Mike Rundle tried on an Apple Watch and came away with three disappointments:

• The Apple Watch is smaller than he expected
• He didn’t like the leather band
• He thought the screen was not as bright/responsive as he had hoped

I think Mike is a smart guy, has deep Apple cred, and lays out his complaints with great logic.

That said, I would read his piece, but I would not let these points stop you from checking out Apple Watch for yourself. That’d be like letting IMDB make all your movie watching decisions. Read his review, keep those points in mind, then make an appointment to check the Apple Watch out for yourself.

SpaceX is taking another kick at the can, launching a multi-stage rocket into orbit, with the intent, after separation, of landing the first stage on a drone platform in the Atlantic Ocean.

If SpaceX can succeed here, this effort will change the nature of space travel. A reusable rocket will cut the cost of a launch from $200 million to about $50 million.

This is both delicious and a little creepy. Siri talk/sings your favorites (or at least 3 of someone’s favorites, with promises of more to come).

[Via iHeartApple2]

If you are brand new to HTML and web development and want an easy introduction, this free eBook is worth a look. It is well written, uses lots of pictures, and the price is right. Did I mention that it is free?

I can’t comment on the book’s technical accuracy, so keep an eye on the comments. If there are major flaws here, I suspect our readers will suss them out.

Apple put together this pretty detailed product support page for the new MacBook USB-C port and the associated adapters.

Note that the MacBook is referred to as MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015).

From IBM’s press release:

IBM today announced its Health Cloud and Watson cognitive computing capabilities will support health data entered by customers in iOS apps using Apple’s ResearchKit and HealthKit frameworks. The move, which complements IBM’s new Watson Health business unit, will arm medical researchers with a secure, open data storage solution, as well as access to IBM’s most sophisticated data analytics capabilities.

And:

Apple’s HealthKit enables developers to create consumer health apps designed to give users a more comprehensive way to manage their health and fitness, and ResearchKit is an open source software framework that gives medical researchers the tools to accelerate medical studies. HealthKit can be used to create apps that monitor health behaviors and help encourage users to adhere to their treatment plan. Participants who opt-in to apps using ResearchKit can also contribute their health information to medical research/science/medicine.

IBM will de-identify and store health data in a secure, scalable cloud system that enables researchers to access and share data in an open ecosystem environment, as well as have access to IBM’s data-mining and predictive analytics capabilities. Health and fitness app developers and medical researchers will be able to draw on data at a scale that until now has never been available. For apps using HealthKit and ResearchKit, IBM will provide a delivery platform through Health Cloud to easily store, aggregate and model data, combining it with other data sources and types to enrich research findings and identify the next frontiers of medical discovery.

This is a perfect partnership. Apple puts products in people’s hands to help gather the health data, then IBM steps in with analytics via Watson.

Interesting use of the word de-identify. I’ve not heard that word before, but from context I assume that means IBM will strip out all identifying information from the health data. That’s a tough thing to do. There are the obvious things like name and ID, but sometimes the health data itself can be used to identify someone. The combination of traits can act like biometric markers, in a manner similar to fingerprints. Data miners long ago figured out how to reverse engineer a specific set of browser habits into a specific identity, all without an IP address.

Not a complaint or worry, just an observation.

I don’t see how you can go wrong here.

Apple:

Ad-injection software is advertising-supported software that can come from third-party download sites. Software that you download from such sites may have been customized to install both the software you want and the ad-injection software. If your Mac has ad-injection software installed, you might see pop-up windows, ads, and graphics while surfing the web, even if “Block pop-up windows” is selected in Safari preferences. Ad-injection software might also change your homepage and preferred search engine.

Use these instructions to uninstall or remove ad-injection software—sometimes called adware.

These are step by step instructions from Apple on how to remove this garbage. It’s a little involved and fidgety but worth it if you or someone you know has this issue. I also use the donationware software, AdwareMedic, periodically to ensure I remain adware free.

Looking for a special gift for that mega Apple enthusiast in your life? How about the newest edition of an absolutely stunning coffee table book that features lush, beautiful photographs of Apple devices? ICONIC: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation is Iconic uses vivid color and detail to document Apple’s journey in design, form and function—and looks back at over 35 years of Apple innovation. Four years in the making, the author captured over 150,000 photos of nearly every product Apple has made, including rare prototypes and even packaging. With a foreword from Steve Wozniak and The Loop’s own Jim Dalrymple and hundreds of amazing quotes from other Apple pundits—ICONIC is the ultimate coffee table book for every Apple fan, and the perfect gift for any Apple owner who ever wanted to explore and discover the true roots of their favorite iMac, iPod, iPad, or iPhone. With free global shipping, see the different editions and use the coupon code THELOOP on checkout for 10% discount.

