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Apple previews Mountain Lion, next version of Mac OS X
Apple on Thursday released an early preview of Mountain Lion, its next version of Mac OS X, to developers and select publications. The reviews are now hitting the Internet. The general consensus about Mountain Lion is that it will bring some of the best features of iOS (like Notification Center, AirPlay mirroring, GameCenter and Messages) into OS X. These features are not going to be tacked-on mobile versions, but fully integrated in a way that works on a desktop operating system. You can check out some of the early reviews at The Loop, Macworld, Engadget, The Verge, Laptop Magazine, CNET, and PC Magazine. Apple's preview page for Mountain Lion is also live. The next version of OS X is expected to ship this summer and will be available from the Mac App Store. Pricing is not available, but, based on Apple's history, it should be reasonably priced.
Apple played favorites with iPad access
Boing Boing's Rob Beschizza has an insightful look at something that no one's really noticed yet: Apple definitely played favorites when it came to sharing the iPad. Here's the list of outlets and writers that got access to the iPad for an early review. You'll note that Boing Boing is on there, as is PC Magazine. Engadget and Gizmodo (along with TUAW, though we got one anyway) are not. Time is on there, Newsweek is not. Clearly, Apple's being careful about who's given access, and there's no one reason why an outlet might be on the list or not. And it might be even more confusing than that -- Fake Steve Jobs (a.k.a. writer Dan Lyons) tells a story about how Apple sent word out that they were unhappy about Newsweek officially hiring him after the FSJ reveal. Apple isn't just controlling access -- they're doing their best to control the entire media perception of the company. One thing that Beschizza doesn't mention (he goes on to gloat a little about Boing Boing's history with Apple) is that, in those first few days of iPad app reveals, it was pretty clear which developers had gotten an iPad early. Firemint, PopCap, MLB, EA -- there are hundreds of thousands of developers on the App Store, and Apple came to only a few to offer them a development iPad to play with early. Unfortunately, again, we'll never know the criteria for selection there other than Apple's whims (and I presume the whole thing is wrapped so tightly in an NDA that we won't even know when and how the offers were made), so we don't have a full picture of what access was offered and how. But there's no question that Apple made specific choices about how and where to send the iPad -- some people and companies got in, lots didn't.
FileFront says 'farewell' ... and get your files while you can!
Ziff Davis is preparing to pull the plug on FileFront, the game-related download service currently housed under the struggling publisher's PC Magazine Digital Network. In a somber message posted on FileFront, the site's management and team announced that "due to the current economic conditions" operations would be suspended indefinitely on March 30, 2009. In other words, you have five days to spare the 48-plus terabytes of files currently hosted on FileFront from an irreversible *click* into the virtual trash bin. We suggest you commence downloading -- now! Unfortunately, we can't also download the good people who have kept FileFront running for all of these years. We wish everyone affected by this change the very best in getting back in the game.[Image credit: tomsaint11]
The unofficial user guide to the Media Center TV Pack
It's been almost two months since we got our hands on the Media Center TV Pack (aka Fiji) and although CEDIA has come and gone, we haven't really seen much fanfare from Microsoft touting the new update for Media Center -- we haven't even seen as much as a change log or feature list. The good news is that when big companies fail to spell out what's new in an update, usually someone in the community steps up and fills in the gaps. This time around it's PC Mag, which has really done a great job of not only spelling out most of the new features, but the bugs as well. So instead of holding your breath waiting on big blue to clue you in if this update is worth all the fuss, head on over and give it a read.
PC Mag VIP posts switcher tips
There are switchers, and then there are Switchers. Robyn Peterson, executive product director/executive producer at Ziff Davis, is a capital-S-Switcher; when the guy who's responsible for PCMag.com jumps the tracks to a Mac, there's a serious movement afoot.Peterson has his rationale for the switch and a list of five tips for switchers ("Where's the Start menu?!?") posted over yonder. Just one more indication that the Intel migration, though challenging and sometimes painful, is paying dividends in market share for Apple.[via MacNN]
DS versus PSP: the battle for the best LCD
PC Magazine got a "display expert" from DisplayMate Technology to evaluate the screen performance of the DS Lite and the PSP. To a casual observer, both have stunning displays. But how do they fare when they're analyzed by the same methods used on high-end HDTVs? The report is incredibly thorough, so I'll just give you some key highlights:
