Quad Core Xeons are here - almost.

If you were waiting for your Quad-Core Mac Pros to come out soon, look no further than Q1 of 2007. In all probability Apple will announce something along those lines at MacWorld 2007 in San Fransisco. The question is not how fast they will be (screamers), but when OS X developers will start developing apps that make use of all these hordes of CPUs. These new Quad-Core Mac Pros will mesh perfectly with Adobe's release of CS3. I know I'll be in line, how about you?

The MacCast hosting fiasco

One of my favourite podcasts, The MacCast was taken offline recently by GoDaddy.com for allegedly using too much processor bandwidth. This was a big blow to Adam Christiansen, who runs the podcast, as he received no warning from GoDaddy that his site would be taken offline. Anyways, the site is back up but Adam and the supporters of The Maccast are going to have to think seriously about how to prevent this again.

New iMacs

To the surprise of many Apple quietly announced the addition of new iMacs this week. The Core 2 Duo (Merom) chip is now present in all models, replacing the Core Duos. A huge 24" iMac was announced too, for those we would term 'prosumers'. Thankfully, on most models 1GB of DDR2 RAM is now standard. It was about time. The iMac remains a solid desktop solution for those wanting a slew of features for a reasonable price.

Windows Vista Beta 2

I am one of the Beta testers for Windows Vista.  I have found the OS to be a lot better than I expected.  The Aero interface is just fantastic and the new 'Start' menu is so easy to operate.  I also intalled Office 2007 beta and have had a chance to play with Outlook.  Again, it is a really well done piece of software that functions well.  There are still some bugs in Vista as a whole, but if they push the release date back to January or February, 2007, they should be OK.

Half-Life 2

Nearly a year after it's release I finally got around to playing Half-Life 2 (PC).  This is just a great game, especially for those who are sci-fi first person shooter fans.   The graphics on this game are just amazing.  Even with this high graphics load my Radeon X850 never even studdered.  The game is scripted so it is not like Battlefield 2 where you can go anywhere at will, but there are still lots of options (especially if you use the cheat codes).  The aliens in this game make me sick, so it really gets you to hate the other side.  The game really makes you feel that you are saving civilization.  There is an online version of the game called Counter-Strike: Source which I have not trialed yet, but from what I hear there is a pretty large community of players.  Anyways, for anyone who hasn't played this game yet, go out and buy it.  It is fully worth the $50.

Live Anywhere

Microsoft's decision to launch it's Live Anywhere service looks quite promising. It allows users of the XBOX 360, PC's, and cellphones to all connect (and play each other) on the same network. As well, Microsoft has decided to emphasize it's PC Gaming division. This can only be a good thing for gaming on the PC in general. PC gaming has long been neglected in favor of consoles. Anyways, Microsoft seems to be moving in the right direction on the games front.

Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends

Microsoft's latest offering for the PC, Rise of Legends, is a truly unique RTS game. The artwork in it is just beautiful, and offers a breath of fresh air from the traditional rock, paper, scissors RTS. The software itself is rock solid, and I could not find any bugs after about 4 hours of play. I recommend this to anyone who is interested in RTS games. This is a true gem.

17-inch MacBook Pro

Apple announced its flagship 17-inch MacBook Pro at the NAB conference this past Monday. Some of the features it sports is a 2.16GHZ Intel Core Duo processor. As well, the Firewire 800 port is back, for those diehard Powerbook fans. Like the 15-inch model, the 17-inch model comes loaded with the 'Front Row' media experience. This unit is smoking hot, but be prepared to pay the piper as the standard model comes in at a cool $3000 USD. The wise will wait until the prices of the Intel Core Duos come down at the start of the 3rd quarter 2006.

Xbox 360 Report

Well, I have had my Xbox360 since December, 2005 (when I bought it off of eBay) and I am happy to report that things are functioning perfectly. A number of really good games have come out since launch. Notable are Elder Scrolls IV, Burnout Revenge, and Topspin 2. All these games look just excellent in HD. It seems like Microsoft has really taken the lead in the deployment of the Xbox 360. Nintendo though, seems ready to release their Revolution this year, and Sony...well they are behind the 8 ball.

Microsoft delays Vista

This comes as a bit of a surprise to me.  You would think that they would want to have it ready for the holiday buying season.  But I guess it is better that they wait and make it better than release it too early.

A big letdown

Yesterday's unveiling of the new Intel Mac mini and the iPod boombox was less than stunning. It baffles me that they would hold such a large media event for these two small announcements. Maybe if they thru in a new Intel MacBook, it would have been worth it, but as it stood, it was a bit of a joke. Predictions that the 'real' video iPod would emerge were premature. Maybe we will have to wait until the holiday season 2006. We shall see.

MacWorld 2006 SF

Well, with Macworld 2006 SF just around the corner the rumor mill is generating a lot of buzz. The general consensus is that Apple will introduce some Intel models to their lineup. The most likely candidates are the Mac Mini and iBook. Some variation of the Yonah chip will probably be used. It is unlikely that the Powerbooks will be updated to Intel as many of the Pro apps have not been converted into universal binaries yet.

MacIntel

I am still recovering from the announcement that Apple made about switching to Intel chips. I think the move is riskier than people are saying. I know for myself I will be holding off my hardware purchases until a well established MacIntel machine is ready. I think that Steve Jobs needs to explain better how he will be supporting exisiting PowerPC users after the switch.

New Powerbooks

Apple released some new Powerbooks the other day. They modestly increased the speed, sped up the hardrive, has a fall arrest system, and a new lighted keyboard. For now, I am happy with the Powerbook G4 I have. But I will be waiting for the G5 laptop.

Airport Extreme

I have just finished setting up a small home network using an Airport Extreme Base Station. I have my PC (with Satellite Internet) connected to the WLAN port on the Airport Extreme Base Station. From there it beams out to my PowerPC G5 and my Powerbook G4. It seems to work pretty good. I can even share Itunes between the two Mac computers which is nice.

I am also working on a webpage with Macromedia Contribute 3. We will see how it goes.