Rumoured Apple iWatch

So the Apple rumour mill is a buzz with talk of the Apple iWatch (or whatever they decide to call it). Information has surfaced recently that Apple has a patent for what can best be described as a “slap bracelet”.

“In a first equilibrium position they can be flat. The second equilibrium is typically reached by slapping the flat embodiment across the wrist, at which point the bracelet curls around the wrist and stays relatively secure in a roughly circular position.”

iWatch-Patent-Image

Read more at IGN

This is quite intriguing, imagine being able to take your iWatch off and straighten it out and use it differently to when it’s wrapped around your wrist. Maybe for playing a game, or even a game controller for your iPad or Apple TV. Perhaps a camera for stills, video or even scanning.

Use Case

I try to not be that guy that just buys anything Apple sells, but this iWatch idea does appeal to me. I agree with what many people are saying, this will reduce the number of times you need to remove your iPhone from your pocket, if it displays all the notifications you get on your iPhone. But for me personally, I never hear my iPhone in my pocket, or feel it vibrate. I really do miss a lot of important messages or calls when my phone is in my pocket. So what I do now is constantly look at my iPhone substantially increasing the risk of dropping it.

I have not worn a wrist watch for many years, so wearing an iWatch will take some adjustment, but if it does what people are suggesting, it will be worth it.

What do the rumours say it will do?

So from what I can gather is as mentioned above, all sorts of notifications. The possibility to reply to messages via the device and/or voice (Siri). Video calls via Facetime. Reminders and calendar events. Plus some kind of health tracking, such as a pedometer or even more sophisticated body measurements like pulse rate. It will be an iOS device, so provided it is not locked out by Apple, we could see a number of apps built specifically for it.

What will it look like?

For an artists mock-up I found this image on iDownloadBlog

iWatch graphic
Looks like it could be quite an interesting product, in typical Apple fashion we almost don’t see a need for something like this, but once we get one we will probably wonder how we ever lived without it.
Please post your comments below, let me know if this would be something you would consider purchasing.

YouTube’s dedicated app for iPhone

On 2012/09/11 Google launched their dedicated YouTube app for iPhone. There has been much speculation regarding this as Apple have removed the YouTube app embedded in iOS from the upcoming iOS 6 release.

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I installed the app on my iPhone and iPad, so here are my initial findings.

The first thing is that this is an iPhone only app, but it does run on the iPad. The interface is clean and navigation is similar to the Google+ and Facebook apps.

One thing I liked straight away was the inclusion of Channel playlists, not the playlist you set up on YouTube, those have always been there, but the playlists users create on their YouTube channel.

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I watch the MotorTrend channel quite a bit and like the way that they sort there videos into playlists. Can we have this on the Apple TV too please.

Talking about Apple TV, this app does support AirPlay, but only for audio. If you have an iPad or iPhone 4S you can use AirPlay Mirroring, which will then show the audio and video on the Apple TV, but not at full screen. (Please update this Google)

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I would be surprised if Google don’t release an iPad version of this soon, espcially seeing as a 7″ iPad Mini is more than likely coming soon.

I do like the app and will use it. It’s smooth and responsive and video loads quickly. But for me the iPhone is not the primary device I use to watch YouTube.

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When it comes to sharing videos this app has you covered

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Here are a few more screen captures showing the interface and search

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Available for free in the iTunes App store

iTunes iOS update has NO RESUME!!

How often has it happened that iTunes is busy downloading the update file for your iOS device, and it fails, with NO RESUME!! So you have to start all over.

This page might help, because you get a direct link to the file on the Apple site, and you can use a download manager to get the file with resuming.

iPhone Direct Download Links

iPad Direct Download Links

iPod Direct Download Links

Thanks to OSXDaily

Firmware files have an .ipsw extension and can be found at the following locations:

On Windows XP :
Documents and SettingsApplication DataApple ComputeriTunesiPhone Software Updates

On Windows Vista/Windows 7:
Users[UserName]AppDataRoamingApple ComputeriTunesiPhone Software Updates

On Mac:
~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates

Thanks to iPhone FAQ

You can then place the file in that location and run the update, iTunes will pick the file up, verify it and skip the download portion of the update.