Speck was showing off GrabTab, their latest iPhone accessory, at CES Unveiled in Las Vegas on Sunday. Think of GrabTab as serving the same function as a PopSocket — allowing you to get a better one-handed grip on your iPhone — but GrabTab collapses much flatter to allow for better Qi charging, car mounting, and travel in and out of pockets. For US$9.95 this is a no-brainer. Buy one, stick it on the back of your iPhone, and you’re good to go. Bonus: you can slide it open to use as an iPhone stand for watching all of your favorite videos, too.
Nahimic Brings Enhanced 3D Audio To Your Mac’s Movies and Music
Nahimic, long-time makers of enhanced audio for video games, on Sunday launched Nahimic for Mac. Built to enhance music and movies, Nahimic brings real-time processing of your Mac’s audio from any app. They demoed it with movies and music and the results were impressive. Their 3D Sound truly made a noticeable difference out of MacBook Pro speakers at CES Unveiled, a very noisy environment. Tests on our own back at the hotel confirmed what we heard earlier: this sounds fantastic, there’s no noticeable latency, and the app performs well. A free trial is available and one-year subscription will set you back just US$35.
The Cosmic Bit Flip - Mac Geek Gab 743
In the calm before the CES storm, John F. Braun and Dave Hamilton come to you from Las Vegas to share their thoughts and answer your questions. Plus, John mentions Cosmic Bit Flips and everything goes sideways. Listen, enjoy, and learn. Just press play!
Will Apple Focus on Innovating and What Would Mac Spinoff Look Like, with John Kheit - ACM 495
Bryan Chaffin and John Kheit chew on Apple’s rare guidance warning like the mangy junk yard dogs that they are. They also discuss innovation, scale, how a giant Apple should be structured, and what a Macintosh, Inc. spinoff might look like. It’s a rollicking episode, and you’re cordially invited to listen in!
Apple TV 4K Features HDMI 2.0a. But HDMI 2.1 is Coming
4K/UHD TV is now mainstream.  But new 8K TVs are coming. CNET writes: «The current version of the ubiquitous HDMI [2.0] audio video connection can handle pretty much every video format available today, but with 8K on the horizon, TV and other hardware makers could hit its limits in the next few years. That’s where HDMI 2.1 comes in.»
This article fills you in on the new standard, what video protocols it supports, which TV makers are moving to it in 2019, and whether you’ll need new cables.
Apple TV as Cable Box – TMO Daily Observations 2019-01-04
John Martellaro and Dave Hamilton join Kelly Guimont to chat about the new Charter Cable app for Apple TV and the current state of cable.
Amazon Go Stores Could be Worth Over $4 Billion by 2021
Amazon Go could be a multi-billion dollar business for the retail giant, according to new figures reported by Re/Code. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets concluded that Amazon Go stores could earn 50% more than conventional stores. They found that the average store generates an estimated $1.5 million in revenue annually. Amazon plans to open up to 3,000 stores over the next two years, meaning the business could be worth around $4.5 billion by 2021. However, each store requires a $1 million investment in hardware before it opens.
Amazon’s new cashless, cashierless stores — which allow customers to just grab items off shelves and automatically get charged upon exiting, thanks to a bevy of sensors and cameras — bring in about 50 percent more revenue on average than typical convenience stores, according to new estimates from RBC Capital Markets analysts.
Manage iPhone Privacy With This iMore Guide
Rene Ritchie put together a good iMore guide to manage your online information and privacy settings.
Now, just to be clear, these aren’t security tips. I’ll cover those in another column. These are privacy tips. They’re ways to make sure people and companies learn as little as possible about you, while you still get the most you can from them. Cool?
It’s a good guide and everyone should read it. It’s full of tips to manage privacy settings on iPhone and online accounts. While you’re at it, check out my guide where I include privacy apps I’ve used.
Hold Your iPhone Like a Camera with Shuttercase: $40.49
We have a deal on the Shuttercase, a case for your iPhone designed to make it easier to take photographs. It has a physical button for snapping photos, and it has a 3,000mAh battery built into it that is placed to let you hold your iPhone like you’d hold a SLR/DSLR camera. It’s $49.99 through our deal, but coupon code NEWYEAR2019 at checkout takes off 19%, bringing it down to $40.49. I’m linking to the black model designed for iPhone X/XS, but there are white and red options, as well as black model for iPhone 7 Plus/8 Plus.
Apple is Better Placed than Most to Ride Out a Tech Downturn
Despite the events of this week, in which Apple offered a revenue warning and saw its share price take a hit, the company is better placed than most other tech firms to ride out an economic storm. That’s the view of Tim Culpan, who ran the numbers for Bloomberg News. While we’ve heard warnings about the tech bubble bursting for years now, the piece certainly helps give some useful context to recent events.
When I first ran the numbers on a selection of nine companies — a mix of branded electronics, product assemblers and chipmakers — I concluded that the decade-long tech party looked headed for a nasty hangover. I’ve now added September-quarter figures to the same analysis, which includes inventory levels, turnover and cash conversion cycles. The situation is even uglier than four months ago. Apple’s warning this week that it won’t meet revenue guidance proves the initial concerns to be true, but it’s only a small part of the industry’s woes.
