Handoff let you effortlessly switch focus between your Mac and iOS device

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Handoff is perhaps my favorite of all the new features announced at yesterday’s WWDC keynote.

From Apple’s web site:

When your Mac and iOS devices are near each other, they can automatically pass whatever you’re doing from one device to another. Say you start writing a report on your Mac, but you want to continue on your iPad as you head to your meeting. Handoff lets you switch over and pick up instantly where you left off. Or maybe you start writing an email on your iPhone, but you want to finish it on your Mac. You can do that, too. Handoff works with Mail, Safari, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Maps, Messages, Reminders, Calendar, and Contacts. And app developers can easily build Handoff into their apps.

Yosemite and iOS 8 let you make and receive calls on your Mac

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There have long been devices that allowed you to use your Mac as a speaker phone. In the long ago, you’d plug some device into a phone jack in your wall (assuming you even had such a thing), then plug another cable into your Mac. The results were spotty at best. Nowadays, you’ve got solutions like iChat and Skype, but they don’t connect to your iPhone.

With the combination of Yosemite and iOS 8, you’ll get a notification on your Mac when your iPhone rings, giving you the option of accepting the call, or ignoring it. You can answer the call from your iPhone, of course, but having the ability to minimize the interruption, keep your focus on your Mac, is a godsend to me.

iOS 8 and Family Sharing

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Let’s say you have a spouse and between zero and four children. If that’s you, iOS 8 has a fantastic new feature, called Family Sharing, that will make your life easier.

Huge lines for yesterday’s keynote [Photos]

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One of the charms (and curses) of WWDC is the massive line outside Moscone of folks trying to get into the main hall. Seeing the keynote from one of the overflow rooms is fine, but there’s a real feel of electricity in the main room that is hard to match.

The San Francisco Chronicle blogged some pictures and tweets from the line. It’s as if you were there in person!

Apple officially announces iOS 8

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Apple officially announced iOS 8 during the WWDC keynote. Follow the headline link to read the official press release.

Apple releases iOS 8 SDK with over 4,000 new APIs

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The iOS 8 SDK is truly gigantic:

Apple® today released its iOS 8 SDK, the biggest developer release ever with more than 4,000 new APIs, giving developers the ability to create amazing new apps like never before. iOS 8 allows developers to further customize the user experience with major extensibility features like Notification Center widgets and third-party keyboards; and introduces robust frameworks such as HealthKit and HomeKit. iOS 8 also includes Metal, a new graphics technology that maximizes the performance of the A7 chip and Swift, a powerful new programming language.

I can’t wait to dig into all this stuff, especially the new version of Xcode, the SpritKit playground, and the new Swift programming language.

Apple officially announces Yosemite

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Apple officially announced Yosemite during the WWDC keynote. Follow the headline link to read the official press release.

On eve of WWDC, Samsung announces their first Tizen smartphone

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CNET:

Samsung is the world’s biggest Android device maker by a wide margin, but it has been developing Tizen as an alternative to Google’s operating system for quite some time. Tizen gives Samsung more control over its own future, allowing it to rely less on Google and more on its homegrown software. That becomes increasingly important as Google works to support other Android vendors and as Samsung tries to set itself apart from all the other handset makers in the market.

WWDC live stream and party links

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Some useful links for watching the live stream of the WWDC Keynote, as well as options for tracking the various parties that surround WWDC and AltConf.

Kickstarter significantly improves speed of your existing charger

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The Legion Meter plugs into your existing USB charger, and your device plugs into it. The Legion Meter interacts with your device’s charging system and optimizes the flow of current into your device, significantly reducing the time it takes to charge your device.

Google to announce Android TV at Google I/O in June

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Not to be confused with Google TV:

Android TV won’t be another device, but rather a platform that manufacturers of TVs and set-top boxes can use to bring streaming services to the television. In that way, it is similar to Google TV, the platform the company unveiled at its 2010 Google I/O conference. But while Google TV was focused on marrying existing pay TV services with apps, Android TV will at least initially be all about online media services and Android-based video games.

Why the Beats deal works for Apple

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The linked essay makes the case that the music industry is going through an artist-friendly disruption, as evidenced by the business success of Lady Gaga. Drawing parallels to the disruptive rise of Uber, the case is made that this new business model is Beats’ true underlying value and a large part of Apple’s motivation in making this acquisition.

Good read.

Amazon Prime to get free streaming music service, starting this summer

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In a nutshell, Amazon is sweetening its $99 per year Prime membership by adding a free streaming music component.

The company will expand its Prime membership offerings by adding a stockpile of old and newish music for subscribers to stream on demand. The Prime music service, which is scheduled to launch this June or July, will not include recent releases but instead restrict its catalog to songs and albums that are 6 months old and older, five music industry sources familiar with the company’s plans confirmed to BuzzFeed.

Adrian Perica, Apple’s head of M&A, the real force behind the Beats deal

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Adrian Perica went to West Point, did some intelligence work, got an MBA from MIT, and made his way to Apple via his experience as an investment banker. He is now Apple’s head of M&A (mergers and acquisitions).

Perica doesn’t get a lot of press, but he played a significant role in the Beats acquisition.

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to buy Clippers for $2 billion

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From the LA Times:

Ballmer, who was chief executive of Microsoft for 14 years, was chosen over competitors that included Los Angeles-based investors Tony Ressler and Bruce Karsh and a group that included David Geffen and executives from the Guggenheim Group, the Chicago-based owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, according to three individuals familiar with the negotiations.

One of the individuals with knowledge of the negotiations said the Geffen group bid $1.6 billion and Ressler at $1.2 billion.

The Geffen group supposedly included an Apple employee by the name of Jimmy Iovine.

Apple brings ESPN and 42 local NPR stations to iTunes Radio

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9to5mac:

Hot on the heels of the announcement that Apple had acquired the Beats Music streaming service for $3 billion to help bolster its own struggling competitor, 9to5Mac has learned that Apple is introducing a new ESPN station for iTunes Radio.

Samsung rolls out its new health-monitoring wrist band

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I do think personal health monitoring devices will become almost universal, and this is certainly a step in that direction, but this seems more like a gadget than a solution, more of a marketing play to establish mindshare than a thought out product ready for the market.

Test drive of Google’s self-driving car

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[VIDEO] Last week, we wrote about driverless car testing coming to California’s public roads this September 16th. Part of the approved legislation is this language:

A manufacturer shall not permit any of its autonomous vehicles to be operated on public roads in California when the operator is not seated in the vehicle’s driver seat and either: monitoring its operations and able to take over physical control of the vehicle; or, in physical control of the vehicle.

Google just released a video (see the original post) of their driverless car concept, tested for the first time with people outside of Google.

Apple’s Eddie Cue and Jimmy Iovine, in the wake of the Beats announcement, on stage at the Code conference

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[VIDEO] Yesterday was a huge day for Apple, centered around the announcement that Apple was buying Beats.

As that announcement was making its way around the world, Apple Senior VP Eddie Cue and and newly minted Apple employee Jimmy Iovine spent the day at the Code conference, talking Beats, AppleTV, the Steve Jobs legacy, and lots more.

Go to the original post for comments, details, and an embedded video.