Mountain Lion is Coming Next Month: Here’s What We Know

While Apple’s Mountain Lion has been coolly waiting for its chance to pounce on Apple’s website, Craig Federighi announced at WWDC 2012’s opening Keynote that the next big cat will be available next month (no specific date given) for only $19.99 from the Mac App Store.

“With iCloud built right in and the new Notification Center, Messages, Dictation, Facebook integration and more, this is the best OS X yet.”

Mountain Lion brings OS X closer to iCloud thanks to a community of integrated apps and services that allow for seamless syncing of Mail, Notes, Reminders, Calendar events, Contacts, and Messages. In addition to these iCloud enabled apps and services (which we’ve long been familiar with), Apple is introducing Documents in the Cloud.

Documents in the Cloud is a new feature that integrates with Apple’s iWork suite and enabled third party apps to bring you documents that are stored in iCloud. In his demo, Federighi opened Pages which brought an iCloud-based document library. In Mountain Lion, Documents in the Cloud is enabled for Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Preview and TextEdit. The new document library browser provides a simple way to access recent documents no matter which device you access them from. Apple will be making available an SDK so developers can use this feature for their own apps.

Game Center, a brand new Safari with a unified search field, and AirPlay mirroring, and greater accessibility for China were also shown off. AirPlay mirroring lets you send up to a 1080p quality secure video stream or an audio stream to an AirPlay receiver as iOS devices can.

While we’re talking about applications, I should take the opportunity to say that Gatekeeper on the Mac is completely user controlled. Outed as a feature that protects you from bad guys (my words), users can decide whether or not to trust 3rd party applications from outside the Mac App Store. Gatekeeper itself will check for security updates in the background, and it provides kernel ASLR for protection against buffer overflow attacks. Overall, it’s a solid security update.

Mountain Lion itself has something aesthetic changes — a brand new glass dock is seated at the bottom of the display, and the Notification Center icon has changed from its preliminary circle to an icon representing a list of items in the menubar.

Notification Center received plenty of airtime, with service integration being demonstrated on stage. Notification Center is reminiscent of Growl, with banners sliding down from the upper right corner. Alerts stay on screen until you dismiss them, and additionally there’s an on / off switch for showing notifications. Notification Center is smart too — when connected to a project, the Notification Center will automatically shut off.

Given that you could dictate in iOS 5, it’s only right that the feature makes its way onto the Mac. Dictation really needs no explanation: “Anywhere you can type, you can now talk.”

Sharing in Mountain Lion is prevalent, with Twitter being used as the first example. Just like in iOS, a cute tweet sheet pops up that lets you quickly jot down your thoughts and send it off to share with your followers. Additionally, Facebook integration in OS X brings your friends and contacts closer than ever. Integrated in Mountain Lion just like with iOS 6, a single sign-in gives you access to share across a bevy of services including Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and Vimeo. Facebook sharing lets you post to your wall, reply to a comment from an update displayed through the Notification Center, and directly update your Contacts with your friend’s information. To expound upon Notification Center, it displays updates from Twitter as well (for example, when someone mentions you in a tweet).

Power Nap is a feature we haven’t heard of before, letting your MacBook Pro with Retina Display or 2nd Gen (and above) MacBook Air receive data while it sleeps. All of the information you care about will be updated even before you open the lid — contacts, calendar events, emails, and other iCloud enabled services such as Find my Mac will work without user intervention. Even more amazing, your MacBook will be able to back up to Time Machine while in its Power Nap state. Supposedly, expected battery life should be maintained even when your MacBook is sipping power and downloading data while it’s asleep.

Customers who purchase one of Apple’s new MacBook Airs or MacBook Pros after June 11th will get a free update to Mountain Lion when it ships. Existing customers will be able to download it next month from the MAS. Today’s demo expounded what we already know, showcasing the rigidity of iCloud and new concepts that extends the Mac as an always active, lifestyle device. Mountain Lion’s integration with iCloud runs deep, and with over 1700 APIs available for developers, it’s a great release for developers and consumers alike.

