I have had an Apple Watch since May of 2015. I have owned the original Apple Watch, the Apple Watch Series 2 and now the Apple Watch Series 3. During that time I have only used a single watch band, the black sport band. When I say that I have used a single watch band, I do not mean that I used the black sport watch band that came with each new Apple Watch. Instead, I just transferred the same band that I got from the original Apple Watch. Having used the same watch band shows that the Apple Watch band can last for a long time. More than two and half years, and it is likely that it can go even longer. I have been going back and forth with the idea of getting a new Apple Watch band for a while.

A couple weeks ago I made an appointment at Apple to get the screen on my iPhone 7 Plus replaced. While I was there waiting to pickup the iPhone I went to take a peak at the iMac Pro that was on display, which looks fantastic in all of its Space Gray glory. After looking at the iMac Pro I wandered over to the Apple Watch bands. Now, I am not one who will go with an ostentatious or bright colored watch band, it is just not my style. Instead I tend to stick to more muted colors. I did decide to pickup the Black Sport Loop band.

Comparison

The Black Apple Watch Sport Loop band is not entirely black. Actually it is a multi-colored band which has black surrounding it. A cursory glance would say otherwise, but if you look closer you will see a variety of colors. Some of the colors that can be seen are orange, blue, and red. Even with this the band still appears black.

The Sport Loop band differs from the classic Sport Band in almost every way. The Sports Band is a fluoroelastomer material, where as the Sport Loop is a bit more of a plastic base. The Sport Band comes in two pieces. The bottom portion of the band has a series of holes that allow you to select one that comfortably fits. The top part has a slot to receive the excess watch band from the bottom portion and at the edge is a stud to fit into one of the holes on the bottom portion of the band.

The Sport Loop is a single piece and, as the name suggests, a loop. The Sport Loop uses a hook and loop mechanism that allows you to get an exact fit. The actual locking mechanism is a series of five hooking mechanisms that you press down and get a snug fit.

After using the same Apple Watch band for more than two and a half years, you become accustom to how it feels. Getting accustom to the Sport Loop band took very little time. In fact, it is actually lighter, in terms of weight, than the Sport Band. Which is quite nice.

One of the biggest habits that I have had to change is how I place the Apple Watch on the charger. The watch charger that comes with the Apple Watch is not an issue with the Sport Loop, in fact the Sport Loop makes a nice pillow for the charger itself. You can just place the loop around the charger and it is not a problem.

As with the Sport Band, the Sport Loops can be used with the clasp coming from the top of the watch or the bottom of the watch, which allows for use on either wrist, but it also allows you to determine the best placement for the clasp.

Concerns

There is one thing that the Sport Loop does that the Sport Band does not, but it not necessarily a good thing. The Sport Loop can retain a small bit of water. It will eventually dry out, but it can be awkward if you place your wrist on your clothing after washing your hands and the water seeps out. Despite the Sport Loop retaining water, it does not affect the ability for the Sport Loop to stay secured. This is good for those who enjoy going swimming and have the Sport Loop on their Apple Watch.

Questions

The biggest question I have regarding Apple's upcoming AirPower mat, is how well with sport loops bands charge on the mat? Will they charge at all? In order get them to charge will we need to remove one of the ends of the band from the Apple Watch in order to have it be placed close enough to be charge wirelessly?

We do not know the answer to these questions, but it is a concern with the loop bands. The only other band that might have some concern is the link bracelet, much for the same reason because it cannot lie flat enough to be charged.

Final Thoughts

The Sport Loop is a good Apple Watch band. The hook and loop enclosure mechanism that is used by the Sport Loop stays secure regardless of it being water logged or not, which is a definite plus. Despite its name the Black Sport Loop does contains small hints of color within the band, which is a nice accent and unless you are looking closer it is hardly noticeable. I have not decided whether I prefer the Sport Band or the Sport Loop. It is unlikely that I will be swapping out the watch bands anytime soon. If you are in the market for a new Apple Watch band, take a look at the Sport Loop, it may be a good choice for you.

If you rewind history back about almost 70 years and look at what Science Fiction writers were predicting technology would bring you would see Jet Packs, flying cars, moon colonies, and colonizing other planets and much more beyond that. While we do not have those yet, they may still be coming in the future. However, back in 1946 there was something that was introduced that many thought may not be possible for a while. This item was coveted by all sorts of people. That item is the "Dick Tracy Watch". While some may have scoffed at this never happening, particularly back then, it has become a reality.

When Apple began its foray into consumer devices, it was 2001, and the item that was introduced was the original iPod. What nobody would be able to really predict is just how important consumer devices would become not just to Apple, but individuals as well. While the iPod and its successors were successful, by all measures, it was nothing compared to what was to be released in 2007, the original iPhone.

The iPhone has set a new benchmark for not just success, but also how important and transformational a piece of technology can become. The iPhone has changed the entire direction for Apple. While an iPod may by some be considered personal, an iPhone is considerably more personal and contains even more information than an iPod, or even a Mac can. There is an even more personal device that Apple has, the Apple Watch.

While an Apple Watch may not contain nearly as much personal information as someone's iPhone, the Apple Watch is an even more personal device due to it inherently wearable nature. Apple's latest iteration is the Apple Watch Series 3. The Apple Watch Series 3 has made some improvements over its predecessors, the Apple Watch Series 2 and the original Apple Watch.

The Apple Watch Series 3 is the third release of the Apple Watch. The original Apple Watch, retroactively dubbed Series 0 by many, was released in April of 2015 and the Apple Watch Series 2 was released in September of 2016. In the last year, it has seen a significant set of upgrades. The first of these improvements being a speed increase.

Speed Improvements

The actual speed of the Apple Watch has been improved, not just compared to the original Apple Watch, but also over the Apple Watch Series 2; which itself made significant gains over the original Apple Watch. The biggest speed increase is not just in the responsiveness of the operating system, but also in the applications themselves. The speed comes from the new dual-core S3 processor.

The responsiveness of the applications is immediately apparent when you first use the Series 3. Part of the new S3 processor includes the new W2 wireless chip. While there are no other products that use the W2, it is likely designed to improve battery life, which is needed for the Series 3, not just because of the faster speed, but because the Series 3 also comes in a Cellular model.

LTE

The biggest change to the Series 3 is the inclusion of an LTE chip, in one of the models. The inclusion of LTE allows for more possibilities for the Apple Watch. The biggest benefit of a Series 3 Apple Watch with LTE is that it can be completely independent of an iPhone. The LTE model of the Apple Watch Series 3 requires carrier support. The way it operates, at least through AT&T, is by creating an additional line on your account, and then the carrier will send any message, phone calls, or other items to both your Apple Watch and iPhone simultaneously.

One of the benefits of the Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE capable of being independent is that you can go off and perform errands, go perform some exercise, or just about anything else. The LTE connection on the Apple Watch with Series 3 is a full-fledged LTE connection. What this means is that the Apple Watch Series 3 is able to stream Apple Music directly from the watch. What this means is that you now stream any of the 40 million songs within the Apple Music catalog. As a note, this requires watchOS 4.1 in order to work, which should be coming within the next few weeks.

Since an LTE radio takes up more power than wireless. In order to maintain battery life the LTE radio will not be used when the Apple Watch is near its paired iPhone nor when it is connected to a known wireless network, even without your phone present. This behavior should result in all of your Apple Watch applications being capable of operating normally without your iPhone. However, in practice, this is not always the case.

The synchronization of numbers between your iPhone and Apple Watch is the final piece of the puzzle for the Apple Watch to become the "Dick Tracy Watch" that was so desired in the past. Yes, you can actually make phone calls on your Apple Watch. While this was possible with previous Apple Watches, the non-LTE versions require your iPhone in order to do so. This is not the case with the LTE version. The LTE version can make standalone phone calls without the need for a phone.

Imagine being able to travel back in time to let a child of 1940s and 1950s and say "Hey kid, you know how Dick Tracy can call people and do all sorts of things with his watch? Give it some time, you can be able to do that too". If the kid had any imagination, I am sure the kid's eyes would bulge and their imagination would run wild.

Despite all of the benefits of LTE, there are a couple of caveats regarding it.

LTE Caveats

One of the current downsides of LTE being new is that many of the applications on the Apple Watch are not designed with LTE in mind. This is due to many applications looking for the iPhone. The reasoning for this is likely due to many applications requiring information from the parent application on an iPhone. The only way for these applications to be fixed is for the developers to make adjustments to their applications to take into account the possibility that an Apple Watch will not be near wireless nor near its parent iPhone. The method that this takes will depend on the application.

While being able to listen to music while out exercising, and to be clear this is likely a significant percentage of the Apple Watch user base. Yet there is another percentage of Apple Watch users that would prefer to listen to podcasts. Right now, this is not easily possible. This means that Apple will have to make some software improvements in order to allow software developers to make podcast applications that work reliably work on the Apple Watch in a standalone manner. It is likely that Apple is working towards this and the ability to stream music is just the beginning of making the Apple Watch completely standalone.

The Red Dot

When anyone begins to imagine and design things, they tend to look at and refine every aspect of their design. One of the design aesthetics of the LTE version of the Apple Watch Series 3 has been contentious. The choice is the red button on the digital crown. Some of the arguments are that one does not want to be "advertising" the fact that they have a distinct version. Another is that it does not match any of the watches. To me, it makes no difference. In my use of the Apple Watch Series 3, it is not really noticeable. The only way that I even notice is if I am holding my hand up and happen to look down towards my watch.

I think that the red button on the Digital Crown actually serves two purposes. The first is to actually distinguish it as an LTE version, not only to Apple Watch users but also to Apple itself. Knowing that an Apple Watch is an LTE model with just a glance will help when it comes to diagnosing and repairing an Apple Watch.

