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    Apple event for March 21st, 2016 ☶ event ios mac apple.com
    calvin avatar via calvin 2 years ago | cached | 4 comments

If your browser doesn’t do HLS, use this URL in VLC or another HLS-supporting player.

The stream will begin 10 AM Pacific time. Rumoured happenings include:

  • A new 4" model iPhone

  • A new ~10" iPad, possibly with the additions the iPad Pro added (like pen and keyboard)

  • iOS 9.3

  • Skylake CPU refreshes for Macs

  • Replacement of iTunes

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    calvin avatar calvin edited 2 years ago | link

    It’s started.

    • So far, just a recap of Apple history in very short words.

    • Cook has come out on stage commenting about it. 40th anniversary, apparently. Also sales milestones. (No 40th Anniversary Mac?)

    • He is now talking about the FBI controversy. Talking about government and your data. Apple refuses to back down.

    • He is now delegating Lisa Jackson to talk on stage about their environmental policy. Lofty goals have been to set to use purely renewable energy. They are at 93% usage of renewables, and 100% in the US and many countries, and 100% for Chinese stores and offices. (but not factories) They have expanded a grid in China.

      • They are improving paper/forestry policies.
      • They are improving their recycling policy by encouraging reuse by making physically reliable products. When they reach their end of lifecycle, they have improved their recycling technology.

    • The ResearchKit APIs has been apparently useful for medical research, for gathering data from participating users easily and with great amounts of participations from around the globe. It has been used for Parkinson’s, Asthma, Autism, and Diabetes research.

      • In addition, patient care has been improved with it, using apps to diagnose and inform the users. This has been rolled into a separate API called CareKit. It’s been open sourced and will be made available in April. The first app for it is for Parkinson’s, and they have been looking into it for post-surgery process apps. Privacy has been a concern in its development as well.

    • Now onto products. First one is the Watch. It has met the milestone of being the most sold smartwatch in the world. New watch bands have been introduced. The price has dropped to 299$.

    • Now onto Apple TV. Apple believes the future of TV is in applications of STBs, and bragging about the variety, quantity, and quality of apps (such as sports, HBO, education, and ordering food) and games on their platform. Improvements to Siri search, including better cross-app search and dictation. Improved home screen and iCloud photos support as well.

    • New iPhone. People miss the 4" phones, because of size preference of nostalgia. It’s called the iPhone SE. Basically a modernized 5S body, to the industrial design of the 6S. A9 CPU, just like the 6S, which is very fast, especially for mobile. (People thought it’d be on an old and/or slower chipset.) The accelerometer is always on, to improve fitness and Siri. Camera improvements, such as cranking up the display brightness beyond normal limits for front-facing camera flash. LTE improvements. WiFi and LTE voice calls. Touch ID and TPM included. Also highly recyclable. Starts at 399$ for 15 GB, 499$ for 64 GB. Free with carrier subsidies, and has a payment program. This makes it the cheapest iPhone yet.

    • iOS 9.3 coming out with new features. Night Sight is a f.lux like feature to change colour temperature. Notes has gained password-protection. Health can suggest apps for information collection improvement. The news app features recommendations. CarPlay supports almost every major make now, and more features like Nearby POIs and music control. Classroom management, features and apps will be coming out.

    • Onto iPads, which they believe is the future of PCs, with the Pro becoming the primary computer of many. A smaller iPad Pro with 9.7" screen and less than a pound weight has been introduced. They are targeting Surface (and other Windows machines) users as well. Improved display with higher brightness, variable refresh rate, wide gamut, and lower reflectivity. The display automatically calibrates to lighting and color temp, with a bunch of ambient light sensors to help with this. There is a 4-speaker system. The A9X CPU is used. Keyboard and pen improvements. New SD card and USB adapters, and USB Ethernet adapters are now supported.. 4K video recording and multiple stream editing supported. 32 GB for 599$, 128 GB for 749$, and 256 GB for 899$. Starts shipping on the 31st. Pushing the PC replacement angle.

    • Cook is doing a recap. This is the last keynote in the old Infinite Loop camp conference hall. They’ll be moving in 2017 to the new campus.

    Finished.

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      geocar avatar geocar 2 years ago | link

      Link is for browsers with native HLS support (basically Safari and Microsoft Edge users only).

      Everyone else:

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        brinker avatar brinker 2 years ago | link

        Thanks @calvin for the summary. These changes are cool, but aren’t anything particularly exciting (at least to me, others may of course feel differently). It is not surprising that Apple is doing good work on hardware. It’s nice that they’re releasing a phone with the same power as the 6S in a smaller form factor. But I would be a lot more interested in hearing about big improvements on their services and applications, where they have historically been weaker. Nothing super exciting on that front today.

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          jitterted avatar jitterted 2 years ago | link

          Bummed that my not-so-old iPhone 5 doesn’t support the 9.3 Night Shift feature (even though f.lux, via side-loading, did). :-(