iPad\’s in Space?

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

The Register has pointed out that an Swiss Television show named \”Einstein\” wanted to see if an iPad would be able to correctly handle it\’s screen rotation in \”Zero G\”.  So they hired an \”Vomit Comet\” flight to prove how well it works…

Well, it\’s safe to say that an Accelerometer needs to have gravity to correctly detect the acceleration/movement…  At least the current batch in the iPad right now.

Maybe Steve Jobs will see this posting and have the boffins come up with some non-gravity utilizing accelerometers…

 

Some facts from the Steam (May 2010) Hardware Survey

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

Here is some interesting facts from the Steam (May 2010) Hardware survey that includes Macintosh hardware….

  • Percentage of Macintosh systems ~ 8.7%
    • Mac OS X 10.6.3     ~6.95%
    • Mac OS X 10.5.8     ~1.40%
    • Mac OS X 10.6        ~ 0.33%
  • That exceeds the percentage (6.95%) of Vista 64 bit systems, but Vista 32 bit trumps it (14.66%)

Beyond that, the hardware survey doesn\’t break out the most common Macintosh configurations, but hopefully Steam will elaborate some more on the survey….

Portal, Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One and Half-Life 2: Episode Two Updates Released

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

Valve has released updates to Portal, Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One and Half-Life 2: Episode Two have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Half-Life 2 Fixed crash due to long hud hint messages, seen when playing in French Fixed Lambda logo at end of credits being cut off (Mac) Added pre-caching of GLSL shaders on game launch to prevent hitching in game (Mac) Performance improvements when using anti-aliasing on ATI GPU\’s

Half-Life 2: Episode One Fixed localized content not loading properly resulting in English audio Added pre-caching of GLSL shaders on game launch to prevent hitching in game (Mac) Performance improvements when using anti-aliasing on ATI GPU\’s

Half-Life 2: Episode Two Improved frame rate on opening map Fixed localized content not loading properly resulting in English audio Added pre-caching of GLSL shaders on game launch to prevent hitching in game (Mac) Performance improvements when using anti-aliasing on ATI GPU\’s

Portal Added pre-caching of GLSL shaders on game launch to prevent hitching in game (Mac) Performance improvements when using anti-aliasing on ATI GPU\’s\”

Adding Bluetooth and Wireless to a Mac Pro – Mac Guides

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

It turns out that the Magic Mouse is fine, it\’s the Mac Pro that has problems. This issue is not, as is commonly reported, that the metal case of the Mac Pro impedes the signal. In fact, the antennae are hooked up incorrectly in many of the units.
A number of Mac Pros were shipped with the antennas incorrectly connected which led to many users to have Bluetooth connection problems. They were incorrectly connected as follows:

  • Antenna \’1\’ connects to the top connector of the AirPort module.
  • Antenna \’2\’ remains unconnected.
  • Antenna \’3\’ connects to the bottom connector of the AirPort module.
  • Antenna \’BT\’ connects to the Bluetooth module.

While the wireless signal worked fine this way, Bluetooth performance was seriously hampered.
Reconnect the cables as follows:

  • Antenna \’1\’ connects to the Bluetooth module (if present).
  • Antenna \’2\’ connects to the upper airport module (if present).
  • Antenna \’3\’ connects to the lower airport module (if present).
  • Antenna \’BT\’ remains unconnected.

The following Guide has step by step pictures, documenting the process Adding Bluetooth and Wireless to a Mac Pro – Mac Guides.