Alex Heath - page 81

Silvio Rizzi has updated his popular Google RSS app, Reeder, with Retina graphics for the 2012 next-generation MacBook Pro. Version 1.1.7 of Reeder is available now as a small update in the Mac App Store. Interface elements and feed text in the app will now be displayed at the new MacBook Pro’s full, Retina resolution.

If you have a new MacBook Pro with Retina Display, you know the pain of using an app that hasn’t been updated with Retina graphics. Twitter for Mac is a perfect example. Non-Retina apps look pixelated and ugly. This new update for Reeder will surely please many RSS junkies like myself.

Introducing the radical new MacBook Pro. With breakthrough performance, stunning Retina display and an impossibly thin design, it’s innovation in every dimension.

Apple has aired its first ad for the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display. “Every Dimension” has hit the airwaves, and the 30-second spot has also been uploaded to Apple’s YouTube account.

The ad features the MacBook Pro performing ‘pro’ tasks like intense photo and video editing.

To compliment the new MacBook Pro, Apple has also uploaded a 5-minute video detailing OS X Mountain Lion’s new features.

Poor Ping. Apple’s failed iTunes social network experiment just hasn’t caught on. Ping didn’t get off to a good start when Apple was unable to partner with Facebook years ago, and the service has become a running joke amongst the Apple fan community.

According to a new report, Ping will be killed once and for all later this year when Apple debuts the next major version of iTunes.

Apple unveiled a pretty disappointing Mac Pro refresh yesterday after its WWDC keynote, and the updated Pro’s lack of new features reinforced to many that Apple was abandoning its pro/desktop users. A new MacBook Pro with incredible specs was also unveiled yesterday, but Apple has payed little attention to its desktop computers recently.

Following whispers that Apple will unveil a totally new iMac and Mac Pro next year, an Apple spokesperson has confirmed that the company is indeed working on new designs for the iMac and Mac Pro that will “likely” debut in 2013.

Apple made its WWDC keynote available for streaming less than an hour after the event yesterday, and the full 1.2GB video recording is now available in the company’s official keynote podcast feed in iTunes.  You can download “Apple WWDC 2012 Keynote Address” now for free. Apple has HD and 1080p versions available as well.

The keynote runs 1 hour and 54 minutes long, and you can watch it on all of your devices, including the Apple TV.

Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, Craig Federighi and Scott Forstall all unveiled new products from Apple at yesterday’s keynote, including new Macs, OS X Mountain Lion and iOS 6. For everything Apple announced at WWDC 2012, make sure to check out our complete roundup.

Thanks: Xin Niu

Apple released its fourth developer preview of OS X Mountain Lion yesterday, and you can get all of the gorgeous wallpapers from Apple right now. There are 34 total, and we’ve uploaded them all for you to download and use on your Mac.

Mountain Lion will be available in the Mac App Store next month for $20. While you’re waiting, why not check out some great new wallpapers?

Apple announced a brand spanking new Maps application alongside iOS 6 at WWDC yesterday, and the Cupertino company has ditched Google Maps for its own mapping technologies. While much of the new Maps app is powered solely by Apple, TomTom is referenced directly in the new iOS 6 Maps app as well.

While the iOS 6 Maps app is still in the very early beta stages, Apple has baked in new features that make it a killer Google Maps replacement, including turn-by-turn navigation, Siri integration, and an enhanced “Flyover” 3D viewing mode.

As was rumored this morning, Apple has launched its Back to School promotion for 2012. Educational discounts are available for most Macs and the third-generation iPad. Buying a Mac gets you a free $100 iTunes gift card, and a new iPad purchases gets you a $50 gift card.

If you are planning to buy one of the new Macs Apple announced today, make sure to take advantage of the education discount if you’re eligible. Back to School runs through September 21st.

Following today’s unveiling of new OS X Mountain Lion features at WWDC, Apple has seeded its fourth developer preview of the Mountain Lion beta to registered developers. The new preview can be downloaded for OS X server edition as well.

