Published on Jun 5, 2017
Topic: Apple
As I’m beginning to write this, Apple’s 2017 World Wide Developer Conference keynote has just wrapped up. And what a big conference it was. Tim Cook said it was the biggest one they’ve ever done - and for once, that may not be hyperbole.
In science and engineering, there are two kinds of breakthroughs. The one we most often think of is the creation of new technology. And while that is certainly important, the advances that really change things are the ones that don’t bring about a new technology, but that make it accessible. Apple’s original claim to fame with its line of computers was the color display. Color displays had been around for a long time back then, but Apple’s game changer was that they made it affordable for common people. The advances we see here aren’t so much about affordability, however, as they are accessibility; they’ve taken well-established technologies and integrated them in such a way that they’ve become accessible - putting these technologies in the hands of their customers.
So without further ado, here’s a basic table of contents.
- The Common Technology
- iOS Changes
- macOS Changes
- watchOS Changes
- tvOS Changes
- The iPad Pro
- The New Mac Lineup
- HomePod
- What Eric Wanted, but Didn’t Get
- Closing Remarks
1. The Common Technology
Apple released a technology a few years ago, called Metal. This technology gave developers more direct control, and more computationally-efficient control, over the graphics of iOS and macOS. By controlling both the software and the hardware, they were able to create a lower-level framework for developers to use that gave them more direct control over the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) of the devices. A GPU is essentially a processor that specializes in certain operations that are necessary for graphics, allowing it to make these kinds of calculations more efficiently than the Central Processing Unit (CPU).
Today, Apple announced the oh-so-creatively-named “Metal 2”. It’s essentially just a more efficient (supposedly by a factor of 10) form of Metal. Obviously, this will be used to further speed up iOS and macOS applications that use metal, but it’s also much more than that. Here’s why:
There is a technology rapidly being popularized in computer science called Machine Learning. Machine learning depends on the same types of operations that graphics use, so a GPU is the popular method of running these calculations. By further optimizing metal to be faster and more efficient, they’re also opening the door to more machine learning, more closely integrated with our iDevices.
This has, finally, manifested in a few ways. First, it’s being used by Apple themselves to increase the efficiency and efficacy of their machine learning in ways that run circles around the previous implementations - I’ll get to that more in 2. iOS Changes. Second, they created a new framework for developers called “CoreML” that opens up these capabilities to developers in relatively easy-to-use ways. That’s not to say this hasn’t been done - Google in particular has been making remarkable progress - but this brings it to the devices and apps themselves that hasn’t really been available before. Apple’s been spending a lot of money buying up machine learning companies - and it shows.
Another thing that sets this technology apart from other companies attempting similar feats, like Google, is Apple’s business model. Because they make their money by selling devices, as opposed to selling targeted ads, the learning gathered on you is kept between you and Siri.
The bottom line here is that they’re opening up a LOT of efficiency and computing power and both using it for their systems, as well as opening it up to their developers.
2. iOS Changes
Siri
Siri’s certainly growing up. The “robovoice” is beginning to fade away, as through machine learning and a lot of work Siri will now change inflection and tone based on sentence structure, so that it sounds more natural. It also means Siri’s been learning some new skills - being able to better understand conversation and context - including context that she builds up by interacting with you on a daily basis. Another important facet of this is that this learning is synchronized between devices through iCloud, so no matter which device you’re on, Siri will respond similarly.
Photos
The Photos app will now make better use of deep learning as well, in various ways. Most notably is that we’ll see a substantial improvement in facial recognition and entity recognition (so if you search “Dog”, it should reliably get you pictures of dogs). This will also be used in the “Memories” program, which will hopefully yield better slideshows.
Live Photos is finally being improved to meet more of its potential. Now you can do things like trimming the clip used, choosing a different “key frame” (the photo that is shown as a still), and some other charming editing. This can do things like it somehow finding a way to make the image loop (if possible), making it run through, reverse, and back, and simulating a “long exposure” shot by putting the frames together.
The camera’s also seen a few improvements. Notably, it’s capturing video in a new encoding, H.265. This is much smaller than the previously used H.264 encoding, meaning you can capture 4K video without it hitting your storage space quite as hard. It’s also using better compression for your still images. Also, for those with an iPhone 7 Plus, it’s opening up the phone’s depth perception framework to developers, so they can use it in new and clever ways.
Control Center
Control Center has been revamped. It looks weird because it’s all asymmetrical, but they managed to compress what was previously a 3-page control center into one, composite view. This was a problem and an inconvenience previously, and I’m glad they addressed it. It also makes better use of 3D-touch, which is always nice.
Maps
Apple is becoming more ambitious with their maps app, beginning to catch up slightly with Google. They finally have lane assist, as well as displaying more information about your route, including speed limits. They’re also rolling out support for malls and airports, so you can use the Maps app to navigate those, find the store you’re looking for, and poke through different floors on an interactive map. I don’t go to malls often, but I imagine someone will find this useful.
Also, they’re introducing “Do Not Disturb While Driving” mode. It detects when you’re in a car, and suppresses notifications. You can also set it to auto-reply, so people know you’ll get back to them when you’re off the road. If you’re a passenger, you just have to push a button and it’ll go back to normal.
Augmented Reality
Apple introduced ARKit for developers, which lets them use their apps with augmented reality. Apple used machine learning to basically “teach” the camera how to figure out relative distance and perspective, allowing it to visualize things in a consistent position. It’s still somewhat primitive (the technology is in its infancy) but I’m really looking forward to what happens with it. It is a very sophisticated augmented reality framework compared to a lot of what’s out there. I’m looking forward to the day when I have AR contacts, so when I see someone I just met their name pops up and I’m not embarassed by forgetting it. This feels like another step in that direction.
App Store
The app store looks different, and they’re giving developers more control over the look and feel of their app’s store page. They’re also working on making it easier to discover new apps - to me, this comes off as an attempt to help developers get their apps a fair shake in an app store where it’s hard to stand out, which while appreciated, in my opinion, isn’t a big deal for consumers.
Overall
I’m really looking forward to this iOS release. They’re really cleaning up a lot of the things they fell short with before, and even though I’ve sworn off betas, I’m considering using my developer license to get in on them.
3. macOS Changes
Metal 2
Naturally, the new macOS is running Metal 2. The system animations will be using it, which will hopefully speed up a few things. In the past, Tim Cook has been good at making these incremental upgrades give performance improvements, so I’m hopeful that performance will improve. There’s also improved hardware acceleration for certain video encodings on the newer macs, which will make them run smoother and more efficiently.
APFS
ABOUT DAMN TIME. Just kidding, this is about when they said they’d release it properly. I’ve been waiting for this forever. I could write a whole article about why I’m happy about this and how cool it is, but I’ll keep it short. The file system that macOS is currently running is HFS+. HFS+ was released 19 years ago. HFS+ itself was a kludgey hack on top of HFS, which was released 32 years ago. HFS+ worked okay for a while, but it’s ridiculously out of date, and file system nerds have been shaking their heads in shame at Apple for holding onto it for so long. APFS isn’t everything I wanted, but I’ll admit it’s pretty cool and it will be nice to have a modern file system in something that isn’t Linux.
Safari
Standard upgrade performance improvements. Also uses a machine-learning “Do-not-track” system to prevent ads from following you everywhere based on that one time you wanted to see how much a kayak would cost. It also prevents websites from autoplaying. These are both nice features.
Virtual Reality
Apple’s been partnering with several entities, including Steam, Unreal, and Unity to bring VR to the mac. While this isn’t unimpressive, they’re basically just playing catch-up with Windows PCs. Macs are really not a great gaming platform (though admittedly, largely due to AAA developers not adopting Metal), so all things considered this seems lackluster. Then again, I’m also not a big proponent of virtual reality, so perhaps take what I’m saying with a grain of salt.
Overall
I was really disappointed with this. Mild performance improvements and a new filesystem (Albeit one I’m excited about)? That’s a definite meh.
4. watchOS Changes
Activity
Because Apple Watch is so popular for fitness and health tracking, they mostly just focused on refining that. They made the workout app easier to use, they integrated it more closely with the Music app, and they added to some of the psychological positive behavior reinforcement of the Activity app. If you have an Apple Watch and use it for workouts, these will make your experience better.
Watch Faces
Apple introduced a few new watch faces. First is a “Siri” one, that predicts what apps you might want to look at and lets you poke through them. Another is a “Kaleidoscope” face that looks cool, but makes the time difficult to look at and lacks complications. Finally, they added some new animated faces for Toy Story characters.
Overall
Nothing I’m crazy about here. If you use your watch for fitness a lot, this may make your life easier. If you like Toy Story, you’ll be happy.
5. tvOS Changes
They have Amazon Prime now. That’s literally the only thing they mentioned. Oh well, don’t fix what ain’t broke, I guess. Still, I feel they could’ve made more of an effort.
6. The New iPad Pro
Hardware
What was previously the 9.7” iPad Pro is now a 10.5”. It’s the same size, but they reduced the size of the bezels in order to make way for the larger screen. They have brighter and less reflective displays, which is good, because iPads are often used outside or in areas with lots of light. They’ve also increased the refresh rate of the screen from 60Hz to 120Hz. Basically, this means the screen will show a new still image 120 times per second instead of just 60. This will make the UI feel smoother to some extent. It also significantly increases the responsiveness of the Apple Pencil, which will be a boon to those who use it.
Another cool feature is that the iPad can synchronize its refresh rate to the content - this is easy to overlook, but it really does help. Notably, consider this: American video (and video game streams) is captured at 60Hz, or 30Hz, British is captured at 50Hz or 25Hz, and film is captured at 24Hz. Because 50, 25, and 24 don’t divide nicely into 60Hz, some tearing happens in between frames. You normally don’t notice this until you see how it’s supposed to look, but trust me, your video will look a lot better.
