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All the news from Apple's 2013 Worldwide Developers Conference

Apple kicked off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, June 10th with a keynote detailing all of its software plans for 2013. The Jony Ive-designed iOS 7 was detailed in full, as was the OS X 10.9 Mavericks, the first OS X update to break from the traditional "big cat" naming structure. And while there were no new iPhones or iPads to be seen, the company did refresh the MacBook Air lineup and gave an early look at the new, radically redesigned Mac Pro. Read on for all of the announcements from WWDC 2013.

  • Ellis Hamburger

    Jun 21, 2013

    Ellis Hamburger

    Welcome to Camp Apple: a week inside WWDC

    steve jobs tattoo
    steve jobs tattoo

    It was the second day of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, and a heated argument was breaking out at the bar on the terrace of the W Hotel.

    "It’s Helvetica neue, like noy," said New York Times developer Brian Capps.

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  • Nilay Patel

    Jun 13, 2013

    Nilay Patel

    'Can't innovate anymore, my ass': Apple's bravado clouds the company's real challenges

    phil schiller mac pro
    phil schiller mac pro

    Apple's Phil Schiller is among the smoothest and best-rehearsed executives in the technology business, and his typical presentation demeanor is that of someone enthusiastically reading a press release about the best summer vacation ever. But Schiller's segment of Apple's WWDC keynote on Monday took on an interesting, more aggressive tone as he introduced the Mac Pro. "Can't innovate anymore, my ass," he said — a line directed not at his audience of sympathetic Apple developers, but at the nattering nabobs of negativism that have accumulated at the base of Apple's sliding stock price. Criticize this, Schiller seemed to be saying, as the imposing all-black Mac Pro stood on the screen behind him.


    And the new Mac Pro is indeed innovative. It's shockingly small and enormously beautiful in person, and it's the sort of thing only Apple builds: the company spent significant energy reinventing a product for the smallest market it serves, even when pro customers would have been happy with updated processors in the existing model. Apple's strength is that it understands that it's investing in emotional responses to hardware as much as utilitarian concerns, and if the chief criticism of Apple was that it no longer produces stunning, industry-leading computers, the Mac Pro would be the ultimate rebuttal. Schiller should have brought out a mic just to drop it.

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  • David Pierce

    Jun 12, 2013

    David Pierce

    iOS 7 still 'a work in progress' alleges The Next Web

    iOS 7 multitasking press
    iOS 7 multitasking press

    Further, Panzarino alleges that iOS 7 is still apparently very much a work in progress, and the version we saw this week at WWDC was nothing more than a "mid-stride" look at where Ive and his team are going. According to The Next Web, everything from the up arrow on the lock screen to various app icons is still open to adjustment before the OS comes out this fall.

    The story is intriguing, and it would certainly spell a major change in the process of design at Apple. If what TNW proposes is even close to the truth, it might also mean the design situation at the company is more disjointed than previously believed. It is highly unusual for a design-driven company like Apple to rely on marketing designers for product work, but given that Ive has only recently taken the reins in user interface design, he could be experimenting with new options.

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  • Jun 11, 2013

    Vlad Savov

    Watch this: Apple's imperfect video about perfection

    apple video
    apple video

    Apple's marathon keynote session at yesterday's WWDC began with the following video. Graced by soothing piano music, a minimalist monochromatic palette, and a set of elegantly transitioning geometric shapes, the ad does a great job of conveying Apple lead designer Jony Ive's pursuit of purity and simplicity in design. There's only one small problem with it: when the onscreen narrative declares that "there are a thousand no's for every yes," it inserts an apostrophe where one does not belong.

    Whether you consult the Oxford English Dictionary, The Chicago Manual of Style, or Dictionary.com, you'll find the acceptable plural forms of "no" to be "noes" or "nos." Apple's unnecessary use of punctuation proves to be a rather ironic answer to the company's own rhetorical challenge: "How can anyone perfect anything?"

