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Tag: Mountain Lion

  • Mountain Lion Approaches Two Hikers In Napa

    Two hikers by the name of Steve Husong and Liz Alessio had an extremely close encounter with a mountain lion while walking through Skyline Wilderness Park, in Napa, Calif. recently.

    While enjoying the park’s physical beauty, Husong spotted the wild animal first, but it was 40 feet away, and since he’s only seen a mountain lion once, he was more fascinated than scared.

    “It crouched down on the trail before continuing out of sight,” said Husong, an Afghanistan War veteran. “I’ve been hiking in the woods all my life and I’ve only seen one other mountain lion, so I thought it was cool at first, but I’ve never seen anything like what happened next.”

    And what happened next will probably never be forgotten by Husong, and it’ll probably be etched in Alessio’s mind even deeper, because she was way more scared than he was, despite the animal quickly vanishing. And in an effort to keep herself safe she chose to walk ahead of him, and got out of the immediate area.

    However, that plan didn’t work, because when she trudged ahead, she saw the mountain again, and this time it was right in back of Husong, about 60 yards away.

    From there, Alessio started to sprint while warning her partner that the 150-pound feline was closing in on him.

    “I shouted out ‘it’s behind you, we have to run’! and I took off,” she said. “When I looked back, the mountain lion was chasing Steve up the trail and quickly gaining on him. It’s one thing to see an animal off in the distance, but it’s entirely different to have it chase you up a path.”

    Mike Bartlett, who works for Napa County Animal Control, said usually mountain lions aren’t the stalking type, so he was a little surprised that it got so close to the two hikers. But he did say people should always be mindful of running into a wild animal while hiking in certain areas, and he reminded people that the wilderness is their territory not ours.

    As for Husong, after Alessio warned him about the animal getting closer, he knew he couldn’t outrun it, so he decided to do something else.

    “So I stopped, turned around, and stared it straight in the eyes,” he said. And thankfully for the pair, the mountain lion lowered itself towards the ground and eventually walked away.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • OS X Mountain Lion, Like iOS 6, Adds Facebook Integration With New Update

    Apple’s big iOS update, iOS 6, is hitting iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches today, but Mac OS X Mountain Lion is also getting an update with version 10.8.2.

    New Facebook integration is a major component of iOS 6, and now Mac OS X is stepping up the integration as well.

    Among the new features of the operating system are single sign on for Facebook, the addition of Facebook as an option when sharing links and photos, seeing Facebook friends’ contact info and profile pics in Contacts, and Facebook notifications in Notification Center.

    In Game Center, you can now share scores to Facebook, Twitter, Mail, or Messages, Facebook friends are included in friend recommendations, Facebook “like” buttons have been added for games, and friends can be challenged to beat your scores and achievements.

    Apple is really doing everything in its power to get people sharing on Facebook even more.

    In addition to the Facebook and Game Center stuff, Apple has added the following features:

    • Adds Power Nap support for MacBook Air (Late 2010)
    • iMessages sent to your phone number now appear in Messages on your Mac*
    • You can now add passes to Passbook (on your iPhone or iPod touch) from Safari and Mail on your Mac*
    • FaceTime can now receive calls sent to your phone number*
    • New shared Reminders lists
    • New sort options allow you to sort notes by title, the date you edited them, and when you created them
    • Dictation now supports additional languages: Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, Korean, Canadian English, Canadian French, and Italian
    • Dictionary app now includes a French definition dictionary
    • Sina Weibo profile photos can now be added to Contacts

    * Requires iOS 6

    The update also comes with some general fixes:

    • Adds an option to discard the changes in the original document when choosing Save As
    • Unsent drafts are now opened automatically when launching Mail
    • Receive Twitter notifications for mentions and replies from anyone
    • URLs are shortened when sending tweets from Notification Center
    • Notifications are disabled when AirPlay Mirroring is being used
    • Adds SSL support for Google searches from the Smart Search Field in Safari
    • Adds a new preference to have Safari launch with previously open webpages
    • Resolves an issue that may cause the “Enable Autodiscover” checkbox to always remain checked
    • Enables access to the Mac App Store when Parental Controls are enabled
    • Support for @icloud.com email addresses
    • Resolves a video issue with some VGA projectors when connected to certain Mac notebooks
    • Addresses an issue that may prevent Active Directory accounts from being locked out
    • Resolves an issue that may cause the policy banner to re-appear prior to logging in
    • Improvements to SMB
    • Addresses an issue with NIS users when auto-login is enabled
    • Addresses an issue in which the Keychain may not be accessible
    • Ability to pre-authenticate a FileVault protected system
    • Addresses an issue that may cause Xsan to not automatically start after migrating from Mac OS X Snow Leopard

