WWDC 2012: The Liveblogs Recap

If you were on Twitter today, your feed was most likely overflowing with information from Apple's 2012 Worldwide Developers Conference. Known more commonly by its abbreviation, WWDC, the annual conference is Apple's time to show off its new software and technology aimed at developers. Yet while the initial target audience may be developers, it has grown to anyone who is an Apple fan. Any news outlet or blog worth its salt that writes about technology was covering WWDC. Since you can expect any number of write ups from these other sites on all the new features announced, I wanted to focus on how they covered the conference. Like most people, I wasn't able to make it to California to attend the conference so I had to rely on liveblogs for my information. It wasn't hard to find one to watch -- almost every tech site and blog I read had one. But they varied in some key ways: Mainly technique and if they were more photo or text-based. Here's a quick recap of my favorite liveblogs covering WWDC 2012. Best Overall: The Verge If I had to recommend one liveblog to watch during WWDC, it would have been the one from the team at The Verge. The liveblog was always auto refreshing -- a big factor for me since I didn't want to waste time to hit refresh myself and miss something. It also had a great mix of text with brief insights and beautiful, huge photos clearly showcasing amazing images of Apple's new features. Some other nice features: The conference's "big" announcements were listed the top of the liveblog. On the side, were some liveblog tips, such as a reminder that the blog would auto refresh. The Verge's liveblog was the closest I felt to actually listening to WWDC in person. Best Overall Runner Up: Gdgt Journalist and Twitter friend Josh Stearns tweeted Gdgt to me as a recommendation and I have to say, it was really good. Similar to The Verge, the Gdgt Live liveblog auto refreshed and had lots of clear pictures with a good amount of text. I had never visited the site before but its associated with parent company also owns ReadWriteWeb, so you know the content will be top-notch. [caption id="attachment_13661" align="aligncenter" width="553" caption="The pop up ad that wouldn't go away."][/caption] My main problem with the liveblog was that a pop up ad kept on popping up, ruining my experience. To make it worse, it was also a video ad so the sound not only bothered me but anyone else in the room since I wasn't wearing headphones. Even when I tried to set up an account with Gdgt Live, the ad still appeared. Stearns said he didn't have this problem so I'm not sure why I did. Best Minimal Liveblog: MacRumors If all you wanted was a transcript of what different speakers were saying during WWDC, MacRumors was the place to go. Heavy on the text and very light on the pictures, this liveblog was the place for diehard fans to go. The liveblog focused on what was being said -- which really is the most important part. The specs, the new iOS, etc. took center stage here. I was so engrossed in reading that it took me at least 20 minutes to realize the liveblog had pictures on the righthand side. Nicest Design: Engadget Engadget blew me away with its liveblog's design. Pictures from the event scrolled on top of the page in what they called a "media bar." The text was connected to pictures, so as you go through the pictures, you see the appropriate text. Acknowledging that this feature may irritate some readers, there was also an option to shut it off. Although the site said it was on auto refresh, I still had some problems with it, causing me to hit the refresh button more than once. Not a big deal but it did make me leave the liveblog to go to another one where that wasn't a problem. The Fastest: Ars Technica Another person on Twitter recommended I take a look at Ars Technica's liveblog so I did. And boy, are its reporters fast. With lightning speed, Jacqui Cheng had updates up on the liveblog. As soon as a feature was out of Tim Cook's mouth, it was up on the blog -- and I didn't notice any errors. The site was very dark -- an all black background -- and it was about two-thirds text with the rest being photos. Once more, we had a liveblog to go to if you are a developer and care more about what is being announced versus how the presentations look. Since I like seeing the presentations, I was more interested in a blog with larger images. But that's just my personal choice. Of course, there were a ton of other liveblogs from a variety of great news organizations covering WWDC. I know The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal both had ones as well as Mashable and a slew of others. The ones recapped above are those I had time to review during the conference. How did you hear about news coming out of WWDC? If you watched a liveblog, which was your favorite?

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WWDC 2012: The Liveblogs Recap

Elana Zak

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Elana Zak