14 DAY TRIAL // Several reports outline the changes occurring with Snow Leopard lately, including a new interface for QuickTime X, new text capabilities, an updated CoreLocation framework and more. The seed notes for Mac OS X 10.6 Build 10A286 have also revealed that members of Apple's Developer Connection still have to do a lot of work on the OS before its estimated release this summer.
World of Apple, the source generally responsible with providing the seed notes for Apple's latest Leopard builds, reveals that developers are being encouraged to run the new build in 64-bit mode, signaling a "major shift" in that direction. Additionally, the site points out to the three main changes inside Build 10A286 - a minimalist QuickTime X, a Cocoa-based Finder and support for Safari 4 Beta.
AppleInsider chimes in to provide further insight into the build, citing a variety of advanced text related features that have been added across all applications using Core Text. According to the site, Snow Leopard will boast automatic spell correction that will simply replace words such as 'teh' or 'spelll' with a hit of the spacebar. All applications are to benefit from this feature, the site notes.
A list of phrases can (allegedly) also be defined and then automatically substituted with the user typing a sequence of characters. Additionally, a smart selection of relevant Services will appear right in the contextual menu of a selection, the source continues to outline. This reportedly makes “their utility far more obvious, while tagged items will be assigned the applications' icon.”
Lastly, users are said to be able to perform “Transformations” - changing the selected text to all caps, or all small letters, or capitalized – using options from a new submenu in the contextual menu.
Click here to have a closer look at the seed notes for Snow Leopard build 10A286. Apple is widely expected to release Mac OS X 10.6 this summer. The company stated in the past that Snow Leopard emphasized stability and performance, adding few new features compared to the current version of Leopard.