MLB teams can now play with iPads in the dugout. Photo: Keith Allison/Flickr
Major Leaugue Baseball doesnât have a great reputation of embracing Apple products on baseball diamond, but starting this week, teams will finally be allowed to replace their paper binders with iPads to look up everything from statistics, scouting reports, spray charts.
Teams were given the MLBâs blessing to start using iPads in the dugout during games, however thereâs a catch: teams canât connect iPads to WiFi during games, and all info must be downloaded before the first pitch.
Get ready to make custom Apple Watch faces like a champ. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
With watchOS 2, you can now use any photo in your library to make a custom Apple Watch face. And that gives you a lot of freedom to make the wearable your own, but sometimes, you and the watch might have different ideas for how to treat your pictures.
Hereâs a quick and easy way to make sure that your Apple Watch looks exactly how you want it to.
Use your Apple Watch to wake up without all the hassle. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Every day, itâs the same thing. Wake up to my iPhone blaring OK Goâs âI Wonât Let You Downâ at me, then fumble the Tap to Snooze function (which never seems to work for me in the morning). Itâs not as simple as an alarm clock, and the distraction of having your iPhone with you when you go to sleep at night is something I think we all can do without.
Apple Watch now has the answer, in the form of a new watchOS 2 feature, Nightstand mode.
Hereâs how to use it to help you get your sorry butt out of bed in the morning.
The DataMan complication, as seen in the upper left of these Apple Watches, monitors your data usage. Photo: DataMan
DataMan could be the name of a superhero, but it is instead an app that saves you from the dangers of going over your data limit. Now it has a sidekick for the Apple Watch that lets you be vigilant with a flick of the wrist.
The DataMan app for the watch lets you easily view your usage, but if you donât need to know in detail, simply raise your wrist and an icon will appear in the upper left corner of your watch face that gives an idea. A green check means your safe, a blue exclamation point is for caution and a red X means you are in danger of going past your limit and paying nasty overage fees.
The teen who had his life saved thanks to his Apple Watch heart monitor has received a brand new iPhone 6s and â more importantly â an internship with Apple next summer.
17-year-old football player Paul Houle says he was recovering from his recent medical emergency when he received a very special call from Cupertino.
âI got a phone call from a California number, and [the person on the other end of the line] said âHello, my name is Tim Cook, CEO of Apple,'â Houle says.
Don't go anywhere, Apple Watch -- we're not finished yet. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Hereâs another tip thatâs snuck into watchOS 2: Did you know that you can keep your Apple Watch awake longer now while youâre using it?
Apple hasnât mentioned this feature much, if at all; we couldnât even find it on the details screen when we upgraded. But itâs a great addition to the firmware that will save you a little frustration and a lot of wrist-flipping.
Yes, Siri. It's already on. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
This weekâs release of watchOS 2 brings a much-needed security update to Appleâs wearable by adding Activation Lock to the device, and the great news is that you may not even have to do anything to add it.
Activation Lock has been around for a while for other Apple devices, and its purpose is to keep thieves from using them even if they manage to get ahold of your preciouses. The first version of watchOS only included basic locking features and a passkey, which wouldnât keep smart evildoers from gaining access to sensitive data like your Apple Pay data.
Hereâs how the feature shows up on the Apple Watch.
Native apps, like Dark Sky, take advantage of the new OS for Apple Watch. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
The future of computing may be sitting on your wrist, but itâs still tethered to something a little old-fashioned. But as of Monday, the Apple Watchâs new operating system allows it to cut a few of the cords that connect it to the iPhone.
Appleâs watchOS 2 debuted, giving the watch new superpowers but also allowing native apps to run independently of the iPhone.
Third-party complications are here in watchOS 2. Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac
Third-party complications have arrived to the Apple Watch in watchOS 2, and setting them up is far from complicated.
The new operating system for Appleâs wearable dropped this week, and this is one of the features the company has talked up the most. And rightly so, because it adds a ton of new functionality to the device.
Hereâs how to put a wealth of new information on your watch face.
Help Arika avoid mortal danger while she wisecracks at you. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
Dave Justus is no stranger to writing video games, having written both Telltaleâs The Wolf Among Us adventure game for Mac, PC and console, as well as the original Lifeline, a text-based story game that brought the epic struggles of an astronaut named Taylor to our wrists.
With the help of 3 Minute Gamesâ lead game designer Mars Jokela, Justus has created another massive adventure that still fits inside your Apple Watch. This time, however, youâll have a conversation with Arika, a young woman with magical powers who needs your help to escape mortal danger.
Lifeline 2: Bloodline is a funny, moving, and above all human story that really plays to the strengths of the Apple Watch; itâs like having a text conversation (with a cheeky magician) from your wrist.
âWeâve built Lifeline 2 to be a bigger and richer experience,â says Jokela via email, â[but] the story is still focused on a likable, relatable character who desperately needs your help.â
Time travel without a flux capacitor - right on your wrist. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
If thereâs one thing we could all benefit from, itâs more time in the day. Unfortunately, Time Travel on the new Apple Watch operating system, watchOS 2, wonât actually let you travel back in time to get a few extra hours of Netflix in, no matter which edition you purchased.
