Wednesday 17 June 2015

Talking Tech for June 16 2015

Today’s show all about the WWDC from Apple June 9 2015: preview of OS X 10.11, iOS 9, watch os, and Apple music.

 

Note - OS x 10.11, iOS 9, and watchOS 2 are in beta and features may change.  In addition, the new music streaming service from Apple is not yet available.

 

OS X 10.11

 

New features in OS x 10.11 (some feature highlights):

 

Split view: view two apps on the screen at the same time.

Call out your cursor: shake finger on trackpad or shake your mouse and the cursor gets bigger so its easier to spot.

Spotlight: can search for more things, and you  can use natural language when searching for a file.

Improved Notes app: turn a list in to a check list, and easily add photos, urls etc.

Safari: keep favourite websites open with pin sites, easily identify which tab is playing audio, and use Airplay to stream video.

Increased performance: apps open much faster, and games display much more smoothly due to Apple’s metal technology which is already being used on iOs.

 

Sadly, no mention of Siri for OS X yet


http://www.apple.com/osx/elcapitan-preview/ 

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iOS 9

 

New in iOS 9 (some of the highlights):

 

Apps: A new news app, dramatically improved Notes app, Maps with transit info (in selected cities around the world), and improvements to Car play.

 

Improvements to iPad: 

Better multitasking features - slide view (slide to view another app and back again), and split view (see two apps on screen at same time - only on iPad air 2).

Better keyboard short-cuts when using a wireless keyboard.

 

Siri: improvements to Siri.

 

Searching: improvements to spotlight including searching within apps.

 

Proactive assistant: based on what time of day you use apps, get intelligent suggestions on what you may want to do next.

 

Listening to music and audio: bt in the car, start listening to your music or plug in your head phones and start listening to a podcast.

 

Who’s calling: if an unknown number, if the number has appeared in an email, iOS 9 will suggest who the caller may be.

 

Better power management:

if iPhone face down on table, screen will not be on.

New low power mode will extend battery life but turning off a number of features.

 

Move from Android with the Move to /iOS app: makes the transition to iOS from your Android device by copying relevant data over from your Android device such as Mail, Contacts, music etc.

 

http://www.apple.com/ios/ios9-preview/ 


watchOS 2

 

New features in watch os2 (some feature highlights):

 

New clock faces, complications and night stand mode:

New clock faces - 24 hour time lapsed faces from iconic places around the world, use your own photo or randomise photos by choosing an album.

New complications: complications data can be drawn directly from apps.

Time travel: use the digital crown to scroll to the previous day today or next day to look at what is happening at a particualr time in a complications: eg weather, calendar or news item you may have missed).

 

Night stand mode - automatically goes in to night stand mode when charger connected and Apple watch on its side, time will display when you touch the screen,  or side/digital crown, and side button will stop and digital crown will snooze an alarm.

 

Better apps: apps run natively, can take advantage of hardware features in the watch (such as using the mic or internal speaker), improvements to existing apps including: 

Mail - reply to mail.

Friends: add more multiple screens of friends with each screen up to 12 friends.

Maps: get transit directions (in select cities around the world).

Siri: Siri does more on Apple watch.

Activation lock: protect your watch with your Apple id, same as iPhone.

 

http://www.apple.com/watchos-2-preview/

 

 

Apple music

 

3 months trial, $9.99  single or $14.99 USD family subscription.  Available June 30 this year.  Provides curated music (along side your own music), Beats1 radio, and Connect (where artists  can connect with their followers).  Without a subscription, can still listen to Beats1, see what artists are posting on connect, and listen to ads supported stations.

 

Available with iOS 8.4, watchOS via paired iPhone, Mac/PC via updated iTunes, and Android later on this year.

 

I’m not sure how Apple music will differ from such online streaming music services such as Pandora radio, and Connect to me sounds like the failed Ping social sharing function that was available in iTunes a number of years ago.  With the 3 months trial certainly nothing to loose in giving it a go.

 

 

http://www.apple.com/music/

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