macosx
Latest
Switched On: A Three-Headed Lion
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. Kerberos, the hound from Hades that lent its name to an MIT-developed network authentication protocol, is often visualized as having three heads. But if dogs can have multiple heads, why can't other technology species? Many of the features in Lion have impact for different kinds of users, and the value users see in them may well depend on which face they tend to view. The new user. Lion represents the biggest user interface change to the company's desktop experience since the debut of Mac OS X. With the Mac hard drive hidden by default, full-screen apps that hide the menu bar, and omnipresent scroll arrows put out to pasture, it even dispenses with some user interface conventions that have been around since the original Mac. The focus on multitouch gestures -- while enabling more fluidity in the user interface -- are not as self-evident. Overall, though, the gradual shift away from contrivances such as windows, menus, and cluttered icons should make things less intimidating for new users. The iPad user. One can only wonder what features the successor to Snow Leopard might have sported had Apple not launched the iPad. The most prominent design theme in Lion has been bringing user experience elements of Apple's tablet to the Mac. This is highlighted best by Launchpad, the iPad-like collection of sliding home screens, and full-screen apps, but also includes support for full-screen apps and bundling of the Mac app store introduced with Snow Leopard.
Lion: Join captive networks without a web browser
It's a relatively minor feature on Lion's 250+ list, but certainly a helpful one for frequent travelers or coffee shop denizens: browserless login to captive Wi-Fi networks. If you've ever used one of these institutional wireless offerings, you know how they work: first you connect to the Wi-Fi network, then you pop open a browser tab and try to navigate to any external site (Apple, TUAW, CNN -- I know someone who does a Google search for 'hello' as his connectivity probe). If you're not authenticated yet, the service throws up an interrogation page asking for your credentials, or just an acceptance of the terms and conditions -- click through and you're online. Most airport & hotel Wi-Fi networks behave this way, as does AT&T's WLAN in Starbucks stores, and the subscriber networks from Optimum Online, Time Warner Cable, Boingo and others. In Lion, you can skip step two. The OS itself notices that you're not connected all the way to the Internet, and puts up a small Webkit window where you can log in or accept the T&Cs. Handy, and helpful! iOS users will notice that this is yet another 'import' from Apple's mobile system, as the iPhone and iPad already work in exactly the same way.
Mac OS X Lion: what's broken (or working) for you?
Funny -- we (almost) asked this same exact question in August of 2009, just after Snow Leopard had been loosed on the unsuspecting public. But as fate seems to have it, each and every OS overhaul brings gobs of issues, and regardless of how hard the problem finders in Cupertino work, there's simply too many unchecked variables to squash each and every bug prior to release. And with that, we present to you just a handful of the biggest quirks that have cropped up since a cool million of you downloaded Lion. For one, you can kiss Rosetta support goodbye, and secondly, it seems as if 10.7 is seriously cramping third-party NAS support for Time Machine. We've also had numerous reports from folks that are having issues dragging application installs to their Applications folder, not to mention an uptick in Guest account crashes. Of course, there's also the whole "I can't get my free update to Lion!" thing, busted Windows partitions and a veritable plethora of dilemmas when looking at Pro Tools and Cubase. Hit the links below to join the misery party, or feel free to start your own in comments below. Oh, and if you're furious that Lion and its incompatibilities have ruined your livelihood... well, welcome to the downside of early adoption. Here's hoping a raft of updates cures whatever's ailing you in the days and weeks to come. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] %Poll-66676%
Apple expands iOS and Mac App Store into 33 new territories, Tuvalu strangely absent
Brought that shiny new unlocked iPhone 4 home to Tanzania, only have your first App Store experience end in tears? We certainly sympathize, and apparently Apple's heard your plea. Interested developers can now head on over to the iTunes Connect portal, where they'll tick some new checkboxes and soon be on their way, peddling their wares to an additional 33 locales -- but not the home of .tv, unfortunately. Curious if your nation made the cut? Hop on past the break and see if Cupertino thinks you're worthy.
