In a move that will likely force IT to much more aggressively use web certificate automation services, the Certification Authority Browser Forum (CA/Browser Forum), a gathering of certificate issuers and suppliers of applications that use certificates, voted Friday to radically slash the lifespan of the certificates that verify the ownership of sites. The approved changes, which passed overwhelmingly, will be phased in gradually through March 2029, when the certs will only last 47 days. Website certificates, also known as SSL/TLS certificates, are issued by trusted certification authorities (CAs) and use public-key cryptography to authenticate websites to web browsers. This controversial change has been debated extensively for more than a year. The group’s argument is that this will improve web security in various ways, but some have argued that the group’s members have a strong alternative incentive, as they will be the ones earning more money due to this acceleration. “This is fully what we were expecting,” said Jon Nelson, a principal advisory director at Info-Tech Research Group. “[But] I do question the motives of the group. They are doing this under the auspices of reducing risk, but I question if that is the real reason. Do the people making up this group have a conflict of interest in that this move could generate additional revenue for their companies?” Although the group voted overwhelmingly to approve the change, with zero “No” votes, not every member agreed with the decision; five members abstained. Tim Callan, the chief compliance officer at Sectigo and vice chair of the CA/Browser Forum, said that one of the certificate authority (CA) members who abstained, who he declined to identify, wrote a note to the group. Callan said it read, “we have mixed feelings about this. We are in favor in principle. However, we are unconvinced that the most restrictive terms are necessary, to go all of the way down to 47 days.” Callan said that he personally applauds the changes. “I am thrilled for a couple of reasons. Shortening certificate lifespans are a good trend. It is the right direction for things to go.” The changes, which were primarily pushed by Apple, have two separate elements. First is the length of time after a user proves that they have valid control over their domain (Domain Control Validation (DCV)) that they are permitted to order or renew a certificate without re-validation. The second involves how long the actual Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificate is valid. In roughly one year, on March 15, 2026, the “maximum TLS certificate lifespan shrinks to 200 days. This accommodates a six-month renewal cadence. The DCV reuse period reduces to 200 days,” according to the passed ballot.  Two years after that, on March 15, 2029, “maximum TLS certificate lifespan shrinks to 47 days. This accommodates a one-month renewal cadence. The DCV reuse period reduces to 10 days.” And given the technical nature of the member company representatives, they opted to define what they mean by a day. But they didn’t define it as 24 hours. They took no chances: “For the purpose of calculations, a day is measured as 86,400 seconds. Any amount of time greater than this, including fractional seconds and/or leap seconds, shall represent an additional day. For this reason, Subscriber Certificates should not be issued for the maximum permissible time by default, in order to account for such adjustments.” The passed document also included a preamble written by Apple, which tried to explain the rationale for the change. In that letter, Apple said the gradual phasing in of the changes was intended to allow for discovery of unanticipated issues and to specifically allow for time to make adjustments. But its actual phrasing was pure Cupertino: “In order to shift more unknown unknowns towards known unknowns and known knowns over time, it is useful to ensure broad awareness prior to changes taking effect.” The core argument from Apple was that today’s longer durations give far too much time for bad things to happen. “Certificates are representations of a point in time state of reality. That is, at the point of certificate issuance, all data certified therein is correct and the process followed for that certification is accurately documented for that point in time,” Apple wrote. “The more time passes from that moment of issuance, the more likely it becomes that data represented in the certificate diverge from reality. Thus, a reduction to both certificate lifetimes and data reuse periods increases the average net reliability of certificates.” But, Apple continued, CAs do not always do their job perfectly. “At times, CAs do not issue certificates in accordance with the policies, requirements, or specifications that govern such issuance,” Apple said. “Requiring more frequent validation of information used in the issuance of certificates and lowering the maximum validity period of certificates reduces the risk of improper validation, the scope of improper validation perpetuation, and the opportunities for misissued certificates to negatively impact the ecosystem and its relying parties.” Apple added that the shorter certificate lifespans also allow the industry to more effectively react to changes in cryptography.

Steve Jobs' personality led to some interesting events during his time at Pixar, including firing board of directors members for failing to disagree with him.Steve JobsThe managerial style of Steve Jobs can be described by some as abrasive, and strong-willed by others, during his time at Apple. It's also something that was apparent during his time at Pixar, with stories from Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios, which had Steve as a majority shareholder.In an interview about Jobs for the Steve Jobs Archive released on Friday, Catmull and guests discussed the Apple co-founder's managerial style. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Construction input prices increased 0.5% in March, according to a new Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) analysis of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data. In addition, nonresidential construction input prices rose 0.6% last month. Both overall and nonresidential construction input prices are 0.8% higher than levels from a year ago. According to the report, crude petroleum prices fell considerably in March, however, this decline was offset by rapidly rising natural gas, steel, copper, and lumber prices. Chart credit: Associated Builders and Contractors “Construction input prices increased at a rapid pace for the third consecutive month in March and have now risen at a 9.7% annualized rate through the first quarter of 2025,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “The emerging effects of tariffs are glaring in the March data release, with iron and steel, steel mill products and copper wire and cable prices all rising more than 5% for the month.” Chart ...

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle finally arrives on PS5 next week, and in a new PlayStation Blog post, production director John Jennings outlines what players can look forward to. For instance, the action-adventure title supports DualSense’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers and the Lightbar, which changes colors depending on the situation. Other notable benefits include SSD optimization for “a seamless experience with faster streaming and loading.” It utilizes the console’s “advanced CPU and GPU capabilities” to deliver 60 FPS at a “high-quality resolution” with ray-traced global illumination. As for PS5 Pro support, the Great Circle promises native 4K and “advanced” ray tracing on the console alongside “higher and more consistent frame rates.” How this will compare to the Xbox Series X version should be interesting, so stay tuned for more details. If that wasn’t enough, PS5 players can leverage Community Game Help and obtain tips for completing certain sections. This includes support for Activities with different objectives outlined. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle launches on April 17th for PS5, with Premium Edition owners receiving two days early access. Head here for more details and check out our review of the Xbox version.

Live from TED2025 Babies, brains and breakthroughs: Day 4 of TED2025 Posted by: Brian Greene, Maria Ladias and Oliver Friedman April 10, 2025 at 8:30 pm EDT Frédette Lampre speaks at TED2025: Humanity Reimagined on April 10, 2025, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED) Day 4 of TED2025 was a jaw-dropping tour of everything from the “girl internet” to what homes could look like in outer space. Learn more about how babies’ minds work, why voting by phone might be the reboot democracy needs and a future where roads can mend their own cracks. Here are some things you won’t want to miss from day 4: Deja Foxx speaks at TED2025: Humanity Reimagined on April 10, 2025, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) Internet, politics and power. Digital strategist and activist Deja Foxx welcomes us to the “girl internet” — the new ecosystem of platforms, built by and for women, that prioritize safety, ownership and respect. These platforms, including Lore, Sunroom and Diem, offer a powerful alternative to traditional tech spaces and point towards an internet grounded in equity and empowerment. Also working in the realm of digital strategy, Bradley Tusk introduces Mobile Voting, a nonprofit, nonpartisan initiative working to make voting easier — by letting you vote on your phone. He makes the case that secure, accessible phone voting could dramatically increase turnout and restore function, representation and trust in democracy. Dean Ornish speaks at TED2025: Humanity Reimagined on April 10, 2025, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED) Tapping into the brain and body’s natural ability to heal. Dean Ornish is a pioneer of lifestyle medicine, which shows that a healthy lifestyle — eating well, moving more, stressing less, loving more — can often begin to reverse many common chronic diseases. He describes his latest groundbreaking clinical trials, indicating that patients with early Alzheimer’s who adopted lifestyle