The text that shuts down your iDevices! What is it and how to fix it!

Texters beware! There is now a weird iMessage virus that, if sent to your iPhone, will restart your beloved little box of magic tech and then repeatedly crash iMessage. It can also screw with your iPad and Apple Watch too!

Bahm BAHM BIIIIIAHIIIUUUM!

The text includes a specific series of non-roman characters and although Apple is aware of the problem, a fix won’t be available until the next software update.

All is not totally lost – the message doesn’t actually do any damage to your phone, apart from making it hard to use your iMessage app, and even that can be rectified by another  text being sent to your phone – although it has to be from the person who sent you the evil text in the first place.

The brain trust over at Reddit have come up with a theory that the message works, perhaps, by confusing the phone so much as it tries to figure out how to display the text as a notification banner, that it just gives up and reboots. Apparently sending the message through other message apps that have display notifications leads to the phone rebooting as well.

If you think you have some frenemies or mortal enemies out there that might be planning on sending you the message, maybe take a preventative measure and switch your notifications off for iMessage and other message apps. Not proven to help, but can’t hurt.

Some other fixes making the rounds are:
Send yourself a message via Siri, the share sheet, or from your Mac, or send a photo via the Photos app which can allow you to access your message history and delete the conversation.

Let’s hope you and your mortal enemy can agree that your magic tech box iPhones are off limits!!

Waaay better camera on next iPhone?

According to the ever increasing next-iPhone rumor mill, the next iPhone update, likely due in September of this year, will include three new updates – 4.7 inch iPhone 6S, 5.5 inch iPhone 6S+, and a cheaper, 4 inch iPhone 6C.

Each of these is expected to have camera improvements, and some in the industry are pretty certain that this means that at least the larger iPhone updates will include a 12- megapixel rear facing camera with smaller pixels.

This would make sense in a timeline kind of way, as Apple hasn’t updated the 8- megapixel camera currently in all iPhones since the iPhone 4S which was waaaay back in 2011. That’s eons in the tech world.

They are also expecting software updates to improve the camera, however what these may be remain unclear at this stage.

The new 2015 generation of iPhones will likely be powered by a A9 chip, feature Force Touch, and iOS 9 with improved Siri and Apple Maps. Gesture Control has also been mentioned, as has the possibility of an extra microphone.

Apple might have leaked a photo of the iPhone 6C!

Photoshop fail? Or accidental leak? You be the judge! There are currently photos on the Apple online store that seemingly show an iPhone that is yet to be released – an updated version of the iPhone 5C with a Touch ID (see below left).

Apple is expected to announce a new line of updated iPhones, likely at WWDC which starts in San Francisco on June 8th. Within that line up it’s rumored that there will be an updated iPhone 6 (iPhone 6S), iPhone 6 + (iPhone 6S+), and a lower cost 4-inch iPhone, such as an updated iPhone 5C (iPhone 6C).

So is this proof of the existence of the iPhone 6C? Apple are yet to comment, and are not expected to, because, well, their Apple. Looks like we’ll have to wait a moment to find out!

If you’re wondering, that moment will take exactly 17 days, 14 hours, 7 minutes and 3 seconds from….now.

Be Inspired by Tim Cook’s Commencement speech!

Yesterday Tim Cook spoke at the graduation ceremony at George Washington University and, as we have come to expect from the Apple CEO – his speech was a stirring, inspiring and challenging one.

The speech lasted for 20 minutes, in which Cook told the class that they had to be the ones to change the world, be it by where they work ( I hear Apple’s hiring…) or by simply pursuing a life that you believe in and making a lasting impact in the world, such as one of his hero’s, Martin Luther King.

“The sidelines are not where you want to live your life,” Cook said  “The world needs you in the arena. There are problems that need to be solved, injustices that need to be ended,” he said.

“People that are still being persecuted. Diseases still in need of cure. No matter what you do next, the world needs your energy, your passion, your impatience with progress. Don’t shrink from risk and tune out those critics and cynics.

History rarely yields to one person, but think and never forget what happens when it does. That can be you. That should be you. That must be you.”

Well, Gee, Mr Cook. Way to make the world a better place.

Watch it below!

GW Commencement 2015 Tim Cook from GW Media Relations on Vimeo.

This lady put all of her boyfriend’s apple products in the bath!

Have you been cheating on your significant other?

If so, you better watch out, because not only is it hella douchey, but this could happen to you! A Japanese Twitter user who goes by the handle @foolishnessfly2 caught her boyfriend cheating and did this:

Yup. That’s not bath salts, guys.  She launched all of his Apple products into a nice hot bath and posted proof for all of the Internet to see. The post has since racked up more than 16,000 retweets and 10,000 favorites.

If this happens to you (you rascal you) then don’t despair! Take a photo of it, become internet famous, then sell all those stinky water damaged Apple products to us! We’ll give you cash for them in no time! Internet fame and cash? What’s to lose? ( except your data and, erm, your relationship…)

Get a quote to sell your iPhone here!

Tech of the Week!

Are you one of those people who are always losing things? We get it, yo! That’s why we have some new tech to tell you allll about that will help you NOT lose one of your most important possessions – you wallet.

Give a warm welcome to our Tech of the Week –  The SmartWallet.  This thing? Sounds awesome.

