Apple is redesigning the App Store

Every year, more developers flood onto the App Store in the hope of finding an audience and some lucrative revenue. The sheer volume of apps means it’s hard to get noticed, however, and on the flip-side it’s difficult for users to find genuinely useful software. So Apple is finally redesigning the App Store. It has a similar look to Apple Music and News, with large, bubble-like cards displayed in a visual feed. You’ll start on the Today tab, which has a curated and personalised selection of apps to browse. Swipe across and you’ll hit Games, followed by (your) Apps, Updates and Search.

Apple kicked off the reveal with a “world premiere” of Monument Valley 2, a successor to the M.C Escher-inspired game by UsTwo. Scrolling through each feed, it’s clear that less information will be visible on your screen at any one time — Apple is banking on that being a boon, rather than a drawback, however. The company wants to avoid “information overload” by focusing on smaller, specialized app lists instead. There will be an App of the Day, a Game of the Day and even Store-specific blog posts and lists — one example Apple showed was called “5 Tips to Get More out of VSCO.”

When you find an app, you’ll notice that in-app purchases are now available on the same page. That means you can buy photo filters, or sign up for a monthly video streaming subscription without digging through the app itself. Description pages are also being reworked so that developers can write longer, creative notes, rather like a blogging platform. All told, it’s a huge revamp for the App Store. The renewed focus on curation is intriguing — it will, in theory, improve app discovery, boosting revenue and competition. If Apple’s efforts fail, however, it could exasperate the store’s existing issues, making it harder than ever for developers to earn a living.

Get all the latest news from WWDC 2017 here!

Source: Apple (PR)

Apple focuses on safety behind the wheel with iOS 11

Using your phone while driving is incredibly dangerous. But for a lot of us, it’s tough to ignore all those notifications when we should be paying attention to the road. So Apple has created a new feature for the upcoming iOS 11, Do Not Disturb While Driving.

The feature does exactly what you expect, it keeps all those pesky alerts from appearing on your screen while you’re behind the wheel. It uses Bluetooth or WiFi doppler effect to determine how quickly you’re moving and will show you a blank screen.

After you’ve used the feature once, it’ll prompt you to launch DNDWD when it determines if you’re in a moving vehicle. You can dismiss the notice by saying you’re a passenger.

When enabled, the feature also auto-replies to texts with a message that you’re driving. There is the option to whitelist certain contacts and they’ll have the option to text back “urgent” to display their text regardless if Do Not Disturb While Driving is running.

The new option is Apple’s way of making the iPhone more car and safety friendly when the driver doesn’t have access to CarPlay.

Apple also updated its Maps app with lane guidance so drivers are alerted which lane they should be in for things like exiting the freeway. The company also added detailed indoor Mall and Airport maps so you can find your gate and the nearest Sbarro.

Get all the latest news from WWDC 2017 here!

Apple focuses on safety behind the wheel with iOS 11

Using your phone while driving is incredibly dangerous. But for a lot of us, it’s tough to ignore all those notifications when we should be paying attention to the road. So Apple has created a new feature for the upcoming iOS 11, Do Not Disturb While Driving.

The feature does exactly what you expect, it keeps all those pesky alerts from appearing on your screen while you’re behind the wheel. It uses Bluetooth or WiFi doppler effect to determine how quickly you’re moving and will show you a blank screen.

After you’ve used the feature once, it’ll prompt you to launch DNDWD when it determines if you’re in a moving vehicle. You can dismiss the notice by saying you’re a passenger.

When enabled, the feature also auto-replies to texts with a message that you’re driving. There is the option to whitelist certain contacts and they’ll have the option to text back “urgent” to display their text regardless if Do Not Disturb While Driving is running.

The new option is Apple’s way of making the iPhone more car and safety friendly when the driver doesn’t have access to CarPlay.

Apple also updated its Maps app with lane guidance so drivers are alerted which lane they should be in for things like exiting the freeway. The company also added detailed indoor Mall and Airport maps so you can find your gate and the nearest Sbarro.

Get all the latest news from WWDC 2017 here!

Apple brings mulitroom speaker support to HomeKit with AirPlay 2

Apple’s HomeKit has provided iPhone and iPad users with a simple platform to connect multiple smart home devices, but it’s shied away from one of the most important gadgets: speakers. While we’re yet to see the rumored Siri speaker, the company announced today that it’s expanding its smart home hub to support a large number of third-party audio hardware.

Many of the brands you’d expect to be on board are, including Bang & Olufsen, Bose, Denon, Bowers & Wilkins, Libratone and, of course, Beats. However, Sonos isn’t on the list, at least at the moment. If you happen to own a connected speaker made by one of Apple’s listed partners, expect them to introduce new speakers that integrate with the HomeKit app, allowing you to control your multi-room setup and enjoy collaborative Apple Music playlists that you’ve curated with friends.

The functionality comes as a result of AirPlay 2, an updated version of Apple’s wireless AV technology. The company hasn’t clarified if older AirPlay-enabled speakers can be updated to support the new platform — we’ve contacted Apple for more information and will update you once we hear back.

