applemagazine january

ALL HAIL THE ‘REAL LIFE’ STAR WARS BB-8

THE NEW iPHONE 6S AND 6S PLUS: A MUCH CLOSER LOOK

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS. THE SCI-FI SAGA STRIKES BACK

HERO OR VILLAIN? STEVE JOBS REMEMBERED

PRO FOR IT! THE POWERFUL

APPLICATIONS FOR THE NEW iPAD PRO

THE iPHONE 6S: THE BEST CAMERA PHONE YET?

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REVIEW: APPLE TV BRINGS iPHONE-LIKE APPS TO THE BIG SCREEN 08

WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR AT THE FRANKFURT AUTO SHOW 42

REVIEW: BETTER PHOTOS, ANIMATED SHOTS IN NEW iPHONES 70

6 NOTEWORTHY FEATURES IN ‘OS X EL CAPITAN’ UPDATE 78

I WANT MY APPLE TV! A NEW GENERATION IS COMING 86

THE HUNT FOR TALENT: HOW APPLE COMPETES 116

APPLE BEATS EARNINGS ESTIMATES, ISSUES HEALTHY FORECAST 150

DESKTOP VS MOBILE: COMPUTERS IN COMPETITION 156

SCIENCE: SPACE STATION MARKS 15 YEARS OF NONSTOP HUMAN PRESENCE 200

THE APPLE STORE: HOW IT TOOK OVER THE WORLD 212

APPLE BOSS PUSHES BUSINESS TO HELP SOLVE SOCIAL PROBLEMS 230

APPLE IN BUSINESS: A THRIVING ECOSYSTEM 242

GIFT GUIDE: GADGETS THAT MAKE YOUR WRIST SMARTER 258

MYSTERIOUS ELECTRIC CAR STARTUP LOOKING TO BUILD $1B FACTORY 286

APPLE PAY EXPANDS AS IT VIES FOR BROADER ACCEPTANCE 294

TERRORISM & DISASTERS: HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN LEAD THE FIGHTBACK 302

5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT APPLE’S NEW iPAD PRO 320

BETTER BATTERIES TO BEAT GLOBAL WARMING: A RACE AGAINST TIME 330

iCLOUD: A POWERFUL HUB IN APPLE’S ECOSYSTEM 338

SOCIAL MEDIA HELPS DRIVE HISTORIC CUBAN EXODUS TO US 354

REVIEW: SAMSUNG’S GEAR VR SHOWS THE PROMISE OF VR _ TODAY 370

SCIENCE: REUSABLE ROCKET: IN A FIRST, BOOSTER RETURNS SAFELY TO EARTH 380

SWIFT IS NOW OPEN SOURCE! 388

TV BUYING GUIDE: GET OUT TAPE MEASURE BEFORE SHOPPING 402

AFTER PARIS, US POLITICAL SHIFT ON PRIVACY VS. SECURITY 412

APPLE PAY: A PAYMENT SERVICE IN INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION 428

APPLE MAPS, ONCE A AUGHINGSTOCK, NOW DOMINATES iPHONES 444

FEDS REVISING WARY STANCE ON SELF-DRIVING CARS 454

WHY EUROPE ISN’T CREATING ANY GOOGLES OR FACEBOOKS 462

BACK OFF, TABLETS PC COMPANIES PLAN A $70M AD CAMPAIGN 474

COMPETITION FOR MICROSOFT LINEUP, WHICH TARGETS HIGH END 482

‘CALL OF DUTY’ CREATORS BUY ‘CANDY CRUSH’ MAKER FOR $5.9B 490

It turns out that Apple’s streaming-TV box - aptly named Apple TV - isn’t just for streaming anymore. Its latest incarnation, which ships last week, offers on the big screen just about anything you could previously only do on an iPhone or iPad.

Whether that’s good may depend on whether you really want to buy shoes, browse home listings or read comic books on your TV. The new Apple TV looks to be a capable device for those purposes, although it’s not flawless. Its streaming-TV features also trump those of its predecessor.

The new Apple TV will set you back $149, or $199 for a version with extra storage. Apple will still sell the old version for $69. Neither requires an iPhone or iPad, although either iDevice can simplify the Apple TV setup process.

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THE BASICS

Apple TV has been a dependable streamer, but until now its repertoire was limited to a few dozen services. Sure, these included Netflix, Hulu and HBO. But Apple didn’t let you add other channels - say, competitive videogame play from Twitch.tv - on your own.

That’s all changed. The new Apple TV features an iPhone-like app store that lets you choose your own streaming services. And it’s no longer pushy about steering you to iTunes and other Apple services. You can easily customize the home screen with your favorites.

Video quality on the new Apple TV maxes out at full high definition, known technically as 1080p. That should be plenty for most people. Video enthusiasts may complain that it doesn’t support a higher-quality video standard called ultra-high definition or 4K, as several other streaming boxes do. But there aren’t many 4K TVs or much programming for them available yet.

The Apple TV remote doesn’t have a headphone jack, which other streaming devices like the Roku 3 and 4 and the Nvidia Shield offer to spare your family and roommates late at night. Instead, Apple TV supports Bluetooth wireless headphones. Although you need to buy those separately, I prefer them because it can be tricky doing chores with a remote dangling from your headphone cords.

It’s not yet clear whether you’ll be able to stream video from Amazon and Google Play. Both companies have competing video stores, and one sticking point could be the cut Apple takes on in-app digital sales. Other major services, including Google’s YouTube, are expected on the Apple TV.

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Image: Gary He13

INNOVATIONS

The new Apple TV enables voice searches using the Siri virtual assistant. Request “Seinfeld” or Jennifer Lawrence, and Apple TV will look through catalogs for iTunes, Hulu, Netflix, HBO and Showtime, with more to come. You can even ask for “good documentaries to watch.”

Although similar capabilities are available on other devices, Apple TV goes further in a few ways:

- The remote replaces traditional rewind and forward buttons with a laptop-style trackpad. By sliding left and right, you control playback and navigate the on-screen keyboard more quickly. Sliding down gets you settings and show details, when available. The remote also lets you control the TV’s power and volume directly, something I’ve seen only with TiVo video players.

- You can control playback by asking Siri to rewind 45 seconds or jump ahead five minutes, though some services won’t let you forward past commercials. Saying “What did she say?” will rewind video 15 seconds and briefly turn on closed captioning, when available. It works fully with iTunes for now, but the closed-captioning part doesn’t work with all third-party services yet.

- You can ask Siri for a specific episode, such as the “How I Met Your Mother” episode with Katie Holmes. Guest stars tend to trip up rival devices.

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BEYOND STREAMING

Siri offers weather, stocks and sports information. It was great for tracking Tuesday’s World Series opener without watching the game. This feature isn’t unique to Apple TV, but unlike the competition, Apple TV feeds you info without interrupting your video by sliding up results from the bottom of the screen.

I had to rephrase or repeat my questions a few times, especially if I was speaking quickly. As long as I enunciated clearly, results were mostly satisfactory. Apple TV’s version of Siri, however, won’t handle general Web searches.

Apple TV catches up with rivals in enabling games. The remote has sensors that let you navigate spaceships and swing baseball bats by moving it around. But a bigger potential lies in bringing other apps to the big screen.

You can browse home to buy through Zillow and places to stay on vacation through Airbnb. Images on the big TV gave me a better sense of these properties than phone browsing would. You can also shop through Gilt and QVC.

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ROOM TO GROW

Apple still needs to persuade developers to make more apps that really exploit the larger, and often shared, TV screen. Many of the apps now available are limited to one user profile or account, making them difficult for others to use.

It would also be nice for Apple TV to work better with payment services. You can easily buy videos and games with your iTunes account, but non-digital products are another story. Airbnb, for instance, will let you “favorite” places to stay, but you’ll need a phone or computer to book a room. It’s not exactly the relaxed, couch-potato experience you expect from TV.

Generally speaking, though, the new Apple TV has taken an important first step into a broader world. Plenty of devices do video and games well. With a new range of non-streaming apps, Apple has an opportunity to do much more than that.

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Image: © &™ Lucasfilm Ltd.

WHY THE ‘BB-8 BY SPHERO’ IS WORTH MAKING A FUSS ABOUT

In the year 2015, we are all used to the notion that when the latest Hollywood blockbuster comes out, it may well be accompanied by a merchandise range. But Star Wars has never really had what might be termed a ‘normal’ relationship with the merchandise world, toys like the iconic

Kenner figures of yesteryear having stoked

expectations for every new toy release - such as, in the case of the latest instalment, The Force Awakens, the BB-8 by Sphero.

Naturally, we have to explain a bit more of the background here. If you are on even the faintest nodding terms with current popular culture, we’re sure that the term ‘BB-8’ already evokes

for you the image of the latest Star Wars droid in all of its onomatopoeic majesty, it resembling a moving white ball with a small domed, R2-D2-esque head.

It’s not every day that we get a new Star Wars droid of any description, so to be able to welcome one already so effortlessly iconic is quite something, and fans will be no doubt eager to see what BB-8 gets up to on the big screen. They should certainly be impressed by the realism of its depiction, not least given The Force Awakens’ much-decreased reliance on computer-generated imagery (CGI) in favor of the more traditional, practical special effects of the original Star Wars trilogy.

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BB-8 IS ‘REAL’ - IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE

What that means is that the BB-8 you watch on screen will be an actual physical prop, created by Disney Research and operated live on set. Much has already been said about BB-8’s design. Special effects artist Neal Scanlan has said that the droid’s differently shaped panels on each side make it easier for viewers to track the droid’s movement and direction of travel than would be the case if the circumference had featured more parallel patterns.

Scanlan has even gone as far as giving us an insight into the droid’s personality, commenting that “We always imagined BB-8 as being quite manipulative. I think he knows he’s cute. He knows he can win people over. And he uses that like children do to get his own way. In this film, he has a very important mission that he has to accomplish and so he uses his personality, his coyness, and all of those things.”

Why are we talking about all of these things? Well, it is that combination of genuine personality, subtly ingenious design and compelling technology that we expect to give BB-8 a huge amount of appeal to Star Wars fans for many years to come, and which should also - not coincidentally - make it ripe for merchandising opportunities. In keeping with the spirit of BB-8 as an actual, physical, working thing, you can even buy one, thanks to a little company known as Sphero.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SPHERO

If you know anything at all about the company Sphero, it will immediately become obvious

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to you why it was chosen for the assignment of bringing BB-8 into people’s homes. The firm has become synonymous in recent years with its spherical robots that are controlled by a smartphone app, and which very much resemble naked or proto-BB-8s in their shape and function. Today, the company offers the original white polycarbonate Sphero toy and the rugged Ollie, the transparent education-oriented SPRK Edition having also recently earned plaudits.

But the creation of a convincing BB-8 toy - or technological device, remote controlled spherical robot or whatever other term you might be tempted to use - has surely been Sphero’s biggest and most daunting assignment yet. That said, you can’t deny the thoroughness of the company’s preparation, its executives having been the first people outside the production team to be shown on-set photos and images of the droid by Disney CEO Bob Iger in July, when it was participating in a startup accelerator program run by the corporation.

The result of the collaboration has been described by Wired as “the only truly cutting-edge item” in a collection of The Force Awakens merchandise including the likes of toys, action figures, bags and luggage and household items, in which the image of BB-8 featured prominently. That some fans have

even reportedly been getting tattoos

of BB-8 on various areas of their bodies

suggests that Sphero has a lot to live up to in making its ‘BB-8 by Sphero’ toy befitting of the legend that is already springing up around the new droid.

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Image: © &™ Lucasfilm Ltd.27


IMPRESSIVE SPECIFICATIONS FROM A MERE ‘TOY’

So, what is the ‘BB-8 by Sphero’ really all about? Well, in a nutshell, it’s a version of the traditional Sphero that resembles BB-8, but which you can otherwise do many of the usual Sphero-esque things with, such as using a smartphone or tablet app as a remote control to roll it across the floor. Sphero has naturally made somewhat grander claims for the BB-8 - hailing it as “the app-enabled droid that is as authentic as it is advanced”, boasting “something unlike any other robot - an adaptive personality that changes as you play.”

Sphero isn’t just promising another remote controlled toy - it’s talked of a device that shows various expressions and even perks up when it is given voice commands. We’ve even been told that the BB-8 can ‘go on patrol’ - in other words, you can leave it to explore any environment of its own accord. We’re also excited about the bit in Sphero’s blurb referencing the ability to “create and view holographic recordings” - and of course, if all of the above sounds a bit pretentious to you, you can also just whip your iPhone out and control it just like any old remote controlled toy.

Naturally, the BB-8 by Sphero can’t offer everything that its on-screen counterpart can. It’s certainly not as large as the BB-8 of cinema fame, and despite that aforementioned ‘patrol’ feature, no one’s claiming that it will have the same intelligence and independence. The bottom line is that while it isn’t a bespoke recreation of the BB-8 of the big screen for fans with money to burn, the Sphero variant’s

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$150 retail price should appeal to a good mix of hardcore Star Wars collectors and those simply seeking a more sophisticated-than-normal toy.

OUR HANDS-ON VERDICT... AND IT’S A THUMBS UP

We are not unfamiliar with the charms of Sphero, having also previously tried out the SPRK Edition, so we had a decent idea of what to expect on the arrival of the box. As with the SPRK Edition, on opening it up, we weren’t greeted with reams of paper instructions, but instead with some simple diagrams that helped to make clear just how self-explanatory the operation of this device really is.

The box’s overall contents consist of nothing more than an induction charging base, a micro USB cable, a Quick Start guide, legal guide and - of course - the ‘BB-8 App-Enabled Droid’ itself, with its distinctive design and colours and durable polycarbonate shell. At a height of 11.4cm, a width of 7.3cm and a weight of 200kg- about the equivalent of a small orange - it’s a nice, portable size and weight for living room play, without the worry about inadvertently knocking out or running over your cat or dog.

In case you’re wondering, a combination of magnets and small wheels is used to keep the droid’s head secure on its globular body, even while it’s hurtling across the room. Once you’ve got the BB-8 out of its box, one of the first things that you will need to do is download the app to your mobile device - it’s free, and there are versions available for smartphones and tablets on both iOS and Android.

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AN EXCITING - AND FAR FROM BASIC - DRIVE FUNCTION

The app’s first task will pair the BB-8 to Bluetooth. Once that’s done, you will be required to line up the blue light in the actual BB-8 with your own direction, the toy - once you actually start to play with it - moving in the direction where the light is pointing. You will then finally be able to actually play with it.

There are three interactive modes in the app to take advantage of - Drive, Message and Patrol, in addition to a Settings app. It is the Drive mode that we found ourselves using most often, and which we suspect you will use most often too, presenting you with a virtual directional pad - albeit, dependent on your device being held in landscape mode - with which you can control the BB-8’s movement.

We found the process of controlling the BB-8 to be highly intuitive and accurate - we never found ourselves whacking it into walls that we didn’t want it to whack into, for example - to such an extent that we could imagine a child easily controlling it as long as the blue light is lined up. Even if you do hit a few obstacles from time to time, the BB-8’s tough shell doesn’t seem to suffer any scratches as a result, at least if you keep to a reasonably slow speed. Of course, it’s still possible to break plastic, so we wouldn’t recommend doing anything completely foolhardy.

Basically, if you have ever played with a Sphero before, the Drive function should present you with no difficulties. This part of the app also includes options for reverse driving and a temporary speed boost, or if you tap the


BB-8 portrait, you can access a host of further instructions. You can order your BB-8 to spin around in circles, nod yes or no or conduct a square or figure-of-eight shaped ‘mini patrol’.

Whatever we instructed BB-8 to do, it responded with aplomb, even moving across rugs and carpets, although moving from a smooth floor surface onto a rug was sometimes difficult when the BB-8 wasn’t moving fast enough. We would also advise that you vacuum your floor before letting BB-8 loose, given its inevitable tendency to gather dirt - particularly on the underside of the dome head that is constantly in contact with different areas of the rolling body.

HOLOGRAPHIC MESSAGES - FAR FROM JUST A GIMMICK

You probably won’t spend as much time with the other parts of the app, but that doesn’t mean that they lack their own appeal. The Messages section, for instance, allows you to use your phone or tablet’s front-facing camera to a record a video message that is then holographically “played” by the BB-8. In practice, that means that augmented reality is used to play the message on the phone.

Recording a message might take some getting used to, given the need to do so with the device in landscape mode. However, there’s no question that the resultant visual effect on playback is impressive, with the blue hologram being projected within your smartphone screen’s 3D space to make it appear as if the BB-8 itself is producing it.

You can store numerous video messages locally within the smartphone app, giving you plenty



of opportunity to marvel once again at the wonders of augmented reality. Such a feature isn’t a mere gimmick, included because Sphero physically “can” offer it; it has a clear link to one of the key purposes of the droids in the actual Star Wars films of surreptitiously

delivering important messages from one

Jedi to another.

WHAT IF YOU FANCY GOING ‘ON PATROL’?

The Patrol app is the perfect feature for the especially lazy BB-8 user - it really is the app that you simply switch on when you want to sit back and be entertained. As the name suggests, this feature involves BB-8 going on ‘patrol’, moving around its space and working its way around obstacles of its own accord.

How does it do that without bumping into things, we hear you ask? Well, it most definitely does bump into things, at least at first, and will make angry noises as it does so. This is why we wouldn’t advise you to set the ‘Patrol’ mode in a room with too many awkward nooks and crannies.

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Nonetheless, as your BB-8 navigates on its own, it gradually ‘learns’ your chosen space - or rather, it is the app that builds a map of where the toy has been, complete with an event log comprising self diagnostics, proximity data and collision information. If, for instance, the BB-8 slams into a table leg, it’ll note this as an obstacle on its ‘map’, so that it doesn’t make the same mistake again.

Another wonder of the BB-8 is the ability that you have to literally speak to it via voice activation technology. You can activate voice mode simply by saying “okay, BB-8”, before barking all manner of voice commands at it. Suggested phrases include exploratory ones like “look around” and “go explore”, as well as questions such as “how do you feel?” and “what do you think?”, not to mention alerts like “it’s a trap!” and “run away!” You can even tell it to “go to sleep” or “wake up”.

We didn’t normally have problems getting this voice activation feature to work, which was a pleasant surprise, given how frustrating such functionality can be in certain other contexts.

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ALREADY A FESTIVE SUCCESS STORY

All of the signs so far have indicated that the Sphero by BB-8 has been positively flying off the shelves, causing no less fuss than the latest accompanying installment of the Star Wars film saga. It even been described as one of the hottest-selling toys of the Christmas season, for

all of Sphero’s reluctance to even consider

it a toy.

To be fair, the company probably shouldn’t take offence at the association - after all, we are now firmly into the era of the increasing ‘technologization’ of even the most seemingly basic children’s toys, and given the already strong involvement of Sphero in the education field, it should be no surprise if it is children who largely find the BB-8 in their stockings on December 25.

Certainly, if one is to categorize the Sphero BB-8 as a toy, there’s no question that it has a formidable heritage to live up to as far as the Star Wars franchise is concerned. And, let’s face it - if The Force Awakens is anywhere near as well-received as the Sphero BB-8 has already been, it will have lived up to a lot of hype in and of itself.

by Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan

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WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR AT THE FRANKFURT AUTO SHOW

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New small cars for the mass market from Opel and Renault and powerful, expensive SUVs from Jaguar and Bentley for the upper crust are among the top offerings on display this week at the Frankfurt International Motor Show.

A rise in demand for cars in the United States and Europe is lifting automakers’ spirits as they prepare to open the show to news media on Tuesday and to the general public on Saturday. Held every other year, the 66th edition runs through Sept. 27.

The mood will be buoyed by a 23-month streak of rising sales in Europe, coming off a terrible slump during the 2009 recession and the subsequent debt crisis among countries that use the euro currency. European Union sales rose 8.2 percent in the first half of this year. U.S. sales are on pace to exceed 17 million vehicles for the first time since 2001.

Here are five major themes at the show.

CHINA TROUBLES

Falling demand for new cars in China is a concern for global automakers, but none more than the host Germans. Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen AG’s Audi, and BMW AG have all fattened sales and profits there through exports and cars built with local partners in joint ventures. Executives have already warned of what they call a “normalization” of the China car market after years of very rapid growth.

Analyst Max Warburton at Sanford C. Bernstein said that executives would probably stick to their cautious outlooks for China and argue the troubles are a temporary blip. He suggested some might want to whistle a few bars of

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“Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” from the Monty Python film, “The Life of Brian.”

“Standing on multi-million dollar show stands, surrounded by multi-billion dollar investments (most aimed at China), perhaps it’s best to put on a brave face,” he wrote in an email.

RIDING HIGH

Luxury SUVs are a thing this year. High-priced brands are looking to expand their model range and find ways to tap the lucrative end of the market. Bentley, the luxury brand owned by Volkswagen, has its Bentayga, which combines stylish touches such as the classic large Bentley front grille and a choice of 15 interior leather colors with off-road features such as a front skid plate and aluminum roof rails. The company is touting not just luxury but power and speed; the vehicle has 608 horsepower and a top speed of 301 kph (187 mph).

Jaguar has the F-Pace, which uses chassis underpinnings from its sports cars that are aimed at providing sharper handling for the company’s first entry into the SUV race. Mercedes-Benz offers its GLC, a midsize car-like crossover SUV that shares mechanical and design elements with its C-Class sedan.

THE REST OF US

Mass-market carmakers face brutal competition in the market for more basic transportation. Renault is showing off the fourth generation of its Megane with a slightly wider stance and shorter overhangs to give it a sportier look, and offers a GT performance version immediately at sales launch. GM’s redesigned Opel Astra

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should be sprightlier after losing up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds) in weight compared to its predecessor. Its entertainment system supports both the Android Auto and Apple Carplay standards, enabling drivers to use their smartphone messaging and navigation functions through the car’s dashboard display.

NEW TECHNOLOGY

Carmakers are preparing to fend off tech companies like Google and Apple from dominating the market for services to Internet-connected cars. Those new businesses could include real-time navigation that automatically plots routes around traffic jams or slippery conditions. Or it could be a parking place finder that quickly guides the driver to that last elusive spot in a crowded city on a Saturday night.

The question is who will build the systems and reap the profits - and how?

Analysts say carmarkers may have to band together to come up with common platforms and shared systems that can quickly draw in masses of data and dominate the business - just as Internet companies such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Amazon have done in their spheres. A sign of things to come could be the recent deal in which Daimler, Volkswagen’s Audi and BMW teamed up to buy Nokia’s HERE digital mapping service.

In the field of automated driving, BMW is introducing a new version of its large, luxurious 7-Series sedan that can maneuver in and out of tight parking spaces while the driver stands outside and presses a button on a remote.

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Image: Opel/GM via AP47

THE HOME TEAM

The German carmakers will do a little chest-thumping at their home show with huge pavilions and thunderously loud audio-visual displays at Frankfurt’s Messe exhibition center. BWM is building a 400-meter (quarter-mile) test track inside its pavilion so its vehicles can whiz past showgoers. Audi is putting up a separate three-story building with space for 33 vehicles and 200 kilometers (120 miles) of cables.

Tim Urquhart, an analyst with IHS, says after years of strong sales growth by German companies, “the coffers are full and confidence levels are high - as, it seems, is the desire to one-up neighbors and closest competitors on home turf.”

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When, on January 27, 2010, Apple announced the first version of the iPad, then CEO Steve Jobs described it as “our most advanced

technology in a magical and revolutionary

device”, adding that it “will connect users with their apps and content in a much more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.” Changes to the iPad since then have largely been in the form of subtle refinements - but, with the upcoming iPad Pro, both the largest and most powerful addition yet to the product line, Apple has unveiled a device that Jobs could have announced in similarly enthusiastic terms.

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A STEVE JOBS VISION EVEN FURTHER REALIZED?

This implied likely Jobs endorsement is not as audacious as it might at first appear. Tim Bajarin, the President of Creative Strategies, has recalled

a conversation he had with Jobs just two

days after his return to Apple in 1997. Bajarin reports Jobs revealing his plan to “take care of the needs of the company’s core customers”, which he defined as “graphics professionals, publishers and engineers”.

Bajarin adds that, upon seeing the iPad Pro, “my mind went back to this conversation with Steve, and I could see his influence in this new product”. What particularly caught his attention was the new Apple Pencil, a stylus-like accessory to be released especially for use with the new large tablet. As demonstrated in Apple’s September keynote, the tablet enables pixel-precision drawing on its screen, which diagonally measures 12.9 inches. The iPad Pro is basically, in Bajarin’s words, “the kind of tool artists, graphics designers and engineers will love.”

