The written musings of a long-time Apple //e and Macintosh tech nerd. Opinions are my own.
Today, Apple released the OS X Lion 10.7.2 update bringing iCloud support to the operating system. the update also includes Back To My Mac and Find My Mac.
The 400MB+ update is available now via the Software Update control panel.
With all the fun and excitement that we’ve been experiencing here on the east coast (earthquakes, hurricanes, and power outages) you may not have seen that Apple has released a maintenance updates to iTunes 10.
The maintenance update to iTunes 10.4.1 fixes issues with things like the addition of artwork, unresponsiveness when purchasing HD movies, issues launching iTunes after waking your Mac, VoiceOver support, and issues between iTunes and some third-party keyboards with multimedia controls.
The 12MB update is available now via the Apple Software Update control panel.
Today, Apple released Mac OS X Lion 10.7.1 as a maintenance update the latest version of the Mac operating system.
Even with today’s minor bug fixes to Lion, many Mac users are waiting for OS X Lion 10.7.2 to arrive. It is widely expected that OS X 10.7.2 will include the updates necessary for using upcoming iCloud software.
To download and install the software, simply use the Software Update control panel in Mac OS X Lion.
Ok, Lion was installed yesterday and I was, apparently, in good company because 1 million other Mac owners upgraded along with me.
Scrolling with a Track Pad or Scroll Wheel
Ok, using the scroll wheel on my wireless Mighty Mouse is taking a little bit of getting used to. In Lion, scrolling like like scrolling in iOS; you flick up to move the page down. Basically, we’re talking about an inverted y-axis here. Fortunately, if you can’t make the adjustment, of you’re like me and I have to use a PC at the office, you can revert the scroll wheel functionality back to the way it was in Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard in the Mouse control panel.
iChat Group Windows
Another application that I use all the time is iChat. I use iChat as my client for Jabber chats like Google Talk or Facebook. In Snow Leopard, I would have a chat window for each service. Now, in Lion, all my friends and buddies show up in a single unified window. When a new chat is started, a separate chat windows appears. If I have multiple chats going on at the same time, I can use iChat’s preferences to define if all of the chats should be combined into a single chats window with tabs along the left of the window for each chat thread, or to appear in separate chat windows, as was the case in Snow Leopard.
I had the chance to test both modes out while chatting with two of my friends this evening. I like the consolidated buddies list, but I still prefer to keep the chat windows separate. I very fine tweak to iChat if I do say so myself.
Mac OS X Lion is “go for throttle up” today in the Mac App Store. It’s a 3.7GB download once you purchase the $29.99 upgrade. My installer just finished downloading and I’ll be upgrading some of my software over the next few days. Check back here for updates as the week progresses.
During today’s quarterly earnings report to investors, Apple confirmed that the next major release of the Mac operating system, OS X Lion, will be arriving in the Mac App Store for $29.
OS X Lion is unique in that you won’t be able to buy it on a disc. Instead, the new OS will be purchased and downloaded from the Mac App Store as a 4.0GB file. To upgrade to Lion, you will need to be running Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard with the 10.6.8 update applied.
In addition to purchasing the software from the Mac App Store, you will be able to upgrade every other Mac that you own without having to purchase another copy of Lion. Simply sign in to the Mac App Store with the Apple ID you used to purchase Lion, and you will be able to download the software again to a new Mac.
I just saw this over on Boy Genius Report and thoughts of playing Halo on my Mac (without Parallels) started dancing in my head.
“Programmer Andrew Russell is working on a project that will undoubtedly pique the interest of game developers around the world. Dubbed ExEn, Russell’s open source software allows devs to port XNA games to iOS, Silverlight and in the near future, Android and OS X as well. In practical terms, this software gives developers a much easier way to take games they have built for Xbox 360, Windows or Windows Phone 7 using Microsoft’s XNA framework and port them to the iPhone or iPad, the Web (Silverlight), and soon to Android devices and Mac OS X!”
[Via BGR.com…]
iTunes 10.3, available now for Mac OS X and Windows PC, brings some of the new features unveiled yesterday at WWDC to you now – no waiting until the “fall.”
iTunes 10.3 adds Automatic Downloads, Download Previous Purchases, the ability to browse and purchase books for iBooks from iTunes, and our first taste of Apple’s new iCloud service which seamlessly syncs music purchases to all of your devices regardless of which device purchased the music.
I’m interested in playing with the iCloud sync feature on my iPad, MacBook Pro, and Windows 7 PCs (one at home and one at work). I also want to play around with the Download Previous Purchases feature because somewhere along the way, I upgraded Documents To Go on my iPhone 2G, and since it is running iOS 3.1.2 (yes, it’s jailbroken/unlocked so I can use it as an iPod touch) I can’t install the current release on it. I’d like to install the older, compatible version again if possible because I did not manually make a backup of the old software.
The new features of iCloud, iOS 5, and Mac OS X look really cool, and I can’t wait until September to have all of this cool software. At least we can get Mac OS X 10.7 Lion next month.
While I haven’t gotten to the part of today’s WWDC keynote introducing iCloud yet, after seeing that there is a new Find My iPhone/iPad/iPod touch app out today, I went looking for what services are being offered.
Looks like we can forget MobileMe becoming a free service. She’s done for in her current form and iCloud will completely replace it. I’m going to have to watch the stream on this one and decide if I’m interested in using the new iCloud service. I would have gone in on MobileMe if it was free or cheaper than $99/year, but I’m not really one for streaming content if I have the option to download it to a Mac or PC on my home network.
Existing MobileMe customers can still access their accounts from the MobileMe.com website.
Apple is packing 250 new features into the next version of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, and most prominent among them are muli-touch gestures.
With iOS, we have been taught how to interact with a computer through touch. With Mac OS X Lion, Apple is bringing all of the same core concepts to our MacBooks, and desktop Macs via the Magic Mouse and Magic TrackPad.
Interestingly, Apple reporting that well over 60% of their Mac sales are MacBooks, so if you feel that all this muti-touch stuff favors the notebook family — I’d have to agree with you. I’m not sure how how well these new features will play out, say with a Magic Mouse which looks to have about half of the surface area as the track pad on my 17-inch MacBook Pro.
Regardless, of how you interact with your Mac, I’m less worried that Apple is trying to “dumb down” Mac OS X to work more like the iPhone. I think today’s announcement of new Mac OS X features are impressive and that I’d most of them.
In addition to Multi-Touch, Apple demoed nine other tent pole features, including: Full-Screen Apps, Misson Control, the new Mac App Store, Launchpad, Resume, Auto Save, Versions, AirDrop, and a redesigned Mail application. Mac OS X 10.7 Lion will go on sale in July for $29.99 and will be sold exclusively via the Mac App Store. Once you purchase Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, you will be able to install it on any Mac that you own and have setup your Apple ID account on. Additionally, for those people who need it, Mac OS X Server is now a separate applications bundle you buy from the Mac App Store. The server bundle is expected to cost about $50 and it is no longer a separate operating system that you have to purchase.