With WWDC coming up next week, Apple has started preparing for the big day. Following the launch of the Apple TV channel for the keynote stream yesterday, the company has started decorating Moscone West with Apple logos and banners.
With Apple steadily rolling out its mobile payment service across the United States, support for Apple Pay has now gone live from these new banks and credit unions:
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Insteon, Lutron, iHome, Elgato and Ecobee have all just announced that their HomeKit products are now officially available and/or shipping to customers.
The announcements come on the heels of our report that Apple partners planned this week to launch the first products using the company’s new Siri-controlled HomeKit home automation platform, first introduced alongside iOS 8 last year.
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A week ahead of the Monday, June 8th Worldwide Developers Conference kickoff keynote, Apple has announced that it will be live streaming the event, which starts at 10 AM Pacific/ 1 PM Eastern Time. The company has updated its Apple Events application on the Apple TV to feature next week’s streaming video. Apple is yet to update its website, but the company will likely stream the keynote on its website for both Macs and iOS Devices running the Safari Web browser. While Apple will be live streaming the event, we’ll have live news and analysis over the course of the week-long conference, and especially before, during, and after the keynote presentation. At the conference, we expect Apple to introduce iOS 9, OS X 10.11, Apple Music, and new Apple TV hardware.
Update: Apple has posted the stream availability to its website.
The first home automation products using Apple’s new Siri-controlled HomeKit platform will arrive next week, according to sources briefed on Apple’s plans.
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According to a new report from The New York Times, Apple will, as expected, announce new details and enhancements for Apple Pay at WWDC next month. The report, citing two people briefed on the product, claims that Apple plans to add a rewards program to Apple Pay.
Big improvements will be coming to Apple Watch apps later this year, Apple SVP of Operations Jeff Williams revealed during an interview at the Code Conference. In the current version of the Watch OS software, apps need to run on the iPhone rather than the watch itself, which puts a serious damper on performance.
However, that will change this fall, Williams said, when native watch apps are finally made possible…
Apple has today confirmed that the WWDC keynote will be held at 10 AM PST on June 8th as usual, from the WWDC schedule in the newly-updated app. Apple will announce the next-generation versions of its operating systems, iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 with the potential for some new hardware and some surprises. Apple is expected to unveil its new streaming music service, based off Beats. It has also sent out WWDC keynote invites to select members of the press.
Like last year, Apple is teasing developers with a whole host of TBA sessions during the week of the conference with ‘inviting’ names. There’s over 180 ‘secret sessions’ in total. The details of these sessions are currently secret as they rely on information about iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 that is yet to be announced, so for now they use amusing placeholder titles until the keynote is over.
Apple has just released version 3.0 of its WWDC app for iPhone and iPad ahead of the big developer conference kicking off on June 8th. Notably, the updated version includes support for the Apple Watch for viewing conference info from the new device, including a WWDC glance:
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Some of iOS 9‘s more important planned enhancements include split-screen apps on iPads, a new Home app for controlling HomeKit accessories, a new system-wide UI font, a mass transit directions service for the Maps app, and major quality, performance, and security enhancements. However, multiple sources note that there will also be some smaller, but still important, tweaks to the operating system. We spotlight some of these expected changes below…
The timing for the launch of Apple’s planned web-based TV service may depend on if and when the company can secure the rights to include content from local TV stations, Re/code reports. While Apple has been believed to be working on service that bundles access to a handful of channels delivered over the Internet, the new report claims that Apple wants to include live local programming from TV stations to both broaden the appeal of the service — especially with cord cutters — and satisfy industry executives…
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Nearly a month after the release of the first-generation Apple Watch with Watch OS 1.0, a proven source has disclosed a collection of upcoming Apple Watch software and hardware updates. Currently in development, the features seek to enhance Apple Watch security, connectivity with other Apple devices, health and fitness features, Wi-Fi capabilities, and integration with third-party applications. Additionally, Apple is also priming major updates for the Apple TV in both the hardware and software departments, including Apple Watch integration. Below, we detail what users can expect from Apple Watches and Apple TVs in the future…
While Apple has never announced an official launch date for HomeKit, its Siri-controlled home automation platform first introduced alongside iOS 8, a new report claims that products will be delayed as Apple runs into some roadblocks.
Rumors are already floating around about Apple’s iPhone 6s and we’ve got the rundown on everything. Along with that, we discuss WWDC 2015 and our expectations for software and hardware announcements. The Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and through our dedicated RSS feed…
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With its major developer conference scheduled to kick off in just over four weeks, Apple has started sending out WWDC scholarship notifications to winning applicants. Scholarship recipients avoid the limited lottery system for purchasing a ticket while the $1599 price of the ticket is waived. This year the scholarship program includes 350 slots for student developers and STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) organization members. In previous years, the scholarship program has been limited to 200 tickets. Apple will reveal the latest versions of iOS and OS X during the WWDC keynote. The conference begins June 8th. You can read the full email below:
A new report from Re/code today about Apple’s upcoming music streaming platform reiterated much of what we already know about the service, which is expected to debut with iOS 8.4 at WWDC. iOS 8.4 is already in the hands of developers with a revamped Music app.