  • Apple Event: Mountain Lion Has Been Downloaded 7 Million Times

    Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, took the stage today at Apple’s big iPhone 5 event to give us the details on all things Apple coming soon. Cook is warming up the audience with stats on their other hardware before getting to the iPhone 5, but it’s still impressive stuff.

    Cook announced that Mountain Lion has been downloaded more than 7 million times since its launch in July. The operating system had been downloaded more than 3 million times in just four days after its launch. Cook didn’t account for the number of copies sold through retail, but it’s probably just as impressive.

    After dropping some nice Mountain Lion figures, he talked up the newest line of MacBooks that were revealed earlier this year. He said that the MacBook Pro was the best Mac that the company has ever made. With a built-in retina display, it’s hard to argue with that. He also said that the MacBook Pro combined with the MacBook Air ranked number one for the last three months in the U.S. notebook marketshare.

    It sounds like Apple has gotten off to a great start this year with their notebooks, but the real treat is soon to come with the reveal of the iPhone 5. Keep watching this space as we’re continuing our coverage of all things Apple at the latest Apple event. The iPhone 5 is sure to show up soon.

    [Image Source: The Verge]

  • Mountain Lion May Be Hurting Your MacBook’s Battery Life

    Mountain Lion broke all kinds of records when it was released and is now on millions of Macs. It was only a matter of time, however, before somebody found a problem. Mac OS X is generally pretty solid, but a few little issues seem to always slip through.

    One of those little issues reared its ugly head last week as MacBook owners began to find that their batteries were just not holding out like they used to. While it could be blamed on a hardware malfunction, the problem only appears to affect those who have upgraded to Mountain Lion. Unless thousands of people simultaneously ran into battery problems, it’s probably an issue with the operating system itself.

    Ars Technica decided to run a few tests to see just how bad the battery life was under Mountain Lion. The test revealed that the new retina display MacBook Pro would lasts a little over eight hours on Lion. With Mountain Lion installed, the battery would never last beyond five hours.

    According to a user on the official Apple forums, an Apple rep told him that the problem is indeed originating from the software. The company is currently creating a fix and will distribute it via patch on the App Store once it’s finished.

    It’s a relief that it’s only the OS causing the problem. A hardware malfunction on such a massive scale would have embarrassing for Apple. If you find yourself not being able to wait for the release of the patch, you can try a few of these solutions: repair your disk permissions and access control lists, reinstall Dropbox or reset GateKeeper so that it allows apps to install from any source.

    Nothing is worse than decreased battery life on laptops. We’ll let you know when the patch is available so that you can get back to eight hour marathons of Mac bliss without having to plug it into the wall.

  • Mountain Lion Is Apparently Really Popular

    We all knew that Apple’s new OS, Mountain Lion, was going to be popular, but we didn’t know exactly how popular. With stricter system requirements, it was going to be interesting to see how well Mountain Lion performed in its first week. Turns out it performed better than anybody expected.

    Apple announced that Moutain Lion had been downloaded more than three million times in only four days. Such a massive initial showing puts it as the most successful Mac OS X launch in the company’s history. Apple attributes the strong showing to the massive amount of new features that Mountain Lion introduced.

    As you probably know by now, Mountain Lion contains over 200 new features. Many of these features go a long way to making Mac OS X more user friendly and more social. The built-in integration of Facebook joins the built-in integration of Twitter to make OS X the most social centric OS to date.

    Apple was also quick to point out that the success of Mountain Lion can also be attributed to the Mac App Store. Many users upgraded because they wanted to take advantage of the new features in Mountain Lion with their pre-existing apps alongside new apps that are being added all the time. Couple that with synchronous gameplay across all Apple devices and you have an app heavy machine that Mac fans are going to go nuts over.

    As more people buy the new MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs, it will be interesting to see how well Mountain Lion performs over the next few months. Macs are still immensely popular and Mountain Lion is going to be a must for all new Mac buyers. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple announced well over 50 million downloads of Mountain Lion before the end of the year.

