Apple User Group January 25, 2018 - 79th Presentation

Apple User Group
    January 25, 2018
    79th Presentation*

                         *Since Jan 2010

Next Meeting
 Thursday 1:00pm
 February 22, 2018

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Apple News!

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Apple News
•   The Amazon Prime Video app is now available on Apple TV and it
    had the most first-week downloads of any app in the history of
    tvOS
•   Apple has acquired Shazam, the app that lets users identify songs,
    movies, and TV shows by listening to a small portion of the audio
• Perhaps the longest major CarPlay holdout, Toyota announced that
    it will be bringing CarPlay to the 2019 Avalon, as well as other
    vehicles in the 2019 model year including some Lexus models
•   The Vikings-Saints game was so exciting, some fans were informed
    by their Apple Watches that they might be having heart issues
                                    5

Apple News
• Apple will pay $38 billion in U.S. taxes in a one-time payment,
 which is the money owed on roughly $245 billion in overseas
 profits being repatriated under the recent tax overhaul bill
• They also committed to spend $350B contributing to the US
 economy over the next 5 years, including the creation of 20,000
 US jobs
•HomePod will arrive Feb 9th with pre-orders beginning tomorrow
• If the HomePod supports iTunes Match and allows me to play my
 entire iTunes library, I’ll likely get one
                                    6

Apple Slowing Down iPhones
•   Apple’s explanation:
    • All batteries slow down with age and use
    • Sometimes   an  app with high demand for power could cause a
     phone with an degraded battery to crash
    • Apple chose to address this by limiting the power that could be
     sent from an degraded battery
    • When this happens, it would cause the phone to slow down
    • The logic is that you’d rather have a temporary slow down than a
     crash                           7

Apple Slowing Down iPhones
• When this was revealed, the internet went crazy accusing Apple
 of intentionally slowing down old phones so that people would
 have to buy new ones
• Several lawsuits have been initiated and several governments have
 started investigations
•Certainly, Apple could have communicated this better
• Apple, in response, has lowered the price of a battery
 replacement to $29, and have promised a future release that will
 give you an option to disable power management
                                 8

Apple/Stanford Heart Study
•Apple and Stanford launched the Apple Heart Study
• This research study uses Apple Watch’s heart rate sensor to
 collect data on irregular heart rhythms and notify users who
 may be experiencing atrial fibrillation (AFib)
•The Apple Watch calculates heart rate and rhythm with:
 • Green  LED   lights flashing hundreds  of times per second
 • Light-sensitive  photodiodes   detect the  amount of blood
   flowing through the wrist
                                 9

Apple/Stanford Heart Study
•   You join the study by downloading the Apple Heart Study app
 • Minimum Requirements: 22 years old, iPhone 5s, iOS 11, Apple
     Watch series 1, watchOS 4
 •   There are some health eligibility criteria
 • You’ll get notified when  you can  join the study
• The Apple   Heart  Study app will passively monitor your heart
    rate along with your heart rhythm
•   If an irregular heart rhythm is identified, the app will notify you
                                    10

Apple/Stanford Heart Study
•   If notified, you’ll receive a free video consultation on your
    iPhone with the study’s medical professionals for
    further analysis
•   In some cases, the doctor may recommend a BioTelemetry
    electrocardiogram (ECG) patch for additional monitoring
•   The patch will be mailed to you at no cost and should be worn
    for seven days to determine whether atrial fibrillation (AFib) or
    another type of irregular heart rhythm is present
•   I received my invitation and enrolled this week…
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Doug’s Christmas Gadgets

New Gadgets
•Four new charging devices for my Apple Gear
• A new   Sports Loop band for my Apple Watch
• An Apple  Magic Mouse  2
• Apple’s AirPods
• A Google   Home  Mini

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Apple Charging Dock

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Apple Watch Charging dock
•   I wanted another Apple Watch Charger that could stay on my
    dresser permanently, so I can keep the charger that came with it
    in my suitcase
•   I also wanted to have a charger that kept the Apple Watch
    horizontal so it would go into night mode automatically
•   So I asked for the Apple Watch Charging Dock which comes
    with a 5W charger and cable ($79)
•   It’s looks great and is nice and heavy so it doesn’t move around
    the dresser and does a perfectly adequate job for what I needed
                                  16

