The Geekcast #154 – The Name’s Leopard. Snow Leopard.
Posted on : 02-09-2009 | By : Aaron | In : Episodes
0
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB)
Contact info: Voicemail Line: 206-350-5000 – GeekcastOnline.com – geekcast@gmail.com – Twitter.com/TheGeekcast – Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Geekcast/59648951847 – Show notes subscription: send blank e-mail to geekcastpodcast-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
The Geekcast is sponsored by GoToMyPC. Try it free for 30 days at http://www.GotoMyPC.com/podcast
**************
Items of Note:
Would you guys prefer the show format change to two full episodes per week? What do you think of our Geek Out segments? Please let us know.
Listener Feedback:
TheRealMKR: @TheGeekcast I know the upgrade is fairly inexpensive but think I’ll hold off for now. Nothing there that I need.
CJ from California writes: The new Snow Leopard OS is really nice and I’m excited about the 64-bit ability. Hopefully Apple will do their best to make sure everything is compatible.
Dan from New Jersey writes: While $30 is a no-brainer of an upgrade, I don’t think Apple can really charge more for just a large maintenance update. I’ll get it though.
Phil from Boston writes: Snow Leopard is really, really fast! I gained about 7gig back in harddrive space.
Dave from Calgary writes: Leopard was great and Snow Leopard looks like it will be a good competitor to Windows 7.
**************
Geek This Week:
Aaron & Gozer:
Our thoughts and impressions of Mac OS 10.6, Snow Leopard. To see if your software is compatible with Snow Leopard, check out http://snowleopard.wikidot.com/. Apple also adjusted how they report free space from binary to base-10. To learn more about this, see TUAW’s great article http://www.tuaw.com/2009/08/29/snow-leopard-the-new-one-gigabyte-now-slimmer-than-before/.
Aaron:
Best Buy pulls through via Twitter and their TwelpForce my Xbox360 issue. A HUGE thank you to Coral at Best Buy for her help.
Gozer:
Got back last tuesday from our trip to cally. Stayed in Malibu, Encino and hotels in Bel Air and San Fran. Drove around in our awesome 2010 red mustang convertible. Keeping it geeky…i saw 3 awesome apple stores. The first in Santa Barabara, 2 floors with big open doors to the main street. Another in The Grove which is right next to the farmers market. Also went to the farmer’s market and saw people walking around with price is right stickers on. CBS studios was right there. Turns out they were all outta tickets. Went to hollywood got my pic next to Ivan Reitman’s star on the walk of fame. Ate at an in n out burger. Did the 8 hour drive to san fran. Stopped about half way to Heartz Castle. This is the home of William Randolph Heartz who was a newspaper tycoon and gold rush millionare. Definitely worth the trip. This guy had a movie theater in his house! One that would rival that of a real theater. Citizen Cane was based on Heartz. Got to San Fran around midnight. Took a hike through muir woods. Did a 2 day bus tour of San Fran. Saw another beautiful apple store in the city. Rode on an electric bus for $2. Flew back and enjoyed The Wire season 5 and scrabble on the psp.
**************
Tech and Gaming News:
Netbook sales growth doubles laptops in Q2 ‘09
While it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise given the fairly steady growth netbooks have seen since their inception as a product category, it’s still pretty notable that they’ve apparently now managed to nearly double traditional laptops in sales growth during the second quarter of this year. That word comes from market research firm DisplaySearch, which found that netbook shipments grew an impressive 40% compared to the same quarter last year, as opposed to 22% for plain old laptops. As excitingly illustrated in the chart above, however, that still leaves netbooks (or “mini-notes”) well behind laptops in terms of total shipments, although that seems almost certain to narrow considerably in the months and years ahead — at least until the line between netbooks and laptops becomes so blurred that we just start calling everything “laptops” again.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/31/netbook-sales-growth-doubles-laptops-in-q2-09/
Sony adopts Chrome as default browser for VAIO line
The Financial Times delivers confirmation of a wider distribution deal between Google giant and Sony. According to the report, new VAIO laptops and desktops will come with Chrome preinstalled — an “experimental” arrangement — and, most importantly, will default to Google for both their homepage and search queries. Pair this with the agreement to bring over a million Google Books to Sony’s e-readers, and you start to see some clear lines being drawn in the sand. Intriguingly, Google is said to be pursuing similar distribution pacts with other manufacturers, which would place Internet Explorer’s stranglehold on the uninitiated user under threat. Your move, Microsoft.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/01/sony-adopts-chrome-as-default-browser-for-vaio-line/
Apple Sept. 9 Event Officially Confirmed: Expect An iPod Touch
Apple today finally ended the guessing around exactly when it will hold its annual fall iPod refresh event: The date is Sept. 9 and the location will be Yerba Buena Center For The Arts Theater in San Francisco. Not many clues in the invitation that I can tell. The tagline in the invite says “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it,” playing off of a Rolling Stones song. One thing worth noting in the image is that the model isn’t holding an iPod nano, but an iPod touch. As I’ve argued recently, I expect that its on the iPod touch where much of Apple’s research and development efforts are going to be focused going forward. It’s pretty clear a new touch is going to be the star of the this show.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/ByteOfTheApple/blog/archives/2009/08/apple_sept_9_ev.html
Disney Buys Marvel For $4 Billion
The worldwide leader in family entertainment is about to get a great deal more entertaining, as the Walt Disney Company agrees to acquire iconic comic book company Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion.
More than 5,000 iconic comic book characters will soon be in the hands of Disney, raising serious questions about the future of Marvel video game titles from Activision, Sega, THQ, and the upcoming MMO fromGazillion Entertainment. Under the terms of the agreement, Disney will pay Marvel shareholders $30 per share for their Marvel stock, plus .745 of a share of Disney stock for each share they own.
“This transaction combines Marvel’s strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney’s creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories,” said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. “Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney.”
That’s Disney’s say on the matter, and here is Marvel’s, from the official press release:
“Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses,” said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s Chief Executive Officer. “This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney’s tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world.”
Both companies have approved the deal, though it still has to clear the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and various regulatory committees before it can be finalized. Once finalized, Marvel’s Perlmutter will continue to oversee Marvel’s properties, working with Disney to help integrate the two properties across multiple lines of business.
We’re staying on top of the situation, with calls out to Disney, Marvel, Activision, THQ, and Sega for comment on what effects this move will have on Marvel-based video game properties.
http://kotaku.com/5349341/disney-buys-marvel-for-4-billion
**************
Test a Geek: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast
**************
How To: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast
**************
Ask A Geek: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast
**************
Open Source Software: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast
**************
Hack: Make MacSpeech Dictate 1.3 work on Snow Leopard.
If you like to dictate to your computer, MacSpeech Dictate is a fantastic program. Unfortunately if you have the slightly-older version, 1.3, you’ll find yourself out of luck when running it on Snow Leopard. When you launch the app, it prompts you that it won’t run on Mac OS 10.6 and then it closes. If you want to get back the software you paid good money for, just follow the steps below:
1. Be sure you have the developer tools installed on your Mac. You can get this from the DVD’s that ship with your mac.
2. Open your Applications folder and find MacSpeech Dictate.
3. Right-click the app and select ‘Show Package Contents’.
4. Navigate into the Contents folder and open the info.plist file with Property List Editor.
5. Under Environment Variables, click the triangle so the options expand. There you’ll see an option called MaximumSystemVersion.
6. Change the value of this field from 10.5 to 10.6.
7. Save the file and close anything you opened up.
Now when you double-click on MacSpeech Dictate, it’ll open and function as it did before. Please be aware that because Snow Leopard is new, there may be unknown issues with the software. Be sure to backup any relevant data before beginning this hack. To undo this hack, simply change the value of the same field back to 10.5.
**************
The Geek’s View: The Wire season 5.
Definetly not as good as season 4 or 3. Alot slower than the other seasons. This season focuses on the media, primarily the baltimore sun newspaper. This season is about lies and politics. Should you tell the truth or should you stretch the truth to sell papers. Would you take a promotion as long as you lie about murder rates in baltimore? They did a good job of bringing all the story lines to a conclusion. The writers definitely do an awesome job of surprising you.
**************
Related Episodes:
E-mail
Voicemail
