WWDC 2016 - What to Expect from iOS 10 and OS X 10.12

Keynote Speech – June 13th – Bill Graham Civic Auditorium

WWSC, the worldwide developers’ conference of Apple which is held annually is near at hand and we can hope to hear more details on the latest software updates for their products, from iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, right to Mac and Apple TV. Since 1983, Apple had been hosting developer conference and 2016 tends to be its 27th event. Though several contemplate it as a launchpad for annual software upgrades, past devices inclusive of iPhone 4, Mac Pro and Power Mac had been also been launched there.

Apple had used the keynote, last year to reveal Apple Music, its radio as well as streaming service with some help from stars, Drake and The Weeknd. The keynote speech is said to take place on Monday 13th June at 10am PDT, in the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco. Last year, the venue had revealed iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus and iPad Pro to the world.

Moreover, events on Tuesday and Wednesday would be held at Moscone West, the neighbouring convention centre that had hosted WWDC in recent years. About 5,000 developers is said to be in attendance for the event.

iOS 10

To watch the live presentation, users could tune in to Apple’s website or through the WWDCiOS app. The Telegraph would be doing live blogging, all through, covering the announcement regarding iOS, OS X, watchOS and tvOS. The major part of the two hour or so performance seems to be devoted to the new version of iOS, the software of Apple for iPhone and iPad.

 iOS 9 had been introduced last year and hence it is expected that iOS 10 would also make an appearance which would probably be accompanied by Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineering. Beta version of the software is said to be opened up to developers in June before being rolled out to the general public in autumn when the iPhone 7 would be released.

There have been strangely scarce details regarding the iOS 10, this year though reports indicate digital assistant Siri could be updated to manage voicemails, transcribing them to read without having to ring your inbox and select the message one would want to listen. iOS 10 could be the first time a HomeKit is completely understood and connected home framework of Apple was first release as a part of iOS 8.

OS X 10.12

In recent years, with last year’s offering El Capitan resulting on from Yosemite and Mavericks, Apple had named its Mac software updates after Californian landmarks. While the name of OS X 10.12 tends to be veiled in secret, there seems to be an opportunity where Apple could rebrand the software completely as macOS in position with the other lines.One of the rumours circulating is the possible integration of Siri in OS X enabling you to perform for the first time, voice searches through the laptop or desktop.

The company has apparently been testing varieties of OS X comprising of Siri for the past four years and the new software will have a Siri microphone icon in the Menu bar. This when clicked would introduce a dark background with coloured waves just as it tends to appear across iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. Inserting Siri in the infrastructure of Mac seems reasonable.

Apple is very clear regarding how it foresees its numerous functioning together cross-platforms and its Continuity umbrella which had been announced at WWDC 2014, comprises of a range of latest features designed as first push to seamless addition between the systems.

This Wristband Will Give You an Electric Shock if You go Into Your Overdraft

Wristband to Control Overspending

Individuals with a weakness of overspending can now have a saviour in the form of a wristband which tends to help in breaking this bad habit. A British company in partnership with Pavlok tends to give users electric shocks in helping them to break this bad habit of overspending, triggering the device when users seem to be spending too much money. The £120 device which would be in operation toward the end of the year was invented by finance technology company Intelligent Environments which identifies overspending in a user’s bank account connecting it to Pavlok to send them a shock or Nest, the smart thermostat of Google to turn down their heating.

David Webber, chief executive of Intelligent Environments had stated that `this is all about giving customers the option to control how they tend to spend money’. Known as Interact IoT, users could set their spending limits and choose how they would like the program to respond. Should a user surpass their self-imposed limit of spending and their bank balance seems to drop below a pre-determined brink, the Interact IoT tends to drop the heating down to a temperature that has been pre-determined by the individual. Reducing the temperature of the heating by three degrees could save around £255 yearly, according to Intelligent Environments. A Google Nest device tends to cost about £200.

Fully Tested & Safe

The Pavlok was initially launched in 2014 to jolt users out of their bad habits like nail biting, over-sleeping and smoking. The makers of the wristband state, that the wristband has been fully tested and seems safe, claiming that the shock tends to cause a slightly uncomfortable feeling though no pains or burns. The wristband had been named after the Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov who had worked with dogs to prove behaviour can be conditioned by rewards and punishments.

