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So, what did you get?
The Christmas tree is kindling, the HoneyBaked ham is destined for two slices of white bread and, with any luck, you've already wiped your old devices to make way for new ones. For most of us, the annual gift giving spree is over and while we can think of a veritable feast of gadgets and gizmos we'd be happy to receive, we're curious to find out what you got (and gave) over the holidays. So, follow us into the comments for our annual post-holiday show and tell. [Photo by Warner Brothers/Getty Images]
How to deal with holiday raiding
Raiding during big holidays can be a bit of a sore spot for many guild masters, raiders, and other members of your raiding guild. When large content patches like Hour of Twilight come out so close to Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year's, and every other holiday I missed that happens in the winter, schedules can get tight and tensions can flare up. The guild leader and a handful of raiders want to push progression, while another contingent of raiders doesn't want to rush home after family gatherings. Many players won't be available at all. Whether you're a 10- or 25-man raid team, the holidays can put a dent in your progression and the willingness of raiders to put in those extra few hours or cut their raiding time close to family time. Here are a few tips and suggestions for dealing with holiday raiding and guild members who just don't have the fire during the coldest months. Don't let the holidays break up a good thing. Be accommodating. Guilds and guild leaders need to be accommodating to players during the holidays. Many WoW players are college kids or younger and usually don't have a say where they are going for the holidays, what they are doing with their families, or what their schedules are going to be. If you're a guild that requires sign-outs or sign-ups for raids, make sure that people know early to post their holiday schedules or make it known when they won't be around.
Apple posts new holiday iPhone ad
Apple has begun brodcasting a new holiday ad: 12 Apps of Xmas. Though it's not nearly as cool as past Christmas ads, it does spotlight some interesting apps, including one app (Schlage LiNK) that can light up a Christmas tree, at least when it's paired with the appropriate Z-Wave home automation module and the $12.99 monthly service plan [iTunes link]. Here's the lyrics to the new ad, so you can all sing along to the video below. On the twelfth day of Christmas my iPhone gave to me: 12 cookies cooking 11 cards a sending 10 gifts for giving 9 songs for singing 8 bells for ringing 7 slopes for skiing 6 games for playing 5 gold rings 4 hot lattes 3 flights home 2 feet of snow And an app that can light up the tree Apple has thoughtfully compiled an App Store page where you can see all the apps in the TV ads, although it may not be completely up to date. If you've identified one of your favorite apps in this ad, tell us about it in the comments below.
'Christmas in Cupertino': because there isn't enough weird stuff on the web
You guys know I love combining Christmas and my Mac, but this is just plain weird. A Dutch Apple community website by the name of One More Thing has written and produced a Christmas song called 'Christmas in Cupertino'. The song was composed and recorded in two weeks with the 'famous Dutch singers' Sjarrel & Sjaan delivering the vocals. The song focuses on Steve Jobs and Phil Schiller in their activities in Cupertino in the 'dark days' before Christmas and ... pictures them 'dancing 'round the Apple tree'. If that's not weird enough for you, Steve Jobs's liver transplant is also mentioned. What's even crazier is that you can buy it on iTunes. In fairness, due to Steve Jobs' call for more attention to organ donation at his keynote earlier this year, One More Thing will donate all proceeds from the song to de Dutch Liver Foundaction. Netherlands, I've been to your country many times. It's so quaint, so charming, so full of life; and what can I say? This quirkiness/oddness just makes me love you guys even more. And, though I'm loathe to admit it, the song is kinda catchy. So TUAW readers, for 99 cents why not buy the song [iTunes link], have a good laugh, and contribute to a great cause? Now, without further ado, I present to you the 'Christmas in Cupertino' music video (with subtitles). Christmas in Cupertino from One More Thing on Vimeo.
Four free Christmas screen savers to get your Mac in the holiday spirit
I love this time of year. I love the lights and the snow and the holiday cookies. I also love getting my Mac in the festive spirit. From widgets to desktop pictures to icons, there are countless ways to dress your Mac for Christmas. Here are four festive screen savers. Best of all, they're free. Jubilee by Idle Time Software displays Christmas or Hannukah lights like you'd see them if you were rocketing through your neighborhood in a Ferrari. There are four color schemes, including a beautiful blue and white Hanukkah theme. It requires Mac OS X 10.4 + (including Snow Leopard) and the Flash plugin. XMas Tree by Joe Hillman is an interesting 3D screen saver that decorates your desktop with textured ornaments. It's strangely hypnotic as the screen rotates around a beautifully generated 3D tree while Christmas music plays in the background. Mac OS X 10.5 + (including Snow Leopard). Silver Snow Clock is a simple little saver that shows an ornate pocket watch ticking the time away as the holidays pass us by. This gets a mention as one of my favorites because of the 3D snow that gently drizzles down the screen. Mac OS X 10.5 + (including Snow Leopard). Last but not least is everyone's favorite, Snowfall by Russel Warnebolt. We first reported on this almost three years ago, but it still deserves top marks. Contrary to popular belief, this screen saver was never used in Apple's retail stores (that one was, sadly, Apple-internal only). Since updating to 10.6.2, Snowfall experiences slight jitters. According to the dev: 'This appears to be a newly introduced bug in Quartz Composer on 10.6.2 that causes very poor frame rate. On 10.6 and 10.6.1 things are as usual, at least on my machines. Unfortunately this may require a fix from Apple.' Nonetheless, it's still the most beautiful Christmas screen saver I've ever seen. Mac OS X 10.4 + (including Snow Leopard).
The Daily Grind: Do you like holiday events?
We've only been done with Halloween for about a month, and we just finished Thanksgiving. There's still some other holiday coming up this year, followed by New Year's Day, followed by Valentine's Day, and so on and so forth. And all of these holidays are usually accompanied by events in the middle of your game of choice -- usually with a different name or a slightly different backstory, but with the ultimate effect of more holiday experience being shoved directly into your retinas. On the one hand, this is fun. It gives you a chance to break up the flow of the year a bit better within the game, it lets everyone kick back and relax a little more, and the best events give every player something new to do for a little while. On the other hand, they can distract from the game's actual focus, the rewards can sometimes be disproportionate, and for some people they get enough holiday coverage anyway. Work retail around Christmas, for instance, and you don't want more Christmas decorations in your favorite MMO. (You might want more Hanukkah, but that's a different discussion.) Today we ask: do you like having holiday events in your games of choice? If so, what are your favorite sorts and best examples? If not, what's your personal reason?
Five Gifts for the Mac AV Geek
'Tis the season to be buying. But what do you get for that special geek in your life? I can't speak for your geek, but I know what I'm asking Santa for this year – I just hope he's a TUAW reader. Whether he is or not, maybe going through my list will give you an idea on how to max out your credit card spread some holiday cheer this year. Dear Santa, I've been a good boy this year. I've cut back on the booze, and they don't greet me by name at the strip club anymore. So instead of a stocking full of coal, could you find it in your heart to bring me one or more of the following items on the night before Christmas? I know it's a long flight to New Zealand from the North Pole, but you've got to admit, at least the weather down here is waaaay better than in Cleveland this time of year. First of all, I'd like a shiny new 802.11n Airport Express. I like my Time Capsule (when it's not being a recalcitrant piece of junk), but the 5GHz wireless signal doesn't reach from my living room all the way back to my office. With an Airport Express, I'd be able to extend the wireless signal from my Time Capsule to the other side of the house and geek away in privacy. That way my wife won't have to grit her teeth every five minutes when the theme from Metroid goes off at 80 decibels and tells me I got a new e-mail. And since the Airport Express is 802.11n-enabled, I'd still be able to back up my data to the Time Capsule at a brisk pace. I'd also like these Shure SE115m+ earphones. I've been using a set of Shure E2cs for about three years now, and I love them, but the one big advantage the SE115m+ has is the controls built into the cord that would allow me to pause, play, and skip through tracks on my iPhone. I'd also be able to take calls, and it even has a built-in microphone. Santa, if I had these earphones I'd be able to put those white earbuds that came with my iPhone into a drawer and never look at them again, and that would make me a very happy boy indeed. You know how I like to shoot HD video, right Santa? But not those kinds of videos, because that would get me on the naughty list. My MacBook Pro does a good job of encoding video – it works pretty close to real-time – but if I had an Elgato Turbo.264 HD Video Encoder, it would go so much faster. Like 3-4 times faster. That way I could spend less time waiting for videos to encode and more time drinking helping old ladies across the street. If I'd been a really good boy this year, like if I'd won the Nobel Peace Prize or employee of the month at TUAW, I'd ask for a bona fide guitar amplifier. But since I haven't been that good, I'd settle for a Zoom G2.1U Guitar Effects Pedal with USB interface. This thing will simulate all kinds of guitar effects for me, and it'll plug right into my MacBook Pro. So far playing my guitar through Garageband has been an acceptable substitute for a real, live amplifier, but the one thing I definitely miss is all my effects pedals. Garageband includes lots of neat software effects that simulate pedals, but you can't stomp on them to switch them on and off. I know – I've tried. Last thing, Santa: if none of those other things will fit in your bag, could you just get me a big, fat iTunes gift card? I've got nearly US$120 worth of songs I want to upgrade to iTunes Plus so I can stop worrying about DRM nonsense on my previous purchases and get higher-quality music in the process. Thanks Santa. Next year I promise to be more helpful and honest and say fewer naughty words about New Zealand's telecommunications companies.
