Store Wars: Apple vs Android

This made me smile. Apple and Android locked in a deadly lightsabre duel for dominance of the mobile space. Darth Mac! Surely a mistake?

Hat tip @HokusBloke.

Star Wars: A Clone Apart

Ryan James has chimed in with news that his co-creation 'A Clone Apart' has been rebooted with the aid of the Star Wars: Battlefront II game engine!

What’s in a Clone anyway? DANSON DELTA-40 is the sole survivor of the latest failed batch of Clone soldiers, hurriedly created to provide enough troops so the Galactic Republic can win the war that eats at its very foundations. Unfortunately, Danson isn’t exactly your model soldier. He’s had no training. He even doesn’t know how to fire his rifle. And he questions the rather… questionable practices of the army founded on the “overwhelm them with many in useless plastic armor” principle. Unacceptable.

Fortunately, Danson’s destiny lies elsewhere. When he accidentally steps through a portal in time/space one day, he begins his quest to find a place where he truly belongs… in the underbelly of the events of the original Star Wars Trilogy. The lone representative of the world of the Prequel Trilogies, Danson finds that a lot of things don’t add up, and that he isn’t exactly welcome either. From jobs with both the Imperial and Rebel armies to bounty-hunting with Boba Fett and other private-sector jobs (such as mining lava on Mustafar), Danson and his few loyal compatriots cast a new glance onto a story so familiar, showing what really happened behind the scenes.

A Clone Apart is set, for the most part, in the original trilogy following some timey-wimey shenanigans worthy of Doctor Who, and pokes fun at our beloved saga with a comedic flourish.

RIP Steve Jobs; visionary co-founder of Apple

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life ... Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” - Steve Jobs

RIP Steve Jobs. Thanks for co-founding Apple and changing the way we use technology forever. I'll never own a PC. That is all.

OnLive to bring cloud-based gaming to the UK

Registered for OnLive yet? The cloud-based video game platform, which is not tethered to proprietary hardware like PlayStation or Xbox, goes live in the UK this Thursday.

OnLive has been available in the US since June 2010 where it has received positive press coverage. The MicroConsole has been praised for its minimalist packaging, build quality and included accessories. If you already own an HDMI-enabled HDTV; you're good to go.

Gamers will be able to play AAA titles including Deus Ex: Human Revolution on their living room TV and resume where they left off on a Mac or PC. The service will also become available for mobile devices including iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

I can see myself investing in an OnLive MicroConsole and playing games both at home and on the road! The caveat being you will need an always-on high speed broadband connection.

Final Cut Pro X on the Mac App Store

For years I've used iMovie and wanted to upgrade to Final Cut Pro, but couldn't justify the hefty price tag - Final Cut Express has been an excellent stopgap. Today that's all changed with the arrival of Final Cut Pro X on the Mac App Store!

£179.99 is a compelling argument to switch to Final Cut Pro; combined with Motion 5 and Compressor for £29.99 each. Like the upcoming release of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, Final Cut Pro X is only available from the Mac App Store!

Final Cut Pro X (Mac App Store)
Motion 5 (Mac App Store)
Compressor (Mac App Store)

Is Mac App Store exclusivity good or bad?

Alice: Madness Returns

Sarah Michelle Gellar may never get to play Alice in the on-off movie adaptation of American McGee's Alice. However, this summer gamers get a chance to reprise the role, eleven years on, in the first sequel to McGee's macabre masterpiece, which remains one of my all time favourite video games (I still own a copy for Mac OS).



Alice: Madness Returns delves deep into the dark and violent side of the imagination, creating a nightmarish Wonderland where Alice must face the demons that haunt her visions. Visit the grim reality of Victorian London and then travel to the beautiful yet ghastly Wonderland to uncover the root of Alice’s madness and discover the truth behind a deadly secret, kept hidden for years.



Eleven years ago a horrific fire took Alice’s family from her and left her mind horrifically scarred. Afterwards she was confined to Rutledge Asylum, where she struggled to confront her demons by slipping further into her fantasy world of Wonderland. Now, after ten years, she has finally secured her release—yet she still bears the heavy psychological burden of that tragic event.



With her mind in tatters, she is unable to resolve the fear prompted by her strange memories, dreams, and visions. Perhaps she’ll do better in Wonderland. She always has. She travels there, seeking what the “real” world can’t provide: security, knowledge, and the truth about the past. But in her absence, Wonderland too has suffered. Something has gone horribly wrong, and now a great evil is descending upon what once was her beautiful refuge. Can Alice save Wonderland—and herself—from the madness that consumes them both?

Those with an artistic bent should pickup a copy of The Art of Alice: Madness Returns.

Pre-order Alice: Madness Returns for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 now.

