As it turns out, Apple has decided a solid end date for the Messages beta: December 14, 2012. That’s just under a month from now, so if you’re still using the Messages beta on Lion, your days are numbered. Of course, if you want to continue using Messages, it can be found in OS X Mountain Lion, which Apple unsurprisingly suggests users upgrade to. Here’s the email for Apple:

The Messages Beta program for Lion will end on Friday, December 14, 2012. We hope you’ve enjoyed the opportunity to preview Messages.

If you’d like to continue using Messages, upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion from the Mac App Store. Messages is one of many great new apps and features built right into OS X Mountain Lion.

Thank you for your participation in the Messages Beta program.

Mountain Lion, which currently is at version 10.8.2, is available on the Mac App Store for $20. That’s not too bad a price for an OS upgrade, so it isn’t much of a surprise that we saw so many Mac users take advantage of it back when it launched back in July. We reviewed Mountain Lion when it launched, deciding that there was a lot of value in the new version of Mac OS X, especially for just $20.

With that in mind, it might not be a bad idea to upgrade anyway. After all, you get a full version of Messages along with all of the other features Mountain Lion brings with it. Did any of you get this mysterious email popping up in your mailbox today?

Before you go too far, be sure to check out our [Mac OS X Mountain Lion full review] to make sure you know what you’re getting into. After you do, continue below if you still need a quick run-down of what you’ll be getting that’s above and beyond the previous version of OS X, Lion – without the Mountain.

iCloud

This feature was introduced several months ago to make connections between your desktop computer and your iDevices much simpler. Now with Mountain Lion you don’t just have to rely on your web browser to deliver your various bits of media between devices. Documents in the Cloud allows instant updating of documents between devices with this new update, these documents sitting kindly on your Mac, updating with ease.

Messages

You’ll no longer be using iChat, instead you’ll be working with the same message environment that the iPad and the iPhone use. Messages are now seamless between the iPad, the iPhone, and your Mac.

Reminders

You’ll now have the same convenient ability to leave yourself reminders that pop up whenever you want them to – these reminders also work between devices, so you can create one on one device and each of your devices will know to notify you when the time comes for your reminder to remind you.

Notes

Similar to the functionality of Reminders and Documents in iCloud, you’ve got Notes which also work in iCloud – it’s basically a very simplified version of the situation. You’ve got a stack of notes and they’re all synced no matter which device you’re on.

Notification Center

Just like your iPad and iPhone, you’ve now got a list of notifications from your apps and system. Calendar invitations will pop up independent of your email system, you’ll be able to get alerts from apps when they need or want an update, and you’ll have a quick overview of it all in the upper-right of your display whenever you want it.

Safari

Mac’s built-in standard web browser now includes a Smart Search Field with instant reaction to your typing of URLs or search terms. You’ve also got Tab View that shows off open tabs – and iCloud Tabs allow you to pick up wherever you left off in your web browser no matter which device you’re on.

Sharing

Safari is only one of several apps throughout OS X Mountain Lion that benefit from the system’s ability to instantly share a variety of elements. Built-in sharing allows you to use Mail, Messages, AirDrop, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and Vimeo to share.

Facebook

Just as it is in iOS 6 – coming to an iPad and iPhone near you soon – you’ll be able to easily work with Facebook throughout your Mac. Sign in once and you’ll have easy posting of links and photos forever more. Your Facebook friend will appear in your Contacts automatically and you’ll receive updates in your Notification Center as well.

Twitter

Like Facebook, you’ll be able to quickly access Twitter from locations throughout this updated operating system. Tweet from your apps, sign in once to be able to share with Twitter from many places throughout your Mac, and get instant integration between the people you follow on Twitter and your Contacts list.

Game Center

Just as it is on your iPhone and iPad, you’ve now got full integration with Apple’s Game Center for social networking in a purely gaming level. You’ll be able to track your achievements, connect with friends to play collaborative games, and interact with your friends using their iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

AirPlay Mirroring

This is the first version of Apple’s OS X desktop operating system that allows instant mirroring of your Mac’s display to your HDTV with your Apple TV. This wireless system allows high-definition mirroring of both your computer’s visuals and audio at once, seamlessly.

Note that AirPlay Mirroring requires that your Mac be one of the following: iMac mid-2011 or newer, Mac mini mid-2011 or newer, MacBook Air mid-2011 or newer, or MacBook Pro early 2011 or newer. Your Apple TV needs to be 2nd generation or newer as well for AirPlay Mirroring to function with OS X Mountain Lion.

Dictation

With Mountain Lion you can now speak out loud and have what you’re saying instantly typed up by the system. “Talk anywhere you can type” is their new motto, and no training or setup of any new system is required to make it all so.

Power Nap

While your Mac is sleeping, you’re now able to receive emails, software updates, calendar invites, and more. Where before if you wanted your computer to continue to keep up to date and synced with all things web-based, you’d have had to keep it awake – now you don’t. Simple as that. Note that Power Nap only works MacBook Air models mid-2011 and newer as well as MacBook Pro with Retina display.

Gatekeeper

You’ll have a new selection of controls for the entirety of your Mac, Gatekeeper giving you control over which apps are allowed to be downloaded and which apps are allowed to be installed as well. This feature has been implemented primarily to continue Apple’s battle against malware, and should very much be keeping the torch lit through the foreseeable future.

Download

You can download OS X Mountain Lion for your Mac right this minute through your Mac’s App Store for the cool price of $19.99. If you’re in need of instructions on how to do so or need guidance on what’s necessary to make the install happen, head to our post entitled Prepping for Mountain Lion: three steps you must take.

Also head to the timeline below to catch up on all things Mountain Lion while you stay tuned to our OS X Mountain Lion portal as well!

iCloud Tabs is one such feature. That will save whatever pages are open on your Mountain Lion device and sync them to an iOS device when you next open Safari. Tab View, meanwhile, allows you to pinch out in the browser and see a zoomed out card like view of your open pages, not unlike what you’d see on Safari for iOS. Reading List is Apple’s equivalent of Instapaper, bookmarking and saving websites to read offline.

