Mountain Lion: A Comprehensive Overview

When you get a new message, other apps will notify you. If you receive an iMessage, it will pop down from the top of the screen and appear in the top right corner. You can either click on the notification light, which lights up blue when you receive a notification, or use a new gesture - a two-finger swipe from the right to the left of the trackpad. With this gesture, you'll reveal Notification Center, where you can see messages, mail, FaceTime notifications, and more. Developers can send their own notifications using APIs.

iCal: A New Calendar App

iCal has been pulled out of Mail and made into its own app in Mountain Lion. The interface has been slightly changed to make it look like the iOS calendar app on both iPhone and iPad. Calendars are now in a permanent window on the left side, instead of being a pop-over that disappeared. Reminders looks just like the app on the iPad, with a bare-bones design but still functional. Calendars sync with iCloud, allowing you to access them across all your devices.

Notes: A Standalone App

Notes has been pulled out of Mail and made into its own app in Mountain Lion. The new notes app looks identical to the one on iPhone and iPad, with features like popping open a note and setting it aside. You can also set this note to always be on top of other apps. Notes sync across different accounts, including iCloud, Gmail, Yahoo, and more. There are also share buttons throughout Mountain Lion, allowing you to easily share notes with others.

Share Buttons: A Convenient Feature

Share buttons have been added throughout Mountain Lion, making it easy to share content with others. In Safari, you'll find a share button to the left of the address bar, which allows you to quickly share web pages on Twitter, Facebook, or other services. The Tweet sheet will appear if you choose to tweet a link or article, and there's even an option to add location services. However, it's worth noting that not all apps support sharing globally, but certain apps like QuickTime do.

Game Center: A New Game-Spotting App

Mountain Lion includes Game Center, which is currently not fully enabled in the preview build. Apple has confirmed that it will be available on Macs soon, providing a game-spotting feature similar to the one on iPad. You can find games based on your friends' scores, and play against opponents. A demo of real racing was shown, where players competed against Real Racing on Mac.

AirPlay Mirroring: Wireless Display

Mountain Lion also includes AirPlay mirroring, which allows you to wirelessly display your Mac screen on an Apple TV. The output is limited to 720p, but the image intelligently scales for a smooth viewing experience. Stereo audio is also supported, making it possible to stream games or watch videos from the iTunes Store without any lag.

Security: Gatekeeper and the New Security Model

Gatekeeper is a new security feature in Mountain Lion that protects Macs against malware out of the box. The app will only run apps for the Mac App Store, as well as apps signed by developers using Apple's security certificates. Developers can obtain these certificates through the 99 Mac developer program, but it's worth noting that users are still able to set their Macs to run apps from anywhere.

Simplified Software Updates

Mountain Lion includes a new software update system, where updates will be handled directly through the Mac App Store. When you click on "Software Update" in the Apple menu, it will take you straight to the update section of the store. This simplifies the process and makes it easier for users to keep their Macs up-to-date.

Stereo Audio Support

Safari now features a unified address bar and search field, similar to Google Chrome. Additionally, Mountain Lion includes support for Chinese users, with new input methods, accounts, and share buttons that cater to this growing market. When available, it will be released as a paid update through the Mac App Store in summer 2012.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enforeign with the Verge I'm here with the developer preview of Mac OS 10 10.8 mountain lion don't let the name fool you unlike snow leopard to leopard mountain lion is actually a pretty big upgrade over lion with some pretty major features let's go through them when you first log into a mountain lion machine you're going to be prompted for your Apple ID and to enable iCloud this will pull down your app store information your iTunes information it'll set up FaceTime it'll set up iCloud iCloud will immediately begin pulling down your contacts your calendars all your other information so you're getting the iCloud experience right from first setup with mountainline the first major new feature in mountain lion is messages it's actually the ichat app but it's been renamed to messages and in addition to supporting Google Talk Yahoo and AOL and some messenger it now supports Apple's proprietary iMessage service so you can see the interface has been totally redone it looks a lot like the iPad app and it actually just works so if I say hello to Ross here it's going to pop up there you can see it showed up on the iPad it showed up on the phone Ross can say something back to me he has no idea that I sent him this from a computer hey what's up I can pick up the phone I can say nothing it's pretty awesome conversation that we're having right now so I said nothing showed up on the computer it showed up on the iPad I can go over here after Ross responds with some cutting remark about what do I want you to die Messengers is also integrated with FaceTime so if I want to go ahead and call William I can just go ahead and call them directly for messages it's going to open the FaceTime app it's going to start ringing come over here have you answered William is a panda bear pretty good man pretty good uh lastly messages also supports the classic Services Google Talk AOL and some messenger Yahoo I can just go over here I've got the window this is pretty familiar window you can see Paul's pretty cool dude I can open up a regular sort of IM window talk to Paul the usual way but all my messages will still be logged in the the new UI another major feature of mountain lion is notification center it's built exactly like the iOS notification center when you get a new message and other apps so if I get an iMessage right here you can see the notification pop down from the top of the screen it's in the top right and I can either click on the new notification light this lights up blue when you get a notification or I can use a new gesture which is a two-finger swipe from the right to the left of the trackpad so I just swipe with two fingers and reveal notification center I can see here the two messages that William sent me if I click on one it instantly pops me back into messages you can get all kinds of notifications there mail messages FaceTime there's also an API so developers can send their own notifications just like iOS iCal is now our calendar you can see it still has the same kind of gross texture at the top as the lion calendar but the interface has been slightly changed calendars are now in a permanent window on the left here instead of being that kind of pop over that disappeared reminders looks just like the app on the iPad if you've seen that you're gonna be very familiar with this it's so Bare Bones it doesn't even have a preference dialogue right now but it definitely works and it syncs with iCloud so you can get all your reminders on all your devices next up is notes notes has been pulled out of mail and made into its own app in mountain lion it looks just like the app on the iPhone just like the app on the iPad you can actually pop open a note and set it aside you can set this to be always on top so if I open up another app here it'll be on top of safari even though Safari is open and I can close it and it's still in the main list here you can sync notes across different accounts whether it be iCloud Gmail Yahoo you'll also find share buttons throughout mountain lion just like in iOS so here I am in Safari and to the left of the address bar you can see there's a share button it Twitter it brings up the Tweet sheet I can type this is cool just like I can in iOS I can hit add location there's location services knows I'm in New York and if I still inclined I could hit send and tweet it out oddly there's no Facebook or YouTube support globally with the share button but certain apps support it so if I look in QuickTime for example QuickTime will let you send a video to Facebook and send a video to YouTube but that's only in QuickTime at the moment mountain lion also includes Game Center which is not fully enabled in the preview build that we have but Apple Demeter to us it's exactly a game center on the iPad it lets you find games once you find your friends that lets you play against opponents it also lets you do multiplayer against iOS devices Apple showed us a demo of real racing on the iPad playing against Real Racing on the Mac Mountain line also includes AirPlay mirroring which lets you send your max display to an Apple TV it's output at 720p and it intelligently scales so you don't have to think about what resolution your computer is at you get stereo audio and you can mirror games you can mirror shows and videos from the iTunes Store you can mirror pretty much anything that shows up on your Mac screen mountainline also includes a major new security feature called gatekeeper which protects Max against malware out of the box mountain lion will only Run apps for the Mac App Store and apps that have been signed by the developer developers can get security certificates from Apple a new addition to the 99 Mac developer program Apple's insistent they're not trying to curate the web or lock down what developers can do they just want apps to be trusted by users if you want you can still set your Mac to run apps from anywhere and even when you have your Mac locked down you can right click on an unsigned app and run it individually there's also a whole host of other little tweaks and changes throughout mountain lion there's no more software update all software update is handled through the Mac App Store when you go and click on software update in the Apple menu pops right up into the update in the Mac App Store when there are new software updates you get an update directly notification center Safari now has a unified address bar and search field just like Chrome there are a bunch of new features for Chinese users China is Apple's fastest growing market and they're making a big push to cater to Chinese users there are new input methods there are new accounts and the share button supports a bunch of popular Chinese services like YouTube Mac OS 10 10.8 mountain lion is available for developers today if you're part of the developer program you can go get a beta right now for consumers it'll be out in summer 2012. Apple hasn't said how much it'll cost but it'll be a paid update in the Mac App Store when it's releasedforeign with the Verge I'm here with the developer preview of Mac OS 10 10.8 mountain lion don't let the name fool you unlike snow leopard to leopard mountain lion is actually a pretty big upgrade over lion with some pretty major features let's go through them when you first log into a mountain lion machine you're going to be prompted for your Apple ID and to enable iCloud this will pull down your app store information your iTunes information it'll set up FaceTime it'll set up iCloud iCloud will immediately begin pulling down your contacts your calendars all your other information so you're getting the iCloud experience right from first setup with mountainline the first major new feature in mountain lion is messages it's actually the ichat app but it's been renamed to messages and in addition to supporting Google Talk Yahoo and AOL and some messenger it now supports Apple's proprietary iMessage service so you can see the interface has been totally redone it looks a lot like the iPad app and it actually just works so if I say hello to Ross here it's going to pop up there you can see it showed up on the iPad it showed up on the phone Ross can say something back to me he has no idea that I sent him this from a computer hey what's up I can pick up the phone I can say nothing it's pretty awesome conversation that we're having right now so I said nothing showed up on the computer it showed up on the iPad I can go over here after Ross responds with some cutting remark about what do I want you to die Messengers is also integrated with FaceTime so if I want to go ahead and call William I can just go ahead and call them directly for messages it's going to open the FaceTime app it's going to start ringing come over here have you answered William is a panda bear pretty good man pretty good uh lastly messages also supports the classic Services Google Talk AOL and some messenger Yahoo I can just go over here I've got the window this is pretty familiar window you can see Paul's pretty cool dude I can open up a regular sort of IM window talk to Paul the usual way but all my messages will still be logged in the the new UI another major feature of mountain lion is notification center it's built exactly like the iOS notification center when you get a new message and other apps so if I get an iMessage right here you can see the notification pop down from the top of the screen it's in the top right and I can either click on the new notification light this lights up blue when you get a notification or I can use a new gesture which is a two-finger swipe from the right to the left of the trackpad so I just swipe with two fingers and reveal notification center I can see here the two messages that William sent me if I click on one it instantly pops me back into messages you can get all kinds of notifications there mail messages FaceTime there's also an API so developers can send their own notifications just like iOS iCal is now our calendar you can see it still has the same kind of gross texture at the top as the lion calendar but the interface has been slightly changed calendars are now in a permanent window on the left here instead of being that kind of pop over that disappeared reminders looks just like the app on the iPad if you've seen that you're gonna be very familiar with this it's so Bare Bones it doesn't even have a preference dialogue right now but it definitely works and it syncs with iCloud so you can get all your reminders on all your devices next up is notes notes has been pulled out of mail and made into its own app in mountain lion it looks just like the app on the iPhone just like the app on the iPad you can actually pop open a note and set it aside you can set this to be always on top so if I open up another app here it'll be on top of safari even though Safari is open and I can close it and it's still in the main list here you can sync notes across different accounts whether it be iCloud Gmail Yahoo you'll also find share buttons throughout mountain lion just like in iOS so here I am in Safari and to the left of the address bar you can see there's a share button it Twitter it brings up the Tweet sheet I can type this is cool just like I can in iOS I can hit add location there's location services knows I'm in New York and if I still inclined I could hit send and tweet it out oddly there's no Facebook or YouTube support globally with the share button but certain apps support it so if I look in QuickTime for example QuickTime will let you send a video to Facebook and send a video to YouTube but that's only in QuickTime at the moment mountain lion also includes Game Center which is not fully enabled in the preview build that we have but Apple Demeter to us it's exactly a game center on the iPad it lets you find games once you find your friends that lets you play against opponents it also lets you do multiplayer against iOS devices Apple showed us a demo of real racing on the iPad playing against Real Racing on the Mac Mountain line also includes AirPlay mirroring which lets you send your max display to an Apple TV it's output at 720p and it intelligently scales so you don't have to think about what resolution your computer is at you get stereo audio and you can mirror games you can mirror shows and videos from the iTunes Store you can mirror pretty much anything that shows up on your Mac screen mountainline also includes a major new security feature called gatekeeper which protects Max against malware out of the box mountain lion will only Run apps for the Mac App Store and apps that have been signed by the developer developers can get security certificates from Apple a new addition to the 99 Mac developer program Apple's insistent they're not trying to curate the web or lock down what developers can do they just want apps to be trusted by users if you want you can still set your Mac to run apps from anywhere and even when you have your Mac locked down you can right click on an unsigned app and run it individually there's also a whole host of other little tweaks and changes throughout mountain lion there's no more software update all software update is handled through the Mac App Store when you go and click on software update in the Apple menu pops right up into the update in the Mac App Store when there are new software updates you get an update directly notification center Safari now has a unified address bar and search field just like Chrome there are a bunch of new features for Chinese users China is Apple's fastest growing market and they're making a big push to cater to Chinese users there are new input methods there are new accounts and the share button supports a bunch of popular Chinese services like YouTube Mac OS 10 10.8 mountain lion is available for developers today if you're part of the developer program you can go get a beta right now for consumers it'll be out in summer 2012. Apple hasn't said how much it'll cost but it'll be a paid update in the Mac App Store when it's released\n"