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iPhone Concept: I Really Wish This Was Real

Aviv — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 00:30:38 +0000

Between some exciting Steve Jobs reports, iPhone 3.0 and Snow Leopard, things are heating up the weekend leading in to WWDC. Be sure to tune in to Gizmodo’s live coverage here: http://live.gizmodo.com/ on Monday, June 8th at 10am Pacific.

No, it’s not real (sadly). But I really wish it was.

Screenshots of Latest Snow Leopard Build Released

Dave — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:14:09 +0000

A host of screenshots have recently emerged depicting a few minor interface changes and feature enhancements of the latest build of Apple’s much anticipated Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

A brief mention of Snow Leopard at WWDC 2008 by Steve Jobs gave the public a mere glimpse into what can be expected, yet developers had been privy to more detailed information. World of Apple has gathered a gallery of screenshots showing the latest Snow Leopard build (10a261), that has been sanctioned as a primarily “under the hood” upgrade, improving performance and reducing the operating systems overall footprint. Below are a few of the screenshots that have been released.

About this Mac showing build 10A261.

System Preferences pane showing a few minor user interface changes.

An upgraded Keboard Shortcuts pane resembling the Finder allows for greater ease of use.

With Stacks you can now navigate the folder structure.

“Application footprints in Snow Leopard are significantly reduced. Almost all of the applications have been rebuilt in Cocoa and 64 bit.”

A new “Put Back” feature allows you to easily restore deleted items.

World of Apple notes that based on the current progress of the latest build they do not expect Snow Leopard to ship during the first quarter of 2009.

Customizable Multi-touch Gestures File Found in OS X Leopard

Aviv — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:44:33 +0000

A recent discovery in OS X Leopard’s system files sheds some light on Apple’s intentions on letting users customize their own four-finger swipe gestures. While their has been talks on software updates allowing users of older machines to get enabled gestures, customizing your own has never before been an option.

MyAppleGuide originally found the file (though we first saw it over at MacRumors), which we opened up in Interface Builder to snap the screenshot below.

While none of these new features have been discovered in developer builds of Apple’s upcoming Snow Leopard operating system, readers have previously discovered that Snow Leopard may be bringing four-finger gestures to older Macbooks through software updates. The notion that Snow Leopard might ship with the ability to customize your own gestures is not far fetched.

To find the file navigate as shown: /System/Library/PreferencePanes/Trackpad.prefPane/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/FourFingerSwipeGesture.nib

Apple Seeds Third Snow Leopard Build to Select Developers

Aviv — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:28:13 +0000

A select group of developers have been seeded the latest build of Apple’s upcoming operating system Snow Leopard (build 10A261), which is rumored to be released in the first quarter of 2009.

The information and build numbers come from Macitynet.it, which have reported that the builds are only available to a select group of developer testers at the moment.

As MacRumors and ArsTechnica both point out, Macity’s sources (who provided the information), explain that there are not many changes in this build of Snow Leopard. The interface is largely untouched, even though many believe Apple is planning some major changes and refinements to it in the future. There are a few fixes to the finder, and everything overall seems more stable.

In previous builds that were leaked to a few torrent sites online, readers found that Snow Leopard may offer 4 finger gestures to older Macbooks and Macbook Pros which currently don’t support the full multi-touch gesture swipes.

Apple’s Director of Engineering of Unix Technologies Jordan Hubbard spoke at a conference a few months back, and one of the slides from his presentation pointed to a first quarter 2009 Snow Leopard release. While Snow Leopard may be coming a little bit later than initially expected, we do expect Apple to release some new multi-core and GPU accelerated hardware alongside or around the Snow Leopard release.

Apple Sends Wired a Cease-and-Desist Letter for Netbook Video [U]

Dave — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:34:29 +0000

Apple’s legal hounds have sent Wired’s Gadget Lab and Brian Chen a cease-and-desist letter demanding they remove a detailed video explaining how to hack Mac OS X onto a netbook PC.

Chen has disclosed via Twitter that a past video tutorial on how to install Mac OS X onto a netbook, has gotten Wired into legal trouble as they are now being sued by Apple.

Gizmodo still has a copy of the video posted online.

The video tutorial in question gives an in depth play-by-play of how to install Mac OS X on a netbook, even discussing where to obtain copies of the software from a popular torrent site, The Pirate Bay, essentially being a Hackintosh for Dummies.

Gizmodo points out that it is more probable that Apple will be issuing Wired a cease-and-desist as opposed to actually bringing about financial sanctions. While the video explicitly breaks Apple’s EULA, Chen did offer this Disclaimer: “The following process potentially violates Apple’s End User License Agreement for Mac OS X. Please ensure you own a copy of Mac OS X Leopard if you wish to follow the procedure.” – if only he knew he needed more.

Update: Apparently we should disregard the following information as Brian Chen has released an additional tweet citing the whole situation to be one big misunderstanding. Apple is not suing Wired over the video tutorial.

Apple Releases Support Note Addressing Mac OS X 10.5.6 Issues

Aviv — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:01:22 +0000

Tuaw points us to a support note released by Apple aimed at addressing various issues some users were experiencing while upgrading to Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.6.

The support note explains that the issues were being caused by a “partially downloaded software update.”

When attempting to update software using Software Update in Mac OS X 10.5, the update process may stop responding while “Configuring installation” is visible in the update window.

This can occur if Software Update attempts to install an update that was only partially downloaded.

Some persistent issues still remain with Mail, mounting network volumes, and minor inconsistencies with Safari. If you haven’t upgraded already, make sure and back up your data first. You can never be too safe.

Apple’s Phil Schiller to Demo Snow Leopard at Macworld?

Aviv — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:16:00 +0000

The guardian explains that Apple will be unveiling Mac OS X Snow Leopard at the upcoming Macworld Expo in January. While it may be true that that new OS is ready to be demo’d, it most likely won’t be shipping until a few months after the expo.

The article delves into why Apple would be pushing for Snow Leopard to be released ahead of schedule. As Microsoft works on Windows 7, Apple could once again beat them to the punch with the new OS.

Apple and its partners have been privately dropping hints to developers that its upcoming release of its Mac OS X operating system, dubbed Snow Leopard, will ship earlier than expected – and it will debut two new technologies that promise to speed up software without demanding any changes to the hardware.

Apple has good reason to push for an earlier than expected launch for Snow Leopard: Microsoft is also working on its next version of its operating system, Windows 7, and Apple could wrongfoot Microsoft by beating it to release.

As MacRumors points out, the timeframe for Snow Leopard’s release has already been suggested by an Apple employee. The first quarter in 2009 remains a firm target.

Apple Has Released Mac OS X 10.5.6

Aviv — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:05:10 +0000

Apple has released an update to its operating system Mac OS X Leopard bringing it to version 10.5.6. After brief, inaccurate reports claimed last Friday as a possible release date, Apple has released the 190MB update today.

Details of the update can be found in a support document on Apple.com.

The Mac OS X 10.5.6 Update is recommended for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard versions 10.5, 10.5.1, 10.5.2, 10.5.3, 10.5.4, and 10.5.5. It includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac.

MacRumors has posted some of the highlights from the 10.5.6 update:
- Improves reliability of Address Book syncing with iPhone and other devices and applications.
- Improves the reliability of AirPort connections, including improvements when roaming in large wireless networks with an Intel-based Mac.
- Resolves an issue in which pasting text from a Microsoft Office document could insert an image rather than text.
- Includes general improvements to gaming performance.
- Includes graphics improvements for iChat, Cover Flow, Aperture, and iTunes.
- Includes fixes for possible graphics distortion issues with certain ATI graphics cards.
- Mail: Includes overall performance and reliability fixes.
- MobileMe: Contacts, calendars, and bookmarks on a Mac automatically sync within a minute of the change being made on the computer, another device, or the web at me.com.
- Improves reliability and performance for AT&T 3G cards.
- Fixes issues that could cause Time Machine to state the backup volume could not be found.
- Improves Time Machine reliability with Time Capsule.
- Safari: Improves compatibility with web proxy servers.

Briefly: Mac OS X 10.5.6 to be Released as Early as Friday? [U]

Dave — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:07:21 +0000

Apple has recently given developers an additional build of Mac OS X 10.5.6 (9G55), which shows no signs of new issues and addresses the few that remain.

Macrumors notes that Apple has begun seeding this build “internally outside of the usual developer circles,” which may reveal it to be the final version before going public. Unconfirmed sources point out that the official release could come as early as Friday, which will be a free update available to all Mac OS X 10.5 users.

Update: 9to5mac’s sources agree with the Friday release date.

Apple Patent Reveals 3D Desktop User Interface

Dave — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:45:25 +0000

Among the host of patent applications released today shines a gem above the rest, a 54 page filing divulging research conducted in 2007 that displays a “Multidimensional” or true 3D desktop user interface.

Macrumors reports that one in the series of these patents, dubbed Multidimensional Desktop, contains diagrams that reveal how the desktop may look and function. The figure below, shows the multidimensional environment, which as you can see depicts what appears to be 3 dimensional depth. Along the sides of the desktop lie “function” icons that could prompt commands on each surface. These icons are also believed to be able to receive 3D manipulation, allowing them to “fall” if displaced.

The image below displays how a window can be dragged across the multiple 3 dimensional surfaces, which can trigger icons or windows to display different information. “For example, on the bottom surface, icons and other system object representations can be displayed according to a large scale; on the side surface, icons and system object representations can be displayed according to small scale; on the back surface, icons and other system object representations can be displayed in a list format.”

An additional example shows a 3D Finder that lacks a traditional surface, instead utilizing a stack item to access menu items, typically found at the top of the desktop. When a menu item is selected it could place menu items on a variety of surfaces.

Macrumors maintains that it is still unclear when or if Apple will ever apply these concepts to future versions of Mac OS X, as 10.6, due to arrive in Q1 of 2009 has focused primarily on “under the hood” performance.