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Posts tagged with "Mountain Lion"

Announcing Our First eBook

MacStories is pleased to announce their first eBook, MacStories Features: OS X Mountain Lion, for $6.99. With a detailed review of Mountain Lion, numerous sections covering its new apps and features in depth, and 30% of its proceeds going to the American Cancer Society, MacStories Features: OS X Mountain Lion is a great way to learn about Mountain Lion, support MacStories, and fight cancer all at once.

Contents

We’ve put a lot of effort into this book: it contains exclusive guides for preparing your Mac for Mountain Lion, walks you through every aspect of the install process, and contains great tips and tricks you won’t find anywhere else. Every inch of its over 120 pages is custom-designed and optimized for Retina displays, presenting its content in a beautiful, easy-to-read format.

You can download MacStories Features: OS X Mountain Lion here.

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Cover image by ehtesham/Shutterstock.com

Apple Confirms OS X Mountain Lion Coming Tomorrow

In the Q3 2012 press release, Apple has confirmed that OS X Mountain Lion is launching tomorrow, July 25th. The OS will be available on the Mac App Store at $19.99.

OS X Mountain Lion is a major upgrade to Apple’s desktop operating system which includes over 200 new features that further ties OS X into iCloud and brings many important iOS applications to the Mac. Major new OS X features include apps such as Notes and Reminders, Messages, Game Center, the Notification Center that works similarly to iOS, Gatekeeper — ensuring that users stay safe when they download and install applications, Dictation, and Power Nap for compatible Macs.

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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Apple Announces WWDC 2012: Kicks Off June 11

UPDATE: Apple has confirmed that tickets for WWDC 2012 are already sold out.

Apple has announced the official dates for WWDC 2012. The developer event kicks off in San Francisco on June 11 and runs through June 15. Tickets are on sale for $1599, and are limited to one ticket per person or five tickets per organization. This year, app developers under 18 years old (13 - 17) can have their legal guardian purchase a WWDC ticket and approve their attendance at the conference — budding developers do not have to miss out on this year’s events.  Despite being an ever popular event that sells out quickly, WWDC 2012 still takes place at Moscone West.

We have a great WWDC planned this year and can’t wait to share the latest news about iOS and OS X Mountain Lion with developers,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The iOS platform has created an entirely new industry with fantastic opportunities for developers across the country and around the world.

Registration for the event will take place on June 10th starting at 9:00am. If the event cannot be attended, videos from this year’s sessions will be made available for download. It’s best to go in person so experts can answer your development related questions. This year’s topics will include information about OS X Mountain Lion, which will be made available later this summer, alongside iOS app development sessions.

WWDC 2012 will cover six technical tracks with over 100 sessions and labs. Tracks include:

  • Essentials
  • App Services
  • Developer Tools
  • Graphics, Media, and Games
  • Safari and Web
  • Core OS

Alongside ticket sales, Apple has opened nominations for the 2012 Apple Design Awards. Nominated apps will be considered for an ADA and must be made available on the App Store or Mac App Store by May 1st. Students can also look forward to a great time at WWDC, and earn the chance to attend the conference free of charge on a scholarship.

Activities at Apple’s WWDC 2012 include:
more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers on a wide range of technology-specific topics for developing, deploying and integrating the latest iOS and OS X technologies;100 hands-on labs staffed by more than 1,000 Apple engineers providing developers with code-level assistance, insight into optimal development techniques and guidance on how they can make the most of iOS and OS X technologies in their apps;the opportunity to connect with thousands of fellow iOS and OS X developers from around the world—last year more than 60 countries were represented;engaging and inspirational lunchtime sessions with leading minds and influencers from the worlds of technology, science and entertainment; andApple Design Awards which recognize iPhone®, iPad® and Mac® apps that demonstrate technical excellence, innovation and outstanding design.

PR after the break!

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Apple Releases OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview 2

Apple just released the second developer preview of the next major version of OS X – Mountain Lion. The new developer preview is available in the Mac Dev Center to registered Mac developers, and it carries build number 12A154q. As with the first developer preview, the build can be downloaded from the Mac App Store with a redemption code. The Next Web has a list of known issues with the latest build of 10.8.

