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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1134553
WWDC 2019 Keynote Highlights: Lots of News! (mostly good) By Ric Getter Though the live audience were legions of Apple’s best (not to say, luckiest) developers, the opening keynote was unusually full news that will impact its entire customer base. In fact, at this year’s World Wide Developers’ Conference (“Dub-Dub-D-C” to real insiders), beyond the labor-saving features added to the Swift toolbox and a rather startling feature coming to Apple’s AR abilities, it was an unusually consumer-oriented presentation. But only up to a point. Watch & TV Following a trailer for an upcoming Apple TV series, For All Mankind, a show that will be a guaranteed geek magnet, we got to see some of the TV platforms new features. For us, the most impressive was its move to a multi-user system, like Netflix, with different recommendations and up-next selections based on who you are. In fact, later in the morning we heard HomePod learning to identify different people’s voices, so this may be coming as well. It also introduced a new Apple Music feature that can display lyrics while your song is playing and support for Xbox One S and PlayStation Dual Shock game controllers, Apple, still the dominant player in the wearables market, put a lot into Watch0S 6, coming this fall. The hourly taptic “chimes” may be useful for some, but cheers erupted when Kevin Lynch announced the new voice memo and calculator apps. Developers will get new APIs for creating apps that can run independently on the watch as well as access streaming services on their own. As it turns out, the new Store for Apple Watch will let you shop and purchase directly from your watch. Along with trend-tracking for your activities and warnings about threats to your hearing, the watch and iOS Health app will provide cycle tracking for women (a subject not commonly featured at a computer conference keynote).