iPhone 7 and Apple Watch 2: Are we there yet?

iPhone 7 and Apple Watch 2: Are we there yet?

On September 7, 2016 Apple announced the new  Apple Watch Series 2 with WatchOS 3, iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus with iOS 10, and AirPods with the new W1 chip. This is an interesting release year for Apple which, in my opinion, is starting to reveal a subtle change in the company strategy under the helm of Tim Cook as compared to Steve Jobs.

First off the new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are not terribly exciting. The new phones are little more then incremental upgrades over last year's iPhone 6 models which include 6s, 6s Plus, and SE. Here is what is new and different for 7 and 7 Plus:

• Super Mario Run is coming to iPhone first
• new Jet Black and Matte Black color options
• Force sensitive home button which is more like a trackpad then a button
• IP67 water resistance which means that you no longer have to have that horrible sense of dread when your iPhone slips out of your back pocket and falls into the toilet or you walk into a pool while trying to catch a Snorlax but you are still not going to want to take your phone swimming with you. 
• Better camera with optical image stabilization on all models and a second lense on the 7 Plus that allows for true optical zoom and some depth of field gimmicks to take better photos
• Better display (25% brighter with more colors)
• Stereo audio speakers on top and bottom of the phone for a true stereo experience when viewing media in landscape mode
• Better performance with the new A10Fusion quad core processor
• The removal of the headphone jack replaced instead with a set of lighting ear buds and a lightning to headphone jack adapter that both ship with the phone.

So Apple pretty much has to make these kinds of incremental improvements every year just in order to have a new device to release. Nothing new about the iPhone 7 is really exciting or innovative with one or two exceptions. Super Mario Run looks really cool but it will run fine on your iPhone 5 or 6 just as well as the new iPhone 7 so don't upgrade just for that. The removal of the headphone jack is a pretty big deal that has upset a lot of folks but it is actually a really good thing that Apple has done. Read on and I will explain further after the summary of the AirPods and Apple Watch 2. If you have a working iPhone 5 or 6 or an Android phone that you are happy with then wait until iPhone 8 in 2018 before considering an upgrade. 

Next up is is the Apple Watch Series 2. Here is what is new and different for Apple Watch 2:

• Pokemon Go app for the Apple Watch
• White ceramic color option
• Waterproof up to 50m which means you can take it swimming with you while your iPhone stays in your duffel.
• Better performance with the dual core S2 chip
• Built-in GPS

Now the watch is getting incremental updates so that Apple can release a new one every year. Well, I still don't want one. If I was going swimming 3 times a week for fitness I might think about getting an Apple Watch to help track my exercise but I find that Pokemon Go motivates me to get out and walk already far more then Apple Watch 2 will motivate me to get out and go swimming and I really don't mind holding my phone in my hand while I walk so I really don't need the watch to tell me when a wild pokemon or a pokestop pops up. The watch still can not operate independently from the iPhone and in fact replace the need for a phone in your pocket at all which is what I am waiting for. We are definitely not there yet with the watch but I am starting to understand why Apple released this really expensive fitness tracker. Read on and I will explain further.

To complement the new iPhone 7 with it's lack of headphone jack this year Apple is trying to re-design bluetooth headsets with the release of the AirPods. A lot of ridicule has been directed at these things that look like Apple literally took a pair of scissors and snipped off the wires from their signature white earbuds. The most notable thing about the AirPods is that they are not just bluetooth. Prior to the event Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak made his feelings known when he warned Apple against removing the headphone jack. They key point that Steve made was that bluetooth audio does not sound good enough for people that want the better fidelity they get from a wired connection. Apple's answer to this problem was to "enhance" bluetooth and make their own wireless technology in the form of the W1 chip. The advantages of the W1 chip are that it can sync the audio playback between the right and left ear buds without a connecting wire, it has better quality audio, it supports Siri (from your phone) and you "sync" it with your phone by just tapping the AirPod on your iPhone or Apple Watch just like using the Phone for Apple Pay. The obvious disadvantage is that it only works with other Apple devices running iOS 10, watchOS 3, or MacOS Sierra.

Since the release more information has been gathered from the folks chosen to do pre-release hands on reviews by Apple and, it turns out, that the AirPods will work with non Apple devices!.  Inside that W1 chip is a fairly standard bluetooth audio connection to your phone so, in theory, it won't sound any better then any other bluetooth headset. Some reviews are in now seeming to tell the tale that they really do sound marginally better then other bluetooth headsets due to the build quality and the better fit. Will this be enough to satisfy the concerns of the Steve Wozniaks of the world? Probably not and I have no plans to spend $159 on a pair but this was still a good and bold move on the part of Apple. 

Apple is changing it's product strategy. Under Steve Jobs Apple would let other folks throw products at the wall to see what would stick for a while (Samsung is great at doing that) and then jump into a new market slashing through the competition like a ninja with an innovative product that suddenly made even folks that didn't think they needed one want one. This is how Apple released the Macintosh, the iPod, the iMac, the iPhone, and the iPad. Starting with the Apple Watch their strategy has changed and continues with the release of the AirPods. Apple is no longer playing the ninja lurking in the shadows waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Now Apple is playing the long game feeding products into the market that are not meant to make everyone want one right away but instead force the market to change as the competitors try to keep up with Apple and standards change to accommodate the innovations that Apple puts into their products. The removal of the headphone jack on iPhone 7 and the release of the AirPods are just this.

