2015

Ideas Before You Retire Your Old iPad

By Paul B. Kaiser on February 10, 2016

Remember when you could turn your old Mac SE into a fish tank? Good ol’ days. While it may have been cool in the day, it was not the most efficient. With technology changing so rapidly, the computer, phone or iPad you buy today is outdated in a year. Well not completely. Let’s take a look at some cool ideas I found on the interwebs that can put your iPad 2 and above to good work.

iCash

Selling that year old tablet is always an option. Keep in mind that many iPad owners look eBay and Craigslist for quick cash – your’e not the fist. But here are a few options. Gazelle, Glyde, SellMyCellPhones.com and USell are good options. Amazon has a trade-in program that is pretty interesting. They tend to not be as competitive but they are trustworthy.

Retailer Target is also interested in taking that older iPad off your hands. The company’s Electronics Trade-In Service lets shoppers bring in new or used iPads—as well as iPhones, cell phones, iPods, and video games—and turn them in for credit on other Target purchases. The retailer says you can get up to $200 in store credit depending on the condition of your item—that could go a long way toward paying down the cost of an iPad 2, which Target will offer.

Dedicated E-Reader

If your hooked on books, via an electronic device, than maybe this is for you. Just equip that old iPad with the reading app of your choice—whether it’s the Kindle app, Apple’s iBooks, or any of the other iPad e-reading apps available for download. Take everything else off the device, e-mail settings, games, and any push notifications to make the reading environment as distraction-free as possible.

Quick hits

Make it a recipe book in the kitchen
Make it into a remote control
Give it to your kids – games I mean educational purposes
Make it your Media Center – Movies and Music center that is connected to stereo system via Bluetooth
Make it into digital photo frame
Hang your iPad on the Fridge and use it to browse the web, recipes, grocery list, notes to the family

Use your iPad as a home camera monitor

All you need to do is download a camera monitoring app to your old iPad and your new one (or an iPhone or iPod touch), set the old iPad in the room you want monitored, and keep it plugged in. The Presence App turns apple products into security cameras by sending a live web cam feed to the user online while they’re away.

Car iPad

This seems a little crazy but there is a company that makes a kit to mount the iPad in your car.

Another great way to give your old iPad a new life is by mounting it in your car. With an iPad embedded in your car you can have all your satnav and media needs in one device. And with Apple’s new HDMI accessory (that also works on the iPad 1) you could even switch the view to screens in the headrests. The video below shows the complete mounting of an iPad in the dashboard.

“And why are we looking for ideas for the iPad? Because there is a new one coming out soon. Let the games begin.”

The New iPad Air 3 Rumors

iPad Air 3 is arriving next month, according to the most recent rumors, and it inherits some features from the iPad Pro.

According to the tech blog 9to5Mac the latest iPad update is expected to have a rear-facing LED flash in order to take better pictures in low light. For those who want their 9.7-inch iPad Airs to rival the sound quality of the larger iPad Pro. There may be additional speaker grilles to match the Pro’s audio quality. Additionally, sources told 9to5Mac that Apple has been testing out versions that would be compatible with Apple Pencil, the stylus tool that was introduced with the iPad Pro last fall.

The other obvious upgraded feature would be the current iOS 9 operating system. An eventual iOS 9.3 upgrade is currently being beta-tested by developers. The device would also work with the iOS 10 that is down the line. The newer iOS will reportedly include Night Shift, a feature that changes the display screen light color at night for those who like to read their tablets in bed before sleep.

Fish Tank Pro

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is now the Top Grossing Film in the Franchise

By Paul B. Kaiser on December 28, 2015

Everyone has reported on this but it bears repeating. This movie, like it or not, will take the lead in the franchise, and most likely the top grossing film of all time. The Force Awakens also became the fastest-ever to hit $1 billion globally this weekend: it took 12 days compared to Jurassic World’s 13 earlier this year.

It took less than two weeks to happen but: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens is now the all-time top-grossing film in the franchise. The J. J. Abrams-directed smash hit surpassed both the $1 billion mark and previous franchise record of $1.027 billion, set by Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 1999.

The Force Awakens holds the record for the fastest-ever film to reach the $500 million mark in America – a milestone it hit in 10 days. With $545 million in domestic box office, The Force Awakens trails only four movies to become the highest-grossing movie in American history: 2009’s Avatar ($760 million), 1997’sTitanic ($658 million), 2015’s Jurassic World ($652 million), and 2012’s The Avengers ($623 million). The Force Awakens will almost certainly shatter Avatar’s record, but it’s yet to be seen if the Disney mega-flick will be the first movie in history to hit $1 billion at the U.S. box office.

Although it’s difficult to accurately compare films from different eras due to inflation (especially when looking at global totals), 1939’s Gone With The Wind is largely acknowledged as the most successful film of all time. Last year, Guinness World Records estimated its then-$393 million intake to be $3.44 billion in 2014 dollars.

But nobody has mastered the franchise business like George Lucas. Movies 8 and 9 are in the works already, and set to launch in 2017.

Behind the scenes of Episode VII

The Apple Spaceship is Landing 2017

By Paul B. Kaiser on December 23, 2015

The latest news and interesting facts on the apple spaceship.

NEW DRONE VIDEO

I never get tired of drone footage for the Apple spaceship construction. Here is some new footage. Can you feel the hype?

November 2016 update on Apple Spaceship progress.

August 2016 update on Apple Spaceship. Compare it to Junes video.

The latest look at the Apple Spaceship in June 2016 from Matthew Roberts. The ship is really starting to shape up, but it still feels a long way from being completed. This complex is just beyond belief.

Newest drone video by Ducan Sinfield

The up and coming Apple Spaceship has to be the most intriguing piece of corporate architecture. I’m totally enthralled with every piece of news and drone video of the compound. It speaks not only to Apples success, but to the limits of which architecture and design can excel. I have to believe that this structure will qualify as one of the innovative wonders in the world. Tim Cook has elegantly picked up where Steve Jobs left off and is creating an environment for generations to come.

“It will be a center for innovation for generations to come,” Cook said. “We think it’s so important to have a place that inspires you.”

Apples curved glass — The largest piece of curved glass in the world.

How big is Apple’s new campus?

The new Apple Campus will be set in a 2.8 million-square-foot area.
That’s a 176-acre site.
It will house more than 13,000 Apple employees in one building.
The building is more than a mile around.
There will be 300,000 square feet of research facilities and underground parking.
It is expected to be complete in late 2016
In May 2014, Apple leased 290,000 square feet of new office space in Sunnyvale known as Sunnyvale Crossing. It is thought that this additional space comprises seven buildings and will provide room for around 1,450 workers. It is located near to the new ‘Spaceship’ campus as well as the current ‘Infinite Loop’ campus.
Despite aiming to be self-sufficient and earth-friendly, the range of materials used in the construction will without a doubt be the top of the line. “As with Apple’s products, Jobs wanted no seam, gap or paintbrush stroke showing; every wall, floor and even ceiling is to be polished to a supernatural smoothness. All of the interior wood was to be harvested from a specific species of maple, and only finer quality ‘heartwood’ at the centre of the trees would be used,” an insider told Business Week.
As a consequence of the large size of the building, the sections have been broken up with cafes, lobbies and entrances.
A significant segment of the building is the restaurant, which opens up to the landscape.
The car park is buried below the landscape so there are no rows of parked cars to spoil the view

Renderings of the dream

Latest Footage – From a drones view

How much input did Steve Jobs have in the new campus?

According to Norman Foster, Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs requested that he be considered a part of the team rather than the client.
Jobs wanted the new campus to reflect the Californian landscapes from his childhood, Foster claims in the video.
Apple’s ‘senior arborist’, David Muffly, reveals in the video that part of Apple’s plan was to bring California back to Cupertino.
Steve Jobs was inspired by a large space known as the Main Quad on the Stanford campus.

How environmentally friendly will the new Apple campus be?

