When news came out that Apple was working on a dedicated Health dashboard app, which would offer a way to take healthcare monitoring mobile, I was extremely excited. I had been recently diagnosed with traumatic arthritis in my knees and I needed a better all-in-one system to track my steps, weight, and BMI. None of the other apps on the market at the time seemed to do any one of those three especially well. Apple’s Health app has since become my go-to app for everything I wanted to log and more. It’s not perfect, but it’s a built-in dashboard with tie-ins to plenty of iOS apps.

Within a few weeks of using Health, I soon realized I wanted a better way to automate inputting data into the system. I eventually came to a methodology that worked great for me and decided it was time to share three of the different ways you can automate quickly logging your weight into the Health app.

Workflow

Before I decided to make the plunge into purchasing a smart scale, I knew I wanted to start taking advantage of automating my weight tracking immediately. Many of the other apps that existed out there made the steps to get in and actually log weight just too cumbersome and complicated for what I really needed. This is where Workflow delivered for me.

Workflow (currently $2.99), released a little over a year ago, is an Automator-like tool for iOS. You’re are able to combine different actions together to create something akin to small apps, a workflow. When Workflow was first released, I knew I would be able to use this to log my weight without having to rely on an expensive smart scale. If you’d like to get started using the workflow I created, open this link on your iPhone after installing Workflow.

For this particular workflow, I only needed two actions: ‘Ask for Input’ and ‘Log Health Sample’. Once they were added in, I then changed the workflow’s settings so that it was set to a ‘Today Widget‘ and ‘Apple Watch‘ workflow. From there, every morning I would wake up, walk to my basic bathroom scale, and then log my weight directly from Notification Center or my Apple Watch.

Siri

Want a less robust but free automation solution? A bit of a hidden feature of Siri in iOS 9 is the ability to be reminded of whatever is currently in context in any given supported app. For example, I could be looking at an iMessage thread, activate Siri, and say “Remind me about this in 15 minutes.” It would then create the reminder for me as expected, but it also includes a direct link back to that Messages thread.

This becomes especially useful for remembering to actually log your weight. The biggest problem I had at the start of my whole weight-logging experiment was that I frequently forgot to log it every morning. The more data you log, the more interesting trends will be. To mitigate this, I opened the weight section under the Health app and told Siri “Remind me of this every day at 8:30 AM”. Now when the reminder comes in the morning, I can just launch directly into the Health app from the reminder and input my weight in the correct section.

For those that have configured weight-logging using the Workflow app from above, using Siri here is also a great way to bring it one step closer to full automation since you can build them both together.

Smart Scale

After nearly a year of logging my weight using a mix of these automation methods, I eventually decided it was time to upgrade this process and get a smart scale. I wanted to get a more precise read-out of my weight changes than just relying on a basic scale.

Apple has listed the Withings Smart Body Analyzer under its health accessories for the a long time, and with good reason too. Although our primary focus is on weight logging, the Withings scale includes a cornucopia of other features including air quality monitoring and heart rate measurements. The most attractive part of this scale for me was the fact that it also supported logging multiple family members, up to eight different users. It’s a great way to get the whole family more aware of their health in general. Another popular alternative smart scale is the Fitbit Aria which has the advantage of integrating directly into the Fitbit ecosystem, while the Withings solution speaks to Apple’s Health app using HealthKit.

Using the power of Workflow, Siri, and a smart scale, it becomes extremely easy to start recording health data and monitoring what it means for your well-being. With all these methods mixed together, I am now logging three major health points. With the smart scale I log my weight and BMI, and with Siri and Workflow, I am logging my caffeine and water intake as well.

How are you using the Health app in your day-to-day life? What tools and accessories are you using to make logging the data more useful? I’m always looking for new ideas, so let us know in the comments below!

Workflow is available for $2.99 in the App Store and is compatible with iPhones, iPads, and the Apple Watch (Health is only available on the iPod touch and iPhone). The Withings Smart Body Analyzer is available now for $99.99 in black or $149.99 in white, and the Fitbit Aria is available for $119.

