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A patent troll is currently suing Apple, Samsung and half the automotive industry – as well as other companies – over the use of a vague, decade old patent that covers operating certain functions of a vehicle, like starting the engine and locking/unlocking doors, through a “watch” – now known as a “smartwatch”.

Intellectual Capital Consulting (LCC), the plaintiff in the lawsuit (which we embed below), claims that the defendants are using patented technology in smartwatch products and software that they are selling or contributing to sell.

The company filed the suit earlier this summer, but it is only now coming to light after one of the defendants disclosed his legal troubles on the Tesla Motors Club forum. Allen Wong from RegoApps is standing out in a list of defendants consisting of multi-billion dollar companies. An independent app developer, RegoApps is being sued for its Remote S app which allows Tesla Model S owners to access certain features of the car through an Apple Watch.

Intellectual Capital Consulting’s patent, which was filed in 2003 and issued in 2006, describes the following design:

A remote watch design for a car security system, comprising of a display screen and base with keypad. A user of the remote watch will not only be able to keep track of the time but also will be able to arm/lock, disarm/unlock and remotely start their vehicle by pushing specific buttons on the watch. It is common for people to lose or misplace their keys along with the keyless remote that is attached to the keys.

You can access the full patent here.

The design described in the patent focuses on security features, which isn’t necessarily the primary use of Remote S. Rego’s app allow user to access features already available through Tesla’s official iPhone app, but instead through the Apple Watch, including starting the Model S with a voice command, enabling climate control inside the vehicle, and opening the sunroof.

The patent application’s description of the actual hardware (see picture on the right) is hardly comparable to the Apple Watch. The inventors didn’t foresee the proficient use of touch screens and instead describes the activation of the features through the use of buttons.

LCC filed the complaint in East Texas, a very popular jurisdiction for patent infringement lawsuits. Wong explains why he thinks they filed there:

“The problem is that jurors in that small town in East Texas are uneducated. Only 20% of them have a college degree. Most will not understand what’s going on in the trial. And that’s why patent trolls love that courthouse, because they rule in favor of them around 78-88% of the time vs the national avg of around 59-68%. Not only that, the judges tend to pass out huge rewards in the hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Wong says that LCC is asking for $2 million upfront and $1 million annually to use its patent. The developer says that there’s no way his app could generate that much money even if he’d raise the price to $100 per download and that every single Model S owner with an Apple Watch were to buy the application.

To be fair, although he doesn’t have the resources of Apple and the other defendants in this lawsuit, Wong is not an average independent app developer. He made a small fortune with his Radio Police Scanner app and he is still doing quite well based on his car stable. From RegoApps’s Instagram:

Wong says that his patent lawyer costs $400 per hour and that sending a letter to the judge to try to get the case dismissed might cost him between $15,000 and $20,000. He expects the legal battle to wipe out the earnings from the Remote S app with little chance of recouping his lawyer’s fees.

Here’s the lawsuit in full:

Filed under: AAPL Company, Apple Watch Tagged: AAPL, Apple, Apple Inc, Apple watch, Apps, car, Lawsuit, Patent, Patent troll

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The new Apple TV is slated to go on sale in retail stores this coming Friday after going up online earlier this week, and now early reviews of the device have hit the web. The new Apple TV includes a variety of enhancements, feature additions, and more, including a smarter Siri, a new remote, a redesigned interface, and an App Store. But how do all of these new features add to the overall experience of the device?

Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Geoffrey Fowler says that the fourth-generation Apple TV is very much the company’s attempt at turning “your TV into a giant iPhone.” Ultimately, Fowler believes that the Apple TV’s central advantage is the App Store, which will allow developers to showcase their talents for the everyday streamer:

Ultimately, the Apple TV’s advantage is that it isn’t tied to the idea of channels, live TV or even streaming. It’s the place where developers are able to do the most cool interactive stuff for the widest audience. There’s already a workout show on the Apple TV that’s smart enough to know if you’re really working out.

The TV of the future needs to be as powerful and easy to use as an iPhone, and this Apple TV is the first box—and the first Apple TV—to achieve that.

Walt Mossberg of The Verge writes that one of the biggest flaws of the new Apple TV is that Siri doesn’t work for searching in the App Store, which as it grows, will become increasingly hard to navigate and find what you want.

Another disappointment: Siri search doesn’t work in the App Store, which will soon become incredibly hard to navigate, just like on the iPhone. Even worse, the keyboard you need to use to search for apps (or for content in services not enabled for Siri, or for signing into services) is awful, actually worse than the old one. It’s maddening.

