Thoughts on WWDC

Presentation

• Tim Cook looked more on his game then ever.
• Craig Federighi was great. Funny and entertaining. Might make a good future frontman?
• Phil Schiller, solid as always. By far had the best quote, “Can’t innovate anymore, my ass”.
• Eddie Cue, by far the weakest showing, not counting the iCloud guy. Cue seemed uncomforatble to me.
• The video that started off the show was amazing and set the tone.
  • This is Our Signature campaign
  • Apple is not about the more things or the things with the most features. They are about making the best and refining it until it’s perfect.
  • They are about taking something and honing it, refining it, and not being afraid to start over to make something great.
  • Their “signature” is their brand and they won’t sign something until they think it’s worthy. Worthy for them and worthy for their customers.
  • “Does it deserve to exist?”, my favorite line.
• This is a new Apple and they are doing things differently under Tim Cook
  • This was what I talked about when I did my “Let Tim Cook be Tim Cook” episode
  • Apple seems more open and unrestrained under Cooks leadership at some levels, but still remains highly secretive. No one, saw the Mac Pro coming and Apple “leaked” it before the press could.

OS X - Mavericks

• Throwing out the “big cat” names in favor of names of places in California. Means that OS X will be with us for a while. Referred to OS X Mavericks, not OS X 10.9 Mavericks
• Designed for more battery efficiency
  • Borrowing ideas from iOS?
  • Detects when Apps are behind other windows and reduces their load on the CPU. Apple calls this “App Nap”
  • Timer Coalescing groups low-level operations together, maximizing “idle” time to save battery
  • Battery menu will “tell” on apps showing significant battery usage
• Tabbed Finder and “tagging” replaces “labels”.
  • Tags work for Spotlight searches and Smart Folders
  • Tags also work in iCloud
• Full screen on multiple displays
  • Spaces works across displays independently
  • Menu Bars and docks
  • Mission Control
  • Also on AirPlay displays.
• Brings the Maps app to OS X and you can send Maps to iOS devices.
• iBooks app on the Mac too.
• iCloud Documents in the Cloud can now be managed in the Finder (yes).
• iCloud Keychain will generate passwords and sync them.
  • Can also save credit cards, but not security codes.
• Move to SMB (Samba) as the default file sharing protocol. Not talked about, but a pretty big deal.
• Siri still doesn’t seem to be in there, yet?
  • Dictation is updated with offline support and real-time feedback. Words appear as you dictate.
• Good news is so far it looks like the system requirements for OS X Mavericks are the same as Mountain Lion.
  • Need to be running Snow Leopard version 10.6.7 or better to update to OS X Mavericks

Macbook Air

• Updated with Haswell processors. Dual-Core Intel Core i5 and i7
• Intel HD 5000 graphics
• All day battery life, 9 hours on the 11-inch and 12 hours on the 13-inch
  • 7150mAh battery, in the 13-inch according to iFixit
• 802.11ac “Gigabit” Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0
• Faster Flash storage and the 11-inch is now standard with 128GB, double from before. BTO up to 512GB
• Still starting at $999 for the 11-inch 128GB model. Available now.

Mac Pro (preview)

• Completely redesigned into a cylindrical aluminum chassis that’s just 9.9“ high X 6.6” in diameter
• Dual GPUs, PCI Express based Flash storage, Thunderbolt 2, next-gen Intel Xeon processors, ultra-FAST DDR3, and 4K video support
  • Intel Xeon E5 Processors
  • Up to 12-cores. 40GB/s PCI bandwidth
  • Four-channel DDR3 ECC memory running at 1866MHz. 60GB/s memory bandwidth. Two times faster than the current gen Mac Pro.
  • 4 memory slots, Apple hasn’t given the max RAM spec.
  • Dual AMD FirePro GPUs, with up to 6GB of dedicated VRAM. Up to 7 teraflops of GPU performance
  • Apple says it will let you edit 4K full-resolution and still render effects in the background.
    • Not been reported, but I’d assume Apple will give us an updated Thunderbolt 4K Display at some point.
  • PCIe Flash Storage internal running at 1250MB/s. Apple says 2.5 times faster than SATA-based SSDs
  • 4 USB 3 ports, 6 Thunderbolt 2 ports, dual gigabit Ethernet, HDMI 1.4 port, and digital audio in and out.
  • Thunderbolt 2 offers up to 20Gb/s data transfer and you can daisy chain up to 6 devices, for a total of 36 off the built in ports. (Good since there is no internal expansion beyond RAM).
  • Apple also says you can connect up to three 4K displays
  • 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0
• A sensor detects when you rotate the chassis and lights up indicators on the ports.
• Case is a single piece of extruded aluminum that is polished. Boards are in a triangular configuration around what Apple calls a “thermal core” for efficient cooling using a single fan (think jet turbine).
• Looks gorgeous, despite references to a “trash can”.
• All assembly in the USA
  • Many component parts also from the US
  • Apple will use facilities and partners in Texas, Florida, Illinois, and Kentucky among other states.
• Release later in the year.
  • No firm date, nor did they offer pricing or specific configuration options
  • Rare preview for Apple which is interesting.
• Did they show it off to prepare developers, update consumers, or to shut up critics?
• For sure reaffirms, and dramatically changes, Apple’s position on what a “Pro” desktop is.
  • There will be harsh critics of the lack of internal expandability.
  • Apple is saying Thunderbolt is the new way to expand and I expect we’ll see 3rd party solutions in RAID, video and PCI expansion stepping up with hardware to meet the needs and match the design of the new Mac Pro.
  • If you have a Mac Pro with 4 bays filled and the drives full, I doubt Apple will have a Flash storage option big enough to move your data to.
  • Pricing, which I expect to be high, think $2,500 to $3,000 to start, will be increased buy significantly by those needing external RAID Thunderbolt enclosures and breakout boxes. Plus 4K monitors. In the end some systems could easily run into the $10K and up range. But hey a Mac IIfx started at $10,000.00 back in the day.

