Who better to show off Mac OS X Lion than Apple themselves? Don’t miss the Intro to Lion video, where Apple execs Phil Schiller and Craig Federighi show you Lion’s new gestures, full screen apps, Mission Control, LaunchPad, installing Lion through the Mac App Store, auto-save files & Versions, AirDrop Peer-to-Peer file sharing, new Mail app, and remind you that it’s just $29.99.
The annual Apple Design Award winners from WWDC 2011 have been announced. The awards go to apps and developers that “set the standard of excellence” and excel in design, innovation, and technical excellence.
This is the full list of winning apps and their respective developers, links go to the App Store:
Sometimes seeing is believing. I mentioned a fair share these iOS 5 features before but videos do some more justice than screenshots, so here’s a collection of eight great (see what I did there?) videos that show the best of iOS 5’s beta features.
We’ll start it off with Apple’s official Intro to iOS 5 video which is a nice 5 minute roundup of new features and what to expect come public release this fall. Following that up is a series of amateur videos showing off more specific features like Airplay’s wireless video mirroring, the PC free setup of first boot, Notification Center and how you can customize it, iOS 5 performance on older hardware, and more.
If you want to try out iOS 5 but you don’t have a developer account, you can do so using a crafty technique that takes advantage of a very simple bug in the Voice Over system. This has been confirmed to work on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS, but other iOS devices probably don’t work.
Warning:This is reposted for informational purposes only. We are not responsible for anything you do to your iOS device. There’s a reason iOS 5 beta is limited to developers, it’s buggy, it’s hard to downgrade, and it could lead to other problems. Because this is obviously a bug, future iOS 5 betas will fix this, and your iPhone could be trapped on an outdated beta. You may lose the ability to make phone calls.
None of this is recommended. Proceed at your own risk.
The good old limera1n exploit works to jailbreak the first beta of iOS 5, according to renowned jailbreak dev @MuscleNerd, suggesting a public jailbreak will be available for iOS 5b1 soon.
The pictures above were tweeted by MuscleNerd and clearly show iOS 5 beta 1 with Cydia installed alongside another shot showing ssh connecting to localhost. A later picture, shown below, shows Cydia running on the jailbroken device. This jailbreak was said to require a tethered boot on an iPod touch 4th gen.
Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later with the Mac App Store installed
At least 4GB of additional disk space to accommodate the download, but more is obviously recommended
That’s it. The hardware requirements are surprisingly basic, but that’s good news. Apple’s own Lion web site even touts a simple three step process to install the update once it becomes available: check Mac compatibility, update to the latest Snow Leopard, and download Lion from the App Store.
What about upgrading from OS X 10.5 Leopard directly to Mac OS X 10.7 Lion?
If you meet the hardware aspects of the Lion system requirements, then you’ll most likely need to upgrade first to 10.6 prior to 10.7, simply because 10.6.6 is the release that the Mac App Store was included with. Lion requires the App Store to install from, and thus the 10.6.6 requirement to install. If you’re in this situation, Snow Leopard is $29 with free shipping from Amazon.
Core 2 Duo is NOT the same as Core Duo
This is important to point out: the Core 2 Duo chip is newer and fully supported by Mac OS X Lion. In fact, any Mac bought within the last 5 years should have the Core 2 Duo CPU and will be fully supported. The names are similar, but the chipset is fundamentally different, with the Core Duo being an old Pentium-M based 32 bit processor and the Core 2 Duo being a completely different 64 bit architecture. Blame the confusing naming on Intel.
What about Core Duo & Core Solo Macs?
You’ll notice Core Duo & Core Solo CPU’s are not officially supported. The Core Duo & Solo chipset made a brief appearance on a series of Macs released between 2006 and early 2007, so any Mac newer than 2007 should be good to go. The other news about the older CPU’s is that users have hacked Lion Developer Builds to work on those chips, so you can bet someone will do the same for the final Lion release too. That said, there’s probably a good reason Apple has chosen not to support the Core Duo and Core Solo CPU.
If you have multiple Macs, this may be one of the best and most underrated features of the Mac OS X Lion release: you buy Lion once and you can install it on all of your Macs, no additional purchases are required per machine, all of the downloading and installation is handled through the Mac App Store.
In other words, for just $29.99 you have an unrestricted personal license for Lion installations on your authorized Macs connected to the Mac App Store. Here’s a screen cap from the WWDC 2011 keynote video of when Phil Schiller mentioned this:
This was later confirmed by Apple’s Press Release regarding Lion, but the whole thing largely went under the radar in the barrage of other news about Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, iOS 5, iCloud, and all related things from WWDC.
While the general personal license is very cheap, it is unclear how Lion updates will work for situations where group licensing is required, which is common in the corporate and academic environments, but it’s unlikely a site license would cost just $29.99.
Mac OS X Lion has been released and is available exclusively as a download through the Mac App Store for $29.99. Lion Server will be offered as a separate download for $49.99.
Apple has released iTunes 10.3, an update that includes aspects of iCloud including a beta version of iTunes in the Cloud. What does that mean to you?
iTunes 10.3 in the Cloud Beta has two main features:
iTunes will automatically download new music, apps, and book purchases to all of your devices seamlessly and without syncing (or, if you want, you can sync manually like before)
You can now review purchase history and download past purchases individually
Download iTunes 10.3
There are four ways to get your hands on iTunes 10.3 and try out the iCloud beta features:
Apple has a special knack for picking fantastic looking desktop pictures… and I know I wasn’t the only one drooling over the newest Mac OS X Lion space wallpaper shown throughout the WWDC 2011 keynote.
