The annual Apple Design Awards were held at WWDC 2012, with the winners representing a great batch of apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac OS X. Whether you’re just looking for a couple new apps to try out or you’re wondering what type of design catches Apple’s eye, each app is well worth checking out. Links go to the App Store:

iPhone winners

• Jetpack Joyride
• National Parks by National Geographic
• Where’s My Water?

iPad winners

• Paper by FiftyThree
• Bobo Explores Light
• DM1 – The Drum Machine

Mac app winners

• Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Ultimate Edition
• Sketch
• LIMBO

Student winners

• Little Star
• daWindci

Both student winners are iOS games, with the iPad versions seeming to be why each won. You can read more about each app and why it won at Apple’s ADA page.

Paper for iPad and Limbo for OS X are my personal favorites in the group, and National Parks is very useful if you plan on road tripping around the USA this summer. If you want another batch of great apps then last years winners are holding up quite well too.

If you don’t have time to watch the WWDC 2012 keynote video, here’s a quick summary of everything major that was announced at WWDC and also a few things that were quietly updated behind the scenes. New Macs, new operating systems, new apps, it was a big day for Apple.

Macs & OS X Mountain Lion

• Next-Generation Retina MacBook Pro released, starts at $2199 and features a 15″ whopping 2880×1800 display while weighing 4.4lbs in a thinner unibody enclosure. Quad-core Ivy Bridge CPU’s, 8GB RAM and SSD standard. It’s freakishly powerful and attractive, hide your credit card or else you will probably buy one.
• MacBook Air gets updated at both 11″ and 13″ models, 4GB RAM standard and accepts maximum 8GB RAM, Ivy Bridge CPU, USB 3.0, Intel HD 4000 GPU, faster SSD drives, FaceTime HD camera, all models $100 cheaper. Decent update to great Macs.
• Existing MacBook Pro 13″ and MacBook Pro 15″ models got minor spec updates, Ivy Bridge CPU’s, Nvidia 650M GPU, it’s a matter of opinion but compared to the new Retina MacBook Pro and update MacBook Air line the MacBook Pro is now officially boring.
• OS X Mountain Lion release set for next month, priced at $19.99 and a single purchase installs on all of your Macs. As we mentioned a while back, you can upgrade directly from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion too. OS X 10.8 also has over 200 new features, heavy iCloud integration, iMessage, Share Sheets, Power Nap, and much more.
• OS X Mountain Lion Dev Preview 4 is now available for developers.
• Mac Pro got a quiet minor update so boring that it’s barely worth mentioning.
• MacBook Pro 17″ was silently discontinued. But did we mention the Retina MacBook Pro 15″?

iOS 6 and iOS Related

• iOS 6 Announced: Everyone knew it was coming but iOS 6 was officially announced at WWDC, along with a loose release date of “Fall” which probably coincides with whenever the next iPhone will arrive. Over 200 new features are packed into the update.
• New Maps app with turn-by-turn directions, crowd sourced traffic updates, and more
• FaceTime comes to 3G and 4G networks
• Siri gets major updates and improvements, can launch apps.
• Siri comes to iPad 3 with iOS 6
• Many new cars will have Siri integration, Apple working with auto manufacturers to bring Siri buttons directly into the steering wheel of upcoming cars, support from a huge range of manufacturers
• iOS 6 beta 1 for developers is now available to download.
• iPad “Smart Case” released, it’s basically a Smart Cover with rear protection as well.

Mac & iOS Related

• New AirPort Express was introduced
• Back to School Promo starts today for students, $100 iTunes gift card for a new Mac purchase, and $50 with a new iPad purchase
• iTunes 10.6.3 is out, has bug fixes and required for installing the iOS 6 beta

And that’s about it.

OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview 4 was released for developers today as build 12A239. To access DP4, registered developers will need to log into the developer center and retrieve a download code which can be used within the Mac App Store.

Apple hinted at WWDC2012 that Developer Preview 4 was close to the release candidate, and then announced that OS X 10.8 will be available to everyone through the Mac App Store next month for $20. Though DP4 is the most stable beta release yet, it still has a fair amount of bugs and is therefore only appropriate for developers to use.

On a random note, the Dock in OS X 10.8 DP4 got a slight UI update and looks quite nice as shown in this screenshot from ManiacalRage:

Didn’t make it to WWDC 2012? No big deal, you saved yourself a whole grip of cash and you can watch the Apple keynote anyway from the comfort of your own home. The keynote covers everything launched and announced at WWDC this year, ranging from the MacBook Air refresh, MacBook Pro refresh, the all new retina MacBook Pro, iOS 6, OS X Mountain Lion, and lots of details of everything in between.

• Watch the video directly on Apple.com

If you like watching everything from Apple, it’s a must view.

Apple has released iTunes 10.6.3 for all to enjoy. Though it’s a minor point release, it includes a variety of important bug fixes for behavior both within iTunes and for when syncing iOS devices to iTunes. iTunes 10.6.3 is also a necessary update for any developer wanting to install iOS 6 beta 1.

You have three possible ways to update to iTunes 10.6.3:

• Download from Software Update via the  Apple menu
• Update through iTunes app itself
• Download directly from Apple

iTunes updates can take a while to propagate, making downloading from Apple the quickest way to get the newest version. If you download from the official iTunes website you do not need to enter an email address, instead click the giant blue download button on their site to begin. For OS X the download weighs in around 170MB.

The first developer beta of iOS 6 is now available to download for anyone registered with Apple’s Developer program. Arriving as beta build 10A5316k, it represents the first time developers outside of Apple will have a look at the new iOS version, which includes over 200 new features. A few of the most anticipated components of iOS 6 are the new Maps app with turn-by-turn directions, Siri for iPad 3, and FaceTime over 3G.

iOS 6 beta 1 is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch 4th gen, iPad 2, and iPad 3. There is a separate version available for Apple TV 2 and Apple TV 3 as well. Installing any of the beta builds requires iTunes 10.6.3, and Xcode 4.5 developer preview is also available for developers to download.

Registered developers can get the updates now from Apple’s Dev Center, joining Apple’s developer program costs $99 per yearly membership. For everyone else, iOS 6 will be released in the fall as a free update.

Apple officially announced iOS 6 at WWDC 2012 today with a “Fall” release date, such a release is likely to coincide with the announcement of the next generation iPhone.

Current hardware supported by iOS 6 includes the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch 4th gen, iPad 2, and iPad 3, though noticeably absent are iPad 1 and iPod touch 3rd gen.

iOS 6 includes over 200 new features including a redesigned Maps app with turn-by-turn navigation, major updates to the Phone app, significant Siri updates including Siri for iPad 3, Facebook integration, FaceTime over cellular connections, Safari Offline Reading List with iCloud tab syncing with Macs running OS X Mountain Lion, Photo Stream sharing, Passbook app, Guided Access and Single-App mode, VIP Mail inbox, and much more.

iOS 6 betas are available today for developers, along with a new developer preview of OS X Mountain Lion for Macs. OS X Mountain Lion will be available in July.

No more guesses or vague release schedules, Apple has announced that OS X Mountain Lion will be released in July at a price of $19.99. The download will be available exclusively through the Mac App Store and following along with Apple’s generous purchase policy, a single purchase of Mountain Lion will install on all personally authorized Macs.

Versioned as Mac OS X 10.8, Mountain Lion includes a wide variety of new features, including iMessage integration, AirPlay Mirroring, Dictation (think Siri minus the responses), Sharing Sheets, Notifications, Notes & Reminders apps, GateKeeper, Game Center, improved full screen support, and all-around heavy iCloud integration.

As we have mentioned before, you can upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion directly from Snow Leopard in addition to Lion.

Any new Macs bought from here until the official release date qualify for free upgrades to Mountain Lion, that includes the fancy next gen MacBook Pro.

Apple revealed an all new “next generation” MacBook Pro at WWDC 2012 today, it’s the first retina Mac to be made available and comes in addition to their standard MacBook Pro line. The enclosure looks similar to existing unibody MacBook Pro models, though it is significantly thinner and lighter than any previous models.

Read more »

It’s always a good idea to backup a file if you’re going to be making some changes to it and you’re uncertain of the outcome. In the Finder this is as simple as just selecting the file and hitting Command+D to create a duplicate of the file in question, but in the command line you typically have to use the cp command, point it at the file, and then specify the copied version. Here’s a nice variation of that to make fast backups of any file through the Terminal.