As was previously known, Re/code notes that the recent hire of BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe and other BBC DJs is a plan to help bolster iTunes Radio’s curated playlist feature by manually compiling track lists instead of allowing an algorithm to make the decisions. The site also notes that iTunes Radio will be available in additional countries, which we first reported earlier this week. A few other new details were also mentioned.
Apple has started offering registered developers the chance to sign-up and test its upcoming App Analytics feature first announced last year at WWDC. Developers have been awaiting the service since it was announced following Apple’s acquisition of TestFlight (and FlightPath), a service which offered its own analytics features.
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Apple’s annual lottery for WWDC tickets officially ended this morning at 10AM PST and lucky developers have started receiving confirmation emails this evening. The developers who were lucky enough to win an opportunity to the attend event have received emails in their inbox and their credits have been charged.
Apple has told Re/code that it is increasing the number of scholarship places offered at this year’s WWDC from 200 to 350 as part of its work to create greater diversity amongst developers. Those selected get a free ticket to the developer’s conference.
The Cupertino technology giant said it will extend […] scholarships to students age 13 and older and members of organizations working to promote science, technology, engineering and math education for young women, blacks and Latinos. The National Society of Black Engineers, App Camp for Girls and La TechLa are among 20 organizations whose members would be eligible for a scholarship.
The company last year published its first ever diversity report, showing that the company is fairly typical of tech companies today: 70% male, 55% white. CEO Tim Cook said then that he was not satisfied with the numbers, and was doing “meaningful and inspiring” work with women’s and minority groups to bring about change.
Let me say up front: As CEO, I’m not satisfied with the numbers on this page. They’re not new to us, and we’ve been working hard for quite some time to improve them. We are making progress, and we’re committed to being as innovative in advancing diversity as we are in developing our products
Cook said during last month’s shareholder meeting that he would work on equality “until my toes point up.”
Apple has, however, refused to make its full federal workforce diversity data public, believed to be on the basis that the job classifications are a poor match for actual roles in the tech sector. Microsoft, Twitter and Amazon also refused.
<a href="https://twitter.com/joannastern" target="_blank">WSJ’s Joanna Stern</a>
WWDC 2015 may be ‘the epicenter of change’ as the announcement’s tagline presented, but it will not be the epicenter of selfie sticks if Apple has anything to say about it. Included in the WWDC 2015 Attendance Policy is a rule that stands out as a sign of the times: no selfie sticks.
After requesting that no one take any audio or audiovisual recordings (sorry Shot on iPhone 6 campaign … wait really?!), Apple drops an explicit ‘no selfie stick’ bombshell on everyone:
In addition, you may not use selfie sticks or similar monopods within Moscone West or Yerba Buena Gardens.
The section also bans “wearable recording devices” from Moscone West where the conference is held — does the Apple Watch with its microphone on your wrist classify? This line likely has another target in mind: the WWDC rebel wearing Google Glass.
While the selfie stick rule may be an extension of a Yerba Bueno policy, it’s likely for your own good. No one’s view gets obstructed by poles, no one’s head gets whacked by your iPhone 6 Plus on a rod, and you don’t have to risk the temptation of whipping yours out in public. Still too tempted to resist? Check out our roundup of the best selfie sticks for iPhone 5, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus on 9to5Toys.
Apple has just officially announced its annual Worldwide Developers Conference for this year. The conference will take place in San Francisco as usual in early June. WWDC will officially kick off on June 8th and run through June 12th. Developers interested in attending the conference can apply for tickets starting today with applications open through Friday at 10 am PT/1 pm ET.
Like last year, available tickets will be distributed at random to a portion of applicants due to size constraints of the venue, Moscone West, although Apple says select sessions will actually be streamed live while most sessions will be available online after each day. Apple will announce ticket availability after the random selection process on Monday, April 20th, at 5 pm PT/8 pm ET.
Apple’s WWDC opening keynote serves as the unveiling stage for the next versions of iOS and OS X. Apple’s press release for the conference (below) teases the announcement of “the future of iOS and OS X” as we would expect.
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Apple has updated its WWDC (Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference) iPhone app with optimization for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus released by Apple last month. The update also includes a bug fix for a crashing issue for users on iOS 8 and later. The app includes developer session videos, images, and other media from Apple’s annual developer conference. Apple’s WWDC iPhone app is available for free on the App Store, although a registered developer account is required to access some content.
Apple drew a lot of attention earlier this year when it debuted its own blog dedicated to updating developers on Swift, its programming language for building Mac and iOS apps first introduced at WWDC in June. The blog has since been used to share updates on the state of Swift as well as technical details about the programming language, but today Apple posted an official video tutorial (embedded below) targeted for new Swift developers on using the language and Xcode to build an app for iOS from scratch.
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First shown at WWDC to demonstrate Metal (Apple’s new graphics API), Epic Zen Garden is now available in the App Store to download and try out on your newly-updated iOS 8 device. Although this is more of a tech demo than a fully-fledged game, you can still get some enjoyment out of raking the sand or playing with the fish in the pond. There are several different areas to explore which show off the power of the GPU in your iOS device. It does look good.