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Whenever someone asks how I like my Apple Watch, I explain that I like but don’t love it, and wouldn’t recommend it to everyone… yet. “In two or three years,” I say, “they’re going to be common, but right now, they don’t feel necessary.” Nice, yes. Necessary, no.

Last week, my life changed. Shortly after our kids went to school, my wife stopped breathing in our home. I was able to get her breathing again, and thanks to 911 and outstanding EMTs, she survived to be diagnosed with Brugada Syndrome, a rare heart condition that typically goes undetected before a massive, fatal attack. Once Brugada was suspected, doctors looked for records of her heartbeat, but couldn’t find much on file. Between ER and ICU visits, I remembered that her iPhone’s Health app contained three months of heart rate data, because her Apple Watch had been passively recording it.

A report earlier this year said Apple has wavered on adding irregular heart rate reporting and other health functionality to the Apple Watch, fearing additional governmental regulation and/or liability for potentially inaccurate results. Given what my wife just went through, I have a newfound appreciation for the Apple Watch’s existing heart rate sensor, and a strong request for Apple: be bold on expanding Apple Watch’s health features, as well as its ability to be continuously worn. It’s nice for a watch to estimate calories burned after a workout, but merely having advance notice of her irregular heart rate could have prevented my wife’s near-death experience, and who knows how many other lives better sensors could save…

Currently, the Apple Watch measures a wearer’s heart rate at least every 10 minutes, attempting to record a simple piece of data: number of beats per minute. While the Watch’s heart rate sensor isn’t perfect, it’s pretty close. It’s better than what most people have access to in their homes (nothing), plus it’s constantly being worn, and thus taking tons of readings that can be compared over time. I’ve personally used my Watch’s heart rate Glance more than I’d ever anticipated, looking at it when I’m under stress to see how my heart’s holding up. If I’m at my desk and start getting into the 130s or 140s, I know I need to do something to calm down.

According to the EMTs, my wife’s heart rate went into the 240s when she was in their ambulance last week, requiring two defibrillating shocks to “reset” her heart. She notably wasn’t wearing an Apple Watch at the time. Why? After three months, she wasn’t getting any obvious value out of using it, and just left it on its charger all day, so we sold it. It was great that her Health app contained some heart rate data, but since she always took the Watch off when she showered — the time when she typically began to experience symptoms doctors later associated with her heart condition — it was missing a key piece of the puzzle.

Understanding why people stop wearing Apple Watches should be critical for Apple. I can say that several things interrupted the bond that was developing between me and my Watch: a lack of Sport Band comfort (remedied by replacing it with a Milanese Loop), buggy/laggy watchOS software, and too few things to actually do with the Watch. Although those were all contributors, daily recharges and a lack of guaranteed waterproofing have been bigger issues for me. I would like to wear the Watch when I shower and sleep, but as it is, I don’t feel comfortable doing either of those things. My wife tells me that she found her Watch too redundant with her iPhone, and not feminine enough, which combined to make her stop wearing it. Adding gold and rose gold aluminum Sport models may help somewhat, but addressing the functional issues would certainly bring more Watch customers to the table.

Improving the Apple Watch’s health sensors would ultimately be the product’s killer — perhaps better put, “death-defying” — feature. Having a fashionable, versatile watch with the ability to passively look out for heartbeat irregularities would be huge for a large group of people, so long as it wouldn’t need to be removed from the wrist as often as the current model. Obviously, the Apple Watch couldn’t take the place of a pacemaker or defibrillator, bringing the heart back to normal, but it could provide advance warning that such a device, similar medication, and/or lifestyle changes were necessary.

As of right now, the first-generation Apple Watch still needs help on both the hardware and software sides. But even if few of the Watch’s features have been executed with the depth they really need, I’m increasingly comfortable with the focus Apple chose for the device. With a handful of improvements, I’m certain that Apple will win some additional purchases from my household, as well as many others. And it will probably go from assisting with exercise to quantifiably saving some lives along the way.

