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As if Friday wasn’t busy enough for everyone trying to get their hands on a new iPad, developers had an extra treat waiting for them when they returned home: A second beta of the forthcoming OS X Mountain Lion, adding iCloud sync for Safari tabs and requesting permission before accessing contacts.

MacRumors is reporting that Apple released a second developer-only beta of OS X Mountain Lion, the next major version of the Mac operating system which is expected in late summer. Technically Mac OS X 10.8, the new beta squashes some bugs but is still missing a key feature already announced: AirPlay mirroring, which is not supported with the most recent Apple TV software.

However, OS X Mountain Lion Preview 2 does introduce a couple of new features in its place, including the ability to sync Safari tabs between devices, which was originally announced as a feature of the software but missing from the first developer beta. The feature is now included with the second preview, appearing as an iCloud icon. When clicked, a popup displays a list of open tabs sorted by which device they appear on.

Taking another cue from iOS, OS X Mountain Lion Preview 2 also introduces a new prompt when apps want to access your contacts — clicking OK gives this permission, while clicking “Don’t Allow” rejects it. The change follows close on the heels of the same implementation on iOS following the discovery that Path (and other apps) were uploading entire address books without users’ knowledge.

Apple hasn’t announced a release date yet for OS X Mountain Lion other than “late summer,” and plans to keep the fun coming with an annual update schedule similar to the one used by iOS.

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Article source: http://www.maclife.com/article/news/mountain_lion_beta_2_released_developers_adds_safari_tab_syncing