Wary IcecubeApple
First Apple Watch? Here’s what to do first
This guide covers: * Start here * Understand the Digital Crown * Understand the Side Button * Learn the Gestures * Make sure your iPhone can unlock your Apple Watch * Create your own watch face(s) * Track daily activity * Start using health features * Understand safety features * Go for your first workout * Set up Apple Pay * Ping your iPhone * Understand Control Center * Understand and use the Smart Stack * Unlock your Mac with Apple Watch * Use Double Tap * Understand sounds
A must-read iPhone 16 Pro review
Well-known photographer Austen Mann got to take the iPhone 16 Pro with him on a trip to Kenya. He did not get paid by Apple for the trip, he has other sponsors to enable him going on these trips. This is all explained in the beginning of the review. Obviously Apple loaned him an iPhone 16 Pro before it was released hoping he would get a few good shots, but that is a far cry from them actually financing the thing. Anyway. I don't want to post his photos or his various conclusions here, because y
Here are the first 6 things to do after upgrading to iOS 18
While I do think you should read up on all the news of iOS 18 and related updates, here are the must-try things right after updating your device: Short version Here's the overview of the first six things to do after updating: 1. Set up your Home Screen 2. Set up Lock Screen 3. Set up Control Center 4. Organize the new Photos app 5. Explore the new Passwords app 6. Schedule a message to be sent later Home Screen There are major new customization and personalization possible with the
Your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods, Mac, Apple TV are getting new features today - here are my favorites
A few hours ago, Apple released their major software updates to the public. I have been running all these major updates as developer betas since back in June, so I want to share my favorite features for each of the new operating systems in order to recommend you all to what to try out, and also encourage you to update as soon as possible! Here's what Apple has released today: * iOS 18 for iPhone * "Customize your iPhone in more ways than ever, stay connected with friends and family, and re
PSA: Don't buy any new wireless chargers right now
The new iPhone 16 line-up supports a new version of MagSafe which increases the speed of wireless charging with 67% on these new models vs the old - 25W versus 15W. That is a big jump and puts wireless charging squarely into fast charge territory - enabling 50% charge in 30 minutes. In order to achieve these new speeds, new chargers will be needed. So if you are looking to buy a new 3rd party MagSafe charger (there are many of them), I would strongly recommend holding off. In a matter and weeks
Glowtime pre-orders and a new Apple Store
A couple of hours ago the global pre-orders for the iPhone 16 lineup of phones opened, and I figured I’d report on my purchases, in the order that I made the purchases. Apple Watch I have owned every generation of Apple Watch since Series 8, as I switched to the Apple Watch Ultra lineup then - I currently own the Ultra 2. I was ready to buy the Ultra 3 this year, but alas no such product exists yet. T uses a Series 7 and we have been considering an upgrade ever since the temperature sensor o
Ignore the engagement-hungry headlines and cynism - there’s plenty news in the iPhone 16 lineup
The first 36 hours of reporting after the annual Apple iPhone event has been exhausting. It usually is, but feels worse this year. The takeaway that parts of the tech community seemingly got together and decided to have, is that this year's iPhone are boring and there are limited improvements. So let me counteract that, because it's a cynical and simplistic take. Here’s what actually new in this year’s iPhone lineup, starting with the non-Pro phones: * Camera Control. Cynically called “just
Scoring my Apple Event predictions
So with the Apple Event behind us, its time to score my predictions of what the event would contain. General * ❌ The hardware announcements will be the iPhone 16 lineup, Apple Watch Series 10 and Ultra 3, and AirPods 4 * To my massive disappointment, no Ultra 3 this year. Also the AirPods Max was updated * ✅ They will announce rollout timing of Apple Intelligence * Rollout starts "next month" (October) mentioned * ✅ We will get specific dates for the release of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, wa
I really hope this latest Apple Watch rumor is incorrect
Been quite a lot of last minute Apple Event rumors these last two days. I won't update my predictions post because they stand for the day they were written, but just to comment: The latest rumor is saying that the Apple Watch Series 10 will be noticeably thinner and get new health sensor to support sleep apnea detection. But at the same time, Bloomberg are saying that there won't be an Apple Watch Ultra 3 this year, just a new color for the Ultra 2. If correct, I would be very disappointed bec
Apple Watch - The ultimate guide to all the options when buying
In this article, I am going to give my recommendations and reasoning for the various choices that you will be faced when having decided to buy an Apple Watch (which is a fantastic decision, by the way. You will not regret it). In summary, you have these choices to make: overall model, case material, case color, case size, with or without cellular, and finally watch band - which is the least consequential choice since they are very easily replace - that is part of the appeal of the watch, to have
Apple Event Predictions
As we are less than a week away from Apple's "It's Glowtime" event, I figured I should put my stake in the ground with regards to what I expect we will see at this event: General * The hardware announcements will be the iPhone 16 lineup, Apple Watch Series 10 and Ultra 3, and AirPods 4 * The reason I do not expect more than this, is that I fully expect a separate October event with Mac and iPad announcements * They will announce rollout timing of Apple Intelligence * We will get specifi
Trying out Apple Intelligence's "Clean Up" feature
Yesterday Apple released iOS 18.1 Developer Beta 3, and with it came the previously announced “Clean Up” feature in the Photos app. You simply hit the edit button, choose the new Clean Up tool, and the photo will in a second analyze and show areas it would do a good job removing automatically. If you click one of the highlighted areas, it gets instantly removed and replaced with a generated background. It works incredibly well. Below a video of it in action on my own photo.
