Todoist App for Apple Watch Will Bring To-Do Lists to Your Wrist

With the Apple Watch on schedule to ship in April and some developers asked to have apps readied for this month, we are beginning to see a slow trickle of apps surface for the wrist-worn device. Todoist on Monday became the latest software maker to tease their work-in-progress Apple Watch app, sharing a video and screenshots of the upcoming to-do app with MacRumors this morning.

Todoist [Direct Link] aims to bring its popular to-do app for iPhone and iPad to the wrist with a simplistic Apple Watch app that will provide task management at a glance. When paired with an iPhone, the app will enable users to view their upcoming tasks and categories, reply to comments, and schedule or mark complete tasks. Todoist tells us that the video below is missing the task filter view, but plans to add the feature soon.

Enric Enrich, a 20-year-old iOS developer at Doist, explains further:

Once inside the main Todoist app, the user can access their Inbox, Projects (and full task lists within each project), Labels, Filters, and a ‘Today’ view showing all tasks for the day, as well as overdue tasks. When you tap on a task to get the detailed view, you will be able to see the task’s associated labels, its due date, its priority level, and you will be able to either “complete” or “postpone” the task directly from the watch. If you don’t want to complete or postpone the task, you use the watch’s microphone to explicitly assign a time/date to the task (this feature is still in development).”

Apple made its WatchKit SDK available alongside the release of iOS 8.2 and Xcode 6.2 beta in November, although developers are limited to an emulator-only development environment until the Apple Watch is released. For now, a third-party Tesla app and concepts of what apps such as Instagram and Uber could look like provide the best teaser of what the future of the wrist holds.

First Photos of Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs Surface

The Steve Jobs biopic based on Walter Isaacson’s best-selling biography began filming in January, and the first images of Michael Fassbender and Seth Rogen as Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak have surfaced (via The Daily Mail). The two actors were filming scenes at the Flint Center in Cupertino last week, and will also be filming at Steve Jobs’ original childhood home.

In the images, Fassbender wears a dress shirt, jacket, and bowtie, while Seth Rogen is dressed somewhat more casually in a tie and sweater with a full beard. Fassbender has the long ear-length hair style that Steve Jobs had in the 1980s.

Michael Fassbender, who has most recently starred as Magneto in the newest X-Men movies, was somewhat of a controversial choice in the leading role due to his limited resemblance to Steve Jobs and the fact that he’s not a household name like Christian Bale or Leonardo DiCaprio, both of whom were previously attached to the film before turning down the role of Jobs.

In leaked emails from Sony, Aaron Sorkin and other executives were initially against Fassbender because “the world isn’t going to care,” but director Danny Boyle was fully behind Fassbender and Sorkin came to accept him, saying “He’s a great actor whose time has come.”

Filming on the biopic will reportedly take place at a limited number of locations including the garage of Steve Jobs’ childhood home, two auditoriums, and a restaurant. The movie will consist of three continuous scenes covering three product launches: the unveling of the NeXT computer, the debut of the original iMac, and the introduction of the iPod.

Along with Fassbender and Rogen as Jobs and Wozniak, the film also stars Kate Winslet as early employee Joanna Hoffman, Katherine Waterson as Steve Jobs’ girlfriend Chrisann Brennan, Perla Haney-Jardine as Jobs’ daughter Lisa, and Jeff Daniels as former Apple CEO John Sculley.

Apple Seeds Fifth iOS 8.2 Beta to Developers

Apple today seeded the fifth beta of iOS 8.2 to developers, three weeks after seeding the fourth beta and almost three months after releasing the first iOS 8.2 beta.

The beta, build 12D5480a, is available immediately to registered developers as an over-the-air update and it can also be downloaded from the iOS Developer Center. Today’s update also includes Xcode 6.2 beta 5 with WatchKit.

iOS 8.2 includes the WatchKit SDK, allowing developers to create apps, Glances, and notifications for Apple’s upcoming wearable device ahead of its 2015 launch. The first iOS 8.2 beta, with WatchKit SDK and developer documentation, revealed several new details about the Apple Watch, including its heavy reliance on the iPhone and the different types of content developers can create for the device.

Pebble Unfazed by Apple Watch, Plans New Hardware and Software in 2015 [iOS Blog]

While much of the wearables focus remains on the upcoming Apple Watch launch, Pebble continues to push forward with its own smartwatch platform that began as a record-setting Kickstarter project and has blossomed into a successful company. Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky recently discussed the company’s extensive plans for new hardware in the upcoming year, along with a few details of Pebble’s prosperous 2014, in an interview with The Verge.

