Some Tattoos Found to Interfere With Apple Watch’s Sensors
A growing number of users have turned to social networks claiming that full sleeve tattoos, ones that stretch to cover the wrist, interfere with the Apple Watch’s heart rate sensor and skin contact registration. Consequently, some Apple Watch users with tattoos have been unable to receive notifications and are frequently prompted to re-enter their passcode, if one is set, on the wrist-worn device.
A popular Reddit thread discussing the issue has received nearly 700 upvotes and 300 comments since being posted on Tuesday, and some users have already unfortunately coined the phrase “Tattoogate” to describe the problem. iMore soon followed up with a report confirming the issue, with the Apple Watch displaying inaccurate heart rate readings on the wrists of people with dark-colored tattoos.
“So I thought my shiny new 42mm SS watch had a bad wrist detector sensor,” writes Reddit user guinne55fan. “The watch would lock up every time the screen went dark and prompted me for my password. I wouldn’t receive notifications. I couldn’t figure out why especially since the watch was definitely not losing contact with my skin. also I couldn’t find anything online with people experiencing this issue. I was about to give up and call Apple tomorrow when I decided to try holding it against my hand (my left arm is sleeved and where I wear my watch is tattooed as well) and it worked. My hand isn’t tattooed and the Watch stayed unlocked. Once I put it back on the area that is tattooed with black ink the watch would automatically lock again.”
The severity of problem appears to depend on the color and ink saturation of the tattoo, with darker, solid tattoos causing the most interference with the Apple Watch’s sensors. A temporary solution for affected users is to toggle off Wrist Detection in the Apple Watch app under the General menu on the main settings tab, but doing so will disable Apple Pay from being used on the Apple Watch.
iMore also points out that natural skin pigmentation does not have the same affect on the Apple Watch’s sensors, so there is no reason to be worried if you have darker skin. But if you have tattoos, the best advice for now is to try out the Apple Watch yourself and rest assured that the device has a 14-day return policy. Apple has not provided comment on the matter, but we’ll keep you posted if we hear anything.
Qantas Customers Discover Apple Watch Doesn’t Fit Under Airline’s Boarding Pass Scanners [iOS Blog]
One of the most talked about new features of the Apple Watch is its ability to sync with an iPhone’s Passbook app, displaying a user’s credit cards and boarding passes easily on the wrist. Australian-based airline Qantas, however, has been facing a bit of a sizing issue with Apple’s new wrist-worn device, with multiple users pointing out since the wearable’s launch that a wrist wearing the Apple Watch simply doesn’t fit under the gate scanner for boarding passes (via Brisbane Times)
Qantas’s new Apple Watch app
Like other boarding pass experiences, Qantas’s app generates an individual QR code to the Passbook app for users boarding a flight. While the scanners were initially designed for simple paper barcodes before smartphone apps came about, they were able to handle scanning the QR code from an iPhone or other smartphone. Now, with the introduction of the Apple Watch, Qantas’s scanners face the hurdle of being unable to accommodate an entire wrist along with the Apple Watch.
Pointed out initially by a few Twitter users, one of which “wasn’t allowed” to take a picture of the terminal in question, Qantas has since acknowledged the issue. Unfortunately, while it’s looking to “access” the problem, there is currently no planned fix.
@taufiqz Hi Taufiq, currently we’re unable to scan boarding passes from the Apple watch, our team are aware of this and assessing. Kristyn
— Qantas (@Qantas) April 26, 2015
Qantas’s predicament serves as a sort of warning for developing an app for the Watch before actually having the device in hands to test. Qantas’s lead app designer, Gabriel Santos, echoed a similar sentiment of difficulty in developing the app, describing the entire ordeal of building and creating the app without the Watch “a scary process.”
“We initially locked in a concept but when trying it on the actual device, it didn’t work as well as I thought it would,” he said.
“It proved that designing without testing on the actual device can compromise the user experience. Good enough just isn’t acceptable. I wanted to bring the Apple Watch experience to a whole new level.”
As Brisbane Times points out, the introduction of a smaller, more handheld scanner could alleviate the issue, but would undoubtedly be extremely costly to introduce in every airport the airline supports. Given that the Qantas app includes a host of other features besides supporting Apple Watch, from boarding times, departure gates, and delays, the company could also decide to leave the QR code functionality solely to the iPhone and introduce the Apple Watch’s Qantas app as more of a companion experience.
