Apple Watch - page 76

Apple Watch owners received a new software update this morning in the form of watchOS 2.1.

The new update comes over a month after watchOS 2.0.1 was made available to the public and contains a number of bug fixes and performance improvements to go with expanded system language support.

Another week, another Cult of Mac Magazine – the best place to get your Apple fix in one place.

This week, we’ve got quick tips to speed up your iPhone and Apple Watch, our take on the stupidity of killing the iPhone’s headphone jack, new how-tos for Apple Music and Apple TV, a hilarious bit of Star Wars fever that Siri’s picked up, and the latest rumors about iPhone 6c and iPhone 7. That not enough? There’s tons more inside.

Here’s the rundown for this week’s cover stories:

There are so many iPhone apps for runners, it’s hard to decide which one to use. Should you go for a familiar brand like Nike, or a specialist like Runkeeper?

Ultimately, all running apps do pretty much the same thing: They use GPS to track how far and how fast you run. But when you take a closer look, their features and prices vary considerably. So I’ve done the leg work for you, to help you find the right running app faster.

The Apple Watch continues to go from strength to strength, while Samsung’s own wearable devices are eclipsed by new arrivals, according to new figures released by International Data Corporation (IDC).

Apple has a range of different Apple Watch straps available — but, aside from letting you pick the perfect strap to suit the rest of your attire, they all serve exactly the same function: keeping Apple’s debut wearable safely strapped to your wrist.

That may change in future iterations of the Apple Watch, with a new patent application published today describing how future Watch straps (or straps for other Apple devices) may include flexible displays woven into the material, offering another way of presenting user messages or notifications.

Apple Watch is becoming second nature to me after several months of owning it. It’s gotten to the point where I feel like something’s missing when I don’t strap it to my wrist in the morning before starting my workday.

Thing is, the Apple Watch has so many animations on it that I sometimes feel like getting things done takes too long. I just want to find and use apps, with a minimum of fuss and bother.

Luckily, you can turn off those animations on Apple Watch to make it all feel a bit snappier.

If you bought an Apple Watch that now collects dust on your dresser, you are not alone.

Web-based research firm Wristly, which found a 97 percent user satisfaction rate among early adopters, took equal interest in the unhappy 3 percent. What it found from 340 former Apple Watch users could provide valuable insights for Cupertino as it works on future generations of the smartwatch.

The reasons people gave up the watch include:

Apple’s refusal to release any hard and fast Apple Watch figures (it has most likely sold in the region of 7 million) has led some people to dismiss the wearable as a failure, despite the company’s vague assertions otherwise.

Now British Airways has thrown out its own stats, noting that its Apple Watch app saw usage increase by a massive 386 percent between June and October, demonstrating that Apple Watch app usage is most definitely on the rise.

Black Friday may have handed Apple its strongest Friday sales in history, thanks to third party retailers heavily featuring the company’s products in their own promotions.

According to a note sent out by analyst Trip Chowdhry from Global Equities, the Apple Watch is likely to emerge as the M.V.P. of the shopping holiday — as the result of retailers offering big discounts on the device, as well as free shipping and zero sales tax.

Compared to the massive numbers of iPhones it unloads each year, Apple has “only” sold around 6-7 million Apple Watches since the device’s launch earlier this year.

Granted, that’s still more than the entire rest of the smartwatch industry combined, but a new report suggests that Apple could be on course to sell almost the same quantity again over the holiday quarter — signalling a near-doubling of sales for Apple’s debut wearable device.

We’re all probably pretty relieved that the Black Friday craziness is over, but that doesn’t mean we want the deals on cool gadgets to end. Thankfully, Cult of Mac is extending the post-Turkey Day savings over the weekend, including with this pair of futuristic charging docks for iPhones and Apple Watches.

The average Apple Watch user checks his or her timepiece four to five times an hour, and are most likely to use the device’s Maps function, according to two separate studies.

Carried out by Wristly.com and researchers at the University of Stockholm’s Mobile Life Centre, the two surveys quizzed Apple Watch owners on their typical usage, and discovered a few interesting observations in the process.

Because we’re really feeling the holiday spirit this season, we’ll be giving away a brand-new black 38mm Apple Watch Sport to one person who sells their old device to us before December 15.

Twitter is bringing its short video sharing service, Vine, to wrists across the globe today with its first Apple Watch app.

Vine for Apple Watch brings two feeds to users — favorites and featured — which allows you to catch up on clips from favorite creators, as well as watch featured videos that are handpicked from channels across the network.

Seven months after its launch, we appear to be seeing a previously unheard-of Apple Watch error, but we think we’ve figured out what it means.

Wall Street Journal tech editor Joanna Stern brought the issue to attention on her Twitter account; the screen kind of looks like her Apple Watch had suddenly decided to play a round of retro game Snake. But the actual issue isn’t nearly as fun.

Apple’s official charging pad may be a not-too-cheap $79, but if you want to wirelessly charge your smartwatch, Apple’s not leaving you a whole lot of options.

That’s because, despite the wide range of Qi chargers around, Apple has made it so that its watch will only work with a select few which have received the Cupertino stamp of approval.

Jony Ive memorably (allegedly) described Swiss watchmakers as “f**ked” due to the then-impending launch of the launch of the Apple Watch, and one year later — like some kind of creepy, well-dressed soothsayer in an Apple-centric episode of The Twilight Zone — it seems he may have been correct.

Swiss watch exports suffered their biggest decline in six years in October, with sales dropping 12 percent to $2 billion. Jon Cox, an analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux in Zurich, describes 2015 as a year “to forget” for watchmakers.

Unless their name is Apple, of course.

If you’ve watched any YouTube videos lately, you might have learned that IBM’s Watson supercomputer is a big fan of Bob Dylan, even though the deep-learning machine can’t carry a tune. But we can also add the Apple Watch to Watson’s list of likes, as the wearable has topped the think-bot’s list of items trending this holiday.

These results come from a brand-new, free app that collects and analyzes customer sentiment from across the Internet.

A new report from analytics firm Argus Insights puts the Apple Watch well ahead of its competitors heading into the all-important holiday season.

Four of the 10 most favorably reviewed smartwatches on the market are Apples. More surprisingly, however, is that price doesn’t seem to be a factor.

Apple Pay has finally made its way to iPhone and Apple Watch users in the Land Down Under, but only if they’re using American Express.

One day after the mobile payments service launched in Canada, Apple has flipped the switch for Apple Pay in Australia, allowing iOS device owners to make payments at any retailer that accepts Amex contactless payments.

Here are some of the stores participating in the launch:

The space black link bracelet for Apple Watch is one of the slickest looking bands for Apple Watch, and now if you’ve got XL thick wrists you can finally buy an extension kit to add extra room.

Apple today launched an official $79 charging dock for the Apple Watch, which functions both as a flat charging puck and in Nightstand mode — giving you the option of either charging your smartwatch in a flat position with the band open, or else on its side.

An upcoming summit aims to get to the bottom of what is going on with the Apple Watch.

The Glance conference, which describes itself as “the first conference on the business of Apple Watch” is going down in San Francisco next month. It will bring venture capitalists and industry insiders together to try to figure out the wearable.

Apple is getting ready to release an official Apple Watch dock, according two leaks that have revealed the upcoming device’s packaging and design.

Pictures of the new dock published by a German Apple fan site reveal Apple’s charging solution will simply be called the “Magnetic Charging Dock.” It is circular in shape, comes with two different charging orientation, and features tons of Apple simplicity.

Take a look:

Despite still technically being an Apple employee, Steve Wozniak isn’t known for voicing the Cupertino official line when asked about recent iDevelopments.

Speaking at a recent conference, hosted by enterprise software firm New Relic, Woz chimed in about his thoughts on the Apple ecosystem, Tim Cook’s belief that the iPad Pro could replace your need for a MacBook, and the Apple Watch — which he’s previously expressed his skepticism of.