Safari 6 also sees a unified URL bar and search field, mimicking functionality in Chrome that allows you to search or type in URLs from the same bar. Do Not Track isn’t too far off Incognito mode, setting a flag that tells websites not to track your activity or save any cookies, and the password pane allows you to manage any saved login details for websites. If you’re a fan of Apple’s browser and want the latest and greatest, hit up this link and get downloading. Those hoping for a Windows version of the browser might be out of luck, however, as Apple seems to have scrubbed it from the website.

In OS X 10.7.3, the highest resolution TextEdit icon was 512×512 pixels, with the new icon jumping to 1024×1024. The resolution increase brings a file size bump too: 209KB to 1.7MB. Other core system applications have also seen updated icons, such as the Address Book and Dashboard. While the resolution of those icons did not increase, the file sizes did.

HiDPI was first added to Lion last year, but the option wasn’t user accessible. An update to the popular Air Display app saw the new iPad making use of the option once connected, and high resolution icons have been found within the Mountain Lion betas. The current theory is that Apple is preparing the OS for new high resolution displays most likely found on the future versions of the MacBooks.

Apple is due to update the MacBook Pros within the next month or two following the release of Intel’s new Ivy Bridge platform, which is said to be 15-20% faster than current Sandy Bridge chips. Other rumors have indicated that the 15-inch MacBook Pro would see an Air equivalent, being slimmed down while losing the optical drive. The 17-inch MacBook Pro is reportedly going to be phased out as well.

Step One: To upgrade to this version of Java for OS X Lion 2012, all you need to do is start by clicking on the Apple in the upper left of your display. Once you’ve done that, you’re half done. Step Two:In the menu that pops down, you’ll see an option which says “Software Update” – release your mouse or finger on that option. Your computer will take a few moments to load the updates you have available, and that’s it!

All you need to do from here is hit the Install button – as you can see above, I’ve got several items I should be installing, each of them larger than the last. You’ll likely just have the one update to do, and it’ll take you no time at all to do it. This update also does the following, per Apple:

This Java security update removes the most common variants of the Flashback malware.

This update also configures the Java web plug-in to disable the automatic execution of Java applets. Users may re-enable automatic execution of Java applets using the Java Preferences application. If the Java web plug-in detects that no applets have been run for an extended period of time it will again disable Java applets.

Sound reasonably excellent to you? Make it happen quickly!

[via Apple]

This error is also being called the CUI CUI CUI error because of the letters that pop up on your display when an application is opened. A fix has been found in an Apple forums discussion thread by a fellow by the name of nmphotog who notes that he or she has been able to download a COMBO update as located here: OS X Lion Update 10.7.3 (Client Combo). The thing he does not mention is how some of you may have to take odd measures to make this happen.

If you’re absolutely unable to get any windows open, like the web browser window to get to the webpage you’ll need to get the update download, you’ll want to open your computer in FireWire Target mode. You WILL need a FireWire cord, whatever kind that may be for your computer, and connect it to another Mac that’s got a FireWire port as well. You’ll want to then power up your Mac (the one with the problem) while holding down the T key. You’ll then want to download the software you need with the second computer and install it to the first over FireWire. Simple as pie!

[via MacWorld]

This delta update comes in at 633MB and currently has no known issues. Developers are warned as usual that once the update is installed that they will not be able to revert back to a previous version. Systems used for the installation should be ready to be erased if needed.

An OS X Server 10.7.3 update was also issued today with the same build number and focus area of iCloud storage, AddressBook, iCal, and Mail. If you haven’t updated to OS X Lion yet and would like to find out more, be sure to check out our full review.

[via 9to5 Mac]

This information comes from Japanese Apple blog Macotakara who say they’ve got a “reliable source” that says OS X Lion Update 10.7.2 as well as iTunes 10.5 will be out early this next week. From what we understand, iTunes 10.5 is still in Beta mode for testers while developers have been given the Gold Master copy of Mac OS X 10.7.2, this meaning that the release is RIGHT around the corner.

NOTE: for all the information you could possibly need at this point on iCloud, head to our SlashGear 101: What is iCloud? post and get educated!

October 12th will be the release of both iOS 5 with iCloud support AND the iPhone 4S (plus the other newly price-adjusted iPhone collection) in stores. The three biggest mobile carriers in the USA and Apple have reported that iPhone 4S pre-order stock is sold out, so if you’re going to be amongst those getting one on October 12th, you’re going to have to head to the front-door camp. Meanwhile we expect iOS 5 to be pushed to all other compatible Apple devices sometime this week – hopefully, again, the 12th!

[via AppleInsider]

As you’ll see in the hands-on video we’ve filmed below, you’ll first of all see that you’re able to run *Windows 7 inside your Mac inside a separate window. Now those of you familiar with newer Mac systems’ ability to run Windows through Bootcamp will immediately start comparing this method to that, of course. You can then run Windows apps inside this windows – but who wants to do that, that’s much too complicated, right? Instead you can use what they call Coherence Mode in which you can run Windows apps on your Mac desktop with Windows running completely in the background. You’ll know which apps are native to Windows by the tiny red double column, the Parallels, that is, sitting on the lower right-hand side of the icons for each Windows app.

What’s neat about this working with Lion is that not only do your Windows apps sit inside your Launchpad aside the rest of your Mac apps, they’re able to fly back and forth with your normal set of gestures once you’ve got them open as well. Simple and totally correct.

Then there’s something wild – similar to how you’re able to virtualize running Windows inside a window (as stated above), you’re also able to virtualize an instance of OS X Lion. That means you’re running Lion inside a window inside of Lion, in this case, a situation which of course leads everyone in the internet world to think of the film Inception – how deep can we get? Developers can of course make use of this by working inside this window without the fear of busting up their OS with buggy apps.

