iTunes 11 is here and is really FAST.
It's FAST
iTunes is fast now. Which is crazy. iTunes hasn't been fast in years. But iTunes 11 feels legitimately lightweight and like something you wouldn't mind running all the time. That's a huge change. Search, scrolling, anything—in any view—is all lightning quick now.
Your Library Sidebar Is Gone
One of the biggest changes is how you get around in your Library. The old left-hand bar with Music, Movies, Podcasts, etc. is gone, replaced with a drop down in the top left of the app. The change frees up loads of screen space for more information, but also makes navigating to different forms of media slightly harder, so it's a trade-off. If you decide it's not worth the trade, you can get it back by clicking on View > Show Sidebar. You can get the status bar on the bottom back
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Parallels Desktop 8 for Mac Released
Parallels Desktop 8 for Mac has just been released today as an upgrade for current users, and available to the general public for purchase on Tuesday (9/4).
New and enhanced features of Parallels Desktop 8 make life even better for Mac lovers. Bringing together the newest versions of the world’s two most popular operating systems – OS X and Windows – opens up a world of opportunity by allowing users to choose how they want Mac and Windows to collaborate. Here is a quick breakdown of how Parallels Desktop 8 integrates the cutting edge features within Mountain Lion and Windows 8:
Vmware Fusion 5 Released And it Packs Over 70 New Features.
www.tech-sanity.com
VMware -- which specialises in virtualization and cloud infrastructure -- has announced VMware Fusion 5, which boasts over 70 new features for a "Windows on Mac" experience. In addition, VMware is introducing VMware Fusion 5 Professional with new capabilities designed to improve the way businesses and IT deliver applications to users on Macs and PCs.
"While the number of users adopting Macs continue to rise, the business environment is still dominated by Windows," says Jason Joel, director, personal products, VMware. "VMware Fusion 5 and Fusion 5 Professional build upon our award-winning platform, adding new capabilities that are in demand among both individual and professional users
Leveraging our experience with consumer and enterprise end-users, we believe this new version of the product is the best solution on the market for users who want to run Windows on Mac simultaneously."
The VMware Fusion 5 product family offers a way to run Windows on a Mac for individual or business use. VMware Fusion 5 has been revamped to take advantage of new technologies only available in Mountain Lion, Windows 8 and the latest Macs.
VMware -- which specialises in virtualization and cloud infrastructure -- has announced VMware Fusion 5, which boasts over 70 new features for a "Windows on Mac" experience. In addition, VMware is introducing VMware Fusion 5 Professional with new capabilities designed to improve the way businesses and IT deliver applications to users on Macs and PCs.
"While the number of users adopting Macs continue to rise, the business environment is still dominated by Windows," says Jason Joel, director, personal products, VMware. "VMware Fusion 5 and Fusion 5 Professional build upon our award-winning platform, adding new capabilities that are in demand among both individual and professional users
Leveraging our experience with consumer and enterprise end-users, we believe this new version of the product is the best solution on the market for users who want to run Windows on Mac simultaneously."
The VMware Fusion 5 product family offers a way to run Windows on a Mac for individual or business use. VMware Fusion 5 has been revamped to take advantage of new technologies only available in Mountain Lion, Windows 8 and the latest Macs.
Commandline Junkies new tools in Mountain Lion.
www.tech-sanity.com
Terminal junkies, Mountain Lion has brought some new command-line utilities. Perhaps the most notable is fdesetup, which Apple explains briefly: "fdesetup allows third-party management tools to enable FileVault, determine encryption status, capture and manage recovery keys, and add users to a FileVault-encrypted system as well as synchronize directory-based user authentication credentials with the local credentials for FileVault access."
Apple provides a 'man' page for fdsetup, but if you want more information about it, Rich Trouton at Der Flounder has a very thorough walk-through with a bunch of screenshots and excellent explanations. I'm definitely keeping this one in Pinboard for the inevitable day when I want or need to use fdsetup. I'm also glad to have a more low-level tool for working with FileVault.
I had written previously about the "hoops" which were necessary to disable certain users from being able to unlock the computer with FileVault. That process is now a lot easier.
But wait, there's more!
Patrix over at the Ask Different blog discovered several other new command-line utilities. Some of them are generic Unix utilities (pgrep and pkill) but there are also some OS X specific ones, including:
◦ caffeinate – prevent the system from sleeping on behalf of a utility
◦ serverinfo – determine server status (is this OS X Server, and, if so, are these things enabled)
◦ sharing – create share points for AFP, FTP and SMB services
◦ tccutil – manage the privacy database
See the original article for more details. Of these, caffeinate seems like the most interesting. I have used Caffeine, the free app from Lighthead Software, to keep my Mac awake at times, but being able to do it in shell scripts could definitely come in handy.
Still missing your favorite Unix utility?
If Mountain Lion still doesn't have your favorite utility, don't forget you have other options. I have used Rudix when I wanted precompiled binaries, and Homebrew when I want to make my own. Mostly these days I stick with Homebrew, which is regularly updated by a bunch of people, versus Rudix which has a smaller library and seems to be mostly the labor of love of one developer.
Others may prefer Fink or MacPorts; I have used both in the past but haven't kept up with them recently. Both of them appear to have been updated for Mountain Lion.
Terminal junkies, Mountain Lion has brought some new command-line utilities. Perhaps the most notable is fdesetup, which Apple explains briefly: "fdesetup allows third-party management tools to enable FileVault, determine encryption status, capture and manage recovery keys, and add users to a FileVault-encrypted system as well as synchronize directory-based user authentication credentials with the local credentials for FileVault access."
Apple provides a 'man' page for fdsetup, but if you want more information about it, Rich Trouton at Der Flounder has a very thorough walk-through with a bunch of screenshots and excellent explanations. I'm definitely keeping this one in Pinboard for the inevitable day when I want or need to use fdsetup. I'm also glad to have a more low-level tool for working with FileVault.
I had written previously about the "hoops" which were necessary to disable certain users from being able to unlock the computer with FileVault. That process is now a lot easier.
But wait, there's more!
Patrix over at the Ask Different blog discovered several other new command-line utilities. Some of them are generic Unix utilities (pgrep and pkill) but there are also some OS X specific ones, including:
◦ caffeinate – prevent the system from sleeping on behalf of a utility
◦ serverinfo – determine server status (is this OS X Server, and, if so, are these things enabled)
◦ sharing – create share points for AFP, FTP and SMB services
◦ tccutil – manage the privacy database
See the original article for more details. Of these, caffeinate seems like the most interesting. I have used Caffeine, the free app from Lighthead Software, to keep my Mac awake at times, but being able to do it in shell scripts could definitely come in handy.
Still missing your favorite Unix utility?
If Mountain Lion still doesn't have your favorite utility, don't forget you have other options. I have used Rudix when I wanted precompiled binaries, and Homebrew when I want to make my own. Mostly these days I stick with Homebrew, which is regularly updated by a bunch of people, versus Rudix which has a smaller library and seems to be mostly the labor of love of one developer.
Others may prefer Fink or MacPorts; I have used both in the past but haven't kept up with them recently. Both of them appear to have been updated for Mountain Lion.
Get A Thunderbolt Hackintosh! Z77X-UP5 TH Motherboard with Thunderbolt
Sun, Jul 29 2012 01:40
| OSX, Hackintosh, Apple
www.tech-sanity.com
Found this great read for all you Hackintosh people. Complete with Video
A quick look at a new motherboard from Gigabyte that's well suited for Hackintosh builders. The Z77X-UP5 TH includes two 10 Gb/second Thunderbolt ports. This video look at Apple's Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet adapter and the 12 TB Pegasus Thunderbolt RAID on this Ivy Bridge Hackintosh.
Found this great read for all you Hackintosh people. Complete with Video
A quick look at a new motherboard from Gigabyte that's well suited for Hackintosh builders. The Z77X-UP5 TH includes two 10 Gb/second Thunderbolt ports. This video look at Apple's Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet adapter and the 12 TB Pegasus Thunderbolt RAID on this Ivy Bridge Hackintosh.
Mountain Lion’s New File System by oliver reichenstein
www.tech-sanity.com
Here is a very interesting article on the "new" file system in Mountain Lion. It's a bit of a brain bender but if you read right through it you'll get the idea.
It's not forcing you to work a new way at all as I first though but the in App structure, like IOS, is quite an interesting idea. Just read on and you'll see what Oliver has discovered. Make sure you read it right through to the end to really get it and how theres some interesting logic here.
Apple has been working on its file system and with iOS it had almost killed the concept of folders — before reintroducing them with a peculiar restriction: only one level! With Mountain Lion it brings its one folder level logic to OSX (no again this is not forced). What could be the reason for such a restrictive measure?
Classic folder systems don’t perform too well. One reason is that organizing folders is engaging in the tiring discipline of information architecture. Information architecture is hard brain work. Just like a chess problem, it seems obvious once done, but takes considerable mental energy to figure out a clear and simple information architecture. And mainly, you just don’t want to do it all the time. Tying folders (sort of) to an app and reducing them to one level could solve a lot of these problems.
Folders-in-folders don’t work
The folder system paradigm is a geeky concept. Geeks built it because geeks need it. Geeks organize files all day long. Geeks don’t know and don’t really care how much their systems suck for other people. Geeks do not realize that for most people organizing documents within an operating system next to System files and applications feels like a complicated and maybe even dangerous business. Remember that autoexec.bat file?
Here is a very interesting article on the "new" file system in Mountain Lion. It's a bit of a brain bender but if you read right through it you'll get the idea.
It's not forcing you to work a new way at all as I first though but the in App structure, like IOS, is quite an interesting idea. Just read on and you'll see what Oliver has discovered. Make sure you read it right through to the end to really get it and how theres some interesting logic here.
Apple has been working on its file system and with iOS it had almost killed the concept of folders — before reintroducing them with a peculiar restriction: only one level! With Mountain Lion it brings its one folder level logic to OSX (no again this is not forced). What could be the reason for such a restrictive measure?
Classic folder systems don’t perform too well. One reason is that organizing folders is engaging in the tiring discipline of information architecture. Information architecture is hard brain work. Just like a chess problem, it seems obvious once done, but takes considerable mental energy to figure out a clear and simple information architecture. And mainly, you just don’t want to do it all the time. Tying folders (sort of) to an app and reducing them to one level could solve a lot of these problems.
Folders-in-folders don’t work
The folder system paradigm is a geeky concept. Geeks built it because geeks need it. Geeks organize files all day long. Geeks don’t know and don’t really care how much their systems suck for other people. Geeks do not realize that for most people organizing documents within an operating system next to System files and applications feels like a complicated and maybe even dangerous business. Remember that autoexec.bat file?
Mountain Lion Tweaks, Niggles and a few adjustments to help
www.tech-sanity.com
I now have Mountain Lion successfully installed on 2 systems (I haven't tackled my Hackintosh yet and probably won't for a while)
Things have gone well, theres been the odd head scratch and then realisations of whats going on. Most things are great but there are a few niggles and one I haven't quite figured out yet. Ill start with it.