In order for a standalone smart watch that replaces your phone to be a successful product there has to be a way to talk on it that is not holding the watch to your ear or inflicting speakerphone on all of your callers and there has to be a way to listen to music that is not plugging a wire into the watch. The AirPods are the beginning of the creation of such a thing and the removal of the headphone jack is a way to start nudging consumers to want such a thing. My vision of the smart watch that I would want to buy to replace my phone includes in its initial packaging such an accessory that is not as gawdy as the AirPod, has better music quality, and has a tiny high resolution camera on each earbud to allow the capture of high quality 3D images and video streamed through the earbuds to the device where it is captured in memory and / or streamed to the cloud or as a live broadcast. Current bluetooth technology does not yet support the kind of accessory that I envision but AirPods will move the industry and innovations in technology to such a thing. 

iPhoneSE with Google Hangouts: The Best of Both Worlds

I just recently upgraded from a Motorola Moto X (model XT1058) to an iPhoneSE 64GB. I had originally intended to write a nice review of the iPhoneSE once I got it all setup. This blog entry could be considered that but while I was configuring the device and explaining to a few folks what I had done I realized that there was much to it then just getting a new phone or even migrating from Android to iOS.

Let me start with a brief review of the iPhoneSE. This is the device that Apple should have released along with the iPhone 6s a year ago. I suppose someone inside Apple wanted to protect the sales projection for the 6s which is why they did not but since then have realized that there were still a lot of iPhone 5, 5c, and 5s users that did not and were not going to upgrade to a bigger phone. My Moto X had a 5" screen which was bearable but still too big. Even the 4.7" screen of the iPhone 6 and 6s is still too big. The 4" screen size of the iPhone 5 is, in my opinion, the perfect size for a phone. The 4" iPhone fits easily in any pocket or small purse and can be used effectively with one hand. My thumb can navigate anywhere on the screen and with the TouchID sensor I can even unlock the phone one handed without having to enter a passcode. Inside the iPhoneSE is all of the guts of the 6s with the same A9 CPU chip, M9 motion co-processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 12 megapixel iSight camera. The iPhoneSE even has a 1624 mAh battery which is bigger then that of the iPhone 5s although smaller then the 1715 mAh battery in the 6s. With the smaller screen the iPhoneSE uses far less juice to operate so the battery is more then sufficient. By far, though, the best thing about the iPhoneSE is that Apple kept the form factor exactly the same down to the button layout which means it immediately fits into any case that was designed around the iPhone 5 or 5s. Apple wasn't even smart enough to accomplish that little feat with the release of the 5c which won't fit into cases built for the 5s. In my subjective review of the iPhoneSE I can't find a thing wrong with the device to complain about.

Having been an avid Android user for over 3 years one might think that the transition to iOS would be rough but it was not. I suppose that this pain was mitgated by the fact that I have owned an iPad using iOS for longer then I have owned an Android device so I was already intimately familiar with iOS and know how to operate it. But there is more to it then just that. When I got my first Android phone (having come from a Blackberry) I decided that I liked Android over iOS for a phone for a couple of reasons. The first reason to prefer Android is the less restricted Google Play store which is far more lenient in what apps they allow to be sold through their distribution channel. I will still miss the ability to run a bitTorrent client on my mobile device but I decided I can live without that luxury until it is time to upgrade my iPad but more on that in another post... The second reason to prefer Android over iOS is the bevy of free services that Google offers which are all built right in to Android. There is Google Voice, Google Docs, Google Drive, and more. In 2013 there was no such thing as Google Hangouts until it was officially launched during the Google I/O conference on May 15, 2013. Now Google Hangouts encompasses text messaging, voice phone calls, video calls, video conferences with up to 10 participants, and has access to all of your Google contacts. On my Moto X I was able to set Hangouts to handle all incoming SMS messages. If you have a Google Voice number that is now also integrated with Hangouts so that you can make and receive voice calls through it. Hangouts is also a fully cross platform application with apps for Android and iOS as well as desktop apps for Windows and Mac OS through the Chrome applications. This means with Hangouts I can send and receive text messages from any device so I don't have to type on the tiny phone keyboard when I am sitting in front of my keyboard.

As I was configuring the new phone I realized one other interesting thing that kind of changed everything. On Android the Hangouts dialer is a separate app so making and receiving phone calls through Hangouts means a separate icon to click. On iOS the dialer is integrated into the Hangouts app for iOS.

