AllThingsD » Lion http://allthingsd.com Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:23:18 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://allthingsd.com/theme/images/logo-rss.jpg All Things Digital http://allthingsd.com/ 144 22 Track Changes on an iPad http://allthingsd.com/20120125/track-changes-on-an-ipad/ http://allthingsd.com/20120125/track-changes-on-an-ipad/#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:02:59 +0000 Walter S. Mossberg http://allthingsd.com/?p=167601 Q:

You recently reviewed an iPad app that lets you use Microsoft Office programs on an iPad. But does this support the “Track Changes” feature of Office, which I cannot find on any of the office-type apps I’ve tried on the iPad?

A:

Yes, it does. And tracked changes are synchronized with your PC or Mac.

As I noted in the review, the new app, called OnLive Desktop, gives you the complete Windows version of Office on an iPad, via the cloud. So all features in the Windows version, including the tracking of changes, are available.

Q:

I am a new Mac user and would like to become a Quicken user. I read your February 2010 critique of Mac Quicken. Is there a new and improved version of Mac Quicken?

A:

Intuit, the maker of the stripped-down Quicken Essentials for Mac I reviewed then, has improved the product. But more important, the company now says its last full version of Quicken for the Mac, called Quicken 2007, will soon be revised so that it runs with Lion, the latest version of the Macintosh operating system.

There was outrage from Mac Quicken users when Intuit earlier had declined to rewrite the full version to work with Lion.

Q:

Could you please tell me which smartphone today is a must if my last phone was the iPhone 4? Your review of the iPhone 4S indicated it wasn’t a “must” upgrade for iPhone 4 owners.

A:

Changing to a different phone would only be a “must” for you if you were unhappy with your iPhone, or wanted one of a couple of key features only available on competing phones.

One would be a larger screen. The iPhone screen is 3.5 inches, but some newer Android phones, such as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, now have giant screens as large as 4.65 inches. Personally, I find that too large for comfort, but you might not.

Another important feature is LTE wireless capability. A number of Android phones, such as the Motorola Droid RAZR, support LTE, a fourth-generation wireless technology that is much, much faster at data downloads than 3G, though it also tends to use up your battery faster. No iPhone yet supports LTE.

Write to Walt at mossberg@wsj.com

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120125/track-changes-on-an-ipad/feed/ 0 Delete a Facebook Account http://allthingsd.com/20111005/delete-a-facebook-account/ http://allthingsd.com/20111005/delete-a-facebook-account/#comments Thu, 06 Oct 2011 01:00:31 +0000 Walter S. Mossberg http://allthingsd.com/?p=129305 Q:

How do I permanently delete a Facebook account?

A:

Facebook doesn’t make it quick or easy. The default choice is to “deactivate” your account, which allows you to change your mind and reactivate, and thus spare the company the loss of a member. Deactivated accounts can’t be seen by others, but all their data remain on Facebook’s servers. You can totally and permanently delete an account, but this isn’t a simple process. You have to submit a request, at http://on.fb.me/n5OemK, or go to the Facebook help center and search for “delete account.” Then you have to wait awhile, while Facebook hopes you change your mind. More information on both options is at: http://on.fb.me/pxjtS2.

Q:

I am generally very pleased with the MacBook Air that I recently purchased. However, when I am on the road, I find that my Air loses connectivity to the wireless network that I am using. Any thoughts or suggestions? This is frustrating.

A:

I have noticed something similar lately, on my own MacBook Air that’s been upgraded to the new Lion operating system. It doesn’t randomly drop Wi-Fi connections, but it does take too long to reestablish them when waking from sleep. In my case, this is a new and recent behavior. I asked Apple about your question and my experience, and the company conceded that it has received reports of problems with Lion-equipped Macs “sporadically” dropping Wi-Fi connections and is developing what it hopes is a fix. That fix, it says, will be part of a software update to be made available soon.

MOSSMAIL

A fix is coming for MacBook Air machines with Wi-Fi problems.

Q:

I want a tablet for occasional road trips. If I get a Wi-Fi-only model do I need to worry about my passwords being stolen if I use an open network? Is it better, if cumbersome, to use my Droid X smartphone to set up a password-protected Wi-Fi hot spot and connect through it?

A:

I have long advised avoiding shared, open, public Wi-Fi networks when dealing with sensitive data. I am not a security expert, and I am sure there are ways for determined hackers to penetrate your Droid, or any smartphone. But I agree that your odds are much better with a password-protected network that you control, that only you use, and that relies on a cellular network proprietary to a wireless carrier. Just remember that your security is never guaranteed on the Internet, especially in public places.

Email Walt Mossberg at mossberg@wsj.com.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111005/delete-a-facebook-account/feed/ 0 Commas, Zeros and the Number One: Apple's iPhone 4S Event by the Numbers http://allthingsd.com/20111004/commas-zeros-and-no-1-apples-iphone-4s-event-by-the-numbers/ http://allthingsd.com/20111004/commas-zeros-and-no-1-apples-iphone-4s-event-by-the-numbers/#comments Tue, 04 Oct 2011 23:30:49 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=128572 As Apple events go, today’s was as heavy on metrics as any in recent memory, with newly installed CEO Tim Cook kicking off his presentation with a victory lap full of commas and zeros. Below, a rundown of the numbers trotted out.

  • Apple currently has 357 retail stores in 11 countries.
  • More than six million copies of OS X Lion have been downloaded through the Mac App Store.
  • That’s 80 percent more than Snow Leopard.
  • It took Lion two weeks to reach 10 percent of its user base. It took Windows 7 20 weeks to do the same.
  • The Mac is the number one best-selling desktop and notebook in the United States; it’s approaching 60 million users around the world, and its growth has outpaced the PC market every single quarter for the past 5 years.
  • The iPod, which launched 10 years ago, is still the number one music player in the world.
  • Apple has sold more than 300 million iPods to date. It took Sony 30 years to sell 220,000 Walkman cassette players. (Note: it seems Apple is a bit off on the Sony portion of this metric)
  • The company sold 45 million iPods last year alone, and almost half of purchasers bought for the first time.
  • iTunes is the number one music store in the world.
  • There are now 20 million songs in iTunes; over 16 billion songs have been downloaded from it to date.
  • The iPhone is the number one smartphone in the world.
  • 93 percent of the Fortune 500 companies are deploying or testing the iPhone.
  • The iPhone is number one in customer satisfaction.
  • J.D. Power has ranked it as the number one smartphone six times in a row.
  • Almost 1,000 K-12 schools have a 1:1 iPad deployment program.
  • More than 80 percent of hospitals in the U.S. are testing iPads.
  • 92 percent of the Fortune 500 are testing or deploying the iPad.
  • The iPad is the number one tablet in the world.
  • Three out of four tablets sold in the U.S. are iPads.
  • There have been 250 million iOS devices sold so far.
  • There are more than 500,000 apps in the App Store. More than 140,000 are designed specifically for the iPad.
  • Customers have downloaded more than 18 billion apps to date.
  • There are about 1 billion apps downloaded per month.
  • Apple has paid out $3 billion dollars to developers so far.
  • The iPod touch is the number one portable game player.
  • By December, the iPhone will be in more than 70 countries on more than 100 carriers.

RELATED POSTS:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111004/commas-zeros-and-no-1-apples-iphone-4s-event-by-the-numbers/feed/ 0 A Tablet With a Keyboard http://allthingsd.com/20110921/a-tablet-with-a-keyboard/ http://allthingsd.com/20110921/a-tablet-with-a-keyboard/#comments Wed, 21 Sep 2011 22:52:13 +0000 Walt Mossberg http://allthingsd.com/?p=123312 Q:

I am going to purchase a tablet computer. I was thinking of buying the Asus Transformer tablet, as it has a keyboard add-on. What are your thoughts on this tablet?

A:

I haven’t reviewed it, but the Transformer’s optional keyboard, which costs $150, is really a docking station that includes an extra battery and various ports.

If you just want a separate keyboard, you should know that other Android tablets, as well as Apple’s iPad, can connect easily to simple, less expensive wireless keyboards.

Q:

Is it true that Apple has stopped including iDVD, its longtime DVD-creation app, on new Macs? Has the program been killed?

A:

Yes and no. According to the company, new Macs with the Lion operating system no longer come with iDVD or another former standard program, iWeb. However, both programs are still included in the $49 iLife suite, which is sold separately. Apple defends the decision to drop iDVD on grounds that more people are sharing photos and videos online and not on disks. The company also has dropped DVD drives from some of its popular laptops.

Q:

You provided instructions on how to delete old email addresses on Gmail. I have the same problem with Apple Mail, only the old addresses aren’t in the address book but still appear when I type their names in the To field. How do I delete these?

A:

Apple Mail suggests previously used email addresses even if they aren’t in your address book. To get rid of one, accept it, so it appears in the To field. Then select it and click on the downward-pointing triangle at the right. A menu will appear. From that menu, choose “Remove from Previous Recipients List.”

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox and my other columnsat the new All Things Digital website, http://walt.allthingsd.com. Email mossberg@wsj.com.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110921/a-tablet-with-a-keyboard/feed/ 0 A Parallels World Where Windows Zips on Macs http://allthingsd.com/20110831/parallels-desktop-for-mac-review/ http://allthingsd.com/20110831/parallels-desktop-for-mac-review/#comments Thu, 01 Sep 2011 01:03:09 +0000 Walter S. Mossberg http://allthingsd.com/?p=115987 Apple’s Macintosh computers have long been able to run Windows, in addition to their native operating system, Mac OS X. But the process has sometimes been clumsy, slow or taxing to the machine and it hasn’t been tailored to the new Lion version of Apple’s OS.

