Travel around London for free on Mondays with Apple Pay 

MasterCard have teamed up with Apple to offer free travel to commuters using their MasterCards via Apple Pay to pay at the card readers. MasterCard have confirmed although you’ll initially pay the fare, they will refund the value throughout the day right up to £28.10. 

The offer starts on Monday the 29th of Feburary, then will continue every Monday right up until March the 14th. 

To take advantage of the offer you’ll need at least an iPhone 6 or an iPhone and Apple Watch, with your matercard already set up in your iPhone wallet. 

For more information, and terms and conditions check out the MasterCard Free Fare Monday’s website.

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Apple announce availability of Tech Talk videos

   
Apple have recently announced the availablility of their own Apple Tech talks, which is a completely free of charge collection of session videos from previous TV Tech Talks, focused around app and game develop.  

Via the link, you can also get access to sample code and documentation. 

If you’re focused on becoming an iOS developer, this might be just what you need to kick off your learning plan. 

You can access the Tech Talks via the following link: 

Apple TV Tech Talks

If you know of other free iOS development training resources, let us know in the comments box below. 

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Apple launch USB C charge cable replacement program

Apple have acknowledged that some USB C charge cables, packaged with MacBooks and sold as accessories throughout June 2015, may intermittently charge or complete fail to charge your devices. This is believed to be due to a failing in the manufacturing process. 

Apple have now launched a replacement program for all cable owners effected by the failure. 

The cables are clearly marked, and are easy to identify, check the image below for an example

  
Replacement cables can be ordered for collection from Apple stores, or from authorised repair centres. 

The article published by Apple can be found here

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WWDC dates leaked by venue

Apples World Wide Developer conference dates have been leaked by the hosting venues own calendar booking system! The Moscone West Convention centre in San Francisco has the dates between the 13th and 17th of June booked out, which falls inline with Apples previous WWDCs. 

There’s no official news from apple regarding the event as of yet. Generally the date is kept secret until the invites land on the doormats of the media and VIPs. 

The event is expected to be the launch platform for iOS 10 and OS X 10.12.. With potentially also the unveiling of new iterations of WatchOS and tvOS.

There are also rumours suggesting the Apple Music streaming service will receive an extra tier, a tier dedicated to higher resolution music. However there’s no indication of where this price point will fit. Or if this will actually be ready for WWDC 2016. 

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The impending death of the 3.5mm jack

 3.5mm jack Lots of people are asking if I think the iPhone 7 will be the first iPhone not to feature the 3.5mm headphone jack.. Personally I don’t think this would make good business sense, sure Apple could (and probably will in the future) by selling a 3.5mm to lightning connector.. They may even bundle one in with the phone! 

However, it would make much more sense to enable audio output via the Lightning connector, and allow for an ecosystem of lightning headphones from the worlds leading manufacturers first. Then drop the headphone jack once everyone’s bought into the idea. This was also discussed on the Apple Insider podcast, which if you don’t currently subscribe to – you should! 

Of course the 3.5mm deserves to die, it’s been around since the early 19th century. It’s feature list is lacking, and it’s sound quality is good…… But it could be better! 

Opening up the Lightning connector to audio makes a whole load of sense, bringing with it even higher quality sound, which would work hand in hand with the worlds uptake on 4K media. 

Of course, the biggest bugbear is going to be the lack of the ability to charge the device while listening to music. However, as it stands lightning connected devices are not allowed to draw power from the device. This is set up in the Lightning adapter requirements that manufacturers have to meet to be allowed to use the connector. 

Sure it’s going to piss people off, but Apple are often found leading the masses to the new connectivity options, such as USB C and FireWire. At the end of the day, it’s the evolution of the quality of music driving the change, and not just their want for an even thinner handset. 

Only time will tell… But I’d be very surprised if the iPhone 7 is the first to sport no headphone jack!! 

Edit: Victor Marks has pointed out that such headphones are already in circulation, which you can see here

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