:skyecade online

Wow. Um,…wow. This is a pretty big leap forward for Steam and the digital distribution of games. Steam is a service created by Valve which allows you to buy and download full featured games right to your computer. And when I say full featured, I’m not talking about the deluxe version of Bejeweled. I’m talking about hardcore gaming, multi-gigabyte, super mega games like Half-Life 2, Call of Duty 2, and Counter Strike: Source, just to name a few. It’s a fantastic service, but I didn’t always think so.

When Steam was first introduced back in 2002, I was flat out against a service like this. Mainly because I wanted to be able to put my new shiny games in my nice shiny game rack, but also…who in their right mind would want to download a 1+ gigabyte videogame over the Internet? Well as it turns out, I would. It took a few years of persuasion, and a whole new philosophy toward what the Internet can and should be used for, but I finally saw the light. People buy music and movies from places like iTunes, why are games any different? And Steam has a great feature that iTunes doesn’t, infinite downloads. Okay, I’ve never actually read the fine print, but I must have downloaded games like TFC, CS, CS:S, DoD:S, Half-Life 1&2 dozens of times, on half a dozen machines, and I’ve never had so much as a hiccup. Once you buy a game through Steam, help yourself to as many downloads of that game as your heart desires. But enough of why I am a born again Steam user, and on to the news at hand.

id! Before this, Steam’s video game library was comprised mostly of Valve’s own titles and games from a handful of independent developers and modders. With the exception of a few mainstream games, like the Call of Duty series and the Civilization series, the Steam library was devoid of any third party heavy hitters. Well that’s all history now. id software is the heavy hitter of the heavy hitters. According to Shacknews, every id title will be available through Steam, though I didn’t see Quake IV in the line-up. Maybe I just overlooked it. Regardless, if this doesn’t help launch the digital distribution of games to a new level, I can’t imagine what will.

Whose next? I would love to see the Battlefield series on there, but I think it would be a cold day in hell before EA sold a game through Steam. Then again, they may be crazy not to.

     

Filed under: Software, News, Gaming
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I had this thought while driving to work today. As a lot of you know, I split my time pretty evenly between Windows XP and OS X, and I’m quite happy doing so. I’ve been a Windows user for as long as I can remember and an OS X user for a little over a year now. Some of you also know how much I loathe Windows Vista. It’s slow, unstable, clunky, and a major resource hog. I understand that my Grandmother may need the added security that Vista offers, or the electronic hand holding that Microsoft forces upon you, but I don’t. I hate jumping through hoops. Vista is a minimalist’s worst nightmare.

If it were up to me, I would go on using XP and OS X forever, but we all know that can’t happen. So what do I do? When the day comes to replace my Dell XPS, what will I buy? Another XPS, but this time with Vista on it? Sure, you can still buy new PCs running Windows XP, but will that be the case a year from now? Would I even want XP a year from now? A year in technology terms is an eternity. Microsoft already said they are going to stop supporting XP in 2008. I’m really getting backed into a corner here. I can’t run XP forever, and I highly doubt Vista will have matured by then, if ever. I’d say there’s a 50 / 50 chance that I may eventually go all Mac. Those chances are pretty high considering I’ve been with Windows since the beginning of time (remember the whole technology/eternity thing). It’s really sad too. The truth is, there are really only three reasons why I haven’t made the switch yet.

The first reason is because I dropped $3500 on an XPS about a year ago. I am going to squeeze every last ounce of life out of that computer before I pull the plug.

The second reason is familiarity. I can fly around XP like it’s nobody’s business. Unfortunately, Microsoft blew that right out of the water when the redesigned Vista. Was there something wrong with “Add or Remove Programs“? Not to mention I’m starting to get pretty damn efficient with OS X. Did anyone else just hear a hammer?

The third reason, though it may seem childish to some, is that I’m a gamer. I love gaming. First person shooters in particular. XP still reigns supreme in this arena, but for how much longer? With Macs sporting their new Intel chips, game development has shifted significantly. I’m sure this also has to do with the fact that Apple’s market share is increasing. Game developers actually like to sell their products. Weird! My point is, Apple seems to be moving in the right direction in terms of gaming, and that’s bad news for Microsoft.

So what’s left? Productivity? Mac! Development? Mac! It’s Unix for god sakes. Internet? Mac! Entertainment? Mac! Creativity? Mac!

Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me the reasons why I should, nay,… need to stay with Microsoft. Believe me, I’ll listen. I feel like I’m breaking up with a long time girlfriend. I keep making excuses to stick around, but they’re starting to sound old and transparent. I know what you’re thinking, “stop your bitchin’ and just switch already“. *sigh I have some time to think about it anyway.

Maybe Vista is a reincarnated version of Windows ME. And maybe a year from now we’ll all be saved by the release of Windows XP Ultra Deluxe 2009 Edition. Then all my problems would be solved.

     

Filed under: Microsoft, Apple, Software
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Scratch is a new programming language developed at M.I.T. and specifically geared towards kids. Instead of using the conventional syntax based methodology, Scratch employs colorful building blocks (objects) which users can drag and drop. Each of these blocks has different attributes, and when combined with other blocks, users can alter the functionality of their program and create something truly unique. It’s a great way to get kids interested in and understand the fundamentals of programming.

Interesting Video and Article on Scratch by the BBC.

     

Filed under: Geekculture, Software, News, Technology, Design / Development
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This is the best. Bubbleguru.com allows you to create a video right from their website and embed it into your website as a little video pop-up bubble. And you now how much we all like pop-ups, right?

It’s completely free and it takes only a few minutes to get a new video on your site. I signed up, created a video, and embedded it into my site in under 5 minutes. Sorry for the bad quality. I used the built-in mic and camera on my MacBook. But imagine the possibilities.

Not only can I annoy people with my writing, but now someone has made it easy for me to annoy people with my face too. Thanks bubbleguru! Their slogan should be “We are Web 2.0s version of blinking text”.

All kidding aside though, this looks like pretty cool technology. You might see me pop in from time to time. Prepare yourself.

     

Filed under: Software, TV / Video, Geekculture, Web 2.0, Cyberculture, Design / Development, Technology, Internet
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Testing Journler’s blogging abilities — If you see this, it worked. Yay!

For the last few days I’ve been messing around with a great program for the Mac called Journler. It’s like a journal on steroids. It has all the basic features you would expect from journaling software, but then takes it to a whole other level. You can do things like add audio, video, and photos to your entries with the click of a button or record them directly using your built-in hardware. You can even publish your entries to your blog (I haven’t actually tried this yet, cross your fingers). The interface is sleek and intuitive, just what you’d expect from a Mac app.

Don’t look at this as a full review of Journler though, since I’m still plummeting head first through the learning curve, but I was impressed enough with what I saw to give it a mention to anyone who has never heard of it.

Journler

I’m still a big time Mac noob. I’ve had this MacBook for about a year now and I just recently discovered what that weird little diagonal line is that all the Mac tutorials refer to. But I do listen. The OS X gurus may not think I’m listening, but I am — and every now and then I pick up on their good habits. I’ve recently been introduced to a little app called Quicksilver. I’m really not the guy to be giving a full review of this app, or any Mac app for that matter, but from what I’ve seen of it so far, it’s pretty damn incredible. Here’s what I can tell from the little time I’ve spent with it — it’s an extremely powerful search application with a slew of built in macros (is that the right word?) which allow you to do all sorts of things to the items that you’ve just searched for. It uses a lot of keyboard shortcuts (which I love) to accomplish tasks at a lightning fast pace.

I’m really not doing this program any justice, so I’m gonna shut up now. The guys over at the Blacktree Inc. will most likely be sending me a cease and desist letter any day now anyways because of this literary mutilation of their product. Go ahead and check it out for yourself. I think you’ll really like it. If you don’t, blame the gurus.

Quicksilver

     

Filed under: Apple, Links, Software, Productivity
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I find this fascinating. It’s so interesting to see how some of the smaller distros came about, and when.

Click on the image to make it larger.

     

Filed under: Linux, Software, Technology
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they pull me back in!

World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade is out and I’ll be purchasing a copy today at lunch. What’s great about this expansion is that it virtually makes all level sixties even again, whether they’re decked out in tier 3’s or still wearing greens. Since I’m only a casual player, this is great news for me.

I loathe 40 man raids…

     

Filed under: Software, Cyberculture, Gaming
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Apple finally revealed their new mobile phone. Head over to Engadget to see pictures and more live coverage.

The phone is absolutely gorgeous. It runs OS X and has a 3.5″ widescreen / touchscreen (only one actual button). It plays music, movies, and TV shows, and integrates seamlessly with iLife. I’m excited and I’m not even a phone guy.

Oh, and it has wi-fi and bluetooth capabilities. Wow…

***edit***

Apple partnered with Cingular (now AT&T)

$499 for a 4Gb
$599 for an 8Gb

     

Filed under: Gadgets, TV / Video, Apple, Software, Productivity, Technology, News, Music, Movies
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A friend of mine showed me this simple little trick that allows you to log in to two Ventrilo servers simultaneously. I thought this could come in handy from time to time. Here’s what to do.

