David Pierini - page 49

Apple Watch app warns when you’re nearing data limit

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The DataMan complication, as seen in the upper left of these Apple Watches, monitors your data usage.
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 don’t 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.

Lensbaby your way to dreamy iPhone photos

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One of the lenses in the Creative Mobile Kit by Lensbaby.
One of the lenses in the Creative Mobile Kit by Lensbaby.
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

We love our iPhone cameras because it takes away the need for technical know-how and leaves us with nothing but fun for our photography. But sometimes fun needs to be turned up a notch.

Enter the Creative Mobile Kit from Lensbaby, a two-lens package that turns any scene into a dreamy state of smeary colors and blurred shapes that surround the focus of a subject. Just clip on the kit’s magnetic mount bracket, select a lens and go play.

Photo app lets you send the party snaps when you’re sober

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Flashgap lets you take pictures at the party, but then makes you wait a day before you can share them.
Flashgap lets you take pictures at the party, but then makes you wait a day before you can share them.
Photo: Flashgap

There is a growing category of apps that fall under the heading, Apps to save us from ourselves. There are messaging apps that delay the sending of text messages and apps and hardware that measure the amount of alcohol on your breath.

Flashgap enters this category – probably in time for some – to stop embarrassing party photos from making the rounds before you’ve had a chance to sober up and consider who will get to see your fun and foolishness.

10 native apps that give Apple Watch some independence

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Native apps, like Dark Sky, take advantage of the new OS for 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 it’s still tethered to something a little old-fashioned. But as of Monday, the Apple Watch’s new operating system allows it to cut a few of the cords that connect it to the iPhone.

Apple’s watchOS 2 debuted, giving the watch new superpowers but also allowing native apps to run independently of the iPhone.

Ex-baseball player makes pitch to turn iPhone into radar gun

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The Scoutee can attach to an iPhone and record pitch speeds and other data it sends to an app.
The Scoutee can attach to an iPhone and record pitch speeds and other data it sends to an app.
Photo: Scoutee

Miha Uhan’s dream of standing on a big league mound is dead. But he’s still got a big pitch that could impact the game of baseball.

The former Slovenia national team player now leads a team of developers who have created a small device that can turn an iPhone into a radar gun to clock the speed of a thrown baseball.

Love him or hate him, you must Paint with Donald Trump

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The polls don't open for several months, but you can express your feelings with art about Republican candidate Donald Trump.
The polls don't open for several months, but you can express your feelings with art about Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Illustration: David Pierini/Cult of Mac with Paint with Donald Trump

Just when voters thought the 2016 presidential election was a blank canvass, Donald Trump’s face started making a splash. Now you, too, can make a splash with Trumps face on a blank canvass.

The website, Paint with Donald Trump, lets you select from eight different faces of the billionaire Republican candidate and three different sized brushes, which clone his likeness with every click and drag.

The booq bag that keeps your tech gear in a Shadow

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The booq Shadow keeps what you're carrying in the dark.
The booq Shadow keeps what you're carrying in the dark.
Photo: booq

A shadow is a form of great substance that keeps its details hidden. Such was the inspiration for the designers at booq with a new messenger bag aptly named for what it does not reveal – your expensive tech gear.

The Shadow, available in gray and black, is elegantly spare in its look, which is part of its m.o. to discreetly carry your computer and other valuables.

Smart necklace keeps you connected and looking fabulous

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The Miragii pendant can project messages onto your hand and stores an earpiece for calls or music.
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 can’t 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.

Cook and Colbert discuss Jobs, charity, the iPhone 6s and an Apple Car

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Stephen Colbert, right, with iPhones 6s in hand, jokes with Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Stephen Colbert, right, with iPhones 6s in hand, jokes with Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Photo: CBS

Apple CEO Tim Cook has probably never had to fend off a fondue fork aimed at his neck on live television. But he did so with a laugh Monday night while a guest of the CBS Late Show with new host Stephen Colbert.

Colbert was marveling at a new rose gold iPhone 6s when he thought to ask Cook, “Did you change the charging cable on this because if you did I will stab you in the neck with a fondue fork right now.”

