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Apple on Thursday released its fourth security update of the year, patching 25 security holes in its operating system, 24 specifically affecting the latest version of Mac OS X version 10.4. Among the extensive list of fixes is a wireless network patch for older systems.
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Now that all those sweet Leopard features Apple had us so pumped about are out of the picture for the next six months we find ourselves so unsatisfied. How ever will we get by…
Spaces
Multiple virtual desktops are not something new, but the decision by Apple to integrate them at the system level signifies a maturing user base. Apple’s description of Spaces “You do a lot on your Mac. So what happens when all those projects pile up? Easy. Use Spaces to organize all your windows into groups and banish clutter completely. A Space for everything and everything in its Space. Only with Mac OS X Leopard.”
Alternatives
Virtue
http://virtuedesktops.sourceforge.net/
Desktop Manager
http://desktopmanager.berlios.de/screenshots.php
Time Machine
Bringing background backup to the masses is was an inevitable progression into the operating system as hard drive capacities only continue to grow. While TimeMachine does it the Apple way there are still alternatives!
From Apple “You back up your system regularly, right? Well, you would. If you had a better way to do it. With Mac OS X Leopard and Time Machine, not only can you back up and preserve everything on your Mac — including priceless digital photos, music, movies, and documents — without lifting a finger, you can go back in time to recover anything you’ve ever backed up.”
Alternatives
Super Duper
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
Deju Vu
http://propagandaprod.com/
iChat 3.0
iChat has been around for a while and has been more than overdue for a facelift for quite some time. New features that we will be missing out include ( Tabs, Photobooth Effect, and the most forgotten about feature ScreenSharing!) From Apple: “Filled with fun new features, iChat turns any mere video chat into an event. Video backdrops, Photo Booth effects, photo slideshows, Keynote presentations, or an entire Mac desktop — you can share it all with iChat in Mac OS X Leopard.”
Alternatives
Chax
www.ksuther.com/chax/
ChatFX
http://www.scriptsoftware.com/chatfx/
iCar
The best we can do for screen sharing….
Screen Sharing
Dashboard
Not much new here except the whole WebClips integration with safari, which I can say from personal use is definetly something that will be used frequently. From Apple “Create your own website widget using Web Clip in Safari for Leopard. Just visit your favorite site and click the “Open in Dashboard” button in Safari. Dashboard launches a new clip of the site in a customizable widget. From there, you can resize your Web Clip and choose from a handful of window themes.”
Alternative
Dash Clipping
http://www.fondantfancies.com/blog/3001239/
Accessibility
The coolest new feature from the accessibility library has got to be the new text to speeh voice Alex, for a sample of it click here. From Apple “The new synthesized English voice in Leopard, Alex, uses advanced, patented Apple technologies that deliver natural intonation, even at very fast speaking rates. And Alex works with any application that supports Apple’s speech synthesis.”
Alternatives
Cepstral Voices
http://www.cepstral.com/demos/
Mail
Mail has more new features than you can shakes a stick at! The two main ones however are easily obtained through 3rd party additions. From Apple “With Mac OS X Leopard, Mail transforms mere email into personalized stationery. A virtual memo pad accessible from anywhere. To-do lists that can change as often as your errands do. For everything you do with email — and some things you haven’t thought of yet — there’s Mail.”
Alternatives
Mail Template
http://mailtemplate.mactank.com/
MailTags
http://www.indev.ca/MT2Beta.html
There have been plenty of articles speculating the reasons for the Leopard delay, many of which point to “Top Secret” features that Jobs hasn’t told us about yet. I believe the explanation is much simpler - Apple not only has to implement all these new features but for both PPC and Intel still - turns out it was more time consuming than they planned for! My 2 cents!
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Learn more about Dashboard with Macinstruct’s new article.
From Macinstruct
“Dashboard is one of the coolest Mac applications, isn’t it? It’s easy-to-use, it’s beautiful, and it wows your PC-using friends every time. With the push of a button, all of your widgets zoom into view and you have information at your fingertips!”
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According to a recent filing, Apple engineers explain how a mysterious “mobile phone” could be used to control your Mac (and specific applications like iTunes) via built-in Bluetooth, and the wording even mentions specific software that would be tailored to the Mac and handset in order to make it all happen. I would imagine that the bluetooth functionality on the iPhone may also be put to use as the current tiny white “standard” remote is on most all Apple’s computers.
Patent Images
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Though there are many tagging apps out all write to spotlight comments which are not attached to the file as is true metadata. The bad - when you attempt to backup data your tags are not backed-up with the file. **Enter SpotMeta!** This open source app, beta *[attn. developers]*, writes real metadata directly to the file as an xattr.
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ThinkSecret has just posted many screenshots showing the new interface and features of the latest Leopard build. Many will rejoice because the Brushed Metal UI is gone, and replaced by a Unified UI. This new interface, which I will refer to as evil iTunes (until it gets an official name) looks as if it’s borrowed heavily from the newest version of iTunes with the darkened grey matte for Finder windows accented by deep blue trim.