This one is fresh out of WWDC & Lion Developer Preview 4 and shows the gorgeous Andromeda Galaxy, and, not surprisingly it looks stunning on any Mac display.
Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Developer Preview 4 has been released for developers to download from Apple’s servers. The new build number is 11A480b and includes a variety of changes that were shown at WWDC 2011, and was announced alongside iOS 5 beta 1 and iCloud.
Developers can download the update directly from Apple through the Mac Dev Center. If you’re currently running Lion DP3 you can also download it directly through Software Update, although this does not seem to be available to all users yet.
Developers can now check out all the new fancy iOS 5 features first hand with the first pre-release version of iOS 5 beta 1. The download is accessible to all registered developers through the iOS Dev Center.
iOS 5 Beta 1 comes as build 9A5220p and supports all iPad 2 models, iPad, iPhone 4 GSM & CDMA, iPhone 3GS, and iPod touch 4th and 3rd gens.
Those without an iOS developer account will have to wait for the public release date this fall.
Did you miss the WWDC 2011 keynote? Couldn’t keep up with the hectic WWDC live blogs? Weren’t too impressed with the terrible quality guerilla feeds broadcast from someones cell phone?
There was no hardware announced, but the software at WWDC 2011 was impressive enough to more than make up for it. This one will go down in the Apple history books.
You know that iOS 5 will be released in the Fall, but what are the latest and greatest features? Here are some of the most exciting features that were shown off by Apple at WWDC 2011:
iOS 5 is jam packed with new and awesome features, so when can you get your hands on it? Developers will get beta builds today, but the iOS 5 public release date is set for Fall of 2011. From the looks of it, it’s well worth the wait.
The next natural question is, what hardware is iOS 5 going to be compatible with?
iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4
iPad and iPad 2
iPod Touch 3rd and 4th gen
Missing from the list is Apple TV2, but I suspect that will change in the near future. The other missing piece is the price, but considering a price wasn’t stated, I suspect it will be a free update.
Some of the biggest Mac OS X related news from WWDC 2011:
Mac OS X 10.7 Lion will be publicly released in July – this fits in line with Apple’s expected ‘summer 2011’ release announcement
Mac OS X Lion will be be available exclusively as a download from the Mac App Store – this is perhaps the most controversial Mac OS X announcement, since many users were hoping for DVD’s and USB keys as well
Lion will cost $29.99 – “aggressively priced” as predicted, pretty cheap for an all new operating system
The keynote for Lion covered most of the features already known to beta testers through the Developer Previews, however Mac OS X Lion is said to include over 250 new enhancements and features. Based on my albeit brief exposure to Lion and the features that Apple has talked about, it’s well worth the $30 price tag and I will be upgrading without hesitation.
We’ll keep you posted as more useful news comes in.
Update: Mac OS X Lion Server will be $49.99 and available in July as a separate download/upgrade from the Mac App Store.
One of our readers sent in this screenshot with a funny looking error code they got when trying to redeem a promo code on the App Store. It’s a sloppy error, spilling over the allocated space and dumping some object name or something onto the user.
The error seen is “MZFreeProductCode.ClientCannotRedeemIosApp_explanation” and the assumption is that this is a bug on the App Store that is preventing you from redeeming an app promo code. That is partially true, and partially not, and I was able to replicate the error message myself consistently, but the bug may not be what you think it is.
The Error is… Wrong App Store!
The real bug here is not that the promo code isn’t working, it’s a bug in how the error message is displayed by the App Store. Let’s review the error message again, and see what stands out at us, ClientCannotRedeemIosApp_explanation – see that? Ios, it’s not using the capitalization that we’re used to, iOS, but the problem is that you are trying to redeem an iOS promo code on the Mac App Store.
The Problem & the Cause
This problem seems to occur most often with the app promo code giveaways that have become popular on blogs and twitter feeds. A feed will dump a series of promo codes with no clear indication on what the app is. Users see a promo code and just throw it into their nearest app store, often without much direction from the initial giveaway – this is especially true with twitter giveaways. Is it an iOS app code? A Mac app code? Who knows! This is the cause of the problem.
The Solution: Use the Proper App Store
This is a very simple fix, just launch iTunes and be sure to use the iOS App Store rather than the Mac App Store. I’m assuming this goes both directions, and that a similarly funky error message will be displayed if you attempt to redeem a Mac app code through the iOS App Store.
We got an email about this a while ago and I figured it was a one-off problem, but the fact that we’re still seeing error reports and getting emails about this suggests this is a broader troubleshooting thing and should be clarified and explained. Finally, from Apple’s side with the App Stores, they should just replace the error message with one that is more appropriate for the situation like “This is an iOS App Promo Code”, it would reduce some confusion.
The official and exclusive biography of Steve Jobs is now available for pre-order on Amazon. The book is appropriately titled iSteve: The Book of Jobs, and here’s the description:
From bestselling author Walter Isaacson comes the landmark biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. In iSteve: The Book of Jobs, Isaacson provides an extraordinary account of Jobs’ professional and personal life. Drawn from three years of exclusive and unprecedented interviews Isaacson has conducted with Jobs as well as extensive interviews with Jobs’ family members, key colleagues from Apple and its competitors, iSteve is the definitive portrait of the greatest innovator of his generation.
This should be a good read for anyone who is a fan of invention, Apple, and their one-of-a-kind CEO. Pre-ordering gets you a hardcover copy of the book at 40% off the retail price, but it won’t be released until March of 2012. A Kindle version will also be available for $14.99.
Lucky winners get a MacBook Air, iPad 2, iPod touch, a cube ADA 2011 trophy, plus a lot of attention and respect from Apple and developer communities. 
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. The book is appropriately titled iSteve: The Book of Jobs, and here’s the description:
