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Off the charts in Wii Sports [update 1]
Last week, we bragged chatted about our Wii Sports accomplishments, and suddenly our e-mail blew up with stories of folks screaming off the charts in their favorite sports. Here we were, feeling good about being mid-range pro in tennis, and there are folks with rankings that make us feel like we might just be the noobiest noobs who've never noobed.We'll be comforting ourselves with chocolate while you check out the pics.[Update 1: Fixing an error both heinous and gratuitous.]
Wii Warm Up: Wii Sports accomplishments
We know you guys still like to get in there with the racket or the boxing gloves -- you told us -- so we're dying to know about all the bragging rights you can claim in Wii Sports. Are you struggling to just get bronze medals, or are you maybe rolling in the platinum? Have you gone pro? What's the state of your Wii Sports habit?
Major League Gaming drops $1.75 million to sign more pros
Major League Gaming has secured team Carbon, the four-man national Halo 2 champion, with a $1 million group contract, and signed additional $250,000 deals with three members of team Str8 Rippin. Having signed similar contracts with team Final Boss and Str8 Rippin captain Tom Taylor back in June, MLG now has exclusive rights to three of the nation's top l33t pro-gaming teams.You can currently watch these fine young lads do battle on USA Network's coverage of the 2006 Boost Mobile MLG Pro Circuit on Saturday mornings.[Thanks, Raymond]
New Virtual Console games on the horizon [update 1]
Yes, the U.S. Virtual Console launch line-up is a bit ... anemic. We know, it hurts. However, one has to consider why it doesn't really matter: 1) We'll all be too busy playing Twilight Princess to bother with the Virtual Console immediately, and 2) Nintendo has promised ten new Virtual Console releases per month. That's quite a bit, especially looking at how often Xbox Live Arcade is updated, but the question then becomes: what's on the horizon?Well, thanks to the ESRB, we've got a clue. The ESRB requires that games be rated before release, which obviously means that companies need to send in their product quite a bit in advance. Since they publish their ratings, we've managed to score a list of eight potentials, and quite an eight they are (all rated E for Everyone): Duck Hunt Hogan's Alley Kid Icarus Kirby's Adventure PilotWings Pro Wrestling Punch-Out Wild Gunman Kid Icarus, Duck Hunt, and Punch-Out? Holy hell. The Virtual Console is awesome.[via Joystiq][Thanks, Zeke!][Update 1: Legal issues?]
Sling Media's Slingbox HD Connect up for pre-order
Now that you've had time to let the barrage of new Slingboxen news sink in a bit, you may be eying that crimson-colored Slingbox PRO to use with that oh-so-stunning HD service. Trouble is, Sling Media's making us HD junkies fork over an extra $50 to gain 1080i support from high def tuners / DVRs -- but at least we now know (almost) exactly when we can start streaming that HD goodness to our PCs, laptops, and bevy of mobile devices. Sling has just now opened up the pre-order gates for the HD Connect dongle via its own online store, and while the brief description doesn't tell us much more than we already know (still no HDMI support, folks), those who get their orders in now can expect to start tapping the full potential of that snazzy Slingbox PRO in early November.[Thanks, Aaron]
Huckleberry iSight periscope
The inclusion of iSight cameras in Apple portables starting with the MacBook Pro was an exciting prospect for many users; just think about how useful it would be to have the ability to video conference wherever you had your notebook without having to lug around extra gear! But the secondary use of the built in iSight to take quick candid shots of one's environment is becoming more and more popular. The only issue with this is the requirement that you flip your MacBook around to take the picture; something which is decidedly less than elegant. Fortunately for people who practice this secondary use-case often, Charlie Dancey and Mungai Mirrors will release the Huckleberry mirror system at the upcoming Mac Expo London later this month. Although sexy and probably pretty high build quality, the $28 price tag for a piece of glass and some plastic might cause more mechanically inclined prospective buyers to make their own. I'm sure it won't be long before someone posts an Instructable on how to make your own (if you do, send it in as a tip and we'll post it).
