Apple Joins Smart-Speaker Race With Music-Focused ‘HomePod’

2017, Apple made its focus very clear again-it is making the iPad even more viable as a productivity device. It includes new features for watchfaces, such as a new Siri-based watchface. Apple says that your iPhone will detect when you may be driving and will automatically keep the screen dark and silence the notifications. The new model will begin shipping on Monday.

The trend-setting company also is putting new twists on existing products as it delves deeper into virtual reality and a form of artificial intelligence called machine learning. Thanks to the newly announced ARKit augmented reality tool announced by Apple today, augmented reality creations like Pokemon GO will seem every more like they’re a part of the world around them.

Apple also announced that Amazon Prime Video will come to Apple’s TV streaming box later this year.

The free software update for mobile devices, iOS 11, is expected in September when Apple typically releases new iPhones.

A prototype of Apple’s new HomePod is displayed during the 2017 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) at the San Jose Convention Center on June 5, 2017 in San Jose, California.

The Cupertino-based company gave a sneak preview of this breakthrough wireless speaker for the home that delivers wonderful audio quality. Apple Music subscribers on iOS will be able to create a profile and share it with their friends. Siri, a digital assistant that has been on Apple’s iPhone since 2011, will be voice activated to respond to requests for information and other help around the house.

Soon, Apple will introduce a new iPhone feature that will do away with that annoying – and unsafe – urge to look at a text message while you’re driving. While this feature is useful for the sake of convenience, it poses a major security threat that downgrades the overall security of Apple’s once-touted end-to-end encryption scheme.

Camera: Updated video and image compression, improved Portrait Mode with support for low light, plus a new Depth API for developers.

Another way to look at it is simply that Apple is eliminating the unofficial preferred tier that both Twitter and Facebook occupied for several years.

Apple previewed the next version of watchOS 4, its operating system for the Apple Watch. Most notably there’s a new Siri watch face which will automatically show information that’s most relevant to you.

And for people who like graphics, there’s now kaleidoscope face and Toy Story characters to make the watch more appealing to your inner-child like never before. A few months later, the smaller 9.7-inch iPad Pro also arrived, to reinforce that positioning. For instance, Apple initially resisted enlarging the size of iPhone’s screen despite strong sales for larger-display phones made by Samsung and other rivals.

This monster of a computer will only be available in December starting at US$4,999.

Cook also praised the Apple developer community which has 16 million registered developers and added three million a year ago.

Apple also refreshed its MacBook and MacBook Pro line with faster Kaby Lake processors. No New Zealand release dates or pricing are available.

But it is the upcoming iOS 11 software that will bring these iPad Pro variants to life.