Apple Announces New iPad Air and A Host Of New Updates

Well, that was a busy conference wasn't it? An hour and a half of nothing but updates to Apple's non-iPhone ranges. We've got a lot to cover, so let's get going:

iPad Air:

Firstly, updates to the iPad range. The new iPad air is the first major redesign of the iPad since the iPad 2:

The iPad Air is thinner, lighter and more powerful than any previous model. At just over 7mm thick it's only marginally thicker than the iPad mini, but the big statistic is the weight; less than 1lb. That's right, less than 1lb.

Internally, it features an A7X chip, the M7 motion processor seen on the iPhone 5S and a 9.7inch retina display. Capacity wise, nothing has changed, it's available in 16, 32 and 64gb flavours. 

The prices for the iPad Air remain the same as the previous iPad, starting at £399 for the 16gb Wifi model.

The iPad Mini is now available with a retina display too. The iPad Mini Retina will cost £319 for the 16gb Wifi model whereas the original iPad Mini gets a price cut to £249.

Both the iPad Air and the iPad Mini Retina will be available from 1st of November.

MacBook Pro

In line with the update to the Air range in the summer, the retina MacBook Pro notebooks are being upgraded to the new Intel Haswell processors. These provide a performance boost as well as significant improvements to battery life. The 13" model now boasts an impressive 9 hour battery life while the 15" model can rack up 8 hours of use.

There has been no update to the non-retina MBP line which says to me that they will be phased out in the next year or so. Further evidence for this can be gained from the price cut to the 13" retina MBP; there is now only £100 difference between the two, the retina MBP now costs only £1099.

Mac Pro

The wonderfully redesigned Mac Pro will finally be available this December.

A radical redesign of the desktop computer, it boasts the capacity for 12 cores, huge amounts of memory and storage and the ability to run 3 of Apple's Cinema Display monitors via Thunderbolt. 

I actually cannot wait to see one of these in the flesh, it is such a unique design and typical of what Apple does best.

OSX Mavericks

Lastly, the newest update to OSX, Mavericks, is available now on the Mac App Store...

For free

That's right, for the first time Apple has released a major OS iteration for free. Providing you're running OSX Lion or above, just pop into the App Store and you can download the new OS for free. 

And that's it. It's a lot to take in, I know. What are you most excited for? Let me know in the comments below

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Apple Media Event Tonight

At 10am PST (6pm UK time) Apple CEO Tim Cook will once again take to the strage at Cupertino and provide us Apple geeks with more to salivate over.

What can we expect though?

Rumours are abound that the iPad 5 and iPad Mini 2 will be formally revealed today. Since the iPhone 5S was released, the rumour mill has been going ballistic about thinner, lighter iPads and more powerful Minis.

It's also widely expected that the redesigned Mac Pro will get a release date, as will OSX Mavericks. Given the processor and battery update to the MacBook Air range in June, the smart money would be on the MacBook Pro range getting a bump up to the new Intel Haswell processors.

There's quite a few rumours relating to Apple announcing their long wanted HDTV as well as the supposed iWatch to compete with the Galaxy Gear. I think these are less likely, but you never know, Apple may surprise us.

Check back later and I'll post up the news as I hear it.

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iOS7 Review

So, after months of waiting, Apple finally released iOS7 to the public on Wednesday. This is the first chance I've had to play with it, so I'm understandably excited.

Now, I'm not going to detail all the changes, that would take far too long and to be honest, there's already been plenty written about the new features, so I'm going to pick out a couple of things I use and detail those.

1: The UI

As you can see, it's a complete redesign. The Forstall design era is well and truly over. The new UI is flatter, features a lot of visually pleasing tricks and gimmicks.

For a start, the apps sit forward from the background, so if you tilt the phone on the home screen the background moves slightly. It's not a big difference, but it's a nice effect nonetheless.

Fonts have been refined, everything is cleaner and neater. It's rather nice.

2: The task menu

Swipe up from anywhere in the phone (including the lock screen) and you get this task menu. Simply enough it gives you quick short cuts to common functions such as Bluetooth, wifi, airplane mode, air play and the current music playing.

It's a nice feature, something iOS has been lacking since it's inception.

3: Multitasking

So whereas in iOS6, multi tasking consisted of the screen sliding up and a row of your open icons, in 7, you double tap the home button and you are greeted by this rather splendid card view.

