Welcome to the iUniverse

James Martin/CNET

• by Scott Stein 
   @jetscott

Apple's first event of 2014, WWDC, approaches on Monday. And, already, many people are asking:what if we don't see any new Apple products there?

A fall, a spring, and a long winter in between have passed since Apple has announced a major new product. Yes, there are refreshed MacBook Airs, and a new entry-level 8GB iPhone. But we've had press conference announcing tablets, phones and wearable bands galore from nearly every manufacturer in the meantime. So, as we approach WWDC, Apple's first media event since last October 2013, there's a bit of pent-up anticipation. To say the least.

Tune into CNET's WWDC live show and blog at 9 a.m. PT on June 2.

But if there aren't any new Apple hardware products, that doesn't mean there won't be new products at all. Software, yes: iOS 8, and a new version of Mac OS X. But nestled in this might be a lot of other hardware news: products that work with iOS, versus ones made by Apple. The ones that fill up Apple Stores. The MFi -- or, Made For iPhone -- galaxy of products, which might soon turn into a universe.

MFi accessories already exist, like keyboards, game controllers, and speakers. CarPlay is a made-for-iPhone type of accessory, too. Next up could be home appliances, health tech, and maybe even other surprises. Maybe the next step for the iPhone is to connect everything else in your life to it.

CarPlay: The first wave of new iProducts

Toyota's concept of CarPlay in a dashboard.Toyota

Apple's debut of CarPlay-connected vehicles, which run apps via a paired iOS device, show how getting other products to feel a little more iOS-friendly might be as useful as having a new Apple product. WWDC will probably have a little more to say on CarPlay, or at least show more cars using it.

Smart Home: The second wave?

This Haier AC unit is the first connected device to meet Apple's MFi standards, which certify third-party products for design, quality, and iOS compatibility.Colin West McDonald/CNET

Mounting rumors suggesting a new iOS 8 focus on smart appliances and home devices, with a possible remote app to control them all, could mean a lot more MFi appliances. GigaOM and the Financial Timeshave reported that Apple's connected home strategy will indeed be further fleshed out next week at WWDC. Apple-ready appliances are already here: Haier's MFi air conditioner was introduced this past winter. Controlling your thermostat, garage door, home entertainment, or lighting via an iPhone makes obvious sense. You already can, but via a ton of stand-alone apps. Standardizing the experience would open the door for more devices, and maybe more devices working with each other. But that doesn't mean Apple will necessarily corner the market by any means. It could end up being one of several competing systems. For Apple device owners, however, it could mean that future smart home devices would be a lot easier to set up and control via one app or API.

Healthbook: Possible gateway to new wearables

The Misfit Shine, one of many fitness wearables that already work with iPhone.Sarah Tew/CNET

There are already a ton of fitness bands, connected scales and blood pressure monitors, and various other bits of health gear that work with separate dedicated apps bit are iOS-certified. The expected launch of Healthbook, a new app for health data according to 9to5Mac, could be a hub for those gadgets, but also a new standard that health tech could cross-communicate with. We keep anticipating an iWatch, but in the meantime, an app that better syncs and interconnects health devices would be just as useful, or even more so. Sensors can be on fitness bands, smart clothing, or standard gym or medical equipment. Having them all talk to each other would be fantastic. It could also be the key to a broader health-tech strategy than just hoping on a miracle iWatch.

iBeacon: The glue to tag everything else

Apple's iBeacon doing its thing.Roger Cheng/CNET

Apple's rollout of small local location-tagged chips called iBeacons have begun being used in sports stadiums, Apple Stores, and other places where iPhones can connect and be more context-aware. iBeacon could be a part of a future where you use your iPhone to explore locations around you tagged with iBeacon, or trigger boarding passes or tickets when you arrive where you're going, or even work with mobile payments. iBeacon support was one of the features of iOS 7, but iOS 8 could be where the world around your iPhone connects even more smartly. With public places, stores, or maybe even parts of your home.

A lot of wearable tech I've seen lacks one big thing: an ability to see and interact with the world beyond your own phone. Interconnected things will make wearable devices feel like the magical bands they could be, but first there needs to be a world of interconnected things. That could be what begins to happen at WWDC, especially as Google might be on the verge of doing the very same thing in just a few weeks.

