iPhone Gaming Apps help you be more connected.

XboxLIVE on your iPhone. Got to love Apple for giving it to MS (and Sony) with free & Paid for apps that work across platforms.

by Shadow Wave

©2008 Ben Cadwallader:

The iPhone: Applications

It has only been a few days since I happily scored myself an Apple 3G iPhone, and I must say it is a truly amazing phone. In the past few days I have been overwhelmed by the vast amount of applications you can download for free, or pay for on the iTunes store.

These apps seem that they can do almost anything you can imagine. You can even check on your Xbox live friends list! And play 3D games! So read below for my impressions of a few of the iPhone applications that are available now.

Xbox LIve update:

This just in regarding getting XboxLIVE apps FREE for all users over at Blog-Wired. Here’s an excerpt, head there for full news.:

“Microsoft has officially halted the distribution of all Xbox Live-related iPhone applications via Apple’s App Store — not to quell creative coding, but instead to mandate that all such programs must be offered to users free of charge.”

iXboxLive

Cost: $1.19 AU
This application should be free, but at its small price it warrants the purchase as an Xbox 360 user. This app is your ticket to viewing all your friends’ Gamercard information, and currently live status.

The program doesn’t actually access your own friends list, you just add their Gamertag into the application and away you go. The application can only hold about 10 – 12 Gamertags before the program starts to slow down, which is very disappointing.

But truth be told, most gamers I talk to agree, your friends list often consists of a few players that you prefer to play with a lot more than others, so this application works well with that idea in mind.

The data that is shown is their reputation, Gamerscore, location and live status. It shows their most recently played games and their total Gamerscore for each game, you cannot view each specific achievements. This app does not feature any way to communicate with your friends however. It simply serves as a way to monitor what your friends are doing perhaps on the way home on the train to plan your afternoon and evenings gaming.

I think this program is a great start, and hopefully with future updates we will see it improve a lot further, to become a great XboxLIVE application on the iPhone.

Crash Kart

Cost: 12.99
This is the best selling iPhone application on the iPhone store, a game that tries to put the Playstation 1’s Crash Team Racing on your iPhone. And it does it quite well. Read that agian. That’s Sony on an Apple product people.

When you first start playing the controls will overwhelm you. You can not control the acceleration; that’s automatic, it’s your job to use the iPhones motion sensing to make your driver turn and move around the race course.

Braking, jumping etc, is done by pressing a certain area of the touch screen. It’s also quite difficult to get to grips with (no pun intended). So I’m sure Wii players, and PS3 racers that use motion sensing might feel right at home, but as a player that does not really enjoy motion sensing I found it took some time to get used to.

The graphics are quite good but character models do not look as good as the PS1 classic. The frame rate drops considerably when there is a lot happening on screen. But overall the graphical end holds up quite well for a game of this vintage.

The main problem with this game is its pricetag. $AU12.99 is extremely high, and when I played the game, I did enjoy it, but not for that price. But if you can justify the price, I’m sure you will be happy . . . for a while.

iPhone Remote

Cost: Free!
This has to be the most innovative and excellent application I have used so far on the iPhone. This little baby lets you use your iPhone as a remote for your computers iTunes library. This won’t play the songs out of the iPod, it will play them out of your computer.

What does this mean? For me, it means I no longer have to get up off the couch when playing a game to change a song that’s playing, it means when I’m outside with mates playing poker, BBQ etc, and I’m playing music on our outdoor speakers that are connected to my computer, I no longer have to walk back into the computer room to change the song. It is a program made for pure convenience and of course, not to mention showing off to your buddies on Friday night!

This application can have the odd bit of trouble getting it to work, and might have conflicting issues with your firewalls etc, but once you can get it working, it is an amazing program!

Tic Tac Knoe

Cost: Free!
Back when I was a young child I loved to play Tic Tac Toe on our now very very old Macintosh computer (the one you see in the shop front window in Back to The Future 2) it had a few built in games and I loved to play Tic Tac Toe it was great fun, and I also often play it during moments of boredom when I’m with friends etc. As long as there was a pen and paper nearby.

