Here we sit, a week after the Leopard launch, exhausted. Like the machine at Ikea that opens and closes the drawers in the kitchen section over and over again to show how strong they are, I’ve pounded at Leopard with a vengeance, opening and closing stacks, trying features, and generally trying to break the thing. I ran Leopard on a 2.66 GHz dual-core Mac Pro with 3 GB of memory and a wonky old Powerbook G4 with 1 GB of memory and both machines ran installed and ran fine. I didn’t have the “blue-screen” error at all and both machines worked well, although I didn’t try Time Machine on the laptop. Let’s begin, shall we? → Read More
Apple has a hit on its hands and that’s always a good thing. With the release of Mac OS X Leopard this past Friday, over two million loyal Mac users flocked to stores or their computers to purchase a copy. AppleInsider notes that it took Apple six weeks to sell two millions copies of Mac OS X Tiger back in ’05. Says Sir Jobs on the surge of sales: “Early indications are that Leopard will be a huge hit with customers,” said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. “Leopard’s innovative features are getting great reviews and making more people than ever think about switching to the Mac.” Let’s say no one bought a copy for $40 at the UPenn computer store or used any kinds of discounts. In fact, let’s just say that two million people shelled out $129 for the single-user license version. That’s $258 million Apple has made back so far. Impressive? To say the least. Apple sells 2 million copies of Mac OS X Leopard in first weekend [AppleInsider] → Read More
Leopard hasn’t been out a week and already the Microsoft fanboys are starting to bash away. Take for instance, an article I found called “Why Leopard Isn’t Better Than Vista” written for eWeek and posted on Neowin. Now if the domain names aren’t biased enough, think about what this guy is saying. Vista is better than Leopard. That’s like saying your 1988 Hyundai is better than my 2004 Jaguar because you have AC and I have climate control. The article starts off with the following sentence: Apple’s newest operating system is at best an evolution from predecessor Tiger. It then launches into a rant regarding Cisco VPN, Apple Mail and a truckload of utter nonsense. The only valid point I’ll give this man is that Safari is seriously boinked and needs to be fixed immediately. If you Mac fans want to scream at your monitor, click ahead. If you Windows users want to have a good read and maybe get a little excited, well, click ahead. Why Leopard Isn’t Better than Vista [Microsoft Watch] → Read More
I’ve been using Apple’s new OS, Mac OS X Leopard since the 25th and I really am in love with it. Aside from the rendering issues surrounding Safari and Shiira (Flash animations won’t load) and problems with Stacks customization, I really don’t have much else to complain about. As I was stumbling around Apple’s website today, I came across a new function in Leopard that I have yet to read on the blog-circuit: Look Deeper. From the Finder or the menu bar, Spotlight in Leopard lets you search for more specific sets of things. Use Boolean logic to narrow search results by entering AND, OR, or NOT in a search request. Search for exact phrases using quotation marks, or search for items by dates or ranges using > and < symbols. And now you can even use Spotlight to perform simple calculations. Just enter numbers and operators, then hit Return. Very handy. You can use boolean logic in Spotlight now? That’s awesome stuff if you know how to use it right. For instance, say I’m looking for files pertaining to chicks and Ayn Rand. Just throw in an AND operator between your two strings and you’re good to go. You could also do something along the lines of “crunch OR gear” and find pictures of dudes with solid abs and the iPhone. Apple: Finder → Read More
Looks like the impossible — should I say Kim-possible — is possible. With the help of a patched DVD, you can now install Leopard on any PC, young or old, fancy or non-fancy. This means two things for Apple — they will sell more iPhones and copies of Leopard than they ever thought possible — and the world will soon see the might of a complete and fully operational Mac-Intel world. Hack Attack : Install Leopard on your PC in 3 easy steps! [DailyApps] → Read More
Right at the entrance as the doors first opened at 6 p.m. It was me and some AP photographer there. CrunchGear is hardcore. Hey gang. I just got back from the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue here in New York where I snapped a few photos of the launch. It was absolutely dreadful outside, with the rain and wind and cold nearly bringing me to tears. (I called John while covering the launch. He can corroborate my sadness.) I took around 100 photos, so here’s some of the best. I may throw them all on my Facebook tomorrow, so if you’re that excited to see them, I’ll update this post with the appropriate links. Whooo! → Read More
