HQ Trivia prize pots are about to get a lot bigger as the live trivia show brings on its first corporate sponsors and advertisers.
To celebrate Nike's Air Max Day today, for example, HQ will be hosting a surprise 15-question game with a shared $100,000 prize. It appears this will be a bonus round in addition to the regular games at 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern Time, so players will need to keep an eye on their iPhones for a notification at any time.
A spokesperson for HQ told MacRumors that the game will also feature "a prize that money can't buy" for 100 winners. Based on promotional tweets from HQ and Nike, the prize could be limited edition pairs of Air Max shoes.
Then, on Wednesday at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, HQ will be hosting its biggest game yet -- a $250,000 prize pot -- sponsored by the upcoming Steven Spielberg film Ready Player One. Over the weekend, Ad Age reported that HQ inked a $3 million deal with studio Warner Bros. to promote three films in total.
HQ's largest jackpot to date has been $50,000, won by a single player on Sunday night. The game's record high for players is nearly 2.2 million, set on the evening of Sunday, March 4, during the 90th Academy Awards.
HQ's standard prize amount was recently raised to $5,000, which is often split by tens if not hundreds of players, in which cases each winner ends up with a small prize like $5 or $10. It's unclear if every round of HQ will eventually be sponsored, or if the larger jackpots will only take place periodically.
For those unaware, HQ is a live trivia show that launched on iPhone in August, and on Android around New Year's Day. In a standard game, players attempt to answer a series of 12 questions correctly to win a cash prize. To reduce cheating, players have less than 10 seconds to choose one of three answers.
The show is hosted every day at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and at 3:00 p.m. every weekday, most often by comedian Scott Rogowsky. A valuable tip: you can swipe right on the chat to hide the endless flow of comments.
If you haven't played HQ yet, you can download the game from the App Store and sign up for free. The app is also available on Google Play.
Lexus today announced that CarPlay will be a standard feature in the all-new 2019 UX crossover in the United States, marking its first confirmed vehicle with support for Apple's in-car software platform.
CarPlay and Amazon Alexa, but not Android Auto, will be available through the vehicle's Enform 2.0 system. Lexus said the CarPlay implementation will be wired, so the iPhone must be connected via USB cable, but it hasn't specified how large the touchscreen will be or provided other details about the system.
Lexus and its parent company Toyota are among the last of the major automakers to support CarPlay, after having initially chosen the open source platform SmartDeviceLink in partnership with Ford and Livio.
Toyota reversed course in January, starting with the 2019 Avalon, and CarPlay will be a standard feature in the 2019 Corolla Hatchback as well. The forthcoming 2019 Camry and 2019 Sienna will also likely feature CarPlay given the 2018 models of those vehicles are already equipped with Toyota's Entune 3.0 system.
Toyota and Lexus plan to expand CarPlay availability to several other 2019 model year vehicles. A spokesperson for Toyota told MacRumors that it doesn't have plans to support the platform in pre-2019 vehicles at this time.
Lexus is debuting the 2019 UX at the New York International Auto Show later this week. The vehicle is expected to go on sale at dealerships across the United States in December. Pricing will be announced closer to the on-sale date.
Adobe today announced that it is discontinuing its website building software "Adobe Muse" for Mac and PC. The shutdown process begins today with the final feature release of Muse, although technical support for Creative Cloud customers will remain ongoing through May 20, 2019. After that date, Adobe will officially end new feature development for the software.
Adobe Muse launched in 2012, offering users the ability to design websites without having to write any code. Adobe said that while it has been "deeply committed to the Muse vision," trends in recent years have caused the company to evolve its strategies related to website creation.
Now, Adobe is thanking Muse users while hoping a "smooth transition" can be made into other Adobe programs that will be sticking around:
If you are building complex websites and applications, you can now use Adobe XD. Although XD does not generate web-ready code as Adobe Muse did, XD is an all-in-one solution that allows users to design, prototype and collaborate with stakeholders and developers to bring their websites to life.
If you are building a website to showcase your creative work, you can use Adobe Portfolio to create beautiful portfolio websites that can also be connected to the Behance platform.
If you are building one-page websites, such as photo stories, newsletters, or landing pages, you can use Adobe Spark Page to create beautiful responsive web pages with your own unique brand.
Adobe explained that users will still be able to open Muse on their Mac or Windows computers, as well as edit or create new websites in the app. But, after May 20, 2019, there will no longer be any compatibility updates or fixes to bugs that could appear when users publish a Muse-created website.
