MyAppleMenu

The Financing-Plans Edition Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Apple Simplifies 'Trade Up With Installments' iPhone Program By Relying On Carrier Financing Plans, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

Previously, Apple's Trade Up program relied on a 24-month installment loan from Apple partner Citizens Bank, but Apple is simplifying the service and instead relying on financing plans handled by carriers. Trading in a device at the Apple Store will now allow the value of the device to be applied to the purchase of a new iPhone from a carrier. Credits can be used to lower the cost of an outright purchase or to reduce monthly payments.

Walgreens Now Lets You Digitally Clip Coupons From iOS, Redeem In-store Through Apple Pay, by Zac Hall, 9to5Mac

Walgreens has officially supported Apple Pay since day one and was one of the first retailers to accept loyalty cards over Apple Pay, and now the retailer is expanding support for digital coupon clipping which can be redeemed through Apple Pay.

Stop At Two

Evernote Raises Prices Of Its Paid Plans, Limits Device Sharing On Free Tier, by Dan Seifert, The Verge

The biggest change, which will affect the most users, is coming to the Basic plan. Evernote Basic remains a free-to-use service, but it is now limited to two devices per account.

Evernote Is No Longer The Best Note-taking App For Most iPhone Users, by Steve Kovach, TechInsider

I began to ask myself why I was paying so much money for an app that was full of features I never used. All I needed was something simple that'd let me jump in and jot down a few notes that would always sync across all my devices.

It turns out the best app for what I needed was there the whole time: Apple Notes.

Evernote, Google Keep, OneNote – Which Note Taking App Is The Best?, by Gary Cutlack, Gizmodo

Evernote's still comprehensive and nicely designed and very well supported by its maker, but that's only if you're happy to pay to have it... work properly. Google Keep's free, unintrusive, fairly minimal, and works without fuss on most devices with a display. If you're in a sulk with Evernote, the lightweight Keep's probably the best alternative; although Simplenote's looking like being a keeper too, thanks to its nice minimalist approach.

Gamification Of Me

'It’s The Age Of The Self': How Kim Kardashian Gamified Her Life And Made $100 Million Doing It, by Kwame Opam, The Verge

"I view this game as the first transmedia entertainment property where you can effectively follow Kim on your own schedule," says de Masi. "You don’t have to wait until a TV show on Sunday. You can follow her on social media, you can follow her in print, you can follow her on TV, but the game allows you to effectively interact with her world whenever you want for as long as you want."

Fans of Kardashian West already do this. Her followers experience tweets and snaps like she’s a close friend of theirs. Her life is an open book, and the draw from the beginning has been to turn her every move into content that feels both aspirational and relatable. She’s taken what’s essentially lifestyle blogging to a whole new level. At first that meant having a presence on other people’s platforms, whether it was Instagram or E! WithHollywood. Now she’s created a platform of her own where her fans can feel like they're involved in her life.

Ahoy, Everything!

Shout At The Devil: The Confusing World Of Talking To Computers, by James Vincent, The Verge

In the last six months, every major tech company has unveiled its vision for the future of computing. And funnily enough, they’re all saying the same thing: in the future, we’re going to talk to our computers — and they’re going to answer back.

Stuff

10 Free (Or Cheap) Travel Apps Worth Downloading, by Lucas Peterson, New York Times

After a week of downloading and trying out various travel and navigation apps, I reached an unfortunate conclusion: Most of them are worthless — clunky, buggy, seemingly desultory efforts by developers rushing a poor product to market. There are a few, though, that provide elegant solutions to some of travel’s more common complications, doing what a good app should do: make life easier. Here are seven free travel apps that are worth your time, and three that are worth your money.

Pennies Review: Spend Wisely, by Jake Underwood, MacStories

Instead of inputting every bit of money you earn and spend, Pennies is meant to keep tabs on specific spending habits, like video game purchases. Through the user setting an allowance and logging your purchases, Pennies can set you on a course toward responsible spending.

BusyCal, The Calendar For Busy People, Is Finally On iOS, by Christine Chan, AppAdvice

If you live a hectic life and want a calendar app that can keep up with you, then it could be worth your time to check out BusyCal, now on the iPhone and iPad.

Notes

Apple Doubles Down On Photography With New Shot On iPhone Campaign, by Haje Jan Kamps, TechCrunch

The new featured images are focusing on the bright, vibrant colors you’ll find in the world around you, and the campaign is focusing on highlighting photography local to where the billboards are going up.