Today was another very laid back day. Ending the day with Stump the Experts and the Apple Design Awards was fun- check out the related posts below! Now that we are more than halfway through our week at WWDC, here is a summary of Wednesday, some in pictures, some in videos and some in text. Remember to stick with theiLife.com for continuing coverage of WWDC 2008 via our Liveblog and Twitter throughout the rest of this week! If you would like to request anything or to meet up, please contact us!

Gallery after the jump! Read more…

Since 1996, every year at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple has awarded the most innovative Macintosh software and related hardware produced by independent developers with a Design Award. Apple Design Awards are given away on a number of categories that vary from year to year. The physical awards have an Apple logo that glows when touched. This years Award Ceremony begins at 7:30 PST (10:30 EST). We will be bringing you live coverage with photos throughout the awards below.

The winners, in order of presentation:

Best Leopard Student Product Runner Up:
Flow 1.0.1 by Brian Amerige
Best Leopard Student Product Winner:
Squirrel by Axel Peju
Best Mac OS X Leopard Graphics and Media Application Runner Up:
FotoMagico by Boinx Software Ltd.
Best Mac OS X Leopard Graphics and Media Application Winner:
ScreenFlow by Vara Software Limited
Best Mac OS X Leopard User Experience Runner Up:
Checkout by Werk BV
Best Mac OS X Leopard User Experience Winner:
Macnification by Orbicule
Best Mac OS X Leopard Game Runner Up:
Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars by Electronic Arts Inc.
Best Mac OS X Leopard Game Winner:
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock by Aspyr Media, Inc.
Best Mac OS X Leopard Application Runner Up:
Bee Docs’ Timeline 3D Edition by Bee Documents
Best Mac OS X Leopard Application Winner:
ScreenFlow by Vara Software Limited
Best iPhone Web App Runner Up:
AP Mobile News Network by The Associated Press
Best iPhone Web App Winner:
Remember the Milk by Remember the Milk
Best iPhone Game Winner:
Enigmo by Pangea Software, Inc.
Best iPhone Entertainment Application Winner:
AOL Radio by AOL LLC
Best iPhone Social Networking Application Winner:
Twitterrific by The Iconfactory
Best iPhone Productivity Application Winner:
OmniFocus by The Omni Group
Best iPhone Healthcare & Fitness Application Winner:
MIM by MIMVista, Corp.

(If you want to see second by second updates, save our servers: please visit the liveblog!)

3:17 PM (PST) [Matt]: The Apple Design Awards post is live and Sidney will be lining up about an hour and a half in advance (about 6 o’clock PST).

4:56 PM (PST) [Sidney]: I’m in Presidio for another session. I might score a top seat while I’m here and just hold onto it.

4:56 PM (PST): I’ve taken my seat, this time slightly farther right, next to the left presenter display to better see acceptances. In my opinion it’s the best in the house.

7:49 PM (PST): Liveblog is up and running at live.theilife.com- check it out. Pictures to follow, on this post. Transcript of the event will be added later.

8:30 PM (PST): Event is over, everything from the liveblog has been transfered to this post, more pictures coming very soon (~15 minutes)!

9:18 PM (PST): All photos from the ADA are live, gallery is just after the jump!

Photos after the jump! Read more…

This is a second part in the Windows to Mac series from writer Dan Spiers. You can read the first part, entitled Windows to Mac: Prologue here.

Now that WWDC has taken off and with the announcement that the iPhone/iPod Touch software 2.0 won’t be released until early July, I no longer have any reason to hold out on buying my first Macintosh computer. Just yesterday I ordered a 15″ Macbook Pro (with the 2.6 gHz processor boost, as well as a 16GB iPod Touch and a bluetooth Mighty Mouse) and is slated to arrive at the end of this week, possibly early next week.

This is my farewell to Windows as a primary operating system. It has tortured served me for many years, but its age has shown. I’m tired of all the compatibility issues, constant breakdowns and blue screens. I want an OS that is stable and that is more user-friendly.

I’ve been waiting for four years to upgrade to a new computer, and this week isn’t ending fast enough… I’ve already started to have dreams about my new MBP.

Today was a very relaxing day. After being up for more than 40 hours, sleep was appreciated. This morning things got started late as a result of lack of sleep from the previous two days. Unfortunately because of the NDA agreement of WWDC, we are unable to report very much information back to you guys, but we are doing our best. This evening, Sidney went around to various afterpartys- one from Savant Systems, not being allowed into the Ars/Gizmodo party (21 and over) as well as a local Apple user meeting. Before we call it a night, here is a summary of today, some in pictures, some in videos and some in text. Remember to stick with theiLife.com for continuing coverage of WWDC 2008 via our Liveblog and Twitter throughout the rest of this week! If you would like to request anything or meet up, please contact us!

Gallery and more after the jump! Read more…

Tonight, Savant Systems is throwing a party for WWDC developers. The iLife is glad to be in attendance and will be bringing you text updates and photos from the party. A more complete account of the event and the company will follow after WWDC. For those of you who not familiar with Savant Systems:

“Savant Systems is an exciting, new home automation platform, leveraging Mac OS X technologies throughout the house. Savant is throwing a party to introduce themselves to the Mac developer community and to demonstrate the Savant platform.”

