In late January, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the Apple Watch would start shipping in April. This week, Apple announced that it will have a special event on Monday, March 9 called "Spring Forward." Apple isn't saying what the event will be about, only that it will be at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco (a venue that Apple has frequently used to announce new iPhones and iPads) at 10am Pacific, but I have no doubt that the focus will be on the Apple Watch. You'll be able to watch a live stream, and I'm sure that I'll have a few words to say about the event in my March 10 post. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- Jason Cipriani of Macworld offers a few tips for using Microsoft Word on the iPad.
- Derek Walter of PC World offers a few tips for using Microsoft OneNote on the iPad.
- Jason Snell of SuperSite for Windows also discusses using OneNote for iPad.
- Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal offers advice for using an unlocked phone without a carrier contract.
- John Martellaro of The Mac Observer reviews — and really likes — the BrydgeAir Keyboard for the iPad Air and iPad Air 2.
- Craig Grannell of Wearable shows off some of the upcoming third party apps for the Apple Watch.
- If you have been using WordPerfect on an iPad as a part of the WordPerfect X7 iPad Companion app, that app was just a beta app, you should have received an email from Corel announcing that the app will stop working today. The app is no longer available on the App Store, and its future is uncertain. If you still need to view a WordPerfect file on an iPad, I recommend that you use WordPerfect Viewer for iPad by LawBox.
- There continues to be talk about Apple working on an electric car, and I very much enjoyed this analysis by Jason Snell of Six Colors on the Apple Car. Snell raises a point near the end that I have been thinking about too — when Apple first started to research what would become iOS devices, the first goal was not to create an iPhone, but instead to create an iPad. After the initial work, Apple discovered that the technology wasn't there yet for a large touchscreen tablet, but realized that some of that same R&D could be applied to creating a phone, and thus the iPhone debuted in 2007. (The iPad was not introduced until 2010.) If Apple is researching a car, it could result in lots of different things: maybe a car, maybe just new ways of working with cars manufactured by others, or maybe something else altogether. It will be interesting to see where this research leads.
- After I discussed the fantastic 1Password app earlier this month, some folks asked me how 1Password compares to LastPass. Glenn Fleishman reviewed the Mac version of LastPass (and the service in general) for Macworld and concluded that it isn't as good as 1Password.
- Jason Cipriani of Macworld discusses apps that you can use to replace a fax machine.
- And finally, Apple ran a good ad during the Oscars this past Sunday, showcasing some students using iPads to create movies. If you missed it, here it is again. And according to Lance Ulanoff of Mashable, even this commercial was filmed using an iPad, which is pretty amazing considering the quality.