The 9.7-inch iPad Pro: Our Complete Overview

The 9.7-inch iPad Pro.

The 9.7-inch iPad Pro.

At a media event held earlier today at its campus in Cupertino, Apple took the wraps off the highly anticipated smaller iPad Pro. With a 9.7-inch display (same size of the iPad Air 2) and carrying (mostly) the same features of its 12.9-inch counterpart, the smaller iPad Pro brings all the power of the bigger iPad Pro in a more compact package with some new additions as well.

“iPad Pro is a new generation of iPad that is indispensable and immersive, enabling people to be more productive and more creative. It’s incredibly fast, extremely portable, and completely natural to use with your fingers, Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard. And now it comes in two sizes,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

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Meet Liam, Apple’s Recycling Robot

Today, Apple introduced a new hardware recycling program called Apple Renew with an iPhone disassembly robot named Liam.

Liam takes apart iPhones detecting and removing parts, and separating materials so each can be repurposed. Examples of materials that Liam can recover from the video below include:

  • cobalt and lithium from the iPhone’s battery,
  • gold and copper from the camera, and
  • silver and platinum from the main logic board.

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Apple Announces New 4-Inch iPhone SE

Today at Apple’s “In the Loop” event in Cupertino, vice president of iOS, iPad, and iPhone product marketing Greg Joswiak took the stage to announce the long awaited update to Apple’s 4-inch iPhone line. Clearly the descendant of the iPhone 5s, the new iPhone SE comes in a very similar form factor, but now packs nearly the same power and feature set as Apple’s flagship iPhone 6s.

Specs

The iPhone SE runs the same 64-bit Apple A9 processor and M9 motion co-processor as the 6s. According to Apple, the SE runs twice as fast as the iPhone 5s and has three times higher GPU performance. The updated processors mean the SE has the hands-free “Hey Siri” feature enabled even when the device is not connected to a charger. Notably, the device now comes in Apple’s Rose Gold color finish, and I’d say it’s the nicest looking Rose Gold device they’ve made yet.

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Apple Discounts Apple Watch Sport, Introduces 26 New Watch Bands

After touting the Apple Watch as the top selling smartwatch in the world, Apple revealed this morning that it will now price the Apple Watch Sport at $299 and $349 for the 38mm and 42mm models, respectively.

In addition to the $50 price drop, Apple introduced new watch bands, including the Space Black Milanese Loop and spring collections of the Leather Loop, Sport, and Classic Buckle. A new category of bands, a Woven Nylon collection, was also shown.

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Apple Releases tvOS 9.2: Bluetooth Keyboard Support, Siri Dictation, App Folders & More

Apple has today released tvOS 9.2 for the fourth-generation Apple TV which was released in late 2015. Like iOS 9.3, tvOS 9.2 is more than just a minor point release with bug fixes – it also comes with a few new features which make notable improvements to the product. The headline new features in tvOS 9.2 include support for Bluetooth keyboards, the ability to use Siri dictation to fill out text fields, folders for apps, and support for Live Photos.

For the past week I’ve been running a developer build of tvOS 9.2, and below I’ve outlined the changes, big and small, that this release brings.

How to Update Your Apple TV

If your Apple TV has not automatically prompted you to upgrade to tvOS 9.2, you can also request an update manually. Simply go to Settings > System > Software Updates > Update Software.

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watchOS 2.2 Overhauls Maps

Apple today released watchOS 2.2, which includes notable enhancements in two areas. The first is a substantial update to the Maps app, which now includes a new dedicated screen with five buttons that makes it easy to navigate to your home or work, initiate a search, display your current location, or find nearby places powered by Yelp.

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Apple Releases iOS 9.3: A Collection of New Features and Tidbits

With an announcement in January, Apple unveiled iOS 9.3, a surprisingly feature-rich update to iOS 9 with major changes for education and several tweaks to the user experience of system apps. After the generally positive response to iOS 9 and the 9.1 and 9.2 updates, few were expecting Apple to bring more features to iOS 9 ahead of WWDC and the (likely) unveiling of iOS 10.

For the past two months, I’ve been using iOS 9.3 on my two primary devices (an iPad Pro and iPhone 6s Plus) starting with the first beta, and I’ve been keeping track of all the changes – big and small – that Apple is bringing with their latest iOS release. Below, you’ll find a collection of everything I’ve discovered.

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Apple Posts March 21 2016 Keynote Video & New iPad Pro, ResearchKit, Liam Ads

For those who didn’t follow the live stream or announcements as they unfolded on Twitter and blogs, Apple has now posted the video of its March 21 keynote held earlier today at the company campus in Cupertino.

The video can be streamed here, and a higher quality version should be made available in a few hours through iTunes (on the Apple Keynotes podcast). To avoid streaming errors, Safari is recommended for the best viewing experience.

In addition, Apple has also posted new commercials and reveal videos for the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, ResearchKit, and Liam robot on its YouTube channel. You can find all the videos below.

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