OS X Yosemite: Apple’s latest desktop operating system is free this fall
Apple’s just unveiled the latest update to its desktop operating system for Macs and it’s called Yosemite. While last year’s Mavericks brought the inevitable reality of iOS/OS X integration even further with the introduction of familiar apps, like Maps and iBooks, this time around Apple’s Tim Cook promises both systems are now “engineered to work seamlessly together.”
Craig Federighi, SVP of Software Engineering at Apple, explained that Apple’s focus for OS X Yosemite was on clarity, continuity and clear font type throughout the operating system. Finder window menus are now translucent, matching up with the image backgrounds on your desktop to dynamically shift for personality and color temperature. This effect has been translated to the refreshed dock which, itself, has also gotten a slight makeover with newer, flatter-looking icons and even a new trash can; something Federighi referred to as “fundamentally still Mac.” There’s even a new “dark mode,” giving users the option to eschew translucency for dark grey toolbars.
As Cook mentioned at the start of today’s WWDC kick-off, the prevailing theme of this OS X update is one of uniformity and the enhancements made to Yosemite reflect that direction. The OS now sports changes to menu navigation for Apple’s suite of desktop applications that see the nav bar moved to the left rail across all programs, like Messages or FaceTime.
Federighi went on to highlight changes to Notification Center in Yosemite, saying that users can expect to now see a full day’s worth of their schedule lumped in with regular notifications from other apps. To swap between the two, Apple’s added in tabs at the top to let users minimize the information (i.e., calender, reminders, news updates) shown at a glance. Widgets for weather, stocks and calculator have also been tossed into this new Notification Center for easy access.
One of the more glaring changes to OS Yosemite, is the addition of Spotlight search as a front and center service throughout the system. A search bar, akin to Google’s search bar across Android devices, will appear in the midst of the desktop so users can quickly index and surface apps, docs and other items of interest without having to go all the way to the icon on the upper right of the menu bar. This new Spotlight can even be used to bring up full contacts info and any related information — be it a shared document or scheduled appointment — attached to a specific contact search.
The change to Spotlight here, as we mentioned previously, really seems to be going after the preemptive search of Google Now. Federighi showed off how the feature can now make recommendations for movie times, nearby restaurants and even offer measurement conversions. Apple’s even worked Spotlight into the address bar of the revamped Safari browser, again, to give users a one-stop shop for search across the web and local files.
As for Safari, that browser has predictably been updated for continuity, Federighi’s favorite buzz term for this WWDC. The browser’s window carries over the translucency seen in other areas of the operating system, but also sports changes to some familiar functions. Favorites are now hidden by default, but users can access these by clicking on the address bar. Sharing out links to social networks has been simplified with a one-click process and RSS feeds will populate in the browser’s sidebar.
AirDrop in Yosemite now works with iOS, so iPhone owners can easily transfer files to the Mac and back. Another example of “continuity” is Hand-off, OS X Yosemite’s ability to recognize work being done on iOS that a user might want to continue on the desktop. The feature works very simply: Once an action is detected on iOS, Yosemite will create an icon on the desktop to remind the user to complete the task. This sensing ability also extends to creating a tethered connection, as a user’s iPhone will now appear as a connection option in the WiFi dropdown.
Gmail users have long enjoyed the ability to make and receive calls from their laptop and now Apple’s giving users of its ecosystem that same perk. Once connected to your iPhone, Yosemite will prompt users with notifications to answer or ignore incoming calls (both audio and video); a feature Federighi demoed by ignoring his Mother’s call and then calling new Apple employee, Dr. Dre. The OS will even allow users to click on a number within a website (say from a restaurant page) to dial it directly.
Since WWDC is a developer-focused conference, Apple is making OS X Yosemite available to them to download beginning today, with a non-dev beta to be released this summer. But, as it was with OS X Mavericks, today’s Yosemite reveal is only a teaser for the Apple user public-at-large and that full retail release won’t be available until sometime this Fall. Though, when Apple does unleash OS Yosemite later this year, users will be able to download it for free.
