Apple Shows Off New iOS 7, Mac OS X At WWDC 607
Nerval's Lobster writes "Apple CEO Tim Cook kicked off his company's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco with a short video emphasizing the importance of design, particularly that which evokes some sort of emotional connection such as love or delight. But that sentimental bit aside, this WWDC was all business: huge numbers of developers attend this annual event, packing sessions designed to help give their apps an edge in Apple's crowded online marketplace (some 50 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store, Cook told the audience during his keynote). Apple also uses its WWDC to unveil new products or services, attracting sizable interest from the tech press.
This time around, the company introduced Mac OS X 'Mavericks,' which includes 'Finder Tabs' (which allow the user to deploy multiple tabs within a Finder window—great for organization, in theory) and document tags (for easier searching). Macs will now support multiple displays, including HDTVs, with the ability to tweak elements between screens; Apple claims the operating system will also interact with the CPU in a more efficient manner.
On top of that, Apple rolled out some new hardware: an upgraded MacBook Air with faster graphics, better battery life (9 hours for the 11-inch edition, while the 13-inch version can draw 12 hours' worth of power). Apple has decided to jump into the cloud-productivity space with iWork for iCloud, which makes the company's iWork portfolio (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote) browser-based; this is a clear response to Office 365 and Google Docs.
And finally, the executives onstage turned back to iOS, which (according to Apple) powers some 600 million devices around the world. This version involves more than a few tweaks: from a redesigned 'Slide to Unlock' at the bottom of the screen, to the bottom-up control panel that slides over the home-screen, to the 'flat' (as predicted) icons and an interface that adjusts as the phone is tilted, this is a total redesign. As a software designer, Ive is clearly a huge fan of basic shapes—circles and squares— and layering translucent elements atop one another."
This time around, the company introduced Mac OS X 'Mavericks,' which includes 'Finder Tabs' (which allow the user to deploy multiple tabs within a Finder window—great for organization, in theory) and document tags (for easier searching). Macs will now support multiple displays, including HDTVs, with the ability to tweak elements between screens; Apple claims the operating system will also interact with the CPU in a more efficient manner.
On top of that, Apple rolled out some new hardware: an upgraded MacBook Air with faster graphics, better battery life (9 hours for the 11-inch edition, while the 13-inch version can draw 12 hours' worth of power). Apple has decided to jump into the cloud-productivity space with iWork for iCloud, which makes the company's iWork portfolio (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote) browser-based; this is a clear response to Office 365 and Google Docs.
And finally, the executives onstage turned back to iOS, which (according to Apple) powers some 600 million devices around the world. This version involves more than a few tweaks: from a redesigned 'Slide to Unlock' at the bottom of the screen, to the bottom-up control panel that slides over the home-screen, to the 'flat' (as predicted) icons and an interface that adjusts as the phone is tilted, this is a total redesign. As a software designer, Ive is clearly a huge fan of basic shapes—circles and squares— and layering translucent elements atop one another."
How stupid is a Mac Pro Cylinder? (Score:2, Funny)
I mean really... why?
Re:How stupid is a Mac Pro Cylinder? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm going to withhold judgement on this, as I think it looks nice. As long as the parts are all standard and easily replaceable, the shape of the case doesn't make much difference.
So long lamedroid and windows mobilame. (Score:1, Funny)
Once again Apple absolutely *schools* Google and Microsoft on how to design software. If you own stock in either of those companies, I'd advise you get on the phone and sell it NOW before the true impact of these announcements take hold.
My Mac Sucks (Score:4, Funny)
I don't want to start a holy war here, but what is the deal with you Mac fanatics? I've been sitting here at my freelance gig in front of a Mac (a 8600/300 w/64 Megs of RAM) for about 20 minutes now while it attempts to copy a 17 Meg file from one folder on the hard drive to another folder. 20 minutes. At home, on my Pentium Pro 200 running NT 4, which by all standards should be a lot slower than this Mac, the same operation would take about 2 minutes. If that.
In addition, during this file transfer, Netscape will not work. And everything else has ground to a halt. Even BBEdit Lite is straining to keep up as I type this.
I won't bore you with the laundry list of other problems that I've encountered while working on various Macs, but suffice it to say there have been many, not the least of which is I've never seen a Mac that has run faster than its Wintel counterpart, despite the Macs' faster chip architecture. My 486/66 with 8 megs of ram runs faster than this 300 mhz machine at times. From a productivity standpoint, I don't get how people can claim that the Macintosh is a superior machine.
Mac addicts, flame me if you'd like, but I'd rather hear some intelligent reasons why anyone would choose to use a Mac over other faster, cheaper, more stable systems.
Re:tabs in the Finder window? (Score:1, Funny)
Finder is sort of like Norton Utilities for the Mac.
Re:tabs in the Finder window? (Score:5, Funny)
And another thing (Score:4, Funny)
Does OSX Mavericks come with a Sarah Palin or a Tom Cruise doll?
Re:My Mac Sucks (Score:-1, Funny)
I think I can help here. As I have a masters degree in Marketing Science from a well known institution.
It basically boils down to this: Are you a 'hipster'? Apple have constantly targetted a certain demographic with their hardware, a demographic of people who value form over function, aesthetics over practicality, frivolity over pragmatism. This can be seen in their cringeworthy 'I'm a Mac and I'm a PC' advertising campaign.
To hipsters such as these, the actual technical specs of the computer are the last thing on their mind when they slap down $2000 of their trust fund in their local 'apple store'. All they care about is will it impress the hipster chicks when they whip it out in their local 'artisan' coffee shop.
Which just goes to prove that marketing will alway triumph over technical specifications. (see also: why do people use a pile of shit OS like Windows 8?)
Re:How stupid is a Mac Pro Cylinder? (Score:4, Funny)
That thing needs a handle on top that you can rotate 1/4 turn, hear a hissing noise, and then pull out a long cylindrical CPU core that is all lit up with blue LEDs from a super-cap... On the side of it should be a double digit 7 segment display slowly counting down to 0.
Re:How stupid is a Mac Pro Cylinder? (Score:4, Funny)
Well, then I expect Apple to sue them shortly. They do love those time travel lawsuits.
Meme formation..... (Score:2, Funny)
I dub thee: the Trash Pro.
Come on people, let's make this one stick.
Re:How stupid is a Mac Pro Cylinder? (Score:5, Funny)
But a cylinder? No.
Apple's next product will be donut-shaped expansion cases that fit around it.
Re:Cooling (Score:2, Funny)
You know what I think?
You probably shouldn't spend money on a cylindrical Mac Pro.
That way you won't have to be angry about them.
Re:Cooling (Score:5, Funny)
Except that if you look inside, the actual system is triangular in shape. It's basically a cylinder because someone thought that would look cool.
I'll believe that hypothesis the second you find a triangular fan.
Re:How stupid is a Mac Pro Cylinder? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:How stupid is a Mac Pro Cylinder? (Score:4, Funny)
Saying that the G5 would have "fans louder than average" is an understatement. A co-worker's G5 tower once fell on its back and the damn thing started hovering on the ground.