Mac.LTL

Cider, while old news, is still the subject of much debate. Cider: good or bad? I will reveal my opinions on the matter here, now. This is Cider: An editorial.

Cider, a product by Transgaming, who also produces Cedega, was announced over a year ago. While seemingly good for the Mac gaming community, including announcements that EA will release some of it’s top tier games to Mac OS X using Cider, with versions of X3, Heroes of Light and Magic, and Myst Online: Uru Live released already using Cider.

In my opinion, I think Cider can be a good addition to the more mainstream way (read: Aspyr, MacSoft, etc) of porting Windows games to Mac OS X, but it can also be a potentially bad addition. While we are receiving some games that were not previously considered for release to the Macintosh platform, is it really worth it? Could this method of simply wrapping the Windows version of the game become perhaps mainstream if the licensing was more inexpensive? I think so, and if it happens, this could possibly see native versions of games, previously ported by Aspyr, MacSoft, and other outlets, just go away. The result-less native games. While it technically is running natively under Mac OS X, it is just a wrapper using technology from WINE, it was not coded for Mac OS X specifically, and with a Cider game, if you open the contents of the .app file, you will find .exe’s from the Windows version.

I do not want to see Aspyr’s, MacSoft’s, and other companies’ actual ports go away, especially to be replaced with, a system, that is in my opinion, a lazy “port”, but then again, this could be the future perhaps of Mac gaming, sad as I am to admit this, and not supporting it could give developers all the more reason to drop the Macintosh platform completely, once again.

Cider, be it the savior for Macintosh gaming, or the downfall of Mac gaming, you form your opinion…

Sadly, after many attempts to find the identity of Fake Steve Jobs, the writer came forward, and revealed his identity. Fake Steve Jobs is Dan Lyons, an editor at the Forbes magazine.

You may read more about the subject from the links I included. Though I am sad that we now know who FSJ is, I do hope Mr. Lyons continues to post. He did say he is planning on publishing a book entitled ‘Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs, a Parody’, apparently, the book will be written in the style of Fake Steve Jobs, so I plan to buy that when it is released this October.

Update: As Kevin noticed, I misread the the article from The Times. He publicly revealed his identity after Brad Stone ‘outed’ him. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Technical specs aside. There are plenty of reasons why the iPhone isn’t the do-all, be-all phone. But I think we can still agree that it is a pretty good phone. It does not have any major technical flaws. I think there are six major reasons why the iPhone will succeed, despite the high price, lack of an SDK for third party apps, and AT&T exclusivity.

Branding - The iPhone is made by Apple. Apple has very strong and positive brand recognition. 1997 at the Macworld in Boston, Steve said he believed Apple was one of the top five recognizable brands along with Nike, Coca-Cola, and Disney.

Advertising - Apple’s advertisements are iconic. Most everyone is still familiar with the famous 1984 commercial that played only once during the Super Bowl. It was even remade into a pro-Obama and anti-Clinton video that was put on YouTube by an individual unaffiliated with the Obama campaign. The silhouette iPod advertising have been parodied everywhere, even by Family Guy. And the “I’m a PC, and I’m a Mac” commercials have even seen parodies by Novell. The iPhone commercials make it seem like getting an iPhone is just the obvious thing to do.

Established Fan-Base - “Mac zealots” as they’re often called will support the iPhone and be early adopters. How often do you see people camping outside an AT&T Wireless store? That’s a rhetorical question, but the answer is likely: Just once. And that once was for the iPhone.

Aggressive Retail - Steve Jobs often notes the strong growth of the Apple Retail stores. Figures aside, I personally have been to Apple Stores from San Francisco to New York to Europe and they are always packed. iPhone will be at the forefront of every Apple Store and a strong highlight at every AT&T Wireless store.

Strong Partnerships - When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he noted in his keynote presentation at Macworld that in order for the company to survive, they must forge meaningful partnerships. Apple isn’t going at this alone. Other major companies have a stake in the success of iPhone. The obvious one is AT&T. If AT&T has five years of exclusivity with iPhone and if the iPhone grows at the same rate as the iPod, AT&T will be cashing in big time. Google has a very close relationship with Apple. Steve Jobs even stated recently that it seems the only two companies that seem to be innovating are Google and Apple. Google has its map service and YouTube video service on iPhone. Google has been trying to increase their presence on mobile devices. The success of the iPhone could be a great help for Google in expanding in that market.

Integration - Unlike Nokia or Motorola, Apple is in a position to leverage the other markets they inhabit and to tightly integrate the iPhone to work with those products. Macintosh, TV, ITMS, iPod, etc. If Moto wants music services available on their phones, they partner with someone. (In the case of the ROKR, they happened to partner with Apple.) If Apple wants a music service available on the iPhone, the iPhone developers just pick up their iPhone and give the ITMS developers a call.

Yep, Aspyr released version 1.4.2 of Quake 4. You may download it here: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/3662

About 3 out of every 4 music players in the US are iPods. The iPod has sold over 100 million units. It took approximately five years for iPod to become approximately 75% of the market.

This USA Today article, sourcing Forrester Research, states that AT&T is the leading wireless provider in the US with 27.1% of the market. AT&T and Apple have a five year agreement for iPhone exclusivity.

If you aren’t familiar with the history of AT&T, Steven Colbert of the Colbert Report comedically sums it up in this video.

If iPhone becomes as popular as iPod that would bump AT&T from 27.1% to potentially over 75% of the wireless market.

On the other hand, the iPhone could end up inhabiting only approximately 5% to 6% of the market like the Macintosh.

What do you think of the new AT&T?

AT&T Corporate Center; a monolithic monstrosity in the Chicago skyline.

Safari 3.0.3/Security update 2007-007: http://www.macrumors.com/2007/08/01/security-update-2007-007-safari-3-0-3/

iTunes 7.3.2: http://www.macrumors.com/2007/08/02/apple-releases-itunes-7-3-2/

iPhone Update 1.0.1: http://www.macrumors.com/2007/07/31/security-update-2007-007-iphone-update-1-0-1-released/

Airport Extreme Update 2007-004: http://www.macrumors.com/2007/07/31/airport-extreme-update-2007-004/

Yay, it’s official! There will be a 10.4.11 update for Tiger! Here’s the news article, which lists some fixes in the next release:

http://www.macrumors.com/2007/08/01/apple-seeds-mac-os-x-10-4-11-8s2138-8s138/

Wait, first off, this is my first post, and let me quickly introduce myself. My name is Joseph Berte, and I entered the Mac scene in 2004, with a Beige PowerMac G3, I now have a PowerMac G3 Blue and White and an Intel Mac mini duo.

Anyway, the news: Riven X is a project (open source) that seeks to create a Mac OS X universal binary of 1997’s Riven. While this is old news, I did talk to the creator of the project, and he said that there *may* be a new updated version to run on the Intel GMA 950 within the next few months.

If you’re interested: http://www.devklog.net/rivenx/

I will, of course update you all when a new version is released.

Farewell all,

Joseph