9 things you'll love about Snow Leopard

Steve Jobs first announced Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) was in development at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in 2008. It was a chance for Apple to take stock of where it was with OS X. There would be no major innovations, but plenty of refinements: it would install quicker, take up less disk space, and the user experience would be improved through Apple's attention to detail.

Fast forward to WWDC 2009, and the version of Snow Leopard being prepared has everything Apple promised, and more. Refinement rather than revolution, then, is the watchword for Snow Leopard. We've picked out our top nine of those elegant tweaks and finesses – plus a few more for good measure – to show you what Apple's latest big cat has to offer.

1. Improved Finder

So many of the improvements in Snow Leopard are under the skin, but because they affect the parts of the operating system we use most, we'll experience real, long-term benefits when we use them. Take Finder, for instance.

We use the Finder every time we use our Mac, so doesn't it make sense to rewrite its underlying code to optimise it for the latest technologies, such as 64-bit processing? Well, that's exactly what Apple has done with Snow Leopard.

In a direct comparison with Leopard, Snow Leopard's Finder does seem a little more eager to respond; it's only a matter of milliseconds to be sure, but an improvement nonetheless.

Improvements have also been made when it comes to ejecting external drives and optical discs. For instance, if you inadvertently leave a file from one of your disks open, you no longer see the cryptic error message that says: "The disk...is in use by another application". In Snow Leopard, Finder actually tells you what application it is, and advises you to quit it.

2. Smarter QuickTime X

Like Finder, QuickTime in Snow Leopard has been optimised to take full advantage of 64-bit.

In addition, it now uses the capabilities of the Nvidia GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor (found in such Macs as the MacBook, MacBook Pro and Mac mini) to decode videos compressed using the H.264 standard.

This in turn frees up the main processor in your Mac for other tasks. As of Snow Leopard, QuickTime Player also reaches version X. Not only does it launch quicker than before (Apple claims up to 2.8 times faster), but it looks different – very different.

Gone is the brushed aluminium skin, and in comes a slick, minimalist interface with media controls (play, pause, fast forward, and so on) that fade out of view when you don't need them. And that's not all: need to make a training video for your colleagues on a hot new application? No problem: choose File > New Screen Recording and do it!

You can even perform basic video editing using the Trim feature (in the Edit menu), and upload your video directly to iTunes, your MobileMe Gallery or YouTube.

3. Polished Preview

We've said before that Preview is the hidden gem of Mac OS X. Starting out as a humble image viewer, its feature set now goes way beyond showing previews of printed pages. For instance, have you ever tried to copy and paste text from a PDF into a word processor and found that the PDF's formatting gave you more work than if you'd just retyped the whole thing?

Well, no more: Apple has added a little bit of artificial intelligence to recognise that, say, the text in your PDF is arranged in columns. It enables you to select what you need.

What if you want to annotate your PDF before you send it to your colleagues? No problem: click Annotate in Preview's toolbar, and a comprehensive set of annotation tools appears along the bottom of the application window, enabling you to add callout arrows, text boxes and highlights to make your point.

Open multiple PDFs and you can view them all in a single window (like a contact sheet in Photoshop), allowing for a quick comparison. And it doesn't stop there: you can now scan images directly into Preview, adding yet another tool to what's already a Swiss Army Knife of an app.

4. Refined Address Book and iCal

For another example of the 'refinement rather than revolution' policy adopted by Apple for Snow Leopard, look no further than Address Book. The Sharing and LDAP options in Preferences are now combined into a single Accounts pane, which now allows you to set up syncing with Google as well as Yahoo and MobileMe.

For Google Contacts users, this is a welcome recognition by Apple that there are online contact managers other then MobileMe; though, of course, this option has previously been available to iPhone users. We set up syncing with MobileMe and (separately) with Google, and found the syncing experience pretty seamless.

All you need to do is enter your email address and password, and everything is done for you. There was a bit of a glitch when we tried syncing with Google, which left our contacts without an email address listed in Address Book as No Name, but other than that we were impressed.

The big news when it comes to syncing, however, is Snow Leopard's built-in support for Microsoft's Exchange Server 2007.

5. Better screen grabbing

Whether you're emailing a technical support helpdesk or helping out a Mac newbie it's great to be able to take a few shots of your Mac's screen by simply hitting Cmd + Shift + 3. But how often have you looked forlornly for that one grab that makes your point succinctly, only to find it mingling with others labelled Picture...?

No more: Snow Leopard labels your grabs with the date and time they were taken, making it much simpler to find the one you want. While we're on the subject of refinements, we'd have liked to have seen an option here to change the default target folder for screenshots. Saving multiple grabs to the Desktop makes for a lot of clutter, unless you move each one in turn as you take them.

Luckily, there are applications such as the free TinkerTool that lets you make this change. The equivalent Terminal command also still works in Snow Leopard. And don't forget, you needn't stop at still images: with QuickTime X you can record all the activities taking place on your screen and edit them into a training video.

6. More refined Stacks options

The changes made to Stacks are a prime example of Apple's strategy of refinement rather than revolution for Snow Leopard. Stacks is the feature – introduced as one of the '200 innovations' in Leopard – that enables you to click on a folder in the Dock and see your files expand, fan-like, so that you can pick out the one you need. Which is great, unless you have a large number of files to choose from.

Even if you choose to have your Stack open as a grid or a list (which you can do by clicking and holding on the Stack icon, then choosing the appropriate option), you might still see a message that there are more files to view in Finder. Open that same Stack in Snow Leopard and you'll see that things are different: by the simple addition of a scrollbar to the open Stack, Apple has made the feature much more useable.

And the refinements don't stop there: if there's a folder nested inside your main Stack, it will also open as a Stack rather than switching to a Finder window. And you'll find a handy back arrow in the top-left corner of your open Stack so that you can easily find your way back where you came from.

7. Exposé is now in the Dock

Exposé allows you to view all the open windows in the current application, or across the whole system, with a single keystroke. All those keystrokes, however, can be time-consuming if you need to switch to a different application before using Exposé on the new app's open windows.

What if you know which application you need to switch to? Wouldn't it be great to switch applications and use Exposé at the same time? Well, now you can. With Exposé now, simply click and hold an app's icon in the Dock and all open windows in that application will separate, enabling you to switch windows. And press Tab while Exposé is active in order to move to the next application in the Dock and activate Exposé on that.Application windows are spring-loaded, so you can drag and drop items between them.

8. Access all areas

More often than not, Macs have been the choice of those who need assistance with their hearing or vision, and Snow Leopard builds on that history with a powerful set of enhanced features. VoiceOver is Mac OS X's built-in screen reader, speaking text and commands for partially sighted users. This now has a better startup tutorial with practical examples.

VoiceOver now allows you to fine-tune the speaking voice's settings, including speed, pitch and intonation. Also for partially sighted users, Snow Leopard introduces a feature called Braille mirroring. This enables multiple USB Braille displays to be connected to one computer simultaneously. This is a highly practical for classroom settings, where different students are likely to have different makes and models of Braille display.

Snow Leopard includes the drivers for more than 40 different models of Braille reader, including Bluetooth displays. More new accessibility features include Quick Nav. This uses arrow key combinations to move the VoiceOver cursor so you can control a Mac using one hand. Move up, down, left, and right by pressing the arrow keys individually, or press the up and down arrows together to press a button or click a web link.

9. New System Preferences tools

Again, there are lots of thoughtful little touches in Snow Leopard's System Preferences, though no huge surprises. One really nice touch is the inclusion of new mapping technologies in the Time Zone option of the Date & Time preference pane. This uses Core Location technology, that makes use of Wi-Fi hotspots to set your time zone automatically – perfect for the forgetful globetrotter.

In Security > General, if you've set up a password to wake your Mac from Sleep mode, you can now set a time delay of between five seconds and four hours before you need to enter your password. The International pane in System Preferences is also gone now, replaced by Language & Text. This is, admittedly, almost the same as Leopard's International, but with the addition of a Text pane.

This is similar to the useful AutoCorrect feature that's in Microsoft Word, enabling you to set up custom shortcuts for your most commonly used words and phrases for use in applications such as Mail, TextEdit and iChat. In order to set this feature up in the relevant application, however, you'll first need to go to Edit > Substitutions > Text Replacement.

Oh yes, and just for good measure, you can now shuffle through a selection of your favourite screensaver pictures by choosing the Screen Saver option in the Desktop & Screen Saver pane.

Google accused over Android Skype app block

Hits back, saying no one has made a proper VoIP app yet anyway

We've already documented the predictable battle between Apple and Google over the bar on getting a Google Voice application onto the iPhone, so it's with no small sense of interest that we discover Google accused of hypocrisy on its own Android platform.

According to a USA Today story, Google tried to block Skype - like Google Voice, a way to avoid expensive carrier fees for phone calls - from its Android Market earlier this year.

Dodgy dealing?

Instead of the full Skype application, owners of Android phones instead got Skype Lite, which sends calls not over Skype's potentially free VoIP network, but across the regular phone network at a cost.

The trickiness lies in how that came about - USA Today suggests it's due to some underhanded deal between Google and US Android carrier, T-Mobile. If it were true, it might make it look at least a little foolish in its tussle with Apple over Google Voice on the iPhone.

Clear and simple

However, Google has hit back to deny any suggestions of impropriety. Writing on the Public Policy Blog, Google VP Andy Rubin explained his side of the argument:

"Here are the facts, clear and simple: While the first generation of our Android software did not support full-featured VoIP applications due to technology limitations, we have worked through those limitations in subsequent versions of Android, and developers are now able to build and upload VoIP services."

No VoIP anyway

He goes on to brand USA Today as plain "wrong" and to add that, "at this point no software developer - including Skype - has implemented a complete VoIP application for Android."

So, in other words Google is all for users installing proper VoIP applications on Android and making free or cheap phone calls, but there's actually no way to do so anyway, so it doesn't really matter. Yet.

Twitter tells airlines people are not cattle

Social networking used to give voice to customer complaints

Next time you have an unsatisfactory customer-service experience, instead of complaining to the company concerned, it might be beneficial to let it all out on Twitter.

That's the line of action being encouraged by consumer-rights groups fed up with some pretty shoddy treatment from big businesses.

Let it all out

Chief among the examples cited by Reuters this week is the approach taken to the notorious US airline industry by groups like FlyersRights.org.

While posting messages about bad experiences that read like elementary school graffiti - "Screw american airlines. Every plane has Been broken. Gah. So done", for example - may not seem useful, public venting does seem to be working.

Left to stew

FlyersRights founder Kate Hanni is meticulously documenting and tweeting reports of airlines abusing their hold over passengers in such matters as bumping them off flights and keeping entire plane-loads waiting on the runway overnight.

She explains: "It creates an awareness for people that these things are happening all the time. When I hear about a stranding event where someone is stranded right then, I tweet it."

So, it is useful...

On the back of such negative publicity, FlyersRights is pushing for US legislation to protect airline passengers from abuse. If successful, perhaps naysayers will then stop deriding Twitter as just another internet fad.

Via Reuters

11 ways Apple can kill Spotify on iPhone

It could be the iPhone's killer app. Here's how to kill it

Everybody loves Spotify, and its impressive iPhone app is currently sitting on an Apple desk waiting to be rubber-stamped or rejected.

So what can Apple do to kill it? Could iTunes on the iPhone/iPod be better, and are there any Spotify tricks Apple should nick? Here are eleven ways Apple can beat the European upstart.