Flare for Mac

Flare is a fast, easy, and beautiful darkroom for your Mac OS X desktop.

With Flare, you can apply photographic effects to your photos, then save them to your Mac, upload them to Flickr, or send them in an email. Flare comes with over twenty high-quality presets to easily apply a wide range of different effects. But that’s only the beginning because Flare also gives users the power to edit existing presets or build all new ones completely from scratch.

Here are just some of the notable highlights of Flare for Mac:

*Fine tune effects in real time via live preview
*High quality 12 Megapixel Textures, Borders and Frames
*Temporarily save edits as Snapshots for later use
*Drag and drop images from iPhoto, Aperture, Photoshop & Lightroom
*Export photos in JPEG, PNG and TIFF formats
*Share creations on Flickr or by e-mail
*Unlimited Undos
*Helpful online user guide and video tutorials

Download Flare from the Mac App Store. The regular price is $20, but Flare is on sale right now in the Mac App Store for just $10.

Many happy returns of the day Mac OS X

On 24/03/01 Apple released Mac OS X 10.0 to retail. However, my first tentative steps into this brave new world began on an iMac DV SE with the Public Preview Beta in October 2000.

The $29.95 entry fee offered me an early bird view of a bewildering and, at times, profoundly alienating experience. To add dramatic context: Steve Jobs was back as CEO, pundits were predicting Apple's demise (an AOL UK Director told me "The company should roll over and die!"), the iPod was a year away, and I knew of many Mac Users who'd switched to Windows. But, I remained loyal to a fault… This wasn't going to be a repeat of New Coke!

As befits a beta release. The 'gloopy' GUI was incomplete and unrefined in Mac OS X Public Preview. For example the Apple logo was placed at the centre of the menu bar and served no function whatsoever (besides branding). This wouldn't be the last time Apple would break its own Human Computer Interface (HCI) guidelines! Bad Apple.

Ultimately, all I could do was watch QuickTime demo clips from Columbia Tristar - Charlie's Angels - in protected memory (absent in Mac OS 9 and earlier), use AppleWorks 6 (a Carbon application) and send a 'wish list' to Apple's development team. That 'wish list' was very, very long.

Evolution of the species:

Mac OS X Public Preview Beta - September 13, 2000
10.0 Cheetah - March 24, 2001
10.1 Puma - September 25, 2001
10.2 Jaguar - August 24, 2002
10.3 Panther - October 24, 2003
10.4 Tiger - April 29, 2005
10.5 Leopard - October 26, 2007
10.6 Snow Leopard (Intel only) - August 28, 2009

In the early Noughties notable updates included Jaguar (10.2) heralding improved system responsiveness and Panther (10.3) paved the away, for me at least, to wave goodbye to Mac OS 9 (Classic) forever! By late 2003 all my preferred third party applications were natively supported and, frankly, I detested Mac OS Classic and its old world foibles. Incidentally, whatever happened to Panther's 'Piles', which mysteriously disappeared in the release candidate?

The Aqua Graphical User Interface (GUI) set a trend whereby Apple's GUI designers spent too many hours tinkering in Photoshop and had conjured up an inconsistent UI - brush metal and stripes anyone? Thankfully, the stripes of Cheetah (10.0) quickly made way for the 'plastic' of Tiger (10.4) and this has been refined into the unobtrusive elegance of Snow Leopard (10.6). That's my kind of eye candy.

The transition from PowerPC to Intel was inspired and relatively seamless in my experience; enabling users to switch natively (emulation notwithstanding) between a Mac and Windows world (if required). Snow Leopard (10.6) has ushered-in 64-bit support and my aging Intel-based iMac (2007) is 'snappier' too. What would you like to see Apple add to Mac OS X in the future?

Lastly. Mac OS X 10.6.3 would be a great birthday gift to loyal Mac Users everywhere. How about it, Apple?

Inside Mac Games: Reviews & Previews eBook

In the summer of 2003 I joined the online writing staff at Inside Mac Games (IMG). Inside Mac Games was founded in 1993 as a floppy disk-based magazine. Since its inception, IMG has been at the forefront of the Mac gaming scene, providing news, previews, and reviews to hundreds of thousands of readers throughout the world.

Today IMG is published on the web and to subscribers via the MacGames DVD. With an installed base of over 100,000 readers and 350,000 unique visitors per month, IMG is among the most popular gaming sites on the Internet. Sponsors include Aspyr Media, Inc. and Feral.

Since I left IMG, much has changed in the Mac gaming world: The iPhone and iPod touch were launched and Apple has broadsided competitors with its vertically integrated App Store. If anything, the desktop environment is no longer as important! We’re witnessing a paradigm shift towards mobile as the dominant platform of the future.

Over the following pages you can read my previously published video game reviews, and previews, which were written during my tenure at IMG.

