#most likely they will receive closer to 5k of funding the next year and not be able to meet any increased needs

[aro-culture-is]

Aro culture is being friends with the straight aro-spec cis man who's "stealing resources" that exclus like to fearmonger about and knowing that he's done more for the community than those whiny pissbabies ever have

.

[chrissymcdermott]

If You’re Thinking About Moving to LA...

Consider This Advice From A 1.5 Year In Transplant

A good friend of of mine recently told me they were considering moving from Philadelphia to Los Angeles to pursue their career in the entertainment industry and asked for my advice. A year and a half into living out here, after being asked for my insight, it felt like a good point to take a moment and really evaluate where I was at with everything. With that in mind, I put a bit more effort into crafting a thoughtful and at times brutally honest response.

Below is my advice to that friend considering the big move. You’ll notice a few names are redacted as to protect certain individual’s privacy (and to not shoot myself in the foot professionally.) I hope this will be helpful to a few of you folks out there considering becoming an LA transplant. Especially if you’re coming from another part of the country that feels distinctly different from this mega metropolis.

Hey Friend,

As I was writing this I realized that this is the first time I'm really truthfully reflecting on my experience living here so far. It's hard to do when you feel like you're always in the thick of it. Obviously this is a whole lot to digest but I believe it's all valuable insight. I hope you feel the same way. Take as much or little from it as you like but I do think it's worth reading the whole way through. Take your time but once you're done, let me know what you think. :)

First, I think the most important thing to note is that I don't regret moving out here at all, but it's taken me up until recently to feel that way and you'll see why as you read on. It's absolutely true that if you have greater aspirations than what Philly has (or most other cities have) to offer, coming out to LA is a logical move. That said, an important thing to remember is if and when you do, you're one of tens of thousands of people doing the same thing every year so it's unbelievably competitive and everyone is gunning for the same jobs. Far more than what you'll experience anywhere else, even in New York according to my former New Yorker friends out here.

Moreover, even if you're tremendously talented, your odds for getting noticed let alone hired are much smaller so you have to plan accordingly. Ideally, people move out here with either a solid job or several freelance gigs already lined up. Realistically however, there are always a million variables at play that will determine whether that's actually the case or not. Sustainability is imperative. Everything you do in preparation for when you get here and when you arrive has to be focused on making sure you plan months in advance as much as possible. I have tried to make it so even if I had zero work I could last at least two months while looking for my next gig.

Your Network

It's really great that …………… is helping you connect with people out here but be sure to build your network of people on your own as well. Use resources online to connect with people before coming out here too. Your success in LA is literally and intrinsically based on who you know and you can't count on anyone but yourself to build those relationships. I know it might sound a little silly or exaggerated but it's not - you will make it out here only if you have a strong network of people you can rely on and your professional (and to a big extent personal) survival out here depends on the network you maintain. You can apply to all the jobs you want but talk to anyone out here and they'll tell you 90% of all "industry" jobs filled are through referrals, phone calls, and emails. Most of mine have been so far. - On that point, whatever phone number you're going to use for connecting with people, keep it. It's crazy who ends up with your number sometimes, and if you change it, you risk missing out on potential opportunities.

Money

In addition to building your network out and lining up any and all work, I recommend saving up at least $5k but preferably closer to $10k before you move - and plan on all of that savings being gone within the first year of living here. Also, keep the funds you save for living out here separate from what you budget to actually move across country, that should be it's own separate fund of about $3k if you're driving.

When I moved out I had about $15k saved up. Even with working freelance gigs fairly often for the first year, (at worst I'd go about 2 and a half months without a job,) all of my savings were gone in about 10 months. Granted there are big apartment move in costs, a decent chunk of money just spent on going out to meet people, and a lot of unforeseen expenses (you will guaranteed get lots of tickets in the first few months just getting used to the parking situation out here) but LA is just fucking expensive. I naively brushed that important fact off when we moved out here which was really dumb. Unless you eat fast food all the time just buying lunch is always $12+, $6 drinks are only the shittiest beers, groceries are nearly doubled, and rent is the biggest bitch of an expense. Unless you want to live in a terrible shit hole in a sketchy area, you're going to pay at least a grand a month for a studio apartment even in Hollywood - and no one actually wants to live in Hollywood. I live in a barely acceptable neighborhood in Koreatown in an ok 1 bedroom apartment for $1450 before utilities and other bizarre building charges. Prepare to spend half (or maybe more) of your monthly income just to keep a roof over your head.

