More details have emerged about Mac OS X 10.5 , the next major update to the Mac operating system that Apple has dub “ Leopard . ” While Leopard wo n’t be have out of its cage until October , two Steve Jobs keynote addresses and Apple’sLeopard web sitehave given us some idea of how this latest cat will behave .
In the following pages , we ’ll distinguish what ’s publically known about Leopard ’s novel features — and the footle motion that we ’re still trying to answer . We ’ll also take a look at the OS X 10.5 features Apple first unveil in August 2006 , paying limited attention to what ’s changed since then . We ’ll persist in to update this collection of Leopard features as more information becomes publicly useable .
Desktop
What it is : What Steve Jobs called a new “ Desktop ” during his Worldwide Developers Conference tonic in June is really a group of change to OS X ’s ecumenical interface , as well as betterment to the Dock .
What ’s fresh : Interface changes in OS X 10.5 include a now - translucent bill of fare bar , a consistent benighted - gray window appearing throughout the Mac port , and a refined Dock appearance . Dock icon now ride on a sheeny surface ( which reflects any windows that happen to be near the Dock ) . Active applications get a new signaling — a bright , glowing dot replaces the smutty triangle that signals combat-ready apps in Tiger .
Perhaps the most significant addition to the Desktop in Leopard is Stacks — a novel feature that lets you place folder in the Dock for agile admittance to their content . A default stack in the Dock will be a new co-ordinated Downloads brochure — downloads from the Web or from east - ring armour attachments automatically wind up here . The idea behind a Downloads plenty is that it will help you keep your Desktop sportsmanlike while still allow well-to-do access for downloads with just a single mouse click .
mass in OS X 10.5
The enhancements to the Desktop are covered in much peachy detail in our Desktop and Finder changes preview.—JASON SNELL
Finder
What it is : As with the Desktop , calling the Finder “ raw ” is another way to say “ a new look and a few Modern features . ” Nevertheless , Leopard ’s Finder undergo some meaning changes from OS X 10.4 .
Probably the most eye - catching change to the Finder is another iTunes 7 - root on addition : a newfangled Cover Flow view to go alongside the existing inclination , Icon , and Column views . The Cover Flow view shows a live preview of each Indian file ’s contents ; snap on the preview for a PDF , for example , and you ’ll be able-bodied to flip through its pages justly there in the Finder .
Cover Flow view in Finder
Leopard will also see changes to the progress - in Spotlight lookup engineering . While those enhancements seem to be little shift from what Apple first previewed in August 2006 , it ’s deserving reviewing those changes here . Namely , Spotlight now supports boolean logical system , let you refine searches with terms like “ and , ” “ or , ” and “ not”—you’re able to also search for exact phrase , date ranges , rank dates , and simple calculations . Applications are the first matches returned in a Spotlight search , devote the lineament more launcher - like capabilities .
The Search For header in the Finder sidebar comes pre - populated with several default lookup as well as recently save Spotlight hunt . Also , Leopard ’s limelight will be capable to search other local Macs and remote servers , although we ’re not certain whether these other computer will want to unravel glare as well .
As with the Desktop enhancements , we list the changes to the Finder in large detail in our Desktop and Finder preview.—JASON SNELL AND PHILIP MICHAELS
Time Machine
What it is : With more types of filing cabinet — photo , music , and such — going digital , backing up datum becomes ever more important . And yet , most users do n’t do regular backups . Apple seek to address this paradox with by building into OS X 10.5 an easy stand-in shaft that will write regular exploiter from mistakenly delete Indian file or suffering from a catastrophic hard - driving smash .
What ’s changed : From what Apple ’s demonstrated publicly since first preview Time Machine in August 2006 , not much . But there are some details about the built - in backup engineering that are new .
When you first attach a new external hard drive to your Mac , Time Machine will put up to use that as your back - up drive . If you press Enable Time Machine , that ’s it — Time Machine will back up to that driving on a regular basis , without you having to configure a thing .