The new Apple Campus will aim at being self-sufficient. Most of the power for the facilities will come from an “on-site low carbon Central Plant”, according to an Apple Insider report. Apple intends to use alternative energy sources to power the campus, as part of its pledge to use 100 percent renewable energy at its facilities.
After revisions to the original plan, Apple showed that will be able to complete the project without having to remove any dirt from the area.
The structure will be outfitted with solar panels around the top of the building. It will run mostly off the Cupertino power grid but will use it as a backup electrical supply.
7,000 trees will surround the campus. Apple has hired a leading arborist from Stanford University to help landscape the area and restore some of the indigenous plant life, including apricot orchards.
All landscaping is intended to make the area look very park-like. It will include jogging paths and walking trails around the building.
The former HP campus on which Apple’s Campus 2 is being built was covered in buildings, concrete parking lots and non-indigenous decorative trees ill-suited to the specific Pacific climate. The strongest of the trees will be replanted and augmented with sturdy species that will flourish to create large open expanses of greenery.
Apple VP of Environmental Initiatives Lisa Jackson reiterates that 80 percent of the site will be so-called “green space”, while the main building will go without air conditioning or heating for 75 percent of the year thanks to natural ventilation. Further, 100 percent of the campus’ energy will be sourced from renewable assets like solar power and bio fuels

How much will the new Apple campus cost?

The budget for the new spaceship-like headquarters has ballooned from less than $3 billion in 2011 to almost $5 billion.
Not everyone is happy. It has been reported that angry shareholders have attacked the $5 billion project, labeling it wildly extravagant.
According to Bloomberg, although $1 billion is less than 1 percent of Apple’s cash reserves, shareholders have complained that too much is being spent on this vast project while nothing is being handed back to stockholders.

Solar powered — The spaceship will created the same amount of energy it uses – Net-Zero

What facilities will there be at the new Apple campus?

The main building will include a wellness centre. This $75 million fitness centre will probably cater for the needs of the entire Apple community in Silicon Valley, which is around 20,000 people.
The headquarters will be fitted with a new 1000-seat underground auditorium which will allow Apple to have presentations in the same building, instead of having to go to San Francisco every time.
The new underground parking facilities will increase the number of spaces from 10,500 to 14,200.
Due to its underground location, this will triple the amount of landscaped area in the campus.
1,000 bikes will be kept on the site and available to staff to get around the campus

Whats next?

According to a report from the Silicon Valley Business Journal, Apple is in the process of securing a development agreement for a plot of land in San Jose that could hold a campus of up to 4.15 million square feet. By comparison, the Apple Campus 2 (the one with the ring-like spaceship design) takes up 2.8 million square feet of space, which is itself 230 percent bigger than the company’s current headquarters at 1 Infinite Loop. Essentially, this new development in San Jose could be absolutely massive.

Alt. Drone View

Star Wars: A Marketing Machine I Am

By Paul B. Kaiser on December 19, 2015

Unless you live in a cave, you know that new Star Wars movie has launched, and so with it the barrage of Star Wars stuff. The merchandising machine for this movie is nothing like I have ever seen before, especially before the movie debuted. It made Christmas shopping easy this year because everything was Star Wars themed. In my ventures through Target, I captured the enromity of the Star Wars machine – see pics below.

Star Wars Makes Sense with Disney

If all estimations are correct, products linked to the Star Wars could bring in as much as $5 billion in just the next year. Disney kicked up its marketing on Sept. 4 with Force Friday, an engineered shopping day pegged to the launch of a new line of Star Wars toys. It produced holiday-esque sales that up’d the ante of Amazon’s Prime Day and neared Black Friday levels, even without any deals. There were 15 million visits to websites selling Star Wars products between September and November.

That’s an crazy amount of money, but with the slate of goods and merchandise they have in the works, it also seems totally within their reach. As for the The Force Awakens movie itself, it could bring in as much as $615 million worldwide in just its first weekend of release. That would beat the current record holder, Jurassic World, which had the biggest global opening ever earlier this year on the way to earning more than $1.5 billion at the box office.

Update: As of 12/28/15 the movie has become the top grossing Star Wars film. Read the article here.

