In this TMO video podcast, Bryan Chaffin and John Kheit ask the question, “Is Augmented Reality for reals?” They also take the tact that analysts suck, and building on that theme, debate John’s theory on why software seems to suck today. For the pop part of the show, they look at Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049. If you enjoy the show, make sure you subscribe to it! (WARNING NSFW: PROFANITY & RANTS)
NAMM - IK Multimedia Announces iRig Stomp I/O
NAMM – IK Multimedia announced iRig Stomp I/O Thursday. It’s a pedalboard stompbox designed to let you control your AmpliTube for iPad or iPhone effects pedals live or in the studio. iRig Stomp I/O has a lot of features, including four switches, an expression pedal, a built-in preamp, phantom power for microphones, and a built-in USB audio interface, a combo input jack for line, instrument or mic input, and balanced stereo output. It’s also MFi-certified, and priced at $/€299.99. IK Multimedia said it will ship in March of 2018.
MyCharge's AdventureJumpStart Will Charge Your iPhone or Jump Start Your Car - Really
Check out the AdventureJumpStart from MyCharge. It’s a portable battery for charging your iPhone, iPad, or other mobile device, but it can also charge your other other mobile device. Your car. How cool is that? It even comes with detachable jumper cables designed to connect to the AdventureJumpStart and your car battery. With 6,600MhA of storage, you’d use it for your smart devices normally. But when jumping a car, AdventureJumpStart will put out a peak of 400A of current. MyCharge says you can leave it in your car year round, but recommends recharging it (via microUSB) every 90 days. It’s priced at US$99.99.
Burger King's Net Neutrality Explanation with Whoppers is Brilliant
If you know people who aren’t grasping what the repeal of Net Neutrality means, try hitting them in the stomach. Figuratively, of course. Fast food giant Burger King has an awesome video that makes it much easier to understand the ramifications of an internet without Net Neutrality using hamburgers as an example. It’s only a couple minutes long, but that’s more than enough time to get the point across. This is one of the clearest, and most entertaining, Net Neutrality explanations we’ve seen so far.
Tom Brady Features in New Apple Beats by Dre Commercial
Apple picked quarterback Tom Brady to promote Beats by Dre headphones. A new spot for the brand features a grim and gritty locker room shot of the Deflategate quarterback wearing a pair of Beats by Dre. In a voiceover, Mr. Brady says: “Doubt me. Distract me. Give me noise. ‘Cause all I hear is, ‘It’s payback time.'” A tagline of “Above the noise” then appears, followed by the Beats logo. The spot was posted to YouTube this weekend, and already has more than 2.2 million views.
Apple Channels Muhammad Ali for 'Selfies on iPhone X' Commercial
Apple has a new spot out called Selfies on iPhone X. The commercial features a series selfies with a soundtrack of the late Muhammad Ali declaring that he is the greatest. He was so great, in fact, his one fault was in recognizing just how great he was. Watch the commercial (with sound on), and he’ll tell you all about it.
Duke University Uses Animoji to Announce Tim Cook's Commencement Speech
Apple CEO Tim Cook will be the commencement speaker at Duke University on May 13th, 2018, and the school used Apple’s own technology to make the announcement. Duke President Vincent E. Price, along with students and Tim Cook, used Animoji for the big reveal. Animoji is an iPhone X feature that maps your facial expressions and what you’re saying to an emoji character in real time. Cook is a Duke graduate and a fan of the school’s basketball team—something he shares in the video. Check out Duke’s Animoji announcement video.
NOMAD Intros Wireless Charging Hub with Extra USB-A and USB-C Ports
NOMAD, well known for their cables and Apple Watch bands, just released a Qi-compatible wireless charging pad for the iPhone 8 and iPhone X. The wireless hub sports 7.5W output for charging your phone, along with a 3A USB-C and two 1A USB-A, and one 2.4A USB-A charging ports. Bundling in those extra ports makes it a great choice for your desk or your suitcase if you want an easy and convenient way to juice up your phone, iPad, and AirPods at the same time while you sleep. NOMAD’s Wireless Hub is priced at US$79.95 and is available at the company’s website.
Andy Warhol Apple Logo Painting Up for Auction, Could Hit $30K
Pop Culture artist Andy Warhol’s Apple logo painting is up for auction and is expected to bring in somewhere between US$20,000 and $30,000. Woodshed Art Auctions is conducting the auction with live bidding starting at 5:30 PM eastern time on February 1st. For you art aficionados considering making a bid, the piece is 8×8-inches in a 16.5×16.5-inch frame, float mounted with archive corners, no adhesives, and in good condition. Early online bids are currently at $6,500, so now you know what you have to out bid.
Apple Music Trailer for UK Rapper Stefflon Don Documentary
Apple Music has a trailer out for a mini series of documentaries on UK rapper Stefflon Don. It’s part of Apple Music’s “Up Next” showcase of up and coming artists. Stefflon Don was born in Birmingham, England, of Jamaican parents, grew up in Holland, and came back to England, where she launched her musical career. Apple Music describes her sound as a mix of UK rap and Jamaican dancehall, and there are two episodes of her documentary on Apple Music now. The trailer below offers a sneak peak.
This Qi Charger Was Designed to Look Good, Uses Cork Bed
We’ve seen a flurry of Qi chargers aimed at the Mac market since Apple launched iPhone 8/Plus and iPhone X. There are a ton of options if you just want a functional Qi charger, but I had one from Grovemade cross my desk last night that looks good, too. It has a 1/4″ brushed metal base to give it some heft, but what stood out for me was the natural cork bed. I think it looks way better than the plastic Qi chargers I’ve seen, plus it should grip my iPhone better. The company said it works with all of its own cases, and should work with other cases up to 3mm thick. Not surprisingly, it’s pricier than a small plastic puck, at US$79. I’m linking to the natural cork color model, but it’s also available with charcoal gray cork.
