The birds are back with Angry Birds Space. Luckily, instead of cranking up follow-ups such as Angry Birds Season/Angry Birds RIO in the shadow of the original Angry Birds, developer Rovio took a bold step by venturing into space. And Space gives up a brand new out-of-this-world physics thus a different gameplay from the original series.

So, the birds are back, and the domination of the Angry Birds franchise continues. And you have to be warned that unlike past Angry Birds games for the iOS, in-app purchase is everywhere for Angry Birds Space. The version for iPhone costs $0.99 to download and the HD version for the iPad is $2.99. But this only gives you probably half of the game and you will be prompted to purchase in order to unlock new levels. For parents, this will probably be the most expensive Angry Birds game ever.

Angry Birds Space for iPhone

Angry Birds Space for iPad

For the first time, Adobe has made available its flagship software Photoshop CS6 beta for free public download. This beta includes all the features in Photoshop CS6 and Photoshop CS6 Extended edition.

Photoshop CS6 is 64bit only software and includes Adobe’s brand new DRM architecture and GPU-accelerating Mercury Graphics Engine. And Photoshop CS6 sports a dark theme throughout, the first change since its first release more than 20 years ago. The final release of Adobe Photoshop CS6 is expected first half of this year. Pricing is not yet available.

Adobe Photoshop CS6 Beta

To find out why Draw Something is the latest sensation on the App Store, just download the app and play it. Entertaining and addictive, Draw Something is a social where you draw a sketch of a selected word, send the drawing to the other person and he/she tries to guess the word. You earn coins when you guess right and you can use the coins to buy color pack for your drawing. There is a free version available and the ads-free version is a universal app at $0.99.

Draw Something on the App Store

Apple has released update 3.10 to its Digital Camera RAW. Digital Camera RAW is a system library software that allows applications such as Aperture and iPhoto to read camera RAW format files. This release includes RAW compatibility to a number of hot camera models on the market right now such as Sony NEX-7, Panasonic GX1, Nikon D4 etc. The update is available via Software Update.

This update adds RAW image compatibility for the following cameras to Aperture 3 and iPhoto ’11:

• Canon PowerShot G1 X
• Nikon D4
• Panasonic LUMIX DMC-GX1
• Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FZ35
• Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FZ38
• Samsung NX200
• Sony Alpha NEX-7
• Sony NEX-VG20

Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 3.10

Apple has released the latest update to Safari for Snow Leopard and Lion. One key improvement in this release running on Lion is the 11% Javascript performance boost over the last Safari version. This release also improves responsiveness during network activities and includes a number of fixes. You can update this release from the usual Software Update.

- Improve JavaScript performance up to 11% over Safari 5.1.3*

- Improve responsiveness when typing into the search field after changing network configurations, or with an intermittent network connection

- Address an issue that could cause webpages to flash white when switching between Safari windows- Address issues that prevented printing U.S. Postal Service shipping labels and embedded PDFs

- Preserve links in PDFs saved from webpages

- Fix an issue that could make Flash content appear incomplete after using gesture zooming- Fix an issue that could cause the screen to dim while watching HTML5 video

- Improve stability, compatibility, and startup time when using extensions

- Allow cookies set during regular browsing to be available after using Private Browsing

- Fix an issue that could cause some data to be left behind after pressing the “Remove All Website Data” button

In iOS 5.0, when you double-tap on the home button while your iPhone is locked, you get the above lock screen with a camera icon on the right end. You can then tap on the camera icon to activate the camera.

With iOS 5.1, Apple removes the double-tap gesture. Instead the camera icon is permanently shown in the lock screen. Tapping on the icon however will not activate the camera. You need to tap on the icon and swipe up to launch the camera app.

This might not look as easy as a single tap, but it is intuitive and is actually faster than double-tapping to launch the camera.

Apple released iPhoto for iOS during the recent iPad launch. Together with iMovie and GarageBand, iPhoto for iOS completes the iLife suite of apps for iOS. At $4.99, iPhoto for iOS is a universal app for both iPhone and iPad, and requires minimum iPhone 4 and iPad 2 with the latest iOS 5.1.

iPhoto for iOS on the App Store

Apple released a brand new iPhoto for the iOS during its March 7 iPad media event. iPhoto for iOS, costing $4.99 on the App Store, is a universal app for both iPhone and iPad. It requires at least iPhone 4/4S and iPad 2, and requires the latest iOS 5.1.

When you try to install iPhoto on the first iPad, a message will pop up preventing you from buying and installing the app. The message “This app requires a front facing camera” is indeed strange as iPhoto is not a camera app.

We are highlighting this for those who own the first generation iPad. You can purchase the app on your iPhone 4/4S, thinking that it will work on your old iPad. Bt if you’ve already plan to buy the new iPad, then it is just a couple of days of waiting to use the app on a bigger screen.

