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New screenshots for Virtua Fighter 5
Here are some images to check out from Sega's famous brawler which is due out next year. The aesthetics are shaping up to that next-gen feel, especially with the environments. Apparently gamers will be able to deck these characters out in different clothes and accessories purchased from an in-game shop. Makes you wonder if they plan on adding any support for micro-transactions over the internet as well.
New My SingStar screens: it's karaoke for PS3!
Some people just like to hear their own voice. If you're the next aspiring American Idol, you may find this worth checking out. Last week some new My SingStar images surfaced showing off the next-gen karaoke game for PlayStation 3. It gives off a quirky vibe to those who may not be keen on this type of game, but we could be seeing some really sweet applications thanks to the PS3 hardware. With secret weapons emerging, hardware of the like could provide a fresh angle on a song-driven game like this. Though you can only push an EyeToy or camera so far for a karaoke title. However there's always the possibility of downloading all kinds of new songs over their network platform too. And what about the chance of downloading user-created content as well? Maybe that's just wishful thinking, but hey... it could happen!
Drool-inducing Heavenly Sword images
She's deadly, beautiful and red-headed. The premise behind Heavenly Sword's heroine is enough to get you interested in checking out the images, but seeing some of the concept art alone shows even more potential. It may just take a console as powerful as the PS3 to realize some of these beautiful environments. Take a gander at these pics to see what will be coming your way in the not-too-distant future.
iClip Lite 2 Dashboard widget released
iClip Lite, as we've mentioned in the past, is a free, widgetized version of the shareware iClip. The Lite widget version is "a multiple clipboard & scrapbook widget designed to improve your efficiency and productivity for most tasks you do on your computer". New in version 2 is: • universal binary • automatic Clipboard recording • smooth widget resizing • increased number of bins from 20 to 25 • all new, stylish designiClip Lite is free and available from Inventive.
iTheater media center launches new site, version bump
iTheater is an open source media center app for Mac OS X which we've blogged before. While I hear it's definitely still rough around the edges, the project has launched both a new site and a version bump to 0.1.2a - both sporting all-new UIs. Various bug fixes and other additions have made it into this updated version, but if you think it's still lacking in features (after all, it's a 0.1.2 alpha), you're in luck! They're also looking for developers to join the team and lend a hand.[via MacMerc]
Screenshot roundup: Virtua Fighter 5
Here are a handful of screens from Virtua Fighter 5, slated for a spring '07 release. If you haven't been following the title and want to sink your eyeballs into some more images, check out this link to find some from earlier last month. So far it's shaping up to look like a winner (but how will the new controller interface with it?).
New screenshots: Resistance: Fall of Man, Frontlines
Here are a few screenshots of the PS3 launch title Resistance: Fall of Man. Look eerie enough for you? Either way, it's hard not to love the dynamic environments and grungy atmosphere. But do you think Frontlines: Fuel of War looks that good?[Resistance: Fall of Man][Frontlines: Fuel of War]
Widget Watch: iPhoto mini 1.3 gains a new UI, more
We blogged the iPhoto mini widget back in December, and since then it has received quite the feature update and face lift. The widget is now resize-able and just plain sexier. In addition to being able to browse all your iPhoto albums complete with image counts, you can now set the current image as your desktop wallpaper with a single click. The little gear icon you see offers the ability to open the current image in four apps: Preview, Mail, Safari and a custom app you can define on the back of the widget.The iPhoto mini widget is free and available from DashboardWidgets.
FlickrExport 2.0 beta 1
FlickrExport has entered a 2.0 beta phase, ushering in some really, really cool new features including: FlickrExport now supports uploading to existing sets. Uploaded photos can be added to a group pool after upload. FlickrExport now displays a list of your tags used on Flickr which can be added to photos before uploading. This list can be filtered using regular expressions. FlickrExport can copy the title and description back to iPhoto if it has been changed inside FlickrExport. This feature is turned off by default. If a photo's date has been modified in iPhoto, FlickrExport now communicates this to Flickr. It is now possible to specify description text for a new Photoset as well as its title. The one catch in this new version, however, is that Fraser Speirs, its developer, has decided to turn FlickrExport into shareware. While I can't find a price anywhere on the FlickrExport 2.0 beta site, I personally am not surprised, as this is a powerful plug-in that Mr. Speirs has obviously spent quite a bit of time on. I know I'll be happy to buy a license once he announces a price - but what about you, loyal FlickrExport users? Do you mind offering up some of your hard-earned cash for some of Mr. Speir's hard work?
