Kibbles & Bytes Blog

Apple news, tech tips, and more…

KB Dog

  • Apple Knows Power Efficiency

    Long-time Kibbles readers might know that I’m kind of an electricity/power/engineering buff. I’ve written articles for Kibbles before about “*solar power*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/kb872/, batteries and other “*power generation*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/kb870/ techniques. It’s easy to focus on power generation because it’s flashy, techy, and seems like the go-to place if you’re trying to use power that’s greener. We often forget about the less sexy side of the electricity use cycle: consumption.

    Fortunately, Apple hasn’t forgotten about the consumption side. When everyone else was drooling over the multitasking, Siri, and app improvements in iOS 9, I was combing over the notes about improved battery life (by 1 whole hour!) and low power modes. We all seem to have a good understanding and appreciation of power consumption on our battery-based devices because it means we can use them for longer without being interrupted for charging. That’s a good thing because with iOS 9 providing even more capability we’ll probably be using them for longer.

    What you may not know though is that Apple’s entire product line strives to be power efficient. One of the big selling points of the Macbook Air over the 13″ Macbook Pro for me was the lightness and extremely low power consumption. I hoped to be able to run and charge it using my small 50-watt PV power station. I can happily report that thanks to the efficiency and low power consumption, I am able to do that for most of the year.

    For you, dear Kibbles readers, I have taken to our showroom with a notepad and my “*Kill-a-Watt*”:http://www.p3international.com/products/p4400.html meter to report some other power consumption readings of various Apple devices that I don’t own personally.

    Coming in at the very lowest end are the iPhones and iPads. My iPad Air (first generation) charges effortlessly with my power station. The iPads use a 10-watt plug which basically means it’ll deliver up to 10 watts to the device (5 volts at 2 amps DC in the case of USB powered tablets). The AC to DC conversion is very efficient and can be virtually discounted from calculations. A 10-watt charger will never draw more than a little over 10 watts from the wall.

    Next up we have the new 12″ Macbook. For what is effectively a full desktop machine (it runs the full latest version of OS X, not iOS) the Macbook is extremely stingy with its power consumption. Fully charged and idling, it consumes only 6 watts. When active it spikes consumption to somewhere in the 8-20 watt range. Powered by a 29-watt USB-C adapter, it’ll never draw more than that from the wall. Maximum draw will be during charging.

    After the Macbook, we step to my realm with the 11″ and 13″ Macbook Airs. The 13″ consumes only 8 watts at idle. Since I use my Air with my power system, I calculate run times based off a 1-2 amp draw on my battery. With a 42-amp hour battery, that’s a long run time. The 11″ air will consume slightly less, but the only difference is in the screen size and power required to light it as all the hardware is the same. Macbook Airs come with 45-watt chargers, and so will not consume more than that. Maximum draw will again be during charging.

    The amazing thing though is that even when you move to the 13″ and 15″ Macbook Pros, power consumption is still remarkably low. I read the 15″ Macbook Pro at 18 watts during idle and around 30 watts during activity. The 13″ Macbook Pro was the same at about 30 watts during activity, but came in slightly lower at 12 watts while idling. Again, the hardware is the same, so the only difference is in power required to light a bigger screen. Macbook Pros come with either a 60 or 85-watt charger, and once again, they will not consume more than that from the wall. Maximum draw will be during charging.

    I wasn’t able to test Apple’s non-portables, but I know for a fact (we use them in our server room) that Mac minis are about as good on power as Macbook Airs. They use similar hardware. The latest Mac minis can park themselves comfortably down in the 10 watt range if they’re not doing too much work.

    A very new addition to my home tech collection is a 3rd generation Apple TV (yes, I know, why didn’t I just wait for the new one?). Actually, I got it because I liked the price and because it has optical audio output. With the new Apple TV, I’d need to split the audio signal from the HDMI somehow. Anyway one of the first things I did was test the power consumption of the Apple TV. 1-2 watts at the wall. That’s it. So basically I just leave it plugged into my PV power strip and plan to only ever power it using my generated solar power.