If you do have an Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE and you really do not like the red button on the Digital Crown, there is a solution. A company called WatchDots has created some decals that can cover both the side button as well as the Digital Crown. You can get these in a variety of colors for $9.99 each. There have been some other improvements as well.

Music Syncing

There is one last distinctive feature of the LTE version of the Apple Watch Series 3. The LTE models have 16GB of storage in them, instead of the standard 8GB. The internal storage difference is needed to be able to cache songs that are streamed. This will not only save on data usage, but also on battery life. It is much less battery intensive to stream from local storage than it is to download a song over cellular. This is because the cellular radio is not needed if it is already local.

One of the techniques that Apple employs to save battery life is to sync over music that you listen to most often. This is done while the Apple Watch is on the charger and on wireless. You can opt to automatically add music to Apple Watch and it will fill up the storage capacity of the watch. Alternatively, you can manually decide which playlists are copied over to the Apple Watch. I opt to have the 30 most played songs, the songs that are heaviest in my latest rotation, as well as the three Apple Curated playlists: Chill Mix, Favorites Mix, and New Music mix. When you synchronies music over to your Apple Watch, you will be able to play these songs even if you do not have your iPhone nearby. This will make it quite convenient if you are out on a run or just going out without your phone.

Siri

One of the huge benefits to an Apple Watch is to be able to use the "Hey Siri" feature. "Hey Siri", in case you are not aware, is an option that will allow you to ask the Apple voice assistant, Siri, to bring up Siri using just your voice. This is particularly useful on the Apple Watch if your hands are full and you need to turn on a light, or have Siri perform some other action for you.

The Apple Watch Series 3 enhances Siri in a way that has not previously been possible on an Apple Watch. Siri can now reply via voice. In the same manner that LTE changes the Apple Watch, having Siri respond via voice also changes the dynamic of Siri. With previous version of the Apple Watch, Siri was limited to providing on screen feedback as well as via haptics. On a device that does not include a web browser, Siri cannot bring up a webpage. However, now that there is voice feedback, it is possible to get the information you need, when you cannot look at the screen.

Besides the times when you are not able to look at a screen, this also has significant implications for those who have difficult seeing in general. Having voice feedback can provide invaluable information particularly when you only have an LTE Apple Watch and do not have your phone handy.

Final Thoughts

The Apple Watch LTE makes some noticeable improvements. The biggest of these improvements is in the overall speed of the Apple Watch. This is directly attributable to the internal processor as well as watchOS 4.The addition of LTE will be a game changer going forward and is likely the device that Apple wanted to unveil in September of 2014, but could not because the technology was not in place. The addition of LTE is the start of a new phase for the Apple Watch. The improvements in the hardware has outpaced the software improvements, but that is not to diminish the streamlining of features available on the Apple Watch. After all, it is primarily used by many as a notification and health device. If you are on the fence of whether or not to get the LTE version, it may be best to get the LTE version but not activate the cellular. If you do opt for the non-LTE version of the Apple Watch Series 3, you will not be disappointed by the upgrades, particularly if you are coming from an original Apple Watch.

The Apple Watch Series 3 was just released on Friday. There were two models that were released, the GPS and the GPS + Cellular model. The GPS + Cellular model, also referred to as the LTE model, allows for an additional feature, the ability to answer phone calls and receive texts directly on your Apple Watch Series 3. This feature is called "NumberSync". It may have a different name for your carrier, but it is a simple descriptive name. The way the NumberSync works is that each device has its own line, which is part of the monthly cost that carriers charge. On the carrier end, your iPhone number is then forwarded to both your Apple Watch Series 3 as well as your iPhone. This feature requires carrier support since the switching has to be done on the carrier side. With that information, let us look at an issue I had setting up the feature.

As it seems to be the case for me this year, I had issue with setting up the the cellular connectivity on my Apple Watch Series 3. You can see my post about the issues I had with cellular on my iPad Pro. During the setup process of the Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE, you are prompted to configure a cellular connection. You can, of course, set it up later as well. When I attempted to setup cellular, I got the following error message:

The error message states: "We're sorry, but your order can't be completed using your current rate plan. Please call us at 800.331.0500 for assistance. (EAPS460004)" So I called AT&T's customer service and talked to a tech, they tried a few different things and none of it worked. At one point, he indicated there was a "magic number" that had to be added to the account to allow the activation. I do not think he had any clue what he was talking about. At his request, I then again tried to setup cellular on my Apple Watch; to no avail. He then determined that it was an activation issue, and proceeded to give me a number to call. I called the activation line and talked to another rep, she said I had to go to a store to get the issue fixed, because they had access to things that she did not. We will circle back to this in a little bit. This was about 20 minutes before my local corporate AT&T store closed, so I went to the AT&T reseller store that is also nearby.

At the AT&T reseller store, I talked to the representative there. She understood what the issue was and knew that a new line had to be added. One of the downsides of an AT&T reseller is that they cannot always perform certain actions that need to be done. When this occurs it requires a call to an internal AT&T number. So the reseller rep called the activation line to get some help activating the line. Which brings us back to my call to the activation line. If the AT&T reseller rep had to call AT&T, then why is it that the activation rep that I called could not assist me? That one bugs me. Once the new wearable line was added, the "Setup Cellular" had a different display. The one below.

Okay, so that is progress. So the Apple Watch app on my iPhone at least saw that there was a line that could be used. I again attempted to setup cellular, but received yet another error message, the one below.

The error reads "Device Syncing is blocked on this device. To enable it, ask the person who manages your account to call us at 800.331.0500. (EDS0005)". That seems like a straight forward one to fix and a call to AT&T customer support should help fix it. The AT&T reseller rep called AT&T support line back, and they said everything looked good and that it could be because the terms and conditions were not accepted. So there was another number for that, we called that one and the automated system indicated that the terms and conditions were accepted. Another attempt to configure cellular resulted in the same error message. I decided to call AT&T's support line back from the AT&T reseller store at about 8:40pm. I was on hold for about 25 minutes and the AT&T reseller store was closing, so I talked to another AT&T support rep, for about 25 minutes in my car about the issue. He suggested restoring the Apple Watch and setting up again, which I was reluctant to do and he indicated that there was a known issue and to wait for the fix. The issue that he was referring to was a wifi issue, not a cellular one.

I hung up with the AT&T customer service rep and drove home. I then attempted to restore the watch and try setting up cellular again. That did not work, so I gave up for the evening. I opted to go to the AT&T corporate store, since the issue, at least to me, seemed to be an AT&T one, and nothing with the watch. I worked with an AT&T rep at the corporate store and eventually we figured out the issue.

The Fix

The AT&T corporate rep began looking at resetting passwords to allow the "primary" account to login to the "MY AT&T" app. The AT&T corporate thought this was the issue because this is how the Android-based Smart Watches needed to be configured. During his testing he was looking at the line for the Apple Watch to find the NumberSync feature, but he could not find it there. It could not be found under the Apple Watch line because the NumberSync feature is under the line for the iPhone. The item that was blocking setup was that a feature called "NumberSync blocking for Apple" had been added to my iPhone line. I do not know when this was added, and I certainly do not remember adding it. Once this was removed as a "feature", I was able to proceed with the cellular setup.

After removing it, I received this email in my inbox.

It took 19 hours, a half dozen phone calls to AT&T, totaling up to two hours on the phone, and over 90 minutes in different AT&T stores just to get the issue resolved. Ultimately it was fixed, but it would have been nice to have an AT&T phone customer support rep realize that it was a NumberSync issue after first calling, that way it would have been done and out of the way sooner. If you find yourself in the same boat, I hope this fixes the issue for you.

Apple's Fall 2017 event was almost a week ago, so I thought it was time to go ahead and look at how well my predictions did. Here is what I predicted plus the results. Overall I got 12 out of 22, so 54.5% correct. I guess that's not too bad. If you add this and my WWDC predictions, I am at 51.35% for the year, not too bad. I think I was not too far off, particularly since these predictions were made before the leak of the Gold Master of iOS 11, which was the weekend before the announcement. Here are the predictions and the results.

Apple has held their annual Fall Event. The biggest aspect to any Fall event is the unveiling of new iPhones. This event does indeed include new iPhones. Apple's fall event is the one that receives the most attention from not just technology media, but, more importantly, from those outside of the technology sphere. With that fact in mind Apple chose to hold this year's event at the new Steve Jobs Theater on the new Apple Park campus. To me, it seems quite befitting to have the first event at the new Steve Jobs Theater be the unveiling of iPhones. This is because back in January of 2007, Steve Jobs stood on stage at the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco and unveiled the first iPhone, one that would revolutionize not just only the mobile phone industry, but also the technology sphere in general. The mobile phone revolution has ushered in one of the greatest technology shifts of the last few centuries. While Today's iPhone announcements may, to some, seem evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, the march of progress continues.

This article focuses on the Apple Watch, Apple TV, and iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. If you are looking for the iPhone X, that is in its own article.

Apple Watch

The Apple Watch is one of Apple's newer product lines. When it was introduced three years ago at the September 2014 event, Apple positioned the Apple Watch as a smaller version of the iPhone. While this was a good premise to start a product, ultimately the market has steered the Apple Watch to primarily become a fitness and notification mechanism. While Apple has continued to improve the software, most notably with watch OS 3, and now with WatchOS 4, the hardware, besides internal changes, has remained unchanged. The hardware that was present on the original Apple Watch is the same that was on the Apple Watch Series 2. One of the downsides to the Apple Watch, up to now, has been the need for many to bring their iPhones with them when they go and exercise. The Apple Watch Series 2 obviated this, in someways, by providing a GPS radio in the watch. This is beneficial to those who wanted to plot a route foe their outdoor workouts, but it did not completely reduce the need for bringing an iPhone along.

