Apple's Leopard Debuts Oct. 26

Apple's highly anticipated new operating system Leopard will premiere on October 26. The delayed OS has over 300 new features, including Stacks, which piles together similar folders, documents, or applications—and then can fan their contents into an arc for browsing, AppleInsider reports. Using his favorite superlative, Apple boss Steve Jobs called it, “the best upgrade we’ve ever released.”

Another new shortcut is Quick Look, which lets users peek inside files without launching them; a third, Time Machine, automatically backs up the Mac’s entire contents, and can restore the whole system from data on an external drive. You can also expect richer teleconferencing with iChat Theater. Can’t wait? OS X Leopard is already available for pre-order. (More Apple stories.)