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  • cavemonkey50
    Today, Adobe has released the final version of their Universal Flash Player 9. The new version numbered 9,0,20,0 is compatible with both Intel and PowerPC Macs. Oddly enough, Adobe is still offering a PowerPC only version, however it appears to be an earlier build.
     
    I expect Apple to push the new Flash Player out with their next OS update, but if you want to be on the cutting edge, you can download the stable player now.
  • Swad
    Good news for all you AOE fans (or for Mac gamers in general) - MacSoft announced today that they'll be shipping Age of Empires III late next month.


    The sequel to MacSoft’s second best-selling title ever, and the latest release in the 18-million unit “Age of Empires” series, “Age of Empires III” for Macintosh is scheduled to be available by the end of September, 2006 as a Universal Binary that can be operated natively either on Apple’s Intel-based or PowerPC Macintosh computers.
     
    “Age of Empires III” picks up where “Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings®” left off, as players become one of eight European powers exploring, colonizing, and conquering the New World. Featuring amazing 3D graphics, remarkable Ageia® PhysX® technology, and an innovative Home City feature that lets players “level-up” their evolving home city to strengthen their economy, technology, and military, “Age of Empires III” for Macintosh sets many new standards for real-time strategy games. I've been an AoE fan since the beginning so I'll be looking forward to this release.
     
    Another reason I'll be supporting this release is to show Mac game makers that there really is a growing market for universal games. Hopefully the release of a great game like Age of Empires III will reinforce that point.
  • Swad

    Will Leopard support the G3?

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    If you've poked around Apple's "Leopard Sneak Peek - 64-Bit" page, it's quite likely that these words stood out to you:


    From G3 to Xeon, from MacBook to Xserve, there is just one Leopard. Those words aren't there now. For a reason unbeknown to we lonely consumers, the line was erased.
     
    This means at least one of two things. First, Leopard won't be supporting the G3 (the only doubtful one of the bunch). This is certainly possible, given the age of the G3. Whether it's plausible remains to be seen.
     
    There is a second explanation, however, that comes from Macenstein:


    The line “From G3 to Xeon, from MacBook to Xserve, there is just one Leopard.” is technically inaccurate. There are TWO Leopards; consumery Leopard, and Leopard Server. And in theory you are supposed to run Leopard Server on the Xserve they mention in that same line as well. So while I do not doubt that Leopard will either run grudgingly (or not at all) on a G3, we have no official word yet from Apple. It could just be a poorly worded sentence that Apple’s marketing guys eventually caught.
    "Consumery," indeed.
  • Swad
    Parallels released a new beta today with better support for USB devices and, can you believe it, all the keys on the keyboard! This beta has absolutely nothing - and we mean nothing - to do with the yesterday's announcement of VMware for Mac.
     
    They're also working on some great features for future editions of their virtualization software. In what sounds deceptively like an interview with one of Santa's reindeer, MacWorld enlightens us thusly:


    Rudolph also pointed to further improvements in Parallels Desktop for Mac, including what’s described as “a groundbreaking new user interface that will make running Windows on a Mac easier and more productive than ever before;” new security and management tools; the ability to burn CDs and DVDs inside virtual machines and a new Server for Mac OS X product.
     
    What’s more, Parallels Desktop for Mac will see “fast 3D graphics support,” presumably to help cater to gamers who want to run Windows games without having to reboot their machine using Boot Camp and a separate Windows partition. Also planned is support for Microsoft’s forthcoming Windows Vista, the major update to Windows Microsoft has planned for the first calendar quarter of 2007. Begun, the VM wars have.
  • Swad
    It would have been easy to miss all the great new stuff for developers during the hubub of the keynote. Even though it is a developer conference.
     
    Anyway, Apple released Xcode 2.4 yesterday to developers at WWDC. It doesn't appear to be available on ADC, but should be shortly.
     
    Secondly, Apple announced Xcode 3.0 during the Keynote yesterday which promises to bring many improvements to the IDE.