Here are the steps I took in my migration from my Android phone to the new iPhoneSE:

1. I ordered a new phone on a new line to get a new number (no upgrade of the existing number). Since providers are making you pay for the phone on a monthly plan now anyway there is no penalty to making a new account for the new phone
2. Once the new phone was activated I went into my Google Voice account and put in a transfer request to move the phone number from my existing cell to Google Voice. Note that I had previously configured Google Voice to handle all calls and SMS messages through Hangouts.
3. I configured Google Voice to forward calls to my new cell number.
4. I configured the new phone to use Google Voice for voicemail (there are instructions for this in Google Voice)
5. Once the number transfer was complete I deactivate the service on my old phone
6. I installed the Google Hangouts app on the iPhone but told it not to ring the phone since Google Voice would forward the incoming call to the new cell number anyway

BAM! My old number is now fully functional on the new phone. I can use the Hangouts app to place calls and send and receive text messages from my old number which is in everyone's contact list already. The only person who even has the new number is my wife Sandy. 

At this point I have the best of both worlds enjoying all of the free Google services seamlessly on an iPhone. Anyone who has a Gmail account has a Google account and with a few clicks can configure Google Voice and Google Hangouts in the same manner. 

Here is another interesting tip. Google Voice will assign you a phone number for free so by this same method you can take your old deactivated phone and configure Hangouts on it so you can grant a family member their own phone and number without paying for any service at all. As long as they have access to Wifi (like connected through the personal hotspot on your phone) they can talk and text and otherwise use it like a real phone. 

The perfect laptop is [almost] here

Remember this old post where I recommended to not buy a new laptop but wait? Well the waiting is almost over. The recently announced Microsoft SurfaceBook is pretty darn close. You have to get the top end model to meet my prediction but lets compare:

	My Prediction	Microsoft SurfaceBook
Screen	10”	13.5”
CPU	Core i5	2.4-GHz Skylake Intel Core i5-6300U or 2.6-GHz Skylake Intel Core i7-6600U
GPU	Dedicated	Nvidia Maxwell based GPU with 1GB GDDR5 memory available in the keyboard dock
RAM	8GB	8GB or 16GB
SSD	1TB	128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB
Battery life	10 hours	“Up to 12 hours of video playback” 10 hours of battery in the dock plus 2 hours in the tablet
Weight	1 pound	3.5 pounds with keyboard 1.6 pounds with just tablet
Price	$1000	$1500 - $3200

Pretty close, right? There are three things that keep this from being perfect:

1. The screen is too big for a tablet. iPad Pro has the same problem.
2. The battery is too small in tablet mode.
3. The cost is too high.

If I had $3200 to burn I would buy this today. The performance difference between the available i5 and i7 processors is pretty small so if you can survive with only 256GB of storage and don't need a dedicated GPU then the $1699 model with only 8GB of memory is still a solid choice to replace your existing laptop and even your desktop. The add-on surface dock for $199 gives you two mini display ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, four high-speed USB 3.0 ports, and an audio output so when at home you get the 13.5" tablet screen plus two external monitors.

Windows 10 makes an excellent operating system for this device as well. If you are coming from Windows 7 there is a bit of a learning curve to adapt to the new start menu. If you are coming from Windows 8, well, upgrade immediately as Windows 10 corrects all the big problems with Windows 8 returning the start menu and allowing you to run the Metro apps in windowed mode. The fact that you can get the same user interface on desktop, laptop, tablet, and phone is pretty amazing and puts Microsoft officially out in front of Apple for the first time in a long time. 

If you really need a new laptop now then consider the $1699 SurfaceBook with the $199 dock; you won't find better available this year.

If you can hold out a little longer then do. Microsoft has taken a page out of Google's book. Google offers the Nexus phone and tablets as reference products that set the standard for other manufacturers to meet. Most people will never buy a Nexus phone because they are more costly without the carrier subsidies. Similarly most people should not buy the currently overpriced SurfaceBook. Instead, wait until next year when you see Dell and Asus offering less expensive options with smaller screens and less total weight. 

2015 Fall iPhone and iPad release: What's new and what's not

So here it is September and time for the new iPhone release event for the year from Apple. There was nothing revolutionary released today and it was IMHO a tad bit disappointing to see the direction Apple's product roadmaps are going.

Warning, I write a lot, here is an index to skip past the bits that are not interesting to the bits that are:

• What's New
• What's Not New
• What's Great
• What Apple should have released this Fall
• My recommendations for the year

While I am at heart a PC guy I am by no means an Apple hater. I own a 1st generation iPad mini which I love and my primary workstation at Technicolor is a 27" iMac which is my preference to use for everything other then Microsoft Office applications and network file management. At my recommendation my wife got an iPhone 6 earlier this year and the other two phones in my family plan are both iPhone 5c models.

To prove I am not a hater I will even start this post with what was released today that was shiny and new:

• Rose gold iPhone 6s with color matched dock
• iPhone 6s Taptonic feedback
• 12.9" iPad Pro tablet
• AppleTV

The new iPhone 6s is pretty much just the same as the 2014 iPhone 6 in every way but two things. First, you can now get it in pink, er rose gold, with a charging cradle that matches the color of the phone. Rose gold is new.

The new iPhone 6s now has a taptonic feedback engine under the screen. This means the screen can detect how hard you are pressing the screen and provide a little vibration as feedback so that your finger feels the touch. This technology is a neat gimmick and is one of those innovative technologies that only Apple could pull off and pull off well. It is not entirely a new technology as Apple put it in the touchpad on the Macbook line last year but putting it under a touch screen display is new so I give credit where credit is due. Apple gave it a new name too: 3D Touch. The name is new.

