Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2017/03/tuesday-morning-news280317/
The latest supplier responsibility report from Apple tells us how they’re improving working conditions and protecting the planet by implementing stricter standards for its suppliers. 2016 saw Apple audit 705 suppliers, 95% of which complied with the 60-hour maximum work week, with similar improvements and reductions in waste emissions across the board.
Time to update all the things, starting with your iPhone and iPad. IOS 10.3 has been released to the general public, and it’s a major release due to the introduction of APFS, which is probably why the update will take a little longer than normal. Elsewhere, there’s changes within the Settings app to put your iCloud details front and centre, and the iOS 10.3 update also comes with the Find My AirPods feature you’ve been hearing about all this time.
The macOS 10.12.4 update has also been released into the wild, and while this one doesn’t come with automatic APFS conversion when you install it, it does come with Apple’s new Night Shift mode for screen-tinting when the sun goes down. Interestingly, Ars Technica’s release notes also mention Xsan fixes, which seems like a strange thing to be supporting in 2017.
The third major update is watchOS 3.2, which now comes with the Theater Mode feature to mute sounds and avoid waking the screen when you raise your wrist. You’ll still get haptic notifications to tell you that something happened, but otherwise your Apple Watch becomes almost completely unobtrusive.
Pages, Numbers, and Keynote have also been updated by Apple. All three apps get Touch ID authentication for protected documents, Keynote gets the ability to post presentations to third-party websites, Pages has a bunch of text formatting and language improvements, and Numbers now knows about current and historical stock information.
The 1.1 update to the Apple TV Remote app adds iPad support, just like the rumours said it would, allowing your iPad to be used as a replacement for the Siri remote that comes with your fourth-generation Apple TV. Split View is supported, and you can even move the buttons to wherever you like on-screen, so long as that’s on the bottom.
The WWDC ticket lottery kicks off today. Those interested in attending Apple’s developer conference should register by March 31st for their chance at a WWDC ticket.
AppleInsider reports Facebook has hired former Apple designer Michael Hillman to oversee VR hardware at Oculus. Hillman had 15 years of Apple experience, including work on Apple desktops, and while I’ve always though Oculus’ VR hardware has been slightly better designed than the HTC Vive alternative, this may make that difference even greater in the future.
Apple’s supply chain is telling us that the 10.5-inch iPad is now entering production, but when we’ll see the launch of a new iPad form factor is still unknown. It’s still possible that we’ll see it before WWDC, at WWDC, or later in the year, but all signs point to later rather than sooner due to the already recent iPad launch.
If you’re running the iOS 10 public beta, 9to5Mac says you’ll need to delete the iOS Beta Software Profile you installed to get to the final public version.
