First EA, and now gaming giant Ubisoft has inked a deal with Transgaming to wrap their titles in Cider and port them over to the Mac. Which seems like great news -- Ubisoft has a huge number of quality titles, and bringing those to the Mac must be great for gamers who appreciate a better operating system. But not so fast.

First things first, Cider hasn't exactly proven itself in terms of making great games, or even ports for that matter. And apparently Ubisoft is taking it slow -- rather than bring us games like Prince of Persia, Assassin's Creed or the great Rainbow Six Vegas series, we're getting... wait for it... Catz and Dogz. Oh, and CSI: Hard Evidence, which was hardly a blockbuster on game shelves.

It's definitely good news that Mac gamers are getting more to play, but if this is all we're going to get, they can keep it. If they wanted to port us Far Cry 2 when it comes out, or maybe even the long-awaited Beyond Good and Evil 2 whenever it's done, awesome. But if all we're going to get is years-old bottom-of-the-barrel crapware, we'll stick with original Mac game developers, thanks.

[via Big Download]

I like my iPod as much as the next guy (as long as I'm not standing next to Chris Breen, that is. He REALLY likes his iPod, a little too much if you ask me) but I've often found the device not to be 'Olde Timey' enough for me. Thank goodness the thoughtful people at Hammacher Schlemmer are selling The iPod Gramophone for a little less than $500.

The iPod Gramophone isn't a fancy set of speakers (we have no need for your woofers nor your tweeters here), but rather a horn to the bottom of which you attach your iPod headphones. Through the power of 'authentic horn acoustics' whatever your iPod is playing can be amplified to up to 55 decibels louder, not to mention the exponential increase in your steampunk street cred.

I don't know about you, but I would like to see more accessories making use of authentic horn acoustics.

[via bookofjoe]

Those wizards of widgets at iSlayer have come up with yet another really useful tool for the Dashboard. Organized is a free widget with an event calendar, world clock, notes, and to-dos, all of which are synced to iCal and Mail.

As with other iSlayer widgets like iStat menus/nano/pro, it is obvious that a lot of thought went into the design of the user interface for Organized. It packs a lot of data into a very small widget and even has a feature I immediately turned on -- the ability to shut off Marker Felt as the default font for Notes.

If you download, install, and use Organized, consider sending these guys a donation so they'll continue to develop great stuff for us.

Of all the racers we've seen for the iPhone so far (and there are quite a few), this might be the one I'm most interested in -- Polarbit, who've already dipped into the iPhone's racing game capabilities with Raging Thunder, is working on a Crash Bandicoot-branded kart racing game for the iPhone (video here). And it sounds like it's got everything you'd want in a kart racing game on a console, much less on a smartphone platform -- twelve tracks, lots of characters, lots of weapons and powerups, and configurable controls. There are going to be a ton of racing games out when the App Store drops, but something silly and fun like this, crafted by a developer who knows their way around the fledgling platform, will probably be very near the top of the list.

Can't wait to play it. No exact word on when Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D is coming, but it can't be too late after the App Store releases, and we'd guess $10 for a price, since that's what most of these things will be going for. Definitely looks like it might be a standout among the plethora of accelerometer racing games we'll be sure to have.

Apple has just added a new section to the Science portion of its website (you did know Apple's website has a section devoted to science, right?). The Science Productivity Lab includes a number of video tutorials aimed at helping researchers and scientists use their Macs to share their work.

Most of the tutorials have a sciencey theme, but with subjects like, 'How to Create Live Screen Captures with Snapz Pro X,' I think it is safe to say that people other than scientists will find this information useful.

Note: The use of Bill Nye's picture should not be construed as an endorsement by the Science Guy. He does, though, think that science rules.

For your lazy Sunday afternoon, The New York Times investigates what it would take Microsoft to remove decades of cruft in its Windows operating system, like Apple did in 2000 with Mac OS X.

Avie Tevanian, formerly senior VP of software development at Apple, oversaw the transition to Mac OS X. When asked if Microsoft could pull of a switch to a small microkernel-based implementation of Windows, Tevanian said "perhaps, but I don't know if it has the intestinal fortitude." Oh, snap.

Actually, Avie was referring to an atmosphere of desperation, as the Times calls it, just before Apple started the Mac OS X project. Microsoft, possibly, hasn't hit "rock bottom" yet, and therefore doesn't feel a need to build something from scratch.

Personally, I thought "Windows 7" was going to be a leaner, less-backward-compatible build, but I was wrong (as I frequently am): "Our approach with Windows 7 is to build off the same core architecture as Windows Vista," said Bill Veghte, a Microsoft VP. Hello, Windows Me 2.0.

[Via John Siracusa.]

Moments before our Macworld 2008 interview with Paul Kafasis he told me about the unique way the demo CDs they were giving out worked. What's the main problem with software on CDs? Those apps are suspended in amber, frozen in time, and many other overused metaphors. The fine folks at Rogue Amoeba make living, breathing code. They don't stop updating it for a second, and they wanted to make sure that the app you installed off of that CD was the most up to date version available.

Impossible, you say. Piffle! Not for Rogue Amoeba (that one celled organism is a determined little guy). They looked at the problem and thought of LiveDisc. LiveDisc is an application that is burnt onto the CD. This application points to the most recent versions of the actual app that you want the user to install (an Internet connection is required). A simple solution to a highly specific problem, which is why I like it so much.

Rogue Amoeba is now sharing LiveDisc with other devs in the form of LiveDiscKit, an open source plugin for Interface Builder. Simply tweak a few settings, point it at the right places, and you're set to press a large number of CDs which will never go out of date (CD pressing functionality is not included with LiveDiscKit), that is assuming CDs stick around for much longer.

Intel has decided that for its own employees, Windows Vista just won't cut the mustard. According to the New York Times, "Intel information technology staff just found no compelling case for adopting Vista."

Ouch. Intel's IT staff arrived at their decision after a lengthy cost-benefit analysis.

Intel has 80,000 employees worldwide, and could be seen as a bellwether for large companies still on the fence about upgrading to Vista. Since Microsoft has been a tight partner with Intel for years, it remains to be seen what kind of pressure Intel will get from top Microsoft management.

In related news, Microsoft released a Windows Vista SP1 "reliability update" that fixes problems with launching large applications, and crashes involving QuickTime.

I love the iPhone, save for one thing. It sits on my desk every night, right near my computer, and the speakers I've got hooked up to it. And every 15 minutes, when the iPhone checks email for me, I get that buzzing -- the sound of radio interference flying across my speaker wires. And almost every night, I have to jump out of bed angrily just to shut off the speakers and stop the buzzing. Little did I know, all I've ever needed was an empty can of Red Bull.

Yes, someone has fashioned a "shield" out of an emptied and carved up Red Bull can, and supposedly it works like a charm -- just fashion it around the dock that came with the iPhone, use a little doublestick tape to make sure it stays on there (and I would maybe put some around the edges, too, so you don't slice your fingers open every time you pull the iPhone off the dock), and no more buzzing sound.

The maker does wonder if it would affect the actual signal of the iPhone at all, but it hasn't so far. If you've got a Red Bull can around to cut up and are driven as nuts as I am by that buzzing noise, here's your makeshift solution. The other option is to buy speakers that don't buzz, of course, but this seems a lot cheaper.

Of all the things said about George Carlin over the past few days, I like what Jon Stewart said on the Daily Show most: he's getting awfully tired of people who we need leaving us. But as Stewart also said, the good thing about Carlin is that he left us "hours and hours of video." iTunes has posted a page of George Carlin's famous standup to honor a comedian that I and many, many other comedy fans looked up to for laughter and inspiration.

If you need a place to start, the "seven dirty words" monologue is probably the most famous, but Carlin often said that his favorite performance was the "Jammin' in New York" show -- he said it was the first time he'd done longer pieces, and talked about stuff that he really put his heart into (it's actually the show that was used for the Moment of Zen on the Daily Show). Definitely a great listen.

Of course, it's probably not quite right that iTunes' system automatically listed "Concert Tickets" as an option on the page. But in the world that Carlin worked his whole life to show us, big companies doing stupid things is nothing new.

Thanks, Steve!

The fine folks at AOL Shopping, in their infinite wisdom, have summarized a quarter-century of debate in their feature on whether you should buy a Mac or a PC.

The bottom line? "You should buy a PC, if you already own a lot of PC software that you want to continue using. [...] If you want to do artistic work on your computer (photography, video editing, graphic design), you'll find Macs much more intuitive." Of course, that glosses over the fact that Apple makes excellent Windows PCs that will happily run your legacy Win32 applications.

Still, this seems almost reasonable, until you get to this (practically throwaway) sentence: "If money is not an issue, go with a Mac."

Yeah -- 1991 called, and they want their talking point back. Study after study has shown that the total cost of ownership of a Mac is less than that of a comparable PC. This includes post-purchase factors like software, repairs, and upgrades. Agreed: the up-front price is higher (in many cases), but over time, you spend less money owning a Mac.

AOL Shopping suggests the opposite is true, simply due to Microsoft's sluggish OS release schedule. Having to update your OS once every seven years, to them, is less costly than upgrading every year or so. They neglect to consider the cost of your time in support calls and aggregate ease-of-use savings.

Even so, if their poll is any indication, two thirds of their readers still plan on buying a Mac.

Disclaimer: AOL is the parent company of Weblogs, Inc. and TUAW.

iPresentee, a small company providing themes and objects for Apple's iLife and iWeb software suites, is offering a free download of Keynote Objects.

Keynote Objects is a package of 100 attractive icon-like objects that can be used not only with Keynote, but also with Microsoft PowerPoint and Word. All of the objects have a transparent background, and are easily resized, rotated, made more or less transparent, or shadowed.

I'm actually going to use several of the objects as icons for a new web site that I'm designing, simply because they offer an attractive and cohesive set of art objects. What will you use your free Keynote Objects for?

In its hardware repair instructions and videos, Apple frequently mentions the "black stick," a plastic tool that can be used to pry things apart without damaging our precious glossy exterior finishes (or the sensitive electronics inside). The problem I've found is that nobody seems to have these, instead opting to use credit cards, pens, screwdrivers, chisels, circular saws, or whatever else is handy to crack open the case.

My beautiful girlfriend Michelle is a chemist, and she brought home a giveaway nylon lab spatula (pictured) from a trade show. I found it perfect for use as a black stick. Best of all, it was free.

Other companies sell black tools online. PowerbookMedic offers black nylon "flat probe tool spudgers" for $2.90 apiece. These, they claim, are the same style as Apple uses in its repair videos and documentation.

Stanley also offers a nylon soldering tool that works just as well, and it's less than half the price at $1.30 each.

If anyone else knows of any other ESD-safe, non damaging pry tools (especially for cheap!), feel free to share in comments.

I occasionally work with clients who need to have Macs set up as kiosks. That means that anyone can walk up and use the Mac to watch a video or access information, but they usually can't update anything on the Mac. Kiosks are especially useful when the user interface consists of a finger touching the screen. In my experience, touch screens are generally expensive and require that you send a Mac off to a vendor for installation.

Troll Touch now has user-installable touch screens for the 20" and 24" aluminum iMacs called SlipCOVERs. Priced at $699 (20") and $899 (24"), the SlipCOVERs come with touch screen drivers and calibration software. The video above shows a touch-enabled iMac in action -- I especially liked watching the demo dude playing Bejeweled using his finger instead of a mouse. Pull off the aluminum stand, lay that SlipCOVER iMac down on its back, and you've got a 24" iPod touch!

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but I'm not sure how this one will go over with pacifist Steve Jobs. According to BrandWeek, the U.S. Army is planning on opening a concept recruitment center inspired by the interactivity of Apple's retail stores.

The pilot recruitment center is designed to be less intimidating, and more "like walking into a NASA center," said Edward Walters, chief marketing officer for the U.S. Army. The center will include helicopter simulators, full-scale equipment mockups, and large video screens.

The centers "show people what Army is about. We want to convey to young men and woman the most meaningful benefits of joining the Army," said Walters.

Analyst Richard Laermer doubts the test will succeed, and predicts that the new-look recruitment center will be shut down because of public outcry. "People are going to get mad about it," he said.