Posts tagged: WWDC

WWDC Keynote rundown

Welcome to our 2019 WWDC keynote round up! We have quite a bit to unpack here, so let’s gooo!

 

We start with a black-and-white video showing developers working from home, coding and designing. “While the world sleeps, you dream. Welcome to WWDC” Thanks guys!

 

Oh Hi Tim Cook! *waves*.

 

Mr Cook talks about all of the fancy fandangled services Apple launched earlier this year – Apple News+, Apple Arcade, Apple Card, and  lastly Apple TV Plus, which brings us to the trailer for an Apple original show which will premiere on AppleTV+ later this year, ‘For All Mankind’. The show is being produced by Ronald Moore, an executive producer of Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica, and looks intense and captivating.

 

Next up? tvOS 13 of course!

The new operating system for Apple TV has a redesigned home screen with multi-user support and personalized recommendations, new underwater 4K HDR screen savers that were filmed in collaboration with the BBC Natural History Units, updates to Apple Music, and will work with Apple Arcade and support the XBox 1S and the Playstation Dual-shock 4 game controllers.

 

 

tvOS 13 is available for Apple Developer Program members starting today, with the public beta of the software launching later in June.  tvOS 13 will be available for everyone in the fall for free.

 

 

WatchOS 6

Kevin Lynch comes out on stage to speak about watchOS, which will feature – you guessed it – more watch faces, but also a new App Store dedicated to Apple Watch, including independent apps, (!) as well as an Audio books app, a voice memo app and a calculator app. ( Yay calculator watches are back! )

 

There are also new health & fitness capabilities including a decibel meter app, ‘Noise App’ and a period tracking app, ‘Cycle tracking’.

 

 

 

iOS 13

 

Craig Federighi wants to talk to us about iOS 13. The updated operating system will launch twice as fast as iOS 12, and Face ID will unlock your phone 30% faster.

 

There’s now a dark mode, which sounds spooky, but really it’s just that now all your apps will now be available in black to make looking at your phone easier on your eyes in the dark.

 

There’s a complete redesign of the Reminders app with the ability to associate your to do list with reminders, as well as the option of tagging people.

 

Apple Music gets lyrics, and Notes has a brand-new gallery view and the ability to support shared folders. Apple Maps got some shiny new updates, with nicer detail, and Google Street View–style views of certain cities.

 

Privacy has very much come to the forefront of everyone’s  concerns when it comes to technology, and Apple are saying that that makes them concerned. So much concern! So now, Apple’s made it so that you can have the option to grant an app one-time access to your location instead of constantly, and the system will also prevent apps from using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth data to figure your location out.

 

Additionally, there’s a new ‘Sign In With Apple’ feature that lets you to sign in with websites and apps via Apple rather than through Google and Facebook, etc. You can also use your Apple ID to authenticate your login, and you can even keep your email address hidden by using a randomized email address generated by Apple. Logins can all be authenticated using Face ID or Touch ID.

 

There’s  also a new ‘Find My’ app for finding your iPhone or Mac even when there’s no WiFi or Cellular collection.

 

Messages now lets you set a name and a profile picture, so if you don’t have a contacts number saved – it doesn’t matter anymore! Youtube stars Patrick Stars and Desi Perkins ( or rather, their Memoji’s) tell us all about how there are further customization options for Memoji – including hair color, piercings, make up, etc. Memoji stickers will now be incorporated into emoji in the system keyboard.

 

Siri is completely machine built now, so instead  of snippets of an actress saying words looped together, her voice is completely synthetic and actually more natural sounding. You can also use her for messages whilst using AirPods, and a pretty cool AirPod feature? iOS 13 supports audio sharing, so you can share the audio of a movie or a song with another friend with a single tap — as long as they’re wearing AirPods.

 

There’s new photo and video editing features and a new way to organize the Photos app, which, using machine learning, will now separating your screenshots, duplicates, and receipts from the rest of your photo library.

 

Apple maps got a shiny new update too, with a new street view feature called “Look Around” that lets you see street-level imagery of a city, and the ability to share favorite restaurants or travel destinations with friends, and a Favorites section for navigating to frequent destinations.

 

Apple has made the first beta of iOS 13 available to developers for testing purposes today, and the public betas roll out in July.

 

 

 

Introducing iPadOS 
iPads now have their very own software operating system! Happy Operating System Day iPad! It features lots of multitasking capability, column views for digging into file hierarchy, the ability to plug in a USB drive, and iPad-native multitouch gestures. Everything shown on screen looks very intuitive and slick.

