Macgasm

The things people do for headlines really crack me up. After years of going to battle against each other, bloggers are speculating that Apple and Microsoft might align to take on Google.

I’m not sure what passes for op-ed these days, but it surely has very little to do with educated guesses. There’s a number of reasons why this would never happen, and it starts with the marketing campaign Apple’s been running for the last couple of years. Couple that with the fact that Microsoft has been, mildly put, enraged any time someone shows up with an Apple device to a meeting and you’ve got a recipe for anything but co-operation.

The thing is, battle plans take a while to put together, and they certainly don’t change over night. In a company as big as Microsoft, it’s going to take a while before any form of cooperative sentiment finds its way down the food chain to those at the bottom making daily decisions. It wouldn’t happen over night, and it certainly won’t happen in the near future.

Now what about Apple Inc. ? Sure Microsoft played saviour for Apple, but if we’ve learned anything about Bill Gates these last couple of years it’s that he’s quite the humanitarian and generous person. Now if there’s anything we’ve learned about Mr. Jobs it’s the exact opposite. I wouldn’t doubt for one second that he’d let Microsoft sink, it means that the IBM mentality is finally dying and the Apple way prevailed. That means Jobs was right, and he sure loves being right.

Sure, this is just speculation on my part, but a history teacher once told me that history repeats itself, and that we can learn a lot about the future from history. Clearly a couple of these bloggers need a history lesson or two, or maybe a profiling class or two. People don’t change, and there’s no way a Jobsian Apple Inc. would team up with Microsoft to kneecap Google.  Up until a couple months ago there was a likelihood that the complete opposite would occur.  With two of it’s board members sharing residency between Google and Apple, many people thought it was a matter of time before they took on Microsoft.  Funny how opinions change in such a short amount of time.

Anything to sell a headline or two.

…And that’s my opinion on that.

There is a segment of our nerdy online society that is trying desperately to sell the average consumer on the “Wonders” of lossless encoding. However, I believe that lossless encoding of music is a giant waste of hard drive space. I am not going to try to make any sort of scientific claims. There are a number of studies available that do a much better job than I can about perception in audio quality. I will merely go out on a limb and state that the vast majority of human beings cannot distinguish a difference between a sufficiently high bit rate MP3/AAC file versus a lossless audio file.

Now that we have lossless compression out of the way, let’s choose which lossy audio codec we want to use. MP3 and AAC are the two most well known lossy audio codecs, so let’s stick with them. MP3 is the most widely known and used format in today’s market. Just about every media player can play back MP3s, but there are some issues. MP3 is an aging technology. It isn’t as efficient at compressing audio as newer codecs are. Because of that, it takes a higher bit rate MP3 to stack up to an AAC file of equal perceptual quality. AAC is a newer technology that is quickly being adopted in many media players. Every Mac, iPod, and iPhone plays back AAC files with no problem. Unless you’re running very old hardware, I would recommend going with AAC.

If you have some time, I suggest encoding a song from a CD at different bit rates. To configure your encoding in iTunes, press Cmd+, to bring up the preferences. Under the General tab, press the button labeled Import Settings….

After having encoded multiple versions, compare them using the speakers or headphones you plan on using the most. Keep going until you finally notice a drop in sound quality. Now you know where you can begin to perceive a difference. Choose the lowest bit rate that doesn’t have a perceptual drop in quality for you. That, my friend, is your perfect compression.

If you don’t have the time to fool around, I suggest just setting the AAC encoder in iTunes to “iTunes Plus,” and then forgetting about it. It will be more than good enough quality for just about anyone.

Photo Credit: jnyemb

I was thinking a bit earlier how Windows 7 has been out since October 22nd, and at that time Apple stated that they would release an update to Bootcamp before the ‘end of the year’. This is according to their knowledge base article HT3920. See the image below.

It’s still entirely possible that they will reach this goal, but there are only 10 days left in the year, as of this writing, so it does not seem as though they will make it.

If you were planning on installing Windows 7 on your Mac, you might want to check the About Boot Camp and Windows 7 support article to see if you have an Intel Mac that is supported.