  • Mountain Lion: Users Try It And Tweet Their Thoughts

    There’s already been plenty written about Mountain Lion, Apple’s latest version of its Mac OS X operating system, which became available to users on Wednesday, but scanning the Twitterverse can provide a different view – that from every day users, who don’t necessarily write about technology for a living.

    So far, the buzz around Mountain Lion seems generally positive, but there are some who seem to view it only as a moderate improvement from the previous version, and others are complaining about various issues they’ve run into (including compatibility issues with third-party software).

    While many are still only getting their feet wet with Mountain Lion, and surely many more haven’t had a chance to install it and use it yet, following is an early round-up of what people are saying on Twitter, a day after the operating system’s initial availability.

    Here’s our initial piece on what to expect from Mountain Lion, and here’s a five-minute rundown from Apple:

    More Mountain Lion coverage here.

  • Mountain Lion Is Available Today: Here’s What To Expect

    Apple surprised everyone by announcing the launch date of their new operating system, Mountain Lion, during their earnings call yesterday. Even more surprising was that the launch date was today, July 24. Most Apple fans have probably already downloaded Mountain Lion and are already playing around with it to find its secrets. For those who still haven’t upgraded, here’s what you’re missing.

    First and foremost, Mountain Lion is Apple’s next step in combining iOS with Mac OS X. That doesn’t mean that Mountain Lion is like the experience you get on your iPhone, but a lot of the features popularized in iOS are now present in Mac OS X. That’s undeniably a good thing as iOS is arguably the best thing Apple has going for them right now.

    So what’s new in Mountain Lion that’s worth getting excited about? The answer is pretty much everything. I realize that blanket statements serve no one, but it’s true in the case of Mountain Lion. Apple has gone back and pretty much fixed all the major complaints people had with Lion while adding a host of new features that you never knew you wanted.

    One of the biggest new features for Mountain Lion is the addition of dictation. A little known feature of iOS is now on Mac OS X and it’s pretty handy. OS X typing what you speak is not only cool, but it’s incredibly useful in certain situations. There are third-party applications that offer the same thing like Dragon, but Mac OS X has it built in. That’s a pretty incredible value for such a feature. Dictation also supports four languages which hopefully means that Siri on Mac OS X is not too far behind.

    iOS 6 is bringing Facebook integration to the platform in a big way. A small preview of that integration is available in Mountain Lion. The biggest is most definitely single sign-on. With this, you can sign in to Facebook once and all Facebook compatible apps on your Mac are ready to go. It also sets up the Notification Center to work with Facebook so you can post to the social network without having to sign in. That also means Facebook notifications will be sent straight to your desktop.

    To prove that Apple is getting serious about gaming, they have added Game Center from iOS to Mac OS X. Gamers can set up matches with each other across the numerous games built for iOS and Mac OS X. Yes, you heard that right, cross platform play between Mac OS X and iOS is now a thing. It’s going to take Microsoft another few months before their first title that’s playable across both Windows 8, Xbox 360 and Windows Phone comes out.

    Another feature making the leap from iOS to Mac OS X is iMessage. Now you’ll be able to send messages not only to those on iOS devices, but Macs running Mountain Lion as well. Mac users will also be able to message people using only their phone number. Another great feature is that users will be able to send large attachments over iMessage – up to 100MB in size to be precise.

    You already know that the Notification Center is the place to be for Facebook crazed individuals. Mac OS X also makes the Notification Center the place for Twitter fans as well. You’ll be able to send and receive Tweets right from the desktop without having to open a separate app or Web page.

    Power Nap also gets beefed up with the addition of push notifications while the computer’s asleep. That means that you won’t have to sync your mail box or Tweets when the computer is turned on again. They’ll be available right when the Mac is turned on again. It will also download software updates to Mac OS X while the computer is asleep.

    The new Safari for Mountain Lion has a number of new features as well including a Smart search field. In reality, it’s just Safari playing catch up to Chrome. In other good news, Safari also supports the “Do Not Track” mode for better privacy.

    These features are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Mountain Lion has over 200 new features just waiting for you to try out. For the full list, check out Apple’s site for Mountain Lion. If you find yourself wanting to upgrade, you can do so from the Mac App Store. It’s only $19.99 and you can install it on all your Macs. That’s the best deal you’re going to find on an operating system anywhere.