The simple syntax to create an instant backup of a file at the same location (directory) would be as follows:

Read more »

You can delete specific cookies for any website from the Safari web browser on iPhone and iPad fairly easily. Though the setting to do so is buried a bit, it’s super easy to use and provides a lot of control, offering a complete list of all cookies stored on the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, and allowing you to edit or remove any cookies on an individual basis. The process is the same in all versions of iOS, as we will detail below.

Read more »

Do you remember how you could make small and precise 1/4 incremental changes to brightness and audio volume in Mac OS X Snow Leopard by holding down the Option key? Many thought this feature disappeared with OS X Lion, but it turns out you can still make those incremental adjustments in both OS X Lion, OS X Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, and een Mac OS Sierra though the keyboard shortcuts to do so have been changed ever so slightly.

Read more »

If you think a Mac display looks fuzzy or blurry there are a few common solutions to check into before assuming the screen itself has a problem. Likewise, if your screen text just doesn’t look right it may be due to a few settings within Mac OS X.

With that in mind here are a couple tips to troubleshoot a Mac screen that appears blurry, and also how to optimize font smoothing in Mac OS X to make antialiased text look its best on your display.

We’ll cover a few different tricks that can help you make your screen fonts no longer look fuzzy or blurry.

Read more »

This weeks Mac setup comes to us from Marc D., a programmer in Austria who has a nice clean desk with some great hardware. From left to right you’ll find:

• Macbook Pro 15″ – Late 2011 – 2.4GHz i7 4GB
• Apple Cinema HD 23″ connected to the MacBook Pro (and viewing OSXDaily.com!)
• iMac 21.5″ – Late 2009 – 3.06Ghz Core 2 Duo 4GB
• iPad 2 (in Leather casing from Galeli) accompanied by a Bamboo stylus for my note taking pleasures.

The single Apple keyboard and wireless Logitech M510 mouse are shared between both computers with the help of Synergy.

Other gear that isn’t pictured but worth mentioning includes a custom built Hackintosh which functions as a web server, a 2009 Mac Mini running Boxee and iTunes serving as a media center, and an Apple TV which works as an AirPlay hub. Of course the photo was taken with an iPhone 4 16GB too.

Great Apple setup Marc, thanks for sending it in!

Want your Apple gear or Mac setup featured? Send us a brief description of hardware, what you use it for, and a decent picture to osxdailycom@gmail.com

We often get asked what the single most useful Mac tip is, or what a handful of the best tricks are. It’s impossible to answer such a question given the diversity of use cases of OS X, but here’s a collection of what are surely some of the absolute best tips for Mac OS X that should be considered must-knows for all Mac users. We’ve covered just about all of these on an individual basis before, but if you want to learn a whole lot in one sitting you’re in the right place.

Read more »

Keeping a portable Mac turned on while the lid remains closed is commonly referred to as clamshell mode. Clamshell mode basically docks the MacBook Air / Pro / etc and allows the GPU to power an external display only, which can help performance of some games and graphics intensive tasks. Additionally, some MacBook users just prefer clamshell mode because it can offer a more minimalist desk experience when using their Mac laptop connected to an external screen.

There are several ways to use and enter into clamshell but what we will discuss here is probably the fastest approach for those who use an external keyboard or mouse with a MacBook that is also connected to an external screen.

Read more »

Want some retro Apple wallpapers featuring the classic rainbow  logo? Of course you do, so get ready to feel like you’re somewhere back in the 80’s and early 90’s again with this collection of six old school wallpapers.

Read more »

Want to show a quick slideshow to your friends and family of pictures contained within Photo Stream? Assuming you already have Apple TV signed into your iCloud account, do the following:

1. From the main Apple TV menu choose “Internet” and select “Photo Stream”
2. Choose “Slideshow” to start the slideshow

By default this will go through all images contained within Photo Stream, that means every picture in the photos library of an iPhone and iPad, keep that in mind if you have pictures on any such device that you don’t necessarily want to share.

You can also set the Photo Stream to show as the default Apple TV screen saver:

1. Go to Settings and choose Screen Saver
2. Choose the Slideshow and under slideshow settings choose iCloud Photo Stream

Again you’ll want to remember that everything in the photo stream gets displayed, so you may want to create a specific folder or collection of images if you have some pictures you don’t want to share with everyone in your living room.

If you do find yourself embarrassed by some of the pictures in your iCloud stream, do yourself a favor and transfer the photos from the iOS device and then delete them all from Photo Stream.