Ztylus Review: This Modular Lens and Case System Protects Your Phone and Improves Your Photos

Ztylus is a company that specializes in a complete photography kit for the iPhone, bundling a protective iPhone case with a 4-in-1 lens attachment and an additional LED ring light attachment for improving low-light photos. We gave away a special limited edition Ztylus camera kit earlier this year, and now I’m following up with a complete review of the company’s accessory system.

Compared to other photography accessories available for the iPhone, the Ztylus system has some positives and negatives. On the positive side, it’s modular and the case can be used with or without the accompanying camera attachment, plus it’s nice to have a complete 4-in-1 system that can be stored directly on the iPhone. On the negative side, it’s limited to the rear camera, bulky, and adds a lot of weight to the featherlight iPhone 6 Plus.

The Hardware

There are two main parts to the Ztylus: the iPhone case and the camera lens attachment. The iPhone case can be used without the lenses, but the reverse is not true — Ztylus’s lenses require the Ztylus case and can’t be used with another third-party case due to the way the lens attachment snaps onto the back. The case I reviewed is the Metal Series for the iPhone 6 Plus.

The case itself comes apart in two pieces to get it onto the phone, and as far as cases go, it’s protective and in line with other open-screen cases on the market. It’s mainly made of a hard, textured plastic and comes in several different colors, with a solid metal bottom piece. There’s a large hole in the back of the case, which is where the lens attachment snaps in. When the lens isn’t attached, there’s a separate plastic piece with a built-in kickstand that can prop the iPhone up for taking photos or watching movies.
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Apple Releases Four New Apple Watch Ads Showing the Device Used in Daily Life

Apple today released a new series of Apple Watch commercials on its YouTube channel, depicting the Apple Watch being used in a number of ways in the daily lives of the people featured in the videos. Each of the four videos centers around people who use the watch’s functions while traveling, while working out, and while communicating with and interacting with family. Apple has a knack for creating ads that are informative while being touching and funny, and its four new videos are no exception.

Two of the videos, “Berlin” and “Beijing,” show the Apple Watch in use as a tool to discover new places to visit while exploring the cities. Two women are seen using the app to get directions to places, look up nearby restaurants, and discover new sights as soft music plays in the background of each video. One woman uses the sketch tool in the Apple Watch to write “SOS” to let her friend know she needs help getting out of a conversation with a guy she isn’t interested in.

The third video, “Closer,” shows the Apple Watch being used by parents and children, playing tic tac toe, starting up music, and communicating with family. A grandmother receives a sketch to let her know the sex of a baby that was just born, a tired mother accepts a call on her wrist without needing to put down a screaming baby, and a father and son duo play simple games on the device.

Apple’s fourth commercial is focused on fitness and shows the Apple Watch encouraging people to be more active. Individuals in the videos struggle through their workouts during fitness classes, runs, and martial arts lessons. One man tries to do pushups while his dog barks at him, while another is slammed to the ground at a martial arts class. The video wraps up with a man getting up in the middle of the night to fill his exercise ring with some late night jumping jacks.

Today’s ads follow in the footsteps of the first human-centric Apple Watch ads Apple created to promote the device, which were released in April. “Rise,” “Up,” and “Us” focused on time management, health and fitness, and communication.

Apple to Face Class Action Lawsuit Over Off-the-Clock Employee Bag Checking

Apple will face a class action lawsuit brought against it by retail employees in California who were subjected to ongoing bag checks that often caused them to remain at work for 10 to 15 minutes after their shifts had ended, reports Reuters.

Employees allege Apple subjected them to mandatory bag checks that were “embarrassing and demeaning,” and were conducted off the clock, leaving them uncompensated for their time. The group is seeking damages for unpaid wages, unpaid overtime, and other recompense.

The lawsuit was first filed in 2013 and after some legal hurdles that included a 2014 dismissal, it was granted class action status today by U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco. Class members participating in the lawsuit include more than 12,000 of Apple’s current and former employees in the state of California.

