This week is a big week over at Apple. Monday kicked off the 2013 World Wide Developer’s Conference with a presentation on all of the new releases that Apple has planned into the Fall. Needless to say, the family was huddled around our television, some of us more excited than others, streaming the event live through none other than our Apple TV.
Tim Cook and the gang presented quite a few exciting things on the horizon. I am going to spread out talking about most of them so that I have things to talk about for a few weeks! One of the features of the their new operating system, iOS 7, that I am most excited about is a kill switch. Mobile device theft is on the rise and people have been robbed of their iPhones while walking down the street, actively talking on them. The trend of iPhone and iPad theft is so prevalent that it has been termed Apple Picking. Even though thievery is a horrible thing, I have to admit that I do love that term. iOS 7, which will be available to the masses in the Fall, will contain a new feature called Activation Lock. This will require the use of your Apple ID and password to turn off the Find My Phone feature, as well as to delete any data from the phone. That same ID and password would be needed to reactivate the phone after data has been remotely erased. The idea is that without that ID and password, the phone is pretty much useless and therefore not worth a lick to a thief.
Developers were able to load the new operating system on Monday, so my husband is already using it on his phone. He seems quite pleased with it. It has a whole new look and some great new features that I will share over the next few weeks. In addition to iOS 7, we also got to see the new Mac Pro. This is a big deal for those in fields heavy into graphics. I’m not going to divulge too much right now except to say that this thing is bad-ass! I will share more highlights from the conference in the near future as I learn more about what it means for everyday users like me.