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The State of Apple Pay
Now that we’re approaching the one year anniversary of Apple Pay on October 20 and with Apple’s Vice President of Apple Pay speaking at the Code/Mobile conference later today, I thought it might be interesting to take stock of what has happened with Apple Pay so far, and what’s next for it.
New Enhanced Editions of Harry Potter Series Now Available on iBooks→
In a press release from Apple:
Apple today announced that enhanced editions of all seven books in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series are now available exclusively on the iBooks Store for readers around the world to enjoy on their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac. Customers can download individual books featuring full original text, interactive animations and elaborate artwork bringing these beloved stories to life in a unique way. Harry Potter fans will also find annotations throughout their literary journey, written by the author herself.
Each book costs US$9.99 and they are available in 32 countries today. French, German and Spanish versions are also available for pre-order and will be released on November 9 in 18 additional countries.
“I’m thrilled to see the Harry Potter books so beautifully realised on iBooks for the digital world; the artwork and animations in these enhanced editions bring the stories alive in a delightful new way,” said J.K. Rowling.
I had a quick look through the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and there are quite a few illustrations. They all look terrific and the animation really does bring it to life (they’re reminiscent of the moving images of the Daily Prophet, or perhaps more appropriately, Live Photos from the iPhone 6s). But that’s about it, the rest of the book is virtually identical to a standard ePub.
Apple Debuts Six New Apple Watch Adverts
Apple yesterday debuted six new adverts for the Apple Watch. The new adverts are short 15 second pieces which highlight various features of the Apple Watch (from Apple Pay to audio messages to fitness features) and how they can be useful in different contexts.
- Sprinkle: With Apple Watch, and Apple Pay, buying something on the go is simpler than ever.
- Date: When you get a new message Apple Watch gently lets you know it’s there, so you can see it right away.
- Ride: Apple Watch gives you turn-by-turn directions, so if you get a little lost you won’t be for long.
- Sing: Sending an audio message on your Apple Watch is simple. Just say it and send it.
- Train: Apple Watch lets you check your heart rate fast so you can keep your heart beating faster.
- Cycle: Apple Watch tracks every second of your ride, from warm up to cool down.
You can view all the adverts below the break or on YouTube.
Adobe Introduces New Features and New Apps in Big iOS Updates Today
Adobe today updated over a dozen of its iOS apps, refreshing their designs, consolidating multiple apps into new, unified, apps and adding big new features to some of their most popular apps. Here are some of the highlights:
Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Lightroom on iOS can now be used for free, provided that you don’t need to sync your photos with Adobe Creative Cloud (which is still paid). Other new features include better color control and the ability to control the amount of atmospheric haze in your photos.
Adobe Photoshop Fix
Adobe Photoshop Fix is a new app designed specifically to do image retouching and restoration on your iOS device. It features the liquify, heal and patch, smooth, and lighten and darken tools that Photoshop users will be familiar with.
Adobe Capture CC
Adobe Capture CC is a new, consolidated, app that brings together the features from Brush CC, Color CC, Hue CC and Shape CC. This means that you can extract color themes from photos, convert photos and drawings into vector graphics, create brushes from photos. Essentially, Adobe Capture CC is all about capturing design assets for use in other Adobe apps.
Free - Download Adobe Capture CC
Adobe Photoshop Sketch
Now at version 3.0, Adobe Photoshop Sketch adopts the features from the now-defunct Adobe Illustrator Line app, which means it supports perspective and graph grids, drawing French curves, polygons and other new shapes that weren’t previously available. Also new is its support for watercolor paintbrushes (on newer iPads) and the ability to add images directly from Adobe Stock.
Early 3D Touch Shortcut Pioneers
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Home Screen: Graham Spencer
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