Filed under: Apple Watch Tagged: Apple watch, Health

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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:

Jawbone BIG JAMBOX Wireless Bluetooth Speaker (dented box) $120 shipped (Reg. $180)

UE ROLL 360 Bluetooth Speaker (all colors): $90 shipped (Reg. $100)

Inateck MercuryBox Aluminum Bluetooth 4.0 Ultra-Portable Speaker: $37 shipped (Reg. $46)

Omaker M4 Splashproof Bluetooth Speaker: $19 Prime shipped (Reg. $35)

Cambridge SoundWorks OontZ Angle 2 Bluetooth Speaker $27 Prime shipped (Reg. $35) wp.me/p1xTlR-I2z http://t.co/RUOjUYqXcH

—
9to5Toys (@9to5toys) October 02, 2015

Staples $100 Gift Card w/ email delivery for $85 from PayPal (15% off): save on Apple gear, Beats, office supplies, more

The best-selling Klipsch SB 120 Bluetooth TV Sound System is on sale for $159 shipped (Reg. $260+)

App Store Gorgeous Games for $1 Sale: Tengami, Superbrothers, KAMI, Icebreaker, Out There, many more

Games/Apps: True Skate for iOS goes free (Reg. $2), WWE 2K15 $20, Notes Plus 50% off, more

App Store Free App of the Week: Combo Quest RPG goes free for the first time ($1 value)

EA’s new free-to-play Need for Speed No Limits is now available on iOS and Android

Apple iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi: 16GB $380 shipped (Reg. $499), 64GB $490 shipped (Reg. $599)

More new gear from today:

Daily Deals: LG WXGA LED Minibeam Projector $300, Westinghouse 24-inch LED 1080p HDTV $100, more

More deals still alive:

Lenmar MAVEN iPhone 6 MFi Apple-Certified 3,000mAh Battery Case $29 shipped (Orig. $100), more

Get a no-contract iPhone 6s from Boost Mobile for just $450 shipped (Orig. $649)

• Samsung 55-inch 1080p 120Hz Smart LED HDTV: $600 shipped (Reg. $800)
• LG 34-inch 21:9 UltraWide LED IPS Monitor: $620 shipped (Reg. $780+)
• WD My Cloud 4TB Personal Cloud Storage NAS $160 shipped (Orig. $220)
• Anker 14W Dual-USB Port Solar Charger: $40 shipped (Reg. $50+)
• GoPro HERO3+ Silver Edition Camera (Refurb): $169 shipped (Orig. $240)
• Kindle First Books for Oct: Infinity Lost, The Mentor, The Concealed, This Is the Night, more
• Freebies: Alice in Wonderland animated book iPad app + San Diego Zoo admission + More!
• D-Link DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem: $59 shipped (Reg. $73)
• Klipsch STATUS Over-Ear Headphones $100 shipped (Orig. $150), more
• Samsung 850 EVO 2.5-inch Internal SSDs: 500GB $150 (Reg. $175+), 250GB $80 (Reg. $90)
• USB Power: Anker 15,600mAh Battery Pack $24 (Reg. $30), more
• Toshiba Canvio Basics 2TB Portable USB 3.0 Hard Drive: $70 shipped (Reg. $85+)
• SanDisk Connect Wi-Fi Flash Drive for iOS: 64GB $50 (Reg. $60), 32GB $30 (Reg. $40)
• Canary All-in-One Internet-Connected Home Security Device: $199 shipped (Reg. $250)
• Buy 2 Board Games, Get 1 Free: Star Wars Pictopia $25, Jenga $9, Monopoly $20, more
• Belkin QODE Ultimate Keyboard Case for iPad Air 2 in White/Gold: $49 shipped (Reg. $100)
• Free Xbox Live Gold Games for October: Valiant Hearts, The Walking Dead, more
• Free PS Plus Games for October: Super Meat Boy, Broken Age, Kickbeat, more
• Download Cole Swindell’s debut album for free ($10 value)
• Learn to hack a Raspberry Pi: $115 (Orig. $804, CA Tax Only)
• First Generation Lytro 16GB Digital Camera $80 (Orig. $199)
• Skybell Wi-Fi Doorbell livestreams video of anyone who calls: $169 Shipped (Orig. $199)
• Loot Crate: 3-Month Subscription: $49 Shipped (Orig. $58, CA Tax Only)
• SKEYE Pico Drone fits inside its own controller, packs gyro-stabilization: $35 Shipped (Orig. $49)
• Typinator Family Pack (5 licenses) for $21.99 (48% off)

