iPad Air M2

The iPad Air, now available in both 11-inch and 13-inch models, caters to a variety of needs and preferences. Whether you’re a student always on the move or a designer needing ample screen space for intricate visuals, there’s an option perfectly sized for you. The 11-inch version excels in portability, easily slipping into a small bag or backpack, making it the go-to device for students who juggle between classes and study sessions across campus. Meanwhile, the 13-inch model, with its expanded display, provides 30 percent more screen real estate, offering designers and students the luxury of a bigger canvas to work on complex projects or manage multiple applications side by side with iPadOS’s multitasking features.

Designer: Apple

The 11-inch iPad Air is super-portable, while the 13-inch model provides an even larger display, giving users more room to work, learn, and play.

Beyond size, the iPad Air boasts a Liquid Retina display with advanced technologies such as True Tone, high brightness, and anti-reflective coating, ensuring everything you see is detailed and vibrant. This is crucial when precision in color and detail plays a significant part in your coursework or professional projects. The support for P3 wide color gamut also means that the visuals are not just bright but incredibly accurate, which is especially important for design students and professionals who rely on true-to-life colors for their digital artistry.

The repositioned front-facing camera is another subtle yet impactful enhancement. Set along the landscape edge, the camera automatically keeps you in frame during video calls, thanks to the Center Stage technology. This feature is particularly beneficial now that remote collaboration has become more prevalent in both educational and professional settings. Whether you’re presenting a thesis to your class or brainstorming with colleagues over a video call, the camera adapts dynamically to ensure you are always seen, complemented by dual microphones that focus on your voice while minimizing background noise.

Moved to landscape edge, 12MP Ultra Wide front-facing camera with Center Stage improves call experience.

Performance-wise, the M2 chip in the iPad Air is a big leap forward, bringing not only speed but also efficiency to every task. This chip is tailored for advanced tasks such as photo and video editing, 3D modeling, and large-scale graphic designs, all while maintaining energy efficiency for all-day battery life. This means less time tied to a power outlet and more flexibility to work in settings that inspire you, be it a quiet corner of a library or lounging at your favorite cafe.

Moreover, the iPad Air now supports not only the Apple Pencil (2nd generation) but also the newly introduced Apple Pencil Pro, enhancing its utility for both students and designers. The Apple Pencil Pro includes a new sensor in its barrel that can detect squeezes, enabling users to quickly switch between tools, line weights, and colors effortlessly—ideal for designers working in applications such as Affinity Designer 2. Additionally, its custom haptic feedback provides tactile responses to actions like squeezing or double-tapping, enhancing the user’s interaction by confirming their inputs in a way that feels intuitive and direct. The inclusion of a gyroscope allows for fine control over tool orientation, mimicking the real-world experience of rotating a pen to achieve the desired stroke or effect.

Apple Pencil Pro enhances creativity with squeeze, barrel roll, and haptic feedback for intuitive marking, note-taking, and design in apps like Affinity Designer 2.

For those who are prone to misplacing their tools, the Apple Pencil Pro introduces support for Apple’s Find My network, a first for Apple’s stylus line. Both the Apple Pencil Pro and the Apple Pencil (2nd generation) attach magnetically to the side of the iPad Air, where they also charge, ensuring they are always ready for use and conveniently stored. This versatility makes the iPad Air an even more attractive option for anyone looking to maximize their productivity and creative output, whether they are annotating documents, taking detailed notes, sketching out a design, or navigating through complex creative software.

Connectivity is also an important feature of the iPad Air’s appeal. With the introduction of Wi-Fi 6E and the option for 5G connectivity, the device ensures that you can work from anywhere without lag or interruption. This is particularly valuable for students who need to download large resources quickly or for designers who must upload high-resolution files to cloud-based platforms.

Magic Keyboard: Floating cantilever design, magnetic attachment, multiple viewing angles, integrated trackpad, USB-C pass-through charging, and full iPad protection.

Traveling with tech can sometimes feel like a balancing act between staying productive and managing your gear effectively, especially for someone like myself who’s always on the move. One of the standout features of the iPad Air, from my perspective, is its versatility—particularly the ability to detach it from the Magic Keyboard. This becomes incredibly handy during air travel. Picture this: you’re on a flight, deeply absorbed in your latest design project or perhaps the climax of your favorite Netflix series. Just as the airplane prepares for takeoff, the usual announcement comes over the PA: “Please stow your laptops.” However, thanks to the iPad Air’s detachable setup, you can continue your work or entertainment seamlessly by simply detaching the iPad from its keyboard. It’s moments like these where the iPad Air proves its worth, allowing you to maintain your creative or entertainment zone without a hitch.

