With Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard entering the final stretch of development, overzealous Apple advocates are turning to discussion boards and file sharing websites to show off image and video captures taken from the next generation OS, most recently highlighting features such as simplified security preferences, enhanced searching, QuickTime X's screen recording function and a new version of Image Capture.
On Monday, attention was drawn to a YouTube user's webpage brandishing over a half dozen Snow Leopard demonstration videos, five of which were subsequently removed by the user while another was yanked from the video sharing website after Apple waged a copyright claim. Since then, readers have pointed to a long-running thread over at the French-language MacGeneration website that's serving as yet another forum offering Snow Leopard-related discussion illustrated by numerous screenshots and videos.
QuickTime X Screen Recording
Readers are free to navigate the thread on their own, though AppleInsider has extracted a handful images showing off some features that have received limited coverage in the past or haven't been represented fully in imagery, such as the recently-reported screen recording options due to arrive as part of QuickTime X Player 1.0. Portions of the native recording interface can be seen in the alert below, which initiates a screen capture session and directs the user to a menu bar option to end a session.
Once a user has concluded a Screen Recording session, the following interface and options provide a means of saving and exporting movies files in different sizes and formats.
QuickTime X also offers options for publishing supported movie files to iTunes in one of three pre-set sizes. From iTunes, they can be synced with an iPhone, iPod, or Apple TV:
New Image Capture App
Also worth noting is that Image Capture has grown as an application to adopt a user interface that is more like iTunes and the Finder, with a sidebar for devices, main window for file info and a thin row of controls lining the bottom of the application.
Universal Keyboard Shortcuts
Preference panes are also showing a convergence of UI as shown in this screenshot of the new Keyboard & Mouse preference pane:
Advanced Security Options
As always, Apple takes Security seriously. At the same time, it doesn't want to intimidate less savvy users from taking advantage of all the Mac has to offer. The below example demonstrates a simplified and easy to manage option that helps keep users safe while on the net.
Chinese Handwriting Recognition
With the private release of the most recent Snow Leopard beta, Apple also informed developers about the addition of Chinese handwriting recognition support for Macs that include a multi-touch trackpad. Similar software was added to iPhone Software 2.0 a year ago, allowing users to draw Chinese symbols on their handset's touchscreen and then select matching symbols suggested by the iPhone Software. This feature can be seen in action for the first time in the below YouTube video:
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is expected to hit the market sometime this summer with a near finalized version now confirmed to make an appearance at Apple's annual developers conference during the second week of June.