Apple CEO Tim Cook addresses ongoing battle with FBI over encryption

Stephan Lam/Reuters

Apple CEO Tim Cook started off its SE event without shying away from a hot topic. He addressed the ongoing legal battle the company has with the FBI, which is trying to extract information from an iPhone owned by one of the accused shooters of 2015’s San Bernardino attack. Cook says he owes it to their customers to protect their privacy and data. The first legal hearing of the case will happen tomorrow afternoon in a Central California District court.

Cook said during the press event, “We did not expect to be in this position at odds with our own government. We believe strongly that we have a responsibility to help you protect your data and protect your privacy. We owe it to our customers, and we owe it to our country. This is an issue that impacts all of us, and we will not shrink from this responsibility.”

Source: The Verge + ABC News

Apple introduces new Night Shift feature in iOS 9.3

Alongside the launch of the new devices, Apple’s also made iOS 9.3 available for download. This minor release brings with it some useful features including the new Night Shift mode. Working similar to what the F.lux tool does, it reduces the amount of blue light it emits based on the time of the day or where you are at the moment. Blue light is said to make it harder for people to sleep so you can schedule that to turn on in the evenings. Apple also adds password protection to its Notes app. You can even unlock it via Touch ID. This’ll be useful if you store sensitive personal information in the app. There are also new 3D Touch shortcuts for Weather, Settings, Compass, Health, Stocks, and Store.

Aside from that, Apple also tweaked its News app to personalize the For You section further with interests, suggestions, and trending topics. Multi-user support shows up when it allows students with iPads to share devices easily. Apple Health gets Apple Watch integration, while CarPlay gets the ability to add song suggestions for music and nearby points of interests if you need to find certain places.

Source: The Verge

Apple launches 9.7-inch variant of iPad Pro, smaller 4-inch iPhone SE

Apple revealed the iPhone SE which has all the key features of the larger iPhone 6S models and retains the design of the iPhone 5/5S. Hoping to entice users of older and smaller iPhones, the iPhone SE will be made availble in 16GB and 64GB variants (Canadian pricing starts at $579 up to $709). 

The new iPad Pro, brings all the features and horspower of the large 12.9-inch iPad into a more familiar 9.7-inch form factor previously devoted to the iPad Air. The new iPad Pro will start at $799 (CAD) for the 32GB with Wi-Fi model and $979 (CAD) for the 32GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model. Both iPad Pro sizes are available in offerings of 32GB, 128GB and a new 256GB capacity although pricing for other models has yet to be released. Both the new iPhone SE and iPad Pro 9.7-inch will be available for pre-order on March 24, they will begin shipping and be available in Apple Retail Stores on March 31.

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LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE reappears

The LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE was briefly launched and then quickly and inexplicably pulled off the market in November of last year. Well, it looks like this particular wearable is back at least for AT&T customers. An Android Wear device with its own LTE radio and which can function as a standalone phone, it is being offered at a pre-order price of US $199.99 in tandem with a service plan. Not sure if this LG Watch Urbane variant is coming to Canada anytime soon.

SOurce: 9to5Google