Now, the most popular utility for running Windows programs simultaneously with Mac programs has been updated in a speedier version that takes advantage of some Lion features. It’s called Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac, and it goes on sale Sept. 1, as a $50 upgrade for current Parallels users and on Sept. 6 for new users at $80. The product comes from a Seattle company of the same name.


[ See post to watch video ]

I’ve been testing the new Parallels 7 on last year’s version of the MacBook Air laptop, running Lion with 4 gigabytes of memory. That’s the recommended amount of memory for running Windows 7, the version of Windows I tested.

In my tests, this latest Parallels edition ran Windows quickly and smoothly, and integrated well with some of Lion’s new features, even though my test Mac isn’t the fastest Apple laptop available today.

For instance, while I’m writing this in a Mac program on the Air, I’m simultaneously running the Windows-only Internet Explorer Web browser, and a couple of other Windows programs, with no discernible slowdown in any of them. I can easily recommend Parallels 7 to Mac users who need to use Windows programs some of the time.

PTECHjp

Parallels Desktop 7 lets Windows programs, like Excel on the left, appear on the Mac as if they were Mac programs, without the Windows desktop.

I also tested a new companion Parallels Mobile iPad and iPhone app, which allows you to remotely control both your Mac and Windows running on your Mac. I am less sanguine about this product, which also goes on sale Thursday, for an introductory price of $5 (the regular price is $20). It did work, but like similar mobile programs for controlling PCs, I found it a bit awkward to use.

Parallels works by creating a so-called virtual machine inside your Mac. Within this virtual machine, you can install a copy of Windows you’ve purchased and it will behave like a faux Windows computer, compatible with the same programs as a physical Windows PC.

You can run Windows programs on your Mac either in one large window that displays the Windows desktop and taskbar, or in a mode that allows the Windows programs you run to simply appear on the Mac as if they were Mac programs, without the Windows desktop.

Going Back and Forth

Either way, you can switch back and forth between this virtual Windows computer and your regular Mac environment. You can copy and paste material between Mac programs and Windows programs, and drag files between the two operating systems. You can even open files from the Mac side of the machine in Windows programs, provided they are compatible.

This isn’t the same as another method for running Windows on a Mac, called Boot Camp—a built-in feature of the Mac designed by Apple. Boot Camp, which also requires you to purchase and install Windows, has two big advantages over Parallels: It’s free, and it dedicates the Mac’s hardware solely to Windows, so it runs Windows programs even faster.

But it has a big disadvantage. It doesn’t allow you to run both operating systems simultaneously, or copy and paste material between them. With Boot Camp, if you want to switch between the Mac OS and Windows, you have to reboot the Mac.

I found that the new Parallels started and resumed Windows much faster than its predecessor. When launching Windows, the Mac no longer slowed to a crawl, as it had in past versions.

All Windows 7 programs I tested launched and ran quickly and smoothly, and the fancy visual effects in Windows 7, such as mini-previews for icons in the taskbar, worked great.

Playing Solitaire

I was able to run the Windows versions of Microsoft Office (including Outlook), Quicken, and many other programs. I also easily ran such Windows-only programs as IE, Windows Media Player and even the venerable Windows Solitaire.

In addition, the new Parallels for the first time can take advantage of the Mac’s built-in webcam.

It has a new wizard for creating a virtual machine. And now, it will even allow you to buy, download and install Windows right from within Parallels. Previously, you had to obtain Windows separately. This is a big improvement, in my view.

Windows in Launchpad

Windows, and Windows programs, can be displayed in Lion’s new Launchpad feature, which mimics the main screen of an iPad. They also show up and behave like Mac programs in Lion’s new Mission Control feature, which shows all the programs running on the Mac in miniature. Windows programs can also run in Lion’s new full-screen mode.

The companion iPad app has been enhanced so it not only remotely controls the virtual machine, but the entire Mac. This has some advantages, such as allowing you to view Flash videos that the iPad normally can’t play, by playing them remotely on the computer.

But I found that, as on other iPad apps for remotely controlling computers, controlling PC and Mac screens is difficult using iPad gestures.

Many Virtual Machines

Parallels 7 can create and run multiple virtual machines, and also handle operating systems other than Windows. For instance, I was able to run Linux and an open-source version of Google’s Chrome OS on my Mac using Parallels. At one point in my tests, I had four operating systems running at once, and could control all four from an iPad.

Oddly, the new Parallels can even run a second, virtual copy of Lion, on a Lion-equipped Mac, though this would mainly be of interest to developers testing products.

(Apple says Lion won’t work in a virtual machine running on a PC.)

There are a couple of drawbacks to Parallels 7. As in prior versions, it can’t run the most graphics-intensive Windows games and other programs, so heavy-duty gamers will do better with Boot Camp or a physical Windows PC. And I found it wouldn’t share my Verizon 4G data modem with the Mac OS.

If you’re likely to be using Windows most of the time, it’s best to just use a regular Windows PC. But for Mac users who need to run a few Windows programs some of the time, Parallels 7 is a fine product.

Write to Walt at mossberg@wsj.com.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110831/parallels-desktop-for-mac-review/feed/ 0 New MacBook Airs, Lion Spike Summer Mac Sales http://allthingsd.com/20110823/new-macbook-airs-lion-spike-summer-mac-sales/ http://allthingsd.com/20110823/new-macbook-airs-lion-spike-summer-mac-sales/#comments Tue, 23 Aug 2011 10:30:50 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=112832 The debut of Apple’s new MacBook Airs and Lion OS has done what many predicted: It has sent Mac sales into the stratosphere.

According to the latest metrics from NPD, domestic Mac sales for the first month of the September quarter were up 26 percent year over year, buoyed by new hardware and an eagerly anticipated update to Apple’s OS X. That’s more than six times the growth of the broader PC market.

And if it continues, Apple will likely meet consensus estimates of 4.5 million total Mac sales for the current quarter, said Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. “We believe Mac sales benefited from the 7/20 launch of OS X Lion along with refreshed MacBook Airs and Mac minis,” Munster explained in a note to clients. “But these tailwinds will fade throughout the September quarter and year-over-year compares get slightly tougher in the last two months of the quarter.”

The softening PC market seems to have had little to no effect on Mac sales. Nor is it likely to in the future, given current growth trends. As I’ve noted here before, Mac sales have outpaced the broader PC market for 21 consecutive quarters now. And there’s little to suggest that streak is coming to an end any time soon.

Said Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes, “We believe Apple will continue to gain share in Macs over the long term even as the iPad grows. Given the data and our checks, our estimate for Mac growth of 18 percent year-over-year for Apple’s C3Q, may turn out to be conservative even though the global economy appears to be slowing quite a bit.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110823/new-macbook-airs-lion-spike-summer-mac-sales/feed/ 0 Apple Updates Lion http://allthingsd.com/20110816/apple-updates-lion/ http://allthingsd.com/20110816/apple-updates-lion/#comments Tue, 16 Aug 2011 20:49:06 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=110785 Apple on Tuesday released the first maintenance update for its newly released Lion operating system. Mac OS X 10.7.1 improves the reliability of Wi-Fi connections and resolves some audio and video playback issues, among other things. A separate update is available for MacBook Air and Mac mini owners.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110816/apple-updates-lion/feed/ 0 Lion With Office http://allthingsd.com/20110727/lion-with-office/ http://allthingsd.com/20110727/lion-with-office/#comments Thu, 28 Jul 2011 01:02:29 +0000 Walt Mossberg http://allthingsd.com/?p=103542 Q:

I have been warned on the Web that Microsoft Office won’t work on Apple’s new Mac operating system, Lion. Is this true?

A:

In my tests, and also according to Microsoft, Office for the Mac does work in Lion, though some relatively minor features won’t work right. Also, you must be using one of the two latest versions of Office.

In my tests, using the current version, Office 2011, all features I tested worked fine, though of course I wasn’t able to test every one of the thousands of features. I even wrote my entire Lion review in Word 2011 on a Lion-equipped Mac. According to Microsoft, the 2008 version also works, though the 2004 version doesn’t.

However, Microsoft hasn’t updated Office for Mac to take advantage of Lion’s new features. More information on Mac Office compatibility with Lion is here and here.

Q:

Can you point me in the right direction for a purchase of a tablet? I am a home inspector and presently use a Toshiba Satellite laptop with a special Windows software program for my job. I need a tablet with a screen size of 12 inches or more. USB ports would be essential.

I am willing to spend up to $3,000. I need it to be visible in daylight, because I must walk around the property.

A:

You may have trouble finding a tablet that meets all your criteria. If you need to run special Windows software on a tablet with a USB port, you might consider one of the Windows 7 models, aimed mainly at businesses. A good example is the $1200 Asus Eee Slate EP121. I haven’t tested it, but it has a 12″ screen, dual USB ports, and works with either finger or stylus input. The only problem is that it uses a backlit, laptop-type screen, and these aren’t typically great for viewing in direct sunlight.

Q:

An Apple store employee told us that each Apple mobile device battery should be depleted to 0% once per month to keep its battery healthy. Is this necessary?

A:

That’s correct. Here’s part of the company’s advice on iPhone batteries: “For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery, it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally. Be sure to go through at least one charge cycle per month (charging the battery to 100% and then completely running it down).”

In its advice on laptop batteries, the company states, in part: “Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time.” It adds that, if you don’t drain and recharge your Mac laptop in the course of normal usage, “Apple recommends charging and discharging its battery at least once per month.”