Reaching a milestone for the company, Pebble shipped its one millionth Pebble smartwatch on December 31, 2014, undoubtedly thanks to a few major price drops to its flagship products and the introduction of noteworthy apps onto the device last year. As The Verge points out, Pebble’s biggest competitor in 2014 was Google’s Android Wear device range, but both will be facing significant competition come this April when the Apple Watch launches to the public.

Migicovsky is unfazed by the imminent release of the Apple Watch, however, outlining how Pebble’s line of devices planned for release this year will deal less with the app-obsessed world most devices focus on, instead offering something dramatically different than any smartwatch on the market.

“We’ve found a new framework to use as an interaction model on the watch,” boasts Migicovsky, before adding that while apps will continue to exist on Pebble, they won’t be the main focus of the platform. “It doesn’t look like what we have today, and it doesn’t look like what’s on your smartphone.”

Migicovsky sticks mostly to pointing out Pebble’s successful year – such as the company more than doubling by year’s end its 400,000 units sold as of March – than providing meaningful details on new products coming out of the company. He tells The Verge fans will have to wait until “later this year” for more details on the company’s upcoming devices.

Pebble’s unflinching attitude towards its upcoming war with the Apple Watch falls in line with previous actions the company has taken when it comes to Apple’s new wearable. When Apple announced the Apple Watch last September, Pebble updated its website with a few related zingers – targeting battery life, price, and over-enthusiastic responses – aimed at its competitors, namely Apple.

Apple Planning to Raise Reported $5 Billion in Bond Sale [Mac Blog]

Apple today filed a prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission, hoping to sell $5 billion worth of new debt according to reports.

Managed by Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, the offer’s monetary specifics haven’t yet been revealed by Apple, but the company says the money will be used to cover “general corporate purposes, including repurchases of our common stock and payment of dividends under our program to return capital to shareholders, funding for working capital, capital expenditures and acquisitions and repayment of debt.”

As Bloomberg‘s Lisa Abramowicz points out, much of the proceeds the company receives from the bond sale are undoubtedly going to buybacks and dividend payments.

Except for rewarding shareholders, of course. Proceeds to go to buybacks & dividend payments

— Lisa Abramowicz (@LisaAbramowicz1) February 2, 2015

This follows the company’s previous bond sale last November, where Apple notably began issuing bonds in euros. That sale saw Apple looking to raise €2.8 billion ($3.5 billion) for the usual “general corporate purposes,” again primarily share buybacks and dividend payments.

Today’s prospectus comes on the heels of the company’s record-breaking earnings for the first fiscal quarter of 2015, posting revenue of $74.6 billion in the quarter, and subsequently seeing a noticeable bump in shares of its stock when the market opened last Friday.

While the company holds roughly $178 billion in cash and marketable securities, much of that cash is held outside of the United States and would currently be subject to significant taxes if brought back to the U.S. to be used for stock buybacks and dividends. As a result, Apple has been pursuing bond sales at very favorable interest rates as a cheaper means of funding these initiatives, repaying the bonds from ongoing operations over time.

Apple to Open New Retail Store in Tianjin, China on February 7 [Mac Blog]

Apple today announced on its Chinese retail website that it will be opening its brand new store in Tianjin, China this Saturday, February 7.

The store will be located within the Nankai District and follows Apple’s other recently opened locations in Zhengzhou, Hangzhou, and Chongqing.

Last month, Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts noted that Apple would be opening five new retail stores in five weeks to coincide with the Chinese New Year. The Tianjin store is the fourth store in that rollout, as Apple has also boosted its advertising efforts in the region by releasing a new version of its ad “The Song” for the Chinese market. After the five stores are opened, Apple would have 20 locations in China and Hong Kong with an ultimate goal of 40 stores in China over the next few years.

Apple’s new Tianjin store opens on Saturday, February 7 at 10:00 AM local time.

Apple Releases New Version of ‘The Song’ Ad for Chinese New Year [Mac Blog]

Apple today released a new version of its holiday ad “The Song” to coincide with the Chinese New Year holiday, using new actresses and showing a variety of Apple products throughout the video.

