from your current version of iOS to iOS 6.x will bork your unlock and it will not just be gone - it will be gone with not much chance of getting it back.
But for those that asked if you have an old iPhone that served out its term on AT&T and you had it unlocked via AT&T and Apple - you are safe to upgrade to iOS 6.x - and you are good to jailbreak it once you do. But if you paid someone to unlock it - do not upgrade as you will loose the unlock.
Hi Rob,
I have a jailbroken iPhone 5 running iOS 6.1 using evasi0n. What is the proper process to update to a jailbroken iOS 6.1.2? I already downloaded the iOS 6.1.2 update to my computer to protect myself against the iOS 6.1.3 update that will break evasi0n. I greatly appreciate any assistance you can offer!
Best,
Paul
Restore to the latest iOS version 6.1.2 - but not 6.1.3 incase you are listening when 6.1.2 is no longer the latest version. Once restored get evasi0n 1.4 and jailbreak per the tutorial I have up on my site.
I had a listener email in about having issues with his iPhone crashing after he jail broke it - I told him to restore / remove the jailbreak and then rejailbreak Here is his response.
Hi Rob,
I took your advice and restored and rejailbroke (is that a word?) my iPhone. I haven't had a single crash since and I was getting 2-3 crashes a day before.
Thanks for your help.
Chris
Las Vegas
Folks jailbreaking will make your iPhone less stable than if it is not - and it may crash occasionally - but if it is crashing every day or even every other day - something is not right and you should try restoring it and re-jailbreaking it.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - QUEST_MIAMI_LOST_SOUNDS
It is very likely you will need to restore - but before doing that - if you have a can of compressed air - I would recommend blowing that into the headphone jack and the dock connector port. Sometime some lint or debris can get into those ports and cause you to loose the sound on your iOS device. If that does not work - then restore and rejailbreak.
Hey quick update just before recording - Evasi0n version 1.5.2 is now out - it is a minor release that includes localizations for the languages of French, German and Chinese. If you are already jailBroken - no need to update or do anything - this is just for when you hear me say evasi0n 1.4 - I really mean 1.5.2 now - and will update that at some point on my tutorial.
Thanks to Steven for the link to the Youtube video on how to install Siri on an iPhone 4, 3GS, iPad 2 and iPod Touch 4 - Jailbroken running iOS 6.1.2. And I will put the link in the show notes for episode 261 as I know a few of you were asking for this. Look for the link titled How To Install Siri On iOS 6.1.2 For iPhone 4, 3GS iPad 2 & iPod Touch over at today in iOS dot com.
The Evasi0n jailbreak has been installed on over 14 million iOS devices. Which sounds great until your convert that to a percentage of iOS devices running iOS 6 and you get 5% for the number. Which sounds small until you convert it back to a unit number which is 14 Million - which sounds big. So lets go with over 14 Million iOS devices running Evasi0n which makes for a large pool of iOS 8 Feature beta testers.
Previously we mentioned that it was now kind of illegal to unlock your phone if you did it yourself. This being a violation of the DMCA. Well there was a petition at the white house to make it legal to do so - and 114,000 strong signed that petition - and how do the White house and the president respond - with the following Quote “The White House agrees with the 114,000+ of you who believe that consumers should be able to unlock their cell phones without risking criminal or other penalties, In fact, we believe the same principle should also apply to tablets, which are increasingly similar to smart phones.”
So to summarize - Last year the EFF got the Library of Congress to grant an exemption in the DMCA for jailbreaking your smartphones. But unlocking was still considered illegal as is jailbreaking your tablet.
Mind you this is all in a theoretical spectrum - as individual users are very very very unlikely to be gone after for jailbreaking a tablet - and it is very very unlikely anyone would go after those that create the jailbreak - as in this case that anyone would be Apple and legally going after jail breakers - means well - Bad PR - Apple just fights the Jailbreak software creators by hiring them - much cheaper than the legal fee. Plus with the whitehouses support and comments there is pretty much zero chance Apple would go after anyone for jailbreaking. Unlocking - however was an issue as the anyone there could have been one of the carriers - and well they just are not as end user friendly as Apple is . So this is good news.
The Original Angry Birds for iPhone and iPad - which had been $0.99 and $2.99 respectively is now Zero and Zilch respectively. Not sure how long this will last but if you want to get the original Angry birds now you can do so for free. And FYI - this is not a few levels free - this is all levels free. So get it while the getting it free.
Hey Rob
Each year i go with my parents to visit the graves of our ancestors. Unfortunately my parents aren't going to be around forever, and I don't think I will be able to find all of them once they are not with me. So I was wondering if someone knew of a GPS video tour builder app that would let me store the GPS locations of the graves and add a little video of my parents talking about who it is. Any ideas?
Regards,
Dave
Hi Rob,
I'm sure you are aware of stuff like this. This one seems to be making the rounds. Watch out for The FB page called "Apple." with the period.
They make it look like they have older iPad 2's unboxed they they are giving away if you share a photo.
IT is a scam
Regards,
Steven in houston.
Hi Steven - thanks for the heads up - but if anyone thinks apple got to be the most valuable company in the world by giving away iPads - they will they deserve to be scammed. Ok maybe not - but well maybe.
Obviously - any offer from anyone - for free iPad's is a scam - even if it looks like it is from Apple. Or even more so if it looks like it is from Apple.
Hi Rob,
just wanted to write in with my review of the iPad mini, I was finally able to get my hands on a slightly used one from Gazelle for a good price. I've had it for about three weeks now and I absolutely love it. The size is on of the best parts for me. I have completely stopped taking my MacBook to school with me and am now using the mini as my mobile computer. The other thing I find incredible is the battery life I go out with a full charge, I'm gone all day using it and come back at over 50%, fantastic. I know a lot of people wish it had a retina display, but since I'm not coming from an iPad maxi it doesn't bother me. Folks can follow all my adventures in the post PC era with the iPad mini athttp://productivitypad.blogspot.com, where I'll be giving tips tricks and reviews on the iPad mini.
Regards,
Ben in Utah
Before we go I want to remind you to send in your feedback to the show - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or record your feedback and email it to the show at today in iOS at gmail dot com - The feedback it can be a question or comment per something someone said on this episode or it can be a question or rant you have about something else. An App or product review - good or bad - as long as it is iOS related - it is welcomed. I am always looking for new Artwork to feature that you created on an iOS device - just put some Tii branding on it and send it in. And of course we are always looking for more music created on an iOS device to play on the show. This is your show and your feedback is greatly desired. If you want to know when new episodes go up - look at the Tii app - not just the best way to consume the show - but also a great way to get a push message when a new episode goes live or there is other iOS breaking news. Just $2.99 in the app store - it helps you enjoy the show more and it helps support the show at the same time - and it makes it really easy to email or call the show with your feedback. Again just search Tii in the iTunes app store.
And a big thanks to todays sponsor - Audible - go to audible podcast dot com slash t i i to get your free audio book download.
My wife took my photo wearing my new Glasses from Warby Parker with my iPhone which I then imported to her iPad. I used Adobe Photoshop touch on the iPad to crop out and magic erase the background and then added the text and image fill - And I did it all in about 30 minutes.
========================
Transcript for Episode 260
-----------------------------------
I want to start off on a soap box rant - Actually I am going to read a post I was asked by the folks at Boing Boing to write and was up on Boing boing this past week. While not iOS related it is Podcast related and also patent Troll related - which sadly is a subject that comes back to iOS all too often the post goes.
A patent troll is out to kill off podcasting, or at a minimum critically wound it. This troll does have a patent on the whole podcasting process, despite the fact they have not contributed one line of code to the process or even a single idea used in podcasting. But they have a patent and they are going to suck as much money from podcasters as possible.
That they were granted this patent in February 2012 just goes to show how broken the patent system is. They have already started suing podcasters in the Eastern District court of Texas - where all patent trolls go to do their evil deeds. They also started sending out letters to individual podcasters looking to extort license fees. If you listen to podcasts it is likely at some time in the near future one or more of the podcasts you listen to will be hit with one of these extortion letters. There is actually a really good chance one of the podcasts you listen to already has -- four podcasts I listen to on a regular basis already have been sent these letters.
The podcasters that get these letters have 3 options.
1. Ignore the letters and hope for the best.
2. Contact the troll and agree to pay a license fee for the patent (even though the podcasters don't use the technology from said patent troll - because well it does not exist
3. Fight the troll in court.
Well actually there is a 4th option -- shut down the podcast and delete all files and hope they go away. But even if podcasters do that the patent trolls could still try to extort money retroactively. But at least podcasters would not be out more money. Sadly many may choose this option.
Regarding option 3: If someone does fight the troll and wins - all that means is the winner does not have to pay the license fee to the patent troll. However the "winner" is still out all the lawyers fees they spent to fight a bogus patent.
Thus given the choice of paying around a thousand dollars a year (I have no knowledge of what the patent troll in this case is asking for -- that number is just similar to what some other patent trolls have asked for) or paying over $250,000 or even a $1,000,000 in legal fees -- game theory dictates you choose paying the license fee. The patent trolls know this and that is why their extortion racket works.
But now there is a real chance to change things. The SHIELD Act (H.R. 845) was just introduced into the House by Congressmen Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Jason Chaffetz (R-UT). This bill would put the financial liability on the patent rolls if they loose. If the SHIELD Act is passed into law and you fight a patent troll and win -- the patent troll is responsible to pay all of your legal bills.
Once there put in your Zip Code. It will then give you the names and phone numbers of your representatives in Congress and allow you to send an email to them. In addition to sending an email -- what is really important is to call your congressperson's office -- give them your name tell them you are from their district and you want your congressperson to support this bill.
I hope some day when the whole sad story of Patent Trolls is finally written - the turning point will be when they went after Podcasters and the Podcast listeners helped get the SHIELD Act passed into Law
And that ends the post on Boing Boing - Folks if you like this podcast and other podcasts - and you live in the US - you can and must help out - call your congressperson and tell them to support the shield act. Just Go to
Put in your zip code and then call your congress person - I did it - and I need you to do it to. If you are a podcaster or blogger - tell your audience about eff.org/shield and the shield act - together we can finally fight back against the trolls. Do this now before this patent troll kills off one of your favorite podcasts.
Yet - Another Lock screen bypass in iOS 6.1 has been found. It again involves juggling 6 balls at once while jumping through hoops that are spinning and on fire. Well ok - maybe not that easy - but you get the picture.
Like the other one this one gets you access to the voicemails and contacts on the phone. There was some talk that you could put the screen into a black mode and connect to a computer and get the data off the phone - but it turns out that is only true if the iPhone had previously been sync'd to that computer.
Still anytime a bug like this is found - it is a black eye to apple - which already looks like Erchel after getting pummeled by King Kong Bundy - hmm - A little too much showing my age in that reference - how about makes apple look like President Obama at Comic Con trying to explain the new Jedi Mind Meld.
