By Graham K. Rogers

Technology alone is not enough. Technology must intersect with the liberal arts and the humanities, to create new ideas and experiences that push society forward. This summer we bring together thousands of brilliant minds representing many diverse perspectives, passions, and talents to help us change the world (WWDC).

Apple has announced that its 2017 World Wide Developers Conference is to take place from 5 to 9 June this year. One of the reasons for the unusually early announcement is that the venue is changed from the Moscone Center in San Francisco to San Jose and the McEnery Convention Center, where Apple developers from around the world learn about Apple's platform technologies, from programming languages like Swift to developer APIs like Siri Kit, HomeKit, HealthKit and CarPlay.

As usual there will be in-depth technical sessions, hands-on labs, consultations with Apple experts, get-togethers, special events, as well as guest speakers. I note that in the announcement, there is no mention of macOS.

One of the key reasons for the change is that San Jose is located minutes from Apple's new headquarters in Cupertino and it is possible that some of those attending the Conference will be able to visit the new "spaceship" campus. Being so close to Cupertino makes it more convenient for the hundreds of Apple personnel who are usually in attendance at WWDC, who will not need to take the longer trek into San Francisco each day.

The information from Apple states that "Developers will have the opportunity to apply for tickets this spring," but on the WWDC page this is shown as starting 10:00am (PDT) 27 March. Those who miss out on tickets will be able, as always to view the events, live-streamed, and on the WWDC app for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. He is now continuing that in the Bangkok Post supplement, Life. He can be followed on Twitter (@extensions_th)