Pro gamer salaries on the rise
Want to make big bucks as a professional gamer? Living overseas is probably your best bet for now. But Wired News reports that television deals and increased interest from U.S. sponsors mean salaries for America's top gamers could hit the stratosphere before long. This is in stark contrast to a similar Wired article from three years ago which detailed how even the best of the best pro gamers were barely getting by.Today, more than a dozen U.S. gamers make upwards of $70K per year, according to the article, and a few have taken home six-figure purses in big tournaments. That's nothing compared to the costs for sponsors such as NVidia, though, who shell out money "likely in the eight-figure range" to sponsor the likes of Team3[D].Nice work if you can get it, but remember that the top pros often practice for upwards of 40 hours a week to keep their skills honed. So unless you're planning on quiting your day job, you aren't likely to be the next Jonathan Wendel anytime soon.
Pioneer @ CEDIA - New PureVision Elite plasmas on display
Pioneer is showing three new Elite PureVision plasma HDTVs during CEDIA 2006, the 42-inch PRO-940HD, 50-inch PRO-1140HD and 60-inch PRO-1540HD models may not bring the 1080p of the PRO-FHD1 but they have a bevy of new features to make up for it. Their color filtering, color zone mapping and improved phosphor technology are all part of the package to help color and image quality, as well as the crystal emissive layer for better contrast. These plasmas are also the first to include Pioneer's Home Media Gallery support, with built-in Ethernet and USB ports to allow home users to stream music, videos and pictures directly from a DLNA compliant PC or other device in HD quality. They include Microsoft PlaysForSure DRM support, as well as the MPEG-1, WMV9 and MPEG-2 codecs. CableCard slot and NTSC/ATSC tuners are onboard, plus dual HDMI (1080p/24hz) inputs, two component inputs, PC input and RS-232C support. The 42-inch PRO-940HD has integrated bottom speakers while the 50- and 60-inch TVs feature detachable side speakers. The 42-inch is 1024x768 resolution with an MSRP of $4,000, while the PRO-1140HD (pictured above) and PRO-1540HD both have 1365x768 resolutions and are priced at $5,500 and $8,000 respectively. All are now available and shipping.
Razer introduces feature-packed keyboard with iPod dock
Is that plain-jane Apple Keyboard starting to feel a little lax in the feature department? Do you find yourself wanting for, say, 10 programmable hotkeys and dedicated iTunes control keys? How does a built-in iPod dock sound, with an audio line out port for the ultimate in keyboard luxury and integration?If your keyboard juices are 'a flowin, check out the new Pro|Type™ Multimedia Keyboard from Razer Pro|Solutions, a decked-out keyboard with all the fixins, except a cup holder. No pricing or availability has been announced, but we'll let you know as soon as we hear when you'll have yet another option for keeping your iPod front and center in your life.[via iLounge]
Mac Pro benchmark roundup
Other sites are already getting their hands on Mac Pros and putting them through the benchmark ringer, and since we aren't done checking the couch for change yet, I figured a benchmark roundup would be the best way to let you sink your teeth into some cold, hard numbers. If you've been waiting to see how well these things perform in real world tests, your wait just might be over: Macworld pits a 2.66 Quad Core Ghz Mac Pro against 2.5 Quad and Dual 2.7 G5 Power Macs - G5s run crying to mama in everything but Adobe Photoshop tests (hint: that will be a benchmark theme across the board) MacInTouch posts some initial impressions as well as a wide variety of benchmarks, including some real low-level geek stuff like "multi-threaded scalar." Until now, I thought a 'scalar' was just a monster in Unreal Bare Feats posts their own set of tests, including the only After Effects test I've found so far (AE still isn't a UB either; I guess Adobe misunderstood the phrase 'fashionably late to the party') Geek Patrol, as you might glean from the name, also posts some extensive low-level tests in categories such as memory performance, floating point, integer and more Apple's product page also seem to think pretty highly of their own new Mac Pros That's it for now. Just don't blame us for the credit card interest if this pushes you over the edge to buy one.