Email mossberg@wsj.com.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110727/lion-with-office/feed/ 0 MacBook Air-Related Delayed Gratification Could Juice Apple Earnings http://allthingsd.com/20110727/macbook-air-related-delayed-gratification-could-juice-apple-earnings/ http://allthingsd.com/20110727/macbook-air-related-delayed-gratification-could-juice-apple-earnings/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 11:10:02 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=102939 With refreshed hardware and a brand-new OS on the market, Apple’s September quarter is likely to be another triumph for Cupertino, despite the comically low guidance the company provided when reporting third-quarter earnings.

iPad sales are booming and the iPhone 4 continues to sell well despite its age. Now, with new MacBook Airs and Mac minis on the shelves and the Mac App Store serving up one million downloads of Lion in a single day, Apple is poised to reap the benefits of what up until last week was pent-up demand for those products, particularly the MacBook Air. According to Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes, Apple’s latest ultraslim laptops will give the company a nice little financial bump for the remainder of the year.

“We believe that the new MacBook Air products in particular could be a source of upside for Apple in the 2nd half of CY11,” Reitzes says. “For the September quarter, we estimate Mac unit sales to grow 18% y/y, which may be conservative given anticipation for the MacBook Air. Also, we believe that there was a modest pause of demand ahead of Lion, which consequently should release at least some incremental sales in the upcoming quarters in our opinion.”

Seems entirely reasonable. As Apple COO Tim Cook said during the company’s July 19 earnings call, “I think some customers have delayed [Mac purchases] until Lion becomes available.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110727/macbook-air-related-delayed-gratification-could-juice-apple-earnings/feed/ 0 Courage for Lion Users http://allthingsd.com/20110726/courage-for-lion-users/ http://allthingsd.com/20110726/courage-for-lion-users/#comments Tue, 26 Jul 2011 22:58:01 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=102899 Apple’s Lion has roared onto Macs, with one million downloads of the new operating system in the first day it was available. IPhone or iPad users will be familiar with Lion’s nod toward navigating with gestures. But for others, Lion could be uncharted territory. I’ve compiled some helpful shortcuts and tips for using Lion and some of its less-obvious yet useful features.

For those people frustrated by Lion, I’ll also include instructions on how to revert some features to work the way they did in Apple’s previous operating system, Snow Leopard. If all else fails, I’ll tell you how to uninstall Lion altogether. But all new operating systems require an adjustment period, so give yourself some time with Lion before giving up.


[ See post to watch video ]

Heads or Tails of Scrolling

Probably the one feature that will take the most getting used to is Lion’s new way of scrolling. Rather than placing two fingers on the touch pad and moving them down together to navigate down in a Web page, list or document, Lion does the opposite. Think of reading a real piece of paper: As you read down, your eyes would move down and you’d push the paper up. So now, scrolling down happens by putting two fingers on the touch pad and moving up. Scrolling up works by moving two fingers down the touch pad. The scroll bar disappears when you aren’t scrolling.

If you’d rather switch back to the classic way of scrolling, go to System Preferences, Trackpad, Scroll & Zoom and uncheck “Scroll direction: natural.” Also go into System Preferences, Mouse, Point & Click and uncheck “Scroll direction: natural.” If you desperately miss seeing your scrollbar, go to System Preferences, General, Show scroll bars and choose “Always” in the top of the middle section.

Uncovering Exposé

If you’re like me, you loved using Snow Leopard’s Exposé, which took a four-finger downward swipe to expose all running apps. Lion has a more robust way of viewing all the things on a Mac, called Mission Control. A feature called App Exposé uses a three-finger downward swipe to expose all windows running in an app. This isn’t on by default, so go to System Preferences, Trackpad, select the More Gesture section (top right) and check the box for App Exposé.

To use a four-finger-swipe for this, I selected the tiny arrow in this command’s description and chose “Swipe Down with four fingers.”

Several new gestures are built into Lion for navigating to things like the Desktop, Launchpad and Mission Control. But if you don’t want to learn a bunch of new gestures, you can try Hot Corners. These let you navigate to these features by just moving the cursor to any corner of the computer screen.

Set up Hot Corners by going to System Preferences, Desktop & Screen Saver, select Screen Saver and then click on Hot Corners in the lower left. Here, you can use drop-down menus to designate how each corner will function.

You’ve Got New Mail

Apple Mail has been updated in Lion to look better and work better. Rather than displaying all messages in a top section with the body of one message shown in a window below, emails are displayed in a left-hand column with bodies of those emails displayed on the right.

If you’re yearning for the way things used to be, select Mail, Preferences, Viewing and check the box labeled “Use classic layout.” If you’d like to see icons representing folders and mailboxes on the left, like the old Mail, click “Show (or Hide to hide this)” in the Favorites Bar of Mail.

Another change in mail is conversation view, which is on by default. It numbers messages in an email back-and-forth so you know what order they go in, rather than wondering which message was most recently received. To turn off conversation view, click on the View menu in Mail and uncheck “Organize by Conversation.”

Full Screen—Finally

At last, getting a full-screen view of an opened window on a Mac doesn’t have to be done by dragging out corners of the window.

Clicking on a full-screen button (two outward-facing arrows) built into many programs in the top-right corner lets the window truly take over the entire screen, like it’s the only thing that works on the whole computer.

Several apps can run in full-screen mode at once, and swiping three fingers left or right on a laptop’s touch pad will switch between these running apps.

Clean Up Launchpad

A new gesture—pinching with your thumb and three fingers—pulls up Launchpad. This resembles the iPhone or iPad home screen, with everything on the Mac represented by small icons. Some icons are already grouped into folders, like Microsoft Office programs, if you have Office installed. Others can be grouped into folders just like on an iOS device: by dragging and dropping them onto one another to create a folder and then naming that folder.

To delete these icons, click on one and hold down until all icons start jiggling. Those icons for apps downloaded from the App Store can be deleted right here, just click on the small “x” that appears to the top left of each app icon. Other programs can be deleted only by opening the Applications folder in Finder and moving unwanted things to Trash.

Give Up?

If you absolutely give up on the Lion upgrade you downloaded and want to revert back to the Snow Leopard operating system, you’ll need to erase your drive and reinstall Snow Leopard from the original installation discs.

Before you do this, back up your data in Time Machine so it can later be moved back onto the machine.

Write to Katherine Boehret at katherine.boehret@wsj.com

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110726/courage-for-lion-users/feed/ 0 Lion Downloads Top One Million http://allthingsd.com/20110721/lion-downloads-top-1-million/ http://allthingsd.com/20110721/lion-downloads-top-1-million/#comments Thu, 21 Jul 2011 20:33:46 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=101424 Lion, the latest iteration of Apple’s OS X operating system, is off to a great start. On Thursday afternoon, the company announced that more than one million copies were purchased and downloaded during its first day of availability. “Users are buying Lion faster than any other OS release in Apple’s history,” the company said in a statement.

Impressive. Recall that Apple sold two million copies of OS X Leopard during its first weekend at market, and that OS was distributed on optical discs sold online and off, not exclusively through the still quite new Mac App store.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110721/lion-downloads-top-1-million/feed/ 0 Apple's Lion Brings PCs Into Tablet Era http://allthingsd.com/20110720/mossberg-lion-review/ http://allthingsd.com/20110720/mossberg-lion-review/#comments Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:32:31 +0000 Walter S. Mossberg http://allthingsd.com/?p=100410 With its iPhones and iPads, Apple has led people toward a new way of operating digital devices that relies on direct manipulation of items with finger gestures, not a mouse and scroll bars. App icons are arrayed front and center, not buried deep in a file system or limited to a strip at the bottom of the screen.


[ See post to watch video ]

Now, Apple is bringing those concepts and others to the personal computer via its most radical new Macintosh operating system version in years. It’s called Lion and it goes on sale Wednesday for $29.99—a price that allows installation on as many personal Macs as you own.

Lion is a giant step in the merger of the personal computer and post-PC devices like tablets and smartphones. It demotes the venerable scroll bar at the side of windows and documents, relying primarily on direct manipulation of documents and lists. It eliminates the need to save your work, automatically saving every version of every document. It resumes programs right where you left off. It can display programs, or an array of all your app icons, in multiple full screens you simply swipe through. And it elevates the role of multitouch gestures and adds new ones.

The new system doesn’t turn a Mac into a tablet. It retains traditional computer features not present on smaller devices—like the usual file system, multiple windows, the mouse and physical keyboard. It still runs traditional Mac programs, still can handle Adobe Flash, and doesn’t run iPhone or iPad apps. It doesn’t use a touch screen, instead continuing to rely on the touch pad to perform finger gestures.

But it’s a big change. Lion also is a harbinger of things to come. Apple’s historic rival, Microsoft, is working on its own radical overhaul of the dominant Windows PC operating system, due next year, which is also aimed at putting multitouch and other concepts borrowed from smartphones and tablets front and center.

I’ve been testing Lion on four Macs, and I like it. I believe its many new features—250 in all—make computing easier and more reliable. I found upgrading easy, and compatibility with existing apps to be very good. Only one app I use frequently proved incompatible, and its maker says a new revision solves that problem.

I only suffered one crash in Lion. It occurred on one of many occasions I used iTunes, but Apple says a forthcoming version of iTunes made for Lion should eliminate that.

macbook_launch

Pressing a special key on a new Mac, or an icon on an old one, brings up a full screen, iPad-like display of app icons.

To take full advantage of new features such as full-screen mode (which hides menus), auto-saving and auto-resuming, programs will have to be rewritten. But, in my tests, current versions ran fine. I am writing this column on a MacBook Air running Lion using an unrevised version of Microsoft Word for the Mac, with no problems.