Samsung Wireless Charger

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Wireless Charger
•   Samsung Qi Certified Fast Charge Wireless Charging Stand ($39)
• To charge your iPhone (8, 8+, or X), just set your phone on the
    charger
• When you do this, the phone will chime and a blue light comes
    on at the base of the charger that tells you it is charging
•   It works like a charm and works with my leather folio case on
    the phone
•   Only downside is that the blue light is very bright at night in
    bedroom requiring me to put my Fitbit Zip in front of the light
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Tylt VuWireless Charger

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TYLT VU Qi Charger
• TYLT VU Qi Wireless Phone Charging Pad ($19)
• Big price difference  depending on color  ($54  for black)
• Was  designated   as an Amazon's  Choice*
 • *Recommended       by Amazon  as highly rated, well-priced
   product available to ship immediately
• It also has a light which comes on when charging
• Basically works the same as the Samsung and also works with
  leather folio case
                                 20

Wireless Chargers
• Both Chargers can be used in Portrait or Landscape mode
• The intent was to use the Tylt in family room when streaming
  music or video, or if I need to charge my iPhone 8 plus during
  the day
• I use the Samsung in the bedroom to charge overnight
• I’ve found that the iPhone 8+’s battery is so good, that I haven’t
  needed to charge it during the day
• Bottom line: I love wireless charging, so simple and easy
                                 21

Atomi Charge Station

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Atomi Charging Station
•   Atomi Charging Station Pro is available at Home Depot or
    Amazon ($40)
•   Charges up to six devices all at once with a stand to support
    your devices
•   Has 6 USB ports on one side and charge indications on the
    other (Green charged, red charging)
•   Has a 5’ cord, but you need to provide your own USB cables
• Includes Surge Protection: 400 joules of protection
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Anker 4 Port Charger

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Anker Charger
• Anker 40W 4-Port USB Wall Charger ($25)
• I wanted this to replace a similar Anker 2 port charger that we keep
    in our suitcase - Eliminates the need for 4 separate power supplies
• With 2 iPads, 2 iPhones, and an Apple Watch, we needed more ports
• It has a compact design, foldable plug and 100-240 volt input ideal
    for worldwide travel
•   PowerIQ and VoltageBoost combine to provide the fastest possible
    charge up to 8 amps or 2.4 amps per port
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Anker 6 Port Charger
              •   If I were to do it again, I might
                  chose this one

              • 5’ Cord vs. collapsable Plug
              • 6 ports vs. 4

              • Same  power   delivery

              • $28

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Apple Watch Band - Sport Loop

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Sport Loop Band
• Apple Watch Bands are extremely easy swap out, just press button
    and slide off, then slide on the new one until it clicks in place
•   I like the black fluoroelastomer Sports band that came with my
    Apple Watch, but I wanted to try the Sport Loop Band ($49)
•   It’s soft, breathable, and lightweight with a hook-and-loop fastener
    (Velcro) for easy continuous adjustment
• The double-layer nylon weave has dense loops on the skin side
    that provide soft cushioning while allowing moisture to escape
• I like it and it’s become my favorite band
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Apple Magic Mouse 2

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Apple Magic Mouse 2
•   Apple Magic Mouse 2 ($79)
• I historically have disliked Apple Mice, and I really like the Magic
    Track Pad which is my main input device
•   I thought I’d give this one a try due to the good experience I
    had while setting up the lab iMac and …
•   I wanted to be knowledgable about it since it’s a key input
    device for Apple and a lot of people got them with their iMac

                                   30

Apple Magic Mouse 2
•   The Magic Mouse 2 is rechargeable thru a lightning port on the
    bottom (you can’t charge while you are using it)
•   Magic Mouse 2 pairs automatically with your Mac when you
    plug it in initially (A general theme lately with Apple Hardware)
•   It has a Multi-Touch surface allows you to perform simple
    gestures such as swiping between web pages and scrolling
    through documents
•   I do like this mouse, but to be honest, it’s probably overpriced,
    and I still prefer the trackpad (drop and drag easier on mouse)
                                   31