  • Mountain Lion Comes Out Wednesday, Apple Says

    Apple released its quarterly earnings report today. More on that here, but within that report, CEO Tim Cook just happened to mention that Mountain Lion will be released tomorrow.

    “We’re thrilled with record sales of 17 million iPads in the June quarter,” Cook said. “We’ve also just updated the entire MacBook line, will release Mountain Lion tomorrow and will be launching iOS 6 this Fall. We are also really looking forward to the amazing new products we’ve got in the pipeline.”

    The latest version of OS X will cost $19.99, and will be available on the Mac App Store. It’s worth noting that this is ten dollars less than the current version, Lion.

    Here’s Apple’s promo for the OS:

    Mountain Lion has over 200 new features, according to Apple. Peruse them here.

    More Mountain Lion coverage here.

  • Apple Announces That They Still Make More Money Than Anybody Else

    We knew for a while that Apple was going to reveal that they made a lot of money today. We just didn’t know to what extent. Thanks to Apple releasing their third quarter results, we can confirm that the company continues to make a lot of money.

    Apple announced today that the company made $35 billion in quarterly revenue with $8.8 billion of that being net profit. Compare that to the $28.6 billion made a year ago and you have a company that seems like it can’t do no wrong. Part of that is thanks to Apple expanding into international markets which accounted for 62 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

    So how well did their flagship products, the iPhone and the iPad, do? Apple sold 26 million iPhones in the last quarter, which represents a growth of 28 percent over Q3 2011. The company sold 17 million iPads, which represents an even more impressive 84 percent increase over Q3 2011. As for Macs, the company sold 4 million units with the iPod selling 6.8 million units. The Mac business grew two percent while the the iPod business declined 10 percent.

    Remember that stock dividend that Apple announced a while back? Shareholders are getting their due on August 16 with a payout of $2.65 per share. You still have a chance to jump on that bandwagon as those who own stock before the market closes on August 13 will receive the payout. Considering that stocks for Apple are going for $600 right now, that might not be the best decision.

    “We’re thrilled with record sales of 17 million iPads in the June quarter,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve also just updated the entire MacBook line, will release Mountain Lion tomorrow and will be launching iOS 6 this Fall. We are also really looking forward to the amazing new products we’ve got in the pipeline.”

    Wait, what? Did Tim Cook just announced Mountain Lion for tomorrow? Indeed, Apple will launch the much anticipated Mountain Lion OS for Mac computers tomorrow, July 24. You’ll be able to download the update or buy a copy from your local Apple Store. Just be sure your Mac is up to snuff first.

    “We’re continuing to invest in the growth of our business and are pleased to be declaring a dividend of $2.65 per share today,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter, we expect revenue of about $34 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $7.65.”

    Between the launch of Mountain Lion tomorrow and iOS6 this fall, Apple has a pretty busy year ahead of them. Couple that with the rumored launch of the iPhone and iPad Mini in September and Apple will be making more money than even Scrooge McDuck.

  • Want Mountain Lion? Better Make Sure Your Mac Has The Right Specs

    I’m not the biggest fan of Apple, but I do commend their dedication to simplicity. I have to go through a long list of checks before I can install a new version of Windows or a new piece of hardware on my PC. Macs are just simpler by default, but it seems that they might be getting a little more complicated with the release of Mountain Lion.

    When Mountain Lion, the latest version of Mac OS X, launches later this month, it will have certain system requirements that must be met. On the official specs page, Apple lists OS X v10.6.8 or later, 2GB of memory and 8GB of available space as being the necessary requirements needed to run Mountain Lion. 512 Pixels compares these system requirements with those of past versions. Apple only listed the processor as a necessary system requirement. Why the change? Macs are more uniform than Windows PCs so it makes sense to refer to things that can change between models – RAM and hard drive space.

    To make things easier for those who don’t know their RAM from their HDD, Apple has listed the following models as being the only ones that are supported:

    iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
    MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
    MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
    Xserve (Early 2009)
    MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
    Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
    Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)

    That’s a good range of products to support. Apple is obviously making it as easy as possible for people to know if their Mac is up to snuff or not by even including models. As a Windows guy, this would never work on my platform of choice because there has never been uniformity. That’s where Macs can become the ultimate user friendly device by letting people exactly which model they need to run the latest operating system.

