You know the shutdown spinner on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch? If you own latest-generation hardware, it probably drives you crazy every single time you see it. Why? Because it is a lone holdout of non-Retina UI on Apple’s otherwise beautifully high-res OS. Now, in iOS6, this has – finally – been fixed.

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.

We’re not quite sure how we missed this, but we did: in iOS 6’s first beta, iTunes Match has gone from a download-only service to a true streaming music service. It’s about time.

Over at Anandtech, they’ve posted a fantastic first look at the MacBook Pro’s Retina display, which naturally confirms that Apple’s new laptop display is every bit as gorgeous and futuristic as we all think it is. What I was most interested in, however, was the new settings panel for the Retina display, which actually gives users the option to choose on-the-fly between having clearer graphics or more desktop space. What a great idea.

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?

We’ve already shown you a whole host of new iOS 6 features that Apple didn’t get time to mention during its WWDC keynote yesterday, and here’s another one. In fact, this is probably one of the coolest in the bunch. Notice how the status bar above certain stock apps — like Settings or Mail — is now blue? Well, that actually changes color to match the theme of the app you’re running.

The new Maps app that Apple showed off at WWDC yesterday has made it pretty clear that the company will be ditching Google Maps in iOS 6. That means beautiful new 3D maps, voice guided turn-by-turn navigation, and more. But before you get too excited, just remember this: As soon as Google leaved, so does Street View.

When the iPad launched, there was an inexplicable lack of a couple of core Apple-made apps. There was no Clock, no Weather app and (thankfully) no Stocks. Now, Clocks has been added to the iPad in iOS6, and weather is also in there – kinda.

I’ve never really like the way in which the App Store handles security. Sure, I like the fact that if my iPhone is stolen, thieves can’t run up a huge iTunes bill. But I don’t understand why I have to enter my password each and every time I need to download updates or previous purchases. These have already been paid for; why is this necessary?

Thankfully, in iOS 6 and OS X Mountain Lion, it isn’t.

We’re still trawling through the new iOS 6 beta releases that Apple pushed out after its WWDC keynote yesterday, and we continue to find nice new features and improvements. If you’re as excited about iOS 6 as we are, you’d probably like to hear about them.

Here’s a few changes Apple has made to emoji, Reminders, and more.