Greetings, TUAW readers. Allow myself to introduce...myself. My name is Kent Pribbernow - a freelance web designer and tech writer hailing from Fort Wayne Indiana - a land of corn fields, lake resorts, Amish buggies, and deadly turnip bombs.
As a long time blogger, I have written about all things Apple with passion and enthusiasm, minus the Kool-Aid and mock turtleneck. Now I join the TUAW team in delivering you the best Apple coverage anywhere. I look forward to your comments, and most of all filling your RSS reader with lots of great content. Keep reading.
In the Electronic Arts booth here at E3, nestled in among the raucous noises of various first-person shooters, is a completely white room with a few cell phones on tables. This is the EA Mobile space, and it was here that we got to play Spore Origins, the iPhone version of Will Wright's sure-to-be masterpiece.
Like the EA Mobile space, Spore Origins is pretty simple and clean, and stands out as a fairly calm experience among the racket of a lot of other iPhone games. Spore takes you through a civilization from ameoba to space travel, but Spore Origins sticks with just the ameoba stage. You play a creature of your own creation and float through the microbial ether, eating things that are smaller than you, and running away from things that are larger.
Read on for TUAW's impressions of one of the most anticipated iPhone games, and why it might not be all we had hoped.
Hello. I'm Giles Turnbull, and I'm the new boy round here. You can find out everything you could possibly wish to know about me from gilest.org, but to be honest the good stuff is buried in Google's archives. All the embarrassing posts, bad photographs, journalistic howlers, self-pitying confessionals, they're all there.
I gather there might be a few people reading this who enjoy using Macintosh computers. What a stroke of luck! I can waffle on about them for hours.
Howdy, TUAW-ites. My name is Steve Sande and I'm the new kid on the block here at TUAW. Saying that I'm the new kid is a bit misleading, since I'm over the half-century mark in the age column.
I've been writing online since 1986, when I started up a Mac/Apple IIGS Bulletin Board System called MAGIC. That BBS continued for 8 years until 1994, when I began publishing a blog-like website called PDAntic.com on the web, writing about the Apple Newton MessagePad. That site went through various incarnations, ending with the latest - MovableBeast.com. I also blog and podcast occasionally on TalkingWordpress.com, and I can be heard on the MacJury podcasts as a regular jury member.
My first Mac purchase was in December of 1984; a Mac 512K with an ImageWriter II printer. My latest? A MacBook Air! My next dream machine is going to be a 3.06 GHz 24" iMac with 4GB of RAM and a 1 TB HD. I'm not sure how many Macs I've owned since 1984...
So, what do I do when I'm not blogging? I'm currently an ACN (Apple Consultant Network) member, which means I'm a certified Apple consultant. I write documentation for several commercial Mac applications, I've written a couple of ebooks for Take Control Books, and I teach Business Analysis classes all over the country.
I'm thrilled to be part of the TUAW team, and I look forward to your comments and story tips.
John Gruber's (and my) favorite Twitter web app for the iPhone is about to get better -- if you've been on the Hahlo for iPhone homepage lately, you'll have seen that Dean Robinson is working on version 3 of Hahlo (titled, hilariously for us gamers, the Legendary Edition).
TUAW got to take a look (along with all of the other beta users) at the new software, and here's a short preview running through what the new Hahlo will look like, as well as updates to the system, including a brand new Settings page, inline replies, hashtags and searching, and lots of other cool tweaks and updates.
Yes, the world famous TUAW Talkcast is back on the virtual air this evening kicking off at 10pm EST over on the Talkshoe site. Mike Rose is out of the hosting chair this week, but worry not -- I, Mike Schramm will be sitting in said chair running hosting duties as well as I can. And since I'm in charge this week, we'll of course be talking about server virtualization and security options for large scale enterprises. No, I'm kidding -- we'll be talking about games, and gaming on the Mac and iPhone.
Brian Akaka of Mac gaming giants and all-around good guys Freeverse will be on the show to chat not only about gaming on the Mac (and why it's not as big as it could be), but also what it's like to design games for the iPhone, and what kinds of things we might see coming out of Freeverse and other developer come June and the App Store. Dave Caolo and some other friendly voices from TUAW should be on as well. And of course we'll have the cast of thousandshundreds whoever joins us on the conference call, and they're very nice folks, too.