For more details about the Adobe Muse discontinuation, be sure to visit the company's FAQ page on the topic.
Nearly two weeks after Fitbit first announced the Fitbit Versa, reviews for the new smartwatch have now emerged online today. Many of the reviewers agreed on the following points: the Versa is a step above last year's Fitbit Ionic, trading off GPS and NFC is worth it for the $200 price tag, and Fitbit still hasn't launched a device that could properly challenge the Apple Watch's dominance.
The Verge started off by pointing out that text message notifications on the Versa are clunky for iOS users, especially because "there's no way to respond to them" from the watch. Android users will have a "quick replies" feature updated in May, and because of this and other factors The Verge ultimately explained that the Fitbit Versa could appeal to "everyone other than those hardcore Apple users."
So it all comes down to how much you want to pay, how tied into the Apple ecosystem you are, and how much you care about battery life. Fitbit may have a hard time luring away hardcore Apple fans, especially since the Versa is coming to market years after the original Apple Watch. On the flip side, it may be appealing to Android users, as Google’s Wear OS smartwatch platform has stagnated at this point.
Engadget said that while the Versa looks like a "slightly wider Apple Watch," it's also the "best-looking Fitbit yet." To get the Versa to its $200 price point, Fitbit removed some features from the standard version of the smartwatch, like GPS and NFC, but Engadget said that this price drop is what could help the company "reach a bigger audience" in the future.
Ultimately, the things that stand out about the Fitbit Versa are its sub-$200 price and attractive design -- this is a Fitbit that finally looks more like a smartwatch than a fitness tracker. With the addition of female health tracking in May, the Versa could be even more helpful to women. It's disappointing that GPS isn't built in and NFC is missing, but those tradeoffs may help Fitbit reach a bigger audience.
In its review, Ars Technica called Fitbit's fitness app the "best health and fitness program for any wearable," thanks to its flexibility to adapt to both workout novices and experts. The site liked how the $39.99/year Fitbit Coach service integrated with Versa, although the wearable experience is still lacking in comparison to the mobile app.
However, Fitbit has the opportunity to make its wearable operating system just as killer as its mobile application and overall ecosystem—if it can do that, its devices will be strong contenders in the smartwatch world. It may not have made a splash as Fitbit's first smartwatch, but if any device can entice users to take a chance on Fitbit as their smartwatch provider, it's the $200 Versa.
As a quick tidbit, most of today's reviews mentioned that the process of swapping out bands on the Fitbit Versa is far more difficult when compared to Apple Watch. A few also commented that the Versa's bezels are sometimes noticeable in certain lighting situations, with The Verge further pointing out that Fitbit "had enough space to cram the word "fitbit" onto the watchface, a questionable design choice."
Apple's second-generation iPhone X and so-called iPhone X Plus could be priced from $899 and $999 respectively in the United States, according to RBC Capital Markets analyst Amit Daryanani.
iPhone X and iPhone X Plus dummy models via Ben Geskin
Daryanani said the current iPhone X has experienced "limited success" at $999 and up, leading him to believe that lowering the base price by $100 could reinvigorate sales of the 5.8-inch model. A widely rumored 6.5-inch model, dubbed iPhone X Plus, would then fill the $999 price point.
While this is merely a prediction from one analyst, the strategy could make sense if iPhone X sales have slowed significantly, as a series of supply chain reports have suggested. We won't know for sure until Apple's next earnings report, likely to be released around late April or early May.
At this point, all we know is that the iPhone X was likely a key contributor to Apple's record-breaking revenue of $88.3 billion last quarter, easily topping its previous all-time high of $78.4 billion set in the year-ago quarter. Whether that momentum carried forward to the current quarter remains to be seen.
Based on Daryanani's research note, obtained by MacRumors, here's our take on how the next iPhone lineup could look in terms of pricing:
6.5-inch second-generation iPhone X Plus: $999
5.8-inch second-generation iPhone X: $899
6.1-inch mid-range iPhone X with LCD: $799
iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus: $549 and $669
iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus: $449 and $569
iPhone SE: $349
Here's a rough idea of how the next iPhone lineup could look if Apple maintains its current pricing strategy instead:
6.5-inch second-generation iPhone X Plus: $1,099
5.8-inch second-generation iPhone X: $999
6.1-inch mid-range iPhone X with LCD: $799
iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus: $549 and $669
iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus: $449 and $569
iPhone SE: $349
Apple will likely unveil its next iPhones in September as usual, and presumably only the company's top executives are privy to pricing plans.
