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I called it. Yesterday, in my article discussing T-Mobile's new pricing options, I wrote "T-Mobile is shaking things up, as usual, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the other carriers revise and revamp their offerings in response." Sure enough, Sprint has answered the call and not only met T-Mobile's pricing, it undercut the "uncarrier" in an almost desperate bid to be your next carrier.

One of the new features of the iPhone 6s is Live Photos. Turned on by default, this feature captures images for 1.5 seconds before and after the actual still photo that you take. When you tap on your still photo, you see what appears to be a three-second video of that moment. As you can see in the embedded video below, a still photo of rippling waves can show the actual rippling when you touch the display. Apple emphasized, however, that this is not a video, and that it doesn't greatly increase the file size. Any Live Photos you take can be viewed across iOS devices. And they appear as simple jpeg images when viewed on other devices.

We are excited to announce launch of the iPhone Life Podcast! Tune in to hear our editors share with you the latest Apple news, best apps, iPhone tricks, and the coolest accessories.

In the first episode of the iPhone Life Podcast, Sarah, Donna, and David discuss the latest iPhone 6s and Apple TV rumors leading up to the Apple annoucement. We answer all of your burning questions including: "What is Force Touch?", "Do we need a 12 MP Camera?", "Will Apple release a streaming service?", and much more.

Apple is again offering a free music festival this year featuring top performing artists. Those in London can attend the Apple Music Festival in person, and the rest of us can stream for free, both live and on-demand. Slated for September 19–28, the festival will feature Pharrell Williams, One Direction, Florence + The Machine, and Disclosure. You'll be able to stream the event via the Music app, as well as via the iTunes software and Apple TV. Plus, you can follow the festival on Beats 1, as well as get a "virtual backstage pass" by following the festival in Apple Music's Connect and in iTunes — bringing you exclusive videos, photos, and behind-the-scenes access to your favorite artists.

You can imagine the consternation felt by owners of a new $500 stainless steel Apple Watch when they notice scratches on the casing. According to a report on 9To5Mac, while it does indeed appear that this model is easily scratched, it can also be easily fixed. The article says that such scratching is actually common for stainless steel items and that the scratches can be removed via buffing. A video shows how it's done and gives a good before-and-after comparison of a scratched watch appearing like new again.

As anyone who has used to Siri to make calls, search the web, or send messages knows, Siri doesn't always understand what you say. This can be followed by increasing frustration levels if Siri fails over and over to understand your voice corrections. But when Siri gets it wrong, you don't have to repeat yourself. Instead, you can edit your query via typing.

There's not much to go on, and not many blogs have picked this up. Yet I pass it along, given that I'd love to think that Apple may be offering a special event soon. According to Tgaap, Apple may be holding a special event on February 24. They aren't clear on the date, though, nor on what will be announced. But their "research" suggests that Tim Cook will revisit the Apple Watch and may introduce yet new features. Plus, at that time he would announce the availability dates and pricing for all the various models. According to Tgaap, Apple itself hasn't yet settled on a specific date when the Apple Watch will be available. Which makes sense, given that it often depends on how smoothly mass production goes. And production has only recently begun. The post also says something unknown will be announced, possibly Apple Watch-related. In addition, Tgaap says Apple will announce a new entry-level MacBook Pro with retina display.

Fortunately I'm not addicted to an iPhone—but only because I don't have one. I do, however, tend to go through withdrawal if I don't have my iPad with me. It turns out, these gadgets have become so much an extension of ourselves that scientists have found that we suffer cognitive and physiological impairment if we're separated from them. A new study by University of Missouri researchers put iPhone users in a situation where they were separated from their phones while taking a cognitive test. Not only did they do worse on the test compared to their performance when they had their phones with them, they also had a significant increase in anxiety, heart rate, and blood pressure. 

Living In an OmniGroup World

By Daniel Rasmus

Just outside of Redmond, WA, center of the Microsoft universe, lies a little city we like to call Seattle. Seattle is the home to OmniGroup, a company dedicated to writing some of the best, and more enduring, Macintosh software around, along with complementary iOS apps to facilitate the increasingly mobile lifestyles of their customers.

As a former weather guy, one part of the Apple announcement today really sparked my interest. The new iPad Air 2 will include a barometer. This both excites and makes me wonder just how well this feature will be harnessed. It is likely this is the same sensor introduced in the iPhone 6, though I admit that I haven't been able to test apps leveraging the feature yet.

The Apple Watch was announced earlier today and it, along with the Health app, will change the way we are able to interact with our iPhones. The Apple Watch does double duty as an all day fitness tracker (Activity app) and a sports watch (Workout app). The wide variety of data it collects makes it easy for the Apple Watch to track different types of activity.

These are the key components of fitness portion of the Apple Watch:

While the new iDevices stole the show at today's Apple event, it's safe to say that what comes under the hood with these new smartphones and tablets is equally as impressive as their meticulously designed exteriors. Case in point; with the introduction of iOS 8, Apple's new programming interface, called Metal, is now available to experience in all of its grandeur. In particular, iOS gamers are in for a treat with all of the improved graphics and snappy responsiveness that Metal delivers. Game developers have had their hands on Metal for awhile now, which means that right out of the gate we can enjoy the unparalleled console-caliber capabilities that Metal allows.

Over the years I have literally taught tens of thousands of people how to write code in Objective-C through training classes, conferences, online forums, and my book series. Based on the mountain of feedback I have received, I can tell you some key points that make Swift much easier to learn than Objective-C.

If Objective-C is the only language you have ever coded in, I have one thing to say about moving to Swift. Welcome to the 21st century.

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