Be there at 10pm EST this evening for a talkcast to remember. Pertinent technical and sign-in info after the break. We'll see you there!
We posted about the release of CrossOver Games a little while ago -- it's a version of Codeweavers' Windows virtualization software that allows Windows games to be played on OS X and Linux. I grabbed a copy of the software for TUAW, and spent an afternoon running it through its paces.
You can check out the hands-on after the break -- after installing CrossOver Games, I first tried to load up Guild Wars using their installer's package interface, and was able to get it working pretty well. I then tried one of my favorite games, Civilization 4, and unfortunately, that one didn't turn out quite so well. And just for kicks, I also gave F.E.A.R. a shot -- it's not on CrossOver's compatibility list at all, but I've had a copy sitting around for a while that I haven't played yet, so I let the virtualization app take a crack at getting it working.
The hands-on is in this simple and easy-to-use (which is more than I can say about CrossOver Games) gallery format -- just click the picture furthest to the left down there and begin our journey into the exciting world of virtualization and game installation. I can tell you're excited already.
Gallery: TUAW's Hands on with CrossOver Games
Update: Arjun found the problem with Civ in the comments; apparently only the Steam version is compatible. Which vibes with the rest of what I found: if you want to play any of the Steam or built-in games with CrossOver, they'll likely work just fine. But if you want to install another game from a CD (especially unsupported games), you're out of luck.
We had a fun time on the ol' TUAW talkcast last Sunday, with panelists Christina Warren, Dave Caolo, Erica Sadun and reader Brett Peters (yes, the broken iPhone guy). Brett had a sad saga of MacBook Air performance woes to tell -- his machine refused to run on two cores under moderate load, apparently a thermal management feature run amuck, and it's going back to the mothership now (read the details here). We also ran through the iPhone 3G rumors with a coarse-toothed comb. You can download direct, listen in your browser or subscribe to the TalkShoe feed in iTunes.
For this coming Sunday's show (4/13), we're going to be talking about parents, kids and the Mac with Dave Caolo and hopefully some special guests. We'd love to get your suggestions and recommendations for the best educational software, kid-friendly peripherals and utilities, art and music tools for tots, and more. If you'd like to contribute your picks and pans, you can comment below or use our handy PBwiki page (you'll need a login, so just comment that you want to help out and I'll send you an invite). If you're wondering how to introduce your tots to computers or whether content filtering/parental controls really work as advertised, call in and we'll talk.
My personal favorite desktop wallpaper app, the echo-named Desktoptopia, sent us a tip with a great announcement today: not only have they released version 1.5, and not only have they released a PC version (for your work computer to use, I guess), but Desktoptopia is now a completely free app.
Now, I don't know if this is new or not, but their FAQ page says that the reason they're now free is that some of the wallpapers that will show up on your desktop (the app periodically changes your wallpaper for you, as often as you'd like) are "beautiful desktops that reflect a brand." I haven't yet seen any obvious ones pop up in the old version, and I haven't started using the new version yet, but I guess there's a chance that you could have, say, a Wal-mart desktop show up. That would probably give me reason to uninstall the software right there, but of course that's up to you -- if you don't like it, you could always try Desktopia, or just do it yourself with Automator.
I haven't had that problem yet, though -- in my experience, Desktoptopia has provided some great wallpapers (with no brands I could notice) as regularly as I'd like with no fuss at all. If you want some change to come regularly to your desktop wallpaper, but don't want to go hunting around for the right pics, Desktoptopia is a great solution that is now completely free. Great to hear.
From the entire TUAW team here at Macworld (left to right: Chris, me, Mike, Nik, and Victor) a big thank you to all you TUAW readers and fans out there. Covering Macworld wouldn't be half as much fun if no one read/watched what we did.
Just because today is the last day of Macworld Expo, that doesn't mean that today will be the last day of our Macworld coverage. We've got lots more footage 'in the can' that we'll be posting in the coming days.
After the keynote we naturally raced to the gigantic Apple booth to get our grubby hands on the MacBook Air. Watch Scott compare it to his now-beastly MacBook Pro. Also watch the nifty new multi-touch trackpad action.
