Apple unveils new technology at WWDC in San Jose

Byby Janine De La Vega KGO logo
Tuesday, June 6, 2017
Apple unveils new technology at WWDC in San Jose
New hardware was unveiled at the annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose Monday, including a new voice-activated speaker that uses Siri.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Several announcements were made Monday at the annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose.

The company unveiled new hardware for consumers to use in their home. With thumping music and slick video, Apple showed off its latest invention for the masses -- a new smart speaker. "It's actually beautiful and we call it Homepod," Apple CEO Tim Cook said.

Apple said just like the iPod reinvented music in our pockets, it wants to do the same for music in our homes. "A breakthrough home speaker with amazing sound and incredible intelligence. It will reinvent home audio," Cook said.

It's a voice-activated speaker that uses Siri. Apple was late in introducing a speaker to consumers. There's likely to be comparisons to the Amazon Echo and Google Home, but Homepod is different. "It's about focusing on music, putting Apple music at the center of it and Siri interestingly becomes a musicologist," creative services tech analyst Carolina Milanesi said.

The Homepod was just one of many things unveiled Monday. A new larger 10.5 inch iPad Pro that promises to be faster was introduced.

RELATED: Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference kicks off in San Jose

Apple has also introduced a new feature called "Do Not Disturb While Driving." Apple said it will use speed-detection to know if a user is in a car while it's moving and block notifications to your iPhone. The screen will stay dark and auto reply messages can be set up. Users who are passengers can grant full notification access.

Apple also showed its progress in virtual reality capabilities using Mac's new OS High Sierra.

Apple wowed developers with a new platform to make augmented reality apps, as well. Among them is a 10-year-old who had invented five apps and showed them to Apple's CEO. "It was amazing and when I showed him my app he was really astonished," Yuma Soerianto said.

Besides all the new things unveiled Monday, Apple made another big announcement. Former first lady Michelle Obama will be speaking with developers Tuesday about how they can have an impact on the world.

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