I now have Mountain Lion successfully installed on 2 systems (I haven't tackled my Hackintosh yet and probably won't for a while)
Things have gone well, theres been the odd head scratch and then realisations of whats going on. Most things are great but there are a few niggles and one I haven't quite figured out yet. Ill start with it.
Mountain Lion's Notification Center And How To Get It Working Your Way.
www.tech-sanity.com
Notifications can be tweaked on Mountain Lion to suit most any workflow.
Getting Mountain Lion's new system-wide notifications to work best for your own needs may take a little adjusting. Notification Center gives developers an (official) standardized way to send notifications to the user, but also a way to consolidate and control those notifications. We show you how to make the most of what this first desktop incarnation of Notification Center offers.
Apple provides system-wide notification APIs to developers, but it is up to them to support it. Apple has naturally included support in its own apps, such as Mail, Messages, and Reminders; Safari also supports notifications sent from webpages using the Web Notifications API. Some Twitter clients, such as the Tweetbot alpha, support notifications, but alas, the languishing official Twitter client does not. Other applications, such as Outlook 2011, still rely on their own notification system. Plenty of others rely on Growl, a popular third-party OS X notification system that thankfully can still run on Mountain Lion.
Taking control
Notifications can be tweaked on Mountain Lion to suit most any workflow.
Getting Mountain Lion's new system-wide notifications to work best for your own needs may take a little adjusting. Notification Center gives developers an (official) standardized way to send notifications to the user, but also a way to consolidate and control those notifications. We show you how to make the most of what this first desktop incarnation of Notification Center offers.
Apple provides system-wide notification APIs to developers, but it is up to them to support it. Apple has naturally included support in its own apps, such as Mail, Messages, and Reminders; Safari also supports notifications sent from webpages using the Web Notifications API. Some Twitter clients, such as the Tweetbot alpha, support notifications, but alas, the languishing official Twitter client does not. Other applications, such as Outlook 2011, still rely on their own notification system. Plenty of others rely on Growl, a popular third-party OS X notification system that thankfully can still run on Mountain Lion.
Taking control
Apple releases Power Nap-enabling firmware updates for recent MacBooks
www.tech-sanity.com
With Mountain Lion, Apple includes a Power Nap feature that allows recent SSD-equipped MacBooks to perform certain jobs while asleep, including backing up to Time Machine, checking for email messages, and performing some iCloud synchronization tasks. But owners of some MacBook Airs (2011 or newer) and retina display MacBook Pro models found Power Nap conspicuous in its absence when Mountain Lion was first released.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Apple made a firmware update for these Macs—called MacBook Air SMC Firmware Update 1.5 for the MacBook Air models—available via Software Update. Once you download the update, you just double-click it to run it. You’ll be prompted to restart your Mac and then the update will be applied. On a 2012 13-inch MacBook Air that process took a couple of seconds.
To make sure the update was applied correctly, launch System Preferences, select the Energy preference, and look for the Enable Power Nap option in the resulting window.
With Mountain Lion, Apple includes a Power Nap feature that allows recent SSD-equipped MacBooks to perform certain jobs while asleep, including backing up to Time Machine, checking for email messages, and performing some iCloud synchronization tasks. But owners of some MacBook Airs (2011 or newer) and retina display MacBook Pro models found Power Nap conspicuous in its absence when Mountain Lion was first released.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Apple made a firmware update for these Macs—called MacBook Air SMC Firmware Update 1.5 for the MacBook Air models—available via Software Update. Once you download the update, you just double-click it to run it. You’ll be prompted to restart your Mac and then the update will be applied. On a 2012 13-inch MacBook Air that process took a couple of seconds.
To make sure the update was applied correctly, launch System Preferences, select the Energy preference, and look for the Enable Power Nap option in the resulting window.
Apple Releases Mountain Lion review and details.
www.tech-sanity.com
Apple Released Mountain Lion OS X 10.8 today. It's the the Little Details that can make a big difference and here are some of them
A lot goes into a major update to an operating system. Rather than write yet another comprehensive review we want to touch on features and shortcuts that you might not easily encounter on your own — or that we think are so cool they deserve mention.
Apple Released Mountain Lion OS X 10.8 today. It's the the Little Details that can make a big difference and here are some of them
A lot goes into a major update to an operating system. Rather than write yet another comprehensive review we want to touch on features and shortcuts that you might not easily encounter on your own — or that we think are so cool they deserve mention.
Apple to ship Mountain Lion on 25th July (US)
www.tech-sanity.com
Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company would ship Mountain Lion, the latest version of its OS X operating system, starting Wednesday.
COMPLETE COVERAGE
OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)
Mountain Lion features you may have missed … Read on ….
Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company would ship Mountain Lion, the latest version of its OS X operating system, starting Wednesday.
COMPLETE COVERAGE
OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)
Mountain Lion features you may have missed … Read on ….
Microsoft backtracks on Macs and Office 365
www.tech-sanity.com
Microsoft Office for Mac will be offered 'at no additional cost' to subscribers of Office 365 pay-as-you-go plans
Computerworld - Saying that a spokeswoman "misunderstood" questions from Computerworld, Microsoft today backtracked and confirmed that Mac owners who subscribe to the upcoming Office 365 Home Premium will be able to acquire Office for Mac 2011 as part of their subscription plan.
Previously, the company had said that Mac owners would have to purchase Office for Mac 2011 separately -- at list prices starting at $120 -- but could link a copy of the suite to their Office 365 subscription plan for some basic file sharing functionality. Read on …………….
Microsoft Office for Mac will be offered 'at no additional cost' to subscribers of Office 365 pay-as-you-go plans
Computerworld - Saying that a spokeswoman "misunderstood" questions from Computerworld, Microsoft today backtracked and confirmed that Mac owners who subscribe to the upcoming Office 365 Home Premium will be able to acquire Office for Mac 2011 as part of their subscription plan.
Previously, the company had said that Mac owners would have to purchase Office for Mac 2011 separately -- at list prices starting at $120 -- but could link a copy of the suite to their Office 365 subscription plan for some basic file sharing functionality. Read on …………….
Apple unveils next generation MacBook Pro with Retina display; updates other MacBook models
www.tech-sanity.com
Along with updating the existing MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models, Apple has reinvented the MacBook Pro with a Retina display, as announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference keynote on Monday.
The standout feature of the Retina-display model is the brand-new, high-density display. The new MacBook Pro's 15.4-inch (diagonal) screen has four times the number of pixels as the previous model at 2880 (horizontal) by 1800 (vertical), for a total of 5,184,000 pixels or 220 pixels per inch.
Despite its glossy screen, it has a 178-degree wide viewing angle, has 75 percent less reflection, and 29 percent higher contrast than the previous generation, Apple says. The company says it was able to achieve this reduction in glare by building the layers of the display into the laptop’s Unibody frame, eliminating the need for a separate cover of glass.
The laptop has a 2.3GHz quad-core i7 processor with 8GB of 1600MHz RAM (upgradeable to up to 16GB), a GeForce GT 650M graphics processor with 1GB of VRAM, and 256GB of flash storage.
The new 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display weighs 4.46 pounds, heavier than a MacBook Air, but similar in weight to the 13-inch MacBook Pro. Like the new Air, it has no optical drive. Closed, it’s 0.71 inch thick—about as thick as the base of the old MacBook Pro but about as thin as an Air. Unlike the current wedge-shape of the MacBook Air, this laptop has a uniform thickness.
The new MacBook Pro with Retina display offers up to seven hours of battery life and 30 days of standby. Apple noted that the battery cells take up much of the interior. Built around flash storage, users can opt (when ordering) to equip the new MacBook Pro with up to 768GB of internal flash storage. It also features the fastest graphics on a Mac laptop—Nvidia GeForce GT 650M.
The laptop also has 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0. a FaceTime HD camera, and dual microphones using beam-forming technology. There’s also the obligatory glass Multi-Touch trackpad and backlit keyboard.
It also features an SD-card slot, HDMI out, two USB3/USB2 ports (one on each side), two Thunderbolt ports, and a headphone port. Apple also announced Thunderbolt-to-FireWire 800 and Thunderbolt-to-Gigabit ethernet adapters. The new MacBook Pro also ships with a new, thinner MagSafe 2 power port.
Apple spaced the fan blades asymmetrically so that the fan noise is not a uniform sound, but more dispersed. The laptops is also environmentally friendly, with Energy Star 5.2 certification, and is arsenic-free, BFR-free, and PVC-free. It is also highly recyclable, and has mercury-free glass.
Prices for the new MacBook Pro with Retina display start at $2199. It’s available immediately.
Updates to non-Retina MacBook Pro models
In addition to introducing the MacBook Pro with Retina display, Apple has updated the standard MacBook Pro line.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro is now available with a 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of memory and 500GB hard drive starting at $1199; and with a 2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of memory, and a 750GB hard drive starting at $1499.
The 15-inch MacBook Pro is available with a 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 4GB of memory, Intel HD Graphics 4000, Nvidia GeForce GT 650M graphics, and a 500GB hard drive starting at $1799; and with a 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of memory, Intel HD Graphics 4000, Nvidia GeForce GT 650M graphics, and a 750GB hard drive starting at $2199. Build-to-order options include faster quad-core processors up to 2.7GHz, additional hard drive capacity up to 1TB, and solid state storage up to 512GB.
Both 13-inch and 15-inch (non-Retina) MacBook Pro models can be upgraded to 16GB of memory, but, oddly, Apple doesn’t offer build-to-order upgrades for the non-Retina models.
There were no announcements regarding the 17-inch MacBook Pro.
Apple’s MacBook Pro release came as the company also updated its MacBook Air lineup with new processors and USB 3.0 integration.
Along with updating the existing MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models, Apple has reinvented the MacBook Pro with a Retina display, as announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference keynote on Monday.
The standout feature of the Retina-display model is the brand-new, high-density display. The new MacBook Pro's 15.4-inch (diagonal) screen has four times the number of pixels as the previous model at 2880 (horizontal) by 1800 (vertical), for a total of 5,184,000 pixels or 220 pixels per inch.
Despite its glossy screen, it has a 178-degree wide viewing angle, has 75 percent less reflection, and 29 percent higher contrast than the previous generation, Apple says. The company says it was able to achieve this reduction in glare by building the layers of the display into the laptop’s Unibody frame, eliminating the need for a separate cover of glass.
The laptop has a 2.3GHz quad-core i7 processor with 8GB of 1600MHz RAM (upgradeable to up to 16GB), a GeForce GT 650M graphics processor with 1GB of VRAM, and 256GB of flash storage.
The new 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display weighs 4.46 pounds, heavier than a MacBook Air, but similar in weight to the 13-inch MacBook Pro. Like the new Air, it has no optical drive. Closed, it’s 0.71 inch thick—about as thick as the base of the old MacBook Pro but about as thin as an Air. Unlike the current wedge-shape of the MacBook Air, this laptop has a uniform thickness.
