If you weren't lucky enough to get to WWDC and take a seat at some of Apple's sessions then you may have had to settle for getting to one of the company's Tech Talks. Taking place throughout North America, Asia and Europe, the talks saw Apple's evangelists take to the road in order to cover development of both apps and games for Apple systems.
It takes a lot to be able to lead someone, to inspire and to change lives, and even more for corporations to do it. Yet, in today’s world, Apple has done it, and it all started not long before 2007, when the company unveiled the first iPhone to the world and changed everything - smartphones, at least - as we know it today. In an internal memo today, Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, reflected on what the company has been able to achieve in 2013, and their outlook for the upcoming next year. If it says anything, Apple is full of hopes for a better future.
Apple has announced that it has reached a deal with Chinese carrier China Mobile to make the iPhone officially available on the network starting January 17, 2014. Consumer demand for the iPhone has historically been extremely high in the Chinese market, but has dwindled in recent times thanks to the availability of affordable devices from rivals Samsung and local Chinese manufacturers. The official tie-in with China Mobile will see the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c officially made available for sale through the world's largest network starting January 14, 2014.
Some analysts, as well as many general Apple fans, have been under the impression that the fruit company would, at some stage, come through with its own connected TV effort, unofficially referred to as 'iTV.' The name itself probably wouldn't hold; at least, not in the UK, where it is the name of one of the foremost broadcasting services, and by the lack of any tangible activity or evidence to suggest otherwise, it doesn't seem as though iTV is anywhere near the top of Apple's to-do list. The substantial improvements to the range of Apple TV content suggests that the little black box is doing just fine for now, and if Jony Ive and his design minions did feel like revamping the OS in the image of iOS 7, perhaps the concept below, dreamed up by designer Andrew Ambrosino, offers us something of a preview.
One of the great things about the release of the Walter Isaacson biography detailing the life and times of Steve Jobs, was that we learned much more of events and instances that we'd only previously gathered the crux of. We hear names, we see keynotes, we enjoy products; but the ins and outs of what exactly goes on tend to remain obscured from the public eye - at least until another extensive book hits the market. Fred Vogelstein’s Dogfight: How Apple and Google Went to War and Started a Revolution, is a self-explanatory tale of two modern-day tech titans, and The Atlantic has posted an interesting piece dissecting a particular chapter about the release of the iPhone and notably, Google's reaction.
Apple's OS X Mavericks was first announced back at this year's WWDC, and although it hasn't really brought any earth-moving changes, it has somewhat enhanced the desktop operating system from last year's Mountain Lion. Having rolled out very recently, work as been ongoing with regards to changes and improvements, and today, Apple has seeded the first OS X 10.9.2 Mavericks beta to developers.
The fact that webcams are installed into each and every MacBook (and indeed, most other notebooks nowadays), can be of great usefulness, and the fact that Apple's computers present a green light when the camera is activated means that users are under no illusions as to whether the FaceTime camera is running or not. However, a piece of software in circulation, which has already been utilized by one unscrupulous individual, allows anyone to activate the camera without throwing up that green light, which is more than just a tad alarming.
Apple's Mac Pro was first announced all the way back at this year's WWDC, and although it was looking, for a while, as though the older model would never be afforded an upgrade, the Cupertino company instead came through with a complete redesign. The trash can design has proven rather polarizing - particularly among Mac Pro veterans - but for those interested in making the purchase, it will be available from tomorrow, Thursday 19th December, from $2,999.
It's a title that almost invites allegations of casual sexism, but stay with us a little while and hopefully all will make a little more sense. See, you know how Facebook tracks usage of its service to the nth degree and then shares that with its advertisers in order to help target ads? Well, that same information can be used to try and extrapolate usage data for specific devices across specific demographics, which is where we get the information that leads to that title. Intrigued?
Apple has signaled the approaching end of the year by publishing its "Best of 2013" page on the iTunes Store. The dedicated page on iTunes concentrates on digital products which the company offers for users to purchase and download, including iOS apps, music, podcasts, books and movies. As well as listing the most successful consumer downloads of the year, Apple also outlined their own choices in each category by having an Editors’ Pick for things like app and album of the year.