Then there’s something extra sweet – the iOS app. Alongside the launch of Parallels Desktop 7 comes the iOS app which works on both iPads, iPhone, and iPod Touch which allows you to run instances of Windows so you can run Windows app or even your whole desktop from your Mac – this being a mirrored copy of your desktop now running seamlessly on your iOS device. Slick! This works wherever you have an internet connection – this meaning it works over Wi-fi, of course. The first thing one thinks of when they see this situation is, of course, can I run Flash videos? Yes, yes you can run Flash videos. It appears that Parallels has sort of beat Adobe to the punch. Winning?

The final thing you’ll see in the video is a couple of rows of software boxes (they still sell software in boxes?!), one of them a row of “for Mac” editions and the other “Switch to Mac Edition”, the latter being different simply in its addition of some tutorials for Mac for people who’ve never before used the platform. It all sounds pretty fabulous, yes?

Also note that we filmed this hands-on look at the software at Pepcom’s 2011 Holiday Spectacular – you can see all hands-on videos we’ve filmed for the event by heading to our big [Pepcom Holiday Spectacular 2011 portal] if you like to look at brand new awesome gadgets and software.

Sonos blamed unforeseen changes in OS X Lion for the lapse in support, though still received plenty of wrath from owners used to the easy-to-use streaming system. The app had originally used SMB for file sharing, but Apple changed from using the open-source Samba implementation of SMB to a proprietary version of its own. Sonos tweaked its system to fix it, but also required changes in Lion be made on Apple’s side.

“We filed a bug with Apple but they were unable to address the issue prior to launch” Sonos explained shortly after the issue was spotted. “We worked through June and July to support the creation of new shares and the restoration of shares from earlier versions. Our goal was to get that code into our 3.5 release. However, there are many different use cases for local music sharing and we were unable to cover them all before our launch.”

To get the new software, choose “Check for Updates” in the Sonos menu in the Sonos Controller for Mac app.

Some of the issues addressed include unresponsiveness when playing a video in Safari, audio not playing when using HDMI or optical audio out, Wi-Fi connection reliability, problems with data and settings migration to a new Mac running OS X Lion, and an issue with admin user accounts going missing after upgrading to OS X Lion. Details on the update can be found here.

For users with MacBook Airs and 2011 Mac Minis, there are bug fixes specific to each hardware. The update for those products can be directly downloaded here. Some of the problems resolved include an issue where the MacBook Air may boot up when a MagSafe Adapter is attached, an issue causing intermittent display flickering in the MacBook Air, and an issue that causes the SD card slot in the Mac Mini to run at a reduced speed.

A bigger price tag isn’t the only drawback to using the thumb drive option, however. According to Apple’s warning, “When you install OS X Lion using the USB thumb drive, you will not be able to reinstall OS X Lion from Lion Recovery. You will need to use the USB thumb drive to reinstall OS X Lion.” That seemingly means no access to the clever online recovery system which Lion users who downloaded the OS can take advantage of to boot their broken Macs from a working copy on Apple’s own servers.

Still, if your bandwidth is metered or you feel Apple deserves more than $29.99 for all that big-cat goodness, the USB drive is now an option. We’re guessing it’ll show up in the US Apple Store later today, as well as being available in brick & mortar Apple retail locations, though it’s worth remembering that you can take your Mac into those stores and use their connection instead.

[via TNW]

You can make the OS X Lion Recovery Drive for free by following the directions that Apple offers. If you don’t have the time or inclination to make your own recovery USB drive Apple is getting set to offer them through AppleCare. The flash drives with the recovery software installed are expected to sell for $69. A 9to5mac source has told the publication that the recovery drives will start selling to the public this week.

The recovery drives have reportedly shown up in the Apple internal system slated for launch on August 15, which is today for those that are having problems keeping track of time on a Monday. There has been no official confirmation that the drives will launch today though. I think most people that are reasonably proficient with a Mac will simply make their own discs. Those that aren’t that tech inclined will like the option of buying one already made. The official recovery drive appears to have the Apple logo on it and that is enough to get some fans to buy.

[via 9to5mac]

The first Count of this new lawsuit reads as follows: “Apple sells or offers to sell within this district, computer systems, including but not limited to the MacBook Pro, that utilize the Mac OSX operating system that infringes at least claim 1 of the OSS [Operating System Solutions] Patent.” What this does is claim that Apple has either knowingly or unknowingly created an operating system with a feature that had been patented previously without confirming with the current patent holder that it was agreeable to do so. If the court should find that the fast-boot sequence on current OS X devices is close enough to the original patent’s description, Apple could be in a heap of trouble.

The one-time patent abstract from the original LG Electronics filing reads as follows – see if this seems similar to how your OS X Lion-toting device boots up:

“A method for quickly booting a personal computer system using boot configuration information on memory and the attached devices that was created and saved in a hard disk at the preceding boot process. The method for a quick boot process includes the steps of performing a power-on self test POST) operation when a personal computer system is powered on or a reset button is pressed; performing a normal boot process after the POST operation; saving the contents of memory and the status of the attached devices to a hard disk; checking if a reboot is requested; restoring the saved boot configuration information from the hard disk, after POST is completed during the reboot process; checking whether or not an initial device configuration file and/or an automatic batch file were changed; and executing commands in the two files and saving a newly created boot configuration information to the hard disk for future boot. The personal computer system, may reboot quickly because of omission of execution of the initial device configuration filed and the automatic batch file.”

The above is also what you’re seeing in the main image of this post, as seen above. The following paragraph is how the lawsuit claim reads, on the other hand. Decide for yourself if this matches up with the original LG Electronics patent wording:

“A method for fast booting a computer system, comprising the steps of: A. performing a power on self test (POST) of basic input output system (BIOS) when the system is powered on or reset is requested; B. checking whether a boot configuration information including a system booting state which was created while executing a previous normal booting process exists or not; C. storing the boot configuration information from execution of the POST operation before loading a graphic interface (GUI) program, based on the checking result; and D. loading the graphic user interface (GUI) program.”

