Apple is holding its Worldwide Developers Conference this week in San Francisco. During the keynote address by Apple management, several new hardware and software products were announced. The disappointing news is that most products will not be available until Fall. (Apple is expected to announce upgrades to iPhone and iPad this Fall, as well. This should make the 3 or 4 months leading up to Christmas be the best ever for Apple.)
Macbook Air
… available now, same prices as before
... No change in screen resolution
... switches to new Intel Haswell processors
… Haswell offers similar CPU performance
... graphics moves to Intel Hd Graphics 5000, which is up to 40% faster
… new models have close to double the battery life
... Upgrade WiFi to fastest 802.11AC (need a router to match)
... Standard RAM increases from 2 to 4 GB
... Standard flash storage doubled to 128 GB
Mac Pro
… coming "later this year"
… totally redesigned
... ... much smaller, cylindrical shape (only 10 inches high, 7 inches in diameter)
... ... all expansion is external via Thunderbolt 2 and USB ports
… more powerful 12 core Intel Xeon processor (unspecified E5 family)
… faster DDR3 memory
… faster flash storage options
… dual AMD FirePro GPUs standard, supports new 4K video standard
... ... probably means new monitors coming this Fall, too
Mac OS
... coming this Fall
… gives up on cat code names. Now it's famous surfing spots
… first code name: Mavericks, the super difficult surfing spot north of Half Moon Bay, CA
... preview here http://www.apple.com/osx/preview/
new features of Mavericks
… Finder Tabs adds organization for different screen views
... ... works across monitors
… Tags for documents
... ... shortcuts that appear in the Finder
... ... multiple Tags per document OK
... ... Tags work locally and with stuff stored on servers, including iCloud
… improved support for multiple monitors
… App Nap suspends non-active applications, freeing up memory for active app
... ... big improvement to power utilization
… new password Keychain works with iCloud (why am I worried about this feature?)
… push notifications from iOS now work with your desktop
... ... also can push from desktop to iPhone
… iBooks now works on desktop as well as iPhone, iPad
MacOS applications
… new Safari browser is considerably faster
… new iWork apps integrated with iCloud
iOS 7
… release coming this Fall
… works on iPhone 4, 4S, 5, iPad 2, 3, 4th gen, iPad mini and latest iPod Touch
… new look; demo at http://www.apple.com/ios/ios7/
… most apps included with iOS (Clock, Messages, Calendar, Game Center, etc) take on the new look
… tilt the device to the side, and you can see "behind" the icons on the front
… true multi-tasking
... ... double click to see running apps as a stack of "cards"
... ... drag items between running apps
… multiple pages inside a folder
… swipe to delete individual email messages
… swipe up from the bottom of the home screen to access common settings
... Air Drop peer to peer WiFi file transfers
… Safari orients tabs vertically, no longer limited to 8 tabs
… photos in camera roll are separated into events, rather than a continuous stream
… SIRI improvements, integrations with 16 auto manufacturers
… iTunes Radio
... ... free version supported by ads; iTunes Match subscribers ($25/year) skip ads
… Activation Lock to keep stolen phones from being re-activated
… and lots more
Macbook Air
… available now, same prices as before
... No change in screen resolution
... switches to new Intel Haswell processors
… Haswell offers similar CPU performance
... graphics moves to Intel Hd Graphics 5000, which is up to 40% faster
… new models have close to double the battery life
... Upgrade WiFi to fastest 802.11AC (need a router to match)
... Standard RAM increases from 2 to 4 GB
... Standard flash storage doubled to 128 GB
Mac Pro
… coming "later this year"
… totally redesigned
... ... much smaller, cylindrical shape (only 10 inches high, 7 inches in diameter)
... ... all expansion is external via Thunderbolt 2 and USB ports
… more powerful 12 core Intel Xeon processor (unspecified E5 family)
… faster DDR3 memory
… faster flash storage options
… dual AMD FirePro GPUs standard, supports new 4K video standard
... ... probably means new monitors coming this Fall, too
Mac OS
... coming this Fall
… gives up on cat code names. Now it's famous surfing spots
… first code name: Mavericks, the super difficult surfing spot north of Half Moon Bay, CA
... preview here http://www.apple.com/osx/preview/
new features of Mavericks
… Finder Tabs adds organization for different screen views
... ... works across monitors
… Tags for documents
... ... shortcuts that appear in the Finder
... ... multiple Tags per document OK
... ... Tags work locally and with stuff stored on servers, including iCloud
… improved support for multiple monitors
… App Nap suspends non-active applications, freeing up memory for active app
... ... big improvement to power utilization
… new password Keychain works with iCloud (why am I worried about this feature?)
… push notifications from iOS now work with your desktop
... ... also can push from desktop to iPhone
… iBooks now works on desktop as well as iPhone, iPad
MacOS applications
… new Safari browser is considerably faster
… new iWork apps integrated with iCloud
iOS 7
… release coming this Fall
… works on iPhone 4, 4S, 5, iPad 2, 3, 4th gen, iPad mini and latest iPod Touch
… new look; demo at http://www.apple.com/ios/ios7/
… most apps included with iOS (Clock, Messages, Calendar, Game Center, etc) take on the new look
… tilt the device to the side, and you can see "behind" the icons on the front
… true multi-tasking
... ... double click to see running apps as a stack of "cards"
... ... drag items between running apps
… multiple pages inside a folder
… swipe to delete individual email messages
… swipe up from the bottom of the home screen to access common settings
... Air Drop peer to peer WiFi file transfers
… Safari orients tabs vertically, no longer limited to 8 tabs
… photos in camera roll are separated into events, rather than a continuous stream
… SIRI improvements, integrations with 16 auto manufacturers
… iTunes Radio
... ... free version supported by ads; iTunes Match subscribers ($25/year) skip ads
… Activation Lock to keep stolen phones from being re-activated
… and lots more
