WIth all the excitement surrounding the leaked photos of the next gen. iPod Touch we almost forgot about the upcoming SNow Leopard.  According to Mac Rumors they were sent the photos of Snow Leopard retail packaging. 

The images are of the Portuguese version and may be a hoax, but we are guessing this is not the case.  Other sources have said earlier in the week that Snow Leopard could come out as early as this coming Friday as the gold master went out a little while back.  If Snow Leopard comes out this week we will be sure to grab a family pack for our own consumption and share what’s in the box and how the install goes. 

  A developer was messing around with some configuration files which fooled the 3.0 beta software for iPhone to think a video camera was present.  As we and others have posted, we have a pretty firm confirmation that video will be an option in the next iPhone.  The screenshot shows a switch between still or video capture and has an "auto-focus camera", "magnetometer" (digital compass), and "Voice Control".

This summer should show the release of the final 3.0 firmware along with new version(s) of hardware.

[Mac Rumors]

  We have heard this rumor over and over, but this time the images and rumors come from a Russian magazine which also gives us specs on the so-name, MacBook Mini.  Although we don’t know how real or true the specifications are, it is not unlikely that Apple is working on such a MacBook.  If such a MacBook Mini were to be released, the speculation says it would retail for $899.00, which is way out of netbook range and questionable for such a price as it comes awful close to the MacBook price range.

- 10.4" WXGA display.
- 1280 x 768 pixel with LED backlighting.
- NVIDIA MCP79
- Intel Atom Z740 1.83GHz with 1MB L2 cache.
- 2GB DDR3-800.
- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
- 64GB Solid State Drive.
- Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n
- 1 x USB 2.0
- 1 x Mini Display Port
- Battery Li-Ion 5100mA

[9to5mac] via [Mac Rumors]

  It is a fairly rare thing for us to see into the process in which Apple creates its alluring products.  Today we have a prototype that shows us not only the beginning of the iPhone, but also an early version of software running on the iPhone.  The current bid as of this writing is $735 and with 2 days left we will assume that price will sky rocket up from there.  The screens below show what looks similar to the iPhone diagnostic screens on the current iPhone.  We hope to see many more examples of such prototypes in the future.  See more photos after the jump:

[iPhone on Ebay]

[mac rumors] via [iLounge]

  The latest update to the iPhone firmware hints at a new model in the works.  Within the code Apple has always used different numbers to represent the iPhone models.  For example,  "iPhone 1,1" is the original iPhone while the 3G iPhone is labeled "iPhone 1,2".  The new label is now "iPhone 2,1", and confirms a change is coming soon.  If Apple is using the same schedule it has used for the past couple of iPhone releases, then we could count on a June or July release. 

Mac Rumors also notes that:

"Meanwhile, at least one developer has noticed actual "iPhone2,1" models in use based on PinchMedia ad serving reports. (Other numbers blurred out)."

[Mac Rumors]