Amazon Prime Day: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly…..

My story is different than others I know. Amazon is a service I order from maybe once or twice a year. So paying for Prime was never a thought I had. In the past few weeks I started seeing all these ads and articles on Prime Day. It really struck me with the “Bigger than Black Friday” sale. A day before the sale went live. I signed right up not wanting to miss any deals. In that aspect this worked quite well. I happen to be a night owl when 3am striked. The time in which east coast could start shopping. Am I crazy, missing out on sleep for products I may or may not buy. Yes! It seems I was crazy and fooled like others. 

  

   I’m not sure why a well established company like Amazon. Would not be better prepared or prepare us the consumer. I was so confused on where to look. Some exclusive deals where mystery products. Others you could see when they would be on sale. Though some help products would only be available for 10-30 minutes. Before you would have to join a waiting list. Makes me think what’s the purpose of being a prime member. I felt bad for people who were at work and just simply could not eagle watch a deal. 

  Upcoming would mean not present right. Wrong for Prime Day. Most of the first few pages were already on waiting list or on current sale. Not to mention the filter category. Contained nothing helpful. Such as list by price or precentage claimed. 
  
I get that a sale is on various products. Though boasting Prime Day to be this big bad awesome alternative to Black Friday. With sales of products barley anyone cared about. Not to wise of an idea. If you’ve followed the Twitter #AmazonPrimeDay and #PrimeDay. It was non stop disappointment and jokes. 

All and all I did end of buying a few items. Pretty good sale prices in my opinion. Maybe that was their plan all along. To get new members a sample of a Prime services. I’m pleasantly satisfied with the fast shipping and have yet to dig into the other free services. So who knows if I will stay or cancel by the end of the trail. Nonetheless well played Amazon. 

Testing out iOS 9.0

Apple has opened their beta testing program pass developers to the open public. With it’s new Apple Beta Software Program. Beware though your truly testing out unpolished software. So I would not recommend it to your daily phone. I ran my testing on an iPhone 4S. iOS 9.0 has many smaller updates but nothing to stand out. So what’s new……

Siri:

Under Siri options the”Voice Gender” is changed to “Siri Voice.” Now you have the power to change her accent. She also has a fancy new voice animation.   

   

 
Battery:

Now listed separately under your settings. You now have a Low Power Mode option. This is such a long time needed feature. It’s no surprise how iPhones handle battery power. From the test I’ve ran. It really does work well. 

  
News:

Apple’s take on Flipboard and other News Reader apps. It’s on your phone much like other apps you choose to use or not. It works but once you pick the story. It’s really a glorified web story. You might else we’ll go to the website. For me I’ll stick to using Twitter for news.

   
 
Smaller Notices:

Multitasking now uses cards. Feels less snappy but that could be the phone. Passbook is now Wallet. With Photos you now have a Selfie, Screenshots and Hidden tabs. With the Camera app you can not (at the time) use the volume button to capture. On Music you can listen to higher quality on cellular and also use Genius on your music library. 

   
 
All and all there are some neat touches. Once the next release comes out. We shall have a update post on it. 

Apple Music [Review]

The day for Apple Music has come. It’s now in our hands. Will it hold it’s on? Should I stay on Spotify? What’s that radio station I’ve heard about? All will be answered.

Kudos to Apple for making this process so simple. No need to put a credit card number or email/account info in. Without any detailed info your just thrown into the app. This is where it’s confusing if you’ve never use a music app before.

Every artist page looks simple and clean. Though the choices that follow them. Are over barring I feel. Should have just been “Artist, Albums and Videos” I was confused about “Add to my music” is this just on phone? Offline? Streaming? Once I looked around through the settings. I discovered that you have to manually set a album to be on offline. Not as a easy task on other music services.

Beats 1 Radio is an interesting take. Quick and random. Its commercial free. I just wish they had more info on who’s the DJ, what style and what time they air. Once you hear a song or artist you like. There’s many options to use.

Just for comparison I tried Drake radio on Apple Music vs Google’s Play Music. Here’s what they played. First Apple then Google.

Under the “New” tab. There is just so much! Way too much! Besides all the new music there’s a neat feature that’s way on the bottom.

