MacRumors

Earlier this morning, Apple posted a pair of videos onto its YouTube channel to join in on celebrating Autism Acceptance Month. The videos - titled "Dillan's Voice" and "Dillan's Path" - show how the company's technology, namely the iPad, has helped a young man with autism navigate a world that doesn't fully understand what he's going through.

Dillan narrates the first video, Dillan's Voice, using the help of an assistive communication app on the iPad. He mentions that most of his life it was impossible to convey what he felt to people around him, but with the help of the iPad he can finally speak and have conversations with his friends and family.

So many people can't understand that I have a mind. All they can see is a person who is not in control. But now you can hear me. The iPad helps me to see not only my words but to hold onto my thoughts. Having a voice has changed everything in my life. No more isolation. I can finally speak with the people that love me. I can say what I think and let them know I love them too.

Dillan's mom Tami, and his therapist Deborah Spengler, provide some background into Dillan's past in the second video. Dillan was born in 1999 and Tami mentions that what the iPad has done for her son is "just the most incredible thing ever, to suddenly start to hear your child's voice." Before he could use the iPad to type, Dillan describes "a lonely existence" where he had to create relationships with his various toy animals since he couldn't communicate with his family.

Apple has also launched a section of the app store, called Voices of Autism, inspired by Dillan's story. There users can download educational and every-day apps, helpful books, and listen to podcasts about "real-life stories" from people living with autism.

More can be discovered about Apple's extensive accessibility features on the company's website.

Apple's newest iPad Pro, the 9.7-inch model, made its way into the hands of customers on March 31, and now that a day has passed, many people who purchased the powerful little tablet have shared their thoughts on the device on our forums.

Reviews and impressions from media sites came out earlier this month, but there are always new details and small tidbits of information that come out when products see a wide release. First impressions from actual Apple consumers can also be valuable for those considering a purchase, so we've gathered up some of the details MacRumors readers have shared about the 9.7-inch iPad Pro.

A thread querying users about their happiness level with the new iPad Pro suggests opinions on the device are largely positive. More than half of respondents said the device is "amazing" or a "great upgrade." While some are upgrading from an iPad Air 2 or earlier, there are buyers who traded their 12.9-inch iPad Pros for the smaller models. MacRumors reader Traverse outlined a long list of positives about his iPad Pro, highlighting the speed improvements over the iPad Air 2.

Noticeably faster performance than my Air 2. I loved the Air 2 and never thought of it as slow and expected the A9X to yield no real world benefit in day to day use. I think a combination of that and the NAND flash improvements are huge. Apps install faster, many app launches are noticeably faster. The Music app is nearly instant open whereas the Air 2 took 2-3 seconds. I set up my iPad as new and launched Sky Guide for the first time by accident when I was putting it's widget in NC and by the time NC swiped up the app was already loaded and waiting :eek:. It's noticeable more zippy.

The True Tone display, unique to the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, is getting some rave reviews, but not all iPad Pro owners are fans of the yellowing of the display. Patriot24 says it's "insanely great," but BitSlap says he prefers bright and crisp whites. On the whole, most readers seem to like the feature quite a bit.

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Yesterday marked the official launch date of the iPhone SE, with the device arriving to pre-order customers and becoming available for purchase in retail stores. Now that the new 4-inch iPhone is in the hands consumers, many MacRumors readers have been sharing their opinions on the iPhone SE in the forums.

We've already seen reviews and first impressions of the 4-inch iPhone from media sites, but details and thoughts shared by actual customers are often more informative. We've rounded up some of the more interesting tidbits that our readers have shared, which can be seen below.

On the whole, reactions to the iPhone SE are positive among customers who have been awaiting a smaller 4-inch iPhone. PaladinGuy finds the 4-inch form factor to be more comfortable, but does miss the 3D Touch feature of the iPhone 6s.

It's WAY more comfortable in my hand to have 4" again, but I have to say that I keep trying to use 3D Touch for different things, and then remembering the SE doesn't have it. We'll see how big of a deal it is to me.

Many MacRumors readers who purchased the iPhone SE favor one handed operation over screen size, and with a 4-inch iPhone, the entire screen can be accessed with a thumb as Hal~9000 points out.

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Apple, co-founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 1976, celebrates its 40th anniversary today.

Last night, the company hung up a pirate flag at its One Infinite Loop campus to pay homage to the Jobs-led team that worked on the original Macintosh, which was viewed as rebellious at a time when Apple was focusing on the Lisa.

Apple Timeline

1976 - Apple's history begins in the garage of Steve Jobs' childhood home in Los Altos, California, where Steve Wozniak and Jobs tested -- but designed elsewhere -- the first Apple I computers, which they later introduced at the Homebrew Computer Club. The Byte Shop places 50 orders. The computer later sells for $666.66.

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Apple today debuted a new ad for its music streaming service Apple Music, this time centering around a workout session by artist Taylor Swift. The singer posted the 1-minute video on Twitter earlier this morning, captioning it as "based on true events."

In the commercial, she begins preparing for a treadmill workout by browsing Apple Music for some workout-related songs. After navigating through the service's recommended Activity Playlists and landing on the Running sub-category, Swift decides on a playlist called "#GYMFLOW" and begins listening to Drake & Future's song "Jumpman."

As the video continues, Swift gets really into the song and sings along with the lyrics, ultimately leading her to wipe out on the treadmill with the accompanying tagline for the video describing Apple Music as "distractingly good."

The highly anticipated Tesla Model 3 electric car was unveiled by Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Thursday night in a converted hangar in Los Angeles, California.

The company's first mass-market electric car was driven onto a foggy stage in an extravagant unveiling, where Musk revealed that the Tesla Model 3 will seat five, and be able to cover at least 215 miles on one charge.

Despite photo restrictions at the unveiling, TechCrunch was able to get some good shots of a red Model 3, which looks like a more sporty version of the company's Model S.

The Model 3 will also feature Autopilot for assisted driving and be future-proof for self-driving road use. Shipping begins late 2017, by which time Tesla says it will have doubled the number of charging stations worldwide and will include charging for free.

The Model 3 is Tesla's attempt to bring electric cars to the mass market and is considered critical to the company's future success.

Interest has been strong, with yesterday's reservations for the Model 3 at Tesla stores and galleries – some of which are located directly adjacent to Apple retail stores – arguably eclipsing the launch of the iPhone SE. Musk later boasted on stage that the company had already secured 115,000 reservations before the car had even been revealed.

The full selection of photos of the red Model 3 is available on the TechCrunch site. The video below, posted by iVenyaWay, shows off Tesla's new car in silver. A matte black option briefly features towards the end.

Apple and Tesla have hired each other's employees over the last couple of years, with Musk saying that Apple has hired away "very few people" from the car company despite offering $250,000 signing bonuses and 60 percent salary increases to its employees. Tesla meanwhile has hired nearly 150 Apple employees.

You can watch the full unveiling of the Tesla Model 3.

April 1 is here again, and as with every April Fools' Day that comes around, readers should be on the alert for hoaxes and claims at both news and rumor sites.

As tradition would have it, plenty of today's pranks involve Apple and tech. Here are a few of the more intriguing ones that are making the rounds so far today. Bear in mind that some of the hoaxes may be NSFW, so after-office viewing or headphone donning may be the safest option.

SpatiaFlight

Moshi launches SpatiaFlight, the next generation of AirPlay.

T-Mobile are offering Binge On Up!, a truly mobile binge-watching experience free to all their customers.

Google announces Cardboard Plastic, for the ultimate immersive "AR" experience.

Autonomous RV – World's first self-driving trailer van
Virgin America – Introducing the airline's dubious new logo
Product Hunt – Product Hunt acquires Yahoo in all-stock deal
Mark for H&M – Mark Zuckerberg exclusive fashion collection
Lexus V-LCRO – Revolutionary human-machine interface for tackling hard corners
Android Developer Story – The Guardian goes galactic with Google Play

This post will be updated throughout April Fools' Day with the latest pranks and hoaxes.

Yesterday, Chipworks' teardown of the iPhone SE confirmed that the new device uses a potpourri of components from several past iPhones, including the iPhone 5s. iFixit has completed its own teardown of the device, and its findings show that the new device includes several components that are interchangeable with iPhone 5s parts.

iFixit found that the iPhone SE's speaker, chassis, vibrator, SIM tray and display assembly, which includes the LCD, digitizer, front camera, earpiece speaker and proximity sensor are the same parts used in the iPhone 5s. According to iFixit's testing, the components are easily swappable and work in a "plug and play" fashion.

The non-swappable parts include the logic board, rear-facing camera, Lightning connector assembly and battery. The iPhone SE's battery comes in at 1,624 mAh, which is up from the iPhone 5s' 1,560 mAh battery. However, iFixit notes that the SE's battery comes with a different battery connector, so iPhone 5s users hoping to install a larger battery in their phones are out of luck.

