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The iPad Launched 14 Years Ago Today as Longest-Ever Wait for New Models Continues

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Apple launched the original iPad 14 years ago today, starting a product line that has gone on to define the tablet space and entry-level computing, spur a shift in how media is consumed, and have immense cultural impact.

steve jobs ipad 2010
The original ‌iPad‌ launched on April 3, 2010. Designed to bridge the gap between the laptop and the smartphone, the ‌iPad‌ offered a unique combination of portability, ease of use, and versatility that appealed to a wide range of consumers and professionals.

At the heart of the ‌iPad‌’s success was its sleek design and simple iOS user interface. The 9.7-inch touchscreen provided users with an immersive experience that was unmatched at the time. Its initial release boasted 16 to 64 gigabytes of storage, a 30-pin connector, Wi-Fi connectivity, and, on some models, 3G connectivity. This combination of features and the quality of its build set it apart from competitors, establishing the ‌iPad‌ as a premium option in the emerging tablet market.

The ‌iPad‌ catalyzed a shift in the software industry, leading to the development of apps designed specifically for its larger screen, which increasingly differed from the smartphone applications of the time. This app ecosystem rapidly expanded, with developers creating a wide range of applications from productivity tools and games to educational software. The ‌iPad‌ went on to be vital to the education market and many mobile workflows.

The lineup has since expanded to include new models like the iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro. The introduction of the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard further transformed the ‌iPad‌ from a simple media consumption device to a tool designed for creativity and productivity. visionOS, the operating system behind the Apple Vision Pro headset, is also based on iPadOS to a large extent.

Today, it has been almost 18 months since any new iPads have launched – the longest-ever wait for new models. 2023 was the only year since the ‌iPad‌’s introduction with no new iPad models. Apple is now expected to release refreshed ‌iPad Air‌ and ‌iPad Pro‌ models in May, with updates to the entry-level ‌iPad‌ and the ‌iPad mini‌ tabled for later in the year.

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Apple Card Savings Account’s Interest Rate Lowered to 4.4% Today

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Following the Apple Card savings account’s rate cut to a 4.4% APY, we have updated our high-yield savings accounts (HYSAs) comparison chart for U.S. residents.

apple card savings account feature
4.4% is still a competitive APY compared to many other popular high-yield savings accounts, which typically offer rates between 4.25% and 5.25%.

Provider Maximum APY*
Ally 4.25%
Discover 4.25%
American Express 4.35%
Barclays 4.35%
Capital One 4.35%
Apple (Goldman Sachs) 4.4%
Marcus (Goldman Sachs) 4.4%
Citizens Bank 4.5%
SoFi 4.6%
PNC Bank 4.65%
Synchrony 4.75%
Betterment 5%
Wealthfront 5%
CIT Bank 5.05%
UFB Direct 5.25%

* Advertised APYs as of April 3, 2024, excluding promotional and affiliate rates. APYs are subject to change at any time. This list is not comprehensive.

Apple launched its savings account in April 2023, in partnership with Goldman Sachs. The account can be opened and managed in the Wallet app on the iPhone, and it has no fees, no minimum deposits, and no minimum balance requirements. You must have an Apple Card, be a U.S. resident, and be at least 18 years old to open an account.

The account allows Apple Card holders to earn interest on their Daily Cash cashback balance, and on funds deposited via a linked bank account or an Apple Cash balance. The maximum balance allowed is now $1,000,000, up from a previous limit of $250,000.

When the account first became available, Apple and Goldman Sachs offered an APY of 4.15%. The rate then increased three times, first to 4.25%, then to 4.35%, and finally to 4.5%. The drop to 4.4% is the first time the rate has gone down.

To open a savings account in the Wallet app, tap on your Apple Card, tap on the circle with three dots at the top of the screen, tap Daily Cash, and select Set Up Savings.

Goldman Sachs reportedly plans to end its consumer lending partnership with Apple, but it is unclear if this will have any impact on Apple Card holders.



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Quordle today – hints and answers for Wednesday, April 3 (game #800)

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Quordle needs to be approached in a different way to Wordle. With four puzzles to solve in nine guesses, you can’t blindly throw letters at it and expect to win – you’ll stand a far better chance if you think strategically.

That’s the case in Wordle too, of course, but it’s even more important in Quordle.

There are two key things to remember. 

1. Use several starting words

Firstly, you won’t want just a single starting word, but almost certainly two or three starting words. 

The first of these should probably be one of the best Wordle starting words, because the same things that make them work well will apply here too. But after that, you should select another word or possibly two that use up lots more of the most common consonants and that include any remaining vowels.

For instance, I currently use STARE > DOILY > PUNCH. Between them, these three words use 15 of the 26 letters in the alphabet including all five vowels, Y, and nine of the most common consonants (S, T, R, D, L, P, N, C and H). There are plenty of other options – you might want to get an M, B, F or G in there instead of the H, maybe – but something like that should do the trick.

If all goes well, that will give you a good lead on what one or sometimes two of the answers might be. If not, well good luck!

2. Narrow things down

Secondly, if you’re faced with a word where the answer might easily be one of several options – for instance -ATCH, where it could be MATCH, BATCH, LATCH, CATCH, WATCH, HATCH or PATCH – you’ll definitely want to guess a word that would narrow down those options. 

In Wordle, you can instead try several of those in succession and hope one is right, assuming you have enough guesses left. It’s risky, but will sometimes work. Plus, it’s the only option in Hard mode. But in Quordle, this will almost certainly result in a failure – you simply don’t have enough guesses.

In the scenario above, CLAMP would be a great guess, as it could point the way to four of the seven words in one go.

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Z80 SoftCard is Microsoft’s first hardware: Today in Apple history

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April 2: Today in Apple history: Microsoft Z80 SoftCard, the company's first hardware, debuts on Apple II April 2, 1980: Microsoft releases its first hardware product, the Z80 SoftCard. A microprocessor card that plugs into the Apple II, it allows the computer to run programs designed for the CP/M operating system, a popular OS for business software.

Arriving several years before the first version of Windows, the Z80 SoftCard quickly becomes a big hit for Microsoft.

Microsoft, the hardware company?

A straightforward plug-and-play peripheral for the Apple II, the Z80 SoftCard contained a Zilog Z80 CPU and the necessary “decoding circuitry” to read the signals on the Apple computer’s bus.

It allowed the Apple II to run much more business software, most notably the popular word processor WordStar, which required a Z80 CPU.

At the time of its introduction, InfoWorld magazine referred to the Z80 SoftCard as a “fascinating piece of hardware.”

“If you need a lightweight, portable Z80 computer, the Apple/SoftCard combination is a perfect pair,” the publication concluded.

Microsoft Z80 SoftCard becomes a hit

The $349 card (the equivalent of nearly $1,400 today) was, in some ways, a surprise hit for Microsoft. Coming packaged with Microsoft BASIC, it debuted at the West Coast Computer Faire in March 1980 and went on sale the following month. In its first three months, Microsoft sold 5,000 units — considered a big success at the time.

In fact, the Z80 SoftCard quickly became Microsoft’s No. 1 revenue source. And it remained the company’s most successful hardware product until it introduced a mouse in 1983.

Microsoft continued its involvement with Apple for the next few years — albeit increasingly in software. By the mid-1980s, Microsoft became one of Apple’s most valuable developers. So much so that Apple CEO John Sculley signed a damaging contract to keep Bill Gates and Co. hanging around.

First came the Z80 SoftCard, then Windows …

By the end of the 1980s, Microsoft achieved great success with Windows. The PC operating system proved so popular that Microsoft challenged Apple in the marketplace.

Over the next 20 years, Microsoft’s software-based business model dominated the tech industry, eclipsing Apple’s own-everything-we-make approach.

In recent years, Microsoft accelerated its hardware push with its Surface lineup, producing tabletop computers, laptops, hybrid tablets, dual-screen Android devices and even touchscreen whiteboards. The company’s recent focus on artificial intelligence once again vaulted it to the top of the market capitalization heap.



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Spatial Personas Coming to Apple Vision Pro in Beta Today

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Apple today announced that Spatial Personas are now available for all Vision Pro users in a public beta.

Spatial Persona Apple
Apple previewed Spatial Personas at WWDC last year. Unlike the existing Personas feature, which is confined to a tile and facial expressions only, Spatial Personas allow Vision Pro users to “break out of the familiar FaceTime tile and feel more present, like they are gathered in the same physical space.” They feature a transparent background and are able to show body language and additional movement such as hand gestures for a more lifelike experience.

Spatial Personas are independent of a visionOS software update or beta, but require ‌visionOS‌ 1.1 or later. The feature is available during ‌FaceTime‌ calls and supports up to five participants at once. Inverse and Road to VR today shared first impressions of the new feature.

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Apple Card Savings Account to Receive First-Ever Interest Rate Decrease

Nearly one year after it launched in the U.S., the Apple Card’s high-yield savings account will be receiving its first-ever interest rate decrease. Starting on April 3, the Apple Card savings account’s annual percentage yield (APY) will be lowered to 4.4%, according to data on Apple’s backend discovered by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The account currently has a 4.5% APY. 4.4% will …

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Spatial Personas Available on Vision Pro Today With visionOS 1.2 Beta

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Spatial Personas will be available on Apple’s Vision Pro headset starting today with the upcoming visionOS 1.2 beta, according to Road to VR.

Spatial Persona Apple

Inverse‘s Raymond Wong shared his first impressions of Spatial Personas.

More details to follow…

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Quordle today – hints and answers for Tuesday, April 2 (game #799)

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Quordle needs to be approached in a different way to Wordle. With four puzzles to solve in nine guesses, you can’t blindly throw letters at it and expect to win – you’ll stand a far better chance if you think strategically.

That’s the case in Wordle too, of course, but it’s even more important in Quordle.

There are two key things to remember. 

1. Use several starting words

Firstly, you won’t want just a single starting word, but almost certainly two or three starting words. 

The first of these should probably be one of the best Wordle starting words, because the same things that make them work well will apply here too. But after that, you should select another word or possibly two that use up lots more of the most common consonants and that include any remaining vowels.

For instance, I currently use STARE > DOILY > PUNCH. Between them, these three words use 15 of the 26 letters in the alphabet including all five vowels, Y, and nine of the most common consonants (S, T, R, D, L, P, N, C and H). There are plenty of other options – you might want to get an M, B, F or G in there instead of the H, maybe – but something like that should do the trick.

If all goes well, that will give you a good lead on what one or sometimes two of the answers might be. If not, well good luck!

2. Narrow things down

Secondly, if you’re faced with a word where the answer might easily be one of several options – for instance -ATCH, where it could be MATCH, BATCH, LATCH, CATCH, WATCH, HATCH or PATCH – you’ll definitely want to guess a word that would narrow down those options. 

In Wordle, you can instead try several of those in succession and hope one is right, assuming you have enough guesses left. It’s risky, but will sometimes work. Plus, it’s the only option in Hard mode. But in Quordle, this will almost certainly result in a failure – you simply don’t have enough guesses.

In the scenario above, CLAMP would be a great guess, as it could point the way to four of the seven words in one go.

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Apple founded to sell Apple-1 computer: Today in Apple history

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April 1: Today in Apple history: Apple founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ron Wayne April 1, 1976: The Apple Computer Company is founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The trio sets out to sell the $666 Apple-1 computer.

Apple will not officially become a corporation until January 3 the following year. By that time, Wayne is no longer a part of the business.

This post contains affiliate links. Cult of Mac may earn a commission when you use our links to buy items.

Apple founded to turn Apple-1 from hobby to ‘real computer’

Apple’s initial ambitions were quite modest. Wozniak started working on the Apple-1 as a hobby, with no goal beyond showing it off to peers at the Homebrew Computer Club in Menlo Park, California.

“I did this computer … to show the people at Homebrew that it was possible to build a very affordable computer — a real computer you could program for the price of the Altair — with just a few chips,” Wozniak recalled in his autobiography, iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It.

Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne found Apple Computer Co.

Jobs convinced Woz that they would find more success building and selling the Apple-1 rather than giving away the designs. This led to Jobs, Woz and the older Wayne — who the Steves met at pioneering video game and computer company Atari — going into business together. And thus Apple was founded on April Fools’ Day in 1976.

Jobs and Wozniak were the main drivers behind Apple. They each received a 45% stake in the new company, while Wayne held the remaining 10%.

Less than two weeks after the company’s founding, Wayne cashed in his Apple shares for $800. He eventually received an additional $1,500 to seal the deal.

The original contract that founded Apple.
The original contract by which Apple was founded.
Photo: Apple

Apple II computer becomes a breakthrough

By early 1977, Apple was ready to release its breakthrough Apple II. And the company lined up venture funding to fuel expansion far beyond its humble origins.

When Apple went public in 1980, both Woz and Jobs became instant multimillionaires. (Despite missing out on that windfall, Wayne remains remarkably upbeat about stepping away from Apple.)

