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Week in Apple: Mountain Lion surprise attack

Mountain Lion made headlines this week, but that wasn't the only important …

Week in Apple: Mountain Lion surprise attack

Apple made a surprise announcement about Mountain Lion this week, which ended up being the top Apple news of the week. In addition to Mountain Lion, our top posts this week included cannibalization of Macs by iOS, the new iCade 8-bitty controller, iPads with LTE, and developer opinions on information security. Read on for the roundup!

Next version of OS X to be more iOS-like than ever with Mountain Lion: Apple plans to release the next major version of Mac OS X to users this summer, while developers get an early preview starting today.

Older Macs voted off the Mountain Lion island: Are you the type of Mac user who likes to hold onto old hardware? If so, you may want to check the compatibility list for OS X Mountain Lion before deciding whether to pay for an upgrade.

Apple offers budget, EDU-only 13" MacBook Air as white MacBook replacement: Fear not, white MacBook mourners. Educational institutions buying MacBook Airs in bulk quantities can now purchase a low-cost 13" model.

Cannibalization of Mac OS X by iOS—does Apple even care?: Advertising network Chitika says iOS has surpassed Mac OS X in market share when looking at its own network stats. While that's not likely to be the case for the rest of the Web, the trend does reflect iOS's strong growth trajectory.

Apple launching sidelong attacks against Google with new lawsuits in US: Apple has filed two new lawsuits in the US: one targeting the Samsung Galaxy Nexus for infringing four patents, and another against Motorola for attacking Apple overseas.

NES-inspired "iCade 8-bitty" brings retro gaming feel to iOS devices: Remember those old Nintendo controllers? If you long for an NES-style controller for iOS gaming, ThinkGeek's newest iCade device is calling out to you.

Next-gen iPads with LTE and an 8" version in testing? Magic WSJ-ball says "yes": The next-gen iPad, expected to be released in March, will indeed have high-speed LTE support, according to a new report. Additionally, Apple is allegedly testing an 8" iPad, though it may never end up seeing the light of day.

Developers say Apple needs to overhaul iOS user information security: The controversy over iPhone apps accessing and transmitting users' contacts could have been mitigated by better API design, according to several iOS developers.

Hands-on with iMessage beta on the desktop: a good start with beta bugs: It has only been four months since Apple rolled out iMessage as part of iOS 5, but the company released a beta version of its remade Messages app on Thursday that brings iMessage to the Mac desktop. Ars went hands-on and liked what we saw, even if we did find some serious (and not so serious) bugs.

Apple planning to pile lawsuits on Kodak—if bankruptcy court approves: Last month, Kodak sued Apple for allegedly infringing upon its digital imaging patents, but Apple doesn't believe Kodak owns those patents. Now, Apple is asking a bankruptcy court for permission to sue back.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Listing image by Photograph by Jitze Couperus

Channel Ars Technica