Tag Archives: iPhone

“We believe the future of TV is apps”

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Apple CEO Tim Cook said that during the announcement of the latest version of Apple TV back in September. I didn’t give it much thought at the time but after using apps on the TV for a few days, I’m starting to get a sense of what he was talking about. Not sure I can describe it in any useful way.

Back in the 50s we had two or three channels and everything came through one of them (in real time). Cable brought us more pipes but you had to be watching the right pipe at the right time to see what you wanted (or what the network wanted you to see). VCRs and (later) DVRs allowed us to time shift and skip commercials but its was still a channels-of-programs world.

The iPhone introduced the concept of apps. The New York Times has an app; ESPN has an app; all gods children got an app. Now the world is mobile and apps is where it’s at.

reutersTVThis is where I was going to try to describe how “apps for the TV” delivers a fundamentally different experience than the current TV model but I don’t think I’m up to the task. I know it’s a cliche but you’ll just have to play with for a bit get it. But I do have one example.

The new (4th generation) Apple TV comes with an app for Reuters TV. You can watch individual stories (Trump on SNL) or categories (World News). Or you can let the app build a “newscast” for you. Tell it how much time you have (5, 15, 30 minutes) and it does the rest.

I’ve been impressed with the few of these I’ve watched. No high profile anchors and no famous network correspondents. I’m reminded of the early days of CNN Headline News with anonymous (but competent) reports told you what was happening. The reporters I’ve watched on Reuters TV are not slick or polished but they get the job done and the story is clearly more important than the people reporting.

The production values are excellent, they’ve just done away with a lot of the shit (glitzy graphics, etc) the networks have piled on over the years. And it’s rare to see an NBC newscast without at least one “story” promoting the network (“More on the TODAY SHOW tomorrow morning…”).

Reuters TV did toss in a couple of 10 second (?) ads but they were not intrusive and they weren’t aimed at the 65+ demo.

So, if I get home in the middle of the afternoon and want a summary of news, Reuters TV can give me what I want; the length I want; when I want it. On my new big screen TV. Apps do this well. Far better than networks and cable channels.

As I get more comfortable with TV = apps I’ll take another stab at describing this. I’d be very interested in hearing from others using the latests version of Apple TV.

Shirt Pocket Video

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The video above runs about 50 seconds and was recorded with my iPhone in my shirt pocket. I got the idea from this from the 2013 Spike Jonze move, Her (Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson).

There are times when I would like to record video … discreetly. Some folks — even in very public places — get all goofy about being recorded. (See Google Glass).

While the iPhone looks quite natural in my shirt pocket, the vertical orientation results in the clueless video the rest of the world thinks is okay. But my new iPhone 6S records 4K which allowed me to crop and wind up with the CORRECT aspect ratio.

Walking results in pretty bad video but once standing still, it’s pretty good. Same for the audio.

Little Rice: Smartphones, Xiaomi, and the Chinese Dream

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Amazon: “Smartphones have to be made someplace, and that place is China. In just five years, a company names Xiaomi (which means “little rice” in Mandarin) has grown into the most valuable startup ever, becoming the third largest manufacturer of smartphones, behind only Samsung and Apple. China is now both the world’s largest producer and consumer of a little device that brings the entire globe to its user’s fingertips. How has this changed the Chinese people? How did Xiaomi conquer the worlds’ biggest market” Can the rise of Xiaomi help realize the Chinese Dream, China’s bid to link personal success with national greatness? Clay Shirky, one of the most influential and original thinkers on the internet’s effects on society, spends a year in Shanghai chronicling China’s attempt to become a tech originator–and what it means for the future course of globalization.”

A few excerpts:

The mobile phone is a member of a small class of human inventions, a tool so essential it has become all but invisible, and life without it unimaginable.

There are only three universally personal items that someone will carry with them no matter where they live. The first two are money and keys; the third is the mobile phone, making it the first new invention added to that short list in three thousand years.

The number of mobile phone users crossed 4.5 billion last year, and because of dual accounts, there are now more mobile subscriptions in the world than there are people.

A smartphone is as different from a standard-issue Nokia 1100 as a computer is from a typewriter.

Mobile phones are a funny product, midway between commodity and luxury. They are a commodity in that everyone needs one. They are a luxury in that a phone makes a significant personal statement.

Status is a bigger feature of the iPhone (in China) than in the U.S. Electronics stores display phones running Android with the screen facing out, as usual, but iPhones are often displayed case out, to show off the Apple logo.

Nokia went from being the world’s most important mobile phone company to an also-ran in three years, collapsing into Microsoft’s waiting arms after another three, a generation of dominance undone in half a decade

If you make something that appeals to 5 percent of the Chinese population, you have a potential market the size of France.

