Well it looks like the cat’s finally out of the bag virtual box. Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer just confirmed during today’s earnings call that Mac OS 10.7 is due to hit the Mac App Store tomorrow, making Lion available as a 4GB download for $30. The new operating system packs 250 new features, including an iOS-like app launcher, multi-touch gestures, AirDrop for direct file sharing, and system-wide Resume. More enhancements that will feel particularly familiar to iOS users include a new version of Mail with conversation view, and reverse touchpad scrolling. Want to collaborate on projects with multiple machines? Lion Server will also be available as a $50 download — for those of you that need to support an entire pride.

The Anymode Smart Case for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 may bear a suspicious resemblance to Apple’s iPad 2 Smart Cover, but Samsung insists it had absolutely nothing to do with it. In a blog post published today, the company responded to allegations that it tried to market a Cupertino rip-off, claiming that the accessory never received official “Designed for Samsung Mobile” certification. Samsung went on to point out that none of the cases have actually been sold, while confirming that it’s “working with Anymode to address this oversight.” In the meantime, the contentious Smart Case has been removed from Samsung’s Anymode’s site, before Apple could give Samsung another letter.

SOURCE via Slashgear

Know what that smell is? It’s the sweet smell of cash dangling in front of your nose. Monday the senior attorney of Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit, Richard Boscovich, said that he wants to give you or anyone else up to $250,000 USD for new information leading to the identification, arrest and criminal conviction of those behind the Rustock botnet. That’s serious cash, and Microsoft means serious business.

“This reward offer stems from Microsoft’s recognition that the Rustock botnet is responsible for a number of criminal activities and serves to underscore our commitment to tracking down those behind it,” he said in a blog. “While the primary goal for our legal and technical operation has been to stop and disrupt the threat that Rustock has posed for everyone affected by it, we also believe the Rustock bot-herders should be held accountable for their actions.” Read more…

According to “people with proven track records who would be in a position to know”, Mac OS X Lion and new MacBook Airs will arrive on Wednesday.

Both AppleInsider and 9to5 Mac claim that Mac OS X Lion will debut Wednesday after an overnight marketing fiesta in Apple retail stores. AppleInsider sweetens the pot by suggesting the new Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt MacBook Airs will join OS X Lion at its big coming out party on July 20.

Trustable news? Well, get ready your credit cards, cause I know you don’t care!

[Apple Insider via 9to5mac]

Jennifer Boriss, a Firefox dev, went to the mall seeking test subjects to help improve the browser. She expected to meet people with a range of tech savvy, but she wasn’t expecting a man who’d never before touched a mouse.

Boriss stumbled upon Joe, a 60-year-old cafeteria employee, in the food court: “I begin by asking my standard demographics questions about his experience with the internet. Joe tells me he’s never used a computer, and my eyes light up.” Boriss had hit test subject pay dirt—someone looking at the internet with virginal eyes, unsullied by years of bias and experience, could have incredibly valuable insight. So they began. Read more…

Well, seems like LulzSec has returned, and moved beyond the DDOS attack! Not content to merely shut down one of Rupert Murdoch’s paper’s websites, the hacking group has instead planted a bizarro-Onionesque account of the mogul’s death-by-palladium on a Times redesign page masquerading as The Sun.

The hack was first announced by AnonymousIRC with a tweet, saying:

We have joy we have fun we will mess up Murdoch’s Sun: http://t.co/JArvwg1 | Hi Rupert! Have fun tomorrow at the Parliament! #AntiSec

Murdoch’s papers and several of his lieutenants have been implicated in the massive hacking scandal that began to unfold earlier this month. Murdoch is scheduled to appear before the British parliament tomorrow. Read more…

They’ve been said to rip off Apple’s iPhone and iPad design while supplying parts to Apple at the same time, and it seemed the court case from Apple isn’t going to stop Samsung from copying Apple again!

Samsung is now selling this blatant copy of Apple’s Smart Cover. It’s manufactured by Anymode, a Korean company with a “strong affiliation with Samsung Electronics” as a “key accessories supplier”.

Called Smart Case—really—the Smart Cover clone comes in the same pastel colors as Apple’s own and is being sold in Samsung’s shops all over Korea. I wonder if they would have the Steel Balls to sell these outside their home country. Then again, the number of Galaxy Tab 10.1 sold due to their sky high price may put this in the dust anyway.