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UNCOMPROMISING POWER AND PERFORMANCE

Indeed, with its huge screen, power and potential long term influence on the wider tech market, the iPad Pro almost feels like it belongs in a separate product line to the iPads previously brought out by Apple. That “Pro” moniker is particularly crucial here. It makes clear that, far from aiming for the kind of accessibility and versatility that comes as standard with almost every other iOS device, this slate is intended for professional use that demands technical functionality uncompromised by price or portability concerns.

Artists and designers are likely to hugely appreciate the level of detail that they can achieve in their drawings and sketches on the iPad Pro, especially as the screen’s resolution reaches a massive 5.6 million pixels. It should be considered that lag of any degree could affect the precision with which the Apple Pencil could be used. However, even while the doubtless long wait continues for in-depth reviews of the tablet, such lag is unlikely to occur with the iPad Pro - thanks largely to its A9X chip, which doubles the graphics performance and almost doubles the CPU performance of the iPad Air 2.

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PICTURE THIS: BRAND NEW GRAPHICS APPS FOR THE iPAD PRO

At a basic level, the Apple Pencil will enable quick doodles for brainstorming in the Notes app, and adding handwritten annotations to PDFs and documents to be sent through Mail. At a far more sophisticated level, this accessory could be used for intricate creative illustrations and sketches, rich with writing and color, in advanced third party apps like Paper by FiftyThree. This provides something of a virtual

artist’s kit and, in its original form for iPad,

won Apple’s App of the Year accolade.

In fact, graphic artists and designers watching Apple’s September keynote must have had that unmistakable feeling of Christmas arriving

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early when Adobe demonstrated a whole new

piece of software for the iPad Pro - called

Photoshop Fix - alongside two other apps

for the tablet, Photoshop Comp CC and

Photoshop Sketch. Photoshop Fix is suitable for retouching huge images in real time, while its facial detection feature enables easier alteration of facial features and expressions.

And then there’s UMake, a 3D design app that we could imagine proving especially useful for architects and industrial designers eager to visualize their ideas from blueprints. On September 9, Phil Schiller, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, gave us a brief preview of how this will look on the iPad Pro, before claiming that this app, too, will make good use of the Apple Pencil.

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THE AMAZING FUNCTIONALITY OF MICROSOFT OFFICE ON THE iPAD PRO

Despite Microsoft’s fluctuations in fortunes since the company’s peak of popularity in the 1990s, one thing that has never changed is Microsoft Office’s reputation as the best and most widely-used productivity software suite. As Schiller said on stage, “these guys know productivity” - and promptly taking his place on stage was Kirk Koenigsbauer, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Office, who was there to demonstrate the effectiveness of this software on the iPad Pro.

As we have recently recalled from seeing

this demonstration, the multitasking Split View feature introduced to iPads with iOS 9 significantly bolsters the iPad as a productivity tool. Though the 2GB of RAM present in both the iPad Air and the new iPad Mini 4 allows for smooth use of Split View on these devices, the iPad Pro’s larger screen and 4GB of RAM equip it so well for Split View that it almost seems especially engineered for this tablet.

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As Koenigsbauer demonstrated, within Word, it will be possible to make colored mark-ups on documents using the Apple Pencil and copy and paste charts from Excel into Word. That ever-familiar presentation software, PowerPoint, can also be used on the iPad Pro - and it was shown how a chart could also, with PowerPoint and Excel open side-by-side on-screen, be copied and pasted into a presentation slide. This has obvious implications for how business presentations and university lectures, to cite just two examples, could be more easily prepared on an iPad than ever before.

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THE FUTURE COULD BE CLOSER THAN WE THINK...

In narration on September 9, Apple’s Chief Design Officer, Jony Ive, talked of the iPad’s unique ability to provide “an immersive experience”. This is arguably even more true of the iPad Pro, due to not just its generously-sized screen, but also its four-speaker sound system - a first in any Apple device, and, according to Schiller, capable of providing “three times the audio volume of an iPad Air 2”. Just imagine how much more - yes - immersive music, movies and gaming could be...

Of course, as iPad Pro runs on iOS 9, it will be compatible with all of the same multimedia apps as the rest of the iOS device line - think the likes of Apple Music, Spotify, iTunes, Netflix and more. It will also be compatible with the augmented reality apps that have been brought to iOS. However, while these apps, such as the

free Augment, certainly remain very functional on iPhones and iPod Touches, the experience of them on the iPad Pro has the potential for something much more akin to ambitious science fiction turned science fact.

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A HUGE TABLET THAT COULD MEET HUGE AMBITIONS

The iPad Pro, then, looks set to live up its name and provide nothing less than a professional experience for a large variety of creators and consumers. Whether it’s graphics, art, documents, music, games or even thrillingly futuristic augmented reality that is being created or consumed, the iPad Pro should make it all run with very few, if any, technical hiccups. Come the slate’s eventual release this November, a lot of dreams will be ripe for realization - perhaps even those of a certain former Apple boss.


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Photography gets even better with Apple’s new iPhones.

Although the iPhone is already among the best smartphones for everyday shots, images from previous iPhones haven’t been as sharp as what rival cameras produce. The new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus models address that, with 50 percent more detail, while introducing animation for still images and brighter low-light selfies.

Screens remain at 4.7 inches and 5.5 inches diagonally, but they have new technology offering shortcuts to frequent tasks.

The iPhone 6s starts at $200 with a two-year contract in the U.S., and $649 without. The Plus costs $100 more. Both models start shipping Friday in the U.S., China, Japan, the U.K. and several other markets. Last year’s models are now $100 cheaper than the new ones.

You might not need a 6s if you just got a new phone last year, but go for the 6s over the 6 if you’re ready to upgrade from an older model. After testing both new models for nearly two weeks, I find the price difference worth it.

REVIEW: BETTER PHOTOS, ANIMATED SHOTS IN NEW iPHONES

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CAMERAS GET BETTER

At 12 megapixels, instead of 8 megapixels, the new cameras produce sharper photos. The difference is particularly noticeable when cropping or enlarging photos for printing. Samsung’s high-end phones are at 16 megapixels, but their images are wider. If you chop off the sides to match the iPhone’s 4-by-3 ratio, resolution is about the same. More important is getting your shot in focus, and the automatic focus on both cameras is good.

Other improvements in the iPhone’s camera result in better contrast and less distortion than before. Trees look greener and buildings browner in several test shots. Samsung’s phones have also been good at contrast, but colors are sometimes off. Orange construction barriers look red using Samsung’s Galaxy S6 phone, while a greenish statue came out grey. The iPhones reproduce colors more accurately.

For video, the iPhone catches up with several Android phones and can now record at Ultra HD, also known as 4K. There aren’t many 4K displays available yet, so this is mostly about recording memories for tomorrow’s screens. But the new phones do let you zoom in during playback, so you can see some of that 4K detail today. The Plus model also has better anti-shake technology, so scenes don’t look as though you’re on a boat.

Still images on the front camera improve to 5 megapixels, from 1.2 megapixels, matching Samsung’s phones. Better yet, the new iPhone’s screen functions as a flash so faces come out when snapping selfies in bars and other low-light settings. This is rare in smartphones.

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ANIMATED PHOTOS

When you open the camera app, the phone continually records video in the background. Snap a shot, and the phone saves some of that video leading to that shot, plus some afterward - three seconds in all. Now, that photo comes to life when you view it. Apple calls this “Live Photos.” Just tap and hold the screen to see the three-second animation. Share it with other iPhones, the Apple Watch and Mac computers - and soon, through Facebook.

HTC’s One camera had a similar feature, but you have to know about it and turn that on. With iPhones, it’s on by default. It takes practice and requires about double the storage of a regular photo. But it’s worth it - especially for parents and pet owners. Imagine taking a shot of your kid blowing out birthday candles, then tapping the screen to see it in action.

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A NEW TOUCH SCREEN

The iPhone’s screen is now three-dimensional, as the phone responds differently to light, medium and hard touches.

A light touch does what the phone does today. You can open an app or move a cursor when typing.

Press a bit harder on an app icon to access a contextual menu, similar to right-clicking the mouse on Windows computers. Do this with the camera app to quickly take a selfie or record video. Normally, you have to open the camera first, then choose what you want to do.

Inside apps, this medium touch opens a preview, such as a map when you click on an address in a message. Lift your finger, and you’re back to the message. But press even harder to launch the Maps app. In some apps, options slide up from the bottom with a medium touch.

This feature, called 3D Touch, takes getting used to. Out of habit, I still open apps the regular way, even though 3D Touch is quicker. But it could one day be as useful as the fingerprint reader on phones. Now that I am used to that, I rarely enter passcodes anymore.

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WHAT ELSE?

The new iPhones are stronger and faster. Inside, the chips are laid out differently to improve battery performance and let you activate the Siri voice assistant simply by saying, “Hey, Siri.” In the past, the phone had to be plugged in for that.

Storage remains at 16 gigabytes for starters, 64 gigabytes for $100 more and 128 gigabytes for $200 over the base model. With Live Photos and 4K videos, your phone will fill up even more quickly, even with better compression to compensate for the higher resolution and animation. Many rival smartphones, including Samsung’s, start at 32 gigabytes. Apple believes most entry-level consumers should be fine with 16 gigabytes, as that’s still enough for a few thousand shots.

That might be so, but if you plan to take lots of photos and video, consider springing for at least 64 gigabytes.

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The name of Apple’s new Mac operating system says a lot about what to expect.

“El Capitan” won’t offer dramatic changes, but rather refinements and enhancements to the current Mac system, called Yosemite. In real life, El Capitan is a rock formation in Yosemite National Park. It’s as though the new Mac system isn’t big enough to leave Yosemite.

Nonetheless, it’s an upgrade worth having after it’s out Wednesday, especially as it’s free. Though you’re not getting a lot of new functionality, El Capitan is packed with goodies that will shave off seconds here and there. Those seconds will add up.

Just back up your system before upgrading, and make sure any apps you use frequently will work with the new system. Sometimes, it takes app makers weeks or months to catch up, especially for non-Apple apps.

Once you get El Capitan, here are six features worth checking out:

PINNING WEBSITES

A pin is like a bookmark on Apple’s Safari browser, except the website you’re pinning is always open and refreshing in the backgrovund. If you visit another website and come back, pins remember where you left off - as long as you don’t close the browser.

You might say this sounds like browser tabs. A key difference is when you click on an external link and leave a pinned site, the browser opens a new tab, so you don’t lose your place on the pinned site. With tabs, the new site sometimes replaces the site you were on.

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MUTING AUDIO

As websites get aggressive at delivering video ads and content, audio might play automatically. This gets annoying if you’re watching video in another window. Safari now has a speaker icon to instantly mute all audio playing in the browser, without affecting audio elsewhere. With the computer’s mute button, it’s all or nothing.

If the video you’re watching is playing in the same browser, the audio for that will mute, too. It works better when playing video in a stand-alone app, such as iTunes. Or you can install a separate browser, such as Google’s Chrome, and play your Netflix or Hulu video there.

SPLIT SCREENS AND SPACES

The Mac has long let you run multiple apps in separate windows, but you’ve been limited to one app when it’s in full-screen mode. This changes with El Capitan’s Split View, a feature Microsoft has had since Window 8’s release in 2012. Although you can come close to split screens by resizing two windows and placing them side by side, you now just need to press and hold the green button on the top left of an app’s window.

The introduction of split screens also uncovers a little-known feature called Spaces. If your desktop feels cluttered, you can spread your apps out in groups, or Spaces. One Space might be for your productivity apps, such as spreadsheets. Another might be for goofing off. If you’re on a laptop, it’s easy to switch by swiping three fingers on the touchpad left or right. That’s perfect for when your boss suddenly walks by.

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BETTER NOTES

The Notes app has traditionally been little more than a word-processing app. Now, it’s possible to drag in photos, add map locations and create checklists. It’s also easier to sift through Web links and attachments you’ve added. The Notes app on iPhones and iPads got a comparable update, and your notes sync across Apple devices. You can also access them on Windows computers through icloud.com. Android users are out of luck.

SMARTER SEARCH

You can search for old documents using natural language, such as “find me spreadsheets from March 2013.” The search tool also retrieves more types of information, including weather and stock quotes.

SHAKY CURSOR

No doubt you’ve had times you’ve needed to select text or move a window, but you have no idea where the cursor went. Now, just move the mouse back and forth rapidly, or swipe your finger back and forth on the touchpad if it’s a laptop. The cursor turns into a giant arrow for better visibility.

It might remind you of those giant foam fingers at parades and sports arenas. Freaky, but useful.

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“TV plays a huge role in our lives, and it occupies an important place in our homes, where we gather and enjoy it together. There’s more great content being created today for TV than ever before. It really is the golden age of television. As important as TV is, the TV experience itself hasn’t changed that much in decades. We are going to do something about that.”

That was Apple CEO Tim Cook’s preamble at his company’s major keynote on September 9, before he removed the veil from the long-awaited fourth generation of the Apple TV. Though not many people would argue with his observations, it’s also fair to say that few companies have so far even shown much ambition for pushing the envelope for how TV content is consumed. Apple certainly looks like a company with the expertise, resources and history to finally break, rather than just fracture, the mold.

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A TV REVOLUTION THAT IS ALREADY UNDERWAY

As Cook acknowledged, in recent years, far more innovation has emerged in TV content than the actual TV platform through which that content is consumed. A significant move forward in this area surely calls for a more technical examination of the way television operates - and Apple seems to have indicated an intention to work to its strengths by declaring that “the future of TV is apps”.

To a large extent, TV is already about apps. As Cook also noted, more and more time is being spent watching TV content through apps on computers and mobile devices, rather than through that little black box in the corner of almost every living room. We could mention - as well as more familiar favorite apps like Netflix - the Pluto TV: TV for the

Internet apps, through which over a hundred TV channels especially designed for online viewing can be watched through an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.

In fact, that black box could nearly be considered old-fashioned, a relic, where it not for Apple’s plan to take the app template already familiar on iPhone and iPad and apply it to the traditional TV. The theory is that taking the huge variety of content available through apps like Pluto, including drama, comedy, music, news and sports, and making it available through the traditional TV set could rescue that device from becoming a mere fossil of the media world. It seems a logical strategy, so how exactly will the new Apple TV work?

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DON’T WORRY, BE APP-Y

Like the iPhone and iPad, Apple TV will now have a fully-fledged operating system. In this instance, it will be called tvOS - though, as Craig

Federighi, Apple’s Senior Vice President

of Software Engineering, confirmed to

The Verge, it is 95% based on iOS. The new operating system will also be accompanied by its own App Store, which 11 million registered developers have already been given the opportunity and tools to populate with apps.

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The new Apple TV will even come with many familiar built-in Apple apps, including Photos and Apple Music, that have been especially redesigned for the big screen. Many games from iOS will not only also be present, but actually enhanced. The new, accompanying remote’s touchpad, accelerometer, gyroscope and other features are there for developers to utilize, opening up a myriad of new gaming possibilities... but more about them later.

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SIRI’S HERE TO HELP - AGAIN!

Another ever-present from iOS that has been brought over to tvOS is Siri. In fact, so fundamental is that virtual personal assistant to the new Apple TV that the remote will be called the Siri Remote. As demonstrated in a fun and informative way by Apple senior design producer Jen Folse at the keynote, the huge content library, which will draw from iTunes, HBO, Netflix and more, can be searched much more easily through even incredibly obscure vocal requests.

During the demonstration, Siri helped Folse to source first James Bond movies and then narrow down the broad choice to the ones starring Sean Connery. However, a better glimpse into how Siri alone could hugely transform the television experience emerged when Folse said to Siri: “Show that Modern Family episode with Edward Norton.” Cue the immediate appearance of the Modern Family page, with that specific episode in question already selected. Siri can even skip a few seconds behind and turn on captions if you ask what someone on screen had just said - no wonder the audience applauded on seeing that in Folse’s demo...

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THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW CONSOLE GAMING TITAN?

The Apple TV has been so significantly bolstered that it could even serve as a games console. A console to rival the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One? It might be too early to say, but there are already some pretty big name games heading to Apple TV. As revealed at the keynote, Guitar Hero, Shadowmatic and Crossy Road, the latter with a new, Apple TV-exclusive multiplayer mode, are on the way. And, thanks to the new set-top box’s 64-bit A8 processor, they should all be able to run as smoothly as their mobile counterparts.

The Siri Remote’s glass touch surface means that gaming on the Apple TV could feel surprisingly similar to iOS gaming. So, iOS gaming on a physically much larger scale? Actually, that would be underselling it. The remote’s built-in accelerometer and gyroscope also allows for something rather akin to the motion-sensitive controller of Nintendo’s hugely popular Wii console. iPhones and iPads can also be used as controllers for multiplayer gaming, which could help spare financial expenses of buying extra controllers for when friends come round to the house and fancy some social gaming.

Though the Siri Remote alone enables many gaming possibilities that were rarely possible or practical with iOS, the Apple TV’s compatibility with third party controllers, including the

recently-announced SteelSeries Nimbus

controller, could take things even further. To what extent gaming experiences could differ from those of more established gaming consoles remains to be seen - in fact, maybe that’s exactly why we should be so excited...

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HOW APPLE TV COULD DEVELOPFROM HERE

The new Apple TV, it is known, will be available in 32GB and 64GB models, priced respectively at $149 and $199, in late October. However, what is especially exciting about all of the new features is that we are less certain than ever about how the Apple TV and the experience it offers could develop over the next few years. So, what future developments can we predict with at least some confidence?

One is that Apple will be bringing a web-

based streaming service to the Apple TV in

2016. It has been suggested that the service will offer about 25 channels for a monthly

charge of $30 to $40, and that Apple has negotiated with several content providers, including ABC, CBS, Fox and Disney, in preparation. There has even been, from Variety, a report of Apple considering producing

original TV and movie content.

Looking even further ahead, Apple could move beyond just a set-top box by manufacturing an entire television set. If this does go ahead, it would be a realization of a supposed vision of Steve Jobs, who was said to be aiming for a revolution in TV. Jobs reportedly told his

biographer, Walter Isaacson: “I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use. It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.” Now that’s suddenly seeming very familiar...


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With the name’s sole difference of an tagged-on ‘S’, you might have expected the iPhone 6S to represent only a minor bump-up in specs and features in comparison to the iPhone 6. However, closer inspection since the handset’s launch has revealed it to be arguably the most significant ‘S’ release iPhone yet - and one major reason is the improved camera and camera features. Here, we take a detailed picture - pun very much intended - of what the iPhone 6S has to offer in this area.

MEGA INCREASES IN MEGAPIXELS

An obvious starting point for analysis here is the rear camera. With its 8-megapixel back shooter, the iPhone 6 is no slouch for capturing detailed, high resolution imagery. That camera does, however, have the same number of megapixels as the one that shipped with the iPhone 4S four years ago. The iPhone 6S’s back camera, meanwhile, sports 12 megapixels - allowing for even more detailed photography.

The front camera - the one that would probably be most commonly used for selfies and FaceTime calls - has seen a similarly significant leap, from 1.2 megapixels in the iPhone 6 to a whopping 5 megapixels in its successor. Hollywood star Selena Gomez certainly approves, judging from her thankful reaction in the iPhone 6S screen commercial that debuted at Apple’s September keynote - but what differences do these cameras, particularly the back one, really bring for the rest of us? The short answer: many...

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DON’T NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE? LOOK CLOSER...

At this stage, we should probably emphasize that, for the vast majority of people who regularly take photographs using their iPhone 6S and used to do the same with an iPhone 4S, 5, 5S or 6, there will be no discernible difference in the quality of the photos. Indeed, as a camera-equipped smartphone rather than a dedicated camera, the shooters tend to be put to relatively casual use and their photos published at relatively small sizes, as on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Where the differences become much more apparent, however, is in zooming up close to or increasing the size of photos that have been taken with the new back camera. In its in-depth test comparing this camera with that of last year’s iPhone 6 Plus, TechnoBuffalo has noted more intricate detail in cropped-in photos. Regardless of whether such shots are taken indoors or outdoors, the 6S Plus photos look, as the site describes, “way sharper”. As can be seen in the site’s YouTube feature, colors on the 6 Plus photos can certainly look more washed out and less vibrant.

BUT WAIT! MEGAPIXELS DON’T TELL THE WHOLE STORY

All that said, there remain other smartphone cameras that can capture imagery in many more megapixels than the iPhone 6S. The camera on

the Nokia Lumia 1020, for example, reaches a

huge 41 megapixels. So, would it be a foregone conclusion to assume that the quality of this camera’s images is significantly higher? Actually, we can reply to that with a resounding “No!”

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iPhone 6s Plus vs iPhone 6 Plus Camera Comparison!

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As explained by expert photographer Ben

Lovejoy for 9to5Mac, the pixel count alone is insufficient for assessing photo resolution. Camera phones of higher pixels, he adds, tend to struggle more to capture accurate imagery at low light due to their small sensors compared to sensors of more advanced DSLR and compact cameras. Often, they can try to compensate by considerably amplifying the sensor’s signal. However, Lovejoy adds, amplification on a small sensor can itself adversely affect image quality.

Indeed, Tech Insider’s Antonio Villas-Boas has claimed that the two best smartphone

cameras are in the iPhone 6S Plus and

Samsung Galaxy Note 5. He has also compared photography from the two handsets for a wide array of scenes, including low-light shots, outdoor shots and selfies, and noted how the iPhone betters the Samsung alternative in most respects. He concludes by branding the iPhone 6S Plus “the new reigning champion of smartphone cameras.”

WELL, IF IT’S GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE PROFESSIONALS...

Still, the proof of the pudding is in the eating - and, surely enough, the iPhone 6 and 6S have both been frequently used for professional photography and video productions. Earlier this year, prestige car maker Bentley posted a

behind-the-scenes video showing how iPhone 6 and 6 Plus phones were used for the filming of its commercial for a driving jacket, while Emmy

Award-winning director Tristan Pope shot his

film Romance in NYC on an iPhone 6.

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There are further examples. Earlier this year, Apple dedicated a part of its website, titled “Shot on iPhone 6”, to photographs and videos of various scenes from various parts of the world. The scenes ranged from a huge wave at a Hawaiian beach, to a car racing in Bolivia, to a train in Alaska - but each of them had been

captured on an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus. Many of these scenes have also appeared in print media, billboards and television commercials of Apple’s global “Shot on iPhone 6” advertising campaign.

YOU’RE EVEN MORE OK WITH 4K

As has been made clear in this article, the iPhone 6S main camera is more than suitable for creating professional standard photography and video. But, on the subject of video, the iPhone 6S can take that to an even more sophisticated level with another of its major new abilities: shooting 4K video.

4K is a staggeringly sharp resolution for video; in fact, it is four times the pixels of 1080p video. 4K videos can naturally take up a lot of storage on an iPhone 6S - as much as 300 to 400 MB per minute, or about 1 GB per three minutes. However, the huge amount of data makes it easier to significantly crop, pan, stabilize and otherwise edit a 4K video and still remain with gorgeous-looking video.

It’s possible to do much editing on the iPhone 6S itself; as explained by iMore in a

comprehensive guide to the handset’s 4K

video capabilities, the Camera or Photos app can be used for trimming, while Apple’s iMovie app allows for more advanced editing, including adding themes, titles and transitions. It’s also possible to share 4K video

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from the iPhone - such as to YouTube, which accepts 4K uploads.

The inclusion of 4K video on the iPhone 6S goes a long way towards future-proofing the device. That’s because 4K is still an emerging video standard - even television sets capable of showing 4K video are not yet typical in living rooms. Nonetheless, 4K-enabled TVs

are now hitting the market in greater

numbers and at less daunting prices. Therefore, you could find yourself watching your own 4K footage on a little black box sooner than you currently anticipate.

THE BEST CAMERA PHONES ON THE MARKET?

So, improved back and front cameras, professional photo- and video-taking capabilities, and impressive 4K video functions, too. These are all features that many of us already cradling an iPhone 6S or 6S Plus might only fulfill, or even notice, the full potential of months - or perhaps even years - further down the line. Do all of these features collectively make the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus the best camera phones available right now? You’re probably already experimenting with your new iPhone’s twin cameras to judge that for yourself. Smile for the camera!


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There was a time when Apple’s only serious competition was with makers of hardware or software for personal computers - think the likes of IBM and Microsoft. Then, with the launch of the iPod, consumer electronics firms like Sony were in its sights. The iPhone brought in Nokia as a rival, iOS competes with Google’s Android, while Apple’s heavily rumored electric car project has heightened tensions with Tesla.

In short, Apple has never found itself taking on as many different companies as it does now - and this situation has called for Apple to continue working harder to both attract and keep top talent. Fortunately for the Cupertino corporation, there are plenty of signs that it is moving speedily ahead in this area - but there remain many tricky obstacles on the way.

