Jobs unveils new Leopard features and Safari for Windows

Steve Jobs let us in on the so-called 'secret' features of Mac OS X Leopard today in a slightly lacklustre keynote without the big surprise announcements that we've come to expect from an Apple keynote.

There were really only 3 new features unveiled in Leopard today; a new desktop, finder and Quick Look. The rest was more or less a rehash of what he demoed last time around.

New Leopard features

The new desktop features a semi-transparent menu bar and reflective dock. The idea is that it better compliments the high resolution photos that people put on their desktops these days.

The dock also gained a new 'stacks' feature that allows you to keep groups of files easily organised on the dock, rather than cluttering up your desktop. When you click on the stack of files, they fan out so you can easily see all the files contained within.

The finder has had a fairly significant overhaul, clearly heavily influenced by iTunes. It now features a redesigned sidebar with iTunes-like collapsible folders, other computers that appear automatically on the sidebar for easy file sharing, Cover Flow browsing (like flicking through album covers but with documents and files) and an upgraded Spotlight that allows you to search shared computers and network drives.

.Mac members will also now be able to easily access their home or work files from another machine, including searching for files remotely.

The last of the major new features is Quick Look which enables you to preview a file within finder without actually launching its native application. It allows you to see live previews of the content of the file including video and flicking through pages of a document. It also works in combination with Cover Flow allowing you to flick through files, previewing them as you go.

Other features including Time Machine, Spaces and iChat seemed to be largely unchanged since they were first announced.

Also worth a mention was the confirmation, as widely expected, that the UI will be changed to a new unified look, with brushed metal being dispensed of completely.

In keeping with the new UI theme, apple.com has also been updated with a new, heavily redesigned look.

Safari for Windows

Perhaps the one true surprise of the keynote was the announcement that Safari 3, Apple's excellent web browser, will be made available to Windows users. The Beta is available to download immediately from Apple's site.

I'm a big fan of Safari and would suggest any Windows users reading this download it and have a play. The Beta download is naturally available for Mac users as well.

More games for the Mac

Jobs also announced a significant increase in support for the Mac as a gaming platform from EA and id software. EA will be releasing some of their biggest titles this summer such as Command and Conquer 3, Battlefield 2142, Need for Speed Carbon and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

This additional gaming support can only be a good thing as it's one of the weak points of the Mac platform and more developers supporting the Mac are always welcome.

No new hardware

So, that was pretty much it, no hardware announcements (to be fair the MacBooks have all recently been updated) and no massive revelations. By Jobs's standards, a pretty average affair.

Having said that, Leopard looks to be shaping up to be a superb operating system and I am looking forward to getting my hands on it in October.

100% Mac

Ever since I switched my home PC for a Mac in 2002 and bought a 17" widescreen "sunflower" iMac G4, I've wanted to use a Mac at work as well and do away with PCs altogether.

That long-standing ambition has finally come to fruition in the last couple of weeks because in my new job I now use a MacBook Pro.

It's great to have finally gone 100% Mac and I am seeing a new side to using OS X, it's not all about iTunes and iPhoto any more, now I have to use it to get important things done like proposals, presentations, business email, development and other work-related stuff.

So far it's been working perfectly and I've been pleased to see how easily Macs really do fit into the enterprise. Mail works with Exchange just fine for email and you have the option of using Microsoft's Entourage, which is just like Outlook and includes all of the same contact and calendar management tools.

But you can even get Entourage to sync with iCal and Address Book, so you can effectively not use Entourage at all and just use the built in OS X apps instead, which is my preference.

What's more with the company about to roll-out the open-source Zimbra platform to replace Exchange, it will be a piece of cake using Macs and PCs in perfect harmony for email and calendaring.

It has also shown me how powerful OS X's built-in sync services are - this is what allows me to sync Entourage with iCal and Address Book but it also syncs my calendar, to-do list and contacts with my mobile phone and back home to my iMac G5 via .Mac (which I finally now make full use of), all completely seamlessly and automatically in the background.

It's been a pleasant experience so far and I find it so much easier to get my work done, there aren't any of the instability, crashing, restart or security problems that have plagued every PC I have ever used in my previous jobs and dragged down my productivity.

