It’s been some time since I’ve written about Plex, the Mac-specific fork of XBMC that, well, is fantastic. It seems Snow Leopard somewhat borked the application, but the latest release is all fixed up. Have a peach.

So the latest version, 0.8.3, fixes an issue that plagued the Apple remote control. Apparently the driver was such that it didn’t totally disable the OS X hooks. Like, you hit play on the remote from within Plex and then iTunes would start playing. That’s a giant pain, yes. But it’s fixed so there.

There was also some sort of issue with non-5.1 audio sounding like garbage. Fixed, too.

Hello exactly!

via Lifehacker

In most cases, it’s fairly easy to get around this, all you have to do is reinstall Safari and it’ll work. There have been some reported cases where that solution hasn’t worked, and for those unlucky people, there isn’t an answer yet. There’s also a problem with the Genius Mixes. Safari is again at fault, it’s causing the Genius Mix feature not to show up in the iTunes listings. In that situation, the best solution is to go to the iTunes store menu, and update Genius. If it’s still broken, you’ll have to turn off Genius and then turn it on again. Apple seems to have created quite a mess with their lastest software release.

[via Macworld]

Full fix list:

Improves compatibility with some Sierra Wireless 3G modems
Addresses an issue in which some printer compatibility drivers might not appear properly in the Add Printer browser
Addresses an issue that might cause DVD playback to stop unexpectedly
Addresses an issue that might make it difficult to remove an item from the Dock
Resolves an issue in which the Command-Option-T keyboard shortcut would sometimes bring up the special characters menu in applications such as Mail and TextEdit
Addresses instances in which auto account setup in Mail might not work
Resolves issues when sending mail with certain SMTP servers
Addresses an issue in which Motion 4 could become unresponsive
Includes an update to Adobe Flash Player plug-in version 10.0.32.18

via Giz

How awesome is Snow Leopard? Like, so awesome, right? Hold onto your hats, friends, because it just got awesomer: check out that virtual keyboard!

Two big Mac sites, 9 to 5 Mac and Cult of Mac, are now running with the story that, since the new virtual keyboard is so big and fluffy, it’s obviously a sign that Snow Leopard can truly be a proper touchscreen operating system. You know, for that Mac tablet that everyone keeps talking about. Endlessly.

It’s not too big a stretch, I guess. Look at the old virtual keyboard:

Rubbish, yes.

I don’t know. For whatever reason I’m not too keen on all this touchscreen stuff. It’s going to take an extra special Steve Jobs “…and one more thing” announcement to change my opinion. Not that any of you care, of course, which is how it should be. Just sayin’.

Snow Leopard is a unique and beautiful release, unlike any that have come before it in both scope and intention. At some point, Mac OS X will surely need to get back on the bullet-point-features bandwagon. But for now, I’m content with Snow Leopard. It’s the Mac OS X I know and love, but with more of the things that make it weak and strange engineered away.

The rest is pretty detailed and a good read if you’re into Snow Leopard. If you’re not, just pick up a Henry Miller book. Same length and intensity but with more sex.

How many of y’all got around to installing Snow Leopard yesterday? I meant to, but then I bought a new hard drive for my old iMac (hey, any discreet graphics card is better than this old MacBook’s Intel bologna), so I’ll be upgrading everything next week. As if any of you care, I know, but trust me: there’s a point. If you did install Snow Leopard, you’ll no doubt have noticed this glaring kick in the teeth: Apple has removed ZFS! This will go down as one of the greatest injustices ever brought upon mankind.

I kid, of course, but it’s still worth noting. Nowhere in Snow Leopard will you find the option to format a hard drive using the ZFS filesystem. If 2 percent of you have even heard of ZFS I’ll be surprised; if 1 percent of you will even miss it I’ll be double-surprised.

It’s a shame, too, since ZFS is fairly handy. So I hear, at least. Says ZDNet:

ZFS combines a file system and a volume manager, along with some cool architectural features, to create an easily managed and highly reliable file system. Advanced features that just work.

Italics mean business, friends.

ZDNet even highlighted two features that would absolutely be useful to the average user: checksumming every single file (so you can better spot data corruption) and easy-to-use snapshotting. That is, “Hey, everything works 100 percent perfectly today. Let me take a snapshot, then if something goes wrong later, I can just go back to that snapshot.”

ZFS isn’t even in Snow Leopard Server Edition, so consider it dead and buried. Of course, it’ll be a cold down in somewhere before Apple says why…

So, while watching Juventus v. Roma, be sure to pour one out for ZFS.

Head’s up to any of y’all looking to upgrade to Snow Leopard this weekend (that’s my plan, along with installing Windows 7). It’s not exactly a surprise, but some applications may be a little wonky with the new operating system, and this Web site has a list of what’s what.

Apparently World of Warcraft has some minor issues, and you’ll need to upgrade popular FTP application Cyberduck to a new beta to get it to work with 10.6.

There also seems to be some issues with Growl and Google Gears, so best to consult the list before you zap away plain ol’ Leopard forever.

Also, if I may, the Guardian has the best review of Snow Leopard I’ve read thus far, so be sure to read it when you have a few free minutes.

That is all.

It seems to scan for only OSX.RSPlug and OSX.Iservice and then only scans files from Safari, Mail, and a few web browsers. Usenet and Bittorrent clients are unaffected. It doesn’t even actively scan the Downloads folder.

So it’s basically like someone at Apple wrote an anti-virus program and just snuck it into Snow Leopard. You can just imagine some grizzled old programmer who has been working on this since 1994 finally getting his chance to shine.

Apple stuck the anti-malware software into Snow Leopard without actually announcing it. The software is invisible – it just kind of hangs out – and the only thing I see this doing is encouraging anti-virus software vendors to try to upsell their paltry OS X offerings. While Macs aren’t totally impervious to virii and trojanii, there is always the off chance that a piece of rogue software could fall into the mix. This could be a simple solution to preventing Snow Leopard Macs from falling into a botnet.

As long as you’ve got an Intel-based Mac, $29 is all you need to get Snow Leopard on your computer. And don’t let Apple tell you otherwise.

You’re telling me Snow Leopard isn’t a major update? Well affix your chapeau to your pate, sir, and go forthwith on a long walk off of a short fjord! The most important feature in Snow Leopard has been revealed and it’s a doozy.

That’s right: something PCs have been doing since I was still spermatozoa is now standard in OS X. Will the magicians of Cupertino ever stop innovating?

Apple’s been gettin’ a good bit of grief for the Snow Leopard box art since it officially went on sale this morning. We’re in the “Who cares? We’re all going to buy it anyway” boat, but we’ve gotta admit it: it sort of looks like it was slapped together at the last minute. By a kid. Oh, and he was wearing a blindfold.

At least, the standard edition does. Check out the box art for the server edition up above – the difference is small, but the results are grand. A bit of cropping and some creative framing, and bam: it’s a whole new box. It’s still not the ominous X we’re used to, but it’s a big step up.

What do you think: Upgrade? Downgrade? Don’t care?

[Thanks David!]

That is all. Please proceed to the Apple Store to buy it. I don’t even have a Mac and I’m going to buy it just to tell everyone I have it. Total street cred, there.

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard [Apple Store]

Here’s some advice to all of you guys who are trying to keep up-to-date on the latest Snow Leopard news: don’t go anywhere near a computer for the next week or so. There were rumors last week that Snow Leopard build 10A432 was slated for gold master, but then you read message board thread after message board wherein people complain about little glitches here and there. Hardly a sign of Apple polish! Then the disc artwork changes from a snow leopard theme to a space theme, à la Leopard, and there’s even more confusion.

It gets worse. Apple UK publishes a Web page that shows “August 28” as the ship date, but then quickly reverts that to “September.” (That’s what the Apple U.S. store says, too, “September.”)

In short, you’ll go crazy trying to keep up with all the shifts and turns.

So just hang low for a little while yet, lest you get excited for nothing.

Sorry. I’m just a crank. Every time Apple comes out with a new version of OS X I expect bells, whistles, and dancing dogs. This is an incremental upgrade, as we described it back at WWDC, and it’s a strong one. However, it’s not nearly as exciting at first blush – at least visually – but it does give countless IT guys some serious tentpole action especially considering built-in Exchange support.

This review is based on the purported Gold Master, 10A432, the version that will be shipped to stores world-wide this September. It may or not be the official final version but I’ve been using versions of Snow Leopard for about two months now.

This release is described as a “refined” Leopard. What does that mean? It means everything you like about Leopard has been made faster and more responsive and, in a way, this is just a huge bug fix. QuickTime has been turned completely Pro with screen capture, audio capture, and movie capture built in along with an editing/trimming ribbon right in the app. Shutdown is faster as is wireless connectivity. There is automatic printer driver download (WOOT!) as well as automatic timezone setup (DOUBLE WOOT!). See where I’m going here?

It also has Chinese character input, faster installation, and faster Time Machine backup. It also is 6GB smaller than the original Leopard. Then there’s Exchange support in iCal, Mail, and Contacts. I can keep going but you get the gist – lots of improvements under the hood.

Stacks has been updated as well with a new icon style and menu color. Previews are much more powerful now and you can cut intelligently from PDFs.

You’ll be able to install it on most modern Macs. It requires an Intel processor – no PowerPC support – 1GB of memory and 5GB of disk space. If you bought a Mac on or after June 8, 2009 it will cost you $9.95. Leopard users will pay $29 while a family pack for five computers will cost $49. Generally any Mac purchased within the past two years should run this OS.

So how does it run? I’ve noticed very few differences in my user experience on a Mac Pro 2.66GHz dual core Intel Xeon with 7GB memory. I have experienced some software problems with VMWare and SuperDuper, two utilities I use. I suspect these problems will be fixed upon official release but it is a bit disconcerting when your backup program breaks because of an update.

I haven’t used Expose’s new “show application” feature much. It seems like a good idea when you think about it but most of the work I do involves only one window. Video, photo, and music folks will love it, however, because it lets you find buried windows while you’re working.

In terms of speed I haven’t see much improvement. The new Grand Central Dispatch system is a thread management system which is supposed to spread out multi-threaded apps over your full processor array. Apple says:

More cores, not faster clock speeds, drive performance increases in today’s processors. Grand Central Dispatch takes full advantage by making all of Mac OS X multicore aware and optimizing it for allocating tasks across multiple cores and processors. Grand Central Dispatch also makes it much easier for developers to create programs that squeeze every last drop of power from multicore systems.

All of the applications are also 64-bit and OpenCL allows you to use more of your GPU. Finally, QuickTime is built Core Audio, Video, and Animation and all of the major apps are rebuilt in 64-bit.

So again, what does that mean? An ostensibly faster computer. Again, I didn’t notice anything amazing between the old Leopard and the new, but stress testing this machine is a bit difficult considering the current speed and RAM. I did notice a slight improvement in video conversion – the above video took about 4 minutes versus five or six minutes usually – but nothing to call the president about.

Apple knows they’re not going to excite Joe and Jane Average-Home-Office-User with this release. That’s why it’s $29 in a box and essentially for upgraders. Devs and IT guys will be able to point to OS X now and say it’s ready for the office environment, but I’m almost positive that any CEO with an iPhone also has a MacBook on his desk and IT guys in most major corporations have been supporting something in the Apple family for the past few years. This is the release for those still on the fence about OS X’s business-ready features, however, and that means a lot on the corporate side.

As for us fanbois I’m sure an upgrade is in the cards. However, I think the upgrade will come sooner in the form of a new MacBook purchase than in a boxed version of the software. Apple wanted to release plenty of bug fixes and add some great features and so they rolled them into into a new release. To call this a new version, per se, is incorrect. It is more of a major update.

So don’t line up outside of the Apple store for this one, lads, but rest assured that you will notice some little differences and the nerds among you will notice a lot of differences. Just don’t tell me that Exchange support is really exciting for end-users who use Gmail and hopefully OpenCL will create a huge ecosystem of amazing games for OS X. But I doubt it.

Bottom Line
Leopard… refined. Don’t rush out to get this but rest assured it’s chock-full of improvements you’ll rarely consciously notice.

I do believe the GM build of Snow Leopard, Apple’s latest version of Mac OS X, has leaked onto the Internet. The build in question is 10A432. I’m staring at it right now on one popular Web site, but I shan’t be downloading. Even I can afford $30!

A reader of the Brazilian Mac site MacMagazine.br has created this video, showing off the build (along with customized icons, which is a real distraction when you’re trying to show off the operating system):

Here’s a screenshot of the release in question:

via MacRumors

Please note: Official release date has not been announced by Apple, though they have indicated this product will be released sometime in September.

Oh well. They’re also careful to point out that the $29 version will only work on 10.5 (Leopard) machines — nice to see an intervention there to prevent any less-savvy 10.4 users from thinking they found a great deal. They also point out that it’s “the world’s most advanced operating system, finely tuned.” Okay, I know that’s Apple talking, Amazon, why’d you put it up top? Anyway, here are the links:

Snow Leopard (upgrade from 10.5) $29
10.5 upgrade 5-pack $49
Box set (full upgrade, iLife and iWork) $169
Box set 5-pack $229
Snow Leopard Server $499

We’re all pretty pumped about the update; the major new features should make OS X better than ever. With Windows 7 right around the corner, I’m thinking both my PC and my Mac are going to a little bit more awesome by the end of the year.

[via MacRumors]

Here’s a quick look at App Expose in Snow Leopard, a feature I was really looking forward to. It’s quite cool and works like a treat in the latest update. There are also a few improvements to the contextual menus in the dock but this is the only major UI improvement I saw.

Sorry for the sound quality. I was trying something new. But the most important stuff is there.

Seeing as though Snow Leopard is only $29, this just-announced $9.95 update program doesn’t have quite the same impact that it might otherwise have. Still! The deal is that if you buy a Mac on or after June 8, Apple will send you a Snow Leopard DVD when the operating system comes out this fall.

More info will be posted tomorrow, obviously.

Meanwhile, here’s that famous video showing the intro videos from earlier Mac OS X releases:

USA!

via TUAWAWAW

Own a MacBook or MacBook Pro that doesn’t have an Nvidia 9400M? Don’t expect to use hardware acceleration for h.264 video decoding in Snow Leopard. Yup, a quick check of Apple’s Web site shows that only the 9400M will be compatible with Snow Leopard’s ability to hand off h.264 video decoding to the GPU. Tough break, kids. (Or you can get a Windows PC, which has had hardware-assisted h.264 decoding for some time now.)

In other news, OpenCL, the feature that offloads CPU cycles to the GPU, will work with a number of GPUs. And they are:

• NVIDIA Geforce 8600M GT, GeForce 8800 GT, GeForce 8800 GTS, Geforce 9400M, GeForce 9600M GT, GeForce GT 120, GeForce GT 130

• ATI Radeon 4850, Radeon 4870

I must say, the last time I was truly impressed with a new version of Mac OS X was Tiger, and that was seven years ago. Perhaps that’s why Snow Leopard is only $30?

Flickr

This isn’t exactly shocking news, but here we go: The WWDC 2009 build of Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) has been leaked onto the Internet. I would imagine Apple doesn’t want you, Average Guy, to download it, but don’t expect me to try and stop you.

The build, 10a380, is 5.84GB in size, meaning you’d need a dual layer DVD burner to install. I’ve seen it on one “private” BitTorrent site as of this morning; I’m sure it’ll spread around the Internet in no time.

Oh, and that’s the new default desktop image.

Did I download it? No, largely because I’m not too keen on playing around with an unfinished operating system.

But be my guest if that’s your thing.

UPDATE For you skeptics, here’s a screenshot of the torrent. I refuse to name the site specifically because someone accused me of making all this up, as if developer builds don’t leak all the damn time. Also, the number you see, 598.86GB, is the total amount of data transferred on the torrent so far, not how big the torrent itself is.