However, watchOS 2 does now include a new feature called Time Travel, which lets you see the past and future right on your wrist. You can check what the weather will be a few hours from now for your drive home, see if youâve got any appointments later in the day, or just figure out what time the sun set yesterday to prove you were home before it got dark.
Either way, hereâs how to Time Travel on your Apple Watch running watchOS 2.
You wouldn't get this from any other company. Photo: Cult of Mac
Apple has hidden a Rickroll in plain sight in its latest Apple Watch help page, with a FAQ on how to add friends on your Apple Watch spelling out a very familiar reference.
Sure, itâs all a bit 2008 by now, but thereâs still something hilarious about Apple spelling out âNE VE RG ON NA GI VE YU UPâ as the initials of your apparent Apple Watch friends.
The new custom faces aren't the only great part of watchOS 2. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Appleâs second major iteration of its wearable firmware, watchOS 2, is finally out today, and it has some extra fun features hiding along with all of the ones the company has been talking about since it first announced the update back in June.
Sure, native apps and custom watch faces are cool, but watchOS 2 also contains some smaller updates that you have to look for. Here are some of the hidden gems.
Apple Watch is a killer device, even without a "killer app." Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
I was so excited to have a color screen on my Apple Watch when I picked the Sport up this past April.
When I went through all the watch faces, though, I was rather underwhelmed; really, you have a bright, high-resolution monitor on your wrist and all you can do is put a moving moth or Mickey Mouse on it? Ugh.
Luckily, with watchOS 2, Appleâs made things just a little brighter and a little more animated. Hereâs how to get these snappy new watch faces on your own Apple Watch.
Join the Cult of Mac club on Strava and share your fitness story Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac
Apple Watch has been on our wrists for just five months and yet it is already having an amazing impact on many peopleâs lives.
We want to find out how Cult of Mac readers are using Cupertinoâs fitness tech to get in shape, so weâre inviting everyone to share their inspiring stories. Plus, weâve set up a new Cult of Mac club on Strava so you can connect with other readers who are into fitness.
Keep an eye on this. It might keep you out of the grave. Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac
A teen sought medical attention after his Apple Watch heart monitor gave him persistently high readings, and that decision saved him from an untimely death.
Paul Houle, a 17-year-old football player, bought Appleâs wearable a few days before he started pre-season training at Tabor Academy in Marion, Mass. After two practices in one day, he noticed that his heart rate was sitting around 145 beats per minute, even hours after heâd stopped exercising.
He wouldnât know until later, but he was experiencing a potentially life-threatening condition.
Apple Watch just racked up another well-deserved award win â being named the yearâs best gadget at top U.K. consumer technology event, the T3 Awards.
âOnce again Apple have produced a product that has galvanized a market,â said T3 editor Rob Carney. âIn a year of outstanding new products, this stood out to all of the judges and voting public as THE outstanding tech of 2015. The tech and fashion media have nothing in common, yet both enthused about Apple Watch. That says it all about this high-style, high-tech, highly personal device. Itâs a worthy winner of the 2015 Gadget of the Year.â
Is the Apple Watch still searching for that magical "must have" app? Photo: Apple
The Apple Watch is still searching for its âkiller app,â claims a new report â arguing that the lack of a âmust haveâ use-case is stopping Appleâs wearable device from achieving its sales potential.
The analysts in question suggest that the Apple Watch will sell between 9-12 million units this year.
The Miragii pendant can project messages onto your hand and stores an earpiece for calls or music. Photo: Miraggi
Some fashion and tech pundits have written that the Apple Watch is a little industrial looking or too geeky to appeal to women. Why canât a woman be connected in feminine style?
A startup company says she absolutely can with a smart necklace that looks like a stunning piece of jewelry while equipped with a tiny projector that displays texts and calls onto the hand.
Or the next day. Or the day after that. Photo: Apple
If youâve been anxiously waiting to upgrade your Apple Watch to watchOS 2 today â well, sadly, youâre out of luck.
Despite announcing last week that watchOS 2 and iOS 9 would be released today, Apple has just dropped the bombshell that Apple Watch users wonât be upgrading their operating systems quite yet, thanks to the discovery of a critical bug.
Can't wait for all the new Watch stuff? Here's how to install watchOS 2. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Update: Apple has delayed deployment of watchOS 2, possibly for a day or more, after discovering a bug thatâs taking longer to fix than expected.
Are you ready? Itâs finally time to update your Apple Watch to watchOS 2. The software upgrade will let you run third-party apps right on the Watch without your iPhone, add nightstand mode and new watch faces (including your own photos), and much more.
If youâre ready to make it so, read on and get all these new features on your wrist today.
You never know when that new Apple device will change your life. Photo: Cult of Mac
Talk about finding a unique way to recycle your Apple packaging!
A newly-expecting mother recently broke the news about her pregnancy to the father by hiding the positive pregnancy test in an Apple Watch â prompting a spontaneous heart-warming reaction.
Seriously, the guy couldnât have been any more chuffed if he had just been handed a $17,000 Apple Watch Edition.
Either that or heâs wondering where the Apple Watch itself went.
One of 32 matching wallpaper designs by photographer Samuel Zeller. Photo: Samuel Zeller
Since your Apple Watch must be tethered to your iPhone, they might as well match.
So Swiss designer Samuel Zeller has used his personal photography to make wallpaper to match both watch and phone, and it is available Wednesday with the launch of Apple Watch OS 2.