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With Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs biopic set to hit theaters tomorrow, Universal Pictures has released what will likely be the final clip before the movie’s premiere. In the two-minute scene, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (played by Seth Rogen) questions Michael Fassbender’s Steve Jobs about his role in the computer industry.

Woz points out that Jobs has no engineering skill or experience and that most of his greatest accomplishments were built on the work of others, including Woz himself—yet Jobs seems to get most of the credit. Jobs goes on the defensive, positioning himself as the “conductor” of an engineering orchestra.

You can see the full scene below.

Steve Jobs is already playing in select theaters and will open nationwide tonight at midnight.

Filed under: Tech Industry Tagged: Aaron Sorkin, Michael Fassbender, Seth Rogen, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, universal pictures

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iPhone 6s iFixit teardown

After some debate over whether the difference between iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus models made with Samsung or TSMC chips may impact battery life, Apple has offered its own take on the matter:

Our testing and customer data show the actual battery life of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, even taking into account variable component differences, vary within just 2-3% of each other.”

That 2-3% difference may be greater than some suspected, myself included, considering how tight battery life on iPhones can be with moderate to heavy usage. Apple’s full statement (via Ars Technica) actually addresses the type of battery tests many testers reference when measuring performance as being unrealistic:

Certain manufactured lab tests which run the processors with a continuous heavy workload until the battery depletes are not representative of real-world usage, since they spend an unrealistic amount of time at the highest CPU performance state. It’s a misleading way to measure real-world battery life.

Still, some benchmark tests have flagged some measurable differences between iPhones made with chips from different manufactures including varying performance scores and cooling levels.

In practice, these differences are likely not noticeable in the same way as the ones between iPhone generations year-over-year, but Apple does acknowledge that the current iPhone 6s and 6s Plus models aren’t totally on par with each other even if the difference is small.

Analysis from Chipworks revealed a week ago that the Samsung-made A9 chip which powers some iPhone models this year is 10% smaller than the TSMC-made version. Apple opted for a mix of suppliers for its A-series chip this year likely to ensure meeting demand.

Apple’s full statement below:

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: a9, Apple, iPhone 6s, iphone 6s plus, Samsung, TSMC

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AT&T was officially granted an FCC waiver this week to enable Wi-Fi calling for its customers with supported devices like iPhones running iOS 9. Wi-Fi Calling first appeared during the iOS 9 beta period and remained functional for those who enabled it previously, but AT&T stopped sign-ups for the feature once iOS 9 was publicly released due to requirements set by the Federal Communications Commission.

While AT&T has officially turned on Wi-Fi calling for its subscribers, the carrier is doubling down on its position that rivals T-Mobile and Sprint have deployed and marketed Wi-Fi calling features for a while without proper FCC approval. At issue with the FCC is how Wi-Fi calling lacks support for teletypewriter (TTY) devices. And although AT&T has been cleared to turn on Wi-Fi calling without meeting that requirement, it wants in FCC investigation into its competitors’ behavior.

AT&T’s Senior Executive VP of External and Legislative Affairs, Jim Cicconi, thanked the FCC in approving AT&T’s request for a waiver, but sharply targeted T-Mobile and Sprint for what he described as ignoring FCC rules.

Instead of initiating enforcement action against them, or at least opening an investigation, the agency has effectively invited them to now apply for similar waivers and implied that their prior flaunting of FCC rules will be ignored.  This is exactly what we meant when our letter spoke of concerns about asymmetric regulation.

Carrier politics aside, iPhone users on AT&T with iOS 9 can enable Wi-Fi calling by going to Settings > Phone > Wi-Fi Calling and turning it on then following the setup process. Note that Wi-Fi calling requires an up-to-date emergency address to be on file when setting it up.

Wi-Fi calling can benefit users with cellular signal strength but good Wi-Fi connections when making phone calls and sending messages over the network.

Filed under: iOS, Tech Industry Tagged: AT&T, FCC, policy, Sprint, T-Mobile, TTY, waiver, wi-fi calling

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This year’s iPhone launch week is over, so the earliest 13 million or so adopters are already playing with and forming opinions on the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. Past history suggests that Apple will sell over 100 million of these phones over the next year or so, which means that there are a lot of people still deciding on which model to buy.

If you’re still on the fence about buying one of Apple’s latest and greatest smartphones, there are a few important things you need to know. On the surface, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus look nearly identical to their predecessors, as we’ve come to expect with “s” models, but there’s a lot of new tech inside that makes these models different. Will any of the changes justify this purchase for you? Or will you be better off with last year’s (now cheaper) iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus? Let’s find out…

If your plan was to strut around town hoping people would notice your shiny new iPhone 6s, that likely won’t be the case, since this year’s model looks just like its predecessor. There’s a small awkwardly placed “s” on the backside to remind you just in case, but if you really want people to know you’re rocking a new iPhone, your best bet is to pick up the new Rose Gold color option. If you don’t care for that new color, you can spice things up with a case or a skin to keep it minimal.

Like last year, there are two iPhone sizes available. You have the iPhone 6s with a 4.7-inch display, 1334 x 750 resolution and 326 ppi, and then there’s the iPhone 6s Plus with a 5.5-inch display, 1920 x 1080 resolution, and 401 ppi. Both displays are super crispy, but that’s especially true for the iPhone 6s Plus, though you’re dealing with a much larger phone at that point.