Pixelmator for Mac Updated With Force Touch Trackpad Support, Improved Repair Tool [Mac Blog]
Popular image editing app Pixelmator was today updated to version 3.2.2, introducing a more powerful repair tool and introducing support for the new Photos app and the Force Touch trackpad found in the new MacBook and the recently updated 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro.
Pixelmator‘s repair tool (the bandaid icon in the app) lets users remove unwanted objects from photos in just a few minutes using a paintbrush, and in 3.2.2, the repair tool has been improved to be faster and more efficient, resulting in even cleaner results when removing an object from an image.
Repair tool is one of our many secret scientific projects that is fun and interesting to work with. We even used the new Mac Pro (because it’s extremely fast and powerful) to automatically improve our Repair technology algorithms.
Since there are numerous ways to repair any area of an image, our Mac Pro worked incredibly hard for months to find the best algorithm. It analyzed millions of possible ways to repair areas of various complexity and then it compared the speed and quality ratio of each final result. Lastly, our Mac Pro (this is really awesome) derived with a repairing strategy that gives the optimal result every single time. How smart is that!
After updating to 3.2.2, Pixelmator users with a Force Touch trackpad can use it for pressure sensitive painting. The Force Touch trackpad sensors detect how much pressure is being applied to the trackpad, and Pixelmator uses that information to change the size of the brush while painting for thicker or thinner lines.
With Photos for OS X support, also included in the new update, Pixelmator users can access their Photos libraries from within the Photos Browser inside the Pixelmator app.
Pixelmator can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for $29.99. [Direct Link]
Samsung Overtakes Apple to Reclaim Title of World’s Largest Smartphone Maker
The latest numbers from Strategy Analytics reveal that Samsung surpassed Apple to reclaim its position as the world’s largest smartphone maker in the first quarter of 2015. The two smartphone vendors were previously tied in the fourth quarter of 2014 after Apple matched Samsung with 74.5 million smartphones shipped on the strength of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus and busy holiday shopping season.
Samsung recaptured the number one position with 83.2 million smartphones shipped in the first quarter, while Apple trailed in second with 61.2 million smartphones shipped during the three-month period ending March. Lenovo-Motorola finished a distant third with 18.8 million smartphones shipped, followed by Huawei at 17.3 million and 164.5 million smartphones shipped by other vendors.
Despite its first place finish, Samsung’s global share of the smartphone market dropped to 24.1% in the first quarter of 2015 compared to 31.2% in the year-ago quarter. Apple’s global smartphone market share grew marginally to 17.7% in Q1 2015 compared to 15.3% in Q1 2014. The global smartphone market experienced 21% year-over-year growth overall, from 285 million units in Q1 2014 to 345 million in Q1 2015.
While it was impressive that Apple was able to tie Samsung during the fourth quarter, based on the popularity of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, it was highly probable that Samsung would eventually reclaim its title as number one again. The electronics giant’s smartphone lineup is much larger than the iPhone lineup, with at least a half-dozen current-generation devices available compared to only a handful of iPhones.
Pretend you’ve got Project Ara with this modular smartphone case
As awesome as Project Ara is, we’ve yet to hear a solid timeline nor pricing info for Google’s ambitious modular smartphone. But we bring you good news: For those who lack patience and want to try the next best thing, you may want to consider the Nexpaq, a modular case for the iPhone 6, Galaxy S5, Galaxy S6 Edge and many more devices to come. Admittedly, we were a bit skeptical with this project’s claim upon receiving the startup’s pitch, but after meeting two of the co-founders in Hong Kong, we know they mean business.
Calling the Nexpaq “the next best thing” after Project Ara may be unfair, because rather than forcing you to pick up a totally new phone, this versatile case has the advantage of letting you add handy features to a device that you’re accustomed to. And of course, from a business standpoint it makes sense to go right after the biggest existing user bases, courtesy of Apple and Samsung. The Nexpaq team wants to keep its product super affordable, after all; even if you miss the $89 early bird offer, the starter package is just $109 and comes with four modules. As mentioned, the catch is that at the moment this is only available for the iPhone 6, the Galaxy S5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge.