Jim’s Note: In addition to writing the foreword for this book, I also own two and love them!

I was having lunch with a friend the other day and we were comparing phones. I have an iPhone 6, he an iPhone 6 Plus. We both agonized over the buying decision, worried about things like extra size vs pocket convenience. Bottom line, we went in opposite directions. I’m now rethinking that decision, considering moving to the iPhone 6 Plus.

My friend passed along the linked article, a blog post from Marco Arment detailing his thoughts on making that same move. If you are wrestling with this issue, either considering a move from one to the other or considering which upgrade path to take from a smaller phone or an Android device, Marco’s post is well worth the read.

As to me, I’m going to make the move. Just waiting for my wife to get sick of her iPhone 5 so we can play the trading game. New iPhone 6 Plus for me, my slightly used iPhone 6 for her.

Back in 2013, a company called Personal Audio LLC filed lawsuits against three large podcasting companies: How Stuff Works, TogiEntertainment, Inc., and ACE Broadcasting. They also are said to have sent letters to smaller individual podcasters, like Marc Maron, producer of WTF.

Today should be a happy day for the podcasting industry, as a major ruling dealt a setback to Personal Audio’s ability to demand fees from podcasters.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation had petitioned for a review of the patent in question after raising more than $76,000 from the public via a crowd-funding campaign to cover its legal costs.

It said that Personal Audio should never have been given ownership rights to a way to create an updateable electronic table of contents.

The US Patent Office has now invalidated critical parts of related intellectual property rights it had previously granted to Personal Audio in 2012.

Here’s a link to the EFF press release.

And here’s Marc Maron’s tweeted response to the news.

[Hat tip to Rob Richman]

Pop the band off your Apple Watch and you’ll see a diagnostic port.

Here’s an excellent picture of the covered port, in a tweet posted by John Gruber.

There was some speculation that this port would be removed from the retail version of the Apple Watch, but clearly it’s still there.

There is also some speculation that Apple will open the port to accessory makers at some point. One thought that immediately came to mind when I read that was a battery band. Imagine a watch band that was all battery, giving you several days worth of power without the need for a recharge. That is pure speculation on my part, but you are welcome to repeat it as fact if you like.

Rene Ritchie, writing for iMore, takes you on a tour through the Force Click preferences. If you are even thinking about ordering a new MacBook, this is worth a look. If nothing else, it is sure to whet your appetite.

Apple’s newly introduced MacBook includes a Force Touch trackpad which not only detects a click, but can tell how much force you put into that click.

Here’s a link to Apple’s official MacBook page, with their take on Force Touch:

With the new MacBook comes a whole new way to experience a trackpad. The Force Touch trackpad is engineered to deliver a responsive, uniform click no matter where you press the surface. And underneath, force sensors detect how much pressure you’re applying and give you new ways to interact with your Mac. You can now use a Force click to enable new capabilities, like quickly looking up the definition of a word or previewing a file just by clicking and continuing to press on the trackpad.

The demos I’ve seen so far have done a fine job of showing off the basics of Force Touch, but there’s so much more to this technology. How about building a simple analog meter, with a super sensitive needle that tracks the Force you are applying to the Force Touch trackpad?

The ForceGuage would be easy to build and really give a sense of how much force you are applying at any given moment. It would also give a sense of how little latency is involved, how quickly the trackpad responds to changes in Force. As a side benefit, it might make for an excellent chunk of sample code for developers who want to add Force Touch to their own projects.

The Force Touch trackpad also includes haptic feedback:

You’ll also experience haptic feedback — a tactile vibration from the trackpad that adds the sense of touch to what you see on the screen.

The meter could include thresholds (moving from the black to the red in the linked video, for example). The trackpad could offer haptic feedback when you press hard enough to pass from one threshold to the next.

I think we’ve barely scratched the surface of what Force Touch can bring. Our existing world is binary: The track pad is clicked or not. The Force Touch trackpad is continuous, with a value based on how hard you press. This is like moving from 2D to 3D, opening up a world of possibility.

It’s not hard to imagine Force Touch coming to a future generation of iOS device. What a unifying moment that would be, bringing all Apple devices together under the Force Touch umbrella.

