Apple Updates: AR For iOS, a Better Siri, and a Remedy for Tech Addictions
Here's the latest from Apple's annual conference for developers in San Jose, Calif., where the company is announcing software upgrades and new initiatives:
+ As expected, Apple unveiled tools to help iPhone and iPad users manage the time they spend glued to their screens. The new tool, Screen Time, is part of the new iOS 12 mobile operating system. Screen Time shows how much time users spend with each app, how many times they pick up their phones, and which notifications catch their attention. It will also enable users to set limits.
+ The iOS 12 will also include upgrades to the FaceTime app to enable group video chats with as many as 32 people simultaneously. And users can create their own animated emojis that look like them, what Apple is calling a "Memoji."
+ As competition among voice assistants heats up, Apple announced changes to Siri, which will be able to give iPhone users suggestions based on their location and the time of day. If you're running late, the new Siri can suggest you call or send a text to alert your next appointment from the phone's lock screen.
+ Apple will also roll out Siri Shortcuts to help users customize Siri's suggestions and program regular reminders for daily tasks.
+ The Photo app will be redesigned to make searching through images on an iPhone or iPad easier, allowing users to better sort by location, categories, and events. It will also incorporate facial recognition to make it easier to share images with friends.
+ Apple's new iOS 12 mobile operating system will also include a new tool, Measure, that lets users measure the dimensions of objects through their device's camera.
+ The company unveiled its big push into augmented reality with a new file format for AR content ー .USDZ. Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, said it would be integrated with Adobe's Creative Cloud ecosystem and can be easily shared via text message and email.
+ Tim Cook opened the keynote of Apple's annual developers conference by highlighting the 10th anniversary next month of the company's App Store. Cook, Apple's chief executive, said developers have earned more than $100 billion through the App Store since its inception.
+ Apple is expected to focus on software at the developers conference. The company's services ー Music, Pay, and iCloud ー account for about 15 percent of total revenue, up from 10 percent in the fourth quarter last year, as sales of the iPhone are slowing.
+ Watch the keynote [live](https://www.apple.com/apple-events/june-2018/) on Apple's website.
*Check back for updates from the conference, and interviews and live analysis from Cheddar's Hope King ([@lisahopeking on Twitter](https://twitter.com/lisahopeking)) at WWDC 2018.*
Prices at the pump this year reached a seven-year high, and a new forecast from GasBuddy shared with CNN predicts that gas prices will only continue to rise in 2022 and that the national average could even reach $4.00 a gallon; however, analysts at GasBuddy say anything could happen when it comes to gas prices in the future, as the pandemic has made it difficult to make any predictions about the economy. Consumer Energy Alliance federal policy advisor Michael Zehr joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
The two tech- billionaires Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey are the latest voices to discuss the new hypothetical internet called Web 3.0. According to the billionaires, the new concept is just a "marketing buzzword" and cannot exist without venture capitalists or large backing. However, advocates of the Web 3.0 believe this decentralized space is the next big thing to help put ownership back into the hands of the people. Senior News Editor at The Verge, Richard Lawler, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
This year, the games market will generate total revenues of $180.3 billion dollars, a significant increase from 2020. While the industry continues to grow and expand into new spaces, such as the metaverse, there is still plenty of room for growth and reform in this male-dominated market. Katie Robinson, content creator, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini joined Cheddar's Kristen Scholer to discuss plans for the future even as COVID-19 upended Barstool's sponsorship of the Arizona Bowl featuring the Boise State Broncos and the Central Michigan Chippewas due to the spreading omicron variant. "In our case as a company, coronavirus has been a big boom for us," she noted. "We've been able to create a lot of new programming, launch a lot of different personalities, and frankly take share from traditional media, and that's what we've done the entire pandemic." While she admitted to taking a hit on the canceled Bowl game, live events aren't completely off the table for Barstool in 2022. Nardini also talked about potential sports betting expansion following its partnership with Penn National Gaming.
Interest in the concept of the metaverse is heating up as more companies get on board, and Cathy Hackl, CEO of Futures Intelligence Group, a metaverse-focused consultancy, joined Cheddar to talk about trends to watch out for in 2022 and what it will take for it to be more than just a buzzword. Hackl noted that businesses likely will have to consider big technology upgrades in the upcoming year in order to keep up. "We're going to need new levels of computing power to be able to enable shared virtual experiences, both in VR but also in augmented reality," she said.
Ron Gutman, Co-CEO of Intrivo, joins Cheddar News to discuss how the company is creating a test and tech solution for Covid testing called 2Gather, and how it's using data-driven digital diagnostics to make these tests widely available and affordable.
The metaverse took the world by storm in 2021 and it is just the beginning of the virtual universe. Consumers are jumping on board and companies like Meta and Roblox are already taking advantage. Entrepreneur Andrew Duplessie joined Cheddar to discuss how the metaverse will impact the future of socialization and business. "If I'm doing anything right now, I'm building an app, I'm jumping into that ecosystem, and I'm testing it. I'm seeing what people think," he said.