An Adjustment Process

There are, however, downsides to anything this new and major. In my view, the biggest of these is that switching to Lion will require a major adjustment even for veteran Mac users, though it will be easier for those who use iPhones or iPads. Lion will significantly increase the learning curve for Windows users switching to the Mac.

One of the biggest changes is in scrolling. Instead of moving the top of a page upward by dragging the scroll bar down, or moving your fingers downward on the touch pad, you do the opposite—you just push the page up. A scroll bar appears only while scrolling. (Older programs may still have the traditional scroll bar.)

Standard programs and features like Apple Mail are significantly different, too, and there are smaller changes in almost every corner of the operating system, including some keyboard shortcuts. Just mastering all the new and altered touch-pad gestures—a couple of which are so unnatural I actually had to practice them—will take time. (Luckily, almost all of the actions performed by the gestures can also be done with a mouse, icons, menu commands, or keys.)

If you dislike some of these changes, Apple provides settings to return to traditional scrolling, the classic Mail layout, and to turn off gestures and other things.

Upgrading

Another big change is in the way Lion is being distributed. It won’t be sold on a disk, initially only via download from the Mac App Store. Since it’s a 4 gigabyte download, that could be a problem for people with slow Internet connections. Apple says its stores will help such users with the download, and that it will sell Lion on a USB thumb drive for $69 in August.

In my tests, the download alone took under half an hour on a very fast connection, and about an hour and a half on a more typical one. Once I downloaded the product, the rest of the installation took about an hour.

Also, you can only upgrade to Lion directly from the prior OS version, Snow Leopard. So, if you’re running an earlier version, you’ll first have to pay to upgrade to Snow Leopard.

macbook

Each auto-save creates a “version” of a document and all the versions can be viewed in a visual stack.

In addition, Macs with the older PowerPC processors can’t run Lion, and even some of the earliest Macs with Intel processors are shut out. These are mainly machines released in 2006. Older programs originally designed for PowerPC, which still ran on Snow Leopard, will no longer work in Lion. The best known of these is Intuit’s Quicken 2007.

Migrating

Even if you buy a new Mac with Lion pre-installed and your older Mac has Snow Leopard, you’ll have to download a new version of Apple’s migration program for Snow Leopard in order to move over all your programs, settings and files. The company made this new migration utility available on Tuesday. When I tried to migrate my stuff from a Snow Leopard machine to Lion using the current migration program—normally a strength for Apple—the process failed. Apple sent me the new version and it worked.

Lion also introduces a new migration feature that will move data and settings—but not programs—from a Windows PC to a Mac, though it requires a free Windows migration utility that Apple couldn’t provide in time for this review.

New Macs

Speaking of Macs with Lion pre-installed, Apple also is upgrading its thin and fast MacBook Air laptops so they use faster chips from Intel. It’s killing off the bottom model of its laptop line, the plain MacBook. But the new MacBook Airs, available Thursday, have the same design, prices and base storage capacity as their predecessors, so this review is focused on Lion.

Features

Here are some of the main new features in Lion:

• Auto-Save and Versions: Apps running in Lion automatically save your work when you pause or every five minutes. There is no interruption during this process and you can still save manually. This isn’t a new idea, but it’s implemented beautifully and can work on all programs whose authors issue new versions to take advantage of it. Right now, it works on some of Apple’s own programs.

The best part of this is that each auto-save creates a “version” of your document and you can view all these versions in a visual stack arranged by date, next to your current version. You can swap back to an older version, or even copy and paste text from one version to another. These versions are created by storing the changes behind the scenes, not by creating numerous files.

To prevent auto-saving, you can lock a document and, for privacy, when you share or transfer a document, only the latest version is copied or sent.

• Resume: If you relaunch a program, any document you were working on appears again with the cursor right where it was, and even any highlighting is preserved. If you restart the Mac, all your programs are resumed in this manner, unless you check a box to prevent this.

• Full-screen apps: You can launch some apps, or individual browser tabs, in a full screen, by just clicking on an icon at the top right. In full screen, the menu bar and other controls are hidden unless you move the cursor to the top of the screen.

• Launchpad: Pressing a special key on a new Mac, or an icon on an old one, brings up an iPad-like display of all your app icons in full screen. If they occupy more than one screen, you just swipe through them.

• Mission Control: One of the nicer features on the Mac was called Exposé, which, with one click, showed all your open windows in miniature. Now, it’s been subsumed into something called Mission Control, which does the same thing, but also displays any fullscreen apps or extra desktops. I found it cluttered and wished the simpler, prior feature had been retained.

• Gestures: The Mac already had a variety of iPhone-like gestures you could perform on the touch pad. But Lion has changed some of these and added more. One I liked: You can double-tap with two figures to resize a section of a Web page or PDF to zoom in to fill the screen, just like on the iPhone or iPad. Two I dislike: the gestures for calling up Launchpad and Mission Control require pinching or zooming with three fingers and a thumb—a clumsy method for such important features.

• Mail: Apple’s Mail app has been totally overhauled to look and work more like the Mail app on the iPad. One particularly nice feature is that it sports a beautiful optional conversation mode, which combines and numbers each message in a thread. It also hides duplicate emails. There are too many changes to detail here, but, after hating the new Mail at first, I have come to like it. And you can switch to Classic mode if you wish.

The Bottom Line

The past two major computer operating system releases, Windows 7 and Snow Leopard, were incremental. Lion is very different. It’s a big leap, and gives the Mac a much more modern look and feel for a world of tablets and smartphones. If you are willing to adjust, it’s the best computer operating system out there.

Email Walt at mossberg@wsj.com.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110720/mossberg-lion-review/feed/ 0 OS X Lion Roars Into Town http://allthingsd.com/20110720/os-x-lion-roars-into-town/ http://allthingsd.com/20110720/os-x-lion-roars-into-town/#comments Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:30:37 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=100299

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, the latest iteration of Apple’s operating system, debuted this morning, just as CFO Peter Oppenheimer said it would during the company’s third-quarter earnings call Tuesday.

Unlike previous OS upgrades, Lion is available exclusively as a $29.99 download from the Mac App Store. It brings some 250 new features to OS X, among them a number culled from iOS, and is intended to bring the best of Apple’s mobile OS to the desktop. Also included: A completely new version of Mail, AirDrop — a peer-to-peer Wi-Fi-based network for document sharing — and Resume, a feature which works systemwide to remember what app you were using and what you were doing with it. You’ll find more details and a thorough review from Walt here and the full press release below.

Mac OS X Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

CUPERTINO, California—July 20, 2011—Apple® today announced that Mac OS® X Lion, the eighth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system with more than 250 new features, is available today as a download from the Mac® App Store™ for $29.99. Some of the amazing features in Lion include: new Multi-Touch® gestures; system-wide support for full screen apps; Mission Control, an innovative view of everything running on your Mac; the Mac App Store, the best place to find and explore great software, built right into the OS; Launchpad, a new home for all your apps; and a completely redesigned Mail app.

“Lion is the best version of OS X yet, and we’re thrilled that users around the world can download it starting today,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Lion makes upgrading a Mac easier than ever before; just launch the Mac App Store, buy Lion with your iTunes account, and the download and install process will begin automatically.”

Additional new features in Lion include:

• Resume, which conveniently brings your apps back exactly how you left them when you restart your Mac or quit and relaunch an app;
• Auto Save, which automatically and continuously saves your documents as you work;
• Versions, which automatically records the history of your document as you create it, and gives you an easy way to browse, revert and even copy and paste from previous versions; and
• AirDrop, which finds nearby Macs and automatically sets up a peer-to-peer wireless connection to make transferring files quick and easy.

Pricing & Availability
Mac OS X Lion is available as an upgrade to Mac OS X version 10.6.6 Snow Leopard® from the Mac App Store for $29.99 (US). Lion is the easiest OS X upgrade and at around 4GB, it is about the size of an HD movie from the iTunes Store®. Users who do not have broadband access at home, work or school can download Lion at Apple retail stores and later this August, Lion will be made available on a USB thumb drive through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com) for $69 (US). Mac OS X Lion Server requires Lion and is available from the Mac App Store for $49.99 (US).

Lion requires an Intel-based Mac with a Core 2 Duo, i3, i5, i7 or Xeon processor and 2GB of RAM. Lion is an upgrade and can be installed on all your authorized personal Macs. Details regarding Business and Education licensing can be found at apple.com/macosx.

The OS X Lion Up-to-Date upgrade will be available through the Mac App Store at no additional charge to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after June 6, 2011. Users must request their Up-to-Date upgrade within 30 days of purchase of their Mac computer. Customers who purchased a qualifying Mac between June 6, 2011 and July 20, 2011 will have until August 19, 2011 to make a request. Additional information can be found at apple.com/macosx/uptodate.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110720/os-x-lion-roars-into-town/feed/ 0 Apple Store Down Ahead of Lion Debut (And Probably New MacBook Airs) http://allthingsd.com/20110720/apple-store-down-ahead-of-lion-debut-and-probably-macbook-air/ http://allthingsd.com/20110720/apple-store-down-ahead-of-lion-debut-and-probably-macbook-air/#comments Wed, 20 Jul 2011 09:43:21 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=100386 In its telltale siren call that new products are just hours away, Apple has taken down its online store.

“We’ll be back soon,” reads the online Post-it note familiar to the Apple faithful.

The site tends to go down a couple hours before it reopens with whatever Cupertino has up its sleeve.

In this case, that is most certainly Mac OS X Lion, but also probably long-awaited new hardware, including a revamped MacBook Air. Apple confirmed Lion’s debut would come Wednesday during Tuesday’s earnings conference call, but predictably didn’t comment on what new hardware might accompany the software release.