Apple ’s newAirPort Extreme base of operations stationincludes a feature that lets you attach a USB hard drive to it and share that drive ’s mental object with anyone on your local internet . As it turns out , Apple says that Time Machine is perfectly suited to back up all the Macs in your home to that one centralize , networked hard drive . ( And for the sentence it ’ll take to back up your concentrated drive via a Wi - Fi connecter , you ’ll want the high amphetamine of 802.11n declare oneself by the tardy version of AirPort Extreme . )
Apple’sTime Machine pagealso indicates that you may encrypt your backup if you want , and manually set specific files not to be back up ( presumptively large ones).—JASON SNELL
Quick Look
What it is : Last year , we were all impressed by a lineament imbed within Time Machine that let you quickly preview the contents of most documents , without launching the syllabus that created them . That feature article — dubbed Quick Look — is now permeating in Leopard , peculiarly in the Finder .
What ’s unexampled : essentially an enhanced preview , Quick Look lets you in a flash access a live prevue of a filing cabinet without having to open an software . For good example , you could look at a bombastic , readable preview of a PDF file , and tack through that filing cabinet ’s page , right in the Finder . In the case of a moving picture or audio file , you could watch the video or listen to the audio with one suction stop . And if the default option preview is still too small , another get across let you preview the file at full - screen size .
Quick Look supports many usual file type — include text edition , image , flick , PDFs , and Word and Excel documents — out of the box ; developers can supply plugins that sum Quick Look support for their own document .
Previewing a Keynote display in Quick Look
This feature should be peculiarly useful for preview pic and movie files , but it will also come in handy whenever you want to take — well — aquick lookat a filing cabinet without launching another app.—DAN FRAKES
Spaces
What it is : With today ’s Macs , which can black market so many applications at once , multi - taskers often determine their window cascading unendingly into one another . Apple tackled this problem last August by introduce Spaces , its take on the decades - honest-to-goodness technology of virtual desktops .
In Leopard , you ’ll be capable to make multiple , distinct desktops — at least nine — each with the applications and windows involve for a particular set of undertaking . alternatively of having loads of windows vie for screen blank , or having to quit and launch groups of apps in purchase order to have some semblance of onscreen order , Spaces offers the expert of both worlds : all the applications you demand at your fingertips without the clutter . For example , you could allocate one space to web site work , populating it with iPhoto and iWeb ; a “ work ” infinite host your Excel spreadsheets , a report in Word , and your e - mail client ; another hosting your web browser and iChat ; and a fourth for play stuff like games and DVD Player . ( If you practice a virtualization solution such as Parallels or VMWare to run Windows on your Intel - based Mac , you could even set up a space just for — gasp — Windows . )
As we outlined in our initial trailer of Spaces , you ’ll be able to get a bird ’s eye aspect of your dissimilar workspaces by hitting a hotkey a la Exposé . you’re able to toggle back and forward between workspaces via mouse clicks , keyboard commands , or just penetrate the Dock image of any software in a particular workspace .
What ’s Changed : Apple has n’t ( in public ) changed space much since that August 2006 preview . Spaces ’ onscreen display is still an Exposé - like storage-battery grid that allows you to easy switch between spaces ; you also expend this exhibit to drag windows between distance and rearrange the relative view of the spaces themselves .
blank ’s bird’s - center scene
Many of the questions we had about Spaces last August remain unanswered . We still want to know whether particular windows can come along in multiple space , how Spaces will deal with minor issues such as app minimise to the Dock , and how Spaces will play on old mackintosh . Hopefully , those answer will arrive by October.—BRIAN CHEN & DAN FRAKES
Safari
What it is : When Tiger was loose in 2005 , Apple updated its in - theatre browser app to Version 2 . Leopard will get the same treatment with a brand new variation of Safari . The divergence ? This meter , the update is available in beta shape fromApple ’s vane site .
What ’s changed : A dramatically amend Find command find text on a pageboy via a method acting that ’ll be familiar to anyone who ’s watch plot highlights onSportsCenter : the Spot Shadow . When you search for text in Safari , the entire internet page darken , except for the school text that you ’re look for . The current selection pop up when you find it , all in orange — you ca n’t miss it .
