Say hello to your new friend: iOS 9

 

iOS 9 will be coming at your phone this Fall, and with it comes an array of improvements designed to make your life better! Here’s what you need to know:

 

For the iPad exclusively, iOS 9 brings a function called Slide-over, which will let you open apps without leaving the one that you’re in,  a brand-new QuickType keyboard, and a picture-in-picture feature that allows you to watch video from another app while you do something else.

 

There’s also a multi-tasking function called ‘Split view’ which lets users use 2 apps at the same time, on the same screen. This is a yay moment for iPad users everywhere – except it’ll only be available on the iPad Air 2… Bummer. Kudos to you iPad Air 2 owners.

 

For both iPhones and iPads, we get a better looking and more helpful Siri, a brand new Search window, which offers commonly used apps or contacts, one-tap links to nearby locations and breaking news, and – finally- transit directions in Maps and integrated with Siri.

 

*Siri will now react to context, which is a little scary – offering to play music when headphones are plugged in, or searching email when an unknown phone number calls and displaying it if found.

 

*There’s a new ‘News’ app for reading news stories, sourced from (so far) ESPN, Politico, the New York Times, Conde Nast publications and local news.

 

*A new optional iCloud Drive app on iOS that will let users access files stored in iCloud Drive.

 

* Passbook has been renamed Wallet.

 

*Notes has a bunch of shiny updates and additions, including new formatting options,the ability to add links, maps, and photos directly into the app, checklists, and sketching tools.

 

* iOS 9 brings us the ability to browse through images quickly using the new scrubber for iOS Photos.

 

* Find My Friends and Find My iPhone are both default apps in iOS 9 and come installed automatically.

 

*When setting a Passcode in iOS 9, you’ll be required to enter six digits instead of four for increased security.

 

* Exciting video stuff! .With iOS 9 you’ll have way more options-  720p HD at 30 fps, 1080p HD at 30 fps and 1080p HD at 60 fps for standard video and 720p HD at 120 fps or 720p HD at 240 fps for Slo-mo.

 

* THIS ONE IS REALLY EXCITING TO US but may not be for others… with iOS 9 you’ll have the ability to add email attachments to messages in the Mail app, which sources documents from iCloud Drive. SWEET! BECAUSE WE LOVE ATTACHING THINGS TO MAIL.

 

*Extended battery life. 1 hour additional battery life for the iPhone 6, PLUS a Low Power mode that will extend battery life for 3 hours. The time it takes to download its latest software updates is reduced and AWESOMELY  and ABOUT TIMELY, downloading iOS 9 will only require 1.3 Gb of spare space on your device.

 

*In order to save battery power, if your iPhone is facedown on a table, it will not turn the screen on, even when a Notification is received.

 

To sum things up-  a pretty solid if unexciting update to the iPhone and iPad operating system. Sign up here if you’re interesting in testing out the public beta which will be available in July, however we’d recommend waiting until after the public release of the more stable version in the Fall.

 

iOS 9 will be available for iPhone 4S and up, as well as iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 2/3.

 

 

Watch OS 2

 

 

 

The Apple Watch! Soon to be updated to SUPER APPLE WATCH! Or, in laymen’s terms, Apple Watch OS 2.

 

*The most exciting thing about this update in our minds is that with it, the Apple Watch will support native apps (meaning apps that don’t have to go through the iPhone first). Booyah.

 

*There will also be third-party ‘complications’, which means that you can change and add to the data you see on the clock face, as well as new apps that will have access to the Taptic engine, microphone, accelerometer and heart rate sensor as well as the crown.

 

*The Watch will naturally be benefited by the device-wide Siri improvements, Apple pay updates as well as the transit directions in Maps.

 

*The Watch will be able to play videos as well as – very exciting- the ability to make FaceTime Audio calls.

 

* The Watch will also have a bunch of different Watch faces to choose from, including iconic locations around the world shot over 24 hours and the user’s own photo albums. When you select an album, every time you raise your wrist a different photo form the album will show.

 

* Users will be able to add more than 12 friends and have the ability to send sketches in multiple colors.

 

* The Apple Watch will, with OS 2, come with Activation Lock which, as in iPhones, will prevent another user from wiping or activating the Apple Watch if it is lost or stolen.

 

WatchOS 2  will be available to the public in the fall alongside iOS 9 and will be FREE.

 

 

OS X Yosemite Available on Beta today!

OS X Yosemite is Apple’s new update to their Mac operating system, and as per usual it will be released in the Fall of this year. What is not as per usual is that this year, Apple will be giving the public the opportunity to be a part of the OS X Beta program and try out Yosemite before the Fall. 

 

That’s right Kiddies! All that exciting stuff we talked about here, will be available at some of your very lovely fingertips as of… um.. when was that again…. oh yeah…today!

 

This is the first time a major version of OS X will be available to you guys, members of the public, before it’s actually released, so a lot of people are awfully excited.

 

So here’s the deal –  Beta means that the software is working, but needs some more testing before it’s formal release. It could just be in need of some polishing, or it could need a little more than that. There will most definitely be bugs and although almost all of the features will be there, some of them will not have full or even some functionality.  The idea behind releasing it to the public is basicallly to give us a sneak peak, make us feel special, and then use us as free testers so we can tell Apple any of the glitches that we encounter. Then, they fix all the problems, and OS X Yosemite is PERFECT come release day.

 

The number of people that are being accepted to take part in the Beta program is limited to 1 Million. To sign up and be 1 in 1 million, go to the OS X Beta sign up page  and follow the steps. It’s really easy. You will need a valid Apple ID and you will, of course, have to agree to the terms and conditions. (Duh.) Oh, and it’s free.

 

You will be able to find out automatically if you’ve been accepted as one of the million. Go! Go now! And…. congratulations!