This is a quick iPhone application is just a fun thing to pass the time for 5 minutes or less every now and then. Unfortunately there is no multiplayer option, so you are forced to play against the computer. But it’s free and anything free is good, so recommended giving this iPhone application a go.

Tris

Cost: Free!
Tris is Tetris. And who doesn’t like Tetris when it’s free? It graphically looks very simple and clean. The game uses touch controls to do all you’re controlling of the blocks as they come down, once again as with Crash Kart, it takes a while to get used to, but this serves as another great free 5 minute game to have on your iPhone. Definitely grab this one!

`

WordPress

Cost: Free!

While this application may not be as useful for a lot of people, but as a writer for xboxoz360-gamer, it’s very helpful, this lets me write on this blog from anywhere with a 3G or wifi connection. So perhaps if we were out at an event we could quickly pop some news up on the site via my iPhone without too much sweat at all.

So for all you bloggers out there check this one out, there were other apps for other blog companies as well if you were not using WordPress(.com or .org). This allows you to update your site, enter news, even upload pics or media to your site without having to lug around a laptop. Neat eh !

Well, that’s all I have sampled so far, but I will be looking forward to finding more applications related to gaming. Here is a small list of some that I am very hopefully for, and the odd one or two I’ve located recently.

We will update the various ganming apps as we find them where they can help XboxLIVE members enjoy their gaming experiences:

• Classic Games:

Just like Nintendo’s Virtual Console it would be great to get some classic games on the iPhone such as Zelda or Final Fantasy. But as unlikely as this is, it would be a great thing to hope for!

• Point and Click games:

Wouldn’t it be great if we could get those classic point and click games such as The Longest Journey or Monkey Island on our iPhone? The iPhone could emulate the mouse pretty easily. These classic games have already successfully been placed on the iPhone in custom firmwares. But for us that prefer to stay safe with official ones, we hope these ports get released sometime in the future.

• Bluetooth App:

The iPhone’s Bluetooth I have discovered is barley operational. All it’s there for is to connect a wireless headset. So we cannot send or receive data from other people’s phones. So we hope that we get an official Bluetooth application that will rectify the issue. Or have this fixed in a later firmware from Apple.

• Ebay Application:

Sure we can access eBay simply enough by using the iPhone’s Safari Internet browser. But it would be great if we could get a direct application that would be easier to use, use less data and would be formatted for the iPhone screen, and would not require us to “Pinch” The screen to get it readable.

• Gaming Sites News App:

Once again, we can already do it on Safari, but it would be good if a simple click of a button on the home screen took us to the current news from gaming sites. Which would be formatted for the iPhone screen, and would not require us to “Pinch” The screen to get it readable.

The bottom line is, if the iPhone community never stops pumping out new applications for your iPhone/iPod Touch these phones will prevent the phone never get old, and will always give you an opportunity in moments of boredom, to have some fun. You could visit Top iPhone News as ithas current news on iPhone apps and games

• MSN Messenger For Mac

An integrated communications client that enables you to communicate with contacts within and outside your organization. Makes it easy to take advantage of the full power of real-time communications.

What’s New in this Version
• Improves support for users of the VoiceOver feature in Mac OS X
• Fixes user interface issues that appear when Messenger is used with some European languages.

What else is there for gamers:

• Here is a decent listing of games over at  Touch Arcade for the Apple 3G iPhone

• A neat little iPhone Manager that helps organize all your gaming apps.

• Great iPhone information site called iPhone-Hack aims to keep you up todate on all things iPhone

Someone having fun designing an

interesting adaptation for the iPhone

©2008 Ben Cadwallader:

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The Apple 3G iPhone could be seen by June 12 in Australia.

by Shadow Wave

June 12th 2008.