Hardware Changes

The new Apple Watch Series 3 has made a big leap forward, in this regard. The Apple Watch Series 3 now includes an LTE radio. The inclusion of an LTE radio opens up many more opportunities for fitness. The biggest, and most obvious, is that the Series 3 you can now leave your iPhone at home. To complement this new capability, watchOS 4 includes a new feature that will allow you to automatically sync some of your favorite music to the Apple Watch. This is quite useful if you want to exercise and only bring your bluetooth headphones and your Apple Watch. Combining this with the new watchOS 4 feature that allows you to pair your Apple Watch with gym equipment, and the other new feature to quickly add a new exercise to your current session directly on the watch, one can quickly see that it becomes even easier to switch your current exercise,or music, without needing to fumble with your watch.

There are both upsides and downsides to the inclusion of LTE on the Apple Watch. The upside is that Apple has worked with the carriers to be able to receive phone calls on your Apple Watch. This is not only a convenient feature when around the house, but it will be super helpful should you need to call emergency services. The addition of LTE also means that you will be able to receive iMessages, phone calls, and perform many of the same tasks you would on an iPhone, but with your Apple Watch. Starting in October, you will even be able to stream your Apple Music right from you watch, over LTE.

The processor in the Apple Watch Series 3 has been upgrade to a faster dual-core model, named the S3. Along with this there is a new Apple Wireless chip, the W2. The W2 make some enhancements over the W1, but what those are is not known.

There is an additional hardware change. The Apple Watch Series 3 includes a new barometric altimeter. The barometric altimeter will allow you to more accurately track flights walked up as well as differences in elevation when you are exercising outdoors.

The Apple Watch Series 3, with Cellular has 16GB of storage available on it, this is up from 8GB on the non-cellular models and the older Apple Watches. The last tweak is that the back of the Apple Watch Series 3, with cellular is ceramic and no longer composite. This is due to the nature of radio and the need to be able to send signals through the back of the watch. The advance in processing power has allowed Apple to let Siri actually respond with voice instead of just text.

The last change regarding cellular is the location of the wireless radio for cellular. It is actually embedded within the screen which leaves even more room for the other internals that are needed. Let us turn to some accessories for the Apple Watch, most notably the bands.

Bands

One of the ways that individuals customize their Apple Watch is through bands. Apple has unveiled a new style of band, the Sport Loop. The Sport Loop combines the best of the Sport band with the best of the Milanese Loop. The Sport Loop functions like the Milanese in that you can precisely position it how you need. At the same time though, it is able to breathe like the sport band so that you can use it while exercising.

There are eight colors for the Sport Loop. These colors are:

• Flash
• Spicy Orange
• Electric Pink
• Midnight Blue
• Black Sport
• Seashell
• Dark Olive
• Pink Sand

Just like traditional sport bands, these cost $49 and are available to order today for delivery on September 22nd. The Sport Loop is not the only update, there are two new Hermès bands as well. One for the 38mm, the Hermès Bordeaux Swift Leather Double Tour, and the corresponding Single Tour version available for both the 38mm and 42mm. The Double Tour is $489, and the Single Tour is $339. There are still more bands available.

There is a whole new line of Nylon Colors. The available colors for Nylon are:

• Dark Olive Woven Nylon
• Midnight Blue Woven Nylon
• White Woven Nylon
• Spicy Orange Woven Nylon
• Berry Woven Nylon
• Black Woven Nylon
• White Woven Nylon
• Midnight Blue Woven Nylon
• Black Woven Nylon

Just like the Sport Loop, these are available for delivery starting September 22nd. There is a single new Nike Sport Band, the Pure Platinum/Black band. It is available for $49. The last new set of bands available are the Leather ones, with buckles. The new options are:

• Cosmos Blue Classic Buckle
• Pink Fuchsia Classic Buckle
• Dark Aubergine Classic Buckle
• Ruby (PRODUCT)RED Classic Buckle
• Cosmos Blue Leather Loop (42mm only)
• Charcoal Gray Leather Loop (42mm only)

Just like the other bands, these are available for order today and delivery of September 22nd. These bands cost $149 each.

Apple Watch Colors

Outside of the addition of LTE, there have been a couple of other hardware changes. The Apple Watch initially came in two colors, Silver and Space Gray. There were three different possible materials choices for the case; aluminum, stainless steel, and also solid gold, but that was for the high-end “edition” model. The Apple Watch Series 2 expanded the colors to include Rose Gold and Gold for the aluminum in addition to a new white ceramic as the "Apple Watch Edition" model. This year there are a couple new colors. There is a new "Blush Gold" aluminum color and a new "Gray" for the ceramic edition of the Apple Watch. While these may be modest changes, these will definitely help attract more users, and provide a few more options in the product line.

The Apple Watch Series 3 comes in the same color choices. For the Sport model the options are Silver, Space Gray, and Gold. Pricing for the 38MM aluminum starts at $329. The Cellular option is $70 more at $399. The 42MM is $359 for the non-cellular model and $429 for the cellular model. The Apple Watch Edition is only available in a cellular model. The 38MM is $1299, and the 42MM is $1349.

The Stainless Steel and Hermes models are available in the same colors as before. The Stainless Steel model only comes in two colors, Silver and Space Gray, and just like the Apple Watch Edition, the Stainless Steel model is only available in a cellular configuration. The 38mm is available for $599, and the 42mm is $649. The Hermes is only available in Stainless Steel and only comes in cellular models.

Pre-orders for all of the Apple Watch Series 3 starts on September 15th with deliveries beginning on September 22nd.

Apple TV

The Apple TV began life in 2007 as a modified version of a Mac Mini. This was replaced with a small "puck" like device in the 2nd and 3rd Generation Apple TVs. In 2015, Apple unveiled their all new 4th Generation Apple TV. This Apple TV changed the paradigm for the Apple TV to one that was based upon applications and not based upon whom Apple was willing to partner with. The Apple TV has seen a modicum of success in the last two years. Today, Apple announced an all new Apple TV 4K. The changes that have been brought with the Apple TV 4K bring capabilities to the Apple TV that allow it to take advantage of today's television technology.

The most notable upgrade to the Apple TV 4K is the fact that it can do 4K. 4K television have been around for almost a decade and it is very likely that any TV that you purchase will be a 4K Television. 4K offers twice the number of vertical pixels, 2160, as well as twice the number of horizontal pixels, 3840 pixels over traditional HD TVs, which have a resolution of 1920 pixels wide by 1080 Pixels high. This means that there are four times the number of pixels on the same size screen. This should allow for better clarity and smoother action scenes.

The second, and possibly more noticeable feature, is the addition of High Dynamic Range, or HDR. You may already be familiar with HDR if you use your iPhone to take pictures. HDR on an iPhone will take three pictures and take the best features of each and combine them into a single picture. Ultimately, this results in better colors and more contrast within a picture. The same general thing occurs with HDR on TVs. HDR on a TV will allow for even blacker blacks and even brighter whites. This means that all of the colors on a screen will be even brighter and clearer, which will see the picture even more life-like.

The internals of the Apple TV 4K have been significantly improved. It now sports an A10X Fusion processor in it. This is the same as the 10.5-inch iPad Pro and 2nd Generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro. The Apple TV 4K also has Bluetooth 5.0 for connectivity to the latest peripherals. Alongside this comes HDMI 2.0a and Gigabit Ethernet. This is up from Bluetooth 4.2, HDMI 1.4, and 10/100 ethernet. The wireless has also been improved to support the 5GHz band

Apple would not introduce a 4K Apple TV without having some 4K content to go with it. iTunes now has 4K content within the store. 4K movies will cost the same as HD movies. So around $20 for new releases. Rentals will cost the same around $6 for new releases. With having four times as many pixels being shown within a 4K movie, you might think that the size of the file would be significantly higher. In reality, they are not. With the new High Efficiency Video Codec (HEVC) in tvOS 11, and iOS 11, 4K movies will be able to be better compressed all while maintaining their quality. This means that 4K movies should come in around 4GB for a 90 minute movie. This is approximately the same size as a 1080p movie that is not encoded with HEVC.

If you already have HD Movies, they will automatically be upgraded to 4K versions. This is a great perk for those who already have large iTunes collections.

The addition of 4K and HDR to the Apple TV will make it a worthy upgrade for anyone who has an Apple TV and a 4K TV. The Apple TV 4K is available for pre-order on September 15th, for $179 for the 32GB model and $199 for the 64GB model. The 32GB 4th Generation Apple TV is still around for $149.

iPhones

With the iPhone being the biggest consumer item for Apple, making up 60% of all of Apple's profits, and with selling millions of phones every quarter, it is hard to keep a lid on all of the changes that are to come with a new iPhone. This year presents a big change for iPhones. The biggest being that there are three different models being introduced. From 2007 through 2013, there was only one model introduced. It may have come in some colors, but there was only one size. From 2007 to 2011, this was a 3.5-inch sized iPhone. For 2012 and 2013, this was 4-inch screen. Since 2014, there have been two sizes, 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screens, starting with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. These two sizes continue with the 8 and 8 Plus. Let us look at the new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.

iPhone 8 and 8 Plus

The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus continue on the tradition of their predecessors. The general form factor of the phone has remained unchanged since the introduction of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in 2014. There have been some interior structural changes, like with the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6 Plus becoming a bit more rigid to combat any inadvertent bending. Many people may complain that the outside of the iPhone has remained unchanged for four releases now, however this does come with some benefits. For instance, it means that Apple has gotten really good at making the exterior cases for the phone. Along side this, many of your peripherals will continue to work with a new phone, just like they did on the old phone. However, that is not always the case.

The biggest change with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models were that he headphone jack was removed. The removal of the headphone jack allowed Apple to make the iPhone something that it was not previously capable of being; water resistant. One of the quickest ways to kill any electronic device is to expose it to water. The change to the water resistant case, which required removal of the headphone jack, has lead to fewer iPhones being destroyed by being put into water; whether willingly or unwillingly.