Mountain Lion, officially announced on February 16th, will be released this summer, featuring a number of new functionalities, including standalone Notes and Reminders app, Notification Center, Gatekeeper, and more. Check out our Mountain Lion overview for a roundup of all the new features.

 

Growl, Mountain Lion, And “Getting Sherlocked”

Last week Apple revealed its new Mac operating system, Mountain Lion, due out for this summer. While not a complete overhaul, 10.8 is a polished update that adds many similar functionalities from iOS 5. Among these changes, and one of the most important pieces, is Notification Center. As the name suggests, it is basically Notification Center ported from iOS, running at a system level on Mountain Lion. Besides having the same UI elements we see on our iPads and iPhones everyday, it also has a badge mode much like Growl, our favorite open source notification system for OS X. It’d be fair to say that almost every OS X die-hard uses Growl, as it’s very customizable with function and appearance. Last year, the Growl team overhauled the app and submitted it to the Mac App Store, where it quickly became one of the most popular utilities in the Top Paid charts.

Following Apple’s announcement, some people have said Notification Center will create a problem for Growl, as Apple’s own solution could hurt Growl by replacing its functionality on OS X. Now, as far as I know, Mountain Lion’s Notification Center will only work with Mac App Store apps, so Growl could still have a place for third-party apps that are installed outside of Apple’s storefront, as allowed by Gatekeeper.

Growl doesn’t seem to think Notification Center will immediately hinder installation or usage of their app, either. In a blog post from February 17th, the developers say Growl still has room in OS X to play with. They have listed some points as to how Growl will continue to go forward:

  • The developers are investigating options for integrating Growl with Notification Center.
  • Growl will work whether your application is from the App Store or not, as long as it supports Growl.
  • They’re still on schedule to release Growl 1.4 and 2.0.
  • Growl is great for customizable notifications.
  • Development of other applications will continue, such as HardwareGrowler, GrowlTunes,  and Capster as Mac App Store apps.

The Growl developers are optimistic even though they are going to have to compete with Apple. With Growl 1.4 already in beta testing (with many great improvements) and work on Growl 2.0 underway, I wouldn’t say Growl has been been “Sherlocked” by Apple’s announcement.

As a side note, developer Collect3 released Hiss today, a free app that sends all Growl notifications directly to Mountain Lion’s Notification Center. So, if you have an app that supports Growl, not Notification Center, you’re in luck. This could be the first step in both Growl and Mountain Lion’s Notification Center working together in some way (much like Notification Center hasn’t hurt the extensibility of Boxcar), albeit Connect3 was quoted on The Verge as saying that “(Hiss was) just a result of us being impatient to start seeing Notification Center become useful.”

[image via Macworld]

MacStories Reading List: Special Mountain Lion Edition

As the majority of East Coast Apple users were sipping on their morning coffees either in front of their Macs or on their way to work last Thursday morning, Apple’s PR department prepared to lift the embargo on one of the most unusual Apple product announcements to date: Mountain Lion.

At 8:31 AM on Thursday, February 16, the Apple community came to a full stop as publications like The Loop (they tweeted first), Macworld, and TechCrunch unveiled the details of Mountain Lion, the next major version of OS X set to ship this summer. After an initial shock due to the surprising nature of the announcement (hotel rooms? Good hot coffee? Private briefings with Phil Schiller? Apple PR is on to something here), you could hear the Internet fell silent as millions of eyeballs quickly skimmed through the iOS-inspired feature set of the next big cat. Notification Center, Reminders, Notes, iCloud – the next OS X (just don’t call it a Mac OS X) surely is something worth keeping an eye on. Because, stay assured – the thing is going to keep its eyes on you.

With this week’s Reading List, we’ve collected the best articles from around the web about the recently announced Mountain Lion. If you’re looking for more Mountain Lion coverage, make sure to check out our newly created hub as well.

