Tech Report

By: Nick Gambino

Apple held their developer’s conference, WWDC, this past Monday announcing some exciting new software upgrades including some wicked cool new features.

Here’s a recap of the top 3 biggest reveals at this year’s WWDC.

iOS 10 becomes more outsider-friendly

Apple is known for their closed system, meaning their unwillingness to open their basic OS to outside developers. They want everything on a closed circuit so everything is only compatible with other Apple products and Apple-approved apps.

That seems to be changing little by little over the past year or two with Swift, the iOS programming language, being open sourced. With the announcement that Siri is being opened up to third-party developers, this is another big step in that direction.

iOS 10 is also adding a “raise to wake” feature which combats people accidentally opening their phone by unlocking it.

Apple Music, as promised by rumor, has been totally redesigned. Per Apple, this should be easier to navigate as well as lending itself to being more user-friendly. There is even better curation to your musical tastes which was one of the original appeals of Apple Music when it first launched.

Apple TV is simplified

One of my biggest complaints with Apple TV’s tvOS is the need to sign onto multiple apps like HBOGO, etc. one by one. This can get tiresome as you have to authenticate each one.

Apple announced a single sign-on feature which will allow you to quickly access all your apps in your pay TV package. All you have to do is sign in once and authenticate and it will allow access to each app under that sign-in.

Siri’s also gaining a few new brain cells as her search functions have been beefed up significantly. She can even search for multiple criteria within a search. Ask her for romantic comedies from the 90s and she’ll show you the results.

macOS gets a little help

Siri seems to be the overriding theme at WWDC with major expanded capabilities. That’s no different with macOS as the resident virtual assistant finally gets her chance to shine on the Mac.

You will now be able to use Siri on your iMac, MacBook, etc. just as you would on your iPhone. But she does a little more than just perform simple searches for weather, local restaurants, etc. After all, you are now on your computer.

Siri will search local files for you and effectively work as the vocal version of Mac’s productivity app, Alfred.

Additionally, Apple Watch users will gain instant access to their computer by proximity alone. No need to worry about entering your password. Though some part of this seems a bit insecure to me, I’m sure there are ways to make this work on a secure level.
So there you have it, the top 3 reveals from WWDC 2016! Which are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments below!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nick Gambino is a regular script writer and tech beat reporter for NewsWatch. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and daughter.

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