© 2008 Ben Cadwallader

“`No doubt you have seen, or perhaps heard mention of the new Apple iPhone, and just how amazing this sleek Multimedia phone looks. Hopefully you have seen the various video’s on YouTube, or even been lucky enough to see someone with an imported iPhone, Perhaps someone you know has already bought an iPod Touch, imported and ‘unlocked a US iPhone, but you have been patient and diligently awaiting its arrival in Australia. And in doing so, have never really looked at your current phone in the same loving way as you did when you first purchased it. Those times are set to change very very soon.

Rumours are circulating that we could be seeing the iPhone here in Australia as early as next Thursday 12th June ‘08. This article will provide you with a summary of what we know about the iPhone todate.

Back at the Apple conference in ’07 where Steve Jobs handed down the amazing news of the iPhone, the whole world was excited and eager to find out when we might get these lovely great new Apple iPhones into our eager sweaty mits. We all sat poised to await the actual release date, only for us all to be greeted by a release date of June 2007. Okay we thought, a bit less than six months away, but we could bear that.

Shortly after that news came, we were told that each country other America (naturally), would received their own “staggered” release dates. And that Australia was right at the very bottom of that release list, which was simply listed as, “sometime in 2008”, with no firm date on it’s release locally. We all knew it was not going to be in January ‘08, so we would need to dream on for a little while longer it seemed.

The iPhone has suffered many criticisms during its time out in the wild. Besides it being simply a fantastic multimedia, multifunction phone, most of the criticism was being mainly focused at its lack of 3G support. So Australia has been patiently waiting for their 3G version for over 12 months now, and have recently found out that it will ‘most likely’ be announced and/or released on June 12th throught Autralia and its Territories.

So, here are the rumours that we know of todate:

“`The Vodafone Telecommunications company has been the only “official company” to announce, that they will be selling the iPhone and in turn, will have specific iPhone plans. When the company announced this news, this shocked many people interested in acquiring one, as all rumours pointed to the fact that Australia were receiving a trial run of using unlocked iPhones.

“`Thankfully, Vodafone later confirmed their deal was NOT exclusive. Currently no other Telecommunications Companies have made “official” announcements about the iPhone here in Australia.

The other rumour about exclusive contracts is that Apple may sell the iPhone at an outright price, throughout their Apple Resellers, Apple Stores (due to open in June) and sell them unlocked, while phones on plans may be stuck with the one company. This still could be the case with Vodafone being the only company to announce it at the moment. But all that could change come June 12th.

The new iPhone will most likely have Imagination’s new 3D SGX Core, which runs anything graphical on the phone. This new model has OpenGL 2.0 support, and is also equipped with 3D shader capabilities, so we could be seeing new advanced mobile phone games and applications for the new phone. Which could also fit in with announcement that Ubisoft have struck a deal with Apple to develop games specifically for the iPhone. A huge move in the gaming circles if it is true, which it does seem to be.

The new 3G iPhone is set for a slightly newer look. With the most major difference being rumoured that it’s becoming slightly smaller in overall size, perhaps to compete with constant slimming of phones. There could be 2 new sizes, a 2.8” screen and a 3.2” screen. Compared to the 3.5” screen of the current iPhone.

While that might prove disappointing for some, this may make prices cheaper for consumers here in Australia, which could be a major drawback on sales locally. The reduced price point could see much higher sales across the board for Apple. The phones will have the offering of 8, 16 and 32 gigabyte sizes for all the multimedia that can fit into the iPhone.

It is also rumoured that there will be different sizes of memory that might be available to only certain screen sizes, but that has yet to be confirmed naturally. There have been many supposed leaks of the actual physical design of the new 3g iPhone, with various “leaked” pictures circulating around the net. But most of them carry a common visual trait, they all seem to have glossy plastic back covers, in black, white and red. Colours that fit in with the iPod Touch and Nano range. Making the probability of it being true quite high.

Rumour has it that Apple has ditched the Matte Silver metal back, and replaced it with plastic (terrible idea in my opinion), perhaps to reduce in weight as well as manufacturing costs. The iPhone may also have a new location for its speakers out-puts, some added sensors, and all indications point to it having a raised headphone jack, compared to the original iPhone making all headphones compatible with the iPhone, and its iPod capabilities.

