Apple Pencil - page 6

Got a new Apple Pencil? Once the initial novelty wears off, you might find that it spends most of its time magnetically clipped to the side of your iPad Pro or, worse, stuck in the back of a drawer. After all, there are only so many PDFs to annotate and screenshots to mark up.

Which is a great shame, because what your Apple Pencil really wants to do is create art. You only appreciate the true joy of owning one when you draw with it. So, why not follow this handy how-to guide and start sketching lifelike portraits of friends and family? It’s a really fun hobby.

As Kate Winslet once said in Titantic, “Draw me like one of your French girls.”

An update to Apple’s free iOS alternative to Powerpoint allows iPad users with an Apple Pencil to easily draw an animation path for any object in Keynote.

At the same time, quite a few features were added to this software and the other iWork applications, Pages and Numbers.

AiPad Pro owners no longer have to pay $129 to get a high-quality stylus. The Apple Pencil 2 isn’t the only option any more.

Apple is changing course by allowing the Logitech Crayon to work with more of its tablets, and this accessory is about half the price of the Pencil 2.

The number of tablets that can use the Apple Pencil expanded with the debut of the iPad Air 3 and iPad mini 5. Curiously, these support the original version of this pressure-sensitive stylus, not the newer one that launched in the fall.

But it turns out there are several good reasons for this move.

Apple today added two new iPads to its lineup while dropping the 10.5-inch iPad Pro released in 2017. It now offers five different tablets, each of which has its own advantages. So how do you choose the right one?

Which iPad is best for unparalleled performance? Which one offers more bang for your buck? Which is starting to look a little long in the tooth?

Our in-depth comparison shows you exactly how all five of Apple’s current iPads stack up — and helps you decide which one is worth your hard-earned cash.

A new iPad Air with a larger 10.5-inch display and a fifth-generation iPad mini are available to order now from Apple.com.

Both feature a blazing-fast A12 Bionic chip, improved displays with True Tone, and Apple Pencil support. Prices start at $399 for the new iPad mini, and $499 for the new iPad Air.

A highlight of the newly announced iPad Air 3 and iPad mini 5 is support for the original Apple Pencil. But these new tablets can also be used with the Logitech Crayon.

This has a lower price than Apple’s stylus, and costs even less when bought by schools.

Apple’s iWork suite of apps for iOS is getting an upgrade, making it more suited for use with the Apple Pencil.

iWork apps include Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, all of which are available as a free download from the App Store.

Scenario: Your divorce papers finally came through, and you can’t wait to sign the things. The trouble is, your spouse already took your office and your home, and you have no way to print or fax the documents.  Or perhaps you need to stick your autograph on some other document, but all you have is your iPhone or iPad.

 No worries. With recent versions of iOS, it’s easier than ever to sign a PDF form and return it to the sender. In fact, you don’t even need to leave the Mail app to do it. If you’re looking for a PDF converter iPhone users can rely on, check out this guide for more details.

The Apple Pencil 2 is way better than version 1.0. It’s always charged. It’s always there on the side of your iPad, ready to use. And now that it supports tap gestures, it’s also a lot more powerful. But it doesn’t stop there.

Check out these excellent Apple Pencil 2 tips and tricks to take your Apple stylus usage to the next level.

Valentine’s Day is fast-approaching, which means it’s time to start shopping for that special someone in your life. If they’re a fan of Apple products and awesome gadgets to go with them, Cult of Mac is here to help.

Our Valentine’s Day gift guide is full of great gift ideas that are guaranteed to put a smile on their face. We have beautiful books about Apple’s most iconic devices, the coolest cushions and T-shirts, and must-have accessories.

No matter what your budget, you’ll find something they’ll love almost as much as you. (Maybe even more?)

Before Apple’s magical product pipeline pops out a plethora of new goodies this year,  it might be good to take a minute to appreciate the insane number of products the iPhone-maker has come out with over the last 42 years.

Keeping tabs on all the products Apple comes out within a single year is hard enough, but some ambitious person has created a detailed graphic that shows everything Apple has ever made.

Prepare to be overwhelmed by all the innovations:

The Portrait Mode in the iPhone XR and XS is hands-down amazing. In the time it take to snap a photo, the camera scans the depth of the image in front of it, and uses that data to blur the background, and make the subject pop out, sharp. But it doesn’t always work. The depth detection gets confused by glass, for example, ruining what could have been an amazing image.

Today we’re going to use and app called Focos to fix these depth glitches. Focos is an all-round focusing powerhouse of an app, recently updated to support the iPad, including the new iPads Pro. The area we’ll focus on today (sorry) is the ability to edit the depth map, and paint back in the glass or hair that the iPhone missed.

