AirPlay Mirroring shown with an iPad 2 and an Apple TV
Sources familiar with the future of Mac OS X say that AirPlay Mirroring and an iMessage application are currently in development. Although neither project may see the light of day, they are definitely on the table for release in future versions of OS X Lion. AirPlay Mirroring for the Mac will allow a user to wirelessly mirror exactly what is shown on their Mac’s display to an Apple TV connected to a projector, television, or external monitor. AirPlay video streaming is also being integrated into QuickTime X.
This would be a fantastic addition to the conference room for corporate presentations and would sell a few more Apple TVs we would imagine.
Not, “put this on my iPhone now” good but “wow, that’s interesting and must’ve taken a lot of hard work” good. Lifehackerexplains:
You can now grab the theme via an app on Theme Outlet. Here’s how. (And make sure you have Dreamboard installed, as this is a Dreamboard theme and requires it.)
Open Cydia
Tap Manage Sources
Tap Edit, then Add, then add source fnetdesigns.com/cydia/repo
Go to the Changes section and install Theme Outlet
Close Cydia, go to your home screen, and open Theme Outlet
Browse for OS X Ultimatum and download it from there
Open up Dreamboard, browse for the OS X Lion Ultimatum theme, and install it.
Google has announced on the Chrome Blog a new release on the Chrome stable channel. The new release has been available to developers in the dev channel since August, where developers got the chance to use the full-screen mode (Ctrl+Shift+F) and overlay scrollbars inside of Lion. Today, these features have landed for everyone; download it here.
Also landing in the new version are two new technologies for developers: Web Audio API and Native Client. Web Audio API adds the ability for developers to use different audio effects, but even better, Native Client brings the ability to execute C and C++ code in the browser. Check it out in the video after the break:
After releasing an EFI firmware update for the MacBook Air earlier this week, Apple has released an EFI update for both the MacBook Pro and Mac mini this afternoon. The MacBook Pro update is version 2.2 and Mac mini version 1.3, fixing compatibility issues for the upcoming Thunderbolt Display and bringing numerous Lion fixes — and adding Lion Internet Recovery on the MacBook Pro.
Hit up Software Update on your Mac to get downloading. (via The Next Web)
Could Apple have plans to integrate iMessage, the new all-in-one messaging app in iOS 5, into OS Lion’s iChat, an app that is indeed in need of desperate attention? Perhaps.
The evidence comes from a developer who provided the following hints found in iChat’s framework in Lion. Of course it is only speculation at this point, but MacRumors guesses these elements have been added to provide cross-platform support for the iMessage protocol in iChat.
Buried in the framework of OS X Lion’s iChat, are two new properties – The “timeDelivered” and “timeRead’ fields that indicate the tracking of delivery and read receipts for instant messages. These features, however, are not supported in any of iChat’s native messaging protocols, while the same features are offered in Apple’s iMessage protocol. These properties were also not present in previous versions of iChat prior to OS X Lion.
Apple has seeded OS X Lion 10.7.2 build 11C55 to developers today, and it is the first OS X Lion 10.7.2 build to include iCloud for Mac built-in. Previously, developers had to download a separate iCloud for Mac package.
OS X Lion Software Update 10.7.2 is an update to OS X Lion 10.7 and includes support for iCloud beta. Please refer to the seed note for more details and installation instructions. (Mac Developer Program membership is required)
OS X Lion 10.7.2 includes the ability for users to easily enable iCloud Mail, Contacts, Calendar, and Find my Mac on their computers. The software release will most likely ship alongside iCloud sometime this fall. Apple’s iCloud service is seemingly almost ready to launch with both Apple and carriers (for the iOS 5 integration) already being trained on the matter.
Let us know if you find anything; tips@9to5mac.com. Thanks Nicholas!
Apple was a good sport too and allowed one third party app in the top two rows of apps.
Update:Macrumors notes that Apple has begun selling Final Cut Pro 7 (which is likely not enhanced for Lion) the old fashioned way.
We confirmed with an Apple telesales representative at 800-MY-APPLE that Final Cut Studio, part number MB642Z/A, is again available for $999, and $899 for educational customers. The product is only available through the 800-number and is not available in Apple Retail Stores or on the Apple Online Store.
