MacRumors

BabyGotMac posted some screenshots from the latest build of Leopard (9A343).

- 5 new screensavers using Core Animation: Arabesque, Retro, Security, Spectrum, and Word of the Day. (Site down)
- Terminal with Tabs. (Site down)
- Parental Controls. (Site down)

Leopard is expected in "Spring" 2007. A recent Page 2 Rumor suggests a Feb 20th Apple event, but this has not been confirmed.
Update: Site appears to have gone down, some thumbnails available in comment thread.
Update 2: The images have been mirrored here.

Apple issued a security update for Mac OS X today. The update specifically addresses a possible security flaw in Quicktime:

Impact: Visiting malicious websites may lead to arbitrary code execution

Description: A buffer overflow exists in QuickTime's handling of RTSP URLs. By enticing a user to access a maliciously-crafted RTSP URL, an attacker can trigger the buffer overflow, which may lead to arbitrary code execution.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304989

A proof of concept exploiting this bug was published at the Month of Apple Bugs site.

Infoworld reports that the IEEE 802.11n working group has approved draft version 1.10 of the high-performance wireless networking specification. The draft specification will strive to play better with legacy 2.4 GHz devices, but minimize the impact on existing draft-802.11n compliant equipment including Apple's recently updated Airport Extreme and Macs that include 802.11n capable networking cards.

Manufacturers like Atheros, Intel, and Apple and their customers will be happy to hear that version 1.10 is compatible with the pre-802.11n products they have already created.

"It will only require a minor firmware upgrade for complete compatibility," said [Bill McFarland, a member of the working group just back from the London meeting where version 1.10 was approved].

The version will be released to the full 802.11n committee by the end of the month as draft version 2.0, although at least one more draft is expected before final approval (expected in October 2008).

According to a report from Bloomberg, Steve Jobs was questioned by the SEC last week regarding the ongoing stock options backdating investigation.

The meeting, which took place the same week Apple announced record sales of its best-selling iPod music player, shows the U.S. government is still seeking information about Jobs's role in the backdating even after the company's report clearing him and others, said Nell Minow, editor at the Corporate Library, a corporate governance research firm in Portland, Maine.

"It is after all the SEC's view on his culpability that matters, not the internal investigation at Apple," Minow said.

An independent investigation by Apple cleared current management from wrongdoing, but had found serious concerns regarding the actions of two former officers (later identified as former CFO Fred Anderson and former general counsel Nancy Heinen).

Nevertheless, Jobs has reportedly hired independent counsel beyond Apple's lawyers to deal with his involvement in the matter. Apple's board has previously expressed confidence in Jobs.

Brian Peat of Keynoteuser spent some time closely following Steve Jobs' version of the Apple Keynote presentation software during his Macworld Expo Keynote speech and provides a detailed breakdown of possible new features for the next version of Keynote. Interesting potential features include:

- New transitions, possibly Core Animation dependent:

Seeing the new animation makes us think we might have to wait until Leopard ships (remember its got Core Animation) before we see a new version of Keynote.

- Path animation? Several examples of possible Path animation.

This has not been the first time that there have been suggestions that Apple's Keynote and iWork '07 applications may be dependent on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and specifically Core Animation.

Apple first announced Core Animation when they previewed Leopard at WWDC 2006:

Using Core Animation, Mac developers can create snazzy animations in their programs using different media types, such as text, 2D graphics, OpenGL renderings, and video, simultaneously. Core Animation dynamically renders these media layers together, complete with transparency effects and Core Image filter and effects. When content changes, Core Animation updates it, automatically.

Core Animation is also used on the Apple iPhone and has been rumored to be utilized in Apple's upcoming Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Finder, which has not yet been revealed. Indeed, Steve Jobs claimed to be holding back several "Top Secret" features of Leopard when it was first previewed at WWDC 2006. Several developers have noted that Apple's Finder has been untouched in all of the public previews of Mac OS X Leopard, suggesting a more substantial refresh will be announced later.

CNN profiles the growing Mac virtualization market that allows Mac users to run Windows (and other Intel operating systems) on their Macs.

An interesting side effect of this virtualization software is that it suddenly has also become easier for PC users to run Mac OS X on their PCs

VMware's CEO Diane Greene told me last week that her company's existing x86 desktop product is already being used by some to run Mac OS on computers from Dell, Hewlett-Packard and others, though this is not intentional on VMware's part.

