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Apple is also launching a new setting for iOS 6, called Do Not Disturb. And it does what it says on the tin.

Here’s how it works. Essentially, Do Not Disturb allows you to tell your iPhone not to bother you with interruptions. Notifications will still pop up, but they won’t light up the screen or make sounds.

Even better, you have fine-grained access to the kind of calls you can receive when the setting is one.

It’s also safe. For example, repeated calls go through: if someone calls multiple times in a short period of time because it’s an emergency, the call gets put through.

Sounds great, although it sounds to me like this is just going to encourage obnoxious repeat calling from people who think you turned DND on.

(This story is developing.Check back for updates.)

Image: The Verge

Following all of the Siri enhancements for the iPhone on iOS 6 Apple announced today, iPad owners will be pleased to know that the digital assistant is making its way to Apple’s tablet as well. The phone integration will obviously not be there, but all of Siri’s other features will be present, including the new ones in iOS 6.

This compliments the addition of Siri Dictation Apple made with the new iPad back in March. The iPad 2 and third-gen iPad will be supported by Siri in iOS 6, and not the original iPad.

As rumored, iOS 6 is getting Facebook integration, just like Twitter integration in iOS 5.

“We’re also making it really easy to post to Facebook from many of our apps. Post photos from Photos, post location from Maps… we’ve also integrated it right in with Notification Center. Anywhere you are you can tap to post to Facebook and Twitter.”

Siri is also having Facebook integrated. Even better, Facebook’s deep integration is now a public API, meaning any app can easily integrate Facebook into its app.

There’s even contact list integration. Facebook events and birthdays will now automatically appear in your calendars. And it’s also coming to Mountain Lion.

(This story is developing.Check back for updates.)

Image: GDGT

Apple announced today that 365 million iOS devices have been sold as of March 2012. “Almost all of our users are running iOS 5,” said Scott Forstall. “Now if you compare that to the competition. They released a dairy product, 4.0, about the same time as we released iOS 5. About 7% of their users are running it.” Forstall was referring to the poor adoption rate of Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich OS.

1.5 trillion push notifications are sent with Notification Center each day, and 130 million people are using Game Center. 140 million iMessage users have sent 150 billion iMessages, equalling a billion more each day.

“More than 75% of our customers check the ‘very satisfied’ box, and our competition has less than 50%,” said Apple, referring to its customer satisfaction surveys.

47% of all photos shared on Twitter come from iOS, and 10 billion tweets have come from iOS 5 devices since Twitter integration was added last summer. We’re sure Facebook will see similar success this time around.

Apple just unveiled iOS 6. And the first thing they’re showing off in iOS 6 is Siri upgrades.

First thing’s first. Siri now knows about sports. You can now ask Siri what the score of the big game was, and it’ll give you the most recent results. You can also ask what a baseball player’s batting average is. She can even give you league listings.

Siri has also learned a lot about restaurants, thanks to integration with Yelp and OpenTable.

Siri’s also now a movie buff. You can ask Siri which movies are playing at your local theater, then even see trailers, right from within ratings. Heck, you can even see reviews, thanks to integration with RottenTomatoes.

You can now tweet from Siri!

Siri’s also gaining the ability to launch apps, which is likely to be a huge accessibility boon to blind people, which Apple is highlighting by mentioning that this is “eyes-free” smartphone usage.

Even better, Siri’s getting external hardware integration. In the next twelve months, BMW, GM, Jaguar, Mercedes, and Honda, amongst others.

Siri’s also learning some new languages: French-Canadian, Spanish, Italian, Italian French, German and Korean. Mandarin and Cantonese for China. Local search is going global, too.

And, of course, the biggest news: Siri is finally, finally coming to iPad. Hurrah.

(This story is developing.Check back for updates.)

Image: The Verge

Apple has announced that the 8th major iteration of its Mac operating system, OS X Mountain Lion, will officially go on sale to the public in July for only $20 in the Mac App Store. New Macs purchased today will receive a free copy of Mountain Lion when it ships, and developers will receive another preview copy today at WWDC.

“The pace of innovation on the Mac is amazing, OS X Mountain Lion comes just a year after the incredibly successful launch of Lion,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “With iCloud built right in and the new Notification Center, Messages, Dictation, Facebook integration and more, this is the best OS X yet.”

Unfortunately, no specific date in July for the availability of Mountain Lion has been given at this time.

Apple unveiled a completely new Mountain Lion feature today at WWDC. “I want to introduce you to a new technology in OS X that we call Power Nap,” said Craig Federighi. “Wouldn’t it be great if our computers still worked for us when we weren’t working? Now it can.”

The new feature automatically refreshes data, conserves battery life, and backs up a Mac while it’s asleep. You can use Time Machine, refresh Photo Stream, download App Store updates automatically, and keep processes running all while your Mac is asleep. Recent MacBook Airs and the new MacBook Pro will support Power Nap when Mountain Lion ships next month.

Apple has finally spilled full details of how AirPlay Mirroring for Mountain Lion will work.

The good news is that pretty soon, you’ll be able to throw your Mountain Lion video and audio across a room to your Apple TV in good old 1080p.

Also, because of an update to Game Center, you’ll soon be able to have head-to-head gaming action from Macs to iOS devices, all broadcast on your HDTV. iPad Versus Mac!

(This story is developing.Check back for updates.)

Image: The Verge

Apple just announced some nice new updates to Safari: iCloud Tabs and a new scroll architecture.

iCloud Tabs syncs your open tabs across all devices. There’s also a new tab view, which shows live pages on each tab as you gesture through. It looks great.

The new scrolling architecture apparently makes scrolling “lightning fast.”

Looks like some average-sized but great updates. Too bad I don’t use Safari.

Apple just announced that Siri Dictation will be implemented systemwide in OS X Mountain Lion. The feature will be integrated across the OS, “even in apps like Microsoft Word.” A small dialog box with the Siri mic appears when you want to dictate.

“Now in Mountain Lion you can share right from the app where you’re working. There’s a share button on the toolbar.” Like iOS, you can share files and media with social networks like Twitter and Flickr, or send something directly to AirDrop. Want to send a tweet? Do it directly in the OS. Facebook integration will also be present in Mountain Lion.

Open browser tabs will be synced with iCloud across devices, and there’s a “Do Not Disturb” option for Notification Center.

Craig Federighi took the stage after Phil Schiller at WWDC today to talk everything Mac. OS X Lion has been a wild success, and 40% of all Mac users run the operating system 9 months later. 26 million copies have been shipped exclusively through the Mac App Store.

There are 60 million Mac users around the world, and Apple’s market share has been rising exponentially in the desktop space over the past few years. The rest of the PC industry has seen a decline in sales.

“iCloud has taken off like a rocket with over 125 million registered users,” said Federighi. Apple also ran through tentpole features of OS X Mountain Lion that were revealed in the developer preview months ago. Some new features, such as Siri Dictation, were also announced.

Following the announcement of the revolutionary new MacBook Pro with Retina display, Apple has updated a score of OS X apps for the new screen resolution. Final Cut X can now be viewed in full 1080p on the new Pro’s 2880 x 1800 display. Professional apps like Autodesk and Adobe Photoshop will support the 220 ppi screen right out of the gate.

Mail, Safari, iMovie, iPhoto and more apps have also been updated. And… wait for it…. Diablo III is ready for Retina on the Mac. O yes.

Apple will ship a Retina-ready version of OS X Lion with the new MacBook Pro when it ships. Non-Retina apps will be pixel-doubled automatically.

Following a refresh to the MacBook Air lineup, Apple’s Phil Schiller unveiled a revamped MacBook Pro today at WWDC12. The updated machine boasts Intel Ivy Bridge 2.7GHz (turbo boosted up to 3.7GHz), USB 3.0, Nvidia GeForce GT 650m graphics, and 7 hours of battery life.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro spec upgrade costs $1199, while the 15-inch will sell for $1499. The 15-inch is offered in $1799 and $2199 models with beefier quad-core chips. The outwards design of these upgraded MacBook Pros have stayed the same.

“”Nobody turns over their entire line as quickly and completely as we do at Apple. So what’s next? We need to make room on the slide for this.” And Apple is about to announce a completely new and improved MacBook Pro, the next-generation.

““With the MBA, the engineering team did something bold. They reenvisioned the consumer notebook, and were aggressive in embracing new technologies, and discarding legacy technologies. Things we could eventually do without.”

“So what would make a next-generation MacBook Pro?” Schiller asks.

According to Schiller, the next-gen MBP is the most beautiful computer Apple has ever made. It’s thin, its light, it has no optical drive, it’s exactly what the rumors had us believe it would be: a cross between the last MBP and the MacBook Air.

The new MBP is about as thin as the current Air, and weighs under four and a half pounds. And it has a Retina Display.

Noting that everyone tries to copy the MacBook Air, Phil Schiller says they’re updating their ultraportable line.

The MacBook Air will now feature:

• Updated CPU — Ivy Bridge, up to 2.0GHz dual-core i&.
• Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz
• Up to 8GB RAM
• 60% Faster Graphics
• Up to 512GB SSD
• USB 3 Support!
• 720p FaceTime camera
• No retina!

Prices now start at $999 and $1099 for the 11-inch, $1199 and $1499 for the 13-inch

(This story is developing.Check back for updates.)

Image: The Verge

After addressing the crowd about the App Store, Tim Cook has moved onto the next thing to brag about: new MacBooks, OS X updates and iOS 6! But first, Phil Schiller joins the stage.

