Get the lowdown on the Apple Special Media Event!

Today, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Apple held a Special Media Event. The event was thought to largely focus on the imminent release of the Apple Watch, which it did, and announce a new Macbook, which it did. A really, really nice looking new Macbook.

Rumors had them announcing the rebranded Beats Music, which did not happen, but what did happen was the announcement of an Apple Supported HBO streaming service (with an exclusive viewing of a new Game Of Thrones Trailer) and the announcement of Apple’s entry into the Medical research field.

Say what?

You read right – Apple has partnered with a bunch of medical research firms and universities such as Stanford and Oxford to come up with a way that medical research scientists can collect medical data from the millions of iPhone users around the world, creating a much more quantitative, objective and communication-centric way to look at health, disease progression and giving a stronger more effective way of treating and curing diseases and conditions such as Asthma, Cardiovascular disease, and Diabetes.

Very exciting stuff. Before we get too far into that, let’s start off with some more of the lighter features in the event. We’ll be splitting this report into 3 parts, because it’s a lot of information, and…  it’s Monday. We got you!

Tim Cook started off, as he most always does, with giving us some stats about how awesome Apple it is. Here’s a shortened version:

*Apple opened 6 retail stores in China in the past 6 Weeks, making that a total of 21 stores overall so far,  and 453 stores in 16 countries around the world.

*120 million million retail customers in the last quarter

*25 million Apple TV’s sold so far

*700 millionth iPhone recently sold

*99% satisfaction score for customers owning an iPhone 6 or an iPhone 6 Plus.

*Apple Pay has grown massively since it’s launch with a lot more retailers accepting Apple Pay and thousands more banks supporting the payment system

Next,  Tim Cook brings on stage the CEO of HBO, Richard Pepler, to announce a new streaming service HBO Now – initially only available on Apple devices, called HBO Live. Giving you access to the entire HBO catalog. You can access the new service on it’s own dedicated Apple TV channel, or on any Apple Device. The service will begin early April ( in time for the new Game Of Thrones Premier on April 12th) for $14.99 a month, and you’ll get the first month free.

Mr Pepler also debuted an exclusive new trailer of the next Game of Thrones season which you can watch here. 

The next announcements were simple and welcome one – Apple TV is going down in price from $99 to $69, sweet, and every major car brand has committed to delivering Carplay, with more than 40 new models of cars shipping by end of 2015.

Now on to the interesting stuff.  Medical research. Up until now scientists had to rely on relatively small sample sizes and subjective data when it came to research. Apple is making it possible to change that, creating an software developer kit called Research Kit, which will be open source (!), allowing developers to create interactive apps that will make it possible to collect substantive and important data on our health, gauge the effects of disease degeneration and turn our iPhones into diagnostic tools.

The first five apps, released today, are ‘mPower’ for Parkinson’s, ‘Diabetes GlucoSucess’,  ‘MyHeart’ for Cardiovascular disease,  ‘Asthma Health’,  and ‘Breast Cancer – Share the Journey’. 

An important detail to note here – you choose what you participate in, and Apple will never see any of the data. An exciting idea created by Apple here, full of potential to help a lot of people. As long as they can make sure to keep all of the Data out of evil genius bad guys hands, this gets a huge thumbs up from iPhone Antidote.

Next – Part 2. The new Macbook. Ooooh, aaaaaah.

Apple Special Media Event Part 2 – The new MacBook

Today, Tim Cook announced a new Macbook, and it is very, very shiny and pretty and new.

What, you wanted more information? Okay, okay. Here’s what you can expect from the new member of the Apple Family.

* It weight 2 Pounds. That’s less than a 1 liter bottle of soda pop. It’s lighter than our iPhone Antidote Guinea Pig, Papa Nu.  It’s really light.

* It’s the thinnest Macbook, coming in at a anorexic 13.1 mm thick, 24% thinner than the previous skinny-minny, the 11-inch Macbook Air.

