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Nomad debuts Wallet for iPhone, hiding a 2400mAh Lightning battery in a traditional bifold wallet

by Cristian De Nardo | Nov 3, 2015 | Apple

nomadwallet

With thousands of generic battery packs now on the market, it takes something special to make a new option stand out, and Nomad’s new Wallet for iPhone certainly succeeds. Shaped like a standard bifold wallet, the Wallet hides a 2,400mAh battery pack in its spine, as well as a 3″ Made for iPhone-certified Lightning cable.

Nomad notes that the goal was to produce a wallet that wasn’t any thicker than what “guys are already sitting on.” Made from Saffiano leather and measuring 4.7″ by 3.5″ by 0.75″ when closed, Wallet can hold six cards and a bunch of cash, in addition to providing at least a full recharge for pre-iPhone 6 models of the iPhone, and around 100% for the just-released iPhone 6s. Wallet for iPhone is available for preorder now for $79, and shipping on November 16; the price will go up to $99 for all orders placed after November 15. A gallery of images is below…

Filed under: General, iOS Devices Tagged: battery, charger, Lightning, Lightning Cable, made for iPhone, MFi, Nomad, Rechargeable battery, wallet

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What Do CIOs Need To Know About Hadoop?

by Cristian De Nardo | Nov 3, 2015 | Project Management

What Do CIOs Need To Know About Hadoop?
By Jim Anderson
If there is one IT buzzword that gets everyone excited right now, then it’s “Big Data”. The idea behind Big Data is that with the right set of tools, companies can finally take a look at all of the data that they collect from multiple streams […]

from Project Management Articles – PM Hut http://ift.tt/1Q8ox0q
via pmhut.com

Google co-founder Larry Page says both he and Steve Jobs were right, despite disagreeing

by Cristian De Nardo | Nov 3, 2015 | Apple

Speaking in his first major interview since the formation of Alphabet, Google co-founder and now Alphabet CEO Larry Page said that both he and Steve Jobs had been right in their different approaches to running their respective companies.

Steve Jobs had argued that Google was doing too many things, and should adopt Apple’s focused approach of doing a few things really well. Page said both approaches worked.

He was right. He did fine as well […] We’re trying to make a company for entrepreneurs [we’re trying to] think creatively.

Page said that part of why the company has its fingers in so many pies is that each time Google hits a problem with an external supplier, they start wondering whether it has to be like that. He gave the example of a transformer that took a year to arrive.

Why does it take a year? Why does it have to be shipped on a train car and then a special truck? Is that really the resolution? It makes you wonder […] so ten years later, that might turn into a business.

More on the interview, and the full video, over at 9to5Google.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Google, Larry Page, Steve Jobs

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8 of the Top Marketing Challenges Marketers Face (And Their Solutions)

by Cristian De Nardo | Nov 3, 2015 | Marketing

Every marketer faces different challenges. Although we typically share similar goals, some teams are stuck on hiring top talent, while others are having trouble finding the right technology for their needs.

Whatever the case may be, there’s always at least one area that you can stand to improve. In other words, there’s always room to optimize the various components of your strategy and turn your marketing into an even more effective revenue generator.

Curious about what kinds of obstacles other marketers are up against? We polled thousands of marketers on the challenges they face, as well as the tactics they’ve used to meet those challenges head-on. Here are some of the most common challenges marketers reported to be struggling with … and their solutions.

To learn more about the challenges marketers face today, download the free 2015 State of Inbound Report here.

The Most Common Marketing Problems We Face, According to 2015 State of Inbound Report

According to our report, proving ROI and getting more budget are the leading challenges marketers face. Here’s how each marketing challenge breaks down, by company size:

Image Credit: The 2015 State of Inbound Report

Let’s go through each of these top challenges and how marketers can address them.

1) Providing the ROI of Your Marketing Activities

Why It’s a Challenge

Measuring the ROI (return on investment) of your marketing activities was the top marketing challenge, according to the 2015 State of Inbound report. But it’s a vital way for marketers to understand the effectiveness of each particular marketing campaign, piece of content, etc.

Plus, proving ROI often goes hand-in-hand with making an argument to increase budget: No ROI tracking, no demonstrable ROI. No ROI, no budget.

But tracking the ROI of every single marketing activity isn’t always easy, especially if you don’t have two-way communication between your marketing activities and sales reports.

What Can You Do?

When it comes to providing ROI, there’s a strong case to be made for dedicating time and resources to establishing links between marketing activities and sales results. This means using both marketing software (like HubSpot) and a CRM solution (like HubSpot’s free CRM), and then tying them together to close the loop between your marketing and sales efforts. That way, you can directly see how many leads and customers are generated through your marketing activities.

