One of the big ‘wow’ moments when Apple unveiled the new iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard was the way it integrated a new kind of cursor. In an interview with Techcrunch, Apple SVP Craig Federighi explains how the company did.

In some ways, the work on the new iPad OS cursor began with the Apple TV’s refreshed interface back in 2015. If you’ve noticed some similarities between the way that the cursor behaves on iPad OS and the way it works on Apple TV, you’re not alone. There is the familiar ‘jumping’ from one point of interest to another, for instance, and the slight sheen of a button as you move your finger while ‘hovering’ on it. “There was a process to figure out exactly how various elements would work together,” Federighi says. “We knew we wanted a very touch-centric cursor that was not conveying an unnecessary level of precision. We knew we had a focus experience similar to Apple TV that we could take advantage of in a delightful way. We knew that when dealing with text we wanted to provide a greater sense of feedback.”“Part of what I love so much about what’s happened with iPadOS is the way that we’ve drawn from so many sources. The experience draws from our work on tvOS, from years of work on the Mac, and from the origins of iPhone X and early iPad, creating something new that feels really natural for iPad.”

Apple appears to be turning an increasing amount of attention towards developing bendable designs for the MacBook and MacBook Pro. At least that’s what a new patent suggests to AppleInsider.

“Planar hinge assembly,” US Patent No 10,642,318, chiefly describes how such a design could apply to a MacBook Pro-style device. “A personal computing device comprises a single piece body having a seamless overall appearance and that includes a bendable portion that is capable of having a smoothly curved shape,” it says. “The single piece body includes a first part capable of carrying a display suitable for presenting visual content, and a second part that is capable of carrying an input device suitable for accepting an input action.” Apple is careful to always describe “a personal computing device,” and its details can also apply to “a smart phone cover or a tablet computer device.” But it all hinges, so to speak, on what’s referred to as “a multi-state bending assembly.”

While nothing has been confirmed, there is lots of talk that Apple wants to put its own, custom-made, ARM processors into upcoming Macs. But what exactly is one, and why is Apple so keen to introduce them to Macs? iMore has a great explainer.

Apple designs its own CPUs and CPU cores that implement ARM instruction sets. The company’s work is completely custom, rather than a repackage of ARM processors. Theoretically, Apple could license x86, the instruction set architecture used in processors from Intel and AMD, and build custom desktop and laptop chips that way, but the team is by now versed in ARM, and chips made with the ARM instruction set are known for their lower power consumption compared to x86. This is all a way of saying that “ARM transition,” while a convenient shorthand, doesn’t fully describe what we expect to happen with upcoming Macs. We expect that, like the A-series chips in iPhones, iPads, and Apple TVs, Apple’s Mac processors will be completely custom.

The UK’s coronavirus contact tracing app has been approved by the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, BBC News reported. Testing will now begin on the Isle of Wight, in the UK’s Channel Islands.

Project chiefs have said their so-called “centralised” approach gives them advantages over a rival scheme advocated by the US tech giants and some privacy experts. But fresh concerns have been raised. The Information Commissioner’s Office has declared that “as a general rule, a decentralised approach” would better follow its principle that organisations should minimise the amount of personal data they collect. The House of Commons’ Human Rights Select Committee also discussed fears about plans to extend the app to record location data.

There was discussion about whether or not the latest iPad Pros have Apple’s U1 ultra wideband chips in them (spoiler alert: they haven’t). However, the processors could have a dramatic effect on the next generation of iPhone, as Samuel Axon explained for Wired.

Apple has been silent about its long-term plans for the chip, but researchers have found many applications for UWB. It was initially pitched to consumers (with little success) as a way to rapidly transfer large files to nearby personal devices, but the proliferation of smart home and location-based technologies has given it a new life. For example, UWB could be used to unlock your automobile door when you approach it. While this is possible with other wireless technologies, UWB is significantly more accurate than, say, Bluetooth Low Energy – accurate enough to know which specific door you’re standing next to, so only that one is unlocked. Leaks from Cupertino have indicated that Apple plans a competitor for Tile – the electronic tags you attach to valuables so you can locate them with an app. Because Tile products rely on Bluetooth LE, U1-equipped smartphones and locator tags would be more accurate at finding a precise location.