New products & more:

These Bluetooth earbuds use your iPhone’s Lightning port to charge

BRO Ball combines Bluetooth audio and pigskin for the ultimate tailgate companion

• TiVo makes the DVR sexy with 4K content, AirPlay and one-click commercial skipping
• Bose’s latest connected speaker lowers the entry price into the SoundTouch family
• Keurig’s new KOLD brewer lets you make Coca-Cola at home but it’s going to cost you
• Amazon snags exclusive streaming rights for Back to The Future trilogy
• Amazon’s Prime Music adds new artists to its streaming service
• GoPro introduces a new cost-effective action camera with Wi-Fi capabilities
• Exploride combines the best iPhone features into one safe head-up display unit for your car
• Microsoft is announcing a new Xbox One bundle every day this week
• Review: JBL’s new Xtreme Bluetooth speaker goes big on sound and design

Filed under: Tips and Tricks Tagged: 9to5Toys, Amazon Gold Box, Amazon Prime, apple deals, Best Buy, Big Jambox, Bluetooth Speaker, coupon codes, Daily Deals, eBay Daily Deals, free apps, free shipping, Freebies, Games, iOS apps, iPhone 6s, itunes deals, Jawbone, New Toy of the Day, Portable Bluetooth Speaker, Staples gift card

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Live Photos aren’t perfect. The video shot in a Live Photo is a mediocre 12 frames per second compared to the 30fps iPhones generally capture. Low-light photos are noticeably less vibrant when Live Photos are enabled. Shoot a Live Photo in the wrong orientation then rotate it, and you revert back to a standard photo. Sharing Live Photos is fairly fragmented by Apple standards, even on Macs running the latest versions of OS X El Capitan. And it’s not easy to frame the perfect Live Photo; great Live Photos tend to happen by chance, not technique.

But with all of the opportunities Apple has to improve the new Live Photo experience, I’m honestly quite surprised at just how much I appreciate the new feature on the iPhone 6s. Using my iPhone 6s Plus for a full week now, my take on Live Photos has shifted and evolved from curious but confused to “I get it but when should I use it?” to wishing I had Live Photos years ago. Read on for how I believe Apple can improve the Live Photos experience and how the new iPhone 6s feature has changed my approach to shooting photos and videos.

Okay, so what is a Live Photo exactly? Apple describes a Live Photo as a full-resolution still image that captures movement and sound just before and after the photo was taken. That means 1.5 seconds of video and audio is captured both before and after you tap the shutter button and snap the pic, but note that Apple won’t call a Live Photo a video. iPhone 6s and 6s Plus let you watch Live Photos by 3D Touching (deep pressing) the still photo. Older iPhones can play shared Live Photos by long pressing the still images. Apple marks a Live Photo with a special icon in the image’s corner.

The video captured during a Live Photo is a low 12fps so the footage plays back with a murky but somewhat dreamy look to it. I’m sure it’s noticeable on the 4.7-inch iPhone 6s, it’s definitely noticeable on the 5.5-inch iPhone 6s Plus, and it’s just not pretty to see on even larger displays like iPads and Macs. The 12MP still photo dramatically contrasts with the dated-looking video footage behind it. It’s like pairing an iPhone 6s shot photo with an iPhone 3GS shot video. I would love to see the 12fps number increase or at least provide an option if storage is the issue.