No word yet on when a fix is coming for this issue.
Now we did talk about the other Passcode bug on the last episode - and Apple has seeded iOS 6.1.3 beta 2 to devs and this new beta does break the jailbreak - so it is not just fixing the passcode bug from last week - but also killing off at least on of the 5 exploits used by the evasion jailbreak - thing is according to the dev team guys - you need all 5 exploits to run evasi0n. So if you want to jailbreak - update to 6.1.2 now - and jailbreak now. If iOS 6.1.3 comes out between now and the next episode - DO NOT update if you have any desire to Jailbreak. Once 6.1.3 is released we will talk about it - but as always - hold off and let others be the first to update even if you are not planning on jailbreaking.
We talked in the past about Cricket Wireless getting the iPhone. Which they did back in June of last year per the iPhone 4S - and then on September 28th per the iPhone 5. In both cases they offered a $150 subsidy for the iPhone. So for $500 upfront for a 16GB version you got a data plan that was a little more per month than virgin mobiles. Now it seems Cricket is chirping that they are a bit behind on sales of the iPhones and have to date only sold about half of what they committed to selling. Obviously it is bad news for Cricket as they have a commit to hit. But for Apple some are saying this is really bad news - as it shows a non-subsidized or in this case a only very partially subsidized iPhone will not sell well in developing nations. And they are using this example to point out the need again for a low cost iPhone. Per Crickets part - they said they will be doing some marketing pushes giving buyers additional options for financing the iPhone. So I guess the question is for cricket - is it a case of bad marketing or just that their core audience is very budget conscious - and they are looking at the lowest cost phones primarily.
I did not see any numbers on Smartphone sales on Cricket as a percentage of sales and what those ASP's are. Nor has Virgin Mobiles sales of iPhones been revealed and if this is just an issue at Cricket or an issue for the prepaid market for the iPhone in general.
And this is probably a good segue into the rumor about the $330 Plastic iPhone - the latest rumor or rumors comes from Macotakara - who said there is also a 4.5" iPhone 6 coming as well as the lower cost $330 iPhone cheap - And while the iPhone cheap will be out in mid 2013 the larger iPhone 6 will not be out now until 2014.
I bring this up because other recent rumors have gone on to say that actually the $330 plastic iPhone or what ever its price is would also be the 4.5" iPhone. It goes like this - one of the reasons the current iPhone 5 is so expensive to make is because it is so small. But if you had more room to work with and a bigger battery and a bigger screen but with less pixels per square inch - i.e. same resolution as current iPhone just stretched to a bigger size. The screen while bigger would be cheaper as it does not push the tech as much as the current retina display does. A larger package means more flexibility in design and layout - which means the ability to make it much easier to assemble - maybe even mostly by robots - which there is a lot of rumors are making their way into fox con factories as of late. So maybe the cheaper iPhone and the larger iPhone are really one in the same. And the Cadillac of iPhones will remain the thiner - lighter - smaller 4" iPhone size. Ironically I have not been convinced that a lower cost iPhone is coming nor have I been convinced a larger iPhone is coming - but when you say a larger lower cost iPhone is coming - for some reason that does not seem so far fetched and both my gut and head says yeah that makes sense. Maybe I just need to stop reading what the analyst are shoveling or maybe it really does make sense that when too bad ideas are combined you get one good idea. Only Time will tell.
And steven did follow up to say he found an app called Social Tiles - that was close - but only shows 2 Facebook Page links on the screen at a time. And it opens the pages in the official Facebook App and can't organize groups of pages. So Per stevens question if anyone knows of an app - other than Social tiles - let us know - 206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
Into the email bag we go.
Hi Rob,
Just a quick note. Last week the Fleksy app went totally free. That is, no more free restricted version; the whole app is now free.
Regards,
Kevin B
Hi Rob,
I just got the iPod touch 5 gen and I love it very much, but the only problem I have encountered is that I can not find the option is settings that let's you display your battery percent in upper right corner by battery. Thanks for the help, and your podcast is one of my favorites, thanks,
Daniel
Hi Daniel - what do you mean you can't find it - clearly you did not really look - I mean Apple put it in such a logical location - If it had teeth it would have bit you. Just go to the Settings App - then General - then Usage - And then scroll down and you will see the Battery Usage section with Battery Percentage toggle - just turn it on. I mean come on - it was soooo obvious where they put it - or not.
And now I would like to talk about this weeks sponsor - For those that have met me or have seen photos of me - you know that I wear glasses - I have for over half my life - I do not / will not wear contacts. Which is why I was so stoked to get Warby Parker as a sponsor. If you wear glasses like me you know what a pain it is to get new glasses and how expensive it is - my last pair cost more than a 64 GB iPhone. Especially after the eyeglass store put on all their adders. But Warby Parker is not like that. First on the price side for prescription Glasses they are $95 or you can go titanium for $145. And that includes the UV coating and a very nice case. No up sells. And these are nice fashionable glasses.
How the process works is you go to warbyparker dot com and you pick out 5 pairs of glasses you want to try on - and they ship them out to you at no cost. You try them on for a few days and pick out the pair you like best and send them all back - shipping is covered both ways. Then once you pick the pair you like best you go online enter your prescription and place the order. At that point for Tii listeners - you put in the promo code T I I for free 2 day shipping on the final pair. And that is it. It really was an easy process. For the in home try on I picked out one pair I liked - my wife picked out 4 pairs she liked for me. We got them in and luckily we both agreed on the same pair as being our favorite not that my vote would have counted much - And about 10 days later I had my new glasses. And I really like them - my kids like them and most importantly my wife really likes them. As I mentioned earlier in the episode you can see them on me in my picture on the banner for Warby parker up at today in iOS dot com or in the album artwork for ep 260. The Warby Parker website was just updated to work with iOS devices for the whole process. So you can go right now on your iOS device pick your 5 pairs and get them sent to you to try on at no cost to you. But lets say after you try on the 5 pairs you and your significant other can't agree on THE pair - simple send them back and pick out another 5 pairs and repeat
- still at no cost for the try ons. They have a lot of great styles and the site is really easy to see the different styles and colors. And for iOS users that are starting to trombone on your iPhone - they also have a monocle - so you can use that as a reading glass to see the small font on your iPhone screen. Just sayin. Plus you know nothing says cool like a monocle. Except maybe knowing that when you buy a pair of glasses with Warby Parker here is the absolute best part - they give a pair to a 3rd world charity. So in summary. You shop hassle free and get days to try on your 5 pairs at your home to pick the ones you really like best - you pay 1/3rd to 1/5th what you normally pay for glasses and by buying a pair you are helping out someone in a 3rd world country to get a pair of glasses as well. Win Win and Win. Again remember when you do buy a pair use promo code T i i at the check out for your purchased pair to get free 2 day shipping. Thanks Warby Parker for sponsoring this show.
If you use the iCloud service for email - this story is for you - especially if you ever had any emails sent to you that for some reason just never made it to you. Seems Apple has an over active filter in play. The story comes from an email where the phrase barely legal teen caused emails to get deleted - not marked as spam - but deleted with no notification to the end user. The Verge did some testing with other phrases and could not get iCloud to delete the emails - but for some reason the phrase barely legal teen caused iCloud filter to shred the emails. It is possible it is a bug - or a feature with that test phrase done as an experiment. But what I find the issue is that emails were shredded with no notice of them being shredded. So how do you know other phrases are not causing other emails to be shredded as well. Hopefully this is a bug and Apple will address this issue state it was a bug and that it is fixed. It is scary to think Apple is filtering emails based on what they think is moral - because like it or not Barely legal is still legal - so it is not an issue of the phrase indicating something illegal is going on. For all we know the phrase Lasanga with Cottage Cheese is getting filtered - I mean it would be if I set up the filter. Who knows what Apple finds objectionable and that is really the issue here. Unclear rules with no notification of action. Yikes.
Lies - Damn Lies and Statistics - Oh did Horace Dediu ever live up to that phrase with his to put it nicely really horrible stats review of Apple Retail sales where he said the following.Quote Although performance for the stores has improved (i.e. the sales per store went up), sales outside of their own retail channel are now a far higher portion of total. 2007 retail revenues were $4.7 billion or 17% while 2012 were $19.1 billion or 12%. unquote He used those numbers to say future new Apple stores need to be outside the US to offset that imbalance. Ummm What imbalance. What Horace clearly forgot to take into account is Apples product mix in 2007 vs 2012. We are talking just a small % of sales from iPhones in 2007 to a very large % in 2012 - and hey guess where most of those iPhones sales happen - oh yeah at carrier stores. And that in a nut shell explains the drop in % of sales at Apple stores vs outside of stores. Horace should have realized that especially when he added the comment about sales per store going up. It is definitely not a store sales issue just a change in product mix since 2007. Lies - damn lies and statistics - Even takes down someone like Horace. Sad day - sad day indeed.
Mostly Dead Web OS is well even more mostly dead as Quote LG has agreed to acquire the source code, webOS engineering team and other assets from HP unquote. They will be using the Web OS software for TV UI's. To put this in perspective this is like being invented to be the transmission in a ferrari and then after being sold twice you wind up as part of the John Deere MS11G manure spreader. Which mind you in the world of Manure spreaders I am told is da bomb. But still it is no Ferrari. I would say that is another nail in the WebOS Coffin - but at this point I don't think there is any room for more nails.
Thanks to Max for this next one which was one of two articles from Wired this past week talking about Android and the lack of first run releases for that platform. One article said quote Android is stuck as a repository for iOS Ports unquote and the other article was even more biting saying Android is a desolate wasteland when it comes to games.
The long of the short is that Developers don't see the ROI on the Android side they get with iOS apps - and for the most part Android users don't buy games not at least when compared to iOS users. Worse is developers report piracy rates as high as 83%. One developer talked about his app Waking Mars - he sold over 140,000 units on iOS but less than 5,000 on Android. Ouch. Another issue about lack of sales is on Android an increase in cost for trouble shooting different versions of devices. One App dev mentioned less than 20 different iterations of iOS devices. If we want to get technical it is 16 different iOS devices to date. On the Android side his app was being run on 3,997 different devices. And it gets worse from there. For the most part if you release a new game today - those 16 iOS devices are notched down to just 10 devices running the latest version of iOS. Which leads to the next point - Part of the reason games developers also like iOS - Is that over 70% of all iOS devices are running iOS 6.x - where as with Android it is only 13.6% running a version of Jelly bean - and just 42.6% running a version of Ice cream sandwich or Jelly bean the two biggest revision levels of Android - that is like comparing the % of iOS users running iOS 5 dot x and 6 dot x combined - which by the way is almost 90% of iOS devices that are running a version of iOS 5 or 6. Yes that makes life easier for developers.
