WWDC 2012
Latest
Apple announces WWDC video feeds for developers
Although the social component and Apple-staffed labs are two important reasons for developers to attend WWDC, early access to tech briefings has long been a motivating force for buying that expensive ticket. Today, it looks like Apple introduced a major change into their oversubscribed WWDC demand by offering video session feeds for all registered devs -- that appear to be during the conference. On the "more" page, Apple writes: "Can't make it to WWDC? We'll be posting videos of all our sessions during the conference, so Registered Apple Developers can take advantage of great WWDC content." This is really great news, if I'm reading that right as "during the conference" referring to when they post versus "videos of all our sessions during the conference" referring to what they post. If so, what this does is ensure that devs, no matter what time zone and budget they're working with, will have quick access to the same conference material as attendees. Sure, WWDC is going to sell out quickly again this year, but at the same time, many people who might have been camping out overnight with a credit card and a phone -- especially those overseas -- will have a great alternative track option. Between the videos and the pre-announced registration time, it looks like Apple has made important and welcome changes that respond to the realities of their post-iPhone / iPad world. Hat tip fpillet
Dissecting an Apple keynote
Are you enthusiastic about Apple's Keynote app for the Mac and wonder what new features Apple may roll into a future version of the App? If you answered yes, then you need to check out this post from Les Posen that was noticed by MacSparky. The presentation expert examined Apple's recent WWDC 2012 keynote and teased it apart by looking closely at the different slides in the presentation. Specifically, he looked for new features that could make their way into an upcoming version of the Keynote software. While he didn't find anything radically new, he did find several examples of complex techniques like highlighting a portion of the slide that he hypothesized could be made easier by new Keynote tools. Even if you're not interested in the Keynote side of things, Posen's piece is an excellent look at the details that go into even the slides in an Apple presentation. You can read the full slide-by-slide analysis on Posen's Presentation Magic website. [Via MacSparky]
TUAW and MacTech interview: Tumult
Tumult is a timeline-based tool for creating HTML 5 animation on your Mac. Neil Ticktin (Editor-in-Chief, MacTech Magazine) interviews Jonathan Deutsch of Tumult at WWDC 2012. Jonathan was kind enough to tell us about their thoughts on the announcements on WWDC, and how it will affect their plans moving forward.
TUAW and MacTech interview: VMware
VMware Fusion is a powerful tool for anyone needing a powerful, easy-to-use virtualization tool. Neil Ticktin (Editor-in-Chief, MacTech Magazine) interviews Nicolas Rochard, Product Marketing and Simon Bennett, Product Manager of VMware Fusion at WWDC 2012. Nicolas Rochard, Product Marketing was kind enough to tell us about their thoughts on the announcements on WWDC, and how it will affect their plans moving forward.
Apple's App Store hits 32 more countries, focuses on Africa and Asia
Given everything else that went on during Apple's WWDC keynote, Tim Cook barely had time to mention the continued global roll-out of the App Store. According to MacRumors, the store's world tour has added an additional 32 countries today, with the majority in either Africa or Asia, although parts of South America and Eastern Europe are also along for the ride. iOS users looking to Cut The Rope in Chad, or hurl Angry Birds in Albania can hit up their respective App Store now.
TUAW TV Live: The impact of WWDC 2012
Welcome back to TUAW TV Live, our weekly live streaming video chat about just anything dealing with the world of Apple. Today on the show, my guest will be TUAW and Joystiq editor Mike Schramm, fresh from the streets of San Francisco where he reported on this year's Apple Worldwide Developer Conference. Below, you'll find a Ustream livestream viewer and a chat tool. The chat tool allows you to participate by asking questions or making comments. You can also choose to watch the show on Justin.tv if you wish, by visiting our portal at http://justin.tv/tuawtvlive. In either case, you'll be watching the show in glorious HD! If you're driving somewhere and would like to watch TUAW TV Live while you're stuck in traffic, please don't -- keep your eyes on the road! However, if someone else is doing the driving, you can watch the show on your iPhone and join the chat by downloading the free Ustream App. It's a universal app and is wonderful on an iPad, both for viewing and participating in the chat. We'll start at about 5 PM ET, so if you're seeing a prerecorded show, be sure to refresh your browser until you see the live stream. For those of you who are not able to join us for the live edition, you'll be able to view it later this evening on our TUAW Video YouTube channel and as part of the TUAW TV Live podcast viewable in iTunes or on any of your Apple devices.