1. Start offering an iTunes subscription service

You know it, we know it, Steve Jobs knows it: the musical wind is changing, and in the not too distant future the idea of paying to own music will seem as quaint as having a giant handlebar moustache and travelling by Penny Farthing.

Apple's interested in hardware, not software, and a subscription service won't harm iPod or iPhone sales. Quite the opposite: we can easily imagine The Kids going crazy for an iPhone 3GS with an unlimited music subscription built into the monthly data plan.

2. Add wireless syncing to iTunes

Spotify's Wi-Fi synchronisation is very nifty, and it's something we've wanted to see the iPhone do since day one. And no, MobileMe doesn't count. Apple got rid of the dock ages ago. Surely it's time to get rid of the USB cable, too?

SYNCING FEELING: Syncing via Wi-Fi is an excellent idea, and we can't think of any reason why iTunes shouldn't do it

3. Stream everything in iTunes

Spotify's playlist is big, but at 6 million-odd tracks it's nowhere near as comprehensive as iTunes' selection of over ten million songs - and Spotify might not have permission to stream all of that catalogue, either: earlier this week, Spotify had to remove Bob Dylan's stuff until such time that it can prove it has the rights to stream his music.

4. Cache content

What makes Spotify on the iPhone so desirable is its caching: you can download playlists to your phone and cache all the songs, enabling you to play them back even when your iPhone's in airplane mode. A subscription version of iTunes could and should do the same.

5. Make offline available online

For those of us in places where 3G coverage ranges from patchy to completely non-existent, such as "pretty much anywhere that isn't a city", it'd be extremely handy to have an offline mode that works independently of our phones' cellular radios.

6. Tell the networks to get stuffed

Some iPhone apps are crippled for no other reason than phone operators don't like them - so for example Skype is Wi-Fi only. A streaming iTunes needs 3G connectivity to be worthwhile, and as Spotify's demonstrated you can deliver 3G streaming with excellent sound quality.

7. Go social

Unlike Spotify, iTunes is a one-person system. The iPhone's support for peer to peer networking makes Spotify-style playlist sharing perfectly possible, and of course in MobileMe Apple already has a solid data sharing system that iTunes could plug into.

8. Offer it to Americans

Spotify isn't available in the US yet, and that's an awfully big market. If Apple beats Spotify to the US, Spotify's going to have a hard time fighting back - assuming, that is, that record labels are willing to play ball. US labels aren't entirely happy about Apple's market dominance; will they really want to make Apple even more powerful?

9. Don't let anyone multitask

The iPhone OS won't let third-party applications multitask, and while that's attracted criticism it does mean Spotify is damaged, possibly fatally. The iPod app keeps playing when you do other things with your iPhone. The Spotify app can't.

APPLE ONLY: Here's something only Apple applications can do: keep on going when you're doing something else

10. Hang on a bit

Despite the hype, Spotify is losing massive amounts of money. As long as its investors are happy it'll keep going, but sooner or later they're going to expect to see a return on their investment. The internet is littered with the corpses of sites and services that simply ran out of money, and Spotify could turn out to be one of them.

11. Keep Spotify locked in the App Store approval dungeon, refusing to let anybody know whether it's going to be approved or not, thereby making other developers think twice about attempting to create anything vaguely musical for the iPod and iPhone - and keep on doing it until everyone at Spotify hurls themselves off a bridge in despair.

Apple wouldn't do that… would it?

Motorola starting 4G phone trials next year

Working with Japan's number-two wireless operator

Motorola is ready to start work on 4G networks and hardware

Motorola announced this week that it is working with a major mobile phone network operator to begin trials of LTE, or 4G, technology by the middle of next week.

The US giant is working with long-time Japan partner KDDI on a Long-Term Evolution deployment to begin testing next year with a view to a commercial rollout in 2012.

Nokia ahead of the game

Motorola's 4G scheming follows soon after hardware competitors Nokia and Ericsson announced they will start work on LTE development in the US with Verizon Wireless.

The Japanese 4G work will rely heavily on methods and hardware developed at its LTE laboratory in Swindon that opened in February this year.

Google rivals oppose book project

Microsoft, Yahoo! and Amazon have joined forces to challenge Google's efforts to create a vast virtual library.

The technology giants have signed up to the Open Book Alliance, a division of the Internet Archive organisation comprised of library associations and other not-for-profit groups, to challenge the terms of the Google Books project.

Google Books aims to digitise millions of novels, reference books and notable works of literature, making them searchable online. Google has struck deals with author groups and publishers, agreeing to share revenue from advertising and subscriptions with these rights holders. The Internet Archive is also involved with the digitisation of books, and has scanned more than 1.5 million titles so far.

However, other organisations have argued that the Google Books deal, which is awaiting court approval, gives Google an unfair advantage in the book digitisation space, and makes it difficult for other companies to offer similar services or to compete with the Google offering.

Gary Reback, an antitrust lawyer representing the Alliance, said that they planned to make a representation to the US Department of Justice arguing that the agreement is anti-competitive.

"This deal has enormous, far-reaching anti-competitive consequences that people are just beginning to wake up to,” he said.

In 2008, Google reached an agreement with publishers and writers to settle legal proceedings which accused the search giant of infringing copyright by scanning and digitising books without authorisation.

To settle the complaints, Google paid $125 million to launch the Books Rights Registry, which would ensure authors and rights holders could register their works and receive financial recompense. The deal also saw Google granted the right to digitise so-called "orphan" books, titles for whom rights holders are either unknown or untraceable, and which account for around 50 per cent of all books published since 1923.

"Google is trying to monopolise the library system," Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, told the BBC. "If this deal goes ahead, they're making a real shot at being 'the' library and the only library.

"The techniques we have built up since the enlightenment of having open access, public support for libraries, lots of different organisational structures, lots of distributed ownership of books that can be exchanged, resold and repackaged in different ways – all of that is being thrown out in this particular approach."

Critics have also expressed concerns over user privacy, and say that Google has not given satisfactory assurances about whether data about people's reading habits will be collected and stored, and whether it will be used to provide other products or services.

However, Google said that the book digitisation project bought huge benefits, preserving out-of-print or hard-to-find books and making them easily accessible to the masses.

"The Google Books settlement is injecting more competition in to the digital books space, so it's understandable why our competitors might fight hard to prevent more competition," said Google in a statement.

Google wants to help you Listen to the web while on the go

Good news, Androids. Google Labs has busted out a new podcast / web audio-centric app, Listen, for your droiding pleasure.

In particular, Listen from Google Labs:

lets you search, subscribe, download and stream. By subscribing to programs and search terms it will create a personalized audio-magazine loaded with fresh shows and news stories whenever you listen. In this release Listen is indexing thousands of popular English-only audio sources.

Google Listen joins Doggcatcher, another podcatcher, in bringing podcasts to your ‘droid. However, besides the fact that Doggcatcher isn’t free (whereas Listen costs nothing), the biggest difference between the two is, well, Google being Google. Where Doggcatcher requires users to enter in the particular RSS feeds they want to follow, Listen allows users to search for any and all podcasts / other web audio from across the Nets.

For example, say you want to learn more about oh, I don’t know…healthcare. Or perhaps you’re interested in listening to something slightly less controversial, say NFL pre-season analysis. With Listen, you’d simply enter in some keywords (”public option” / “Washington Redskins”) and “press on a result to start listening right away or press and hold (long-press) to see more options.”

Not only can you search and subscribe to podcasts, but you can also create playlists with the “My Listen Queue” feature. Listen also works with Bluetooth headsets.

At the moment, Listen is available only for Android-powered devices and is limited to English-only audio podcast.