 

Now we get to the very impressive and cool Hardware  section of the keynote! – The new Mac Pro. 

 

Now hold on to your horses here, because there’s some crazy numbers coming up.  We’re talking up to a 28-core Intel Xeon processor, up to 1.5TB of ECC RAM, the ability to handle up to 300 watts of power and a “massive” heatsink that can run fully unconstrained at all times.

 

Two Thunderbolt 3 ports, two USB-A ports, and a 3.5mm audio jack, eight internal PCIe slots, four double-wide slots, three single-wide slots, and one additional half-length slot for an I/O card.

 

It also has wheels! Wheels!

 

Here’s some more numbers for you – The new Mac Pro will start at $5,999 with an eight-core Intel Xeon processor, 32GB of ECC RAM, AMD WX 7100 graphics, and 256GB of SSD storage.

 

To go with that shiny ( kind of cheese grater-y looking) computer? A very pretty new 32-inch 6K display named the Pro Display XDR which features a 6,016 x 3,384 resolution display and 20 million pixels, uses a direct backlighting system with a large array of LEDs, able to produce 1,000 nits of full-screen brightness and 1,600 nits of peak brightness.

 

The new screen has a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and can maintain 1,000 nits of full-screen brightness indefinitely, and also features Thunderbolt 3, which enables two monitors to run off a single power source, and up to four displays to be connected together for more screen real estate.

 

You can get one of those starting at $4,999, its stand for $999 and a VESA Mount Adapter for $199.

 

 

Both the display and the new Mac pro will be available in the Fall.

 

 

 

macOS 10.15 Catalina

 

iTunes is no longer! Byeeee Old Man iTunes! We will now have three dedicated apps: Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and Apple TV.
iPhone syncing and device storage management will now be located in Finder, which is one of the best things we heard in this whole keynote thing, really.
Sidecar”is also really cool, and lets you use your iPad as a second display for your Mac.You can also now use voice control for accessibility using Siri, which ALSO is really really cool!

Activation Lock is coming to Macs (those of which have the newer T2 security chips) with iOS 10.15, as is Screen Time, so you can be shocked at ALL YOU DATA AND HOW MUCH TIME YOU SPEND WATCHING CAT VIDEOS

 

 

The Catalina OS beta is available today, while public seeds will be available in July. The OS becomes widely available in the fall.

 

We also saw another privacy/security concern addressed today, with Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering telling us about HomeKit Secure video, which uses your actual iPad, HomePod, or AppleTV, and then encrypts it and and sends it to a secure iCloud. HomeKit Secure Video even works with certain third-party camera providers, and the video storage and analysis doesn’t count toward your iCloud data limit.

 

 

So there we have it, some really neat new features across the software board, an amazing new MacPro, and some Memoji stickers. Oh – and some last cool things?

 

RealityKit, with photorealistic rendering, environment and camera effects, animation, physics and more, Reality Composer, where you can build interactive AR experiences, with a built-in AR content library, Xcode tool and iOS app. ARKit 3 with Motion Capture and People Occlusion and compositing of people in real time, AND New SwiftUI framework which requires much less coding to build UIs.

 

The future is real!

 

You can watch the  whole Keynote here, or shorter videos about everything that was announced today on Apple’s YouTube channel here. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who’s psyched for WWDC?!

Apple has just sent out media invites for the keynote event of the 30th annual Worldwide Developers Conference:

 

 

 

The WWDC keynote focuses on new software that will be released this year from Apple – iOS 13, macOS 10.15, watchOS 6, and tvOS 13, and although not typically about hardware, sometimes we do see fancy shmancy hardware unveilings – so there is a possibility of it.

 

 

If you were one of the lucky 5000 developers attending – you should be getting pretty pumped, having been given your ticket by randomly selection back in march, or if you’re one of the 350 students and STEM organization members attending – you’re also pretty pumped, having been given scholarships to go and stay at the event!  For the rest of us, you can catch the Keynote streaming live online at Apple’s website, or through Apple TV.

 

The keynote takes place at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. Are you psyched?!

WWDC 2019!!

Apple’s 30th annual Worldwide Developers Conference will be from Monday, June 3rd and last until Friday, June 7th,  at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California.

 

The keynote will be held on the first day and will debut new software (iOS 13, macOS 10.15, tvOS 13, and watchOS 6) and… hopefully some new hardware too (Mac pro, new iPad?) .