Download my free eBook (PDF).

Google Chrome for Mac: is the circle complete?

Following months of developer builds. Yesterday Google released its much-anticipated, and hyped, Chrome browser (not to be confused with Chrome OS) for Mac. However, it only runs on Intel-based machines running Mac OS X 10.5 or later. So, PowerPC users are left out in the cold.

Currently in beta (what Google product isn't?), Chrome for Mac almost matches the Windows version point-to-point. The main omissions are bookmark management and extensions! This isn't a potential deal-breaker, and Google assures users that a future update will add these features.

As would be expected with a browser based on WebKit (see Safari), Chrome is lightweight, nimble and silky smooth. Firefox (my current default browser), in contrast, is slow and resource-hungry: so much so that leaving too many tabs open, for long periods, results in system-wide unresponsiveness (that's certainly been my experience).

View Google Chrome for Mac as a sandboxed trial for now. Go play...

Twittering about the #INQ1

For almost a week I've been testing the INQ1 from 3 mobile, and posting my initial impressions on Twitter!

Here's a compendium of those tweets to date:

"Setting up Skype on the #inq1 is a breeze! Skype Me: jrhood

Setting up Facebook, Windows Live and last.fm on the #inq1!

It's a novelty using a seriously social 3G phone compared to my LG Chocolate! Will I be able to give it back? #inq1

Receiving Facebook notifications directly on the #inq1 isn't unique! And I still prefer Facebook Mobile on the iPhone/iPod touch!

The #inq1 switcher and carousel is simplicity itself! Even if it lacks the GUI chutzpah of Mac OS X or Sony's XMB!

For security, there should be a full reset option on the #inq1! I can't find it! Help!

OK! Found 'Master Reset' under menu! LOL #inq1

'Master Reset' on the #inq1 doesn't clear social network login details! FAIL

The #inq1 doesn't support Twitter out of the box! However, Twitter4Skype provides a workaround until a dedicated application is released!"

You should follow me on twitter here.

Floral tribute to my Grandfather

My cousins and I commissioned a bicycle floral tribute in loving memory of our Grandfather who on Thursday 8th January 2009 passed away, following a short illness, aged 89 at the Colchester General Hospital.

Along with gardening, and maintaining his allotment. My Grandfather was synonymous with riding his bike in and around Stanway, Colchester, Essex. He taught me to ride a bike - poignant in view of Steven Spielberg's E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. Therefore I hope that this tribute is most befitting!

Incidentally, the almost moon-like Apple logo was added as an homage to my Grandfather's fascination with computers - he was a collector!

Subscribe by RSS (it's free you know)

If you subscribe to this blog by RSS, please make sure you update the RSS feed to the new address - I have implemented 30 day redirection! If you're not already a subscriber, subscribing won't cost you a thing and you'll never miss another blog post again! I even include my Flickr photostream and podcasts too!



Although you can subscribe to this blog using feed readers such as Google Reader, My Yahoo! or Newsgator. Why not subscribe by email or Mac OS X Dashboard Widget?

Will Apple scratch Microsoft's Surface?

With Halloween only a few weeks away it's opportune that Apple should unveil new treats, at its notebook event, today!

Despite the credit crunch/crisis (a journalistic euphemism for recession as far as I'm concerned), electronic goods continue to be "recession-proof" and consumer appetite for new MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro products has not abated! I've held off purchasing a new iPod touch (32GB) because of the ongoing speculation regarding new MacBooks!

There's considerable conjecture concerning what the new notebooks may or may not deliver in terms of their form factor (the flair of a MacBook Air) and functionality.

Clearly, Apple is keen to leverage touch screen technology - strikingly showcased in its iPhone and iPod touch - and place Microsoft's Surface ambitions into consumers hands now! In only a few hours time we'll know the answer.

Update
Apple announced the new 13-inch MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro tonight (GMT), which derive design cues from the MacBook Air and current desktops! The new Multi-Touch Trackpad is, literally, as smooth as glass!

In view of the hefty price tag for an entry level MacBook, I'll wait until Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard ships before making a purchase.

Moving Parts: A Droid's Life

Due to personal reasons, I've decided on a haiku review format! WALL-E (voiced by Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt) is deserving of so much more!

PIXAR's artisans have, most literally, rendered their finest achievement worthy of demolishing any residual prejudices levelled against CGI - as a storytelling medium - forever; a silent story of dystopia and boundless hope!

WALL-E's heroic journey is a deft mix of light and darkness! The last of his kind, chillingly revealed in a silhouetted scrapheap graveyard, WALL-E's only companion, on an abandoned Earth, is a loyal cockroach! Then one, seemingly ordinary, day, a starship arrives, dispatching a probe droid called EVE!