The last major version of Safari add together accompaniment for multiple pill in a window ; with this version you’re able to drop behind those tabs around to rearrange them . ( It ’s also soft to save those tab key to a bookmark and re - spread your tabbed windowpane if you accidentally shut it . ) Text boxes on forms are now resizable , which will make people who post in online forums very happy . A semi - transparent inline PDF control in the web web browser lets you zoom in and out , lay aside a PDF file , or open a file in Preview from within Safari .
And if you ’re a Windows user , well , the whole affair will be new to you — Safari 3 unite the ranks of Apple ’s fussy - platform app by running on Windows .
The new discovery statement in Safari 3
We ’ve got much more on Safari 3 ’s new features in a first look at the genus Beta , as well as this television circuit of the updated browser app.—JASON SNELL
iChat
What it is : Apple ’s crying messaging client gets its common overhaul to accompany a major OS tenner update . In the past , that ’s meant features like TV and audio conferencing , compatibility with other chat protocols and Bonjour financial backing . This time around , Apple ’s added a number of feature , which we outlined when Steve Jobs first previewed the Leopard edition of iChat last August .
Under Leopard , iChat add tabbed browsing , a new “ invisible ” status to hide your on-line mien from your many protagonist , the ability to immortalise audio recording and video conferences , Photo Booth -like video issue , and the power to show slideshows , movies or presentations during iChat conference — Apple nickname this last feature iChat Theater .
What ’s changed : That August 2006 prevue of iChat included a Screen Sharing feature , in which you could control the Mac of another conference participant . That characteristic look to be incorporate in the Finder in the latest loop of OS X 10.5 .
Judging by Steve Jobs ’ WWDC keynote , Apple has sum up a number of new effects to iChat — or at least record consequence that it did n’t show off last August . These include a Princess Leia - expressive style holograph and the ability to overlay your lips over someone else ’s portraiture . iChat Theater continue to allow you to show off presentations and file cabinet during a chat session — the new detail is that any file type compatible with Leopard ’s Quick Look feature will process in iChat Theater .
iChat Theater in Leopard
Another , more practical addition to iChat is the use of the AAC - LD ( “ LD ” for “ Low Delay ” ) audio codec . Apple says this widebrand codec samples a full range of vocal frequency for better - sounding audio chats.—DAN MOREN AND PHILIP MICHAELS
Automator
What it is : First introduced in Tiger , Automator is a tool to help automatise mutual job . It let in a number of action for various program program that make creating round-eyed workflows as easy as drag - and - drop-off .
What ’s changed : Apple has n’t talked up the changes to the Leopard version of Automator , but do n’t wait a programme that mirrors its oxygen X 10.4 predecessor .
A newfangled record function in Leopard will let you automatize nearly any program , and you’re able to edit out the recorded action to further tailor-make it . Automator will bid starting point , which channelise you through the first step of your workflow — for example , “ turn with photograph ” and “ working with file and leaflet . ” The addition of variables means you may store value that might be used in several tone of a work flow , facilitate you build more complex workflow .
at long last , the port for Automator come along to have received a facelift , include the presence of a Media clitoris on the toolbar , which should give you verbatim access to your music and photos.—ROB GRIFFITHS
What it is : As initially demonstrated last year , Version 3 of Apple Mail features improved consolidation with information from throughout your Mac . There ’s a new feature article that lets you leave notes for yourself , as well as improved integration with iCal ’s To - Do particular . The fresh version will also offer up Stationery , templates for creating computer graphic - productive e - chain armor messages . And ther ’s new support for RSS , letting you read Web situation feed decent within chain armor .
To - do listing integration in Mail 3
What ’s change : Mail 3 seems substantially the same to what we catch a class ago . The program appears to have added more backing for intelligently detect sure case of information , such as addresses , and offering to do utilitarian things with them , such as tally those address to appropriate contacts in Address Book . Apple says that Mail 3 will also offer amend support for Spotlight , allow your postal service drift the right way to the top when you do a Spotlight search.—JASON SNELL
iCal
What it is : The young version of Apple ’s built - in calendaring program supply support for partake calendars that can be edited by multiple users . One of the keys to iCal ’s newfound social attainment : iCal Server , build into the Leopard variation of Mac OS X waiter .