New Final Fantasy XIII magazine scans
The drool-inducing aesthetics that define the Final Fantasy series never cease to amaze. FFXIII is no exception. Check out these gorgeous scans from a Japanese magazine to get a feel for the upcoming epic. It's being taken care of by the same team behind FFX, and with an all new "white engine" backing it, this title is a serious hook for RPG fans looking forward to the PlayStation 3.
iWeb Optimizer - easily shrink oversized images
iWeb Optimizer is a simple Automator app that allows you to easily compress PNG images inside your iWeb site into JPG files, but it maintains the same file name so it doesn't break any of your links or images. Simply drag and drop the site folder that iWeb creates (be it in your iDisk or an exported directory you specified) onto iWeb Optimizer and let it work its magic. The handy little utility will also parse all your subdirectories, making sure no PNG is safe from a little JPG compression.iWeb Optimizer is free and available from Automator World.
Aperture 1.1 released with improvements, price drop, $200 coupon for early adopters
When was the last time you heard of a .1 upgrade to an application putting $200 in your pocket? It looks like pushing the Aperture update back to April did some good after all: This morning, Apple released Aperture 1.1 with a host of upgrades and new features, the most notable being Universal Binary status, RAW image rendering speed boosts and new fine tuning controls, as well as a price reduction to $299 and - get this - a $200 coupon for Aperture 1.0 'early adopters,' redeemable at the online Apple Store (make your claim here).General performance has dramatically increased on both PPC and Intel-based Macs, with Apple's press release boasting that "common repetitive workflow tasks such as Lift and Stamp and searching are processed up to 4x faster on a MacBook Pro (2.16 GHz) than on a PowerBook(R) G4."The Aperture 1.1 upgrade is available for existing customers now through Software Update, and fresh $299 copies are also available now through the Apple Store.
Backup files to Backpack with Automator
Non Stop Mac has put together an ingenious how-to on creating an Automator action to backup files to Backpack. It's a simple process that uses the genius of Backpack's page-specific email addresses to email files that are sitting in a specific folder. Head over and check out their post for the full details, as it really isn't difficult to create a system for keeping your stuff backed up, online and accessible. However, don't forget: free Backpack accounts (to my knowledge) don't allow for hosting files or images.I actually have an amendment to offer up for Non Stop Mac's Backpack backup process. While I haven't tested this out yet, it should work in theory: instead of saving this system out as an Automator action, I bet you could save it as a folder action, then simply attach it to a folder of stuff you want to back up. In a sense, this might be a basic, one-way iDisk: you could (theoretically) save items to this folder, which would then automatically be emailed to Backpack. If you try any of this out, feel free to share your thoughts on the experience.[via Backpack blog]
The Good News for Mac Lab Admins
With the release of new Intel Macs yesterday, the people who manage labs and classrooms full of Macs started asking questions.Does this mean I need to have a PPC image for my PPC machines and an Intel image for my Intel Macs? What about NetRestore and NetBooting? Can these new Intel Macs even NetBoot? What about the lab management tool/tripwire Radmind?There's some good news to report. Apple has shipped new Mac OS X 10.4.4 Server Admin Tools, in which there's an updated System Image Utility.app that can create NetBoot and NetInstall images for Intel-based Macs. Also, Mike Bombich has told us his most recent version of NetRestore 3.1.1 is a universal application that'll work on both PPC and Intel Macs.From a mailing list post made by a Sr. Product Line Manager for Server & Storage Support at Apple:The new Intel-based Macs use a next generation pre-boot technology developed by Intel called EFI. EFI provides a superior booting experience and includes features such as a larger ROM, richer graphics support, full IP stack, dynamic boot volume picker, quicker startup times and even some cool feature such as the ability to an Apple Remote to remotely control boot options.One of the benefits of EFI is dramatically faster boot times for NetBoot systems. Our internal tests show that in most situations booting of an Intel-based Mac is 2-3 times faster than the older Open Firmware-based systemsTo NetBoot or NetInstall an Intel-based Mac you need to deploy Mac OS X Server v10.4.4. Mac OS X Server v10.4.4 includes an updated System Image Utility for creating NetBoot and NetInstall images of Intel-based Macs. Separate disk images are required for PowerPC-based Macintosh computers and Intel-based Macintosh computer. Some other tidbits:%uFFFD the open firmware password tools still work on Intel Macs that use EFI. And firewire target-disk mode should also still work. So, all our essential image-making and image-distribution tools still work. Yes, we'll have to separate Intel-Mac image, but that's not a bad chore. It's certainly better than image-making in the PC world, where sometimes every model computer requires its own image.