Live Photos can be used as lock screen wallpapers on the new iPhones, but the motion is such subpar quality that it isn’t as compelling as I’d hoped after Apple’s presentation. You also need to deep press the lock screen for it to animate, likely to keep battery life in control, but would anyone regularly do that? For now I’m using a Live Photo as my wallpaper, but only because I like the way the still photo looks.

Once you grasp what a Live Photo is for yourself, the first time you share one with someone else necessarily requires teaching them how to engage it. My experience with both power-user friends and less-savvy family members when sharing a Live Photo to other iPhone users is this: 1) send Live Photo 2) include instructions to open image full-screen, press and hold 3) just hope that makes sense. And that’s just iPhone to iPhone. (There is a Live Photos icon in the photo’s corner, but it’s not a play button.)

There’s a software component to making Live Photos work, too, and not even Apple has caught all of its platforms up. This is what you can expect when sharing Live Photos across Apple’s apps and platforms. iCloud Photo Library can sync Live Photos to the Mac, and Photos allows you to play them back within the app. A button labeled LIVE in the lower right hand corner lets you click and play the Live Photo.

Just like on the iPhone, Photos for Mac lets you edit a Live Photo and enable or disable the live part of it. Click edit then toggle the yellow or white Live Photos icon in the top center: yellow is on and white is off. Similarly to iOS, auto-enhancing a Live Photo preserves the motion and sound, but rotating, cropping, applying filters, or adjusting light and color will revert it to a non-Live Photo.

Somewhat frustratingly, Messages for Mac currently has zero support for Live Photos. Messages on iPhone and iPad work with Live Photos just fine, but the Mac version of the app treats every Live Photo as a traditional JPEG still image. There’s not even an icon to let you know you should view the Live Photo on your iPhone or iPad. This also happens when sharing a Live Photo directly from Photos for Mac through Messages using the share action. This is the case on both the public version of OS X El Capitan 10.11.0 and the developer beta version of OS X 10.11.1.

More reasonable is Apple’s lack of support for Live Photos on the web. This is the case when using iCloud Photo Library on both icloud.com and beta.icloud.com, which sometimes has future features before the main site. You can playback video from both versions of icloud.com, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it eventually caught up with Live Photo support. For now I don’t spend much time viewing my photo library online, though, so the omission is less annoying than no Live Photos on Messages for Mac.

And what about Apple Watch? Testing with watchOS 2, Live Photos work as expected when you sync an album that includes them. In my case, I sync photos that I favorite to Apple Watch. This lets you set these photos as your watch face, and Live Photos will animate your watch face each time the display lights up. Viewing a Live Photo in the Photos app presents an icon in the lower left corner that shows motion but not audio when tapped. Live Photos in Messages on Apple Watch work like Messages on the Mac, just still JPEGs with nothing to clue you in to watch it.

Sharing a Live Photo online is also tricky. My videos are captured using QuickTime on the Mac with a wired connection to my iPhone, and the result is really just a video that you play and pause. Apple said that Facebook plans to support Live Photos sometime this year, but it’s not clear what that will look like. Still, with Apple behind it there should be a fair amount of support coming.

Live Photos aren’t as straightforward as traditional photos and videos, but are they worth the trouble right now? All of these software pieces will come together in time, but the wow effect of what a Live Photo can offer is not something I expect to get over anytime soon. As I mentioned at the top and discussed on our podcast ‘Happy Hour’ this week, my feelings about Live Photos have quickly changed since first trying the new camera feature last Friday.

@BenBajarin @drbarnard One of these has a lot of value as a Live Photo, the other I’m not so sure of http://t.co/mkJlxbqtRw

—
Zac Skellington (@apollozac) September 26, 2015

The iPhone’s Camera app lets you decide before shooting whether or not you want Live Photos to be on or off. You can quickly toggle it on or off before each shot if you want. After my first couple of days with Live Photos on my iPhone 6s Plus, that’s exactly what I was doing: shoot a photo of a person with Live Photos on, snap a pic of an interesting looking coffee cup with Live Photos off.

That’s a lot of work, though, and the extra step of processing that decision isn’t worth missing a good shot. Adjusting my approach (and taking advantage of my 128GB of storage plus iCloud Photo Library with optimized storage turned on), every photo I shoot now starts as a Live Photo then I decide in post if I should revert it to a still image afterwards.

I have one exception to this approach. Live Photos capture 3 seconds of motion and audio, with 1.5 seconds being after you snap the image. That means taking a Live Photo is noticeably not instant because it can’t be. It’s similar to taking an HDR photo on an old iPhone before the processor got so fast. That process involves taking and mixing multiple images and shooting without moving. Live Photos are the same. They take an extra second and a half so I toggle it off if I want to shoot something very quickly in succession.

I joked on Twitter that every iPhone reviewer should have a toddler around when testing Live Photos because that’s when the feature really shines. Parents need Live Photos. It seemed gimmicky when I tried shooting the flag waving in my front yard and getting my cat to pose for one was more annoying than pleasant, but nearly every Live Photo of my daughter just impresses me over and over.

iPhones are getting really great at shooting video. My iPhone 6s Plus has optical image stabilization even for video and shoots in 4K resolution, and while I sometimes decide to shoot a video and not a photo, it’s still a fraction of the time.

Photos are fast to share, easy to enjoy, and don’t ask for much of your time. Videos catch the moment much better but rarely get re-watched around my house. I’m finding that Live Photos strike a really nice balance between the two formats. I have way more photos than videos of family and friends, but I wish I’d have shot more videos over the years. Live Photos makes that decision much easier for me going forward. I don’t have to change my approach, but I get the benefit of details previously only captured in video.

Live Photos seemed ambiguous when first announced and ranked low on my list of reasons for upgrading from my iPhone 6, the motion quality has plenty of room to improve and Apple’s software still needs to catch up in some corners, but consider me completely sold. Android phones and App Store apps may have been first to the photo format, but being built into the camera and apps that I use everyday in a way that isn’t intrusive is perfect.

Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS, iOS Devices, Opinion Tagged: iCloud Photo Library, iOS 9, iPhone 6s, iphone 6s plus, ISight, Live Photos, photography, photos, Photos for mac

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As regular readers will know, I think wires are evil. To the extent that they are unavoidable, they should be invisible. And if they can’t be invisible, they should at least be neat.

I’ve also found you can never predict when you’re going to need a cable, so I keep one of each of the main types – Lightning, MiniUSB and MicroUSB – in each of the bags I use to carry a MacBook. I’ve tried various methods of wrapping them, from rubber bands (fiddly and they break) through velcro (collect fluff and lose their stickiness) to releasable cable-ties (neat but fiddly).

But I think I’ve finally found a solution that Just Works. Cloopbands are rubberized cable wraps with magnetic ends that can be applied and removed in a second.

Cloop suggests you semi-permanently attach the bands to your cables like so:

Personally, I didn’t find that necessary, but I can see that it could be useful for some.

The company also sells a small bar magnet, the idea being that you attach this to your desk and then your Cloopband-wrapped cables stick to that. Again, that wasn’t for me, and the bar is so small it would only work for a few anyway.

The one downside of Cloopbands? The price. They’re available in two sizes, small and large, in packs of three. Small bands cost $9.99 for three – and cope with most cables – while the larger size is $11.99 for three. Fine for a single set of cables, but if, like me, you have enough cables to rewire a power station, that could soon add up. You can claim a 15% discount on orders of over $20 by following the company on social media.

If Cloopbands are not for you, there are plenty of other cable management products available on Amazon, for both desk and mobile use.

Cloopbands are available on the company’s store from $3.99 for individual bands.

Filed under: Reviews Tagged: Cable management, Cable ties, Cable wraps, Cloopbands

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Still no Apple Pay in stores at Target just yet, but Apple Watch will be joining the lineup of iPhones and iPads in select stores this week – and all stores by October 25th.