For the last half hour, East Coasters have been having their way with Leopard, meaning about 20% of the Macdorks along the Atlantic are currently installinating the hot new OS. As the world turns, each timezone will get its own chance as the 6:00PM launch time passes. Your truly will be heading down to the University Village Apple store to talk to total nerds Apple users to gauge their reactions to the new OS. Or at least its box, as it takes awhile to install. If you’re in the Seattle area and want to meet up, feel free. If you’re going to be there at 6:00 to join the fun and want to say hi, drop me a line at matt at crunchgear dot com and I’ll promise not to make fun of you, new friend! Also, upgraders are encouraged to tell us about their first impressions over at BFF, it’ll be interesting to see what works, what doesn’t, and what should. → Read More
So maybe everything isn’t totally rosy in Leopard world. Apple promised we’d be able to sync notes from our iPhones to Mail.app but it turns out this is impossible. The new Mail.app has a sort of “Note to self” feature which is actually an email generated to look and act like a little note. The notes appear in your mailbox as a mail message, provided you’re not using Mail.app, but appear as a separate entity in Mail. Anyway, you can’t import those into Mail.app. This makes Baby Jesus cry. Leopard backpedals again: No more iPhone note syncing [ArsTechnica] → Read More
I stuck in the Leopard disk this afternoon and set it to install itself. When I came back a few hours later, my desktop was ready and waiting for me. It was a completely unattended installation. Now that it’s on my machine, I’ll be putting it through its various paces but let me assure you — even you doubters out there — OS X is getting better with every iteration and there is absolutely no reason not to switch from Vista. [fanboy]As good as Vista is, OS X is better[/fanboy]. → Read More
http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/452319854 → Read More
Leopard has leaked. The Golden Master build of Mac OS X 10.5, better known as Leopard, can now be found online. It’s currently all over Usenet and at least one of the bigger BitTorrent trackers, with the accompanying NFO file reading “You know what this is….” Early reports are that it works perfectly. Apple did a fine job protecting this release. I remember back during the Tiger and Panther and Jaguar days the GM builds leaked several days before the release date. This time Apple cut the lead time to two days. At this point you might as well save yourself from being sued into oblivion and buy it Friday, if you plan on buying it at all. I’m thinking I’ll hold off until 10.5.1. Leopard [Apple] → Read More
Overlooked in all the interface and launch hype swirling around Leopard is the fact that it has integrated geotagging. If your camera or camera phone supports geotagging (like Helio’s Ocean), then you can easily map-out where your photos were taken on Google maps, and from there you can prove to your wife that you were at the corporate picnic and not a strip club. You’re not sure why Sue from Accounting gave you a lapdance, but it wasn’t your idea. For those of you new to the idea, geotagging is when your digital camera talks to your GPS receiver. You take a photo, and then the exact coordinates of where you took it are recorded in the photograph’s data. Then, using a program (like the one built into Leopard, see) you can map out your photos. Have fun with it, ok? Mac OS X 10.5 gets geotagging support [c|net] → Read More
Hey, Mac users, we know you’re all kinds of stoked to get your hands on Leopard in a few days. To save money, you can try Vince’s controversial “hack” (which may be is dishonest). Or, you could reserve your copy on Amazon today, which is selling the software for $20 less than pretty much anyone else, including direct from Apple. We’re not sure if it’s a sale or if it’s Amazon’s final price, but we don’t care. We’re reserving ours today, you should think about it as well. Oh, and shipping is free, you should get it on Friday. Leopard pre-order page [Amazon] → Read More