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  • Ross Miller

    Jun 11, 2013

    Ross Miller

    Watch this: Apple's WWDC 2013 keynote in exactly 10 minutes

    WWDC in 10 minutes
    WWDC in 10 minutes

    Want to catch up on Apple's WWDC 2013 keynote but don't have two hours to spare? We've got you covered with a 10-minute edit of the event complete with plenty of Cook-isms, new OS X and iPhone / iPad features, and much, much more. If you prefer a more text-and-pictures-based education, here is everything you need to know.

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  • Casey Newton

    Jun 11, 2013

    Casey Newton

    Apple publishes transition guide to ease developers onto iOS 7

    iOS 7 Control Center press
    iOS 7 Control Center press

    iOS 7 represents the biggest change to Apple's design principles since the original iPhone, the company said — and that means lots of work for the developers who want their apps to look native on the platform. To that end, Apple published a user interface transition guide for iOS developers today, TechCrunch reports.

    The guide, which is available only to members of Apple's developer program, walks designers through iOS 7 changes including edge-to-edge layouts, translucent menu and status bars, and buttons without borders. It also describes the three core themes of iOS 7. Those themes, as quoted by TechCrunch:

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  • Joshua Topolsky

    Jun 11, 2013

    Joshua Topolsky

    The design of iOS 7: simply confusing

    ios7_down
    ios7_down

    What I saw today at Apple's annual WWDC event in the new iOS 7 was a radical departure from the previous design of the company's operating system — what CEO Tim Cook called "a stunning new user interface." But whether this new design is actually good design, well, that's a different story entirely.

    Apple did indeed tout a completely rethought mobile OS, one which isn't technically a great distance from its predecessor but is an incredible deviation on design. Gone are lush, skeuomorphic objects, dials, and textures (in fact, Apple took several potshots at itself about the faux-felt and wood textures of the iOS of yesteryear). Instead, they have been replaced with stark, largely white and open app spaces; colorful, almost childlike icons; pencil thin, abstract controls for settings. New, Gaussian blur-transparency layers slide over your content, creating thick smears of soft color; notifications and other incidental information float above your work area on semi-translucent panels.

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  • Jun 10, 2013

    Verge Staff

    Apple debuts iOS 7, OS X Mavericks, and new Macs: everything you need to know

    This year’s WWDC may have started off slow with a nondescript app demo from third-party developer Anki, but the typical barrage of news started soon enough, with major updates to both iOS and OS X only representing part of the press conference. Both operating systems have abandoned nearly all signs of skeuomorphism — indeed, Apple executives continually poked fun at the felt, stitching, and leather featured in older versions of the operating systems. iOS 7 looks shockingly refreshing, and OS X has seen many changes as well — including a move away from cat names. 10.9 is known as “Mavericks,” and it kicks off a series of California-inspired names for future versions. Overall, the extremely welcome software tweaks (which we’ll enumerate below) show Apple catching up to its competitors in many ways.

    The show was light on hardware though new MacBook Airs with “all-day” battery life, Intel’s new Haswell processors, and lower price points were announced, as well as a long-overdue redesign of Apple’s Mac Pro desktop. Stubborn rumors about an Apple TV and iWatch will likely refuse to die, as Tim Cook and company had nothing to announce today, and we expect that users will continue to complain about iOS 6 until later this year as no one but developers will get their hands on the new stitching-free version of the mobile operating system until this fall.

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  • Jacob Kastrenakes

    Jun 10, 2013

    Jacob Kastrenakes

    Apple’s WWDC 2013 keynote video now live

    You can now hear the latest on iOS and OS X straight from Tim Cook and co. over on Apple’s website, where video of today’s WWDC keynote has just been put online. Unfortunately, it looks like viewing the keynote will require Safari on the Mac or QuickTime on Windows, so you may have to leave your browser of choice before you can hit play.

    Apple announced some huge changes to iOS this afternoon. The star of the show was a complete design overhaul that's done away with some of the iOS standbys that have hung around since the original iPhone launched. The company also introduced much-requested features like quick access control settings, and a few much-rumored features including a streaming radio service. The event itself runs about two hours, so if Apple’s dramatic pacing isn’t your thing, you can check out our StoryStream for all the latest news and our first impressions on today’s announcements.