The Actual Work

You will be a PA and you will have to be a PA for a while. No matter your experience, skill level, or professional value, if you want credibility and to have any opportunity to work at the level you're actually at, you're going to have to be a PA for a while and it will SUCK. It can honestly be soul crushing work but it's part of what you're signing up for when you move out here and this industry LOVES making people "pay their dues". This is another fact I didn't fully appreciate until trying to find work here.

My first full time gig here was as an Editorial PA on a studio movie. I worked for shit pay under some of the most entitled, privileged, complaining, awful people you can imagine. I know it sounds harsh but they were truly the worst people I've ever met and they were absolutely horrible to me. I busted my ass for 6 months and took a lot of abuse only to be fired because a bitchy 2nd Assistant Editor decided to sabotage me after I happened to see him sleeping in his car during work several times and he didn't want anyone to find out. I've never in my adult life had other adults be so unkind and say such awful things about and to me for literally no reason other than they're miserable bored people who are jaded by everything they're so fortunate to have.

When I was fired my immediate boss said she didn't know if I "just didn't give a shit, was too lazy, or too dumb to be able to do the basic job of a PA." - We both know I'm of course none of those things and she said that even despite me doing the work of the Post Coordinator on top of my own job (we didn't have one so it was a responsibility that I took on voluntarily in hopes of moving up) and the Post Supervisor and I having a great relationship. (Side note, after I was fired, a lot of the other people in the post department reached out to me and said that they were shocked that I was fired me and that I'd be missed. A few of them even wrote references for me so there are some good people too, haha.)

To progress and work out here you have to be convincingly confident and have no ego at the same time always. You must walk around like you're the best fucking thing to grace this planet while still being humble enough to be the person responsible for nothing more than picking up everyone else's trash. One day you'll be on a rad freelance indie gig DP'ing and creating some awesome shit and the next day some middle aged Key PA is going to be screaming in your face for not getting something to someone quick enough. It's a bizarre fine line to walk every day but you make adjustments as you go.

Being intuitive and very observant help a lot in this regard. The best advice I received during this job was from the Post Supervisor. He explained that the reason he moved up and got out of PAing was because a producer noticed him picking up a broom to sweep the set he was working on. He said you should always be the person to jump up and help out with even the smallest task well before you're ever asked. The O.G.s always notice those who take that initiative.

Why It's Actually a Good Thing

Alright, so this is where I've paused to read back what I've wrote so far and I want to switch gears because although it seems otherwise from what I've said, I do advocate moving out here if you feel like it's the right decision for you. As I said at the beginning, I don't regret moving here and I'll tell you why.

In terms of that soul crushing PA job where I spent the 45 minutes driving to work every morning dreading the 12+ hour day ahead of me, I learned more in those 6 months about working for studios and working in LA than I learned about filmmaking and production in my 9 years in Philly. I learned what people are actually capable of being like out here (both bad and good) and also what people are capable of accomplishing if they're able to survive and stick it out during the "struggle years".

That Post Supervisor I mentioned, his name is …………….  and he was one of the producers on …………….. Not only that but he was the guy running the production when they shot the infamous ……………. scene and the …………….! One day he sat with me for 2 hours and told me about all of his crazy stories from the production. Not only was it super cool to hear those stories, but this dude was having a blast hanging out with me and reminiscing about his hay days on …………….. That was fucking rad to say the least. - We're still close by the way, we check in with each other often.

Also, that job made me really realize how strong, determined, and resilient I am. I can take a lot and I'll get through it. Thanks to that job, I know my way around most of LA pretty well and am comfortable driving anywhere. I've also now finally wrapped my head around the concept of it being ok if you don't like people and it's also ok if people don't like you. I think most importantly I learned though that once I experienced it, paid my dues, and I got everything I could out of that job, I know not only what to look out for and avoid, but more importantly that I will NEVER let anybody treat me like that under any circumstances ever again. - I don't think that's something I would have learned had I stayed in Philly.

