Apple : WWDC 2013: Apple outs iTunes Radio, full stream ahead

WWDC 2013: Apple outs iTunes Radio, full stream ahead
WWDC 2013: Apple lifts lid on new Mac Pro
WWDC 2013: MacBook Air gets Intel Haswell refresh
WWDC: Apple unveils OS X 10.9 Mavericks
In depth: iRadio release date, news and rumours

WWDC 2013: Apple outs iTunes Radio, full stream ahead

Posted:

Apple has just made iTunes Radio official over at WWDC 2013, with the new service set to bring music streaming to iTunes users.

Keep up to date with all the latest news from WWDC 2013 here

iTunes Radio is built into the music app on iOS 7, iTunes and Apple TV. It will be a free service, but you'll have to put up with ads.

If you don't fancy the ads interrupting your music then you'll have to subscribe to iTunes Match to do away with them.

Stream on

The music streaming service is coming to the US first, with other countries being added over time.

"It's the best music player we have ever done," Apple's Eddy Cue reckoned, as he ran through Pandora-like 'radio stations' which it hopes will revolutionise how you find new music - with the ever-present buy button reminding you that you can, of course, buy the songs from iTunes.

iTunes Radio

iTunes Radio is also the first music streaming service to feature Led Zepplin, which will please a certain portion of you we have no doubt.

WWDC 2013: Apple lifts lid on new Mac Pro

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Apple has revealed its long-teased new Mac Pro at WWDC 2013, giving the desktop computer its biggest overhaul since 2010.

The new cylinder-shaped Mac Pro is just a fraction of the size of the previous Mac Pro and runs on a 12-core, 256-bit Intel Xeon processor with 1,866MHz DDR3 RAM.

The new Pro uses Flash storage that reads at 1.25 GPBs. Appls claims that it's 10 times faster than the old Mac Pro.

New Pro is go

This will also be the first Mac to come standard with dual AMD FirePro GPUs, which can support up to three 4K displays at once. Meanwhile external expansion is all done via 20 GBps Thunderbolt 2.

The new powerhouse provides gigabit ethernet, USB 3.0 and HDMI Out.

The new Mac Pro will be landing later this year, though Apple hasn't yet said how much you'll be coughing up for it.

Find out everything else going on at this year's WWDC event

WWDC 2013: MacBook Air gets Intel Haswell refresh

Posted:

Apple has introduced its new MacBook Air range at WWDC 2013, and as predicted, the new line comes loaded with Intel's newest Haswell 4th-gen Core processor, promising a better battery life.

Apple promises all-day battery, while WiFi is also upgraded to 802.11ac which gives it up to three times the performance.

It will be available in 11-inch and 13-inch guises, offering up longer battery life of 9 hours and 12 hours respectively.

Yeah, yeah, let's talk bucks

The 11-inch model will start at $999 (around £640, AU$1055) for the 128GB version and $1199 (around £1260, AU$) if you fancy 256GB - which is cheaper than previous MacBook Airs.

Meanwhile the 128GB 13-inch MacBook Air starts at $1099 (around £710, AU$1160) and the 256GB version begins at $1299 (around £835, AU$1370).

Both models will start shipping today in the US at least - there's currently no word on international availability and pricing.

WWDC: Apple unveils OS X 10.9 Mavericks

Posted:

Apple has lifted the lid on the latest version of its OS X operating system at its annual WWDC event in San Francisco.

The company's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi took to the stage to announce the successor to OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, dubbed OS X 10.9 Mavericks.

New features include tabbed finder windows that allow users to locate content using tags, and improved multi-display support, which has become a particular bugbear for Mountain Lion users using multiple displays in the past year.

The company has also made several improvements to Safari under the hood to improve performance, including the way the browser handles Javascript, alongside tweaks to the way it displays top sites and handles scrolling.

Apple also introduced iCloud keychain, which stores credit card details within the browser, and notifications have been given an overhaul to allow OS X to receive push notifications from directly from apps running on iOS devices.

Additionally, Apple has introduced a Maps app with the latest version of OS X which includes turn-by-turn directions and flyover data. It also has the ability to send route data directly to the lock screens on users' iPhones.

