For those of you don’t know the Apple annually host a conference in California known as the WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference). During this conference new software and technologies, are often showcased to the public, and new technical features and updates are explored. Here’s a snippet of some of the things CEO Tim Cook announced at this year’s event ……

After the successful launch of iOS 10 in October last year, it was only a matter of time till the next upgrade was due out. Like any news there have been loads of speculations to what the new iOS update will bring, and how can it improve on the mass functionality update that the iOS 10 brought us back in 2016.

Due to be released in September, the iOS 11 comes with a range of new features….

• iMessages will be stored on iCloud so they can be accessed across all devices
• Apple Pay will have a function to make “person – to – person” payments, not just “person –to –store” payments.
• Siri will have a more natural voice and will be able to translate from English to Chinese, French, German, Italian and so much more.
• The Camera app will use HIEF compression to produce better photos, which will look just as good as JPEGs.
• The control centre (white slider screen), now packs all features with sliders for volume and brightness.

Watch iOS 4

Apple spoke about some of the new features that will be coming out later on in the year. There will be new watch faces, which includes a watch face for Siri. The Music app will have significant improvements like automatically syncing music and showing the cover art on the screen, and syncing new fitness features so your playlist starts when your workouts begin.

MacOS High Sierra

There was continued talk about the new MacOS High Sierra, which was released as a major update last year. Apparently Safari is now the “World’s fastest desktop browser”, and the new update has made some significant refinements in High Sierra photos. On top of this Apple’s File System has had a substantial update with its 64-bit. Apple will also introduce Metal 2 and Metal VR with Steam VR SDK, Unity and Unreal engines,soon to be coming to the Mac later this year also.

HTC Vive

HTC’s virtual reality headset will be made compatible with Apple Mac and combined with Steam VR, so it will be possible to control virtual reality experiences from your Mac.

HomePod

You may have already seen several advertisements about the Apple HomePod, which will go up against the functionality of the Amazon Echo. It will be Apple’s own music system in the form of a small speaker, and it will use its 4-inch woofer to fill a room with a multi-directional seven-beam tweeter. It can be combined with Siri for voice control, and it can also set reminders, timers and find national / local news. The HomePod will come with Apple’s HomeKit, which will be already built into the device, meaning it can also control other appliances linked to the HomeKit.

APP Store

The App Store is having a makeover which will be part of iOS 11, it will look cleaner and simplistic on your phone with tabs to separate the content. There will be a “Today” tab to show you new games and apps recommended that day, a Games tab and several others.

Amazon Video

After Amazon and Apple settled their differences, they have both confirmed that Amazon Video will be available to Apple TV later this year.

For more information about several other updates and gadgets to be released by Apple later this year, then click on the following link. The link will also include a video on the new Apple HomePod!

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/137365-apple-wwdc-2017-all-the-announcements-that-matter