Tag Archives: mac

Psystar Open Computer Vs. Mac Pro: Head to Head

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I just did a quick comparison of system configurations.  A genuine Apple Mac Pro configured similarly to the Psystar “Open Computer“–a Mac-compatible PC marketed with the option of installing OS X Leopard from the factory.  Granted, it’s impossible to do an identical configuration, because the Mac Pro uses Xeon processors and the Open Computer uses Core2Duo ones, but I’m still surprised at how handily the Psystar spanks the Apple configuration.

Apple Psystar
Processor Quad-core Xeon at 2.8 GHz Core2Duo at 3.0 GHz
RAM 2 GB DDR2 4 GB DDR2
Video ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB GeForce 7200GS 256MB
Hard Disk 320 GB 7200 RPM SATA 320 GB 7200 RPM SATA
Optical Drive DVD-R/CD-R DVD-R, CD-R, and Blu-Ray Burner
Display None 19″ Widescreen
Price $2799 $1352

Quite an amazing difference.

Logitech buys Sightspeed–now what about Vlip?

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Logitech bought Sightspeed for 30 million bucks yesterday. Congrats to Peter Csathy and the crew in Berkeley. After giving birth to the infamous “Sightspeed Guy” and forming a number of worthwhile licensing agreements for raising Sightspeed’s visibility in the industry, the makers of the best videoconferencing tool on the planet have cashed in on a seven-year journey.

Sightspeed is a community-centric desktop app that offers PSTN dial-out and runs on both Macintosh and Windows. It’s been hailed by many as offering the best video quality among desktop video chat programs, and it competes against Skype, Gizmo, AIM, Yahoo Messenger, and iChat.

Not sure what this means for Vlip, the video discussion service also run by the Sightspeed folks, but I can only imagine that Logitech was interested in it as well.

FREMONT, Calif., Oct. 28, 2008 and ROMANEL-SUR-MORGES, Switzerland, Oct. 29, 2008— Logitech International (SIX: LOGN) (Nasdaq: LOGI) today announced that the company has agreed to acquire privately held SightSpeed Inc. of Berkeley, Calif. for approximately $30 million in cash. SightSpeed is an award-winning provider of high-quality Internet video communications services. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in early November.
The acquisition of SightSpeed will provide Logitech with video calling technology and a software and services development team that can be focused on future video calling initiatives that can enable cross-platform video communications with an intuitive, lifelike experience, for people sitting in front of a personal computer or with their family in a living room.
“With this acquisition, we are significantly augmenting our current video R&D resources to help us move more quickly toward our goals for video services that complement the way people socialize, communicate and enjoy entertainment,” said Junien Labrousse, executive vice president of Logitech’s Products group.
“According to our research, there is a large untapped market of people who want to communicate with friends and family using video. But they want it to be integrated into their family lifestyle, which means going beyond the PC. We believe with SightSpeed we can help create the next wave of video communications enthusiasts.”
Founded in 2001, SightSpeed has approximately 25 employees. The company’s management team includes technology leaders with backgrounds in Internet services and software technology development. The SightSpeed services are based on SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), a standard that enables the services to be interoperable with other Internet communication services.

SnapYap Usability Conclusion

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There’s an old saying the video-conferencing industry–if it don’t work on an Apple notebook, it’s too hard to use.   OK, there’s no such saying.

But still, the fact that I couldn’t get web-based SnapYap conferencing to work with my Macbook Pro is an issue, especially considering how easy it has been in the past to use Vlip and other web-based video services.  What’s really cool about SnapYap is that it allows you to create a web-based portal for folks to video-call you via a page you link from your own web site. Nifty.

Not so nifty is the fact that SnapYap’s  troubleshooting steps don’t resolve my issue.  Anybody else try this service with Firefox on Leopard? (Didn’t work on Safari either.)

OS X Apps should be on the App Store

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It dawned on me that if a Shareware guy can write a simple space strategy game and hock it for ten bucks a copy on the iPhone (dude probably earned ten grand his first day on the App Store). This game called Galcon is a space strategy game, and it’s been on the iPhone App Store for just a few days. I’m assuming the guys has already paid for his dev cycle 3x or 4x over.

WHY AREN’T OS X APPLICATIONS OFFERED ON THE APP STORE?

Things to ponder….

Latest Mac Gizmo builds giving me grief

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The last few Gizmo5 builds I’ve installed on my Mac 10.5 notebook all seem to implode right after I drag them to the Applications folder.  Especially after recovering from sleep mode, the program unexpectedly quits and then can’t be launched again, as the Finder claims it may be “damaged”.  Simply copying the virgin Gizmo executable from the DMG file restores it to a running state, but it’s getting to be a pain.  I suppose I’ll post on the Gizmo support forum about it.

iPhone: the first truly mainstream handheld entertainment device?

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With Bioware recently stating they’re looking into iPhone development, EA all but confirming so, and a former EA designer big-wig leaving to start an iPhone game startup, one has to wonder: is the iPhone going to accomplish what the PSP, DS, and their predecessors have thusfar failed to accomplish?

That is, to put handheld entertainment in the pockets of adults, not just kids and guys who still live with mom at age 35.

I’d say it’s a reasonable bet, especially if Apple can find a way out of that creepy deal it has with AT&T.  This deal is stifling to the consumer at large, keeping the iPhone out of many needful hands (including my own, and I’m an AT&T customer–contract-free and loving life, baby).

With the PSP having shipped close to 28 million units, it has a big head start on the iPhone, which will only ship 10 million by the end of the year, according to estimates. The DS, meanwhile, has shipped somewhere around 31 million units, easily three times Apple’s take.

Nevertheless, the iPhone has a larger screen and more storage than either device, meaning it’s better for movie-watching, and the Internet surfing experience on the iPhone is priceless. If you’ve ever used the YouTube app on the iPhone, you know what I’m talking about.

Let’s talk games, though. Early attempts at iPhone games were online, web-based tripe. DHTML stuff. Not that compelling.  But more recently, Pangea was able to port some of their flagship 3D game products over to the iPhone–products like Cro-Mag rally, a caveman racing game (think Flintstones meets Mario Kart). Apparently the conversion was done in “a matter of hours” with a “decent framerate”.

So there’s 3D API on the iPhone, the development environment, Xcode, is Cocoa-based, the operating system is OS X, and the availability of cross-platform game frameworks for OS X is excellent.  The drawback, if you consider it one, is that the iPhone doesn’t (and can’t) have a true gamepad-type control system, since it’s a 100% touch-screen device.

But with Apple’s influence and a steadily decreasing price point, the iPhone has a change to be the next big game platform, minus the AT&T stick-to-head contract, of course.