The basics are this: if you have an Intel iMac that has a white-bezel your computer will not be supported with Windows 7. This is not to say that the computer cannot handle Windows 7, it’s just that if you have any issues with it, Apple will not assist you with any problems. The exclusion to this is the 24 inch models, these will be supported.

On the portal end, the MacBook Pro line is the only ones affected, thus far. They include the Early and Late 2006 Models of the 15″ and 17″ Mac Book Pros.

My iMac falls into this category, it’s a ‘Late 2006′ model. I believe as though I have determined the reasoning behind the few models not being supported. The ATI Radeon x1600 Mobility chipset. All of the models that will not be supported are because they all have the ATI x1600 video chipset.

The Mid-2006 Mac Pro is also affected, although it has the X1900 ATI video card, which does have drivers, as well as the Nvidia GeForce 7300 graphics card, so I’m not entirely sure why this model is affected.

The 24-inch White models are not affected because they have the nVidia GeForce 7300GT video cards embedded within the system.

The thing that bothers me is not that this is Apple’s doing, but AMD/ATI’s doing. They have chosen to not release drivers that support Windows 7. Now, the machines that are affected are three years old, so they may not be the fastest machines nor the best for supporting Windows 7.

With these machines not being the newest, my 13″ Black MacBook will be supported, only because it has an Intel GMA 950 chipset. This only has 64MB of video memory, while the iMacs have at least 128MB.

This is just something to be cognizant about if you are going, or are planning, to upgrade your iMac’s BootCamp partition to Windows 7. Of course, Apple is more than willing to take your money to upgrade your entire machine.

I’m a firm believer in Karma, and sadly I think that an entire demographic needs a reality check. When a development firm such as blacksmith games puts together an entire month worth of free downloads for the iPhone community, and the community can’t turn around and support the developer by purchasing a $1.99 application in the appstore, something’s clearly rotten in the state of the AppStore.

What a joke, iPhone app prices are a steal

The system is completely broken and frankly I’m not really sure what to do about it. A dollar ninety-nine for a mobile game is a steal no matter how awesome or crappy a game is, and the fact that a development firm tosses out a tweet that says, “if 5% of the daily appvent visitors would buy plushed i would be happy” reveals a pretty grotesque commentary on iPhone users and their purchasing tendencies. The Sony PSP games start at approximately 19.99 on the lowend and about 49.99 at the high end, and I’ve played some of those games… frankly a lot of them pale in comparison to some 1.99 games that I’ve paid for on the iPhone. Sure, there’s a lot of crap on the AppStore, but there’s surely enough meat and potatoes available that the 1.99 price point is a steal when compared to other devices.

It’s time to stop living in a culture of free, because frankly, time is going to run out and developers are going to leave us behind. Heck, I have a huge love for the iPhone but if I couldn’t have a conversion rate of 5% for my iPhone apps I’d give up development on the iPhone as well. It’s just not sustainable, and unless consumers start to realize that their beloved iPhone developers spend hours upon hours developing ground breaking application this whole marketplace is going to collapse on itself. It’s a bloody shame.

Now’s the time to clear the crap out of the AppStore

Their modest conversion goal of 5% of traffic isn’t all that lofty, and considering the reviews the app is getting on the AppStore I’d think that they’d easily be able to achieve a conversion rate of 10% at the very least. Only two ratings are below a perfect five out of five, and out of those only one really had a problem with the game dynamics. What is it about the iPhone that advocates a race to the bottom in price-points, and as a result encourages the masses to flock to free applications?

Some would argue that it’s a quandary worthy of in-depth discussion, but I think the finger should be directly pointed at Apple and the handful of developers who encouraged the rest of the marketplace to drop prices to unsustainable rates. Someone once told me that if you didn’t appreciate yourself no one else would appreciate you. I think that theory could be applied here, and I think it’s time that Apple start segmenting the AppStore. Put the real development groups in one section, and the fly by nighters in another section. Because frankly, the half-assed developers that are driving down the prices need to be put out to pasture, and the real developers, the ones putting their heart and soul into a game that can’t break a 5% conversion rate need to be coddled a little until the tides turn, before they’re gone for good.

Apple needs to do everything it can to help these developers be successful, and frankly I think it’s time we eliminate free applications. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, so why the heck is Apple encouraging a free app? Clearly the community doesn’t have enough gumption to support developers who continue to give them excellent application after excellent application.

Some hard numbers from the AppVent team

As previously mentioned, the developers of Plushed have put together a modern day Advent Calendar, much like the traditional ones Christians have grown accustomed to over the years. Every single day, up until the 24th, they were giving away one application, for free, for the entire day. All. Month. Long.

The AppVent Calendar has been a great success in terms of traffic. The website has seen over 150,000 pageviews daily, and over 35,000 unique visitors during the course of the month, and somehow their app isn’t selling very well. They’re hoping for 5% of the page’s viewers would purchase Plushed. You know what that currently works out to? 1750 people, or $3482.50 in sales. That looks like a nice chunk of change, but the question here is whether or not the application is profitable. I put in an email to Johannes, one of the team members for Plushed, and it was estimated that they spent approximately 8 months full time coding and submitting the game to the AppStore. They broke it down to 4 months worth of coding the application, and another four months of game design, level design, and artwork. How many people worked on the project? Eleven. That’s what it takes to get an amazing game done these days, and still we complain about the $1.99 price point of a game. You want to know what that works out to in profit per day at a measly 5% conversion rate? Do you really want me to spell it out? It works out to $21.00 per day…for one person. Once you start adding the other 10 people who worked on the application, and Apple Inc. getting 30% off the top, an indie development team is left with wages that would border on illegal if someone else were paying their bills.

And here we are wondering why some major development firms haven’t taken up programming games for the iPhone.

The reality of the situation

Programming for the iPhone isn’t profitable unless you have a huge name behind you, or Apple decided to feature your application. For the rest of the developers it’s a giant game of chance. In the early days, when things were still fresh and getting settled, the risk was worth it. You could make a fortune over night. Today, the risk-reward ratio is tilted way too far toward risk than reward.

This is a story that needed to be told, and more importantly shared. Lets start appreciating developers and all they do for us, and support them. If we don’t, they won’t be around much longer.

I’ve decided I’d support the team who worked on Plushed, I think you should as well.

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We use the term ‘indie’ pretty lightly these days, but I think the term fits these three development teams. In my book, unless you’re owned by a huge corporation, you’re probably indie.

Independent games have really restored my faith in video games this year, and I’m thankful that a large number of iPhone development teams have been able to create some beautiful applications and games. Here’s my three favourite iPhone development firms this year, and a couple of reasons why they’ve made the list.

The Kieffer Bros.

I love everything these guys do. It’s a rarity, but simply put, I can’t get enough of their games. They’re beautifully designed, both graphics and game play are a treat to revel in. Lexic, as previously covered here, got me through an insanely long road trip into the heart of the US this summer. Since then I’ve been keeping a close eye on the games that the Kieffer Bros. have been producing. Boy was I surprised to find out that Orba was also being released this year. That game is beautifully simple, and even more elegantly designed.

It seems like the Kieffer Bros. have figured out what buttons to push to make me love their games. It’s simple really; all I need is something beautiful to look at. In my opinion, if I’m going to be spending time looking at your game for a couple hours it better not be super ugly and all pixellated. I won’t last long in that environment. What can I say, shiny lights distract me, so if your games full of them, I’m all in.

Just so you know, the Kieffer Bros have dropped their prices until the new year. You can get Lexic at $0.99, and Orba, Hyper Puck, and Enso•Dot Book One are absolutely free. So instead of taking my word for just how great these guys are, you can now download some of their games for free and let me know what you think of them.

Craneballs Studio

Another development team that comes in on this list is Craneballs Studio. No, it’s not because their name is Craneballs, and yes it has everything to do with 33rd Division and Blimp. Again, these guys share something with the Kieffer Bros., and it’s something that seems to run constant in my selection, they have we’ll designed games. 33rd Division spent some time at the top of the charts, and Blimp has taken me back to my childhood by recreating Solar Jet Man. It’s not completely the same, but the premise is right on par with the NES game of yesteryear.