A new vulnerability within iOS 11 was uncovered over the weekend, this time centering upon the QR code scanner in the iPhone camera app. With the new scanning feature in iOS 11, users can open the Camera app on iPhone or iPad, point the device at a QR code, and tap a notification to access whatever the code contains.
In a new report by Infosec, the researchers discovered that QR codes related to website links can potentially trick users by displaying an "unsuspicious" website link in the notification, while actually leading them to a completely different site. Infosec showed this off by creating a QR code that generates a notification to "Open 'facebook.com' in Safari", but then leads to its own website.
Infosec explained that the Camera app isn't properly parsing URLs in QR codes, and appears to be tricked by simply editing URLs with a few extra characters:
The URL embedded in the QR code is: https://xxx\@facebook.com:443@infosec.rm-it.de/
But if you tap it to open the site, it will instead open https://infosec.rm-it.de/
The URL parser of the camera app has a problem here detecting the hostname in this URL in the same way as Safari does. It probably detects “xxx\” as the username to be sent to “facebook.com:443”. While Safari might take the complete string “xxx\@facebook.com” as a username and “443” as the password to be sent to infosec.rm-it.de. This leads to a different hostname being displayed in the notification compared to what actually is opened in Safari.
iOS 11 has faced a number of bugs and issues since its launch last September, including one that was fixed in December that allowed unauthorized access to HomeKit devices.
For the QR code issue, Infosec said that it reported the problem to the Apple security team on December 23, 2017, and as of March 24, 2018 it has not yet been fixed.
Apple is on track to outspend Facebook and YouTube on original content for the launch of its TV series and movie platform, which could debut as early as March next year.
According to the report, Apple’s strong brand name and its willingness to write big checks have quickly made it a top draw for show creators and stars. Furthermore, to underline its ambitions in the original content space, the company is said to be building a 128,000-square-foot headquarters for its new entertainment division in Culver City, California.
The location will likely be home to a 40-person team working on Apple Worldwide Video, whose portfolio of shows will include adult dramas, children's shows, and programming for Latin America and Europe. The planned rollout of the new slate of original content is expected to be sometime between March 2019 and summer 2019.
Last August it was reported Apple would spend $1 billion acquiring and producing original TV shows and Hollywood content over the next year. However, today's report suggests Apple will plough a lot more money into programming than that amount, having outbid Netflix in negotiations for some shows and exceeded Facebook's and YouTube's original content spend in recent months.
According to NYT, entertainment executives who met with Apple say the company is looking for TV shows that align with its "bright, optimistic" brand. That accords with previous rumors suggesting Apple wants to produce shows with broad appeal that are also inoffensive enough to be shown in an Apple Store. For example, Bryan Fuller, who was set to be the showrunner for Apple's upcoming "Amazing Stories" reboot, reportedly cut ties with the company after it requested family friendly content only. Today's report notes that Apple still hasn't found a replacement for Fuller.
Meanwhile, the delivery mechanism for the original content still remains unclear – the shows could be accessed through Apple's TV app or another standalone wrapper as part of a separate subscription streaming service.
Apple is known to have invested in at least 12 television shows so far. They include include a new animated TV series called "Central Park" an untitled morning show drama starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon (which is said to be still waiting on a script), an "Amazing Stories" reboot from Steven Spielberg, an untitled space drama from Battlestar Galactica creator Ronald D. Moore, a series written by "La La Land" creator Damien Chazelle, a Kristen Wiig comedy series, See, an epic world-building drama, Home, a docuseries focusing on incredible homes, "Little America," an anthology series from "The Big Sick" creators Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, Swagger, a drama based on the early life and career of NBA star Kevin Durant, and a psychological thriller produced by M. Night Shyamalan.
Additional detail on all of Apple's TV projects can be found in the original content section of our Apple TV roundup.
Apple plans to introduce a new gold iPhone X color option in an effort to boost sales of the Face ID equipped smartphone, while a new revamped 9.7-inch iPad is set to drop in the third quarter of 2018, according to tech blog Mac Otakara.
Apple offered the iPhone X only in Silver and Space Gray at launch, so the prevailing rationale behind a new color is that it could perhaps lure new upgraders during a typically sluggish mid-season.
As for the 9.7-inch iPad refresh, the Japanese-language tech blog reckons the sixth-generation device will go on sale in the third quarter.
