WWDC 2013
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DevJuice: asciiwwdc is best thing since sliced bread
If you have not yet visited asciiwwdc, you are missing out on one of the best dev things of the year. Brought to you courtesy of the brilliant Mattt Thompson (aka Mr. NSHipster), the site offers searchable full-text transcripts of WWDC sessions. Hop on over and try out a search or two. It's terrific. Asciiwwdc will be a valuable discovery for any developer, and one I hope will stay up and available. In fact, the only thing I could think of to embetter this already cromulent service would be to integrate inline screen caps from the presentation slides.
Apple opens iWork for iCloud beta to registered developers
One part of Monday's WWDC 2013 keynote that seems to have received short shrift in the discussions of updated products is iWork. During the keynote, iWork for iCloud -- a browser-based version of Apple's office suite -- was discussed along with comments about the iOS versions of the suite. Now Apple has followed up the announcement by opening a beta of iWork for iCloud to registered developers. While the browser-based iWork for iCloud is meant to work on Mac or PC in just about any browser, developers opening the beta web apps in Chrome are greeted with a message saying "Your browser isn't fully supported. For the best Pages/Keynote/Numbers for iCloud experience, use the latest version of Safari." For those who have been using the current version of iWork and saving documents to iCloud, all of the saved documents are immediately available for test. The web suite will be released to the world later this year; at the present time, developers can try out the apps by logging in at beta.icloud.com.
iOS 7's game controller support could be a real game-changer
Of all of the features of iOS 7 that have been talked about since Monday's WWDC 2013 keynote, probably none has more potential impact than the item circled in blue on the image above -- MFi game controller support in the iOS 7 SDK. Jeff Blagdon at The Verge took a closer look at what this means for Apple fans, and possibly for the gaming world as a whole. MFi means "Made For iPhone/iPod/iPad," and refers to officially licensed add-ons that meet specifications set forth by Apple. The company is now adding support for controllers to the SDK, making it easy for third-party game controller manufacturers to create hardware that Apple can "bless." Developers benefit, since they know that their games will work with any of the approved game controllers. But Blagdon brings up a much bigger point in his post. Since Apple added AirPlay mirroring to iOS devices with iOS 5, anyone with a US$99 Apple TV can easily blast mobile gameplay to their HDTV. Blagdon says "with API-level support for third-party game controllers, who is going to stop Apple from waltzing into the home console market?" Apple already controls the handheld gaming market, and Blagdon notes that the new 16 GB iPod touch and Apple TV cost just US$328 -- less than the $399 Sony PS4 announced yesterday or the $499 Microsoft Xbox One. Apple could easily begin to make the dedicated home gaming console obsolete.
First MacBook Air 2013 benchmarks
Apple refreshed its MacBook Air line yesterday at WWDC, and Engadget got some hands-on time with the sleek and slim notebook. Besides taking some photos of Apple's ultraportable, they also put the hardware through its paces. Early results from the benchmark testing suggest the new MacBook Air has a nice bump in performance over other Mac notebooks, especially in the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test. Engadget recorded read speeds of 725.4 MB/s and write speeds of 433.4 MB/s, which is almost twice the speed of the current 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. That is surprisingly good for such a tiny machine. Head over to Engadget's website to check out photos and additional comments on Apple's new MacBook Air.
iTunes Connect now allows developers to transfer apps to another developer
We've heard about all the new elements in iOS and OS X today at WWDC, and how they will change the way we use our iOS devices. There are some new features on the back side of iOS, including a major change in policy that'll let developers easily transfer an app from over developer to another via iTunes Connect. The new transfer app feature will let you transfer the ownership of an app to another developer as part of an acquisition or a distribution deal, for example. The new owner will receive all the ratings and reviews of the app they just acquired. During this process, the app will remain in the App Store and users will be able to download all available app updates. It's a seamless transfer tool that'll make selling your business or your apps easy on you and easy on your customers.