The camera on the iPhone SE also comes with a different connector, using far fewer pins than the connector on the iPhone 5s' camera. Other differences include a Lightning connector that's a little different from the iPhone 5s' Lightning connector, failing iFixit's compatibility test. The power button bracket also has a contact cable "doohickey," likely for grounding.

iFixit awarded the iPhone SE a repairability score of 6 out of 10, with 10 being the easiest to repair. While the iPhone SE's similarities to the iPhone 5s make it easier to repair, it's still difficult to open because of the Pentalobe screws on the device's exterior. Like most iPhones, the Touch ID cable is also easily damaged if a user is not careful when opening the device.

Rumors have suggested the iPhone 7 will be thinner and lighter than the iPhone 6s, and a new report from Korean site ETNews shares some technical details on the methods Apple may use to save space internally and shave off precious fractions of a millimeter from the device's size.

Apple is said to be planning to use a new fan-out packaging technology for the antenna switching module and radio frequency chip in the iPhone 7, which is a feature that allows the iPhone to switch between LTE and other antennas like GSM and CDMA. Fan-out packaging technology allows for a greater number of I/O terminals while cutting down on chip size.

Fan Out technology is a technology that increases number of I/O (Input/Output) terminals within a package by pulling out wiring of I/O terminals to outside from a semiconductor chip (Die), which is a previous step before packaging. As area of a chip had become narrower as manufacturing processes had become finer, it was difficult to increase number of I/O terminals. Because industries do not want to increase size of a chip just for I/O terminals, they have been paying attention to Fan Out Packaging technology recently. It is most cost effective from production cost perspective if number of I/O terminals increases within a package while still decreasing size of a chip.

Using this packaging method, along with single-chip EMI shields, Apple will be able to fit more components into a single package while minimizing signal loss and also cutting down on the potential for interference in wireless communication. The radio frequency chip built into the antenna switching module is said to include two chips in one package rather than two chips built into a printed circuit board to save space.

Apple's iPhone 7 is expected to launch in the fall of 2016. Rumors about the device suggest it will look similar to the iPhone 6s, but with redesigned antenna bands and a somewhat thinner chassis. Along with the chip packaging techniques shared today, Apple is rumored to be cutting down on the size of the device through the removal of the headphone jack and the slimming of the Lightning port.

Former chairman and CEO of General Electric Jack Welch had an opportunity to purchase Apple for $2 billion and passed at the chance, according to information shared by Bob Wright in an interview with The New York Post about his book The Wright Stuff: From NBC to Autism Speaks.

Back in 1996, when Apple was struggling ahead of Steve Jobs' return, then CEO Michael Spindler, who took over after John Sculley was ousted, was "practically begging" General Electric to buy Apple.

"The stock price was $20, and [Spindler] was explaining he couldn't get the company moving fast enough and the analysts were on his case," Wright told The Post in an interview on Tuesday. "He was sweating like mad and everybody said, 'We can't manage technology like that.' We had a chance to buy it for $2 billion."

A purchase by General Electric would have radically changed the company's history and it's questionable whether Apple would still be around as a brand today had that happened. Later that same year, after GE declined to make the purchase, Apple bought NeXT for $427 million and Steve Jobs returned to lead the company in 1997.

One of Jobs' first major projects was the iPod, which launched in 2001 and set the company on its current path. The iPhone followed in 2007, the iPad came in 2010, and the Apple Watch, Apple's newest product, launched in 2015.

As of today, Apple is worth more than $600 billion, while General Electric is worth less than half of that. In fact, Apple holds more than two thirds of the value of General Electric in cash, with over $215 billion on hand.

Apple today released iOS 9.3.1 to the public, marking the first update to iOS 9 since iOS 9.3 launched on March 21. iOS 9.3.1 comes just over a week after the launch of iOS 9.3 and likely brings a fix for a significant web link crashing issue that has been affecting many iOS users.

Today's iOS 9.3.1 release is available as an over-the-air update for all iOS 9 users and it can also be downloaded through iTunes. iOS 9.3.1 is the seventh update to iOS 9, following iOS 9.0.1, iOS 9.0.2, iOS 9.1, iOS 9.2, iOS 9.2.1, and iOS 9.3.

Shortly after iOS 9.3 was released, a number of iPhone and iPad users found Safari, Mail, Messages, Notes, Chrome and some other pre-installed and third-party apps would crash or freeze after tapping or long pressing on a web link. While most users affected were on iOS 9.3, some customers on earlier versions of iOS also complained of crashing problems.

The exact underlying cause of the problem has not been discovered, but there is speculation that it is related to Universal Links and the Shared Web Credentials daemon, which allows apps and websites to share login credentials. No quick fix has been available, but shortly after the bug was publicized, Apple said it was working on a fix and has made good on that promise in the iOS 9.3.1 update.

Any other changes found in the iOS 9.3.1 update will be listed below.