*The enclosure is, for the first time, all metal.

* The keyboard is full size, and is actually an entirely new keyboard, with  a butterfly mechanism instead of the usual scissor mechanism, making it 4 times more stable than before. The keys are 40% thinner and 17% larger, and now come with an LED light each. The new Keyboard and the new track pad (see below) apparently will take some getting used to.

* The trackpad has also been redesigned, with 4 force sensors and a new ‘force’ click with a range of different applications, from bringing up the Wiki page for a word you force click, to opening up the calendar for force clicking a date in a message.

*It comes with a new 12-inch edge to edge Retina, 2,304 by 1,440 pixel resolution display that uses 30% less energy.

*It’s the first fanless Macbook. It wasn’t actually explained how the new macbook will keep itself from overheating, but we assume (hope) that detail will be forthcoming.

*The logic board is super tiny, coming in at 67% smaller than previous logic boards.

*They will have the new intel core M with 1.3 ghz and turbo to 2.9 ghz

* The Battery life has improved, thanks to terraced battery contours helping you to get all day battery life.

* The new Macbook will be almost entirely cable-less, with one port to RULE THEM ALL. Or, just one port, really, for Power, USB and video output. The USB cable/port is a new industry standard that we will see more and more of, called USB-C.

Cool, but definitely something that will get some users fired up, as to gain USB compatibility you will need to use an USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adaptor with included HDMI, USB 3.1, and USB-C inputs located on the device. This adaptor, currently unavailable, will come in at a rather large $79 clams.

* The Macbook is the most environmentally friendly and the most efficient Macbook.

* They will come in Silver, Space gray, and Gold option. Is the Gold option a little too flashy? We think maaaaybe. Time will tell. They will come with 8GB memory, and 256 GB storage space.

* Shipping  April 10th, you’re looking at $1299 big ones, or if you have a couple more big ones handy, there’s also a slightly more powerful model for $1,599 with a 1.2GHz processor and 512GB storage space.

See what we mean? Apart from needing another adaptor Apple, this new Macbook sounds like a definite step forward in notebook technology.

Next: Part 3 – Apple Watch in all it’s shiny detail!

Apple Special Media Event Part 3 – Apple Watch

A lot of what we heard today about the Apple watch was just a reiteration of what we’ve heard since the product was announced last year, a practice in upping the anticipation for it’s imminent release. How it’s the most personal Apple product ever, the tech that will become integral in your day to day life, from improving your health to being a full on iPhone impersonator sitting pretty on your wrist.

You will be able to use it for phone calls, look at your photos, use Siri, get and reply to notifications, emails, social media, track your health data, play music, make calendar appointments, use Apple Pay, get an Uber, unlock your hotel room at SPG hotels, open your garage door, etc. All very exciting things. That we already kind of knew. Nice to get a reminder, though, right?

So what new information did we get?

We learnt that Christy Turlington Burns is basically superwoman, and that’s why she was chosen to test out the Apple Watch in a half marathon in Africa, and a full marathon coming up in London. She loved the Apple Watch ( uh, d’uh) and she spoke about the Charity she founded,  ‘Every Mother Counts’,  which aims to improve maternal Health and prevent childbirth and pregnancy related fatalities around the world.

You should definitely check it out. 

Back to the watch! It will have… drum roll please… 18 hours battery life! Yay! Pretty good, Apple, pretty good.

The Apple Watch will come in three collections. Apple Watch sport,  the Stainless Steel Apple Watch and the Apple Watch Edition.

Apple Watch Sport is crafted from Aluminum and will cost you $349 clams for the 38mm model, and $399 clams for the 42mm model.

The Stainless Steel Apple Watch will start at $549 and top out at $1099, depending on the band and buckle combination you choose.

The Apple Watch Edition is crafted out of 18 Karat solid yellow or rose gold and will start at $10,000 and top out at $17,000. Yowza. This model is also limited. Because that’s how you know you’re fancy, if not very many other people have the same fancy thing.