Engadget gets a glimpse of the new Mac Pro
Apple usually doesn't announce products until they are ready to hit the market, but the company made an exception today when it announced the long-awaited update to the Mac Pro. A prototype of the workstation was on display at WWDC, and Engadget went eyes on with the unique, cylinder-shaped computer. We've embedded the best Mac Pro shot above as well as Engadget's video overview below. If that is not enough eye candy, you can hop over to Engadget's website and check out the rest of their photos.
Apple announces Apple Design Award winners at WWDC 2013
The WWDC keynote may be over, but the developer's conference is just getting underway. First on tap is the Apple Design Awards, which recognize the best of the best in the iOS and OS X App Store. The initial list, as reported by the official App Store twitter account, is presented below. Congratulations to all the winners! Student Developers: Finish. By high schoolers Ryan Orbuch and Michael Hansen Mosaic.io. By Ishaan Gulrajani, Alex List & Zain Shah. iOS and OS X Apps Coda 2 Ridiculous Fishing WWF Together Evernote 5 Badland Yahoo! Weather Letterpress Procreate SkyGamblers Other student winners, including Louis Harboe, Bryan Keller and Puck Meerburg, were recognized for their work on the apps they submitted to earn their scholarship to attend WWDC.
Music app gets a new design in iOS 7
Apple updated the big things as well as the little things in iOS 7. One of the smaller features is a fresh new look that'll grace the Music app. Cover flow is phased out and replaced with a new album art-driven UI. You'll be able to tap on an artist and view all their songs from your library, whether they are saved to your device or stored in the cloud. The Music app also features a new iTunes Radio feature that's similar to Pandora. You can read more about iTunes Radio in our WWDC coverage and browse the changes in iOS 7 on Apple's website.
Apple MacBook Air hands-on and first I/O benchmarks (13-inch, mid-2013)
As expected, this year's WWDC was all about the software, and certainly there was plenty to talk about on that front, what with the unveiling of of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks. We did get a little bit to whet the appetite of hardware lovers, however -- mainly a sneak peak of the cool new cylindrical Mac Pro and a refresh to Apple's popular MacBook Air line. We managed to snag a few pictures of the forthcoming tiny desktop workstation, and now we've got our hot little hands on the new ultraportable. From an aesthetic standpoint, there's not too much to write home about -- nothing, really. This is the same Air you know and, possibly, love. It's tapered thin, brushed aluminum shell, with all those standard ports (original Thunderbolt, included). And the display, while sharp, is no Retina -- you'll have to keep waiting on that front. Odds are Apple opted not to swap in the higher-res screen in order to not sacrifice the laptop's battery life -- and certainly the company's got some bragging rights on that front, with a reported bump from five to nine hours on the 11-inch and from seven to 12 on the 13-inch. We'll be reporting back on that fact in the near future -- once we have a good half a day to try it out. That bump comes thanks to new innards -- specifically the inclusion of those new Haswell chips. Apple has also promised that the new CPU has given the systems a nice pep in their performance step, as well. We ran the Air through some benchmarks to see if it's all it's cracked up to be. Check those out after the break.%Gallery-190948%
TUAW TV Live Special Edition: WWDC 2013
Thanks for joining us today here on TUAW for our continuing coverage of WWDC 2013. I am joined this afternoon by renowned author, developer and TUAW buddy Erica Sadun on a special edition of TUAW TV Live. Here's the archived video for your viewing pleasure!
Apple updates the App Store app with a new look, features
In addition to all the other changes in iOS 7, Apple updated the App Store with a fresh look and feel. The App Store has a new kids category that sorts apps by age, which is great for parents. There's also a new feature that'll let you find apps that are popular near you. One other time-saving improvement is the addition of auto-update for all iOS apps. You'll never have to be nagged by that badge with your app updates, nor hit that "update all" button again.
