Happy 137th Birthday, Harry Houdini!

Happy 137th Birthday Harry Houdini

Today (March 24, 2011) is the great magician Harry Houdini's 137th birthday. Even though Harry has passed away some years ago, we still remember all the amazing entertainment he brought into our lives over the years from movies, clips and books about his amazing tricks he performed. He was one of the worlds most amazing escape artists. It would be interesting to see if he had been born now what kind of amazing tricks he would be coming up with today.

Happy 10th Birthday Mac OS X

image found on MacRumors.com

Today (March 24, 2011) marks the tenth birthday of Mac OS X. It made its first debut on March 24, 2001 as the memorable Mac OS X 10.0. Mac OS X was a major change for the famous Mac OS. It integrated NeXT company technology (OPENSTEP OS) and FreeBSD UNIX. In the beginning it did have some issues as quoted below, but what company's great products doesn't have some little bumps along the road to greatness.

"Mac OS X shows tremendous promise, which is a nice way of saying that the 10.0 release is not quite ready for prime time. This is most certainly an early adopter's OS release. Interface responsiveness and effective stability are the two biggest fundamental problems, but missing features and compatibility issues rank just as high if you actually intend to use OS X as a full Mac OS 9 replacement: the 10.0 release cannot view DVD movies; printer drivers are still scarce; CD burning is not yet supported, even by Apple's own iTunes CD authoring application; and a lot of hardware (like my G3/400's serial port adapter to which my printer is attached) seem destined to be orphaned forever."

Mac OS X Public Versions:
10.0 - Codename: Cheetah, released March 24, 2001
10.1 - Codename: Puma, released September 25, 2001
10.2 - Codename: Jaguar, released August 24, 2002
10.3 - Codename: Panther, released October 24, 2003
10.4 - Codename: Tiger, released April 29, 2005
10.5 - Codename: Leopard, released October 26, 2007
10.6 - Codename: Snow Leopard, released August 28, 2009
10.7 - Codename: Lion, expected released Summer 2011

The next install of Mac OS X is known as Lion (10.7) and is expected to come roaring through sometime this summer with the theme of "Back to the Mac", an effort to come full circle with some of the great features we know and love in the iOS platforms.

So Happy 10th Birthday Mac OS X, you've come a long way and it shows. We all love you and wish you a bright and happy future..

Mozilla Unveils FireFox 4

Well ladies and gentlemen today Mozilla unveiled Firefox 4 for people to download and enjoy. The updated design definitely makes it feel like it is in the drivers seat again. As you launch your browser for the first time after the upgrade you will first see a totally revamped layout in front of you. The browser gives you more room to view for starters.

The pull down tabs are all the way at the top. If you are on a mac you will notice it just to the right of your apple logo. On a PC it will vary since on my Windows XP machine its become very, very small at the top. Where as the Vista and Windows 7 pull downs are hidden in an orange button in the upper left hand corner that when clicked reveals all its new goodies to choose from.

The tabs are then right under neath with an option to "pin" webpages. A feature we noticed before in Google's Chrome browser. It gives the user a chance to pin the tab into a small marker to the left so you aren't plagued by tons of large apps. To activate this feature simply right click on the tab you wish to pin. Then choose "Pin as App Tab". Then wala..

Another cool feature is the Syncing option. If you're like me you have several different devices you use. Well Firefox now gives you the option to sync your bookmarks, browsing history, passwords and other data on all your computers running Firefox.

To use this feature, you need to go to tools > options > Sync (tab). Click on the "Set up Firefox Sync" button. This will open up the Firefox Sync box. Firefox will give you a "Sync Key". Write it down and save this key. You will use it to access your Sync account on another PC or Smartphone device. Warning, if you loose it, you are screwed. It can not be recovered.

Outside of this the speed is definitely noticeable in the new version. If you have loved using Firefox like me over the years its a great idea to download and install it. Plus, just to give you an idea of how popular it is. In the first three hours of its availability, over 1 million plus downloads. That's got to tell you somethin, enjoy.