The company has also revamped OS X's Calendar app to integrate with Maps, allowing users to look up travel times between two locations on the calendar to prevent them from scheduling anything in that period.

Another addition to Mavericks is iBooks, which provides access to the app's back catalog of publications. The new desktop iBooks app also allows users to zoom into and scroll through interactive books, change font sizes, and add annotations to the side.

Federighi has confirmed that Mavericks will be available in Autumn.

In depth: iRadio release date, news and rumours

Posted:

Apple's foray into the music streaming arena has been a long time coming and rumour has it that Apple will unveil its so-called iRadio product to devs at WWDC 2013 later today.

But will it be too little too late for the tech giant to take on the already bedded in likes of Spotify, Pandora and Rdio? We take a look at what's on the cards for an Apple-flavoured music streamer.

iRadio won't be called iRadio

There are so many reasons why Apple should shun the name iRadio. For starters, it's ugly and inelegant and those are two qualities Apple does not go for.

Secondly, multiple trademarks already exist on the name iRadio - there's a music service in Ireland, for example, and an old four-star Wi-Fi radio bearing the name.

Thirdly, the word 'radio' smacks of old tech - and with Apple reportedly ditching skeumorphism in its iOS 7 update, we can't see why it would go down a different path for its new music service.

Finally, iRadio is a name that the media collectively coined for ease of referring to whatever it is Apple has up its sleeve - and we know from the 'new iPad' debacle that Apple won't be led by the media when it comes to naming conventions.

So what will it be called? All bets are off at this point but something simple, we reckon. Perhaps iTunes Radio - or just Radio if Apple sticks with the media-imposed moniker in any way.

Music labels are on board

This is all speculation, of course, but several separate sources have claimed that the big three record labels - Sony, Universal and Warner - have all signed on to Apple's upcoming streaming service.

After literally years of negotiations (depending on who you believe), Universal was supposedly the first to crack, with Warner not far behind. Sony was a tougher nut to crack, however - perhaps mindful of its own streaming ambitions - but got on board at the eleventh hour.

Details of the deals are pretty much non-existent at this point, although an aging rumour suggests that Apple is looking to pay out more to rights holders than its major US rival Pandora.

It's kind of delayed

Apple is lagging well behind the competition in the music streaming arena. It's been five years since Spotify took streaming main(ahem)stream and although Apple's managed to retire Ping and bust out iTunes Match in that time, it hasn't really made it into streaming.

That's despite rumours of the service circling for at least a year - the reasons for the hold up are supposedly down to rights holders trying to hardball for a better deal, rather than any technological issues. But worth remembering that this is all speculation and you can't believe everything you read.

Meanwhile, arch-nemesis Google has managed to get in on the action - something that will have the folk over at Cupertino really het up.

There'll be a free, iAd-funded version

An advertising trade mag reported that Apple is looking to use its iAds platform to deliver targeted audio ads to non-premium iRadio users. And those free users could number in the millions if iRadio is made instantly available to iTunes users.

Genius is iRadio's not-so-secret secret weapon

Genius, which runs in the background of your iTunes account working out what you're into so it can offer relevant recommendations, is what could set iRadio apart from Spotify and Pandora, which rely far more heavily on social integration and third-party apps to help you find new music to stream and (hopefully, eventually) buy.

You'll be able to buy music

Of course, Apple's streaming product will tie in with iTunes, giving users a barrier-free way to buy songs they've streamed. One patent points to the possibility that you'll even be able to load up credit and buy cached songs without even having an internet connection.

The iRadio release date is later this year...

Although we're fully expecting Apple to unveil the service to devs at WWDC 2013 today (or we'll have WSJ and NYT and their sources' guts for garters), we're not anticipating it actually launching until later this year - September perhaps.

...but only in the US

Reports today from the WSJ say that the radio-type streaming service will only be available in the US - whether that's forever or just at launch is anyone's guess, but we imagine a global roll out will happen at some point in the future.

Quite how long the UK, Europe, Australia and the rest of the lesser nations will have to wait is the question.

Yahuui Blog

Monday, June 10, 2013