Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard

Dubbed Mac OS X Leopard, the new operating system by Apple introduces many new cool features including a deeply revamped iChat platform, new RSS to email integration, a more powerful email and note-taking facility, the ability to create custom widgets, multiple virtual desktops, better calendaring and a lot more.

Show and tell

iChat gets a double dose of fun and functionality in Leopard. The introduction of text chat tabs, allows you to pull all your chats (even group ones) into one simple window, then toggle between them using tabs that display your buddy’s screen names. Text bubbles indicate when someone is typing, so you don’t miss a chat when a buddy’s tab isn’t at the front.

On the “flashy” side, iChat turns video conferencing into an event by introducing video backdrops, photo booth effects, photo slideshows, Keynote presentations, or the ability to share live your entire Mac desktop. Thanks in fact to iChat Screen Sharing, you and your buddy can observe and control a single desktop via iChat. Share your own desktop or share your buddy’s — you both have complete control at all times. And when you start a Screen Sharing session, iChat automatically initiates an audio chat so you can talk things through while you’re at it.

Another great new feature, dubbed iChat Theater, allows you to present photos from iPhoto, slides from Keynote, or content from any iChat-enabled application with any iChat or AOL AIM buddy. Not only that, you can share this visual experience in full-screen, and accompanied by a video feed of you playing host.

Use it, never lose it

Time Machine is a step ahead of competitors because it’s designed by Apple as a backup tool for the average computer user, meaning that it is very simple to use, with virtually no management or oversight needed. With Mac OS X Leopard and Time Machine, not only can you back up and preserve everything on your Mac — including priceless digital photos, music, movies, and documents — without lifting a finger, you can go back in time to recover anything you’ve ever backed up.

Get the message

The new Mail facility inside the upcoming Mac OS X Leopard provides personalized stationery, a virtual memo pad accessible from anywhere, To-do lists and great integration with iCal. The new Leopard Mail facility also facilitates the management and editing of notes, which can include graphics, text and attachments. Notes can be grouped into folders or placed into Smart Mailboxes that automatically group your notes based on topic or interest.

Leopard Mail also supports directly RSS allowing you to read and subscribe to your favourite news inside your preferred email app. Not only. The new Mail facility in Leopard also allows you to filter RSS-based news on specific keywords. Just set up a Smart Mailbox using search terms that pique your interest and Mail dynamically updates it when relevant articles are posted to your subscribed feeds.
Spaces

Leopard improves the way you manage and access information on your Mac. Spaces is a new Mac OS X Leopard feature which allows you to save multiple virtual desktops containing groups of selected windows and open applications. With the click a function key, you can drag all your application windows onto a new different Space. Keep all your work projects in one Space and all the movie editing stuff in another.

With the click a function key, you can drag all your application windows onto different Spaces. Create a communication Space for iChat and Mail. Organize your Spaces however you want just by dragging windows into them. You can even rearrange your Spaces with drag-and-drop ease — shift a Space and every window in it comes along for the ride.

Dashboard

Plus, Dashboard adds new widgets that make life on the Web a one-click affair. Mac OS X Leopard extends the Dashboard abilities by allowing more widgets, more customization, .Mac syncing and more. Dashboard for Leopard can integrate web sites, search widgets, audio and video, RSS and more.

On top of this when you make a change to your Dashboard preferences, Leopard automatically keeps everything in sync across every Mac you use and with the new Dashcode you can get a widget up and running in minutes, even if you’ve never written a line of code in your life. To make things even easier you can choose from a handful of Dashcode widget templates — including a countdown timer, RSS feed, photocast, podcast, or gauge — or create a widget completely from scratch. Widgets can be easily integrated into the Dashboard.

All these features and more are delivered in one universal, fully accessible, 64-bit operating system.

Too good to be true!!