While we can’t offer you a good coffee with Apple’s Phil Schiller, we still think this week’s Reading List will fare pretty good next to your favorite cup of Americano. Enjoy. Read more

iOS-ification Addendum

Following the announcement of OS X Mountain Lion and the release of the first developer preview, I’ve been seeing a lot of new commentary being added to the longstanding argument that Apple is “iOS-ifying” the Mac with features and apps from the iPad. Matt Alexander has probably the best metaphor on the subject:

And then yesterday, OS X and iOS announced an impromptu decision. Many had already (reluctantly) seen it coming but most chose to ignore the possibility, hurt that OS X might do that to them (to them!). But now it’s real, the two are moving in together, and that means a lot of things for the end-user.

Of the utmost importance is the fact that such a step does not suggest that the two entities are merging. Separate identities remain, but assets and possessions are shared. The decision comes when two individuals decide that, as a couple, they are better together than they are on their own. Moving in together, the couple is free to communicate more clearly with each other, to really learn about themselves, and to face complex life decisions together. The two are not somehow merging into the same entity, they’re merely moving under one roof, sharing some belongings, and generally learning how to co-exist in a new contextual environment.

The image of two OSes “moving in together” works exceptionally well in this context as Apple isn’t merging iOS and OS X – they are trying to get the best features “inspired from iPad” and bring them over to OS X. Anyone who’s ever been in a stable relationship understands that the single characteristics of a person (the “features” in OS parlance) mostly remain intact over the years, but as two people decide they are better as a couple, there might be some influence over each other’s distinctive traits (cue definition of “ecosystem” and “inspiration”). I think Matt simply nailed it with his article.

I believe, however, that there’s still much of a debate going around as to whether Apple is 100% clear in admitting “they are borrowing” from iOS to enhance the Mac, or Mountain Lion and the whole “iOS-ification” theory shouldn’t be a surprise at all because Apple isn’t trying to “iOS-ify” anything.

A few weeks ago, I wrote:

Today’s (relatively minor) software update reminds me, however, that the iOS-ification goes far beyond simply converting graphics and updating apps from one platform to another. It is actually more a conversion of the entire Apple ecosystem to an iOS-inspired system of graphical elements, user interactions, business models, user experience paradigms, and functionalities. The iOS-ification isn’t simply visual, it’s a fundamental shift of strategy that, ultimately, I believe begins and ends with iCloud — something that I have discussed before.

After the release of Mountain Lion, Jim Dalrymple wrote:

If Apple were trying to make Mountain Lion more like iOS we would be touching the screen of our computers to interact with out apps instead of using the keyboard and mouse.

Mountain Lion is about familiarity and integration. The new features and apps in Mountain Lion make sense for a desktop operating system.

To which Ben Brooks responded:

I don’t disagree with what Dalrymple is saying up and until the last line. Apple is indeed trying to bring some familiarity and integration between the two platforms, but there’s more to it than that.

The way I see it, Apple is trying to simplify OS X and bring to it some of the features from iOS that make sense. To that end Apple is very much making Mountain Lion more iOS like.

And then Jim wrote a smart counterargument:

I’m going to use the same faulty logic that some people have used to claim that OS X Mountain Lion is being iOS-ified to show how iOS is being Mac-ified.

Having watched some old Apple material on the matter (more on this in a bit), I see both ends of the controversy now – and I think the main issue here is that many  (including me) haven’t properly explained what they meant by “iOS-ification”. So, before the discussion continues, here’s my take on the feared word: I see “iOS-ification” as “inspiration” from an OS (and ecosystem of devices) that’s been insanely successful over the past five years. Inspiration, not copying, and not “making the Mac like iOS”. In fact, I think that “making the Mac like iOS” is the wrong expression to use – there is a subtle difference, but I’d use “iOS has inspired some changes in OS X” rather than “iOS-like” or “more like iOS”. It’s merely semantics, I know, but I’d like to settle this, and it’s important to use the right terminology.

In order to properly move forward, here’s a few things we can agree upon:

  • OS X is the technological foundation of iPhone OS (now iOS).
  • Once on iOS, Apple developed some new apps and user features for it.
  • After a few years, Apple decided to take some apps and user features from iOS (iPad and iPhone) and bring them back to the Mac.