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APPLE TAKES “AN UNUSUAL STEP” TO KEEP ITS TALENTS

So, what perks has Apple recently been unpacking for its thousands of workers - many of which are present not just at the company’s main California base, but also in its retail stores across the globe? Last year, its human resources chief, Denise Young Smith, told Fortune of Apple’s decisions to add

lengthier parental leave, more education

reimbursements and further donation-

matching to the employee perks.

Earlier this month, Apple CEO Tim Cook emailed all employees to inform them that eligibility for RSU grants - that’s Restricted

Stock Units - was being extended from

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just high-ranking management and product engineering staffers to every single Apple employee. Through these grants, workers can buy company stock at exclusive discounts and, as a result, effectively add to their pay packets.

In the email, Cook declared that the company’s “most important resource — our soul — is our people. Along with our many progressive benefit plans, this is another way for us to say thanks.” He also described this new RSU program as “an unusual step, and very special — just like our team”, a clear sign of Apple’s determination to keep its abundance of enviable employee talents within its wings.

Image: Ariel Zambelich121

APPLE V TESLA IN THE RACE TO DEVELOP FUTURE CAR TECHNOLOGY

That’s what Apple is offering - but are its various initiatives like these actually succeeding? For some degree of insight, we can look to the high profile tussle for engineers that has recently been taking place between Apple and electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors. Though Apple’s own electric car project remains very much under wraps, the company has evidently hired a number of experts in

automated driving, from several prestigious organizations including Tesla.

During an interview with German newspaper

Handelsblatt, Tesla CEO Elon Musk showed little concern about Apple’s poaching. He insisted that the Cupertino company “have hired people we’ve fired”, adding: “We always jokingly call Apple the ‘Tesla Graveyard.’ If you don’t make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple. I’m not kidding.” Still, regardless of whether Musk’s own assessment of the situation is accurate, it was only in May that he had reported not seeing

his company’s engineers defecting to Apple. This suggests that the latter’s recruitment drive has been gathering pace.

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SURPRISING STORIES OF PEOPLE WHO SAID NO TO APPLE

Yet, despite the obvious excitement and rewards that come with working for the world’s most valuable company, a number of people have each reported rejecting Apple in favor of setting up their own startup business. One of these people is Holly Shelton, who founded MoveWith - described by Micah Rosenbloom, the host of podcast Collective Wisdom, as a company “that

turns the world into a workout club. It’s a bit

like Airbnb for fitness.”

And then there’s Ron Wayne, the oft-forgotten third Apple co-founder who left the company shortly after its formation and, as reported by

the Daily Mail two years ago, later opened

a stamp store near his South California

residence. Nonetheless, as Wayne himself admitted in an interview with the British news outlet, he could not have easily predicted how successful Apple would later become; a very different situation to that of Joseph Pigato, who turned down Apple only several years ago to

consult for crowdsourcing platform Sparked.

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HOW THE NEXT GENERATION LED TO... THE NEXT GENERATION

Easily the most high profile person to have left Apple before forming another business is, very ironically, Steve Jobs. In 1985, with some of his coworkers at Apple, Jobs founded NeXT, which became chiefly known for its development and manufacture of computer workstations for higher education and corporate markets. Though the company’s products, including the NeXT Computer and NeXTstation, were generally not big sellers, the NeXTSTEP operating system had a significant lasting impact.

For example, it was on a NeXT computer that

the world’s first website was hosted - after the World Wide Web had been invented by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee at CERN, otherwise known as the European Organization for Nuclear Research, in 1989. NeXT moved its overriding focus more on to software development in the early 1990s - before the company was acquired by Apple in 1997 and NeXT software eventually formed a basis for OS X, iOS and watchOS.

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PIXAR AND THE STEVE JOBS CONNECTION

In 1986, The Graphics Group, part of the Computer Division at George Lucas’ production company Lucasfilm, became an independent corporation and was renamed - ahem - Pixar. Of course, the company has long been a hugely successful animation studio, having brought out cinematic hits including Toy Story and Inside Out. However, until the 1990s, it had much more obvious similarities with Apple and NeXT, being mainly a manufacturer of sophisticated computer hardware.

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Jobs was instrumental in Pixar’s early history as an independent company, paying Lucasfilm

$5 million for the technology before vesting

another $5 million in the company. Right from the start, Jobs was Chairman of Pixar, helping President Dr. Edwin Catmull and Executive Vice President Alvy Ray Smith in their leadership. Pixar later became known for its various short films, including 1986’s Luxo Jr. and the following year’s Red’s Dream - and when, in

1991, the company signed a deal with Disney

to make three motion pictures, its ultimate destiny was set.

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HOW FURTHER GROWTH CAN ALSO LEAD TO FURTHER INNOVATION

Despite such instances, Apple’s continued growth has long seen the company far more often attract, rather than lose, employees. As shown by the statistics portal Statista, the Cupertino firm’s full time employee base has

grown sharply from 14,800 in 2005 to 92,600

in 2014. The company’s regular openings of new Apple Stores around the world has certainly helped with this, along with its purchases of other businesses.

The major acquisition of Dr. Dre’s Beats Electronics last year is an obvious example, but Apple has also picked up many startups responsible for unique technology that the parent company could come to hugely depend on in its drive for innovation. Earlier this month, it acquired Perceptio, which developed

technology for sophisticated artificial

intelligence on smartphones that does not

rely on huge amounts of external data. This is undoubtedly helpful technology for Apple, given its much-publicized commitment to minimizing how much consumer data it uses.

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THE COMPETITION FOR TALENT WILL GO ON AND ON...

Being the world’s most valuable company puts Apple under pressure to maintain this lofty position - especially considering that its biggest rival in the tech world, Google,

is snapping at its heels. These companies already maintain the world’s two most popular mobile operating systems - and, with both said to be now entering the automotive industry, it’ll be interesting to see what strategies they follow in their contest to be not only tech’s, but also the world’s, top dog.


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For anyone who closely follows Apple, it will have been difficult to avoid the considerable publicity around the new film Steve Jobs, the most eagerly anticipated biopic of the Apple co-founder yet. However, excitement and praise for the movie has been far from unanimous, with many people who knew Jobs - including current Apple employees - taking issue with its supposed inaccuracies. Here, we look closer at how the movie has reopened old debates about the tech visionary.

IT ALL STARTED WITH JUST ONE BOOK...

It is not immediately obvious why the new movie should attract much ire from friends and relatives of Jobs. The script, penned by the Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, is adapted from Walter Isaacson’s biography Steve Jobs - which Jobs himself had invited Isaacson

to write. Furthermore, Jobs’ wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, urged Isaacson to not “whitewash”, but tell her husband’s story “truthfully”.

However, the book, which was published just after its subject’s death in 2011, was met with attacks from current Apple CEO Tim Cook, who insisted it was “a tremendous disservice” to his predecessor, and Apple’s Senior Design Officer Jony Ive, who succinctly said: “My contempt couldn’t be lower.” With the release of the new film, directed by Danny Boyle of Slumdog Millionaire fame and starring Michael Fassbender, an array of people who knew Jobs have joined Cook and Ive in speaking out once again.

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“… ANY MOVIE BASED ON THE BOOK COULD NOT POSSIBLY BE ACCURATE.”

Jobs’ widow apparently objected to the movie even during its production. According to someone who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, but was identified only as “another of the picture’s key players”, Laurene Jobs had

tried to “kill” the film by trying to dissuade

Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale, both

previously linked with the lead role, not to

join the project. And Steve Jobs producer Scott Rudin has revealed to The Wall Street Journal that she told him “how much she disliked the

book, and that any movie based on the book

could not possibly be accurate.”

However, does she really have much reason to be concerned? Fortune’s Philip Elmer-DeWitt has opined that the movie actually “presents

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one of Jobs’ more sympathetic portraits”, adding that he “is portrayed as often cruel and condescending, but always in the interest of making a great product”. He believes the man’s widow will be “pleasantly surprised” when she sees the finished movie.

Meanwhile, Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple alongside Jobs, reacted positively to the film’s first full trailer when it was released in the summer, despite its portrayal of a tyrannical Jobs. Wozniak said that the trailer “presents a more

or less accurate impression of Jobs”, according

to Bloomberg; he was quoted as remarking: “I felt a lot of the real Jobs in the trailer, although a bit exaggerated.” The trailer also refers to Jobs’ questionable decision to initially deny paternity of his daughter Lisa, something which Wozniak said he could “almost cry remembering”.

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JUST HOW CRITICAL OF JOBS IS THE FINAL PRODUCT?

To what extent the finished film’s portrayal of Jobs is complimentary is ultimately a subjective judgment, and many casual cinemagoers won’t get a decent chance to judge for themselves before the nationwide US release on October 23. This leaves us to turn mainly to the critics.

In its early review, The Guardian called the movie

“admirably unsentimental in its portrayal of

Jobs”, but despaired that his “careless behavior towards his ex and daughter is seemingly justified by his genius”, while the final scenes give the impression that “Boyle and Sorkin were tempted to show him crossing through the gates of heaven”. By contrast, in its own review, The New York Times reports that the film “basically

upholds the book’s account … of Jobs’

temperament, his foibles and his talent.”

MEMORIES OF “AN AMAZING HUMAN BEING”

There is clear controversy elsewhere about the depiction. During the interview with Tim Cook on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last month, the host called the portrayal “unflattering” - leading Cook to defend

Jobs by calling him “an amazing human

being”. He further described his “uncanny ability to see around the corner and describe the future – not an evolutionary future but a revolutionary future”. Cook added that, unlike the confrontational figure in the film, Jobs was “a joy to work with”.

Cook did, however, admit that he had not seen the movie - as did Jony Ive when asked for

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his own opinion of it at Vanity Fair’s New

Establishment Summit earlier this month. He talked about his former boss’s “very simple focus on trying to make something beautiful and great”, remarking: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so happy as I saw him—this very simple kind of joy—when he would realize, “This is actually working out. This could be great.” It was just the simplicity of that.”

Nonetheless, Ive occasionally implicitly referred to the film’s supposedly critical portrayal of his late friend - observing, for example, that his memory of the man “stands in such contrast, obviously, to how he’s being frequently and popularly portrayed at the moment. The lack of agenda.” He also described his “primal fear” that “how you are defined and how you are portrayed can be hijacked by people with agendas that are very different from your close family and your friends.”

ANECDOTES ABOUT JOBS THE BUSINESSMAN, JOBS THE MAN

If the Jobs that Fassbender plays genuinely isn’t the real Jobs, we certainly got a lot more hints of his true nature earlier this month, when various prominent Apple staffers honored him on the fourth anniversary of his death. The Telegraph reported that, in an email to his

staff, Cook said that Jobs “loved his family above all, he loved Apple, and he loved the people with whom he worked so closely and achieved so much.”

Cook added that he could still see his legacy “all around us”, describing it largely as: “An incredible team that embodies his spirit

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of innovation and creativity. The greatest products on earth, beloved by customers and empowering hundreds of millions of people around the world.” In further commentary on

Apple’s internal intranet site, Cook touched

upon Jobs’ “small acts of friendship”, even recalling his attempts at matchmaking. “He wasn’t content that I loved my job. He wanted more for me.”

Eddy Cue, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, added to the intranet anecdotes, remembering how Jobs had assisted both when his daughter was born three months prematurely and when his wife was having treatment for cancer. Phil Schiller, the company’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, focused on the incredible preparation Jobs would undergo for each of dozens of his keynote presentations, claiming that he worked “harder than people could imagine”.

STEVE JOBS: AN ETERNAL ENIGMA?

All things considered, perhaps what is today clearest about Jobs is just how much is actually unclear about the man. Evidence abounds that he was a thoroughly complex character that no cinematic venture, even the critically acclaimed latest one, has succeeded in accurately portraying. Former Apple CEO John Sculley has insisted: “If one tries to come away with a

complete picture of who was Steve Jobs, they

wouldn’t get it from this movie”. They probably wouldn’t get it from anywhere else, either.


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Defying skeptics on Wall Street, Apple says it plans to keep setting records for selling new iPhones around the world.

The giant tech company reported quarterly earnings Tuesday that beat analysts’ estimates, while forecasting healthy iPhone sales during the upcoming holidays. Apple also said sales nearly doubled in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan during the last quarter, despite concerns that China’s economy is slowing.

And in a closely watched indicator, Apple issued a forecast for the upcoming December quarter that suggests it will slightly surpass last year’s record of 74.5 million iPhones sold during the crucial holiday season.

We think we can grow iPhone (sales) during the December quarter, Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri told The Associated Press.

APPLE BEATS EARNINGS ESTIMATES, ISSUES HEALTHY FORECAST

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Apple reported $11.1 billion in net income for the quarter ended Sept. 26, up 30 percent from a year earlier, while sales rose 22 percent to $51.5 billion. Earnings amounted to $1.96 cents a share.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected Apple to report revenue of $50.9 billion and adjusted earnings of $1.89 a share. Apple’s stock price was up almost 2 percent in after-hours trading.

Apple said it sold 48 million iPhones during the September quarter, which included two days of sales for its newest iPhone models, the 6S and 6S Plus. That’s about what analysts expected.

But its forecast for the December quarter may please investors more. Apple’s stock has been dogged for months by worries that the company might have difficulty maintaining its torrid growth. Apple relies heavily on iPhone sales, which contribute more than two-thirds of its revenue. Overall smartphone sales are slowing around the world, as most consumers in developed nations already have one.

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While it remains the world’s biggest corporation by stock-market value, Apple shares have been off about 15 percent from a mid-July peak of $132.97.

iPhone sales skyrocketed last year after Apple introduced new models with bigger screens in September 2014. Analysts have questioned whether the company can duplicate that success with the latest iPhones introduced last month.

Last year’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus tapped into strong demand from consumers who had envied the larger screens offered by Apple’s competitors. This year’s iPhone 6S and 6S Plus have additional features, but they’re not as dramatically different from last year’s models.

The iPhone 6 was such a blockbuster launch, said analyst Angelo Zino of S&P Capital IQ. As a result, he said, investors have been cautious about whether that momentum can continue.

Apple shares rose nearly 3 percent after the earnings report was released.

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Despite the last few years’ repeated claims of an impending “post-PC” age, when mobile devices would replace personal computers as the most commonly-used medium for computing, more recently, evidence has emerged that PCs

are far from dead. In fact, for many of us, the question isn’t whether we should continue using a computer; instead, it’s what type of computer we should opt to use.

The fact remains that, for many purposes, especially business work and academic study, a PC remains the most useful computing device. And, whereas recent years have seen smartphones greatly diversify in their sizes, designs, features and software, computers reached the same stage many years earlier. PCs aren’t dying; rather, as The Verge’s Tom Warren has recently remarked, they have simply “matured enough that you don’t need to replace the one you bought years ago if it’s still working”.

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A TALE OF TWO TYPES OF COMPUTER. OR MORE THAN TWO...

Today, computers can be sorted into two broad categories: desktop and mobile. In other words, large and powerful PCs intended to long remain static, and slightly smaller and less powerful computers designed for easy and regular transportation. Strictly desk-bound computers like the iMac fall into the first category; notebooks like the MacBook and tablets like the iPad fall into the second.

However, there are also many subcategories of computer. At one end of the scale, there are small tablets like the iPad Mini; further along that scale, there are medium-sized tablets like the iPad Air, plus notebooks that are almost as portable and good for both media consumption and corporate productivity. At the higher end, there are hefty professional slates like the Microsoft Surface.

Then, right at the top end, there’s the Mac Pro. This is a very different beast to the similarly-named MacBook Pro - and “beast” really is the right word, as the desktop workstation known as the Mac Pro is the most powerful of all of the computers available from Apple. The most advanced version has a Xeon E5 CPU boasting twelve cores and four 1866 MHz DDR3 slots - that’s awe-inspiring...

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KEY AREAS WHERE DESKTOP COMPUTERS STILL LEAD

Desktop processors are typically beefier than the notebook chips; while, for example, MacBook processors can range from 1.6GHz dual-core in the Air models to 2.5GHz quad-core in the 15-inch Retina display Pro, with the iMac models, the range is 1.6GHz dual-core to 3.3GHz quad-core. This is a major plus point for desktops, as their better processors mean better ability to long run new software.

These processors are especially fit for sophisticated editing of images and video, for which a larger screen also wouldn’t go amiss. Apple has already just brought Retina displays to its 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac models, and those displays should better bring to life the gorgeous visuals possible with discrete graphics systems. These systems offer especially strong graphics performance, but appear more often in Apple’s desktop computers than its notebook offerings.

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It’s also worth mentioning that the sizes of the new iMacs’ screens comfortably exceed those of the MacBook line, which peak at 15-inch for the largest MacBook Pro models. There’s good reason to believe that those bigger screens could boost comfort and, as a result, productivity. That’s certainly according to an Apple-funded study hinting that the productivity increase could be as much as 50-

65%. A decent amount of RAM - this rises to 16GB in the MacBook Pro, but is configurable to 32GB for the iMac - should also allow for smoother multitasking, crucial for particularly demanding work tasks.

Finally, desktops permit many more extension possibilities. For example, the Mac Mini’s hard drive can be readily swapped, while the Mac Pro’s RAM can be updated with little difficulty. Printers, large keyboards and multiple screens can all be used much more easily with desktop computers - largely because these accessories are typically not primarily designed to meet the unique portability concerns of notebook users.

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GAME ON! GAME ON THE RIGHT COMPUTER, WE MEAN

Mobile computers can undoubtedly be fun for gaming on the go - and, thanks to both the long-established huge popularity of Windows among game developers and the emergence of iOS and Android as major gaming platforms, there’s now a great choice of big name games on both notebooks and tablets. However, the fast pace and sophisticated graphics of many of the most well-known games demand unadulterated power - and this is not common in mobile computers for two big reasons.

One is that, by virtue of being small for easy portability, manufacturers simply can’t pack as much power into these little things as they could into high-end desktops like Apple’s recently

unveiled 21.5-inch and 27-inch Retina display

iMacs. Another is that smaller computers can be much less easy to enhance through hardware modifications. These computers include the Retina display MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, which Macworld calls “basically non-upgradable” due

to their soldered RAM and hard drives, while iPads have never allowed for expandable storage through the use of physical storage cards.

In fact, the Mac platform has long been considered the far inferior computer gaming platform to Windows - though not quite to the same extent as it used to be. TechRadar’s Matthew Bolton has observed that the Mac is now getting many of the same popular games as Windows, if still often several months later due to various complications of the porting process. He has even declared: “In a balance of

gaming power and size/weight, there’s not a

lot that can touch the MacBook line.”

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DESKTOP AND MOBILE: LOCKED IN A POPULARITY CONTEST

So, do mobile computers today remain secondary in use to their desktop counterparts? Or is it now the desktop that should be considered complementary to the mobile device, rather than vice versa? This is, frankly, a very difficult question to answer - largely due to the lack of publicly available statistics that point clearly to a widespread preference for either desktop or mobile computers.

The market research firm IDC regularly collects data about global PC sales through its Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. However, the data focuses much more on differences in market share among different vendors than different types of computers. Further complicating matters, it considers PCs to include desktops and

laptops such as ultraslim notebooks and

Chromebooks, but not tablets.

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One intriguing statistic reported by IDC is that, whereas laptops and laptop hybrids

saw “double digit” sales growth in the US

last year, in the same period, desktop sales

shrunk by 10%.

Nonetheless, we also have to consider that sales of particular types of computers are unlikely to always strictly correlate with how widely they are used. Much of the sales decline for desktop PCs could be attributed not to falling public interest, but instead the ease with which these computers can be modified - meaning that they call for complete replacements less often than more portable computers.

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A VERY PERSONAL CHOICE

For all that we have just said about various computers, there can be no completely objective judgment of which type is better; different computers are built for different uses, and so there can only be a question of which type of computer is right for each individual. If you are considering buying one, we can only emphasize the importance of thoroughly researching beforehand to ensure that you get as much return on your spending as possible. Hopefully, we at AppleMagazine have already helped...


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It’s that time again. Even as you’re only a few words into reading this article, that familiar John Williams score is probably bouncing around in your head, heralding the return of easily the most renowned space opera of all time. We are, of course, talking about Star Wars - and the franchise’s new theatrical installment, The Force Awakens, could turn out to be by far the most popular yet.

But hang on a moment... haven’t we been down this route before? If you were one of the millions of Star Wars followers back in 1999, yes. The Phantom Menace, originally touted as the galactic series’ big comeback near the turn of the millennium, has been filed in the cabinet drawer of big screen history as a crushing disappointment. But there’s been plenty of personnel changes since then - and, more excitingly, returns for some (very) old friends. Welcome home - we’ve all missed you...

WALT A TURNAROUND FOR STAR WARS AND DISNEY

That the franchise is now in the ownership of Walt Disney Pictures is hugely ironic, given that the same studio rejected the rights to the

original film back in the 1970s, several years before it was released and became an instantly recognizable pop culture phenomenon. Disney still doesn’t have any rights to that particular movie, those rights having been omitted from the $4 billion acquisition of LucasFilm that, in 2012, saw much Star Wars past and its foreseeable future join Walt’s legendary stable.

However, by the time the studio put pen to paper on the LucasFilm deal, it couldn’t have

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enjoyed a clearer idea of what it was getting. The first two film sequels, 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back and 1983’s Return of the Jedi, also attracted strong acclaim; and, despite the more mixed critical and public reaction to the prequel trilogy of 1999’s The Phantom Menace, 2002’s Attack of the Clones and 2005’s Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars is today the world’s fifth highest-

grossing film series.

A LONG TIME AGO IN THEATERS FAR, FAR AWAY...

Of course, even the most earth-dominating pop culture phenomenons have had modest beginnings - and this was very much the case with Star Wars. Reportedly, Lucas had the idea

of filming a space fantasy as long ago as

1971, and went ahead with writing the first film after failing to obtain the rights to make a Flash Gordon movie. The inspiration behind Flash Gordon went on to inspire the first Star Wars script, which Lucas kept busy with writing from January 1973 until March 1976, when shooting for that script finally commenced.

Upon its theatrical release in 1977, the original film became what was later described by Ben Burtt, who oversaw its dialogue and sound effects, as the first “summer special effects

blockbuster”. It was also critically well-received; the legendary movie reviewer Roger Ebert commented upon release that it offered a “unique” experience and “entertainment so

direct and simple that all of the complications

of the modern movie seem to vaporize.”

The two sequels built on the winning formula, to the extent that many elements of the

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original trilogy have become firmly entrenched in popular culture. Darth Vader is now often considered one of the most memorable and darkest villains in big screen history, while Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda are seen as archetypal wise old mentors. X-Wings are among the most recognizable fictional spacecraft. Oh, and it has long, long ceased to surprise anyone that Darth Vader is actually Luke Skywalker’s father...

A MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY... AND THAT’S JUST THE MERCHANDISE

Naturally, as the franchise has flourished, more and more opportunities have opened up for merchandising. The resulting novels, comic books, computer games, toys and other officially licensed Star Wars media all fall into what has been dubbed the Star Wars Expanded Universe. All of these media outside the main films, The Clone Wars film and TV series, and Rebels TV series produced by LucasFilm are considered to be part of the Expanded Universe.

However, while it would be easy for LucasFilm to permit Expanded Universe stories to follow alternative continuities, where much material from the main films and other EU stories is largely disregarded, instead, the studio is determined that all of the EU stories can be brought together to function as a complete story. To this end, LucasFilm has its own dedicated team with the sole responsibility of overlooking this material to ensure its ultimate continuity.

The huge amount of merchandising over the last few decades has, hardly surprisingly, proved big, big business. To date, Star Wars books have

brought in revenues of $1.82 billion, while

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the total revenue figure for video games has reached an even heftier $3.4 billion. If you think that these figures look impressive, consider that they account for decades of sales; just last year, revenue from Star Wars games and toys was an utterly eye-watering $1.5 billion.

Add all of these figures together, and it’s clear that Star Wars merchandise is a multi-billion dollar industry even on just a yearly basis. And these figures have all been sourced before the arrival of The Force Awakens and the sequel trilogy, which should spark dramatic acceleration in merchandising revenue. Yes, Star Wars is well and truly back - and that’s clear before we’ve even turned attention to the movie itself, which could prove to surprise even those with encyclopedic knowledge of the saga.

WHY THE FORCE AWAKENS COULD DEFY YOUR EXPECTATIONS

Indeed, if you’ve yet to see The Force Awakens, you shouldn’t necessarily delve into any post-Return of the Jedi EU stories for clues of what to expect. That’s because, following Disney’s acquisition, LucasFilm has even further tightened its control over the individual narratives of the Expanded Universe going forward. George Lucas has long made clear that the highest degree of creative control within the Star Wars universe rests with him; as a result, all EU stories must take account of his own “canon” tales.