 It had been created by US internet entrepreneur Maneesh Sethi who had famously hired a woman to slap him every time he went on Facebook, at work. It is not known when the tool for the finance monitoring would be made available since it is up to the banks to choose to offer the services to their consumers. Software to banks and financial services companies which supports their mobile apps is provided by Intelligent Environments. Webber had mentioned that `they are the technology behind the Atom Bank which would be the first digital bank and all their customers seem to be interested in this capability’.

Device Linked to Customer’s Bank Account

Clients of the company comprise of the Bank of Ireland, Sainsbury’s Bank, Lloyd’s Bank and Toyota’s financial services business. Presently the software is available, though it will take around six months before the banks tend to offer it to their clients, if they decide to do so. Webber also informed that millennial believed that the new software was very thrilling and something they would certainly like to try. However, older people aged 50 and above seemed to be cautious.Liviu Itoafa, security researcher at Kaspersky Lab had stated that the device seems to link to a customers’ bank account which could be easy for cybercriminals to access bank details.

 Itoafa also cautioned that the company would have to ensure that it had secured the connection between the devices and the bank accounts. The Telegraph had been assured by Intelligent Environments that it had taken the security of the invention rather seriously and that there was no chance of logging on the banking information of the user, through it. Webber has informed that it is totally secure and that there is absolutely no financial or personal information passing into the devices

Google Daydream VR phone

Virtual Reality Plans of Google

Google’s Vice president of virtual reality, Clay Bavor, though not worried with perfection but desires to develop virtual worlds which tend to look and feel like real ones. He seems convinced that Google and the others would surely get there ultimately. While they labour on it, the main objective of Bavor is to put a VR headset on everyone he could find. Why VR seems to be cool and exciting is difficult to explain in words, according to him and tech reporters all over the world sense his pain though as soon as one tries it, you tend to get it.

 Hence the virtual reality plans of Google have always been about giving as many people, access as possible while perfections tends to come later. Recently on stage, at Google I/O, the annual developer conference-show-and-tell of the company, Bavor had announced his next step of the process. Google has been developing the next form Android precisely with focus on virtual reality in order that all smartphones running its operating system would be a VR headset. It has been working with partners on non-cardboard headset and controllers which would be coming later in the year.

Daydream – Standard & a Brand

This would extremely enhance the quality of the entire experience and a set of the specs of the phone which would permit optimum VR experience in Android. It has developed Daydream which is a standard as well as a brand which tends to encompasses everything that Google has been working on with VR. Daydream does not seem to be a custom version of the operating system like the Android TV or android Wear but is a part of Android just the way texting and notification are a part of Android and is a VR mode.

 When the phone is docked, one will launch Daydream Home that enables you to open apps from Netflix, Hulu and IMAX, or games from EA, Ubisoft and much more. It seems to be comfortable and clean, similar to Oculus Home. Bavor states that there are some really neat things in the works but considering how much is there already in Cardboard, the ecosystem of Daydream is going to be big from day one.

VR Listeners/VR Helpers

The Android N code tends to detect apps as `VR listeners’ or `VR helpers’, which means that any app would be able to launch a VR mode. One would get notifications while you are in VR just like one in Samsung’s Gear VR. VR is not a solely separate thing in Google’s view, hidden in its own app with its own app store. It is something which every developer, every app could tap into and any `Daydream-ready’ phone is basically any high-end-phone.

 Bavor states that phones from Huawei, LG, Samsung, Xiaomi and others are in workings and can run VR mode in Android. Other apps could do the same just the way YouTube enables instant switching and watching any video in a virtual reality theatre. Presently VR has been facing difficulties and the best VR experiences tends to be time consuming as well as expensive to produce.

Google Chrome will Start Blocking Flash by Default

Google Chrome Stop Support to Adobe Flash Player

Chrome browser of Google will stop its support to Adobe’s Flash Player on almost all websites by the end of this year. Staff member, Anthony LaForge while posting to Google groups, had defined the plan of the company to stop automatically permitting Flash to run on websites. The plan intended to be implemented by the fourth quarter of 2016 would be seeing HTML5 replacing Flash as a much integrated media experience with quicker load times and less power consumption.

LaForge had mentioned that `if a site offers an HTML5 experience, this change would make that the main experience’. They will continue to ship Flash Player with Chrome and if a site really needs Flash, a prompt would be appearing at the top of the page when the user first tends to visit that site, providing the options of allowing it to run for that site. But the top ten website utilizing Flash would not have it disabled, according to Google. Presently the ten biggest website as per Google are Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, V.K.com, Yahoo, Live.com, Yandex.rv, OK.ru, Twitch.tv and Mail.ru, though these may be changing towards the end of the year.

