Only four days have passed since the release of Mountain Lion and downloads already scored 3 million. OS X 10.8 is full of surprises; lots of hidden features that can make a Mac user’s life easier are hidden all over the system. This article will help users discover practical features and other tips and tricks for Mountain Lion.
Once with yesterday’s release of Mountain Lion OS X, Apple released also some small improvements to the Pages, Numbers, Keynote and iTunes U iOS apps, in order to enhance the compatibility with iCloud, sharing and Mountain Lion.
The new 1.6.1 versions of Pages, Numbers and Keynote are turning syncing via iCloud into an easy and automatic process. Any change made in iOS to a document, spreadsheet, or presentation becomes automatically available on your Mac. The syncing requires Pages 4.2, Numbers 2.2, and Keynote 5.2 installed on a Mac with OS X Mountain Lion.
With iTunes U 1.2 you can now take notes and check other posts and materials while watching or listening to a lecture. Also, one can share courses via Twitter, Mail and Messages.
Philips Speech Processing has announced their launch of professional dictation and transcription version for Mac operating system.
SpeechExec4Mac used in combination with DPMConnect4 Mac, allows users of the Philips Digital Pocket Memo to download dictation to their company network and pay them back on their Macs.
Apple has plans of porting its own Dictation solution to the latest generation of OS X Mountain Lion for Mac as announced at WWDC, so whenever there is the option of text input on the desktop you’ll get the possibility of speaking to type, being ideal for taking notes or storing ideas for later developing. 
Philips argues that their product is quite different from the rest of professional dictation software due to the fact that it supports the DSS Pro file format from all International Voice Association vendors in a Mac environment. Described as an open system, SpeechExec4Mac allows every user the possibility of choosing their individual workflow settings. The software shares the license with its Windows-based equivalent so it copes with other Windows-based SpeechExec apps and integrates into mixed environments.
June 2012 is the month that releases the app, being available on all SpeechExec DVDs, shipped with all Digital Pocket Memo.
Craig Fedderighi states:
“Mountain Lion is a major new release with hundreds of new features. I’m going to detail just 8, and we’re starting with iCloud.”
“With Mountain Lion we built support for iCloud right in. When you sign in with your account, we configure all of your apps and your content is up to date across devices.”
“And we introduce three new apps: messages, reminders, and notes.”
“We’re also bringing integration with your documents; with a feature we’re calling Documents in the Cloud.”
“When you launch Pages, it shows all the docs you have in the cloud. And it makes these available across all of your devices.”
“Next is sharing. Links, images, video… and now in Mountain Lion you can share right from the app where you’re working. There’s a share button on the toolbar. Twitter… just like that.”
“Notifications also support internet notifications from services like Twitter.”
Apple’s man introduces Power Nap, a new app that keeps your Mac up to date while it sleeps and automatically refreshes data and it’s power efficient. Next feature introduced as expected is AirPlay mirroring, Game Center (support turn based and head-to-head gaming, across platforms), in Safari -support for Baidu.
It will be available in July for $19.99. 
Siri, the personal virtual assistant and its alternative, Voice Dictation are the most wanted gestures on gadgets. Siri was the special element that made the iPhone 4S so popular and although Voice Dictation does not offer the same advantages as Siri, many iPad users we’re glad to have it and took full advantage of it. Many argue that Apple used the dictation feature in the new iPad to test Siri’s possible existence on it. 
Now, rumors wonder around that the new operating system that would be released this June at WWDC , OS X Mountain Lion, will provide Voice Dictation. Dictation practically types with a virtual keyboard whatever the user has said. On iPhone 4S and the latest generation of iPad, users activate dictation by tapping the microphone key on the virtual keyboard but since Macs do not support virtual keyboards with a microphone-labeled key, users would have to click both command keys to start voice input (Cmd-Cmd).
The world Wide Developers’ Conference will take place from June 11-15 in San Francisco. The event will highlight developers’ interests in software and operating systems releases, especially on iOS 6 and OS X 10.8.
We highlighted in a previous article about the possible features that may rock iOS 6, namely Siri API, Voice transcription, Facebook Integration, Multitasking, Clearing Notifications and much more.
