Feature: Dictionary

How it works: Find a word you don't know the meaning of, launch the app, find the meaning, and rejoice. But that's not all! The new and improved Dictionary in Leopard defines words, it is true, but it also shows you Wikipedia information about whatever term you searched for. Dictionary has also been integrated into Spotlight, so if you search of a word the Dictionary definition will pop up in the results. Dictionary will also translate Japanese terms into English, and contains an Apple specific dictionary chock full of Apple specific terms (I wonder if TUAW is in there).

Who will use it: Linguists, Seekers of Truth, and people who can't spell (not that that ever happens to me).

And so ends our 24 Hours of Leopard. We hope you've enjoyed this little warm up to the main event, and remember if you want to see all of the posts in this series just check out this page.

Feature: AutoFS

How it works: AutoFS isn't sexy, but it does correct one of the longest standing issues with OS X: connecting to network volumes always brings the Finder to its knees. No longer, folks, thanks to AutoFS. Network shares are now mounted on separate threads which means they won't take down your Mac should you try and connect to a share that isn't available (this should negatively impact the Marble of Doom, but I think we'll all agree this is a good thing).

Who will use it: Anyone who accesses files across a network (including .Mac users, AirDisk users, and people connecting to Windows shares).

Feature: iChat Recording

How it works: Pretty much like anything else with a Record button -- you're on an audio or video iChat, you press that big red button, iChat thoughtfully notifies your participants that they're being recorded, and off you go. Audio gets saved as AAC and video as MPEG-4 (perfect for iPod/iPhone usage, perhaps a bit less perfect for sharing online) when you're done with the conversation. For presentation use, especially when combined with screen sharing and Quick Look, this instantly creates a no-frills alternative to recordable conferencing tools like Adobe Connect, GoToMeeting and WebEx -- at least for small meetings where everyone has a Mac.

Who will use it: iChat collaborators, podcasters, conference callers, and grandparents/grandchildren -- but only those with hearty hardware, as I'd expect iChat video recording to chew up quite a bit of horsepower. For those not quite ready to make the move to Leopard, ecamm's excellent and inexpensive Call Recorder 2 offers similar functionality.

Feature: Front Row is updated to work just like Apple TV, but on your computer.

How it works: To tell the truth, I kind of liked the spinning icons of Front Row (and so did this kitten), but the Apple TV interface is nice, too. You can play all of your content (and even content streaming from other computers) straight through the interface, and obviously, DVDs, Podcasts, and Photos are all included in there as well. It's all built right in to every copy of Leopard, ready to operate from across the room with the still awesome Apple Remote.

Who will use it: Anyone watching movies or playing media from a distance on their Mac. And especially those of us planning on picking up a mini-- hook up a video out to the TV, and you've now got an Apple TV that does so, so much more.

Feature: The Guest user account

How it works: You've got a friend (well, probably more than one, but for the purposes of this example, just one). Your friend, a curious and look-through-your-medicine-cabinet sort, needs to check his email and get some driving directions on your computer. Don't want to give Nosy McSnoopsalot free rein to peek through your collection of model railroading websites? Just log in with the Guest account; a fresh, unimpaired new user for temporary access to your machine. As soon as he logs back out, the Guest settings vanish into the ether, and the next Guest who logs in gets the default settings, desktop, etc. as if the original guest had never been there.

Who will use it: Sooner or later, everyone, unless you have no friends -- or you don't care who gets their grubby mitts into your stuff.

Feature: Safari 3 (out of beta!)

How it works: Safari 3 is the third revision of Apple's web browser based on the open source Konqueror HTML rendering engine (also known as KHTML). Apple has open sourced its contributions to KHTML under the WebKit moniker. Safari 3 adds a host of new features to Apple's metallic web browser. Some of my favorites include: enhanced search that makes it easy to see highlighted items, it can remember what tabs you had open and offer to reopen them when you relaunch Safari, integrated PDF tools (so you no longer need to download a PDF and open it in Preview), and it is fast.

Who will use it: Most Leopard users, anyone using an iPod touch or iPhone. It is the default web browser on OS X systems, so that ensures lots of people will be using it (and even our Windows using friends can get in on the fun).

Feature: Spotlight

How it works: Spotlight was another Tiger innovation that just never quite lived up to its billing. It was hobbled by slowdowns and some bad design decisions on Apple's part regarding what sort of searches you could run. While it's a bit too early to say if it's substantially faster at least Leopard Spotlight goes part of the way towards improving things by allowing you to run Boolean searches with the AND, OR, and NOT operators as well as narrow your search results in various ways. In addition, like Google, Spotlight now knows how to add and define words, so you can run simple arithmetical calculations (e.g. "7+5") or look up words in the dictionary, just by typing them into the Spotlight search box. Spotlight can now also search other Macs on the same local network as well.

Who will use it: Everyone who needs to find things on their Mac(s).

Feature: The new Finder

How it works: People have been complaining about the Finder since OS X was first released. Finally, Leopard brings a variety of long-awaited features. Perhaps most important is the one-two punch Quick Look and Cover Flow, but there are a many other new features as well. The new Finder takes its design cues from iTunes, with the sidebar now looking very much just like the source list. Taking a cue from Cocoatech's Path Finder, Leopard adds a live path bar to the bottom of the Finder windows. There are also new folder view settings and the option to make particular folders sharable.

