Mountain Lion: New Feature Announced at WWDC

Although we have covered Apple's upcoming Mac operating system, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion extensively in our last issue, there has been more news revealed about the OS. Earlier this month at the WWDC 2012, Apple revealed features that were rumored to be included. One of these is Siri dictation. A release date of July has also been announced along with a price tag of $19.99.

Apple also released the Mountain Lion Developer Preview 4 on Monday, June 18. This version of Mountain Lion makes it almost the complete version users should expect. It comes with a whooping 1.08GB install size and is packed with features. If you are a developer, you can access this version of Lion on the Mac App Store. Apple also released Server Preview 5 along with it.

What We Knew Before WWDC

Our previous issue covered pretty much everything there is to know about Mountain Lion aside from the information revealed by Apple at WWDC. The OS will offer more integration and functionality with the iDevices such as instant messaging with iMessage, Documents in the Cloud, Notifications and Reminders. It will even offer inter-connectivity between iDevice and Mac gamers with Game Center. Could cross-platform multiplayer gaming be in the works? It certainly is a possibility.

Apple actually boasts over 200 features for Mountain Lion and markets it as the OS that will bring the iPad to your Mac. In fact, Lion did this previously and Mountain Lion will expand on this movement. However, it will not be phasing out standard Mac features by any means like the Terminal.

Like Apple's upgrade plan for Snow Leopard to Lion, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion can be obtained by going to the Mac App Store. You will no longer need to go to your local Apple Store and purchase a DVD in order to install it manually. Apple is truly embracing the Web and digital distribution , and it looks as if the company is attempting to make physical media obsolete.

Apple also appears to be making Mountain Lion much more consumer-friendly and tightly guarded in terms of security or malware threats. The Flashback virus and Java exploit must have made quite an impression on Apple. The company is moving away from Java and Xll support and has announced Gatekeeper to keep it more secure than ever for end users.

Announcements At WWDC

In our previous story pre-WWDC, we predicted that a form of Siri integration will be included in Mountain Lion. This is none other than Dictation, which will allow you to use your voice to record text on your Mac, otherwise known as text transcription. We hoped Apple would offer full Siri from the iPhone, but even owners of the latest iPad are still waiting for such integration. Siri is certainly a feature that Apple will keep expanding both in scope and device compatibility. However, iPhone owners have the most complete version thus far and it will remain that way for a while at least.

At the WWDC conference, when demonstration Mountain lion and describing the Siri dictation integration, Apple Mac exec Craig Federighi said, "Because it's built into the system, it works everywhere; you can talk into your Facebook webpage if you want or even in third party applications like Microsoft Word. That's Dictation, it's that simple."

Banners and notifications will also be heavily integrated. Federighi said, "With Mountain Lion, we've replaced all of this with a consistent and elegant system based on Banners and Alerts, So Banners slide down from the top of the screen, right there into the upper right hand corner, and if you ignore them, they just slide out of the way."

Apple is no stranger to the integration of social networks into various aspects of its operating systems, and Mountain lion will be no exception. Facebook support has been announced to be fully featured. Expect it to offer automatic updates, notifications and updates on a desktop environment like with Twitter. Also, expect Apple to be gearing it for consumer use, which is heavily defined today by social media. Who knows what future social networks may be supported, but Apple is a strong proponent of Twitter and Facebook for the iDevices and Macs. The recently-released Development Preview 4 showed just how extensive this Facebook integration will really end up being. According to 9to5Mac:

"Facebook will now support native OS X banner notifications for actions such as Wall posts and inbox messages... Unfortunately, this build does not offer integration with Facebook Chat in the Messages app, although it is possible to setup Chat separately, so while you can get banner notifications about new messages, you won't actually be able to reply to them without going through your web browser."

Kodak Suing Apple Over Patent-Auction Issues

Kodak, which is considered by some to be the original pioneer for photography, has filed for a suit against Apple, in what many are calling a preemptive strike. Many of you may recall hearing about Kodak's recent plunge into bankruptcy. The photo-giant filed for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Protection back in January, 2012, and the company has since "ceased" operation. However, Kodak's powers-at-be have been planning a mass auction of their "patents" This auction was set to go off this August, but that may not happen if Apple has anything to say about it.

Kodak recently put in a legal suit against the tech-company, claiming that they were purposely "slowing down" Kodak's ability to sell their patents in a timely manner. Apple reportedly owns approximately 10 patents, which they earned during a joint effort between the company's back in 1990. The patents supposedly come from a project called the QuickTake camera. But Kodak is immediately reputing that Apple owns any of these patents and is claiming that Apple never had rights to the patents in the first place. Kodak is also suggesting that Apple is attempting to "slowdown" the sale of their patent portfolio.

If Apple does indeed own a stake in the company's patents, its a trivial one. According to reports, The QuickTake patents only account for ten of the seven-hundred total patents that Kodak is planning to auction off. One has to question why Kodak would be so concerned over such a small amount of intellectual property. Although, Kodak has openly suggested that their entire patent portfolio is worth billions of dollars, which could explain why the group is so interested in liberating these shares from Apple, if they indeed own the rights to them.

Even with all the frustration though, Kodak has openly outed Apple as a possible buyer for all of the patents. Analysts are left scratching their head, trying to figure out why the bankrupt company is planning on selling their property to Apple and at the same time involving them in a possibly lengthy lawsuit.

Kodak has already seen a substantial loss thanks to a ruling by the U.S. International Trade Commision. They claim that Kodak's U.S. Patent No. 6,292,218 was invalid. This was a major blow to the photo company as many considered that specific patent to be the "crown jewel" of Kodak's patent portfolio. The company is currently attempting to appeal the decision made by the court and only time will tell if they succeed in getting the ruling overturned.

Assassin’s Creed 3

Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise has been one of the most successful for the Canadian-based developer and with the series drawing to a close, the third game will no doubt be one of their best efforts yet.

The first two AC games (and the filler titles in between) took players on a fantastic journey through different locations at different time periods, but the third iteration will move a bit closer to (relative) modern times, taking place during the American Revolution between 1753 and 1783.

One of the most exciting prospects of the title is that gamers will be assuming the role of a character called Connor Kenway, who will be outfitted with Native American gear (as well as the usual Assassin’s garb). It was also made known that Connor is half-English and half-Mohawk, who has been urged to fight when his home is attacked by colonists.

Out of interest, the Mohawk people (who spanned from New York to Canada), were not to be messed with. The word Mohawk, which was borrowed the Narraganset ‘mohowaùuck’, means ‘they eat (animate) things,’ which is exactly why they were nicknamed the ‘man-eaters’.

From screenshots and trailers, it is rather clear that Connor will be fighting with the native tribes of the early Americas, which is an interesting prospect – instead of fighting on the side of stereo-typical ‘good guys’.

The synopsis also correlates with real events in history, as the Mohawks fought against the United States during the American Revolutionary War because of settlers infringing on the Mohawk Valley and an unpaid treaty obligation to the British Crown.

The series will naturally also continue the player’s quest to fight the Templars, and it has been established in the previous titles that well-known figures such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Charles Lee and General Lafayette were all part of the Templar movement.

Not a lot has been said about the game as a whole, but players of the franchise will know that the game will span a vast frontier to explore in the sandbox mode, have a great deal of time-period weapons (as well as some extra goodies) and be packed with tons of action.

The title is also bound to have a nifty multiplayer aspect built-in, just as what Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and AC 3 had. While it might be the last title in the exciting franchise, gamers will be accustomed to the incredible graphics and vast-paced action coupled with stealthy moves.

Verdict:

Moving to the New World, Assassin’s  Creed 3 looks very exciting indeed.

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

Publisher: Ubisoft

Distributor: Ubisoft

Release Date: October 2012

Platform: PC, XBox 360, PS3