Target operates over 1800 stores across the United States, greatly expanding the points-of-sale for Apple Watch going into the holiday quarter. Aside from the couple hundred Apple Stores in the US, Apple Watch has been sold in a few premium vendors plus Best Buy, T-Mobile, and Sprint…

Between Target picking up Apple Watch at select stores this week and all stores by the end of the month, the retailer says it will also begin selling Apple’s wearable online at target.com (and in its iPhone app where you can use Apple Pay at checkout).

Target says it will carry 20 models in total, ranging from $349 Sport versions to $599 stainless steel Apple Watches. Both the smaller 38mm and larger 42mm Apple Watches will be available, including newly introduced color options gold and rose gold in the aluminum Sport collection. Select models will be sold in stores, with all models available online. Best Buy, which sells models in the same range, took a similar approach of launching in a few stores then expanding to all over a short period.

Apple hasn’t released numbers for how many Apple Watches it has sold so far, but retail availability going into the gift-buying season is greatly expanded compared to the roughly 3-month period after launch where orders were only available through apple.com. Apple has also refreshed the lineup with a collection of new bands, including more Sport colors and an improved Classic leather band. watchOS 2 was also released this month, adding support for faster, native apps and new watch face options.

Filed under: Apple Watch Tagged: Apple watch, Holidays, retail, sales, target

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Microsoft has updated its Skype for iPhone and iPad apps to add support for two new features in iOS 9: Slide Over and Split View. This follows close behind its update of the Mac app to add Split View in El Capitan.

Millions of people use Skype every day to share URLs and photos. iOS9’s new Split View and Slide Over capabilities let you use Skype while using another app alongside it, making sharing your content even better. Imagine you’re planning a night out in London with a group of friends using IM or a group voice call. Now you can share links to bars and restaurants and decide on the best place to meet without having to leave the app, just click on the shared content and bring it alongside your Skype conversation. It’s a great way to get things done together … 

The new app also allows you to reply to text chats direct from Notifications, without the need to open the app, and to begin a Skype conversation directly from Spotlight.

Search for a contact in Spotlight and, if you have them on Skype, they’ll show up in your Spotlight search results. Tap your Skype contact to start Skype and get straight to a chat.

Skype for iPhone and Skype for iPad are both free downloads from iTunes.

Filed under: Apps Tagged: iOS 9, iPad, Microsoft, Skype, Skype for iPad, Skype for iPhone, slide over, Split View

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Andy Hertzfeld, one of the key designers of the original Macintosh system software, has told Re/code that the Sorkins/Boyle movie Steve Jobs “deviates from reality everywhere” but “exposes deeper truths” about the man.

It deviates from reality everywhere — almost nothing in it is like it really happened — but ultimately that doesn’t matter that much. The purpose of the film is to entertain, inspire and move the audience, not to portray reality. It is cavalier about the facts but aspires to explore and expose the deeper truths behind Steve’s unusual personality and behavior, and it often but not always succeeds at that.

Hertzfeld said that Sorkin had convinced him that an impressionistic approach was valid … 

[Sorkin] asked me how Steve would react to a specific situation, involving the speech demo failing. I pointed out that it didn’t happen in reality, and we had a lengthy discussion about artistic license, about how okay it is to diverge from reality. Basically, he convinced me it was not a documentary, so veracity is secondary to artistic considerations, and “it’s a painting, not a photograph.

He said that while it was difficult for him to judge the movie as he was so close to it all, he described it as “brilliantly written and performed, and full of humor and feeling.”

Sorkin yesterday revealed that it had taken him two months to come up with the idea of the three act structure used in the movie, and he hadn’t expected the studio to approve it, but they actually took just minutes to do so.

Steve Wozniak has also said that while the details may not be accurate, he “felt like he was actually watching Steve Jobs.” Critics praised the movie, which got its debut screening earlier this month. Steve Jobs goes on general release on October 9th – with a two-minute trailer whetting our appetite in the meantime.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Aaron Sorkin, Andy Hertzfeld, Danny Boyle, Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs biopic, Steve Jobs movie

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Some iPhone 6s/Plus users are reporting a display glitch in Wallet and some other apps, where they get a permanently zoomed-in view after restoring from an iPhone 5/5S/5C. Apple has told owners that it is aware of the issue but does not currently have a fix other than setting up the phone as a new one.