Coordinate your iPhone and Apple Watch with free photos

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One of 32 matching wallpaper designs by photographer Samuel Zeller.
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.

Camera backpack gives you ready access for any adventure

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The BackLight 26L comes in two colors and provides gear access without removing the pack.
The BackLight 26L comes in two colors and provides gear access without removing the pack.
Photo: MindShift Gear

If having an ice axe loop on your camera bag is important to you, than you are probably the kind of photographer that is the muse of MindShift Gear.

The company that designs bags and other accessories for hardy outdoor photographers will begin shipping a new camera backpack in October featuring a rear-panel compartment that allows access to your gear without taking off your backpack.

And yes, there’s a spot for your ice axe.

Smart bulb colors your world without breaking the bank

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You can control the Nyrius smart bulb with your smartphone.
You can control the Nyrius smart bulb with your smartphone.
Photo: Nyrius

If you found the transition from incandescent to fluorescent painful, you will be relieved to know you are in the midst of a lightbulb moment. This is the year when the price of LED-based smart bulbs, with the color and quality of light controlled by mobile apps, falls far enough to go mainstream.

Entering the highly competitive space is Ontario-based Nyrius, which today rolls out a light bulb for $39.99.

PowerClip will make your keychain feel inadequate

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Charging your iPhone and data storage are two of the many functions of the PowerClip.
Charging your iPhone and data storage are two of the many functions of the PowerClip.
Photo: Mirai

It seems a bit risky for your tech startup to make its first product a keychain. But London-based Mirai has one you’ll get a charge out of – literally.

The PowerClip is a key fob that serves first and foremost as a charger for your iPhone or Android smartphone. But it also has other functions, including an activity tracker, flashlight, key- and phone-finder and serves as a data storage device.

Ultra-tough Catalyst case is the ultimate iPad Pro-tection

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Catalyst will have an iPad Pro case available in early 2016 that promises to be spill- and drop-proof like its cases for iPhone.
Catalyst will have an iPad Pro case available in early 2016 that promises to be spill- and drop-proof like its cases for iPhone.
Rendering: Catalyst

Accessories company Catalyst likes to assume the extreme in everybody. Its marketing wants us to fret not about getting our iPhone or Apple Watch wet or dirty. Catalyst projects the confidence that it has your investment protected.

So, less than a week after Apple announced a new iPad Pro, Catalyst is touting the specs of a military-tough iPad Pro case that will be available after the first of the year.

Belgium’s first Apple Store celebrates local comic art

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Apple asked Belgian's comic art community to help announce a new store in Brussels.
Apple asked Belgian's comic art community to help announce a new store in Brussels.
Photo: Apple/YouTube

Comic books are considered an important part of Belgian culture. So it seemed only fitting that one of the biggest icons in pop culture, Apple, would team up with comic artists for the opening of the first-ever Apple store in Brussels.

Apple released a two-minute video over the weekend on its YouTube channel to show off the artists behind the marketing to announce the store’s opening, set for Saturday.

This smart camera tells you when your idea is not original

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Sorry, no pictures here.
Sorry, no pictures here.
Photo: Phillipp Schmitt

Imagine pointing your lens at something and the camera not letting you take the picture because what you are looking at has been photographed too many times.

Copenhagen designer and artist Phillipp Schmitt has developed the Camera Restricta, a device that first tracks its own location and searches online for photos that have been geotagged for the area within the camera’s range.

Golf gadget will show you the holes in your game

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Blast Golf Replay is a sensor on the club teamed with your iPhone to provide swing data flashed across a video replay.
Blast Golf Replay is a sensor on the club teamed with your iPhone to provide swing data flashed across a video replay.
Photo: Blast Motion

The golf industry is loaded with gadgets that promise to make your drive explode off the tee and turn bogeys into birdies. And there are plenty of golfers who pay handsomely for these promises in hopes of shaving a stroke or two off their average.

Most get suckered.

But a tiny device by Blast Motion, coupled with the iPhone, is slowly gaining approval among golf’s teaching professionals. It makes no promises, but it does provide numbers and video proof to support what your teacher’s been telling you all along – your game’s got problems.