Daily Update for June 20, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
TUAW TV Live at 5 PM EDT: Talking WWDC with Mike Schramm
The 2012 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) may be over, but the event is still stirring up a lot of discussion on blogs and podcasts. Fellow TUAWer Mike Schramm was part of the TUAW contingent at the annual nerdfest in San Francisco, and today he'll be my guest on TUAW TV Live to discuss the impact of the announcements made at the event. Mike also interviewed scores of developers at WWDC, and we'll find out what's new and cool in the Apple development world. As usual, I'll be starting the show at 5 PM EDT (2 PM PDT / 10 PM BST) sharp, and we'll take a few minutes to chat before the demos start. To join in on the chat and watch the live streaming video, drop by TUAW about five minutes before the start time to get your instructions on how to participate. If you're unable to join us for the show, remember that you can always subscribe to the video podcast and watch the show at your leisure in iTunes or any other favorite podcatching app. The past shows are also available on the TUAW YouTube channel. The chat is on IRC: join us on server chat1.ustream.tv, chat room #tuaw-tv.
Sword and Sworcery's Nathan Vella on returning to iOS: 'Absolutely'
Nathan Vella is the co-founder of Capybara Games, the company that worked with musician Jim Guthrie and the artist Superbrothers to put together the extremely popular and critically acclaimed Sword and Sworcery EP, originally released on iOS. Capy, as it's sometimes called, is a Toronto-based game developer that started out making puzzle games, including Critter Crunch and the Ubisoft-published Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes. But Vella told me during a quick conversation at WWDC last week that Capy "had no plans whatsoever of being a puzzle game studio." Capy's developers followed their own interests into puzzle games early on. It was that interest that led to collaboration with Guthrie and Superbrothers and, ultimately, success on the App Store. Vella said that he and the S&S EP team didn't anticipate the success they'd eventually have on iOS, but as the development time went on, the team got more and more feedback from players and critics that showed them they had something good happening. The IGF Mobile Award for the game was a big bonus, says Vella. "That helped instill some confidence." In the end, however, the real reason Vella says Sword and Sworcery did so well was because the team decided to "make stupid decisions" during development, like add in crazy systems or try really wild approaches to storytelling. "Those were the decisions that made it a success," says Vella. In fact, his advice to any iOS developer out there would be to "make those dumb calls," he says. "If you're making safe, easy decisions on iOS, I give you a 50/50 chance of success," he told me. But for developers who break the rules and try something new on the App Store, "your chances will go up for success, and you'll at least have more interesting failures." These days, Capy is hard at work on Super Time Force, a console title that, because of the way it works, probably won't transition to iOS. But when asked if his company will return to iOS in the future, Vella says that "absolutely" will happen. The studio really just chases its passions. "If everybody really believes in [a game], we'll try to make it," says Vella. Capy routinely hosts internal game jams, and Super Time Force actually came from an event like that. "We will not be ignoring iOS" in the future, says Vella. Between Capy's earlier work on the platform, and its enormous success with Sword and Sworcery, we can't wait to see what they're going to do next on Apple's devices.
Talkcast tonight, 7pm PT/10pm ET: Wrap up edition!
Sunday again! This one happens to be Father's Day, so we'll have a bit of discussion about ties of course, and what sorts of things everyone did for Father's Day, and...well, that's about it really. I can't think of anything else in the last week we should talk about... Yes, I'm kidding. We have a couple of WWDC attendees scheduled to appear, and we'll talk about all the things Apple gave us to talk about this week. And, as always, aftershow. Since it's really all about you, the community, join me won't you? To participate, you can use the browser-only Talkshoe client, the embedded Facebook app, or download the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for +5 Interactivity, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the Talkshoe Web button on our profile page at 4 HI/7 PDT/10 pm EDT Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (Viva free weekend minutes!): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8. If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free X-Lite or other SIP clients (aside from Skype or Google Voice), basic instructions are here. Talk to you tonight!
