Month: November 2011
by Rick Sutcliffe Technology News and Views Since 1983 Something Old, Something New December 2011 The Spy recently acquired a few surplus G5s, and in the process of setting them up to be useful file servers and replacements for even older G4s at his home and church, (re)-discovered some interesting things about memory, disk drives, and both hardware and software compatibilities. First is that all disk drives are not manufactured equal, quite apart from the Thailand flooding that means many…
Michael Mahon and Seth Sternberger have released a new percussion sequencer software package for the Apple ][. They posted the following release information about the software package on CSA2: With inspiration and musical mentoring provided by Seth Sternberger of _8-Bit Weapon_, I’ve impemented a percussion sequencer/synthesizer for the Apple II. It allows a user to create sequences as long as 255 patterns, where each pattern is one of a set of 16 musical measures. Within each of these patterns, any…
Ghostery is an add-on to FireFox (and other web browsers) which stop sites from tracking users as they surf the web. Installing it depends on which web browser and which version is being used. A good place to start is either tools, extensions, or add-ons. Once installed and the browser is restarted, Ghostery will go through three or four configuration screens. The last screen lets the user select which tracking cookies/bugs to block. One of the options is to let…
Donut games has changed their free games of the week, now making Action Buggy available. Action Buggy is a very difficult high action game, similar in concept to Moon Patrol from the 1980’s. Normally the game is a .99 cent download but Donut games is making it available for a limited time for free. The game can be downloaded from the Donut Games App Store page at: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=364025671&mt=8 Jungle Crash Land, another fun game and one of last weeks free…
The iCade started out as an April Fools joke, but was soon realized by the popular gadget company ThinkGeek. The iCade — Ipad Arcade Cabinet — harkens back to the old school type arcade style and enhances any game experience, especially those old 1980’s games. Many manufacaturers have looked for the iCade as a standard for their game play and while the price for the cabinet is normally $99.99, ThinkGeek is running a special for Black Friday sales with a…
Egan Ford has released a new update to his Codebreaker program for the Apple-1. The new program now includes three levels of play; Normal, Master, and Pro. Also changed in the program is the following items: Added “Master” level–same as “Pro” but with 60 second time limit. Added a score board on exit. Fixed a memory(stack) leak. Built for 8K Apple 1. To Load and Execute the Codebreaker program on an Apple-1 or Apple-1 Emulator, use the following commands: C100R…
Game: CrazyMoto HD Version: 1.0 Publisher: Hare URL: http://itunes.apple.com/app/crazymoto-hd-special/id476870574?mt=8 When we went searching for a new game of the day, we were pleasantly surprised at what we found. CrazyMoto HD by Hare is a game that offers the best iPhone gamer a bit of a challenge in control. The game itself while simply a motorcycle game, offers features that are first class including Realistic physics. Destructible motor bike. Realistic shocks. Challenge mode. Practice mode. 80 levels, in FOUR distinct worlds….