Leading marketers also check their analytics frequently. In our survey, respondents who achieved greater ROI in 2015 than the previous year were approximately 20% more likely to check their marketing analytics 3+ times per week (or have someone on their team do so).

Finally, when it comes to increasing ROI, inbound marketing is proven to be the best bang for your buck. Every company we surveyed — regardless of marketing spend — was 3X as likely to see a higher ROI on inbound marketing campaigns than on outbound.

(Use this ROI calculator to simulate the potential ROI you could realize by conducting inbound marketing.)

2) Securing Enough Budget

Why It’s a Challenge

Securing more budget has been the second-most pressing challenge for survey respondents the last two years running. But marketers know getting more budget is often easier said than done — especially for smaller organizations that aren’t working with sizable nor flexible marketing spend.

And an increased budget is important: Our data showed that the more budget marketers have to begin with (until they hit the $5 million dollar ceiling), the more they’re likely to receive next year. More than half of all marketers with budgets over $25,000 saw a bump in funds since 2014.

But the key to securing more money for your team might not be that complex. Here’s what you can do.

What Can You Do?

The key to unlocking budget lies in being able to prove the ROI of your marketing efforts. According to our report, respondents whose teams demonstrated positive marketing ROI in 2015 were more than twice as likely to receive higher budget.

We found that, for marketers who did see a change to their inbound budget from 2014 to 2015, the most important factor to driving a higher inbound budget was past success with inbound marketing. However, past failure with inbound marketing also resulted in a higher budget: Of those who failed with inbound last year, 81% increased budget as a result. This means that top marketers realize inbound marketing is a long game. If you get off to a slow start, you shouldn’t back off — in fact, you might consider doubling down.

Again, the only way to have that data is to track it in the first place. Respondents who tracked ROI were over 20% more likely to receive higher budget than their counterparts who failed to keep tabs. Marketers can’t afford to be loose about their ROI tracking.

3) Managing Your Website

Why It’s a Challenge

Managing a website was the third biggest challenge for marketers in 2015 — especially for small companies fighting to reach the growth phase, as well as for nonprofit organizations. For nonprofits, managing a website was actually the #1 concern, ranking above providing ROI and securing more budget.

But, chances are, your website’s performance is high on your list of priorities. It’s an asset that works around the clock to draw in visitors, convert them, and help you hit your goals, after all.

Issues with website management includes a variety of different factors, from writing and optimizing the content to designing beautiful webpages. Here are a few things marketers can do to deal with this challenge.

What Can You Do?

First, read this report to see how your website stacks up against 26,000 other websites. It also includes a deep analysis on the four most critical elements of website performance and design, from average load time and website security, to mobile friendliness and SEO.

If your primary challenge with managing a website has to do with the skills and resources you have available, you aren’t alone. This is especially true for small companies who don’t have all the talent in-house required to cover content, optimization, design, and back-end website management.

One solution? Hire freelancers and agency partners. This year, our data showed an increase in the number of respondents who indicated they use freelancers and agency partners for content creation. To find freelancers, we recommend:

Tapping into your personal and professional network by posting on LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social networks with a description of what you’re looking for.
Browsing freelance writers and designers based on their portfolios and areas of interest. For writers, check out Zerys and Contently. For designers, check out Behance & Elance.
Browsing HubSpot’s Services Marketplace, which lists a wide variety of designers from partner companies and agencies we’ve deemed credible.

Overall, you can make website management easier on your team by hosting your website on a platform that integrates all your marketing channels like HubSpot’s COS.

Finally, for the projects you want to keep in-house, here is a list of blog posts that might be helpful to your team:

Blog post: 15 of the Best Website Homepage Design Examples
Blog post: Lead Gen 101: How to Create an Intuitive Website Conversion Path
Blog post: Web Design 101: How HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Work
Blog post: The 8 Elements of Modern Web Design (And Web Design Trends to Watch)
Blog post: The Beginner’s Guide to SSL: What It Is & Why It Makes Your Website More Secure
Blog post: Designing a Website Blueprint: How to Create Your XML Sitemap
Ebook: The Ultimate Workbook for Redesigning Your Website

4) Identifying the Right Technologies for Your Needs

Why It’s a Challenge

Finding the right technologies was the fourth biggest concern for marketers this year. Oftentimes, this is because feedback on technology is scattered. Marketers might turn to colleagues, friends in the industry, and/or analyst reports to figure out which technologies best fit their needs — only to find that feedback is spread across emails, social media, and so on from people of varied reputability.

When you’re looking for a tool, software, or piece of technology to solve a specific marketing problem, where do you go to find it?

What Can You Do?

For those of you looking for a tool, software, or piece of technology to solve a specific marketing problem, we recommend taking a look at Growthverse: a free, interactive, online visualization of the marketing technology landscape that focuses on the business problems marketers are trying to solve, and leads them to specific pieces of marketing technology that aim to solve those problems. We’ve found it to be a really well visualized map of carefully curated marketing technology resources. (Click here to read a blog post about how Growthverse works.)