Mac Otakara doesn't provide any clues as to the sources of its information, but the iPhone X rumor tallies with another one that emerged just last week, courtesy of Benjamin Geskin. Responding to online chat about a possible new colorway, the parts leaker shared pictures of an alleged "Blush Gold" iPhone X.
With regards to the 9.7-inch iPad claim, it's unclear if Mac Otakara is referring to an imminent low-cost 9.7-inch iPad refresh, which may include support for the Apple Pencil, or another model entirely. In December, for example, DigiTimes claimed Apple was planning to release its most affordable 9.7-inch iPad yet in late 2018.
However, Bloomberg claims the low-cost iPad refresh device will be announced at Apple's first event of the year on Tuesday, March 27, which the company has indicated will have an educational focus. Given the theme, the launch of new iPhone colors at this event seems unlikely, though not impossible.
In March of last year, Apple introduced a (PRODUCT)RED iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, and it's possible the company could be planning to do the same thing this year, with a (PRODUCT)RED iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and perhaps X.
Click here for the MacRumors roundup of everything to expect at Apple's "Let's Take a Field Trip" educational event on March 27.
Tidal has added the ability for users of the music streaming service to automatically add new albums to their music library as soon as they become available.
The new "pre-save" feature ensures albums are displayed in album collections the moment they're uploaded to Tidal servers on the official release day. The feature is launching in tandem with Deadmau5's new album Where's the Drop?, which can be pre-saved in advance of its official release next week.
Apple Music already offers a similar feature for pre-ordered albums purchased through iTunes. Spotify also has an equivalent feature, but so far it's only been used in artist/label marketing campaigns and requires a direct link to the album to use it, as noted by The Verge.
Best Buy today launched a new Apple sale that will last for the rest of the week, this time focusing on the latest 2017 MacBook Air models and the 2015 iPad mini 4. In the sale, select MacBook Air configurations have been discounted by $150-$250 (with an additional $50 off if you're a college student or parent of a K–12 or college student), while the Wi-Fi iPad mini 4 is discounted by $100 across the board and cellular options are marked down by up to $200 with a contract on select carriers.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
The MacBook Air models on sale include both of the basic configurations sold on Apple.com, coming in $50-$100 below rival third-party retailers with some of the cheapest prices currently available online for the 2017 notebooks. The third model on sale is a higher-end configuration with boosted processor speeds and hard drive capacity. If you're a student or parent of a student you can save an extra $50 on all models.
Apple is said to be preparing a new entry-level notebook, but the latest rumors indicate it isn't ready to debut at this week's event, so if you're in the market for a MacBook Air now, this is a good opportunity to buy.
For the iPad mini 4, Best Buy's prices are now $50-$100 cheaper than other retailers. The last update to the iPad mini came in the form of a price drop for the 128GB storage tier in March 2017 -- now the only storage capacity available to purchase in new condition. One year later, there are still no signs of a more substantial update for the iPad mini, so if Apple plans to discontinue the 7.9-inch tablet completely at some point, the iPad mini 4 is your best option if you like the size.
Check out all of the products on sale at Best Buy this week in the list below:
13-inch MacBook Air
1.8 GHz, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD - $849.99, down from $999.99 (additional $50 off for students and parents of students)
1.8 GHz, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD - $999.99, down from $1,199.99 (additional $50 off for students and parents of students)
2.2 GHz, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD - $1,299.99, down from $1,549.99 (additional $50 off for students and parents of students)
Those interested can head to Best Buy to make their purchases before the MacBook Air and iPad mini sale expires this Saturday, March 31. For more of the latest discounts and sales happening this spring, be sure to visit our full Deals Roundup.
Last Thursday Apple shared an Apple Pay ad called "Fly Market," where a man danced through an open air market making purchases using Face ID and Apple Pay on his iPhone X. Apple this weekend posted a short continuation of that longer ad, featuring the same characters but this time focusing on Apple Pay's peer-to-peer payment feature Apple Pay Cash.
In the brief 15-second clip, called "Pay with a message," the main character from Fly Market takes a glance at his friend's pocket square and appears to like it. Using the Apple Pay Cash app within iMessage on iPhone X, he texts his friend $17 and then the pocket square disappears from his friend's jacket and transfers into his own.
Similar to a regular Apple Pay purchase on iPhone X, Apple Pay Cash uses Face ID to confirm the user's identity before sending the money to a friend or family member. Apple Pay Cash wasn't ready at the launch of the iPhone X in early November, but instead began rolling out to users in iOS 11.2 around the beginning of December.
