I will be away on vacation starting Saturday, September 5, and returning on Monday, September 14.

In the past, I’ve provided completely accurate, if somewhat vague, details of my vacation plans, but these are serious times that demand serious accounts, so here is our itinerary: We will be vanishing.

That’s right. On Saturday morning, my wife and I will disappear as if into thin air, returning to the state of nothingness that existed before time, and will reemerge a little more than a week later, rested, whole, and 15 years younger. We won’t have any photographs to share, having ceased to exist, but expect that you will retain some recollection that we once graced your lives, much like a faraway dream you once had. (Disclaimer: Reversal of aging is not guaranteed, but you are welcome to flatter us.)

One guy that will keep on keeping on for the duration is Ed Covelli who will stand by in his mostly corporeal state to assist you if the need should arise. As always, he can be reached via e-mail or at 212/201-1465.

Apple last week released Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). Although it contains a few new interface features (welcome back, Put Back!), it is mostly under-the-hood refinements designed to make the OS faster and more secure. You can read about some of the changes here and a detailed review here.

As always, you should let others become the early adopters and work out the kinks. The biggest concern is the compatibility of older applications, and you can find lists of what has been tested here and here. It’s also important to note that Snow Leopard will only run on Intel-based Macs. Those with PowerPC chips like the iMac G5 or the PowerMac series will go no further than OS X 10.5.

Finally, if you do decide to take the plunge, be sure to backup first, preferably to different media, just in case something goes wrong. In fact, the steps I outlined for upgrading to Leopard still apply. The only addition is to be sure to include “Rosetta” during the installation process.

As for me, I will be installing Snow Leopard later this month and will report any issues that you might need to be aware of.