shownotes_20160131

Opening
  Opening Music
    Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles
Sponsor: Harry's
  Harry's
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News
  Apple Q1 2016 results
    Revenue of $75.9 billion with a net quarterly profit of $18.4 billion
      Remember as we talk about more of these numbers that the 18.4 billion is record revenue for Apple.
      74. 8 million iPhones
      16.1 million iPads
      5.3 million Macs
    It was the year of year growth that seemed to bum out Wallstreet
      iPhone sales were relatively flat. iPhone make up about 68% of Apple's revenue.
      iPad continues to decline
      Mac sales remain consistent too.
      Services were the big winner in terms of growth. It came in at $6.06 billion up 29 percent from $4.8 billion in Q1 of 2016
      Revenue from "Other" products which includes Apple Watch, iPod, Beats, Apple TV, and Accessories was up more than 40 percent year over year from $2.69 Billion to $4.35 Billion (likely mostly Apple Watch and Apple TV).
    Other highlights
      One billion active devices
      Two thirds of Apple's revenue now comes from outside the US
      Apple now has $216 billion in cash.
      76% growth in India during the quarter.
      Mac sales were up 27% in China.
      Apple TV had its "best quarter by far," Cook said
      60% of customers who have owned an iPhone prior to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have not yet upgraded.
    Apple's in a period where they have solid, mature, and robust product lines that will continue to generate steady revenue.
      A company that generates $50 to $75 billion in revenue every quarter is not "doomed"
      Wallstreet wants to see massive growth, but Apple's current products are not in the stage of their life cycle
      Still it's what's next that will bring back the growth, but because Apple keeps stuff so close and secret, Wallstreet can't foresee Apple doing it again
      Still we know Apple spent more than $2.4 billion on R&D last quarter and it's buying up land and facilities like crazy.
      Expanded services could also help Apple in the short term supplementing revenue
        Apple Music already has over 10 million subscribers
        Apple seem to still be exploring TV
        The Street reported that Apple might be looking to produce exclusive original TV content to iTunes and the Apple TV.
        I still think Apple could create an App or iBooks like revenue model for producers of independent shows and movies
    The guidance from Apple for Q2 was not positive for Wallstreet or analysts
      Apple expects expected revenue of $50–53 billion and gross margin between 39 and 39.5 percent.
      Revenue in Q2 of 2015 was $58 billion, so that would be a about a 9 percent year over year loss in revenue.
      The first year over year quarterly drop since 2003
      Declines are due to macroeconomic forces, like the economy in China, and the maturity of the entire smartphone market. Both impact Apple's competitors in the same way they impact Apple.
  Apple Car
    Ottawa Business Journal reports that Apple has leased office space in Kanata, a suburb of Ottawa, Canada.
      Because Kanata is also home to QNX Software System, which is the Blackberry based automotive software solution, some are reaching to make an Apple car connection to the story
    The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Steve Zadesky, who is believed to be running the "Project Titan" automotive efforts, plans to leave the company
      At least that's what he told fellow employees according to sources. He remains an Apple employee for now and it's not know when he's actually leaving.
      Zadesky has been at Apple for more than 16-years and has worked on the iPod and iPhone lines.
      Rumors of Zadesky being assigned to the project began in back in 2014
        Since then the team has expanded to more than 1,000 employees according to some estimates. Many poached from car companies like Ford, GM, and Tesla
      The sources in the report say Zadesky is quitting for "personal reasons"
      The Wall Street Journal piece claims that the team working on Apple's car project has encountered problems with setting and meeting "clear goals".
      They also say Apple's executives push for overly ambitious deadlines.
      Apple reportedly wants to finalize engineering by 2019, but even if they hit that date it could be several more years before they deliver a car to consumers
        One reason that Apple may have to partner with another carmaker to speed things along.
      Possibly related to some of the things mentioned in the Wall Street Journal piece Apple Insider says they've learned Apple has placed a hiring freeze on the Apple Car team
        Jony Ive did a post-holiday progress review and has "expressed his displeasure" with the group's headway.
    It's not clear what Apple's intent is, but they got San Jose city council approval to develop 4.15 million square feet of space in the north of the city.
      The rumor are that it would be to house R&D operations, likely for the Apple Car project
  Apple VR
    Gene Munster asked Tim Cook about VR at the quarterly results call. wanted to know if Time thought it was a "geeky niche"
      Tim Cook said that he does not believe that virtual reality is a niche. "It's really cool," he said. "And it has some interesting applications."