Patently Apple notes that it’s suspicious that the group currently running this lawsuit, the group that goes by the name “Operating Systems Solutions LCC” doesn’t appear in a simple Google search. When this sort of situation arises, alarms should be going off that read PATENT TROLL. This type of troll is one that uses patents in a rather opportunistic way, attacking groups that may have “infringed” on said patent without any intention of actually developing the patented subject matter on their own.

[via Patently Apple]

The scroll bars are still there, but Apple has, by default, hidden them in many apps. You can make them reappear by hunting through the settings menu and turning them back on, but when they do come back, they are much thinner than they used to be, without the arrows at the top and bottom. They are also a bit buggy at the moment. If I try to click and drag the scrolling indicator, the page often jumps around, as if I had missed and clicked on the empty space above or below the scroll bar instead of directly on it. This doesn’t always happen, but it happens often enough that I have trained myself to avoid using the scroll bars this way.

So, the scroll bars, for now, are simply a visual indicator of where my view is located on a long or wide page. Clearly Apple does not think this information is terribly important, or else scroll bars would be turned on by default. As with the scroll bars, you can also hunt through the settings menu to turn off the new, so-called “natural scrolling.” This will bring you back to the method preferred on older Apple OSes, and also on Windows machines.

Some disclosure: my day job is working for Samsung. We make Windows computers that compete with Macs. I work in the phones division, but my work machine is a Samsung laptop running Windows. My MacBook is a holdover from my days as a tech journalist. When you become a tech journalist, you are issued a MacBook by force and stripped of whatever you were using before.

I am not criticizing or endorsing Apple’s new natural scrolling in this column. In fact, in my own usage, there are times when I like it, and times when I don’t. Those emotions are usually found in direct proportion to the amount of NyQuil I took the night before and how hot it was outside when I walked my dog. I have found no other correlation.

The new natural scrolling method will probably seem familiar to those of you not frozen in an iceberg since World War II. It is the same direction you use for scrolling on most touchscreen phones, and most tablets. Not all, of course. Some phones and tablets still use styli, and these phone often let you scroll by dragging scroll bars with the pointer. But if you have an Android or an iPhone or a Windows Phone, you’re familiar with the new method.

My real interest here is to examine how the user is placed in the conversation between your fingers and the object on screen. I have heard the argument that the new method tries, and perhaps fails, to emulate the touchscreen experience by manipulating objects as if they were physical. On touchscreen phones, this is certainly the case. When we touch something on screen, like an icon or a list, we expect it to react in a physical way. When I drag my finger to the right, I want the object beneath to move with my finger, just as a piece of paper would move with my finger when I drag it.

This argument postulates a problem with Apple’s natural scrolling because of the literal distance between your fingers and the objects on screen. Also, the angle has changed. The plane of your hands and the surface on which they rest are at an oblique angle of more than 90 degrees from the screen and the object at hand.

Think of a magic wand. When you wave a magic wand with the tip facing out before you, do you imagine the spell shooting forth parallel to the ground, or do you imagine the spell shooting directly upward? In our imagination, we do want a direct correlation between the position of our hands and the reaction on screen, this is true. However, is this what we were getting before? Not really.

The difference between classic scrolling and ‘natural’ scrolling seems to be the difference between manipulating a concept and manipulating an object. Scroll bars are not real, or at least they do not correspond to any real thing that we would experience in the physical world. When you read a tabloid, you do not scroll down to see the rest of the story. You move your eyes. If the paper will not fit comfortably in your hands, you fold it. But scrolling is not like folding. It is smoother. It is continuous. Folding is a way of breaking the object into two conceptual halves. Ask a print newspaper reporter (and I will refrain from old media mockery here) about the part of the story that falls “beneath the fold.” That part better not be as important as the top half, because it may never get read.

Natural scrolling correlates more strongly to moving an actual object. It is like reading a newspaper on a table. Some of the newspaper may extend over the edge of the table and bend downward, making it unreadable. When you want to read it, you move the paper upward. In the same way, when you want to read more of the NYTimes.com site, you move your fingers upward.

The argument should not be over whether one is more natural than the other. Let us not forget that we are using an electronic machine. This is not a natural object. The content onscreen is only real insofar as pixels light up and are arranged into a recognizable pattern. Those words are not real, they are the absence of light, in varying degrees if you have anti-aliasing cranked up, around recognizable patterns that our eyes and brain interpret as letters and words.

The argument should be over which is the more successful design for a laptop or desktop operating system. Is it better to create objects on screen that appropriate the form of their physical world counterparts? Should a page in Microsoft Word look like a piece of paper? Should an icon for a hard disk drive look like a hard disk? What percentage of people using a computer have actually seen a hard disk drive? What if your new ultraportable laptop uses a set of interconnected solid state memory chips instead? Does the drive icon still look like a drive?

Or is it better to create objects on screen that do not hew to the physical world? Certainly their form should suggest their function in order to be intuitive and useful, but they do not have to be photorealistic interpretations. They can suggest function through a more abstract image, or simply by their placement and arrangement.

In the former system, the computer interface becomes a part of the users world. The interface tries to fit in with symbols that are already familiar. I know what a printer looks like, so when I want to set up my new printer, I find the picture of the printer and I click on it. My email icon is a stamp. My music player icon is a CD. Wait, where did my CD go? I can’t find my CD?! What happened to my music!?!? Oh, there it is. Now it’s just a circle with a musical note. I guess that makes sense, since I hardly use CDs any more.

In the latter system, the user becomes part of the interface. I have to learn the language of the interface design. This may sound like it is automatically more difficult than the former method of photorealism, but that may not be true. After all, when I want to change the brightness of my display, will my instinct really be to search for a picture of a cog and gears? And how should we represent a Web browser, a feature that has no counterpart in real life? Are we wasting processing power and time trying to create objects that look three dimensional on a two dimensional screen in a 2D space?

