The Morning After: Wednesday, March 22nd 2017
It's time to cleanse.
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.
How would you like a stealth delivery of Apple announcements? Well you've got them. While there's nothing earth-shattering, there is a new tablet, a vivid new iPhone and a new video app. Also in today's Adult Week series, we digitally clear out our PC and feel all the better for it.
Apple's new 9.7-inch iPad is its cheapest yet
Apple just simplified its tablet lineup in a big way. The company has introduced a new 9.7-inch iPad -- not the Air 3, just... iPad. You'll find a slightly older but still speedy A9 processor inside instead of the Air 2's aging A8X chip, and Apple has doubled the capacities to give you either 32GB or 128GB of storage. There are some drawbacks, however, that come with that cheaper price tag.
Apple's iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus now come in red
Apple has also just snuck out a new special edition red iPhone 7, with barely any fanfare. (Although rumors that something was afoot began earlier today when Apple's online store went down.) The red aluminum iPhone 7 and 7 Plus will be launching globally, adding some welcome color to the black and plainer metallic shades we've had until now. The pair of iPhones (with either 128GB or 256GB of storage) will launch in stores and online this Friday, March 24th, starting at $749.
Apple doubles the storage of the iPhone SE and iPad Mini 4
Apple is also increasing the storage across all iPhone SE and iPad Mini 4 configurations. The lowest-capacity 4-inch iPhone SE is now 32GB, up from 16GB, and the 64GB model has been scrapped in favor of a 128GB version. Basically, Apple has doubled the storage and finally killed off the last 16GB iPhone, but good news: The prices haven't changed.
Google has officially announced the next version of Android, and it's O. There's no dessert-themed nickname yet, but the next big update will have some tweaks aimed at extending battery life. They'll work by managing how apps operate in the background, limiting services, location updates and broadcasts to help squeeze out more time between charges. Other new features include picture-in-picture on phones and tablets, and an autofill feature that should make it easier to use a password manager. If you want to get an early jump, there's a developer preview available right now for several Nexus and Pixel devices.
Adult Week: The life-changing magic of tidying up (your computer)
Now that many of us have terabytes of storage at our fingertips (or in the cloud), there's a temptation to keep everything, from apps to old bookmarks. Despite that, Dan Cooper tried applying strategies from Marie Kondo's famous book to his digital life, hitting the delete button on things that don't provide some form of joy.
The hidden depth of mobile puzzle game 'Where Cards Fall'
This top-down 3D puzzler will have players follow a handful of teenagers over the course of ten years, building houses of cards to navigate them along the way. Coming from the developers of Alto's Adventure, Where Cards Fall will arrive later this year on iOS, Apple TV and Steam with more complex mechanics and story than we're used to seeing in a mobile game.
iTunes movie rentals finally work across multiple devices
Nearly a decade after iTunes added movie rentals, Apple has finally made it work across devices. Previously, if you watched a rental on one phone, tablet or Apple TV, it would be stuck there until it expired. With the latest update, viewers can pause and resume on another iPhone or anywhere else they're logged into the app. The only problem is that for now, the feature is limited to beta and developer builds, but it should be available widely soon enough.
