iPhone Announcement

Ryan Serpico
Staff Writer

    Apple held their annual iPhone event in the Flint Center recently, the very same place where Steve Jobs announced the original Macintosh 30 years prior, to announce their latest incarnation of iPhone along with their newest product, the Apple Watch.

    “Today we are launching the biggest advancement in the history of iPhone,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook at the beginning of the Keynote. Apple introduced not one new iPhone on Tuesday, but two, a 4.7–inch iPhone 6 and a 5.5–inch iPhone 6 Plus. Both feature an enlarged screen in comparison to the previous generation iPhone 5S, where the only choice was a 4-inch model.

    Both iPhone 6 variants feature a new curved design that tosses out the sharp edged design language that the past two generations featured, while also being thinner and lighter than the prior generation. Inside, both feature an improved processor, improved cameras and an all new barometer sensor to measure elevation while running.

    The internals within both new variants are identical to each other, besides the iPhone Plus featuring optical image stabilization, which uses hardware to stabilize shaky photos instead of software image stabilization that the standard iPhone 6 still uses. The iPhone 6 Plus also has improved battery life over the standard iPhone 6 by a couple of hours while browsing the web over LTE.

    Apple also revealed their own mobile payment solution that they dub Apple Pay, which allows iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users to use their phones to pay for real world items in physical stores. Apple Pay makes use of the near field communication (NFC) chip that comes with the new iPhones to communicate with readers on merchant’s registers to pay for the items they want. An advantage over normal plastic debit and credit cards that they hit hard on was security, because in order to actually use your card you must authenticate every purchase with your fingerprint. So if a user loses their iPhone, they do not have to worry about their credit card information getting stolen because the thief cannot replicate your fingerprint.

    After showing off all the new features of the new iPhone, Tim Cook started reviewing what they had announced for the day, but Cook was far from over and made it clear when he said that he had “one more thing” to share with everyone. That thing was the long rumored Apple Watch, Apple’s first new product since the iPad which was announced back in 2010.

    The Apple Watch features three ways of input: digital touch (which is what is used now in modern smartphones), “force touch” which uses electrodes around the screen to differentiate a tap from a hard press to bring up alternative menus, and a digital crown—a knob on the side of the watch that acts not only as a home button, but also as a way to scroll through lists and zoom in and out of apps like maps.

    Health and fitness was shown off as a predominant feature of the Apple Watch. With its heart rate monitor and M8 processor, the Apple Watch measures your steps and elevation without much effect on battery life. The device also features a new way of communicating with others by actually enabling you to send your heartbeat to a loved one if you are away from each other.

    The Apple Watch features much variation with its two sizes of three different models of Apple Watch. There is the standard Apple Watch, which features a hard to scratch sapphire screen and stainless steel enclosure, the Apple Watch Sport that has the same screen protection as the iPhone, with an aluminum enclosure, and the Apple Watch Edition which is the same as the standard Apple Watch besides the fact that it’s made of 18 karat gold. You can also customize the watchbands that the Apple Watch has with the six different bands that Apple offers.

    Like other smart watches on the market, the Apple Watch will allow you to view your notifications on your wrist and act on them, rather than pulling your phone out every time you hear your phone make a sound. Examples of this include replying to your friend’s text by using your voice, or getting directions from the Maps app. What is really different, though, is that you will be able to distinguish whether to go left or right, while driving, without looking at your wrist because the watch will create distinct haptic vibrations that will tell you which way to turn.

    Apple says that the Apple Watch will go on sale early 2015 at a base price of $349.

Mink - Makeup Printer

Marie Wisa Beauge
Staff Writer

    What do Maybelline, L’Oreal, Avon, Elf, Clinique and Mary Kay all have in common? They are all makeup brands that are trending in the beauty department section of your local drug store. Technology has helped shape numerous industries including cosmetics, and now, thanks to Harvard student Grace Choi, a 3D printer that can be used at home to print any shade of makeup has been invented.

    For the average female American that enjoys wearing makeup but finds themselves living paycheck to paycheck, it would be an investment to buy eye shadow from Elf, concealer from L’Oreal, lipstick from Maybelline, perfume from Avon, nail polish from Clinique and foundation from Mary Kay. That would mean a constant saving from each paycheck, and spending cuts from the “wants” to supply only the “needs” in order to have that collection. Of course one color of eye shadow, lipstick and nail polish is not enough. There has to be a red, pink, brown, black, turquoise and even white to match the desired funky style. And that means getting up, driving to a local store, walking to the beauty section, and choosing from the millions of other products there. The struggle is even worse if the right shade of foundation is not available, and two different shades have to be bought and mixed to acquire the preferred color. It’s a hard job to be beautiful!

    With the invention of the 3D printer called Mink, the problems of convenience and color choice are solved. The days where the average woman would have to spend hundreds of dollars on different makeup brands or have to struggle to find the makeup with the perfect shade are over.

    Choi, a business major, realized that the makeup industry makes a lot of money selling products to dark skin and Caucasian skin, while Asians and Indian women have trouble finding the right shade of foundation. As a result, she invented Mink. It uses the same ink that makeup companies use. This printer can “print” eye shadow, foundation, lipstick, polish, you name it. The process is as follows: You obtain a white palette, insert it into the printer, go on the computer, and choose a color on a website (Pinterest board, YouTube channel, etc.), your E-mail or bank account. You can also snap one with your phone in the real world, and use any color picker to locate the hex code of the color. Once you have the code, you can put it into any photo-editing program like Photoshop or Paint and simply press print. To demonstrate that it worked, at a conference about her invention, Choi printed an eye shadow and brushed it on her hand.

    Grace Choi plans on going to the big printer corporations to strike a deal as far as the selling of the printer goes. The Mink costs a little under $200 and plans to go on sale later this year. The targeted age group is between 13 and 21 years of age, for they are still experimenting with makeup, and should do so without paying the big prices for color selection. Choi explains that makeup companies use color and raw materials and “jack” the price to make profit. She gives the user choice of color and the raw material is very cheap to obtain.

    I believe that this will drive teens and young adults to the electronic section of stores where the Mink will be sold in the future. In theory, Mink sounds amazing. Let’s see what will happen in practice.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/05/mink-is-a-3d-printer-for-makeup/