Call it ultramodern. Once you get past the signature home page grid of apps, the new design language in Apple's iOS 7 looks more than a little like the "modern" design on my HTC 8X Windows Phone, with its big, rounded sans-serif fonts and flat buttons.
We should expect no less from Apple; after all, Steve Jobs said that good artists copy, great artists steal. Apple's genius isn't in inventing entirely new technologies. It's in taking existing technologies and polishing, commercializing, and mainstreaming them.
We saw that with the Apple II, the Mac, the iPod and the iPhone. And now we're seeing it with iOS 7, which on one level plays catch-up with some of its major rivals, but does so in a way that could crush them.
It's Not Actually Just Design
iOS 7's design borrows a lot from Microsoft's Windows Phone 8. The flatness, the focus on large fonts and sliding panels, even the fonts themselves; you see a lot of Windows Phone 8's much cleaner, more "modern" approach. That super-flat weather app looks a heck of a lot like the weather app on my HTC 8X.
Animated wallpapers? Android. Universal multitasking? Android again. The multitasking interface? I'm not the only one who thinks that looks like WebOS. Android has auto-updated apps for years. Car integration is one of BlackBerry's last great strongholds. iTunes Radio is like Pandora with sales links. I could go on and on.
There are some unique touches, of course. The bit where the interface moves as you tilt your phone looks slick. The new camera interface is relatively unique, though you could argue that Nokia does a solid camera with built-in photo editing.
Guess what? None of this matters.
It's The Full Picture
During the iOS 7 launch presentation, analyst Om Malik said on Twitter, "Somewhere in Microsoft, they are watching iOS 7 and saying to themselves - WTF. We got this thing right first."
Then Canadian software developer Douglas Soltys responded "Except for the apps support, and the developer support, and the carrier support."
Exactly. Apple's brilliance is in putting the pieces together and marketing them. Apple's developer APIs and its history of making money for developers still reigns supreme - there's less piracy than on Android, and a bigger audience and more design flexibility than on Windows Phone.
But the best third-party apps are only part of the story here. Apple's commitment to marketing is matched only by Samsung, which means that carriers who pick up iPhones don't have to carry the marketing weight; these babies practically sell themselves.
Apple has the ultimate end-to-end ecosystem. None of its competitors can quite match it. Apple controls not only PC and mobile operating systems, but PC and mobile hardware, office and productivity software (now both native and cloud-based), media and app stores, a streaming radio service, and first-party retail.
Never, ever underestimate the power of Apple's retail stores, which give it a massive network of dedicated sales and service locations that none of its competitors come anywhere near matching.
That's what people who say "my phone has this already!" don't get. Love Nokia? Love Microsoft? That's all well and good, but they simply haven't executed a complete, coherent strategy the way Apple has.
The pairing of Samsung and Google comes the closest, of course, but there's still a little bit of tension between the two, balanced out by Samsung's willingness to trade profit-per-unit for market share and not only compete directly with Apple, but also fill niches that Apple doesn't bother with.
Tim Cook: The Executioner
This is why Tim Cook is the CEO of Apple. He's the master of execution. Maybe a Steve Jobs, who knows what consumers want before they do, only comes along a few times a generation; maybe Apple doesn't have one of those now. Maybe that makes Apple a "normal company." It's an incumbent, not a disruptor.
But you can't deny that Apple has smart designers, skillful programmers, and a passionate fan base. An incumbent can stay on top by innovating, co-opting and executing. If Apple executes the smartphone success playbook the best, it doesn't matter that it learned some of the plays from its rivals. It'll still win the game.
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
Monday, 10 June 2013
New MacBook Air
5 New Features in the Apple MacBook Air
The sleek and slim MacBook Air has long been a flagship product for Apple, demonstrating to the world that it led the way in innovative notebook design. While the look remains the same, Apple's not resting on its laurels with the MacBook Air, announcing an update to the familiar ultraportables during today's WWDC keynote.
The 11- and 13-inch MacBook Airs are being updated with Intel's just announced 4th-gen processors, better battery life, and larger, faster flash storage.