    I hope you’ve enjoyed this very brief rundown of power efficiency and consumption among Apple’s devices. Even if you don’t generate your own power like I do, choosing a power efficient device can mean a lot of cost savings in electricity bills, especially if you use the device a lot. For a detailed environment report for each Apple device, visit “*Apple’s Environment Reports page.*”:http://www.apple.com/environment/reports/

  • iOS 9 Making Things Easier

    I have been playing with the beta of iOS 9 for some time and I have already gotten so used to some of the new features that I no longer consider them new. But for most people these improvements will be a pleasant surprise. I definitely encourage you to download iOS 9 so you can check out some of them! Here are some of my favorites for the iPhone. We will cover the iPad and iOS 9 next week.

    h3. Multitasking – the App Switcher

    You still double click the home button to access the App switcher but it has changed. The screens of open apps are shown in large size and you scroll right to left in order of most recently used. On the bottom of the screen you will see an improved Handoff indicator. It is a thin tab that you pull upwards to open the active Handoff screen.

    h3. Go Back to App

    If you click on a Notification or a link from an email or Safari and it opens a new window for the new app you can now quickly go back to the previous app. The “go back” button will only be there for about a minute before it vanishes but if you just want to check something out you can quickly go back to where you were.

    h3. Folders for Photo App

    iOS 9 has new folders or albums for selfies and screenshots within the Photos app. The Selfies folder is basically all the pictures taken with the front-facing camera while the screen shots folder log all the screen captures you do by holding down the home button and clicking the power button.

    h3. Low Power Mode

    Running low on juice and no convenient charger? iOS 9 introduces Low Power Mode. This power saving mode switches off some of the battery-draining features such as visual effects, background app refresh, automatic downloads and email refresh. You can switch to Low Power Mode in the Battery screen of settings or once you reach about 10% you will be asked whether you want to go into Low Power Mode. Once you plug your phone in you it reverts to regular mode.

    h3. News App

    Apple has introduced their News App which is pre-installed. You can customize it from their variety of feeds and subscribe to stories from a variety of sources. I have found that News is more useful to me than many of the other news apps that I have used so it has a prominent place on my home screen.

    !{display: block;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;}http://blog.smalldog.com/images/4522.jpg!

    h3. Searching

    Swipe to the left from the home screen and you get to the search screen. Spotlight which uses Siri now can answer a wider variety of questions. It interprets your plain english typing. You can do currency conversions, look up sports scores, do simple math, etc right there. Even without typing you can see other listings. These are the “proactive” Siri suggestions where Apple tries contextually to find you some relevant information.

    !{display: block;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;}http://blog.smalldog.com/images/4520.jpg!

    There is lots more to discover with iOS 9 and plenty that is “under the hood” to improve speed and performance. You are going to love it!

  • _Dear Friends,_

    It is a heat wave! Temps have been soaring into the high 80s during the day and cool at night making for a perfect end for the last few days of summer. I went to a big get together at the home of Ben Cohen from that ice cream company for the VBSR Terry Ehrich award ceremony honoring Duane Peterson from SunCommon, the largest solar energy company in the state. It was a beautiful evening with some very interesting and engaged business leaders in Vermont. I was fortunate to win this award back in 2011 and many of the other award winners were present as we inducted Duane into our small club. VBSR is celebrating our 25th anniversary this year so it was also a big celebration of our continued commitment to the triple bottom line of People, Planet and Profit.

    It was a beautiful night and the event was outside. That is always tricky this time of the year. I remember several years ago that we held a Small Dog Electronics party outside on Labor Day. We had hired a great local singer and band and had great food. Unfortunately, it was like 20 degrees and rainy outside so the party was a bit of a dud. But we were rewarded with a warm night and a beautiful sunset for the VBSR event.

    iOS 9 was released this week and all of the new features for your iPhone or iPad are ready for your free downloading pleasure. If you tried to download right when the update was released you might have encountered some problems due to clogged servers with millions trying to download the same file simultaneously. By today, however, the update is fast.