    Apple recently hired Doug Bowman, a top researcher in the fields of virtual reality and augmented reality.
      Bowman worked as a computer science professor at Virginia Tech
      At VT his focus was on three-dimensional user interface design and the benefits of immersion in virtual environments.
      He's done research work with Microsoft Hololens and worked with Disney's Imagineering team on various projects.
    Financial Times indicated that Apple has been building prototype headsets for "several months" and Apple already has "hundreds of staff" working on VR and augmented reality projects
    Apple investments
      Recently acquired a computer vision and machine learning startup, Perceptio
      The acquired an expression analysis startup called Emotient
      Apple purchased real-time motion capture company Faceshift back in November
      In May, Apple acquired Metaio, a German augmented reality company
      They also acquired PrimeSense, which developed the original Kinect motion capture for XBox 360
      Fly-by Media, an augmented reality company that previously helped 3D positioning technology for Google's Project Tango depth-sensing devices.
    Why all the sudden interest in VR and augmented reality?
      Facebook acquired Oculus and Microsoft is throwing around Hololens. Google we know is developing stuff, and Sony's in the game too
      I think no one knows yet where the technology will apply, but Apple for sure wants to be ready
      Looking beyond the screen to the next big thing.
  Next iPhone
    There's a new 4-inch iPhone coming soon, no doubt.
    What it'll be called and what it will look like no one can seem to agree on.
      Classic case of let's just spout off every possible rumor we can think of and one of us will be right
    First it was going to be an iPhone 6c, then and iPhone 5c, and now the latest reports say it's an iPhone 5se. Gah!
    What's up with the iPhone 5se
      Will retain most of the iPhone 5s design
      "se" is said to mean "special edition", woo fancy
      Will not have the chamfered edges, but curved glass like the iPhone 6
      Same cameras as iPhone 6
      NFC ship to support Apple Pay
      A8 and M8 chips from the iPhone 6
      Bluetooth 4.2, VoLTE, and 802.11ac WiFi chips from the iPhone 6s
      Live Photo support, but will not have 3D Touch.
      Same colors ad 6s line, Silver, Space Gray, Silver, & Rose Gold
    I'm feeling pretty good about the specs, just not the name.
      Also, I would have liked to have seen the A9 processor in the 4-inch model.
      9to5 Mac says they's heard of both A8 and A9 prototypes
    The 5se would likely replace the 5s in the current line up and have the same price point, US $450.00 (16GB) and US $499 (32GB)
      Not sure if that also means 16GB and 32GB sizes or if Apple will mirror the iPhone 6 storage sizes of 16GB and 64GB
      This is the iPhone to help continue to move the Android switcher needle. Also to help prop up slowing iPhone sales in the short term, like iPad Pro did for iPad
    Apple is expected to announce the new 4-inch iPhone at an event in March
    And what about the iPhone 7 in September
      We're hearing the iPhone 7 Plus might have the first dual lens system in an iPhone. Or Apple might even make a "higher" end Plus.
      One lens with optical image stabilization and one with a 2-3x optical zoom
      Use the LinX (technology) from the company Apple acquired last year
      12-megapixel sensors. The OIS lens would also have a wider filed of view
      Would allow for thinner sensors too, so maybe no more camera bulge.
      Could also have ability to create 3D images
      Software would allow some cool tricks. Adaptive focus, stitching images together for ultra-high-rez pics.
    2017 iPhones might have long range wireless charging according to Bloomberg
      Apple is working in conjunction with partners in the United States and Asia to develop the technology.
  Apple Watch
    9to5 Mac also still believes Apple will announce updates Apple Watch in March
    Unfortunately the updates seem to be mostly focused on esthetics and not new hardware or functionality
    Apple will basically add new bands and band color options and possible have more designer partnerships to announce. Like the Hermes edition Apple Watch.
    They might also release WatchOS 2.2
      Apple Watch can by sync'd with more than one Phone
      Adds "Nearby" functionality to Maps on Watch
    It's now believed that Apple is on track to have new Apple Watch hardware ready to ship in the Fall and that they would announce new Apple Watches at a September event.
    Feature-wise we have not heard much on Apple Watch 2
      Same sizes and design of case
      Larger battery
      Possibly a FaceTime camera
      More health sensors for more Health/Fitness functionality (my speculation).
  iPad Air 3
    A questionable "blueprint" source from the site 'Noweherelse' shows a design with four speakers, like the iPad Pro, and claims Apple might add a camera flash, which would be a first on an iPad
    9to5Mac has claimed to confirmed that development of an iPad Air 3 is underway, but it's uncertain when Apple will show it off. Though the March event has been thrown out as a possibility.