The SmartWallet (above, in all it’s aesthetically pleasing glory) is a wallet that not only carries important things like cash and credit cards, but it also has a built-in 1000 mAh backup battery so you can charge your phone for up to 4 hours on the go.

BUT that’s not all, the main use of the SmartWallet is to make sure you don’t freakin’ lose the thing (and the important things inside). It does this by using GPS. If you lose it within a 50-150 foot radius, use the associated app on your phone and it’ll show you exactly where it is and how to get there.

If the Wallet has been lost outside of that radius, it’ll show you the GPS location the Wallet was last in. Before that happens though, as soon as your wallet goes out of that range, your phone will notify you.

AND if you’ve lost your phone, not your wallet, pressing a button on the wallet will make your phone ring – whether it’s on silent/vibrate, or not.

The wallet was a successful Indiegogo project, and it will retail for $116 USD, so if you’re a loser (of things),  keep an eye out for this one !

Don’t like the band your apple watch came with? It’s ok!

So, you’ve got your shiny new toy, the Apple Watch, in your grasp, and you love it. We mean, you love it. But…something’s a little off. You’re not too sure about the band, are you? Little too green? Were you unaware until now that your wrist swells up all weirdly when you play tennis and it doesn’t fit right?

Well, you’ve got some options, friend. Apple will allow you the opportunity to exchange your Apple Watch band for another style! Yay! Unless you have the Apple Watch Edition, or you purchased your Apple Watch at a non-Apple retailer. Bowboooow.

Here are the rules for band-swapping:
– The new band must be within the same collection as the watch and must be an available band option for that watch face.

– The band swap is within 14 day return period.

– The watch must have been purchased at the Apple Online Store, Kiosk, or Apple Store App.

– You are not using band swaps as a way to configure a sellable product for a customer.

The swap must be initiated through the Online Store call center who will create a new band order for you, ship it out, and provide instructions on how to mail your old band in for a refund.

You will not be able to return a Apple Watch band by itself for a refund, and you can’t return an Apple Watch without the band.

iFixit teardown of the Apple Watch

The good people over at iFixit have performed their all-serving ritual of tearing apart new tech, giving the Apple Watch a repairability score of 5/10.

Somewhat expected for an Apple product.  If you’re interested to see the guts of the Apple Watch, check out the teardown here:

Thanks iFixit!

How to set up and use your Apple Watch!

Did you get a shiny new Apple Watch today?  HERE’S HOW TO USE IT!!

First things first: Make sure you have an iPhone 5, 5s, 5c, 6, or 6 Plus running iOS 8.2.

Secondly things secondly: Your watch should come with about 50% charge, but charge your watch if it needs it.

Power on the Watch by pressing the side button, and follow the prompts to select a language etc. Launch the Apple Watch App on your iPhone (it was automatically installed when you updated to iOS 8.2) and Tap “Start Pairing” on the main screen. Hold your watch up to your iPhone’s camera so the screen is aligned with the yellow outlined box on your iPhone’s screen, and follow the instructions on your iPhone screen.

If you open the Settings App on your shiny new watch, you’ll find the options to customize your brightness, sound, text size, silencing ability, and Do Not Disturb functions.

Your new best friend is the Digital Crown. Tap it to get back to the home screen, use it to zoom in maps/photos, press it in conjunction with the side button to take a screen shot, press and hold to activate Siri, and double click it to jump to your most recently visited app.

Your second best friend forever is the SWIPE! YES! Swipe up from the watch face to see what Apple calls ‘Glances’ which contains information such as calendar events, weather, heart rate, location, and the ability to access the option to ‘Ping’ your misplaced phone.

Swipe down to see your notifications. Swipe left on a notification to quickly clear it. Check your heartbeat by swiping up to expand Glances and swiping left to the heartbeat card.

Tapping is the cool guy you thought you knew that has a surprise twin brother that seems pretty cool. The Watch is pressure sensitive, so light tapping will have a different effect than if you ‘force touch’ – a slightly longer, firm press.

There are a number of uses for the force touch that become more apparent the more you play with the device. For instance in the maps app, you force touch to get to the search feature. Force touch the watch face to change its design, or on the notifications ‘red dot’ to clear them all, or on the Messages inbox to compose a new text.

In Glances, tap to get more information on any of the applications.

Raising your hand will activate the display and show you the time, the last notification if you’ve received one, or activate Siri if you say “Hey Siri” at the same time. Lowering your wrist after receiving a notification will dismiss it. Putting your hand over the watch face will silence an incoming phone call.

You can also use it to control Apple TV, which could be useful, and also could be super annoying to anyone else in the room (which, yes, can be excellent).

To use Apple Pay, double click the side button and hold the face of the watch near the card reader. POOF, MONEY EXCHANGED!

We’ll be bringing you more Apple Watch updates and user guides as we get to know more about the device, and in the mean time, you should also check out the Apple video guides here.

Happy Weekend Kids!

More Apple Watch guided videos

Want to learn more about the Apple Watch that you just received/will receive soon/will one day have? Or perhaps it’s Friday afternoon and you’re feeling a little procrastinatey, but you’ve already read the whole internet?

We got you, friend!

Apple has launched a further update to it’s Guided Tours section on it’s Apple Watch website. Now you can be guided through some super interesting things like Apple Pay, Activity apps

Check it out here on Apple’s website, or here on their YouTube channel.