Parallels will reportedly be upgrading its software further "in a way that by coincidence will make it easier to run Mac OS on a non-Apple computer." It appears that both VMWare and Parallels have been "crippled" to satisfy demands from Apple that users not be encouraged to install Mac OS X on PCs. VMware's CEO says their initial shipment delay has been, in part, due to Apple's demands:

"We were trying to do it the way they wanted to, but in hindsight we should have just gone ahead, I wonder what Steve Jobs is going to do, because there is so much pressure to run Mac OS on non-Macs. There's no technical reason not to do it. He's so proprietary about everything, yet it could be a very strategic move for him to make"

Update: Apparently, Parallels is planning to provide Mac OS X virtualization on Macs, so that users can run additional versions of Mac OS X in a window. The side-effect to this feature would make it easier to run Mac OS X in a similar virtualization environment on non-Apple PCs. Details

PCMag's Cade Metz was given the opportunity to play with the Apple iPhone for 10 minutes at Macworld San Francisco.

He provides his impressions from his brief time with the device.

A day after Steve Jobs unveiled the Apple iPhone during his MacWorld keynote on Tuesday morning, I actually got my hands on one. For all of ten minutes. Ten minutes isn't much, but I can safely say that the iPhone is even more impressive than it appeared during the Jobs keyote. And that's saying something.

Metz remarked at the ease of use of the Multitouch interface, but during his brief exposure, found the touch-keyboard typing awkward.

The technology surrounding the Apple's Multitouch technology remains a great source of speculation. DelawareOnline delves into some of the history behind Apple's acquisition of Fingerworks and spoke with Wayne Westerman (founder of Fingerworks). While Westerman declined to comment about a relationship between Apple and Fingerworks due to confidentiality agreements, he did offer this tidbit:

"The one difference that's actually quite significant is the iPhone is a display with the multi-touch, and the FingerWorks was just an opaque surface. That's all I'm going to say there. There's definite similarities, but Apple's definitely taken it another step by having it on a display."

Meanwhile, Jeff Han, a researcher at NYU, has received a lot of attention due to his popular Multi Touch demo video. Despite ongoing speculation and comments that Han had been somehow connected to Apple's iPhone, Han's research appears to be entirely independent. A Guardian.co.uk article quotes Han:

"The iPhone is absolutely gorgeous, and I've always said, if there ever were a company to bring this kind of technology to the consumer market, it's Apple."

Indeed, Han has started his own company (Perceptive Pixel) to market Multitouch technology. NYDailyNews reports the company will start installing big versions of his screen for "film studios and other operations where people can use them as high-tech blackboards to brainstorm on projects".

The article also reveals that Han will be buying an iPhone "as soon as it goes on sale in June."

An IlSole24ore.com interview with Intel executive Dario Bucci reveals that the processor in the Apple iPhone will be based on the XScale architechture. Translation from DaringFireball.net:

The chips in the new Apple iPhone are made by Intel?
No, theyre Marvells. We sold our Xscale architecture to this company. However Apple is one of our best customers for flash memories and our NANDs are featured in the new handheld.

XScale is an implementation of the ARM architecture originally designed by Intel. Intel's PXA family of XScale processors, aimed at mobile phone applications, was sold to Marvell in June 2006. When the iPhone was first released, there had been speculative claims that Samsung's ARM chip would be used but this had never been verified. If Bucci's comments are accurate, then it appears that Marvell will be supplying the CPUs for the iPhone.

Marvell currently lists 3 families of mobile application processors on their website: PXA3xx, PXA 27x, and PXA255.

Marvell applications processors deliver advanced integration, leading multimedia performance, and superior power savings for cellular phone, PDA, handheld consumer, and embedded markets. Based on the Intel XScale technology and featuring integrated memory, Marvells applications processors are ideal solutions for low-power, space-sensitive devices. Marvell silicon provides the headroom for advanced applications within a range of power specifications, so manufacturers can differentiate their offerings now and into the future. From streaming video to mixing MP3s, the Marvell suite of applications processors delivers advanced multimedia performance with enhanced battery life to feature-hungry technology consumers on the go.

The 2006 sale of the technology to Marvell would explain an early denial by Intel that it is producing the processor for the iPhone.

Appleinsider provides confirmation for a rumor that first appeared on Digitimes (Page 2) earlier this month. According to Appleinsider, the newest MacBook Pros will transition away from "cold cathode fluorescent backlights (CCFLs) and towards LED backlights."

The rumor site targets the 15" MacBook Pro as the likely recipient of the LED screen in the "second quarter" of this year, but it is unclear when the 17" Pros and 13" MacBooks will also beneift from the upgrades.