Here are a few of the leaked images of the 3G iPhone.

Apples Worldwide Developers Conference takes place between the 9th and 12th of June, and we expect to hear about the new 3G iPhone announcements as well as hopefully a few other Apple goodies which we all long for every time Steve Jobs steps up on stage.

The launch of the conference will also mark the launch of Australia’s Apple Stores in the Sydney CBD, Chatswood in the North Shore areas of Sydney and Chadstone in Victoria. A large milestone for Apple in Australia, but could prove the death tole for many smaller independent Apple Resellers here in Australia. Many of whom struggle with the exceptionally small mark-up margin Apple enforces on all its resellers world wide.

We get the strong feeling that all these announcements along with openings of the Apple Stores will tie in closely together, and we might just see the new Apple 3G iPhone in Australia around June 12. Especially if the rumours of each Apple Store having received a “Special Black Box” last week, that is to be only opened on June 12th . . . it could suggest we might just be getting our dream phone – finally.

© 2008 Ben Cadwallader

iPhone in Australia goes to . . Vodafone

not Telstra or Optus . . . thank goodness.

by XboxOZ360 (thanks Ben)

©2008 Grant Smythe

“`After months of speculation, debate, internet skuttle-butt, the hammer finally dropped today with the announcement that Vodafone Australia will be the carrier for the iPhone in the Australian territories. So finally, all those bricked iPhones sitting around can finally have a local carrier service

Expect a huge lift in sale for Vodafone, and personally, I think Apple has made a wise move choosing Vodafone over the two main competitors here in Australia. I sure as hell didn’t want Telstra grabbing hold of our “Precious”, as once in its grip, it would make life for any iPhone owner pure hell . . Optus on the other hand would have been my second viable choice, and seeing that Vodafone have nabbed the deal, then it ‘might’ be time to start looking at a new mobile carrier for yours truley.

Press Release:

Australia officially welcomes you iPhone, let’s have a barbie shall we.

Vodafone today announced it has signed an agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone in Australia.”The iPhone will be the perfect addition to Vodafone Australia’s mobile handset range. The iPhone’s Australian launch is well-timed to coincide with our plans to deliver an enhanced mobile internet and entertainment experience to customers,” said Russell Hewitt, chief executive officer of Vodafone Australia.

“The iPhone has already proved to be extremely popular with customers in other parts of the world and Vodafone is confident that today’s announcement will be well received by all Australians who are keen to get their hands on their own iPhone.”

In addition to Australia, Vodafone customers in the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey will also be able to purchase the iPhone for use on the Vodafone network



There is no news on what model iPhone will be available when it released, with much anticipation surrounding the rumoured release of a 3G model in June.

Vodafone and Apple also couldn’t confirm whether or not the Vodafone deal was exclusive, amid rumours that the iPhone will be available on multiple networks in Australia. In the US, the iPhone is exclusively locked to the AT&T network.

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Firmware 1.1.3 for iPhone and iPod Touch

by lxl Anubis lxl

©2008 Maninder Singh

With the announcement of Macbook Air at Mac Expo, also came the release of the latest firmware upgrade for iPhone and iPod Touch owners. As usual, there were bug fixes but also quite a few interesting features to enhance the functionality of the devices, especially the iPod touch but at a price.

Feature List:
Common
• Google Maps enhancement
Locate me feature
Hybrid view with satellite imagery and street name
• Icon Customisation
• Webclips
• Lyrics Support

iPhone Specific
• Multi-recipent SMS

iPod Touch specific
• 5 iPhone apps now available (Mail, Stock, Weather, Notes, Maps)
Dock updated to mirror iPhone

Impressions

Personally, I only have the iPod touch so can only comment on those features and not too much on the features of iPhone, but the multi-recipent SMS feature should be self explanatory. Firstly I would like to point out that the only feature you get by upgrading to 1.1.3 on the iPod touch is the new dock to resemble the one on the iPhone. All the features marked with an asterisk are only available if you pay for the $25 ipod touch application pack. Even though I believe that those apps should have been available on the iPod touch to begin with, I don’t mind paying for the update.

