Day 1 Of Apple’s WWDC 2013

Today was a great start to the week of conferences here at WWDC, starting off with the Keynote speech. It was a brilliant experience watching this here in San Francisco; it wasn’t too flashy and left you wanting more.

The key highlights of the speech were iTunes radio, the new Air Pro, an introduction to iOS X ‘Mavericks’ as well as the design of iOS 7.

iTunes Radio

A big non-surprise was the unveiling of iTunes Radio. Apple iTunes Radio, is an online streaming music radio service which could have up to 300 million users within a year, directly challenging a similar service from Google as well as smaller companies such as Sweden’s Spotify US-based Pandora and British-based Last.fm

Users are able to create radio stations they want to listen to, and then share it with others as well as listen to other people’s radio stations.

iOS 7

Apple showed off a major overhaul of iOS7 on day one. CEO Tim Cook called it the biggest change to iOS since the iPhone.

The update, which will be available to users this fall, brings changes like a vertical slide to unlock button, translucent app and keyboard icons, updated weather apps and receding control buttons when browsing Safari. Apple was behind times with this update by making the overall design looking a lot flatter.

iOS X – Mavericks

Apple said today it was ditching the kitty descriptors for each new version of its operating system and moving to descriptions of places in California. The next one, named after the famous big-wave surf spot near Half Moon Bay, will offer up support for multiple display monitors and file-tagging.

Mavericks also offers up better battery life through new features, faster apps, and an “App Nap” feature that helps idle apps quit taking up your power.

With this update comes a new Safari, too, with LinkedIn and Twitter reading lists.

Make sure you follow the blog for more info on products such as the Mac Pro and Macbook Air.