Unlike past OS releases, Lion will be sold via the Mac App Store, as opposed to in boxed form at retail stores.

UPDATE: Apple has since said that it plans to make it available via USB drives starting in August.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110720/apple-store-down-ahead-of-lion-debut-and-probably-macbook-air/feed/ 0 Apple Confirms Mac OS Lion Launching on Wednesday http://allthingsd.com/20110719/apple-confirms-mac-os-lion-launching-on-wednesday/ http://allthingsd.com/20110719/apple-confirms-mac-os-lion-launching-on-wednesday/#comments Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:08:04 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=100021 Apple confirmed that it plans to launch the next version of its Mac OS X operating system, Lion, on Wednesday.

Speaking on a conference call with analysts on Tuesday, CFO Peter Oppenheimer confirmed the launch date. The company had previously said it would launch this month and it had been widely expected to go on sale this week.

Lion, which will be sold via the Mac App Store, rather than through retail or other channels, includes more than 250 new features, including a number designed to bring to the Mac some features popular on the iPad.

Earlier on Tuesday, the company reported blowout earnings paced by far stronger than expected sales of the iPhone and iPad.

Also on the conference call, Oppenheimer confirmed the company sold all the iPads it could make during the quarter, with 1.05 million iPads in channel inventory, up slightly from the prior quarter, but below the company’s intended target of having 4-6 weeks’ worth of channel inventory.

The company also again said that it is seeing far greater than expected iPad adoption by businesses, including for sales, in retail and in hospitals.

On the retail front, the company plans to open 30 new stores before the end of September, including its first store in Hong Kong.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110719/apple-confirms-mac-os-lion-launching-on-wednesday/feed/ 0 Are App Store Issues a Harbinger of Lion's Launch? http://allthingsd.com/20110713/are-app-store-issues-a-harbinger-of-lions-launch/ http://allthingsd.com/20110713/are-app-store-issues-a-harbinger-of-lions-launch/#comments Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:38:17 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=97547 After some intermittent connectivity issues Tuesday, Apple is taking down iTunes Connect for scheduled maintenance. So from 9 am to 4 pm PT today, Connect — the backend through which developers and content providers submit their wares to iTunes — may not behave as expected. Interestingly, Apple warns that this “scheduled maintenance” may result in downtime for customers in the U.K., Mexico, Australia, Switzerland, Japan and Norway.

Unannounced “scheduled maintenance.” Warnings of downtime in regional App Stores. All of this seems a bit odd, and Apple has offered no explanation for it (the company hasn’t yet responded to requests for comment). So what’s going on? That’s not clear. Some speculate it’s a server stress test in preparation for the imminent launch of OS X Lion; others theorize that it has something to do with the migration of data to the new Maiden, N.C., datacenter.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110713/are-app-store-issues-a-harbinger-of-lions-launch/feed/ 0 Lion, MacBook Air Refresh Will Spike Mac Sales http://allthingsd.com/20110614/the-mac-is-kicking-ass/ http://allthingsd.com/20110614/the-mac-is-kicking-ass/#comments Tue, 14 Jun 2011 11:32:47 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=86321 According to the latest sales data gathered by NPD, the Mac is indeed kicking ass, as Phil Schiller Apple’s SVP of Worldwide Product Marketing observed at the company’s annual World Wide Developers Conference earlier this month. And when it’s finally reported, Mac sales for Apple’s June quarter will likely clock in well ahead of those of PCs.

Again.

Through the first two months of Apple’s third quarter (April and May), domestic Mac sales rose 15 percent year over year, a significant jump over April alone, during which they rose just 9 percent. That bodes well for June, says Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who notes that an easy comp for the month — sales rose 11 percent in 2010 — should make a nice year-over-year gain pretty easy.

And if the company happens to bring those rumored new Sandy Bridge-based MacBook Airs to market sometime this month, well, then it’s a different story entirely.

Another refresh of the Air will likely send sales into the stratosphere, just as it did last October. In fact, Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore figures it could cause units to ramp to as high as 1.5 million per quarter, which is about half of Apple’s MacBook business. Add the impending release of OS X Lion to this mix and Mac sales should rise even more, since OS refreshes have historically bolstered demand and accelerated sales.

“Past OS upgrades have resulted in average Mac unit growth of ~30 percent in the 2-3 quarters following the release,” Whitmore says. “In addition, in terms of broad feature set enhancements we believe the Lion upgrade most parallels Leopard which saw ~45 percent Y/Y Mac growth following the release and +81 percent Y/Y Software growth. In aggregate, we believe Lion will drive a strong upgrade cycle due to: 1) low ASP, 2) significant OS enhancements and 3) arrives in conjunction with MacBook Air refresh.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110614/the-mac-is-kicking-ass/feed/ 0 Three Things to Take Away From Apple's WWDC Announcements (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20110606/three-things-to-take-away-from-apples-wwdc-announcements-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20110606/three-things-to-take-away-from-apples-wwdc-announcements-video/#comments Mon, 06 Jun 2011 23:43:31 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=83365 Just after Steve Jobs wrapped up his Worldwide Developer Conference Keynote, I had a chance to chat with The Wall Street Journal Digital Network’s Lauren Goode about what to take away from the big event. That video appears below, followed by a second post-event video with additional reflections.

Here are a few things that struck me.

1. Clearly, Apple is learning from the mobile competition.

Although Apple has had the lead in a lot of mobile areas, the new iOS 5 software picks up on a few things where the competition was ahead. The new operating system will offer improved notifications in a manner quite reminiscent of Android. Meanwhile, the new software will also be able to go straight to the camera app from the lock screen, a favorite feature of Windows Phone 7. The company is also taking over some ground previously handled by third-party applications, such as Instapaper.

2. Apple just might get sync right.

Microsoft has been trying to allow users to sync their data for a while via Windows Live Mesh and other services, but nothing they have proposed is as elegant as the iCloud service that Steve Jobs outlined on Monday. Google, meanwhile, has proposed a cloud-only approach.

But Apple’s approach seems to give users what they really want–their photos, documents and other data on all their devices, synchronized automatically while also stored locally on the device. Of course, the devil is in the details and we won’t be able to see just how effortlessly it all works until the service launches with iOS 5 this fall.

3. Apple’s Lion is interesting not just for its features, but also for how it is being distributed.

The features of Lion are interesting, particularly when compared with the also-mobile-influenced Windows 8. However, what struck me even more is the fact that Apple is distributing it in an entirely new way. Rather than sell it on discs through retailers, the new Mac OS X will come via the Mac App Store for just under $30.


[ See post to watch video ]


[ See post to watch video ]

Complete coverage:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110606/three-things-to-take-away-from-apples-wwdc-announcements-video/feed/ 0 Apple's Lion and Microsoft's Windows 8 Both Show Mobile's Influence http://allthingsd.com/20110606/apples-lion-and-microsofts-windows-8-both-show-mobiles-influence/ http://allthingsd.com/20110606/apples-lion-and-microsofts-windows-8-both-show-mobiles-influence/#comments Mon, 06 Jun 2011 22:12:50 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=83332 In the past week, both Apple and Microsoft have laid out their next computer operating systems. In both cases, the features and design of the software are influenced heavily by what is going on in the phone and tablet markets.

Although both Windows 8 and Mac OS X Lion aim to bring a more phone-like operating system to notebooks and laptops, each has centered on different aspects of the mobile operating system.

With the Windows 8 design shown at the D9 conference last week, Microsoft has focused heavily on the way programs are organized and launched on phones, using a start screen that closely resembles Windows Phone 7.

Microsoft didn’t go into great detail on Windows 8, but among the features it did show was a lock screen that appeared to have notifications similar to those found on a phone. It also showed the ability from within newly redesigned Windows apps to access documents like photos without having to hunt through the traditional Windows file system.

Apple, meanwhile, previewed Lion on Monday, showing a number of elements that are migrating to the Mac from iOS, including the automatic saving of documents, push notifications and greater multitouch gesture control. Apple had talked about bringing the best of iOS to the Mac when it first talked about Lion at a “Back to the Mac” event last October.

Both Apple and Microsoft have noted immersive, full-screen apps as one compelling feature from mobile operating systems that has a place on the desktop as well. Both also have built-in app stores, a notion popularized by Apple on the phone.

There are other mobile influences in both products. Windows 8, for example, will be the first version of Windows to run on ARM-based processors, common on mobile devices. As for Lion, it is the first Mac OS X release that won’t come on disk, instead being offered for download via the Mac App Store.

Although Apple would clearly like to capitalize on the popularity of the iPad and iPhone, for Microsoft the need to add mobile features is perhaps even greater, as the company is counting on Windows 8 not only to take on the Mac, but also to regain ground lost to both the iPad and Android in the tablet space.

Lion is, of course, much further along, with developers getting a new release this week and general availability slated for next month. Microsoft has only showed a glimpse of Windows 8, with a wide release not expected until next year and the first beta unlikely to come before a September developer conference.

For a look at what Windows 8 has in store, here’s the video of the demo from D9 last week:


[ See post to watch video ]

Complete coverage:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110606/apples-lion-and-microsofts-windows-8-both-show-mobiles-influence/feed/ 0 Apple: IOS 5 to Offer Improved Browsing, Notifications, Twitter Integration, 197 Other Features http://allthingsd.com/20110606/apple-ios-5-to-offer-improved-notifications-199-other-features/ http://allthingsd.com/20110606/apple-ios-5-to-offer-improved-notifications-199-other-features/#comments Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:45:15 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=83057 After showing off Lion, the next version of Mac OS X, Apple detailed iOS 5, the next version of the software that powers the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, among other devices. It is due out this fall.

