Offline Google Maps will save the day

Google Maps is pretty much a godsend, right? Right. And now Google’s made it an even bigger godsend. Now you can see where exactly the hell you are, and how you can get to where you actually want to be offline. Offline knowledge! knowledge is power… so offline power! Gee, Thanks Google.

Straight from the Sauce:

“Whereas before you could simply view an area of the map offline, now you can get turn-by-turn driving directions, search for specific destinations, and find useful information about places, like hours of operation, contact information or ratings.

You can download an area by searching for a city, county or country, for instance, and tapping “Download” on the resulting place sheet, or by going to “Offline Areas” in the Google Maps menu and tapping on the ‘+’ button.

Once downloaded, Google Maps will move into offline mode automatically when it recognizes you’re in a location with spotty service or no connectivity at all. When a connection is found, it will switch back online so you can easily access the full version of Maps, including live traffic conditions for your current route.”

Loading the map onto your phone and saving it can save a substantial amount of data and battery life, and give you offline power. Yes please.

Amazon’s Prime now is the future

Amazon is branching out into the restaurant and grocery delivery business with Amazon Prime Now. The service will deliver food from local restaurants as well as food from grocery stores such as Sprouts, 99 Ranch, and Bristol Farms within an hour.

The service is currently only available in select places like Sacramento, Portland and Seattle among others and is expanding rapidly. In LA, you can get cupcakes from Sprinkles at your house in an hour. Why the hell would you not want cupcakes from Sprinkles within an hour? We can’t think of any reason.

Check to see if your zip code if covered here. You can access Amazon Prime now if you’re an Amazon Prime member through the Prime Now Smartphone App. You can also track your delivery and see the progress of your driver – if you’re really, really into those cupcakes.

Coming soon – anything you want in an hour, thanks to Amazon. Did you read that as of today Jeff Besoz is now the 4th richest person in the world? That’s why.

Confirmed Pre-order date for the iPad Pro!

This morning Apple announced that, as anticipated, the 12.9 inch Retina Display iPad Pro will be on sale in Apple Stores, select carriers and Apple Authorized Resellers ‘later this week’ (we’re guessing Friday), AND that pre-orders will begin this Wednesday, November 11. You will also be able to pre-order the Apple pencil and the Smart keyboard on Wednesday.

As we told you guys at the end of last week, Sam’s Club had already begun accepting pre-orders for the iPad pro but has since sold out.

From the Sauce, Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing:

“The early response to iPad Pro from app developers and our customers has been incredible, and we’re excited to get iPad Pro into the hands of customers around the world this week, iPad Pro is the most powerful iPad we’ve ever made, giving users the ability to be even more creative and more productive with the epic 12.9-inch Retina display, powerful 64-bit A9X chip and groundbreaking Apple Pencil and new Smart Keyboard. We can’t wait to see what they do with iPad Pro.”

Pricing for the iPad Pro starts at $799 for the entry-level 32GB Wi-Fi only model. A 128GB Wi-Fi only model is available for $949, and a 128GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model is available for $1,079.

The iPad Pro is available in the three signature iPad colors: Space Gray, Silver, and Gold. The Apple Pencil retails for $99, while the Smart Keyboard comes in at $169.

Apps & Gadgets of the week! Pet friendly edition

We all love our little best friends in fur -n- feather costumes, right? Whether we’re talking Egg the chicken who’s scared of thunderstorms, Papanu Guinea Pig, Itty Bitty the cat, Barrack Obarka the dog, Urso the friendly bear, or Mr Squeezy the Boa, we all want to make sure our best pals are looked after, happy and safe.

Here’s a bunch of tech to help you do just that! Just remember- no amount of pet tech can replace cuddles! Except maybe with Mr Squeezy. Be careful of his cuddles.

*WoofTrax, through the Walk for a Dog mobile app, creates fundraising opportunities for shelters and rescues while encouraging dog+human regular exercise! Simply pick a shelter or rescue organization and log your walks through the App. The more you walk, the more your charity will receive during the donation period! Win win!

*Would you like to build your pet’s face out of Lego? WHO WOULDN’T?! Brickshots will help you out! Register, upload a photo of your pet and the App will tell you the exact Lego bricks needed, with a full description including the Lego Element ID, along with building instructions. Can anyone say best Christmas present ever?

*Now to something a little more important – help for your pet when there’s an emergency. The ASPCA App, PetTech,  and The American Red Cross Pet First Aid App are all comprehensive mobile apps that cater to pet emergencies, including what to do if faced with a missing pet, pets in a natural disaster, poison control, CPR and a whole host of other vital services and information sources. Pick one that best suits you and your pet or download them all to be really safe.

*BarkHappy, DoggyDatez and Tindog are ‘dating’ apps for your dog…kinda. If you want to meet up with other similarly minded dog lovers/walkers, or find dog friendly places, use these apps to make a big happy dog loving group of friends. Not in a weird way.

*PupTox, $0.99 from the App Store, gives you access to a trove of information about what is and isn’t toxic for your pet, from certain foods to garden plants, etc.

*  Tagg is a GPS tracker that lets you see where your pet is on a map, gives you driving directions to where they are if you need them, and alerts you if your pet gets out. Handy for Mr. BeaglePants who forgets to look up when he’s following his nose.

*Play with a cat in a way that doesn’t involve him knocking things off shelves and get the Cat Fishing App.  Trust us, it’s quality hilarity.

*Do you take your pup on walks to awesome places? Strap him up with a Go-Pro harness and video that shizz! $59.99 with 2 day free shipping and you’ll be showing the world what you and your best bud get up to.

*PetPace is an awesome collar and accompanying mobile app that tracks your pet’s health and fitness in real time. Track your beloved’s temperature, pulse, respiration, activity, positions, and calories to get an overall idea of your pet’s health and fitness.  $149.95 plus a $14.95 Monthly Service Plan.

* A little easier on the wallet and focussing on your pet’s activity, Whistle is a GPS pet tracker that provides insight into your dogs’ daily activity levels in real time as well as medication reminders and information on how much activity he/she should be getting for their breed and weight. You can also track them if they wandering.  $79.95 with free shipping.

* If you’re more of a Mr Squeezy type of pet owner (SNAKE) then SnakeKeeper is for you.  Keep track of your snake’s feeding, weight and shedding cycles and review the statistical information on your mobile.

So there you have it. Slightly dog heavy on the apps, so if you have any more pet friendly apps or gadgets please let us know! And REMEMBER THE CUDDLES!

$50 off Apple Watch with iPhone purchase? Yes!

Do you live in Cali or Massachusetts? Looking at buying a new iPhone soon? Maybe an Apple Watch as well? Maybe even getting in on some early Christmas shopping (go you good thing)? Well we have some good news for you!

Beginning today, October 30th, running through to November 15th, Apple is running a promotion giving customers $50 off an Apple Watch when they buy any new iPhone. This promotion is only valid in-store, and doesn’t include the Apple Watch Edition or Apple Watch Hermes models.

The promotion is available only at participating stores, which include Burlingame, Chestnut Street, Corte Madera, Hillsdale, San Francisco and Stonestown in the Bay Area, and Boylston Street, Burlington, CambridgeSide and Chestnut Hill in the Boston metro area.

Merry Christmas!! /Halloween.

Oh and, guys? If you like the sound of this promotion and can think of some lucky peeps in your life deserving of some lush Apple goods but need some extra cash to make the transaction, we can help you out!

Send in any old, stinky, water/beer damaged, broken or used iPhone and we’ll send you some cash! What can we say, we like helping.

Hey Siri… You so silly! Wednesday edition.

Siri is awesome and knows everything, right? Except when verrry sometimes she doesn’t, and it’s either stupidly frustrating or stupidly funny…

Like this, for instance:

Or this:

Oh how we wish we could be there when that person who takes Siri for real literally goes to Slovenia, orders a beer, and then thanks the server by tell her that he was ‘ Just doing my job’.