While it does look similar to the Palm Pre's Palm OS, it makes multitasking look much snazzier, even if it doesn't add any functionality.

4: Notification Centre

The notification centre has had an overhaul. The transparency that sits throughout iOS7 is present here. Swipe down from any screen, again, including the lock screen, and you get a quick overview of your day. The weather, calendar events and your stocks.

The previous notification centre was overly cluttered and too busy for me, so this is a welcome change.

5: Camera

The camera app now caters directly for the Instagram lovers out there, with live filters and square frame photos all available from the camera's menus, it's a fairly pointless change in my eyes. But, plenty of people will enjoy it, so I can see the reasoning behind it.

The Verdict

I've only been able to play with iOS7 for a few hours, but overall it's a welcome change. iOS was getting stale and restrictive.

Although this UI change is very reminiscent of Android 4.3, it puts Apple back into the game when it comes to a modern UI.

One thing I will say is that on the iPad 2 it runs pretty slowly. So I'm assuming that on the iPhone 4 it will be the same. I'm running iOS7 on my iPhone 4S and whips along at a decent rate, so I would say the best way to experience iOS7 is to use iPhone 4S/iPad 3 or upwards.

Still, I like this UI a lot and I'll be interested to see the extra functionality on the 5S, such as the TouchID and Air Drop functions.

iOS7 is free to download now through iTunes or over the air when your device is connected to a wifi hotspot

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New iPhone Announcement in September?

Rumours are flying around the Internet that the next iPhone (5S? 6?) is going to be revealed at an Apple press event on the 10th of September.

At present, it's just rumours as Apple hasn't issued invites to any event on that day. However, given their past behaviour on such things its a strong possibility.

Apple have frequently revealed iPhone and iPod releases on the second Tuesday in September. There was no iPhone announcement at WWDC in June so logically this would sense.

Also, Apple has just seeded the 6th developer beta of iOS 7, so based on previous experience this would give credence the to the possibility that the new OS is close to release, which typically happens the week of, or the week before a new iPhone is released.

So while it's not set in stone yet (and won't be until Apple release press accreditation), it's looking very likely.

So what can we expect from the next iPhone?

Well, we definitely know it'll be running the completely revamped iOS7, which to be honest, I'm very excited for. iOS hasn't really changed much in its overall look since the first iPhone. Sure there's been incremental updates, but the look and feel has remained largely the same since 2007. But this is an obvious inclusion.

The rumour mill around potential features has been going ballistic of late. People have surmised that the next iPhone could contain a fingerprint reader, controls on the rear of the device (unlikely), a gold version of it (I hope that doesn't happen), a cut price version with a plastic shell as well of a host of other outlandish suggestions.

Personally, I reckon we'll get the requisite camera improvements, better signal processing and improvements to the finish so it doesn't chip so easily. The big part of the new iPhone will be iOS7, so I can't imagine there'll be an amazing amount of hardware changes. Though I'll be very happy if I'm proved wrong.

It's only a few weeks till September 10th, so keep your eyes peeled. I'll keep you all updated, because I'm nice like that.

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Buyer's Guide: iPad or iPad Mini?

If you've ever been into an Apple Store (and I'm guessing most of you have) you can overhear a frequent conversation:

Customer: So which is better? The iPad or the iPad mini?
Apple Pip: They're both good it's down to your personal preference sir/madam

It can be infuriating to listen to because in my mind both of them are great devices that fill a specific use. So lets break things down here in a pros and cons list of each product so that you, the lovely reader out there can decide what you would prefer:

iPad:

THE tablet computer, the device that effectively created the category of tablet to fill the hole between a smartphone and a netbook. Steve Jobs himself hated the concept of a netbook as you were effectively paying over the odds for a cutdown laptop that didn't do as much as a full sized laptop and what it could do, it couldn't do very well. His idea was less about shrinking a laptop down (though that had already been achieved by the MacBook Air), but more about boosting what a smartphone could do. It was never advertised as a replacement to a laptop, that's not what it's there for, however, it makes mobile web browsing a much better prospect than the small screen of the iPhone. It has also landed on it's feet for gaming, with much richer, more complex games being developed for it, then shrunk down to accommodate the iPhone and iPod touch. So what are the pros and cons of it:

Pros:

The retina display is gorgeous: Yes, all 9.7' and obscene amount of pixels combine to make one of the best displays you could read anything on. Especially when it comes to apps like iBooks, the text just jumps out at you. 
It is powerful: Running on the A6x chip, the full sized iPad packs a performance punch. Games load and run smoother, apps transition quicker and photos render faster than you can blink
It's sturdy: The gorilla glass and aluminium construction mean that while it weighs quite a bit compared to cheaper tablets, it's a sturdy beast that it's going to break if you do happen to drop it by accident.
Cons:

It's expensive: the 16gb wifi only model of the iPad costs £399. Now, considering it's refined use and closed OS in iOS, it's a lot to ask for people to spend £399 on an iPad when you can get a reasonable laptop for about £50 less.
The size: With a 9.7inch screen, it's bigger than any book you probably own and it's slightly cumbersome, especially for bedtime reading. When I use mine is most commonly on the sofa and I tend to have it resting on the arm of the chair, or on my legs… much like a laptop. 

iPad Mini:

So, in 2012, Apple released the iPad Mini. Ever since he first iPad came out, the internet was awash with thoughts that eventually Apple would shrink down the iPad to compete with the lower end of the tablet market, those like Samsung who were aiming their Galaxy Tab devices at a cheaper audience and making use of 7 inch screens. Steve Jobs had publicly stated that he didn't like the idea of 7 inch tablets and that the concept was dead in the water, people wanted 10 inch tablets. After his passing, new Apple CEO Tim Cook reversed the logic and delivered to us the iPad mini. A cut size, cut price model aimed at those who lust after an iPad but can't afford to drop nearly £400 on the base model. But what does the Mini have going for it?

Pros:

The price: it's significantly cheaper than the full sized iPad, the 16gb wifi model starting at £269. A much more comfortable price point, if you ask meß
It's still powerful: While it uses the dual core A5 chipset, rather than the quad core A6x, it's still a powerful beast. With having a much smaller screen to work with, it doesn't need to be powerful. It can still play demanding games like Infinity Blade without breaking a sweat.
The size: With a 7.9 inch display, the iPad Mini is small enough to be comfortably held in one hand. At 308g, it's not even heavy enough to tire your arms out if you're holding it up while reading. Clearly it's been aimed to disrupt the Kindle Fire market.
Cons:

The size: In some respects, the smaller form factor can make certain apps harder to read. It has exactly the same screen resolution as the iPad 2, so apps that look perfectly fine on the iPad 2 looks really tiny on the iPad mini. The best I can think of is the Facebook app, which just looks teeny and squashed together.
The construction: This is more aimed at the black model, but just like the black iPhone 5, the unit is painted aluminium, which of course means that if you don't buy a case for it that you are going to attract unsightly silver marks where the paint is chipping off. This isn't so much of an issue with the white model, but if (like me) you prefer the black iPads, then you're going to have to buy a case.
So which is best to get. Well, in my mind, the Mini would be the better of the two unless you absolutely need the larger screen. Seeing as the Mini can do pretty much everything the full sized model can do, for £120 less, my money would go to the mini. That's not to say the full sized one isn't worth the money, but the mini just seems far better value to me.

Or you could save your money for an 11inch MacBook Air, but that's a whole other discussion.

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10 Things You Didn't Know Your Mac Could Do

Everybody who has committed to owning an Apple Mac loves it. I've not met a single person who has owned a Mac and then gone back to Windows (or maybe I have and they won't admit it). The problem is, most people have learnt how to use a computer from a Windows machine and are familiar with the Windows features and quirks. When someone takes the plunge and gets a Mac, despite the slight learning curve, they tend not to make use of it to the full extent. 

This is a distinct shame as there's so many cool little things that a Mac can do that build upon what you already think a PC should be able to do. So here is 10 cool things I've learnt about a Mac that you can try on your own one. Providing you have a Mac that has Snow Leopard or above installed, you can do all of these things.

1 - Take screenshots.

Yes, I can hear you all moaning into your respective screens. Yes, all PCs have the print screen button, but not so many people know how to do it on a Mac as it's a key combination rather than a single button.

To take a screenshot, press ⌘, Shift and 3 at the same time. You'll hear a shutter sound and the screenshot will appear on your desktop. But that's not all, if you press ⌘, Shift and 4 at the same time, you get a set of crosshairs. This allows you to drag a box around the section of the screen you want to screenshot, meaning if you want just a little section of the screen, you can be specific and not need to crop the picture later.  Easy

2 - Use Spotlight as a calculator

I shit you not. If you need work out something quickly, say 874 + 478, just type it into Spotlight search and it will calculate it for you, without you needing to open the calculator app. 

3 - Quickly find out a file's properties

This is more of an absolutely laziness thing, but if you're clicking about and want to know about a file, just highlight it and press ⌘ and I together and the inspector will appear and give you all the information on the file/folder

4 - Play Tetris in Terminal

Do you remember when you were in school and someone pointed out that there were games in Microsoft Office applications. I believe there was some kind of flying game in Word if you typed in a certain word in a certain colour. Well, Apple have hidden a game within the Terminal of OSX. That's right. Open up Terminal:

Type in emacs and hit return
Then hit esc and then x
Then type tetris and prepare to while away the hours

5 - Make iPhone Ringtones

It's a pain that you have to pay for ringtones from the iTunes store, even if you already own the song that you want to use. However, if you use Garageband, you can make them yourself. 

Open up Garageband and create a new project. There is an option in the wizard for a Ringtone. Then all you need to do is import the song you want to use, cut out a 40 second section of it (I'm going to cover how to use Garageband in a future article) and save. Then from the menu bar at the top of the screen, click Share and select Send Ringtone to iTunes. Sync your phone, making sure you have Ringtones set to  sync, and lo and behold you have a ringtone on your phone.

6 - Transfer files between Macs quickly

Sometimes it can be annoying to pass files between yourself and a friend. If they're too big, you can't email them and what if you just can't find that damn memory stick again? Well, if you both have a recent Mac, running OSX Lion or above, there is a function called AirDrop. You've probably seen it when you've been moving around in the Finder. Well, turning AirDrop on allows you to send files over a P2P, ad-hoc wifi network. So you can directly send that awesome song you're working on to the singer so he can work on it at home, without having to screw around with exporting, saving, burning or any of that nonsense. All you do it sit in the same room, both turn on AirDrop and you literally just drop the file into his computer. Simple as.

7 - Automate your life

Using the bundled Automator tool, you can quickly and easily set up a script that will run functions on your Mac without you having to trigger all of the steps yourself. It takes a bit of work to get it perfect, but once you do, you'll wonder why you never thought of it before. The best example I can think for this is you're an amateur film maker and you have your favourite camera, but the filetype you record in isn't compatible with iMovie, so everything you film you have to convert before you can edit it. Well, with Automator  you can create a handful of scripts that will invoke a program like Handbrake and automatically convert your files once you drop them into a set folder, then send them to an output folder. This means you can come home from a hard day filming, hook your camera up to your Mac, drag all your files into an "Input" folder, go off and make your dinner, then when you come back the "Output" folder will be full of converted videos that you can get to work on.

8 - Share your iTunes library

We've all been there, we've had people around, your iPhone is handily providing the music, but folks don't like what you've got on your phone. No time to create a brand new playlist or resync a different 16gb of music to your phone, so what are you to do? Well, if you enable Home Sharing in iTunes, you can go through the Music app on the iPhone or iPad and access your entire iTunes library. Never be caught out at a party with just death metal on your phone again.

9 - Access your work on Windows

Slightly misleading title I know, but, for those of you out there who make use of the iWork suite (Pages, Numbers, Keynote), Apple has recently added an online version of them to use via iCloud. The most recent versions of iWork apps automatically save in the cloud as well as on your computer, so chances are, if you have iCloud enabled on your Mac, they're already up there. Go to http://www.icloud.com and sign in with your Apple ID. You can then use those apps, in your web browser on any machine, be it Mac, Windows or Linux. So if you absolutely need your CV, but it's at home on your Mac, sign in on a machine at work and print it off from the internet. I've used this a couple of times while writing articles and it's astoundingly useful.

10 - Treat your Mac like an iPad

Lastly, for those of you who love the iOS interface on the iPad, you can run your Mac much like an iPad. Using Launchpad (located in the dock or by pressing F4), you get an iOS style interface. You can pick up and drag apps around like iOS, create folders and even uninstall apps in the same fashion. Sometimes, it can save you time hunting around for a specific app. Using the Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad you just swipe through the pages as if it were a tablet or phone.

So there you have it, 10 cool things that you can either do with your Mac, or that your Mac can do for you. Please feel free to leave a comment with any cool features you've found on your Mac, or if you've learnt something new, feel free to leave a thanks down there too.

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