Along with the iPhone SE and new 9.7-inch iPad Pro, Apple unleashed a slew of new software updates this week, bringing all-new features to your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple TV.
Find out what’s awaiting you in the new Apple updates, as well as how to update all your Apple devices, in a series of Cult of Mac videos you can watch below.
iOS 9.3 is perhaps the biggest “dot” upgrade Apple has created for its mobile platform. Apple usually doesn’t show off incremental iOS upgrades at its carefully staged keynotes, but iOS 9.3 clocked some time at Monday’s iPhone SE event, and you should update right now.
If nothing else, you’ll get some great new features like Night Shift to make your mobile digital life just a bit better. Here’s how to get iOS 9.3 on your iPhone or iPad.
To help promote Apple’s ongoing Renew program — which encourages users to recycle their old Apple devices — Cupertino today released three new iOS 9 wallpapers to promote its mission.
Designed by graphic artist Anthony Burrill, the wallpapers are entitled “Nature in Balance,” “Nature in Harmony,” and “Nature in Us,” and are available to download in sizes customized for iPad mini, iPad Air, iPad Pro, and iPhone.
Apple plans to ship 4 million of its freshly-announced 9.7-inch iPad Pro, suggesting that sales of the company’s brand new tablet are projected to be promising — although this is unlikely to be the device which turns around Apple’s slowing iPad business.
As anyone who has read my coverage of the superb iOS game Monument Valley will know, I’m a huge sucker for beautiful puzzle games.
Well, it seems that 2016’s going to be a good year for me (and plenty of likeminded gamers), since a new trailer showing off an upcoming iOS game called Mekorama, built by the developer behind the very engaging Odd Bot Out, has just been released. And, boy, does it look great!
Check it out below.
Are you a budding photographer, who owns (or has access to) an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch? If so, you may be interested in entering this year’s IPPAwards, a.k.a. The iPhone Photography Awards.
Entrants are competing for the prestigious IPPA Photographer of the Year Award title, along with a assortment of other prizes.
Cybersecurity legend John McAfee has denied suggestions that he’s helping the FBI to crack the iPhone at the center of the San Bernardino shooting case, but hinted that he knows which party is involved. And, according to McAfee, it’s not good news for Apple.
“Apple and Tim Cook are not going to be happy with what the FBI has come up with,” he told CNBC in an interview. “It’s not worse than a universal master key, but it’s much much easier to get into a phone with it.”
Apple hasn’t done enough to publicly present its side of the current privacy standoff with the FBI, concerning whether or not it should build an iPhone backdoor, claims Andrea “Andy” Cunningham, Steve Jobs’ former publicist.
“I think [Steve] would’ve spent more time framing the issue for the [public] than I think [Apple under Tim Cook has] done so far,” Cunningham says.
The world’s biggest search engine is planning a new way to get its software onto Apple products, The Verge is reporting. It’s a Google iPhone keyboard that developers hope will trump the stock iOS one.
Third-party keyboards are nothing new, but very few actually have a shot at replacing Apple’s as the go-to typing tool either because of pointless features or shoddy design. But we think that if anyone’s going to give it a running start, it’s Google.
This is either bad news for your workload or great news for your procrastination, but as of today, YouTube’s iOS app has full support for two of the iPad’s multitasking features.
Now, you can run the video app alongside other, probably more useful things. You can even control YouTube while you’re working on other stuff without having to close either program. It’s a brilliant way to not get anything done, ever.
Here’s how it works.
iOS 9.3 is out now for everyone, and the upgrade delivers some great new features that make Apple’s mobile platform better than ever.
With sweet additions like password-protected Notes, sleep-saving Night Shift and data-friendly Wi-Fi Assist, iOS 9.3 might be Apple’s biggest “dot” release yet.
Here’s a quick rundown of all the coolest things you can do once you’ve downloaded the iOS 9.3 update, which Apple released Monday.
Die-hard Android fans probably had little interest in Apple’s keynote Monday, but believe it or not, plenty will be interested in the new iPhone SE.
With high-end specifications and a 4-inch display, it’s a compact smartphone for those who want the latest features without a supersized screen — and there’s nothing like it on Android.
I take a lot of screenshots on my Mac. This typically results in my desktop being cluttered with files I don’t really need to be there once I’m done with them.
That’s why I decided to change the location where my Mac screenshots are stored. My desktop is now clean and I still have quick access via a folder on my desktop. Here’s how you can do the same.
I was wrong. I can admit that now.
