WWDC: Ten things you should know

Now that Phil Schiller’s WWDC keynote is done with, here’s the ten things you should know in case you missed our liveblog coverage. – r.

1. There are now over 75 million Mac users worldwide

2. The unibody 13-inch MacBooks are now called MacBook Pros. They’ve got better batteries, better screens, Firewire, SD cards and they cost less, too.

3. The final copy of Safari 4 is out today, and you can download it here.

4. Snow Leopard is almost here. It gives you 6GB of storage BACK, it’s got OpenCL, 64-bit and Grand Central Dispatch. It’s also got Exchange support built-in at no extra cost.

5. QuickTime X has a new UI, it’s frameless and it’s beautiful. Built from scratch. It’s really fast and lets you do quick & easy editing.

6. Better yet, it’s only $29 (USD) to upgrade from Leopard when it arrives in September. Unfortunately, it’s an Intel only OS.

7. iPhone OS 3.0 arrives on June 17th. Previously unannounced features include: Buy movies, TV shows, music videos and audiobooks using iTunes on your device, multiple iTunes accounts, better Parental Controls and more language love. The really good news? Internet tethering via USB or Bluetooth. The bad news? AT&T won’t support it.

8. There’s a new iPhone arriving, also on June 17th (depending on your location), and it’s called iPhone 3GS. It’s got a 3 megapixel auto-focus, video recording camera (and you can edit, too). It also (finally) allows voice controls and commands and has a built-in compass. It looks and feels exactly the same as iPhone 3G does. You can browse the internet for up to nine hours on 3GS.

9. That iPhone is $199/$299 (AT&T prices) for 16/32GB capacities and sits along side the 8GB iPhone 3G (for just $99). There’s an ad here.

10. Overall (in my opinion), it was a better-than-average keynote from Phil Schiller and the team. The new iPhone is somewhat disappointing, but has some useful (and long needed) new features. Your average consumer is going to be a little disappointed with the backend-driven Snow Leopard OS, and everyone in the US now hates AT&T more than ever before for not supporting tethering or MMS at launch.

More WWDC coverage can be found here – r.

WWDC 2009: TGR Liveblog

Click here for our WWDC 2009 liveblog coverage

WWDC: The ultimate pre-keynote playlist

We’re approaching the ten hour countdown mark for WWDC 2009, so optimize your experience with TGR’s ultimate pre-keynote playlist. The full 17-track list is below…

1. Vida la Vida – Coldplay

Described by Gizmodo as “the official sountrack to the ‘running of the media’ event every single time”.

2. Around the Bend – The Asteroid’s Galaxy Tour

Used in the iPod touch (2G) ad, often playing at your local Apple Store.

3. La la la – The Bird and the Bee

Soundtrack to the original iPod touch spot at the 2007 iPod special event. Strangely, this one never made it to television.

4. Bruises – Chairlift

Very Apple. Used in the particularly creative iPod nano (3G) commercial.

5. Electric Feel – MGMT

A Phil Schiller favorite at Macworld 2009.

6. R.E.S.P.E.C.T. – Aretha Franklin

Best when used as your ringtone during the event…

7. Shut Up and Let Me Go – The Ting Tings

One of the better  iPod + iTunes ads.

8. Hey Mama – Black Eyed Peas

Another brilliant iTunes ad sountrack.

9. You’ve Got a Friend In Me – Randy Newman

This one’s dedicated to Steve and his executive-producing talents.

10. Stronger – Kanye West

Played at MWSF 2008. Ironically, the MacBook Air is the weakest notebook Apple’s ever shipped.

11. Hold on, I’m coming – Sam & Dave

Great track, also played often at the Apple Store. Particularly suitable for a pre-keynote playlist.

12. 15 Step – Radiohead

iPhone OS 3.0 special event. One of Greg’s (Joswiak) choices? We can only speculate.

13. Sleep Through the Static – Jack Johnson

Performed by the man himself at the 2008 “Let’s Rock” special event.

14. New Soul – Yael Naim

Manilla envelope. Enough said.

15. Waiting on the World to Change – John Mayer

Absolutely essential for any Apple playlist.

16. 1234 – Feist

Usually played right before the keynote.

And a bonus, post-keynote track:

17. I Left My Heart in San Francisco – Tony Bennett

Quite possibly the most heartfelt keynote performance ever.

Enjoy! – r.

WWDC 2009: 3rd generation iPhone graphical rumor round-up

Here’s a graphical representation I put together of the dozens of rumors that have been circulating over the past few months regarding the third generation iPhone that’s likely to be announced next week at WWDC 2009 (our keynote liveblog details can be found here). Click the image for a higher resolution version. There’s a few notes for this one:
* I’ve put some source numbers beside each arrow, these are the references for each rumor and are published at the bottom of this post.
* The rumors (such as release date and price) that don’t really match a particular part of the iPhone’s hardware/software have been placed at a random point on the back of the iPhone.
* The prediction key is based entirely on my own opinion, and is by no means accurate.
Of course, if anything else develops between now and Phil’s keynote, I’ll be listing them here, so be sure to check back before the day, and remember, we’ll be covering the keynote live right here on TGR, click here for the details. – r.

Update: It seems this has generated quite some interest around the internet with more than 10,000 people visiting per day – thanks for your views, tweets and pings!

Update 2: The great folks over at iPodizados.com have translated the graphic into Spanish. Check it out here!

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