At its Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple showed off new operating systems for iPhone,iPad and Mac, along with initiatives that touch the health-tracking and smart home markets, a slew of features like third-party keyboards,and even a new programming language.
Apple finally took the wraps off its desktop operating system Mac OS X 10.10 at WWDC 2014, now officially known as Yosemite. The company also unveiled iOS8, the new version of iOS, which will come to iPhones and iPads in the fall.
Among the plenty of software updates introduced at WWDC 2014, the most notable are,
Revamped App Store
Apple introduced a number of improvements to the iOS App Store that developers have asked for. Apple is also allowing developers to offer their apps as public beta download through TestFlight. That means users will be able to try early versions of apps before their official release, and developers will be able to get ahead of bugs sooner in the process.
HomeKit
The HomeKit platform will allow users to control locks, lights, cameras, doors, thermostats, plugs and switches via one iOS8 app, without the need for multiple apps to control each device or function. Although iOS8 doesn’t come out until the fall, the beta test will encourage developers to create software and products that will work with HomeKit.
Apple also announced the winners of its annual Apple Design Awards. This special award recognizes apps that combine design and technology in creative, compelling and powerful ways. Apple describes the recipients of this years awards as apps that “raise the bars in design, technology and innovation.” Winners received one of every Apple device and the Apple Design Award trophy. Here are this year’s winners.
SkyGuide
SkyGuide brings a creative and detailed approach to exploring the world above us. Hold your device to the sky to automatically find stars, constellations, planets, satellites and more. Users can use filters to investigate the sky with invisible wavelengths of light and view hidden wonders like supernova remnants, black holes, and the cosmic microwave background. SkyGuide is accessible to star-gazer of all levels, with every feature available without a Wi-Fi, data or GPS signal. It is also localized in 10 different languages.
Cinemagraph Pro
Cinemagraph Pro is a professional tool specifically designed for the creation of living photos. Users can swiftly navigate through a full set of robust editing modes to customize still frames, create seamless loops, add effects and more. The final result can be saved as HD video, UHD video, or as a simple GIF. Cinemagraph Pro offers unique “live masking” technology that enables one to preview living images in real time and output high-resolution hybrid photographs. This 64-bit app supports 4k video and Retina display, and utilizes OpenCL to harness full power of OS X Mavericks on the Mac Pro.
Storehouse – Visual Storytelling
Document and share meaningful experiences by combining photos, video and text through Storehouse. It is an iPad app that lets users create highly visual and customized stories to share with people through Dropbox or Instagram. Fully optimized for iOS, the app has a powerful gestural interface and a seamless method for quickly importing media from Camera Roll.
Monument Valley
Guide a silent princess through a fantasy world by manipulating unique architectural monuments. Monument Valley is non-traditional game experience composed of a small number of consistently delightful chapters. It is intuitive enough to play without instructions. Monument Valley was inspired by the impossible illustrations of M.C. Escher. The Apple judges described Monument Valley as a game that set out to do something big, and it succeeds.
Threes
Threes is a tile matching game that’s challenging and nicely designed. Adding further polish are clever sound effects and a catchy music score. Apple judges called out Three particularly for its “personality,” expressed in the game through whimsical visuals and comical sounds.
P.S – You must have all tried the game called 2048 ? 2048 is a ripoff made in just 3 weeks after Threes was officially released on the App Store.
DEVICE 6
In DEVICE 6, form follows narrative and goes beyond the usual constructs of games, books and apps. This narrative experience combines puzzles, thrillers and literature to create one of the most experimental apps we’ve seen. The Apple judges call DEVICE 6 a “game changing: type of app.
Blek
In this game, you gesture to create a line that worms its way along, repeating its motion gracefully. Aim for colored dots, avoid the black ones. Challenging both the right and left hemispheres of the brain, there are no specific moves to master and countless solutions exist in each level, While its also simple in its presentation, it is a good example of how you can make a great game without being complex.
Leo’s Fortune
Leo’s Fortune is an adventure game that is an exercise in painstakingly designed graphics and lush environments. In this platform adventure game, you are responsible for Leo as he bounces, slides and floats his way in search of his stolen hoard of gold. The judges liked this game for its integration of graphics, gameplay and easy controls.
Day One
Journaling is easier than ever with this usable, clean and elegant app. Users can easily capture, organize and share their favorite memories and photos. Features include a privacy passcode lock, automatic tracking of daily statistics such as weather and location, hashtag and keyword search, and much more.
Yahoo News Digest
Yahoo News Digest is free iOS app that provides curated, high-quality content on top news topics. Each story is created from multiple sources to present the most essential pieces of information, known as “Atoms”. Atoms include key uotes, images, videos, stock tickers, maps, infographs and Wikipedia excerpts and more. This app is updated twice daily and provides a good balance quick news summaries and in-depth articles.
Teachley: Addimals Adventure
A fun and engaging, educational app for the children in kindergartens. Bringht and colorful approach specially designed to pull in the child population. This app found a strong following among teachers and students.
PanoPerfect
Designed to complement the panorama mode introduced in iOS6. PanoPerfect allows you to share panoramas, and see panoramas taken by others. This app uses UIKit Dynamics for animations and supports asynchronous loading and caching of images, resulting in fast lower-resolution feed and high quality, full-resolution panoramas, Social and Accounts frameworks are used to login with Facebook and Twitter.
[…] game the came out on the App Store and then 3 weeks later got ripped off by clones. Threes won the Apple Design Awards 2014 during WWDC. The game involves taking multiple “one” and adding them over to form a […]