When I first wrote about the rumors that Apple would launch a new, improved 4-inch iPhone way back in 2014, I was skeptical that there was enough of a market to make Apple rush back to the 4-inch form factor so soon after abandoning it with the 4.7- and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
Readers immediately wrote to correct me: They (or, often, their wives, girlfriends or children) wanted nothing more than a small iPhone they could easily clutch in the palm of their hands. Well, we got exactly that!
So, now that the iPhone SE has been announced, how do you feel about it?
Yesterday, the launch of iOS 9.3 added Night Shift to Apple’s mobile devices. It’s a really cool feature that might help make you healthier. Jailbreakers have enjoyed an app with the same functionality for years, but now it’s legitimate and poses less of a risk of completely jacking up your iPhone or iPad.
Night Shift gives you the option of warming up the light your display emits so that you get less harsh, blue rays before bed. The idea is that your screen’s usual output tricks your body into thinking that it’s still daytime, and that can make it harder to fall and stay asleep. So if you’re used to checking some e-mails or reading some news before you conk out, it might help you rest easier.
Here’s how to activate Night Shift’s soothing beams.
Padlocks are essential for sheds, locker rooms and bicycles, but damn do I continue to forget my combination or lose my key.
Noke (the “e” is long, for “no key”) has this problem solved for iPhone-toting folks like me with its fantastic, easy-to-use smartlock that will never ask you for a combination again. Heck, even if your iPhone is missing, you can use Noke’s special key fob that ensures you’ll never be locked out from your gym clothes (or lawnmower) again.
The new iPad Pro packs Apple’s fastest chip ever, but it turns out the tablet is actually slower than the 12.9-inch version.
Both iPad Pros use the A9x processor. However, when Phil Schiller was gushing about the new 9.7-inch iPad Pro’s “grunt” during Monday’s iPhone SE keynote, he didn’t mention that Apple underclocked the new processor and reduced its horsepower.
After unboxing and filming the review for the Samsung Galaxy S7, I realized that I had never used Android as a daily driver. I had always sided with iOS in any “fanboy” debates, and I had never given the little green robot a chance.
To change this, I set myself the challenge of using Android and the S7 for a week as my primary smartphone. Check out the video down below to see how it worked out.
Apple’s iPhone SE keynote was one of the company’s shortest events ever. Apple struggled to cram enough interesting stuff to keep us awake during the 64-minute snoozefest that was just as much about recycling, renewable energy and protecting Chinese yaks as it was about the new 4-inch iPhone, a smaller iPad Pro and nylon Apple Watch bands.
We’ve boiled the event down to just the highlights so you can watch the entire keynote in a mere 90 seconds.
Enjoy:
Sad that Tim Cook didn’t unveil a sleek new MacBook Pro yesterday?
You’re not alone, but you won’t have to wait much longer to throw down some money on a new ultra-thin MacBook, according to the latest rumor from Asia.
The robots haven’t taken our jobs yet, but as we wait for that glorious (or terrible) day it’s getting more and more important to keep up with an increasingly competitive professional marketplace. Luckily, there are a lot of great resources for learning the new skills of today’s trades, and we’ve gathered a handful of the best. From project management to coding and data analysis, there’s not a resume that can’t benefit from these courses.
Google’s Chromecast platform has been given a brand new name: Google Cast.
The new name makes more sense given the platform’s ability to stream more than just Chrome tabs, but the Chromecast dongle lineup will retain the old moniker for now.
Apple is reportedly in “advanced talks” to acquire Imagination Technologies, the British chip design company which creates the PowerVR graphics chips Apple uses for its iOS devices.
If it is able to acquire the company, it would mean that Apple would be able to bring GPU design in-house, much as it has done with its internally-developed ARM-based CPU cores.
Are you a third-party dev, advertiser, or Apple employee hoping to use targeted ads or personalized recommenders based on Apple customer data? There’s an app for that. Good luck with that!
That’s according to a new report, which states that Apple has an internal committee consisting of three expert “privacy czars,” who have have to sign off on any and all collection of Apple user data.
And if you thought the App Store review process could drag on, you’ve got another thing coming: debates over individual uses of data at Apple can, in some cases, continue for upwards of one year.
Bigger isn’t always better. With the iPhone SE, Apple has designed a tiny smartphone that’s destined to become a gigantic hit.
The device, unveiled during Apple’s “Let us loop you in” event Monday, looks like a totally amazeballs iPhone — and it comes with an Android-low price. Here’s why this little dynamo will take the world by storm.