Apple Watch updates

Hermes Leather editions. Double Tour, Classic Buckle, and Cuff

Stainless steel versions between USD $1,100 and $1,500

New Sport band colors and options. Including Space Black with Black Sport.

New gold and rose gold aluminum sport watches. Starting at USD $349.00

iPhone 6s and 6s Plus

Specs

Sizes mostly remain the same just slightly thicker

just 0.1 to 0.2mm

7000 services aluminum (like Apple Watch)

Old cases might be a tight fit.

New dual ion-exchange glass that’s stronger

Screen resolutions the same.

New A9 processor and M9 motion co-processor

A9 is 70% faster for CPU and 90% faster for GPU

Lets you use 'Hey Siri' without having to be plugged in

Hints in iOS 9 that you may soon be able to train Siri

Apple already said voice data is not sent to their servers until the "magic" words are uttered.

16GB/64GB/128GB

12MP iSight Camera and 5MP FaceTime camera

Optical image stabilization is still Plus only

Shoot 4K video at 30fps

Retina FaceTime Flash

TouchID 2

Slightly smaller battery. 1715 mAh in the 6s compared to 1810 mAh in the 6.

Probably to make room for the Taptic Engine

Apple claims you’ll still get the same battery life.

802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2, faster LTE up to 300Mbps

Pricing:

iPhone 6s: 16GB $199/64GB $299/128GB $399 (with contract)

iPhone 6s: 16GB $649/64GB $749/128GB $849 (no contract)

iPhone 6s Plus: 16GB $299/64GB $399/128GB $499 (with contract)

iPhone 6s Plus: 16GB $749/64GB $849/128GB $949 (no contract)

Apple iPhone "Upgrade" program

If you like the idea of getting a new iPhone every year and don’t mind never really "owning" the phone

Is a fully "unlocked" device, but still need to choose a carrier.

Yes Sprint and Verizon are STILL different models.

Starts at $32.41/mo. but includes AppleCare+

Total payout over 24mos for a 64GB ($749.00) = $877.92.

Carrier plans are right around $750, but don’t include the $129 Applecare.

You may also need to make additional payments to become eligible

So 0% loan, but you pay for 24 mos. or trade in your device at 12 mos and hope the credit covers your buy out.

You’ll have to pass a credit check

Have to schedule an appointment to buy your iPhone in-store

AppleCare+ will cost you more

USD$129.00 (up from $99)

Accidental replacement cost is also up USD $20 to

Will still sell the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus

No gold or 128GB options though.

Silver or Space Grey in 16GB or 64GB sizes

Starting at iPhone 6 to USD $99 and the iPhone 6 Plus USD $199 (with contract)

No more iPhone 5c and no 6c yet

iPhone 5s now becomes the "free" phone

Why storage should be a little less of an issue

iOS9 is smaller, taking only 1.3GB to upgrade vs. the 4.58 it took for iOS 8

"App Thinning" means apps will only store the assets appropriate for your device.

3D-Touch

How is it different than Force Touch?

Might be in how it detects the force. Actually uses light from the LEDs to detect minute differences in pressure applied to the glass.

There are basically 2 levels Apple calls "Peek" and "Pop"

Peeks let you get a bit more info and decide if you want to press harder and "pop" that data or information into view.

They get accompanied by 10-millisecond or 15-millisecond haptic tap from the iPhone’s net Taptic engine.

Many of the "peeks" feel like contextual menus, but keep you from having to use extra taps or swipes to accomplish a task.

Want to send a Tweet

Old way you could double tap the home button, find the twitter app, tap to open the Twitter app, tap to start the Tweet.

With 3D touch, Press the Twitter icon to get a peek and slide to press and pop open a new tweet sheet.

It works as a form of pressure sensitivity. Can press harder to get thicker lines in Notes according to Rene Ritchie

3D Touch APIs will be made available to developers

Many worry about the "discoverability" of the feature

This actually could be a feature that gets people to buy a new iPhone.

Live Photos

When you launch the camera app it starts capturing in the background

When you snap a photo it actually captures frames 1.5 seconds before and after the shot.

