Apple Seeds Third iOS 6.1 Beta to Developers

Apple today released the third beta of iOS 6.1 to developers. The release has a build number of 10B5117b, versus 10B5105c for the second beta of iOS 6.1 that was released on November 12.


As with previous betas, Apple mentions a number of changes from iOS 6.0.1, including several related to how developers can integrate Apple's new mapping service in their apps, as well as an improvement to how boarding passes are handled in Passbook, and a few minor changes to Safari.

Apple also released a beta of the Apple TV software, as well as Xcode 4.6 Developer Preview 3. Registered developers can download the betas via Apple's Developer page or via Software Update on iOS devices with a previous iOS 6.1 Beta already installed.

Is there some secret iMac assembly plant in the U.S.?

iFixit

From iFixit's ritual iMac dismemberment yesterday we learn that the particular 21.5-inch iMac they bought says it was "Assembled in USA". The moniker isn't new – we've seen it since at least a few iMac models back on the packaging.  But as far as we can tell, "Assembled in USA"  wasn't etched in the actual machines' aluminum leading people to believe that the iMacs that were shipped were "refurbished in the USA". However, this forum shows that some were actually assembled and sold new with the "Assembled in USA" label.

Regardless, Apple is shipping new iMacs "Assembled in USA". We've also heard that other new iMacs say "Assembled in China" as you'd expect.

Still, it makes for an interesting question:  Is Apple building some of  its iMacs in the US? Is that percentage growing since it seems that many of the first line of iMacs are coming with USA labels?

The "Assembled in USA" label doesn't just mean that foreign parts screwed together in the US either. The FTC assumes that a "substantial transformation" must happen in the US for the label to be used.

The US Federal Trade Commission states that the label "Assembled in the USA" should be the following:

Assembled in USA Claims

A product that includes foreign components may be called "Assembled in USA" without qualification when its principal assembly takes place in the U.S. and the assembly is substantial. For the "assembly" claim to be valid, the product's last "substantial transformation" also should have occurred in the U.S. That's why a "screwdriver" assembly in the U.S. of foreign components into a final product at the end of the manufacturing process doesn't usually qualify for the "Assembled in USA" claim.

Example: A lawn mower, composed of all domestic parts except for the cable sheathing, flywheel, wheel rims and air filter (15 to 20 percent foreign content) is assembled in the U.S. An "Assembled in USA" claim is appropriate.

Here's where it gets more interesting. The FTC gives the specific example of computer manufacture.

Example: All the major components of a computer, including the motherboard and hard drive, are imported. The computer's components then are put together in a simple "screwdriver" operation in the U.S., are not substantially transformed under the Customs Standard, and must be marked with a foreign country of origin. An "Assembled in U.S." claim without further qualification is deceptive.

That means one of two things: Either Apple or its contractors have some sort of significant manufacturing operations in the US, or it is being deceptive in its marketing (something that sadly, isn't out of character)…

Apple, up until 2004, manufactured some of its Macs in its Elk Grove plant at which time current CEO Tim Cook moved all operations to China (with some in-house work being done in Cork, Ireland). Interestingly, Elk Grove has seen a hiring spike over the last year with its headcount increasing by over 50%. However, none of the job positions we found were in manufacturing – at least those officially listed as being for Apple, Inc.

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Apple has also ramped up its Austin campus, near where Samsung manufactures its A5/6/X processors but it is unlikely that it has begun manufacturing there.

Perhaps Apple is still outsourcing the manufacture to Foxconn and others but they are actually assembling the products in a US plant? To the surprise of some, Foxconn has a few locations in the US, but it isn't known if they are actually making anything here.

"@CNETNews: Is a U.S. address in Foxconn's future? Don't bet on it cnet.co/Szog6g" Bet: maps.google.com/maps?q=foxconn…

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Three Ways To Tweak Hidden Settings In OS X

Mac OS X and user-friendliness are two subjects not shy of each other's company. In general, using a Mac OS X computer feels intuitive, natural; everything feels the way you expect, and your screen real-estate isn't wasted on unwanted meta-features and overly bloated interfaces. This allows you to focus on the important things.

When you don't want your computer to work as it would out of the box, you can start playing with the system preferences. This allows you to tweak the settings to adapt your computer to your specific way of use—you make it fit in your office habitat.

It's only when these tweaks are especially specific and low-level—changing the intrinsic behaviour of your operating system and interface components, like the Finder behaviour and Spotlight indexing—you may not find a resolution in the system settings. That doesn't mean there's no solution, though. Using the command line, or one of several third-party tools, you can tweak hidden settings in Mac OS X. We'll go over these below, in growing order of complexity.

1. Mountain Tweaks + Lion Tweaks

If you're using Mac OS X Lion (10.7) or Mountain Lion (10.8), you should take a look at Lion Tweaks and Mountain Tweaks, respectively. These apps provide a more user-friendly way of tweaking your operating system—an easy graphical user interface, rather than using Google and Terminal. Use the app to revert to a 2D-Dock, show the use library folder, disable GateKeeper, remove the new leather interface in the Calendar application, and more.

Mountain Tweak shows three tabs. The first tab—General Tweaks—shows tweaks that can be applied to both Mac OS X Lion and Mountain Lion. The next two tabs outline Lion Tweaks and Mountain Lion Tweaks, respectively. The developer warns that although most Lion Tweaks will work properly on Mountain Lion, the reverse is not true.

One problem with these apps is that it doesn't keep track of the tweaks you apply. This may be trivial in some cases, but may require you to do the accounting in more complicated scenarios. That said, if anything goes wrong you can always go to Restore (the fourth tab), which helps you revert any applied tweaks and restore your computer to it's original state.

For a full review, and a more complete overview of the available tweaks, take a look at Tim Brookes' article on Lion Tweaks and Mountain Lion Tweaks.

2. Deeper

A more advanced and in-depth application comes courtesy of Titanium's Software; the same team developing Onyx. Deeper is one of the best applications to tweak obscure operating system settings of the Finder, Dock, Safari, Spotlight, and more; the specifics of course depend on your operating system version.

Among other things, you can enable the animated desktop, make your version of iTunes less store-reliant, change the specifics of the Finder File menu, and (as in Mountain Tweaks and Lion Tweaks) toggle the 2D dock to improve overall desktop performance.

At the time of writing, you can download Deeper for Mac OS X Lion, Mountain Lion, and a number of older operating system iterations. Check to make sure you're downloading a version of the application corresponding to your operating system. For more information, and a better overview of the available tweaks, check out last year's article on Deeper from Bakari Chavanu.

3. Secrets

The two applications mentioned above both provide an easy way to tweak obscure operating system settings. Most of the time, they provide an interface to low-level settings that are reachable through the command line. Maybe you see where we're going—instead of using one of the aforementioned applications, you can tweak the same (and more) settings using the Terminal. Mind you, if you don't know what you're doing, this is not the place to learn.

On the other hand, if you're not afraid to get your hands dirty, a great place to pick up those obscure operating system commands is at Secrets—a self-proclaimed database of hidden settings for Mac OS X. Browse through the commands to find new gems, or search for something specific. There are sure to be some interesting Terminal commands you don't already know.

Have you ever tweaked hidden settings in Mac OS X? What did you (try to) achieve? Let us know in the comments section below the article!