Since almost everyone I know has an iPhone, this seems like a nice solution. I’m not the only one excited: Apple Has Finally Stuck A Dagger Into SMS. I Love It.

And for those time when you actually do need to message non-iOS users, there’s free Google Voice. Dear carriers: suck it.

Update: More iOS 5 details from Engadget including some good bits on iMessage.  Gruber also quips:

I’ll cancel my SMS plan as soon as this ships.

(A well-informed little birdie tells me that Apple’s phone carrier partners around the world found out about iMessages when we did: during [the] keynote.)

With or without WikiLeaks, the technology exists to allow whistleblowers to leak data and documents while maintaining anonymity. With or without WikiLeaks, the personnel, technical know-how, and ideological will exists to enable anonymous leaking and to make this information available to the public.

This is exactly what I’ve been telling people a while before the latest big WikiLeak dump. As someone who knows how to make a website, I could set up, say, ZikiLeaks, on servers anywhere in the developed world tomorrow for an inconsequential sum of money. I can also download and/or upload any of these documents via BitTorrent (which has already been done) and avoid having to rely on servers that governments can take down. Shutting down WikiLeaks or arresting people does nothing to change this.

The best thing those with sensitive information can do to combat leaks today is to increase security around these sensitive files (which the Pentagon is already doing). Second, reduce leaks by keeping information open and honest as much as possible. Finally, keep employes with access to sensitive data happy.

(Link via DF.)

Certainly the remote disc option that Apple cooked up for the original MacBook Air should still work just fine for the new Airs, but this solution is kind of clunky and requires a secondary computer with an optical drive as well as a properly configured network.  USB optical drives are similarly regressive.  Instead, think that Apple could (and should) sell a USB restore drive or downloadable upgrade package for Lion.

The first option would would certainly be the preferable way to upgrade a MacBook Air, but it would probably sell well even to users who still had optical drives on their Mac.  A USB thumb drive seems more reliable and rugged than a disc, it should work fine with any Intel based Mac, and would look cool on a key chain.   Apple would still sell Lion DVDs of course, but they could offer the USB drive for a small premium.

The second option for a download would be very convenient, especially to international users where shipping can be slow and expensive. Obviously, this would only work if Apple allowed purchasers to download the software multiple times and run it without requiring burning a bootable DVD, though that should be an option too.

We could see some interesting new Lion upgrade options Apple next summer!

Underneath the surface of the love interest story, ‘Scott Pilgrim’ is really a movie about two intertwined things. One, as Ars mentions, is the story about a boy who’s lost his filter separating reality from the reality of video games. Second, the film, and of course the comic before it, are an investigation of that twist: what if your life was a video game? What would be your challenges, goals, achievements, points, levels?

The film also weaves together a fanatic music pallet designed by Nigel Godrich. I was extremely impressed by the degree to which the filmmakers used music, which is a large part of the story since Scott is in a band (wonderfully named ‘The Sex Bomb-ombs‘), as an expository device and integral part of the film. They could have taken the easy way out and simply alluded to most of the music but instead they harnessed the opportunity to really expand on the comic in the audio space.

It’s often said that adapted works aren’t as good as the original book/comic/video game/whatever. I haven’t read the original Scott Pilgrim comic, but if more movies were adapted with this kind of creative yet reverent approach, that would be a thing of the past.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World – 5 out of 5

I think the developers, TheCodingMonkeys, have really knocked the Carcassonne App out of the park. It’s one of the best examples of gaming on iOS yet. I especially appreciate the ability to play several multiplayer games at once and have the app notify me when it’s my turn to play on any one of them. This enables real pick-up/put-down gameplay that’s perfect for the iPhone on the go. But even if you don’t play with people, the CPU players are pretty good and can present quite a challenge (if you want them to).  Furthermore, despite the fact that it’s only optimized for the iPhone right now, I’ve found the game to be very playable when pixel doubled on the iPad.

The game is on sale for just $4.99 which is a steal for something with this kind of functionality and replayability. That price goes up to $9.99 when the iPad upgrade, which will be free to existing owners, goes live later this year. If you do pick it up, be sure to send me a friend request so we can play some games and remember, “Sharing is Caring.”

5 out of 5

I’m still very pleased with my own; I read a book for a few hours last night on the device and I was very pleased with the reading experience. Viewing HTML5 video on the web is similarly nice; I certainly am not missing Flash support.

The iPad is not a substitute for a full fledged computer with a large hard drive, optical drive, keyboard, and mouse, but it certainly is my preferred lounging computer. Which is to say; I’d much rather use the iPad than a laptop or iPhone when I’m reclined on the couch or laying in bed. This is when the strength of the touch interface and form factor really shine.