Apple takes on Dropbox with iCloud Drive
Apple’s slowly improved iCloud since it transitioned from MobileMe, but this year its getting a serious upgrade. On stage at WWDC 2104, Apple’s SVP of Software Craig Federighi introduced us to a better way to manage files with the new iCloud Drive. With Drive, all of your iCloud files are available right inside Finder, letting you access documents and media wherever you are on your Mac. Because they’re on iCloud, they’re automatically auto-synced across devices and are fully searchable and taggable. You will, of course, need OS X Yosemite to take advantage of Finder support, but Apple hopes you’ll ditch Dropbox and Google’s services in favor of Drive’s deep OS support. As expected, iOS 8 will also include iCloud Drive functionality, letting you to work with a single version of a document on all of your devices (which surprisingly includes Windows machines).
In Yosemite and iOS 8, Apple has improved its photo-editing tools while keeping iCloud a central part of it all. In Apple’s new Photos apps you’ll be able to auto-straighten photos, perform color corrections and tweak your media with a press of a button. You can change those settings individually but the app will do them all in concert to make the picture look as good as it can. All of those adjustments are stored in their original formats (and resolution) and then automatically synced between all of your devices over iCloud. The Mac app won’t be available until later this year, but when you’re up and running, the first 5GB of iCloud storage for those shots is free, 20GB will cost a buck a month and 200GB will be available for $4 per month.
Switching to Mail, Apple’s aiming to put things right with the inconsistent app that shipped with Mavericks. In Yosemite, expect to enjoy better syncing, fast message fetching and better file support. With this in mind, Apple’s taken inspiration from Mac apps like Sparrow and Airmail and launched MailDrop, a new feature that addresses a “fundamental problem with email” by letting you send large files (up to 5GB) over email via iCloud. If you’ve sent a large file in the past, you might have encountered a bounce message, Apple’s overcoming that by hosting the file on your behalf — Mac users get the file without clicking, other clients can get to it through the link.
Apple revamps Safari with new UI, power-saving features
Filed under: Apple
OS X Yosemite will be available for free this fall
Apple just announced that its latest desktop operating system, OS X Yosemite, will be available as a free upgrade to Mac users later this fall. Developers, meanwhile, will have access to it starting today. In addition to this, Apple revealed that, through its public beta program, some non-developer folks can start playing with the new version of OS X in the summer. Yosemite brings a completely redesigned user interface and deep integration with iOS, to highlight a couple of things. We’ll likely hear more about Apple’s OS X Yosemite in the days to come; for now, stay tuned to our WWDC liveblog to get more Apple-related coverage.
Filed under: Apple
Apple reveals iOS 8 at WWDC 2014
We all knew it was coming, and now it’s here. Apple CEO Tim Cook just put months of breathless speculation to rest by pulling back the curtain on iOS 8 during the company’s WWDC 2014 keynote address in San Francisco. It doesn’t look like the sort of quantum leap that iOS 7 was, but Apple’s head honcho assures us that it interacts in some fantastic ways with the new version of OS X and that it pairs great end user features with great developer features. Well, we’ll be the judges of that. The big keynote is still underway, but here’s what we know so far.
Interactive Notifications
We’ve all been there — you get a message while you’re doing something else, and you just can’t be bothered to switch apps. With iOS 8, you can pull down from that notification shade and respond from right there. It’s not limited to messages, either — you’ll be able to like/comment on Facebook messages or handle your calendar events.
Improved Mail
Apple has introduced Mailbox-style actions to its stock Mail application, too. You can easily tag or dismiss certain missives without even having to open them up, and all it takes is a quick swipe on the contents of your inbox.
Spotlight
The company made a big to-do about how much better Spotlight is in OS X Yosemite, so it’s only natural the iOS version gets an upgrade as well. Among other things, it’ll let you search for apps you haven’t even installed yet, songs in the iTunes store, movie times and locations and more. Media isn’t the only focus here, though. It’ll also show directions to locations you type in to even news.
QuickType
At long last, iOS is getting an improved on-screen keyboard. In short, we’re looking at an improved recognition service that can more accurately predict what it is you’re trying to say. Hopefully this means an end to all the “ducking” typos going on out there.
iMessage takes on Whatsapp
Facebook just bought Whatsapp for an obscene amount of money, but that hasn’t stopped the folks in Cupertino from replicating some of the app’s most-used features. Among other things, you can send audio and video messages from within the app — in the old days, you’d have to pop out into the camera or Voice Memos to create your content and then send it over. Even better: you can respond to one of those audio messages right from the lock screen if you just raise your iPhone to your face.