    This week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive is a six-pack of our famous Chill Pill mobile speakers. These compact “transformer” speakers produce big sound in a small package and have a built-in rechargeable battery. Normally, these sell for $29.99 each but for this week only for Kibbles & Bytes readers you can get 2 black, 2 white and 2 Red Chill Pill Speakers for the cost of one! “*That’s right $29.99 gets you a six-pack of Chill Pills!*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900001955/special-chill-pill-six-pack-for-only-29-99

  • Small Dog Instagram Contest Winner!

    Recently we launched a contest giveaway via our Instagram. We asked our followers to take their best shot at capturing their Labor Day weekend adventures. The best photo submission won an “Olioclip 4 in 1 Lens”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/86350/olloclip-4-in-1-lens-solution-for-iphone-6-6-plus-silver-black Congratulations to our winner **@mtb802** for this amazing photo taken over Labor Day weekend!

    **Follow us at @hellosmalldog!**

  • Specials!

    **September Specials available in store and online** The daylight might be starting to fade, but you shouldn’t have to worry about the power for your iPhone or your iPad! We have a lot of portable charging options available in our retail stores and online for users on the go.

    **$5 Off** “Outdoor Tech Kodiak Mini Rugged Powerbank”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900001948

    **$15 Off** “Just Mobile Top Gum Power Pack w/Charging Dock”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900001949

    **$50 Off** “Lenmar Mutant 20,800mAh 4 Port USB Portable Power Pack”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900001950/special-save-50-on-lenmar-mutant-4-port-usb-portable-power-pack

    **$30 Off** “OtterBox Resurgence Power Case for iPhones”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900001951

  • Will's thoughts on Apple Announcements

    Hope always runs high in the office when an Apple Event is coming. What will be announced? What do you want to see come out? Are you going to get the new ______? As we all know Apple doesn’t tell us or anyone what is coming. Rumor sites continuously post what they believe to be coming out, but even those sites can’t predict everything that will be announced. So the event has happened, new products have been announced, questions have been answered, what do I think?

    I won’t go over in detail what came out. But I will share what I thought of some of the updates and new products. The iPad Pro will be a product unlike anything we’ve seen. Its size, screen resolution and Apple’s take on accessories will be far beyond what we’ve seen so far form previous iPads and accessories from third-party manufacturers. I realize talking about accessories may seem odd in regards to the iPad Pro announcement but as always their accessories, like their main products, are groundbreaking. The smart keyboard case utilizes the same breakthrough key cap design that came with the MacBook. If you have used the MacBook keyboard you know what I’m talking about. They also used similar technology to the MagSafe to power the keyboard through the iPad Pro. For me though, the most exciting piece was the Apple Pencil. It will be the most powerful stylus on the market and it utilizes a Lightning connector to recharge from the iPad Pro. Why do I care about something so simple? Because it’s the first time Apple has used the Lighting connector for such a purpose. The Lighting port carries amazing technology within it, so seeing it used like this hopefully points at what will come with Lightning. Maybe the next Beats Headphones will plug in via Lightning.

    iPhone 6S: I can’t even begin to describe how happy I was to see these updates. 3D touch now makes the iPhone even more capable of tasks that we’ve come to use daily on our laptops. Think of it as a right click for the iPhone. You can now access more content on the same screen you’re used to seeing with the same tool you’ve always used, your finger. The Camera! Will that just make the Go Pro obsolete? Ok I won’t be mounting the iPhone 6S on my helmet anytime soon but with 4K and 12 megapixels I’m sure people will be using them in place of GoPro, SLRs and video cameras. Fight over the idea of “s” models with your friends but either way this is a huge update for the iPhone 6. I’ve written several times how much I enjoy having an iPhone because of its camera and this has only exemplified that point.

