Apple

This particular Apple Pencil detail exemplifies what Apple is all about

Apple's legendary attention to detail comes into full view yet again with the iPad Pro's optional accessory, the Apple Pencil. As first discovered and shared by The Verge in its iPad Pro review, the Apple-branded stylus—which was designed exclusively for the new iPad—is weighted so it won't roll away on a table top. In fact, it always stops rolling with the word 'Pencil' facing upward on its metal band, which is awesome.

How long does it take to fully charge iPad Pro?

Despite its notably faster 'A9X' system-on-a-chip and a bigger screen with significantly increased pixel count, the iPad Pro is roughly in line with prior iPad models in terms of battery life.

On the other hand, the jumbo-sized tablet ships with Apple's 12W USB Power Adapter despite having a much larger battery. So, how long does it take to recharge the iPad Pro's battery from dead to full capacity?

Benchmarks put iPad Pro’s A9X chip roughly on par with Intel’s 2013 Core i5

The powerful Apple-designed 'A9X' system-on-a-chip—the engine that drives the iPad Pro—outperforms its predecessor inside the iPad Air 2 by a large margin while offering approximately the same performance as Intel's Core i5 processor for notebooks from 2013.

In terms of graphics, the iPad Pro still manages to outperform the fluidness of the iPad Air 2 despite having more pixels on a bigger screen. That's the gist of a series of synthetic benchmarks that ArsTechnica ran as part of its massive review of the iPad Pro in order to determine just how speedy Apple's new tablet is.

iPad Pro doesn’t support untethered ‘Hey Siri’

Although Apple's iPad Pro Tech Specs webpage states in black and white that the device's A9X system-on-a-chip includes an embedded 'M9' motion coprocessor, just like its A9 counterpart powering the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, the tablet doesn't support untethered 'Hey Siri' functionality when not connected to power, AppleInsider discovered yesterday.

How to silence your Apple Watch with a simple gesture

Cover Apple Watch to mute alerts

When you're in a meeting or at the movies and a phone call comes in or a loud alert starts dinging, nothing compares to the social awkwardness after realizing you've forgotten to silence your watch. While you can mute the alerts on your Apple Watch with a couple of taps, by the time you fumble through the menus, you'll have already embarrassed yourself.

Thankfully, there's a better way: the Apple Watch includes a nifty little feature for silencing incoming phone calls and other audible alerts with a super quick gesture.

Foursquare revamps iPad interface, adds Peek and Pop gestures on iPhone 6s

Foursquare's main iOS app was refreshed earlier today with some new 3D Touch goodies and a redesigned interface on the iPad. Foursquare for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad was part of the initial wave of third-party applications that enabled support for handy Home screen shortcuts via 3D Touch on the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

Today's update added 3D Touch-based Peek and Pop gestures, meaning you can now preview content within the app and pop right into it, without lifting a finger off the screen.

Microsoft refreshes Office apps for iPad Pro, with an important caveat

Windows giant Microsoft today released compatibility updates for its mobile Office app in the App Store—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote and OneDrive—aimed at lucky iPad Pro owners.

Featuring full support for iOS 9's new Slide Over and Split View multitasking modes, these apps now take full advantage of the iPad Pro's massive 2,732-by-2,048 pixel resolution 12.9-canvas that in landscape mode basically runs two full-sized apps concurrently.

WSJ: Apple developing person-to-person mobile payment service that could launch in 2016

According to The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, Apple is in talks with banks in the United States on a brand new person-to-person mobile payment service that would be rival to PayPal’s Venmo platform and could launch as soon as 2016.

According to people familiar with the ongoing talks, it's unknown at this stage whether any of the banks have cut a deal with the iPhone maker and how the rumored service would tie into the banking industry’s existing infrastructure.

Mophie’s new battery packs are its thinnest and lightest yet

Accessory maker Mophie today announced a refreshed edition of its Powerstation external battery packs for charging mobile devices.

The 3rd generation, aluminum-clad Powerstation is Mophie's thinnest and lightest yet.

The smallest measures just 6.9mm thick and the largest is only 12.1mm deep. Prices range from $39.95 for the baseline model and go all the way up to $149.95 for the flagship Powerstation 8X that packs in a 15,000 mAh battery.

Facebook releases Notify for iPhone for news, sports, weather and other alerts

Facebook on Wednesday announced it's releasing a brand new mobile application, Notify for iPhone. Conceived as a mobile notifications app for news, sports, weather and more, Notify was designed to deliver push notifications “that matter from sources you love, right on your lock screen, all in one place.”

Notifications are grouped into “stations” which cover varied categories, from sports and celebrities to news, movies, music, shopping and more. Notify is an English-only iPhone app available for free in the App Store.

Moxiware unveils handy Apple Pencil charging dock

Accessory maker Moxiware today announced an interesting charging dock for the $99 Apple Pencil that keeps your stylus in an upright position while it's docked and charging. This should be good news for critics who ridicule Apple's way of charging the Apple Pencil through the iPad Pro's Lightning port.

The accessory is provided in anodized aluminum or hard wood, each in a cone or cylinder-shaped variant, and is available for pre-order beginning today for $30.