My most favorite feature of Mac OS X Lion, Mission Control, now has a separate control panel in System Preferences in Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview 3. However, this isn’t the only new thing you’ll find in the latest release of Mac OS X Lion.
Mission Control
Mission Control now has its own control panel in System Preferences. It replaces the old Expose and Spaces control panel by combining the old control panel features with new ones that support Mission Control so you can take control of your Mac desktop. You can also now add extra Spaces (virtual desktops) or remove them via the Mission Control screen — you don’t have to go to the control panel to do this now.
Wallpapers
Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview 3 includes new wallpapers, but currently lacks some of our old favorites. Hopefully they will return before Lion is released. You can see these wallpapers by visiting this story on Cult of Mac.
Finder File/Icon Arrangements
Finder is updated to include a handy new drop down menu that gives you rapid access to the “Arrange by” option in a Finder windows toolbar. You use it to quickly select how you want to arrange your icons in a particular folder or if you prefer you can access the same options via a right-click to bring up a contextual menu in Finder.
iCal Reminders
The To-do feature of iCal has been changed. Items on your To-do list are now called Reminders. The look and feel of iCal reminds me of the Calendar app on the iPad 2. The new “leather” look is nice.
Safari Reading List
Reading list is a new feature in Safari that isn’t hidden like it was in prior versions of the Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview. It’s front and center and accessible from the Safari toolbar, contextual menus, etc. Reading List is just like having Instapaper integrated into the Safari web browser. You can use it to save (or bookmark) web pages and individual articles on a web site for reading later. The word on the street is that this feature will be integrated into a future version of iOS allowing you to sink your Reading List to Mobile Safari on your favorite iOS devices.
New Lion Login Screen
Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview 3 has introduced a new login screen. The new screen displays information that includes current battery levels on portables, login information, Wi-Fi connectivity information, the time, etc.
Conclusion
There is no doubt on my mind that Mac OS X Lion will be the best Mac OS X yet. I’m excited about its release this summer and I hope we don’t have to wait to long to get it into everyone’s hands. Go Apple go!
Have you found something else new in Developer Preview 3? Tell us all about it by leaving a comment.
David W. Martin has more than 20 years of experience in the industry as a programmer, systems and business analyst, author, and consultant. David has written for CNET’s iPhoneatlas.com, MacLife.com, CultofMac.com, BYTE.com and recently for aNewDoman.net. He comes to Cult of Mac’s website with deep knowledge and passion for the all things Apple. Follow David on Twitter @david_w_martin or see what he’s up to now at davidwmartin.com.
65 responses to “Mac OS X 10.7 Lion A Guided Tour – Inside Developer Preview 3”
you forgot to mention the new voices, a very substantial update for everyone outside the USA
Apple is known for two things in a new operating system, and thats SPACE CATS! There’s always a picture of a cat, and usually a picture of space. So where’s the awesomely bright and in your face space desktop background? Awe c’mon Apple.
What is “Airdrop” listed in the Finder side bar?
Airdrop? interesting maybe iDisk’s new name with added functionality including music, photo, video and file syncing with IOS devices. Is that what that big data centre is for ?
AirDrop is actually a feature that’s already been announced for Lion (it’s on Apple’s website). It’s a feature that allows you to share files between other Macs on your network.
David, can you see if Lion will give users the ability to resize icons in the Applications folder ‘grid’ view? MBP 13 owners, like myself, do not have that ability and it would make it a little faster to find apps, without the need for scrolling.
Thanks :)
Actually, it’s this (off their Mac OS X Lion preview page):
“With AirDrop in Mac OS X Lion, you can send files to anyone around you — wirelessly. AirDrop doesn’t require setup or special settings. Just click the AirDrop icon in the Finder sidebar, and your Mac automatically discovers other people nearby who are using AirDrop. You’ll even see contact photos for those who are already in your Address Book. To share a file, simply drag it to someone’s name. Once accepted, the file transfers directly to the person’s Downloads folder. When you’re done with AirDrop, close the Finder and your Mac is no longer visible to others.”
I could foresee this being integrated into iOS as well; perhaps it’ll be one of the things they’ll announce at WWDC this year.
Airdrop is actually a new feature that has been in Lion since DP 1. Basically, if you have it activated on two computers running Lion, you can drag and drop files between the computers. As of right now, it has absolutely nothing to do with MobileMe and I don’t really expect that it will. Its main purpose is to transfer files between two Macs.
you can make calls (Skype, FaceTime) directly from contacts app
has anyone figured out how to make the OSX Lion sidebar font smaller? It’s huge right now.. it looks like a 14pt. The same goes for Mail 5. The folder sizes are just enormous.
Thanks
OMG 3 new wallpapers! I can’t wait to buy OS X Lion!!
Is there any difference between a Reminder and a To-do besides the name?
Thanks for this explanation on AirDrop. It looks like a very handy and usable feature, but the paranoid in me also makes me worried that it could be used maliciously to drop malware onto another’s computer while out in the wild if you have AirDrop turned on. I’m curious to know about the security features built into it to prevent this sort of thing.
I’ve loved each new iteration of Mac OS X since I installed it in 2001 on my old G4 tower. The only thing I DON’T love about each new version is that I have to delay installing it until I find out if all my productivity programs are compatible, as I can’t screw up my workflow as a designer. Hopefully Lion won’t introduce too many new features that will cause too many programs to be updated to work with it (hope, hope).
Can’t you just you the pinch/zoom gesture on the trackpad to resize your icons?
Why would I need this drop-down menu for arranging items if i can just click the table headers?
that is only possible in list view, not in icon or cover flow view
I think you mean ‘sync’ rather than ‘sink’.
Well I just hope they’ll arrange folder on top of the lists and loose files beneath those when arraging by the kind of file.
I had to dig down deep in my system to change some code and get it the other way round…
Good article.
Few things to edit:
1. first paragraph — “most favorite” is redundant; “favorite” alone would be more appropriate
2. paragraph under header “Mission Control” — second sentence is tiresome, or, to put it colloquially, “run on”
3. paragraph under header “Safari Reading List” — “sink” should be replaced with “sync”
4. caption below reading list photograph — “eye glasses” should be “eyeglasses”
5. conclusion — stylistic: the more common expression is “no doubt in my mind”
grammatical: should be comma after summer, like so, “…this summer, and I hope”
spelling: “wait to long” should be “wait too long”
No, as it said in the explanation AirDrop is disabled once you close the Finder window containing AirDrop, so people can only share when it is open. You have to accept the file transfer too.
But I see your point, maybe hackers will find an ‘exploit’, but then again, Apple will quickly patch that…. jailbreaking anyone :D
And with all your criticism’s of grammatical errors you failed to punctuate and capitalize correctly. Make sure you’re writing is flawless before commenting on others.
Fanboy comment at the end of article xD
But yeah, it looks it will be the better mac til date as it should! xD
Good day people!
look in system preferences -> Appearance -> Size of sidebar
Pinching doesn’t work, but there is a slider, isn’t there? If you mean Launchpad, then the answer is no for now..
These are two different things. If you click the list headers you’ll get a sorted list. The new “Arrange by” menu makes groups of your files, so you can drag files of the same kind or get all the folders in one group and all the files in another one, for instance.
What I really like about the new finder is the polished UI with these new handy buttons that look a lot more consistent than the old ones.
On the other hand I’d really like to see the Finder letting me arrange the groups in the sidebar, so that my favorites are at the bottom.
I approach commenting very differently than the publishing of an article. In the former case, appropriate punctuation and grammar is not always necessary. It really depends on the context.
I did not mean to nit-pick, but rather to simply notify the author about some mistakes he looked over. As an author who has posted online several times, I know that this is generally greatly appreciated.
Interesting. “Criticism’s” should not have an apostrophe there. “You’re” should have been “your”. And “others” should have been “others'”. Not exactly “flawless” writing. I just thought you’d want to know so you don’t embarrass yourself again.
Amazing what Apple has done. People get freakishly excited over such small unimportant changes. Re-read the above thinking as if it were a PC. Disappointed??
Well reminders are things that have already been set up to be accomplished and you just need that little nudge to compel you to finish the task. A to do list is a list of things you would like to, or need to do but have not yet started. These are the connotations of the words in real life, though I do not know if this carries over to an operating system.
no, unfortunately it doesn’t seem to work (DP4 here). I’m so confused here. It takes a bit of time and torture to get used to the new gestures, specially the invert scroller.
Will it be possible to control which documents will be pushed to the cloud?
Just wondering about security.
Its Sys Pref -> General -> Sidebar Icon Size
I don;t understand how after all the problems people are still defending the mac OS X lion. I mean look at all the hype it is getting: http://radiomobiletech.com/new…. Apple fans need to get their heads out of their candy holes.
Well despite the negative reviews im still all up for it, it is
indeed the future. And with features such as the wife mode one of the
cool privacy features the mac OS X lion has it still is great. Here is
another article for anyone who wants to find out how great the OS X lion
is: http://v12ntoday.com/news/news…