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  • Nilay Patel

    Jun 10, 2013

    Nilay Patel

    New Mac Pro first look: Apple's diminutive take on the desktop computer

    mac pro
    mac pro

    We just got a look at Apple's new Mac Pro, and it is very, very small. Much smaller than you'd think — though pulling the cover off reveals that it's absolutely packed inside. It's one of the tightest packages we've ever seen. All of the I/O is on the back panel, which is accessible through a cutout in the cover; you have to disconnect everything to pull the cover off. When asked about expansion, Apple reps told the crowd that Thunderbolt 2 would be ideal for connecting PCI expansion chassis, but didn't offer too much additional detail.

    One thing we couldn't see was the fan. Those dual AMD GPUs and that Xeon processor aren't going to run super cool under heavy workloads, and it looks like all that heat is going to go out the bottom of the casing. We're digging for more info right now. Let us know what you're curious about.

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  • Jacob Kastrenakes

    Jun 10, 2013

    Jacob Kastrenakes

    App Store will update apps automatically in iOS 7

    No more fumbling around with the App Store each morning to get the latest updates — in iOS 7, all apps will automatically update without users having to take any actions at all. The iOS App Store has never been the fastest app to work with, and not having to jump into it a few times a day should help to mitigate that annoyance. But more importantly, Apple is helping developers stem fragmentation in a major way. Less tech-savvy users who aren't familiar with the App Store may let apps sit around out of date, but starting in iOS 7, that should no longer be a problem.

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  • Aaron Souppouris

    Jun 10, 2013

    Aaron Souppouris

    iOS 7 to launch with FaceTime voice calls

    iOS 7 will launch with FaceTime audio, a service that lets you place voice calls. An expansion of Apple's video-calling service, FaceTime audio lets you call other Apple users free of charge. The VoIP service will apparently facilitate "high quality calls over a data network," which we assume means Wi-Fi, 3G, and LTE connections.

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  • Matt Brian

    Jun 10, 2013

    Matt Brian

    Apple announces 'iOS in the Car,' offers access to Maps, messages, and more

    At WWDC 2013, Apple unveiled iOS in the Car, a new platform that mirrors your iPhone on your in-car display. The company has been working with numerous car makers to get Siri into automobiles but iOS in the Car takes "integration to a whole other level" by letting you access your Maps, messages, and other services without having to take your eyes off the wheel. Honda, Mercedes, Nissan, Ferrari, Chevrolet, Kia, Hyundai, Volvo, Jaguar, and a number of other manufacturers are on board, incorporating it into their new car models coming in 2014.

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  • Chris Welch

    Jun 10, 2013

    Chris Welch

    Siri gets design overhaul in iOS 7, uses Bing search by default

    With iOS 7, Apple is drastically expanding the capabilities of Siri, its built-in personal assistant for iPhone and iPad owners. The app has been totally redesigned, and users can choose either a female or male voice in their native language — both sounded more natural than what Siri currently produces. Users can also now query Siri for results that include content from Wikipedia and Twitter. When demonstrated on stage, the new Siri pulled in web results from Bing. It's unclear whether Microsoft's search offering will be your only option when using Siri, but Apple is also touting the integration on its official iOS 7 page.

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  • Nathan Ingraham

    Jun 10, 2013

    Nathan Ingraham

    iOS 7's new Photos app adds filters, automatic sorting, new sharing features

    As part of Apple's massive iOS 7 update, the buit-in Camera and Photos apps have received huge changes. When you're shooting, you can pick a square, Instagram-style aspect ratio and add filters. Once you're done shooting, the Photos app now includes "moments," an automatic organization structure that puts the photos in your camera roll into logical events — much like the Mac version of iPhoto. As for sharing, Airdrop is built right in, and iCloud photo sharing has been improved as well. You can share your photos into other photo streams, and other people can share into your photo streams. Of course, the entire interface has been redesigned, as well, to match iOS 7's radical new visual style.

