The folks at The Boy Genius Report spent some time poking around server logs and found references to iPhone OS 2.0.1. It seems that build 5B101 is the 2.0.1 software for first-generation iPhones, while 5B103 is for 3G iPhones.

No word on what's included, of course, or when this might hit iTunes. According to AppleInsider, some people are having trouble with the camera and the accelerometer since the update. Have any of you 1st generation iPhone owners had software trouble since the update? Here's hoping this update will solve the problem.

While browsing Flickr this afternoon, we came across a shot of a Nintendo DS running Macintosh System 6 in emulation on reader Ken Fager's Flickr stream. Of course, we contacted him to ask how he did it. Here's what he had to say.

First, grab a DS flash card and install MiniVMacDS onto its root directory.

Once that's done, place the Mac Plus ROM into the "vmac" folder along with a System 6/7 install disk (you can make a blank disk image using Disk Utility).

Finally, turn on the DS and select MiniVMacDS. It will boot the disk images. From there, install (minimal) System 6 onto the blank disk image.

Ken notes that it's a bit pokey, but hey, this wasn't done for speed! Have fun if you try this for yourself. Thanks for sharing, Ken! We love it.

TUAW has received some information that suggests Apple may be working to seed developers with an early build of Mac OS X 10.6 at this year's WWDC. 10.6 will not include any new significant features from 10.5; instead, Apple is focusing solely on "stability and security."

We have also learned that OS X 10.6 may go gold master by December 2008 in an effort to start shipping it in January '09 at Macworld Expo. Mac OS X 10.6 will be a milestone release for Apple, as it will leave the PowerPC behind: a fully 64-bit clean, Intel-only Mac OS X.

This information makes us wonder about universal applications -- how much longer will they exist? With Apple leaving pre-Intel Macs behind before the end of the decade, this could mark the end of the Intel transition, as Apple (and presumably many third-party developers) will be focusing only on the newer Mac architecture.

Of course, this leaves open a critical question -- what will this new OS version be codenamed? We've got our hunches, but we can't leave you out of the guessing game.

Update: Jacqui Cheng at Ars Technica confirms our info, and lets the cat out of the bag: the code name for 10.6 is expected to be Snow Leopard (choice #2 below).

Macsimum News is reporting that the long-awaited Mac OS X 10.5.3 is just about ready to go. Build 9D25 was released to developers at the end of last month with twenty-two fixes in place and no known issues. The most recent build, 9D34, went out with one fix and no new issues. That sounds good to us!

You can read the full release notes at Macsimum news, but items that caught our attention include

1. Back To My Mac improvements (I'll settle for it working at all)
2. Graphics driver performance fix
3. Issue with Safari bookmarks and .Mac Mail account resolved
4. Joining AirPort network after wake issue resolved

I've personally had trouble with that last one. With WWDC just a couple of weeks away, we assume this update will hit the streets sooner than later.

Time Machine is the backup software built into Mac OS X Leopard that people either love or hate. It already saved my backside on the night before a report was due, so I'm a hands-down fan.

For now, the available options are limited. According to AppleInsider, that's going to change with the release of Mac OS 10.5.3. It seems that the latest OS build seeded to developers (9D29) features a version of Time Machine which lets laptop owners suspend backups while running on battery power.

This is good for two reasons. It eliminates a power draw on the battery, and prevents incomplete backups (should your battery die before a backups session finished).

Our only question is ... May we have 10.5.3 now?!?

I'm not a trackpad fan, but I will admit that gestures are cool. Ivan at Creative Bits has identified the gestures available in Photoshop, including

• Alt (Option) key + double finger track to zoom and out within a document
• Hold the Apple (Cmd) key to zoom the whole screen

There's more, of course, and you can read the full list here. We recently wrote about some fun you can have using trackpad gestures to zoom and pan images in a Quick Look window.

Ivan also wishes for user-defined gestures, something that only seems logical for Apple to implement.

What's on your "Gestures Wish List?"

According to World of Apple, Mac OS 10.5.3 (build 9D25) has been seeded. No new issues have been identified this time around, and twenty-two fixes have been implemented, including:

• Various printing issues
• An issue with Safari bookmarks and .Mac Mail account has been resolved (I'll believe that when I see it)
• Issues with mounted Boot Camp volumes
• A crash within the Network Preference Pane

So far, 180 fixes have been implemented for this version of the OS. Apple seeded build 9D10 in March and several in the month of April. As of the release of build 9D12 on April 4th, 110 fixes had been applied, meaning an additional 70 bugs have been squashed between then and now.

No word on when 10.5.3 will be released officially.

Is anyone else hungry for pumpkin seeds now?

Is Big Blue about to go Mac?

Well, not really. Roughly Drafted Magazine has obtained a document which describes a pilot program at IBM that has employees using Macs for their day-to-day work. Now, they aren't looking to ditch Windows in favor of Mac OS entirely. Instead, IBM wants to have diverse operating systems available to employees. From the document:

"Research is focusing on providing an IBM application stack on multiple Operating Systems, rather than be confined to one or the other."

At the end of the program's first phase, a full 86% of participants asked to keep their Macs, leaving comments like "It has been easier learning the Mac than learning Vista" and "Getting wireless running was a piece of cake on the Mac, much simpler than the PC" (amen to that, brother). Of course, this is probably an easier sell now that IBM doesn't make PCs any more.

Someone cue the chick with the sledgehammer.

[Via Infinite Loop]

There are a handful of things I miss from OS 9, like programmable function keys (and Extension conflicts. I kid.). Just like The Apple Menu and the Happy Mac, fully customizable function keys were killed by Apple's big cats.

