[MacOS] Valve’s Steam Platform Barely Playable on Macs

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Tom’s Hardware tested Steam for the Mac intensively. Their first impressions are disappointing for Apple fans: the Windows version of Steam is a lot faster.

As their benchmark test they used the Valve’s game “Portal” and took benchmarks from two computers:

1. A mid 2009 Mac Book Pro

2. A custom built Hackintosh

Right, they’ve set up a hackintosh with all its ingrediences. Check their tables: you can clearly see the framerates are a lot higher on a Windows installation, but on a Hackintosh system the Mac OS version of Portal becomes playable after all.

tomshardware

So what do we learn?

First: Valve’s step to get on to the Mac OS platform is a good one. But they still have lots of work to do. Second: playing on Windows means more fluent gaming as the framerates are a lot higher (around factor 2). Third: if you’re willing to play on Mac OS you may consider setting up a hackintosh. A hackintosh with the config above easily outpaces at a normal Mac Book and it costs only about half the money.

Via Tom’s Hardware…

[iPad] Fuel.TV Replacing Skateboard With iPad

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Soon after they bought the iPad they found out it hasn’t got any usable interfaces, so it seems unusable as a notebook replacement, but it makes up as a skateboard replacement pretty well.

See for yourself: Fuel.TV’s latest episode of Built To Shred. And hey: please don’t do that at home, this might void your warranty ;-)

New iPad Test – Will It Shred? from FUEL TV on Vimeo.

[WebOS] Palm/HP Slate Code Name Hurrican To Come in Q3/2010?

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The Examiner.com reports that they got information from HP insiders. Under code name “Hurricane” it is rumored that HP and Palm are prepping a slate tablet running Palm’s latest operating system WebOS. Their timeline says Q3/2010. Read more on Examiner.com. With HP in the back that slate could become a real competitor to the iPad. We are very curious about it…

[MacOS] VirtualBox 3.2 To Support Mac OS Guest on Windows Host [Update]

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We suppose Apple will not like that, but Oracle’s latest version of VirtualBox 3.2 Beta 1 now supports virtualization of Apple’s Mac OS X.

Legal View

Although Apple’s license agreement clearly prohibits installing Mac OS X on other hardware than Apple’s, the screenshot shows that even the Windows version of Mac OS X is prepped to run Mac OS X as guest operating system.

On the other hand Apple’s license agreement is not valid in all countries. It cannot be applied in Germany and some other countries for example.

Technical View

To satisfy Apple’s Aqua binary encryption it is required to supply two operating system decryption keys (OSK0 and OSK1) to the kernel extension “Dont Steal Mac OS X.kext”. Although it is no secret that Mac OS can be run on PC hardware using decryption emulators like netkas’ fakesmc.kext, anyhow at the moment it is unclear if Oracle integrated those operating system decryption keys into VirtualBox.

[Update]

VirtualBox does not circumvent Apple’s binary protection. A VirtualBox developer confirmed, that Apple hardware is required in order to run Mac OS as guest in VirtualBox. So without tempering either with VirtualBox’ EFI or with Mac OS X it is not possible to run OS X in VirtualBox on a PC.

On the other hand a closer look at the EFI booter integrated in VirtualBox could reveal either how to modify PC Bios‘ to boot Mac OS X DVDs natively or how to expand our beloved Chameleon.

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[iPhone] Ellen Publicly Apologizes For Making Fun Of iPhone Usability

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Engadget.com reports that U.S. American Comedian Ellen DeGeneres apologized for making fun of the iPhone. In her “The Ellen DeGeneress Show ” she aired a funny Apple spoof. Sadly it seems Apple did not find it too funny. And so she seems to have been pleased to apologize…

The vid is courtesy of Warnerbros. Sadly mobile iUsers will see a lego brick instead of the vid as it is embedded using Adobe Flash.

[iPhone] Untethered Jailbreak For Firmware 3.1.2, 3.1.3, and 3.2

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Team Spirit has just released a jailbreak for the latest firmwares for

  • iPhone
  • iPod Touch and
  • iPad (early beta)

As it seems it will only jailbreak an already activated device and it will not perform a carrier unlock. The jailbreak tool is available for Windows and Mac OS X and it installs the Cydia repository.

iPad users be cautious, many Cydia Apps have not been checked for compliance with the iPad and might screw up your new gadget.

Get more information and the jailbreak tool here…

Kudos to Comex and Team Spirit.

[iPhone] U.S. Antitrust Authorities Overhauling iPhone OS SDK Licence 4.0

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Apple’s strategy of a “walled garden” now seems to be inspected by U.S. antitrust authorities. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department are overhauling Apple’s latest license change for the iPhone OS SDK 4.0. Although the process is at a preliminary stage, the interest of antitrust authorities show how powerful Apple has become in the field of mobile computing.

Some critics contend Apple is now engaging in the kind of tactics that got Microsoft Corp. in trouble with antitrust enforcers in the 1990s. “Apple is playing right out of Microsoft’s playbook—and it’s one they complained about a lot,” said David Balto, a former FTC official now at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank.

Apple could try to head off trouble with antitrust enforcers by changing the terms of its developer agreement, one person familiar with the situation said.

Read more on WSJ.com.

[WebOS] Palm Owner HP Abandons Windows 7 Slate Project

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Although Steve Ballmer presented an HP Slate at CES 2010 in january, HP now abandons their Windows 7 slate project. TechnCrunch reports they got an HP inside source telling HP is not satisfied with Windows 7 as a slate operating system.

This news does not come really unexpected, as HP last week acquired Palm and they indicated in a presentation a slate with Palm’s WebOS.

[iPhone] Adobe’s CEO Fires Back at Steve Jobs

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On Wall Street Journal Adobe’s CEO Shantanu Narayen yesterday nite answered to Steve Jobs latest attack. Jobs had released an open letter yesterday morning. The bottom line of Jobs’ letter is:

  • Adobe Flash is something from the past, as it is not open,
  • it is not energy efficient and
  • it does not unleash the full powers the individual platforms (meaning: the full power of Apple’s iPhone or iPad).

Narayan responded in the WSJ.com interview, that

  • It’s got nothing to do with technology, but with control.
  • Apple wants to maintain control on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch platforms.
  • he wonders if Flash is one of the most reasons for crashing a Mac, it’s also got much to do with the operating system
  • if hardware acceleration is provided from the operating system, playing Flash takes a lot lesser energy than on a Mac.
  • Flash is an open specification

Well, well, that love is not over. We wonder how far we’re away from the point when Adobe decides to stop developing for the Apple platform? Would Apple even care? Or would they just tell thousands of designers to switch to GIMP?

We hope you don’t mind, we embed the whole WSJ.com interview as Adobe Flash ;-)