If you’re hoping for big changes, this isn’t the year for them. The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus story is really about a collection of small details and a few stand out features.

Check out our iPhone 6s and 6s Plus review video below:

Performance

Let’s start with performance — these new iPhones are crazy fast. Inside you’ll find Apple’s latest A9 processor and 2GB of RAM, which may sound like less than some other phones, but Apple’s RAM management is absolutely phenomenal. Benchmarks show very promising results and overall, performance alone may be enough incentive to upgrade if speed is what you desire. Everything is very smooth and apps run like a champ with the new processor. That said, last year’s iPhone 6 is still a fast phone, and happens to be cheaper now.

As for size, the iPhone 6s Plus is much better when it comes to playing games, watching videos, browsing the web, and pretty much anything else you’d expect out of a larger screen. Personally, I prefer the smaller form factor of the iPhone 6s, even if the battery life and resolution take hits by comparison.

3D Touch

While the screens on these new iPhones are the same as last year’s, the touch technology behind them is much different. This year Apple has introduced a new 3D Touch feature that will actually detect the amount of pressure applied to the screen with your finger, and trigger various actions. With 3D Touch, you can tap on the display for standard actions, but you can press into the display for more features. Think of this as three options: a tap, a soft press, and a hard press, all of which can do different things depending on the pressure applied and where the action is taking place. Recently, we put together a video rundown of the best 3D Touch features available and if you’d like to check that out, you can find it embedded below.

Not everything with 3D Touch is amazing at the moment, but I do have some favorites. For example, you can get quick access to app-specific features with a hard press on the icon, which I enjoy using with a select few apps — not many third-party apps are compatible yet, but more are rolling out each day. You also have the ability to 3D Touch the keyboard when typing. With a soft press, you can use the keyboard as a trackpad to move the cursor around the screen, and with a hard press you can easily select text from a line.

Another one of my favorite features is quickly previewing links and other items. The same rules apply here: 3D Touch on a link to open a small preview window, then you can press even harder to pop it open into full browser mode. Apple calls this Peek and Pop, and it’s quite useful in some situations. It can also be used in places like the Photos app, Calendar, Messages, Notes, basically anywhere that there’s a list style view of items.

In most cases, it’s not incredibly faster to use this feature, but it’s handy nonetheless. 3D Touch has potential for sure, but don’t let 3D Touch be the main reason you upgrade — at the moment, without mainstream app support and innovative uses, it’s not worth the hype. This will happen in time, but trust me when I say that it’s not here yet.

Camera

Well, if 3D Touch isn’t worth the upgrade, certainly the camera must be, right? The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus both feature an all new 12-megapixel still camera this time around, which also shoots up to 4K video, but you’ll only get optical image stabilization on the iPhone 6s Plus. Luckily, the iPhone 6s does utilize digital stabilization with 4K video to keep everything smooth, but it won’t work like OIS does for low light photos. The new camera also shoots higher resolution Slo-Mo video at 120 frames per second in 1080p, which is great but not a huge selling point. Photos are natural-looking and can definitely look good, especially if you’re willing to do a little editing work. Apple’s photos aren’t as sharpened or saturated as other smartphone cameras on the market, for better and for worse.

Check out our 4K video test below:

Here’s the problem: this is probably the first year where Apple’s upgraded camera didn’t whip the pants off its Android competitors. Apple’s new sensor is great, and the photos are totally nice, but in direct comparisons, they fall short of rivals such as Samsung’s Note 5 and Galaxy S6. Why? Apple’s photos are now flatter in color, so you’ll need to edit them to make them look as good as the pictures Samsung’s cameras snap without processing. You can see the differences yourself in my Galaxy S6 and Note 5 reviews. Don’t get me wrong, iPhone 6s photos and video are super crispy, but if I had to choose just one camera to bring with me, the 12-megapixel iPhone 6s camera wouldn’t beat out its top competitors in overall quality.

Check out our iPhone 6s/6s Plus camera gallery below:

On both of the devices, there’s a 5-megapixel camera above the display with 720p video recording capabilities and a flash, but it’s probably not the kind of flash you’re thinking about. Apple calls this feature Retina Flash. According to Apple, there’s a special display chip inside that helps detect the ambient light around you, then matches the tone with a flash of the display that’s three times brighter than usual. I probably won’t use it much, but it’s pretty handy when you need it.

Touch ID & Live Photos

Speaking of camera features, Apple has a new Live Photos feature which is pretty neat, but not something I’ll use often. It will allow you to take a normal photo, which can then be brought to life (with audio and 3 seconds of surrounding low-res, low-frame-rate video) by using 3D Touch. You can share these Live Photos and even set them as wallpapers, though you’ll have to 3D Touch on the lock screen to see any movement from them. It’s a cool feature for some people, just not for me really.

Touch ID improvements are also a big part of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. It’s actually twice as fast over last year’s model and you can really tell the difference. Gone are the days of quickly pressing the Home button to view your notifications — it’s that fast. If I just want to check my notifications now, it’s much easier to use my knuckle to press the Home button, or simply use the Sleep/Wake button on the side of the phone. Once again, the Touch ID improvements aren’t really a reason to buy the iPhone 6s or 6s Plus, but they’re nice.

