Apple had an incredibly successful Worldwide Developers Conference last week, on almost all fronts. From the new keynote venue and Apple Bash, to the reaction of developers, and the software that was announced, Apple did a great job.
What impressed me the most about the updated macOS, tvOS, iOS, and watchOS were all the “little” things. In typical Apple fashion, the company solved real-world problems with a lot of the new features announced during WWDC. The scope of how these features will help us on a daily basis will not be so little, but that’s exactly what makes them so great.
For example, take Single Sign-on which will be part of the new tvOS. This has to be one of the most frustrating experiences with the Apple TV—you have a cable subscription, but you have to authenticate each and every app you download to your Apple TV. That involves going to different web sites, typing in different codes and authenticating every single app.
I’ll be honest, I just gave up. It’s too much of a hassle to be bothered with.
With Single Sign-on, you log-in once to Apple TV and you’re done. The Apple TV will even show you a complete list of all authenticated apps that you can download to your Apple TV. Absolutely brilliant.
Auto Unlock in macOS is another feature that takes away some daily frustration and the tedious entering of the log-in screen password. When you walk up to your computer using your authenticated Apple Watch, you will be automatically logged into your computer. Again, brilliant.
Being able to copy & paste between devices is going to be a huge feature for people like me that use multiple devices throughout the day—iPads, iPhone, and Macs. Continuity is a great for apps, but it’s going to be just as great for features like copy & paste.
Apple Music
The part of the keynote I was looking forward to the most was Apple Music. I was a bit disappointed, to be honest.
What I really wanted from Apple was to have them say they figured out the issues that were causing problems for Apple Music customers. I wanted to know that iTunes Match was fixed and that the promise of Apple Music they gave us last year was finally becoming a reality.
Instead, we got a new interface. One that looks, in places, like a web page loaded without the corresponding CSS. An interface that requires more taps to do simple tasks like “Love” a song or find a genre radio station. For the most part, the interface is more confusing now then it’s ever been.
There is nothing social about the app–they don’t get social at all, and that’s a big problem. There are so many things on the backend and interface that are wrong.
There are some good parts though. Seeing what’s Up Next from the now playing song page is just a quick swipe up–nice change. Apple has made significant improvements in some backend functions, like the curated radio stations, over the past few months, so the Apple Music team deserves a huge amount of credit for that–I’ve really been enjoying Hard Rock radio.
I agree the current interface need some improvements—features like being able to scroll up to see what’s playing next. However, throwing out everything is not the way to go.
Before Apple can fix Apple Music, I think they need to figure out what the hell they want this app to be. I’m convinced they don’t know and that is their biggest problem.
Apple Music clearly isn’t ready to have my full thoughts posted on it yet. I can only think there are many changes coming to Apple Music and it would be unfair of me to say any more until it’s released.
iOS
It’s great that developers can now use Siri to control their apps—that’s long overdue. I do wish we had seen a bit more about what the future holds for Siri, but perhaps another time for that.
News is odd for me. I still don’t get what Apple is trying to do with News. It’s a solution in search of a problem and it doesn’t seem that Apple knows what problem it’s trying to fix.
Apple said they are now offering subscriptions in News, but they tried that with Newsstand and then dumped it. I don’t see how News is any different or how the end result will be any different.
Messages is one of my most used apps on iOS. I use it all day long. I’m not a big emoji talker, but having the option to throw one or two into a conversation will be a fun change. Having the emojis many times their normal size is a great feature for my aging eyes. (I do send smily faces now and then).
Having links show up in Messages as an item instead of a long link is another great addition. It’s just another one of those little things that will make things a lot easier for users. These are the type of features I really like.
For me, one of the most improved apps seems to be Maps. This is a good thing because I use Maps quite a bit. You can now avoid highways and tolls when planning a route, and you can search along a route for points of interest. These are small things, but Maps was lacking without them.
Another great feature in Maps is having developer integration. Being able to book a Lyft or Uber, or book a table at a restaurant from within the app will be big features.
Overall
It was a great week for Apple and developers. Everyone left happy.
The venue for the keynote was great, the sessions seemed to go really well this year, and it was the best Apple bash in recent memory.
