I did a quick search in my Google Reader account for articles related to the iPad. The results page lists THOUSANDS of articles involving the iPad. As in “More than two thousand.” Here is what I saw:
Mind you, the iPad hasn’t come out yet. It won’t be coming out until the third of April. Most people haven’t even seen a glimpse of an iPad in person. The only things we have to go on are press releases and the rumor mill. Based solely on having read those thousands of articles, I’ll wager the majority of them are rumor-based instead of insight-based. Shocking, I know.
If you search for the iPad on YouTube, you’ll see over 13,000 results. Google Image Search has nearly 13 Million results for iPad. Mind you, the top results on that page as I am writing this has only mock-ups of the iPad. These aren’t even photos of the real product. What possesses people to create all of the iPad repetition?
Now, some might say “If you’re so upset by repetition, why do you keep bringing it up over and over?” Why? Because I haven’t heard a good answer to my question yet. Oh, I’ve heard answers, but not a single good answer. Nobody seems to really know why there is so much demand for iPad content despite nobody having ever seen one in person. I’m not talking about announcements or overviews of the iPad. Those are perfectly acceptable in my mind. What I don’t understand is the incessant speculation.
I get to see article after article with no new information. Articles without any use beyond driving traffic. These articles aren’t even trying to bring forth concepts, or drive conversations. I am sick to death of it, and it has to stop for the good of our community.
So, what can you do if you’re in agreement? You need to comment, e-mail, tweet, and direct message your favorite Apple writers. Tell them that you’re tired of recycled newsless posts that are sans insight. Tell them you expect a better caliber of content from our community. You deserve it.
Do you think I’m full of hot air? Am I missing something? Let me know by commenting on this post.
With PAX East coming right around the corner, we’re looking at seeing the long-awaited third installment of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness getting announced. That said, we shouldn’t forget about the first two episodes in the series. Available for $15 each at PlayGreenHouse.com, these non-traditional RPGs offer a lot of laughs. If you’re a fan of Penny Arcade, you’ll absolutely love this series.
Consider this review a refresher course for world of “RSPD.” Unfortunately, it has been a long while since episode two launched. This is a series that has been stuck in the world of Duke Nukem Forever for quite some time.
Gameplay
Interacting with the World
To move your character, you use a point and click interface. If you want to move somewhere, you click on the area of the floor where you want your character to go. To interact with objects, you simply click on them, and then a dialog window pops up.
When you’re talking to a NPC, you are presented with a dialog tree. You have a selection of a handful of options to choose from when you’re deciding what to say.
At any time, you can bring up a menu that lets you jump between locations. Instead of having to do unnecessary traveling, you’re just a couple of clicks away from being where you need to be.
Battle Mechanics
When you enter a battle, you control the actions of your character, Gabe, and Tycho. The game uses a turn-based engine based around a timer. Each character chooses their action when their turn comes up as decided by whose timer runs out next.
You essentially get to choose from three different actions when your turn begins: Normal Attack, Special Attack, and Use Item. The normal attack and use of an item work the way you’d think. You click on your choice, and then it is executed. The special attack is by far more interesting. When you use your special attack, you have to complete a series of button presses in the correct way to finish your attack. The better the attack, the harder it is to pull off.
Graphics
In-Game Graphics
This 3D environment is very fitting when you consider the transition from gaming web comic to whacky Lovecraftian RPG. The scenery is beautiful without being too taxing on the GPU. Even if your computer is a couple of years old, you’ll probably be in good shape.
Most interesting, we get to see some beloved characters in a 3D world. Not only do we get to see Gabe and Tycho, but we also get to see Ann, Charles, the Fruit Fucker, and Div. If you’re interested in seeing these characters in somewhat different roles, you’ll be very happy.
Cut Scene Graphics
When we switch to a cut scene, we drop the 3D world in favor of a super-stylized 2D representation. The story unfolds via “Comic panels” in the style of Mike Krahulik’s artwork in the webcomic.
Interestingly, your customized character will display in both 3D and 2D areas. The dynamic representation really shows the polish this series has. Hothead Games really took the time to show this franchise the love it deserves.
