A huge congratulations to this year’s Apple Design Award winners.
The WWDC 2011 Keynote
There hasn’t been an Apple keynote like this since January 2007.
Right now the air around Moscone Center, and in the Mac-centric community, is electric. Not unlike when Steve Jobs first introduced the iPhone at Macworld. That was a this changes everything type of moment. But it was more than that — it was an electric announcement. When Steve Jobs announced the iPhone we sort-of all knew it was coming. But we didn’t know what was really coming. It was one of those moments when what was actually announced blew past expectation.
When Jobs introduced the iPad, we also knew it was coming. And it too was a this changes everything type of moment. But, there wasn’t the same type of electricity in the air after the iPad. When we saw the iPad, we though it was just what we thought it would be. It wasn’t until you got one in your hands and began to use it that you realized how great it was.
Up until this week, a lot of people had the hunches about iCloud, the music locker, Lion, iOS 5, et al. And as in the days of the original iPhone announcement, our guesses were not just met, they were exceeded. We had no idea what was coming.
Obviously iCloud was the announcement with the most far-reaching impact. It was the one product that Steve took the stage to announce, and it was saved for last. Ten years from now we won’t remember 2011’s WWDC as the year we got Notification Center on our iPhones. We’ll remember it as the year Apple cut the cord.
iCloud is the most ambitious new product since the original iPhone.
Of course, that is not to say that the features announced in Lion and iOS 5 are chopped liver. By any means. In fact, Monday’s jam-packed keynote could have been three separate WWDCs. It was a wonder they fit all of it into just 2 hours.
Lion
Over the past year, 73% of all new Macs sold have been laptops. The iMac used to be Apple’s flagship Mac. Now it’s the MacBook. (I don’t know if this is a result of Apple’s marketing to their consumer base, or if it is them responding to their customers.)
I have this theory that Apple is building OS X Lion with one particular device in mind: laptops with SSDs.1 Even the demo computers that Craig Federighi used to show off the new features in Lion were laptops. I can’t ever remember a keynote where a desktop computer was not used.
When you take a look at some of the features in Lion — full-screen apps, version saving, session saving, and others — they are features that (a) run optimally on a SSD; and (b) look best on a laptop-sized screen.
Apps which run in full-screen mode are cool, but the bigger the screen, the less cool they are. Running one Lion’s Mail or Safari in full-screen mode on a 23-inch cinema display is just awkward. Running it on the 15-inch display is pretty good. And from what I’ve heard, those with the 13- or 11-inch MacBook Pros/Airs appreciate full-screen apps even better.
Steve said at the front of the keynote, if hardware is the brain then software is the soul of their products. A lot of thought and attention has been put in to Lion.
There are many incredible refinements which make Lion even more polished and attractive than its predecessors. Moreover, there are many new functionalities which make it even more simple and easy to use: LaunchPad, the Mac App Store, auto-saving, and more. These are all an assault against the role of the teenage son as the family tech consultant.
It’s hard to sum Lion up with a single sentence, but if you’re going to twist my arm about it then here goes:
Lion is the the world’s most beautiful and simple operating system.
iOS 5
This is not your average iOS update.
Once Scott Forstall had gone through the premier new features coming to iOS 5 I couldn’t think of one thing which I felt they had left out. That is not to say that iOS is finally perfect, but this one is jam packed with big stuff.
Usually, when an OS update is announced there are a a handful of things we were wishing for or bothered by in the old OS that didn’t make it into the new one. Not so with iOS 5. I cannot think of one thing in iOS 4 that irks me which hasn’t been addressed in this next update.
Not only were several of the biggest wants and needs addressed — such as notifications, faster camera access, and over-the-air updating and “syncing” — but many new things were added as well that we didn’t know we needed. Such as iMessage. It’s as if iOS 5 was built with 4 years of listening behind it.
iCloud
The future is mobile, and the path to that future is paved by the cloud.
iCloud cuts the USB cord between our computers and our iPhones.
It “demotes” the Mac and the PC to the same plane as the iPhone and the iPad. It lets you activate and update your iPhone from inside the car when you’re on your way home from the Apple store. It is something that lets you listen to a song on your iPod even though you bought it on your work computer.
But iCloud isn’t just a way to cut the USB cable. iCloud is an exciting and ambitious vision. It is the missing piece to get mobile computing to act the way it ought to.
- More specifically, I think they’re building Lion with the MacBook Air in mind. ↵
Our Laptops and Desktops Have Been “Demoted” →
It was a sly, bold statement this morning when Steve Jobs said it was time that our Desktops and Laptops exist on the same plane as our iPhones, iPods, and iPads. The central hub for all our “stuff” is now no longer our main computer, but rather The Cloud.
