Apple Pay Student IDs Rolling Out to Select Schools Today

Student ID cards can be a pain to constantly take out at a university. They're used for everything, from going to the gym, to using your meal plan, to attending a career fair. With NFC on the rise and magnetic strips on their way out, it's about time that smartphones and student ID cards got together. Today, students attending Duke University, University of Alabama, and University of Oklahoma can start using their student ID card on their iPhone and Apple Watch. When set to Express Mode, this works like the Suica card for Japanese transit when used for Apple Pay. You don't have to open any app, you just have to tap your iPhone or Apple Watch to the scanner and it just works. Johns Hopkins, Santa Clara and Temple Universities will have student ID support by the end of the year. I can imagine that plenty of universities will be added throughout 2019.

Apple's Education Event Impressions

Apple had quite a few announcements lined up for the education side of technology today. While we didn't get much on the consumer side, I can understand why a press release might not have done it justice. That being said, I'm not sure how much traction in schools Apple will gain from this. We have a refreshed iPad with Apple Pencil support and A10 Fusion Chip. It costs $299 for schools, and remains at $329 for educators. If you are eligible for Apple's Education Store discount (student, family, or staff of educational institution), this iPad will run $309 for 32 GB. Given the crazy price difference between the iPad and the iPad Pro, I'm fairly confident we will get an "iPhone X style" iPad this WWDC. I also found the Logitech Crayon interesting. A $49 stylus as an alternative to Apple Pencil. I like the naming convention. I'm looking forward to the Apple Space Pen. Aside from this, we got some software updates for iWork. All in all, this event has me more excited for WWDC if anything. The iPad refresh is nice. I actually prefer the 9.7" iPad to the 10.5" iPad. The bezels aren't as thin, which prevents a ton of accidental inputs (especially on video scrubbing). The keyboard is easier to type on for me as well. Just by going off of what we know about it, the new 9.7" iPad looks like a great tablet for the average consumer with excellent value.

Educational Apple Event Announced

Apple is hosting a keynote at a high school of all places. To discuss announcements for education, Apple will be doing a keynote at Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago. It will take place on March 27. We are expecting a cheaper entry-level iPad, costing around $259, a new MacBook or MacBook Air, a new Apple Pencil (based on the invite), and iOS 11.3, with something called ClassKit.

Image Credit: Bloomberg

Swift Courses Expanding to Community Colleges

Apple is expanding their App Development with Swift curriculum to community colleges. This curriculum is derived from the iBook that was released with the introduction of Swift a few years back. It's a full year course, and the original iBook is still available on the iBooks Store for free [Direct Link].

2016 Back to School Promotion

Apple has once again launched its Back to School promotion for students. If you buy an iPhone, iPad Pro, or a Mac with education pricing, you will receive a pair of Beats headphones. With the purchase of an iPad Pro or an iPhone, you'll receive a pair of Powerbeats2 Wireless Headphones. With the purchase of a Mac, you'll receive a pair of Beats Solo2 Wireless Headphones. iPad Pro and iPhone purchasers can upgrade to the Beats Solo2 Wireless Headphones for $100. This deal expires September 5, 2016.

GitHub Student Developer Pack

In a technologically thriving world where it only takes some coding know-how, a laptop, and a great idea to make a difference in the world, businesses are doing their part to help get their powerful technologies into the hands of aspiring student developers preparing to enter the workforce. Enter the GitHub Student Developer Pack, a program that gives an array of coding related products to students with free trials or at discounts. Last night, I applied for it, and this morning, I was accepted. It just requires proof that you're a student coder. From Amazon Web Services to the Unreal Engine, there are so many great products that students should play around with. To get your pack, fill out the form from GitHub Education.