Amanda Friekin and Dean Pelle, the plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit, claim Apple’s bag checks were mandatory each time a sales rep left the store and were put in place to discourage theft. Several employees subjected to these bag searches emailed Tim Cook in 2012, writing that managers were “required to treat ‘valued’ employees as criminals” and that the searches were often performed “in front of gawking customers.”

Over the course of the past two years, Apple has argued that the case should not get class action status because not all managers conducted bag searches and that the bag searches that did happen took so little time that compensation was not necessary. Now that it has received class action status, the lawsuit will go to trial.

Apple Predicted to Beat Expectations in Third Quarter on Strong iPhone Sales and Growth in China

Less than one week before Apple’s third quarter fiscal results are released on July 21 at 2:00 PM Pacific, multiple research firms and analysts have released earnings previews for the three-month period ending June 30. The consensus is that Apple will report another quarterly earnings beat based on stronger than expected iPhone sales and continued year-over-year growth in China.

Apple provided third quarter guidance of revenue between $46 billion and $48 billion, gross margin between 38.5% and 39.5%, operating expenses between $5.65 billion and $5.75 billion and other expenses of $350 million, while the consensus among analysts was an EPS of $1.79. Apple is expected to beat both that guidance, which is purposefully conservative, and street expectations.

Wall Street and Silicon Valley analyst Neil Cybart published his 3Q15 earnings preview on Above Avalon, predicting Apple earned $50.9 billion revenue, with a gross margin of 40.9% and $1.97 earnings per share (EPS), based on sales of 49.3 million iPhones, 10.1 million iPads, 4.9 million Macs, 4.3 million Apple Watches and $9.3 billion from other products and services.

Creative Strategies principal analyst Ben Bajarin estimates that Apple Watch worldwide sales were 4.7 million during the June quarter, topping the roughly 1.1 million iPhones and 3.3 million iPads sold in their respective launch quarters. Bajarin’s estimate is based on supply chain output tracked by his market research firm, and is 400,000 units higher than Above Avalon’s estimate.

Apple has not publicly disclosed any official Apple Watch sales figures to date, and will be grouping the wrist-worn device under its “Other Products” category in quarterly earnings reports. The combined category includes sales of iPod, Apple TV, Beats Electronics and Apple-branded and third-party accessories, which will inevitably lead to predictions about how many Apple Watches make up the total units sold.

Investment banking company UBS also forecasts that Apple will have above-consensus earnings results based on a higher iPhone average selling price (ASP) estimate of $660 vs $636. The firm predicts Apple will report $52.5 billion revenue, with a gross margin of 40.9% and $2.00 EPS, based on sales of 51 million iPhones, 10.6 million iPads and 3 million Apple Watches.

RBC Capital Markets is more conservative with its estimates, expecting that Apple will report $49.3 billion revenue, with a gross margin of 39.3% and $1.78 EPS, based on sales of 46.5 million iPhones, 11.3 million iPads and 4.6 million Macs. The firm did not estimate Apple Watch sales and expects scrutiny from investors in regards to Apple’s iPhone unit sales globally, but particularly in China.

MacRumors will provide live coverage of Apple’s third quarter results on July 21.

Apple in ‘Advanced Talks’ With Mobile Telecom Groups for Standardized ‘e-SIM’ Cards

Apple and Samsung are in talks with mobile standards organization GSMA to introduce electronic SIM cards, according to Financial Times. The talks are happening around the GSMA’s impending announcement of the creation of a standardized embedded SIM card for consumer devices, which would involve both Apple and Samsung if the talks go through.

Rumors of Apple creating its own SIM card line began in late 2010, when a report from Gigaom claimed the company was working with digital security firm Gemalto to create the custom built-in SIM. The iPhone 4s was even rumored to be “SIM-less,” pointing once again to an electronic SIM card pre-built into the device to save space, and inaccessible to the user.