Filed under:
How-To, Apple Watch, Apps, iOS, iOS Devices, Tips and Tricks Tagged: Apple watch, Automation, Health, Healthbook, HealthKit, iOS, iOS 9, iPad, iPhone, Notification Center, Siri, Withings, Workflow

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TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

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1080p 60Hz LED HDTVs — LG 49-inch: $300 (Reg. $400), RCA 46-inch: $250 (Reg. $300)

Amazon’s best-selling iPhone Virtual Reality kit $20 Prime shipped (Reg. $40)

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Apple’s Get Productive iOS App Sale 50% or more off: Things, Clear, Duet Displays, Deliveries, much more

Highly-rated puzzler Osmos now 80% off on iPhone & iPad: $1 ea. (Reg. up to $5)

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• This German eBike blends a minimalist design with serious battery power
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Google has finally launched a full-fledged iOS app for users of its AdWords advertising service. The AdWords app arrives today as the first official iOS app for the service and it’s available for both iPhone and iPad users now. 

The Google AdWords app helps you stay connected with your ad campaigns from anywhere, using your iPhone. You can easily view your ads’ performance on the go with this simplified companion to your desktop account. So you can keep your campaigns running smoothly—no matter where your business takes you.

The app lets AdWords customers view their campaign stats– like clicks, CTR, CPC, etc– as well as manage bids and budgets, contact Google experts for support, and get real-time notifications for updates on their active campaigns. Google also notes users will be able to “act on suggestions to improve your campaigns” from within the app. 

Google has a new video walkthrough of using the AdWords app:

The comapny previously launched AdWords Express for iOS users, but the app only allowed management of campaigns for customers of the AdWords Express service aimed at small businesses.

For now Google says the new AdWords app is currently for existing customers only, but we’re guessing it will lift that requirement at some point.

The new Google AdWords app for iPhone and iPad is available on the App Store now. Google has more info on using the new AdWords app for iOS in its support docs here.

Filed under: Apps Tagged: adwords, App Store, Google, iOS, iPad, iPhone

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Naim Audio isn’t a household name outside of audiophile circles, but this British company has for many years made some of the most respected amplifiers in the business. Naim long had an informal partnership with Linn, and if the standard audio system fitted to Bentley’s ultra-expensive cars isn’t good enough for you, the optional audio upgrade is to a Naim system. You’ll also find it available through the Apple Store.

The company is notoriously conservative when it comes to new technology, refusing to even consider making a CD player for most of the 1980s, relenting only in 1989, when it felt the technology had developed sufficiently to allow it to deliver the quality it sought. It’s therefore no surprise that Naim has waited so long to launch its first wireless speaker system, the mu-so – nor that it has done the job properly when it finally did so.

The price is also no great surprise …

Getting your hands on the Naim mu-so will set you back a cool $1500. Like the even more expensive Devialet Phantom I tested last year, for most people that’s a price you expect to pay for a complete hi-fi system rather than a standalone speaker. The question, then, is whether the mu-so is a serious contender to act as your main hi-fi?

Look & feel

This is, in a sentence, a stunning-looking piece of kit. The brushed aluminum casing with massive cooling fins running the entire length of the rear gives it a look that is at once reminiscent of very traditional hi-fi and at the same time gives it a modern, minimalist look. The sculpted front cover is available in a range of colors. The base of the unit is clear perspex, with an embedded Naim logo that lights up when the speaker is connected to a device. There’s not an exposed screw in sight, not even on the underside. It’s a piece of kit that would look instantly at home in the most Apple-like of homes.

All you see in the way of visible controls is a large single dial that combines a touch-sensitive panel with a mechanical rotary volume dial. At the right-hand end are analog and digital inputs, together with an extremely discreet multi-color indicator light used during setup, and a reset button. Underneath, next to the mains power socket, is an optical input and Ethernet socket.

If I have one small complaint about the looks it’s the perspex base. It’s very funky-looking, but if you need to run the power cable to the left rather than the right it’s visible through the perspex. But in a permanent setup, I’d tack the cable down neatly.