Haswell Processors
Apple announced that the newest MacBook Airs feature Intel's 4th-gen ULT dual-core processors, the ultrabook class of Intel's Haswell platform. Like the late 2012 models, the new 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air models come standard with a 1.3-GHz Intel Core i5 processor. For $150 more, you can configure the same system with a 1.7-GHz Core i7, and both come with 4GB of RAM standard.
Improved Graphics
Thanks to Haswell's improved graphics capability, the new MacBook Air models also offer the improved Intel HD Graphics 5000—with up to twice the number of execution units found in the previous Intel HD Graphics 4000. The result is a 40 percent improvement in graphics performance, providing performance on par with an entry-level discrete GPU.
Better Battery Life
The biggest gain to be offered by Intel's new hardware, however, is in battery life. Apple promises several hours more usable battery life; the 11-inch MacBook Air steps up from 5 hours of battery life to an all-day 9 hours. And even notoriously fast draining activities last longer—Apple promises 8 hours of iTunes movie playback.
The 13-inch MacBook Air's larger chassis provides space for a larger battery, and this too will see a large improvement, extending the battery life from 7 hours to 12 hours. Movie playback is stretched to 10 hours. Though details weren't discussed during the keynote at WWDC, Apple's product information page also claims that the 30-day standby time offered by the previous MacBook Air will be the same.
802.11ac Wi-Fi
For a blazingly fast Internet connection, the new MacBook Air models have stepped up to 802.11ac Wi-Fi, the newest wireless standard, offering up to three times the speed of the current 802.11n standard. This switch to the newer, faster standard will also provide a measure of future proofing to keep the newest MacBook Air feeling fast over the next three to five years.
Because 802.11ac isn't commonly available on the market yet, Apple is also releasing a new 802.11ac version of the AirPort Extreme.
Bigger, Faster Storage Standard
Finally, while the base price of the 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air models are staying the same, the amount of storage included has doubled. Where the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air models previously came with 64GB standard, it now offers 128GB of flash memory. In addition to larger capacity, however, Apple has also upgraded to faster performing flash memory, up to 45 percent faster than the flash storage in the previous-generation MacBook Air.
Pricing and Availability
The new 11-inch MacBook Air, with Intel 4th-Generation hardware and 128GB memory, is available for $999. The 13-inch MacBook Air, also with a 4th-Generation processor and 128GB flash storage, starts at $1,099. Both are available for order today through the Apple online store
.The thinnest, lightest member of the Mac family now has more power, and the ability to last longer. The newly updated 11-inch MacBook Air starts at $1,000 for 128GB of storage, and the 13-inch starts at $1,100 for 128GB of storage. Both start shipping today from the Apple store.
The new Air boasts “all-day battery life” (Apple’s words). The new Air will have an Intel Haswell ULT processor inside that improves the battery life from five hours on the 11-inch and seven hours on the 13-inch, to nine hours for the 11-inch and a full 12 hours on the 13-inch. Onstage at WWDC, Apple SVP of marketing Phil Schiller joked that we can now watch almost the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy in one sitting with the new 10-hour movie playback capabilities of the Air. Only it’s not really a joke — we actually could, and we might.
Another feature of the Haswell chip is the Iris Graphics technology. A major upgrade from the previous HD Graphics 4000, it delivers twice the 3-D performance at a 45 percent faster rate, according to Apple. That means you’ll now be able to do some real gaming on the Air with the improved graphics power.
Apple added 802.11AC Gigabit Wi-Fi chips to the Air, giving it three times more speed to the machine’s throughput capabilities. To go along with this update, Apple also announced two new base stations, AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule. Both sport new features like beam-forming, which sends more energy straight to an 802.11 WiFi device.
These upgrades show that Apple wants to make the Air more of a staple for all users, not just those who are buying a hyper-portable machine. The Air has been the obvious choice for people who travel a lot, or those who only need a computer for light tasks throughout the day. Now that the innards of the Air have been beefed up with a more powerful processor, faster Wi-Fi chips, and especially a real-deal battery, the Air can be a choice for people who want all the power of a standard computer, in a sleeker, lighter frame.
