Month: April 2022

With an enormous amount of apps on the App Store, it’s sometimes hard to decide which ones are worth downloading. I’ve been a college student off-and-on for some time now, and I’ve come to realize that certain apps can really make your life easier.

These are my top favorite free apps as a graduate student. This is a mix of Apple and non-Apple apps.

Reminders

I use Reminders to make to-do lists each week for studying, assignments, and other important items. Reminders is useful because I can assign due dates, times and set priorities. It also allows me to add subtasks and other tasks. I use Reminders across my iPhone, iMac, iPad, and Apple Watch. Whenever I think of something to add, it’s simple to add to my list or remove when finished.

I also use Reminders pretty heavily for both work and personal use. It helps me manage my time and makes my hectic days more efficient. I have a guided tutorial on the Reminders app if you’d like to learn more.

OneNote

While not the most widely used note-taking application, I’m serious. OneNote is a great option for students who have a mixture of Apple and non-Apple devices. For example, my current tech setup is nearly all Apple. However, I have a Windows laptop that I’ve had for years and sometimes use.

Because I have a class notebook on OneNote, I can easily pull up my notes on either computer. It doesn’t matter if the app is only compatible with Apple devices. Students who use the iPad for note taking but do not have access to a Mac would be most likely to recommend this app.

OneNote is available as a standalone download or in conjunction with a Microsoft Office subscription that many universities and colleges offer to their students. Additionally, if you don’t want to download another app, you can opt for the web version.

PDF Expert

The iPad is a great tool to annotate PDF files. I use PDF Expert free on iPad and I can mark up presentations, documents, and more right from my iPad. It connects with the Files app automatically, so you can easily pull up documents from your iCloud. It can be connected to your Windows phone and cloud storage services like Google Drive and OneDrive. PDF Expert allows you to create new PDFs from scratch, as well as convert images and documents into PDFs.

I use an Apple Pencil alternative from XIRON with my iPad to mark up notes on PDFs, and I love it.

Google Chrome

While I love Safari, for my general browsing needs on the iPad and iPhone, I prefer Google Chrome to meet my education-related needs. Chrome is a great tool for saving bookmarks, shortcuts and extension information across multiple Google accounts. Again, it’s convenient to use a student who has both Apple and non-Apple devices. It helps keep my workflow organized no matter which device I’m on.

Notes

While I don’t use a lot of paper for school anymore, sometimes I still need to scan. Back when I had an Android smartphone, I used to have a separate app to scan papers. However, with an iPhone, that’s not necessary. The Notes app is perfect for scanning purposes. After scanning, you can email, scan, save, markup or AirDrop your file. It is amazing how easy it is to do all of this with one app.

If you want to learn more on how to better use the Notes App, you can read my guided tutorial.

Which apps do you use as a student?

Which apps make your life easier as a student? Let me know which apps work for you. Please leave your comments.

A new report by the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners shows that the iPhone 13 lineup is delivering “some of the best results in many quarters,” although the two mini version launched so far still account for as little as 3% of all sales on the second quarter of 2022.

The new iPhone 13 models enjoyed some of the largest share we’ve seen in many quarters,” said Josh Lowitz, CIRP partner and co-founder. “The four models, including 13, 13 Pro, 13 Pro Max, and 13 mini, accounted for almost three-quarters of sales in the March quarter. Last year at this time the then-new iPhone 12 models had 61% of sales. Also this quarter, iPhone 13 had the highest share for a single model, at 38%, that we’ve seen in some time. Post-pandemic buyers flocked to Apple’s newest phones, even though they had only incremental improvements over previous models. iPhone mini continues to have low share, with 12 and 13 mini each accounting for only 3% of sales.

The key findings of this report show that the iPhone 13 had the largest share for a single model in several year with 38% while the iPhone mini models continue to attract only a very small share of buyers – only 3% in total. In addition, buyers now keep their previous phone for a shorter period of time, reversing a long-time trend.

Older models also keep attracting sales. The two-year-old iPhone 11, iPhone SE 2020, and the three-year-old iPhone XR account for 15% of sales in this quarter.

Since the market shifted to unsubsidized phone sales on installment contracts, the age of old phones climbed as owners enjoyed using their paid-for phones. Mike Levin (CIRP Partner and Co-Founder) said that this trend has reversed recently, possibly because there were more options to trade-in phones of high-value.”

In Q2 2022, 20% of buyers reported having their previous phone for three years or longer, compared to 34% in Q2 2021. It’s also important to note that the iPhone 13 lineup brings nice improvements when compared to its predecessor, such as a smaller notch and camera, 5G, and battery improvements.

Another key factor could be the rumors pointing out that the regular iPhone 14 models will remain similar to the current iPhone 13 — even using the same processor – thus impacting decisions by customers for whether to buy a new iPhone now or wait for a successor.

How do you like the iPhone 13 series? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Bungie launched one of its biggest Destiny 2-focused blogs in recent memory on Thursday. In nearly 9,000 words, the studio described some major weapon updates coming to its MMO on May 24, with the start of the currently unnamed season 17.

There are too many minute Destiny 2 changes to describe here, so we’re going to break down two of the biggest changes that will have the biggest impacts on players: glaive and Exotic changes.

Glaives have been weak since Bungie released them with its Witch Queen expansion in February. While exciting, they just don’t perform well in any difficult content. So Bungie is fixing that with some major updates.

First, Bungie clarified its intent. Glaive melees should contribute to damage perks and act as a standard melee. So a melee kill with the glaive should trigger the Swashbuckler perk, but only the ranged attack will get damage increases from perks. That’s the current plan, at least.

As for concrete improvements, next season PvE enemies will take 25% more damage from glaive melees, and shielding will cost 30% less energy than before. All glaive projectile speeds will also scale with the range stat, moving much faster than before. This should help them perform better in high end content, allowing players to use them as defensive tools that still pack a decent punch.

Moving onto Exotics, Bungie is giving major improvements to the Exotic glaives. The Edge of Action Titan glaive mini-bubble will give all players inside a Void overshield and will benefit from the Helm of Saint-14 Exotic effect, which blinds targets inside the shield. The Edge of Intent Warlock Exotic glaive’s healing turret will gain increased speed and acceleration. The Edge of Concurrence Exotic Hunter glaive’s damage is being tripled and it can now chain to eight enemies instead of four.

Image: Bungie

In terms of non-glaive Exotics, Bungie is making changes to:

• Fighting Lion
• Eyes of Tomorrow
• Leviathan’s Breath
• The Huckleberry
• Xenophage
• Le Monarque
• Lorentz Driver
• Skyburner’s Oath
• The Last Word
• Arbalest
• Graviton Lance
• Grand Overture
• Coldheart
• Prometheus Lens
• Wavesplitter
• Osteo Striga
• Lord of Wolves

Many of these changes are simple buffs or nerfs to damage, but a few of them are getting sizable reworks.

Leviathan’s Breath, one of the worst Exotics in the game, is getting a 50% damage buff. It now also splits damage on detonation and impact, which will allow it to stun an Unstoppable Champion and then deal damage to it during the stun. The goal is for it to destroy Unstoppable Champions in high-end content, and this update is looking promising.

Eyes of Tomorrow, the raid Exotic from Deep Stone Crypt, is getting a 30% increase to boss and Champion damage. Arbalest, on the other hand, will deal 25% less to Champions due to how powerful it is in Grandmaster Nightfalls. Graviton Lance’s Catalyst will now give players Vorpal Weapon and Turnabout instead of Hidden Hand. Grand Overture will be able to fire a full missile barrage again by holding the trigger down, or shoot in five rocket bursts with a tap of the trigger.