In so many ways WALL-E completes a saga! PIXAR was owned by George Lucas and sold to Steve Jobs. With Ben Burtt's involvement this is further cemented and underscored by the insertion of the iconic Mac startup chime at a pivotal narrative juncture!

Mainstream cinema has regained its sense of wonder and it's called WALL-E!

The Big "Push" Tour

This afternoon I, along with many existing .Mac subscribers, received a surprise e-mail from Apple!

MobileMe Services Are Now Available.

We have recently completed the transition from .Mac to MobileMe. Unfortunately, it was a lot rockier than we had hoped.

Although core services such as Mail, iDisk, Sync, Back to My Mac, and Gallery went relatively smoothly, the new MobileMe web applications had lots of problems initially. Fortunately we have worked through those problems and the web apps are now up and running.

Another snag we have run into is our use of the word "push" in describing everything under the MobileMe umbrella. While all email, contact or calendar changes on the iPhone and the web apps are immediately synced to and from the MobileMe "cloud," changes made on a PC or Mac take up to 15 minutes to sync with the cloud and your other devices. So even though things are indeed instantly pushed to and from your iPhone and the web apps today, we are going to stop using the word "push" until it is near-instant on PCs and Macs, too.

We want to apologize to our loyal customers and express our appreciation for their patience by giving all current subscribers an automatic 30-day extension to their MobileMe subscription free of charge. Your extension will be reflected in your account settings within the next few weeks.

We hope you enjoy your new suite of web applications at me.com, in addition to keeping your iPhone and iPod touch wirelessly in sync with these new web applications and your Mac or PC.

Thank you,

The MobileMe Team

Me.com address working for me

July starts with a software salvo for gadget geeks!

Following my weekend away in Colchester, Essex. I've returned home to news of the long-awaited PS3 XMB firmware update, Mac OS X 10.5.4 and a working @me.com address (as reported by MacRumors)!

After 8 years using an @mac.com address, and safe in the knowledge that e-mail directed to my @mac.com account will reach me, I've readily made the switch to Apple's upcoming MobileMe online proposition!

Do you intend to make the move to @me.com or are you happy with the way things are?

Tweet-Up

Yesterday I attended my inaugural Tweet-Up or Tweet Meet, depending on your preference.

What's a Tweet-Up? Making new friends and acquaintances online is one thing, but meeting them is entirely different! Hopefully it gives people a chance to learn new things, meet even more friends and have a good time away from the online world that we all now and love.

Saturday's Tweet-Up stemmed from an idea proposed by one of my Twitter peeps @LittleLaura! The venue of choice, as suggested by yours truly, was the Apple Store Princesshay, Exeter; anywhere else would have been considered sacrilege!

At Apple Store Princesshay I got up close and personal with the MacBook Air! Still stand by my previous assertion that it's a 'pretty paperweight'! That said, it's the future...

It was great to meet-up with like-minded, and friendly, folk and discuss everything from how long we've been using Mac OS X and the return of Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) in last night's episode of Doctor Who to Tim Burton's cinematic oeuvre - Edward Scissorhands is still his most accomplished film-to-date in my subjective opinion - and musicals!

We intend to have a Tweet-Up on a regular basis! If you're actively involved in the social media space (this is the only prerequisite), would like to attend and drink copious amounts of coffee and tea, then please follow me on Twitter or, alternatively, leave a comment on this post!

Special thanks to @LittleLaura and @huskypup. Two Twitter peeps you should be following.

Apple + Twitter

Follow tomorrow's Apple WWDC 2008 breaking news on Twitter and discover whether or not I'll be buying an iPhone 2! It'll be up to Steve Jobs to convince me!

Friend me on popular social networks: claimID.

The O2 Arena

The halo of geek chic is in full effect and WWDC enjoys a public profile comparable to Macworld!

The buzz surrounding next week's WWDC 2008 is bordering on the feverish! Only a brand with Apple's mindshare could garner such frenetic excitement, from the mainstream mass media, for what is, arguably, exclusively a 'developers delight'!

Not only is there incessant talk of the iPhone 2/3G, there's Mac OS X 10.5.4 (didn't we all just download 10.5.3 last week?), Mac OS X 10.6 codenamed 'Snow Leopard', and a much-needed .mac makeover! The latter holds the most compelling secrets, and may convince me to renew my subscription in October!

Everything hinges on the iPhone 2 and whether or not O2, the exclusive UK network carrier, offers Apple's second generation mobile device at a compelling price point alongside pay-as-you-go deals! If so, I'm sold and it'll be goodbye Orange! Readers who watch Channel Four's Dispatches series will appreciate the pay-as-you-go bias!

Further to the iPhone and .mac refresh, I'm predicting that there'll be an announcement regarding a new portable device called Mac nano...