So iOS gives much better sales - less piracy - less trouble shooting and a much higher percentage of users running the latest version of the software - and it makes you wonder why Wired only ran two articles this past week on the issues with Android for Developers.
Hi Rob – regarding the person having trouble getting mail notifications on his Pebble watch, this is my workflow and it has been perfect. For emails only, you have to set the notifications on the iPhone to be an Alert and not a Banner. Also, every night when I go to bed, I power down the Pebble. In the morning I turn it back on, open the notifications in the Settings app on my iPhone and toggle off and then immediately on the “View in Lock Screen” for all the apps I want notifications to be sent to Pebble. I then get notifications perfectly. It is a cool gadget. I honestly think it was released prior to being ready but as a geek, I honestly don’t mind having to go through these extra steps to get it working properly every day.
Darrin
Hey rob..
I have 2 questions regarding apple inc.
First, do you think apple will come out with a product similar to google glasses, lets say an iGlasses ?
Second, will apple now scrap out 16 gig iPhones and replace them with 32 gig one, it seems so because they now offer 128 gig iPad .
Regards
Sanchit from New Delhi, india
Hi Sanchit,
Per question 1 - I don't think Apple will do a google Glasses type product any time soon if ever. I think Apple will stick with something more mainstream - ie iWatch. I think the iWatch adds real value to the user and is not in the way of the user for normal tasks. So my guess is no on the glasses - but yes on an iWatch.
Per question 2 - Nope - I think they stay with 16 / 32 / 64 GB versions for the next iPhone.
Going to 128 GB on the iPad was for a specific use case - The person replacing their laptop with an iPad and needing more storage and well to tweak Microsoft on the week they were releasing the Surface Pro - The iPhone is still not a laptop replacement not when compared to the iPad.
Hi Rob,
my question is regarding a connection problem I've been having on my windows Vista machine. For some reason recently my windows vista laptop won't recognize my iOS devices an iPhone 4s, iPad 2, and iPod touch 1st gen. I dont even get that little noise you get when you connect a device. the device gets power but its otherwise like its not even connected. Every other USB device works with that computer and my iOS devices are recognized on other computers. This is becoming an issue since this is the computer these devices are synced with and I can't backup and upgrade and rejailbreak the devices. I've done everything I've found on the Internet including the apply knowledge base articles with no luck. I was hoping you or some of the listeners might have an idea. Regards,
Matt T
White bear lake, Minnesota
Hi Rob,
Have you heard any feedback about the
Wilson "sleek"? It's a powered cradle with outside antenna. that runs $75-100.
Regards,
Mike R
Rob,
This is a new kickstarter project I found called
Ube WiFi Connected Smart Light Dimmer
Project - ok a mouthful.
It launched February 18th
with a Goal of $280,000.00 (Lot's of money, they are not taking your advice and keeping the price low)
This Project end is April 4th 9:20 AM ET.
They are about 30% funded in 10 days with over 30 days to go.
I think this has possibilities. Let me explain.
This puppy acts like a normal wall switch dimmer.
Controls the lights like a dimmer. Move your finger up and down to dim.
All the dimmers in a room can work together with one switch. Multiple dimmers working together in a large room.
Pinch in or out on the dimmer to control the whole house.
Now it gets better.
You can control all this via an iPhone app from your chair.
And the app is going to give us additional information. How about an alarm when a light bulb goes out? Maybe that's why they need so much money.
The app will report how much money the connected devices are costing you to run.
Many of these features are available in high end automation systems.
A Do It Yourselfer could be up and running in 20 minutes.
I think this one may get to there goal.
Regards,
Kevin S
Kevin thanks for the heads up - they currently have over $85,000 of the 280,000 they are looking for. Look for this one in the show note for ep 260 titled UBE Wifi Light dimmer - Kickstarter
This next one is about a Kickstarter project that was funded and is now out in the real world and selling. It is the ChargeCard - one word. Essentially what it is is a USB cable that is thin enough to easily slip into your wallet like a credit card - it is actually the same dimensions as a credit card length and width and just a little thicker on depth. This is really nice for those that do overnite trips or day trips and don't want to lug around a charge cord in your pocket. It costs just $25 and there is one version for the 30 pin dock connector of the iPhone 4 and 4S and another for the Lightning connector of the iPhone 5. These plug into a standard USB port for the power - not to a wall AC outlet. So this is just the replacement for the cord - but again if you are someone that does day trips or just often finds your iOS device running low on power - you can buy this and put it in your wallet or purse and rest assured you have a cable at your disposal. I can see this right now being really handy for iPhone 5 and iPad mini users as finding someone with a lightning cord to give you a jump is still not nearly as ubiquitous as the 30 pin cord. Go to chargecard project dot com for more info. Or go to kickstarter and search for chargecard one word for the original project that ended back in August to see how it was present then.
I know we have a few listeners with physical disabilities and Griffin has just announce a MouthStick Stylus - it is $30 look for the link titled - Mouth Stick for iPad in the show notes for Episode 260. Thanks Griffin for putting out this product.
USA Today had a feature last week of some iPad apps for special needs kids. One of the apps was free - it is called Touch and learn emotions. and is quote a great free app to use with kids who need practice deciphering emotions unquote. They also reviewed a $1.99 app called LetterReflex which is for kids with dyslexia or needing help overcoming letter reversals and backwards writing - This would have been one I could have used as a kid as I am dyslexic. Another App they reviewed is $89.99 - yes $89.99 and it is called The Social Express - And it is quote for kids who have trouble understanding social situations - this app lets them learn by role-playing through 16 interactive lessons. unquote. And finally they reviewed the app Proloquo2go - it is $189.99 - yes 100 more than the last one. It is however as they say a very special app for quote speech-impaired kids while uncommonly expensive within iTunes, this app charges more because it has a very limited market, required years of research to create and is constantly updated for free unquote. The app has symbols the kids can tap to have the iPad speak for them. Again the app is called Proloquo2go or just look for the link in the show notes for ep 260 titled iPad apps for special needs kids.
Thanks to Carl at Iam therefore ipad dot com for pointing out the Gridlee app we mentioned on the show a couple of times and warned you to get while the getting was good - is now gone and there is no more getting to be gotten. Apple finally yanked it - which really was not a question of if - just a question of when. I hope everyone that has an iCade or similar controller for their iPad downloaded the app. Now we can start talking about it a little more. But first Thanks Apple for dragging your feet on yanking this one - I am sure more than a few people are happy they were able to download the app. More info on Gridlee apps coming up on future episodes. But in the mean time email me at today in iOS with your favorite ROMs you installed for your Gridlee app. today in iOS at gmail dot com.
SketchBook Pro is an app used many times for one of the episode featured artwork. And now they have a new feature. It is Time Lapse recording. Which records your work as you proceed so you can see a video at the end of how you made it to your final stage for that piece of art. If anyone used this feature for any artwork they created - please let me know - and send a link to the video to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
Hi Rob --
From today’s show, I downloaded 3 Cydia apps – meaningful because per your continued advice, I have very few Cydia apps on my iPhone.
First I got Auxo. VERY COOL and well worth the $2. In fact, Apple should be embarrassed for not having this functionality built into their OS.
I also downloaded the free app XCon and was happy to see that I can now watch HBO Go and Netflix again.
Third, I downloaded the Mobile Terminal so that I can change my Passwords. I may delete this app afterwards, to limit the number of Cydia apps installed.
Finally, I was close to leaving iOS several months ago – but you convinced me to choose the iPhone 5 over a Galaxy III.
I’ll bet that there are many others who came or stayed with iOS because of you.
Now if there was just some way to get that commission check to you from Apple.
Warm regards,
---- Marc from Boston
PLAY VOICEMAIL - TOM_NY_XCON_TWEAK
Hi Rob!
I am now able to run the Google Maps app in native iPad full screen mode using the Cydia tweak Fullforce. Settings -> Fullforce -> Google Maps -> On. Works great!
No GPS on the iPad? Got an external GPS receiver? No problem! Install BTStack GPS from Cydia to allow the iPad (or iPod touch) to use an external GPS receiver via Bluetooth.
Oh yeah, no cellular? Got an iPhone? No Problem! PDAnet from Cydia! Or, use an offline map app like NAVIGON.
Enjoy life!
Steven
Rob,
For the iPhone contacts glitch. BigBoss has a fix called 'Contact Fix For 6.x'
For the way to Autorespond in messages. Use 'AutoResond 2' for 6.x also BigBoss
LocationSpoofer fixed. Now works 6.x does not interfere with Siri.
For VPN lock. I suggest using 'AppLocker'. Lock the settings App to prevent access to the settings for VPN. Also lock any App or Folder. You can get a toggle too.
Other new tweaks. 'MyVibe' prevents iPhone Vibrating when set down on tables. To prevent Table Skake
LivePapers and Nexus LivePapers nice tweak to Animate background Wallpapers with Bubbles and Coloured lines. More Animations to come.
AssisantEnhancer, a Siri Tweak that well enhances Siri. Select which Music Steaming you like, Spotify, Pandora or iTunes. Get Lyrics sound Playing. Show Pictures by request and more.
Monocle, is nice. Shake photo to remove Status Bar and in Browsers tool bars etc. Shake again to return them.
BrowseInApp, opens WebLinks from with-in Apps. Handy
Hope these help your users
Oh, again. UiDeviceCrasher. This will tell you without uninstalling one by one as you always suggest to find which tweaks are causing a problems. Most that do show problems. They may be a slight issue being fixed by the developer but overall works fine. I find, as the developer fixes issues and are updated the UIDeviceCrasher will display the phone does not show that issue again.
Per The guy with battery problems. A Tweak/App called 'BattSaver' $3.99 they claim can double battery life by cleverly turning off unused components when not in use.
I have not used but thought it might help.
Regards,
Chris in London
Ps. XCon does not work on all JBs to recognize. JB Apps. For instance, SkyGo in the UK is still not working with xCon installed. There is a workaround to go back to older version of SkyGo. But the developer is working on the fix.
Hi Rob,
Just wanted to point out that the jailbroken apps Sprintomize, Barrel and Auxo are paid tweaks. Xsellize and Sinfulphone repos are both crack app stores...
A new updated version of MobileTerminal is also available and works from the default Cydia repos.
Regards,
Mark
Back in the days of the original iPhone one down sides of it was the volume out of the speaker was really low - especially when compared to future versions of the iPhone. And one of the first early Jailbreak Tweaks I installed was one to boost the volume of the speaker. I want to thank those that sent in the links about the tweak EUUnlimited - that is E U and then unlimited all one word. And this tweak boosts the volume level of your speaker on your iOS device. Now I have to admit I ran the tweak on my iPhone 4 and then ran it next to the iPhone 4S - and I could not tell the difference - so if you install it and don't notice a difference - then probably best to uninstall it. But others claim to have heard a difference. That is E U Unlimitted one word in Cydia and it is free.