The new MacBook Pro with Retina display offers up to seven hours of battery life and 30 days of standby. Apple noted that the battery cells take up much of the interior. Built around flash storage, users can opt (when ordering) to equip the new MacBook Pro with up to 768GB of internal flash storage. It also features the fastest graphics on a Mac laptop—Nvidia GeForce GT 650M.
The laptop also has 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0. a FaceTime HD camera, and dual microphones using beam-forming technology. There’s also the obligatory glass Multi-Touch trackpad and backlit keyboard.
It also features an SD-card slot, HDMI out, two USB3/USB2 ports (one on each side), two Thunderbolt ports, and a headphone port. Apple also announced Thunderbolt-to-FireWire 800 and Thunderbolt-to-Gigabit ethernet adapters. The new MacBook Pro also ships with a new, thinner MagSafe 2 power port.
Apple spaced the fan blades asymmetrically so that the fan noise is not a uniform sound, but more dispersed. The laptops is also environmentally friendly, with Energy Star 5.2 certification, and is arsenic-free, BFR-free, and PVC-free. It is also highly recyclable, and has mercury-free glass.
Prices for the new MacBook Pro with Retina display start at $2199. It’s available immediately.
Updates to non-Retina MacBook Pro models
In addition to introducing the MacBook Pro with Retina display, Apple has updated the standard MacBook Pro line.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro is now available with a 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of memory and 500GB hard drive starting at $1199; and with a 2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of memory, and a 750GB hard drive starting at $1499.
The 15-inch MacBook Pro is available with a 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 4GB of memory, Intel HD Graphics 4000, Nvidia GeForce GT 650M graphics, and a 500GB hard drive starting at $1799; and with a 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of memory, Intel HD Graphics 4000, Nvidia GeForce GT 650M graphics, and a 750GB hard drive starting at $2199. Build-to-order options include faster quad-core processors up to 2.7GHz, additional hard drive capacity up to 1TB, and solid state storage up to 512GB.
Both 13-inch and 15-inch (non-Retina) MacBook Pro models can be upgraded to 16GB of memory, but, oddly, Apple doesn’t offer build-to-order upgrades for the non-Retina models.
There were no announcements regarding the 17-inch MacBook Pro.
Apple’s MacBook Pro release came as the company also updated its MacBook Air lineup with new processors and USB 3.0 integration.
MacBook Air gets new processors, adds USB 3.0
www.tech-sanity.com
Apple introduced new Macbook Air models at Monday morning’s WWDC keynote.
The new Airs—which come in 11-inch and 13-inch models—run on Intel’s third-generation Core processor (Ivy Bridge) family: a Core i5 chip in the standard configurations, with a Core i7 processor available as a build-to-order option. The updated laptops ship with 4GB of memory, but you can expand that to 8GB.
The updated MacBook Airs now come with USB 3 in addition to USB 2. There's still a single USB port on each side of the laptop, but each incorporate both standards so you don’t have to think about which one to plug into, according to Apple senior vice president of worldwide product marketing Phil Schiller. A high-speed Thunderbolt port alongside lets you easily connect to external displays and a variety of other peripherals. The 13-inch model also has an SD card slot. Both sizes feature an updated MagSafe 2 power port, which uses the same technology as the original MagSafe port but has been slimmed down for a lower profile.
The MacBook Air’s FaceTime camera has been updated to match the MacBook Pro's FaceTime HD version, offering 720p resolution.
Schiller claimed that the new Air's 1600MHz RAM offers better performance than the memory in the previous generation Air, and the new Intel HD Graphics 4000 offers up to 60 percent faster graphics performance. The new Air also uses a faster SSD (solid-state drive) for storage; Schiller said the new SSDs can provide data-read speeds up to 500MBps, which is up to twice as fast as the SSDs in the previous models.
Configurations and options
The 11-inch MacBook Air features a 1.7GHz dual-core i5 processor and an integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 processor. It comes in a 64GB-SSD configuration for $999 and a 128GB configuration for $1099—that’s $100 less than Apple charged for the previous higher-end 11-inch model. Both 13-inch MacBook Airs got a $100 price cut, too: The 128GB model costs $1199 while the 256GB version costs $1499. Those 13-inch laptops feature a 1.8GHz dual-core i5 processor and 4GB of memory. All Airs feature Bluetooth 4.0, stereo speakers, and an omnidirectional microphone.
Build-to-order options for the MacBook Air include a 2.0GHz Intel Core i7 processor, up to 8GB of 1600MHz DDR3 onboard memory and up to 512GB of flash-memory (SSD) storage.
The 13-inch MacBook Air delivers up to 7 hours of wireless battery life, while the 11-inch MacBook Air provides up to 5 hours, Apple says. Their batteries use advanced chemistry and Adaptive Charging technology to provide up to 1,000 recharges, according to the company.
Availability
The new MacBook Airs ship immediately. They ship with OS X Lion, and starting today, customers who purchase a Mac are eligible for a free copy of Mountain Lion when it becomes available.
Additional technical specifications, configure-to-order options and accessories are available from
Apple introduced new Macbook Air models at Monday morning’s WWDC keynote.
The new Airs—which come in 11-inch and 13-inch models—run on Intel’s third-generation Core processor (Ivy Bridge) family: a Core i5 chip in the standard configurations, with a Core i7 processor available as a build-to-order option. The updated laptops ship with 4GB of memory, but you can expand that to 8GB.
The updated MacBook Airs now come with USB 3 in addition to USB 2. There's still a single USB port on each side of the laptop, but each incorporate both standards so you don’t have to think about which one to plug into, according to Apple senior vice president of worldwide product marketing Phil Schiller. A high-speed Thunderbolt port alongside lets you easily connect to external displays and a variety of other peripherals. The 13-inch model also has an SD card slot. Both sizes feature an updated MagSafe 2 power port, which uses the same technology as the original MagSafe port but has been slimmed down for a lower profile.
The MacBook Air’s FaceTime camera has been updated to match the MacBook Pro's FaceTime HD version, offering 720p resolution.
Schiller claimed that the new Air's 1600MHz RAM offers better performance than the memory in the previous generation Air, and the new Intel HD Graphics 4000 offers up to 60 percent faster graphics performance. The new Air also uses a faster SSD (solid-state drive) for storage; Schiller said the new SSDs can provide data-read speeds up to 500MBps, which is up to twice as fast as the SSDs in the previous models.
Configurations and options
The 11-inch MacBook Air features a 1.7GHz dual-core i5 processor and an integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 processor. It comes in a 64GB-SSD configuration for $999 and a 128GB configuration for $1099—that’s $100 less than Apple charged for the previous higher-end 11-inch model. Both 13-inch MacBook Airs got a $100 price cut, too: The 128GB model costs $1199 while the 256GB version costs $1499. Those 13-inch laptops feature a 1.8GHz dual-core i5 processor and 4GB of memory. All Airs feature Bluetooth 4.0, stereo speakers, and an omnidirectional microphone.
Build-to-order options for the MacBook Air include a 2.0GHz Intel Core i7 processor, up to 8GB of 1600MHz DDR3 onboard memory and up to 512GB of flash-memory (SSD) storage.
The 13-inch MacBook Air delivers up to 7 hours of wireless battery life, while the 11-inch MacBook Air provides up to 5 hours, Apple says. Their batteries use advanced chemistry and Adaptive Charging technology to provide up to 1,000 recharges, according to the company.
Availability
The new MacBook Airs ship immediately. They ship with OS X Lion, and starting today, customers who purchase a Mac are eligible for a free copy of Mountain Lion when it becomes available.
Additional technical specifications, configure-to-order options and accessories are available from
Mountain Lion Info: to ship in July for $20 USD
www.tech-sanity.com
In Monday’s keynote address at its Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple revealed several new tidbits about Mountain Lion—including its ship-date.
Apple’s vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, took the stage to announce that Apple’s newest OS X release will be ready for consumers to download in July. He also chose eight new features to highlight during the keynote, including some—such as Dictation on the Mac and Power Nap—that weren't included in the Mountain Lion preview we saw in February.
iCloud
OS X Lion already integrates with Apple’s iCloud service, but Mountain Lion is taking that integration a step further with Documents in the Cloud. The February demo briefly touched on this feature, showing off integration in Preview; at the keynote, Federighi announced that the cloud data service will now be integrated with other Apple apps (including the iWork suite).
Developers will be able to enable iCloud integration in their own programs (though presumably only those that have been sandboxed) by using a software development kit. Federighi also briefly demonstrated iCloud syncing for Reminders, Notes, and Messages.
Notification Center
Borrowing a card from iOS’s deck, Mountain Lion sports its own Notification Center for apps and alerts. At the keynote, Federighi showed off a new icon for the service along with a Do Not Disturb option and auto-disabling when your Mac is connected to a projector.
Dictation comes to the Mac
No, Mountain Lion users won’t get Siri just yet, but Apple is bringing forth system-wide dictation. It reputedly works anywhere on your Mac that you can type, including third-party apps—even, as Federighi joked, in "Microsoft Word!"—and websites.
Sharing
Mountain Lion’s extended sharing features have been pretty well-documented, and Federighi gave a brief rundown of those during the keynote, mentioning built-in support for Twitter and Flickr sharing anywhere that you can Quick Look a file. Developers will also be able to add a standard Share button to their apps. It also appears that Mountain Lion will finally introduce the long-rumored integration with Facebook to OS X.
Safari
We’ve previously covered Safari’s new unified search bar and faster JavaScript rendering engine in Mountain Lion. At the keynote, however, Federighi unveiled iCloud Tabs, which uses Apple’s sync service to let you quick access any tabs open on your other iCloud-enabled devices.
Power Nap
A new Mountain Lion feature exclusive to SSD-equipped Mac laptops, Power Nap works behind the scenes to keep your Mac up to date while it’s sleeping or you aren’t using it. With Power Nap enabled, your Mac can automatically sync email, calendar appointments, notes, and reminders; update Photo Stream; download app and OS updates; and back up to a Time Machine drive.
AirPlay Mirroring
Good news, streamers: You’ll be able to mirror your Mac's screen to your Apple TV (at resolutions up to pixel-for-pixel 1080p) using the Mac’s new AirPlay menu-bar control. You'll also be able to use AirPlay to stream any audio from your Mac to AirPlay-enabled audio systems.
Game Center
In another move to unify accounts across iOS and OS X, you’ll be able to use your iOS Game Center login to keep track of your Mac games and achievements in Game Center. You can also challenge your friends to turn-based or head-to-head games, either Mac-to-Mac or iOS-to-Mac (assuming the game has App Store options for both iOS and Mac users).
Aside from those major features, Federighi also mentioned VIPs in Mail, Launchpad search, Gatekeeper, offline reading for your Safari Reader list, and new features for Chinese users.
Developers also have a lot to look forward to with SDKs for iCloud and Game Center along with more than 1700 new APIs for sharing, Notification Center, high-resolution graphics, gestures, and more.
Mountain Lion is set to ship sometime in July via the Mac App Store. Anyone who purchases one of Apple’s new laptops is eligible for a free upgrade; otherwise, you can upgrade for just $20 if you’re running OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or later.
In Monday’s keynote address at its Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple revealed several new tidbits about Mountain Lion—including its ship-date.