When I open the Apple wallet app, the sides of the screen are cut off like it is zoomed in […]

Same issue here on an iPhone 6S. I can’t activate any cards since the button to input the activation codes is seemingly cut off […]

I spent 30 minutes on a support chat. [Apple] could only suggest trying a full phone restore (losing data in the process).

The issue is reportedly fixed in iOS 9.1 beta 3, and there is a clunky workaround in the meantime … 

You can temporarily switch on the Display Zoom feature in iOS: Settings > Display & Brightness > Zoomed. The wallet app then opens normally, and you can switch off zoom afterwards to return the display to normal.

Note you’ll lose a row of icons in Springboard and a lot of screen real estate. But Wallet will appear normal. I think an Apple developer multiplied instead of dividing or vice-versa.

The issue does not appear to depend on how the phone was restored, some of those affected reporting that they restored from iCloud while others restored from iTunes.

Via MacRumors

Filed under: Apple Pay, iOS, iOS Devices Tagged: Apple pay, bug, iOS 9, iPhone 6s, wallet

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Silicon Valley Business Journal reports that Apple has secured a deal to build another spaceship campus in Sunnyvale, California. The company will purchase Landbank Investments LLC’s planned Central & Wolfe campus which comes in at 777,000-square-feet at Central Expressway and Wolfe Road in Silicon Valley.

Specific terms of the deal are unknown at this point, although the report claims that the deal has been finalized and completed. It’s also believed that Apple most likely leased, not purchased, the project.

Apple’s Sunnyvale campus pays numerous design cues to Apple’s upcoming Campus 2 in Cupertino. The Cupertino campus is located roughly 5 miles from the Sunnyvale plot. The Sunnyvale campus, under the proposed design, will feature three connected main buildings with a central courtyard. The buildings will be wrapped in a “sweeping, curvilinear glass skin that appears to billow in and out.” The campus could bring up to 3,000 new jobs to the area, as well.

“We wanted something that was really different, lasting and interesting,” Jacobs said in 2013, when the project was first proposed. He declined to comment this week. The project was marketed by Steve Horton and Kelly Yoder of Cushman & Wakefield in partnership with Jeff Houston and Mike Charters of CBRE. But Landbank CEO Scott Jacobs bet that tech companies would be drawn to something different than the Valley’s usual building typology. The notion wasn’t without skeptics, but in the end Jacobs’ bet paid off.

Apple has been expanding its presence at an insanely fast pace recently, purchasing land in Monterey, San Jose, Reno, and Oregon, not to mention its ongoing Campus 2 project. You can read our full timeline of that project here.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Apple, Campus, Silicon Valley, spaceship

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Continuing his string of interviews and appearances, Apple CEO Tim Cook today appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered show and was interviewed by Robert Siegel. Cook and Siegel talked about a variety of topics in the interview, including Apple News, customer privacy, and more.

First off, the two discussed Apple’s goal to maintain the privacy of its customers at all costs. Cook has always been a huge proponent of user rights and his tone did not change in this interview. Cook explained that Apple will do whatever it takes to maintain the privacy of its users:

We do think that people want us to help them keep their lives private. We see that privacy is a fundamental human right that people have. We are going to do everything that we can to help maintain that trust.

Regarding the NSA, Cook noted how he believes everyone, including the government is beginning to realize that encryption of data is a must.

I don’t think you will hear the [National Security Agency] asking for a back door. … There have been different conversations with the FBI, I think, over time. … But my own view is everyone’s coming around to some core tenants. And those core tenants are that encryption is a must in today’s world.

