New iPad Pro Models?

According to reports,  next year is a big year for Apple. Not only are there rumors  of 3 new iPhones amid 10th anniversary celebrations for the iPhone, but also rumors of 3 new iPad Pro models to be released.

We’re looking at a 9.7 inch, a 10.5 inch and a 12.9 inch iPad Pro, with the 9.7-inch model moving to be a low cost model.

There is also some talk of the possibility of one of the models featuring a flexible AMOLED display…. which would be fancy as all get out.

Are you looking forward to new iPad Pro models?

Will we see 3 new iPhone models next year?

So… it’s almost new iPhone time! The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7s are expected to be revealed in early September with a mid-late September release date!

Isn’t that exciting?

Well… kinda?

It is suspected that Apple are making smaller, less significant updates for the new iPhone, and leaving all the fancy changes for next year’s release. Next year is the 10th anniversary of the iPhone and it seems that the iPhone 8 is the iPhone we might be really excited about.

In fact, rumors are that Apple is planning on releasing at least 3 new iPhones in 2017. Three. 

This may include a high-end model with a 5.5-inch-or-larger OLED display that is curved on both sides, as well as 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch models with flat LCD displays similar to the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

OLED displays are nice. We’re talking improved contrast, faster response times, better viewing angles, and, just better….prettiness. That’s a thing.

I hope the shiny new iPhone 7’s don’t feel bad about all the iPhone 8 rumors so close to their reveal. Don’t worry guys, you’re better and faster than the iPhone 6’s and plenty of people want you.

Are you going to buy an iPhone 7? Can we please buy your stinky old iPhone? We’ll give it a nice home on a farm in the country and give it hugs everyday! Get a quote here and we’ll send you a free mailer box so it’s comfy on it’s way to us! 

iPhone 6 proves faster than Samsung’s new Galaxy Note 7

Samsung recently introduced it’s newest smartphone, the Galaxy Note 7. The phone has a lot of fancy specs, including a 14-nanometer Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad-core 64-bit processor, 4GB RAM, a 12-megapixel camera, waterproofing, and wireless charging.

Very impressive, right? RIGHT!

Buuuuuut wait just a minute there, because a recent speedtest proved that the iPhone was able to launch apps in succession at a much faster rate than the Galaxy Note 7, launching 14 apps in one minute and 21 seconds while the Galaxy Note 7 took two minutes and four seconds.

The iPhone was able to cycle through two laps of the app test in one minute and 51 seconds, while the Note 7 took two minutes and 49 seconds.

Eep. That’s some nice work, iPhone! We hope someone gave it a teeny gold medal.

An even fancier new iPhone is expected to be announced in early September with a faster, more efficient A10 processor.

Babs has a bone to pick with you, Siri

When Barbara Streisand realised that Siri pronounced her name wrong – StreiZand instead of StreiSand – what did she do?

Call the CEO, duh. What, that’s not what you would do?

From the Sauce, Babs herself:

“And so what did I do? I called the head of Apple, Tim Cook, and he delightfully agreed to have Siri change the pronunciation of my name, finally, with the next update on September 30th. So let’s see if that happens because I will be thrilled (laughter).”

Tick, Barbara SteiSand, Tick, Apple for promotion of iOS update coming on September 30th. Everyone wins! You know, except all the people who’s name is mispronounced by Siri who don’t have Tim Cook’s number.

FCC says AT&T has to pay

The FCC’s enforcement bureau has announced that it reached a settlement with AT&T over a recent directory assisence service scam that affected their customers.

AT&T will pay $7.75 million! Broken down, it looks like this:

AT&T will  issue full refunds to all current and former customers who received unauthorized third-party charges from January 2012 onwards. The refunds are expected to total $6.8 million, and AT&T will also pay a $950,000 fine to the U.S. Treasury.

The scam was uncovered by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration while investigating two Cleveland-area companies Discount Directory, Inc. (DDI) and Enhanced Telecommunications Services (ETS) for drug-related crimes and money laundering. During the investigation, DEA officials discovered financial documents related to the scam that primarily targeted small businesses.

Neither DDI, ETS, nor AT&T could show that any of AT&T’s customers agreed to be billed for the shady directory assistance service. Phone companies like AT&T have a responsibility to ensure third-party charges are legitimate and were approved by the consumer.

Were you targeted by the scam?

Kickstarter of the week

Introducing the Mine Kafon Drone! man, techonology like this can just be so inspiring!!

Check this out – the Mine Kafon Drone is an airborne demining system developed to clear all land mines around the world in less than 10 years.

What. Crazy. Shizz. Is that.

This device maps, detects and detonates land mines – which is a huge deal, not only because it’s 20 times faster and up to 200 times cheaper than current technologies, but because land mines are still such a huge problem.There are 100 million land mines in more than 60 countries worldwide. Every day, 10 innocent civilians are killed or maimed by these explosives.

using the aforementioned technologies currently available, the people behind the Mine Kafo Drone estimate it will take 1100 years to to clear all land mines. You read correctly – their drone will do it in an estimated 10 years.

That’s powerful.

The creators, Massoud and Mahmud Hassani, unsurprisingly, grew up in an area of Afghanistan where they saw the damage and horror of what landmines can do. They have now developed a fast and cost effective solution.

The project is now on Kickstarter, having raised $157,493 of their $$77,464 goal. They have 14 days left.

Check it out here! The Mine Kafo Drone. 

Who Tim Cook looks to for advice

NOTE TO SELF: Whomever Tim Cook looks to for advice in life and or business is someone we should also be interested in for life and or business advice. Even if it’s because of their specific knowledge of his life and circumstances. Still want that advice!

In The Washington Post’s extensive interview with Apple CEO Cook, we found out who his top five are.  Would you believe his number 1 is Kanye West? No? It’d be pretty funny though…

ONE. Warren Buffet.

“When I was going through what should we do on returning cash to shareholders, I thought who could really give us great advice here, who wouldn’t have a bias? So I called up Warren Buffett. I thought he’s the natural person, and so I try to go through that process on everyone.” Cook said. “That doesn’t mean I always do what they say,” he added.

TWO. Anderson Cooper.

Cook said he spoke with him before the super important op-ed he wrote in 2014 declaring “I’m proud to be gay.”

“I talked to Anderson Cooper at length — multiple times,” Cook said. “Because I thought that the way that he handled his announcement was really classy. I was getting advice from people who I thought were really great people who had really deeply thought about it.”

THREE. Bill Clinton

In 2013, Cook was facing his first Congressional testimony (about Apple’s tax practices).

“He knows a lot about the politics,” Cook said of Clinton. “I’d not met him through a political connection. I’d met him through the foundation.”

FOUR. Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein
It was the same hearing that prompted Cook to reach out to another prominent business figure — Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs.

“I looked back to say who’s done this before? I knew Lloyd and thought he’d be honest with me,” Cook said.

FIVE. Laurene Powell Jobs
Steve Jobs’ widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, also counseled Cook prior to his Congressional testimony, noting that she has a unique understanding of the company and Cook himself.

“Laurene has the lens of knowing me and deeply understanding Apple.”

So there you go. Who would be in your top five, if you had a magical email address book? Also: Anyone have Mr Buffet’s personal email? Anyone? That’s some advice we’d really like.

Highlights of extensive Tim Cook Interview here

The Washington Post has posted a new interview with Tim Cook, where he talks about his first five years as Apple CEO. The interview, rather depressingly titled ‘ Running Apple ‘is sort of a lonely job’, goes in depth about how he feels he has grown in the role and hints at future Apple product pathways.

From the Sauce:

How the company itself has changed under his tenure as CEO:

“The obvious things are we have more employees. The company is four times larger [by revenue since 2010]. We’ve broadened the iPhone lineup. That was a really key decision and I think a very good one. We’ve gone into the Apple Watch business, which has gotten us into wellness and in health. We keep pulling that string to see where that takes us. Lots of core technology work has been done.”

The Future of Apple Products:

“Look at the core technologies that make up the smartphone today and look at the ones that will be dominant in smartphones of the future — like AI. AI will make this product even more essential to you. It will become even a better assistant than it is today. So where you probably aren’t leaving home without it today — you’re really going to be connected to it in the future. That level of performance is going to skyrocket.

Siri & Apple AI:

“Increasingly, Siri understands things without having to memorize certain ways to say things. The prediction of Siri is going way up. What we’ve done with AI is focus on things that will help the customer. And we announced in June that we’re opening Siri to third parties, so third-party developers can now use Siri. So a simple example with that, whatever kind of ride-sharing app you might use, Uber or Lyft in the United States, you could just — using your voice — order the car. So third-party developers are writing tons of those that will be available to the public in the fall. And that’s how we’re broadening Siri in a huge way.

The possibility of Apple branded Augmented reality:

“I think AR (augmented reality) is extremely interesting and sort of a core technology. So, yes, it’s something we’re doing a lot of things on behind that curtain that we talked about. [Laughs.]

Read the full interview here. 

Siri’s take on pop culture volume 36

Want to know the most important things going on in Pop Culture?

You can turn on the TV or check Facebook, but that can be a mixed bag at best. You know what? it’ll be something programmers at Apple have written into Siri, for sure. Take for example, the two most recent examples: The outrageous cultural phenomenon that is Pokemon GO, and also, the never-endingly popular TV Show, Game of Thrones.

Siri will have answers to both when you ask her about them. Especially about Pokemon GO – as Siri is partially powered by Wolfram Alpha, which has gathered a bunch of info on Pokemon since 2013.  She also makes ‘jokes’ about it.

EG: “I like pocket monsters. Pocket assistants, too.”

See? ‘Jokes’.

With Game of Thrones, you can ask her a bunch of questions – but don’t ask her who Jon Snow’s father is ( Or do, who are we your parents?)

What’ll be the next big pop culture hit to be featured in Siri’s repertoire? We’re going to bet that if Trump gets in, she might have something to say about that…

Olympic Fencer drops iPhone out of pocket in middle of match!

Olympic French fencer Enzo Lefort was in the middle of an Olympic fencing match last week when something … a bit odd happened.

Mid – bout (is it called a bout? match? Fence-off? Help us Enzo) the fierce fencer’s iPhone dropped out of his pocket and onto the floor.

When you’re fencing in the Olympics but your timeline is still lit. 🔥📱https://t.co/W4MWrbJOOJ https://t.co/NLy2KNrnYc

— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) August 9, 2016

Well, that was unexpected. Enzo! Did your iPhone break? Can we buy it? Please?  We love stinky broken iPhones! and this one’s an OLYMPIC STINKY BROKEN IPHONE. That might be the best kind.