Yesterday was Apple’s Keynote at WWDC. WWDC stands for Worldwide Developers Conference and it is a yearly event held by Apple filled with informational sessions dedicated to programming and developing for Mac and iOS devices! A majority of the goings on at WWDC are not newsworthy events for most of the world, but the keynote is always popular because Apple often uses the keynote as an opportunity to announce major updates to software, and in previous years, new hardware like the iPhone, which was announced at WWDC in 2007! As expected, this year’s keynote did not announce any new hardware, however, the impending OS X upgrade was certainly foreseen and to the surprise of no one, Apple announced the successor to OS X Mavericks, Yosemite! Apple also took the opportunity to announce the newest upgrade to their mobile platform with a sneak peak at iOS 8!
Now, although there were quite a few new items discussed during the keynote, for most of us, there were really only a few major changes that the average user may notice. Here is my top ten list of items I think would excite any Mac User!
- The new user interface (UI) of Yosemite is very similar to iOS 7 with the translucent layering and self adjusting color pallet. Apple has even integrated a “dark mode” into Yosemite for those who do not enjoy the bright UI or may do a lot of work at night.
- The iOS Messages App will now have some new group text options that include a Do Not Disturb mode and the ability to leave a thread when you’re no longer interested.
- Spotlight has new features that integrate it to the web, which include an awesome movie search function and Wikipedia results in search on both Macs and mobile devices.
- The Mail app is getting an upgrade called Mail Drop that allows you to email attachments up to 5GB! Mail on iOS is also getting some great gesture upgrades to make working on your mobile device a much more streamlined experience!
- Doc Sync in iCloud will now support Windows so you can work seamlessly with non-Mac friends, family and colleagues.
- Due to energy management upgrades in the software, you will get an additional 2 hours of battery life while streaming shows from Netflix in full HD in Safari!
- A new feature called Continuity gives you the ability to start working on one Apple device and move to another device without loosing information or having to sync projects! This same feature will also allow you to answer and make phone calls from your Mac as long as your iPhone is nearby!
- New predictive text upgrades, a voice messaging feature and the integration of third party touch keyboards will make typing on your iOS device a much more personalized experience.
- There have been some awesome upgrades to Apple’s built in Photo Editing Software!
- Yosemite is a FREE upgrade, so there is really no reason not to take advantage of all these great new features and more upon its release this fall!
Like I said, this isn’t everything, but these are the items I think will make the biggest impact on the user experience of the general public! If you want more information, head on over to Apple’s website to check out the Keynote as well!
What items from the WWDC 2014 Keynote are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments below!
Hello there,
I found your blog through Philofaxy, and I’ve really enjoyed your posts on Filofax organisation and goal setting. Thanks for posting 🙂
The material on Colour Theory was interesting too, and as it happens I’m using plenty of teal and turquoise ink in my fountain pens for the summer months!
I really like the shape you use as a text box overlaid on your blog images – the one that looks like four curly brackets forming a square or rectangle. Is there a name for this shape, or are there artwork shapes available online? Please let me know.