Kibbles & Bytes Blog

At yesterday’s WWDC keynote, Scott Forstall went through all of the features that the newly-announced iOS 6 will have. Ready for it? I’ll go over the highlights here.

*Siri*
She’s getting a big upgrade, as our helpful assistant will graduate out of beta mode in iOS 6. Among the biggest upgrades:

* iPad availability is coming!
* Yahoo! integration for sports updates and news (Baseball, Football, Basketball, etc.)
* Detailed restaurant information, including pricing, menus, ratings and reservations (via Open Table)
* More sophisticated movie information, such as Rotten Tomato ratings integration, trailers, keywords (his example was “movies with Scarlett Johansson”)
* Launch apps by voice
* Tweet by voice
* “Eyes Free” mode and integration with the steering in certain automobiles (Honda, Audi, GM, BMW, to name a few)
* More languages

*Facebook*
Looks like we can’t escape it–Apple and Facebook aren’t going anywhere! To the hold-outs, here’s what’s in store:

* Built in to the iOS
* Universal sign-in keeps you logged in through Settings menu
* Sharing of photos, links, games (from Game Center), iTunes content, Maps

*Phone*
You mean to say that we should actually still use the iPhone as a…phone?

* Additional in-app options, such as Do Not Disturb, Remind Me Later, Reply with Message for those times you can’t (or don’t want to) answer a call
* VIP tagging of your most important contacts
* Two calls in a row will be sent through in the event of an emergency (I should be careful with this one)

*FaceTime*
Video chatting got some much-needed upgrades.

* Now available over cellular instead of just Wi-Fi
* Unifying phone number and Apple ID, plus Messages (for chat across IM and SMS/MMS)

*Photo Stream*

* Photo Stream sharing
* For Mac, Apple TV and web

*New Safari*

* New iCloud tabs that will show you your iCloud info across all linked devices
* Offline reading list
* Will work only in Mountain Lion and iOS 6

*Mail*

* VIPs–contacts that you can designate as ‘very important people’
* Two added inboxes: VIP inbox and flagged inbox
* Add photos from your device (finally!)
* Support for password-protected Office files

*Maps*

* Yelp! integration
* Turn-by-turn navigation
* 3D mode
* Siri integration
* Apple-specific cartography
* 100 million local businesses listed

…and a lot more, including Guided Access, the mobile Universal Access controls, Passbook, and more.

It will launch in the fall and will be available for iPhone 4, 4S, 3GS, iPad 3 and newer and iPod touch (4G). We’ll be continually updating the blog as we get more details, so “*check out our full WWDC coverage here.*”:http://blog.smalldog.com

…so said Phil Schiller at yesterday’s WWDC Keynote speech when he talked about asking the Apple engineering team this exact question.

The answer, of course, is the entirely new 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display. I knew I wanted one before I even heard what it was as it sat on the pedestal under a velvety black shroud! Oh Apple, you slay me (along with an audience of developers).

Obviously its name, “15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display,” lets you know what Apple thinks is its most endearing feature, and in fact there has never been a notebook display like this before. The resolution is 2880 by 1800 which is 5.1 million pixels! That’s 3 million more than an HDTV. Oh my word, I can’t wait to see it in person.

It’s more svelte, too. Weighing in at 4.46 pounds and only .71 inch thick. (Is there a word for svelter?) Apple was able to shave more than a pound off the non-Retina Display MBP. This was achieved by not including an optical drive and moving to all flash storage. This puts the MBP w/RD at the same weight as the 13-inch MBP. Pretty good, eh?

So what about all the other stuff? The MBP w/RD sports two USB 3.0 ports, two Thunderbolt ports, and HDMI port set it apart from its peers. Bluetooth, FaceTime, and SDXC slot are still there. Did you notice that Ethernet isn’t there? You’ll need to add an Ethernet to Thunderbolt adapter to connect to wires.

What’s all this going to cost? Prices will start at $2,199 for the basic configuration of:

* 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
* Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
* 8GB 1600MHz memory
* 256GB flash storage
* Intel HD Graphics 4000
* NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory
* Built-in battery (7 hours)

“*See it here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/80927/at_tt

And $2,799 for the 2.6GHz configuration:

* 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
* Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
* 8GB 1600MHz memory
* 512GB flash storage
* Intel HD Graphics 4000
* NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory
* Built-in battery (7 hours)

“*See it here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/80928/at_tt

This is the first new Mac since Steve passed away and I really, really missed hearing “oh yeah, just one more thing…”

Steve, they did you proud.

We will keep you posted regarding when they will be in stock!

Hello Readers,

This week’s Tech Tails will be a bit different than usual. “*WWDC*”: is underway and aside from the excitement of new products, it’s always great to see/wonder about the technology behind the new toys. A 15-inch Retina display is something I’m still wrapping my head around…I can’t wait to see it. I think people will just sit in front of it and stare when we get these in the South Burlington store!

I am also excited about the future of Thunderbolt–my prediction last year was that an outboard PCI expansion bay would replace the Mac Pro. It hasn’t gone away yet (in fact, there are new models we outline below), but I still think Thunderbolt will be used to take iMacs and Apple portables to higher performance levels. For example, Sony’s Vaio Z has a Thunderbolt dock available with a Blu-ray drive and a Radeon HD 6650M in it, giving the laptop a pretty serious graphics performance boost and optical drive upgrade. I think that’s going to be just the beginning of what’s possible with Thunderbolt.

We’ll be continuing to update the blog today as more details emerge and we get product in stock (some have already landed!). Can’t wait to see what today brings.

Liam
“*liam@smalldog.com*”:mailto:liam@smalldog.com