Perfect Storm Marketing

Three factors are at play —

It’s been a decade sinceRevenge of the Sith, so there is a real thirst for a new, compelling Star Wars movie;
It’s Christmas, arguably the busiest spending period of the entire year;
Star Wars doesn’t have a specific target age group. Young children, older folks and anyone in between could very well have an interest in the film.

SO……Star Wars ice cream, Star Wars life-sized droids, Star Wars LEGO, Star Wars candy, Star Wars high heels and clothing, Star Wars makeup, Star Wars bathrobes, Star Wars luggage, even Star Wars oranges. Just a few days prior to the release of the long-awaited Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Dec. 18, society is in an all-out Star Wars fever. The craziness and absurd, which has been ramping up for months, has culminated in the perfect storm of marketing, an almost unstoppable strategy put forth by Disney.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is planning a Star Wars-themed “Epic Weekend” in 3,000 stores, offering shoppers the opportunity to play the Star Wars: Battlefront video game, made by Electronic Arts Inc., four days before it is available for purchase. It currently carries over 500 Star Wars items in stores and “thousands” online, a spokeswoman says.

Target Corp. has more than 600 Star Wars items in stores and more than 1,000 online, including action figures, pizza cutters and lipstick. Among its biggest sellers is BB-8, a robot about whom only hints have been revealed through Disney’s cryptic movie trailers.

Interesting Merchandise

Rejected Ideas

Releasing the Merchandise

Google’s Best Play of 2015

By Paul B. Kaiser on December 13, 2015

Google has released their top selling everything. Google Play has been hugely successful for Google and their interface has grown substantially over the past year. The popularity of Play has proven to be a major player in entertainment services, thus their “best selling” lists are reliable sources to follow. Here is their lists of lists for 2015. A Year in Search and the YouTube Rewind is exceptional.

The Year in Search – Google

The Best Apps of 2015
The Best Games of 2015

The Best Selling Albums on Google Play
Top S elling Movies of 2015

Top S elling Books of 2015

Best of YouTube – Rewind

Glimpse into 2016

Drones For Good: A Video Expository

By Paul B. Kaiser on November 23, 2015

Article UPDATED 12/18/15:

Drones, those remote-controlled aircraft hovering across the globe are one of this year’s hottest gifts — with more than 400,000 expected to be sold this holiday season. Now the federal government is deciding whether it needs to know who owns those drones. The Federal Aviation Administration recently released a task force report suggesting the federal agency require registration of drones, including those used by hobbyists, if they weigh anywhere from half a pound to up to 55 pounds.

“The FAA wants you to register your drone. If it weighs more than 0.55 pounds and less than 55 pounds, you’re legally required to tell the country about it.”

All drones weighing more than 250 grams (about the weight of a can of soda) and under 55 pounds would be covered under the registration requirement. Registration isn’t required at point-of-sale but would be mandatory before drone operation.

To register, drone owners would provide their name and address, and would then receive a registration number to mark on each one of their drones. Registration numbers would never expire. Before selling a drone, owners would remove their registration number, and the new owner would attach their number. What about my drone?

Drone Flying Tips

The FAA, concerned about a record number of close encounters between recreational drones and aircraft this year, has also come up with a pre-flight safety checklist for drone pilots. Here’s what you need to know:

Always fly below 400 feet. Some recreational drones are equipped with geo-fencing technology that automatically prevents them from flying above 400 feet.
Fly with the drone in your visual line of sight at all times.
Never fly over groups of people.
Never fly within a 5-mile radius of an airport without first contacting air traffic control and airport authorities.
Never fly near emergency response efforts such as fires.
Never fly near other aircraft.
Never fly under the influence.
Never fly in “No Drone Zones” declared by the FAA. The entire city of Washington, D.C. , is one of those zones.

So what to do next? Buy a Drone of course.

The Verge has a great overview and recommendations. – THE BEST DRONE YOU CAN BUY RIGHT NOW

Video Footage from a Drones view:

I’m fascinated by Drone video footage. The slow-motion, fish-eye perspective, and sweeping effects that drone cameras capture is both soothing and mysterious. Combined with some great music, the drone video effect offers a unique perspective on the world that cant be reproduced by other means. So what are the cool imagery effects Drones can offer? Take a look.