#FF00AA

@games@

It’s a damn busy week (if you’re reading my blog in your web browser, and are used to only reading one post a day, make sure to scroll down to see the Zune post, where I say mostly good things about a Microsoft product). So much for the Zune stealing Apple’s thunder: here come official Wii announcements — sporting actual numbers, those ones. I’m a bit disappointed by the price (I’d gotten used to the “this is just a souped-up GameCube with a couple peripherals, it’s gotta be cheap” line of thought, and if it’s going to be $250 I think they’ve waited a bit too long to announce it), and there’s no Europe date until tomorrow but, man, at least that user interface looks amazing.

Why isn’t my Mac rearranging stuff like that whenever I resize a window or change icon size or whatever? (Don’t miss the second video on this page. It is a bit messy and confusing, but it looks so cool. Don’t miss, either, what happens when you resize text in the News Channel.)

I’m a bit puzzled by their choice not to include DVD playback, though. The hardware has to be powerful enough to decode a DVD, so what is it? Licenses? Software development? How much could it have cost them, exactly, to read DVDs, when you can have a standalone DVD player for $30? Yes, it’s true that most people already have one, but it takes some room on their shelves, and connectors on their TV, and it just doesn’t look as cool as a Wii.

Plus, the Wii would have a killer feature no DVD player has: mouse-like cursor control in the DVD menus!

 

@apple@

John Gruber:

My theory is that Jobs hated this year’s WWDC keynote, because he hates showing unfinished work. […]

Jobs’s extraordinary marketing savvy and famed reality distortion field leave some people with the impression that he’s a talented fabulist. That’s wrong, though — Jobs, in my opinion, is a terrible liar and a poor actor. When he’s able to convince people of things that aren’t true, or that are exaggerations of the truth, it’s because he believes what’s he saying. […]

If he struck you as at least somewhat unenthusiastic on-stage at WWDC, I say it’s because he was unenthusiastic, because he really couldn’t bring himself to be happy about showing these Leopard features that aren’t ready to be shown.

 

@apple@

Rumor has it that the reason iTV isn’t for sale yet is that Apple’s waiting for 802.11n (that’s faster wifi). It kinda makes sense (because, really, what reason is there for Apple not to release it yet? the software looks pretty much ready, and the design looks definitive enough), and it’s actually in tune with that “TubePort” rumor of a USB dongle streaming wirelessly to the TV.

But, if that were the reason, shouldn’t they be able to release it today, limited to 802.11g with an upgradable firmware? There’s got to be something more. (Including, but not limited to, HD video on the iTunes Store by the time this comes out.)

 

@photo@

Canon announces the PowerShot G7, doing away with the swivel-mounted LCD screen. What the hell is wrong with them? That was one of that camera’s coolest features!

 

@apple@

French stamps as a Mail.app icon [via]. It’s nice that they have the old Mariannes.

 

@apple@

Turn your iPod or MacBook into a Domokun knock-off. Finally, one good reason to go to Apple Expo.

 

@apple@

The Unarchiver replaces BOMArchiveHelper to unpack your zips, your rars, your tgzs, and whatever. It’s much more streamlined and efficient than UnRarX or StuffIt, so it’s a no-brainer for exotic format; as for zips, I’d say from my (very short) testing that it launches slower but decompresses faster; and if you throw several zips at it they will be queued, whereas BOMArchiveHelper will try unzipping everything at once, and consistently fail on a couple archives.

And it’s from the makers of Xee, which is reason enough to trust them.