Apple released iOS 9 and watchOS 2 to Developers, while the public counterparts are seeing September 16, 2015 release date.
Apple is also seeding iOS 9.1 beta with build number 13B5110e to Developers.
Hey Siri, give us a hint already!
It is Wednesday, September 9, 2015. Apple is set to hold the “Hey Siri, give us a hint.” special event at 10:00 a.m. from the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.
I spoke to firstnameatappledotcom on Labor Day for about an hour. Not a single thing that I could repeat without spoiling the surprise. On the other hand, Major Obvious says:
- NO U2!
In keeping with the “9” theme (iOS 9, September 9), I was expecting some performance from a band with 9 members on the stage. Unfortunately they are not an-Apple-Special-Event-kind-of musical-guess.
Apple will be providing its own coverage of the event in the form of live stream and some kind of live blogging.
As usual, there will be sites covering the event live from the venue.
Live Coverage links:
iOS 9 on the 9th of 9, 2015.
Mark your calendar for Apple special event “Hey Siri, give us a hint.” on September 9, 2015. Apple will be providing live stream of the event.
Requirements: Live streaming uses Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) technology. HLS requires an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with Safari on iOS 7.0 or later, a Mac with Safari 6.0.5 or later on OS X v10.8.5 or later, or a PC with Edge on Windows 10. Streaming via Apple TV requires a second- or third-generation Apple TV with software 6.2 or later.
Edge on Windows 10, that’s interesting.
The event will take place at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco at 10:00 am.
The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium is a 7000 capacity arena, as such it has several elevated tiers of seating around an open plan hall.
Now, who would be the musical guest for the event?
Alongside the new models of iPhone, Apple would be introducing expanded Siri functionality across multiple devices; at least that’s what firstnameatappledotcom hinted at.
Acorn 5
Acorn 5 is out now and on sale for a limited time for $24.95.
Available through Flying Meat Store and Mac App Store.
I’ve been using Acorn and Pixelmator in lieu of Adobe Photoshop for cropping, touch-up and quick edit. One thing that I find pleasant about Acorn is that it has similar shortcut keys with Adobe Photoshop.
Acorn 5 requires OS X Yosemite (10.10) or later.
Acorn 5 would be the third time I purchased Acorn.
The Verge, With and Without Ad-Blocker.
“People who work for ad-analytic-tracker infested websites shouldn’t complain about the browser.” First and foremost, this post would include fairly sizable graphics; but the total size is a lot less than any articles on The Verge. Take a look at The Verge article “The mobile web sucks”; one with ad-blocker and one without. 
There are a lot of Javascript loaded for just one page. 
I unapologetically have been using Ad-Blocker and Host File to prevent the Ads, Analytics and Trackers from being loaded.
Mobile Web and Glass Houses
Nilay Patel is wrong on the “The mobile web sucks” article he posted on the Verge.
Let’s take a look at the article itself.
In portrait mode, the site logo is on the top of the screen followed by a large ad. The title of the article is in the bottom half of the screen.
In Landscape mode without the navigation bar, only part of the article title showed up on the screen.
Let’s see how it looks with mobile Safari navigation bar. The title of the article doesn’t even show up on the screen.
The fact is that The Verge is one bloated site, littered with ads and analytics. I generally avoid The Verge like a plague because of that.
Patel adds:
Now, I happen to work at a media company, and I happen to run a website that can be bloated and slow. Some of this is our fault: The Verge is ultra-complicated, we have huge images, and we serve ads from our own direct sales and a variety of programmatic networks. Our video player is annoying. (I swear a better one is coming, for real this time.) We could do a lot of things to make our site load faster, and we’re doing them.
Patel knows what the actual source of the problem, but he is trying to shift the blame to the web-browsers. If the square peg doesn’t fit the round hole, you should stop giving the peg paint jobs.
I unapologetically use ad-blocker and host-file to make my web-browsing experience better.
iPhone, Eight Years to The Day
The original iPhone went on sale on June 29, 2007. I was one of the “few” people who waited in line to get one at the Apple Store. The line was reasonably long, but the buying process was really quick. I spent roughly 5 minutes to finalize the transaction. I walked out with two iPhones, one for my colleague and one for me.
Today marks the eight anniversary of the release of the original iPhone.