Of course the big announcement of the day (if you ask Tim Cook) was the 12.9" iPad Pro. This is the largest tablet ever from Apple. The sheer size of it is new. Unfortunately it still runs only iOS even though it has the computing power under the hood to run full desktop operating systems. This means it is still limited to the touch screen interface and very limited multi-tasking. There were improvements to iOS 9 but not so much that one would ever choose an iPad instead of a desktop or laptop computer. The biggest iPad ever is new.

The real big announcement (if you ask me) was the new AppleTV box. This is the first year they have released a new AppleTV in the fall announcement so the timing is new. It is clear from the way that they went through the announcement that Apple is taking this product seriously giving it the time it deserves in the spotlight. Apple added Siri to AppleTV for searching and navigating channels. Siri is a gimmick but a well done gimmick and a voice controlled TV (that works well) is new. Sorry, XBox One, I don't think you got it right with your stalker interface. AppleTV is now the only real contender to Roku in the market. With an AppleTV you can get HBO Now without a television provider subscription and Hulu Plus through which you can subscribe to Showtime without a television provider subscription. Comcast, Verizon, Time Warner, and DirecTV please take note that this is the future of TV; get on the bandwagon now while there is still room for your large posteriors.

So what was released today that was not great, not so much innovative, and generally just not new?

• watchOS 2
• A9X Processor
• iOS 9
• Smart Keyboard
• Apple Pencil aka Stylus
• Amateur iPads
• iPhone 6s and 6s Plus
• iCloud storage upgrades

For the life of me I can't figure out what was new in watchOS 2. There are more color and band options this year including pink, er rose gold, and a couple new features like nightstand mode and time travel (not like the TARDIS). I guess since it is a new year they upversioned the OS with some new feature that app developers can access. I would not have called it version 2; that should just have been a version 1.1.

With a new year and updated hardware with more resolution and an updated OS with more features Apple needed a new CPU, the A9X. Yes, this is the 3rd generation 64-bit Apple mobile processor and it may have 1.8x CPU performance and 2x GPU performance compared to the A8X in iPad Air 2 but CPU performance doubles every year anyway. A faster CPU is really not new.

With a new year and updated hardware Apple also needed an operating system upgrade. Every year there is a new version of iOS, that is really not a new thing. What are the new features in iOS? A shortcut bar, new built-in apps, and multi-tasking. The shortcut bar and the updated apps are nice but there are little updates like this every year and even in lesser version upgrades. The last version iOS 8.1 upgrade offered a screen reader which can read your eBook for you using Siri's voice which IMHO is a much bigger update then a shortcut bar or new apps. Then there is the "multi-tasking". Slide over, split view, and picture-in-picture are three different gimmicks that will allow you to use two apps at the same time. I wouldn't call that multi-tasking. Duo-tasking is more like it. There was more multi-tasking in Windows 3.1 (released in 1992) and MacOS 5 (released in 1987). Multi-tasking is not new and neither really is iOS9.

Smart keyboard? What is smart about it? Was it smart for Apple to copy Microsoft Surface and offer a keyboard cover? Ok, well maybe that was smart but Apple used to be an innovator and leader in the market. It is disheartening to see Apple become a follower. The new "smart connector" that attaches keyboard to power and data is clever and well done but also not something new. PC tablet makers have been fiddling with laptop / tablet hybrids the last few years that do all that and even offer a backup battery and additional connectors inside the detachable keyboard. A keyboard cover is hardly new.

Apple pencil is a stylus. Steve Jobs always said that the human hand comes pre-configured with 10 styluses already so there is no need for another. Steve is not in charge any more so this year Apple puts out a $99 stylus that works with a single device which will cost you no less then $799. This may be the best stylus ever designed but you better have a real need for it to justify a thousand dollar replacement for pencil and paper. Apple demoed some very high precision artwork and CAD apps for it but the people doing this kind of work already have high precision Wacom tablets and 30" professional monitors; these folks are really not going to be happy doing this kind of work on a 13" screen. BTW Wacom also offers a really nice stylus that works on all capacitive touch screens for only $60. An expensive fancy stylus is not new.

And what about all of the other iPads that are not "Pro"? Does that make them amateur? This year Apple put all of their attention into the iPad Pro and literally ignored the other iPad models. iPad Air and iPad Air 2 get a $100 price reduction this year and nothing else, not even rose gold. iPad Mini 4 gets the guts of the iPad Air 2 which means A8X processor and fingerprint scanner but it should have gotten that last year. In the Steve Jobs years Apple was not afraid to cannibalize their own markets, releasing iPhone directly competing with iPod and then continuing to upgrade iPod Touch with all the latest goodies available in the iPhone. Since last year the trend for Apple has been to protect the market for the new hotness by intentionally ignoring upgrades on the old and busted. This year every iPad but the iPad Pro is suddenly the old and busted.

