Primitive

Apple Event planned for September 9th

Thursday, September 4th, 2008 | Apple, News | 28 Comments

September is traditionally the month that Apple releases updates to the iPod line, and recent invites sent out by the company confirmed that there will indeed be an event on Tuesday, September 9th. Journalists are speculating on not just upgraded storage for existing devices, but also new designs for the iPod Nano and iPod Touch.

Kevin Rose, founder of digg.com and avid Mac user, mentioned on a recent episode of MacBreak Weekly that he received inside information on what to expect Tuesday. From his blog:

• a revamp of the entire iPod line
• small cosmetic changes to the iPod Touch, and a significant redesign for iPod Nano (see image below)
• fairly large price drops to distance the iPods from the iPhone
• iTunes 8.0

According to Kevin, iTunes 8 will include Genius, a feature that makes playlists from songs in your library that ‘go great together’. Genius also includes Genius sidebar, which recommends music from the iTunes Store that you don’t already have (this is similar to what services like last.fm do).

iTunes 8 will also allow you to browse your artists and albums visually with the new Grid view, download TV shows in HD quality from the iTunes Store, and sport a new music visualizer.

As with all Apple Events, we’ll have to wait and see. Some people have complained that the iPod Nano pictured above has a curved screen that would cause excessive screen glare when watching movies, but as with many past Apple products I think having it in-hand and actually using it will resolve these kinds of complaints. A good example is when photos of the the previous redesign of the Nano, nicknamed “Fatboy Nano“, were leaked. The design was criticized until the device appeared in stores, after which it quickly became a hit.

Tags: Apple, digg, gadget, ipod, ipod nano, ipod touch, kevin rose, mp3, nano, touch

Alison Carroll as Lara Croft is ridiculously good-looking

Saturday, August 23rd, 2008 | Gaming, News | Comments Off

Tomb Raider: Underworld (the 8th game in the series) is set to be released late November, and Alison Carroll, a 23-year old gymnast, has been chosen as the new face of the Tomb Raider franchise.

Gameplay Trailer

Interviews with Alison Carroll

 

Tags: adventure, alison carroll, game, gymnast, lara croft, puzzle, tomb raider

Apple grants another free MobileMe service extension

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 | Apple, News | 1 Comment

Apple has granted MobileMe customers a free 60-day extension to their service in addition to the 30 days they had already received previously. From the MobileMe Update email:

We have already made many improvements to MobileMe, but we still have many more to make. To recognize our users’ patience, we are giving every MobileMe subscriber as of today a free 60 day extension. This is in addition to the one month extension most subscribers have already received. We are working very hard to make MobileMe a great service we can all be proud of. We know that MobileMe’s launch has not been our finest hour, and we truly appreciate your patience as we turn this around. Read this article for more details.

The MobileMe Team

Steve Jobs recently admitted to his employees that they overextended themselves with the simultaneous release of the iPhone 3G, iPhone / iPod Touch 2.0 software, iPhone / iPod Touch App Store, and MobileMe launch.

The road has been bumpy so far, but based on their track record with past 1.0 software / service / product releases (for example, the first versions of the iWork suite, the iTunes Music Store, and the iPod), Apple should be able to bring MobileMe up to standards soon.

Tags: Apple, cloud computing, iphone, ipod, itunes, mobileme, steve jobs

Linux that looks like the Mac

Thursday, August 14th, 2008 | Apple, Linux, News, UNIX | 1 Comment

Lifehacker recently had an article about Ubuntu Linux computers skinned to look like Mac OS X. Given that Mark Shuttleworth recently called for Linux developers to exceed the looks and usability of OS X, these skins and plugins are a step in the right direction. If designers keep building on these ideas borrowed from Apple to create their own, distinguishable user interface, we should see some exciting stuff soon!

Tags: Apple, design, leopard, Linux, mac, macintosh, mark shuttlework, os x, ubuntu

Fable II Collector’s Edition Details

Thursday, August 14th, 2008 | Gaming, News | 2 Comments

Fable II offers more choices and builds on the core gameplay theme of “Fable”, where a player’s every decision continually defines whom they become. Set 500 years after the original, Fable II will provide gamers with an epic story and innovative real-time gameplay, including a massive amount of freedom and choice to explore a vast collection of dungeons, catacombs and caves in the world of Albion.

If you have a Xbox 360 and you liked games like Blue Dragon, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and Lost Odyssey, you’re probably eagerly awaiting the release of Fable II on October 21st.

Ars Technica recently posted that Lionhead Studios have released details on the contents of the Collector’s Edition of the game:

• A bonus DVD including a “Making-of Feature” and concept art viewer.
• Bonus in-game content: “The Hall of the Dead” Dungeon, “The Wreckager” Legendary Cutlass Weapon, and Otherworldly Bonus.
• A collectible Hobbe figure with accessories.
• Five printed Fate Cards detailing the Hero’s journey across Albion.

Downloadable Wallpapers:

Fable II - Wallpaper 1	Fable II - Wallpaper 2
Fable II - Wallpaper 3	Fable II - Wallpaper 4

Tags: 360, console, fable, fable ii, game, Gaming, lionhead, Microsoft, xbox