MyAppleMenu

The Simply-iPad Edition Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Apple’s New $329 9.7-inch iPad Replaces Air 2, Has No Pro Features, by Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica

The company's new mainstream 9.7-inch tablet, called simply "iPad," includes an Apple A9 SoC (not an A9X), but its most exciting feature is its starting price of $329, $70 less than the previous starting price of the Air 2. The tablet will be available to order starting March 24, and will begin shipping next week.

Now, for that price, it actually appears that you take a step back from the design used for the Air 2 and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro. At 1.03 pounds (469g) and 0.29-inches (7.5mm) thick, the tablet is actually almost identical in size to the original iPad Air, not the Air 2. Hopefully this doesn't also mean that the screen or any other aspect of the tablet is also taking a step backward, but we'll have to wait to get one in our hands to know for sure.

iPad Mini 4 With 128GB Of Storage Now Starts At $399, 32GB Model Discontinued, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

Apple today announced that the iPad mini 4 now offers more capacity for the same price. The 128GB model with Wi-Fi now starts at $399, which was previously the price for the 32GB model with Wi-Fi, which has been discontinued.

Ready For Red

The iPhone Is Finally Going (RED), by Lance Ulanoff, Mashable

Apple is finally bringing iPhone into the (RED) fold a decade after it first started producing special edition, red-clad devices to help promote and fund Product (RED)'s efforts to combat HIV and AIDS. [...]

Choosing to finally do a (RED) iPhone is "a nice recognition of our partnership with the (RED) team in fighting HIV and Aids," said Apple VP of Marketing Greg Joswiak.

Apple Doubles iPhone SE Storage To 32GB And 128GB, by Chris Welch, The Verge

Apple today introduced an iPhone SE with larger storage capacities of 32GB and 128GB of storage, doubling the capacity of the 16GB and 64GB models that have been available since the SE was released one year ago today. The prices remain the same at $399 and $499 unlocked.

Wait Wait, There're More

Apple’s New Clips App Makes Social Videos For Other Social Networks, by Lauren Goode, The Verge

The company just announced a new Apple-made app called Clips, which borrows features from Snapchat, Instagram, Vine, Prisma, iMovie, and Qwiki (remember that one?), and puts them all into a video-making mobile app that’s completely separate from Apple’s core camera app on iPhone and iPad. [...]

The thing is, Clips still isn’t a social video app, because the videos aren’t hosted in the cloud and blasted out publicly or semi-privately. There are no ads. The videos can be long, they’re stored locally on the phone, and from there, they’re uploaded (in HD) to other third party apps, from Instagram to YouTube to Twitter to Tumblr. You can send through Snapchat and others, too; but you’ll have to save the video locally first. You’re also not messaging through the Clips app.

Apple Watch Gets New Bands For Spring 2017, Nike Sport Bands Now Sold Separate, by Jordan Kahn, 9to5Mac

Among the new bands are 3 new colors for the Sport band, 6 new colors for the Woven Nylon band, and 3 new options for the Classic Buckle which also now sports a new buckle design.

Apple Launches New Silicone And Leather iPhone 7 Case Colors, by Tim Hardwick, MacRumors

The colors of the new silicone cases are described as Azure, Camellia, and Pebble [...] The leather case options have expanded to include shades of Sapphire, Taupe, and Berry.

Stuff

Spendee — Frictionless Expense Tracking App For iPhone & Android, by Rajat Sharma, Beautiful Pixels

Logging an expense in the app is a breeze — press the big ‘Plus’ button in the app, type in the amount, and you’re done.

Screen Commander Is New 'Screen Blanking' Software For The Mac, by Dennis Sellers, Apple World Today

Screen Commander lets you blank other displays while watching a movie, playing a game, or focusing on some work on a particular screen. You can blank out other screens when they’re not needed and quickly unblank them again on demand.

An Ideal iPad Case For Little Kids, by Josh Centers, TidBITS

The highlight of the HDE case is its hinged handle, which makes it easy for small hands to carry and hold the iPad safely — my three-year-old son Harris often holds his like a painter’s palette.

Notes

WebMD’s Pregnancy App And Study Will Use Apple’s ResearchKit, by Dennis Sellers, Apple World Today

The Healthy Pregnancy Study will use WebMD’s newly redesigned and enhanced Pregnancy app for iPhone; it’s available at the Apple App Store. Incorporation of the Apple ResearchKit software framework will enable survey participants to eConsent, easily and anonymously answer questions, and share connected device data about their pregnancies with researchers for analysis, says Dr. Eric Topol, director of STSI and editor-in-chief of Medscape.

How Aristotle Created The Computer, by Chris Dixon, The Atlantic

The history of computers is often told as a history of objects, from the abacus to the Babbage engine up through the code-breaking machines of World War II. In fact, it is better understood as a history of ideas, mainly ideas that emerged from mathematical logic, an obscure and cult-like discipline that first developed in the 19th century. Mathematical logic was pioneered by philosopher-mathematicians, most notably George Boole and Gottlob Frege, who were themselves inspired by Leibniz’s dream of a universal “concept language,” and the ancient logical system of Aristotle.

Mathematical logic was initially considered a hopelessly abstract subject with no conceivable applications. As one computer scientist commented: “If, in 1901, a talented and sympathetic outsider had been called upon to survey the sciences and name the branch which would be least fruitful in [the] century ahead, his choice might well have settled upon mathematical logic.” And yet, it would provide the foundation for a field that would have more impact on the modern world than any other.

Bottom of the Page

I am disappointed that we are probably coming to the end of the iPad mini line. I am wondering why Apple didn't release the red iPhone earlier -- like during Chinese New Year where everything red is in fashion. And I'm liking the new watch bands, even though I am still not convinced that I should go buy a watch.

~

Thanks for reading.