Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2017/01/thursday-night-news260117/
MacRumors tells us about the new features and changes in iOS 10.3. Besides the Find My AirPods feature that you’ve probably already heard about, there’s also minor changes to a number of settings screens, and developers will now be able to change app icons with user confirmation.
Although it’s not quite the iPad-focused update iPad owners were hanging out for, iOS 10.3 includes support for a hidden iPad keyboard. The floating keyboard works a lot like the picture-in-picture mode. If I was a betting man, all of these additions may mean we’re not that far off from a fully-fledged window management app for the iPad to keep all of these windows, panels, and picture-in-picture overlays in check.
The LG UltraFine 5K display on the Apple online store can now be reviewed, now that Apple’s recommended third-party display is in stock and ready to ship. It’s unknown why reviews weren’t previously allowed.
In the ongoing comings and goings of Apple employees, Dropcam co-founder Greg Duffy has been hired by Apple. Duffy has previously claimed that selling Dropcam to Nest was a mistake, and also criticised the father of the iPod, Tony Fadell, for running the company like a “tyrant bureaucrat”. It’s not known what Duffy will be doing at Apple.
Apple is planning for an additional 200 megawatts of solar energy to power its data centre in Nevada. Interestingly, Apple also plans to sell a fraction of that to residential and commercial customers through one of Nevada’s energy companies, perhaps via its own energy subsidiary Apple Energy LLC.
The Apple website is sporting a new look today, switching from Myriad to San Francisco. Most customer-facing pages are now sporting the new typeface, which was first introduced on the Apple Watch.
In case you didn’t have enough subscriptions as it is, there’s now an app for getting Mac apps via a monthly subscription. Setapp wants you to pay US $10 per month for access to 61 Mac apps. They’re calling it the “Netflix of apps”, and while the details for how much developers are paid depend on a formula based on how much their apps are used, I’m sure it’s a lucrative enough deal for that many developers to have signed on. MacStories has a few takes from the Apple blogosphere about how this could all work out.
9to5Mac goes hands-on with Incase’s nylon nato and leather straps for the Apple Watch. While the metal buckle of the leather strap isn’t as sophisticated as Apple’s, they’re also about a third of the price.
Mac Kung Fu has tips on checking how used a Mac is, which can come in handy if you’re trying to see how second-hand that second-hand Mac you have your eye on is. Battery charge cycles can tell you a bit, but if you’re on a desktop, a more reliable way might be to find out how much powered-on time the hard drive has had.