Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2017/05/wednesday-morning-news170517/
Bloomberg is claiming this morning that we’ll see updated laptops from Apple at WWDC. Faster processors are expected for the MacBook Pro and MacBook, while even the MacBook Air is being considered for some kind of upgrade that may turn out to be just a speed bump. I’m surprised that Apple has kept around the MacBook Air for as long as it has, given it similarity to the 12-inch MacBook.
The Today at Apple program launches today, featuring a number of educational experiences at Apple Stores. There are kid-focused Sphero Maze Challenges, photo walks teaching framing, or ones focused on developing your own style interspersed between classes teaching the basics of Macs, iPads, and video and photo editing on everything in between.
With rumours about a new iPad form factor, what about the iPad mini? BGR thinks it might be the end of the road for the iPad mini, which rose to popularity as people wanted a smaller iPad, but not something as small as an iPhone. Now that Plus-sized iPhones are a thing, perhaps the iPad mini doesn’t appeal as much as it used to. Killing it off makes some sense.
The Verge writes about two recent patents for Apple which could point towards possible features in a future iPhone, if not the next one. The bezel-free display and integrated Touch ID sensor are widely expected to make their debut in this year’s iPhone, along with whatever else Apple deem fit for inclusion in their flagship product.
If you have two-factor authentication enabled on your iCloud account, you can use an app-specific password, or your Apple ID password with third-party apps. An Apple Support email says that will be changing on June 15, when you’ll be required to generate an app-specific password for the third-party app in question.
Even if you’re going to San Jose for WWDC this year, there’s plenty of other events that you can attend during the conference. Some take place over the course of the week, others are a one-day or one-night affair that won’t distract you (too much) from the main thing.
9to5Mac shed some light on a big update to Apple’s School interface coming soon. Activity Manager will serve as a centralised location to manage, monitor, and administer bulk tasks, with Apple also making the back-to-school period easier with features like being able to download a CSV of managed Apple IDs.
Apple’s Knightsbridge shopping centre location, on Orchard Road in Singapore, now has an official opening date of May 27th.
An update to the Giphy app can now save GIFs as Live Photos, letting you save them to your camera roll for use as wallpaper. I tried this out with a few Taylor Swift GIFs, and while the quality seems to be average, it probably depends on the quality of the original GIF.
Jean-Louise Gassée writes about the problem with the iPad, in which he says that the iPad enjoyed kickstarting the tablet revolution, which fell almost as quickly as it rose. Perhaps tablets weren’t what people wanted, but a new way of interaction called touch which has been quickly integrated into laptop/tablet hybrids — so what do Apple need to do to bring the iPad back into the spotlight?
