A lot have been said on Apple's Mac OS X Leopard, especially when the consumers finally got to see it running during the recently concluded WWDC. The new operating software wouldn't be arriving officially until October but those in the know are already saying that a number of useful small updates will come with the commercial version.

Apple is quite known for doing this to its products - never really telling the consumers everything that has changed. Just think of it as a finders-keepers game from Steve Jobs and the rest of the crew. And when you really think about it, it's not really harmful. If anything, it encourages users to play around with the software, learning it fully in the process.

Anyway, until the official release date comes, we're still tagging these under Rumors. But it would really be appreciated if these turn out to be true:

• A new version of Quicktime included with Leopard will reportedly allow full-screen mode without a QuickTime Pro key, echoing the feature added months before to iTunes.
• DVD Player will also see a major update with an HD options pane for Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs as well as the opportunity to add DVD cover art and change movie region support on the fly.
• Sun's unique file system will appear as a non-default, read-only format out of the box with write support possibly arriving as a separate update in the future.
• ZFS in Leopard will support some of the trademark features, such as instant and low-storage "snapshots" of a disk volume, and cloned copies that can be modified with only a small penalty in terms of disk space.
• iChat may also have received a substantial upgrade: Those contacts with mobile phone numbers can be sent an SMS text message.
• Google's influence is also allegedly present in the instant messaging app and will let Google Talk accounts mix with today's AIM, Jabber, and .Mac users.
• Users choose the default IM program, similar to the way Safari is used to choose the default browser, and will also be able to explicitly share more than the Public folder on a network.
• Even Dictionary will have the choice of switching from the Oxford dictionary to Wikipedia.

A lot of people in the gaming circuit have already made up their minds on the question of which gaming company is the most innovative of them all. However, it's a different take in the eyes of business executives around the world as Business Week conducted a survey on which companies did the most to bring new products that made sense to consumers.

Apple led the bunch with a comfortable margin over second-placer Google. As far as game-related enterprises are concerned, Microsoft led the way. It was fifth on the overall standings by virtue of software advances. Amazingly, there was no mention of games in the explanation.

Sony was at the tenth spot powered by its new PlayStation 3 console.The magazine says that it took gaming technology to the next level by transforming the game system series into a gateway to a virtual world. The reference was probably aimed at the PlayStation Home system, but hey, hasn't that been done by Second Life and Miis by Nintendo already?

Nintendo lagged behind at the 39th spot with its independence from sequels and its ability to appeal to all age groups.Yes, we know what you're thinking. Go ahead and post them in the comments section.

 

Mobile Guerrilla recently found a couple of images on Flickr by way of Google. These images were supposedly taken with the Apple iPhone. The product is still yet to be released by the Apple Corporation, so these must either have been taken by an Apple employee or they could be downright fake. Anyway, these are the supposed specifics of the shot:

Camera: Apple iPhone
Aperture: f/2.8
Orientation: Rotated 90 degrees clockwise
Date and Time: 2007:04:21 10:23:45
Color Space: sRGB
Tag::EXIF::0xA500: 11/5
Compression: JPEG
Image Width: 1600 pixels
Image Height: 1200 pixels

Considering that the Apple iPhone should only have a 2mp cam, the first shot looks good. The second one is pretty bad. Makes us wonder if they were taken with the same camera. If there's any truth at all about these shots being from the iPhone, we hope the first shot shows its true capability.

MacNN reports that Google Desktop is now available to Mac users the world over. Google Desktop is a new Universal app that indexes the contents of a Mac's hard drive. This includes everything from applications and files to Web histories from Safari, Firefox, and Camino, enabling users to keep a closer eye on their files, including results from previous Gmail searches when offline.

Google Desktop for Mac is currently in beta form and supports Spotlight plug-ins. It also uses Spotlight privacy features to prevent some documents from being searched. The app also includes a new Google app that lets users stay updated and download more Mac apps from Google. It also has an optional feature that integrates with Google's Web search, allowing users to search their PC's local desktop from Google.

Future iterations of Google Desktop are expected to include support for Gadget integration. Google Desktop will run on PowerPC-based and Intel-based Macs with Mac OS X 10.4 or later. Mac users can download Google Desktop by clicking on the link below.

Download: Google Desktop for Mac beta

  
  

Chat junkies who also happen to be Mac users have a reason to be a little bit happier today; Adium version 1.0.2 has just been released. This instant messaging client might just work better for you, if you try it. It's free, it's fast, it supports AIM, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, Yahoo!, Google Talk, Yahoo! Japan, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, Novell Groupwise, and Lotus Sametime, as well as a beautiful WebKit message display, tabbed messaging, encrypted chat, file transfer and of course, the cute little green duck.

Adium version 1.0.2 features the following improvements:

• Fixed the crashes while performing DNS resolutions
• Fixed the situation in which an AIM file transfer could fail
• Fixed a crash when sending formatted MSN text (#5753)
• Fixed linkification of .eu domains
• Various performance improvements to the log viewer when opening it and performing searches, particularly in searching while indexing occurs.

Download Adium Version 1.0.2

More of the Adium Version 1.0.2 changes after the jump.

Don't have enough money for an Apple TV? Don't have a next-gen gaming console? Well, if you have a Mac Mini, then you can still enjoy watching online videos and similar stuff on your TV, thanks to this short little tutorial from The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).

As we stated earlier, you'll need a Mac Mini for this to work. And a TV, too, of course, but not just any old TV. According to TUAW, a TV that accepts HDMI, DVI or VGA input probably is easiest, but an old composite TV can still work. Finally, you'll need a cable that goes from either DVI or VGA, depending on your Mini's video out port, into the kind of input supported by your TV.

Once you've got everything ready, just click on the "read" link below to get your MacMiniTV up and running. Still not convinced? Here are this setup's advantages as put forth by TUAW:

• You save the cost of an Apple TV (almost $300) using a mini you already have on-hand. You are only out the cost of a cable. (eBay! eBay! eBay!)
• If your mini has wireless abilities (and it probably does), you can connect wirelessly to other computers on your network and play back content from them. Without Apple TV!
• You can play back a lot more formats than Apple TV.
• No silliness about "up to five authorized machines".
• You can even surf the net on your TV. And do Google and all of that other stuff.
• No useless little "Apple Remote" (unless you want to use it with your Mini). You've got an entire keyboard and mouse to command your mini. That's Power computing!

What're you waiting for? Hit the read link. The tutorial also includes a short how-to about using the Apple Remote with your Mac Mini.

PC World, a global computer magazine, has recently named some of the most influential people on the internet. Net heads, here's the top five of a list of those persons who move and shake the internet; we've arranged them from the fifth to the first for emphasis.

5. Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia - Admit it:  whatever piece of information that you get/cite, trivial or otherwise, often  comes from Wikipedia. It's even been cited in more than 100 US court decisions since
2004.

 4. Mike Morhaime, President of Blizzard Entertainment - Some say that there are only two MMO's: WoW, and everything else. Eight million people (and still counting) plus a chance to obtain the Blade of Eternal Justice put this guy at number 4.

3. Bram Cohen, Co founder of BitTorrent - This math and programming whiz kid put up BitTorrent, a way to download large files (like movies) by sharing the burden across hardware and bandwidth.

2. Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple -  DRM-free music and internet browsing through iPhone puts him on top - again.

1. Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin, Executives of Google - The most trafficked site on the internet is bound to influence internet users the most.

Ever heard of Google X? That's the Google webpage that has an Mac OS X interface. It was a project from the Google Labs but it was pulled down after a day.

The interface is pretty cool, but then it turned out that Apple holds the patent for the design. After it was quietly taken down - no official Google or Apple statements were made - around 50 mirror sites turned up like mushrooms sporting the same interface. We may never see an official Google X - but then you never know.

By the way, it has a nice page footer too. "Roses are red. Violets are blue. OS X rocks. Homage to you."

 

If you haven't had enough iPhone news and details, then we've got some more for you. German Mac site, Macwelt, was able to squeeze in some more iPhone details from Apple. The details ranges from the technical aspects (such as, where would the OS be stored?) to the more shallow bits (could my iTunes songs be used as ringtones?). Well here are some of the bits we have found.

On the issue of where the OS is gonna be stored. The Macwelt article mentioned that the OS would be stored alongside your music, but fret not, because Apple says that it will just occupy one half of a gigabyte. So you still have 3.5 or 7.5 GB room for your pics and music.

Apple would also have the final word as to what software would be installed on the iPhone. Also, you will not be able to purchase some iTunes Store goodies directly from your iPhone. Probably, Apple and Cingular didn't see eye-to-eye about this issue.

Now, the mind bugging question still remains unanswered, "would I be able to use my iTunes song as a ringtone?" The answer my friend, is no. You cannot use them as you alarm clock tones as well. Aww...that's too bad. In the Macwelt interview, they also found out that Apple will not let users use VoIP on the iPhone.

The German site also squeezed this particular info about plugins. Apple says that there will be as many enabled plugins as possible and Flash and Java will be enabled.

Hmm, I don't know about you but I'm still pretty bummed about that iTunes-ringtone tidbit. To read the interview, click on the read-link below for a Google-translated version.

After all the rumors and speculations about the much-awaited iPhone, we now have a whole bunch of confirmed details about this upcoming revolutionary telecommunications gadget.

During the recently held Macworld Conference and Expo, Steve Jobs divulged details on the widescreen iPod-donning phone including its "multi-touch" feature, internet-browsing capabilities, wireless connectivity, and tons more! So let's not waste any time with all the chitchatty yadda yadda, here's an outline of some of the iPhone's features:

• widescreen iPod - browse through music, audiobooks, videos, TV shows, and movies on a 3.5-inch widescreen display. You can also use the Cover Flow feature to browse through music via the album covers.
  
• User Interface
  
• QWERTY keyboard and intelligent Multi-touch display - control is literally all in your hands, no need for a stylus, ignores unintended touches
• Internet device - built-in Google and Yahoo! search, Safari web browser, Google maps, iTunes, Widgets,
  
• Connectivity - quad-band GSM, EDGE, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)

More info and pictures await in the Full Article!