The sleek and slim MacBook Air has long been a flagship product for Apple, demonstrating to the world that it led the way in innovative notebook design. While the look remains the same, Apple's not resting on its laurels with the MacBook Air, announcing an update to the familiar ultraportables during today's WWDC keynote.
The 11- and 13-inch MacBook Airs are being updated with Intel's just announced 4th-gen processors, better battery life, and larger, faster flash storage.
Haswell Processors
Apple announced that the newest MacBook Airs feature Intel's 4th-gen ULT dual-core processors, the ultrabook class of Intel's Haswell platform. Like the late 2012 models, the new 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air models come standard with a 1.3-GHz Intel Core i5 processor. For $150 more, you can configure the same system with a 1.7-GHz Core i7, and both come with 4GB of RAM standard.
Improved Graphics
Thanks to Haswell's improved graphics capability, the new MacBook Air models also offer the improved Intel HD Graphics 5000—with up to twice the number of execution units found in the previous Intel HD Graphics 4000. The result is a 40 percent improvement in graphics performance, providing performance on par with an entry-level discrete GPU.
Better Battery Life
The biggest gain to be offered by Intel's new hardware, however, is in battery life. Apple promises several hours more usable battery life; the 11-inch MacBook Air steps up from 5 hours of battery life to an all-day 9 hours. And even notoriously fast draining activities last longer—Apple promises 8 hours of iTunes movie playback.
The 13-inch MacBook Air's larger chassis provides space for a larger battery, and this too will see a large improvement, extending the battery life from 7 hours to 12 hours. Movie playback is stretched to 10 hours. Though details weren't discussed during the keynote at WWDC, Apple's product information page also claims that the 30-day standby time offered by the previous MacBook Air will be the same.
802.11ac Wi-Fi
For a blazingly fast Internet connection, the new MacBook Air models have stepped up to 802.11ac Wi-Fi, the newest wireless standard, offering up to three times the speed of the current 802.11n standard. This switch to the newer, faster standard will also provide a measure of future proofing to keep the newest MacBook Air feeling fast over the next three to five years.
Because 802.11ac isn't commonly available on the market yet, Apple is also releasing a new 802.11ac version of the AirPort Extreme.
Bigger, Faster Storage Standard
Finally, while the base price of the 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air models are staying the same, the amount of storage included has doubled. Where the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air models previously came with 64GB standard, it now offers 128GB of flash memory. In addition to larger capacity, however, Apple has also upgraded to faster performing flash memory, up to 45 percent faster than the flash storage in the previous-generation MacBook Air.
Pricing and Availability
The new 11-inch MacBook Air, with Intel 4th-Generation hardware and 128GB memory, is available for $999. The 13-inch MacBook Air, also with a 4th-Generation processor and 128GB flash storage, starts at $1,099. Both are available for order today through the Apple online store
.The thinnest, lightest member of the Mac family now has more power, and the ability to last longer. The newly updated 11-inch MacBook Air starts at $1,000 for 128GB of storage, and the 13-inch starts at $1,100 for 128GB of storage. Both start shipping today from the Apple store.
The new Air boasts “all-day battery life” (Apple’s words). The new Air will have an Intel Haswell ULT processor inside that improves the battery life from five hours on the 11-inch and seven hours on the 13-inch, to nine hours for the 11-inch and a full 12 hours on the 13-inch. Onstage at WWDC, Apple SVP of marketing Phil Schiller joked that we can now watch almost the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy in one sitting with the new 10-hour movie playback capabilities of the Air. Only it’s not really a joke — we actually could, and we might.
Another feature of the Haswell chip is the Iris Graphics technology. A major upgrade from the previous HD Graphics 4000, it delivers twice the 3-D performance at a 45 percent faster rate, according to Apple. That means you’ll now be able to do some real gaming on the Air with the improved graphics power.
Apple added 802.11AC Gigabit Wi-Fi chips to the Air, giving it three times more speed to the machine’s throughput capabilities. To go along with this update, Apple also announced two new base stations, AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule. Both sport new features like beam-forming, which sends more energy straight to an 802.11 WiFi device.
