Apple WWDC 2015 vs Google I/O 2015 – Who came out on top?
N
ow the dust has settled from the two biggest developer conferences of the year and time has passed enough to digest the products and features that were released, just who came out on top in the battle between Apple and Google?
To evaluate this very question, data has been pulled from around the web and social networks and analytics performed on the hype created by the announcements at WWDC 2015 and Google I/O 2015.
Google I/O 2015 vs Apple WWDC 2015
- Overall WWDC was the event generating far more online visibility on the web, mobile, and social media. There was 154% more digital consumption around WWDC on June 8 than there was around Google I/O on May 28.
- Looking at Twitter, there was 674,120 Tweets around Google and concepts and hashtags relating to Google i/O on May 28. On June 28, there was 1,146,672 Tweets around Apple and concepts and hashtags relating to WWDC. There was 70% more real-time interest around the WWDC keynote than there was around the Google I/O keynote.
- The introduction of Android Pay was definitely the biggest headline of Google I/O as the service generating 76,400 Tweets in May 28. Android M, the latest version of the Android OS generating 32,600 Tweets on May 28, while Google Photos, a new photo sharing service received 28,200 Tweets on the day. Brillo, a new Internet of Things operating system, generated 10,900 Tweets on May 28; with Google Play generating 6,530 Tweets in part around the announcement that it would be supporting HBO Now.
- Meanwhile over the entire June 8, iPad ended up being the WWDC announcement generating the most interest, with the device, largely around the introduction of multitasking, receiving 145,782 Tweets on the day. That edged out, Apple Music, the new music streaming service which generating 111,519 Tweets on June 8. The upcoming iOS 9 was mentioned in 60,822 Tweets; while the new and improved Siri accounted for 28,422 Tweets. The new X El Capitan Mac OS generated 22,626 Tweets on the day.
We can also look at the Twitter activity that Google I/O 2015 generated around the various features that were announced, with the clear winner being Android Pay as generating the most buzz.
Whilst the numbers speak for themselves in demonstrating that WWDC 2015 was the more hyped event, this is often the case of Apple events but not necessarily correlated to the significance of the features announced, which Google arguably prevailed.
But we want to hear from you, the creators of the hype – Are the numbers of social activity of Google I/O 2015 simply not as high as WWDC 2015 because everyone was busy watching and digesting it than tweeting about it?
Sound off in the comments below.
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‘The Bumper’ Review: Apple Watch Case Offers Ample Protection but Some Bulk [iOS Blog]
While charging stands of various designs have proven to be popular accessories for Apple Watch users, a perhaps lesser known category of accessories revolves around protecting the Apple Watch while wearing it.
One of these accessories is Actionproof’s “The Bumper,” a tight-fitting silicone sleeve that promises to protect your new Apple wearable from all the trips and spills made in everyday life. The Bumper may also provide some protection in extreme environments, with the bumper itself offering high resistance to UV radiation, ozone, outdoor exposure, extreme cold (minimum -40°C) and hot (maximum 120°C) temperatures, and basic chemical and abrasion combatants.
Positives
The good thing about The Bumper is that it does what it sets out to do. When placed safely around the 42mm Apple Watch case, The Bumper doesn’t move or jostle throughout the day. It’s a perfect fit for the wearable, with cutouts for the Digital Crown, microphone, speaker, and heart rate sensor. One of the only protective cases to cover the Digital Crown, The Bumper does so with a bracketed slice of silicone that bisects over the Crown, leaving an open space for your finger to manipulate and scroll the knob regardless of which wrist and orientation the watch is worn on.
The small piece covering the Digital Crown makes it so pressing on the button is still manageable, though not quite as easy as without The Bumper. And although a few phone conversations had over the Watch with The Bumper went smoothly, I felt my Apple Watch needed a closer positioning to my face than usual to both hear the conversation and provide ample speaking volume for the person to whom I was speaking. They, on the other hand, remarked no noticeable dip in quality or volume throughout the call.
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OS X El Capitan to Bring New Safari Extensions Gallery as Part of Unified $99 Developer Program
Apple earlier this week announced a new consolidated Apple Developer Program for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Safari, combining the previously separate iOS, OS X and Safari Dev Programs into one for a single $99 annual fee. The change should place more emphasis on and increase the security of Safari extensions, but some developers have voiced their frustrations about the new fee.
In particular, developers will now be required to pay $99 per year to distribute Safari extensions through the new Safari Extensions Gallery. Comparatively, the old standalone Safari Dev Program was free and did not charge developers a fee to distribute Safari extensions within or outside of the Safari Extensions Gallery. Chrome and other browsers also do not charge a fee to distribute extensions.
Reddit user honestbleeps shared the email Apple sent to Safari developers:
“Dear Developer,
As a creator of Safari Extensions, you’ve helped enrich the browsing experience for Safari users by taking advantage of development resources through the Safari Developer Program. This program is now part of the new Apple Developer Program, which combines everything you need to develop, distribute, and manage your apps on all Apple platforms.
