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Apple WWDC21 is once again all online event

Happening on June 7

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Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is scheduled to happen from June 7 to 11 and will be in an all-online format as the world continues to grapple against the Coronavirus pandemic.

WWDC21 will offer unique insight into the future of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. This year’s WWDC is huge in that there may be more updates on how developers can better take advantage of Apple machines with the M1 chip.

Apple also announced that this year’s Swift Student Challenge, an opportunity for young developers to demonstrate their coding skills by creating a Swift playground, is now accepting submissions.

Swift Playgrounds is a revolutionary app for iPad and Mac that makes learning the Swift programming language interactive and fun. Now through April 18, students can submit their Swift playground to the Swift Student Challenge. Winners will receive exclusive WWDC21 outerwear and a pin set. For more information, visit the Swift Student Challenge website.

“We love bringing our developers together each year at WWDC to learn about our latest technologies and to connect them with Apple engineers,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations and Enterprise and Education Marketing.

This year’s conference will include announcements from the keynote and State of the Union stages, online sessions, 1:1 labs offering technical guidance, and new ways for developers to interact with Apple engineers and designers to learn about the latest frameworks and technologies.

Apple will share additional program information through the Apple Developer app, on the Apple Developer website, and via email.

Apps

Firefox ad reunites all your favorite memes from decades ago

The Numa Numa Guy, Annoying Orange, and Chocolate Rain are back!

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Before Tung Tung Tung Sahur and Skibidi Toilet, the early internet was populated by charismatic personalities looking to make their presences felt in a land that didn’t have a lot of rules yet. As early users, we danced to “Dragostea din tei,” belted out “Chocolate Rain,” and copied “Shoes” word-for-word. Today, Firefox is bringing all those good memories back for a grand reunion.

In a new ad, the web browser featured ten of the biggest stars of the early internet including the aforementioned Numa Numa Guy, Tay Zonday, and Shoes’ Kelly. You can also see Annoying Orange, Chuck Testa, Overly Attached Girlfriend, Bad Luck Brian, Where the Hell is Matt?, the Apparently Kid, and the Success Kid.

Now, this isn’t just a reunion. The ad has a clear message about today’s most concerning issue: AI. Everything has “built-in AI, always asking, asking, asking,” as the Annoying Orange said.

“They make money by following us, and somehow, I’m the creepy one?” the Overly Attached Girlfriend asked.

All these famous personalities are asking what happened to the internet today. Obviously, the big takeaway is that we should all go back to Firefox.

Compared to other browsers, Firefox has a lot of built-in features that offer a lot of control for users. For one, it has its own VPN for privacy. Secondly, reflecting the ad’s message against AI, the browser has a toggle to minimize AI features.

SEE ALSO: Google illegally destroys 250,000 trees for a single AI data center

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Gaming

Nintendo eShop will finally launch in the Philippines

The doors will open on November 10.

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Filipino Nintendo fans, the wait is finally over! Nintendo eShop and Nintendo Switch Online are launching in the Philippines on November 10.

If you’re in the Philippines (or any other country without the service, for that matter), owning a Switch 2 comes with a modicum of difficulty. The country does not have access to Nintendo’s online services, prompting users to buy physical cartridges or switch their region to supported countries, which unfortunately leads to lopsided pricing.

Around the launch of the Switch 2, Nintendo promised that these online services will soon launch in more countries, including the Philippines. Finally, that date is nigh. On November 10, users can access the Nintendo eShop to purchase games digitally, and Nintendo Switch Online to play with friends online.

Besides that, we don’t know much else. There are still a lot of questions unanswered. For example, how will the games’ prices compare to prices in other regions? Since users in the country are forced to switch to another country’s store, they are also subservient to that particular country’s taxes and fees.

Either way, it’s a huge win for Filipino gamers, who no longer have to pretend they’re Singaporean or American just to access online games.

SEE ALSO: Nintendo retires the original Switch in Europe

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Apple unveils its biggest iPad mini update yet

Apple upgrades its compact tablet.

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Apple has unveiled a redesigned iPad mini, introducing an OLED display, a faster processor, and improved durability. The update brings significant changes to Apple’s smallest tablet while retaining its compact form factor.

The new iPad mini features an 8.5-inch OLED display, up from the previous model’s 8.3-inch LCD screen. The upgrade promises deeper blacks, improved contrast, and a better viewing experience for videos, games, and other content.

Apple has also equipped the tablet with its A20 Pro chip, delivering improved performance and enhanced capabilities for artificial intelligence tasks.

Bigger OLED display, improved performance

The new iPad mini features a Super Retina XDR OLED display with a peak brightness of 1,200 nits for HDR content. It can also reduce its brightness to just 1 nit, making it more comfortable to use in darker environments.

Apple has reduced the tablet’s thickness to 5.4mm while retaining its compact design. The redesigned model also features slimmer bezels.

For video calls, the tablet features a 12-megapixel Center Stage front-facing camera positioned along its landscape edge. This makes video calls more convenient when using the tablet horizontally.

The new model also introduces IP67 water and dust resistance, offering additional protection against everyday accidents.

Improved AI capabilities

The A20 Pro chip powers the new iPad mini, bringing improvements to CPU and graphics performance.

Apple says the processor delivers up to 60 percent faster multithreaded CPU performance and up to 4.5 times faster AI performance compared with the previous generation.

These improvements support Apple’s expanding Apple Intelligence ecosystem and its latest Siri capabilities.

The upgraded hardware should also benefit users who edit photos, multitask across applications, and run demanding games on the compact tablet.

Pricing and availability

The new iPad mini starts at US$699 for the Wi-Fi model and US$849 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular variant in the United States.

In Singapore, the tablet starts at S$999 for the Wi-Fi model and S$1,229 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular version. Eligible customers can get the Wi-Fi model starting at S$929 with education pricing.

In the Philippines, the new iPad mini starts at PhP 49,990 for the Wi-Fi model and PhP 59,990 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular variant. Eligible customers can purchase it with education pricing starting at PhP 45,990.

The tablet comes in midnight and starlight finishes, with 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage configurations.

In the United States, preorders begin October 28, 2026, with availability starting November 6. Singapore preorders open October 29, with availability also beginning November 6.

Apple has yet to announce a specific preorder or release date for the Philippines. The company says the new iPad mini will be available soon through its Philippine online store and authorized resellers.

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