After the last episode we had the oscars - and now there is an iPhone App that can claim to have helped with winning an oscar. The App 8mm vintage camera was used by a director Malik Bendjelloul of the Oscar winning documentary Search for sugar man - He turned to the app mid way through production when he ran out of money to finish the documentary with real 8mm reels. Yup he traded in the Bell & Howell Super 8 for an iPhone with the app 8mm vintage camera and finished the project and won an Oscar. But here is what is really impressive Malik said the performance of the iPhone and the app was zoo impressive he actually re-shot some of the footage he had done originally with the real 8mm camera. Obviously this is not the first time a film maker used the iPhone for shooting video for a move nor will it be the last - but it was the first time someone won an oscar for said film and hopefully it will not be the last time for an oscar win. The App by the way is just $1.99 in the app store.
Rob,
Do you know and/or could you throw this question out to the audience...
Is there any jailbreak tweak that lets you connect multiple Bluetooth headsets to an iphone at the same time?
I run with my wife & would like to share music. We have two pairs of Motorola SD10
sports stereo Bluetooth headphones. I'd even be happy with mono to each set or wired for me & simultaneous
Bluetooth for her - if
that was the only technical solution. One thing's for sure a headphone jack splitter will not suffice whilst running.
Tracy
Hi Rob,
I know Apple will not allow you to do this, but do you know of a Jail Break application that will show you (dynamically) the apps that you use most often and allow you to launch them easily? I found a few in Cydia, but none that support iOS 6.x.
Thanks,
Mike
Hi Mike - that tweak previously mentioned on this show about this was SpringSorter one word. Which the description says quote SpringSorter sorts your iPhone / iPod touch's springboard icon layout by putting the most used applications on the top. unquote
Which does sound like a cool tweak - except for the part it only works with iOS 3.x - and I did not see any other similar looking apps in Cydia - if anyone knows of something similar to SpringSorter please let me know - also thanks to Chris in London for the reminder on what that app was called.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - BARELY_JB_ISSUES
Special Shot out to the Lady Flyers on their incredible regular season of 26-1 including going 14 and 0 in A-10 play. Congrats to the girls and the coaches. Great great job.
Hi Rob,
I'm a new listener and absolutely love the show! I appreciate your honest, factual presentation.
*I think it's a great idea to have a small section near the end of show sharing things that you're evaluating.*
I purchased the Rocksteady XS Bluetooth speaker that you mentioned and absolutely love it. Such thoughtful, great features like easy access to the battery, simple, well marked controls, compact size and a great sound. Thank you!
This picture was made completely on doodle buddy premium. I utilized the smudge tool to create a cool effect which really makes the tii really awesome.
Regards,
JEFF
=======================
Transcript for Episode 259
-----------------------------------
iOS 6.1.2 was released this past week - this update if for all iOS devices running iOS 6.x - and it fixes the Exchange server bug we mentioned on the last show. So for those of your where you IT department warned you not to update to iOS 6.1 - but you had already done so - well now you can upgrade to 6.1.2 - and be kosher on your corporate network once more. For those who were waiting for a exchange server bug fix but also want to jailbreak - good news - the Evasi0n jailbreak has been updates to version 1.4 - and it supports all versions of iOS 6.x - so everything from 6.0 to 6.1.2 is supported. And I did finally get my tutorial up - with all these changes I kept having to update it just as I was getting ready to release it - but it is out now - at today in iOS dot com - and if you are a first time jail breaker - this is tutorial for you. It takes you step by step click by click on what you need to do to jailbreak - and then goes over how to use cydia and install an app for the first time.
Please note if you already are jailbroken with any other version of iOS 6.x and want to upgrade to iOS 6.1.2 - you will need to restore your iPhone to remove the jailbreak - and then upgrade to iOS 6.1.2 - and then re-jailbreak. And if you plan to jailbreak you should upgrade to iOS 6.1.2 from your computer and NOT repeat NOT from an Over the Air update. in other words no updatie on your iPhone - only updatie from your computer - comprende?
One thing that iOS 6.1.2 does not address is the security bug mentioned on the last show - that is the one where if you tap on this hold that - count to 3 tap on that swipe this and the tap quickly on a couple of other things you could get access to some info on an iPhone with out needing to know the passcode. Well that is being addressed with iOS 6.1.3 - and how do we know - was it from Mac Rumor sites. Nope it is from the beta for iOS 6.1.3 that apple just made available to devs. Expect this one to go live in the next two weeks.
Strategy Analytics released Smartphone shipment numbers for Q4 2012 last week. Part of that was Global Smartphone Shipments by Model. Of Note is that the iPhone 5 outsold the Galaxy S3 in Q4 of 2012 - That really is not surprising it was the first full quarter of the iPhone 5 being available after all. Not a real fair comparison being it one device out for 3 months vs the iPhone 5 only out for one month before the quarter started.
What I found interesting is that the Galaxy S3 was only the 3rd best shipping Handset in Q4 2012. And what was really surprising is the other phone model that outsold the Galaxy S3 to come in 2nd place - was it the galaxy Note - Nope - was it something from HTC - Nyet - was it a windows phone 8 phone - Nine - ok - now I am just being silly. No the Phone model that was second to the iPhone 5 in sales in Q4 of 2012 and ahead of the Galaxy S3 - is a phone that was released in Q4 of 2011 - thats right the iPhone 4S in Q4 of 2012 outsold the Galaxy S3.
HI Rob,
Per the caller asking about marking a spot where you left your car. I use G-Park to pin and mark the location of a parked car. Works like a dream and is very simple to operate.
regards
Dave
Hi Rob,
I found find my car app very handy and effective.
Give u augmented reality as well. He Shd try it out.
Regards,
Tosin O
Hockley Heath,
UK
Rob,
Here's a simple answer to the problem of locating a parked car:
• Before you leave your car, open the native maps app.
• Tap the arrow in the bottom left corner.
• A pulsing blue dot will appear at your current location.
• Tap the low right corner that looks like a page being peeled back.
• Select the "Drop Pin" option.
Your current location is now saved with a purple pin until you elect to remove it.
Regards,
-Glenn
Hi Rob,
For Holly - have her check out the app - The Training Notebook - three words in the app store. It is a bit pricey at $14.99 - regards,
Jeff
Hi Rob
On a recent episode A Voice over user asked about resources to help with editing text on iOS, If they listen to episode 12 of my podcast -
"The iBlindTech Democast" at www.iblindtech.com it is specifically designed to help blind and vision impaired users "Get started and go further on iDevices" In Ep 12 we talk about this issue.
Rob, thanks for the podcast, I really do enjoy it and you along with a number of other apple centric podcasters helped me to get into podcasting myself. I have found it incredibly rewarding. At first I didn't know if I was helping anyone much but have received lots of really lovely emails of thanks and some great suggestions for episodes from listeners.
Garth from iblindtech dot com
Garth - always great to hear about more people getting into podcasting and love it when I was able to help in some way.
I had a bunch of responses to the question about recording phone calls on your iPhone but they were all about using a 3rd party service to make the calls and then have them record the calls. What is really needed is a solution that allows you to use the native Phone app with your regular carrier that allows you to record your voice going in and the voice of the person you are talking with and to do this easily once a call is started regardless of who called who. And so far I am not aware said app exists even on the jailbreak side.
Hey Rob,
Here are some responses to listener comments:
1. Regarding the Mailbox app for Gmail mail account; I am am number 25,350 in line. I will let you know what I think once I get it.
2. Want to mention a strange Jailbreak crash that occurs and I have another user that confirms that it happened to that person as well. On one occasion, my iPhone 5 rebooted with the Apple Logo showing first. It did not return to the Safe Mode state that is normal when a Jailbroken device encounters a "conflict". When this happened, the device appeared as if it was unJailbroken (no safe mode in status bar). It was a bit alarming, but a turning the device off and then back on fixed the issue. I have never seen this before with any other Jailbreak version previously (and I have tried them all).
3. Finally, I did an instructional guide for Gridlee and also bought the iCade arcade stand for iPad which is tons of fun and has been a hit at every function or gathering I have had or attended with friends. I am 46 and my friends and I are the initial players of the these old arcade games and really get a kick out of this combo.
And folks you can see the link for the Gridlee guide by searching for Tutorial: Gridlee for iOS in the show notes for ep 259
Per the Mailbox app - one Listener Carlos has already received it and is having issues with images in emails causing the full email not to load - which the folks at Mailbox are aware of said issue and are working on it - so if you get your number called and see this issue - yes they are aware of it.
As you may have gathered I don't like Samsung - I think they clearly and purposefully ripped off the iPhone - that said I was not in favor of Apple suing Samsung - I felt it put Apple in a bad light and propped up Samsung because it made it seem like Samsung phones were clones of the iPhone - and if you can't afford an iPhone why not get a Samsung phone. Which guess what happened.
But now I have a reason to actually really really dislike Samsung. It has to do with a lawsuit they luckily lost in Germany and it is with regards to a patent Samsung has dealing with Voiceover features. Yes - Samsung sued apple over Voiceover features. What the Frack were they thinking. Or as John Pacxkowsi at all things d said - this is the PR equivalent of punching yourself in the face. Florian Mueller of Foss Patents agreed that Samsungs efforts here had crossed a line saying quote From a certain angle the voiceover patent suit is the worst [such patent lawsuit] because it's an attempt -- thwarted for the time being, but not dismissed forever -- to hold vision-impaired German Apple customers hostage. unquote. He tried to be diplomatic and say he did not thing Samsung was evil - but you will get none of that diplomacy from me - Samsung is clearly very very evil. I have a large number of blind and sight impaired listeners of this podcast - and they almost all to a tee say they love the iPhone because of what Apple has done to help those with sight issues. And no Samsung is trying at least in Germany to take away some of those features - If this was not a G-rated show - this would be a point where I would say things that would make Joe Rogan blush. Instead I will just say shame on you samsung - shame on you.
Apple has finally caught up with demand on the iPad mini with the iPad mini's now showing up on apples site as in stock. So almost 4 months from release to supply equalling demand. As always expect to see some articles about demand drop being the reasons - others saying increases in production output being the reason and the truth probably being a combination of the two.
Mac Rumors is reporting on a report out of Brazil where Apple is now being sued because they - wait for it - Updated the iPad too soon. From the lawsuit led by the institute of Politics and Law quote The institute claims that the iPad 4 is not [an] effective technological evolution [compared to] the iPad 3 or 'New iPad', characterizing [a] sort of "planned obsolescence". In practice, the accusation is that the Apple iPad 3 could have reached the shelves with the characteristics presented in the fourth generation - a processor, a connector and a camera a bit more advanced. unquote.