Apple’s vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, took the stage to announce that Apple’s newest OS X release will be ready for consumers to download in July. He also chose eight new features to highlight during the keynote, including some—such as Dictation on the Mac and Power Nap—that weren't included in the Mountain Lion preview we saw in February.
iCloud
OS X Lion already integrates with Apple’s iCloud service, but Mountain Lion is taking that integration a step further with Documents in the Cloud. The February demo briefly touched on this feature, showing off integration in Preview; at the keynote, Federighi announced that the cloud data service will now be integrated with other Apple apps (including the iWork suite).
Developers will be able to enable iCloud integration in their own programs (though presumably only those that have been sandboxed) by using a software development kit. Federighi also briefly demonstrated iCloud syncing for Reminders, Notes, and Messages.
Notification Center
Borrowing a card from iOS’s deck, Mountain Lion sports its own Notification Center for apps and alerts. At the keynote, Federighi showed off a new icon for the service along with a Do Not Disturb option and auto-disabling when your Mac is connected to a projector.
Dictation comes to the Mac
No, Mountain Lion users won’t get Siri just yet, but Apple is bringing forth system-wide dictation. It reputedly works anywhere on your Mac that you can type, including third-party apps—even, as Federighi joked, in "Microsoft Word!"—and websites.
Sharing
Mountain Lion’s extended sharing features have been pretty well-documented, and Federighi gave a brief rundown of those during the keynote, mentioning built-in support for Twitter and Flickr sharing anywhere that you can Quick Look a file. Developers will also be able to add a standard Share button to their apps. It also appears that Mountain Lion will finally introduce the long-rumored integration with Facebook to OS X.
Safari
We’ve previously covered Safari’s new unified search bar and faster JavaScript rendering engine in Mountain Lion. At the keynote, however, Federighi unveiled iCloud Tabs, which uses Apple’s sync service to let you quick access any tabs open on your other iCloud-enabled devices.
Power Nap
A new Mountain Lion feature exclusive to SSD-equipped Mac laptops, Power Nap works behind the scenes to keep your Mac up to date while it’s sleeping or you aren’t using it. With Power Nap enabled, your Mac can automatically sync email, calendar appointments, notes, and reminders; update Photo Stream; download app and OS updates; and back up to a Time Machine drive.
AirPlay Mirroring
Good news, streamers: You’ll be able to mirror your Mac's screen to your Apple TV (at resolutions up to pixel-for-pixel 1080p) using the Mac’s new AirPlay menu-bar control. You'll also be able to use AirPlay to stream any audio from your Mac to AirPlay-enabled audio systems.
Game Center
In another move to unify accounts across iOS and OS X, you’ll be able to use your iOS Game Center login to keep track of your Mac games and achievements in Game Center. You can also challenge your friends to turn-based or head-to-head games, either Mac-to-Mac or iOS-to-Mac (assuming the game has App Store options for both iOS and Mac users).
Aside from those major features, Federighi also mentioned VIPs in Mail, Launchpad search, Gatekeeper, offline reading for your Safari Reader list, and new features for Chinese users.
Developers also have a lot to look forward to with SDKs for iCloud and Game Center along with more than 1700 new APIs for sharing, Notification Center, high-resolution graphics, gestures, and more.
Mountain Lion is set to ship sometime in July via the Mac App Store. Anyone who purchases one of Apple’s new laptops is eligible for a free upgrade; otherwise, you can upgrade for just $20 if you’re running OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or later.
Mac Flux Web Design Software Updated to version 4.
www.tech-sanity.com
Grab a demo copy from http://www.theescapers.com/ and have a play. There are screencast to check out too.
Grab the quick start PDF its easy to follow and steps you through building a whole website.
Great news if your into web design, the highly successful Flux WYSIWYG web design software just got a major update to version 4
theescapers just released version 4 today with some great new features.
Flux is an advanced HTML5 Web Design application, capable of creating stunning sites from scratch. Flux isn't a template based solution, though it does have a few templates, it's a creative design environment. Flux has comprehensive support for HTML and CSS, including Image Maps, CSS Gradients, custom fonts, and almost everything else. What makes Flux stand out for me is the WYSIWYG interface which is unlike anything else I've seen. You don't need to know code at all but at the same time the code is all there for you to use if you want. You can import existing sites and it immediately shows in Flux as a beautiful WYSIWYG interface.
Heres whats new in version 4.
New in Version 4
Embedded Inspector
FreeCode
All New FTP
Gradients
Image Maps
AutoComplete
What You See Is What You Get
Flux has an amazing WYSIWYG rendering engine, which means you can drag, stretch, and move objects like a you can in a DTP application, and your webpages will look exactly how you intended.*Flux will generate all the code for you, with no unneccesary tags.
Size, position, even margins and padding can be altered with handles on the elements themselves. If the properties are stored in external CSS stylesheets, these are automaticaly updated.
*On standards compliant web browsers
Code
If you’d rather type your code, you can do that too. The objects you create in the Code Editor will appear on the page as soon as you stop typing, they can then be edited using the WYSIWYG display.
Flux doesn’t make a distinction between typed code, or objects created by Flux, you can create anyway you like, and Flux will understand.
The Flux Code Editor has syntax highlighting for HTML and CSS, auto-completion and line numbering.
FreeCode allows you to type any code you want, yet Flux still understands and allows you to use WYSIWYG controls or handcoding.
Grab a demo copy from http://www.theescapers.com/ and have a play. There are screencast to check out too.
Grab the quick start PDF its easy to follow and steps you through building a whole website.
Grab a demo copy from http://www.theescapers.com/ and have a play. There are screencast to check out too.
Grab the quick start PDF its easy to follow and steps you through building a whole website.
Great news if your into web design, the highly successful Flux WYSIWYG web design software just got a major update to version 4
theescapers just released version 4 today with some great new features.
Flux is an advanced HTML5 Web Design application, capable of creating stunning sites from scratch. Flux isn't a template based solution, though it does have a few templates, it's a creative design environment. Flux has comprehensive support for HTML and CSS, including Image Maps, CSS Gradients, custom fonts, and almost everything else. What makes Flux stand out for me is the WYSIWYG interface which is unlike anything else I've seen. You don't need to know code at all but at the same time the code is all there for you to use if you want. You can import existing sites and it immediately shows in Flux as a beautiful WYSIWYG interface.
Heres whats new in version 4.
New in Version 4
Embedded Inspector| Do everything from a single window. |
FreeCode| FreeCode allows you to code however you want, but still allows you to make changes visually. |
All New FTP| FTP and SFTP completely re-written, rock solid and dependable. |
Gradients| A graphical CSS gradient editor makes this complex area simple, and you can easily export the gradients as images for backwards compatibility. |
Image Maps| Full support for MAP and AREA tags, complex polygons can be easily manipulated. |
AutoComplete| AutoComplete knows your code, completing tags, colors, even image paths. |
Flux has an amazing WYSIWYG rendering engine, which means you can drag, stretch, and move objects like a you can in a DTP application, and your webpages will look exactly how you intended.*Flux will generate all the code for you, with no unneccesary tags.
Size, position, even margins and padding can be altered with handles on the elements themselves. If the properties are stored in external CSS stylesheets, these are automaticaly updated.
*On standards compliant web browsers
Code
If you’d rather type your code, you can do that too. The objects you create in the Code Editor will appear on the page as soon as you stop typing, they can then be edited using the WYSIWYG display.
Flux doesn’t make a distinction between typed code, or objects created by Flux, you can create anyway you like, and Flux will understand.
The Flux Code Editor has syntax highlighting for HTML and CSS, auto-completion and line numbering.
FreeCode allows you to type any code you want, yet Flux still understands and allows you to use WYSIWYG controls or handcoding.
Grab a demo copy from http://www.theescapers.com/ and have a play. There are screencast to check out too.
Grab the quick start PDF its easy to follow and steps you through building a whole website.
Intel's Unreleased Ivy Bridge Core i7-3770K Running Mac OS X Lion
Mon, Mar 26 2012 10:02
| OSX, Hackintosh
www.tech-sanity.com
Thanks to TonyMac for this info
Well it's official- Intel's upcoming Ivy Bridge platform runs great on Mac OS X Lion. Here's a few screenshots of the Core i7-3770K running at stock 3.5GHz on a Z77 motherboard submitted to us via an anonymous tip:
Because there are no Macs yet with Ivy Bridge, the tipster had to use a modified kernel to boot. We can't wait to test out these chips to see what else they can do. Intel's official release date for Core i7 and Core i5 desktop CPUs is April 29th. Check out the Hardware News and Rumorssection of the forum for more information on upcoming products.
Thanks to TonyMac for this info
Well it's official- Intel's upcoming Ivy Bridge platform runs great on Mac OS X Lion. Here's a few screenshots of the Core i7-3770K running at stock 3.5GHz on a Z77 motherboard submitted to us via an anonymous tip:
Because there are no Macs yet with Ivy Bridge, the tipster had to use a modified kernel to boot. We can't wait to test out these chips to see what else they can do. Intel's official release date for Core i7 and Core i5 desktop CPUs is April 29th. Check out the Hardware News and Rumorssection of the forum for more information on upcoming products.
For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!
XBMC 11.0 - Eden released
www.tech-sanity.com
It's been over a year in development so it's great news that the latest major release of XBMC (11.0) is finally ready and available for download. You can find XBMC 11.0 here.
XBMC 11.0 Milestones include Addon Rollbacks, vast improvements in Confluence (the default skin), massive speed increases via features like Dirty-region rendering and the new JPEG decoder, a simpler, better library, movie set scraping, additional protocol handling, better networking support, better handling of unencrypted BluRay content and structures, adjustable display refresh rate in OSX (to match the already available feature in Windows and Linux), AirPlay support, an upgraded weather service with geoip lookup, and much, much more. Check out the highlights in the summarized changelog.
It's been over a year in development so it's great news that the latest major release of XBMC (11.0) is finally ready and available for download. You can find XBMC 11.0 here.
XBMC 11.0 Milestones include Addon Rollbacks, vast improvements in Confluence (the default skin), massive speed increases via features like Dirty-region rendering and the new JPEG decoder, a simpler, better library, movie set scraping, additional protocol handling, better networking support, better handling of unencrypted BluRay content and structures, adjustable display refresh rate in OSX (to match the already available feature in Windows and Linux), AirPlay support, an upgraded weather service with geoip lookup, and much, much more. Check out the highlights in the summarized changelog.
The new Confluence
In addition to our many software improvements, we’ve increased our reach in the realm of hardware support since Dharma was released. Eden marks the first in-sync stable release for the Apple TV2, iPad, and other iOS devices. We’ve vastly improved the method by which we handle input, including heavily upgrading JSON-RPC support, making remote control support much, MUCH simpler in Windows, and enabling unique methods of device communication with hardware. And now even AMD devices are supported for GPU video decoding in Linux to some extent, thanks to the inclusion of VAAPI.
Beyond XBMC 11 for Windows, Linux, OSX, and iOS, we are also happy to announce XBMCbuntu Final.