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The base case has a built-in 1,000 mAh battery along with six module slots, each using a customized connector that can be plugged in and out for at least 10,000 times. The startup already has a wide range of modules to offer: a 400 mAh battery, an amplified speaker, a powerful flashlight (with six multi-color LEDs), a microSD card reader, a temperature plus humidity sensor, a pair of customizable hotkeys, a 32GB USB flash drive (with built-in USB plug), an air quality sensor, a breathalyzer, a laser and a 32GB backup memory module. Most of the bundles come with the loudspeaker, battery, hotkeys and microSD reader modules, with the rest being optional, ranging from $14 to $29. And there’s also a $3 dummy module, should you struggle to decide how to occupy the last remaining slot.
The possibilities are limitless. Chief Strategy Officer Hubertus Wasmer sees great potential in developing a range of medical sensor modules, which can greatly lower costs while increasing portability, meaning doctors can easily carry a tiny lab to remote areas in third-world countries. The same goes for environmental sensors.
A prototype Nexpaq modular case shown alongside its companion app with non-final UI.
Unlike Project Ara, there are no fancy electropermanent magnets on the Nexpaq. According to CEO Alex Murawski, this technology is far from ready, and not to mention that it’d add up the cost. What you get instead is the good old slide-in mechanism that’s surprisingly secure on the prototypes we played with.
The status of each module is displayed in the accompanying app. Interestingly, this part is actually done through Bluetooth Low Energy, but the usual data link is through the micro-USB port or the Lightning port. In a live demo given by Murawski and Wasmer, the app responded almost instantaneously as they shuffled the modules around. It’s as if you’re slapping on various IoT sensors onto the back of your phone.
Nexpaq co-founder and CEO Alex Murawski.
Nexpaq is no doubt a very ambitious project, but it’s also a solid one with good intentions. Prior to this startup, Murawski had already worked on eight other Kickstarter projects — including the Nomiku immersion circulators — for his clients at his other company, so R&D and manufacturing shouldn’t be a problem. Wasmer also stressed that this is an open platform, and it’s all about vastly lowering the cost of gadgets for both makers — hence the development kits — and consumers. For us, we just need to convince Nexpaq to make cases for more phones and maybe even tablets.
Filed under: Peripherals, Mobile, Apple
Source: Kickstarter
Jimmy Fallon explores the Pros and Cons of buying an Apple Watch
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As I always say, the release of an Apple product is never a bad thing – I just see it as an opportunity for people to make some pretty funny jokes about them. Naturally, being the hottest thing at the moment, even The Tonight Show‘s Jimmy Fallon had to have a go at Apple’s smartwatch, the Apple Watch, as part of their regular segment, Pros and Cons. In it, Fallon details some humours Pros and Cons of buying the Apple Watch, and some are absolute killers. Check it out below:
My personal favourite is “Pro: It comes in a variety of colours. Con: Like ‘Please Rob Me’ Silver and ‘Walking Target’ Gold”. There’s of course no denying that Apple has jumped on the smartwatch bandwagon just at the right time, but really we shouldn’t be concerned by how many Apple Watches are being sold – after all, they only work with iPhones anyway. All the same, it’s helping to grow the smartwatch industry and its mainstream appeal, which can only be a good thing for everybody in the long run.
What do you think of Jimmy Fallon’s Pros and Cons of buying an Apple Watch? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: YouTube
The post Jimmy Fallon explores the Pros and Cons of buying an Apple Watch appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Apple Adds New NBC Sports Channel to Apple TV
Apple today added the NBC Sports Live Extra channel to the Apple TV, adding to its growing collection of available sports apps the device. The NBC Sports channel on the Apple TV delivers videos and clips of sporting events that air on NBC, much like the iPad app.
NBC Sports on the Apple TV offers video on demand that includes access to video clips, previews of upcoming events, and highlights from past events, plus it offers live NBC Sports events and full event replays. While video clips and other content will be available to all users, watching live content will require a cable subscription and authentication to log in.
