The “Hollywood Reporter” reveals that CBS has committed to a comedy pilot titled “Genius Bar” that, “explores the interactions between people who work at a place similar to the Genius Bar at the Apple stores and the cool, hip and beautiful employees at a nearby Abercrombie & Fitch-type store.”
ifoAppleStore – News and information about Apple Computer’s retail stores
I’m really not sure this is going to work out but I’ll watch at least one episode before making up my mind.
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No, I’m not dead. No, I haven’t been playing WoW non-spot (OK, A lot? Yes). And as for last week,s podcast, I decided to forget about “iSwitched presents isp”. I’ll explain more during this week’s podcast.
Now, let’s go down to business. I’m no fan of the US-only iTunes TV Store. I get even more pissed when I try to watch those “Free Online TV Shows” that the US networks offer. I always end up being told that it’s US only. Unfortunately the only US show I seem to be able to get free and legally up here in Canada is Deal or No Deal on Global’s website. But CTV does offer some canadian shows like Corner Gas and Degrassi for free. Unfortunately…
Is CTV Broadband supported on Macintosh?
Although CTV.ca is optimized for the PC systems as described above, the streaming video can work with most Mac systems.
PowerPC powered Macs – we suggest using Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player 9.
Newer Intel powered Macs – you must run Safari in “Rosetta” mode, with Windows Media Player 9.
Note – CTV.ca broadband will not work with the Flip4Mac plugin at this time.
This is from the help section of the CTV TV show player. IE for Mac? No longer downloadable. WMP 9 for Mac? No longer updated and Microsoft recommends Flip4Mac (which is unsupported). “Intel” Safari in Rosetta mode?! Are you kidding!? C’mon, CTV! Use Flash or Quicktime or something!
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Some time ago, Asif from MacTV said that he would be doing a fairly big update of MacTV September 12th. That time has come and gone and worst of all, the MacTV site has been down for a couple of days. iTunes can’t seem to connect to the podcast feed either. Now, I liked the podcast alot. MacTV had a huge selection of Apple videos. So, I’d be sad, and I’m sure others would be too, if MacTV died so sudenly. If anyone from MacTV is reading this, could you please show us some sign of life, be it good or bad.
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I found some good, free online games. I like ‘em and they’re fun. The only real flaw is that they’re just for Windows. Yet, even after about 5 months without touching World of Warcraft, I decided to go back. Why? 1) I already payed (ok, If I remember, I traded in mostly for it) about $50 just for the game, excluding any monthly fees (except the included 1 month) and chances are I can’t trade it in because I entered a key to activate an account with Blizzard, an account that they don’t delete. 2) I want a Mac game. I want to just start my computer, NOT press alt to then go in to Windows, and play a game. Plus, even with reports that the Windows version performs better than the Mac version on Macs, the Mac version is vastly superior just because I can play my iTunes music in it (a features I don’t think comes with the Windows version). 3) I know a lot of people who are using it. It’s more fun when you have more that just a clue what they’re talking about… Although, I’m still not sure I’ll know completely: they’re REALLY into WoW. It’s nearly all they talk about. So ya, after this this post, I’m whipping out the WoW disks and Installing it on my Mac. Don’t worry if you don’t here from me again… I’m kidding. 
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Sorry for no podcast this weekend. I will be coming out with one tommorow. I can’t tonight because I’m stuck in Vista. No, OS X did not self-distruck. It’s just that I got choosen to beta test gPotato’s (They offer FlyFF, an MMORPG that I played, in my area) latest game, Rappelz. Unfortunatly, the client download is taking longer than forever to download so I need to sit tight and wait. I’m getting it with bit torrent, which is slow but faster that the straight download I was dooing earlier on. Well, at least it’s comming in…
I would pay for some of these show. I would pay for whole seasons! Or even just one episode and get hooked…. They’re giving away the season finale of LOST! C’mon! I’d be happy even if it started with only canadian shows. I love Corner Gas! Someone! Steve, you canadian TV execs, producers! Get off your lazy rears and START SELLING US SHOWS! And Steve, you better be keeping that promise for Movies in 2007 or it’s going to get ugly.