XBMCbuntu is very similar to past versions of XBMC Live. By default, the user boots directly into XBMC, and if he/she chooses, he or she will never see the underlying OS. However, unlike Live, XBMCbuntu is now built upon a full LXDE desktop environment, which has a web browser (Chromium) with a fully updated (and updatable) version of Flash built-in and a GUI package manager ready to install and update all of the normal Ubuntu programs a typical Linux user might use. The user may now toggle between XBMC, which auto-starts, and a normal desktop if he or she chooses. And, perhaps most exciting for many users, XBMC will now be upgradeable, both from command line and from the GUI package manager, without fear of crashing the XBMC experience.
Naturally, those users who do not want to see the desktop will never need to. When you boot your computer, you will be booted directly into the XBMC homescreen, just as you are right now. The only clear difference is the new power underneath the hood. Those users who have already installed the Beta version of XBMCbuntu can upgrade to final using the apt-get upgrade commands.
There are truly an incredible number of updates and improvements between Dharma and Eden. But don’t take our word for it. Download XBMC 11.0 Eden now.
Mountain Lion 2nd release reveals Twitter notices, contacts protection
www.tech-sanity.com
The second developers release of OSX Mountain Lion has been released to developers and a few new things have shown up. More to come no doubt.
New iCloud service may sync open tabs as well
Among the small but significant changes are automatic Twitter notification options, a new iCloud button in Safari that will let users sync tabs across devices, and more explicit permission in OS X when an app wants to access personal information stores such as the Address Book.
The latter change reflects a move already made in iOS 5.1 to better protect users' contacts after it was discovered that a number of apps were circumventing Apple guidelines and uploading personal information without explicit user permission. Mountain Lion will also feature a new "Privacy" panel in System Preferences where users can manage what apps can access in terms of personal data, MacRumors reports.
Mark Gurman notes that users of Mountain Lion DP2 can also opt to have Twitter for Mac notifications turned on, which lets replies and direct messages be shown on the desktop in the Growl-like Notification Center that is set to be another new feature in Mountain Lion. Also noted is a new optional "iCloud" button that offers to sync open tabs between devices, letting a user start web surfing on one device and continue on another. The syncing may also preserve the previous state of the tabs (a feature found in Lion already) so that all tabs can be re-opened on a new launch.
Mountain Lion is expected to be released this summer.
The second developers release of OSX Mountain Lion has been released to developers and a few new things have shown up. More to come no doubt.
New iCloud service may sync open tabs as well
Among the small but significant changes are automatic Twitter notification options, a new iCloud button in Safari that will let users sync tabs across devices, and more explicit permission in OS X when an app wants to access personal information stores such as the Address Book.
The latter change reflects a move already made in iOS 5.1 to better protect users' contacts after it was discovered that a number of apps were circumventing Apple guidelines and uploading personal information without explicit user permission. Mountain Lion will also feature a new "Privacy" panel in System Preferences where users can manage what apps can access in terms of personal data, MacRumors reports.
Mark Gurman notes that users of Mountain Lion DP2 can also opt to have Twitter for Mac notifications turned on, which lets replies and direct messages be shown on the desktop in the Growl-like Notification Center that is set to be another new feature in Mountain Lion. Also noted is a new optional "iCloud" button that offers to sync open tabs between devices, letting a user start web surfing on one device and continue on another. The syncing may also preserve the previous state of the tabs (a feature found in Lion already) so that all tabs can be re-opened on a new launch.
Mountain Lion is expected to be released this summer.
Parallels Desktop Update Supports Windows 8 Preview, Mountain Lion
www.tech-sanity.com
Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac has been updated to provide experimental support for Windows 8 Consumer Preview, including simple download and automatic installation of Windows 8 via the Parallels New Virtual Machine Wizard.
The update also adds experimental support for OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview as both a host and guest. Now Mac enthusiasts and developers alike can safely try Windows 8 Consumer Preview and OS X Mountain Lion in Parallels Desktop 7 virtual machines to protect their Mac from potential mishaps or corruption of important files that can occur with preview versions of software, says Parallels CEO Birger Steen.
Additionally, Parallels Mobile users can remotely access and control their Mac as well as its Windows 8 and OS X Mountain Lion virtual machines, applications and files, via their iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. A free trial of the No. 1-selling Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac software is available for download at http://www.parallels.com/desktop. Current Parallels Desktop 7 users can get the update by selecting the Parallels Desktop menu and clicking Check for Updates.
Parallels allows you to get and automatically install the free Windows 8 Consumer Preview by going to the Parallels Desktop menu and selecting File, New and Windows 8 Consumer Preview in the Parallels New Virtual Machine Wizard. In just a few clicks, Parallels Desktop 7 automatically downloads and installs Windows 8 Consumer Preview (English, German, French, Japanese or Chinese simplified) in a new virtual machine so you can discover and play with the dramatically redesigned Windows operating system and use your Mac OS X applications and files at the same time – without rebooting.
Microsoft recommends that users don’t install Windows 8 Consumer Preview on their primary machine, given that is not a final version and could crash, causing the loss or corruption of important files. If Windows 8 crashes or corrupts files when it is running in a Parallels Desktop 7, you can simply delete the Windows 8 virtual machine and start over without any damage to your Mac.
Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac has been updated to provide experimental support for Windows 8 Consumer Preview, including simple download and automatic installation of Windows 8 via the Parallels New Virtual Machine Wizard.
The update also adds experimental support for OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview as both a host and guest. Now Mac enthusiasts and developers alike can safely try Windows 8 Consumer Preview and OS X Mountain Lion in Parallels Desktop 7 virtual machines to protect their Mac from potential mishaps or corruption of important files that can occur with preview versions of software, says Parallels CEO Birger Steen.
Additionally, Parallels Mobile users can remotely access and control their Mac as well as its Windows 8 and OS X Mountain Lion virtual machines, applications and files, via their iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. A free trial of the No. 1-selling Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac software is available for download at http://www.parallels.com/desktop. Current Parallels Desktop 7 users can get the update by selecting the Parallels Desktop menu and clicking Check for Updates.
Parallels allows you to get and automatically install the free Windows 8 Consumer Preview by going to the Parallels Desktop menu and selecting File, New and Windows 8 Consumer Preview in the Parallels New Virtual Machine Wizard. In just a few clicks, Parallels Desktop 7 automatically downloads and installs Windows 8 Consumer Preview (English, German, French, Japanese or Chinese simplified) in a new virtual machine so you can discover and play with the dramatically redesigned Windows operating system and use your Mac OS X applications and files at the same time – without rebooting.
Microsoft recommends that users don’t install Windows 8 Consumer Preview on their primary machine, given that is not a final version and could crash, causing the loss or corruption of important files. If Windows 8 crashes or corrupts files when it is running in a Parallels Desktop 7, you can simply delete the Windows 8 virtual machine and start over without any damage to your Mac.
Apple issues firmware update for 2011 Mac models
www.tech-sanity.com
If you bought a Mac in 2011, you’ve got some firmware to download. Apple on Thursday issued four EFI firmware updates, one for each Mac model released by the company last year.
Mac mini EFI Firmware Update 1.6 covers Mac mini models released last summer. MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.4 targets the laptops that came out in mid-2011. iMac EFI Firmware Update 1.9 is intended for the desktop machines that debuted last May, while MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.7 covers laptops released in both early 2011 and later that year.
All four updates promise to improve stability in the targeted systems while fixing several issues. Specifically, the release notes for each firmware update state that the download will improve the reliability of booting from the network and address an issue that can prevent HDCP authentication after a reboot. The updates also tackle an issue with boot device selection when you’ve got a hot-plugged USB storage device.
The updates are available from Mac OS X’s Software Update or on Apple’s Support website. The updates require Mac OS X 10.7.3
If you bought a Mac in 2011, you’ve got some firmware to download. Apple on Thursday issued four EFI firmware updates, one for each Mac model released by the company last year.
Mac mini EFI Firmware Update 1.6 covers Mac mini models released last summer. MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.4 targets the laptops that came out in mid-2011. iMac EFI Firmware Update 1.9 is intended for the desktop machines that debuted last May, while MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.7 covers laptops released in both early 2011 and later that year.
All four updates promise to improve stability in the targeted systems while fixing several issues. Specifically, the release notes for each firmware update state that the download will improve the reliability of booting from the network and address an issue that can prevent HDCP authentication after a reboot. The updates also tackle an issue with boot device selection when you’ve got a hot-plugged USB storage device.
The updates are available from Mac OS X’s Software Update or on Apple’s Support website. The updates require Mac OS X 10.7.3
Software Update to Move Inside Mac App Store in OS X Mountain Lion
www.tech-sanity.com
Apple's Software Update has long been the primary method for users updating their systems, with the tool accessible through the Apple icon in the menu bar offering automatic weekly checks for new software updates from Apple. But as shown byiClarified, Apple is doing away with the standalone Software Update tool in OS X Mountain Lion and integrating it directly into the Mac App Store.
Pocket-lint has more on Apple's decision:
Currently Apple's Software Update system in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and Mac OS X 10.7 Lion force users to use a dedicated update procedure that constantly checks to see if updates are available. Apple now feels, it seems, that this way of doing things might be slightly confusing to users coming from an iPhone or iPad who are used to seeing updates for apps appear in the App Store rather than buried elsewhere.
Explaining to Pocket-lint in a behind-closed-doors briefing for the new developer preview of Mac OS X Mountain Lion, Apple has told us that the new method will offer updates to the OS and Apple applications in a similar way to how it does on iOS via the App Store, but in this case via the Mac App Store.
The report notes that the move appears to require that users sign up for an Apple ID if they have not done so already in order to access the updates, and also encourages them to keep the Mac App Store within easy access in their Docks so that they will notice badges informing them of available updates.
Apple's Software Update has long been the primary method for users updating their systems, with the tool accessible through the Apple icon in the menu bar offering automatic weekly checks for new software updates from Apple. But as shown byiClarified, Apple is doing away with the standalone Software Update tool in OS X Mountain Lion and integrating it directly into the Mac App Store.
Pocket-lint has more on Apple's decision:
Currently Apple's Software Update system in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and Mac OS X 10.7 Lion force users to use a dedicated update procedure that constantly checks to see if updates are available. Apple now feels, it seems, that this way of doing things might be slightly confusing to users coming from an iPhone or iPad who are used to seeing updates for apps appear in the App Store rather than buried elsewhere.
Explaining to Pocket-lint in a behind-closed-doors briefing for the new developer preview of Mac OS X Mountain Lion, Apple has told us that the new method will offer updates to the OS and Apple applications in a similar way to how it does on iOS via the App Store, but in this case via the Mac App Store.
The report notes that the move appears to require that users sign up for an Apple ID if they have not done so already in order to access the updates, and also encourages them to keep the Mac App Store within easy access in their Docks so that they will notice badges informing them of available updates.
Apple Officially Drops 'Mac' Name from OS X Mountain Lio
www.tech-sanity.com
With the launch of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion in the middle of last year, Apple was clearly trending towards dropping the 'Mac' From 'Mac OS X', which has been the name of the Macintosh operating system for more than 10 years.
