lion

Mountain Lion is reportedly one step closer to roaring its way onto the consumer market.

The new version of OS X has been sent to AppleCare representatives to use on their computers at work, according to 9to5Mac. This golden master build sent to employees through a redeem code is the same one offered to developers on July 9, the blogging site added.

Apple workers and other people have already been checking out the new OS via Apple's Seed program, which gives participants a chance to test new software and provide feedback. But Apple store employees who volunteer for that … Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week readers wrote in with questions on how to back up to an internal partition or drive in a Mac, what to do about files not opening in the appropriate application when double-clicked in the Finder, and whether or not the Mountain Lion upgrade will affect Boot Camp partitions. We welcome views from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, post them in the comments!

Question: Backing up to an internal drive or partition MacFixIt reader Curtis asks:… Read more

Apple's next release of OS X "Mountain Lion" is slated for release by the end of this month, with some recent developments suggesting it may be out by as early as next week. If you are thinking about upgrading your Mac to the new operating system, then you might consider reserving some time this weekend to ensuring your system is capable of and prepared for the upgrade.

While for the most part you should be able to download and install the upgrade without any problems, there are a few things you can do to help prevent running … Read more

One of the ongoing problems that has affected some OS X users is random dropouts in their Wi-Fi connections. While Wi-Fi connectivity is not an issue with most Mac systems, for people experiencing it, once the problem starts it seems to persist. In some situations nearly identical systems on the same network will result in one system working fine and the other being regularly dropped.

Unfortunately Wi-Fi connectivity is difficult to troubleshoot, since there are many factors that play into a stable connection. These include drivers and other software configurations, the Wi-Fi card, the router, other computer hardware and components, … Read more

Monday's top tech headlines feature a new challenger to the LTE battle:

Microsoft is releasing a new flavor of Office to go along with the new look of Windows 8. This new Office is all about making your documents available wherever you are, on any device. The design is also streamlined. Since you might be using it on a touch-screen, Microsoft simplified some options. You can see highlights of the features in our review of the new Office suite.

Sprint's already been selling devices that use 4G LTE, but today customers can finally tap into that faster network. … Read more

Apple could be planning to launch OS X Mountain Lion on July 25, according to a new report.

According to 9to5Mac, citing sources, Apple has informed some employees at its retail stores that they'll need to plan for an "overnight" on July 24. Overnights have become a key indicator that something new is coming to Apple's retail stores. Overnights mean that employees work outside their stores' open hours to prepare their location for the next day's new sale. Generally, that means Macs, iPhones, or iPads -- but not always.

If 9to5Mac's sources are to … Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week readers wrote in with questions on whether an SSD or a larger HDD would be a better option especially for upgrading to Mountain Lion, how to manage calendars locally and on iCloud, managing the recovery HD partition when upgrading to Mountain Lion, and the 32-bit support options for Mountain Lion. We welcome views from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, post them in the comments!

Question: Upgrading to an SSD or a larger HDD? MacFixIt reader … Read more

Apple recently issued the golden master release of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion to developers and testers, indicating that if no outstanding bugs are found in the current build then it will very likely be the final release of the operating system that will soon be issued to the public. Through the testing of the four preview releases of Mountain Lion, developers have noted that even though the operating system is 64-bit, Apple has excluded some early 64-bit-capable Mac systems from being included.

While this limitation was at first suggested as a possible temporary limitation during the initial phases … Read more

Apple's next major release of OS X, dubbed Mountain Lion, is in its final testing stages.

Apple today gave developers the same version of the software that will be released to consumers later this month.

Mountain Lion is the followup to last year's Lion, and represents the eighth iteration of OS X. Apple first debuted the software in late-February with a preview release, and has since followed with a handful of beta versions that squashed bugs and introduced new features.

As a quick recap, Mountain Lion brings a handful of iOS features to Macs, including the notes and … Read more