The integration into the network is seamless, joining wireless networks, setting up VPN connections and printers is ridiculously easy. Example: finding and setting up the networked Lexmark printer took about 10 seconds. My Mac just found it automatically on the network using Bonjour (Apple's zero-config network protocol) and started using it - no installation of drivers required, unlike the PC I'd had to use for my first couple of days. Joining the wireless network and setting up the VPN connection for when I'm away from the office were equally easy.

OS X also has loads of great software to help you complete your business tasks, whether it's great RSS readers, instant messaging clients or Word, Excel and PowerPoint, they're all available. Not to mention the great mail, calendar and creative apps that come built into OS X.

Of course, it helps that I work for a small, progressive company that allows and encourages me to use a Mac but in fact, I think I could have done this just as easily in any company, had they simply allowed me to.

I hope some of the antiquated IT departments out there wake up and smell the coffee. The Mac is perfectly poised to make an impact in the enterprise. Because it has to be, it is the most flexible OS out there and it can effortlessly integrate into Windows networks, in a lot of ways it's a hell of a lot easier to integrate than PCs themselves!

If I ever have to go back to using a PC as my main computer, I'm going to find it very tough. I've gone Mac and I don't want to go back. Ever.

Vista is finally here

After a tumultuous 5 years in development and much feature hacking, the successor to Windows XP was finally released to consumers today.

Windows Vista promises a more secure, stable and prettier Windows than has ever gone before and seems to deliver on most of those but most reviewers seem to agree that it's not a must-have upgrade and is simply a 'warmed-over' version of XP.

Certainly there's been a lot of comparison with Mac OS X Tiger and it does appear as though a lot of the features Microsoft has been touting as significant, such as live desktop searching and 3D / transparency effects to name but two, have been around for sometime in the Mac world.

But for the masses of PC users out there, I'm sure it will be fun and interesting to finally get to use a nicer looking, stable operating system. And with more than 100m computers predicted to be using it worldwide within 12 months, that will be quite a few people!

It's about time Windows dragged itself into the 21st century but the real test will be when people can compare it to Leopard, coming this spring.

Apple announces incredible iPhone

Apple announced the iPhone today at Macworld San Francisco. A clearly excited Steve Jobs introduced the device to a standing ovation and astonishment from the crowd.

In some ways 'iPhone' is not an apt description of the multi-functional device at all. Apple describes it as "a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching - into one small and lightweight handheld device."

"iPhone also introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting you control everything with just your fingers. So it ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, completely redefining what you can do on a mobile phone."



iPod

iPhone uses iTunes to sync with your Mac or PC in just the same way as an iPod so all your music, audiobooks, videos, TV shows and movies can be enjoyed on the 3.5 -inch widescreen display.

Mobile phone

iPhone allows you to make calls by simply pointing your finger at a name or number in your address book and it will automatically sync all your contacts from a PC, Mac, or internet service such as Yahoo! or Gmail. It also introduces a new 'Visual Voicemail' feature that allows you to go directly to individual voicemail messages without having to listen to them in order, just like email.

SMS messaging is handled using an on-screen software keyboard with predictive input and error correction. The interface is very iChat like and is more like sending instant messages than text messages.

It also features an integrated 2-megapixel camera and iPhoto-like photo management software that is far more sophisticated than current mobile phones.

Internet communications

iPhone features a rich HTML email client that can fetch or be pushed your IMAP or POP3 email in the background and a mobile version of Safari which is the most advanced web browser ever on a portable device. It automatically syncs bookmarks from your PC or Mac and includes built-in Google and Yahoo! searching. It's fully multi-tasking, so you can read a web page while downloading your email in the background over WiFi or EDGE.

The iPhone's Maps application integrates with Google Maps to offer map, satellite and local information, all controlled with the touch screen interface enabling you to easily move around and zoom in or out.

The iPhone also borrows Widgets from OS X to give you quick access to weather, stocks and other data in real-time through the internet.

Technology

It's a pretty incredible device and has to be seen to be fully appreciated. The multi-touch screen and OS X operating system looks extremely intuitive and well thought out with the rich HTML email, full-featured web browsing, and desktop-class applications such as widgets, Safari, calendar, text messaging, Notes, and Address Book.

The iPhone is also well connected with quad-band GSM, EDGE, 802.11b/g WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0.

To top it all off, the iPhone can sense when you rotate it from portrait to landscape and automatically changes the contents of the display, so you immediately see the entire width of a web page or a photo in its proper landscape aspect ratio.

