Apple today announced that its newest version of Mac OS X – 10.6 Snow Leopard will start appearing on doorsteps and in stores this Friday, August 28. This beats Apple’s original ship date of “sometime in September.”

More of a refinement of 10.5 Leopard than a re-do, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard touts much tighter code, more 64-bit processing capabilities, improved multi-processor support, and improved graphics processing. The refinements result in a much smaller footprint on your hard drive, according to Apple, up to 6-7 gigabytes of less space.

The new operating system also brings a new version of QuickTime plus support for Microsoft Exchange 2007.

QuickTime X boasts a new streamlined player with “a clean, uncluttered interface with controls that fade out when they’re not needed.” It professes smoother playback. QuickTime Player can now capture audio or video using a Mac’s built-in camera and microphone. Basic editing tools allow you to cut video to a desired length, and send it to iTunes for syncing to an iPhone, iPod, and Apple TV. It also has enhanced streaming capabilities.

For Mac users in the corporate world, you can now sync Apple Mail, Address Book, and iCal with Exchange services such as email, calendar invitations, and Global Addresses – if your company is running Microsoft Exchange 2007. While it doesn’t offer all the bells and whistles of full Outlook environment – e.g., public folders, this greatly streamlines getting Macs on the corporate grid.

The best news of Snow Leopard is its price for previous Leopard owners – $29.00 – $10.00 if you purchased your Mac after June 8 via Apple’s Up-to-Date program. Users of 10.4 Tiger can buy the Mac Box Set for $169.00 which not only includes Snow Leopard, but the latest iLife ‘09 and iWork ‘09.

The one downside, Snow Leopard is Intel Mac only. So 10.5 Leopard was the end of the line for owners of PowerPC (PPC) Macs.

Apple has released the Mac OS X 10.5.8 Update for both PPC and Intel systems. The 759 Mb Leopard combo patch (one covers both Intel and PPC Macs) addresses a variety of issues:

• Includes latest security fixes.
• Upgrades Safari to version 4.0.2.
• Improves the accuracy of full history search in Safari 4.
• Includes additional RAW image support for several third-party cameras.
• Improves compatibility with some external USB hard drives.
• Improves overall Bluetooth reliability with external devices, USB webcams and printers.
• Resolves an issue in which certain resolutions might not appear in the Display pane in System Preferences.
• Resolves an issue that could prevent importing of large photo and movie files from digital cameras.
• Addresses an issue that could cause extended startup times.
• Improves iCal reliability with MobileMe Sync and CalDav.
• Addresses data reliability issues with iDisk and MobileMe.
• Improves compatibility and reliability for joining AirPort networks.
• Improves Sync Service reliability.

Full details on the update can be found here.

Free Advice: For Mac OS updates this large, you encounter a lot less problems if you DO NOT use Apple’s Software Update feature and instead manually download and install the stand-alone combo updater.

Just five days after the last release, Mozilla has issued Firefox 3.0.10 which corrects two stability problems found after the release of 3.0.9, as well as a security fix.

Details can be found here.

Mozilla’s email/browser application, SeaMonkey 1.1.16 remains unchanged from last week.

Apple has released an update of iTunes for Macintosh and Windows computers. iTunes 8.1.1 primarily adds the ability to purchase HD movie rentals from the iTunes Store in addition to a number of bug fixes, including issues with VoiceOver and syncing with the iPhone or iPod Touch.

iTunes 8.1.1/Mac requires Mac OS X 10.4.10 or later (Tiger), or Mac OS X 10.5 or later (Leopard).

In other iTunes Store news, as of today, all music sold through the store is now DRM free and with the higher quality (iTunes Plus) 256 kbps AAC encoding. Individual song pricing has changed from the flat $0.99 to a variable model ranging from $0.69 – $1.29.

Apple has announced the first update of its Mac Pro line of mini-tower computers since January 2008. The new line uses Intel’s new “Nehalem” Xeon processors – in four (starting price $2499) and eight-core (starting price $3299) variations – which feature on-chip power management and integrated memory controller for faster performance.

Like all other new Macs, Firewire 400 is gone in favor of Firewire 800 and USB 2.0 ports. The line complies with Meets ENERGY STAR 5.0 requirements, uses PVC-free internal cables and certified BFR-free.

Apple is accepting orders for the new Mac Pro line today, with shipping scheduled to start next week.