Did you miss the Snow Leopard? I am sure you did, but until Apple releases the new Mac OS X, known as "Snow Leopard," feel free to enjoy the snow leopard pictured below! Anyway, if we get serious, there's plenty to say about Apple's upcoming OS, especially since I have heard about some new features recently. Basically, "some new features" shouldn't be that interesting, but since Apple advertises Snow Leopard as being an improved Leopard, without any new features, things are different!

<-125x125 Button - left->According to various sources of RoughylDrafted, quoted by AppleInsider, Snow Leopard will feature a new framework, and this is BIG. Why? If I say "multitouch," that should be enough. Without any doubt, support for multitouch in Mac OS X is something new!

Next, although this may not be a new feature, it's surely an improvement worth being mentioned - Snow Leopard applications are expected to be smaller, with the standard Mac OS X Utility folder down to 111.6 MB from 468 MB, Mail - from 287MB to 91MB, while iChat is down from 111MB to 52MB, and finally, iCal was pushed down to 48MB, from 89MB.

Text processing features, like typing TM to get the "™" character, or automatic font activation, are also expected to be available in Snow Leopard, but this is not everything!

Probably the most important new feature, apart from the multitouch support, is the support for the ZFS file system. While Mac OS X Leopard only has read-only ZFS support, Snow Leopard and Snow Leopard Server will pack full support for the 128-bit file system, but without replacing HFS+ just yet.

This is about everything known at this time, but if you know something else about the Snow Leopard, or you have some features you'd like to see in it, don't forget to drop your comment below! We won't be able to reach Steve Jobs to forward your request, but at least we'll know what other Apple users would like to get with the Snow Leopard!

The MacBook Pro is far from being extinct, but that doesn't mean Apple will continue to sell it and the MacBook Air as two completely different products. As long as they add MacBook Air features to the MacBook Pro and the price doesn't go sky high, it works for me! Unfortunately, nothing is official yet, but it seems the MacBook Pro will get the keyboard from the Air pretty soon. Interested?

<-125x125 Button - left->To be honest, I am not crazy about extremely slim media players or notebooks, and that's the main reason that makes me choose the MacBook Pro over the MacBook Air. Anyway, I am not in a hurry to purchase an Apple notebook, so there's plenty of time to change my mind.

The rumor regarding the MacBook Pro keyboard comes from MacBlogz, and the image is nothing more than a mockup made by someone outside Apple. According to the source quoted by MacBlogz, the new MacBook Pros will "100% have a Macbook Air-like keyboard. Feeling more like the Macbook’s current keyboard, yet offering backlight."

Looking back at Apple's previous hardware releases, the time is right for the new MacBook Pro to arise, because the summer's end, right before the school starts, has always been the favorite period to come up with new notebooks. After all, students need a lot of hardware, and Apple is one of their favorite choices.

Another feature everyone hopes to see in the new MacBook Pros is a magnetic closure system just like the Air has, since the hatch closure is a bit outdated now...

This should be all, but if you can think of a feature you'd like to see in the new MacBook Pro, please go ahead and drop a comment, I am looking forward to find out what you think about this!

No matter how much you end up paying for your iPhone 3G, the device is surely pretty expensive. Obviously, if you get a subsidized iPhone 3G, you'll only pay as little as $199 in first stage, but...in the long run, you won't get away cheap, you can bet on that! The intriguing part is that, after being announced to become available only with a carrier plan for 2 years, reports from more than just one place started popping up. What do they say? Fortunately, it's about the unlocked 3G iPhones!!!

<-125x125 Button - left->First, according to a German newspaper, Wirtschaftswoche, T-Mobile will be the provider of the service plans for iPhone 3Gs sold by Gravis, but it seems the German buyers will be able to choose from a longer list of resellers, so the initial claim that the 3G iPhone will only be available in Apple Stores falls.

Considering the above, it's probably only a matter of time until the 3G iPhone becomes available unlocked directly from Apple or third parties. I know this is only a rumor, as all the above, but the fact there's no official confirmation or denial shouldn't be a problem. Just think about the figures - Apple's estimates say that over 30% iPhones have been unlocked by their owners, so no service plan from a preferred carrier, no money for Apple.

What would you do, in this situation? If you ask me, here's what I would do - sell the iPhone unlocked for the same price, but increase costs for repairs/support, and maybe also throw into the pot something to make the iPhone 3G+carrier plan more attractive, like first 3 months for free, a 20% price cut for a MacBook Air purchased together with the iPhone 3G...and the list could be longer than just that. Feel like adding your thoughts to it? Go ahead, nobody is going to stop you!

Do you think the iPhone 3G is awesome? Well, I can't say I totally disagree, but it seems there are a lot of problems with it, some real, some that may appear in time, while others are nothing more than fiction at this time. While the dock issue is a real one, there are plenty of things to think about, as we're going to see right away, but before anything else, let's see what's up with that dock, shall we?

<-234x60 Half Banner - left->According to an Apple Store employee, quoted by IntoMobile, your old iPhone dock won't be able to host the new iPhone 3G. As the guy said, "the iPhone 3G is shaped differently and doesn’t fit in the same dock," so you can leave all hope. The worst thing is that all audio systems featuring universal docks build so far will also be incompatible with the latest iPhone! What a pity...

Well, at least let's hope someone will manage to come up with a "iPhone dock to iPhone 3G dock converter," so those audio systems I mentioned above won't instantly become obsolete as soon as their owners will upgrade to the iPhone 3G, but this is not all - now, let's see what else can be bad about the iPhone 3G!

Another possible issue with the iPhone 3G is long term cost. To make a longer story short, during the first two years, you'll have to pay $160 more because the pricier data plan for the iPhone 3G, compared to the old iPhone.

The iPhone 3G's camera still doesn't have a flash, and there are no replaceable batteries for it, either.

This should be everything I can think of now...but there's also Samsung Instinct, a very interesting "potential problem" (of) for the iPhone! What do you think? Any other issues with the 3G iPhone you can point out? Please, go ahead and let us know!

We already know that the iPhone 3G is cheaper to produce for Apple, and nobody kept the fact that AT&T is paying a certain amount to Apple for each iPhone sold, so the end user can get the smartphone for only $199(the 8GB model), but nobody knew exactly how much gets Apple for each one of these beauties...until now. Well, it's not official, but it's more than nothing!

According to recent notes from Oppenheimer analysts, quoted by MacRumors via Barrons, AT&T pays Apple $325 for each iPhone 3G, so that we can get them for those incredible prices - $199 for the 8GB model, and $299 for the 16GB one. Even more, it seems tha AT&T is paying an additional $100 per phone for iPhones sold in Apple stores, so the total comission ends up at $425, bringing Apple's prices at $624 and $724.

I just wonder about the Samsung Instinct...how did they manage to pull that incredible $129.99 price? That's another interesting story, but I have no idea about its details yet. Anyway, thins are looking good for everyone, especially for Apple and its customers...but I wouldn't worry about AT&T, either! ;)