Prior to "Fly Market," Apple's last Face ID-focused video was called "Unlock." In it, a woman discovered that unlocking her iPhone caused everything in the surrounding area to unlock, including lockers, cabinets, doors, and more.
In the late 1980s Jim Reekes began working as a sound designer for Apple, creating some of the Mac's most iconic sounds like the "Sosumi" beep, startup chord, and camera/screenshot click. In a new interview with CNBC, Reekes discussed the origins behind each of these sound creations, and what he thinks about the current audio design of Apple devices. Reekes has touched upon these topics before, but they remain interesting for anyone who might not have heard about this part of Apple's history.
Reekes explained that the reason for the name "Sosumi" began with a lawsuit from The Beatles' record label, also named Apple. At the time, Steve Jobs promised that his company would stay focused on computers and not get involved with music, so that the two similarly named companies could coexist.
After Macs added support for audio recording and MIDI (a standard that connects musical instruments to computers), The Beatles sued and forced Reekes to rename any sound effect that had a "musical-sounding name."
Reekes' frustration with the lawsuit eventually led him to the name "Sosumi," because it sounded like "so sue me." Today, Sosumi is still available as an alert sound in the Mac System Preferences.
One of his beeps, originally called "Xylophone," needed a new name. "I actually said I'm gonna call it 'let it beep' and of course you can't do anything like that, but I thought yeah, 'so sue me.' And then I thought that's actually the right name," Reekes said. "I'll just have to spell it funny, so I spelled it Sosumi."
He told the lawyers it was a Japanese word that didn't mean anything musical. "That's how that Sosumi beep came around," Reekes explained. "It was really me making fun of lawyers."
Reekes also looked back on the Mac's original startup tone, which annoyed him "immensely" because the Mac crashed so many times that it was easy to equate the tone with a frustrating situation. Although he didn't have permission to change it, he recorded a new c-major chord in his living room and used The Beatles song "A Day in the Life" as inspiration.
Jim Reekes and the keyboard he used to record the original Mac startup sound via CNBC
Eventually, Reekes managed to sneak the sound into the original Macintosh Quadra computer.
Some engineers at Apple were not happy with the change. "Our excuse was it's too risky to take it back out at this point because something could crash," he said. "We just made up some bulls---."
It stuck, and years later Apple even trademarked the start-up sound. It's one of the few sounds that's trademarked, along with the NBC chimes and the Intel signature sound. "Kind of silly right?" Reekes smirked. "I'm playing a c-major chord and it's famous and it's a copyright."
On the topic of startup sounds, Reekes voiced his disappointment in the lack of any startup chimes on most Macs today, and gave his opinion on the company's current overall sound design. "I haven't really seen much interesting audio coming out of Apple for a while," he said. Reekes left Apple in the late 1990s and is now a consultant and "out of the sound design business."
There are plenty of other tidbits from Apple's sound design history in the interview, including the origins of the camera click heard on Mac screenshots and in the iPhone's camera app, taken from Reekes' old 1970s Canon AE-1. To read more from the interview, visit CNBC's website.
Apple CEO Tim Cook attended the annual China Development Forum in Beijing on Saturday, during which he called for stronger data privacy regulations following the "dire" Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal (via Bloomberg). Last week, it was revealed that the social network let Cambridge Analytica amass data on 50 million Facebook users without their consent, in an effort to target messages to voters during the 2016 presidential election.
On the topic, Cook called for "well-crafted regulation" to protect users:
“I think that this certain situation is so dire and has become so large that probably some well-crafted regulation is necessary,” Cook said after being asked if the use of data should be restricted in light of the Facebook incident. “The ability of anyone to know what you’ve been browsing about for years, who your contacts are, who their contacts are, things you like and dislike and every intimate detail of your life -- from my own point of view it shouldn’t exist.”
Cook went on by stating that Apple has "worried for a number of years" that something like the recent Facebook data scandal might happen. "Unfortunately that prediction has come true more than once," he said.
“We’ve worried for a number of years that people in many countries were giving up data probably without knowing fully what they were doing and that these detailed profiles that were being built of them, that one day something would occur and people would be incredibly offended by what had been done without them being aware of it,” he said. “Unfortunately that prediction has come true more than once.”
A #DeleteFacebook campaign arose quickly on Twitter following news of Cambridge Analytica's actions, which WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton took part in. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made an official statement on the events this past week, saying that the company has "a responsibility to protect your data," and that if it can't "then we don't deserve to serve you." He continued, "We also made mistakes, there's more to do, and we need to step up and do it."