These are the facts. Now, the problem is the interpretation of these facts, and how writers like Ben and Jim see the aforementioned process of “bringing back” as iOS-ification, inspiration, natural evolution, or whatever they want to call it. In fact, I believe the real issue is the meaning we want to give to these facts, and how they play in the bigger picture of Apple being committed to the Mac platform.

As usual, I’d like to turn it over to Steve to remind us how a particular subject was first introduced. Here’s how he described the process behind OS X Lion at the Back to the Mac event in 2010:

What is the big idea, what is the philosophy behind Mac OS X Lion? Well, that’s where Back to the Mac comes from.

What we’ve done is we’ve started from Mac OS X and we created from it a version called iOS, which we used in the iPhone, and we invented some new things and we’ve perfected it over the last several years and it’s now used in the iPad as well. What we’d like to do – we’re inspired by some of those innovations in the iPad and the iPhone, we’d like to bring them back to the Mac. And so that’s what Lion’s about: Mac OS X meets the iPad.

If you watch the keynote again, you’ll notice how Steve and other executives often mention the word “inspiration” while demonstrating features that are “convenient just like the iPad” and “iPad-style” in the way they are presented on screen. I don’t think there’s any doubt that a) iOS is technologically based off OS X and b) Apple created new features on iOS that were eventually ported to OS X. The latter point is happening once again with Mountain Lion, as things like Notification Center and Twitter integration were chronologically iOS-first – and they are now displayed “iPad-style” on the Mac.

With these facts available, I’d like to lay out my own conceptual compromise we can (hopefully) agree upon while we’re waiting to see where Apple is headed with Mountain Lion and its Mac hardware line-up.

Here it goes: iOS-ification indicates the process of being inspired by the iPad’s success to port some apps and features to OS X. In this process, the operating systems are kept separate, and features are developed to take advantage of each device’s nature. Ultimately, iOS-ification is aimed at making iOS and OS X coexist in a single iCloud ecosystem.

Before I continue, allow me to present more fact-checking straight from Apple’s PR:

Lion (2010):

Lion brings many of the best ideas from iPad back to the Mac, plus some fresh new ones like Mission Control that Mac users will really like,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Lion has a ton of new features, and we hope the few we had time to preview today will give users a good idea of where we are headed.

Mountain Lion (2012).

Apple today released a developer preview of OS X Mountain Lion, the ninth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system, which brings popular apps and features from iPad to the Mac and accelerates the pace of OS X innovation.

As I said above, I see both points in this argument. “The Mac is still a Mac and these are just features” and “The Mac is starting to be a lot like iOS” both make sense (and are factually correct) depending on how you look at the issue, which is a complex one in that it’s got a lot of history behind it, subtle changes in marketing (“best ideas” from 2010 compared to “popular apps and features” in 2012), and an overall “we don’t know yet” aspect due to Apple’s ever growing success and sales numbers.

I do believe, however, that if we consider iOS-ification as “inspiration” and agree that when iPad features comes to OS X they retain the Mac’s best advantages and functionalities (an example is Notification Center having a keyboard shortcut in Mountain Lion), we can find a sweet spot that makes everyone happy and excited about the things to come.

Whilst drawing a line between familiarity and integration is hard because, after all, we’re just writers and we’re not aware of Apple’s real goals, I believe the unification that’s happening now isn’t about the two operating system – it’s iCloud. I’ve written about this before, and I won’t repeat myself here – iCloud is becoming Apple’s “ecosystem for everything” on each release. iCloud is the platform for the next decade no matter if iOS and OS X will eventually merge or not.

Messages Will Be Available On Mountain Lion Only After Beta

Apple may have released a public beta version of Messages for Lion yesterday, but from what Consomac has discovered, it may only be a temporary situation. Digging into the text strings inside the app’s resources found one particular string which said:

Thank you for participating in the Messages Beta program. With the inclusion of Messages in OS X Mountain Lion, the Messages Beta program has ended.

To continue using Messages, please visit the Mac App Store and purchase OS X Mountain Lion.

This suggests that once the Messages beta has concluded, the app will cease to work and users will have to purchase Mountain Lion to continue using the Messages app.

[Via MacRumors]