Apple Gears Up Their 802.11n Wireless

Mac gamers last week anxiously awaited the release of an expansion pack to what is considered to be one of the most computer game ever, the World of Warcraft from Blizzard.

As a longtime Mac user, I’m fairly accustom to seeing excited users go to unusual lengths to get what they want, including camping out for the opening of a new Apple retail store and perhaps the grandest tradition of waiting in line outside the Moscone Center in San Francisco every January for the big Steve Jobs keynote address at MacWorld. People who play the World of Warcraft (WoW) are often quite devoted to the game (an understatement if there ever was one) and Blizzard played to their devoted audience by releasing the Burning Crusade via a world wide launch party at midnight at a variety of stores across the world.

The thing to keep in mind is that WoW players now number upwards of over 8 million paying subscribers who not only purchase the game from anywhere from $35-$49 but then also pay a month subscriber fee averaging $14.95. It’s truly an amazing business model in that you have a game that by its very design, never ends. Ask anyone who has played the game to its previous level cap of 60 and you will learn that there are essentially two parts to the World of Warcraft. The first part is the level 1-60 grind where the player works either alone of in small groups to complete a seemingly never ending series of quests to advance in levels, skills, gear and weapons.

Continue reading about Mac World of Warcraft Players Usher In The Launch Of The Burning Crusade

When I first heard that Apple was going down the Intel road and that Windows would theoretically be accessible on a Mac, I couldn’t really see how that would appeal to me. When Bootcamp was introduced I had no desire at all. My view was (and is) that if I have to actually boot into a different operating system I may as well have a Windows PC and use that.

I have been using Parallels for a while now and have written about it before. I have been impressed, but more from a technical perspective than an ease of use. I do use it, but since I also have a Windows PC I don’t use it much. I accept that I am fortunate to have a Windows PC as well as a Mac (yes I said fortunate!), and the reality is that I will pretty much always need to have one for the work that I do. My rationale has always been that as more and more Mac purchases come from switchers, and existing Mac users are usually pretty die hard “geeks”, and add to that the low cost of a ‘basic’ Windows PC and I still maintain that you are better off keeping a Windows PC if you need to use Windows.

I am not including gaming in this by the way, my theory is that a serious gamer will have a serious computer anyway.

Of course with both Bootcamp and Parallels you need a copy of Windows which is a) an additional cost and b) has all the inherent ‘maintenance’ issues. So again, by the time you have bought Parallels and Windows you have pretty much spent what you could get an cheap Windows PC for, and which would also give you some extra hard disk storage capacity.

CodeWeavers may well have blown that argument away though with the introduction of CrossOver Mac 6.0! ($59.95)

First let me show you what they have to say:

Continue reading about CrossOver, An Excellent Choice!

I’m glad to try out new software whenever I can, and GyazMail from gyazsquare.com sure sounded interesting. GyazMail is an all-new email client for Mac OS X, newly developed from the ground up to offer you a full-featured, but easy-to-use package based on the Cocoa framework. GyazMail is shareware at $18, but you can download and try the software for 40 days for free. I used to use Entourage from Microsoft and liked it, but when i switched to Apple Mail, I never looked back. It’s integration with Address book is great, the way it can shrink photos for me for emailing, it’s all good – so it will be hard to sell me on a new Mail client. Then again, it’s always good to keep your eyes and ears open for new tools that solve problems for you.

Continue reading about GyazMail, Is it a Viable Alternative to Mail.app?

Trent here from The MannersCast with a look at the TuneCenter from Griffin Technology. TuneCenter is billed as the accessory to turn your iPod into a Home Media Center with the ability to play music on your stereo and show pictures and video on your standard definition television. The TuneCenter looks like a modified iPod [...]

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Aspyr Media, Inc. today announced the Mac version of Prey has shipped to retail outlets nationwide. The title was developed for the Mac by Aspyr Studios, Aspyr¹s internal development team, under license from 2K, a Take-Two Interactive Software publishing label. Prey is a groundbreaking first-person shooter that turns the genre upside-down with new gameplay features and next generation graphics. Breaking the traditional first-person shooter format, Prey introduces innovative gameplay elements including wall-walking, portals, spirit-walking and gravity flipping, which allows for insane eight player deathmatches.

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DayChaser at $30 from econ is “the perfect tool for anyone who needs just a little more organization in their life”, or so they claim. DC_New2.0Quote-Bottom.jpg

Now personally I usually want more than “just a little more” for $30, living my life is tough enough without having to excessively organize it, and just what is wrong with iCal?

“DayChaser is a calendar and scheduling application that not only allows you to organize your personal time but can also organize your work habits. Sporting a very user friendly Mac OS X native user interface, DayChaser lets you create and manage multiple calendar documents simultaneously. Each calendar document contains its own unique set of scheduled entries and To-Do items that can be customized so your personal organizer is truly personal. Features such as repeating entries, customizable filters, user definable categories, color coded entries, customizable views, contextual menus, date range queries, automatic email generation, calendar/itinerary printing and executable tasks truly set DayChaser apart from other scheduling programs.”

Continue reading about DayChaser: An iCal Alternative