And, as good as Siri has become, it feels limited on this device. It needs to work on allor most of the apps, not a few. It doesn’t even work in the Apple Music app. And it’s odd that it can’t handle all the queries that it can on an iPhone, or speak to you.

Mossberg does note of one neat feature that speeds up the set-up process, however:

Apple does help you with setting up the box, if not its apps. You can just hold an iPhone running the latest iOS version near the Apple TV and it will fetch your iCloud and Wi-Fi settings over Bluetooth.

Nilay Patel, also writing for The Verge, says that most of the apps currently available for the new Apple TV are simply scaled-up iPhone apps. Obviously this is something that can and will change overtime, but in the interim it presents a major problem for Apple’s “future of TV” offering:

And… that is not what the currently available apps in the App Store do. Most of them are just gigantic iPhone apps. The Periscope app seems like it would be brilliant, but lacks the ability to log into your Periscope account, so you can’t see your friends’ streams or leave comments. The Zillow app appears to be an aggressive attempt to highlight the crime-scene aesthetic of most interior real estate photography. Descriptions for featured games like Shadowmatic and Mr. Crabtalk about plugging in headphones and tapping on your screen. Laziness abounds.

In BuzzFeed’s review, John Paczkowski praises the device’s new touch-based remote. Paczkowski says that the combination of touch support and Siri make navigating the Apple TV’s interface incredibly intuitive and simple:

If the new Siri Remote isn’t everything Apple claims it is, it’s close. Certainly, it’s a dramatic improvement over its predecessor in function and usability (it’s worth noting that Apple charges $79 for a spare, which is more than half the cost of the base model Apple TV). Siri is a TV remote that actually makes sense. It does what you want it to do with a minimum of fuss and clutter. There’s a touchpad on one side of the remote, and you can use it to navigate in all sorts of ways. Swiping across a film’s timeline to pinpoint a particular moment, for example, is surprisingly accurate and easy. Universal search — which not only enables searches across multiple streaming video services, but prioritizes the results based on the services you subscribe to — is fantastic. After using it for a few hours, I found myself resenting Apple for not enabling it sooner and leaving longtime Apple TV users like me to suffer with the lousy search function that preceded it.

Christina Warren, writing for Mashable, praises Apple’s attempt at reimagining the Apple TV’s operating system and interface with tvOS. Warren notes of the differences between designing for a “six-inch experience and a 10-foot experience,” saying that Apple managed it very well.

Turning on the Apple TV for the first time, I was pleased with the new interface. The old Apple TV interface has received some updates over the years, but has remained fundamentally unchanged since 2010. The new interface shares the same UI and UX cues as iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan. From the font to the images, everything looks modern — yet familiar.

Apple TV now has its own operating system, tvOS, which is based on iOS. The idea behind tvOS is to bring the best aspects of the iPhone and iPad experience to the biggest screen in the house. But tvOS isn’t simply blowing up the iOS experience for a bigger screen. That’s something we’ve seen from other Android-based set-top boxes (including, to a certain extent, Amazon’s Fire TV), and it doesn’t always work as well as you might think. That’s because a six-inch experience and a 10-foot experience are different. The nice thing about the Apple TV and tvOS is that it knows that the experiences are different and the apps are built in a way to make that kind of shift work.

Apple has also included some high quality HD video screensavers for the Apple TV that look unbelievable and are different based on the time of day.

One feature many have been excited for with the new Apple TV is the support for gaming that the added App Store brings. In CNET’s review, David Katzmaier notes that gaming with a single thumb is surprisingly appealing, but that nothing beats the precision an actual controller offers.

The first thing to know about gaming on the Apple TV is that you can always use the included remote; you don’t need to buy a separate controller. The second thing is that with many games, a controller simply works better. Most of the titles I played worked fine with the included touchpad remote, and there’s something to be said about gaming with one thumb. I easily could hold my infant son while I played Crossy Road, for example.

That addictive chicken-smasher, with its simple controls and graphics, played beautifully and looked great on the big screen. So did JetPack Joyride and Bandland, both of which mainly consist of timed jumping. Slightly more complex controls worked well at times, for example steering on Does Not Commute (tapping either side of the pad) or swinging a bat with Beat Sports (swiping to move a bit, and swinging the controller like a Nintendo Wii). Where the touchpad controller failed for me was with quick movements requiring precise directions, like flying the ship in Geometry Wars, or directing the character to move across the map or attack something in Oceanhorn and Transistor.

David Pogue of Yahoo! Tech says that Siri functionality with the new Apple TV works very well with commands relating to finding specific episodes of shows and genres of movies, as well as several useful commands during playback.