Bands will retail for between $49 and $449, with additional magnetic chargers costing $29 for a 1-meter cable and $39 for a 2-meter cable. A new bands and accessories page on the Apple Online Store lists all of the available add-ons for Apple Watch.

Pre-order starts on April 10th, and you can also go into an Apple Store from that day to try it out. The Watch will be officially released on April 24th, in United States, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan and United Kingdom. Apple Watch will be available for purchase by reservation at Apple Stores, online and at select authorized resellers in China and Japan. 

And that’s a wrap! What an exciting morning. We’re ready for a nap.

Apple Special Media Event

Did you catch the Apple Special media Event today? It just finished up, beginning at 10:00 AM P.S.T this morning at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

The event, hosted by CEO Tim Cook and featuring guest speakers from both within and outside of Apple touched on details of the upcoming Apple Watch, a new Macbook, as well as a couple of other well kept secret surprises such as a new HBO streaming service and Apple’s movement into the medical research field.

We’ll be releasing a detailed rundown of all the relevant information from the event shortly, and you can head on over to the Apple Website to take a look at a replay of the Keynote yourself, also available shortly.

Apple Watch updates!

It’s Friday! Happy Weekend guys!!

So, we get that you don’t usually look forward to Mondays on a Friday afternoon, but guess what makes this coming Monday different?

That’s right, an Apple Special Media Event, that’s what. Time to SPRING FORWARD!

Obviously it’s not that exciting. We’d be really excited if they were, like, giving away free Apple Watches at the event. Or even releasing them to be sold for, let’s face it, quite a bit of monies.

BUT

They will be talking a bit more about it. So that’s pretty cool, right? .. right? RIGHT! Well, cool enough. The Apple Watch product release is building in anticipation, and this is one of the ways that Apple amp that anticipation up a notch, those clever guys. And you know what else they do? Release information as rumors right beforehand!

So here’s what we’re looking at rumor-wise: The Apple Watch will take about 2 hours to charge, which will give you all day battery life, with about 5 hours of heavy use in that day.

The Apple Watch will only deliver notifications whilst the watch is sitting pretty on your wrist, and will stop with the notifications when it’s not on your skin or below 10% battery.
Pressing and holding the Digital Crown will summon Siri, which (who?) is apparently working really well on the watch.

If your battery is low but you still really need to know the time, the watch will have a Power Reserve Mode, which can be accessed at any time and will shut down all functionality except for the watch. The time-telling Watch. The clock bit. You know what we mean.

Apparently the Apple Watch will have 8GB of storage available, with other larger options available, such as in the iPhone/iPad.

The keynote begins on Monday at 10 AM P.S.T. and will be live-streamed on the Apple Website and on a designated Apple TV channel. We will be keep you up to date on  all the Apple Watch details and everything else that is revealed on Monday!

Have a rad weekend.

New Jony Ive Interview!

The great man himself, Apple’s design chief Jony Ive, recently gave a rare interview to the Financial Times.  Focusing on the design process of the Apple Watch, Ive delves into why and how the new tech was created and has evolved.

From the sauce:

“It was different with the phone – all of us working on the first iPhone were driven by an absolute disdain for the cellphones we were using at the time. That’s not the case here. We’re a group of people who love our watches. So we’re working on something, yet have a high regard for what currently exists.”

It’s a great interview, giving a rare insight into one of the worlds most renowned designers on a product a very many are excited about. In the lead up to Monday’s Apple Watch-centric special media event – go check it out!! 

Want the most expensive Apple Watch?

The release of Apple’s new product – the Apple watch – is fast approaching!  A special media event has been announced for March 9th which is believed to focus on the so far unspecified details of the watch, and the release itself is expected early April.

Are we excited yet??