Apple Mouse Settings

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AirPods

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AirPods
• Apple’s AirPods ($159)
• The AirPods behave as you’d expect and hope from an Apple Product
  • “They just work”
• They are dead simple to pair
• They turn  on and connect automatically when you take them out of
 the case
• They sense when they’re in your ears, and pause when you take
 either one out, then resume when you reinsert them
                                 34

AirPods Setup
• To set up AirPods for the first time, follow these steps:
  1. Go to the Home screen on your phone
  2. Open the case, with your AirPods inside, and hold it next to your
     iPhone
  3. A setup animation appears automatically on your iPhone
  4. Tap Connect, then tap Done
• And… If you're signed in to iCloud, your AirPods are now set up to
  with any of your Apple devices that are signed in to iCloud with the
  same Apple ID
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AirPods
•   You can use them with your iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, or Mac
• They are “True Wireless”   to use or charge
• To charge, you just put  the AirPods back into their case
• The AirPods  run for 5  hours  on one charge, 15 minutes  of
    recharging is good for 3 hours of use, and the case is good for
    more than 24 hours of use
•   You charge the case with a lightning cable just like your iPhone
    or iPad
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AirPods
• They don’t feel real secure in your ear, but I tried to shake them
    loose, and I could not get them to fall out
• Comfort is somewhat similar to the EarBuds that come with your
    iPhone, but it’s considerably better because there are no wires
    hanging down from the buds
•   In settings to to General>About>AirPods while the case is open to
    get Model Number, Serial Number, Firmware and Hardware version
•   To customize AirPods, open up the case and go to
    settings>bluetooth, then tap the “i” in the circle
                                    38

AirPods
•   You can customize what action occurs if you double tap each
    AirPod (right and left)
•   Options are:
    • Siri
    • Next  Track
    • Previous Track
    • Play/Pause
    • Turn off                   39

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AirPods with Apple Watch
• Bonus: if you also have an Apple Watch
 • If you listen to music on your iPhone with the AirPods,
   your watch will automatically show you what’s playing,
   let you go to next or previous track, control the
   volume, and have a pause/play button
 • (The Watch does this even without AirPods)
 • This allows you to “park” your iPhone and roam
   around the house listening to music (or podcasts, or
   whatever) and still have control thru the Apple Watch
   (Magic!!)
                                  41

Google Home Mini

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Google Home Mini
•   I’m committed to the Amazon’s Echo/Alexa home assistant
• But I’ve heard the the Google assistant was much better at
    answering questions
•   During the holidays, the Google Home Mini was $30, and this
    was low enough to see what it was all about
•   It is very similar to the Echo Dot in almost every way
• I set it up next to my Echo in the family room, and when I used
    the Echo, I would try the same command on the Home Mini
                                  43

Google Home Mini
• When asking it questions, it was slightly better than the Echo, but not
 dramatically so (Sometimes, I liked Echo’s response better)
• It’s not quite as capable as the Echo system:
 • Home Automation worked with all my TP-Link devices, but you
   have fewer options (routines not currently available)
 • It doesn’t have the enormous number of skills the Echo has
 • I prefer Alexa’s voice to the Google Assistant and Alexa has more
   personality in my opinion
 • It has less options for various music services
                                   44

Google Home Mini
•   I think it has a better speaker than the Dot but not quite as good as
    the standard Echo
•   If you are an Amazon Prime user, the Echo system has Amazon Prime
    music and you can get status of Amazon orders
•   I still think the Echo is marginally better, but it’s close
• Full Disclosure: (possible prejudices)
  • I’ve had the Echo’s for a lot longer and am more knowledgable of
     the Echo
    • I am an Amazon Prime user and am pretty invested in Echos
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Alexa News!

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But First This!