Repercussions have begun to hit Facebook, including a lawsuit from Facebook shareholder Fan Yuan, who alleged the company had some knowledge of Cambridge Analytica's data siphoning and made "materially false and/or misleading" claims regarding Facebook's handling of user data. The first step Facebook has taken to attempt to address the issue is a new tool at the top of the News Feed which will let people see which apps have their info and offer up an easy way to revoke permissions.
In other topics at the Beijing forum on Saturday, Tim Cook also briefly touched upon the recent decision by President Trump to place tariffs on Chinese goods. Although the details on the tariffs have yet to be finalized by the U.S. government, Cook said: "The countries that embrace openness do exceptional and the countries that don't, don't...It's not a matter of carving things up between sides. I'm going to encourage that calm heads prevail."
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Apple is holding its first event of 2018 on Tuesday, March 27 at the Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago. According to invites sent out to members of the media last week, the event will focus on "creative new ideas for teachers and students."
This is Apple's first education-centric event since 2012, hence the unusual location. With most events, we tend to have concrete rumors on what to expect, but things are a little more up in the air with the educational event.
Still, rumors have hinted at several products that could see a refresh at the event, and while some of them may primarily be of interest to schools and educators, there are some products on the horizon all of us have been eagerly anticipating. Announcement possibilities are listed below:
New Lower-Cost iPad
In 2017, Apple released a fifth-generation 9.7-inch iPad that was designed to be a low-cost but powerful alternative to the iPad Pro. The tablet is priced at $329, and in 2018, rumors have suggested Apple could release an iPad with an even lower price point, which would be enticing to schools.
The iPad could be priced as low as $259, $70 less than the starting price of the current 9.7-inch iPad.
Whether this iPad is an entirely new device or just a lower price for the existing 9.7-inch iPad remains to be seen.
Along with a lower-cost iPad, Apple may perhaps be planning to introduce some kind of notebook that has a lower price tag, but again, the exact form that this will take is unclear.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who often has insight into Apple's plans, believes Apple is working on a "more affordable MacBook Air," which would perhaps be ideal for an educational market to compete with Google Chromebooks.
Kuo didn't mention whether or not this cheaper MacBook Air would be a price drop on the current MacBook Air or a new machine, nor did he mention potential specs. The MacBook Air is highly outdated, so if changes are indeed planned, updated processors and other internals could be on the horizon.
Other rumors suggest the lower-cost MacBook Air could be priced at $799 to $899, and that price tag would likely be even lower for schools able to make bulk purchases.
The rumors have been confused by a report from DigiTimes suggesting Apple is working on an "entry-level 13.3-inch MacBook." DigiTimes calls the notebook a MacBook, but lists the size of the MacBook Air, and goes on to say that it will feature a Retina display.
Updating the MacBook Air with a Retina display would make it difficult to keep costs low, and it would be a curious choice given the existence of the slimmer 12-inch MacBook line, which does come equipped with Retina displays. For that reason, it's not entirely clear if DigiTimes is talking about an update to the MacBook Air line or the MacBook line. DigiTimes' report says the new notebook would be priced at around $999, which is more expensive than other low-cost MacBook Air rumors.
Just this morning, Bloombergalso said Apple is working on a new MacBook that would cost under $1,000 and would replace the existing MacBook Air, but even that report didn't specify whether this machine would be in the current MacBook Air family or part of the 12-inch MacBook line. What Bloomberg did say, though, is that this machine is not ready, and therefore we may or may not hear about it at the event. It's possible Apple will make an announcement with a launch date to follow, but we also might not see any Mac-related news until WWDC in June.
The AirPower isn't an accessory that's likely to be marketed to educational institutions, but rumors have been suggesting a March launch for the device, so it's possible Apple will also use its March event to debut some products of interest to the general public.
First announced in September alongside the iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus, the AirPower is an inductive charging mat that's designed to charge Qi-based iPhones, the Apple Watch Series 3, and the AirPods all at the same time using one accessory.
Alongside the AirPower, Apple will also introduce a new AirPods Charging Case that includes new wireless charging capabilities. This revamped charging case will be necessary for AirPods to charge through the AirPower mat.
Existing AirPods owners will be able to purchase the new Charging Case as a standalone accessory, while new AirPods purchases will likely include it.
We don't know what the AirPower will be priced at, but rumors have suggested it could cost somewhere around $199.
There's no real indication that Apple is working on a new Apple Pencil to debut at its education-focused event, but the design of the event invitation sent out to members of the media does appear to have been drawn with an Apple Pencil, and it could be a hint.