New iOS SDK features for developers
Some of the iOS SDK features that were quickly touched on by Craig Federighi today sound fascinating, although we won't get details on some of them until later. Here are some that I found to be the most interesting: New multitasking APIs -- this should enable apps that you use most often to update themselves in the background. Secure Game Center scores -- as Erica Sadun pointed out, people know how to hack the leaderboards right now; this may eliminate that. MFi game controllers -- this is HUGE for gaming. MFi, of course, means "Made for iPhone / iPad / iPod," and this API should make game controllers that work with our devices become more prevalent. Dynamic type size -- Devs can build in user-directed font scaling so us old folks can read our Helvetica Neue Ultra Light in BIG letters. 60 fps video capture -- want to include slow-mo video in your app? Capture at 60 frames per second. Barcode scanning -- finally, an API for reading barcodes and perhaps those pesky QR codes? Sprite kit -- sprites are a collection of related images grouped into a single image, i.e., frames for an animation or a group of icons. This sounds like it could be something useful for writing side-scrollers or perhaps any game, reducing the number of CPU cycles required to move something across the display. UI dynamics -- the ability to get some of the beautiful transparency and 3D feel we saw in the demos. Peer-to-peer connectivity -- build local WiFi or Bluetooth connections with other iOS devices and Macs(?) into apps easily. Background asset downloads -- automatic updates of app assets that normally take a bit of time upon connection to grab new data. Directions API -- giving developers the capability of building step-by-step directions into their apps. AirDrop from Activity sheet -- so cool, allowing things like photos or videos or artwork you've just created to be sent to another person via AirDrop. Geodesic Polylines -- as Erica points out, this is a "Google Maps" kinda thing you can do right now to show distance lines from a particular point. This could be very helpful in Maps-related apps to show distances from a point. Any other ideas on what these SDK updates may offer? Let's hear your comments below!
Camera and Photo apps updated in iOS 7
We all know that the camera is one of the most popular features on the iPhone, and Apple has poured some new ideas into the camera app that should add to the joy of photography in iOS 7. At WWDC today, Apple announced that the camera app has had a completely revamped GUI. I didn't see a lot of new features, but different shooting modes can be selected by swiping. You can move from a standard photo, to video, to panorama mode, and to a square 4 x 3 aspect ratio. The are big changes are in the iOS 7 photo app, too. For the first time, Apple is letting you apply filters directly. Apple has also enhanced finding photos with a concept called moments, so photos you have taken will be intelligently grouped by time and location. Apple has also enhanced Photo Stream with an improved GUI and the ability for others to drop photos into your stream. Videos are now supported as well. Those are just the highlights, and we will learn more in the days to come. It's pretty clear that Apple has taken the best mobile photo system and improved it in several aspects.
Siri and iOS in the Car updates announced at WWDC
The next update to Siri has been announced at WWDC, bringing a new graphical user interface and improved search options. Siri will now show the sound wave of your question as you speak and features a new voice that sounds a little less HAL 9000. Users will have male and female voice options, with English, French and German voices packaged out the gate. More language options will be added as time goes on. Siri's capabilities have also been updated to include the ability to play voice mails, turn on Bluetooth or increase brightness. In addition Twitter, Wikipedia and Bing searching have been enabled. The Siri improvements also include the new iOS in the Car; 95 percent of the new cars on the market today have integrated iOS support. iOS in the Car brings iOS information on the screen in your car, allowing you to access Maps, messages, play songs and more without ever taking your eyes off the road.
Streaming iTunes Radio service will be part of iOS 7
Apple has introduced a music-streaming service called iTunes Radio that'll be found natively in the upcoming iOS 7. For now, the service will be right in the Music app on iOS, and will offer up a series of featured stations (including, for the demo, a station playing the music heard at WWDC). Just tap on a station, and you'll get music from it. You also can choose to star songs to hear them again, play more songs like this or choose to never play a certain song again. The service is completely free, and supported by ads (presumably driven, as expected, by iAds). If you're an iTunes Match subscriber, however, the service will be completely ad-free, so that's a nice bonus. For the moment, there appears to be no offline play available, but we'll check and see if that's the case. iTunes Radio will be a feature in iOS 7, which is coming to the iPhone and iPad sometime later on this year.