Though it still used the 'Mac OS X' naming scheme in press releases, Apple called the new system 'OS X Lion' on both the main product webpage and the Mac App Store product page [Direct Link].
As The Verge points out, Apple has completed the transition to 'OS X' across both the Mountain Lion product pages, and the press release announcing the developer preview.
We confirmed the official name change with Apple, who told us that the preferred full name is "OS X Mountain Lion".
The Macintosh (as Tim Cook prefers to call it) brand is still alive and well, though Apple seems to be focusing that term on hardware, instead of software.
Lion was the beginning of a unification of sorts between the Mac OS and iOS. It was, as Steve Jobs put it, what would happen if a MacBook Air and an iPad "hooked up". iOS is based on Mac OS X and, at a fundamental level, there are more similarities than differences between the two operating systems. Dropping 'Mac' completely from the name of the OS solidifies the subtle, but important, distinction between hardware and software.
OS X Mountain Lion is expected to be released later this year.
With the launch of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion in the middle of last year, Apple was clearly trending towards dropping the 'Mac' From 'Mac OS X', which has been the name of the Macintosh operating system for more than 10 years.
Though it still used the 'Mac OS X' naming scheme in press releases, Apple called the new system 'OS X Lion' on both the main product webpage and the Mac App Store product page [Direct Link].
As The Verge points out, Apple has completed the transition to 'OS X' across both the Mountain Lion product pages, and the press release announcing the developer preview.
We confirmed the official name change with Apple, who told us that the preferred full name is "OS X Mountain Lion".
The Macintosh (as Tim Cook prefers to call it) brand is still alive and well, though Apple seems to be focusing that term on hardware, instead of software.
Lion was the beginning of a unification of sorts between the Mac OS and iOS. It was, as Steve Jobs put it, what would happen if a MacBook Air and an iPad "hooked up". iOS is based on Mac OS X and, at a fundamental level, there are more similarities than differences between the two operating systems. Dropping 'Mac' completely from the name of the OS solidifies the subtle, but important, distinction between hardware and software.
OS X Mountain Lion is expected to be released later this year.
Apple's new Messages app for OS X is available to download now
www.tech-sanity.com
A beta version of Apple's new Messages app, which will be part of Mac OS X Mountain Lion, is available to download now from Apple's website. If you're interested in giving it a shot, you'll need to have upgraded to 10.7.3 Here is the link http://www.apple.com/macosx/mountain-lion/messages-beta/
Of course, the big new feature (aside from the redesigned interface) is the integration of Apple's iMessage service. This previously was an iOS-only affair, but now you can send messages seamlessly between your Mac and iOS devices using your iCloud account. In a quick test, Messages on Lion seems to work much like it does when running on Mountain Lion. The install process was a little less elegant that we've come to expect from Apple and required a reboot, but was pretty straightforward in the end. Upon launching the app, you're prompted to enter your Apple ID (or create one if necessary); you can then choose whether you want to turn on read receipts and add additional email addresses you can be reached at.
Messages imports all your account settings from iChat, so if you've set up AIM, Gtalk, or other messaging accounts they'll be ready for you to use. Unfortunately iMessages don't sync between your phone, iPad, and computer out of the box by default. If your friends are sending messages to your phone number (using iMessage as a replacement for SMS), they won't also automatically sync to the Messages app on your Mac — you'll need people to start sending messages to your Apple ID email instead. To make that easier, you can set your Caller ID to your Apple ID in the Messages app preferences on iOS. Once that's done, the service works beautifully, but it might be a bit of a pain to tell your friends to stop messaging you at your phone number.
Aside from these quirks (which already existed when trying to sync messages across an iPad and iPhone), Messages appears to run quite smoothly on Lion. If Apple can resolve the phone number / Apple ID issue between now and Mountain Lion's launch, we'll really have something useful on our hands.
A beta version of Apple's new Messages app, which will be part of Mac OS X Mountain Lion, is available to download now from Apple's website. If you're interested in giving it a shot, you'll need to have upgraded to 10.7.3 Here is the link http://www.apple.com/macosx/mountain-lion/messages-beta/
Of course, the big new feature (aside from the redesigned interface) is the integration of Apple's iMessage service. This previously was an iOS-only affair, but now you can send messages seamlessly between your Mac and iOS devices using your iCloud account. In a quick test, Messages on Lion seems to work much like it does when running on Mountain Lion. The install process was a little less elegant that we've come to expect from Apple and required a reboot, but was pretty straightforward in the end. Upon launching the app, you're prompted to enter your Apple ID (or create one if necessary); you can then choose whether you want to turn on read receipts and add additional email addresses you can be reached at.
Messages imports all your account settings from iChat, so if you've set up AIM, Gtalk, or other messaging accounts they'll be ready for you to use. Unfortunately iMessages don't sync between your phone, iPad, and computer out of the box by default. If your friends are sending messages to your phone number (using iMessage as a replacement for SMS), they won't also automatically sync to the Messages app on your Mac — you'll need people to start sending messages to your Apple ID email instead. To make that easier, you can set your Caller ID to your Apple ID in the Messages app preferences on iOS. Once that's done, the service works beautifully, but it might be a bit of a pain to tell your friends to stop messaging you at your phone number.
Aside from these quirks (which already existed when trying to sync messages across an iPad and iPhone), Messages appears to run quite smoothly on Lion. If Apple can resolve the phone number / Apple ID issue between now and Mountain Lion's launch, we'll really have something useful on our hands.
Apple's new OS X: Mountain Lion. Lots of new features 2012 release
www.tech-sanity.com
Apple updates its iOS mobile operating system once a year. But why should the iPhone and iPad have all the fun? On Thursday Apple announced that it will release a new version of OS X—Mountain Lion—this summer, just a year after the release of OS X Lion.
Like Lion, Mountain Lion offers numerous feature additions that will be familiar to iOS users. This OS X release continues Apple’s philosophy of bringing iOS features “back to the Mac,” and includes iMessage, Reminders, Notes, Notification Center, Twitter integration, Game Center, and AirPlay Mirroring.
Mountain Lion offers new features such as (left to right) Notes, Reminders, Messages, and Notification Center.
As the first OS X release post-iCloud, there’s also much more thorough integration with Apple’s data-syncing service. Mountain Lion also brings options to limit which kinds of apps users can install. And although there are no actual mountain lions in China, OS X Mountain Lion does add a raft of features to speak to users in the country that’s Apple’s biggest growth opportunity.
Mountain Lion will be a paid upgrade to OS X; like Lion, it will be available only via a Mac App Store download. Apple hasn’t yet set a price or a release date more specific than “summer.” Mac developers will be able to download a developer release of Mountain Lion on Thursday, giving them several months to update their apps to take advantage of the new features in the release.
I’ve had a few days to use an early development version of Mountain Lion. Here’s a look at what’s new so far, keeping in mind that Apple may add and change features over the next few months as we get closer to the planned release.
iOS apps come to the Mac
The new Notes app looks quite familiar.
Mountain Lion comes with several new apps that will seem quite familiar to iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users. Reminders, Notes, and Game Center have all made the move to the Mac.
Reminders and Notes look very much like they do on iOS. And thanks to iCloud syncing, they’ll display the same data that shows up on your mobile devices. These are still quite simple apps—the goal seems to have been to provide parity with their iOS analogs. The Notes app does support rich text, so you can choose different fonts, insert photos and attachments, create bulleted lists, and drag in URLs to create hyperlinks.
Game Center was introduced to users with iOS 4.1 in September 2010, and expanded in iOS 5. Now it comes to the Mac, letting Mac gamers find friends and compare their gaming prowess, as well as play against each other. Mac game developers get access to a centralized system for network play, opponent matching, in-game voice chat, and more. And yes, Game Center can work across platforms, so games that run on both Mac and iOS can interoperate.
iChat becomes Messages
There’s never been a version of iChat for iOS—instead, Apple handles text messages using the Messages app. That app started life as the Text app, which was used just for SMS messaging on the iPhone, but when Apple introduced the new iMessage communication system, it renamed the app Messages.
With Mountain Lion, the same thing’s happening to Lion. All the features of iChat are still there, but the app’s been renamed Messages and it now supports iMessage (and is now integrated with FaceTime). You can use Messages to send text or images to anyone on a device capable of using iMessage—namely, devices running iOS 5, and Macs running Messages. Unlike SMS text messages, the iMessage system transfers data via the Internet, so there are no text charges.
Like Messages on the iPhone, Messages for Mac lets you hold multi-person chats and can optionally let people know when you’ve received and read their messages and when you’re typing a reply. An integrated video-chat button allows you to kick off a video chat with capable devices, either over AIM (as iChat has always done) or by launching the FaceTime app.
For iOS 5 users who have been waiting for iChat to support iMessage, this is great news—but having to wait until Mountain Lion’s release this summer would be an exercise in frustration. There’s good news on that front: Apple says that Lion users will be able to download a beta version of Messages starting Thursday. The final version will be available in Mountain Lion.
For more in-depth information on Messages, check out our Messages beta hands-on.
Enter Notification Center
A Notification Center alert.
Sometimes one of your apps needs to get your attention. For years, many Mac app developers have built their own (think reminder pop-ups in iCal or Microsoft Office). The open-source project Growl has for years attempted to create a more general notification system supported by lots of apps.
With Mountain Lion, Mac OS X gains a system-level notification system accessible to every developer, with features much like those already found in iOS. Alerts appear in the top right corner of the screen in a small bubble. Notifications remain there for five seconds, and then slide off screen to the right. Alerts, on the other hand, remain on-screen until you click on the Show or Close (or in the case of some alerts, Snooze) buttons.
The Notifications preference pane.
In iOS 5, you see all your recent notifications by pulling down from the top of the screen to reveal Notification Center. In Mountain Lion, the Notification Center list is a narrow band that lives just to off the right side of your screen. You can reveal it either by clicking on the new Notification Center icon at the far right of the menu bar, or by swiping with two fingers starting at the far right edge of the trackpad. Either way, your Mac’s entire screen will slide to the left, revealing a list of what’s been trying to get your attention recently.
There’s also a new Notifications pane in the System Preferences app, analogous to the Notifications submenu in iOS’s Settings app. From here you can choose which apps appear within Notification Center and how their alert bubbles behave.
Gatekeeper blocks apps… the first time
You'll be warned if you try to turn off Gatekeeper.
When Apple introduced the Mac App Store, the rumblings started: A lot of people wondered if the Mac was headed for an iOS-like future, one in which only Apple-approved apps could run on the Mac.
But with Lion and now Mountain Lion, those fears haven’t become reality. You can still run third-party apps to your heart’s content. However, with Mountain Lion, Apple is introducing a new feature called Gatekeeper that allows users to choose for themselves what kinds of apps can be installed on their Macs.
Right now, OS X checks an app the first time it launches, and displays a warning. It’s an attempt to prevent malware apps from launching when you never intended them to. In Mountain Lion, that feature has been extended and tied into a new setting in the Security & Privacy pane of System Preferences.
