iPad

Apple’s Freeform aims to be a collaborative whiteboard for everyone • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 9, 2022Posted in Apple, Apps, collaboration, design, Figma, iPadNo Comments

Apple announced its so-called Figma Whiteboard competitor called Freeform at its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June. The company hasn’t rolled out the idea board app to everyone yet but if you are using public or developer beta, you will get to play with the app with the iOS 16.2 update, and on Mac with macOS 13.1 update. While Figma is for people who might already have some design experience, Apple’s Freefrom app caters to all kinds of users who just want to dump their ideas with multiple media formats on a board. On the face of it, Freeform is just a large board with a grid that lets you put different things like text, images, videos, notes, objects, documents, and more. Apple wants to provide users with an infinite board and basic tools that hardly requires onboarding. Most folks would have used some of these editing tools like Apple’s own apps like Photos and Notes. For the initial test, we used iPhone and iPad running beta versions of the software. Features When you start Freeform on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you’ll get a blank board. You can start sketching using different brushes that will let you adjust the color and opacity or just select the text box option and start writing. All the options for input are on the top including sketching, text, notes, shapes, and files. If you want to hide this grid, you can tap the Zoom controller in the bottom right and Hide Grid; for Mac, you can access this option through View > Hide Grid. You will get more than 700 shapes available in the shapes library in different categories including birds, symbols, animals, food, arts, and science. Apple said it will keep adding more shapes based on community feedback. Image Credits: Apple You can change the color fillings and outline of the object by tapping on it. There are also additional options like cut, copy, duplicate, send to front/back, lock, and constraint proportion available through the three-dot menu. In addition to that, users can insert any file type including a photo or a video through, a document, or a link (which shows up as a card). You can scan a document to include it on the board, too. You can move around the object by holding and dragging it with one finger. When you’re moving an object around, Freeform will show you alignment guides in reference to other objects that will help you format your document better. To resize these objects you can swipe across the canvas holding the resizing lines around it. For uniformity, if you want to make two objects of the same size, start resizing one object and tap on the other object to match the sizes. To rotate it, hold the object with one finger and use the other finger to move it around the central axis. You can break apart some objects as well— for instance, the sides of a cube. So all in all there are a lot of options for you to play around with objects. Image Credits: ZebethMedia Sharing Notably, all your projects will be synced across the devices — but don’t forget to turn on iCloud sync for Freeform. You can share this board through a link with your friends. If they don’t use Apple devices, that link is not going to work for them. In that case, your only option is to export the board as PDF and share it. Currently, there is no option to export the board as an image. Your best bet at that is taking a screenshot (like the one posted above). Collaboration Freeform is not just a whiteboard for yourself, but it allows you to collaborate with your friends or teammate too — as long as they are in the Apple ecosystem. You can share the link to your board with others through email, Slack, or any other messaging app. If you share your board in an iMessage thread, you can have live collaboration powered by SharePlay. That means you can see participants adding, removing, and moving objects around the board. If you’re not working on the board, you will see activity updates on top of the messages thread whenever someone makes changes. Apple said that it won’t show notifications for every small update as it could be very annoying and intrusive. Apple has tried to make this version simple to include every user. While they may not use designing tools in their everyday workflow, this tool could be handy for things like coaching charts, event planning, pet journaling, and redesigning home with rough sketches and notes. Freeform won’t make professions shift from tools like Figma, but it will let beginners try their hand at collaborations and designing. Freeform will be available for everyone when the stable releases of iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, and macOS 13.1 are released in a few weeks.

Apple earnings see iPhone revenues up, still short of forecast • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 27, 2022Posted in Apple, Apps, earnings, Hardware, iPad, iPhoneNo Comments

Sometimes earnings leave you wondering how good is good enough. Take, for example, Apple’s Q4, which finds the iPhone maker beating Wall Street expectations overall, but still seeing an extended trading stock dip after iPhone sales were improved, but still managed to miss the mark. Revenue hit $90.15 billion for the quarter, edging out the $88.9 billion estimates and rising roughly 8% over this time last year. iPhone revenue, too, saw a healthy uptick of 9.6% on the strength of the new iPhone lineup, though the $42.63 figure fell short of Wall Street’s $43.21 project enough to see a dip in late trading. Mac revenues saw double-digit revenue gains for the quarter, at $11.51 billion. The ever-important Services sector, meanwhile, saw a (relatively) modest y-o-y bump to $19.19 billion – making it another category that just failed to miss the mark of $20.10 billion. iPads, which only recently saw a refresh, were down 13% from last year. The numbers, of course, arrive in the face of significant economic headwinds. In a release, CFO Luca Maestri notes, “Our record September quarter results continue to demonstrate our ability to execute effectively in spite of a challenging and volatile macroeconomic backdrop.” Tim Cook, meanwhile, used the opportunity to discuss environment concerns. In a separate interview with CNBC, however, Apple’s CEO addressed inflationary and other issues that stalled a potentially larger overall revenue growth for the behemoth. Cook expained, “We would have grown in double digits without the foreign exchange headwinds.” Specifically, the company was hurt by the US dollar’s strength. He added that the company has joined a number of other tech giants in slowing its overall pace of hiring, saying that Apple is instead doing so “deliberately.”

PayPal rolls out support for passkeys on Apple devices • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 24, 2022Posted in Apple, Apps, iPad, iPhone, mac, PayPal, SecurityNo Comments

PayPal is making it easier to log in to its services — if you’re an Apple device user, that is. The payments giant today announced that it’s adding passkeys as a log in method for PayPal accounts, allowing iPhone, iPad and Mac users on PayPal.com to sign in without using a password. Passkeys are a relatively new industry standard created by the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium — in partnership with Apple, Google and Microsoft — that are designed to replace passwords with bits of data called cryptographic key pairs. (To make matters somewhat confusing, Apple announced its own version of the passkey standard called Passkey in June.) The pairs consist of a public key stored in the cloud and a private key stored locally on users’ devices, separated to ensure that a compromised server won’t give an attacker access to account credentials. Passkeys have the added benefit of supporting a range of authentication techniques including fingerprint scanning, face recognition, PIN codes and even swipe patterns. One downside is that, because passkeys reside on local devices, it can be harder to log into an app or service with them if you’re using someone else’s phone or laptop. But in this way, passkeys are undeniably more secure than your typical password. Image Credits: PayPal With PayPal, Apple device users running iOS 16, iPadOS 16.1 or macOS Ventura can create a passkey by logging into the PayPal website on desktop or mobile, typing their username and password and selecting the “Create a passkey” option. They’ll be prompted to authenticate with Apple Face ID or Touch ID to create the passkey, which will then be synced with Apple’s iCloud Keychain service. Users with devices that don’t support passkeys can still tap an iPhone to log in with a PayPal passkey, but they’ll have to scan a QR code that appears after they enter their username. PayPal passkeys begin rolling out today for users in the U.S. Passkeys will become available in additional countries starting early in 2023, PayPal says, and on platforms beyond iOS, iPadOS and macOS “as they add support for passkeys.”

Apple unveils new entry-level iPad that looks just like the iPad Pro • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 18, 2022Posted in Apple, Gadgets, iPad, tabletNo Comments

Apple released a new version of its entry-level iPad that Apple simply calls “the iPad.” It’s a dramatic refresh as Apple is swapping the familiar design with rounded edges and a home button. Instead, the iPad now looks more like the iPad Air and iPad Pro. But there are some compromises. The new iPad starts at $449, which is much more expensive than the previous version that costs $329. But you get a larger 10.9-inch display (2360×1640 resolution), better specs and compatibility with some new accessories. It comes in four different colors — blue, pink, yellow and silver. Let’s stat with specifications. Apple is updating the system-on-a-chip in the device and swapping the A13 with an A14 Bionic. It’s the same system-on-a-chip that you can find in the iPhone 12 lineup. There are two cameras on the device — the front-facing camera is a 12MP ultrawide camera and it is now integrated in the landscape edge of the iPad, which will make you look better when you make video calls in landscape mode. On the back of the device, there is another 12MP camera. This iPad still supports Touch ID. In order to use it, you have to rest your finger on the the top button. For the first time, the entry-level iPad is getting a USB-C port for charging and various accessories. This device still supports the first-generation Apple Pencil with its built-in Lightning connector. And that’s probably the biggest drawback of the new device. Yes, you will need an adapter to charge the Lightning pencil with your new iPad. If you never had an Apple Pencil, Apple now includes this adapter with newly sold first-generation Apple Pencils. But if you already have a Pencil, you’ll have to pay $9 to get a USB-C to Apple Pencil adapter. You plug the Pencil on one side and you plug a USB-C cable on the other side. And it looks like this: Image Credits: Apple On the connectivity front, the iPad supports Wi-Fi 6 and you can also get an iPad with cellular connectivity that supports 5G networks. When it comes to accessories, Apple has designed a new Magic Keyboard Folio with a trackpad. It features full-size keys with 1 mm of travel and a row of function keys to adjust the volume, control media and more. Interestingly, the Magic Keyboard Folio is a two-piece accessory. You can attach the keyboard at the bottom of the device. The back cover with a built-in stand is a separate piece that magnetically attaches to the back of the device. Users can also fold the keyboard behind the device when not in use. This keyboard is quite expensive as the Magic Keyboard Folio costs $249. There is also a keyboard-less version of the cover for $79. Orders for the new iPad starts today and the device will be available on October 26. Image Credits: Apple

Apple’s new M2 iPad Pro arrives October 26 • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 18, 2022Posted in Apple, Gadgets, Hardware, iPad, iPad Pro, m2No Comments

Seems we may not be getting a surprise October Apple event, after all. The company just dropped what will, no doubt, be one of its last major hardware updates for the calendar year. The iPad Pro is getting a spec refresh revolving around an upgrade for the M1 to M2 chip. The new chip sports eight CPU cores, with a performance bump of around 15%, according to Apple. The GPU is 10 cores, with a stated 35% performance boost per the company. Apple is clearly pushing the latest version of the Pro as something more akin to a laptop aimed at creative professionals, pushing enhancements to the sorts of content creation that could be managed by tablets as recently as a few years ago. It notes, The performance of M2 turbocharges even the most demanding workflows, from photographers editing massive photo libraries and designers manipulating complex 3D objects, to healthcare professionals taking advanced imaging and analysis, to gamers enjoying graphics-intensive games. The power of M2 also extends to the new media engine and the image signal processor, which combined with the advanced cameras, enable users to capture ProRes video for the first time and transcode ProRes footage up to 3x faster. This means content creators can capture, edit, and publish cinema-grade video from a single device out in the field. The high-end tablet comes in both 11- and 12.9-inch versions, available with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB and 2TB of storage, coupled with 16GB of RAM. Both versions will be available in WiFI and 5G options. Connectivity gets a refresh here, with support for WiFi 6E. In terms of the its sustainability push, Apple notes that the Pro features 100% recycled gold for the circuit board, along with recycled aluminum, tin and various rare earth elements. The new iPad Pro arrives alongside a new (2nd gen) Apple Pencil, which can be detected further from the display (12mm), offering up a preview of sketches before committing stylus to tablet. Developing…