For latest news of the Apple-sphere, look back here. Recent Articles, information, my Apple thoughts and more…..

(Some articles and information may link to other websites not associated with MacWizardry)

Hey,….June, don’t make it bad. Oops, wrong song….

So here we are into June already. Started the month a bit wet. Looking forwards this month we have WWDC. (World Wide Developers Conference), so will be interesting to see what comes out of that.

And of course EoFY (End of Financial Year) which is always a time to be busy finishing off things for the end of (financial) year.

Hope June is a good month for all!

WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) Summary

Apple just had the WWDC 2024 and below I’ve summarised some of the interesting information for updates to the software, with links to more info if available. Definitely plenty to read and look into, so will be interesting to follow it all over the next few months before it’s available.

visionOS 2

update to version 2, after just 4 months of release. Lots of new Apps and features all coming. Larger “screens” coming to Vision Pro.

You can read more about visionOS here.

Apple Vision Pro available July 12th in Australia.

iOS 18

More Home Screen customisation, and layouts. More Control Centre customisation.. Higher level of privacy and security. Lock/Hide Apps. Categories for Mail. Updates to Maps, Wallet, Journal, Photos (biggest redesign ever), Game Mode for iPhone. RCS Messages support (for sending better messaeges to non-iPhones).

More information here.

Updates to AirPod Pro’s. Nod or Shake head to take or decline a phone call.

tvOS 18

Insight (look up info when watching), updates to sound and subtitles. Updates to screensaver (including Snoopy and Woodstock!).

More information here.

watchOS 11

new “active” updates. New health app - Vitals App (with alerts). New Translation App. Updates to Smart Stack. Redesigned Photos face, …and more.

iPadOS 18

All the changes on iOS18 plus more. Floating tab bar - can morph into side bar (for more options).  Screen share (and control) via SharePlay/Freeform. Calculator to iPad (finally) and “Math Notes feature. Also into Notes as well. Handwriting - “Smart Script” updates. (Tidies up your writing as you go), “scratch out” to remove handwritten text.

More information here.

macOS 15

Code named “Sequoia”. Updates to messages, Math Notes in Notes. Continuity updates. (iPhone mirroring - control your iPhone even when it’s in the other room - mirrored in an App). Background replacement in video calls. Building on Keychain Access, new Passwords App to make it all easier. Passwords App on all devices (and syncs) with iCloud. Updates to Safari (including “Highlights” to help webpages display information better. Viewer for better video handling). Photos update, Gaming updates. And more…

You can read more information about it here.

Apple intelligence (AI)

Personal intelligence that understands “you”. Protects privacy, integrated with Apps.

Capabilities - language, Images, Action, Personal Context. - makes day to day tasks easier. New writing tools to help what you write.

Images - create images from your photos / contacts. Sketch, illustration and Animation. System wide.

Action - operate things a lot more with a lot more ease.

Personal Context. - retrieve and analyse a lot more of the personal data into more useful information. 

With Apple Intelligence built with a lot more privacy at the core. On device processing (instead of going to the cloud). Aware of your data without “collecting” your data. All the power needed with the A17 Pro, M1 through to M4 chips makes it all possible.

If needs to use the cloud, it uses Private Cloud Compute (for larger server work needed, but still keeps your data private. And you’re in control of the privacy. Data never stored or made accessible to Apple. Used only for your request. Verifiable privacy promise. A brand new standard for AI from Apple.

Will expand your experiences across all devices. Increase in how Siri works and helps. (1.5 billion Siri requests are made per day). Siri more natural, more relevant and more personal to you. Can now type to Siri (if don’t want to talk - can switch between talk or type).

On-screen awareness. In-App Actions. More features rolling out all the time.

Will be able to do a lot more with Siri and Apple intelligence without affecting your privacy. Apps and “tasks” all working together without having to to change from one App to another. All on devices and Mac. Rewrite, proofread and summarise for things you write - across all Apps.

Can’t find the right emoji - can now use “Genmoji” to create your own. Just tell it what you’re wanting and it “makes” it for you. And can tie in with “image Playground” to take images even further. A new Image Playground App to make it easier to play around with it as well.

Image Wand - circle and image and it helps create a “better image”. New Clean Up tool to fix up photos easily. Very easy to “Create a memory movie”.

Recordings can be transcribed. All still with privacy at the forefront. Can also tap into ChatGPT if more information needed - but also asks permission to check there before doing it. Can use for free with ChatGPT - no account needed. And will always before sharing anything with ChatGPT.

Lot of access for Developers as well, so they can use a lot of the features to increase App usage with Apple Intelligence.

All coming in iOS18, iPad)S18 and macOS 15. And increasing over time with improvements - “just getting started”.

More information about it here.

If you want to watch the full 2 hour WWDC Keynote event you can view it all here.

Or if you want a quick run down, MacRumors have a 9minute version with links that you can view here.

Definitely a lot of information with some fairly big things coming this year!

WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) dates announced

Apple now has a schedule and dates for its annual WWDC. It’s running from June 10 to June 14. This generally is when they show case some of the features coming to the macOS, iPadOS, iOS etc software that comes out later in the year. So a good time to get a bit of a sneak peak. It’s generally software related for these events, but a few times some hardware has arrived as well. But this year according to rumours it’s just software. But time will tell.

You can read more about it here.

They also have a “playlist” ready to get you in the mood for it. You can read about it here with a link to listen to it also here.

Updated information will follow once more is available - I’ll update it on this page.

Edit : 2 days to go and MacRumors has quite a good “roundup” of some of the software updates we may see. You can read more here.

Have you considered if your computer stops working or could be down for quite a while?

If your computer crashes or is down for a long period time, or even if it’s going to be away for service work for a while, have you considered the down time this could cause to yourself, your work and/or business?

There is a way that an external drive can be set up beforehand where in these sort of circumstances you can still be up and running relatively easy - even if your computer has to go away for days to be repaired.

It’s a relatively cheap and easy process. 

If you would like to find out more about how this can be set up for yourself or your business please feel free to drop me an email or call to discuss.

Be aware of “Fake webpages” advising you need to update.

So there is a bit of a rise on the number of webpages or fake links that will try to trick you into calling a number or clicking a link to “update” some piece of software.

I’ve written a page with a bit more info on it here