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8
Jun

Apple Announces watchOS 2 With Native Apps, Third-Party Complications [iOS Blog]


Today at WWDC, Apple announced the second version of watchOS, the operating system that powers the Apple Watch. The new features include support for native apps, third-party complications, communication improvements, health and fitness improvements and more.

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Timepiece improvements to watchOS 2 include a brand new watch face called Photos Face, which uses photos from a user’s albums or selected photos. There’s another new watch face called Time Lapse, which shows iconic locations all over the world shot over 24 hours when you look at your watch. watchOS 2 also gains a Nightstand mode while its charging, allowing users to treat the Apple Watch like an alarm clock.

Third-party Complications allow developers to build Complications for watch faces, allowing users to quickly get glance able looks at information like flight times, sports scores, the charge level of an electric car and more. Additionally, users can now spin the Digital Crown to access a new feature called Time Travel, which allows users to see future information like what the weather will be like later in the day.

 

Developing…




8
Jun

Apple Announces ‘Apple Music’ Streaming Music Service [iOS Blog]


Apple today announced its much-rumored Apple Music streaming music service for iPhone and iPad, building upon the assets it acquired through its $3 billion purchase of Beats Music last year.

apple music
Developing…




8
Jun

The Sony Xperia Z3+ touchscreen works amazingly well when wet


sony-xperia-z3-plus-press-renders-6-710x473

Sony’s recently-announced Xperia Z3+ may not be a worthy upgrade from the Z3 proper when it comes to the spec sheet, but perhaps there is one notable improvement that Sony made to its most recent smartphone. In a new video from GSMArena, the Xperia Z3+ and Z3 proper go head to head to see which device performs better when wet.

If you’ve ever used a smartphone when a small drop of water lands on the touchscreen, you’ve probably witnessed the user interface slightly jerk around. But after watching the video (attached below), you’ll see that the Z3+ performs significantly better than the Z3 when drenched in water. Sony accomplishes this by using a new touchscreen driver in its most recent handset that helps the device perform much better in wet conditions by using improved finger tracking technology.

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In the video, you’ll quickly see that the Z3 incorrectly registers panning, zooming, multi-touch events, or no touches at all. The Z3+ on the other hand appears to have little to no problems in this scenario.

Since the Z3 is waterproof, one would expect the device to work properly when covered in water. But although the problem persists on the Z3, at least Sony made some notable improvements on the Z3+. Be sure to head to the source link below for more information on the test.

8
Jun

Live from Apple’s WWDC 2015 keynote!


It feels like we were just here, and in a way we were: Just three months after unveiling the new MacBook, Apple is back at the Moscone Center in San Francisco to kick off its annual Worldwide Developer Conference. That means we’re back at Moscone too, ready to liveblog whatever it is the company has up its sleeve this time. The question, as always, is what. We’re not really due for any new hardware this time of year, save for a possible 12-inch iPad and Apple TV refresh (and even that’s supposedly not happening). We also expect to see TV and music streaming services at some point, though we’re not 100 percent sure Apple will be ready to announce either just yet.

Good morning from sunny San Francisco! I’ll be your liveblogger for the day, along with senior editor Nicole Lee and senior mobile editor Chris Velazco on photos.

I just saw Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, by the way. I asked her what time it was before realizing who she was. How’s everyone else’s morning going?

Lots of celebrity sightings already. We spotted Trent Reznor, SF Mayor Ed Lee and apparently will.i.am is also in the crowd.

As far as I’m concerned, the hardest part of the day is done for us. We got up at the butt-crack of dawn, waited in line for hours and may have strained some muscles sprinting for seats. But now we’re here, and all we have to do is tell y’all what’s going on.

It also looks like Apple execs are already in the crowd mingling with the VIPs. Spotted Craig Federighi and Phil Schiller in the center VIP section, as well as Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann.

And there’s the announcement to silent our phones. We’re about to get started.

Uptown Funk is blasting now. Aw yeah.

And the lights have dimmed. Time to get started.

Oh hey, a video with Bill Hader. Playing director “David LeGray.”

And that’s Charlyne Yi in the video. We also see a stuffed Angry Birds character, a flying drone. And lots of Tim Cook clones.

I still don’t totally know what’s happening, and I don’t think anyone else in the audience does, but we’re all laughing.

It’s basically a “WWDC Rehearsal” skit, with an SNL/comedy bent.

Hey, it’s Abed!