Siri can answer any query that incorporates a show or movie title, cast, director, age rating, critical response, or date. (You can even say, “Show me bad movies!”) You can also continue to refine a search. After you’ve said “Show me some Bruce Willis movies,” you can then say, “Only the recent ones,” and then, “Just the funny ones.”

Or “Find action movies,” then “The James Bond ones,” then “just the ones with Sean Connery.”

When a movie or show is available from more than one service—iTunes and Netflix, for example—Apple TV lists them both. And, thoughtfully, it lists Netflix first (because that’s $8 a month, so this particular movie costs nothing more), even though Apple would make more money if you bought that movie from iTunes.

It’s clear that Apple worked its fingers to the bone on this; it works unbelievably well. You have to give a lot of commands before you find a failure. (I finally stumped it when I said, “Show me the episode of ‘The Office’ with guest star Paul Feig.’”)

Finally, the New York Times review of the device explains that while the Apple TV is now more expensive than its competitors (starting at $149), its value will continue to increase as the usefulness of the App Store increases over time:

There are two storage models for the Apple TV. For $149, you get 32 gigabytes; $199 buys 64 gigs. In my tests, apps and games were pretty slim in terms of data size, so 32 gigs should be enough for most people. Those who plan to do a lot of gaming will probably be safer with 64 gigs.

Apple TV is on the path to turning the television set into a smarter connected screen. And though it’s the most expensive of the bunch, it will accrue more value over time as software developers expand its capabilities with more apps and games.

The general consensus among reviewers seems to be that the Apple TV is a great start for Apple in its end-goal of fixing television, but its not entirely there yet. Some of this will get better as the App Store becomes more useful and more developers are able to showcase their skills on the larger-screened platform. The main advantage many seem to think the device has, however, is the integration with Apple’s existing ecosystem. Walt Mossberg writes in his review:

Filed under: Apple TV Tagged: Apple, Apple TV, review roundup

For more information about Apple, Apple TV, and Apple TV continue reading at 9to5Mac.

What do you think? Discuss “Apple TV reviews: A step toward reinventing TV, but living room not evolved yet” with our community.

Earlier in the year, we released a major redesign for all of the 9to5 sites and we continue to roll out improvements to this design. However, we’ve also been working on something else for 9to5Mac … today we are releasing the 9to5Mac app for iPhone and iPad. As a complement to the website, you can now read our latest stories directly from your Home screen.

Download the app from the App Store for free right now. The app runs on iPhone and iPad with custom layouts for the respective screen sizes. It’s the essence of our website, the news stories, reflowed into a format that’s optimized for iOS.

We love the website, but the app allows us to offer you many additional features to further the 9to5Mac experience for our readers. You can subscribe to breaking news notifications, jump into Dark Mode for late night reading and add our latest headlines to the Today view with the included widget. More details after the break …

The app is universal, so it looks great on iPhone and iPad screens. You can scroll the feed to see headlines and just tap into posts when you want to see more. The app respects system text size, so it should match up with your personal reading preferences. You can even go landscape on an iPhone to get a split-view of the post list and stories. Tap on the left hand column to quickly skim through the news. You can also read the post comments, with threaded replies, directly inline without leaving the app experience.

I’ve been working on this project for 9to5Mac for several months; there are some nice touches. While I’ll spare the technical details for my own blog (I’m available for iOS development work), be sure to check out the beautiful parallax imagery and the pull-to-refresh UI. I love it.

There’s a lot more in the pipeline too: the next update will include support for iOS 9’s split-screen multitasking on iPad as well as 3D Touch Peek and Pop integration for article and link previews. There’s crossover with the website for sure but stuff like this just isn’t feasible in a browser … and it’s also true that a lot of people just love the app experience. We purposefully don’t force you down one particular path, so you can choose to use the website however you please, perhaps solely as a breaking news notifications source.

Check out the app right now on the App Store and we very much appreciate your feedback. This is version 1.0 of a fantastic vision for getting the best Apple news reporting on iOS.

Filed under: Apps, General Tagged: 9to5Mac, App Store, iPad, iPhone

For more information about Apps, iPhone, and iPad continue reading at 9to5Mac.

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The App Store on both iOS and the Mac appears to currently be experiencing issues with downloading new and previously purchased apps as well as app updates for some but not all users. Apple’s system status board for Apple Services, Stores, and iCloud doesn’t mention the service interruption in the detailed timeline section at the time of writing, but several readers have pointed out the issue with the App Store on iPhone and iPad and within iTunes on the desktop.

