Want beta access to Mac OS X Mavericks? Work for Apple retail

Apple is extending a beta program for its next-generation Mac OS X Mavericks to retail employees, creating what appears to be a tradition for new operating systems.
Retail staff employees received an invite from Apple today, reports 9to5 Mac. Apple offered a similar program last year for the release of Mac OS X Mountain Lion. The memo reads:
You are invited to participate in the pre-release OS X Mavericks seed program. Participation, including submitting feedback, is completely voluntary and not an expectation of your job. If you accept, we will provide you with a pre-release version of OS X Mavericks to install and use. You will get to preview all of the exciting new features like iBooks, Maps, Calendar, Safari, iCloud Keychain, Multiple Displays, Notifications, Finder Tabs, Tags, and much more! You should use OS X Mavericks only your personal computer and on your personal time. Apple will provide you with ways to submit feedback on your experiences with OS X Mavericks, should you choose to do so. Apple also asks that you use future builds of OS X Mavericks as they are made available. The responses from prior seed programs have been overwhelmingly positive. Thank you to everyone who participated!
The program, as stated in the invite, is designed to work out the early bugs of the new operating system, which is expected to be released this fall for $19.99 via the Mac App Store.
Of course, that’s not the only way to take advantage of Mac OS X Mavericks. You could also sign up for Apple’s developer’s program, but that’s going to cost you $99-$500. And it’s pretty worthless if you don’t know how to code.
This does raise an interesting questions, from the developer’s point of view: Should the public — even Apple retail employees — get access to the operating system?
Blorge will take a stand here and say: Absolutely. It’s a huge advantage to have testers, especially testers who have a passion for Apple products. They know what makes Apple products so great and how to use them to their fullest potential. Consumers will also be happy when the version comes out more bug-free.
So far, reactions have been positive. One MacRumors forum poster, who appears to be a developer, writes, “Mavericks is very smooth for an initial beta.”
I think it’s a safe bet to say Mavericks could be the best yet.

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2013 MacBook Pro getting exclusive Intel Haswell CPU?

Apple is rumored to refresh the MacBook Pro later this year, and a new report says that the company may get access to some exclusive Intel Haswell processors to power the 2013 MacBook Pro versions.
A previous report indicated that the new MacBook Pro models could be launched at some point in October, with a variety of indirect evidence also pointing to the imminent product refresh, including recent price drops for 2012 MacBook Pro models as well as certain estimates from analysts.
Meanwhile, SemiAccurate
has published a new report according to which Intel is going to provide Apple some unique “ultra-high performance” Haswell chips to be used in the new MacBook Pro models.
Apparently the new machines will get special on-board graphics, with Intel’s GT3e (Iris Pro 5200) said to be included in the new chips.
The company has reportedly asked for “a special top bin cream-of-the-crop GT3e selection from Intel, with ‘as much GPU power as possible,’” according to MacRumors
, and Intel is said to provide such exclusive parts to the company.
This wouldn’t be the first time Apple and Intel team up for exclusive products, or when Apple is said to be the first to have access to new Intel chips.
Needless to say, the report can’t be confirmed just yet, as the 2013 MacBook Pro refresh is yet to become official. However, if the report is accurate, then it may be safe to assume that other Intel clients will not get access to these special Haswell chips just yet.
MacRumors reveals that next-gen MacBook Pro models may have already shown up in benchmark test in June in July for the 13-inch and 15-inch upcoming versions of the laptop, respectively. According to those results, the new MacBook Pro models offer a performance similar to current models with the added benefit of improving power efficiency and therefore offering better battery life – just as the 2013 MacBook Airs.
Interestingly, the benchmark test for the 15-inch MacBook Pro seems to indicate there is no dedicated graphics card on board. It is believed that the new 15-inch MacBook Pro may rely solely on Intel’s integrated graphics power and not include a standalone graphics card, as previous models do.
For example, the 15-inch 2012 MacBook Pro models pack an Intel HD Graphics 4000 integrated graphics card, but also a NVIDIA GeForce 650M with 512MB or 1GB of GDDR5 memory depending on models. The 13-inch models only have an Intel HD Graphics 4000 graphics card. The same thing applies to 2012 Retina MacBook Pro models.
The new Iris Pro 5200 integrated graphics are apparently ready to offer extra performance, with Intel saying in its promotional materials that the Iris Pro 5200 paired with a Core i7-4950HQ chip (the same chip the 15-inch 2013 MacBook Pro model used in the benchmark test mentioned above) will offer 2-2.5 times the performance of an Intel i7-3840QM and Intel HD Graphics 4000 combo.
It is not yet clear whether the Retina MacBook Pro models will be refreshed alongside the regular MacBook Pro models, but it’s worth pointing out that Best Buy offered $200 off the 13-inch and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro models during its Hot July Black Friday sale, a discount which could suggest the retailer may be interested in dumping existing stock before a product refresh.

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Check out Mac OS X Mavericks multi-screen enhancements in action

One of the more exciting and “why didn’t they do it like that before” type features in Mac OS X Mavericks is the new and enhanced multi-monitor mode ability.
For those who spend half their time on-the-go and the other half in the home office, a MacBook Pro with Retina display and Apple 27-inch cinema display is the perfect setup. The only problem is that the current way of using two screens totally killed the one great feature of Mountain Lion: Full screen mode.
When you through an app into full screen on your MacBook, the monitor would black out. What’s the point? Full screen gives us the screen real estate we desire, so let’s use it.
Last week, Apple introduced Mavericks, which updates how we use multi screens. Here’s a great demonstration of it in action:
As the video shows, it’s not perfect. We can no longer stretch apps throughout multiple screens. (Let’s be honest, though, if you have 6 massive monitors, do you really need to stretch apps?) And it appears his biggest gripe is that he can’t look at the “pretty wallpaper” throughout all six of his monitors. Talk about first world problems.
Another thing this video points out is that you can switch between the old and new mode, which is interesting, because the old mode is so bad.
Mac OS X Mavericks is coming this fall for $19.99 from the App Store. Some of its new features include  App Nap, enhanced Notification Center and Finder Tabs.
Posted in Apple, Mac, news, opinion | No Comments » Read more from Andrew Dodson
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