Technology Daily

Apple & Beats!

2014-08-11T05:31:00.001-07:00

Hey guys! Ben here.

So, Apple made it official the other day that they have acquired Beats. This was rumored for about a month before the purchase happened. However, so many people are overlooking what this means for both companies. For one, it means that beats are now sold at the Apple retail and online stores instead of the beats website. It also means that maybe the iPhone 6 will have some advanced audio with help from Beats.

Thanks for reading!

-Benjamin

OS X Yosemite Public Beta!

2014-07-24T14:37:00.003-07:00

Hey guys! Ben here.

As you all probably know, the developer beta of OS 10.10 Yosemite has been going on for a while now. However, if you sign up here before the day ends, Apple will email you a link to download the developer beta, free of charge. However, you should note that you need an Apple ID in order to do this. If you don't have an Apple ID, you can create one here. I did a whole separate article on Yosemite earlier today, which can be found here.

So, what are your thoughts on this public beta? Good idea or bad idea?

-Benjamin

OS X Yosemite: What's New?

2014-07-24T06:55:00.001-07:00

Hey guys! Ben here.

On June 2nd, 2014, at WWDC, Apple unveiled it's newest operating system, OS X Yosemite. So, what's new in the tenth release of OS X? If you want to know, you've come to the right place.

Design

With Yosemite, Apple has done what they did with iOS last year: they have handed the design work over to Johny Ive. As a result, the visuals in OS X have been completely overhauled, and everything now has a translucent effect to it. It's also a lot more consistent, unlike what OS X has sort of become in the past years. However, it's still OS X, not iOS, so there are still physical buttons to push with a mouse (unlike Windows 8). All of the built in apps have been overhauled to occomidate Johny Ive's vision of a desktop OS. I personally like the new design language, but it honestly should have been done last year with the release of iOS 7.

Features & Improvements

One of the biggest features of this new release it continuity. Continuity makes your Mac and your iDevice work more closely together. For example, iMessage on Mac (finally) has SMS, and you can receive and take phone calls on your Mac. Also, you can transfer your work or whatever you're doing to your iDevice and finish it there, or vice versa. Also, your phone can act as a hotspot for your Mac easier than ever (just click on your phone's icon in the status bar, instead of finding it in the WiFi settings), and you can AirDrop from your Mac to your iDevice or vice versa, making it easier than ever to share all your files.

Release Date & Price

Like Mavericks, Yosemite will be released in the fall, specifically around mid October, and will be completely free to the user. On July 24 (today), the public beta will be released (more on that here). If you are a developer and are registered with Apple, you have had access since around early June.

So, what do you think about Apple's latest operating system? Leave your comment below.

-Benjamin

(p.s, I know all my posts have been about Apple, but Android news has been slow lately)

iPhone 6: Everything We Know!

2014-07-22T10:30:00.002-07:00

Hey guys! Ben here.
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months, hype around the next iPhone (dubbed iPhone 6) has been building up. This is the most hype we've had for an iPhone in a while. This is a post where I will be going over everything we know about the next gen iPhone.

Display

The display is going to be one of the biggest changes of this new iPhone. It's going to be enlarged by 0.7 inches, making the total size 4.7 inches. To put that into perspective, the Motorola Moto X and the HTC One (2013) have the same screen size. This isn't the end of the story, though. Rumor has it that Apple will roll out ANOTHER iPhone a few months after the 4.7 incher, having a screen that measures 5.5 inches. Instead of the durable Corning Gorilla Glass 3 that is currently on the front of the iPhone 5S, Apple will go with a significantly more durable sapphire display. The advantages to sapphire are that it's more durable, resistant to fingerprints, and clearer. Apple currently uses sapphire on it's Touch ID home button and the camera lens found on the 5S. It was initially rumored that only the larger 5.5 inch iPhone 6 would have this higher-end material, but youtuber MKBHD got his hands on a sapphire display that measures 4.7 inches that was an actual part for the upcoming iPhone. Finally, resolution. This is one of the biggest mysteries about the iPhone 6, but Apple will have to bump the resolution to something that yields over 300 ppi if they want a Retina Display.

Camera

The camera is going to have a fairly large change too. According to the reports, the front facing camera won''t get much attention, but we're going to see a bump up to 13 megapixels on the main back camera. It will still be a Sony sensor, with Apple's iSight technology. This bump in technology should definitely give competitors like HTC and Samsung a run for their money.

Design

The design isn't expected to be a massive change, but it's going to change for sure. Youtuber UnboxTherapy received a case for the upcoming phone that he felt was extremely thin. In fact, when he scaled it up to the 5G iPod touch, it fit no problem. What this says is that this phone is going to be as thin as the 5G iPod touch! This could have it's downsides though. For one, the battery might be small (although Apple could fix that by optimizing iOS to the smaller battery as they've done in the past). Also, it increases the chance of the phone slipping out of your hand. Now, you know how the Apple logo on all the current MacBooks light up when it's on? The Apple logo on the rear of the iPhone is going to glow on the iPhone 6! This could potentially be used as a notification LED, something the iPhone has always lacked.

Specs

Finally, good old raw specs. This is the part where you should stop reading if you don't know a lot about technology. The iPhone 6 is expected to include Apple's new custom A8 chip, which should keep the 64-bit architecture that the iPhone 5S introduced. We might see the clock speed bumped up to 1.7 GHz, but it will probably stay at 1.3 GHz. Of course, iOS includes many optimizations that, along with the 64-bit architecture, should deliver stellar performance. It's expected to keep the separate motion-coprocessor that the iPhone 5S had, to go easy on the battery. It will ship with the latest iOS 8 software, which makes iOS a more open and flexible platform. The 4.7 inch model is rumored to have a 1,810 mAh battery, while the 5.5 incher will have a 2,500 mAh pack.

Release Date & Price

The release date of the iPhone 6 should be around the middle of September. It is expected to be announced as September nears. The price should be $200 with a 2 year agreement, and around $650 for the unlocked version.
So, what do you think about Apple's latest smartphone? Leave a comment down below.

-Benjamin

iOS 8 Beta 4!

2014-07-21T15:44:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Ben here. Welcome to my new blog! This is the blog where I post on what's going on in the world of technology.
Alright, let's get down to business. Today, Apple released iOS 8 beta 4, which fixes a bunch of bugs. So many, in fact, that it removes the bug reporter app that was present in previous re-release versions of iOS 8. Control Center has been given a revamped look and feel, with darker outlines and more opaqueness. Apple has also added a tips application, located in the default "Extras" folder, that is meant to give you tips and tricks about iOS. Unfortunately, there is no way to delete it, so that leaves an app that's always taking up space. Other additions include a separate Handoff tab in the settings app, and a revamped brightness menu which now includes text settings.

Have a nice day!

-Benjamin