Macgasm

Acorn, the popular OS X-only image editor, has officially reached the 2.0 milestone. If you’re a new user, a license is $50. If you previously had purchased Acorn 1.x, you’ll get the new version for a discounted price. But if you don’t have the cash to drop on this app, you’re in luck. You can use Acorn for free for two weeks. After that, it goes into “Lite Mode.” You can still use the basic image editing functions, but some of the cooler stuff gets deactivated. Very nice!

Other improvements in the 2.0 release include 64 bit support, RAW image support, rulers, improved cropping/transforming, JSTalk support, and new implementation of tools like dodge and burn. One thing that is important to note is that this update is only for Mac OS X 10.6. Leopard and Tiger users need not apply. For all of the details, you can check the release notes on FlyingMeat.com.

I was lucky enough to have beta tested Acorn for the past few weeks. I have seen the performance raise dramatically. You really are getting a fantastic product if you buy Acorn 2. I have it running on my Core Duo iMac and my Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro, and I must say that the difference between them is noticeable. If your machine is 64 bit capable, you will see a nice bump in speed.

Photo Credit: BellaBim

If you’re a fan of turn-based strategy games, UniWar is one of those games you should definitely look into. UniWar features amazing graphics and stupendous sound in a prize package, featuring three different types of races in a grid, as pictured. Twenty-one missions are offered in the campaign mode and there are more than 50 maps. If you have never played a similar game, a tutorial teaches you everything you need to know, with controls that are easy to learn and fun to master. You can play either by yourself with the iPhone or via multiplayer. And multiplayer is where it’s most fun. Up to 8 people can play (2 vs 2 teams, 3 vs 3 teams, or 4 vs 4 teams) either anonymously or with a registered username. Further, if you ever wanted to play multiple games, you can do that since email notifications are offered. Interestingly enough, this game isn’t limited to iPhone users; apparently, you can play with people who own other phone models. I wouldn’t know about game-play on that device as I’m limited to my experience on the iPhone, but it means that you have a lot more opponents to play with!

As a big fan of turn-based games, this is one you shouldn’t miss. Plus, I have to say that I was really enthralled by the graphics and effects even on the menu; it brings you into a game that’s really that good.

[Download This Episode]

In this episode, Grant talks about Last.fm.

[01.7 MB] [0:05:40] [Hosted by: Josh Schnell & Grant Brunner] [Subscribe]

I don’t have the balls, nor the budget to rip apart a brand new iPod Nano to check out its entrails. But I’m glad someone does! Those fine folks over at iFixit are constantly ripping apart perfectly good Apple products for the good of humanity.  I don’t have any moral issues with the needless destruction of good electronics, but I’m pretty sure that no iPods were harmed during the making of the tutorial, and that they were all returned to a working state.  Right?

It’s just like a car wreck, you shriek at the sights, but you can’t look away. Here’s some pictures. If you want the full instructions for tearing apart the new Nano’s head to there site.

I recommend She Wants Revenge’s Tear You Apart for a soundtrack. It’s pretty fitting.

If you love BlackJack or want to learn how difficult your odds really are, play BlackJack Run ($0.99), a challenging card game in which you have five rows of cards and you must try to get up to 21 — but no higher — using the cards given to you. In each round, you can only skip one card, and if you don’t have 95 points or more (all rows must add up to at least 95), you can’t progress to the next round.

The free version of this game was one that I always liked playing when I needed to kill time rather quickly — it’s a 3 minute game at the longest, and it’s fun. The paid game is on sale (it’s normally $4.99) and it’s still a fun option for those who love playing BlackJack. Personally, I’m not sure the $4.99 price tag is worth it — the $0.99 option makes most sense.

Those using the free version of the game actually get most of the features. The paid version has multiple levels, which ultimately get much harder (in higher levels, the card configuration is different and you have to work with a faster clock or with cards already on the game board). The free version only lets you play Level 1. The paid version lets you specify how many rounds you can play per game (3 is the default), how many seconds are played per round (30 is default), how many cards you start with, and lets you specify if the rows are totaled. These options are not available in the free version at all.

Blackjack lovers will find this game fun, and I certainly did. Personally, though, I think you’ll enjoy the free version just as much as the paid version, but if you do want a little more uncertainty and more levels, pay the $0.99 for the game, since more options keep you busy for longer periods of time, and didn’t they say the iPhone was a time waster?

Along with the 10.6.1 Updates, Apple also released a few other updates to the masses yesterday (09/10/09).

The iMac Graphics FW Update 1.0.2. All that is being said about these is below.

This update is for iMac computers with an ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro or ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT graphics card installed, running Mac OS X 10.5.2 or later.

It updates the graphics card firmware on the ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro or ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT graphics card in the iMac to improve system stability.

The firmware for these graphics cards are now going to be 1.0.2.

The other update, which to me is possibly more worrisome due to the product that is being updated, is Apple RAID Card Firmware Update. No matter who manufacturers your server, updating a RAID card is not something that is done without great need.

The items fixed are as follows:

• Reliability improvements during boot and power fail recovery.
• Addresses a potential issue when rebuilding a degraded RAID 5.
• Resolves an issue that can fill the on-board flash file system.
• Improves battery handling and reporting.

Complete details for the update can be found on Apple’s support website at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3784. This update requires Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later.

Yesterday Apple unleashed 10.6.1 to the masses. The 10.6.1 update comes just 13 days after the initial release of 10.6 on August 28th. The update fixes the following issues:

• Updates the vulnerable version of flash. Now updated to 10.0.32.18.
• Improves compatibility with some Sierra Wireless 3G modems
• Addresses an issue in which some printer compatibility drivers might not appear properly in the Add Printer browser.
• Fixes an issue where DVD Playback would stop.
• Fixes an issue where removing an item from the Dock may not actually work.
• Fixes an issue where doing Command-option-T would bring up the special characters menu within applications like Mail or Textedit.
• Fixes Mail.app’s auto account setup not working.
• Resolves SMTP mail sending on certain servers.
• Fixes a bug where Motion 4 would stop responding.

As for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Server the following fixes are included, in addition to the Client version updates.

• Resolves an issue where Server Admin or Server assistant reports duplicate serial numbers on a Mac with multiple network interfaces.
• Improves reliability of services that use Grand Central Dispatch.

The Client Download is 71.5 Megabytes, which you can download here or via Software Update Utility. The Server update is a bit bigger. The download is 75.2 Megabytes and can be obtained from this link or from Apple’s Software Update, at the moment.

Along with the 10.6.1 updates, Apple also released Security Update 2009-005 for both Mac OS X 10.4.11 Tiger and Mac OS X 10.5.8 Leopard. There are a total of 33 vulnerabilities. All 33 affect Mac OS X 10.5.8 Leopard Server, 26 Affect Mac OS X 10.5.8 Client. While only 16 vulnerabilities affect both Tiger 10.4.11 Client and Server. The downloads for each version are below.

10.4.11 Tiger Client:

• Intel Only: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL932 – 169.75MB.
• Power PC Only: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL931 – 77.95MB.

10.4.11 Tiger Server:

• Power PC: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL934 – 132.53MB (Power PC Only).
• Universal: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL933 – 206.43MB (Power PC & Intel).

10.5.8 Leopard Client: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL935 – 93.14MB (Universal).

10.5.8 Leopard Server: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL936 – 181MB (Universal).

All of the vulnerabilities for the 2009-005 Security updates can be found here.

All of the updates are recommended for everybody.

A couple days ago I got a weird request from a friend. “How can I unzip a 7z file?” Not only did I not have an answer for him, but I had no idea what the heck a 7z file was.

[...]