Apple’s Scott Forstall promised that “iOS 5 is a major release” with 1,500 new interfaces for developers and 200 new features for consumers. Forstall said he would highlight 10 of those features, starting with improved notifications. A new “Notification Center” can be reached by swiping down from the top of an iOS screen, Forstall said. The notifications will no longer interrupt an active app, he said.

Developers will get a build of the new operating system this week; it will be made available to the public this fall for the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, all iPads and the two most recent iPod Touch versions.

Twitter will also be integrated deeper into iOS, including into the camera and other programs. Users can also tweet from within Safari, YouTube and other built-in apps. Safari itself has also been enhanced to make for easier reading, with a single scrolling story option for long articles and a “reading list” option that syncs with other iOS devices and Safari on a Mac.

A new iMessage service will also allow users to send messages from iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch. (While the iPhone supports text messages, the other two devices don’t.) The iMessage app will also support features popular on BlackBerry message and other chatting programs such as delivery receipt and even the ability to find out if a message has been read or when a user is typing a reply. The encrypted iMessages can be sent over Wi-Fi or 3G, Apple said.

With iOS 5, Apple also won’t require a user to have a PC or Mac, allowing users to set up a new iPhone or iPad directly from the device and get over-the-air updates.

The new version of iOS will also include a digital newsstand, offering a new hub for newspapers and periodicals. News apps can download and update in the background and show up in a special place for offline reading. Newsstand draws on the subscription features Apple recently added for publications.

Publishers had been looking for the additional shelf space so they wouldn’t have to fight for attention with Angry Birds and other apps, while background downloading will make it easier for users to get the latest content.

One firm unlikely to be happy with the new reading list features is Instapaper, which has a popular app that offers such capabilities.

Another feature is location-based reminders that let you send a note or get a reminder when you reach a certain pre-specified location.

The company is also upgrading the camera app with a feature that lets you get to the camera straight from the lock screen and use the volume button to take a picture. (Windows Phone 7 did a nice job integrating this feature into all of their devices.)

“We’re making it way faster to just get in and take photos,” Forstall said. There are also new controls for editing and controlling photo-taking features, including one-tap enhance, cropping and rotating, as well as the ability to lock auto-exposure for a part of a picture.

On the mail front, Apple is adding new search capabilities as well as some new enterprise features, including encrypted mail for certain contacts.

Apple is also adding a split keyboard to make for easier thumb typing on a tablet. Microsoft showed a similar feature in its Windows 8 demo last week.

The company is also improving its Game Center to allow for turn-based apps integration as well as other features.

Forstall announced that Apple has sold 200 million iOS devices including 25 million iPads. The company has also sold 15 billion songs and 130 million books for those devices. Also, 14 billion apps have been downloaded, with Apple paying out more than $2.5 billlion to developers.

As it did with the Lion preview, Apple also threw up a slide listing dozens of other features. For iOS 5, the additional features include new gestures, Wi-Fi syncing, and a personal dictionary.

Later in the keynote, Apple is slated to introduce the company’s iCloud service.

Apple’s iOS 5 demo is still ongoing. I’ll update this post as more details are announced. For all the latest from WWDC, check out our ongoing live blog of Monday’s keynote.

Complete coverage:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110606/apple-ios-5-to-offer-improved-notifications-199-other-features/feed/ 0 WWDC 2011: Apple CEO Steve Jobs Takes the Stage http://allthingsd.com/20110606/wwdc-2011-apple-ceo-steve-jobs-takes-the-stage/ http://allthingsd.com/20110606/wwdc-2011-apple-ceo-steve-jobs-takes-the-stage/#comments Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:02:36 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=83059 Apple began its Worldwide Developer Conference with perhaps the most important introduction of all: CEO Steve Jobs.

Jobs, who has been on medical leave since January, announced last week that he would be on hand to kick off the developer conference, at which Apple is expected to detail Lion, the next version of Mac OS X, as well as iOS 5, the next release of the iPhone and iPad operating system.

Jobs received a standing ovation as he took to the stage promptly at 10 a.m. PT.

“I love you,” shouted one attendee.

“It always helps,” Jobs said. “I appreciate it,” he said, before promising an “awesome morning.”

If hardware is the brain and sinew of Apple’s products, “the software in them is their soul,” he said. “Today we are going to talk about software.”

For all the latest from WWDC, check out our ongoing live blog of Monday’s keynote.

Complete coverage:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110606/wwdc-2011-apple-ceo-steve-jobs-takes-the-stage/feed/ 0 Apple Heads for the Cloud, for Real: Here's What's Coming From Lion, iOS5 and iCloud http://allthingsd.com/20110606/wwdc-2011-live-blog/ http://allthingsd.com/20110606/wwdc-2011-live-blog/#comments Mon, 06 Jun 2011 15:41:10 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=82724 This morning at Apple’s annual World Wide Developers Conference, CEO Steve Jobs and several other executives kicked off the event with a keynote that focused on iOS 5, OS X Lion and iCloud, the company’s “upcoming cloud services offering.”

Here’s the liveblog, photos and analysis.

8:43 am: AllThingsD is here at WWDC.

8:46 am: Among the signage here at Moscone are two massive banners, both of them hidden by blackout cloth.

9:44 am: Inside and situated after a Monsters of Rock-style stampede for choice press seats. If you’re a tech company about to announce an earnings shortfall or scandal, now would be the ideal time.

9:52 am: No Beatles or Dylan blaring from the speakers today. The soundtrack for this morning’s event seems to be late-60s soul, Eddie Floyd, etc.

9:58 am: We’re just a few minutes from kick-off, I think. Now playing, James Brown’s “I Feel Good.” Opening screech draws chuckles from the crowd.

10:01 am: Looks like that was Steve Jobs’s intro music. The lights dim and he takes the stage. Standing ovation.

10:02 am: From the crowd: “We love you, Steve.”

Jobs: “Thanks, that always helps.”

10:02 am: Jobs begins with some WWDC metrics: 5,200 attendees, over 1,000 Apple engineers on site.

10:03 am: “If the hardware is the brain and the sinew of our products, the software is their soul. Today we’re going to talk about software: Lion, iOS 5 and some interesting cloud stuff.

10:04 am: First up: Lion. Jobs hands off to Phil Schiller who begins with some metrics. Ha! I was just name-checked in an onstage slide–a quote about “the Mac kicking ass” from one of my posts.

10:05 am: Schiller says the Mac has outgrown the PC every quarter for the past 5 years. “There are now 54 million active Mac users around the world.”


Now, a quick historical overview of the Mac OS, including some screenshots of the first iteration of OS X and its evolution.

10:07 am: Schiller says Lion is a major refresh of OS X and has some 250 new features. He’s going to focus on 10 today. The first: multitouch gestures: scrolling, tap to zoom, swipe, pinch motions…

“These things have implications across the system,” Schiller says. “The scrollbar, for example,” he says. You don’t really need it anymore. Or as much, anyway. In Lion, the scrollbar disappears when you don’t need it and reappears when you do.

10:09 am: Moving on now to full screen apps. In Lion, you can run a number of full-screen apps at the same time and switch easily between them. Shows off Safari, iCal, Calendar, all running in full screen.

10:10 am: Up next: Mission Control.
Schiller: “Mission control gives you a birds-eye view of everything going on in your system,” Schiller says, adding that you can have multiple desktops and apps running and use Mission Control to get to any of them easily.

10:11 am: “You don’t need the scrollbar anymore because you can simple push through things with your finger,” says Federighi, who has picked up the demo from Schiller.

10:12 am: Slick feature: Swipe through Safari’s browsing history.

10:13 am: You can also swipe through full-screen apps going from Safari to iPhoto with a simple gesture. Transition is fluid, seamless.

10:14 am: Demo of Photobooth running in full-screen mode. New enhancements allow you to put Looney Tunes-style cuckoo birds around your head, etc.

10:15 am: Three-finger swipe puts you in Mission Control from full-screen apps. Spacebar gives users a “quick look” at a specific window by enlarging it.

10:16 am: Schiller talks a bit about the Mac App Store. “In the last six months, the Mac App Store has become the number one PC channel for buying software, surpassing Best Buy and Office Depot.”

10:18 am: So what’s new for the App Store in Lion? First off, it’s built right in. It also offers in-app purchases, push notifications, sand boxing and delta updates.

10:19 am: Moving on to Launchpad, which brings an iOS-like app schema to the Mac desktop. Multiple screens of icons, scroll between them.

10:20 am: Another new feature: “Resume.” “Resume works system wide to remember what app you were using and what you were doing with it.”

10:24 am: Demos of the features we’ve just heard about. Federighi takes the stage to show off the Mac App Store. He downloads Twitter from the App Store and it “magically flies” to the desktop.

Moving on to document editing now….He messes around in Pages for a bit and then quits. Notably, there is no “Do you want to save?” dialogue.

He fires up Pages again and the app takes him to exactly what he was working on when he closed it moments ago without saving.

10:27 am: Federighi adds that Lion saved not only the last version of his doc, but a few earlier versions as well–all without his intervention.

10:28 am: Another new feature: Airdrop. “This is a peer-to-peer Wi-Fi-based network,” says Schiller.

Airdrop creates a sort of subnetwork among Lion users that allows dragging and dropping of files via the finder. Looks elegant and easy.

10:30 am: Moving on to Mail. “Lion has a completely new version of Mail,” says Schiller. There’s a favorites bar, a message skimmer and, thankfully, a better search. “You can create boolean searches if you want,” says Schiller.

10:31 am: Another new Mail feature: conversation view. This shows messages from a single thread in a single view, complete with attachments.