Leopard has gone gold, with Apple declaring Build 9A581, which has not been leaked on the Internet yet, the winner. As such, Cupertino today posted a cute little “What’s Leopard?” video on its Web site. There’s no real heavy lifting in the video, especially for those of us who have been following its development like we’re the paparazzi, but it’s still worth having on in the background as you whittle away the day’s remaining hours. Apple apparently refused to seed the Golden Master build (that’s the final code ready for mass duplication) to its developers in order to prevent unauthorized leaks. I wonder if Apple is implementing any sort of serial number for Leopard. I don’t remember inputting any on the previous OS X releases, but maybe Apple has changed its tune. I guess we’ll see next week. Leopard Guided Tour [Apple via Mac Rumors] → Read More
Did anyone else notice that the student version of Leopard costs $116? I seem to remember Tiger only costing $69 for college kids, kids who are notorious for spending the pennies they earn working at the campus library on beer and beer-related activities. As a student, I’d like to know what caused the price to shoot up by nearly 60 percent? I called up Apple a second ago, so hopefully they’ll get back to me before I hit the books again. And yes, of course I know there are other means of obtaining Leopard, that’s not the issue here. So to the kids out there, will the price increase affect your decision to buy the OS? I’m hesitant to buy it just because I don’t look forward to re-installing gigs of WoW data. Also, didn’t Tiger have a bunch of problems until 10.4.1 came out? Sometimes it pays to wait it out. Apple Store for Education [Apple] → Read More
Last night, I remembered something that you will no doubt thank me for later. When Mac OS X Tiger came out a few years ago, I was ready to buy it. I had my $130 in hand and was waiting in line. But as I approached the cash register, I ran into a coworker I knew and he told me that the University of Pennsylvania’s bookstore, which was right down the block, was selling copies to students for only $40.00. Being the cheapskate I am, I dropped the box I was holding and we headed out. Sure enough, upon arrival at the bookstore, OS X Tiger was only $40.00. Neither of us went to UPenn, so we grabbed some dorky kid walking past us and asked him to buy it for us. He did, my coworker and I split a copy and I get Mac OS X Tiger for $20. So, if you have a college bookstore near you, I suggest taking a peak in there. You may find incredible discounts when Leopard comes out, you may not. It’s up to you to seek out the hot deals near you! Apple Editor’s Note: It’s worth mentioning that it was only the UPenn bookstore that was offering the OS for $40. Everywhere else, it was regular academic price. This is no different than you getting a hookup from your buddy at Best Buy or any other retailer. If you had a friend at UPenn, were broke and could get OS X for $40, you’re telling me you wouldn’t ask him/her to pick up a copy for you? Puh-lease. → Read More
The Apple store went down this morning and the world held its breath as we waited for Apple to spill the details. As expected, Leopard has gone gold and you can now pre-order it for an October 26th release date. $129 for a single-user, $199 for the 5-person family pack and $0.00 for those of us with BitTorrent, Usenet and DVD burners. Oh, and if you’re still rockin’ a G3, time to upgrade as you’re not supported anymore. Apple → Read More
October has arrived, so where is Leopard? Rumblings inside Apple indicate that the company will make several big announcements between October 22 and 27. Even better, word on the street is that Apple will release Leopard on October 26. Mark your calendars. Even though Leopard hasn’t gone gold yet, all but one of the bugs have been worked out. Don’t worry, I’ll be cruising Usenet from here on out, checking the various groups for any leaks. Apple announcements brewing for late October [updated] [AppleInsider] → Read More
I tried using Boot Camp on my MacBook once and didn’t like it, but that’s probably because I was running on 512MB of RAM, which barely ran OS X as is. Yeah, anyways, Mac users running Boot Camp beta 1.4 should heed Apple’s warning that the license will expire when Leopard becomes available this month. Boot Camp Beta 1.2 users should also know that the license for the previous build expired yesterday. Just in case you were wondering. Apple → Read More
Folks have been complaining about the visual clutter of the upcoming Leopard dock and one man has decided to do something about it. The dock, as it stands now, offers two odd reflections and some perspective issues, knocking the elegance of OS X icons into the gutter and confusing art nerds everywhere. ThinkMac is proposing the dock above, which is resizable, separates document short-cuts, and avoids all the bouncy bouncy reflecty reflecty stuff for which Leopard will soon be famous. Here’s hoping. Hint: How to redesign the Leopard dock so it sucks less [ThinkMac] → Read More
