The 10th version of Apple's OS X operating system has been announced and it's bold, beautiful and packed to the gills with droll-worthy features. It introduces "Continuity," or a better method of iOS and OS X interoperability. Yet, among the hundreds of major and minor changes that OS X Yosemite (yes, like the park) introduce, 10 of them really stand out.

Flat UI

Apple redesigned the entire user-interface for Yosemite in order to better reflect the growing influence its mobile devices are having on personal computing. Among the more notable UI tweaks are the redesigned icons found on the similarly revamped dock. 

Each of Apple's major apps like iCal, Maps and iMessage receive flat icons with minimal shading and drop shadows. The dock itself drops its "3D" design in favor of a "translucent background." It looks and feels more like the iOS dock now.

Translucency

Folders and documents coexist nicely in OS X, but when you have multiple windows open at any one time things can get, well, cluttered. Yosemite's designers were aware of this and have made each window slightly translucent. That way you can get a sense of depth and have better control over your apps.

Dark Mode

An extension of the translucent features in Yosemite, Dark Mode is meant for pro users. If you're editing video, making complex 3D models, or creating the next hit song, sometimes the colorful nature of OS X is distracting. In OS X Yosemite, you can now turn on Dark Mode. This makes the dock, status bar and drop-down menus turn translucent black.

iCloud Drive

Storing, accessing and editing documents in the cloud is better than ever as well thanks to iCloud drive. Like in the past, each iOS or Mac owner gets 5GB of cloud storage for free. But now you can purchase a lot more storage, up to 1TB in fact, to better serve your on-the-go lifestyle at a price that's more affordable than ever before.

Your also now able to quickly and securely share anything. Just create an iCloud Drive folder and drag and drop your text documents, photoshop file, vCards, songs and more into it. It automatically gets synced. You can also organize folders with colored tags for even faster access.

Instant Hotspot

Need to post a important document on the road, but can't find a Wi-Fi hotspot for your computer? Just use the hotspot feature to allow your Mac to piggyback off your iPhone or cellular-connected iPad's 4G LTE signal. Admittedly, this is nothing new, but in Yosemite the way you go about utilizing the hotspot is much simpler.

Instant Hotspot turns off when it realizes that you haven't been using the web on your Mac after a certain period of time. On your Mac, you can also view the iPhone or iPad's battery life and signal strength.

Battery life optimization

Rejoice! You can now watch Netflix all day long with your MacBook Air or Pro thanks to HTML5 integration within Safari. Yosemite will give users two more hours of battery life for video streaming. OS X will do so by bypassing annoying plugins like Microsoft Silverlight in favor of "Premium Video Extensions."

iOS integration

Now you can make and accept iPhone calls on your Mac. You'll also be able to view and send SMS messages from your Apple-branded laptop or desktop as well. This convenient feature won't have you needlessly juggling devices.

Notification center becomes more iOS-like as well with the addition of widgets. You'll also get Today view, a source for all your appointments, world clocks, weather and stock prices.

Shared AirDrop

Exactly like the AirDrop of old, except that iOS AirDrop works in conjunction with Mac OS X AirDrop and vice-versa. AirDrop allows you to quickly share files with setting up a network.

Handoff

In the middle of an important drafting an important email? Or watching an awe-inspiring Vimeo clip in Safari? With the click of a button or a simple swipe, you can open up the very same content you were watching and interacting with on your iPhone, iPad or Mac. Handoff is able to do this by having your devices talk to each other when they are in range.

Spotlight search

Spotlight has always been a powerful way to quickly and conveniently launch apps, find files and preview them in a cinch. In Yosemite, these features seem pedestrian. For example, just simply type in NY Giants schedule and boom -- a list of home and away games will appear.

The all-new Spotlight will also be able to give you movie showtimes with Rotten Tomatoes scores, Wikipedia facts and iTunes content available to stream. It basically acts as a mini search engine now allowing you to bypass Google, Bing and Yahoo for many tasks. Spotlight also pops out and floats in the middle of the screen for quicker access.

Do you own a Mac laptop running OS X? Will you be upgrading to Yosemite in the fall? Let us know in the comments section below.