New iCloud Storage Pricing


At last week’s event, Apple announced new pricing for iCloud storage. You can now get a Terabyte for $9.99/month, which matches Dropbox. They have a lower tier at 200GB for $2.99 and 50GB for $0.99. There still is no method for family sharing, which means I’m currently paying for three people. I like that the pricing is now more in line with Dropbox and other cloud storage providers. I still think the 5GB free storage is not enough when we’re buying expensive iPads and iPhones. You can see the international pricing here.

Right Pocket, Left Wrist

In a recent episode of The Talk Show, Ben Thompson talked to John Gruber about the problem with John’s watch disconnecting with his phone. Ben asked what pocket John keeps his iPhone in. This led to a discussion as to whether or not keeping your phone in the pocket opposite from your watch-bearing wrist causes a connection problem. As Ben explained, your body is a bag of water and by putting your wrist on the opposite side of your body from your phone, things get more difficult.

From personal experience I can confirm this is the case. I always carry my iPhone in my left pocket and wear my watch on my left wrist. I’ve never had any connection problems. Recently I had a pair of jeans with a hole in the left pocket. So for a few days I ended up carrying my phone in my right pocket. My watch disconnected from phone more times over those two days then I’ve had in the entire time I’ve owned the Apple Watch. If you’re carrying your phone in the opposite pocket from your wrist, you may want to rethink that strategy.

Clockwise 104


I recently joined in the recording of Clockwise podcast. In just 30 minutes we covered the new iPhone buying experience, blue-sky Apple TV apps, iOS 9, and the future of big tablets. Good times.

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Random Thoughts and Tips for iOS 9

Every year about June, Apple announces the beta for the new update to iOS. About that time I swear off the beta, reminding myself how miserable I was last time I installed a beta iOS. Then a little fuse gets lit inside my brain. It’s long enough to burn for a few weeks and then explodes in an explosion of complete disregard for common sense leading me to install the new iOS beta on my iPhone and iPad.

This year I installed the betas in late June and have now been using iOS 9 every day for over two months. I’m not going to write a thorough review. Instead I’m going to share a few thoughts and tips I picked up over the last couple months:

  • Here are some words I thought I’d never write: One of the stars of the new iOS is the Notes app. I’d written the Notes app off entirely years ago. (Remember Marker Felt?) The new version is really impressive. You can format text, add pictures, links, drawings, and add check boxes. Moreover, getting data into Notes is easy with the Notes extension sprinkled throughout the operating system in a way that only Apple software could. Syncing has been solid and I’ve been testing it with a database in excess of 250 notes. As Mr. Plain Text guy, I haven’t decided yet what I’ll do for managing notes but Notes is absolutely a contender, especially if you’re looking to store pictures and media with your notes. (Indeed this post has been a running bit of text in Notes throughout the beta.)
  • The iPad updates, including Slide Over and Split Screen work as advertised. Once you use your iPad with two apps open, you’ll never be able to go back. The keyboard improvements and mouse cursor with two fingers are also quite handy. Don’t forget you can do that two finger mouse thingy on or off the keyboard. While these are all nice updates, it feels to me like there is still work to be done on iPad “productivity”. For instance, why can’t I drag and drop between two split screen apps? It feels to me like the Apple train is now in motion in terms of increased iPad productivity but there is still plenty of work to do. Also, if you’ve got a keyboard connected to your iPad, command-tab is golden.
  • Siri continues to improve. I won’t tell you to try Siri again if you’ve previously given up on it since I seem to do that about once a month around here but it is getting better. There are new commands, “What’s a 20% tip on $23.32”, and dictation transcription continues to improve.
  • When I first heard Spotlight was going back to a separate screen (swipe to the right), I was unhappy. I didn’t want another screen. I was wrong. the new Spotlight is significantly better with recent people, apps, places, and news.
  • The ProActive assistant stuff sounds like a great idea but I didn’t see it in action as much as I expected. Guessing at who’s calling (by comparing an incoming phone number to phone numbers found in email) is awesome. I also liked when it would give me an ETA for my trips as I got in my car but that was inconsistent. I had several flights during this period and ProActive Assistant never sussed that out. I like that Apple wants to make the phone smarter without stepping over the creepy line but I suspect that like iPad productivity, this is going to take a few years for full realization.
  • Low Power Mode is for real and saved me a few times on days where I was running out of battery. I couldn’t tell if I was getting the promised extra battery life but that’s probably going to be more apparent after iOS 9 gets out of beta. (Today!)
  • Maps is like Siri. It just keeps getting better.
  • The News app is nice and now it’s on every iPhone. I’m interested to see how many people adopt this. (MacSparky.com is an approved publisher by the way but I’m still sorting out some issues before works properly in News.)
  • You can now search settings. The nerd in me loves that.
  • The San Francisco font gives the iPhone more personality than Helvetica ever could. After using the new font for a few months, I couldn’t imagine going back to the old one.
  • You can now know when the keyboard capitalization key is on and when it is not. Hallelujah!
  • I’m all for the new six digit security code. You can turn it back to a four digit code but if you’re using TouchID, why would you?

This year’s update isn’t nearly as big as last year’s and that’s a good thing. The new iOS includes some real nice tweaks and fixes but shouldn’t turn your world upside down. I think that’s exactly what we needed this year.

