Universal
Latest
HD DVD international: StudioCanal announces 20 movies
Quick: Who has the third largest film library in the world?Now if you didn't cheat and read the title then you may have been like me and never heard of StudioCanal until five minutes ago. If you have, the fact that this French distributor has just announced they are releasing 30 HD-DVD titles in the near future is no surprise because you're probably well aware they are the French arm of Vivendi Universal. French HDTV owners can look forward to titles like Million Dollar Baby, Traffic, or The Graduate as well as French flicks like La Haine and Brotherhood of the Wolf.We've had some updates on Japan-only high definition releases but very little information about Europe. Maybe some of our European readers can tell us what kind of splash next generation DVDs are making over there, or not.All of this is of little consequence to those of us in the U.S., the real question is when can we start importing foreign HD-DVDs and looking down on people who dislike subtitles?[Via MovieWeb]
Part 2 in creating your own universal iPod dock
If you are interested in getting the most out of your iPod and you enjoy the DIY culture, Will O'Brien has posted How-To: Design your own iPod super dock (Part 2). In this part of his ongoing series, he takes you step by step through designing a schematic for the "Super Dock" in EAGLE. You can grab EAGLE Light Edition for OS X here (note: requires command line installation). I also posted about Part 1 of the series on TUAW.The upside of this series by Will is that you can freely expand upon what he has started. Use your imagination! Do you need to have an iPod dock that is integrated into your home brewed robotic kitchen? Will your car benefit from custom iPod controls on the steering wheel? Can your pet have its own playlist control functions at home with interactive carpeting? Will lays the groundwork for you and lets you be your own Griffin or Belkin engineer.
Prince & WoW Boost Vivendi's Stock
As Reuters reports today, Vivendi Universal, the big, scary parent behind Blizzard, has reported a 5.7% rise in 1st-quarter sales this year, spurred on mainly by the enormous cash cow that is WoW & it's six million subscribers, and from recording artists such as...Prince? Ok, I grew up with Prince, and I'm a fan, but I have to admit, I had no idea he had made a single note of music in years; last thing I heard, some basketball player was suing him for renting his house to Prince, only to return & find it painted purple inside & out. At least I can just type his name & not have to find a character for that stupid symbol...
Create your own universal iPod dock
Will O'Brien from our sister blog Engadget has posted up How-To: Design your own iPod super dock (Part 1). This thorough, in-depth tutorial will enumerate the steps required in building your own iPod dock (or cable), whether for your car, your futuristic molded bedside table, or simply to take advantage of all those dock pins you never knew you had. If you are a do-it-yourselfer with an iPod, you will surely enjoy this series from Will. Check it out and we'll let you know when Part 2 arrives.
Panic updates Stattoo
Panic's Stattoo helps you keep track of what you need to keep track of. When launched, it "tattoos" a strip of statistical capsules (I hate to say it, but think "widgets") across the bottom of your screen (you can reposition it if you like). You can assign a hotkey or key combination to briefly move it in front all windows, otherwise it simply acts as a part of your desktop picture. Available capsules include a clock, iCal event monitor, Mail monitor (now with Gmail support), weather, disk status, an RSS reader and more. Today, Panic released version 1.5. Changes include: Universal Binary, The mail capsule now supports GMail A new RSS capsule There's more, of course, and you can get the full run-down here. Stattoo costs $12.95 for a single license and requires Mac OS 10.4 or later.
Firefox goes Universal
Macworld reports that, finally, Firefox has gone Universal. The new version, 1.5.0.2, released Thursday, is said to be a "critical" update, and it is "strongly [recommended] that everyone update as soon as possible." From the Firefox website, updates include: Universal Binary support for Mac OS X which provides native support for Macintosh with Intel Core processors. Firefox supports the enhancements to performance introduced by the new MacIntel chipsets. Improvements to product stability. Several security fixes. Users of Firefox 1.5 should expect to receive the update automatically within the next few days, but anyone with a version prior to 1.5 will need to download and install it manually.
Qtek 9000 gets AKU2
Qtek has become the latest company to bless another group of customers with the glories of AKU2, adding not just push email, but the extra bonus of A2DP to their version of the HTC Universal (owners of the i-mate version have had the goods for a month already). Owners of the Qtek 9000 can hop over to Qtek's web site and download the update right now. Now. So, do it already!
Seven major studios line up to sell movies online
We have no idea why they chose today to do it, but today seven major movie studios announced they'll be selling movies online through Movielink and CinemaNow. Warner Bros, Universal, Sony, Paramount, Fox, and MGM will all be distributing first-run titles online -- definitely something they've never done before -- through Movielink for between 20 and 30 bones (way, way too much if you ask us), with older movies going for between $10 and $20. Lionsgate (and Sony) also announced distribution through CinemaNow. Really this was only a matter of time -- for these guys it was either sell these things online DRMed all to hell for way too much money (see above), go the subscription route (like Vongo, for example -- not likely) or continue whining without any justification whatsoever about pirates stealing movies in the Internet. At least now they can say they've legitimately offered their digital content up online (hey, you can even make a DVD backup for use only on Movielink-authorized computers), even though they still can't account for the artificial demand they try to create by releasing movies for purchase months after the films have gone out of theater.[Thanks, Phil]
Universal OS X, NetBoot OS X, courtesy of MacOSXHints
Of all the people who could create a Universal OS X boot disk (*cough* Apple *cough*), is anyone surprised that MacOSXHints (as far as I know) got there first? Top it off with the fact that they also created a NetBoot image and, well... now they're just making everyone else look bad (*cough!*).This article at MacOSXHints describes the first half of the process - creating a Universal, bootable image of OS X - and it sounds pretty darn easy. The second step - enabling the Universal image with NetBoot superpowers - is right here. I haven't used either of these (since I don't have a shiny Intel Mac anyway), but they both sound like pretty simple little tricks. Enjoy.
