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  • Apple Watch Full Specification, Availability and Prices Announced

    Apple Watch Full Specification, Availability and Prices Announced

    apple-watch1

    We’ve all been waiting for the launch of the Apple Watch since September, and just a few weeks before it hits the retail stores, Apple has released its full specifications together with its prices.

    The Apple Watch is the newest device to be added to the Apple family. According to Apple, the watch is designed to cater to a variety of personal styles and preferences since they believe that what you wear is an expression of who you are. That said, you can get the watch in a variety of designs and they include: Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport, and Apple Watch Edition.

    Looking to get fit?

    The Apple Watch is your comprehensive fitness companion as it will allow you to measure your day’s activity with a simple 3-ring graphic. The watch will tell you exactly what you need to do so as to keep fit. For instance, sit less and move more often blah blah… The watch will also suggest at the beginning of the week what you need to do more so as to achieve your fitness goals.

    Other than time-keeping, fitness, and being your smart partner, the watch also hosts lots of great apps. The Apple Watch app is now available on iOS 8.2 for download. This is how you connect the watch to the phone. With this app you can choose what notifications you want to receive.

    What about the battery?

    Well, Apple has used state-of-the-art battery that is able to last up to 18 hours on a typical day. Charging the watch is a breeze, you will only need to attach a magnetic charger at the back. 

    Availability

    Apple says that the Watch will be available for pre-order starting 10th of April, 2015. It will also start shipping on the 24th of April and will at first be available to a select few countries US, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Hong Kong, China, Germany, and Japan, with more to follow.

    Prices

    The Watches will all sell at different prices with the cheapest being the Apple Watch Sport (tailored for athletes) and it will start selling at $349.

    The more fashionable stainless steel Apple Watch will cost between $549 and $1,040 for the smaller version and between $599 and $1,099 for the larger version.

    The price range for each will depend on the band. The 18-karat Apple Watch Edition is the most expensive of all starting at $10,000.

    Other Products/News

    • Welcome HBO NOW for Apple TV

    With Apple TV you can now get all the best programs from the best provides, HBO included. With HBO NOW you do not need to have a satellite or cable subscription as you can now watch all on Apple TV. This service will be exclusively available in the U.S. only starting April. It is set to cost $14.99 a month.

    Read more about HBO NOW on Apple TV.

    • The thinnest MacBook yet released

    Apple has also announced a new MacBook laptop that weighs just 2 pounds and 13.1mm at its thickest point and according to Philip Schiller (Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing) says that this is the thinnest MacBook that Apple has ever created.

    MacBook_allColors

    The MacBook is fitted with a trackpad with sensors that will detect just how hard you are pressing. For example, a soft-click on the forward button on a video will forward the video slower and a hard click will forward it faster.

    The MacBook also comes with a revolutionary new port – the USB-C that allows you to do 5 things in one! For instance, you can use the port for hooking up a USB device, plug a video monitor, or use it for charging.

    The MacBook like the new iPhones is available in dark gray, silver, and gold and it will retail at $1,299 and shipping starts on April 10.

  • Gizmo5 CEO Challenges Skype For SIP


    The CEO of Gizmo5 Michael Robertson has responded to last week’s announcement of Skype for SIP by posting a comparison (see below) of the new service and his own company’s OpenSky.

    While welcoming Skype’s initiative, he described it as a "vaporware announcement" with "murky pricing details".

    Writing on his blog, Robertson said he has been a vocal advocate for open standards, both in music with my company MP3.com and in VOIP with Gizmo5.

    He said open standards have always give consumers more choices and ultimately better value.

    "V0IP standards got a huge boost this week with two announcements," he said.

    Roberston said these were Gizmo5’s launch of its SIP for Skype service called OpenSky, which lets any SIP device call Skype and receive their Skype calls, and Ebay’s announcement of Skype for SIP.

    "These announcements are a huge boost for SIP as the open standard which will let calls move freely from any calling device or network," he said.

    "It’s great to see Skype inching towards a more interoperable world. Even if this is a vaporware announcement at least their heart is in the right direction."

    Robertson compared Skype For SIP with Skype for Asterisk, announced last year, saying that Skype’s business offering is not yet available and pricing details are murky.

    In response to Robertson’s blog comments, Skype said its SIP offering is available now.

    While there are other details that will undoubtedly be challenged by Skype, Robertson’s riposte will certainly give any enterprise pondering the services something to chew over.

  • iTunes To Be DRM-free As Song Pricing Altered


    Apple is to start selling digital songs without copy protection software from iTunes along with over-the-air download songs for the iPhone.

    Announcing the changes at the Macworld Expo trade show in San Francisco, Apple marketing exec Phil Schiller also detailed plans to roll out variable pricing on digital songs at iTunes with songs priced between USD $0.69 cents and $1.29.

    Along with the new price points, all tracks on iTunes will be digital rights management or DRM-free by April.

    DRM has proved a controversial topic with music fans and record labels alike.

    It was designed to prevent fans from illegally sharing digital downloads on file-sharing services.

    But it also prevented many fans from moving their own songs between devices and became increasingly unpopular.

    Apple’s founder, Steve Jobs, publicly called on major record labels to drop DRM in February 2007.

    In exchange, labels have been asking that iTunes agree to sell songs at variable prices. Currently, iTunes sells all individual songs at USD $0.99 cents.

    Apple also announced details to allow iPhone 3G and iPod Touch Wifi users to buy songs while on the go, over the air through its popular App Store.

    The changes mean a 30 per cent price rise for tracks from big name artists record labels – which will make more money for the record lables.

    They will also mean consumers will be able to buy older and lesser known artists’ tracks for less.

    The fact that iTunes downloads are in the AAC file format means there will still be restrictions on where they can be played despite being DRM-free.

    In what was a fairly dry keynote, Schiller also announced the new 17" MacBook Pro – priced at USD $2,799 for a glossy screen, 2.66 GHz processor, 4GB of RAM, 320GB 5400 rpm hard drive, glass trackpad and backlit keyboard.

    Expected to be Apple’s last Macworld keynote the company also showed off some software and hardware updates.

    The expected update to the Mac mini never materialised – nor did Jobs, who is treating a "hormonal imbalance".