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Patents and Acquisitions. Apple Conflicts. Apple Unveils Mac OS X Mountain Lion: So Long iChat, Hello Twitter [PREVIEW] Apple developers, start your engines.

Mac users, start dreaming of how much cooler your desktop or laptop experience could be this summer. That's when Apple will launch the latest big cat-themed Mac OS X, version 10.8: Mountain Lion. At 8:30 a.m. EST Thursday, the developer preview version of Mountain Lion was live and available to Apple's legions of app makers. Mashable was briefed on the new Mac OS prior to the announcement. Bottom line? But it is categorically not the one OS to rule them all, if such a thing is even on Apple's radar. OS 10.7, or Lion, launched in July 2011; 30% of Mac users now have it installed. Some of us began to wonder, with some cause, whether Mac OS X and the iOS were heading for a marriage down the road. The iOS Moves In Well, here's the next phase in the relationship, and iOS has practically moved in to Mac's house.

SEE ALSO: Apple Mountain Lion Embraces Flickr and Vimeo Sharing And Mac OS X has had to throw out some of its stuff. So what do you think? Apple's iPhone Business Alone Is Now Bigger Than Microsoft. Apple clarifies iBooks Author license, does not claim rights to content. By Daniel Eran Dilger Apple attempted to head off a minor controversy surrounding iBooks Author by clarifying that it does not claim ownership of the content authors write, restricting only sales of its .ibooks format.

Apple's iBooks Author lets publishers quickly lay out existing text and add dynamic elements to produce interactive books. The application was created principally to address the textbook market, but can be used for any type of interactive book, creating .ibooks files that can be used on the iPad with Apple's iBooks 2 app. iBooks Author can also be used to generate standard PDF documents, but those don't include live interactive elements, a feature that requires the browser-like HTML, CSS and JavaScript rendering of iBooks 2. Apple is Censoring Music on iTunes Match. Apple is unintentionally censoring rap music and other explicit tracks downloaded using its iTunes Match service — by replacing them with the clean versions of the same songs.

According to a report in Cult of Mac — confirmed in tests by Mashable — songs uploaded to the service with explicit lyrics are automatically replaced by the clean version of the song. Launched after much fanfare (and a little delay) last November, iTunes Match is an optional service that costs $25 a year. It matches songs in your iTunes library with high-quality versions on Apple's servers, and lets you play and download your choice of those songs to your iPhone, iPod or iPad — no cable or Wi-Fi connection required. But it appears that iTunes Match doesn't know the difference between explicit and clean versions of the same track. Breaking Down Apple's Billions. It's no secret Apple, one of the most valuable public companies in the world, is making major cash off today's tech gadgets — but how much?

This week, the company reported a record net profit of more than $13.6 billion for its quarterly report lasting 14 weeks and ending Dec. 31, 2011. A rumored summer release of the iPhone 5 will help keep the money flowing in this year for the more than $400 billion company. Apple Stock's Lofty Heights, in Context. 5:26 p.m. | Updated to reflect Thursday’s closing stock prices.

My colleague Peter Lattman wrote on Twitter that the rise in Apple’s stock on Thursday meant that its market value was higher than Microsoft and Google combined. Apple is Ridiculously Valuable [INFOGRAPHIC] Hard to believe, but Steve Jobs resigned from Apple almost exactly a year ago and died just a little over a month later.

Happily for the company he founded, Apple has continued to prosper. Warnings that Apple would collapse without his leadership have been off the mark — at least so far. Apple reached another milestone this week when its valuation reached $621.64 billion making it the most-valuable company ever, at least measured in 2012 dollars. Apple Names New Head of Retail. Apple on Tuesday named John Browett, CEO of British consumer electronics chain Dixons, as its senior vice president of retail.

Browett will begin his job in April and report to Apple CEO Tim Cook, according to an Apple press release. Browett, who held various executive positions at Tesco before joining Dixons in 2007, replaces Ron Johnson, who left Apple last June to become CEO of J.C. Apple App Store Hack Makes Good Apps Go Bad. Apple has a reputation for being virus and malware-free, but a hacker has uncovered a potentially dangerous security flaw in the App Store.

Charlie Miller, a Mac hacker and computer security researcher, has made a bit of a career finding and exposing flaws in Apple's software. His latest discovery shows how the App Store, Apple's tightly regulated marketplace for iOS apps and programs, could be compromised by code not approved by Apple, reports Forbes. Miller's method is to create a normal, Apple-approved app that is programmed to "call" a remote computer that can then use the app to gain access to the user's phone. This remote computer can then issue commands such as downloading the address book, files stored on the device or even make it vibrate and ring. Miller created a dummy app (which has since been removed from the app store) called Instastock, which displayed various stock tickers.

Are white-hat hackers a public service or a corporate nuisance? Developer Hacks Siri to Control More Devices, Makes it So Much Cooler. If you thought the idea of using your voice to control your smartphone was neat, just wait.

One developer has hacked Siri to allow it to control third party devices, starting with his WiFi-enabled thermostat. In what he says is his first-ever Ruby project, St. Your Next Mac Could Be Controlled With Your Body, Kinect-Style. Imagine sitting down at your desk in the morning and having your computer automatically power up, recognize you and log into your desktop.

From there, you can swipe from app to app using your hands - not on a touchscreen, but by moving your hands naturally through the air. Unlike the mouse of yesteryear, your machine recognizes gestures in 3D space and you can manipulate things on the screen using your fingers, selecting photos from a 3D gallery or even browsing the Web. None of the technology described above is new, but it could be coming to personal computers over the next few years, if a recent patent filing from Apple is any indication. The patent, titled "Three Dimensional Imaging and Display System", looks a lot like what owners of the XBox 360 can already do using the Kinect add-on for the gaming and entertainment console. Apple Makes Plans for Stockpiled Cash. Apple by the Numbers [INFOGRAPHIC] Keeping up with Apple's growth is like sneezing with your eyes open — it's nearly impossible. That's why every so often we like to bring you an update of the latest Apple news, numbers and trends.

The infographic below was designed by Sortable. It shares the latest Apple profits, revenues and cash-in-hand, along with the company's reach — 30% of smartphone users in the U.S. have an iPhone. SEE ALSO: The iPhone 5 Might Look Like This [PICS]

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