Huh? Hey at least now we know in the US we do not hold a monopoly on really really stupid lawsuits. I know I don't like to talk about lawsuits - but this one is just soooo dumb - I had to mention it.
Ok - lets get back into some real news or not - over on the Apple rumor front - this time we have photos of what was supposed to be the innards of the iPhone 2013 - showing an A7 processor - which is rumored to be a quad core processor with 2GB or RAM. However after these photos made the blog rounds - they were shown to be fakes and left the site - iOSdoc with some egg on their face.
Google Glass is something I think really only the uber uber geeks with way to much money will be interested in the types that have $1,400 to throw away. Which is how much it is supposed to cost - vs say the $115 most Pebble pledgers paid. But hey if you have $1,400 burning a hole in your pocket and you are in any way thinking of actually getting the google glass - then you will be happy to know that Google has officially said Google Glass will work with an iPhone. I will not get into dogging Google Glass just quite yet - I think I will have lots of time to do that in the future. But for now I just wanted to let you know Great News Google Glass and the iPhone will work together.
My Brother used to be a cop in NY City - up until mid 2012 when he hit his 20 years and retired. One thing he talked about was Apple Picking and the big issue it was becoming. Apple Picking is the name given to those robbing People of their Apple wares - specifically their iPhones - but really any Apple products they held out in open and made for easy grabbing. The issue is so bad that when The Big Apple looked at crime stats they found crime had risen in NY city because of Apple picking - take Apple Picking incidents out and crime had dropped. Well now it seems the Big Apple and Apple have teamed up to help curb the issue of the escalating thefts of iOS devices in NY City. And now the NYPD is sharing unique identifying numbers of stollen iPhones with Apple so as to have Apple help track down the stollen devices. NYPD said quote "We're looking for ways to find individuals who have stolen Apple products and return the products to their original owners, It is being done to learn the pattern who is stealing." unquote
And now it appears these efforts are starting to result in arrests - hopefully word will get out that is it not safe for robbers to grab apple gear and will switch over to picking Samsung products - or not.
Thanks to Stephen for this next one - which is about The Crowd-sourced trouble shooting website FixYa and their culling of data. They issued a Smartphone Reliability report based on nearly a million combined issue posts and then they assigned each smartphone manufacturer a reliability score which was weighted based on Market Share. The higher the score the better. And guess who had the highest score - well of course it was Apple - why else would I be bringing it up. That they had the highest score is not surprising - it is that they totally blew away the competition - getting a score about 3 times higher than 2nd place Samsung. Or as FixYa said in their Press Release the iPhone is roughly 3 times more reliable than the Samsung, five times more reliable than Nokia and a whopping 25 times more reliable than Motorola. Sometimes you do actually get what you paid for - as long as it is an Apple Product that is. For Motorola - yeah not so much.
Not sure if you heard about the recent issue in the US with a Carnival cruise that had a fire and they lost power and it was a cruise from Heck basically - it even was the focus of a skit on Saturday night live. Well one of the Tii listeners Mike W was on that cruise and he sent me a picture from the cruise - no not of people using plastic bags for their toilet needs - thankfully not - but rather of a rats nest of mobile devices plugged into tone of the only available outlets on the boat - where everyone was trying to charge up their devices. There are at least 35 devices plugged in and over half are iOS devices. Mike - thanks for the photo and sorry to hear your vacation was anything but.
I received feedback from a few listeners that upgraded to iOS 6.1.2 and iTunes 11.0.2 - that wifi sync is now working for them - where in the past it did not work at all or at least not consistently. So if you are one of those with issues with wifi sync in the past - you should look into upgrading to iOS 6.1.2 and iTunes 11.0.2. Good luck.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - SKIP_FL_UPDATES_OPTIONS
PLAY VOICEMAIL - MITCH_PEBBLE_WATCH_REVIEW
Hi, Rob -->
I received my Pebble last Friday and here's my review after one week. I agree with the reviewer from the last podcast who was hoping for more...the watch faces and apps shown on the website, getpebble.com, don't exist yet, a fact that doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere in the Kickstarter info or the website. Hopefully that will be remedied soon because the existing watch faces are pretty lame.
The watch works as advertized, though. It looks good and notifies me of incoming calls and texts. I chose to not have email notifications because I don't want the watch to vibrate at 3 in the morning. There are posts in the getpebble.com forums that complain about the battery life of the iPhone, but I've noticed no significant difference. There does seem to be a serious problem with the watch battery, though. I'm on my second charging...charge every three days vs. a claimed seven day battery life. I get less than fifteen calls or texts a day. To make matters worse, there's no indication on the watch that the battery is dying. The first time I had to charge it (after the initial charge), the watch just showed up dead one morning. I found that you have to go to the launcher on the watch and manually check for battery life. I've been doing that a few times a day for the past 24 hours and managed to avoid a dead watch this time.
Thanks for the show,
Bob
Just a quick update on the Almond+ Wifi Router mentioned on Ep 257. They are up to over 615,000 dollars pledged well past their goal of 250,000 dollars. You have until Saturday March 9th at 5:19 AM ET to pledge for this one - go back and listen to episode 257 for more info on this or just search for Almond+ at kickstarter.com or in the kickstarter iOS App.
Another Kickstarter project we mentioned on Ep 257 was the Mauz - M A U Z - the Mauz is a minority report interface powered by your smartphone. And well per pledging this one is not doing so well. It has a goal of $150,000 dollars and has just $26,599 pledged which is not good since when ep 257 came out two weeks ago they had a pledge total of $22,000 - so they raised less than $5,000 in the last two weeks. This one will end on Mar 8th at 1:19 PM ET - but for all intensive purposes - this one is already over - not much chance of them getting funded - which is surprising for a product that was one of those picked as best in show at MacWorld 2013.
Hi Rob,
The JB tweak for tricking TV and Video sites to give popup of not for JB devices is called 'xCon'
Regards,
Chris in London.
Thanks to Chris and to everyone else that sent in reminders on that app - yes it is one mentioned before on the show - a couple of times - seems I forgot the name last time as well.
Rob,
If I'm on 6.1 and I'm jailbroken, do I need to restore before updating to 6.1.2? I saw that the jailbreak for 6.1.2 is compatible. I can't tell if it's okay to upgrade (connected to a computer & iTunes) while still jailbroken.
Regards
Tracy,
Nashville
Hi Tracy - actually got this question from quite a few - As mentioned earlier in the episode you need to restore first to remove the jailbreak with you iOS device connected via iTunes - and then do the upgrade via iTunes to 6.1.2 - then do the new jailbreak - obviously you want to do backups before the restore and again make sure all photos and movies in your camera roll have been imported to your computer prior to restoring and upgrading.
Rob,
If any listeners having issues with Siri. Like, "sorry can you say that again" over and over. Seems its a Tweak called 'Location Spoofer'
Removed and working fine.
Regards,
Chris in London
PLAY VOICEMAIL - DAVID_CHI_JB_APPS
Hi rob,
Ever since the latest jailbreak I have had a problem with the stock phone app in that every time I click on it to open it the app will crash instantly if I am on my recent calls tab - any other tab in the phone app will work just not my recent call tab. Have any of your other listeners experienced this problem and have they found a solution for it. For me I have found a temp fix which is to shut my phone down and hold the volume up button as it boots and it will all work then but then none of my other jailbrek apps or tweaks work - however the phone app is pretty much the most vital app on the phone so if anyone out there has a solution or knows what other app or tweak might be causing this issue I would appreciate it.
Regards,
Ryan
Ryan - the issue is with one of your installed apps / tweaks - which one or ones - I could not say - but by holding down on the volume up button - when booting up the iPhone you proved it is an issue with one of the installed apps - when in that mode - go to cydia and start removing apps one at a time and then reboot and test and see if the problem went away - yes a long process if you have a lot of apps installed from Cydia. Which is why I have said - make sure if you have jailbreak apps you installed you are no longer using - to uninstall them - don't wait for an issue - be proactive.
One question that comes up is changing your root password on your iOS device once you jailbreak - For a while there the MobileTerminal App was not working - and you had to add a repository to get another version - but now that issues is fixed and there is another version of MobileTerminal available from the main BigBoss repository - it is called MobileTerminal - one word. It is free and by installing it and changing your root password you make your jailbroken iOS device more secure than a non-jailbroken device. That is because the root password on all iOS devices is set to the word alpine by default. To change the password install the Mobileterminal app and launch it.
First enter the command su space root and tap return.
second type alpine and tap return
third - type p a s s w d and tap return
fourth type in your new password and tap return - then type it is again to verify it and tap return.
fifth type in exit and tap return. That changes your default SSH password - but there is still the mobile password - same password used but for different items. To change this one - type p a s s w d and tap return.
next type alpine and tap return.
next type in your new password - I recommend the same new one you just entered when changing the SSH password.
Verify it and tap return. Then type exit and tap return.
That is it. Your jailbroken iOS device is now more secure than when it was not jailbroken. Well assuming you don't do something dumb and change the password iPhone or iPad or something like that.
Cult of mac had a list of their favorite Jailbreak tweaks for the iPad. Some of which we have mentioned in the past like SwipeSelection - one word and free. And NCSettings also free. Most of the others they mentioned are paid for - look for the link titled Jailbreak Tweaks For The iPad - Cult of Mac in the show notes for ep 259 over at today in iOS dot com.
Hi Rob:
Just received my Verizon newsletter, which I typically skim and delete. This time I see they are pushing the "StarStar Me" vanity number service, where you pay 3 bucks a month to have your own custom "StarStar" phrase so that, as Verizon puts it, you can give out this more memorable number instead of "ten hard-to-remember digits." The service also has an app that allows you to send a custom auto-SMS text when you are not able to answer your phone.
My question is, does anyone out there know of another app out there that would allow me to send out a CUSTOM text message when I don't or answer? I like this idea, but I really don't need a vanity number or the $3 monthly fee.
Thanks for all you do!
Mari
(Cleveland, OH)
Rob,
Do you know if there is a way to lock a setting such as VPN so that the user cannot remove it without a PIN or password? I want to be able to have the phone always connect over VPN and prevent the user from being able to change that. Thanks much for all you do with your App and podcast!
Regards,
Sergio
If anyone has recently jailbroken their Apple TV 3rd gen - please send me links to the method and tools you used. We have listener Lawrence looking to jailbreak his Apple TV 3rd gen - and I don't have one to do the testing. Send that info to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
Please only send the link if you actually did the jailbreak on a 3rd gen device.
Hi Rob,
I found an excellent app called iMediaShare.
it allows you to wirelessly view content stored on your iOS device on other systems such as a Playstation 3 console.
Just start the app and after a few seconds an iMediaShare icon appears on the PlayStation's Menu.
Using that icon, you can then navigate through your phone to photos, videos or music, and stream them to your PS3.
The icing on the cake though is that it also allows you to copy content too, so you can copy any photos, videos and even music albums strait over to your Playstation.
I found it an excellent way to backup my media and free up space on my iPhone.
The app apparently also works with Xbox360, PC's and even some TVs.
There is a free version of the app in the App Store called "iMediaShare lite"
An un-tethered jailbreak is now available for all iOS Devices running versions of iOS 6.0 to 6.1.2.
NOTE - This jailbreak is not for those that need to or plan to unlock. DO NOT USE THIS JAILBREAK IF YOUR IPHONE RELIES ON AN UN-OFFICIAL UNLOCK.
=========
There are some very good articles on how to jailbreak but many miss a couple of steps that new jailbreakers need to know especially when it comes to using Cydia - the resource for finding and installing jailbroken apps and tweaks. This tutorial tries to help those first time jailbreakers by covering both the jailbreak process step by step and also how to use Cydia to install an app.
Do not try to jailbreak if you don't like when things go to (expletive). If you need your device for your business and being without it for any period of time will cause you to loose your job - stop now. If you get mad at your significant other at how they fold towels or put the toilet paper on a roll - Jailbreaking is probably not for your personality. Sometimes things break and your device will likely crash more often then if it was not jailbroken. Apple "claims" jailbreak voids your warranty if that is an issue stop now. Note Squaretrade's warranties still cover jailbreaking.
Step 0 - Before you start make sure you update your iOS device to iOS 6.1.2 if you have not done so already. Make sure to use iTunes to do the update to iOS 6.1.2 - not the over the air update. If you do not know how to update your iOS device jailbreaking may not be for you.
It is also important you have a spot on one of your home screens for a new app icon to be added. If all of your home screens are full with app icons and folders - you will need to make room for a new app to be added during the jailbreak process. Also remove the lock passcode from your iOS device and your SIM lock passcode.
If you are already updated to iOS 6.1.2 make sure you do a sync and backup of your iOS device. If you have any photos or video you shot recently - transfer those now to your computer from your camera roll. Also force quit every open App on your iOS device and then go to settings and general and then go to Reset and select "Reset Network Settings". This will then reboot your iOS device. Next connect your iOS device via the USB cord directly to your computer - not through a USB hub or keyboard or Monitor - right to the computer.
(To force quit the open apps - From the home screen on your iOS device - double tap the home button - a tray will appear on the bottom of the device with your apps that are open - tap and hold one of the apps. All the apps in the tray will wiggle and you will see a red circle in the upper left with a "-" in it. Tap on all of the red circles until all of your apps are closed.)
Step 1 - Close out (Force quit) iTunes on your computer. Make sure your iOS device is still turned on and connected via the USB cable - per Step 0. Also close out all your other open apps on your computer except for your web browser. It is best to have as little running on your computer as possible.
Step 2 - On your browser go to the Evasi0n.com website and click on version of the operating system your computer is running.
Then download the evasi0n software:
Once it is downloaded - unzip the file.
You will see the evasi0n 1.41.5.3 folder (per above) - double tap to open it up.
Step 3 - Launch - evasi0n app.
Then simply click on "Jailbreak"
Sit and Wait. After you click "Jailbreak" above you will see some messages about the status of the jailbreak (see below).
Step 4 - After a couple of minutes you will get a message about needing to unlock your device and tap the new jailbreak icon to continue (see below).
Step 5 - On your iOS device slide to unlock the screen and then find the new evasion icon on one of your home screens. Tap on it just ONE time. It will quickly look like it is launching the app and flash black and then will return to the home screen rather quickly. The jailbreak will then continue on (see below).
Step 6 - Once the jailbreak is finished - your iOS device will going through some restarting cycles - this should take a few minutes. Once it stops going through the restarting cycles and it looks like it is in sleep mode - you can tap on "exit" and that is it - you now have a jailbroken iOS device.
Step 7 - If in step 0 you had turned off your screen lock or SIM Pin lock - now is the time to add those back.
Step 8 - To really see if you are jailbroken - unlock your iOS device and look for the brown Cydia App iCon - it should be in the same location as where you tapped on the evasi0n iCon in Step 5.
Launch the Cydia App. The first time you launch it you will see a message "Preparing Filesystem (cydia will exit when complete)" - and per the message Cydia will quit out / exit when done. Once it does this - relaunch Cydia. The second time you launch it you will be asked "Who Are you?" with the options of "User", "Hacker", "Developer" - if you are reading this - select "User" and then tap "Done"
Step 9 - Once it is done it will open up and you should see a screen that looks like that below.
One App almost everyone will want and that works on the iPhone's, iPod Touch's and the iPad is the app SBSettings. This moves important settings / controls to the notification dock where they are always quickly available.
To install this app Tap on "Search" in the bottom row of Cydia and then in the search box type "SBSettings"
Next Tap on "SBSettings" the top one - not the one any of the others.
Read the warning. Then Tap on "Install" in the upper Right corner
Then Tap on "Confirm" in the upper Right corner
The App will then install - when complete Tap on "Restart Springboard"
Then in the Settings App under Notifications - Go to SBSettings and turn it to "On".
Next launch the SBSettings app - and look at all the options.
That's it you are now jailbroken and have your first real jailbroken app running on your device.
Please understand sometimes installs of apps are interrupted - in which case you need to try and re-install. Things are not as stable when you jailbreak - expect some additional crashes and conflicts between apps. Which is why if you install an app you no longer plan to use - it is best to delete said app - the more jailbroken apps you have installed - the higher the probability you will have a conflict.
Note: If you have an iPad - do not - repeat - do not - install Five icon dock - it will really mess up your iPad and you will need to restore it. However that app works great on the iPhone and iPod Touch.
I used Image Searcher Pro to find a good Walk of Fame star and podcast logo. Used Touch Retouch to remove Britney Spears name. Finally, did the rest using ArtStudio for iPad.
Regards,
Steven
======================
Transcript for Episode 258
-----------------------------------
Ok - I think today's episode is going to be a long one - so you may want to put it 1.5 X mode for playback - just sayin
Seems iOS 6.1 was not the update we thought it was. Or put another way - iOS 6.1 has had some issues. Apparently Scott Forestall is still refusing to apologize. Oh wait he is not there anymore - so not sure who will apologize about the latest issues. As mentioned on the last episode there were some issues with iOS 6.1 and 3G connectivity especially in the UK - well iOS 6.1.1 for the iPhone 4S only was released early last week which fixed that bug.
However there were a few of you that sent me emails about your IT departments sending emails saying don't update to iOS 6.1 - and well that had nothing to do with the issues of 3G connectivity - nope that was / is about another bug - that was not addressed in iOS 6.1.1 - it is a bug with exchange server. I guess what happens with iOS 6.1 is that it can cause your iOS device to do excessive logging on the Exchange servers which is both bad for the servers and bad for your iPhones battery life. So if you are hitting a corporate Exchange server with your iOS device and you have not upgraded to iOS 6.1 - DON'T do it.
According to ZDNet a fix is on the way in the version of iOS 6.1.2. So what do you do if you did upgrade to iOS 6.1 or 6.1.1 already - well one of the work arounds listed on the Microsoft support board was do not process calendar items such as meeting requests on iOS 6.1 devices and to also immediately restart your iOS 6.1 device. Some are reporting on the Apple forum boards that deleting your exchange server account, rebooting your iOS device and then adding back your exchange server account fixes the issues. So if you are having issues - that is one thing to try.
But wait there is more - others are reporting battery life issues with iOS 6.1 and iOS 6.1.1 - but it is possible that the battery life issues relate back to the excessive logging from the exchange server issues. Those with battery life issues are reporting over heating and quickly draining batteries. So if you think your battery life is just a little bit shorter than before - that is not the issue - this is about people who used to make it the whole day on a single charge now not being able to make it to lunch on a single charge.
And if all of these issues were not enough - wait there is even more. Seems there is also a security issue with iOS 6.1. The security issue found has to do with getting past your lock screen with out the passcode and being able to get access to a persons contacts - where the hacker could view or modify contacts, check voicemail and look through your photos.
This is not an easy hack but it is now well documented on Youtube and elsewhere - so here is what needs to be done.
First part:
-Go to emergency call, push down the power button and tap cancel.
-Dial your local emergency call number and tap green and inmediately red.
-Go to lock screen.
for the second part:
-Go to passcode screen.
-Keep pushing down the power button for 3...seconds and before showing the slider "turn off"...tap the emergency call button and Then without releasing the power button press the home button and ready… And well I think I might have missed some points - so if you need to hack into your kids iPhone and check their voice mails you will need to check the youtube videos.
Yeah not the easiest hack - but it is repeatable and if someone stole your iPhone and wanted access to some of the data on your iPhone they could get it. Which obviously when used as a work phone is less than ideal.
For Apples part they have said they take these type of issues seriously even if Scott Forestall refuses to apologize. And that Apple is working on a fix which will be out shortly. In the mean time simply don't loose your iphone or let someone have access to it - where you don't want them to see any sensitive photos or listen to sensitive voicemails.
So how serious has the Press viewed this issue - well it did make it to the front page of CNN and other mainstream websites. Which was not surprising at all. It is safe to say iOS 6.1 - is not Apples finest moment - not that iOS 6.0 was really much better. That said if you don't have a passcode on your iOS device - like say me - then this security issue is not an issue - but if you are in a relationship with multiple people - yeah it could get ugly quickly - but then shame on you for being in a situation when you can't be open with your significant others. But on the corporate side or Government side is where this really is a sticky wicket for Apple and why I think you will see a fix for this before the end of Feb - again in the mean time - just make sure no one steals your iOS device - see how easy it is to be secure. More on this story for sure in the near future.
Hi Matt - thanks for the feedback - I believe the app he was talking about is Week Calendar - two words in the iTunes app store - it is $1.99 - and it shows the ability to copy and past items in their calendar. Matt - if this was not the app you mean - please send an email with a link to the correct app in the iTunes app store or the correct spelling in the Cydia store. But either way - Week Calendar which is in the iTunes apps store should work for what Dave was asking for.
Hi Rob,
First, I want to say I'm a new listener to the show, I started on Episode 256, and I'm enjoying the show so far.
Onto my question, this past Christmas, I flew out of state to visit friends and family. I parked my car at the airport, but considering that it was 3:30 in the morning, I just drove an hour and a half, and it was starting to snow, it was hard to see where I was parked. Needless to say, when I returned, it took awhile to find my car.
To prevent this in the future, I was looking for a app that will mark my parking spot then I can use the GPS on my iPhone to remember where I parked. I looked on the AppStore and there were a few options but I want to know what you think. Thanks for your feedback.
Regards,
Mark
Mark - I am throwing this one out to the audience - folks if you have a favorite and easy app that you use to pin where your car is when you leave it at the airport or the mall - let us know.
Hi Rob, so, I'm getting pretty sick of Google asking me for my location every time I use it for research on my iPhone 4S any help with that?
regards,
David in Springfield
Folks - did anyone figure out a solution for this issue yet?
I mean other than changing your default search engine to Bing.
Hi Rob,
I wanted to make sure you saw we just released an update for our Kindle app for iPad and iPhone.
Here’s what we posted in our customer forum about it:
Kindle for iOS 3.6 is now available in the Apple App Store. New features include:
* Multicolor Highlights - Four color choices make it easier to distinguish important passages. * Book End Actions - Just finish your book? Share the accomplishment with friends on Facebook and Twitter. Rate and write your own review. * Brightness Control - the brightness setting will now be saved across device sleeps.
Thanks,
Kinley at Amazon.
Tim Cook spoke at a Goldman Sachs Tech event last week - Essentially he repeated much with which he has said before - so nothing really new that came out of the speech. But one good zinger he had in there was with regards to iPad and its Tablet Market share and reports of it dropping. Tim said quote “I have no idea what the iPads market share is, because we’re the only company that reports what we sell.” unquote. Which is sooo true. And even anyone else that has even hinted at numbers only gave shipment numbers - not sell through to the consume like Apple does.
In the well it sucks to be blackberry news segment - Home Depot announced they were dropping the Blackberry for their 10,000 executives, managers and corporate employees and switching over to the iPhone. Evidently the new Blackberry10 was not enough to keep them on board. Home depot joins a growing list of Corporate and government groups ditching the blackberry in favor of the iPhone.
Now of course it is not just the iPhone sales that are doing well - it seems if you combine the Apple iTunes revenue with the Apple Accessories Revenue that Apple generates - those combined revenues are greater than the revenues of all other smartphone companies sans Samsung. Last quarter those two segments generated almost 6 Billion in revenue for Apple. Vs just 5.4 Billion dollars for all of Nokia's smartphone revenue. Apple's stock is where it is again why?
We have talked in the past of iOS device dominance when it comes to this strange thing called usage. Well we are going to talk a little more on this subject now. Freewheel a mobile online video firm reports that 60% of video clips viewed during Q4 were viewed on an iOS device vs just 32% viewed on an Android device. Once more showing that in general Android users get an Android device to just make calls - but they get and iPhone when they need more than just a phone. Again in general.
Seems the CEO of Linked-In is an iPad mini fan so much so that he gave out iPad mini's to everyone of his employees - 3,500 iPad mini's or there abouts - That news was shocking to me - who would have guessed linked-in had 3,500 employees. What the heck are they all doing? I mean other than now playing Angry Bird and watching American Horror story on Netflix.
Since the last episode the rumors have been coming hot and heavy about an iWatch. One rumor said that Apple already has a team of about 100 product designers working on a iWatch type device. Another report says Apple is looking to purchase Pebble. Pebble's CEO said quote I can't comment on anything like that unfortunately" unquote. Now not sure if the unfortunately refers to not being able to comment or not being offered life changing money from Apple yet. As mentioned last fall and around Christmas when the last batch of rumors came up on this subject - I think Apple will introduce an iWatch and hopefully sooner rather than later. I just am not sure if this is just more smoke or if this time there is a little fire to go with it. I so hate getting my hopes up on this subject - but this time - the smoke is a bit thicker than before.
Speaking of iWatch's and Pebbles - we have in our first listener review of a Pebble.
Staying with Rumors but switching to the iPhone - With supposed pictures surfacing in China of the next Gen iPhone this early - it does line up with the rumors the next gen iphone - the iPhone 2013 will launch in June time frame and not the fall as it did the last two years. Per the pictures it looks like the next gen iPhone will be the same look slash case as the iPhone 5. Going with the the iPhone 3G and 3GS and then the iPhone 4 and 4S also using the same case design for two generations. But again if these photos are real and they appear to be so - then a June launch seems much more likely and lines up well with the how soon past photo leaks came out for other generation of iOS devices. Or I could just be hoping that is the case because I am eligible for a full upgrade to a new iPhone in June as I am sure many many other iOS 4S owners are as well.
Rob,
I know this may not be considered to be directly related to iOS but I use Dropbox extensively on my iPhone and I assume others do also. Box is something similar. Most free accounts of this type are only 2 to 5 GB. They are now offering 50GB free for life - which is a super good deal. It only takes about two minutes to complete the sign up process. I just signed up my whole family.
Thanks Don - Folks look for the link in the show notes for ep 258 titled Box 50 GB free for life to get this deal. Always nice to get some extra free cloud storage.
One of the stories make the rounds this past week was about a prediction by an anal-ist on how much revenue MS is missing out on by not having Office available for the iPad - the number by the anal-ist is an astonishing $2.5 Billion dollars - The problem is no one seems to be questioning his numbers. First he says it is based on 200 Mil iPads - when in reality there is not yet 150 Mil sold. Second he works the numbers out at $60 average sales price - that means to get to the $2.5 bil number after Apples 30% cut - 30% of the 200 mil ipad owners would need to purchase Office. Yeah - not going to happen. At 150 Mil that % jumps to 40% of iPad owners. And figure how many have two iPads and how many are to kids and yeah it quickly looks like 100%+ of adult owned iPads would need to be buying the $60 version of Office. Or you know they could just by the $10 version or Pages or $10 version of Keynote or the $10 version of Numbers or some combination there of for $20 or $30 max total. So yeah the $2.5 bil number is not pie in the sky numbers - it is cow pie in the sky numbers. Just sayin. So if you are someone that saw those numbers and thought that my kick MS in the butt to get Office out for the iPad - think again - I am sure they did similar number crunching I did - and came out with numbers much much lower than $2.5 Bil of lost revenue. While I think it would be great for MS to release Office for the iPad - I would not actually buy it - as I am happy with Pages / Keynote and numbers.
I guess time may soon tell on this one as the last rumor was a March or April release of Office for iPad.
Blackberry looks really really stupid right now with picking Alicia Keys for a celbrity spokesperson. First up until the day before they announced her as a new spokesperson she was busy sending tweets from her your guessed it - iPhone. Then last week she apparently sent another tweet from her iPhone - which was then deleted and followed up with a what the heck I must have been hacked tweet. O M G give me a break - do you think anyone believes that for even a second - especially since there are pics from your dressing room table at the grammy's the night before the tweet showing two iphones sitting there.
Where Blackberry really messed up - was in getting a celeb endorsement from someone that was not a blackberry user.
I am sure if they did their homework they could have found someone in hollywood or the entertainment world that still used a blackberry - and it would have been much more whats the word I am looking for - Oh yeah - authentic. And a heck of lot less embarrassing.
Hi Rob,
Here we go again so last week you had a story about malware on the google play store. Now they are sending those malware makers your name and location info. People would be outside apple with torches and pitchforks if apple ever made a mistake of this magnitude. Thanks for all you do rob love the show.
Regards Justin B
What justin is talking about is that when you are a Android user and you purchase an app in the Google Play store your name, general location and email is passed on to the developer and you are not in any way shape or form given any indication this is happening.
And That includes potential sending that info on to those that were putting malware in the Google Play store - Brilliant!!!! Good thing Google is not Evil - because then you know then they might also pass along your blood type and any history mental illness or Plastic Surgery. Just Sayin And for the record - no this story did not make it to the front page of CNN or any other mainstream website. Seems stories like this on the Android side don't get the same level of scrutiny as those with Apple. But I can assure you if this was Apple passing along personal info about each buyer to app devs - the amount of outcry about this would have broken the inter webs.
Hi George the insurance is Square Trade - and you go to square trade dot com slash tii to get $30 off your iPhone warranty. There is a banner over at today in iOS dot com with a link to the place on their site for the discount.
Hi Rob,
My iPhone recently committed suicide jumping out of my pocket onto a tile floor, landing face first and shattering the screen.
Luckily I had square trade. I filed my claim that day, and i was surprised that one of the options was to have a full replacement sent to me, so of course I chose this. Heard back the next day, Unfortunately they had no stock of my iPhone 4s, :-( so I could either send it in it take it to an apple store where I'd have to pay upfront, but they would reimburse me for this.
Because I can't even imagine life without an iPhone for an hour, let alone a few days, I chose to take it in to an apple store where they have me a new phone.
I was impressed with square trade's service throughout the process.
Once I got my new phone and restored from backup I was super impressed with iCloud. It re-installed ALL my old apps, music and settings. I had to re-log on to everything, but that's totally acceptable.
The one problem I am having is that iMessage won't verify the main email account I've been using for iMessage. I can't figure it out. It's working fine on my iPad. I've tried re-sending the verification email but I never receive it. Any help on this would be great. I'm missing a lot of messages because of this.
Regards,
- Jessi D
Hi Jessi - thanks for the feedback. Again as I mentioned on the last episode another great feature about square trade is they do not care if you jailbreak - so when getting a new iPhone - if you go with a square trade warranty you can still jailbreak your iPhone and not void the warranty - as you would with Apple Care plus. Plus if you go to square trade dot com / tii - you will get $30 off your warranty for being a Tii listener. Bringing a two year warranty down to just $94 - which is cheaper than Apple Care Plus as well.
Hi Rob,
I recently had an iphone4 that was not being used anymore, go missing. It had been used now just for games and music, when said iphone went missing I dove into action and from previous knowledge of listening to show had already had it registered with the find my iphone app, from there I set the phone first to play a sound to see if one of the kids had snagged it. But soon realized it was turned off and offline, I then sent phone into lost mode to be pending once phone would connect to wifi. Two weeks go by and I got the confession that my daughters friend was eyeing it when she was over at the house, and thinks she took it. All of a sudden today I get an email saying your iphone has been located, checked the map of where it was and that turned out to be an AT&T store. I called said store and asked if there was an iphone there that was in lost mode and confirmed that it was, gave them the proper identification and drove down and retrieved my iphone. Just another good reason to activate any old devices even if you are not using them as much with the find my iphone app.
Regards,
Kevin W
Kickstarter finally has an official app in the iTunes app store - and it is free - just search for Kickstarter in the App store. They claim you can use it to discover new projects, watch project videos, and get updates from projects - that is for the backers. It also has features for the Project creators - such as staying in contact with your backers, tracking your projects progress and most importantly posting updates to your project.
And speaking of Kickstarter Thanks to Thomas for the heads up on this next Kickstarter project and it is the Smarter Stand for iPhone and iPod touch - all generations of said devices. They have already hit their goal of $15,000 - with $18,000 plus already and this one goes on for quite some time - until April 12th at 11:29 AM ET. Right now there are still some early bird special pricing of $9 left. Yes this is from the same people that made the smarter stand for the iPad - this time the device allows you to both wrap your head phone cord around the smarter stand - but also use it to prop up your iPhone or iPod touch. Again right now it is just $9 - check it out quickly before they run out of early bird offerings and the price goes up to $12.
Hi Rob
Not sure if you've seen the Helios Bluetooth Light Controller (LC1) for iPhone on Kickstarter.
It looks like a great device: lets you control your lights from your iPhone.
I've backed it but not convinced it'll be funded due to their high funding goal. Plus you can only pledge for one. Oh well. Fingers crossed.
Search fro Helios - H E L I O S - at kickstarter dot com.
Regards,
Danielle
Pemberton, BC, Canada
Hi Danielle - yup looks like one of those very cool projects - with a high goal in this case $300,000 dollars but with a low pledge amount <10,000 to date - and too short of a time frame March 7th at 8:24 AM ET - to really have much of a chance at this point of getting funded.
Hello Rob,
As one of your visually impaired listeners, I would like to bring the article about fleksy to your attention. I think you should give Fleksy a try yourself, the developers have been awesome as far as supporting blind iPhone users and it appears that Fleksy is also attractive to somebody who
can see the virtual keyboard and why wouldn't it be, you can type away as fast as you can without having to worry to exactly hit each letter. I really look forward to hearing
whether you think Fleksy is pretty cool and whether you would set it as your default keyboard or at least include it in your keyboard choices were that is possible:
Maybe after the other listeners hear about Fleksy they will give it a try especially since it's a free app now and some might call in to give Fleksy their vote whether it's positive or negative.
Regards,
Sieghard
Hi Sieghard - thanks for the heads up - I have downloaded it - but have not had a chance to try it out yet. But I will do a call out to anyone that has used the Fleksy keyboard app - that is F l e k s y - and it is free in the app store - so if you have used or do try it out - please let us know your thoughts. 206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog - or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
There was some news from HBO that their Go iOS and Cinemax's Max Go Apps now have airplay streaming capability. Which is fine - but the real news I thought was the side part of their comments that HBO Go would land on Apple TV later this year as an App. Wonder if this is just an special deal just for HBO - or if later this year Apple TV will finally be allowing apps to be installed. Lets hope it is the later and not the former.
Hi Rob,
Per a previous callers question about recording sound on an iOS device.
I have an app for my iPad that allows me to record the sound coming out of it called Notes Plus. It is only for the iPad though.
Regards,
Jessi
On the 14th I received the following email
Hi Rob,
Nice to see Cydia back to normal. No warnings, SSH blobs back.
Just saying.
Chris
Thanks Chris - I agree - it looks like everything has finally calmed down and if you were holding off on jailbreaking - no time is better than right now.
Hi Rob, I have a iPhone 4S can I unlock it and jailbreak it? I'm gonna sell it. Is this okay or I should I just jailbreak it??
It's with AT&T and yes I payed it off. I upgraded to iPhone 5
Regards, Robert
Hi Robert - I get this question often - and it is time to talk about it again.
First Call AT&T and ask them to unlock your iPhone.
They will unlock it for you.
You will then need to do a restore.
Once you restore after they tell you - the phone will be unlocked - You will now this because at the end of the restore it will say it is unlocked.
Then once it is unlocked you can jailbreak it.
FYI - unlocking it will increase its value more than jailbreaking it. Doing both is even better.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - TODD_CT_JB_BITSMS
Thanks to Todd and the many others that let me know PDAnet has been updated for iOS 6.x which is good news.
Hi Rob,
A great tweak is UIDeviceCrasher. This will show you after an App, Mod or Tweak is installed, that it may cause issues and may cause crashes. It loads and displays a Pop-up at the beginning, after the respring.
It says which apps may cause issues. And you can uninstall them. Rather than uninstalling one by one to find problems.
After saying all that. Mine says Auxo the App switcher Mod is a Problem. But its not really as far as I can see. Also says Winterboard is a Problem. But not seeing problems with it.
But in any-rate, good to use to see incompatibility issues, wether you act on them or not.
Cheers, Chris in london.
Hi Rob,
Seems Mobile substrate has been updated. I like looking at what is new in updates. While checking out MS, I saw this interesting tip.
So, it looks like if your iDevice goes into an infinite reboot loop, you can try holding down the Volume Up button to disable Substrate. Might stop the looping so you can remove the offending tweak.
Regards Steven W.
Thanks Steven - and he sent over a screen shot about the Mobile substrate tweak that said the following quote You can now disable substrate entirely by holding down the Volume up button as the device boots. This feature allows you to bypass horribly broken extension (ones that prevent the device from starting up at all. that you may have installed so you can open cydia and uninstall them. unquote.
So this is a powerful tip for anyone that jailbreaks and goes crazy with installing tweaks and apps and finds out one or some of them hose your iOS device - now rather than having to restore - you can boot in a kind of safe mode and uninstall tweaks and apps to get your device to work again. Remember the more apps and tweaks you installs the higher the probability you will need this fix. Things do go wrong with jailbreaking - this tip helps you deal with it. Thanks Steven for the tip.
PLAY VOICEMAIL - HOLLY_DIRECTTV_APP_WILL_NOT_OPEN
Hey Rob I just updated to iOS 6.1 and then jail broke my sprint ip4S , as I was going thru my apps. I wanted to watch some of my movies on my Flixter app that I downloaded thru ultraviolet. But when I hit the download button I got a pop up telling me that my phone was jail broken and that I should update to an official iOS if I want to watch the content. How is it that Flixter app knows that and why to they feel the need to police the users on having a jail broken device???
Regards Tono
Hi Holly and Tono - This has happened before where some apps dealing with digital media - put these checks in place to make sure you are not installing a jailbreak app that lets you get around some security they have in place.
I believe there is a jailbreak tweak that then tricks those devices into not thinking your are jailbroken. So yes a jailbreak tweak that tweaks your device to trick others apps to not know you are jailbroken.
I can't remember the name of the app - but will send a call out to the audience for the tweak. Which is what I guess I just did - if anyone remembers the name of said tweak - please let us know - 206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.
A little jailbreak news - Yes iOS 6.1.1 came out last week for the iPHone 4S - but luckily it is still jailbreakable and evasion was upgraded to v1.3 and works fine for jailbreaking iOS 6.1.1 - as long as you did the upgrade to iOS 6.1.1 when connected to your computer via iTunes and not as the Over the Air upgrade.
Thanks to tash for this next one which is about a Cydia Tweak that allows all Notification Center Notifications to be sent to a Pebble Watch. So if you have a pebble watch or more accurately if you have one on order and are waiting for it to come in - you will want to look into jailbreaking and then installing the Cydia tweak called BTNotificationEnabler - all one word. It is free in the Cydia App store.
There are estimates that as many as 10Million iOS users have jailbroken their iOS 6.x device already. Some are saying this is a huge number - and points to the general dis-satisfaction with iOS 6.x - however 10 Million out of 300 million is still a pretty small percentage at 3.33% - and in line % wise as past jailbreaks. So really I think this is just about a small % of users wanting to do more with their iOS device. I do believe Jailbreaking and jailbreak apps are a great showcase for Apple on what the iPhone can and many cases should do - and each update sine iOS 2.0 there have been new features added that were tweaks created first on the jailbreak side. It will be interesting to see which current tweaks make their way to iOS 7 - but I hope Apple continues to monitor the jailbreak world and look at all the great tweaks available and ad as many as possible.
Thanks to Woody for the heads up on this next one which is a review of the Smartlav lavalier Mic for the iPhone. It is $60 and if you are looking to podcast with your iOS device and use the boss jock app - this might be a nice option to look into. They claim in their video that this is a professional grade Lavalier mic. I have not tried it out - but will ping them for a review unit. If anyone has actually purchased this or does purchase it - please make a recording and send it in. I would be interested in hearing the audio quality on this.
I think I want to do a new segment near the end of episodes every so often - that segment will be my review of some accessory for iOS devices I am playing with. For this episode I am going to talk about the RockSteadyXS bluetooth Portable Speaker. This is a very compact size speaker with a very not compact sound. Which I really like as I need a portable speaker for when I do speeches that can really put out some serious volume. This one allows both Bluetooth and line in connections - so I can also use with my Laptop. They state it has a life of 10 hours with a full charge - I used it for over 4 days on the full charge they shipped it to me with for well over 10 hours of use - and it is still working. Sadly no charge level indicator to know if I am about to run out or not - but their 10 hours of battery life is conservative which I like. One really neat feature - the Lithium ion battery is easily removable from the base of the unit and is a standard BL-5c battery pack - So down the line when the battery has run out of charge cycles - you can replace it or better yet buy an extra one as a back up. I saw some BL-5C battery packs online in a quick search for between $8 and $15. The RocksteadyXS had really impressive sound for the size and is much louder than my current portable speaker which is over 3 times the size and weight. So this will become my new portable speaker. It also allows for charging of your iPhone via a USB power out port - you can plug your iOS devices charge cord into. So it can also be an emergency battery back up - another reason to get an extra battery pack. They have a list price of $99.99 - but who pays list price. Amazon has it for $89.99 right now. I was able to quickly pair it with my iPhone which uses Bluetooth 4.0 and with my wife's iPod nano which is also bluetooth 4.0 with no issues as well as with my iPhone 4 which is bluetooth 2.1. so it should work fine with all iOS devices. All in all I found the RocksteadyXS to be a good looking - good sounding portable speaker with the features I need to be my new portable speaker. Especially the easy replacement of the battery pack. as I will be getting an extra battery back shortly for this. At $89.99 from Amazon it is a good price for the performance and features - especially when you it compare it to competitive speakers. Link in the show notes over at today in iOS dot com.
Hi Rob,
I am not a dev, just one of your fans.
Instashare is the free app that is like Air Drop on a mac. In ios app store for iphone.
You can drag and drop files from your macs to your iphone and vice versa.
You can drag and drop files to other iphones
Important - go to instashareapp.com and download mac beta for your mac laptops and desktops
This is the killer app of all time!
Any file formats!
Mike
San Diego
Loyal Listener
Hi Rob
I wanted to try and help your listener out it's having trouble with his Apple TV.
I ran into this exact same issue on one of my Apple TV's.
My eight-year-old one day seen that there is an update for AppleTV and tried to install it on one of the jailbroken devices. This of course resulting in bricking it.
I then tried to apply the update using iTunes going to the exact same steps as your listener did with the same results. iTunes either would not recognize the device or would ask me to try to upgrade later.
I tried this on a Windows 8, Windows 7, and a Windows Vista machine all of the same result. I still have an old laptop running Windows XP I decided to give it one last shot before throwing my AppleTV away & to my surprise iTunes recognize the device. I'm not certain what the differences between Windows 8, 7, Vista, and XP, they are all running the exact same version of iTunes. But for whatever reason the Windows XP laptop was able to fix my Apple TV.
So my advice is to find a buddy with a Mac or PC and trying to reset it, keep going until it works. Your other option is to take it to an Apple store and beg to have somebody reset it to factory defaults.
