The Apple Spring Forward Event

I watched the Apple event this morning so you wounldn’t have to. Tim Cook covered a lot ground in the 90 minuite event. The last half-hour was devoted the Apple Watch.

Apple TV

  • HBO GO coming to Apple on April 12th, for $14.99/mo.
  • Apple TV price cut to $69.

Miscellanious

  • Apple Pay coming to Coke vending machines.
  • CarPlay has every major car maker committed to using it.
    • 40 new car models with CarPlay coming in 2015/2016.

HealthKit & Medical research

  • Problems in research
    • Lack of subjects, data problems, subjective assessments, infrequent data, and overall lack of communication between researchers and study participants.
  • ResearchKit
    • Researchers can make apps, iPhone users can participate.
    • 5 diseases
      • Parkinson’s disease
        • The App evaluates hand twitches, voice, and walking.
        • Can pull in exercise data from phone or watch.
        • User graphs for feedback
      • Diabetes
      • Cardiovascular disease
      • Asthma
        • Mount Sinai to give away connected health devices.
        • In NYC collecting location data to chart asthma attacks in environment and compare with participant data.
      • Breast Cancer
        • Tracking of post-treatment symptoms.
    • Privacy
      • User control over data, and Apple will not see data.
    • The goal of the ResearchKit is to make data collection more reliable and up-to-date.
    • It will bring people into the process by providing feedback on their conditions.
    • ReserchKit will be open source software, will be released in April. First five apps available today.

Mac

  • Best crop of Macs ever.
  • Mac growth outpacing industry sales.
  • Apple wanted to reinvent the notebook.

New MacBook

  • 2 lbs., lightest ever
  • 13.1mm thin, 24% thinner than MacBook Air
  • Full-sized keyboard
    • New keyboard keyboard technology
    • Butterfly mech. instead of scissor, with stainless steel dome switch.
    • 4x more stable then scissor, 40% thinner, 17% larger keycap.
    • More precise and accurate typing
    • New backlight, LED for each key
  • Display, 12” w/ Retina display
    • 2304x1440 resolution
    • .88mm thin display
    • New retina pixels, 30% less energy for same brightness
  • Force Touch trackpad, with Tapic Engine with better feel.
    • Glass touch surface.
    • Software adjustable feel.
    • Pressure sensitive with Force Click, can auto-select what’s under the cursor.
    • Pressing harder can and emphasize to gestures.
  • Unibody architecture of MacBook has components attached directly to body.
  • First fanless MacBook.
  • Logic board is 67% smaller than any logic board before
    • Intel Core M, 5w power draw.
  • More batteries
    • Asymmetric cells.
    • Form-fitting batteries, contoured to fit inside unibody.
    • 35% more battery by filling all the space
    • All-day battery life, 9 hours on Wi-Fi.
  • 802.11ac, BT 4.0 built-in
    • Antenna is part of case.
  • Wireless is the future, Airplay, etc.
  • One port
    • Covers charging, data, and expansion.
    • USB-C, reversible connector is 1/3 the size of USB-A.
  • Silver, space grey, and gold colors.
  • Worlds most energy efficient notebook.
  • Base price: 8GB ram 256 SSD, $1299
  • Shipping April 10th.

Other Macs

  • Macbook Air, updated processor and flash memory.
  • 13” MacBook Pro gets force touch trackpad, new processors, 2x faster flash, battery life extended one hour.

Apple Watch

  • Most advanced timepiece ever.
  • Timekeeping
    • Accurate to 50 milliseconds of UTC.
    • Many faces and configurations available.
      • Serious business oriented faces.
      • Fun faces, with animations.
    • Faces are user-configurable.
    • Swiping from bottom brings up Glances.
  • Communication
    • Vibration alerts.
    • Can receive calls on watch.
    • Email reading and can reply.
    • Side button to bring up contact list.
    • Can talk to other Watches.
      • Send graphics drawn on Watch face.
      • Send taps.
      • Send heartbeat (this will be huge).
  • Health & Fitness
    • Fitness tracking, steps, etc.
    • Sitting too long warning.
    • Interface is a three-ring interlocking graphic.
    • Health reports are right on Watch.
      • Analysis and goals send to Watch.
    • Workout app included.
      • Covers many different exercises and activites.
      • Provides metrics on workouts.
  • Test unit to Christy Turlington Burns
    • Finished half-marathon with Watch.
    • Christy will be blogging on Apple.com.
  • Built-in apps:
    • ApplePay, photos, music, Siri, notifications, and social media.
    • Any iPhone notification can go to Watch.
  • Watch apps & Usage
    • Glances are for short interactions, a few seconds each.
    • Start Siri using the crown, or voice control.
    • Messaging can open app on iPhone or reply from Watch.
    • Reminder to stand up and move.
    • Apple Pay, double tap side button and use with scanner.
      • Much faster than getting iPhone out.
    • Force press to customize Watch face.
    • Instagram has Watch app(!).
    • Phone calls directly on Watch.
    • Watch uses WiFi at home, in addition to bluetooth, giving longer range.
    • Passbook on Watch, along with QR barcode to scan at airport security.
    • Demo of hotel door unlocking. Watch is door key.
    • Quick reply buttons, dictation can send text or voice recording.
  • iPhone will be app browser and installer.
    • Apple Watch app store in iOS 8.2—available today.
  • All-day battery life.
    • 18 hrs battery life.
    • Charging via magnetic charger which clips to back of Watch.

Apple Watch Models

  • Apple Watch Sport
    • Silver or Space Gray colors.
    • Aluminum body
      • Special alloy, custom for Apple.
      • 60% stronger than other alloys.
      • Raw, pure AL with Mg & Zn added.
      • Heat treatment & extrusion form the body.
      • Zirconia beads for satin finish
      • Anodized out layer for scratch resistance
    • Prices start at:
      • $349 38mm
      • $399 42mm
    • Bands
      • Rubber or leather.
  • Apple Watch
    • Stainless steel body.
    • Custom alloy, 80% harder than normal stainless.
    • 38mm $549 to $1,049
  • Apple Watch Edition
    • 18K gold, another custom alloy.
    • Custom bands available only as part of Edition.
    • Starting at $10,000.
    • Select retail only, not in Apple Stores apparently.
  • Preorders begin April 10th
    • Watch Sport and Watch will be in stores April 10th for touching.
    • Available April 24th in white people countries. Brown people countries coming soon.