2016

at 11:36 PM
So it happened as it normally does every year, Apple held thier iPhone event and this year they had a few small surprises that added up to make for a pretty good overall conference.
To open the event Tim Cook was doing some Car Karaoke and to be honest it was just an ad for the show, seeing how it will be avaible to subscribers of Apple Music. Once Tim Cook hit the stage he went over numbers and so on.

Tim then had a few surprises up his sleeve for the start of the event and the first of which was that live collaboration is coming to iWork apps across the devices. For myself, this was a really pleasant surprise. The next surprise that Apple had for us, was that Mario is coming to iOS and the iPhone. The game is called Mario Run and there was no price information revealed though the game looks really fun. You can currently sign up to get notified about the games release on the App Store.

After those small surprises Apple rolled in to the hardware and they started with the Apple Watch. They called the new Apple Watch Series Two and it saw a few updates. The Watch is now water proof up to 50 meters. They also put in a larger battery, GPS, and of course a faster processor. The new Watch looks to be a nice update and something that can move Apple in to a fitness tracking category. Another note is that the new processor will also be in the Series One Apple Watch. They will have both watches available to purchase with the Series One being at $269 and the Series Two at $369.

Apple, next revealed the iPhone 7. The new iPhone that is now available for preorder. The new iPhone has has a few new feature and they make for a pretty decent upgrade. The most obvious change is that they have two new colors, black and jet black. The jet black look polished adn really high end while black is matte and very nice looking as well. The new phones are also water and dust resistant. They also udated the speakers so that when the phone is in landscape it will play audio through both speakers in stereo. While we are on audio, yes, Apple removed the headphone jack. They are giving people Lightning headphone and an adapter for 3.5mm headphones.
They also revealed new wireless headphones called Airpods. The new Airpods have a W1 chip that Apple had specifically designed for improving Bluetooth and wireless technologies.

Overall the event was solid and even though Apple didn’t do anything too revolutionary, they made enough changes to make the iPhone 7 a worth wild upgrade as well as the Apple Watch. Now lets just hope we get to see some MacBook upgrades soon… Well here’s hoping.
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at 2:26 PM 0
The Division is one of the most discussed and anticipated games of 2016 and people have really high hopes for this game. Does it live up to what every expects or does is fall apart and trip all over itself?

I have been able to play The Division since the launch day, on the Xbox One, and to be honest, launch day was not a pleasant experience. There were plenty of server and network issues that caused frustration and inconsistent gameplay. As we know though, you can't judge the game on day one only.

So lets start with the visuals. I played on the Xbox One and though Ubisoft had to tone down the SnowDrop engine for the consoles, The Division still looks great. The developers did a really good job of immersing you in the environment with weather changes and day to night changes that are all so seamless. There are points of the game that you can see building broken down and beat and other times you know you're in a better area just based on the quality of the building and your
surroundings. The menus in the game add a level of depth since they are as a frosted glass that shows content behind the menu. The game should leave you satisfied with the visuals. The visuals allow for you to get immersed to the point of that it adds to the actual gameplay.

For the gameplay, you really need to break it down in to two different parts. Since the game has the normal zone or area and the Dark Zone, you need to play differently in both. As a whole, the gameplay is enjoyable and a tremendous amount of fun.

The normal zone has less stress involved since you are primarily fighting the CPUs. There are a fair amount of missions that allow for multiple possibilities as to what you do every time you play. The game offers a ton of customization options for your character's appearance and for the guns and customization. The story in the main game is not especially long but it is still interesting. The action in each mission makes for an enjoyable experience and it is even more fun when you have your friends fighting right by your side.

Now where the game really does things different is the Dark Zone. The gameplay in the Dark Zone changes a bit because you are now not only fighting the CPUs your are running in to the general populous or other network players. If you are to attack someone that is also playing the game you will become a rogue. Once a rogue you are marked on the map and you and expect people will be coming to find you. The weapons and rewards you get for fighting in the Dark Zone are much greater since y
ou are in a much more dangerous position. The anxiety levels are very high in the Dark Zone since you can be killed at any moment at any time by anyone. When you die in the Dark Zone, anything you found there gets left there unless you were able to extract it prior to your death.

In an overall look The Division the game is really enjoyable and fun to play. The game has many options and customization that you will not be left board waiting for a DLC, even though there are some coming already. You can move freely from the normal zone to the Dark Zone at anytime, which allows for a variety of situations and gameplay experiences. Ubisoft did a great job with delivering a quality experience for the game.


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at 12:12 AM 0
Apple recently pushed updates across many of its platforms and there are some really quality changes and fixes.

To start with the updates Apple updated iOS to 9.3 and it has many nice new features. The first and probably most discussed feature is Night Shift. The feature will adjust the hue or tone of the display at night to help with your eyes in the dark. There is research that has suggested that the harsh blue light can give you issues when you are going to try to sleep after looking at a bright blue screen like your phone. The Night Shift feature can be controlled manually or you can have it turn on at sunset and sunrise.


There are also many bug fixes in iOS 9.3 that just add to the speed and stability of the overall experience and operating system.

The next update to contain surprisingly nice features in the update is TV OS 9.2. The OS is still technically young but it has been gaining missing features rather fast. Apple is making sure that features that were in the previous Apple Tv are in the 4th generation.

The update adds the ability to pair bluetooth keyboards, dictate searches and requests, and probably the most requested feature, make folders. As before the update also added bug fixes and improves the stability of the OS.


The Watch also received and update to Watch OS 2.2 and it really just focused and improve the Maps app on the watch. The app now supports recent places just as like with iOS maps. 

All of the updates are available now if you check for them in System Settings on their appropriate device and in the Watch app on iOS for the Watch.

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