Consomac has discovered that the OS X Lion Messages Beta that was released yesterday will not be a permanent feature for Lion users. Messages is the new iMessage-compatible version of iChat that will be included in OS X Mountain Lion. Apple also released a public beta version for OS X Lion users to try the app in the meanwhile.

Based on the text strings found in the App's resources, it has been revealed that Messages will no longer be available for Lion users once the beta expires. Instead, Apple tells users to visit the App Store to purchase OS X Mountain Lion to continue to use Messages:

Thank you for participating in the Messages Beta program. With the inclusion of Messages in OS X Mountain Lion, the Messages Beta program has ended.

To continue using Messages, please visit the Mac App Store and purchase OS X Mountain Lion.

OS X Mountain Lion will be a paid update and is expected to be released in late summer.

There has been plenty of evidence that Apple is planning for ultra high resolution Mac displays. In July 2011, we first detailed the existence of a new "HiDPI" mode in OS X Lion. This HiDPI mode was put in place in anticipation of the day that Macs would have double-resolution (4x the number of pixels) "Retina" Displays.



In iOS, Developers can include high resolution versions of their artwork designated by the "@2x" suffix. From the developer documentation:

The inclusion of the @2x modifier for the high-resolution image is new and lets the system know that the image is the high-resolution variant of the standard image.

A look at some of the resources from Apple's new Messages app shows several graphics that come in multi-part TIFFs that include regular and double resolution versions. In fact, if you look at the information embedded within the images, you can see the resources were at one point named in the same "@2x" convention. So, it seems Apple's Messages App is already building in support for Retina displays on the Mac.

Rumors have even suggested that we might see our first Retina Display Macs in 2012. One early report claimed Apple was working on a 2880x1800 MacBook Pro for the middle of this year. As on the iPhone, Apple's plan was to make it easier on developers to jump to exactly 2x the linear resolution. For example, a 1440x900 pixel screen would go straight to 2880x1800 pixels. This would allow applications to automatically scale up by a factor of two without necessarily having to include high resolution artwork. Apple already made such a transition when going from the iPhone 3GS's screen (320x480) to the iPhone 4's Retina Display (640x960).

Earlier today, Apple announced the developer preview for OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. OS X 10.8 offers a number of new features we've detailed before.

InsanelyGreatMac has put together this nice walkthrough video of OS X AirPlay mirroring. That feature allows you to transmit your OS X desktop onto your Apple TV over Wi-Fi:



Meanwhile, CultofMac does a walkthrough of 30 other features in OS X 10.8. Some previously listed, and some new:

There's more discussion on OS X Mountain Lion in our forums.

BlogdoiPhone claims to have somehow obtained a "pre-GM" version of iOS 5.1. GM refers to Golden Master version of the software which is typically the final production version.


Only two new minor findings have been discovered. One is an ever-present camera icon on the lock screen of iOS 5.1. In present versions, the camera button only appears if you double-tap the home button. In this version of iOS 5.1, the camera icon is there at all times, but instead of a button, it's a slider.


Sliding up on the camera icon seems to reveal the Camera app that allows you to take photos without fully unlocking the iPhone. Presumably, this is quicker than the existing solution which actually requires the Camera app to be launched.

The other finding is the presence of a Japanese language setting in Siri. This has been rumored to be an impending feature for Siri.

Apple has been seeding developers with versions of iOS 5.1 beta for some time, but the last release was January 9th. Apple may be waiting to release iOS 5.1 alongside the new iPad which is expected on March 7th. We're not certain about the legitimacy of BlogdoiPhone's screenshots, but carriers presumably do get early builds that may not make it into developer betas.

Apple surprised everyone this morning with a developer preview of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. The new release brings a number of iOS-like features to the Mac, as detailed in this video:



- Messages - new version of iChat with iMessage support
- Reminders - create lists and tasks, synced via iCloud
- Notes - create notes, synced via iCloud
- Notification Center - on screen pop-up notifications
- Share Sheets - share buttons to email, tweet, message, etc...
- Game Center - social gaming center for Mac
- AirPlay Mirroring - broadcast your Mac's screen to your Apple TV

Apple also released a public beta of the Messages App for OS X Lion users and is available today.

Apple did give some of the media early previews of Mountain Lion, which we suspect may have been the unusual media event that had been predicted. OS X Mountain Lion is available to registered developers today, and will be go on sale in late summer 2012.

Roundup of our earlier coverage:

- OS X Mountain Lion's Documents in the Cloud Simplifies File Access Across Devices
- Apple Officially Drops 'Mac' Name from OS X Mountain Lion
- Software Update to Move Inside Mac App Store in OS X Mountain Lion
- OS X Mountain Lion Limits Apps to Mac App Store, Signed Apps by Default
- OS X Mountain Lion Drops Support for Many 2006-2008 Macs with Integrated Graphics
- OS X Mountain Lion to Be True Mac App Store Exclusive

We've also opened an OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion forum for questions and discussions about Apple's new operating system.