Your existing Safari Developer Program membership will remain active until July 8, 2015 and your Safari extensions will continue to work for existing users.
You can continue building Safari extensions and bring your creativity to other Apple platforms by joining the Apple Developer Program. Join today to provide updates to your current extensions, build new extensions, and submit your extensions to the new Safari Extensions Gallery for OS X El Capitan. You can also learn how to extend your coding skills to create innovative new apps for Apple customers around the world.”
Apple aims to improve the security of Safari on OS X El Capitan by implementing Secure Extension Distribution, meaning that all extensions in the Safari Extensions Gallery will now be hosted and signed by Apple. Safari extensions installed from the Safari Extensions Gallery will be updated automatically, while those distributed outside of the Gallery are ineligible for automatic updating.
Apple has created a page for developers to submit Safari extensions for OS X El Capitan in the fall, and developers can read both the Safari Extensions Review Guidelines and Safari Extensions Development Guide to prepare. Safari extensions available now will continue working for current users, and existing Safari Developer Program memberships will remain active until July 8, 2015.
Safari 9.0 will also feature content blocking extensions for both iOS and OS X, providing users with a fast and efficient way to block cookies, images, resources, pop-ups and other content. Xcode includes a Content Blocker App Extension template that contains code for developers to send their JSON files to Safari that specifies which content should be blocked. A full Safari 9.0 changelog is in the Safari Developer Library.
iOS 9 code hints at an iPhone with a front camera flash
Like it or not, selfies remain A Thing — and there are signs that Apple is about to embrace those narcissistic photos through a hardware upgrade. Programmer Hamza Sood has discovered code in iOS 9 which suggests that the next iPhone’s front camera will get a flash (increasingly common on camera-centric phones), so nighttime won’t prevent you from putting yourself in the frame. You could also see some big improvements to video and software-only features, including 1080p recording, 240 frames per second slow-motion capture and panoramas for those extra-wide group shots. There’s no guarantee that any of these features will make the cut in future devices, but they hint that Apple is eager to move past the creaky 720p front cam it offers today.
Photo by Will Lipman.
iOS 9 is hinting at future device front cameras having: 1080p resolution, 240fps slow mo, panoramamic capture, flash pic.twitter.com/NkMjdsUZEX
– Hamza Sood (@hamzasood) June 10, 2015
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple
Via: 9to5Mac
Source: Hamza Sood (Twitter)
iOS 8.4 is coming, will protect against the ‘shutdown bug’
Apple began distributing fourth beta of iOS 8.4 to its developers on Wednesday that includes a permanent solution to the recently discovered “shutdown bug.” This programming glitch causes an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch to automatically reboot when a string of mixed alphanumeric and arabic characters are texted to the device. And since the issue revolves around how iOS’ banner notifications handle unicode, the bug also affects third party messaging apps like Snapchat and Twitter. iOS 8.4 is expected to be out of beta and available to the general public by the end of the month, likely just before the release of Apple Music on June 30th. Until then, users can refer to this Apple Support document for a temporary workaround.
[Image Credit: Getty]
Filed under: Tablets, Internet, Mobile, Apple
Via: MacRumors
Source: Apple
ResearchKit Now Available for iPad [iOS Blog]
Apple has released an updated version of ResearchKit with iPad support and several other new features for developers. ResearchKit 1.1 includes improved slider support, new active tasks, bug fixes, style improvements and more, with some of the changes briefly discussed during Apple’s recent What’s New in Cocoa Touch session at WWDC this week. The full changelog is listed below.
Today we’re happy to announce that we’ve tagged a new stable release of ResearchKit, version 1.1. This new version includes multiple significant contributions:
Audiometry active task (Shazino SAS) Reaction time active task (James Cox) Navigable Ordered Task (Ricardo Sánchez-Sáez) iPad support (Ricardo Sánchez-Sáez, Bruce Duncan, and others) Image Capture step (Bruce Duncan) Improved slider support (various contributors) Plus various bug fixes and style improvements Over the past few weeks these changes have had additional review for accessibility, and have been localized to all the languages iOS supports.
ResearchKit is a software framework that enables researchers and developers to create apps for iOS users to participate in medical studies. Given that ResearchKit is open source, many of the changes made in the latest version were contributed by third-party developers not employed by Apple. A commit list for the ResearchKit 1.1 update is available for developers on GitHub.
(Thanks, Ricardo!)
iOS 9 Files Hint at Front-Facing Camera Improvements With 1080p Video Support and Flash
Code hidden within iOS 9 files hints at upcoming iPhone improvements, suggesting Apple could potentially be planning to introduce a front-facing camera with flash support, the ability to capture 1080p video, and several rear-facing camera capabilities, like Panorama and Slo-Mo modes.
“CAMCaptureCapabilities” files in iOS 9 discovered by developer Hamza Sood have file names like “[CAMCaptureCapabilities isFront1080p120Supported],” which seems to refer to the front-facing camera on the iPhone. At the current time, the front-facing “FaceTime” camera is able to capture 1.2-megapixel photos and record 720p HD video.
