Apple is putting more tools in the hands of educators today with the official launch of the new Classroom app for iPad that promises to opens up new, more engaging ways of teaching and learning on the iPad.
The new app is part of the new iOS 9.3 education features Apple has added that allow teachers to manage student devices, share work and assignments, as well as track students’ progress to help them stay on track.
Small was the new big at Apple’s “Let us loop you in” keynote today. And while some felt the 64-minute unveiling was the most snooze-worthy event ever, Apple used it to unleash the most important iPad its made since the original tablet launched in 2010.
The new 9.7-inch iPad Pro is much more than just a smaller variant of the 12.9-inch super slate Apple came out with last year. It’s a machine built to target Apple’s next big customer pool: the 600 million people still using 5-year-old PCs.
“That’s just sad,” Apple VP Phil Schiller said onstage, describing the unfortunate souls toiling with aging Windows machines. And the new, right-sized iPad Pro is exactly what those people need.
One of Apple’s biggest reveals at its low-key “Let us loop you in” event today was the premiere of a new set of bands for the Apple Watch. And woven nylon was the star of the show.
These colorful, zig-zaggy straps look like they’re the “fun” options for the wearable, like if you’re going to an ’80s throwback party but you still want to know when you get texts. They’re bright, boast “a comfortable, fabric-like feel” (according to the listing on the Apple Store website), and the best news is that they aren’t super-expensive.
Check out all seven varieties below:
The March 21 Apple event wrapped up earlier, and we have to say that for the most part, we saw that coming.
The company followed through on every rumor we heard that said it was going to put out smaller versions of its latest iPhones and iPads. It introduced new Apple Watch bands, including a Space Gray Milanese Loop, just like we’d heard. And it totally confirmed that the new versions of tvOS and OS 9 would be out today, which didn’t surprise us at all.
But we did manage to fit a gasp or two between all those yawns. Here’s everything that was actually surprising at today’s Apple event.
Whether you’re recycling your iPhone in order to upgrade to the latest iPhone SE, or you favor Apple products because they’re the best on the market, you can feel good about your choice thanks to Apple’s environmental and medical initiatives.
Cupertino’s favorite tech company dropped four gorgeous videos into its low-key keynote today that showcase Liam, a radical recycling robot, and ResearchKit, which is helping connect people and medical researchers in unprecedented numbers. These two videos, below, along with Apple’s historical 40 years in 40 seconds and the new iPad Pro, are as beautiful as you’d expect from the company that continues to make righteous choices while it makes loads of cash.
The new Apple TV is finally getting folders for apps today, thanks to the public release of tvOS 9.2 that is available now to all fourth-gen Apple TV users.
Apple touted the new update today at an event, previewing new features like app folders, support for Bluetooth keyboards, voice-to-text dictation for text entry fields, a podcasts app and other improvements.
Along with the new Apple TV software, Apple has also released watchOS 2.2 to the public that contains a number of bug fixes, and some small tweaks such as the ability to sync multiple watches to one iPhone, Maps improvements and more.
Take a look at the new features:
The biggest iOS update yet of 2016 is finally here, bringing new features to iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users.
iOS 9.3 doesn’t contain many design changes, but there are a host of new features like NightShift mode, Touch ID secured Notes, iPad education features, and lots of little changes in Apple Music and Apple News.
iPhone and iPad owners can grab the new update over the air by going to the Software Update section in the iOS Settings app, or you can download it directly via iTunes.
Here’s a look at everything that’s new:
Evolution, not revolution, was the tone of today’s low-key Apple event. Smaller is better, says Apple, with two big product “reveals” that show off compact new devices with impressive internals.
While most of the announcements today have already been discussed and dissected, like the 4-inch iPhone SE, new Apple Watch bands and a smaller 9.7-inch iPad Pro, there were a couple of surprises.
Here are the biggest takeaways from Apple’s oddly low-key “Let us loop you in” event.
Forget the iPad Air 3. Apple’s new 9.7-inch tablet will be a scaled-down version of its supercharged 12.9-inch iPad Pro — called (drumroll, please) the 9.7-inch iPad Pro.
The new, smaller iPad Pro features four-speaker audio, a rear flash, Apple Pencil support, a Smart Connector for an all-new 9.7-inch Smart Keyboard, Apple’s most advanced iPad camera yet, and some very, very cool True Tone technology for matching the ambient light wherever you are.
Oh, and a fancy new 256GB storage option.
Buying a smaller iPhone doesn’t have to mean settling for disappointing specifications anymore. With its new iPhone SE, Apple is packing its latest features and technologies into a compact shell to provide those who prefer smaller screens with the very best it has to offer.
The first big Apple media event of 2016 is finally here.
Months of rumors, speculation and anticipation have been leading up to Apple’s “Let us loop you in” event this morning, at which the company is expected to unveil a new 4-inch iPhone, a new iPad Pro model, and some Apple Watch hardware.