Apple’s responsibility at WWDC is to deliver technologies that developers can use to build the next round of great apps. They succeeded in doing that. Apple’s attention on those little features make a huge difference in the way we use the various OS releases. It’s why we continue using Apple products.
I just learned that there is a simplified version of each Wikipedia page. Thought you might find this useful.
In a nutshell, take your existing Wikipedia link and replace the language code with the word “simple”.
As an example, here’s the Wikipedia link for Apple, Inc.:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.
Now replace the English language code, “en”, with the word “simple”, and you get this link:
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.
Take a look at both pages. One is a simplified version of the other. When all you want is the basics, the simple Wikipedia page might be the way to go.
Written by Dave Mark
Howard Yu, writing for Fortune:
In 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore made a bold prediction about the exponential growth of computing power. He observed that the number of transistors could be doubled every two years by shrinking their size inside of a microprocessor. And since transistor density correlates with computing power, computing power correspondingly doubles every two years. Intel has since delivered on that promise and immortalized it in the name of Moore’s Law.
Take an imaginary letter-size paper. Fold it in half, then fold it a second time, and then a third. The thickness of the stack doubles exponentially every time. If you are skillful enough to fold the same piece of paper 42 times, you will have a tower that stretches to the moon.
And:
Just four months ago, Intel disclosed in a regulatory filing that it is slowing the pace in launching new chips. Its latest transistor is down to only about 100 atoms wide. The fewer atoms composing a transistor, the harder it is to manipulate. Following the existing trajectory, by early 2020, transistors should have just 10 atoms. At that scale, electronic properties will be messed up by quantum uncertainties, making any devices hopelessly unreliable. In other words, engineers and scientists are hitting the fundamental limit of physics.
The end of Moore’s Law will bring changes to the computing industry and, hopefully, a wave of innovation that takes us beyond the standard silicon model. Interestingly, Intel just announced [Caution: Autoplay ad] that Apple will be using Apple Inc.’s next iPhone will use Intel chips in some of the next generation of iPhones:
Apple Inc.’s next iPhone will use modems from Intel Corp., replacing Qualcomm Inc. chips in some versions of the new handset, a move by the world’s most-valuable public company to diversify its supplier base.
Apple has chosen Intel modem chips for the iPhone used on AT&T Inc.’s U.S. network and some other versions of the smartphone for overseas markets, said people familiar with the matter. IPhones on Verizon Communications Inc.’s network will stick with parts from Qualcomm, which is the only provider of the main communications component of current versions of Apple’s flagship product. Crucially for Qualcomm, iPhones sold in China will work on Qualcomm chips, said the people, who asked not to be identified because Apple hasn’t made its plans public.
I can only imagine that this first venture into mobile is a bit of a lifeline for Intel.
Over the weekend, Apple sent out a wave of emails promoting Search Ads. Search Ads allow you to bid to place ads that appear when a user searches the App Store.
Here’s the text Apple sent out:
Search Ads, coming to the U.S. App Store for iPhone and iPad with iOS 10, is an efficient and easy way for you to promote your app directly within App Store search results, helping customers discover or reengage with your app while respecting their privacy.
Opt in to the Search Ads beta to see ads for your apps in action. Participation in the beta is free. There is no setup, budget, or bidding required by you. While there will be no data provided or access to the Search Ads Campaign Management and Reporting UI during the beta, your app may receive downloads as a result of your participation.
Search Ads are based on relevance and a second price auction. Your ad must be relevant to the search the user is performing. If not, it won’t appear, no matter how high your bid. To get into the action, you place a bid, telling Apple how much you are willing to pay for each tap (you only pay if the user taps on your ad, pay nothing if they see your ad but don’t tap on it). Your bid is a maximum, sort of like eBay. Your actual price is determined by the maximum bid of the nearest competitor (the “second price”).
There’s an excellent video on this process here.
To me, the big question is, does this help indie developers, does this even the playing field, make it easier for the indie developer to find their audience and for their audience to find them?
I’m not seeing it. While I can see using this mechanism to raise awareness of my app, I don’t see anything that prevents a larger competitor from outbidding me on a regular basis. Bigger pockets trumps smaller pockets. And by definition, that means a playing field tilted towards larger developers.
Am I missing something obvious? Something that will, indeed, help make earning a living feasible for the smaller developer?
