Apple WATCH wallpaper
by readacted

Apple hosted a Spring Forward event today, at which they made several announcements about existing and upcoming projects. The announcements ranged from the significant (a new ultra-thin notebook) to the “good to know” (the price of an Apple TV is dropping to $69).

We’ve broken down the most important items below.

1. HBO Now - Online streaming aficionados have long been awaiting an update on HBO’s standalone streaming service. Apple announced today that the service, called HBO Now, will be available exclusively on their products. Those of you who don’t have cable or an Apple device are out of luck.
2. Game of Thrones Trailer - If you’re not an Apple user this might be the only takeaway from today’s event you care about: a brand new Game of Thrones trailer was screened as a part of the HBO Now announcement. You can watch the trailer here.
3. The Watch - The Apple Watch was the ostensible centerpiece of today’s event, and there were plenty of announcements made. The watch is going to run apps, make and receive phone calls and texts, and be able to open your hotel room door, if you’re staying at The W Hotel. You’ll also be able to store airplane boarding passes through Apple’s PassBook app, and use other apps like Uber and Shazam through the watch. They also plan to release an exclusive, expensive version of the watch called “Edition,” which starts at a $10,000 price tag.
4. New Notebook - Apple’s newest notebook, available in April, will be their thinnest one yet. They plan to drop the “Air” title that was on all of their previous thin models, opting instead to simply call this the “MacBook.” With it, Apple moves one step closer to being completely wireless—the notebook has a single port for USB, VGA, HDMI, and power connections.
5. Health - Apple announced that it would be releasing a new set of apps called “ResearchKit”, which allows users to submit personal data that will contribute to medical research. Some of the apps include tests that assess symptoms for conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease. The apps in the kit will be open source and available for developers to experiment with.