Apple's New Products: Fresh from the Orchard!
#10 Gorgeous and Practical New iPad Smart Case Wows Audience
Apple’s iPad Smart Case is updated so it now protects the back -- as well as the front -- of the iPad. The new $49 Smart Case leaves room for the camera, flash and dock connector AND you can have it engraved with any words you want, at no extra charge. The new cover is available only in polyurethane in these colors: light and dark grey, blue, green, pink and fire-engine red. We want one in orange!
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Here are the Hot New Products from Apple!
During the second week of June, Apple's faithful followers convene in San Francisco to experience The Greatest Show On Earth: Apple's World Wide Developers' Conference. This year, as in previous years, Apple stunned the audience with a whole orchard of new products. Behold!
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Gorgeous and Practical New iPad Smart Case Wows Audience
Apple’s iPad Smart Case is updated so it now protects the back -- as well as the front -- of the iPad. The new $49 Smart Case leaves room for the camera, flash and dock connector AND you can have it engraved with any words you want, at no extra charge. The new cover is available only in polyurethane in these colors: light and dark grey, blue, green, pink and fire-engine red. We want one in orange!
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Mac OS X ~ “Mountain Lion” ~ Looks Like Roaring Success
Apple added 250 new features in its new Mac OS X, Mountain Lion. Mountain Lion departs from the course Apple has been travelling. The biggest change is power management. Power Nap is an automatic system that makes sure the computer is up-to-date with change that are being made on your other, iCloud connected devices. If you plug your laptop in overnight, it will wake itself up, grab software updates, sync with iCloud, and back itself up through Time Machine. It's a killer new feature but, unfortunately, it will only work with the newest Mac laptops.
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iOS 6: Tons of New Features Stun Audience
iOS 6 looks like a home run for the Apple team. Facebook: Apple is including very tight integration in iOS 6. Users can update their Facebook status, share photos, and share links directly from within other iOS applications. Siri: The personal assistant gains super powers. Siri can now open applications which means that you can grab your iPhone and ask Siri to open the music player and the same goes for tons of other apps and actions. The added number of apps Siri can interact with is a big improvement. And the fact it works better for researching sports scores/stats, movies times and ticket purchases, and dinner reservations is all gravy. Eyes Free: This new feature works with about a dozen auto manufacturers. Apple wants to add a dedicated "Siri" button in their autos. Then, the driver can access Siri and their iPhone when driving without taking their eyes off the road. Passbook: Passbook collects items like movie tickets, train tickets, airline tickets, sporting event tickets and makes them all available digitally in one application -- complete with QRCodes and 2-D barcodes. Apple Maps: Apple is dumping Google Maps and Apple’s new mapping tool offers turn-by-turn navigation, points-of-interest searching, integration with Siri for commands and the ability to submit anonymous traffic/incident reports. FaceTime Over Cellular: Finally. After two years of FaceTime, Apple has finally made it available over 3G cellular connections. Safari: Apple’s browser receives some sorely needed upgrades. First and foremost, people will be able sync open tabs from Safari on a desktop to Safari on an iOS device via iCloud. Email: Here are some much-needed improvements. Now, users can create VIP email senders so that, when you receive an email from your boss, you’ll know about it right away. But maybe more important is the ability to add pictures and videos to emails directly from the email application.
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New Online Syncing Service Pulls Together Your Digital Life
If you want to sync with iTunes, the iPhone and iPad can now do that wirelessly via Wi-Fi. In other words, you don’t have to plug in the USB cable. The second generation of iCloud has a myriad of enhancements. It will sync your e-mail, address book and calendars between all your devices. It also syncs your bookmarks, iBooks, app purchases, song purchases and photos. Your iPhone gets backed up automatically over Wi-Fi each day. Here’s the part we really like: If you’ve bought songs from iTunes, iCloud lets you download them again, no charge, to any other Apple gadgets.
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Siri Gets Smarter
Apple says Siri will be able to answer more questions in more languages, find more local businesses, and connect with the mapping app. Siri is also soon coming to the iPad, and to the car within 12 months.
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iMessages Communicates Across All Devices
Apple also introduced a new iMessages service for iOS devices. iMessages is like a chat app that lets you send text, photos, videos, contacts, group messages and receipts. Facebook Integration Apple is tightly integrating Facebook into iO6 and this will make it easier to sync Facebook contacts and calendar events across Apple devices, and to more easily post content and log into apps from Facebook.
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Find Your Love with New Maps App
Apple will finally have a new maps app to take on Google Maps. The new maps app includes a “flyover” 3-D feature, turn-by-turn navigation service employing Siri, and a traffic service with incident reports.
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New Macs: Smaller, Faster, Cheaper
Apple’s newest line of MacBook notebooks are shipping immediately. They are all getting upgrades in storage and power. The company shaved $100 from the price of most of the MacBook Airs with the exception of the entry level model which is still at $999. New is a higher-end version of the MacBook Pro that is getting a high-resolution “retina” display, a 25% thinner frame and faster computer chips. The model was a highlight of the event and starts at $2,199.
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Facetime Now Available Over Cell
Facetime video calls can now be made through cellular networks, not just WiFi. A big question is how this will affect wireless network congestion, and what it means for consumers’ mobile-data plans.
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One more thing...
One important thing was very different at this WWDC: Steve Jobs wasn't onstage. May his memory be a blessing for ever and ever.
