Welcome to AWT TV, a weekly show featuring Steve Sande, Dennis Sellers and Marty Edwards of Apple World Today. Each week we’ll discuss what’s happened in the world of Apple, talk about new apps and accessories, maybe even have a demonstration or two of the latest software.
It’s December, the month in which the wonderful holiday of Christmas takes place. Since gift-giving has become a part of the holiday tradition, tonight Marty and Steve talk about some gift ideas for the tech-oriented people in your life.
Steve starts out with a totally non-tech rant about the ineptitude of the American healthcare system with two stories…but we quickly get down to business.
Marty mentions the upgrade to tvOS 11.2, which helps with a problem that the Apple TV 4K had with wanting to “upscale” everything to 4K…which didn’t always work out for the best. The update helps a lot.
Steve brings up WatchAir as his first gift idea. It’s a digital TV antenna with smarts — it can stream local stations over Wi-Fi to an Apple TV or any other streaming device or smart TV, and it also has a built-in DVR capability. For $69, it’s a bargain and users can add up to 2TB of storage to hold recorded shows. (watchairtv.com).
Marty was reading a lot of tech news today, and he brings up the rumor that the iMac Pro may actually ship on December 18th. As you’ll know if you’ve watched the show before, Marty may be buying an iMac Pro after they come out and have been reviewed.
Steve then takes a side trip talking about issues he’s had sending money to Dennis; an easy transfer process went away, but now he’s using a combination of Simple (simple.com) and the new Apple Pay Cash system in Messages to get the money to him.
Marty talks about a weird iOS bug that showed up over the weekend, where iPhones were rebooting if they had recurring alerts!
Steve’s second Christmas gift idea is the Ten One Design Mountie+, which is a wonderful tool for connecting an iPad to the side of a Mac…or an iPhone to the side of an iPad, or… Steve was using it during the show to hold a 10.5-inch iPad Pro to his MacBook Pro, and it worked very well! (tenonedesign.com).
Marty then had a wonderful gift idea for about $20! It’s an Amazon Basics Lightning Dock Clock Radio that can hold either an iPhone or iPad, charge it up. It automatically sets the time and date when an iOS device is plugged in, it has a built-in FM radio, and it even comes with a USB port for plugging in something like an Apple Watch charger.
Next, would you believe an iPhone case for less than $6? Marty has found one on Amazon from a company called MoKo that works just fine.
Steve’s next holiday idea is Backblaze, which is well-known to many long-time Mac users. It’s a cloud backup service that “just works” and costs $50 annually or $5 per month. (Backblaze.com)
Marty realizes that people do a lot of shopping on Amazon and at Walmart, so he demonstrates both the Amazon and Walmart apps for iOS. What’s amazing about the Walmart app is that it actually looks at receipts and matches the lowest prices as a refund to your account!
Steve’s last item? The QardioArm Blood Pressure Cuff, which works with the Qardio app and Apple’s Health App. He’s used it for a few years and loves it! (qardio.com)
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