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I had two games in the 2006 Wii line up I was interesed in. Wii Sports asside (I’m interested in it but it comes with the Wii), they were Red Steel and Rayman: Raving Rabbids. I pretty much didn’t care for the 1st party line up (again, except for Wii Sports). But then I saw footage of Excite Truck. I knew about, I saw a bit of it before but I never really cared for it. But after some of that footage, man! I want it! At launch! I never found a good racing game (never looked much, either). ET has what seems as obvious controls:
In order to move your truck you will need to press the would-be A button in order to accelerate, the B button to brake, and use the control pad for turbo. Excite Truck will then be using the accelerometer in order to steer and land jumps. To steer, you tilt the controller left and right in motion similar to using a steering wheel. To land jumps appropriately, you must tilt the controller in whatever direction will be needed in order to have all four wheels land in unison.
I don’t care for gears or anything like that, I just want to go fast. And according to IGN’s videos, I’m going to go fast and high. Sweet! Move out Rayman! Excite Truck is now taking your place on my wish list!
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NOA president Reggie Fils-Aime confirms $249.99 price, November 19 launch
Wii cuts up the Big Apple – News at GameSpot
And Canada:
Nintendo’s next-generation Wii console will hit stores Nov. 19 with a price tag of $279.95, the company announced Thursday.
Nintendo announces Nov. 19 release date for Wii console at $279.95 | CP
So we know now what we need to know… unless you’re not in Japan, Canada or the US. Compared to the conversion I did earlier, the console cost more but Canada and US get Wii Sports packed in. After some calculations, and for the time being, I’m planning in pre-ordering a console and only a console (again, with Wii Sports) for launch. I might change my mind in the future but that’s it for now. Today, we learned about Wii Channels and Mii. Wii channels is the menu interface for the Wii. The channels include one for accessing game discs, one for weather, with a nice weather map, news, the store for the Virtual console, the Opera web browser, a photo viewer with nifty features like slide shows and photo puzzles and the Mii channel. All your Virtual console games get their own channel also. Mii is the name of characters you can create to represent you or anyone with the Wii. You can even play as them in games like Wii Sports and WarioWare. Nice addition. Not entirely necessary but I’m sure all of this will be fun to play with.
Now about the price, I understand that I get a free game but I’d almost (just almost) want to get a basic system and buy myself a game. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m kinda glad Wii Sports comes with the Wii: I see it as a “I wanta play it but I wouldn’t buy it” game. As for the release date, I find it a bit late for what I was hoping but after my calculations, it seems I nearly need all that time to save up for it.
Well that’s about it for now. If I think about other things about the Wii I feel like ranting about, I’ll post it.
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Japan knows for sure!
During Nintendo of Japan’s media convention, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata revealed the launch date and price of Wii for that territory.
According to Iwata, Wii will go on sale in Japan on December 2 for a retail price of 25,000 Yen. Apparently that price is including tax.
The Wiire – Japanese Launch Details Revealed
According to Apple’s conversion widget, that’s $212,825 US and $238,173 CA. I’m a bit sad of the Dec 2nd lauch. That very late! I hope Nintendo has more love for North America. Plus this package has one Wiimote/numchuk combo and no games! 
The Wiire article also notes that games will be between 4800 and 6800 Yen. (Thats $40,862 US $45,729 CA to $57,888 US $64,783 CA) We’ll know for sure of what North America is getting latter today.
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Seems the Japan event (or the presentation, anyways) starts @ 1 am eastern… Well, I guess I can wait for the summary in the morning. Goodnight!
