Apple's Coming Attraction (with a brief side of "The Sopranos")

ariil/YouTube/HBO

Never play Monopoly when you're drunk.
A scene from the sixth season premiere of The Sopranos. The series finale aired last night, and from what I've heard and read thus far, not many liked the ending (Tony and his biological family eating at a diner, as bad guys waited outside...use your imagination on that one...).

I'll talk a bit more on The Sopranos series finale in The Trash Bash (the sister blog to this one) a bit later.

But rigfht now, let's talk things Apple.

As I write this, Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, is giving the keynote address at the 2007 Worldwide Developers Conference, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. I'm writing this as Jobs speaks, so it may take a bit of time to get everything here. Thus far, Jobs has touted the features of the forthcoming Mac OS X Leopard (v.10.5). On Leopard, a new desktop replaces the default blue pattern. The new pattern will feature one that shows grass with dew. Plus a new menu bar adapts to what you put on the backdrop. The desktop on Leopard is translucent, and the dock, likewise.

Stacks is a new feature that lets you group icons within the dock. You click and a collection of icons pop up from a single folder.. This new feature mimics popular third party add-ons, but with more pizazz, with glass reflective surfaces and vertical arrangements.

Finder gets an extensive upgrade. Spotlight will be capable of being used to search other Macs and servers on the network. A new Sidebar has been cleaned up, with devices, shared items, places, and such in groups.

If you subscribe to .Mac, a new feature called Back to my Mac lets you share computers and files, even if they're not on the local network. Finder also features Cover Flow, adapted from iTunes, which enables you to view Viewer windows the same way you view iTunes cover art.

Quick Look lets you view instant preview files without opening applications.

According to Jobs, Leopard is 64-bit from the bottom up. This is the first time that 64-bit will be mainstream in the computer world.

Before I hit the 'Refresh' button, it must be noted that in August, Electronic Arts- the gaming folks that bring you the Tiger Woods and John Madden sports series, and other games such as Command; and Conquer 3 for gaming systems- the Nintendo Wii; Microsoft XBox 360, among others- and the Windows PCs, will bring Command; Conquer 3; Battlefield 2142;
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will come to the Mac. Furthermore, in August, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08, and Madden 08, will be on the Mac as well.

Moving back to Leopard, Boot Camp, which will be standard on Leopard, lets you run Windows XP and Windows Vista applications at native speed. Users will no longer need to burn a CD of Windows drivers or install any Windows drivers separately.

Spaces, the virtual desktop technology introduced last year helps users organize their work life.

Dashboard gets upgrades as well. Since its' introduction in Tiger, more than 3000 widgets (mini-applications) have been created. A new feature in Dashboard called WebClips will enable users to "make a widget about almost anything on the Internet."

iChat gets an overhaul, with better audio quality, with the addition of AAC-LD, or AAC Low Delay Audio. Tabbed chats have been added, along with iChat Theater, which enables users who are videoconferenced to display slide shows and other rich media with each other. Backdrops add flair to your background while conferenced.

Time Machine, introduced last year, is Leopard's automated backup technology. Never again lose a file.

Leopard will be sold for $129- for the basic; business; Premium; and Ultimate versions. (Jobs had to throw in that jab at that Goliath based in a certain Seattle, Washington suburb). Come October, it'll be in these hands.

Safari, the Internet browser that has been Mac-only, will be used on Windows XP and Windows Vista. With Safari 3, and the inclusion of Windows, Apple hopes to "increase Safari's market share dramatically."

The Safari 3 beta will be released today for both Mac and Windows.

The iPhone will be released on June 29, as scheduled. You know all about that, so I won't go into any more explanation.

I was hoping that Apple would release some new hardware, but never came into fruition. That, of course, will not keep me from getting new Mac hardware and software. What with the just updated MacBook and MacBook Pro lines out on shelves now, they're more than sufficient.

Watch portions of the WWDC Keynote address by just clicking here at http://news.com.com/1606-2-6190030.html (Courtesy of CNet)

Copyright 2007, by Darren W. Alexander. All Rights Reserved. Special thanks to Macworld.com for the live feed of the 2007 WWDC keynote address.