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  • Jacob Kastrenakes

    Jun 10, 2013

    Jacob Kastrenakes

    iOS 7 Control Center allows quick toggling of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, AirDrop, and more

    Apple is finally giving users an easy way to toggle their settings straight from any screen that they'd like. By dragging up from the bottom of the screen, users can access a new feature called Control Center, which includes easy access to a variety of options, including brightness, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. The menu pulls upward in a frosted-glass style translucent pane — from there, users can toggle rotation lock, airplane mode, media controls, and AirPlay. At the very bottom of Control Center, Apple includes shortcuts to the built-in timer, camera, and calculator apps, as well as a new flashlight tool. Adding quick-access controls like these have been a popular jailbreak tweak, and clearly Apple has taken that to heart.

    Apple is also bring AirDrop to iOS for the first time, and it'll be easily accessible via Control Center. However, the sharing feature will only be available on newer hardware. Everything prior to the latest generation of Apple's products — all released in 2012 — won't be able to use the feature. AirDrop works by connecting two devices over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth after users tap the button to initiate it. From there, Apple says that users will see icons of their friends, and will be able to easily send photos and other files over to them.

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  • Dan Seifert

    Jun 10, 2013

    Dan Seifert

    Apple announces iOS 7, 'biggest change' since the introduction of the iPhone, coming this fall

    via puu.sh
    via puu.sh

    Apple has officially taken the wraps off of iOS 7 at its Worldwide Developer Conference today. iOS 7 is the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system that debuted back in 2007 on the original iPhone. According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, iOS 7 is the biggest change to the platform since the iPhone was introduced five years ago. The new design is evident in everything from sharper, flatter icons, slimmer fonts, a new slide-to-unlock function, and a new control panel that slides up from the bottom of the screen for frequently accessed settings. The stock apps have all been redesigned — including a major revamp of the weather app with new animations that are scarily reminiscent of Yahoo's great-looking Weather app graphics.

    Apple's head of design Jony Ive notes that the new icons feature a new palette of colors — gone are the bold, primary colors of old, replaced by modern shades and tones. Flat design is very prominent in iOS 7 — everything from the buttons to the switches to the chrome surrounding apps has been modernized and flattened. Apple says that the new design makes your phone "appear bigger" because each app makes better use of the screen real-estate available to it. The calendar, phone, messages, Game Center, and others have all lost their skeuomorphic designs and now feature clean, flat layouts. The signal bars in the upper left corner of the phone have also been replaced with a series of dots.

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  • Nathan Ingraham

    Jun 10, 2013

    Nathan Ingraham

    Apple announces 600 million iOS devices sold, 93 percent of devices running iOS 6

    Tim Cook is getting ready to introduce the latest version of iOS, and he just announced that the company has sold over 600 million iOS devices since the first iPhone launched back in 2007. Of course, that trails the 900 million Android activations that Google announced back at I/O in May. But Cook says the sales numbers aren't as important to him as customer satisfaction rates — and noted that iOS devices have won nine consecutive JD Power awards. As for the iOS 6 adoption rate, a whopping 93 percent of iOS devices run the most recent version of Apple's mobile OS, and Cook took the time to point out how Android lags far beyond that.

     

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  • Matt Brian

    Jun 10, 2013

    Matt Brian

    Apple brings document editing to the web with iWork for iCloud

    At WWDC 2013, Apple announced the launch of iWork for iCloud, allowing users to create and edit Pages, Numbers, and Keynote documents inside desktop and iOS browsers. Looking to challenge rivals with its web services, iWork for iCloud is Apple's answer to Google Drive and Microsoft's Office Web Apps. Supporting Safari, Chrome, and Internet Explorer (although Apple says it works best on Safari), the web-based app suite is capable of handling Microsoft Office documents and will be available to developers starting today. The service will launch publicly later this year.

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  • Apple previews radically redesigned Mac Pro: 'Can't innovate anymore, my ass'

    Gallery Photo: Mac Pro Refresh Teaser Pictures
    Gallery Photo: Mac Pro Refresh Teaser Pictures

    Apple's long-neglected Mac Pro is finally getting some attention. The desktop has been completely redesigned and, like the company's refreshed laptops, the rebooted Mac Pro line makes use of new Intel processors. But it isn't shipping just yet. Apple teased the new Mac Pro at its Worldwide Developers Conference today. The "cheese grater" styling of the old Mac Pro, which made its debut with 2003's Power Mac G5, is out. Instead, Apple is going with a new look that is similar to the classic Braun KF 20 coffee maker.