Proposal Document Outlining Change

Whitelisted websites would be having their Flash use secured for a year though it will also be reviewed during a period of 12 months. Proposal document outlining how the change would take place had been online by LaForge:

• Flash would still be bundled with Chrome though would not be advertised by default 
• If HTML5 is provided by a website, Chrome would automatically default to it 
• If Flash Player is essential, a user would be prompted 
• When a user accepts the page will get refreshed and Flash will appear on any following visits to the domain

Latest Backlash against Adobe Flash

The move is said to be the latest in on-going backlash against Adobe Flash and the platform was used to create animations, web pages as well as games from the early 2000s. However, it has been slowly replaced with more open web standards. Adobe had said, in November, that it was time for developers to move away from using Flash. The company had mentioned in a blog post that they encourage content creators to build with new web standards and would continue to focus on offering the best tools and services for designers as well as developers in creating amazing content for the web.

In July 2015, Mozilla had blocked all the versions of Flash in its Firefox browser. During the time Mozilla had said that Flash would stay blocked till Adobe releases a version which was not being actively exploited by publicly known susceptibilities and the block had been lifted few days thereafter. The death of Flash had been slow and painful with Google now planning to deal with another blow.

Google has plans to begin blocking most of Flash content with Chrome and the changeover is targeted to the end of the year. Under its existing vision, almost every website would be having Flash content blocked by default and visitors will still be capable of enabling Flash content on a site-by-site basis though would have to specially opt to do so. Flash has been a threat on battery life and is constantly found to have severe security errors and hence its ultimate disappearance would be accepted.

This Tiny Robobee Could one day Save Your Life

Tiny Robo-Bee Utilised for Exploration Mission

Tiny robot has been created by a team at Harvard University that can land on ceilings, settle on dangerous objects as well as assist out in search and rescue mission. The robot has been inspired by the biology of the bee and the hive behaviour of the insect. The team had mentioned on the website of the project that they `aim to push advances in miniature robotics and the design of compact high-energy power sources, spur innovations in ultra-low-power computing and electronic smart sensors and refine coordination algorithms to manage independent machines’.

The Robobee tends to have various uses, pollinating a field of crops, for instance or in search and rescue missions. Due to its tiny size and the potential to land as well as settle on ceilings and walls, it can be possibly be utilised for exploration missions at the time of natural calamities and as `hazardous environment exploration`, military surveillance or climate mapping. Likewise robots had been developed in a different place, particularly the robot cockroach developed at the University of California at Berkeley though the Harvard team had stated that by modelling a robot’s `physical and behavioural strength’on insects, they could carry out difficult tasks much faster, reliably and efficiently.

Robot Settle on Walls/Ceilings Utilising `Electrostatic Adhesion’

Bee colonies also seem to be intelligent which the team expect to duplicate, with a complex nervous system which can skilfully sense and familiarize to changing environments. Moritz Graule, who worked on the system stated that the robot tends to settle on ceilings and walls utilising `electrostatic adhesion’ a similar type of energy which tends to make a `static sock stick to a pants leg or a balloon to the wall.

With regards to the balloon, though the charges disperse over a period of time, where the balloon ultimately tends to fall down and that in the system, a small amount of energy is continuously provided to maintain the attraction’. The structure seems to be extremely light, the same weight as a real bee, around 100mg. Now the team would be working on enhancing their model by altering the mechanical design in order that the robot can settle on any surface besides just ceilings.

Micro Aerial Vehicles

Graule has mentioned that `there are more challenges in making a robust, robotic landing system though this experimental result demonstrates a very versatile solution to the problem of keeping flying micro-robots, operating longer without quickly draining power. The small thin robot, flapping its two tiny wings, sways its way to the underside of a leaf, crashes into the surface and latches on, settling motionless above the ground. Seconds later, it tends to flap its wings once more and wiggles off on its way.

Such robots, known as micro aerial vehicles can be invaluable in exploration of disaster zones or in the forming of unprepared communication networks. However there is a snag wherein flying needs energy and so the time these robots can spend in the air seems to be limited by the size of the battery pack they tend to carry. The scientist state that the little flying vehicle known as RoboBee has been designed to settle on a mass of various surfaces, thereby opening new prospects for the utilisation of drones in offering a bird’s eye vision of the world.