Like the original version, the Chinese version of “The Song” centers around a girl who comes across a vintage record sung by her grandmother as she secretly learns the notes and vocals to put together her own rendition alongside the original. The commercial ends with the girl and her grandmother listening side-by-side to the new record on an iPad.

The ad is currently being featured on Apple’s Chinese website. The company has opened a number of new stores in the past couple of weeks in time for Chinese New Year, with new locations popping up in Chongqing and Hangzhou.

Third-Party Tesla App Provides Look at Opportunities and Limitations of Apple Watch Development

Apple made its WatchKit SDK available alongside the release of iOS 8.2 and Xcode 6.2 beta in November, enabling developers to begin creating apps and software for the wrist-worn device. Looking beyond mockups and conceptual apps, however, a new third-party Tesla app designed by Eleks Labs offers insight into both the opportunities and limitations that developers face with the first-generation Apple Watch.

According to Eleks Lab mobility business developer Markiyan Matsekh, the technical capabilities of WatchKit do not match the expectations set during the Apple Watch keynote. In developing a prototype Tesla app that allows users to control a Model S over the Internet using a web-service API, the team of software engineers found a lot of functionality to be unavailable to developers at this time.

“If you look at the opportunities available for smart watch application development, you’ll also see a quite pessimistic picture,” wrote Matsekh. “Apple does not indulge developers with an abundance of functionality and tools. However, we can hope that the available functions are limited because this is only the first beta version and it will get much better towards the release.”

Matsekh claims that developers do not have access to the Apple Watch’s gyroscope, accelerometer, built-in speaker and microphone or Taptic Engine system of tactile notifications for development. Additionally, despite the Apple Watch display being touch sensitive, he claims that only Force Touch, which displays the shortcut menu, is available for developers, while GPS is restricted to a paired iPhone.

Even with its current limitations, this Tesla app provides an early look at the opportunities that Apple Watch apps make possible. The multipurpose software brings a lot of Tesla car control functionality to the wrist, such as an overview of the car’s battery, temperature and mileage, a controls menu for opening or closing the car and activating the headlights, and various screens related to charging, climate, location and the car’s condition.

Despite claiming that the Apple Watch has “weak potential for programmers” based on its current emulator-only development environment, Matsekh recognizes that his assumptions are based off of the first WatchKit SDK available to developers. As with the iPhone and iPad, the first-generation Apple Watch will inevitability have some developmental hiccups that are ironed out over the years.

Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed at the company’s quarterly earnings call on Tuesday that the Apple Watch is on schedule to ship in April, likely alongside a new version of WatchKit. MacRumors also learned that Apple has asked some developers to have Apple Watch apps ready for mid-February. In a short few months, a clearer picture should emerge of just how much potential Apple’s first wearable device has for developers.

AOL Reportedly Shutting Down TUAW Next Week in Larger Restructuring Move

AOL will soon be shutting down The Unofficial Apple Weblog, a long-running Apple blog better known as TUAW, according to The Verge. TUAW will reportedly close next Monday, February 2, just a few months after celebrating its tenth anniversary. The website currently has 11 staff on its editorial team.

TUAW has been providing Apple news, reviews, how-tos and other content about the Cupertino-based company since December 2004. AOL gained ownership of the website through its acquisition of Weblogs Inc. in 2005. The company has three other flagship media properties in The Huffington Post, TechCrunch and Engadget.

The expected closure is part of larger restructuring plans at AOL that will also see long-running gaming website Joystiq shut down. TechCrunch reports that AOL will be laying off about 150 people, mainly in sales, and merging TUAW’s Apple-related content and Joystiq into larger technology website Engadget. The majority of the layoffs will be the result of AOL shifting to more programmatic advertising.

AOL’s restructuring plans are largely unsurprising given CEO Tim Armstrong’s comments during the company’s fourth quarter earnings call in November:

“As we look out to 2015, our strategy and decisions will be driven by the following organizing principles,” said Armstrong. “Number one, we’ll focus our capital allocation resource management and management time against scaled assets and platforms. Two, we will organize our asset portfolio around scaled value and scaled growth assets. Three, we’ll simplify everything that can be simplified.”

The impending closure of TUAW arrives not long after media company IDG announced in September that it was discontinuing the print edition of Macworld Magazine and focusing on its web-based publication. MacUser also stopped producing its computer magazine in the United Kingdom earlier this month after thirty years of operations.