4:55 PM (PST) Still at Moscone West — leaving soon.
6:39 PM (PST) I’ve entered the event. Maybe 40-50 people here. There are music, drinks, and projectors showing digital art along with demo computers and equipment and a couple of touchscreen coffee tables.
7:21 PM (PST) Listened to the CEO present how he started the company: when he retired from the telecom industry, he wanted to install a few large TVs and automation, but found that a software engineer, after two years of custom work, hadn’t gotten beyond a primitive system. He started a new company which used Macs and code-free automation to, perhaps, solve the home automation “problem” once and for all. Savant is currently looking for developers to add modules to their system. For example, an application that set up the house for evening when the user arrived home. In other news, at least half the attendees appear to be Apple employees!
7:45 PM (PST) Heading out to check out other after parties. Pictures will be uploaded when I get back to the hotel.

Pictures after the jump! Read more…

Here is theiLife.com’s gallery of the first day of WWDC 2008. From Sidney waiting outside on line for 19 hours to Stevenote- it was a quite memorable day. Stay with theiLife.com for continuing coverage of WWDC related events all week. Like they say, “A picture speaks a thousand words”.

Gallery (42 pictures) after the jump! Read more…

Today was quite an exciting day. From being first in line and waiting outside for 19 hours to the actual keynote and proceeding events, it was a great way to kick of WWDC 2008. We saw over 34,000 unique hits slightly before, during and after the Keynote- which makes a total of about 50,000 unique visitors today. Our servers held up fine, the AJAX Liveblog was much improved from Macworld version and the SMS updater/Twitter integration preformed wonderfully (as did Twitter, more or less). Before we call it a night, Here is a summary of today, some in pictures, some in videos and some in text. Remember to stick with theiLife.com for continuing coverage of WWDC 2008 via our Liveblog and Twitter throughout this week! If you would like to request anything or meet up, please contact us!

Articles:
First in Line (Mac|Life)
Apple introduces 3G iPhone (theiLife)
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Preview (theiLife)
Apple Introduces MobileMe (theiLife)

Videos:
Entering the Keynote
Walking Around After the Keynote
Questions Following the Keynote
iJustine Keynote Sleepover (featuring Sidney in first place)

Pictures:
Sidney’s WWDC Flickr Set

What started as a rumor, then revealed at the WWDC Keynote: the next iteration of Mac OS X, version 10.6 will indeed be called Snow Leopard. Snow Leopard will “..build on the incredible success of OS X Leopard..” by “..focusing primarily on new features, Snow Leopard will enhance the performance of OS X”. Rumors say that this means no PowerPC support, and could possibly mark the end of existence for Carbon UI.

Apple says that by optimizing the new OS X for multi-core processors and tapping into the potential of graphic processing units (GPU) OS X become faster and more reliable and allow more vast amounts of RAM. Additionally, Snow Leopard will ship with Microsoft Exchange support out of the box and features QuickTime X, a “new, modern media platform”.

According to Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senioer vice president of Software Engineering:

“We have delivered more than a thousand new features to OS X in just seven years and Snow Leopard lays the foundation for thousands more”. “In our continued effort to deliver the best user experience, we hit the pause button on new features to focus on perfecting the world’s most advanced operating system.”

Using new technologies, coded named “Grand Central” future developers will be able to take full advantage of multi-core processors. Also, Open Computing Language (OpenCL), based off the C programming language, will allow for applications to ‘tap’ into the power of the GPU- which is typically reserved for graphics applications. Snow Leopard, thanks to 64-bit technology, will be able to support system memory up to a theoretical 16TB of RAM.

According to Apple, QuickTime X optimizes support for ‘modern audio and video formats’ which will result in more efficient media playback. Snow Leopard will include Safari with improved JavaScript implementation, which can be up to 53 percent faster- allowing heavy Web 2.0 applications respond faster. Microsoft Exchange 2007 support will be integrated into upcoming versions of Mail, iCal and Address Book.

The Mac OS X State of the Union address took place today at 2:00 – 3:15 PM at Presidio. You can read more about Mac OS X Snow Leopard here.

Check more the pictures below!

The brand new iPhone commercial, released at the 2008 WWDC Keynote is a teaser for the new iPhone. Touting the new 3G speeds at half the price. It has just been published to The Daily iLife podcast, which you can subscribe to in iTunes or watch here.

The first official advertisement for the 3G iPhone featuring two security guards walking around with the 3G iPhone in a sealed metal box.

During todays WWDC keynote, Phil Schiller revealed the successor to Apple’s .Mac service, titled MobileMe. Speculation has been rampant in the past weeks concerning Apple’s aging web service, and many reports of trademark filings and software references had been made the term ‘MobileMe’.

The new service is a three part suite, that is targeted at the mobile OS X platforms for the iPhone and iPod touch, natively coded calender and email clients, and a multi platform capable web based suite that contains an email client, iDisk, and media sharing. Information can be added to the iPhone and automatically synced with your MobileMe account, allowing you to access contacts, pictures and email from anywhere.

The web based client is notable for its extremely slick Ajax based interface, that is highly reminiscent of a native OS X application. The web app allows drag and drop objects, object animations, instantaneous spotlight style searching and photo album managing. Photos are also available onto the Apple TV’s photo viewing application, and can be managed and viewed in iPhoto, selected from a new MobileMe menu. Updates for Mail, Address Book, iPhoto and the Apple TV are likely pending in order to integrate the new features into these applications.

iDisk capacity has been doubled from 10GB to 20GB, and is available for access from within the web based client, OS X’s finder, and is mountable as a network drive in Windows Vista.

MobileMe will be launched in early July with a 60 day free trial, after which there will be a $99 subscription. A guided tour of MobileMe is available at Apple’s website.