Candela's new 20.1-inch PROMISSION display for pros
The new CLM20D1SB "PROMISSION" display from Candela isn't as pro as they come, but it's nicely specced all the same. It runs at a 1600 x 1200 UXGA resolution, with 300 nits of brightness, a 1000:1 contrast ratio and 8ms response times. For inputs the display manages the usual DVI and VGA plugs. Not really a lot that stands out, and the $600-ish pricetag isn't exactly bargain-basement, but the display should be out August 25th all the same.[Via Impress]
Apple slashes Cinema display prices, too
A number of observant TUAW readers have also noticed that Apple has (quietly) slashes Cinema display prices with the introduction of the Mac Pro. There were rumors of Cinema updates before WWDC, but it seems that Apple simply wanted to give our pocketbooks a break with the $500 increase in the Mac Pro's price. Cinema display prices now look a little something like this: 20-inch: $699 23-inch: $999 30-inch: $1999 (what a drop!) Unfortunately, I can't even get into the EDU store so I'm not sure how much better prices are for students yet. Ultimately, these prices should look a bit more appealing amidst criticism of what some say are slightly overpriced LCDs.
Apple announces Mac Pro - shipping today
"The fastest, most configurable Mac ever" indeed. Today at WWDC 2006 (check out our coverage and the chatcast) Apple introduced the Mac Pro, and it might as well come with a pair of hot pads with all-new features like this: Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon "Woodcrest" processors 4MB shared L2 cache per processor 1.33GHz dual independent frontside buses 1GB memory (667MHz DDR2 fully-buffered DIMM ECC) NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT graphics with 256MB memory 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7200-rpm hard drive1 16x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) And the fun doesn't stop there. You can stuff up to 16GB of RAM in these beasts now, along with 2TB of storage. With over 1,000,000 available BTO configurations, we wouldn't be surprised if customers have a hard time simply deciding on which Mac Pro they want to throw down their credit cards for.Also notable: gone are the two or three configuration options from the PowerMac Mac Pro's page in the store. It simply offers the base configuration, which now starts at $2499, and beckons you to click 'configure'. Just try not getting lost in options on your way to the checkout.
Editorial: Behind the MacBook "Hack"
The web has been on fire the past few days with news of a presentation given at the BlackHat computer security conference featuring the compromising a MacBook Pro by executing very low-level code on the drivers of a wireless card. Whether or not the exploit presented actually counts as hacking of a Macintosh (they used a third party wireless card) is not at issue in this post. What I think is more important is the fact that these guys chose to demonstrate the vulnerability on a Mac, instead of a Windows or Linux machine, which are also vulnerable to the exploit. The presenters cited the "Mac userbase aura of smugness on security" as their reason for choosing a Mac as their guinea pig.Some readers might attribute this negative attitude toward Mac users as one held only by uninformed Windows users and malicious hackers, but that is far from the case. Many very intelligent and highly respected members of the tech community feel the same way. Some of them even used to love Macs. Before pointing any fingers and making any accusations about who lost their mind when, I think we need to take a step back and examine our behavior.
Apple admitting, repairing laptop whining and discoloration problems
Always the good corporate citizen -- well, maybe not always -- Apple has finally fessed up to both the MacBook discoloration and MacBook Pro whining issues that have been plaguing customers since the notebooks were released, and has agreed to fix the problems free of charge. We already knew that the company was sneaking new logic boards into Pro models that had been sent in for unrelated repairs, but now the "high-pitched buzzing sound," as it's technically known, has been officially acknowledged in a support page on the Apple website. An inquiry by DailyTech revealed that affected notebooks fall under the standard one-year limited warranty -- meaning that all MacBook Pros are covered -- and that the solution involves replacing either just the fan or both the fan and the logic board. The discolorations, meanwhile, have not yet been publicly recognized, but AppleInsider is reporting that a recent company bulletin intended for retail and service partners indicates that white, 13-inch MacBooks in a specific serial number range will indeed be eligible for a new top case and corresponding screen bezel -- assuming that approved cleaning solutions have been proven ineffective. Overall, not a bad resolution; sure the admissions could have come sooner, but instead of blaming the discoloration on dirty customers, attributing the whining to tinnitus sufferers, and calling it a day, Apple came through in the end and took the responsible course of action.Read- WhiningRead- Discoloration
