Real Kato Blog: Apple Watch: WWDC Rumor Roundup

Also, a quick look at Parallels Desktop version 3.0.

WWDC Rumor Roundup. Here's what I've gathered from around the Mac Web.

Rumor 1. Apple will announce a software development kit (SDK) for the iPhone, allowing third-party developers to create iPhone applications. Steve Jobs had previously made statements indicating that Apple was wary of allowing third-party applications, citing security concerns. Estimated probability: 25%.

Rumor 2. Apple and Google will announce a partnership to provide a significant update to ".mac", Apple's online service. ".mac" has been criticized as being overpriced (at $99 a year) and underpowered. The basis of this rumor is a few recent statements from Steve Jobs and from Google's Eric Schmidt. Estimated probability: 50%.

Rumor 3. Apple will update the Mac Mini. Or replace it. Estimated probability: 35%.

Rumor 4. Apple will introduce an ultraportable notebook... a "MacBook Mini", perhaps. Estimated probability: 25%.

Rumor 5. Apple will reveal some heretofore "top secret" features of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Estimated probability: 90%.

Rumor 6. One of those "top secret" features is now not-so-secret: the inclusion of Sun's ZFS as the default file system. Estimated probability: 70%.

Rumor 7. Another "top secret" feature will be an all-new Finder, with a fancy animated interface. Estimated probability: 60%.

Rumor 8. Apple will release updates to iLife and iWork. Estimated probability: 70%.

Parallels Desktop 3.0. Parallels made a splash this week by announcing that their latest version of Parallels Desktop for Mac, (a program that allows running Windows in a virtual environment from within Mac OS X on Intel) would support accelerated 3D graphics. This would mark a significant development, because it would mean most PC games could be run on the Mac without rebooting into Windows.

I downloaded the trial version and tried to fire up City of Heroes on my MacBook. COH complained about missing functionality in the graphics driver... and then wouldn't show me the cursor properly on the login screen. I took this as a bad sign and didn't proceed any further.

I won't buy Parallels yet, because City of Heroes is the one thing I really need to run on Windows. But it's still an impressive piece of software. I'm sure they'll continue working on their 3D support.

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