Software : WWDC2014: 10 big things you need to know about OS X 10.10 Yosemite |
- WWDC2014: 10 big things you need to know about OS X 10.10 Yosemite
- Touch ID to leave its thumbprint on third-party apps as Extensibility sprouts
- No Windows 8.1 Start menu this year - check back in 2015
- WWDC 2014: iOS App Store treated to app bundles, better search and apps you can test
| WWDC2014: 10 big things you need to know about OS X 10.10 Yosemite Posted:  10 big things you need to know about YosemiteThe new OS X, OS X 10.10, will be called Yosemite (sadly it's named after the place rather than the Looney Tunes cartoon character). There's a brand new interface, some impressive new features and the odd prospect of Macs becoming rather large and expensive iPhone accessories. Here are the ten biggest things about OS ten ten point ten. 1. It's got a brand new interfaceYosemite has new typography, a flatter design and lots of translucency. Some observers have rightly pointed out a resemblance to iOS 7; other less kind observers have equally rightly pointed out the similarities to Windows Vista. The dock looks like a single block of frosted glass, the icons are flatter and the title bars are translucent like Safari on iOS 7. Translucency is used throughout to emphasize content; for example, in messages the messages themselves are on solid backgrounds but the message list is translucent. There's good news for pro app users too: there's a new dark mode that turns the menu bar and other elements dark grey to match the darker interface of apps such as Aperture and Logic Pro X. 2. It's got Windows Vista's SidebarApple calls it Notification Center but we're not fooled: the presence of app widgets in the slide-in panel means it's a 2014 take on the old Windows Sidebar. The Center provides an at-a-glance Today view, just like iOS, and there's a second list of app notifications and other key information. 3. Spotlight does much moreSpotlight looks rather like the excellent Alfred app: instead of popping out of the top right corner of the screen it takes pride of place in the center, providing easy access not just to files but to Wikipedia, your apps, to maps and associated Yelp reviews and any other content you might be interested in. It displays results as inline previews and looks rather nifty. 4. Mail works"Email works now" isn't much of a boast, but it solves a problem for a lot of OS X users. The revised Mail app focuses on the basics - fast fetching, not hiding sodding messages for no good reason - and also includes a nifty feature called MailDrop. It's designed to prevent email attachments from being bounced, and if you send mail with huge attachments - up to 5GB - to a non-OS X user they'll get a download link instead of a file attachment. Mail also gets MarkUp, which enables you to scribble on and annotate images you send in messages. It works on PDFs too. 5. Stream smarterThe new Safari promises two additional hours of Netflix before your battery runs out. It also features significantly faster web app performance, and it's been given a redesign too: the interface has been condensed to a single bar. When you click in the address box your favorites appear in an iOS-style grid. There's an iOS-style sharing menu too, and private browsing is now available on a per-window basis instead of putting the entire browser into private mode. Apple also promises easy subscriptions to RSS news feeds, which it ditched after Safari V.6. #6-#106. It has excellent iOS integrationThe new Continuity feature looks fantastic if it works as well as advertised, which, given iTunes' ongoing inability to find our iPhones when they're RIGHT THERE, is by no means guaranteed. Continuity makes your Mac and iOS devices part of one big happy family. Jobs you start on one device can be finished on another; for example, you can start composing a message or document on an iPad and bring it up on your Mac, and vice-versa. Communications are shared too: SMSes sent to your phone can be read and replied to on your Mac, and you can use your Mac as a speakerphone for your iPhone via an instant, zero-configuration hotspot that works even if the iPhone is charging in a completely different room. Apple's strategy is clear here: it's making iOS and OS X look more alike and work better together, but its mobile and desktop operating systems remain distinctly different beasts. Maybe that'll change if the rumored ARM-based MacBook Air ever makes it out of Jonathan Ive's lab. 7. iDisk is backWell, almost. The new iCloud Drive looks awfully like Dropbox and works in much the same way, enabling you to store and synchronize any files you like between Mac, iOS and PC. iCloud gets a new pricing structure too: the first 5GB is still free, but 20GB is a reasonable 99c per month and 200GB is $3.99 per month. 8. AirDrop works properlyIf you were flabbergasted by AirDrop's inability to share between Macs and iOS devices, you'll be delighted to discover that there are no such problems in Yosemite. 9. There's no sign of SiriWhile the revamped Spotlight does much the same on OS X as Siri does on iOS, there's no sign of the much-rumored Siri integration in Yosemite: unlike in iOS 8, it seems that you won't be able to control your Mac with a cheery "Hey, Siri.". 10. It'll be free this autumnLike Mavericks, Yosemite will be a free upgrade this autumn (or a free download right now if you're one of the WWDC attendees). If that's too long to wait there will be a free public beta this summer - and interestingly, that's the first time there's been a public beta of OS X since the very first version back in 2000. That one cost money, but this time the beta will be free. We can't stress enough the importance of patience here: while dodgy downloads of Yosemite will no doubt appear online in a matter of hours, it's early beta software that isn't intended for use on people's everyday computers. |
