Apple posts WWDC2011 session videos | Hacker News Reader

Apple posts WWDC2011 session videos

developer.apple.com

94 pointsst3fan38 comments

I consider these to be the real value of my $99 developer fee. The talks from last year were outstanding.

Registering a developer account is free.

I know I just assume that this is one of the things supported by that fee. These conferences can't be cheap to put together.

They aren't cheap to attend either

And they sell out fast since they keep them so small.

So small?!

Well, they sold out ~5000 tickets in 12 hours. True, that's not small, but clearly there's more demand than they are providing for and a lot of developers got left out. It's the same size as Google I/O for comparison.

Splitting off OS X from iOS would probably help a bit but Apple won't do it.

The last couple of years, Steve has said that he's sorry he can't find a bigger venue. Perhaps that's the problem? Which venue could the conference use to support more attendees?

And then there's the problem of keeping the ratio of apple engineers constant to not lower the value of the conference (which is part simple knowledge and part direct access to Apple engineers) for attendees.

I believe they're building one in Cupertino next to the new Apple HQ:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtuz5OmOh_M#t=505s

Yes, but I don't think you get the videos without paying for an account and signing the licenses. Or do you? Can anyone verify?

I only recently payed the $99, but I downloaded all the WWDC 2010 videos months ago.

"You need to use Safari to view this video." Grr.

They seem to assume Safari is the only OS X browser that can play HTTP live streaming on a Mac.. I'm pretty sure Chrome can (via Quick Time?), and I know for sure that VLC can.

Can't think of a way of feature detecting HTTP live streaming though, so even if user agent sniffing is bad, I guess it's better to show that useful error than having IE and others display a blank area with no error messages.

Since you also need a Mac to develop for iOS, they probably assume you have it. Can you download Safari for Windows to watch?

Sure, you can download Safari for Windows. The page mentions that you need OS X, though. I don’t know what’s up with that and whether that’s actually true. As far as I know installing Safari on Windows also installs QuickTime, so all the necessary components (see below) seem to be there. (If all else fails you are still be able to download the videos inside iTunes on Windows and OS X.)

That browser limitation just doesn’t seem necessary, though. Apple is using the standard video tag, that should work in many modern browsers – but they are using a .mov container for whatever reason. Apple is realistically not going to use Ogg Theora or WebM but they at least could not put their h.264 videos inside QuickTime containers.

Even if they insist on using a .mov container it is possible to view those files in, for example, Chrome. Apple, in fact, does just that on their public facing pages (a current example: http://www.apple.com/macosx/whats-new/#video-lion). Same markup, same type of file, and it all works in Chrome (and maybe even other browsers).

It just makes no sense.

Except Apple is a hardware-company who wants you to buy a Mac and will use every occasion they can find to try to push you towards that goal.

They once almost had me, but when I found that the MBP with "similar" specs to my Dell (half-size SSD, Core2 instead of Core i5, no full-HD display unless I got the BIG clunky models, no built-in 3G what so ever, etc etc) cost almost 100% more, I decided "fuck no".

I've had an iPhone, but I'm still not infected with the Mac-disease. Thank god. It seems to get expensive quickly.

And with that kind of markup (almost 100% for inferior stuff !?!?) it makes very much sense that they want you to buy their hardware.

Edit: I know you guys love your Macs. I don't care. My point is that Apple has insane margins on their sales which noone else has. In that regard, them trying to push sales as much as possible shouldn't be a considered a "troll-comment", like the voting so far seems to indicate. Jeez.

Developers already have Macs (it's the only way to develop for OS X and iOS), all this does is inconvenience them. Worst case scenario: They have to start up Safari. Annoying but doable.

If you are not a OS X or iOS developer, don't have a Mac# and still want to watch the videos (they are really not targeted at you, though) you have to install iTunes. However horrible iTunes might be, I can't imagine a scenario where someone prefers buying a Mac to installing iTunes.

This is stupidity on Apple’s part, not evilness.

(To help ease your confusion with regard to Mac buyers let me just tell you that not everyone determines value like you do. Think of that whenever you are confused why someone does not or does buy something.)

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# You also need some way to run Windows.

Why no specific model number? AFAIK, Dell's Adamo with "similar" specs to MBA ended up being more expensive than Macbook Air.