Connecting the stars in the iCosmos

The iPad: Already a powerful remoteSarah Tew/CNET

Cars. Smart home. iBeacons. Health sensors and wearables. All of that, on top of Apple's already gargantuan iOS install base -- tens of millions of iPhones, iPod Touch units, and iPads, ready to be deployed as frontline soldiers as Apple begins an assault on the Internet of Things.

Indeed, the "appification" of appliances and devices is already here. You can already control tons of products directly from an iPhone and iPad -- or, from an Android device. What needs to happen next is the knitting together: common language, common infrastructure, and a way for new products to easily connect, too. And ideally, fewer individual apps. These are categories of products Apple may never choose to make: air conditioners, cars, blood pressure cuffs. For these devices, better connectivity could make them star products.

Consider Sonos, which went from a promising multiroom digital music system to a category killer that's now being aped by the likes of Bose, Samsung, and others. The company really took off once it dumped its expensive proprietary touchscreen remote and released a free app that turned any iPhone into a controller.

If the other things you own can play well with the phone in your pocket or the tablet in your bag, that's a world most people would prefer to live in. Google's already driving this forward via acquisitions like Nest, and Samsung's aiming for the same thing in health and home. And, once Apple's next big hardware products finally do arrive, they could end up working with a whole new landscape of connected tech. And that could be what this year's WWDC could really be striving for: laying the groundwork.

SpaceX slaps Russia

SpaceX unveils Dragon V2, its first manned spacecraft

Elon Musk unveils the Dragon V2Tim Stevens/CNET

• by Steven Musil 
   and Tim Stevens 

HAWTHORNE, Calif. -- After years of development, SpaceX gave the public its first look Thursday at Dragon V2, a manned spacecraft it hopes will one day taxi astronauts to the International Space Station.

The spacecraft, the company's first designed to be piloted onboard, was unveiled by SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk during an event at the company's rocket factory here in Southern California. Similar in design to the company's robotic Dragon spacecraft that has made three resupply missions to deliver equipment and supplies to the ISS since 2012, Dragon V2 is intended to be flown by a crew of seven in a low-Earth orbit.

SPACEX DRAGON V2 SPACECRAFT UNVEILED BY ELON MUSK (PICTURES)SEE FULL GALLERY

1 - 4 of 16

NEXTPREV

SpaceX is one of several commercial companies vying for NASA's favor as the US space agency moves deeper into its post-space shuttle era and embraces partners from the private sector. Also working on spacecraft designs for trips to and from the ISS under NASA's Commercial Crew Program are aerospace giant Boeing, with its CST-100 capsule, and the much smaller Sierra Nevada, with its shuttle-like Dream Chaser lifting-body vehicle.

The Dragon V2 is designed to "land anywhere on Earth with the accuracy of a helicopter," Musk said before unveiling the spacecraft with a countdown and an animation video showing it undocking from the space station and returning to Earth with a pinpoint propulsive ground landing. The spacecraft is capable of docking with the space station autonomously or under pilot without the aid of the station arm, which is necessary for docking under the current version.

One of the advantages of the spacecraft's design trumpeted by Musk during the presentation was its ability to be rapidly reused, up to 10 times before needing servicing. After a soft, propulsive landing, propellants can be reloaded and the spacecraft ready to fly again, he said.

SpaceX's Dragon V2 making a landing.SpaceX

"As long as we continue to throw away rockets and spacecraft, we will never have true access to space," Musk said, likening the situation to throwing away passenger jets after each flight. "It will always be incredibly expensive."

Musk said it still retains the parachutes of the previous model but will only deploy those chutes if the spacecraft detects an anomaly with the engines or the propulsion system before landing. The spacecraft can still land safely even if it loses two of its engines, Musk said.

These engines are called SuperDraco and are more than 160 times more powerful than the Draco engines found in the current version of Dragon, allowing them to produce 16,400 foot pounds of thrust. In a departure from the norm, their combustion chambers are 3D printed using a technique called direct metal laser sintering, which uses lasers to accurately create complex metal structures out of metal powder layer by layer.

