iOS 8 at Last!

Well, here are my initial baby-steps into the latest iOS from Apple. I couldn't wait to write down what I learned so far...

Notifications: I can quickly respond to a notification by sliding it up to dismiss or pulling it down to take action. I can thus immediately reply to any iMessage notification. Cool!

Mail: I can swipe a message left to Flag it, Trash it, and More. By swiping it to the right, I can toggle its Read/Unread status. Options can be changed in Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Swipe Options. Also, when I'm looking forward to a response to my email, I can tap the More option, and one of the sub-options there is a new "Notify Me." I've done this and am now waiting to see the result.

An addition to Siri: If I ask Siri to identify the song playing on my stereo or anywhere else, she can now do so easily and with some amount of accuracy. I guess I have to thank Shazam for this?

Selfies: Given the world's apparent addition to selfies, Apple now allows a proper selfie with the addition of a timer shutter button within the Camera App.

Favorites: With a double-click the Home button, I now get quicker access to my favorite or recent contacts. I like this one the best as it saves me many intervening steps to call the people I talk to frequently.

Will post more when I've explored this great iOS release more completely.

All the above and more are, as usual, better laid out at http://tips.apple.com/en-us/ios/iphone

PS: Forgot to mention that I've been able to do all this on my old iPhone 4s (contrary to many doom-sayers' predictions) AND my old iPad 2! Also, the new iOS 8 was installed "Over The Air" on both iDevices. Had no need to look at my backup after all!

Apple and iOS 8

Apple claims to have presold 4 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus units in the first 24 hours of their being available for prebooking. This is about twice more than the iPhone 5 offerings in 2012, and investors are thus optimistic about the success of the new iPhones. Many predict more than 60 million sales in the coming holiday quarter.

This hardly surprises me, when the Company, (who have reportedly spent more than 100 million in marketing the U2 album), responded to iTunes account holders' displeasure at being forced to "purchase" the free album, by launching on Monday a support page with a direct link allowing us to remove "Songs of Innocence" from our devices. “Once the album has been removed from your account, it will no longer be available for you to redownload as a previous purchase,” reads the support page. If we change our minds before October 13, we can download the album again. For free.

This, to me, speaks volumes about Apple's care for its customers.

Meanwhile, I'm waiting patiently for iOS 8 -- "The biggest iOS release ever." -- to arrive. Here's how I'm preparing my iDevices (iPhone and iPad) for it. Basically just two steps...

Back up: As with any new installation, I will first back up my data beforehand. I usually do this through iTunes on my Mac, but you can also use iCloud.

I launch iTunes on my Mac and plug in my iDevices as usual via the trusty iOS cable. I select my iDevice in iTunes, choose the Summary tab, and click "Back Up Now" in the appropriate area.

Install: I will then proceed to install iOS 8. I usually don't do a "Clean install, preferring to just use the "Over the Air" option.

I have never personally had a problem with earlier iOS releases, but the choice is yours.

Apple's iPhone, iOS 8 and Father's Day!

iPhone 5S

Chuck Jones -- Contributor to Forbes -- who covers technology companies, worldwide economies and the stock market, opined recently that Apple is expected to announce at least one new iPhone on September 9. This prediction would appear to have been justified, as the company has reportedly scheduled a big media event for that date, and September was always when Apple introduced us to new iPhones. Linked to the new iPhone 6 launch, it is also expected that iOS 8 will make an appearance at the same media event.

While it would be idle to speculate on what the iPhone 6 will bring to the public, many "leaks" appearing online and in other media, would have us anticipate "sapphire displays" and a slew of enhanced features in iOS 8. The company itself -- in keeping with its typical tight-lipped policy -- concludes its media invitation with the words, "Wish we could say more."

With September 7 ushering in yet another "Father's Day" here in Australia, we really wish that the event could have been brought back a couple of days! The marketing pushes here has to be seen to be believed. Every single magazine and company brochure prefaces every advertisement with words similar to "Buy something for Dad!" And they haven't been doing this just last week. The "...for Dad" words have begun appearing as far back as the beginning of August. Tool vendors vie with Computer stores, "handy-man" outfits vie with camping suppliers ... all for our attention and all, it would seem "... for Dad!"

In a lighter vein, what they forget is that sometimes -- just sometimes -- it is Dad who pays!

The above cynical comment notwithstanding, we are glad that Apple is giving us something to look forward to. I for one will definitely be upgrading all my Apple devices to iOS 8 to begin with. Unfortunately, with the time-difference being what it is, I can only look forward to that happening on September 10.