    Digitimes is reporting it could sport a 4K display, improved battery life, and 4GB of RAM
      Sketchy as that would put the display resolution above the iPad Pro
    May bring support for Apple Pencil, but no 3D Touch.
    Might also add the iPad Pro like "Smart Connector" for keyboards
    Apple is supposedly look at March 14 as a possible date for their March event.
  Macbook & Macbook Pro
    Intel has new Skylake processors that look ripe for a 15-inch Macbook Pro
      Three quad-core mobile CPUs: the 2.6 GHz Core i7-6770HQ, the 2.7 GHz Core i7-6870HQ, and the 2.8 GHz Core i7-6970HQ
      Intel announced chips that would be good for the 13-inch model last year, but Apple has yet to update the line
      We're overdue, so hopefully this means some new Retina Macbook Pros soon
    Other updates would likely include updated GPUs and addition of USB-C ports and support for Thunderbolt 3 (which Intel has created to run though a USB-C port).
    Digitimes reports their sources expected Apple to start producing new 12-inch MacBook and 13-inch MacBook Pro models around late March or early April, followed by 15-inch MacBook Pro models in the third quarter.
      I'm not sure I like the staggered update strategy.
      Last year the 13-inch models were updated in March followed by the 15-inch models in May.
  OS X and iOS Updates
    iOS 9.3 Beta
      Second beta of iOS 9.3 is available to public bet testers
      A Night Shift toggle in the Control Center with a new eye-shaped icon in between the icons for the timer and the calculator.
      Ability to view your Apple Watch face from the iPhone’s Watch app
      iOS 9.3 update seems to disable Apple Pencil for non-drawing uses.
        Tester have found that after the update the Pencil no longer works for scrolling, opening apps, and other general navigation.
      Allows iPad Pro owners to update the firmware on some accessories by way of the Smart Connector.
        Logitech Create keyboards got a fix for the dropped keystrokes issue according to a Cult of Mac report
    OS X 10.11.4 beta 2
      Appears to focus largely on under-the-hood bug fixes, security enhancements, and performance optimizations
      Live Photos show up in the Messages timeline
      Adds secure Notes, like iOS 9.3
    Apple Wall Adapter Recall
      Apple has issued a recall for some two-prong wall plug adapters used in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Continental Europe, Korea, and New Zealand
      Adapters shipped from 2003 to 2015 with various Apple devices.
      On impacted units in some cases the prongs may break off and create a risk of electric shock.
      It a recall for the small "plug" potion of the adapter.
      If you slide out the plug part and look under the slot if your plug has a four- or five-digit code stamped into the slot, or no characters at all and you're in the country covered in the recall, you have a recalled unit.
      If you see a three-letter regional code (ARG, AUS, BRA, EUR, or KOR) printed in the slot you're not impacted and your plug is fine.
      To exchange the wall plug adapter, you’ll either need to schedule an appointment with your nearest Genius Bar or contact Apple Support.
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Feedback, commentary, opinions
  Thoughts on Apple discontinuing iTunes Radio
    Play comments from Rob
    I wonder if you could get a refund on your iTunes Match subscription? Have you tried contacting Apple support?
    You are not the only person I've heard from who's upset by this and I sympathize, but Apple has always done what they are going to do.
    My guess is if there was a class action they'd simply settle it by offering some small amount of iTunes credit, maybe $5-10 bucks?
  Thoughts on HomeKit with Ara Derderian
    Ara from the HDTV Podcast at http://htguys.com
    Ara has been into home automation since long before HomeKit, and has been making the transition himself.
    He had some great insights on the subject so I wanted to get him on the show to share his thoughts.
Closing
  Macstock 2016
    I'll be attending and presenting at Macstock this year.
    The event happens July 16th and 17th in Woodstock, IL
    There's a great line up of speakers from throughout the Apple community.
      Victor Cajiao - Terratech Podcast
      Melissa Davis - The Mac Mommy
      Chuck Joiner - Mac Voices
      Don McAllister - Screencasts Online
      Allison Sheridan - Nosillacast Podcast
      And more…
    The event will also coincide with the 2nd annual Midwest Mac BBQ hosted by Barry Fulk. It's actually part of the conference this year, so included in the price of admission
    If you want to go use the URL macstock2016.com/macstock50off and you'll get $50.00 off your ticket.
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