And there’s a rap / hip-hop song with various apps from the App Store dancing.

“We better be getting free Watches out of it.” And scene….

And enter Tim Cook!

Tim just got his first shout of “I love you!” (I think that’s what he said) from a dude in the audience, over in the developer (not-press) section.

Cook says 80 percent of the people here are for the first time. Also, shout-out to 350 scholarship winners. Welcome, folks.

“For the first time, we’re not only livestreaming the keynote. We’re livestreaming 30 sessions of the conference as well.”

Cook mentions Brandon Moss from the Cleveland Indians hitting his 100th career home run.

Apparently his teammates held his ball for ransom, asking for a list of Apple gadgets in return.

Cook has the ball right here in the audience! And he says he’ll pay the ransom.

Alrighty, down to business. OS X is up first, Cook says. With iOS news coming too, natch.

And a new Watch SDK is coming. Native apps are here!

“Everything’s going great,” Cook says.

Software guy Craig Federighi just took the stage to enormous applause (this is a dev conference, after all). But first, a recap of Yosemite before we get into the new OS X stuff.

The adoption rate for Yosemite is incredible, he says. Over 55% of Mac users is running the latest update. Apparently it’s the fastest adoption rate for any PC OS ever.

“The only real question was what to call it,” he says of the new OS.

The team-building offsite was apparently held in a jacuzzi and at Burning Man (jokes, of course).

OS X El Capitan is the name.

Overview time: Expect improvements to Spotlight and built-in apps (as always, with an OS X update).

First thing we’re seeing are gestures. For instance, swiping individual messages in Mail to archive or delete.

He’s showing off Safari now. He’s using it to pin different sites like Twitter, Pinterest and ESPN.

“Where is this audio coming from?” Craig asks about Rick Astley playing from a tab. You can use a gesture to mute that nonsense.

He’s showing off Spotlight Search now. Testing it with “SF Giants” and it actually shows off the weather as well as the upcoming game.

Can also use this kind of search language in other apps, like Mail. Example: “mail I ignored from Phil.” (Har.)

It also works with documents, like “Documents I worked on last June.”

Craig is making a smooth transition from search language to window management.

He then clicks and holds on the green button to drag and drop the window, and it automatically drops it in next to another open window.

More on split view: Craig is clicking on windows, dragging them to the top of the screen, where there’s a panel of thumbnail-sized windows. You can create a split-screen that way by dropping a window on top of another.

He’s recapping through the different features now, claiming that it has easy access to features, plus split view.

And now, performance improvements.

In particular with performance, Craig wants to tell us about Metal, the iOS graphics engine. What you need to know: The same technology is coming to Mac.

What does this mean for you? This is where demoes of apps like Illustrator come in.

Metal is also fantastic for games, supposedly, with 10x the performance. They brought in Epic Games to show some games to demonstrate the Metal engine.

Seeing a demo of the game “Fortnite.” It involves a lot of in-game building and designing — the sort of thing where smoother graphics would indeed come in handy.

He’s now showing a demo of Fortnite, where the character is chopping down cars and trees. Lots of effects now, with lightning and explosions. All happening with great detail.

Plenty of other developers and game companies are also on board. They include The Foundry, Blizzard, 2K Games and more.

El Capitan is available to developers today.

The update reaches real-world users this fall. So more on that in a few months.

Now on to iOS.

83 percent of active iPhone users are running the latest OS.

“This is a feature that remains unique to iOS.”

Let’s start with Siri. “Siri has quietly become incredibly popular.” Over a billion requests per week. 40 percent reduction in error rate to 5 percent, says Craig.

For iOS 9, Siri has a new UI.

“So Siri is a great assistant, but the best assistant is pro-active.”

For instance, Siri will present the audiobook you’ve been listening to when you get in the car.

Oh, and this is interesting: If there’s an unfamiliar number, the incoming call screen might say something like, “Maybe: John Smith,” suggesting who that strange number might belong to.

Now when you swipe right on the home screen, you’ll see “Siri Suggestions” based on upcoming meetings or your communication patterns.

“We now have an API for search.”

Demo time: A day in the life of iOS 9.

So, Siri starts off by offering a meditation, because Siri knows Craig likes to meditate in the morning.

Then he gets a text message from his boss asking him to remember to pick something up. If Craig says, “Remind me about this later today,” she can make a reminder out of that.

Later in the day, when Craig plugs in headphones, the music app comes up.