What ’s transfer : The iCal interface has gotten a Leopard - style makeover , which mean it looks more like iTunes 7 now , pure with sidebar . you could now double - tap an case in iCal and cut all its details , not just the name of the event , via what Apple ring “ the newfangled Inline Inspector window . ” And you may attach documents to any result ’s “ drop box , ” attachment that are automatically mail when you send out invitations to that event . It ’s undecipherable just how many of iCal ’s new features will really only work if it ’s sequester to a CalDAV server like the one found in the Leopard version of Mac OS X Server.—JASON SNELL
Dashboard
What it is : Steve Jobs call in Dashboard “ a vast striking ” for Apple since its introduction with OS X 10.4 , and he ’s got the numbers to show it — there are more than 3,000 contrivance drift around out there that you may install on OS X ’s hidden layer , accessible with just the get-up-and-go of the F12 key .
Apple ’s Movie widget
The major changes to Leopard ’s adaptation of Dashboard were previewed last August . They admit Web Clip , in reality a button in Safari that lets you turn over Web page into thingummy , and Dashcode , a ontogenesis tool aspire at would - be widget manufacturing business . Dashboard will also include .Mac syncing , have it easier to transfer thingamabob from one Mac to another .
What ’s changed : Very little since las August . Jobs spend most of his WWDC 2007 keynote recap the Web Clip and Dashcode features . However , one new detail did come out of that presentation : Apple is tot a movie widget that return a listing of movies playing in local theater and their show time ; it also allows you to play trailers for current releases and come attractions.—BRIAN CHEN AND PHILIP MICHAELS
The “Complete Package”
What it is : Last August , Apple slapped this all inclusive name on a trio of applications — Photo Booth , Front Row , and Boot Camp — that it planned on admit with the finished version of OS X 10.5 . Those applications are n’t uncommitted to all current Mac users — Front words and Photo Booth only came bundled with newer ironware while Boot Camp is a beta that Intel - based Mac user had to download the software themselves . Starting with Leopard , however , they will be .
What ’s transfer : See below for detail on the three parts of the package.—PHILIP MICHAELS
Boot Camp
What it is : Introduced in April 2006 , Boot Camp lets Macs reboot and run Windows XP or Vista natively , complete with drivers . The Version 1.3 beta was late secrete , update drivers .
What ’s Changed : Jobs covered the Boot Camp play up in his keynote — namely , that Windows machine driver will be include with Leopard ’s installation discs , saving user the hassle of having to burn a CD of those number one wood or instal them individually .
But Apple may have inadvertently released another new Boot Camp feature on its Web site , before hastily taking it down . For a while , Apple’sBoot Camp Web sitetouted a unexampled item in the Apple computer menu , “ Restart in Windows , ” which puts your Mac into a “ safe sleep ” mode rather than shutting it down entirely before rebooting into Windows , along with a corresponding “ Restart in Mac OS X ” card detail in Windows . The oddment resultant role of such a potentiality : You still wo n’t be capable to draw Windows and Mac OS Adam simultaneously withoutParallels DesktoporVMWare Fusion , but you ’ll be able to swop back and off between the two Windows more easily — and without having to sit through a full shutdown and restart . We ’ll see if that now - removed hope of a new feature appear in the terminal version of Leopard , but it certainly sounds compelling.—JASON SNELL
Front Row
What it is : Introduced in October 2005 , Front Row provides a remote - control - driven interface to media on your Mac , including medicine , videos , and photos .
What ’s changed : Since Front Row ’s going , it ’s been superseded by the software package on the Apple TV .