Monday Note:

As the first wave of Apple Watch reviews shows, waiting for impressions to settle down isn’t part of the Product Review genre. The psychoactive toxicity of Apple product launches that I made fun of two weeks ago is in full display as reviewers climb to the rooftops in a race for income-producing pageviews.

There’s no doubt that “page view journalism” has taken its toll on, at the very least, reviews of Apple’s products.

I love the Rob Lowe ads. I think they are satirical, funny without being truly mean. They capture the spirit of the Mac vs PC ads of a generation ago.

Following a Comcast (CMCSA) complaint, the Better Business Bureau this week recommended that DirecTV (DTV) discontinue its hilarious ad campaign featuring actor Rob Lowe, because the satellite TV company couldn’t substantiate many of the claims made in the commercials.

DirecTV clams in the spots that its service gets 99% signal reliability, up to 1080p HD programming, better picture and sound quality than cable, more sports programming than its rivals and shorter customer service wait times than its cable competitors. It also said it was rated No. 1 in customer satisfaction.

The Better Business Bureau has no real teeth here. But they do have pull. So their opinion does matter. Ultimately, it’d be up to the FTC to force DirecTV’s hand.

As to Rob Lowe, he tweeted this:

Recent events have underlined my belief that for something to be truly original, funny and subversive, there must also be fallout. #Life

You know the drill. You pull out your headphones and you spend five minutes untangling them. Something magical happens when you put a carefully folded pair of headphones in your pocket. And not the good kind of magic.

One product born of this problem is the Cordskinz earbuds wrap. Rather than wrap around a set of folded cords, the Cordskinz are tubes that you slide around the wires between the headphone neck and the yoke (the point where two wires become one).

I’ve been using Cordskinz for a couple of weeks now and they do indeed solve the problem. I rarely spend more than a second or two to get from the pocket bundle to completely unwrapped and ready to go. The secret is the stiffness of the tubes. They tend to keep the headphone wires in position in your pocket. As you reach in your pocket for other things, you don’t tend to slide the headphones to new positions, a prime reason for tangles.

So how do you get the Cordskinz onto your headphones? In a nutshell, you take one of the tubes in the kit, cut it to size (you’ll cut it into two lengths if your earbuds have a mic, one between the mic and your ear, one between the mic and the yoke), then use the provided doohickey (technical term) to slide the tube into place.

It really is ingenious. Watch the video to get a sense of how this works.

Macworld:

Popcorn Time for iOS tries to offer a version of sideloading, but there are far too many pieces of its process to worry about. Further, it’s not likely to be reliably available.

It’s unimaginable that Apple would ever allow something like Popcorn Time in the App Store. It’s also inadvisable by any standard to install software like it through the method the developers provide.

Leaving aside the legality of this app, the process you have to go through in order to install it makes it a non-starter for me.

iMore:

Photo editing app Snapseed gets its first major update since 2013 with version 2.0, adding a number of new editing tools to help you get the most out of your photos.

Snapseed is my favourite iOS editing app and it’s free. The interface has changed significantly but it’s not awful. If you’ve used previous versions, you’ll get the hang of this new UI fairly quickly. If you’ve never used it, you really should. It’s easy to figure out. Every photo I take on my iPhone gets passed through Snapseed.

I spent some time today talking to TechCrunch’s Darrell Etherington about Apple Watch and the 12-inch MacBook.

Samsung talking about Apple releasing the Apple Watch:

“It’s with great delight that Apple has followed us into that market.”

It’s like that company doesn’t know when to shut the hell up.

Great seeing you again, Tim. Much respect.

Steven Levy:

A few weeks ago I was crossing the street. It was cold — late February in the Winter From Hell here on the east coast — and I was wearing a heavy coat with an inside pocket for my iPhone. The device buzzed and vibrated. My heart quickened. I ran the remaining few yards to the curb. I pulled off my gloves, fumbled to open the buttons of the coat, and almost dropped my bag in the process. Finally I managed to pull out the phone. On the screen was the following message:

“Braves OF B.J. Upton has changed his name to Melvin”

This was delivered to me in the standard message format, no different than a New York Times alert informing me a building two blocks from my apartment has exploded, or an iChat message that my sister is desperately trying to reach me. Please note that I am not a blood relative of B.J. — sorry, Melvin — Upton, nor am I even a fan of the Atlanta Braves. In other words…this could have waited.

I reflexively deny permission to 99% of the apps that ask to notify me of every stupid little thing so I have less of an issue with this but I do understand where Levy is coming from. One of the things that jumps out at me from some of the Apple Watch reviews is the idea that, if you set it up right, only those notifications that are truly important will be sent on to your wrist. But that’s the way I have my iPhone set up already.