    Overall I was impressed with all the new products. Could some things have been better? Always. I would have preferred Apple’s new USB-C standard on the iPad Pro as it’s a pro device. The customer using it will most likely want to use other pro equipment such as hard drives, networking over ethernet, and pro audio equipment. As I said, the Apple TV update lends endless capabilities to come but would have loved to see more TV networks signing on to the HBO and Showtime philosophy of monthly subscriptions to gain access to their content. To be a nerd, I’m most excited to see how the Lightning connecter is being used. It’s an amazing connector and is underutilized by just recharging your iPhone or iPad. With it now on the Apple Pencil and Apple TV remote I’m excited to see what’s next. Will I soon be plugging my new Beats Studio with Lightning connector into my Apple TV Remote for noise canceling audio while the rest of the house is fast asleep? We’ll see…

  • Siri and Apple TV

    There are many new exciting features to the Apple TV which make me think that it is time for an upgrade, but my favorite has to be the addition of Siri. In fact, the whole remote is pretty darn cool. It features a new glass touch surface remote that allows for easy maneuvering around the screen, just like an iPhone or iPad. Back to Siri, though. Siri is now able to do universal searches across iTunes, Netflix, Hulu and more for you favorite actor, director or genre. My very favorite part though is that if you ask Siri ‘What did they say?’, the Apple TV will automatically scroll back fifteen seconds and turn on closed captioning. I am particularly excited because when I watch Doctor Who I am doing this manually myself at least six or seven times per episode. No joke. It will be nice to just be able to ‘ask and receive’ as they say. The new Apple TV will actually come with two sizes of built-in storage. There will be a 32GB model for $149.99 and a 64GB for $199.99. Apple plans to start shipping in late October. I would say it is going to be on my holiday wish list but I am not sure I can I hold out that long!

  • People, Planet, Profit

    At Small Dog we have a huge commitment to our triple bottom line of People, Planet and Profit. Sure we are about selling the latest and greatest Apple technology and ensuring that our customers walk out the door with the knowledge and confidence they need to get their new products up and running, but we are also passionate about the people in our community and our planet. Employees at Small Dog have a job requirement to volunteer one day a year for community service. Veteran employees have the option to up a month long sabbatical to pursue community service or education. Recently **Tony Amenta** took advantage of this company benefit and volunteered two weeks of his time to help “**Sinuosity**”:http://sinuosity.net/ build a new trail around Blueberry Lake in Warren Vermont.

  • September is here!

    We have been very busy here at Small Dog this summer with everyone traveling and getting geared for back to school. Summer is coming to an end, but there is still so much to look forward to! Apple had some pretty fantastic announcements last week from the iPad Pro to the new iPhone 6s. There is a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks. It’s hard to believe it’s already time for some early holiday planning, but with the recent announcements just made, it’s gearing up to be a very busy and exciting holiday season.

    Apple announced the highly anticipated iPad Pro with its giant 12.9-inch display with 2,732 x 2,048 pixels, powered by the new A9X processor and featuring a new 4 speaker system to guarantee a whole new experience when watching movies on the iPad. Pricing will start at **$799 for the 32GB WiFi** model and **128GB WiFi model will run $949**. The cellular LTE 128GB model costs just **$1,079.**

    The long awaited revision to Apple TV finally came as well! With amazing new features like the App Store now built-in, and a new touchscreen remote and Siri interface, searching for anything is a breeze. Pricing will start at **$149 for the 32GB model** and **$199 for the 64GB model**. The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus were announced as well with amazing new features like 3D touch, a new 12MP camera, front screen Retina flash, new processor upgrades and so much more. These upgrades bring a new experience and first time ever features that will change our lives.