UPDATE: Silly me, I ignored Apple's CamelCase naming scheme. All better.
If you're like me and you love all things Apple, you might be in San Francisco waiting in line for the Steve Jobs keynote. I know I am. At the moment the line to get in is long and getting longer by the minute.
However, people are in good spirits and, according to Mark, my new friend and fellow Apple enthusiast from New Zealand in line with me: "really looking forward to a great show."
Sadly, there is no free wifi to be had and in anticipation of needing my precious Macbook Pro battery for inside, I'm writing this on my iPhone using AT&T's EDGE network. Even though progress is a bit slow, being able to bring you these thoughts like this is one of the major reasons people will line up early in the morning with a big smile on their face ready to experience the next great innovation from Jobs and company.
What will they think of next? Stay tuned for more from us live at the Macworld 2008 keynote.
Update: I've now moved inside and am waiting in the "second line". At least the floor has carpet this year and isn't quite so uncomfortable. Sitting here I've been chatting moe with some of the folks in line. My friend from New Zealand is not only a devoted Apple fan but is one of the few users of the iPhone in his native country.
How, you may ask? He hacked it, of course. From what I can see it works just fine -- just no visual voicemail. In fact, untilo I showed him he didn't even know what he was missing.
Team TUAW is on the ground here at Macworld 2008. We're already posted a bunch of pictures, scouted out the scene, and obtained our media creds. Now all we need to do is hear from you. If you're at Macworld and have a cool product, app, or service we want to hear about it. Email us using the following address: macworld AT tuaw DOT com.
Team TUAW will be covering Macworld 2008 in full force. We'll have five people covering every aspect of the Expo. We'll be doing tons of video stuff, liveblogging the keynote (bookmark this URL and get ready to refresh like crazy), twittering, sending out SMS updates, and talking to the Mac celebs, Mac developers, and Mac fans that converge on San Francisco every year.
You'll notice a 'Macworld Coverage' link on the top right of TUAW's website. That'll get you to all our Macworld 2008 posts, and you can even subscribe to that tag's RSS feed if you don't care about the rest of TUAW's post during Expo week.
Sound off in the comments if you have anything in particular you would like to see included in TUAW's Macworld coverage, and if you're at the Expo why not say hello to us if you see us running around?
Please don't go topless to Macworld. TUAW will be giving the rest of our t-shirts away next week, but for those of you who can't make it to Macworld 2008 still have a chance to win a shirt. Six lucky winners will receive a TUAW shirt in their choice of large, medium or small (sorry, XL is no longer available). If you forgot what the shirts look like, here's the gallery.
On to the rules: • To enter, leave a comment on this post (and validate it so it appears). • The comment must be left before 11:59pm EST. Contest ends at 11:59pm Eastern, January 8. • You may enter once. • Six winners will be selected in a random drawing. • Each winner will receive a TUAW t-shirt in their choice of Large, Medium or Small. One t-shirt per winner.
Greetings, TUAW readers. Allow myself to introduce...myself. My name is Kent Pribbernow - a freelance web designer and tech writer hailing from Fort Wayne Indiana - a land of corn fields, lake resorts, Amish buggies, and deadly turnip bombs. 
Hello. I'm Giles Turnbull, and I'm the new boy round here. You can find out everything you could possibly wish to know about me from 
Howdy, TUAW-ites. My name is Steve Sande and I'm the new kid on the block here at TUAW. Saying that I'm the new kid is a bit misleading, since I'm over the half-century mark in the age column. 
Yes, the world famous TUAW Talkcast is back on the virtual air this evening kicking off at 10pm EST 
We had a fun time on the ol' TUAW talkcast last Sunday, with panelists Christina Warren, Dave Caolo, Erica Sadun and reader Brett Peters (yes, the 
My personal favorite desktop wallpaper app, the echo-named 
If you're like me and you love all things Apple, you might be in San Francisco waiting in line for the 
Team TUAW is on the ground here at Macworld 2008. We're already posted a 
Team TUAW will be covering Macworld 2008 in full force. We'll have five people covering every aspect of the Expo. We'll be doing tons of video stuff, liveblogging the keynote (
Please don't go topless to 
