Leander Kahney - page 7

Having been the proud new owner of the iPhone XS Max for a few days, I’ve gotten a feel for the device.

Here’s a compressed iPhone XS Max review.

I have a new best friend. It’s the Apple Watch Series 4. Boy, do I love this miraculous little machine.

The new Apple Watch really is wonderful. As with everything else, speed makes it so much more fluid and seamless. The display is gigantic and awesome! There’s so much technology packed inside, it’s a sci-fi marvel.

I took it for a long bike ride to test it out. Here’s what I found.

It’s an incredibly big deal that Wednesday’s Gather Round keynote featured Lisa Jackson, Apple’s head of environmental initiatives.

The annual iPhone unveiling is Apple’s biggest product event of the year. Every single word and image is carefully calibrated to do one thing, and one thing only: sell as many of the new products as possible.

So why did Tim Cook turn over several precious minutes to Jackson to talk about renewable energy and recycling?

Why couldn’t you type the F-word on the iPhone? Why did Steve Jobs make weird eye movements during demos? What kind of manager was Scott Forstall?

These and other questions are answered in a new book by Ken Kocienda, a former iPhone programmer who spent 15 years at Apple helping to develop the first iPhone, iPad and Safari web browser.

Published this week, Creative Selection, Inside Apple’s Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs, is a fascinating account of Kocienda’s career that focuses on how Apple makes great software. (read our review here)

Here are some of the most interesting things we learned from the book.

“It’s this long process of demos and decisions and feedback that creates this long, iterative progression … that leads you from not-very-promising ideas to products you can ship.”

Curious what it was like to work at Apple during its Golden Age of design? What exactly did the creative process look like? On this episode of the Apple Chat podcast, I sit down with Ken Kocienda, a programmer who spent 15 years at Apple during the Steve Jobs era. He worked on the first versions of the Safari web browser, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. His new book, Creative Selection: Inside Apple’s Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs, chronicles his experiences working at the company and offers an inside look at the creative process that made the team successful.

On the podcast, Kocienda discusses his role in the development of the iOS keyboard, explaining how text entry evolved and offering insight into the autocorrect algorithm. He walks us through the Darwinian process of creative selection, describing how the demo pyramid functioned to provide feedback and move an idea from prototype to product. Listen in for his experience presenting a demo to Jobs himself and learn how the original spirit of the Macintosh lives on at Apple today!

When Steve Jobs died in 2011, pundits wondered how the company would continue to make great products without him.

The question is partly answered by programmer Ken Kocienda’s new book, Creative Selection, which describes his 15 years working at Apple helping to develop the original iPhone, iPad and Safari web browser.

Kocienda’s book is a remarkable insider’s story that shows how Apple creates the software that it’s rightly famous for.

Apple’s autonomous vehicle program sustained its first crash last week.

A Nissan Leaf rear-ended one of Apple’s autonomous test vehicles, according to a filing with California’s Department of Motor Vehicles. The DMV licenses autonomous car testing programs in the state.

When traveling, if you forget your charger, you’re often hosed. Especially for the Apple Watch. That’s why I keep a Zens Powerbank battery pack in my bag. The Powerbank features a built-in charger for the Apple Watch, plus a USB port for plugging an iPhone or iPad.

It’s light and easy to carry around, yet has enough juice for recharging an Apple Watch almost 12 times. Best yet, the Zens Powerbank battery pack is available now in Cult of Mac’s Watch Store. 

Best List: FuelBox, a home and mobile charging system

There’s a secret magician lurking in our household. We never see them, but they somehow manage to disappear all our charging cables. It drives me batty. The kids, of course, deny any knowledge of the situation. Yet somehow it’s impossible to keep cables around the house. They just keep disappearing.

That’s why I like the FuelBox PowerStation, a charging system that combines a docking station/charging brick with a mobile battery pack. Both the docking station and the battery pack have built-in charging cables — both Lightning and mini-USB. No matter what, the cables can’t disappear.

I test a lot of iPhone cases and rarely get comments. Most of them aren’t that distinctive. But a new iMac-inspired case from Spigen attracted the attention of my teenage kids and even elicited a compliment: “Cool case, Dad!”

I live in San Francisco where car crime in epidemic. Last year there were just under 30,000 reported break-ins — that’s about 85 a day! My car in particular seems to be a magnet for car thieves; it’s been broken into five times in the last couple of years, costing me thousands of dollars in repairs.

So I jumped at the chance to review the new Owl car cam, a combination dashboard cam and interior security device from one of the product design leads of the iPod and iPhone. The Owl combines two HD cameras — one pointing out, the other inwards — with bump-sensing accelerometers and an always-on LTE cellphone connection that sends alerts and live video to my iPhone.

It’s been great. Setup was the easiest of any gadget in recent memory and the video is surprisingly fantastic. Best of all, no one has broken in to steal it — yet!

Best List: Speidel Twist-O-Flex stainless steel Apple Watch band

My grandfather, who fought in World War II, wore a beautiful mechanical watch. It had an eye-catching expansion band — a stainless steel link bracelet that stretched like elastic. He always took it off to play cricket, and I remember it dangled loosely around my skinny kid’s wrist when I tried it on. He loved that watch, and so did I.

Now I’m wearing a similar expansion bracelet on my Apple Watch courtesy of Speidel, the storied watch-band maker from Providence, Rhode Island. Introduced in the late 1950s, Speidel’s Twist-O-Flex Stainless bracelets are some of the most iconic bands in all of watchmaking. Now they’re available in three finishes for the Apple Watch.

Venturing online can be like an urban safari into the sketchiest, most crime-ridden part of town. The internet is full of scumbags, scalawags and scambots.