In regards to your network, equally as important will be your group of friends and I'll of course be one of them. You'll definitely meet a lot of people that you think will be your friends and then they'll disappoint you. You'll also quickly realize that often even the seemingly good folks have alternative motives that you'll have to keep an eye out for. You'll meet some friends and lose them, you'll meet other people you really like but never speak to a second time, and then you'll meet the people that will ultimately become your family out here. They'll be your saving grace, your source of support, and the best distraction you have from all the challenges you'll face everyday. For me, most of them are also transplants from the North East and as I've gotten to know them more, I've realized that our shared values and perspectives allow me to trust them almost empirically. This is partially because if you’re not from LA a lot of the people here, and especially the people that are from here, are weird AF. I honestly think it's because they've lived in paradise so long and haven't had character building experiences like shoveling your car out of 3 feet of snow at 7am before a full day of work in February, haha. BTW, it's 72 today here soooo there's that. :D Anyways, thanks to the friends I've made, I've had incredible, life changing experiences that I'll remember forever. Exploring this amazing state with those people has been an invaluable experience that I'm grateful for everyday.

Money. If you're ok with and willing to be poor and struggle for a while (meaning an indefinite amount of time), you'll be fine. Living here is an endurance test and a war of attrition but you'll eventually be able to get back to a comfortable living. You just have to stick it out for a while. It will brutal sometimes and you'll eat a lot of horrible cheap food but at the end of the day, knowing you can live for two weeks off 20 bucks is something you'll come to be proud of. Poverty almost seems like a right of passage out here in its own respect and it galvanizes you as a person. This brings me to my last point.

LA is fucking wonderful, awful, weird, confusing, infuriating, amazing, encouraging, defeating, and beautiful all at the same time. It's like living in the weirdest dreamlike world that you love and hate emphatically all at the same time. I go back and forth between loving this city and loathing it intensely ten times on an average day. I've been at my very very rock bottom here and my highest high. I've also learned so much that I honestly think it will take me a decade to fully comprehend everything I've exposed to in the last year and a half.

I'm proud to be here and I'm proud that after everything, I'm finally starting to believe I'll be able to survive here... but if I'm being perfectly honest, that still feels like a toss up everyday. Despite that, I'll never be the same person I was before I moved and that's a good thing. At the end of the day, I know now that so long as I can stick it out, stay tough, work harder than I ever fucking have, and endure, I'll be able to accomplish everything I moved out here for and more.

If you're truly willing to sacrifice everything, realistically start all over from scratch, and relentlessly fight for the life you want, then do it. Almost daily I think of the beautiful house, great job, amazing friends, and comfortable life I had in Philly but I know I can never go back to that and I'm ok with it. Life is more exciting out here and if you do it right, it will change you for the better. And again, I'll be here to support you through all of it if you do decide it's the right move for you.

I think that's enough to chew on for now. Because I'm a huge cheese ball, I'll end with this:

Keep me posted and feel free to hit me up with questions or anything else whenever.

[pawprintcooper]

This is The Download, a weekday recap of the top technology headlines. It’s February 20th, here’s what you need to know this evening:

Google Pay begins global rollout

Google is tying a bow around all of its different payment tools with the Google Pay brand, and that continues today with Android Pay becoming Google Pay for Android. An update is rolling out now for Android Pay that introduces new functionality that the company hopes will make its payment solution ubiquitous.

The Google Wallet app for sending and requesting money is also getting redesigned, and is now being branded as Google Pay Send. Users in the US and UK will also soon be able to use the Google Pay app for sending and requesting money. New users can download the Google Pay app now with existing Android Pay users getting updated over the course of the next few days.

At first glance, the Google Pay app is pretty much an Android Pay redesign with a look and feel that’s a bit closer to Google’s Material Design guidelines than the original. One notable change is that the Google Pay home screen now shows you relevant stores around you where you can pay with Google Pay. That list is personalized based on previous stores where you used the service and your location. In addition, the home screen shows you all of your recent purchases and you can still add your loyalty cards to the app.

According to Google VP of Product Management for Payments Pali Bhat, the team wanted to make it easy to get started with Google Pay and use the service to pay for goods online and in the real world with as little friction as possible.

This means that users who bank with Bank of America in the US or a Google partner like Mbank in Poland can set up Google Pay right from their bank’s app without having to install Google Pay. Once that’s set up, you can simply pay with Google Pay online and out in the real world.

Redlock: Hackers used Tesla’s public cloud for cryptocurrency mining

Zevenaar, The Netherlands – September 10, 2015: Black Tesla Model S electric car at a Tesla supercharger charging station. Superchargers are free connectors that charge Model S in minutes. Superchargers are used for long distance travel, located along the most popular routes in North America, Europe and Asia.