It’s worth noting that the main tool in top marketers’ arsenals is a platform for automating their team’s marketing efforts. We found that although our respondents indicated using an array of specific products, the larger trend was telling: The top marketers use marketing automation software in some form or another. Specifically, those who saw a higher marketing ROI in 2014 were more likely to have used marketing automation software than not. In addition, those same respondents were more likely to see more budget unlocked as a result, and had almost no chance of receiving a lower budget.

5) Training Your Team

Why It’s a Challenge

Marketers found training their team to be the fifth biggest challenge this year. Whether it’s training them on the concepts and tools they’ll be using every day or making sure they’re achieving their full potential, the struggle was real across the board.

To combat this, I’ll share some tips I’ve used during my trainings to make sure the concepts and tool tips stick and have a lasting effect on your team and your marketing.

What Can You Do?

To get an overall idea of where your team stands, take a few minutes to assess each of your team members’ marketing strengths and weaknesses, levels of expertise, and passion/commitment to your company. Then, objectively rate the priority (or level of importance) of their expertise and their contribution to bottom line objectives (ROI) to date. Here’s a simple assessment tool from Lean Labs to help you evaluate your team so you can figure out who needs recognition and who needs coaching.

Next, check out this awesome resource from HubSpot Academy, The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Training. It’s a guide that’ll help you navigate all the marketing training options you have, from quick daily habits to more rigorous, career-launching investments.

You also might consider requiring your team members to rack up some online marketing certification. HubSpot Academy, for example, offers certifications, documentation, and training programs to help people master the basics of inbound marketing. Google also offers training and certifications on analytics with their online Analytics Academy.

What about new hire training, specifically? We recommend creating a training plan for new team members. Here at HubSpot, each new marketer is given a 100-day plan like this one to lay out specific goals and help new hires demonstrate their effectiveness.

6) Targeting Content for an International Audience

Why It’s a Challenge

Targeting is a key component of all aspects of marketing. To be more effective at targeting, one of the first things any marketer needs do is identify their buyer personas to determine who it is they should be marketing to. If you’re expanding internationally, it can be a big challenge not only to figure out the best ways to market to an international audience, but also to organize and optimize your site for different countries.

What Can You Do?

Start by reading this blog post on 22 global marketing hacks and resources. There are some really helpful tips in there that’ll help give you some direction on global marketing, including how to identify your top three growth markets, how to explore local trends, and tips on choosing the best localization providers. (For a more in-depth guide, download our free ebook, The Global Marketing Playbook.)

Remember, your website visitors might speak a plethora of different languages and live in totally different time zones. To make your content appealing to a wide audience, you’ll need to keep your global visitors top-of-mind when creating all your content. This means being aware of seasonal references, translating units of measure and monetary references, and giving translators the tools and permissions to customize and adapt content for a specific audience when they need to.

Finally, be sure you’re optimizing your website for international visitors, too. One of the first and most important decisions you’ll need to make is determining which domain structure should be used for additional languages and countries. (For more tips and resources on global marketing expansion, browse our international inbound marketing hub.)

7) Hiring Top Talent

Why It’s a Challenge

Hiring top talent was the seventh biggest challenge marketers reported experiencing this year. Why? Many companies are shifting more resources to inbound marketing, which means higher and higher demand for top marketing talent. But supply simply isn’t keeping up. From sourcing the right candidates to evaluating for the right skills, finding the perfect person could take months … or more.

What’s more, the type of marketing talent companies are looking for is changing, too. In Moz and Fractl’s analysis of thousands of job postings on Indeed.com, they concluded that employers are seeking marketers with technical and creative skill sets. And the quick rate at which the demand for these jobs are rising has caused a marketing skills gap, “making it difficult to find candidates with the technical, creative, and business proficiencies needed to succeed in digital marketing.”

What Can You Do?

Employers are looking for marketers with a diverse skill set that includes digital marketing, content marketing, SEO, and social media marketing. To find the best inbound marketer for your team, the first thing you should do is decide what that person needs to be able to achieve for your business.

Ask yourself: What will the new marketer’s tasks and duties include? What skills do those tasks and duties require? What goals or challenges will the new marketer face? Use your answers to these questions to write a compelling job description. (Here are 37 pre-written marketing job descriptions to help you get started.)

Next, post your jobs where talented inbound marketers will find them. While traditional job sites like Indeed.com, CareerBuilder.com, or LinkedIn will help you cast a wide net, we recommend checking out Inbound.org, which is the only job listing service in the world that’s exclusively focused on inbound marketing and sales jobs.