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Well, soon, very soon, we shall start learning all we need to know about the Wii. People are calling this Wii3 (I take it they’re thinking of E3) and Thursdayton (This one probably a twist on “Megaton” which, as with every speck of useless to near useless knowledge, you can learn more @ Wikipedia). Finally, all (presumably) you need to know about the Wii will be revealed in a 3-day-3-events extravaganza. First off it’s Nintendo’s Japan press event which start at 8pm Eastern TONIGHT. Then, tommorow, Nintendo of America prez and 12-time winner of the Ass-kicking and Name-taking World Chanpionships (Again, Wikipedia tells all), Reggie Fils-Aime will be at the US event. Wrapping up this Wii-a-thon, it’s a Europe press event on friday. I know I probalby covered this in my last post but, hey, this passes the time. Seems thursdayton.com is down so for your countdown pleasure, visit this site. I’ll make sure to have my conversion widget handy when the Japan price is revealed!
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Neat thing is that Nintendo is holding three seperate press events. The Japan and US events are Thursday and it’s Friday for Europe. What’s even neater (Is that a word?) is that for me in Canada, tommorow’s Japan event start realy tonight! Gota love time zones! You can follow a countdown @ thursdayton.com (NOTE: if you’re easily offended, don’t scroll down. Some of the images are a bit offensive)
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iTunes worked. The connection with the iPod worked. The store worked. There’s not doubt about it. But I feel like with iTunes 7, it’s the first time Apple means buissnes. The overall look has been refined so that stuff just feel together, nothing sticking out. iLounge noted the disappearance of Aqua (The OS X interface) in the iT7 interface. instead, you have more bland yet, again, unified colours. In the Store and the Source list, you find CAPITAL lettering, an unusual thing for Apple. All around you see very un-Apple things. Or atleast things that aren’t like the Apple you knew. iTunes always had a cheery, happy, care-free feel to it, probably due to Aqua. Now, it looks more professional. It still works, if not better with one-stop upgrade and restore for iPods inside iTunes, but Apple’s choice of colours seems to show that they’re realizing they aren’t the small, hip Mac maker with a hit product but a big company who’s ready against all attacks. Is it a sign of fear? That might be stretching it but who knows? They might see Zune as a possible problem and this is the way they answer.
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The Shuffle (finally) got an upgrade and the price and size can blow minds. It’s designed like the iPod Radio Remote except you have a full iPod Shuffle. 1GB is for… $79US?! Plus it syncs with a dock to your computer through it’s audio port!
The new Nano look pretty good, looking not like a mini iPod but a mini mini. Now you can choose different colours… except if you want the 2GB or 8GB models and not the 4GB one. The Black 8GB is by far one of the dumber moves I seen from Apple: It costs as much as a 30GB full-featured iPod!!
The new *sigh* upgraded, iPod gets, just like the Nano, a brighter screen, more battery time and search, all nice touches. But a nice features that, when I get a full iPod, I’m sure to use. GAMES! Not too much money and some nifty games like Bejeweled. Not 100% convinced on playing with the click wheel but I guess that deepens on the game. Plus ALL 5th gen iPods can get ‘em! No iPod with Front Row this year!
iTunes 7 is a great upgrade from 6. I’m glad to see Coverflow is now in iTunes (It’s a bit slow to load images at times, though) and the new video controls were a needed improvement. The new iPod interface in iTunes is very nice, too. The new design of iT7, I’m not very fond of and the new icon is just not pretty.
Oh, and one small thing: Sure, you have 240 shows and now movies but guess what, I DON’T. I hope movies come soon in ‘07. Be nice, Steve, and bring TV shows here too.
Plus Apple preview an upcoming product that’s not an OS. GASP! Code-named “iTV“, it will let you play your media content (Movies, Music, Pictures etc.) on your TV. It will go for $299US.
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Shuffle! iTunes 7! Nano! iPod! ACKKK!…. I don’t think I’ve ever been this giddy before! Let me calm down and learn everything before I comment on this….. ACKKK!