In addition to the Stanley Cup Playoffs and Triple Crown, Live Extra streams all live sports content televised by NBC, NBCSN and Golf Channel, including: the Summer and Winter Olympics; Sunday Night Football and NBC’s NFL pre-season and post-season coverage; NHL regular-season games; the PGA TOUR, including the FedExCup Playoffs, and the LPGA; the Premier League; studio content surrounding many of the aforementioned properties; original programming such as The Dan Patrick Show and Men In Blazers; and much more.
NBC Sports joins a slew of other sports-oriented apps on the Apple TV, including WatchESPN, MLB.tv, NBA, NHL GameCenter, Major League Soccer, WWE Network, 120 Sports, Tennis Channel Everywhere, and more.
Apple Seeds Second OS X 10.10.4 Yosemite Beta to Developers, First Public Beta Version
Apple today seeded the second beta of OS X 10.10.4 to developers, approximately a week and a half since releasing the first 10.10.4 beta and nearly three weeks after releasing OS X 10.10.3 with the Photos for OS X app to the public. Alongside the new developer beta, Apple also released the first public beta version of OS X 10.10.4.
Developers can download the new beta, build 14E11f, through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store or through the Mac Developer Center.
OS X 10.10.3 introduced several consumer-facing changes including the new Photos for OS X app, a redesigned emoji picker, new diversified emoji, and more, but OS X 10.10.4 appears to be an under-the-hood update that brings performance enhancements and bug fixes.
The first two updates to OS X Yosemite, OS X 10.10.1 and OS X 10.10.2 were also minor behind-the-scenes updates that improved performance through bug fixes and enhancements.
Instagram for iOS Gains Three New Filters, Emoji Hashtags [iOS Blog]
Instagram for iOS received a major update today, adding three new filters to the app: Lark, Reyes, and Juno. Lark brightens up images and adds purple tones, while Reyes adds a vintage-looking fade with yellow tones. Juno is the boldest of the three new filters, brightening images and bumping up the contrast for a more stylized look.
Today’s three new filters come four months after Instagram added Slumber, Crema, Ludwig, Aden, and Perpetua, the first new filter additions to the app in two years. With those five filters, Instagram began focusing more on subtle improvements, a trend continued with the three new filters added today.
Lark filter on left, Reyes filter on right
Instagram has also gained emoji hashtags with the latest update, so it’s possible to use emojis to create hashtags to enable new ways of tagging and finding photos on the image sharing service.
Introducing 3 new photo filters! Lark, Reyes and Juno have been added automatically so you can start using them right away.
Emoji hashtags. Use your favorite emojis to create, share and search for hashtags.
Get the best of Instagram from the Apple Watch. Browse your feed and like your favorite photos, or even leave emoji comments. Plus stay up to date with interactive notifications right on your wrist.
Instagram can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Apple Watch Display Quality Judged ‘Excellent’, Calibrated to Match iPhone 6
DisplayMate Technologies has extensively tested the Apple Watch’s flexible OLED display and shared the results today based on several categories, including screen reflection, brightness and contrast with ambient light, color gamut with ambient light, and viewing angle variations. Overall, the company found the Apple Watch to have an “excellent smart watch display” with accurate colors and picture quality.
In a side-by-side comparison with the iPhone 6 display, the display calibration company found that Apple has taken measures to ensure that the Apple Watch display has the same colors, color calibration and color accuracy as the larger smartphone screen. The stainless steel and gold Apple Watches with sapphire crystal displays, however, have much higher reflectance in ambient light and mandatory automatic brightness control to preserve battery life.
“Since the Apple Watch is often used right next to the iPhone 6, Apple has gone to considerable lengths to give them the same colors, color calibration, and color accuracy. The two most significant differences (other than size) are the much higher Reflectance of the Apple Watch with a sapphire crystal (8.2 percent compared to 4.6 percent), and the aggressive Brightness control using a mandatory Automatic Brightness Ambient Light Sensor in order to increase the running time on battery for the tiny watch.”
The full-length report offers a comprehensive look at the Apple Watch’s ion-strengthened and sapphire crystal displays, and reiterates that enhanced sapphire, which lowers the screen reflectance of sapphire to be much lower than glass, will soon be available for use in smartphones, smartwatches and other mobile devices. Additionally, DisplayMate’s previous tests of the Samsung Gear 2 and Sony SmartWatch 2 displays provide good comparisons to the Apple Watch.
AIVAnet 