I think the photorealistic approach, and Apple’s new natural scrolling, may be the more personal way to design an interface. Apple is clearly thinking of the intimate relationship between the user and the objects that we touch. It is literally a sensual relationship, in that we use a variety of our senses. We touch. We listen. We see.

But perhaps I do not need, nor do I want, to have this relationship with my work computer. I carry my phone with me everywhere. I keep my tablet very close to me when I am using it. With my laptop, I keep some distance. I am productive. We have a lot to get done.

The new features will be integrated for the latest Office for Mac 2011 and will include Auto Save, Versions, and Full-Screen mode. However, don’t expect the update to come tomorrow or even in the next few weeks. Instead, Microsoft Office team member Pat Fox confirmed that the wait for the update will more likely be “measured in months.”

Fox also emphasized that Office for Mac 2004 will not work with Lion as it is written for PowerPC systems and Lion no longer includes the Rosetta code needed for backwards compatibility. This seemed to have been the same problem for several other software packages, including Intuit’s popular line of QuickBooks and Quicken accounting software.

If you use Microsoft’s Communicator for Mac, however, you can get an update for that immediately to solve the crashing issues it has in Lion. The update can be downloaded via Microsoft’s AutoUpdate system or through their Download Center.

[via MacNN]

The supplemental update resolves certain issues experienced when transitioning, specifically in the transferring of personal data, settings, and compatible applications between the two platforms. But even if you don’t plan on getting OS X Lion right away, you should still consider this update as it includes other performance improvements. It revolves issues with certain network printers that pause print jobs or fail to complete as well as system audio that stops working when using HDMI or optical audio out.

Apple released a series of options for the 10.6.8 version 1.1 update that can be accessed via its support site. There are specific downloads for those who have already upgraded to 10.6.8, a delta version for those that have yet to upgrade, as well as a combo release. You can also just go to your Mac and run Software Update.

[via Cult of Mac]

Apple:
Mac OS X Lion available now!
Apple MacBook Air updated
Apple Mac mini refreshed: Sandy Bridge and dual-drive Server
Apple Thunderbolt Display revealed
OS X Lion update kills Flash Player hardware acceleration and more
Adobe admits OS X Lion Flash claims were false
iTunes 10.4 and iWork 6 Updates Released For OS X Lion Full-Screen Support
MacBook Air 13″ core i5 hands-on (mid-2011)
OS X Lion Sold Over 1 Million Copies In First Day
Complete Apple retail store faked quite convincingly in China
Apple Killing Off More Boxed Software From Stores
Apple Hints At iPhone 5 In September?
Apple Q3 Earnings Exceeds Expectations, $28.57 Billion Revenue, $7.31 Billion Profit

Intel, Microsoft, and Nokia:
Intel Q2 Earnings Beat Expectations, Netbooks Down, Cloud Computing Strong
Microsoft Reports Solid Q4 Earnings Thanks To Enterprise, Servers, And Xbox
Windows Phone Mango App Submissions In August Support September Launch
Nokia “Sea Ray” Windows Phone caught on video
Nokia Q2 financials “clearly disappointing” says CEO Elop: €487m loss

Google:
Google+ For iPhone Now The Top Free App In iTunes
Google+ Games Stream confirmed
Google acquires Fridge: Groups for Google+ incoming
Google+ hits 20m unique visitors; Social chief admits brand strategy was “a mistake”
Google+ Celebrity Acquisition Plan In The Works
Google Is Shutting Down Google Labs And Some Experimental Projects
What Google Labs Shutting Down Means for YOU the Google Lover

Spotify:
Spotify Reached 70,000 Paying Subscribers In First Week Of U.S. Launch
SlashGear Spotify Invites Now Up for Grabs!

Reviews & Hands-on/Unboxings:
Verbatim Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard Review
Mac OS X Lion Review
MacBook Air 13-inch core i5 Review (mid-2011)
Toshiba Thrive Review
Lenovo IdeaPad K1 and ThinkPad Tablet hands-on

Among the suggestions made for the demise of Front Row, a growing shift to baking digital media directly into the OS seems the most likely justification. Lion is all about streaming, the cloud and the iTunes ecosystem, with the imminent arrival of iCloud and iOS 5 only adding to that. Many users never used Front Row and, indeed, didn’t even know the functionality was present; the Apple Remote no longer being included in the box with Apple notebooks (in 2008) and desktops (in 2009) shifted emphasis away from media center duties.

Of course, that leaves the Mac mini – which many deploy as an HTPC – in something of a limbo situation if you’re looking for out-of-the-box media center use. The good news is that there are third-party apps which can do a better job than Front Row, such as Boxee, Plex and XBMC, thoroughly up to speed with streaming internet video like YouTube and Hulu.

If you’re dead-set on Front Row and Lion, however, there’s salvation to be had with a minor hack that brings the UI back to life. Detailed at the Apple Support forum by user “radiv78″, by copying the files below from a Snow Leopard Mac to one running OS X Lion (and then restarting), you can once again have Front Row access.

/System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/BackRow.framework
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework
/System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.RemoteUI.plist
/Applications/Front Row.app

However, while the capabilities might still be there, it seems Adobe has been slow to take advantage of them. Flash Player can still use greater amounts of CPU processing than the same video would require on a Mac running Snow Leopard, as Adobe is yet to update the software to support Lion. Nonetheless, the company does say that it will “continue to work closely with Apple” on a fix.

“The final release of Mac OS X Lion (10.7) provides the same support for Flash hardware video acceleration as Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6).  The previous “Known Issue” described in a tech note suggesting that video hardware acceleration was disabled in Lion was incorrect and based on tests with a pre-release version of Mac OS X Lion that related to only one particular Mac GPU configuration.  We continue to work closely with Apple to provide Flash Player users with a high quality experience on Mac computers” Adobe

The Knowledge Base article that had prompted the acceleration speculation has since been updated with the same comment as from the blog. Apple dropped Flash Player from the default OS X Lion install, instead suggesting that users should download the latest version from Adobe if they required it, in what is described as a move to phase out “legacy” software.

The major revamp brings over 250 new features, including multitouch gesture controls, full-screen apps, auto-save, Mission Control, LaunchPad, and much much more. Overall, Lion appears to take a lot of inspiration from the iOS interface, striving to be more lightweight and intuitive.

However, the update also brought some problems as can be expected from a major overhaul. Several Adobe features are reported to have compatibility issues and many third-party apps are scrambling to optimize for Lion. Apple’s own iTunes and iWorks also have to be updated to support some of Lion’s new features.

There’s also an improved privacy control panel, for more granular control over what sites have left behind on your system, along with boosted stability and responsiveness. More minor tweaks include an update to AutoFill which keeps your details private, filtering for Find commands that can limit results to those only at the start of sentences, and drag-and-drop downloads to pull items out of the Downloads window onto the desktop or elsewhere.

Finally there’s full-screen webpage support, along with support for HTML5 media caching, MathML, Web Open Font Format, CSS3 Auto-hyphenation, CSS3 Vertical Text, CSS3 Text Emphasis, Window.onError and Formatted XML files. Apple has even thrown in a few security updates.

Safari 5.1 is a 47.47MB download for Snow Leopard users and 36.06MB for Windows users, and can be grabbed here. If you’re running OS X Lion, which was released yesterday, you’ll already have it.

The battle between Apple and Adobe is long running and legendary. Apple is seemingly out to kill Flash in favor of more open standards and Adobe is out to take all it can from Apple. The last bit of fisticuffs between the two companies saw Adobe offering a discount for people to change from Final Cut Pro X to its Mac apps. Flash Player wasn’t the only Adobe product affected in the update though.

Lion also messed with Fireworks, Illustrator, Acrobat, Lightroom, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro. Adobe is saying that it is looking into supporting some Lion specific features in its Mac software like restore, autosave, versioning, full screen mode, and supporting multitouch gestures. Lion doesn’t have tech that is considered legacy by Apple including Java runtime and Flash Player, both have to be installed manually.

[via 9to5Mac]

The iTunes 10.4 update will support full-screen mode that lets the app occupy your entire screen to eliminate any other distractions. This is similar to how apps on your iPad take up the full screen. With Lion’s new gesture-powered interface, a three-fingered swipe to the right will easily take you back to your desktop. iTunes for Lion has also been rebuilt as a 64-bit Cocoa application and may no longer be compatible with some plug-ins.

The iWork update to version 6 also adds full-screen support along with a few other Lion features. For instance, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote will now support Resume, Auto Save, and Versions functionality. Resume brings you right back to where you left off when you last quit the application, while Auto Save does just that, it auto saves everything for you in the background. Versions works like Apple’s Time Machine feature but for your individual documents so that you can open previously saved versions and even cut and paste between versions.

Both updates should be available via Software Update, unless you have yet to upgrade to OS X Lion. For that, you can download from the Mac App Store for $29.99, and one purchase covers up to 5 Mac computers.

[via Apple Insider]

Among the features offered include Disk Utility, which can check and repair a hard-drive, erase it, and reinstall a fresh copy of Lion, and the ability to restore a Mac from a Time Machine backup. If there’s an internet connection on offer, Lion Recovery will connect to Apple and offer access to its online support forums, too.

Lion Internet Recovery is built into new Macs, starting from today’s refreshed MacBook Air and Mac mini, and will be a new feature on all models moving forward. For more on OS X Lion – which is available as an upgrade now from the Mac App Store – head over here.

[via Twitter]

The consumer models have a choice of dual-core Intel Core i5 or Intel Core i7 processors, paired AMD Radeon HD 6630M discrete graphics, while the Server model has a quad-core Intel Core i7. $599 gets you the 2.3GHz Core i5 mini with 2GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD, while up to 750GB of hard-drive and 8GB of RAM are options. $799 gets you the 2.5GHz dual-core Core i5, with 4GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD; a 2.7GHz Core i7, 8GB of memory, and either a 750GB hard-drive or 256GB SSD are options.

Finally, the 2.0GHz quad-core Core i7 Mac mini with Lion Server model has 4GB of RAM, twin 500GB hard-drives and starts at $999. Options include up to 8GB of RAM, two 750GB hard-drive or two 256GB SSDs.

Ports and connectivity include Thunderbolt and WiFi. The new Apple Mac mini ships from today.

Two standard configurations of 11.6-inch MacBook Air are on offer, firstly at $999 with a 1.6GHz Core i5 processor, 2 GB of RAM and a 64 GB SSD drive, and then the $1,199 performance version with a 1.6GHz Core i5 processor, 4 GB of RAM and a 128 GB SSD drive. The display runs at 1366 x 768. Options include a 1.8GHz Core i7 processor, 4GB of RAM and larger SSDs.

Similarly, there are two standard configs of the 13.3-inch MacBook Air, beginning with the $1,299 with a 1.7GHz Core i5 processor, 4 GB of RAM and a 128 GB SSD drive, and then the $1,599 top-end version with the same processor, 4 GB of RAM and a 256 GB SSD drive. Its display runs at 1440 x 900, while options include a 1.8GHz Core i7 CPU.

Graphics are from Intel’s HD Graphics 3000. Otherwise connectivity is the same as before, which means WiFi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth as standard, along with a pair of USB 2.0 ports and a headphone port. There’s a built-in microphone and a webcam. Battery life for the 11.6-inch Air is up to 5 hours, while the 13.3-inch Air increases that to 7 hours.

The new MacBook Air is available to order from today.

Among the additions are a new Mail app complete with an iPad-like UI and tweaked searching, and multitouch gesture support similar to what’s found on the iPhone. Apps can now run in full-screen mode, and there’s a Mission Control view which blends Exposé and Spaces to show open apps, virtual desktops and widgets all in one go.

