Macgasm

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In this episode, Grant talks about Mobile Me one year later.

[02.8 MB] [0:06:00] [Hosted by: Josh Schnell & Grant Brunner]

Space Ace ($4.99) is a game for the iPod touch or iPhone that is one of a kind. What’s killer, though, is the incredible cartoonish graphics throughout the gameplay.

In Space Ace, Ace and Kimberly are tasked with saving the world. Kimberly is immediately kidnapped by aliens, and Ace is left to save her and everyone else on Planet Earth. Game play is as simple as using your fingers to either energize/kill bad guys or use the arrow keys on the right hand side of the game board to make Ace move in certain directions.

In reality, though, it’s all about reaction time — at least in the Cadet level where it actually tells you which arrow keys or energizer buttons to press. And even when you progress to those higher levels, you’ll find that the mantra “you snooze, you lose” is really the truth. If you don’t get Ace to move in a certain direction in time or to suit up to energize himself, you lose a life. You only have so many of those.

Space Ace game play is great. The official game description says that it’s a sequel to Dragon’s Lair and that it’s a classic popular arcade game, but I did not know a thing about either game and I’m thoroughly enjoying what Space Ace and its fantastic visuals have to offer.

I had an opportunity to check out the fireproof and waterproof ioSafe Solo ($149 and up), and man, this thing is incredibly massive. And for good reason. Your data is precious and ioSafe keeps it very secure. I’ve spent the last few days sorting through the data on my hard drive that I must keep, and am now using the ioSafe Solo as my new storage unit. I’m fairly confident that disaster won’t destroy those precious bits and bytes.

The hard drive passed the many preliminary tests I performed, from dousing it to exposing it to heat (but not fire, though the picture below speaks thousands of words). It’s massive — it weighs 15 lbs (more than my 3 month old son!), but the assembly looks pretty sturdy and secure.

The hard drive itself wasn’t disappointing either. I got the 500GB model (there are also 1TB and 1.5TB versions) and determined that it is a Hitachi HDP72505GLA360 (7200rpm 500GB S-ATA2). Transfers to other hard drives in my system were over 12MB/sec.

If for whatever reason you get into a disaster and data is actually damaged, ioSafe promises a guarantee that your data will be recovered (valued up to $1,000). Hopefully, I’ll never need to use that, but it’s great to know that the opportunity is there.

If security is important to you and your data is precious, this is an affordable option to keep your data secure. If you want to mirror your Mac via Time Machine, this could keep a duplicate of your Mac HDD any day.

eyeBleed ($0.99) is quite an eyesore packed in an addictive game. The objective is quite hard to see, but every single ball in the various boxes is moving in certain directions, and you must choose two of the topmost balls in each level (the largest ball in the box at the time) that are moving in exactly the same direction. For example, two green balls might be going counterclockwise in a circular motion. Those two are a match. Then the red balls become the topmost balls – you can mix and match a green ball with a red ball as long as the topmost ball in each layer is moving in the same direction.

It’s quite fun, but I’d call it sensory overload (and there’s not even music with this game!) However, you’ll find yourself itching for more once the gameplay is over — especially to beat your higher score.

Sometimes we want to make an exact duplicate of our DVDs.  Some would argue that it’s illegal, others would flip off the MPAA. I probably fit in the latter, and I really couldn’t care less what anyone thinks about it.

Anyway, Aimersoft has released an application that lets you back up your DVDs and store them digitally on your systems.  You can save them as ISOs in the Video_TS folder structure that they currently exist in, or as a .dvdmedia file.  These options are going to give you a bit for bit duplicate of your media, so you’re movies will be pretty huge.  If you’re planning on using this to get the files on your iPod then you’re in for a surprise–this app isn’t for you.  But, if you’re wanting to make an exact copy of your discs then this is a great place to start.  This is a great way to archive your movies and get them into storage, just in case something happens to your beloved Matrix trilogy.

The neat thing about this application is that it lets you select the files and folders you want to back up, should you want to get rid of a couple of things on the disc.  If you have a huge DVD collection and want to back them up, DVD backup is a great place to start.

One of the podcasts I listen to is currently sponsored by Sudoku Unlimited by Phase2 Media. After hearing the ad several times, I thought I would give it a whirl. Phase2 Media actually has two sudoku applications, Sudoku Unlimited and Sudoku classic. These applications are very similar so the items that are version specific will be noted.

Sudoku, for those who may not know, is a numbers game that requires the numbers 1 to 9 to be filled in once per row, column, and square of 3×3 boxes. See the image below for an example.

The Sudoku games are a portable way of playing the rather addicting game. Both of the games feature the ability to make notes on possible numbers, the option of showing errors, disabling the auto locking feature of the phone during game play, and changing animations.

There are two distinct features of Sudoku unlimited that are not included in Sudoku classic. The first is Skins. Currently there are 4 Skins included with Sudoku Unlimited: ‘Default’, ‘Notepad’, ‘Vanilla’ and ‘Newspaper’. An example of each is below. Sudoku Classic only contains the ‘Vanilla’ skin.

Default

Notepad

Vanilla

Default

The other feature that Sudoku Unlimited has is the ability for the game to create puzzles on the fly. Therefore, a player will not run out of puzzles. I have yet to have a puzzle repeated on Sudoku Classic, but I don’t play that much since I like the Sudoku Unlimited skin ‘Notepad’.

There is one little thing that sets Sudoku Unlimited apart from other games. The attention to detail is something that most would overlook. When you use either the ‘Notepad’ or ‘Newspaper’ skin, if you look closely at the numbers you might notice that they are not always the same. Phase 2 has made it seem more realistic by altering the numbers slightly as if you were actually writing them down. It is a little thing, that I am sure most do not even notice.

There are a couple of features I would like to see in Sudoku Unlimited. The first is customizable skins. I know it’s not easy, but it would definitely be a cool feature. The second feature I would like to see is more skins in general. Whether they are paid or free makes no difference to me. I would be willing to pay for new skins, since it would be a way to keep the game ‘fresh’. Plus this is an option with iPhone OS 3.0.

If you are into sudoku and want an iPhone OS application that will keep you entertained, this is the application for you. Sudoku Classic is $0.99 in the iTunes Application store and Sudoku Unlimited is $2.99 in the iTunes Application store.

That time of year is approaching fast.  No I don’t mean back to school, even though it’s right around the corner.  No, what I’m talking about are new iPods.  MacDailyNews reports that the event will be held on September 9th.  This year were expecting to see a big change to both the iPod Nano and the iPod Touch.  As well as a big change to iTunes in the way of Social Networking.

The rumor mill has been running a muck for the past month showing iPod Nanos and iPod Touches with built-in cameras.  With recent articles and videos this rumor looks to be more fact than fiction.  Guess will find out for sure in September.  I think it’s great that Apple is converging their devices.  One would think that Apple is starting to blur the lines with their iPhone and iPod Touch.  However, you could look at the iPod Touch as an iPhone without a contract.  Apple is keeping the iPod relevant by doing this, and not leaving it in the dust.  What I would like to see is a complete line of iPods that are Flash based.  I think the iPods with hard drives has seen their last year.

Next on the list is iTunes.  What would the iPod be without iTunes?  A Zune.  iTunes 9 is supposed bring a couple of new features to it’s music manager.  The first being Social Networking.  The buzz is that it will feature Twitter, Facebook, and Last.fm.  Not exactly sure how Apple intends to use these outlets with iTunes, but I think you’ll be able to tweet your playlists with your friends.  Let’s hope that it doesn’t get blown out of proportion.  I can see it now, people will start to unfollow you because you’ve flooded their Twitter feed with the music your listening too.

The other new feature that iTunes will supposedly support is Blu-ray.  Yes you heard me correctly Blu-ray.  If I remember correctly Steve Jobs was quoted as saying that, “Blu-ray is a bag of hurt.”  However, he also said, ‘Who would ever want to watch movies on an iPod.”  I guess we all do Steve.  I digress.  If iTunes will support Blu-ray that would be great.  I could finally watch my Blu-ray movies on my Mac.  With the refresh of the new iMacs coming soon, it would be nice to see them come with a Blu-ray player.

Personally I can’t wait for September to roll around.  I’m excited to see the new iPods and iTunes.  Who knows this might also mark the return of Steve Jobs to present the keynote.  It will more than likely be a smaller venue.  I think it would be a perfect time for him to return as presenter.

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In this episode, Josh talks about syncing Omnifocus with Dropbox.

[02.1 MB] [0:04:40] [Hosted by: Josh Schnell & Grant Brunner]