The Apple Weekend Warrior: updates from Apple and the homebrew scene, with rumors of - iFoneHaX Network

Saduger · 08-05-2008, 01:05 AM

Those of you looking for more information on the latest happenings in the Apple scene need not look any further. This week's edition of the Apple Weekend Warrior wraps everything up in a neat little package for you to browse at your leisure.

Similar to last week's Weekend Warrior coverage, we have some new updates from both the official and unofficial channels around the Apple community. Apple was able to sneak in a couple of updates for the iTunes and the Mac OS X just before the weekend hit, while homebrew developers came up with their own releases for their respective projects.

Anyway, you can read the rest of what happened in detail by checking out our week long summary below.

Of updates official and unofficial, with a couple of rumors on the side

Apple made a mad dash during the final stretch of the week by introducing a couple of new software updates for both iTunes and the Mac OS X. Music lovers can now click on their respective Software Update buttons and download the new iTunes 7.7.1. The new update is said to include fixes to improve stability and performance to the popular music browser, so go ahead and install it on your preferred Apple gadget as soon as possible.

On the other hand, developers can finally get the chance to try out the first build of the new Mac OS X 10.5.5. However, the new operating system update includes an ominous caveat - the company advised developers not to install the software on Macs with integrated graphics chips due to some graphical bugs noted in the current release.

Link: Fire up your music browsers: iTunes 7.7.1 update now available
Link: Apple releases first build of Mac OS X 10.5.5; graphical bugs noted

In gaming news, fans of Maxis' Spore no longer have to worry about any more delays for the game. Producer Thomas Vu confirmed that Spore will finally be going gold by next week, and will be good to go for its September release on the PC and the Mac. EA CEO John Riccitiello also hinted of future DLC and microtransactions should Spore prove to be just as successful as its sibling franchise, The Sims.

Link: Spore goes gold next week; EA hints possible DLC and microtransactions

Some people from iPhone Atlas took a quick peek (pun not intended) at the source code of the new iPhone OS 2.1 beta and found some interesting tidbits written in it. Hints of a possible iPod touch model may soon be released by Apple judging from the "iPod2,1" designation found in the OS' code.

Link: Rumor: new iPod touch model hinted in iPhone firmware 2.1 beta

A couple of useful homebrew apps made its way into this week's set of update as well. Bookworms on the go will definitely want to update their copies of textReader to the new 2.1 version, designed specifically for firmware 2.0. While it may not be as perfect as the previous versions, its support for the new software update should still give users a way to enjoy their e-books until a more streamlined version is rolled out.

Homebrew developer jonz was also able to release an updated version of the iPhone-based NES emulator, NES.app. Version 2.2.1 includes a lot of modifications to its landscape mode and even added accelerometer support to give the emulator a unique feel for its controls.

Link: textReader 2.1 for firmware 2.0 - disabled several features
Link: NES.app v2.3.0 - revamped landscape code, added accelerometer support

If fun and games are your thing, we got wind of a couple of homebrew games that were able to catch our attention during the previous week. ZodTTD was able come up with a homebrew port of id Software's classic FPS title, Quake. This release of quake4iphone includes a shareware version of the first two levels of Quake, although it's possible to add your retail copy of the .pak files to enable other levels.

If FPS games aren't your thing, you can always go old-school with BigBoss' latest release of MacMan. The game is basically - you guessed it! - a clone of Namco's Pacman, laced with some specialized touchscreen controls and accelerometer features.

Link: quake4iphone - an iPhone port of id Software's classic shooter
Link: MacMan - a PacMan clone for the iPhone, iPod touch

Neck and neck

Looking at the amount of updates from Apple and the homebrew scene, it's almost as if the two parties were competing to gain the attention of the community. However, much like what I speculated in last week's Weekend Warrior article, the two entities have a strange sort of symbiotic relationship that somehow works out for the good of everyone involved.

It's nice to know that each group still have their own respective aces hidden up their sleeves. At the very least, it gives us something to look forward to week after week, as we continually get new updates from both the official and unofficial end of the Apple spectrum.

Anyway, that closes this week's set of updates from the Apple Weekend Warrior. We'll definitely have another serving of news from the Apple scene by next week, so make sure to drop by again more updates as soon as we get then.

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