Got a new Apple Pencil? Then you should change these two settings as soon as you’ve snapped it onto the side of your iPad Pro and experienced its satisfyingly solid magnetic click.

This week on The CultCast: It’s all our favorite gadgets of 2018! Well, not all, but lots of them. We didn’t have time to get through them all but we tried real hard. Plus: Apple is finally gearing up to overhaul the AMD GPUs in the Mac lineup. And the legit way to purchase a base iMac Pro for just $3,900.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10 percent off your first hosting plan or domain.

The iPad’s best simple drawing app just got a fantastic update for the new 2018 iPad Pro. Linea Sketch is a crowd favorite thanks to its clean design, its advanced-yet-simple-to-use features, and its great drawing and ink engine. And now it has been brushed up to take advantage of the new 2018 iPadPro and second-gen Apple Pencil.

The holiday shopping season has rudely crept up on us, which means it’s time to start buying for friends and loved ones who have been good this year. Fortunately for you, Cult of Mac is here to help.

Our gift guides are full of great products Apple fans are sure to love. We’ve hand-picked awesome accessories and glorious gadgets that we all use and recommend, so you know your money is being well-spent.

This guide focuses on the iPad lovers in your life, and there’s something to suit every budget.

Today’s how-to is a little different. I won’t be recommending special apps for learning how to draw, or even AR apps that help you trace pictures onto real paper. Instead, I’m going to give you a few tips that will help you draw what you see in front of you, whether you’re using a pencil and paper, brush and canvas, or iPad Pro and Apple Pencil.

But first, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that you already know how to draw — you just need to learn how to look. The bad news is that the only way to improve is to practice. A lot. There’s no shortcut. You just have to do a lot of drawing. And if you’re spending long hours sketching on your iPad, having a reliable round charger can keep your device powered up effortlessly—check out this deal on the INIU Leopard 100W GaN Wall Charger.

Adobe added fresh tasks to its iOS version of Lightroom so that it can be used with Apple’s newest mobile tools.

Beginning today, Lightroom Mobile will support both the latest iPad Pro models and the redesigned Apple Pencil. With the pencil, users can double-tap to switch between paint and erase modes with certain tools.

An 11-inch iPad Pro and Apple Pencil were the focus of what seemed like a routine unboxing video. That is until the host used his bare hands to destroy both devices.

If you’re among the 2.7 million viewers to JerryRigEverything on YouTube, you’ve come to expect the unusual durability tests host Zach Nelson puts to the latest tech gadgets.

I’ve owned an Apple Pencil since I bought the first iPad Pro a few years ago. There’s nothing to touch it when it comes to drawing and painting on the iPad, but I found I didn’t ever use it for that. I mark up PDFs, make selections when editing photos, and sketch the odd diagram.

This time around, I’m saving my $130 by not buying the Apple Pencil mkII. Why? I don’t need it. Instead, I’m using the cheap, dumb stylus I found in my jam jar of pens and pencils. Let me tell you why.

Since I got an new 2018 iPad Pro on launch day last week, I’ve used it exclusively. I haven’t touched my aging, decrepit Mac all week. I’ve used the iPad for work, and for play, so I’ve given it a pretty good workout. The short review is: It’s fantastic, and better in almost every way.

The long review? There are still plenty of annoyances.

Every 2018 iPad Pro review I’ve read seems to be written by someone who doesn’t use the iPad like a pro. Most of the reviewers focus on using Apple’s new tablet they way most people do: reading the internet, doing some mail and watching lots of video.

Which is a shame, because there’s a lot to like in this iPad for “power” users, aka folks whose everyday carry is an iPad. People like me. The iPad has been my most-used device for years. I do everything on it. (Everything, ironically, except writing articles — but that’s because my ancient 27-inch iMac still works fine, and I like to use a trackpad for editing text.)

Rather than reviewing the iPad Pro from the point of view of a “normal,” I’m going to talk about this gorgeous new device like someone who uses an iPad for work every day.

The second-generation Apple Pencil has to recharge from a 2018 iPad Pro. No other method is possible. This meands people will have to depend on magnets securely holding this $129 stylus to the side of their tablet because there isn’t any other option.

People criticized the original Pencil’s method of recharging, but it turns out its replacement isn’t perfect either.

The redesigned Apple Pencil magnetically clips to the side of the 2018 iPad Pro, and even wireless charges when its held there. This is a feature many people have been hoping for, but it comes with a significant drawback. This new pressure-sensitive stylus won’t be able to charge through some protective cases.

Case-maker Speck has confirmed that its first offering for the latest iPad will interfere with charging the Pencil, and says many of its rivals will as well.