Next up, Cook and Siegel touched on Apple News. Apple News is the company’s latest attempt at providing users with a clean and intuitive way to digest news on the topics they love. Regarding News, Cook noted that he doesn’t think user data should be shared from one app to another:

If you’re in our News app, and you’re reading something, we don’t think that in the News app that we should know what you did with us on the Music app — not to trade information from app to app to app to app

Earlier this week, Cook was interviewed at the Box BoxWorks conference and discussed Apple’s interest in the enterprise market, as well as as its partnership with Microsoft, Apple’s new iPhone Upgrade Program, and more. Last month, Cook appeared on Late Show with Stephen Colbert and touched on his personal life, the possibility of an Apple Car, Steve Jobs, and more.

You can listen to Cook’s interview from today with NPR via the embed below:

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: All Things Considered, Apple, interview, NPR, Tim Cook

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T-Mobile has confirmed this evening that as many as 15 million of its customers have been affected by a data breach. As the company is quick to point out, however, the breach did not occur on its servers, but rather its credit partner’s, Experian.

While Experian and T-Mobile both confirm that no credit card or banking information was compromised in the breach, a variety of other sensitive information was. Customer names, addresses, birthdates, Social Security numbers, and ID numbers were all leaked as part of the attack.

The attack affects approximately 15 million people who required a credit check when signing up for device financing through T-Mobile. Perhaps most notably, however, the vulnerability was open for more than two years, from September 1, 2013 though September 16, 2015.

T-Mobile says that it is offering two years of free credit monitoring to anyone who fears they could have been affected by the breach. T-Mobile CEO John Legere wrote in an open letter on the carrier’s website that he is “incredibly angry about this data breach” and that T-Mobile will be reevaluating its relationship with Experian.

Filed under: Tech Industry Tagged: breach, carrier, Data, T-Mobile

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Even in the age of the Apple Watch which only plays music over Bluetooth, Apple has yet to produce any Apple-branded wireless headphones or earbuds, instead promoting Beats-branded earbud and headphone designs created before Apple’s $3 billion acquisition of that company last year. A new report from MacRumors suggests that could soon change, however, as it’s believed Apple may have applied for “AirPods” trademark under an alias company name.

If the trademark application indeed traces back to Apple, AirPods suggest a wireless version of the Apple-branded EarPod earbuds introduced in 2012. Apple’s current in-house solution for wireless earbuds, Beats Powerbeats 2, carry a premium $199 price and have an aggressive sport look, leaving room for a more neutral Apple-designed product in the future.

MacRumors believes that the company listed on the AirPods trademark application, Entertainment in Flight LLC, is an Apple shell company due to its lack of any other activity, use of a Gmail address for contact information, and a priority date request for trademarking in Jamaica where online records aren’t available, activity which it says is typical of Apple when using shell companies to hide upcoming products.

The possible AirPod wireless earbuds adds to the list of potential upcoming but unannounced products including an updated Apple Wireless Keyboard and Magic Mouse 2 using Bluetooth LE 4.2 as we reported earlier this year. Although those products had an early 2016 date attached to them, FCC documents suggest they may be further along than possible wireless earbuds from Apple.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: AirPods, Apple, Beats, Wireless

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Is Apple considering another round of major changes to iOS’s Home screen? If watchOS and tvOS are any indication, the answer could be “yes.” Earlier this year, Apple launched the Apple Watch with a purely text-free Home screen, requiring users to identify 20-some initial apps (and manually-added third-party apps) by icon designs alone. This month, it will release […]

One of iOS 9’s most useful features on modern iPads is the ability to playback videos from the Home screen or other apps using picture-in-picture. Video services have to opt-in to supporting PIP, though, so it means App Store apps must be updated before the feature works. HBO has done just that with their iOS […]

If you’re looking to buy an Apple TV online, you may need to look somewhere other than Amazon in the very near future. A new report from Bloomberg claims that an internal email at indicates the retailer will block sales of Apple’s streaming device because it doesn’t support Amazon Prime Video. The change will take place […]

Apple has followed this week’s release of OS X El Capitan 10.11.1 beta 2 to developers with a public version of the pre-release software. The second seed doesn’t include any notable changes, though it does come with the new emoji icons that were added in the first build. Users on the public beta can download […]