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Eye-to-eye with Snow Leopard--screenshots

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)

Finally, the wait for the next iteration of Apple's flagship operating system is over. Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard will officially become available for wide release August 28. Apple has refined just about everything in the latest OS, from new and useful interface enhancements to core technologies that make your Mac run more smoothly.

We got a chance to explore everything Snow Leopard has to offer and we think there's plenty for Mac fans to be excited about. For the complete rundown of all things Mac OS X 10.6, read our review of Snow Leopard.

Preorder two copies of the Windows 7 upgrade, then sell one later to recoup all your costs.

(Credit: Microsoft)

By now you've undoubtedly heard the news: Until July 11 (or while supplies last), you can preorder the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for $49.99.

After the deal expires, that same upgrade will cost you $119.99. Needless to say, if you're interested in Windows 7, now's the time to buy.

My advice: buy two. Then, after Windows 7 ships (on October 22), turn around and sell your spare copy for $100. Obviously that's $20 less than the list price, meaning you should have no trouble moving it on eBay, Craigslist, or wherever.

At the same time, you recoup 100 percent of your investment and get Windows 7 to boot (literally).

Risky? A gamble? Perhaps, but to this day upgrade copies of Vista are selling on eBay for $100 and more. And that's two years later. The only real downside is that you're out $100 for about four months. Worth it? Let me know in the comments.

In the meantime, keep in mind that if you're a Windows XP user, there's no automated way to upgrade your system to Windows 7--not without wiping your hard drive. (Vista users, however, can upgrade directly.)

That means you'll need to back up your drivers, data, and the like, install Windows 7, restore your stuff, reinstall your applications, etc. It's a hassle, but in the end you'll have an outta-the-box-fast PC with a spiffy new OS.

And a free one at that.

Palm is rumored to be launching a smartphone on Thursday that runs Nova, its next-generation operating system, according to a report Sunday on CrunchGear.

The report, which cites "a trusted source," says the device will have a full QWERTY keyboard that will slide under the touch screen.

Palm's next-generation operating system has been delayed several times but is regarded as crucial to the company's chances of regaining a foothold in the mobile-computing market.

Nova, based on Linux, is expected to bring the Palm brand operating system into the modern era of computing. The beginning of Palm's decline as a mobile-computing innovator can be traced to the 2003 decision to separate into two companies, one that developed the operating system (PalmSource) and one that developed the hardware (Palm).

Palm wound up having to nurture the 2004-era Palm OS version into the present day after PalmSource and later Access never produced anything deemed useful; it still runs the Palm Centro.

The company wisely hooked up with Microsoft to release Windows Mobile-based Treos, but has longed to once again design a complete product, hardware and software.

CNET News' Tom Krazit contributed to this report.

gOS 3 Gagets' start-up screen.

(Credit: gOS)

gOS--a company known for its debut in the $199 Wal-Mart gPC and Netbooks--announced Wednesday the details of gOS 3 Gadgets, the newest version of its Linux operating system for consumers.

The San Francisco-based company made the announcement at LinuxWorld Expo.

The main feature of gOS 3 Gadgets is its ability to instantly launch Google Gadgets for Linux on start-up, allowing users access to more than 100,000 iGoogle and Google Gadgets applications. These applications, though graphically rich, are small enough to be added to the computer in seconds over an Internet broadband connection. The new operation system will also be loaded with WINE 1.0, Lightweight X Desktop Environment (LXDE), and other Google software for Linux to improve the user experience.

While WINE has been known to allows users to use thousands of Windows applications on Linux platform, LXDE is a renewed effort to develop more lightweight desktop applications for Linux environment. By supporting LXDE, gOS 3 Gadgets, apart from desktops, would also make a good choice for ultra small mobile laptops, which are generally suffer from having slow hard drives and processors.

In addition to Google Gadgets for Linux, gOS 3 Gadgets can also run other Google applications more well-known in Windows platform including Google Desktop, Google Picasa, Google Earth and Google Maps. In the new gOS 3 Gadgets, other Google's web-based applications such as Documents, Calendar, and Mail launch have a closer appearance and functionality to desktop applications than other platforms.

If you have an MP3 player but--to put it mildly--think its operating system leaves a lot to be desired, there is a way to make that player rock out with Rockbox. Open-source and free, Rockbox is downloadable firmware for your MP3 player that represents a big leap for audiophiles who want to control how they use their portable devices.

... Read more

Here, kitty kitty kitty! Rain-soaked Apple nerds wait for Leopard.

(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET Networks)

NEW YORK--On Friday afternoon at the hour that Apple launched its latest operating system, Mac OS 10.5 Leopard, it was pouring rain in Manhattan. It was also windy and chilly. That didn't stop several hundred people from lining up outside the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue to get their hands on the new software, huddled underneath Gore-Tex jackets and umbrellas.

"It's the cult," commented another reporter who had also been covering the water-saturated event.

The line for Leopard appeared to be divided fairly evenly between rabid Apple fans and shoppers who'd figured they could stop by and pick it up quickly--and indeed, come launch time, the line moved fast as customers were ushered into a gauntlet of Apple Store employees (much like the iPhone launch in June) and directed straight to the cash registers when the doors opened at 6 p.m.

