News - page 1077

I love my Philips Hue smart-lighting kit, but every time I’ve just randomly turned my living-room lights different colors in front of another person, they’ve asked the same question:

“How much did you pay for this?”

And then I just kind of mumble something because while the system has added convenience and versatility to my apartment, I’m still not super comfortable admitting that I plan on paying $60 for a light bulb. Instead, I just say, “It was for work,” and leave it.

But Qube, a new smart-lighting system that launches in April, wants to avoid that kind of awkwardness with bulbs that cost way less than its competitors but offer just as many opportunities for just the weirdest ambience you can design.

Let’s face it: Online shopping is amazing. Given the choice of shopping from home while relaxing in their PJs or fighting crowds and dodging overbearing salespeople, we bet most people will choose to shop online.

But shopping online has some drawbacks as well. Mainly, those drawbacks come in the form of having to sift through multiple colors and sizes of clothes and shoes to find the perfect piece at the perfect price. When prices vary depending on the size and color combination that you select, it can be difficult to assess an item at a glance.

The iPhone can do a lot of things, but work as a functional piece of furniture? Yes, as one design studio proved when it created a tiny lampshade that clips to the iPhone.

Activate the flashlight app and behold, a nightstand reading light.

Spotify and Apple Music subscribers won’t be able to stream Adele’s highly anticipated album “25” when it is publicly released tomorrow.

The album is sure to be one of the biggest sellers of the year, but according to a report from the New York Times, Adele’s people have informed companies that “25” will not be made available for streaming.

Winter is here, which also means flu season is getting ready to knock you out. Finding time to get immunized may not be on the top of your To Do List, but Uber is making it ridiculously easy to get your flu shot with it’s new UberHealth option that will bring a registered nurse to your front door.

The special promotion is only in effect today from 11AM – 3PM, with over 35 cities participating. Uber will deliver wellness packs for $10, and give users the option to request a free Fluzone vaccine for you and nine other people.

Here’s how it works:

Lens attachments for your iPhone can bring a fresh point of view to your photos but there are drawbacks. Some force you to remove the phone’s protective case to properly fit the lens. Others require a sticky mounting plate.

The mount for the Iris lenses by Photojojo looks like a little girl’s ponytail holder with a silicon housing holding one of three pop-in lenses that is attached to an elastic cord stretching and securing snuggly to diagonal corners of your iPhone or Samsung Galaxy.

The Apple Pencil stylus accessory was one of the most-praised parts of the newly-launched iPad Pro — which, naturally, means that our friends at iFixit were tripping over one another to pull it apart and scoop through its gory innards like geeky zombies with a taste for tech components.

Here’s what they discovered in their customary teardown.

Jony Ive memorably (allegedly) described Swiss watchmakers as “f**ked” due to the then-impending launch of the launch of the Apple Watch, and one year later — like some kind of creepy, well-dressed soothsayer in an Apple-centric episode of The Twilight Zone — it seems he may have been correct.

Swiss watch exports suffered their biggest decline in six years in October, with sales dropping 12 percent to $2 billion. Jon Cox, an analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux in Zurich, describes 2015 as a year “to forget” for watchmakers.

Unless their name is Apple, of course.

Black Friday is inching closer and we’ve got plenty of ads to whet our appetite for savings. We’ve done our initial inspection, and we’re ready to present our first look at the best Black Friday ads. Here you’ll find all our favorite ads in one convenient place, from crazy-cheap TVs to Apple items galore.

Got an opinion on which ads are the best? After reviewing the list below, click here to vote in our poll about which doorbuster is top dog for 2015!

Popular U.K. talk show host Jonathan Ross (possibly best known to U.S. readers as the husband of Kick-Ass screenwriter Jane Goldman) recently gave an interview about technology as part of the IAB Digital Upfronts 2015 conference.

In addition to touching on Apple Watch and a variety of other tech topics, the most interesting anecdote came when “Wossy” talked about getting on the Apple free products guest list — including receiving an iPod shuffle months before it was publicly available.

How? Apparently it pays to be nice to students. Particularly if one of them turns out to be the future Sir Jony Ive.

