Apple's free Swift Playgrounds iPad app can empower future programmers

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

One of the announcements made at yesterday's WWDC keynote was the Swift Playgrounds iPad app. As Apple explains it, "Swift Playgrounds is a revolutionary new app for iPad that makes learning Swift interactive and fun. Solve puzzles to master the basics using Swift — a powerful programming language created by Apple and used by the pros to build many of today’s most popular apps."

Geared towards children but with enough content to delight users of all ages, the app gamifies programming and allows users to code on one part of the screen and run their program on the other, giving them instant and real-time access to their programs. Coming as a free download this fall, Swift Playgrounds looks like an empowering app and great place for anyone to get into the mindset of coding Swift for future success in the app economy.

Sony reveals new Spider-Man PS4 game

Spider-Man PS4 is the working title for the upcoming game that features a more experienced and grown-up version of everyone's favourite webhead. Created by the studio that brought Sunset Overdrive to life, this seems to be a promising Spider-Man game which might rival the Batman franchise in terms of depth, villains and fighting dynamics. No definite ETA on this title but it certainly looks very cool and fluid.

Get access to the public beta for iOS 10 and macOS Sierra starting July

At the moment only developers have access to the beta software of Apple’s products (iOS 10, macOS Sierra, and watchOS 3). But if you want to get your hands on the beta build and familiarize yourself with the new features, next month Apple will be opening iOS 10 and macOS Sierra to public testers. To be one of these testers, all you have to do is sign up on Apple’s dedicated page for the Apple Beta Software Program using your Apple ID. If you don’t have one of those, you can create one for free. After you agree with Apple’s terms and conditions, you can then enroll your device to receive notifications of new updates and releases for download.

Once you’re a member, you just have to make sure you have the latest version of iTunes on your PC and when the beta is released in July, just connect your enrolled iOS device to the computer and open iTunes or run Software Update. For macOS Sierra testers, you can get the beta software from the Mac App Store. A quick reminder, though, and Apple reminds you of this is that you shouldn’t install beta builds in your daily drivers or work devices as these builds come with risk. Beta tests are meant to work out the issues these OSes have so putting it in something you need daily could pose a problem.

Source: Apple Insider

Apple to let you delete native apps with iOS 10

Apple’s finally addressed a longstanding complaint from its users: being able to delete native apps you don’t use. The upcoming mobile operating system allows users to delete apps like Maps, Contacts, Calendar, FaceTime, and Music—at least based on the current developer beta out. And if you decide you want the app back, Apple has added these native apps to its App Store, which is similar to what Google has done with its first-party apps. Of course, there are some apps, such as Phone, which you can delete because it might cause issues with the device if you take them out. But being given the option to free up some storage and homescreen space is quite welcome.

Source: Apple Insider

Update on Thursday, June 16, 2016 at 10:55AM by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

It seems you don't reall 'delete' the native apps. They are somewhat encypted and taken off your screen, but they remain in you device. Downloading them again just makes them available again with all your preferences and settings.