Apple’s March event is unofficially on, but pushed back by about a week. That’s the word from Re/code, who told us to re-mark our calendars, adjusting the date for Apple’s event back a week. The new date for the event is the week of March 21, where we’re still expected to see a smaller iPhone, iterative improvements to the iPad, and minor changes to the Apple Watch lineup.
On the iPad front, while it’s unlikely anything will change with the iPad Pro, rumour has it Apple will launch an iPad Air successor positioned as a smaller iPad Pro, instead of the iPad Air 3. Along with the Pro moniker, there’s a good chance that means the 9.7-inch iPad Pro will feature Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard support, and 9to5Mac even says Apple will incorporate quad stereo speakers to the mix.
And with regards to iPhones, sources tell 9to5Mac Apple will be dropping the numbering scheme for its smaller iPhone. Instead, the company will call it the iPhone SE, with the S standing for “smaller”. It follows that this decouples the device from Apple’s annual update cycle, while also removing confusion about where the model sits in the iPhone lineup.
According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, this smaller iPhone will come with a 12-megapixel rear camera, not the 8-megapixel shooter previously rumoured. NFC and Apple’s A9 SoC will be coming along for the ride, along with a slightly larger battery and minor changes to the old iPhone 5 design, although there’s a good chance we won’t see Apple’s current flagship feature, 3D Touch, on the smaller iPhone.
MacRumors confirms the lack of 3D Touch on the smaller iPhone. The first purported part leak of the smaller iPhone’s display assembly shows us a lack of 3D Touch components. When you think about it, it wouldn’t make sense for a new iPhone model to come out with a feature that’s only been around for less than six months on the company’s flagship device.
In an effort to bolster iOS security amidst the privacy and security debate, Apple has hired the developer of secure messaging app Signal. Federic Jacobs announced on Twitter on Friday that he would be working at Apple with the CoreOS security team.
Apple accidentally blacklisted its own ethernet kernel extension over the weekend. As part of routine background updates to enhance security, Apple added their own ethernet kernel extension to the list, meaning quite a few users lost the Ethernet port on their machines for a few hours. Apple has since rectified the issue, so you can go ahead and reboot your machine without fear of being disconnected from the world when it comes back up.
MacStories has a review of AirFoil 5, the audio routing app which can be described as AirPlay on steroids. AirFoil offers the ability to route audio to Bluetooth devices, multiple speakers, and even iOS devices with the AirFoil Satellite app installed. Source media can be chosen via a drop-down box, and you can even group audio outputs.
Jason Snell wants his parents to stop fighting about whether the Mac or the iPad is the better platform, instead arguing for both and saying both have their strengths and weaknesses.
A concept takes Control Centre to the next level, showing off what greater customisation of the hardware toggles and app shortcuts could do.
Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2016/02/monday-morning-news290216/