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WWDC 2012: Apple keynote (meta) liveblog

What’s Cooking? Find out at 6pm BST / 10am PST

WWDC 2012: Apple keynote (meta) liveblog
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iOS

It feels like only last week we were reporting on E3 from Los Angeles (we were - Ed), but we’re back again, reporting live from San Francisco for Apple’s keynote at WWDC.

What can we expect from Tim Cook and co this year? Well, we’re looking forward to the first details on iOS 6.

Otherwise, it’s looking like a Mac-heavy keynote this time around, although we’d be surprised if there wasn’t at least one, well, surprise waiting in the wings.

Join us back here at 6pm BST / 10am PST for the England game- sorry, Apple keynote speech.

Refresh page 19:55 - So...well, that was underwhelming.

Some nice-looking features for iOS 6, a few annoyingly skipped over Game Center-related items too, but overall very Mac-heavy as predicted.

Oh well, there's always the next one, eh? Thanks for joining me today!

19:54 - Nope, definitely over.

19:52 - Looks like that's it. Tim's back and wrapping the show up. It's all over.

OR IS IT...?

19:51 - iOS 6 is out for developers today, autumn/fall for users.

Uh oh - looks like the rumours were true. iPad 1 is not supported, but the 3GS is. Sorry original iPad users.

Also - only the iPod touch 4th gen supports the mobile OS, too. Talk about a kick in the teeth

19:50 - Two more GAME RELATED NEWS!! items just popped up on a slide - Game Groups and Game Center in-app experience.

No idea. They didn't talk about them

19:49 - And, they're now talking about China. Bah.

19:48 - GAMES RELATED NEWS!! - Game Center Challenges! They haven't spoken about it, but it's on the iOS 6 image

19:45 - Will likely be used by me purely to show off the iPad, however.

19:44 - Yup, Flyover looks great. There's the standard, Google Maps style 3D view, and there's the "holy crap, it's the city in actual 3D, what the heck" view

19:43: (We call 'gas', 'petrol' over in the UK, if you were wondering what that comment on 19:42 was about)

19:43 - Here comes the Marquee feature - Flyover. 3D modelled city view. Looks pretty amazing from the images

19:42 - Naturally, this is integrated with Siri. You can ask it to 'find you gas' and it'll tell you. If you're American.

Also understands "Are we there yet?"

19:41 - Bam - turn-by-turn navigation built in

19:40 - Yup - new maps application. Provided by Apple this time, with integrated support for Yelp. 100 million businesses, too, and Apple is "building a traffic service". So long Google Maps

19:38 - New accessibility options - Guided Access. Help for children with Autism - allows you to switch off controls in apps

19:37 - Ah, that's pretty handy. Uses Geolocate to pull up cards when you're near the relevant locations. Also updates with any changes (such as a new boarding gate at the airport).

19:35 - I can't say it's the most exciting new app I've seen, but it might be useful

19:35 - New app time - Passbook. Collect boarding passes, tickets and the like

19:33 - VIP option in Mail. They get flagged instantly and have their own special mailbox

19:31 - Interesting. Social Photo Stream - essentially a photo sharing facility built in (like Facebook). Even allows for friends to directly comment

19:30 - Safari has been given iCloud tabs and offline reading list. You can now upload photos from within Safari, too.

19:29 - Oh, they're linking up your phone number and Apple ID. So if you get a call, for Facetime, you can use any of your Apple devices to take it

19:28 - As guessed, looks like FaceTime is going to work over mobile networks now

19:27 - Hurrah! Do Not Disturb - lets you set a time, then if any message or call comes through, your phone won't light up the room at 3AM

19:26 - Clever. It even extends to a 'geofence', so if you want to be reminded when you leave a location, you can.

That's pretty cool, let's be honest

19:25 - Oh hello - Phone is getting a few new additions, including the ability to set a reminder to message/call someone back

19:23 - Looks like Facebook integration is a big new part of the new iOS. Basically does what the last update did for Twitter - you can post stuff to Facebook from pretty much everywhere

19:22 - Siri will be heading to The New iPad

19:21 - A few new languages are now supported, including Italian

19:20 - They've partnered with car makers for Eyes Free - effectively a button on the wheel that activates Siri for you. Some big names signed up, including BMW, Toyota, Merc, Audi, Jaguar, Honda, Land Rover, and GM

19:19 - And, additionally, you can now tweet stuff without typing

19:19 - Siri can now launch apps as well. Nice

19:17 - Can now book a table through Siri thanks to partnership with Open Table. Integration with Rotten Tomatoes, too, for films

19:14 - New features for Siri. Including the ability to find out about American sports and stats. Like someone's batting average.

19:13 - Apple is happy to announce iOS 6. Finally!

19:11 - Quick dig to start the section on iOS 6 - "Almost all our users are running iOS 5. If you compare that to the competition, they released 4.0 around the same time as iOS 5. About 7 per cent of their users are running it"

19:08 - The price is right - $19.99 for Mountain Lion. That's pretty darn good from Apple. Upgrade price from Snow Leopard up.

My old dying Mac was the one before that. Thanks Apple (not that I could upgrade it anyway)

19:06 - Live head-to-head on CSR Racing - iPad versus Mac.

19:03 - Supports "turn-based and head-to-head gaming, across platforms." They mean across laptop and desktop macs, as well as iPad and iPhone.

19:02 - AirPlay...oh hello - Game Center on Mac. I've woken up a little more

19:01 - Power Nap has now been introduced. It updates and backs up things while it sleeps.

19:01 - (Yes, I'm liveblogging the PG office chat now. In San Fran, they're currently showing how easy it is to tweet something in OSX)

19:00 - Jon Jordan's made a good point - Apple's 220dpi on that new MacBook Pro is far below the 'Retina' of the other devices. Originally it was 326dpi.

18:57 - England 1 - 1 France is a result in the Euros, despite the ref's best efforts to let France get away with as many fouls as they can.

Meanwhile, Will quietly falls asleep as the Mac OSX news continues unabated.

18:56 - "We have a new feature we call Tabview" - that doesn't sound that new to me

18:55 - Integrated sharing, some improvements to Safari...oh finally! Apple has stolen Chrome's search field integration so you no longer have to type into a separate box to search. Hurrah

18:53 - Drag and drop for documents in the cloud. Honestly, this stuff is alien to me. There's something about notification center now, which looks a bit like Windows 8's social stuff.

Oh - Dictation is up next. That could be handy (also present in Windows 7, mind...I think I may be overplaying the bitter ex-Mac user now)

18:49 - Oh, I missed a slide showing the adoption rate of Lion as much higher than Windows 7. Which makes sense to me, given that half of OSX software requires you to update your OS to work (says the bitter ex-Mac man)

18:47 - New apps - Messages, reminders, notes. They are exactly how you imagine them...only Apple-fied

18:46 - "Major new release with hundreds of new features". Eight to be announced today

18:46 - Walcott to come on for England. Referee still seemingly playing for France.

In OS news, Mountain Lion has just been announced

18:45 - Bah, Mac OSX is up next. I may start spreading the updates to watch England cling on for a draw in Donestk

18:43 - And it's out today.

18:41 - Woah, starts at $2199. That's...not cheap

18:40 - PG Tech man Jonathan is pointing out in the office that this new MacBook Pro is likely to run very hot (for the pixels) and take an age to charge (for the battery).

I'm inclined to agree

18:38 - Still no iOS 6 news, if you were wondering. And you probably were, as this isn't Mac Gamer or what not

18:37 - This time it's one of those talking heads against white background ones. Apple's serious

18:37 - Uh oh, it's another promotional video

18:35 - Oh nice - 7 hours battery life, 30 days standby

18:33 - 2.7GHz up to 3.7GHz quad core (with boost) processor. GT 650M GPU, Up to 16GB 1600MHz RAM

18:32 - Looks like Adobe and Autodesk has gotten in on the Retina action. Their apps will be updated for the new display. And Diablo III - oo er

18:30 - Looks like all the usual suspects have been updated for the new resolution - Mail, Safari, iMovie, iPhoto

18:30 - Reduced glare by 75%. "deeper blacks, higher angle of viewing"

18:29 - There it is - 'Retina display'. "The pixels are so small that your retina cannot discern them". 15.4 inches wide at 2880 x 1800 / 220 ppi. That's a lot of resolution

18:28: 0.71 inches thick. Ouch. Under 4 1/2 lbs - I don't know what that means.

18:26 - "The most beautiful computer we have ever made...there's never been a notebook this gorgeous". Woah, that /is/ thin, to give credit where it's due.

"Thinner than my finger" - probably mine, too. I have big hands.

18:25 - 'Next Generation MacBook Pro'. Catchy

18:24 - Ah, this is big: new model of laptop from Apple is about to be revealed...

18:22 - $1199 for the 2.5GHz, and $1499 for the 2.9GHz dual core 13-inch models. 15-inch has the quad-core, if you were wondering.

It's come a long way since my Core Duo overheating ATI rust bucket, that's for sure

18:22 - MacBook Pro now. Ivy Bridge again, 2.7GHz quad core i7, 'up to 60% faster graphics'. Uses the new GeForce GT 650M GPU

18:21 - Those two prices are for the 13-inch model. 128GB and 256GB flash storage seems to be the difference between the two

18:20 - 720p camera, 11 and 13 inches available. 5 hours battery life. $999 and $1099. Not bad at all

18:19 - Up to half a TB of flash storage. Yikes. Oh, and it has USB 3 now.

18:18 - New CPUs for the Macbook Air. Ivy Bridge 2.0GHz dual core

18:17 - Phil Schiller is on stage to talk about changes to Mac OS. I may switch off a bit here as I haven't owned a Mac since my 2003 MacBook Pro overheated

18:17 - As predicted, "today we are announcing...new versions of our OS and iOS"

18:16 - Video over. Let's get going!

18:11 - "When the iPad came out, everything changed." - Yeah, like I said. One of those vids.

18:09 - Time for one of those terribly cheesy videos about how life changing Apple products are. This one's about a blind man in a forest (which sounds like an intro to a off-colour joke)

18:08 - "Nothing makes us happier to see devs around the world using our hardware and software to share their latest and greatest ideas" - the money doesn't hurt, too, right?

18:06 - And 30 billion downloads. Crikey. That comes to $5 billion for developers. No small chunk of change

18:05 - 650,00 apps, 225,000 made for iPad

18:05 - 400 million accounts "most vibrant app ecosystem on the planet"

18:05 - 1000 Apple engineers present at WWDC this year. Ah - here comes some App Store news

18:04 - Starting with the smaller numbers - like how WWDC sold out in 1 hour, 43 minutes. The fastest selling ever

18:03 - Tim Cook's taken to the stage. Incoming crazy sales statistics in 5...4..

18:02 - Now Siri's having a go at Samsung - "I am looking forward to the new Samsung...the refrigerator."

18:01 - Here we go - Siri has, oddly, opened the show with a weather joke, followed by a VC funding-based joke. A hoo hoo.

17:55 - Five minutes to go now. I'm still secretly hoping the next iPhone will be revealed, but I'm not exactly holding my breath

17:45 - If you're wondering why this is a '(meta) liveblog', it's because I'm in the UK and Apple isn't livestreaming this time around.

So instead, I'll be watching a multitude of other sites (like Engadget, The Verge, 9to5Mac and more) and bringing you all the best bits, neatly wrapped up in an easy to read package.

17:39 - Just over 20 minutes to go before the keynote, and you can almost feel the excitement from my desk as England go 1-0 up in the Euros.

I wrote too soon - it's now 1 - 1. Ah well, at least there's iOS 6 news to look forward to.

Will Wilson
Will Wilson
Will's obsession with gaming started off with sketching Laser Squad levels on pads of paper, but recently grew into violently shouting "Tango Down!" at random strangers on the street. He now directs that positive energy into his writing (due in no small part to a binding court order).