The Apple Worm

So the year has come and gone! I hope you have already heard the second to last episode of The Apple Worm Podcast on Soundcloud or Apple Podcast App ! Every year I do two final podcast and blog episodes: the first is on tech and the second on movies, so here we go. First, a small but important piece about my thoughts on what I believe happened and was most relevant to MY tech year and hopefully yours too: 1. The cheap-but-awesome smartphone market went from good to great! Phones like the Pocophone by XiaoMi and the One Plus 6T proved to the world that they can play in a price range that Apple does not and dominate enough to impress anyone who has a budget and still wants to get a flagship quality phone. 2. Smart speakers and machine learning technology is the NOW. If anyone ever wondered which technology would be more relevant between Augmented and Virtual Reality, well 2018 really settled that debate. Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, whoever you have in your life nowad

So, I just finished watching Daredevil season 3 on Netflix and I could not have more thoughts on my mind to share with your guys! First thing's first: I would rank the daredevil seasons from amazing to good in the following order: 1. Season 2 2. Season 3 3. Season 1 You may wonder why, and this review is the reason why. This season was amazing, it went by quite quickly and it probably impacted me emotionally more than any of the Netflix Marvel series so far. It is a heavy season, it is a smart season and most of all it is a Surprising season in every positive way posible. I still think that season 2 was the most excited I have been for a season and all in all an incredible action packed season. The elektra part did not hold up as much as I wished but the punisher made up for any lost capability. Season 3 has one flaw, the opening makes daredevil too unlikable, too negative, too broken... I honestly believe one of Daredevil's strongest traits as a hero

PLEASE READ UNTIL THE END Most people cannot imagine their daily lives and lots of people know not of a life without it.  Some have grown thanks to and others in spite of it. A platform for some and against others. Still largely a mystery to the large majority of us... I have sat for minutes and hours just trying to truly understand the seemingly endless possibilities. Some have lost their life, some try to avoid and clearly fear it. I have lived short enough to see the explosion and take-over, I have hated and loved it... And yet here I am, living on it. I wish everyone would take a look at their weekly report of internet usage on all devices. Saw themselves walking through their life, one screen at a time... I wish the connectivity someday became closeness.  The internet got to 50 million users in about 4 years... Apps and the App Store reached that same number in less than 18 months... My point is... that I love watching technology enrich lives, and although

Let us walk back to April 24th 2015 when Tim Cook said that "there's one more thing..." The original Apple Watch (as I mentioned way back when) was most definitely a first generation exploratory device. Apple shot everything at the consumer market and saw what stuck with us. Of course apple freaks would buy them, but the secret was in finding what the rest of the market the normal consumer, would think of it. A lot of features that where introduced at first have either been eliminated completely or have become the most important feature. Now, 3 years later from that day in which some saw potential and some saw chaos the Apple Watch has become the number one WATCH (not just smart watch) in the world! I have been using my new series 4 AppleWatch for almost a week, some days more intensively than others, but I am so impressed and in awe that I had to write out my thoughts before the week is over so that people who are about to or have just got their watch know the

Yes! The title was on purpose... Let me explain (please read to the end): I just want to say I TOLD YOU SO! I knew and predicted weeks and weeks before in the podcast and days before in this very blog that there would be click-bait, spotlight searching, horrible excused people talking about how boring, predictable, not innovative the apple keynote has become... It sickens me to no end to see them write some sort of excuse for their introduction: "I have covered apple events since the first iPhone" "I have been reporting about Apple since..." "I remember the Apple of old"... etc etc. Who cares? You were and continue to be no one in terms of the Apple radar of significance! To them you are 1 customer, ONE! No more no less, same respect as all other Apple customers deserve but same amount of significance: ONE. People let the ego get to their head. You have been to other Apple events? Do you want a medal or a trophy?! The phrase "the leaks fr

I have always been very vocal about the people I admire and the things I love.  Today is no exception. Imagine meeting someone and seeing insecurity in their eyes. Imagine instilling in their life laughter and smiles and feeling like somehow someway you are able to take their mind off their problems, their sadness, their life. Imagine that person comes back and actually enjoys your company, makes you a part of their day to day, enjoys your stupidity and craziness, finds comfort in your hugs and want nothing more in exchange for those hugs more than just company and laughter. One day that person did not just become stronger, she also grew funnier and more confident. NO I will not and am not taking credit for any of it. I have become more of a spectator to the one girl I once I knew and spoke with every week at least 3 times through FaceTime as she confessed her inner demons and insecurities and left herself wide open just to realize that deep down, I was just