With developers needing to prepare for Apple's new Gatekeeper feature in OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, Apple has revealed that the functionality is already baked into OS X 10.7.3 but hidden by default. Apple has instructed developers that they can enable Gatekeeper on OS X 10.7.3 from the command line in order to test the functionality.

Mac OS X users will soon have the option of turning on Gatekeeper, a new Mac OS X security feature. When a user does this, the system provides an additional measure of safety: it blocks that user from opening newly-downloaded applications that are not Developer ID–signed. In this scenario, the same user is easily able to launch downloaded applications that are Developer ID–signed.

By default, Gatekeeper is not enabled in Mac OS X v10.7.3. For testing purposes, you can turn it on by using the new Mac OS X system policy control command-line tool, spctl(8).

Running the command "sudo spctl --enable" in Terminal will enable Gatekeeper on OS X 10.7.3, and the system can be turned off by replacing "enable" with "disable". With the system enabled, developers can then test how their applications will behave on systems using Gatekeeper.


Warning for non-signed application download with Gatekeeper activated on OS X 10.7.3

Regular users obviously would have little use for activating Gatekeeper on their Lion systems at the present time, as developers have not yet had a chance to begin distributing updated versions of their applications integrating the new Developer-ID functionality. But its inclusion in OS X 10.7.3 is an interesting tidbit that will help developers test their applications with the new program and explains why the new Xcode 4.3 that supports Developer-ID requires OS X 10.7.3.

In another sign of Apple's desire to quickly implement Gatekeeper, Panic's Cabel Sasser notes that Apple contacted select developers last week to invite them to learn more about the feature.

One of the major new features in OS X Mountain Lion is greater integration with iCloud, with one of the additions being new Documents in the Cloud functionality. As noted by John Gruber, the feature expands significantly on the existing feature that allows limited syncing and transfer of iWork documents across their iOS devices and Macs.

iCloud document storage, and the biggest change to Open and Save dialog boxes in the 28-year history of the Mac. Mac App Store apps effectively have two modes for opening/saving documents: iCloud or the traditional local hierarchical file system. The traditional way is mostly unchanged from Lion (and, really, from all previous versions of Mac OS X). The iCloud way is visually distinctive: it looks like the iPad springboard — linen background, iOS-style one-level-only drag-one-on-top-of-another-to-create-one “foldersâ€. It’s not a replacement of traditional Mac file management and organization. It’s a radically simplified alternative.

iCloud Documents in Pages (Source: Pocket-lint)

Apple is of course already extending this functionality beyond iWork in OS X Mountain Lion, with the iCloud file storage showing up in other apps such as TextEdit. Apple is also releasing APIs to allow third-party apps to take advantage of the feature.


iCloud Document within a folder in TextEdit

The functionality is naturally being compared to that of Dropbox, which allows users to save files directly to their Dropbox accounts for access anywhere, but Apple's new iCloud solution offers the advantage of displaying only those files intended for use with the app being used, helping to filter the list of documents and offering iOS-like folder organization of files.

With the launch of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion in the middle of last year, Apple was clearly trending towards dropping the 'Mac' From 'Mac OS X', which has been the name of the Macintosh operating system for more than 10 years.

Though it still used the 'Mac OS X' naming scheme in press releases, Apple called the new system 'OS X Lion' on both the main product webpage and the Mac App Store product page [Direct Link].


As The Verge points out, Apple has completed the transition to 'OS X' across both the Mountain Lion product pages, and the press release announcing the developer preview.

We confirmed the official name change with Apple, who told us that the preferred full name is "OS X Mountain Lion".

The Macintosh (as Tim Cook prefers to call it) brand is still alive and well, though Apple seems to be focusing that term on hardware, instead of software.

Lion was the beginning of a unification of sorts between the Mac OS and iOS. It was, as Steve Jobs put it, what would happen if a MacBook Air and an iPad "hooked up". iOS is based on Mac OS X and, at a fundamental level, there are more similarities than differences between the two operating systems. Dropping 'Mac' completely from the name of the OS solidifies the subtle, but important, distinction between hardware and software.

OS X Mountain Lion is expected to be released later this year.

Apple's Software Update has long been the primary method for users updating their systems, with the tool accessible through the Apple icon in the menu bar offering automatic weekly checks for new software updates from Apple. But as shown by iClarified, Apple is doing away with the standalone Software Update tool in OS X Mountain Lion and integrating it directly into the Mac App Store.


Pocket-lint has more on Apple's decision:

Currently Apple's Software Update system in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and Mac OS X 10.7 Lion force users to use a dedicated update procedure that constantly checks to see if updates are available. Apple now feels, it seems, that this way of doing things might be slightly confusing to users coming from an iPhone or iPad who are used to seeing updates for apps appear in the App Store rather than buried elsewhere.

Explaining to Pocket-lint in a behind-closed-doors briefing for the new developer preview of Mac OS X Mountain Lion, Apple has told us that the new method will offer updates to the OS and Apple applications in a similar way to how it does on iOS via the App Store, but in this case via the Mac App Store.