    What if you forgot what year you bought your Mac in or perhaps you bought it second hand? How do you find out how much RAM you have? It’s simple enough – just click on About This Mac underneath the Apple menu and it will bring up the processor and RAM information. Clicking on More Info will bring up the specifics of the machine including the specific model you have.

    Moutain Lion Mac

    Looks like I’m ready for Mountain Lion, are you? If not, 512 Pixels reports that the Mac Store will reject your bid to download Mountain Lion. It has only done so for the beta, however, so Apple could still potentially screw over people buying the public release. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.

  • Apple Announces Third Quarter Earnings Call

    Apple has announced the details for their third quarter earnings call. According to a post on their Investor Relations website, Apple’s quarterly conference call will take place on July 24th at 2 PM Pacific Time, 5 PM Eastern.

    Apple’s past two earnings reports have been pretty much nothing but good news for the Cupertino-based tech giant. The first quarter of their 2012 fiscal year (October-December 2011) was the best quarter in the company’s history. They posted $46.33 billion in revenue and $13.06 billion in profits. They also announced that they had sold 37.04 million iPhones, 15.43 million iPads, and 5.2 million Macs, all up significantly over the previous year. In the second quarter things dipped a bit, but not unexpectedly. In the second quarter they generated $39.2 billion in revenue and $11.6 billion in profit. They also sold 35.1 million iPhones, 11.8 million iPads, and 4 million Macs (again, all significant increases over the previous year).

    That being the case, it’s a fair bet that Apple has more good news on tap for this next earnings call. There’s also a decent chance that they’ll announce the release date for OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, especially considering that they did the same for 10.7 Lion during last year’s Q3 call.

  • Mountain Lion Getting Automatic Security Updates

    Around the same time we were bringing you news that Apple had backed off on claims that Macs are immune to viruses, they released a security update for the developer preview of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. Developers were alerted to the update yesterday afternoon via email and could download it via the Mac App Store.

    The 1.15GB update is includes several new security features. As most developers know, the biggest threat to security on any computer is users who don’t download the latest and most secure versions of software. With this update, the user is removed from the equation. Now Mountain Lion will check for necessary security updates daily, and allows the option to install them automatically or after a restart. It also improves the security around the connections to Apple’s update servers.

    This is a fairly minor update to the Mountain Lion developer preview. With the public release of Mountain Lion coming sometime next month Apple appears to be doing some final tweaks to the OS. Two weeks ago at WWDC 2012 Apple promised that Mountain Lion would ship in July, though they declined to offer anything more specific than that. Recently we told you about a third party tech support company that had prohibited employee vacations for the week of July 22-29, suggesting that Mountain Lion would be coming out sometime around then (or shortly before).

  • Mountain Lion Release Date: Vacation Ban Gives Clues

    Earlier this week we told you that Apple might be launching OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion on July 19th. New information that has surfaced today may lend some weight to that date.

    According to a report from MacRumors, employees at a third party company that specializes in tech support for Apple products are being told they cannot go on vacation during the week of July 22-29. The company is apparently telling employees that they need “all hands on deck” during that time, though they are not telling employees why.

    While it could be that something else is going on, the likeliest reason for the vacation ban is the launch of OS X Mountain Lion. The employees who were told not to take vacations during that period were in the desktop and portables division. Apple promised at last week’s WWDC 2012 keynote that Mountain Lion would ship in July, though they declined to offer a specific date.

    Interestingly, this date range seems to contradict the earlier report that Mountain Lion would be releasing on the 19th. It’s possible, however, that either the earlier report or the tech support company’s date range is a bit off. Either way, a mid-late July launch for Mountain Lion is looking pretty likely at this point.

  • OS X Mountain Lion To Release July 19th?

    One of the big stories from Apple’s WWDC 2012 keynote last week was OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. The latest version of Apple’s desktop operating system packs in a bunch of exciting new features, including Notification Center, Reminders, Twitter Integration (and probably Facebook, too), and more. They also announced the price – a positively shocking $19.99.

    One thing they did not announce, much to the disappointment of many, was Mountain Lion’s release date. All they said was that it would be shipping “next month.” Of course, “next month” (i.e., July) is still a fairly broad window, and Apple has declined to narrow it down.

    One recent report, though, puts a firm date on Mountain Lion’s release. According to Three Guys and a Podcast, who apparently have a source in San Francisco’s Bay Area, Apple is planning to launch Mountain Lion on July 19th. This keeps Apple’s releases on a yearly schedule, a format of which Apple has grown increasingly fond, particularly with iOS products.

