May 11, 2010 – Valve announced that Steam will launch on the Mac platform this Wednesday, May 12.

On subsequent Wednesdays, additional collections of Mac titles will become available, each designed to highlight specific functionalities of Steam on the Mac.

The first collection of Mac titles will demonstrate “Steam Play,” which allows customers to purchase a game once and play it on all Steam supported platforms.

Portal, in addition to supporting Steam Play, will be the first of Valve’s Source engine based games available on the Mac. Native OS/X support for the Source engine is also available immediately to licensees for use in their games.

Among the initial titles available on Wednesday will be Runic Games’ critically acclaimed Torchlight. “We’re very excited to be bringing Torchlight to the Mac,” said Max Schaefer, co-founder of Runic Games. “Having Steam for the Mac solves so many problems for us as a developer. We look forward to our future games coming out on the Mac as well.”

In addition to bringing the online functionality of Steam to the Mac, Valve will also make its Steamworks suite of publishing and development tools available on the Mac platform. These include product key authentication, copy protection, auto-updating, social networking, matchmaking, anti-cheat technology, and more. The features and services available in Steamworks are offered free of charge and may be used for both electronic and tangible versions of games.

For more information on Steam, please visit www.steamgames.com.

Source [ SteamPowered.com ]

As a Mac user and a gamer, I am very excited about the impending cross-platform release, as well as knowing that I will not have to re-purchase Mac versions of (most) games I already own.  My Steam library, when I was using BootCamp to run Windows and Steam for the past few years, includes games such as Torchlight, the Half Life series, Left4Dead, TeamFortress 2, Portal, Bioshock and many games from the Quake and Doom series.

While detractors will argue that Steam for Mac does not mean that PC game developers will flock to the platform, that is not necessarily a requirement at this time.  There are plenty of Mac game developers who will benefit from Steam as a platform for selling their software, pushing out updates to their users and track hardware statistics to better help optimize their games.

It has been awhile since I have logged into Steam, but I will soon be back.  Once Team Fortress 2 has been fully released for Mac, which I hope is soon, meet me up for a few rounds.

Quite a few people gawked at Israel deciding to ban the iPad in the country over security concerns. They probably aren’t gawking today. Princeton University, George Washington University and Cornell University have all banned the iPad.

All of them are citing security and connectivity issues as the reason. Cornell University said they are seeing connectivity issues and a bandwith overload which is why the iPad was removed from campus. George Washington University rejected the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch from connecting on their campus. Wonder if they are Microsoft fans?

I think we need to write some letters to Apple about this issue. If someone writes a snarky enough letter, we could get a response from Steve Jobs. He will probably tell us we’re nuts, but he may give a one sentence answer as to how he’s going to handle this issue.

One man sent Apple an e-mail, airing his grievances with iPad’s international shipping issues. At one point, Jobs was accused of “pulling the wool over the world’s eyes.” This man got a very simple response from Jobs that started with “Are you nuts? We are doing the best we can.”

If you want to read the full e-mail conversation, it’s under the mystical “Read More” link.

“Dear Mr Jobs

On behalf of the international community of Apple consumers I would like to protest at the way Apple is apparently leaving us out in the cold with the Apple iPad product.

We have been fed either misinformation or no information at all and it is starting to cast doubt over Apple’s intents, at least it is to me.

I live in Switzerland and as yet we have no idea what the Apple iPad will cost here, if it is anything like the international pricing we have been used to to date on other Apple products, then it will certainly not be an “unbelievable price” as stated in your marketing.

If the delays and lack of pricing information is due to Apple doing it’s level best, to make sure that we are not being ripped off, then I applaud that work. However, as previously mentioned, I am doubting this.

Twice to my knowledge you have falsely stated international availability of the iPad and while I do not believe this is any fault of your own, I can imagine that you are not happy being shown as deliberately pulling the wool over the rest of the worlds eyes.

This is what you said at the iPhone OS4.0 announcement

11:10AM – Q: Will iPad’s success impact its international launch?

Steve: No, we said we’re launching internationally later in April, and we’re launching later in April.

Please can you clarify what is happening and why it has taken so long for information to be released to the international community.

May I suggest the following: Make it easier for us to purchase your products directly from the USA online Apple store. Many of us would be happy to do so and pay extra for local Applecare.

I look forward to your response.”

And he got a response.
” “deliberately pulling the wool over the rest of the worlds eyes”
Are you nuts? We are doing the best we can. We need enough units to have a responsible and great launch.”

An Apple fan girl I am not, but I just gained a new world of love for Steve Jobs.

Thanks 9 to 5 Mac for the story.

This book is beautiful. It shows such promise for what books and readers like the Kindle from Amazon can become. If books started to work and read like this classic tale on the iPad, imagine how much more you would read. Could you imagine reading “The Fellowship of the Rings” or “The Hobbit” like this? I certainly could.

The app is made by Atomic Antelope and available on the iPad app store for $8.99 USD.

This great app found thanks to:
GigaOm

The Next Web

Yesterday, Twitter showed us they had the right idea. Though some people don’t like the format for ads Twitter is rolling out, I can’t be mad at them for it. They have made their internal search engine just that much more social. Nothing new, nothing invasive and nothing that will make me fume.

Sponsored search results are a good idea. Let’s say you are searching for iPad on Twitter. The top result will be sponsored. It might be Apple’s own Twitter account or Steve Jobs (now you know this is an example). You have the option to “favorite” that sponsored result or re-tweet it as usual.

“But I want to see REAL search results! Not something someone paid for!” You will see them. Just overlook the first result and scroll down. There you go, all real search results. This isn’t something invasive or something that is going to effect how you use Twitter.

Ads are most likely going to start showing up on Twitter’s timeline. Again, this is something I can’t be mad about if it happens. On my BlackBerry I use Uber Twitter, on the iPhone it’s Twitterific and the Droid has Twidroid. Each of these apps have ads that show in between tweets. On Uber Twitter, they show as part of the timeline with a “Sponsored” tag on them. It looks like Twitter is going to do something similar with their ads and place them in your timeline between tweets.

Which leads other people to ask questions about the ad format. Will people have the option to pay a small monthly fee and get rid of ads? I doubt it. Sure, Twitter may offer it but the idea is not the smartest. Twitterific offers a paid version that gets rid of the ads. I don’t know anyone who uses the paid version. It’s not that difficult to overlook the ads on your app (or web client) and move into your timeline.

I’ve been a Twitter user since 2007. I remember saying “This will never amount to anything.” Yet, I found myself using it. Not only did I become an avid user early on, but I opened more than one account to separate my work. Twitter has proved to have a lot of staying power. The problem was, they didn’t seem to catch up with everyone else. Where was their business model? They finally have the beginnings of one.

Things may need tweaking as time goes on with the new ads, but I’m quite proud of Twitter.I want to sniffle and grab a hanky while I see my little blue bird off to his first day at the office carrying his fail whale in a briefcase. He’s finally grown up!

Source

Please keep in mind that with the Wii’s maximum resolution of 480P wide-screen, the Wii-Netflix service may not be capable of properly displaying 720P HD content.  Although it is unknown at this time, chances are the HD videos will be downscaled to 480P.

To reserve your Wii Netflix disc today, click on the image below.

I’m very interested to see where this ends up leading us to.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And for those that haven’t seen the original, here ya go!

This week’s PlayStation Store update features the game TV Show King for $9.99 for the PlayStation 3, in the style of the more popular television game shows like wheel of fortune, weakest link and others this game will challenge you, your friends and family with questions ranging from history to geography, literature to science and sports to entertainment. Check it out:

Also available for download is Crystal Defenders for $9.99. A defensive strategy game in which players deploy popular job classes used in Final Fantasy Tactics A2 like soldiers, monks, black mages and archers to strategically place them on the map to defend your crystals from a stream of enemy creatures that fly or crawl past your army.

Here’s a list of everything else that’s new:

Qore

• Qore Annual Subscription: August 2009 (PS3/$24.99)
• Qore Episode 15: August 2009 (PS3/$2.99)

Downloadable Games:

• Dynasty Warriors (PSP/$14.99)

Game Demos:

• Rag Doll Kung Fu Demo Demo (PS3/Free)
• Batman: Arkham Asylum Demo (PS3/Free)
• Crystal Defenders Demo (PS3/Free)
• Worms Demo (PS3/Free)

Bonus Game Contents:

• Cross Edge Trial Edition Pack (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Additional Dungeon 4 (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Enigma Synth Pack (PS3/Free)
• Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires Additional Music Set 3 (PS3/Free)
• Hannah Montana: Rock Out The Show Musicians Wardrobe Add-On (PS3/Free)
• Hannah Montana: Rock Out The Show Moment Maker Special Effects Add-On (PS3/Free)
• Hannah Montana: Rock Out The Show Stage Prop Add-On (PS3/Free)
• Hannah Montana: Rock Out The Show Fashions Add-On (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Latest Technology Pack (PS3/$1.99)
• Cross Edge Pretty Little Pack (PS3/$1.99)
• LittleBigPlanet: inFamous Costumes Pack (PS3/$1.99)
• GTI Club Plus (PS3/$1.99)
• Savage Moon Waldgeist Add-On (PS3/$4.99)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010 Cog Hill Golf & CC (PS3/$4.99)
• Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 3 (PS3/$9.99)
• Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood Old West Map Pack (PS3/$9.99)

Guitar Hero World Tour Individual Songs:

• “Camel’s Night Out” by Eric Johnson (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Music Packs:

• Spinal Tap’s TAP TEN (PS3/$17.99)

Individual Songs:

• “America” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Big Bottom” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Cups and Cakes” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “(Funky) Sex Farm” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Gimme Some Money” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Heavy Duty” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Hell Hole” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “(Listen to the) Flower People (Reggae Stylee)” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Rock ‘n’ Roll Creation” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Stonehenge” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Unplugged bonus content:

• “Had a Dad” by Jane’s Addiction (PSP/$1.99)
• “Renegade” by Styx (PSP/$1.99)

Free Game Videos:

• TV Show King Trailer (English, French and Spanish versions) (PS3/Free)
• Unbound Saga Between the Panels Issue 2 (PS3/PSP/Free
• Watchmen The End Is Nigh Part 2 Launch Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Watchmen The End Is Nigh Part 2 The Complete Experience Launch Trailer (PS3/Free)
• G Force The Video Game Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Mini Ninjas Futo Gameplay Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Mini Ninjas Futo Vignette (PS3/Free)
• Mini Ninjas Shun Vignette (PS3/Free)

New Movies to Rent or Own:

• Obsessed. Rated PG-13 (Own/SD Format/$14.99)
• Miss March. Rated R (Rent/SD Format/$3.99)
• Miss March. Rated R (Rent/HD Format/$5.99)
• Miss March. Rated R (Own/SD Format/$14.99)
• Dragonball: Evolution. Rated PG (Rent/SD Format/$3.99)
• Dragonball: Evolution. Rated PG (Rent/HD Format/$5.99)
• Dragonball: Evolution. Rated PG (Own/SD Format/$14.99)
• The T.O. Show Season 1. Rated TV Y-7 (Own/SD Format/$1.99)
• Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs. Rated G (Own/SD Format/$1.99)

Wallpapers and Themes:

• College Football Theme: Arkansas (PS3/$1.99)
• College Football Theme: Clemson (PS3/$1.99)
• College Football Theme: Colorado (PS3/$1.99)
• College Football Theme: Illinois (PS3/$1.99)
• College Football Theme: Missouri (PS3/$1.99)

Read [PlayStation Store Blog] Site [PlayStation]

Full Story ? | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article ?

A friend on Twitter recommended it for everyone to try. I was a little reluctant to try the application because it states it’s still in open beta. I kept TinyTwitter on my phone, and downloaded UberTwitter. The first question I had was “will it kill my battery?”. A test was started, I set the application to refresh Twitter every five minutes and then let it go.

I am happy to say my phone was off the charger all night and through the day. I am only at half battery.It will continue to refresh your Twitter for you, but it won’t pull pictures or information until you go into the application itself.

UberTwitter also has a leg up on it’s competition with BlackBerry Twitter applications. The settings when you download it allows you to fully customize your application, including refreshing your feed when you want it to, and displaying pictures or not. It also allows you to see pictures on the feed itself (if you choose the option) instead of using your mobile browser to view pictures and opening a new application.

It’s definitely the best Twitter app I’ve found for the BlackBerry, and it’s still in a beta phase. This means we’ll probably see some major improvement before too long.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We regret to inform you that due to the current economic conditions we are forced to indefinitely suspend the FileFront site operations on March 30, 2009. If you have uploaded files, images or posted blogs, or if you would like to download some of your favorite files, please take this opportunity to download them before March 30th when the site will be suspended.

We would like to give a warm thank you to all of you who have been part of the FileFront communities we have built together. Your support has had a meaningful impact for all of us here at FileFront. Again, we want to give you a sincere “thank you” for your support over the years and wish you all the very best.

Keep gaming alive,

FileFront Management and Team.

Contact_us@filefront.com

TGM wishes them the best, and hopes that a service can step up and fill the void that we’re sure will be left after March 30th.

• Stereo Bluetooth
• In-App Downloadable/Purchasable content
• ‘Spotlight’ Device-Wide Search & App Launcher
• Push Notification
• Cut, Copy & Paste between apps
• Turn-By-Turn GPS Apps allowed (just not using Google Maps)
• Embed Google Maps in non-Turn-by-turn apps
• Apps can now inter-operate with iPhone and iPod Touch accessories
• Landscape keyboard in most core Apps
• MMS support, send pictures or audio to other cell phones
• Voice Memos
• CalDAV and .ICS support in Calendar

The SDK Beta is available now to members of the iPhone Developer Program and will be released this Summer.  The update will be free to all iPhone owners and cost $9.95 to all iPod Touch owners.  Original iPhone owners will not, however, recieve Stereo Bluetooth or MMS.

As it stands, the current graphics coming out of the CryTEK DPs are already over the top of what the everyday system can handle. It stands that Crysis still won’t run on my system on it’s lowest settings, and I can currently play World of Warcraft on it’s highest settings without any hiccups or issues. With that kind of benchmark, I really scratch my head and ask myself what CryTEK wants to do by advancing their platform, graphics, and tools even more. I understand they’re out to sell copies of their software and prove they’re the premium game developer that they feel they are, but seriously? More powerful graphics? Do they want no one to be able to play their games? This is silly in my opinion, you have to let the general public catch up with what you’re putting out.

This has been a random opinion from your neighborly CEO, Leto.

It’s a long letter, probably two or three standard pages worth, so be ready to sit down for ten or fifteen minutes and digest this instead of just skimming over, just click the read more tab to see the letter in it’s entirety. Credit to Kotaku.com and their network for posting this.

An Open Letter to Utah’s Parents and Leaders
March 6, 2009

As you read this, Utah legislators are preparing to pass legislation that risks, perhaps unintentionally, putting an end to hugely successful efforts to prevent children’s access to video games intended for older audiences. I write today in the hopes of averting this grave mistake, and to propose a more responsible course of action instead.

Legislation expanding Utah’s existing Truth in Advertising law (H.B. 353) would require that if a video game retailer promotes its adherence to a policy restricting the sale of video games rated M for Mature – which, like the R rating for movies, indicates it is recommended for those ages 17 and older – and then sells an M-rated game to anyone under the recommended age, they could be subject to a lawsuit, fines and/or the payment of additional costs and legal fees. In fact, all major retailers of video games currently have such policies, which they have put in place voluntarily and with which they are in compliance the vast majority of the time. According to a recent audit, Utah video game retailers enforce their store policies regarding the sale of M-rated games an impressive 94% of the time – without any laws or requirements that they do so. That level of compliance took many years to achieve, and speaks to the strong commitment of video game retailers to do the right thing.

So why is this bill likely to put an end to those very efforts it seeks to support? On its face such an amendment makes good sense; after all, if a retailer says they’re going to do something, they should do it, right? While the intent of this legislation would be to hold retailers accountable for compliance with their stated policies – presumably in that negligible 6% of instances where they fail to comply – the unfortunate reality is that it would introduce a liability that will likely force many retailers to seriously consider abandoning their voluntary policies and ratings education programs, undoing years of progress made on behalf of parents and their children.

It’s worth noting that when the Federal Trade Commission first began measuring retailer compliance with video game sales policies nationwide in 2000, a scant 15% of underage customers were turned away. However, the most recent such study reported in May 2008 found that national retailers refused to sell M-rated games to customers under 17 a remarkable 80% of the time, far surpassing the comparable rates of compliance for movies, DVDs, or music CDs rated for a mature audience. The unraveling of this substantial progress would be a tragic consequence, depriving parents of the assurance and control they currently have with respect to deciding which games their children can purchase and play.

Utah State Representative Michael Morley, the chief sponsor of this new amendment, was recently quoted in the Deseret News stating that, “if they’re one of those places that thinks, ‘Well, as long as they have a heartbeat and some money we’ll sell to them,’ then this won’t have any impact on them.” That statement reveals exactly why this law would
be so destructive. It would effectively penalize responsible retailers that have policies, and provide safe harbor for retailers that refuse to adopt a responsible policy in the first place. That is downright senseless. If the goal is to make sure our children are playing age-appropriate games, there is a better way.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), of which I am president, is a non-profit organization created in 1994 to help parents determine which computer and video games are appropriate for their children. Most retailers only carry games that have been rated by the ESRB, and game consoles and handheld devices include settings that parents can activate to block games by ESRB rating. Elected officials across the country, including Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, and groups like PTA have joined ESRB in helping educate the public about the rating system to great effect. The FTC recently reported that 73% of parents regularly use ESRB ratings when buying games for their children; 59% “never” allow their child to play an M-rated game, and 34% only do so “sometimes.”

The bottom line is that parents are more than capable of utilizing tools like the ratings to make the right choices for their families. And there is broad support of ESRB ratings from major retailers and the game industry alike. The proposed legislation is looking to fix a system that is not broken. Instead, we should all be focused on figuring out ways to encourage parents to use the excellent tools already available to them to make informed choices about the media their children consume. Punishing retailers for promoting responsible sales policies is irrational and counter-productive. I write in the sincere hope that Utah chooses to empower its parents with information rather than undo the substantial progress made by retailers to date to serve the best interests of Utah’s children.

With warm regards,
Patricia E. Vance
President

The new Mac Mini now includes the NVidia GeForce 9400M (128MB to 256MB shared memory) integrated graphics while supporting up to 4GB of internal memory itself.  Not really a “power-house” for gaming in the graphics chip side of things, but definetly a Mac system with some staying power.  This update also sports 802.11-N wireless networking, five USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire 800 port, Mini-DVI and DisplayPort video outputs.

The new Mac Pro tower system now comes with either a 2.66GHz, 4-core or two 2.26GHz 4-core (called 8-core) Intel Xeon “Nehalem” processors, 18x dual-layer SuperDrive, 640GB hard disk, 3GB or 6GB internal memory and an NVidia GeForce GT 120 with 512MB of memory.  This is the great grand-daddy of the Mac Mini, sparing no expense with the power it delievers.

Before now, the Airport and Time Capsule line of devices have all been single-band, broadcasting either a B/G, G, or N based wireless network.  With the new Airport and Time Capsule will have the ability to broadcast two seperate wireless network, allowing for better placement of your wireless devices that currently fight for wireless bandwidth.  Currently, I use an Airport N for my main computer and an Airport Express B/G for my iPhone/Wii/360/DS.

See more at the Apple Store…

DryIcons.com | Free Icons
(tags: web free icons)

Redirection – Manage 301 redirections without modifying Apache | Urban Giraffe | Tom Altman’s Wedia Conversation
(tags: ping.fm)

100 Beautiful Free WordPress Themes | Back to Essentials | Tom Altman’s Wedia Conversation
(tags: ping.fm)

51 Amazing/Inspiring Blog Styles | Tom Altman’s Wedia [...]

Click here to view the embedded video.

My luck is it is when I’m showing off the cool flash app to the boss.  The method above works – I have also had luck with adding a quick class/css switch in javascript too – [...]

How to Manage Geeks – wikiHow.
This is a great article sent to my by my buddy/co-worker Matthew.  It really gets to the point of how geeks think.
We had some customer service issues, or at least percieved issues – and it certainly makes me wonder if this was not a piece [...]

I’ve been thinking a lot about the post I did a while back called “Sales must evolve too” – I think sometimes iitis easy for the web developers and people “on the outside” of sales to point fingers…but as my Grandma used to say – when you do that you have [...]

At first I thought she was just saying that it looked like a Mii in the picture that was used, but no. This is a Mii, an actual Mii from the Wii gaming system, used as a mugshot to help find a criminal. A Mii, for those that aren’t Wii fans, is the avatar one can make to go along with a player profile, stats, and other options that you have with the Wii.

The article doesn’t say whether the Mii is the actual perps, or just a composite the police put together using a Wii, but either way it’s a sign that people are using new technology in innovative and creative ways. You can read the original article here!

Philippa Curtis, 21, who was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving in December, had told Oxford Crown Court she felt there were times when using a phone while driving was acceptable.

During the trial the defendant, a waitress, said she had been “hyper” as she set off on her two-hour journey on 20 November, 2007.

She had made various calls and sent text messages to a number of friends using predictive text.

Shortly after making a call, her car hit Ms McBryde’s parked Peugeot 106, then spun into oncoming traffic, hitting two more vehicles.
Ms McBryde, 24, from Horton, who had stopped to deal with a burst tyre, suffered a fatal brain injury in the crash.

Curtis, who suffered an arm injury, spun into oncoming traffic, hit two more vehicles, a white van and an Asda lorry, the court heard.

She admitted sending text messages while driving, but denied using her mobile phone at the time of the collision.

TwitterFriends – joining the dots (fasterfuture.blogspot.com)
50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business (momblognetwork.com)
TwiTip – Twitter Tools and Resources Round-Up [...]

Arvind Narayanan’s journal – Why Craigslist needs to die.
This is an interesting post which discusses (and complains) about Craigslist.  I’m not entirely sure they “get” Craig and his plan – but they do get some interesting points correct – Craigslist has a horrible UI and the technology is way over [...]

Technology Review: The Army’s Remote-Controlled Beetle.
This is an interesting concept.  Instead of making imitation insects for recon, they will modify the real thing.

The new design was implemented last night, then – I had to get Facebook Connect working.  I chose use the “official” one from the Facebook developers.  It is a bit more difficult to integrate -but I like the look slightly better. It requires you to dig into the code.
My buddy Jason [...]

Why 99% of Entrepreneurs Fail: Because they don’t do anything.
There are three types of amateur entrepreneurs out there, and in my young life, I’ve been every single one of them. By coming to terms with my failures, I’m more prepared to classify which type of amateur entrepreneur I am, and thus [...]

Found this on Mashable the other day – “10 Ways Personal Branding Can Save You From Getting Fired”
I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not, but I think its something to read.  I’ve been involved in VERY interesting job”stuff” recently and in the past.  I think these [...]

I love WordPress – I’m going to dedicate Wednesday to a post about it.  Hopefully I can maintain the concept.  Here we go.
WordPress Wednesday #1
20+ Great WordPress 2.7 Compatible Plugins
I’ll put 2 of the 20 I love:

cforms II – An easy tool for creating submission forms on your site that [...]

I really love UI (User Interface).  Like my buddy Matt T says, “I’m not ’smart’ enough to do UI, but I know a good one when I see it.”
Breathtaking and useful designs happen because the UI has been worked on tirelessly. It takes a real UI Master to understand how to make a [...]

Here is a post from jason calacanis called “how to launch a new product“.  Jason tends to have a love him or hate him following – I tend to lean to the “love him” camp in the fact I think he comes off a bit like I do sometimes.  A bit brash, but [...]

The statistics here are based on users who are 15 years of age or older and are as of December 2008.

• Worldwide Unique Visitors: 1,007,730,000 users
• Asia Pacific: 41.3% – 416,281,000 users
• Europe: 28% – 282,651,000 users
• North America: 18.4% – 185,109,000 users
• Latin America: 7.4% – 74,906,000 users
• Middle East & Africa: 4.8% – 48,783,000 users

I’ve spent a lot of time talking about how newspapers and media must move forward – and then, it started.  So now what do I do – that boat left the harbor…or is at least boarding.