A proximity sensor detects when you lift iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until it's moved away. And an ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display’s brightness to the appropriate level for the current light level, enhancing the user experience and saving power at the same time.

Conclusion

iPhone shifts the landscape of the mobile industry just as the original Mac did for home computing and the iPod did to the music industry. I honestly think it's that significant.

Steve Jobs said during the speech that it's "5 years ahead" of anything else and I think he's right. The seeming simplicity and ease of use sets a new standard for mobile operating systems, like only Apple could, and belies the complexity and breadth of features beneath.

My only real concerns are with the absence of any 3G connection for high-speed data when not in reach of a WiFi network and the relatively limited 4 or 8GB storage capacity.

3G and a second camera on the face of the iPhone would allow for video calling and could also be integrated with iChat for VoIP video calling, which would be truly awesome.

8GB of storage worries me as well. My nano has 8GB and that is not enough to get my music library on, let alone all my email, photos and video! I would have expected more like 16GB to make the device capable of holding a decent amount of content or at least some kind of memory expansion via SD or something. On the other hand, for a mobile phone, 8GB is way more than the average device.

Overall though, this is an absolutely stunning product. Just reading the transcript of the keynote as it was taking place, I was completely gob-smacked at what Apple have managed to achieve with the iPhone. It's up there with even the most fervent rumours but now it's a reality.

It's much more than just a mobile phone with music playing features, it's a Mac in your pocket.

To see the iPhone in action make sure you head over to the Apple site and watch the QuickTime demos. It really will amaze you.

WWDC: The aftermath

A day after the event it's time to look at the announcements in the cold light of day. There has been a lot written about it, some of which I think is strange, some of it great.

First of all, let's just recap what this conference is called - Worldwide Developers Conference. Note the word 'developers'.

A few people have said to me and I've read all over the place that they were a bit disappointed blah blah. Why? We pretty much knew what was coming, it was always going to be a preview of Leopard and almost a guaranteed announcement that the Intel transition was over, with the introduction of the new Mac Pro and Xserves - and that's exactly what happened.

It's not a consumer show, that's Paris expo next month. So, yes it would have been lovely to have had a new iPod nano, an iPhone, a media centre Mac etc. etc. but the fact that they weren't announced isn't disappointing, it's realistic. If Apple released these amazing products at every show, they'd run out of them pretty quickly.

We still did get some amazing products though. The Mac Pros are awesome machines, really. Incredibly powerful, the likes of which haven't really been available to the everyday consumer before (OK maybe not everyday consumer, you will need the deficit of a small country to be able to get a highly specced one - I got it up to £11,ooo maxing everything out with dual 30" displays!!).

And Leopard. I was genuinely impressed by Time Machine particularly and also Spaces and the other features mentioned. Steve did say that these were just the things they were showing now, it's not the complete new feature list, it's just a sample. There's more to come people!

So when I read articles like this one over at Stuff magazine, it makes me wonder why they bother. Time Machine and Spaces are impressive and innovative. I mean, what more do they want? The hanging gardens of Babylon? Heards of wildebeest sweeping majestically across the desktop perhaps?

People expect too much. Of course, Apple are partly to blame for this with the hype that's generated with their 'special' events but people also blow it out of proportion.

I'm pleased with what we saw and excited about what we didn't see. At least some people agree with me. There's much more to come from Leopard over the next 6 months and for the consumer gadget freaks, I'm sure that Paris expo in September will usher in the new iPods and whatever else they have up their sleeves. Personally, I can't wait for an 8GB nano.

Far more worryingly, people are talking about the possibility that Steve Jobs is ill or maybe losing his touch. I'd say that's way more reason for investors to get jittery. I'm reserving judgement on this one but watch this space...

Updated: typos.

Tags: apple, wwdc, leopard, mac, osx, steve jobs, mac pro, xserve, ipod, opinion, analysis, review, tech, technology, gadget, schmadget, scb

Leopard leaps ahead

Steve Jobs previewed the new version of the Apple operating system earlier today, Mac OS X Leopard, the sixth major version of Mac OS X.

There are some revolutionary new features built into Leopard, the most intertesting of which are Time Machine and Spaces.


Time Machine is an automatic backup utility built into the operating system. What's really clever about it is it's ability to auto-save any content on your computer to an external hard-drive or server.

The user can then use an innovative interface to visually 'warp' (see above) through time to view and restore a single file right through to entire photo albums or even the entire system.


Spaces enables you to create multiple, virtual desktops to organise all of your open applications. So, for example, you could create a collection of open web pages and an instance of iChat in one 'space'; have PhotoShop and Illustrator open in another 'space'; iTunes and Mail in a third 'space' and then quickly and easily switch between them.

Think of it as application switching for desktops.

Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, said "Breakthrough features like Time Machine and Spaces are good examples of how Mac OS X leads the industry in operating system innovation. While Microsoft tries to copy the version of OS X we shipped a few years ago, we're leaping ahead again with Leopard".

Indeed, these features do seem way ahead of what Microsoft will be able to offer when the oft-delayed Vista is finally released.

Other features in Leopard to get an overhaul include iChat, Spotlight, Mail, Dashboard, Boot Camp, Front Row and Photo Booth.

See Apple's new 'Leopard Sneak Peek' site for more detail and some QuickTime movies of some of the new features.

Tags: apple, wwdc, mac, leopard, preview, osx, time machine, spaces, tech, technology, gadget, schmadget, scb

Apple rips into Vista

OK, so the next couple of days, the whole internet is going to be taken up by posts about Apple, you have been warned.

WWDC day has finally arrived and the Steve Jobs keynote speech is due at 10am PDT, 5pm GMT, 6pm BST today.

A few keen Apple watchers have been taking photos of the Moscone exhibition centre where it will all take place. Apple isn't mucking around and is clearly making Vista their main target.

There are various flickr accounts floating around with loads of pics of banners depicting slogans such as "Mac OS X Leopard, Introducing Vista 2.0" and "Mac OS X Leopard, Hasta la Vista, Vista". Nice work.

Check out MacRumorsLive.com at 6pm tonight (UK) for a minute by minute update of the event.

Tags: apple, wwdc, mac, osx, leopard, rumours, vista, flickr

Apple WWDC rumour roundup

OK, so it's that time of year again. Apple rumours abound with the prospect of the Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC) and a Steve Jobs keynote speech on the 7th August only a few days away.

The rumour mill has been pumping them out as you would expect, so below is a summary of the main threads.

1. Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
   
   OK so this isn't really a rumour, we know there's going to be a showing of the next version of the Apple operating system but what we don't know is what the update will include. Virtualisation? Enhanced finder, spotlight, iChat and safari? New iCal? More on the details over at AppleInsider.
   
   
2. Mac Pro and Xserve?
   
   The last remaining PowerPC offerings from Apple are due to be launched with new Intel processors. But which ones? Xenon for the Xserves and Core 2 Duo for the Mac Pros?
   
   
3. Macbook Pro and iMac updated with Core 2 Duo?
   
   With the launch of the new Intel Core 2 Duo chips only a week ago, it seems likely that Apple will go for an update to the higher end computers currently running the Intel Core Duo chips. But will they announce it at WWDC or later, maybe at Paris expo?
   
   
4. New cinema displays?
   
   We're into the less likely bracket here as far as I'm concerned but it is possible that with new Mac Pros, we'd also get new cinema displays. Built in iSight and IR ports for Apple remotes?
   
   
5. iPhone? iChat mobile?
   
   OK, now we're talking. The long-rumoured, highly anticipated, so-called "iPhone" has seen a lot of attention lately on the rumour mill. Apple have even eluded to the fact that they're making one. We just don't know when they'll announce it. With WWDC traditionally focussing more on Macs, maybe this is a little too soon but you never know!
   
   
6. iPod updates?
   
   Neither the nanos or full-sized iPods have been updated since they were introduced last year. It's surely only a matter of time before the nano at least gets bumped up to 8GB. I must admit, I've been holding off buying a nano and sticking with my 4g iPod until they release one with higher capacity. As for the 30 and 60GB iPods, we may see a slight capacity bump but the rumours go that the highly anticipated "real" video iPod, possibly with touch screen, has been delayed until later in the year or maybe even early next year.
   
   I think iPods may come at the more consumer orientated Paris expo in September rather than here but frankly, a baboon's guess is as good as mine.

No doubt Apple will surprise us all and announce something no-one expected. That's the beauty of it, you never know what they've got up their sleeve (can anyone say iTablet?). I can't wait!

Add your comments below and let us know what you think Apple is going to say and do next week!

Tags: apple, rumours, wwdc, mac, osx, leopard, iphone, ipod, macbook, macbook pro, imac