Happy puzzling holidays! Triazzle Holiday Edition is in the App Store
We loved Triazzle 3.0 [iTunes Link] when it came out in July, but with winter nearly upon us it's time to dust off the sleigh bells and dreidels because Triazzle Holiday [iTunes Link] is here in a new seasonally-inspired version. This slightly cut-down version of the US$2.99 app sells for US$0.99, and runs on any iPhone or iPod touch running OS 2.2.1 or higher. Triazzle is a puzzle game where you are given a sectioned triangle board and 9 (down from 16 in the full app) smaller triangle pieces that fit in the larger triangle like a jigsaw puzzle. The pieces are moved to the board and rotated to get the proper orientation, when all nine are in place, you have won. The rub is that many pieces can look maddeningly similar and there is only correct solution to each puzzle. So even if it looks right, you can be wrong. When you are right, you are rewarded with an animation and the match counter increments. This version of Triazzle is chock-full of holiday lights, Santa Claus, Christmas trees, Dreidels, Nutcrackers, and a litany of other things to make you think of the holidays. The game has 4 difficulty levels ranging from one for kids to level 3, which is really quite difficult. Animated hints are available along with an option invoking the Triazzle Tiki Gods to solve the puzzle for you. What sets Triazzle Holiday apart from just about anything else is its craftsmanship. Every screen is more gorgeous than the next, and the level of detail of the graphics can leave you breathless. If the visuals get too complex you can choose to display simpler backgrounds to make things easier to see. You can also adjust whether or not snow will fall, and you can set the volume level of music, ambient sounds, and game sounds. Music is a large part of the game. Right after the splash screen you are advised to use headphones. Drag them out of the closet for this one -- it's worth it. The music is wonderfully recorded and reproduced using such favorites as Jingle Bells and the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies from The Nutcracker Suite. In addition there is a lot of original music, including a spirited Klezmer number backing up a game full of Dreidels. Triazzle Holiday will only be available through the holiday season, so get your copy now, put on your headphones, and immerse yourself in this impressive game.
The Daily Grind: Dear Santa, I've been very good this year...
No matter what holiday you celebrate this time of year, one thing is generally guaranteed; the presence of presents! The team here has bounced things back and forth and we've gone all across the gaming gamut. Some of us can't wait to get our hands on Rock Band or one of those ever-elusive Wiis; others of us are just hoping for something as simple as time cards for our favorite MMOs. I know my wish list involves gift cards so I can pick up a nice powerful video card for some of the games coming down the pipes. (Just no CompUSA, kthx.)For this morning, we thought it would be fun to let you in on the "oooh, I wish" trading-notes fun we've had off and on comparing ideas for some of the holiday gift guides we've put out/are working on. What kind of cool gaming stuff are you hoping to land this year? The hot WoW item this year seems to be the Figureprints statues, but as they're limited availability, who knows who is going to get one of those. If you can't score that, what's your fallback must-have gift? Elf plushies? TCG decks for your favorite MMO? And speaking of awesome presents; WoW Insider will be giving away one of those sweet World of Warcraft Dell laptops soon, so be on the lookout for the post with details here giving you the scoop!
Walletex uncovers ultrathin holiday flash drives
Just in case you missed the memo -- and have subsequently wondered why the mall traffic has been just unmanageable of late -- the holiday season is upon us, and there's no better way to celebrate than by picking up one of Walletex's newest flash drives. Granted, the firm only has Christmas and Hanukkah editions, but it is offering up a couple of motifs in each of the aforementioned flavors. The wallet-sized cards are available now in sizes ranging from 128MB to 4GB, and while you can snag one for you or a loved one for as low as $26.95, don't expect to store too many jingles without ponying up quite a bit more.[Via ChipChick]Read - Christmas flash cardsRead - Hanukkah flash cards
Nothing says Hanukkah like a Menorah Wii sensor bar
It's no secret that the candles can serve as a substitute for the Wii's sensor bar in a pinch, but our pals at Joystiq decided to push the console's candlelight-capabilities to the limit and see if a menorah would help their Wii Sports game at all. While the gameplay advantage is still in question, as video after the break shows, the menorah backed up the Wiimote just fine, with only the occasional hiccup in movement. Sadly, our Festivus-related experiments have proved to be less effective.[Via Wii Fanboy]
Hanukkah menorah used as Wii sensor bar [update 1]
When we heard that candles (indeed, any light source) could be used as a replacement for the Wii sensor bar, we go to thinking about how this information could be used during the candle-filled holiday of Hanukkah. After some quick experimentation, we found that a Hanukkah menorah makes for a pretty good Wii sensor bar, even if there are more than two candles. While Kwanzaa celebrators can probably point their remotes at their Kinaras with similar effect, Christian gamers with a Christmas tree near their entertainment center are out of luck. Video confirmation of the Wii's miracle of lights is posted below for all you doubting Thomases out there.[Update: changed the picture to one of a more traditional Hanukkah menorah.]