Lion: Diving into your Recovery partition
I spent a good deal of the afternoon diving in where no sane person really wants to spend a lot of time -- in my Lion recovery partition. It's not hard to get there, and it's quite a curious place when you do. [For those commenters wondering about the use of photos rather than screenshots to illustrate this post, it's hard to take screenshots on a system where the boot volume is read-only. –Ed.] The Recovery volume is a small slice of your hard drive that gets partitioned off during your Lion install; it's not optional, because that's actually where the OS gets installed from. You can view the contents of the Recovery volume by mounting it with the command-line diskutil tool, as John Siracusa points out; the regular Disk Utility app is thoughtful enough to keep it hidden. To restart in recovery, reboot your computer and hold down Command-R after the chime (you can also use the traditional Option-key holddown, which will show all your bootable volumes including Recovery). Before long, the gray linen background appears and the Mac OS X Utilities window pops up. The OS X Recovery partition includes a number of built-in utilities to handle system recovery tasks. The Utilities window allows you to Restore from a Time Machine Backup Reinstall OS X Use Disk Utility to repair or erase your hard drives Browse with Safari to get online help. Choosing the Safari option opens a web browser that immediately takes you to a basic help page. This help page is stored locally on your recovery partition at the following link: file:///System/Installation/CDIS/Mac%20OS%20X%20Utilities.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/RecoveryInformation.html You are not limited to Apple pages, however. The reason I was able to get that link up there isn't because I wrote it down. I copied it to memory, and pointed Safari to Earthlink's web mail page and simply e-mailed it to myself. I had no problems accessing any of the (admittedly limited) pages I tested. From there, I explored the Mac OS X Utilities > Utilities menu. Located off the main help screen and in a windows sub-menu, you can manage your firmware password, test and fix connectivity issues or access the Terminal for command-line management. Of course, I had see what Terminal had to offer. Turns out that your entire file system mounts, if it can. You can navigate to your user folders and access any material located there. I did not try it out myself, but I imagine you could attach a USB drive of some kind and copy files over if you needed to. There is no authentication here, so it's also possibly a bit of a security hole for anyone with physical access to the system. (For those who are concerned about physical access, don't forget about FileVault and/or an Open Firmware password to keep things secure.) The Recovery boot volume is read-only, and has a very limited set of files and features. You're actually running from the system image stored in BaseSystem.dmg, which gets mounted by the startup executables inside the com.apple.recovery.boot directory. That doesn't mean you can't run Nethack from your recovery partition. Just make sure your install is set up to run completely on another drive -- which mine is. (Also, don't forget to re-compile it from scratch. The PPC version no longer works on Lion.) Once you're done exploring, boot your way back to your primary partition and let your Recovery partition rest -- hopefully for a long, long, long time.
Poll: Did you download Mac OS X Lion (10.7)?
Apple confirmed Lion's big day during the company's Q3 earnings call this week, and Mac OS 10.7 hit the App Store right on schedule yesterday morning, allowing us to give Snow Leopard the boot and make room for the king of the jungle. We've already installed Lion on a half-dozen of our own systems, testing the new operating system with a variety of configurations for our review. But we want to know about your experience. Did you pull an all-nighter on Tuesday, backing up files, reformatting drives, and updating to 10.6.8? Are you still rockin' dial-up and waiting for the $69 flash drive version to ship next month? Or perhaps you're a PC user, holding out for Windows 8? Let us know in the poll below, and feel free to expand on your decision in the comments as well.%Poll-66596%
All our Lion tips in one convenient place
First, make sure you've updated your 10.6 system before installing Lion -- there's a Migration Assistant update. While you wait for the download, here's where to see your progress. If you wanted to do a clean install, Macworld has some info. If you want to make an installer disc, here's info on that. Once Lion is installed: If you find Apple's Natural Scrolling is melting your brain's muscle memory, here's how to turn it off. Learn more about Launchpad. Find out how to see your drive's capacity in Finder again. Get the scoop on revamped Mail. Learn how to use and customize Mission Control. Full Screen apps have some hits and misses. Some gripes about Lion, and some workarounds. How Lion handles saving, and the new Versions implementation. Lion and Time Machine, plus info on locked documents. Lion Server is the least expensive OS X Server ever, and it's easier to setup than ever before.
Lion will ship on USB drives in August
In the hustle and the bustle today, we failed to note a minor detail in Apple's Lion press announcement, but MacRumors picked it up: Users who do not have broadband access at home, work or school can download Lion at Apple retail stores and later this August, Lion will be made available on a USB thumb drive through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com) for $69 (US). So much for the absence of physical media. The option to download at an Apple Store is nice (either bring your Mac, or bring a drive with enough free space to carry Lion home); the USB install media will be equally nice, and very welcome for those supporting multiple machines with touchy ISP connectivity. It's an extra $40, but them's the breaks.
Get back your HD info in Lion
Looking for that handy readout at the bottom of every Finder window telling you how many items are in the active folder, and how much free space is on your hard drive? In OS X 10.7 Lion, it's turned off by default (part of the cleaner, scrollbar-free new UI style). Easy enough to restore it, though: just choose Show Status Bar (⌘-/) from the View menu, and continue on with your fully-informed computing day. More Lion tips coming all week long!
Lion: Ten things that bug me
It's not that I hate OS X 10.7 Lion. It's an excellent operating system. It's just that there are a bunch of things that make me throw up my hands and say, "What were you thinking, Apple. Are you trying to make the MobileMe Operating System?" Are there no OCD slave-drivers left at Infinite Loop any more making sure that each OS feature is absolutely perfect? So I'm going to take a few deep breaths. I'm repeating this mantra: "Lion is meant for iOS-to-Mac switchers." There's plenty to love in there, but maybe not as much for veteran Mac users to latch on to. Now, let's get on to the complaining. [*] On Lion, the default behavior for scrollbars is that they disappear when you stop scrolling (check 'Always' in General Preferences to show them in perpetuity). It's cleaner, right? Simpler, right? Not if you do any text editing on a regular basis. GUI elements shouldn't pop in and out of the screen. It's disorienting and ugly. Scrollbars give you context -- important context, at that. On mobile systems scrollbars may be extraneous, but on desktops they're not. Whenever you want to ask yourself, "How much of the file does this visible portion represent?" -- a scrollbar answers with a glance. Who killed my "Save As" menu item and what are these odd imposters they replaced it with (check out TextEdit to see what I mean)? Save a copy? Save a version? Export? Duplicate? Did someone design this system after too much Nyquil? What was wrong with the old options? People want to save their work or create a copy. When they move between paradigms, they should be able to export to a new format. Beyond that? Not so much. The new autosave and versioning features may be powerful and snazzy, but Apple might have forgotten to think of the actual user experience here. [*] I miss choosing "Don't Save" from the keyboard. You used to be able to use Command-D in Snow Leopard. Not in Lion. It's the fine touches that got tossed from the OS. Something helpful, handy, and obvious to anyone who does enough editing that their hands want to stay centered on the keyboard without reaching for a mouse. (Thanks to everyone who pointed out Command-Delete. You guys rock!) I hate Lion's zooming windows. To get the full effect, jump into TextEdit or Safari and type Command-N a few times in a row. Drives me batty. Brings on migraines. No way to disable it that I have found -- and oh how I have tried. Can't find any good preferences to tweak on that. In the New and Improved QuickTime Player, you can no longer go Full Screen on just one screen. Instead of turning my second monitor into a full playback device, the way I used to with Command-F on the external, QuickTime Player insists on blacking out both my screens and moving playback to my primary monitor. Yuck. It's Command-3 for now, I suppose. I miss the automatic black backdrop and full zooming. [*] Bring back the Lozenge -- that small button at the top-right of Finder windows that hides and reveals the sidebar. I miss it. There's a workaround (right-click/show-hide) but it's all a matter of recall, not recognition, that key component of user design. A lozenge offers an affordance, an object that invites interaction and provides a helpful feature. Forcing users to remember an obscure menu option is less friendly and more frustrating, especially when condensed windows offer no clues as to why they're "broken." [*] Reversed scrolling is horrible. Bring me a touch-screen Lion and we'll talk. But for regular Lion installs, especially on iMacs and minis equipped with good old mice vs. touchable trackpads, it just doesn't make any sense. (To switch to the old scrolling, go to your Mouse or Trackpad system preference and uncheck 'natural' scrolling.) It's gray. Everything is gray. Gray, gray, gray, gray. Ugly gray scrollbars, ugly gray toolbars, it's like the entire OS was designed by a Communist-era Soviet committee four years behind on the next five-year plan. Grey linen is *not* the new Aqua. [*] Autolocking my files, Lion? That's not cool. I don't want Lion to prevent me from editing files that I rarely access. Lion does *not* know better than me, so stop protecting