iOS 6 Will Have Facebook Integration

Facebook has been rather busy in past few weeks, with their announcement of going public, how the FTC suspects them of antitrust violations, and now, Apple has decided to join the party as well. This insanely popular social media network has made itself into something that a lot of us cannot go a day without, constantly checking our news feed and notifications for the latest updates on our friends' lives. Fortnately for us iPhone users, Techcrunch reports that with Apple's latest release of iOS 6, that will most likely make an appearance at this year's WWDC, there will be a system-wide Facebook integration, similar to that of Twitter in iOS 5. 

While facts are still in the preliminary stages, this is great news for both Apple and Facebook to have combined both of their great products to bring us a better user experience in iOS 6. As Tim Cook hinted at during the D10 Conference, "stay tuned...". 

Macbook Airs To Come With Retina Display

Following up on yesterday’s MacBook Pro rumors, 9to5mac reports that the next generation MacBook Airs will include Retina Displays. The current tapered design of the MacBook Air will not be seeing any imminent upgrades. Without any external upgrades, Apple looks to focus on the internals of the MacBook Air lineup instead. According to various supply chain sources, Apple plans to implement the newly released Ivy Bridge processors and improved graphics; these upgrades will greatly improve performance and be able to support the high-pixel-density Retina Displays.

It appears that Apple is planning to slowly revamp their entire product line with Retina Displays. While this news is very exciting, it is unrealistic to hypothesize on a launch date for their Air line up. It is common for Apple to slowly announce each of their new products; we will have to wait and see what happens at this year's WWDC. 

Rumored “Ultra-Thin” 15-Inch MacBook Pro

 

Follow up rumors have hinted at the long-awaited “Macbook Air”-esque MacBook Pro being near its launch date. 9to5mac reports of a new 15-inch Macbook Pro’s design sporting a thinner body without both an optical drive and Ethernet port. Both of these features have been excluded in the MacBook Air line and would make sense for the Pro line to follow suit as Apple is aiming for a thin notebook standard.

The report hints at possible USB 3.0 capabilities as well as Thunderbolt connectivity. With the new design, the layout will consist of the MagSafe power connector, two USB ports, with an audio in/out jacks and battery indicator on the left side. Along the right side, it is said to consist of two Thunderbolt ports, one more USB port, an SD card slot, and a Kensington lock slot. Another very exciting feature is Apple’s Retina display that will most likely be taking advantage of OS X’s “HiDPI” option. 

While an exact launch date has yet to be released, we can only guess at possible release dates. Apple’s WWDC which is in just four weeks have been in the past one of the major events where Apple introduces their major products. Digitimes suggests that Apple may be pushing for a possible June release. 

Update on 2012-05-15 04:58 by Bobby Zhang

Bloomberg has come out to confirm reports of the 15-inch MacBook Pro being announced at this year's WWDC. They have also suggested the revealing of Apple's new OS, Mountain Lion sometime this late summer.

Apple WWDC 2012 Announced, Starts June 11

It's the time of the year again where Apple holds its annual WWDC developer conference in San Franscisco, CA starting on June 11. Apple plans to talk about Mountain Lion, iOS with more than 100 technical sessions lead by Apple engineers covering a wide range of technology-specific topics to help developers with integrating the latest iOS and OS X technologies.

• 100 hands-on labs staffed by more than 1,000 Apple engineers providing developers with code-level assistance, insight into optimal development techniques and guidance on how they can make the most of iOS and OS X technologies in their apps;
• the opportunity to connect with thousands of fellow iOS and OS X developers from around the world—last year more than 60 countries were represented;
• engaging and inspirational lunchtime sessions with leading minds and influencers from the worlds of technology, science and entertainment; and
• Apple Design Awards which recognize iPhone®, iPad® and Mac® apps that demonstrate technical excellence, innovation and outstanding design.

We have a great WWDC planned this year and can’t wait to share the latest news about iOS and OS X Mountain Lion with developers,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The iOS platform has created an entirely new industry with fantastic opportunities for developers across the country and around the world.

Besides the usual focus on Apple software, we're also expected Apple to announce some new hardware like ultra-thin MacBook Pros packing Intel's latest Ivy Bridge processors at WWDC 2012 like it has done in the past.

Icon for iCloud

Apple is hard at work in San Francisco's Moscone Center preparing for the Worldwide Developer Conference 2011 that will be held there next week. Apple Insider snapped some pics of them setting up the convention hall. Inside there is a huge banner that has Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5, and iCloud icons hung up. They usually do not show any of the banners till the day of the Keynote, but this one is public and easily seen. WWDC 2011 Starts on Monday. Let's see what Apple brings to us.

Apple's WWDC 2011 Event Scheduled For June 6

The Apple WWDC 2011 event will be held on June 6 in San Francisco. Will the iPhone 5 be released at the event? There are many speculations saying yes since the iPhone 4 was released at this time one year ago. As always, Engadget will be there live to cover the event.

Safari 5 is Released

Today, just after the WWDC keynote, the newest version of Apple's webKit browser Safari has been released for the masses. Earlier today a press release was published 

The main features of Safari 5 are:

• Safari Reader: An uninterrupted scrollable interface for reading RSS feeds. Probably an uncluttered view; much like the full screen view in iWork 09.
• Safari Extensions: This will make Safari Add-Ons that weren’t widely known or used, to make the the browser experience much like by Firefox and Chrome.
• Extension Builder: A new tool for developers to make it easier to develop and release extensions. Also Apple says that a “new, free Safari Developer Program allows developers to customize and enhance Safari 5 with extensions based on standard web technologies like HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript.”
• The option to use Bing as the default search engine, just like it was announced for Safari Mobile today
• 30% performance increase over Safari 4
• Improved developer tools
• Over a dozen new HTML5 technologies

You can download the new Safari here.