    Like Lion before it, Mountain Lion will only be available as a download from the Mac App Store. Once it’s released, you can upgrade to Mountain Lion from any Mac that has the correct hardware specs and is running either Snow Leopard or Lion.

  • WWDC 2012: Apple Uploads Keynote To YouTube

    On Monday various Apple executives took the stage for the keynote at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, which ends today. During the keynote they introduced a huge number of new products. Items on the menu included updates to the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lines, an all new MacBook Pro with retina display, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, and iOS 6.

    Unfortunately, Apple did not see fit to stream the keynote live. While there were a number of live blogs (including ours) and a Ustream feed available, neither is quite the same as watching the keynote yourself. Shortly after the keynote ended, Apple posted their own video on their website, but if you weren’t watching via Safari on your Mac or iOS device, or QuickTime on your Windows PC, then you couldn’t see it then, either.

    Now, four days later, Apple has finally posted the video to their YouTube channel. So, if you missed it on Monday, you can check it out below. All two hours of it. Though if you don’t feel like watching the whole thing, Siri’s stand-up routine at the very beginning is worth the price of admission all by itself.

    Of course, there’s a certain amount of irony in Apple posting a video to YouTube – which is owned by Google – in which they announce that they’ll be ditching Google Maps from iOS.

  • Baidu, Apple To Share iOS Search Revenue

    Baidu, Apple To Share iOS Search Revenue

    When Apple announced iOS 6 during Monday’s WWDC 2012 keynote, they introduced a whole slew of new features. In fact, the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system will include more than 200 new features, including an all-new Maps app, Facebook integration, improvements to Siri, and much more.

    Since the announcement, there has been one feature of iOS 6 that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention in the American press: Baidu. During the keynote, Apple announced that iOS (and OS X Mountain Lion), would be getting Baidu as an option for the default search engine in China. Baidu, in case you’re not familiar with it, is basically China’s answer to Google (after all, Google and China have a relationship that is… less than friendly). While Google rules the world of search throughout most of the world, Baidu’s share of the Chinese search market is around 80%.

    Today, some of the terms of Apple’s deal with Baidu have become public. In an interview with Bloomberg, Baidu vice president Wang Jing said that Apple would be receiving a percentage of the revenues generated by Baidu searches on iOS and Mountain Lion devices. Though Wang declined to disclose the actual amount, he did say that the deal is similar to those Baidu has with other smartphone manufacturers. Thanks to such deals Baidu is, ironically, the default search engine on many Android phones in China.

  • Growl 2.0 To Work With Notification Center, Not Against It

    Whenever Apple unveils a new version of one of their operating systems – iOS or OS X – they tend to include at least a few new, interesting features. Unfortunately, though, these new goodies sometimes have unpleasant side effects for certain segments of the developer community. It’s not at all uncommon for iOS or OS X to introduce a feature that makes an existing third party app (or jailbreak tweak) obsolete. Whenever Apple introduces a new feature, it’s always interesting to look at where they got the idea, and which apps this new feature might kill off.

    Growl for OS X is an excellent example. For years Growl has provided OS X users something that Apple did not see fit to include: a convenient, centralized clearinghouse for system and app notifications. In fact, many Mac users will tell you that Growl is one of the first things they install on any new Mac. When Apple announced in February that Notification Center was coming to OS X Mountain Lion, though, there were those who feared that that might be the end of the line for Growl. After all, Notification Center exists to do exactly what Growl has been doing for all this time. Why would you need both?

    Well, it seems that Growl may have found the answer. In a blog post today, Growl CEO Chris Forsythe discussed the future of Growl in the context of Mountain Lion’s notification system. The plan, he says, is not to set Growl up as a competitor to Notification Center, but rather to allow Growl to compliment and augment Notification Center. The goal is to “help developers transition from Growl to Notification Center on their terms.”

    To do that, Growl 2.0 will make a simple modification to a feature introduced with Growl 1.3. This feature, called Mist, is a modification to the Growl framework used by developers to integrate Growl support into their apps. Essentially, if Growl is not running, Mist generates a notification anyway. To accommodate Notification Center, Mist will be updated to include a single line of code that directs that notification through the Notification Center. That’s it. Here’s what Forsythe has to say about it:

    The benefit of this is that you do not need to rewrite your code, you’ll simply drop in an updated Growl.framework, update the XPC if you use that, and then you’re done. You now support Notification Center. If Growl is running, then Growl is used. The notification experience is pretty straight forward, users who want Growl are happy, users who just want NC are happy, etc etc.

