Hasta La Gadget!

This week Apple will be unleashing the Mountain Lion: Apple OS X 10.8, and aside from grabbing $20 from your dresser drawer, we’ve got three steps you’ll want to take in preparation for this upgrade to your computer. This software update is set to bring you everything we got a look at a few weeks ago in our first Mountain Lion hands-on and more, and all of it for a cool $19.99 – but not everyone can join in on the fun. The first step you’ll need to take is checking to make sure your machine can handle the update.

1. Requirements Check

System requirements for any machine hoping to update to Mountain Lion include the following three bits – and you’ll need em all:

• OS X v10.6.8 or later
• 2GB of memory
• 8GB of available space

In addition to these requirements, you’ll need to have each of them on a machine that Apple has officially stated they’ll be supporting. You can find out exactly which machine you currently own – if you do not already know – by clicking on the Apple logo in the upper left-hand corner of your display, going down to “About this Mac”. Once your About window has popped up, hit the “More Info…” button and you’ll see a summary of what your machine is and when it was made.

• iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
• MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
• MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
• Xserve (Early 2009)
• MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
• Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
• Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)

If you’re included in both categories above, you’ll be good to go! For those of you wondering which applications you’ve got that might not be compatible with the new system, there’s a webpage that’ll help you figure it all out: Roaring Apps.

2. Backup and Clean Out

Though it’s not completely necessary, it’s always a nice step to take before doing any large moves on your computer – clean it up and back it up. You’ve got a built-in bit of technology on your machine that will do part of your job for you – head to Applications, find your Utilities folder, open it up and find Disk Utility. This application will be able to verify and repair your disk permissions and the disk itself with only a couple of clicks.

You can also work with a lovely application called AppCleaner which will allow you to toss out all the applications you’ve got that’ve just been sitting there collecting dust for months – you don’t need that image editing app anymore, right? You’ve upgraded long ago. Now it’s time to toss the trash.

Finally you’ll want to backup your machine with OS X’s build-in ability to do so: Time Machine. This functionality allows you to simply plug in an external hard drive (which you should have always, so go get one if you don’t) and back up your system with a simple button click. This functionality also exists up in the left-hand corner of your display in that Apple logo – click it and look down the menu until you see System Preferences. Once you’re there, the Time Machine logo exists in the fourth row – it’s silver, green, and self-explanatory.

3. Update your system (before you load Mountain Lion)

You’ll want to head to Apple’s built-in system updater by heading to the Apple logo in the upper left-hand of your screen and finding “Software Update”. Here you’ll see you’re ability to update any and all system bits with a couple of button clicks. Easy as pie! You’ll then be completely ready to update to OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.

To grab Mountain Lion you’ll want to head to the App Store built-in to your machine – in your apps. Or you can head to Apple’s page for the software – which will also link you to the same place. The download will be rather large, so make sure you’re on either wired internet or you’ve got some time to spare while waiting for it to transfer to you over the web. And let us know how it goes!

Prepping for Mountain Lion: three steps you must take is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Apple just confirmed in its Q3 2012 earnings report that Mountain Lion is coming tomorrow. The hotly anticipated 10.8 version of OS X brings with it a host of new features, as we’ve expounded upon in the past. The upgrade will be just $19.99 (unless you’ve recently bought a new Mac — in which case it’ll be free) and will be available via download on the Mac App Store in 24 hours or less. Better start finding some disk space.

Filed under: Software

Apple to release OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion tomorrow originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jul 2012 16:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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About a week ago, we reported that thanks to reports of Apple Stores pulling overnight shifts on the 24^th of July, it seemed very likely that a release of OS X Mountain Lion could be taking place on the 25^th of July. Safe to say the rumored 19^th of July date did not pan out, leading us to believe that the 25^th does seem like a plausible candidate for a release. Thanks to the folks at 9to5 Mac, they have received a screenshot which shows that OS X Mountain Lion has been seeded to Apple Care representatives who are testing them on their main Macs at work as opposed to remote computing on special Macs which was how they have been testing the OS for the past few weeks.

This is the same Golden Master build that was seeded to developers earlier this month, and we can only assume that all of this is leading up to the 24^th of July which is when everything will be prepped for its release on the 25^th. Of course this is by no means a guarantee, but everything does seem to be pointing towards that possibility. Either way we will be keeping our eyes peeled, so be sure to check back with us on the 25^th of July to see if these reports have panned out!

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Apple to release OS X Mountain Lion on the 25th of July?, Apple beefs up security with Security Update for Mountain Lion Developer Preview 4,

Apple has been pushing out updates to Mountain Lion slowly but steadily, and now that the Gold Master version of the update has been seeded, a retail release is just around the corner. 9to5Mac believes that Apple may be planning to release the final version of Mountain Lion to the public on July 25th, pointing to information that shows the company is planning an “overnight” for retail stores on the 24th.

The website also points out how the date would coincide with Apple’s Q3 ‘12 earnings report. Last year, Apple held its Q3 ‘11 results on July 19th and announced the July 20th release date of OS X Lion during the call. Apple’s Q3 ‘12 results are due on July 24th, which may point towards a July 25th launch when paired with the “overnight” information.

So what does an “overnight” entail at an Apple store? The staff will essentially be installing Mountain Lion on all the Macs found in stores. When you think about how many Macs there are in Apple stores, you can imagine how long the process takes. 9to5Mac notes, however, that some retail stores haven’t heard about an “overnight”. Still, Apple has indicated that Mountain Lion will launch “in July”, so there’s not long to go.

Mountain Lion launch expected on July 25th is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Seemingly anyone who’s used an iPhone (and often the iPad) knows Tweetbot — it’s often the go-to Twitter app for those who prefer not to go the official route. It’s to those users’ delight, then, that Tapbots just posted a free alpha version of Tweetbot for Mac. As you’d anticipate, it’s an attempt to bring much of the app’s power user mojo to the desktop world: you can check just retweets of your content, mute overly chatty people or hashtags, and otherwise get more control than just watching your stream drift by. It’s even (mostly) Retina-ready for that new MacBook Pro. Alpha does mean that there will be a fair amount of things missing; it won’t tap into iCloud or Mountain Lion’s Notification Center until it’s official, for example. But if you’re willing to deal with that and a few potential bugs, it may be time to brush other apps aside — just note that you’ll need Mountain Lion or newer when the app is ready to face the Mac App Store, even though it works with Lion today.

We’ve had a quick spin with the app, and it largely does what it says on the tin: it’s Tweetbot, on the Mac. The primary differences are changes that make sense when a mouse pointer and a larger screen area are available. You can reply, retweet, or view whole conversations from buttons that appear as you hover, rather than using the myriad taps and swipes of the iOS apps. It’s a wonderfully minimalist app, if that’s your thing, and you can open multiple windows (currently through a keyboard shortcut) to get some of that TweetDeck-style power user layout. Our main gripe? Tweetbot on the Mac always updates in a live stream, and there’s no option for intervals; if you follow a lot of people, there’s a chance you might miss something. Still, for an alpha, it’s a decidedly polished and useful effort that doesn’t leave us wanting like a few clients, including Twitter’s own.

Filed under: Internet, Software

Tweetbot for Mac arrives as free alpha, we give a quick hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 13:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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