Since 2001, Mac OS X has delivered more than a thousand innovative new features. With Snow Leopard, the next major version of the world’s most advanced operating system, Mac OS X changes more than its spots, it changes focus. Taking a break from adding new features, Snow Leopard — scheduled to ship in about a year — builds on Leopard’s enormous innovations by delivering a new generation of core software technologies that will streamline Mac OS X, enhance its performance, and set new standards for quality. Snow Leopard dramatically reduces the footprint of Mac OS X, making it even more efficient for users, and giving them back valuable hard drive space for their music and photos.

 

Apple is also introducing OpenCL which

makes it possible for developers to efficiently tap the vast gigaflops of computing power currently locked up in the graphics processing unit (GPU)

If you couldn'tunderstandthat fancy vocabulary, it basically means stuff will go faster, much faster.

AppleInsiderreportsthat Apple's Quicktime X will now have pro features built in as well as a new interface which rids the old play pause FF and RW buttons for an iPhone like box that just floats in the window itself.

Here is the current window:

And the New window:

While this is only anartist'srendition it was what AI most likely thinks it will look like.

Apple is also said to beimprovingMicrosoft Exchange support as well as a re-written finder.

More information can be found here, here, andhere.

I get most of my Buttons from Twitter Buttons. Right now I'm going to break down every part of thier code and show you how to modify it how you'd like.

First, let's take a look at the code:

<a href="http://twitter.com/YourLink"><img src="http://www.twitterbuttons.com/images/ex/twitter-31a.png" title="By: TwitterButtons.com" width="212" height="69" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.speed-your-pc.com">Speed up your PC</a>

Does that look confusing? Well, it's really not.

First look at <a href="http://twitter.com/YourLink"> this is just the URL the button will link to, so obviously you'd change the YourLink to your Twitter username, or you can change the entire URL.

Now look at <img src="http://www.twitterbuttons.com/images/ex/twitter-31a.png" This is the link to the image where the button is coming from. If you wanted to make a YouTube button for example, all you would have to do is post the DIRECT link to the image. When I say DIRECT, this means that the window that the image is in MUST be blank except for the image you want to use. For example, this would not work, while this would.

Now let's peek at title="By: TwitterButtons.com" width="212" height="69" /> All this is, is the tag that appears when the mouse hovers over the image.

This width="212" height="69" /> is the size of the image, which should be modified accordingly.

Lastly is just a link that appears at the bottom of the imgage, which I deleate.

I have made a list of good Twitter Buttons here that you can use if you don't like the ones from Twitter Buttons.

Thanks for reading! Hope you learned something.

Growl offers you complete control over which notifications are shown and how they are displayed. You will not receive any notifications that you do not want, because you can easily turn notifications (specific ones or all of them) off. When you start up a Growl-enabled application, it will "just work." Your apps can start displaying notifications right away.

Growl is a free application and is useful for just about anyone who uses Twitter, Instant Messaging, or almost anything that utilizes the web. Growl gets an overall 4 from me because although you are able to download more themes from their website, there still aren't that many to choose from. Also, the coice of notification sounds isn't the best either.

Growl can be downloaded here.

Their about page is here.

The material, because I am assuming you don't know what Microfleece is, feels like one of those very soft TheNorthFace vests.

Comfortable, stylish and useful, the Ultimate Hoodie Microfleece is a must have layer. It has earned its title as the Ultimate Hoodie with 11 hidden pockets and compartments that are strategically located and designed to manage all of your gadgets. Our patented Personal Area Network (PAN) provides wire management for iPods, cell phones and other wired devices. Special earbud loops keep your music within easy reach.

The Ultimate Hoodie is made of ultra-comfortable, lightweight microfleece, thick enough to keep the chill off but thin enough that you can control your iPod right through the fabric. This hooded sweatshirt features spacious DeepPockets™ with magnetic closures to keep your essentials secure. Other great features include a built-in extendible key chain, a secret pocket and a 2-way front zipper.

That pretty much sums it up! The Hoodie itself cost $79 and is well worth it. The guys over at SeV did a fantastic job making something practical and comfortable. Overall I give it a 4.5 out of 5 because there is definitely more room for hidden pockets. But other than that, Bravo!

For more information on the Ultimate Hoodie Microfleece go here.

For the SeV home page click here.

To follow Scott's updates on twitter go here.

Times is an RSS reader for Mac OS X, but it isn't just that. Times brings the look of a newspaper right to your desktop. With a customizable layout that's easy to use, you can make your newspaper look exactly how you want it to. Acrylic, Times' developer, has taken their time creating something that looks great and is full featured. But most of all, it's easy to use.

Now, Let's get into Times' features. Times uses an easy drag and drop interface with popular RSS sites that you can choose from. There are three definitive sections in Times but adding more is always an option. You can also add your favorite website if you choose by simply clicking the add button(+) and typing an RSS supported URL. Also, there are different sections to choose from including the preset ones; World, Technology, Science,Entertainment, and Sports. Again, you are able to add, delete, rename, and move preset sections. There is also a desk that you can have pull up where you can store interesting articles for later viewing. The icon in the dock also bounces when new articles are available and also makes a notification sound. You can even use Times for your Twitter (I love Twitter)!

Times is a unique and innovative newsreader for Mac OS X Leopard. By rethinking the way you read news, we've engineered the best possible news experience straight from the ground up.

Instead of treating news like email (as most RSS readers do), Times presents you with headlines and photos from a variety of sources all in one place, letting you more easily discover the news you want to read. Like your own personal newspaper, you can put feeds into separate areas, create pages for different subjects, and more.

For a final judgement I give Times a 4 out of 5 because personally, I'm not a fan of the RSS reader and would rather go to the site itself. The reason I rated it so high is because of its beauty and simplicity. Times costs $30 and is available here.

Check out Acrylic's blog here.

Features:

Tweetie does what all Twitter clients should, pull your Twitter updates, and does it well, but it does lack some key features that I would have liked to see. Tweetie has the ability to favorite tweets,but there is no way to un-favorite them or see tweets that were marked favorites on other clients such as the web, TweetDeck, Twhirl, or other popular applications. Another feature it is lacking is the ability to create groups. Groups allow you to only see specific peoples tweets. I wish I could have the ability to turn on auto-follow to increase my number of followers, but not have to see their tweets. Atebits has teamed up with yFrog, a popular image hosting service for Twitter, and now allows you to record videos and put them on yFrogs servers for everyone to see. Also, Tweetie has support for audible notices and text notices when you receive new Tweets.

Pros:

Tweetie has a small black box up in Mac OS X's status menu (near the clock and wi-fi indicator) that illuminates blue when new tweets, mentions (@replys), or Direct Messages are received. Also Tweetie includes a searchtool, a URL shortener, and a way to post images with a verity of setting to change and customize your favorite URL shortening service or picture hoster any way you'd like.Another thing that I like, which others may not, is that the "What are you doing" box is located in a separate window, allowing you to have as many thoughts forming to tweets as you'd like. Another upside to this is that you can compose your tweet without seeing the bulky window that is reserved for your friend's tweets.

Cons:

Tweeite is really nice but as I said before, it lacks features such as un-favoriting tweets and creating groups. Also a downside is that it costs $19 dollars. But cheer up, because there is a free version that you may use as long as you want, but it is ad-supported. While the ads are not annoying and disappear as time goes by, they are still there and take up room on the Timeline.

Final Rating:

I give Tweetie for Mac a solid 4 stars out of 5 rating because of its elegance and its ability to do the basics well. It also has some features that are important that I didn't talk about such as re-tweeting and small things like that.

Find Tweetie for Mac here

Find a sort demo here

Lift your laptop to a comfortable viewing height and reclaim your desktop.

Elevator's sturdy brushed aluminum and minimal design go great with any desk decor.

Elevator holds your portable computer safely and securely at just the right height to match external monitors - and to save your aching neck.

Elevator conforms to health and safety standards, making your laptop safer and more comfortable to use all day long. Healthycomputing.com, the premier source for office ergonomics, recommends positioning the top of your screen level with your eyes and sitting at least an arm's length distance from the screen. Both of these key ergonomic standards are made possible using Elevator with an external keyboard.

Overall I give the Elevator a 4.5 out of ten, because of that annoying plastic piece. But if you don't have OCD about finger prints, than you'll love the product.

I'm currently running a giveaway on Twitter and you can get the details here.