Hasta La Gadget!

For ‘developers’ willing to shell out $99 for an annual membership in Apple’s group of Mac OS app creators, Lion is old news already. But the rest of you can finally download Apple’s latest operating system — Mac OS 10.7 — by hitting up the App Store on your Snow Leopard (10.6.8)-equipped Mac, assuming it’s powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, i5 or i7 processor. From our experience with the pre-release version, the 4GB download could take over an hour, even on a high-speed connection, but once you have the installer in hand the upgrade process itself should be complete in about 20 minutes. As Apple previously announced, those with slower connections can also download Lion at an Apple retail store, and the company’s also now revealed that it will be offering it on a USB thumb drive as well, which will be available through its online store later this August for $69 (yes, that’s a $40 premium). We’ll be posting a full review of Lion later this week, but you can check out our hands-on preview for a sneak peek at Apple’s latest consumer OS in the meantime.

Continue reading Apple Mac OS X Lion available now in the App Store

Apple Mac OS X Lion available now in the App Store originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 08:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well it looks like the cat’s finally out of the bag virtual box. Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer just confirmed during today’s earnings call that Mac OS 10.7 is due to hit the Mac App Store tomorrow, making Lion available as a 4GB download for $30. The new operating system packs 250 new features, including an iOS-like app launcher, multi-touch gestures, AirDrop for direct file sharing, and system-wide Resume. More enhancements that will feel particularly familiar to iOS users include a new version of Mail with conversation view, and reverse touchpad scrolling. We’ll have a full review of Lion later this week, but check out our hands-on preview for our initial impressions. Want to collaborate on projects with multiple machines? Lion Server will also be available as a $50 download — for those of you that need to support an entire pride.

Apple: Mac OS X Lion to hit the App Store tomorrow originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google+ looks… a little different. Almost as if it didn’t even come from Google. And those drag-and-drop circles? Luscious. Turns out, there’s a reason for everything, and he goes by Andy Hertzfeld. According to an investigative piece put up by Wired, Andy’s actually credited as being the “original Mac guy,” responsible for software and user interface design while working for Apple between 1979 and 1984. He picked up a new role at Goog in 2005, but according to the report, “he had previously felt constrained because its design standards didn’t allow for individual creativity.” That all changed with Emerald Sea, a diddy that would eventually become known as the search giant’s most ambitious foray yet into the wide world of social networking. It’s bruited that Andy was given the freedom to go wild whilst designing Google+, and it shows — the interface throughout is about as intuitive as one could ever hope. ‘Course, it takes more than good design to seal a project, but there’s no doubt that this is one heck of a start. The rest of the story? Tucked away in that source link, just south of here.

Andy Hertzfeld, ‘former Macintosh wizard,’ designed the Google+ Project originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 10:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It looks like Apple’s getting another fix in before Lion slinks on to the scene. Mac OS X 10.6.8 is now available for download, and brings with it a number of “general operating system fixes,” including further support for IPv6, improved VPN reliability, and removal of known variants of Mac Defender. It also promises to fix a glitch that has Preview randomly shutting down, and will get the App Store ready to roar for when Lion lands on the scene. We’re getting it going on our laptop at home. If you’ve done the same, let us know how it’s working out for you.

Mac OS X 10.6.8 update now available originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mac users certainly have quite a few more gaming options these days than they once did, and they can now also add Mad Catz’s series of Cyborg R.A.T. gaming mice to that list. The company finally released some Mac drivers for the complete range of mice today, which will let you take advantage of all the advanced features Windows users are already accustomed to. Those still putting off that Snow Leopard update will have to take care of that first, however, as the drivers won’t accept anything less.

Mad Catz brings Mac support to R.A.T. gaming mice originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jun 2011 12:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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