And what about the upgrades to iPhone 6? The 6s and 6s Plus got the 3D touch and pink paint job but are in all other ways just the same. There was no highly anticipated 4" iPhone 6c and nothing innovative about the s models. These phones should have been labelled s6 and s6 Plus for "still 6" and "still 6 Plus". They are in almost every way exactly the same as last year's iPhones and join the amateur iPads now in the rank of the old and busted.

It was astounding to me that iCloud got stage time this year for paid storage upgrades. All of the other cloud storage solutions have been offering more storage for cheaper then Apple for years now. A 1TB cloud storage upgrade is not new.

Ok, so what should Apple have released this year? What would I have done if I were directing Apple product management? Well first and foremost the 2015 Fall product release should not have been focused on the biggest and most expensive iPad ever. Instead, this product release should have been focused on the Apple pencil. Breaking the mold of a Steve Jobs run Apple and releasing a stylus should have been the first thing they talked about at the event before rolling into the iPad lineup. The first demo of the pencil should have been on the iPad Mini 4 which could have been in all ways the same as what was actually released except with support for Apple Pencil. Following iPad Mini 4 should have been iPad Air 3 with an A9X processor and support for Apple Pencil. Then roll into iPad Pro showing the amazing things you can do with Apple Pencil on iPad Pro. The iPad Pro should also have come with something else entirely new. iPad Pro should have been offered with a mobile version of OS X with full support for all Apple Desktop apps and support for pointing devices. Connect a bluetooth pointing device (mouse) and a cursor appears allowing you to use it just like a laptop. The keyboard cover is a nice gimmick but they should have also offered a full keyboard dock that contains a trackpad, backup battery, and additional I/O ports. Put the iPad Pro in the keyboard dock and put it next to a MacBook and you would be hard pressed to tell the difference. But wait, there is more! That mobile version of OS X and the full version of OS X should get support for running iOS apps (in a window or full screened) so that new iPad still runs all of the apps you are used to and then they just eliminate the pre-installed redundant desktop applications like iTunes favoring the lightweight iOS versions instead. Microsoft has already gone through this transition with the abysmal metro / tablet apps in Windows 8 that you can now run in traditional windowed desktop mode in Windows 10. As it stands the iPad Pro is a 12.9" retina display version of Microsoft Surface RT with a fancy stylus option. The Surface Pro and countless other Window 10 tablets that will be released over the course of the next year will come with built-in support for all legacy Windows desktop applications. Apple is falling behind Microsoft lacking a unified experience like Windows 10 which offers with the same interface and apps available on desktop, laptop, and mobile devices.

To round out this article I will give my personal computing recommendations for the year.

First, if you do not already have a primary desktop or laptop computer then start with a good quality desktop computer. If you like Apple desktops then the 2014 line of iMacs are still quite excellent and you can even get one with a beautiful 5K display. If you don't have iMac budget then get a good desktop PC with an i5 or i7 processor. Don't buy a laptop / notebook computer. If you need to sometimes take your work on the go then a tablet is good enough companion device for now, just not good enough to be your primary personal computing device.

If you are looking to buy your first tablet then get either the iPad Air 2 or iPad Mini 4 depending on your size preference. I have an iPad Mini now which I love because I can fit it in my front pocket and it mounts nicely on the dashboard of my commuter car without blocking my view of the road. Don't buy an Android tablet, you will wish you got an iPad instead.

If your contract is up and you are in the market for a phone then consider your options carefully. Do not get a 6s or 6s Plus. The best phone to get at the moment would be the iPhone 6 which just got $100 cheaper. If you are not interested in the fingerprint scanner or Apple Pay then the iPhone 5c is a smaller and even less expensive choice that will work just fine as well. If you are familiar with Android devices and Google applications then consider Android. The Nexus 5X and 6X come out next month and are just as good as iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. The new Moto X is another solid offering just as good as a 6s. Don't buy a Samsung phone or a Windows phone.

If you can wait before forging into the laptop / tablet market or upgrading your current laptop / tablet then wait. Later this year and early next year you can expect to see some very solid Window 10 tablet options. Look for these specs: 7" - 12" screen, i5 or i7 CPU, 8-16 GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and 8 hour battery life for no more theb $1000. Think about that. The Windows 10 tablet you will be able to buy soon will be twice as powerful as iPad Pro for the same price and will run all of your desktop apps. 

The 2015 Apple Watch or Wait, did you hear about HBO?

If you have been following my blog (yes, I am talking to both of you) then you know that I have been following Apple's progress with the Apple Watch since they did not release one amidst all of the Android wearables that made such a buzz in 2013. Also you would know that I am a big proponent of the unplugging of your television.

That made today, March 9, 2015 a very interesting day for me since both of these topics coalesced into Apple's Spring Forward event.