The report notes that the move appears to require that users sign up for an Apple ID if they have not done so already in order to access the updates, and also encourages them to keep the Mac App Store within easy access in their Docks so that they will notice badges informing them of available updates.

One of the significant new features in OS X Mountain Lion is Gatekeeper, a new security system to help keep users from installing nefarious applications on their machines.

The new system relies not only on Mac App Store distribution as means of vetting apps, but also on a new "identified developer" program under which developers distributing their applications outside of the Mac App Store can register with Apple and receive a personalized certificate they can use to sign their applications. Apple can then use that system to track developers and disable their certificates if malicious activity is detected.


As Macworld notes in its review of Gatekeeper, OS X Mountain Lion's default setting will be to only allow initial launching of apps either downloaded from the Mac App Store or which are digitally signed under Apple's identified developer program. Users will be able to access Gatekeeper's settings in the Security & Privacy section of System Preferences, where they will also be able to choose from an even stricter setting that will allow for installation of Mac App Store apps only or a looser setting that will allow all applications to be installed and launched.

Located in the General tab of the Security & Privacy preference pane is a setting called “Allow applications downloaded from,†with three options:

Anywhere: This choice uses the same set of rules as every previous version of Mac OS X. If an app isn’t known malware and you approve it, it opens.

Mac App Store: When this choice is selected, any apps not downloaded from the Mac App Store will be rejected when you try to launch them.

Mac App Store and identified developers: This is the new default setting in Mountain Lion. In addition to Mac App Store apps, it also allows any third-party apps that have been signed by an identified developer to run.

For users on the default setting, they can bypass the initial Gatekeeper check the first time they launch an unsigned third-party app by right clicking on the app itself and choosing the "Open" command. Once the application has been opened one time, Gatekeeper no longer has any control over it.

As for apps that are signed by an identified developer, Macworld notes that OS X Mountain Lion will perform a daily check with Apple's servers for blacklisted developer signatures, and if an app from a blacklisted developer is installed on the user's system it will not open.

Importantly, Apple's identified developer program does not involve any sort of vetting on Apple's part, as certificates are automatically issued upon request and can be freely used by the developers. But what the program does do is provide a way for Apple to link specific developers to specific apps and use Gatekeeper to revoke application functionality should a developer be discovered to be distributing malware.

Alongside today's OS X Mountain Lion news, Apple released a public beta version of its new Messages app for OS X for existing users. Set to replace iChat in OS X Mountain Lion, the new Messages app integrates features of iChat and FaceTime and adds compatibility with the iMessages service introduced for iOS last year.

Download Messages Beta and get a taste of what’s coming in OS X Mountain Lion. When you install Messages, it replaces iChat. But iChat services will continue to work. And Messages brings iMessage to the Mac — just like on iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch running iOS 5. Here are the features you can expect with Messages:

- Send unlimited iMessages to any Mac, iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch.
- Start an iMessage conversation on your Mac and continue it on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch.
- Send photos, videos, attachments, contacts, locations, and more.
- Launch a FaceTime video call and bring the conversation face-to-face.
- Messages supports iMessage, AIM, Yahoo!, Google Talk, and Jabber accounts.

Update: Apple's servers appear to be overwhelmed at the moment, with the download button for the Messages beta showing an error message. The app is, however, still available via direct download (63.8 MB).

Update 2: The Messages download button is now operating properly.

Apple today announced that it has released the first developer preview of the company's next-generation operating system, named OS X Mountain Lion. The release will bring over 100 new features, including a number of those familiar to iOS users such as Messages, Notes, Reminders, Game Center, Notification Center, Twitter integration, and AirPlay Mirroring. The first developer preview is available to registered developers today, with a public launch through the Mac App Store scheduled for late this summer.

“The Mac is on a roll, growing faster than the PC for 23 straight quarters, and with Mountain Lion things get even better,†said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The developer preview of Mountain Lion comes just seven months after the incredibly successful release of Lion and sets a rapid pace of development for the world’s most advanced personal computer operating system.â€

OS X Mountain Lion included deeper integration with iCloud to automatically configure services like Mail, FaceTime, and Find My Mac, while iCloud Documents handles automatic push syncing of documents across devices. Security is also a focus in the upcoming release, with a new feature called Gatekeeper helping users to specify from which sources apps may be installed on their computers.


Finally, Apple is continuing its emphasis on expanding into China with substantial improvements for Chinese users included enhanced Chinese input methods and the addition of Baidu as a search engine option. Integration with Chinese email and video hosting sites as well as the Sina weibo microblogging service is also included.

Advance previews of OS X Mountain Lion are available from a number of sources:

- The Loop
- Macworld
- Engadget
- The Verge
- AllThingsD
- CNET
- The Wall Street Journal's interview with Tim Cook

And perhaps most interestingly, Daring Fireball's John Gruber relates the private briefing he received from Phil Schiller and other Apple executives.