There’s no indication that these particular file names reflect Apple’s upcoming plans for the front-facing camera, but it’s possible that these are improvements we may see in the future. The front-facing camera has always lagged behind the rear-facing camera in order to save space, but with the increasing popularity of “selfies,” Apple may choose to introduce some major upgrades to the front-facing camera in the future.
Rumors have suggested that the rear-facing camera will be gaining some major improvements with the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus, so it’s a reasonable assumption that the front-facing camera may also see improvements at the same time. There have been hints suggesting the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus could see the biggest camera jump Apple’s ever introduced, adopting near-DSLR image quality.
Apple did recently acquire a company that specializes in dual-sensor cameras that produce better images and are capable of capturing 3D imagery, but it is not known if that technology will make it into the new iPhones. Apple is expected to introduce the two new devices in the fall, perhaps in mid-September, based on past release timelines.
Spotify Announces 75M Active Users, Raises $526M Following Apple Music Debut
Spotify today announced that it now has more than 75 million active users and 20 million paid subscribers worldwide as the Sweden-based streaming music service prepares to compete with Apple Music, available June 30 on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac and PC.
Spotify doubled the 10 million paid subscribers it had through May 2014 in just one year, and has now paid over $3 billion in royalties to artists, songwriters and rights holders, including more than $300 million in the first three months of 2015 alone.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Spotify has also raised $526 million in a funding round that values the company at $8.53 billion, giving it significantly more financial backing to take on Apple Music and other rivals in the increasingly competitive streaming music market. Spotify will reportedly invest the capital raised from investors in expansion and new forms of content to further differentiate itself.
Apple Music and Spotify Premium both cost $9.99 per month (Image: WSJ)
Spotify operates at a loss due to significant royalties and revenue sharing with music label partners, although the company aims to become profitable through continued subscriber growth. The company announced plans last month to add video programming and podcasts from partners such as ABC, BBC, ESPN, NBC, Comedy Central, Conde Nast, Maker Studios, Turner Broadcasting and Vice Media.
Apple Music was announced earlier this week as a streaming music service, live global radio station and social platform for artists to connect with fans. The subscription-based service costs $9.99 per month with a three-month free trial for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac and PC. Apple TV and Android versions of the service will be available in the fall. Apple Music launches June 30 on iOS 8.4 and iTunes.
New iOS Mail Bug Allows iCloud-Like Popups to Steal User Passwords [iOS Blog]
A new bug facing the iOS Mail app was found recently by security specialist Jan Soucek (via The Register). The malicious bug is capable of delivering false iCloud log-in prompts by allowing remote HTML content to be loaded through an email message delivered to the intended victim. The bug then delivers a convincing iCloud log-in box for users to re-enter their Apple ID and password. Soucek says that Apple did not respond to his discovery of the bug when he stumbled across it back in January.
“Back in January 2015 I stumbled upon a bug in iOS’s mail client, resulting in HTML tag in e-mail messages not being ignored. This bug allows remote HTML content to be loaded, replacing the content of the original e-mail message. JavaScript is disabled in this UIWebView, but it is still possible to build a functional password “collector” using simple HTML and CSS.”
The bug isn’t relegated to only iCloud phishing attacks, however, letting anyone with access to it customize the attack to ask for whichever username and password credentials they feel the need for. Soucek kept the details of the bug only between himself and Apple, letting the company have time to possibly fix the attack and inform him of its progress. Given the company’s remaining quietness on the subject, he decided to publish the proof of concept – called the Mail.app inject kit – on GitHub in hopes of spreading its awareness.
“It was filed under Radar #19479280 back in January, but the fix was not delivered in any of the iOS updates following 8.1.2. Therefore I decided to publish the proof of concept code here.”
While Soucek’s actions bring the malicious bug to more people’s attentions and can help stop it in due time, it also means there’s a wider chance for phishers to deploy it on their own. Until Apple comments on the story and offers a fix for the bug, it’ll be safest to take precaution when any password prompt emerges while browsing email in iOS.
Apple Fixes iMessage Crashing Bug in iOS 8.4 Beta 4
Apple seeded the fourth beta of iOS 8.4 to developers yesterday with a fix for a messaging bug that causes an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to crash after receiving a specific string of Unicode characters via iMessage or SMS. The bug also affects the Mac and Apple Watch and extends to third-party messaging apps such as Snapchat, Twitter and WhatsApp, as the issue is tied to the way banner notifications process Unicode.
Sending the string of characters to an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch results in an immediate respring, causing the device to crash and quickly reboot. From there, if the Messages app was opened at a list view, the Messages app crashes automatically when you try to open it. If it was opened to the conversation where you received the message, the app will open, but attempting to go to another conversation causes Messages to crash.
Apple recently published a support document on its website with a temporary workaround for the problem, and ensured that a permanent fix would be issued in a future software update. That fix has arrived in the form of iOS 8.4, which will be released ahead of Apple Music’s launch on June 30. In the meantime, affected users can ask Siri to “read unread messages” and use Siri to reply to the malicious message in order to regain access to the Messages app and delete the message.
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