As for that reminder Craig asked Siri to set, it’s right there in the Calendar app, where you’d expect it to be.

Siri Suggestions includes, among other things, people you might want to contact. Locations nearby (breakfast places nearby in the morning, for example).

He’s looking up recipes now, and he’s able to do measurement conversion on the fly.

Craig is using Siri again to pull up specific photo sets.

But what about privacy, you might be asking? It’s all on-device.

Next, Apple Pay.

And to give us a demo, VP of the Apple Pay business, Jennifer Bailey.

First, an update: Over 2,500 banks support Apple Pay.

Trader Joe’s, Baskin-Robbins and JC Penney will support Apple Pay this year too, joining an increasingly long list of big-chain retailers.

A little tidbit Jennifer just dropped in: This fall, Square will launch a new reader. Pre-orders starting today. They’ll hit Apple Retail this fall.

As for Apple Pay, Apple says that sometime within the next month it expects to surpass 1 million retail locations that accept it.

Some news: Apple Pay is coming to the UK next month.

They’re also working with Pinterest, which is launching Buyable Pins so you can buy stuff directly from your Pinterest board. Buyable Pins is on iOS only for now. This feature is coming later this month.

Londoners will also be able to use Apple Pay on the transit system.

In iOS 9, you can add store credit cards in addition to bank debit and credit cards.

It’ll support loyalty cards too, which is useful for using rewards cards.

Some other news: Passbook is now named Wallet.

Onto the Notes app in iOS.

Notes now has a toolbar with formatting options.

Also, drawing tools. You can also use your finger to sketch inside the Notes app.

We’re seeing how Notes looks across the iPhone, iPad and Mac. It’s all about the continuity.

Next up: Maps.

Public transit in Apple Maps. Finally.

Tap on a station, see the lines that run through it with departure times.

The map includes details like multiple entrances, accounting for some really massive train stations, like Columbus Circle in New York City.

This transit feature will kick off in the US and China.

That’s it for Maps right now.

A new app for iOS: It’s called News. Does it replace Newstand?

It’s all about “custom layout, rich typography,” says Craig. And it’s interactive. It is indeed Flipboard-esque, as reported by Re/code not long before this keynote began.

Demo time. First, News needs to get a sense of what you like to read.

News creates a personalized feed called “For You.”

We’re seeing a demo that includes both newspapers and magazines. Just to give you a sense of the variety of news outlets you might be sourcing.

You can bookmark stuff to read later. Which is a good feature to have in an app like this, if you ask me.

Big cheers at built-in videos. (I mean, it’s neat.)

For something like ESPN, you might also see infographics.

Continuing our tour of the app, there’s an “Explore” feature to help you discover other news sources, maybe other news topics you hadn’t selected before.

By the way, there’s also a “Favorites” area, which makes sense.

You can just tap to zoom in the photos. It’s meant to be highly interactive and a rich way of reading content.

A note on privacy: What you read is not linked to other Apple services. (Privacy seems to be a recurring theme today. It’s come up a few times now.)

“We’ll be rolling out news starting in the United States, UK and Australia,” Craig says. “We think you’re gonna like it.”

Next, iPad.

Remember that with iOS 8 Apple introduced the suggestion bar in the onscreen keyboard. Now, there are shortcuts in that bar. So with a tap you can cut, copy, etc.

Ooh, watch him turn the onscreen keyboard into a trackpad.

If you ever hook up a physical keyboard, there are shortcuts for searching in spotlight, and app-switching.

But onto what you really wanna know about: multitasking. (He says with an icon on the screen that appears to show a split screen.)

Double-tap the home button to see a new task switcher, with full-screen previews of all the apps.

“Slide Over” is a feature that lets you — you guessed it — slide an app over to the side of the screen.

In “Split View” both windows side by side are active.

If you pin one app to the side, you can keep it there while changing the app on the other side.

So: You can make that split view 50/50, but we’ve also seen demos where one app takes up a narrower pane.

He just showed us how he used the trackpad functionality to edit text far faster than before.

We’re seeing another multitasking demo, this one involving video. Introducing: picture-in-picture mode.

Some color commentary: The developers in attendance here LOVE all this multitasking stuff.

As for developers, they’re getting features like “auto layout” that will hopefully make it easier for them to make their apps ready for “Slide Over.”

It looks like Split View is for the iPad Air 2 only. Sorry, folks, if you happen to have an older model.

