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Retrospect client goes Universal in public beta
When picking code names for new software versions, generally you want to stay away from anything that implies mythological or "often mentioned, never seen" status -- users may get the wrong idea. That said, given the long wait that loyal Retrospect users have had for new developments on the Mac side from EMC Insignia (formerly Dantz), I'll forgive the unfortunate choice of "Unicorn" for the beta of the Retrospect client for Mac, and just get busy with the downloading (beta program signup required).The new client beta, which also requires a patched Retrospect application, is a Universal Binary supporting Tiger and Leopard. In the run up to the Macworld-announced Retrospect X revision of the backup app (anticipated to offer both performance enhancements and feature parity with the Windows versions of Retrospect), EMC will be rolling out additional betas of both the client and application over the next few months.Retrospect may have lost as many Mac installs as it's gained Windows adherents over the past few years, with frustration over the slow pace of innovation and compatibility on the Mac side leading users to seek alternative backup tools. Unfortunately, for cross-platform small to medium-business backup, Retro is still a leading option. With the forthcoming Retrospect X, at least the loyal Mac customers (and maybe a few new ones) may find a pot of data at the end of the rainbow.
Gish goes universal
Gish isn't a Mac-only experience, but as a platform game, it's a pretty good one. I played it way back when it was released on Windows, but Inside Mac Games reports that Chronic Logic has released a universal binary of Gish, so now you can play it on Intel or PowerPC Macs alike.Like I said, I found the game pretty fun. You play a ball of tar (no kidding) that rolls through underground locations in search of his lady friend (isn't that always how it goes), and the fluidity of your main character brings a lot of weird physics manipulation into play-- you can squeeze through small places, and even stick to surfaces like walls and ceilings. It's definitely a fun twist on platforming (and Gish can even invade old platformers with "warp zones," little psuedo stages that let you visit other games with Gish's abilities), and if you're in the mood for a great indie game, make sure to check out the demo. The full game is $20 over at the Chronic Logic website.
Two new Mac games: Bomberman and Peggle
Boy, it seems like everyone was waiting for me to write up my gift guide before releasing some interesting Mac games this year. First Horde of Orcs comes out, then Sonic of all things appears on the iPod, and now here's two more fun gaming experiences appearing on the Mac.First, our sister gaming blog Joystiq reports that PopCap's crack casual game Peggle has appeared for OS X, and just like most of PopCap's games, it's so addictive it should probably be regulated by pharmacologists. It's a universal binary, too, and right now it's only $10 (50% off from a sale on PopCap's site). Be prepared to disappear from your relatives for long stretches of time over the holidays, though-- anyone who can only play one round of this at a time is either not human or just in serious trouble with their spouse.And MacNN reports that Bomberman has now appeared on iTunes as well. Hudson Software has produced an official port that features an "intuitive control scheme" (that I'd be interested to see), an exclusive boss stage for the iPod, and the option to play the game's music or your own during gameplay. Wild. That game is $5 and available as a download from iTunes.It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas for Mac gamers-- turns out there may be more underneath the tree than we hoped earlier in the year.
Feral releases Tomb Raider Anniversary
Lara Croft is back on the Mac. Feral Interactive let us know that they have released Tomb Raider Anniversary for our favorite architecture.There are a few hitches-- it's Intel processors only at this point (though a Universal binary is due next year), and like most 3D games lately, GMA video cards are out. 10.4 is listed, there's no indication of whether the game works in Leopard or not. The good news is that while a lot of Tomb Raider games lately have been terrible, this one is supposed to be a nice return to the spelunking of old. The Windows version got reviewed favorably, but there's no word yet on exactly how the Mac version looks. We've heard good things about other Feral ports-- maybe this kind of release is just what Mac gaming needs a lot more of.
Beta Beat: Mac Mozy Online Backup opens public beta
Mozy is a secure online backup service from Berkeley Data Systems. Today, Mozy introduced a public beta for Mac users, offering a Universal binary that runs on both Power PC and Intel systems. Mac Mozy provides both full- and incremental-backups and allows you to schedule those backups for specific times or to wait for when your computer is idle. Berkeley offers two basic plans to choose from. You can store up to 2 GB of data for free or, if you need more space, $5/month provides unlimited backup space. Most importantly, the data is stored securely. Mozy uses 448-bit blowfish encryption on your data and you select your private encryption key. No one at Berkeley has access to that key. If you'd like to give Mac Mozy a spin, stop by their free registration page, answer some personal questions and wait for an e-mail with a link to their download page.
Alice now Universal Binary on Mac
American McGee's Alice has been updated into a Universal Binary, and the tens of Mac gamers who both use Intel Macs and enjoyed this title -- or at least its gnarled art direction -- can now run the game natively. (Okay, we jest; there must be at least hundreds of us, including this writer and other Joystiq contributors.)We salute Aspyr for offering a free update to this older title. This sort of support makes us want to keep playing Mac titles, even though the platform's gaming future is uncertain at best. Now excuse us while we dig up old copies of Alice and recite incantations for a Deus Ex update.
Microsoft Office 2008 screenshots
I managed to swing by the Microsoft Office booth just in time for a demo of Office 2008, and I snapped a few screenshots. The presentation was made with Word since, as the demo folk pointed out, it is the app they have completed the most code on. As Scott mentioned, the words "page layout" were used quite often while emphasizing many of Word's new features, but of course the two big show-stoppers are Universal Binary status and a revamped UI that melds the Mac way of doing things with the impressive new 'Ribbon' UI in Office 2007 for Windows. My 425-px screen shot in this post doesn't really do it justice, but my pics in the gallery should offer a few more details for prying eyes. It sounds like we'll still have to wait for demos or a peek at any of the other Office components, however, as I couldn't squeeze anything else out of the booth attendants.
Uni version of Mactracker released
Everyone has their indispensable, go-to utilities for the Mac, but for my money (that is, no money at all) you can't find a better reference tool for vintage Mac support than Ian Page's obsessively complete Mactracker. As noted previously on TUAW, it's great for figuring out RAM requirements and OS compatibility for anything Apple has ever shipped out the warehouse door in Cupertino. One thing it hasn't been, up until now, is a Universal Binary. Since the REALBasic environment Ian uses started gracefully popping out those two-faced apps in early October, Mactracker has now caught up and the 4.1 release has all the Intel goodness one could wish.Read on for additional new features, courtesy of the Mactracker blog...
QTAmateur does full-screen playback, batch exporting, more
QTAmateur brings a lot of the handy QuickTime Pro features to the table without having to pay the $30 upgrade. Full screen video playback (with a more streamlined, iTunes 7-like video window) and batch exporting of any format QuickTime can read and write make for a handy little app.QTAmateur is free, Universal and available from Mike Ash, a Rogue Amoeba programmer.
Quickbooks 2007 v9.0, now with native Intel support
Well Adobe may not care enough to release Universal Binary updates, but Intuit seems to care, at least a little. Today they released Quickbook 2007 v9.0. Quickbooks, as you probably already know is a popular accounting app aimed at small businesses. Things of note in this upgrade include: Track payments, sales tax and inventory IMPROVED Create and print deposit slips NEW Customize forms using the Layout Designer NEW Customize toolbar IMPROVED Universal binary version for Intel- and PowerPC-based Macs NEW Share data between Mac and Windows IMPROVED Comprehensive in-product help IMPROVED Interactive Tutorial Center NEW Although Quickbooks users themselves don't seem all that impressed with the program, every step toward native Intel support for Macs for all is a good thing.Despite being a small business owner, I've never had any use for Quickbooks. Always seemed like overkill for my needs. But if it suits you and you've been wondering whether or not to upgrade, you might wait until the dust settles as there are already several nasty bug reports showing up on sites like MacFixit.
Intel build of ecto 2.4.1 now available
Fellow ecto users running on Intel Macs - rejoice! While Adriaan has been teasing us with snippets of ecto3 details, he recently posted on his blog that it's taking a bit longer than expected to develop, largely in part because it's a complete re-write from the ground up. With that said, he has announced an Intel build of ecto 2.4.1 (Finder says it's Intel, not Universal), though it is not fully tested, nor will it be supported (hey, he's just one guy). If you've been using the previous PPC version on your Intel Mac, I am happy to report this Intel build starts up in the blink of an eye, or rather: the bounce of an app. One bounce in the dock on my Core 2 Duo iMac and this new ecto is ready for action.This new ecto 2.4.1 Intel version can be had from this ecto blog entry, as the standard download link from the site still points to the PPC version.
Sims 2 wins best Mac game award
Aspyr Media's latest newsletter features a summary of the company's participation at last month's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, where they took home the Best Mac OS X Game award for The Sims 2. Also recognized in the Apple Design Awards was runner-up Wing Nuts 2: Raina's Revenge from Freeverse. While Apple isn't doing much for Mac gaming on the hardware front, Aspyr discusses their plans for using OS X Leopard's XCode developer toolset in future Mac game releases. You can download the Universal Binary update for The Sims 2 here.
Keyword Assistant for iPhoto goes Universal
Keyword Assistant is a stellar iPhoto plugin that dramatically simplifies the chore of adding keywords to images. In fact, one could go so far as to say Keyword Assistant brings tagging to iPhoto, but we'll let you judge for yourself. As you can see, it adds a menu item to iPhoto, as well as a simple, smart popup window that allows for comma-separated tags. We call this keyword entry utility 'smart' because it can auto-fill tags keywords from your existing set, (optionally) warn you when creating new keywords, and even auto-fill names from Address Book. It also brings a desperately needed option to iPhoto's preferences: alphabetizing the keyword list. All things considered, this is a utility we can easily refer to as a missing link from iPhoto's current abilities.This can't-iPhoto-without-it plugin just went Universal, and it is still provided as freeware from Ken Ferry's .Mac homepage. KA requires 4.0.3 or 4.0.4 and Mac OS X 10.4.7, and is localized for English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Swedish.
Hazel - automated file management
Hazel is one of those rare pieces of software (with a strange name) that feels like it's filling a gaping feature void I didn't even know Apple left in Mac OS X: it's a powerful, rule-based file and folder management app that brings a little bit of Automator, AppleScript and Folder Actions to the table in a way that none of those apps and features do well on their own. Hazel installs as a System Preferences Pane and, as you can see, allows you to build a list of folders on the left with a list of toggle-able rules on the right. The on/off switch on these rules is key, as they make it easy to switch between running certain kinds of rules on a folder for different workflows, jobs, times of the day or week.
Mac Halo now with Universal Binary
Inside Mac Games has announced that a Universal Binary edition of Bungie's Halo: Combat Evolved is now available. Intel Mac owners looking for a native performance boost over the original Halo release can download the upgrade for $5. If you're new to the whole Master Chief experience, the complete shrink-wrapped game is $30.See also: Mac Quake 4 now shipping Mac UT2004 Universal Binary released
Universal Binary of Flash Player 9 released
Adobe has cranked out a Universal Binary of Flash Player 9 for Intel Mac consumption. Strangely, a PowerPC-only build is still available on the download page, though Insanely Mac is reporting that it's an earlier build.If you're interested in what's actually new in this latest version, check out Adobe's page with the full details.
TUAW Tip: How to tell if an application is a Universal Binary
You want to figure out if an application is Universal, but you're not sure how to do it? There is a very simple easy way to find out. Simply select the icon of the application you're curious about and either right click and select 'Get Info' or hit Command + i. Either one will get you to the info window about the application you selected.Look under 'General' and you'll see 'Kind: Application.' Next to that (assuming you're running OS X 10.4) you'll see either 'Universal,' 'Intel,' or 'PowerPC.' This lets you know on what Macs this application will run natively on: Universal runs on either PowerPC or Intel Macs. Intel only runs on Intel Macs (no matter what). PowerPC runs natively on PowerPC Macs (odd, huh?) but the application will, most likely, run on Intel Macs in Rosetta, Tiger's emulation layer. Some applications, such as Microsoft's Virtual PC, will not run on Intel Macs at all. Finally, another tip for all you folks out there that are using Universal apps on Intel Macs that use plugins which aren't Universal. Assuming you still have the Info window open you should see this 'Open using Rosetta' check box (pictured to the left). This forces a Universal apps to use its PowerPC native codebase (in Rosetta) thereby letting you use your older plugins. Note that this option is only available for Universal applications.
UB Replacements for Non-Intel Mac Apps
In this post about Roxio Toast, TUAW asked which applications you were still waiting for to be ported to universal binary. I thought I'd compile a list of universal binary applications that can fill the roles of those that people are still waiting for:For Screen CaptureDisplay Eater is still a work-in-progress and offers a much less refined user interface than Snapz Pro, but it's UB and it works. I've used it several times to capture my screen into a video file.For Office SuitesAgain, the user interface isn't as refined as the mainstay, but you can't beat the price of NeoOffice. The NeoOffice Alpha 2 for Intel Macs is available right now by paying for an "Early Access" program. Or you can wait a few days, as an Intel beta of NeoOffice should be released very soon (next week, if I'm hearing correctly).For Video ConversionI use ffmpegX for a lot of video conversion and the Intel version just screams on my Intel iMac. I haven't matched it up against the new Toast's DivX conversion yet, but I bet it's faster. The learning curve is a bit higher with ffmpegX, but it supports way more video formats.And a few notes. Stuffit Expander is a universal binary beta. Filemaker is likely getting close to a release of version 8.5 which will be run natively on Intel Macs.I'm also still waiting for Extensis to update Suitcase so it's UB. As much as I'd love to dump it for a different product, I don't know of any professional font managers that are updated for Intel. Both FontAgent Pro and MasterJuggler are still wallowing in PPC-land. Linotype FontExplorer X was just updated to UB, but I have zero experience with it, and Apple's own FontBook has on too many occasions eaten my font collections (always have backups!).
Toast Titanium 7.1
Roxio released an update to their flagship CD and DVD-burning software for Macintosh this morning. Version 7.1 is now a universal binary and provides fixes with issues related to Quicktime 7.1, AppleScript, the Toast Setup Assistant, and encoding Apple Lossless files.There aren't too many more applications on my Intel iMac that are not universal binary. The Adobe CS2 suite and Microsoft Office, of course, are the two outstanding holdouts. Virtually everything else has been updated to work natively on an Intel iMac. What other applications are you waiting for?
Adobe Releases Flash Player 9 beta for Intel Macs
When Adobe released only the PPC version of Flash Player 9 the other day, some people criticized Adobe for not simultaneously releasing an Intel-enabled version as well. Richard Brownell points us today to a post by Emmy Huang, the product manager for Adobe Flash Player telling us that the public beta release of Adobe Flash Player 9 for Intel Macs is ready. As always, be sure to read the readme and watch for bugs. This is still in beta.