me from myself. That's why I have Time Machine in the first place. [*] Lion hides my Library folder. I know what the Library folder is and I want access to it, thank you. (chflags nohidden ~/Library/) Again, Lion's trying to protect me from myself. Not surprising, considering that there are millions of potential iOS-to-Mac halo switchers out there who don't know better than to mess with the Library's contents -- but not cool. You cannot access Safari's new Downloads popover unless you are either actively downloading something or save at least one prior download in the list. As with Snow Leopard, you can still paste a URL in the downloads pane to start a new download -- but *not* if you cannot access it. Unfortunately, customizing the toolbar only produces a disabled button unless you have that single prior download. So frustrating. An angry NYC cabbie doesn't have as many gestures as Lion. Many gestures contradict each other in various apps/OS areas. And there's no way to naturally discover them. If there isn't some natural correspondence between what your fingers do and what happens on the Lion screen, it's broken. Farewell to thee, blithe Rosetta. Thou wert too much needed, too easily overlooked, too little loved, too late appreciated. Among all the now-unavailable PowerPC apps, two will be sorely missed... RIP Eudora 6 and Quicken for Mac. I loved you guys. [*] I've managed workarounds for all starred items, and mentioned a couple of the most critical (lack of scrollbars and/or backwards scrolling might actually make you throw your computer out the window, if you're the irascible type). While some are simple preference settings, other workarounds may involve ugly UI scripting (I used QuicKeys), editing defaults at the command line, and so forth. I'll be detailing these in upcoming posts. [**] Okay, so that's slightly more than 10. I didn't realize I would be graded on math.
Lion's full-screen apps: Some hits, a lot of misses
One new feature of OS X Lion that is sure to win both fans and foes is the ability for apps to go full-screen. Apple teased us with this last year when updates to several of the iLife apps -- iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand -- brought the ability to take over the entire screen of a Mac with a single click. Now in Lion, more of the standard Mac apps are full-screen apps. After using Lion and these apps for a while, my feeling is that full-screen apps are a good idea, but in the initial OS X Lion implementation they're inconsistent. How do full-screen apps work? You can tell when you're in one thanks to the double-ended arrow up in the upper right-hand corner of the app window. With a click, the app takes over the entire window on your Mac. That's right -- the menu bar and dock are nowhere to be seen. The app also gains its own Space and is accessible through Mission Control. If you need to get to the menu bar, moving your cursor to the top of the screen reveals it again. Want to get back to a normal window? Just press the Esc key on your keyboard and you're there. What apps are full-screen enabled at this time? As mentioned earlier, iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand got the full-screen treatment last year. Safari, Mail, iCal, Preview, DVD Player, QuickTime Player, and Photo Booth have also been updated to take advantage of full-screen. Using these apps at the same time in full-screen mode is wonderful. You're focused on the task at hand, but when you need to jump over to another full-screen app, one quick gesture brings you to Mission Control where you can swipe over to the other app; a left-right swipe can switch you as well. It's quick and seamless, and especially on a small-screen Mac like an 11.6" MacBook Air, it's a wonderful way to work. I love what Apple did with Photo Booth, which of course is probably the most popular app for people who are trying out Macs in Apple Stores. When Photo Booth goes full-screen, the photo window is framed by beautiful wood and a red velvet curtain. It's much more exciting than the boring windows we've seen for years. So what's with iWork? At least at the time this post was written, Keynote, Pages, and Numbers were full-screen, but didn't use the double-ended arrow to jump into that mode. That seems very inconsistent, but it wouldn't surprise me if an update was on the way to add the Lion-specific full-screen capability to iWork. Other Apple apps that aren't full-screen happy include FaceTime, iChat, Address Book, iTunes, the Mac App Store, Chess, Dictionary, iDVD, Image Capture, iWeb, Stickies, TextEdit, and pretty much all of the Utilities. I was only able to find a handful of third-party apps that went full-screen (Pixelmator is a perfect example), but they didn't properly create their own Spaces. That indicates to me that developers have a way to go to provide consistent support of full-screen mode. From my point of view, full-screen apps make a lot of sense, as they make the best use of available display real estate. While some apps can seem somewhat absurd on a large 27" display, it's nice to be able to concentrate on one application and not have anything else get in the way. When you want to slip over to another full-screen app, one or two quick gestures gets you there easily. As more and more apps become available in full-screen mode with support for Spaces, I think we'll see full-screen apps hitting their stride.