NimbleBit talks about the release of Pocket Planes, and what's next
Brothers Ian and David Marsh's NimbleBit is finally releasing its latest freemium title today (following on the company's success with Pocket Frogs and then the hugely popular Tiny Tower) called Pocket Planes. The app borrows Tiny Tower's little pixelated denizens and moves them over into a growing worldwide airline, tasking the player with building airports and planes, guiding planes around from one real life city to the next, and ferrying cargo and passengers all of the world to earn in-game coins and "bux." Just like Tiny Tower, the title is free to download and depends on in-app purchases of bux for monetization, and just like Tiny Tower, it's completely addictive and super charming. And just like Tiny Tower, it's probably going to be a huge hit. Ian Marsh met up with TUAW here at WWDC in San Francisco today, and while he says he is a little nervous to be flying home to San Diego tomorrow as the game launches worldwide, you can tell he's not panicking too much. He's been through this process a few times already with his previous titles (though given how big Tiny Tower got, this game certainly has the highest expectations NimbleBit's ever faced), not to mention that he and his wife had a baby girl last December. In fact, NimbleBit's biggest issue with Pocket Planes, says Marsh, was that it took so long to make. Most traditional games can take years to put together, but NimbleBit is used to a much shorter production schedule, so Marsh says that Pocket Planes' development, at nearly a year, was a little too "stretched out" for the brothers. They've had to spend a lot of the last year dealing with Tiny Tower's success rather than making the game. And they have hired on a few more part-time people, but Marsh tells me that even with the success of Tiny Tower (and the presumably pending success of Pocket Planes), he still doesn't want to make NimbleBit bigger. "We like making cool games," he told me. "If we have a team of other people making cool games, I'll be jealous that I'm not making them." What would NimbleBit do if Pocket Planes fails, if the brothers start to face issues with their current Tiny company structure? Marsh grins at the thought of Pocket Planes failing. "Make the next game," he says. NimbleBit has done so well with its current titles, and has kept things so compact, that even if Pocket Planes falls out of the sky, they'll just make another game they like. Right now they're in the concept states of their next title, which will be a word game. Marsh says they're returning to an old NimbleBit title called Textropolis, from before the company's freemium days. That game requires you to make words from the names of places, and Marsh says the new game will play in a similar way ("We really enjoyed Textropolis," he says), but it will be very much influenced by Tiny Tower's aesthetic, presumably in the same way that Pocket Planes is. That's further down the line (the brothers' main task this week will probably just consist of getting feedback on Pocket Planes), but Marsh says that NimbleBit does want to make development a little quicker and simpler. "We like making relatively simple games," he says. In the future, he hopes to bring NimbleBit back to the point where it's releasing a few games a year, much like the company did when it first started on iOS. Other than that, Marsh is happy to just keep on making games that he and his brother love. "We always can," he says. "That's the great thing about not answering to anyone else." Pocket Planes should land on the App Store this evening -- we'll have more on the game itself later on this week after release.
iFixit tears the MacBook Pro with Retina Display to pieces, gets a few shocks on the way
Barely two full days have elapsed since Tim and the gang announced the gawkily-named MacBook Pro with Retina Display, and already the screwdriver-wielding mavens at iFixit have torn one apart. What did they find? The Samsung-made SSD and Hynix RAM are non-upgradeable, forcing you to decide how much of both you'll need now and in the future. Meanwhile, the battery is glued to the housing and that gorgeous display is fused into the assembly, so it'll be expensive to replace should the worst happen. Speaking of its power reserves, this laptop is packing 95 Wh of juice -- capable of seven hours of life and shocking the engineer silly when he tried to disassemble it. If you'd like to see the intermediate stages of this gadget-autopsy, head on via our source link.
WWDC chatter focused on products, not Jobs or Cook
Did you notice something a bit different yesterday at the WWDC keynote? Nick Bilton of the New York Times did -- the focus of chatter during and after the keynote was all about the products, not about the present or past CEO. Of course, this wasn't Tim Cook's first shot at a major announcement. Cook took the stage for the rollout of the third-generation iPad a few months ago, but the big news at that point seemed to be the fact that Cook was wearing a black button-down shirt that wasn't tucked into his jeans. Everything yesterday was focused, as it should have been, on the products. Whether it was the announcement of the Retina display MacBook Pro, Siri's comedy routine and new features, the completely new Maps app, or the nuances of Mountain Lion, the presenters -- including Cook -- took a back seat to the products. In my opinion, that's the way it should be. While Steve Jobs was a charismatic presenter, Monday's keynote put the spotlight where it should be -- focused brightly on the shining results of Apple's hard work.
