I'm sitting across from Moscone Center West where, in around 28 hours, Apple executives including CEO Tim Cook will take to the Keynote stage to kickoff their annual developers conference, WWDC 2013. No period in Apple's recent history has been more competitive for them, with rivals Google and Samsung pushing the mobile pace into damn-nearly a sprint, and no period in Apple's recent history has it been so long between keynotes before, almost 8 months having past since the iPad mini even back in October of 2012. Those twin tensions put a lot of expectational pressure on Apple. Everyone is waiting. Everyone is watching. Everyone wants to know -- what will Apple do, and what can Apple do?
Continuing the look back at previous WWDC keynotes as we eagerly await the 2013 conference getting underway, today it's on to 2010. Earlier in the year Apple had launched the iPad, and already shown off version 4.0 of the iPhone OS, but at WWDC iOS was officially termed for the first time. We also got another new iPhone and the launch of iBooks for the iPhone.
Whisper for iPhone is a new messaging service that takes advantage of the App.net API in order to bring super fast messages over any network complete with push notifications. For times when services like iMessage and regular SMS messaging fail, it's always good to have a backup, and Whisper is a super exceptional one that's packed with useful features.
Each week, the writers and editors here at iMore select some of our favorite apps for iOS and OS X, and share them with you, our fantastic readers. This week, we've got a great selection of games for you -- it is Talk Mobile gaming week after all -- along with a weather app, and a photo editor. Here's what we've been using this week.
OS X has long let you encrypt external drives, and even your Mac HD. Mountain Lion has actually made it even easier to encrypt external disks with just a few clicks. It's sometimes a good idea to do so on items such as backup disks. This way, if they ever fall into the wrong hands, no one should be able to access your data without the password you have set to decrypt it.
If you aren't sure how to encrypt your data, follow along and we'll show you how.
Small but awesome update to our very own iMore for iPhone app today -- Mobile Nations passport integration. Existing readers can still login with their iMore accounts, of course, but readers from other Mobile Nations sites can also login with Android Central, CrackBerry, and Windows Phone Central accounts, and brand new readers can now login with Twitter, Facebook, Microsoft, and Google accounts as well.
If the rumors are to be believed, one of Apple's announcements at the WWDC keynote on Monday will be a music streaming service. Currently referred to as iRadio, the latest reports suggest that not only are the three big labels now on board, but that Apple will launch it as a free service supported by advertising. Wait, what?
Continuing our series of look backs on previous WWDC events, today is the turn of the 2009 keynote. 12 months on from the launch of the iPhone 3G, we got a first look at the refreshed model, the 3GS. The packed presentation also gave us a first look at iPhone OS 3.0, a TomTom demonstration and a refresh to the MacBook lineup along with the unveiling of OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
Large Animal Games' latest creation is Color Zen, a puzzle game with simple mechanics that tests your ability to think calmly and logically. It's very aptly named - you need to clear your mind and focus on the task at hand to win each level.
Breaking up iTunes is Peter Cohen's number one want for OS X 10.9. He's probably not alone on that front, I myself went as far as saying I'd love to see the Podcasts app broken away from iTunes and released as a stand alone as on iOS. On their iOS devices, Apple has made the iTunes experience so much better than on the desktop, and it's been this way for a long time. And, with iCloud at their disposal, Apple could easily strip apart the "bloated, unwieldy mess" that is the current iTunes desktop experience.