Cloud security firm RedLock’s CSI team reported that hackers infiltrated a public cloud environment owned by Tesla.

The hackers used their access to steal computing time for cryptocurrency mining. RedLock informed Tesla, and the car company’s security team has already addressed the vulnerabilities, according to a report released by RedLock today.

“We maintain a bug bounty program to encourage this type of research, and we addressed this vulnerability within hours of learning about it. The impact seems to be limited to internally-used engineering test cars only, and our initial investigation found no indication that customer privacy or vehicle safety or security was compromised in any way.”

A Tesla spokesperson, in an email to VentureBeat

Microsoft reveals Windows 10 limits on ARM

Microsoft released a full list of ARM limitations for Windows 10 last week before removing it over the weekend.

Windows 10 on ARM can run x86 apps but can’t use x86 drivers. That could cause issues for older peripherals, making it similar to Windows 10 S. However, x64 apps are not supported. Microsoft does plan to support these apps in the future.

According to Microsoft, games and apps that use a version of OpenGL later than 1.1 or that require hardware-accelerated OpenGL won’t work on Windows 10 on ARM. Games that use anticheat technologies won’t run.

Apps that change the Windows experience like assistive technologies or input method editors won’t properly work on Windows 10 on ARM. Apps that include icons and right-click menus in File Explorer like Dropbox may fail.

Apps that assume all ARM-based devices are running a mobile version of Windows may not work correctly, and could appear in the wrong orientation or have UI layout problems.

Virtual machines that use the Windows Hypervisor Platform will not be supported.

However, most common apps and scenarios will work just fine. Microsoft’s emulation work will make most 32-bit exe files from the web installable on ARM-powered laptops.

Snapchat lets users add GIF stickers to posts via Giphy; rolls out tabs on Friends, Discover sections to organize/follow Stories

Snapchat is bringing the ability to add GIF stickers from Giphy to your posts.

The new GIF options are loaded in the Sticker Picker alongside Snapchat’s existing options.

The app is also adding tabs to both the Friends and Discover screens within the app, which will make it easier for users to follow along with the Stories they want to see whenever they want to see them, letting them do things like viewing friend with active stories and Group Chats in one tab and subscriptions you maintain in the other.

Microsoft lets Mixer streamers sell over 5K games on platform, pays 5% per purchase made on channel

Microsoft is letting Mixer streamers make money through game sales with the new Direct Purchase feature.

The addition will let streamers promote purchase like game titles, specific game editions, downloadable content, add-on packs, and more that are available for sale on the Microsoft Store. All of these items can be purchased directly from the streamer’s Mixer channel without having to leave the stream.

In total, there are over 5,000 games that will be made available through Direct Purchase across Xbox, Windows 10, Xbox Play Anywhere, and downloadable content.

To use Direct Purchase, Mixer broadcasters will have to activate the feature and select the content they want to promote.

When a viewer makes a purchase, the content is automatically added to their Xbox/Windows 10 game library for later download. No tokens or codes will be required to make that happen.

Microsoft pays streamers five percent for every purchase from their channel, matching the percentage that Twitch pays its Partners and Affiliates. Mixer is opening the feature only to its partners.

Some Mixer partners will see the feature roll out to them over the next few days, with all eligible users seeing it over the next couple of months.

Qualcomm raises NXP Semiconductors bid to $127.50/share

Qualcomm has unveiled a $44 billion agreement ($127.50/share compared to $110/share previously) to acquire NXP Semiconductors in a move to defend against a $121 million hostile bid from Broadcom.

According to Broadcom, it’s evaluating its options in response to this move and noted that the revised price for NXP is well beyond the value that Qualcomm previously called “full and fair.”

“It makes Qualcomm stronger and more profitable and diversified if there is no deal with Broadcom, and if we do decide to pursue a sale the same is true, more value would accrue to the Qualcomm shareholders.”

Tom Horton, Qualcomm presiding board director

In exchange for Qualcomm’s offer, it received binding agreements from nine NXP stockholders that collectively own more than 28 percent of NXP’s outstanding shares to support the deal, including hedge funds Elliott Advisors and Soroban Capital Partners.

NXP shareholders have to tender their shares in an offer that’s currently set to expire on Mar. 5, although Qualcomm has repeatedly pushed the deadline back as it awaits clearance from China’s MOFCOM – the only regulator globally needed to approve the deal that hasn’t done so. The Chinese New Year holiday has delayed the review.

Under the new terms agreed with NXP’s board, the deal with Qualcomm is contingent on 70 percent of NXP’s shares being tendered instead of the 80 percent threshold required in the earlier agreement signed in Oct. 2016. Once the threshold is reached, Qualcomm can take over the entire company in a “second-step” transaction mechanism.

Nuance discontinues Swype keyboards for iOS, Android to focus instead on AI for businesses

Nuance, the company that acquired swipe-to-text keyboard maker Swype in 2011 has ended development of its namesake Android and iOS apps.

The company has been concentrating on using its screen recognition technology to enable speech to text for business.

The Torrent

Samsung has begun mass production of the world’s largest solid state drive called the PM1643, which combines 32 1TB NAND flash sticks. Each drive can store up to 5,700 full HD movies.

Remember Flixster Video? Well, the video sharing service that let users access their UltraViolet movie collection is no more. Fandango, which bought the site in 2016, has shut down the Flixster website and made the mobile app useful just for getting movie reviews and tickets.

Recently discovered code submission show that Android P should prevent idle apps from using the camera and microphone.

Netflix recently brought Joel McHale’s talents to the streaming service with his reincarnated clip show commentary fest, and he’s soon going to have some more fodder within the Netflix family. The company is launching a reality show called The Push, which is designed to manipulate participants into committing murder.

Six months after launching its own officially licensed bus route in East London, transportation app Citymapper is shutting down the project to become a private taxi operator after receiving approval from London’s transportation authority.

The Download: February 20 This is The Download, a weekday recap of the top technology headlines. It’s February 20th, here’s what you need to know this evening:

[pawprintcooper]

This is a special edition of the TechSummit Rewind, focusing on Apple’s WWDC developer conference.

Apple used its annual developer conference to launch a flurry of updates for all of the company’s major platforms. Here’s a recap of what you might’ve missed:

TV

Amazon Prime Video will debut on the Apple TV later this year, giving users access to shows like Transparent, Bosch, Mozart in the Jungle, and Catastrophe without having to fiddle with AirPlay.

The partnership is a long time coming and is a truce to a years-long war between the rival streaming platforms. After Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said that the two companies couldn’t find “acceptable business terms” to put the app on the Apple TV, Amazon stopped selling the device in 2015 because it couldn’t access Prime Video.

Coincidentally, the Apple TV will also return to Amazon’s store with this announcement.

watchOS 4

watchOS 4 will launch later this year, with new features for watch faces. For instance, complications (glanceable pieces of information) will be updatable based on the time of day or location and a new Siri-based watch face.

The Siri watch face uses machine learning to determine what information is most valuable to you at a given moment like flight boarding passes, sunset time, or smart home controls.

Apple has also developed a kaleidoscope watch face and new character faces based on Toy Story’s Woody, Jesse, and Buzz.

Fitness tracking also gets updated here, with a new interface for the Workout app and new integrations with gym equipment manufacturers that let equipment provide information like incline and intensity to the Watch for more accurate workout tracking. According to Apple, Watch wearers can link their devices with the gym equipment through NFC.

Music management will also be improved, with the Watch automatically importing Apple Music playlists and supporting multiple playlists. Apple has also redesigned the dock with a vertical interface for scrolling through recent apps.

Developers can access a preview version of watchOS 4 starting today, with a public release launching this fall for all Apple Watches paired to an iPhone 5s or later running on iOS 11.

macOS High Sierra

The next version of macOS is called High Sierra, which Apple senior vice president of software Craig Federighi joked was “fully baked.”

The update hopes to be faster, safer, and more efficient about system space. This effort will be led by the behind-the-scenes switch from the Hierarchical File System first introduced in 1985 to the Apple File System that launched with iOS 10.3 in March. Apple claims that the new system is safer and more secure.

In terms of performance, Federighi claims that the High Sierra version of Safari will be 80 percent faster than Chrome in JavaScript. Safari will also use machine learning to identify and block ad trackers as you navigate the web, and will be capable of blocking autoplay videos.

Mail will meanwhile take up 35 percent less space than it has previously.

The Photos app is getting refreshed to become a lot closer to Photoshop, with easier search functionality.

Metal 2, an updated version of Apple’s graphics technology, is coming with High Sierra with VR support in tow.

High Sierra will launch in a developer beta today, with a public beta coming later this month before it rolls out to the public for free this fall on all devices compatible with macOS Sierra.

New MacBooks

The entire MacBook line got a spec bump, with last year’s MacBook Pros and the 12-inch MacBook getting Intel’s Kaby Lake processors.

There’s also a new tier for the 13-inch MacBook Pro without a Touch Bar that starts at a cheaper $1,299 price tag, with the 15-incher getting discrete graphics standard. Otherwise, the MacBook is unchanged.

The MacBook now maxes out with a 1.3GHz Core i7 processor, while the 13-inch MacBook Pro peaks with a 3.5GHz Core i7 and the 15-incher goes up to a 3.1GHz Core i7 processor.

Finally, the ailing MacBook Air is getting a speed boost with a faster 1.8GHz Intel processor… and that’s it. There’s still the same 1400 x 900 panel, wedge design, and no USB-C ports.

The new MacBooks are available today.

New iMacs

  The iMac line is also getting Kaby Lake processors and what Apple calls “the best Mac display ever” with up to 500 nits of brightness (43 percent brighter than the previous generation).

The 21.5-inch model can now be configured with up to 32GB of RAM, with the 27-inch model going up to a whopping 64GB of RAM that’s double the previous iteration. The new iMacs are also getting two USB-C ports, a first for Apple desktops.

Beyond that, these are still your standard iMacs.

However, things perk up with the iMac Pro. The workstation class PC is going to replace the painfully outdated Mac Pro for the foreseeable future when it launches in December.

The iMac Pro will ship with an 8-core Intel Xeon processor and will scale up to an 18-core Xeon processor with a 5K display and AMD Radeon Vega GPU. You’ll also be able to shell out for up to 16GB of VRAM, 128GB of data corruption-protecting ECC RAM, and up to 4TB of SSD storage.

You can pick one up starting at a whopping $4,999.

iOS 11

iOS 11 will improve on the “core technologies” that powers the OS and numerous user-facing features. Starting with new productivity solutions for iPad, but other enhancements are coming to Messages, Apple Pay, and other apps.

Conversations across iCloud, iOS, and macOS will be synced. If messages are erased on your iPhone or iPad, that will also be reflected on Mac. They will be stored on iCloud, which should make them easier to retrieve on your future Apple devices.

Pay

Apple Pay is also expanding to include person-to-person payments, positioning Apple to compete with Venmo and Square Cash. iOS 11 will introduce an Apple Pay Cash Card, where users will store their received funds from peer-to-peer transactions. The money can then be transferred to your personal bank account.

Siri

Siri has been tweaked to have a more natural voice when responding to users, and can now perform translations from English to Chinese, French, German, Italian, or Spanish.

Siri is also getting smarter about suggestions with “on-device learning.” This is synced across your other Apple devices and “kept completely private, readable only by you and your devices.” According to Apple, on-device learning lets Siri give suggestions “based on personal usage of Safari, News, Mail, Messages, and more. For example, as Siri learns topics or places a user is interested in while browsing Safari, they will be suggested when typing in Mail, Messages, and other apps.”

Camera

With iOS 11, users can take Portrait Mode images with optical image stabilization, a flash, or in HDR. Loop and Bounce effects can now be applied to Live Photos, and Apple is using a High Efficiency Image File Format (HEIF) to shrink the amount of storage photos take up.

Control Center

Apple also completely redesigned Control Center, the panel that users can swipe up to access frequent and important settings or change songs when listening to music.

iPad

The iPad got a ton of attention with iOS 11, with the dock becoming more Mac-like by letting users add many more apps to it.

A new drag-and-drop feature lets you quickly move info or media from one split-screen app into the one beside it or apps on your home screen and dock.

App pairings can also now be preserved when switching between apps. Essentially, it’s a port of the Mac’s Spaces feature. This means you can keep two apps you commonly use together when switching to another app, and return to them without having to set up the split screen view again.

New Files App

Apple will give file management its own app with iOS 11. The Files app will give users a simple view of files on their device, and also those shared with cloud services like iCloud, Dropbox, and OneDrive.

Maps

Apple Maps is getting indoor maps for airports and shopping centers in select cities.

Mall layouts will be available for Boston, Chicago, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Jose, Tokyo, and Washington DC.

Indoor maps will also come to over 20 major airports.

When you’re behind the wheel, lane guidance and speed limits will help you navigate unfamiliar sections of the open road.