Radio dial just too small

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podcastsBeen thinking some more about broadcasters lobbying for mobile carriers to turn on the FM receiver chip in phones. Never gonna work. Radio dial just too small. A little back-story:

Since getting my first iPhone several years ago, I’ve always listened to music with earbuds when in the car. The 4Runner didn’t have a good way to interface and I just never bothered when I got the MINI. Apple Music has me listening more these days so I purchased an aux cable to play iPhone music through the MINI speakers.

Lo and behold! The MINI has really good speakers. Way better experience than the earbuds. (Yes, everybody told me that) Anyway, back to the radio dial…

With the unlimited data plan (ATT) on my phone, I can listen to (almost) all the music there is. And the playlists. And the customized “stations”… as well as the half-dozen podcasts I follow.

“Hey, Siri. Podcast. Tech News Today.” Voila!

No radio station can match this. ALL the radio stations can’t match this.

Chase Apple Pay ad with Bleachers

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“The ad — in which Apple was heavily involved according to AdAge — follows members of an indie band as they prepare for a show by making purchases with their Chase Freedom card through Apple Pay. One gets a haircut, for instance, while another has his guitar tuned.”

My first thought on watching this ad was, “Pretty cool for a bank.” Upon closer look I saw that Apple was “heavily involved” so… Wonder if someone at Chase went to Apple and said help us make this cool, or if Apple reached out to Chase and said why don’t you let us make this cool for you.

Been using Apple Pay here at The Coffee Zone for a week now and it reminds me a bit of using my key fob to unlock the MINI. When I approach my car I just automatically click the unlock button. When I approach cash registers, will I reach for my phone without thinking?

“Hey, Siri” hands-free

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hey-siriApple’s Siri gets lot of shit but not from me. I use it more all the time (and I like “Okay, Google” as well). But Siri became even more useful when I learned I could summon him/her just by saying, “Hey, Siri” as opposed to double tapping the home button. This only works when the phone is plugged in but that makes sense if you think about it.

When I’m reading in bed in the evening the phone is charging on the bed-side table and I might say “Hey, Siri… set alarm for 7:30 tomorrow” or “Hey, Siri… new reminder. Pick up dry cleaning tomorrow afternoon.”

This feature is even more useful in the car (I just started using a cradle). “Hey, Siri… Instant Message my location to Barb” or “Hey, Siri… how far am I from Nashville?”

While it’s not difficult to reach over and double-tap the home button, I find the “Hey, Siri” feature remarkably useful.

Apple Pay

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George Kopp and I went to Panera today for lunch and to try out Apple Pay. [The video is vertical because George thought it might get more of the transaction] This took a few extra seconds because I forgot to put my thumb on the Touch ID button. Had I done so it would have automatically used the first credit card in my Passbook app. As it was, I had to tap on my VISA card and then do Touch ID. I’m just not sure how paying for something is going to get easier/faster than this.

UPDATE: I stopped by Walgreen’s for a flu shot and on the way out picked up a bag of cookies to see if I could pay with Apple Pay. And, because nutrition is important to me, I swung by McDonald’s and got some fries. What I found most interesting is at both places, the person behind the counter had obviously never heard of Apple Pay. But when I passed my phone over the scanner, the registers made a happy beep and the transaction just happened. All the counter people did was enter the amount.

I see two possible futures for Apple Pay. (And I think we’ll know in six months) It will either be an unqualified success or it will go the way of the Amazon Phone, Microsoft’s Zune or Google’s Wallet. If it flops it will be because there was insufficient demand; retailers decided they didn’t want it (for reasons good and bad) and refused to make it an option; or some other combination of factors I’m not smart enough to see.

But it won’t be because people started getting their thumbs hacked off to fool TouchID or any other Mission Impossible bullshit.

Coffee Zone Time Lapse Video

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An hour of video using the time-lapse feature on the iPhone 6 boils down to 30 seconds. A pretty cool effect. This is my local coffee shop (Coffee Zone) between 7-8 a.m. today. If you watch closely you might see someone’s breakfast get knocked over and cleaned up. That’s Jordan behind the counter. I’ll try to be a bit more creative with this in my next effort.

How Apple accidentally revolutionized health care

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ipad

“A study by Manhattan Research in 2011 found that 75% of physicians owned at least one Apple product. Vitera Healthcare’s 2012 survey of health-care professionals backed up this high number. The company’s study found that 60% of respondents used an iPhone and 45% owned an iPad.”

“Yale University’s School of Medicine even did away with paper materials for training upcoming physicians. The school provided iPads and wireless keyboards to all of its medical students. Other schools followed suit.”

“By April 2012, the (Apple) App Store included more than 13,600 health-related applications.“

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