The service interruption comes as Apple prepares to launch a new App Store on tvOS with the new Apple TV launching on Friday, which could explain the issues many are experiencing on the backend. Some users have reported seeing the issues only intermittently but the problems appear to be widespread and consistent for many. We’ll monitor the issue and update if Apple addresses the issue or it appears resolved.

NBA Champs! Go Dubs! #Warriors https://t.co/2z3Xric5YE

—
Eddy Cue (@cue) October 28, 2015

Filed under: Apps, iOS, Mac Tagged: App Store

For more information about Apps, iOS, and App Store continue reading at 9to5Mac.

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We’ve already seen several crowdfunding campaigns for USB-C hubs to expand the capability of Apple’s 12-inch Retina MacBook, which features a single USB-C port for connecting accessories, and Satechi is joining the scene with its own USB-C hub available now.

Available in three color-matching aluminum finishes that fit Apple’s gold, silver, and space gray MacBooks, Satechi’s Type-C hub adds three USB 3.0 ports plus two SD card slots, both standard and Micro, to the USB-C-only Retina MacBook. This allows you to use standard USB cables and accessories like flash drives simultaneously with a single adapter. Satechi highlights its hub’s portable size, which appears to minimally extend the edge of the laptop with similar dimensions to an extra column of keys. 

As a daily MacBook owner myself, one observation I have is Satechi’s hub’s lack of an additional USB-C port for charging while using it. Real world battery usage for me generally spans around 4-5 hours on one charge. Satechi notes that only one SD card reader may be used at a time, too, although that’s a reasonable limitation.

Satechi’s USB-C hub for MacBooks is available now for $34.99 (reg. $39.99) plus shipping on Amazon. Both the color and form-factor should appeal to Retina MacBook owners. Also check out my 12-inch MacBook review here plus Dom’s video review here.

Filed under: Mac, Tech Industry Tagged: MacBook, Retina MacBook, Satechi, SD Card Reader, USB 3, USB-C

Check out 9to5Mac for more breaking coverage of Tech Industry, Mac, and MacBook.

What do you think? Discuss “Satechi’s new compact USB-C hub adds 3 USB ports + SD card slots to single-port MacBooks” with our community.

Japanese gaming giant Nintendo is expected to show off its very first mobile games for smartphones tomorrow, The Wall Street Journal reports. The news comes after first announcing plans to bring new games with classic Nintendo characters like Mario to iPhones earlier this year. Nintendo famously resisted making games for mobile platforms like iOS and Android for years, focusing solely on its own Nintendo hardware gaming consoles to push its titles.

Now as Apple is set to make its first serious move into gaming in the living room with the new Apple TV launching Friday, Nintendo appears ready to give fans what they’ve been waiting for.

Promising to free characters from the portable DS and TV-console Wii U, Nintendo said in May to expect a total of roughly five titles in total by March 2017. Nintendo explained at the time that these titles, while including current intellectual property from existing games, would be newly created to best make use of the mobile platforms rather than ports of existing console titles.

The good news is Nintendo has previously stated that it plans to develop these games in-house rather than through a partner, which should translate to quality gaming experiences not unlike what fans enjoy on Nintendo’s own consoles … although smartphone games may never be true console quality given the hardware constraints.

And while Nintendo appears to only be catching up with the trend of mobile gaming’s popularity on smartphones, Apple is launching a new platform, tvOS, and its first App Store for the living room on the fourth-gen Apple TV launching on Friday. The new Apple TV has already demonstrated potential for fun, lightweight gaming.

We’ll stay tuned for Nintendo’s official announcement with more details on its first smartphone game expected tomorrow.

Filed under: AAPL Company, Apps, iOS, Tech Industry Tagged: Apple TV, gaming, iOS, iPhone, Nintendo

For more news on AAPL Company, Apps, and iPhone continue reading at 9to5Mac.

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Yet another developer has tapped into Apple’s new pressure sensitive 3D Touch display technology on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus to create a real digital scale app, but this time Apple has given word that it won’t allow the apps on the App Store.

As demonstrated by another developer earlier this month, devs have realized that Apple’s new pressure sensitive display tech can be used for more than just the 3D Touch features it’s allowing developers to integrate in their apps. In fact, it makes developing a real digital scale app for the iPhone a reality. Up until now, the digital scale apps on the App Store have mostly been for novelty purposes and don’t actually work as a functioning scale.

Ryan McLeod has developed a digital scale app using the iPhone 6s tech, but confirmed that Apple isn’t yet allowing the apps on the App Store. He penned a post about the app and how it works, and explained that Apple ultimately rejected the app even after appeals (via The Verge).