changes showed significant improvement or stabilization of the disease — something no drug has achieved. In a related vein, interventional neuropsychiatrist Nolan Williams shares his research into the medical potential of plant-derived psychedelics. The research is in very early days, but the compound he works on shows promise to treat addiction, PTSD and depression. The message? Healing is possible when we treat the whole person, not just the symptoms. Jenny Du speaks at TED2025: Humanity Reimagined on April 10, 2025, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED) Ideas from nature to address big challenges. Materials scientist Mark Miodownik envisions a future of “animate materials” that can self-repair, self-recycle and even self-grow, potentially revolutionizing our infrastructure and reducing waste. Taking inspiration from nature’s ability to heal and adapt, he showcases innovations like self-healing concrete and roads that can mend their own cracks. Taking natural cues in a different direction, produce protector Jenny Du tackles food waste by mimicking nature’s own preservation methods. Her company, Apeel Sciences, has developed a plant-based coating that extends the shelf life of produce without refrigeration or plastic packaging, reducing food waste and opening up possibilities for a more diverse and accessible global food supply. Claudia Passos Ferreira speaks at TED2025: Humanity Reimagined on April 10, 2025, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED) Groundbreaking insights into consciousness and medical innovation. Philosopher, bioethicist and clinical psychologist Claudia Passos Ferreira challenges traditional views on infant consciousness, presenting compelling neuroscientific evidence that newborns and even late-term fetuses may have more complex awareness than previously thought. Her research could reshape our understanding of early human development, raising important ethical considerations around personhood. Physician-scientist David Fajgenbaum also highlights the power of scientific inquiry, sharing his personal journey battling a rare disease  — which ultimately led him to a pioneering approach for repurposing existing drugs. With support from The Audacious Project, TED’s innovative funding initiative, Fajgenbaum’s nonprofit, Every Cure, aims to find treatments for thousands of diseases currently lacking approved therapies — offering hope for healing on an unprecedented scale. Ariel Ekblaw speaks at TED2025: Humanity Reimagined on April 10, 2025, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED) Rewriting the rules — on Earth and beyond. With four decades in the film industry, director, producer and author Barry Sonnenfeld shares 10 unexpected rules for survival, success and making people laugh — without letting them know you’re trying. Filmmaker Gary Hustwit challenges the idea that a movie must tell one fixed story, introducing Eno, the world’s first generative feature film, meaning it never ends the same way twice. Rewriting another big rule, space architect Ariel Ekblaw is rethinking how we live on Earth and across the universe — reconsidering our approach to architecture, community and survival. As founder of the Space Exploration Initiative at MIT, she sees space not just as a frontier for exploration but also as a platform for solving humanity’s biggest challenges. Aqeela Sherrills speaks at TED2025: Humanity Reimagined on April 10, 2025, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) Bold visions of public safety and larger-than-life art. Activist Aqeela Sherrills shares how his experience brokering a historic gang peace treaty in Los Angeles led to a bold, community-led approach to keeping the peace. He’s launching a resident-powered violence intervention program backed by The Audacious Project, TED’s funding initiative. It’s called Scaling Safety, and it empowers trusted local leaders to redefine public safety and create lasting change. Meanwhile, artist and designer Frédette Lampre is part of the collective La Machine, which brings together creatives to build giant, moving machines. From a fire-breathing sea dragon to a slumbering minotaur, their monumental creatures unite communities — transforming public space into shared theater with artworks that don’t just entertain but reshape how people see their cities and one another. Hosts Chris Anderson and Helen Walters speak at TED2025: Humanity Reimagined on April 10, 2025, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) The audience at Session 10 of TED2025: Humanity Reimagined on April 10, 2025, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

A Newly Discovered and Brilliantly Green Comet Is Dazzling Astronomers. Here’s What to Know About the Glowing Celestial Visitor Initial observations suggest the comet, called C/2025 F2 (SWAN), will continue getting brighter as it approaches the sun. Northern Hemisphere viewers with binoculars can currently spot it in early morning skies Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN) captured from California.  Dan Bartlett Meet comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN): a celestial body glowing green as it swings around the sun, currently visible in the early morning hours with backyard gear, such as small telescopes or binoculars. Typically, comets are named for their discoverers, and this one is named after SWAN, a camera aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft, which first detected the celestial body. Australian amateur astronomer Michael Mattiazzo noticed the comet in SWAN’s images in late March. According to EarthSky’s Eddie Irizarry, it was also independently discovered by Ukrainian Vladimir Bezugly. Since then, a number of photographers have capturedstunning photographs of the celestial visitor.Comets are bodies of rock, dust and ice left over from the formation of our universe. When they pass close to the sun, comets warm up, giving off a cloud of gas and dust that glows and forms a tail. “A new comet is always exciting. They appear unexpectedly. They’re quite beautiful. They do tell us a lot, too, about our solar system and about how the planets formed,” Paul Wiegert, an astronomer at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, tells Nicole Mortillaro of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). “So, you know, it’s sort of a beautiful addition to our springtime skies.” Since its discovery, C/2025 F2 (SWAN) has become brighter as it approaches perihelion—the closest point to the sun in its orbit, which will happen on May 1. If it continues to brighten, the comet might even become visible to the naked eye, as Asa Stahl writes for the Planetary Society. However, Stahl (who is also an astrophysicist) adds that comets’ appearances are “notoriously” difficult to forecast. It remains possible that the comet could break apart when it nears the sun, he adds, but “only time will tell.” Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN) on April 9 2025. Dan Bartlett “We expect it to get brighter, not because it’s necessarily getting more solar heating and being more active and producing more of the gases that we see, but our geometry relative to it, we’re going to get closer to it,” Wiegert explains to the CBC. “And all of those details are going to work in its favor. So, we’re hoping that it’s going to get quite a bit brighter over the next month or so.” Every once in a while, a passing comet like this one dazzles skywatchers by glowing a bright green. “The green coma [the comet’s dusty glow] is the result of diatomic carbon being ejected from the comet’s surface,” astrophotographer Mike Olason writes for Sky & Telescope, describing a photograph he took of the comet. “Sunlight destroys the diatomic carbon in the comet’s coma, which is the reason one never sees a comet with a green tail. Evidently, there is not a lot of dust particles being ejected from the comet’s surface, since the dust tail is not very bright or wide.”Based on his own photograph of the comet, astrophotographer Michael Jäger told Live Science’s Harry Baker earlier this week that C/2025 F2 (SWAN)’s faint tail likely spans two degrees of the night sky—or about twice the width of your pinky finger, held at arm’s length—which is significant given its distance from the sun. According to Space.com’s Joe Rao, stargazers armed with binoculars or telescopes in the Northern Hemisphere can spot the comet shortly before sunrise along the northeast horizon, through April 25. Afterward, C/2025 F2 (SWAN) will be visible after sunset on the west-northwest horizon, likely disappearing after May 5. The comet should become visible to the Southern Hemisphere around May 4. Trying to catch a glimpse of this comet could be worth getting up early or staying up late for, if only because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime event—C/2025 F2 (SWAN) orbits the sun once every 1.4 million years, so don’t expect it back any time soon! Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Baldur’s Gate 3’s Patch 8, which brings changes like 12 new subclasses, crossplay, and a photo mode, launches on April 15th, developer Larian Studios announced on Friday. The patch, set to be the game’s last major update, was originally announced in November 2024, so it’s been a long time coming (though Larian has been stress testing it ahead of the official launch). The 12 new subclasses mean that each of the game’s main classes — Bard, Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock and Wizard — will be getting an additional subclass. You can see the full list of new subclasses in this November post from Larian. With crossplay, you’ll be able to play multiplayer with your friends no matter what platform they’re on. And the game’s photo mode will offer features like different lens settings, scene settings, and even stickers. Larian will also be hosting a Twitch stream about Patch 8 on April 16th at 9AM ET.