    So compelling, Apple wrote Xcode 3.0 itself using it. [ Editor's note: Talk about recursive.] Enjoy modern garbage collection, syntax enhancements, runtime performance improvements, and 64-bit support. At your own pace, since it’s backwards compatible with existing Objective-C source. Write applications more quickly with fewer bugs using Objective-C in Xcode 3.0. I'll let you check out the sneak peak for more info, but 3.0 also promises to bring an improved Interface Builder, "snapshots," and whole bunch of other goodness.
  • cavemonkey50
    Now that they dust has settled a bit from yesterday's keynote, I think it's time to give my opinions of it. First of all, it seems that the general consensus is disappointment. Speculated products weren't announced, and neither were some of the speculated Leopard features.
     
    Part of the problem might be our mindset. It's easy to think that the Worldwide Developer's Conference is for consumers. While consumers certainly benefit from the conference, the main focus is developers. If you look at it from that sense, Apple delivered everything developers wanted. They released professional-grade machines and showed off features of Leopard which are important to developers. Leopard features like a new Finder or virtualization technology are things which can be added later with very little effect on developers, and the existing Macs can easily get a Core 2 speed bump with just a simple press release.
     
    The Hardware
     
    Now that we're in the right mindset, it's time to talk about what was announced. Apple released some amazing new hardware. The Mac Pros are insane powerhouses, with the Xserves getting a huge speed bump over previous hardware. While I won't be purchasing a Mac Pro, the prices are perfect. Apple's standard configuration is perfect for just about anyone's needs, and it doesn't break the bank either. What's even better is the price when you downgrade some components. If you change the dual 2.5 GHz processors to dual 2.0 GHz processors and only get a 160 GB hard drive, combined with the student discount, it's only $1950. That's not bad at all considering a slower MacBook Pro is right around that price.
     
    Finally, I'm very impressed with Apple's build-to-order options on their new machines. Apple has always stuck with pretty much standard configurations across their product line since there wasn't very many options with the PowerPC chip. Now that Apple is on the x86 platform, they have a more room for flexibility, which is showing through in the amount of configurable options on the new machines. I'm looking forward to seeing what other options Apple will provide for their other machines in the future.
     
    Leopard
     
    While nothing too groundbreaking was announced with Leopard, I'm still very exited. First of all, I can't wait for Time Machine. I don't backup enough, and when I do backup, I don't have a great method. I'm dragging files to an external drive or CD, just like Steve Jobs mentioned. Having a Subversion-like solution for OS X will just be amazing. There have been times where I have accidentally overwritten files, so selective restoring will be perfect for me. There has also been times where I've wanted to do a complete restore, so that functionality of Time Machine will rock also. Apple seems to have created the perfect backup solution for anyone with external storage.
     
    The other major feature that Apple has announced is Spaces. I'm not too excited about Spaces at all. I've always found multiple desktops confusing, so it's a feature I probably won't be using. However, Apple does seem to have a couple of great ways to try and prevent it from getting confusing. Spaces exposé seems like a great way to easily see where everything is, and if you're really lost, clicking on the application's dock icon is perfectly for jumping to the "space" which contains that application. Maybe Apple's approach will finally get me to use multiple desktops, but for now, I'm not jumping for joy.
     
    Finally, hearing about updates to Mail, iCal, Spotlight, Dashboard, iChat, Front Row, and Boot Camp is certainly getting me excited. I've tried Apple's Mail in the past, and never could switch to it. This upcoming version looks like it will finally bring me onboard. In regards to iCal, that's another application which I haven't really touched. Depending on how well it integrates with Mail, I might find myself using that application also.
     
    Advanced searching and application launching with Spotlight is something that should have been there from the beginning, so it will be a welcome addition. The new ways to create widgets are looking great for Dashboard, especially how easy it will be for anyone to create a widget. The new iChat also sounds great, especially sporting its new Unified interface. From the previews of it, it looks like it will finally have a combined buddy list for different services, a welcome addition. Finally, while we don't know what's coming for Front Row and Boot Camp, just hearing that they're going to be updated is music to my ears.
     
    Conclusions
     
    While this year's WWDC Keynote was a disappointment for many people following the rumor sites, if you were trying to stick with reality, I think it was perfect. The new professional-grade hardware is blowing the competition away at a cheaper price, and Leopard's new features are already ahead of Vista. Things are only going to get better from here.
     
    Apple has laid the frameworks for a great operating system, and when they report on Leopard at Macworld in January, I'm sure they're going to have some more great features and enhancements to tell us about.
  • Swad
    Two big developments on the virtualization front today.
     
    First, Microsoft announced that they're killing VirtualPC for Macs (God rest its soul). According to MacWorld, they're moving on to bigger and better things, like a Universal Office.


    “Developing a high-quality virtualization solution, such as Virtual PC, for the Intel-based Mac is similar to creating a version 1.0 release due to how closely the product integrates with Mac hardware,” the statement concluded. Secondly, VMware did indeed announce their plans for a Mac based virtualization solution.


    The new Mac product is based on VMware’s robust and advanced virtualization technology, shipping for more than seven years and used by more than four million people today. Moving forward, virtual machines created with any of VMware’s products will run on Intel-based Macs and, similarly, non-Mac OS X virtual machines created with the new product will run on the latest versions of other VMware platform products. You can pre-register here.
  • Swad

    Blast from the past: 1997

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    Ah, late night IRC conversations - you can never be sure what'll come up. We ran across this great ol' Wired Magazine article (via digg) from back in 1997 entitled "101 Ways to Save Apple." We thought we'd take a look at it to see how far Apple has come.

    10. Get a great image campaign. Let's get some branding (or rebranding) going on. Reproduce the "1984" spot with a 1997 accent.
    Check. Well, ok - the new Mac/PC ads are just decent. The WWDC remix was much better.

    13. Exploit every Wintel user's secret fear that some day they're going to be thrown into a black screen with a blinking C-prompt. Advertise the fact that Mac users never have to rewrite autoexec.bat or sys.ini files.
    Probably not a good idea these days.

    14. Do something creative with the design of the box and separate yourselves from the pack.
    Done and done. iOragami, anyone?


    34. Port the OS to the Intel platform, with its huge amount of investment in hardware, software, training, and experience. Don't ignore it; co-opt it. Did Steve help write this article?

    37. Take advantage of NeXT's easy and powerful OpenStep programming tools to entice a new generation of Mac software developers.
    "Mr. Jobs, I'm going to have to ask you to step away from that keyboard..."

    48. Get Ben & Jerry's to name a flavor after you. Suggestion: Apple Silicon Chip Supreme.
    I'd buy it over a MacBook anyday.

    62. Build a computer that doesn't crash. Speaking of the MacBook...
    75. Speed sells. Push your advantage on the speed of the processor. This summer, you'll release Macs using 450- and 533-MHz processors. Your lead over Intel will be remarkable. Brag about this.
    Was it really that bad in '97? Oh wait, I was 12... (Wow, that makes me feel really young - and I'm betting it makes a lot of you feel really old)

    83. Develop proprietary programs that run only on Macs. Crow about them.
    I think they're still working on this one.

    86. Organize a very large bake sale - look what cookie sales have done for the Girl Scouts.
    Yeah, but the last time I bought brownies from a guy in the San Fran area... well, come to think of it, those were pretty darn good brownies.


    88. Acknowledge that there are people with repetitive stress injuries. Why do loyal customers have to go to a weird third-party vendor to get a split keyboard? Because those suck.

    93. Develop a way to program that requires no scripting or coding.
    I am so there! WWNon-DC 2007, here I come.

    97. Have Pixar make 3001, A Space Odyssey, with HAL replaced by a Mac.
    Steve? Can you hear me Steve?

    101. Don't worry. You'll survive. It's Netscape we should really worry about.

  • Swad
    Although many folks thought that Darwin was dead (well, the old evolution guy is... but ya know), Apple just posted the 10.4.7 source on their site. From the mailing list:


    As of today, we are posting buildable kernel sources for Intel-based Macs alongside the usual PowerPC (and other Intel) sources, starting with Mac OS X 10.4.7. We regret the delay in readying the new kernel for release, and thank you for your patience. Now don't you just love WWDC? You never know what to expect.
     
    Let us know your thoughts in Reader News (Thanks, bofors).
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