What’s New OS X 10.8.2

A big day for fans of the fairer platform as Apple has released iOS 6, as well as OS X 10.8.2, a major feature and bug fix push swathed in point-update (i.e. sheep’s) clothing. In addition to Facebook integration and Game Center tweaks, there is a lot to look at.

Yes, Apple is shipping both iOS 6 (full feature list, update tips) and OS X 10.8.2 Update, which comes to market with the following new features, tweaks and fixes:

• Facebook

— Single sign on for Facebook

— Adds Facebook as an option when sharing links and photos

— See Facebook friends’ contact information and profile pictures in Contacts

— Facebook notifications now appear in Notification Center

— See also: Facebook integration: New in OS X 10.8.2

— See also: How to: Disable Notification Center in OS X Mountain Lion

• Game Center

— Share scores to Facebook, Twitter, Mail, or Messages

— Facebook friends are included in Game Center friend recommendations

— Added Facebook “Like” button for games

— Challenge friends to beat your score or achievement

• Other New Features

— Adds Power Nap support for MacBook Air (Late 2010)

— iMessages sent to your phone number now appear in Messages on your Mac*

— You can now add passes to Passbook (on your iPhone or iPod touch) from Safari and Mail on your Mac*

— FaceTime can now receive calls sent to your phone number*

— New shared Reminders lists

— New sort options allow you to sort notes by title, the date you edited them, and when you created them

— Dictation now supports additional languages: Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, Korean, Canadian English, Canadian French, and Italian

— Dictionary app now includes a French definition dictionary

— Sina Weibo profile photos can now be added to Contacts

— See also: How to: Set OS X Mountain Lion Software Update Frequency

— See also: New in Safari 6: iCloud Tabs, Tab View, Share button, more

• General Fixes

— Adds an option to discard the changes in the original document when choosing Save As

— Unsent drafts are now opened automatically when launching Mail

— Receive Twitter notifications for mentions and replies from anyone

— URLs are shortened when sending tweets from Notification Center

— Notifications are disabled when AirPlay Mirroring is being used

— Adds SSL support for Google searches from the Smart Search Field in Safari

— Adds a new preference to have Safari launch with previously open webpages

— Resolves an issue that may cause the “Enable Autodiscover” checkbox to always remain checked

— Enables access to the Mac App Store when Parental Controls are enabled

— Support for @icloud.com email addresses

— Resolves a video issue with some VGA projectors when connected to certain Mac notebooks

— Addresses an issue that may prevent Active Directory accounts from being locked out

— Resolves an issue that may cause the policy banner to re-appear prior to logging in

— Improvements to SMB

— Addresses an issue with NIS users when auto-login is enabled

— Addresses an issue in which the Keychain may not be accessible

— Ability to pre-authenticate a FileVault protected system

— Addresses an issue that may cause Xsan to not automatically start after migrating from Mac OS X Snow Leopard

* Requires iOS 6

That said, I am a big fan of Facebook integration, which allows users to share content/pages and post update without being logged in via Safari.

Speaking of Apple’s default browser, OS X 10.8.2 includes Safari 6.0.1, an update packed with security fixes and patches — dozens of issues.

Additionally, the tough to nail down performance hits introduced by Mountain Lion seem to be fixed with OS X 10.8.2 and various sources report the nagging MacBook battery performance problems have been solved, as well.