Activities works well and Curators plays mixes from top music websites/magazines.

Music Videos are within the app also. Some artist have a good amount and others don’t. Clearly Eminem’s video was nice and widescreen. Blink 182 was full screen. Slipknot only had one video. Terrible I know!

Siri works for Apple music in every way. I tested her with multiple questions.

All and all it’s the magic that Apple has. Streaming Music something that’s not new. Something other services have. What makes this different. It’s simple in ways and really is fast. Being able to use Siri for me sets this above other services. Sure the radio feature is not as good as others and “Connect” leaves a lot to be remain. I’m staying with Apple Music for now. I’ll check back in after the free trail.

Google’s new (free) radio feature

Apple has set their date for Apple Music. June 30th is fast approaching. Despite what most news sources have said in regards to not doing enough to sway music listeners of today. Their so wrong, in fact Spotify. Has doubled their free trail in countries outside the U.S. and has said to have a family share plan as well. Google seemed to have felt the heat as well. Yesterday, they introduced a new update to Play Music. 

   
 

Free ad supported radio. Not quite what I was expecting but let’s take it for a spin. The app hasn’t changed much but now you have “Listen Now” radio stations build upon what task, feeling or situation. The same as Songza did. As well any artist will have a radio curated on their style.

  
  
   

For the most part these work well. For artist it can be a little confusing. When you search your giving multiple radio stations. As well if the artist is loaded on your personal library. You can play them, album or songs. 

   
 

From multiple test plays. A radio station could be good or just terrible. Sure there is a 👍 or 👎 button. Though pressing them has no effect I feel. Maybe I like the artist but I hate the song. I should not have to worry if I won’t hear them again. Also for each song that plays. You have no info other than Artist and song title and to start a radio. You can also skip five tracks with the free account. Unlimited with a subscription. So far the ads have not been annoying. 

  

If this is Google’s attempt at trying to steal attention from Apple Music. Good effort but not close. They could have given an option of free streaming a certain amount of albums or songs or maybe a ad after each two songs. Seems as if they build this radio feature quickly with no after thought. Would have been nice to have deeper control. Such as on Rhapsody you can see what artist is next or decided how much of the main artist you want to hear. For now I’ll keep given it a listen but once Apple Music starts. Who knows where my music home will be. 

Google Photos [Review]

In today’s times. Everyone has a camera in their pocket, your smartphone! Each year the camera gets further ahead. Meeting close to the quality of DSLR. Snap away and you will soon run into a problem. How do you store your photos? Leave them on the phone and you run a risk of losing them forever.

Yes there are other apps/solutions. iCloud is a bit confusing and costly. One.Drive is great but it’s focus is not photos. In steps Google Photos. A simple solution to fixing a common problem. Works across formats Andriod, Apple & Web browser. 

 

What makes this stands out among the rest. Unlimited storage! Though it comes at a small price. Your photos will be reduced in size. Nothing over 16mb and 1080p video. Though I really could not tell the difference in quality. If you want full resolution. No problem they have other options.
   
 

Google Photos has a bit of everything. Editing, Movie, Animations, College and Story. First starts off with Assistant. What’s neat is the app itself will stylized some photos, make animations and colleges. All on its own. Is your choice if you want to save them or not. Then your photos and then collections. 

   
   

See that blue button. Is another standout point. With hundreds of photos. It could be hard to find just the right photo. Search works really well. Whatever you type such as sunsets, beer or boats. It will find a photo that matches.

  
Onto the creation features. Story works simple and fast. Here’s a example…

   
   

The movie creation works the same as well. My only problem were that some of the video filters cut some photos off.

  
Animations which I think was a true highlight. Works well if you have multiple photos of a moving subject. Then it will animate them to life. 

Sunset at City Walk

Hard to believe all of this comes from just a photo storage app. What app do you use? If you try out Google Photos. Let me know what you think. Tweet me at @ZombieCT

  

Apple Watch [First Impressions]

The Apple Store opened in about a hour but there was already about 5 people lined up. Hmm, this must mean a product goes on sale or pre-order. Pre-order it was and unless you’ve been living under a rock. It’s Apple Watch Pre-order day. With the strike of 10:00am, the sound of clapping could be heard. This is Apple’s most ambitious product since the phone. 

