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. If you are a registered Apple developer (and not at WWDC), you might want to tune in to the WWDC “State of the Union” and get “deeper info on Xcode and OS API changes”. Thanks to Eric for the link.

Apple:

Watch streaming video from this special event and learn more about our exciting announcements.

Apple now has the downloadable version posted.

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Vox:

Apple kicked off the event by announcing major upgrades to both of its flagship operating systems: Mac OS X, which powers Macs, and iOS, which powers iPhones and iPads. The releases included a slew of new features. Here are the most important among them.

Good overview of what developers are looking at right now and what the rest of us will see later this year. Some very exciting stuff coming.

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PetaPixel:

Apple has really opened the door for developers to go crazy when it comes to creating and improving camera apps.

Developers can now access manual controls for the camera.

This is one of those things a lot of people don’t get about WWDC. It’s not for consumers – yet. But developers (and photo app users like myself) are very excited about these kinds of “hooks” Apple is giving them access to.

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Apple:

Thoughtfully redesigning OS X meant going deep into every aspect of the interface and focusing on details large and small. There are obvious changes to big things, like translucency in windows and streamlined toolbars. And there are more subtle changes to a lot of small things, like the buttons, icons, and font you see throughout the system. The more you use your Mac, the more you’ll notice, and the more you’ll love it.

Given that few (if any) of us have used it yet, what are your initial thoughts about Yosemite? Overall, I’m excited to use it.

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Apple:

Swift is a new programming language for creating iOS and OS X apps. Swift builds on the best of C and Objective-C, without the constraints of C compatibility. Swift adopts safe programming patterns and adds modern features to make programming easier, more flexible, and more fun. Swift’s clean slate, backed by the mature and much-loved Cocoa and Cocoa Touch frameworks, is an opportunity to reimagine how software development works.

Of all the announcement Apple made today, this might turn out to be one of the biggest.

. Technologizer:

Once a year, Apple kicks off its World Wide Developer Conference with a keynote presentation. Many people seem to think they’re famous for involving Apple dazzling consumers with an array of new products, to the rapturous approval of everybody involved.

Which is weird, because that’s not the point at all.

While Apple will announce new hardware on Monday, the focus will be on software – specifically iOS 8 and the next version of Mac OS X.

. The Verge:

Apple’s 25th annual developers conference kicks off next week, and as usual, the company’s spent the past week putting up large, colorful banners all over the Moscone West building in San Francisco. That includes large Apple logos to the two sides of the three story building, as well as product banners on the inside of the building.

One of those is a banner with a large 8 on it, the first indication of iOS 8, which is expected at the show.

Join me in saying, “Duh.”

. Sports Interaction:

The World Cup returns to Brazil, the home of the beautiful game, o jogo bonito, for the first time in sixty-four years this year. It’s the 20th playing of the greatest sports tournament in the world, bigger even than the Olympics, with TV viewership in the hundreds of millions all across the globe.

All the pressure is on Brazil – hosts, favorites, winners of five World Cups and all-too-aware that the last time Brazil hosted the World Cup, neighboring Uruguay beat them 2-1 at the Maracana to claim Uruguay’s second and last title. Spain try to become the first team to win four major international tournaments in a row, the Germans are overdue, Argentina looks to Messi while Portugal, Belgium and Columbia dream of a first-ever World Cup title. Add in the Netherlands, previous champions Italy, England, France and Uruguay and all the ingredients are there for one of the best World Cups of all time!

Go Italia!

But we didn’t stop there. To make it super easy for you to have your promo codes with you and and ready to share in Moscone and its environs, we’ve added Passbook support to Tokens.

Add the campaign pass to your Passbook and when you want to share a promo code with a new friend, they simply scan the barcode using Passbook on their phone. We then vend them an individual pass that’s valid for a single promo code. That token is marked as shared and reserved for the person who scanned it.

I love this app.

The AltBeard Bash, done in conjunction with AltConf, is getting close. Next Tuesday, we’ll be rocking San Francisco from 7-11 pm at the Children’s Creativity Museum at Moscone. Everyone is invited, so I hope you can all make it.

Be aware that entry to the party is on a first come, first serve basis. It doesn’t matter if you received an invite or not—those that are at the venue first will get in first.

We will also be supporting Home To Stay Dog Rescue at the party. This is my wife’s project to help save, vet, and find new homes for dogs in need. If you have a few extra dollars in your pocket and see her walking around, please consider donating to help the dogs.

We’re grateful to have two sponsors for this year’s AlBeard Bash: Microsoft Azure and Sling Media. Sling is offering $50 off a Slingbox for The Loop readers.

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Re/Code:

A few hours after announcing their $3 billion deal, Apple SVP Eddy Cue and Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine came to the Code Conference to talk about what brought them together, and what they want to do next. You can watch their conversation with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher

Always interesting to see what is (and isn’t) said during these interviews.

I pre-ordered my copy.

Good article by Bradley Chambers. Personally, I like Apple’s Photo Stream—it works well and does what I need it to do.

Motorola announced on Friday it will close its Fort Worth, Texas manufacturing plant by the end of the year. The factory opened in September 2013.

Damn, things are bad are Moto.

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Vox:

Over the last few months, the cost of coffee has risen dramatically. Since January, the average price of coffee futures on commodity markets has increased by more than 50 percent.

It’s taken a while for this to be reflected in the retail price of coffee, because roasters generally have a few months’ stock of beans on hand. But we’re finally beginning to see slight increases in retail prices of coffee too.

So what are the causes of this recent price increase?

Oh, this is going to suck.

. Liveleak:

It’s amazing how these motorists don’t even notice the cyclist. There were a number of near misses but in the end they got him.

Car drivers, please keep a eye out for those of us who ride on two wheels and give us a break. Thanks to Dan Frakes on Twitter for the link.

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S.B.LattinDesign:

If your kitchen drawers are anything like ours, you never have the right measuring implement for the recipe you’re tackling. Keep this chart on hand, and the next time you find yourself asking “How many…” you’ll know just what to do.

While most of the world has gone metric, there are still a lot (at least here in North America) of measurements that are “Old School”. This would make a handy poster to hang in your kitchen to help with various unit conversions.

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The Verge:

Milan-based coachbuilder Carrozzeria Touring has teamed up with Mini’s design team to build a truly spectacular one-off, electric-powered concept roadster that somehow manages to meld the classic British design with sleek Italian looks.

The so-called Mini Touring Superleggera Vision will almost certainly never see the roads in this form, but that doesn’t mean you can’t fall in love with the design.

I’ve always been a fan of Mini Coopers (even if I’d never buy one) but this one? I’d love be able to buy. Sadly, it’s a one-off. Make sure you watch the very cool video too.

Sad, but like Mike said, it was in that awkward stage where you have to be willing to devote more time and resources to it or shut it down.

One of the best RSS readers ever.

What Beats brings to Apple are guys with very rare skills. People like this aren’t born every day. They’re very rare. They really get music deeply. So we get an infusion in Apple of some great talent.

We get a subscription music service that we believe is the first subscription service that really got it right. They had the insight early on to know how important human curation is. That technology by itself wasn’t enough — that it was the marriage of the two that would really be great and produce a feeling in people that we want to produce. They’ve also built an incredible premium headphone business that’s been tuned by experts and critical ears. We’re fans of that. It’s a reasonable-size business that’s fast-growing.

But mostly, backing up — it’s because we always are future-focused. So it’s not what Apple and Beats are doing today. It’s what we believe pairing the two together can produce for the future.

Talent, music service, and the future.

From AppleInsider:

With Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference coming up next week, pundits are speculating on hardware the company may introduce in its first major media gathering of the year. One well-informed analyst believes the stars of the show will be a cheaper iMac and maybe an 8GB iPhone 5s.

Apple’s history in music began with selling Macs to musicians. That remains important to us today, but we also bring music to hundreds of millions of customers with iTunes, which is at the forefront of the digital music revolution. Music holds a special place in our hearts at Apple, and we know that we can make an even bigger contribution to something that is so important to our society. That’s why we have kept investing in music and why we’re bringing together these extraordinary teams — so we can continue to create the most innovative music products and services in the world.

“The whole idea of MacTech Conference is to allow members of the Apple community to meet and exchange ideas,” says Edward Marczak, Conference Chair and Executive Editor of MacTech Magazine. “This will be spurred on by presentations from some of the best and well-known experts in the community.”

This is the conference’s 5th year.

Apple on Wednesday said it agreed to acquire Beats Music and Beats Electronics for $3 billion. As part of the acquisition, Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre will join Apple. […]

Amazon is pathetic in this respect. The company always comes out with statements about how many Kindles they sold, but provide nothing to back it up. The press is partly responsible for letting them get away with it, but you can’t claim that news coverage is unfair if you’re not willing to comment.

Kirk McElhearn walks through the various steps of optimizing the position of your computer speakers. Much of this was new to me, good stuff to know for anyone with any kind of speakers, whether they be for a computer, TV, or for your home recording studio.

Maybe it’s just me, but I always like seeing what new blogging tools are available. Like a lot of things in technology, sometimes it’s the fresh faces that do things right.

Take a listen to the samples and you’ll see how important microphone choice and placement is to your sound.