Ars Technica breaks down everything you might want to know heading into the Apple Keynote next week.
Tag: os x
It’s a bummer that we have read our last Siracusa review of Mac OS X, but we all thank John for all the work he’s done over the past 15 years.
Not a surprising move, but a welcome one.
> The first Mac I purchased and the Mac I’m still using is a polycarbonate MacBook, a laptop that’s been far surpassed by today’s MacBook Airs, yet still a computer that has plenty of life in it and is certainly capable enough for writing and browsing the net. It’s going to be a five year old computer this year, but I’m not sure if I’m really ready for another big purchase. Lion is the latest OS that will run on my machine, although I’m mostly content with that.
I am in the same boat as Cody. I have a Black Macbook that I put a SSD in that still runs really well. Unfortunately, I cannot upgrade its OS past Lion due the compatibility decisions Apple made between Lion and Mountain Lion. No matter how cheaply Apple prices Mavericks, I will not be able to upgrade that computer.
> A free Mavericks sounds temping towards encouraging adoption, but I suspect Apple won’t change the price of the next version of OS X. As John points out any price above free can still be seen as an obstacle, and although Apple doesn’t need the money there is no point leaving it on the table. Marco also makes the point that Macs last a lot longer than there iOS counterparts, contributing to the overall Mac user base longer. And until Apple improves the upgrade process so that it is worry-free there will always be a hesitation over upgrading. With automatic application updates on the horizon for the next version of OS X, it appears as if Apple is taking the right steps towards worry-free, zero-cost, operating system updates. Just don’t count on Mavericks catching the wave this time around.
Sounds right to me.
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Save to iCloud Keyboard Shortcut
Command-Shift-I
(via [Ben Brooks](http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20120809074726545))
> If one edits a document than does Save As, then BOTH the edited original document and the copy are saved, thus not only saving a new copy, but **silently saving the original with the same changes, thus overwriting the original.**
Wow. This could lead to major confusion. It happened for me in minimal testing.
Really glad to see [Don McAllister](http://screencastsonline.com) back in the app store after his SEO Tutor apps were pulled. I bet this is going to be good.
Really cool tip from [9to5mac](http://9to5mac.com). I’ll definitely be doing this when I get home.
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Get Save As Back in Mountain Lion
I ended up just accepting the new “Duplicate” functionality, so I am not sure I even care about this anymore. Still, I know a lot of people who miss it a great deal.
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Pause Notifications
> Press the Option key while clicking on the Notification icon in the right end of the menu bar. This will pause the display of notifications. To reactivate them, you can either Option-click the same icon again; display notifications at the right of the screen by clicking on the Notification Center icon, then toggle the Show Alerts and Banners switch from Off to On; or just wait until tomorrow, when they’ll go back on automatically.
Nice. Thank you [Macworld](http://macworld.com) and [Macworld Hints reader *guillaumegete*](http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&key=2b0adaafa9ad8a29fede7758fada1730&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.macworld.com%2Farticle%2F1167930%2Fmountain_lion_pause_notifications_edit_bookmarks.html%23lsrc.rss_main&v=1&libid=1343686246510&out=http%3A%2F%2Fhints.macworld.com%2Farticle.php%3Fstory%3D20120713091051889&title=Mountain%20Lion%3A%20Pause%20notifications%2C%20edit%20bookmarks%20%7C%20Macworld&txt=guillaumegete&jsonp=vglnk_jsonp_13436862886581)
Tidbits demonstrates a way to do it without using the command line. I will probably stick to using [Brett Terpstra’s method](http://brettterpstra.com/fixing-virtual-hosts-and-web-sharing-in-mountain-lion/) though.
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Mac OS X Defaults
Brett Terpstra tweeted his favorite Mac OS X default[^spoiler]. It remove the delay before showing a hidden dock[^like]. My favorite might be “Make Text in Preview selectable:”
defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableTextSelection -bool TRUE
[^spoiler]: *Spoiler:* defaults write com.apple.Dock autohide-delay -float
[^like]: Don’t get me wrong, I like that one too.
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Mountain Lion Review Roundup
I was thinking about doing something like this, but I think David Chartier has it covered.
Another solid video from Pat Dryburgh. This year’s version features a cameo from [the man himself](http://twitter.com/siracusa).
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Mountain Lion is Available
Go [get it](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=r*bqlTuiXSo&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fapp%252Fos-x-mountain-lion%252Fid537386512%253Fmt%253D12%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30)[^aff].
[^aff]: Affiliate Link
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GM of Mountain Lion Released
I always get excited about new OS updates, even when they’re these, supposedly, “minor” updates. For Mountain Lion, I’m most excited about improved iCloud integration and dictation. I’m sure my colleagues are going to love hearing me talk to my computer all day.
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WWDC 2012
Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference kicked off today with a keynote presentation that featured a number of major announcements. I was particularly interested in:
* **New Macbook Pro:** For years I have thought that my next computer would be a new desktop to replace my aging iMac. The release of this new Macbook Pro, however, has changed that. I am pretty sure that my next computer will be one of these paired with a Cinema Display. I think the combination of SSD drives and Thunderbolt will be able to handle any RAW files I throw at it.
* **Mountain Lion:** $20 to upgrade. As a friend of mine said “pretty soon they’ll be paying us to upgrade.” I’ll start with the one negative of Mountain Lion from my perspective: it won’t run on my black Macbook. I bought my Macbook a few months before the Macbook’s went to the unibody design. It looks like Apple decided it was time to end support for Intel’s fairly pathetic integrated graphics. I’ve managed to get an extra year or two of life out of my laptop because of a SSD replacement, so I really cannot complain. With that caveat out of the way, I am excited for Mountain Lion. The two main things I’m looking forward to are iCloud integration and dictation. I’ve been using iCloud, particularly with iA Writer on [Mac](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=r*bqlTuiXSo&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fapp%252Fia-writer%252Fid439623248%253Fmt%253D12%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30) and [iPad](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=r*bqlTuiXSo&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fapp%252Fia-writer%252Fid392502056%253Fmt%253D8%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30), and it seems to work even better than Dropbox for real time syncing of simple documents. I’m hoping that new iCloud features allow for a similar workflow with Pages documents. I’ve been wanting to try dictation for some time, but I haven’t wanted to pay the upfront cost for a Dragon product if I was not sure I would stick with it. I had been debating whether or not to pick up [Dragon Express](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=r*bqlTuiXSo&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fapp%252Fdragon-express%252Fid458613689%253Fmt%253D12%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30) as an alternative. I am now glad I waited, since next month I’ll have dictation built right into my operating system.
* **iOS 6:** iOS got some major updates. My fiancé was particularly excited that her new iPad will be getting Siri in the Fall. It’s not the same Siri that is currently on the 4S, either. It’s a new, improved Siri that includes improvements in areas likes sports stats and restaurant reservations. iOS 6 will also include a new Passbook application that is a storage place for all the frequent buyer cards, gift cards, travel tickets, etc…that we carry around. It has an API, so hopefully it develops a high level of ubiquity. Of course, the major feature upgrade in iOS 6 is the new Maps. iPhone will now include turn-by-turn navigation in their Maps application. Though [Motion X](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=r*bqlTuiXSo&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fapp%252Fmotionx-gps-drive%252Fid328095974%253Fmt%253D8%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30) has treated me well the past year, I fully anticipate that the new Apps will mean I do not renew my subscription to Motion X’s turn-by-turn service next year.
Summaries of the event are available from: [David Pogue](http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/11/an-explanation-of-the-news-from-apple/), [Andy Ihnatko](http://www.suntimes.com/technology/ihnatko/13122008-452/ihnatko-apple-updates-macbooks-iphone-software-more.html), [TechHive](http://www.techhive.com/article/2000145/apple-wwdc-2012-news-in-brief.html), and [Macworld](http://www.macworld.com/article/1167187/wwdc_summary_macbooks_get_an_update_mountain_lion_gets_a_ship_date.html).
A [great tip](http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/2448/permanently-unhide-library) from Daniel Jalkut over at [Red Sweater Software](http://www.red-sweater.com/). I’ve done it on all of my computers.