WWDC Recap: Details about Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud

Today was the annual WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) where Steve Jobs gave the Keynote to debut new products from Apple. Below are a few bullet points you’ll want to know about today’s event!

Steve Jobs gave the Keynote – This might not seem like a big deal to some. He’s the CEO of Apple, right? If you’re not an Apple fanboy or fangirl, then you should know that Steve Jobs had taken a medical leave of absence from Apple a few months ago. He has done this before while he battled pancreatic cancer. This time, we don’t know what the cause of his absence is, but he looked his typical skinny self during today’s Keynote. (See photo above) Congratulations to Steve for pulling through, and I hope he gets 100% healthy if he’s not already!

10 new features for Mac OS X Lion - Available exclusively on the Mac App Store for only $29.99 sometime in July.

1. Multitouch Gestures – Self explanatory.
2. Mission Control - Mission Control brings together full-screen apps, Dashboard, Exposé, and Spaces in one new feature that gives you a bird’s-eye view of everything on your system. With a single swipe on the trackpad, your desktop zooms out to Mission Control. Think of it as the hub of your system: View everything and go anywhere with just a click.
3. Full Screen Applications – FaceTime can now track facial features.
4. Mac App Store – Built in to Lion. In App purchasing.
5. Launchpad – A simple pinch gesture, and you can have all of your apps available instantly.
6. Resume – When you close an application in Lion, it takes you right back to where you were. System-wide function.
7. Versions - Versions is a new feature that charts the history of your documents, taking snapshots in time, and displaying them side by side with the latest versions in an easily browsable timeline. You can review the past iterations of your compositions, restore a previous version, or copy and paste from old versions to new ones.
8. Auto Save – Lion saves every document automatically so that you never lose work.
9. AirDrop – The replacement of the thumb drive. Go into AirDrop and you’ll see all the other users who are running AirDrop. To share a file, just drop a file onto the user in question. They then receive a notification and, hey presto, file exchanged. There’s nothing to discover, auto setup.
10. New Mail – Looks like it has a new icon. Tons of new search features, and built in conversation lines.

Introducing iOS 5 – Available to developers today, everyone else “this Fall.”

1. Notification Center – Brand new notifications interface. See picture below!
2. Newsstand – A lot like iBooks, but used with subscription based magazines and newspapers.
3. Twitter – Built in to iOS 5. You can tweet articles from Safari, videos from YouTube, locations from Maps.
4. Safari – Safari Reader, looks like Instapaper. Faster. Has tabbed browsing. Reading List – Save stories from Safari to read for later. Syncs across multiple devices.
5. Reminders – Built in list making app. Allows for storage of multiple lists, with dates to remind you. Can assign location. Reminds you when you cross a “geo-fence.”
6. Camera – Now a camera button on the lock screen. You can click the button and go right in to the camera. You can now press volume up and down to take pictures. Photos can now be edited directly on the device. You can crop, rotate, reduce red-eye, and you can do a one click enhance.
7. Mail - Rich-text formatting, indentation control, draggable addresses (from To: to Cc: or Bcc:), flagging so you can mark them as unread, and now you can search the entire contents of messages. Built in dictionary.
8. PC Free – You can now buy and set up any iOS device out of the box. No need to connect cables to existing PCs. Software updates will now be over the air. You can now create and delete calendars from iOS.
9. Game Center – Download games right from Game Center. Find friends of friends.
10. iMessages – New messaging service between iOS regardless of device. Lets you send text messages, photos, videos, contacts, and even do group messaging. Can also get delivery receipts, read receipts, and real-time typing notification.
11. Wifi Sync to iTunes! – You can set your iOS device to find your iTunes and sync. You can also sync your iTunes library over WiFi! You can now completely cut the cord!

iCloud (replaces MobileMe, ships concurrent with iOS 5, FREE)

5GB free service. “iCloud stores your content in the cloud and wirelessly pushes it to all your device. It automatically uploads it, stores it, and pushes it to all your devices.” Contacts added in any device are pushed to the cloud and then sync’d down to all the other devices. Naturally, change it anywhere and that change propagates. ”Mail was in the best shape of all, but it’s even better.” Get an @me.com account and all your messages are sync’d and pushed across. Back up over WiFi only, including purchased music, books, photos and videos, device settings, and App data as well. Three additional new apps.

1. Documents in the Cloud – Create a project on Pages, Numbers or Keynote, it will upload to iCloud and then sync across devices.
2. Photo Stream – Take a picture, uploads to iCloud, downloads to “Photo Stream” album across iDevices and iPhoto.
3. iTunes in the Cloud – Download media from iTunes on one device, go to iTunes on other iOS devices and sync same media for no additional charge.

iOS 4.3 beta available to developers today

1. Sync new devices via WiFi (or cable)
2. Buy songs you’re missing on iTunes
3. iTunes Match service – Finds the songs you’ve ripped from CDs and replaces them with iTunes high quality version. $24.99 p/year.

Some features for iOS beyond the Top 10

These features were on the iOS slide during the Keynote and definitely worth mentioning!

• New iPad music app
• Smart Playlist sync from iTunes
• Option to speak text selection
• iTunes Tone Store
• Built-in dictionary
• Emoji emoticons
• Personal dictionary
• Alternate routes in Maps
• Improved FaceTime video quality

A ton of new exciting stuff for Apple users! We can’t wait to get our hands on some of these products! What are you most excited about?

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