Originally published at: https://appletalk.com.au/2019/02/wednesday-morning-news270219/
Apple has announced the winners of its Shot on iPhone contest, with the ten shots being shared via Apple’s press releases portal. While there aren’t any Australian winners amongst the ten, I like all of the photos, although I’m a little surprised at how only two feature people as the primary subject. Get used to seeing the shots, because they’ll soon be making their way to a billboard or Apple Store near you.
Bloomberg reports Apple will be looking to integrate sleep tracking in a future Apple Watch model, perhaps as soon as next year. Sleep tracking seems like an obvious inclusion when you consider Apple’s push for health and fitness, so it’s strange that Apple hasn’t added sleep tracking to any Apple Watch thus far, or why we need to wait another year for it. Perhaps Apple doesn’t believe Apple Watch battery life is where it needs to be to support sleep tracking as well as being worn the rest of the time.
Apple COO Jeff Williams recently gave the commencement speech at Elon University in North Carolina, and one of the things he discussed with in a question and answer session was that he said Apple was very aware of the cost of its products, with complaints often being heard of the high price of Apple products versus those of its competitors. But Williams said that Apple doesn’t want to be an elitist company, nor do they want to be an egalitarian one.
TechCrunch continues their App Store crusade with a report on how shady app developers are gaming the App Store by duplicating their apps under different names and icons. Virtual phone number apps are in the firing line this time, with TechCrunch discovering several apps that are clones of each other, with only various minor visual differences between them.
A story from CNBC tells us about the internal processes at Apple for emails to Apple executives. While these kinds of emails are first filtered by a personal assistant, emails believed to be especially important are forwarded to the respective addressee for personal attention, with others perhaps being forwarded to other internal distribution groups of Apple execs within Apple, but the moral of the story is that you should email Apple execs if you want a better chance of being read, not mention them in a tweet.
A concept idea for iOS 13 shows us what it would be like if iOS devices integrated with Apple designed hardware and accessories including the Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, and Magic Keyboard. Various parts of iOS have been redesigned to be more modern, including updating the volume UI, ability to be used as a second screen for a Mac, dark mode, and more.
Over at Macworld, Jason Snell thinks Apple should be riding the Apple Home train all the way to the station, with the idea being that whole-home HomeKit would extend to wireless hardware and entertainment — having just a smart speaker doesn’t cut it when all other audio companies have that and all of their other offerings.
And if we have whole-home HomeKit, then it only makes sense to have whole-home AirDrop. For devices connected to the same wireless network, you shouldn’t need close proximity to be able to send something via AirDrop to the person on the other side of the house. AirDrop removes many of the traditional drawbacks to filesharing, it’s just a shame that you need to be in close proximity to use it.
The Siri watchface on the Apple Watch is undoubtedly the most dynamic of the available watch faces, although some say it can be a little hit and miss. But by fine-tuning the possible sources of information, you can ensure you always have the most relevant information at hand. Or on your wrist, as the case may be.
Apple’s latest depth control ad teaches us two things: that you can adjust the depth of shots taken after the fact, and that the male ego is as fragile as it has ever been. But it’s still a good ad.