Today, Apple is a company valued at more than $2.6 trillion. That’s quite the success story! Now if only we’d invested in Apple way back when it was founded …



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Quordle today – hints and answers for Monday, April 1 (game #798)

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Quordle needs to be approached in a different way to Wordle. With four puzzles to solve in nine guesses, you can’t blindly throw letters at it and expect to win – you’ll stand a far better chance if you think strategically.

That’s the case in Wordle too, of course, but it’s even more important in Quordle.

There are two key things to remember. 

1. Use several starting words

Firstly, you won’t want just a single starting word, but almost certainly two or three starting words. 

The first of these should probably be one of the best Wordle starting words, because the same things that make them work well will apply here too. But after that, you should select another word or possibly two that use up lots more of the most common consonants and that include any remaining vowels.

For instance, I currently use STARE > DOILY > PUNCH. Between them, these three words use 15 of the 26 letters in the alphabet including all five vowels, Y, and nine of the most common consonants (S, T, R, D, L, P, N, C and H). There are plenty of other options – you might want to get an M, B, F or G in there instead of the H, maybe – but something like that should do the trick.

If all goes well, that will give you a good lead on what one or sometimes two of the answers might be. If not, well good luck!

2. Narrow things down

Secondly, if you’re faced with a word where the answer might easily be one of several options – for instance -ATCH, where it could be MATCH, BATCH, LATCH, CATCH, WATCH, HATCH or PATCH – you’ll definitely want to guess a word that would narrow down those options. 

In Wordle, you can instead try several of those in succession and hope one is right, assuming you have enough guesses left. It’s risky, but will sometimes work. Plus, it’s the only option in Hard mode. But in Quordle, this will almost certainly result in a failure – you simply don’t have enough guesses.

In the scenario above, CLAMP would be a great guess, as it could point the way to four of the seven words in one go.

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First iPad reviews hail game-changing tablet: Today in Apple history

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March 31: Today in Apple history: First iPad reviews hail a true game-changer March 31, 2010: The world gets its first sense of how Apple’s tablet measures up, as the first iPad reviews hit the internet.

The consensus? That there’s no Flash, no USB, no multitasking — but Apple’s tablet offers an exciting new computing experience all the same. As USA Today writes, “The first iPad is a winner.”

Original iPad wows reviewers

The iPad was Steve Jobs’ final major new product category at Apple. He previously shepherded the launch of hits like the iPod, iTunes Music Store and the iPhone during his second tenure with the company.

Jobs unveiled the iPad on January 27, 2010. But with the exception of a few rare (and carefully selected) public appearances, the world did not get much information about how well the tablet performed until the first reviews began to trickle out on this day in 2010.

As remains the case today, Apple carefully controlled which outlets got an early iPad. Big names like Walt Mossberg for All Things D and David Pogue for The New York Times received demo units. So did newspapers like USA Today and the Chicago Sun-Times.

The verdicts from these precious few early iPad reviewers proved as positive as most potential owners hoped. Pogue said anybody intrigued by the tablet form factor would “love the machine.” The tablet’s ability to play movies continuously for more than 12 hours particularly impressed him.

Mossberg called the iPad “a whole new type of computer.” He referred to it as a “pleasure to use” — and said it made him less interested in using his laptop.

The Chicago Sun-Times’ Andy Inhatko got it right when he wrote that the iPad fills “a gap that’s existed for quite some time” — pitched halfway between an iPhone and a MacBook.

First iPad reviews: Better for content consumption than creation

Interestingly, the first iPad reviews acknowledge a challenge that Apple continues to face with subsequent iterations of its tablet. The critics noted that the device does not replace a laptop — and works better for consuming content than creating it.

Pogue wrote that a laptop will do more for less money. Mossberg confessed that — as much as he loved the iPad — he still turned to his laptop for writing and editing larger documents.

Edward Baig from USA Today wrote that Apple “pretty much nailed it with this first iPad, though there’s certainly room for improvement.”

Original iPad goes on sale

The first-gen iPad went on sale on April 3, 2010, with a 3G version following on April 30. The tablet became a big hit for Apple at launch. It took less than a month to sell 1 million units. (That’s half the time it took to sell that many iPhones.)

In its first year, the iPad sold around 25 million units. That made it the most successful new product category launch in Apple history.

Did you own a first-gen iPad? Leave your comments below.



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