I woke up today at about 5:15 am, a much-needed night’s rest after the emotionally draining events of yesterday.
Today at work, I put together some signing which took me all day with some breaks to do some other odd and end tasks. I am finally able to tell that the Walmart remodel project is starting to wrap up. I do hope I can stay on past the remodel, but I’m not holding my breath.
Approximately 2 days after Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference for 2014, I finally have the opportunity to blog about it. Between not being able to watch the keynotes live thus having to get all the details from like 100 different sources and not wanting to over burden my readers, I decided to hold off until today.
OS X Yosemite
I love the California themed names for OS X, it sends a message to the world that computers are almost to the point of not being the replacement of a journey but something that helps you move along a journey. In every job interview for tech sales, I always mention the fact that people are going to have a relationship with their devices for several years to come and that I want to help customers gain the trust of their devices.
If flat design were a religion, I think I’d join because I’ve been converted. Mac OS X took a major release forward Monday with a complete overhaul of the design. It takes many design cues from iOS 7 and implements them perfectly on the desktop.
With an increasingly busy life we all live these days, continuity between anything we do now is critical. First, though, it starts with our computers (including, but limited to desktop, tablet, pocket, watch). Mac OS X has brought so many new features that help the transition to and from iOS much easier. My favorite continuity features are the fact that you can receive phone calls, SMS messages, photos instantly because your iPhone is paired with our Mac. You can type an email in iOS and continue typing it on your Mac exactly where you left off and vice versa.
I love the fact that Mac Mail will now support file sizes up to 5gb! This is incredible because email files in the past have always been quite limited even if email providers had ways to compress your files.
Apple is now going to be in competition with companies like Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive for cloud storage with their own iCloud Drive. The thing that really excites me about this prospect is that it will be directly integrated with my iPhone and my Mac, meaning that putting files in their won’t require me to remember to put them in a specific folder.
I love the new spotlight because of its integration with popular web services and it’s built in preview function. In years past, when you clicked on the spotlight button it appeared in the upper right hand corner, now it appears in the middle of the screen!
The new notification center now sports the original to iOS, the Today tab. It integrates many of the core OS X apps such as time, weather, calendar, and more. Of course, still included are all of your unread notifications.
iOS 8
After months of rumors about “Healthbook,” Apple announced on Monday a new iOS app “Health.” It integrates with many other apps that monitor different stats about your health, whether it be your exercise, the food you eat, your pulse, blood pressure, etc and imports it all onto one app for simple, unified viewing. For developers, Apple has created “HealthKit,” a library of APIs to integrate your apps into Apple Health.
Apple has created interactive notifications which allows you to reply to notifications with out leaving the app you’re already in.
iOS will now have another section in the keyboard for predictive typing. This is a feature many Android users have come to appreciate.
Your iOS device will now control some of your home. Apple released HomeKit, to allow developers to integrate things in the home like lighting and thermostats straight from your iDevice. You’ll even be able control your home with your voice in Siri!
Apple has implemented a new level of do not disturb. You’ll now be able to turn on do not disturb for your SMS threads.
My Thoughts
We are getting closer and closer to the point where mobile devices are just as powerful as desktop devices. I love the continuity features that Apple has designed, it will allow people to transition back and forth from iPhone to iPad to Mac, and feel like you’re using the same device even though you’re not. I think this is leaps and bounds ahead of the other market leaders. I love the simplicity of these new features, yet the complexity of the things they do are astronomical.
Apple has really set the bar high here, who ever thinks that they are a passing dad is wrong. They are taking the time to make sure the things that they do, they do it right. I have nothing but praise for WWDC 2014!
After Work
After work today, i finished transcribing the Liberty Bell march for organ. Then, I started the Washington Post march. I also posted my computer for sale on eBay.
- Computer tower
- Computer speakers
- Computer Monitors
It’s now about 8pm and I really ought to go to bed. Good night!