Don't miss a beat of the action when Apple announces its new products. Here's how you can tune in and watch the event live.
The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco.James Martin/CNET
Apple will be holding a special event on March 9 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco. As the time-themed "Spring Forward" invite suggests, the company is expected to announce the final details for its new Apple Watch, which was originally unveiled at an event last September. Wemay also see a new MacBook Air, a refresh to the often forgotten Apple TV, and quite possibly a largeriPad.
CNET will be on location to cover the news as it breaks. Windows users can tune in to CNET's live coverage, where our team of experts will be reporting from the event. The CNET preshow starts at 9 a.m. PT with Ashley Esqueda and Donald Bell, and the actual press conference will begin at 10 a.m. PT.
You can find out what time the event starts in your time zone by clicking here.
Tune in to CNET's Apple event live show and blog on March 9, at 9 a.m. PT.
As it has done in the past, Apple will also be live-streaming the event for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV users. Here's how you can tune in:
You can view the event on second- and third-generation Apple TV devices running software version 6.2 or later. This can be done by clicking on the "Apple Events" channel on the device's main menu.
The event can also be viewed by clicking on this link from an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch that's runningiOS 6 or later and using the Safari mobile Web browser. Mac and MacBook users on OS X 10.6.8 or later can tune in by clicking on this link using Safari version 5.1.10 or later.
How to pay with your smartphone without Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or Google Wallet
Before you run out to get a new phone with mobile payment capabilities, check out these three apps that let you pay with the phone you have right now, no NFC required.
With Apple Pay gaining steam and Samsung releasing its own system at Mobile World Congress 2015, called Samsung Pay, mobile payments are getting mainstream. In the coming years I'm betting that nearly every phone will let you quickly check out without grabbing for your wallet.
A few limitationsBut even though we have Google Wallet, Apple Pay and, soon, Samsung Pay, there are still many phones lacking NFC and the other internal tech that makes mobile payments possible. If that's the case with your smartphone, you don't need to upgrade to make payments on the fly. I've rounded up three lower-tech apps can still help you foot the bill.
Just a caveat before we get started: Many merchants still do not accept mobile payments. With PayPal, LevelUp and Square Order, you're limited by where you can use them. You'll want to check out the businesses in your area to see if they use these apps for payments.
Google Wallet and Apple Pay are both more widely accepted, but we are still years away from mobile payments in all major stores, if we ever get there at all. If paying with your phone is very important to you, check out which merchants accept mobile payments before you upgrade your phone. Apple has a list of stores that accept Apple Pay, and if you have an Android phone with NFC, you can use Google Wallet anywhere MasterCard PayPass is accepted. For more in-depth analysis, check out Sharon Profis' experience with NFC mobile payments.
Finally, these apps are for paying merchants, like the coffee shop around the corner or your local big-box store. If you want to pay back your friends or family, we've got a roundup of apps that can send money.
Screenshot by Sarah Mitroff/CNET
PayPal
Free, iOS, Android and Windows Phone
Love it or hate it, PayPal is a huge player in online payments and in recent years, it's been working onmobile payments, too. The company's app lets you pay from your phone at local merchants and some national chains as well.
To use the app, you'll first need to choose the merchant where you want to pay. Then, you'll use the slider to "check in" at the business and authorize the app to make a payment for you. When you're ready to check out, you tell the cashier that you're using PayPal and they'll see your profile pop up in their PayPal system. From there, they can process the payment without you needing to pull out your wallet or phone.
For some larger merchants, such as Home Depot and Office Depot, you'll need to create a PIN that you'll enter along with your mobile number to pay. Also, some restaurants that accept PayPal only allow you to order food in advance for pickup and delivery. Many local restaurants use that feature, but you'll also see it at chains such as Quiznos, Subway and Johnny Rockets.
I've used the app at a music festival to pay for lunch and, separately, to order sushi for delivery, and both experiences were seamless. The downside of PayPal is that you'll need to have a data or Wi-Fi signal to pay.
Screenshot by Sarah Mitroff/CNET
LevelUp
Free, iOS, Android and Windows Phone
Popular with restaurants and cafes, LevelUp uses a QR code to trigger a payment. When you open the app you'll see your personal code prominently displayed, which you point at any LevelUp scanner to make a purchase. That code changes depending on how much of a tip you want to leave, which you pick at the bottom of the screen.
Unlike PayPal, you don't need to pick where you want to pay beforehand, but you do need to know if the merchant accepts that form of payment. You can either use the app to search for participating businesses near you, or just look out for the LevelUp scanner near the register.
As an added bonus, LevelUp also has a loyalty program, where you can get free credits for being a repeat customer. The app also has coupons and deals that you can save and then use automatically when you check out. The downside here is that there aren't many merchants using LevelUp, and you won't find it at major retailers.
Screenshot by Sarah Mitroff/CNET
Square Order
Free, iOS and Android
Square was one of the first companies to figure out mobile payments, sans NFC. Its original Square Wallet app let you check into a store, walk in and get what you want, then check out with the cashier tapping a pop-up of your face from their Square Register app. Once you checked in, you didn't need to touch your phone again to pay.
Unfortunately, Square pulled that app in 2014 and replaced it with Square Order, an app the works roughly the same way, but with fewer features. Square Order shows you menu items for businesses nearby that use Square for payment processing. You can can order and pay for those items before you arrive at the business and then simply pick them up when you arrive.
Square Order lets you browse merchants nearby that accept the app, but you can't search, which is a big drawback. Whole Foods is one of the bigger businesses that's partnered with Square, but you can only use the app at the sandwich bar, not to purchase groceries. In San Francisco, most of the businesses are local coffee shops and casual eateries. It may not be the best option, but it's a good choice if you frequent a business that uses Square and want to save time.
Microsoft has released a preview of its updated Office suite for Mac OS 10.10 users. The official version is due out around the middle of the year.
Microsoft says its goal is to make the software look and feel more like Office for Windows, while not losing the styling that makes the suite feel like it's built for Mac OS X.Microsoft
Five years after rolling out Office 2011 for Mac, Microsoft has made a first public preview of its successor, Office 2016 for Mac, available to testers for download.
Microsoft already has updated OneNote andOutlook (available in limited preview form)available for the Mac. On Thursday, the company is delivering refreshed public previews of those two apps in addition to the first public previews of the 2016 versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and is making all five apps available to anyone runningYosemite (Mac OS 10.10).
The Office for Mac 2016 preview is available for download from Microsoft's Office.com preview site, and can be run alongside Office for Mac 2011.
Microsoft plans to deliver regular updates to the preview, and will let testers know via a notification from the Office for Mac Auto-Update tool. Every new preview build will expire roughly 60 days after it's posted. The final preview build will continue to function for roughly a month after Office 2016 for Mac becomes generally available, sometime this summer, officials said. That's likely to be several months ahead of the Office 2016 for Windows release in the second half of 2015. Officials said they'd have more news to share soon about opening up the Office 2016 for Windows suite publicly. (The Windows version has been in private testing for several months.)
Microsoft's goal with Office 2016 for Mac is to make it look and feel more like Office for Windows (and other Office suite flavors), while not losing the styling that makes the suite feel like it's built for Mac OS X, said Eric Wilfrid, director of Office product marketing.
The updated Mac suite includes a newly designed Ribbon that's similar in formatting and organization to the Office for Windows Ribbon. The suite includes full support for retina displays and is built to be "cloud connected," so it's tightly integrated with OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, SharePoint and Office 365.
Office 2016 for Mac allows users to access files across all their devices running Office by signing in with their Office sign-in credentials. This way, a user could start writing a document on Office for Android, access it later on Office 2016 for Mac and then finish it on Office for iPad, while always having access to the most up-to-date version.
In the new version of Word 2016 for Mac, Microsoft has added threaded comments to improve coauthoring. In Excel, there's now support for the same keyboard shortcuts as Office for Windows users have. The PowerPoint 2016 for Mac update adds the same presenter view as is available in PowerPoint for iOS.
So far, as is the case with the Office 2016 for Windows private preview, new features and functionality seem rather limited for the next version of Office for Mac. So what took Microsoft so long to bring the coming version to market?
Wilfrid said that Microsoft shifted gears after rolling out Office 365 and decided to focus on Office 365 and prioritize some of the new Office mobile releases, such as Office for iOS.
Office's focus is now on cloud connectivity, he said, noting that anyone who has a current Office 365 subscription with support for downloadable versions of the Office suite apps will get Office 2016 for Mac as soon as it is released for no additional cost. Microsoft is not yet releasing Office 2016 for Mac pricing for those who don't have an Office 365 subscription.
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