Over the past few months reports have written a number of articles about how Apple is starting to move from just a consumer focused technology company to being a solid IT solution for businesses everywhere. I found that the most interesting part of most of the discussion over Apple and their corporate engagement was that Apple wasn’t seeking out the corporate world.. but the corporate world was seeking them.

This has all changed and is becoming more and more apparent in events that are unfolding during Apple’s WWDC 08.

3G iPhone for the Corporate World

First, it is clear that the enhancements they’ve made to the iPhone is to make the device that much more enticing to the average Business Person. It is a single device that would allow them to carry both their work and personal life with them everywhere they go. It is Work Life Balance in a electronic device. They’ve added Microsoft Exchange Support, Security Features, and opened their SDK to allow anyone (including businesses) to create custom applications to help manage their work efforts.

Apple has spent significant time with the corporate folks over enhancing the iPhone and somewhere along the way they decided that now is the perfect time to push into the Corporate World with their complete IT offering.

Snow Leopard, the Corporate OS X

To position themselves they would need to optimize their OS to the corporate world. Almost all IT departments for any company of decent size is now using Microsoft Exchange to manage email and day to day scheduling through the calendar built into Outlook. While OS X does have its own version of Office, if Apple was to position itself as a corporate competitor it would really need to offer its own way to handle Exchange tasks.

Sure enough, Apple now informs us that “Snow Leopard” the next build of OS X will be one focused on performance, reducing the OS footprint, and offering Microsoft Exchange support as part of the OS. This puts them in perfect position to easily move into IT offerings through companies across the globe.

We theorized a few months ago when Apple announced that they would be including Microsoft Exchange support in the iPhone that the feature would also make its way to Mail. They now explain the service will be available to Mail, Address Book, and iCal.

Snow Leopard includes out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 built into Mail, Address Book, and iCal. Mac OS X uses the Exchange Web Services protocol to provide access to Exchange Server 2007. Because Exchange is supported on your Mac and iPhone, you’ll be able to use them anywhere with full access to your email, contacts, and calendar.

With the flurry around other announcements including updates to the iPhone, less attention has been devoted to the OS X updates and MobileMe. The new .Mac replacement for the consumer. But, the part of the keynote that stuck out to me was Apple explaining that MobileMe will be the “Exchange Server for the rest of us.”

MobileMe - Microsoft Exchange for the Rest of us

Could Apple be building their own Exchange like technology should the deal with Microsoft go sour at some point? Maybe, or maybe MobileMe will be built with Microsoft Exchange as the driving engine. If they have built their own Exchange like technology what a better way to test it than on consumers. If it works for them, it may just be ready for the corporate world itself.

Lets keep an eye out for the rest of the news coming out of WWDC 08. It may just be additional support for Apple’s Corporate World Position.

If you’re an iWeb user then you’ll be glad to know that Jumsoft has released a number of new themes for iWeb. These 10 new themes cover a wide variety of possible uses and look to have a complete look and feel to them.

Jumsoft is currently selling a pack of 10 themes for $69.99 but individual themes can be purchased for $9.99 each. If the themes work as well as they look then that seems to be a fair price.

Head over to Jumsoft to see if they have the iWeb theme you’ve been looking for.

If you’ve ever wanted to quickly browse your iPhoto library to drag and drop photos to another application but wanted to do so with out opening iPhoto itself… than this Automator tip is for you.

To create an iPhoto Library browser that can be accessed system wide:

1. Open Automator
2. Select Photos from your Action Library
3. Drag Action - Ask for Photos to your workflow

Now that you’ve created your automator workflow you need to setup your system so that you can quickly access the iPhoto Library Browser throughout OS X.

1. Save your workflow as plug-in (Save As Plugin-in) as a plugin for Script Menu
2. Open AppleScript Utility from your Applications folder
3. Check “Show Script Menu in Menu Bar” - This will add a Script icon to your menu bar that you can access saved scripts from

Now that you’ve created the iPhoto Library Browser script and added the Script Menu to your menu bar you can quickly and easily open your iPhoto library any time you need to access pictures but without having to open iPhoto itself.

From here you can find your pictures and drag and drop them to the location or application of your choice.

*Note - Selecting the pictures and clicking the Choose button will do nothing - you must drag and drop the photos to the location or Application of your choice. *

- Tip found @ macosxhints.com

The yearly World Wide Developer Conference for Apple is being held next week. It is always an exciting time of year as Apple often uses the event to announce updates in their product line, software services, and give additional details about the technical direction the company is heading.

This year the rumors have depicted the ever coveted update to the iPhone that will bring 3G support as well as software updates to the device. There are additional rumors swirling around the iPhone and the possibility of a $200 price point for an ‘iPhone’ device.

In addition to the rumors around the iPhone, the last week has brought us claims of OS X 10.6 code named ‘Snow Leopard’ being shown to developers. The current idea is that the release will be focused on performance and with the final steps of moving away from the PowerPC processor line. There is also some thought that Apple may start allowing their OS to be run on non-Apple computers. I’m a bit skeptic (although would enjoy the possibility) of this idea as the combination of the OS and hardware sales have been so strong for Apple over the last few years.

While I imagine the previously mentioned rumors will show up in some way or form during the WWDC I’m more skeptic of the possibilities of an iTablet or similar computing devices.

What would you like to see most from Apple at their WWDC?

If you’re looking for a way to add additional outside content to your iWeb pages than using Google Gadgets may just be what you’re looking for.

We’ve described previously how you can combine Google Docs with Sprout to create registration and comment forms on your iWeb sites and Now we’d like to build on those same principles to quickly show you how to Add Google Gadgets to your iWeb site.

Google Gadgets are filled with informative, fun, and unique pieces of information that you may find useful to your site and to your users.

For example, this Countdown Gadget allows you to set specific details about an event that you’re counting down to. Adding this to your site will allow individuals to see exactly how long it is until the next family reunion, the Hulk Movie, or any other event that you want your users to take note of.

Adding Gadgets

To add these types of Gadgets to your iWeb site navigate to iGoogle. Click the “Add Stuff” button and search for the gadget you’d like to show on your iWeb site.

Once you’ve found the perfect gadget, click to view more information about the gadget and then find the “Embed this Gadget” link to the right under Webmasters.

Now you should be able to customize the gadget to fit with your iWeb site. Click the “Get the Code” button and copy the code provided.

Next, open your iWeb site and find the page you’d like to add the gadget to. Add html snippet and past the code into the html field. Your Google Gadget should now appear on your iWeb site and be ready for your use when you publish your site.

What gadgets have you added to your iWeb site?