Apple Announces iOS8 and OS X Yosemite

Monday Apple started their week long 2014 World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC). For the last few years the conference has not been used to announce new hardware but to announce new features, updates, and changes that will be made to the software that will be running on future hardware. Pundits will complain about the lack of hardware announcements...but the pundits are either morons or liars cause they knew there wasn't going to be any hardware announcements. So on the software front, the iPad and iPhone (aka iDevices) will get the iOS8 update in the fall, likely to come with the now traditional hardware refresh of the i-line sometime in October or so in time for Christmas. For their laptops, the next iteration of operating system will be OS X Yosemite. Both will bring a bunch of new features that have, to be blunt, been legally stolen from Android and other apps. They have the usual slight alteration in implementation to avoid law suits but almost none of it is original. Except maybe their new Apple only programming language to replace Objective C called Swift. Still if use Apple products (like me), the changes will be welcome. Highlights below or can watch the keynote here.

iOS 8
- cost: free
- release date: sometime in Fall 2014
- Healthkit: new API to allow linking of health data across applications to a central database. It will allow both amatuer use and use for professional medical applications and platforms.
- Photos: enable time lapse photography, add new editing capabilities (so no separate app required)
- Airdrop: Now allows passing of data between Mac and iDevices on same Wi-Fi network
- Handoff: Can start doing something on one device (say writing email on a Mac) and continue task on same App on another device (finish writing same email)
- iMessage: Synch text messages between Mac and iDevices so can sent/receive to texts from Mac and continue conversation on iDevices. Also allo muting, share location in a conversation, and send audio and video messages which can self-destruct if choose too (like SnapChat).
- Call integration: Relay calls to Mac and make calls from Mac through iPhone
- Notification Widgets: Finally get to have useful widgets for at a glance info (say current weather, sport scores,etc). Android has had these from day 1, Apple's implementation is much more limited as can only view them in the Notification Center.
- Email: Essentially copies Dropbox's Mailbox app with gestures to delete, flag or reply to a message.
- Spotlight: Search can give results for more than what is on the iDevice like news, Wikipedia, nearby places and iTunes store.
- Keyboard: Updated with context-sensitive predictive typing that can "learn" your writing style. Also supposedly can replace the keyboard with 3rd party ones like Android has allowed for years.
- iCloud Drive: Expanding iCloud to have Dropbox like capabilities between iDevices, Macs and even Windows. First 5GB is free, unclear if that is an addition to 5GB you already get to back up your iDevice info.
- Family Sharing: Can share books, music and movies purchases between up to six members of your family using a single credit card for purchases with permissions based access so kids have to get permission from parents for new purchases.
- Siri: Always on so can say "Hey Siri" to activate it much like Androids "hi google". Also has Shazam built-in so identify songs and purchase direct from the results.
- Extensions: Allow apps "add services that other applications can use". Before apps couldn't communicate to each other, now they can. Should lead to a greater integration of features between a suite of apps.
- Touch ID: Available for Apps to use in their API. Example: Banking app uses thumb print to allow access to bank account.
- Graphics: New "Metal" graphics engine "offers ten times the performance of their previous 3D rendering engine." Aka, better graphics for games.

OS X Yosemite
- Spotlight: Search can give results for more than what is on the Mac like news, Wikipedia, nearby places and iTunes store.
- iCloud Drive: Expanding iCloud to have Dropbox like capabilities between iDevices, Macs and even Windows. First 5GB is free, unclear if that is an addition to 5GB you already get to back up your iDevice info
- Apple Mail: Greater integration with Microsoft Exchange, also includes "Mail Drop" which will allow way to send attachments too large for whatever email service using. Also adding "Markup" so can do notes on an image emailing to someone.
- Safari: Updated with stripped down design, greater speed and runs more efficiently while using less battery power.
- Handoff: Can start doing something on one device (say writing email on a Mac) and continue task on same App on another device (finish writing same email)