XOXO Fest 2015


Over the weekend I traveled to Portland and attended the XOXO conference. I first heard about this converence years ago and was finally able to attend this year. I almost didn’t go. I’m still digging out from getting behind over the last couple months and as I was packing, I was thinking how much work I could get done if I stayed home over the weekend and pretended I was out of town. I sure am glad that I went.

The conference is fantastic. The speakers are inspirational and all of the attendees are interesting with fun stories to tell about their own goals, desires, and careers. It was a great weekend where I heard some outstanding speakers, connecting with lots of old friends, and made several new ones. Coming back it reminded me of that warm fuzzy feeling used to to get returning from Macworld.

I will definitely be going back next year if I can get in.

MPU 278: iOS 9 and New Apple Hardware

This week’s Mac Power Users episode focuses on the new features in IOS 9, which will be downloading to your device in just a couple days. Katie and I assembled a nice list of interesting new features and improvements that you’ll want to hear about.

At the end of the episode we talked at some length about last week’s Apple announcements and the new hardware coming our way. This is a really fun episode.

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Random Thoughts Following the Apple Event

I’ve been thinking about the new Apple announcements at this week’s event and have a few random thoughts.

  • Combining the iPad and iPhone events into one worked out okay. I can see this continuing into the future.
  • Did you see the way Tim Cook lit up while talking about the iPad. Also, watch the way he proudly carried the iPad Pro on stage? It’s increasingly clear the iPad is Tim’s thing. He’s stated publicly before that he does a lot of work on his iPad. I’m guessing that will only increase with the iPad Pro.
  • Lots of people are going to attack Apple for making a stylus. I disagree. A 13″ tablet is a much different animal than a phone and something that big can definitely use a stylus.
  • The Apple Pencil seems longer than most stylii I’ve seen. I’m sure there is a reason but have no clue why. I’ll be curious to see how it balances in my hand.
  • The comparison between the iPad Pro and Microsoft surface are obvious but there are some important distinctions. iPad Pro has a different screen ratio and doesn’t run OS X. To me it seems like the iPad is a tablet with PC leanings and the Surface is a PC with tablet leanings.
  • Apparently the Apple Pencil can charge remarkably fast. Apple states on its website that with 15 seconds charging, you can get 30 minutes of battery life. That’s a good thing since hanging the $99 Apple Pencil off the bottom of your iPad or the side of your Mac seems like a really easy way to break it.
  • It is strange that there’s no 3-D touch on the iPad Pro. Remember when Touch ID was on the phone but not the iPad and it made everyone a little crazy? Get ready for that again.
  • I thought it was cute how they had the email from Phil to Craig explaining the release date for El Capitan is September 30 but never directly acknowledged it.
  • I had no idea watches with bands that go around twice are a “thing”. My daughter has subsequently set me right on that account.
  • I’m assuming the 6s plus camera still has image stabilization and the 6s camera does not.
  • It is interesting that Apple chose to use big enterprise companies to demonstrate software on the iPad Pro. With the initial introduction of the iPad they also focused on productivity software but it was only Apple software (iWork). Now they’re bringing out Microsoft and Adobe.
  • Looking at split screen apps on the iPad Pro, it just begs for drag-and-drop data transfer between applications. I hope that shows up soon.
  • I’m curious to see how the fact that Apple now has its own iPhone rental program pans out. This puts them in direct competition with the carriers for phone sales. Maybe the carriers don’t care since they are about selling data more than devices but I suspect they do care and want us tied to them, not Apple,  for the phones. Either way, buying a new phone is about to change.
  • I was disappointed to see that the low-end iPhone is still 16 GB. It seems nutty that in 2015 the entry level iPhone has just 16 GB of memory. This new phone can shoot 4K video and one of its big new features is the ability to add video to every photograph you take. That’s going to be difficult to manage with just 16GB of storage.
  • I generally like the look of new Apple TV remote. I’m curious to see what one feels like in my hand. As a game controller, however, I have to wonder. I wish Apple would have made a legitimate first party game controller with buttons and joysticks. Leaving that to third parties seems a mistake.
  • It is strange how they didn’t show much of the interface for the new Apple TV. It also looked a lot like the existing interface with a new coat of paint. Maybe I just answered my own question.
  • Universal Search? Yes, thank you.
  • The inclusion of volume control from the Apple TV remote makes a lot of sense. I often have to chase down the TV remote solely for this reason. I also suspect volume control through the Apple TV was necessary for Siri. I’m guessing when you press the Siri button, the TV will mute.
  • The release of 32GB and. 64GB models is also curious. Under what circumstances will 32GB not be enough? Hopefully we’ll get a better understanding once we get our hands on the new Apple TV.
  • Even though the Apple TV got bigger, they removed the optical out cable in the back. If (like me) you’re relying on this for your sound, you’re going to have to work around that.

Sending Your Mac in For Service

Katie Floyd does a bang up job of explaining the best practices before sending your Mac in for service. The only thing I’d add is to disable your iTunes account and any other limited use licenses. If they end up replacing your logic board, iTunes will think it’s being used on another computer and that could run you against a device limits issue.