Watching the updates from WWDC
I am currently sat glued to the many updates which are coming out of WWDC. Tons of hardware updates and some renaming going on.
I’m liking the $29 upgrade price for Snow Leopard. No mention yet of a new Look and Feel, so it would seem that there is not going to be a refresh this time around. That said, Quicktime X looks nice as do the changes to Expose and Stacks. To be honest, I’m not that bothered by no changes to the look and feel. I love how Leopard looks at the moment, clean, simple, FX used where necessary and certainly not a desktop pimp like Vista was.
I’m really looking forward to the performance improvements SL will bring, that is going to give so many machines a new breath of life.
Also Safari 4 final release will be available today which is cool. It scores 100% on the Acid3 test compared to 21 for IE8. Its also showing a 50% performance increase on Javascript which will be cool for the ever growing number of in browser apps such as MobileMe.
I love the new OS 3.0 feature which allows you to locate your phone through MobileMe, get it to play a sound even if muted and also issue a remote wipe command to remove your data. There is so much new stuff in OS 3.0 that developers are going to have so much fun trying to find things to do with them.
I know that I’ve been enjoying writing for the iPhone anyway and 3.0 just takes it to a whole new level. It really is not about the hardware so much as it is about the software. Apple really has hit the mark with the App Store and allowing the iPhone to basically be what ever you want it to be.
Well, I’m heading back to watch the tweets and see what other Apple goodness is going to be handed out today.
Mike
6 Comments
RoberRM on June 8th, 2009
Hi!
I have installed Safari 4.0 now and I can actually feel the speed! :D
I’ve missed a new iPod, though. :( As I said before, I can’t afford the iPhone yet.
As for the OS 3.0… Wow! But unfortunately, as Philip Orr says, having OpenGL ES 2.0 in the iPhone 3GS and 1.1 in the iPhone 3G and iPod Touch means that we will have to work twice to make our games available for everyone (or just stay with 1.1 and forget about the goodies of 2.0). I don’t understand why Apple has left both OS “active” (so to speak).
Mike, have you tested your game with the Golden Master of the OS? Does it work? And if it doesn’t, will you make a tutorial with the needed changes?
Thank you very much, and treat yourself to the newest Safari, it’s really worth it. ;)
mike on June 8th, 2009
Hi guys, I have just downloaded Safari 4 and I’m a happy man. I was using the Beta, but they have certainly tightened things up.
I agree that having both OpenGL ES 1.1 and 2.0 will be a challenge. As I’m still learning I think I’ll be sticking with 1.1 features rather than work to cover both. EDIT: Thinking about it, I am working on a project which may well mean I end up using OpenGL ES 2.0 sooner rather than later. I will of course share what I learn :o)
That said, I would like to get into shaders so I’m sure its something I’m going to be playing with :O)
I’ve not downloaded Golden Master yet, but I am going to and I’ll post an update on how to get the projects posted so far working.
Mike
RoberRM on June 9th, 2009
Thank you, mike! But take it easy, we don’t want you to get tired of us. ;)
Allan on June 17th, 2009
does anybody know, when the new version of the Xcode SDK will is going to be released?
John on June 17th, 2009
@Allan From what I have heard, the 3.0 Final iPhone OS is going to be released today (US), so I would expect the SDK to be at the same time. Hopefully :)
Philip Orr on June 8th, 2009
Was very worried about no new hardware as it was left to the very end. Nice to see that most of the rumors coming true.
Interesting to note that the iPhone 3G will still be on sale, meaning having to support 2 distinct model types when developing games based on the faster processor and the new OpenGL|ES 2.0. Go mobile shaders. Something else for you to get into. :-)