Finally, download this free kit on building and managing an agile, modern marketing team. The kit includes eight more, ready-made marketing job descriptions, information on finding and hiring the perfect inbound marketer, interview questions for candidates, and how to recruit and evaluate marketing interns.

8) Finding an Executive Sponsor

Why It’s a Challenge

Having an executive sponsor usually means you have someone in a highly placed position pushing your agenda for you. While finding one is eighth on the list of top marketing challenges, we’ve found this priority has become significantly more important for marketers in 2015 as compared to 2014. Specifically, finding an executive sponsor was more than 7X as likely to be cited as a challenge in 2015 as it was in 2014.

This makes sense, given that our survey respondents skewed toward SMBs: Marketers who are highly focused on securing more budget (and proving the ROI of their marketing spend) are likely interested in getting executives on their side to secure buy-in for inbound marketing practices.

We also found that senior executives favor inbound marketing more than managers do:

Image Credit: The 2015 State of Inbound Report

Among managers or senior managers, outbound was perceived to be the best marketing approach in terms of generating ROI. Inbound catches up to outbound at the non-executive VP/director level, and passes it at the executive rank (executive-level personnel represented over a third of all survey respondents).

What Can You Do?

One key way to help convince an executive to help push your inbound marketing agenda — and hopefully become a sponsor — is to use data to make a compelling case for inbound marketing. It’s much harder to refute data than it is mission statements and philosophies. Read this blog post to learn more about using data to make your case. (Bonus: You’ll also find in there 100 stats, charts, and graphs to get inbound marketing buy-in.)

Does Your Company Face Any of These Challenges?

A thorough analysis of your marketing strategy and its current performance will help you discover where your biggest marketing opportunity lies. This will allow you to focus on improving the areas that need the most attention, so you can start making your marketing far more effective.

If you’re faced with a challenge and want ideas on how to best tackle it, you can always consider getting some help by any of the various types of marketing training that are available.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in November 2012 and has been updated for freshness and comprehensiveness.

download the 2015 state of inbound marketing report

Apple, Google, PayPal & others form coalition to ensure lawmakers understand financial tech

by Cristian De Nardo | Nov 3, 2015 | Apple

With Apple Pay, Google Wallet and other services transforming the way people carry out transactions, Apple has joined forces with four other companies to ensure that lawmakers don’t end up ‘inadvertently’ stifling innovation in the financial services field.

Technology industry leaders Amazon, Apple, Google, Intuit and PayPal today announced the formation of Financial Innovation Now, a coalition that will promote policies to help foster greater innovation in financial services.

While the new organization uses relatively diplomatic language, it’s pretty clear that the aim is to ensure that politicians don’t screw things up by introducing poorly thought-out legislation, like the infamous example proposed by Democratic Rep. Joshua Peters …

Back in January, the Missouri lawmaker proposed a new law that would require shoppers to show photo ID whenever they used a mobile wallet service like Apple Pay, with clerks obliged to record the ID details before processing the transaction.

Brian Peters, Executive Director of Financial Innovation Now, says that the lobbying group wants to help lawmakers understand modern payment technologies.

Financial Innovation Now wants policymakers to understand how new technologies can help solve today’s policy challenges […]

The regulatory environment must allow these new innovations to enter and compete in the marketplace. We look forward to working with policymakers to promote the adoption of new services, many of which are already bringing significant benefits to consumers and small businesses today.

The group plans to lobby lawmakers to modernize the financial services system through better security and real-time payment processing.

Apple is continuing to expand Apple Pay, with an ever-growing list of new banks in the U.S. plus further international expansion. The company recently reported double-digit monthly growth.

Via Re/code

Filed under: Apple Pay Tagged: Apple pay, Financial Innovation Now, Financial Services, Google, Government, Law, Mobile wallet, payment, Paypal, policy

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The Media and Advertising Industry Has a Trust Issue: Here’s How Publishers Can Fix It

by Cristian De Nardo | Nov 3, 2015 | Marketing

Earlier this year, AdAge made a profound yet controversial statement that “no one trusts advertising or media.” Only 4% of Americans think the marketing industry behaves with integrity, and nearly half of consumers surveyed say that they don’t trust any news source.

Ouch.

This trend is a blow to the media industry, which is built on trust. Shady and dishonest internet marketing practices have left a sour taste in consumers’ mouths: they’re inherently skeptical of any information your brand puts out to the world—especially your native ads.

The word “sponsored” is enough to make anyone raise an eyebrow and evoke an instant fear of skepticism. Consumers may instantly assume that your messaging has an ulterior motive–even when your goal is to simply provide entertainment or share educational materials.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Creating an Advertising Strategy That Garners Trust With Your Readers

There are simple steps that editors can take to improve trust in media and advertising. Here are some recommendations to guide you:

1) Develop Ads That Audiences Find Interesting

A recent report from Nielsen points out that one third of online advertising campaigns don’t work—they fail to drive awareness, lift, or purchase intent. Compare this stat to another in the same study: branded websites are the second-most-trusted advertising format, behind recommendations from friends and family.