Cocos2d beta templates available for Xcode 4

If you are like me and the many out there that jumped into the new release of Apple's Xcode 4, you got an interesting surprise when you made the upgrade from 3.x.x to 4.x.x. It was a totally new IDE and everything was integrated into one multi-functional interphase. The layout did make it easier to go from code into your xib files and back.

Now, it did take a little getting used to. But, the biggest surprise came when you started looking for the Cocos2d Template. They were not there. The forums online were filled with the eternal question, what is going on????

Many people tried re-installing it only to be told it was still there. You could open, build and run files and it worked. But, there weren't any new project templates available when you first started the program unless you opened an old one or an old template version and did a bit of cleaning up in the code. The word came out that Xcode 4 handled things a bit different. So cocos 2d was installed but the templates were not showing up.

The folks at Cocos2d have heard the masses and put out a beta version for us to install and use as a temporary fix: cocos2d-1.0.0-beta_templates.tar.gz

If you go to the Cocos2d website: http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/

You will notice an option for downloading and instructions on how to install it too. I went, downloaded and installed it as the instructions mentioned. Everything went very smooth. So now when i start my Xcode 4. I have Cocos2d options under my iOS devices. But, as they said on the site the Mac and file options are not available yet.

I'm sure in the new few weeks we will have another build to download and use. So if you are an Xcode developer who has moved over to Xcode 4, make sure you get your Cocos2d template now so you can start your projects a bit easier now. enjoy...

Verizon announces iPad 2

image taken from Verizon wireless website

Verizon wireless has now announced on its website that it will be carrying the iPad 2 on Friday March 11, 2011. They join the ranks of other companies carrying it for sale on the launch day. Retail stores such as Best Buy, Sam's Club and Wal-Mart are also scheduled to be carrying the device on its launch date of the 11th. Apple should be very happy with all the companies it will have making its new awesome iPad 2 available to the public on its March 11th release date.

The only ones we haven't heard from yet is AT&T. It is speculated they will have it on the 11th but there is no word yet on their website.

Steve Jobs and Apple unveil the iPad 2

Apple iPad 2

On March 2, 2011 Steve Jobs and Apple unveiled the iPad 2. It was a real surprise to see Steve back on stage presenting again. After his recently leave from Apple many people weren't sure if we'd see him again. But, as usual Steve knows how to blow our minds.

Today he walked out on stage and introduced the new iPad 2 along with a few other goodies.

The iPad 2 is the next step in iPad evolution. It sports a thinner more sleeker design with options in both white and black color on the front of the unit. The iPad 2 also has the new A5 processor. Making it the first dual core tablet to be shipped in mass quantity. It will also have a multi-purpose cover available in multi-colors too.

The following options will be available for it:
(information from apple.com)

Models: Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi+3G (Verizon and AT&T)

Size:
Height: 9.50 inches x Width 7.31 inches, Depth 0.34 inches

Weight:
Wi-Fi model: 1.33 pounds (601 g)
Wi-Fi + 3G model: 1.35 pounds (613 g) AT&T,
1.34 pounds (607 g) Verizon

Storage: 16GB, 32GB, 64 GB

Wi-Fi will be 802.11 a/b/g/n

Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR Technology

Display: 1024 x 768 resolution with Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating offering display support available in multiple languages and characters simultaneously.

Processor: Apple A5 chip, 1 Ghz Dual-core custom designed chip with high performance, low power consumption system on a chip.

Cameras:
Back mounted camera: HD 720p up to 30fps with audio, still camera with 5x digital zoom

Front mounted camera: VGA Video recording up to 30 fps with audio, still camera VGA quality

Battery: offering up to 10 hours of use.

Input/Output : 30-pin doc connector port, 3.5 mm stereo headphone mini jack, Built-in Speaker and Microphone. note: 3G models will have a Micro-Sim card tray.

It will also feature a Three-axis gyro, Accelerometer and Ambient light sensor.

The iPad 2 will arrive on March 11th.