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  • TH3L4UGH1NGM4N
    For the Love of Flash!
    If you love the hardware acceleration that has become a godsend from Adobe's latest versions of Flash, jumping the gun on upgrading to Lion might just be a not so great idea at the moment. The liaison between Adobe and Apple has seemed to hit another bump in their so called "relationship". In a recent attempt to take advantage of Final Cut Pro X's not so great appeal, Adobe has offered a discount for those calamitous customers that dove into Apple's latest update to Final Cut on Adobe's own video editing suite.
     
    Some might find that Apple did a little retaliation because in the latest rendition of OS X, Apple has dropped hardware acceleration for flash based programs including a plethora of Adobe's applications such as Fireworks, Photoshop, Flash Professional, and Dreamweaver just to name a few. The most noticeable drop will be for those who enjoyed the gpu working in tandem with the cpu to accelerate flash based videos on the Internet. If that weren't enough, for Adobe veterans such as myself, there are other little tidbits that Adobe has noted here that have issues as well.
     
    In spite of all of the discrepancies between the two companies, Adobe has said that they will be working on getting the new features implemented into Lion such as auto save, resume, and versions into their next update of the Adobe suites. Apple's sales with Lion has been floating upwards with 5 star reviews in the App Store which shows that despite the different lead on their Mac OS, Apple is still finding ways to satisfy it's customers.
     
    Source: 9to5Mac
     
    Final Thoughts:
    Once again our processors will bake a little hotter and run a little harder just to render last night's episode of The Office.
     
    Update:
    So it would seem that Adobe falsley claimed that gnu acceleration was disabled based upon one configuration they had. Now that this topic's subject matter has been rectified due to Adobe's own lack of testing, where is the GPU acceleration for the heap of AMD GPU's that Apple has been pushing for as of late?
  • Ed
    As predicted, Apple launched the latest generation of it's Mac OS X operating system, version 10.7, titled "Lion", on its App Store. It's been reported that the build no. of the retail download exactly matches the GM version that's been floating around on the Internet this month.
     
    In keeping with its pro-digital, non-physical ethos, Apple has decided to include an "Internet Recovery" feature for reinstallation or repairs that would normally be applied with a disc.
     
    The company is, however, planning to release a USB drive with Mac OS X Lion on it from next month, at a cost of $69.
     
    Apple also decided to ditch selling boxed software for many of its popular consumer apps including iLike, iWork and Aperture, further continuing it's push for an all-digital world.
     
    Alongside the Mac OS X Lion, the Mac mini and MacBook Air models received substantial updates.
     
    Both product lines saw the introduction of Core i5 and i7 processors from Intel, as well as Thunderbolt ports. The MacBook Air now also features a backlit keyboard - a sorely missed feature from it's bigger brothers in the MacBook Pro range and from its predecessor.
     
    The Mac mini now has the option of much more powerful graphics through AMD's Radeon HD 6630M with 256MB of GDDR5 memory. It can also be configured with a 256GB SSD as well as a standard hard drive in addition (up to 750GB). Controversially, Apple has decided to drop the optical DVD drive from the Mac mini in order to make space for the vastly improved performance features.
     
    The announcements also saw the arrival of the Apple Thunderbolt Display as it features just a Thunderbolt connector and a MagSafe power connector (for MacBooks). The new display appears to be pretty much the same as the existing Cinema Display, but with Thunderbolt it's now possible to daisy chain a pair of these 27" LCDs together with a MacBook Pro 15" or 17" - a great feature for power mobile users!
     
    The white polycarbonate MacBook has now been withdrawn from Apple's product line-up, now available only as an education product.
  • Ed
    The rumormill is hotting up with reports that Apple retail stores have been receiving hard drives pre-loaded with the Golden Master copy of Mac OS X Lion in preparation for a launch as early as tomorrow (Wednesday).
     
    These reports follow hot on the heels of rumors that updated MacBook Airs and an updated Cinema display will also be launched too. Apple let slip on its new Thunderbolt-equipped Cinema displays last week when it leaked new images including the one above which shows Mac OS X Lion's galaxy wallpaper and a MacBook Pro powering two Cinema displays - possible through Thunderbolt.
     
    Stay tuned to see if Apple does finally release the latest version of its OS tomorrow.
  • Ed
    As anticipation grows for the release of their next generation of Operating System, Apple  has invited developers to submit their OS X Lion applications, stating in their email "Submit your Lion apps for review now so they can be on the Mac App Store when Lion ships this month".
     
    The rumour mill is pointing to a release of Mac OS X Lion as early as the end of this week, where it will be exclusively available as a digital-only download from the Mac App Store for the first time ever. However, as noted in a previous post it should still be possible to create a DVD boot disc of Mac OS X Lion when it's released.
  • Ed
    In time for its release this month, Apple seeded the Golden Master build of Mac OS X Lion to developers.
     
    Although it's still unclear if a physical upgrade or install disc will ever be available in the future, Mac OS X Lion is due to hit the Mac App Store this month and will only be available as a digital download upgrade, at just $29.
     
    It's also likely that some Macs may get a refresh in line with the release of Mac OS X Lion and come with the latest OS pre-installed. The MacBook Air has been in short supply for sometime, and reports are also rife that the entry-level polycarbonate MacBook is also at end-of-life and due for a refresh.
  • Ed
    In the wake of Mac OS X Lion being announced, developers Nawcom and Meklort have announced Project v0ltr0n, which aims to be "a nice and easy retail solution for installing [Mac OS X Lion] onto PCs".
     
    Here's an excerpt of some of the features that they're aiming to provide through v0ltr0n:


    The ability to install OS X 10.7 Retail DVDs OS X 10.7 retail install images onto hard disks with non-GUID partitions without issues.
    Integrated kext patching within the bootloader for kexts which need to be patched either through their Info.plist or binary. (based on a number of netbookinstaller‘s features)
    Integrated kernel patching within the bootloader for all unsupported CPUs. As of now, just basic support for AMDs have been planned, but this will make things easier for unsupported Intel CPU people as well.
    Retail DVD sub-package injection and autoselection, just like ModCD/ModUSB, so your hardware support gets installed with the OS.
    SleepEnabler.kext will not need to be updated anymore. PM_DISPATCH_VERSION within the kernel you are booting will be autodetected. For those who have dealt with the annoyance of updating SleepEnabler every kernel change, you will understand how this makes life easier.
    HDA codec detection in the bootloader.
    If you're interested in helping out on this project, head on over to Nawcom's blog post.
  • Ed
    Blogger and apparent Newton-lover "Egg Freckles" has posted on their blog the steps to create a bootable disc for Mac OS X Lion (when it becomes available) - below is a snippet from the blog post:

    Purchase and download Lion from the Mac App Store on any Lion compatible Mac running Snow Leopard.
    Right click on “Mac OS X Lion” installer and choose the option to “Show Package Contents.”
    Inside the Contents folder that appears you will find a SharedSupport folder and inside the SharedSupport folder you will find the “InstallESD.dmg.” This is the Lion boot disc image we have all been waiting for.
    Copy “InstallESD.dmg” to another folder like the Desktop.
    Launch Disk Utility and click the burn button.
    Select the copied “InstallESD.dmg” as the image to burn, insert a standard sized 4.7 GB DVD, and wait for your new Lion Boot Disc to come out toasty hot.
  • Ed
    Check out the fascinating video below of Steve Jobs presenting plans for a brand new Apple campus to the Cupertino City Council, just the day after his keynote speech on Monday.
     
    The new campus takes the form of a huge circle with a central courtyard at the middle, surrounded by a leafy landscape where they aim to turn the existing asphalt car parks into trees (car parking will be underground).
     
    It's mildly amusing and almost cringeworthy to see how the council members interact with Steve, particularly embarrassing is the woman who tries to haggle for "free Wi-Fi". Wow.
     

  • Ed
    Steve Jobs personally announced the debut of iCloud, Apple's new cloud service to replace MobileMe. iCloud lets Mac and iOS users store their content in the cloud, ensuring that data is sync'd Over-The-Air in realtime.
     
    Whilst MobileMe used to have an annual license fee, iCloud will be free when it's launched this fall, and gives users 5GB of storage. Users can expect to have their contacts, calendar and @me.com mail sync'd across all enabled devices. Because iCloud is built right into the apps, there's no separate apps to download, you need only upgrade to iOS 5 which is compatible with all devices that iOS 4 is compatible with (iPod Touch 3rd generation or newer, iPhone 3GS or newer, all iPads).
     
    Furthermore, the new iTunes Match service will let users download music that they may have downloaded or ripped from elsewhere, giving them access to potentially higher quality 256kbps AAC tracks across all their iCloud-enabled devices. This isn't quite the Spotify killer that it potentially could have been, but it's a step in its direction.
     
    For more details check out Apple's iCloud pages.
  • Ed
    Apple has unveiled the latest version of its mobile operating system, iOS 5. The new OS is set to be released in the "fall" of this year, no doubt inline with the yet-to-be-announced, fifth-generation of the iPhone. This year marks the first WWDC since 2008 that a new iPhone was not announced.
     
    iOS 5 packs some attractive new features, one of the most notable and requested being an all-new notifications system. Simply swiping down from the top of the screen reveals a very Andriod-like interface where you can see notifications on an app-by-app basis, and feature widgets towards the top such as weather or a stock ticker.
     

     
    Other major new features include iMessage which enables free data messaging over 3G and Wi-Fi between iOS devices - a bit like WhatsApp and KIK, but this time built-in to the existing "Messages" app, and presumably not cross-compatible to Android or BlackBerry users, so don't go deleting your existing data messaging apps just yet! Features are similar to the aforementioned third party apps, including group messaging, seeing when the other person's typing, send photos & videos, etc.
     
    Camera gets some tweaking, now with the ability to take a picture using the volume '+' button: a nice touch which was seen previously on the third party Camera+ app from Taptaptap which wasn't allowed on the App store when they originally introduced this feature. Looks like APple not only back-tracked on that decision but also nicked it for themselves!
     
    Twitter gets its claws into iOS 5 with system-level integration, giving you the ability to tweet content from Safari, Photos, Camera, YouTube, etc. and deep integration with the address book so you can simply type a friends name without having to remember their Twitter username.
     
    Another major benefit from iOS 5 is to finally be able to sync over Wi-Fi: something some users have been so desperate for they've turned to jailbreaking their iPhones to enjoy this functionality before Apple's official support. Furthermore, Apple are now making iOS devices PC-free, meaning that you won't be prompted to set an iOS device up with a PC or Mac in the future, as they can run independently should you wish.
     
    For the full-list of features and screenshots, head on over to Apple's iOS 5 page for more details.
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