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Alexa News
• One in six US adults (or around 39 million people) now own a
  voice-activated smart speaker, according to research from NPR
• Alexa has a new feature: musical alarms
 • Instead of just asking Alexa to set an alarm for you, you’ll be
   able to request specific songs, playlists, artists, or genres
 • The new feature supports a variety of music services, including
   Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, TuneIn, SiriusXM, and
   iHeartRadio
 • Examples                        50

Alexa Music Alarms
• Alexa, wake me up at 7AM to James Taylor
• Alexa, wake me up to ’80s music at 8AM
• Alexa, wake me up to relaxing music at 7 am
• Alexa, set an alarm for 7 am using NPR news on TuneIn
• Alexa, set an alarm for 7 am every weekday using 'Work' by
    Rihanna
•   Alexa, set an alarm for 7am using DFI Folk on Pandora

                                51

Alexa Home Automation
• Besides using Alexa for questions, weather, news, …, it’s also a
 great interface for home automation
•Voice commands are my favorite way to interact with a device
• In CES this year, there were a boatload of products that use
 Alexa or Google Home, and a lot of gadgets were compatible
 with both ecosystems
•There was far less interest in Apple’s HomeKit
• One reason is that Apple has requirements (security, …) that are
 harder and more expensive for appliance manufactures to include
                                  52

Alexa Home Automation
•   Alexa can be used to give voice commands for many products:
    • Light Bulbs, Smart Plugs and Smart Switches
    • Door  Locks,  Garage Door    Openers
    • Thermostats (Nest, Ecobee,…)
    • Home   security and video   monitoring
    • TV’s/Audio devices
    • Ovens,  Refrigerators, Toilets, Mirrors, …
    • More items every day…        53

Alexa Home Automation
• Note: Some products require a special hub to use (like the
    Phillips Hue lighting system)
•   Hubs plug into your router, and you interact thru the hub, and
    the hub controls the communications to your devices
• So far, I’ve avoided products that require a hub:
 • One less device to worry about, and they add cost
 • There are competing hub standards (ZigBee, Z-Wave, …)
• BTW: The Echo Plus device includes a built in Zigbee hub
                                    54

Alexa Home Automation
• I’m going to show how to set up devices with Alexa
 • I currently have 4 Echos, 1 Echo Dot, and 1 Echo Tap (6)
 • These control: 4 smart plugs, and 3 smart bulbs (All TP-Link)
• When you buy a home automation device make sure it is
    compatible with the equipment you have
•   For Example: TP-Link’s products are compatible with Google
    Home and Alexa. They are not compatible with Apple’s
    HomeKit
                                 55

Alexa Home Automation
• The first step is to download the manufacturers app to set up the
    device
•   These apps allow you to control the devices from your phone
    and are necessary to enable Alexa control
• The TP-Link application is called Kasa and it is downloaded like
    any application from the iOS app store
•   Note: TP-Link devices only support 2.4GHz networks
• Most routers support these networks, but keep this in mind if
    you ever replace your router
                                   56

Alexa Home Automation
• To get started, launch Kasa and Kasa will guide you thru the process to
 add the device to your network
• During this step you’ll be asked to name your device and set up a Kasa
 Account
• Make the name short but meaningful (i.e. Bedroom Lamp)
• Once this step is completed, you’ll be able to control your device from
 the Kasa app
• The app actually gives you a lot of options (On/Off, Schedule, Away, Timer,
 and Scenes)
• You can control the devices even when you’re away from home
                                     57

Alexa Home Automation
• Once you can control your device from Kasa, open up the Alexa
    App, go to the menu, and select Smart Home
•   By the way, since you need to have an app for each manufacturer,
    it’s easier if you limit your devices to a few manufactures
• Once you have selected Smart Home, go to the bottom of the
    screen and select “Your Smart Home Skills”
•   Search for TP-Link and select the TP-Link Skill
• Here, you authorize your Kasa Account after which Alexa will be
    able to discover any TP-Link Devices
                                   58

