AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

Over the weekend, the idea that Apple may or may not follow tradition with an October event was batted around ( On Apple ).  Listed were subjects that Apple may dive into and talk about its visions and more far-reaching services that it plan on pushing out to iOS and OS X, reaching further into mobile and eventually the home and car.  However, unlike this post from Two Guys and A Podcast , it is not likely that Apple will hold an event just for the Mac updates.  Mac Pro and Mini updates?  ZZZZZZZ... Retiring the Macbook Airs in favor of the 12" and even 14" Macbooks?  Sure but the way Apple works is it will allow the Air to languish for a while before unveiling any new replacement and then also allow the Air to sit around for a while with no update and, one day, it's just gone.  The Air was just updated recently so it's not going to happen as TGAAP hope.  Plus, as far as the Macs are concerned, the much anticipated El Capitan is coming out on 9/30....

Hey, Apple. And hey, Apple fans. Where are the new Apple Pay features? You know, like rewards and such? I was promised by rumor-mongers that we would be getting that by the release of new iPhones and iOS 9. So, what gives? As far as I know, I'm the only who has asked this rather important question. Sure, the biggest news from Apple's media event last week was the addition of the Discover Card joining Apple Pay and rewarded its users for the year-long delay with a 10% cash back reward of a total purchase of up to $10,000 in in-store purchases. Still, rewards from stores would be kinda nice to have. It's like the only reason Apple has decided to delay or not even talk about the rewards aspect of Apple Pay is that many stores like Whole Foods Markets and Trader Joes do not offer rewards of any sort. Heck, not even Apple offers a rewards program. And in using some credit cards that offer cash back, that might be enough for most users. And let's face it, mo...

Apple was expected to unveil new iPhone models, the iPad Pro as well as updates to existing models, maybe something about the Apple Watch with new skins and bands, and, of course, a new Apple TV model. Well, Apple did that as it unveiled in about two hours all of the above. In doing so, it likely omitted any reason why it would hold a second media event as it had done in the previous years. Prior to last week's event, there was a bit of debate within the Apple fan community whether Apple would unveil everything in one event or follow tradition. That debate is now over. Or is it? Is there any reason or possibility that Apple could schedule an October media event? And if so, what could Apple possibly want to talk about? With the vast majority of its products updated, including the iPods a month or so ago, it leaves only the Macs. Speculations that Apple could update the Macs with Intel's latest Skylake chips make a lot of sense but new Macs certainly will not comma...

I am writing this post to help me sort through which iOS device I should upgrade to. And as if this writing, I have yet to decide which iPhone 6S model to upgrade to and which iPad to upgrade to. I went ahead and both the iPhone 6S Plus and the iPad Mini 4 but like anything else, I can cancel almost any time I want or just send them back to the local Apple store. I currently have an iPhone 6 Plus and an iPad Air, both I am handing down to waiting hands of relatives. So, let's start with the iPhone. iPhone 6S Versus iPhone 6S Plus: Like I said above, I have the iPhone 6 Plus. I like it but at times, I find the size to be an issue especially coming from the 4" form factot of the 5S. While the 6 Plus fit well inside the front pocket of my baggy jeans, it never let you forget that it is there. Maybe that is good but I also found myself thinking that I would not mind having the lighter iPhone 6. Sure, the iPhone 6 Plus' big 5.5" screen is pretty good but...