The thing that annoyed me about having to pay for this update was the fact that all new iPod shipped now will have these apps included for free. What makes matters worse is that there has also been a price drop on the iPod touch since the announcement and now only retails for $399 and $499 for 8Gb and 16Gb respectively. Personally I don’t think what Apple have done to the early adopters is fair. But in the end if you are an existing iPod touch owner and do not want to pay for the apps, you should be aware that upgrading may not be worth it just yet, especially if you preferred the old dock like many others.

Moving on from my initial disappointment, I ended up buying the iPod touch application pack and found the additions quite useful. Beginning with Google Maps, there were a few enhancements over previous iterations, however as Google Maps was not initially available on iPod Touch, it is will be all new for iPod touch users. But the main enhancements included a hybrid map view, which combines satellite imagery with normal street view to identify streets and roads as well as the ability to locate your position.

Using Google Maps is quite simple, especially if you are familiar to it on the PC. A useful feature is the mapping of routes in google maps and even though neither the iPod or iPhone have a built in GPS receiver, it can plot the route and it will save it in memory so that even if you do not have a Wifi connection, you can still navigate. The next step to this was to try and locate your position which it does via Wifi signals as part of this firmware. Unfortuantely I have not bee able to test this feature out as of yet due to lack of the special Wifi signals needed to pinpoint my location. However here is a link that will help you see the coverage of this system around the world. Obviously it would be a far more useful feature in the US than it is in Australia.

http://www.skyhookwireless.com/howitworks/coverage.php

Mail is quite useful for checking for emails on the go. It supports Yahoo Mail, Gmail, .Mac and AOL as well as any other mail account that uses POP3, IMAP or Exchange protocols. It is very easy to set up and notifies you on the main screen if there are any unread messages.

Weather, works as you would expect, and retrieves weekly forecasts from Yahoo. Stocks has limited support for the Australian market from what I could tell, but has some of the major exchanges covered. Notes is again self explanatory and very easy to use and can be quite handy. I am still confused as to why all of these features were removed from the iPod to begin with but at least they have finally made it.

Icon Customisations is a useful and cleverly implemented feature. Essentially what this allows you to do is arrange any of the icons on the screen to your liking as well placing them on multiple screen which can be easily ‘flicked’. Very useful for hiding features you don’t commonly use, such as Stocks. In order to do this, you simply hold down on any icon and all the icons will start ‘wiggling’. Then you will be able to arrange them to your liking and when you are finished, simply press the home button. It is as simple as that.

Webclips are somewhat useful in that you can bookmark a page directly to the home screen. Say for example you want to bookmark a certain game that you visit, you can create a ‘webclip’ of it. What that means is that a icon of that address will be placed on the main screen for you to arrange to your liking. When you tap it, a browser windows opens up with that page. Didn’t find it too useful, but welcome nonetheless.

Last of the listed changes was the addition of Movies & Lyrics. Finally the iPod and iPhone get the ability to view lyrics while listening to songs, which was curiously missing, especially when the other iPods had Lyrics support. Adding lyrics to songs is done via iTunes and viewed by flipping the album cover while listening to the songs.

Two additional items now available are iPods Stocks and functions, which help the tavelling businessman when doing his daily chores without the need to grab a phone or a PDA, and can do so while listening to his fav-tunes . . . (Ed:)

Finally, the most exciting feature of the firmware update isn’t even listed by Apple as of yet. It is the third part software support and it was trialled via the software update. This seems to be the way that software will be offered starting from this month when Apple launches the SDK for native iPod touch and iPhone applications therefore allowing developers to really further the functionality and usefulness of both devices.

As said earlier, the firmware update is great for all iPhone users as well as iPod touch users as long as you are willing to pay for the features. iPhone users will get all the features mentioned for free as well as those who buy a new iPod touch sold, but for existing users, can’t help but feel a bit sour even with the great features added.

NB: You need to upgrade to iTunes v 7.6 in order to be able to buy the software upgade.

