E3 2021

This week we had a virtual E3 conference. Here are the games that were presented:

• Far Cry 6
• Elden Ring
• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
• Life is Strange: True Colors
• Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin
• Starfield
• Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
• Forza Horizon 5
• Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life
• The Outer Worlds 2
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl
• Redfall
• Somerville
• They Always Run
• LAST STOP
• Sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
• Metroid Dread

Image credits: Electronic Entertaiment Experience

WWDC 2021

This week Apple held a virtual WWDC conference, and here is what was announced:

iOS 15

• FaceTime got a grid view, blurred backgrounds, and weblink to schedule a FaceTime call that  will work on PC or Android,
• SharePlay allows to play videos, movies, TV shows,  music, and screen sharing during FaceTime calls,
• Spatial audio is now supported thought the system,
• Focus will manage notifications based on their importance and what we are doing at the moment,
• Live Text allows to search and copy a text from photos,
• Wallet will support virtual keys allowing opening cars or hotel room from the phone, also it will support virtual personal IDs and driving licenses,
• Weather app has been rewritten and now has deeper integration with Dark Sky service,
• Apple Maps got a new design with more detailed information about the roads, for example you can see the road signs, cross walks, and even 3d version od bridges and overpasses,
• Safari has been redesigned, but most importantly it supports 3rd party extensions,
• Siri can now work on the device, without internet connection and it's faster than ever.

iPadOS 15

• New Home screen is now working like on iOS - widgets are now always visible, we can hide apps or even entire pages, and there is App Library
• Multitasking got easier with new controls,
• Notes now has a system wide feature called Quick Note that allows to create a quick note from any place in the iOS or iPadOS. Also the collaboration features has been added to notes, including mentions and activity view,
• Translate support language auto detection and support handwriting.

watchOS 8

• Mindfulness - the Breathing app has been extended with meditation features,
• Sleep can track the respiratory rate and show the results in the Health app,
• Workout app now supports Pilates and Tai Chi,
• Photos got new tools to make a watch face with a photo look even better,
• Home app has been completely redesigned,
• Apps can now take an advantage from Always-On display.

macOS Montgomery

• Universal control allows to use the same keyboard and mouse to control multiple macs or iPad,
• Shortcuts from iOS have finally arrived on macOS,
• FaceTime, Safari, Photos got similar updates to iOS versions.

Image credits: Apple

Stack Overflow sold

Stack Overflow has been sold for $1.8 billion to the tech investor Prosus. Stack Overflow is the most popular website for developer in the world. Its resources are invaluable and available to everyone for free. Hopefully with new investor nothing will change in that matter

Apple's unrealized plans

The trial battle between Apple and Epic gave us insight into the inner-workings of the Apple. One of the sources of information are internal emails. One email in particular is very interesting because it's an agenda for a Steve Jobs' meeting from August 2007. Back the Apple was working on some unreleased products:

• 15-inch MacBook Air,
• Mac tablet,
• new iPod shuffle.

The 15-inch version of the MacBook Air has never been released or even rumored. The Mac Tablet is probably the iPad, which was released 3 years later. And the last, the iPod shuffle has never actually got an update.

Windows 11 is coming?

It looks like a new version of Windows is on the way. Microsoft announced a Windows event for June 24th. Software giant has been teasing this for a while, and it looks like it will be the biggest update in a decade. Recently Microsoft has been added  small, but cool features to the Windows, so hopefully the new version will follow this pattern.

Twitter Blue confirmed

A couple of weeks ago we had rumors about Twitter subscription service called Blue. This week we got confirmation that the rumors were true. For $2.99/month we will get:

• Undo tweet,
• Reader mode,
• Collections,
• Different theme colors,
• custom App Icons.  

Mac mini Pro?

It looks like we will get a high end version of the Mac mini. According to rumors, new version will have:

• new and smaller design, with Plexiglass top,
• magnetic power connector like in new iMacs,
• port will be the same as in the current Mac mini,
• the new Apple M1X chip that will be introduced later this year.

Google I/O 2021

This week we had the Google I/O conference and here are the biggest announcements.

Android 12

The newest version of the Android got a redesign and now with Material You allows to customize the color scheme of the phone. If you don't feel like an artist, Android has you covered and will automatically adjust colors based on your wallpaper. Beside design, Google also added features to control and monitor privacy.

Workspace

Google's Workspace will get more tools making online collaboration easier. One of them is ability to start a meeting right from Google Doc, Sheet and Slide.

Lamda

Lamda is a new Language processing AI. Its main goal is to help understand natural language and conversations. I have to admin, the demo, although prerecorded, was super impressive.

Starline

Another futuristic project is Starline. This technology recreates, in a real time, a 3D model of a person across from you. The main goal is  to recreate the feeling of having a face-to-face conversation.

Animated photos from still shots

Google Photos will be able to create an animated photo based on two still photos. The result will be the same as we have with live photos on iOS, but with Google solution we will be able to make animated version after the fact using the AI.

Password Manager

Password manager built into Android and Chrome will allow to change password on a website right from the manager.

Skin conditions

Google announce a new tool to monitor and check conditions that only require a phone with a camera. The tool should be available later this year.