Yes! It’s out today! The e-mail is dated the 30th but I got it today. What am I talking about?
The One And Only SlingPlayer for Mac Beta! GET IT NOW! It sucks that it took this long to get it but If you read this letter from the Sling Media CEO, you’ll see that they do put their heart into this project.
Blogged with Flock
Time to pitch to you my concept for the alt, the next version of iSwitched, coming late ’06, early ’07. the alt will be based around the concept of discussion, making the forums the real heart of the operation. The main site will be more of the showcase of the best the community has to offer.
How is this going to work? First off, parts of the forums will be dedicated to reviews and opinion pieces about the Mac, iPod and iTunes, the Wii and the DS. When someone posts an article, they will add a poll to their post asking ” What do you think of this article?” with “It’s well done” and It’s not well done” answers. Other users will be able to post comments and vote, keeping in mind the question isn’t “Do you agree with this article?” but was it well written and though out. From time to time, I’ll, and any other moderator, be checking the posts. If we find the response to the article is positive enough, we’ll ask the original poster if they mind if we put their article on the main page. If they accept, I’ll add the article.
This concept might also be used in a “feature request” part of the forum. People post feature or message board requests and people comment and vote. Until it’s nothing I can’t do (and the “I can’t do category” is still pretty big) and people want it, I might add it.
(19 DAYS UNTIL Wii LAUNCH!!!)
Blogged with Flock
Before we go too far:
WOO-HOO! ONLY 20 DAYS UNTIL Wii LAUNCH!!!!!
Just like to tell you that I cleaned up my sidebar and changed my blog’s design. I also shortened the name to just “iBlog“, cutting “The official iSwitched Blog” seeing how iSwitched will fade into history in the coming months. When the new site is up, I’ll switch any personal stuff (really just my GarageBand music right now) and the iSwitched podcast archive (including the classic episodes that I made unavailable on the podcast feed) to a page on the blog here.
Blogged with Flock
The Wii seems to have a special power: Unlike any other console, it’s made me want to play nearly every (good) game. Like I said before, I don’t own any first person shooters but I want to try out Red Steel. Never played a Zelda game but I’m probably going to pick up Twilight Princess in December. I’m not very fond of stakeboarding games but I wouldn’t mind trying out Downhill Jam. I can’t wait for Excite Truck and Rayman : Raving Rabbids. Rayman seems like the kind of mini-game fun and pure insanity that I love in the WarioWare series (just minus the insane time limits). How can one system deliver so much possible fun? It’s the nature of the games itself : I doubt anyone would get all excited about pressing buttons. Here, you do the actions and that’s fun by itself. Sure, you need to back that fun with graphics, storylines and more but look at it this way: I would have never been interested in playing Red Steel if it was an XBOX 360 game. I might have passed on Twilight Princess if it stayed a GameCube exclusive. I’m not what you might see as a “real” gamer : I like simple games (like WarioWare) or “different” games (like Animal Crossing). The most in-depth game I have and one of the only RPGs I played is World of Warcraft. I’m slowly getting into more games (I’m planning on getting FF III for the DS later this year) but nothing relay made me interested in these games. Nothing pushed me to try them meaningfully… until the Wii came.
By now, you must be wondering what in the world does this have to do with my post title. Well, I’m not planning on buying all these games. I’m already not the kind of person who replays anything; when it’s done, it’s done. Heck, I traded in Paper Mario : The Thousand Year Door before finishing the final boss. I tried maybe once or twice then stopped completely. So if a game doesn’t seem interesting and long enough, I won’t buy it. It won’t be worth it for me. That’s why I might look to video game rental stores to fulfil my need to try everything out. If after trying a game out there’s still a lot to do and I find it fun, I might go buy it. And there you go: that’s why Blockbuster will love the Wii. It has that special something that entices you to try out new things. I guess Nintendo’s non-gamer strategy isn’t just for non-gamers.
Blogged with Flock
21 DAYS UNTIL Wii LAUNCH
IGN has actual Wii interface footage! It doesn’t have all the features like the Mii or Weather channels but you have nice footage of the message centre (or whatever it’s called), the options, the memory management, and the disk channel. It’s really worth checking out! Go here and go view IGN Weekly Episode 30. The Wii footage is at the start of the episode.
Blogged with Flock
Shocking twists! Angry Fans! And Vote Tampering! No you aren’t flashing back to 2000. It’s 2006 and it’s the My Dream App competition. After clearing up some vote tampering, the results were made public: Atmosphere, Portals and Cookbook won and are getting made. But the truly big shock was that Cookbook won by 5 votes, leaving Hijack with Whistler (Why?! 
I want it!) and Blossom as the runners-up. Outrage came from Hijack fans. But the big shocker is…
Hey all. MDA brought to my attention this morning, that there was someone, that I know personally, who was gaming the vote system. It is with a heavy heart that I have to say this. And I realize this puts my integrity on the line. For what it’s worth, I want to go on record, that I never condoned any such action or behavior, I did not know it was even going on during this round. Not only do I feel horrible, but so does this person, and it is our relationship that I value over anything else. That is why I’m going to decline any prizes being offered (i.e. the Mac Mini, Office Suite, and the Tshirt). It’s the only thing I know how to do at this point to help restore the trust from everyone here: the community, the Hijack fans, my fellow contestants, and of course, all the fantastic people at MDA. I apologize to everyone above for any direct or indirect anguish this may have caused.
Thank you,
Kevin Capizzi
My Dream App » Contestants » Kevin Capizzi » Blog
This is from the creator of Hijack. He’s still not decided on the question of the prizes (He might donate them). Already, people are planning projects to bring Hijack to life. But the saga isn’t finished.
One things for sure: Someone better make Whistler.
But on a serious note, it’s a pity that this tampering happened and that Hijack lost by 5 votes. Makes me feel a bit guilty as I wanted that app to get made also. But I decided to only vote for Whistler and not use up the extra votes. I’ll keep on following this as it unfolds, hopefully ending in a result that leaves everyone happy.
Blogged with Flock
It was bound to happen. Happened with my mini with that silent update they did. And now, it happened with my MacBook Pro… It can now come with a Core 2 Duo. And there seems to be distinguishable speed boosts in apps Apple tested.
I feel old.
But on a good note:
23 DAYS UNTIL Wii LAUNCH!!!
Blogged with Flock
25 DAY UNTIL Wii LAUNCH
That Wii launch is slowly but surely coming which will also mean the launch of “play”, my site for the Wii (and DS) is coming soon. I was also planning to start “Macbits” for Mac stuff but I decided otherwise because I want to concentrate more on the big site update I’m planning at the end of the year or beginning of 07 (and “play”, obviously). On the subject of the new site, I think I have the name down. It might change but for now it’s going to be the alt. Why? You’ll know later. Can’t spoil everything! I will spoil something else, though: the main site will be built with iWeb and there will be forums. Well, that’s it for now. Expect to learn more as the iSwitched re-launch nears.
Blogged with Flock
That’s why 