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.
This is where it all started from, the classic “Hello” iPhone commercial for the very first iPhone. The TV ad was an almost instant classic that featured scene after scene of famous actors answering phones in famous movies.
As you watch, you undoubtedly will recognize many of these from movies and moments in cinematic history. And, as if Apple knew it would be cementing it’s place in popular culture, the commercial wraps up with a “Hello” on a first-gen Apple iPhone with a call from ‘John Appleseed’, before flashing an Apple logo.
Embedded below, years past the original Apple iPhone commercial is still well worth watching again:
The highly acclaimed first-person shooter Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is on sale this weekend for Mac OS X gamers through MacUpdate Promo for just $23.99. For comparison, it’s $35.99 on the Mac App Store or $24.88 shipped from Amazon.
If you buy the game through MacUpdate you’ll be able to download it instantly and play immediately, whereas the Amazon order is a physical box and has to ship to your door. I say save a buck and play now.
Check out the COD4 trailer below:
I featured COD4 in my recent list of 6 of the best games for Mac that are on sale, and it’s now cheaper than the price was then by about $10. Same game, lower price, good deal.
Mac system requirements for Call of Duty 4 are as follows: Intel Core 2 Duo at 2 Ghz or faster, 2GB of RAM or more, at least 8GB of disk space, and a video card with 256MB of VRAM or more, including the following video cards:
ATI RADEON: X1600, HD 2400, HD 2600, HD 3870, HD 4670, HD 4850, HD 5670, HD 5750
You’ll also want broadband internet access so that you’ll be able to play online, but of course you’d want that also if you’re going to download the game.
Below is another lengthy video of actual gameplay, it’s 9 minutes long and gives a good idea of what to expect: Read more »
Files from medical imaging devices like MRI’s, ultrasound, PET, CT scans, etc come as a collection of .DCM files which will not open on their own through just any image or video application. No big deal, because I came across some pretty amazing software for Mac OS X and iOS that will render these DICOM files as a fully controllable and playable 3D movie. Not only can these apps view the DICOM files, but you can then export them either as static images in a variety of friendly formats like JPG and TIFF or even as QuickTime movies.
iOS 5 has been long rumored to include wireless syncing and over-the-air updates, and now at least part of this feature seems to be confirmed through a brief leak on iTunes. MacRumors reports that the iTunes update page briefly included the following phrase, discussing a feature called “Automatic Download” that currently does not exist:
if your device has Automatic Download enabled for apps, your updates will download to your device without having to sync.
The text was quickly pulled down by Apple, but seems to indicate that the “Automatic Download” feature will enable apps to install updates on their own with little user involvement, it’s also possible this includes iOS system updates. This could be both good and bad, good because it would make app updating much easier for novice users, and bad because some app updates involve unwanted features (barrage of ads or Twitter Dickbar anyone?).
The other side to automatic updates is the potential ramifications this has on jailbreaks and apps run on jailbroken hardware, since any automatic updating of software, particularly iOS system software, could cause a conflict and render the device useless without a restore. Over-the-air updates were included in the the list of things Apple is doing to kill jailbreaking for this reason.
We’ll undoubtedly hear more about this feature and many more at WWDC on Monday, so stay tuned.
Is this what the new iOS 5 notification system will look like? That’s the question on everyones mind now that there has been confirmation that the developer of MobileNotifier is working for Apple.
For those who don’t know, MobileNotifier is a popular jailbreak tool that completely redesigns iOS’s notification system for the better. Notifications pop across the top of the screen but do not interfere with app functionality. If you’re on a lock screen, they gather in relevant groups and are easy to quickly identify. Shown are a few screenshots and two videos of MobileNotifier.
Notifications delivered and managed through the MobileNotifier app are easier to view, see, manage, and just all around improved, and apparently Apple was impressed enough too to hire developer Peter Hajas directly. This is perhaps the strong indicator yet of what the iOS 5 notification system will be.
Rather than disabling Flash completely in Chrome, an excellent option is to enable a hidden “Click to Play” feature that prevents that plugin and all others from automatically loading. With Click To Play turned on, if you want Flash or another browse plug-in to run and load, you simply click on it to play or load the plugin. This feature is cross platform compatible, and it works the same in Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux, and it can actually speed up your web browsing experience a bit since it reduces load times on many web pages.
You can quickly retrieve active DNS server IP addresses on any Mac by using the networksetup utility. This is done from the command line, so launch the Terminal app and type one of the following command strings, dependent on the version of OS X that is running on the Mac.
Some stories are so outrageous they are hard to believe, and this is a big WTF: a 17 year old boy in China sold his kidney to an organ broker so that he could buy an iPad 2.
As if this story didn’t sound bad enough, now comes the extra bad part; the hospital that performed the kidney extraction was not qualified to do so, and now the kid is sick, missing a kidney, and his parents are understandably upset and have opened a police investigation.
“I wanted to buy an iPad 2 but could not afford it,” said the boy surnamed Zheng in Huaishan City. “A broker contacted me on the Internet and said he could help me sell one kidney for 20,000 yuan.”
20,000 yuan is $3085, and the boy supposedly ended up buying both an iPad 2 and an iPhone with the money.
You can watch the video of a Chinese news report below, it shows the hospital and even the kids surgical scar:
. The book is appropriately titled iSteve: The Book of Jobs, and here’s the description:
.
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You can quickly retrieve active DNS server IP addresses on any Mac by using the 