Cliff notes:

As a whole, advertising is ineffective.
As a subset of advertising, branded content is highly effective.

The big question is why. To answer that question, let’s look at sponsored content. It may be labeled an ‘advertisement,’ but it’s so much more—most importantly, it’s a way for brands to better engage their audiences.

The difference between sponsored content and advertising is that sponsored content is typically developed by trained editors and journalists. These creators are content experts, in the business of entertaining audiences and publishing creative stories. According to recent data, 56% of publishers indicate sponsored content and native ads are the most likely ad offering to increase in value over the next two years.

The bottom line? Focus on what your audiences care about: educate and engage. This level of authenticity and transparency builds trust.

2) Be Helpful

The Nielsen study uncovered a link between trust and action. Why? Consumers take action on ad units that they find valuable when they come from a reputable source. It’s content + context, with one more factor tacked on. Curator.

How does this work for media companies specifically?

Media companies can use ads to guide consumers through the decision process, while still providing the value that caused readers to visit their site to begin with. They can make it easy to purchase a product in the moment, or provide a resource to download additional information. Native can build trust between advertisers and consumers, in ways that display cannot. As Nielsen points out, the strongest online and mobile formats make it compelling to ‘live in the moment’—a quality that you can take back to your company’s native ad strategy.

Focus on educating and delivering value rather than selling.

Native ads and branded content make it easy for audiences to have fun, take a break, and live in the moment. Make it easy for your viewers to take the next step, make a purchase, or surface more details about your advertisers.

3) Don’t Forget Emotion

It can be easy to forget your editorial voice when building educational content. But whatever you do, don’t restrict your communications to corporate-speak. According to the Nielsen survey, successful marketing campaigns require more than identifying the right channels for reaching consumers. You also need to deliver the right messaging: in doing so, you’ll capture your audience’s attention, improve conversion to long-term memory, and improve emotional engagement.

And depicting real-life situations? This strategy resonates most powerfully, according to 44 percent of global respondents—and publishers know what resonates with their audiences (that’s their job!) bring the same emotions to the ads they help create.

One of the most impactful ways to connect your message to memory? It’s storytelling. And native ads provide the perfect format to accomplish this goal through video, text, and photos.

Create sponsored content that makes your audience’s feel something and help your advertisers illuminate their human sides.

Final Thoughts

Editors are in a strong position to help their advertising partners build trust. Both brands and publishers should treat their editors as consultants.

Editors can help advertisers look beyond marketing messages in sponsored content to build a transparent yet emotional rapport with audiences. They can also make sure that the advertising message is backed by the ultimate investment—integrity.

The bottom line: Be true to who you are, and trust will follow suit.

Activision acquires the company behind Candy Crush for $5.9 billion

by Cristian De Nardo | Nov 3, 2015 | Apple

The Financial Times reports that Activision Blizzard has agreed to acquire the company behind the popular Candy Crush Saga and Farm Hero games, King Digital Entertainment, for $5.9 billion in cash. King Digital’s games consist of a community of more than 340 million unique users. Activision, of course, is the company behind hit console games like the Call of Duty series.

King Digital closed with a $4.7 billion market capitalization on Monday, meaning Activision is paying a 26 percent premium to acquire the company. That’s less than, however, the price at which King Digital went public last year.

Activision’s motivation to purchase King Digital comes in that it is lagging dramatically in the mobile gaming market. In its second quarter earnings, the company reported that just 5 percent of its net revenue came from mobile gaming, with the rest coming from console gaming, online gaming, and PC gaming. The news of the acquisition comes on the eve of the company’s third quarter earnings report.

King Digital has been working recently to reduce its financial dependence on Candy Crush, but the app still accounts for more than one-third of its total revenues. The company saw the total spending on its titles fall 13 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of 2015.

The $5.9 billion sale is huge for a company that solely relies on digital games. In 2012, OMGPOP, the company behind the popular Draw Something app, was acquired by Facebook for $200 million, only to be shut down 16 months later. It’s also a mind-blowing amount considering Apple purchased Beats for a little over half of that price at $3 billion.

Filed under: Apps, Tech Industry Tagged: Activision, Apps, candy crush, Games, king digital

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Apple TV App Store adds Top Charts section, confirms popularity of games

by Cristian De Nardo | Nov 2, 2015 | Apple

Screen Shot 2015-11-02 at 8.23.36 PM

When the new Apple TV launched last week, one notable omission in the tvOS App Store were Top Charts like we are used to seeing on iOS devices. The obvious reason for this omission seemed to be that Apple didn’t have enough data collected to populate top charts, but now that appears to have changed…

Users of the new Apple TV have noticed a new section in the device’s App Store that lists the Top Charts for tvOS applications. Just like on iOS, the Top Charts tab breaks down the Top Paid, Top Free, and Top Grossing applications.

