Technology

Apple is expanding the number and types of classes it hosts at its retail stores, under the banner of &Today at Apple.& The company says itadding 60 more sessions at its stores, including those focused on using its newer apps, like Siri Shortcuts and Clips, as well as those focused on AR, art, music, family photo-taking and more.

According to Apple SVP of Retail,Angela Ahrendts, Apple has hosted over 18,000 sessions per week, since the launch of the &Today at Apple& program 18 months ago. It also updated the Apple Store app in the latest release to better highlight sessions tailored to individual users based on the devices they own, as well as other signature programs.

Now, itexpanding the program lineup.

&Today we&re announcing 60 newly designed sessions,& saidAhrendts. &Video, music and design have all been expanded and we&re adding walks and labs to most categories. And of course, we&re using Applelatest technologies like AR and Siri Shortcuts,& she added.

Apple is also creating its first video lab called &Small Screen Magic& in partnership with video creator Zach Kingwhere people will learn how to shoot and edit videos using AppleClips app.

Another session will be a photo lab called &Fun Family Portraits,& which will feature the use of Live Photos, filters and Apple Pencil.

Meanwhile, a new design lab called &Drawing Treehouses& has been co-created with architects Foster + Partners & which collaboratedwith Apple onApple Park. The course will teach architectural principles through the lens of fantasy.

A new Pro series will cover skills for Mac owners, like a video lab that teaches Final Cut Pro and a music lab involving Logic Pro.

The company says italso expanding spaces for sessions, by adding Forums at over 70 stores per year.

Ahrendts offered an update on existing initiatives, too, noting that Apple had hosted over 2,000 coding sessions throughout Europe as part of EU Code Week, and now holds sessions at all 505 retail locations.

Apple is borrowing some ideas from the competition with the second-generation Apple Pencil with a flat edge. The most exciting thing is that you won&t lose it in your backpack anymore as it uses magnets just like your smart cover.

You can attach it to the tablet and it won&t get in the way if you&re using it in landscape. Even better, you no longer need to remove a cap to plug it to the Lightning port. The Apple Pencil charges when itattached to the iPad. It works pretty much like a regular wireless charger.

When you first attach it to your iPad, it automatically pairs with the iPad. Finally, Apple added a gesture on the Pencil so that you can change the color or the shape of your strokes. You just need to tap twice with your finger. Tapping the screen with the Pencil lets you wake up the iPad as well.

The new Pencil seems to work only with the new iPad Pro given that it requires magnetic edges. It will be available for $129. The new Smart Keyboard Folio will cost $179 for the 11-inch iPad Pro and $199 for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.

Here it is, the latest iPad Pro. A refreshed version of Apple highest-end tablet is, as anticipated, the centerpiece for todaybig event in Brooklyn. The new tablet marks what is arguable the most radical departure for the line from a design perspective, since the line rolled out some eight and a half years ago.

The &all new& iPad takes more than a few design cues from the iPhone line, continuing Applesingle-minded focus of eliminating the worldbezels. To achieve this, the company has dropped the home button, leaving only room for the front-facing camera along the top. Like the iPhone, the new Pro logs you in via FaceID using the depth-sensing, front-facing camera.There are four stereo speakers flanking the device, as well. Of course, a little bezel is require — after all, you&re going to need a place to put your hands.

The new tablets are thinner than their predecessors (5.9 mm) and feature larger screen sizes at either 11 or 12.9 inches. The thinner design does mean the real camera pops out a bit from the rear. Inside, you&ll find the companylatest chip, the A12X bionic, a step up from the iPhone12.

It features an 8 core CPU and a 7 core GPU. Performance is up 35 percent faster for single core and up to 90 percent faster for multi-core programs. Graphical performance is around double its predecessor. The new chip also brings the neural engine found on the companyphones, which should help more intelligently perform tasks like editing photos.

The company is working to position the device as a serious gaming platform — even going so far as comparing favorably it to the new Xbox, demoing a Warriors vs. Nets game onNBA 2k. The graphics were certainly solid for a tablet gaming demo. Ditto for the ability to run a full version of Photoshop on the device. Adobe is also one of the companies helping push AppleARKit augmented reality platform. The company also demoed a sneak peak of a file created on its Project Aero AR app.

Of course, controls are still very much a question when pitting a touchscreen slate against a devoted gaming platform. That said, the Pencil does interact pretty well with the Adobe demo, and the souped up, 8-core product handles images with several layers pretty admirably.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of here is the addition of USB-C. Thatright, the company just ditched its longstanding Lightning port, in favor of the far more ubiquitous connector. And, get this, the iPad can actually be used as an external battery pack to key your iPhone alive.

The Apple Pencil now snaps to the side of the tablet magnetically — and charges while it does so. The redesigned peripheral also features a few new tricks, like the ability to switch modes simply back tapping the side. Therean upgraded version of the bluetooth folio keyboard case arriving for the redesigned device, as well.

All in all, a pretty solid redesign for the top-level iPad, with a number of updates that will likely trickle down to the rest of the line in coming years. After all, the Pro has become something of a proving ground for the rest of the iPad line.

Like the Mac Mini, the 11 inch iPad Pro starts at $799. The 12.9 inch version starts at $999. Both versions will come in LTE configurations. Pre-order starts today and the devices will begin shipping on November 7.