I religiously download all the freebies from the iTunes Store every Tuesday. Today, there are a few new items, including a free demo of Vortex, an iPod game (if you’ve got a 5G video iPod). This is the first time that I can recall seeing a free iPod game on the iTunes store. Personally, I think it’s great. The previews on the iTunes Store give you a small clip of the game in action, but I’d rather play a couple levels before I decide to plunk down $4.99.
Also free this week…
Apple, Entertainment
Apple, games, iPod, iTMS, iTunes, vortex
I was pretty impressed with the use of iPhone’s multitouch interface. The photo demo was really pretty cool. Someone just pointed me to this video from TED (Technology Entertainment Design) where Jeff Han (a research scientist from NYU) shows off some work on multitouch interfaces that his team produced in their lab. The video is from back in February of 2006, so many of you might have seen it before. Still, I love to geek out on the possibilities that something like this could unlock when creative people get a hold of it in consumer technology. The iPhone is just the first step in bringing this to all of us.
Technology
Apple, iphone, multitouch
Just a quick note to say that Garmin has made their Training Center software available for download. Mblog put up a note that says that in order to import your history from the Windows software, you should make sure to upgrade to version 3.2.1 first.
Did I tell you I was really excited about GPS on the Mac in 2007?
Apple, Technology
Apple, fitness, garmin, gps, mac, macintosh, software
Welll, I only scored 5/20 on my Macworld predictions. But then, I don’t think anybody anticipated that the entire keynote would be about AppleTV and the iPhone with no news about the Mac at all. What did I get right? Here’s a list…
- Airport update to 802.11n (Airport Extreme)
- Firmware update for 802.11n capable Macs (even though it’s going to cost $1.99)
- iTV got a name (AppleTV) and a release date (February)
- Another studio joined the iTunes store with full-length movies (Paramount)
- iPhone
I’m also going to take credit for a long-shot prediction that Apple would create a product to compete with Microsoft Home Server. The new Airport has a new Airport Disk feature that allows you to turn it into a NAS device simply by plugging in a USB drive. The lack of gigabit ethernet still bugs me though.
That leaves 15 predictions of things that I still expect to see from Apple. I hope we hear about them soon, because I’m about to buy a new Mac and I was waiting on MWSF to make up my mind. Now I’m in a holding pattern waiting for the inevitable hardware updates and a Leopard release date.
Apple
802.11n, Airport, AirportExtreme, Apple, iphone, iTMS, iTunes, MacWorld, microsoft, Paramount, wifi
I wrote a short bit just before MacWorld (isn’t that iPhone cool? even with the limitations) about how Garmin was going to release Training Center for the Mac. Well, they kept their word and handed out copies at the show. We’re still waiting for the download to be made available, but it should be coming Real Soon Now.
A few days ago, Chet’s Corner on the Garmin Blog let out that they were planning on doing a lot more with Mac support this year. In particular, we should see Mac OS X apps for doing firmware updates on your Garmin gear. It was also mentioned that the POI loader will be made available on OS X as well.
This will be a big deal for Mac users because you will no longer need to find a friend with a PC in order to update your gear to the latest revisions. You will also be able to do some things with custom POI’s that you couldn’t do before. Frankly, this is looking like it’s going to be a good year for Mac users and GPS.
I’ll post about Garmin again as soon as the Training Center download is made available.
Apple, Technology
Apple, garmin, gps, mac, software
Mostly I want something like the Microsoft Home Server, but from Apple. Seriously, storage is going to be an opportunity this year. More and more people are buying laptops, but the file sizes for digital media are growing faster than the storage capacity of 2.5″ drives. Where are you going to keep all those home movies, digital photos, downloaded music and full-length HD movies from the iTunes Music Store? On your 60-80GB laptop drive? On the 60GB drive in your Mac mini?
The ReadyNAS and the Buffalo system are good indicators of where a new market is developing. Netgear announced a new NAS box as well. I think the key would be if ZFS could make it to Linux so that someone can build an embedded system with 3 drive bays with a very reliable file system and the ability to add more storage to the pool on demand.
I love how ZFS has checksums built-in at such a low layer and can identify bad data right away. This would make the ultimate home storage appliance and would solve a bunch of issues for my home network.
Technology
Apple, CES, zfs
I’ve been thinking about how Parallels has said they are working on DirectX and 3D support for their VM software for the Mac. The basic reason for doing this is so people can play games. Sure, there are some other Windows-only 3D apps out there that people want to use on the Mac, but games is where most people would use this tech. So, I’m just wondering… could Parallels package this “special sauce” with WINE and make a compatibility layer for individual programs to run on the Mac? Just think if Parallels could license this out so that a game developer could release a Windows-only game with the WINE configuration files so that it would install and run correctly on the Mac.
I’ve heard all the arguments about how such a proposition might end game development for the Mac platform and I don’t think it matters. For other classes of software, people will want the OS specific hooks that come with a good Mac application - applescript, growl, iApps integration, keychain, etc. But with games, people don’t care about how the software interacts with the rest of the OS - they just want to play the game.
If Parallels can solve the Direct3D puzzle on the Mac, they should buy Crossroads and license out this Mac-compatibility sauce and get a piece of every single PC game sold from here on out.
Apple, Entertainment, Technology
Apple, direct3d, emulation, games, mac, parallels, software, virtualization
As I posted the other day, Garmin is going to show off the Mac version of Training Center at Macworld San Francisco next week. Attendees will be able to take home CD’s, but the rest of us will have to wait for the download to become available later in the month. Until then, Chet’s Corner has posted a new entry about Mac Training Center put up some teaser shots of the Macintosh app.
There isn’t a whole lot to see here, but it is exciting to get a taste of what we will see using native tools on the Mac. The interface of the app features the brushed metal look we have become accustomed to lately. I’m sure it follows the PC app closely, but I can’t help but think there was a missed opportunity to make the course and history browser use the iTunes browser convention instead of loading everything into the left pane. That would require the right pane to switch when you wanted to see the info panels, but those could’ve been floating windows instead. Oh well, I’m not an interface designer - so what do I know? Still, it looks like the UI was designed by an engineer.
Of course, the really big news here is that Garmin is going to announce future Mac software products next week on the Garmin Blog. I’m totally psyched out of my mind about this idea (think Elf) that there is more GPS software love coming to the Mac.
Apple, Technology
Apple, garmin, gps, mac
I was pretty excited when Google Reader showed me a new entry on the Garmin Blog last Friday about how they were going to release Garmin Training Center for the Mac. GPS (like its cousin, GIS) has always been a bit behind on the Mac. Still, we are starting to get some good tools now. Motionbased.com still doesn’t have all the functionality that is available to the PC side, but it’s close.
I think improved GPS support is really telling, in two ways. First, GPS is getting big. Sure, we gadget types have always loved these things, and we buy them pre-installed in our cars. But the market was very windows-centric because it was seen as a small niche and development resources went to the Windows market. Think Delorme and Microsoft Streets & Trips, et al. GPS is now big enough to warrant more interesting products for the Mac. Second, the Mac is getting really big. There’s a lot of excitement about the Mac platform and more and more software vendors are committing resources to develop apps for the Mac. This is awesome.
At this point, with Nike+ doing the treadmill thing, and Garmin doing the trail / running / biking thing, there are really good outdoor/fitness solutions out there Mac users. There’s even some interesting indie software like trailrunnerx. I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks promising. I’m looking forward to seeing more of this trend in 2007.
Apple, Technology
Apple, garmin, gps, mac, nike
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