Alexa Home Automation
• For any additional TP-Iink devices, you just select New Device to start
 the discovery process since the skill is already enabled
• Smart bulbs vs Smart Plugs:
 • Smart Plugs will turn the power on/off to anything you plug into
     them (including lights, coffee pots, fans, etc…)
 • Smart Bulbs replace a light bulb, but can give you more control
     depending the the bulb (dimming, color, warmth)
 •   Note: If you use a smart bulb, you must leave the regular switch in
     the on position, and 3-way lamps must be in the 2nd or 3rd position
                                      59

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Alexa Home Automation
• Once this is done, you can now control your device using Alexa
 • Alexa, turn [Device name] on/off
 • Alexa, set [light name] to [0-100]%
 • Alexa, dim/brighten [light name]
 • Alexa, set the [light name] to red
 • Alexa, make the [light name] warm white
 • Alexa, set the [light name] to daylight
                               62

Alexa Home Automation
• Alexa also allows you issue commands that can affect more than
    one device (Groups, Scenes, and Routines)
•   Groups: You can put devices into a group, which allows you to
    turn all the devices on/off with one command - Alexa, turn on/off
    living room, Alexa turn on/off the Christmas Lights…
•   Groups can only turn everything on or off
• You can also group devices by using Scenes in Kasa which can be
    controlled by Alexa
• Scenes can turn some things on, and dim or turn others off
                                  63

Alexa Home Automation
• Routines are a newer addition which allow you to any or all of
 the following:
 • Run a routine using a schedule or a command you specify
 • Run any command one or more devices (on/off/dim/color/
   etc…)
 • Turn a group on/off or turn a scene on
 • Specify whether the command will work on any Echo or a
   specific Echo
                                64

Alexa Home Automation
• Routines also allow you to include some Alexa Commands
 • It can read the news, give a traffic or a weather report
 • It can tell you a number of pre-defined Alexa responses (“Good
   Morning Sunshine”, “Up and at ‘em Tiger”, “You’re like sunshine
   on a rainy day”, etc…
 • Example:You could have a routine called “Wake Up”, which
   turns on the bedroom lights, starts the coffee pot, says “Top of
   the Morning to you” and plays the latest NPR news

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Alexa Home Automation
• If you create a group that includes smart bulbs and add an Echo
    device to the group it will be come “Room Aware”
•   This allows you, while in that room, to give a command like Lights
    On, Lights Off, Lights to 50%, …
• If you do this with multiple rooms, you use the same command
    and it will only affect the lights in that specific room
•   This only works with Smart Bulbs at this time, but you can easily
    anticipate where this is going…

                                     69

Alexa Home Automation
• I’ve given a lot of information here that can appear pretty
  complicated
• It’s really pretty simple if you take it one step at a time
• Start small  with one  device  to get the hang  of it
• Then  you’ll want  to do different  things and  add   more devices
• As your needs    grow, you’ll have to  tools to do  exactly what you
  want
• And… As time goes on, you’ll be able to grow with Alexa
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iOS

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Discarding Your
                     iOS Devices
• Before you sell or give away your device, you should follow these steps:
  1. If you paired an Apple Watch with your iPhone, unpair your Apple Watch
  2. Back up your device
  3. Sign out of iCloud and the iTunes & App Store.
   • If you're using iOS 10.3 or later, tap Settings > [your name].
                                                               Scroll down
     and tap Sign Out. Enter your Apple ID password and tap Turn Off.
   • If you're using iOS 10.2 or earlier, tap Settings > iCloud > Sign Out. Tap
     Sign Out again, then tap Delete from My [device] and enter your Apple
     ID password. Then go to Settings > iTunes & App Store > Apple ID >
     Sign Out.
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Discarding Your
                    iOS Devices
    4. If you're switching to a non-Apple phone, deregister iMessage
    5. Go back to Settings and tap General > Reset > Erase All
       Content and Settings. If you turned on Find My iPhone, you
       might need to enter your Apple ID and password
    6. If asked for your device passcode or Restrictions passcode,
       enter it. Then tap Erase [device]
    7. Remove your SIM card if the device has one
•   https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201351
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Questions

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Thank You!

             *Presentation produced on an iMAC using Apple’s
                Keynote software and presented on an iPad
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