Make a request for Adobe CS3
We're sure you've heard the news by now: No universal version of the Adobe pro apps until 2007. The good news is that Adobe is currently taking your suggestions for the upcoming Creative Suite 3. You've got the ear of one of the world's software giants, so speak up.[Via creativebits]
EveTV 2.1 Goes Universal
For all the HDTV Mac fans out there, the premier HD playback software is now Universal. This is especially important to all those with the Intel Mac Mini or the MacBook Pro, but there are still lots of great new features for PPC Mac's like EyeConnect which allows the HD content to be played back on any compatible UPnP AV media player. It also includes features like auto convert to iPod. The only feature that I wish they would add is some place shifting software, although I don't know who has enough bandwidth to stream HD.via [eHomeUpgrade]
HD-DVD will launch with more of a whimper than a bang
We started to hear rumors that HD-DVD movies might not be delivered in March and now it looks like our nightmares have come true. Warner Home Video was the only studio at CES to announce a firm date for it's titles and now they say that they may be a few weeks late due to technical issues. Walmart was taking pre-orders and have had to cancel the orders and Best Buy pulled the item from their ad. At this point Warner is the only studio that has announced a firm release date and it seems impossible that Paramount or Universal will have any movies out within 6 weeks after they announce a firm date. Assuming that Blu-Ray doesn't have the same problems, the first to market advantage that it seemed HD-DVD had is rapidly slipping away. Not to mention the fact that Toshiba is the only manufacture to announce a release date for a HD-DVD player. I will buy a HD-DVD as soon as there are at least 10 movies for rent at Netflix, but I don't think I will replace my DVD collection just yet. On second thought, I will start selling them on EBay now! Via [HDBlog]
U getting Universal HD?
HDBeat reader Chris wrote in this morning to tell us they're getting Universal HD on Time Warner in the Los Angeles area now; I also saw it on my channel lineup last night on Comcast here in Michigan, but we knew that was coming.Oddly, I'm much less excited about watching the Winter Olympics than I am about seeing The Equalizer in high definition. Does anyone know how the show was originally recorded? Apparently all content on Universal is 1080i and not upconverted, but I wouldn't have expected that show to be shot on film.
Logic Pro goes Universal
That's right, kids, Apple's first Pro app to go Universal is Logic 7.2 (which is now available). There is a $49 crossgrade available for everyone who shelled out the big bucks for Logic Pro 7, but if you are using 5 or 6 you'll have to pony up $299 to able to run Logic on that new Intel Mac of yours.Apple even offers up some top ten reasons for upgrading to 7.2, they include: New royalty-free jingles and sound effects Apple Loops (the same ones that come with iLife '06) Universalness lots of other audio goodness that I know nothing about Check the crossgrade page for more info, and the Logic Pro website for the skinny about the application itself.[via Infinite Loop]Update: If you are looking for more indepth information about this upgrade (and from someone who knows a thing or two about audio) check out Create Digital Music's coverage.
Adobe CS not going Universal until '07?
Ah fiddlesticks: A PDF doc that recently appeared on Adobe's website claims that the software maker won't make Universal the current version of Creative Suit. Instead, they're opting to wait until they release the next major revision -- which, looking at Adobe's typical upgrade cycle (18-24 months per major upgrade), could mean that 2007 is the earliest we'll see a Universal version of Photoshop (or any other Adobe pro app, for that matter).So much for tempting the pros with speedy new Intel chips. Another year and a half with Photoshop running under Rosetta? Yikes. Looks like Apple's gonna need those G5s longer than they had hoped....[via MacRumors]
Clarion 2.0 and FastScripts updated
You can now add Clarion and Fastscripts to your list of Universal applications (just like I am doing here at TUAW. What? You haven't noticed our new 'Universal Binary' category? Over the next few days we'll be going back and tagging all the apps that we have reported on). Both apps from Red Sweater software have been revved and tested for Intel Macs, plus each app has gained some new features.Clarion is a small app that is designed to help you with your musical intervals (costs $15) and Fastscripts is a script launcher (which is also $15, though there is a free lite version).
Apple lists available Universal applications
I'm sure you have all been to Apple's website with information about Universal applications, but Apple recently added two new sections. The first lists several software developers like Quark, Blizzard, and HP and quotes about how excited they are about Intel Macs and creating Universal versions of their applications. Typical marketing stuff, but worth a glance.The other, and most useful page, is a list of Universal applications that Apple is maintaining. This is a great resource for all you lucky Intel Mac owners.
Flying Meat apps all Universal
Flying Meat, the makers of VoodooPad, FlySketch, and FlyGesture, has announced that all their apps are Universal. I find it very heartening that all these small, independent Mac developers are so quick to jump onto the Intel bandwagon. Sure, it makes good business sense, but it is also a vote of confidence for the new Intel Macs.I'm sure we will be seeing more and more announcements just like this one, and perhaps from some large companies as well!
Newsfire first Univeral newsreader?
NewsFire 1.3 (Beta) is an Universal application, so if you are running an Intel Mac and can't stand the thought of your newsreader wasting away in Rosetta, why NewsFire might be just what the doctor ordered. NewsFire earns my reward for the most visually impressive of all newsreaders on the Mac. NewsFire doesn't really fit into my work flow but that doesn't mean it won't be right for you.NewsFire costs €15.99 for a single user license.
Apple posts page about Universal applications
Apple has posted a page that explains what 'Universal Software' means (it runs natively on both the PowerPC platform and the new Intel platform). Since we are now in the brave new world of Intel Macs (Intel branding or not) get used to looking for the new Universal logo on your favorite software.