I think the iPad has some nice potential as a gaming device, if the touchscreen doesn’t interfere too much with your game environment. It even might be useful for productivity applications (if you don’t need to use the keyboard too much; I’m typing up this post with the iPad just sitting on my lap but clearly a physical keyboard would work better for longer typing sessions.

Overall I’m quite pleased with the iPad; it’s already more functional than my netbook and it’s a heck of a lot easier & much more fun to use. I think well be seeing them all over the place pretty soon.

For all the attention put into the action, Holmes doesn’t loose his exceptional powers of inductive reasoning, which he uses throughout the film. To the critics and naysayers complaining that this isn’t Holmes like they’ve read in the books or seen Jeremy Brett portray, isn’t that the core of the character? Remember how Batman Begins broke down Bruce Wayne to his fundamentals and pieced him together as something different and yet familiar? That’s what Guy Ritchie and co were trying to do, and, in my opinion, they have succeeded.

Verdict: 4.0 out of 5.0

PS: Once scene which played prominently in the trailer seemed to be missing from the movie. In it, Irene Adler, wearing a corset and stockings, attempts to stab Holmes with her hair pin. He defects the blow, they struggle, and then she knees him in the testicles instead. At least, that’s how I pieced together bits from this trailer.

Why don’t we see this in the film? It looks like a fun scene, I mean, look at his face! I guess we have some BD extras to look forward to.

BTW, Giovanni Ribisi is such a douche in this film that I can’t help loving him.

Verdict: 4.5 out of 5.0

If you’re a fan of painful comedy, like ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm‘ or the British ‘Office‘ you’ll appreciate this film, which slipped under under the radar in its theatrical release.

3.5 Stars out of 5

If you want to see innovative, smart, and engaging filmmaking, be sure to check out this movie. It has the potential to get buried by the other big summer releases, but it really deserves to be seen by a wide audience.

4.5 Stars

Apple is, unsurprisingly, not going to stand still and let Google Android and Palm WebOS get the upper hand on features. They pretty much went down the wish list of features for the update and checked of every one of them: copy/paste, push notifications, better Bluetooth support, and so on. Pretty much the only feature left out is background apps which Apple again dissed as a large source of battery drain.

Flash is also still a no-show, but that’s not a surprise, nor something I think Apple plans on addressing anytime soon. In any case, I still don’t think Flash would be any good on any phone device at this time.

Consumers get it this summer… I can’t wait.

A note about the cloud:

Cloud synchronization is a key theme for many great mobile apps, because, with a persistent internet connection, the iPhone is a revolutionary tool to connect your life when you’re out and about with your life on your computer. This is vitally important to mobile computing because no one wants to enter much information on a little device, but we want that information quickly accessible when we’re out and about. Synching with the could is already working magic for the first 3 apps above (they wouldn’t be on any top list without this feature), and you’ll be seeing it all over the place over the next year (for example, iWork.com).

• Braid and Mirror’s Edge share an award for reinventing platforming, a genre I normally dislike, in new and supremely creative ways. Braid is probably the most creative video game I’ve ever played while Mirror’s Edge has some of the slickest design aesthetics.
• Far Cry 2 and Burnout Paradise share another award for bringing great open-world gameplay to their respective genres (shooter and driving respectively). Both succeed because they make learning the environment (be it shortcuts through city streets or sniper hills over mercenary camps) just as important as raw driving or shooting ability.
• Left 4 Dead, Resistance 2, and PixelJunk Monsters all get awards for perfecting co-op gameplay. The best parts of these games are impossible to win without good team-work, but that requirement feels more like an opportunity than a burden.
• The Witcher Enhanced Edition and Mass Effect for PC prove that even great games can be better with some polish. Both games suffered from dramatically long load times in their original forms but that is no longer much of an issue in the improved versions. The Witcher also received the kind of polish that it always deserved in its Enhanced Edition which smoothed out the uneven dialog and cumbersome inventory management. Mass Effect also got some inventory improvements in the PC version along with better squad control. There are two take-away lessons here: it’s hard to do an RPG right but extra work can make a big difference. I hope that publishers looking to rush RPGs out the door in the future take note of this; some great RPG games have died unnecessary deaths because of hurried ship dates (See Vampire: Bloodlines or Knights of the Old Republic II).
• Sins of a Solar Empire get big kudos for transplanting the one-more-turn ad-infinitum addictiveness of games like Civilization into a RTS game that’s nearly impossible to stop playing. It’s so good, in fact, that after two marathon games when it first came out I’ve been loathe to pick it up again because I worry it will consume me.

The bits about the machining process were especially interesting to me because of my mechanical engineering background. I can only hope to someday design something so amazing.

(Via DF.)

Aspyr announced plans for a online digital-download store back in May 2006. The service, dubbed Gamerhood at the time, was intended to help increase Aspyr’s exposure at a time when retail presence for Mac games was shrinking from what was already small to minuscule (thanks, in part, due to the onslaught of iPod accessories at the Apple store).

Instead of only being able to sell boxed copies of their games, Aspyr would sell their entire catalog online for near instant gratification (as fast as you could download). The hook is convenience of digital delivery and the ability to have a limitless back catalog of older games for in addition to the newest hits.

If this all sounds familiar, it’s because it is, online delivery wasn’t a new idea even back in 2006 as the iTunes music store and Steam, a PC gaming service which allowed for downloads of some big titles like Half-Life 2 on the PC side. Macworld has an interesting interview with Aspyr’s president Michael Rogers where he compares and contrasts the service with Steam and iTunes, and lays out grand plans for Gamerhood and stating “For us it’s about getting the experience right first.”

Ironically, more than 2 years later, Aspyr has done anything but get it right. Though Aspyr does have a GameAgent software program for Macs it seems to be only half functional; it shows the Aspyr catalog of games and can help determine if you machine is compatible with a certain game but that’s about it. A recent update added the ability to check for updates to games in the catalog but, in my limited experience, the program repeatedly recommended the same update but never correctly applied it.

Now, Aspyr has finally launched GameAgent.com as a venue to sell their games but the service itself is run through third-party e-commerce provider DigitalRiver (their logo even appears as the site’s favicon) and not integrated into their GameAgent software. Macworld detailed the arrangement earlier this year and provided some basic information on why the service has taken so long to launch which sites issues with “trademarking the service name, securing a URL and other business-related issues.” (By the way, Aspyr, next time you want to launch a product in less than 2 years, let me know and I can help you secure a domain in 10 minutes.)

However, if Aspyr wanted to ‘get the experience right first’ they would have kept this one under the rug for another few years, because GameAgent.com is a seriously flawed implementation of the original idea. The site only offers two products at launch, the headlining Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for Mac and a Mac version of the edutainment title futureU. But it’s not the lack of titles that is the problem here, it’s the DRM. Here’s a direct quote from the GameAgent FAQ:

Can I switch to a new machine and still have my games?
Yes, but only if you have purchased the Extended Download Service (EDS). EDS essentially allows you to download your purchase again for up to two (2) years, in the event your computer crashes or the downloaded file becomes damaged or corrupt. It can be thought of as an insurance policy in case anything goes wrong with your computer or the downloaded product. [...]
You are also allowed to activate your game up to 3 times with a single serial number.

How will GameAgent.com handle piracy issues?
Each game that you download is, by default, locked to your computer. A game can only be played on the particular computer where it has been authorized.

I’ll summarize: You ‘buy’ a game, but you can only download it once unless you pay $5 per game for ‘insurance’ (which only lasts for 2 years). You can only play it on one computer at a time which must be authorized. You can only authorize 3 computers (or possibly the same machine after a system change) ever.

Might I add, that the price for this convenience, Call of Duty 4 sells for $55. Amazon lists Call of Duty 4 for Mac for $49 at the time of writing.

This kind of BS is just ridiculous. Even Steam, the closest/most-well-known analog to GameAgent offers better terms than these. When you buy a game from Steam, you can download it again whenever and however often you like, for as long as you like. You can play it on any machine you authorize with your account and their prices are usually in line with retail (if not cheaper). There is no download insurance, there are no time limits, there are no activation limits.

GameAgent’s terms are even worse than the recently decried DRM-issues with Spore, which was bombed with 1-star reviews on Amazon for its DRM policy which is tame by comparison. Other companies, like Good Old Games and Stardock are going so far as eliminate DRM from their products and establish a PC Gamer Bill of Rights decrying restrictions such as activations and download limits.

So why, in this time where people are pushing back against DRM so strongly are Mac gamers getting the shaft? I’m not sure. Maybe it’s because they don’t think we’ll notice or know better. Maybe because they just think they can because there’s not that much gaming on the Mac. But, in my mind, policies like this only make the platform weaker. I expected better of Aspyr.

PS: It’s worth noting that there are digital download game stores for Mac, though I am not familiar with specific DRM policies I’ve had good experiences with several. They include MacGameStore.com, Virtual Programing, Ambrosia, and, Blizzard.

Well, the Mini was released finally today, but it’s a little pricier (starting at $350) than I had hoped for, so I decided to pick up an Acer Aspire One (which is speced better than the $349 Mini for just $329) instead. I’ll be sure to post some comments about it here.

Genius.

Edit (9/25): Fixed link after all this time.

Need a hint? He’s an iron man.

Sweetness.

Enjoy.

(Thanks DealNews)

Epson’s site lists the driver as compatible with Leopard but it hasn’t been updated since November 2006, so I wasn’t looking forward to installing old scanner software with some agent that would sit in the background sucking RAM and CPU just to launch the right app when I press the scanner button. Nor did I wish to deal with clunky scanner software with a terrible interface.

Luckily, I don’t have to. The Preview application built into Mac OS can control the scanner (presumably through the standardized TWAIN interface). Here’s a screenshot of the interface which can be accessed through the ‘File’ -> ‘Import Image…’ menu item:

As you can see, it features a nice little suite of controlls and tweaks for scanning and doing basic editing on the image.  Overall I’m quite pleased with the purchase and the built in Mac OS support.  Yay for standards!

Camino has been a favorite browser of mine for a while for a variety of reasons (it was one of the first browsers to have tabs), but in the current market I like the way it combines many of the strengths of Firefox with a true Mac application behaviors and GUI. John Gruber discusses many of these issues in his comparisons (part two) of Safari 3 and the Firefox 3 beta. These differences are significant enough that, though I use Firefox all day on Linux at work and as my default browser on my PC, they bother me when using Firefox on my Mac. Camino takes care of just every one of these ‘Mac behavior’ issues and looks great doing it.

Another big plus for Camino is built in annoyance blocking. Camino has settings to block web advertising and flash animations (two features I consider essential to modern browsers) built right in, while Safari and Firefox require hacks or plug-ins (respectively) to enable these kinds of features. Certainly, I do appreciate the huge library of Firefox plug-ins that are available (I use many of them with Firefox and wish these features were in Camino), but Camino always seems to have just enough features to squash any issues (and the features it does have work great). Safari has always lagged behind on the feature front and continues to do so today; its lack of official plug-in support is particularly hampering.

So downlaod the new Camino and give it a try.

Buyers of the configure-to-order versions of its Vaio TZ2000 and Vaio TZ2500 laptops can opt to have Sony remove the some of its own applications, in addition to trial software and games.

The “Fresh Start” option, billed as a software optimization, costs $49.99, and is only available to customers choosing to pay an additional $100 to upgrade the operating system to Windows Vista Business from the Windows Vista Home Premium edition offered as standard.

Sony may make nice PC hardware, but at the software level they’ve always been crappy and this only confirms it. This option should be the free default, not offered like a protection fee to the mob.

Updated-Update: Sony is doing the right thing by dropping the $50 fee but the option will still only be available on machines with Vista Business installed; Vista Home users still get the crap. (Via Engadget.)

The iFund is a $100 million venture capital investment initiative that will fund innovators developing applications, services, and components for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch platform. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) has earmarked $100 million for this initiative and it will be managed by KPCB’s partners. Apple will provide KPCB with market insight and support.

More info on their site.

Some people are not pleased with this.

I am, so far, conflicted. Don’t fuck with my Feist.

I’m inclined to believe that the shots are of a prototype keyboard as discussed by Erik Barzeski and DF. I will say that it looks fantastic and I would love to have one even in it’s current unperfected state. I recently ordered myself a USB (full-size) keyboard of laptop style keys and, though I’ve yet to use it, my experience using a MacBook has converted me to prefer well made scissor keys over the plunger keys found on most keyboards.

In any case it will be interesting to see how the final keyboard revision turns out. This might be the first Apple peripheral that I have to pick up…

• It adds an iPhone export option (as part of the Pro export suite). Actually there are two options, one high quality setting and one for streaming over cellular networks with lower quality and sizes.
• It improves the movie Inspector (Window -> Show Movie Inspector…) so that it ‘sticks’ open so that it shows whenever the QuickTime player is launched. It also has the smaller title bar to differentiate itself. These features, which I recall were both present in versions of Quicktime 6 were somehow missing in version 7 until now.
• Finally, the one you’ll care about, QT 7.2 enables you to view movies in full screen without purchasing the Pro version. The fact that Apple tried to use fullscreen support as a up-sale (while including it in iTunes and leaving the fullscreen command accessible in AppleScript) was a bitch movie that Apple has finally rectified.

You can download Quicktime 7.2 via Software Update or directly over the web. I highly recommend it.

I use Safari, FireFox, and NetNewsWire for browsing as well but Camino tops them all with a great combination of speed, features, and nice page rendering. You can get this kind of feature set in both Safari and FireFox by using extensions and plugins but Camino definitely offers the best ‘out-of-box’ experience.

Give it a try!

Check the new TV ads.

Woot.

Even better, check this Translation From PR-Speak to English of Selected Portions of Steve Jobs’s ‘A Greener Apple’ Article. Here’s my favorite excerpt:

Dear Greenpeace,

Fuck you.

Love,
Steve.

I couldn’t agree more.

(PR Translation from Jesper via Daring Fireball.)

There’s a ton of useful new features and bug fixes but here are the highlights:

• User presets including iPod, AppleTV, and PS3 support
• Anamorphic, even in QuickTime
• Surround sound (both AAC 5.1 and Dolby Pro Logic II)
• Chapter markers (QuickTime-style)

See the full change log in this PDF.

You can download the program for various platforms directly from the project home page. I’m also mirroring the Mac version because their servers are a bit swamped at the moment:

Download HandBrake 0.8.5b1 for Mac from NVinNYC (15 MB).

The config: Two 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon

The price: $1.5 grand over the base ‘Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon’ config

Shipping now, but no other price drops.

I don’t think that Photoshop or Final Cut can even effectively utilize 8 cores at once so I can’t see how this will be worth it except for the most demanding users doing 3D rendering and using scientific apps (for extremely multithreaded number crunching). Even Apple’s tests only show the 8-core model as being “up to 1.4 times as fast” as a 4-core 3.0 GHz machine.

(Via Engadget.)

Apple and EMI ditching DRM is good, but it’s not good enough:

Last night the lot of us Engadget editors went to bed with sweet dreams of a DRM-free world dancing through our little heads. Lo and behold, this morning we woke up and to our pleasant surprise, EMI announced that in conjunction with Apple, it would make its entire digital catalogue available on iTunes completely DRM-free. The watershed moment we’ve all been waiting for — the first of the Big Four music businesses makes one of the most pro-consumer moves we’ve seen in years. Or did they? Was today’s announcement a real commitment dedicated to consumers’ digital rights? Or was it a play for disenfranchised music lovers’ hearts? We have a feeling the answer lies somewhere in the middle — although we can’t help but feel the whole thing is gestural at best, and subterfuge at worst. Here’s why.

Read the rest.

Three things I’d like to note in reply:

Engadget’s criticism for Apple for still selling AAC tracks instead of generic MP3′s seems kind of frivolous to me. It’s like winning a computer and complaining that you didn’t also win a monthly stipend to cover increased power bill you get because of the computer. My point is that if the tracks are DRM-free then you are free to cross-convert them to any format you wish, including generic MP3s, very easily (iTunes will even do this for you). Sure many devices don’t support AAC now but that can be easily fixed with a firmware update. I even suspect that AAC support will become more common now that iTunes sells DRM-free tracks too. Also, Engadget’s mentions several MP3-player manufacturers that don’t support AAC, but one class of device that they don’t mention is cell phones where AAC support is fairly common (most MP3 playing Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and Nokia phones support the format).

Second is an issue that I haven’t seen discussed anywhere today. Two background facts about the new DRM-free system: 1) You’ll be able to ‘upgrade’ your past purchases to high-quality DRM-free tracks for 30¢/each, and 2) DRM-free full album purchases will not cost any extra once this system goes live. So my question is, what about full albums that I’ve purchased in the past but now want to upgrade to be DRM-free? Will it still be 30¢/track? What if it’s a 30-track album? That’s a $9 upgrade if I have to buy every track, which is probably close to the original purchase price. It would be nice to see a flat album upgrade fee (I would say $3 or less would be a fair price).

Finally, what about the free iTunes singles? Will they be available as high-quality DRM-free files (provided the record label is one that allows this)? Can I upgrade past free ‘purchases’?

In any case, this is interesting news and I’m excited to see how it all develops.

All the actors and movies (almost all the movies I think) are available on this Flickr set.

Some more details from MacRumors.

My take: Brilliant! I loved John Cusack from High Fidelity and The Dude (can’t call him anything else) from The Big Lebowski but I was annoyed by the (one second) of Cameron Diaz (says a lot I guess). I got everyone from Steve McQueen on up except Burt Reynolds (and I should have got him because I watched Boogie Nights again recently… bad angle I guess).