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Mac OS X beta was released ten years ago yesterday
Happy (belated) birthday today to Mac OS X. Yes, the OS itself actually released to the public on March 24, 2001 (which means its actual "birthday," in my mind, isn't until next March), but Macworld points out that, on September 13, 2000, Steve gave us the very first peek at the foundation of modern Apple computing at the Apple Expo in Paris. That's ten years ago yesterday -- we never were all that good with remembering birthdays. Macworld lists out the ten most significant contributions of the OS to the Mac experience, but things like the Time Machine and Spotlight are on there, and of course, those weren't introduced until much later. The OS itself was actually announced six days after the year 2000 started, and the Apple Expo announcement was the beta reveal. Steve Jobs had just come back to the company, bringing his NeXT experience with him, and OS X made waves early on for being a Unix-based operating system. The Aqua user interface was the other big feature of the OS right away -- as Jobs said at that first Macworld Expo, "when you saw it you wanted to lick it." Customers found that out immediately: the beta product itself was released in stores for US$29.95. I'm sure we'll have more coverage of the past ten years of OS X as we move forward into next March, but it's pretty amazing to think how far both we and Apple have come over the last ten years already, all the way from OS X to iOS and everywhere in-between.
Ten gadgets that defined the decade
As 2009 winds down and we try to come up with new and clever ways of referring to the early years of this century, there's really only one thing left to do: declare our ten favorite gadgets of the aughts and show them off in chronological order. It's arguable that if this wasn't the decade of gadgets, it was certainly a decade shaped by gadgets -- one which saw the birth of a new kind of connectedness. In just ten years time, gadgets have touched almost every aspect of our daily lives, and personal technology has come into its own in a way never before seen. It's a decade that's been marked the ubiquity of the internet, the downfall of the desktop, and the series finale of Friends, but we've boiled it down to the ten devices we've loved the most and worked the hardest over the past ten years. We even had some of our friends in the tech community chime in with their picks on what they thought was the gadget or tech of the decade -- so join us for a look back at the best (gadget) years ever!
2000 means nothing in Season 4
"2k rated <insert class here> looking for Arena team."For once, that statement doesn't hold quite as much weight anymore. In Season 4, where new personal ratings requirements are in place, a 2000 rating doesn't amount to anything but bragging rights. Sometimes not even that. After two weeks of the new season, more than a few players are running around with their helm graphic on, proudly displaying the fact that they've hit the first benchmark of 1700 personal and team rating. An even more select few are standing around the major cities brandishing Brutal Gladiator armaments. This is where the new distinction lies.With 2000 personal rating qualifying a player for nothing in Season 4, the more accurate statement for any sort of Arena self-validation is now "<insert class here> with S4 weapon looking for Arena team." Because the requirements are so strict -- necessitating both team and player ratings to be at the minimum upon purchase -- Arena gear has never been more indicative of skill. I know many of you will protest at this generalization, and you'd have a point. But now more than ever, the system has proven effective at weeding out the chaff from the grain.
Drysc reveals more about season 4 personal rating changes
Drysc posted yesterday to tell us a bit about what will be forthcoming when Season 4 hits the servers. It's honestly mostly stuff we knew already. Season 4 will not begin immediately upon the release of 2.4. Season 1 will go the way of the old level 70 honor gear and disappear from vendors, Season 2 will be gained via honor, and season 3 will go down in price, while still keeping the personal rating requirement to purchase the shoulders and weapon. However, the surprising little tidbit is how little they currently plan to change the requirement. Drysc quoted a requirement of 1950 for the shoulders and 1800 for the weapon. That's a total drop of only 50 points for each item. Of course, he also stressed that this information was not final, and neither the final requirement drop on season 3 nor the start date of Season 4 had been announced yet. There is some concern from some comers that that drop is possibly a bit too low. Drysc responded to one player's voicing of those concerns with a somewhat cryptic reply that he thought they were making a few too many assumptions. I'm not quite sure what he could mean by this. I myself can't imagine a team that would climb to 1800 rating and simply satisfy themselves with season 3 weapons when they could make one last push to season 4 rating, so to me, the confusion is justified. Perhaps Drysc is hinting at a mechanics change in the way arena rating is calculated, or the fact that his numbers could easily change themselves? Perhaps he simply means that Blizzard is actively trying to shake the "welfare epics" stigma, and that people shouldn't assume they're entitled to low requirement ratings on the season 3 gear. I'd tend to lean towards that last one myself. What do you think? Are these numbers too high? Are you expecting Blizzard to change them? Or do you applaud this as a step away from making Arena gear a welfare system for those who can't or won't raid or save badges?
Magellan pops out RoadMate 2000 series
Magellan is taking things to the low-end with their new RoadMate 2000 series, but the new portable GPS units aren't without frills. The base-model RoadMate 2000 brings the SiRF Star III action for a mere $400. At 7.9 ounces and 1.1-inches thick, the device sports a 3.5-inch display and includes SmartDetour re-routing, along with battery power for use when traveling on foot. Another hundie will get you the RoadMate 2200T, which can handle extra info via SD memory, along with real-time traffic, points of interest, text-to-speech directions, MP3 playback and photo viewing. The unit purports to have an eight hour batter life, and can wear an optional "Sports Guard" jacket for impact and water resistance. At $550 the RoadMate 2500T features the "CrossoverGPS" capabilities available to the 2200T via SD card expansion, allowing for all sorts of off-road and backpacking exploration fun. The unit also comes with the Sports Guard sleeve for extra rough-and-tumble action. The three GPS units should be available in North America this September, October and December respectively.[Via gps tracklog]
