Apple has been telegraphing this move quite literally for years, though the release of the Mountain Lion beta has given the effort and rumors fresh legs. What began as monster icons several years back has gained OS-level hooks that are visible in the latest developer preview release of OS X 10.8. Retina display arrived first on the iPhone, then iPad and now it’s coming back to the Mac.
Linux is everywhere, except the desktop in any meaningful way. You can find variations of Linus Torvald’s creation running inside phones, automobiles, vending machines, satellites and, well, just about anything that requires a computer to control other systems. Thankfully, however, it can’t be found inside our Macintoshes, but it might have been otherwise if Steve Jobs had gotten his way back in 2000.
No matter how long you’ve been a Mac user or how skilled you are, there is always more to learn. For example, did you know there are dozens of standard keyboard shortcuts in OS X — list bootable volumes during start-up, copy-paste, Move to Trash, Empty Trash, Eject, Select All, Search — designed to keep your hands on the keyboard, off the mouse and boost your productivity? Chances are you know some, but not all.
Apple’s never been shy about “borrowing” good ideas and building them into their products. However, you can extend Mountain Lion’s Notifications by taking Growl to the next level. How’s that accomplished? Within days of the beta Mac operating system release, a clever developer bridged the gap between Apple’s limited functionality and the meaty notification experience pro users have been enjoying for years.
Digital Rights Management is an ugly subject. Sometimes, however, it flies below the radar because it “just works.” That is generally the case with Intel’s High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection, especially as it applies to Apple products, like with Display Port (DP), High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) and Digital Visual Interface (DVI) connectors.
Or, put another way, what a difference a year can make. When OS X Lion shipped in July 2011, PowerPC Mac owners and even those using software with legacy PowerPC were left behind. Granted, Apple hadn’t sold PPC-based computers since 2006. The upcoming release of OS X Mountain Lion will see an even more aggressive culling of the Mac herd with machines that were sold new less than three years ago unable to run the new operating system.
iOS-ification is gaining serious steam as Apple brings apps, services and user interface themes from the iPhone back to the Mac. Further with computer specific features, like GateKeeper, also in the mix and increased release cycle velocity, it’s very clear that Apple’s got the Mac on the front burner.
It has been a year since Apple began shipping Macs with Thunderbolt I/O technology built-in. Currently, the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac and Mac mini all offer this advanced I/O technology, which is capable of 10Gbps synchronous throughput for up to seven daisy-chainable devices — a single cable that combines video, audio, data and power. The promise was huge, but delivery keeps getting stretched.
Apple hasn’t put a lot of effort into marketing the Mac App Store. However, the venture — not billions of downloads like the iOS version — is succeeding nonetheless. And, as you’ll in the update below, Apple isn’t counting possible click they, which makes this milestone all the more impressive.
For years, quite literally, notifications on the iPhone were poorly implemented, disruptive and something of an embarrassment. That changed with the release of iOS 5 and now a clever lad has figured out how to bring some of that goodness back to the Mac.
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