On this week’s episode of AppStories, we look at what Apple could do to use iOS and its large developer community to revitalize the Mac app ecosystem.
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The video for Apple’s WWDC keynote address, which was held earlier today at the San Jose Convention Center, is now available on the company’s website.
Expectations going into today’s keynote were relatively muted in the Apple community, in part due to rumors surrounding major iOS and macOS features that had reportedly been internally pushed to future updates. However, the kickoff event for this year’s conference was in no way short on exciting news, with strong updates for iOS, macOS, and watchOS. No hardware was announced, but it was still a jam-packed keynote.
We’re actively at work on in-depth coverage for all of today’s announcements, and will be reporting on any additional news that trickles out in the coming days as WWDC 2018 continues.
You can also follow all of our WWDC coverage through our WWDC 2018 hub, or subscribe to the dedicated WWDC 2018 RSS feed.
Apple kicked off its WWDC keynote today with a comical video highlighting various aspects of the life of developers. The video is available to watch below.
You can also follow all of our WWDC coverage through our WWDC 2018 hub, or subscribe to the dedicated WWDC 2018 RSS feed.
With WWDC around the corner and speculation continuing about why Apple purchased Workflow a little over a year ago, Wired has published a profile of Sal Soghoian, who worked on Automator at Apple until 2016. The feature piece, also covers the development of x-callback-urls on iOS and the introduction Workflow, which was acquired by Apple in 2017.
Soghoian is a guy who’s built a long career creating technology that lets users hand the tedium of repetitive grunt work off to their computers in creative ways. In the early 2000s, he created a program that let Mac users turn clunky, multi-step tasks into something that could be run at any time with just a double click of the mouse. This process, and the field where Soghoian’s excels, is known as PC automation. Nearly a decade after the original Automator app arrived on the Mac, a group of hungry iOS developers were inspired to hard-code a way for apps to share information between each other. The creation, which built upon Soghian’s [sic] work, made iOS more elegant and useful.
Since leaving Apple, Soghoian’s automation work has continued at The Omni Group where he works on a JavaScript-based automation scheme for the company’s apps. Soghoian has also written about automation and created a conference on the topic.
Automation has a long history at Apple. However, in the 18 months or so since Soghoian left Apple and roughly one year since the company acquired Workflow, Apple has been relatively quiet about automation. One of my hopes for WWDC this year is that we start to see signs of why Apple acquired Workflow and its team of talented developers that include the incorporation of some of their automation work into iOS and macOS.
The WWDC Happy-o-meter is back! Come along with Stephen, Myke and Federico on a trail of joyful wishes and hopeful dreams.
If you want to know which kind of announcements would make us happy at next week’s WWDC, you can’t miss the latest episode of Connected. Even better: the results of this “challenge” will be discussed in front of an audience at our live show in San Jose on Wednesday. You can listen here.
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Alongside the release of an updated WWDC app earlier today, Apple announced that developers attending the conference next week are invited to participate in an exclusive Activity challenge where they can earn a special reward.
Earn points each day, from Sunday, June 3 at 12:00 a.m. to Thursday, June 7 at 11:59 p.m., by wearing your Apple Watch and closing your Activity rings. Simply download the Challenges app on iPhone and allow Challenges to access Health app data, which includes data from your Activity rings. Work as a team of four with fellow WWDC18 attendees to earn as many points as you can. If everyone on your team closes their rings that day, you’ll get team bonus points (in addition to individual bonus points). Individuals who earn 200 points or more during the challenge will receive a reward on Friday, June 8 at McEnery Convention Center.
The Challenges app referenced has previously been used by Apple for internal employee fitness challenges, but this is the first time the company has utilized it with a broader group of participants.
Apple is releasing iOS 11.4 today, alongside a companion 11.4 update for the HomePod. Ahead of that release, Apple Newsroom shared details on exactly what we can expect.
Today’s update will at last bring AirPlay 2 to iOS and, by extension, the HomePod. This will enable the multi-room audio and stereo pairing features that Apple first demonstrated on-stage at last year’s WWDC. More in-depth coverage of AirPlay 2 features will be available in our iOS 11.4 overview, publishing when that update launches. And look out for a hands-on story covering the HomePod’s new stereo pairing feature after it becomes available.
One other noteworthy feature coming to HomePod today is the addition of Calendar support. This works similarly to the other Personal Requests features of HomePod, which include Notes, Messages, and Reminders: only the Apple ID used to set up your HomePod will be able to share its Calendar information, and that data can only be accessed when you’re at home on the same Wi-Fi network as HomePod.
Finally, Apple has announced three countries where HomePod will be launching soon: Canada, France, and Germany. The smart speaker will be available beginning Monday, June 18th.
On this week’s episode of AppStories, we go in-depth on two recently updated apps. In this installment of Pick 2, Federico covers Spark 2, which has added app integrations into the iOS version and team collaboration to the iOS and Mac versions while John covers 1Password 7 for the Mac, a significant redesign that expands the functionality and flexibility of features like Watchtower and Vaults.
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Myke and Federico talk about Spark 2, Castro 3, and Ticci’s big article about his Second Life.
If you want to hear Myke and I discuss my story from yesterday, you don’t want to miss this week’s Connected. You can listen here.
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