"It's a happening," said first-in-liner Bob Greenlees, a twenty-something student at the nearby Cardozo School of Law, when I asked him why he'd bothered to wait amidst inclement weather for an operating system that could easily have been pre-ordered online and delivered to his front door. "It's one of those things. It's Apple, it's Fifth Avenue, it's a flagship store. And it's an opportunity to be in line for something without waiting for three days."

Greenlees, after posing for a photo with his new purchase, said that he was going to go straight home and install it. He'd been in line since about 2:30 p.m.

The line went to the corner and around the block to the intersection of 58th Street and Madison Avenue.

(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET Networks)

"I came for the free t-shirt," said Steven Miranda, a Manhattan College student who was ninth in line. The Apple Store was offering t-shirts to the first 500 people who showed up, and for hardcore Apple fans, those shirts were a coveted prize. I asked Miranda and his friends whether they agreed with Wall Street Journal tech columnist Walt Mossberg's assertion that Leopard was "evolutionary, not revolutionary."

"Compared to Vista, it's revolutionary!" chimed in one Apple fan who was just ahead of Miranda in line. Indeed, the Microsoft-taunting was hardly under the radar. One person in line was wearing a t-shirt that bore the Windows logo along with the caption "Hasta la Vista."

For the two hours prior to the Leopard launch, the normally 24/7 Fifth Avenue store had been closed in preparation--my personal theory is Apple closed the store for a longer span of time than it needed to, to assure that an adequate queue would form in anticipation, but I'm sure Apple's not about to confirm that to me.

In addition to Leopard t-shirts, buyers were also treated to free umbrellas as they were ushered into the store. Nice move, Apple. "Keep the Leopard dry!" an Apple Store employee shouted. "Cats don't like water!"

But that raises a very serious question. Now that Apple has let Leopard out of its cage, following in the tracks of Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, and Tiger, the big question is--which cat's next?

My money's on Ocelot.

NEW YORK--At about 1 p.m. EDT in midtown Manhattan, I overheard a group of suit-clad thirtysomething men talking as they waited to cross Madison Avenue.

"You know, leopards are solitary animals," one of them said. The other three or four continued musing on the characteristics of the large exotic felines, and I figured that it was actually part of a conversation about Apple's latest operating system, which launches Friday at 6 p.m. I thought, wow, if fratty midtown office types are talking about Mac OS X 10.5, there must be a huge line of fanboys at the Apple store!

Wrong. There was almost no sign of a major product launch at the 24-hour Apple store on Fifth Avenue, besides a few signs and posters announcing Leopard's advent. The store was still a mob scene, of course--in that touristy shopping district just south of Central Park, it always is. But there was no buzz factor like there had been with the crazy iPhone launch in June.

Apple Store customers try out Leopard at the Fifth Avenue store in NYC.

(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET Networks)

Apple retail employees told reporters that the store would be closed from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. for preparations, and that when the doors finally opened, there would be "demos all night long."

For an idea of what the scene might be like, they told the press to look up the Japanese launch of Leopard the previous night, which apparently had eager buyers lined up around the block. Then, clearly uncomfortable about saying too much, they said to contact company public-relations representatives instead and encouraged the press to test out the new operating system--it was already installed on all the demo computers at the store.

A few minutes later, reporters were informed that Apple retail employees had just been told not to speak to the press any more, until Leopard's launch at 6 p.m.

Meow.

Tomorrow may be the day OS X Leopard makes its way out to the unwashed masses, but we were lucky enough to get our hands on a (legal) copy of the operating system earlier this morning directly from the mother ship in Cupertino. Besides the snazzy new look and feel, the big things we wanted to get our hands on were all the Web features we've been drooling over. We picked four that we think people are actually going to use, including Web Clips, RSS feed reading in the new Mail app, Web search history in Spotlight, and Wikipedia as a part of the Dictionary application.

Just narrowly missing the cut was the GPS feature in preview, which we think is cool, but definitely not quite mainstream until more cameras get GPS integration. In perfect conditions, assuming your photo has GPS bearings in its metadata, you'll be able to see where it is on a Google Map, which we wrote about earlier this week.

Enjoy the video, and if you're picking up a copy of Leopard for yourself, be sure to check these new features out. For more Leopard News, visit CNET's Leopard page.

(Credit: Apple)

After much speculation, Apple has confirmed that the next version of its Mac OS X operating system, "Leopard," will hit stores on Friday, October 26, at 6 p.m.

The company has stated that Leopard, which was delayed this spring due to the high-profile iPhone, includes more than 300 new features in comparison to its predecessor, Tiger.

Among these are an improved "dock" interface for easy access to applications, more robust parental controls, the Time Machine automatic-backup service and a redesigned Finder interface.

The operating system is set to cost $129 for a single-user license and $199 for a five-user "Family Pack" license.

In addition, Apple also plans to launch the Leopard version of its Mac OS X Server in conjunction with the standard version of the operating system. Included in this release of the Unix-compliant server software are a host of new features, including Podcast Producer, for automatically publishing audio to iTunes or the Web; Wiki Server, for collaborative Web site work; and iCal Server, for enterprise calendar management. The new OS X Server is set to cost $499 for a 10-client edition and $999 for an unlimited-client edition.

Apple's home page has been updated with a Leopard countdown clock. The online store is now accepting preorders--and meanwhile, the next iteration of the legendary Apple rumor mill is already rolling.