  

Unlike the phone or the IPad. The watch takes a learning curve. Part of me likes that it’s a bit different from the same old IOS. Though the other feels it could be too confusing. I personally thought it’s only two physical buttons and a touch screen. How hard could it be? I was way wrong. 

  

The main screen is filled with a variety of apps. Once pressing onto one. Your now in the app. Then the natural feeling of using a iPhone/IPad takes over. The side button should take you back to home. 

 

 Just as the home button does but it does not. It takes you to your favorites. See, it’s confusing huh. The digital crown works great. The screen looks great and the animations such as the Mickey face watch. Are great as you would expect. 

 

To be honest I could not tell much of a difference between the 38mm and the 42mm. I wouldn’t mind a bit of a bigger screen. While the “Sport” model is the cheapest of the 3 models. I’m really leaning towards the (standard) Apple Watch edition. The stainless steel case is beautifully crafted. 

 

 

  

  

  

  

So, there you have it. It’s finally here and almost close to being seen on everyone’s wrist. A solid product, a learning curve that could help or hurt it. The App Store will set this apart from just being a watch. Though that is more future talk then it being right at launch. What’s your thoughts on the Apple Watch? Any questions you might have leave a comment or tweet me @ZombieCT

Just a phase or truly the next level?

If you’ve been around the tech world long enough. You’ve seen phases come and go. Live streams are nothing new. In fact Ustream & Livestream have been around since 2007. So what makes Meerkat and Twitter’s own Periscope different? Both apps are built using Twitter in mind.





Meerkat which received huge buzz at S.X.S.W Sort of piggyback off of Twitter’s service. So the challenge was met by Twitter. Releasing their own app called Periscope. So far I’m leaning towards Periscope. Based on usage of the app (have not tested streaming yet)



Being that Periscope is fully integrated. It just feels natural. With just launching the app. You can already start watching people’s streams unlike Meerkat. Already this morning I took a tour around Buzzfeed’s office and watched Paris in the rain. With Meerkat you would have to join and watch live or else your too late. Periscope saves the live streams for replay value. 





Sure, it will take time to see if this is just the craze of the moment. Though I believe this will be a hit! From sites, news stations & music artist. All could benefit from the exposure.  This weekend I’m going to fully test both and have reviews posted next week.  What’s your thoughts on live streaming? Which app do you use? Tweet me at ZombieCT or leave a comment below. 

Apple Springing Forward….?

When Apple takes the stage. Wrong or right they will capture the world of news for the next week. Today they started with an announcement of HBO’s standalone service. To come exclusively to Apple products. Set at a price of $14.99. If you sign up now though you will receive 1 month free. Along with that came a price drop on the Apple TV. Going from $99 – $69.

Next was a new MacBook to be introduced into the macs line up. As thin as an MacBook Air if that’s believable. Running all day battery (about 9hrs wireless browsing) with two price points. Seems as if eventually this might be a push to ease out the MacBook Air. What’s really shocking is it boast a single port. Called a Usb-C but don’t worry. It will work with any cord. The unique feature is called “Force Touch” which gives the trackpad a deeper click no madder where you press.

I think I’m forgetting something. Hmm what could it be. Small, multi-touch and high-priced. O yeah an Apple watch. Like before we’ve seen what it was. Just not the details.

• Apple Watch Sport: $349(38MM)/$399(42MM)
• Apple Watch: $549(38MM)/$599(42MM)
• Apple Watch Edition: $10,000+ (Yeah you are reading that right)

Like with anything new to the world of Tech. There has to be time to adapt. Are smart watches needed? Is the price just right for the consumer? All will be answer starting on April 10th it can be pre-ordered. As well so Apple stores you can get a hands on demo. On April 24th the watch will be available for sale. I’m not convinced at this moment or at this price that this will be a hit. Much like how the phone market is simplified. Is the approach I believe might have helped. Giving us over 20 different models. Just confuses the customer. Once the product hits stores. We will be sure to give you a hands on review. So, how do you feel about the Apple Watch. Leave a comment below or tweet me at ZombieCT