Apps that everybody should have on their iPhone
The title is a bit click-bait-y, because in reality this list will be more like "if you are interested in this kind of thing, you should have this app". I.e. I will be recommending workout apps, but I don't actually think "everybody" should have those workout apps if that isn't something you are interested in. Anyways. Here we go! Travel * ABRP - if you have an EV, essential app. Means "A Better Route Planner" and that is exactly what it is. Pick what car you drive and where you are going a
Shot on iPhone - stock app, no gimbals, extra lenses, or filters
This is definitely the most impressive "Shot on iPhone" video to date, due to its "vanilla nature". Faruk Korkmaz, creator of the video over on his YouTube channel: Shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max. No gimbal, extra lens or filter is used. I shot all the footage using the stock camera app to an external drive in ProRes format. Edited in Final Cut Pro X. I put this video together from over 1000 video clips I shot between September 2023 and August 2024. The 3 minute video is well worth your time, if no
Excited for "Glowtime"
Apple this evening (Swedish time) announced that it will hold its annual iPhone event on September 9 (I very much expected September 10), so in exactly two weeks' time. I am very much looking forward to it. I expect I'll be having an iPhone 16 Pro Max and an Apple Watch Ultra 3 on pre-order by Friday September 13. Rumor-wise, I am most excited about: * Capture button * 48-megapixel Ultra Wide lens * A potential new Apple TV * Any new health features for the Watch I am seeing some terrible
56% market share-haver needs protection from the 4th largest competitor
I doubt anybody have missed that EU today fined Apple 1.8 billion EUR after Spotify complained they have to pay money to Apple for being on the App Store. Yes, I find it ridiculous. Spotify is an enormous company, they have 56% of the streaming music market in the EU and Apple comes at forth place behind also Amazon Music and YouTube Music. But Apple is being anticompetitive? Not very successfully so in that case. I urge everybody to turn their cynicism level down and then read Apple’s stateme
The story of when I bought Apple Vision Pro and gifted Tim Cook a Tim Cook t-shirt
So, today I gave Tim Cook a Tim Cook t-shirt. And he hugged me. Here’s the story of how this went down.
WWDC Hype
Table of Contents * Looking back before looking ahead * What is WWDC? * Historical WWDC Announcements * With regards to “Firsts” * With regards to ”Flops” * Macintosh * iPod * iPhone * iPad * Apple Watch * Apple Silicon * Apple’s previous new product category introductions * April 1977 - Apple II * January 1984 - Macintosh computer * August 1998 - iMac * October 2001 - iPod * January 2007 - iPhone * April 2010 - iPad * September 2014 - Apple Watch *
I splurged (and why I love the Apple Watch Ultra)
I finally caved. Six months too late, in hindsight. The combination of recent episodes of Connected and AppStories and my recent trip to U.S. meant I could no longer hold back. What did I do?
Apple first quarter result commentary
Apple yesterday released their first quarter results and a quarterly revenue of $117.2 billion, and while this was a 5% decrease from last year, it was also the second largest quarter in Apple’s history. Their installed base crossed 2 billion active devices and hit all-time high for all major product categories. Services set a new all-time revenue record. Highlights * $117.2 billion in revenue – the second largest quarter Apple has ever had * Total profit of $30 billion – also the second-m
An unexpected launch and my first Apple purchase in 2023!
Apple is killing it with surprises so far this week, and today dropped a new generation of the full-size HomePod! I wouldn’t have guessed this even after many attempts, and while I was well aware of the rumours flying around about a future HomePod/Apple TV/iPad combination and so on, I felt pretty sure they had given up on the regular HomePod. I couldn’t be happier to be wrong about this! I own two of the original HomePods (and three HomePod minis), one of them bought in 2017 and the other in 2
Quick comments on today’s Apple announcements
Apple today launched new version if it’s 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops as well as a new Mac mini, alongside introducing two new chips: the M2 Pro and the M2 Max. The machines are looking great, and I am in the market for a new Mac mini as I have a 2014 model right now (runs some always-on stuff I need like HomeBridge). I have been holding off upgrading because of the M2, and as a bonus they even lowered the starting price - and I don’t need anything besides the entry-level model (I may upg
My Apple Home/Homekit setup
This post is a work in progress! Intro As reference as well as hopefully inspiration, here I will try to lay out my Apple Home/HomeKit setup. I will keep this post updated periodically. Some basics first of all. Me, T and V live in a two bedroom apartment of 81 square meters (872 square feet). One of the bedrooms is used as my office. It has one bathroom and the kitchen and living room are combined as one large space. Home hubs and bridges * Apple TV 4K (3rd gen) * HomePod mini x3 *
Apple TV+ Shows, Ranked
This post will be continutally updated as new shows are released and I watch them! This is a live document This is my very personal and highly subjective ranking of the Apple TV+ shows I've watched so far. I'll be updating and adjusting this post as time goes on. Overall Best Shows This is me trying to rank all the shows, across all categories. This is very difficult, because it makes it look like "For All Mankind" isn't one of my favourite shows - but it truly is! It's just that there is so