Mac OS X 10.6 Adding New Gestures to 1st Gen MacBook Air

With the latest Snow Leopard seeds out, the media has literally devoured every piece of information related to the new developer build (10A286). Headlines containing terms like “QuickTime X,” “Core Text,” “Cocoa Finder,” “Put Back,” etc. can be read on almost every Mac-focused publication, including the Mac section of our site. Recently, though, a new feature seems to have made its way into the latest Snow Leopard developer builds.

MacRumors reveals that the latest Snow Leopard seeds contain indications that Apple will be adding support for new gestures to first generation multi-touch trackpad devices, including the first gen MacBook Air. “Based on reports, this functionality has finally been added for the original MacBook Air (and presumably the early 2008 MacBook Pros),” says the report on this discovery.

The post also includes a reminder of Apple introducing a fresh four-finger multi-touch trackpad gesture along with the new (unibody) MacBooks, MacBook Airs, and MacBook Pros in October 2008. The new functionality allows users to easily switch between applications (swipe left/right) or invoke Expose (swipe up/down). Apple has not yet provided software support for this feature, even though the original MacBook Air and early 2008 MacBook Pros are capable of detecting these 4-finger gestures.

Also reported recently is that Snow Leopard is (allegedly) going to be released this June, particularly June 8, at Moscone Center (WWDC '09), by Apple's CEO Steve Jobs. Development on the next iteration of OS X is still underway with numerous issues still plaguing the latest build handed to members of Apple's Developer Connection.

Apple emphasized in the past that Mac OS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard, would add few fresh features in exchange for more stability and the ability to leverage a Mac's hardware (GPU) to the max, embracing new technologies like OpenGL and Grand Central.