To make a long story short the final answer over the phone was that the concept of a scale app was not appropriate for the App Store… Maybe it’s because the screen could get damaged if people tried dropping heavy weights on their phone..

McLeod gave a look at how the app works in a demo video submitted to Apple along with his app submission:

The developer speculates that Apple’s rejection is likely due to potential damage of the device when users weigh objects on the display, or it could be due to simple misuse of the API (somewhat of a grey area for apps in general). McLeod also notes that digital scales are also sometimes associated with drug use, but with an accuracy between 1–3 grams that likely isn’t a reason for Apple to reject the app.

It’s possible Apple could allow these apps on the App Store in the future, but for now it appears it’s not allowing apps that take advantage of 3D Touch outside of the authorized APIs.

Filed under: AAPL Company, Apps, Developers, iOS, iOS Devices Tagged: 3D Touch, App Store, Apple, Apps, developers, iPhone 6s, iphone 6s plus, rejections, scale

Visit 9to5Mac to find more special coverage of AAPL Company, iOS Devices, and Apple.

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Apple has finally launched iOS 9.1 with a few new features you may be interested in. Along with that, we have some thoughts on those fresh iPhone 6s and Apple Watch ads and orders for the new Apple TV have started. Plus we dive into what Apple’s earnings results mean for the company. The Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and through our dedicated RSS feed.

New episodes of Happy Hour are available every Wednesday. As mentioned, you can download this podcast via iTunes or plug in our RSS feed link into your favorite podcasting app. Send an email to listenermail@9to5mac.com (or click here) and your question/comment may be featured in an upcoming episode of Happy Hour.

Note: iTunes (web interface and app) may still be propagating the new episode which could take up to 24 hours. Subscribing to the podcast feed will guarantee the latest episode is downloaded.

Hosts:

• Zac Hall
• Benjamin Mayo

Here’s what we discussed in this episode:

• Apple releases iOS 9.1 for iPhone & iPad with new emoji, fresh wallpapers, more
• Apple releases first iOS 9.2, Xcode 7.2 betas to developers
• Apple debuts several new Apple Watch ads highlighting Siri, third-party apps and more
• Apple debuts three new iPhone 6s ads showcasing ‘Hey Siri’ and new camera features
• The new Apple TV is now available to order from the Apple Online Store, first units ship October 30th
• Apple’s new Lightning-equipped Beats Pill+ is now available
• Apple announces Q4 2015 revenue of $51.5b: 48m iPhones, 9.8m iPads, 5.7m Macs
• Live blog: Apple’s fiscal year Q4 2015 earnings call
• Apple Pay expanding to Australia and Canada this year for American Express cards
• Apple: 40 million people are using Apple News as it expands to UK & Australia

If you missed our 37th episode last week, you can subscribe and find every episode or start off from the previous episode here.

Remember: Subscribe on iTunes to catch all of the episodes as they go live and send in your questions/comments to listenermail@9to5mac.com.

Filed under: Happy Hour Tagged: Apple, Apple TV, iOS 9.1, iPhone 6s, Podcast

For more news on Apple, Apple TV, and iPhone 6s continue reading at 9to5Mac.

What do you think? Discuss “Happy Hour Podcast 038 | Discussing AAPL earnings, Apple TV orders, & latest Apple ads” with our community.

When Microsoft purchased Sunrise, things didn’t look good for the popular iOS calendar app. There were fears Microsoft would take its talent and shut the app down. Fears — it seems — that were completely justified. Sunrise announced in a blog post today that the app will no longer receive any updates. If you are an avid user of Sunrise (like me), you’ll now need to go hunting for a new calendar app if you expect new features.

As the entire team is completely focused on the Outlook for iOS and Android apps, we won’t be updating the Sunrise apps anymore. We won’t lie, it’s tough for us to leave behind the apps we’ve been working on so passionately for the past years.

Sunrise’s technology and expertise haven’t completely vanished, however. Microsoft and Sunrise were both keen to let us know that a lot of the stuff that made Sunrise great has made its way in to the new Outlook app for iOS. On the Outlook blog you’ll see exactly what the two companies have been working on over the past few weeks and months.

The Outlook app for iOS has a brand new look and features new navigation for email attachments, while the ‘Calendar’ navigation basically looks like some of the Sunrise calendar was absorbed in to the app. And Microsoft will continue to absorb all of Sunrise until nothing’s left, and the calendar app can be terminated:

The Sunrise team is now officially a part of the broader Outlook product team, bringing a fresh approach to calendaring and combining it with Microsoft’s deep expertise in both email and calendar. Better Outlook calendaring gives you more ability to manage your personal and professional life from a single, powerful app. Over the coming months, you’ll see richer calendar experiences come to Outlook from Sunrise—including Interesting Calendars and connections to your favorite apps and services. You will also see improvements to Outlook’s ability to create meetings while on the go and handle meetings across time zones. All of this means Outlook will eventually replace the current Sunrise app. We will leave Sunrise in market until its features are fully integrated into Outlook, the exact timing of which we will communicate in advance.

It’s a shame to see Sunrise vanish from the app scene, but if Outlook for iOS becomes a fantastic email and calendar app, those of us who used Sunrise may not miss it for long.

Filed under: Apps Tagged: Apps, calendar, email, Microsoft, Outlook, Sunrise

Continue reading more about Apps, Microsoft, and Apps at 9to5Mac.

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Snapchat has updated its iPhone app with a new set of fun video filters to try out plus 3D Touch support on the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. Adding to the existing set of video filters, Snapchat now lets you turn videos into slow-mo clips, quickly paced videos with fast forward, and backward-moving movies with rewind. Snapchat users with the latest iPhone models can press firmly on the updated app icon to start new chats or easily add new friends within the app right from the Home screen as seen above. 

To access the new video filters, make sure you update or download the latest version, Snapchat 9.18 from the App Store, then take a video in Snapchat the same way as always. Launch the camera in Snapchat, hold the circular shutter button at the bottom, and let go when you’re finished recording your clip. Then swipe from left to right to see the three new filters: slow-mo, fast forward, and rewind. You can still find the old filters too if you keep swiping for go right to left.

Similar to the built-in video slow-mo and time lapse video effects in the iPhone camera but not nearly as advanced, slow-mo slows down your entire clip while fast forward plays it back super fast. The rewind feature is especially a neat one and works just as advertised. From here you can send your filtered video to your Snapchat Story or individually to friends.

The new video features follow last month’s new photo effects with selfie Lenses and the rollout of paid extra Snap Replays. The latest Snapchat 9.18 update with new video filters and 3D Touch support on new iPhones is available now on the App Store.

Filed under: Apps Tagged: 3D Touch, Snapchat, Snapchat video effects, Snapchat video filters, social

Continue reading more about Apps, social, and 3D Touch at 9to5Mac.

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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:

15-inch Retina MacBook Pro (newest) 2.2GHz/16GB/256GB: $1,550 shipped (Reg. $1,999)

13-inch Retina MacBook Pro (newest) 2.7GHz/8GB/256GB: $1,280 shipped (Reg. $1,499)

Give your Apple Watch a home with Spigen’s Aluminum Stand for $8 Prime shipped (Reg. $16)

Monoprice 15% off sitewide: MFi certified Lightning cables as low as $4, more

PSA: Best Buy and others launch new Apple TV pre-orders, offer potential savings

Target ad leak reveals planned Apple Watch discount for iPhone purchasers

The best accessories for the new Apple TV: MFi game controllers, keyboards, cables, more

Giveaway: Polk Audio’s Omni Whole Home Music System – Soundbar w/ subwoofer and S2 Speaker ($880 value)

More new gear from today:

Daily Deals: Pioneer 7.2-Ch 4K ready AV Receiver $430, Lumsing 8,000mAh Ultrathin Portable Power Bank $10, more

• Ricoh Wireless Color Laser Printer $70 shipped (Reg. $149)
• Games/Apps: Kinect Xbox One bundle w/ 4 games $399, freebies, more
• One year Sam’s Club membership + food coupons: $25 w/ email delivery (Reg. $45+)
• 9to5Toys Specials: MiFi 500 plus 1 year of LTE $149.99, more
• Fashion: Gap Fall Sale up to 75% off + extra 40% – 1969 Jeans from $10, more

Pick up the UE MEGABOOM Bluetooth Speaker for $232 shipped (Reg. $300) wp.me/p1xTlR-IDm https://t.co/yICnxR7rXG

—
9to5Toys (@9to5toys) October 28, 2015

More deals still alive:

A Dark Room — the best-selling iPhone/iPad RPG is now available for free (Reg. $1)

Freebies: Learn Guitar Theory for iOS + Shape magazine + Rise of the Tomb Raider DLC + More!

OLALA 6,000mAh Ultra Slim Power Bank w/ built-in MFi Lightning Cable $24 Prime shipped (Reg. $30)

• TOTU Dual Layer iPhone 6s Case in gold, silver or gray $3 Prime shipped (Reg. $12+)
• Aukey screen protectors: 10-pack iPhone 6 Plus $2, tempered glass iPad 2/3/4 $4, more
• Storage: Seagate Expansion 4TB Desktop Hard Drive $100 shipped (Reg. $120), more
• Media: That 70’s Show Complete Series on Blu-ray $70 (Reg. $100+), more
• Fitbit Charge HR Activity Tracker $115 shipped (Reg. $150), Fitbit Surge $195 (Reg. $245)
• GoPro HERO4 Session Action Camera: $249 shipped (Orig. $400)
• ChugPlug External Battery Pack for MacBook Air and MacBook Pro $40 shipped (Orig. $130)
• App Store Free App of the Week: Dr. Panda’s Mailman ($4 value)
• Gift Cards up  20% off: JCPenney, Sports Authority, more
• Fashion – extra 20% off fall athletic/outdoor shoes: Caterpillar boots $52, more
• Protect your new iPad mini 4 with this folio smart case: $3 Prime shipped (Reg. $10)
• proXPN VPN: Premium Lifetime Subscription for $39 ($375 value)
• Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 interface + Sennheiser HD600 + Condenser Mic $400 shipped ($655 value)
• TP-Link Archer C7 802.11ac Router + DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem $130 shipped ($155+ value)
• Best-selling Acer Chromebook 2.6GHz.2GB/16GB SSD (refurb) for $120 (Orig. $170)

New products & more:

Can a $99 Windows PC that connects to your iPad be any good?

Blue’s new Lola headphones drop some weight but keep the retro look

• Toys R Us Holiday Catalog Leak: Apple TV for $54 in-store, much more
• LEGO nailed the famous Ghostbusters Firehouse set
• The eora 3D scanner uses your iPhone to create 360-degree models of anything
• Belkin’s new lightweight QODE Ultimate Keyboard Case for iPad Air 2 is now available
• Dyson’s pricey 360 Eye robo-vac finally sees the light of day
• Use your smartphone as a controller for these AirConsole Mac/PC browser games
• Best Buy lands the first major blow in this year’s battle for holiday shoppers
• Dell Black Friday Ad Leak: Gears of War Xbox One w/ Fallout 4 + controller $300, more
• Amazon thinks leaving your house is over-rated, expands Prime free same-day delivery service
• Marvel’s limited edition Phase Two Blu-ray collection arrives just in time for the holidays
• The MiniBrew launches on Indiegogo as an iPhone-connected way to make your own beer
• Bird of Prey’s prone-style bicycle puts the rider facedown while riding

Filed under: Tips and Tricks Tagged: 9to5Toys, Amazon Gold Box, Amazon Prime, app deals, apple deals, Apple TV, Apple watch, coupon codes, Deals, eBay Daily Deals, free apps, free shipping, giveaway, itunes deals, Lunch Break, New Toy of the Day, Retina MacBook Pro

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The new Apple TV went on pre-order via Apple’s online store earlier this week, and priority deliveries will begin this Friday while standard shipments will begin arriving after this upcoming weekend. Now, we’ve learned that Apple is planning to begin selling the new set-top-box at its retail stores this Friday. Apple retail employees say that stores are beginning to receive shipments to sell at the end of this week, while stores will be re-organized overnight on Thursday to promote the new Apple TV in stores on Friday. The new Apple TV costs $149 and $199, depending on either a 32GB or 64GB configuration, and includes a new user-interface, Siri, upgraded remote control, and an App Store.

In addition to Apple Retail Stores, Best Buy and B&H plus other resellers have opened up pre-orders or plan to begin selling the new Apple TV soon. Best Buy currently lists both 32GB and 64GB models as available for pre-order with store inventory expected November 4th. See also our 9to5Toys roundup of best accessories for the fourth-gen Apple TV.

Filed under: Apple TV

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Skype is rolling out an update for its iPhone and iPad mobile apps today that introduces a number of ways to use Apple’s new 3D Touch feature on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, as well as support for video filters not unlike competitive video chat services.

For 3D Touch, iPhone 6s and 6s Plus users will find a few ways to use the feature including the usual quick-start actions by firmly touching the Home screen icon. In addition, you can “press on a Recent conversation to Peek the latest IMs or a live video call” and “Force Touch shared locations, photos, contacts and URLs to Peek the content.”

And for both iPhone and iPad users, Skype is adding filters for video messages with various effects to choose from:

Get started by tapping the filter wand at the bottom left of the video message window. Choose a filter to see it in action then, when you’re ready, hit the record button. Add balloons to your video message to celebrate any occasion. If you’re feeling goofy, change the appearance of your face to make it look rounder or longer – we love this one! Or, if you’re sending a video message showing off your Halloween costume, add some ghosts or use the negative filter to set a spooky mood.

