Here’s a list of things that Mountain Lion killed today

Posted By Ray Nicolini

Apple’s merging of iOS with OS X continues today with our first glimpse at 10.8 Mountain Lion, the next major OS release for Macs. Of course, in the process of bringing the best of both worlds together, some things win out. In the case of Mountain Lion, several apps and features were replaced with their iOS counterparts. Here is everything from past OS X releases that died today at the hand of Apple’s iOS-ifying of Mountain Lion:

iChat: Mountain Lion introduces an OS X version of the iOS “Messages” app that replaces iChat and integrates your AIM, Yahoo!, Google Talk, and Jabber accounts when installed. It also introduces unlimited messaging to and from Macs and iOS devices. Although the FaceTime app still appears to be present in Mountain Lion, the new Messages app also integrates FaceTime video chats. Messages on OS X completes the merging of FaceTime and iChat with a Mac compatible version of iMessages from iOS, making iChat and just about every third-party messaging app obsolete in the process.

iCal & Address Book: In Mountain Lion Address Book and iCal were both replaced with names of their iOS equals, “Contacts” and “Calendar.” In this case, the change is mainly just the names, but improved iCloud integration gets the OS X Contacts and Calendar apps and the iOS versions closer to becoming one in the same.

Growl: For a long time, third-party, open-source notification utility Growl was the go-to solution for OS X users. It is hard to argue Apple’s integration of a Notification Center almost identical to iOS 5 does not completely replace the need for Growl. Apple is letting developers integrate notifications into their apps, and we will likely see further integration between Notification Center on iOS and OS X in future updates.

“Mac”: While it i’s not something the average user is likely to pay attention to, Apple’s decision to officially drop the “Mac” from “Mac OS X” signifies a big change. Mac was part of the OS name for more than 10 years, and dropping the “Mac” will surely make things easier when the inevitable unification of iOS and OS X is complete. There are even models of Macs that did not make the cut for Mountain Lion support.

HDMI out: With AirPlay mirroring support in Mountain Lion, HDMI out is on the way out. It might not be reason to throw out your HDMI cables right away, but the prospect of wirelessly beaming your Mac’s screen to the upcoming Apple HDTV means Apple is likely to keep improving it.

source 9to5mac.com

Refreshed MacBook Air line could land July 19th with Sandy Bridge, OS X Lion, Thunderbolt

Posted By Ray Nicolini

Apple will refresh its MacBook Air line of computers on July 19th, iClarified reported on Wednesday. We began to suspect the update was imminent when early reports suggested that global supplies for the computer were in short supply in late May. Those reports were solidified earlier this week when stock of the MacBook Air at Best Buy and Amazon was depleted. The device is expected to pack the new Thunderbolt I/O port in place of DisplayPort, Intel’s new Sandy Bridge processors, and the brand new OS X Lion operating system. 9to5 Macsaid that Apple will likely offer Intel’s 1.8GHz Intel Core i7, 1.7GHz Core i7, and the 1.7GHz Core i5 in its new machines. We love the current design of the MacBook Air, and rumor has it that there won’t be any hardware tweaks. We suppose that could mean the rumored anodized black version will never see the light of day. The good news is the long wait is nearly over.

Read [9to5 Mac] Read [iClarified]