Front Row ’s Apple TV - like interface
And it look as if that same Apple television computer software has been rolled back into Front Row . The image on Apple’smarketing pagefor Front Row make it come along that the Leopard version of Front Row will essentially be a Mac - establish adaptation of the same functionality retrieve on the Apple TV.—JASON SNELL
Photo Booth
What it is : introduce in October 2005 at the same meter as Front Row , Photo Booth is a small software that utilise an iSight camera to take quick photograph , include ones tricked out with lots of fun limited effects .
What ’s changed : Leopard bring more effect to the build - in snapshot editor . Users can take photograph and video from their iPhoto and iMovie libraries as well as the Malcolm stock picture taking that comes with Leopard and use those images as backdrops for Photo Booth picture ; the Leopard variant of iChat includes a standardised feature film . Photo Booth file will automatically appear in iPhoto on Mac OS X 10.5 ; currently , those images are house in the Photo Booth booklet within your Pictures leaflet A new burst effect permit user take four successive shots , deliver in a four - up , interactive layout that can be animated with a detent . And once Leopard arrives , Photo Booth will also be able to bewitch video in add-on to still shots.—PHILIP MICHAELS
Accessibility
What it is : Apple ’s putz for substance abuser with physical impairment get a major upgrade in Leopard . A raw text - to - speech engine features a spokesperson , Alex , that sounds far more lifelike than what Apple has offered antecedently . The VoiceOver filmdom - reading tool is also promote , and also supports Grade 2 contracted Braille machine .
What ’s change : The new NumPad Commander lease you transform your keypad into immediate access to commonly used VoiceOver bidding . VoiceOver also lets you arrange hot place over approachable window and notifies you of any change in those orbit . QuickTime features improved closed - captioning bread and butter . And all your accessibility preferences can sync to your other Macs via .Mac.—JASON SNELL
DVD Player
What it is : DVD Player is the OS hug drug app that handles DVD moving picture playback . It did n’t really get much press last twelvemonth when Leopard ’s feature were initially previewed , but Apple has for certain made up for that this time .
What ’s new : DVD Player has received a major feature film upgrade from its Tiger harbinger . A unexampled full - silver screen interface grant you promiscuous approach to playback controls , subtitles , and alternative audio racetrack , as well as effigy , color , and audio configurations .
DVD Player ’s full - screen prospect
An Auto Zoom button descale the pic to remove the calamitous bars ( letterbox ) from the prototype ( it does so , of class , by cut down width from the picture ) . A playback billet barroom — similar to what you see in QuickTime Player — have you quickly drag - curl forth or backward to any point in the movie . Use the newfangled image bar to economize bookmarker locations , images you ’d like to see again , and even full telecasting clip . Once saved , you ’ll be able-bodied to see the bookmarker , prototype , and TV magazine any time you play that DVD again.—ROB GRIFFITHS
Parental Controls
What it is : Mac OS X ’s characteristic that allows parents to bound the capability of specific accounts . For example , Parental Controls can be used to restrict Mail and iChat to especial contacts ; limit Safari browse to parent - provided bookmarks ; and restrict the exploiter ’s ability to change options , cut discs , and hide “ ripe ” row in the organisation - wide Dictionary .
What ’s change : Apple has n’t put out many details about Leopard ’s version of Parental Controls , but from what we can glean from publicly - available information , Parental Controls in Leopard gets its own pane in System Preferences ( rather than just a set of options in Accounts ) . Whereas Tiger ’s translation permit you restrain an account ’ Web browse to those sites manually entered by an administrator in Safari , Leopard add a new content filter that actually intercept Web pages and determines , on the fly , if each is “ desirable for kids , ” blocking those that are n’t . ( you could also practice the Tiger approach to manually add site that you want immobilise or allowed , bypassing the mental object filter for those URLs . )
Leopard also add prison term limits to Parental control : you may fix up specific meter during which a child is allowed to sign in and use the Mac — with dissimilar times on weekdays than on weekend — as well as how long a Controlled history can be used at any one time . Leopard can also lumber a Controlled invoice ’s action to keep track of people with whom your tike has e - mailed or chatted ; which practical app have been used ; and which Web website have been visited . you may even monitor a Controlled account from another Mac on your home web.—DAN FRAKES
