Cult of Mac posted a pretty compelling picture of a new full screen keyboard feature in Snow Leopard that certainly looks like it’d be handy if you had a touchscreen Mac. With all the rumors of the Tablet Mac floating around, this just may be some evidence that the upcoming Mac Tablet will be running Snow Leopard rather than some version of the iPod Touch / iPhone OS. Here’s how you can see the screen keyboard yourself, courtesy of Cult of Mac:

* Go to System Preferences>Keyboard
* Click the box “Show Keyboard & Character Viewer in menu bar”
* Go to the menu bar at top right and click “Show Keyboard Viewer”

Very interesting. What do you think?

via: Cult of Mac:

Mac rumor site ThinkSecret has some screenshots of the latest Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard build. The interface is becoming increasingly polished, with a mirrored reflective Dock, a transparent menu bar, and rounded corners on many pop-up menu items. Many Mac users expect a major GUI revision in 10.5, but thus far there have only been slight changes and refinements, keeping a very familiar (although updated) look.

ThinkSecret: Mac OS X 10.5 9A499 Leopard Screenshots

Since Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard has been delayed until October, Apple is rumored to be working on an update to Mac OS X 10.4. The update will supposedly be released under the version number 10.4.10, a somewhat unusual number for Apple, who typically release a significant update like 10.5 after a .9 update. The update, which has begun to appear in Apple’s development circles, will add a few new features, bug fixes, and other improvements, although exactly what will be changed and added is unknown. Of course, this is all speculation based on an AppleInsider article, but the likelihood of seeing another update before 10.5 Leopard in October is pretty high.

Source: ArsTechnica: Apple issuing pre-release builds of OS X 10.4.10

It has long been speculated that Apple would change the brushed metal interface in Mac OS X to more closely resemble the iTunes appearance. The latest Mac OS X 10.5 build 9A410 shows us exactly that, a unified appearance that rids the operating system of the brushed metal look. The appearance change is relatively subtle, and looks almost identical to what the freeware utility UNO provides. With the release of Leopard pushed back until October, will the Mac OS X interface undergo more changes? Time will tell. Read on for screenshots of the latest build.

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Mac rumor site AppleInsider is reporting that Apple has filed a patent for a finder feature that would allow different sized icons to be within the same window, with the size of the icon being representative of that items importance. This feature would make a lot of sense for many directories that are crowded with loads of folders and files needed for the application to run, but largely useless for the user to see or interact with. Read on for a mock-up illustration of how this feature would appear within Mac OS X.

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It’s long been known that Mac OS X 10.5 is due out sometime this year, but when exactly nobody knows and speculation on the release date has been all over the board. SwitchtoaMac.com uses empirical evidence to suggest that Leopard will be released in May, but they go a step further and predict the exact date: May 11, 2007. How they arrive at that date is interesting, if you enjoy the rumors and speculation game then it’s worth a glance.

Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 – a May 2007 Release?

Despite the recent news that Mac OS X 10.5 will be released a bit later than hoped for, development of Leopard is still chugging along just fine. Thanks to the Mac rumor site ThinkSecret, we are presented with a gallery of screenshots to show us more of what to expect. New features and improvements are showing up in each new release, with 9a377 bringing us a new airport utility, a new screensaver, improvements to preference panes, Spotlight modifications, and more. Check out ThinkSecret’s latest screenshot gallery for more:

Update: ThinkSecret’s servers seem to be getting pounded. We managed to pull a few screenshots out of cache and reproduced them below.

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The Unofficial Apple Weblog is confirming older reports from MacRumors that the upcoming version of iChat (to be bundled with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard) will include voicemail features. The MacRumors report from December of 2006 says that users will be allowed to create a video greeting to serve as an answering machine message of sorts. A couple screenshots have surfaced of this feature, with TUAW posting the most recent, reproduced below. Of course like all Apple related rumors you should take this with a grain of salt. Concocted screenshots and fake imagery have long been part of the Mac rumor mill, and although these look legitimate, we just won’t know until the release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, scheduled for later this Spring.

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