The unit is heavy, at over 28 pounds. Each of the six speakers – two bass, two midrange and two tweeters – has its own amplifier, so the weight is explained by the contents as well as the aluminum-clad wooden chassis.

You could argue that there’s really no need for physical controls in a wireless speaker, as everything can be controlled from the iDevice. This is true, but the combined touch panel and volume control is so utterly gorgeous in both look and feel that it’s almost a gadget in its own right! The touch sensitivity is perfect, and it has indicators that light up to let you know exactly what’s going on. Above, for example, we can see that the music source is AirPlay.

When you rotate the volume dial, the display switches to lit volume segments. The movement is beautifully smooth and perfectly weighted. It’s such a joy to use that I – Mr Gadget – actually found myself walking over to it to adjust the volume rather than doing it on the Mac or iPhone.

As soon as you stop rotating the dial, it returns to the standard display. Only the outer ring rotates, but it’s so finely engineered you get the impression that the whole thing is moving.

The meaty-looking cooling fins at the rear of the unit do the job they’re designed to, keeping the unit cool to the touch.

Remote

The remote is the one thing that lets the mu-so down – and it does so very badly indeed! This is a beautiful-looking aluminum-clad speaker system, yet the remote is … black plastic. It has no weight to it, and looks and feels like the sort of remote you’d expect to get with a $200 speaker, not a $1500 one.

Granted there’s really no need for a remote unless you have conventional hi-fi sources as well as iDevices: you can control it from your Mac or iOS device. All the same, it’s inexplicable to me why Naim would make such an aesthetically pleasing piece of kit only to pair it with a cheap-and-nasty remote. I would stuff it in a drawer out of sight.

Connectivity

This system does it all when it comes to input sources: AirPlay, Bluetooth, UPnP, Spotify Connect, Tidal, wired Ethernet, USB, optical and 3.5mm analog. It also supports mp3, FLAC, AIFF and WAV at up to 24-bit/48KHz, with 24-bit/192KHz available if you use Ethernet instead of wireless. Finally, it offers multi-room support for up to five rooms.

There’s a Naim app that allows you to control the system, including built-in access to Internet radio stations with presets available on the touch panel, but you don’t need to use this. I just used it as an AirPlay device to stream from iTunes on the Mac and the Music app on my iPhone.

Setup is quick and easy. It does suffer from the usual occasional flakiness on AirPlay, but that’s an issue with the protocol rather than the speaker. As I find with all my AirPlay kit, it drops out once or twice very early in each session but is solid after that.

Sound

So, to the important bit! Does it sound as good as it looks?

Yes. Yes, it does. The maximum volume isn’t quite up there with the Devialet Phantom’s ‘legal limit for a nightclub’ level, but this is true room-filling sound, and there is no trace of distortion even at maximum volume.

The mu-so delivers chest-thumping bass and crystal-clear treble, and the overall sound is beautifully neutral. Naim has clearly worked hard at this and doesn’t want the likes of you or I messing with it: there are no equalization controls on the unit itself, nor in the Naim app – the only configurability is a setting to tell it how close it is to a wall behind it so that the speaker can automatically compensate. You can, of course, use iTunes or the Music app to tweak things, but – in my view – you won’t need to. It’s perfect right out of the box.

Conclusions

If you want ultimate volume from an all-in-one hi-fi-quality unit, the Devialet Phantom Silver is the setup for you. But if you don’t plan to use your speaker as a weapon, the Naim mu-so delivers all the volume you could possibly want in a true hi-fi unit that looks as beautiful as it sounds.

The Naim mu-so costs $1499, and is available direct from the Naim Audio Amazon store.

Filed under: Reviews Tagged: AirPlay speakers, bluetooth speakers, Hi-Fi, Naim, Naim mu-so, Naim mu-so review, Premium audio

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Apple has dipped its toes in original content with projects like the Beats 1 radio station, but there has been a lot of speculation around whether the company will ever produce its own media content, as both Amazon and Netflix have shown it can be very lucrative, launching many successful independent television series in recent years.