By default, Mountain Lion will only let Mac App Store apps and Apps from “identified developers” launch for the first time. To become an “identified developer,” Mac developers have to register with Apple and get a personalized certificate, which they then use to cryptographically sign their apps. Apple doesn’t do any sort of background check on the developer, and it doesn’t see any of the software.
Apple says that although these apps aren’t as safe as Mac App Store apps, they’re safer for a couple of reasons. First, a signed app can’t be modified (to add in some spyware, for example) without breaking the signature. By default, Mountain Lion will refuse to launch an app modified in that way. Second, if it turns out that an app from a particular developer is actually malware, Apple has the ability to revoke that developer’s license—at which point no future Mac users will be able to install software from that developer.
The user can set Mountain Lion to be broader or narrower with the list of apps it’s willing to launch. There’s an option to allow only Mac App Store software to run, and an option to allow any app to run. The latter option is the equivalent of what’s been the case in all previous versions of OS X.
For a more in-depth look at Gatekeeper, read our Hands on with Gatekeeper story.
Sharing and Twitter
A Share Sheet in Safari on Mountain Lion.
Mountain Lion introduces an interface element inspired by iOS—Share Sheets. They’re a pop-up menu that appears when you click on the Share icon in an app. Apple has implemented Share Sheets in several Mountain Lion apps, including Safari, Preview, and Notes, and developers can add them to their apps as well.
A Share Sheet provides a quick way to share whatever you’re working on—a photo in iPhoto, a webpage in Safari, a document in Notes—with other services. If you share a webpage from Safari, you can choose to insert it (or just its URL) in a new Mail message, or insert a link in a new message in Messages, or even compose a tweet containing the URL. From Preview, you can choose to email the document you’re viewing, send it via Messages, tweet it via Twitter, upload it to Flickr, or transfer it locally via AirDrop.
Sharing a webpage to Twitter from within Safari.
Most of these aren’t really new functions. What’s different is that Apple has centralized them and given developers access to this element, which presumably will lead to a more consistent sharing interface in future Mac apps. If that sounds familiar, it is: This is once again an example of the Mac taking a page from iOS, in this case from the Share button that’s found commonly throughout iOS.
In most contexts, Share Sheets will include a Twitter option. That’s because Mountain Lion is joining iOS 5 in adding system-level support for the popular communication service. You can add your Twitter account information in the Mail, Contacts & Calendars system preference (which is just dying to be renamed to Accounts). Once that’s done, it becomes easy to quickly share items from just about anywhere via a Share Sheet. Select Twitter and a small floating composition window appears, allowing you to write and send a tweet quickly, without leaving the app you’re working in.
Twitter integration doesn’t stop there. You can also use Twitter to populate the avatars of friends in your Contacts list with their Twitter profile pictures. (Yes, Address Book has been re-named Contacts in Mountain Lion to match its counterpart app in iOS.) Tweet notifications can also optionally appear automatically in Notification Center.
The new Twitter preferences in the Mail, Contacts, and Calendars preference pane.
iCloud integration
Lion and iCloud were developed in parallel. As a result, while the current version of Mac OS X supports Apple’s suite of online services, it doesn’t truly embrace it. One of Apple’s goals in Mountain Lion is to truly integrate iCloud throughout the system.
It starts at setup: In Setup Assistant, the system will ask you for your Apple ID and will sync your existing accounts, settings, and personal data. It might not be quite as thorough as restoring an iOS backup from iCloud, but the idea is that your iCloud account will unlock a whole bunch of Mac data so you don’t have to keep re-entering it on every new system you use.
Mountain Lion also brings a new Documents in the Cloud view to the traditional Open and Save dialog boxes. Any apps that support Documents in the Cloud will open to an iCloud view that displays documents available via iCloud, with most recent items first. You can organize this view by dragging one document on top of another and creating a folder, iOS-style. (There’s also an On My Mac button that will display a more standard file-picking interface, if you want to open something that’s on your hard drive.)
AirPlay mirroring
Mirroring a Mac screen to an HDTV is easy in Mountain Lion.
iOS 5 introduced the concept of AirPlay mirroring, in which an iPad 2 or iPhone 4S can display the contents of its screen on any HDTV that’s connected to a second-generation Apple TV.
The Mac joins the party with Mountain Lion, which will send a 720p video stream of what’s on your Mac’s screen to the Apple TV. When a Mac running Mountain Lion senses the presence of an Apple TV on the local network, an AirPlay icon appears in the menu bar. Click and select an Apple TV, and you’re mirroring.
In other words, an Apple TV will soon also be a wireless display adapter for the Mac, letting you display webpages, YouTube videos, iTunes rentals, Keynote presentations, or anything else you can think of onto an HDTV without any added wires. (Apple says that only Macs with second-generation Intel Core processors can use this feature.)
Safari tweaks
Safari's URL bar now features integrated search.
Apple isn’t making a big deal about changes to the Safari Web browser in Mountain Lion, but I noticed a few new additions. There’s a Share Sheet in the toolbar, with options to add a page to Reading List, add a Bookmark, email the page, send the page to Messages, or share it via a Tweet. The Safari Reader button has gotten large and now sits just to the right of the address bar, turning blue when a page is eligible for reader.
Gone from next to the address bar is the search box. Instead, at long last, Apple has unified the address bar and the search box. Now if you type “fourth doctor” into that box, you’ll get a bunch of links about Tom Baker instead of an error message telling you that Safari can’t find the website “http://fourth%20doctor/.” The address bar also now omits the http:// prefix on URLs, and while the main part of the site is displayed in black text, the rest of the URL displays in gray.
The new Safari toolbar emphasizes the domain name of the page you're browsing and has a more prominent Reader button.
And although I couldn’t find this feature in the version I tested, Apple says that Mountain Lion will bring the ability to sync Safari tabs to iCloud, so your open browser tabs can sync between Macs.
tacts, and Calendar syncing will be supported to Chinese service providers QQ, 126, and 163.
Just the beginning
Of course, this is only the first disclosure by Apple about what’s in Mountain Lion. There are undoubtedly dozens, if not hundreds, of minor tweaks and small new features being added. And there might even be big ones as yet undisclosed—after all, we’re four to seven months away from Mountain Lion’s arrival.
If you’re a Mac user, the best news about Mountain Lion is this: Apple doesn’t seem to be reducing OS X’s development cycle and putting it in maintenance mode. Instead, OS X releases seem to be accelerating, perhaps so that the annual release cycles of iOS and Mac OS X can feed off one another.
It’s also clear that with both Lion releases, Apple is dead serious about making Mac OS X and iOS as synced up as they possibly can be, both in terms of interface and—thanks to iCloud—data. Mac users who aren’t fans of iOS might complain, but these days Apple sells many times more iOS devices than Macs in any given quarter. Having all of Apple’s products bear a family resemblance to one another can only help.
Apple updates its iOS mobile operating system once a year. But why should the iPhone and iPad have all the fun? On Thursday Apple announced that it will release a new version of OS X—Mountain Lion—this summer, just a year after the release of OS X Lion.
Like Lion, Mountain Lion offers numerous feature additions that will be familiar to iOS users. This OS X release continues Apple’s philosophy of bringing iOS features “back to the Mac,” and includes iMessage, Reminders, Notes, Notification Center, Twitter integration, Game Center, and AirPlay Mirroring.
Mountain Lion offers new features such as (left to right) Notes, Reminders, Messages, and Notification Center.
As the first OS X release post-iCloud, there’s also much more thorough integration with Apple’s data-syncing service. Mountain Lion also brings options to limit which kinds of apps users can install. And although there are no actual mountain lions in China, OS X Mountain Lion does add a raft of features to speak to users in the country that’s Apple’s biggest growth opportunity.
Mountain Lion will be a paid upgrade to OS X; like Lion, it will be available only via a Mac App Store download. Apple hasn’t yet set a price or a release date more specific than “summer.” Mac developers will be able to download a developer release of Mountain Lion on Thursday, giving them several months to update their apps to take advantage of the new features in the release.
I’ve had a few days to use an early development version of Mountain Lion. Here’s a look at what’s new so far, keeping in mind that Apple may add and change features over the next few months as we get closer to the planned release.
iOS apps come to the Mac
The new Notes app looks quite familiar.
Mountain Lion comes with several new apps that will seem quite familiar to iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users. Reminders, Notes, and Game Center have all made the move to the Mac.
Reminders and Notes look very much like they do on iOS. And thanks to iCloud syncing, they’ll display the same data that shows up on your mobile devices. These are still quite simple apps—the goal seems to have been to provide parity with their iOS analogs. The Notes app does support rich text, so you can choose different fonts, insert photos and attachments, create bulleted lists, and drag in URLs to create hyperlinks.
Game Center was introduced to users with iOS 4.1 in September 2010, and expanded in iOS 5. Now it comes to the Mac, letting Mac gamers find friends and compare their gaming prowess, as well as play against each other. Mac game developers get access to a centralized system for network play, opponent matching, in-game voice chat, and more. And yes, Game Center can work across platforms, so games that run on both Mac and iOS can interoperate.
iChat becomes Messages
There’s never been a version of iChat for iOS—instead, Apple handles text messages using the Messages app. That app started life as the Text app, which was used just for SMS messaging on the iPhone, but when Apple introduced the new iMessage communication system, it renamed the app Messages.
With Mountain Lion, the same thing’s happening to Lion. All the features of iChat are still there, but the app’s been renamed Messages and it now supports iMessage (and is now integrated with FaceTime). You can use Messages to send text or images to anyone on a device capable of using iMessage—namely, devices running iOS 5, and Macs running Messages. Unlike SMS text messages, the iMessage system transfers data via the Internet, so there are no text charges.
Like Messages on the iPhone, Messages for Mac lets you hold multi-person chats and can optionally let people know when you’ve received and read their messages and when you’re typing a reply. An integrated video-chat button allows you to kick off a video chat with capable devices, either over AIM (as iChat has always done) or by launching the FaceTime app.
For iOS 5 users who have been waiting for iChat to support iMessage, this is great news—but having to wait until Mountain Lion’s release this summer would be an exercise in frustration. There’s good news on that front: Apple says that Lion users will be able to download a beta version of Messages starting Thursday. The final version will be available in Mountain Lion.
For more in-depth information on Messages, check out our Messages beta hands-on.
Enter Notification Center
A Notification Center alert.
Sometimes one of your apps needs to get your attention. For years, many Mac app developers have built their own (think reminder pop-ups in iCal or Microsoft Office). The open-source project Growl has for years attempted to create a more general notification system supported by lots of apps.
With Mountain Lion, Mac OS X gains a system-level notification system accessible to every developer, with features much like those already found in iOS. Alerts appear in the top right corner of the screen in a small bubble. Notifications remain there for five seconds, and then slide off screen to the right. Alerts, on the other hand, remain on-screen until you click on the Show or Close (or in the case of some alerts, Snooze) buttons.
The Notifications preference pane.