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The Next Generation MacBook Pro: Retina Display, Thinner Design, And More

Following updates to the MacBook Air and old MacBook Pro line, Apple’s Phil Schiller formally took the wraps off the “next generation MacBook Pro” at WWDC today. Featuring an “architecture for the future”, the all new MacBook Pro comes with a new thin and light design that is inspired by the MacBook Air, and carries over the tradition of powerful specs of the Pro family.

To “be bold and embrace new technologies”, the new MacBook Pro is a true breakthrough in engineering: it’s 0.71 inches thin, and weighs only 4.46 pounds. It’s the lightest Pro notebook Apple ever made, and it carries a 15.4-inch, 2880x1800 “Retina” display for high resolution. at 220 pixels per inch, the new MacBook Pro has 5,184,000 pixels and it’s the highest resolution notebook in the world. According to Schiller, the quality of the display is “the best Apple has ever made”. Glare and reflection have been reduced by 75%, and the display features deeper blacks, higher contrast ratios, and higher view angles. Shipping with Lion, all Apple apps have been updated to take advantage of the Retina display: Mail, Safari, iPhoto have received updates; Aperture and Final Cut are receiving major updates as well. Final Cut, for instance, can show 9 simultaneous streams of pro-res video or 4 uncompressed streams.

Third-party apps will have to be updated for the Retina display on the new MacBook Pro. Apple says it is working with key developers, including Adobe, to have Retina-ready versions of popular apps soon.

The MacBook Pro with Retina display pushes the limits of performance and portability like no other notebook,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “With a gorgeous Retina display, all flash architecture and a radically thin and light design, the new MacBook Pro is the most advanced Mac we have ever built.

The new MacBook Pro features a 2.7Ghz quad-core i7 CPU, with turbo boost up to 3.7 GHz; up to 16 GB 1600 MHz RAM; GeForce GT 650M Kepler graphics; flash storage up to 768 GB. With battery life up to 7 hours and 30 days of standby, the new MBP also comes with SD card slot, HDMI, USB2/3, MagSafe 2, two Thunderbolt ports, another USB2/3 port, and the standard headphone jack.

The MagSafe had to be made thinner to fit into this new design; the machine also comes with a completely new stereo system, FaceTime HD camera, and dual microphones.

The new MacBook Pro Retina display is the world’s highest resolution notebook display with over 5 million pixels, 3 million more than an HD television. At 220 pixels-per-inch, the Retina display’s pixel density is so high the human eye cannot distinguish individual pixels from a normal viewing distance, so text and graphics look incredibly sharp. The Retina display uses IPS technology for a 178-degree wide viewing angle, and has 75 percent less reflection and 29 percent higher contrast than the previous generation.

In a video shown on stage, Apple’s head of design Jony Ive suggested the new MacBook Pro may seem like a contradiction. Built for performance but extremely portable, the new MBP features typography sharper than a printed page, and insanely fast performances thanks to solid state storage. One of the most important challenges Apple engineers had to face was designing the new display, which is built into the unibody construction and assembled through state of the art automated robots.

The new 15.4” Retina-ready, 2.3 GHz quad-core i7, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB flash next generation MacBook Pro ships today at $2199. The higher-end version with 2.6 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.6 GHz, 8GB of memory and 512GB of flash storage starts at $2799. Configure-to-order options include faster quad-core processors up to 2.7 GHz, up to 16GB of memory and flash storage up to 768GB.

Starting today, customers who purchase a Mac will also get a free copy of Mountain Lion when it ships later this summer.

Moscone West Photos

Apple is showcasing the new MacBook Pro with Retina display to WWDC attendees.

Apple Updates MacBook Pro Lineup: Ivy Bridge, USB 3, New Kepler GT650M, and More

Apple announced a major update to their MacBook Pro line at today’s WWDC 2012 opening keynote.

Featuring an nVidia GeForce 650M with the Kepler architecture and up to 1 GB of video memory, graphics performance improves over 60%. Connection possibilities include two USB 3.0 slots, FireWire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, a Thunderbolt port, audio line in/out (separated in the 15” model), SDXC card slot, and a 8x SuperDrive (they cancelled the Superdrive for the NextGen MacBook Pro with Retina display). In terms of wireless connectivity, Apple update the MacBook Pros to Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11n as the remaining Wi-Fi standard.

