As Y’all know the WWDC event is a DEVELOPER conference. That means usually it’s software focused, and not really having any hardware. This year took the cake on that front. Not only did we get ONLY software updates…. the Big AAPL focused primarily on software optimization improvements. sure, there’s a few new features here and there… but It’s few and far between. That’s not to say it wasn’t awesome in it’s own way. here’s a quick breakdown of what’s announced.
- IOS 12
- Performance updates. primarily cpu throttling.
- normally under heavy load, over a few seconds/minutes .. .systems ramp up their processors… and then slow down on a bell curve. like image below on the left. Well now, they will be doing a left heavy curve in processing. basically, they spike the CPU quick, right up front and then taper off. i’m concerned about this. THERE’S A REASON THIS HASN’T BEEN DONE IN THE 20+ YEARS OF MULTI CORE PROCESSORS!!! it’s fundamentally dangerous. however, apple should know what they doing and hopefully this will work out well. This is expected to bring up to 50% speed bump in all phones. (if it doesn’t blow up your phone)
- Augmented reality updates –
- heavier usage on AR. Memoji (make your own ANIMOJI!), better AR sensitivity, better support across apps, and apples own ruler app. (this is actually gonna be interesting… it can stand to disrupt an entire industry )
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- Screen Time – you can now monitor how long you’ve been using the phone, where you been, and control when you want to stop using it by setting timers
- Group Facetime – you can now FaceTime with up to 32 people.
- Do Not Disturb – you can now set it to a COMPLETELY off mode… and notifications won’t even show up on your screen anymore. i personally LOVE this. i hate waking up to pee in the middle of the night and finding out i have 300 messages from one of my exes about to jump off a building in Tokyo at 5 am… makes it really hard to go back to bed and get a restful night’s sleep.
- Siri updates– basically siri is getting “suggestions” and now you can create all these new IFTTT type actions. basically, when you going home, tell siri “going home” and an action you programmed it to do…. like turn on lights at home, text your husband you on way home, and get GPS directions home with traffic, as well play a podcast… all automated. Ok, this is KINDA cool.. but meanwhile google is over there working to make all this AUTOMATIC without you having to PROGRAM anything…. though in fairness… google is a far ways off from getting this to work right. so not sure yet which one is better.
- Photos improvements – Basically photos got smarter. it can automatically connect with GPS and other contacts, and suggest who to send which pics too intelligently. edits will be recommended. this is actually pretty cool… IF people use it. see Google photos has this… but people don’t use it enough. if apple can break the mold and get people to actually use this.. yeah… awesome. otherwise… dead in the water.
- Performance updates. primarily cpu throttling.
- Watch OS 5
- Walkie Talkie app – basically you can now talk to designated people like a walkie talkie. it’s what it sounds. (Wechat, eat your heart out)
- Watch can now automatically detect workouts (gps voodoo based on your GPS/businesses/heartrate/elevation)
- podcasts, notification interactions, and some more workout updates coming… very basic… but yeah. these are more along the lines of natural fit for what people want WHEN THEY USE THESE FRIGGIN devices.
- Apple TV
- Dolby Atmos – ok. people knocking this. this is AWESOME. the movie industry has been struggling a bit to figure out if they go with the traditional Surround sound upgrade (DTS:X) … or invest in Dolby Atmos. ok… DTS:X is basically like the traditional multi channel stereo/5.1/7.1 sound options … with an added channel for height… to create a more immersive sound. (that’s a HUGE oversimplification). ATMOS… is more like how graphics are handled. bits of sound are all designated in a 3d “mapped” image of the space, and then tunneled around. basically you can have theoretically THOUSANDS of sound channels now. but it’s requiring software and different compression and hardware.
- this basically will designate a winner. – ATMOS. now that apple… one of the LARGEST consumers of media… has set the nail in the coffin… i expect most media to follow this standard going forward. (to be fair… ATMOS HAD ALL BUT WON). this will have massive ramifications in the movie business.
- Dolby Atmos – ok. people knocking this. this is AWESOME. the movie industry has been struggling a bit to figure out if they go with the traditional Surround sound upgrade (DTS:X) … or invest in Dolby Atmos. ok… DTS:X is basically like the traditional multi channel stereo/5.1/7.1 sound options … with an added channel for height… to create a more immersive sound. (that’s a HUGE oversimplification). ATMOS… is more like how graphics are handled. bits of sound are all designated in a 3d “mapped” image of the space, and then tunneled around. basically you can have theoretically THOUSANDS of sound channels now. but it’s requiring software and different compression and hardware.
- Mac OS Mojave
- Dark mode now a thing. save battery life, see better… live better.
- App store design update… more like the iOS app store.
- apps integration updates- ok so apple isn’t going to bring iOS apps to macbooks… BUT… they are opening up their dev kits to allow for portions of iOS apps to come to mac. basically, it’ll be SUPER easy now to cross develop apps if developers want to. it’s always been really hard to transfer apps over to both platforms.
- Stacks – now your desktop can stack by various filetypes and organize itself. pretty cool.
- Security controls. – Mac OS will now work to stop and scramble your web’s browsing experience. basically when you use sites like FB/Yelp… they will no longer know your private info. (even wonder how they know if you browsing an adidas store website… why FB suddenly advertising Adidas? yeah. that’s gonna be gone).
- Markup and screenshots – you can now natively screen record videos on top of screenshots.
- Finder updates – basically the navigation of the file browser been updated to integrate “preview” and a few features from the photos app… all natively in the file browser.