To even further expand this strategy, LucasFilm revealed in April 2014 that, from that point

on, previous Expanded Universe material

would be rebranded Star Wars Legends.

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Furthermore, the sequel trilogy of Episodes VII, VII and IX will largely disregard what was told in the post-Return of the Jedi Expanded Universe, with the intention of “giv[ing] maximum creative freedom to the filmmakers and also preserv[ing] an element of surprise and discovery for the audience”.

A LONG-RUNNING SERIES NOW REVITALIZED

And yet, despite this subtle but potentially hugely significant change in artistic direction, it remains clear, from much of what we have already seen of the upcoming film, that some things never change. Faithful and casual fans alike will be delighted to see Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker reprise their old roles of, respectively, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2-D2.

However, there’s also a good injection of fresh talent. Some, like Andy Serkis as Supreme Leader Snoke and Max von Sydow as Lor San Tekka, are new to the franchise, but thoroughly familiar and established stars. Others are relative unknowns. Up front and center in much of the preview material have been Daisy Ridley as scavenger Rey and John Boyega as redeemed Stormtrooper Finn. So, there are plenty of nods to the glorious past as well as confident steps towards a more adventurous future.

STILL A HUGE BANKABLE FORCE... OR FORCE

While many of the cast members are no strangers to basking in cinematic hype and

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acclaim, the younger leads could be especially stunned by how well The Force Awakens fares at the box office. In April this year, Amboee Brand Intelligence predicted that the movie could amass revenues totalling almost

$540 million on its way to achieving cinema’s biggest ever global opening weekend. And, this month, FBR & Co. analyst Barton Crockett hinted that the film will gross over $3 billion

across the world - making it the new highest-grossing movie in history.

And, as we have already hinted ourselves, there are lots of new merchandising opportunities waiting in the wings... or should that be X-wings? In any case, the exciting new tie-in products heading our way include a series of

over 20 print and digital books, under the

banner of “Journey to Star Wars: The Force

Awakens”, which will form part of the official canon. These books will include the next two titles in a trilogy of novels that will fill in

narrative gaps between Return of the Jedi

and The Force Awakens.

Then there’s the partnership with Google which allows users of the search company’s services to join either the Dark or Light Side

and, in the process, change the appearance

of Google websites. Meanwhile, Waze has enhanced the iOS and Android versions of its

navigation app with the additions of C-3PO’s voice and, on the digital in-app roads, such Star Wars items and characters as Stormtroopers and TIE fighters. There’s also Sphero’s remote-controlled toy version of the new droid, BB-8; we at AppleMagazine have already named it our

choice for Best Toy of 2015.

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THE REAL STARS IN STAR WARS

By the time you read this, The Force Awakens will have had three major premieres: in Los

Angeles on Monday, December 14; London

on Tuesday, December 15; and Sydney on

Wednesday, December 16. We don’t doubt for a moment that the latter two will have been super-glitzy affairs, with hardly a shortage of massive, bustling and excitable crowds. And as for the California premiere? We’ve got plenty to report about that - from who turned up, to what George Lucas enthusiastically gushed to the press, to... well, pretty much all the big details we’ve been able to fit into our pages.

To meet the unsurprisingly huge number of premiere attendees eager to see the new film, screenings were shown across three theaters in Los Angeles at the world premiere. Unsurprisingly, plenty of key figures of Star Wars legend were in attendance - among them Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill, who were all greeted with huge roars. The younger Star Wars debutants John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver were also well-received, while franchise creator George Lucas was met with a standing ovation.

On the red carpet, Lucas told reporters of his

amazement at the modern impact of the

franchise, 38 years after the first movie’s release. He recalled: “It started out wanting to do a film for young people that had psychological undercurrents for people who were going through adolescence – everything from mythological themes to spiritual themes. In the end, I think that is the thing that resonated with people.” He cited the essence of the

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series as “families”, adding: “It’s about what one generation leaves behind and the next generation has to deal with.”

HAN SOLO CAKES, STAR WARS LEGO... AND EVEN A MARRIAGE!

Preparations for the premiere had certainly been thorough. As reported by Variety, Disney closed and tented Hollywood Boulevard beforehand, while Los Angeles Police Department

provided further security in the form of 50

officers. It was also outside the Dolby Theater - one of the three booked screening venues, along with the TCL Chinese and El Capitan theatres - that Disney staged a tented post-screening party which Star Wars fans could join.

On the subject of fans, they certainly got into the right spirit. Jedi robes and Stormtrooper outfits weren’t uncommon among their chosen costumes for the festivities, while one couple from Australia - Caroline Ritter and Andrew Porters - even planned to get hitched in unmistakable Star Wars style just ahead of the premiere. The nuptials would take place before a Stormtrooper honor guard in the TCL Chinese Theater’s forecourt, while “Darth Vader” would walk Ms Ritter to the altar.

Some other eccentric touches that we especially liked included intricate Lego models of new characters Rey and droid BB-8, plus - at the after-party - suitably themed food. The Los Angeles Times took photos of puddings adorned with images of Han Solo, C-3PO and Finn, plus Millennium Falcon macaroons - “for

the fan who has everything”. They certainly got that right!

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THE NEW MOVIE: “THE BEST BLOCKBUSTER SINCE THE ORIGINAL”

With Disney - as Variety also reported - having put an official embargo on press reviews of The Force Awakens until the following Wednesday morning, the brief reactions posted on Twitter in the wake of the premiere screenings provided the earliest reliable indications of how good the film actually was. So, what was the collective verdict? Basically, that director J. J. Abrams, who already boasted an impressive pedigree in the sci-fi and action arenas with earlier cinematic ventures Mission: Impossible III, Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness, had restored the Star Wars series to big screen respectability.

The stand-up comedian and writer Patton Oswalt succinctly tweeted that “JJ did it”, while The Office star Rainn Wilson described it as “epic, awesome and perfect”. Maybe calling The Force Awakens “perfect” wasn’t as bold for the actor as you might think; after all, director Brett Morgan, who is especially well known for having helmed the Kurt Cobain documentary Montage of Heck, described the new Star Wars film as “the best blockbuster since the original”. And we all know how significant the original Star Wars movie is in the history of cinematic blockbusters...

There is also evidence that Disney are far beyond happy with the finished product. After taking to the stage just after 7pm local time, early during the premiere, Robert Iger, the CEO of The Walt Disney Company, brought back his memories of seeing the first Star Wars film almost four decades earlier. He enthused: “None of this would have been possible without the sheer genius, the guts, the talent,

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the vision of one person… George Lucas.” He also thanked Abrams, who he claimed had “delivered a film that exceeded even our loftiest dreams and expectations.”

HERE’S THE CLOSEST TO OUR VERDICT THAT WE CAN CURRENTLY GET...

And so we end with delivering our own verdict. Star Wars: The Force Awakens - is it an unqualified success? The biggest film ever made - in terms of euphoria, acclaim and financial success? It’s obviously too early to give a solid assessment on any of this - but various signs so far seem overwhelmingly positive. Now it’s time for everyone to book their ticket for a return to the greatest sci-fi saga in history. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...


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Humankind marked an off-the-planet pinnacle Monday: the 15th anniversary of continuous residency at the International Space Station.

NASA and its global partners celebrated the milestone, as did the six astronauts on board. The U.S., Russian and Japanese spacemen planned a special dinner 250 miles up.

Commander Scott Kelly, seven months into a yearlong mission, said the biggest benefit of the orbiting lab is furthering long-term exploration goals deeper into space.

“The space station really is a bridge. It’s a test bed for the technologies that we need to develop and understand in order to have a successful trip to Mars,” American astronaut Kjell Lindgren noted during a news conference.

Since the first permanent crew moved in on Nov. 2, 2000, 220 people have come and gone, representing 17 countries.

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The United States is in the lead because of all the space shuttle flights that were needed to deliver station pieces; Russia is in second place, and Canada and Japan tied for third. At least one American and one Russian have been on board at all times.

More than 26,500 meals have been dished up, according to NASA, and the complex has grown from three to 13 rooms since 2000. The current structure has a mass of nearly 1 million pounds and as much pressurized volume as a Boeing 747.

The most important experiment, Kelly said, is about keeping humans alive in space. His one-year mission with Russian Mikhail Kornienko, due to end in March, includes 400 experiments, many of them medical. Americans have never spent this long in space; the Russians have, but it was decades ago on the former Mir station.

NASA puts the number of experiments at this space station, over the years, at more than 1,760. At the same time, there have been 189 spacewalks to build and maintain the outpost since construction began in 1998; No. 190 will occur Friday when Kelly and Lindgren venture out for the second time in 1½ weeks.

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As the space station ages, more maintenance will be required. NASA hopes to keep the complex running until 2024.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden called Monday’s milestone “a remarkable moment 5,478 days in the making.”

“It has taught us about what’s possible when tens of thousands of people across 15 countries collaborate to advance shared goals,” Bolden said in a statement.

One sticking point, one to two decades ago, was a name for the place other than International Space Station - ISS in NASA shorthand.

The original inhabitants - American Bill Shepherd and Russians Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko - christened their high-flying home Alpha when they arrived, but the name didn’t last. Kelly remembers wishing back then that the space station had a real name, but the various countries couldn’t agree on one.

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“Now, it’s the ‘space station’ to me and I think it’s a great name,” Kelly told reporters. “The name ‘International Space Station’ really represents what it is. So in some ways, maybe it’s a better name.”

As for day-to-day life, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui said the space station has yielded a unique culture given all the nationalities involved, with the crew members respecting each other. If this were practiced back on the planet, he noted, “the Earth will be a much better place.”

Online:

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/

station/main/index.html

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If you are an Apple fan, you have almost definitely spent time in an Apple Store. Spending time in one of Apple’s hundreds of retail stores around the world is an intuitive and luxurious experience akin to actually trying out the features of one of the latest iPhones or iPads. This is no accident; in fact, these stores were specially built to extend many facets of the unique Apple experience to the Main Street.

Commercially, the Apple Stores have bettered many of Apple’s own devices, having pulled in

revenue of $5.1 billion in the fourth quarter

of the 2014 fiscal year, the most recent quarter for which Apple specifically reported its retail returns. And yet, were it not for Steve Jobs’ belief and perseverance, likely not a single Apple Store would have been opened. How has Apple reached this highly enviable stage? How are Apple Stores evolving? And what’s in store - pun very much intended - for the future?

THE ORIGIN OF THE APPLE STORES CONCEPT

Shortly after taking the reigns of Apple in the late 1990s, Steve Jobs made the bold move of stopping distribution of Apple products at third party retailers - with the sole exception of CompUSA, which had agreed to high visibility showcasing of Apple products and sales staff dedicated to these products. However, even this strategy was not sufficiently adventurous for Jobs - and, when he first proposed the idea of Apple retail stores to the company’s board of directors, the reaction wasn’t enthusiastic.

However, Jobs’ refusal to drop the idea led the board to eventually give the nod to the

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construction of four initial Apple Stores. As Joseph J Kim explains in his 2013 book

Business Secrets of Steve Jobs, these stores were intended to differ from other electronics retail stores in three main ways: they would appear in busy areas like shopping malls, have “a premium look and feel to convey the quality of the products”, and provide customer experience that was “most carefully crafted and delivered”.

THE KEY DIFFERENCE WITH APPLE STORES

The last of those points could almost seem like generic marketing speak until one looks closer at the clever and painstaking attention to detail involved. As Kim further explains, the primary aim of these stores was simply to give customers a delightful experience. The stores were “purposely designed to look like museum exhibits of great works of art”, and actually selling products was a secondary concern - to the extent that “pushy salespeople” and even cash registers were left out.

This ethos of the Apple Stores certainly hasn’t died with Steve Jobs. Writing for Forbes earlier

this year, Carmine Gallo described the five

steps - corresponding to the acronym A-P-P-L-E - that each Apple Store employee is trained to take a customer through. These can be summarized as “Approach customers”, “Probe politely”, “Present a solution”, “Listen for and resolve issues or concerns” and “End with a fond farewell”. These steps typify how, as Gallo notes, the Apple Store’s soul is not products, but instead “its people - how they are hired, trained, and taught to engage the brand’s customers.”

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APPLE CONTINUES TO FLOURISH WHERE OTHER COMPANIES STRUGGLE

This could go a long way towards explaining why other companies have tried and failed to effectively replicate the Apple Stores model. Just last month, AppleInsider noted the example of Microsoft - which, in the last six years, has opened 116 of its own retail stores “often

featuring more employees than customers”. This lack of customers remained glaring even in San Francisco’s Microsoft Store during last year’s holiday season, when popup retail spots run by Samsung and Amazon similarly struggled.

By contrast, Apple Stores were profitable from a very early stage, and have now surpassed 460 in global number. Sights of crowds of excited people queuing outside such outlets to get their hands on new iPhones have become a September staple, while new store openings, like that of Belgium’s first Apple Store earlier

this fall, are regularly reported. And there are plans for the first set of such stores in India...

HOW APPLE STORES HAVE GROWN AND DIVERSIFIED

With more and more Apple Stores being added to the list of worldwide outlets over time, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that some of them have developed in fame to become tourist attractions. The Fifth Avenue store was once even found to be statistically the most

photographed building in New York City, while other stores, including those at the city’s

Grand Terminal and London’s Covent Garden, are as renowned for their architectural beauty as much as for their size and popularity.

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Apple has experimented with their bricks and mortar retail offer in other ways - for example, through setting up three shops dedicated to the Apple Watch in the high-end department stores of Selfridges in London, Galeries Lafayette in Paris and Isetan in Tokyo earlier this year. These stores-within-stores are especially notable for the opportunities they offer for sampling the

high-end gold Apple Watch Edition models; with prices in the same region as the US prices of $10,000 to $17,000, Apple is clearly intent on heightening the luxurious feel of mainstream Apple Stores even further with these little shops.

Looking to the opposite end of the scale, however, which are the least exclusive - in other words, the biggest - Apple Stores? You might have gained the impression from recent reports that the new Dubai store, which opened in the city on the same day as another Apple Store in the other United Arab Emirates city of Abu Dhabi, takes the ultimate crown. However, impressive though it is in size, an Apple spokesperson confirmed to Emirates 24|7 that the Apple Store in London’s Covent Garden

remains the world’s largest, with its three

floors covering 40,000 square feet.

THERE’S NO STANDING STILL FOR APPLE STORES

The original idea for the Apple Stores was undoubtedly forward-thinking, so it’s fortunate that Apple’s retail strategy is continuing to evolve even despite its already huge success. Former Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts has enacted a number of changes since becoming

Apple’s Senior Vice President of Retail and

Online Stores in April 2014. Some have been

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subtle, like introducing new shirts for sales staff and removing iPods from the main display tables. Meanwhile, the major change of training physical store workers in online retail helped

Apple to avoid lost sales during the gradual

Apple Watch rollout.

A similar trend emerged when, in August, Apple did away with the ‘Store’ tab and ‘store.apple.com’ domain on its website to integrate its

online retail interface more closely with the

rest of the website. This has made the online process from reading about a product to buying it more streamlined and seamless; after looking over a product page, a user can now just click the clearly displayed ‘Buy’ link on the same page. Cases and extended warranties for the product can also be chosen on the same page.

WHAT IS THE FUTURE FOR APPLE STORES?

Under Cook and Ahrendts, Apple Stores appear to be in safe hands. In an interview in September, Cook revealed that he chose to recruit Ahrendts due to what Fortune has described as their shared “vision of leadership, one more about people than process and the team rather than the hero”. The stores are also likely to stick to the same beautiful design philosophy, albeit possibly becoming more

minimalist due to the increased influence

of design guru Jony Ive. Steve Jobs’ vision remains alive and well.


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APPLE BOSS PUSHES BUSINESS TO HELP SOLVE SOCIAL PROBLEMS

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Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke to faculty and students at Bocconi University, Italy’s top business school on Tuesday, his first speech to a European university.

Here are the highlights from what he said:

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ON COMPANIES’ CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY

“ Now more than ever businesses are in a position to help

societies solve their greatest problems. The responsibility should

not rest on governments alone. Whether we are talking about

climate change or equal rights, the challenges we face are simply

too great for businesses to stand on the sidelines.”

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ON CLIMATE CHANGE

“ The environment must also be on the business agenda.

As business leaders, we have a responsibility to address this,

and urgently. We have obligations to our companies and our

shareholders because climate change impacts supply chains,

energy crises and overall economic stability.”

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ON EQUAL RIGHTS

“ We know that discrimination against anyone holds

everyone back. So at Apple, we welcome everyone, no matter

where they come from, what they look like, how they worship

or who they love.”

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ON DATA PROTECTION

“ Today our iPhones carry not just our conversations and

our photos, but our financial information, our health data, and

our most intimate conversations. We believe that kind of data

is personal data. It is yours and no one else’s. We keep it secure,

and leave it alone.”

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ON APPLE’S DECISION TO SHARE TECHNOLOGY ON ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND MATERIALS

“ While some people might look at that as a competitive

advantage, we are giving the information to our competitors for

free. Because when our goal is to leave the Earth better than we

found it, we need them to join us as well.”

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Traditionally, Microsoft has been the dominant tech player in enterprise - a situation largely encouraged by widespread and deep-rooted corporate familiarity with the company’s ecosystem and the reluctance of Steve Jobs’ Apple to take serious steps against the Redmond giant in this area. However, the tide is slowly turning, as more businesses follow consumers in moving from the desktop to the mobile space, and Apple ties up several crucial enterprise initiatives under Tim Cook.

Nonetheless, boosting its appeal to businesses is no mean feat for the Cupertino company - especially as rivals like Microsoft and Google are making their own moves to woo the same clients. So, what is the current state of Apple’s ecosystem for business? How has Apple been seeking new opportunities away from its usually consumer-oriented strategy? And how have businesses responded?

AN IMPRESSIVE BUSINESS “QUIETLY BUILT IN NOT TOO MANY YEARS”

Pursuing corporate markets was far from an evident priority for Apple under Steve Jobs. As PCMag’s Tim Bajaran notes, he differed in this respect from his predecessors at Apple - particularly Michael Spindler, who, during his tenure in the mid-1990s, brought the Mac closer in similarity to the PC and licensed the Mac OS. However, Bajarin also implies that Apple long

had the potential to shake the foundations of

enterprise - it simply hadn’t dedicated enough support and resources to actually doing so.

It is for this reason above all that Tim Cook’s more corporate-friendly approach could trigger

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more than a few shockwaves among both established leaders and ambitious upstarts in this area. In many ways, it already has. At Apple’s quarterly earnings call last month, Cook reported that, during the 2015 fiscal year,

the company’s enterprise business grew by

40% to $25 billion. He remarked: “I doubt very many people knew that we have a $25 billion enterprise business that we’ve quietly built in not too many years.”

A ONCE UNLIKELY ALLIANCE THAT IS NOW “SERIOUS BUSINESS”

Though, as Cook acknowledged at the conference call, Apple’s business penetration remains low, its progress shows the company’s change of direction to be reaping dividends. Indeed, a closer look at the Cupertino company’s high profile enterprise projects in both this and last year help to clarify why it has succeeded in making such great bounds. One of these projects is what would have been considered highly unlikely in the 1980s: a partnership with one of Apple’s historical rivals, IBM.

First announced in July 2014, this partnership was set to unite Apple’s strengths in mobile

technology and IBM’s advantages in big data

and analytics to transform business practices in several key ways. The ambitious plans included introducing over 100 industry-specific solutions exclusively for iPhone and iPad, iOS-optimized unique cloud services and enterprise-tailored AppleCare service and support. The following September, a portfolio of ten business-focused apps was launched.

These apps, which were presented under the IBM MobileFirst for iOS banner and designed

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to meet the needs of workers in various sectors, including retail, financial, insurance, government and hospitality, quickly won enterprise endorsement. Writing for Wired, Tobi Schneider, the founder and CEO of Bouncepad, reported seeing “an increased

demand for more control over tablets in

the sectors that MobileFirst is specifically

targeting”, dubbing the Apple-IBM alliance’s aims “serious business”.

“EVERY MAC THAT WE BUY IS MAKING AND SAVING IBM MONEY”

The corporation nicknamed Big Blue has also been successfully deploying Apple devices to its own workforce. In August, we reported IBM’s plan to purchase up to 200,000 Macs

annually - and, in the process, become by far Apple’s largest corporate customer. This move proved highly fruitful - last month, at the JAMF Nation User Conference, IBM’s Vice President of Workplace-as-a-Service, Fletcher Previn, reported that its Macs required much less help

desk support than its PCs.

To be more exact, Previn reported that, at IBM’s internal help desk catering for the company’s 130,000 Macs and iOS devices, there were a mere 24 staffers - while only 5% of the Mac users even turned to this help desk, compared to 40% of the PC users. He added that, as each Mac “still has value three or four years down the road”, each purchased Mac was “making and saving IBM money”.

This extent of Apple’s reach with one of the world’s most prestigious tech corporations looks even more impressive considering Apple’s relatively small dedicated sales team

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for corporate markets. At the aforementioned earnings call, Tim Cook indicated that this team is unlikely to grow significantly in the foreseeable future, with the company instead continuing to rely on its 75 ability partners and their own direct sales forces.

iOS: ALREADY DEEPLY ENTRENCHED IN BUSINESS

The mobile revolution that has engulfed the consumer market has hardly left businesses untouched; in August, Good Technology’s Mobility Index Report for 2015’s second quarter revealed that organizations were more frequently using multiple mobile apps. Excluding email apps, 67% of all analyzed organizations used more than one app. Furthermore, iOS was still largely driving this development, having seen 64% of both

smartphone and tablet activations in

enterprise during the quarter.

iOS was found to be an especially popular mobile platform with public sector organizations, schools and healthcare firms, scoring an adoption rate of over 70% with these organizations. There is also anecdotal evidence, noted by Architosh, that the

largest architecture, engineering and

construction firms in Japan are increasingly

standardizing around iOS, on the strength of the iPad’s design applications. Reportedly, this news led major German design app developer Graebert to announce its own support for iOS.

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A BIG TABLET THAT COULD MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE

Given this emerging trend, undoubtedly instrumental to Apple’s continuing enterprise drive is the iPad Pro. Workers in the education and health sectors are likely to have been especially engrossed by the demonstrations of feature-rich productivity and healthcare software on the tablet at Apple’s September keynote. Meanwhile, the 12.9-inch slate’s optional Apple Pencil accessory has obvious appeal for designers, architects and engineers - especially after renowned animation studio

Pixar’s endorsement.

Apple is still working hard to promote the 12.9-inch slate to enterprise, as particularly evidenced by Eddy Cue’s recent appearance at Dropbox’s Open conference. Cue, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, used the occasion to show off the tablet’s use of Dropbox’s upcoming collaborative editing app Paper and point out other advantages of

iOS in the corporate world, including that

“everyone upgrades really quickly.” But to what extent can such advantages help Apple to further fracture a widespread business model built around Microsoft and Windows products and services?

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HOW APPLE’S FUTURE IN BUSINESS COULD UNFOLD

Gigaom’s Nathaniel Mott reckons that the

iPad Pro bodes well for Apple’s future in

enterprise, citing the popularity of the iPad in the workplace even as its maker was looking away from that market. He gives his readers a tantalizing vision: “If the iPad found a place in enterprise when its claim to fame was HBO Now, imagine how well it could do now that it comes with a dedicated keyboard accessory and what appears to be a rather capable stylus.”

PCMag’s Tim Bajaran is similarly optimistic, suggesting that the value of Apple’s enterprise operations could double over the next half-decade. These are all bold claims, and no-one at Apple appears under any illusion that knocking Microsoft off the corporate perch will be easy. But, with Mac and iOS usage already rising in this field and Apple finally making explicit attempts to win over business customers, we can see another major break from Jobsian strategy turning out increasingly worthwhile.


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If you’re looking for a device to track your fitness, alert you to incoming messages and occasionally let you buy stuff with a scan or a tap, there’s no shortage of computerized wristwatches to choose from.

Over the past several months, I’ve tested numerous smartwatches for iPhones and Android devices, along with fitness trackers that have some smarts. I’ve even worn six watches at once during three marathons over the past month, courting both ridicule and some lousy times. (I’m blaming the extra weight.)

Smartwatches and fitness trackers are relatively early devices with a lot of growing up still to do. Temper your expectations, and you might be pleasantly surprised. Just don’t go in expecting magic, because that’s a recipe for disappointment.

GIFT GUIDE: GADGETS THAT MAKE YOUR WRIST SMARTER

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Your options will vary depending on whether you use an iPhone or Android, as most of these watches require a companion phone for their smarts. There are also big differences between all-in-one smartwatches and simpler gadgets that primarily track fitness.

