WWDC23 Keynote Favorites
This year I was excitedly awaiting the arrival of the WWDC23 keynote event. I watched from my home in the Tampa Bay Area, with AirPods Pro 2's noise cancelation on, and my Focus modes on all devices set to "leave me alone", where no device nor phone call could get my attention for the foreseeable future.
In particular, though I knew that I would not buy whatever Apple headset was announced, I was curious to see the implementation.
My thoughts:
Operating System Updates.
- 15" MacBook Air
- Phone app: live voicemail transcriptions, in real time as they speak. If you want to screen calls this is pretty great.
- Autocorrect and Dictation get updates. Very excited to see if this works as promised.
- Journal, a brand new app coming to iPhone after this year.
- StandBy. Turn iPhone on its side while charging and you can get a hub-style display. Like an alarm clock, or photos, or widgets.
- Now it's just "Siri", to activate. Issue back to back commands for a more conversational style.
- Apple Notes gets the PKM treatment with the ability to link notes to each other for a reference or wiki knowledge library.
- iPadOS Lock Screen widgets (these are interactive, like on iOS)
- PDF love. I do a lot of work with PDF's, and this was the nerdy document attention that we needed.
- Greater Stage Manager flexibility on the iPad. I use Stage Manager 100% of the time as Apple had intended it (I like the feel of it on both. macOS and iPadOS). To see that we will get greater window control on the iPad is a welcome addition.
- AirPods Pro's "adaptive audio" sounds interesting.
- watchOS 10's redesign. I like the idea of the Siri-watch-face-style tiles being available when you turn the Digital Crown on any face.
Apple Vision Pro and visionOS.
While I think that Apple took a lot of care to include the outside world while a person is wearing the headset, I do feel that no matter what way you cut this, this is a 1.0 of what they envision AR/VR to become. For example: taking family photos while the goggles are on your head so that you may later put on the same goggles to review a 3D-rendered version of the photo that you can walk right up to and experience as if, you know, you were there seems a tad Black Mirror to me.
Like, I would want to witness my children's birthday party/first steps/funny scenes firsthand. If I needed to take a pic, maybe I would get my iPhone out to take a pic. It is far less intrusive. The real magic might be if one day the iPhone would allow for 3D photos. That you could then "experience" with a headset on later. That would be very cool.
I will not say that I think that the Vision Pro will be a flop. The way that Apple has allowed for the literal dialing in/dialing out of the real world while engaged in the headset AR is truly remarkable. I have a Meta Quest 2 headset and you are all-in when putting them on. You can barely hear the outside world, let alone see it. So here, I think Apple has done a great job. To immerse yourself in the great outdoors, say, at the edge of a lake, and watch a movie on a 50-foot long movie screen is pretty crazy. And you can do this from your cramped Manhattan studio. Impressive. But, the wide adoption of the device comes not so easily: the cost and the fact that you have to wear these goggle in public are the costs. I loved the pristine shop where the one gentleman went in the keynote where he set up his ideal workstation. But I cannot fathom wearing these $3,500 goggles in public. Vain? Definitely. Impractical to wear, with the potential to get stolen? You bet.
I am hopeful and believe in a day where Apple gets the headset to become a pair of glasses - but I would venture )with no scientific knowledge, by the way) that we are more than a decade from that day. If any company can pull this off, it's Apple.
"One More Thing".
We can stop with this phrase use now. Steve Jobs used to use the phrase as a preview hook of what would ultimately be a big reveal at any Apple event, but usually reserved the phrase for last. Tim Cook and co. do their best to preserve Jobs' legacy. That is honorable. But - I do feel that the phrase is pretty staged when Tim is able to squeeze it out from behind a giant grin. It feels real rehearsed and carefully placed. Not like from the arsenal of a master salesperson, like Jobs was - but like a choreographed excited moment. Like an actor that has done 10 takes too many. The magic is sort of lost, even if the intent was pure.
Tim seems like a gentle soul, and I love when he leans into that caring side - for privacy, rights for people of all sorts, and the future of humankind, for that matter. His legacy will be that of a good steward of the brand, and of one who believed that all people should have access to the technology that will improve their lives. He does a great job, and I wish that he was more comfortable in his own delivery. Maybe I am being picky. Maybe it is because it was a pre-recorded presentation. Maybe both.
End of the year.
One thing is certain - we can look forward to getting our hands on some OS niceties, and perhaps trying the Vision Pro on for size to see if it fits in your life. Until next year...