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WOW Weekly – Apple iPad Goes Pro, Microsoft & More

Welcome to WOW Weekly.  It’s been a busy week in the world of technology with Apple making some expected and rather unexpected iPad announcements at their keynote special event. Microsoft have also been busy after officially announcing the release date of their popular office software. Also checkout the Tool of the Week and New releases in brief.

Apple Computers Logo
Image Provided by Lester Balajadia / Shutterstock.com

iPhone 6 & 6S Plus

Apple announced the expected iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus which features a faster processor, 12 MP pictures and 4K video, better network support and battery life. The new generation of multi-touch comes in the form of 3D Touch which senses how deeply you press the display. Peek and Pop lets you preview content like previewing a photo whilst taking a photo or popping in or out of apps. Multitasking is made simple with the power of iOS 9.

Apple TV

The new Apple TV (4th Generation) comes with a faster processor, an app store, a cool Siri remote, multi-user gaming using your remote, iPod Touch or iPhone.

Apple iPad Pro, Keyboard & Pencil

The iPad Pro boasts a bigger processor, 12.9 inch retina display, 4 speaker Audio for richer sound, the side-by-side multi use feature makes it easier to switch in and out of apps and run them side-by side. Apple also showed us a couple of accessories for the iPad Pro.  The smart keyboard is a full size keyboard which connects to the iPad using the built-in smart connector.  No more pairing devices, cables or charging batteries.

The Apple Pencil should appeal to everyone, including creative professionals, it comes with a lightning adapter which you plug into your iPad Pro for a simple charge. A 15 second of charge will last half an hour with a max battery of 12 hours on a full charge.

Did any of you see the Apple keynote special event? It was nice to see Microsoft show off what you can do with the iPad Pro and their own office apps.

Microsoft Office 2016

While office for Mac has been around a few months, Microsoft will be releasing the new 2016 windows version of office on the 22nd September. The new features include a dark theme, easier file-sharing and collaborate in real-time, better dictionary support, Tell Me tools lets you type and search for the feature that you want to use, better interaction with touchscreens and much more. Checkout the preview version of office if you can’t wait.

Tool of The Week

SUMo (Software Update Monitor) checks that you have the latest up-to-date versions of software on your computer.   Sumo will automatically detect if an application needs updating before you have actually opened it.  Flash, Java, Adobe Reader are often being updated to fix critical bugs so it’s worth keeping your software up-to date with just a single tool.

Visit the SUMo website

New Releases in Brief

If you run a WordPress website you will have probably heard of Yoast SEO which is a fantastic little plugin which can help you setup your SEO for search engines, optimisation of content and meta data. Well as of 23rd September Yoast will be releasing the first version of SEO for the users of Drupal 7.

Jetpack 3.7 has been released for Self Hosted WordPress installs. The new version comes with a simple user interface which makes turning features on or off a lot simpler.  There is also a new feature that detects if you have moved your site to a new URL. Jetpack detects changes and asks if you are moving to a new site address or is it a totally new site requiring a fresh connection. Depending on the answer Jetpack will automatically sort itself out for you under the hood. Other changes include new VideoPress player that works on all devices and allows you to paste a VideoPress link to automatically embed videos.

Visit the Jetpack Blog for more info.

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