Get all the latest news from WWDC 2017 here!

Apple brings mulitroom speaker support to HomeKit with AirPlay 2

Apple’s HomeKit has provided iPhone and iPad users with a simple platform to connect multiple smart home devices, but it’s shied away from one of the most important gadgets: speakers. While we’re yet to see the rumored Siri speaker, the company announced today that it’s expanding its smart home hub to support a large number of third-party audio hardware.

Many of the brands you’d expect to be on board are, including Bang & Olufsen, Bose, Denon, Bowers & Wilkins, Libratone and, of course, Beats. However, Sonos isn’t on the list, at least at the moment. If you happen to own a connected speaker made by one of Apple’s listed partners, expect them to introduce new speakers that integrate with the HomeKit app, allowing you to control your multi-room setup and enjoy collaborative Apple Music playlists that you’ve curated with friends.

The functionality comes as a result of AirPlay 2, an updated version of Apple’s wireless AV technology. The company hasn’t clarified if older AirPlay-enabled speakers can be updated to support the new platform — we’ve contacted Apple for more information and will update you once we hear back.

Get all the latest news from WWDC 2017 here!

Apple introduces the new 10.5-inch iPad Pro

Apple’s original 12.9-inch iPad Pro hit the scene in November 2015. Its sheer size and high-end specs made it a standout of the tablet scene, while the Apple Pencil made to work with it made it a hit with designers and other creatives. Now, just a year after Apple introduced a smaller, still capable 9.7-inch iPad Pro with a more typical form factor, the tech company has replaced it with a new, larger model: a 10.5-inch iPad Pro.

This new model — which appears to be replacing the 9.7-inch iPad Pro — has a larger 10.5 inch display, which is 20 percent larger, with a 40 percent reduction in borders, and it weighs in at 1 pound. It has a full-size onscreen keyboard, as well as a full-sized Smart Keyboard (that Apple sells separately), with support for more than 30 languages. For the first time, there will be a Japanese-language keyboard, too.

There’s a True Tone display, a wide color gamut, Ultralow reflectivity and 600 nit brightness, making watching movies even better. Under the hood, the iPad Pro uses an A10X Fusion chip with a six-core CPU, which brings three high-performance cores and three high-efficiency ones. There’s also a 12-core GPU on deck, which should translate to a 40 percent boost in graphics performance, according to Apple. All of this also comes to the larger 12.9-inch iPad Pro, making your choice more about size and price than performance or specs.

The new Pro models will now support fast charging, USB 3 support and some new smart covers. The beginning models will start with 64 GB of memory, twice the amount the entry line had previously. There’s a new 12MP camera (and a 7-megapixel FaceTime HD camera) with optical image stabilization and a high-speed sensor with a 1.8 apterture. The camera has a six-element lense, quad-LED True Tone Flash, wide color capture, and 4K video capture. Plus? iOS 11 has a plethora of new iPad-specific features.

The new iPad Pro line starts at $649 for the 10.5-inch model (which is only $50 more than the previous 9.7-inch model), and only another $150 for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro’s entry level device, which starts at at $799.

Get all the latest news from WWDC 2017 here!

Source: Apple

Apple introduces the new 10.5-inch iPad Pro

Apple’s original 12.9-inch iPad Pro hit the scene in November 2015. Its sheer size and high-end specs made it a standout of the tablet scene, while the Apple Pencil made to work with it made it a hit with designers and other creatives. Now, just a year after Apple introduced a smaller, still capable 9.7-inch iPad Pro with a more typical form factor, the tech company has replaced it with a new, larger model: a 10.5-inch iPad Pro.

This new model — which appears to be replacing the 9.7-inch iPad Pro — has a larger 10.5 inch display, which is 20 percent larger, with a 40 percent reduction in borders, and it weighs in at 1 pound. It has a full-size onscreen keyboard, as well as a full-sized Smart Keyboard (that Apple sells separately), with support for more than 30 languages. For the first time, there will be a Japanese-language keyboard, too.

There’s a True Tone display, a wide color gamut, Ultralow reflectivity and 600 nit brightness, making watching movies even better. Under the hood, the iPad Pro uses an A10X Fusion chip with a six-core CPU, which brings three high-performance cores and three high-efficiency ones. There’s also a 12-core GPU on deck, which should translate to a 40 percent boost in graphics performance, according to Apple. All of this also comes to the larger 12.9-inch iPad Pro, making your choice more about size and price than performance or specs.

The new Pro models will now support fast charging, USB 3 support and some new smart covers. The beginning models will start with 64 GB of memory, twice the amount the entry line had previously. There’s a new 12MP camera (and a 7-megapixel FaceTime HD camera) with optical image stabilization and a high-speed sensor with a 1.8 apterture. The camera has a six-element lense, quad-LED True Tone Flash, wide color capture, and 4K video capture. Plus? iOS 11 has a plethora of new iPad-specific features.

The new iPad Pro line starts at $649 for the 10.5-inch model (which is only $50 more than the previous 9.7-inch model), and only another $150 for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro’s entry level device, which starts at at $799.