Mac OS X Lion and Mission Control
Lion's Mission Control represents the evolution of three technologies introduced with earlier versions of Mac OS X: Spaces, Exposé and Dashboard. With Mac OS X Lion, Apple has merged the three into a single interface, called Mission Control. It offers an at-a-glance overview of the applications and documents you've got open as well as distinct virtual workspaces (which I'll call "desktops"). With Mission Control, you can keep applications separated while maintaining a bird's-eye view of what's going on. Here's what you need to know about Mission Control in Mac OS X Lion. Opening Mission Control You must open Mission Control to use it, of course, and Lion offers several methods. For many, the easiest will be a multi-touch gesture. However, those without a multi-touch surface, like a trackpad (either built-in to a laptop or Apple's Magic Trackpad accessory) still have several options, as keyboard shortcut support is extensive. First, let's look at the supported gestures. %Gallery-128706% Those with a trackpad have a few options. The default gesture is to swipe "up," (bottom-to-top) with three fingers. Alternatively, you can opt to use four fingers for this gesture. You'll find the preference settings by opening System Settings, clicking on Trackpad and then clicking the "More Gestures" tab. Those with a Magic Mouse can open Mission Control by double-tapping on the mouse's surface. Note that there are no other options for opening Mission Control via gesture on a Magic Mouse. It's double-tap or nothing. If you don't have a multi-touch surface, you've still got plenty of options. For example, you can: Drag the Mission Control app into the Dock and launch with a click Assign it to a hot corner (which I'll explain later in this post) Press the Dashboard key on your Apple keyboard That's really just the beginning. Later in this post, I'll describe the Mission Control preference pane, which really opens up the launch options. For now, I'll describe how Mission Control looks and behaves. How Mission Control Looks As I mentioned before, Mission Control combines Dashboard, Spaces and Exposé into a single interface. For now we'll leave Dashboard and discuss Spaces and Exposé. Together, they make up the bulk of Mission Control, in both form and function. Here's a look at each. Along the top of the main Mission Control interface you'll find a horizontal listing of the thumbnail images of your various desktops. This is, of course, the the current iteration of Spaces. By default, there are two desktops available: the Dashboard and the current desktop. Each is labeled ("Dashboard" and "Desktop 1"). As you've probably guessed, subsequent desktops are labeled sequentially ("Desktop 2," etc.). Below the desktop thumbnails you'll find the Exposé area. It depicts the applications and documents currently open. Documents and windows are sorted into piles, according to their parent application and each is labeled with the appropriate icon. For example, a "pile" of Word documents will bear a Word icon (bottom center), while Pages files will show the Pages icon. I'll discuss working in the Exposé area later in the post. For now, let's look at the desktops. How it Works - Spaces and Desktops As I said, you start with two desktops by default: the Dashboard on the left and the current desktop on the right. Each desktop thumbnail shows the frontmost application in the space. When using desktops in Mission Control, you'll typically do five things: Add new desktops Navigate between desktops Move applications between desktops Jump to a given desktop Close unwanted desktops Here's now to do each. Adding New Desktops The are two ways to do this. The first is to move your cursor to the upper right-hand corner of the Mission Control interface. As you do, a new desktop will partially appear with a "+" on its edge. To create it, just give it a click. It slides into place and receives the appropriate label. The other method lets you create a new space and add an application to it in one fell swoop. Here's how. Click on an application window in the Exposé area. Drag it to the upper right-hand corner. The "new desktop" appears. Drop the window onto it. That's it! A new desktop will be created, containing all open files relating pertaining to the application you just dropped inside. Navigating Between Desktops There are three ways to move between desktops. The first is to simply click a thumbnail image. You'll immediately leave Mission Control and jump to that desktop. However, there may be times when you want to review available desktops before jumping into one. To do this, hold down the Control Key while pressing the arrow keys on your keyboard. You'll move from desktop to desktop (the Exposé area will also change accordingly) without exiting Mission Control. Additionally, you can use a three- or four-finger swipe on a trackpad (use two fingers on a Magic Mouse) to move between desktops. The final method is exactly moving through desktops via Mission Control, but it's sort of the same thing. You can move between open desktops without launching Mission Control by swiping with either three or four fingers (configurable via System Preferences) on a trackpad or with two fingers on a Magic Mouse. Moving Applications Between Desktops The whole point of this feature is to keep your current workspace uncluttered. For example, you can keep Mail on one desktop, Twitter on another and TextEdit on a third. Of course, you might want to switch up the order at any time. Here's how to move applications between desktops with Mission Control. There's only one real way to do this, and it's pretty darn simple. First, open Mission Control and navigate to the