You’re probably not going to want to do this a lot because it can get kind of crazy trying to keep track of who’s saying what and from where. It’s definitely a nice little addition to anyone’s bag of tricks though.

Speaking of Ventrilo, Zen Geeks just launched its very own Ventrilo server. It’s a members only server, but membership is free so it’s essentially a public server. Stop by the forums for more information.

     

Filed under: Software, How To's, Gaming
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Four of us were sitting at my friends house a about a week ago, when I brought up some interesting news stories I read about Apple’s OS X vs. Windows Vista. Now, when you’re sitting in a room full of avid Windows users, it’s interesting to see how instantly hostile they can get towards Apple, and how defensive they can be of Windows. This kind of boggles me. I’ve always used multiple operating systems side by side and have found that each of them offer things that the other can’t. Granted, I spend the vast majority of my time using Windows and have invested way, way, more time in that OS than in all of the others combined. It would definitely be a hard sell to get me to switch my primary operating system.

If there were such an operating system that could make me switch, however, it would most likely be OS X Tiger. I’ve been using OS X on a daily basis now for about five months and have loved every minute of it. This is a new frontier for me. I have no substantial experience with any of the other Apple operating systems, so I can’t form a valid opinion of them. Just OS X Tiger.

Here are some of my thoughts on OS X in comparison to Windows and Linux:

First of all, OS X is really just a pretty version of Unix, so we know right away that it’s far more secure than Windows. Having a background in Linux/Unix really helped me with the transition to OS X. In fact, the first time I booted up my Mac I was surprised at how much it looked like Kubuntu, menus and all.

Boot up and shutdown times are ridiculously quick. Noticeably faster than Windows and quite a bit faster than Ubuntu. Coming out of sleep mode is almost instantaneous too.

Installing programs couldn’t be easier. Drag the new program to the Applications folder and voila, it’s installed. Uninstalling couldn’t be easier either. Drag the program to the trash bin and voila, it’s uninstalled. No orphaned DLL files or abandoned registry entries to clutter up your system.

No viruses. The typical argument here is that it’s because the writers of such malicious programs don’t create viruses for Macs, because no one uses Macs. That’s partially true. It is possible to write a virus (or other malware) for OS X — and as the operating system becomes more popular you can bet we’ll see more of them. The simple fact is, however, it’s much harder to write this kind of software for a Unix based OS. One reason for this is because 99% of Windows users are going about their daily business logged onto their computers as administrator, also called a root. Ask any Linux user if he or she surfs the net as root and they’ll most likely laugh at you. OS X, for all intents and purposes, is Linux.

It’s very intuitive to use, but first, you have to clear your mind of all Windows. Only then will yo be able to accept the OS X interface. For example, the whole corners thing is genius. When I move my mouse to the top left corner (or whichever corner you choose), all my open applications are tiled in front of me. It’s like alt-tab times 100. It’s little things like that that make OS X shine.

OS X is a very powerful development platform which comes preloaded with languages such as Python, Perl, PHP, and Ruby, while still remaining incredibly user friendly to the computer novice.

Spotlight! By far the best search utility in any operating system. So good that Microsoft is putting a Spotlight clone in Vista.

Plenty of software applications. From what I used to hear about Macs, the main problem was that no one made software for them. Like I said, I don’t know anything about the older versions of Apple’s OS, so this may be true. I can tell you that with OS X, there is definitely no shortage of software. Because OS X is Unix based, you can essentially run any Linux program you want on it. For example, I don’t use Microsoft Office anymore, even on Windows. I use OpenOffice which is a free, cross-platform office suite. I don’t use Dreamweaver anymore. I use NVU, which is a free, cross-platform HTML editor. Software that is cross-platform is especially nice because no matter what OS you are using, your workspace remains familiar.

OS X is geared more towards the user. In the world of Web 2.0, content is king. In the world content creation, OS X is king. It’s hard for anyone to argue the fact that the Mac reigns supreme in the area of photo manipulation and audio / video production. With bundled apps like Garage Band, Photo Booth, iTunes, and iMovie, the average user can easily produce rich content, ripe for a new dynamic web.

These are just some of the examples of why I love OS X, and it’s only been 5 months. So if you are a Windows user and you haven’t looked at an Apple in a while, I recommend that you take another look, you may be surprised.

Or you can wait a bit. Apple and Microsoft both have new operating systems due out shortly, OS X Leopard and Windows Vista respectively. 2007 could turn out to be an interesting year.

     

Filed under: Apple, Microsoft, Software, Productivity, Reviews, Technology
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