10:33 am: Search in the new Mail appears far more granular. Multiple search terms allow far more focused and effective searches.

10:34 am: A nice addition. Conversations hides the redundant text you often get in CCs, but allows you to expand if needed.

10:35 am: Schiller now running through a smorgasboard of new features in Lion. 3000 new APIs for devs.

10:36 am: When it’s released, Lion will be available only from the Mac App Store. No more DVDs.

10:36 am: It will be about 4 GB in size and will install in place. It can also be installed on all authorized Macs.

So what will it cost? $29. Lots of applause for that.

10:38 am: New developer preview available today. Official release will follow in July.

10:38 am: Scott Forstall takes the stage to talk about iOS 5.

10:38 am: 200 million iOS devices sold to date, says Forstall. “That makes iOS the number one mobile operating system with more than 44 percent of the market.”

10:39 am: Here’s our full rundown on Mac OS X Lion.

10:39 am: “In 14 months, we”re sold more than 25 million iPads,” says Forstall.

More metrics:
- 15 billion songs sold via iTunes
- 130 million books downloads from iBooks
- 425,000 apps in the app store, 90,000 specifically for the iPad
- 14 billion apps downloaded from the App Store in less than 3 years
- $2.5 billion paid to developers building apps for the app store

10:42 am: Quick overview of some high-profile apps. HBO Go, WebEx, etc.

10:43 am: More metrics: 225 million iTunes store accounts all with credit cards and 1-click purchasing.

10:43 am: And now, iOS 5….

Forstall: “This is a major release for our devleopers and our customers….More than 200 new features.”

10:44 am: Forstall will walk us through 10 of that 200. The first: Notifications.

10:44 am: Apple’s already pushed 100 billion push notifications, but it’s been hearing that folks would like a better UI. People don’t want to deal with modal alerts, etc.

Notification Center will fix this. It’s a single screen that lists your various notifications–missed calls, Facebook updates–all accessible with a top down finger swipe.

10:46 am: Notifications are now less intrusive. They appear at the top of the screen without interrupting the app currently in use and then auto-dismiss after a few moments.

10:48 am: Tap on a notification and it takes you to the app that generated it. Tap again and it takes you back to Notification Center.

10:48 am: Number two: Newsstand. Forstall talks for a moment about the breadth of magazine and newspaper content available for iPad. “We’ve now created a single place for all these publications in the App Store. When you purchase them, they’re all downloaded to Newsstand via background downloads.”

Newsstand has an iBooks-esque UI.

10:50 am: Next up: Twitter.

10:51 am: “IOS users send more than 1 billion Tweets a week,” says Forstall. “We know Twitter is an important app for our users, so we want to make it easier to use.”

How?

A few ways: single sign-on, photo-integration, location integration.

“In addition to this, you can Tweet articles from Safari and videos from YouTube.”

10:53 am: Moving on to Safari. More than two thirds of mobile Web browsing is done on Safari, says Forstall, before running through some new features Apple is adding to it.

10:54 am: First, an improved version of Safari Reader that, frankly, looks like it’s going to kill Instapaper. Second, “Reading List,” an easy way to save stories to read later. Reading List syncs across iOS devices, so if you save something on iPhone, you can read it later on iPad. Third: tabbed browsing.

10:55 am Moving on now to a new feature called “Reminders,” which seems to be a Remember The Milk-style app.

10:58 am: Create lists of to-dos, associate a time with them and even a location with a geofence so that if you attempt to leave a particular location without completing a certain task, iOS will remind you to do it when you move out of a certain area.

11:00 am: Another nice new feature: A lock-screen shortcut for the camera. No need to worry if you have a passcode set, either. Camera evidently ignores it, but still keeps the device locked until the passcode is entered.

11:01 am: Also new in camera: optional gridlines, in-camera pinch-to-zoom, and in-camera editing with crop and rotate, red-eye removal and one-click enhance.

11:02 am: Now, iOS Mail. A bevvy of new features: rich text formatting, indentation control, draggable addresses, message flagging, search entire message (not just from and to), swipe to inbox.

11:06 am: Ah, here’s a slick new feature. A split keyboard for iPad that makes it easier to type.

11:07 am: Next up: PC Free. The mere mention of the phrase is met by so much cheering and applause, Forstall has to pause for a moment until it dies down.

11:07 am: “We know we’re selling into a lot of households that don’t have computers, but want iOS devices. So we’re making that possible.” How? You can now set up iOS devices on the devices themselves and software updates are available over the air.

11:09 am: “If you want to cut the cord, now you can.” Forstall concludes the PC Free demo and moves quickly to GameCenter.

Game Center currently has 50 million users, says Forstall, adding that XBox Live, which has been around for a lot longer, only has about 30 million.

New in Game Center, game discovery and game downloads from within Game Center. Also support for turn-based games right out of the box in iOS 5.

11:12 am: Next: Messaging. IPod touch and iPad users have been asking for a messaging service, so we’re giving them one. It’s called iMessage and it runs on all iOS devices–iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

IMessage includes delivery receipts and read receipts, and is supported over 3G and Wi-Fi. IMessages are pushed to iOS devices. They’re also encrypted.

11:14 am: In a nod to iOS’s new notifications system, iMessages are non-intrusive. They don’t interrupt game play, for example.

11:16 am: “We’re building this on our new push notification system so we know how to scale this,” says Forstall.

11:17 am: Forstall runs through some other new iOS features: AirPlay mirroring and Wi-Fi backup to iTunes are two of the big ones. Also new features for devs: Core Image, Customize UI…

11:18 am: All sounds great, but when will it arrive at market? A developer seed will be released today. iOS 5 itself will ship this fall. It will support everything from the iPhone 3Gs and up.

11:19 am: Forstall hands off to Jobs who returns to the stage to talk about iCloud. “We’ve been working on this for some time and we’re really excited about it….About 10 years ago, we realized that the PC was going to become the center of our digital lives, the place where we stored out photos and our music….And it did become that and it worked well for a while, but recently it’s broken down.”

11:21 am: Jobs continues noting how difficult it’s become to sync our media between various devices. “Keeping our devices in sync is driving us crazy,” he says. “But we have a great solution for this problem. We are going to demote the PC to just be a device. We are going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud.Now everything is in sync without even having to think about it.”

11:23 am: “ICloud stores your content in the cloud and automatically pushes it to all your devices. But it’s also completely integrated with your apps, so there’s nothing new to learn. It just all works. … Everything happens automatically and there is nothing new to learn.”

“Now I know what you’re thinking: why should we trust Apple,” Jobs says. “They’re the ones who brought us MobileMe. It wasn’t our finest hour–let me just say that–but we learned a lot from it.”

11:29 am: Three apps will be free–mail, contacts and calendar. Previously, they were part of $99 a year MobileMe service.

11:29 am: App Store and iBookstore will also allow access to previously purchased titles from the cloud.

There will also be a backup app with automatic backup of iOS devices to the cloud.

Daily backups of iCloud done automatically over Wi-Fi with camera roll, music, device settings and app data.

11:31 am: “We couldn’t stop there,” he said, noting there are three other apps.

“The first one is documents in the cloud,” Jobs said.

11:31 am: If you create a Pages document, on, say, an iPad, it automatically gets stored in the cloud and is automatically sent to other devices with Pages. It’s on all the iWork apps–Pages, Numbers and Keynote (including iPhone versions last week).

Demo from Roger Rosner, VP of iWork.

11:34 am: Jobs returns to the stage. “Today it is a real hassle to keep all your information and content up-to-date across all your devices,” he says. “And that’s partly because of the file system. We’ve been working for 10 years to get rid of the file system,” said Jobs. “When you try and teach someone to use a Mac, everything is fine, until you show them the file system. On iOS, you don’t have to think about it. But how do you move those documents around? Now you can.”

“iCloud keeps your important information and content up to date across all your devices. All of this happens automatically and wirelessly, and because it’s integrated into our apps. You don’t even need to think about it. It just works. ….Documents in the cloud really completes our document storage story. We can finally get rid of the file system. On iOS devices, you no longer have to worry about the file system. Documents in the cloud solves that problem for us.”

And it works not only across all iOS devices, but Macs and PCs too.

Apple plans to release iCloud storage APIs so developers can leverage iCloud in their own apps.

11:37 am: Another new cloud-based app: Photostream. “This may be my favorite iCloud app.”

“You take photos on any device and they will be automatically uploaded to the cloud where they will be stored and then automatically downloaded to all my other devices….You can also import photos and do the same thing…and we’ve built this right into the apps, so there’s nothing new to learn. You push a button and it’s right there.”

11:39 am: “On the Mac we built it right into iPhoto and on the PC, since they don’t have a photo app, we use the pictures folder….And we even built it into Apple TV. Apple TV talks directly to the PhotoStream service.”

11:40 am: Interesting. How’s Apple handling the no doubt significant memory issues around something like this?

On iOS devices, it’s storing the last 1000 photos, on Macs it’s storing them all. And it stores them for 30 days.

11:42 am: Eddy Cue takes the stage for a quick demo of Photostream. Using his iPhone, he snaps a few pictures of a toy Lightning McQueen car from Pixar’s “Cars” and bang they show up on his iPad and his Mac.

11:43 am: Jobs returns to the stage…

“So, photos you take or import/upload to iCloud, iCloud pushes them to all your devices, it stores them for 30 days, which is plenty of time….”

11:44 am: Moving on to iTunes.

“You know, it’s the same old story. I buy something on my iPhone and it’s not on my other devices. But I want it on my other devices.”

The first portion of Apple’s solution for that: from now on anything you’ve purchased from iTunes on one device can be re-downloaded to other devices.