    All in all, it looks like a win-win. In fact, it makes Growl extremely useful for developers whose apps are not in the Mac App Store. You see, Mountain Lion’s Notification Center only supports App Store apps. If you download from another source (something Apple would really rather you didn’t do), then the app can’t send notifications to Notification Center. With Growl, you can still see notifications from your non-App Store apps.

    While Notification Center is certainly a cause for concern for Growl, the fact that OS X is not the same kind of walled garden ecosystem as iOS means that there will always be room for apps like Growl.

    Growl 1.3 is currently available for $1.99 in the Mac App Store.

  • Messages Beta For OS X Lion Disappears From Apple’s Website

    Back in February Apple shocked pretty much everybody by announcing OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion without warning. At the time, they released a developer preview of Mountain Lion, as well as a public beta of one of Mountain Lion’s tentpole features: Messages. Just like Messages on iOS, Messages for OS X allows users to sync their iMessage conversations across devices. With Mountain Lion, you can start a conversation with a fellow iOS or Mac user on your iPhone, and finish it on your Mac. Despite a few early bugs, it’s quite an amazing feature. Happily (and as you might expect) the public beta was compatible with OS X 10.7 Lion, so if you wanted to give Messages a shot but couldn’t access the developer preview, you were in luck.

    Unfortunately, all was not well in paradise. The day after Apple’s announcement, it became apparent that Messages beta would only work on Lion for as long as it took for Mountain Lion to become available. Once Mountain Lion releases, Messages on Lion will stop working.

    Now, with Mountain Lion scheduled to release sometime next month, Apple has decided that they’ve already got all the beta testers they needed. Sometime yesterday – it’s not quite clear when – Apple pulled the Messages beta from their site. So if you don’t have Messages on your Lion Mac, you never will. What’s more, if you already have Messages on your Lion Mac but can’t upgrade to Mountain Lion (case in point, my MacBook is too old for Mountain Lion), your days with Messages are numbered.

    It’s not entirely clear why Apple chose to make Messages Mountain Lion exclusive. After all, the fact that the beta version worked with Lion suggests that the full version would as well. The obvious answer, of course, is that they want to encourage Lion users to upgrade to Mountain Lion. After all, most of the Macs that were compatible with Lion are also compatible with Mountain Lion, and the upgrade costs only $20. Unfortunately, those who can’t upgrade (or just don’t want to, for whatever reason) are left in the lurch.

  • Syncing Computers With OS X? There’s A Power Nap For That

    Apple announced a new addition to the Mountain Lion/OS X family, in the name of keeping your new MacBook Pro up-to-date with relevant information concerning data stored to iCloud (email, calendar updates) via other devices, as well as keeping it current with application and various hardware updates. The new program is called “Power Nap” and as pointed out by Gizmodo, Power Nap is similar to Intel’s Smart Connect technology, which works in much the same way.

    A description from Intel concerning Smart Connect sounds awfully similar to the Power Nap description:

    With Intel Smart Connect Technology in your Ultrabook, your email, favorite apps, and social networks are continually and automatically updated even when the system is asleep. No more waiting for the latest world news or friends’ updates to be delivered—just lift the lid and you’re up-to-date and ready to go.

    According to Ryan Block over at gdgt, who’s attending WWDC, a quote from Craig Federighi reveals something similar, “We all love using our Macs, but wouldn’t it be great if when we weren’t using them they were still working for us? Power Nap keeps your Mac up to date while it sleeps… It automatically refreshes data, it’s totally silent, goes easy on your battery, and it’s compatible with recent MacBook Airs and our new MacBook Pro with Retina Display.”

    For the “set it and forget it” crowd, such an application sounds like it would be quite useful.

  • Apple Adds Dictation to Mountain Lion

    Similar to when Apple brought Siri to the iPad in the form of dictation software, they announced at the Developers Conference today, that they with bring that same functionality to the new line of Macbooks. The new Apple OS, Mountain Lion, will contain iPad style dictation.

    This is not the full version of Siri, but it can be used for dictation. Hitting the microphone button allows you to speak dictation to a number of software application including Facebook and third party applications like Microsoft Word.