I know – time to pick on the sales department!  Here’s the post that sparked this convo:

Revenue growth is priority #1 for most businesses today. So, good salespeople are in demand, and management wants to give them the best possible tools to make them productive. Selling is a numbers game. As long as you do reasonably sensible things, the time invested tends to corelate to revenue earned. Therefore, productivity really does matter. This is not an area to skimp on. If you can make somebody who brings in $1 million in revenue 10% more productive, that would mean an additional $100,000. So, what is happening in the market with tools for those who hustle on the front lines of business, the people who sell the products and services, who get capital for your business and sell it when the time comes, who hire the people who can grow your business? What will they be using in future?

Sales departments must get it together.  It is time to change or be rolled over.  The potential is huge here – the consumer wants to get the best deals they can.  Business’s need education on what their type of business needs and we (media outlets) have to be the people the business’s turn to.

But have we figured it out yet?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Small Biz. It is Important to Listen in Social Media.
• paidContent.org (via Washington Post): Online newspaper revenues fall 2.9 per cent at end of 2008 – drop predicted for 2009
• How to Use Affiliate Marketing to Create Recurring Income

NOM NOM NOM NOM

Intego, makers of VirusBarrer anti-virus for the Mac, has issued a security alert over a new trojan horse called “OSX.Trojan.iServices.A”.  Currently this trojan is found in pirated copies of Apple iWork ’09 software installer.  Intego is reporting that the pirated copy has been downloaded over 20,000 times.

Apparently when installing the pirated copy, an additional package called “iWorkServices” is also installed and begins as soon as the installer is launched.  It is installed system wide, is a startup item and has full read-write permissions as the “root” user.  Once installed, the trojan basically has the ability to do anything it wants.

Once the trojan is installed, it connects to the internet allowing remote users to know that a system has been infected and open for control.  The remote users will be able to log in, make changes, and cause all sorts of havoc that they wish.

This is NOT a virus and cannot spread to other systems on it’s own.  It is simply a remote control exploit.

If you are a Mac user and have downloaded the pirated version of iWork, regardless of where you downloaded it from or how “safe” you believe the service that you got it from to be, take NO chances.  Delete the downloaded file if you have not installed it yet and forget about it.  Switch to OpenOffice or NeoOffice, or go out and buy a retail copy of iWork ’09.

VirusBarrier X4 and X5 have been fully updated to detect and remove the trojan.  However, VirusBarrier may not be able to remove any software that remote users may have snuck onto your system.

The Mac is not 100% safe from exploits of this nature, and don’t let any Mac fanboy say otherwise (even me ).

I heard of these about a couple of years ago – and was simply facinated.  Here is a post I found at Dev Hardware:

Back in 2004, Bowyer set an idea in motion to create a 3D “‘printing” machine, along the lines of an industrial rapid prototyper that creates solid shapes from extruded molten plastic. Commercial versions of these machines are nothing new, and are available easily enough as long as you have $30,000 or so to spend on one.

The important thing for Bowyer was to create a version that just about anybody could afford. He figured the best way to achieve that was to design a machine that could replicate itself, and to minimize the barriers to entry by releasing all of the designs under the open source GNU General Public License.

So basically this thing can print itself.  Wow.

Also – I remember them speculating this could be a new model for how structures will be created as well.  XXL printers would be constructed “around” a building site and then the printer would go to town and just build.

It’s an amazing concept and seems to be coming into reality.

I think my buddy Nick told me about this a while back – I’m 100% sure I ignored him until I found ashort time ago again in Google reader.  The site is called Apture.

Add Multimedia to Your Website with One Click.

• Integrate text, images, video, maps, music, documents, presentations and more from 20+ sources.
• Keep visitors on your site, instead of sending them away.
• Embed media with a single click – no more urls or codes.

My only beef is the cool things they are doing reminds me of those pesky little pop-ups that advertisers have latched onto over the past couple of years.  They are annoying – not apture’s cool ones – but the advertisers el-junko.

I have not plugged this one in yet – but would be interested to hear anyone else’s mileage.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Apture: cool tool for adding multimedia
• Two fantastic free services to enrich your blog