FaceRig is the Animoji You Wish Apple Made
Animoji on the iPhone X is pretty cool, but with just a handful of emoji faces to choose from it feels a little limited—plus it works only in the Messages app. FaceRig is an app that fixes those problems by giving you loads of characters to choose from, and you can unlock more through credits you earn by using the app. It uses the iPhone X’s facial tracking feature to do its magic, plus you can record videos to share with friends. You can choose from characters that animate in sync with your movement, or masks that overlay your face. FaceRig is free, and it’s already eating up too much of my time.
"Wait, We're Worth Millions?" New FileMaker Commercial Takes The Office Staff to The Beet Lord!
FileMaker, an Apple subsidiary, released a new commercial today featuring a few “staff members” from the US version of The Office. Check it out and watch how these Beet Lords manage their entire business with FileMaker. It’s as if anyone can do it (and, truth be told, anyone can: we use FileMaker here at both TMO and BackBeat Media to manage our entire operation).
iOS Deal: Today-Only Get OfficeSuite PRO for Free
MobiSystems, Inc. is offering their productivity app OfficeSuite PRO for free, but it’s a one-day deal. It has a file manager, document editor, spreadsheet editor, presentation editor and a PDF editor all in one app. You can use iCloud Drive, or connect to another cloud service like Google Drive, OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, or Box. The app recently offered support for iXpand drives, so you can take your documents on the go with you. OfficeSuite PRO is normally a US$14.99 app. Even if you use another productivity suite, it’s such a good deal that you can download and delete it so it will be in your purchased apps. Download it here.
New Apple Spot Promotes iPhone X and Portrait Lighting
Apple has a new commercial out called A New Light. It’s part of the company’s iPhone X series of commercials, and it promotes Portrait Lighting and Portrait Mode photography. It’s a 38 second spot that does a good job of demonstrating the kinds of thing you can do with Portrait Lighting on the iPhone X.
CES – RhinoShield Shows off "Mod" Modular iPhone Case
LAS VEGAS – At CES this week, RhinoShield, makers of thin-yet-strong iPhone cases, was showing off their new “Mod” modular case. The Mod works by letting you put together different parts to create the case that you want. Starting with a bumper you then add a backplate and even a camera lens mount if you like. In each configuration we tested the case was strong and felt cohesive. Holding my phone with the bumper+backplate on it felt like I had one, solid case on my phone. With 11 feet of drop protection, this makes sense! Priced at US$34.99 (or $31.99 plus shipping on Amazon), you can choose different colors and patterns for both pieces of the case. And if you want to change your style, just buy a new backplate and pop it in! RhinoShield mod comes in sizes ranging from iPhone 5 to iPhone X, with everything in between, including Plus-sizes.
CES – Netgear adds Waterproof Orbi Outdoor Satellite RBS50Y
LAS VEGAS – Netgear’s Orbi is one of our favorite wireless mesh systems available, and they’ve been doing a lot to update it over the past few months (see our “How to Choose Mesh Wireless” article for more details). The most recent update came at CES in the form of new hardware: the weather-resistant, AC3000, RBS50Y Orbi Outdoor Satellite. The only product that can be paired with both the consumer-grade Orbi and pro-grade Orbi Pro, the RBS50Y is a fully sealed, outdoor mesh point that can be added to an existing Orbi system. Just plug in power and go. Netgear wisely chose not to add Ethernet ports to it for security reasons – an outdoor access point gives people easy (and perhaps unwatched) ability to plug in. The Orbi RBS50Y is available immediately and Amazon has it for $329.99.
CES - Polk Intros Command Bar Sound Bar with Alexa, 4K TV Support
LAS VEGAS – Polk is giving Amazon’s Alexa a face lift—er, voice lift—with its Command Bar. The sound bar packs in an array of speakers for sound that nicely filled the large presentation space where we got our fist look, plus it includes a wireless subwoofer and, of course, integrated Alexa support. It also includes Polk Voice Adjust technology that makes it easier to hear dialog. The Command Bar packs in dual 4K HDMI 2.0b HDMI inputs, optical input for TV audio, HDMI (ARC) output, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, a USB port for Fire TV, and a far field microphone array for Alexa voice control. You can pre-order one for US$299.95 starting April 1, 2018, in the United States and Canada, and in other countries later in the year.
CES - STM Uses AR to Show Off Bags Before You Buy
LAS VEGAS – tech gear bag maker STM GOODS is getting into the augmented reality world with an iPhone and iPad app that lets you virtually check out their products and even see them on your friends. Just point your device’s camera at an STM bag—on your computer screen or in real life—to see a virtual version you can view from different angles, add accessories to, and look at in an x-ray mode. It also lets you see how bags look on people, which is handy for gauging size before your buy. The STM GOODS app is a free download on Apple’s App Store.
CES - DJI Osmo Mobile 2, a Handheld Video Stabilizers for Smartphones
CES – DJI, best known for drones, announced Osmo Mobile 2 this week at CES. It’s a handheld smartphone gimbal designed to stabilize your videos by keeping it level despite your movements. Or, as DJI put it, Osmo Mobile 2’s, “three-axis gimbal technology cancels out movement in three directions so your video stays steady even if your hands shake or wobble.” It has a built-in rechargeable 2600mAh battery for up to 15 hours of operation, with a charging time of 2 hours. The device is priced at US$129, and will be available exclusively for pre-order at Apple.com on January 23rd, 2018. It will be available more widely starting in early February.