So first there was the watch. Apple Watch carried no surprises and was just as predicted. It is tied to your iPhone or WiFi for it's internet connection and makes sure the wearer never again has to reach into his or her pocket for their phone just to tell what time it is. Wow. Ok, so there are a couple other nice things about it as well. The Apple Watch is very good for the health conscious with lots of gimmicks to monitor heart rate and let you know when it is time to get up and walk around before your body stagnates from living a sedentary life, The Apple Watch is also the best looking smart watch money can buy. In case you missed it, that was the couple nice things... nag you about your health and looks real purty. Apple is moving out of the realm of personal electronics and into the jewelry market. My prediction is that the best money maker will be the 18k gold Apple Watch Edition going to the rich that can afford to drop $10,000 on a piece of jewelry. In fact there is not really that much great jewelry around for men to wear so those high class fellows will now have something to buy for themselves instead of another pair of diamond cuff links.

As I said in Why no iWatch in 2013? and The 2015 Apple Watch is proof that Steve Jobs is dead the critical technology that was missing in 2013 and is missing still now is the ability for a watch to be a standalone communication device. I will summarize this into three key technologies that are missing for a smart watch to be the "next iPhone" or the "next iPad" which, in their day, revolutionized personal computing as we knew it:

1. The battery technology for a very small battery that weighs only a few ounces to carry enough power to run a cellular wireless radio for 18 hours without a recharge to allow for true "all day battery life" with moderate bandwidth usage. You are not going to be streaming HD video on a screen with 340x272 resolution but you will stream music at a couple hundred kilobits per second, check your email and stock prices, and do the occasional facetime video call.
   
2. Seamless wireless charging. The way to charge the 2015 Apple Watch is to  "simply hold the connector near the back of the watch, where magnets cause it to snap into place automatically". Look at the thing; it is not the least bit elegant. Apple Watch needs to be able to charge wirelessly from a charging access point plugged into the wall 15-30 feet away so all you need worry about is getting into the bedroom where you left it plugged in for a few hours a day. The thing should also be smart enough to learn your habits and warn you if it is about time for charging and you are at home the charger is not sensed when it usually is around so you can dig through the cables under the desk and see if one of the pets ran through wrecking electrical cord havoc again.
   
3. The right wearable headset that is as visually appealing as functional. Clearly no one is holding their wrist to their ear to talk and not just every call can be a speakerphone affair. Even the bejeweled earpieces that musical performers wear at awards shows are still pretty gawky looking for everyday use. For audio only we need a bluetooth earpiece as small and attractive as an earring yet still functional. It would even work to get a unit small enough to fit behind the ear that tucked the audio piece near the ear canal and draped a tiny camera over the top of the ear or even something google glass like that offers a tiny personal viewscreen for augmented reality. 

During Spring Forward Apple also released the details of this year's line of laptops. Nothing surprising there either, just thinner and lighter with a better keyboard and better trackpad. Just more of the same. 

Now here was the real big deal. Right at the beginning of the event they brought out HBO CEO Richard Plepler to drop the real bomb. The HBO Now service will launch in April in time for the season premier of Game Of Thrones and be exclusive to Apple devices for 3 months. HBO Now will not require you to have a cable or satellite service account; you just pay your $14.99 a month to HBO and get access to their entire catalog of content on demand as well as new releases of their exclusive content. $14.99 may seem like a high price but if you love HBO content then now is the time to unplug and send a message to Comcast, Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, and Verizon that you don't want to pay $100 a month for their bundled channel packages any more. Pay HBO to support the model. Once the cable providers have their backs broken by services like this they will either wise up and start offering customized channel bundles or they will go the way of the record store chains and dinosaurs. 

Unplug your TV! Why and how.

Have you ever wondered why you can't, for example, get just HBO (Game of Thrones), Showtime (Weeds), USA (Covert Affairs), Syfy (everything), BBC (Dr. Who), Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, CW, Disney Channel, and Disney Jr with getting another 200 channels you don't want? It is because the "television providers" are a bunch of bullies to the consumers and content providers alike. Curious what my preferred channel lineup will run you? I did some research...

In my area FIOS would cost me $160.42 a month for two TVs, multi-room DVR service, and a total of 367 channels plus 25Mbps internet bandwidth.

If I went with Charter cable instead (also in my area) for two TVs with DVR service and 60Mbps internet it would cost me $123.95 but I only get 204 channels.

If I lived in Anaheim that is an AT&T UVerse area the same setup with 391 total channels and 18Mbps internet would cost me $107

If I lived in Palm Springs which is a Time Warner Cable area a similar package with 15Mbps internet would be $135.21

If I lived in Oakland, CA where Comcast rules a similar package with 50Mbps internet is $119.89

If I got DirecTV a similar package would be $86.99 but no internet.

So, really, for the 12 channels I want is it worth more than $100 a month? No, no, and HELLS NO.

Here is the problem though.. it is not possible to buy just the channels I want. Even if I was willing to pay $5 a month per channel no one will sell me my preferred $60 a month package because, of course, they would rather sell me a $150 a month package.

Well then, you might ask, why can I not just use HBO Go and the Disney streaming app and stream from Showtime.com to get what I want? Because the television providers have all got together and decided to tell the content providers that if they offer their content without a bundled television service then their content will be removed from the millions of subscribers of the bundled television service providers. Didn't you ever wonder why HBO Go, the Disney TV app, and even the ABC live streaming app require you to sign in to your television provider? That is why and it is pure bullying. This bullying will continue to go on as long as the television provides have millions of subscribers. The only way this will ever change is if the consumers of the content rise up and vote with their wallets by unplugging their TVs and cancelling their bundled television subscriptions.