SMARTWATCHES FOR ANDROID:

- Samsung’s Gear S2 (starts at $300)

Samsung smartwatches have improved tremendously. Instead of swiping through screen after screen, you now rotate the watch’s circular outer ring to select apps or view notifications. The watch faces can display information ranging from stock quotes and headlines to sports scores. I tracked some Mets games that way, though the watch doesn’t guarantee a win.

The main shortcoming: limited apps. The Gear S2 works with Android phones but doesn’t run Android apps, putting it in a kind of limbo. A few apps from big-name partners like Yelp, The Wall Street Journal and Nokia’s Here (for maps) are available, and Uber is coming soon. But most apps I looked for weren’t there.

As for exercise, the watch mostly tracks footsteps and heart rate. Its mileage calculation is way off unless you’re also carrying a phone with GPS. Alternatively, you could consider the Gear model with both GPS and 3G data for about $50 more, plus an additional $5 or $10 a month for the data plan.

The Gear S2 works with most Android phones, though some features specifically require a Samsung phone.

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- Android Wear (starts at $129)

Several companies make smartwatches that run Google’s Android Wear software. I tried the cheapest, Asus’s ZenWatch 2, as a starting point. You can pay more for better bands, features such as built-in GPS or sheer luxury - right up to $1,500 for a model Tag Heuer developed with Intel and Google.

Android Wear has also gotten better. One swipe gets you apps, with recently used ones on top. Swipe again for contacts and again for common tasks. The screen can stay on without draining the battery, something rare in a smartwatch. App selection has also improved; many apps available for the Apple Watch now have Android Wear versions.

Sony’s GPS-enabled SmartWatch 3 worked well for me while running, but other non-GPS devices, including the ZenWatch, were more frustrating. The main health app, Google Fit, doesn’t let you start or stop workouts manually, with or without GPS. It relies on automatic detection and accused me of walking parts of my marathons, even though I didn’t (really!). Several apps offer manual controls, but require built-in GPS or a phone, which can be a pain to carry on a run.

You need an Android phone for full functionality. Android Wear works with the iPhone, but it’s handicapped. You don’t get turn-by-turn navigation on the watch, for instance, as I learned the hard way driving to Toronto with a Moto 360.

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SMARTWATCHES FOR iPHONES:

- Apple Watch (starts at $349)

Android Wear will work, but Apple Watch is the one you need for full functionality. Apple put a lot of thought into it, with the inclusion of a lefties mode and a passcode in case you leave it on a bathroom sink somewhere.

Apple Watch stands out in fitness. Although the watch doesn’t have GPS, it learns your walking and running patterns when you have the phone with you, so it’s more accurate than other non-GPS watches when you leave the phone at home.

Apple’s smartwatch doesn’t just count steps. Instead, it challenges - or nags - you to exercise at least 30 minutes a day and to take 12 walk breaks throughout the day. For a perfect score, you also need to burn a certain number of calories - determined by your age, sex, weight and fitness level. With rival devices, I meet my default goals easily. With Apple Watch, even an eight-mile morning run isn’t enough. Bring on the challenge!

Apple Watch lacks advanced features found in sport-specific devices. I rely on a Garmin running watch during workouts, but Apple Watch nudges me the rest of the day.

Battery life isn’t as good as Samsung and many Android Wear devices, though I made it through the recent marathons with plenty to spare by turning off the heart-rate monitor.

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FITNESS FOCUSED, FOR iPHONE, ANDROID OR WINDOWS:

- Microsoft Band 2 and Fitbit Surge ($250 each)

These are among the few fitness trackers with built-in GPS and heart-rate monitors. Don’t confuse the Surge with cheaper Fitbit models, which mostly track footsteps. The Surge and the Band are limited smartwatches that can, for instance, notify you of new texts or calls. The Band also offers news headlines and a few apps from the likes of Starbucks and Facebook.

But the Band’s battery life doesn’t cut it for heavy exercise. I outlasted the Band for all three 26.2-mile races. Even turning off the screen didn’t keep it from dying before the finish, in one case just a third of a mile short. By contrast, the Surge lasted each race with plenty of charge to spare. Under normal use, the Surge lasts up to a week.

Both are solid fitness companions - at least for shorter workouts, in the case of the Band. But neither is a replacement for a sport-specific device.

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“iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are the most loved phones in the world, with customer satisfaction literally off the charts and far above any other phone. So, how do you follow a success like this? I am thrilled to show you the newest iPhones.”

That’s the gist of how Apple boss Tim Cook set the stage for the exciting official reveal of the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus earlier this month. Their names suggest small, rather than groundbreaking, improvements on last year’s models - but would this really be a fair assessment of the phones themselves? What new features do they come with? And what implications could these features have for how millions of people use the iPhone?

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3D TOUCH: THIS COULDCHANGE EVERYTHING...

As is typical with Apple, the new iPhones have been bolstered with plenty of exciting new features and minor tweaks, which can collectively help to enhance the iPhone experience in both expected and unexpected ways. However, one major addition that has drawn especially large attention so far - a marquee feature, if you will - is the new 3D Touch interface.

“3D Touch?” we can picture you wondering. “That seems familiar...” Perhaps it has reminded you of Force Touch, the pressure-sensitive technology that was first integrated into the Apple Watch to thankfully much ease access of a high number of advanced features through its tiny screen. So, has Force Touch now been extended to the iPhone and rebranded along the way?

Not quite. Many press outlets reporting on the then in-development iPhone 6S models, including AppleMagazine, indeed confidently predicted the inclusion of Force Touch, which can detect the difference between a light tap and a firm press on a touchscreen and accordingly bring up different features. However, 3D Touch can also detect a third level - or, should we say, dimension - of pressure. Naturally, this means that an even more generous number and range of features can be quickly activated.

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SELFIES, PHOTOS, EMAILS AND MORE ARE ALL NOW MUCH EASIER

So, that’s what 3D Touch technically is. But how can it be used to great effect in practice? The new iPhone 6S screen commercial, which Apple debuted at the launch event, demonstrates this well. Perhaps you caught sight of the “emergency selfie” feature, where the Camera app icon can be tapped lightly to speed up access to the selfie camera - Selena Gomez even appears with a “Thanks!” And then there were the glimpses of photos, a song, a text and an email all being “popped” open - in other words, previewed - in a similar manner.

All of these are great time-saving measures - just imagine, to cite a few instances, “popping” up an email that has arrived just as you are in a hurry to leave the house, taking a prompt selfie at one of those typically short-lived “you had to be there” moments, or previewing a song to quickly check if it really was the one that your friend said they really liked but couldn’t recall the name of.

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A SOPHISTICATED NEW TECHNOLOGY THAT REMAINS EASY TO GET USED TO

Usually, when tapping on an iPhone screen, any feedback from the handset is strictly visual. However, with the new iPhones, every successful “peek” and “pop” produces small physical vibrations for ten or fifteen milliseconds - to use the appropriate terminology, a haptic tap. This is basically the iPhone’s way of congratulating the user on using the correct touch gesture, and has seemingly been built in to help guide users who need time to familiarize themselves with 3D Touch.

Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, has recalled to Bloomberg that “while the hardware was

measuring force, the software needed to

measure intent.” Charles Arthur of IBTimes reports from hands-on testing that, within apps, “3D Touch’s haptic feedback gives a pleasing

“pop” feeling when you make it work.” The pleasant sensation of this feedback can only encourage more iPhone 6S owners to regularly use 3D Touch functions and, in the process, adapt to them. Bloomberg’s Josh Tyrangiel insists: “3D Touch will be judged a success only when its existence fades completely into a user’s subconscious. It takes about four minutes.”

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iOS 9 TAKES SEVERAL LEAPS FORWARD THANKS TO THE NEW iPHONES

3D Touch is therefore, as you can now see, built into many different facets of iOS 9 - but only on the version of this new operating system pre-installed on the new iPhones. Apple already gave the world a thorough preview of iOS 9 at

its Worldwide Developers Conference in June

- but many more of its exciting new features draw heavily upon the unique hardware of these iPhones, some to the extent that they are exclusive to these devices.

So, all of the typical built-in iOS apps, like Mail, Safari and Messages, are there alongside sophisticated recent additions like the hugely revamped Music, plus Health, News and CarPlay. Meanwhile, the new, second generation Touch ID means that virtual locking of the phone and using Apple Pay are now even more secure on the the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus than on any of their predecessor models.

The new, upgraded rear iSight camera, which can now capture photos in 12 megapixels and 4K video, both firsts in any iPhone, also makes great use of iOS 9 with one particularly eye-opening feature, and one that was seemingly never mentioned in any of the various information leaks ahead of its formal reveal: Live Photos. Basically, take a Live Photo and 1.5 seconds of video on either side of the shot are also taken. This means that the movement and sound of that special moment can also be re-experienced - even on other Apple devices.

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HEY SIRI! WHAT CAN THAT NEW A9 PROCESSOR DO?

Another first in any Apple device is the new A9 processor; of the company’s new products unveiled this month, only the upcoming iPad Pro will run on a more advanced chip. There are quite a few impressive numbers to crunch here: this A9 processor will result in a 70% boost in CPU performance and 90% better graphics performance in the new iPhones, and also includes an embedded M9 motion coprocessor. This part of the chip can recognize voice commands made to Siri, including the greeting “Hey Siri” that can activate the loveable virtual assistant.

This coprocessor can also be of much use to fitness buffs. Different types of fitness tracking, including measurement of running or walking pace and distance, are possible through the accelerometer, compass, gyroscope, and barometer that the M9 coprocessor services. These functions can leave your training regime looking a lot more rosy... which leads us nicely onto the subject of an especially striking cosmetic change.

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THE NEW iPHONES ARE LOOKING ROSY... AND SOME ARE ROSE GOLDY

Something you might also have caught sight of in that iPhone 6S commercial is the new rose gold color. In fact, you might even have already preordered a new iPhone in that color, judging by its clear popularity since preorders

opened. Though the color initially looks like - and has been casually called - pink, the term “rose gold” certainly hasn’t originated from Apple, having already long been used by jewellers to

describe gold with additional copper.

Whatever you call it, many people have concurred with the claim of that commercial’s voice-over that this new color is “awesome” - and that’s a fitting word for describing the new iPhones as a complete package. Far from the modest update initially widely predicted, the iPhones could deliver - largely thanks to 3D Touch - yet another revolution leaving the competition rushing to keep up. Well, Apple did say it: the only thing that has changed is everything...


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The luxury electric car market may be small, but it’s lucrative enough to get another jolt - this time from a mysterious startup that says it wants to re-imagine how people interact with their autos.

The startup’s name is Faraday Future, and it has been hunting for a place to build what it says will be a $1 billion manufacturing plant for a new line of cars. Four states are contenders and the company says to expect an announcement within weeks.

Headquartered in a low-profile office just south of Los Angeles, Faraday is holding a lot of details close. Though it won’t confirm the source of its funds, documents filed in California point to a parent company run by a Chinese billionaire who styles himself after Apple’s late Steve Jobs.

MYSTERIOUS ELECTRIC CAR STARTUP LOOKING TO BUILD $1B FACTORY

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Based on the few other public clues, Faraday is following the path blazed by Tesla Motors, its would-be rival hundreds of miles away in Silicon Valley.

Like Tesla, Faraday’s car will be all-electric, and debut at the high end.

The startup of about 400 employees has poached executive talent from Tesla and also draws its name from a luminary scientist - Michael Faraday - who helped harness for humanity the forces of nature.

Even Faraday’s public announcement that California, Georgia, Louisiana and Nevada are finalists for the factory mirrors the approach Tesla took to build a massive battery factory. Nevada won that bidding war among several states last year by offering up to $1.3 billion in tax breaks and other incentives.

Faraday hopes to distinguish itself by branding the car less as transportation than a tool for the connected class.

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“People’s lives are changed by their mobile devices, the way that we interact,” Faraday spokeswoman Stacy Morris said. “The car industry hasn’t caught up sufficiently. The car still feels like a place where you’re disconnected.”

Just what that means could hit the road as early as 2017, when Faraday has said it wants to bring a car to market.

The timeline is ambitious, given that it typically takes automakers at least three years to go from concept to production - and that’s when they already have their factories up and running.

“Developing an electric vehicle platform from scratch takes many years and doing it in 18 to 24 months would be a precedent-setting event, if it could be done,” said John Gartner a director at the market intelligence firm Navigant Research.

Then again, Faraday was around for more than a year before its recent public coming out. It was originally incorporated in California in May 2014 as LeTV ENV Inc., according to papers filed with the California Secretary of State. The address in Beijing is associated with Letv, a holding company founded by Chinese tech pioneer Jia Yueting.

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Yueting is referred to as China’s equivalent of Jobs, both for his talk of “disrupting” traditional industries as well as his jeans and T-shirt wardrobe at product launches.

Faraday spokeswoman Morris wouldn’t comment on Yueting.

“We’re in stealth mode where we’re not revealing ownership,” she said. “There’s a significant investor who wants the company to stand on its own merit before being associated” with it.”

Navigant projects that the luxury plug-in market will grow in the U.S. from 109,000 cars or SUVs next year to 468,000 in 2023. With a market share increase from 0.7 percent to 2.6 percent of all “light duty vehicles” (which also includes vans and pickup trucks), it’s still a niche market.

And by 2023, there will be even more competition - automakers other than Tesla plan to compete for customers who want luxury electric vehicles.

“The market’s only going to get more challenging,” Navigant’s Gartner said.

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Apple’s year-old mobile-payments service is expanding to more countries, banks and merchants, as it faces growing competition and some challenges before it becomes as commonplace as plastic cards.

Apple Pay is available in Canada starting Tuesday and in Australia on Thursday. Those are two countries where “tap” payments - tapping a phone or chip-embedded card to the store’s payment machine - are already more common than in the U.S. In those countries, however, Apple Pay is limited initially to American Express cards.

In the U.S., where Apple Pay started in October 2014, the service will expand Tuesday to more than 100 additional card issuers - mostly smaller banks and credit unions. Apple Pay already accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards from most major banks. In the U.K., Tesco and TSB banks will join Apple Pay on Tuesday.

The developments come a few months after Google launched its own tap-and-pay service, Android Pay, while Samsung started Samsung Pay. Both are for Android phones, while Apple Pay requires iPhones.

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GRADUAL EXPANSION

Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president for Apple Pay, said the company is starting with American Express in Canada and Australia because it’s both the card issuer and the payment-network operator, so coordination is easier. With Visa and MasterCard, individual banks issue the cards, and each bank has its own way of verifying a customer’s identity when setting up Apple Pay, for instance.

Meanwhile, Apple is working with makers of various payment machines to bring tapping capabilities to additional merchants, small and large. When Apple Pay launched, the U.S. had 200,000 tap-capable machines. That’s expected to surpass 1.5 million this year. The growth includes about 100,000 small to medium-sized merchants each month, Apple said.

Apple said Tuesday that Cinnabon will add Apple Pay to all its U.S. locations next year, while Domino’s company-owned pizza stores will get it by year’s end. Earlier, Apple said Starbucks will conduct a pilot this year, with a broader rollout next year, while KFC will launch next spring.

Despite the momentum, several million more U.S. retailers still have older machines that lack the right technology.

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PAYING AT RESTAURANTS

Even if a merchant has the equipment, it’s often located behind a counter, out of arm’s reach. At sit-down restaurants, it’s not practical for people to have to get up to make a tap at a counter. Most people prefer leaving a card with a waiter, at least in the U.S. (In Canada and many European countries, it’s common for staff to bring a portable card machine to your table.)

Addressing that will require a combination of approaches, Bailey said. She said Chili’s is installing tablets at tables so people can order and pay right there, starting in the spring. The restaurant-reservation service OpenTable already lets diners use its app to pay at some restaurants. Other U.S. restaurants, she said, will embrace portable card machines.

“You’ll see restaurants really look to innovate,” Bailey said, adding that restaurants can squeeze in more customers with faster payments, and customers are happier if they don’t have to wait for the check.

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THE U.S. IS BEHIND

Americans are used to plastic cards, and many people aren’t drawn to the increased security that these services provide because banks typically waive liability for fraud.

But the dynamics could change with the growing use of plastic cards embedded with security chips. Chip transactions take longer than a traditional magnetic swipe, making the convenience of tapping seem more attractive.

Because other countries have had chip transactions longer, they are further along in accepting tap payments, Bailey said. She expects U.S. shoppers will come to accept tap payments, too, now that chip cards are becoming standard.

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Headlines around the globe have been dominated by news about the series of co-

ordinated terrorist attacks in Paris on the

evening of November 13. Having killed over 120 people, the terrorist attack has proved the deadliest in Europe since 2004’s Madrid train bombings, which claimed 191 lives. But, while the world continues to recover from the shock, it is worth raising the question of what roles consumer technology could play in preventing or countering terror or natural disasters.

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#01 – QuakeFeed Earthquake Map, Alerts and NewsBy Artisan Global LLCCategory: WeatherRequires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

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APPS TACKLING EARTHQUAKES, TORNADOES AND NATIONAL INSECURITY

Even just a few cursory searches through the iOS App Store or Google Play store reveal the ready availability of various smartphone and tablet apps that could be effectively used for reacting to threats and saving lives. Social media has long proved a particularly vital tool for tracking crises as they emerge, as was demonstrably the case from the earliest breaking news of the Paris attacks - and the Facebook and Twitter mobile apps have often attracted acclaim for their intuitive interfaces.

Many other apps, however, have more specialist purposes. Many are geared towards assisting people in preparing for or reacting to such natural disasters as earthquakes and tornadoes. Apps in this category include QuakeFeed, which provides maps indicating the locations of tectonic plates and can alert users of

earthquakes measuring over 6.0 on the

Richter magnitude scale.

Another app, developed by Nigeria-based company PISI Ltd two years ago in reaction to insecurity in the native country and other countries around the world, is E-Alert. Billed as providing “Personal Security On The Go”, it provides what the Nigerian news outlet the Lagos-based Daily Independent has dubbed “a free emergency security service” to help

prevent kidnappings, terror and other

dangerous infractions. The app’s functions include an emergency panic button for freely notifying family in an emergency and GPS tracking of the user’s location every 45 seconds after contacts have initially received alerts.

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FROM OPTIONAL EXTRAS TO INTEGRATED SAFETY TOOLS

Some such apps now even come bundled with new devices or operating system updates. One good example is Find My Friends. You might have first noticed this app’s icon, depicting two white silhouettes on an orange background, on your iOS device after updating to iOS 9 earlier in the fall - but it was actually first released by Apple, then as an optional app, for the then

new iOS 5 in October 2011.

A user of this app can switch on Location Services on their iOS device in order to allow a select number of people, such as family and friends, to determine their location - or, at least, that of the device - using GPS technology. Someone using an iOS device or Mac to track a Find My Friends user can also receive alerts informing them when that individual has arrived at a particular place; after the Paris attacks, for example, an alert could have been sent to indicate that a loved one in the city has safely arrived home.

A similar app that has a long history but only became bundled with iOS from this fall is Find My iPhone - the name of which is accordingly changed for the same app on iPads, iPods and Macs. A rather self-explanatory app, it allows remote location-tracking of iOS devices and Macs - and so could prove utterly vital should you lose a device which includes urgent or sensitive information. In 2012, Find My iPhone was used by police in Atlanta, Georgia to locate

robbery suspects by tracing a stolen iPhone.

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CAUGHT ON CAMERA... AND BROUGHT TO JUSTICE

What with cameras now coming as standard on even many rudimentary smartphones, it has become easier for many ordinary observers, or “citizen journalists”, to visually capture crises - in both photo and video - as they unfold. The resulting photo and video can then be speedily posted to social media sites, where they can be readily seen and widely disseminated by others, including news outlets.

This situation can increase the hurdles that many suspect criminals need to overcome to avert detection, and this is before we consider apps that have been built more specially for crime-fighting purposes. One such app is Manything, which can convert a spare iOS

device into a home security webcam. A second iOS device can be used for remotely controlling the camera device and receiving alerts should dubious motion be picked up in the area under surveillance.

It’s also testament to the effectiveness of iOS cameras for such purposes that their use has extended beyond consumers. Redlands Police Department has reported adding iPhones to officers’ duty belts; Jim Bueermann, Chief of Police for the City of Redlands, has observed how the officers use iPhones to “take photos

of victims or potential suspects”, while mention has been made of how an iPad’s large, clear display helps the department’s command staff, officers and detectives to look at photos in more detail.

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#02 – ManythingBy ManythingCategory: LifestyleRequires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

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HELPING OTHER PEOPLE TO HELP YOU

Though we have detailed many apps that you could personally use on your iPhone to help bring yourself out of danger, what happens if you become struck by an injury that prevents you from personally using your iPhone? In this situation, someone else could come to the rescue - and even help you to recover from your injury through using your iPhone. Yes, even without bypassing the Lock screen...

The Health app which debuted with the release of iOS 8 last year has many useful functions for looking after and boosting your health. However, one that you may have overlooked is the ability to create an emergency card, called Medical ID, that anyone with your iPhone can access without having to pass the Lock screen. Simply by swiping before pressing ‘Emergency’ on the screen, someone can bring up emergency contact details and vital health information, like your medical conditions and medications.

This feature has to be manually set up before it can be put to use, and AppleInsider offers

a comprehensive step-by-step guide for

doing so. There are also alternative strategies to setting up Medical ID, like adding your crucial medical information to the device’s Lock screen wallpaper image.

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Image: Dan Kitwood

THE iPHONE: A FORMIDABLE LAW ENFORCEMENT TOOL

We have seen many instances here of how smartphones and tablets can help to prevent deaths and other disasters. But, in the kind of situation that the people of Paris are now facing, where the broken pieces have to be picked up, how can this technology be used to suitably react to attacks and accidents that have already occurred?

Cult of Mac has provided an insight, pointing out that the iPhone has become a popular tool in

law enforcement for taking and identifying

fingerprints of suspect criminals. The handset has even been eyed by the FBI for spotting suspect terrorists. The iPhone-compatible fingerprint device known as the mobileOne and made by Fulcrum Technologies is affordable for even small police departments, largely because many police officers already have iPhones, and can capture fingerprints that meet the FBI’s demanding standards.

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SMARTPHONES AND TABLETS: MODERN WEAPONS AGAINST MODERN THREATS

Consumer technology has already broken barriers between police departments and the people they serve; the aforementioned Jim Bueermann, Chief of Police for the City of Redlands, has commented: “With iPad, even if I’m in uniform it’s very common for people to come up to me. It opens up a whole discussion about how the police department uses technology.”

This enhanced mutual friendliness can also make it easier for individuals to help police by reporting suspicious people or activity possibly related to terrorism. This is a course of action especially urged by the FBI, which declares: “This is a message that bears repeating, no

matter where you live in the world: Your

assistance is needed in preventing terrorist

acts.” Your smartphone or tablet could play no small part in providing that assistance, too.


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“ It’s a message of peace and solidarity.

I didn’t do it to benefit from it in any way.

It was my way of communicating with

the people I know and showing that I was

thinking about everyone affected in Paris.

The fact that people shared it and used it,

well, in a way that’s all for the better. It’s an

image for everyone. It’s a communication

tool for people to express solidarity and

peace and that’s what it’s being used for,

so I’m glad that it’s been useful. ”

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The first thing you need to know about Apple’s iPad Pro is that it’s, well, giant.

About an inch longer than a standard sheet of paper, the Pro features a 12.9-inch diagonal display, giving it 78 percent more surface area than the 9.7-inch iPad Air 2. At nearly 1.6 pounds, the Pro is heavier than current models, but not much more so than the original iPad from 2010. There’s room for four speakers, compared with two on other iPads.

The price is supersized, too. The iPad Pro starts at $799, compared with $499 for the standard-size iPad Air 2 and $269 for the cheapest iPad, the 2-year-old iPad Mini 2. A physical keyboard from Apple costs $169 extra, and the Apple Pencil sells for $99.

Designed with professionals in mind, the Pro is Apple’s way of reaching new consumers as sales of iPads - and tablets in general - decline. Here are some things to know as the Pro starts appearing in stores this week:

THE PRO ISN’T FOR EVERYONE

Many people will be fine with the standard iPad Air, while others will prefer the portability of the smaller iPad Mini.

The Pro is for those who need the larger screen, including people who write, build spreadsheets or edit graphics and video rather than primarily reading or playing games. These are people who might otherwise be lugging around a laptop. If you’re using a tablet just to watch Netflix, the Pro might be overkill, though movies and TV shows look and sound nicer.