These upgrades show that Apple wants to make the Air more of a staple for all users, not just those who are buying a hyper-portable machine. The Air has been the obvious choice for people who travel a lot, or those who only need a computer for light tasks throughout the day. Now that the innards of the Air have been beefed up with a more powerful processor, faster Wi-Fi chips, and especially a real-deal battery, the Air can be a choice for people who want all the power of a standard computer, in a sleeker, lighter frame.
iOS 7 announced: new look, Siri, multitasking, toggles and more
Apple just updated both its platforms – we already saw the new Mac OS X, now it's time for iOS 7. It brings a ton of usability improvements, many of which we've found missing in iOS for quite a while now.
New look and more capable multitasking
iOS 7 brings a brand new look for the operating system with flatter icons and UI elements. All system icons are redesigned around a standardized grid to unify the look. It also brings animated wallpapers (not quite live wallpapers) and there's a dynamic parallax effect between the icons and the wallpaper as you turn and tilt your phone.
New lockscreen and app drawer
A much bigger change is a revamped multitasking system that allows apps to update much more often, while not wasting battery. To do that, iOS 7 keeps track when you use a specific app (all day, just in the morning and the evening) and lets the app update during that period. It also uses "opportunistic updates" – when you wake the device, it's going to use power anyway so iOS lets any available app update run in the background. It also keeps track of signal quality and if it's good, it updates multiple apps at once (since the radio is powered on anyway).
The new face of multitasking
Smarter Siri, better notifications, toggles
Yet another big update is the new Siri. It got a polished new interface and it goes after Google Now with card-based UI and new services to provide answers to your questions (Twitter, Wikipedia and Bing, take that Google). It can also control your iDevice (increase brightness, turn on Bluetooth) and it offers a new, more life-like voice (both female and male) for English, French and German.
Siri has a new voice, can answer more questions and do more things
There's more! The notification center has been rebuilt from the ground up to provide info about today's goings on (birthdays, weather, upcoming events from the calendar, stocks and even some info for tomorrow). Notification center also show up on the lockscreen. Also, once you dismiss a notification, it goes away on the other devices too so you don't have to see the same notification multiple times.
New notification area
There are toggles too! You get to those by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. This launches something called Control center. You get controls for the screen brightness and the music player, the new AirDrop feature, and AirPlay along with some app shortcuts, including a flashlight toggle.
Toggles, brightness and music player controls, app shortcuts
New camera and gallery with automatic tagging
The camera got revamped too, it now features four modes – regular stills and video, square photos with color effects (hi, Instagram) and panorama.
The new camera has four modes - stills, video, squares and panoramas
The Photos app has been redesigned and now sort your photos based on where and when you took them - automatically putting a meaningful title to the collections. Zooming out shows new auto-generated albums for multi-day trips and zooming out even further groups the photos in years.
Photos automatically get tagged with location info like street name
Updates to Safari and App Store
The Safari browser for iOS was updated with a new 3D UI for switching tabs (looks kinda like the one Chrome for Android has) and you're no longer limited to only 8 tabs. The browser now features a single smart search filed rather than having two fields - one for URL typing and another one for initiating Google searches.
Safari with unlimited tabs, reading list, share links and Keychain
Safari will also show what tabs are open on your other devices and features the just announced iCloud Keychain integration, meaning it would be sync your passwords and credit card info with your Mac. The Reading list and Shared links features of the desktop Safari are available here too.
A cool new feature lets you swipe from the sides of the screen to go back and forth through your browsing history.
The App Store got tweaked too – it now automatically updates apps (hi, Play Store) and suggest apps based on your location (just like Windows Phone).
Location-based app recommendations
There's more: audio-only Facetime, AirDrop, iTunes Radio, Weather
Phew, we're already out of breath here but the Apple team isn’t done yet – Facetime got an audio only option, which is basically VoIP calling.
There's AirDrop, which is Apple's answer to NFC (they even made a joke about not having to bump your phones together). It;s a streamlined and centralized interface for sharing stuff with other people, who our close by. It uses a peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection for that.
Finally, the Music player has been revamped as well and now it offers a new service, called iTunes Radio – an ad-supported streaming music service for free (launching in the US). This one is also available on Macs, PCs and even Apple TV.