The 13” starting model features a 2.5GHz dual-core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive, starting at $1199. The second, bigger version comes with a 2.9GHz dual-core i5 processor, 8GB of memory and a 750GB hard drive starting at $1499.

The 15” starting model comes with a 2.3GHz quad-core i7. 4GB of memory, Intel HD4000 graphics and NVIDIA GeForce GT650M, and 500GB hard drive, starting at $1799. The upgraded 15” Macbook Pro features a 2.6GHz quad-core i7, 8GB of RAM, Intel HD4000 graphics and NVIDIA GeForce GT650M, and a 750GB hard drive starting at $2199.

Other extra configurations include faster i7 processors up to 2.7GHz, additional hard drive capacity up to 1TB, up to 8GB RAM, and SSDs up to 512GB. The 15” models can also get glare or antiglare displays with 1680-by-1050 resolution.

All these MacBook Pro models start shipping today. There is no 17” model. MacBook Pros, shipping today, come with Lion, and new customers will be able to upgrade to Mountain Lion for free. Below you can investigate the price and main hardware changes in comparison to the old MacBook Pro line (with the 17” model included). Past the break, we’ve also included the full press release.

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Apple Announces New MacBook Airs: Ivy Bridge, USB 3, and More

Today at Apple’s WWDC 2012 Keynote, Phil Schiller announced the updated MacBook Air, featuring Intel Ivy Bridge processors, more RAM, a pair of USB 3 ports, faster flash storage for high speed performance (500 MBps read speed), 60% faster graphics, and an updated FaceTime camera that can record up to 720p.

The 11-inch base model MacBook Air starts with a 1366x768 display, 1.7 GHz dual-core i5 processor, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB of flash storage, Intel HD Graphics 4000, and 5 hours of battery life, starting at $999.

The larger 13-inch base configuration features a 1440x900 display, 1.8 GHz dual-core i5 processor, 4 GB RAM, 128 GB of flash storage, Intel HD Graphics 4000, and 7 hours of battery life, starting at $1199.

The MacBook Airs can be updated with a 2 GHz core-i7 processor (with Turbo Boost up to 3.2 GHz), 8 GB of RAM, and 512 GBs of flash storage.

The updated MacBook Airs start shipping today. Customers who purchase a MacBook Air will be eligible for a free upgrade to Mountain Lion when it’s released. You’ll find the full press release after the break.

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#MacStoriesDeals - WWDC Monday

Today is the WWDC keynote, expect a lot of ‘can’t miss’ deals this week! We’ll keep updating this post throughout the day. Here are today’s @MacStoriesDeals on hardware, iOS, and Mac apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get them before they end!
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Liveblog: WWDC 2012 Edition

It wouldn’t be right if we didn’t write WWDC as dubbya-dubbya-DC at least once this year, so we’re going to get that out of the way before we’re slapped in the face with a case of the Mondays. Although, Monday doesn’t have to be all that bad — this year we’re going to try to deliver the goods live from 4th and Howard streets as we hold @SteveStreza hostage to do the dirty work of live blogging and taking pictures while we sleep in late, hang out in our PJs, and drink fancy coffee. Only once the pot is empty and our live blogger escapes our clutches will we finally sit down to bring you all day coverage of Apple’s latest product announcements. You dig?

Cool, because we’re going to be right here Monday morning as WWDC 2012 kicks off with this year’s Keynote. See you tomorrow!

Apple WWDC 2012 Keynote Time Zones:

13:00 — New York, New York
10:00 — San Francisco, California
07:00 — Honolulu, Hawaii
03:00 — Sydney, Australia
02:00 — Tokyo, Japan
01:00 — Shanghai, China
22:30 — New Delhi, India
21:00 — Moscow, Russia
19:00 — Rome, Italy
18:00 — London, England

Note: We’ll provide all day coverage of WWDC announcements on MacStories’ homepage and through our WWDC 2012 hub. We’ll have a liveblog in this post 30 minutes before the keynote kicks off, tweet text updates as @MacStoriesLive, and announce new articles and updates as @MacStoriesNet.