Tim Cook and the rest of the Apple crew are set to take the stage at 10 a.m. Pacific and Cult of Mac will be here to liveblog the festivities. Will there be a “one more thing” at the end to make this a truly unforgettable event? Come follow along with us below:
Samsung’s Gear S2 smartwatch will get an update that adds iPhone compatibility by the end of this month, according to a new report.
The move will allow Samsung to compete with the Apple Watch in its own backyard, but some features — such as Samsung Pay — will be lost when the wearable is connected to iOS.
Encryption researchers at John Hopkins University have found a serious flaw in the encryption of Apple’s iMessage platform that shatters the FBI’s stance that encryption on devices like the iPhone is unhackable.
The group of researchers discovered a bug that would allow attackers to decrypt pictures and video sent over iMessage. The flaw wouldn’t help the FBI in its investigation of the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, but it shows just how hard it is to get air-tight encryption right, even for a company with as much talent and resources as Apple.
Monday, March 21, will be a big day for Apple, with possible reveals of a budget 4-inch iPhone SE, a 9.7-inch iPad Pro and maybe even some new Apple Watch bands ahead of the second iteration of Apple’s wrist computer.
Want to watch the Apple event live? Here’s how you do it on any of your Apple devices (and even a PC).
Note: Monday’s Apple event starts at 10 a.m. Pacific. Cult of Mac’s liveblog will start serving up color commentary an hour before that, so don’t be late!
Apple is planning a major flagship retail store in India, with a design reminiscent of its Fifth Avenue Apple Store in New York, according to a new report.
The FBI was reportedly “stunned” when it first got to see what Apple had planned for iPhone encryption, after it received early access to iOS 8 (where Apple introduced its new, stronger iPhone encryption) so that it could examine how its evidence-gathering techniques would have to change.
Twitter turns 10 years old today — with the company having been founded back in the halcyon days of March 2006, when V For Vendetta had just arrived in theaters, James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful” was being played on repeat by every radio station, and the iPhone was still an excited rumor on tech sites.
#ManyHappyReturnsOnYourBirthday.
The Apple Online Store has temporarily gone down in advance of today’s Apple keynote.
When it returns, we’re expecting to see a new 4-inch iPhone SE, 9.7-inch iPad Pro, additional Apple Watch straps, and more — although you probably won’t be able to order them right away.
Steve Wozniak sure likes to wax lyrical about the Apple II, and now he can do so with his very own wax figure (sorry for the awful pun!) — which was unveiled over the weekend at the first ever Silicon Valley Comic Con at the San Jose Convention Center.
“I am so honored. I have always wanted to be in a wax museum due to characters we idolize like our superheroes. You live on forever,” said Woz.
There are plenty of rumors that Apple plans to ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack connector for the iPhone 7 — and now we’ve got our first (possible) photo of the company’s next-gen EarPods, complete with Lightning connector.
The picture first appeared on Chinese social network Weibo over the weekend. Check it out below.
Happy Sunday everyone!
If you’re looking to kick back and relax, we’ve got you covered when it comes to the apps you need to download to enjoy the rest of your hard-earned weekend — and the 7 days to come.
From nifty adventure games for your iPhone to a great music app for Apple Watch, check out our picks for awesome apps of the week below.
This week on The CultCast: Will we see new Macs? Perhaps the elusive “One more thing”? Don’t miss our March 21 Apple event predictions and expectations. Plus: How Instagram is about to be ruined; reports of an Apple Car price and ship date surface; why pirates are excited for the AyeCar; and some new iPhone 7 leaks echo familiar rumors.
Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to build a website that looks beautiful on any device at Squarespace.com. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off.
Apple’s set to bring the noise at an exciting new keynote event March 21, full of iPad Air 3 and iPhone SE news, and we’re sure you’re ready to hear it.
While you wait for Apple’s big event, though, we’ve gathered together all the things we think you need to know about the upcoming Apple-fest and put them into this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine.
Enjoy the noise, and check out this week’s top stories.
We’d play this game in a heartbeat, especially if it can bust video games into our living rooms in such a realistic way.
Putting on a typical virtual reality (VR) headset like an Oculus Rift can be disorienting at first, as VR tends to shut you out of the real world and into a, well, virtual one. Augmented reality, like you might find with Google Glass, for example, tends to place the digital world into the real one.
This Sulon Q looks like a VR rig, but lets you see the real world through it, with some digital overlay to make the fantasy of a video game look like it’s in the same place as you are.
In the video below, you’ll see a demo of a Jack and the Beanstalk game which starts out in the Sulon offices, but then things get fantastic fast as the giant beanstalk finds its way upward to the sky.
Check it out and thrill along with us.
Silicon Valley, the HBO comedy about the hard knocks of startup life, is coming back for its third season this April, and based on the first trailer that was released today, it’s going to be every bit as whacky as the first two seasons, if not more.
The Pied Piper gang gets a new CEO to kick things off, after last season ended with founder and CEO Richard Hendricks getting booted from his top spot by the board. It appears that Richard hasn’t completely left the company despite getting fired, while Gavin Belson and the Piper’s other rivals are still trying to kill the nerdy compression company.
Watch the first trailer below: