Apple Unveils Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Apple has unveiled the Mac OS X Snow Leopard, a refined version of the Mac OS X Leopard, and will ship as an upgrade in September 2009 for $29.
"We've built on the success of Leopard and created an even better experience for our users from installation to shutdown," said Bertrand Serlet, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering. "Apple engineers have made hundreds of improvements so with Snow Leopard your system is going to feel faster, more responsive and even more reliable than before."

To create Snow Leopard, Apple engineers refined 90 percent of the projects in Mac OS X - so users will now notice a more responsive Finder; Mail that loads messages 85 percent faster and conducts searches up to 90 percent faster; Time Machine with up to 50 percent faster initial backup; a Dock with Exposé integration; a 64-bit version of Safari 4 that boosts the performance of the Nitro JavaScript engine by up to 50 percent and is resistant to crashes caused by plug-ins.

Snow Leopard also includes an all new QuickTime X, with a redesigned player that allows users to easily view, record, trim and share video to YouTube, MobileMe or iTunes. It is half the size of the previous version and frees up to 6GB of drive space once installed.

System applications including Finder, Mail, iCal, iChat and Safari are 64-bit and Snow Leopard's support for 64-bit processors makes use of large amounts of RAM, increases performance, and improves securitywhile remaining compatible with 32-bit applications.

Snow Leopard builds support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 right into Mac OS X Mail, Address Book and iCal. Exchange information works seamlessly within Snow Leopard so users can take advantage of OS X only features such as fast Spotlight searches and Quick Look previews.

It features Apple's Multi-Touch trackpad integrated with the VoiceOver screen reader so users can hear and navigate different parts of a window or the desktop by moving a single finger around the trackpad as if it were the screen. Snow Leopard also introduces built-in support for wireless bluetooth braille displays and the connection of multiple braille displays simultaneously to one Mac.

Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard will be available as an upgrade to Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard in September 2009 through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

The Snow Leopard single user license will be available for a suggested retail price of $29 (US) and the Snow Leopard Family Pack, a single household, five-user license, will be available for a suggested price of $49 (US).

For Tiger users with an Intel-based Mac, the Mac Box Set includes Mac OS X Snow Leopard, iLife '09 and iWork '09 and will be available for a suggested price of $169 (US) and a Family Pack is available for a suggested price of $229 (US).

The Mac OS X Snow Leopard Up-To-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller between June 8, 2009 and the end of the program on December 26, 2009, for a product plus shipping and handling fee of $9.95 (US).

Users will have request their Up-To-Date upgrade within 90 days of purchase or by December 26, 2009, whichever comes first.

Sony Ericsson Launches PlayNow Arena

Sony Ericsson has further strengthened its commitment to providing entertainment experiences on the mobile hanset with the launch of PlayNow arena with movies, the latest addition to the content delivery platform.

“Consumers are increasingly looking for exciting content and premium entertainment experiences wherever they are. By adding a bundled movie proposition to PlayNow arena we continue to remove barriers for consumers to easily access entertainment through their mobile phone” said Martin Blomkvist, Head of Content Acquisition and Management at Sony Ericsson.

PlayNow arena with movies is a bundled movie service from Sony Ericsson, included out-of-the-box for select handsets, allowing consumers to watch up to 60 movies a year on their mobile phone. Optimized to give consumers the best possible viewing experience, users can choose from a selection of around 15 movies at any one time, with additional titles being added to the catalog each month. After ‘side loading’ feature length films onto your phone, you can watch them as often as you like for up to 90 days. Downloaded movies will be automatically formatted to match the performance of your phone. The specially formatted movies are not playable on any other device.

For more go to www.playnow-arena.com/movies

iPhone Third Generation coming soon!!!!!

Word of the new iPhone Third Generation, has been floating around for a long time now and we had mentioned that a possible due date could be July of this year i.e. two months from now. Reports are coming in now that a date has apparently been set (not yet confirmed though) that the next gen iPhone will make its debut on 17th July.

A few images are also making rounds showing off the new handsets latest rear panel material. From steel to glossy black and now apparently matt black is the new look. Other rumors are talking about the Apple logo being able to light up like the laptops. Stay Tuned for more on the new iPhone.

You can checkout the rumor here.