The Mac App Store gets a refresh in Lion too, with digital sandboxing, support for in-app purchases and push notifications. System stability and restoration is also improved, thanks to the new AutoSave and Resume features that get you back up to speed with what apps and documents you had open, even if you have to restart your Mac.

OS X Lion is available through the Mac App Store as a digital download. It’s priced at $29.99 for those people currently running OS X Snow Leopard, and a single purchase covers installation on up to five Macs.

Though OS X Lion will be distributed through the Mac App Store, rather than as boxed software sold through the regular online store, we’re guessing there’ll be a new listing for it linking to the download system. Apple is also rumored to be updating the Mac mini, the company’s compact desktop computer.

Like the MacBook Air, the mini is tipped to be getting an Intel Sandy Bridge refresh, introducing new Core processors from the silicon firm’s 2011 range. Thunderbolt connectivity is also expected, allowing for high-speed data connections to external drives, NAS, media interfaces and – thanks to DisplayPort support – monitors.

On that front, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Apple’s updated LED Cinema Display, which was prematurely added to the company’s site last week, also go on sale today. The new monitors will have Thunderbolt ports, allowing them to be daisy-chained off a single MacBook Pro or other Apple computer.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

The duo was originally rumored for a launch last week, which didn’t pan out. That led to rumors of an imminent launch this Thursday or Friday. For those eagerly anticipating the new MacBook Airs, that’s at least one less day to wait. The MacBook Airs, powered by OS X Lion, will come with the latest Intel Sandy Bridge chips, the Thunderbolt connector port, a backlit keyboard, and boosted RAM and SSD.

OS X Lion will be a major update to the platform, introducing over 250 new features, including more multi-touch gestures, Mission Control, Launchpad, Versions, Automatic Backups and much much more. The new OS will only be available through the Mac App Store for download and costs just $29.99.

[via TUAW]

Both 9 to 5 Mac and MacRumors have heard that Apple stores have received LaCie drives loaded with installation copies of the OS X Lion Golden Master seed, ready to be installed onto all of the showroom computers. There’s also talk of a preconfigured Mac Pro being delivered, already running Lion. Meanwhile, posters and other printed materials are in sealed tubes, ready to be opened up and displayed.

That process will supposedly take place overnight tonight, at least one source claims. AppleInsider‘s source suggests the company will release the new MacBook Air – and, presumably, OS X Lion at the same time – at 8.30am Eastern on Wednesday, July 20. Although Apple had previously confirmed that Lion would be launched sometime in July, it did not specify dates.

Meanwhile, on Friday last week a new Thunderbolt-packing Apple LED Cinema Display was spotted on the company’s site, before being pulled down. The new monitor could daisy-chain from a single Thunderbolt port on a MacBook Pro, the same port that’s expected to show up – as well as Sandy Bridge processors and an increased amount of minimum RAM – in the refreshed MacBook Air.

Apple’s MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs have all had backlit keyboards until last October’s redesigned MacBook Air launched without the feature. For many, having a backlit keyboard to illuminate keys when lighting is dim is simply a standard feature. Hence, Apple’s omission of it, possibly for battery-saving reasons, was particularly glaring.

Insider sources are now saying that the feature will return to the new MacBook Airs, which may ship during the week of July 21. This is a week later than the originally rumored July 14, which was further supported by reports of overnight shifts on July 13 in preparation for the major launch that is believed to coincide with the launch of OS X Lion.

However, official requests for Lion app submissions were issued just yesterday to developers. It’s not clear how many days Apple would need to review the apps for approval, but it could certainly take several days making a launch next week seem more likely.

[via Apple Insider]

The invitation was sent out today to registered developers requesting them to submit their Lion apps for review so that they will be available on the Mac App Store when the OS ships this month. However, the message avoided mentioning any specific dates and it’s not clear how many days it would actually take Apple to review these Lion apps.

Revamped MacBook Airs have long been rumored to ship together with OS X Lion, but today new reports suggest that Mac Pro towers could also be revamped with Lion as early as this week. Depending on how many days Apple needs for reviewing Lion apps, it seems the launch of Lion and the new Macs could possibly extend to next week. But reports of overnight shifts at Apple Stores on July 13 support a launch this Thursday.

[via TechCrunch]

These numbers you see below come straight from the street. What they mean exactly does not matter as much as the fact that they certainly appear to be coming out this next week, and that there’s two new 11-inch models and two new 13-inch models in the pipeline. Both the 11 and 13-inch models will be coming in standard and upgraded versions, that being entry level and if you want some sweet bonuses packed in, of course. BTO (built to order) options will certainly be available as well.

These models will have little to no cosmetic changes about them, having only Sandy Bridge processors and Thunderbolt I/O. Have you heard everything there is to hear about the awesomeness that is the Thunderbolt Cord and its teardown? Get into it! Also you might want to check out how we had word earlier this month that the MacBook Air and OS X Lion refresh would be taking place exactly on July 14, 2011 – that’s only a couple days away from now!

The new Mac Pros that we’re talking about here will also be coming POSSIBLY this week. This new line has previously been whispered about to be releasing late July or early August, but heck, now’s as good a time as any, right? These new models are said to possibly be having a re-designed enclosure that’s both narrower and rack-mountable (so you can get a bunch of them and have a whole closet full!) Thunderbolt will be present, obviously, and a 16 core model may be debuting as well.

PLUS there’s going to be a new Mac Pro Server model out there with the three Mac Pros coming up quick. What a joy it would be to have the whole crew sitting in the living room, yes? Can’t wait!