AirPort Extreme and TimeCapsule

• Small rounded square tower design. 3.85“ square and 6.6” high.
• Same enclosure for both devices. AirPort Extreme is missing the HDD connectors on the motherboard.
• 802.11ac WiFi with six antennas
• Up to 1.3 Gb/s
• Simultaneous dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz
• Gigabit Ethernet WAN port, three Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports, and one USB 2.0 port
• TimeCapsule is still 2TB and 3TB sizes.
• USD $199 for AirPort Extreme. Time capsule is $299.00 for 2TB and $399.00 (down $100) for the 3TB model.
• Available now.

iCloud

• iWork in the Cloud
• Apple’s answer to getting iWork Apps on Windows?
• Not that excited about this, you?

iOS 7

• Adding a consistent design style across the OS level and all the built in apps.
• Removing the “skumorphism” across the board.
• Design “layers” are the new paradigm
  • Panels of information slide in over each other
  • Background layer, your home screen background, can have dynamic (moving) images and panoramas. Apple also uses a “parallax”effect to give a slight 3D effect of the icons floating over the background.
  • Transparency and blurring is used to define layers and animations used to reinforce the design.
• The public reaction was almost an immediate love it or hate it mentality.
  • Many are passing judgement without even using it.
• It’s really important to remember that this is not a final release.
  • Apple only had about seven months with Ive at the head of the design team
  • Someone wrote that what we see now are the “broad brush strokes” and I think that’s dead on
  • It’s a starting point and a great one at that.
• It’s something for Developer to see and use and provide feedback. Apple can still change a lot before if is officially released in the Fall.
• For example, I hate the new “Game Center” app and “bubble” look, but even it is better than the felt
  • Hope this is a “work in progress”
  • I’m also unsure about the new font, Helvetica Neue Ultra Light. Looks gorgeous and gives a “magazine” like feel, but seems hard to read against some lighter backgrounds in the screenshots I’ve seen.
• It does give a clear indication of the direction Apple is moving in and shows that they are not afraid to scrap everything and start from scratch
  • Most of us already knew this as Apple has always taken bold steps to push technology forward, but many critics apparently needed this reminded
  • Critics being critics though, many immediately looked for the flaws in the design and missed the point.
• It’s going to take some getting used to
  • There are some new ways of interacting with the devices, but I don;t think the learning curve will be that deep
  • Now that consumers are familiar with gesture interfaces, Apple can assume more things. An example is the “Slide to Unlock” which no longer has a button to indicate what to slide or the direction. You still swipe to the right, but across any part of the screen.
  • I like the idea of having “spotlight” search available by sliding down on any home screen page. No more jumping back to the screen to the left of home.
• App Switcher with full previews is nice. Swipe up to close apps.
  • Background apps are also smarter at power management.
  • Apps can update data more smartly. When you get a push notification, or when another apps is also updating data (coalesced).
  • Can control which apps can update their data in the background.
• Automatic App updates
  • No more App Store updates. These can happen automatically if you choose.
• Sliding up to access “Control Center” is great, but may interfere with some 3rd party apps.
  • Access to Airplane mode, wi-fi, bluetooth, orientation lock, brightness, AirPlay, AirDrop, flashlight, Clock (timer), Calculator, and Camera.
• Notification Center “Today” view has a very Google Now like feel. Summary of weather and your daily schedule as sentences.
• Siri is beefed up and I hope there is more for the final release
  • Wikipedia and Web search results in-line now.
  • Bing powers the Siri results, but Google search is still in Safari
  • Access control center functions with Siri. “Turn off Bluetooth”
• AirDrop finally gives us a way to transfer documents and files over wireless
  • Send to multiple local users without “bumping” and you can control who sees your device. Default is contacts only, but you also have “Everyone” and “Nobody” options.
  • I hope it seamlessly integrates with the desktop
  • Curious to see how you “choose” which app receives a sent document
• iOS 7 seems to bring a lot more control to the users
  • Data sharing
  • Cellular Data Access
  • App updating
  • Even accessing the microphone, just like camera, contacts, etc.
  • Data usage for cellular. It will show per app, so you can see which ones are using the most bandwidth.

iTunes Radio

• Works a lot like Pandora.
• Streams “stations” and you can skip up to six tracks
• Free in the Music app and in iTunes on Mac, Windows, and iOS. Supported by ads. If you subscribe to iTunes Music Match it’s ad free.
• One-click buying of music.
• The big deal in my mind is two things
  • iTunes Radio will come “pre-loaded” on millions of iOS devices when folks upgrade. And we know iOS users upgrade at staggering rates
  • Tied into those millions of existing iTunes accounts. More revenue for Apple and the music companies.
• One weird thing is that for now it reportedly “blanks” out any bad words. Hopefully this will be an option in settings to allow “explicit” lyrics. It would also be nice if they used radio edits instead of just adding silence.
• Yes, it’s not a catalog service like Spotify or Rdio, but that’s not the point. Apple want’s to sell, not rent music. This is purely about discovery and plus it’s a “gimme”. Nothing to buy or sign up for.
• Oh and they make money a third way with iAds.
• To me it’s just a win, win, win.