That’s why it’s absolutely essential that you use good, strong passwords. And that means you need a good password manager. This is non-debatable. If you do anything at all online — shop, bank or socialize — you need a good password manager. Here at Cult of Mac, we use Dashlane. And in this video, I’ll tell you why.

In the world of watch straps, we think Ottm, a manufacturer of wooden Apple Watch bands, offers one of the best unboxing experiences.

The box itself is plain and simple, but the package is thoughtfully designed, containing extra links and a pin removal tool that makes it very easy to adjust your new band.

The bands are awesome, too. Made from zebrawood and/or sandalwood, each hand-finished strap is eye-catching, comfortable and unique.

We made a video to show you what to expect. And, check out Ottm’s wooden Apple Watch bands in the Watch Store.

Late last year, I switched password managers. I traded in trusty old 1Password for relative newcomer Dashlane, and I haven’t looked back.

Dashlane is a well-designed, fully functional and easy-to-use password manager that tops 1Password in one key respect: a Security Dashboard that makes it dead easy to track your online security and update it as necessary.

Update: Juuk’s added five new Vitero Apple Watch bands now available for preorder, which will ship the first week of February. The new finishes available for preorder are: Vitero Cosmic Grey, Vitero Granite, Vitero Ruby Silver, Vitero Silver and%20Vitero%20Ruby%20Grey.%20Many%20of%20the%20original%20Vitero%20finishes%20are%20sold%20out%20until%20June: Vitero%20Fire, Vitero%20Cerulean, Vitero%20Ruby%20Grey,%20Vitero%20Citron, Vitero%20Sapphire and%20Vitero%20Crimson. 

Best%20List:%20Juuk%20Design%20aluminum%20Vitero%20Apple%20Watch%20band

Our%20friends%20at%20Juuk%20have%20done%20it%20again!%20The%20Hong%20Kong-based%20company%20has%20created%20a%20totally%20unique,%20aluminum%20Apple%20Watch%20band%20with%20an%20aggressive%20design%20inspired%20by%20motor%20racing.Juuk’s%20Vitero%20band%20looks,%20feels%20and%20performs%20like%20no%20other%20Apple%20Watch%20band%20on%20the%20market%20–%20or%20any%20watch%20band%20for%20that%20matter.%20When%20these%20bands%20debuted%20a%20few%20months%20ago,%20they%20sold%20out%20quickly%20and%20a%20new%20batch%20won’t%20be%20back%20from%20production%20until%20June.Until%20then,%20Juuk’s%20satiated%20customers%20with%20five%20brand-new%20finishes%20available%20now%20for%20preorder%20to%20ship%20the%20first%20week%20of%20February%20— Vitero Cosmic Grey, Vitero Granite, Vitero Ruby Silver, Vitero Silver and Vitero%20Ruby%20Grey. These%20will%20sell%20out,%20so%20reserve%20yours%20today! 

Earlier this week my colleague Killian Bell published 10 things he hates about his iPhone X.

Like some of our readers, I was shocked. Hates? How could he find one thing to hate, let alone 10?

I can’t think of anything to hate about the X. On the contrary, there are lots of things to love. Here are 10 things I love about the iPhone X.

In the world of watch straps, we think Ottm, a manufacturer of wooden Apple Watch bands, offers one of the best unboxing experiences.

The box itself is plain and simple, but the package is thoughtfully designed, containing extra links and a pin removal tool that makes it very easy to adjust your new band.

The bands are awesome, too. Made from zebrawood and/or sandalwood, each hand-finished strap is eye-catching, comfortable and unique.

We made a video to show you what to expect. Check it out above.

Last week’s crushing news that Apple’s HomePod won’t be available for Christmas was a blow to some.

But I shrugged it off.

That’s because I made my own HomePod smart speaker. It cost me about $60 and sounds absolutely great.

With the iPhone X finally released, now is the best time to lock-in a price to sell your old phone before it begins to depreciate. And you should use Cult of Mac’s gadget buyback program, because we pay the highest cash prices with the easiest service.

Our popular gadget buyback program pays more for used and broken Apple devices in most cases than rivals like Gazelle and BuyBackWorld.

And we can prove it…

I used to think setting up a new iPhone was easy, but the iPhone X takes it to the next level.

On Friday, I got the new iPhone X and have been using it all weekend. The setup process was the easiest ever, and speaks to Apple’s constant drive to make things better.

Availability of the iPhone X seems to be better than expected. While the phone was predicted to sell out almost instantly, there seems to be a good supply at some Apple stores.

The big flagship store in San Francisco’s Union Square appears to have plenty of phones still in stock, according to Traci Dauphin, my wife, who just left the store.

Update: The Apple Watch Powerbank by Zens is now available at the Watch Store with free shipping!

Best List: Apple Watch Powerbank by Zens

Most external batteries for the Apple Watch are BYOC — Bring Your Own Cable — and have bulky winding systems for tucking the cable away.

Not the compact Apple Watch Powerbank from Zens, perhaps the most portable external battery pack on the market.

Apple TV has finally caught up with the 4K revolution.

It may be late to the game, but Apple’s newest set-top box pulls out all the stops to be the best on the field. It’s packing incredibly powerful new hardware that leaves competitors in the dust, and a much-improved tvOS platform that is years ahead of its rivals.

It may seem pricey starting at $179, but with amazingly sharp videos and great apps and games all rolled into one, Apple TV 4K is well worth the upgrade.

Watch our Apple TV video review:

If you just got a new Apple Watch Series 3 (or are about to), you should think about trading in your old watch.

Cult of Mac has a popular gadget buyback program that pays more for used Apple Watches than competing trade-in services, and it’s a lot easier and safer than Craigslist or eBay.