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  • Jeff Blagdon

    Jun 10, 2013

    Jeff Blagdon

    Apple announces new AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule base stations with 802.11ac Wi-Fi

    apple airport extreme official
    apple airport extreme official

    Apple is announcing some new AirPort Extreme base stations onstage at WWDC with a taller, skinnier 3.85 x 3.85 x 6.5-inch footprint. For the first time, the routers add 802.11ac Wi-Fi for up to 40 percent faster transmissions at the same distance. The new Time Capsules offer the same amount of networked storage as the current generation, though: your choice of 2TB and 3TB.

    On the back of the devices, you'll find the same array of ports from the previous generation: one USB 2 port and four ethernet ports. The Airport Extreme is selling for $199 while the 2TB and 3TB Time Capsules are going for $299 and $399, respectively, and they're all available now from Apple.

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  • Dante D'Orazio

    Jun 10, 2013

    Dante D'Orazio

    MacBook Air refreshed with Intel Haswell processors and all-day battery life, available today starting at $999

    As rumored, Apple has announced a refresh for its MacBook Airs today at WWDC, its annual developers conference. The new systems feature the same (near-perfect) chassis first introduced in 2010, and they'll be available in both 11.6- and 13.3-inch variants, as before. The primary change is upgraded silicon: Apple is using Intel's latest processors, known as Haswell, which promise vastly improved battery life and some boosts to integrated graphics performance.

    With the new processors, Apple is promising 12 hours of battery life for the 13-inch model, and 9 hours for the 11-inch version, a significant upgrade from the seven hours and five hours quoted, respectively, for last year's models. The new Intel HD Graphics 5000 is also said to bring a 40 percent increase in GPU performance, though it's worth noting the processors Apple is using here don't include the power hungry Iris graphics that are said to offer discrete-like performance. Other than the new power plant, there are some other changes to the MacBook Air. The new models have 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and flash storage is said to be up to 45 percent faster than the last generation.

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  • Aaron Souppouris

    Jun 10, 2013

    Aaron Souppouris

    Apple updates Calendar for OS X, shuns skeuomorphism

    Apple is updating its Calendar app for OS X with a new, faux-leatherless look. Speaking on stage, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi quipped that "even without the stitching, the window stays right there on the screen." The app will feature a cleaner, more minimal UI and will add integration with Maps, allowing users to add and view locations directly from the app. Apple also added continuous scrolling "so you can zip through weeks or months" as well as a new inspector to make adding and editing events much easier.

    The Calendar app is part of an OS X- and iOS-wide skew away from rich skeuomorphic textures. Throughout today's keynote, Apple made a number of jabs at the old, Scott Forstall-led software design. On demoing iOS 7, Federighi said "we ran out of felt and wood."

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  • Jacob Kastrenakes

    Jun 10, 2013

    Jacob Kastrenakes

    OS X Mavericks receives mobile notifications and quick replies

    Notifications are getting a lot more robust in Apple’s next release of OS X. Starting in 10.9 Mavericks, notifications will become interactive, allowing users to perform simple actions like replying to iMessages, responding to FaceTime calls, and deleting emails. And for the first time, push notifications from iOS will start showing up in Notification Center as well. Any message that would normally show up on an iPhone or iPad lockscreen will now appear on the desktop too. Those notifications will finally sync between devices as well, so users can clear an item on their phone and have it disappear from their computer as well.

    To help users field all of those new notifications, Mavericks will also include a feature called "While You Were Away," which will collect and summarize all of the alerts that a user missed while their computer was asleep.

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  • Matt Brian

    Jun 10, 2013

    Matt Brian

    Apple Maps coming to OS X Mavericks

    Today, at WWDC 2013 in San Francisco, Apple announced that its improved mapping service will be available in OS X Mavericks at launch. Street maps, 3D flyover data, and turn-by-turn directions are all available in the app, and Apple will also allow you to send map locations from the desktop directly to your iPhone. Targeting Google, Apple will publish its new Map Kit API for Maps, allowing developers to add mapping functions to their apps — something the company has done with its new Calendar, Mail, and Contacts apps.

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