OS X Mavericks Wallpaper

Apple's next desktop OS will be version 10.9, called OS X Mavericks, as announced at the recent developer conference WWDC2013. The OS will feature huge improvements on optimisation of both performance and power consumption, particularly useful for MacBook's. Other features include Maps and iBooks on your Mac, which sync with your iOS device, naturally. Improvements to other apps/workflows such as Finder and Calendar. Support for multiple displays is also improved.

If you can't wait to get your hands on the version of OS X you can at least get the default wallpaper which is below. OS X Mavericks also breaks the naming convention of recent years where Apple named Mac OS X after big cats (Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Lion and Mountain Lion).

Download the full resolution image here.

iOS7 - First Look

Apple's WWDC2013 conference keynote did not disappoint. One of the announcements, and probably the one which will affect the most number of Apple's customers is iOS 7. Apple's mobile operating system has a brand new UI which looks great. It will be available on the iPhone 4, 4S and 5; the iPad 2, 3, 4 and Mini; iPod Touch 5th Gen.

Some of the new features such as the new music app look really good, but this post is just a quick first look of the new UI. From Apple's page: www.apple.com.

The new look is as per the rumours in some ways, simple colour palette, radical change from iOS 6. But in other ways it is just incredible. The apps apear to 'float' on a pane above the wallpaper. By tilting your device you can see 'behind' the app icons! There is a huge amount of translucency and the app icons look fantastic. Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

WWDC2013

Apple's World Wide Developer Conference 2013 (WWDC2013 for short) kicks off in a weeks time on June 10th in San Francisco. The 5 day conferences promises to showcase to developers the direction that Apple is taking it's world class operating systems iOS and OS X.

The Apple fan base eagerly await new of features which will need to compete with the recent updates to Google Android operating system and the latest Samsung hardware such as the Galaxy S4 and the Galaxy S4 Mini (due in July).

Many predictions include a larger screen size for mobile devices. This may be more difficult to achieve with backwards compatibility unless it's equally scaled in both directions. Apple where keen to stress on the creation of the iPhone 5 that the iPhone was the perfect width for the human hand. Based on this I would not expect a huge size increase unless they run two models at different sizes. This is a habit they have previously made with the iPod and more recently with the iPad and the iPad Mini. Much like Samsung they would then cater for more screen sizes to suit individual consumers.

The conference may even hint at new hardware releases such as a much awaited retina display iPad Mini or 3G/4G connected MacBook Air. For OS X I predict there will be even further integration with Apple's iCloud and a more 'iOS' approach to desktop computing. This has been a theme for the past couple of years.

iTunes Match may be revamped to include a streaming service to compete with Google Play All Acess, Spotify, Rdio, Bloom and Last.fm. Many rumour mills refere to this Apple services as 'iRadio' which would certainly fit nicely along side iTunes, iCould and their iDevices.

The buzz around the event is already building. See the latest tweets #WWDC2013 below!

Tweets about "#WWDC2013"

Feel free to post your predictions to comments section below.

New iPod Touch

Apple have quietly switched their 16 GB iPod touch model from the iPod Touch 4th Generation to a new cut down version of the 5th Generation variant. This change has already taken affect on the US and UK Apple Store's online and will filter into retail outlets from tomorrow. This makes the iPod Touch range far more consistent as the entire range now has the iPhone 5 spec 4 inch retina display and the A5 processing chip.

The previous version, the 4th Generation also came in a 32 GB option. This has been dropped. The new 16 GB iPod Touch costs £199 in the UK, which is the same price as the outgoing 4th Gen iPod Touch with twice as much storage at 32 GB. The new version is also only available one colour - a black facia with silver back. Previously the iPod Touch was very similar to the iPhone with white and black options or though they had a mirrored back as per previous versions too.

A comparison of the now discontinued iPod Touch 4th Generation and the current iPod Touch range, featuring the new 16 GB model, is shown below.

This is an interestingly timed change as we are only weeks away from Apple's WWDC 2013 conference. This shows a firm commitment to the 4 inch retina display with 6 rows of apps as all of the current iPod Touch's have now moved away from the 3.5 inch retina display which is still available on the iPhone 4 and the 4S which are both current models for sale in addition to the iPhone 5.

Highest Resolution Notebook Display - The MacBook Pro

Apple have unveiled their new model of the popular MacBook Pro range of notebook (laptop) computers. The MacBook display is classed by Apple as a Retina Display. This was widely anticipated as it has been achieved on the iPad, which isn't much smaller screen dimensions than a MacBook Pro. The screen is reported to look "stunning" and "gorgeous". I'm sure that anyone who has seen the latest iPad's retina display, or an iPhone 4 or 4S will agree too. Apple's display technology has produced some incredibly small pixels and their sharp UI looks great optimised for these high resolutions.

The MacBook Pro will support 2880 x 1880 pixels (5,184,000 pixels). This far exceeds the 1920 x 1080 pixels of a Full HD TV, which are often 40+ inches across. The Apple applications included in Mountain Lion and the Pro Apple apps on the Mac App Store are ready to support this new resolution, which improved UI's for Final Cut Pro and Aperture too.

More details are being announced live from WWDC 2012.

Tweets from WWDC

As the Apple World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) 2012 gets under way in America, it's seems theres just a few tweet's flying around on the Twittersphere!



See for yourself at Twitter.com: https://twitter.com/search/WWDC