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WWDC 2018: Highlights and Some of Our Favorite Updates

June 11, 2018Elf

Last Monday, Apple held its annual WWDC event, attended by more WWDC scholars and young developers than ever before. This year’s event focused primarily on software updates.

Here are some highlights and some of our favorite updates. WWDC 2018 was attended by developers from 77 countries.

Reviewed in Part 1

App store turning 10 next year
iOS 12 and Mojave preview
ARKit2 new tools and file format
Redesign of Mac Store
Bringing iOS apps to the Mac
Apple News expands to the Mac
iBooks becomes Apple Books
CarPlay includes 3rd party navigation apps
Memojis and Group FaceTime

The App Store turns 10 Next Year

The App store, which has given rise to an entire app economy, celebrates its tenth anniversary next year. $100,000,000,000 ($100 billion) has been paid out to developers since its launch, inspiring new startups, innovation, cross collaboration and entrepreneurs all over the world.

iOS 12 and Mojave Preview

Apple announced the developer preview of iOS 12 for the iPhone and iPad and Mojave for the Mac, replacing High Sierra. The developer preview is available at developer.apple.com and a public beta program will be available to Mac users in late June at beta.apple.com.

In sync with consumer concern about being constantly tethered to their devices, Apple has built in time management and focus tools with Screen Time, so that you can get a weekly Activity Report on your usage of your iOS device. This helps you track where you are spending time most and how you use your mobile devices, for how long and which apps send you the most notifications.

This will help you monitor your app and device usage and manage your time better, reducing interruptions. You can set App Limits and Parental Controls. You can also determine when and how you wish to receive notifications, and have them go to the Notification Center and not appear on your Lock Screen with Deliver Quietly mode on.

At the same time iOS 12 introduces new Critical Alerts that you opt in for (and can opt out at any time) such as alerts from your healthcare providers that you want to receive in emergencies.

We're happy to see that Apple has increased performance and efficiency to make both iPhones and iPads faster and more responsive as well as improving prior model performance. This makes it easier to launch apps and use the Camera and to work on several applications at one time when you need higher performance.

Increased CPU performance allows live rendering of rich animations and video using programs like Metal by Unity on MacBook Pro possible.

Mojave Preview

Apple also previewed Mojave, its latest operating system for the Mac, replacing High Sierra. A standout feature is the new Dark Mode that is pushed out beyond just the menu and dock to full apps and windows adopting the theme.

In addition, several iOS apps are now available on the Mac as part of a new project Apple has been working on and expects to complete by 2019 where developers can more easily port iOS apps to macOS. We've discussed it in more detail below.

Apple News, Stocks, Home and Voice Memos are now all available in macOS Mojave.

macOS Mojave is free and compatible with 2015 and newer MacBooks, 2012 MacBook Airs and newer ones and even Mac Pro models from 2013.

ARKit2 Introduces New Tools and File Format

We're excited about the new tools for ARKit2 - augmented reality for iOS with the new USDZ file format designed with Pixar, and now integrated into Adobe. ARKit2 offers measurement tools and multi-player or user shared environments.

Quick Look for AR helps you place 3D objects into the real world to see how something would work in any space.

Below are images from Lego's demo at WWDC.

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Redesign of Mac Store

This is something we have been eager to see, to match up with the beautiful redesign of the iOS App Store that happened last year with iOS 11. Now with Mojave, the Mac App store is revamped with a clean look, and convenient tabs such as the Discover one to highlight the best Mac apps along with in-depth editorial content, editor's choice picks and additional Create, Work, Play and Develop tabs to improve app discovery.

The new Mac App Store redesign also brings compelling stories and helpful videos.

Redesigned product pages offer reviews and ratings along with new video previews so you can explore the app before making a purchase or downloading it.

Create, Work, Play and Develop tabs offer recommendations and expertise about apps, including tips and tutorials for even expert users.

Machine learning technology is available via Core ML 2 and Create ML for developers to integrate into their apps. Small changes are already included in Mojave such as faster wake from sleep, improved hard drive performance, Favicons in Safari tabs, Apple Filesystem support for Fusion and hard drives and more.

Microsoft Office 365, Adobe Lightroom CC and BBEdit are available in the new Mac Store.

Bringing iOS apps to the Mac

This by far is one of the most exciting developments at WWDC this year. Apple announced that it would allow developers to port their iOS applications to the Mac and that Apple had already started and successfully tested the process by already bringing over iOS apps - Home, Stocks, Apple News and Voice Memos - to macOS 10.14 Mojave.

This project, named Marzipan, will be finalized by 2019. Prior to this, many Mac applications were based off a software framework called AppKit that provides user interface elements such as windows, menus, buttons, scrollers, and text fields along with additional software required to display applications on your devices. AppKit was first created back in the 1980s and adapted from the original NeXTSTEP Application Kit.

With iOS apps, Apple developed a new kit called UIKit for smaller screens and limited touch controls that are quite different from code frameworks from Mac apps. In addition, AppKit includes mouse and keyboard inputs while UIKit is designed for touch input. Through this new endeavor, Apple is providing an easier way for developers to bring over their iOS apps to the Mac and for them to give these apps a Mac-like user interface. This also saves time as the developer would not have to build the entire app from scratch using AppKit user interface. By adding UI Kit as a native framework, the ported apps can run natively without using a simulator. Developers will now have access to both the existing AppKit and a new UIKit for the Mac.

Within Apple’s own ecosystem, iPad apps and tvOS apps for the Apple TV work already in a similar way as they are built in UIKit. This makes it easier to port from one platform to another. You still have to adapt to the interface of each platform with its own design, controls and considerations.

In an interview with Wired magazine, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi said Apple is planning to developers on their way in this process. Developers will able to designate in Xcode when they want to make an app variant to run on macOS. This will also automatically replace how some parts of the app interact, such as changing long presses on iOS into a two-finger right click on a Mac.

Apple News expands to the Mac

We are very excited to see some of the new Apple News updates, with enhanced iPad experience and full left tab navigation and integration with the stock app. Apple News is also now available on the Mac. We are launching our own Elf channel on Apple News this year so check back for our release!

iBooks becomes Apple Books

We love the iBooks redesign and its new name Apple Books. Apple Books has a beautiful presentation, better search functionality for discovery

CarPlay Includes 3rd Party Navigation Apps

Another update we were excited to see what the third-party navigation app update to CarPlay, allowing apps such as Waze and Google Maps.

Memojis and Group FaceTime

Apple has added more emojis and functionality for you to design your own Memoji with some of your personality stamped right on it. This is in addition to the existing Animoji and default emoji library that now includes a ghost, koala, tiger and T. rex. You can also use these emojis in the new Group FaceTime feature. The person who is speaking, naturally comes to the forefront during a call. Group FaceTime supports up to 32 people at one time for iOS and macOS.

Read on to Part 2 here. You can also view coverage from last year here.

categories Apple News
tags Apple, Elf, WWDC, 2018, privacy, mac store, Apple News, stocks, WWDC summary 2018

Apple's WWDC

June 04, 2018Elf

Apple's WWDC18 is on today! Are you watching? We are! It’s starting in a little under 2 hours :)

How to watch #WWDC18? @Apple’s live stream is available on the company’s own website https://www.apple.com/apple-events/june-2018/ … You need #Safari or Microsoft Edge on the desktop. You can also view through the Apple Events app on the @AppleTV at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/apple-events/id1090599922?mt=8

categories Apple News
tags apple, WWDC, developer conference, tech

Apple's HomePod gets AirPlay 2, Multi-room Audio and Stereo Pairing via iOS 11.4

May 30, 2018Elf

Apple's Much Anticipated Update to iOS 11 Addresses Prior Shortcoming for Multi-Room Support for a More Immersive and Complete Audio Experience Throughout Your Home

When Apple's smart speaker HomePod first came out, we were excited to test out its acoustic performance and integration with existing Apple systems. HomePod has an impressive subwoofer for a clean bass sound and provides directional control to more accurately convey the original richness of sound in any audio recording. This is a massive improvement to the smart speaker space with high fidelity sound and a larger sound stage.

Play and Control Music in Any Room

By adding AirPlay 2 software to the HomePod via iOS 11.4, HomePod can now play sound in multiple rooms throughout your home. You can control music playing in any room, on HomePod, Apple TV or any iOS device. You can also increase your sound stage by adding a second HomePod for a richer acoustic experience to fill any room with sound and more accurately reproduce lower frequencies such as deeper bass extensions.

With AirPlay 2, you can play music in any room, move music from one room to another, or play the same song in multiple rooms using an iOS device through an app or Control Center, the Apple TV, the HomePod or by using Siri voice commands. You can access AirPlay 2 controls within any app and also in the Control Center on an iOS device running iOS 11.4 by swiping up. In the Control Center, you will see a list of all available AirPlay 2 devices in your home. You can send audio to a single device, to multiple devices, or switch audio between devices.