As I ended my weekly podcast, this week got me thinking. There is a subject that I wanted to write out about. September is right around the corner and I am excited to see what Apple has in store for everyone for the end of the year (specially in terms of AppleWatch). So here come the rumors... Some rumors begin the DAY of the event about NEXT YEARS event...  Some start a couple of months later and as the next event gets closer and closer the rumors start to range from plausible, all the way to apocalyptic  and idiotic. Some rumors are actually useful and tell you why Apple could decide to go in a certain direction with a line of products. Some have insights into meetings and prove that leakers are either highly paid or simply highly capable liars. So all in all, there are tons of rumors... here is my deal Rumors are rumors and some sources are certainly more trustworthy than others, I do not mind people writing rumors or even when they invent them, that's their p

***I recommend a hot beverage with this one*** We all know those days when you feel tired, done for and just want to scream and cry; and when you finally go to bed, know that you have to get back up in 4 hours or less? Well, I am here just to remind you to NEVER forget those days, to remember the tears, the stress, the sighs... hear me out It is in those days, tears, sighs, those moments when rage and the feeling of giving up comes through you, that you are closer to where you want and deserve to be. People are in such a rush nowadays, they want everything the fastest, shortest, easiest way. It is in this impatience that social media pushes us to “prove” to everyone that we are doing amazing E V E R Y D A Y. The truth is you aren’t even half way done the bigger your dream the harder the obstacles on the way to attaining it. And when you feel tired or helpless or lost, you are probably half way through. People want a clear path but the road to success is always

Someone who you don't know, you maybe haven't even heard of, who I don't know personally but thanks to the power of technology and social media I have been able to appreciate, listen to and learn from. A tall, sweaty, happy, passionate, strange, crazy man born some short or long time ago. Has passed away. I never met this man, I wish I had. Every week for the past few years I would listen to his take on things that I never knew of and wished to learn more about. A walking encyclopedia of comic books and movie knowledge. Never a dull moment, always speaking his mind, Jon Schnepp was one of those people that would make everyone smile because he wanted everyone to "rock on". Since I was a kid I read about The Flash, I googled info, saw animated versions and even bought the small amount of comics that I could find; because in my small Central American country, comics were an unknown part of culture. Finding Schnepp online helped me reconnect and fall in love

Yeah, I am still working on uploading my latest podcast episode reviewing this movie and the Netflix phenomenon I missed out on earlier this year called Annihilation. It will come soon I promise :) As for the topic at hand: Incredibles 2! 14 years later we finally get the much deserved and requested sequel. I will be direct and simple: THIS MOVIE IS EVEN BETTER THAN THE FIRST ONE! As a whole it is superior, but there are things the first movie does better. I rewatched the original movie the night before going to see the movie and was absolutely sure that it was unbeatable. And it was superior to the second in one thing: the villain. Syndrome is one of the best and most well rounded villains there is and I absolutely enjoyed him in the first movie. Also the first movie centers completely on the family and fleshes them out extensively, this allows the sequel to spend more time on secondary and new characters, but I still wished to have had more time with them taking into account

I hope and wish with all my heart that you already have or someday find or share the feeling of true happiness and excitement that I have every 4 years when the World Cup happens. Let me explain: One of my first memories of happiness was when I was about 5 years old, I was visiting with my family southern France to go to the beaches and generally enjoy the great weather. We always go to this house that my danish parents have in a beautiful and small town called Bagnols-en-For êt. This small and local french place was truly a small quiet and almost hidden place perfect for  relaxing and driving in the day to the nearby beaches like Saint-Raphael or Cannes. It was 1998 and France faced Brasil in the World Cup Final. I remember the town being as full as could be, people of all ages, all kinds of face paint with the french flag, and nerves like nothing I had seen. If you have not figured it out by now, France won that World Cup and the entire country of France BLEW UP IN HAPPINESS.

So, it has been a while since I wrote an open entry to Apple (as if they read this... 😅) about my wishes for the upcoming year, or in this case for the upcoming World Wide Developers Conference. Since the conference is this next Monday I have put together a small list to share with you guys my thoughts on why WWDC is so important and should be for anyone who appreciates the world as changed by Apple technology. My inspiration for this wishlist comes from 2 things mainly: The jaw-dropping, incredible, and probably not happening (although I am hoping for the best always) iOS concept from Michael Calcada called iOS(AR)   The hardware possibilities most talked about for this year in terms of new and/or updated products for Apple. First, let us stay true to our reality.  We live in a social media "imprint" kind of world; one where the people who most make noise get most of the attention in the short term. However, slowly but surely, their cockiness and searc

I am not sure what movie I saw first, but I am sure the first three movies I can remember are Aladdin, Hercules and Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back. All 3 thanks to my movie loving mother. Today is the day I watch a Star Wars movie for the first time not being all kinds of crazy excited to see it... I am not saying Solo: A Star Wars Story is going to be a bad movie, I am just saying it is new to me to see a movie that is about Star Wars and not have all kinds of adrenaline rush about it. My favorite character has always been Yoda and I will forever be grateful for the Clone Wars animated series for giving me more Yoda. I grew up on the prequels so I actually like Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith but there is no challenging the fact that the originals are better, they just don't have that "special place" in my star wars loving heart. I am expecting the worst and hoping for the best. Which I believe is one of the best ways to walk into a blockbuster movie. I a

We live in a strange era. A time where everyone has a voice so instead of finding a way to be heard; people seem to be trying to find ways to mute or deafen other voices. This is not the time to get political so I decided to take on a rather similar topic in terms of how avid people are with respect to how they react: movies. Fandom has existed ever since people started to support sports and teams and movements, etc. In movies, blockbusters created fans and fans created culture around their fandom. So eventually we got to this amazing time wherein blockbusters come out in the cinema 6 to 10 times PER YEAR! Eventually people started searching more for the differences than the similarities. It is so sad to see fandoms like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Marvel Cinematic Universe and so many others start to debate constructively and end up fighting and getting personal and unnecessarily insultive. We have become spoiled and start to read other people's reviews of movies NOT

My birthday is this month! So in honor of that great and amazing day I decided to pick a very personal topic: Apple (more personal stories will come for my birthday on the 18th) I remember old windows 98 computers, I remember horrendous interphases and monitors the size of a basketball, I still remember the horrific sound of connecting to the internet via fax. However... I also do still remember that one day, one beautiful day. I went to a classmates house for a homework assignment in school and she asked her father if we could use his computer. He kindly agreed and told us the password. Little did I know that what we were about to experience was an iMac! I can recall like it was yesterday that gorgeous blue transparency and the awe of not having a separate CPU! The CD and CD-ROM unit was ejected from the front as the Apple   logo gave way to a seemingly secret door. And even more absurd was the fact that EVEN THE SPEAKERS were inside the monitor computer! The only gripe I ha

DO NOT READ THIS ENTRY IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN INFINITY WAR  (and come back AS SOON as you have) After watching Avengers Infinity War for a third time, I could not be more sure about how I feel about the protagonist of this 10 year pay-off story called Infinity War. As I mention in my Non-Spoiler Infinity War podcast  Thanos is one of the best villains ever to be developed in a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie. But WHY? What makes him great or even better than other villains like Helmut Zemo (from Civil War) or Loki? 3 things: First , you show he's capable of doing something NO ONE else has come close to.  In the first 5 minutes of Infinity War Thanos completely demolishes THE INCREDIBLE HULK. The fighting choreography and animation was completely top notch. The Hulk got beat up so bad, he became scared for the first time ever, not coming out again throughout the entire movie! We are talking about a Hulk that has spat out bullets when Banner tried to suicide, foug

Remember the awesome days when Apple had GoogleMaps as a stock option? No? Well, those days have not necessarily ended. And even when there are lawsuits in between their relationship I believe Apple and Google have a more than cordial enough relationship... I still use google maps a lot, I work on Google drive and format the final version of those pieces on iWork apps, I have all kinds of Google apps on my Mac, iPad and iPhone. And specially iPad is a tool that I adore how much I can get out of all the Google apps. I don't know how I would deal with my thousands of pictures if not for Google Photos and it's UNLIMITED cloud storage! Having said all that and to clearly state my point on the current state of tech companies and complimentary offers, what better example than education and their separate yet complementary approaches. First of all, let us keep in mind the following commercial by Apple that reminds us what education is truly about: developing the future. 

The best kinds of friends are the ones you find in hard times... No, I don't mean the new friends that come around, I mean the ones that stay in the hard times, that help you through them without getting lost in the problem; or the ones that appear out of nowhere to help you because they see something or you make them feel safe, happy, etc. A friend is not a loser that drags you down, it is a fighter that pushes you towards the next thing. Me and a friend were sitting down on a sidewalk after a funeral of a VERY important person to us. We were just silently supporting each other as thoughts came and went. Both with salty cheeks from the tears that had recently stopped, both thinking about how life feels long, until it's not, how we wished to have shared more moments with our amazing and now passed away friend. And in that moment, he sat up straight and as he patted my back: - "we are still young... We have time to try out what we are good and bad at so t

So, before you guys read up on this review I am going to ask for a small favor. A couple of amazing friends need help in winning a challenge in social media, so before you ready the review if you could go on instagram to the username  yosoykraftheinzcr  and follow I would very much appreciate it. Thanks. AND NOW the review: I have already told you guys in the podcast and blog that ever since I can recall I have being going to the movies with my mom, alone or with whom ever, as much as I can. It is an escape from reality and an experience all in itself. Something that maybe have not said (or at least I do not recall), is that even when I am a hyper active human being, I VERY MUCH enjoy silence. Just moments of silence, whether it is in the shower, at a spiritual place or even better: in nature. Silence is the great magician, because as soon as you go into your thoughts and think or imagine, it is just YOU with YOU. Silence proves who can and cannot tolerate Themselves way mor