©2008 Maninder Singh

mention this site and get a great deal . . .

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What fits inside an

A4 Inter-Office Memo envelope . . .

with room to spare

By XboxOZ360:

Let’s try a 0.18 to 0.76 thick 13.3″ Widescreen, Fully functional keyboard equipt Duo-Core MacBook, that’s what. And it comes withsome great new innovatiuons which Apple are always so proud to make inroads with.

The Specs for the two available configurations are brilliant, and the entire electronics circuitry for the MacBook Air are ever so slightly longer than a lead pencil, and much thinner. The “thickest” part of the new MacBook Air is just 0.76″ thin, with the opening end being a mere 0.18″. A thinness never heard of before in the Notebook industry – ever.

How can Apple do this. How can they make a super powerful 1.6/1.8 ghz Intel Core Duo2 processor equipped laptop fit inside an inter-office envelope, with room to spare. Simple, by getting Intel to redesign their Duo2 processors and reduce them by a huge 60% in size, while at the same time, not loosing one once of power, and yet still keep the heat within the requirements set down by Apple.

• Typical of Apple, they have decided to do away with the Optical Drive. Yes, that’s right NO optical drive . . .

The whole idea of the MacBook Air, (MacBook and MacBook Pro are still available btw) is to do away with the optical drive, and be reliant on just one optical drive. Just like when the first iMac shipped without a 1.4mg Floopy Disc Drive. The PC people were up in arms. Claiming that Apple were leaving behind the majority of its users who needed the technology. Can we find a 1.4mg floppy drive these days. ? . . . No, certainly not. They were obsolete even before apple decided NOT to include them in their new range of new computers when the iMacs first hit the streets. As file sizes for many developers, artists and even office users were in excess of the small 1.4mg drives capacity.

So why keep them, get ride of them . . . and fast. Sure, they copped flack from the “general” market, but as always, Apple look years ahead, not just months ahead with their technology.

Within 12 months, PC manufactures were dropping the old 1.4mg drives like flies, stating that they were moving ahead in technology, and helping customers by reducing obsolete hardware . . . hmmmm . . . okay. That was 12 months or more later than Apple of course. Cough cough.

How can this work . . . well, no, you don’t “have” to buy an external drive to carry around with you . . . nor are you totally reliant on having a Mac handy or do you have to use a transfer cable . . . No cables, no external hard drive . . . You take advantage of the huge wireless networks opening every day around us. And those within your immediate vicinity to do any loading and transfering of files, be they Mac files or even PC files. !

Next-generation wireless

With blazing-fast 802.11n2 and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR wireless technologies built in, MacBook Air takes full advantage of the increasingly wireless world.

Remote Disc

An innovative feature that allows you to access the DVD or CD drive of a nearby Mac or Windows PC. It’s perfect for installing software and retrieving files.

You turn ANY personal computer that is within your range into a “slave” to transfer data across. Whether that is load disc based software item, or even download software off the net directly into the MacBook Air. And . . this can be done via ANY type of PC or Mac. That’s right, PC’s can read and deliver Mac Software as easy as pie, simply by dropping a small PC readable file that allows the PC to read the entire Apple Software loaded into it, and then transfer that data across to your new MacBook Air.

When combined with the NEW Features of both the iPhone and iTouch, iTunes Movie (SD and HD TV viewed rentals straight to your Widescreen HD-TV), iTV Take2, and the all new Time Capsule released today, there’s very little need for wires.

Widescreen display

Its 13.3-inch widescreen LED backlit display delivers 1280-by-800 resolution which produces vibrant images and rich colors. The LED technology also conserves battery life.

The genius of multi-touch

Zoom, rotate, and scroll with a flick or a pinch of the multi-touch trackpad. This gesture-based input, so successful on iPhone and iPod touch, has been adapted for the MacBook Air.

Not ones to be just satisfied with it usual great touchpads, Apple have now introduced some of the excellent iTouch and iPhone screen sensors and features into their all new Touchpads. Allowing you to use your fingers to edit, move, crop, enlarge, flick between pics etc, all at the touch of your finger/s . . .

