Appletell | Apple, Mac, iPhone, iPod | News, Rumors, Reviews, How-Tos

I’m a big fan of the Call of Duty series, and I was excited when I heard it was coming to the Mac. However, it looks like COD4 fans will have to wait a little longer. It’s been delayed.

On Tuesday, June 2, 2008 Aspyr announced that Call of Duty 4 will be delayed. It was originally supposed to be released in May. The fact that May passed without us getting this title was a great indication that the deadline wasn’t going to be met, right?

“Aspyr Studios has chosen to continue to spend more time in development with the title in order to ensure a high-quality gaming experience for Mac gamers,” reads a statement offered by Aspyr.

Call of Duty 4 is a first person shooter developed by Infinity Ward. It’s the fourth game in this extremely popular series. Currently, you can purchase it for PlayStation 3, PC, and Xbox 360 (I have the Xbox version). Unlike the previous games which were set during World War II, Call of Duty 4 is set in modern times, and you are visiting various hotspots around the globe. There are lots of weapons from which you can choose for the game, and playing in multi-player mode allows you to unlock additional weapons, weapon attachments, and camouflage schemes as you progress.

Although I’m disappointed by this temporary setback, I’ll happily purchase it for my MacBook Pro once it is available.

• Opinion: More studios need to follow Infinity Ward’s lead with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• British agency using Xbox Live to increase awareness, recruit potential agents
• Modern Warfare 2 not banned in Russia

It can be frustrating when you purchase a device and don’t find the answers to the questions you have in the accompanying manual. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has faced this with my various Apple devices. Scouring the internet was extremely helpful, but I wish I had all that information in one place.

If you’re an iPod, iPhone, iTunes or Apple TV user, you’ll be happy to know there is a free book available that answers most of the commonly asked questions. Every year, iLounge publishes a book that focuses on the questions readers have for their Apple devices. You can get this book as a free download for your computer, iPhone, iPod or other small portable devices. The book size will vary depending on which one you download. The one I downloaded was 268 pages, which I have it stored on my 17” MacBook Pro and have also printed it out. I’ve since spent a lot of time flipping though it to read many of the reviews, design retrospectives, and tips that were included. Many pictures are included with this book, and it’s filled with valuable information.

Book section details after the break.

MORE »

In honor of Black Music Month, Apple is throwing a month-long celebration, featuring in-store performances at a variety of its Apple store locations throughout the U.S. There will be 22 artists appearing in seven cities, including San Francisco, New York, Atlanta, Troy, Michigan, Santa Monica, California, Miami, and Chicago.

Billboard reports that Michelle Williams, Tiffany Evans, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Cherish, Wyclef Jean, Janelle Monae, Marvin Sapp, Mike Phillips, Yung Berg, B.o.B., Anthony David, Goapele, Vaughn Anthony, MC Lyte, David Banner, Pastor Troy, Killer Mike, Talib Kweli, DJ Irie, Mistah F.A.B. and E-40 will be performing. This month-long celebration gives people a wonderful opportunity to hear these talented artists perform.

If you were looking forward to seeing Tiffany Evans perform, you just missed her; she kicked off the event yesterday, June 1, at the Apple Soho location. Last month, her self-titled album was released via Columbia Records.

The list of artists that will be making an appearance at the various Apple stores throughout the US is impressive. I have met Wyclef Jean and Goapele (pronounced Gwa-pa-lay) a few times and have many of their songs loaded on my iPod nano.

Although I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting Malcolm Jamal Warner, I would like to meet him. I was a big fan of The Cosby Show, and am still hoping the episodes make an appearance at the iTunes store so I can purchase my favorites and watch them on my Apple TV.

I would love to attend one of the shows, but they aren’t appearing in my city. Let us know if you get the chance to check out a performance.

Via [Billboard]

• Opinion: More studios need to follow Infinity Ward’s lead with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• British agency using Xbox Live to increase awareness, recruit potential agents
• Modern Warfare 2 not banned in Russia

Apple’s .Mac service. Will .Mac service be changed to MobileMe? What about .Mac will it redirect to a new domain?

Mac.Rumors has reported that .Me is registered to the MarkMonitor domain service. For those who don’t know MarkMonitor is a global leader in enterprise brand protection. It’s a service that Apple, along with over half of Fortune 100 companies depend on. Earlier this year MarkMonitor purchased the following domains on behalf of Apple: MacBookAir.net, MacBookAir.org, MacBookAir.us, MacBookAir.info, MacBookAir.biz. If you type in .Me com now it will redirect you to Snappville.com, which is a social networking website that used to be called to .Me com. It changed its name in December 2007.

MORE »

Grab your chef’s hat, put on your oven mitts it’s time to start cooking!

In the game Cooking Academy you’ll be able to test out your culinary skills in the kitchens of a prestigious culinary school. You have the chance to prepare eggrolls, gyoza, pancakes, crème brulee and many more. Cooking Academy lets you prepare over 50 different recipes!

I decided to try out the game. As a chef in training you will have a Top Chef that guides you through each delicious recipe that you prepare.  Each cooking session begins with the Top Chef supplying interesting trivia about the food you are preparing. There are five categories for you to test your culinary skills; Appetizers, Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Dessert. Advancing to the next category, which unlocks additional recipes, is done by passing your cooking courses and exams. If you do exceptionally well, the head chef will award you bonus points. I received bonus points for each recipe I prepared.  If you receive exceptionally high marks on each task within a particular recipe, you have the chance to move to the head of the class with an A+.

MORE »

Rumors have been circulating about Apple’s .Mac service. Many believe that we will be seeing a massive upgrade to its service we will see these features revealed alongside the launch of the iPhone Software 2.0 in June.

Recently, TUAW reported that Dmitry Chestnykh, CEO of Coding Robots, discovered something interesting after he had updated to Mac OS X 10.5.3. Dmitry claimed that he discovered “evidence that the .Mac brand name is going to be replaced.”  Regarding the name change if this turns out to be true Mac, users would simply have to install a second update, and all the .Mac applications would be removed.

Over the past few weeks I have noticed other users, on various Mac forums, have been reporting that recently .Mac has been down a lot. Many people believe the name change along with upgrades to the .Mac service will be made at the WWDC 2008.

I purchased my first Mac in October 2006, a 17” MacBook Pro. I used the .Mac service my first year but didn’t extend renew service. The main reason was I wasn’t impressed with what the .Mac service had to offer. If the rumor is true and Apple has made major changes to .Mac that I would actually use I definitely would use the service again.

What features would you like to see with the .Mac service?

• Opinion: More studios need to follow Infinity Ward’s lead with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• British agency using Xbox Live to increase awareness, recruit potential agents
• Modern Warfare 2 not banned in Russia

Apple is on a roll with its update, first we received the much anticipated software update OS X 10.5.3, an update that is recommended for all Leopard users. Many, including myself, wasn’t expecting to see this release until after the WWDC 2008.  Apple didn’t stop there they also rolled out iPhone SDK Beta 6, and now we’ve received an update for Aperture 2 and iPhoto 08.

I have Aperture 2.0 loaded on my 17” MacBook Pro. It’s always great to see other RAW-format cameras add to the list. It gives more people that have the newly supported cameras a chance to take full advantage of Aperture 2 and iPhoto 08. With this update, you will see support for the following cameras.

• Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/Kiss Digital x2/450D
• Epson R-D1
• Leaf AFi 7
• Leaf AFi 6
• Leaf AFi 5
• Pentax K200D
• Pentax K20D

RAW image files are minimally processed data from the image sensor of a digital camera or image scanner. Think of it as a digital negative. I have a Nikon D80 and mainly shoot my pictures in RAW. Some of the benefits of shooting in RAW include higher image quality, finer control, images can be edited in a nondestructive manner, working color space can be selected to whatever is desired, different mosaicing algorithms can be used, and the image isn’t compressed which means the maximum amount of detail is kept within the RAW file.

In order to download this update you will need to go to the Apple menu (apple icon in the top left hand corner) and click on software update. You can also go directly to the Apple Support page to download the Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 2.1. The download is 2.4 MB.

• Opinion: More studios need to follow Infinity Ward’s lead with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• British agency using Xbox Live to increase awareness, recruit potential agents
• Modern Warfare 2 not banned in Russia

If you are an iTunes user living in the UK or Canada, you’ll be happy to know that Apple will be adding several popular movie titles to the UK and Canada iTunes store. Just like in the US you’ll have the option to purchase or rent the popular movie titles.

The Times reported that the two major players Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Brothers; studio that made The Matrix trilogy along with the Harry Potter series has signed. Disney, the studio behind Pirates of the Caribbean has also signed. Other studios that have accepted the agreement are Paramount; they are the studio behind Indiana Jones. Warner Brothers, Lions Gates, and MGM have also signed. Even though the availability of having films online has appeared to increase interests in the films that are available Sony Pictures and Universal Studios have refused to sign the new agreement. Since making an agreement with Apple iTunes, Disney CEO Bob Igor stated his company has sold over four million videos since 2006.

At this time pricing hasn’t been set for movie purchase or rental; however, studio sources have said that they “would not want to undercut DVD prices.” Pricing is being predicted between £6 to £25 per film when the service begins. At the moment, the release date of the popular films hasn’t been finalized. The release schedule is set by the movie studios.

• Opinion: More studios need to follow Infinity Ward’s lead with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• British agency using Xbox Live to increase awareness, recruit potential agents
• Modern Warfare 2 not banned in Russia

Great news for those itching to register for the iPhoneDevCamp 2 you are now able to register for this event. Registration for the iPhone developer’s camp began earlier this week. iPhoneDevCamp 2 is not affiliated with Apple, Inc. iPhoneDevCamp 2 is a not-for-profit event. Sponsors for the event include such companies like Adobe Systems, Belkin, VMware Fusion, iLounge, Funambol, Core Cases, The Apple Phone Show, iWipes along with many others.

MORE »

Mac OS X 10.5.3 is an update which Apple developers have been testing for the past few months. Mac users have been waiting patiently for its release. The fabulous news is that you are finally able to download Mac OS X 10.5.3. This update is recommended for Mac OSX 10.5, 10.5.1, and 10.5.2 (Leopard) users.

A surprising twist is that Apple has included detailed information about this software update. Numerous Mac users have complained about the lack of documentation with the Apple updates and Apple has done a great job of documenting the fixes for each application. Mac users will find the usual fixes within the Mac OS X 10.5.3 update such as general operating system improvements to enhance stability, compatibility, and the security of your Mac computer. Numerous applications have received an update with this release including Address Book, Airport, Automator, iCal, iChat, Mail, Parental Control, Spaces, Time Machine, and Voice Over.

Mac OS X 10.5.3 download varies from computer to computer. Remember if you don’t regularly update your system you might need to install other updates before you are able to install MAC OS X 10.5.3. Checking to see whether your system is up-to-date is simple click on the Apple symbol once the menu opens click on Software update. That’s it, software update will check to see whether your system needs to be updated. Have you noticed anything different in the update?

• Opinion: More studios need to follow Infinity Ward’s lead with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• British agency using Xbox Live to increase awareness, recruit potential agents
• Modern Warfare 2 not banned in Russia