• New Fuji Mountain Wallpaper in Mac OS X Lion Hints at Future Retina Displays Mac

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, iPad, Rants & Raves, Rumors, Tech., Wallpaper 2 Responses

    The new default wallpaper on OS X 10.7 Lion Developer Preview 2 featuring Fuji Mountain has a whopping size of 3200×2000 pixels as noted by the guys at osxdaily.com.

    Click here to download the full version, [3200×2000 pixels.]

    However, 3200×2000 pixels is significantly larger than any existing resolution offered by Apple displays, including the 27″ and 30″ Apple Cinema Displays. Furthermore, the default wallpaper size in Mac OS X 10.6 is 2560×1600, which is exactly the maximum resolution of Apple’s 30″ Cinema Display. Is it just coincidence that Apple is bundling an ultra high resolution image in Lion as the new default wallpaper, or does this suggest that higher resolution Macs, possibly with retina displays, are coming sometime in the future?

    Here’s a nice chart that shows what screen size at what viewing distance with that resolution would be considered a retina display:

    Notice that even for the closest viewing distance of 18 inches, a 3200 x 2000 resolution represents a Retina Display for display sizes up to and including 17 inches. And of course, that covers the entire range of Apple laptops on the market today.

    And smaller displays wouldn’t need a resolution that high to be considered retina:

    A 13.3” MacBook Air, for example, would need a screen providing approximately 2200 x 1375 pixels (191 dpi) to be considered a Retina Display at an 18-inch viewing distance.

    To help understand what a “Retina Display” means. Steve Jobs, at the announcement of the iPhone 4, had this description:

    It turns out there’s a magic number right around 300 pixels per inch, that when you hold something around to 10 to 12 inches away from your eyes, is the limit of the human retina to differentiate the pixels.

    Other than providing dramatically improved display clarity on a Mac, the other reason a Mac with a 3200×2000 pixel resolution makes sense is for iOS developers. So what does this have to do with iPad 3?

    … according to an analyst cited by AppleInsider, the high resolution retina display will come to iPad 3 in the form of a whopping 2048×1536 resolution display. If this happens, you’d expect similar displays to come to the Mac platform so that developers can accurately produce and test apps for the ultrahigh resolution.

    Indeed, 3200×2000 would be such an ultrahigh resolution for a Mac, and it would be more than adequate to develop for a 2048×1536 pixel iPad 3 display.

    Sure, this is speculation based on a new wallpaper in a developer preview OS, but who knows what Apple is prepping for us.

  • Windows 8 Official Wallpaper Download

    // Gradly // blog, Microsoft, News, Rants & Raves, Wallpaper No Responses


    Windows 8 milestone 3 now up for grabs for select Microsoft Connect partners, it’s inevitable that leaked bits and pieces will start popping up around the Web. In fact, the first “official” wallpaper image from the still-brewing OS is already making the rounds.

    A few other details have been revealed, too. According to ZDNet’s source, the Windows 8 Jupiter libraries and Twin UI are starting to take shape — though all that’s been located thus far are “[various files] scattered throughout the OS” and the aptly-named twinui.dll.

    Download Windows 8 Original Wallpaper 2560 X 1600 pixles [courtesy of DownloadSquad]

  • X-MEN: FIRST CLASS Official Movie Trailer

    // Gradly // blog, Movies 5 Responses

    Here is the first look at the Movie Trailer for the upcoming X-Men: First Class! Movie We’ve been waiting to see for a long time.

    The film stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, January Jones, Oliver Platt, and Kevin Bacon.

    Synopsis:

    X-MEN FIRST CLASS charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga, and reveals a secret history of famous global events. Before mutants had revealed themselves to the world, and before Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Not archenemies, they were instead at first the closest of friends, working together with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to prevent nuclear Armageddon. In the process, a grave rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.