And lastly, both the iPhone and iPad apps add improvements to conversations and contacts:

– Hide conversations from your Recent list with a swipe.
– Completely delete a conversation’s history from the chat menu or Recent list.
– Easily share Skype contacts.

The updated Skype for iPad and Skype for iPhone apps are available on the App Store now.

Filed under: Apps, iOS Tagged: 3D Touch, 6s Plus, filters, iPad, iPhone, iPhone 6s, messages, Peek, Skype, update, video

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Leveraging a connector that has previously been exclusive to Apple products, Chinese developer Beaver Electronics has announced the Quarter Super PowerBank ($59), a battery pack built with a MagSafe 2 port for recharging. Clad in Mac-matching silver aluminum, Quarter is designed to work with both Apple’s MacBook wall chargers and the Quarter Car Adapter ($16), a silver metallic and mirrored charger with a MagSafe connector. This Car Adapter is designed solely for Quarter, not for MacBooks.

The 5,000mAh battery claims 2.1-Amp output that’s safe for iPad, iPhone, and iPod use with a full-sized USB port, while itself recharging at up to 3-Amp speeds in only 45 minutes — up to 10X faster than typical batteries, Beaver says — or via a 1-Amp micro-USB input in 7 hours. Beaver notes that after only 15 minutes of MagSafe recharging, Quarter will have enough power to refuel an iPhone 5s. Rather than pressing a button to see how much battery power remains, you just shake the battery once, triggering four blue LED lights…

Physical samples sent by Beaver look and feel impressively solid, though Apple’s track record of denying third-party developers access to MagSafe connectors suggests that Quarter will be a very limited edition.

The company is offering $39 pre-orders through Australian crowdfunding site Pozible, and having already exceeded its US$10,000 goal, promises that the first 1,000 Quarter units will be available starting November 10.

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: Beaver, MagSafe, quarter

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T-Mobile announced a new way to easily get a new iPad mini 4 or iPad Air 2 now and upgrade to a new model later with its Jump On Demand leasing program. For $0 down and $22/month for iPad mini 4 or $26/month for iPad Air 2, qualified customers can easily pick up one of Apple’s latest tablets then change models or upgrade to newer models in the future up to three times per year.

While the $0 down and $22/month and $26/month prices apply to base 16 GB models, T-Mobile is offering higher capacity models through Jump On Demand as well. Through the program, iPad mini 4 64GB goes for $99.99 down then $21/month while the 128GB model goes for $199.99 down and $19/month. The higher capacity 64GB iPad Air 2 with $99.99 down leases for $25/month while the highest capacity 128GB model with $199.99 down leases for $24/month.

Jump On Demand leases allow you to renew with new devices up to three times per year, or pay on your device for 18 months with the option to pay it off and keep it after the lease period. T-Mobile Simple Choice plan customers can add iPad to existing plans for $10/month with 5GB of dedicated data under the program.

While leasing programs for picking up iPads haven’t been as popular as similar programs for iPhones, Sprint similarly offers iPad mini 4 on its network for $0 down and $17/month for 24 months. Not interested in leasing or buying a cellular model? Stay tuned to 9to5Toys where we recently saw the first and only trusted iPad mini 4 discount so far.

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: iPad, iPad Air 2, ipad mini 4, Jump On Demand, leasing, T-Mobile

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While the market seemed largely unmoved by Apple’s announcement yesterday of a record year (and guidance suggesting that more records will be set), that’s because analysts had already predicted the numbers.

But roundups of analyst notes by Fortune and Business Insider show that almost all are rating the stock a buy. None of them rate AAPL a sell, and only two consider it neutral … 

Most pointed to Q1 guidance that was on a par with the more optimistic predictions, and better than most. Analysts were also reassured that the company was maintaining strong growth in China despite the difficult economy there, and despite a big hit taken in overseas earnings due to the strong dollar.

Other reasons for optimism were increased average selling prices, likely sales growth driven by the new iPhone Upgrade Program, encouraging numbers for Android switchers and the increasing value of the Apple ecosystem as a whole.

The two exceptions were Deutsche Bank and Mizuho, which both rated the stock a hold. Deutsche Bank argued that gross margins will come under pressure into the new financial year, and there are limited catalysts for future growth as yet, while Mizuho said that it would be hard for Apple to beat its own records for the next couple of quarters.

Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS Devices Tagged: AAPL, analysts, Apple Inc, iPhone

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