The next big thing in email is here! I haven't been this excited about email since Gmail.

My favorite features?

• ability to classify unimportant emails into The Feed
• ability to merge different email into your own threads
• ability to rename emails, threads
• permalinks for each email, email thread, and person
• enable/disable notifications on the per thread or per person basis
• ability to add stickies to emails and threads
• ability add Notes to Self in emails and threads

And as a web developer, this is by far my favorite web app ever. In a world where React and full-on javascript apps have taken over the internet, this is a refreshing take on static HTML with just the right amount of javascript to feel delightful and efficient.

Here's a quick rundown of my favorite updates announced at Apple's annual WWDC.

tvOS

• Xbox One and PS4 controller support for games

watchOS 6

• watchOS App Store => Apple Watch Independence!
• streaming support
• menstrual cycle tracking

iOS 13

• system-wide dark mode
• built-in swipe typing
• Maps: favorites, collections, street view
• up to 30% faster Face ID
• up to 2x faster app launch
• Sign in with Apple button — privacy-focused version of "Sign in with Facebook/Twitter/Google"
• HomeKit Secure Video — store videos from HomeKit cameras to iCloud
• HomeKit support for routers
• iMessage Profiles — add your own display name, avatar. Only people in your contacts can see this.
• Memoji — makeup, hats, piercings
• Memoji stickers — automatically turns your memoji into a sticker pack with all standard emoji facial expressions
• Video editing in Photos app
• dual iCloud accounts per device (for personal and work)
• smaller volume HUD — changing volume doesn't bring the stupid dialog in the middle of the screen

Siri

• auto-announce messages on AirPods
• audio sharing — play your music on a friend's AirPods
• Music HandOff to HomePod — music on your iPhone will continue on your HomePod with a physical tap
• live radio stations on HomePod
• Siri Shortcut Events — automatically run shortcuts based on an event
• Voice ID for HomePod => multi-user support

iPadOS 13

• multiple windows for the same app
• easily switching Slide Over apps
• App Exposé
• Safari: download manager
• third-party font management
• built in Zip/Unzip files
• three-finger swipe gesture to undo/redo
• mouse support (hidden as accessibility option)
• iCloud Folder Sharing
• network drives support in Files app
• USB/SD drives support in Files app

Mac Pro

• starts at $5,999
• $4,999 - $5,999 for 32" monitor
• $999 for monitor stand (LOL)

macOS Catalina

• Project Catalyst and SwiftUI— an easy way for developers to make apps for ALL of Apple's platforms! The future of the Apple ecosystem.
• SideCar — wirelessly use your iPad as a second monitor
• full voice control
• Find My - combines Find My iPhone, Find My Friends into one app. WORKS WITH OFFLINE DEVICES
• Activation Lock — like iOS, if someone steals your MacBook, you can lock it down so they cannot format your computer.
• approve with Apple Watch — like Unlock with Apple Watch but for EVERYTHING

ARKit 3

• people inclusion — people are detected in real-time and AR elements can visibly work around people
• motion capture for people

Okay, the Samsung Galaxy Fold made me feel like foldable phones were 5-6 years away from going mainstream (because of price and hardware bulkiness).

But now this foldable Huawei Mate X makes me feel like it's 4-5 years away.

Still bullish on AR glasses, but foldables will go mainstream much sooner.

Josh Constine:

Facebook promised Instagram autonomy, but reduced it over time leading to today’s bombshell revelation. Eight years after launching Instagram and six years after selling it to Facebook, Instagram co-founders CEO Kevin Systrom and CTO Mike Krieger are leaving the company, according to The New York Times. The founders apparently did not give a reason for their departure when they informed the company today that they’re resigning and that they’ll depart in the next few weeks.

But according to TechCrunch’s sources, tension had mounted this year between Instagram and Facebook’s leadership regarding Instagram’s autonomy. Facebook had agreed to let it run independently as part of the acquisition deal. But in May, Instagram’s beloved VP of Product Kevin Weil moved to Facebook’s new blockchain team and was replaced by former VP of Facebook News Feed Adam Mosseri — a member of Zuckerberg’s inner circle.

“Adam is a very strong-willed individual” said a source, and “Chris [Cox, Facebook’s Chief Product Officer] and Kevin never really got along.” Between the two, they could pressure Instagram to do more for Facebook — which was important given the impact of scandals and dwindling teen usage on Facebook’s brand. “When Chris started taking initiative and with Adam as more of the old-school in-crowd of Facebook, it was clear that it wasn’t going to be pleasant. I saw that this guy [Systrom] is gonna get squeezed.”

This makes me so so so sad. Kevin Systrom is one of my tech idols. He was a marketer at Google who had a cool idea, taught himself programming so he could build a prototype, and kept working on it until it gained traction. He's one of my favorite product guys who built my favorite social media community.

In a time when Facebook & Twitter have become nothing more than viral, political, and cyberbullying shit-shows, Instagram has been the one place for keeping tabs on friends and spreading happiness.

I'm gonna miss it.

MG Siegler on The $1,500 iPhone, the next (last?) stop on the march towards 'Apple Prime':

It just makes sense. I do believe this year may be an aforementioned test of Apple’s customers willingness to pay insanely high prices for a phone. I can’t see the trend continuing with the $2,000 iPhone. But actually, I can! It will just be obfuscated by monthly payments. Just as it used to be in the days of carrier subsidies! But this time, such payments will be going directly to Apple.

Again, this is already happening for those of us on the iPhone Upgrade Program. And it means there is no $1,500 iPhone, it’s more like a $60/month iPhone. And you can easily talk yourself into it because thanks to being eligible for a yearly upgrade to the latest iPhone, you’re never paying full price for a device. Instead, if you do the math (which most won’t), you’re paying roughly half the cost for the top-of-the-line model over that year.

Of course, you’re also paying Apple in perpetuity! And this monthly bill is only going to go up as they bake in AppleCare (which they do), theft protection (new this year!), and eventually all sorts of other goodies: iCloud storage, Apple Music, Apple Television (the service, not the box), etc.

This is how Apple truly becomes a services business. And it’s happening in front of our very eyes.

This is exactly what makes Amazon Prime so successful — start with a killer service, charge a monthly fee, constantly add new value and perks to make it impossible for subscribers to leave, and slowly raise the price.

I can absolutely see Apple working towards this.

I’m not sure when Apple realized and started executing upon this gradual price increase strategy. My best guess is just after 2011, when the top-of-the-line price started inching upwards again. Perhaps (almost certainly?) not coincidentally, this was the same year they let carriers subsidize old models down to $0. Apple let the lowest iPhone hit the bottom in order to set the top-of-the-line on a trajectory towards the stratosphere.

And it worked, rather beautifully. Now, I believe, the $1,500 iPhone offers a glimpse into Apple’s next phase. The $99/month, forever, iPhone.

iPhone forever.