MacBreak Weekly 421

MacBreak Weekly Episode 421

MacBreak Weekly 421: Tap the Old Spice Guy

"Chinese Mafia" taking over the iPhone 6 buying lines, iPhone 6 Plus users are bending their phones, Apple's making changes with the Beats music service, and how to decide between the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, and more

Hosts

• Leo Laporte (@leolaporte/Google+)
  • twit.tv
• Alex Lindsay (@alexlindsay/Google+)
  • PixelCorps.com
• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie/about.me)
  • iMore.com
• Andy Ihnatko (@ihnatko/Google+)
  • cwob.com

Topics

iPhone 6 or 6 plus?

• Leo: Resolution is nice, but until apps are modified for size, it is not a major issue yet
• Andy: The cameras are both great, but the 6 plus does have an edge to the better
• Rene: Our testing did not reveal a major differences in the photos for the naked eye
• Andy: Front camera is using a technology called "One shot HDR"
• Leo: How is the battery life?
• Andy: Battery life on the 6 is decent, comparable to the 5s
• Rene: The 6 plus is much better and longer than the 6. LTE is faster than my home WiFi
• Alex: The primary deciding factor will be the image stabilization capabilities of the plus
• Andy: Once there are cases, it will determine much of how we use it. The 6 plus seems to be very "slippery."
• Rene: It seems the 6 is the linear successor to the iPhone and the 6 plus is something "new"

Apple Store experience

• Leo: Who waited? Me and Rene....
• Rene: Many Chinese were paid to sit and pickup phones to be taken to China
• Andy: It bothers me because you have people there who are not of the "Apple" community and it has lost something.
• Leo: It used to be a sense of cultural phenomenon, but now just seems to be gross consumerism
• Rene: The Apple computer reservation system went down during the first day.
• Leo: Steve Jobs used to come out to the line in Palo Alto, and Tim Cook did the same.

HealthKit/HomeKit

• Leo: The FDA is changing some rules about medical devices (GRAS)
• Alex: The AppleWatch will be very instrumental to HealthKit
• Rene: The developers and manufactures only got iOS 8 when we got it. The ramp up time will be about a year or so
• Alex: We will see many first movers at CES
• Alex: What will be the long term outcome of the AppleWatch against the other fitness bands (ie Fitbit, Fuelbands, etc...)
• Rene: If it is standard, than the info can be exchanged between the devices
• Leo: Apple needs to beat the "security/privacy" drum in order for consumers to adopt and use these kits

Bending iPhones and other issues

• Andy: There are reports of iPhones bending.
• Rene: It is a long, thin device and when people put it in their back pocket for all day it will start to bend
• Leo: Apple needs to educate people
• Rene: It seems that when iOS has a major update, it always affects WiFi
• Leo: There is also a music syncing issue
• Rene: A workaround, go into iTunes, uncheck "Sync Music" then re-enable it
• Leo: Camera Roll is gone, but replaced by Recent Pictures
• Leo: "Hey Siri" works on the Lock Screen. Possible to prank someone by activating their iDevice and command it to post a embarrassing message to Facebook.

Top Questions from Question Engine http://twit.to/mbw421

• Question: Jim

Tim Cook has said new technologies will be out this year, we've seen the AppleWatch, what else?

• Answer: Rene: It will be in the spring

Leo: The iPad could use TouchID. ApplePay will be coming out

• Question: Steven McGaully, St. Lois, MO b

What do we think of the rumor that the 12.5" MacBook Air Retina will be thinner, fanless with smaller bezels, what does that mean for other Mac Airs?

• Answer: Rene: Retina on the MBA will happen with the Broadwell processors

• Question: Sean Kennedy

Should we be a bit more concerned that Swift key and other 3rd party keyboards use server side processing and could save everything you are typing?

• Answer: Rene: This due to the infrastructure Apple has set up. The extension communicates with the app, but not actually the server.

Picks of the Week

• Andy's pick: GoodReader for iOS for $2.99 (on sale)
  • Allows you to put any file found anywhere onto your iPhone, can auto discover all shared volumes

• Rene's pick: OnePassword for iOS 8 for freemium
  • Able to auto load passwords not just on the web, but also in apps via "share sheets"
• Storehouse for iOS for free
  • Allows you to take a few photos and quickly create a photo story

• Alex's pick: Talco for iOS for free
  • Lets you use your voice in many new ways. VoIP, audio messages, and team communication

• Leo's pick: Riffsey Animated GIF keyboard for iOS
  • Able to send GiFs in messages quickly and easily

Sponsors

• Gazelle
• SquareSpace offer code MACBREAK
• LegalZoom offer code MBW

Production Information

• Edited by:
• Notes:

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