According to a contributor report from The Street, Apple is now looking to take that jump. It wants to produce original TV shows as exclusive content for its iTunes library offerings, according to the report, having spoken to ‘members of the Hollywood creative community’ late in 2015. These new TV shows could form part of a future Apple TV cable subscription service.

Don’t get too excited just yet about the idea of original content from Apple. For starters, the report is somewhat sketchy, given its provenance as a ‘contributor’ article on The Street’s site, but the author is a known media reporter. He used to write for Reuters and Bloomberg and certainly has connections with Hollywood business. Even if the report is true, though, it says that no shows have been commissioned for production yet. The report gives the impression that Apple is conducting very early stage meetings about such projects.

The Cupertino-based tech giant began sounding out Hollywood’s creative community late last year, but has yet to sign any agreements, according to two people with knowledge of the overtures. One plan is to have deals in place so Apple can announce exclusive content as part of a cable-like offering in September, when it is expected to unveil its iPhone 7, said one of the people.

The rumor mill has floated the idea of Apple launching a ‘skinny bundle’ internet cable service for Apple TV many times, but nothing concrete has ever transpired. Many media execs have gone on record regarding the talks, indicating it is a real project within Apple. Most recently, Apple was said to have shelved the idea facing pushback from the TV networks. Building its own content portfolio will let Apple offer compelling exclusive video content for its users as well as increase its leverage against the TV networks for its cable service negotiations.

Other reports have signalled Apple’s interest in buying Time Warner, owner of HBO which makes Game of Thrones and other popular TV series. An acquisition of HBO would certainly give Apple a headstart in producing its own content.

Filed under: AAPL Company, Apple TV, iOS, iOS Devices Tagged: app, Apple TV, iTunes, original content, store

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Apple announced a couple of weeks ago that its ad-supported iTunes Radio stations would no longer be available from today, and they have now gone off-air as expected. Attempting to access them results in a message prompting people to join Apple Music. Free access to Beats 1 remains.

Join Apple Music and get stations for every situation. Plus, stream just about every song ever recorded, get handpicked recommendations, explore our experts’ take on the nest new music.

The FT recently reported that Apple Music now has more than 10M paying subscribers.

Filed under: Apple Music

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According to a new report out of Bloomberg, Apple is working to develop wireless charging technology that could make its way into an iPhone by 2017. The report claims that Apple is working in conjunction with partners in the United States and Asia to develop the technology. The technology is said to allow iPhones and iPads to be powered from further away than current charging mat and inductive solutions allow.

Apple, of course, has to face several technological barriers when it comes to wireless charging. One of the primary issues with its solution is the loss of power over distance. This means that the further a device is away from the receiver, the longer the batteries would take to charge.

Exact details on Apple’s solution to problems like the loss of power over distance are unclear at this point. The report says that even Apple is still analyzing its options and how exactly it wants the technology to be implemented. Wireless charging has been a rumored feature for the iPhone 7, which will launch later this year. This report, however, makes it seem as if we won’t see the feature implemented until whatever iPhone Apple launches in 2017.

Apple has filed for a handful of patents relating to wireless charging technology. In 2010, it filed a patent application that suggested a device like the iMac be used as a hub for wirelessly charging iOS devices that were as far as 1 meter away using something called near-field magnetic resonance.

The Apple Watch is capable of wireless charging, but in a much different manner. It uses inductive charging, meaning the Watch must be touching the charging pad in order to gain power. This is similar to many Android manufacturers have implemented wireless charring into their devices over the years. We’ve also seen a variety of third-party cases that enable the inductive method to be used by the iPhone.

It’ll be interesting to see how Apple is able to implement wireless charging that is capable of charging a device that’s further away from its power source.