11:46 am: Jobs: “And in the future, you can flip a switch in iTunes that will send any song you purchase on iTunes to all your devices.”

Interesting. There’s a new purchase tab in iTunes that lists all your iTunes purchases, tap the iCloud button and it sends the song to whatever device you’re viewing it on at no additional charge.

11:48 am: Buy a new song on iTunes and it automatically downloads to all your iOS devices. Eddy Cue demonstrates during an onstage demo, buying a song via iPhone that automatically appears on his iPAd as well.

11:49 am: iTunes in the cloud supports up to 10 devices.

11:50 am: Jobs: “We’ve added wireless backup to the cloud. Once daily, we’re gonna back up a lot of your important content to the cloud. If you ever get a new phone, everything will be loaded onto that phone automatically.”

Nice. All these new iCloud-based apps are free. “We want people to really see what this software can do, so we’re making it free,” says Jobs.

11:50 am: More from Jobs …

“So how do you get iCloud? When you buy an iOS device, you navigate to the iCloud screen, enter your ID and flick the switch.”

iCloud comes with 5GB storage–that doesn’t include photos or books.

When is it available? Today, says Jobs.

11:52 am: iTunes in the cloud is available today as an iTunes 4.3 beta.

11:52 am: “But there’s one more thing …”

11:53 am: “It’s a small thing and it pertains to iTunes in the cloud,” says Jobs. He continues, talking briefly about music that you may have purchased from non-iTunes sources.

Turns out there’s a way to get non-Itunes music into the iTunes cloud. It’s called iTunes Match. Apple scans and matches your library to its library of 18 million songs. And it upgrades it to 256 kbps AAC. Scanning should take a matter of minutes. Any music Apple doesn’t have in its library, it uploads from you. Cost: $24.99 a year.

11:56 am: Jobs notes that a comparative service from Amazon costs around $50 and requires an upload time of “weeks.”

11:57 am: “Now if you don’t think we’re serious about this, you’re wrong,” Jobs says, referring to a picture of the Maiden facility. This is our third data center and, as you can see, it’s rather large. Just to give you a feel for it’s size, see the dots on the roof? Those are people. And it’s full of stuff. Full of expensive stuff. … We are ready for our customers to start using iCloud and we are ready to put it into their hands.”

11:59 am: And that’s it. Thanks for joining us today.

Complete coverage:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110606/wwdc-2011-live-blog/feed/ 0 Apple Preview: New Looks for the Mac, the iPhone and for iTunes http://allthingsd.com/20110606/what-to-look-for-from-apples-lion-announcement/ http://allthingsd.com/20110606/what-to-look-for-from-apples-lion-announcement/#comments Mon, 06 Jun 2011 14:42:02 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=82960 Although the full details on Lion aren’t due to be spilled for another couple of hours, it is worth remembering that Apple has already given a preview of some of what to expect from the next version of Mac OS X.

Lion got its first mention at a “Back to the Mac” event last October. With Lion, due to arrive later this summer, Apple is trying to bring to the Mac several of the things popularized on the iPad, including full-screen apps, easy switching among programs and greater support for multi-touch gestures. It will also feature the Mac App Store built in, though Apple has already released this as an add-on. Other features, including auto-save and easier access to old versions of documents are detailed on Apple’s Web site.

Of course, the cat isn’t completely out of the bag. We still don’t know the full feature list, nor when to expect the software to arrive.

Less is known about iOS 5, the next version of the operating system that powers the iPad and iPhone, though that is also due to get a preview later this morning when CEO Steve Jobs takes the stage to kick off Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference. Popular rumors include improved notifications and perhaps greater Twitter integration.

Finally, Apple has also promised to talk about its iCloud service, which is expected to offer cloud-based music storage, among other features.

Of course, AllThingsD will have live coverage starting in just a bit, so keep it here for all the latest from WWDC.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110606/what-to-look-for-from-apples-lion-announcement/feed/ 0 Steve Jobs Says He'll Show Off Apple's "iCloud" June 6 http://allthingsd.com/20110531/steve-jobs-says-hell-show-off-apples-icloud-june-6-on/ http://allthingsd.com/20110531/steve-jobs-says-hell-show-off-apples-icloud-june-6-on/#comments Tue, 31 May 2011 12:58:58 +0000 Peter Kafka http://allthingsd.com/?p=79992 Apple just packed a lot of information into a four-paragraph press release:

  • Steve Jobs, who is still on medical leave, will be appearing at the company’s developers conference next week.
  • Apple will use the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote to show off Lion, its new desktop operating system.
  • It will also show off iOS 5, its new mobile operating system.
  • And it will also show off “iCloud,” which it describes as “Apple’s upcoming cloud services offering.”

None of that is shocking news, because much of it syncs up with the annual pre-WWDC speculation. Then again, most Apple pre-event speculation is wrong, so it’s nice of Apple to give us some guidance this time around.

I’m not terribly comfortable with Apple Kremlinology, but that said: It’s worth noting that Apple doesn’t say that Jobs will deliver the keynote, only that the CEO and a “team of Apple executives” will “kick off” the conference.  So that could mean all sorts of things, presentation-wise.

I also need to eat some crow. Last month I predicted that Apple would avoid using the word “cloud” to describe its cloud service, because the term “doesn’t mean squat to regular humans.”

And if Twitter allowed for longer messages, I’d have argued that since companies like Microsoft were using “cloud” in their marketing campaigns, Apple would have even less interest in using the word. Whoops.

And as for iCloud itself: We know that Apple intends to offer a cloud-based music locker service, which will offer more capabilities than the ones that Amazon and Google have launched. And that earlier this month it had signed up most, but not all, of the rights holders it would need to make that service work.

But that doesn’t mean Apple will roll out the service on Monday–it could simply announce it. Or it could wait until it has all its paperwork signed before it announces it at all.

In any case, it’s very unlikely that iCloud will only be about music. Apple has spent a lot of time and money building out an infrastructure that will be able to handle much more than an MP3 streaming service. My hunch is that the company will roll out whatever it has planned in stages. And that next week will just be a first glimpse.

Full text:

Apple to Unveil Next Generation Software at Keynote Address on Monday, June 6

CUPERTINO, California—May 31, 2011—Apple® CEO Steve Jobs and a team of Apple executives will kick off the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address on Monday, June 6 at 10:00 a.m. At the keynote, Apple will unveil its next generation software–Lion, the eighth major release of Mac OS® X; iOS 5, the next version of Apple’s advanced mobile operating system which powers the iPad®, iPhone® and iPod touch®; and iCloud®, Apple’s upcoming cloud services offering.

WWDC will feature more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers. Mac® developers will see and learn how to develop world-class Mac OS X Lion applications using its latest technologies and capabilities. Mobile developers will be able to explore the latest innovations and capabilities of iOS and learn how to greatly enhance the functionality, performance and design of their apps. All developers can bring their code to the labs and work with Apple engineers.

For more details, visit the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2011 website at developer.apple.com/wwdc.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110531/steve-jobs-says-hell-show-off-apples-icloud-june-6-on/feed/ 0 Mac Daddy Serlet's Surprise Departure More of a Planned Transition http://allthingsd.com/20110323/mac-daddy-serlets-surprise-departure-more-of-a-planned-transition/ http://allthingsd.com/20110323/mac-daddy-serlets-surprise-departure-more-of-a-planned-transition/#comments Wed, 23 Mar 2011 19:55:32 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=59063

“Inside Apple there is a system to search the source code for every product they ship. The idea is that when you need to track down the definition of that primitive method that keeps crashing on you, you just go to this site, type in the function name, and get the source laid out in front of you (nicely syntax highlighted, of course). Well, one day I got the idea to use this tool to search for people, instead of functions. For a while now the policy at Apple has been that engineer’s names don’t go in the public headers that ship…but there’s no rule about internal code that the outside world will never see. So I typed in “Bertrand Serlet” into the search, and the first thing that popped up?

malloc.c

Seriously! The rest of the list was equally impressive including the original implementation of NSObject, a bunch of CoreFoundation, and on, and on. Avi Tevanian often gets credit for the work that he did on Mach, but Bertrand was most of the brains behind Cocoa.”

— A former Apple engineer on Bertrand Serlet

So Bertrand Serlet, senior vice president of Mac software engineering and the guy who spent the past decade defining, redefining and iterating Mac OS X, is leaving Apple. Why now?

The party line says he’s decided “to focus less on products and more on science.” That’s a plausible explanation, given Serlet’s mad scientist airs and background, which includes stints at Xerox PARC and NeXT. And while the timing of the announcement might seem odd–Apple is ramping up for the release of Lion, the next iteration of OS X–the truth of the matter is that this is a planned transition.

There’s a reason Craig Federighi, who is to take over Serlet’s role, handled demo duties for Apple’s Lion preview demo last year (see video below). And there’s a reason Serlet has been selling off Apple shares recently. They’ve been preparing for this day, which sources tell me is not at all the result of a spat over differences in strategic direction or the diminishment of OS X’s importance to Apple.

“There’s no acrimony there,” one source close to the company told me. “Bertrand’s just decided it’s his time to move on. Avie (Tevanian, former senior vice president of software engineering) handed off to him and now he’s handing off to Craig. It’s just a changing of the guard.”

In other words, Serlet isn’t leaving because because Lion heralds some subsuming of OS X to iOS and the setting of his star at Apple. He’s leaving because he feels it’s time and likely because Lion seems a perfect monument to his legacy at Apple.

Below, video of Serlet and Federighi in action.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110323/mac-daddy-serlets-surprise-departure-more-of-a-planned-transition/feed/ 7