Even limited to 25 mph, Google's car will arrive faster than you think

Google's self-driving car prototype, steering wheel, and brake and gas pedals not included.Google

Although the Google self-driving car prototype revealed Tuesday night may look cute on the outside and strange on the inside, it signals that Google will soon face tough questions about ownership, insurance, and what it means to try to take the wheel of the urban mobility revolution away from Big Auto.

To be sure, the self-driving car technology is far from road ready. By Google's own admission, it sucks in inclement weather, it can't drive anywhere without a pre-made map, and to keep it on the right side of the law, it's only allowed on the streets with two human operators ready to take over.

But they've already racked up more than 700,000 miles in nearly two dozen Toyota and Lexus vehicles that they've bolted their autonomous technology to, and the cars can successfully navigate freeways as well as the busy downtown suburban streets of Google's hometown in Mountain View, Calif.

Little car, big plans

From the outside, the nameless, prototype autonomous car looks like a cross between a golf cart and aSmart Car, or like one of the newer Fiats but with its nose cut off. It has two doors, two seats, and it's about the size of a Smart ForTwo. The detailing and placement of the headlights and grille make the front look like a face with big child-sized eyes and a slight smile.

The inside is futuristic, and that doesn't mean 17 cup holders. It lacks a steering wheel and column, and doesn't have a brake pedal or an accelerator. Classified officially by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as a Low-Speed Vehicle, a designation notable for its restricted top speed of 25 miles per hour, a regulation-approved glass windshield, the presence of side and rear-view mirrors, and a parking brake, the $150,000 electric Google robo-car can only go around 100 miles before needing a recharge.

Combine all that with the reliance of Google's self-driving technology on pre-built Lidar-generated maps overlaid by a real-time map built with a combination of cameras, sensors, and Lidar, and you might be wondering just what exactly Google is trying to do.

The prototype car came about because as Google moved the technology testing to city streets a year ago, Google self-driving car project director Chris Urmson and his team "began to realize that glomming sensors onto our vehicles was not the right solution," he said.

"There was an opportunity to re-envision what our vehicle should be," he said. "What does it mean to not have to press the gas or brake, to have a more humane experience?"

Changing the future of urban transportation

The answer is nothing short of revolutionizing urban mobility, and it's going to happen much faster than you think, says Alain Bertaud, senior research scholar at the New York University Urbanization Project.

"I didn't expect this to be so early. I am really looking forward to see the deployment," he said. "Within 10 years, urban transport will be transformed, and the productivity of large cities will improve."

Bertaud predicts that the future of urban mobility will depend on autonomous vehicles that people use not only for the so-called "first-last mile," to connect people to public transportation systems when they live close to stops and stations, but not close enough, but also for when public transportation systems take too long to go relatively short distances.

"The speed restriction [of 25 mph] falls into this classification of the Neighborhood Electric Vehicle," a sub-classification of the Low-Speed Vehicle that operates in mixed-used environments, said Susan Shaheen, co-director of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley. "These are cars that are uniquely different from a standard vehicle, and may be considered as an alternative to vehicle ownership.""Assume that you have a station on your rail every kilometer, you have too many stops," he said. Bertaud says that he lives right next to a bus stop that would take him directly to where he needs to go in New York City three times a week, but he drives because, "it stops 72 times."

So right from the start, Google is targeting its prototype car not just at other cars, but at urban transportation habits. Shaheen noted that the Google car looks like it was driven right off the lot of shared-use car testing concepts that Honda and Toyota were working on in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Google and independent researchers like Shaheen and Bertaud speculate that the cars could give rise to car-sharing programs, less traffic, and happier city denizens.

But there are many more miles to go before the car is ready, let alone programs developed to get people to use them.

INSIDE GOOGLE'S SELF-DRIVING CAR (PICTURES)SEE FULL GALLERY

1 - 4 of 8

NEXTPREV

"As a researcher, what I'd like to see is a driving clinic to see how people of different socio-economic status react to the vehicle," said Shaheen.

Urmson said he's been thinking about this question, too.

"I have a personal vision how it might go that it might be shared by communities or families, but we won't understand that until we see how it [development] goes."

Riding with the law

In addition to the technological and socioeconomic hurdles the Google car tech faces, it must also win over regulators in each of the 50 states. In California, the stereotypical home of American car culture where drive-ins were born more than a half a century ago, regulators signed off last week on rules governing how to test self-driving cars.

These include conditions that companies testing the autonomous automobile tech were not always happy about, said Bernard Soriano, deputy director at the California Department of Motor Vehicles, even though those same companies are being consulted on the rules that will guide them.

"In the testing regulations, one of the things that we have stipulated is that a human being is in the vehicle while it's being tested on the roadways. It must be some kind of designee of the company," and not just any passenger, Soriano said.

Google fits the bill with its current driverless car operator teams. But it also means that Google's prototype, which was shown on Tuesday without steering or pedals, actually will have them once it's unleashed on the streets of Mountain View -- sometime after the rules go into effect on September 16.

Members of Google's self-driving car team, left to right: Chris Urmson, project lead; Brian Torcellini, driving program manager; Dmitri Dolgov, software lead; Andrew Chatham, mapping lead; Ron Medford, project safety director.Seth Rosenblatt/CNET

When regulations governing how self-driving cars can operate after testing in California are approved "by the end of this calendar year," Soriano said, and the subsequent 120 day grace period passes, Google can build and deploy self-driving cars without steering wheels or pedals however it chooses. It's the testing that requires the classic interior controls.

"We're looking to be testing these vehicles [the prototype with a steering wheel and pedals] on private closed courses this summer, and public roads by the end of the year," said Google's Urmson.

Given the regulatory timeline, the prototype cars without the steering wheel and pedals might see some kind of deployment as early as April 2015, but Urmson said that people should temper their expectations.

"It won't happen until we're confident about putting them on the road without a driver on board," Urmson said.

Google faces another regulatory hurdle: insurance. The 100 cars it plans on building and testing in Mountain View might be assembled by Roush Enterprises, a boutique auto assembly firm near Detroit, but the Golden State considers Google the manufacturer, Soriano said. So if it gets into a crash, or as Google would like you to believe is more likely, somebody else crashes into it, who's responsible? And if the car is as tiny as the prototype, will you care since you could be dead?

"Those questions are still unanswered," Soriano said. Also unanswered, but something that Google likely has an opinion on: Who is the legal operator of the vehicle, if Google tech is the pilot?

"Right now, Google is saying that there isn't a person who's operating the vehicle," Soriano said, "It's the software."

"What does it mean to not have to press the gas or brake, to have a more humane experience?" -- Chris Urmson, director, Google Self-Driving Car Project

Laws governing vehicular ownership and responsibility have always been based on the presumption of human operators. For the first time in history, that's changing, but the tactics being used in determining how that's happening aren't.

"What manufacturers need to do is to ensure to us, and we ensure the public, that these vehicles are safe," he said. "Some manufacturers have told us that [the way] to make sure that these vehicles are safe is to self-certify... We have said that there should be a third party to certify to," some kind of regulatory body, "but some manufacturers have pushed back."

Driving down the less-traveled road

Tension hasn't risen only between manufacturers like Google and regulators, but between the car makers and the driving public, too. People are concerned about a century of developed car habits shifting dramatically in under a decade.

Driving aficionados like CNET's Tim Stevens and Danny Sullivan take great umbrage at Google's plans, accusing them of trying to take a "California" approach to self-driving car development and being on anoverly ambitious timeline.

Despite her enthusiasm for the rise of the robo-car, Shaheen said that she didn't expect people to stop driving. "There's always going to be a market for people who want to drive vehicles and want to own vehicles," she said. "As our society changes and the role of the city becomes increasingly important to society, the need for parking alone is going to limit one's ability to own a vehicle."

Shaheen said that the design of the prototype makes it look like a car alternative to cars. "This car looks like an alternative to necessarily owning a vehicle," she said. "I don't know if this is the car that people would go out and buy."

Pre-production rendering for Google's prototype autonomous car.Google

But Bertaud said that if you live in a city with more than 1 million people, you and the big car makers would be right to be concerned about your ability to own a car in the not-too-distant future.

"I think this thing is happening much faster than we thought. I think for very large cities, the current transport system is completely inadequate. The possibility of driverless car as filling the gap here will completely change the way that transport will be done in large cities," he said.