Finally, the pride and joy, the A10X chip. I’ve been looking forward to this. Its CPU is 30% faster than the previous generation, and the GPU is 40% faster. These are significant improvements, and will jump it up to the next level. This is important for a device being marketed as “Pro”.
Software
Ever since there were iPads, there were people unhappy with iOS on iPads. People were yearning for an “iOSX”, an amalgamation of the mobile-friendliness of iOS and the power of Mac OS X. At long last, iOS is being branched to bring more features to the iPad, bringing it, at the very least, much closer to earning the name “Pro.”
The Dock
The dock has been expanded dramatically. Like on macOS, you can pull it up from any screen, and store a whole lot of apps in it. You can use it to jump between apps, or open new apps, and it’s constantly available. What’s more, it seems to have been well-executed. This may seem minor, but it’s absolutely not. It makes the device much more usable for multitasking, which is critical for a single-window device. It looks almost just like the dock on macOS.
Rounding Out the OS
A few other features were also included. One notable is Drag’n’Drop. For productivity, this is something that’s often taken for granted, but bringing it to iOS for iPad will add to its draw, especially considering the other features here.
Another app introduced is Files. It’s basically Finder (Mac’s file explorer), but optimized for iPad. You can use it to drag and drop images into your current document, you can open files from it in the desired application, and it works with iCloud, Google Drive, and OneDrive (and probably more). This is something pro users have been clamoring for.
Finally, they made some big upgrades to Notes and taking screenshots, making it a lot easier to mark up notes and other documents, as well as to crop, mark up, and use screenshots on the go, as you take them. This also includes using their new machine learning to add handwriting recognition, meaning when you scribble down a note on an iPad Pro, it will be searchable. It’s likely this capability will soon be extended to other apps as well.
Overall
Very impressed. The iPad Pro was desperately in need of a software upgrade, and Apple finally came through on something users have wanted for years. User Interface design is hard, and meshing the ease of use of a mobile device with the power of a laptop is not easy to do. They also bumped up the storage space, which is always a plus.
7. The New Mac Lineup
MacBooks
Apple released some incremental upgrades to the MacBook and MacBook Pro lines, basically just upgrading to the new “Kaby Lake” processors. While this is a good thing, it’s not groundbreaking, but I figure I should mention it.
iMacs
Apple’s been working hard here, with some features that have been a long time coming.
The Screens
They’re 43% brighter. This seems a bit pointless to me, because these are indoor machines. On the other hand, glare coming in through the window won’t be as bad. I don’t really have much insight to contribute to this fact.
The displays also support 10-bit dithering, which I must say, it’s about time. This allows more color control, and for graphics professionals, it’s very useful. I find it astonishing that given how much of the iMac userbase are graphics professionals, it took this long.
Hardware
The iMacs have received respectable hardware increases, with a respectable range from low-end to high-end graphics, storage, and performance. The 27” model can be built up to a 4.2GHz quad-core i7, 64GB of RAM, and an 8GB Radeon Pro 580. This is very respectable hardware, and the professional crowd will be happy to see it.
iMac Pro
Apple has done away with the Mac Pro line! Rest in peace, you will be missed.
But in all seriousness, this machine is a beast. It’s configurable to an 18-core Xeon processor, 128GB of RAM, and a 16GB Radeon Pro Vega 64. These are very high-end specs for a desktop. It’s not the Mac Pro that the community wanted, but I’m sure its impressive specs will tide them over.
Overall
I think the new Mac lineup was pretty fruitful. The MacBooks were just updated, so the minor internal improvements are fair. The iMacs were specced much more highly, in order to appease the pro community. I don’t plan on buying one, but these iMacs are certainly impressive. There were also price drops for the entry level 13” MacBook pro and the 21” iMac.
8. HomePod
Apple released their Alexa competitor, but is marketing it as a speaker. Their acoustic engineers did some really impressive things in order to make it work. It has speakers in every direction, so it can emit sound in just the right directions. It figures out the size and shape of the room so that it can figure out how best to direct music through its various speakers (facing every direction) for the best sound quality. It seems very impressive. It is also well-integrated with Siri and Homekit, as well as integrating with things like Calendar and Reminders. It costs $349, which considering the sophisticated acoustics and Siri integration, seems like a good price.
That said, I am far from an expert on audio, but I have been impressed with Apple’s acoustic engineers in the past.
9. What Eric Wanted, but Didn’t Get
This is basically just a wish list of some stuff I wanted, but the title says, was nowhere to be seen.
- Siri integration with Spotlight on macOS so I could type my queries to Siri.
- Integrate the machine learning with Mac more heavily.
- More powerful Homekit controls and automation on iOS.
- Third-Party Apple Watch Faces.
- Siri integration with third-party apps on macOS.
- Siri integration for iOS with a wider range of third-party apps, including music, video, and others.
10. Closing Remarks
This was a REALLY big WWDC. They also kept their secrets closer to their chest in the past - a lot of these reveals were completely new to the rumors community, which from what I’ve seen, is quite rare. They announced a lot of big changes and are opening the doors to a lot of interesting technologies.
I’m tired. Writing this took forever.