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."
In Addition ... (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously? Is this all they got? (Score:0, Interesting)
I admit I was not one of those doom-mongers who predicted Apple's demise after the death of Steve Jobs. But it has to be said, this is a very poor show. Where is the next innovative product that will rub Microsoft's face in its own mediocrity? Where is the next iPad?
The AAPL stock price tells a sorry tale. Not long ago there was talk of it hitting $1000, now look at it.
This Tim Cook guy seems to lack the charisma of Steve Jobs. He doesn't have a reality distortion field. Perhaps he should consider at least wearing a black turtleneck?
As a tech-savvy geek who has been reading slashdot since the very early days (as can be seen from my very low UID) - I know my opinions on this subject should be taken very seriously.
Apple - please get your act together.
Re:In Addition ... (Score:5, Interesting)
And they finally dropped the strange 8-tab maximum on Mobile Safari!
Re:How stupid is a Mac Pro Cylinder? (Score:5, Interesting)
Is it me (Score:5, Interesting)
Is it me or is iOS 7 a total rip-off of Android and Google's apps? Same flat style icons, same "cards", similar notifications and on-going events, similar features etc,
I'm just... surprised.
Re:Looks like (Score:4, Interesting)
The new UI is clean, sleek, minimal. Not at all like Apple's traditional skeuomorphic designs. More like Google's products, in fact.
Re:How stupid is a Mac Pro Cylinder? (Score:4, Interesting)
Looking at the site [apple.com] - this thing is modular as all hell. Looks like a backplane at the bottom that everything plugs into... upgrade bits and pieces as required or tech progresses. It's kind of a bold thing to do.
They're also banking on PCIe3 being overkill for (current) workstation applications... TB2 being plenty for most use cases. Speaking of cases, expect lots and lots of cylindrical PCI expansion chassis and RAID arrays from third party soon. The old Unix workstation days are back, baby! Daisy-Chain 4 Lyfe! This actually makes sense, as few videographers will want to pop open the case on their editing workstation to add more storage, and special PCI card applications would probably be more at home in its own case with a robust power supply and cooling, anyhow. Sharing a small metal box with a pair of GPUs, high end CPU and some seriously serious RAM can be a little heated.
On the other hand, the gigabit ethernet is unforgivable. It really needs to be dual 10Gbase-T ports in this day and age.
25 foot surf ... (Score:5, Interesting)
Does OSX Mavericks come with a Sarah Palin or a Tom Cruise doll?
No. But it does come with images of the big wave surfing location, Mavericks, for which it is actually named. A location that has 25 foot surf on an average day. A really cool place.
longestpostever (Score:4, Interesting)
I've been waiting for this event for weeks, as we're buying 90ish laptops for our school district... faculty use.
First thing I noticed was the MacBook Air update... and how they are surprisingly dropping the clock speed of existing systems in favor of battery life. While I know their new software may be more efficient, and even the chipset itself may be more efficient, it just surprised me. Being around for the grand ol days of the "great hardware race", I didn't think they would actually move backwards (from 1.8GHz to 1.3GHz). First thing I thought of was that they are doing this so that they can have the great hardware race again... and announce faster systems all over again for that lineup.
Next up, the Mac Pro looks like an homage paid to the G4 Cube. While I will admit owning one and thinking it was cool at the time, I think someone else pointed out here that the elegance is lost in the external cable mess. But let's be honest, the people who are being power users are already going for external enclosures for everything (especially storage) because it can be had faster and cheaper by going not Apple. To all those also who say "OMG you can't upgrade it", my experience has been those who buy Mac Pros work them hard and run them until they quit or completely replace them anyway. They want an all in one solution that they can use and replace as a whole... because they know about graphic design / video editing, and not necessarily about performance computing.
iOS7. Auto updating, super cool for what we do with 800 iPads sitting here. I like it, even though it seems to be more like the Android phone I tested for a week recently (Galaxy S4). I was really hoping that with the release of iOS7, they would have been releasing what I consider "a properly sized phone for 2013". They didn't. Le sad.
iCloud ... platform agnostic document modification through a web browser, cool... but not when you start having to pay for an over X amount of storage every month. They are just trying to generate more recurring revenue. iCloud keychain seems like a terrible idea in terms of security. I say this because of the whole keys to the kingdom approach. All of my users use iCloud now, and they still are using sticky notes on their laptops, though I'm trying to break them of this.
Lastly, I am annoyed that none of this was even remotely ready to go today. I was hoping to be surprised with the release of software and that they had actually secretly worked with developers to have it out remotely soon. As a school, releasing iOS7 when school starts, well.. that's just a pain in the ass. Tim Cook is one of these most underwhelming speakers, and really just irritates me when I hear him. Whoever the dude in the blue shirt was... that guy was great with his speeches.
PS... thank god no more cat names
Meh. (Score:2, Interesting)
Yesterday, Firefox made a "major announcement" - curved tab graphics. Today, Apple announces removing the 3D icons. Oh, and multiple monitors are now supported using a new cable. Yawn. By the way, where are we in the black/white/beige/gray cycle this year?
There was a program for the original Mac line which found every icon on the system and displayed it as one huge grid on the home screen. This was a joke, not a feature. Then came the iPhone and Metro. Now it's just annoying, scrolling through pages of icons. Can we have menus back?
Apple is definitely having an idea shortage. Nothing comparable to Google Glass (which may or may not be a success, but at least is an advance in some direction). Nothing comparable to Microsoft's new-generation Kinect (which is a significant technical development, even if it needs an off switch). Not even a ruggedized iPhone (something several competing vendors now offer).
I fail to see the 'Pro' in this Mac Pro. (Score:4, Interesting)
What is really anti-Professional about the Mac Pro? Dumping Internal storage bays and PCIe slots moving everything to external interfaces. SSDs have their place and so too do spinning disks. I could choose what I wanted, but with this new Mac Pro I have no choice. I would now have to have a stack of external drives sitting at my workstation. It won't look so pretty then.
On top of that, plenty of companies have invested in PCIe-based hardware (Audio DAW cards and HD-SDI interface cards are just two examples of many). Companies who have invested heavily in such hardware are now SOL. What will they do? Buy an overpriced Mac Pro and reinvest in all new Thunderbolt-based hardware (that most likely doesn't exist yet given the slow uptake of Thunderbolt), or switch to PC based hardware?
I have to look at the reason for the redesign, and it is very easy to see: Apple (and Intel) own Thunderbolt. They make a cut of every Thunderbolt device sold. Of course, they are going to push Thunderbolt over everything else. Did Apple actually listen to what their professional clients need?