Final Cut Pro 7 was pulled ahead of the release of Final Cut Pro X in June but there has been some backlash among the higher end users because of missing features. Apple, for what it is worth, promised feature updates by the end of summer (which is coming on pretty fast now). Expand Expanding Close
We’ve received multiple complaints from readers that Apple isn’t honoring customers who purchased their Macs at Amazon as part of their Lion Up to Date program. Purchases were to have been made on or after July 21st 2011 and it stipulates that they include refurbished or new computers bought at an Apple Authorized Reseller. The above was sent to a customer who bought directly through Amazon on July 31th. Here’s another. We imagine this is a clerical error on Apple’s part. Expand Expanding Close
The update addresses a few issues including the Wifi issues we’ve been hearing much about. It also appears to incorporate the recent Migration Assistant update. It is available via Software Update and weighs in at a paltry 17.4MB on our rig.
The 10.7.1 update is recommended for all users running OS X Lion and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability and compatibility of your Mac, including fixes that:
– Address an issue that may cause the system to become unresponsive when playing a video in Safari – Resolve an issue that may cause system audio to stop working when using HDMI or optical audio out – Improve the reliability of Wi-Fi connections – Resolve an issue that prevents transfer of your data, settings, and compatible applications to a new Mac running OS X Lion
The Mac App store still lists Lion at 10.7 so it isn’t clear if new updaters will always have to do additional updates. We’re also left wondering if this update fixes the “video performance after a sleep” that new Lion Mac users have been reporting.
Update: Interesting there is a direct link (here) for New Mac Mini and MacBook Air users (68MB) which updates a few more issues (below):
Annoyed by the small changes in Lion? A new app called Lion Tweaks allows you to quickly turn on or off certain features in Lion that may be bugging you. The free app does nothing revolutionary, because all of these tweaks could be accessed in Terminal, but it’s nice to have a centralized place. I’m already eyeing, “Change iCal Leather to Aluminum”. (via Betanews)
Cult of Mac claims that a previously reliable source told them that Magic Mouse inventory is not being replenished at Apple Stores. From this, they say that the Magic Mouse will soon be discontinued.
The move would make sense given that OS X Lion is heavily gesture based, but it also does not make sense for a couple of reasons.
OS X Lion still supports the touch-capable Magic Mouse and it is the perfect option from Apple for those who are not a fan of many gestures…or for those desktop users that are learning gestures.
From what we have seen, stock of the Magic Mouse appears to be pretty normal at online retailers such as Amazon. We also haven’t heard anything out of our stock channels, so we are a bit skeptical. It still would not be completely surprising for the company who killed the optical drive to the kill the mouse.
Update: We’ve heard from one untested Central European source that Magic Mice supplies are constrained, but can’t draw any conclusions based on that.
Update 2: Cult of Mac says the Magic Mouse has been resurrected.
Update 3: The part number for the Magic Mouse is not discontinued. A refresh is certainly possible but it likely is not imminent.
Our good friends in Applecare alerted us to the fact that Lion USB keys were now available and in stock through AppleCare. While officially they will cost a lofty $69, it appears, at least from the wording above, that some customers that aren’t able to use Lion’s recovery tools may be eligible to receive the USB drive at no cost.
We’ve detailled how to make a Lion recovery key from a Snow Leopard Key (automated or on your own, cheap) so don’t put Apple though the hassle, OK?
Update: We’ve been debunked by the new AOLEngadget! Head below for details.
One of the teething problems in Lion is that the operating system does not work well with some third-party network attached storage (NAS) solutions. As we await OS X 10.7.1 update to fix those problems, manufacturers like Western Digital are taking this matter into their own hands. Western Digital, for example, yesterday released a firmware update for the My Book Live series, making it compatible with OS X Lion and Time Machine.
Western Digital uses Netatalk, an open source AFP fileserver. When Apple made changes to AFP function in Lion, it caused major woes as Netatalk had to be updated. According to release notes (PDF document), the software can be downloaded manually or automatically, by accessing the drive via Bonjour or using the WD QuickView app on your Mac.
Launchpad feeling a little cluttered? Launchpad Control is a free application on OS X that will assist you in cleaning out the unnecessary apps in your Launchpad. The app is pretty simple in that you just check off which apps you don’t want to see . via LifeHacker
Today isn’t a particularly heavy newsday so we thought we’d bring in some small stuff from around the web. First up is Canon’s new calculator mouse. I’m not sure I’d use the calculator enough to warrant a switch from my Apple hardware. Maybe during tax season.
Next up, use an iPhone and brain waves to shift gears on a bike… Expand Expanding Close
Apple’s purchase of Siri in early 2010 and their partnership with Nuance in 2011 has many hoping that Apple has something like speech-to-text or voice-navigation up its sleeve for iOS 5. One of the remaining advantages of Android over iOS is its system-wide Voice Actions technology.
Unfortunately, WWDC and the iOS 5 announcement came and went and nothing related to voice-navigation had been announced. Even so, the Apple-Nuance partnership has been confirmed by way of Nuance voices in Apple’s OS X Lion and Nuance speech-to-text functionality that is referenced in Apple’s internal settings modules.
But that doesn’t mean Apple isn’t hard at work at this very moment trying to cram some native OS level voice recognition technology into iOS 5 before launch.
Coupled with Nuance speech-to-text, Apple appears to be planning to take the fruit of their Siri purchase and fully integrate it into this fall’s release of iOS 5. Because these new features have yet to appear in iOS 5 on the iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS, Apple might be saving these new features as an iPhone 5 exclusive. This would be akin to Apple’s decision to make Voice Control and video recording exclusive features to the iPhone 3GS, even though they could technically function on earlier models of the iPhone. As you can see in Siri’s promotional video above, the company advertises itself as “your virtual personal assistant.”
As you can see in the screenshot above from an Apple iPhone test unit, Apple is currently developing and testing a new iOS feature called “Assistant.” This screenshot, from a reliable source, is corroborated with our own SDK findings (below). The source did warn, though, that development is not yet completed – and just went into testing – and may not even be finished by the time the next iPhone ships.
We were just rummaging through our web logs today to see how many of you guys have been upgrading to Lion. Imagine our surprise when we saw that 53% of Mac users who visit 9to5mac have already done the update. Here is the breakdown:
Today’s MacOS breakdown on 9to5mac
While our readership isn’t necessarily indicative of the larger Mac community, it does show that you guys have jumped in the deep end in a big way. We should note that a full 10% of our readers were on Lion on Monday (below), having downloaded it ahead of time. Apple today announced that a million people had upgraded to Lion overall, making it the fastest MacOS update in history. Expand Expanding Close
CNet has discovered that OS X Lion users lose support for Time Machine backups with third-party NAS hard drives. Time Machine in OS X Lion is now only compatible with Netatalk 2.0. This means that third-party NAS (network attached storage) drives will need a software upgrade from their respective manufactures in order to work with Apple’s next-generation Mac operating system. Users of cable-connected external hard drives will not be affected. Drobo, the company behind popular network attached storage devices has noted the issues on their website:
DroboFS, B800fs and DroboPro FS users running Mac OS X Lion (OS X 10.7) will experience problems with Time Machine.
The next official firmware release for all “FS” products will ensure full compatibility with the released version of Mac OS X Lion, including use of Time Machine.
Another popular NAS drive maker, Synology, has already released a fix in beta form. Other NAS drive makers will likely follow up with their own OS X Lion compatibility updates.
Lifehacker has conducted a series of tests to see which is faster: Lion or Snow Leopard. As you can see in the video above, the two operating systems do about the same in almost every category tested, but Snow Leopard weasels out the win almost every time. To be fair, most categories were won by a very small margin. Lifehacker summarizes:
Boot
1:32
1:25
Compress a ~900MB File
0:51
0:59
Decompress a ~900MB File
0:10
0:09
Duplicate a ~900MB File
0:09
0:09
Encoder a Movie for iPhone in Quicktime X
0:56
0:53
Launch 9 Applications
0:59
0:37
Open 10 Tabs in Safari
0:15
0:17
Total Time
4:43+
4:29
Snow Leopard was built for speed and Lion was built to add functionality. It’s great to see Lion isn’t exactly slipping away on the speed end of things. How’s the speed on your end?
The $29.99 download is 3.5GB so your download times may vary. After Lion downloads we are expecting an update to iWork shortly as well. On the hardware side we are expecting some new Sandy Bridge MacBook Airs, new Mac Minis and a new Thunderbolt Display as well.
How fast is your download? Are you getting the good speed? Full specs and details below:
We’ve just been informed that Apple has a significant upgrade on the way for iWork. The new version has support for Lion’s standout features including Full Screen mode, Resume, Auto Save and Versions. The download, at least in its pre-release form is 90.2MB.
Also, is that Safari getting a little update as well?