Understanding the Limits of Language Model Transparency As large language models (LLMs) become central to a growing number of applications—ranging from enterprise decision support to education and scientific research—the need to understand their internal decision-making becomes more pressing. A core challenge remains: how can we determine where a model’s response comes from? Most LLMs are trained on massive datasets consisting of trillions of tokens, yet there has been no practical tool to map model outputs back to the data that shaped them. This opacity complicates efforts to evaluate trustworthiness, trace factual origins, and investigate potential memorization or bias. The Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) recently introduced OLMoTrace, a system designed to trace segments of LLM-generated responses back to their training data in real time. The system is built on top of Ai2’s open-source OLMo models and provides an interface for identifying verbatim overlaps between generated text and the documents used during model training. Unlike retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) approaches, which inject external context during inference, OLMoTrace is designed for post-hoc interpretability—it identifies connections between model behavior and prior exposure during training. OLMoTrace is integrated into the Ai2 Playground, where users can examine specific spans in an LLM output, view matched training documents, and inspect those documents in extended context. The system supports OLMo models including OLMo-2-32B-Instruct and leverages their full training data—over 4.6 trillion tokens across 3.2 billion documents. Technical Architecture and Design Considerations At the heart of OLMoTrace is infini-gram, an indexing and search engine built for extreme-scale text corpora. The system uses a suffix array-based structure to efficiently search for exact spans from the model’s outputs in the training data. The core inference pipeline comprises five stages: Span Identification: Extracts all maximal spans from a model’s output that match verbatim sequences in the training data. The algorithm avoids spans that are incomplete, overly common, or nested. Span Filtering: Ranks spans based on “span unigram probability,” which prioritizes longer and less frequent phrases, as a proxy for informativeness. Document Retrieval: For each span, the system retrieves up to 10 relevant documents containing the phrase, balancing precision and runtime. Merging: Consolidates overlapping spans and duplicates to reduce redundancy in the user interface. Relevance Ranking: Applies BM25 scoring to rank the retrieved documents based on their similarity to the original prompt and response. This design ensures that tracing results are not only accurate but also surfaced within an average latency of 4.5 seconds for a 450-token model output. All processing is performed on CPU-based nodes, using SSDs to accommodate the large index files with low-latency access. Evaluation, Insights, and Use Cases Ai2 benchmarked OLMoTrace using 98 LLM-generated conversations from internal usage. Document relevance was scored both by human annotators and by a model-based “LLM-as-a-Judge” evaluator (gpt-4o). The top retrieved document received an average relevance score of 1.82 (on a 0–3 scale), and the top-5 documents averaged 1.50—indicating reasonable alignment between model output and retrieved training context. Three illustrative use cases demonstrate the system’s utility: Fact Verification: Users can determine whether a factual statement was likely memorized from the training data by inspecting its source documents. Creative Expression Analysis: Even seemingly novel or stylized language (e.g., Tolkien-like phrasing) can sometimes be traced back to fan fiction or literary samples in the training corpus. Mathematical Reasoning: OLMoTrace can surface exact matches for symbolic computation steps or structured problem-solving examples, shedding light on how LLMs learn mathematical tasks. These use cases highlight the practical value of tracing model outputs to training data in understanding memorization, data provenance, and generalization behavior. Implications for Open Models and Model Auditing OLMoTrace underscores the importance of transparency in LLM development, particularly for open-source models. While the tool only surfaces lexical matches and not causal relationships, it provides a concrete mechanism to investigate how and when language models reuse training material. This is especially relevant in contexts involving compliance, copyright auditing, or quality assurance. The system’s open-source foundation, built under the Apache 2.0 license, also invites further exploration. Researchers may extend it to approximate matching or influence-based techniques, while developers can integrate it into broader LLM evaluation pipelines. In a landscape where model behavior is often opaque, OLMoTrace sets a precedent for inspectable, data-grounded LLMs—raising the bar for transparency in model development and deployment Check out Paper and Playground. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also, feel free to follow us on Twitter and don’t forget to join our 85k+ ML SubReddit. Note: Asif RazzaqWebsite |  + postsBioAsif Razzaq is the CEO of Marktechpost Media Inc.. As a visionary entrepreneur and engineer, Asif is committed to harnessing the potential of Artificial Intelligence for social good. His most recent endeavor is the launch of an Artificial Intelligence Media Platform, Marktechpost, which stands out for its in-depth coverage of machine learning and deep learning news that is both technically sound and easily understandable by a wide audience. The platform boasts of over 2 million monthly views, illustrating its popularity among audiences.Asif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Can LLMs Debug Like Humans? Microsoft Introduces Debug-Gym for AI Coding AgentsAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Nvidia Released Llama-3.1-Nemotron-Ultra-253B-v1: A State-of-the-Art AI Model Balancing Massive Scale, Reasoning Power, and Efficient Deployment for Enterprise InnovationAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Together AI Released DeepCoder-14B-Preview: A Fully Open-Source Code Reasoning Model That Rivals o3-Mini With Just 14B Parameters

You don't have to wait for the new 2025 LG TVs to drop to score a great deal on an older generation model. Right now, you can pick up a 2023 65" LG Evo C3 4K OLED TV for just $1,196.99 with free shipping on Amazon. This is a better deal than what I saw during Black Friday. The LG Evo C-series of TVs have consistently been our favorite high-end 4K TVs, especially for 4K HDR movies and gaming.65" LG Evo C3 4K OLED Smart TV for $119765" LG Evo C3 4K OLED Smart TVThe LG Evo C3 is a 2023 model, just one year behind the 2024 LG Evo C4. So what are the differences? Aside from the $650 price difference, not much. The most important trait -- picture quality -- is more or less identical. Where the C4 improves on the C3 are an upgraded processor, newer WebOS smart interface, and a higher 144Hz refresh rate.OLED TVs are considered the best TVs you can buy right now. Compared to traditional LED LCD TVs, they offer better image quality, deeper blacks, better contrast ratio, wider color gamut, and super fast response times. Because of these advantages, the OLED TV are easily the best type of TV for viewing 4K HDR content in all of its intended glory. LG OLED TVs particular have been out for years and benefit from several generations of optimizations.The LG C3 also has all the features you'd want in a gaming TV as well. It has a native 120Hz panel and all four HDMI 2.1 ports for running 4K at 120Hz on a PS5 or Xbox Series X. It also supports variable refresh rate (VRR), auto low latency mode (ALLM), and DTS audio, which is good for people who still watch Blu-ray discs. The C3 is also much easier to set up than its predecessors; the rear cabinet housing is made of a composite fiber that drops the weight to a mere 36 pounds. The LG Evo C-series TV is our favorite high-end 4K TV of 2025 because of the brilliance of its OLED display along with a host of quality features that don't quite push it to the point of an excessively high price. This model brings better contrast and clarity than the previous year's already luminous LG C2. It’s a sight to behold, especially when you add in the deep blacks and well-balanced colors on the crisp 4K screen. Once you choose OLED, it's hard to go back to anything else.How Does This Compare to the Upcoming LG Evo C5?The LG Evo C5 hasn't yet been released, but it was showcased during CES 2025. At least on paper, the improvements of the C5 seem to be incremental, with no major ground breaking updates that would make you want to hold off until its launch. More importantly, the C5 will probably release at a very high retail price which will take months to get down to a level that's competitive with other TV deals.Looking for more options? Check out all of the best TVs of 2025.Why Should You Trust IGN's Deals Team?IGN's deals team has a combined 30+ years of experience finding the best discounts in gaming, tech, and just about every other category. We don't try to trick our readers into buying things they don't need at prices that aren't worth buying something at. Our ultimate goal is to surface the best possible deals from brands we trust and our editorial team has personal experience with. You can check out our deals standards here for more information on our process, or keep up with the latest Presidents' Day deals we find on IGN's Deals account on Twitter.Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.

Apple makes a variety of Apple Pencil products, but they only differ in features, not so much in design. Thanks to ColorWare, however, you can now buy an Apple Pencil Pro that’s designed to resemble a crayon—and it comes in seven different color options. Apple Crayon Pro launches in seven color options Last year, ColorWare debuted a fun Apple Number 2 Pencil product that made the Apple Pencil look like, well, a standard pencil. Now, the company is branching out into another creative medium: crayons. The newly introduced Apple Crayon Pro comes in seven color options: Black Mint Pink Purple Red White Yellow Each product is actually an Apple Pencil Pro that’s been meticulously skinned to give off a more fun, colorful vibe. You’ll pay a premium for the custom design, of course. Apple Crayon Pro is available for $215 and ships in about two weeks. For comparison, the standard Apple Pencil Pro retails for $129, and currently is just $116 on Amazon. But if you want a little more style with your Apple Pencil, ColorWare’s latest offering is a fun way to shake up your iPad accessory game. Do you wish Apple would offer more Pencil designs too? Let us know in the comments. Best iPad accessories Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed.  FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel