Well, it's not hard to see what the big story of the day is: OS X Mountain Lion is here, and despite some hiccups with Apple's Up-to-Date Program for new Mac owners, the launch appears to be a smashing success. (We gave up on waiting for our code and bought it -- hey Apple, we've got deadlines here!) Now that you've had a chance to comb through some of that Mountain Lion goodness, why not kick up your feet and take a break for a few minutes by perusing through our news recap for this Wednesday, July 25, 2012?
Although today was clearly about OS X Mountain Lion, Apple made sure that early adopters would have a smooth transition by pushing out updates to three of its creative apps at the same time. Aperture, iPhoto and iMovie have all been updated with OS X Mountain Lion support on Wednesday, but each offers a few extra tweaks as well. Aperture 3.3.2 addresses performance issues when entering or exiting full-screen mode, while Auto White Balance can now correct color using Skin Tone mode, even when Faces is disabled. iPhoto 9.3.2 adds sharing options for Messages and Twitter, while iMovie 9.0.7 fixes an issue related to third-party QuickTime components that could cause the app to unexpectedly quit, and also resolves issues with previewing and importing MPEG-2 clips. All three updates can be found in the Mac App Store, but iPhoto/iMovie users with software installed from iLife will want to check Software Update instead.
On a day like today, Mac users are quite happy for the existence of apps like Carbon Copy Cloner, a longtime solution for creating a complete backup of a user's startup disk. Developer Bombich Software announced on Tuesday that the formerly donationware app is making the leap to a commercial release, giving new users a 30-day free trial period before they'll have to cough up the cash. "This will allow us to to continue offering frequent updates to our software, including new features," the company notes on its website. "This will also enable our stellar customer support to remain that way. Transitioning from donationware to a commercial offering underscores our commitment to deliver the best Mac OS X cloning and backup utility on the market." And what about older users who have donated in the past? Fear not, you're covered. "To express our appreciation to all of the people who have sent a verifiable donation to Bombich Software prior to July 24, 2012, we will grant a registration code for CCC 3.5," the blog post notes. "If you are a previous donor and see a message about a 30-day trial, you can retrieve your registration code." Hit the website to get all the details, and grab CCC for only $29.96 (25 percent off) to celebrate the release of OS X Mountain Lion until August 12.
It's been quiet from the Cinemaware camp since they brought the old Amiga classic Defender of the Crown to iOS, but Modojo.com is now reporting that the company's silence is not due to a lack of progress on their part. Although there's no date set as yet, another Amiga classic is coming later this year in the form of The King of Chicago: Emulated Amiga Version. That gives an old Amiga owner a tingle down the spine, although we're still waiting for word on Rocket Ranger, which we wasted a whole lot of the '80s playing on an old Commodore Amiga 500.
AllThingsD is reporting that Apple has pushed out an update to its buggy Podcasts app, which first made its debut in June. "Apple has been hard at work tweaking the app to fix the problems that currently plague it, and sources say the company expects to post an update this afternoon that should vastly improve it," the report notes. Podcasts 1.0.1 is available now, adding "significant improvements to performance and stability, Podcasts in your library now show the number of unplayed episodes, Top Stations now show the podcast title if artwork is missing, Playback speed is now remembered when playing the next episode, Fix for a problem where the Subscribe button is inactive and Resolution of an issue where Top Stations artwork may not appear." What, still no iCloud sync? For shame...
Research in Motion may not be down for the count yet, but its BlackBerry smartphone products just keep getting kicked in the teeth. The latest insult comes by way of The New York Times, who is ditching the BlackBerry platform and all support for its apps beginning Monday. "It's a matter of usage of our apps, and we dedicate our resources where we think there's the highest level of usage," Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy told Reuters. "We've seen a drop-off." Speaking of drop-offs, know what other fallen mobile OS is getting the axe? webOS, or more specifically, the Palm Pre. So what happens when RIM rolls out its super-swanky BlackBerry 10 platform in early 2013? Could the newspaper reverse its decision? "That decision has not been made, and it's entirely possible that we might," Murphy added.
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chirpity
July 25, 2012 at 4:36pm
I think Carbon Copy Cloner's move to a commercial app is bad timing. It should've done that a couple years ago. In Mountain Lion you can use Time Machine to backup to multiple disks. (actually you could before, but it was a little trickier). So now, I think more people will be abandoning CCC in favor of the free Time Machine.