It's possible Apple is planning to introduce a lower-cost Apple Pencil that could be used in tandem with the new low-cost iPad, which would indeed be appealing to schools.
Just this morning, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple Pencil support is likely for the new low-cost iPad, but it's not yet clear if that means Apple plans to add support for the existing Apple Pencil or introduce a new, more affordable model.
If some kind of Apple Pencil announcement doesn't happen at this event, we can perhaps expect to see a new model when Apple debuts new iPad Pros, something we believe will happen either in June at the Worldwide Developers Conference or September alongside new iPhones.
On the chance that Apple is working on an Apple Pencil for its low-cost tablet, it's possible a lower-cost Smart Keyboard could also be included. Adding a keyboard and an input device like the Apple Pencil to the low-cost iPad would add a lot of utility for students.
If Apple is indeed going to use its March event to focus on products unrelated to education, we could see the iPhone X and perhaps the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus in new colors.
There have been rumors of a "Blush Gold" iPhone X floating around, and just this week, new images of the rumored device surfaced. Apple offered the iPhone X only in Silver and Space Gray at launch, and a new color could perhaps lure new upgraders mid-season.
In March of last year, Apple introduced a (PRODUCT)RED iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, and it's possible the company could be planning to do the same thing this year, with a (PRODUCT)RED iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and perhaps X.
We've been hearing rumors of a new "iPhone SE 2" for some time now, and while it's possible we could see a new iPhone SE at the March event, we don't think it's likely.
While some supply chain sources and sketchier rumor sources have suggested a new iPhone SE 2 is in the works with upgraded internals and other specs, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo does not believe Apple has enough spare development resources to dedicate to an iPhone SE in 2018 given the company's work on the three iPhones planned for September.
A recent rumor from Taiwan's Economic Daily News has also suggested Apple does not have new iPhones planned for the first half of 2018, which would mean no March iPhone SE 2.
If there is a new iPhone SE 2 on the horizon, major design changes and the adoption of features from flagship phones are unlikely given the iPhone SE's position as a low-cost device.
Apple already announced a new collection of spring Apple Watch bands in new colors, which could go on sale following the educational event. When announced on March 21, Apple said they would be coming later in the month.
Though not announced at the same time, Apple could also launch new iPhone and iPad cases in refreshed colors at the same time.
Apple promised to release iOS 11.3 in the spring, and well, it's spring. iOS 11.3 is also near the end of its beta testing period, and thus far we've seen six betas. We haven't had the GM version of iOS 11.3 yet, so it's possible we'll get that instead of an official release on Tuesday. A launch will come shortly after, though.
Though it's received little coverage, iOS 11.3 includes a new Classroom 2.2 app, which is designed to turn the iPad into a powerful teaching assistant to help teachers guide students through lessons.
It also includes a ClassKit framework aimed at helping developers create educational apps that teachers can use with the Classroom app to deliver assignments to students and track their progress.
Classroom 2.2 and ClassKit haven't been announced or covered heavily by Apple, so expect this to be a focal point of the event.
iOS 11.3, of course, brings a whole slew of other updates and features, like iCloud Messages, ARKit 1.5, new Animoji, and a Battery Health feature that will allow customers to better monitor their batteries and battery health as it relates to device performance.
As this is an educational event, expect other educational announcements. Apple is likely to give us an update on its Everyone Can Code curriculum for students. Apple has coding lessons for high schools and elementary schools, along with a dedicated App Development With Swift curriculum for community colleges, which is a full-year coding course.
The high school where Apple plans to hold its event, Lane Tech College Prep, was featured in a December announcement of the expansion of the Everyone Can Code program to 500,000 students in Chicago. Students at Lane Tech have been learning to build apps with Apple's Swift programming language.
Other Details
There's no guarantee that all of these products will be introduced at Apple's educational event, but it's likely we'll see at least some of them.
Apple does not plan to live stream its educational event, but after it takes place, a video will be uploaded to Apple's event site and event app on the Apple TV. MacRumors will have full coverage of the event, however, along with detailed information on each announcement. Make sure to stay tuned to the website for coverage and follow our Twitter account, MacRumorsLive.
While Apple often offers a live stream for its special events, the company has confirmed there will be no live stream for the March 27 education-focused event set to take place at Lane Tech High School in Chicago.
Apple today updated the Events app on the Apple TV to add an image of the invitation for the upcoming event and to note that a video will be uploaded later in the day following the conclusion of the event.