The e-SIM would essentially allow customers to avoid being locked in to a dedicated mobile carrier, letting them sign up to their network of choice and even switch instantly if they changed their minds.

With today’s news, the networks expected to be on board with the new e-SIM standard include: AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Hutchison Whampoa, Orange, Telefónica, and Vodafone. GSMA’s chief executive, Anne Bouverot, claims all parties are “heading towards an agreement” regarding the standardized e-SIM card. But, as the Financial Times points out, thanks to the technical specifications of the e-SIM, it will be “at least a year” before any devices supporting the new card reach the market.

The GSMA said: “With the majority of operators on board, the plan is to finalise the technical architecture that will be used in the development of an end-to-end remote SIM solution for consumer devices, with delivery anticipated by 2016.”

“We have got everyone back on one point, with Apple and Samsung agreeing to be part of that specification,” said Ms Bouverot. “We have been working with them and others to create an industry solution for machines and will agree a solution for consumer electronics.”

The deal with Apple is yet to be finalized, however, with the GSMA noting it is “continuing to work with Apple to secure their support for the initiative” and an actual agreement with Apple “is still in progress.”

Last year, Apple took its first steps toward opening up carrier access on some of its devices, introducing an Apple SIM card for cellular versions of both the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3, allowing users — particularly in the United States — to switch easily between AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile, taking advantage of each carrier’s short-term data plans as they saw fit. EE in the UK was also included in the Apple SIM program, and just weeks ago a partnership with GigSky expanded Apple SIM service to over 90 countries.

The e-SIM standard has been under consideration for several years, but many carriers have resisted the concept over concerns it will be too easy for customers to switch. Even with Apple’s physical Apple SIM card, AT&T moved to locking cards to the carrier’s service. The company gave no reason why it decided to prevent the Apple SIM from functioning properly beyond “it’s just simply the way we’ve chosen to do it.” With only a handful of carriers currently on board and a 2016 launch date for the new e-SIM cards, it remains to be seen how quickly they will be able to gain momentum in the industry.

Rovio Announces ‘Angry Birds 2’ Launching July 30

Finnish game developer Rovio today confirmed that its 2009 game Angry Birds is getting a direct sequel, Angry Birds 2, and fans will be able to play it starting July 30. The company released some promo artwork for the game that promises fans of the series a “bigger, badder, birdier” game than the original.

Far from the second game in the series, counting spin-offs like Bad Piggies and Angry Birds Stella, there have been a total of fifteen games using the Angry Birds license in some way. Most were thematic spins on the original game’s bird-launching mechanics like Angry Birds Star Wars, but over the years Rovio expanded by creating Angry Birds GO! and Angry Birds Epic, which introduced players to kart racing and turn-based strategy mechanics, respectively.

Back in December 2009, when we were just a small games studio, we released our 52nd game featuring colorful birds, green pigs, a slingshot and a super catchy theme tune. Fast forward to 2015 and that game, Angry Birds, has taken the world by storm.

With 3 billion game downloads, millions of fans across the globe, multiple mashups and spin-offs, collaborations with A-list celebrities and much more, we’re really proud that Angry Birds is the mother of all mobile game apps. And now we’re proud to announce the mother of all sequels – Angry Birds 2!

The Angry Birds developer saw its first major profit decline in 2014, thanks to big new players in the mobile game landscape like Candy Crush, and a general sense of fatigue from gamers regarding the franchise. Nevertheless, Rovio is backing its flagship series more than ever with the announcement of a proper sequel and the planned release of an animated feature-length Angry Birds film next summer. The company promises that more details are to come on July 28, a few days before the game’s official launch.

Apple Seeds First OS X 10.10.5 Beta to Public Beta Testers

A few days after seeding OS X 10.10.5 to developers for testing, Apple has released the first OS X 10.10.5 beta to public beta testers. With only a few months until the public release of OS X 10.11 El Capitan, OS X 10.10.5 may be one of the last significant updates to Yosemite.