Story
RSPD doesn’t take place in the present, and our beloved dynamic duo aren’t video game playing misanthropes. Instead, the game takes place in a Lovecraft-like version of the 1920s while Gabe & Tycho are misanthropes obsessed with detective work. To get an idea of what we’re dealing with, here is the opening poem from the first installment:
Four Gods wait on the windowsill
Where once eight Gods did war and will
And if the Gods themselves may die
What does that say for you and I?
That’s right… We’re given the task of killing off gods. Each installment of this series puts you up against a new and terrifying god. The first game has you fighting a Cthulhu-Mime, and the second game puts you up against a giant Fruit Fucker. Original, no? Don’t worry, though. You have the support of Tycho’s niece the entire time. Her bedroom is the game’s hub. She’ll let you know what you need to accomplish to move the story forward.
You’ll be dealing with a ton of crazy characters and side stories the entire time. In the second game of RSPD, you’re tasked with breaking an important figure out of a mental institution. Bad things happen there, as you probably can imagine.
As expected, the vast majority of the enjoyment of this game comes from the dialog. The clever writing of Jerry Holkins really delivers on the funny. If the web comic tickles your fancy, so will the game.
Summary
In sum, the first two episodes of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness show so much potential for the series. We were promised four episodes in total, but three and four have been missing in action. Let’s just hope that the rumors are right, and we’ll see an announcement sometime in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, you can drop $30.00, and play through the excellent first two installments in the series. Weirdness will ensue. I promise you that.
In this episode we’re flying solo, sans Erin! No worries, she’ll be back for the next couple of episodes. It’s a great episode though, so you should give it a watch. We talk about the iPad and what it means for consumers, we have a giveaway (in show notes), Corey shows off iDocument, and we quickly demonstrate Squeeze.
Since the App Store opened nearly two years ago, people and companies have been submitting apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. A lot of these apps have been very useful. Others are a waste of time. These apps that get submitted go through an approval process that can take some time. Some have complained that Apple’s approval process is too long, while other’s haven’t said much about it. In this approval process Apple has been known to reject apps for an icon not looking the right way; all the way up to apps that duplicate core apps of the iPhone. Google knows this all to well when their Google Voice app got rejected. Apple’s current stance on this issue is that they are still testing it to see how it works with the iPhone. Why am I bringing all this up, you might ask? Well, Opera has submitted their mini browser to Apple for Approval.
Slash Lane of AppleInsider is reporting that on Tuesday March 23rd, Opera had submitted their Opera mini browser to Apple. Apple’s current browser, Safari for the iPhone is based on Webkit, as where Opera’s browser is not. According to the article, Opera believes that Apple won’t reject the app because it is not based on Webkit. This is yet to be seen though. I think it would be great to see another browser on the iPhone; however, personally I can’t really see myself using it. I have my iPhone tied in with MobileMe, which means I have all of my bookmarks synced with MobileMe to Safari to my iPhone.
One of the benefits that Opera is touting is that their browser can load pages quicker. AppleInsider explains how this is achieved:
“Opera’s iPhone browser reportedly achieves speeds up to six times faster than Apple’s Safari when running over 3G. The alleged superior speeds are achieved through compression technology used by the company that allows less data transfer by using the company’s servers.”
This is a great feature for loading pages quicker, however, AppleInsider does point out a negative to Opera’s mini browser:
“…Opera Mobile also lacks one defining feature of the iPhone: pinch-to-zoom capabilities. The feature could reportedly be added in a future release of the software — if Apple allows.”
Opera is missing pinch-to-zoom, but it uses tap zoom. You simply tap on an image or article and it zooms in. I have added a demo video at the end of my article, which shows this, and the speed difference between Opera and Safari.
It seems that Opera has a lot to offer for the iPhone. As I stated before, personally it’s going to be a hard sell for me. Now if Opera was free, I would try it, but we won’t find that out till, or if Apple approves it. And that folks, is the five million dollar question. Will Apple approve the Opera mini browser? And, if Apple does, would you be interested in using it? Let me know your thoughts on this, by leaving a comment in the comments section below.
Managing multiple user accounts can be a giant pain in the butt. It’s great if you’re sharing the computer with people who know what they’re doing, but there’s a good chance at least one or two of your users will be lacking in the knowledge department when it comes to using OS X. Being able to jump between user accounts is a must when administering a multi user environment.
To start with, you can see a listing of the users on your system by going to your operating system drive, then the users folder. In this folder is the listing of all users on your machine, and all the folders and files that are associated with the user accounts. If you’re wondering what the red circle icon on your folder means, we’re going to clear that up shortly, but in short, it means you don’t have permission to view or access those folders.
Here’s how.
If you have an admin account, you can give yourself access to these folders quite simply.
Right click on the folder
Click on Get Info
Click the gold lock in the bottom right corner
Input your user credentials for the admin account
Click the + icon in the bottom left corner
Select the administrators group from the list
Click the select button
Now, in the menu listing in the Get Info window you should see an admin group, and on the right the privilege is set to Read only. Click on it. Select Read and Write
Click the yellow lock again to lock the permissions
RunKeeper is a mobile fitness application that makes fitness tracking easy by using GPS functionality for tracking speed and altitude. As you can see from the iPhone screen captures below, it does a great job of tracking speed and distance and by looking at the chart. It’s quite easy to see where I got held up at red lights while I was trying to run through the downtown core. In terms of tracking, the app is very accurate.
Once you are done your run, you can push the data to the RunKeeper.com website where all the data is displayed in graphs. Through one push of a button, you can quickly share your training with all your friends (and probably make them feel very lazy!).
As a running tool, Runkeeper free would outclass all of the other similar fitness applications if you didn’t have to buy the Pro version in order to get voice cues as you run. Let’s face it, having to take out your iPhone in order to read your distance and pace can be a tad of an annoyance.
Runkeeper also needs to work out some of the kinks in order to maximize it’s potential:
iPod integration: First you have to start your music, and then launch RunKeeper. iPod controls can only be accessed if you set your ”double click home button” to bring up the iPod controls.
WiFi interference: To have accurate tracking, you must turn off WiFi. If the wifi signal becomes stronger than the GPS signal, it uses the WiFi location instead, and adds sudden strange patterns to your route.
Overall, a very intuitive and easy to use application, but since voice cues for pace, speed and distance are not available with the free version (The pro version is $9.99), I would say that it won’t become my primary free running app. That said, it does have other settings for various activities like, cycling, walking, hiking, downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, and skating. It should not be discounted as one of the better fitness tracking tools.
My setup which includes a MacMini, Samsung HDTV, an EyeTV, and Rowmote Pro is far from the simplest solution. Streaming my media across the network requires a third party application like Plex (or Boxee), buying HD content involves iTunes, recording my television shows from my cable subscription requires the EyeTV software, and controlling it all from the comfort of my couch requires my iPhone and RowMote Pro.
It’s quite the messy setup, and it works surprisingly well all things considered, but an end to end solution would be ideal, and I’d welcome it with open arms.
The obvious question everyone is asking is how a setup like mine, versus a true Apple Television would compare.
Gene Munster seems to think that Apple could easily redefine the HDTV market, and the price he’s throwing around, ~$2000.00, isn’t really that far from what I’m already paying for a similar setup.
There’s a four hundred dollar premium on the guestimated price when compared to my current setup, but we can’t even begin to speculate what would be in an Apple branded HDTV, let alone how it would interact with our other devices. So the profit margin for Apple could vary greatly by the time they got around to releasing a television.
Munster also points out that, “if Apple introduced a device that would negate the need for a Blu-ray player, digital video recorder, cable box and game console, the company’s $2,000 HDTV could represent a significant change for the market.”
He’s not wrong there. The first company to introduce a truly connected television is going to be at the forefront of the innovations. The entire paradigm will shift and whoever is there leading the way will surely reap the financial reward.
Once we add in the possibility that Apple could release a monthly TV pass subscription, we start to see that Apple could provide a superior end to end solution. If it makes my life easier, I’m pretty sure it’ll be worth the price premium. Would you buy a net ready television, what about an Apple HDTV? I’d have to say, I’d seriously consider it.
March 24, 2010
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