The various options are available for you to enable, with a neat preview window to show you exactly what the commands can d, and how to use them. No guessing as to how something works. It’s explained clearly for you, in typical Apple fashion, and allows you to enable the features you want to use. Giving you control over your laptop.

The specs for the two configurations are as follows:

What You get when you buy a Mac:

• Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard
The world’s most advanced operating system offers hundreds of breakthrough innovations and applications, including:

• Cover Flow
• Quick Look
• Stacks
• Time Machine
• Mail
• iChat
• Safari
• Spaces

• Included Applications:

• iLife ’08 suite for creating photo projects, making movies, designing DVDs, building websites, and composing music
• Front Row
• Photo Booth
• iWork ‘08 30-day trial
• Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 30-day Test Drive

Remembering that the all powerful MacBook and MacBook Pro are still available for those who can’t bear the thought of going without their Optical Drives.

• MacBook:

• MacBook Pro:

mention this site and get a great deal . . .

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Apples new OS Leopard roars into the stores:

Arriving in stores near you in just a few days. 26th October 2007

Some would ask why is there an Apple page or anything Apple on a site dedicated to the Xbox360 . . . simple really. Both have some basic things in common, and both share some principles that the end users want. Something different and stylish.

Many Xbox Gamers actually have Macs, believe it – or not. And the new Xbox 360 has taken on several design aspects of many of Apples products, shame it didn’t pick up on Apples Quality control though. The new look of the 360 was first thought to be an Apple product.

When a focus group was held in various countries, many thought the gaming console they were testing out was in fact an entry into the gaming arena by Apple, especially in Japan, where Apple is very highly thought of and respected. Perhaps if it had of been an Apple product, the 360 might well have sold a great deal better than it has.

Apple is about to unleash their new OS called Leopard (10.6.0) and with it comes some amazing new technology allowing you to work easily on your computer, rather than having to work ON your computer . . . if you get my drift.

I’m currently searching for a YouTube of the Apple Leopard OS Guided Tour, but for the time being, have a gander at this and say you’re not impressed. The Time Machine Function is nothing short of brilliant, and the real-time Mail and iChat will open up communication like nothing before. Combine these OS functions with the new iPodTouch and the new iPhone, and there’s basically nothing you can’t do with them.

Take your time to watch the whole Guided Tour, as you’ll be suitably impressed at what Apple have put together, and, also see where MS’s Vista has ‘borrowed’ a few ideas from . . . but not implemented them as successfully as Apple has unfortunately.

And yes, you’ll find a huge amount of games available for the Mac, more than you might have thought. And now with such software packages as Parrallels, you can run multiple OS’s at the same time on the Mac, and switch between them in real time, and back again. SO running Vista and XP is of no concern any more.

Some of the major features of the New Apple OS – Leopard.

It’s easy.

Mac OS X is a celebration of simplicity and common sense. No complicated menus. No obscure commands. Most tasks can be accomplished with just a click or two. And if you ever need guidance, there’s a built-in help system to light the way. Oh, one more thing: Mac OS X is simply breathtaking and easy to personalise with desktop pictures and screen savers.

It’s compatible.

It’s a big world out there and Mac OS X fits in perfectly. It runs Microsoft Office. It has built-in drivers for cameras, printers and external drives. It plugs right into a PC network. And in case there’s a PC application you can’t live without, Mac computers can even run Windows. Mac OS X is compatible with everything — most of all, you.

It’s advanced.

Making amazing things simple takes seriously advanced technology. Mac OS X is built on a rock-solid UNIX foundation, delivers true 64-bit performance and incorporates industry-leading animated graphics. The beauty is, you don’t have to know what one word of that means — just start up your Mac and enjoy it.

If you’re thinking of getting a Mac, simply shot me an email, and I can put you in touch with a few resellers who will definitely look after you. NO, I do NOT get any commisson or rebates from them. My aim is simply to help “Switchers” and Old Mac owners alike, in getting a great Apple experience . . .

mention this site and get a great deal . . .