Is this the next version of OS X code named Leopard? Notice Internet Explorer there in the background in the larger version of the screenshot? Note the scroll bar isn’t that of OS Xs Aqua but rather the block like version of Windows. Also note the Boot Camp icon in the menu bar. One more notation, the Windows version is stated in the About window. Mmm, very interesting.

Now as many have pointed out, this could just be a really good Photoshop job. IE could actually be the WINE IE project that some have been able to successfully get running and the About screen an easy Photoshop hack. But if this legit, think of what this all means! This could make sales records for Apple like it hasn’t seen since the original Macinstosh 128k. Heck, maybe even since the Apple II!

My question really isn’t if this is fake or not, but if Apple does support virtualization for Windows, will Active X be supported? If so, this could allow many web sites to be displayed on a Mac that usually can not be due to the Active X requirement. QuickBooks online, for example, would no longer require a Boot Camp dual-boot or a start up of Parallel’s Desktop. That would be nice! And even better, if you get zapped with spyware, who cars, just your Windows apps are infected and just burn the Windows install and do a fresh install! Your Mac will be safe the whole time!

Anyway, we only have a little more than a month before WWDC which is where Apple will show off Leopard. All eyese will be focused on Steve Jobs when he sits down at the brand new Mac Pro to see if a little IE icon appears on the Dock. How sweet that day will be.

[Via MacVista]

Rumors, rumors. We love them at SvenOnTech and we love to report them to ya. A reader of ours from MyPalmLife has sent us an interesting morsel. He tells us that he’s reading all sorts of chatter of a Palm and Research in Motion merger. It seems both companies will be having an earnings conference call on the 29th of this month. The rumor boards are saying that this and this alone is indication that both companies will step up to the mic announcing they are one.

With RIMs ream on the lawsuit it lost last month, Research in Motion has some baggage in its house. Palm likewise has some issues at home, too. With the PDA market pretty much dead and the smartphone the wave of the future, Treo is all it has. Since PalmSource likes making next-generation operating systems yet never releasing them, Palm had little choice but to go to the dark side. Palm ain’t looking like it’s going to be able to last on just one model.

So, it is plausible that RIM and Palm would unite to strengthen their assets and consolidate the weakness. A merger would be interesting to see how the W in Treo 700w would pan out since it contains direct competition with the RIMs push e-mail service. But when the chips are down, you take some drastic moves. We’ll see if that move is made on the 29th or not.

We’ve all seen the “leaked” photos of the full-screen iPod for months now. This picture is one of the earliest and has been pretty much discounted as a hoax. However, the notion that a widescreen video iPod is coming keeps fueling the rumor fire and thus many believe not if but when. So indeed, when? When Apple gets more movies to slap onto it. That’s when.

CEO Steve Jobs has had a tough time convincing Hollywood to listen to some computer guy tell it how to run the music and movie business. Understandably, what’s a geek know about movies? Nothing, but he knows how to get it to everyone who wants to buy one; that’s what he knows. Jobs also knows that no one, relatively, is going to buy an expensive iPod that plays widescreen movies if there is really no widescreen movies to be had. All one has to do is look at the new HD DVD players that have been out for almost a month now. ‘What HD DVD players?’ Exactly. Good luck trying to find any kind of selection of titles on the new high def format. Jobs doesn’t want that problem when the next true video iPod hits the streets.

SvenOnTech believes that Jobs has had Apple engineers working on the next level iPod for some time. Just like he had OS X engineers running that operating system on Intel chips since day one. Jobs needed a dog for show-and-tell down there in Hollywood and that may be the what we’re seeing on the Internet with most of these leaked photos. We also believe that Jobs needed to get the ball rolling on content and thus had to give reason for a video iPod, hence the 5G iPod. Enlarging the screen on that iPod took little effort on Apple’s part and would allow the Cupertino-based computer company to have reason to start selling video at the iTunes Music Store.

Now that this is all in place, it’s time to bring real movies to iTMS. A little of that is happening and rumors have it that the next version of OS X, code named Leopard, will have a BitTorrent built-in. With no other reason for BitTorrent than to assist in huge downloads, this seems to add more weight to the fact a full-screen iPod is coming soon. That coupled with the fact that Jobs took a powerful role at Disney instead of cash for the Pixar buy out should really point to movies are coming.

Jobs understands many things and he understands the chicken and the egg problem. Once a good foundation of movies are available on iTunes Music Store (by this Christmas?), you’ll see the next iPod in all of it’s full-screen glory in the hands of a smiling Steve Jobs. Trust us, we nailed the MacBook Pro was coming, so we think we’re on a roll with these predictions.

Is Micheal Dell ready to add OS X to his arsenal? Is John Dvorak wrong about Apple going Windows if Dell’s going Tiger? Well what ever the details may be, all one has to do is go to Dell’s support page and do a little downloading selection and low and behold, Apple Mac OS is one of the choices. Now the downloads aren’t even the correct format, but still, when one is ramping things up, there are bumps in the road, right? I mean the tech guys in India have been doing EXE and ZIP for years, so that DMG thing is going to take some time to get use to.

So what will life be like with OS X on a Dell and Apple hardware? Could Alienware (Dell-owned) be next?

[Via Engadget]

Ever since the Treo 700w was released just a few months ago, the ‘Net has been a buzz with rumors of a Palm version. While PalmSource has left its operating system to age and wither, Palm, Inc. made its commitment to the OS of its beginnings clear early this year when CEO Ed Colligan stated that the company would continue releasing product with PalmSource product on it.

While the web is filled with speculation of when the 700p will be released, most feel that the 700p is a sure thing and is not vaporware like Cobalt turned out to be. The only real tough question is which network will be taking advantage of the EV-DO capabilities of the Treo 700p. Will it be Sprint or Verizon? Our sources say Sprint, as Verizon was able to get the exclusive deal on the Windows version while Sprint was offered the Palm version. With many of the leaked photos (doctored or not) showing the Sprint logo on them, it would seem to indicate our sources are correct.

If and when the 700p is released, it will be the first Treo update with a Palm OS on it since October 2004.

Gizmodo picked up on a Mac OS Rumor that has a tipster telling the rumor site that Leopard, Mac OS Xs next update, will be packed with some download help for iTunes. Instead of recreating the wheel, Apple’s just going to use a true-and-tested P2P software called BitTorrent. Gasp! What is the RIAA or MPAA going to think about that? Screw ‘em, Steve’s in charge!

If this rumor indeed is true, then the brilliance of Jobs keeps on shinning. BitTorrent has proven a wonderful and a must for movie downloads on the Internet but most of those downloads are illegal. The author of BitTorrent is watched like a hawk by the movie and record industry ready to catch him in a blunder much like the pharisees tried to catch Jesus in when they would ask him tricky questions. Bram Cohen has been a good boy and hasn’t been charged with anything yet and it only shows that his technology can be used for the greater good of digital man. Steve Jobs must agree with that thought, too.

Again, this is all rumor and Mac OS Rumors doesn’t have a good track record with rumors turning into fact, but then again, who does? Truth is, Apple is already paying through the nose for bandwidth for its iTunes Music Store and when full out movies come online, then the meter is really going to be ticking. Apple has an upcoming problem and it desires to make a bit more than its token profits off the most successful download music store on the Internet. BitTorrent is the perfect answer for that need and by enticing users with discounts on future purchases for aiding in others downloads, this scheme would up Apple’s bottom line at the end of the day. It’s like the Guinness guys say, “Brilliant!”

But what about user abuse you ask? Man that’s so not a problem since all one has to do is look how well Apple locked up FairPlay on iTMS downloads. Jhymn still hasn’t been able to fix what Apple broke for them six months ago. The engineers near the Los Gatos hills know very well what kind of trouble they’d be in if someone cracked the BitTorrent component in Leopard to get free swag. We can bet our Apple I (if we had one) that it’s going to be no walk in the park to crack this baby.

All in all, it sounds like Leopard is going to be the cats meow with this BitTorrent and Windows virtualization when it’s released. That along with the other 118 updates.

Can it be? You’ll be able to “fast switch” to Windows XP (or Vista) with the latest OS X update, 10.5, when it releases sometime next year? Well MacRumors.com is reporting this very unbelievable thing to be in the works! It looks like a code named software “Chameleon” is being developed along side Intel and Microsoft to allow Mac users to simply switch into Windows mode when needing to execute a Windows-based program. When they’re done with the application, they switch back into OS X. No rebooting into the other OS. This means dual-boot is a thing of the past if all this true…as well as making the “switch” thing a bit confusing, too.

Bill Gates said Microsoft is working on bringing a better DAP to take on the iPod to a bunch of high school kids last week. Now just down the road there in the same state of gloomy weather Washington, Amazon’s Chief Executive Jeff Bezos says he’s talking to four global music companies and is not only going to do its own music store but also its own music player.

Some in the industry are saying on the hush-hush that they welcome Amazon to the download party and see it as a true competitor to Apple’s iTunes. If all goes well, Amazon customers could be adding songs to their baskets by this summer.

It’s not clear how the public will take to an online retailer making its own hardware player (though rumors have it Samsung will be subsidizing most of the hardware.) After number one PC maker, Dell Computers, dumped its high storage DAP last month, it will be interesting to see if Amazon can get the public to buy into a player from a book store.

The music store most likely will run to the tune of Napster and Real’s Rhapsody and be subscription based. While both of the latter almost make a million in subscribers, Amazon can boast of having a 55 million customer base to sale to. If only two percent bite, Amazon automatically becomes the second largest online music retailer. Watch out, Apple.

[Via WSJ]

There’s been lots of talk and lots of pictures of the full-screen iPod video that is supposedly coming this April 1st.  Many speculate that Apple will amaze the world for its 30th anniversary with this amazing near 16×9 all screen iPod that will, like the 1G and then the iPod mini, re-invent the digital audio player market with a touch-sensitive screen that will bring the famous ClickWheel into view, but only when needed.

Now there seems to be some action going on over at the patent office with some diagrams that strangely look a lot like an iPod with the very disappearing ClickWheel we keep hearing about.  Documented on February 2nd, this could very much mean this invention is done and is ready for prime time and now just needs to be protected.  That said, it’s possible then that we indeed may see a full-screen iPod video.  I just hope the 80GB stat is right, ’cause man, I need that storage!

BusinessWeek is reporting that it has received some information that Microsoft is taking Steve Jobs advice and building an iPod fighter. Bill Gates believes customers want just more then the ‘limited line’ of audio players that Apple offers, so look for the Microsoft player to do music, video, and Xbox-type games. “It can’t just be our version of the iPod,” says Peter Moore, the main dude behind the Xbox. “I think the brand is an opportunity,” Moore told BusinessWeek.

So how will this effect other partners such Creative that have been happily making Portable Media Players (PMP) with the Windows Media logo on them? Will these partners just jump ship and do something else? Will Microsoft both alienate its partners and loss against the iPod?

The Microsoft version of the iPod will suck out of the gates. Look at everything Microsoft has done when copying its competitors. Windows 1.0 was a joke and didn’t even come close to the Macintosh. Windows CE (now Windows Mobile) was okay, but again, didn’t come close to the Palm Pilot. Its music player will be no different.

Adding Xbox-like games into the device may grab a few gamers, but most audio listeners don’t care about games. Heck, I rarely play my iPod games and it’s not why I even bought the iPod. Music and simplicity. That’s why.

Bill Gates comments once again prove he doesn’t have a tap into the market and what it really wants.