Apple to ship Mountain Lion on Wednesday

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company would ship Mountain Lion, the latest version of its OS X operating system, starting Wednesday.

The announcement came in Tuesday's announcement of third quarter financial results, five months after it was first announced to tech journalists.

The new operating system—version 10.8 of OS X—costs $20, down from $30 for its predecessor, Lion, and can be purchased and downloaded directly from the Mac App Store. Like Lion, Apple is allowing buyers to pay for and download one copy of Mountain Lion that you can install to multiple Macs—a welcome feature for multi-Mac households.

Apple reminds users of coming iWork.com shutdown

Attention all you users of iWork.com, Apple would like to remind you that the service’s days are numbered. As of July 31, Apple will turn off iWork.com for good, and any documents you have stored there will be deconstructed into their component electrons.

For those users who have ignored Apple’s previous warnings, there’s still time to rescue your documents. Apple suggests you log in to the service and download all your documents to your computer.

Phishing websites reach all-time high

The number of phishing websites detected reached an all-time high earlier this year, a sign that making fake websites spoofing real ones is still a lucrative trade for cybercriminals.

Apple offers MobileMe customers last chance to rescue data 'for a limited time'

You were warned. Back in June 2011, Apple announced that MobileMe would close its virtual doorscome June 30, 2012. And indeed, this past weekend, MobileMe followed eWorld, Pippin, and the Newton into that great Infinite Loop in the sky.

MacBook Pro 15-inch and 13-inch non-Retina models occupy the consumer space

With all the exhilaration surrounding the debut of Apple's pioneering Retina MacBook Pros, it's easy to overlook that the company also upgraded the rest of its pro laptop lineup. In addition to the Retina MacBook Pro—the justifiable new standard against which Apple's other laptops (indeed all laptops) will now be judged—the company has also updated a pair of 13-inch and a pair of 15-inch non-Retina MacBook Pros. These new “regular” models offer a speed boost over their late-2011 predecessorsthanks to brand new processors and video components, and feature updated technology, including USB 3.

By the numbers: Microsoft's Surface vs. Apple's iPad

While there is much more to both Microsoft’s new Surface tablet computer and Apple’s iPad than pure specifications, the physical and technological differences between the two devices are likely to play a part in which device tablet PC buyers might ultimately favour.