Thus far, there have been two major development tracks for self-driving cars. There's the more incremental approach, slowly adding automation. Volvo's plan for Gothenburg, Sweden, heavily reliant on sensors, is like this.

"The policy at Google is to completely jump to the self-driving car," said Bertaud, who was surprised that the prototype car was announced only a few weeks after Google showcased the autonomous technology at a press event.

"It shows a lot of self-confidence," he said, and it could upset potential partners. "They are really burning their bridges, there's no way back."

Apple's WWDC kicks off June 2: What to expect

• by Shara Tibken 
   @sharatibken 

• 

  Apple will kick off WWDC on June 2.Apple

  It's that time of year again, when the Apple faithful descend on San Francisco's Moscone Center for the company's Worldwide Developers Conference.
  The Cupertino, Calif., electronics giant from June 2 to 6 will give the world a glimpse of what's coming this year. Apple has used its WWDC keynote as a chance to introduce new products in the past, but more recently has focused on software, saving new mobile device announcements for separate events. This year's conference -- and the two-hour keynote at 10 a.m. PT on June 2 -- likely won't be any different.
  "Apple needs to keep the momentum going on development for iOS and to a lesser degree OS X," Gartner analyst Van Baker said. "That's what's going to be the focus of the event."
  Last year, Apple unveiled iOS 7, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, iTunes Radio, the Mac Pro, and new MacBook Airs.
  The company, in typical Apple fashion, is being coy about what it will announce this time around. Its WWDC app lists many of the developer session topics as "No Comment," "This One Is Sealed," and "Shhhh, Can't Tell You Yet." That has caused some blogs to speculate Apple could have something "really big" in store.
  So what will we likely see in June? Mostly, a lot of software. CNET has heard there won't be new hardware at WWDC, but there always could be a few surprises from Apple.

  Sure bets

  iOS 8

  WWDC is Apple's annual chance to talk to developers, and most of its announcements will be geared to app makers. An update to Apple's mobile operating system, iOS, is all but guaranteed. iOS 8 likely won't be as dramatic a change as iOS 7, but it should have some nice tweaks to keep app makers and users happy. There is some speculation, however, that many new features could appear in iOS 8.1 instead of iOS 8.
  Apple also could introduce more CarPlay features. The company launched CarPlay with iOS 7.1 in March, which means it might be too soon for further changes, but there might be a bigger influx of apps. CarPlay lets an iPhone 5 (and newer) power a touch screen on a car's dashboard. The interface is iOS-like, but vastly simplified compared with what's seen on a phone or tablet. Functionality is limited too -- really just letting users access maps and audio, though Siri can read messages and take dictation for responses.As far as the likely additions, a big one is Healthbook. The long-rumored feature could be a hub for collecting health and fitness data in one place, like Apple's Passbook aimed to do for tickets and gift cards. Healthbook could be a first step toward an Apple wearable, but it also could be a way to better connect fragmented health gadgets and apps.
  One feature that sorely needs an overhaul is Maps. The introduction of Apple's homegrown mapping program with iOS 6 in 2012 angered iPhone users and resulted in the firing of at least one executive, software head Scott Forstall. Apple could introduce some big changes in iOS 8, including the return of public transit information.
  Another possible feature for iOS 8 could be a standalone iTunes Radio app. Apple currently nestles the free streaming service in its Music app, but the radio could get its own app, as well as more features and a new design. Apple also could potentially introduce music subscriptions.
  Siri might also now include Shazam integration to tell users what song they're hearing. The digital assistant could also work better with other third-party apps.
  Other iOS tweaks could include improved notifications, split-screen apps, multitasking, improved gaming features for game controllers and Apple TV, support for more peripherals such as mice, better battery life management, and a refined voice memo app.
  Apple also may make AirDrop, the file-sharing tool, work with Macs, and it could include improvements to iWork and iCloud. We also could see more iBeacon enhancements, and other features that work across Apple's various devices.

