MacRumors

With the first developer preview of Mac OS X Lion having been out for over 24 hours now, some additional points of interest are surfacing from those who have had a chance to look through the build. Among the interesting observations:

- Apple has added support for a separate recovery partition, hiding away utilities needed for repair and troubleshooting right on the user's hard drive. The new system will allow users to boot to the recovery partition without the need for an operating system disc. The move, along with the shift to Mac App Store distribution for the developer preview, signal a reduced reliance on DVDs that may become important if other notebooks follow the MacBook Air's lead and see their internal optical drives removed entirely.

- As noted by MacGeneration [Google translation], Apple has added TRIM support in this initial developer build of Mac OS X Lion. TRIM support provides for optimization of solid-state drives by cleaning up unused blocks of data and preparing them for rewriting, preventing slowdowns that would otherwise occur over time as garbage data accumulates.

- Mac OS X Lion requires a minimum of an Intel Core 2 Duo, leaving out compatibility for Apple's earliest Intel-based machines offering Core Solo or Core Duo processors.

- CNET notes that Apple has apparently invited a number of security researchers to test out Mac OS X Lion, a move that seems to signal a more open relationship with those who are trying to find security vulnerabilities in Apple's software.

Influential ratings-and-reviews magazine Consumer Reports made headlines last July when it declined to recommend the iPhone to consumers due to antenna issues that could result in loss of signal. The publication has held strong on its non-recommendation, arguing that Apple's temporary free case over was insufficient to address the issue.

Consumer Reports is back at it again, this time hitting the Verizon iPhone for essentially the exact same reason it knocked on the original iPhone 4.

The Verizon iPhone 4 has a problem that could cause the phone to drop calls, or be unable to place calls, in weak signal conditions, Consumer Reports engineers have found in lab tests.

The problem is similar to the one we confirmed in July with the AT&T version of Apple's newest smart phone. It can occur when you hold either version of the phone in a specific but quite natural way in which a gap in the phone's external casing is covered. The phone performs superbly in most other respects, and using the iPhone 4 with a case can alleviate the problem.

According to tests conducted by Consumer Reports, simply placing a finger on the gap at the lower left side of the Verizon iPhone causes signal to drop over a period of 15 seconds, resulting in calls being dropped in areas of low signal. As a result, the publication is similarly declining to recommend the Verizon iPhone despite lower reports of users experiencing the signal issues, potentially due to the strength of Verizon's network.

But given our findings, we believe the possibility exists for individual users to experience the problem since low signal conditions are unavoidable when using any cell-phone network.

For that reason, we are not including the Verizon iPhone 4 in our list of recommended smart phones, despite its high ranking in our Ratings.

Consumer Reports was unable to generate similar issues with a variety of other phones on Verizon's network, including the Samsung Fascinate, Motorola Droid 2 Global, HTC Droid Incredible, LG Ally, and Motorola Droid X, thus isolating the issue as unique to Apple's current iPhone designs.

Financial Times reports that Apple has "clarified" with music labels its intent for a cloud-based music storage service, positioning the service as a way to back up existing collections and move music to Apple devices rather than as any sort of subscription streaming service.

Apple, which rocked digital music services such as Pandora, Rdio and MOG last week by announcing plans to keep 30 per cent of all revenues from subscriptions taken out through its App Store, has clarified its plans for using remote storage, known as the cloud, according to several music industry executives.

More than a year after buying Lala, a cloud-based digital music service, Apple is now looking to use the cloud mainly to allow users of its iTunes store to back up their collections and access them from any Apple device.

One person with knowledge of Apple's plans said the company did not want to undermine the market that it dominates for paid downloads, likening its plans for the cloud to "insurance".

It is not entirely clear from the article exactly how users would "access" their cloud-hosted music from Apple devices. Apple has been presumed to be preparing to allow users to simply host their collections in the cloud and then stream tracks to their Internet-connected devices on an as-needed basis, eliminating the need for managing and syncing libraries across machines and reducing onboard storage requirements. The report's emphasis on the "insurance" aspect, however, makes Apple's plans sound more like a backup service than a streaming service, although we would assume Apple is still working to convince record labels to permit streaming rather than forcing users to employ a "re-download" mechanism.

In a post taking Engadget to task for trying to position its revised claims for the second-generation iPad as an actual change in Apple's plans, Daring Fireball's John Gruber uses a footnote to quietly report that he has heard from second-hand sources that Apple may be looking to use a carbon fiber body on the device.

I could publish things I'm only half-sure about, like the iPad 2 switching from aluminum to a lightweight high-strength carbon fiber body, but I don't, because I'm only half-sure and I've only heard about it from second-hand sources who themselves are unsure about it. And even if I were to off-handedly mention such speculation, I'd do so in a footnote and take pains to emphasize the uncertain nature of the information and the second-hand status of the sources thereof. What I would never do is take a flyer and report uncertain speculation as a fact, and, if it wound up not panning out, chalk it up to Apple having changed things at the last moment rather than the report being flat-out wrong all along.

Claims and speculation regarding a shift to carbon fiber shells for Apple's devices are not new, with a 2008 report suggesting that Apple was investigating the possibility of shifting the MacBook Air to a carbon fiber body, and a patent application surfacing a few months later revealing that Apple was at least interested in the possibility. More recently, iLounge reported earlier this month that prototype second-generation iPads with carbon fiber shells had been spotted but that it was unclear whether they would make it into production models.

Gruber has a strong record when it comes to Apple product rumors, but his careful wording in this case obviously suggests that the report should be taken with a healthy amount of skepticism unless or until new information surfaces.

Yesterday, Apple and Intel introduced a new cabling system called Thunderbolt into the new MacBook Pros. As with any new technology, there are a lot of new questions and issues that are raised. Tested.com offers a good overview of the new technology, and Macworld offers a good Frequently Asked Questions about Thunderbolt. We've compiled some of the more interesting notes here.

- First, this Engadget video shows Thunderbolt in action on one of the new MacBook Pros, and does a good job showing the advantages of the faster bandwidth.

- CNet's live coverage reveals that there are no plans to offer Thunderbolt PCIe cards. In fact, Intel says that you will need a new computer/motherboard to get Thunderbolt. That means Mac Pro owners won't be able to add it on to their systems.

10:25 a.m. (Dong Ngo) : There won't be TB PCIe cards it seems. You'll need a new computer.
10:34 a.m. (Dong Ngo) : There won't be add-in TB adapters, you'll need a new computer/motherboard that supports TB.

- CrunchGear notes that while Apple doesn't have an exclusive on Thunderbolt, they have a head start:

At their press release, held shortly after Apples update when live, Intel noted that the developer kit for the interface would be provided to other computer manufacturers this spring, and that they didnt expect OEMs to ship with Thunderbolt until 2012.

- Engadget reports that Thunderbolt will be both backwards and forwards-compatible when it gets the new optical cabling:

...the port you'll find in new MacBook Pros and storage devices can actually take an optical cable when those are cost-effective enough to roll out, because Intel will eventually bake the optical transceivers into the cables themselves.

- Many have noted the new MacBook Pros have shorter battery life specs than last year's MacBook Pros. TechCrunch notes that Apple has been using a different testing protocol to report battery life:

Apple has begun using a new method of battery life testing. And they feel its much more accurate in real world scenarios. Specifically they call this the Wireless Web protocol testing.

We won't know until reviewers start testing them with identical benchmarks how much shorter the new MacBook Pro battery life actually is (if at all) as compared to the previous generation.

iFixit's teardown of the new MacBook Pro shows the same battery capacity between last year's and this year's 15" model. So any differences will be a product of the new CPU/GPUs.

PrimateLabs has compiled GeekBench results for the new Sandy Bridge MacBook Pros released just yesterday, and the results are impressive. The results show GeekBench results ranging from 5900 to 10164 across all models. What makes this particularly impressive is that the new low-end 13" MacBook Pro (2.3GHz Dual i5) scores near last year's top-end 15"/17" MacBook Pro (2.8GHz Dual i7).

Browsing through the complete list of benchmarks shows the new MacBook Pros in context with the other Macs. The top-of-the-line MacBook Pro now outrank many of last year's desktop machines including the Mac Pro and iMac. PrimateLabs concludes:

The performance of the new MacBook Pros is amazing. The slowest MacBook Pro performs on par with the fastest previous-generation MacBook Pro, and the fastest MacBook Pro is 80% faster than the fastest previous-generation MacBook Pro.

In fact, if you look at our Mac Benchmark charts, you'll see that the fastest MacBook Pro is faster than a lot of Mac Pros (including the current generation of Mac Pros). The new MacBook Pros truly are portable workstations.

As always, benchmarks are an artificial gauge of performance, but can be useful in head to head comparisons. These numbers also primarily reflect CPU/Memory performance and don't take into account differences in graphics hardware.

A week ahead of Apple's iPad media event, Engadget revises its claims about we can expect to see from Apple at Yerba Buena.

Engadget's previous claims included an SD card slot and a "super high resolution" display for the next iPad. Those claims generated a fair amount of discussion surrounding the possibility of a Retina display for the iPad 2. The site is backtracking on some of those claims now, saying that "engineering issues" have caused a change of plans:

Notably, that SD card slot and higher resolution display won't make it into the new model (the latter we'd been hearing rumblings about for a little while). What's the cause of the switch? Well our sources weren't crystal clear on the exact reasons, but the gist of what was explained to us centered around vague "engineering issues" which may have forced some changes at the eleventh hour.

Engadget stands by its sources and says we will still be hearing about a faster processor (A5) with more RAM (512MB). A FaceTime camera, of course, is still expected and likely a rear one as well.

The site does reveal that we'll likely hear details of iOS 5 next week which will be available to the public by summer alongside the iPhone 5. No other details there, but we should hear more on March 2nd.

Today, Apple seeded Mac OS developers with the first preview of Mac OS X Lion. Apple has outlined a number of new features such as new Mail client, document Versions, and much more.

But one particularly interesting under-the-hood change that we've learned about is an evolution of Mac OS X's "resolution independence" features. Resolution independence has been a long talked about feature that would eventually provide support for high DPI (dots per inch) displays. While there has been the beginnings of support for it starting in Mac OS X Tiger (10.4) and into Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6), full support was never realized. In Mac OS X Lion, however, references to Resolution Independence has been replaced with a new system that could pave the way for these super high resolution "Retina" monitors.

Taking cues from iOS, Apple has reportedly built in support for what it calls "HiDPI display modes". These HiDPI modes allow developers to supply 2x-enlarged images to support double-high resolution displays. Like the iPhone 4's Retina Display, this means that user interface elements will remain the same size, but everything will be twice the resolution and therefore twice as detailed. For example, instead of a 1440x900 pixel 15" MacBook Pro, you could have a 2880x1800 pixel 15" MacBook Pro. All the screen elements would be the same physical size as elements on the 1440x900 display, but with a much higher level of detail. Developers would simply need to provide 2x-resolution images for their user interface elements, just like on the iPhone to support its high resolution Retina display.

This new system seems far easier to support than the previous system which tried to support an arbitrary number of resolutions with elements described in vectors or multiple bitmaps. So, it's easy to see how this could pave the way for Apple to start releasing monitors and notebooks with double-resolution displays. There has already been talk about iPad-sized Retina displays which would have 2048x1536 resolution on a 9.7" screen. It's not hard to imagine that technology will advance enough in the next couple of years to allow for similarly dense laptop or even desktop displays. HiDPI modes are not enabled by default and must be enabled in Lion's Quartz Debug.

With today's introduction of Thunderbolt by Intel and new MacBook Pros from Apple featuring the technology, long-standing questions regarding how the technology would be implemented are finally coming to rest. Intel just held a media event to provide additional details on the technology, and CNET provided a live blog of the event.

True to recent developments, Thunderbolt is initially being implemented solely over a copper connection, with optical connections set to come later this year. The technology essentially combines PCI Express and DisplayPort into one protocol, allowing displays and other peripherals to be driven off of the same bus.

Other Notes:

- 10 Gbps per channel (bidirectional - that's about 900 MB/s).
- 10 W bus power (less than FireWire, but more than USB). According to Intel, bus power will likely not be supported over future optical cables (so no additional copper lines just for bus power)
- One bus can drive two DisplayPort displays simultaneously.
- Low 8 ns latency over 7 daisy-chained devices.
- Maximum single cable length is 3 meters for current copper implementation.
- Any DisplayPort 1.1 device needs to be the last in a daisy chain.
- In a hands-on demonstration of Thunderbolt, Engadget was able to see a 5 GB file transferred in just a few seconds. The connection was also capable of playing four simultaneous uncompressed HD video streams from a RAID device.
- Ars Technica notes that its compact, inexpensive controller combined with Mini DisplayPort makes Thunderbolt well suited for mobile computing.
- According to Intel, Apple has a head start of anywhere from several months to a year over the competition when it comes to Thunderbolt.

Vendors who have already committed to producing Thunderbolt devices include Promise (Pegasus RAID) and LaCie (Little Big Disk).

When Apple released FaceTime 1.0 into the Mac App Store earlier today with a $0.99 price tag, many users were up in arms over the charge for what had been a free application during its beta phase.

As we suspected and has now been confirmed by Macworld's Dan Moren, the charge is due to an accounting requirement that has affected similar updates in the past.

Apple told me that the FaceTime $1 charge for existing Mac users is regulatory related (remember the $2 802.11n patch circa 2007?).

Moren's reference is to the software download that unlocked 802.11n capabilities that were included in certain Macs but not activated at the time of sale.

While it is not clear exactly what types of updates trigger such accounting requirements, Apple has in the past generally stated that adding significant functionality that had not been advertised as included at the time of purchase can require such minimal user payments. While Macs have long included iChat video capabilities similar in many respects to FaceTime, Apple and its accounting advisors clearly believe that a public release of FaceTime software for existing Macs represents a substantial new feature addition for which the company is required to either charge a small fee or restate its past earnings to retroactively delay recognition of a tiny slice of revenue from each past machine sale.

The new FaceTime application is included free of charge on the MacBook Pros released today, as it is an advertised feature on the new hardware, and the application will certainly continue to be free on future versions of Mac hardware.

BGR reports that iOS 4.3 has hit the golden master stage, with Apple reportedly having finalized the next version of the operating system running the company's popular iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, and Apple TV devices.

One of our Apple sources has just informed us that it looks like Apple has finalized the code for its upcoming iOS 4.3 release. The build, we're told, is 8F190 for those keeping track.

iOS 4.3 could make its public debut sometime within the next week, quite possibly at Apple's media event scheduled for next Wednesday. The updated operating system version is set to add such new features as personal Wi-Fi hotspot functionality, enhanced support for AirPlay video streaming, and a software toggle to set the functionality of the iPad's side switch.

Earlier this month, BGR pinpointed the build number of an iOS 4.3 developer seed that appeared just a few hours later.

Apple today notified resellers that it has discontinued the retail box version of MobileMe, shifting entirely to digital sales. Existing stocks of boxed MobileMe can continue to be sold while their supplies last.

Since the boxed MobileMe products contain only an activation code and promotional materials, the offering of a physical MobileMe product has primarily been used to provide in-store visibility for the service.

Apple is reportedly working on an overhaul of its MobileMe service, potentially looking to shift to a free offering that would provide users with "digital lockers" for housing their music, photos, and videos. Consequently, the discontinuation of boxed MobileMe products could be paving the way for a sell-off of existing stock and a brief period of digital-only sales before transitioning to a free service.

Apple's North Carolina data center has been the subject of considerable speculation regarding potential cloud-based offerings. Apple acknowledged at yesterday's shareholder meeting that the center is not yet open, but should be opening soon to support MobileMe and iTunes. Five times larger than Apple's existing primary data center in Newark, California, the North Carolina center will offer significantly expanded infrastructure for the company that could support the rumored cloud-based services.

Update: Apple also appears to have entirely removed MobileMe from its online store, both as a standalone product and as bundled with new Macs. Apple had previously offered a $30 discount on MobileMe when purchased with a new Mac, but that offer is no longer available.

Apple continues to offer a 60-day free trial of MobileMe, but given that it has just become substantially more difficult to actually purchase MobileMe directly from Apple, it appears that Apple may indeed be shifting it to a free service sometime within the next two months.

Alongside new MacBook Pros, Apple today announced the release of the first developer preview version of Mac OS X Lion. First demoed last October, Mac OS X Lion is set for a public launch this summer.

Apple today released a developer preview of Mac OS X Lion, which takes some of the best ideas from iPad and brings them back to the Mac for the eighth major release of the world's most advanced operating system. Lion features Mission Control, an innovative new view of everything running on your Mac; Launchpad, a new home for all your Mac apps; full screen apps that use the entire Mac display; and new Multi-Touch gestures. Lion also includes the Mac App Store, the best place to discover, install and automatically update Mac apps. The Lion preview is available to Mac Developer Program members through the Mac App Store today, and the final version of Lion will ship to customers this summer.

Apple also outlines a number of other features to be found in Lion:

- Mail, a new version of Mail, with an elegant, widescreen layout inspired by the iPad; Conversations, which automatically groups related messages into one easy to read timeline; more powerful search; and support for Microsoft Exchange 2010;

- Versions, which automatically saves successive versions of your document as you create it, and gives you an easy way to browse, edit and even revert to previous versions;

- AirDrop, a remarkably simple way to copy files wirelessly from one Mac to another with no setup;
- Resume, which conveniently brings your apps back exactly how you left them when you restart your Mac or quit and relaunch an app;
- Auto Save, which automatically saves your documents as you work;
- the all new FileVault, that provides high performance full disk encryption for local and external drives, and the ability to wipe data from your Mac instantaneously; and
- Mac OS X Lion Server, which makes setting up a server easier than ever and adds support for managing Mac OS X Lion, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices.

An updated overview of Mac OS X Lion is available on Apple's feature page for the forthcoming update.

Update: Here are some additional features we've learned:

- In 10.7, windows may be resized from all edges and corners, and the resize indicator has been removed.
- Support for OpenGL 3.2 on capable hardware.
- Application persistance. Apps and their states are saved when you logout and back in. Background apps may be terminated by Mac OS X and will restore if the user picks them again. Basically the concept of open and closed apps is gone.

Apple has launched the FaceTime for Mac App on the Mac App Store for $0.99:

FaceTime for Mac makes it easy to talk, smile and laugh with friends and family on their iPhone 4, iPod touch or Mac. Getting started is quick and easy -- simply enter your Apple ID and you're ready to go. Whether you're talking to someone on an iPhone or on another Mac, video calls with FaceTime look great. There's no better way to stay in touch with all your favorite faces.

The app was in public beta before this, but with the imminent launch of the new MacBook Pros, Apple has launched version 1.0. New MacBook Pro owners will get FaceTime pre-installed. This download appears to be for existing Mac customers.