Now on to battery life.

iOS 9 will now have a low-power mode that’ll be able to extend battery life for an additional 3 hours.

A note on security: two-factor authentication for iCloud. Also, a change to the architecture behind OS updates. Now you need just 1.3GB for the next software update. Not, like, four gigs.

Filed under: Apple

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8
Jun

NASA’s Mars ‘flying saucer’ is ready for its next test


If you need something to watch that’s not Apple related, the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator(LDSD) that NASA hopes will help Mars missions land safely is about to undertake its next test. After more than a week of delays caused by bad weather, the saucer shaped vehicle will launch at about 1:30PM ET. After that, it’s in for a three hour wait to reach an altitude of 120,000 feet before it’s dropped and the rocket-powered portion of its trip will begin. Once it reaches Mach 3, the Decelerator’s inflatable “drag devices” will deploy, slowing things down enough for it to deploy a parachute, and then land in the ocean. Check out the live stream embedded after the break (plus a clip from its test last fall), and we’ll update you on its progress throughout the day.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/_Q5SQBC_e64?rel=0https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/9yRWhu0UGYw?rel=0

Filed under: Science

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Source: NASA JPL (YouTube), LDSD

8
Jun

Apple Watch update brings full native apps


When Apple’s Watch first arrived, we couldn’t help but notice that the first third-party apps on it were a tad sluggish. But that’s because they were running on an iPhone and not natively on the Watch, as Apple’s own health tracker and other apps do. That’s about to change now, however, as Tim Cook just unveiled a new Watch OS and SDK at Apple’s WWDC 2015 event to open up all the wearable’s functionality to developers. That means app-makers will be able to tap the Digital Crown, health and orientation sensors, “taptic” feedback feature and more. We should hear more about it as the event goes along, and will update you later with more information.

Filed under: Apple

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8
Jun

Apple unveils OS X El Capitan, which is all about experience upgrades


So long Yosemite, hello El Capitan. Apple just announced the latest version of its desktop operating system, OS X (10.11) El Capitan, at its WWDC conference in San Francisco. And while Yosemite gave us a major visual overhaul, this time around Apple seems to be focused on polishing its desktop experience. It’s similar to the minor refresh we got with Snow Leopard (El Capitan is a rock formation inside Yosemite National Park). So what’s new? Gesture capabilities, for one. You’ll be able to swipe to delete messages in the mail app, just like iOS. Spotlight search has also been improved, with support for natural language queries like “Documents I worked on last June.” You’ll also be able to juggle windows more easily by easily snapping them side-by-side, or by creating split-screen views (both of which seem reminiscent of Windows 8).

Apple is also bringing its Metal graphics rendering engine, which first appeared on iOS, over to the desktop with El Capitan. That should make it easier for developers to port their games over, and it’s also something developers can include in media-heavy applications. Adobe, for example, says it will bring Metal to all of its Creative Suite apps, including Photoshop and Illustrator. Apple’s also gotten developers like Epic Games, 2K Games, and The Foundry.

Developers can get their hands on El Capitan today, while the rest of us will have to wait until this fall for the official release. In the end, it still looks similar to the first version of OS X Apple launched almost 15 years ago. And while consistency and refinement is great and all, with Windows 10 on the horizon we’re eager to see how Apple plans to eventually evolve its approach to the desktop.

Filed under: Apple

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8
Jun

Apple unveils iOS 9 at WWDC


It would be a software development conference without some software, so please be upstanding as we welcome iOS 9 to the world. One theme of this year’s update is to improve both the foundations of the operating system, like the performance and battery life. The other is to add several new “intelligent” features that tries to bring some of Google Now’s much-trumpeted smarts to Apple’s mobile devices. That means that Siri, at least on paper, will now be smart enough to predict the information that you’ll want before you start looking for it.

For instance, if you get a call but don’t know the number, iOS 9 will hunt through your emails should that information be stored somewhere that you’re not looking. The software will also be smart enough to predict your routine and offer up traffic alerts should there be an obstruction on your regular route. Should you only listen to audiobooks on your morning drive into work, the phone will pick up where you left off on your way home. It’s a similar situation at the gym, since when you plug in your headphones, your exercise playlist will be offered up.

Remember when Tim Cook said that privacy was a fundamental right? Apple is hoping to walk and chew gum at the same time by providing these intelligent features without the sort of data mining it accuses Google of. According to Craig Federighi, all of the processing for these new offerings takes place on the device and, should any information need to be handed off to Apple’s servers, it’ll be anonymized.

The executive then ran through some of the more exciting additions to a variety of built-in apps in iOS 9:

  • Notes: Users can now share webpages straight into their notes, and can then annotate them with Galaxy Note-style doodles.
  • Maps: Those long-rumored transit directions are live, letting you tap on a subway station and get the departure times for each train running on each line. In addition, the company has worked out the walking distances from the entrance to the platform in each station. There’s even “around me” style search for you to find your nearest bagel store or shoe outlet.

News

The company has also unveiled its own alternative to Flipboard called News that’s designed to aggregate the stories you want to read into an Apple-specific format. Okay, it’s just like Flipboard. Naturally, the outfit is boasting the benefits of its rich typography, and how it preserves embedded videos and photo galleries specific to each site. Should you wish to switch between a story, you can simply swipe right to see the next one, tap to zoom into images and play with interactive infographics. The first partners that have signed up including the New York Times, ESPN and Conde Nast to push several in-depth articles to your phone and tablet — although at this early stage, there’s no word on if you can add in your subscriptions to the system.

iPad

Remember the split-screen multitasking that you found on Samsung’s Android devices a few years back? Now, that same ability has come to iOS 9 in the form of Split View, which enables you to see two apps on the screen at the same time, but now those two apps can run concurrently. The company has also busted out a new task switcher that’ll let you watch video as a picture-in-picture window while you bitchily tweet about the action or handle your emails. Unfortunately, this feature is only for the most recent iPad Airs, so if you’re still clinging onto your third-generation Retina model, it’s probably time to upgrade.

Developing…

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Apple

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8
Jun

Siri’s ‘proactive’ overhaul makes it Apple’s answer to Google Now


No, it’s not the Rodan + Fields, Katy Perry-backed acne solution. At today’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, Craig Federighi, Apple’s SVP Software Engineering, revealed a new “proactive” Siri, one with a an overhauled UI and a feature set that makes it Apple’s take on preemptive search. With this new Siri, users can expect both a 40-percent reduction in word error rates for spoken commands and faster research results. It’ll also surface user photos from their library with a simple voice command and even set “intelligent” reminders based on context-specific actions.

Federighi highlighted a few scenarios where Siri’s new context-based intelligence should come in handy. Say, for example, you’re viewing an incoming text from a friend (or boss, as in the onstage demo) that asks you to pick something up, you can easily say “Remind me about this later today.” And Siri will, even adding that reminder straight to the calendar. Siri can now also pick up your iOS habits where you left off. So if you were listening to an audiobook, but then happen to connect your iPhone to the car, that audiobook will automatically surface. Or if you connect headphones to your iPhone, your Now Playing screen from iTunes will pop up.

Perhaps the most Google Now-like aspect of this new Siri is its ability to be always aware of your iOS activity. Now, invites received via email can be added direct to the calendar. But that’s not all, if users swipe right on the home screen, a Siri Suggestions page will appear giving them time to leave reminders, nearby points of interest, traffic conditions and, yes, driving directions.

Federigihi said this new, more intelligent Siri’s made possible by Apple’s API for search, which lets it deep dive into a user’s apps for relevant suggestions. Not to worry, though, as Apple’s doing all this with a heavy emphasis on privacy. According to Federighi, all of this proactivity within Siri is free from identifiers. That means it’s not linked to a user’s Apple ID, other Apple services and isn’t shared with third parties. All of that preemptive search is done on device, granting users the anonymity required for this high-level of a digital assistant.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Apple

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8
Jun

Apple Pay to launch in the UK in July


Apple Pay

Apple’s take on mobile payments have been available in the US for the better part of a year, but here in the UK, we’ve been left with the faint hope that it’ll one day arrive. Rumours suggested it could be announced at WWDC 2015, and it turns out they were correct: Apple Pay will come to this side of the Atlantic next month. Most of the big name banks are on board, with Lloyds, Halifax, Natwest, HSBC and Santander all supporting Apple Pay, but Barclays is a notable omission. Apple says that the service will be available in 250,000 locations, including Lidl, McDonald’s, Nando’s and the Post Office, covering more retailers at launch than were originally available in the US. For commuters and tourists, Transport for London has confirmed it will also support the NFC technology inside its barriers, allowing you to travel on the Tube and the city’s buses without the need for a wallet.

Apple Pay UK Retailers

Apple Pay UK

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Apple

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