    Follow our live coverage here.

    [img: Engadget]

  • OS X Mountain Lion Detailed And Priced At WWDC 2012

    On top of all the new hardware hitting today during Apple’s WWDC keynote, we can’t forget about the software that runs it all. While people are probably more interested in iOS 6, the update to the next iteration of OS X – Mountain Lion – should have Mac users equally excited.

    During the keynote, Craig Federighi took the stage to talk up Mountain Lion. He prefaced the presentation to talk up sales numbers. There are now 66 million Mac users around the world with Lion selling through 26 million copies. He’s quick to point out that it took Windows 7 27 months to sell that many.

    As for the new features, Federighi says that there are over 200. That might take a while to go over in depth so he will just talk about eight of the biggest features hitting the platform. First up is iCloud which has 125 million registered users. Mountain Lion has built-in support that works with three of the most used applications – Messages, Reminders and Notes. This will allow users to share their content across all their iDevices through the cloud.

    If you were wanting documents as well, worry not. Apple announced that document-based apps will be coming to iCloud shortly. They also announced the availability of an SDK so developers can creating apps that work with iCloud.

    Federighi provided a demo on stage with one of the new MacBook Pros. Reminders can be controlled through gestures and it also features location-based Reminders. He feels that iCloud will really benefit Messages though. If a message is sent to your phone, you can just respond to it on your Mac.

    As for the previously mentioned documents, the demo showed some changes being made to a document on the iPhone with the changes showing up in the document on the MacBook Pro about five seconds later. As for notifications, the demonstration showed how it’s now easy to use gestures to dismiss notifications and warnings that Mountain Lion sends you.

    A big feature coming to Mountain Lion is dictation. Apple says that it will work with pretty much everything from Facebook to third-party applications like Word. It’s important to note that this is not Siri, but rather just plain dictation. While still a great addition, it’s not the Siri that many were probably hoping for.

    Next up, Federighi talks up the new Safari. He claims it’s the “fastest on the planet.” It uses iCloud to sync your browsing history and bookmarks across all your devices. You can tweet and use other sharing options straight from the browser. It also features a unified search field ala Chrome.

    Complimenting the new Safari is the Tab View. This allows users to see all the tabs they have and switch between Web sites on the fly. Using multi-touch zooming, you can zoom out to the tab view to select a new page. These tabs will be shared across multiple device via iCloud as well.

    Previously, it was mentioned that you could use Twitter straight from Safari. It’s also integrated into the Notification Center. It will update each time you’re sent a DM or mentioned in Tweet. Federighi also showed off the ability to use the voice dictation to send Tweets.

    A new feature coming to Mountain Lion is called Power Nap. It essentially allows the new MacBook Pro to update and sync itself when it’s offline. It will also backup itself while it’s charging. It will be compatible with second gen MacBook Airs and the new MacBook Pro.

    Another nice feature coming to Mountain Lion is AirPlay Mirroring. Instead of having to use an HDMI cable to connect to your television, you can now just stream 1080p content from the MacBook to a TV wirelessly. It also supports AirPlay-enabled stereo systems and speakers.

    A major features that iOS has enjoyed for years is also finally coming to Mac OS X. GameCenter will be available for Mac-to-Mac gaming as well as cross-platform play. This opens up game developers to create interactions between iOS devices and the Mac OS X platform. Players will also be able to send GameCenter over AirPlay.

    Apple also used the event to announce some specific features for the international markets. It’s no secret that Apple is popular in China and Federighi feels that the updates to Mountain Lion will make Macs even more popular in China. Some of these include new input methods, new dictionaries, new fonts and support for popular Chinese social networks like Baidu.

    Finally, Mountain Lion will be available in July for the super low price of $19.99. It will upgrade anything from Snow Leopard onward. You can also upgrade all your Macs with just one copy. Unfortunately, Mountain Lion will not be shipping with the new MacBook Pros. Fortunately, those who buy a new MacBook Pro now get a free copy of Mountain Lion when it releases.

    That’s all Apple had to share today about the updates coming to Mountain Lion. It looks to be a major upgrade from Lion and Apple fans are sure to be already placing their pre-orders. As a Windows guy, I’m even tempted by the new features coming to Mountain Lion. That should speak volumes about the good work they’re doing.

    [Lead image: Engadget]