Buyer’s Guide: Deals on iMac, Retina MacBook Pro, Apple Accessories, and More [iOS Blog]

Deals have been a bit sparse in recent weeks following the holidays, but we expect things to pick up somewhat in February and March now that we’re solidly into the new year.

There are a few deals to be had this week on the non-Retina iMac, older now-discontinued iPad Air and iPad mini 2 models, and the Retina MacBook Pro. We’ve also got some discounted Apple-related accessories and a selection of discounted apps.

Retina iMac

There are no particularly good deals on the Retina iMac from third-party resellers this week, but prospective buyers can get a good deal from Apple’s online refurbished store, which has a variety of Retina iMacs available at discounted prices.

All of Apple’s refurbished machines come with a 1 year warranty, but stock fluctuates often, so potential buyers may need to wait for a desired machine to show up in the store.

Non-Retina iMac

– 21.5-inch 2.7GHz/8GB/1TB (Best Buy) (B&H Photo)- $1,179, $120 off
– 21.5-inch 2.9GHz/8GB/1TB (Best Buy) (B&H Photo) – $1,399, $100 off
– 27-inch 3.2GHz/8GB/1TB (Best Buy) (B&H Photo) – $1,659.99, $139 off
– 27-inch 3.4GHz/8GB/1TB (Amazon) (B&H Photo) – $1,899, $100 off

MacBook Air

– 11-inch 1.4GHz/4GB/128GB (B&H Photo) – $854, $45 off
– 11-inch 1.4GHz/4GB/256GB (B&H Photo) – $999, $100 off
– 13-inch 1.4GHz/4GB/128GB (B&H Photo) – $919, $80 off

Retina MacBook Pro

– 13-inch 2.6GHz/8GB/128GB (B&H Photo) (MacMall)- $1,199, $100 off
– 13-inch 2.6GHz/8GB/256GB (MacMall) (B&H Photo) – $1,399, $100 off
– 13-inch 2.8GHz/8GB/512GB (Amazon) (B&H Photo) – $1,599, $200 off
– 15-inch 2.2GHz/16GB/256GB (B&H Photo) (MacMall) – $1,889.99, $99 off
– 15-inch 2.5GHz/16GB/512GB – (Amazon) (B&H Photo) – $2,319.99, $179 off

iPads

We don’t recommend buying an iPad Air 2 or Retina iPad mini 3 this week if you can help it because there are no sales going on, but Best Buy is still offering now-discontinued higher-capacity Cellular versions of the iPad Air and the iPad mini 2 at discounted prices up to $130 off the standard price.

– iPad Air Cellular Silver 64GB (AT&T) – $499.99
– iPad Air Cellular Space Gray 64GB (AT&T) – $499.99
– iPad Air Cellular Silver 128GB (AT&T) – $599.99
– iPad Air Cellular Space Gray 128GB (AT&T) – $599.99

– iPad mini 2 Cellular AT&T Silver 64GB – $399.99
– iPad mini 2 Cellular AT&T Space Gray 64GB – $399.99
– iPad mini 2 Cellular AT&T Space Gray 128GB – $499.99
– iPad mini 2 Cellular AT&T Silver 128GB – $499.99

Apps

Apple is running a “Get Productive” promotion in its Mac and iOS App Stores, and as a result, dozens of popular productivity apps are being offered at discounted prices of up to 75 percent off.

Apple’s App of the Week is ProCam 2, a camera and photo editing app that is normally priced at $1.99. [Direct Link]

Other games and apps temporarily available for free include DragonLair, Axe in Face, Zero Age, Fur and Feathers, and Time Surfer. Even more discounted and free apps can be found over at our sister site, AppShopper.

Apple Accessories

The Harman Kardon Go + Play II Speaker Dock for the iPhone is available for $179, down from $349, from Harman Audio. The current-generation Apple TV is available for $87.99 from Groupon, down from its original price of $99.

Scosche earphones are available for $18.99 from Groupon, down from their original price of $79.99. Groupon is also selling the Beats Pill 2.0 for $159.99, $40 off the regular price.

The myCharge Hub 6000 Portable Battery is available for $69.99 from Best Buy, $30 off its regular price. Best Buy is also selling the 32GB Mophie Space Pack for the iPhone 5/5s for $129.99, down from its regular price of $179.99.

Monoprice is offering 25% off select Apple accessories using the promo code 25APPLE through 1/31. The ZAGG iPad mini Folio Keyboard Case is available for $29 from Daily Steals, $50 off the regular price.

MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors.