The big news this week is of course the release of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and we have oodles of content about it here and in two Take Control ebooks. Joe Kissell excerpts a bit of his “Take Control of Upgrading to Snow Leopard” to explain what’s new about the Snow Leopard installer, and Matt Neuburg draws on his experience writing “Take Control of Exploring & Customizing Snow Leopard” to run down the major changes in Snow Leopard. Not to be left out, Glenn Fleishman and Jeff Carlson collaborate to bring you even more hidden tweaks in Snow Leopard, and Rich Mogull examines what Snow Leopard brings us from a security standpoint. In other news, Glenn explains why WPA is not broken (despite what you may have read from uninformed sources) and relays more news about NetNewsWire and NewsGator. Notable software releases this week (many of which provide Snow Leopard compatibility) include Things 1.2, WireTap Studio 1.0.12, WireTap Anywhere 1.0.5, Snapz Pro X 2.2.0, Sync’Em 1.40, TextSoap 6.3, Coda 1.5, Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.1.1, KeyCue 4.5, DragThing 5.9.4, and TextWrangler 3.0.
NewsGator moves the shut-off date for its in-house synchronization server to no earlier than 07-Sep-09 to ensure that shipping updates of its products are out. An ad-free release of NetNewsWire will cost $9.95.
News reports claiming that Japanese researchers had broken the Wi-Fi WPA encryption system are incorrect. WPA remains intact, but the researchers demonstrated a more efficient (if complex) way to exploit a tiny networking weakness in an older form of encryption.
While working on the just-released "Take Control of Exploring & Customizing Snow Leopard," Matt Neuburg has had to live with Snow Leopard for some time now, and he's brimming with impressions of what's new, what's not, and what it all means.
Unsure about what installing Apple's Snow Leopard will entail? No need to worry - an excerpt from Joe Kissell's "Take Control of Upgrading to Snow Leopard" explains how the installer has changed from what we've become accustomed to in Panther, Tiger, and Leopard.
When Apple says Snow Leopard is full of "refinements," they're not kidding. The TidBITS staff has collected even more of the interesting details that may be easily overlooked.
Snow Leopard includes a bevy of important behind-the-scenes security updates, and one major feature we hope you never see. Rich Mogull details what's changed, how this affects your security, and the one improvement we're still waiting for.
Notable software releases this week include Things 1.2, WireTap Studio 1.0.12, WireTap Anywhere 1.0.5, Snapz Pro X 2.2.0, Sync'Em 1.40, TextSoap 6.3, Coda 1.5, Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.1.1, KeyCue 4.5, DragThing 5.9.4, and TextWrangler 3.0.
Read on for a collection of links to the most interesting articles and resources that the TidBITS staff discovered on the Web this week.
Surprise! Snow Leopard dominates the discussions this week, as readers talk about the prices of the upgrade, the software's capability to screen for known viruses, the versions of iLife and iWork included with the Mac Box Set, and Snow Leopard compatibility with Adobe CS3, external trackpads, and PGP products. Also this week, suggestions for beginner Mac books for seniors, saving money by replacing an optical drive yourself, a discussion of what is meant by "technological literacy," and more.