iTunes U gains support for Shared iPad feature, Spotlight Search integration and more

iTunes U, Apple's application that gives you access to its collection of free education content on iTunes and lets you create your own teaching material, was refreshed today in the App Store with half a dozen new features.

Among the biggest enhancements is integration with iOS 9's Spotlight Search as well as support for the Managed Apple IDs and the Shared iPad features, which are both part of Apple's new classroom experience in iOS 9.3.

Grab popular journaling software Day One 2 at no charge through the Apple Store shopping app

Bloom Built's journaling app, Day One 2, has gone temporarily free courtesy of the Apple Store shopping app for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

A significant update to the original Day One app (now renamed Day One Classic), Day One 2 released as a brand new app in the App Store last month so you're looking at a cool $9.99 savings here.

Rebuilt from the ground up but staying true to Day One’s original simplicity, this app comes with two headlining features: multiple journals and multiple photos per entry.

PCalc gains new Apple Watch complication, eight-line mode on iPad Pro and lots more

PCalc, arguably the most powerful App Store calculator for scientists, engineers, students, programmers or anybody looking for a feature rich calculator, has received a fresh new icon and more features as part of today's update in the App Store.

For starters, the app's now fully compatible with iOS 9 and watchOS 2. If you own an Apple Watch, you can now quickly access PCalc via a complication.

On the iPad Pro, a new eight-line mode is now available and you now specify certain settings like RPN mode and number of decimal places separately for the app, watch and widget.

Google Maps for iOS now integrates with popular ride services, Spotlight Search and more

Google has pushed a refresh to its mapping application in the App Store. Bumped to version 4.17, Google Maps for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad now integrates with a total of six popular international ride services via a new tab in navigation mode.

In terms of other features, the updated application gives you the ability to save route options and integrates with iOS 9'2 enhanced Spotlight Search so you can find your saved places via the search field revealed after pulling down on any Home screen.

Review: Apple’s new Woven Nylon bands for Apple Watch

During Apple's March 21 event, among all the goodies released, were some new bands for Apple Watch. The most notable were the ones made from a completely new material than offered before. Those new $49 Woven Nylon bands come in a variety of colors for both the 38mm, and 42mm Apple Watches.

Apple’s recommended iPad Pro accessory: Microsoft Office 365 subscription

Apple this morning started accepting pre-orders for the new iPhone SE and 9.7-inch iPad Pro in thirteen territories total. Surprisingly enough, the Apple Online Store offers iPad Pro shoppers Microsoft Office 365 subscriptions as a recommended iPad accessory.

As first noted by The Verge, Microsoft Office 365 also appears as a recommended option when purchasing other iPad models, including the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 2 and iPad mini 4.

The ultimate guide to protecting your private information in Notes from the prying eyes

According to Apple, Notes is one of the most popular and most-frequently used stock applications on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

People use Notes for everything from memorizing recipes to keeping track of errands, creating shopping lists, storing inspirational quotes and even passwords, codes and medical data.

Not all notes contain sensitive information, but many do. Beginning with iOS 9.3 and OS X El Capitan 10.11.4, you can protect your notes with a password or Touch ID.

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to set up Notes protection, secure items on a note-by-note basis so no one can view their contents and more.

This tweak inverts the respring and reboot screen colors on your iPhone

Typically, on any black-colored iOS device, the respring or reboot screen is going to be black with a white Apple logo; and conversely, any white-colored iOS device will have a white respring or reboot screen with a black Apple logo.

Although some people may like the small variance Apple has given their devices, others may like to have the option to switch it up for themselves.

For those people, a new jailbreak tweak called InvertRespring will invert the respring and reboot screen's background and Apple logo colors to their opposites, and is now available for free in Cydia.

Apple support document addresses activation issues some users may encounter after updating to iOS 9.3

Apple has released a support document Wednesday night to address an issue where some iOS users are unable to activate their devices after updating to iOS 9.3, a software version released earlier this week.

Most reports of the issue seem to come from iPad 2 owners, although a quick search online shows that some iPhone users were also affected. In this support document, Apple offers a few options to try and remedy the problem.

Watch out, PayPal: Apple Pay is reportedly coming to websites this year

Apple's mobile payment solution for the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch will be coming to mobile websites later this year, reports Re/code. The technology blog explains that people will be able to pay for goods and services purchased in online stores through the Safari browser on iPhones and iPads that possess Apple’s TouchID fingerprint technology.

Apple Pay is currently supported in physical retail stores and select third-party apps that have elected to implement support for the technology with In-App Purchases, but not on websites. If true, this move will aim Apple Pay squarely at the likes of PayPal, Square and other established online payments service providers.

Apple’s ‘Let us loop you in’ keynote hits YouTube

Apple held its 'Let us loop you in' media event on Monday to unveil the new four-inch iPhone SE, 9.7-inch iPad Pro, Apple Watch bands and accessories and more. A replay of the live video broadcast has since been added to the Apple Special Events webpage and published as a downloadable podcasts on iTunes. And now, the entire presentation is available for streaming via Apple's YouTube channel.

Apple has 6 cloud infrastructure projects to prevent unauthorized snooping

Amid reports that it's shifting some of the iCloud services to Google’s Cloud Platform, The Information is reporting that Apple has a total of six projects underway related to boosting its cloud infrastructure. One of them, code-named Project McQueen, calls for custom data storage systems.

Apple suspects that third-party servers that power iCloud might have been intercepted during shipping and that someone may have added additional chips and firmware to them “in order to make them vulnerable to infiltration,” as per the report.