I voted with my wallet in July of 2009 when I paid my last DirecTV bill ever for $76.99. That same month I paid Earthlink $49.21 for my DSL service. Together it cost me $126.20 for internet and television. Here we are FIVE YEARS LATER and that it still what it costs for internet and television. Prices are not going down due to competition because the competitors have all got together and agreed on the rules of the market. This is bad for consumers.

Just yesterday the news broke that HBO is going to be the first content provider to try and break the market place by selling their service without requiring a television provider:

http://money.cnn.com/2014/10/15/media/hbo-via-the-internet/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

And today a similar announcement from CBS!
http://www.cnet.com/news/watch-out-hbo-cbs-launches-stand-alone-web-tv-service/

This means that now is the time to unplug your TV. Cancel your cable or satellite subscription and subscribe instead to over the top (OTT) services. I will break it down for you what needs to be done and which services will give you what you need.

The first thing you should do it get yourself setup with free television. That is free as in how much television cost before the cable companies took over. This became possible when the FCC regulated all television broadcasters to switch to digital broadcast signals back in July of 2008. Go and get yourself a nice digital antenna for the roof like this one on Amazon:

Winegard HD7694P High Definition VHF/UHF Antenna

In fact this is the exact same antenna I have on my roof now and 5 years later it is one of the top rated antennas on Amazon. The next thing you need to do is go to AntennaWeb and punch in your zip code to see what direction you need to point the antenna to get the most channels. Then go and mount the thing on the roof. If you or a previous resident of your residence had satellite installed at some point you can do what I did and rip down the dish to use the same roof mount post they installed for your antenna. You can even re-use all of the in house coax cabling that your cable or satellite provider installed for you in each room of the house to carry the digital television signals to your televisions or set top boxes.

Next I highly recommend you install your own DVRs. What I did was custom built three windows PCs and installed Hauppauge TV tuner cards in them. Windows 7 ultimate or home professional versions included the windows media center application and Windows 8 offers it as a $10 add on with any version of Windows 8 that you have. One of my Windows Media Center computers is hooked up directly to the television in the bedroom and then both my and Sandy's computers can also record shows and push the files up to the primary "media server". In the front of the house we have an XBox 360 which can serve as a "Windows Media Center" extender to watch any recorded shows as well as pull the live broadcast feed over through the network. If you are an Apple guy you can do something similar with MacOS X and Apple TV boxes. If you are technology challenged then I recommend a TiVo box which are pretty affordable and the service is $14.99 a month or you can pay 500 bucks one time and it covers the lifetime of the device with no more monthly fees.

After you get your free TV then you need to decide on which OTT services you want to subscribe to. I will give a run down and brief review of each listing best first.

1. Netflix offers a good selection of movies and television programs for a starting price of $7.99 a month. I list Netflix first as the best of the best because they refuse to give in to the "Sign in with your television account number" licensing to get to premium content and they have continued to fight the big television providers in court and with lobbyists in Washington. They are also a subscription only service so the single monthly fee guarantees access to their entire content library. Because they are subscription only it limits their licensing options with the content providers and that means you don't get a lot of new releases and you don't get next day TV releases. For your favorite TV programs you have to wait until the season is over and after it has been released on DVD before it appears on the service. Netflix is also one of the first to start producing their own exclusive content like Orange Is The New Black and Turbo: FAST. Netflix needs to be supported with your wallets to give them more leverage with the providers to fight the big television providers and get access to better content by throwing around their subscriber numbers. As if all that wasn't good enough Netflix still offers the DVD by mail subscription from which you can get all the latest releases on Blu-Ray sent to you in the mail. 
2. Amazon Prime is $99 a year and offers both subscription content as well as video on demand (VOD) through Amazon Instant Video (AIV). Typically the subscription content is about as good as anything you find on Netflix and, as a bonus, your prime membership gets you free two day shipping on a lot of merchandise. Having the VOD option through AIV allows you the ability to purchase the premium content of new release movies and next day TV content. Amazon is also starting to produce their own "Amazon Originals" content like Betas and Annedroids. 
3. MGo is a VOD only service. This means there is no subscription content so no monthly fee but it gets pricey to pay for everything you want to watch, On the plus side they get all the latest new releases as soon as or even slightly before the DVD / Blu-Ray release, they have almost everything in HD and any title you purchase through them that is available on UltraViolet includes the UV rights so that means you can watch it on other services like Vudo and Flixster plus if you already have a bunch of UV content from digital copy codes in Blu-Ray and DVD discs that you purchased you can watch them on MGo. Mgo also does a fantastic job of getting next day TV content online and just starting offering a "season pass" pricing to you can pay for a whole season of new content and get access to the new episodes on the service they day after they air.
4. Hulu offers hands down the best next day TV experience. Hulu gets the new TV content online faster then anyone else and has the most of it. If  new TV shows is your thing then get the Hulu Plus subscription for $7.99 a month. I list them last because they bowed to the pressure of the television providers to make their licensing deals and if you don't provide a television service provider account you only get access to the three most recent episodes of new TV series even with the subscription and then Hulu still inserts advertisements. 

