It's hard to believe, but it's already WWDC time again. We at Applevis have watched--well, listened to--the keynote presentation, read the articles and tweets, and gathered the information. Now, it's time for me to tell you all about what we know, and suspect, about the next batch of software updates coming to your devices. Oh, and yes, I said "software" intentionally; Apple didn't announce any hardware updates at all this year.
Today was Apple's annual announcement: the latest iPhone and Apple Watch hardware, and details on when the new versions of software for all Apple devices will be released.
I'll spoil the surprise: if you have an iPhone 14 or a Series 8 Apple Watch, you probably won't find too much to be excited about this time around. Still, there's all that new software to get excited about. The release dates are:
I started taking piano lessons for the first time in the so-called days of yore -- that is, when I was 12 years old and, like many teenagers, didn't appreciate the value of getting my feet wet in the field at that opportune age. I was simultaneously attending English classes and, given the fact that I didn't have a piano at home to practice, I even came to the conclusion that the time I might spend at, or on, the piano can be devoted to English. As an Iranian I knew how mastering English could provide me with a whole host of opportunities -- something I don't regret to this day.
In this post, we will discuss the importance of reporting accessibility-related bugs to Apple and the best way to do so.
AppleVis is a great platform for discussing VoiceOver, Braille, and low vision related issues in Apple products, allowing you to confirm with others if what you are experiencing is indeed a bug, find and share workarounds, and express your frustration. However, it's important to make sure that the Accessibility Team at Apple is aware of these bugs so they can address them in future software updates.
I'm not sure if you listen to Harry Shearer's interesting weekend program Le Show, but his May 20th show is much more interesting as he uses Siri several times during the 1-hour program to remind us all of the weaknesses of artificial intelligence. The show starts with a humorous conversation between Harry and Siri. and Siri also shows up a few more times throughout the program, but her final appearance in the form of a conversation with "Ralph the talking computer," in the last 5 minutes of the show, is quite funny.
I was so naive. I used to equate artificial intelligence with politicians. I believed that computing devices were, at best, simple automatons. Perhaps I got the definitions switched. Or patently wrong. Today, as I observe people and watch how they interact with their iPhones, I see an unprecedented synergy and I wonder if we are beginning to meld with our new technologies. It's a thought.
This blog will cover all the cool new stuff Apple just announced during the Keynote presentation of the 2014 WWDC. I will avoid statistics and other "filler" information, and stick only to the things that, I feel, will be of interest and/or benefit to the AppleVis community of iOS and OS X users. If you missed the action and want to see things as they came in, check out our live blog of the event.
Apple today kicked off its annual Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC) with the traditional keynote presentation.
WWDC is when the world gets a preview of the software coming out of Cupertino in the Fall. We traditionally see the next iterations of Apple's operating systems for all of its main platforms and maybe a new service or cloud-based offering. This year was no exception: iOS 13, macOS Catalina, watchOS 6, and tvOS 13 were all showcased on stage.
Apple today kicked off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with the traditional keynote presentation.
As was the case last year, WWDC 2021 is an all-virtual event, with the keynote consisting of prerecorded video presentations that focused primarily on the next major revisions of Apple's operating systems for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. What we didn't get today, was any hardware news, so those waiting to place an order for the much-anticipated redesigned MacBook Pro will have to wait a little longer.
With Apple, most of us are in for some big excitements when it comes to the company's gorgeous events. Of course over the past couple of years, the smorgasbord of leaks prior to the events have spoiled the anticipation phase a bit. However, regardless of what you might or might not have heard about Apple's event which was held this morning, let's focus on what the company debuted. Maybe what was put at our fingertips can form the basis of our next iDevice or Watch purchase.
Today (October 16, 2014) was Apple's third major announcement of the year, after WWDC in June and the iPhone/Apple Watch event last month. This time, the focus was on the Mac and the iPad, with some exciting new products announced, not to mention the release for the long-awaited OS X 10.10 Yosemite, iWork updates for the Mac, and the scheduled release of iOS8.1 on Monday, October 20.
If you'd rather watch the video, you can now do so. Here's Apple's recording of today's announcements.
Welcome Back to WWDC
It doesn't feel like a whole year since I covered a WWDC keynote, but it really has been that long. Now we're back here again, reviewing what Apple announced at this year's keynote event. Did Apple reveal a Siri-based smart speaker? A new set of Macs? New iPads? What's in the upcoming macOS, iOS, and other software? Well, I'm here to give you all the highlights so you don't have to watch the full video (though you can if you want to.
Welcome back to Applevis' yearly summary of Apple's yearly developer conference announcements. There's a lot this year, much of it exciting, some of it very much expected, and a few things long overdue. Instead of a long introduction, let's just start moving!
Fleksy is getting better on an almost daily basis as its betas reach testers. It's pushed my bluetooth keyboard to the sidelines and while it would be better if we could bring it up in each and every application instantly instead of typing in a separate application (if Apple had allowed it), that might not be quite far-off. Syntellia has made Fleksy's SDK available to developers, meaning they can integrate it into their products. Also, the first few developers that apply for the SDK will get it free of charge.
One of the things I have always admired about Apple technologies, because of the Continuity and Syncing features, they become usable in combinations when you have more then one device. Having a Mac and an iPhone and an iPad all signed into the same Apple ID account creates an "environment" of sorts, with many features able to work together in ways that provide more functionality. Features like making or answering phone calls from any device. Using AirDrop for moving entire files or folders around. Texting or calling someone's cell phone from my Mac.
Detailed in this post are possible accessibility-related bugs that members of the AppleVis Editorial Team have identified during their testing of iOS 10.
As is now our routine practice, the bugs have been grouped based upon what we believe to be there likely level of impact to the user experience to those affected by each bug. At the time of writing, we have only identified one bug which we believe to be serious—an issue which relates to using iOS 10’s Mail app with a braille display.
Today brings the release of iOS 11. And, as is generally the case with major updates of iOS, it comes with some new bugs for blind and low vision users. So, to help you with making an informed decision as to whether to update your device, we bring you here, details of the bugs that members of the AppleVis Editorial Team have identified during their own testing of iOS 11.
***Update 17 November 2014: More of these bugs have been fixed in iOS 8.1.1. See our post for more details: Apple Releases iOS 8.1.1 with Fixes for Blind and Low Vision Users***