As we noted this morning, the Top Paid charts are heavily dominated with games, a feature new to the fourth-generation Apple TV. The first place spot, however, is held by Simple X, a third-party Plex client that will likely slide down the charts as more people realized Plex has released an official client for the device. Games Galaxy On Fire, Does Not Commute, Lumino City, and Alto’s Adventure round out the top five paid tvOS apps.

The top free apps are dominated by media apps, as you would expect with a set-top box. Nat Geo TV comes in at the top, with Fox Now, Showtime, History, and CBS following. Finally, the Top Grossing charts are again dominated by games, although Simple X leads in this category as well.

As Mayo elaborated on this morning, tvOS apps are certainly on the pricier said when compared to iOS apps. It remains to be seen if this is a trend that will continue or if prices will gradually fall. Top Charts are rolling out slowly to fourth-gen Apple TV units.

Thanks Scott!

Filed under: Apple TV Tagged: App Store, Apple TV, Apps, TV, tvOS

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Review: Leef’s new Lightning thumb drive has a microSD card slot for quick transfers to iOS devices

by Cristian De Nardo | Nov 2, 2015 | Apple

I first reviewed Leef’s USB to Lightning thumb drive last year when I compared a handful of similar products just hitting the market at the time. The products are essentially standard USB stick drives, but with the addition of a Lightning connector, you can now have the convenience of thumb drive storage on your iPhone or iPad. My favorite of the bunch was the Leef iBridge, and now the company has a new version that adds a microSD card slot…

It’s not necessarily a better version of the iBridge— Leef still sells that in 16GB ($59), 32GB ($79), 64GB ($119), 128GB ($199), 256GB ($399) capacities for those that want the built-in storage and a USB connector— but the addition of a microSD card slot on the new iAccess version will come in handy for a number of use cases.

For anyone with a device that takes a microSD card, like a GoPro-style camera or drone, the new version will make transferring files directly to an iPhone or iPad easier, bypassing the need to transfer over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or a cable. And you can also use it to transfer files from iOS device to iOS device.

The iAccess doesn’t have a USB connector on the opposite side of the Lightning like the iBridge, so it’s essentially built for those that want a quick way to transfer from microSD to iOS device, or iOS to iOS device only, as described above. You could also transfer from a device that uses an SD card if you have a microSD to SD adapter, which Leef happens to sell separately, as do others. But if you want to transfer from a USB device– for example, to grab some files off a MacBook and transfer to iOS– than iBridge is still your best bet.

It does keep the same J-shape design as the iBridge, however, allowing it to wrap around the iOS device and stay out of the way when connected. That’s one of the reasons, in addition to the product’s companion app (more on that below), that Leef’s iBridge was our favorite Lightning drive last year.

And it utilizes the same slick companion iOS app that we noted made the Leef iBridge our top pick in our comparison of Lightning thumb drives last year. Apps for the handful of other products I tested last year just didn’t stack up. Leef’s app makes it easy to view, manage, and move files around within the app and to a connected device. It also builds in features for streaming content directly from iAccess to your iOS device and allows you to automatically have photos and video taken on your iOS device storage directly to the connected SD card.

Here’s a look at the main features of the iPhone app:

It’s also cheaper than the iBridge version from last year, selling for $49.99. However, that is without the necessary SD card. Leef sells its own microSD card with SD card adapter starting at $17.99 for 16GB. But you can grab microSD cards and SD adapters on Amazon starting as low as $5.

There are somewhat cheaper competitors on the market, but Leef’s wraparound design and well designed companion app make it worth the slightly higher price tag.

Grab the Leef iAccess MicroSD Lightning drive for $49.99.

Filed under: iOS Tagged: Adapter, GoPro, iaccess, ibridge, iOS, iphone drive, leef, Lightning, MicroSD, SD Card, thumb drive

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Official Plex app for Apple TV now available, offers local streaming, playlists, channels, more

by Cristian De Nardo | Nov 2, 2015 | Apple

The official Plex app for Apple TV is now available in the App Store. Plex is a media server for video, TV shows, music and photos. The app is fully featured, with quick access to search, playlists and more from the top bar. It also tracks your currently playing items so you can quickly pick up with a show or film from where you left off. The app incorporates channel streaming of content like TED, Revision3 and more as well as video queues from YouTube and Vimeo.

Although the app is free, be warned that the app will work only if you have a Plex Media Server setup either locally or on a remote network. Activating streaming for the tvOS app costs $5 via In-App Purchase, so it’s not really free.