However, we're not at a loss. The folks at Bitbox have described the simple steps needed to get some of that old flexibility back. First, launch system preferences and click the "Keyboard" tab. Next, select the "Use all F1, F2 etc. keys as standard function keys" option.

Now, you can use your function keys as nature intended. Their specialty functions are still available, too (like volume and brightness); just hold down the "fn" key while hitting the key of your choice.

Samuel Dean at Web Worker Daily has compiled a nice list of applications that will make Mac OS X more familiar or recent switchers. Included in the list is Adium (for multi-protocol IM), WhatSize for identifying file sizes and types in a manner similar to Windows Explorer and Firefox, since they were probably using it on their Windows machine, anyway.

One tip I always share is the spotlight search feature in System Preference. Many switchers get lost in translation; that is, figuring out what Apple has named a certain system preference, or where it lives. System Preference search lets them enter a keyword, like "trackpad", and see the highlighted result. It's very handy.

There are two types of Mac users: the mouse-centric, the keyboard jockeys, and those who refuse to sleep with Windows users. OK, three types.

This tip is for users like me whose knowledge of each application's set of keyboard shortcuts is prodigious. Even we get stumped occasionally when a shortcut doesn't work as expected or is simply missing. This is very easily remedied.

In the Keyboard & Mouse preference pane in System Preferences, you'll see a little "+". Click it, identify the application you're after and type the name of your target menu item. Next, simply pick a shortcut, click "Add" and you're done! You shortcut is in place and you can avoid another time consuming journey from your home keys to your mouse.

Here's an interesting list of applications supposedly killed by Leopard. There's no question that there's a huge amount of functionality in Leopard that was taken care of in Tiger by third-party apps (and this is just a list of freeware-- commenters pointed out last week that Jisho was made almost obsolete by the Japanese dictionary included with Leopard), but I'm not so sure this list is all it promises to be. No amount of tweaking to Spotlight will ever replace Quicksilver, and as good as iChat has gotten, I still like Adium for its easy customization.

And apps like CenterStage, who used to have a one goal (an open source Front Row replacement), have now been able to spread out and become more their own program instead of worrying about Apple's missing functionality.

As always, the best app for the job depends on both the job and the person doing it, so there are probably more than a few places where Leopard stepped up to fill functionality that users used to trust third-party software for. But it's a stretch at least to say Leopard killed these apps-- replication of one function now built into the OS doesn't mean all the apps other functions are useless.

[Via Fake Steve]

We've talked so much about Leopard already here at TUAW that I'd find it hard to believe you readers haven't decided yet whether you're ready to pick it up (or not), but just in case, here's a few concise reviews from around the 'net to let you know whether this is something you want or not.

• PC Mag gives the OS a whopping 4.5 out of 5: "Leopard performs all such tasks even better than previous versions did-and Leopard is the only OS on the planet that works effortlessly and intuitively in today's world of networked computers and peripherals. Leopard is far from perfect, but it's better than any alternative, and it's getting harder and harder to find good reasons to use anything else."
• Laptop Magazine isn't quite as harsh on the glitches, but also give it 4.5/5: "Part useful, part flash, all beautifully easy: Apple's Mac OS X 10 Leopard bounded into stores Friday, thrilling the Mac faithful with a solid and extremely useful upgrade."
• CNET gives Leopard an 8.0 out of 10, saying that while Leopard is nice, it might not be necessary: "Should you pay for Leopard? If you're happy with the way Tiger works, then maybe not. If you need Bootcamp, however, then you must have Leopard. And if you're considering the purchase of a new computer, Leopard makes Macs more enticing than Tiger did."
• And Macworld says that while you might not use everything, the stuff you will use is worth it: "Given the impressive value of Time Machine and improvements to existing programs such as iCal, iChat, Mail, and the Finder, most active Mac users will find more than enough reasons to consider that upgrade cost money well spent. Despite a few interface missteps, particularly when it comes the menu bar and the Dock, Leopard is an upgrade that roars."

Now, once again, odds are that either you've using Leopard right now, or you're already waiting on a specific reason to upgrade for it. But across the board, reviews on the new OS are generally good. And even though lots of users are dealing with bugs and unfixed errors right now, the best days of Leopard are still yet to come.
Thanks to everyone who sent these in!

Drewm over at Flickr recreated the Mac OS X trash can in real life. It's an absolutely beautiful three-dimensional nod to the OS X dock. It makes you kind of wish he'd recreate the entire dock but searching his account only found 1 result matching "dock".

A blue acrylic clipboard appears to have given him the inspiration. See this earlier picture of his of the same can full of coins. The photo was shot using a Canon digital camera. In terms of visual beauty, this is a big step forward from the OS sculptures Apple used to display at the Apple Campus garden in Cupertino.

John Gruber already pointed out some flaws of The Register's Lance Davis who doubts the iPhone, but I have an even bigger problem with the line of thinking Davis used in his analysis. He writes:

Remember, the mobile industry is one where some of the biggest companies in the world have tried and failed: Siemens, Philips, Fujitsu. None of them have creditable [sic] market shares. Even IBM put a toe in the water in the late nineties and then stayed away.

Obviously, no one can truly say one thing or another about the iPhone until we all get our hands on one and the market decides whether the device sinks or swims. Until then, everyone is free to say what they want as long as we all take it with a grain of salt. The qualm I have with Davis' analogy is that the manufacturers he cites - Siemens, Philips and Fujitsu - are using Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform on their smartphones. Setting aside the debate about Microsoft's ability to write software for a moment, the more significant factor here is that these manufacturers are using someone else's software on their products, which means they're susceptible to all the circumstances that come with pairing one's hardware with software they have an inarguable lack of knowledge and experience with.