Latest Apple fashion? Cool Siri-themed fingernails

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Apple senior design producer Jen Folse talks about the changes to Apple TV.
Apple senior design producer Jen Folse talks about the changes to Apple TV.
Photo: Apple

Jen Folse used the Apple stage Wednesday to tell the world about Apple TV. She used her nails to express her loyalty to the company.

If you got close enough to Apple’s lone female staffer to present at the company’s fall product event Wednesday, you could see the wavy lines of blue, pink, red, yellow and white on her nails painted to look like Siri’s Apple Watch interface. Those same colors were also used in official promotions of the fall showcase.

Have a look:

Are Apple’s Live Photos a gimmick or a game-changer?

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Live Photos bring a little life to your still images.
Live Photos bring a little life to your still images.
Photo: Apple

A few extra megapixels is always welcome, but if there is one feature of the new iPhone 6s camera that gets us to say “Wow,” it is Live Photos.

The new Live Photos technology actually captures a brief moment before and after your snap, giving the subject in a finished picture motion and a bit of life. After seeing it for the first time, some said, “Wow, that’s cool!” And others said, “Wow, that’s nothing new.”

First blush not exactly first gush for new Apple products

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The new iPhone 6s in the hands of journalist during Apple's September event Wednesday.
The new iPhone 6s in the hands of journalist during Apple's September event Wednesday.
Photo: The Verge/YouTube

After a little playtime with Apple’s new products Wednesday, the bloggers and tech reporters who cover Cupertino wrote positive reviews, but nothing seemed to make anyone pause and say wow.

The hands-on reviews and observations of the new Apple TV, the iPad Pro and iPhone 6s were measured praises of what may come later, the story appears to be more about evolution than revelation.

Killer cases for your iPhone 6s

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Things are looking rosy for accessory manufacturers, like Spigen, ready to provide cases for the iPhone 6s.
Things are looking rosy for accessory manufacturers, like Spigen, ready to provide cases for the iPhone 6s.
Photo: Spigen

You can almost see the new and improved iPhone 6s in your hands. Now, how about a new case for that gorgeous hunk of gear?

Several companies began showing off cases — everything from luxurious leather accessories to battery-extending packs — for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus following Apple’s big fall products reveal in San Francisco today.

iPad Pro seduces Twitter but Apple Pencil gets the shaft

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Apple fans on Twitter say they're ready to spend on new devices.
Apple fans on Twitter say they're ready to spend on new devices.
Photo: Twitter

If there was one thing heard across Twitter during today’s Apple announcements, it was the sound of money being sucked from wallets.

The introduction of an iPad 2, a more interactive Apple TV and the upgraded iPhone 6s generated tons of spending declarations on Twitter and in the posts written in another language, the exclamation point was a good indication of the social media excitement over Apple’s new products, rolled out today at the Bill Graham Auditorium in San Francisco.

Canon just dropped a nuke in the megapixel war

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Canon has developed 250-MP CMOS camera sensor.
Canon has developed 250-MP CMOS camera sensor.
Photo: Canon

Canon has developed a CMOS camera sensor that records a 250-megapixel image. Not that this should kill your excitement about the 12 megapixels you’re going to get with the camera on the new iPhone 6s, but take a moment to consider the number.

How do we even fathom 250 megapixels? Canon, in its press release boasting of the pixel count (19,580 x 12,600), said engineers zoomed in on a photo taken of an airplane from 11 miles away and could distinguish the lettering on the side of the plane.

Sisters spend Labor Day weekend launching kids space program

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Kimberly and Rebecca Yeung ready their space craft for flight into near space.
Kimberly and Rebecca Yeung ready their space craft for flight into near space.
Photo: Winston Yeung/YouTube

Ask sisters Kimberly and Rebecca Yeung about their Labor Day weekend and they could legitimately say, It was out of this world.

With a craft they constructed using light-weight wood and arrow shafts, Kimberly, 8, and Rebecca, 10, launched a weather balloon that reached a height of 78,000 feet. How do they know? Other than the two GoPro cameras aboard that recorded the flight, the girls outfitted their craft with a flight computer to record data, such as temperature and distance traveled.