With its new OS X freshly announced, Apple is once again looking to change the way we interface with our devices. OS X 10.10 Yosemite was announced this morning and is set to include a range of new features aimed at enhancing the user experience. Some of the newest additions include:
A Redesigned Interface:
With the release of iOS 7, Apple drastically changed the way its user interface looked. Replacing the gradient-heavy icons with beautiful flat ones. Most users fell in love with the interface immediately. It just felt more modern overall. Thankfully, Apple is bringing this same redesign to OSX. Ditching the gradients and textures for a flat dock and even cleaner interface, this proves to be Apple’s most modern looking OS to date.
An Improved iCloud Drive:
With the new and improved iCloud Drive, users will be able to see all of their cloud files right through the finder app. Basically, they’ve finally “caught-up” to the use of a sync client similar to the likes of Dropbox and Google Drive (amongst others). Users will now be able to tag, browse and sort all of their cloud files right through the Finder. The files will be available across all of your Mac computers and even Windows PCs.
MailDrop:
The release of OSX 10.10 will help us say goodbye to those days of email attachment limitations through a feature called MailDrop. If you’re one of the many that use Apple’s Mail app, MailDrop will allow you to use your iCloud account to attach and send files via email. Now you can forget about fighting with your email to keep your attachments under a certain size and send anything you can fit in your iCloud.
Continuity:
Described by Apple as a “mix of technologies,” Continuity is perhaps one of the best features being added to the new OS X. We’ve all seen sci-fi movies that show our favorite characters “flinging” their hand-held screen to a larger monitor. With Apple’s Continuity, those sci-fi dreams are becoming a reality with a new feature called “Handoff”.
Through the use of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, Handoff will allow you to effectively sync what you’re doing on one device directly with another device. Now, you can make phone calls on your desktop, from your iPhone while it’s still in your pocket. Or, maybe you’re in the middle of designing a spreadsheet on your iPad when the bus arrives at your stop. With Handoff, you can close your iPad, walk in your front door, hit a button on your desktop and pick up right where you left off.
Continuity also brings compatibility for Apple’s Airdrop system to be used between OSX and iOS devices. A feature that could only previously be accomplished through third-party apps like DeskConnect or InstaShare.
source: arstechnica.com, theverge.com
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