desktop containing the app you'd like to move (the Control > arrow key method is best here). Next, click-and-hold on that app's window (or stack of windows) in the Exposé area, and drop it into the desired desktop. It'll be moved, but you'll stay on the original desktop. Note that if doing so "empties" a desktop -- that is to say, leaves it without any applications -- it will remain. I'll discuss closing unwanted desktops later in this post. Jumping to A Desktop As mentioned earlier, this couldn't be easier. Simply click the desktop you'd like to work in. Conversely, use the three- for four-finger swipe gesture to move between desktops without opening Mission Control. Closing Unwanted Desktops This couldn't be simpler. To close an unwanted desktop, you've got two options. First, mouse over the thumbnail image and let your cursor sit for a second or two. A black-and-white "X" will appear in the upper left-hand corner. Give it a click and the desktop disappears. The less-than-patient can press the Option key to bring up the X immediately. Note: you cannot close Desktop 1 or the Dashboard with this method (in fact, you can't dismiss Desktop 1 at all). How it Works - Exposé Along with Spaces, Mission Control has used its Borg-like powers to assimilate Exposé. Beneath the vertical row of desktop thumbnails is the Exposé area. Here's what to expect from Exposé via Mission Control. When Mission Control is launched, your current desktop "recedes" into your display and is presented on a linen background. The Exposé shows all of the documents that are currently open. As I explained, these documents are sorted by their parent application. Each "pile" of windows bears that application's icon for quick reference. To jump to a given app, simply click its pile. Of course, those piles present a problem...they're piles! What's behind the first item? To find out, move your cursor over each item in the pile. You'll notice that the blue focus border appears over each document in turn. Once that happens, hit the Space Bar to get a Quick Look-style peek at that document. If that's one you'd like to jump to, click it. Mission Control Preferences Unlike some of Lion's other marquee features (I'm looking at you, Launchpad), Mission Control offers a huge amount of customization via preferences. Here's what you'll find. Open System Preferences and then click Mission Control. The control panel is divided into three sections: general preferences, keyboard and mouse shortcuts and finally hot corners. There's a lot of fiddling to do in here, so let's take a look at each section. General Preferences Here you've got three options. Show Dashboard as a space. De-select this option to remove Dashboard from the horizontal row of desktop thumbnail images. Those uninterested in using Dashboard or widgets might want to do so. Automatically re-arrange spaces based on most recent use. This is kind of handy. Mission Control will keep the desktops you're using most often next to each other, making the back-and-forth even easier. When switching to an application, switch to a space with open windows for that application. For example, if you've got Word open in Desktop 3 while you're working in Twitter from Desktop 1, and then select Word with a Command-Tab, you'll jump right over to Desktop 3. De-selection this option prevents the leap; you'll select Word but stay in Desktop 1. Keyboard and Mouse Shortcut Preferences Prepare to go nuts, keyboard jockeys. There are a huge number of options for launching Mission Control, revealing application windows, showing the desktop and finally showing the Dashboard. I won't go into detail here because this post is long enough. Suffice to say, if you have a keyboard shortcut or mouse click in mind for producing any of those functions, you'll probably find it here. Hot Corners Preferences Finally, click the Hot Corners button in the lower left-hand corner to assign a corner of the screen to a given Mission Control function. Then, you can simply move your cursor to that corner to produce the desired function. Dashboard Finally, a word on Dashboard. Other than a launch option (you can view it as a desktop thumbnail or not), there's nothing new in Dashboard. So, there you go. Bits and Bobs There are a few little things to keep in mind regarding Mission Control. Desktop images appear in the thumbnail images. Some people use certain desktop images to quickly identify workspaces. Mission Control represents each desktop's image (or wallpaper) in its thumbnail. Two screens = two Mission Control UIs. Those running two displays will find two distinct Mission Control UIs. You cannot move applications from a desktop on Display A to one on Display B. You can't re-arrange windows, etc. within the Exposé area. It reflects their current position only. Fiddling must be done on the desktop itself. Forget about scripting and other high-level geek stuff. Mission Control is for home users and LaunchBar wizards will want to look elsewhere. Now, a couple closing thoughts. For the first time, I'm using Spaces. It's really the swiping that makes it useful. I'm in front of the app I want in less than a second, and no workspace becomes especially cluttered. As for the Exposé area, yeah, it gets pretty cluttered despite the fact that its very purpose is to prevent clutter. Once you've got several documents open across applications, the piles pile up, if you'll forgive that poor analogy. I also wish I could move apps between desktops on different displays. Minor quibbles, really. I've been using and enjoying Mission Control and suspect that many of you will, too. The images used in this article are taken from the upcoming Apress book Taking Your OS X Lion to the Max.
