How is Apple doing in the smartphone industry? Here is an interesting statistic. Patrick Seitz of Investor's Business Daily reports that, according to analyst Tim Long, Apple accounted for 103.6% of the profit in the smartphone industry in the third quarter. How does a company get more than 100% of the profit? It's because other vendors lost money in the quarter. Thus, Apple alone had more smartphone profit than the industry netted overall. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- As attorney John Voorhees reports for MacStories, DropBox has finally added Split View support for the iPad, letting you run Dropbox on one half of your screen while you use another app on the other side.
- The Wirecutter — a great website that was just acquired by the New York Times — explains why everyone needs to be using a password manager app. Yes, even you.
- My favorite password manager app is 1Password. It is fast, has tons of features, is built-in to many other apps, and works on all of my devices (PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch). But if you want a less expensive option with fewer features, Ian Paul reports for Macworld that LastPass has expanded its free app such that if you just want the basic features, LastPass may give you want you need for free. Whatever app you use, I strongly encourage you to use something. Yes, there is a learning curve at first, but once you get past that you will have both greater security and greater convenience.
- David Pogue of Yahoo explains how to use the Notes app to collaborate with someone else. My wife and I share a simple Grocery List note so that she can add items to the list even while I am at the grocery store.
- For those interested in using Apple's HomeKit technology to control their home using an iPhone and other devices, iHome has released a 5-in-1 SmartMonitor which senses motion, humidity, temperature, sound and light. As reported by Mike Wuerthele of AppleInsider, this $80 device can help you turn on a fan when the temperature rises, turn on a light when motion is detected, etc.
- If you only need to detect motion, Wuerthele reports that Elgato announced the $50 Eve Motion.
- Brooke Lea Foster of the New York Times reports on how an iPhone can cause problems in a relationship when one person spends too much time paying attention to their device instead of paying attention to ... ah ... just a second ... hmm ... OK, I'm done. Just had to respond to an email there. What was I saying? Oh yeah, don't let a smartphone get in the way of paying attention to others.
- The Apple Watch Nike+ is now available for sale. It is just like the Series 2 aluminum Apple Watch, but has a special Nike band, special Nike watch faces, and special Nike+ complications. Christian Zibreg of iDownloadBlog tried one out and posted this review.
- Abdel Ibrahim of WatchAware reports that the new watchOS 3.1 improves battery life for folks using a (new) Series 1 or Series 2 Apple Watch. I've noticed this with my 42mm Series 2 Apple Watch. Even after a very long day, I now often have 50% to 60% power remaining when I got to bed.
- Choregraphics of Berlin created a neat image showing every official Apple Watch band ever released. Looks like there have been 121 of them so far.
- And finally, a $149 device called CMRA was announced this week. It is an Apple Watch band that adds two HD camera to the watch, so that you can take photos and videos of what you are seeing, and also take photos and videos of yourself. I have some serious questions about this product; I find it hard to imagine that any time that you might use this it wouldn't be easier to just use your iPhone. Cella Lao Rousseau of iMore came up with some reasons that this product might be awesome or awful. But it is certainly an interesting idea for a product. Here is a fun video that shows it off:
