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The first Apple Watch software update is here

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Apple Watch
It's time for an Apple Watch software update
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple Watch has barely been available to the public for a month now but Apple is already sending out its first software update this morning that includes new emojis as well as fixes for Siri, measuring stand activity, and third party apps.

What does ‘fitness’ mean and why does it matter?

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Apple Watch Activity
What exactly are fitness trackers tracking?
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Many people say they want to get fit, but what does this actually mean? Fit for what?

The websites of leading fitness trackers, like Apple Watch, Fitbit, Microsoft Band and Jawbone Up don’t shed much light on this question. They talk a lot about the things that their devices measure, and even suggest changes in how we go about our day, but they rarely explain why this matters or what the actual benefits are.

Wiz Khalifa rocks Apple Watch in new music video

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Wiz loves two things: Apple Watch and weed. But mostly weed. Photo:
Wiz loves Apple Watch almost as much as weed.
Photo: Wiz Khalifa/YouTube

Drake and Kanye West have both shown their love for Apple Watch with their custom gold Edition models. Now rapper Wiz Khalifa is getting in the Apple Watch game by rocking one throughout his entire new music video.

Wiz Khalifa’s latest surprise video, “The Play,” features three of Wiz’s greatest loves: his son Bash, weed, and Apple Watch. The video focuses on father-son moments between the rapper and Bash, but his stainless steel Apple Watch Sport with a white sport bands steals the show between blasts of lyrics talking about real guys making it off the streets without help.

Watch the heartwarming video below:

ICYMI: Apple Watch Nightmares

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Getting Apple Watch ordered or fixed can be a nightmare.
Getting Apple Watch ordered or fixed can be a nightmare.
Photo: Stephen Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s hot new wrist gadget is pretty fantastic and shiny, but when you trash it, how can you get it fixed? We’ve got the skinny on how to do just that, based on our own run-in with a shattered Apple Watch Sport. Plus? Rob and Evan take on more tips and tricks for the Apple Watch than you can stand, Luke’s got a look at how the next iPhone 6s could be the biggest “incremental” upgrade ever, and Leander has a rant-tastic video on his time with his own Apple Watch.

Get all of this, and lots more, in this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine, free to download and subscribe.

Headaches await if you break your Apple Watch

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Cracked-Apple-Watch
Good luck trying to get a broken Apple Watch repaired. Replacements are as scarce as brand new ones.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

What happens when you try to get a broken Apple Watch repaired? Not much of anything!

I know this because my Apple Watch broke last week and I have a repair order pending.

Luckily, the watch is covered by Apple’s AppleCare+ extended warranty, which covers accidental damage. It also offers two-day express replacement. No downtime without your new precious.

This would be great, but Apple doesn’t have any watches to replace it with. Apple’s watches are in such short supply, it might be Christmas before a replacement is available.

Manufacturer denies Apple Watch production problems

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Quanta says Apple Watch supply is finally reaching demand.
Quanta says Apple Watch supply is finally reaching demand.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Quanta’s vice chairman has seemingly denied rumors that the Apple Watch has low yield rates, and that Apple was so upset about it that it’s considered outsourcing orders to other manufacturers.

In fact, according to him, Apple Watch production is no longer a problem “in both technology and quality,” despite a few hiccups early on in the production process.

Why the Apple Watch is keeping me awake at night

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Apple Watch
There's a definite downside to Apple Watch obsession.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

No gadget ever caused me to lose as much sleep as the Apple Watch.

I wish I could forget about Apple’s shiny new smartwatch, but the damned thing has me under its spell. It’s the curse of Cupertino, and I’m just another hapless a victim.

Kahney’s Korner: Cultmaster lays down an Apple Watch rant

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In the first Kahney's Korner, our fearless leader rants and raves about the Apple Watch.
In the first Kahney's Korner, our fearless leader rants and raves about the Apple Watch.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

So here we go. A new video series featuring, of all people, our Editor and Publisher Leander Kahney.

You’ve heard him on the CultCast. You’ve read his books.

You’ve been educated, entertained and occasionally enraged at his stories here on Cult of Mac. And now he is going to come into your lives in talking pictures with his new video series, Kahney’s Korner. The format is pretty loose, but he is never at a loss for words, so this should be pretty fun.

Newt Gingrich asks the Internet to help him review Apple Watch 

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Here is the new face of tech journalism.
Here is the new face of tech journalism.
Photo: Newt Gingrich (via YouTube)

Former House Speaker and architect of the “Contract with America” Newt Gingrich has joined Mashable as a tech blogger.

You did not misread that.

The new reviewer took to Twitter this evening to ask for some suggestions for his upcoming coverage of the Apple Watch, and he probably should have suspected he’d get some weird responses.

Here’s what your Apple Watch can do with nothing but Wi-Fi

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Apple Watch
Sometimes, it's okay to leave the phone at home.
Photo: Apple

Your Apple Watch doesn’t need an iPhone to make it whole.

The new wearable is capable of performing a variety of tasks without a tether to your phone. All it needs is a connection to a familiar Wi-Fi network, and you can start putting it to use even if its iPhone buddy isn’t around.

Jeb Bush thinks Apple Watch can replace Obamacare

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IMG_0472.JPG
Jeb Bush is in love with Apple Watch

Presidential hopeful Jeb Bush hasn’t officially announced that he’s running for office, but he’s already hitting the campaign trail and he’s brining his Apple Watch with him.

In Tempe Arizona today, Jeb held a town hall meeting at the Chamber of Commerce and stopped to rave about his Apple Watch. It’s so amazing, he says he even thinks it should replace Obamacare.

How to control third-party camera apps with Apple Watch

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You can use the music glance to snap pics.
You can use the music glance to snap pics.
Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac

The remote camera shutter and viewfinder is one of the most useful Apple Watch features, but there’s just one problem: It only works with the default camera app.

Apple hasn’t opened up the remote shutter API to developers yet, however, there’s still a way to turn your Apple Watch into a remote shutter for apps like Snapchat and Camera+. Instead of using the remote shutter app, you can actually use the volume slider in Music glance to snap pictures with your iPhone.

It’s super easy. Just follow these steps:

Why the Chinese military is frightened of the Apple Watch

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Is Apple Watch demand waning?
The Apple Watch is on the Chinese military's watch list. Though not in a good way.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

The Apple Watch is expected to do big things in China — with even the high-end Apple Watch Edition selling out within its first hour of preorders in the country — but one place the company’s debut wearable device won’t take off is the Chinese army.

That’s according to a recently released memo in which Chinese military leaders argue that wearable devices such as smartwatches and fitness trackers are sure to compromise soldiers’ security.

Design nerds will love this beautiful Apple Watch schematic

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post-322567-image-d5685fb22f97f21d48d666d230ffff25-jpg
If you think the Apple Watch is good-looking now, wait until you see it with lines and numbers everywhere.

If you’d like to see the Apple Watch in a cool new way, we have something to show you.

Apple created the below Apple Watch assembly drawing as part of its Made for Apple Watch program, which supports designers who are interested in creating third-party bands for the new wearable. It includes guidelines, notes and measurements of every part of the Watch, but mostly it’s just beautiful to behold.

How not to make your Apple Watch round

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Don't try this at home. Photo: Peripatetic Pandas
Don't try this at home. Photo: Peripatetic Pandas

Apple Watch is hands down the most beautiful smart watch you can buy, but it doesn’t have a gorgeous round face like the original Apple Watches did. Jony Ive never even considered using a round design because “a circle doesn’t make any sense” for a list-based interface, but the crazy tech pranksters at Peripatetic Pandas are ready to show him how wrong he was.

Using a metal grinder to round out the Apple Watch’s corners, the guys who also solved the iPhone 6’s protruding lens problem have also devised an ingenious way to get a custom round Apple Watch. Sure, their method will void your warranty, but it’s pretty amazing that the watch still works after the beating it receives.

Watch the gory video below:

Apple Watch uses even Cupertino didn’t see coming

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It has a lot of talents, but first and foremost, it's a great watch. Photo: Cult of Mac
It has a lot of talents, but first and foremost, it's a great watch. Photo: Cult of Mac
Photo: Erfon Elijah/Instagram

Early adopters of the Apple Watch have had a few weeks with their new gadgets, and they’re having experiences that may not be worthy of one of Apple’s austere presentations. But that doesn’t mean people aren’t getting a lot of use out of the things and finding occasionally odd ways to integrate them into their lives.

A bunch of reddit users have been sharing their stories, and here are some of the more peculiar things Apple’s new wearable can do.

The Apple Watch is already improving the lives of deaf users

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The Apple Watch is already improving lives. Photo: CNN Money
The Apple Watch is already improving lives. Photo: CNN Money

For many years Apple has been a great company when it comes to pushing the accessibility of its products for disabled users — from features like VoiceOver, which allow for descriptions of apps to be read aloud for the blind, to FaceTime which represented a breakthrough in allowing deaf people to communicate with one another using a mobile device.

In a new video for CNN Money, the latest step of that evolution is shown as a deaf Apple Watch owner demonstrates how he can use the device to control his hearing aid.

Apple Watch takes an Olympic-size plunge, lives to tell about it

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Apple Watch is ready to take the plunge. Photo: DC Rainmaker
Apple Watch is ready to take the plunge. Photo: DC Rainmaker

Summertime is finally upon us, and here in the Valley of the Sun, that mostly means one thing: cliff-jumping season.

I’ve been worried that my Apple Watch might not survive some of the 50-foot cliffs my friends and I like to hurl ourselves off of, but the folks at DC Rainmaker have put the waterproofing of Apple’s new wearable to the test by jumping off an Olympic diving platform. Despite momentarily being exposed to water deeper than the 1 meter it’s rated for, the Apple Watch keeps on ticking.

Watch the full test below:

Hacked Apple Watch proves the web wasn’t meant for 1-inch screens

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Safari on the Apple Watch would suck. Photo: Comex
Safari on the Apple Watch would suck. Photo: Comex

Apple Watch is great at many things like checking weather, tracking fitness and sending notifications. But when it comes to surfing the web, Apple Watch is unsurprisingly the worst device for the task.

An Apple Watch version of Safari wasn’t included with Jony Ive’s smartwatch, but that didn’t stop notorious jailbreaker Comex from hacking a web browser onto the wearable. Comex posted a video of his hacked Apple Watch running a web browser on the Google homepage over the weekend, showing it is possible to browse the web from your wrist — but you’ll never want to.

Check it out:

Apple’s plans for a magical new TV remote, this week on The CultCast

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Save us Apple, you're our only hope.
Save us Apple, you're our only hope.
Photo:

This week: For years Apple has reportedly been working their magic on the worst device in every home—the remote control. And now, with a rumored new Apple TV on the the horizon, we’ll tell you why an Apple-hewn controller could be its flagship feature. Plus: how to create your own Apple Watch band; how to share your digital heartbeat with other lonely Apple Watch wearers; and we vote on our favorite new gadgets on an all-new Faves ’N Raves.

Our thanks to lynda.com for sponsoring this episode! Learn virtually any application at your own pace from expert-taught video tutorials at lynda.com.

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Full show notes ahead!