    Apple also announced the iPad Mini 4, the Apple Pencil and smart keyboard case for the new iPad Pro which we will be covering more in future editions of Best in Show here at Small Dog so stay tuned…

    Joel Lyton
    “joel@smalldog.com”:mailto:joel@smalldog.com

  • More Thoughts on the Apple Event from the Small Dog Staff

    Erich Sullivan – South Burlington Service Writer

    The new Apple TV is what really has my attention, I’m already sold on the $200.00 64GB version.
    I don’t know what has me most sold, Siri? The App Store and what that will mean? I know that anything we’re thinking today will be dramatically upset with what will come from it. A simple unified search that lets me know if it’s in showtime, HBO, netflix or Hulu or in iTunes is going to be unreal. No more painfully typing in on that arcade style grid keyboard several times to find out no one has it. More time watching TV, less time struggling with an interface and search limitations.

    The App Store intends to turn the Apple TV into a casual gaming console, and the new remote gives it a change of being a decent experience.The new remote is exciting, the lightning connector for charging has me pondering things. They could have made it charge through micro USB, or run off batteries, or inductively charge on the top of the Apple TV box, but they went with lighting. It comes with the Lightning Cable to charge your remote, or your other Apple devices with a lightning port.

    Another interesting decision was the USB type C on the back of the new Apple TV for restores. Very forward thinking, and just another display that Apple is really pushing for USB type C to be the next ubiquitous connector.

    I have said many more things about the new Apple TV, but in short, I’m already sold.

    Morgan – Waitsfield IT

    I wasn’t all that thrilled about the  Watch additions (I’m still on the fence as to how useful I’d find the watch to be), but the iPad Pro announcement was cool. I know a lot of customers have been eagerly awaiting a larger iPad and—as a heavy iPad user myself—I know how useful they can be for work & play, so with iOS 9’s side-by-side apps support, it’ll be great. It’ll be especially useful for artists with the  Pencil (which itself is a great improvement since stylus support is pretty poor on the iPad) and may turn out to be a strong competitor to the expensive Wacom Cintiq line of drawing tablets with built-in displays. And, can I say one thing about the four speakers on the iPad Pro… FINALLY!

    The new  TV looks great & fun, but doesn’t seem entirely groundbreaking, just exactly what the next step of its evolution needed to be. That’s not to say I don’t want one, it definitely looks like a great product, just that it’s what I’d expect a new  TV to be. The remote looks very useful and fun for games, and I think that supporting iPhones & iPod touches as additional controllers is an absolutely brilliant idea.

    As usual, the iPhone 6S & 6S+ look like excellent upgrades to an already great phone. Bringing Force Touch to the iPhone will be a nice addition and I can’t help but geeking out about how they implemented it (Apple is really becoming quite ingenious on their technical solutions to difficult problems which actually make a bigger difference than most people think). And, they just keep making an excellent camera even better (the Live Photos are neat, esp. if they really don’t increase the photo size by much).

    Jim Overman – Waitsfield Phone Sales

    Siri On The Apple TV!

    There are many new exciting features to the Apple TV which make me think that it is time for an upgrade, but my favorite has to be the addition of Siri. In fact, the whole remote is pretty darn cool. It features a new glass touch surface remote that allows for easy maneuvering around the screen, just like an an iPhone or iPad. Back to Siri though, Siri is now able to do universal searches across iTunes, Netflix, Hulu and more for you favorite actor, director or genre. My very favorite part though is that if you ask Siri ‘What did they say?’, the Apple TV will automatically scroll back fifteen seconds and turn on closed captioning. I am particulary excited because when I watch Doctor Who I am doing this manually myself at least six or seven times per episode. No joke. It will be nice to just be able to ‘ask and receive’ as they say. The new Apple TV will actually come with two sizes of built-in storage, there will be a 32GB model for $149.99 and a 64GB for $199.99. Apple plans to start shipping in late October. I would say it is going to be on my holiday wish list but I am not sure I can I hold out that long!

    Joe Lytton – Key West Store Manager

    Just as we expected, Apple announced the next versions of its best-selling smartphones, the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus at its annual launch event in San Francisco. Also as we expected, the iPhone 6S looks identical to last year’s 4.7-inch iPhone 6S, reserving its most important changes for the hardware interior.
    True, there is a new color now, called rose gold (it basically looks like a blush pink, same as the new Apple Watch color option that the company announced). But as far as looks go, this extra shade is the extent of the the changes you’ll be able to visually detect between this year’s and last year’s phones.

    Apple says that its phone may look the same as last year’s model, but its iPhone 6S duo has achieved more inner strength. This time it uses a different grade of aluminum for its chassis, one that’s also used in the aerospace industry. They call it Series 7,000, and it’s the same aluminum alloy Apple puts into its Apple Watch Sport.
    A new type of chemically strengthened glass also tops the iPhone 6S, though the company hasn’t confirmed if this is cover material from Corning’s Gorilla Glass line or not.

    Apple has included a variation of Force Touch, which you find in different capacities on the Apple Watch and on some Mac trackpads. Called 3D Touch here, the iPhone 6S phones will adopt the same pressure-sensitive capability that calls up secondary menus and actions when you press and hold the screen. Press down and you can pull up context-sensitive menus, switch apps, or examine photos. But it’s a subtle riff on what already exists on iPhones: tapping and holding. Another use is to access shortcuts from the home screen for your most frequent actions, say messaging a friend. And if you’re in your email inbox, applying fingertip pressure to an element in the message will surface more information, like maybe the flight number on an emailed travel itinerary, for instance. (Apple called this concept “peeking in” during the live demo.) Pressing harder on an app will likewise generate more options, like viewing all the photos of a contact’s Instagram photo stream. In the context of a game, pressing harder could zoom you in to get closer to the action.

    A 12-megapixel camera is a huge jump for Apple, which has been holding onto its 8-megapixel sensors in its iPhone for years. Autofocus will pick up the pace, according to Apple, and color accuracy is a point of pride.

    The 5-megapixel front-facing camera now brings the iPhone 6S on par with a lot of today’s competing handsets. Of course, it includes the company’s proprietary voice chat feature, FaceTime video. Here’s something wildly different, though. Instead of including a dedicated flash for the front-facing camera, which only a few phones do, Apple is using the home screen to light up instead. This is meant to increase the brightness of those selfies even in low-light situations.

    A new feature you’ll see in the camera, Live Photos is a default mode that turns stills into a video or GIF, basically, images that move. It’s an automatic thing; all you have to do is take the picture like normal. When we took some shots, it seamlessly added Live Photo motion and sound. The Live Photo motion came out more like stop-motion or time lapse, however, than true video. It’s also important to note that one Live Photo is about twice the file size as a regular photo. Couple that with the 4K video capabilities (more on that later), and you’ll definitely need more storage space to accommodate.

    Apple also announced 4K video recording, at 3,840×2,160-pixel resolution. You’ll be able to take 8-megapixel camera photos while recording at this ultrahigh resolution. (The immediate benefit of shooting 4K video would be watching them later on a 4K TV.) Just like last year’s phones, the iPhone 6S Plus is the only model here with optical image stabilization, which helps correct blur from shaking hands.

    Under the hood, we have an upgraded, proprietary A9 processor that continues Apple’s theme of mystery when it comes to exactly what’s going on in there. Though it’s impossible to appreciate during our quick demo, what we do know is that this is Apple’s third-generation 64-bit chip. Apple claims that the A9 is 70 percent faster than last year’s A8 when it comes to the usual computing tasks (like opening an app, for example), and 90 percent faster at graphical tasks, like gaming.

    Apple says it’ll have the fastest forms of LTE Advanced, if that’s supported where you live, and will also include support for the latest, greatest Wi-Fi networks.

    The two new iPhones will run on iOS 9, mining all of those software enhancements, like a smarter Siri and up to three hours longer battery life, plus a new Low Power Mode. The updated operating system, which is currently in public beta, will arrive for phones on September 16.

  • Very exciting announcements from Apple as we head into the fall. It has been unusually warm for this time of the year here in Vermont with temperatures pushing 90 and high humidity. Nevertheless, more and more trees are starting to turn colors and we know that autumn is not far away.

    Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    Don, Dean, Will, Scott

  • Will's Thoughts on Apple's Announcements

    Hope always runs high in the office when an Apple Event is coming. What will be announced? What do you want to see come out? Are you going to get the new ______? As we all know Apple doesn’t tell us or anyone what is coming. Rumor sites continuously post what they believe to be coming out, but even those sites can’t predict everything that will be announced. So the event has happened, new products have been announced, questions have been answered, what do I think?

    I won’t go over in detail what came out. Don has handled that, but I will share what I thought of some of the updates and new products. The iPad Pro will be a product unlike anything we’ve seen. Its size, screen resolution and Apple’s take on accessories will be far beyond what we’ve seen so far form previous iPads and accessories from third-party manufacturers. I realize talking about accessories may seem odd in regards to the iPad Pro announcement but as always their accessories, like their main products, are groundbreaking. The smart keyboard case utilizes the same breakthrough key cap design that came with the MacBook. If you have used the MacBook keyboard you know what I’m talking about. They also used similar technology to the MagSafe to power the keyboard through the iPad Pro. For me though, the most exciting piece was the Apple Pencil. It will be the most powerful stylus on the market and it utilizes a Lightning connector to recharge from the iPad Pro. Why do I care about something so simple? Because it’s the first time Apple has used the Lighting connector for such a purpose. The Lighting port carries amazing technology within it, so seeing it used like this hopefully points at what will come with Lightning. Maybe the next Beats Headphones will plug in via Lightning.

    Apple TV: All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you. If you’re like me and have cut the cord from cable, you’ve been waiting for something like this. The App store coming to Apple TV is the best thing to happen for us “cord cutters” since Netflix. Add in Siri, gaming capabilities, and a great new remote…yeah it’s amazing! Multiplayer gaming with iOS devices will be a ton of fun with friends and family. Nothing new in the way of games themselves, but groundbreaking since most of us Apple freaks already own the devices needed to play along with friends on the big screen: an iPad or iPhone. The new remote also uses lighting for recharging. As you can tell, I’m liking this trend of the lighting connector appearing on non-iOS devices for the first time. Plus, the remote connects via Bluetooth. Why is that HUGE? Because you can hide the Apple TV in your cabinet now and still use the remote. No more line-of-sight. It may also point at possible Bluetooth audio capabilities of the Apple TV, meaning you may be able to use Bluetooth headphones with the new Apple TV.

    iPhone 6S: I can’t even begin to describe how happy I was to see these updates. 3D touch now makes the iPhone even more capable of tasks that we’ve come to use daily on our laptops. Think of it as a right click for the iPhone. You can now access more content on the same screen you’re used to seeing with the same tool you’ve always used, your finger. The Camera! Will that just make the Go Pro obsolete? Ok I won’t be mounting the iPhone 6S on my helmet anytime soon but with 4K and 12 megapixels I’m sure people will be using them in place of GoPro, SLRs and video cameras. Fight over the idea of “s” models with your friends but either way this is a huge update for the iPhone 6. I’ve written several times how much I enjoy having an iPhone because of its camera and this has only exemplified that point.

    Overall I was impressed with all the new products. Could some things have been better? Always. I would have preferred Apple’s new USB-C standard on the iPad Pro as it’s a pro device. The customer using it will most likely want to use other pro equipment such as hard drives, networking over ethernet, and pro audio equipment. As I said, the Apple TV update lends endless capabilities to come but would have loved to see more TV networks signing on to the HBO and Showtime philosophy of monthly subscriptions to gain access to their content. To be a nerd, I’m most excited to see how the Lightning connecter is being used. It’s an amazing connector and is underutilized by just recharging your iPhone or iPad. With it now on the Apple Pencil and Apple TV remote I’m excited to see what’s next. Will I soon be plugging my new Beats Studio with Lightning connector into my Apple TV Remote for noise canceling audio while the rest of the house is fast asleep? We’ll see…