Continuity
We’ve touched on this elsewhere, but the newly announced Continuity between iOS and OS X is a very, very welcome shift for Apple. You’ll be able to pick up and initiate phone from within OS X, even when your iPhone is across the house. Is someone calling you? You’ll get a caller ID notification, and a quick touch lets you use your Mac as a speakerphone. And if one of your non-Apple pals shoots you a plain ol’ text message, your iPhone will relay it to all your other iDevices.
HealthKit and the Health app
Think of HealthKit as a one-stop shop for all the health data that gets collected from all the tracking apps on your phone. Apple’s teaming up with a few key partners to use that data — Nike can provide access to your fitness and activity data, and the Mayo Clinic hopes to get actual, real-time health information from patients through HealthKit. And for you, the end user? You’ll be able to keep tabs on the measurements that matter most to you by way of a (startlingly pretty) new Health app.
Family Sharing
Apple is being embraced by businesses all over the place, but that’s not the only organization the company is concerned with winning over. With its new Family Sharing push, those even smaller groups (up to 6 people, if you were curious) can share a single calendar and app and content purchases. If you’re a parent and your lil’ whippersnapper has an affinity for buying things from iTunes with your credit, well, never fear. Once connected, those young ones will be told to seek your permission and you’ll get a notification on your phone to that effect.
A Slightly Smarter Siri
Craig Federighi just glossed through a spate of Siri modifications, none of which were as interesting as what we were hoping for. She’s still in solid shape, though: You can invoke her presence in the car by saying “Hey, Siri,” and the virtual assistant can listen to music and identify it (thanks to a little help from Shazam). In case you happen upon something you like, you’ll be able to download that track right from Siri’s results page.
This is a developing story, please refresh for updates (or check our liveblog!)
Filed under: Mobile
OS X Yosemite will let you answer calls to your iPhone from your Mac
As part of OS X Yosemite’s focus on creating a more seamless experience between your Mac and iOS devices, Apple’s updating iMessage to keep conversations going. Now it’s not just instant messages from other Apple devices that show up on the desktop app, but texts and multimedia that’ve been sent from other platforms, too (texts from your friends’ Android devices, for example). Oh, and you can now make and take regular phone calls from your Mac when your iPhone is in range. Part of the new “hand-off feature” that means your computer and iDevice know exactly what the other is doing, if someone calls your phone, you’ll see a pop-up asking if you want to answer right from your computer. It works the other way, as well, so you can make calls without touching your phone. And, what better way to show off the new feature than to call Dre live on stage. Show-offs.
Messaging has received some TLC in the upcoming iOS 8 update, too. Word predictions across iMessage, Mail, etc. will take the person you’re talking to into account — expecting your vocabulary will be more formal with your boss than with your buddies. All the data that goes along with smart predictions will be stored locally, by the way. Group threads are a bit more malleable, allowing you to add or remove people from the conversation, yourself included. You can also share your current location to a message group. A spirited back and forth annoying you while you’re trying to work? Well, turning Do Not Disturb on for that individual thread means you can stop notifications from that conversation, but allow everything else to get through.
Probably the most important new feature is the addition of voice and video messaging. And, to respond to a voice message with one of your own, you simply raise the iPhone to your ear and start talking. To stop threads full of audio and video hogging all your internal memory, these kind of messages will self-destruct, Snapchat-style. Unless you specifically choose to save them, that is.
Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Laptops, Mobile, Apple
Apple’s Health app for iOS 8 collects your vitals from Nike and more
Apple’s iPhone is going from part-time health stat monitor to full-time mobile monitoring unit. HealthKit is a new service coming to the iPhone that tracks, records and analyzes your fitness level across a variety of metrics (sleep, movement, etc.). The way you use it on iOS 8 is through a new app called, simply, “Health.” The initiative works with companies like Nike to bring all your health information into one place, under the Health app in the next update to iOS. It looks a lot like Passbook, using cards to identify various stats. Thusly, it enables customization of the stats you want tracked and how you want it presented.
Apple says Health will work with more than just Nike, though other big players weren’t given the same shoutout. Beyond exercise applications, HealthKit is working with healthcare providers to provide up-to-date information on patient vitals in real-time.
