Hasta La Gadget!

Apple is known for keeping a tight grip on various aspects of the user experience provided by its devices. For example, there are certain boundaries that developers aren’t allowed to cross, they can’t develop custom keyboards for iOS devices, but on Android its open season. The company has strict guidelines that must be adhered to if an app is to be listed on the App Store or any other type of content hosted on iTunes. What is doesn’t control is how that content is delivered to end users, and it might be working to change that. An analyst claims that new Apple CDN is being developed, which the company itself will control.

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Apple CDN Reportedly Being Developed original content from Ubergizmo.

According to a New York Times article, Apple could very well come out with alternative energy sources for their smart watch (aka iWatch) in the form of solar energy or kinetic (motion) energy. It is just about certain that Apple worries about two main issues with smart watches: battery life and bulky designs. The good news is that design constraints will get better over time as long as smart watches remain a companion device instead of a full-blown computer in a speed arms race. (more…)

Apple iWatch Using Solar And Kinetic Charging? original content from Ubergizmo.

In a bit of an unforeseen appearance in the United Arab Emirates, Tim Cook proved this weekend that Apple’s expansion plans at the moment include more than just greater China. … Continue reading

Apple didn’t do a Super Bowl ad, as some had suggested it might, but today it debuted a video designed to capture the spotlight all its own. The spot, which is a little over a minute long, is shot entirely on iPhone devices during one 24 hour period, by 15 camera crews. It was then edited on Macs back in LA, paring down over 70 hours of video into the final spot you see above.

The point? To demonstrate that you can do in one day using Apple’s iPhone devices what it once took months and millions of dollars’ worth of equipment to create. It also captures tons of people doing lots of creative things with Apple products, including building fully articulate robotic prosthetics controlled by an iPod touch, to a symphonic performance analyzed and monitored using an iMac.

The spot was edited by Angus Wall, a Hollywood editor who worked on Fight Club, Zodiac, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Social Network to name a few, and longtime Apple ad man Lee Clow served as creative director. Clow, who was behind the famous ’1984′ Super Bowl ad spot that borrowed themes from the dystopian sci-fi novel of the same name, tweeted this during last night’s game:

Ok so it wasn't a great Super Bowl. Tomorrow's another day.—
Lee Clow (@_clow) February 03, 2014

Apple may not have had a Super Bowl ad this year, but this post-game spot is arguably better, and definitely more in line with the company’s vision of itself as apart from the crowd.

Apple’s work on an upcoming smartwatch includes explorations of induction charging and solar-powered batteries, according to a new report from the New York Times. As part of a larger piece about battery tech in general, the NYT revealed that Apple has been working on tests involving wireless induction charging for the smartwatch, and methods for incorporating solar panels into the display to draw power from the sun, and potentially ambient light.

Both of these are noted as technology in the testing phase for a wrist-mounted Apple wearable, which means they’re not necessarily very far along and likely not on tap for an Apple iWatch should it arrive sometime within the next year. The solar charging in particular, for example, is said to be years away from making its way into shipping product, according to the NYT’s source.

It does address a major pain point with current wearable tech, however, which might inform a hypothesis of what Apple is focusing on with any wrist-based smart device it is working on. We’ve heard from 9to5Mac that the iWatch will have a health and fitness focus, working with a new app that will come pre-installed on iOS 8 called “Healthbook.” Hardware details remain thin, but Apple did previously look into motion-based kinetic charging, which also lends credence to rumors that it’s exploring a range of power options.

Battery life for wearables is a huge concern, and the reason why is continued adoption: No end user is eager for the chance to have to remember to charge yet another device, of course, and the problem is made worse when, in forgetting to charge a wearable even once, they notice no overall impact to their lives. The double challenge then is to build a smartwatch that becomes integral to a user’s general routine, such that they’ll actively remember to charge it with the same frequency as their phone, and also to make it so that charging is a fairly infrequent requirement.

Apple has managed to sell a lot of things to people who neither users nor critics ever would’ve predicted they’d “needed” to begin with, with the iPad being the big shining example. They can probably do the same for the smartwatch, and these reports of their progress in its development signal to me they’re innovating in the right areas.

iWatch concept at feature image created by Todd Hamilton.