LED-lit displays offer some notable improvements over the traditional CCFLs backlit displays, including:

- improved battery life (uses less power)
- maintain brightness longer over current screens
- more vivid colors

MacScoop claims to have uncovered a report that indicates Apple may offer the final version of its popular Boot Camp software for users of Mac OS 10.4 "Tiger" for $29.99 upon its release when Leopard ships.

Boot Camp, currently in public beta, allows Intel Mac owners to boot their machine into Microsoft Windows XP. The terms of the public beta expire upon the next release of the software or September 30, 2007, whichever comes first.

If true, the move would be reminiscent of Apple deciding to offer iChat AV for Mac OS 10.2 Jaguar users for a $29.99 upgrade fee after a public beta, whereas users upgrading to Mac OS 10.3 Panther received the software included in the OS. Boot Camp will be included with Mac OS 10.5 Leopard.

A reader of AppleInsider has unleashed pictures of an unreleased prototype of Apple's Xserve RAID. While externally the new prototype looks much the same as the existing model, the prototype was configued with SATA drives (rather than the current Xserve RAID's UltraATA bus), and had 6 Fibre Channel ports (up from the current version's 2).

While the admin software (listed at version "2.0d32 dev/A3.10", up from 1.5 in the current model) was mostly disabled, AppleInsider muses that the additional ports may be for more flexible drive access.

On the currently shipping Xserve RAID, when one Xserve is connected to both ports it has access to all 14 drives. When two Xserves are connected (one to each port), both have access to 7 of the drives. It's likely that newer RAID Admin software will allow arbitrary assignment of drives to any of six connected Xserves. It is also possible that these newer Xserves RAIDs have an integrated 6-port fibre channel switch. This won't be known until an actual release of the hardware when new firmware and admin software is available.

According to published reports on the internet, Apple has seeded a new release of Leopard (Seed 9A343) to developers tonight. The last version of Leopard (3A321) was seeded December 13th, 2006.

Apple actually has itemized a few of changes to Leopard from the last seed, including:

- HIToolbox provides new HIRect/Point/Shape-based Window Manager API for resolution independence compatibility
- Tab support in Terminal
- Terminal now lets you save a multi-window configurations through workspaces which are available through the "Terminal" menu.
- QuickLook APIs have been updated

According to Apple, Leopard is coming "spring 2007".

Apple spokesperson Lynn Fox has confirmed to News.com that Apple will be charging an upgrade fee in the amount of $1.99 for Core 2 Duo iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, and Mac Pro users who have 802.11n capable chipsets. Users who purchase an Airport Extreme base station will not have to pay for the upgrade.

An Apple service document obtained by MacRumors had previously indicated that the fee would be $4.99, however Apple may have decided to cut the cost in reaction to strong negative reaction to the fee.

Apple said it is required under generally accepted accounting principles to charge customers for the software upgrade. "The nominal distribution fee for the 802.11n software is required in order for Apple to comply with generally accepted accounting principles for revenue recognition, which generally require that we charge for significant feature enhancements, such as 802.11n, when added to previously purchased products," Fox said in a statement.

The explanation for the fee is reminiscent of an explanation previously given to iLounge. However, the explanation does not fit well with many of Apple's previous practices. For example, in May Apple updated iWeb to version 1.1 which added a host of commonly-requested features at no charge.

Chicago Times columnist Andy Ihnatko reports on his 45 minutes of hands on time with the Apple iPhone following its announcement at Macworld. He offers some interesting observations based on his experience with the iPhone. Here is a brief summary:

- The touch-interface works flawlessly. "This is the simplest phone ever."
- "After 30 seconds, I was already typing faster with the iPhone than I ever have with any other phone."
- OS is based on Leopard.
- iPhone Widgets are not the same as Dashboard widgets.

The full article offers more details, but overall Ihnatko was very impressed with the device.

Appleinsider posts a description alongside artist renditions of upcoming changes to Leopard's DVD Player (5.0) software.

Improvements range from fullscreen chapter navigation with chapter thumbnails, a time bar for visual scrubbing, satin platinum highlights, equilizer and other preferences.

No word on any additional HD-DVD or Blu Ray support have been noted.
Update: The most recent Leopard DVD Player apparently does include the following references to both HD-DVD and BluRay in the settings file:
"sd dvd folder" = "VIDEO_TS";
"hd dvd folder" = "HVDVD_TS";
"blu ray folder" = "BDMV";