Live Photos format is a bundle of images based on the JPEG file format

You can send them to devices that don’t support Live Photos and they’ll just appear as a JPEG still

In Photos you only see the shot you took, but if you 3D touch it it comes to life, playing as a 3 second looping video.

You can use them as "Live" wallpaper

For security the frames are not saved at all until you press the shutter

There will be an API for developers to use the feature in their apps

Images are about twice as big as the single photo. Only the frame variance is stored.

You can disable the feature, but it’s on my default. Yellow concentric ring icon in the Camera app.

Ordering an iPhone

Order day went smoothly at 12:01 AM PT.

Victor Cajiao and I had a chat on Blab.im after. The video is up on the Maccast YouTube channel, http://youtube.com/maccast

blab.im/mjtdg

I used the Apple Store app and all went smoothly

128GB iPhone 6s in gold with a blue leather Apple case and AppleCare+

New Apple TV

Apple TV Specs

A8 64-bit processor

Believed to have 1GB RAM (up from 512)

Taller now 1.4-inches. 3.9 W 3.9 H

HDMI 1.4, 802.11ac with MIMO, 10/100BASE-T Ethernet

Bluetooth 4.0

IR receiver

USB-C (service port)

Two sizes 32GB for USD $149 or 64GB for USD $199

Drops digital optical out port.

But will now support Dolb .1

Can you connect BT headphones now?

Apple TV "Siri Remote"

Dual microphones

Touchpad actually clicks

Uses Bluetooth 4.0

Still has an IR transmitter

Menu, Home, Siri, Play/Pause, and Volume buttons

Can control volume on TV or receiver via IR

Also has HDMI-CEC, or Consumer Electronics Control.

If your TV supports it

Can power on your TV, switch to the correct input and control volume.

Battery that lasts for three months with typical use according to Apple.

Charge on Lightning connector

Has Accelerometer and gyroscope for motion control.

You can use iPhones and iPod Touches as additional remotes

Still a HD device. No 4K support or playback.

tvOS

Apple has give the OS a name.

"95 percent" the same as iOS, with modifications to the interface layer to support the new remote and display on a TV screen according to Craig Federighi

He says that Apple views iOS, OS X, tvOS, and watchOS as all being built off the same core frameworks and ideas, so they should all stay in sync as they're updated over time

Cleaned up UI

Parallax button can be made up of up to 5 separate layers

Added Siri support with contextual universal search

Right now works across iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, and HBO

Hope that developers can add support via APIs, but Apple might want to control access.

"What did they say?" 15 sec. skip back with subtitles.

Can access app data, like weather and sports scores, or IMDB info while watching a show.

tvOS is an Apple TV 4th gen exclusive (no upgrade for older Apple TVs).

Enhanced Speech, ups sound for voices and lowers background noise and music for nighttime watching.

App Store and Games

This is how Apple will get new experiences on Apple TV

Apps for ABC, Disney, HBO, Hulu, and Showtime at launch

Apple says you’ll be able to buy full-season subscriptions to the NBA, NHL, and MLB

Plex has announced that they will have an app on Apple TV

Remote doubles as a controller

Turn it sideways. Touchpad is your D-controller, click the touchpad for "A" and Play/Pause as "B"

Supports up to 4 remotes (Macworld). iMore says you can’t pair more than one currently.

Additional remotes will cost USD $79.00 (Macworld)

Optional "Remote Loop", strap.

Strap is USD $13.00

Apple TV apps will be limited to 200 megabytes of on-device storage

Additional content can be dynamically downloaded from the App Store via iOS's on-demand resources functionality, with user data stored in CloudKit.

dynamically add and remove content like levels, cut scenes, tutorials, etc. from the cloud

Apple Music and Photos are also on the device

Also "Flyover" style screen savers?

Can work with 3rd party MFi game controllers

Developers can require the use of a 3rd party controller, but are discouraged by Apple from doing so in the developer guidelines

Will be available in 80 countries in late October

Only consumers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, the UK and the U.S. will receive the Siri Remote.

Other countries will not have Siri Features and only get what Apple is calling the Apple TV Remote.

The Apple TV Remote is functionally the same and has the Siri button but maybe not mics. Pressing the Siri button brings up on screen text search.

If Siri is enabled later it might require a new Siri Remote purchase.

My thoughts

The new UI is nice, but I wish it pushed more of my content forward

I’m also worried that univseral search is partially built to push content on services I don’t use (Hulu and Showtime).

Will be great for casual gamers, but not a console killer for die hards.

I predict right now that Apple will be forced to include the Remote Loop when people start damaging their TVs

Games are also something offered by others, but universal apps might give Apple and edge here, especially if you’re an iOS user with a competing set-top currently

Apps can be built with "App Thinning"

Curious about how it will handle multiple remotes

The MLB at Bat demo looked amazing for sports fans

I’m not the target market for home shopping, but that might be a thing

I think much like the Apple Watch the apps are going to be very personalized to your family.

I also think Developers need to figure out WHAT apps and experiences make sense for a 10-foot interface

Expect a lot of bad apps and experiences while they figure that out

Many have said this just is Apple "catching-up" with other set tops

I think the big difference though is the experience and integration

If you’re invested in Apple’s ecosystem the experience will far outweigh anything you can cobble together with other products

An unboxing already

Somehow this guy, Andru Edwards, claims to have got his hands on a new Apple TV and unboxed it on his YouTube channel

YouTube

iPad Pro

iPad with a 12.9-inch retina display.

Resolution of 2732-by-2048 pixels, a total of 5.6 million at a density of 265 ppi

It’s not 4K, but can edit 4K.

The widths of the two Split View apps will be slightly constrained, as the iPad Pro's 2732-pixel height is not quite enough to fit two full-width 1536-pixel iPad Air apps at once.

Has a variable refresh rate. So it can consume less power when stuff isn’t moving around the screen as much. Drops from 60fps to 30fps

6.9mm thick, just slightly more the the iPad Air. And weighs 1.57 pounds

Apple newest A9X processor, that Apple calls "desktop-class". Is 1.8 times faster than the iPad Air 3’s A8X.

With M9 motion coprocessor

Apple says it outperforms 80 percent of laptops sold in the last 12 months — and 90 percent of them in graphics

Believed to have 4GB of RAM (double the iPad Air) - According to pulled Adobe PR

Faster flash storage and faster controller

Apple says that it will let you "quickly open even in the largest files"

Apple showed editing three 4K video sources in iMovie

Four speakers that adjust depending on the orientation.

Suppose to give 3x more volume.

10 hours of battery life

8MP iSight camera and 1.2MP FaceTime camera (same as iPad Air)

TouchID, no mention of NFC.

802.11 AC MIMO, Bluetooth 4.2, and 150-mbps LTE

Available in silver, gold, and space grey.

Still has Lightning connector (no USB-C).

Pricing is USD $799.00 for 32GB Wi-Fi, USD $949 128GB Wi-Fi, and USD $1079 128GB Wi-Fi+Cellular

Ships in November

Apple Smart Keyboard Cover

Covered in Apple "custom-woven fabric".

Smart Connector port on the side (landscape only) connects magnetically and provides bi-directional data and power.

This is already opened up to 3rd party developers. Logitech has announced accessories.

Possibly used for other things? Piano keyboard, drum pads, etc?

Does not use, or have, Bluetooth.

Still has a Lightning connector for syncing and charging

Has full-sized keys that use the same butterfly-design technology Apple developed for the new MacBook.

Hands on comments suggest that key travel and general feel are similar to the Macbook Pro (which I didn’t like when I tried it briefly)

Works like a Smart Cover with an extra 4th flap containing a keyboard.

AppleInsider hands on video it didn’t seem to lay flat when closed.

Really designed for use on a table, not so much a lap.

Will only work with iPad Pro.

because of size the on-screen keyboard is getting pretty close to full size.

Costs USD $169.00 in November

Apple Pencil

Apple claims "imperceptible" latency.

Collects twice as many data points as when you use your finger and it can detect the difference.

Can detect pressure (how much?) and angle and orientation (two tilt sensors)

12-hours of battery life and recharges via a built-in Lightning connector on the "eraser" end.

Connector is hidden under a removable magnetic cap.

TechCrunch reported that in 15seconds you could get 30 mins. of charge.

Can charge directly from the iPad Pro or using a "dongle" that is included and also used the first time to set up and pair the Pencil.

It comes with additional tips which will wear down over time

A rep called it like a ball point pen re-fill

Apple will also sell replacements

Works in Notes, Mail, Paper By 53, Procreate

Open to 3rd Party apps

Developer get input based on sensors, but it’s up to the software to determine how to react to that input.

Will only work with iPad Pro.

USD $99.00 in November

A lot of people are throwing Jobs take on the stylus back in Apple’s face.

"Who wants a stylus. You have to get em and put em away, and you lose em. Yuck." - Jobs 2007

"It's like we said on the iPad, if you see a stylus, they blew it." - Jobs, 2010

The first was at the iPhone launch and that still holds true. For most use cases and in most scenarios on a phone a stylus is a bad idea. Galaxy Note 5 S pen anyone?

The second was about the iPad and for a main way of interaction on a tablet it also still is true.

The iPad Pro though is a new beast and targeted at a different kind of user. It’s also why the Pencil is an "optional" accessory. Apple doesn’t ship with one because still most people won’t want or need it.

iPad mini 4

Basically a mini iPad Air 2, so supports all the new iOS 9 multitasking features

Slide over

Picture in Picture video

Split View

Using a version of the A8X

60 percent faster graphics performance

Also the M8 motion co-processor

6.1mm so it’s thinner and 30 grams lighter

8MP iSight able to do 120fps video at 720p

USD $399 for 16GB Wi-Fi version, USD $499 for 64GB, and USD $599 for 128GB. Add $130 for Cellular models

Mini 3 is gone, bit you can get an iPad mini 2 starting at USD$269.00

My thoughts

I can’t believe it, but I really want an iPad Pro. Was not expecting that.

I also want all the accessories.

I plan to try an see if the iPad Pro can turn my Macbook Pro into a desktop.

Agree with the sentiment of "who is this for"

Laptop or Tablettop?

I think it’s about specific users and their preferences.

Which experience do you like better

The lines of WHAT you can do on an iPad Pro vs. a Macbook are blurred.

They both can surf the web, run office apps, email, edit video (3 screens of 4K on iPad Pro in iMovie), run Photoshop.

But "how" you work with them are very different and could be generational.

For me, I’m seduced by the idea of ultra portability. I device I carry in my hand, not in a satchel.

Odds & Ends

Apple snuck El Capitan release date into an 'Peeked' email from Phil Schiller. September 30th.

New iCloud tiers and pricing

50 GB: $0.99 per month (previously 20 GB for $0.99 per month)

200 GB: $2.99 per month (previously 200 GB for $3.99 per month)

1 TB: $9.99 per month (previously 1 TB for $19.99 per month)

Color matched Lightning Docks. USD $49.00

21.5-inch 4K iMac didn’t make and appearance, but still coming

DigiTimes says production has started

Expected to still launch this quarter

4,096-by-2,304-pixel screen, 218 pixels per inch (matching the 5K iMac)

Could likely be the first Mac to have a Skylake process

Discover adds Apple Pay support September 16th in the US

Giving 10% cash back on Apple Pay purchases up to $10,000 until the end of the year

What do we use Apple Watch for

We’ve been discussing this the past few weeks on the show.

I use it mostly for triaging notifications, time, setting times, message, and occasionally voice calls.

Wristly surveyed 2,000 Apple Watch owners and found

People use it for checking notifications, the time, and complications more than expected

Using it as a remote, for personal messages, and listening to music or podcasts were less than expected.

I think iOS 9 and native apps will vastly change how we use Apple Watch.

Clearing Apple Music cache

On OS X if you use Apple Music a lot with streaming you might find your free hard drive space getting smaller

Yes you’re streaming, but Apple caches the music so if you want a track again you don’t have to re-download.

If you’re running out of space though you might want to clear this cache manually.

Quit iTunes

Then go to ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.itunes in the Finder

Hold 'option' while clicking the 'Go' menu to get to your '~/Library' folder

Mine was 3.0 GB

You can select all these files and delete them.

When you relaunch iTunes they will be recreated.

Clean Install OS X El Capitan

I had more than a few of you ask me to run down how you would do a clean install of OS X El Capitan when it comes out on the 30th.

The reason this question come up is because it’s no longer really possible to boot the latest OS installer from disk easily

We get OS X from the Mac App Store and boot into the OS X recovery partition which is on the same drive as our boot drive.

First thing to ask is, "Do I really need to do a clean install"?

90% of the time I would say the answer is NO

OS X has become a pretty robust and stable OS.

It does a pretty good job of managing itself.

If you aren’t really having any issues or problems then just download the new OS, install over the top, and go on your merry way.

So who should do a clean install

If you are having LOTS of issues and none of the normal fixes or troubleshooting has helped

You’re like me and have done "over the top" upgrades the last 3-4 releases and you just want to force a "spring cleaning".

It all begins with prep

Cleanup and verification

Do some house keeping

Clean up, archive, and remove old junk that you don’t need anymore or doesn’t need to be immediately available on your boot volume.

We’re still your user folder back after the clean install, so we want that clean before hand.

Use Disk Utility to repair permissions and verify and check your volumes.

Backup, backup, backup

Now make sure it’s all backed up

In at least two, preferably three, locations.

Take inventory of the Apps you want to re-install

Look in your apps folder and make a list

Use that list to make sure your apps are OS X El Capitan compatible, Roaring Apps

https://roaringapps.com/

Make sure you have any product or registration keys and installers you might need later

Download the OS X Installer from the Mac App Store.

After it starts up. Quit the installer

It should be in your Applications folder and will likely be called 'Install OS X El Capitan.app'

Get a hold of USB Stick or SD Card with at least 8GBs

Follow Apple’s instructions for the 'createinstallmedia' command

support.apple.com

You’ll need to use the Terminal and change the commands application path since the current instruction only cover OS X Mavericks and OS X Yosemite

This should net you a bootable USB or Flash drive with the OS X Installer on it.

Boot from your installer

Disconnect All external drives, devices, etc except for your wired Mouse and keyboard (if you still have those).

With the USB or Flash drive plugged into your Mac. Hold down the 'Option' key while restarting or booting your Mac

Select the drive with the OS X El Capitan installer. The one you just created.

When it boots you should see the OS X Utilities Screen

Select "Disk Utility"

Use Disk Utility to erase and format your Mac’s disk as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

Quit Disk Utility

Install OS X

Back on the OS X Utilities Screen choose "Reinstall OS X"

Choose the Mac disk you just erased and click "Install"

Once it finishes the Set-up process should start

When you see the 'Transfer Information to this Mac' screen make sure you’ve attached your backup drive (clone or Time Machine)

Select 'From Another Disk'

Select the source

Select the information to transfer

Users folder - Yes

Applications - No

Settings - Yes

Other files and folders - Yes

Transfer

Finish the set up

Update the OS and install Mac App Store App

Check software update in the Mac App Store and install any updates

Re-install iWork and iLife Apps (in Purchased)

Pages, Numbers, Keynote

Garageband (if you use it)

3rd party apps

Clean install your Apps

Don't forget about menu items, system preferences, device drivers, etc.

If you have command line or developer tools don’t forget that stuff

Verify all your critical apps launch and are working.

Re-setup backups

If you can afford a new drive for cloned backups I recommend this.

Attach time Machine drive. It should ask if you want to use this disk and if you want it to pickup from the old Time Machine data (I say yes).

In some cases I erase the Time Mach drive and just start over fresh.

I set up a new SuperDuper clone back up

Not clear if SD will be ElCap ready at launch. CCC is, http://bombich.com/blog/2015/09/10/ccc-updated-el-capitan

I like to keep the "old" backup around as a safety net for a month or so.

Reset-up offline backups.