Apple debuts music streaming service, iTunes Radio
Granted, this one felt like a bit of a wild card in the lead up to WWDC, but ultimately the rumors have proven true: Apple's just taken the wraps off of a brand new music offering, iTunes Radio. The service is built directly into iOS 7's music app, featuring easy access to radio based on your music collection. The company's also got hundreds of its own stations, grouped by artists and genre -- artists like, get this, Led Zeppelin. You can modify stations by telling the app which songs you love and hate, and you can access old stations by clicking your history button. The app is free with ads for regular users, or ad-free if you happen to be an iTunes Match subscriber. It's starting in the US and coming to other countries in the unspecified future. You can use it on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, as well as on your desktop. Follow all of our WWDC 2013 coverage at our event hub. %Gallery-190902% %Gallery-190914%
Multitasking and notifications revamped in iOS 7
Tim Cook just said during WWDC 2013 that multitasking in iOS has been revamped completely. iOS 7 will now monitor your app usage even more closely than before, meaning it will have apps like Facebook pull in news and other updates in the background, getting them all ready to roll when you launch the app. There's also a new panel for app controls called Control Center and a new look for UI when switching apps The iPhone will now also adjust networking conditions to save battery life (so hopefully no more running out your battery while frantically trying to connect to WiFi), and there's a new notification management system that looks a lot cleaner and straightforward than the current implementation. These new features look terrific -- we'll get a look at them running in iOS 7 hopefully soon.
Apple unveils new version of mobile Safari for iOS 7
Apple announced some major changes to mobile Safari in iOS 7. First and most noticeable is a new full-screen look that extends the web page that you are viewing from one edge of your screen to the other. There's also an improvement in search that provides your with a smart search field when you tap at the top of the screen. You also can access all your favorites there as well. Navigation is improved with a new swiping gesture that'll move you from page to page. A new bookmark control shows bookmarks, shared links and your reading list and a redesigned tab feature shows a scrolling, cover-flow-like view of your open tabs. A tap and hold lets you re-order the tans and a swipe to the side closes them one at a time. You can also see your open OS X tabs at the bottom and are no longer limited to just eight tabs, which is a welcome change. You can read about additional changes in mobile Safari on Apple's website.
Control Center finally brings quick toggles to iOS
OK, Apple, you got me. "It's iOS 7," I groused to our newsroom after Craig Federighi ran through the changes in Notifications. "Can we please get quick toggles for bloody WiFi, Airplane mode, etc.?" And the next thing out of Federighi's mouth was the new Control Center. Let's be real, this is a feature that should have been a part of iOS at least five versions ago. But, I'm glad it's here now, and it is gorgeous. Control Center can be accessed from anywhere on the iPhone with quick access to basic settings like Airplane mode, WiFi, Bluetooth and Do Not Disturb, as well as orientation, brightness toggle, media control, AirPlay, AirDrop and apps. There's even a flashlight. It's gorgeous, it's much-welcomed and it's so far my favorite feature in iOS 7.
Apple announces iWork for iCloud
Apple's Roger Rosner announced iWork for iCloud today at WWDC. With this new iCloud tool, users will be able to fully edit Numbers, Pages and Keynote documents via their web browser regardless of the operating system they're working on. Yes, since iWork for iCloud is accessed via a browser you can even edit documents on a Windows 8 machine. The most impressive feature showcased during the WWDC keynote was how powerful the programs editing capabilities were, despite them being available in a web browser. Users can drag and drop images from their desktop into their documents and have them seamlessly integrate into the document. Text editing includes powerful tools like context-sensitive formatting. In addition, iCloud can now add, convert and edit Word and Office documents directly from the web interface. For commuters who have to jump from computer to computer while traveling, this is going to be a big deal. You can read more about iWork for iCloud on Apple's website.
