Snow Leopard update to kill Hackintoshes
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According to OS X Daily the newest update to Snow Leopard, which has been peeked at by developers, will kill support for the Atom processor. The support for the Atom made it easy to modify a netbook, like the HP Mini 1000, to run OS X cheaply. For those out there running Hackintoshes it's probably best not to update when 10.6.2 hits the update servers.
BlackBerry Desktop now available for Mac OS X
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RIM released its BlackBerry Desktop software for Mac OS X on Friday. The software, which was previously only available for Windows, synchronizes smartphone contacts, calendars, email and media with Address Book, iCal, Mail and iTunes.
Apple fans wait in line for Snow Leopard launch
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We're seeing reports come in, specifically this one from Pocket-Lint, which indicate Apple fans are, unsurprisingly, waiting in line for the 10.6 version of Mac OS. Buyers might want to head to an alternate retailer if they're looking to skip the lines.
Snow Leopard expectations: Potentially worth the upgrade?
We've heard lots of people chime in with reviews of Snow Leopard, and for the most part reviewers are encouraging the $29 upgrade... but why? What's the motivator? We talk to Michael Gartenberg from Interpret and Rory Reid from CNET UK about the new OS.
Michael tends to think the upgrade is worth it. He's been using the OS for a few weeks, and says it's noticeably faster and a "no-brainer upgrade," not to mention the business shenanigans that Apple pulled against Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7, beating it to market by nearly two months.
Rory, on the other hand, isn't so convinced. Sure, it might be faster, but is it really worth spending the cash? He's not so sure... especially when there's not a dead ringer reason to do so. Sounds to us, anyway, like Rory's more inclined to take advantage of all the 64-bit advantages once his computer can do the same, which unless users have 4GB of ram or greater, the benefits aren't as stark as they will be.
What's your take? Are you going to take the plunge when the operating system hits the streets tomorrow? Are you going to upgrade to Windows 7? Sound off in the comments.
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Apple’s OS X Snow Leopard possibly ready for August 28th
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Notable technology news writer, John Gruber posted on his site yesterday that Apple's OS X Snow Leopard will be available on August 28th. This comes after Amazon began taking pre-orders with anticipation for a September release date, which is in-line with Apple's WWDC announcement.
Apple’s Snow Leopard developer details emerge
Features of interest to application developers are surfacing for Apple's newest version of the Mac OS. Grand Central Dispatching will allow for processes to be handled in a way similar to a quality-of-service way normally found in networking, allowing applications to be dynamically split up between CPU cores.
OpenCL will also be supported in Snow Leopard, allowing programmers to fully optimize the potential of today's powerful graphics cards to offload work to them, effectively using them as another CPU transparently.
Apple is placing strict OS limitations on applications that run in 32 bit mode, only allowing them 4GB of memory, likely to push 64-bit support fully. With these limits come enticing optimizations: Safari apparently runs javascript code 50% faster, and plugins like flash will be threaded similarly to Chrome to cut down on browser crashes.
Mac Tablet: Does Apple need it to compete with netbooks?
We've been hearing rumors for at least two years now about a potential Apple tablet computer, but to date, they've all been little more than hot air. The latest report from an analyst pegs the release of a new tablet for 2010, but does Apple really need to push this device out to compete with the netbook trend? We talk to Erica Ogg, correspondent for CNET News, as well as Jonathan Strickland of HowStuffWorks about the rumors. Erica maintains it isn't a do-or-die situation for Apple, though if they do it, Erica expects they'll do it properly, as they've done in the past with cell phones and MP3 players. Jonathan wouldn't mind if Apple released it as a sort-of Kindle-esque competitor, with its own app store and the like.
What do you think? Are you excited for a multi-touch tablet, or would you rather take the plunge on a regular notebook or netbook? What's your dream tablet device that you'd love to see Apple implement?
Howto: Run Mac OS X Leopard On Old Hardware
Have an old Macintosh lying around, and you want to run Leopard on it? OSNews shares its find on LeopardAssist, which fools the OS X installer into thinking you're running on capable hardware.