Slate explains why that Lazy Sunday thing is so popular (blogged previously). Their conclusion: aside from being funny, it’s actually a good rap song. Interesting read, especially if you’re wondering what some of the lyrics are.
(No, the timestamp isn’t messed up. I’m awake at 7:30 in the morning. Sue me.)
Right now, if you want to run Windows software on a Mac, your options are limited: buy Virtual PC and take a hit in speed, or wait for the Darwine project to get off the ground, which will probably be some time after the switch to Intel chips.
Well, what if Macs ran Windows applications natively, without Windows?
Imagine if you could run Windows-only applications (think AutoCAD, for just one example) at native speeds without needing Windows on Intel-based Macs? How many industries that are tied to Windows-only apps (Architecture, Engineering, Real Estate, etc.) would be able to consider Macs again? Who wouldn’t want to be able to run the virus-free Mac OS X that can run Mac-only apps like iMovie HD, Keynote, GarageBand, iDVD, iPhoto, Aperture, Pages, Motion, DVD Studio, Final Cut Pro, Logic, etc. along Windows-only games and apps?
Apple could do wonders for its market share if they implemented this. Maybe we’ll get some good news at Macworld Expo next month. If not, I’m willing to bet that you’ll be able to run Windows software on a Mac by the time Mac OS X Leopard rolls around at the end of next year. You heard it here first.
WordPress, the blogging platform that powers this site, has hit version 2.0. You can download it at their newly redesigned website. I’ll get around to upgrading danbruno.net sometime soon, I’m sure.
Yes, I’m still here.
I haven’t been keeping up with the site because of a strange PowerBook affliction. The Mac Geniuses tell me it has a malfunctioning logic board — a terrifying diagnosis if I ever heard one. The problem is unusually specific; nothing is wrong unless I try to change the RAM. if I use the RAM that the laptop came with — two 256MB chips — everything is fine, but if I try to put in a 512MB chip, like the one I got for Christmas, OS X panics.
(Incidentally, Apple’s error screen is much more intimidating than Microsoft’s infamous Blue Screen of Death, if only because of its relative infrequency. Still, I was amused: even with the most important piece of hardware in the entire machine on the fritz, OS X provided a nice translucent overlay for its error message.)
Luckily, I also got a 160GB LaCie drive for Christmas, so I swapped out the 512MB chip and backed up my computer in case things get any more illogical. Getting the thing fixed will cost over $300, so for now I’m going to stick with my original configuration and hope for the best.
The first sign of the Apocalypse: Yule logs on your iPod! (via)
The Slingbox (blogged previously) is a chunk of hardware that connects to your TV and broadcasts your digital cable signal over the internet, the upshot being that you can watch TV anywhere there’s a broadband connection. Now, according to a New York Times report, a Mac-compatible version is coming.
There are drawbacks, though. In addition to having to watch programs on a small computer screen, Slingbox users may also interfere with their family’s viewing back home; in some cases when channels are changed remotely, the television at home moves with it, and vice versa.
For now, video streamed from a Slingbox cannot be viewed on an Apple Macintosh computer, though Krikorian says his company will announce a solution to that problem in January.
Come to think of it, that first drawback sounds like a dealbreaker. It’s nice, though, to see some Apple love.
There is a new Facebook thing: you can add metadata about your friends that describe how you know each other. That way, when someone pulls up your list of buddies, they can see that you and Jane went to the same high school, took summer classes together last year, and had an awesome drunken hookup that one time. The information will have a disclaimer if it is not confirmed by the other party, but is visible to everyone, confirmed or not. This should be interesting.
Google has a press release up about its partnership with AOL. Most of it is nonsense about how thrilled they are about expanding their strategic alliance, but this part caught my eye.
Serving Users and Advertisers
Under the strategic alliance, Google and AOL will continue providing search technology to AOL’s network of Internet properties worldwide. The agreement’s broad range of new features for users and advertisers include:
- Creating an AOL Marketplace through white labeling of Google’s advertising technology – enabling AOL to sell search advertising directly to advertisers on AOL-owned properties;
- Expanding display advertising throughout the Google network;
- Making AOL content more accessible to Google Web crawlers;
- Collaborating in video search and showcasing AOL’s premium video service within Google Video;
- Enabling Google Talk and AIM instant messaging users to communicate with each other, provided certain conditions are met; and
- Providing AOL marketing credits for its Internet properties.
“Enabling Google Talk and AIM instant messaging users to communicate with each other, provided certain conditions are met” is the exciting one. It almost makes me feel okay with the Google/AOL deal. I’m a bit curious about those “conditions,” though.
P.S.: Google, get off your asses and make Google Talk for Mac! Jeesh. (via)
SNL’s “Lazy Sunday” skit last weekend, a rap song about going to see the Chronicles of Narnia, has inexplicably fascinated the blogosphere. You’d think it was an stupid internet meme or something.
Still, the thing is freaking hilarious. You could call us Aaron Burr by the way we droppin’ Hamiltons!
UPDATE: NBC has made the clip available for free download on the iTunes Music Store. It’s also (finally) on their site, although that seems to be temporary. It’s a bit late to cash in on the popularity, but they mean well.
Today I picked up Project Gotham Racing and Dead or Alive 3 for $15. If I had bought them four years ago when they came out, it would have been a little over $100. I’m happy with the discount.
So I’m looking forward to checking out the Xbox 360 — in a couple of years.
For some reason the Unofficial Apple Weblog has posted a “rebuttal” of someone else’s “10 Apps Every New Mac User Should Download” list. It’s easily the dumbest thing I’ve read on a Mac website this year, including the rumors. Since comments are currently turned off on TUAW, I’m commenting here.
1. AdiumX is nice, but I’ll stick with iChat. I like iChat. If I need to use all those other protocols, maybe I’ll launch Fire.
Bullshit. Adium is a lot better than iChat, even if you only use one protocol. “I like iChat” does not invalidate their suggestion. Also, how about an explanation for why you’d “maybe” use Fire over Adium?
2. Cyberduck rocks. I like it. *But* I’ve been using Fugu recently. It rocks better and harder.
Get this: the list you’re criticizing to also recommends Fugu! In that little paragraph underneath the Cyberduck link, they say: “Fugu and Fetch are two other solid FTP clients that we suggest you take a look at.”
3. Safari is a better browsing experience on OS X than Firefox. Firefox is great and all, but it doesn’t integrate nicely with all the OS X goodness like the built in Dictionary and spellcheck, not to mention Services. Until it can do that nicely, Safari wins (especially if you load up Saft).
Perhaps the editors at TUAW missed this bit: “Safari is great but Firefox’s amazing archive of valuable extensions, themes, and toolbars makes it king of the web browsers. Firefox has extended support for key shortcuts, such as switching between tabs, live bookmarks and version 1.5 ushers in a zippy browsing engine. Firefox’s search function is also much more robust than Safari’s.”
Seriously. Built-in dictionary and spellcheck? Services? Those are the must-have features that Safari includes? Give me a break.
4. iBackup…. eh. I’ll stick with Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper, thanks.
“We also suggest you take a look at Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper!. They are excellent programs for those seeking a simple one-stop backup solution.”
Man, reading the list would have saved these guys a lot of typing.
5. Nvu… uh, no. This is not something that every new Mac user should download. There are lots of people not coding websites who don’t need this one.
Here, I absolutely agree. See below, though.
6. Quicksilver rocks, but I find if you get used to Spotlight and don’t mind the slight delay, you don’t use it as much.
Quicksilver rocks, but we don’t agree with its recommendation. You can get used to Spotlight, even though it’s not as good. There’s a slight delay when searching Spotlight, but that doesn’t matter. You won’t use Quicksilver as much if you get used to searching with an inferior piece of software, but we’re still not going to recommend it for those times when you do use it. Even though it rocks.
Brilliant, guys.
7. Stuffit Expander? I mean you need it, but isn’t it already on the System when you buy it?
Actually, I think it is. I’ll let this one be.
8. TextWrangler is nice, but I’ll have to say they should have mentioned SubEthaEdit.
No, they shouldn’t have, for the same reason that they shouldn’t have mentioned Nvu. SubEthaEdit is cool, but is by no means a program that Every Mac User Should Download. Not everyone needs collaborative code editing.
9. VLC is good.
Thank you.
10. Windows Media Player?! Why is this on a top ten?
Once again, I direct you to the blog entry: “Unfortunately, you cannot traverse the internet without coming across some video encoded in the Windows Media format. The only way to play these files is with the Windows Media Player.”
I don’t claim to have an authoritative Mac software list or anything. I’m not a hardcore Mac expert. But this is a pointless, half-assed, unsupported contradiction of a perfectly good list of software. TUAW, you can do better.
Blizzard’s MMORPG World of Warcraft now has a staggering five million subscribers. Let’s take a look at what that means.
Assume that everyone pays $13 a month — a conservative estimate, as that’s the cheapest possible rate. With five million subscribers, that’s $65,000,000 each month. That’s not even counting the game itself, which retails for $50. Bottom line is, with these numbers Blizzard could rake in $800 million in a year.
Now, granted, there’s a lot that goes into upkeeping a game like World of Warcraft. There are a lot of employees doing everything from tech support to forum managing. They create new content regularly, which takes time, money, and manpower. And they have to pay the hosting bill, which must be enormous.
Still, though. It’s hard to argue with $800 million a year.
If you’re a Windows refugee or a recent convert, you might be disturbed by OS X’s conspicuous lack of time-wasting games. Luckily, some enterprising Mac developers have taken that Microsoft mainstay, Solitare, and made a tasty Cocoa version: Solitare XL.
Solitaire XL works exactly like its Windows counterpart. You drag cards to move them, click on the deck to deal more cards, and double-click cards to move them to the foundations. You can choose between Draw One and Draw Three. There’s even a stupid animation when you win (think ABBA). Additionally, there a couple of miscellaneous additions, like an undo feature and the ability to fast forward to the end of the game once it’s obvious that you’ve won.
It seems silly when talking about a card game, but Solitaire XL looks pretty damn good. The cards flip over with a cute little animation. There’s a Brushed Metal background behind the deck, but the rest of the playing surface is transparent, which is a nice effect [screenshots]. You can even customize the backs of the cards, if you like that kind of thing.
The form and function combination is a perfect fit for Apple users. Check it out!
I saw some odd graffiti on the T yesterday. It went something like this:
HE THROWS SNAKES IN MY HOME
[an address in Boston]
Chuck Norris STALKS [graffiti artist's name]
TRUE TRUE
HE’S NOT THE MAN YOU SEE ON TV
HE’S SICK!!!!!!!!watch for my movie
I guess there’s just a lot about Chuck Norris that we don’t know.