As Gruber points out, this is the same idea that Google has but with fundamentally different approaches:
In both cases, your data is in the cloud, and you can access it from anywhere with a network connection. But Google’s vision is about software you run in a web browser. Apple’s is about native apps you run on devices. Apple is as committed to native apps — on the desktop, tablet, and handheld — as it has ever been.
iCloud →
Apple:
This is the cloud the way it should be: automatic and effortless. iCloud is seamlessly integrated into your apps, so you can access your content on all your devices. And it’s free with iOS 5.
Today’s keynote was huge. I don’t think any of us were expecting quite such a mind-blowing announcement today. It’s going to be an exciting year.
iOS 5 →
Apple’s landing page for iOS 5 which ships this fall. They had me at Notification Center.
You Should Follow me on Twitter →
I am in San Francisco this week for WWDC. I’m not attending the conference, but am here for the week to finally put faces to names for all the fine folks I work with and write about all year long.
It’s likely that there will be more activity on my Twitter account than here on the site this week as I’ll be working “on the road”. (Whatever that means.)
Also, right now I am tweeting my keynote thoughts.
[Sponsor] Typekit →
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Macworld’s Liveblog of WWDC 2011 →
Jason Snell, Dan Moren, and Dan Frakes will be rocking the WWDC 2011 Keynote this morning. It’s too bad Macworld makes them use those embedded “liveblog window” things. Though it does have it’s advantages (like you don’t have to refresh the whole page every 30 seconds), I still prefer the normal updating-in-the-post-in-real-time-as-we-add-info-and-pictures type of action.
Engadget’s liveblogs have always been good as well, which means that This is My Next’s liveblog will likely be great this year.
My iCloud Predictions →
Re-linking to my predictions from a month ago. In less than 12 hours we’ll see how right I was (or wasn’t).
And for way, way back (2007), here’s an oldie where I give a wish-list for the ideal .Mac service.
Kyle Baxter on Windows 8, Lion, and the Future of Computing →
Thoughtful, as always, piece from Kyle Baxter regarding Windows 8 and Mobile Phone 7 and contrasting them to Lion and iOS. Here’s Kyle’s hook:
I think Apple’s attempting to converge Mac OS and iOS.
Byword →
A huge thanks to the fine folks at Metaclassy for sponsoring the RSS feed this week to promote Byword. It’s an honor to have them sponsor the site because I’ve written about Byword before — it is one of my favorite apps to write in.
As you well know, I do a lot of writing. Fortunately I don’t consider myself too picky about where I write. I don’t need any certain type of app to be able to write. So long as I’ve got a blinking cursor then I’m usually good to go.
But, since I’ve got options then why not make the most of them and use what works best?
I like to write with light text on a dark background. And on many writing occasions I want my writing app to take up the whole screen. While it’s true that more often than not, my computer monitor is a mess with application windows strewn all over the place, that’s not exactly the best context for working on longer-form articles.
All this is why I dig Byword. It has a full-screen mode, a light and dark theme, auto saving, and QuickCursor support. And with the latest release, 1.2, Byword now has Markdown preview support and exporting of that Markdown into HTML.
It’s a great app, I use it, and right now it’s just $9.99 on the Mac App Store.
The Future of NetNewsWire →
John Gruber’s interview with Brent Simmons and Black Pixel’s Daniel Pasco regarding the acquisition and transition of NetNewsWire. It’s a great conversation; the final closing remarks from John and Brent are especially nostalgic.
NetNewsWire Finds a New Home →
It’s the end of an era. A changing of the guards.
Those of you reading this know as well as anyone that some applications grow on you. You form an emotional bond with the software you use day in and day out. You get to know all its little idiosyncrasies and quirks and features, and as they become familiar then the software, in a way, becomes a friend.
NetNewsWire has as much personality as an application can have.
I know for a fact that shawnblanc.net would not be what it is today without the influence of both Brent and his world-class Mac app. NetNewsWire was the first application I wrote an in depth review about.
I cut my teeth on NetNewsWire. It was through it that I got a taste for writing that has been a love of mine ever since.
Brent, thank you. Thanks for your hard work and your tireless commitment to excellence. Thanks for being so genuine and fun and for seeding all of that into what so many of us have come to love as NetNewsWire. And congratulations. Here’s to what is next for you, for NetNewsWire, and for all of us.
The B&B Podcast – Episode 14: When the Internet Is Your Job →
This is one seriously nerdy episode. Especially the front end where Ben and I talk about ISPs and DOCSIS 3.0 modems, off-site backups. We also talk about WWDC rumors and my upcoming trip to San Francisco.
This week’s show is proudly sponsored by Idea Division and Typekit.
And speaking of sponsors, all sponsorships of The B&B Podcast are now handled through a new division of Fusion Ads and its brand-new network of podcasts.