The Mayo Clinic, a Minnesota non-profit, is already working with Apple on making the software work best for both doctors and patients. In the examples shown today at Apple’s WWDC event in San Francisco, Health advised patients of wellness plans set by their doctors and enabled a futuristic approach to healthcare.
Health assuredly works with Apple’s M7 chip, first introduced in the iPhone 5S, which tracks motion stats and enables collection of much of the metrics HealthKit aims to collect. It also sounds like the software bedrock for the long-rumored iWatch concept — a smartwatch/wearable of some form directly from Apple — though we’re yet to hear anything official on that.
Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Household, Software, Apple
Family Sharing on iOS spreads photos, purchases and more amongst relatives
With the arrival of iOS 8, sharing amongst the family is about to get a lot easier. Once you set up all the members of your household (up to six total), you can automatically share photos, calendars, reminders and more. But that’s not all. You know that catchy tune your son bought last week? Well, you’ll be able spin it on your iPhone too. Sharing books, movies, apps and songs is also thrown in, and it can all be tied to a single credit card. Don’t worry parents: you’ll get a notification when your kids want to make a purchase.
Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Software, Apple
Apple Announces ‘iCloud Drive’ and ‘Mail Drop’ Features for OS X Yosemite [Mac Blog]
At today’s WWDC keynote event, Apple announced iCloud Drive and Mail Drop, two new cloud-based services that are a part of the new OS X Yosemite.
iCloud Drive allows users to store all of their individual files from OS X and iOS in addition to data from applications on Apple’s cloud storage service, with the feature syncing all files across every Mac. The files stored on iCloud Drive are even available on a user’s iOS devices, as the feature also contains support for Windows through the iCloud client. Apple will also be announcing cloud drive pricing and storage amounts for the service at a later time.
(Image Credit: The Verge)
Meanwhile, Apple’s new Mail Drop feature allows users to send attachments up to 5GB through iCloud, as files sent can be encrypted or seamlessly sent on a Mac.
iCloud Drive and Mail Drop will ship as a part of OS X 10.10 Yosemite, which will be available this fall for free.
Apple Announces OS X Yosemite with Improved iOS and Mac Connectivity and New UI [Mac Blog]
Apple today announced the latest version of OS X, Yosemite, at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, CA with a brand new user interface designed for clarity and utility, iCloud Drive and improved continuity between iOS devices and Mac.
Continuinity is the biggest new feature of OS X Yosemite, improving the connection between Macs and iOS devices. AirDrop now allows users to share items between iOS devices and Macs. Handoff is a new feature that allows devices near you to recognize when you’re using a Mac. For instance, it allows users to answer phone calls to their iPhone on their Mac, instantly start a Hotspot from your iPhone and allows users to see “green dot” conversations on their Mac.
The new UI is very similar to the flat look of iOS 7 with translucent windows, a new dock and app icons and an all-new notification center with a Today pane and both first- and third-party widgets like Weather and SportsCenter. There’s also a new dark mode, which lets users turn the overall interface into the more darkened tone of Notification Center.
Also new to the UI is a brand new interface for Spotlight, which looks like third-party Mac apps like Bartender and Quicksilver and pops up in the center of the desktop. The new Spotlight allows users to not only search through their computer, but online through sources like Wikipedia, Yelp and movie times. In addition, Spotlight can do certain conversions, like converting miles to kilometers.
The second big improvement is iCloud Drive, a Dropbox-like addition that syncs all your documents across Macs, iOS devices and Windows. It allows users to browse documents and photos on devices even if they’re not stored on that device.
Mail’s improvements include Mail Drop and Markup. Mail Drop’s intention is to solve the problem of sending attachments that are far too large and result in failed sendings. iCloud now encrypts the attachments and sends the recipient a link to the attachment if it’s too large. Attachments, however, are limited to 5 GB. Markup, on the other hand, allows users to sketch and doodle on emails.
Safari has also seen improvements with a new tab view, increased privacy, and new HTML 5 video, which allows for 2 hours more battery life when streaming Netflix. The new tab view allows users to see a bird’s eye view of all open tabs and allowing users to bunch tabs together. In addition, Safari includes 6.5x faster on Javascript and includes WebGL, SPDY, IndexedDB, Javascript Promises, CSS Shapes and more.
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