Liveblog and updates (in reverse chronological order) after the break.
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Never Miss Cool Movies With Todo Movies

I suppose we all know that phenomenon: you’re watching a cool movie trailer and think “Boy, I just have to see this thing!” and then, several months later you realize that you forgot about it and it has already been released and everyone watched it in the cinema. To avoid that, I usually follow films or directors on Twitter or add them to my Facebook stream because those are the websites I visit every day. There are also some people who even set up reminders for release dates of things like books, music records or films. To outsource this reminding and give film lovers a companion to never forget any film you want to watch or miss a release date, Taphive introduced Todo Movies for iPhone.

The app just serves the purpose of searching for movies using a simple search through the TMDb movie database, and afterwards adds those films to a list containing all the movies you want to watch. The search works seamlessly, but there is no live search while typing and until you hit the “search” button, you get a “no results” below the entering panel, which is always a bit confusing.

When you found a film you want to add to your list, tap on it to bring up the single movie window, which is almost completely filled up with a Retina-ready film poster, a move I really like, since this view transports the atmosphere of the respective film very well. From here you can either directly add it to your “To Watch”-list, or investigate its details a bit more by tapping the list button in the top right corner. If you do so, the screen flips and you can look at the film details like main actors, director, or a small summarization of its storyline.

The evolving lists of movies to watch and those you’ve already watched can then be sorted alphabetically, and after adding or release date. Optionally, you can let the app display the “unwatched” count as an icon badge using the apart from that nonexistent settings. If a movie you add is still about to be released in the future, you can let Todo Movies notify you using an iOS notification, when it’s finally out. The still awaited movies are also highlighted using a slight blue colored month info right besides the year they are released; this sets it apart from the otherwise monochrome UI.

Which brings me to (at least to me) the coolest feature of Todo Movies: its UI. You’ve already seen some screenshots of it, and I have to say that it’s way better when you use it. I very rarely cannot say anything bad about an app’s design, but this time, I couldn’t find any styling flaw at all. The transitions between windows are smooth, and the buttons are perfectly combined in both look and colorization. And the highlight for all UI fanatics lies within the sharing options, which can be brought up by tapping the speech bulb button in the single movie window. I deliberately did not mention this until now, because it’s one of the coolest thing I’ve seen to date: the sharing buttons for Twitter, mail, Facebook and iMessage are arranged around a central dismiss. When you tap that “x” dismiss button, they smoothly start rotating and this way roll back into the center; afterwards, the buttons hide and up comes the main investigation window again.

This feature alone showed me that Todo Movies was worth of my time. Not just its UI, but also its feature set justifies the app’s price. The only feature besides the search confusion I mentioned above I could imagine the devs to add is a kind of a “hot” or “coming soon” page as a starting points for new users or less nerdy people who remember every trailer they saw. But otherwise, I recommend this app to every movie lover out there. It looks gorgeous, works flawlessly and works the way it’s supposed to do. You can purchase Todo Movies for just $0.99 on the App Store.

 

iOS 6 Confirmed: New Banners Up at Moscone West

It’s been a couple days since we last checked in on the progress at Moscone West, and today it appears that new banners at WWDC are confirming expected discussion around iOS 6, Apple’s next iteration of their mobile OS. Banners in the halls of Moscone West are showing off a slick blue logo with a silver 6 inside, perhaps signifying that fresh coat of paint Rene Ritchie discussed as a possibility on iMore. We’re looking forward to Monday’s Keynote, and in the meantime we’ll continue updating our Moscone West 2012 post with great photographs as they come in.

The first floor layout of Moscone West is different from last year — in the photo above you can see the iOS 6 signage in comparison to last year’s open floor with rope lines. Banners have been hung on the 2nd floor of Moscone West, and there’s different banners for Mac Messages, Mac Notification Center, and for a Mac Game Center. WWDC 2012 is already shaping up to be a big event, and we’ll have more photos soon.

Past the break, we have a couple more photos for your viewing pleasure. Thanks again to @SteveStreza for the amazing pictures!

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