Personal Technology: 7 Things Apple Introduced That Could Improve Your Life
June 04 2018 - 7:37PM
Dow Jones News
By David Pierce
Apple introduced at least seven things at its annual Worldwide
Developer Conference that could actually make your life better.
After a year filled with bug fixes and heavy user criticism
about everything from fragile MacBook keyboards to Siri's
incompetence, Apple's focus was on improving existing things rather
than introducing new ones. It didn't do enough, at least not during
the keynote, to address the bugs and shortcomings of its core
products. But it did show us it had some real user needs in mind
with these improvements.
Safari's blocked trackers and enhanced privacy
Facebook and others have recently come under fire for tracking
you online, often without you knowing. In the new MacOS Mojave,
Apple's Safari browser will block some shady tactics used to
collect personal data. It will also create strong passwords for
you, and help mask your identity from sites you visit. Apps you
install will also have to specifically request permission to access
your camera, microphone and personal data.
CarPlay with Google and Waze
When you connect your phone to Apple's in-car infotainment
system, you'll now be able to use navigation apps other than Apple
Maps. That's a potential life-changer, since most iPhone owners we
know prefer Waze and Google Maps on the road.
Group chat in FaceTime
FaceTime is nice when the children want to see their
grandparents or you want to have a quick face-to-face with a
colleague, but group video or voice calls always required a
separate app. No longer: iOS 12 supports FaceTime calls with up to
32 participants.
Stacks for messy Mac desktops
If you're the type to cover your Mac's desktop in files, only to
lose them in the sea of icons, you might like MacOS Mojave. A
feature called Stacks automatically clumps together related files
-- all your images in one pile, all your PDFs in another. You'll
finally be able to see your wallpaper again.
Improved Do Not Disturb
A big keynote theme this year was helping people use their
iPhones in a saner way. With iOS 12, Do Not Disturb gets better.
You will be able to turn off notifications at a given location,
like a movie theater. The notifications will automatically resume
when you leave the premises. It also hides lock-screen
notifications at night, so you don't get sucked in if you're just
checking the time.
Custom Siri Shortcuts
Siri's basic functionality still seriously lags behind Amazon's
Alexa and Google's Assistant. Apple's Shortcuts should help it work
a little better for you, by letting you create multistep
routines.
When you say "I'm leaving," for instance, your lights can turn
off and the thermostat can turn down. It likely takes a lot of
back-end plumbing, though, so hopefully outside developers will get
on board.
Better performance on older devices
Apple was caught throttling the performance of older phones with
degraded batteries, so now it's addressing concerns about
obsolescence. iOS 12 supports phones going back to the iPhone 5S,
and Apple says everyday tasks on the system will be faster -- even
for the old-timers.
Apple does its best work when it helps people invisibly, rather
than offering a menu of options and making users pick. Some of
these features will be inherently helpful, while others may suffer
from neglect, buried deep in menus. Will users find the new Do Not
Disturb controls? Will they go through the steps needed to create
Siri Shortcuts?
Still, if there's a bright side to the lack of earth-shattering
news at this WWDC keynote, it might just be that Apple has decided
to slow down -- to think about what its users want and need, to
understand better how they work and why they're frustrated.
Rather than use this opportunity to start building envy for the
fancy new object that will show up on those blonde wood Apple Store
tables this fall, the company might actually have gotten you to
like the devices you already have just a little more. And that's
something.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 04, 2018 19:22 ET (23:22 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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