The Skyburner’s Oath scout rifle is getting some significant improvements as well. The aimed shot is now hitscan (meaning it hits the enemy instantly) and both modes of the gun fire at 150 rounds per-minute. The hip-fire attack won’t track enemies anymore, but the shots will detonate in a wider radius and apply a burn to enemies. The gun also has increased range now, and the Masterwork grants increased reload speed.

The game’s first three Exotic trace rifles will also see some reworks — in addition to 20% increased trace rifle damage against non-red bar enemies. Coldheart now spawns Ionic Traces when dealing damage, which gives ability energy. Prometheus Lens will apply a “more useful burn,” which is a bit confusing, but might make more sense when Bungie eventually updates the Solar subclasses. Wavesplitter no longer oscillates between three power levels, and instead sits at the medium setting at all times. However, picking up an Orb of Power grants 10s (up to 20) turns it to the “max power” setting of old, which also suppresses targets.

This is just a fraction of Bungie’s blog, which focuses heavily on in-air combat for PvP, perks, and some ability changes. Bungie also revealed a host of Iron Banner, Trials, and Grandmaster Nightfall weapons that are going away in the next two seasons, and a system that will cause some playlist weapons to drop with additional perks the more players level up in playlists.

Of course, all of these changes will be present in what already promises to be a giant list of patch notes on May 24.

After virtually discontinuing macOS Server eons ago, Apple has officially pulled the plug on the $20 suite of server features for Mac users. The company broke the bad news for macOS Server fans in a support document today:

As of April 21, 2022, Apple has discontinued macOS Server. Existing macOS Server customers can continue to download and use the app with macOS Monterey.

For many, the bigger surprise is not that macOS Server is going away, but that the standalone app was still being sold. As Apple notes in the support document, several server-inspired features have found their way into recent versions of macOS:

The most popular server features—Caching Server, File Sharing Server, and Time Machine Server are bundled with every installation of macOS High Sierra and later, so that even more customers have access to these essential services at no extra cost.

macOS Server, which touted a 1.5 star average review rating on the App Store, received minimal compatibility updates once or twice per year over the last several years. The current app will break on future versions of macOS, although Apple says existing customers can continue using macOS Server on macOS Monterey.

Now macOS Server can move on to the place where discontinued Apple technologies go to live, joining Xserve and AirPort.

After launching its JetDrive Lite 330 expansion cards earlier this year, Transcend is out today with a new 1TB JetDrive SD card made specifically for the latest MacBook Pro. With a clean design that sits fully flush with your notebook, the 1TB JetDrive makes it seamless to expand your MacBook Pro’s storage.

Transcend announced the new 1TB capacity JetDrive Lite 330 in a press release today.

Transcend Information, Inc. (Transcend(r)), a leading brand of digital storage and multimedia products, released a 1TB JetDrive Lite 330 expansion card which is exclusively designed for MacBook Pro(r) 2021. The card’s small size and large capacity increase the MacBook Pro’s storage. This increases efficiency for users by backing up digital files.

The JetDrive Lite 330 expansion cards use “high-quality” NAND flash and offer read speeds of 95 MB/s and write speeds of 75 MB/s. While those of course won’t match external SSD speeds, the big benefit is the tiny and flush form factor making the JetDrive Lite 330 a convenient way to integrate more storage for everything from docs, photos, and videos to Time Machine backups.

Like the 128, 256, and 512GB capacities, the new 1TB version features dust, water, and shock resistance thanks to Transcend’s chip-on-board manufacturing tech and comes with a five-year warranty.

The JetDrive Lite 330 cards are specifically made for the 2021 MacBook Pro, but they also work with late 2012 to early 2015 MacBook Pro notebooks.

The new 1TB capacity JetDrive SD card for MacBook Pro is available now priced at $249. Meanwhile, the 128GB version starts from around $40 with the 256 and 512GB capacities selling for about $60 and $120, respectively.

Stay tuned as we’ll have a full review of the JetDrive Lite 330 1TB expansion card coming soon.