| Touch ID to leave its thumbprint on third-party apps as Extensibility sprouts Posted:  Since inception, Apple's Touch ID fingerprint sensor has only been used to unlock the iPhone 5S and make App Store purchases. Now at the Apple's WWDC keynote, the Cupertino company announced it will open up its fingerprint scanning technology to all third-party app developers with iOS 8. To demonstrate Touch ID's expanded capabilities, Apple's Craig Federighi rolled a demo using Mint, logging in with a press of the finger rather than inputting the password on the touchscreen keyboard. Addressing privacy, Federighi said all fingerprint data would remain stored and completely protected inside the iPhone's A7 processor. "The fingerprint information is never exposed to third-party apps or the entire system for that matter," Federighi said. "It's very secure." Extensibility
On the same stage, CEO Tim Cook announced Apple is refreshing the iOS 8 software development kit with the "biggest release since the launch of the App store" itself. It's most profound change of all? The third party apps will be able to interact with one another in what Apple calls "Extensibility." Applications from the app store thus far have only worked independently from one another. But now thanks to Extensibility they can extend and offer services to other apps. Using a few examples Federighi highlighted how Safari could now bring up a Pintrest share sheet or access Microsoft's Bing translation service without needing to leave the browser. Apple's built-in Photos app, meanwhile, could extend its editing options to include filters from apps such as VSCO cam and the watercolor painting Waterlogue app. Beyond inter-app functionality, third-party apps will have widgets that populate more information and features into users' Notification Center. In the near future, iPhone owners will be able to see sporting event scores from Sports Center right next their standard weather and stocks widgets.
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| No Windows 8.1 Start menu this year - check back in 2015 Posted:  If you've been kept up restless nights waiting for the return of something resembling the classic Start menu for the modern version of Windows, we're sorry to dampen your spirits even further. ZDNet has word Microsoft may not introduce a more functional Start menu with the forthcoming Windows 8.1 Update 2, which is widely expected to arrive in August or September. According to reliable insider sources close to Redmond, the team charting a course for the future of Windows decided to hold off in favor of resurrecting the Start menu in the next major version of the operating system. Codenamed "Threshold," that big update is expected to see an April 2015 release and is commonly being referred to as Windows 9, although Microsoft apparently has yet to firmly commit to that name. Same as it ever was?The Microsoft insiders were unclear as to the reason for the delay, though it may be because the revamped Start menu simply isn't ready for primetime or some other internal rationale. Either way, the longtime Windows faithful may wind up being disappointed when the feature does arrive, given that it apparently won't be a faithful copy of what Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 users were accustomed to. Microsoft guru Mary Jo Foley describes the Windows 8.1 Start menu as offering "some familiarity," but claims it will also "integrate Windows 8's Metro-style Start screen concept" in some as-yet-unknown way. Microsoft Executive Vice President Terry Myerson showed off an early version of the new and improved Start menu during the company's Build developer conference in April, where he announced it would arrive as part of "next iteration" of Windows 8.
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| WWDC 2014: iOS App Store treated to app bundles, better search and apps you can test Posted:  Apple's WWDC 2014 was filled with big announcements like iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 Yosemite, but nestled among them was the impending introduction of some improvements to the App Store. Apple CEO Tim Cook described the new features on stage during the opening hours of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference. The most interesting changes coming to the App Store are new tools for developers: app bundles, videos in app listings, and the integration of TestFlight. There are some minor improvements to searches coming, as well, including some new tools for users. Tools for developersWith app bundles, app makers can now bundle their apps together and sell them at a discounted price, allowing users to purchase multiple apps at once with just a few taps. Devs will also be able to embed short videos in App Store listings to show off apps' features - much like in Android's Google Play store, where developers can embed YouTube videos. And the official integration of TestFlight into iOS will likely make it easier for developers to let users test early, in-progress versions of their apps before they're released. Searching for improvementsCook also showed off some improvements coming to App Store searches. iOS users will soon have access to a new "explore" tab where they can browse through categories and sub-categories, with the aim of making it easier to discover the right apps. Users will also be able to view trending searches to see what's popular, and searching will be faster, especially with new continuously scrolling lists of results and a "related searches" feature. Finally there's a new editor's choice logo to highlight featured apps that Cook said will really pop. "We are really investing a ton in the App Store," the CEO said, adding that these improvements will arrive in the fall. |
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