Apple’s always on the lookout for ways to improve the resiliency of its devices. For this reason, the U.S. Patent and Trademarks Office today published a new patent application from the company — calling for retractable drop-proof bumpers to be built into future iPhone housing, capable of doubling as a flotation device in case your handset accidentally lands in water.

Apple is seeking out another manufacturer to help build its upcoming Apple Watch 2, according to a newly published report, citing supply chain insiders.

While Apple currently relies on Quanta Computer to build its first-gen wearable device, the company is said to also be speaking with Inventec, Wistron and Foxconn Electronics — all companies Cupertino has previously worked with — to help build its follow-up smartwatch, which is expected to arrive in the second quarter of 2016.

Apple has crossed the $1 billion sales mark for its Indian operations for the first time, according to a filing with India’s Registrar of Companies (RoC) this week.

Apple saw 44 percent increase in sales for its most recent financial year, marking an overall doubling of Indian sales in the past two years — largely due to increased demand for the iPhone.

Apple TV owners can watch ABC on their streaming boxes (with a subscription), and the company isn’t afraid to exploit the undying, platonic love between a bear and a frog to make that fact known.

The latest Apple TV ad showcases the Watch ABC app, which lets existing cable subscribers watch full episodes and live broadcasts of the network’s programming, including The Muppets. The puppet-driven show features prominently in the new, 15-second spot which went live today.

Check it out below:

If you’ve watched any YouTube videos lately, you might have learned that IBM’s Watson supercomputer is a big fan of Bob Dylan, even though the deep-learning machine can’t carry a tune. But we can also add the Apple Watch to Watson’s list of likes, as the wearable has topped the think-bot’s list of items trending this holiday.

These results come from a brand-new, free app that collects and analyzes customer sentiment from across the Internet.

There are people who walk this earth with a recorder and mic much the way a photographer does with a camera. Like the eye, the ear picks up rich and textured details, from the husky-voiced uncle spinning a yarn at Thanksgiving to swirly gusts of wind rousting the last leaves of fall clinging to their branches.

Whatever peeks your audio curiosity, Kapture is a discreet recorder ready at the wrist to save the ambient sound that orbits your ears.

A new report from analytics firm Argus Insights puts the Apple Watch well ahead of its competitors heading into the all-important holiday season.

Four of the 10 most favorably reviewed smartwatches on the market are Apples. More surprisingly, however, is that price doesn’t seem to be a factor.

Apple Pay has finally made its way to iPhone and Apple Watch users in the Land Down Under, but only if they’re using American Express.

One day after the mobile payments service launched in Canada, Apple has flipped the switch for Apple Pay in Australia, allowing iOS device owners to make payments at any retailer that accepts Amex contactless payments.

Here are some of the stores participating in the launch:

The first major update for the new Apple TV just took one step closer to its public release with the third beta build of tvOS 9.1.

Apple has seed iOS 9.2 beta 4 to public testers and developers today, just over a week after dropping the last beta that contained a lot of bug fixes and minor updates.

The space black link bracelet for Apple Watch is one of the slickest looking bands for Apple Watch, and now if you’ve got XL thick wrists you can finally buy an extension kit to add extra room.

Microsoft released a completely revamped Bing app for iPhone today with a redesigned home page and a much larger emphasis on instant answers to search queries. Finding what you’re looking for now takes much less time.  It’s possible that this release is a stepping stone to the iOS debut of Cortana, Microsoft’s answer to Google Now.

Samsung is already fighting Apple Pay head on in the U.S., and now the South Korean company wants to beat it to new markets. A new report claims Samsung Pay will make its way to China, Spain, and the U.K. next year — only one of which is already supported by Apple Pay.

A blaring megaphone is an effective way to get people’s attention. But what if the people in the room speak a multitude of languages?

A Tokyo airport is trying to solve the language gap with international travelers with a megaphone that lets the user communicate in three different languages. A worker speaking one of three languages, Chinese, Korean or English, can have their message broadcast in the other two.

I’ll never cease to be amazed by how Apple can announce record-beating quarters and introduce hit product after hit product, only for Wall Street to turn around and channel the old disapproving parental message of, “We’re not angry, just disappointed.”

Fortunately, Goldman Sachs has broken with tradition by issuing a note to clients with its strongest of recommendations that they buy AAPL stock — stamping it with a “conviction buy” rating, based on Apple’s potential for continued growth.