Related:

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• 30+ Mac tips for new setups that everyone should know [Video]
• Best USB-C and Thunderbolt displays for Mac
• Tips and tricks for backing up the data on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac
• Here’s how the new 14” and 16” MacBook Pro compare to other MacBooks

With constant lockdowns in China due to the rise of COVID-19 cases, Apple is now in “action plan” to diversify its supply chain management risks out of the country, according to a new report by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Over these past few weeks, 9to5Mac has been reporting that Foxconn and other manufacturers are struggling with lockdowns in China. With that, the factories need to either stop production for a certain period or massively test workers to ensure there are no COVID infections among the workers.

Although Apple has been the company that best handled supply chain constraints during the pandemic, it seems it’s trying to be cautious for the near future. Here’s what analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote in a social media post:

Apple’s new product introduction (NPI) sites are almost in China. It was the first time for Apple to evaluate building NPI sites in non-China seriously when the COVID-19 outbreak first occurred about two years ago, but internally it only proceeded to the proposal stage. However, after the recent lockdown in China, to diversify supply chain management risks, building NPI sites in non-China is no longer a proposal but an action plan.

Apart from China, Apple has begun diversifying its supply chains to countries like India and Taiwan. Recently, 9to5Mac covered that some products are harder to find due to these recent lockdowns.

The new MacBook Pro can be found in certain configurations only after a while. On the other hand, these lockdowns showed that the iPhone SE 3 and AirPods 3 are disappointing Apple. In these last weeks, demand for the low-entry iPhone which could convert one billion Android users to switch to Apple is being reduced.

9to5Mac will keep following Apple plans to diversify its supply chain management risks. Most likely, we could hear more about it during the company’s Q2 earnings call on April 28.

Apple Fitness+ will highlight a brand new Dance Collection. This award is limited edition and includes a Special Artist Spotlight with hit songs and famous moves taken from YouTube videos.

Starting this week, the new Artist Spotlight sessions will include music by ABBA, BTS, and Queen. Next week will also see new Dance content, such as a Special Artist Spotlight Dance Workout featuring music from BTS and choreography by Queen. In addition, a limited-edition award for International Dance Day will be available, as well as the new ” Get into a Groove with Dance” workout collection.

The Fitness+ Artist Spotlight series returned April 18 with pop legends ABBA, global K-pop phenomenon BTS, and rock icons Queen. This week’s series features a workout playlist dedicated to one artist. Users can choose to dance to ABBA or to work out to BTS during a HIIT session. Every Monday for four weeks, new workouts featuring each artist will appear in Fitness+ across different workout types, including Strength, HIIT, Dance, Treadmill, Cycling, Yoga, and Pilates. Previous Artist Spotlight workouts have featured music by Alicia Keys, the Beatles, Calvin Harris, Ed Sheeran, Imagine Dragons, Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban, Nicki Minaj, Pharrell Williams, Shakira, and more.

Apple Highlights that were inspired by these Fitness+ exercises, Apple Music and Apple One subscribers can take advantage of the Spotlight series which includes “a unique playlist” for each Artist Spotlight member .”

Starting April 25, to celebrate International Dance Day on April 29, Fitness+ trainer Ben Allen will share a first-of-its-kind Artist Spotlight Dance workout set to the music of BTS with Butter, Dynamite, Boy With Luv, DNA, MIC Drop, and more. Next week’s LaShawn Jones will present a Dance Workout that will encourage users to feel joy and Jhon Gonz will lead them to perform to music that celebrates traditional rhythms such as cumbia and Indian pop.

Last but not least, Apple Fitness+ is also unveiling a new workout Collection to get subscribers dancing any day of the year.

“Get into a Groove with Dance” starts with three 20-minute workouts from each of the Fitness+ Dance trainers to “Get on the Dance Floor.” Subscribers will gain confidence with short routines before progressing to “Take Center Stage” with three 30-minute performance-based workouts. The workouts include ’80s classics, hip-hop chart toppers, and Latin music from around the world.

What do you think of these additions? Comment below to share your views.