Apple’s WWDC: Biggest Improvements to Mountain Lion Taken From iOS
At yesterday’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed new mobile operating system iOS 6 and also the new desktop OS Mountain Lion.

Many of the mobile and tablet features have been imported to Mountain Lion, emphasising the shift towards mobile.

iOS 6

Apple’s newest mobile operating system will be available from Autumn for the 3GS, 4, and 4S, as well as the iPad 2 and the newest iPad. Improvements to Siri on the iPhone 4S were first announced; the voice-assistant now has new languages, is available on iPad and has information from Yelp and Rotten
Tomatoes to answer all types of query. The Siri update will let you dictate your tweets and Facebook status updates, and will also launch applications upon request, ‘Launch Angry Birds’.
Another key feature of iOS 6 is Apple’s deeper integration with Facebook. It will now be easier to post to Facebook from applications and also sync Facebook Events with your iOS calendar. Apple has also added ‘Like’ buttons to the App Store and as mentioned earlier, Siri integration allows you to dictate your
status updates.

As predicted, iOS will be ditching Google Maps for its own version, which will include Yelp and Siri integration, audio turn-by-turn navigation, crowdsourced real-time traffic updates and 3D views of major cities (a feature Google lacks). It will be interesting to see how Apple’s own version of Maps fares and whether it will turn out to be any competition for Google.
Other features of iOS 6 include an improved version of Facetime, which will now run on 3G and 4G connections as well as wifi, and also the unification of phone numbers and Apple IDs so calls and messages can be received on desktops and tablets.

OS X Mountain Lion 10.8

As with iOS 6, Apple’s own map system will be added to Mountain Lion, along with another 200 new features. The major updates of Mountain Lion are imported from iOS 6; one example of this is the ditching of iChat for iMessage integration, allowing you to receive messages on your desktop or laptop.

Another pleasing feature is Power Nap, which will update applications and backup all data while your computer sleeps. Its integration with iCloud will allow all of your applications likeiPhoto, Calendar and Notes to stay backed up and updated at all times.

Dictation has also been added to the Mac, although not quite Siri, Apple are realising the potential and efficiency of dictating tasks rather than typing them. Voice dictation will work with most applications including third-party programmes like Microsoft Word.

As well as a number of new software features, Apple has also updated some its hardware, including the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. The new Pro is now almost as thin as the Air and has a 15.4 inch retina display with a 2,880 x 1,800 pixel display – the world’s highest resolution display. The MacBook Air has
been updated with Ivy Bridge Processors and up to 8GB of memory. The original MacBook Pro and Air are still available but with improved specs.