Get all the latest news from WWDC 2017 here!

Source: Apple

ARKit is Apple’s new reality-bending developer platform

Apple is diving into the world of augmented reality. ARKit is Apple’s new developer platform, allowing programmers to build apps that blend the real world with digital objects. It’s due out later this year in iOS 11. ARKit supports Unity, Unreal and SceneKit — opening up the worlds of AR game development and movie-making — and it offers motion tracking, plus plane, lighting and scale estimations.

Since ARKit will be available on iPads and iPhones, Apple CEO Tim Cook claims it will represent the world’s largest AR platform. Compare it to Google Tango, for example: Google doesn’t automatically include Tango on every Android device; instead, manufacturers must choose to include it.

Wingnut AR, The Hobbit director Peter Jackson’s company, demoed an ARKit game on-stage at Apple’s WWDC event today. Creative Director Alasdair Coull held up an iPad Pro to a blank table and, on-screen, a living industrial village popped up, complete with townsfolk milling around and bombs dropping from planes. We also got a glimpse at an even more realistic version of Pokemon Go — the OG AR app — made possible via ARKit.

ARKit exists thanks in large part to advances in artificial intelligence technology. Apple hasn’t exactly been secretive about its focus on machine learning: Within the past year alone, the company published its first AI research paper, hired a Carnegie Mellon computer science professor, acquired the companies Turi and Lattice Data, and started building hardware specifically for AI. Almost exactly one year ago, during WWDC 2016, Apple teased how its own deep neural networks would improve the iPhone.

Siri is a driving force behind Apple’s AI push. Voice-activated assistants have found a hungry market, and major companies including Amazon and Google are working quickly to build the best, most natural digital personality. At this year’s I/O conference, Google showcased its AI efforts, focusing on technology that would help Home, Android and other gadgets better understand human behavior and language. So far, Google’s early investments in AI have paid off.

Apple is hoping for similar results with its HomePod smart speaker, powered by Siri. The company revealed the Amazon Echo and Google Home competitor today, priced at $350 and due to hit stores in December.

Apple is also using upgrades in computer learning to improve iOS, watchOS, macOS, tvOS and its Photos app. Robust AI tech is crucial to Apple’s self-driving car plans, too.

Get all the latest news from WWDC 2017 here!

ARKit is Apple’s new reality-bending developer platform

Apple is diving into the world of augmented reality. ARKit is Apple’s new developer platform, allowing programmers to build apps that blend the real world with digital objects. It’s due out later this year in iOS 11. ARKit supports Unity, Unreal and SceneKit — opening up the worlds of AR game development and movie-making — and it offers motion tracking, plus plane, lighting and scale estimations.

Since ARKit will be available on iPads and iPhones, Apple CEO Tim Cook claims it will represent the world’s largest AR platform. Compare it to Google Tango, for example: Google doesn’t automatically include Tango on every Android device; instead, manufacturers must choose to include it.

Wingnut AR, The Hobbit director Peter Jackson’s company, demoed an ARKit game on-stage at Apple’s WWDC event today. Creative Director Alasdair Coull held up an iPad Pro to a blank table and, on-screen, a living industrial village popped up, complete with townsfolk milling around and bombs dropping from planes. We also got a glimpse at an even more realistic version of Pokemon Go — the OG AR app — made possible via ARKit.

ARKit exists thanks in large part to advances in artificial intelligence technology. Apple hasn’t exactly been secretive about its focus on machine learning: Within the past year alone, the company published its first AI research paper, hired a Carnegie Mellon computer science professor, acquired the companies Turi and Lattice Data, and started building hardware specifically for AI. Almost exactly one year ago, during WWDC 2016, Apple teased how its own deep neural networks would improve the iPhone.

Siri is a driving force behind Apple’s AI push. Voice-activated assistants have found a hungry market, and major companies including Amazon and Google are working quickly to build the best, most natural digital personality. At this year’s I/O conference, Google showcased its AI efforts, focusing on technology that would help Home, Android and other gadgets better understand human behavior and language. So far, Google’s early investments in AI have paid off.

Apple is hoping for similar results with its HomePod smart speaker, powered by Siri. The company revealed the Amazon Echo and Google Home competitor today, priced at $350 and due to hit stores in December.

Apple is also using upgrades in computer learning to improve iOS, watchOS, macOS, tvOS and its Photos app. Robust AI tech is crucial to Apple’s self-driving car plans, too.

Get all the latest news from WWDC 2017 here!

‘Monument Valley 2’ is now available on iOS

Monument Valley is one of the greatest mobile games ever released, a brilliant puzzle jaunt through an MC Escher landscape punctuated with lovely chimes and audio accents. Nobody expected a sequel to come around any time soon, so Apple nonchalantly announcing the game at WWDC today is a delightful surprise. Monument Valley 2 is officially live on the App Store for $5.

Per the game’s description, the sequel seems to follow a mother looking out for her child as they explore the titular valley. Get the game today so you can be in the know when you see it pop up in House of Cards next season.

Get all the latest news from WWDC 2017 here!

Source: Monument Valley 2 (App Store)