Apple updates Mac mini: Core i5 and i7, Thunderbolt, AMD Radeon HD, no SuperDrive
Need a miniature desktop to match that petite MacBook Air that Apple just refreshed? Well, there's a Mac for that. The new Mac mini packs an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor, Thunderbolt, AMD Radeon HD graphics, and Mac OS X Lion. Notably absent, however, is that familiar front-facing SuperDrive slot. Starting at $599 with a 2.3GHz Intel Core i5, the new models include Turbo Boost 2.0, letting you crank up the speed to 3.4GHz when using processor-intensive applications. Apple also announced a $999 server version that ships with a Core i7 processor and OS X Lion Server. As with the previous generation, the mini doesn't sacrifice on connectivity, including gigabit Ethernet, FireWire 800, HDMI, SDXC, audio in and out, Thunderbolt (with support for up to six devices), and four USB 2.0 ports on the rear. There's also 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. The Mac mini is available for purchase online today, and in Apple retail stores tomorrow.%Gallery-128765%
Apple refreshes MacBook Air with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt, and backlit keyboards
They say Apple updates its products like clockwork, releasing something new at the same time in the same place every year. Not so with MacBook Airs anyway. The outfit's gone and freshened up its 13-inch and 11-inch ultraportables -- the second such update in nine months. Although the industrial design hasn't changed much since the last generation, both models step up to Sandy Bridge Core i5 and i7 processors, Thunderbolt ports, backlit keyboards, and, of course, OS X Lion. The 11.6-inch flavor starts at $999 with 64GB of solid-state storage, 2GB of memory and a 1.6GHz Core i5 processor. The higher-end of the two configurations costs $1,199, with the extra two hundred dollars doubling your RAM and storage. The 13-inch Air, meanwhile, starts at $1,299, with a 128GB SSD, 4GB of RAM, and a 1.7GHz Core i5 CPU. Step up to the $1,599 model and you'll get a 256GB SSD instead. Regardless, you're looking at Intel HD 3000 graphics across the board, along with FaceTime webcams, two USB ports (plus an SD slot on the 13-inch version), 802.11n WiFi, and Bluetooth 4.0. The two differ when it comes to resolution and battery life: the 11-incher has a 1366 x 768 panel and is rated for up to five hours of battery life, whereas the 13-inch model has a 1440 x 900 screen and promises up to seven hours of juice. As for that 1.8GHz Core i7 CPU, it'll set you back an extra $100 on the 13-inch version, and $150 for the 11-inch version. Whichever size you choose, it's only an option for the higher-end configuration. Hit the source link to peep the specs and buy one, if you're so inclined. %Gallery-128755%
Apple Mac OS X Lion available now in the App Store
For 'developers' willing to shell out $99 for an annual membership in Apple's group of Mac OS app creators, Lion is old news already. But the rest of you can finally download Apple's latest operating system -- Mac OS 10.7 -- by hitting up the App Store on your Snow Leopard (10.6.8)-equipped Mac, assuming it's powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, i5 or i7 processor. From our experience with the pre-release version, the 4GB download could take over an hour, even on a high-speed connection, but once you have the installer in hand the upgrade process itself should be complete in about 20 minutes. As Apple previously announced, those with slower connections can also download Lion at an Apple retail store, and the company's also now revealed that it will be offering it on a USB thumb drive as well, which will be available through its online store later this August for $69 (yes, that's a $40 premium). We'll be posting a full review of Lion later this week, but you can check out our hands-on preview for a sneak peek at Apple's latest consumer OS in the meantime.