Battery Life

If all of the reasons mentioned in the video aren’t good enough to warrant buying the new iPhone, surely battery life has improved this time around, right? Nope. It’s actually about the same as last year’s, which is cool if you think about all the extra tech packed inside, but there’s no revolutionary break-through on battery performance here. I struggle to get a full day from the iPhone 6s, while the 6s Plus definitely can last a day and then some. That would be great run time, but I’m just not a fan of how large the Plus model is. It’s not right for me.

The Verdict

So we’ve basically covered everything that would make the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus a worthy purchase or upgrade over its predecessor, but somehow, it doesn’t add up to enough in my book. 3D Touch is cool, the camera has been bumped up, and you definitely won’t find a pink iPhone anywhere else, but none of these reasons scream “must upgrade” to me. I’ve heard it said elsewhere that the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus might be worth buying because all of their small improvements collectively make for a large year-over-year change. But after testing both phones, I’d say that the small improvements start out exciting but quickly begin to feel underwhelming. This isn’t a case of many small things adding up to one big thing, but rather, many small things feeling small.

Should you buy the iPhone 6s or 6s Plus? If you have an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, I’d recommend sticking with it. But if you have an older iPhone or another device you’re considering upgrading, you could comfortably go with whichever iPhone 6 or 6s model appeals to you, or wait another year for the iPhone 7. Whether you go with a cheaper iPhone 6 or hold out for the iPhone 7, you won’t be missing out on much by skipping the 6s.

If you’re not familiar with my past work, I have over 1,000 review videos online, and have tested nearly every flagship smartphone across the iOS and Android ecosystems. I currently have all of this year’s flagships in my personal possession, which lets me do direct comparisons between the performance of iPhones and their rivals. For this review, I purchased iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus units with my own cash for testing, so I know what it’s like to spend money on phones and need to decide whether to keep them or sell them. My feeling is that unless you’re rocking a 5s or anything lower, I’d save my money and wait. If you don’t currently have an iPhone, these are pretty nice, but so are last year’s models and they’re cheaper now, too. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for improvements and these new devices are very fast. But unless you’re easily satisfied with incremental upgrades, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus won’t deliver the “huge” smartphone upgrade you may have been waiting for.

Filed under: Reviews Tagged: Apple, iOS 9, iPhone, iPhone 6s, iphone 6s plus, review, video

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One of the many things Facebook does well is make it nearly impossible to miss when one of your friends turns another year older. On the web, birthday reminders are placed prominently near the top right with links to easily wish your pal a happy birthday, and on mobile Facebook has experimented with alerts and other ways to help you not forget someone’s big day.

Now Facebook appears to be testing an even more personal way to make your birthday wish stand out: video messages. The Next Web reports that some mobile users have seen a new ‘birthday video’ option appear under Facebook’s Birthdays section (although don’t worry if you don’t see it yet, I don’t have it either).

The previous (or current depending on the roll out) birthday wish composer lets you send text, photos, and links to your friends’ timelines, but not videos (at least on mobile) so this new option should add some variety on your birthday timeline.

Speaking as someone who just celebrated a birthday this week, the idea of a few video messages from friends and family is charming, but being inundated with a triple digit number of short clips could quickly become overwhelming. Still, Facebook seems to be testing the waters and likely measuring usage before a wider rollout so don’t be surprised if you receive the gift of someone bellowing out “Happy Birthday!” the next time your special day rolls around.

Just remember, a birthday card and and some cash also goes a long way. 😉

Filed under: Apps Tagged: birthday, Facebook, mobile, social, videos

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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:

Mac Bundle: 14 Mac Apps incl. RapidWeaver, Voila Screencapture, Kinemac 3D, more: $18

Amazon Students: Belkin Lighting iPhone/iPad Dock $22, 200GB microSD $150, Bamboo stylus/pen $16, much more

Sony announces official PlayStation 4 price drop, bundles now start at just $349

13″ Retina MacBook Pro (newest) 2.7GHz/8GB/128GB: $1,080 shipped (Reg. $1,299)

Giveaway: Trinity Delta aluminum earbuds feature a unique design and top-notch sound ($135 value), 20% discount

More new gear from today:

Handmade at Amazon launches with an eye on knocking off Etsy

• Daily Deals: Belkin NetCam HD Camera (Refurb) $60, Epson Pro Wireless Projector $450, more
• Prime Members: Free 4-month subscription for 3 print magazines – GQ, Wired, Health, Reader’s Digest, more
• Games/Apps: Final Fantasy X|X-2 HD Remaster $30, Power A Moga Android controller $32, iOS freebies, more
• The absolute best (All-Clad Master Chef) 7-Piece Stainless Cookware Set: $300 shipped
• Retro Toys 40% off: Pictionary $13, Lincoln Logs set $18, Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots $12, more
• Canon Refurbished DSLR Sale: T5 w/ 18-55mm/50mm Lens Kit $241 shipped (Orig. $540), much more

More deals still alive:

Headphones: Bose SoundTrue Over-Ear $100 (Reg. $120), Bluetooth Earbuds from $20, more

JayBird BlueBuds X Sport Bluetooth Sweat Proof Headphones $90 shipped (Reg. $130), more

• USB Power Deals: KMASHI 15,000mAh USB $14 (Reg. $20), Aukey 2A Wall Charger $8 (Reg. $16), more
• Pre-order Microsoft’s latest gadgets right now: Surface Pro 4, Surface Book, Band 2
• Aukey USB Power Roundup: 6-Port 50W: $15, 5-port 40W: $10, 4-port 30W: $8 Prime shipped
• iPhone 6/s Accessories: 2-ft. MFi Lightning + MicroUSB cable $8, 2-Pack Tempered Glass Screen Protector $3, more
• Harman Kardon High-Performance, 6-Piece Home Theater Speaker System $190 shipped (Orig. $649)
• Acer 1280×800 WXGA 600 ANSI Lumens 3D Ready LED Projector: $240 shipped (Orig. $450)
• Omaker 10W(2x5W) Portable Wireless Bluetooth 4.0 Speaker $22 Prime shipped (Reg. $35)
• Motorola Nexus 6 Unlocked 32GB in Midnight Blue: $300 shipped (Reg. $499)
• Lytro Illum Camera: The first ever high-end camera to capture the entire light field: $700 shipped (Orig. $1,300, CA Tax Only)
• Sports/Fitness: Zume Portable Badminton Set $50 (Reg. $60+), 100 lbs. Barbell Weight Set $37 (Reg. $50+), more
• Freebies: 7-Eleven Coffee Week + Wake Alarm Clock for iOS + Frugal Living for Dummies eBook + More!
• Home: Hamilton Beach Coffee Maker $32 (Orig. $60), D-Link Wireless Surveillance Cam $30 (Orig. $70), more
• Tweetbot for Mac drops to $10 (Reg. $13)
• Philips hue Lux LED Starter Kit $60 shipped, 750-Lumen 9W LED Light Bulb $15
• Bluetooth Speakers w/ Prime Shipping: OontZ Splashproof $25 (Reg. $35), Aukey $13 (Reg. $20)
• Xbox One Gears of War bundle + 40″ HDTV $470 w/ .EDU, more
• Beyerdynamic A200p Portable DAC Headphone Amp $160 shipped (Reg. $200)
• Pebble Steel Smartwatch for iOS/Android in black or sliver $100 shipped (Orig. $230)
• Add Bluetooth/mic to any Aux speaker or headphones for $10 Prime shipped
• TiVO Roamio OTA HD DVR w/ Lifetime service for a one-time $300 fee
• VIZIO 49-inch 120Hz M-Series LED Smart 4K Ultra HDTV: $580 shipped (Reg. $720)
• Logitech Harmony Touch 15-Device Universal Remote: $100 shipped (Reg. $140)
• The Executive for iOS goes free for the first time as IGN’s Game of the Month ($5 value)
• Get a no-contract iPhone 6s from Boost Mobile for just $450 shipped (Orig. $649)
• Media: Blu-ray & DVDs from $3 –Taken 2, RoboCop & others, Jurassic World pre-order, more
• TP-LINK AC Gigabit Router $40, more
• M-Audio Vocal Recording Bundle: USB Condenser mic w/ stand, more $79 shipped (Reg. $100)
• Garmin nüvi 6-inch GPS w/ Bluetooth (Refurb) $140 shipped (Orig. $270)
• App Store Gorgeous Games for $1 Sale: Tengami, Superbrothers, KAMI, Icebreaker, Out There, more
• App Store Free App of the Week: Combo Quest RPG goes free for the first time ($1 value)
• UE ROLL 360 Bluetooth Speaker (all colors): $90 shipped (Reg. $100)
• Freebies: My Sketch iOS app + Carl’s Jr. BOGO breakfast sandwich + eBooks + More!
• Freebies: Kindle Edition Kids books + Google Play music sampler + Monument Valley for Android + More!

32-inch TCL HDTV with built-in Roku: $180 shipped from Amazon http://ift.tt/1L4KbNv http://t.co/ikwXoIP2Tf

—
9to5Toys (@9to5toys) October 05, 2015

New products & more:

Dyson includes air purification in its newest hot + cool bladeless fan

Ever wonder what a $130K VIZIO Ultra HDTV looks like? Now we know.

• The latest entry in the Far Cry series goes Primal, taking gamers back to 10,000 BC
• Logitech’s new Harmony Home Hub Extender lets the pizza man in with your remote
• Roku’s new streaming media player supports 4K and finds your remote control for you
• Review: Rock Band 4 makes an old favorite come alive
• The new Dr. Who LEGO set looks just like TARDIS time machine
• Mattel’s retro-rebooted $30 VR View-Master is now available for iOS and Android
• Robo Wunderkind uses iOS connectivity and LEGO-like blocks to teach coding
• The Sondors eBike is loaded with features and surprisingly affordable
• EA’s new free-to-play Need for Speed No Limits is now available on iOS and Android
• These Bluetooth earbuds use your iPhone’s Lightning port to charge
• BRO Ball combines Bluetooth audio and pigskin for the ultimate tailgate companion

Filed under: Tips and Tricks Tagged: 9to5Toys, Amazon, app deals, Bamboo stylus, Belkin Lighting, Best Buy, Daily Deals, free apps, Gold Box, iPhone/iPad Dock, Mac Bundle, video games

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Verizon iPhone users still clinging on to their grandfathered unlimited data plans will shortly face a $20 price hike. The wireless carrier confirmed to CNET that it plans to raise the price of its old unlimited plan, meaning grandfathered customers will face a monthly data plan charge of $49. The price increase will take place once each individual contract expires…

VZW shifted away from unlimited data back in 2011, and since then, virtually all customers have moved on to the limited, tiered data plans as perks were taken away from the older plans. Only a very small number (less than 1%) of its subscriber base are still unlimited. Interestingly, Verizon has commented that some customers on unlimited plans would benefit from going on to a tiered plan, and many don’t stream or download enough content to justify being unlimited. Still, it’ll be a downer for anyone who still streams and browses morning ’til night and likes having a relatively low-cost, fixed-rate bill.

This is the latest in a trend of moves across the industry to restrict how much bandwidth customers are taking up. Keeping 100+ million people connected on LTE isn’t easy, and isn’t cheap for Verizon.

This isn’t the first time the carrier has tried to ‘encourage’ people to move to a tiered plan. In the past, Verizon has attempted to put in place a policy to throttle unlimited data customers who used too much data. It has also stopped unlimited customers from being able to get subsidized phones, or devices on monthly installment plans, forcing them to pay for the phones outright if they wanted one. Raising the bill by $20 is yet another move to make unlimited plan customers a little less comfortable, and crowbarring them on to a limited plan.

Verizon is expected to send out an official press release regarding its data plan changes over the next few hours.

Filed under: Tech Industry Tagged: 4G LTE, data plans, iPhone, tiered data, unlimited data, Verizon

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When Apple ceased development of Aperture, a lot of serious photographers were very unhappy about Apple’s attempt to palm them off with Photos instead. Many headed instead to Lightroom, the photo cataloging and editing app Adobe created from the ground up specifically for photographers.

If you’re new to Lightroom, our review covers the process of converting from Aperture – everything from importing your existing photo libraries to where to find equivalent features. This piece is about getting the most out of Lightroom – especially when it comes to speeding up your workflow – via some recommended tweaks and tips.

Let’s start with my recommended settings … 

Recommended settings

When viewing and editing photos, you obviously want to view them at the largest size possible. OS X of course offers a full-screen mode, but Lightroom has a built-in one that I prefer as it doesn’t waste any space with the bar containing the close/minimize/expand buttons.

You’ll find this in Window > Screen Mode > Full Screen. With this setting, the menu bar only appears when you move the pointer to the top, but you can choose to keep the menu bar visible if you prefer.

Next, we come to what I personally consider the single most important Lightroom setting for anyone who shoots in RAW format rather than JPG: XMP files.

Lightroom offers non-destructive editing. That is, you can walk back any changes you make to a photo at any point in the future, be it seconds or months later. That’s great, but by default, the log of all the changes needed to walk them back is stored in the Lightroom catalog (or library) itself. If the catalog gets corrupted, that’s your edits gone. If you reimport the photos on another Mac, that’s your edits gone. So Adobe offers an alternative, known as XMP files.

If you go to Preferences > Catalog Settings and check ‘Automatically write changes into XMP,’ then Lightroom writes the change log into a separate file stored with the photo. This only works with photos shot in RAW format, like Nikon’s .nef format.

These files have the same filename as the photo, but with a .xmp extension.

If you reimport the photos, Lightroom checks for the presence of a corresponding XMP file and reapplies all the edits. As well as offering peace of mind, this is a really handy feature if you want to import the same photo into more than one catalog. Which brings me to a key decision you need to make …

Single or multiple catalogs?

You can, if you wish, have a single Lightroom catalog for all your photos. At the other extreme, you could have a separate catalog for every shoot – an approach taken by some professional photographers. There are pros & cons to both approaches, and I suggest most people will want to pick an option somewhere between the two.

A single catalog, containing every single photo you’ve ever taken, offers one key benefit: universal search. Provided that you keyword your photos (a topic I’ll come to shortly), you could, for example, search for all photos of your partner. Or all photos taken in New York. Or – if you keyword with the care of a stock photographer – all photos of a model wearing a green dress and using an iPhone.

The downside is that a single catalog soon gets rather unwieldy. If you have a modest number of catalogs, most of us will know which of them contains a particular photo, and you can always import the photo into more than one catalog if desired. Here’s what I do: a small selection of catalogs where it’s obvious where to find a photo. If I’m looking for a photo of The Bean in Chicago, it’s going to be in Travel. If I’m looking for a photo of a dancer, well, you get the idea.

So, my view is: if you’re a stock photographer, and never know what a client might ask for, consider a single master catalog. If you’re a wedding photographer, have one catalog per wedding. Everyone else will probably be best using a small number of separate catalogs.

Importing and keywording photos

I mentioned searching for photos by keyword. It’s an enormous help to keyword your photos. For example, in this case I wanted to find my favorite photos of the Golden Gate Bridge. I selected five-stars and put ‘golden gate’ into the text field, and Lightroom instantly shows my two 5-star rated photos of the bridge.

The secret to keywording is to do it when you import photos. In this way, and with some thought given to when you import, you can automate much of it. For example, if we zoom in on the keywords here:

I was importing a whole bunch of photos shot in San Francisco, so all the keywords bar ‘Golden Gate bridge’ and ‘travel slideshow’ were entered once, and automatically applied to all the photos during the import. You’ll find this option top-right in the Import panel (you may need to open the panel):

All I had to do afterwards was add a few keywords to individual photos here and there.

You’ll notice an additional option here in the form of ‘Develop Settings.’ Very occasionally, you may want to apply a Develop preset (for example, high-contrast black-and-white) to all the photos in a particular shoot. If you do, you can choose it from the dropdown here and then it’s automatically applied during import.

Initial cull & file-naming

It’s been said that the difference between a good photographer and a bad photographer is the number of photos they take. A good photographer shoots sparingly, because they know what they want to achieve, and know how to achieve it. A bad photographer takes a ‘spray and pray’ approach.

I tend to agree, but at the same time, you don’t always know in advance which will be the best shot. For example, I’m a huge fan of the ‘blue hour’ – that time around 30-45 minutes after sunset when the sky has a blue glow and there’s just a touch of color remaining from the remnants of the sunset.

But sometimes the glow doesn’t happen – if it’s too cloudy, for example – and it could start raining between the sunset and the best blue hour moment. So I’ll take a photo every 5-10 minutes as the sun sets, so I have some banked shots just in case. In the above case, though it did get cloudy, the moody sky was rather lovely, so I kept that shot and deleted the previous ones.

This is part of my personal philosophy for photography: I want one photo per scene, not a whole bunch of similars. My one exception to this rule is when deliberately shooting a series of related photos. For example, one time when I was in DC I arranged to meet up with a local dancer to shoot some sunrise photos at the reflecting pool.

So, you need an efficient system for culling photos – deleting the ones you don’t want, leaving you with the best. To use my system, you’ll need to make one more setting change: in the Photo menu, check Auto Advance.

So, import your photos, go to the Library tab and double-click the first photo to view it. What I then do is apply a numeric rating to each photo. I won’t bore you with the historical reasons for me using 0, 1, 3 and 5 instead of 0, 1, 2 and 3, but it’s habit now so I stick to it.

As you view the photo, press a number key. My system is:

0 – Delete
1 – Probably delete
3 – Probably keep
5 – Probably a favorite

I say ‘probably’ because you’ll likely need to do more than one pass to be sure. For example, you may think a photo is a keeper until you come to a better version. I am very sparing with 5s, for reasons I’ll get to.

As soon as you press a number key, the auto advance setting means it will immediately move to the next photo. So rating each photo is a very quick and easy process. Once I’ve done my first pass, the first thing I do is actually delete the zeroes. To do this, click the Attribute setting at the top to open up this panel:

Set the <=> symbol to =, and then set all the stars to off (you may need to select 1 star and then select it again to toggle it off). Lightroom will now display all the photos you rated zero. Do a quick scan to double-check, then CMD-A to select all and backspace to delete. Lightroom will ask you whether you merely want to remove the photo from the catalog, or delete the file. I’m ruthless, so I delete the file – make your own choice here.

Next, I select all the 1 stars. These are the photos I think I’ll probably delete, but wanted to check that I had better alternatives. What I do here is run through them again, this time rating them as 0 or 3, to delete or keep. Repeat the above step afterwards to delete all the zeroes.

Now I have the photos I want to keep, with my favorites labelled. I now rename the files sequentially. CMD-A to select all, then fn-F2 to rename. I have renaming presets for 1-, 2- and 3-digit filenames, depending on how many photos I’m keeping.

Processing

Now I’m ready to process the photos – or what Lightroom calls developing, after the dark room days (which I am old enough to remember – from my 14th birthday, my bedroom was really a darkroom with a bed in the corner).

Photo editing is a very personal process, but here’s what I do …

I always crop first, as I have some presets that apply a post-crop vignette. I mostly process very quickly and easily by applying one of my own presets, but I do use some built-in ones, and a few third-party ones. My approach is to keep travel photos and portraits looking pretty natural, and to allow myself to get more carried away on fashion shoots.

For a good 90%+ of my photos, though, I use one of five presets that I created (three of them with one variation each).

That makes for very fast editing, and ensures that each shoot has a coherent look, rather than wildly-varying ones. I may tinker a little with the result of the preset, but usually not too much.

If you currently find yourself doing a lot of hand editing on individual photos, my top tip is to really pay attention to what you do to each photo. Chances are, you’re quite repetitive in your choices – and you can then turn what you’ve done to one photo into a preset that you can use for similar ones.

For example, I take a lot of blue-hour shots. With almost all, I want to do exactly the same thing: cool the white balance, to emphasize the blue tone; boost saturation, to bring out the remnants of the sunset and further deepen the blues; increase the black-point, for greater drama. (I also under-expose by one stop, but I do that in-camera.)

If you adopt my approach of observing your editing and creating presets, you will dramatically boost your editing speed.

Speaking of which, while I generally avoid similars, when I am shooting a series – like the dance shoot – I process the first one (probably with a preset) and then sync-develop the rest. Click the edited photo first (important) and then shift-click the last one. That will select them all. Then click the Sync button, bottom-right in the Develop tab.

Note that you’ll typically want to deselect the crop, unless they are tripod shots.

Sharing photos

I have a number of different export presets, for example, one for this site, which outputs at 1024 pixels wide, another for large prints, another for desktop photos and so on.

I said that I’d come back to why I use the 5 rating sparingly. That’s because no-one wants to see all your trip photos, even if it was with Unicef and included a lot of cute kids. But a handful of your favorites? Sure, people will be up for that.

I typically give 5 stars to anything from two to six photos per trip. I used to do a lot of business travel, and I enjoy leisure travel today, so I’ve visited 68 countries to date. My 5-starred travel photos? 93 in all, which is a slideshow people might want to view. 3000 photos, not so much.

I hope this has been helpful. Please do share your own tips in the comments.

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How-To Tagged: Lightroom, Lightroom tutorial, Photo cataloging, Photo editing, photo management, Photo processing, photography, photos, Photoshop

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The revamped Apple TV set top box and iPad Pro will both begin showing up in Apple Retail Stores for sale during the first week of November after going on sale via Apple’s website in late October, according to reliable sources. It is also likely that the first online orders of both products will reach customers in early November.

Apple has previously said that the new Apple TV will go on sale at some point in October, and that the iPad Pro would go on sale in November. However, the company did not say that the first Apple TV units will arrive in early November, or that the iPad Pro would actually go on sale online in late October. We reported earlier this week that the iPad Pro will show up in stores in early November, narrowing the tablet’s availability window.

Apple is also preparing to launch a new 4K 21.5-inch iMac as soon as next Tuesday, potentially alongside upgraded “Magic Keyboard,” “Magic Mouse 2,” and “Magic Trackpad 2” accessories with the company’s latest input technologies. Apple has also been working on faster versions of the 5K 27-inch iMac line and new laptops with the latest Intel chips, but it is currently unclear if those are ready for debut next week as well.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Apple Inc, Apple TV, Computer keyboard, iMac, iOS, iPad, iPhone, iPod, iTunes, Magic Trackpad

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Apple looks to be preparing to launch updated versions of its keyboard, trackpad, and mouse accessories as code in the latest OS X 10.11.1 beta references next-generation versions of the products, as first spotted by Consomac.

The updated products referenced in the OS X files includes a “Magic Trackpad 2”, “Magic Mouse 2”, and “Magic Keyboard”. The hints at upcoming new versions of the accessories comes just as Apple plans to launch a new 4K 21.5-inch iMac next week, as we first reported earlier this month.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a hint at redesigned Mac accessories. A couple months back internal FCC documents referenced a “Magic Mouse 2” alongside an updated wireless keyboard.

While there isn’t much in term of how the updated products might differ in design or features from past generations, some are speculating that Apple could add a Force Touch-like experience to its Magic Mouse and Trackpad, allowing it to bring the pressure sensitive touch technology that it introduced with Apple Watch and brought to the iPhone 6s and its latest MacBook trackpads.

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Fresh from showing how an iPhone 6s and a few cheap accessories can enable you to do a great photoshoot, Fstoppers’ Lee Morris  has now put the iPhone 6s video capabilities up against a semi-pro Nikon D750 DSLR. The results are actually quite shocking, the iPhone 6s delivering much sharper results, as seen in the 200% zoom above and video below.

There are a few riders, of course … 

First, as Morris notes, the footage was shot in ideal conditions: outdoors in bright light. This is the least-taxing environment for a camera. As I noted in my own camera tests, it’s a different story in low light.

Second, he was using a Tamron lens rather than a Nikkor one. I’d have been really interested to see the same footage with the Nikkor 24-70/2.8.

Third, the Nikon is of course far more capable in other ways, with selective focus via shallow depth of field heading the list.

But with all that said, I have to say I’m astonished at the difference shown. It really does show what a capable camera the iPhone 6s is given the right conditions.

We’ve of course already seen Apple’s own demonstrations of the photographic credentials of the new iPhones, with reviewers agreeing. We’ve also seen the evolution of iPhone cameras, and carried our own video test, but the video below really does drive the point home.

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: Camera, iPhone 6s, iphone 6s plus, Nikon, photography

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Google has updated its official search app for iOS to version 9.0, adding three new features.

• Add a photo or review for your favourite local places
• Get map results right in the app when you search for an address
• Tap and play animated GIFs in image search results

The app supports Siri-like spoken search queries, speaking the answer to questions. You can also get Google Now cards through the app, which aim to proactively offer you information you might want based on your location and other clues in a similar way to iOS 9’s proactive assistant feature. The company added always-on “Ok, Google” functionality in August.

Google is a free download from iTunes.

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Speaking at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in San Francisco, Jimmy Iovine said that “Apple has taught me not to give out numbers [but] I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t doing well.”

Iovine said that while a free ad-supported tier could allow the company to rapidly acquire subscribers, a tactic popularised by Spotify, that wasn’t a route Apple wanted to take … 

Reports CNET..

Iovine said Apple could quickly raise [subscriber numbers] to 500 million if it offered a free ad-supported model.

