Apple Watch 2 details

According to the rumors doing the tech rounds, the Apple Watch 2 will begin an earlier than expected trial production round by the end of January. Qanta, the Chinese based manufacturers responsible for the original Apple Watch, is said to be the main source (if not only source) of production for the 2nd Gen Apple Watch.

Other manufacturers, however, such as Foxconn,  may be sourced to help supply the 2nd generation after Qanta apparently experienced less than stellar profit returns on the original.

So what can we expect?

Expect the 2nd generation Apple Watch to have a thinner case, a FaceTim camera (yay!) and an upgraded Wi-Fi chip, so you can do more without being attached to your iPhone.

Expect health technologies to shine on this device. Although CEO Tim Cook recently said that he didn’t want the Apple Watch itself to go through the whole FDA APPROVAL rigmarole, Apps and other side by side tech would probably be moved in that direction.

Recent additions to Apple seem to cement that idea, with hires like Anne Shelchuk, who has a doctorate in biomedical engineering, system design engineer Nathan Clark, who has a doctorate in biomedical engineering and a patent for a device that separates cells, and Craig Slyfield, a mechanical engineer who’s co-authored several papers related to measuring and visualizing human bones in 3D.

So, we can conclude that the Apple Watch 2 will have a FaceTime camera, x-ray vision capabilities, and a cell separator. Neato.

Space Black Milanese Loop band might be coming!

Do you have an Apple Watch? Are you a little bit in love with the Milanese loop band? We don’t blame you. We don’t have an Apple Watch, and we’re  in love with the Milanese Loop band.

Well guess what may or may not be coming? A Space Black Milanese Loop band! Whaaaat.

Some eagle eyed Apple Fan noticed last week that a Space Black Milanese Loop band for the Apple Watch was available on the Czech Republic Apple store… crazy.

The band has not been seen on any other store, and has since been taken off the Czech online store, so either we’ll see a worldwide launch in about a week, or someone somewhere just effed up. We’re hoping for the former, because we love us some Milanese Loop.

App Store Booming

The 2015 Holiday season was good for Apple in a few ways, one of them being that it was the biggest ever for the App Store. How big is big, you ask? Well, big happens to be $1.1 billion spent on Apps and in-app purchases over a 2 week period ending January 3rd.

That’s big.

On New Years day alone, customers spent over $144 million dollars.

From the Sauce,  Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller;

“The App Store had a holiday season for the record books. We are excited that our customers downloaded and enjoyed so many incredible apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV, spending over $20 billion on the App Store last year alone.

We’re grateful to all the developers who have created the most innovative and exciting apps in the world for our customers. We can’t wait for what’s to come in 2016.”

Apple said it has now created over 1.4 million jobs attributable to app development and non-IT jobs supported by the app ecosystem.

Apps, huh. Who knew?

AT&T stopping 2 year contracts

Starting tomorrow January 8, 2016, AT&T will introduce a “pricing simplification effort”. What does that mean? That means the end of device subsidies, friends. It also means the end of two-year contracts.

Dun Dun Duuuun. After the 8th, both new and existing AT&T customers will only be able to purchase a smartphone at full price or with an AT&T Next payment plan.

It seems like some corporate users will be able to continue making two-year contract purchases.

From the Sauce, in a statement given to Re/code:

“With $0 down for well-qualified customers, the ability to upgrade early and down-payment options available with even lower monthly installments, our customers are overwhelmingly choosing AT&T Next,” AT&T told Re/code. “Starting January 8, AT&T Next will be the primary way to get a new smartphone at AT&T.”

Check out AT&T Next here.

Netflix is taking over the world!

After reaching 60 countries at the end of last year, and with many doubting their ability to get to all countries by the end of 2016, Netflix has surprised many with the recent launch of Netflix in no less than 130 countries.

Reed Hastings, Netflix CEO has just announced this past Wednesday that the company has officially launched its website in India, Vietnam, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia and dozens of other countries.

Welcome to losing your days to binge watching, other countries.

To give you an idea about how fast Netflix is growing, and how much potential it has for even further growth, in the fourth quarter of 2014, Netflix users watched 1/4 billion hours. In the fourth quarter of 2015, that number jumped to 12 billion hours.

Now that’s some binge watching.

Future Tech of the Day – Passenger drones?

Courtesy of CES 2016, we have some awesome future tech to tell you about!! You know drones, right? Well, how would you like to … be in one?!

Chinese drone maker Ehang is aiming to make those dreams come true – with a 500-pound drone. It’s called the Ehang 184 and it can transport 1 guy or gal (under 220 pounds) for about 23 minutes, going about 62 miles per hour.

Although not currently legal in the USA, the company is in talks with the FAA, and once that whole thing is cleared up, you’ll be able to buy one, hop on in, select your destination (Vegas, obviously, you baller you) on the accompanying app and off you go! Into the future! Look at you go!

So far, the Ehang 184 has completed roughly 100 flights with a passenger. When this whole passenger drone thing is a real thing, iPhone Antidote will be looking to also purchase a mini passenger drone for the iPhone Antidote Guinea Pig, Papa Nu. Obviously.

Do you want super rad bonus money? Happy New Year Coupon inside!

2016 is almost one week old!! WHAT! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?

Well, it’s a cause for celebration here at iPhone Antidote, for no other reason than we really like to celebrate! AND GUESS WHAT? We’re giving all our loyal Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and blog followers a free $10 bonus coupon code!

Until the 20th on January, 2016 sell your used, broken or water damaged iPhone to us, use coupon code NEWYEARS10 and you’ll automatically receive an extra $10 on your quote!

Boom! Ten Dollar Boom!

Start Something New

Check out Apple’s recently reintroduced ‘Start Something new’ campaign!

It’s an online gallery of multimedia art created  by artists, using Apple products.  You’re looking at paintings, short films, drawings, photography, etc, created by hardware like the Apple Pencil, and software like Adobe After Effects.

Check out some Art! That’s what you should do today!

Another iPhone 7 rumor!

That’s right, kids, another year, another iPhone. This one should be an exciting new iPhone year though! It’s a no ‘s’ iPhone year! If we’re going on what has happened in the past, Apple updates their iPhones pretty incrementally in the S years, saving the bigger updates and changes for the other years. This is one of those years.

Welcome to iPhone 7 year. We think. Probably. Right? Right.

So we’ll start right off the bat with a nice little iPhone 7 rumor. Judging from the past, we’ll be seeing this bad boy in the Fall, and according to the rumor mill, it will be completely waterproof.

Cue gasps.

Now, these waterproof rumors have been around for years, predominantly because, well, smartphones are one of the most important physical things in a lot of people’s lives, and they’re not waterproof. Or beerproof. Or any liquidproof. And humans drop these important things specifically in liquid all the time.* 

There’s no real facts behind this rumor, but hey, who’s going to let that stop anyone? WATERPROOF IPHONE 7! YAYY!

* Have you dropped your iPhone in liquid? We want it please!!!! Head on over to www.iphoneantidote.com and grab a quote to see how much $money$ we’ll pay you for that stinky wet iPhone!

Did you get a Hoverboard for Christmas? Read this!

Are you one of the many many people who got a hoverboard for Christmas? Are you psyched? Well, slow down their future, ‘cos the government has some words for you before you go zip zapping around there.

Specifically – California and New York City governments, but there will probably be others that follow their lead.

So, you guys know about Hoverboards, right? They don’t hover, they have two wheels, kind of look like a Segway without most of the Segway? Well, they’re illegal in new York City now. Sorry NYC kids. The kind of good news for you guys is that it’s still legal in other parts of New York City…

In California however, the new year has bought about no such strict bans, but a couple of restrictions that you should know about if you live in the golden state.

As of Jan 1st 2016,  if you’re riding a hoverboard on public roadways you have to stick to roads with speed limits of 35 miles per hour or less, wear a helmet, stay in the bike lane and not to go faster than 15 miles per hour.And… no one under 16 may use the boards on public roadways.

If you do these things, you’re facing a fine of up to $250.

From the Sauce, Chris Cochran from the California office of Traffic Safety:

“They have to be not looking out for themselves, but also looking out for cars that are out there, and they have to look out for pedestrians.”

Apart from the state laws, you’ll also have to look out for local laws. For instance, no Hoverboarding on the sidewalks in San Francisco.

If you’re considering buying one, keep these rules (and the more that will surely come) in the back of your head, and also? Make sure you don’t get one of those exploding ones. Those ones suck. Check that the batteries are made within the American standard.

And finally, Enjoy your non-hovering hoverboard!