Apple : OS X Mountain Lion compatibility: will your Mac take it? |
- OS X Mountain Lion compatibility: will your Mac take it?
- Week in Tech: Apple this week: more blame than biscuits
- TechRadar Deals: Today's deal: 55% off a year's subscription to MacFormat magazine
- Hands on: Sony RDP-XA900iP review
- Tim Cook: iOS, OS X convergence will continue
- iPad tablet market share down to 57 per cent
| OS X Mountain Lion compatibility: will your Mac take it? Posted:  Apple has announced OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, the next step in what is a clear plan to iOS-ify the Mac. But will your current Mac take the update? The first thing to know is that you will definitely need to have OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or later because you'll need to download it via the Mac App Store. We're not yet sure whether it's a requirement that you have OS X 10.7 Lion, though we wouldn't be too surprised. OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard phased out support for PowerPC processors, so once again things are Intel-only. Here's the full list of Macs and OS X 10.8 compatibility:
Unfortunately those Macs that won't be able to upgrade are numerous, including all the plastic model MacBooks before 2008, pre mid 2007 MacBook Pros and Mac Mini/iMac and most notably the original MacBook Air. You know, the one that came out of that famous envelope. In terms of graphics support this means anything with the ATI Radeon X1600 or an Intel GMA 950 or x3100 integrated graphics card. Even the 2006 and 2007 versions of the Mac Pro won't be able to install OS X 10.8 Obviously all these details are based on the OS X 10.8 Developer Preview and may change for the full release. One thing's for sure - our G4 PowerBook is looking decidedly old now.
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| Week in Tech: Apple this week: more blame than biscuits Posted:  Running Apple must be a double-edged sword, we reckon. On the one hand the world's geeks worship you and you've enough cash to buy really nice biscuits, but on the other you keep getting the blame for other people's mistakes. This week, it's been more blame than biscuits. First up there was Path, the hotly tipped social-networking app. When it emerged that the app was surreptitiously copying users' entire address books to its servers, the row reached the giddy heights of the US Congress - although asking Apple to explain Path's actions is rather like demanding B&Q takes responsibility when somebody whacks you with a plank of wood. In fairness the Path debacle does expose a flaw in iOS: where apps using location services have to get your permission to find out anything about you, apps wanting access to your contacts don't. Apple says that's a violation of its policies: "Apps that collect or transmit a user's contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines," spokesperson Tom Neumayr says - and that it'll provide a software fix to prevent it from happening again. Path, meanwhile, has said sorry and erased the data from its servers. Apple has also been getting it in the neck for the behaviour of its subcontractors in China, and this week Tim Cook "hit back" at the suggestion that Apple products weren't assembled in rainbows by unicorns but were, in fact, assembled in factories by unhappy humans. "Our commitment is simple," Cook says: "Every worker has the right to a fair and safe work environment, free of discrimination, where they can earn competitive wages and they can voice their concerns freely." Cook has invited the Fair Labor Association to inspect Apple's subcontractors, and recently emailed Apple employees to rebut a New York Times story that alleged unsafe and oppressive working conditions. Cook's comments came during his keynote speech at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, where he also responded to a question about tablets with a dig at Apple's rivals. "A cheap product might sell some units," Cook said, but "then they get it home and use it, and the joy is gone... you don't keep remembering 'I got a good deal' because you hate it!" Don't buy him an AndyPad. He won't thank you for it. While Tim Cook is looking to the future, some Apple watchers are giggling at the past: according to newly declassified FBI files, Steve Jobs was clever, complicated and something of a fibber. We can't wait for the FBI to declassify some more documents so we can discover that rain is wet, bricks are heavy and that Angelina Jolie is quite good looking. But it wasn't all badApple, of course, is thinking a lot about tablets because it's gearing up for the launch of the iPad 3, while it also took the opportunity to preview OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion this week. Amid rumours that it's testing an eight-inch iPad - the launch of which is scoring a low "it's possible" on our trademarked rumour-o-meter because Apple tests all kinds of things all the time without necessarily turning them into shipping products - we're pretty sure that the iPad 3 will be launched on 7 March with a retina display. A new, quad-core processor is probable but not definite, and if the rumoured 4G/LTE model is incoming then we'd expect a significantly more powerful battery to cope with 4G's notorious thirst. Here in the UK we'll get the battery but not the radio: at the time of writing, Brits have more chance of connecting via tin cans tied with string than they have of spotting a 4G network in the wild. |
| TechRadar Deals: Today's deal: 55% off a year's subscription to MacFormat magazine Posted:  MacFormat, from the same publisher as TechRadar, is the UK's best-selling Mac magazine, full of practical, authoritative and passionate Mac advice. It's dedicated to covering everything Apple does, including the Mac, iPad and iPhone. Today's exclusive offer is a huge 55% off a year's subscription to MacFormat magazine with you paying just £2.69 per issue. That's just £34.99 for 13 issues. Every issue is packed with reviews of the latest Mac kit, help and advice on all your favourite Apple apps and the latest demos. We'll make sure you get more from your Mac - guaranteed! Head over to TechRadar Deals to take advantage of this offer but hurry – it's limited to the first 100 sales. About TechRadar dealsTechRadar Deals, powered by TechRadar.com, is a service for TechRadar readers. This new and exciting service, open to our UK users, is designed to bring you massive discounts on all sorts of products, services and events that are highly relevant to tech and gadget fans. Here's how it works…The TechRadar Deals site offers fantastic deals with discounts of 50% or more off exclusive technology-related deals. Once you're at our deals site you can get in on the deal by simply clicking 'Buy'. After your purchase, your voucher will be emailed to you within minutes or you can log into your account to locate your voucher. Simple and secure. You can also sign up for our email newsletter and we will then email you regular deals that are at least 50% off goods and services from big name brands. Visit TechRadarDeals.com to check out today's deal. |
| Hands on: Sony RDP-XA900iP review Posted:  Sony sells more iPod docks in the UK than any other brand, and it launched its new XA900 flagship model at CES last month. However, it isn't until now that anyone has been able to actually have a proper listen and we can report that it's a luscious beast to be sure. TechRadar was given a demo during a week with Sony in Tokyo, and we can report it may be the best sounding iPod dock ever created.
While the B&W Zeppelin might claim to be the audiophile's dock of choice at the moment, we cannot wait to give this dock a proper test to see exactly how it stacks up in real-world conditions. It utilizes Sony's brand new magnetic fluid speakers to produce absolutely superb sound. We heard several tracks including the Adele track 'Someone Like You' which Sony actually used to tune and develop the device.
We're not the biggest fans of Adele, but the unique way that this particular song is recorded makes it an excellent demo track. It's also network compatible and can utilise AirPlay to play wirelessly form an iPhone even when it's not docked, and Bluetooth is included as well.
Highs, lows and midrange were handled with considerable excellence, and so if you're interested in buying one later this year you might want to start saving now. There is no official Sony RDP-XA900iP price yet, but we understand it will cost somewhere in the region of £499.
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| Tim Cook: iOS, OS X convergence will continue Posted:  Apple CEO Tim Cook says that the company will continue to bridge the gap between iOS and Mac OS X by integrating more popular features from the mobile operating system. Wednesday's launch of Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, which will arrive this summer, brings more functionality from iOS, including AirPlay Mirroring, a new Messaging app and notifications. Cook told the Wall Street Journal that Apple will keep converging the two operating systems in future versions to give users the features they love from the iPhone and iPad ecosystem. He said: "We see that people are in love with a lot of apps and functionality [on the iPhone]. Anywhere where that makes sense, we are going to move that over to Mac." All roads lead to a touchscreen Mac?The feeling among many industry observers is that the two operating systems will eventually meet as one if Apple decides to launch a touchscreen MacBook or iMac computer. Cook also refused to rule out that future Mac devices will run off the same chipset as mobile devices like the iPad and iPhone. While Cook told the WSJ that the tablet and laptop markets will continue to exist as separate entities, he added: "We think about everything. We don't close things off." Check out our Mac OS X Mountain Lion: What you need to know rundown to discover the 100+ new features coming in summer 2012. |
| iPad tablet market share down to 57 per cent Posted:  Apple's share of the tablet market slumped from 64 per cent to 57 per cent in the last three months of 2011, according to figures released on Thursday. Research firm iSuppli attributes the fall to the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet, which it says sold 3.9 million devices in the six weeks leading up to Christmas following its November launch. The popularity of the $200 Android tablet saw Amazon gain an impressive 14 per cent of the entire tablet market at this very early stage of its lifespan. The Kindle Fire easily eclipsed the next placed Samsung Galaxy Tab (8 per cent) and the Barnes and Noble Nook (7 per cent). Not necessarily bad news for AppleDespite the rise of the Kindle Fire, it appears that it's a case of more people adopting lower-priced tablets rather than less people buying iPads. Apple posted record sales figures of 15.4m during Q4 of 2011, so while the Kindle Fire is cutting into its overall share of the market, those ever-rising sales figures are all that will concern Tim Cook for the time being. Should Amazon launch a larger 10-inch tablet, with a more premium price-point and feature set, then we may get a legitimate competition between Amazon and Apple. Until that point, both companies seem to be doing just fine within their own markets. |
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