AnandTech takes a long hard look at the MacBook Pro Retina Display
Not quite fully sated with the latest Apple updates from this year's WWDC? Without doubt, one of the most anticipated goodies to come from the keynote yesterday was the introduction of the MacBook Pro into the Retina Display-fold. We'll, of course, be giving all the new hardware our own thorough shakedown, but in the meantime, AnandTech has given that new display a detailed dissection. In summary: excellent brightness and solid black-levels fend off the glare, apps look amazing, upscaling will cover you in the meantime. For the full nitty-gritty though, number by number, be sure to hit up the source.
2012 Apple Design Awards showcase standout apps on iOS, OS X
While we tend to get caught up in keynote hoopla, Apple's WWDC event is about connecting with the third party developers of software for its various platforms and it highlighted a few with its annual Design Awards yesterday. While 2011's winners included standouts like Infinity Blade, selections for 2012 included high profile pics like the Paper sketchbook app for iPad, the game Limbo on OS X, National Geographic's National Parks iOS app and several others. Hit the source link to see all the winners including student projects daWindci and Little Star, along with descriptions of why they were picked. Unsurprisingly, tight integration with the various APIs and services Apple is pushing (plus a polished and widely appreciated user experience, of course) is the way to its heart -- worth keeping in mind for those hoping to be in the winner's circle for 2013.
Apple releases Mountain Lion Preview 4 and iOS 6 for developers, iTunes 10.6.3 for everyone else
Looking to tame Apple's Mountain Lion? Step right up, Cupertino's latest build of OS X is ready for consumption -- assuming you're a registered developer, of course. Following WWDC's reveals and teases, Apple has released an updated preview of its desktop and mobile operating systems, serving up Mountain Lion Preview 4 and an iOS 6 beta to developers. The rest of us will have to console ourselves with iTunes 10.6.3, which adds support for the mobile and desktop OS' those fancy devs are getting their hands on. Don't worry, the updated music management software will be able to make full use of Mountain Lion next month, but you'll have to wait until this fall to sync with iOS 6. Hit the source link below to get your update.
Apple announces Apple Design Award winners at WWDC
Corrected to list Where's My Water as an iPhone winner and D1 Drum Machine as an iPad runner up. Apple has announced the winners of this year's Apple Design Awards at the WWDC conference, and 2012 is apparently the year of games on the Mac. Two games, Deus Ex and Limbo, have claimed both spots in the Mac ADAs this year, which is the first time in my memory that two games have done so. Games have won before but usually it's in specifically game-centered categories, and productivity apps are usually highlighted. This year it's two games that originally started out on Windows and Xbox, which is pretty crazy. Drawing app Sketch is also highlighted on the Mac. The iPhone winners are Where's My Water and the great game Jetpack Joyride, with the National Geographic's National Parks app as a runner up. D1 Drum Machine is a runner up on the iPad, where Bobo Explores Light and Paper took the win. And both of the student winners are on the iPad: Da Windci and Little Star. All of these are really great apps that highlight some fine examples of what Apple developers can do. Apple has picked this out of the bunch to represent their highest design values. Congrats to all of the winners on their great success!
Engadget's post-WWDC live broadcast from San Francisco!
Whew, that was quite a rush. The WWDC 2012 keynote is over and the conference itself is underway, but if you missed any of the announcements from this morning's hectic action don't worry. Just like this morning's earlier broadcast, Tim Stevens and Darren Murph are here to break it down with a live video stream. It's waiting for you after the break, so click on through, won't you?
Apple's WWDC keynote video is up, play along at home (update 2: video for everybody)
Next-generation MacBook Pros? iOS 6? The new Maps app? Sure, you watched the whole thing live, but is that really enough? Apple's tossed up the Tim Cook-led WWDC keynote, so now you can experience the magic of liveblogging the whole thing all over again. Check out the video in the source link below. Update: Looks like it's only Safari users who get a peek at first: if you're on Chrome, Firefox or another browser, you'll have to sit tight for a little while longer. Update 2: The keynote video now looks to be working for most, so stream away.
TUAW TV Live: WWDC Keynote Aftershock Edition
WOW -- the WWDC 2012 Keynote was incredibly exciting this morning, and the adrenalin is still pumping through our veins here at TUAW. This afternoon, we're doing another special edition of TUAW TV Live, featuring Kelly Guimont and myself. As with this morning's TUAW TV Live, this one will be coming to you through YouTube live streaming. You have a choice of either watching the stream below or going to http://youtube.com/tuawvideo to watch the insanity in action. We'll also be using the same IRC chatroom used this morning -- that's irc.freenode.net, chatroom #tuaw.