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IT’S NOT A LAPTOP

For writing, the Pro features Microsoft Word and Apple’s Pages. But do you need a tablet for that? The desktop version of both apps can do far more, including keeping multiple documents open at once. The Pro is more for those times you want to leave the laptop behind, but might still need to write an email or touch up a report. The physical keyboard makes all that faster.

Where the Pro has the potential to excel is with artistic apps. Doodling, sketching and painting work better with fingers and a stylus than with a keyboard and trackpad. But apps on tablets have streamlined features designed to let you complete specific tasks quickly. More advanced features require a PC.

The iPad lacks a USB port, though you can buy an adapter. And it’s designed for one user. Many other tablets and laptops support profiles, so many people can share a device with separate settings and even restrictions for children.

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A BIGGER SCREEN ISN’T ALWAYS BETTER

The Pro has plenty of screen space to work with - nearly two standard-size iPads side by side. Photos, video and magazines come to life on the larger screen.

But in other respects the Pro doesn’t make the most of the extra space. You can’t, for instance, display more apps on the home screen. And when you open apps, often enough they’re just blown up to fit the larger screen.

That’s not universally true, and it’s bound to change as software developers update their apps. The collaboration app Slack, for instance, creates a new column with menu options on the Pro. But for now such apps are more the exception than the rule.

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GET THE KEYBOARD AND STYLUS

Although they’ll push up the cost, you’ll want to buy the Apple Pencil and a physical keyboard. Many of the Pro’s unique characteristics require one or both. Otherwise, you’re effectively buying a crippled device that’s capable of so much more with the right tools.

Apple’s Smart Keyboard serves as both a cover when stowing the iPad and a kickstand when using it, though you can’t adjust the angle. Typing is much easier with a real keyboard, and having it restores many shortcuts common on Macs, such as command-C for copy. The keys don’t feel as natural as they do on a laptop, but that could simply take more than a few hours of testing to get used to. One nice touch: The keys are completely sealed, in case you spill a drink on it.

The stylus, meanwhile, resembles a digital pencil that, for instance, can do shading when held at an angle. (Most draw only with the tip.) One neat trick: Hold two fingers on the Notes app to unveil a ruler, and use the pencil to draw a straight line.

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HOW THE PRO STACKS UP TO OTHER PROS

Microsoft’s Surface Pro comes closer to being a laptop replacement, particularly with a new keyboard cover that’s studier and feels more natural on the lap. It runs standard Windows 10 apps and displays many windows at once, not just two. On the other hand, not all of those apps are designed with touch controls in mind, something that’s fundamental to tablets.

Another alternative is Apple’s “new” MacBook laptop - the minimalist model released in March, without Air or Pro in the name. It doesn’t have a detachable keyboard, but the overall unit is light and thin, more like a tablet than a laptop.

Generally speaking, the Pro is designed primarily to extend the iPad’s touch-optimized experience to office use; as part of that compromise, it just can’t do everything a Mac can. So you can be disappointed and consider it a laptop-wannabe - or you can look on the bright side and think of the Pro as a giant iPad with benefits.

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One of the key technologies that could help wean the globe off fossil fuel is probably at your fingertips or in your pocket right now: the battery.

If batteries can get better, cheaper and store more power safely, then electric cars and solar- or wind- powered homes become more viable - even on cloudy days or when the wind isn’t blowing. These types of technological solutions will be one of the more hopeful aspects of United Nations climate talks that begin next week in Paris.

“If you are serious about eliminating combustion of fossil fuels to power anything - a house, a city, a state - you can’t do it without (energy) storage,” which usually means batteries, said Carnegie Mellon University battery expert and inventor Jay Whitacre.

BETTER BATTERIES TO BEAT GLOBAL WARMING: A RACE AGAINST TIME

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Former Vice President Al Gore, former U.S. Geological Survey chief (and current editor-in-chief of the journal Science) Marcia McNutt and others point to better batteries as one of the bright spots in the fight against climate change.

While batteries have been around for more than 200 years, this year the technology has amped up.

In October, an international team of scientists announced a breakthrough in overcoming major obstacles in next generation energy storage and creating a battery that has five to 10 times the energy density of the best batteries on the market now. In September, Whitacre won a $500,000 invention prize for his eco-friendly water-oriented battery. And in April, Elon Musk announced plans for his Tesla Motors to sell high-tech batteries for homes with solar panels to store electricity for night time and cloudy day use, weaning the homes off dirtier power from the burning of coal, oil and gas.

“The pace of innovation does seem to be accelerating,” said JB Straubel, chief technical officer and co-founder of Tesla with Musk. “We’re kind of right at the tipping point where the current performance and lifetime of batteries roughly equal that of fossil fuels. If you are able to double that, the prospects are huge.”

At its massive Nevada Gigafactory, Tesla has started producing powerwalls to store energy in homes. They can’t make them fast enough for customers worldwide.

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In November, a Texas utility announced it was giving wind-generated electricity free to customers at night because it couldn’t be stored. That’s where Tesla hopes to come in - not just in cars, but in homes. Within 10 years, Straubel figures it will be considerably cheaper (and cleaner) to get energy through wind and solar power and store it with batteries than to use coal, oil or gas.

“What has changed is the Gigafactory,” said Venkat Srinivasan, deputy director of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. “Two years ago I didn’t think anyone would have thought you’d invest $5 billion in a big (battery) factory.’”

Tesla is using existing technology, just mass producing and marketing it. That’s one of two key changes in the field. The other is work to make the battery itself much more efficient.

Start with that lithium ion battery in your pocket. It was invented by John Goodenough, a professor at the University of Texas. His next task is a safer battery that uses sodium, a more plentiful element that can produce a faster charge.

“Now I hope to help free yourself from your dependence on fossil fuels,” he said on the same October day he was awarded part of a $1 million innovation-in-alternative-fuels prize from Israel.

“I believe in the next year there will be a breakthrough,” he said. “I’m hopeful, but we’re not there yet.”

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Image: Gary He335

Glenn Amatucci, director of the energy storage research group at Rutgers University, called it “a race against time. Every day and every hour is critical in terms of getting an advance.”

But Goodenough is in a special hurry, working more than eight hours a day on his battery: He’s 93.

There are many teams around the world working on breakthrough batteries of different types. One of the most promising materials is lithium oxygen, which theoretically could store five to 10 times the energy of a lithium ion battery, but there have been all sorts of roadblocks that made it very inefficient. Then, last month a team led by Clare Grey at the University of Cambridge announced in the journal Science that they had, on a small scale, overcome one obstacle so that its efficiency could compete with lithium ion batteries.

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The potential gains in this technology are high, but it is still at least seven to 10 years from commercial availability, Grey said.

At Carnegie Mellon and Aquion Energy, Whitacre is honing a water-oriented battery with sodium and carbon. Others are looking at magnesium.

Tesla’s Straubel sees all sorts of different battery possibilities.

“It’s an ongoing revolution,” Straubel said. “It’s a critical piece in the whole puzzle in how we stop burning fossil fuels completely.”

Online:

Tesla powerwall home battery

Lawrence Berkeley National Lab’s Joint

Center for Energy Storage Research

Jay Whitacre’s Aquion Energy

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“Cloud” is a word that has been more frequently bandied around in the tech sphere in recent years, and for good reason. Internet software and speeds have advanced to the extent where cloud computing is now more useful and convenient than ever. Apple’s own cloud storage service, iCloud, has been a major beneficiary of this revolution - so, how can it genuinely assist users of the company’s ecosystem? And how does the wider world of cloud computing shape up?

CLOUD COMPUTING: A NOVICE’S GUIDE

Anyway, what actually is cloud computing? It can be most basically described as software and services delivered entirely over the Internet. Cloud productivity apps, for example, are accessed and loaded within a web browser, rather than from a local drive. Similarly, cloud storage can see documents, photos and other files kept not on a hard drive or USB drive, but instead on the Internet. Everything is provided, to use the appropriate term, “in the cloud”.

The blossoming popularity of mobile devices spearheaded by Apple has arguably encouraged the sophisticated development of cloud offerings in recent years, having given many companies incentive to provide their customers with an extra source of storage for the ready sharing of data between their smartphones, tablets and desktop and laptop computers. The provision of cloud-based apps has further cemented the appeal of the cloud for personal and corporate users alike.

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iCLOUD: INTEGRAL TO THE APPLE ECOSYSTEM

Apple’s history of offering online services stretches back long before the much-heralded launch of iCloud in 2011; earlier attempts included the short-lived eWorld in the mid-

1990s and, in the following decade, MobileMe, which iCloud primarily replaced. However, iCloud, doubtless helped by the continually growing sales of iOS devices, has far surpassed its predecessors in popularity; the number of the service’s users has been estimated to be

as high as 450 million.

The features on offer through iCloud fall into two categories: cloud storage and cloud computing. At a more basic level, iCloud offers extra storage, starting from the free tier of 5GB, for data that the user wishes to have readily accessible but is unable to keep on the in-built drive of their Mac or iOS device. It can also be used for completely backing up - and, consequently, restoring - devices.

Meanwhile, for many Apple users who favor local over cloud storage and routinely back up their iOS devices’ contents to their home computer through the iTunes software, iCloud can have huge appeal for easing productivity on the go. Using iCloud, it’s perfectly possible for someone to start work on a text document or presentation on their home Mac or even Windows PC, continue tweaking it on their iPad during a train journey, and then pick it up again on their iPhone when walking to work.

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A CONSTANT WORK COMPANION

Why can iCloud provide such a seamless and hassle-free corporate experience? Put simply, because a variety of work projects can be continually saved to the same, constantly accessible place - the file hosting service called iCloud Drive. iCloud is firmly integrated with the three apps of Apple’s iWork suite - Pages, Numbers and Keynote - available on iOS, OS X and even, since 2013, Windows through Pages for iCloud, Numbers for iCloud and Keynote for iCloud. Really? Yes - each of these apps can be used through the Chrome and Internet Explorer web browsers.

Therefore, even the many people who opt to pair their iOS devices with Windows computers, rather than Macs, can work largely within the Apple ecosystem, instead of having to settle for an awkward combination of Apple and Microsoft services and inadvertent formatting issues that could ensue. For example, workers don’t have to worry about the possibility of crafting presentation slides to look a very particular way in Keynote, only to load the same file in the equivalent Microsoft software, PowerPoint, and find certain text or graphics looking disconcertingly out of place.

Such seamless working is also possible with tasks such as email writing and web surfing thanks to another iCloud feature, Handoff - which works with various first-party and

third-party apps.

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FINDING NEMO... OR YOUR iPHONE

Given how invaluable iOS devices and Macs could therefore prove for on-the-go productivity, it’d certainly throw a spanner in the works if, at some point, you reached for your Apple device only to find it... gone. Where is it? You need it! Thankfully, you can still get it. That’s provided you have set up the Find My iPhone - or equivalent for iPad, iPod or Mac - app and service beforehand.

As we explained in the cover article of last week’s issue of AppleMagazine, this wonderfully convenient service allows a misplaced device to be remotely location-tracked. The device’s approximate location can be shown on a map on the screen of another iOS device or Mac, or a Windows computer. Find My... can even change the lost device’s password or wipe its contents for extra security... but all of these services are highly dependent on iCloud, as is also the case with the similar Find My Friends app.

Should you indeed feel the need to remotely wipe your device’s contents, you don’t strictly have to fret about precious photos, like those of deceased relatives and friends, being deleted with them. Another feature present even in basic iCloud, Photo Stream, allows a user to keep their most recent photos - up to 1,000 - on the iCloud servers for up to 30 days without charge. Activated Photo Stream will also automatically send, from these servers, freshly-taken photos to the user’s other registered devices.

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Image: iMore350

PROMISING, THEN - BUT NOT QUITE PERFECT...

Though iCloud has obvious appeal to Apple followers, there are many alternative cloud tools at their disposal. Microsoft, for example, allows the same kind of cross-device working through its iCloud Drive equivalent OneDrive and Office apps for iOS, OS X and web browsers. There’s also Google Drive and Google Apps for Work. That’s before we even consider, for the enterprise, the very different but also useful cloud-based Software as a Service, Platform as a Service and Infrastructure as a Service offerings from Oracle. Which of these services is best for you will depend on your specific needs and preferences.

You should also consider that, for all of the flexibility of the cloud, it isn’t really the user who owns the cloud. Instead, ownership stays with the company providing it - leaving it less secure and assured than services and storage delivered from a local drive. At any moment, the provider could suddenly decide to revert on pledges previously made to its users and cut back on its cloud features - as many disgruntled

OneDrive users found to their own cost in

early November, when Microsoft unexpectedly announced significantly lowered storage limits for these users.

There is also more potential for crashes beyond users’ control. When a piece of local software crashes or otherwise fails to work, a few minutes of tinkering or reinstalling can often solve the problem. However, as PCMag has pointed out, crashes in the cloud can take down many

different services and leave users stranded

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Image: iMore

for hours while they wait for the company to rectify the problem. Microsoft, Google and Adobe were among companies affected by such outages late last year.

GET YOUR HEAD IN THE CLOUD

Nonetheless, many individuals and businesses seem undeterred by such risks. And setting up the cloud can be almost as easy as using it. iCloud, for example, simply necessitates

flicking a few virtual switches, including turning on iCloud in iOS, OS X and Windows - following installation of the iCloud for Windows software for the last-mentioned platform - and enabling automatic downloads. You are now firmly in the cloud - which, judging by its such widespread use, won’t be dispersing at any time soon.


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As summer began to bake the central Cuban city of Sancti Spiritus, Elio Alvarez and Lideisy Hernandez sold their tiny apartment and everything in it for $5,000 and joined the largest migration from their homeland in decades.

Buying two smartphones for $160 apiece on a layover on their way to Ecuador, they plugged themselves into a highly organized, well-funded and increasingly successful homebrewed effort to make human traffickers obsolete by using smartphones and messaging apps on much of the 3,400-mile (5,500-kilometer) overland journey that’s become Cubans’ main route to the U.S.

Some 45,000 Cubans are expected to move by bus, boat, taxi and on foot from Ecuador and other South and Central American countries to the Texas and California borders this year, afraid that the normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba will mean an imminent end to special immigration privileges that date to the opening of the Cold War. With thousands more taking rafts across the Florida Straits, 2015 may witness the biggest outflow of Cubans since the 1980 Mariel boatlift that hauled 125,000 people across the Florida Straits.

The overland exodus has caused a border crisis in Central America, set off tensions in the newly friendly U.S.-Cuban relationship and sparked rising calls in the U.S. to end Cubans’ automatic right to legal residency once they touch U.S. soil.

At the heart of it all is Cubans’ ability to cross some of the world’s most dangerous territory relatively unscathed by the corrupt border guards, criminal gangs and human traffickers known as coyotes who make life hell for so many other Latin American migrants. Key to

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that ability is the constant flow of information between migrants starting the journey and those who have just completed it.

“Those who’ve arrived have gotten in touch with their acquaintances, their friends, and tell them how the route is. That means that no one needs a coyote,” said Hernandez, a 32-year-old psychologist. “You go making friends along the way. I myself have 70, 80-something friends on Facebook who’ve already gotten to the United States.”

Cuban migrants start with an advantage others can only dream of: Many countries along the route grant Cubans free passage because their government does not respond to most requests for information about illegal migrants that would allow them to be deported. And many Cubans who run out of money along the way have access to hundreds or thousands of dollars in backup funds sent by relatives who belong to one of the United States’ most prosperous immigrant groups.

Once they reach the U.S. border, they can just show up at an established U.S. port of entry and declare their nationality, avoiding the dangerous desert crossings that confront many migrants who try to avoid U.S. Border Patrol. Federal data shows 45,000 Cubans appeared at U.S. land border points in the 12 months ending Sept. 20, and at least as many are expected in the coming year.

But along the way, Cubans still must navigate jungles, rivers, at least seven international borders and countries in the grip of gangs responsible for some of the world’s highest homicide rates.

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Image: Gary He359

Asked their secret, Cubans interviewed in shelters along Costa Rica’s northern border with Nicaragua almost universally pointed to cheap smartphones, data plans and Facebook.

“We’re completely, always, alert to our phones,” Alvarez said, gesturing to his Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini outside a border statin in northern Costa Rica, where he and some 2,000 other Cuban migrants were stuck waiting for resolution of a regional conflict set off by Nicaragua’s closure of the crossing. “This is our best friend, the phone. It’s always on, always ready.”

The metallic “zing!” of a new message arriving in the Facebook Messenger app has become the soundtrack to this year’s historic migration as Cubans consult friends further along the route for tips on bus routes, border closures, even how much to bribe the notoriously corrupt Colombian police.

“They tell you when you can get money, at what moment you can arrive somewhere, what hotel to go to,” said Annieli de los Reyes, pharmacist from the eastern city of Camaguey. “In all of those things, you run less risk and go with more security and peace of mind.”

While many move across large swathes of territory independent of coyotes, others still depend on traffickers, most commonly when they need to get across complicated borders.

On Nov. 10, a U.S.-backed Costa Rican task force on human trafficking arrested 12 people suspected of helping run an international ring that charged Cubans between $7,000 and $15,000 to be smuggled from South America to the U.S. border, or $400 to be moved safely across Costa Rica.

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Alongside the anti-trafficking operation, Costa Rica began holding Cubans in the town of Paso Canoas on the Panamanian border. Their numbers grew to around 1,600 until Costa Rica announced on Nov. 13 that it would allow them to transit the country to Nicaragua. Complaining that it wasn’t consulted, Nicaragua dispatched soldiers to the border to block the Cubans’ passage, setting off minor clashes at the Penas Blancas crossing on Nov. 15.

The dispute has left some 2,000 Cubans stranded in shelters in Guanacaste province on the Nicaraguan border, with dozens more arriving daily. The local sales office for telecommunications company Movistar has increased the number of sales vans along the border from two to seven, most stationed permanently outside the Cubans’ temporary encampments in schools and churches, selling 2-for-1 $3-per-megabyte data packages to a steady stream of Cuban migrants.

Central America governments have called an emergency meeting on the crisis in El Salvador on Tuesday. Nicaragua, a close socialist ally of Cuba, has not publicly responded to a Costa Rican proposal to create a “humanitarian corridor” for Cubans to move unhindered toward the U.S.

Cuba, meanwhile, has made a series of public statements blaming U.S. emigration policies for drawing so many from their homeland, draining the country of badly needed professionals and working-age adults. Ironically, the Cuban government has been joined by an increasing number of Cuban-American legislators in the U.S. who say the Cold War-era Cuban

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Adjustment Act that grants new migrants special privileges is being abused by economic migrants instead of granting asylum to political refugees as originally intended.

Outside observers say Cuba’s own policies also fuel emigration, which siphons dissatisfied Cubans away from the island and increases the number of people injecting badly needed remittances into Cuba’s cash-starved economy. The communist government did away with a hated exit permit three years ago and also began allowing Cubans to establish permanent residence in the U.S. while maintaining their property rights and access to social services in Cuba.

Geny Machado worked as a private shopkeeper in the Havana neighborhood of Guanabacoa before he hopscotched from Trinidad and Tobago to Venezuela, where he started a months-long journey north with stops to work and earn money for the next stages. Other Cubans interviewed in Costa Rica were making their way from as far south as Chile, Argentina and Brazil.

Machado showed a reporter a string of Facebook messages from a friend recently arrived in the U.S. advising him on the best route from Guatemala City to the Mexican border; what to say to Mexican border guards once he arrived; what hotel to stay at on his first night in Mexico; and even the nightly rate: $10.

“The one who’s ahead guides the one behind,” said Machado, 45. “We go along communicating like that. Social networks are what’s helping Cubans along the whole migration route, more than the coyotes.”

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When migrants are stopped by border guards along the route, officials’ first step is contacting the migrant’s country to confirm their identity. In the case of Cubans, that’s often impossible. The Cuban government doesn’t respond to as many as 90 percent of inquiries about people with Cuban passports but no visas, said Mario Madrazo Ubach, head of immigration control at Mexico’s National Migration Institute. Since entering the country without a visa in itself isn’t a crime in Mexico, Mexican authorities generally give the Cubans 20 days to leave the country, which they use to get to the U.S. border and claim legal residency. Similar scenarios take place throughout Central America.

“You’re not going to find Cubans in the back of tractor-trailers,” Madrazo said.

Still, Cubans are not immune to the dangers of northbound migration. A migrants’ rights group said in July that Mexican border officials had been holding Cubans in border inspection stations until their relatives in the U.S. sent as much as $5,000 to win their freedom.

Mario Martinez, 24, trained as a computer programmer but worked in a barber shop in the Havana neighborhood of Marianao until he left for Ecuador this fall with his friend and traveling partner Manuel Gonzalez. Sitting on the floor of a public bathroom next to the only available electrical outlet he could find in a bus station on the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border, he said that Facebook friends had been steering the two men away from coyotes, saying that “it was going to end up being very expensive, that they were going to charge us more money, that they could cheat us.”

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“The first ones, sure, they had to do this with ‘contacts,’ the great majority had coyotes,” Martinez said as Gonzalez’s Facebook Messenger app pinged with the sound of new messages arriving. “But there were coyotes who were picking people up to cheat them, to kill people, to rape them. So now we Cubans are showing each other how to do the journey on our own.”

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Samsung makes history of a sort Friday by launching the first major consumer-oriented virtual-reality headset. (It comes with an asterisk; prototypes and other not-quite-mass-market versions have been available for a while.) And its Gear VR headset is pretty impressive as first-generation devices go.

The biggest surprise after using the new Gear VR for a few days: There’s a lot of stuff to watch and play in the virtual worlds the headset opens up. Granted, some of that material is gimmicky or amateurish. But the best of it hints at some of the mind-expanding experiences VR can make possible.

REVIEW: SAMSUNG’S GEAR VR SHOWS THE PROMISE OF VR _ TODAY

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The Gear VR is relatively cheap, too, at just $100. You do need your own headphones, preferably wireless, plus a recent Samsung phone - the Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge Plus or Note 5. If you don’t already have one, the package could set you back nearly $1,000. (Other VR systems will also need companion devices, such as high-end personal computers.)

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Samsung developed the Gear VR with the virtual-reality startup Oculus (now part of Facebook). It supplants the $200 “innovator edition” Samsung has sold for a year. That earlier prototype was mainly intended to build enthusiasm for VR and to help developers start producing games and apps for it. Samsung bills the new model as its first consumer VR product, although it still requires some savvy on the consumer’s part to use.

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ABOUT THE DEVICE

Your phone attaches to the front of the Gear VR headset, just in front of the lens for your eyes. Put the headset on, and your surroundings disappear as the phone screen opens a window into an unreal, three-dimensional world. As you turn your head, the image shifts accordingly to give the sense of being there in real life. You can even turn all the way around to see what’s behind you. The screen projects slightly different perspectives to your left and right eyes to give the virtual world depth.

The Gear VR wasn’t easy to set up. I had trouble figuring out where all the Velcro straps and hooks were supposed to go. I couldn’t get the phone to snap into place. I needed the manual to find a lever I had to switch because I had a larger phone, the Note 5. Many consumers might need help from a tech-savvy friend or kid.

I also got frustrated having to wait for apps and video to download - a few minutes in some cases. The Gear VR can stream relatively few videos for instant playback.

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WHAT TO DO WITH IT

Fortunately, it was worth the wait most of the time, even if many of the videos seemed like concepts intended to demonstrate the Future of Virtual Reality or are merely promotions for regular movies and TV shows. A lot of it is free, though some videos or apps will set you back $2 to $10.

And some apps were surprisingly absorbing. The notion of the Netflix app, which streams video to a virtual TV in front of you, initially seemed silly. Why not watch a real TV? Well, the virtual TV is huge, much larger than what I could afford in real life. And VR also removes the distractions surrounding you - such as Facebook.

Repeat viewings sometimes turned up unexpected detail. Not until a second viewing of a Cirque du Soleil video did I notice performers to my left and right. In a horror video, I initially kept my eyes on a woman in distress; only later did I see scary creatures crawling out of a playground. You’re no longer stuck with whatever the director chooses for you.

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But one video of the Oct. 13 Democratic presidential debate was disappointing. There were four VR cameras around the room, but you couldn’t pick the one to watch. And in 3-D, candidates looked like dolls on stage. It was a novel idea, but it’ll take time to figure out what works and what doesn’t. This one was also long, while the best ones were typically a few minutes each.

A few apps also have interactive elements. One lets you walk around a cafe depicted in the Vincent Van Gogh painting “The Night Cafe.” Another lets you explore an island and solve puzzles to open doors. It made me nauseous, though.

It’ll be great to see interactive storytelling, with plot lines that change depending on which rooms you choose to explore. And eventually filmmakers will rely less on stationary cameras. A VR piece featuring a hike with Reese Witherspoon could have let you hike with her, rather than watch from afar.