Really. Mentioning model number wouldn't really be much use, but here is what I have now: A Dell Studio XPS Laptop with 256GB SSD, 4GB ram, 2.4GHz Core i5 dual-core CPU, 15.6" 1920x1080 LED display, built-in bluetooth, 802.11n wifi and the very important 3G module.

The MBP offer I got for a 70% higher price was: 128GB SSD, 4GB ram, 2.4GHz Core2 Duo CPU, a sub-HD LCD display. For full HD I had to go almost up to an almost 20" "laptop". Wth. And it still wouldn't be a LED-screen. Built-in 3G module is not an option and I would be forced to carry around a stupid dongle for internet access. Screw that.

Anyway: The MBP has 1. better casing, 2. an inferior last-gen CPU, 3. an inferior capacity drive, 4. no built-in 3G option, 5. an inferior low-contrast, low-DPI screen. And it costs 70% more. I'm not paying that much for better casing and ability to run OSX in a supported state. No way.

* The current MBP lineup now may be different but that was what I was offered when I went out shopping and ended up with this laptop. The price difference is very, very clear. The MBP is only an option for those already bitten by Mac-addiction.

Just to be upfront about the prices offered: The Dell-option just below 14000 NOK (Google it). The Apple-option: slightly above 23000 NOK. Not even a real question at that point.

Presuming you're asking this question in general, not to fullsailor specifically, yes you can.

> "You need to use Safari to view this video." Grr.

Tried changing your browser agent? (if possible)

If you're using Windows, you can view probably the view the videos in iTunes (assuming you're a registered developer). I downloaded videos from the 2010 set that way.

This years set is entirely downloadable to iTunes as well. On the left sidebar, there is a "View all in iTunes" link shaped as a button that will redirect you to login if need be, and then open the iTunes U Apple Developer page where you can download them all to be local to your iTunes library.

You can watch the sessions on Windows in iTunes.

They also have the slides up in PDF format, if you don't want to watch the videos, or just want to skim.

(Caveat: Some of the slides are very screwed up though either due to the iPad or the Keynote conversion process. Overlapping unreadable text and such.)

Can someone recommend any particularly awesome ones?

Has anyone been able to find the sample code to go with these?

You'll find sample code in the iOS and Mac Developer Libraries. The prerelease libraries can be found at:

http://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/ios/navigation...

http://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/mac/navigation...

(Drop the "/prerelease" to get the publicly available, non-NDAd libraries.)

Thanks, but I was actually thinking of the package of sample code specifically for the demos in the videos, rather than the general sample code collection. For last year's videos you could actually download an image containing the code for all of the demos.

I think it's great and a big improvement over what used to happen (you had to either attend WWDC or pay astronomical amounts of money) but I still don't get why Apple insists on putting any kind of barrier between developers and information on how to develop on Apple's platform.

Microsoft makes the talks from their conferences, like PDC, freely available few days after the conference.

Google goes even further by live streaming some of the talks (as in this year's Google I/O conference).

Apple can't seem to break free from their "top secret, control freak" approach even when it doesn't seem to make any sense.

What do you mean? All of the WWDC videos are available for free today, less than two weeks after the end of the conference.

OTOH, I am now in the odd situation where I can view the videos about iOS 5 as a free account developer, but I can't view any of the web pages: "You must be enrolled in the iOS Developer Standard or Enterprise Program to access the development resources for iOS SDK beta."

They are not freely available as in: first you have to register with Apple as a developer and you can only view them after you log in with your developer account.

I'm not even sure if they are free. There used to be a way to become register developer for free, at the lowest tier, but didn't Apple change the rules in the last year or so and you have to pay $99/year for mac developer program and $99/year for iOS developer program, so to access all the videos you actually have to pay $200/year?

Yes, it's terrible that Apple wants you to register for free to download the videos about developing for their platforms from their site; they owe it to you to provide the videos without a login, which is indeed free.

All of the videos are available without paying Apple anything.

There's still a free tier; and all of the videos are accessible to those who are not members of the paid programs (but are registered under the free one).

> to access all the videos you actually have to pay $200/year?

No. To access all the videos you actually have to pay $0, same as last year.

The $99 registration fee is not for the videos (that's for app store distribution, access to the betas, restricted documentation, etc). You can register for free at http://developer.apple.com/programs/register/ and that'll give you access to the WWDC session videos.

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