Well, yeah. Because it’s going to be awesome, d’uh. But, we can imagine only a lucky few amongst us are excited about the purchase of this particular version of the Apple Watch. You know, the $69,995  one.

Um, wha?

Yup. Luxury and couture product design company Brikk have announced that they will be customizing a line of exclusive and luxurious versions of the Apple Watch called Lux Watch Line. How luxurious, you ask? Think color options of 24-karat yellow gold, 18-karat pink gold, and 950 platinum. Think lines of 12.3 carat diamonds.

The watches will be disassembled by engineers at Brikk and then customized with diamonds, gold and plates of metal before being reconstructed and shipped out to their customers approximately 4-6 weeks after the Apple Watch release. The line will start at $7,495 for the Standard, $11,995 for the Deluxe, and $69,995 for the Omni.

Apple has yet to specify pricing for all of the Apple watch models, and rumors have built up the high end gold model to be between $10,000 and $20,000, but don’t worry, if you’re not into gold and diamonds, the aluminum Sport model will be offered at a more acceptable $349.

Are you thinking of buying a Apple Watch? If so, will it be covered in diamonds? If so… can we come over later?

Apple needs a lot of gold for the luxury Apple Watch option

The Apple Watch release is imminent and a March 9 special media event will hopefully confirm not only the exact release date but the specific model pricing as well. We do know that the Apple Watch is going to come in an 18 Karat gold edition model, and there has been a lot of speculation as to how this model in particular will be priced.

There have been guesstimations of between $10,000 and $20,000 big ones. Here’s some more wild estimations from around the tech world – they’re thinking each watch will contain 62.2 grams of gold, and they’re thinking that Apple will sell 1 MILLION of these watches per month after it’s release.

That’s 746 tons of gold used for Apple Watches per year.  That, is about 30% of the world’s annual production of gold. Holy goober-balls, right?

Well, yeah, if those guys are right, that’s a lot of Goober-balls. However, other jewelry and tech experts have estimated the gold in the Apple Watch to be at about half that amount, and the price tag to be at a minimum of $5000, not $10, 000.

Looks like we’ll just have to wait and see. Until then, check out all the other models of the Apple Watch that will be on offer come April.

Apple announces Special Media event on March 9th

Good news!! One of those things we all love – Apple special media events – has just been announced!

Come March 9th (that’s in just 11 days people!) Apple will be sharing some special news with us at a media event held at 10:00 AM P.S.T at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

What the news? Well, we’re not 100% on that, but that’s of course not unusual for an Apple media event. Here’s what we do know:

The event is named ‘Spring forward’.

Apple will be live streaming the event from it’s website as well as making it available on Apple TV via a dedicated channel.

It is assumed that the event will focus mainly on the imminent release of the much anticipated Apple Watch, including specific price, battery life, accessory and release date details.

There is a rumor that Apple will also talk about a 12-inch Retina Macbook Air as well.

Other than that we’ll just have to wait and see! We will of course keep you up to date with the rumor mill as the event gets closer!

Apple’s new iPad Ad debuted during the Oscars

Apple debuted their new iPad Ad last night during the Academy Awards, and as per usual it was an uplifting and inspiring look at what the iPad can do to improve your life. In this case, it was focusing on Artists and in particular, filmmakers.

Because it was shown during the Oscars. And they’re filmmakers, you see? And pretty much about 75% of people who watch the Oscars think about how nice it would be to be up on that stage, holding a little golden statue and saying ” You like me! You really like me!”

Apple wants everyone to achieve that dream! And use your iPad while you’re at it!

The Ad, called ” Make a Film with iPad’,  featured Martin Scorcese in a resonant voiceover and a bunch of students from a Los Angeles County high School using iPads to create films and other art. It finishes with the phrase  “Everything changes with iPad”. The ad was apparently itself completely shot on an iPad Air 2.

Check out the App store for the new featured section highlighting the Apps that can help student filmmaking, and check out the ad below!