14 DAY TRIAL // The usual round of weekly downloads is noticeably poor this week, with only a couple of betas handed to developers and a package containing Canon printer drivers offered to regular users. But here’s what’s new, in case you missed these updates.
On May 7, Apple started offering not one, but two OS X 10.9.3 betas for testing ahead of the public release of the third incremental update for Mavericks customers. One beta, carrying the build number 13D62, was offered to AppleCare employees accompanied by an official-looking set of release notes, signaling an imminent public release of the software in the near future.
Apple tells internal testers that “The OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 Update is recommended for all Mavericks users. It improves the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac.”
When it’s released to the masses, the update will improve 4K display support for Mac Pros and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro computers. It will add the ability to sync contacts and calendars between a Macintosh computer and iOS devices via a USB connection, and it will improve the reliability of VPN connections using IPsec.
As part of the 10.9.3 update, Apple will bundle Safari 7.0.3, the latest version of the company’s desktop web browser. The usual round of security fixes will be included too.
Regular developers received OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 Build 13D61, a build carrying one less increment and featuring the usual focus areas: Graphics Drivers, Safari, Mail, Audio, and the returning USB-sync feature for Contacts and Calendar information.
Despite promising to hand OS X betas to end customers participating in the newly-opened Beta Seeding program, Apple has failed to produce these builds for regular users eager to lend a helping hand.
Alongside the Mavericks betas Apple seeded new Safari builds to paying developers enrolled with the company’s annual seeding programs.
Safari 7.0.4 targets OS X Mavericks testing and requires the latest seed of OS X 10.9.3. Safari 6.1.4 is meant for testing under for OS X Lion 10.7.5 with Security Update 2013-002 installed and OS X Mountain Lion with the 10.8.5 applied.
Towards the end of the week (May 8), Apple offered customers Canon Printer Drivers for OS X 3.0, a package weighing in at 257.2 MB which “installs the latest software for your Canon printer or scanner.” Notably, the company says the drivers are for OS X 10.7 and newer versions of the Mac OS, suggesting that Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) has been dropped out of the mix for future driver updates.