Lewis Wallace - page 22

After decades of showing us the best ways to interact with computers, Apple is lagging on the UI of the future — voice controls powered by smart, conversational AI.

Google, on the other hand, is placing artificial intelligence, in the form of Google Assistant, at the center of its new Pixel smartphones and Google Home smart speaker.

Cupertino’s mastery of the user interface is legendary: Macs, iPods and iPhones made the GUI, the mouse, the scroll wheel and multitouch mainstream. But Apple needs to get into the AI conversation if it’s serious about securing a place in our gabby future.

A free software update for Ultimate Ears’ popular Boom and Megaboom speakers lets you connect dozens of the Bluetooth devices to create a massive wall of sound.

The over-the-air update, coming today to the “life-proof” speaker line, enables a new feature called PartyUp that can connect “more than 50” of UE’s popular tube-shaped speakers. “More than 50” is the party line, but UE product manager Jim Saraco said his team connected 130 of the speakers at the company’s HQ.

“In reality, we’re still trying to find a cap,” Saraco told Cult of Mac.

Alright, all you bleary-eyed Apple fans. Did your late-night iPhone 7 preorder go well? We want to know what iPhone 7 model Cult of Mac readers covet the most.

What type of iPhone 7 did you preorder? Let us know in the reader poll below.

And if you fell asleep before the preorder started, or couldn’t get the model you craved, we’d love to hear your iPhone 7 preorders horror stories. That’s what comments sections are for.

Far from the “boring” launch predicted by haters and relentless Apple rumormongers, Wednesday’s iPhone 7 event delivered plenty of big surprises.

Along with our first legitimate looks at the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, and the new Apple Watch Series 2, we got a promising peek inside Apple’s increasingly powerful and polished ecosystem. Here’s what you need to know about Apple’s iPhone 7 event.

SAN FRANCISCO — You might call Logitech’s latest peripherals the mice that didn’t roar. Or rather the mice that don’t click or swoosh or make that annoying ratcheting sound that triggers you to fantasize about strangling your fidgety-fingered co-worker.

This new breed of pointing device is as quiet as the proverbial church mouse, without sacrificing precision or tactile “click” — and apparently that’s a bigger deal than you might imagine.

Parallels Desktop, a go-to program for anybody wanting to run Windows on a Mac, just got more powerful and convenient to use. The Parallels Desktop 12 update, brings increased speed as well as a suite of handy new tools that simplify everyday tasks.

“This is the best Windows-on-Mac performance in the history of Parallels,” said John Uppendahl, Parallels’ vice president of communications, during a briefing about the new software, which will be available Thursday for subscribers and upgraders. (New users must wait until Aug. 23.)

SAN FRANCISCO — Teddy Winthrop is into leather. Like, way into it. In the year since he launched Edward Field, his high-end iPhone wallet case company, he’s been obsessing over ways to make his leather cases sleeker, more functional and more straight-up appealing to the humans who use them.

“It’s weird,” he told Cult of Mac while discussing the mission of his company, which launches a new line of products today. “I never thought I’d be passionate about wallets.”

If the Apple Magic Keyboard is like the latest MacBook — sleek, svelte and missing key features due to Cupertino’s maniacal pursuit of those first two attributes — the Kanex MultiSync Aluminum Keyboard is akin to a MacBook Pro.

It looks and feels a lot like Apple’s stock wireless keyboard, but adds functionality that will make the Kanex an ideal solution for some power users.

Amazon’s Prime Day is here, delivering big sales on tons of items. Cult of Mac is rounding up the best picks, and you can get in on the hot, hot shopping action right now — even if you’re not an Amazon Prime member.

Barking out a song request at my Amazon Echo smart speaker, then hearing the track magically start playing, makes me feel like I’m living in the future.

Unfortunately, that feeling evaporates when the song isn’t part of the relatively skimpy Amazon Prime Music catalog. If it’s not there, Amazon’s AI assistant Alexa queues up an annoying 30-second sample — and that makes me realize I’m living in the very buggy present.

Luckily, you can fix that. Here’s how to make Amazon Echo default to Spotify so you don’t get stuck with those annoying song and album previews.

Cold hard cash, and a surprising amount of creative input from top Apple executives, are key to Cupertino’s plan for making Apple Music a hit, according to a new behind-the-scenes report about the streaming service.

They don’t call them “headphones” for nothing.

Slipping on a pair of quality closed-back headphones puts you in a rarefied headspace where sound envelopes you completely and nothing matters but the music. Just close your eyes, cue up the perfect tracks to suit your mood, and drift away.

The Audeze EL-8 Titanium headphones, which use a Lightning connector to plug into your Apple device, will take you to that special place. But you’ll pay a steep price for your trip to aural bliss.

