- Apple unveils new ipad pro with m1 chip and stunning liquid retina xdr display
- Change facetime audio and video settings on ipad
- Customizing guided access for your apps
- Hardware options
- How to set up guided access
- Roundup: here’s how the 2021 ipad pro center stage feature really works
- How to end a guided access session
Apple unveils new ipad pro with m1 chip and stunning liquid retina xdr display
Today, Apple is carbon neutral for global corporate operations, and by 2030, plans to have net zero climate impact across the entire business, which includes manufacturing supply chains and all product life cycles. This means that every Apple device sold, from material collection, component manufacturing, assembly, transport, customer use, charging, all the way through recycling and material recovery, will be 100 percent carbon neutral.
iPad Pro now features an enclosure made with 100 percent recycled aluminum, and 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in the magnets of the speakers and enclosure. iPad Pro remains free of harmful substances, meeting Apple’s high standards for environmental responsibility in materials, renewable electricity, and energy efficiency, and uses wood fiber in the packaging that is recycled or comes from responsibly managed forests.
Change facetime audio and video settings on ipad
Turn on Center Stage, switch between cameras, or turn your audio or video on or off when you’re using the FaceTime app 
.
Customizing guided access for your apps
Photo: Cult of Mac
Guided Access‘ purpose is to lock off parts of the screen, and/or the hardware buttons, to either prevent folks from tampering with the iPad (handy when the device is left unattended), or to stop accidental interactions (good for folks with impaired motor skills, or musicians thrashing around on stage).
Hardware options
You can also choose to disable hardware functions. To do so, tap Hardware Buttons Options, and toggle the functions you want. to have on or off. By default the Sleep/Wake and Volume buttons are disable, but you can also switch off keyboard support, and also motion.
When you’re ready to go, tap Start. The first time you use it, you’ll be prompted to add a passcode. Then Guided Access will begin, and you’ll be able to see the disabled areas covered with their gray transparent boxes. This is a nice indicator to remind you what’s available and what’s not.
How to set up guided access
For all its power, Guided Access is super easy to use. First, you need to enable it, in Settings > General > Accessibility > Guided Access. Here you can switch Guided Access on and off, but a better option is to enable the Accessibility Shortcut.
Photo: Cult of Mac
This lets you triple-click the home button to enable Guided Access at any time. It also lets you triple-click the button to exit Guided Access, which is a nice safety rope to have when first testing things. You can ignore the other options right now.
Roundup: here’s how the 2021 ipad pro center stage feature really works
The 2021 iPad Pro reviews are in, and we finally can take a look at this M1 powered tablet with a mini-LED display before its official launch this Friday. One of the features exclusive to the M1 iPad Pro is Center Stage, and we now know how it really works.
A lot of reviewers talked about Center Stage, but MacStories Federico Vitticci gave us the best explanation of how this feature actually works, and MacStories actually built a custom app using the Center Stage API to test the feature. And it’s incredible.
For this Center Stage feature to work, Apple changed the 2021 iPad Pro front-facing camera to a 12MP Ultra Wide lens, which means this iPad has a 122‑degree field of view. Here’s how Apple describes this function:
The all‑new Center Stage uses the Ultra-Wide camera and machine learning to change the way you participate in video calls. As you move around, it automatically pans to keep you centered in the frame. When others join in or leave the call, the view expands or zooms in. Center Stage works with FaceTime and other video conferencing apps for an even more engaging experience.
But, you know, sometimes there’s a difference between what Apple says and how it works in real life – but not this time. According to Vitticci, it feels like “the camera inside the iPad is physically moving”:
When you first try Center Stage during a video call, the effect is both eerie and charming: at first, it’ll look like the camera inside the iPad is physically moving, or like there’s a remote camera operator secretly controlling the ultra-wide camera to keep you properly framed. Instead, Center Stage is the result of the clever combination of an ultra-wide field of view and real-time cropping powered by machine learning.
He conducted a few experiments on how the Center Stage feature works. The first time, for example, he wandered around his room and saw how the front-facing camera would follow him. It actually worked really well.
In another experiment, he tried to see how the Center Stage feature would function when there are two people in the frame. The camera zooms in and zooms out to better fit the two people in the scene. And the impressive part is that it all happens really fast.
Last but not least, there’s a fun fact about the Ultra Wide camera. He explains:
The video begins with an empty shot of my wall. Nobody has entered Center Stage’s “capture zone” yet and the camera is doing nothing. But here’s where another key Center Stage feature comes in: Center Stage can “see” subjects before they’re displayed onscreen and immediately zoom and pan the image to focus on them. Which means this is something Center Stage can do:
There are more examples of this feature here, where you can read his full review.
InTheVerge’s review, Dieter Bohn shows that there’s a “bad” thing about the camera, as it is still positioned “in the wrong place.” For Dieter, and I agree with him, the front-facing camera should be located as if the iPad Pro is always in landscape mode and not as it is now like if you’re holding the iPad as you do with the iPhone. So even with the Center Stage feature on, you will probably look like this in a FaceTime/Zoom call:
Wrapping up, this feature looks really great, and it’s one of the top reasons to buy an M1 iPad Pro this Friday. As we’re still trying to leave the pandemic status, Center Stage will significantly improve the video conferencing experience. Since its API is available to third-party developers, it’s just a matter of time before all your favorite video call apps are using this feature.
Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:
How to end a guided access session
To end a Guided Access session, triple-tap the home button again, and tap Guided Access. Enter your passcode (you can turn on Touch ID support in the Settings app), and you’ll find yourself back at the Guided Access “editing” screen. Tap End.
Your device remembers the overlays you create for any apps you use with Guided Access, which means the next time you come to use it, you can just triple-tap the home buttons, select Guided Access in the pop-up, and the session begins. Combined with Do Not Disturb, and (if you don’t need the connectivity) Airplane mode, Guided Access can make your iPad as rock solid as a standalone appliance.
