2009 WWDC

Here we are at WWDC, in the midst of hot Apple news, and now we're onto the nitty gritty: the technology itself.

Bertrand Serlet has the honor of introducing Snow Leopard's new technologies, which revolve around taking advantage of the power of your processor. They include:

• 64-bit Mode: Using 64-bit mode takes advantage of the mass of memory, hitting a limit only at 16 billion gigs rather than four; this means the processor can move much faster in 64-bit mode, and all of the major applications will run in 64-bit mode. Thus, twice as fast!
• Grand Central Dispatch: GCD will control the threads of multicore processors. Basically, when you're running an application, the threads that are produced stay up when the same app is idle; GCD redirects those threads so that they're not being used up when an application is idle. Hence, another way to make Snow Leopard faster!
• OpenCL: OpenCL (the "C" stands for computing) utilizes the raw power of graphics cards beyond just graphics; the best part of OpenCL is that it will actually have an open standard and many top tech companies are already participating.

Up next? iPhone news!

Snow Leopard, Apple's new operating system, shows us that computing can be easy, not to mention fun! One new feature of Snow Leopard is Doc Exposé. Similar to the Exposé you know and love, Doc Exposé lets you single out documents or files that are open in specific applications.

Snow Leopard also boasts an upgraded Safari 4, which includes the new Top Sites feature that allows you to see a window of your favorite websites, as well as full-screen, full-color browsing history. It also features Stacks, which lets you organize faster and easier, and a sleek new Quicktime Player that lets you scrub through videos and movies right inside Quicktime. One last cool feature that stood out to me, though, was that after you install Snow Leopard, you'll actually get 6 GB of memory space back to fill with photos, movies, documents, whatever you want! It doesn't get any better than that.

What could you want to hear about next, after the announcement of juiced up, lower-priced MacBook Pro at WWDC? How about its baby brother?

"To complete the picture," Philip Schiller said, the MacBook Air is also receiving a price cut. The 1.8 ghz will now start at $1,499, and the 2.13 ghz version is now starting at $1,799.

In addition, Schiller called out the greenness of Apple's laptop computers. The environmentally friendly Macs meet stringent EP Gold Standard and the brand-new Energy Star Level 5. They are, he and the screen say, the "World's Greenest Lineup of Notebooks."

Stay tuned for more updates on software and the iPhone!

Right out of the gate, Apple introduces us to the new 15- and 13-inch MacBook Pros. Not only are these made in the same unibody aluminum case that the rest of the Mac lines are available in, but it's faster and still lighter than most models on the market and will keep you working longer than before: the new lithium ion batteries will last up to seven hours and 1,000 charges before the battery starts to show its age.

And with the new plumped up battery, the new MBP's will hold an up to a 500GB hard drive and 8GB of memory. But the most exciting part of the new MacBook Pro is the new SD Card slot. Instead of using your card reader (that I was complaining about last week), you can now just pop your SD card right into your computer instead. Both sizes of MacBook Pros will be released today and will start at $1,199 for the 13-inch and $1,699 for the 15-inch model.

Good morning, geek readers! I'm reporting live from the 2009 Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco to bring you today's news from Apple's sure-to-be-explosive keynote. Ready? Me too!

We just got a sweet, filmed welcome from John Hodgman as the infamous PC — a special spot for a special day, complete with a cameo from Mac himself, Justin Long (the crowd went wild, of course).

Next up was the man of the hour, Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing. No sign of Steve Jobs yet, but I have my fingers crossed.

He's just given us the stat that in recent years, the number of OS X active users has catapulted from 25 million to 75 million, thanks mainly to the iPhone. He has also let us know what we can expect for the day: news about the Mac, the iPod Touch, and what everyone's waiting for, the iPhone.

Tomorrow morning, team geek will be heading off to Apple's keynote address which kicks off this year's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). You can catch all of the live action, right here at 10 a.m. PST. Naturally, we're very excited about the third generation iPhone announcement — which is rumored to be cheaper, will include a camera that can capture video and will come with a built-in magnetometer (basically a digital compass). There have also been rumblings that a new iPod Nano will be unveiled, and we could even see a new Apple tablet make an appearance. Aside from the iPhone, I can't wait to see if Mr. Steve Jobs is in attendance. See you tomorrow!

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