Apple WWDC Keynote recap

Apple recently finished up their annual WWDC opening keynote. They didn't announce any new hardware, but they announced plenty of software.

Mac OS X Lion – First off, they gave us a launch date. It will be launching in July, for $29.99. Multi-Touch capabilities are built Laptops. Allowing for gesture controls, tap-to-zoom, and two finger swiping. Lion allows for applications to use the entire screen real estate, instead of just the window. You can morph iPhoto, Mail, etc into full screen. Mission Control – This is my favorite feature. It allows you to see what is running on your Mac at any time. Simply swipe on your track-pad to view all of the applications or websites you have open.  Versions – It will create a new version of a document each time it is opened. So you can revert to older versions if need be. Airdrop is also a nice feature. It allows file transfer from one machine to another by simply dragging and dropping. The Mail program was also updated to include search, and conversations.

iOS 5 – WOW! Apple has finally updated some of the major problems iOS currently has. They have added over 200 new features, but I believe the notification system was affected the hardest. They have completely revamped notifications, making them less obtrusive. They have put notifications on the top, similar to Android. This lets you access all of your notifications. Stocks and weather have also been added. Newsstand was announced, and it is a direct line to newspapers, and magazines. If your favorite magazine comes out when your asleep, it will automatically be downloaded and waiting for you in the morning. Safari was updated, making it able to optimize pages for iOS devices. Which will make them easier to read for the end-users. Reminders allows users to create a to-do list. Apple and Twitter also have a relationship now. Apple has pushed Twitter integration into iOS. Meaning you can tweet from your camera, Safari, your photo album, and even share contact information. There is now a camera button on your lockscreen, the volume up and down button can be used to snap a picture, Pinch-to-Zoom can be used in the camera, and you can edit your photos directly from your phone. iMessage is their answer to BBM, you can send a text message between iPhone, and iPad's. You can send photos, messages, videos, contacts etc from one device to another. PC Free is also new, you can download updates over-the-air. When you first buy your iPhone, you will see a welcome screen, not a screen telling you to connect to iTunes. The keyboard can also be split into two, making it easier to type. iOS 5 will be launching sometime this fall.

iCloud – Apple has entered the world of cloud computing. Users are now able to push things to the cloud, including Books, Photos, Contacts, Pages, Keynotes, and Music. Lets say you create a new document, it's automatically synced to the cloud. When you purchase a book, bang- automatically synced to the cloud. Contacts, and calendar events are also synced to the cloud. On photos, your last 1000 pictures will be stored on your device, all of them will be stored on your computer, and they will be stored for 30 days on the iCloud servers. iTunes is also in the cloud, meaning if you purchase one song, it will be transferred to all of your other devices for no additional charge. You can also set your purchases to automatically download after the purchase. Apple has also announced iTunes Match, meaning it will take all of your music, update them to 256k AAC, DRM free and give them the same access to your devices for $24.99 a year. Say you have a ton of non-iTunes purchased music. With iTunes Match, it can take that music, update it, and put it in the cloud.

[Images via Engadget]
- Mac OS X Lion
- iOS 5
- iCloud