In iOS 5, you see all your recent notifications by pulling down from the top of the screen to reveal Notification Center. In Mountain Lion, the Notification Center list is a narrow band that lives just to off the right side of your screen. You can reveal it either by clicking on the new Notification Center icon at the far right of the menu bar, or by swiping with two fingers starting at the far right edge of the trackpad. Either way, your Mac’s entire screen will slide to the left, revealing a list of what’s been trying to get your attention recently.
There’s also a new Notifications pane in the System Preferences app, analogous to the Notifications submenu in iOS’s Settings app. From here you can choose which apps appear within Notification Center and how their alert bubbles behave.
Gatekeeper blocks apps… the first time
You'll be warned if you try to turn off Gatekeeper.
When Apple introduced the Mac App Store, the rumblings started: A lot of people wondered if the Mac was headed for an iOS-like future, one in which only Apple-approved apps could run on the Mac.
But with Lion and now Mountain Lion, those fears haven’t become reality. You can still run third-party apps to your heart’s content. However, with Mountain Lion, Apple is introducing a new feature called Gatekeeper that allows users to choose for themselves what kinds of apps can be installed on their Macs.
Right now, OS X checks an app the first time it launches, and displays a warning. It’s an attempt to prevent malware apps from launching when you never intended them to. In Mountain Lion, that feature has been extended and tied into a new setting in the Security & Privacy pane of System Preferences.
By default, Mountain Lion will only let Mac App Store apps and Apps from “identified developers” launch for the first time. To become an “identified developer,” Mac developers have to register with Apple and get a personalized certificate, which they then use to cryptographically sign their apps. Apple doesn’t do any sort of background check on the developer, and it doesn’t see any of the software.
Apple says that although these apps aren’t as safe as Mac App Store apps, they’re safer for a couple of reasons. First, a signed app can’t be modified (to add in some spyware, for example) without breaking the signature. By default, Mountain Lion will refuse to launch an app modified in that way. Second, if it turns out that an app from a particular developer is actually malware, Apple has the ability to revoke that developer’s license—at which point no future Mac users will be able to install software from that developer.
The user can set Mountain Lion to be broader or narrower with the list of apps it’s willing to launch. There’s an option to allow only Mac App Store software to run, and an option to allow any app to run. The latter option is the equivalent of what’s been the case in all previous versions of OS X.
For a more in-depth look at Gatekeeper, read our Hands on with Gatekeeper story.
Sharing and Twitter
A Share Sheet in Safari on Mountain Lion.
Mountain Lion introduces an interface element inspired by iOS—Share Sheets. They’re a pop-up menu that appears when you click on the Share icon in an app. Apple has implemented Share Sheets in several Mountain Lion apps, including Safari, Preview, and Notes, and developers can add them to their apps as well.
A Share Sheet provides a quick way to share whatever you’re working on—a photo in iPhoto, a webpage in Safari, a document in Notes—with other services. If you share a webpage from Safari, you can choose to insert it (or just its URL) in a new Mail message, or insert a link in a new message in Messages, or even compose a tweet containing the URL. From Preview, you can choose to email the document you’re viewing, send it via Messages, tweet it via Twitter, upload it to Flickr, or transfer it locally via AirDrop.
Sharing a webpage to Twitter from within Safari.
Most of these aren’t really new functions. What’s different is that Apple has centralized them and given developers access to this element, which presumably will lead to a more consistent sharing interface in future Mac apps. If that sounds familiar, it is: This is once again an example of the Mac taking a page from iOS, in this case from the Share button that’s found commonly throughout iOS.
In most contexts, Share Sheets will include a Twitter option. That’s because Mountain Lion is joining iOS 5 in adding system-level support for the popular communication service. You can add your Twitter account information in the Mail, Contacts & Calendars system preference (which is just dying to be renamed to Accounts). Once that’s done, it becomes easy to quickly share items from just about anywhere via a Share Sheet. Select Twitter and a small floating composition window appears, allowing you to write and send a tweet quickly, without leaving the app you’re working in.
Twitter integration doesn’t stop there. You can also use Twitter to populate the avatars of friends in your Contacts list with their Twitter profile pictures. (Yes, Address Book has been re-named Contacts in Mountain Lion to match its counterpart app in iOS.) Tweet notifications can also optionally appear automatically in Notification Center.
The new Twitter preferences in the Mail, Contacts, and Calendars preference pane.
iCloud integration
Lion and iCloud were developed in parallel. As a result, while the current version of Mac OS X supports Apple’s suite of online services, it doesn’t truly embrace it. One of Apple’s goals in Mountain Lion is to truly integrate iCloud throughout the system.
It starts at setup: In Setup Assistant, the system will ask you for your Apple ID and will sync your existing accounts, settings, and personal data. It might not be quite as thorough as restoring an iOS backup from iCloud, but the idea is that your iCloud account will unlock a whole bunch of Mac data so you don’t have to keep re-entering it on every new system you use.
Mountain Lion also brings a new Documents in the Cloud view to the traditional Open and Save dialog boxes. Any apps that support Documents in the Cloud will open to an iCloud view that displays documents available via iCloud, with most recent items first. You can organize this view by dragging one document on top of another and creating a folder, iOS-style. (There’s also an On My Mac button that will display a more standard file-picking interface, if you want to open something that’s on your hard drive.)
AirPlay mirroring
Mirroring a Mac screen to an HDTV is easy in Mountain Lion.
iOS 5 introduced the concept of AirPlay mirroring, in which an iPad 2 or iPhone 4S can display the contents of its screen on any HDTV that’s connected to a second-generation Apple TV.
The Mac joins the party with Mountain Lion, which will send a 720p video stream of what’s on your Mac’s screen to the Apple TV. When a Mac running Mountain Lion senses the presence of an Apple TV on the local network, an AirPlay icon appears in the menu bar. Click and select an Apple TV, and you’re mirroring.
In other words, an Apple TV will soon also be a wireless display adapter for the Mac, letting you display webpages, YouTube videos, iTunes rentals, Keynote presentations, or anything else you can think of onto an HDTV without any added wires. (Apple says that only Macs with second-generation Intel Core processors can use this feature.)
Safari tweaks
Safari's URL bar now features integrated search.
Apple isn’t making a big deal about changes to the Safari Web browser in Mountain Lion, but I noticed a few new additions. There’s a Share Sheet in the toolbar, with options to add a page to Reading List, add a Bookmark, email the page, send the page to Messages, or share it via a Tweet. The Safari Reader button has gotten large and now sits just to the right of the address bar, turning blue when a page is eligible for reader.
Gone from next to the address bar is the search box. Instead, at long last, Apple has unified the address bar and the search box. Now if you type “fourth doctor” into that box, you’ll get a bunch of links about Tom Baker instead of an error message telling you that Safari can’t find the website “http://fourth%20doctor/.” The address bar also now omits the http:// prefix on URLs, and while the main part of the site is displayed in black text, the rest of the URL displays in gray.
The new Safari toolbar emphasizes the domain name of the page you're browsing and has a more prominent Reader button.
And although I couldn’t find this feature in the version I tested, Apple says that Mountain Lion will bring the ability to sync Safari tabs to iCloud, so your open browser tabs can sync between Macs.
tacts, and Calendar syncing will be supported to Chinese service providers QQ, 126, and 163.
Just the beginning
Of course, this is only the first disclosure by Apple about what’s in Mountain Lion. There are undoubtedly dozens, if not hundreds, of minor tweaks and small new features being added. And there might even be big ones as yet undisclosed—after all, we’re four to seven months away from Mountain Lion’s arrival.
If you’re a Mac user, the best news about Mountain Lion is this: Apple doesn’t seem to be reducing OS X’s development cycle and putting it in maintenance mode. Instead, OS X releases seem to be accelerating, perhaps so that the annual release cycles of iOS and Mac OS X can feed off one another.
It’s also clear that with both Lion releases, Apple is dead serious about making Mac OS X and iOS as synced up as they possibly can be, both in terms of interface and—thanks to iCloud—data. Mac users who aren’t fans of iOS might complain, but these days Apple sells many times more iOS devices than Macs in any given quarter. Having all of Apple’s products bear a family resemblance to one another can only help.
Final Cut Pro X 10.3 wins PC Magazine's 'Editor's Choice'
www.tech-sanity.com
Third free update fulfills program's promiseFinal Cut Pro X, a radical re-thinking of professional video editing that initially sparked more a revolt than the revolution Apple intended, has gone on to win PC Magazine's "Editor's Choice" award after a review of the program and the features restored and improved by its third free update. The latest version, released at the very end of January, restored multi-cam editing, broadcast monitoring and richer XML support to the suite, enabling Final Cut Pro 7 projects and third-party plug-ins. In doing so, it has begun to silence its critics.
While users completely new to pro-level non-linear editing and those used to Apple's similarly-revamped iMovie have tended to appreciate Final Cut Pro X's style, the initial reception was highly hostile from FCP 7 users, with complaints of a severe lack of features compared to the previous version, a bewildering all-new workflow, incompatibility with older projects (and the removal of Final Cut Studio from the store, a move Apple was forced to backtrack on) and more. The complaints even surfaced into parody on late-night TV as industry professionals grumbled of having the run pulled out from under them. About the only thing Apple's existing Final Cut base liked about the new version was the price -- $300 for the full suite compared to a previous price of $1,000.
Third free update fulfills program's promiseFinal Cut Pro X, a radical re-thinking of professional video editing that initially sparked more a revolt than the revolution Apple intended, has gone on to win PC Magazine's "Editor's Choice" award after a review of the program and the features restored and improved by its third free update. The latest version, released at the very end of January, restored multi-cam editing, broadcast monitoring and richer XML support to the suite, enabling Final Cut Pro 7 projects and third-party plug-ins. In doing so, it has begun to silence its critics.
While users completely new to pro-level non-linear editing and those used to Apple's similarly-revamped iMovie have tended to appreciate Final Cut Pro X's style, the initial reception was highly hostile from FCP 7 users, with complaints of a severe lack of features compared to the previous version, a bewildering all-new workflow, incompatibility with older projects (and the removal of Final Cut Studio from the store, a move Apple was forced to backtrack on) and more. The complaints even surfaced into parody on late-night TV as industry professionals grumbled of having the run pulled out from under them. About the only thing Apple's existing Final Cut base liked about the new version was the price -- $300 for the full suite compared to a previous price of $1,000.
Convert Finalcut 7 to FCX with 7toX
Microsoft currently testing its own smartphone, says WSJBy Sam Byford on November 2, 2012 12:51 am Email @345triangle98COMMENTS34LikeTweet140This page has been shared 140 times. View these Tweets.85inShareMicrosoft surprised the world earlier this year when it moved into producing its own computer hardware with the Surface, but the company's plans may not stop there. According to the Wall Street
Finalcut X 10.3 Major update
Microsoft currently testing its own smartphone, says WSJBy Sam Byford on November 2, 2012 12:51 am Email @345triangle98COMMENTS34LikeTweet140This page has been shared 140 times. View these Tweets.85inShareMicrosoft surprised the world earlier this year when it moved into producing its own computer hardware with the Surface, but the company's plans may not stop there. According to the Wall Street