Technology giant Apple unveiled Mac OS X Lion, which the company claims is the world's most advanced desktop operating system, at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) last month.

California-based Apple said the new OS X will be available in July, but did not give the exact date of the release. But, several sources say that Mac OS X Lion will be arriving by end of this month.

To upgrade to the new OS X, users can simply download it from Mac App Store for $29.99 and do not have to visit the store to purchase a boxed copy.

The latest desktop OS from Apple comes with more than 250 new features including picture-in-picture zoom, international braille tables in a wide range of languages, iPhoto faces, FaceTime calling from the address book, and social networking incorporated into the address book.

Following are some useful features offered by Mac OS X Lion:

1) Multi-touch gestures

Apps will be controlled by different multi-touch gestures including three fingered swipe, scroll, pinching and zooming. One can design their apps to use Multi-Touch gestures and animations and redefine the interaction users have with the apps.

In other words, no more back or forward buttons, just swipe.

2) Full Screen Apps

All apps will be viewed full screen in OS X Lion, much like iOS 5.

It takes only a Click to expand the app window to fill the screen. One can have multiple full-screen apps running at the same time. Each app stays full screen even when one switches to another app or to the desktop.

3) Mac App Store

Mac store is now built in, as well as in-app purchases. The new built in version will also include push notifications for app updates.

Millions of customers in over 90 countries can quickly and easily select from some of the best Mac apps conveniently on their Mac.

4) Mission Control

Mission Control will allow the users to arrange all open windows, apps, Expose, and Spaces, and Dashboard, and give a bird's-eye view of everything on the system. Users can view everything, find what he/she wants, and go directly to the desired page with just one click.

Phil Schiller, senior vice president of Apple Inc., called this the best feature of Lion!!! It's a combination of Expose and Space.

5) Launchpad

Launchpad will make working with apps a whole lot easier for the users. Just click the Launchpad icon - it will fade away all the opened windows and bring the entire set of apps. Users can easily organize them into groups, or delete them from Launchpad. Each folder holds up to 32 apps and users can add new pages as numbers of apps increases.

6) Resume

No longer Mac users have to start from the beginning when restarting an application!

The system is just merely paused and things will come back the way you left it - the apps, the opened windows, panes, and even the cursor location. If you have to restart your computer after installing a new software, there is no need for saving all your works, quitting the programs, restart, and start all over again from scratch.

7) Autosave

Auto Save function on OS X Lion will save all the changes automatically as the user works. So no more stop, pause, and manual save while worrying about losing the data. And Auto Save works in the background so the users will not be interrupted while working.

It is easy to revert to an older version, and it is also possible to lock a document to avoid unintentional changes.

8) Versions

Versions automatically records a history of changes made to documents and let app display a Time Machine like interface so users can browse through previous versions.

9) Airdrop

AirDrop will allow users to share documents with one another without having to attach it in an email or use a USB flash drive. The peer-to-peer Wi-Fi protocol, along with auto discovery and setup, will make sending files a child's play.

The user has to simply click and drag the file to the recipient's contact photo, and you are done! Once the recipient accepts the request, the file will show on his/her Download folder.

10) Finder

This feature instantly view all the files on a Mac in a single window - no matter where they're located - and displays them in an organized view. It shows only commonly opened files such as documents, images, and videos, while leaving out system files.

Finders also lets user to combine two folders with the same name by merging them into a single folder

11) Sort files

A new button in the Finder toolbar lets you sort files by category, making it easier to find what you're looking for. Sort files by kind, application, date modified, date added, or size.

12) Mail

The Mail feature in OS X Lion will enable all the email accounts in one single inbox. The Mail features a new snazzy interface with 2-3 columns in view. The search has become more intelligent and powerful, utilizing token feature.

13) Restore

OS X Lion includes a built-in restore partition, allowing one to repair or reinstall OS X without the need for discs. OS X can be reinstalled on a Mac from recovery mode.

14) Accessibility

VoiceOver in OS X Lion includes built-in voices that speak 23 languages namely Chinese (Hong Kong), Chinese (China), Chinese (Taiwan), Danish, Dutch, English (U.S.), English (UK), English (Australia), Finnish, French (France), French (Canada), German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Mexico), and Swedish.

15) Time machine

Time Machine keeps a spare copy of the files one creates, modifies, or deletes right on the Mac. It really helps when one accidentally deleted a file, but now can recover it from a local copy.

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