Processor

One change that occurs every year is the interior components. The new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus contains the new A11 Bionic processor along with its M11 motion co-processor. The A11 Bionic This brings even better battery efficiency and processing to the phone. The A11 Bionic is a six core processor that consists of four high efficiency cores that are up to 70 percent faster than A10 Fusion. It also has two high performance cores that are up to 25 percent faster than the A10 Fusion. To go with the processor, Apple has included a new Apple-designed graphics processor as well. This will get 30% faster performance over the graphics in the A10 Fusion.

There is an all new item incorporated with the A11 Bionic, a neural engine. The neural engine will allow even faster processing of Augmented Reality and Machine Learning than the A10 Fusion. The neural engine is designed not only for Augmented Reality and Machine Learning, but can be used for many other things like processing of items within photos and much much more. The new items within the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus do not end there. Let us look now turn to the screen.

Screen

The screen on the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are significantly better with an all new technology that Apple is calling Retina HD displays. Retina HD displays incorporate True Tone technology to adjust the screen to the right brightness, contrast, and color based upon the surroundings. The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus also incorporate the Wide Color Gamut, which will be able to show the best colors possible.

With the glass back on the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, Apple has matched the aluminum band around the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus to be the exact same color as the back. Besides matching aesthetically, this also allows for more rigidity within the iPhone.

Camera

The biggest usage of any iPhone is the camera. The camera in the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus have been vastly improved. They now both feature Quad-LED True Tone flash with Slow Sync. They are also capable of recording 4K video at 60 frames per second, which will make your 4K video even more life-like. The cameras have otherwise remained largely the same.

The iPhone 8 Plus has seen a bit of an improvement on its own. It now has a new feature, Portrait Lighting. Similar to the way that Portrait photos were brought to the iPhone 7 Plus last year, Portrait Lighting is in beta, but it allows you to perform some interesting effects with a Portrait photo. Portrait Lighting will take the information from the surrounding light and apply a lighting effect to the photo. The biggest benefit is that you can do this retroactively and you can also change

Battery

One of the things you can always expect is that battery life on the iPhone will remain fairly consistent. The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are no exception. They get the same battery life as their predecessors.

The iPhone 8 has a new set of materials on the outside. The front and back are now both glass. The glass is surrounded by a band of aluminum. The glass back allows for an all new feature to iPhones, wireless charging.

The wireless charging that is included with the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus is the Qi, pronounced "she", standard. This means that if you have a Qi-compliant charging pad, it will work with the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. The inclusion of wireless charging will allow users to simply place their iPhone on a charging pad and it should begin charging. This means that you will not have to plug in your iPhone just to have it charge. This is convenient, not only for home, but also if you travel. This is because you can bring a charging mat that will allow your iPhone, Apple Watch Series 3, and even AirPods charge wirelessly.

There is a new product coming in 2018 called "AirPower". AirPower is a mat designed by Apple that will allow you to charge all of your Apple devices at once.

Pricing

The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus come in two configurations. 64GB and 256GB and come in three colors; Silver, Space Gray, and Gold. The prices have gone up slightly to $699 and $799, respectively, for the 64GB models. The 256GB models are $849 and $949 respectively. Pre-orders for the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 plus begin Friday September 15th, and delivery starts on September 22nd.

Other iPhones

When Apple introduces new iPhone models, they typically eliminate an older model, however that is not the case this year. The iPhone 6s/6s Plus and iPhone 7/7 Plus are still available, as is the iPhone SE. The pricing on these models has changed though.

The iPhone SE is now $50 cheaper, at $349 for 32GB and $449 for 128GB. The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus have dropped by $100. The iPhone 6s is $449 for the 32GB model, and $549 for the 128GB Model, while the iPhone 6s Plus is $549 for the 32GB model and $649 for the 128GB Model. The iPhone 7 is also $100 less at $549 for the 32GB model, and $649 for the 128GB model, where as the iPhone 7 Plus is $669 for the 32GB model, and $769 for the 128GB Model.

The decision to keep the iPhone 6s will allow even more devices to be purchased that support ARKit under iOS 11, which means that Apple's current iPhone line supports ARKit.

Final Thoughts

The new LTE-enabled Apple Watch Series 3 will allow those who exercise to leave their phones somewhere safe and no use them and without having to sacrifice connectivity. The improved processor will make things even smoother than before. Even though the Apple Watch Serires 2 is no longer available for sale, the Series 1 is still available at a new lower price, of $249. The inclusion of cellular as a standard on the Hermes, Stainless Steel, and Ceramic Edition will provide even more benefit for users who purchase those versions.

The new Apple TV 4K is a great upgrade to bring the Apple TV up to date to be able to take advantage of the latest technologies, like 4K and High Dynamic Range. Keeping the old 4th Generation Apple TV around at a lower price point will allow more options for Apple TVs and will allow those who do not have a 4K TV to be able to take advantage of the capabilities of the Apple TV. The automatic upgrade of previously purchased content to 4K is a definite plus that will benefit everyone, not just those who have 4K now, but will end up buying a 4K TV in the future. The biggest benefit is that the pricing of the 4K movies will be the same price as HD movies, which is great for consumers and will ultimately benefit the movie companies as well.

The new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus bring some solid enhancements to the already future-looking iPhone lineup. The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus add a couple of additional phones to the lineup and are ARKit compatible. The all new glass back will definitely allow the adoption of the Qi wireless charging standard to become the de facto standard. The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are solid upgrades over the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The Retina HD with True Tone display will allow for better viewing all around. If you are in the market for an iPhone, the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are solid upgrades. Just be sure to get your wallets ready for pre-orders of all of these starting on Friday.

Now that Apple has announced that its Fall 2017 event will be held at the Steve Jobs Theater on September 12th, at 10AM Pacific Time, it is time for me to make my predictions for what we will see. Even though Apple does hold other events throughout the year, its biggest has been the September event. The reason for the attention to the September event is that it has been the tradition to show off the new iPhones at the event. In years past, the September event has been used for Music. The iPhone makes up 60% of Apple's revenue, so that is where the most attention is paid, not only by the tech press, but mainstream media as well. Let us dive into my predictions.

iPhones

I think there will be three new iPhone versions unveiled at the event. The successors to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, which will be named the iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus. These will use the same form factor as the previous versions. The biggest changes will be from the addition of the Dual camera for the iPhone 7s, which will allow Portrait Mode on the smaller size. I think the processor will be an A11 Fusion, the next generation of processor and the two phones will have parity, in everything except for size. This is akin to the way the iPad Pros are now positioned. This will just be a continuation of that model. I think the sizes will remain the same at 32GB, 128GB, and 256GB. Alongside this, I think the colors will also remain the same as Silver, Gold, Rose Gold, and Space Gray. The prices will also remain the same at $649 for the 32GB iPhone 7s, and each increase in size is $100 more. The same will be for the iPhone 7s Plus, starting at $769 for the 32GB, and $100 more for each size above that. I give this a 95% probability of occurring.

New iPhone Form Factor

The third new phone will be an all new model. This is the rumored "Unicorn" iPhone. As an aside, the idea of naming it "Unicorn" is dumb, it will only be a "Unicorn" phone until it is released and then the next iPhone will be the "Unicorn" phone. You can absolutely call it the "Ferrari" phone, or "D22", or "iPhone 8" or even "iPhone Pro". For the sake of these predictions, I will call it the iPhone Pro. The reason I think it may be called the iPhone Pro is it allows Apple to get away from assigning a number to it, and instead just call all versions the same name.

I think the iPhone Pro will sport everything that has been rumored, as well as leaked from the HomePod firmware. The iPhone Pro will sport an "edge to edge" display, an A11 Fusion processor, and a True Tone OLED Display that supports Apple's ProMotion technology, similar to the iPad Pros. Along with all of this, there will be an improved dual camera system that will be even better at detecting objects and may even be able to have a new setting for automatically doing a "Portrait" mode of a Photo, much like you are able to do now with HDR photos. I give this aspect a 25% chance. That is not all with the camera. I'm also thinking that it will be able to do 3X optical zoom, up from the 2X optical zoom on the iPhone 7s Plus. The rationale behind this is that the 10.5-inch and 2nd Generation 12.9-inch iPad Pros both have 3x optical zoom capability. The last new feature of the phone, which may also make its way into the iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus is 4K record at 60 frames per second. All of Apple's cameras have been able to do 4K at 30 frames per second, but having a "Pro" iPhone capable of 4K at 60fps would be a great feature. I know I would use it.

As the rumors have indicated, I think Touch ID will not be available on the iPhone Pro, yet there will be a replacement, BioMetric detection through Face Detection. The last new feature that I think will come to the "iPhone Pro" will be wireless charging. Apple already has some wireless charging available with the Apple Watch. The lightning port will not go away, as it is still necessary for many things. However, the ability to charge wirelessly will be built-in and a wireless charging dock will be an extra cost. My guess is $99 or even $129 for the dock. If this does come to fruition, whatever standard that Apple chooses, if they do not do their own, will ultimately become the de-facto standard since Apple ships so many phones.

The hard part to predict with an iPhone Pro is the price. The rumors indicate that it will be $1200. While I can see Apple charging that for a phone, that is most likely the top end model. There are two possibilities. Let us look at both of these.

The first possibility is that the iPhone Pro will come in three sizes; 64GB, 256GB, and 512GB. Again, this is similar to the iPad Pro and these are the sizes that the iPad Pros come in. In this scenario I think the iPhone Pro will also start at $899 or $949, and be $100 more for each size increase. I am speculating this because Apple likes to give surprises and pricing is the one thing that Apple can decide to change at the absolute last minute. A similar pricing surprise occurred with the introduction of the original iPad. Before it was announced, the rumors indicated it would cost $999, and it came in at $499.

The second possibility, which after thinking about it more seems the more likely course. It is entirely possible that Apple may not do a "low end" size and will only make the iPhone Pro available in two sizes; 256GB and 512GB. This would be akin to the "Jet Black" and "Product Red" iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models. These do not come in 32GB versions. If Apple does truly want this to be a "Professional" phone, then only having two sizes would make sense. In this scenario, the pricing may be more inline with the rumors. The pricing could come in at $1049 or $1069 for the 256GB and $1149 or $1169 for the 512GB version.

I give the overall chance of an iPhone Pro at 90% with the automatic "Portrait Mode" pictures at 25%, object detection at 75%, no Touch ID at 90%, and a new biometric option at 90%. I give 4K at 60 frames per second is 50% chance of occurring and I give wireless charging a 50% chance of occurring. I give my speculation on the pricing on the iPhone Pro at 60%. Now that the iPhones have been covered let us turn to the Apple Watch.

Apple Watch

The Apple Watch has slowly become a more focused product, which is the opposite of the iPhone. The Apple Watch is primarily focused on fitness, and one of the current downsides is that those who want to go and exercise usually have to bring their iPhones along with them. My guess is that this will change with the addition of an LTE version of the Apple Watch. This will be the biggest change to the Apple Watch, besides the inclusion of a new, even more power efficient S3 processor.

I also think that there will be some new Watch Bands, these will have slightly different colors and the existing bands will support the Apple Watch. I think the pricing will be the same as the existing Apple Watch, at $369 for the 38MM, and $399 for the 42MM. I think the LTE versions will be $499 and $529 for each respective size. This would be the same as what it cost to put LTE into an iPad, $130 more. With the introduction of this model, the Series 2 will become the "lower end" model, and drop to $269 for the 38MM and $299 for the 42MM.

I give the likelihood of a new Apple Watch at 90% and a separate LTE version at 90%, the Apple Watch Pricing at 80% and new Apple Watch Bands at 95%. That is all there is for the Apple Watch, let us move to the Apple TV.

Apple TV

The Apple TV is an interesting product. Apple had hoped that the new version of TV would be application based, and while they are not entirely wrong, I do not think it has exploded as Apple might have hoped. Despite that, I think there will be an updated Apple TV unveiled. I think it will have an A9 processor, and support 4K and High Dynamic Range content. It will support resolutions of 3840 by 2160, which is double the vertical resolution of the previous generation.

I think the storage sizes will be reduced from two, which were 32GB and 64GB, down to just one, a 64GB model. There will still be a 32GB Model, but that will be the 4th Generation Apple TV. The price on the 4th Generation will drop to $119, and the 5th Generation will be $149. I think this may be necessary to be able to compete with other streaming boxes. You can get a 4K Roku for $60, or an Amazon Fire TV for $90. Continuing to charge almost a $100 more, while it may make sense in terms of margins, will not get you new customers as quickly as if you have a compelling hardware offering. If Apple truly sees services as the place for continued growth, then the hardware prices should start to reflect that. Combine this with the rumored $1 Billion that Apple is putting into original Television and it could prove to be a good start to bringing more people into the Apple ecosystem.

Since Apple does not have its own catalog of content yet, it will need to be supplemented. That is why the release date for the Amazon Prime Video app will be announced on stage. It is already 100% certain that it will come, as it was announced back at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference Keynote.

I give the likelihood of a new Apple TV coming at 90%, Amazon Prime Video app at 100%, and pricing at 75%. It is entirely possible that Apple does not

HomePod

Apple's newest foray into Music and voice is the HomePod. It was unveiled at Apple's 2017 World Wide Developer Conference keynote as being available in December, I think Apple will provide a bit more information, possibly even a month in which it can pre-ordered. I give the chance of this happening at 50%.

macOS High Sierra and iOS 11

While iOS is now the primary focus not only for Apple, due to profits, but also for developers, the Mac and macOS does not get as much love. Apple will announce the availability date for macOS High Sierra. My guess is that it will be the same day as iOS 11 availability. So my guess is September 19th at the release date for both of these. It is possible that macOS High Sierra might not be released until later though. So I give this an 80% chance of occurring.

New Mac Hardware

There is a very very small chance that new Mac Hardware will be discussed, as in a 5% chance. The only Mac that has not been updated this year is the Mac Mini. If Apple mentions it on stage, it will be very brief. In all likelihood. Any Mac Mini update will simply be a press release or even just a change on the website and nothing more.

Recap

So, to recap, here is what I am thinking will happen at the September 12th Event. There is just about a week until the event, in the days after the event I will post my prediction results. There are a total of twenty two predictions, so we will see how well I do.

Yesterday’s Apple World Wide Developer Conference keynote was a long one. It came in at just under two and half hours. This is the longest keynote that they have done, end so it was completely full of announcements. A list of items covered include software, and hardware, including some sneak peeks at hardware coming later. There was so much in this keynote, it is hard to choose where to begin. Let us start with hardware.

iPad Pro

One of the things that Apple announced at this keynote is new iPad Pros. The new iPad Pros have a slew of new features. Both of the iPad Pros now have feature parity, meaning that they have the same hardware inside the case.

• ProMotion technology
• P3 Wide Color Gamut
• True Tone Display
• A10X Fusion Chip
• 12-megapixel camera
• ƒ/1.8 aperture

The physical dimensions of the iPad Pros have changed, at least for the 9.7-inch model. That model is gone. It has been replaced with the new 10.5-inch iPad Pro, yet it is almost the same physical size. This is possible because there is now 40% less bezel on the sides. The new 10.5-inch iPad Pro is only 0.3 inches longer and 0.2 inches wider than the 9.7-inch model. The size difference also means that the weight of the 10.5-inch iPad Pro is a bit more over the 9.7-inch model. In fact, it is a whole 32 grams, or 0.07 pounds more.

If one is going from the 9.7-inch iPad pro to the 10.5-inch iPad Pro you will see a more modest set of changes one. However, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is seeing a bunch of new features. Again, these are all available on the 10.5-inch. The new features of the 12.9-inch include:

• Digital zoom up to 5x
• Optical image stabilization
• Six‑element lens
• Quad-LED True Tone flash
• Panorama (up to 63 megapixels)
• ProMotion technology
• Wide color display (P3)
• True Tone display

As mentioned, these were all available on the 9.7-inch previously, however having them on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro will be a nice change for those 12.9-inch iPad Pro owners who do upgrade. In fact, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is now lighter by 36 grams, or 0.08 pounds.

The FaceTime camera has also been upgraded in both models. It is now a 7 megapixel camera with a ƒ/2.2 aperture, and 1080p recording. The FaceTime camera includes Wide Color capture as well. The FaceTime camera changes will work not only for FaceTime but also for selfies.

There is one last thing to note. The 10.5-inch iPad Pro is the only one that comes in Rose Gold. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro does not. The 10.5-inch model starts at $649, while the 12.9-inch model starts at $799. You can choose among three different storage sizes, 64GB, 256GB, and 512GB. This is double the previous models. There are also cellular models and these cost $130 more. The new iPad Pros are able to be ordered today, and they ship next week.

Macs

The quick summary is that everything got updated, well except the Mac mini, and the MacBook Air. The iMac, MacBook and MacBook Pros have all gotten an upgrade to the latest Intel Series of chips, codenamed Kaby Lake. The 13-inch MacBook now has the Intel Iris Plus 640 Graphics chip, where as the 13-inch with Touch Bar has the Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar now includes an AMD Radeon 555 with 2GB of Video RAM, or Radeon 560 with 4GB of Video RAM. The 13-inch MacBook Pro non-touchbar model is now starting at $1299.

The 12-inch MacBook has also received a slight upgrade as well. It also has the 7th Generation Intel chips. It now has a 1.2 GHz process as its base which includes Intel HD 615 Graphics. Along side this it has Bluetooth 4.2 support.

If you are still in the market for a MacBook Air, they are still around and have recieved a very minor procssor speed increase, but that is the only change for the MacBook Air.

The MacBooks were modest upgrades, unlike the iMacs. These received a more substantial upgrade.

iMacs

The entire Retina iMac line received upgrades to the latest Intel chips, Kaby Lake. The most notable change is in the 27-inch Screen. It now supports the Wide Color Gamut (P3), which brings it to parity with the iPads.

The second biggest change is that the iMac line now supports USB-C, and Thunderbolt 3, with the two USB-C ports available on all models. This is the first time that USB-C has been available on a desktop Mac. Alongside, there is also Bluetooth 4.2 support. One of the most noticeable changes will be in graphics. For all Retina models, Apple is now including AMD Radeon Pro graphics. For the 21.5-inch model this is the 555 with 2GB of RAM or the 560 with 4GB of RAM. The 27-inch models get the Radeon Pro 570, 575, or 580, with 4GB of memory for the 570 and 575, and 8GB video Memory for the 580.

The change that is most likely to be a nice change is that the 21.5-inch 4K Retina iMac now starts at $1299. This is down from $1499 for the previous version.

There were two "Sneak Peeks" at the keynote. These will be covered a bit later. For now, let us look at the software that was announced, starting with tvOS.

tvOS

There was only one announcement, for today, regarding the Apple TV. Even though it was only one announcement, it was a big one; the Amazon Prime Video is coming this fall. This means that anybody who likes to watch Amazon Prime Video will be able to do that directly on the Apple TV. It is possible to use AirPlay to get Amazon Video on your Apple TV today, but this is an inelegant solution.

watchOS

The Apple Watch has become a key aspect to many people's lives since its initial release in April of 2015. It took a couple of years, but the Apple has honed in on its main focus, health and fitness. watchOS 4 brings a few new features, the first being a new user interface for scrolling applications. Along side this there are a few new watch faces, Siri, Kaleidoscope, as well as coupel of new iconic characters. These characterse areWoody, Jessie, and Buzz from the Toy Story franchise.

Workouts are now easier under watchOS 4. To coincide with this, you are able to get more data to and from the Apple Watch. This is done through the use of NFC. The NFC capability will only available on newer equipment, but if it is available, it will be helpful. In particular, your heart rate will be sent from your Apple Watch to the gym equipment, whereas the incline rate from the gym equipment will be sent to your Apple Watch. This two-way communication allows for more data relating to health. This is likely only the beginning of the two-way communications between the Apple Watch and gym equipment.

The last item with watchOS is that Music can now be automatically synchronized over to your Apple Watch. This feature will allow you to always have music with you, particularly if you do not bring your iPhone with your when you exercise.

There are a bunch of other features for watchOS. For now let us look at some of the new features of iOS.

iOS 11

The most anticipated aspect of the announcement is the operating system for the iPhone, and iPad, iOS. iOS 11 brings a bunch of updates. One of the most used applications on iOS is Messages.

Messages

There are a couple of updates specifically for Messages. These revolve around iMessage apps, syncing, and Payments.

iMessage Apps and Stickers

With iOS 10, Apple added iMessage applications to iOS. One of the downsides to have so many iMessage apps and stickers is the difficulty of finding the specifc iMessage application you wanted to use. With iOS 11 it is now easier to find said application. You simply scroll through your iMessage application drawer and locate the application you are looking for. This was one of the biggest issues with iMessage in iOS 10. The next feature is syncing of messages.

Syncing

iOS 11 will synchronize all of your messages across all of your devices. This is possible because all of your iMessages will being stored in the cloud, securely. When you get a new device, all of your recent messages will be synchronized to the device. This will also reduce the amount of storage needed on your device for messages. The last item to highlight is actually an iMessage app, Payments.

Person to Person Payments

The biggest change to iMessage in iOS 11 will be the ability to send money directly to someone. Once you receive some money, it will be added to your Apple Pay Cash card. You can use this to purchase apps or pay for other services using your iPhone. Alternnatively you can transfer the money to your bank account.

App Store

Since the App Store was released nine years ago, it has remained mostly unchanged. It has changed slightly here and there with the style changes of iOS. However, that is going to change with iOS 11. Under iOS 11, the App Store is now getting a major redesign, similar to the one that Apple Music introduced. There are now two new and distinct tabs at the bottom; Games and Apps. These, as one might guess, are specifically for these two genres. This separation allows those specifically looking for Games to be able to find a game to play. The same goes for the other app categories.

The biggest change within the App Store is the "Today" tab. Similar to how Apple Music will suggest music for you, the App Store can now show you what is new today. This could be popular items, suggestions from the App Store curators, or even in-app purchases for games you are already playing.

Mark Up

One of the features within Mail on macOS Sierra was the ability to "Mark Up" images and send them to others. This feature is now available on screenshots within iOS 11. “Mark Up” is even better on an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil, but the feature works across all iOS 11 devices. This means that you will be able to add notes and highlights to any screenshot. This will make collaboration even better.

iPad Changes

The biggest changes for iOS 11 are with the iPad. As was stated, "This is the biggest release of iOS for the iPad". The focus on the iPad Pro. They were not kidding. iOS 11 is chalk full of features specifically for the iPad. Some of these include:

• Update for the Dock
• Improvements to Split View & Drag and Drop
• Consolidated Files

There is a lot more that has been added, but these are the biggest items and we will focus on these. Let us start with the Dock.

The Dock

Under iOS 10 and previous versions, the dock on the iPad was limited to 5 items, regardless of the size of the iPad. This meant that there was a lot of empty space between applications. This is no longer the case with iOS 11. Instead, you are now able to fill up the dock with as many applications as you would like. Additionally, the dock will house any recent items and will even predict what applications you may want.

Split View

Split View came to the iPad with iOS 9 in 2015. At the time you were able to run more than one application at the same time. This has been the case, but now with iOS 11, you are able to drag and drop all types of data between applications. This means that instead of needing to manually copy and paste, or send a picture to another application. This will make things even quicker for many users.

Alongside Drag and Drop, applications that you pair together will now stay together. This means that if you like to have two applications open side by side, it will now be remembered, which will only increase productivity.

Files.app

The last thing to know about the iPad, and iPhone, is that all of your files will now be viewable into a single application. This means that if you have files stored in iCloud, One Drive, and Dropbox you will be able to see all of them all at once instead of needing to go to different applications to get all of the files that you have. This will make it even easier with Drag and Drop to be able to find items and place them onto applications.

There are definitely many more features, however these are some of the biggest. Now, let us move on to macOS.

macOS

It is not surprising to see a new version of macOS at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference. Each year there is a new name to accompany the new operating system. macOS 10.13 is code-named "High Sierra". This is similar to the naming convention used by Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. This signifies that while there were some user facing features, these updates were aimed at under the hood improvements.

macOS High Sierra does not contain a huge number of new feeatures, except there are a ton of under the hood changes. The lowest level that one interacts with every day, the file system. iOS 10.3 brought the Apple File System (APFS) to iOS devices,

macOS High Sierra brings APFS to the Mac. This will be the default going forward. One of the things that many users use often is Safari. There have been a couple of changes in Safari.

Safari

The biggest change in Safari on macOS High Sierra is that Autoplay videos will no longer play, automatically. They are still able to be played, but they will be muted by default. Having autoplay videos not play automatically will only improve a user’s experience.

One of the downsides of the the modern web is the amount of tracking that is done has become and just how it occurs across all types of websites. This has changed with Safari under macOS High Sierra. Now, Safari will cordon off those sites that attempt to track your data and it will remove the data, so you cannot be tracked all over the web. The ads will still display, so it will not break the internet, but it should become a bit more pleasant.

There are some other technologies that are "under the hood" of macOS High Sierra, but these are not necessary to cover now. Let us look at the two products that Apple previewed.

Sneak Peeks

It is not often that Apple previews hardware, it has occurred before, but it is not often. Today Apple previewed two new products, the iMac Pro and HomePod. Let us start with the iMac Pro.

iMac Pro

The iMac Pro was briefly mentioned a couple months ago, when Apple sat down with a handful of journalists to spell out the future of the professional Mac. At that time there were no details. We now have some more information. First and foremost, the iMac Pro is designed for Professionals. This is particularly apparent with the STARTING price, of $4999. Yes, almost five thousand dollars is the starting price. The iMac Pro has the following specifications:

• Retina 5k Screen with Wide Color Gamut
• An 8, 10 or 18-Core Xeon Processor
• 32, 64, or 128GB of Memory
• 1TB SSD, configurable to 2TB or even 4TB
• AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 graphics, with 8GB of memory, configurable to Radeon Pro Vega 64 with 16GB of memory
• 1080p FaceTime Camera
• Stereo Speakers with Four microphones
• 4 USB3 port
• 4 USB-C ports
• Bluetooth 4.2 wireless technology
• 10Gbps ethernet port

There is only one color for the iMac Pro, Space Gray. The peripherals are also Space Gray, this includes the keyboard, Magic Trackpad and Magic Mouse 2. The iMac Pro will be available in December 2017.

Mac Accessories

There is one new accessory for everybody today, a Magic Keyboard with a number pad. This is available today for $129. Let us look at the other sneak peek, the HomePod.

HomePod

One of the more anticipated items is what Apple would do regarding a smart home speaker. Today, they answered the question with the HomePod. The HomePod has a built-in A8 chip, the same one that powers the 4th generation Apple TV. Besides the processing chip, there are six microphones, and seven tweeters, each with their own drivers. The microphones and tweeters work in concert to be able to produce the best sound possible.

It does this through Spatial Awareness. Spatial Awareness will test the room that it is in and adjust the sound to each tweeter individually to produce the best sound possible. All of this is done within a 6.8 inches high cylinder that is surrounded by a wire mesh to allow the sound to flow through.

The HomePod is primarily designed to be a music speaker, however that is not all it can do. It also functions as a conduit to using Siri. You can ask Siri, "Who is the drummer in this song", "Play some Hip Hop", or even "Play this specific song" That is not all though, since it integrates with Siri, you can also say things like "Give me the news" or "Turn off the lights". The HomePod is fully integrated with HomeKit, so it can perform any of the same tasks that Siri can.

The HomePod will be available in December 2017 for $349. It comes in two colors, White and Space Grey. If you have more than one HomePod in the same room, they can both work in concert to produce even better sound. At launch, HomePod will be availble in the U.S., the UK, and Australia, with other countries coming next year.

Final Thoughts

Today's World Wide Developer Keynote presentation was a long, but feature rich presentation. The refreshed Macs and iPad Pros will provide even more for users. iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra will also provide a slew of new features. Both iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra will be available in the fall as free upgrades.

There was even more in the presentation that I did not cover here. You can watch the entire keynote on Apple's website.

Today, just a mere 4 days before their World Wide Developer Conference, Apple has made a couple of developer-related announcements. There are two specific areas, Developer Earnings and Swift Playgrounds.

Developer Earnings

When the iOS App Store opened in 2008, it was not clear just how popular the iOS App Store would be. To date, Developers have made $70 Billion. That's about $7.77 Billion per year, over the last 9 years. There were a couple of tidbits to take from Apple's announcement. The first is this:

Health and Fitness have experienced over 70 percent growth in the past year. The Photo and Video category is also among the fastest-growing at nearly 90 percent growth.

The second tidbit is:

...active paid subscriptions are up 58 percent year over year.

Each of these may give developers clues as to where they might want to put some effort, if they have ideas for applications in either Health and Fitness, or Photos and Video. If a developer has a product that might benefit from using subscriptions, it may prove to be worthwhile to utilize subscriptions. As an aside, if your users stay around for at least one year, the developer gets 85% of the subscription price, up from the initial 70%.

Swift Playgrounds

At WWDC 2016, Apple unveiled an iPad Only app, Swift Playgrounds. Swift Playgrounds is a self-contained development environment. Since its initial release, it has seen a couple of minor updates. However, today Apple has announced that version 1.5 of Swift Playgrounds is gaining some new features. One of the limitations of Swift Playgrounds is that it is software only, and you cannot interact with physical objects. With Swift Playgrounds 1.5, this is changing.

Swift Playgrounds 1.5 will allow the interaction with a number of physical items. As Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering states:

Now they can instantly see the code they create and directly control their favorite robots, drones and instruments through Swift Playgrounds. It’s an incredibly exciting and powerful way to learn.

The list of items that will be available include:

• LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3
• the Sphero SPRK+
• Parrot Mambo, Airborne and Rolling Spider drones
• UBTECH’s Jimu Robot MeeBot Kit
• Dash by Wonder Workshop
• Skoogmusic Skoog 2.0

The Swift Playgrounds update will be available on Monday, June 5th and will be a free update for all iPad users.

Earlier this week Apple released a few products. None of the released hardware products are new, however they all have some upgraded internals. Let us start with two upgraded iPhones.

iPhone SE

The first upgrade was to the iPhone SE. The iPhone SE was released about a year ago in March of 2016. The iPhone SE has the same internals as the iPhone 6s. This includes Touch ID, an A9 processor, M9 motion co-processor, and 4K video recording at 30fps. All of this in a 4-inch Retina screen. When the iPhone SE was released, it came in two sizes, 16GB And 64GB models.

The upgrade increases the two model sizes. They are now 32GB and 128GB models are the same price, $399 and $499 respectively.

This upgrade indicates two things. The first that the iPhone SE is not a one-off, and is likely to be continued in the future. It will likely be a phone where the internals are upgraded every two years. The second item is that the 16GB Model of iPhone is officially retired; except for maybe refurbished phones. The updated iPhone SE is not the only iPhone with a new model.

PRODUCT(RED)

PRODUCT(RED) is a program that raises awareness for, and provides funds, to help eliminate HIV/AIDS. Apple has been supporting (PRODUCT)RED since October 2006 when they unveiled an iPod Nano. Since then, Apple has added many other PRODUCT(RED) items over the last 11 years. The latest release is a particularly important one for Apple.

Apple has released an iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus that is Red and White. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are the same exact specifications as the Black, Gold, Rose Gold, and Silver models; except for one aspect. The PRODUCT(RED) iPhone does not come in 32GB, just like the Jet Black model. It does come in 128GB and 256GB models.

The 128GB iPhone 7 model is $749, the 256GB is $849. The 128GB iPhone 7 Plus is $869 and the 256GB is $969. This is the same as the Jet Black iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

The PRODUCT(RED) iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will be available for order on Friday, March 24th, at 8:01 AM Pacific Time.

iPad

One of the most anticipated products is a new iPad Pro, in particular the 12.9-inch model. Unfortunately, there was not a new version of the iPad Pro being released. There is a new 9.7-inch iPad.

The new iPad replaces the iPad Air 2 and is a slight upgrade. The new internals of the iPad include an A9 Processor, this is the same processor that is in the iPhone 6s. There is also the same Motion co-processor, the M9. This is the same as the iPhone 6s.

Besides the internals, the iPad is slightly heavier than its predecessor. The updated iPad is 1.05 pounds, versus 0.96 pounds. There are a couple of things that are no longer on the iPad. The fully laminated display and antireflective coating are no longer on the iPad. This is not the only thing has been dropped from the iPad.

The price has been dropped. The 32GB Wi-Fi Model is now $329, while the 128GB model is $429. This is down from $399 and $499 respectively. The Wi-Fi + Cellular models are $459 and $559 for the 32GB and 128GB models. This is down from $529 and $629 for the 32GB and 128GB Models.

The iPad will be available for order on March 24th, at 8:01 AM Pacific Time.

Accessories

Apple considers itself a fashion company. One of the ways that Apple keeps ups with fashion is by adding colors to some of its accessories. There are a few areas where this is the case. The first is with new iPhone Cases. There are a few new cases.

Cases

For the various iPhone models here are the new colors:

Leather:

iPhone 7/iPhone 7 Plus

• Berry
• Sapphire
• Taupe

iPhone SE

• Saddle Brown

Silicone:

iPhone 7/iPhone 7 Plus

• Azure
• Camellia
• Pebble

Watch Bands

While iPhone Cases provide some fashion, the Apple Watch bands do allow individual expression.

SportBand

• Azure
• Camellia
• Pebble

Nike Bands

When Apple unveiled the Apple Watch Series 2, one of the models that were not immediately available; the Nike+ Model. There are two distinct aspects to the Nike+ models. The first aspect is a custom watch face that is only available on the Nike+ models. This is still the case. However, the second distinct aspect is the watch band options for the Nike+ Watches. These watch bands are now available on their own.

The watch band options are:

• Black/Volt
• Anthracite/Black
• Pure Platinum/White

These bands are available for $49.

Woven Nylon

When Apple introduced the Woven Nylon bands, many of them are two colors. The majority of the band is one color, while a second color is an accent color. The Spring 2017 colors are below.

• Berry
• Tahoe Blue
• Orange
• Red
• Pollen
• Midnight Blue

All of the colors, excluding the Midnight Blue, are tai-colored. Each of these bands are $49.

Leather

One of the more chic materials for watch bands is Leather. There is a new Classic Buckle design for Spring. There are some new colors as well. These are the colors that are available:

• Berry
• Black
• Midnight Blue
• Red
• Saddle Brown
• Sapphire
• Taupe

These bands are available now and cost $149.

Hermès Bands

When Apple unveiled the Apple Watch, one of the companies that they partnered with is Hermès.

There are a few new Hermès bands available.

38 mm versions

• Fauve Barenia Leather Single Tour

• Fauve Barenia Leather Double Tour
• Bleu Zéphyr Epsom Leather Double Tour

42 mm versions

• Lime Epsom Leather Single Tour
• Colvert Swift Leather Single Tour
• Fauve Barenia Leather Single Tour

These bands are available for $489 each.

Software

Beyond the the hardware updates and accessories, there were some software updates released as well. The first is everyone's favorite software product, iTunes.

The new version, 12.6, has one new feature, 'Rent Once, Watch Anywhere'. This new feature will allow you to rent a movie on your iPhone you can watch it on your Apple TV.

While in theory this should have been the way it worked before, but it was almost never the case. This requires iOS 10.3 or tvOS 10.2 in order to work.

Clips

One of the more modern change to the Internet, in the last 13 years, is the rise of social media. There have quite a number of social networks that have gone bust in the last 15 years. Some of these include Plurk, Friender, Peach, Orkut, and Pownce.

Apple has attempted to create a social network, with Ping. Apple eventually realized that their attempt at a social network was not going to work, so they ended Ping. Instead of attempting to build another social network, Apple has done what they are good at, building applications. Apple has created a new application called Clips.

Clips is an application that allows iOS users to create videos that have special effects. The application is very like other applications that are available. The key to Clips is that you can share the clips that you make with individuals through Messages, or by posting to Facebook, Instagram, Vimeo, or even YouTube.

If in one of your clips, a face from your Photo library is recognized, Clips will automatically suggest that you send the clip to the subject of the video.

Clips will be available in early April on iOS. It will be a free application.

Swift Playgrounds

The last update, which is a minor one, but one that is much appreciated for some developers. Swift Playgrounds is now available in five more languages. These languages are:

• Simplified Chinese
• Japanese
• French
• German
• Latin American Spanish

The Swift Playgrounds update is available now.

Final Thoughts

These updates, while minor, are great updates for each of the product. This may just be a prelude to more announcements that may come in a few weeks.

Apple held their annual Fall event earlier this week. The event was filled with both the expected, and a couple of very unexpected items. We'll go over each of the items announced.

iPhone 7

Apple unveiled a slew of new features for their next iPhones, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The first thing that most people notice with any iPhone is the color. This year's iPhones have two new colors, but one color is being retired. The new colors are Black and Jet Black. The remaining colors are Silver, Gold, and Rose Gold. This means that Space Grey is no longer in the line up. The Jet Black iPhone 7 is polished to a high gloss finish, and is very reflective. The standard Black iPhone 7 provides a more matte finish.

The next thing that many would like to know about is the storage sizes of the iPhone. This year Apple's has doubled the storage sizes. They are now 32GB, 128GB, and 256GB. All iPhone 7 colors are available in these sizes, except the Jet Black. That is only available in 128GB and 256GB models. The pricing for the iPhone 7 is the same as the 6s and 6s Plus. They start at $649, if paying full price, or about $37 with Apple’s Upgrade Program.

One thing that most iPhone users have in common is that we have all dropped our iPhones at one point or another. Sometimes these drops are on a carpet and the dropped iPhone is no worse for wear. However, all to often the iPhone comes into contact with a water source. To help protect users, Apple has made the iPhone 7 water resistant. This has been done by re-engineering the seals that help protect the internals of the iPhone. This also comes from the design and being able to minimize the inputs on the iPhone 7.

The second new feature is the new processor, the A10 Fusion. This goes above and beyond what was already done with the A9 processor. The A10 combines four processors, two of these are high performance processors, while the other two are lower performance. Apple's own processor engine determines which processor is needed for which tasks. Applications like games, 3D Rendering, or any intensive application will be able to use the high performance processors. At the same time, applications like email, and Siri can use the lower performing processors. This is all handled by Apple's own performance controller which will determine whether the application needs performance or battery life.

Similar to the processing power is the graphical performance. The iPhone 7 has a six-core graphical processor that is capable of performing 50% faster than the A9, or even 3 times faster than the A8. One of the things that the graphics performance is needed for is the Camera. The iPhone 7 has a whole new set of cameras.

The iPhone 7 now has optical image stabilization on both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models. Besides this, there is a whole new camera assembly. The new camera uses an f/1.8 lens, that can take in even more light to create even better images. It is still a 12 Megapixel camera, however it is now 60% faster and consumes 30% less power. The two tone flash now has four LEDs to provide 50% more light. This is particularly useful in low light situations. The other new feature is a flicker sensor. The flicker sensor will be able to detect any errant light in the frame and will match that light so you will not end up with wavy lines in your photos. This is most useful if you try to capture an image off of your TV.

On the iPhone 7 Plus, there is now a dual camera system. The camera mentioned above is the first the second lens is for telephoto pictures. The second camera has a 56mm lens that will allow you to zoom in. This is very simple to do. On the iPhone 7, there will be a software button, just above the sensor that will allow you to zoom in to 2x. This button will use the second lens to optically zoom. There is also software zoom available. This is accessible by holding on the software button and sliding to the right. This will zoom up to 10x. Anything above 2x is software zoom.

One thing that many photographers want to be able to do with their iPhone is accurately capture and display the colors that are represented. The best way to be able to do this is to use the latest color display. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus do just this by utilizing a new display that will show the DCI-P3 color gamut. This color gamut I'd already present on the late 2015 iMac as well as the 9.7-inch iPad Pro. With the camera being able to take even more vivid colors, you will be able to get even better representations directly on your iPhone. These upgrades should also help if you are taking videos.

The rear cameras were not the only ones to get upgraded. The FaceTime HD Camera has also been upgraded. It now is a 7 megapixel sensor that supports the same color gamut as the rear cameras, DCI-P3. The FaceTime HD camera also supports Auto Image stabilization to make sure that you can take the best pictures. Along with the 7 megapixel upgrade, the camera is now capable of recording in 1080p. This is up from the 720p recording capabilities on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

The third new feature is actually the Home button. The Home button has been present since the original iPhone, but the Touch ID sensors within the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus now features a new taptic feature, similar to the Apple Watch. The new taptic feature allows feedback to be given for different actions. In conjunction with this, developers now have a new API for customizing the feedback given.

One aspect to the iPhone that many take for granted is the audio. Many users end up having to use the speaker in their iPhones There have been two significant changes to audio. The first revolves around the speaker. The iPhone 7 now encompasses two speakers. One on the bottom and a second one on the top. This is the first time that an iPhone has had stereo speakers. The dual speaker setup means that users will now be able to hear even more from their iPhone. This is primarily due to the speakers also being twice as loud. The new speakers also have improved dynamic range which should improve the audio output of the iPhone 7.

Many users use the EarPods that are bundled in with their iPhone. Apple is making a slight change to the EarPods. They will now have a lightning connector. With this change, the 3.5mm headphone connection has been removed. Do not fret too much though, included in the box is a lightning to 3.5mm adapter for those who will continue to need the connection. With the headphones now being lightning, the quality of the output should be even better. However, this setup still requires wires. Apple is bullish on a wireless future. To help usher in this new era they have created a new type of headphone, the AirPods.

The Apple AirPods take Apple's work with the EarPods and brings them forward. The AirPods look just like EarPods sans the wires. The AirPods are able to hold a five hour charge. This may not seem like much, and it may not be. But, the AirPods come with a charging case that can charge the AirPods for up to 24 hours. The AirPods can be charged in the charging case via a lightning cable. A fifteen minute charge will give you three hours of battery life with the AirPods.

The AirPods have a brand new chip inside of them, the Wireless1, or W1. The W1 chip has some features that many users will find compelling. The W1 chip contains an accelerometer so it can sense when it is being used and only play sound when it detects it is in use. Alongside this, there is also a voice accelerometer to be able to recognize voice as well as beam forming microphones to be able to reduce outside noise so if you are on a call, you will sound clearer.

The last piece to the W1 chip, and the AirPods, is pairing. If you have tried to use Bluetooth with multiple devices, you know that switching between the two devices can be a painful process. Apple has decided to take this method and make it easier. When you place the AirPods near your iPhone 7, and open the top to the AirPods you will be presented with a dialog asking if you want to pair. You simply tap “Pair” and the two items are paired. That is it. The AirPods will also be paired with your Apple Watch, if one is paired with your iPhone. That s not all, all of your pairing information will be synchronized over iCloud to your Macs as well, meaning that you will be able to seamlessly switch between your Macs, iPhone and Apple Watch.

The AirPods are not the only headphones to get this technology. The new Beats Solo 3 Wireless, Powerbeats 3, and the new Beats X lines will all have the W1 chip built right in. This means that you will be able to seamlessly pair and switch your Beats between your iPhone, Apple Watch, and Macs.

Apple is keeping the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus in the iPhone lineup as well. These prices are now $549 for the iPhone 6s and $649 for the iPhone 6s Plus. The storage for these starts at 32GB, this is double the previous base of 16GB. There is only one other storage option for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, that is 128GB. These cost $649 and $749 respectively. This means that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are no longer in the lineup.

The iPhone 7 will be a fantastic upgrade for all users. That is not the only new product announced by the Apple. The next product is the Apple Watch.

Apple Watch

The Apple Watch was introduced 18 months ago. In that time it has become the number one selling smart watch and the second best selling watch by revenue. Apple has improved the Apple Watch, with the new Apple Watch Series 2.

The Series 2 includes a brand new processor, the S2. The S2 chip is now dual-core and allows for even faster processing. Besides being dual-core, the S2 now also includes a GPS. The GPS will be very beneficial for users who want to track their exercises. The GPS can be used without an iPhone accompanying it. The Apple Watch Series 2 also has a brighter screen. In fact, it is twice as bright as the previous Series 1 screen. The brighter screen will make it even easier to see in a brightly lit area. This was not the only change to the Apple Watch Series 2.

Just like the iPhone, the Apple Watch Series 2 is also water resistant. The Apple Watch Series 2 is water resistant up to 50 meters. This makes it great for swimming, snorkeling, or even just tooling around the pool. Being water resistant meant that Apple had to redesign the seals and internals in order to protect the watch. The one area that had to remain opened is the speaker. Apple took a clever turn with this. the speaker itself is designed to the water out of the Apple Watch when you are done in the water.

With the water resistance of the Apple Watch, this also allows for two new exercises to be added. These do relate to the water. There are now two swimming related, one for pool swimming and one for open water swimming. The difference is that the pool exercise will take into account laps.

The Apple Watch Series 2 will cost $369 for the 38mm version and $399 for the 42mm version.

Apple has partnered with a couple of companies, Nike and Hermes to bring some new products. The Nike+ Apple Watch comes in four colors, and is designed for those who really want to exercise. The cases consist of an aluminum case and perforated bands and come in two colors, Space Grey and Silver. The Nike+ watches cost the same as the Apple Watch Series 2 watches, at $369 for the 38mm and $399 for the 42mm version. The Hermes partnership bring two new bands, a new Single Tour and Double Tour bands.

There is also Apple Watch Edition Series 2 watch. It is no longer the Yellow and Rose Gold. Instead it is made of White Ceramic. The Apple Watch Edition is only available in White, and will cost $1249 for the 38mm version and $1299 for the 42mm version.

The Apple Series 1 watch also received a slight upgrade, only to the processor. It now has the same dual-core processor that is present in the Apple Watch Series 2. The price for the Apple Series 1 is $269 for the 38mm and $299 for the 42mm watches.

The Apple Watch Series 2 is a solid upgrade, particularly for those that are focused on fitness. The addition of the GPS to the Apple Watch Series 2 will be much needed to alleviate the need to carry and iPhone while out exercising.

Nintendo

The biggest surprise of the event was that a Nintendo executive appeared on Stage. The executive that appeared on stage was not just ANY executive, Shigeru Miyamoto appeared on stage. Miyamoto is the brains behind iconic games like Donkey Kong, the Legend of Zelda, and Super Mario Brothers. At the event Miyamoto announced a new application coming to iOS that includes a Nintendo property. That application is Super Mario Run. Super Mario Run is a side-scroller, just like the Classic Mario games, except that it is an endless runner.

Super Mario Run is able to be played with one hand. The game play consists of tapping to make Mario jump, or tapping and holding to have Mario jump higher. The goal is to get to the flag before time runs out, just like in the classic Mario games.

This is not the only mode. There is also a battle mode, where you can face off against other players. You can try and beat their time, and there will be a ghost of their run to see how they completed the run. The coins that you collect will help you add items to your own Mushroom Kingdom.

Mario Super Run will be available in December. The game will be free with one in-app purchase to unlock all of the content. Once you buy the in-app purchase, you will have the entire game.

This was not the only announcement that was made that involved Nintendo. Niantic, the company behind the popular Pokemon Go application also had an announcement. Their announcement was that Pokemon Go was coming to the Apple Watch. This change means that those who are out hunting Pokemon no longer have to have their phone open all of the time. Users are now able to be notified on their watch that there are Pokemon to catch along side being notified that their eggs are hatched. This change should make it easier for people not only to pay attention to their surroundings, but also save some battery life.

Final Thoughts

Apple's September 7th Event was one that provided a solid update with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The dual cameras on the iPhone 7 Plus will be a boon for those who enjoy using their iPhone as a camera. The increased battery life, while maintaining the same form factor will be great for all users.

The new AirPods are just the beginning of a new era in technology for Apple. The ability to charge the airPods quickly and provide an additional 3 hours of battery should help some get through an entire work day with their AirPods.

The surprise of having Nintendo and Niantic both appear on stage brought audible gasps and claps, and may just be the beginning of a very fruitful collaboration between Nintendo and Apple. Pre-orders are live now, but you will end up having to wait to get a device.