 

 

Now here’s the slammer. We are part of the Beta program, but as such, we cannot talk about anything we see there that’s awesome and not yet publicly disclosed unless the person we’re talking to is part of the program also. So.. uh, you guys? Go join. But make sure if you do, you actually test it. We want Yosemite to be as good as it can be, so, therefore, we want the testers to be as good as they can be.

 

Yay for Yosemite! Oh! And also? Talking of slammers reminds us, Happy Tequila Day! Our tip for all of you over 21’ers out there today ( drinking responsibly of course) – if you’re doing shots of tequila, try orange and cinnamon instead of lemon and salt. You’re welcome.

 

OS X Mavericks

 

 

We would have suggested OS Liger ( rawr!), but Apple went ahead without consulting us and decided with this system update to start over with the naming process, leaving the big cat names behind.

 

Coinciding with their new ‘Designed by Apple in California’ ads, and the announcement that the Mac Pro will be built solely in America, Apple have started a new naming scheme for their operating system based on locations in California.

 

To start it off, announced yesterday at WWDC, we have OS X Mavericks. Mavericks is a surfing location particularly well known for its dangerous big wave riding in Northern California, just north of the town of Half Moon Bay.

 

 

Now, it’s also the new Apple operating system. Is it as cool as beach with big wave breaks? Well, kinda? We may have trapped ourselves in that comparison- it might not be that cool, but it is very cool.

 

Here’s the double rainbow of coolness for you guys;

 

 

New Finder Tabs.

 

 

Just like in your Internet browser, you can now have independently controlled tabs in your finder windows. You can merge these finder windows and take the finder full screen.

 

 

 

Tagging.

 

 

Filed under ‘I wouldn’t have though of this, but now that you did, it looks really freakin useful’ is tagging.

 

With Mavericks you will be able to ‘tag’ documents and media – save it, tag it as sports, home, to do, etc. and it catalogues these under their tags in the side bar of the finder.

 

You can tag documents with multiple tags, create new tags on the go, and the best part? Searching using tags. For instance, searching for ‘iphone stuff’ and ‘the best’ will naturally take you directly to your saved iPhone Antidote Wallpaper.

 

 

 

Multiple Displays

 

 

Users will now be able to access the menu bar and dock separately on each screen with multiple display support. You will also be able to load separate and independent applications on each screen, and drag them from screen to screen.

Apple TV is not forgotten here either, as it can now be a fully powered OS X display, with access to menu bar dock and independent applications also.

 

 

 

Extended Battery Life

There is a heap of new processing elements included in Mavericks to extend your battery life and reduce CPU utilization by up to 72%.

 

We particularly like a new feature called app nap, which figures out what applications and web pages are in use, and which are not. The system will then simply stop giving power to the web pages and applications that you’re not currently looking at.

 

Compressed memory pretty much does what it says, compressing inactive memory to provide spare memory to running applications when needed.

 

Timer Coalescing groups low end operations together , creating tiny periods of time when your computer can enter into an idle, low power state, which in turn saves your battery.

 

 

 

 

Safari

 

Safari is updated with Mavericks, starting with an all-new homepage with top sites and a sidebar with your bookmarks and access to your reading list. This will also include shared links from people you follow on Linkdin and Twitter.

 

Safari uses less energy in this update and includes accelerated, smoother scrolling and one click bookmarking.  In your readin list, you will be able to scroll continuously through all of your articles, one after the other.

 

 

 

iCloud keychain

 

Cross device safe keeping of all your passwords and credit card information starts with iCloud Keychain.

 

This new feature will store all your passwords, across all your devices, so you don’t have to think about them ever again. Sounds pretty good right? The keychain will even suggest new passwords for you, and then will go ahead and put it in the cloud, encrypted.

 

With your credit card information, when shopping online, the keychain will offer the last four digits of all the cards you have stored, and you can pick one when paying and be done with it.

 

Although this sends little tiny shivers of scariness up the security part of our spine, it also sounds super useful and convenient.

 

 

 

 

Notifications

 

You can now get all your notifications, from all your devices, on your computer.

 

What’s also pretty great about this is you will have a number of new options for action within the notification when it appears on your screen.

 

You can respond directly to most notifications, (by replying to email, declining Skype calls etc.), within the notification banner when it appears.

 

Once you have actioned a notification, you won’t see it again on any of your other devices, and they will all be updated with your response to the original notification.

 

When the computer is awoken from sleep, all the alerts you may have gotten when it (and you!) were asleep will be listed.

 

 

 

Calendar

 

The calendar app has been updated in a really cool way- where now if you have appointments scheduled, the app will give you a ton of information you might need for them.

 

The calendar will now provide you with weather in the spot where your appointment is scheduled, as well as suggestions for restaurants etc if you require them.

 

We particularly like that the calendar will work out and tell you the travel time to and from your appointment, and will even add it to the calendar so you cant double book the time when you’re supposed to be on your way!

 

You will also get notifications of when you need to leave on your phone and/or computer.

 

 

 

Maps

 

Maps hits the computer with Mavericks! You can now access street maps, 3D flyover data and info cards. You can also push turn-by-turn directions to our iOS device straight from your computer.

 

 

 

iBooks

 

 

 

iBooks will be on your computer by Fall with this system update. Now you can access all the books in the iTunes store as well as your stored books and bookmarks, and read them full screen on your computer screen.

 

But what is really cool is for the educators and the learners amongst us.

 

iBooks for Mavericks will come with interactive textbooks, which feature videos and other media embedded within the normal text. You will also have the ability to highlight and make notes, and learn using study cards made from the material.

 

Sounds pretty awesome huh?

 

OS X Mavericks will be available to the public in the Fall.

 

 

All images courtesy of Apple.