On Gear Live: Samsung S95C: The OLED TV You Can’t Afford (to Ignore!)

Latest Gear Live Videos

Apple Changes the Mac Forever, iOS 14, and more w/ Guest Mark Gurman!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Wearables, Corporate News, Displays, Features, Handhelds, Home Entertainment, Smart Home, PC / Laptop,

Tesla Cybertruck impressions

Apple dropped some major news during its WWDC virtual keynote, and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman joins the show as we talk about all of the announcements. Mark currently works for Bloomberg, and has been reporting on Apple since he was 15 years old, breaking major news since the very beginning of his career. We talk about his biggest scoops, the business of breaking news, Apple’s AR & VR headset plans, and of course all the news coming out of WWDC - macOS 11, iOS 14, tvOS 14, and watchOS 7.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THE SHOW

SPONSOR: National Car Rental - skip the line with the Emerald Club. Go National. Go Like a Pro.

Listen to the episode in the player above or subscribe to Geared Up in your favorite podcast app to listen on the go!


Advertisement

Geared Up: Apple’s new iOS 13, macOS Catalina, iPadOS, and Apple Watch updates!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Corporate News, PC / Laptop, Software, Videos,

iOS 13 features WWDC recap

It was a huge news week in the world of Apple, as the company took the stage at WWDC 2019 to show the world what's coming next for all of its major software platforms. In this episode of Geared Up, we talk about all the big announcments coming out of WWDC. These include:

  • The new iOS 13 features (including the long-awaited Dark Mode!)
  • The future of macOS Catalina with iPad apps running on the Mac
  • How the iPad is becoming more of more of a laptop replacement with the dedicated iPadOS
  • How the Apple Watch will continue to help you become healthier in watchOS 6

In addition, we answer listener-submitted questions as well. If you're looking for news and commentary on the new Mac Pro, we'll be covering that on next week's show!

SPONSOR: National Car Rental - skip the line with the Emerald Club. Go National. Go Like a Pro.

Listen to the episode in the player below or subscribe to Geared Up in your favorite podcast app to listen on the go:

Listen to this episode of the Geared Up podcast for analysis of the latest from Apple.


Apple announces dedicated iPadOS: The iPad Finally Grows Up

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Corporate News, Software,

iPadOS features

The iPad now gets its own dedicated version of iOS, which Apple is calling iPadOS - here are some of the highlight iPadOS features, announced during WWDC 2019:

  • You can now pin widgets to the home screen
  • Slide-over now gets a card interface for multitaking, similar to what you get on an iPhone
  • Split-View now allows for multi-window capability. So you can have two instances of the same app side-by-side. Examples shown were apps like Pages, Notes, and Microsoft Word. You can have multiple apps side by side within multitasking as well.
  • The Files app now supports folder sharing,SMB network shares, and thumb drive, external hard drive, and SD card support.
  • Safari on iPad is now a desktop browser rather than mobile browser, so you get the full desktop-class experience on the iPad. This includes 30 keyboard shortcuts, a download manager, and more.
  • Fonts management
  • Text editing is improved. Use the scroll indicator to drag directly to an area in a document. Text selection now works with a tap and drag. Three-finger pinch for copy, and three-finger expand for paste, with three-finger swipe to undo.
  • Apple Pencil latency has been improved from 20ms down to 9ms, making it even more responsive. Drag your pencil up from the corner of the screen to immediately go into markup mode no matter where you are.

iOS 13 Announced: Dark Mode, New Reminders app, Enhanced Privacy, and more

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Corporate News, Handhelds, Software,

iOS 13 features

During today's WWDC 2019 keynote, Apple announced iOS 13, the next major release of its major mobile operating system platform.

  • iOS 13 is even faster and performance has been tuned across the board. This results in 50% smaller app downloads, 60% smaller app updates, and 2x faster app launching than in iOS 12.
  • Dark Mode was announced for iOS 13, a feature that users have been asking for for years. We saw Notes, Messages, News, Music, Photos, and other Apple apps in dark mode.
  • Swipe gesture support is added to the keyboard
  • New share sheet will offer suggestions when it finds people in photos, and offer people you typically share with.
  • Apple Music now supports time-synced lyrics
  • New apps - Notes gets a gallery view and shared folders, Safari, Mail
  • New Reminders app will recognize what you type, keep smart lists, allows for tagging people, and more
  • Maps are being rebuilt from the ground-up, completely rolled out in the US by the end of 2019. Collections allows you to save a bunch of locations in a folder. New Look Around feature brings Street View functionality to Apple Maps. You'll be able to share an up-to-date ETA with friends going forward.
  • Privacy: You can now grant apps access to your location just once. Wi-Fi & Bluetooth backdoor tracking is shut off. New Sign In with Apple allows you to sign into Web sites without being tracked the way you are with Facebook and Google sign ins - you can choose what info you provide to an app. If you give them email access, Apple will give them a fake email that forwards to your real email.
  • HomeKit: Apple announces HomeKit Secure Video - videos are analyzed in your home instead of in the cloud, using iPad, Apple TV, HomePod, and more.
  • Messages: You can share your name and photo in Messages, which lets you control who sees your name and picture.
  • New Memoji options let you add eye shadow, lipstick, piercings, teeth, earrings, hair, hats, glasses, AirPods, and more. Memoji Stickers will take your Memoji and add a bunch of expressions that can be used on any device with an A9 processor or later.
  • Camera: New High Key Mono portrait lighting effect. You can also move the lights closer or further away from your subject when in Portrait Lighting mode.
  • Photos: New photo editing tools in Photos allow you to adjust your pictures in new ways. Apple also says these same effects can be used with videos as well - filters and effects are supported. Browsing large photo libraries is now easier as Apple intelligently hides duplicates, receipts, whiteboards, etc. You can still get to them, but they won't show up right in the main library. Apple will also let you sort by year, month, days, and All Photos, making it really easy to browse the greatest hits of your photo library.
  • AirPods: Siri can instantly read you your new messages as they arrive, and you can respond with your voice right away. New Audio Sharing feature allows you to share audio with a friend.
  • HomePod: Apple brings Handoff to HomePod. Bring your phone near a HomePod to have it continue your music, phone call, podcast, etc. right where you left off. HomePod will also recognize who's talking and personalize its response, giving it multi-user support, including for apps like Music, Notes, Messages, Reminders, and more.
  • CarPlay: Siri will work with third-party apps like Pandora and Waze in the car.
  • Siri now sounds a lot more natural with cadence and emphasis, using Neural TTS. The voice is now completely generated in software rather than using clips from a voice actor.
  • You'll also be able to sent calls from unknown callers directly to voicemail.

WWDC 2018: Apple announces iOS 12

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Corporate News, Handhelds, Software,

WWDC iOS 12

During today's WWDC 2018 keynote, Apple announced the next generation of its mobile software in iOS 12. Here are the biggest points of news for iOS 12:

PERFORMANCE

  • Apple is doubling down on performance with the aim of making devices faster and more devices
  • iOS 12 will be available on all the same devices that support iOS 11 - this includes devices that shipped back in 2013.
  • Apps launch twice as fast on devices running iOS 12 on even the oldest devices

AUGMENTED REALITY

  • A major update in iOS 12 is more AR support. Adobe took the stage to introduced simplified tools that will allow developers to create better AR experiences.
  • There's a new file format for AR, called USDZ, created in collaboration with Pixar.
  • A new app, Measure, will allow you to take measurements in real-time using an iOS device with AR. A demo was shown measuring a suitcase using just an iPhone X.
  • Support for shared experiences is announced - multiple users can see the same AR environment in real-time. This allows developers to create worlds that people can all see simultaneously.
  • LEGO took the stage to demo a shared AR LEGO app

PHOTOS

  • The Photos app gets new updates and features, starting with search. Search Suggestions will highlight things like key moments, places you've taken photos, business names, and events like concerts and sporting events. You can search for multiple terms, like surfing and vacation, to drill down into your library.
  • Effect suggestions give you reccomendations to edits you can make to your photos to make them even better.
  • Sharing suggestions will find people in your photos and allow you to share them with the folks who are in them. Shared photos are full resolution.
  • When you share, the receiver will also be given a suggestion to share photos from the same event with you.

SIRI

  • Siri Shortcuts allows you to pull in specific tasks from your apps. An example given was "I lost my keys" to have Siri activate your Tile hardware.
  • You can create your own Siri Shortcuts as well, so you can put together your own shortcut phrases.
  • A demo was shown using Siri Shortcuts - the user said "travel plans" and got their hotel reservation with an image, address, and check-in time from Siri
  • A "Heading Home" shortcut is able to set the home thermostat, play a podcast, send an ETA to a contact, and turn on a HomeKit fan. Very impressive stuff.

APPS

  • The News app gets an updated sidebar to make navigation easier
  • The Stocks app gets more granular vision to see stock performance. Apple News stories are now integrated into the Stocks app as well, giving you business news on the stocks that you follow.
  • The Stocks app now comes to iPad with iOS 12.
  • Voice Memos app also comes to iPad with iOS 12, with iCloud support built-in for syncing across devices.
  • iBooks becomes Apple Books with a redesigned app.
  • In iOS 12, CarPlay will support third-party navigation apps.

DIGITAL HEALTH

  • Do Not Disturb is updated to hide notifications at night, and in the morning hides notifications until you specify that you want to see them.
  • Do Not Disturb allows you to choose much more granular timeframes rather than just optimized for overnight.
  • Notifications can be turned on or off on a per-app basis right from the lock screen
  • Notifications can now be grouped by app, topic, or thread. With a swipe, you can dismiss an entire group of notifications.
  • A new feature called Screentime offers reports, giving a weekly summary that shows how you used your iOS device. This shows how much time you spend in each app, how often per hour you pick up your phone, and which apps are sending you the most notifications.
  • App Limits allows you to set a limited amount of time that you'd like to use specific apps per day. 
  • Kids get activity reports too, and parents get reports on their own devices of their kids usage. Parents can also create downtime periods and app limits. This is setup through the Family Sharing interfaces.

MESSAGES

  • Animoji now support tongue detection for sticking tongues out
  • New ghost, koala, tiger, and T-Rex Animoji characters
  • Apple announces Memoji, allowing you to create your own customized 3D emoji character that looks like you
  • Memoji has a slick creator app to design your character
  • The Messages camera now includes effects, filters, stickers, and even Animoji and Memoji right in the camera

FACETIME

  • Apple announces Group FaceTime, which allows you to chat with up to 32 simultaneous participants
  • You can use both audio or video
  • FaceTime is integrated into Messages, allowing you to quickly do a Group FaceTime right from a group chat
  • A demo is shown, and as people speak, they become bigger on screen, or you can choose who to bring front and center
  • The same effects mentioned above in Messages also applies to the FaceTime camera

Improved performance, new AR experiences, digital health, improved Messages, Group FaceTime, and more. That's iOS 12.


WWDC 2018: Apple announces macOS Mojave

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Corporate News, PC / Laptop, Software,

macOS Mojave

At WWDC 2018, Apple announced the next version of its desktop operating system for Macs, macOS Mojave. Here's what's new!

MACOS MOJAVE FEATURES

  • Apple starts by showing off a new Dark Mode for macOS. It changes the color of the app windows, toolbars, dock, and more.
  • Dynamic Desktop is a feature where your desktop wallpaper subtley changes throughout the day based on the time.
  • Desktop Stacks is a feature that groups all of the files, folders, and tags to auto-organize your desktop. Stack icons are also scrubbable.
  • The Finder gets a new view called Gallery view. Makes it easy to preview images, videos, PDFs, documents, etc.
  • New Finder sidebar to see the full metadata of any file(s) you have selected, along with quick actions along the bottom of the sidebar.
  • Markup has been added to Quick Look
  • New screenshots functionality - similar to iOS, the screenshot appears in the bottom corner of the screen, and when you click on it, you get a Quick Look with a bunch of readily-available tools
  • A new screenshot tool also allows for quick video recording
  • New Continuity Camerea feature allows you to use your iOS device as a camera to insert photos into Mac documents. This can also be used for document scanning from an iOS device into a Mac doc.
  • Enhanced eGPU support

APPS

  • The Apple News app is coming to the Mac in macOS Mojave
  • The Stocks app is also coming to the Mac in Mojave
  • Voice Memos will be part of Mojave as well, with iCloud syncing
  • Apple's Home app will ship with macOS Mojave, allowing you to control your smart home devices, along with Siri support

SECURITY AND PRIVACY

  • Apple is extending protection to Cameras, Microphones, Backups, Message history, and much more
  • In Safari, Apple is auto-hiding even more tracking scripts connected to like buttons and comment fields
  • Safari is also making it harder for trackers to create a fingerprint of your device, so your Mac appears to look like everyone else's Mac, making it harder for ad companies to track you

MAC APP STORE

  • Apple has completely redesigned the Mac App Store
  • Similar to iOS, the Mac App Store will feature editorials and stories
  • Videos of apps are built in to give a better idea of how the apps look and feel
  • More categories like Create, Work, Play, and Develop to easier find groups of apps
  • Microsoft is bringing Office 365 to the Mac App Store
  • Panic is bringing Transmit
  • BareBones bringing BBEdit
  • Adobe is bringing Lightroom

Apple also answered the question of whether they are merging macOS and iOS - the answer is "No!" However, Apple will be allowing iOS apps on the Mac through a new set of UI instructions. It starts in 2018 with News, Stocks, Home, and Voice Memos. In 2019, developers will have access to these tools as well.


WWDC 2018: Apple announces tvOS 12

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Corporate News, Home Entertainment, Software,

At its WWDC 2018 keynote, Apple announced tvOS 12. Here's what's new!

  • Dolby Atmos support for Apple TV is coming
  • Free Dolby Atmos upgrades for any content you own that gets the newer sound format
  • Live News and Live Sports comes to the TV app on Apple TV
  • In the US, Charter Spectrum service will be available on Apple TV. 50 million homes have access to Charter Spectrum.
  • Single Sign-On becomes Zero Sign-On. If you are on your TV providers broadband network, all TV apps are unlocked immediately. Charter Spectrum is the first to support this feature.
  • Home control systems like Creston and Savant will be integrated into Apple TV.
  • Aerial screensavers will now show you locations, and allow you to swipe to change the screensaver location.
  • New aerial screensaver above Earth, filmed on the International Space Station.

That's tvOS 12!


WWDC 2018: Apple announces watchOS 5

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Wearables, Corporate News, Software,

watchOS 5

During it's WWDC 2018, Apple announced watchOS 5, it's next generation software for the Apple Watch. Here's what's new!

HEALTH AND FITNESS

  • In watchOS 5, you can challenge any friend to a seven day Activity challenge. You get shown where you stand in the competition, and earn awards in the Activity app.
  • There is now a new workout type for yoga. You can more accurately track yoga sessions.
  • Hiking gets a new workout type.
  • You can now track your rolling mile pace when running, along with steps per minute data.
  • Automatic Workout Detection where the watch will offer to start a workout with a notification when it senses a workout has started, and give you credit retroactively. watchOS will also auto-recognize when you end a workout if you forget.

CONNECTED FEATURES

  • watchOS 5 will have a Walkie-Talkie feature. You just press to talk, and the person on the other end can hear you immediately. You have to specifically enable the feature on a per-contact basis.

SIRI WATCH FACE

  • Siri watch face will integrate sports data, Siri shortcuts
  • Siri watch face will support third-party apps on watchOS 5
  • You no longer need to say "Hey Siri" when you raise your wrist to speak to the Watch

NOTIFICATIONS

  • Interactive notifications are now in watchOS 5. You can Apple Pay, check in, leave reviews, etc right from a notification.
  • watchOS 5 includes WebKit to see web content right on the Watch from an email or message.

PODCASTS

  • Apple Podcasts app will be available on watchOS 5, with full account syncing and Siri support.

APPS

  • Apps can include interactive controls right in an app. Do things like extend parking, order food, etc.
  • Background audio for third-party apps
  • Add your student ID card to Wallet on your Watch

ACCESSORIES

  • New Pride watchband, with a new Pride watch face

That's watchOS 12!


Apple posts video of OS X Yosemite redesign [Video]

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Design, PC / Laptop, Software, Videos,

OS X Yosemite

Apple has posted the OS X Yosemite design video that it showed during the WWDC 2014 keynote, which shows a bunch of the new features and design elements found in OS X 10.10. In case you haven't seen WWDC (although you can watch the WWDC 2014 keynote video in its entirety,) this video covers the larger design language updates, and the more subtle changes to the dock, icons, traffic light buttons, etc. It also gives a look at the new AirDrop functionality, Finder, Messages, Notification Center, and all the rest of the OS X new hotness.

You can check out the video after the jump.

Click to continue reading Apple posts video of OS X Yosemite redesign [Video]


Ask Andru: Which devices are compatible with iOS 8?

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Software,

iOS 8 devices

Apple announced iOS 8 and gave us a look at a bunch of the major features during its WWDC 2014 keynote (you can watch the WWDC 2014 keynote here.) We got a question in from Nick F. asking:

"I'm curious if my iPhone 4S will be able to run iOS 8. How do I know if it is compatible?"

You may be wondering if your iOS device is compatible with Apple's latest and greatest, so here's a look at the full list of Apple products that will be able to be upgraded to iOS 8:

  • iPhone 4S
  • iPhone 5
  • iPhone 5c
  • iPhone 5s
  • iPad 2
  • iPad with Retina display (iPad 3 and iPad 4)
  • iPad Air
  • iPad mini
  • iPad mini with Retina display
  • iPod touch (5th generation)

As you can see, as it pertains to the iPhone line, the iPhone 4 (released in 2010) and older will not be compatible with iOS 8. With iPad, it'll be the original model that won't be able to use the new operating system. Meanwhile, the only iPod touch that can run iOS 8 is the 5th generation model. That's quite a generous line-up when compared to competing smartphone and tablet platforms!


Advertisement