Richer Sound Reproduction via HomePod Pairing

Equipped with a powerful A8 chip in each speaker, HomePod can play its own audio channel, left or right and separate out ambient and direct energy. This creates a fuller, almost three dimensional soundstage for any room. Stereo pairing works via an Apple-designed wireless peer-to-peer direct link that enables communication between two or more HomePods and to play music in sync. The two speakers act as one when paired, and only one HomePod responds to Siri requests.

Setting up HomePod pairs is easy as you will receive a prompt with a popup interface to pair your HomePods if you have more than one. The same information is also available in the HomePod's settings in the Home app. In the Settings menu, menu, tap on Create stereo pair. Then select another HomePod, choose your room, and assign left and right channels to each HomePod. Set up is almost instantaneous and you can benefit from a richer sound immediately. Paired HomePods offer a richer room-filling sound experience with a deeper bass and louder sound.

If the song you are playing supports stereo sound, you can distinctly hear different instruments being played on each HomePod. This experience is further enhanced if you connect to an Apple TV.

High Fidelity Audio Playback and Improved Podcast Acoustic Experience

We are thrilled to see these updates and increasing audio performance and connectivity as we get ready to launch our Hayden's podcast, Stardust this year. www.haydensm.com/podcast

Elf has been featured as a premier partner for audio streaming services in Ad Age for the last four years. We also offer audio services for our clients and have worked on high fidelity audio integration with leading automotive companies.

AirPlay 2, Multi-Room Audio and Syncing with Other Speakers

What we are most excited about is AirPlay 2 functionality as this extends wireless use of your HomePod(s) to multiple rooms and enables connections to other speakers you may have such as Bower & Wilkins, Bang & Olufsen, Bluesound, Bose, Denon, Libratone, Marantz, Marshall, Naim, Pioneer and Sonos. You can listen to your existing music collection, stream new music and listen to podcasts anywhere in your home in sync with your speakers.

The Control Center offers a quick view of what’s playing in every room and simple controls to adjust volume and more. When you select a single HomePod, you can play music in that room. Adding another HomePod, enables multi-room audio. When you have chosen two HomePods, each one receives its own volume slider for granular volume control. In addition, there is a master volume slider to adjust both speakers simultaneously.

You can also play music via YouTube or other streaming method. You will be prompted to choose the HomePod speaker for playback.

AirPlay 2 controls are available across iOS within any app and in Control Center for quick access to what’s playing in every room, on every speaker. Apple Music subscribers can also ask Siri to play different songs in different rooms or the same song everywhere, without ever leaving the room.

In addition, this synchronization addresses prior connection issues and lag while streaming audio and helps to ensure a better acoustic experience. You can ask Siri to play music in any room right from an iOS device or by asking Siri on HomePod.

Siri integrates well with Apple Music and with growing playlists and users, Siri's knowledge of music has increased.

Set Up and How to Update Your HomePod

Set up is easy as the new HomePod software is installed automatically on the HomePod after you update to iOS 11.4. to update your phone, go to the Settings app → General → Software Update.

After you update your iPhone to iOS 11.4, you can also navigate to the Home app, tap Edit and tap on HomePod > Details to go into its settings. Then tap Update Software.

If your HomePod is set up to automatically download and install new firmware, the latest version should already be installed on the device. After you have all your updates installed, Multi-room audio should just work right out of the box.

Start playing music on any iOS device and then select the HomePod. Any speakers you have that are compatible with AirPlay 2 will show up in a pop-up menu with a small checkbox next to them. You can choose multiple speakers to all play the same song from your iPhone or iPad. Apple Music integrates very well with multi-room audio via HomePods.

HomePod is available in the U.S., U.K. and Australia and will be available in Canada, France and Germany starting June 18.

We expect more coverage about the HomePod updates in WWDC this upcoming Monday June 4, 2018. You can see our prior coverage from last here on the HomePod, podcasts and more here.

We'll be watching and covering WWDC on Monday!

categories Apple News
tags Apple, iOS, 11.4, HomePod, AirPlay2, multi-room audio, podcasts, WWDC, 2018, developers, Siri, Elf, Hayden's, Stardust, sound, music, audio, AdAge, collaboration

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