Mountain Lion attains gold master status, available to developers

According to developers, Apple has begun providing them with the "gold master" of Mac OS X 10.8, also known as Mountain Lion. Gold (or golden) master is a term often used by Apple which signifies the final, retail version Mac OS. As such, GM is analogous to Microsoft's RTM (release to manufacturing) milestone. Mac OS X 10.8 is currently available at the OS X Dev Center and the build number is 12A269, according to 9to5Mac.

Although Mountain Lion has officially attained gold master status, a critical issue could prompt Apple to make last-minute changes. Such changes and their resultant delays are unusual but not unheard of.

Barring such a delay though, some technology insiders believe the new OS may be available for public consumption as soon as July 25. This is merely speculation however, based on past releases and upcoming events.

The minimum system requirements for Mountain Lion are simple enough, needing only 2GB of RAM and 8GB of available hard drive space. However, there are reports that a few unlucky Macs may be left behind. Changing how it approaches planned obsolecence, Apple is now explicitly listing Macs which are compatible with Mountain Lion instead of limiting installations based solely on tech specs. In the past, Apple had limited compatibility based primarily on CPU type and speed.

Here is the list of Macs that are compatible with Mountain Lion. If you don't see your Mac here, you're probably out of luck.

• iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
• MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
• MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
• MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
• Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
• Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
• Xserve (Early 2009)

Mountain Lion adds a bevy of new features and improvements, including a new Safari with iCloud syncing, Power Nap, OS-wide dictation, automatic system updates and a Game Center. Upgrades will sell for a wallet-friendly $19.99.

Rumor: New iMac in October with "Retina" display

Will the next generation iMac hit shelves in October? Even more intriguingly, will it sport a Retina display? This is what Digitimes, purveyor of rumors peddled by global supply chain factories, is suggesting. Digitimes' sources -- mostly Chinese companies involved in Apple's upstream supply chain -- are claiming they will begin production of the company's next iMac offering this month, making an October-ish launch seem most likely.

More interesting than just news of an upcoming iMac though, are claims that a Retina screen could find its way to some of these iMacs.

"Retina" is the label used by Apple to identify its ultra high-resolution screens sporting at least double the pixels per inch of standard panel offerings -- a pixel density where human eyes have difficulty discerning individual pixels. Currently, the iPhone 4, 4S, iPad (third generation) and Macbook Pro with Retina Display are the only products offered by Apple which house such screens.

There have been many rumors of high pixel density displays from others companies too, including Acer and Asus, but we've yet to see those rumors materialize. One reason for this may be the prohibitively high cost of displays with enormous pixel densities. 

iSuppli, an industry analyst who performs product teardowns in order to determine their total BOM (bill of materials) cost, has said Apple spends around $68 per LCD panel on its Macbooks -- the non-Retina kind, that is. A senior analyst from NPD DisplaySearch believes Apple is spending about a $100 more per unit for Retina-quality panels. That's a substantial bump in price for PC makers who often operate on thin margins but remains hardly an issue for Apple consumers expect a price premium.

With Apple taking the plunge on high PPI panels, it is likely we'll see prices on these screens tumble as other companies follow suit.

Thunderbolt 1.2.1 update resolves kernel panic issue for Mac users

Apple has released a new Thunderbolt update (1.2.1) which promises not to crash your Mac this time around. For those of you who have been patiently waiting in hopes of avoiding a system crash, it should now be safe to try your luck with the System Updater once again.

Following several noteworthy product announcements by Apple at WWDC 2012, the company hastily released an update for Mac OS X which promised support for its new Thunderbolt-based network and Firewire converters. Although a seemingly innocuous patch, the well-intentioned Thunderbolt 1.2 update rendered some iMac and Macbook owners' systemsunbootable.

Apple promptly pulled the Thunderbolt 1.2 update from its servers following a growing number of complaints. The company later confirmed the issue on the June 18 with this knowledge base support article and released a new and improved Thunderbolt 1.2.1 update that is (hopefully)kernel-panic free.

If you were one of the unlucky ones but never got around to fixing your system, Apple's support article outlines the official solution to the issue: use Lion's built-in recovery feature.

Users can initiate the repair process by powering up (or restarting) their Mac and hold the Command + R keys simultaneously after the boot-time "chime" sound. When prompted to do so, choose to re-install Mac OS X and log on with your Apple ID. It may take a while, but the recovery process will solve the issue. Also, all of your personal files, application settings and most of your system configuration .plists should remain unscathed.

As always though, it's important to keep a current backup. If you're a Mac user, there's really no easier way to do this than using Time Machine on a secondary or external storage device.