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It’s Showtime! Don’t forget (that hard to conceive) that Apple’s holding it’s press event today! I doubt it’s a 2G Nano as even yesterday, I saw the 1,000 song ad for the nano. As for a new original pod: very good bet. I’m still hoping for iPod with Front Row.
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EDIT: Finally, I repaired the dating problem with my posts. Just assume that this is the first correctly organised and dated post. I had to play arround with the date of other posts and it seem to have screwed up the order a bit.
APPLE EVENT TOMORROW!!!
3 DAYS TO NINTENDO EVENT
It seems hard to believe that I really don’t have much to say about Apple the day before a big announcement. It’s equally hard to believe how utterly obvious what’s going to be announced. What’s weirder is that I’m more excited about the Nintendo event Thursdays than Apple’s event tomorrow! The reason? Nintendo out-hypes Apple. Apple’s hype machine is running with the concept of “They don’t have a clue and we’re going to keep them wondering”. From time to time there’s speculation and insider info that comes out and either creates more hype or results in less hype, as is the case now. As for Nintendo’s, it runs on “We’re going to tell you this, this but not this”. Unlike with Apple, where speculations need to be formed out of a little more that thin air, Nintendo speculation can have a base to it, so it’s more fun to wonder. With Nintendo, it can be anything: $100 for Wii? $150? $200? October? November?… September!?. With Apple, It’s pretty much become: iPod with bigger screen and movie service. Even if Apple offers “One More Thing…” that you never expected… Well, there’s the problem: you never expected it so there’s no hype. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll probably drool incevcively over that new Pod until I get one. I did with the last one.
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3 DAYS TO APPLE EVENT
Countdown to Wiivent: 5 days
Some time ago, I finally sold my iPAQ PocketPC I had before I switched in 2005. I wasn’t even using it so I pretty much welcomed any amount of money for it. $200 for something I don’t even use seemed pretty fair. It’s pretty much after that that my Wii fever went up a couple degrees. Today, I went to a local EB games to trade-in some DS titles I wasn’t playing: New Super Mario Bros. and Tetris DS. I got a very nice $20 and $16 credit, respectively, for them. I also have about $40 saved up which brings my Wii savings total up to $274.
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2 DAYS TO APPLE EVENT
4 DAYS TO NINTENDO EVENT
You can almost feel the rumors around the Internet
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Cryptologists have cracked the “Wii” code and give us the following information:
In the word “Wii” the letter W is actually made up of two V letters. As we all know, the V is the number 5 in Roman Numerals. There are two V letters, so naturally we add 5 + 5 and we have the first part of our answer, “10″, which is the month of the release.
Next, following the same logic we take the two remaining letters of the word “Wii” the “ii”. The letter “i” can also be represented as the number 1 in Roman Numerals. We have two “i” letters, so we add 1 + 1 together to get the last part of the answer which is “2″.
Now, we know that the “10″ is the first part which is the month, and we also know that the “2″ is the last part which is the day. Our answer? 10-2, or October 2nd.
Wii release october 2nd according to cryptologists – Wii60 – Join The Revolution
Kinda funny more than anything. Not that I wouldn’t be thrilled for a Oct 2nd realease.
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I’m no video game historian. Heck, except for PC games, I got interested in other platforms for the first time with the GameBoy Advance, consoles with the GameCube. But I’m pretty sure this is uncharted territory and as far as I can tell it all started at E3 ‘06.
On May 11, Microsoft’s Peter Moore said the unthinkable. “People are going to buy two [consoles]. They’re going to buy an Xbox and they’re going to buy a Wii…
for the price of one PS3.” Moore continued, “People will always
gravitate toward a competitively priced product — like what I believe Wii will be — with innovative new designs and great intellectual property like Mario, Zelda and Metroid.”