Both of these games have sucked me in for more than a couple of hours this year.  The really cool thing about Craneballs Studio is that their games are completely different.  They clearly have the skill set to create new games instead of sticking within a genre that they’ve been successful in.  That’s something that I have to highly commend them for, as a lot of independent firms these days seem to stick themselves in a genre and refuse to leave it.  It clearly speaks to their abilities and their utility as game developers.  It really makes me anxious to see where they take their future games and applications.

Critical Thought Games

Geo this, and Geo that. It’s all about the “Geo” games for me this year. In case you’re not up on your math lingo, Geo stands for Geometry, and the games are all throw backs to the original Atari games. Again, they’re beautiful to look at despite being throw backs, and they’ve modernized them to include stunning colors and even better game play. If you love tower defense based games, and old school video games there’s no better place to start than the Critical Thought Games catalog. Geo-Defense, geoSpark. and Geo-Defense: Swarm pretty much rounded out my year of video games on the iPhone. If there was ever a series of games that had the potential to keep me up will into the morning, these are them. They’re painfully simple to play, but the complexity ramps up quick enough to help establish replay value a lot faster than some of the other games in the genre.

If I had to recommend one of the apps over the others I’d suggest starting with Geo-Defense: Swarm. That game was the first I played from the Critical Thought Games team and frankly, I think it’s the best one they’ve done to date. The others are good, but Geo-Defense:Swarm is great. It’s worth the price tag.

Final Thoughts

I’m sure there’s a ton of other development teams that deserve to be up here, and I can already rhythm off several in my head right now, but in fear of this post turning into an epic novel I thought I’d keep it at 3, and then let you guys debate the finer points in the comments. Who do you think deserves to be at the top of the list this year? Recommend some people in the comments.

When Apple introduced Stacks in Mac OS X 10.5, I was very excited. The ability to navigate a folder without dicking around in the Finder really flipped my cookie. The first implementation wasn’t perfect, but Apple did a fair bit of tweaking when they released Mac OS X 10.6. Stacks are now much more powerful and customizable. In this post, I’ll give you a few tips on how to get the most out of Stacks.

For those of you not in the know, you can drag any folder you want to the right side of your dock. Now that folder becomes easy to access as a Stack. If you don’t like the new fangled look of the stack, you can opt to make it look like a regular folder. Right-click the icon in your dock, and look under the “Display as” section. Click Folder.

There are three different displays for Stacks once you launch one: Fan, Grid, and List. In the same contextual (Right-Click) menu, you can change your preference under the “View Content as” section. If you want the display to dynamically change depending on the number of files inside the folder, click Automatic. If you want to force the stack to display any one of the three styles, you can choose your preferred style there as well.

Lastly, you can also go to the “Sort by” section of the contextual menu to alter in what order the files display. The available options are Name, Date Added, Date Modified, Date Created, and Kind. For example, you might want to keep your download folder listed by Date Added so you can keep track of what you’ve downloaded recently.

When you customize your computer to fit your needs better, you’ll save some time and a lot of hassle. Give it a go!

Photo Credit: avlxyz

Lets face it, as much as vcards and iPhone contact swap apps are really cool, we still haven’t eliminated the basic business card.  The hard part with business cards is having the info on hand when you need it. This is where the WorldCard Mobile app comes in. A Business card reader/scanner app that is so simple and accurate to use, that its worth the $9.99 price tag. (If you act now until Dec.31, it’s 40% off a steal at $5.99 USD)

I tried various cards and the results were very surprising that this app could recognize the structured data and put it into the Contact fields ready for editing/correcting and saving right into Contacts on your iPhone. Phone numbers, fax numbers, URLs, emails, and company names, were all properly placed in the correct fields.

Highlights:

• Recognition in 7 languages
• Data export into any desired contact group
• Excellent recognition quality

If you want to throw away that old Rolodex on your table or you have so many business cards you can’t see the bottom of your desk, definitely get this app. Fully worth the money to digitize the contacts in your life. Why pay $40-100 for a dedicated business card scanner when you can pay a fraction of that and have it on your “does everything” iPhone.

Consider giving this as a gift for Christmas to an iPhone user in your life to help them de-clutter their contacts.

iTunes Link: WorldCard Mobile App

Screenshots below blurred to protect the innocent.