The new beta can be downloaded from the Software Update mechanism through the Mac App Store on Macs enrolled in the Apple Beta Software Program. The pre-release software’s build number is 14F6a, the same as the OS X 10.10.5 beta seeded to developers earlier this week.

It also appears that the first OS X 10.10.5 beta is now showing up in Software Update for developers who were unable to see the pre-release software following its release on Tuesday.

OS X 10.10.5 beta includes stability, compatibility and security improvements.

OS X 10.10.4, the current version of OS X Yosemite, was publicly released on June 30 with multiple bug fixes and under-the-hood performance improvements, including the removal of the problematic Discoveryd process.

Samsung and TSMC Begin Production of A9 Chips for ‘iPhone 6s’

Apple manufacturing partners Samsung and TSMC have started volume production of A9 chips for the so-called “iPhone 6s,” according to DigiTimes. The report claims Apple requested last-minute changes to the chip layout, requiring both chipmakers to rework wafers, but the modifications are not expected to impact the release schedule of the next-generation iPhone.

Apple’s iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and new iPod touch are powered by the A8 chip
TSMC will reportedly begin mass production of A9 chips based on a 16nm process in the fourth quarter of 2015, and is also expected to manufacture fingerprint sensors and audio chips on a contract basis for future iPhones. Conflicting reports have surfaced over the past several months suggesting that Samsung, TSMC or a combination of the two would be responsible for A9 chip production.

DigiTimes has a mixed track record at reporting on Apple’s upcoming plans, but it does have close connections with the overseas supply chain, and A9 chip production in July is reasonable with less than two months until the next iPhone is expected to launch. Apple will reportedly order a record-breaking 85-90 million “iPhone 6s” units from suppliers by the end of 2015.

The much-rumored “iPhone 6s” and “iPhone 6s Plus” are expected to be announced in September and could feature the same 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screen sizes, an A9 processor with 2GB of RAM, Force Touch, a faster Qualcomm LTE chip, an improved 12-megapixel rear-facing camera and 7000 Series aluminum. The overall design of the smartphones will likely be nearly identical to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

Misfit Unveils $20 Flash Link Activity Tracker and Link App, Drops Prices on Shine and Flash

Misfit today announced the debut of Misfit Link, a new app that’s designed to add new capabilities to the Misfit Flash, which is the company’s inexpensive activity and sleep tracker.

With the Misfit Link app, a Misfit Flash can be morphed into a multi-function Bluetooth-connected smart button that can perform tasks like controlling music or activating the camera button on the iPhone for selfies.

The new Misfit Link app lets you use any Flash to take a selfie with your phone camera app or Snapchat; control your music with Spotify, Pandora, and more; or advance slides in a presentation. Additional functionality is coming soon, including IFTTT and Logitech Harmony integrations. The iOS app is available for download now; an Android version will be released next month.

Misfit is also debuting the Misfit Flash Link, an even less expensive activity tracker and smart button that’s able to work with the Misfit Link app, much like the Misfit Flash. The company is also lowering its prices on the Misfit Shine and the Misfit Flash, which are now available for $70 and $30, respectively. Previously the two devices were priced at $100 and $50.

Both the Misfit Shine and the Misfit Flash look similar, but where the Shine uses aluminum, the Flash uses a cheaper plastic. The Misfit Flash is lighter, but the Shine has better water resistance. The even cheaper Flash Link has the same circular design as the Shine and the Flash, and it includes the same activity and sleep tracking functions, but it comes with a clip rather than a bracelet.

All three products can be purchased from the Misfit website. The Misfit Shine is priced at $69.99, the Misfit Flash is priced at $29.99, and the Misfit Link is priced at $19.99.

The new Misfit Link app is available from the App Store for free and will work with both new and existing Misfit Flash devices.