Apple App Store is About to Hit 25 Billion Downloads
Apple has started a countdown to its 25 billionth app downloads on the App Store:
As of today, nearly 25 billion apps have been downloaded worldwide. Which is almost as amazing as the apps themselves. So we want to say thanks. Download the 25 billionth app, and you could win a US$10,000 App Store Gift Card. Just visit the App Store and download your best app yet.
Apple today announcedOS X Mountain Lion, the next major update to its desktop operating system. Mountain Lion brings more iOS features to the Mac platform such as Messages, Notification Center, AirPlay Mirroring, Notes, Reminder, Game Center and deep iCloud integration. Here are a rundown of the added features:
iCloud
It just works. In more ways than ever. In OS X Mountain Lion, sign in once with your Apple ID and iCloud is automatically set up across your Mac. iCloud keeps your mail, calendars, contacts, documents, and more up to date on every device you use. So when you add, delete, or edit something on your Mac, it happens on your iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. And vice versa.
Messages
Mac keeps the conversation going. Messages does everything iChat does, and so much more. For starters, it comes with iMessage. And just like iMessage in iOS, it lets you send unlimited messages to anyone on a Mac or an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 5. Send photos, videos, documents, and contacts — even send messages to a group. You can 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. And you can start a conversation on your Mac and pick it up on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. So nothing is left unsaid.
Reminders
Now nothing slips your mind. When you have so much to do, Reminders helps you get it done. It’s all in a list. More than one, in fact. Make as many lists as you need and easily add to them. Set due dates and you’ll get alerts as deadlines approach. Check items off your lists as you go and keep track of what you’ve completed. And to be sure you don’t forget anything, iCloud keeps your reminders up to date on your Mac, iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.
Notes
A feature for your thoughts. Notes in OS X Mountain Lion is designed for whatever’s on your mind. Think it up. Jot it down. Make it even more noteworthy with photos, images, and attachments. You can add, delete, and flip through your notes or do a quick search. Use the Share button to send your notes to friends or colleagues 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.
Notification Center
See what’s new with you. All in one place. Something new is always popping up somewhere on your Mac — an email, an instant message, a friend request, a calendar alert, and more. Notification Center makes it easy to stay up to speed, because there’s one place to see everything. Notification banners appear on your desktop and disappear quickly so they don’t interrupt what you’re doing. Swipe to the left, and you’ll see all your notifications in a simple, ordered list. So you’ll always know what’s up as soon as it comes up.
Share Sheets
When you see it, share it. You’ll find the Share button in many OS X Mountain Lion apps. It’s the new, easy way to spread the word — links, photos, and videos, too. Send links from Safari. Send your notes via Mail and Messages. Post photos to Flickr. Send videos to Vimeo. And tweet just about anything.
Twitter
Tweet right from your apps. OS X Mountain Lion keeps you on top of all things Twitter. Sign in once and you’re all set to start tweeting — and you don’t have to leave the app you’re in. Tweet links and photos directly from Safari, iPhoto, or Photo Booth with the new Tweet Sheet. Tweet comments and add locations. And when someone mentions you in a tweet or sends you a direct message, you’ll get a Twitter notification right then and there.
Game Center
Mac gets in on the game. The Mac is about to go up against iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch — in a friendly Game Center way.2 Now it’s a bigger playing field with even more competition. Just create a Game Center account with your Apple ID. Then sign in and you’re in. Friends will find you fast, and you’ll track them down easily. Get a multiplayer game started or go up against people you don’t know. Check out leaderboards and see how your high score ranks against opponents’ scores around the world. And discover new games based on the ones you and your friends already play.
AirPlay Mirroring
Your Mac is on TV. This new feature in Mountain Lion is made for an audience. With AirPlay Mirroring, you can stream what’s on your Mac to your HDTV via Apple TV. Show web pages and videos to friends on the couch. Share lessons with a classroom. Present to a conference room. It’s a big deal for your Mac. And for everyone around it.
Gatekeeper
A more secure Mac. Under your control. Gatekeeper in OS X Mountain Lion makes the Mac safer than ever. It helps prevent you from unknowingly downloading and installing malicious software. And it gives you control over which applications to download and run on your Mac. Now you can choose from three security options. You can download and run applications from anywhere, just as in OS X Lion. To be even safer, download and run apps from the Mac App Store and apps with a Developer ID. Or download and run only apps from the Mac App Store — the safest setting of all. Gatekeeper lets you decide which setting is best for you.
Here is the full press release:
Apple Releases OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview with Over 100 New Features
CUPERTINO, California—February 16, 2012—Apple today released a developer preview of OS X Mountain Lion, the ninth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system, which brings popular apps and features from iPad to the Mac and accelerates the pace of OS X innovation. Mountain Lion introduces Messages, Notes, Reminders and Game Center to the Mac, as well as Notification Center, Share Sheets, Twitter integration and AirPlay Mirroring. Mountain Lion is the first OS X release built with iCloud in mind for easy setup and integration with apps. The developer preview of Mountain Lion also introduces Gatekeeper, a revolutionary security feature that helps keep you safe from malicious software by giving you complete control over what apps are installed on your Mac. The preview release of Mountain Lion is available to Mac Developer Program members starting today. Mac users will be able to upgrade to Mountain Lion from the Mac App Store™ in late summer 2012.
“The Mac is on a roll, growing faster than the PC for 23 straight quarters, and with Mountain Lion things get even better,†said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The developer preview of Mountain Lion comes just seven months after the incredibly successful release of Lion and sets a rapid pace of development for the world’s most advanced personal computer operating system.â€
The developer preview of Mountain Lion features the all new Messages app which replaces iChat and allows you to send unlimited messages, high-quality photos and videos directly from your Mac to another Mac or iOS device. Messages will continue to support AIM, Jabber, Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk. Starting today Lion users can download a beta of Messages from www.apple.com, and the final version will be available with Mountain Lion. Reminders and Notes help you create and track your to-dos across all your devices. Game Center lets you personalize your Mac gaming experience, find new games and challenge friends to play live multiplayer games, whether they’re on a Mac, iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.
Mountain Lion presents notifications in an elegant new way, and Notification Center provides easy access to alerts from Mail, Calendar, Messages, Reminders, system updates and third party apps. System-wide Share Sheets make it easy to share links, photos and videos directly from Apple and third party apps. Twitter is integrated throughout Mountain Lion so you can sign on once and tweet directly from Safari, Quick Look, Photo Booth, Preview and third party apps. Mountain Lion also introduces AirPlay Mirroring, an easy way to wirelessly send a secure 720p video stream of what’s on your Mac to an HDTV using Apple TV.
More than 100 million users have iCloud accounts, and Mountain Lion makes it easier than ever to set up iCloud and access documents across your devices. Mountain Lion uses your Apple ID to automatically set up Contacts, Mail, Calendar, Messages, FaceTime and Find My Mac. The new iCloud Documents pushes any changes to all your devices so documents are always up to date, and a new API helps developers make document-based apps work with iCloud.
Gatekeeper is a revolutionary new security feature that gives you control over which apps can be downloaded and installed on your Mac. You can choose to install apps from any source, just as you do on a Mac today, or you can use the safer default setting to install apps from the Mac App Store, along with apps from developers that have a unique Developer ID from Apple. For maximum security, you can set Gatekeeper to only allow apps from the Mac App Store to be downloaded and installed.
Mountain Lion also has features specifically designed to support Chinese users, including significant enhancements to the Chinese input method and the option to select Baidu search in Safari. Mountain Lion makes it easy to set up Contacts, Mail and Calendar with top email service providers QQ, 126 and 163. Chinese users can also upload video via Share Sheets directly to leading video websites Youku and Tudou, and system-wide support for Sina weibo makes microblogging easy.
Hundreds of new APIs give developers access to new core technologies and enhanced features within OS X. The Game Kit APIs tap into the same services as Game Center on iOS, making it possible to create multiplayer games that work across Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. A new graphics infrastructure underpins OpenGL and OpenCL and implements GLKit, first introduced in iOS 5, to make it easier to create OpenGL apps. Using Core Animation in Cocoa apps is easier than ever, and new video APIs deliver modern 64-bit replacements for low-level QuickTime APIs. Enhanced Multi-Touchâ„¢ APIs give developers double-tap zoom support and access to the system-wide lookup gesture. Kernel ASLR improves security through enhanced mitigation against buffer overflow attacks.
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.
After the game debut trailer we are bringing you a few bits about Resident Evil 6 from this week’s Japanese famitsu Magazine who has conducted an interview with executive producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi, director Eiichiro Sasaki, and producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi:
The game’s development started about two years back.
The President shown in the trailer – the one who attacks Leon – is the president who followed Ashley’s dad.
The game is 50% complete.
The game continues with the flow of Resident Evil 4 and 5 while also giving a bit more feeling of horror. The game is not a return to the basics of the series.
Main Characters including Leon and Chris who are veterans, a third character is being included in order to have someone younger people can sympathize with. Leon and Chris have a strong sense of justice, and in contrast to this they wanted to have someone who’s more of a hero for the now.
The third main character will also have a partner character.
The zombies are back, but now they run, jump at you, even use weapons and as such are different from those encountered in previous games.”
For the J’avo, its named by the BSAA after the Serbian word for ‘demon’, the first J’avo made an appearance in the conflict zone of Eastern Europe about six months before the action of Resident Evil 6. The J’avo still exhibit certain human elements – such as the ability to understand speech, work together as a group and use weapons – but they are also incredibly aggressive and a number of their actions have regressed to pure instinct.
“When a J’avo takes damage it has the ability to regenerate itself. However if it is receives major damage then it will mutate that affected body part into a number of varied forms, meaning players will have to rethink their strategy and adapt to this unpredictability.”
One of the game’s primary locations, shown in the trailer, is the city of Lanshiang in China. This is a fake city, but the staff placed an importance on delivering the right atmosphere, so they traveled to a certain city for research.
They’re aiming to make it a Resident Evil that is enjoyable to control, with a revamped control scheme. You’ll be able to move slowly left and right while holding your gun, and perform such moves as 180 degree turn, quick front/back/side evade, covering and so fort
Capcom also provided a few character profiles:
Leon S. Kennedy
Following the Raccoon City incident Leon was recruited as a US government agent by none other than Adam Benford, who would later become the President of the United States. Ever since the nightmare that was Raccoon City Leon has made it his life’s work to eradicate bioterrorism.
Helena Harper
Like Leon, she is also a government agent, but was in the process of transferring to the Secret Service to become one of the President’s personal bodyguards. In the announcement trailer it is Helena who admits to Leon that she is the one responsible for this incident.
Chris Redfield
The ex-S.T.A.R.S member who continued the fight against bioterrorism as the leader of the BSAA underwent a personal trauma some six months prior to the events depicted in RE6. In spite of this he has rejoined his BSAA colleagues in China to uncover a major bioterrorist attack.
The mysterious third protagonist
We’re still trying to track down his real identity but we do know this man is a mercenary currently engaged in a bloody conflict in Eastern Europe where reports confirm that B.O.W.s are increasingly being used. One day, he’s told that he is the man to save the world. Whilst he doesn’t understand the implications of this, he does immediately think how much money he can make from it.
Ingrid Hunnigan
A member of Field Operations Support (FOS), Ingrid has been working with Leon for a long time, and they share a mutual trust.
Adam Benford
President of the United States and the man who hired Leon after the Raccoon City incident.
In a press release, Paramount Pictures confirmed that Michael Bay has signed a two-picture deal with the studio and is set to return as director of a new installment in the hugely popular “Transformers†franchise. Transformers 4 to be released on June 29th, 2014
The director shows his plans for making “pain and gain†starring Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson “the rock†first, followed by a new installment in Transformers franchise. Read the press release below:
HOLLYWOOD, CA (February 13, 2012) – Paramount Pictures announced today that director Michael Bay has signed a two-picture deal with the studio, which will commence this spring with the filming of “Pain and Gain,†and will be followed by the next installment in the hit “Transformers†franchise.
Based on a true story, “Pain and Gain†follows a group of bodybuilders who engaged in a campaign of kidnapping, extortion and murder in Florida. First told in an article from the Miami New Times, “Pain and Gain,†will be directed by Bay and will star Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne “The Rock†Johnson. Expected to begin production in early spring, the movie’s producers include Bay, Donald De Line and Ian Bryce.
Following “Pain and Gain,†Bay will bring audiences a new take on the “Transformers†franchise as he begins production on the fourth installment in the hit series of movies based on the best-selling Hasbro toyline. The third, and most recent installment of the franchise, “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,†is the fourth highest global grossing film of all time with 1.124 billion dollars of worldwide box office success. Directed by Bay, the movie will re-unite the filmmaking team from the hit franchise, including producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Don Murphy, Tom DeSanto and Ian Bryce; and executive producers Steven Spielberg, Bay, Brian Goldner and Mark Vahradian. Paramount Pictures will release the film on June 29th, 2014.
“Michael has been working on PAIN AND GAIN for a number of years but has patiently waited for the perfect casting to trigger a start,” said Adam Goodman, President of Paramount’s Film Group. “Clearly his patience has paid off as we couldn’t be more excited about this combo. His passion for this project is just awesome.”