Readability has released its universal iOS app for iPhone and iPad, and it is worth the wait. Readability is similar to offering such as Safari’s Reading List and Instapaper, where you submit web pages to read-later. Before the launch of the iOS app, Readability is a website-only service. Core to Readability is its ability to scrap web pages to retain only the main content. In fact Apple is using the same technology in its Reader implementation in Safari.

One advantage of Readability compared with Reading List is the website readability.com. You can login to the site when you are not around your Mac, let say on a Windows PC, to access your bookmarked reading list. In addition, an open API allows you to submit bookmarks to read-later from browsers and third party apps such as Reeder, Pulse, Tweetbot, Echofon etc. Readability app is free, beautiful, and set to become the new standard for read-later service on iOS.

Readability on App Store

Apple announced the preview to OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, just seven months after OS X Lion’s release last July. Here are the new features in OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion in summary form for quick digestion:

• OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion has a serious looking cat.
• Similar to Snow Leopard, the name Mountain Lion suggests it is a fine-tuning release of Lion.
• Apple surprised everyone by announcing the preview release without the usual press event. Instead, only selected tech publishers are invited to closed door briefings by Apple.
• Apple released a preview of Mountain Lion to its developers as part of the announcement.
• OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion is scheduled to release in late summer 2012.
• With OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, Apple is changing to an annual release cycle of OS X, to be on par with its iOS counter part.
• Apple started using “OS X” without the “Mac” naming since the release of Lion. But “Mac OS X” is still the title when view from within let say the “About This Mac” screen in Lion. In OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, Apple officially drops the “Mac” title from within the operating system.
• OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion will be exclusively available from the App Store. It will not be available in USB stick like in Lion.
• iCloud is integrated deeper with Mountain Lion. You will be asked to sign-on with or create new Apple ID during installation. This is similar to the startup of iOS 5.
• iCal is renamed to Calendar and Address Book is renamed to Contacts, making apps to have consistent naming in iOS and OS X.
• Messages app will replace iChat in Mountain Lion. Messages app supports existing iChat services and iMessage, allows you to message to anyone using iMessages on their iPhone and iPad without the carrier texting charges. Apple released a public Messages beta for existing users to try out Messages before it’s release in Mountain Lion.
  
• Reminders will be moved out from iCal into a standalone Reminders app. The app looks similar to its iOS counterpart and will sync with iCloud, enable you to have the same tasks on your Mac, iPhone and iPad. 
  
• Notes will be moved out from Mail app into a standalone Notes app. The app will sport the same look as iOS version and will sync between the OS X Mountain Lion and iOS. 
  
• Notification Center will be a system feature in OS X Mountain Lion. Apps can publish notifications to pop up in a sidebar. This is a port of Notification Center from iOS, and is likely to replace Growl to become the de facto notification standard in OS X.
  
• Apple will bring the Game Center app from iOS to OS X. This will bring social gaming to the desktop, let you play games and chat with friends, and keeping your game score.
• AirPlay Mirroring allows you to mirror the content of iPad 2 and iPhone 4S to your HDTV via Apple TV. With Mountain Lion, you can stream 720p content from your Mac to HDTV via Apple TV.
  
• Share Sheets is a system window component that allows app to implement standard sharing mechanism. Safari, Preview etc in Mountain Lion will have a small button at toolbar to trigger the Share Sheets, allowing you quick access to email, message, tweet, AirDrop, share to Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo etc.
• Twitter is integrated with Mountain Lion, as with iOS 5.
• You can install apps from anywhere or from App Store in Lion. With Mountain Lion, Apple introduced a third type of app which is available outside the App Store but is digitally signed with Apple. This is a measure to combat malware as Apple is able to remotely prevent digitally signed apps from installing. Signed apps also can not be modified as it will break the signature. Gatekeeper is a new security mechanism introduced in Mountain Lion that allows the users to choose the type of apps that can be run. By default, Mountain Lion will allow only apps from App Store and identified developers with digital signature.
• OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion reflects the rising importance of the China market. Mountain Lion will have integration with Chinese services such as Baidu, Weibo, Youku, QQ etc.
• Mountain Lion brings a new Documents in the Cloud view to the traditional Open/Save File Dialog for apps that support working on documents in iCloud. iCloud will appear as another location besides your local disk for opening and saving your documents.
• The usual Software Update will be relocated under App Store app in Mountain Lion.
• OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion comes with an improved Safari 5.2. One notable new feature in Safari is its integration of search bar within the address bar. Apple has seeded a beta release of Safari 5.2 to its developers.
• There are reports that some older Mac models can run Lion but not Mountain Lion. Those affected are mostly machines with integrated graphics. It is still too early to confirm the minimum requirement since there is no official statement from Apple and Mountain Lion is still months away from release.

Apple’s OS X Mountain Lion Sneak Peak