Although the new release itself contains few changes, Apple has included a separate installer that integrates Facebook into Mountain Lion. The company previewed this integration earlier today.

Every year Apple picks the very best apps in the App Store as recipients of its prestigious Apple Design Awards (ADAs). iPhone apps like Infinity Blade and Mac apps like Pixelmator won last year, and this year’s winners are just as good.

11 apps were awarded ADAs today by Apple at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California during WWDC. The awards are meant to “celebrate excellence and recognize the outstanding work of iOS and OS X developers.”

Here are the winners of the 2012 ADAs:

The way Apple currently handles FaceTime and iMessage across multiple devices doesn’t work. An iMessage is sent to your iPhone’s number, and it doesn’t show up in the Messages app on your iPad or the beta Messages app on your Mac. The iPhone is the only device that can be reached via iMessage or FaceTime by both a phone number and Apple ID. The iPad, iPod touch and Mac all have to use an email address. If an iMessage is sent to your iPhone’s number, it doesn’t show up on your iPad. So you have to tell your friends to use your Apple ID address for iMessage if you want it to work on all of your devices.

This is a severely flawed way of handling communication between devices, but the good news is that Apple has fixed this problem in iOS 6.

Following the announcement of Apple’s new Retina Display-equipped MacBook Pros, new updates for several of the company’s OS X apps have been seeded. Final Cut Pro, Aperture, and iPhoto for Mac have all been updated with Retina graphics for the new MacBook Pro. The updates include several more improvements, including a shared photo library between iPhoto and Aperture.

Apple today released a new version of iTunes for the Mac and Windows that brings compatibility for the newly-released iOS 6 developer beta. During the WWDC keynote earlier today Apple unveiled iOS 6 to the world, the first developer preview has been made available. You’ll need the new iTunes 10.6.3 before you can install iOS 6 on any of your devices.

There are some other bug fixes and improvements packed into iTunes 10.6.3, and everyone is encouraged to update now.

In less than an hour after the presentation itself, Apple has made the entire WWDC 2012 keynote available for streaming online. The video recording should be hitting Apple’s keynote feed in iTunes at any moment.

You can watch today’s keynote now on Apple’s website. For everything that was announced at WWDC today, check out our complete roundup.

Apple introduced updated MacBook Air and Pro models alongside a totally new MacBook Pro design today at WWDC. Every time one of the laptops was addressed during the keynote, no mention was made of a 17-inch model. Apple only talked about updates for the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Airs/Pros.

Now Apple’s new MacBook Pro listings make no mention of the 17-inch model. It looks like the largest MacBook Pro has been axed once and for all.

Apple announced a lot of things from the stage at WWDC today, but there was nothing said about the future of the Mac Pro. Rumors speculated that Apple would be updating the two-year-old workhorse today, and the 2012 Mac Pro has just appeared on Apple’s website.

While the physical design of the machine has stayed the same, Apple has upgraded the Mac Pro’s specs: 3.06GHz Intel Xeon X5675 processors, new ATI Radeon HD graphic cards, four 3.5-inch drive bays for up to 8TB of storage, and 2 SuperDrives. A big disappointment is that Apple hasn’t added Thunderbolt I/O or USB 3.0 to the 2012 Mac Pro.

New products and announcements keep rolling out from Apple. The Cupertino company has lifted the curtain on a new iPad accessory called the Smart Case. Instead of the Smart Cover’s flimsy screen covering, the new Smart Case fully encloses the iPad in a polyurethane coating.

The iPad Smart Case covers your iPad — both front and back — yet still retains the thin, light design of iPad. Like the Smart Cover, it folds easily into a stand for reading, typing, and watching video. And it automatically wakes and sleeps iPad on open and close. Made from polyurethane, it’s available in six bright colors. And you can personalize it with free laser engraving on the Apple Online Store.

Looks nice. You can pick one up for $50.

Following Apple’s WWDC keynote today, a new AirPort Express has surfaced in Apple’s online store. The new router sports simultaneous dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi, but oddly hasn’t been upgraded from USB 2.0 to 3.0.

The new AirPort Express costs $99, like the previous model.

Verifying the rumors we’ve been hearing for months, Apple has officially unveiled its totally new Maps application for iOS 6. Scott Forstall demoed the app onstage today at WWDC. “In iOS 6, we’ve built an entirely new mapping solution from the ground up, and it is beautiful,” said Forstall. “We’re doing all the cartography ourselves. This is a worldwide effort. We’re covering the world.” This includes 100 million business listings worldwide.

It looks like Google Maps has indeed been kicked to the curb.

Among the new backend, the new Maps app will feature an integrated traffic service, turn-by-turn navigation, Siri integration, an enhanced 3D view called “Flyover.”

“Safari is the best and most popular on the planet. About two thirds of all mobile traffic comes from Safari in iOS,” said Scott Forstall today at WWDC. Tabs are now synced across iCloud, and there’s an Offline Reading List mode for Safari in iOS 6.

“We also adding the ability to upload photos right from Safari to your favorite websites,” said Forstall. The integration works like a desktop browser for adding photos in web fields. There’s also fullscreen Safari mode for landscape orientation.

The new Safari will ship in iOS 6 later this year.

Apple announced some nice enhancements to the iPhone’s Phone app in iOS 6 today. Instead of simply having to accept or decline a call, you can now reply with an iMessage or have the OS remind you to call back later. The Phone app can remind you in one hour, or use geofencing to remind you when you leave a certain area.

The iOS 6 Notification Center’s ‘Do Not Disturb” feature allows for even finer control of the Phone app. You can set your iPhone to only allow calls from favorite contacts, certain contact groups, or even a number that calls more than once in three minutes. That’s right, no more prank calls!

Following all of the Siri enhancements for the iPhone on iOS 6 Apple announced today, iPad owners will be pleased to know that the digital assistant is making its way to Apple’s tablet as well. The phone integration will obviously not be there, but all of Siri’s other features will be present, including the new ones in iOS 6.

This compliments the addition of Siri Dictation Apple made with the new iPad back in March. The iPad 2 and third-gen iPad will be supported by Siri in iOS 6, and not the original iPad.

Apple announced today that 365 million iOS devices have been sold as of March 2012. “Almost all of our users are running iOS 5,” said Scott Forstall. “Now if you compare that to the competition. They released a dairy product, 4.0, about the same time as we released iOS 5. About 7% of their users are running it.” Forstall was referring to the poor adoption rate of Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich OS.

1.5 trillion push notifications are sent with Notification Center each day, and 130 million people are using Game Center. 140 million iMessage users have sent 150 billion iMessages, equalling a billion more each day.

“More than 75% of our customers check the ‘very satisfied’ box, and our competition has less than 50%,” said Apple, referring to its customer satisfaction surveys.

47% of all photos shared on Twitter come from iOS, and 10 billion tweets have come from iOS 5 devices since Twitter integration was added last summer. We’re sure Facebook will see similar success this time around.

Apple has announced that the 8th major iteration of its Mac operating system, OS X Mountain Lion, will officially go on sale to the public in July for only $20 in the Mac App Store. New Macs purchased today will receive a free copy of Mountain Lion when it ships, and developers will receive another preview copy today at WWDC.

“The pace of innovation on the Mac is amazing, OS X Mountain Lion comes just a year after the incredibly successful launch of Lion,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “With iCloud built right in and the new Notification Center, Messages, Dictation, Facebook integration and more, this is the best OS X yet.”

Unfortunately, no specific date in July for the availability of Mountain Lion has been given at this time.

Apple unveiled a completely new Mountain Lion feature today at WWDC. “I want to introduce you to a new technology in OS X that we call Power Nap,” said Craig Federighi. “Wouldn’t it be great if our computers still worked for us when we weren’t working? Now it can.”

The new feature automatically refreshes data, conserves battery life, and backs up a Mac while it’s asleep. You can use Time Machine, refresh Photo Stream, download App Store updates automatically, and keep processes running all while your Mac is asleep. Recent MacBook Airs and the new MacBook Pro will support Power Nap when Mountain Lion ships next month.