Apple yesterday debuted six new adverts for the Apple Watch. The new adverts are short 15 second pieces which highlight various features of the Apple Watch (from Apple Pay to audio messages to fitness features) and how they can be useful in different contexts.
Sprinkle: With Apple Watch, and Apple Pay, buying something on the go is simpler than ever.
Date: When you get a new message Apple Watch gently lets you know it’s there, so you can see it right away.
Ride: Apple Watch gives you turn-by-turn directions, so if you get a little lost you won’t be for long.
Sing: Sending an audio message on your Apple Watch is simple. Just say it and send it.
Train: Apple Watch lets you check your heart rate fast so you can keep your heart beating faster.
Cycle: Apple Watch tracks every second of your ride, from warm up to cool down.
You can view all the adverts below the break or on YouTube.
So far, this chunk of strap has been through 4 different soak cycles. Three of those cycles were a 10 minute soak, followed by air drying at room temp. The latest cycle was a full 8 hour overnight soak. Drying takes about 3 hours.
The result? The leather shows zero visible signs of damage, zero texture change. As far as these (again, unscientific) tests are showing, the leather on Apple’s Loop band is essentially waterproof.
(Make sure to read his disclaimer.)
Anecdotally, my Leather Loop band has been through showers, sea water, rain, and sweat. I took basic care of it, and it’s exactly like the day I bought it. One of my favorite Watch bands.
Google has released an update to its Google Maps app for iOS today, including a new version for Apple Watch. I was curious to check out Google Maps’ debut on the Watch: while I knew that they couldn’t replicate the experience of Apple’s excellent Maps app, I was hoping that watchOS 2 would give them some room for experimentation.
Instead, Google has shipped a basic Watch app that shows a list of directions for Home and Work addresses configured in the iPhone app. I guess this could be useful if you’ve been looking for a way to print out directions on your Watch’s screen, but I don’t know why you wouldn’t use your iPhone for that, with proper navigation tools and spoken feedback. Missed opportunity for Google considering they could have at least included a complication for quick access to the app.
Thankfully, you can check out ETA 2.0 for iOS, which has been updated for watchOS 2 and that includes a great complication for traffic information, public transit support, and more.
David Smith has released a new app called Sleep++, which uses the Apple Watch to track your sleep. To wear a Watch at night, though, Smith had to figure out a way to charge it quickly during the day.
I have been tracking my sleep every night for a couple of months now so I’ve learned a few strategies to make this work pretty well.
The TL/DR is to charge your Apple Watch in the morning while you get ready for your day (take a shower, get dressed, etc) and then again in the evening while you get ready for bed (brush teeth, put on pajamas, etc). Then put your Apple Watch in Airplane Mode while you sleep.
I can’t wait to try Sleep++ with this method (which also happens to be used by other cool people).
On September 9th, 2014, Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts in Cupertino. This was the very same stage on which, 30 years earlier, a young Steve Jobs had introduced the original Macintosh to the world. The Apple of 2014 was a very different company. Loved and hated, famous and infamous, indomitable and doomed. The only statement about the tech giant that might avoid contestation was that it could not be ignored.
The 9th would be a rubicon for Tim Cook. The late Steve Jobs had helmed the company through every one of its unparalleledseries of epochalproducts. This was the day on which Cook would announce the first new product to come out of Apple since Jobs’ passing. A product that media pundits everywhere were sure to use as a scapegoat to prove or disprove the quality of his leadership.
The words “One More Thing…” overtook the screen, met by raucous applause from the expectant audience. Uncontrolled excitement burst through Cook’s normally calm demeanor as he presented the introduction to his hard work. “It is the next chapter in Apple’s story,” Cook boldly stated before leaving the stage. The ensuing video gave the world its first look at the Apple Watch.
The Apple Watch didn’t receive a hardware update, but it was the subject of a number of other big announcements at today’s Special Event keynote from Apple. On the software front, it was revealed that watchOS 2 would be released to the public next Wednesday, September 16. Apple also took the time to unveil a number of new watch bands, new variations in each of the Apple Watch collections, and a partnership with Hermès to deliver a fourth Apple Watch collection.
As noted by The Verge, Microsoft Outlook is now available for the Apple Watch after Microsoft updated the Outlook iPhone app today. The Outlook Watch app enables users to reply to emails directly on the Watch through various quick reply options or via dictation.
Besides replying to emails on the Watch, there’s an Outlook glance which enables users to review their inbox or see what’s next on their calendar. Finally, Outlook’s custom notifications on the Apple Watch add support for archiving and scheduling emails as they arrive.
By default, Outlook notifications on the Apple Watch now show a lot more of the email body instead of cutting it short after a couple of sentences. While you still can’t reply instantly from a notification, you can now tap on the Outlook icon in the notification to launch a dedicated Outlook Apple Watch app that lets you see an overview of email and reply to any messages using quick replies or dictation.
MedCity News has shared the story of Ken Robson, Apple Watch user who was able to correctly self-diagnose a heart ailment thanks to Apple Watch heart rate data:
When he got to the hospital, Robson told staff that he had been tracking his heart rate on the watch, and had two weeks of back data. “Going in with the data certainly reduced my stay by a couple of days,” he told MedCity News. It also assured that he could have the operation nearly immediately.
Because the hospital could check his Apple Watch data, Robson did not have to wear a heart monitor for a week before the medical team at Scripps Mercy could confirm the diagnosis of sick sinus syndrome.
Graava is a new action camera that promises to automatically edit footage using sensors that include GPS, accelerometer, microphone, gyroscope, and heart rate monitor. Unlike similar solutions such as GoPro, Graava wants to remove the friction from manually picking the best footage out of a session using connected sensors to figure out what’s interesting and worth saving and what’s boring and can be discarded. Graava has opened preorders for $249 today and it ships early next year. You can read more about it at The New York Times and TechCrunch, and watch the great promo video above.
What immediately caught my attention is that Graava will rely on an Apple Watch app to monitor a user’s heart rate and detect sudden changes that may correspond to interesting moments. That, of course, would require watchOS 2, which will give developers deeper access to the Apple Watch hardware. According to Graava’s website, “Android Gear and Apple Watch equipped with heartbeat sensors are supported”, so I am assuming Graava will ship a watchOS 2 app once it launches next year.
This is anotherexample of the kind of richer experiences that watchOS 2 will enable developers to build. Graava could also work by connecting to Bluetooth chest monitors to gather a user’s heart rate data – and they likely will – but it is far more convenient to rely on a device that is accurate enough and worn all the time and that works with a full-featured app. Even more interesting is that Graava won’t use the heart rate sensor to build a strictly fitness-related app: rather, it’ll use the data collected by it for additional context used in video editing. It’s an intriguing use case, and I’m curious to see how well Graava’s automatic process will actually work.
You can check out Graava’s website and preorder information here.