The poster art looks great on Apple TV — the app features a nice 3D animation as focus changes from item to item. The detail view for media has been made to replicate the system view almost 1:1 so everything feels very native. Cast info and ratings mirror the iTunes Store layout too. Playlists are laid out cleanly as faux music albums, which is a nice way of displaying a usually bland list of shows.

Plex organizes all of your video, music, TV and photo collections, and streams them to all of your screens. With the free Plex Media Server on your home computer and Plex for Apple TV, you can watch and listen to all of your personal media on your Apple TV and share it with friends and family.

Download Plex by searching for it in the Apple TV App Store or downloading it from iTunes then searching Purchases on Apple TV. If you are looking for an unofficial client alternative, search for SimpleX in the App Store — it’s a good third-party Plex client priced at $2.99.

Filed under: AAPL Company, Apple TV, Apps, iOS, iOS Devices Tagged: Apple TV, Apps, Plex, plex media server, video streamer

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Browser-based jailbreak for iOS 9.1 and 9.2 beta exists, but don’t expect it to see the light of day

by Cristian De Nardo | Nov 2, 2015 | Apple

When Apple released iOS 9.1 last month, it closed an exploit that was used in the development of the most recent jailbreak software. As with every new iOS release, users were forced to choose whether they wanted to upgrade to the latest version of the operating system or stay on a slightly outdated version in order to preserve their jailbreak.

While that hasn’t changed today, a new bit of information from Zerodium has revealed that it is possible to jailbreak iOS 9.1—and the new iOS 9.2 beta—without even needing to plug it into a computer.

Our iOS #0day bounty has expired & we have one winning team who made a remote browser-based iOS 9.1/9.2b #jailbreak (untethered). Congrats!

—
(@Zerodium) November 02, 2015

Browser-based jailbreaks have been a thing of the past for several years now, but Zerodium says it has awarded a $1 million bounty to one team of developers who managed to put together a new hack for modern iOS versions. Unfortunately, it’s not expected that users will ever benefit from this specific discovery. Zeroidum is in the business of buying exploits, not releasing jailbreaks, and after spending $1 million on this one, it’s not likely they’d release it to the public.

So while the developers who discovered this particular trick probably won’t be pushing out a 9.1 jailbreak anytime soon, users can at least rest assured that it is possible to create a JailbreakMe.com-style jailbreak for today’s software. Whether anyone will put this type of exploit to use is yet to be seen.

Filed under: iOS Tagged: iOS 9.1, ios 9.2, jailbreak, zerodium

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Apple could be forced to stop completely encrypting iPhones and services under UK law

by Cristian De Nardo | Nov 2, 2015 | Apple

Apple Security

Apple and government officials have been publicly sparring over how to handle privacy and encryption for months, and new rules expected to be proposed in the UK on Wednesday might make Apple’s position much harder to maintain.

The issue boils down to Apple allowing iPhone users to encrypt data behind a password — encryption that Apple can’t break through — and government officials wanting access in instances where de-encrypting smartphones could help law enforcement and security efforts. Services like iMessage and FaceTime are also encrypted end-to-end.

Now The Telegraph reports that the Investigatory Powers Bill being introduced on Wednesday will likely require Apple and other companies to hold a key to encrypted smartphones and services, giving access to government agencies when a warrant is issued.

Should the bill become law, Apple would be forced to stop encrypting iPhones, iMessage, and FaceTime beyond its access. Apple has used its strong approach to encryption as a product feature worth marketing and strongly disagreed with government officials that say Apple has created a safe haven for criminal activity.

While measures within the bill haven’t been publicly revealed yet, The Telegraph says it will also require Internet companies to maintain user browsing data for one year. The bill is said to be a controversial one in terms of government reach and privacy implications, but one with the support of Prime Minister David Cameron.

Back in the US, the Department of Justice pushed forward by saying that Apple should be forced to grant access to iOS devices when asked by the government because the software running on iPhones is licensed, not sold.

DOJ and FBI officials have reportedly voiced frustration to the White House at Apple winning the encryption fight with little push back from higher-ups in the government, publicly saying last year that Apple’s stance would eventually stop law enforcement officials from preventing heinous crimes. Apple is among several voices that asked President Obama not to back measures that would force Apple to change its encryption policy like the ones being proposed in the UK this week.

Filed under: iOS Devices, Tech Industry Tagged: david cameron, Encryption, FaceTime, iMessage, Investigatory Powers Bill, iPhone, UK

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Sprint announces new agreement to let subscribers roam in Cuba

by Cristian De Nardo | Nov 2, 2015 | Apple

Sprint today announced a new agreement with the Telecommunications Company of Cuba that will allow the fourth-largest US carrier’s subscribers to roam in Cuba. The move comes on the heels of changes to US-Cuban relations recently implemented by the US government.