OS X Mountain Lion is also expected to be launched at this year’s WWDC. According to an unnamed source the OS X release is only a few weeks from its launch because the Apple Company is hiring AppleCare personnel from the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) that have been trained on the OS X 10.8. Due to Apple’s secrecy, they usually gather together training personnel shortly before their release. Also the World Wide Developers’ Conference has a habit in coming with releases of OS X. the operating system was first announced on 16 February, coming with major features like Messages, Airplay Mirroring, iCloud, Notification Center and many more. It’s described to be Inspired by iPad and re-imagined for Mac. 
Most of the OS X apps were updated for Apple’s new platform, Mountain Lion. Few but accurate improvements, such as a new look to match Mountain Lion, were provided also for the Web browser Safari.
Most of the changes are given by the new toolbar, which was replaced with a long field where you can type an URL or a key word of your search; under this field the browser will display hints according to your search while typing. The URL became more accessible because it got rid of the “http//” beginning.
The Share button, which is a Mountain Lion hallmark, appears to the left of the search bar. Using it one can add bookmarks and items to the Reading List, email a page or share a link on iMessage or Twitter. At the right of the bar, the RSS button was completely removed, even from Mail, and replaced with a Reader button.
Changes were made also for the user privacy policy, for example the feature “Tell websites not to track me” that appears in a box under Privacy. According to Macworld, you can no longer find an option to set fonts and sizes for this version of Safari, because the Web relies more on CSS styling.
Nevertheless, Safari got a new and shiny aspect, but we will have to wait until this summer and see how Safari and Mountain Lion bond.
Source: Macworld
Apple ceased to send Gizmodo invitations to its media events since the iPhone 4 scandal, when a stolen prototype of the device got into Gizmodo’s possession; instead of returning it to the company, the blog thoroughly described the device, unveiling Apple’s future product.
It happen the same to The New York Times; the editorial was not invited at the prerelease presentation of OS X Mountain Lion. Apple sent invitations to all media, starting with great editorials and ending with popular IT blogs, and even to independent bloggers.
The New York Times published an article in which an anonymous Apple executive claimed that the company is indifferent to the horrible working conditions in China factories:
“We’ve known about labor abuses in some factories for four years, and they’re still going on,” “Why? Because the system works for us. Suppliers would change everything tomorrow if Apple told them they didn’t have another choice.”
Tim Cook talked about the scathing allegations in a letter for the workers and said that
“some people are questioning Apple’s values today,” “any suggestion that we don’t care is patently false and offensive to us.”
If the Times will receive or not an invitation from Apple to a future media event is not that important because the editorial already gained a bad reputation and made a fool out of itself as its report about the prerelease “hit the web late.”
Source: AppleInsider
The new cross-platform Mac Messages application for iOS it will be a great feature for the upcoming OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion which is set to be released this summer. But for those curious and impatient users, the early beta version is now available to download for free, directly from Apple’s site.
“When you install Messages, it replaces iChat,” Apple said. “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.”
This beta version requires the latest version of Lion, OS X 10.7.3. According to Apple, the Messages features list is:
With this application, Apple is making big steps in obtaining cross device compatibility, having Mac OS X and iOS fusing to form a unified OS.
Messages is practically iChat 6.o renamed and allows users to connect to AIM, Yahoo!, Google Talk and Jabber. Everyone can download for free the new application in the beta version from Apple. They said users must experience “a taste of what’s coming in OS X Mountain Lion” for waiting eagerly for the new operating system to be launched.
Just like iOS devices, now Mac has come with the possibility of sending photos, videos, documents and contacts. Apple seeks to make everything more close to the iOS app so there exists a bond between Mac and iOS users. That’s one of the main reasons of Mac’s attempt to experience Notes, Calendar and Contacts.
iMessages permits connection with the iOS 5 gadgets so if you establish a conversation on your Mac and are in a hurry, you can very easily keep it up on your iPhone or iPad. FaceTime is not replaced by Messages, it allows switching to it right in Messages for making the conversation face-to-face.
