The Service Centre is a series that highlights the best Apple tips and tricks that you can start using right now! As a proud member of the Apple Consultant Network, as well as being one of the most accomplished Apple IT Services firms in Australia, a great deal of our time is spent helping organisations integrate Apple Services into their business IT solutions. This is why we want to help you get the most out of your Mac by showcasing some of the best features you might not know about. Learn more about how we introduce Apple into businesses in a strategic and cost-effective way.

In this episode of The Service Centre, we showcase 5 super simple and easy to use tricks that you can use every day that will boost productivity.

For over 15 years eStorm Australia has been partnering with business, education and government as their trusted Managed IT Services provider and single source supplier. Our team of specialists deliver superior on-site and remote services tailored to suit your specific requirements.

Call us today on (07) 3120 0640 or email us at [email protected].

In this series of Apple Tech Tip videos, we want to show you some of the best features you might be unaware of that Mac has to offer so you can get more out of your Mac. As a proud member of the Apple Consultant Network, as well as being one of the most accomplished Apple IT Services firms in Australia, a great deal of our time is spent helping organisations integrate Apple Services into their business IT solutions. Here you can learn more about how we introduce Apple into businesses in a strategic and cost-effective way.

In this episode we delve into the power of the macOS Preview App where you can edit photos, remove backgrounds, sign documents and so much more!

For over 15 years eStorm Australia has been partnering with business, education and government as their trusted Managed IT Services provider and single source supplier. Our team of specialists deliver superior on-site and remote services tailored to suit your specific requirements.

Call us today on (07) 3120 0640 or email us at [email protected].

As a proud member of the Apple Consultant Network, as well as being one of the most accomplished Apple IT Services firms in Australia, a great deal of our time is spent helping organisations integrate Apple Services into their business IT solutions. Here you can learn more about how we introduce Apple into businesses in a strategic and cost-effective way.

We want you to get the most out of your hardware and software, so we put together 5 interesting Mac features you might not know about that could be improving your Mac use.

eStorm Australia is an IT managed service provider headquartered in Brisbane. We partner with your business and provide IT solutions and services that suit your specific requirements. Our solutions include a variety of services that are critical to overall business success and competitive advantage.

If you need any information, or to find out exactly how we can help your business – contact us anytime on (07) 3120 0640 or email us at [email protected]. If you are located outside of Brisbane: Sydney: (02) 9188 5148 – Melbourne: (03) 9088 6431.

In need of our other IT support and managed services? We specialise in Managed Cloud Services, IT Support Services, Managed Network Services, Business Telephony, Hardware and Software Procurement and Education Services.

Lots of exciting new announcements from Apple, particularly in the world of education! Here’s the highlight reel:

iPad

Apple launched a new 9.7″ iPad now compatible with Apple Pencil and designed for powerful AR applications to bring out the creative genius of every kid + a whopping 200,000 apps made for education!

The new 9.7″ iPad comes loaded with:

• A10 fusion processor chip to enhance multitasking
• 64bit desktop class architecture
• 40% faster CPU
• 50% faster graphics performance (both when compared with the previous gen 9.7″ iPad)

Augmented Reality

A number of new apps are being released including:

• Boulevard AR App: working on bringing together every art piece from around the world
• Free Rivers App: detailed landscapes which allows users to insert dams into the landscapes to witness the outcome
• Frogpedia Science App: allows you to dissect a virtual frog with the Apple Pencil
• Everyone Can Code – Swift: AR kit module introduced that includes teacher guides and rubrics.

iWork

Apple also announced they are working on a new version of the iWork productivity suite for iOS

Pages and keynote will feature integrated apple pencil support to enable users to add drawings and smart annotation features. Smart annotation will also work by anchoring to the word – not just writing over the top like other devices.

Teachers will be able to use the iPad and Apple Pencil to mark up students pages reports as a result of the suites new markup functions. When a user annotates a document the markup anchors to the word or image.

Classroom

Classroom, currently available on iOS, is coming to Mac (beta in June).

Classroom is a teaching assistant that helps teachers manage their students iPads, as well being able to guide the children through lessons, keep them focused and share their work.

Through Classroom, teachers are able to launch apps, books and web pages all on students’ devices simultaneously, as well send and receive documents.

Classroom allows teachers to view their students screens to ensure they stay focused.

Schoolwork

Schoolwork, a cloud-based app, allows teachers to assign hands out, homework, reminders and track student progress, as well as develop their own handouts to include links, pdfs and other documents.

Schoolwork allows teachers to bring apps into the classroom, assign activity within the apps, observe student progress and creations whilst protecting privacy.

Schoolwork can also be integrated into 3rd party apps using Apple’s ClassKit API.

Apple Teacher Learning Centre

Share your classroom activities or learn from others. Earn badges and grow your learning.

Additional

• iCloud Storage: 5GB to now 200GB through Apple School Manager

A few things that weren’t mentioned in the keynote, but went live on the Apple site right after, include new iPhone and iPad cases, new apple Watch bands, as well as a Space Gray Magic Keyboard, Trackpad and Mouse, which were previously exclusive to the iMac Pro.

Learn more about eStorm’s education device procurement program or how you can benefit from MDM (Mobile Device Management).

Apple has released macOS High Sierra beta 9 for developer testing, the second release this week. macOS High Sierra includes the new Apple File System, HEVC video playback, Metal 2, Photos and Safari upgrades, and more.

macOS High Sierra beta 9 is currently only available to registered developers for now. Apple typically holds new public beta versions for a few days for major updates, although recent versions have launched on the same day.

Apple’s iTunes U Collections will move to Apple Podcasts next month with the release of iTunes 12.7. As the company removes iTunes U from the macOS/PC iTunes app, Apple is encouraging users to access and utilize the content from the iOS or Apple TV app. Promoted at the top of iTunes U in iTunes on macOS as well as iOS, Apple is preparing users and content creators of the shift next month for iTunes U Collections to move to Apple Podcasts.

The move will mean downloading content from a Mac/PC won’t be possible anymore, although you’ll be able to listen to the free content through Apple Podcasts. As far as accessing content like handouts, quizzes, ebooks, and more, users will be able to do so via the iTunes U iOS and Apple TV apps.

iTunes U directs to this page support.apple.com/en-us/HT208029 about the changes for users. In addition to the above, Apple says institutions don’t need to take action, as the transition will happen automatically, but it’s recommended to clean up current Collections before hand.

Some things to keep in mind, content categories may be effected in the transition as they will automatically be assigned to podcasts and could be different from what was designated in iTunes U. Also, Apple is recommending institutions convert any ePub files to PDFs. All the details can be found on help.apple.com/itunesu/sitemanager

Apple Maps

Do you mostly use Apple Maps? Maps is introducing 3D maps to help you navigate your local shopping centres, starting in American major cities first, with others to follow, similar to the train info rollout. The same goes for airports, with indoor maps now available in iOS 11 for major hubs around the world, and more to follow later on.

If you use Apple Maps while driving, iOS 11 will finally introduce speed limits and lane guidance warnings for easier navigation while on the road.

Redesigned Control Center and Notification Center

iOS 11 will streamline Control Center, putting all of the options in a single screen, including playback and Airpley controls. It will also include an improved vertical slider design for the brightness and volume controls.

Siri Upgrades

In addition to visual improvements and more expressive male and female voice options, in iOS 11 Siri is getting improved translation skills, including English to Chinese, Italian, German, French and Spanish, with more languages due to come.

Messages and Peer-to-Peer Apple Pay Payments

iMessage remains one of the best mobile messaging platforms out there (assuming your friends and family all have iPhones). Apple Pay via a new iMessage app, with TouchID fingerprint authentication, will quickly send payments (encrypted end-to-end) to someone you’re chatting with.

Using iCloud, iOS will now ensure your iMessages remain perfectly synced across all of your devices.

Apple Music

Apple set its sights on Spotify with Apple Music. Apple Music will have a Shared “Up Next” playlist so your friends can see what’s queued up at a party and make their own contributions to the mix.

Augmented Reality

While not immediately available to users when they upgrade to iOS 11, Apple is introducing a new backend tool for developers called ARKit, allowing them to take advantage of an iPhone or iPad’s camera, sensors, gyroscopes and other hardware to create and improve augmented reality experiences made popular by Pokemon GO.

Camera and Photos

iPhone and iPad’s camera apps will be getting new photography filters under iOS 11, including a long-exposure effect for Live Photos for capturing mages of things in motion, which should be perfect for action photography enthusiasts. Live Photos can also be trimmed, and users can specify which frame of the short video can be used as for the still image.

To help maximise the storage space on your iPhone or iPad which can’t be expanded, in iOS 11 is also introducing a new HEIF compression scheme, shrinking images better than JPEG can, with less compression. The same goes for video, with a new HEVC video codec.

Home Kit and Airplay 2

In addition to adding wireless speaker support to Apple’s Home app, HomeKit will introduce AirPlay 2 to control your audio hardware that supports multi-room playback, including the Apple TV.

Apple CarPlay Do Not Disturb

Taking advantage of clever Bluetooth and Wi-Fi doppler effects to detect when you’re in a moving vehicle, CarPlay will automatically lock down your phone, giving you nothing but a blank screen. An auto-reply option for Messages will also be available under iOS 11, letting others know you’re not ignoring them, but are busy driving.

Improved iPad Apple Pencil Support

Apple is now expanding what the Pencil can be used for on the iPad, in standard apps such as Mail, Safari, screenshots and Notes with markup that allows users to easily make hand-drawn annotations

In Notes, iOS 11 uses machine learning to translate and index hand-written notes so they can be searched, or copied and pasted as editable text.

Files App

Apple is finally giving iOS a dedicated File Manager app called Files — at least on the iPad. Filesis a central place to find or delete files for when your device runs out of storage space.

But Files also has access to stuff you’ve stored on iCloud, and other online storage options including Dropbox, Box and Google Drive, so you don’t need to hop from app to app to find a document you need, which is potentially the most useful feature of the new Files app.