“We don’t want to do that. We believe that we’ve built something powerful enough and strong enough that it will work.”

Iovine said that free tiers were unfair to artists, noted The Verge.

Free is a real issue. This whole thing about freemium, maybe at one time we needed it. But now it’s a shell game. These companies are building an audience on the back of the artist.

In a nod to Steve Jobs’ famous comment about Apple being at the intersection of technology and the liberal arts, Iovine said that both sides of the equation were needed.

Tech companies don’t have it all figured out, either. “Just because you go to Burning Man doesn’t make you Hunter Thompson,” he noted of the tech industry’s profoundly uncultured perspective on art. “The media business needs to have tech people and give them stripes and the tech businesses needs to give media people stripes,” he added. “Or it’s going to keep being the Star Wars bar in Tatooine.“

Jimmy Iovine wasn’t the only senior Apple exec at the summit: Jony Ive also spoke fondly about Steve Jobs and his new role at Apple.

Photo: The Verge

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A notable omission from the iBooks library has been Harry Potter, the most successful literary book series. JK Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, has kept eBook rights exclusive to her own website until today. This morning, Apple announced that all seven of the books are finally available to buy in the iBooks app to be read on iPhone, iPad and Mac.

The books include more than just the text of the story. The ‘enhanced editions’ feature brand new interactive elements, animations, ‘elaborate’ artwork, notes from the author and exclusive covers.

In a press release, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company is thrilled to offer them exclusively on the iBooks Store.

“I’m thrilled to see the Harry Potter books so beautifully realised on iBooks for the digital world; the artwork and animations in these enhanced editions bring the stories alive in a delightful new way,” said J.K. Rowling.

“Harry Potter fans are going to love how their favorite stories come to life,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “J.K. Rowling’s legendary series is perfect for enjoying on your iPad or iPhone and we’re thrilled to offer them exclusively on the iBooks Store.”

Until now, the Harry Potter digital books have only been available for readers to purchase through the Pottermore Shop. Starting today, iBooks® users can experience the books with all new exclusive custom covers for each title, and typography including the custom Harry Potter typefaces and new section headers and drop caps.

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One thing Adobe didn’t make clear in its recent flurry of produce announcements is that its Lightroom for iPad and iPhone apps are now available for anyone to use, free of charge. Both apps have always been free to download, but were time-limited free trials unless you had a desktop license or Creative Cloud subscription – and as TNW noticed, that’s no longer the case.

“We’re seeing a lot of people come in first on Lightroom mobile, so now we’re allowing people to use it locally on their local assets, their local photos and videos on their phone and tablet for as long as they like,” Tom Hogarty, Adobe’s director of product management for digital imaging told TNW … 

Both apps were updated a few days ago, and clearly Adobe is hoping that people get sufficiently hooked on the mobile version to then lay out the bucks for the desktop app or a Creative Cloud subscription.

Lightroom for iPad and Lightroom for iPhone are free (and now unlimited) downloads from iTunes.

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We’ve heard and read a lot about Apple going with two different manufacturers for the A9 chip in its iPhone 6s. Some models ship with a processor made by TSMC while others come with a Samsung-made component. While you’d expect that Apple would ensure both are built to offer comparable performance, it appears that may not be the case. It’s already been revealed by Chipworks that the Sammy model is 10% smaller, but if a couple of videos recently published are anything to go by, you might be better off with a TSMC model…

Well-known tech YouTubers, Austin Evans and Jonathan Morrison both uploaded videos showing how they tested the TSMC and Samsung models against each other and ended up with the same conclusion: You’ll get better battery life from the TSMC model.

Jonathan Morrison ran a number of tests with both phones starting at 100% to see which drained the fastest. After shooting 4K video for an extended period of time, exporting the resulting 10 minute video in iMovie and running a couple of benchmark tests, the TSMC model had 62% battery left. The model using Samsung’s chip finished with 55%.

While 7% difference may not seem like much, running those same tests again with the same results would leave you with 24% on one, and just 10% on the other. In real world use, that could mean the difference between having battery life left at the end of the day, and not having any.

Austin took a slightly different approach to battery testing, by running the Geekbench 3 battery test with both screens set to the same brightness to see how long it would take each phone to hit 50% battery. The TSMC model lasted a full 50 minutes longer than the Samsung model, it also ran at a much cooler temperature.

Geekbench is typically much heavier on the processor than normal use, so Austin also played the same 1-hour long video on both phones to see how they compared with real-world video streaming. Here, the difference was just 1%. The TSMC model used 14% battery, while the Samsung model used 15%.

After watching both videos, and seeing the tests used, I think it’s safe to say that — for the average consumer — it won’t matter too much which model you end up with. After all, you can’t know which chip is inside your iPhone until after you’ve bought it, and the typical real-world tests showed minimal difference. However, if you’re someone who likes to push your iPhone to the limits; recording 4K video or playing graphically intense games, you may want to hope you get the TSMC version, because when the chips are pushed hard, the Samsung one doesn’t cope as well.

If you want to find out which chip your device has, you can download a free app called Lirum on the App Store which can tell you.

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: A9 processor, battery life, chipgate, iPhone 6s, processor, Samsung, TSMC

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