 

 

 

 

 

From Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing:

 

“WWDC is Apple’s biggest event of the year. It brings thousands of the most creative and dedicated developers from around the world together with over a thousand Apple engineers to learn about our latest platform innovations and to connect as a community. Our developers are incredibly passionate about creating the next generation of mind-blowing experiences for the world through apps. We can’t wait to get together with them and share what’s next.”

 

 

Developers are able to register to attend here, and will be chosen using a lottery system, after which tickets are priced at $1599, although in order to enter the lottery to begin with, devs must have been a member of the Apple Developer Program or the Apple Developer Enterprise Program as of March 14, 2019 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time. Registration will be open until March 20, 2019 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, and developers who win a ticket will be notified by March 21 at 5 p.m. Pacific Time.

 

If you aren’t lucky enough to be a chosen developer,  Apple is also making up to 350 WWDC Student Scholarships available to students and members of STEM organizations. Scholarships include a free WWDC ticket, free lodging, and a free one-year membership to the Apple Developer Program.

 

Sound awesome? Yup! All you need to do in order to enter to win is  create an interactive Swift Playground that can be experienced within three minutes. Apple is taking applications until Sunday, March 24, 2019 at 5:00 p.m. PDT, with scholarship winners to be notified by Monday, April 15.

 

You will also be able to livestream the keynote through the Apple Developer website or the dedicated WWDC app for iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV.

 

We’re sure to hear more about what to expect in the lead up and we’ll let you know anything we hear on the Apple vine!

New MacBooks coming our way

Rumor has it that Apple will be announcing a refresh for it’s MacBook line at WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) in June, with high expectations for an updated MacBook and MacBook Pro, and the possibility of a new MacBook Air.

 

All of the updates will likely only be internal, however, with updated processors, the MacBook Pro and the MacBook both in line to receive a faster Kaby Lake processor.

 

The MacBook Air hasn’t been updated since March 2015, with Apple putting more focus on the other models, however the affordability of the Air has kept it’s sales strong, likely ensuring it’ll be around for a few years more.

 

WWDC keynote begins at 10:00 AM PT, and according to rumors, we’ll also see announcements regarding a new iPad Pro, as well as a Siri speaker.

 

 

 

WWDC scholarships on offer

WWDC is coming up pretty quickly! Apple’s Kind-Of-A-Big-deal-conference will take place  June 5 to June 9 at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California.

 

Are you a student or STEM organization member passionate about app development? Yeah?

 

So…wanna go?

 

Here’s some good news, kids – every year, WWDC scholarships are given to students and STEM organization members who don’t have the funds to attend and this year is no different.

 

For 2017, Apple will accept scholarship submissions from March 27, at 10:00 a.m. through April 2 at 5:00 p.m. Winning applicants will be notified of their status on Friday, April 21.

 

Scholarships offer free tickets to WWDC,  and for the first time, this year Apple will be providing free lodging.

 

Here’s the fine print:

 

Scholarship applicants must be at least 13 years old, registered as an Apple developer, and enrolled in a part-time or full-time course of study. Members and alumni of a STEM organization are also eligible.

 

If you fit the above description,  here’s what you’re looking to do, straight from the Source, (Apple, duh)

 

1. Tell us about yourself. Sign in with the Apple ID associated with your developer account. If you’re 13-17 years old and share your Apple ID with your parent or legal guardian, you will be asked to enter your name. You will also be asked for a phone number where we can reach you.

 

2. Provide school / membership information. If you’re a student, you will need to provide a PDF, PNG, or JPG of your current class schedule or other current proof of enrollment and your dean or principal’s contact information. If you’re a member or alumni of a STEM organization, you will need to provide a PDF, PNG, or JPG of your membership information and your local leader’s contact information.

 

3. Upload your Swift playground. Create a visually interactive scene in a Swift playground that can be experienced within three minutes. Be creative. You can use Swift Playgrounds on iPad or Xcode on macOS. If you need inspiration, start with templates in Swift Playgrounds for a head start on more advanced creations. Get inventive and make them your own by adding graphics, audio, and more.

 

4. Describe your Swift playground. Tell us about the features and technologies that you used in your Swift playground, in 500 words or less.

 

5. Provide optional information.

 

Let us know how you’ve considered sharing your coding knowledge and enthusiasm for computer science with others, in 500 words or less.

 

Travel Assistance
If you have extenuating circumstances that would require financial assistance for travel to attend the conference, let us know in 500 words or less. You will also need to provide a letter of reference (PDF, PNG, or JPG) from a teacher, supervisor, or other person of authority in your community confirming your need for travel assistance. Make sure that it includes their role and contact information.

 

Your Résumé / CV
If you’re 18 years of age or older and currently pursuing a BS, MS, or PhD in computer science, software engineering, computer engineering, or a similar field and wish to share your résumé or CV with other groups at Apple, upload a PDF. This information will not influence the judging process.

 

Swift Playground Requirements
The Swift playground you submit should be created entirely by you as an individual. Group work will not be considered.
Your Swift playground should be built using Swift Playgrounds on iPad or Xcode on macOS.
Your Swift playground should function properly and run on the latest releases of Swift Playgrounds and iOS or Xcode and macOS.
All content should be in English.
Your .zip file size should not be more than 25 MB.
Any resources in your project should be included locally in the .zip file that you provide, as your Swift playground will be judged offline.
Judging

 

Submissions must follow all requirements in the WWDC Scholarship Terms. Applications will be judged on:
Technical accomplishment;
Creativity of ideas; and
Content of written responses.

 

 

 

Go get ’em, tigers!

 

 

Watch the mock WWDC backstage video!

To celebrate WWDC and show what all-round-knock-about-funny guys they are, today Apple shared their mock “Backstage” video starring Bill Hader as WWDC’s director, doing a run through of a very different WWDC kickoff to the one we saw.

 

It’s funny. Watch it!

 

 

 

WWDC runs through the 12th, with developers just like the ones in the video learning all they can to develop the apps of the future!

 

 

 

WWDC!

wwdc

 

Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference kicked off this morning with CEO Tim Cook’s keynote speech which revealed a rather unsurprising list of updates and new services being rolled out.

 

As unsurprising as that list was, it should make Apple customers happy with solid OS updates, including that of the Apple Watch, as well as the introduction of a very strong competitor into the music streaming industry with Apple Music.

 

Click on the links below to get a detailed look at what we’ve got coming from Apple in the next couple of months.

 

iOS 9

OS X 10.11 – El Capitan

Watch OS 2

Apple Music & Beats 1 Live Radio Station.

 

Apple pay also got a couple of updates: The ability to support rewards and loyalty cards, compatibility with Discover cards, a massive launch in the UK and Square is launching a special reader that will allow small businesses to accept Apple Pay.

 

You can watch the whole keynote yourself here when it’s uploaded shortly.

 

 

Say hello to your new friend: iOS 9

ios9

 

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.

 

 

Salute El Capitan! OS X 10.11

el capitan

 

After last year’s OS X Mavericks named after the beach break south of the Bay, Apple introduced us all today to OS X El Capitan, named, of course, after the stunning, big a** rock found in Yosemite.

 

El Capitan brings with it a few cool things that will probably make your life easier.

 

* Split view! Work in two apps at the same time on the same screen!

 

*Less exciting, but still useful – when you lose your curser, shake your finger back and forth on the trackpad or give your mouse a shake, and the cursor gets bigger so it’s easy to spot.
*A new pinned feature in Safari lets users keep websites listed at the top of the window, similar to a bookmarks bar. There will also be a mute feature that will function even with several tabs open.

 

* The Notes app gets the same updates as in iOS 9, with checklist ability, and ways to add a photo, video, URL, or map location to a note. All your notes are kept up to date across all your devices on the cloud.

 

* The new Mail app features enhancements to its full-screen mode, tabs in the compose window, the ability to hide in-progress messages and go back to the main Inbox. There are also new gestures built into Mail for archiving and deleting — simply swipe on the trackpad.

 

* The Photos app will come with support for third-party editing extensions and tools that will be available from the Mac App Store and accessible right in the Photos app.

 

* Spotlight search goes deeper into our souls with a higher level of understanding, contextually aware search results from a greater number of sources.

 

* Metal for Mac has arrived, with 50% improvements in rendering with 40% less CPU processing power required for graphics. Metal on OS X El Capitan offers better battery life and improved graphics performance for both games and professional apps. It will also make it up to 1.4 times faster to launch an app, up to 2 times faster to switch in-between apps, up to 2 times faster to display email addresses and up to 4 times faster to open a PDF in preview.

 

OS X 10.11 El Capitan is available to registered developers today. For the rest of us, it will be available in public beta in July and will publicly launch in the fall. For FREE! Yessir!

 

 

Watch OS 2

watch

 

 

 

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.