The Wiire – Retro Rob: The War is Over
Now don’t think Sony was just going to sit there:
To
further the shock in the gaming world, Sony’s Phil Harrison took
Microsoft’s announcement to heart. “I think Peter Moore is exactly
right,” Harrison said. “I think Nintendo will be the second system
consumers purchase after PlayStation 3. I haven’t had a chance to check out the Wii myself, but Nintendo has a great history of innovation and has always done great things for gaming and long may they do so.”
The Wiire – Retro Rob: The War is Over
So, essentially, MS and Sony just gave the Next-gen trophy to Nintendo. The 360 vs Wii vs PS3 war just got decided by the losers because if everyone who get’s 360 get a Wii and the same goes with the PS3, Wii obviously wins. But, Peter Moore’s comment lit a lightbulb in people’s brains: “Hey, I can get a 360 and a Wii for the price of the PS3!“. And like that, the Next-Gen battle changed. And like that Wii60 was born. Yes, so was PSWii but it seems Wii60 made the most sense, price-wise. Now, the ultimate battle for your next-gen entertainment dollar is Wii and XBOX 360 vs PS3. Both costing around the same (A check on bestbuy.com seems to show that a Wii30
with a 360 core would be $299.99US+($250US)=$549,99 and with the
Premium 360: $399,99+($250)=$649,99. The Wii is only known to be less
than $250 US. The PS3 basic is $499, the top-of-the-line is $599), Wii60 offers HD games like the PS3 but also has the Wii for some unique gameplay, not to mention the chance to play classic Nintendo games. Although the PS3 has the advantage of being a cheep Blu-Ray player, it seems that very features is what’s hurting them at the moment. Another downside about the Blu-Ray advantage is that, at least in my opinion, DVDs are so popular and work like intended, Blu-Ray is really only worth it if you have an HDTV. Not to mention that dumb format war with Blu-Ray and HDDVD.Now, Wii60 isn’t just a concept: It has fans. Say hello to Wii60.com. A quick stroll in the image gallery at the top shows that they are at war with the PS3. Who knew the Next-Gen Battle was being played out in Photoshop, too!
A slogan that Sony chose for the PS3 was “This is living”. Well it seems that with the news of Europe and others having to wait until March for the PS3 came thisiswaiting.com. And who’s behind this? None other than Wii60.com!
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4 DAYS TO APPLE EVENT
Countdown to Wiivent: 6 days
Well that big news was just that IBM started sending their processors for the Wii to Nintendo three weeks ago. Not that much important. I guess I’ll have to go back and read some of my older Nintendo Power magasines for some Wii info to pass the time.
Now let’s shift to Apple and their “It’s Showtime” event. At this point, two things are all but confirmed for this event: New iPod and an iTunes movies service. Sure, you might expect “One more thing…” that can blow your mind but we’ll just have to see. Here’s my prediction for this event: The new iPod will have a name allong the line of “iPod with Front Row”. Yes, you heard me: Front Row is coming to the iPod… I hope. Wouldn’t that be the best interface for it: iPod-simple yet very cool-looking.
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Countdown to Showtime: 5 days
Countdown to Wiivent: 7 days
12:01 AM Eastern: New info on a console will be annouced. Seems press already knows but can’t say anything until Friday. At least that’s according to Kotaku. What console that is isn’t disclosed but they do say to come at 12:01 AM on Friday for “a wee bit of analysis”. “Wee” as in “Wii”? Hint? A trick to mislead us? And what with the creepy guy picture? We shall know soon!
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Don’t overuse that saliva on the 24-inch iMac. You’ll need it soon enough.
Countdown to Showtime (Apple Event): 6 days
Countdown to Wiivent (Nintendo Event): 8 days
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They managed to offer an access into PCs with their music CDs. They manage to make Laptops catch fire. They manage to kill a system that isn’t released yet ($600? No Blu-Ray player can save that!). They manage to miss the most important sales period of the year with their flagship product (In Europe’s case, anyway). And what’s this about 500,000 PS3 at launch? They barely need iTunes, iPod, Wii and XBox 360: They can send themselves out of buisness. Now, I don’t follow Sony news much unless it’s related to anything else I follow (Tech, Apple, Nintendo, etc.) and wouldn’t you know? They seem to be masters at screwing up in these fields. I don’t know it this happened but I just hope at least one person got fired somewhere for this nonsense!