Cook breakfast with your MacBook (just kidding)
[11/09/2011: Source link removed, as the site is no longer online.] Everyone knows that Apple's Intel powered portable lineup gets hot, but this is insane! An enterprising fellow figured out that it would be possible to actually fry an egg on the bottom of his black MacBook. Granted, it probably took something like 3 times as long than if he had used a stove, but that's obviously not the point. For bonus points, keep your coffee warm by placing it on top of your MacBook power adapter. While obviously a stab at Apple for releasing such hot machines, I think its important to understand the fact that Apple has no control over how hot or cold Intel's processors run. I'm sure the engineers in Cupertino do their best to make the machines run as cool as possible, but there are some things that even the Mac hardware team can't do. Just as a bit of an update, since this piece has been picked up all over the net: This isn't really serious. Although it is theoretically possible to get egg proteins to congeal from the heat of a MacBook, the guy posted the story as a joke. That is all. [via UneasySilence]
Apple quietly responds to whining (of MacBook Pros)
Rickard Almqvist at MacInTouch is reporting that Apple has apparently (and finally) produced a tweaked version of the MacBook Pro logic board in response to everyone's whining - MacBook Pro whining, that is. Rickard received a letter from Apple detailing the new board and stating that it was brand new, "only a few days old". Also of note is the need for new installation DVDs that contain 10.4.6, not the 10.4.5 discs the machine originally came with. And just for all you skeptics out there, Rickard has also posted a picture of Apple's letter on his blog, so you can let your "that was Microsoft Worded" and "Photoshopped!" naysaying fly.Here's hoping MacBook Pros everywhere can finally stop whining. The one question I have is: are you going to be sending your MBP in for the new board? Or is iTunes usually blaring loud enough for you to still wonder what all this 'whine' talk is about?[via MacDailyNews]Thanks Miguel
10.4.7 enables two finger right-click on 15" MacBook Pros
Many commenters on our Mac OS X 10.4.7 Update post have noticed that two finger right-clicking has been enabled on 15" MacBook Pros. It seems to work just fine on mine, and this update should evoke a sigh of relief to all those using the trackpad hack we blogged to accomplish the same thing since the hack has annoying side effects, such as needing to be re-enabled after each restart.As a side note: it seems a little strange that this wasn't documented; I scanned the extended release notes on the 10.4.7 update and didn't see this anywhere.
Automator Action Packs galore
In my newsreader today I saw an 'iPhoto Action Pack' from Automator World that adds a handy action for workflows involving iPhoto: "Find iPhoto Item Path". While debating whether that was TUAW-worthy, my newsreader became bombarded with more headlines like System Action Pack, TextEdit Action Pack, Preview Action Pack... until I finally decided to post a roundup to cover them all in one fell swoop. So here you go kids, a whole batch of Automator Actions that add some missing abilities to everyone's favorite (or the only?) OS automation utiliity: System Action Pack iPhoto Action Pack Filemaker Pro Action Pack TextEdit Action Pack QuarkXPress Action Pack Preview Action Pack Photoshop Action Pack InDesign Action Pack These actions, to my knowledge, are provided free from Automated Workflows, LLC.[UPDATE: Automator World's admin stopped by to let us know that some of these action packs are actually demos of retail versions of these products offered by Automated Workflows, LLC.]
VersionTracker offers DivX Pro license with subscription purchase
VersionTracker has announced a new bundle offer included with purchases of VersionTracker Pro subscriptions. For the first 350 who purchase, renew or extend a VersionTracker Pro subscription, they will receive a free license to the new DivX Pro (a $19.99 value), which we blogged last month. DivX, as you might remember, is a fairly popular video codec used on the internet and compatible with other devices such as DVD players and PDAs. VersionTracker Pro, if you need a refresher, is "an automated, simple and cost-effective way to inventory and keep all your software current and secure". It is a service and software package (also a widget, of course) that allows you to view new versions of just the software you use, manage the downloading and install of new packages, and more. VersionTracker Pro costs $49.99/year for up to three Macs.If you're interested, we recommend you run (don't walk!) as they only have 350 DivX licenses to hand out on a first-come, first-serve basis.