A firmware update to Ultimate Ears’ Bluetooth speakers lets you use simple voice commands to make song requests.

After you install the over-the-air update, just tap the Bluetooth button on the top of your paired Boom 2 or Megaboom speaker, then say something like, “Play ‘Iron Man’ by Black Sabbath.” Soon the track will play as if by magic.

SAN FRANCISCO — If you want to make a truly killer app, here’s a crucial part of the creative process you shouldn’t overlook: Give your “finished” software to someone, ask them to do something with it, and then shut the hell up.

Observe their interaction with the app, and you’ll learn what you’re doing right — and what you’re doing wrong.

That priceless piece of advice comes from Bill Atkinson, an Apple veteran who coded some of the greatest Mac software of all time, including HyperCard and MacPaint.

With a host of new features, many of which go more than just skin deep, iOS 10 will bring loads of new functionality to iPhones and iPads.

We got the developer beta up and running to get a look at all the new iOS 10 features in action, and caught it all on video to share with you. Get a glimpse of the iPhone’s future in our iOS hands-on video.

With absolutely no new hardware to show off, Apple focused on software — the glue that binds together its increasingly powerful and interconnected platforms — during the Worldwide Developers Conference kick-off event Monday.

“Our North Star has always been about improving people’s lives by creating great products that change the world,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook, addressing thousands of developers in San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. “Today for the very first time, we are going to talk to you about four Apple platforms. Each of these platforms is category-defining and world-changing.”

The UE Roll, a UFO-shaped Bluetooth speaker that’s built to withstand the rigors of your super-splashy summer, is getting a welcome upgrade. Much like this year’s refreshed MacBook line, the UE Roll 2 packs performance enhancements (and a new paint job) into a product we already know and love.

With its “lifeproof” design, and a beefy bungee cord built right in, it’s the ultimate “take your tunes anywhere” speaker. Only now it’s a wee bit better.

Update: Apple has confirmed that its Worldwide Developers Conference 2016 will take place June 13 through June 17 in San Francisco. The keynote address will rock the stage at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, with the remainder of the week’s sessions at Moscone Center West. See below for registration details.

While Apple has not yet made public the dates or location for this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, apparently Siri knows when and where the event will take place.

Even if Apple is not furiously trying to figure out how to make an Apple Car, the rest of the world is furiously trying to figure out what the Apple Car would look like.

And, perhaps more importantly, what the Apple Car would do.

Best List: Woven nylon Apple Watch band by Apple

If you’ve ever ordered anything online, you’ve probably experienced delayed dissatisfaction. You wait for the product, it finally arrives, you rip it open — and it’s nothing like the picture you saw on Amazon, eBay or whatever. The item is smaller, the color is crappier, the quality’s just not there.

The new woven-nylon Apple Watch bands are similar — but opposite! They look even better than they do on the Apple website. And, despite what you might think about nylon as a watchband material, Apple’s latest accessories pack a premium punch.

Over the past 40 years, Apple has been many things to many people. Innovative or imitative, premium or overpriced, saintly or evil — everybody’s got their own take on what Cupertino and its revolutionary products mean.

While Apple was founded on April Fools’ Day in 1976, the company and the profound impact that its shiny devices have made on our lives is truly not a joke. Here’s what Cult of Mac staffers said when asked to describe what the company means to them in a single word.

Bigger isn’t always better. With the iPhone SE, Apple has designed a tiny smartphone that’s destined to become a gigantic hit.

The device, unveiled during Apple’s “Let us loop you in” event Monday, looks like a totally amazeballs iPhone — and it comes with an Android-low price. Here’s why this little dynamo will take the world by storm.

Best List: Fresh Brew Plus coffee maker by Zojirushi

Every coffee fiend has a morning ritual. For me, it’s getting up before my wife and brewing a half-pot of strong black coffee that we can share. She usually gets up much later than me (lucky her), so a thermal carafe works wonders for us: I can drink mine as early as I like, and she can enjoy hers at a more leisurely hour.

That’s one key reason I’ve abandoned fancier coffee makers and set up shop with a Zojirushi Fresh Brew Plus — among its other features, it boasts the best carafe I’ve ever used.

Apple Music becomes an official part of the Sonos ecosystem Wednesday after months of beta testing on the wireless speakers.

“The feedback from Apple Music members on Sonos during the beta period has been great,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of internet software and services, in a press release. “Sonos plus Apple Music provides an amazing listening experience at home — and we’re excited to offer it to all Sonos customers starting tomorrow.”

David Bowie’s uncanny vision of the future didn’t stop with songs about holographic TVs or astronauts adrift in space.

More than a decade ago, the dynamic entertainer — who died Sunday at age 69 after an 18-month battle with cancer — predicted the music biz would look a lot like it does in the time of Apple Music.