Apple seeds second OS X 10.9.1 beta with Mail improvements, Safari 6.1.1 [u]

The most recent build 13B35 of the forthcoming maintenance update notes fixes for Gmail, SmartFolders and other bugs associated with the Mail app. People familiar with the release said Mail is sill a focus area for testing, as is Safari, Graphics Drivers and VoiceOver.

In addition to the Mail enhancements, the latest beta addresses a VoiceOver issue when the system reads emoji characters, improves compatibility with VPN servers in OS X Server and adds a function to periodically update Shared Links in Safari.

Apple issued a fix for Mavericks Mail earlier this month, as well as an iBooks for Mac update, though each was a standalone release and not part of a larger maintenance update.

Developers can download the latest OS X 10.9.1 beta via Apple Developer Center or Software Update.

Update: Apple also released Seed 2 of Safari 6.1.1 and Safari 7.0.1 with focus areas including general website compatibility, accessibility, viewing and annotating PDFs, login and password autofill, Web Inspector functionality and extensions.