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COMPARISONS

The Gear VR is meant for use while sitting down, ideally in a swivel chair. You can’t walk around and explore your virtual environment. (You might trip over the ottoman or break things if you tried.)

The upcoming HTC Vive does offer that kind of walkabout experience, though you’ll also need an uncluttered room. That offers the possibility of brand-new VR experiences, such as walking around Mars or a building you just designed.

The Vive, along with the Sony PlayStation VR and the Oculus Rift, will do much more than Gear VR, but will likely cost many times the $100 the Gear VR will set you back. Samsung’s gadget is impressive for the price.

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A private space company announced Tuesday that it had landed a rocket upright and gently enough to be used again, a milestone in commercial aeronautics.

Reusing rockets, rather than discarding them, would be a big step toward making space flight less expensive.

The achievement produced “the rarest of beasts: a used rocket,” Jeff Bezos, founder of the company Blue Origin, said in a statement. He is the CEO of Amazon.com Inc.

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Another private company, SpaceX, has tried to land boosters upright on a barge in the ocean but so far has failed. It has recorded soft landings on the ground by rockets that flew less than a mile high, an altitude far lower than what the new test achieved.

Blue Origin said the unmanned flight took place Monday morning at its site in Van Horn in West Texas. The secretive company, based in Kent, Washington, did not invite reporters to attend. Its first test flight happened in April.

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Its New Shepard vehicle consists of a capsule that is designed to take people into space for suborbital flights someday, and a booster. In Monday’s flight, the booster soared about 62 miles high and released the capsule, which parachuted to the ground.

After the separation, the booster began falling back to Earth. It slowed its descent by firing its engine, starting at about 4,900 feet above ground. It was descending at just 4.4 mph when it touched down at the launch site, still standing up, the company said.

“It’s really a major step forward toward reusability,” John M. Logsdon, professor emeritus at the George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute, said in an interview. Although NASA space shuttles were also reusable after returning to Earth safely, they were far more expensive than rockets, he noted.

“The goal here is low-cost reusability,” Logsdon said.

Online:

Company: www.blueorigin.com

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WHAT IT ALL MEANS FOR CONSUMERS

They said earlier this year that they’d make it happen, and now, it has at last come to fruition: the team behind Apple’s programming

language, Swift, has now made it freely

available for open source developers. It’s an obvious attempt by the Cupertino giant to land a bloody nose on its famously open source rival Android, but there’s so much more to this move than that - it could also herald an exciting new era of Apple app development.

This all sounds like a very dry subject that is anything but dry - but because we have to, let’s attend to the drier stuff first. Swift was only announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in 2014, and this latest switch of the code to open source once again demonstrates how far ahead Apple is of the pack in terms of presenting developers with new opportunities to profit from apps for its various platforms.

In the case of Swift, those platforms include not only the time-honored iOS and OS X, but also the much more recently introduced watchOS and tvOS - the latter the platform for the latest fourth-generation Apple TV. With the universe for iOS developers already an impressive one, a new generation of personal developers and business enterprises is now emerging, rumors even

suggesting that they could soon be pocketing

a greater percentage of app revenue.

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THE BIG SWIFT NEWS - AND ITS BIG IMPLICATIONS

Apple’s posting of the source code for the Swift compiler and standard library functions and objects has effectively liberated the wider developer community to set up the code to run on a server, among many other potentially useful things beyond the mere making of iOS and OS X apps.

The move certainly gives Swift a life beyond Apple, meaning that even in the unlikely event of the company abandoning its own use of the language in future, programmers could theoretically pick it up, further its development and continue support for existing codebases. In the words of the Swift team themselves, “After Apple unveiled the Swift programming language, it quickly became one of the fastest growing languages in history... Now that Swift is open source, you can help make the best general purpose programming language available everywhere.”

It does admittedly remain to be seen just how open Apple is in its approach to open sourcing Swift - the official site stating that “small incremental improvements” are preferred. However, with Apple going further than many developers had expected in publishing code for the raw language compiler in addition to the Swift standard library and parts of Foundation, this is still a very momentous step taken by the men and women at Cupertino.

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APPLE APP DEVELOPMENT COULD BECOME EVEN MORE ATTRACTIVE

There has already been a positive response to Apple’s Swift announcement, with IBM, for example, unveiling its Swift Sandbox website

consisting of two columns - the left hand one housing a text editor for the entry of lines of code, and the right one showing the output when that code is run on a Linux server. It is a merely rudimentary - albeit cool - demo at the moment, but does nonetheless signal IBM’s interest in supporting Swift and its faith in the code’s open source potential.

That is a frightening proposition for longtime rivals like Google and Microsoft, given how comprehensively they already trail Apple in the app game - in terms of not just the sheer numbers and variety of apps that they can offer, but also the money that developers can make from them. One might imagine, for instance, that Android would be lording it over Apple in this department by now, given its greater market share than iOS as well as the much higher number of app downloads that Google’s Play Store can boast over the Apple App Store.

Despite this, the app store analytics firm App Annie actually disclosed in a report last April that far more revenue was generated by apps downloaded on iOS than those downloaded via the Play Store - iOS users also spending

about four times more on apps than their

Android counterparts. Furthermore, Apple’s strong progress in China - even among the first-time buyers who might have been expected to opt for Android - suggests that the long-term revenue gap between the two platforms could rise yet further rather than narrow.

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SCARY APP REVENUE STATISTICS FOR RIVALS

Such findings back up a similar August 2013 report on the Forbes site, in which contributor Tristan Louis analyzed known data and found that while Google enjoyed about 900 million users compared to the then 600 million that Apple could boast, the search giant was only

paying around $900 million to its developers,

completely dwarfed by the $5 billion handed

over by Apple.

More to the point, an average, an Android developer generated $0.01875 per download, well beaten by the equivalent $0.1 seen by Apple developers, and while Android developers saw average revenue per app of $1,125, that figure jumped to $4,000 for those developing for the Cupertino giant’s platforms. As for Microsoft, well, it was barely in the picture, only forking out around $100 million to its developers and giving them an average revenue per download of $0.1538, adding up to an average revenue per app of $625.

Louis did conclude back then that there was “some hope” for Apple’s rivals, suggesting that “While Apple has developed a rich market for developers, Google and Microsoft both have opportunities to improve.” He advised Google to focus its efforts on “helping developers monetize their apps so they can come more in line with what Apple can offer”, while “For Microsoft, the story is all about the number of users. If they were to manage their average revenue per app while growing their user base, they could potentially out-earn all the other platforms.”

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APPLE PRESSING HOME ITS ADVANTAGE

Nonetheless, there’s no question that in respect of app development and revenue for developers, pre-existing advantages can entrench themselves. Veteran mobile analyst and pundit Benedict Evans observed in 2014 that “if developers believe that Android users do not pay, then their behavior will be affected - they may offer a free ad-supported app instead of a paid app, or have a lower price. And if they

decide not to support Android or support it

second, then users will gravitate to iPhone

first, which becomes self-fulfilling.”

Apple clearly recognizes such an entrenched advantage and is obviously working as proactively as possible to keep itself ahead.

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These are, after all, heady and exciting times for Apple, the fourth generation of its Apple TV digital media player finally breaking cover in October along with the tvOS platform, which the Cupertino firm has hailed as “an innovative

TV platform that redefines what can be done

in the living room.”

The latest Apple TV has already been described as a product of great significance to Apple’s future, even if the eventual applications that will make it so haven’t become entirely clear yet. It would appear to have the potential, in the words of one observer, Jeff Benjamin of iDownloadBlog, “to be a great streaming

device... a wonderful music playing

machine... [and] an awesome gaming

console. It has the potential to really become your living room’s nucleus for entertainment.”

With tvOS even boasting its own in-built App Store, you can safely bet that the creation of all manner of weird, wonderful and downright pioneering apps will be absolutely central to the device’s eventual success. When you consider the potential of the new Apple TV across the full range of entertainment categories, and even suggestions that Apple could be forced to lower the 30% cut that it has long taken from app revenues, the ingredients seem right for an emerging ‘golden age’ of Apple app development.

It all adds up to an extremely exciting future for the technology titan that continues to go from strength to strength under CEO Tim Cook.


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If you’re shopping for a TV, get out a tape measure and do some quick calculations before you head to the store. And count the number of gadgets you’ll want to connect to your screen.

Buying a TV is no longer just choosing how big a screen you want.

Here are some big decisions you’ll face:

HD OR 4K?

There’s an emerging picture standard that offers four times the pixels of today’s high definition. It’s known as ultra-high definition, or 4K. But do you need it?

Measure the distance between your couch and the spot for your new TV. If you’re sitting far away, a regular HD set will be just fine - for $100 to $200 less.

The farther away you sit, the less the extra pixels matter, as your eyes won’t notice the difference. Conversely, the bigger the screen you have, the worse the resolution will be, and you’ll notice that more when you’re closer up.

TV BUYING GUIDE: GET OUT TAPE MEASURE BEFORE SHOPPING

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How good is good enough?

A rough rule of thumb: You should sit back a little more than 1.5 times the diagonal length of the screen for TVs with full HD, also known as 1080p. So if a screen is 48 inches, or 4 feet, that’s 6 feet back. For 4K, it’s one to one, or 4 feet for that same screen. If your couch is 7 feet back, having 4K isn’t worth it because you won’t be able to tell the difference anyway. But it might if your couch is 4 or 5 feet back.

The calculation isn’t that easy, but we’ve created this online tool to help you: http://interactives.ap.org/2015/tv-buying-guide/

Also consider how little 4K content there is. A few streaming services, including Netflix, Amazon and M-Go, offer some 4K content, and a standard for 4K Blu-ray discs is coming together this year. But 4K broadcasts are potentially years away. Buying a 4K TV now is mostly about being ready for the future.

You also have to consider whether you’ll be sitting so close to a big screen that you’ll have to move your head to look left or right. Jim Willcox, senior editor at Consumer Reports, says the ideal viewing width is about 30 to 40 degrees. Our online tool will warn you if you are too close and might want a smaller screen instead.

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HDMI PORTS

The more the merrier. TVs will have at least two, but I recommend three or four. If you pay for cable or satellite TV, you’ll need one for your set-top box, then one more for a streaming device or Blu-ray player. If you want to add a game console or sound bar, you see how quickly they can fill up.

Switches that let you connect multiple HDMI devices sell for $9 to $30, but that could mean another remote control to fiddle with, or getting up to press a button. Better to get extra ports with your TV.

SMART TV/WI-FI

Many TVs come with Wi-Fi connectivity and apps from major services like Netflix and Hulu. Using this for streaming will save you an HDMI port.

But stand-alone streaming devices have more features. If voice control is your thing, for instance, go for more ports to plug in your Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV or other device. Some TVs have voice control, but Apple’s Siri will be better at recognizing your voice because it gets fine-tuned through millions of interactions on smartphones.

If you plan to use a smart TV for streaming, consider the type of Wi-Fi it comes with. The best right now is 802.11ac, which can deliver several gigabits per second of data. You’ll want the best, especially for 4K video.

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REFRESH RATE

Manufacturers fudge how fast images are refreshed on screen with technologies called “AquoMotion” or “Motionflow” that show “effective” refresh rates. These help smooth out fast-action scenes that might otherwise look stuttered or blurry. It’s largely a matter of taste and personal sensitivity.

The minimum native refresh rate you’ll see these days is 60 frames per second, or 60Hz. The most is around 120 Hz.

Steve Kindig, senior editor at electronics retailer Crutchfield.com, says that even though 60 frames per second is the highest that will come from Blu-ray discs or video games, higher rates on a TV will still cut down on blur. Either the TV’s processor will interpolate frames between each actual frame, or the backlight will blink, reducing the stutter.

He says to play down effective refresh rates that are wildly higher than the native, though “it’s not totally bunk because they are doing something.”

Consumer Reports rates specific models with blur tests, but doesn’t generalize about brands or numbers.

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OTHER SCREEN FEATURES

Curved screens just look cool sitting on a stand, and some people say it cuts down on reflective glare, according to Kindig. They’re about $200 more than non-curved screens and mostly made by Samsung. But he says they don’t look good mounted on a wall.

Organic light-emitting diode screens are pricey, but will give you true blacks and better color representation because each pixel illuminates on its own. Regular, LCD screens require a backlight, which can wash out the colors a bit. If you’re willing to pay for OLED, you’ll likely get every other goodie thrown in besides 4K.

More expensive sets might also offer 3-D. “Active” glasses require batteries, which add to the weight and trouble of wearing them, but will offer better resolution. “Passive” glasses, like the ones you get in movie theaters, will suffice for those few times you want to settle in for a 3-D movie, likely on disc. Content is still limited.

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The Paris attacks have renewed debate on the U.S. government’s post-Sept. 11 domestic surveillance laws, leading to efforts to revive the issue on Capitol Hill and handing Marco Rubio an opening against Ted Cruz in the Republican presidential race.

The two senators were on opposite sides earlier this year when Congress eliminated the National Security Agency’s bulk phone-records collection program and replaced it with a more restrictive measure to keep the records in phone companies’ hands.

Rubio, R-Fla., sided with top Republican senators in trying unsuccessfully to extend the existing program, saying that national security required it. Cruz, R-Texas, allied himself with Democrats and the few other Republicans who said the program amounted to intrusive government overreach with no security benefit and voted to remake it.

AFTER PARIS, US POLITICAL SHIFT ON PRIVACY VS. SECURITY

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Now, with polls showing the public is growing more concerned with security after the Paris attacks this month that killed 130 people, Rubio is backing long-shot legislation aimed at keeping the intended changes from taking effect at month’s end, as scheduled. He also needling Cruz, who is responding just as adamantly, as the two, rising in the presidential polls, escalate their direct confrontations.

“This is not a personal attack. It’s a policy difference,” Rubio said recently in an interview in Des Moines, Iowa. He said Cruz had joined with Senate liberals and the ACLU “to undermine the intelligence programs of this country.”

“They do so under the guise of protecting our liberties,” Rubio said. “But in fact you can protect our liberties without undermining those programs.”

Cruz, in an interview, disputed Rubio’s criticism.

“I disagree with some Washington Republicans who think we should disregard and discard the constitutional protections of American citizens,” he said. “We can keep this nation safe without acquiescing to Big Brother having information about every aspect of our lives.”

The back-and-forth comes at a moment when Rubio and Cruz are nearing the top of the Republican field nationally and in key early voting states, though Donald Trump remains the front-runner. At the same time, a Washington Post poll conducted after the Paris attacks showed a jump in the percentage of voters favoring investigating terrorist threats over protecting personal privacy: 72 percent said the government should investigate threats even at the cost of personal privacy, and 25 percent said the government shouldn’t intrude on personal privacy, even if that limits its investigatory abilities.

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Speculation about how the suspects in the Paris attacks communicated is also raising calls for Congress to take new steps on surveillance and ensure government access to encrypted networks. It adds up to an atmosphere in which some of those on the losing end of the congressional debate this year now feel they have the upper hand.

“It’s just astonishing to me how those advocates of ridding us of any government involvement in our lives have now become strangely quiet,” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. “Of course they’ve been proven wrong.”

The Senate agreed to the USA Freedom Act this year only after GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who’s also running for president but lags in polls, used Senate rules to force the most controversial aspect to expire briefly, in a showdown with the Senate leaders.

The Freedom Act remade that element of the Patriot Act - the bulk collection program, exposed by Edward Snowden, that allows the NSA to sweep up Americans’ phone records and comb through them for ties to international terrorists. On Sunday, the NSA loses the power to collect and store those records. The government still could gain court orders to obtain data connected to specific numbers from the phone companies.

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Following the Paris attacks, GOP Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas introduced a bill to delay the start date for the new phone records program until 2017 or until the president can certify that the new NSA collection system is as effective as the current one.

Rubio and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., are among the co-sponsors of Cotton’s bill. Yet with Congress on recess, it won’t get floor time ahead of the deadline, and Congress has few legislative days left this year. Aides say Cotton will keep focused on the issue next year.

Some lawmakers and advocates who strongly opposed the expiring Patriot Act provisions as an unwarranted government intrusion now accuse senators on Rubio’s side of trying to capitalize on the Paris tragedy to reopen the debate.

“Within six weeks of 9/11 they passed the Patriot Act,” said Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. “And it’s only natural they would try to do the same thing this time.”

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WHY GOVERNMENT AND TECH CAN’T AGREE ABOUT ENCRYPTION

Your phone is getting better and better at protecting your privacy. But Uncle Sam isn’t totally comfortable with that, because it’s also complicating the work of tracking criminals and potential national-security threats.

For decades, tech companies have steadily expanded the use of encryption - a data-scrambling technology that shields information from prying eyes, whether it’s sent over the Internet or stored on phones and computers. For almost as long, police and intelligence agencies have sought to poke holes in the security technology, which can thwart investigators even when they have a legal warrant for, say, possibly incriminating text messages stored on a phone.

The authorities haven’t fared well; strong encryption now keeps strangers out of everything from your iMessages to app data stored on the latest Android phones. But in the wake of the Paris attacks, U.S. officials are again pushing for limits on encryption, even though there’s still no evidence the extremists used it to safeguard their communications.

While various experts are exploring ways of resolving the impasse, none are making much headway. For now, the status quo favors civil libertarians and the tech industry, although that could change quickly - for instance, should another attack lead to mass U.S. casualties. Such a scenario could stampede Congress into passing hasty and potentially counterproductive restrictions on encryption.

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“There are completely reasonable concerns on both sides,” said Yeshiva University law professor Deborah Pearlstein. The aftermath of an attack, however, “is the least practical time to have a rational discussion about these issues.”

Encryption plays a little heralded, yet crucial role in the modern economy and daily life. It protects everything from corporate secrets to the credit-card numbers of online shoppers to the communications of democracy advocates fighting totalitarian regimes.

At the same time, recent decisions by Apple and Google to encrypt smartphone data by default have rankled law enforcement officials, who complain of growing difficulty in getting access to the data they feel they need to build criminal cases and prevent attacks. For months, the Obama administration - which has steered away from legislative restrictions on encryption - has been in talks with technology companies to brainstorm ways of giving investigators legal access to encrypted information.

But technology experts and their allies say there’s no way to grant law enforcement such access without making everyone more vulnerable to cybercriminals and identity thieves. “It would put American bank accounts and their health records, and their phones, at a huge risk to hackers and foreign criminals and spies, while at the same time doing little or nothing to stop terrorists,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in an interview Monday.

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Lawmakers on the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence remain on what they call an “exploratory” search for options that might expand access for law enforcement, although they’re not necessarily looking at new legislation.

The FBI and police have other options even if they can’t read encrypted files and messages. So-called metadata - basically, a record of everyone an individual contacts via phone, email or text message - isn’t encrypted, and service providers can make it available when served with subpoenas. Data stored on remote computers in the cloud - for instance, on Apple’s iCloud service or Google’s Drive - is also often available to investigators with search warrants. (Apple and Google encrypt that data, but also hold the keys.)

Some security experts suggest that should be enough. Michael Moore, chief technology officer and co-founder of the Baltimore, Maryland-based data security firm Terbium Labs, noted that police have managed to take down online criminals even without bypassing encryption. He pointed to the 2013 take down of Silk Road, a massive online drug bazaar that operated on the “dark Web,” essentially the underworld of the Internet.

“The way they figured that out was through good old-fashioned police work, not by breaking cryptography,” Moore said. “I don’t think there’s a shortcut to good police work in that regard.”

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Others argue that the very notion of “compromise” makes no sense where encryption is concerned. “Encryption fundamentally is about math,” said Mike McNerney, a fellow on the Truman National Security Project and a former cyber policy adviser to the Secretary of Defense. “How do you compromise on math?” He called the idea of backdoors “silly.”

Some in law enforcement have compromise ideas of their own. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office, for instance, recently called for a federal law that would require smartphone companies to sell phones they could unlock for government searches - in essence, forcing them to hold the keys to user data.

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In a report on the subject, the office called its suggestion a “limited proposal” that would only apply to data stored on smartphones and restrict searches to devices that authorities had already seized. Privacy advocates and tech companies aren’t sold, saying it would weaken security for phones that are already too vulnerable to attack.

Marcus Thomas, the chief technology officer at Subsentio and former assistant director of the FBI’s operational technology division, argued that it’s too late to turn back the clock on strong encryption, putting law enforcement in a “race against time” to obtain investigatory data whenever and wherever it can. But he urged security experts to find ways to help out investigators as they design next-generation encryption systems.

The idea of allowing law enforcement secure access to encrypted information doesn’t faze Nate Cardozo, a staff attorney for the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation - provided a warrant is involved. Unfortunately, he says, cryptographers agree that the prospect is a “pure fantasy.”

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If you’ve bought a new iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch within the last year, you have likely learned about Apple Pay. In fact, you have probably even used it; this mobile payment system is, after all, very easy to get started with, a security code the only extra that is necessary

to set up an iTunes-registered payment card

with the service. But what exactly is Apple Pay? How wide has been its rate of adoption? And could it turn out to be yet another rich source of revenue for the company that made it?

AN APPLE PAY KEEPS MONEY HEADACHES AWAY

Imagine if, every time you bought some food, clothes or other items at a bricks and mortar retail outlet, instead of having to fumble around for loose change in your pocket or spend time entering in a number code to use your payment card, you instead simply paid by holding up, and then pressing or tapping, your mobile Apple device. That’s the general gist of Apple Pay, which is intended to streamline routine payment procedures through extending an Apple ecosystem you are already part of.

There is, however, more to Apple Pay than this. You can, for example, also speed up online shopping payments through using the service - wherever this option has been integrated by developers - within e-commerce apps. And the service is compatible with a large variety of recently-launched iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch models. There also remains, however, huge untapped potential for Apple Pay - and, therefore, for its impact on Apple’s financial results.

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HOW APPLE PAY IS ENHANCING THE ATTRACTION OF APPLE’S ECOSYSTEM

Though still very much in its infancy, especially given that the United States and the United Kingdom remain the only countries in which it can be widely used, there are promising signs that many people who have familiarized themselves with Apple Pay are making their use of the service a habit. In October, a survey by the banking consultancy Mercator Advisory Group revealed that 80% of US-based Apple

Pay customers were using the service at least

once weekly for making purchases.

This should certainly be heartening for Apple, as it lends further credibility to the notion that Apple Pay could soon form a major part of the company’s ecosystem. Business Insider’s Dave Smith has opined that “Apple’s most

important services are the ones that keep

you in its ecosystem, and Apple Pay might

be the ultimate example of that concept.”

He pointed out that Londoners’ reliance on the service for easing commuting, for example, should encourage their loyalty to Apple while boosting the appeal of Apple devices even to people who have never previously used any.

APPLE PAY COULD ALSO BRING GOOD FINANCIAL RETURN FOR APPLE

Nonetheless, it remains unclear exactly when Apple Pay will start making a noticeable difference to Apple’s bottom line. At the corporation’s most recent earnings call in late October, CEO Tim Cook revealed that Apple

Pay transactions had seen monthly double-

digit growth - but precise figures for revenue

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Image: Bryan Derballa

from the service were not broken out, instead being obscured in a broad services category also accounting for revenue from Internet Services and AppleCare.

It does seem likely that Apple Pay’s adoption will be largely driven by that of mobile payments technology as a whole. Apple Pay Vice President Jennifer Bailey even seemed to acknowledge this when expressing her company’s belief that “the UK can be our

leading market for Apple Pay, given the

unique characteristics (of the market)”, where contactless payment technology was already widespread. By contrast, that Apple Pay in Canada and Australia is currently limited to American Express customers suggests much more limited revenue from the service in those countries for now.

CHINA: A “SLEEPING LION” FOR APPLE, TOO

Following the launches in the US last year, the UK in July and Canada and Australia in November, China appears to be the next country in line for Apple Pay. The Wall Street Journal has reported, citing sources familiar with Apple’s plans, that the company is on

course to launch the service in the world’s

most populous country - and, especially vitally, Apple’s second largest market - by February, having clinched deals with the country’s four major state-owned banks.

Apple will undoubtedly have tough competition in China, not least from Alibaba, the current kingpin of the East Asian country’s mobile payments market. But Alibaba also has

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reason to fear Apple; the Cupertino company topped China’s smartphone market in

September with the launch of the iPhone

6S and iPhone 6S Plus, according to statistics sourced by Counterpoint Research. That company’s Research Director, Tom Kang, has observed that Apple “is becoming an embedded brand in China, standing for luxury and high quality”; this hints at a considerable untapped market for Apple Pay.

PAYPAL: AN ALLY OR RIVAL OF APPLE?

Apple Pay also looks likely to be expanded in not just its international availability, but also its features. Particular attention has been drawn to another report from The Wall Street Journal that Apple is moving ahead with a

person-to-person mobile payments service, which could see Apple Pay used to send cash between friends and family. It could be the next step in furthering a whole new era in digital money - and, in doing this, Apple could have a surprising ally...

