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The Famous Small Dog Garage Sale
We wanted to let you know that we have been busy in our warehouses getting ready for our Famous Semi-Annual Garage Sale! At least once a year, we clean out our inventory and offer some crazy deals on all the goodies we find. “*Click here to read more about the Garage Sale.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/garagesale
_Dear Friends,_
It is so green here in the Green Mountains with every shade of the emerald color visible as I look out the window here at the office. The Apple tree that we planted when we first moved into this facility about 12 years ago has really gotten big. I’ll have to get Artie with his chainsaw and snippers to prune it back a bit in the fall when it is dormant. Right now, however; it is covered with little green apples and with all of the rain we have been getting those apples are swelling as I watch.
Apple’s big Worldwide Developers Conference is wrapping up this week. I went home for lunch on Monday so I could watch the keynote on my AppleTV. As usual WWDC concentrates upon software so those looking for dramatic new hardware offerings were disappointed but the attendees are software developers and Apple had some great news and announcements for them. Two of these announcements may not get the headlines but they are pretty dramatic. One, Apple announced that it is releasing the toolkit for developers to create native apps for the Apple Watch. Currently, apps for the watch are really modified iPhone apps. With this new toolkit and the release of Watch OS 2, developers can now create watch-specific and standalone apps.
The other announcement is that Apple has made its innovative programming language, Swift, open source. Swift has been adopted quickly by the development community and Apple’s move to make it available as open source means that developers have access to the source code and collaborative development to make improvements to the language.
There were a bunch of other announcements at WWDC and I’ll do a little recap below. I am playing with the new beta versions of iPhone iOS 9 and El Capitan, or OS X 10.11 and just learning some of the new features and working around the inevitable bugs in beta software. There will be a public beta of each of these coming in July. At this point, I would say that El Capitan is much further on the development path than iOS 9 but they will catch up soon.
Apple did mention HomeKit, their home automation app, during the keynote but since there was not much news about AppleTV which is widely expected to serve as the home automation hub, we can probably look forward to another Apple event when they are ready to say something about AppleTV. But, why wait?
This week’s Kibbles & Bytes Exclusive is a home automation special bundle. The bundle consists of a Nest Learning Thermostat and a Kevo lock. I use both of these items in my home and find them to be extremely easy to install and use. Like much technology that I adopt, I now cannot really imagine how I lived without them. Not only do they automate two vital functions of your home, your heating and cooling and your lock but they are also integrated. These days when I open my lock at my home, I get a notification on my iPhone and my Apple Watch that asks if I want to set my Nest thermostat to “Home” and vice-versa, when I leave and lock the door I get a notification that asks if I want to set my Nest to “Away”.
Both these devices are pretty easy to install and come with good instructions. The Nest even comes with a little tool to make attaching the thermostat wires easier. Now you can send a key to your house via email to houseguests, workers, etc. You can revoke these keys at any time. Opening the door couldn’t be easier with your iPhone in your pocket you simply touch the lock and it opens. The Nest learning thermostat learns your heating and cooling habits and adjusts temperatures accordingly. You can manage your thermostat remotely, too, with the Nest App for the iPhone.
For this week’s K&B exclusive choose any Kevo lock in Satin Nickel, Polished Brass or Venetian Bronze and add a Nest Thermostat. This bundle is normally $469.98 but if you buy the bundle this week you can save $50 at only $419.98. “*Click Here*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900001866 to claim your bundle today.
Software on Center Stage!
Apple showed preview versions of the three main operating systems at WWDC, Mac OS X 10.11 “El Capitan”, iOS 9 and Watch OS 2. You can get a lot of more detailed information from the Apple web site but here’s what I feel are some of the more important new features coming soon to your devices.
*Split Screens*
I am not talking about what happens when you drop your iPhone on the driveway but rather a new way to view and use content. This new feature comes to Mac OS X with the ability to create a dual view interactive desktop for two applications. As I am writing this issue of Kibbles I am using this feature to have Safari on 1/2 of my screen and OS X Mail on the other other 1/2. For OS X this is pretty simple since we have had multitasking for a long time. On iOS 9 it is a bit of a more dramatic change.
On iOS 9 there are three new ways to split your iPad’s screen into sections, Slide Over, Picture in Picture and Split View. Slide Over allows an app to occupy about 1/3 of the screen while the other has the full screen behind it. Picture in Picture allows you to watch a YouTube video or FaceTime video call while you are continuing to use another app. You can move the video window around and resize it, too. Split View will only work on the iPad Air 2 but allows two apps to occupy portions of the screen and both are functional. This might be really handy for the rumored extra large iPad that might be in the works.
iOS 9 has full screen mode when you double click the home button to see what apps you have running. I’ve found this to be a big improvement, too.
*Watch OS 2*
I talked about this in the intro but this is another step in making the Apple Watch even more valuable. Native Watch Apps will not be long in coming!
*News*
Apple will be releasing a News App that will learn your preferences and present you with the news tailored to your interests. It is not included in the current beta but the demo looked awesome and I can see myself using that extensively to keep informed.
*Transit Maps*
Nothing worse than visiting a big city for this country boy and trying to navigate the transit system. None of the US systems are as simple to navigate as the transit system in Hong Kong but with this new addition to the Maps app mass transit directions will make getting around a lot easier. Already having Maps on the Apple Watch was a great experience for Grace when she was down in NYC last week. Now she should be able to navigate public transportation, too!
*Siri Grows Up*
Proactive is the word here. Siri can use the information on your iPhone to give you advice and options, like having your own personal assistant. Things like scanning your email and automatically putting invitations into your calendar or suggesting music for your particular activity. I’ve just started playing with this and I want to see just how useful it will be. Apple also made Spotlight smarter in OS X 10.11 although I wonder why they haven’t brought Siri to the Mac OS yet.
*Apple Music*
Apple’s “one more thing” this year was Apple Music. Coming in July the service will stream your favorites, allow you to watch music videos and has curated playlists. It also have a feature called Connect that lets unsigned musicians upload their music. Add in the Beats 1 music radio channel and you have a major revision to iTunes and Apple’s music offerings. It will be a subscription and will cost $9.99 a month or $14.99 for a family of up to five. Apple announced it is giving all its 120 million or so iTunes users a free 90-day trial.
Red Clock
Everyone customizes their iPhone in their own way. Maybe it’s the way they organize their Apps, some by page, some in folders, some just use the search function and don’t organize them at all. For me I organize them across the top only so I can see the beautiful photo I’m using for my background on the retina display of my iPhone 6, but this only stays up as long the auto lock is set for. Yes I know you can turn off the auto lock but then I forget and the battery dies. At my desk I use a stand, the “*Twelve South Highrise,*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/83856/twelve-south-hirise-for-iphone-5-5s-5c-6-6-plus-ipad-mini-silver, so I’m not worried about the battery dying. In comes RedClock, a great app that updates the background every hour and displays, time, date, and weather conditions (temp, humidity, wind speed and direction).
This is the best App I’ve seen for people who dock their iPhone at home or at work. The backgrounds are great colors that are sometimes two-tone, nature, or just a nice soothing color. There is a night mode which is activated simply by swiping down. You can of course also setup different alarm clocks with the app. If you prefer one of their colors v. others you can set it to not change, and in-app purchases allow you to download different background packs. I realize it’s simple but that’s what makes it such a great addition for the iPhone.
To download “*click here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/86478/red-clock-the-minimal-alarm-clock