Apple released its OS X 10.9 Mavericks as a free Mac App Store upgrade on October 22.
As is the norm with new OS releases, while these things tend to address complaints and issues from the previous version they frequently introduce new ones as well.
For example, immediately after Mavericks went live a bunch of people started complaining about a new and annoying Gmail issue in the stock Mail app.
This past Friday, the company supplied its registered Mac developers with the first beta release of what would become the OS X 10.9.1 software update. The software focuses on graphics enhancements and is said to squash the remaining Mail bugs…
According to Marc Gurman of 9to5Mac, the beta labeled as build 13B27 asks developers to focus on Mail, Graphics Drivers and VoiceOver in their testing.
Graphics in Mavericks definitely feels smoother on my 2011 MacBook Air compared to Mountain Lion – especially in Safari and when scrolling long lists – so I’m looking forward to further performance enhancements.
Apple normally doesn’t wait too long before following up on an annual OS refresh with an update. With that in mind, those who’ve been reluctant to upgrade to Mavericks until the rough edges have been smoothed out should reconsider their decision as soon as OS X 10.9.1 gets let out of the cage.
It’s definitely due before year’s end and I think it could be out in time for Thanksgiving.
Responding to the Gmail woes, Apple last week rushed out a fix for Mavericks’s Mail app. I don’t use OS X Mail much, if at all. From what I was able to gather on Twitter, it seems that particular update hasn’t patched all of the Mail bugs with Gmail accounts.
Just earlier this morning, the iPhone maker also released a pair of beta updates to iOS and Apple TV software.
iOS 7.1 Beta sports performance improvements, a new HDR Auto feature in the Camera app, the Dark Keyboard switch in Accessibility, the ability to upload burst photos to Photo Streams from an iPhone 5s, the refreshed Yahoo logo and more.
Hacker iH8sn0w noted on Twitter that the beta is set to expire on January 13, 2014.
As for the Apple TV 6.1 Beta, the software “enables users to mirror content of an iPad to an Apple TV using AirPlay”.
Apple is asking developers to test the functionality with their apps and websites.
Both iOS 7.1 Beta and Apple TV 6.5 Beta are available to registered iOS developers through Apple’s Dev Center website.