Right now, my twitter stream is full of people enthusing about the new Apple iPhone. Some are excited about the new camera. Others are lamenting the loss of the headphone jack.
Come on @apple, be honest. Headphone jacks are just a standard you couldn’t control.
I’m finding it difficult to get too worked up about either of these “innovations”. Apple’s been in the business of taking things away from people for a long time, and I’ve largely given up on them as a hardware provider. I’m still holding onto my Macs for now, but when replacement time rolls around, I may be looking at a Windows box.
Shocking, I know.
But while I’ve waxed crazy about my various pairs of expensive headphones, I do recognize the need for a decent wireless headset. I recently shelled-out a whopping twenty eight bucks ($28!) for a pair of humorously-named SoundPeats Q800 Bluetooth headphones. They’re not pretty, fit around the neck and have little in-ear buds you can stuff into your ear canals. They’re reasonably comfy, have some noise-cancelling capabilities (great in a car, no match for a lawn tractor) and can play 44.1KHz CD quality sound. Unexpectedly, they have a surprising amount of bass at the expense of upper end detail, and a claimed 10 hour battery life. I have yet to run them out.
Apple seems to get that eliminating the headphone jack will be a tough sell in some quarters. In a packed keynote, Phil Schiller spent a fair amount of time laying out Apple’s case for why switching to the lightning connector for wired headphones and moving to wireless AirPods is the right thing to do. But Apple also spoke to BuzzFeed’s John Paczkowski to add context and the detail that couldn’t fit into the keynote.
Apple’s Dan Riccio explained the challenge this way:
”We’ve got this 50-year-old connector — just a hole filled with air — and it’s just sitting there taking up space, really valuable space,” he says.
Eliminating the headphone jack helped enable the iPhone 7’s new camera, waterproofing, and better battery life. As Paczkowski explains:
The 3.5-millimeter audio jack has been headed to its inevitable fate for some time now. If it wasn’t the iPhone 7, it might have been the iPhone 8 (or, for that matter, the iPhone 6). In the end, it was simple math that did the audio jack in, a cost-benefit analysis that sorely disfavored a single-purpose Very Old Port against a wireless audio future, some slick new cameras, and the kind of water resistance that anyone who has ever dropped an iPhone in the toilet has long wished for.
Anyone who has used Bluetooth headphones knows that they promise freedom, but at the price of friction – charging, spotty connectivity, and poor audio quality. Apple’s answer to those headaches comes in the form of its new W1 chip that adds a layer of ‘secret sauce’ to its newly announced wireless AirPods that promises to eliminate the pain points.
According to John Ternus, vice president of Mac, iPad, ecosystem, and audio engineering at Apple:
“As you can imagine, by developing our own Bluetooth chip and controlling both ends of the pairing process there’s a lot of magic we can do,”
I was sold on wireless headphones a long time ago despite their limitations. That said, I hope Apple’s secret sauce is every bit as magical as claimed because the issues with Bluetooth are real and fixing them is a challenge that no other headphone manufacturer has fully conquered.
Today, for the tenth consecutive year, Apple unveiled a new iPhone. This time, it’s called the iPhone 7.
After the presentation, the 500 invited journalists crammed into a hands-on room, where we got to spend about an hour with the new phones. Here’s as thorough a review as I can write after only an hour fooling with the phone. (I’ll post a more in-depth critique once I’ve had some time living with the phone in environments that aren’t white cubical rooms teeming with Apple representatives.)
The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus don’t have headphone jacks.
The primary reason is bulk. That 52-year-old technology takes up a huge amount of space inside the phone—space that could be better devoted to battery, camera, and other improved features. (You can read my more detailed analysis of this trend here.)
On the iPhone 7, you have three ways to listen to music:
Through earbuds that connect to the Lightning jack. In the box, you get new Apple earbuds that plug into the iPhone’s charging jack. And yes, that means you cannot charge your phone while listening to music (at least until someone comes out with a splitter.) And if you’re not a fan of the Apple earbuds, other companies make headphones and earbuds that plug into the Lightning jack, too.
Apple’s new EarPods with a Lighting connector.
Through an adapter that connects to the Lightning jack. In the iPhone box, you also get an adapter that accommodates any earbuds or headphones you like. (“How do I connect my earbuds to my car stereo or an in-flight entertainment system?” This is how. Just plug them in as always. Use the adapter to plug into your iPhone.) Additional adapters cost $9 each; Apple intends for you to leave them attached to your headphones.
Apple’s Lighting to headphone jack is included with the iPhone 7.
Wirelessly. Many companies now offer Bluetooth wireless headphones and earbuds. And when Bluetooth 5.0 comes out later this year—with four times the range, twice the speed, and 8 times the data throughput, plus automatic pairing—stand back. Bluetooth audio will get a whole new, much better reputation.
AirPods
Apple joined the Bluetooth party today by unveiling its own very nice, very expensive Bluetooth earbuds, called AirPods ($160, coming late October).
Apple’s new wireless AirPods.
I tried these out for size today, too. They are, as you’d expect, far more elegant and slick than their rivals. For example, they come in a dental-floss box—I’m sorry, a white carrying case—that doubles as a recharging battery. 15 minutes in the case, and you’ve recharged the AirPods for another 3 hours of listening.
Apple’s AirPods charger.
(When fully charged, the AirPods play for 5 hours—that’s 10 hours if you listen to only one at a time—and the case holds enough juice for 24 hours of listening.)
When you take one AirPod out, to answer the flight attendant, for example, your music pauses automatically—and resumes when you put it back into your ear. Very slick. A magnetic click holds the AirPods securely in the case. Tap an AirPod twice to speak to Siri. When a call comes in, your music pauses automatically, and noise cancellation kicks in so your voice is clearer.
Oh—and they sound very good, at least in a crowded talky demo room.
The AirPods also also have microphones.
The AirPods are, like the earpods, really bulbous. They won’t stay in many people’s ears, especially if you’re hideously deformed like me (I’m missing the antitragus, the piece of cartilage that holds standard earbuds in place).
Fortunately, many other Bluetooth wireless earbuds are available, including two from Apple’s Beats line that have over-hear hooks and other systems that keep the earbuds on when you’re running, exercising, or standing upright.
New Beats wireless headphones
(One of my Twitter followers observed that these AirPods look like they’ll fall out and get lost very easily. Another, however, noted that if that happens to you, you can find a replacement just by looking among the leaves along the running paths of your local park.)
New cameras
Oh wow, the cameras. This is what would make me want to upgrade.
The camera on the back is now 12 megapixels, optically stabilized (so as not to blur your shot from shaky hands). The lens is f/1.8, meaning that it lets in 50 percent more light than before for improved low-light shots—a traditional iPhone weak spot. The flash is made up of 4 tiny LEDs, and is twice as bright. It’s so bright, I practically fried my corneas.
But the really big news—Apple at its best—is available only on the larger phone, the iPhone 7 Plus. This phone as two lenses on the back: One wide-angle, one telephoto (shown here at top left).
The iPhone 7 Plus features two cameras.
The result is that you now have actual, true, optical zoom on a smartphone. It’s only a 2X zoom (with up to 10X digital, which degrades the image some), but it’s really ingenious, and it’s hugely welcome. (Companies have tried to create optical zooms on phones before, but usually at a tremendous cost in phone thickness and bulk.)
That dual-lens business also lets the iPhone 7 Plus capture photos, using a new Portrait mode, with great-looking soft-focus backgrounds, just like you get on fancy SLR cameras. That feature won’t be available until later this fall.
An example of the depth-of-field blur taken with the iPhone 7 Plus.
The cameras are a big, big deal—big enough to count as a major attractor for potential upgraders.
The case is a new ballgame
The body of the iPhone 7 is glass (front) and aluminum, either matte (black, silver, gold, pink gold) or glistening shiny black. And one more thing: It’s now water resistant. You can’t scuba dive with it, but rain or a quick fall into the toilet is OK. (I mean phone falling in, not you.)
Apple has mucked with the Home button, too. Now, it doesn’t physically click inward when you press it. Instead, you feel a click, but it’s a fakeout—it’s a sonic, vibrational click. As a result, Apple says, the Home button is now faster to respond, more reliable, and customizable. And it’s force-sensitive, too: Apple says that it can now differentiate between a soft press and a hard press.
The iPhone 7 gets a new Home button.
But the company didn’t say today what good that does you, and it didn’t say what “customizable” means, either. If the gods of Apple are listening, it could mean that you’ll be able to set things up so that a hard press opens the Camera app, a soft press turns on the flashlight, and so on.
Eliminating that moving part helps with the water resistance, too.
New speakers and screen
The speakers are now at the top and bottom of the phone—stereo for the first time on an iPhone. Twice as loud. They sound very good.
The screen color range has been enhanced yet again. The improvement is subtle, but we’ll take it.
The processor’s been sped up again, as always—but this time, two of its four “brains” (cores) are dedicated to computations that aren’t speed-intensive, and therefore draw less on the battery. As a result, Apple says that the iPhone 7 gets two hours more battery life per charge than the iPhone 6s, which is a blessing.
More storage for the buck
The absurdly small 16-gigabyte iPhone has, at last, been retired. Now, the iPhones 7 comes in 32, 128, and 256 gigs of storage (for $650, $750, and $850; installment and rental plans are available). For the larger 7 Plus model, the prices are $770, $870, and $970.
The iPhone 7 Plus is available in a variety of colors.
You can pre-order your iPhone 7 starting September 9; Apple will begin shipping them to customers on September 16.
The iPhone Future and Future Plus
By now, everyone recognizes that the annual cycle of adding an earth-shattering, life-changing feature to each new smartphone model is over. There’s nothing as big as an app store or Siri left to add.
So what’s left for manufacturers to add each year? Refinements. Better camera, better speed, better sound, better screen, better battery life, better software. Water resistance.
And that, in fact, is exactly what Apple has added to this year’s iPhone. Not just some of it—all of it. And within the bounds of physics and materials, that’s just about as far as a 2016 smartphone can go.
David Pogue is the founder of Yahoo Tech; here’s how to get his columns by email. On the Web, he’s davidpogue.com. On Twitter, he’s @pogue. On email, he’s poguester@yahoo.com. He welcomes non-toxic comments in the Comments below.
It’s official now: There’s no 3.5-millimeter headphone jack on the latest iPhones. Or the latest Motorola phones. Or LeEco phones in China. And it will be disappearing from other brands, too.
“WHY!?” scream the masses. “WHY!?”
Actually, that’s not the masses’ only question. So here, all in one place, is the complete list of questions and answers pertaining to the iPhone 7 and its lack of a headphone jack.
Q: Why? In God’s name, why?
A: Well, to paraphrase my own article yesterday: The 3.5-millimeter jack debuted with the transistor radio in the early 1960’s; it was, for example, on the Sony EFM-117J radio, which came out in 1964. In short, the jack that everyone’s whining about is 52 years old.
As a result, it’s bulky. And in a phone, bulk = death.
By today’s standards, the 3.5-millimeter jack is huge on the inside. (See the red box below.) The cylinder that accommodates your headphone plug is now among the thickest components of your phone. That internal assembly is what’s preventing phones from getting any thinner — and what’s preventing their batteries from getting any bigger.
Inside the phone, the headphone jack is relatively huge.
Apple says that in the iPhone 7, removing the headphone assembly made space for three useful improvements. First, the battery is indeed physically larger; it drives the phone for 2 hours more than the previous iPhone.
Second, the iPhone 7 gains an optical image stabilizer — a suspension for the lens that prevents blurry photos when your hand jiggles slightly — and that component is pretty big, too.
And third, the new screen technology occupies more space.
Q: Well, how am I supposed to listen to music?
A: In the box, you get a new pair of iPhone earbuds that plug into the Lightning connector — the phone’s charging jack.
The iPhone 7 earbuds connect to the Lightning port.
Q: That’s absurd! I don’t want to have to use Apple earbuds!
A: You don’t have to. Many other companies sell headphones and earbuds that also plug into the Lightning connector.
Q: Oh, great. So I have to buy brand-new headphones?
A: No, you don’t. In the iPhone box, you also get a small adapter that lets you plug any headphones or earbuds into the Lightning connector.
A two-inch adapter (included) accommodates existing headphones.
Q: But I have two favorite pairs of headphones!
A: Apple’s Lightning adapters cost $9. That’s cheap enough that you can buy a second one and just leave it on your other headphones.
Q: How am I supposed to listen to my car’s aux jack, or to a plane’s in-flight entertainment?
A: Plug your existing headphones into it.
Q: If the Lightning jack is occupied by headphones, how am I supposed to charge the phone while listening?
A: You have two choices. You can buy an adapter that offers a second Lightning jack for charging, like this one from Belkin.
Or you can use wireless earbuds.
Q: Wireless earbuds!? But Bluetooth audio is terrible!
A: Sometimes it is. But the ones from Apple (called AirPods) and its subsidiary (Beats) incorporate new protocols on top of Bluetooth, for instant pairing and zero latency (lag). I tried the AirPods while watching “The Jungle Book” on an iPad, and, as promised, there was zero latency.
Q: How long do the batteries in those AirPods last?
A: Five hours on a charge.
Q: That’s absurd! That won’t even last the flight from JFK to San Francisco!
A: They come with a carrying case that’s also a recharging battery pack. The AirPods can get a three-hour charge from the case in 15 minutes. You can do that eight times per battery-case charge, for a total of 24 hours of music.
The Airpods in their charging case.
Q: Yeah, but people are gonna lose those AirPods in, like, a week. They’re not even attached.
A: Accessory makers will soon offer sport bands — thin straps that connect the two AirPods so that one of them can’t drop out of your ear and fall down the sewer grate.
Or you can use a piece of dental floss.
Q: Can I use those AirPods (or wireless Beats) on my Mac?
A: Yes. In fact, here’s something cool: Once you’ve paired them to your iPhone, they’re automatically paired (via iCloud syncing) to all your other Apple devices: phones, tablets, Macs. Your “AirPods” will then appear as an audio-output option on all of your Apple machines.
You can also use the AirPods with an Android phone, a Windows machine—anything with Bluetooth audio (although you won’t get the added reliability of Apple’s added protocols).
Q: Can I use those AirPods on older iPhones?
A: Yes — any iPhone that’s running iOS 10.
Q: How complicated is it to switch what the AirPods are listening to?
A: Zero. You just start playing music on the second device; the AirPods immediately start playing.
Q: Well, I don’t like change, and I think this is terrible.
A: You don’t have to play along. You can still buy many phones, including both Android and iPhone models, that have standard headphone jacks.
It will take a few years before the 3.5-millimeter jack has disappeared completely. That should give you some time to get used to the idea that this bulky, 52-year-old connector’s time has finally come.
David Pogue is the founder of Yahoo Tech; here’s how to get his columns by email. On the Web, he’s davidpogue.com. On Twitter, he’s @pogue. On email, he’s poguester@yahoo.com. He welcomes non-toxic comments in the Comments below.
Last Saturday my wife and I went to a cafe for breakfast. It was mostly empty. One employee was showing another how the till (cash register) worked.
Then she showed her which options linked to which menu items, how to serve customers, where to sit customers, which tables referred to which customer numbers, what food items were/weren’t available, what time they opened, what time they closed, how to handle customers with limited English, the different types of tea, what taxes she had to pay etc etc…
You get the idea. The new employee was completely frazzled and drowning in information. Customers could see it, the service was slow, and the experience was bad for all involved.
Most teams are like this. They add a newcomer to the project and then overwhelm him/her with a huge amount of information in a short amount of time. The newcomer is expected to acquire years of knowledge in a day or two.
On my first day in one of my first jobs, I was taken to a meeting room upstairs where the entire team went through every project for every client while I scribbled notes (and pretended to understand the vocab).
It doesn’t lead to a great first day for the newcomer and not a great return for the project. Ever heard stories of employees quitting on the first day/week? This is why.
If you’re adding a newcomer to the project, give them a small piece of work, the right amount of information, and let them get to grips with it and produce something good. Do everything you can to make them feel like a competent, productive, member of the team as quickly as possible. Gradually expand from there.
Like adding someone to a community, giving someone too much information too soon leads to bad results. Maintain a high level of competency and expand steadily.
This is #3 of 5 posts I had in draft state for a few months, that I decided finish up & post. Here’s hoping my research helps others. I started writing this in May.
“Inessential weirdness of open source”
This term (crediting to Katrina Owen at Github) perfectly describes a conundrum of open participation, whereby we hold onto symbols, processes, and idiosyncrasies of open source in a mix of nostalgia, delusion and … I’m going to say it – arrogance , as the primary (nearly holy) measures of ‘being open’ in community building .
‘But’ve always done x’, is a very common response to change in open communities. Whereby we unintentionally (yet deliberately) avoid change because we believe that that purity of ‘open’ is the only way to innovate further . We even avoid change despite huge potential to grow more diverse and healthy open communities – because… there are slivers of non-open. gah!
Two years ago I ran the ‘Open Hatch Comes To Campus’ workshop at the University of Victoria. I spent 1.5 hours teaching people the skills they needed to ultimately… type ‘hello’ on an IRC channel.. Our workshop implied IRC was a critical doorway, and on-ramp to participation in open source. Saying hello, asking for help – with an instructors guidance: 1.5 hours. What?
I’ve often heard project maintainers say, that obtuse processes like these actually help ensure the success of those who are truly seriousabout contribution. As if asking basic questions is a holy grail of volunteering- one where only those willing to waste ridiculous amounts of time on discombobulated, obtuse processes and tools are worthy of participation. I call bullshit on any process that makes connecting with others, in an ‘open project’ – an obstacle.
“open and accessible doesn’t beat usable and intelligent”
In the last couple of years we’ve seen open communities faced with an interesting choice of using tools that work really well for working open, but are not themselves open. Github being the most obvious example. Similarly I’ve also followed the Open Data communities use of + Slack + Slackin!
Still in the voice of nostalgia asking us to remember our legacy IRC.
Anyway….what exactly do we need our community software to do? Here’s a short list I used when measuring chat solutions (and sure I am missing things)
Open source – I want the ability to inspect, and improve-on software we use for community conversation, and to propose improvement via pull requests.
Data is discover-able via web search. So much success of ‘open’ is that people can stumble on conversations that push innovation further.
Open Conversations – no login or registration required. Anyone can ‘lurk’.
Easy to grasp & intuitive – Lets not ask newbies to install software to ask for help. Lets’ not expect that contributors are technical contributors.
Github feed (my own requirement, that everyone can see new issues, and comments they subscribe to).
A clever human-connection setup should allow new contributors an ability to answer these questions with some clarity:
Who is here?
Am I welcome here?
What’s happening in this community?
How can I contribute?
How do I ask for help?
With this criteria, and questions in mind, here are the results of those I researched for education contributors at Mozilla:
Mattermost – Has potential, but seems unfinished, and little ‘alpha’. Without installing myself ,I couldn’t figure out how to enable a Github feed.
Gitter – I discovered this when looking around Free Code Club. I liked the UI, and possibilities for multiple channels easily toggled, searchable and friendly. Plugins tend to be more developer-friendly, which was a drawback for non-technical contribution – but not a show stopper. Has a great search option for communities. Chat rooms are associated with Github Repos, which has huge potential for building communities around projects and initiatives.
I think Gitter is doing with Github, what Github should be doing for Github projects interested in nurturing participation.
Discord – I found found Reactiflux development via Facebook React’s repo, but was nervous about jumping in. Seems more like a team project, than community. I found it intimidating, especially with voice, and it wasn’t clear what preferences where. Quickly left.
I revisited this after comments were left about this project portal being community organized (as it had been months since I was there). Aside from struggling to switch login/register status, I do have to say it’s a very easy to lurk into – and has desktop versions (it seems I didn’t have a lot of time to test). I’m not clear on how discover able conversations are outside of this app, but the community has set things up very well to ask questions in a number of ways (which is awesome). Still on the fence about voice chat, but maybe that’s because it’s harder to stay gender-anonymous with voice. Thanks for the comment that made me take another look Mark!
Rocketchat – It’s open source, it looks great – it has the potential to do what Gitter is doing for communities, but it feels very single-instance and Slack-replacement focused. Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful, very capable of being a good alternative but I want more – I want ‘open’ feel like more than code. If I had to choose an alternative it would be this one.
Rivr – I couldn’t find inspiration other than free, and not-Slack. Guessing it’s a great alternative too.
Slack should be thought of as first generation example of how community might meet, connect with participation and community, but not as a template, and not as a ‘bar’ that we now try to replicate openly. Reactiflux community has also demonstrated that a cohesive collection of support vrs any one solution is often the best way to go as well.
It’s time we prioritized connection of humans ‘ in the open’- lets end the inessential weirdness of open source.
Removing the headphone jack will be a tough test of whether Apple’s brand is strong enough to wean consumers off a connector that they have loved for over 100 years.
Apple launched two new products and one new accessory at its annual launch event on September 7th.
First: iPhone 7.
The new device no longer has the 3.5mm headphone jack but comes with an adaptor in the box.
Users wanting to use traditional headphones will no longer be able to listen and charge at the same time.
The device also sports a brighter display, much improved camera (with wide angle and telephoto cameras on the 7+), a new home button as well as water resistance to 1m of immersion.
With the exception of the headphone jack, there is not much here that does not already exist on competing products although I suspect that when it comes to the camera, Apple’s combination of software and hardware will create a top notch experience and image results.
The iPhone 7 doubles the capacity of previous versions with the top size now being 256GB but the price is staying the same as the previous generation.
Second: AirPods
These are wireless Bluetooth headphones that automatically pair with the iPhone and Apple Watch with some very nice features that should create a great experience when used with Apple’s products.
They will also work with non-Apple products meaning that it the AirPods are using standard Bluetooth and so it will be important to see how well the audio quality measures up to wired headphones.
The AirPods also allow use of Siri with a double tap as well as voice calls and easy device switching.
The AirPods are very expensive at $159 and I expect them to sell only to the real top end of Apple’s fan base.
At the same time, Beats is incorporating the new technology into a range of its devices at more reasonable prices giving consumers more choice.
Third: Apple Watch 2.
Apple updated the Apple Watch adding water resistance to 50m making it good for swimmers as well as adding GPS to allow full activity tracking without the iPhone being present.
These went hand in hand with a nice new ceramic case and a version of the device which has Nike running software embedded at the factory.
However, what Apple did not do was provide an answer to the most asked question at the Apple Watch tables which remains: “Why should I buy it?” not “How much is it?”.
Hence, I do not see the Apple Watch 2 lifting the smart watch market out of its current decline and I remain very cautious on the outlook for wearables in general.
Apple is certainly taking a step forward in removing the headphone jack but at the same time it has given competitors material for marketing their products.
It also makes the device even more proprietary than it already was which is likely to anger some users.
The biggest risk here is not whether Apple will lose users to Android but whether users looking for a new phone will buy the 6s which is almost as good and still has the beloved 3.5mm jack rather than the 7.
If all goes well then I expect ASPs and gross margins to hold steady but should users shun the 7 for the cheaper 6s then ASPs, revenues and profits will come under pressure.
This is the big gamble that Apple is taking where clearly it is hoping that its brand is strong enough to force the industry and users to move on from something they have been using for many years.
I do not think that there is nearly enough here to drive a real replacement cycle (like the iPhone 6) but there should be enough to keep the ship steady while Apple searches for the next revolution.
Hence, I continue to think that Apple is a great long term investment as it offers great value but there is nothing from these launches that is going to drive revenues back to growth.
Samsung, Microsoft and Baidu are my top short-term picks.
Since I am an active Apple Watch user, I got a lot of questions after yesterday's keynote. Some thoughts inspired by those questions.
Do you need to upgrade from the original watch? For most people that is a definite no.
GPS. That is the big thing people have been waiting for. It allows the watch to track you without an iPhone. That comes at a cost. GPS most likely is the top battery burner in a device that small. Apple says workouts can last up to five hours with GPS on. You probably need a full charge to go that distance and then return with an empty watch.
Battery life. An original watch lasts about a day and a half on a charge. Having 40% left at night is a bummer. It does not last two days, and it could have burnt more during the day. That is going to happen with watchOS 3. My limited tests so far seem to back up my suspicion that the watch becomes more aggressive on the battery.
WatchOS 3. That is a beautiful update coming to your watch next week. It's like an all new watch. I am not going to list all the details that you can read on Apple.com.
Waterproofing. The original Watch and Watch Series 1 are splash-proof, Watch Series 2 are swim-proof. I never had any water damage with the original Watch, although I clean it under running water. I would however take it off when jumping into a pool.
Brighter display. That may be the most useful feature in Series 2. I am often outside and it's between difficult and impossible to read Apple Watch in direct sunlight. More brightness helps. If you are mostly inside and sun isn't available where you live, you won't notice a difference.
Again, upgrade or not? If you spend much time around water or in the sun, yes. If you do short workouts up to an hour, without your phone, yes. For all others: upgrade the software next week and enjoy a new watch.
For those buying a new Apple Watch: 42mm is always right for men, 38 for women. Apple Watch is smaller than you expect. Sports Band is my favorite, some prefer the Nylon weave. You can buy the cheapest model without sacrificing anything. I always recommend getting the newest version though. That would make it the Series 2 aluminium model.
CSV files are great, but every now and then you have to edit them for errors or format them for the next step. You could use Excel. I’ve been using Google Sheets. However, these applications are designed for general purposes to fulfill a lot of use cases. Comma Chameleon on the other hand is made specifically to get you in and out fast, so that you can use your CSV file elsewhere.
If you want to know everything that happened at Wednesday’s Apple event, you’ll find hundreds of articles around the Web listing every nitty-gritty detail. But what’s really important? Here’s our quick take on Apple’s big announcements and what they mean for people who may be shopping for Apple gear, as well as what’s important for your existing Apple stuff.
Back at the end of June, Microsoft released a video that stirred up a bit of a hornet’s nest. In it, the Redmond-based company said Edge, its new Windows 10 browser, was more energy efficient than the competition. In particular, the company singled out Chrome, which, according to its own data, fared particularly poorly in battery life tests.
On Tuesday, two-and-a-half months later, Google released its own video comparison. In the clip, the latest version of Chrome plays Vimeo videos non-stop for 10 hours and 39 minutes, two hours and 12 minutes longer than the older version 46 release from partway through 2015.
In the blog post accompanying the video, the search giant doesn’t mention Microsoft in so many words, but given that Google decided to run its own test on two Surface Books, the same computer Microsoft used in its showcase, the implication here is pretty clear.
That said, the video doesn’t actually refute Microsoft’s claims; it simply shows that the latest release of Chrome is less of a drain on laptop battery life than the version Google had out a year ago.
Still, that’s a fact worth celebrating, and, in any case, whether someone ends up using Chrome or Edge as their main browser, their day-to-day experience will differ from staged tests.
Well, I think that’s settled then. Not that I expected otherwise, but the venerable headphone jack is gone from the iPhone 7.
The Sony MW600, which is better (but less Sci-Fi) than AirPods.
I won’t miss it much, since I’ve been using a Sony MW600 Bluetooth adapter for nearly three years now – it lasts me a full day on a single charge, has a micro-USB port, remote, call and volume controls, a little display (which is pretty handy) and cost me something along the lines of Eur.30.
Despite Sony’s best efforts to murder that product line and render all its successors entirely unappealing for one reason or another (or perhaps because of those attempts), I’ve held on to it to the extent of buying a replacement spring+clip assembly a couple of months back, and intend to keep using it until it dies on me.
I haven’t needed the headphone jack for the past couple of years. And I seriously doubt I’ll ever need it again even if I switch phones to one that still has it.
Of course, that doesn’t mean having to unplug your spiffy new Lightning EarPods to charge your phone is anything less than idiotic, but hey, that’s the price of progress – which I’m glad to leave for other people to pay for the time being, seeing as I don’t have plans for upgrading my iPhone 6 just yet.
Unfortunately. Quite honestly, if the AppleiPhone Upgrade Program got off the first-world track and became available here, I’d very likely sign up for it for the sake of the new camera (but not the Plus model’s – carrying half an iPad in my pocket is absolutely out of the question).
Now, AirPods… Well, they’re an amazing piece of engineering, but the prospect of losing half of an expensive set is daunting to say the least. I’ll pass, thanks.
As to the event itself, the bits that I found most interesting were about the revamped Watch models. Having bought the original model at $100 off I have no justification for feeling ripped off, but the new price points are… Interesting. And the co-branding angle has a lot of market potential (like many other people, I don’t think it’s an accident that they emphasised health and sports to the detriment of fashion – people who buy a wearable for sport will not just use it a lot more, but certainly talk about it a lot more than people who buy them purely for show).
I still think the original Watch is the best wearable device I’ve ever used and have no reason to upgrade, but it’s going to be interesting watching how the platform evolves (I also have no need for GPS on a watch and find the notion of ever having direct cellular connectivity on one ridiculous, so I’ll probably be able to “upgrade” to a new entry-leve model in a couple of years or so…). I’ve steered clear of the betas, but am quite looking forward to upgrading to the new watchOS next week, even if it kills off a couple of UI features I like.
But that’s not terribly important in the big scheme of things. Macs, though, are, at least for me. They’re the last bastion of decent UX in the UNIX world until Apple decides to turn the knob to 11 on their computing as appliance vision, or at least until they stop needing developers… but I digress.
I wasn’t expecting anything Mac-related, so the big gaping void where a new MacBook and a new Mac mini ought to be is still a yaning chasm haunted by four-year-old machines with ludicrous price tags, and that’s OK – but I really need a new desktop machine, and the only thing keeping me from buying a modern, affordable one at acceptable prices is the operating system I want to run on it1…
But the big news for me is that Apple finally figured out that 16GB of storage is nowhere near enough for a phone these days. Makes me optimistic towards future ripple effects across the rest of their product line (at least on iOS).
Update: They did. Twenty-four hours later, the 16GB iPad is no more. Hurray!
There’s still hope. But not for Jack. He’s gone, and has been for a while now. The only real difference today is that mainstream media just got the fax with his death certificate, and it reads:
Cause of Death: Struck by Lightning.
Like I wrote the other day, I’d like to buy a new personal laptop. But my mini is showing its age, and the Intel Skull Canyon NUC would make an awesome home office machine – but it doesn’t run macOS, so there’s no way I’m going to get one. ↩︎
Dave Cormier's column on campus orientation would probably have been of more use published a couple weeks or a month ago, so people could follow his advice. Now they can only compare what they're currently doing with what he's done. Cormier describes the use of a "MOOC-style orientation course" over several years on the UPEI campus, and his recommendation is that institutions ought not "be trying to MOOC our way out of orientation with mass online orientation experiences." Or rather, he says, "I don’ t think online orientation can be the sole approach we take, if our goals include retention and - at the core of retention - belonging." Why? "While information can be handy, information doesn’ t create change by itself.... You can’ t tell people to believe they can do things any more than you can sit people in a classroom and tell them to make healthy connections with each other. It’ s an experiential process."
Nice little four-part series on causation and correlation based on the work Causality by Judea Pearl. It's a probabilistic approach to causation. "We stop talking about things as being completely determined by the causes we take into account. Instead, we talk about a cause as increasing the chances of its effect." This is the only way to even begin to think of causation in complex environments, though it requires understanding the essentials of graphs and conditional probability. Consequently this series progresses from 'intuitively clear' to 'gaaaah'. The most important article of the set for educators is probably the second one, which deals with bias. "If you’ re doing a survey study at a college, there can be bias due to the fact that everyone has been admitted."
Ahead of the upcoming public release of iOS 10, tvOS 10, and watchOS 3 on September 13 and macOS Sierra on September 20, Apple has told developers via its developer website that App Store submissions are open.
You can now submit your apps that take advantage of exciting new features available in the next release of macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS. And with the new App Store for iMessage, users will be able to download your iMessage apps and sticker packs directly within Messages.
Apple has added hundreds of new features to its OSs that developers can take advantage of to improve existing apps and create all-new apps that were impossible before the new APIs were introduced.
Throughout Apple's presentations, we've come to expect a barrage of facts, statistics, and figures that fill out the company's narrative. Spanning hardware, software, and retail, these numbers are the public's opportunity to see how Apple is performing and growing from year to year.
Today's keynote was no different, with the group of presenters sharing numbers covering a variety of topics. Listed below are the most important figures from the event.
Apple Music
Apple Music has accrued 17 million subscribers since launch.
Apple Music subscribers have access to over 30 million songs.
App Store
To date, there have been over 140 billion App Store downloads.
The App Store's revenue is 2x that of its closest competitor.
There are now over 500,000 games in the App Store.
Apple Watch
Apple is now the 2nd highest selling watch brand.
Apple is 1st in smartwatch sales and customer satisfaction.
Apple Watch Series 2 is water resistant to 50 meters.
Apple Watch Series 2 is 50% faster than the previous generation and delivers 2x faster graphics performance.
Apple Watch Series 2 contains the brightest-ever Apple display at 1000 nits.
iPhone
Apple, to date, as sold over 1,000,000,000 iPhones.
The new OIS system on the iPhone 7 allows for 3x more exposure.
The new telephoto lens allows for 4x better quality in zooming.
The new screens in the iPhone 7 series are 25% brighter.
The surround sound speaker set in the iPhone 7 is 2x as loud as the iPhone 6s.
The iPhone 7's A10 Fusion chip is 40% faster than the previous-generation A9.
The graphics power of the A10 Fusion is a 50% increase from the A9.
AirPods
AirPods hold 5 hours on a single charge.
Through charging with their case, AirPods can last for 24 hours.
Watch Series 2 looks like the original. Wise decision. Samsung has tried seven different designs and they are losing. New features in Series 2: waterproof to 50 m, GPS, 2x brighter display, faster dual core GPU with 50% more performance, 100% faster GPU. Great enhancements, especially for active people. Two new workouts: swimming outdoors and in pool. Does lap and stroke count. Runners won't need to bring their phone for an exact track.
The original Watch stays in market as Series 1, gets the faster CPU and a $100 price reduction from Series 2. Partnership with Hèrmes continues for that extra luxury. New partnership with Nike for serious workout. I haven't figured out the details, but it only seems to be a different band and additional software. Watch Edition in solid gold seems to be axed and is replaced with a ceramic white watch, that is even more expensive than the Hèrmes variant.
iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are exactly as rumored. Two new colors replace space grey: black and jet black. Jet black is shiny and Apple is very proud of the process and finish. However, this is going to be a fingerprint magnet and it will scratch easily. In the fine print Apple recommends a case to mitigate these issues.
Main features besides a new design: protected from water and dust with IP67 rating, double the memory capacity: 32, 128, 256, while maintaining the iPhone 6 pricing. Mechanical home button is replaced with new pressure sensitive pad. Tap Engine replaces vibrator for better notifications.
Both iPhone 7 and 7+ have new cameras, front (higher res) and back (bigger aperture). The Plus model has a dual camera with the normal wide angle lens and an additional 2x telephoto. The main feature of that dual camera isn't even finished yet and comes in an update: a new Portrait mode will use the telephoto camera for the foreground and the wide angle for a blurry background to create the bokeh effect which currently needs a much bigger lens and camera. If you are serious about smartphone photography you want this camera and thus the plus model. Sorry, you skinny people with tight jeans.
Dropping the audio jack caused a tempest in a teapot before the event. I think it is the right decision. The DAC moves from the phone into the Lightning-connected EarPods and into the Lightning-Audio connector. Both are in the box. Wireless headsets have a DAC anyway.
New AirPods wireless earbuds use some proprietary whizbang to connect to Apple devices and will propagate the configuration to your other Apple devices via iCloud. Dual stream Bluetooth connects both earbuds to the phone and you can take out either one for a phone call. This headset will require an in-depth test once they become available. They do look great, but I would not buy them at face value.
Apple opened with an education section, announcing collaborative editing in iWork, a suite that hasn't gotten much love recently. This appears to be a game that Apple is losing. If you ask students, they do all their collaborative editing is Google Docs and most everything else in Microsoft Office, with some pockets of LibreOffice. OpenOffice is more or less dying ever since Oracle has alienated developers.
It was a solid performance which was only boring during game demos. But that's me. I'm not interested in games. And Pokemon Go on Apple Watch "before the end of the year"? That would have been interesting two months ago, not in two months.
iOS 10 and watchOS 3 become available on September 13. You can order iPhone 7 and Watch Series 2 starting this Friday with delivery one week later.
And what does vowe want? iPhone 7 Plus in jet black. And a ceramic watch. One can dream, right?
Instagram is moving to kill off one of its oldest features.
Users are reporting no longer having access to photo maps, the part of Instagram where users are able to see their photos sorted by where they were taken.
In a statement issued to Mashable, the Facebook-owned company confirmed the move, saying, “Photo Map was not widely used, so we’ve decided to remove the feature and focus on other priorities.”
As Mashable notes, the company’s “other priorities” likely include its efforts to emulate and surpass competitor Snapchat. Instagram recently launched the aptly named Stories feature, which, like its Snapchat namesake, allows users to compile multiple several second long videos into a larger narrative to share with other users. Since launch, the feature has become quite popular, with more than 100-million users launching the app daily to view and create Stories.
Visit someone else’s profile and the tab previously associated with the feature is nowhere to be found. Users can still see their own photos map, however — though that, too, is expected to change.
That said, geotags are not going anywhere. Users will still be able to add them to their photos, and tapping on a tag while looking at a photo will still surface other photos taken at that location.
Millions of people have jobs that require them to balance the needs, priorities, and timelines of two or more teams. Are you one of them? Maybe you work in marketing, and have to coordinate efforts between technical, design, and PR teams. Or you’re a project manager, always striving to keep the client happy while keeping tabs on the team’s progress. Either way, it’s your job to make sure everything comes out perfectly, and on time. So here are a couple ways Dropbox has your back, and can make your tough job a little easier.
Juggle feedback that’s coming from… everywhere
Feedback isn’t just a thing to be dealt with—it’s an opportunity to create an outcome that reflects everyone’s needs and opinions. But managing edits and opinions coming from lots of people—both internally and externally—can be tricky. Dropbox can help you gather that feedback, and organize it in a manageable way. The people giving input can comment on specific parts of files, leaving their thoughts on images or parts of text. This makes it easier for vendors and designers team to gather, prioritize, and implement feedback.
You can also get feedback using Dropbox Paper, or with co-authoring in Microsoft Office documents. To read about those features, as well as other ways to manage feedback, check out our blog post about embracing feedback and using it to create great work.
Share work with anyone, the smart way
To make all the stakeholders feel like part of the creative process, it’s important to let them see how things are progressing. You’ll build true collaboration—as well as better working relationships for the future—if you make clients and stakeholders feel less like “bosses,” and more like members of the team. But how can you do this without running the risk of accidental edits and deletions, or making people feel like they’re losing ownership over their work?
You can start by sharing from Dropbox instead of email—you can show works in progress to stakeholders without worrying about mixed-up file versions or accidental edits. Share a folder right from the desktop, and set permissions to control who can and can’t make changes to the files. This shared folder can be the central location for the project, so you can direct people here once instead of having to always repost and relocate files every time you want to share an update. This is particularly useful for art files like photography and designs, which are often too large to send via email. And if you only want to share a single file, you can give view-only access to your files from the desktop, too.
Jump over roadblocks and get things done
There are all kinds of snags that can befall any project—but we have ways to help you sidestep them. Head disorganization off at the pass by using Paper to consolidate your project plans, including assets. You can share things in Paper that are tricky to organize otherwise, like code snippets, YouTube videos, and of course, Dropbox files. When you paste links to any of these things, a preview automatically appears in the document, so everyone can see what’s going on all in one place. Plus, it’s the perfect way to centralize feedback with comments, which can be seen by all team members and resolved as a group.
You can also combat delays with file requests. If you’ve had problems in the past getting invoices, specs, assets, or deliverables from anyone you’re working with, this is the perfect feature for you. Just fire off a file request from the Dropbox website, and the person you’re requesting files from can upload them directly to your Dropbox.
When you’re managing a project with lots of moving pieces, it can sometimes feel like a balancing act—and like you’re bound to drop something. But Dropbox is here to help, so you can get things done quickly, efficiently, and collaboratively. To see more features that can help you with your next project, click here:
There have been numerous open education resources (OER) projects over the years, but they tend to disappear. Just listen to Michael Caulfield. "People make things possible." he writes. And we have such great, great people in Open Pedagogy. But institutions, they are what make these things last." And the institutional support isn't always there. "The recurring cycle of CELT and TLT center layoffs is all you need to look at to see how much of what we do is built on sand." But no - I don't agree. You can't depend on institutions. And in a sense, you don't need them. Institutions aren't what make tests and exams happen year after year. Institutions aren't what guarantee there will be course outlines and reading lists. What makes this last - the only thing that makes this last - is culture. If it becomes 'the way things are done', then it is done. We need to embed student-produced OER in the culture, not just the institution.
At Apples iPhone 7 launch event in San Francisco apple announced the release date of their newest operating system, iOS 10.
Earlier this year Apple released a developer and then subsequently a public beta of their newest operation system. iOS 10 features a lot of improvements in speed and reliability, but also introduces a few new features. Some of the most notable features in iOS 10 is the ability to add extensions to the iMessage platform allowing users to quickly add emoticons,
Gifs, and even send their favourite tune via Apples messaging platform. In iOS 10 Apple also open their doors to machine learning which will allow Apple to easily and effortlessly provide you with location as well as contextual based information.
One thing Apple noted with their machine learning is that all the data processing will be performed on device and if data is needed to be sent to Apple you would have to opt-in, but also it would be made anonymous via differential privacy.
Differential privacy allows Apple to inject strings of characters into your data to make it disconnected to you as a person all while preserving the data itself. There are literally hundreds of new features within the operation system and Apple will soon make it available to the masses.
Apple is set to release iOS 10 on the iPhone 5 and higher beginning on September 13th. If you’re setting your alarm, Apple typically releases their software at 9:00 a.m. PST (12:00 p.m. EST).
I feel like there's more to say about PowerPoint etc so I've been 'reading around' it - looking for new ways in. This podcast interview with Dave Gorman gave me an angle I'd not thought about.
(For those that don't know he uses PowerPoint a lot in his shows.)
He says one of the things he likes about it is the way he can use it to explore ideas that aren't already in people's heads.
He explains it like this: if he's doing a routine about, say, adverts as a regular stand-up he can only refer to things that he's confident the whole audience already knows about, their common set of references. It's probably going to be hard for him to come up with better jokes than one they've already made to themselves. But with PowerPoint he can show them some Belgian advert they've never seen and point out how it connects to stuff they already know. He can introduce new cultural references. And there's probably something more magical about creating a link between something an audience already knows and something they've never seen before.
That made me think about two things.
One - my favourite presentations introduce new ideas and connect them to ones I already know about. They have a wide range of references.
Two - I wonder if this is why clipart is so deadening. It's almost the opposite of introducing a new and illuminating idea. It's a picture of some money next to a fact about money, and it's the most cliched, simplistic and 'general' picture of money, almost by definition. It signals to the audience - really clearly - I haven't been arsed to think about this.
The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus has finally been revealed.
While most of the specs of both devices have already leaked, Apple had a few surprises up its sleeve, specifically related to the iPhone 7 Plus’ camera functionality. Canadians will be able to order the new Apple flagship smartphone on September 9th, unlocked through Apple or on a contract through its carrier partners.
Below are complete specs and pricing for both smartphones.
iPhone 7 Specs
iOS 10
A10 Fusion chip with 64-bit architecture
Capacity: 32GB, 128GB, 256GB
12MP sensor, Optical Image Stabilizer, Wider F1.8, 6 element lens, 4K video recording at 30 fps
FaceTime HD Camera: 7-megapixel, 1080p HD video recording
Colours: Rose Gold, Gold, Silver, Black, Jet Black
138.3 mm x 67.1 mm x 7.1 mm
138 grams
dual stero speakers, Lightning connector
Fingerprint sensor built into the new Home button
4.7-inch Retina HD display, 334-by-750-pixel resolution at 326 ppi
Rated IP67 under IEC standard 60529, water and dust resistant
A photo posted by Conrad shawcross (@conradshawcross) on
Cubism, Op art, and dazzle camouflage are the inspirations behind a new architectural intervention which will be unveiled in London later this month. Artist Conrad Shawcross' The Optic Cloak is his design solution for a 160' high chimney flue which is part of the low carbon Greenwich Peninsula Energy Centre.
Because of the flue stack's size, which was originally going to be encased in a black steel box, it's impact on the landscape would have been quite prominent. Shawcross, along with engineers at Structure Workshop Ltd and C. F. Møller Architects, came up with the idea to coat it in a lighter-looking frame to make it appear more beguiling.