In terms of the operating system, I appreciate the straightforward and efficient design of iPadOS 17. It simplifies daily tasks and enhances user interaction, making everything from navigation to app management feel more fluid. The customization options in iPadOS 17 are particularly notable; they allow you to tailor the Lock Screen on both the 11-inch and new 13-inch displays. This personalization capability lets you set unique wallpapers and choose expressive fonts that truly reflect your personal style.

As WWDC 2024 approaches, while iPadOS 17 certainly gets the job done, I’m eager to see what iPadOS 18 will bring to the iPad. Anticipating new features and enhancements that could further refine and expand the functionality of this already versatile device adds an exciting layer of potential for iPad users looking forward to the next evolution in their device’s capabilities.

Interactive widgets on iPadOS 17 are also great for productivity. Imagine being able to glance at your screen and tap a widget to immediately capture a brilliant idea in the Notes app or adjust your schedule in Calendar. This kind of immediate interaction is perfect for someone who needs to stay flexible and react quickly to changes, which is often the case in both travel and creative professions.

iPad Air with M2 uses AI for features like Subject Lift, Visual Look Up, and Live Text.

The enhancements to Messages and FaceTime add a layer of fun and convenience. With new sticker features and the ability to leave video messages, staying connected feels more personal and engaging. For professionals, the Continuity Camera feature is particularly impressive. You can start a video call on your iPad Air and seamlessly hand it off to Apple TV, making it perfect for professional presentations or casual catch-ups.

Freeform’s new tools for drawing and collaboration are a boon for creatives. Whether you’re sketching out a quick concept or organizing a project with teammates, these tools make it easy to bring your ideas to life. And for someone who frequently deals with contracts or creative briefs, the enhanced PDF capabilities in the Notes app can be incredibly efficient, allowing you to annotate, fill out forms, and collaborate without ever needing to print or scan anything.

Lastly, the inclusion of features like Stage Manager, which lets you handle multiple overlapping windows, is ideal for multitasking. This feature, combined with AI-driven capabilities like Live Captions and intelligent accessibility features, ensures that the iPad Air isn’t just keeping up with the demands of mobile professionals and creatives—it’s anticipating them.

Every Apple product I’ve used, from my M1 MacBook Pro to an iPhone 12 Pro Max or a three-year-old iPad Pro with an M1 chip, continues to hold immense value. Remarkably, there has been very little performance degradation, and none feels obsolete. This changelessness is largely thanks to Apple’s timeless design concepts, which are consistently implemented across the product line.

Moreover, the new iPad Air reflects Apple’s ongoing commitment to environmental responsibility. It is crafted with 100% recycled aluminum for its enclosure, utilizes 100% recycled rare earth elements in all magnets, and features 100% recycled gold plating and tin soldering in multiple printed circuit boards. These efforts are complemented by packaging that is entirely fiber-based, aligning with Apple’s goal to eliminate plastic from all packaging by 2025. As part of a broader commitment, Apple aims to be carbon neutral across its entire manufacturing supply chain and the life cycle of every product by 2030. These steps not only reflect Apple’s dedication to reducing its environmental footprint but also enhance the appeal of the iPad Air to environmentally conscious consumers.

Whether you’re considering an upgrade or this might be your first Apple product, you can trust that in the next year, or even the year after, you won’t feel the need to upgrade unless you choose to. Apple’s commitment to quality, forward-thinking design, and environmental sustainability ensures that its products not only meet current demands but continue to remain relevant and perform excellently well into the future.

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Wireless keyboards are nothing new. Whether you’re on a desktop trying to escape the tangle of cables or on a laptop wanting to expand your limited set of keys, a wireless keyboard offers a bit more freedom and flexibility than other keyboards. That said, they still have the same limitations, namely, requiring a separate mouse or touchpad to move the computer cursor around. Not only does that take up more desk space, it also means another device you might forget or lose along the way. Some Bluetooth keyboards add a tiny touchpad off to the side, but that comes at the cost of reducing the number of keys available on the keyboard. This ingenious solution gives the best of both worlds by practically turning the entire keyboard into one giant touchpad you can swipe and pinch, just like any other touchpad.

Designer: Igor Solovyov (Industrial Designer, Clevetura)

Laptops have the advantage of having both a keyboard and a pointing device in a single body, but their arrangement is hardly the best in terms of ergonomics and flexibility. Wireless keyboards with built-in trackpads, on the other hand, try to cram this component in an already small space but still manage to sacrifice keys like the numeric keypad. It’s almost as if there’s no ideal design that solves this problem, but the CLVX 1 boldly tries to think outside the box while offering a keyboard that, at least on paper, matches the functionality of many Bluetooth keyboards in the market today.