San Jose Mercury News:

Apple has opened the door for construction workers with recent felonies on their records to help build its new campus.

The tech giant has lifted a requirement that people who had been convicted of felonies within the past seven years could not work on the massive Cupertino construction project, Apple spokesman Josh Rosenstock told this newspaper Thursday. After the policy came to light this week, Apple came under fire from union leaders and advocates, who say construction jobs are a key source of work for felons trying to transition back into society.

I’m glad they did this. Now I can apply for a job on the Apple Campus 2 construction crew.

MY thanks to Yamaha for sponsoring The Loop this week. Perfect for webcasting, podcasting, gaming and music production, the AG03 and AG06 hybrid mixing consoles/USB interfaces have unique features that make your computer-based audio tasks easier and better. The AG Series offers high-resolution (24-bit/192kHz) audio recording and playback, iOS compatibility and battery operation.

The intuitive “TO PC” switch allows users to route selected inputs back to a desktop or iOS device. The “Dry CH 1-2” allows computer or iOS recording of inputs 1 and 2, while the “INPUT MIX” switch routes all inputs to the computer or iOS device via USB for music production applications. The “LOOPBACK” switch routes all inputs to the stereo USB output along with the USB input from the computer — perfect for podcasters.

Gamers will appreciate the headset/mic interface and direct hardware control of game and voice level, perfect for adding professional audio to videos or TwitchTV broadcasts.

The AG series “1-TOUCH” effects utilize programmable digital signal processing like Reverb, Compression, EQ and even Amp Simulation, adding the final professional stroke to your music productions.

This video purports to show an Apple Watch screen being put through a torture test. Not sure if it is real, and not sure how they got hold of the screen if it is real, but interesting nonetheless. That is one impressive screen.

[via 9to5mac]

Want to take a personal look at the Apple Watch Edition? Go to this site, then, in the upper left “Sales” pane, enter your location and select Watch Edition from the popup menu.

Abdel Ibrahim, writing for WatchAware, on the Apple Watch Taptic engine:

With the Watch, Apple has introduced its Taptic engine, whose goal is to help alert you to various items through various taps on your wrist. These taps are not audible and can’t even be detected by the person next to you. The idea is clearly to take advantage of your body’s ability to “feel,” and Apple is putting this to good use by taking advantage of the new paradigm as it benefits a variety of tasks.

One example, as explained by Apple, is the Watch’s ability to tap you when you need to make a turn along some GPS-plotted course. The fact that you can be tapped and told in silence “Hey, get ready to take a right turn!” is a far different — and by my expectations, a far better — experience than having some semi-robotic voice tell you that it’s time to hang a quick right.

That’s an interesting use case, though I am not sure a tap alone would be enough to add value to the Apple Watch as direction-giver. With a single tap, for example, there’s no way to distinguish between left and right [Dave: apparently there is a way – cool!], or left and get in your right lane. Siri and Apple Maps excel at direction-giving, even without access to the screen.

That said, I can certainly see a number of cases where a tap at the right time could make all the difference. Anytime where you can hear yourself saying “and…now” to get the timing of something just right is a candidate for the Apple Watch. Of course, a tap to tell you when the pasta is done is an easy example.

But if you are doing something that requires delicate and precise timing, a tap at the right moment could be a tremendous help. Purely to help illustrate the point, consider serving a tennis ball. You throw the ball up in the air, then go through a series of precise timed movements to make sure your racket arrives at the right moment to meet the ball. I’m not suggesting that the Apple Watch is the right solution here, just making the point that a tap at the right moment can help you develop muscle memory when precise timing is required.

Steven Aquino, writing for iMore:

Ever since Apple unveiled the Watch last September, I’ve heard from many in the accessibility community who have expressed trepidation in their enthusiasm for the watch. The common refrain is that the usability story of it for, say, a blind person is unknown. As I said, we with special needs need reasonable assurance that Apple Watch will be usable, particularly in light of the introduction of the digital crown and Taptic Engine.

I met with Apple for a hands-on briefing of the watch and its accessibility features. My aim with this article is to run down what’s available on Apple Watch, accessibility-wise, as well as share a few observations I have on their potential impact on watch wearers.

This is a first look at a brand new product. I suspect the accessibility aspects of Apple Watch will evolve over time and, certainly, the app community will help supplement Apple’s built-in offerings.