If you did decide to go with TiVo then the TiVo boxes come with apps to stream the major OTT services. If you have a gaming console they offer apps for the major OTT services as well with Sony Playstation having the best offering there. If you don't have a DVR or a gaming console or even a smart TV then I recommend you get yourself a Roku box. The Roku boxes are affordable and offer the most subscription services including my 4 recommendations. 

Now there is one big gap that I have no solution for if you unplug your TV and that is sports. With a digital antenna and a DVR you will get all of the locally broadcast sports content for free. If you are big into sports though I know that is not enough. If you want access to every game from every sport and you cannot let that go then you are going to be stuck paying for TV for a while until the backs can be broken of the big TV service providers and content providers including the professional sports leagues feel free to break loose and offer their content without requiring the television service provider account. 

How easy is it for someone to hack your windows password?

So my Dad died last week and I am visiting my Mom for the funeral and she had a printed document he had written out some time ago about where to access all of the financial records and whatnot which, for the most part, he had copies of stored on his computer. He also had everything backed up to an external hard disk which was pretty smart because he failed to tell my Mom (or she forgot) the password to log on to his computer.

So I found myself in one of the rare situations where I had a legitimate reason to hack someone's computer. I was so taken aback by how ridiculously easy it was that I thought I should post about it.

In less then a minute of googling I found myself on this very nice page that laid out all of the options for Windows password "recovery":

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/tp/passrecovery.htm

I tried the first tool in the list:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ophcrack/?source=typ_redirect

So here I went and burned the OphCrack tool to a bootable CD and it turned out my Dad's computer had no optical drive... oops!

A couple more minutes of googling took me to another tool called Rufus:

http://rufus.akeo.ie/

Rufus allowed me to take the OphCrack CD image and burn it to my handy dandy Yoda USB stick. Yoda is now a password hacker.

Power cycle the computer, punch in a couple keystrokes to get to the BIOS to make the computer boot from USB storage, pop in Yoda, reboot and watch the show. OphCrack decoded the hashed password in the windows registry and showed it to me in under a minute and that minute included time for the Linux image now inside Yoda to boot up. I was all ready with a CD image for a command line password reset tool but I didn't need it because my Dad was not using a complicated password.

Now what if I was not doing this for a legitimate reason? What if I was someone you invited to a party at your house? Or a student you left alone in the classroom with your computer for a few minutes? The possibilities are endless. With Yoda in my pocket and physical access to a computer I can get your password in less then five minutes. This should highlight the need to be very cautious who you allow physical access to your computer. If, like most people, you use the same password for everything then I can steal your identity very easily by simply downloading all of your bookmarks and browser history onto my buddy Yoda.

With Windows 8 it is possible to use a Microsoft account instead of a local account which means your account information is stored in the cloud. Well, Jennifer Lawrence and her boobies can tell you how secure that is! Even with cloud based accounts you need to use two factor authentication to really protect your data.

All is not doom and gloom though if you take sensible precautions to protect your data from Yoda USB up there. Here are some things that everyone with sensitive data on a computer (ok, so that is actually everyone everyone) should do:

1. Never leave your computer unattended in front of people you do not know well enough to trust to hold your checkbook. If you are planning a party unplug the computer or stow it in the attic until the party is over. Definitely do not pass out drunk with your laptop open...
2. Use a complex password. If my Dad had set a complex password it would have taken OphCrack hours to figure it out. Complex passwords have no recognizable words in them and contain letters, numbers, and special characters. Here is a good site with a password generator you can use to create these passwords:
   http://www.pctools.com/guides/%20password/
3. Do not use the same password for multiple password protected websites. If someone were to gain your password because Paypal, Target, Home Depot, Sony Online Entertainment, or Adobe got hacked and they can identify you as that password holder they can easily get into all the other sites you use by trying that same password
4. The most important password to protect is your computer logon password. The next most important is your email password. Your email address is used for the username on a lot of password protected sites and if a hacker gets into your email they can change the password to lock you out of it and then proceed to issue password reset requests to get into all the other password protected sites that you use. Under no circumstances use the same password for both email and computer logon. 
5. Do not write that hard to remember complex password on a sticky note and sticky it to your monitor. Treat written down passwords the same as money.. keep them in your wallet or safe or under the mattress or frozen in a block of ice at the back of the freezer but no where near your computer.
6. Do not email or text message or instant message your password to anyone ever as those forms of communication cannot be secured adequately; anyone on the same public hotspot as you or piggy backed onto your own wireless connection can spy on them. If you must send a password electronically then do it over PGP encrypted email.
   http://lifehacker.com/180878/how-to-encrypt-your-email
7. If the site offers it, use two factor authentication. This means more then just a password is required every time you login like answering a security question, having a one-time-use code set to your phone, or a biometric reader like the fingersprint scanner in iPhone 5s / 6. If iTunes backup files stored in iCloud had been protected by two factor authentication at the time then Jennifer Lawrence's boobies would still be private.