Apple has not held an education-focused event since 2012, so we weren't sure what to expect. That event was not streamed either. Given that this is primarily an event for teachers and students rather than regular customers, it isn't a surprise that we'll have no live stream.
MacRumors will offer live coverage of the educational event both here on MacRumors.com and on our MacRumorsLive Twitter account, so make sure to visit us on Tuesday if you want to hear about what Apple has in store for schools.
The ticket lottery for Apple's 2018 Worldwide Developers Conference ended yesterday morning at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, and following the end of registration, Apple has started sending out confirmation emails to winners.
Developers who were lucky enough to win a ticket can expect to see their credit cards charged for the $1,599 over the course of the next few days.
Apple has been using a lottery system to provide developers with WWDC tickets for the last several years due to high demand. There are approximately 5,000 spots open for developers, but Apple gets many more applications than that.
Developers will be able to attend iOS, watchOS, tvOS, and macOS app development sessions and more than 1,000 Apple engineers and executives will be available.
This year's event will start on Monday, June 4 and last through Friday, June 8. On Monday, Apple will host a keynote event to introduce new iOS, tvOS, watchOS, macOS, and HomePod software, and we could be surprised with a few new hardware products as well.
Rumors thus far have suggested we might see updated iPad Pro models with slimmer bezels and a TrueDepth camera system for Face ID functionality, and a less expensive MacBook Air.
Following the keynote event, Apple will make new software updates available to developers and the rest of the week will be spent in technical sessions and hands-on labs.
Developers not selected to purchase a WWDC ticket will be able to watch the keynote session and follow along with technical sessions through the Apple Developer Website and the WWDC app for iPad, iPhone, and Apple TV.
Apple CEO Tim Cook will sit down for an interview with Recode's Kara Swisher and MSNBC's Christopher Hayes on Friday, April 6 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, MSNBC announced today.
The interview will be titled "Revolution: Apple Changing the World," with no other details about Cook's appearance at this time.
With no additional information available, it's not clear what Cook's discussion will include, but topics like privacy and data collection are likely to come up given the recent scandal with Facebook and Cambridge Analytica and concerns over the CLOUD Act.
Cook may also spend time discussing the new educational initiatives Apple plans to introduce at its March 27 event, and we could get additional commentary on the consequences of Apple's power management features in older iPhones.
Cook is often tight-lipped about new products, but he could potentially provide some veiled hints on what Apple's working on both this year and in the future.
We'll have coverage of Cook's interview with Recode and MSNBC here on MacRumors on April 6.
In addition to our standalone articles covering the latest Apple news and rumors at MacRumors, this Quick Takes column provides a bite-sized recap of other headlines about Apple and its competitors on weekdays.
Friday, March 23
1. (PRODUCT)RED edition iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and/or iPhone X very soon? Steve Hemmerstoffer, who runs the OnLeaks account on Twitter, says at least one red-colored iPhone might be released soon. However, he says his source is unverified, so treat this rumor with a dose of skepticism.
(PRODUCT)RED edition iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus
Take this with a pinch of salt because I got it from a new and therefore still "unverified" source but I heard that new red colored iPhone(s) might be on his way... pic.twitter.com/LKkGB99ylK
— Steve H. (@OnLeaks) March 23, 2018
Rosenblatt Securities analyst Jun Zhang also said Apple may release a (PRODUCT)RED edition of the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and/or iPhone X. A year ago this week, Apple unveiled a special (PRODUCT)RED edition of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, so there's certainly some precedence to suggest this rumor may be true.
OMG Apple’s latest iPhone X ad includes a shot of the bugged notification bubbles (see thread for explanation)
Yes, I did file a radar on this months ago. I think it got closed as dupe. I’m way more concerned that this was signed off for the commercial. pic.twitter.com/4VnuplkQTf
— Benjamin Mayo (@bzamayo) March 16, 2018
As it turns out, Apple has quietly edited the video to remove any evidence of the glitch, somehow without re-uploading it to its YouTube channel. The irony is that Apple hasn't fixed the bug in the latest iOS 11.3 beta, but given the attention it has now received, expect that to change soon.
include both of the basic configurations sold on Apple.com, coming in $50-$100 below rival third-party retailers with some of the cheapest prices currently available online for the 2017 notebooks. The third model on sale is a higher-end configuration with boosted processor speeds and hard drive capacity. If you're a student or parent of a student you can 
than other retailers. The last update to the iPad mini came in the form of a 
