The release of OS 10.8, Mountain Lion, is tentatively set for July 25 (next Wednesday). If you’re champing at the bit to upgrade as many of us are, the good news is that we don’t have long to wait. If you’re still unsure about whether to make the move to Mountain Lion or not, check out some of the most exciting features and requirements here.
Reminders
The lightweight list-based app in iOS is coming to your desktop. Though it’s not as all-inclusive or sophisticated as say, Things or OmniFocus, it can be a great basic app for your lists and to-dos.
“Make as many lists as you need and easily add to them. Set due dates and you’ll get alerts as deadlines approach. Set a location from your Mac, and your iPhone or iPad will remind you when you get there. Check items off your lists as you go and keep track of what you’ve completed. iCloud keeps your reminders up to date on your Mac, iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, so you don’t forget anything.”
Notes
Another included iOS app, Notes is designed to work with Mail and Messages (below) seamlessly.
“Add, delete, and flip through your notes or do a quick search. Use the Share button to send your notes with Mail or Messages. Pin important notes to your desktop so they’re easy to get to. And take them with you everywhere. Notes works with iCloud, so when you create or edit a note on your Mac, it automatically updates on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. And vice versa.”
Messages
iMessaging is coming to the Mac, basically combining texting and iChat in one easy-to-use application.
“Send messages to anyone on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 5, too. Messages appear on your Mac and any device you use, which means you can say hi from your Mac and keep chatting on your iPhone or iPad, no matter where you are. Send photos, videos, documents, and contacts—even send messages to a group. You’ll see when your message has been delivered and when someone’s typing a reply. Turn on read receipts, and they’ll see when you’ve read a message. With end-to-end encryption, your messages stay safe and private.”
Notification Center
Perhaps the most highly anticipated new feature being ported over from iOS, Notification Center clearly lays out what’s happening on your Mac—whether it’s an email, a message, a software update, a calendar alert or something else.
“Notifications always appear in the same spot on your desktop and disappear quickly so they don’t clutter up your screen. Whenever you want to see all your notifications in one place, just swipe to the left from the right edge of the trackpad. And there they are, in a simple, ordered list. So you’ll always know what’s up as soon as it comes up.”
Safari
Apple’s web browser is getting a boost, and it will be a welcome one, especially in the wake of Google’s super fast Chrome update.
“New features in Safari make browsing the web smarter and faster. Now there’s one simple search field for both search terms and web addresses. Tab View shows your open tabs. Just pinch to see them all and swipe to switch between them. When you open web pages on your iPhone or iPad, iCloud Tabs makes them available on your Mac, too, so you can pick up browsing wherever you left off. And now that Safari saves entire web pages in your Reading List—not just the links—you can catch up on your reading even without an Internet connection.”
In addition, there are seven new features related to Auto-Save, five new features for Built-In Sharing, eight Dictation-based features, five new Finder features, seven new iCloud features, and over 150 more. See all of them here.