The Sprint press release (below) mentions two of the company’s global roaming initiatives, but doesn’t specify whether Cuba will join the existing programs or will be part of a different offer.

The company says the exact details and the timing of the launch will be announced at a later date.

Sprint First U.S. Carrier to Sign Direct Cuba Roaming Agreement

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Nov. 2, 2015 – Sprint (NYSE: S) today became the first U.S. wireless carrier to sign a direct roaming agreement with Telecommunications Company of Cuba (ETECSA).

“As the commercial relationship between the U.S. and Cuba continues to progress, it is expected that the number of travelers to Cuba will increase exponentially,” said Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure. “We want to make sure any Sprint customer traveling to Cuba can use their phone the same way as they do in the United States.”

Claure made the announcement at a signing ceremony in Havana as part of the U.S.-Cuba Business Council (USCBC) delegation to Cuba.

As the only U.S. carrier with a direct roaming agreement and a direct long-distance interconnection agreement with Cuban provider ETECSA, Sprint is leading the way for U.S.-Cuba telecommunications.

More than 3 million people from around the world are expected to visit Cuba this year. Within 10 years, that number is projected to grow to more than 5 million.

The USCBC, an advocacy organization housed at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is a formal commitment by the American business community to build a strong and strategic commercial relationship between Cuba and the United States.

Earlier this year, Sprint launched Sprint Global Roaming and in August launched Sprint Open World, an industry-leading plan for connectivity in Canada, Mexico and most other countries across Latin America. The agreement signed today with ETECSA makes it much more convenient for Sprint customers who plan to work, study or visit family in Cuba. Offer details and timing of availability will be announced soon.

Filed under: AAPL Company

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Apple Podcasts app spotted for new Apple TV on demo units at retail stores

by Cristian De Nardo | Nov 2, 2015 | Apple

vlcsnap-2015-11-02-15h45m25s227

The Apple TV is an advancement in many ways over the third-generation model (faster processor, App Store, Siri) but there are also a couple of regressions, features that existed before that are missing and/or removed. One such example is Podcasts. The third-gen Apple TV featured a pre-installed Apple Podcasts app, which would sync with your iTunes subscriptions on the desktop and iOS devices. However, it is nowhere to be seen on the new fourth-generation Apple TV yet …

The screenshot above comes from the video loop Apple plays in retail stores to demo the new product. It clearly shows Apple’s latest Podcasts app icon, suggesting the app is on the way for the new fourth-generation box. Like the Remote app which only works from iOS and Apple Watch on Apple TV 2/3, it seems Apple did not manage to get it ready for the initial launch of the device.

There is a chance that the Podcasts app was included in the marketing video due to human error, but this is unlikely given that the icon has been fully designed for the new Apple TV. It also just makes sense that the feature disparity between the 3rd-gen and 4th-gen will be rectified in forthcoming software updates … like the annoying lack of iOS Remote app or Bluetooth keyboard pairing for text entry. Apple has not officially commented on any of these matters.

Thanks Alireza!

Filed under: Apple TV, iOS Tagged: Apple TV, podcasts app, retail store

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9to5Toys Lunch Break: iPad mini 2 $199, iPad Air 2 from $399, Beats Pill 2.0 Bluetooth Speaker $120, more

by Cristian De Nardo | Nov 2, 2015 | Apple

9to5toys-header

Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

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Apple iPad Mini 2, space gray or silver: $199 shipped ($70 off)

apple-ipad-air-2

Apple iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi: 16GB $399 (Reg. $499), 64GB $479 (Reg. $599), 128GB $559 (Reg. $699)

beats-by-dr-dre-pill-2-0-portable-bluetooth-speaker-sale-01

Beats by Dr. Dre Pill 2.0 Portable Bluetooth Speaker (multiple colors) $120 shipped (Orig. $200)

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Amazon’s Black Friday Deals store is now open for business

Everything we know so far about this year’s best Black Friday deals and promotions

More new gear from today:

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2 Pack: Mohu Leaf Metro Indoor HDTV Antenna (Refurb) $25 shipped (Orig. $40 value)

Games/Apps: Metal Gear Phantom Pain hits its lowest price $40, more
Target 25% off Toys: Razor E200 Electric Scooter $117 (Reg. $144), more
Amazon to offer midnight deliveries for Call of Duty: Black Ops III via Prime Now
Media: Breaking Bad Complete Series on Blu-ray $70 (Orig. $161), $3 DVDs, more
Daily Deals: Garmin vívofit 2 $70, Two Aukey MFi Lightning Cables $8, more

Motorola Moto X (2nd Generation) 16GB Unlocked Android Smartphone $200 shipped (Reg. $300) wp.me/p1xTlR-Jdz https://t.co/wMnxjGU1kO

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9to5Toys (@9to5toys) November 02, 2015