The Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is not quite ready to pounce but eager prey are restless as to what this cat can and cannot do. The grapevine flows with speculations that it it'll include a system-level, encrypted BitTorrent client for iTunes Store, a Windows virtualization software and full screen applications. But these are well inside the territory of tech-gossip.

One developer thinks resolution independence is one of those rumoured features that could turn fact based on little clues he picked up here and there. According to Dustin MacDonald, "this stuff (referring to resolution scaling) is actually in the OS already. It showed that this "resolution independent" stuff won't necessarily be all vector. Yes, NSBezierPaths and fonts automatically scale correctly, but what about graphics? Although Apple hasn't said anything yet, it only makes sense that they would further the use of .icns files, letting you have different graphics for multiple sizes, scaling near perfectly. This is already the case with all application icons in Mac OS X."

Then he cited talks regarding scaling websites. "And we're not just talking about good CSS manners here, these guys are talking about implementing Adobe's vector-based SVG as a first-class image format in WebKit, and most likely OS X. Holy shitz. Obviously, no one is simply joking around here. This is going to happen."

And finally some graphic designer spilled the beans that they were contracted by Apple to make icons for the system. "Except, these icons weren't 128x128px, no, they were a whopping 512x512px. I'd say that these kinds of icons would be big enough to be scaled down a fair bit. With larger resolutions on new Macs lately, it makes sense that Apple would do something like this. Even I find myself squinting sometimes when using my 23" Cinema Display at a far distance. Mark my words, this is going to be huge - WWDC can't come soon enough." 

Until the OS X 10.5 makes it debut at  AppleÂ?s Worldwide Developer Conference in August  this year,  it's going remain as elusive and mysterious as the cat it was named after.

Following in the vein of "entrepreneurs" everywhere comes a tech-savvy wedding photographer who offers a unique way for a bride and groom to share their wedding photos.

Jefferson a.k.a. Hey There's a Quick Way to Make a Few Hundred Bucks Todd, a photographer, recently launched his iDo iPods Set, a service that provides two 30-gigabyte iPods loaded with about 50 wedding photos to newlyweds in Arizona. Jefferson, who charges $1,100 for the service, on top of his regular $2,900 wedding coverage fee, said many of his customers are enjoying the service, which also allows family members to access the photos through iTunes.

Apparently so, according to an article in the East Valley Tribune. One of those is Dustin Hanson,

a recent Arizona State University graduate whose engagement and marriage to his wife, Shannon, was recorded by Todd in November. Hanson said it has been a fun and an unusual way to show the pictures to friends. "It makes it really easy to go online and to download and check out the pictures, especially for family members who weren?t able to be there," he said. As for the price, he said it was worthwhile to be on the cutting edge of technology. "It?s brand new," he said. "I got lucky and caught (Todd) when he was just getting started."

$4,000 for wedding photos? No, thanks. Unless you're Annie Leibovitz, I'm not biting. Besides, my 10-year-old nephew said he'd be free that day. And I already know how to load up photos on my iPod ... sure as hell won't be paying some guy $400-plus to do it.

[Via, East Valley Tribune]