Who will use it: Everyone, and while it's unlikely all the critics will be fully satisfied, the improvements will likely make third-party Finder replacements seem less necessary.

Feature: Alex, the new voice of Mac OS X

How it works: Voice synthesis on the Mac has been around for more than 20 years now, but outside of screenreading and special applications it's never been a marquee feature (that is, if you don't count Talking Moose -- now once again available for OS X. Woot!). Even though the Macintalk and Speech Manager voices have improved a lot over time, the best of them still sound distressingly artificial.

Enter Alex, a dramatically more comprehensible voice (YouTube demo movie) that includes fine breath and pause control to enhance understandability, especially for high-speed reading; you can listen to a sample of Alex at this post. From the samples of Alex that I've heard, he compares favorably with high-end synthesis voices like AT&T's Natural Voice and Cepstral. For anyone using VoiceOver or wanting to be able to track information while not watching the computer, Alex is a natural.

Who will use it: VoiceOver users, who'll be thrilled; all Leopard owners who occasionally need things read instead of displayed.

Feature: Quick Look

How it works: Quick Look has the potential to change the way Mac users interact with their computers. It brings super-quick access to your files by allowing you to preview a variety of files without opening them in their associated applications. Instead of opening a file by double-clicking on it in the Finder, if you hit the spacebar you'll see a live preview pop up. Also with Quick Look, the various supported document icons become live preview thumbnails. Supported file types include "images, text files, PDF documents, movies, Keynote presentations, Mail attachments, and Microsoft Word and Excel files." Third

Who will use it: Everyone. Like Cover Flow, Quick Look has the potential to really speed up the process of finding a particular document since you can scan contents without opening them.

Feature: The new and improved Automator.

How it works: When Tiger was released Automator was a highly touted new feature, and though it's certainly developed a certain fan base on sites like Automator.us and MacScripters, I can't help but feel like it hasn't quite not taken off the way Apple had hoped. Leopard brings a substantial upgrade to Automator, most marked by the addition of UI Recording and Playback. Basically, you can have Automator watch you perform a task such as a mouse-click and then save that task as an Automator action that can be integrated into a Workflow. The new Automator also adds a significant degree of sophistication to Workflows by allowing the use of variables.

Who will use it: As I suggested above, Automator is intended for all users, but it hasn't quite lived up to its promise of allowing everyone to "program" their Macs. Nonetheless, the Leopard version may just be the ticket for getting average users to take more control of their Macs.

Feature: Back to My Mac

How it works: For Leopard-running .Mac users who roam away from home, Back to my Mac provides a breadcrumb trail to the master machine. By registering the home IP address with the .Mac servers, B2mM lets you access your entire hard drive, transfer files, or control the screen of the remote machine without having to configure dynamic DNS or set up VPNs, VNC or anything else beginning with V.

Who will use it: Those lucky souls (.Mac subscribers only) with a Mac at home and another one at work or on the road.

Feature: Cover Flow in the Finder.

How it works: Just like album Cover Flow in iTunes, Leopard brings the side-scrolling view to the Finder, allowing your "flip" through your files and see live previews (including paging through mutli-page documents and playing movies).

Who will use it: Everyone at one time or another. When I first heard of Cover Flow in the Finder, like Matt Neuburg, it seemed like pointless eye candy. But like him I'm beginning to think otherwise. Cover Flow makes quickly flipping through a bunch of files to look for something much easier. This becomes particularly important when you're looking through folders you're not that familiar with. So even if you're more inclined to keep the Finder in a conventional view, Cover Flow will still probably come in handy on occasion.

Feature: UNIX certification: Sure, we're all for nonconfirmity in our non-computer lives--but when it comes to UNIX, specs matter. Leopard brings Open Brand UNIX 03 with SUSv3 and POSIX 1003.1 conformity.

How it works: That highly leaded UNIX runs as the core of your operating system. You never have to touch it or know that it is there until you're ready to dive in via the Terminal command line.

Who will use it: UNIX certification is fab for hardcore geeks. You can deploy all sorts of goodies that demand that 100% purebred UNIX-y atmosphere. It's like getting a perfect greenhouse for your exotic orchid collection. Assuming, that is, you're some sort of computerized version of Nero Wolfe.

Feature: Stacks, which are what Apple is calling clickable icons on the Dock that fold out to show other clickable icons.

How it works: It's actually an updated implementation of the old "Piles" idea, in that you can have one icon that gives you access to lots of different things. But Apple's Stacks fill another role-- they get icons off of the Desktop for good, and down into the Dock without looking cluttered. For years and years, almost every Desktop on every computer ever has had icons all over it, from apps to various downloads to whatever ended up there. But Leopard is different-- all of its icons aren't spread on the Desktop, they're piled into the Dock. Click them, and they span across the Desktop (or line up in a grid, if you're boring), click them again and they disappear. That's the real innovation here-- now, finally, you can work your way down to a completely empty, icon-free desktop.

Oh, and I should also mention that Stacks aren't just static. Leopard comes with two stacks-- Documents and Downloads, and the Downloads stack will automatically fill out with anything you download from Safari, Mail, or iChat. No more downloading random files to the Desktop and using Expose to let you go find it. Now, just click open the Stack, and get access to everything you need without ever leaving the window you're working in.

Who will use it: Everybody! And Windows users in 2010, too, since it's almost guaranteed that Microsoft is already working on a way to get this into Windows 7.