  OS X 10.10

  Apple also likely will use WWDC to show off its latest Mac software. The prior version -- Mavericks -- unveiled at the conference last year, featured improved battery life, many new applications, better power management, tabs in Finder, and the ability to add tags to file names so they're more searchable.
  Not much is known about the latest update to OS X, but many people expect a completely revamped design, similar to what the mobile operating system went through last year. That could include some features that make the operating system more iOS-like, though the two aren't expected to converge into one platform anytime soon. Some sites have speculated the OS X redesign could include sharper edges and icons.

  Possible

  Mobile payments

  Several clues have surfaced over the past few months that point to Apple working on its own mobile payments business. We've seen patent filings, rumors of secret meetings, executive hires, and analyst predictions.
  Apple already lets hundreds of millions of users -- about 800 million, as of Apple's earnings in April -- buy music, books, and apps through an iTunes account linked to their credit cards. Expanding this payment process into a digital wallet, or some other sort of mobile payment service, could be a feasible shift for the company.

  IOS 8: WHAT TO EXPECT (PICTURES)SEE FULL GALLERY

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  1 - 4 of 14

  NEXTPREV

  Home automation software

  Apple plans to launch a new smart home platform at WWDC that will allow iPhones and iPads to control a home's lights, security system, and other connected appliances, according to a Financial Timesreport.
  The new "software platform" will be built into iOS devices, according to the report, which cited anonymous sources. As with Apple's "Made for iPhone" program, the new platform would be open to third-party device makers, allowing their gadgets to work on Apple's automation system.

  Long shots

  Macs

  Along with a revamped Mac operating system, Apple also could use WWDC to introduce new Macs. However, Intel's newest chip, dubbed Broadwell, won't be ready until later this year, so the devices wouldn't get big performance boosts if they were updated now. Most signs point to Mac updates later this year instead of at WWDC.
  In terms of new Macs, people are looking for Apple to finally introduce a Retina Display in its MacBook Air. The company boosted the MacBook Air processor and cut the device's price in April, but it has yet to release such a laptop with a high-resolution screen. The last major change to the computer came in June 2013. Since Apple just released new MacBook Airs, it's less likely that it will introduce overhauled devices this soon.
  There's also speculation that Apple could introduce a 12-inch MacBook that's fanless and has other tweaks. So far, the MacBook Air has come in two sizes: 11.6- and 13.3-inch -- both with relatively low-resolution displays.
  That 12-inch device also could end up being the rumored iPad Pro that converts between a tablet and a laptop. Apple has long panned hybrid devices that can convert between tablets and laptops -- Cook two years ago famously compared it to combining a toaster and a refrigerator -- but many have called for the company to change its mind and create a hybrid of its own. It's more likely we'd see something like this later in the year or next year.
  BeatsWe also could see an update to the Mac Mini, Apple's small-form desktop that hasn't been changed since October 2012. The current unibody construction dates from 2010, and the internal 2012 update was for new Intel chips, which remain a generation behind the rest of the Mac lineup (with the exception of the similarly dated 13-inch "classic" MacBook Pro). But again, this would be more likely once Intel's newest chips are available.
  Apple may use its developer conference as the place to announce a deal to buy Beats. However, there's some speculation the $3.2 billion deal may have fallen through. If it does announce the deal at WWDC, we could see Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine take the stage, but Apple likely won't let them say much.

  iWatch

  Apple CEO Tim Cook has promised interesting new products in new categories this year, and smart money has been betting on a wearable. Apple likely will introduce a smartwatch or fitness band sometime this year, but it's unlikely to happen this soon. Generally, rumors have pointed to the iWatchhitting the market in the fall.

  Apple TV

  What started as hobby for Apple has become a pretty big business over the years. The company revealed during its earnings call in April that it has sold 20 million Apple TVs since it launched the device, and in 2013, people spent more than $1 billion on Apple TV content.
  Apple might make some changes to its current Apple TV for WWDC, particularly the software, but we're probably not going to see the completely revamped, over-the-air streaming product that people have been seeking.

  iPhone and iPad

  Add new Apple mobile devices to the "not-going-to-happen" category. The company introduced its latest versions of the devices in the fall, and it's likely going to do the same again this year.

  Surprises

  Of course, Apple could have some surprises in store for the WWDC audience. The company isn't expected to introduce hardware, but it could end up shocking everyone.