It's September again, and that means another media event from Apple. Apple usually uses these to announce the newest iPhones, the release date of the next major versions of iOS and OS X, and any other big secrets it's been hiding. Normally, the iPad gets either a silent update or a smaller event later in the year, but this time, Apple broke with tradition.
Today, Apple took the wraps off updates to its most popular product, and its wearable. We saw the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, as well as the long-anticipated Apple Watch 2. We also got hard dates for the public releases of the upcoming software updates across all of Apple's products. There was a lot covered today, so let's get right to it! If you like, you can follow along on the full video of the event.
Today was Apples annual World Wide Developer's Conference keynote. This time each year, the world gets to preview the hardware and software coming out of Cupertino. We traditionally see the next iterations of iOS and OS X, and maybe a new service or cloud-based offering. This year was no exception: iOS9, OS X 10.11, watchOS 2.0, an updated Apple Pay, and the all-new Apple Music were all shown off with Apples usual flare.
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.
It's time for our yearly dose of hardware upgrades from Apple. Today, the company held its traditional September press event, showing off the latest in iPhones, Apple Watches, and more. The event was titled "Gather Round". We're here, as usual, to tell you exactly what was announced.
For those of you in a hurry, here's the TL;DR.
Don and I met during college Orientation in late July 1972. He was 18 and I was 17. Don was blind and I was heading in that direction. I have retinitis pigmentosa and had already lost my night vision. Don and I saw advantages to becoming roommates. He would teach me essential future blindness skills and, per his request, I would hide his bottle of Southern Comfort.
I save soap. When I travel, I do not rip-off hotel towels, coffee cups or blankets. That would be wrong. However, I do collect little bars of soap. I generally find one bar at the hotel room sink and another on the side of the tub. I unwrap one to use, and then put the other in my luggage. Before the maid comes by the next day, I surreptitiously slip the moist and somewhat diminished bar into a plastic doggy bag and stash it in a drawer. When I return to my room, I find two brand new cakes of soap waiting for me. It is almost magical!
The Sendero Group, developers of the Seeing Eye GPS app and other accessible GPS products has, in partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People, just launched a fully-featured turn-by-turn GPS app for users in the United Kingdom.
The app, called RNIB Navigator, was developed in partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). Sendero’s RNIB Navigator webpage lists the main features of RNIB Navigator as follows:
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.
In October of 1999, during a business trip to California, I had the opportunity to attend an exclusive private party on the retired luxury liner, the RMS Queen Mary. The former flagship of the White Star Line was reserved for this one very raucous bash. For me, parties usually involved two or three old friends and a single bottle of good wine. However, this was a fancy-pants event and because I am a plain old vanilla guy, I was now in way over my head.
More than twenty years ago, I was attending a MacWorld Expo during a business trip. One of my favorite distractions at these events was to hunt down any Macintosh software that used speech. Self-voicing software was rare and VoiceOver did not exist. I remember visiting with an exhibitor about their new product. I never clicked as to what the application might do for me, but the vendor promised that it would talk. Good enough. I relinquished $35 for a diskette and ran back to my hotel room to play with my new toy.
It seems so surreal. I am in an airport. I need to go to the public restroom. I find the serpentine tiled entrance to the enclave and I work my guide dog inside. It is vacuous and sounds reflect from every direction off the hard tile walls and floor. I have no idea where the porcelain fixtures are located. I am not even sure if I am in the right bathroom. I move slowly, reaching out, hoping that I do not touch something wet or, worse, the back of someone's neck. Even if I accomplish my original goal, the nightmare is not over. In dreams of entrapment, there never seems to be an exit.
My digital world is beautiful, in large part, because I have been able to collect and protect the memories and experiences of a lifetime. I have huge electronic piles of my own writing, sound files from when my son was growing up, a massive library of accessible books, along with thousands of old radio shows and other valued mementos. I have recordings of my brother and sisters singing "The Signs of New Math" in the mid-1960's and I have oral histories of both my parents. I have audio recordings of lectures, plays, and some of the many speeches I have delivered.
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.
Today was Apple's second event this fall, named "Hi, Speed". The previous one, about a month ago, introduced new Apple Watch and iPad models, among other announcements. Notably absent that day was any mention of iPhone.
That's what today was all about. We now have all the details on iPhone 12, which is seeing some changes to its line-up with the inclusion of a "mini" option. Of course, today's announcements covered more than just iPhone; we also got the details on the new HomePod Mini, a $99 HomePod speaker.
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 has seen a round of product announcements from Apple, including the launch of a new iPad; a special PRODUCT(RED) iPhone; changes to storage sizes; some new accessories; and a new iOS app.
The iPad Air 2 has been discontinued and replaced with a new 9.7-inch iPad equipped with an A9 chip and a brighter Retina display. This new model is simply called "iPad," and is Apple's new entry-level model at the 9.7-inch size.
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.