Egan Ford has created a new game for the Apple-1 computer. The game, Codebreaker, is based upon the old game of Mastermind in which a user tries to break the code in the shortest time possible. The six digit color coded sequence must be solved in a minimum of moves and time. Codebreaker requires a 16K Apple-1 computer or an Apple-1 emulator such as Marc Ressl’s Open Emulator (http://www.openemulator.org) in order to play the game. Egan has provided a video…
Donut Games, the publisher of the popular Rat on a Skateboard app is currently offering two of their games for the iphone for free. Parachute, which is a serious game of control skills and Jungle Crash Land, one of our favorites, are both on tap for free download for “a limited time”. Donut games occasionally offers some of their games in a “Free Game of the Week” promotion. You can download Parachute at: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=313734044&mt=8 Jungle Crash Land is available at:…
Game: Tap Tap Muppets Version: 1.0 Publisher: Disney / Tapulous URL: http://itunes.apple.com/app/tap-tap-muppets/id478167642?mt=8 For those of us who refuse to grow up or those who loved the Tap Tap series of games, there is now the ultimate laughing time Tap Tap game available from Disney and Tapulous. Tap Tap Muppets features all of those lovable characters from the popular TV and movie series. The game comes with two tracks initially another 4 tracks are available for download immediately. The game has…
Game: Rat on a Snowboard Version: 1.00 Publisher: Donut Games Platform: iPhone/iPad URL: http://donutgames.com/iphone_games.php The 29th game in Donut Games iPhone game series is one of absolute genious. Donut Games has taken their popular Rat series games a step further from the previous, Rat on the Run and Rat on a Skateboard to the world of extreme snowboarding. Rat on a Snowboard is a high paced, fun game with a ton of new obstacles and three different play modes…
The Mozilla project has released the latest version of their Firefox Browser. Version 8.0.1 was released to address issues introduced in prior versions including: Fixed Mac OS X crash that occurred in certain instances when a Java Applet is loaded with Java SE 6 version 1.6.0_29 installed. Fixed Windows startup crash caused by RoboForm versions older than 7.6.2. For more information about this release and prior releases, check out the 8.0.1 release notes page at: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/8.0.1/releasenotes/
Garnet Ulrich has released an update to his popular Apple ][ Emulator for Android mobile units. The program allows users with Version 2.1 or higher to run a true Apple ][ emulator on their phone. Changes included in version 1.63 are as follows: Bluetooth game controller support, including Wiimote, through Bluez-IME. Touchscreen joystick controls. Monochrome amber, green and white emulation options. ‘No button’ mode available in landscape. Number Munchers for download. According to Garnet Ulrich, the programs creator, “Version 1.62…
After a request by Willi Kuche, the Apple ][ community came together and managed to come up with two versions of the source code for Glen Bredon’s Mr. Fixit for Prosel 8. Being as no original source code was available, two people in particular disassembled the program and have posted their respective versions to the internet. Antoine Vignau of Brutal Deluxe Software posted his Merlin based version of the source code at: http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/public/mrfixit/ Willi Kuche also decided to create a…
The Forty Column site has added a number of newly produced graphics to the site. The site features work by users using the T40 program by Brutal Deluxe (http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/apple2/t40.html). The program allows you to create true old school forty column art. The Forty Column site is the brainchild of Daniel Kruszyna who put the idea of such an editor to Antoine Vignau of Brutal Deluxe. Days later, the new T40 program was ready and is now available to all users. …
Dr. John B. Matthews has posted the latest version of the Apple Commander program on his website. According to his posting on CSA2, ” Apple Commander v1.3.5.9 is now available. This version features an update by David Schmidt to allow writing Pascal TEXT files on DOS ordered disk images.” Apple Commander allows users to view and manipulate the contents of an Apple ][ disk image as well as to export the contents of the disks to text files on the…
Apple today released a couple of updates including iTunes 10.5.1. This update is supposed to include the new service from Apple called iTunes Match, their matching service which allows imported CDs to also be stored in iCloud. This service should address many users issues with the lack of cover art and proper titling of their CD’s and seeks to eliminate many of the gaps in most people’s cover flows. iTunes 10.5 also included:• iTunes in the Cloud. iTunes now stores…
The November 2011 episode of Open Apple, the only co-hosted Apple II podcast, is now available! This month, Mike and I talk with Melissa Barron, the Apple II community’s famed tapestry artist. We three relate their experiences exploring the past and future of computer media at conventions and museums in Chicago and Rochester, exploring the methods used to create and preserve history. Further tributes are made to Steve Jobs, while Mike Westerfield reclassifies old BASIC tools and releases new ones….
In a week that saw many users receive their iPhone 4S including myself, Apple decided to go on a tear and create a few PR issues with developers. However, I guess the end result of that disaster in the Internet world is that Apple decided to fix one Charlie Miller’s well known and thoroughly explained bug (@0xcharlie) after unceremoniously booting him from the Apple Developers program. They took this bug and a nasty battery drain on the iPhone 4S and…
Frequent readers of this web page will realise I like to learn how to do things (this is the reason for the long gaps between my posts). I hope readers find this information to be useful… After seeing a member of another club demo it on a smart phone for me, I decided to give it a try myself. Be aware this is only scratching the surface of the topic and it can be a security risk if not implemented…