[via 9to5Mac]

Facebook:
Facebook blocks friend export tool in Google+ snub
Zuckerberg Announces Facebook Video Calling with Skype, Group Chat, New Design
Facebook “Awesome” Announcement Strewn with Veiled Google+ References
Facebook Vibes Music Service Revealed In Video Calling Code

Spotify:
Spotify US sign-up page offers early access on imminent launch
Spotify US launch next week say reps
Spotify Plans U.S. Domination With Help From Facebook

Verizon:
Verizon tiered data and LTE hotspot fees confirmed for July 7
Verizon Tiered Data Plans Include Free Texts To Monitor Usage
Verizon Unlimited 3G Customers Can Upgrade To 4G, Keep Unlimited, And Add $30 Tether
Verizon DROID 3 by Motorola gets officially official
Motorola Droid Bionic Redesign Confirmed In Best Buy Leak

Microsoft:
Microsoft’s Bing Lasso Beats Apple’s Copy And Paste Feature
Microsoft targets Samsung in Android patent shakedown

Apple:
Apple Files ITC Complaint Against Samsung
Apple iOS Has Major Security Hole Warns German IT Agency, Avoid PDFs
Apple promises fix for PDF exploit (and will block JailbreakMe exploit in the process)
Apple Store Spy Cam Artist Under Investigation By Secret Service
OS X Lion and MacBook Air refresh July 14 as Apple staff warned of “overnight” prep sessions
iPad HD tipped for September alongside iPhone 5
Apple iTunes HD+ 1080p Movies Coming In September?

Android tablets:
Sony S1 and S2 Android Tablets Hands-On Photo Collection Expanded [Videos Too!]
Toshiba Thrive lands early at Best Buy in Austin, Texas
Toshiba Thrive Lands At Newegg With Free Shipping

Reviews:
LaCie CloudBox Review
Nokia E6 Review
Samsung Dart Review [T-Mobile]
BeBook Live Review
Acer Aspire Ethos 8951G Review

Tabletpalooza Giveaway!

The Air is expected to see a new batch of Intel Sandy Bridge processors installed, replacing the current Core 2 Duo chips, as well as the addition of a Thunderbolt port like its MacBook Pro siblings. That will allow for high-speed connectivity with external storage and A/V interfaces, which are slowly beginning to appear on the market.

Another, more minor change is the expected introduction of a Facetime HD webcam, replacing the current MBA’s lower-resolution camera and allowing for 720p video calls between the updated ultraportable, the latest MacBook Pro and the latest iMac. Most recently, there’s been talk of a faster NAND flash technology being used for storage, which would make the MacBook Air even faster.

The July 14 OS X Lion date was first mentioned last week, though rumors of a mid-July Air refresh have been circulating a little longer. Meanwhile, the Mac mini and Mac Pro are tipped to be in line for an update in mid-August.

The same sources apparently accurately predicted the details around Apple’s iMac launch in early May. The Mac Pro is long overdue an update, and various rumors are circulating around what the company may have done to the latest-gen hardware. Popular among graphics professionals, musicians and anybody else in need of high-performance crunching, there’s talk that the new Mac Pro could use a rack-mountable chassis and in effect replace both the previous desktop and Apple’s discontinued Xserve.

As for the Mac Mini, that update is expected to be a more minor one, replacing the Mini DisplayPort connection with Thunderbolt, and swapping out the processors for Intel’s Sandy Bridge chips. A RAM and hard-drive bump are also highly likely.

Other specifications, however, are unclear for both machines. Tong’s sources say the refresh could take place as early as the last week of July, though an early August refresh is more likely. Apple is also believed to be readying a MacBook Air refresh, again using Sandy Bridge chips and Intel’s high-speed connection, and also held back until OS X Lion is ready for public consumption.

Mac OS X Lion was unveiled at the Apple WWDC 2011 developer conference earlier this month. It’s a major update that will bring a whole load of new features including new gesture controls, a built-in Mac App Store, an Expose and Spaces combination called Mission Control, and a iPad/iPhone-like app grid-style interface called LaunchPad. And, unlike previous versions that cost $129.99, the new OS X Lion lowers the barrier to only $29.99.

Apple Insider’s sources familiar with the situation, say that Apple wants to wait until OS X Lion is done so that the new MacBook Airs can launch with the Gold Master build of Lion allowing customers to enjoy the enhanced experience on their new notebooks right off the bat. Complimentary iCloud services will also come built-in with the software.

This is reportedly also the case with the Mac Minis, which are also due for Intel’s Sandy Bridge chip and Thunderbolt-equipped refresh. Mac OS X Lion is scheduled to be available by July, with developer versions already widely installed.

[via AppleInsider]

The image above shows how the wireless connectivity dropdown menu looks like in Snow Leopard (left) and Lion (right). The “AirPort” name has clearly been replaced with simply “Wi-Fi.” This change could save some trouble for new Mac users when setting up their first mac. Often times, they search in vain for Wi-Fi controls only to find something called AirPort.

“AirPort” has been the name of Apple’s 802.11 wireless connectivity since 1999, but Apple is the only one that uses it to refer to Wi-Fi. Now with the increasing popularity of the name Wi-Fi and the confusion that AirPort can cause it appears that Apple will be dropping the name when the Mac OS X 10.7 Lion arrives. The recent reports of supply shortage for the Apple AirPort devices may also have something to do with this. Perhaps, the rumored AirPort refresh may also be rebranded as Wi-Fi.

[via MacRumors]

Although Apple’s primary intention appears to be encouraging those taking a MacBook to get online and thus give the Find My Mac feature an opportunity to “phone home,” it should also find favor among users who want to give temporary internet access to others while not necessarily opening up all of their files to access. Since OS X Lion has Auto Save and Resume functionality, even after a restart all of the user’s files and apps would be reopened just as they’d left them.

With the growing number of web-based apps in common use, the browser-only feature could also replace the use of local accounts for families: rather than giving every Mac user their own account, each person would simply log in this new way, use Gmail and other web apps, and then sign out without leaving any trace on the computer itself. That should minimize maintenance tasks as well as prevent “where did I save that file?” confusion.

OS X Lion is expected to hit the Mac App Store for download in July, priced at $30. For more information, check out our keynote summary from last week.