More importantly, Do Not Disturb While Driving will get rid of potential distractions when your eyes should be focused on the road. Text messages won’t be shown by default, though senders have the option of replying with “urgent” in cases when you need to see something.

Music

iOS 11 will introduce support for multi-room audio between iPhones, iPads, and a slew of third-party speakers.

Plus, Apple Music is getting a social element that will show what your friends are currently listening to on the service. Like Spotify, you can also listen privately if you’re shamelessly belting out Taylor Swift’s Shake it Out.

App Store

The App Store is getting the biggest makeover in its history with iOS 11. There’s a new Today tab that’ll surface notable releases, and Apple is breaking out games into its own dedicated section. There’s also a larger editorial aspect to the store now, too, as users will find how-tos, “making of” stories, and other content that pertains to certain apps. Other refinements include the ability for developers to directly list in-app purchases in the App Store – rather than making users hunt for them in the app.

ARKit

Apple is building augmented reality directly into the core of iOS, giving developers the tools they need to convincingly blend digital entertainment with the real world.

Other features coming include screen recording, a one-handed keyboard, FaceTime Live Photos, and password autofill in apps.

iOS 11 will launch this fall – presumably alongside new iPhones, with a public beta launching later in June for the iPhone 5s and later, all iPad Air and iPad Pros, the 5th generation iPad, iPad mini 2 and later, and the 6th generation iPod touch. Some features – like person-to-person Apple Pay – require newer hardware.

iPad Pro

Apple introduced a new 10.5-inch iPad Pro and a refreshed 12.9-inch model that both ship next week. The 10.5-inch model starts at $649 with 64GB of memory and just WiFi, or $779 for 64GB of storage with cellular support. Meanwhile, the 12.9-inch model starts at $799 for 64GB of storage with just WiFi, or $929 for 64GB of storage with cellular support. Pricing will increase with up to 512GB of storage.

Both devices are powered by the new A10X six-core CPU and include a 12-core GPU. They support HDR video with a 120Hz refresh rate. Apple pitched this as essential for the Apple Pencil because of its responsiveness and ability to drop the latency rate to 20 milliseconds. That refresh rate adjusts dynamically based on what you’re viewing for smarter power conservation. The True Tone display is also 50 percent brighter than earlier models.

The new iPad Pros have a 12-megapixel rear camera and a 7-megapixel front camera. Both should last for 10 hours on a charge (in line with pretty much every other iPad to date). In addition, Apple is launching new sleeves and accessories, like a leather sleeve for both that starts at $129.

HomePod

Lastly, Apple introduced the HomePod speaker that the company claims will reinvent music in the home.

The HomePod is a small cylinder covered in mesh that looks like a wider Logitech UE Boom, and will be available in white and space gray.

The smart speaker features a seven-speaker array of tweeters. Additionally, there’s a four-inch upward-facing subwoofer and an Apple A8 chip. The speaker features “spatial awareness,” which lets it automatically tune the sound to the space that the speaker is in. Setup is simple – hold an iPhone (5s or later) next to the HomePod a la AirPods. You’ll also be able to use a pair of HomePods together in a single room for improved sound. It also works with Apple’s AirPlay 2 multi-room audio solution (more on that above).

Naturally, HomePod is compatible with Apple Music and can wirelessly access the service’s full catalog. A six-microphone array is used to access Siri, which has been upgraded to handle specific music requests like “Who’s playing drums on this track?” or “What was the top song on May 5th, 2016?” Apple claims that the microphones are good enough to hear commands from far away, even with music at full volume. The Siri waveform appears on top of the device when the assistant is activated, similar to the LED lights on an Amazon Echo. However, the HomePod also has integrated touch controls.

Along with the music support, Siri can be used for things like unit conversion, news, weather, traffic, sports, reminders, timers, and more. Apple’s own services tie in too: you can send iMessages, or control HomeKit devices. HomePod will also serve as a HomeKit hub to let you control smart home products away from your home, too.

Security is also a highlight feature for the HomePod. While the device will always listen for a “Hey, Siri” prompt to activate, information won’t be sent to Apple’s servers until after that command is heard. That information is also “encrypted and sent using an anonymous Siri identifier.”

HomePod will set you back $349 when it ships in December in the US, UK, and Australia.

  TechSummit Rewind 178: WWDC 2017 This is a special edition of the TechSummit Rewind, focusing on Apple’s WWDC developer conference. Apple used its annual developer conference to launch a flurry of updates for all of the company’s major platforms.