Unfortunately, it seems I was right to say I wouldn't bet my life on seeing Leopard updated last month, because it's February already and the patch didn't arrive yet. Anyway, there's no need to worry, because Apple is working hard on it, and today I just found out about a new proof of this fact - earlier this week, the developer community got another pre-release of the upcoming update from the Cupertino-based company...

Just like the one that came before it, Mac OS X 10.5.2 build 9C27, the current build of the soon-to-be-released update, seems to be free of known issues. Since there were no bugs to fix, all that can be said about this last build is that 9C27 managed to add a few more improvements to the list that already exceeds the 130 new features/improvements mark.

According to those familiar with the latest Mac OS X builds for the developer community, the list of improvements now included various fixes to Leopard's Finder sidebar, new desktop backgrounds, support for the new Time Capsule backup appliance, iChat Bluetooth functionality, as well as disk space management and improvements to the Time Machine software.

Leaving the above aside, Apple's efforts seem to concentrate their attention of system core components, such as Bluetooth, Audio Input, the Finder, Spotlight and the graphics drivers, these being the items they asked developers to focus their testing efforts on.

I know there's one big question remaining, but I don't have a straight answer to that. Last news I heard place the release to the public of this update during this month, so let's keep our fingers crossed...

Although it may seem unreal to some, I think Gartner's prediction regarding Apple's market share growth in the coming years should prove accurate, when the time to draw the line comes. While the reason may not be Apple's performance itself, since Microsoft's failure to deliver an OS able to draw more users, or at least keep existing ones, also pushes Apple's sales forward, the future looks bright for the Cupertino-based company. How bright? Let's see the expectations...

At this time, Apple Inc.'s share of the US personal computer market is pushing its way past the 6.1 percent mark, with Leopard's good performance and excellent customer satisfaction rate, as well as the company's increasing popularity, being two solid reasons behind this evolution, combined with Microsoft's "help" that I just mentioned above.

In the future, it is expected for Apple's market share to go above 12 percent (in the US, as I said already), but Gartner also predicted in its raport called "Key Predictions for IT Organisations and Users in 2008 and Beyond" that Apple's market share of the Western Europe computer market should double by 2011.

At last, one very interesting prediction of the report named above is that, by 2012, 80 percent of all commercial software will include elements of open-source technology. These being said, I hope we won't collide with any comet in the near future, because otherwise, the coming years look pretty interesting, at least when talking about the IT field...

Apple's iTunes was always in a close battle with its counterpart from RealNetworks, that one being RealPlayer, of course. Despite their rather uninspired proprietary media format, RealNetworks managed to hang on in there and keep the second position on the media streaming market, after Microsoft's Windows Media Player, but things have just changed...

According to recent studies, the situation looks like this: Windows Media Player - 76 million, iTunes - 36 million, and RealPlayer - 27 million. Obviously, we are talking about the number of users each of these players has...

It's pretty clear that Media Player's growth has one main reason, and that is the fact that Microsoft had the (very good, I must admit) idea of making it a part of its Windows operating systems, but how did iTunes managed to get a steady growth?

Well, let's think a bit - now they have movie rentals, and Apple TV "Take 2" is going to arrive pretty soon, an event that may boost iTunes usage even higher, and we shouldn't forget about the inspired move Apple made when decided to make QuickTime and iTunes available for the Windows platform too (that's an ancient story, anyway, but I think it is worth being mentioned here).

Other than the above, I must confess that I used RealPlayer only when I had to, and that didn't happen too often. Also, the existence of completely ad-free programs such as RealAlternative had its part in slowly pushing back RealPlayer's popularity...

At last, let's congratulate Apple for this success and hope that, maybe, one day in the future... you know what I am thinking about, so I don't have to say more!

I am NOT an Apple fanboy. I will only say this once. I am not crazy about the iPhone, or their iPods, but I must admit Apple is changing the world with every new product, finding new paths and setting the direction for the rest of the industry, and that's what really matters, in the end. No matter how many weak points may find people in the MacBook Air (I made it clear already - I love the MacBook), it has become clear already that Apple's latest notebook has changed the direction of other companies, and I am talking about PC manufacturers.

I don't like to rely on rumors, but sometimes I write about rumors too, because they proved to be true in so many cases... but this time, it's the naked truth: according to a source with inside information from Intel, in the near future, two PC makers will start manufacturing systems powered by the same custom Core 2 Duo processor used in the MacBook Air! Unfortunately, we don't have a single clue about who these companies are going to be, but let me guess - Dell and Sony, maybe?

According to Connie Brown, Intel spokeswoman, while the CPU we're talking about here was designed especially for Apple's MacBook Air, "other PC makers can use it". Well, this is the natural flow of things, and I don't think it would have been useful for Apple to pay for being the exclusive user of this technology, especially since the new 45nm Core 2 Duo mobile chips may be similar to the custom 65nm design used to power the MacBook Air...

Do I need to say more? Sooner or later, we'll get to see if I was right with my prediction (remember, Dell and Sony, all right?), because one thing is obvious: Apple still has the power to change the IT world, and this is happening right now, as we speak. For Intel, this was the first time to develop a small form-factor chip for a "normal" mobile processor, and soon, it's going to be someone's privilege to step behind the MacBook Air and, who knows, maybe even release a thinner and lighter notebook!

A few days ago, Apple released updates to its iWork '08 office applications suite, but that wasn't such a big event, after all. What everyone is (still) waiting is the Apple TV "Take 2" software, the update that would enable Apple TV users "to rent high definition movies directly from their widescreen TVs", and according to an official statement from Steve Jobs' company, "Apple now plans to make the free software download available to existing Apple TV customers in another week or two.", which shouldn't be that bad, after all...

As you probably know already, the new Apple TV software update, together with iTunes Movie Rentals, will allow you to rent movies from a collection of over 1,000 titles (by this month's end), all by pushing a button on your remote once! In this collection, there should also be over 100 HD titles, with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound. The prices are going to start at $2.99 for older titles, up to #4.99 for new HD releases.

If you're still asking yourselves about the meaning of my title, now I will reveal to you something that you probably didn't know so far (I must admit I found about it today) - while the Apple TV software update may arrive a bit late, you can take your time to check the brand-new Mac video tutorials website launched by Apple as a part of Apple.com. This sub-site, available here, has six sections, each with video tutorials between 1 and 4 minutes long. The sections available are Mac OS X, Photos, Movies, Web, Music, and Documents, each with various subsections, such as "Anatomy of a Mac, "Customize Your Mighty Mouse", "Email a PDF", and so on.

These being said, I hope you will enjoy the "Find out how" website while waiting for Apple TV "Take 2"...