Apple Watch Dimensions→

Apple didn’t announce a lot of specs of the Apple Watch besides the 2 different face sizes. There’s a 42 mm one and a 38 mm one. Thickness or screen size are nowhere to be found in Apple’s marketing material.

Based on the 42 mm Watch and several images on Apple’s website I did some measurements to determine some of the specs we don’t know yet.

Nice work by Paul Sprangers. To me, the watch looks as thick as many other watches in that price range on the market today. It’s interesting to imagine how this could look in four years (think original iPhone to iPhone 4).

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Supertop Buys Unread→

Great news for Unread fans: Supertop, the makers of Castro, have acquired the app from Jared Sinclair and will continue to develop it going forward.

Jared writes:

Supertop, the folks behind Castro — my favorite podcast app — are the new home for Unread, the RSS reader for iPhone and iPad that you have probably heard of by now. I am really happy for this news. Since I moved on to my new job at Bloglovin, Unread had become something akin to a beloved but grumpy family dog in a home with a fragile new baby. It’s better for everyone that Unread has moved on to a new home: better for me, for Supertop (obviously), and most of all for Unread’s users.

From the Supertop blog:

Unread makes an excellent companion to our podcast app, Castro. Both apps are news/entertainment focused, share similar design goals and even rely on the same underlying feed technology. We are grateful to Jared for trusting us with the future of Unread and look forward to developing and refining both of these apps for years to come.

Unread is a fantastic app, and I hope that Supertop will soon add a native share sheet and better cache management. You can read my original review of Unread here.

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iPhone 6 Screens Demystified→

Few days ago, Apple introduced iPhone 6 Plus. The new iPhone substantially changes the way graphics are rendered on screen. We’ve made an infographic to demystify this.

Over the past two days, I’ve seen a lot of designers and developers ask questions about the new screens in the iPhone 6. The folks at PaintCode have posted a useful guide to understand the new resolutions. I’d be curious to know how the Display Zoom feature works, though.

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Apple Pay on Apple Watch Secured By Skin Contact

Apple Pay, the new mobile payments system that Apple has developed, is secured on the iPhone 6 through the use of Touch ID, but many wondered how Apple was bringing the system to the Apple Watch, which doesn’t have Touch ID.

As noted by Rene Ritchie of iMore and Cult of Mac, Apple Pay on the Apple Watch is secured by requiring a passcode to be entered initially, but once entered Apple Pay would work until the watch is taken off a user’s wrist, then requiring the passcode to be re-entered.

The Apple Watch can detect when it is in contact with skin thanks to the sensors located on the rear of the watch, which are also used to detect the user’s heart beat. It is also backed up by a comment made by Ed McLaughlin of MasterCard who told Re/code that it would use the sensors for security, although he didn’t go into the detail provided by Ritchie and Cult of Mac.

[Cult of Mac via MacRumors]

Paid iCloud Customers Getting Partial Refunds After Apple Reduced Prices

Earlier this week Apple adjusted the pricing of their iCloud plans to be more competitive, and as part of those price reductions, Apple has also been ensuring that existing paid iCloud customers can take advantage of the discounts. As noted by MacRumors and others, Apple has begun emailing those customers, informing them that they will be given a refund based on the price reduction and the number of months remaining on their subscription.

As noted earlier this week, the new plans start at 20GB for $0.99 per month and range up to a 1TB plan for $19.99 per month. A big reason for the new iCloud pricing is the imminent introduction of iCloud Drive which allows users to store any kind of file and access it from any device.

[via MacRumors]

Connected: Stabbed By a Glass Corner→

This week, the boys tackle the new iPhones, Apple Pay and Apple’s entry into the wearable market with Apple Watch.

More thoughts on the Apple Watch (in addition to this), plus my current doubts about which iPhone and iPad to buy this Fall. Get the episode here.

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Desire and Purpose

I’ve been thinking about yesterday’s announcement of the Apple Watch. Like WWDC ’14, it’s a lot to process in a single day – you’re looking at years worth of design and product vision condensed in two hours of video and a massive website update. I’m not sure I’ll fully grasp the potential of Apple’s wearable even after its release.

But I noticed this: I didn’t feel the same impact of the original iPhone and iPad keynotes. I’m not referring to the product, the pace of Apple executives on stage, or Steve Jobs. I’m talking about the message that I was left with and the explanations that Apple gave to demonstrate their new watch and how it can fit in people’s everyday life. It felt different.

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Apple Discontinues iPod classic

Click image to view a full resolution version

Click image to view a full resolution version

The iPod classic is no longer on sale after Apple quietly discontinued the product yesterday. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise to anyone given that the product hasn’t been refreshed since September 2009 - five years ago, but as the direct descendant of the original iPod, it signals the end of an era to a certain degree. The iPod shuffle, nano and touch remain on sale, at least for now.

We’ve charted the key product milestones of the iPod classic line above (view the full resolution version), with thanks to the thorough Wikipedia entry on it. If you’re after a bit more of a visual history of some of the major changes to iPod classic, head over to The Verge.