This past monday, as many of you have already heard (and maybe watched) Apple had its annual WWDC.

Although not much was promised, some very exciting releases were introduced. Here is a quick summary to see what’s new:

1. Mac OSX Lion
A typical Apple release behavior, this newest release does not really revamp the OS, rather it enhances what it already has. Lion seems to focus mainly on emulating iOS in navigation, multi touch gestures, organization, and UI style. It sports over 250 new features; some of the more prominent ones include fullscreen apps, a multi-tasking feature called Mission Control,and  another organization feature called Launch Pad. But most surprisingly, instead of being priced at $125 dollars, it will only cost $25. And yet, this is not so surprising seeing as it is more of a heavy update rather than a new OS. Either way, it looks like a solid release.

2. iOS 5
The biggest relief here is notifications, they finally added the, very Android like, drop down notification bar and no longer will you be interrupted midgame for a text message. Instead the status bar at the top merely flips to show the notification and allows for continuous concentration on the angry birds game at hand. Apple also introduced News Stand (iBook for magazines and newspapers) as well as a tabbed Safari (as well as offline support). Another new feature called Reminders acts as a nice, calendar integrated to-do list. Photos allow crop and rotate as well as using the volume button for the shutter release. iPhone can now be PC-Free, meaning they work straight out of the box. With software updates via wireless connection and a updated GameCenter as well as wireless data syncing, this update is quite a luxurious one!

3. iCloud
By far the most momentous release of the day, iCloud was introduced by Steve Jobs himself who focused on the “it just works” mantra (potentially ad-nauseum). This new feature is truly awesome and houses a lot of potential for growth. Most all data will be  synced online, completely wireless, encrypted, and extremely fast! The only caveat, a $24 dollar/year price tag. And while this is better than Amazon’s option, we here at iTHs really don’t like paying for our features

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