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: Apple, iPhone, wireless charging

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From Electrek:

We’ve learned that Tesla this month quietly hired high-profile microprocessor engineer Jim Keller as Vice President of Autopilot Hardware Engineering. Tesla today confirmed the news and sent us the following statement:

Jim Keller is joining Tesla as Vice President of Autopilot Hardware Engineering. Jim will bring together the best internal and external hardware technologies to develop the safest, most advanced autopilot systems in the world.

Before his stint at AMD with former Apple colleague Mark Papermaster, Keller was a director in the platform architecture group at Apple focusing on mobile products. There, he architected several generations of mobile processors, including the chip families found in millions of Apple iPads, iPhones, iPods and Apple TVs. Prior to Apple, Keller was vice president of design for P.A. Semi, a fabless semiconductor design firm specializing in low-power mobile processors that was acquired by Apple in 2008.

Read More at Electrek.co read more…

Apple looks to continue its rapid expansion of its retail stores according to a reliable local report from MacReports. The report claims that Apple is working towards launching another retail store in Istanbul, Turkey. The company is reportedly assembling a team to lead the process, as well as advertising new available positions in Turkey relating to the opening of another retail store.

The report claims that Apple plans to open the new retail location sometime this year in the Asian part of Istanbul. The store is expected to be location in the Emaar Square Mall, following trend with Apple’s other Istanbul locations, which are also located in malls.

Should it come to fruition, this store will be Apple’s third location in Turkey. The company opened its first Istanbul retail store in the Zorlu Mall back in April of 2014 and opened its second location in October of 2014 in the Akasya Mall.

With only two retail locations in Istanbul and a population of over 14 million people, it certainly makes sense for Apple to want to open another retail store in the country to take the strain off of the first two locations, which are said to be incredibly busy.

Apple has been rapidly expanding its retail presence around the world over the past year. Earlier this week, it was revealed that Apple is opening its fifth new retail location this month alone in China. With the newest location, Apple now operates 33 retail stores in China. Apple is also said to be working towards opening retail locations in India, having recently filed paperwork with the Indian government to do so.

(Image via MacReports)

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Apple, istanbul, retail, retail store, Turkey

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According to a report out of TechCrunch, Bank of America and Wells Fargo are both working to integrate Apple Pay support into their ATMs. The report, citing “a source familiar with the terms on the projects,” says that the companies have both placed employees on multi-month long assignments to integrate the Apple Pay options into ATMs around the country.

Apple Pay integration with Bank of America and Wells Fargo ATMs would be relatively basic. Users would theoretically be able to tap their iPhone onto the ATM’s NFC reader, which would then bring up the Touch ID/pin verification on their phone. Once that is completed, users would be able to access the same normal ATM options that are available after swiping a card and entering their pin number.

Wells Fargo’s head of ATMs Jonathan Velline hinted at the fact that the company’s ATMs would soon support Apple Pay:

“We’ve been working on the technology that allows us to hook to digital wallets, leveraging NFC on mobile phones to replace the card at the transaction at the ATM. Right now the wallet that we support is Android Pay.”

When asked specifically if Apple Pay was one of the digital wallets it was planning to support, Velline said that is a “good assessment.”

Furthermore, Bank of America’s Consumer Banking Products PR representative also hinted that the company was planning to support cardless ATM solutions, even going as far as saying that it will begin rolling out the technology in select areas in late February:

“Bank of America is currently developing a new cardless ATM solution. This solution will enable customers to leverage NFC (near field communication) technology on their smart phone in order to authenticate and complete transactions at a Bank of America ATM.  We will roll out this capability in late February with associates at select ATMs in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Charlotte, New York and Boston followed by a broader roll out to customers mid year.”

The benefits of using Apple Pay at ATMs over standard cards are plentiful. Not only is a much more seamless and modern process, it also offers a variety of security benefits. Fingerprint recognition is far more secure than the standard 4-digit passcode. Apple Pay usage would also rule out the possibility of card skimmers.

As we head further into 2016, it’ll be interesting to see how Apple Pay grows and develops, especially with things like ATM support down pipeline.

Filed under: Apple Pay Tagged: Apple pay, ATM, Bank of America, Wells Fargo

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