To do this, Shawcross looked at ways of breaking up the surface, taking inspiration from Cubism, along with artists like David Bomberg and the Vorticists. From these the artist came up with the idea to perforate the panels that would coat the flue stack, creating an optic construction rife with the moiré effect, a visual mathematical phenomenon where lines or dots superimposed onto another set of lines or dots, set at different angles, create a trick of perception. This gave the structure a translucent skin where sunlight could pass through, resulting in a paradoxical effect of both camouflage against the horizon and intrigue for people passing by.
A photo posted by Conrad shawcross (@conradshawcross) on
To create the moiré effect, which is created through perspective and a single viewing point, the triangulated panels on the flue—made from anodized aluminium—were given an identical pattern. The dapples and apparitions and hole sizes are all the same, but then placed at different angles to create the optical pattern.
"I wanted to create a response that celebrates the commission’s function as part of the Energy Centre’s flue, rather than trying to hide it," explains Shawcross. "I started to research the history of camouflage as I was intrigued by its seemingly paradoxical nature—often it makes the object or animal it’s disguising more visually arresting. I was particularly interested in a type of Maritime Camouflage called ‘Dazzle Camo’ which was used on ships during the First World War, as well as in Cubism and Op art. The idea is to break up the surface of the object, creating false perspectives and vanishing points."
A photo posted by Greenwich, London (@greenwich_uk) on
"I thought it was important to give the commission a dynamic quality," he says. "For those passing, it will evolve radically as you pan by and under it. Another key issue I have remained very conscious of, and have used as a driver for the idea, is the fact that this is a low carbon Energy Centre for the Peninsula and so the lightness and efficiency of the structure and form has been at the core of my thinking and the development of the design."
Artist Jim Bachor installed this mosaic of a crushed can on the street as part of his current Pretty Trashed series. Images courtesy the artist
If you happen to go for a walk in Chicago and see a piece of trash on the street, look closely: it might be art. Each year artist Jim Bachor launches a crowdfunding campaign to produce a series of colorful mosaics that he uses to fill in potholes on the streets of Chicago. In past years, Bachor chose endearing themes like flowers, which he called Flower Pot Holes, or popsicles and ice cream, which he called Treats in the Streets, in order to beautify the streets in more traditional ways. This year, Bachor decided to embrace his mosaic's gritty resting places with the Pretty Trashed series, illustrating a variety of debris. As Bachor tells The Creators Project, “This is trash that you see in the streets anyway, why don’t I try to render it beautifully?”
Bachor’s first pothole mosaic from 2013
Bachor started making mosaics several years ago, after he volunteered to work on an archeological dig in Italy. “The permanence of the art form is what drew me to it first. Marble and glass do not fade. Mortar is mortar. An ancient mosaic looks exactly as intended by the artist who produced it over two millennia ago.” It wasn’t until the spring of 2013, when Bachor noticed a pothole in the street in front of his Chicago home, that he realized that he could simply fill it with a mosaic. “Temporarily fixed over and over again by city street crews, I began to apply this resilient artwork as a more permanent fix,” explains Bachor.
Bachor filled a pothole in the street with a mosaic of a candy bar wrapper.
Over the past few years, Bachor has developed a methodology for making and installing his essentially functional work. “Temperature plays a big part of the process. It gets warm enough around April for the installations to set properly. Given my canvas is a city street, occasionally the artwork gets paved over or patched with asphalt. That comes with playing the street. For me the only risks/challenges are making sure not to get hit by a car during an installation. There is a limitless supply of pothole candidates. When the weather cooperates, an installation takes about two days to complete.”
An ice cream cone from Bachor’s 2015 series called Treats in the Streets.
A popsicle mosaic installed in the street
Despite the prevalence of potholes in city streets, there are a number of constraints that limit the locations where Bachor can install his mosaics. “I am at the mercy of the potholes,” says Bachor. If the streets are too beat up, his mosaics may fall apart or the street may end up getting repaved soon after he installs them. Most importantly, the mosaics have to go places where they’ll be seen, so Bachor is always looking for opportunities to travel and bring his mosaics to new places.
Recently, Bachor traveled to Detroit and Philadelphia to install a few mosaics in locations that were scouted by local volunteers before his arrival. In each location, Bachor installed mosaics he designed based on trash that might be found on streets in the area, like packages of Better Made potato chips in Detroit, and cartons of Arctic Splash iced tea in Philadelphia. Before leaving Philadelphia, Bachor installed an additional mosaic featuring his personal philosophy, which simply reads “Make Your Mark.”
A mosaic of a Better Made potato chips bag in Detroit.
A mosaic of an Arctic Splash iced tea carton in Philadelphia.
Bachor installed a mosaic featuring his personal philosophy in Philadelphia, which reads “MAKE YOUR MARK.”
Bachor says that he’s always trying to “push the concept further” by getting ideas “out of my head and into the ground.” And, as summer draws to a close this year, Bachor has no plans of slowing down. “It’s universal,” says Bachor of the positive response his work receives from the public. “Everyone can relate to it.”
Following the release of the Apple Watch, which Apple proudly declared to be the world’s second best-selling smartwatch, the company unveiled the Apple Watch Series 2.
The overall square design is similar to the original and this time, it’s water resistant for up to 50 meters, powered by a dual-core S2 chip, 50 percent faster cores, 100 percent better GPU and a 1000 nit display — the brightest display featured in any product Apple has shipped.
In addition to being “swim proof” and running watchOS 3, Apple has included build-in GPS to the Watch Series 2.
As for pricing, Apple Watch Series 2 will come in gold, rose gold, silver or space grey aluminum, or silver or space black stainless steel starting at $489 CAD. In addition, the new ceramic Apple Watch Edition starts at $1649.
The original Apple Watch is now called Series 1, comes with a new dual-core processor, and will cost $359.
As for the Apple Watch Nike+ Series 2, this will be available in 38mm and 42mm models will have Nike Sport Band colour in Black/Volt, Black/Cool Grey, Flat Silver/White and Flat Silver/Volt. The price is $489 for the 38mm and in 42mm at $529.
Pre-orders start September 9th with the official release on September 16th. The Nike+ iteration of the Series 2 is seto to arrive in late October.
Artist Jim Bachor installed this mosaic of a crushed can on the street as part of his current Pretty Trashed series. Images courtesy the artist
Bachor’s first pothole mosaic from 2013
Bachor filled a pothole in the street with a mosaic of a candy bar wrapper.
An ice cream cone from Bachor’s 2015 series called Treats in the Streets.
A popsicle mosaic installed in the street
A mosaic of a Better Made potato chips bag in Detroit.
A mosaic of an Arctic Splash iced tea carton in Philadelphia.
Bachor installed a mosaic featuring his personal philosophy in Philadelphia, which reads “MAKE YOUR MARK.”