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As if a 64-bit Core 2 Duo isn’t huge… 24-feaking-inches! I saw a 20-incher and I found that a big bugger compared to the 17-inch iMac But, 24?! Plus, it seems they made the Intel graphics iMac avalible to everyone (Before it was just for education). The lowest basic model goes for 999$ US. To top it off, the Core Solo Mini is dead. Apple has gone 100% dual core… Ok, so well, you have the Quad Mac Pro but you get what I mean.
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Countdown to Showtime: 7 days
Countdown to the Wiivent: 9 days
Seems the theme to Apple’s September 12th event invite is Hollywood (Movies!) with the words “It’s Showtime” and spotlights. This is going to be one long week. Two of the things I can’t wait for (Apple Events and the Wii’s release date and price), Unfortunately, they’re still a bit off. I’m kinda getting board waiting for them. Well, at least I have the House season premiere to keep me occupied for tonight. Gota love the cranky doc! Here’s a little spoiler for you: Seems House actually get’s to walk without his cane (He could in the finale but he was hallucinating it).
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I have one “Must definitely have” item in the coming months: The Wii. But as always, you can never be sure what Steve has up his sleves. To top that off, there’s my intrest in reentering the world of World of Warcraft. And let’s not forget that $5 US a month to Libsyn for my podcast hosting. Luckily, next week, I should be killing two birds with one stone (or one and a half – you’ll undersand soon) Next week, Apple is holding a special event (read “new iPods”) so I should know what up with them for the holidays. But, there’s still the very possible chance that they do another double feature like last year and have two press events. As for Nintendo, it seems that they will also have press events next week, most probably announcing the launch date and price of the Wii as they said they would. I guess that means I’ll have to wait till next week before I do any change in my spending and saving. A short, yet long wait.
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In the last couple of posts, I was singing the praises of Vista Pre-RC1. Now, I don’t know if Vista is to blame for this but now I’m pissed off. Remember I said I had both screens working with FlyFF and iTunes? Scratch that: Next time I tried, the game wouldn’t stop shaking violently. It only worked again with iTunes closed and with one screen… and now, not even. Vista might still be thinking I have two screens but it still pisses me off. Plus, FlyFF’s anti-hack system detects the last.fm software as a hack. And what about the miracle of voice recognition? Sure the voice navigation is nifty but start spelling out words with capitals to Vista and you might be swearing to your computer like I was. “Capital A” “Capital A” “Capital A” “Capital A as in apple” (That’s suppost to help make it understand) “Capital A as in airport” “Capital A as in airport” “Capital A as in airport”…….. “Capital A as in assh… Well, you get what I mean. I’m starting to think about just resubscribing to World of Warcraft just so I can play a game in the functioning environment that is OS X. At least I know I can have iTunes playing: WoW has a new feature that let’s you add iTunes controls in the game! Sorry Microsoft, the Vista honeymoon is over. I’m just going to install XP when Parallels adds the 3-D support.
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Performance in Vista is pretty surprising. With the older Beta 2 build on my old PC box, Albatorss18 lagged more frequently in Vista then in XP. It might have been the servers but I found that the game lagged sometimes when I went to take a shot. Now in Vista, not only do I have two screens running, which I couldn’tget to work with XP (I blame the ATI control panel), but I have FlyFF working on my laptop screen and iTunes maximized on the larger screen in visualization mode. Obviously, I can’t just thank Vista for this. The power of my laptop helped indoing this not to mention the fact that neither FlyFF or iTunes seemto be using Aero.
… Now note September 12th. Call it Apple Special Event and Smile.
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