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WWDC 2015 Roundup

Posted by samzenpus on from the check-it-out dept.

Here's an overview of the main announcements and new products unveiled at WWDC today.
  • The latest OS X will be named OS X El Capitan. Features include: Natural language searches and auto-arrange windows. You can make the cursor bigger by shaking the mouse and pin sites in Safari now. 1.4x faster than Yosemite. Available to developers today, public beta in July, out for free in the fall.
  • Metal, the graphics API is coming to Mac. "Metal combines the compute power of OpenCL and the graphics power of OpenGL in a high-performance API that does both." Up to 40% greater rendering efficiency.
  • iOS 9: New Siri UI. There’s an API for search. Siri and Spotlight are getting more integrated. Siri getting better at prediction with a far lower word error rate. You can make checklists, draw and sketch inside of Notes. Maps gets some love. New app called News "We think this offers the best mobile reading experience ever." Like Flipboard it pulls in news articles from your favorite sites. HomeKit now supports window shades, motion sensors, security systems, and remote access via iCloud. Public Beta for iOS 9.
  • Apple Pay: All four major credit card companies and over 1 million locations supporting Apple Pay as of next month. Apple Pay reader developed by Square, for peer-to-peer transactions. Apple Pay coming to the UK next month support in 250,000 locations including the London transportation system. Passbook is being renamed "Wallet."
  • iPad: Shortcuts for app-switching, split-screen multitasking and QuickType. Put two fingers down on the keyboard and it becomes a trackpad. Side by side apps. Picture in picture available on iPad Air and up, Mini 2 and up.
  • CarPlay: Now works wirelessly and supports apps by the automaker.
  • Swift 2,the latest version of Apple’s programing language . Swift will be open source.
  • The App Store: Over 100 billion app downloads, and $30 billion paid to developers.
  • Apple Watch: watchOS 2 with new watch faces. Developers can build their own "complications" (widgets with a terrible name that show updates and gauges on the watch face). A new feature called Time Travel lets you rotate the digital crown to zoom into the future and see what’s coming up. More new features: reply to email, bedside alarm clock, send scribbled messages in multiple colors. You can now play video on the watch. Developer beta of watchOS 2 available today, wide release in the fall for free.
  • Apple Music: “The next chapter in music. It will change the way you experience music forever,” says Cook. Live DJs broadcasting and hosting live radio streams you can listen to in 150 countries. Handpicked suggestions. 24/7 live global radio. Beats Connect lets unsigned artists connect with fans. Beats Music has all of iTunes’ music, to buy or stream. With curated recommendations. Launching June 30th in 100 countries with Android this fall, with Windows and Android versions. First three months free, $9.99 a month or $14.99 a month for family plan for up to six.

5 of 415 comments (clear)

  1. Didn't see... by captnjohnny1618 · · Score: 0, Troll

    Didn't see this in my quick scan of the comments here:

    Boooooooorrrrrrriiiiiiinnnnnngggggg

    AND I used to pretty much exclusively use Apple products...

  2. Re:24/7 Live Global Radio by jo_ham · · Score: 1, Troll

    Dear Tim,

    the last Mac mini update was incredibly lame. Seriously, what was that?

    Dear AC.

    Ask Intel.

    Regards,

    Tim

  3. Re:Apple Developer Program now all inclusive by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1, Troll

    It also includes the ability to sell your apps on the apple store.

    Wrong. It affords you the privileged of petitioning Apple for permission to sell your apps on the Apple Store. And if they decline, you are shit out of luck.

    Sure, you could do it but how are you going to get the visibility you need to get your app noticed if it is not in the app store? How are you going to set up the payment system/networking/server maintenance/etc/etc so that you accept all major credit cards and get all that secure for people to buy your app?

    There's this weird old thing called 'selling software without having to go through the Apple Store.' It's shocking, I know, but people have been doing it for awhile now on many platforms. And if you make a free app, you don't need a payment system, etc. etc. etc. FTP is a very mature software distribution system. But Apple didn't invent it yet so it probably doesn't exist.

  4. Re:Must be getting old. by BasilBrush · · Score: 1, Troll

    You say open source, but then your singular example is an open standard.

    Jobs was a great man in may ways, including very often his impulses. But in this case they let him down. He made a unilateral decision just before the keynote to make it an open standard. What he didn't realise was that there were licensed patents in use which meant they couldn't do that.

    In the case of Swift, this has been in discussion in the Swift team for months, and the announcement was made by a member of the team. It's a done deal.

    They've released plenty of open source before. Your impression of past performance is illusory.

  5. Re: Apple Music - too expensive by macs4all · · Score: 1, Troll

    What are you comparing? pandora is $5 a month so your $45 for 18 month seems like a discount. And for that you don't get arbitrary music playlists, just more skips of some algorithmic genre ordering. There's no comparison to here and it's not much of a savings if you really care about what you are listening too. If not just tune in an internet radio station that plays what you like there's thousands of channels out there so you can find one you like.

    Not to mention the fact that Spotify and Pandora, et al, no DOUBT sell your musical tastes into slavery; which it is pretty clear that Apple has no interest in doing. That alone is worth some real $$$.