I feel a reality TV show coming on…

HEY GUYS!!!! Send us examples of Silly Things Siri Says when you see them! We’ll give you love and possibly some kind of magical unicorn flavored incentive….

Everyone loves Bill Hader

Damn right they do!

That’s why Apple are again using his quality comedic… qualities… this time in their latest iPhone 6s Ad. This one is all about Siri, and the ‘Hey Siri’ feature.

Watch it below! And sign us up for that most excellent looking sandwich while you’re at it.

Pepsi is making a what now?

A smartphone. Yup. Pepsi, the beverage company, is making a smartphone. Why? Well, why not, right?

According to the wonderful people over at Mashable,  Pepsi is bringing out an android smartphone called the Pepsi Pi. Although not manufacturing the phone itself, the smartohone will be heavily Pepsi branded.

It will cost have a 5.5-inch 1080p display, a 1.7 GHz processor, 16GB of storage, and both a 13-megapixel camera on the back and a 5-megapixel camera on the front. It wil come in at about $205.

The smart phone is apparently being released… today! Hooray?! Well, hooray for China. The phone will be available exclusively in China.

Straight from the sauce (Via Mashable):

“We are pleased to share that Pepsi is working with a licensing partner to bring a line of mobile phones and accessories to market in China in the next few months. Available in China only, this effort is similar to recent globally licensed Pepsi products which include apparel and accessories. Pepsi has always moved at the speed of culture, and today technology is a key cultural pillar at the heart of consumer interaction. Pepsi has no plans to get into the mobile phone manufacturing business, but we are committed to engaging with consumers in innovative ways to grow our brand. We’ll share more news as it becomes available.”

Would you get a Pepsi smartphone? What other branded smartphone would you get if you could? We’re going to go with.. In-N-Out. We would definitely be PRO an In-N-Out smartphone.

Tinder for… bacon lovers?

Tinder, Tinder, Tinder. Tinder. It seems like there’s a Tinder version for everything, but not until now has there been one for… Bacon?

Yup, you read that correctly. If you love Bacon, (like, as if you capitalize it, for example) and you’re looking for a date with someone with a similar love, then Sizzl is for you.

Released by the excellent people over at Oscar Mayar, Sizzl is a dating app where you can search through, accept and reject, nearby people who like the same bacon that you do. Traditionalist Pork Bacon lover? Turkey Bacon? Thick? Smoked? Crispy? The Maple kind? 

Go get some! Are we talking about some Bacon, or some lovin’? BOTH SILLY!

Switching to iOS 9?

Well…..you might want to wait, as there has been a number of complaints around the world describing the mess that iOS 9 can leave your phone in.

We’d suggest waiting for the next update of iOS 9 is released, however if you just can’t wait, PLEASE make sure to back up your phone so if the most terrible of terribleness happens, you still have all that precious data!

If you have a lot of media on your device, then we’d advise backing up over iTunes. However, understand that if you have photos taken with an iPhone or iPod on an iPad in your camera roll, they won’t be restored from a back up, and vice versa.

You can restore data to a device at anytime with a WiFi connection on iCloud Backup.

Back up with iTunes 
Connect your iPhone or iPad to a computer. Open iTunes. Go to ‘File,’ ‘Devices,’ and ‘Back Up’. You can also find the ‘back up now’ button under Summary in iTunes.

Want to make sure that it’s worked? In the iTunes menu option, go to Preferences’, then click on ‘devices’. If you see the name of your device and the time that you backed up, you’re all good like candy canes at christmas.

Back Up on iCloud

On your iPhone or iPad, open the Settings app, select ‘iCloud’, and tap Backup. Turn on iCloud Backup. The device will automatically update when it is connected to the Internet via WiFi, the screen is locked, and it’s hooked up to a power source. To do it manually, go to Settings, then iCloud, select Backup, and tap Back Up Now.

Save your data! Do it!