The new iTunes Radio
There's also a cool new weather app that shows the weather in multiple cities with beautiful animations, a detailed forecast for today and tomorrow and the weather for the next five days. You can check the weather of one location or all of them at once.
The weather app is based on Yahoo!
iOS 7 is available for the iPhone in beta today. In the Fall, iOS 7 will be available on iPhone 4 and later, iPod touch 5th gen, iPad mini and iPad 2 and later.
For more-
http://www.apple.com/ios/ios7/
OS X 10.19
Apple has brought the tradition of naming its computer operating system after cats to an end. From now on, the California-based company will name its software after places in California. The latest version, OS X 10.9 is called “Mavericks,” named after a surfing area not too far from Apple’s headquarters.
The software won’t be ready for the public until the fall, but a handful of features were shown off today, including:
Finder tabs: Instead of having multiple Finder windows open, you can merge those windows into a single window with multiple tabs. The feature is similar to how certain tabbed web browsers work.
Tags: When saving a document, you can assign certain tags to it (Important, Draft, In Review, etc.) and pull up files that share the same tags.
Multiple displays: When using a second display, you can access the menu bar and dock on the extra screen. You can have a full-screen app open on each screen and drag assets between the two. Connecting to an Apple TV box via Airplay will turn the TV set that the box is connected to into a third display as well.
Battery life: Mavericks users power optimization features such as compressed memory, reduction of CPU utilization and “App Nap,” which manages how apps get access to system resources.
Safari: The Safari web browser has been updated with a sidebar containing your bookmarks, Reading List and a section called “Shared Links” that contains only updates from people you follow on Twitter and LinkedIn that contain links to various web content.
iCloud Keychain: iCloud Keychain securely stores all the passwords you use for different websites on whichever Apple devices you use and automatically inputs them for you when you need them. It’ll also suggest strong passwords for new sites you join and store those for you as well.
Apps with push notifications: Similar to the little pop-up notifications you’ll get on your smartphone, Mavericks will deliver pop-up notifications for certain apps in the upper right-hand corner of your screen, many of which you can respond to without actually launching the full app.
Maps and Calendar: Apple’s Maps app sports a feature that sends directions right to your iPhone’s lockscreen. There’s also deeper integration with Calendar app: For instance, creating a new calendar item will let you designate the location of, say, a meeting and then tell you when you need to leave based on your location and your destination.
For more
http://www.apple.com/osx/preview/
The software won’t be ready for the public until the fall, but a handful of features were shown off today, including:
Finder tabs: Instead of having multiple Finder windows open, you can merge those windows into a single window with multiple tabs. The feature is similar to how certain tabbed web browsers work.
Tags: When saving a document, you can assign certain tags to it (Important, Draft, In Review, etc.) and pull up files that share the same tags.
Multiple displays: When using a second display, you can access the menu bar and dock on the extra screen. You can have a full-screen app open on each screen and drag assets between the two. Connecting to an Apple TV box via Airplay will turn the TV set that the box is connected to into a third display as well.
Battery life: Mavericks users power optimization features such as compressed memory, reduction of CPU utilization and “App Nap,” which manages how apps get access to system resources.
Safari: The Safari web browser has been updated with a sidebar containing your bookmarks, Reading List and a section called “Shared Links” that contains only updates from people you follow on Twitter and LinkedIn that contain links to various web content.
iCloud Keychain: iCloud Keychain securely stores all the passwords you use for different websites on whichever Apple devices you use and automatically inputs them for you when you need them. It’ll also suggest strong passwords for new sites you join and store those for you as well.
Apps with push notifications: Similar to the little pop-up notifications you’ll get on your smartphone, Mavericks will deliver pop-up notifications for certain apps in the upper right-hand corner of your screen, many of which you can respond to without actually launching the full app.
Maps and Calendar: Apple’s Maps app sports a feature that sends directions right to your iPhone’s lockscreen. There’s also deeper integration with Calendar app: For instance, creating a new calendar item will let you designate the location of, say, a meeting and then tell you when you need to leave based on your location and your destination.
For more
http://www.apple.com/osx/preview/
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