(This story is developing.Check back for updates.)

Image: Engadget

Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage at WWDC12 and kicked things off with some numbers. The App Store currently boasts 400 million accounts, making it the largest and “most vibrant app ecosystem on the planet.” There are over 650,000 apps in the App Store, and 225,000 are made for the iPad.

Apple has seen a staggering 30 billion App Store downloads since the store’s launch in 2008, and third-party developers have been paid a “mind-boggling” $5 billion.

The App Store is available in 120 countries around the world, and Apple is adding 32 more countries today.

“Nothing makes us happier than to see hundreds of thousands of developers around the world using our hardware and software to share their ideas,” said Tim Cook. “It’s becoming an economy in and of itself.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook has just taken the stage at the Moscone Center in San Francisco to deliver the keynote address, and are we excited.

Over the next hour and a half, Tim Cook is expected to announce some radical new products for Apple, including new Macs and iOS 6. Apple is expected to abandon Google Maps for its own in-house solution. We will also likely hear a release date for OS X Mountain Lion.

Stay tuned for updates, and keep refreshing our home page for the latest scoops from the keynote. We’ll be live-blogging the whole thing over the course of the next 90 minutes, so as soon as something’s announced, you’ll see it on the front page.

What are you most looking forward to Apple announcing today? Let us know in the comments.

In a hysterical change of pace, instead of Apple CEO Tim Cook taking the stage to start the WWDC keynote at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Siri came on the big screen to warm up the crowd instead.

“Hello and welcome to WWDC. I’m Siri, your virtual assistant and today I was asked to warm up the crowd, which should be easy since the high will be 75 degrees,” said Siri.

Here were some more jokes Siri told:

“How many developers does it take to change a lightbulb? None, that’s a hardware problem.”

“Hey, any of you guys been working with ICS or Jelly Bean. Who’s working up these codenames? Ben & Jerry?”

“Seriously, I am excited about the new Samsung. Not the phone, the refrigerator.”

“I love you guys, but it’s hard for me to get emotional. Because my emotions haven’t been coded yet.”

And now Siri is introducing Tim Cook! Awesome!

Image: Engadget

Whether it’s for new products or routine maintenance, Apple’s online store goes down from time to time. Today, for example, the store went down ahead of Apple’s WWDC keynote that’s set to begin within the hour. When the store comes back online, expect new products, like updated MacBook Pros, to show up in Apple’s inventory.

Have you ever wondered what happens behind the scenes when the Apple online store goes down? Well, even Apple’s own engineers in Cupertino don’t know what new products are coming next.

At every WWDC, Apple dresses up the Moscone Center with beautiful banner graphics to promote their newest software and hardware. Sometimes before the keynote, they keep some banners veiled in black cloth to prevent any keynote spoilers. This year is no exception. So what’s under this year’s black banner? Let us hear your guesses in the comments.

Via: Tim Stevens

Apple is set to launch its 2012 ‘Back to School’ promotion soon, according to the rumor mill this morning. With the purchase of a new iPad, educational customers will be eligible to receive a free $50 iTunes gift card. A new Mac purchase will come with a $100 gift card.

Apple’s WWDC keynote is starting in less than two hours, and the company is expected to unveil iOS 6 and new Mac hardware.

Following those specifications for the new Mac Pro and the new MacBook Pro that we reported on earlier, the specifics for the Retina display MacBook Pro and the new MacBook Airs have now also been leaked. In addition to Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors for all models, highlights include up to 8GB of RAM and up to 512GB of SSD storage for the MacBook Air, and up to 768GB of storage for the MacBook Pro.

With just a few hours to go before Apple kicks off WWDC, some analysts are rushing to make predictions right up till the last few moments. London-based research firm Ovum, for example, delivered a list of three things that its Chief Telecoms Analyst Jan Dawson feels are essential announcements that Apple needs to make during the WWDC keynote later today.

Dawson’s assessment breaks ranks with many other analysts who have insisted that Apple must unveil its own HDTV at the event or sometime later this year but does think Apple needs to bring apps to the TV experience. The remainder of his comments focus on iOS and changes that a wide swath of iPhone and iPad owners, developers, and tech journalists have suggested since Apple released iOS 5 last fall.

It’s a pretty good bet that iPhones and iPads will be responsible for 3G/4G traffic spikes around the Moscone Center in San Francisco this week as Apple developers lucky enough to score a ticket attend WWDC. Beyond this week, however, it seems that iPhone users have a tendency to gobble up a large amount of data – more so than other platforms including Android.

On average, iPhone owners represent about 20% of smartphone customers for mobile carriers worldwide. You might expect that those customers would amount to around 20% of data usage. That isn’t the case as  iPhone users account for an average 45% of carrier data traffic and data use by iPhone users is more consistent than data consumed by Android customers.