Apple: Mac OS X Lion to hit the App Store tomorrow
Well it looks like the cat's finally out of the bag virtual box. Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer just confirmed during today's earnings call that Mac OS 10.7 is due to hit the Mac App Store tomorrow, making Lion available as a 4GB download for $30. The new operating system packs 250 new features, including an iOS-like app launcher, multi-touch gestures, AirDrop for direct file sharing, and system-wide Resume. More enhancements that will feel particularly familiar to iOS users include a new version of Mail with conversation view, and reverse touchpad scrolling. We'll have a full review of Lion later this week, but check out our hands-on preview for our initial impressions. Want to collaborate on projects with multiple machines? Lion Server will also be available as a $50 download -- for those of you that need to support an entire pride.
Apple to allow license-free virtualization with OS X Lion, developers roar with delight
Developers and IT managers have reason to smile today, because it looks like Apple is changing its approach to virtualization. According to Mac Rumors, users who download the client version of OS X Lion will be able to run one or two virtualized copies on a single Mac, using tools like VMware or Parallels. This functionality first surfaced with Leopard, but was only available to users who obtained a pricey OS X Server license. The EULA for 10.7, however, suggests that Lion owners won't need any extra licenses to tinker away in an alternate OS universe. It's news that the enterprise community will certainly welcome, but we'll have to wait a little longer before riding the Lion into a virtual realm, later this month.
Study finds Macs account for 11% of corporate computers, Windows XP dominates
After 27 years of existence, the Mac may finally be getting some respect in corporations. According to a study by research firm Forrester, Macs have jumped from 9.1% of all computers in enterprises in April, 2010 to 11% in March of 2011. The study looked at 400,000 computers from 2,500 companies that accessed the Forrester.com website. Why the big leap in acceptance? Forrester's Ben Gray noted that some companies are yielding to pressure from employees who want to use their own machines at work. This trend is referred to as the "consumerization" of the enterprise, and Gray mentioned that "Empowered workers attracted to BYO [bring your own] device programs are quickly coming to expect Mac and iOS support." There was no mention of the so-called Apple "Halo Effect" being at work, although anecdotal evidence points toward many iPod, iPhone, and iPad users later embracing Macs for work and home. This could be a factor in why workers are beginning to take their Macs into the workplace. While Mac OS X use in the enterprise is climbing, Windows XP -- which Microsoft will officially drop support for in April, 2014 -- is still the primary OS in use in big business with close to a 60% share of the installed base. Windows 7 powers about 21% of corporate computers, with the remaining share being divided between Linux and Windows Vista. [via MacWorld UK]
Mac OS X 10.6.8 update now available
It looks like Apple's getting another fix in before Lion slinks on to the scene. Mac OS X 10.6.8 is now available for download, and brings with it a number of "general operating system fixes," including further support for IPv6, improved VPN reliability, and removal of known variants of Mac Defender. It also promises to fix a glitch that has Preview randomly shutting down, and will get the App Store ready to roar for when Lion lands on the scene. We're getting it going on our laptop at home. If you've done the same, let us know how it's working out for you.
Mac OS X 10.6.8 now available for your downloading pleasure
It may be the last Snow Leopard to prowl the snowy hills of Mac-land, but Mac OS X 10.6.8 has just arrived in Software Update. According to MacUpdate, the release notes are as follows: The 10.6.8 update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes that: Enhance the Mac App Store to get your Mac ready to upgrade to Mac OS X Lion Resolve an issue that may cause Preview to unexpectedly quit Improve support for IPv6 Improve VPN reliability Identify and remove known variants of Mac Defender The combo updater for 10.6.8 is available directly from Apple and measures 1.01 GB in size. For my 10.6.7 iMac, the delta updater was only 275 MB and quickly downloaded. For detailed information about the update, visit http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4561. Information about the security content of 10.6.8 can be found at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.
