Steve Sande

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; text-align:justify">Philips Hue light bulbs are amazing — you can get them to produce just about any color, controlled from your iPhone. But besides being expensive, they also require a hub to be able to talk to your device. <a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/world-s-most-affordable-wi-fi-smart-bulb#/">Qube</a> is an Indiegogo project with 27 days to go that seeks to bring the price of Wi-Fi connected LED bulbs down to a reasonable amount — $19 per bulb — and make it all work without the need for a hub.</p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; text-align:justify">On Friday, <a href="https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=11202015c">Apple’s Developer Program</a> let developers know that new apps and app updates won’t be accepted between December 22 and 29, 2015, but it also provided a staggering statistic: the App Store has now seen more than 100 billion cumulative downloads</p>

<p>About two months ago, most of the chatter on the Apple websites including AWT was about ad blockers. There was a lot of concern that they spelled the beginning of the end for ad-supported websites, since most sites rely heavily on advertising to make money. Imagine my surprise last night when I saw this tweet from <a target="_blank" href="http://macstories.net" rel="noopener noreferrer">MacStories.net</a> publisher Federico Viticci:</p>

<p>Our friends north of the border get a taste of Apple Pay starting tomorrow, November 17, when Canadian American Express card users can add their cards to Apple Pay and begin paying for all sorts of products at contactless pay stations.</p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.asymco.com/2015/11/11/desktop-computer/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Horace Dediu is an analyst with Asymco</a> who always provides some great insights into the world of Apple and mobile devices in general. This video came out yesterday, and it's well worth watching if not just for Dediu cavalierly tossing expensive devices, but for his take on what the iPad Pro really is. Be sure to watch it all the way through to the end.</p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">San Francisco-based DODOcase has been making beautiful bound cases for iPads since day one, so it's no surprise that the company has just announced the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.dodocase.com/products/dodocase-multi-angle-ipad-pro" rel="noopener noreferrer">Multi-Angle for iPad Pro</a> (US$79.95). </p><p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">The company's signature iPad cases have always used a wood tray to hold the iPad, but the company realized that the larger size of the iPad Pro would make the case too thick and heavy, so they've moved to a polymer tray now. The result is a rather skinny case, just 0.625 inches thick. </p>

<p><span style="font-size:17px">When a new gadget fails the knee-jerk reaction is one of anger. You paid good money for something and you expect it to keep working forever. The reality is that no matter what the device may be, a certain percentage of them will fail. When that happens the response of the customer support folks can go a long way to making the unhappy customer get back on board.</span></p>

<p>When reviews of the fourth-generation Apple TV appeared last week, one common complaint was how hard it was to search for apps on the tvOS App Store. Apple yesterday took a big step towards making discovery of apps a lot easier by adding categories to the App Store.</p>

<p>Since the early days of Apple World Today, one thing that has been problematic is our RSS feed. Sometimes it works perfectly, other times it doesn't update for days. We're pretty sure it's an issue with the automatic feed generation from our host, so we've changed it over to another source that always seems to work -- Feedburner. </p>

<p>Users of Microsoft Windows 10 and Windows smartphones know that Cortana is actually a pretty good personal digital assistant. Like Siri on iOS, Cortana helps search devices, the cloud or the web for files or information, sets up reminders, and does other tasks at your command. Well, Microsoft yesterday opened up Cortana for iOS to a beta program, which means that the assistant will be coming to your iPhones and iPads soon.</p>

<p>A couple of app updates today brought a surprise and an update to a useful travel app. </p>

<p>USB-C is still a rarity in the world of Apple products; only the 12-inch Retina MacBook uses the convenient and tiny adapter for power and data. But the MacBook's popularity has finally encouraged some accessory manufacturers to come up with adapters, hubs, and even docking stations to turn that one USB-C port into something more useful. The <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B015YRRY48/appwortod01-20/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Satechi Type-C USB Adapter</a> (US$9.99 at Amazon, affiliate link) may be tiny, but it's just the thing to bring more usefulness to your MacBook.</p>

<p>Blue Mic is well-known for its amazing line of digital and analog microphones, and last year the company brought its acoustics expertise to Mo-Fi, amazing US$350 headphones with built-in amplification and top-quality sound reproduction. Today the company introduced a new headphone, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.blue-headphones.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lola</a> (US$249.99), which brings big custom drivers and the Mo-Fi headband to a non-amplified product.</p>

<p>So what did the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Littleton, CO (just an iPod's throw away from the Apple Store Aspen Grove) do for the premiere of "Steve Jobs" on Thursday? Easy - they had "Steve" give a keynote.</p>

<p>Ahhh, the weekend. There's nothing more exciting than sitting down in front of the boob tube at night, flipping open the iPad, firing up the <a target="_blank" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nba-2015-16/id335744614?mt=8" rel="noopener noreferrer">NBA 2015-16 app</a> (free with in-app purchases), and watching some hoops action. The app gives you scores, game highlights and videos, audio, stats, standings, and more. Audio of games is just $9.99 for the season, while following your home team for the entire season is $119.99. Want to follow all of the teams? $199.99 is your season ticket to all of the NBA action this season. By the way, this universal app also includes a Watch app for schedules, stats, and scores.</p>