Despite suggestions that a person-to-person service from Apple would rival PayPal’s similarly-purposed Venmo, PayPal also seems set to, as TechRadar observes, smooth the

widening of Apple Pay take up among

many businesses with its release of the second version of PayPal Here. This is a card reader capable of vesting small and seasonal businesses with NFC support for contactless payments. The reader’s affordable, thanks to the absence of monthly fees, and vitally includes support for Apple Pay.

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SO, GENUINELY HOW SECURE IS APPLE PAY?

Upon the initial announcement of Apple Pay back in September 2014, Eddy Cue, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, declared security to be “at the

core of Apple Pay”, pointing out that neither cashiers nor Apple would have access to such sensitive details as credit card numbers or security codes when purchases are made with Apple Pay. He added that, even if an iPhone with Apple Pay setted up is lost, payments from that device could be speedily suspended through Find My iPhone.

Apple’s claims of stringent security are bold, but do seem to stand up to scrutiny. The UK website Macworld observes that Apple encrypts the entire process of adding new cards to Apple Pay, while authenticating payments through an iOS device’s Touch ID fingerprint sensor is secure as there is only about a one-in-64,000,000

chance of meeting someone else with an

identical fingerprint. And that’s before consideration is put to the chances of that person getting hold of the other’s iOS device.

SPEED AND EASE OF USE ARE FURTHER PLUS POINTS

Apple Pay is wonderfully fast to use, too; an iPhone doesn’t even have to be woken before it can be scanned by an NFC terminal for payment. However, there’s still the necessity of removing the phone from a pocket to make a purchase, which doesn’t apply when using the same service on the Apple Watch. In August, the research firm Wristly found that 79% of over

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1,000 surveyed Apple Watch users in the

US and UK favored using Apple Pay on the

wearable rather than on an iPhone.

Incidentally, our own boss, AppleMagazine CEO Ivan Castilho, concurs with these sentiments, having been amazed by the fast and easy experience of making payments through Apple Pay on the Apple Watch. He has since adopted it as his primary method of payment in a range of scenarios - and, as many more people pick up new iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch models, the incentives for them to also start using Apple Pay regularly should continue stacking up.


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APPLE MAPS, ONCE A AUGHINGSTOCK, NOW DOMINATES iPHONES

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Apple Maps quickly became the butt of jokes when it debuted in 2012. It overlooked many towns and businesses and misplaced famous landmarks. It marked New York’s Madison Square Garden arena as park space because of the word “Garden.” The service was a rare blunder for a company known for simple, easy-to-use products.

It’s a different story three years later.

Apple fixed errors as users submitted them. It quietly bought several mapping companies, mostly for their engineers and other talent. This fall, it added transit directions for several major cities, narrowing a major gap with Google. Apple Maps is now used more widely than Google Maps on iPhones.

“They really did a great job in a short amount of time,” said Alex Mackenzie-Torres, a former Google Maps manager who’s now with competing transit app Moovit. “Apple has something that few companies have - simplicity in design mixed with high doses of pragmatism and practicality.”

Apple’s significant investment in fixing Maps underscores how important maps and related services are to tech companies. Location is key to helping phone users find restaurants and shops, discover things to do and just get around. It’s also big business, as app makers tap into the core mapping functions of phones to direct people in helpful ways and sometimes offer them bargains based on where they’re standing.

The quick turnaround also demonstrates how easily companies like Apple can steer people to their own services. Google Maps and various third-party apps offer many features that Apple

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Maps lacks, yet Apple cleverly turned user inertia to its advantage. Many people use Apple Maps just because it comes with the phone. Even if you’ve taken the trouble to download a competing app, other iPhone services such as Siri and Mail will invariably take you to Apple Maps.

Without the ability to steer users this way, Apple “would not be in the position they are in,” IDC analyst John Jackson said. “Not that they aren’t improving the experience, but this helps the cause.”

Apple says its mapping service is now used more than three times as often as its next leading competitor on iPhones and iPads, with more than 5 billion map-related requests each week. Research firm comScore says Apple has a modest lead over Google on iPhones in the U.S., though comScore measures how many people use a service in a given month rather than how often.

Google still dominates among all U.S. smartphones, though, in part because Apple Maps isn’t available on Google’s Android system, which is more prevalent than iPhones. In October, Google Maps had more than twice as many smartphone users as Apple Maps. Much like Apple, Google benefits as the default on Android.

For years, Google provided the default mapping service on iPhones. That changed as more people relied on turn-by-turn voice navigation with automatic rerouting, a feature Google offered only on Android. Apple built its own service from scratch and knocked Google Maps off the iPhone’s home screen.

Google’s initial forays into voice navigation in 2009 had problems, too, including directing

Image: Martin Grossman446

Image: Gary He

motorists to left turns at no-turn intersections. But by 2012, Google Maps had improved significantly. By then, more people knew how a mapping service ought to work - and Apple’s new offering fell short.

“I heard so many different horror stories that I was almost hesitant to try it,” said Rick Ostopowicz, an iPhone owner in Catonsville, Maryland. “I remember once, it was taking me on a road that no longer existed.”

CEO Tim Cook apologized and promised that Apple would “keep working non-stop” to deliver the best experience possible. Without much fanfare, the service gradually improved.

“We are fast learners and we are fast at fixing things,” said Greg “Joz” Joswiak, an Apple vice president who oversees product marketing for iPhones and related services. “We learned the maps business incredibly fast.”

Apple now gets data from more than 3,000 sources for business listings, traffic and other information. In adding transit, Apple sent teams to map out subway entrances and signs. That results in more precise walking directions, as stations can stretch for blocks and the center point used by some services isn’t necessarily the closest. Apple also started sending out vehicles with sensors to map roads, similar to Google’s longstanding practice.

By making Maps a core iPhone feature, Apple made it easier for outside developers to include mapping features in their apps. When you go to Yelp, you can find directions to a business with one tap. When you go to the Starbucks app, you can see all the nearby stores.

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On the flip side, the iPhone’s Siri voice assistant leads direction requests straight to Apple Maps, as does tapping on an address in Mail and other apps. With that integration, users like Ostopowicz no longer hesitate. The default behavior isn’t just a competitive advantage for Apple; it’s a convenience for many users.

But default settings mean nothing if the experience isn’t good - as it most definitely wasn’t three years ago. Kristi Denton, an iPhone user in Austin, Texas, said that after getting bad directions with Apple Maps long ago, she has gone as far as to copy addresses and paste them into Google to avoid the default Apple service.

Lots of users, though, have returned. And many new iPhone users never experienced Maps at its worst.

Google Maps, of course, has also been improving. Last month, Google started letting motorists store mapping data on their phones so they can look up businesses and directions even when cellular service is spotty. It’s available on Android now and coming to iPhones soon.

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Google also has mapped such indoor venues as shopping malls and faraway lands as the Galapagos Islands. Google has better search tools for landmarks and business listings and offers transit maps for more regions than Apple. Google also provides biking directions and options to exclude highways and toll roads from driving directions.

Third-party apps, meanwhile, have their own innovations. Waze - now owned by Google - is a popular app for motorists to share traffic information and avoid jams. Moovit is better than both Google and Apple at factoring in temporary service changes in mass transit, while Citymapper offers suggestions on whether to board the front, middle or back of a train.

Apple says it’s not done improving Maps.

But ultimately, Apple Maps doesn’t need to be the best. It just needs to be good enough that its users won’t look for something else.

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Federal transportation officials are rethinking their position on self-driving cars with an eye toward getting the emerging technology into the public’s hands.

Just two years ago, the U.S. Department of Transportation struck a cautious tone. Its official policy statement, published in May 2013, says cars should be limited to testing and not “authorized for use by members of the public for general driving purposes.”

With the technology’s rapid development, federal policy will be updated, agency spokeswoman Suzanne Emmerling said in a written statement.

FEDS REVISING WARY STANCE ON SELF-DRIVING CARS

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Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has ordered his department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to revise the policy “to reflect today’s technology and his sense of urgency to bring innovation to our roads that will make them safer,” Emmerling wrote late Monday.

It’s unclear what the new policy will be, but the tone of the statement signaled that Foxx is interested in endorsing the technology.

For several years, Google and a handful of automakers including Tesla Motors, Nissan and Honda have been testing prototypes equipped with a suite of sensors and cameras on public streets and highways, mostly in California.

Those cars must have someone behind the wheel, ready to take over. Some have gotten into collisions, though in each case the companies say a person in another car caused the accident.

Google has advocated getting self-driving cars into the public domain as quickly as possible once the tech titan concludes the technology is safe.

While states have taken the lead on regulating self-driving cars, policymakers in Washington hold indirect sway over states’ decision-making. California’s Department of Motor Vehicles in particular has sought federal guidance as it struggles with how to move the cars safely from small-scale road tests to broader adoption.

Language that the federal government is revisiting specifies that in states where the public can get access to the cars, a licensed driver should be behind the wheel.

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Image: Gary He

Google sees that as unnecessary. It has argued that once cars can drive as safely as humans, it would be better to remove the steering wheel and pedals so that people don’t mess up the ride.

A Google spokesman had no comment on word of the federal review.

The California State Transportation Agency has interpreted the 2013 federal guidance as urging caution. The federal update “reaffirms that the topic is evolving and one worthy of continued discussion and public input,” spokeswoman Melissa Figueroa said.

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She said the Department of Motor Vehicles is working to publish draft regulations by year’s end.

The draft was due last Jan. 1, but concerns such as proving that the technology is safe have held up those rules.

The nonprofit group Consumer Watchdog has been advocating restraint.

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“We commend the DMV for its thoughtful and thorough approach, and urge that you continue to act in the public’s interest, rather than succumbing to corporate pressure,” John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog wrote last week in a letter to the Department of Motor Vehicles. “The important thing is getting the regulations right, not rushing them out the door.”

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Micha Benoliel grew up in France and launched his first technology startup there, but he never forgot the atmosphere of adventure and optimism in San Francisco, where he studied in the early 1990s.

So when he came up with an idea for a smartphone app that could send messages without Internet or cellular connections, he went back to California in 2011 to pursue his dream.

“I knew the only way to change the world was from here,” says Benoliel, the CEO of Open Garden, the maker of the FireChat messaging app.

WHY EUROPE ISN’T CREATING ANY GOOGLES OR FACEBOOKS

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As technology upends industries and lifestyles at breakneck pace, the Old Continent is not producing any of the online giants like Google, eBay or Facebook. Its best and brightest prefer to emigrate to Silicon Valley, or sell their ideas on to U.S. firms before they have a chance to establish themselves.

The European Union’s top executives in Brussels are trying to rectify that with a long-term plan of reforms and incentives but face an uphill battle. The 28-nation bloc is, above all, lacking in the risk-taking culture and financial networks needed to grow Internet startups into globally dominant companies.

“In the U.S., especially in Silicon Valley, they are up for any crazy idea,” said Benoliel, 43. “Successful businesses often come from crazy ideas.”

Europe’s relatively cautious attitude to investment stands out as one of the biggest hurdles - and among the most difficult to change.

Investors in Europe want to see that a young company can generate revenue from the start. Europe’s many high-technology companies are focused on manufactured goods that can be sold right away to generate revenue - industrial equipment, energy turbines, high-speed trains, medical devices, and nuclear energy.

By contrast, Internet companies often have little to no revenue at the beginning. Twitter and Facebook, for example, first focused on building up their user numbers. Only once they were established as global forces did they put more attention to making money, through advertising and other strategies.

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This difference in mentality stands out as one of the key reasons that Europe has fewer venture capital firms and less investment in startups than the U.S. or Asia.

Over the past five years, U.S. venture capitalists spent $167 billion on new business ideas compared with some $20 billion by their European counterparts, according to the National Venture Capital Association.

Last year alone, U.S. investment in startup companies was $50 billion, with nearly half of that amount in Silicon Valley. The European equivalent paled at $4 billion.

Asia, which has seen the rise of Internet retailer Alibaba in recent years, also outshone Europe, with venture capital totaling $22.5 billion in 2014, according to Preqin, a data analysis company. That figure is set to surge further this year, with $23 billion invested already by the end of August.

Early investment is crucial for startups to be able to get their products to market quickly. With technology, several competitors often work on the same idea and race to get out their product first and make it stand out.

“These are very fast-moving, winner-take-all industries, so if you are slow on the uptake then you will be done from the beginning,” said Anand Sanwal, CEO of CB Insights, a New York research firm that tracks Internet startups.

Part of Europe’s struggle to compete in online technology is not specific to itself, but a reflection of how Silicon Valley has been able to create a community of tech specialists and venture capitalists who can

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meet easily, exchange ideas and strike up new collaborations.

“It’s really a venture capital oligopoly where a few people who have tons of cash agree among themselves to invest in something and that can’t be done in places where investors don’t meet in the same way,” said Anssi Vanjoki, a professor at Finland’s Lappeenranta University of Technology who was chief of mobile phones at Nokia when the company was the world’s top handset maker.

It takes time to foster such communities. Even within the U.S., other cities and regions have tried and failed to replicate Silicon Valley’s success, with the exception perhaps of Seattle, Washington, where Amazon and Microsoft are based.

Europe’s startup culture has been further hindered by the fact that in many EU countries it often takes more paperwork, time and money to do business than in the U.S. For example, the stronger social safety nets make it harder to fire a worker, which in turn makes it a riskier proposition to expand staff for a startup.

The markets of Europe also remain fragmented. Expanding operations across the continent is made more difficult because business laws and languages are different from one country to the next. By contrast, starting off in the U.S. gives a company a single English-speaking market of 320 million people within which to grow.

Some European companies have made the extra push and reached global proportions, though none has hit the rarefied levels of Google and Facebook.

Local success stories include online calling service Skype, which started as a Swedish-

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Estonian venture, and the Swedish commercial music streaming service Spotify, which has over 60 million users worldwide. Two years after Skype started, it was sold to eBay for $2.6 billion and eventually Microsoft acquired it in 2011 for $8.5 billion.

Meanwhile, the Finnish are cornering the market for mobile gaming. After Nokia’s cellphone demise, a startup culture flourished in Finland, helping to create a booming mobile game industry with companies like Rovio and Supercell, which created the hugely popular Angry Birds and Clash of Clans games.

In 2013, Supercell sold a 51 percent stake to Japan’s SoftBank and GungHo for 1.5 billion euros.

Niklas Zennstrom, the Swedish co-founder of Skype and now CEO of Atomico, a technology investment firm based in London, says things are improving. “Since I started Skype in 2002, the market has changed tremendously for the better,” he said recently at a European venture capital conference in Geneva.

The EU’s executive Commission in Brussels has a long-term plan to speed things up and help European startups become the next big Internet company.

It aims on the one hand to make a more unified EU market by reducing red tape and differences in business laws. On the other, it is taking a tougher stance on dominant Internet companies, particularly Google, to foster competition.

Experts say that while the policies might help, they are unlikely to be enough in themselves.

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“Legislation will always create a context for growth, whether that’s through taxation or incentives, but the real value comes from connections between people and a focus and real desire on solving real human problems,” says Duncan Lamb, who was a software designer at Nokia and is now the new design director at TransferWise.com, a financial services online company based in London and Tallinn, Estonia.

“It’s 100 percent about people.”

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So many people have gone so long without buying a new personal computer that the industry’s biggest players are trying something different a quirky advertising campaign. The $70 million marketing push aims to highlight how much better PCs have gotten since smartphones and tablets came along.

Rival PC makers Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Lenovo are joining forces with Microsoft and Intel to revive languishing PC sales with ads that don’t promote specific brands. They’ll be punctuated with the slogan, PC does what

It’s a concept similar to earlier campaigns by beef and dairy producers that sought to extol the virtues of their products.

BACK OFF, TABLETS PC COMPANIES PLAN A $70M AD CAMPAIGN

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The PC campaign will tout the increased versatility of laptops that have slimmed down while adding more powerful chips, longer-lasting batteries and higher resolution screens that also respond to touch commands. Many of the screens also detach from keyboards so they can function as tablets, too. Most new PCs are now powered by Windows 10, which Microsoft bills as its best operating system yet.

With this perfect storm of innovation, we felt it was the time to tell our story, said Steve Fund, Intel’s chief marketing officer. People think having something good is good enough because they are unaware of how much better the PCs are now.

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The campaign, scheduled to begin Monday in the U.S. and China, will include TV commercials on major networks and online ads. The participating companies will split the $70 million cost of the campaign, which will run through November in an effort to entice holiday shoppers.

The ads are primarily targeting consumers who haven’t bought a new PC in at least four years - a potential audience of about 400 million people, estimated technology industry analyst Patrick Moorhead.

The PC push comes amid a 3 12-year decline in sales that has been driven by a shift to smartphones and tablets able to handle many of the tasks that previously required desktop and laptop computers.

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Even the late July release of Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system couldn’t reverse the slide. Worldwide shipments of PCs fell by 8 percent from the previous year during the three-month period ending in September, according to the research group Gartner. Lenovo, HP and Dell were the top three PC makers in the quarter.

But the pendulum may be poised to swing in the other direction.

About half the consumers polled in Gartner’s personal technology survey said they plan to buy a new PC during the next year, compared to just 21 percent who said they have a tablet on their shopping list.

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In an effort to reverse a recent decline in iPad sales, Apple introduced a larger version of its trendsetting tablet that’s designed to behave much like a laptop. The iPad Pro will sell for $800 and an accompanying keyboard will cost an additional $169.

Consumers who have owned the same PC for several years can now buy a vastly improved model for $500 to $700, Moorhead said, making it more likely the marketing campaign will win converts.

I think the PC might have its best hand in the past five to seven years, Moorhead said.

Online: http://pcdoeswhat.com

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The success of Microsoft’s fall lineup of devices will ride on the company’s ability to convince people who got free Windows 10 software upgrades this summer to spring for new devices - specifically, Windows devices.

Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday unveiled a new laptop, a tablet, three phones and a fitness tracker meant to keep people tied to its array of online services. Many of the products have impressive hardware features, but they face heavy competition from Apple and Android products.

With the new lineup, Microsoft appears to be targeting professionals, people more likely to have Windows already in their office computers. The Redmond, Washington, company is hoping to build on a successful summer launch of Windows 10, which Microsoft says is now in more than 110 million devices.

COMPETITION FOR MICROSOFT LINEUP, WHICH TARGETS HIGH END

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It’s not about the mass market. It’s about the high end of the market, said Carolina Milanesi, who heads U.S. operations for the Kantar Worldpanel ComTech research group.

In closing a nearly two-hour event in New York, CEO Satya Nadella said the latest devices are part of Microsoft’s vision to move people from needing Windows to choosing Windows to loving Windows.

Microsoft for the first time appears capable of achieving that, Milanesi said.

The surprise announcement was a new Surface Book laptop, which comes after Microsoft has been touting its Surface tablets as replacements for laptops. Microsoft says the Surface Book is for scientists, engineers and gamers who need more performance than a tablet. The screen is detachable and becomes a tablet with a clipboard feel while on the go. But unlike Surface tablets with keyboard covers attached magnetically, the Surface Book’s keyboard is core to the device.

The 13.5-inch laptop starts at $1,499, compared with $899 for the new, 12.3-inch Surface Pro 4 tablet. The Pro 4’s keyboard cover costs an extra $130. Both Surface devices will come out Oct. 26.

Although the new devices are more expensive than Apple’s entry-level MacBook Air laptop and iPad tablet, Microsoft is targeting those who need more horsepower. Apple Inc. is starting to go after those customers, too, with its upcoming iPad Pro, which starts at $799, plus $169 for a physical keyboard. Apple already has a MacBook Pro laptop line, starting at $1,299, for power users.

Surface sales have picked up after a rocky start.

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Image: Gary He

Just two years ago, Microsoft wrote down $900 million for losses related to its first-generation Surface RT tablet. In the most recent quarter, revenue from tablets and accessories more than doubled from a year ago to $888 million. Although the Surface still represents a small part of Microsoft’s overall business, it provides a window into the company’s various ad-supported services, including search and maps.

Microsoft also sought to use Tuesday’s event to revive its struggling phone business. Over the summer, the company wrote down $8.4 billion for the value of Nokia’s v business, which it bought just a year earlier. It also announced 7,800 job cuts in the phone business. The new Lumia 950 and 950 XL are the first high-end Windows phones from Microsoft since February 2014, which was around the time Nadella became CEO and before Microsoft completed its purchase of Nokia.

Microsoft’s Windows operating system has a tiny market share compared with Google Inc.’s Android and Apple’s iOS for iPhones. That means developers tend to focus on making their apps for Android and iPhones first and might not get to Windows at all.

Instead of a me, too phone system, Microsoft is touting compatibility with Windows desktops, laptops and tablets. With an optional dock, you can attach a regular monitor, keyboard and mouse and work with apps on the phone just like you would on a Windows 10 desktop. That means you can leave your tablet or laptop at work and have a full desktop experience at home with just the phone. Microsoft is hoping to lure those who use Windows desktops and laptops regularly.

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Similar to the Surface, the new phones are aimed at power users who need the flexibility to perform tasks on larger screens, along with compatibility with Windows apps they might use at work.

The new phones start at $549 and will be available in November. Microsoft hasn’t announced the dock’s price. Microsoft also introduced a budget model, the Lumia 550, for $139. These prices do not require two-year service contracts.

Microsoft has done a great job to at least get Microsoft into the conversation among consumers, (but) this is going to be a long road for Nadella as Microsoft plays major catch-up, said Daniel H. Ives, an analyst at FBR.

The new Microsoft Band fitness tracker, meanwhile, will now track elevation and work with the company’s Cortana virtual assistant. It will be available for $249 starting Oct. 30.

Microsoft also teased Xbox One games and console bundles and demonstrated its upcoming HoloLens virtual-reality device by showing a mixed reality game that combines animation with real-world objects. Attacking robots know how to break through walls and go around furniture. Developers will be able to buy a prototype early next year for $3,000.

The HoloLens represents an opportunity to get a head start in a nascent market. Rival systems are just starting to come out.

The HoloLens represents a change from the status quo as Nadella goes after this land grab, multi-billion dollar market opportunity, Ives said.

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The company behind the hugely successful “Call of Duty” has struck a $5.9 billion deal to buy the makers of the highly addictive “Candy Crush” and take advantage of the way video games are moving out of living rooms and onto smartphones and tablets.

Activision Blizzard’s purchase of King Digital Entertainment, announced Tuesday, will create one of the world’s biggest entertainment networks, with more than a half-billion monthly active users in 196 countries, by Activision’s count.

The move is expected to help Activision get its home-console games onto players’ mobile devices, a market with seemingly huge potential.

‘CALL OF DUTY’ CREATORS BUY

‘CANDY CRUSH’ MAKER FOR $5.9B

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The company said it expects mobile gaming to generate more than $36 billion in revenue by the end of 2015 and grow more than 50 percent by 2019.

The deal is also bound to help Activision attract more women as customers.

Activision’s fortunes tend to hinge on its latest “Call of Duty” game. Launched in 2003, the violent, first-person shooter games generated $11 billion in sales through the end of the 2014 fiscal year. Activision also makes the “World of Warcraft” and “Skylanders” games.

While those kinds of games don’t traditionally appeal to women, Activision CEO Robert Kotick told CNBC on Tuesday that about 60 percent of King’s audience is female.

“Attracting women to gaming is a really important part of our strategy,” he said.

“Candy Crush” has proved one of the most addictive mobile games, so much so that a British lawmaker was admonished after being caught playing it during a parliamentary hearing.

But it is declining in popularity, and King has struggled to follow up on its success. The company’s revenue fell 18 percent to $490 million in the second quarter.

Jefferies analysts Brian Pitz and Brian Fitzgerald said replicating the success of Candy Crush is a daunting task.

“We expect a heavy dose of skepticism from investors especially given the large deal size,” the analysts said in a research note.

The acquisition isn’t without risk, for while mobile games have proved popular with

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everyone from toddlers to senior citizens, they are also tough to make money off of, as companies such as King and its rival Zynga Inc. have found.

While Activision stock has tripled over the past three years, its revenue has fallen from $3.6 billion in fiscal 2012 to $2.8 billion in 2014. King’s stock hasn’t made much headway since the company went public in March 2014.

Activision, based in Santa Monica, California, will pay $18 in cash for each King share, 20 percent over its Friday closing price.

The boards of both companies have approved the deal, but King shareholders must still vote on it and regulators in Ireland, where King is based, must also sign off.

King stock climbed 14 percent, or $2.19, to $17.73 Tuesday morning after the deal was announced. Activision rose 32 cents to $34.89.

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