In a nutshell, the middle area of the CLVX 1 keyboard is touch-sensitive and functions like a giant touchpad. Thanks to a special slippery coating, you can effortlessly glide your finger across that area to move the mouse around without snagging on the edges of the keys. You can even pinch to zoom or perform any other touch gestures, just like a normal trackpad. As a bonus, the top row of function keys also functions as a slider that you can smoothly swipe without even having to look, making it just as easy to control the volume or any other function you program into the gesture. The keyboard promises that it won’t mix up typing and gestures, as it automatically disables touch detection once you press a key. And in case you’re wondering about mouse button presses, the keyboard has dedicated physical buttons below the spacebar for those actions.

In all other aspects, the CLVX 1 boasts a laundry list of features available on many wireless keyboards and then some. It has a 110-key layout, which is far more than your typical Bluetooth keyboard, and uses scissor switches. The RGB lighting also has a few tricks, like following your finger as you glide over the keys. You can pair up to three devices with it via Bluetooth, but you can also connect to a device using USB-C for a fourth connection.

The CLVX 1 is definitely an intriguing design, but its mettle still needs to be tested in real-world use. The smoothness of swiping over keys will definitely be the biggest point of concern, but the typing experience of having those keys so close together is also an important consideration. Nevertheless, it definitely deserves some praise for thinking outside the box to deliver a design that doesn’t compromise just to mix two functions in one.

The post Innovative Bluetooth keyboard turns its surface into a giant touchpad first appeared on Yanko Design.

I’m sure of one thing; you need to have great typing skills if you are to use a split keyboard. For example, if you are like me, who has to extend their right hand over the left to find an odd key: we are not designed for this gadget! That said, split keyboards are hailed for their typing comfort, and there are many ergonomists to back it up. The split keyboard: wired and wireless, are functional and comfortable alternative to traditional keyboards because these provide more flexibility.

As opposed to a traditional keyboard that forces you into a fixed, rather unnatural, typing position for an extended period of time, the split keyboard rips that apart in the middle so every user can find their most comfortable position. We have seen a handful, or rather more, iterations of a split keyboard in our time. If I recollect correctly, Naya Create keyboard that added a trackpad to the split design won a lot of accolades back in the day. Now NocFree wants to rival the Create and other similar options with unmatched adjustability offered by its accommodating form factor.

Designer: Solar (NocFree Team)

Click Here to Buy Now: $166 $210 (20% off). Hurry, deal ends in 48 hours!

Before we get into the details of the NocFree Lite, the first prototype of the spilt keyboard, be reminded that the changes in desk setup to address your posture issues and pains, may not be limited to the position of the desk. If you have swapped between sitting and standing desks and been through a range of lumber support chairs, without a respite; consider giving your keyboard a swap. Whether you prefer linear, tactile or clicky switches, the NocFree Lite has the options to be truly effective.

The idea of NocFree keyboard is not accidental. It was conceived after the designer Solar from Kowloon, Hong Kong, battling wrist pain and lower back discomfort, headed out to search for a solution. With the absence of a split keyboard of his choosing, the idea of NocFree was born. It is a keyboard that we would want to use daily, hours at the computer desk or a gaming rig, without feeling the strain on the wrist or the shoulders.

To ensure this, the NocFree Lite Split Wireless Mechanical Keyboard functions in two independent parts for user comfort. And when you want otherwise, the left and right sides of the keyboard can be effortlessly merged. So, with the NocFree, you can start with the fully merged keyboard and gradually separate it as the shoulder begin to feel the strain. The benefit in the latter position is beyond the comfort. The void between the two halves of the keyboard can offer prime desk real estate to place your documents, mouse or maybe a tablet to take notes.

The sleek, adjustable layout of the NocFree Lite comprises 65 keys for utmost productivity. With the necessary keys for all the functionality you need, the keyboard is not a sitting duck. It offers a dazzling array of 31 lighting effects that you can customize for your choice of color, brightness, and transition speed. For further customization, NocFree Lite comes with a few keycap options that may cater to your unique style and preference.

The NocFree Lite comes with a palm rest made from a single piece of walnut. This is also made to split with the keyboard and alleviates palm pressure in either use setting. According to the our information, 20 prototypes of the NocFree Lite have been made and tested, and the keyboard is ready for manufacturing. The idea behind the design is to move split keyboards from a niche to a mainstream choice, for which the makers are currently running an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, where prospective buyers can preorder a unit for $166.

Click Here to Buy Now: $166 $210 (20% off). Hurry, deal ends in 48 hours!

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