unimatrix

Apparently the batteries used for powermac and ibooks in 2003 may also have the exploding trick up their sleeves. These batteries, like Dell's, were made by Sony Corp. Here is the link. https://support.apple.com/ I have Tibook, so I'm searching to see if my laptop is effected.

Nice work, but I have trouble reading some of the text, especially at the bottom. I'd work a little bit on that. Overall it's nice work. Makes me wish I had art talent. If it weren't for computers and Lightwave....I wouldn't be able to draw a straight line.

I run macs now and pretty much out of the PC gaming arena...although I am seriously thinking about getting a cheap PC that can run Falcon 4.0: Allied Force...At any rate, all i've read and heard about the whole steam process was that it had issues. Lots and lots of issues all around. I know very few people who did not have some kind of problem with the steam registration process. I understand how they want to keep people from pirating their games, but there has to be a better way other than ticking off your fans...

I've taken the TOS Galactica and updated her to fit in with the new Battlestar Galactica series by adding new texture maps. I've dubbed her Battlestar Olympia and will be doing some 3D animated battles with her in the near future for the video iPod.

Last time I checked, they were still debating the status of Pluto let alone more system objects....gee whiz, don't follow Astromony closely for a couple years and they change everything...

What platform are you on? I know how to this with a Mac and then use Quicktime Pro to convert to Flash.

iChat. Okay, yeah I'm a mac fan too, but iChat has been a wonderful app especially with the newer AV versions and the addition of iSight to all iMacs and Apple notebooks. It makes doing video confrencing very simple, especially when your on the road like I am a lot.

It was only a matter of time. Based on current US court rulings, it's safe to say that Limewire will be shut down within months. Torrents seem to have replaced services such as limewire for a lot of people. At least the ones that still pirate stuff on a regular basis. I used similar services so I could down load episodes of SG-1 and Atlantis when I was traveling. Some of the hotels didn't have Sci-fi, but offered free high speed so I'd download the latest episodes the next day and watch them while flying.Of course that was back when you could still take laptops on airplanes. This sucks, because I don't wan't to fly to the Netherlands in October and check a $2200 Powerbook with $8500 worth of software loaded on it in to luggage...

Falcon 4.0: Allied Force is an excellent upgrade to the original game back in 1999. It came out last year (2005) and is by far one of the most accurate and interesting flight sims. Of course it's a combat flight sim, but key words are flight sim. The program meets or exceeds all USAF requirements for simulation. Allied force has graphics updates and major bug fixes to online play and the dynamic combat engine. Campaigns go based on how well you fly. This isn't a game for those wanting to jump inthe cockpit and bomb stuff. It took a couple years of playing a few hours a week with a HOTAS joystick system for the original Falcon 4.0 to be able to fly and not die all the time. Landings in falcon 4 are good, because if you take off and then have your mission scrubbed by AWACS call, you have to jettison your stores and burn fuel for 10 minutes at full afterburner because just like in real life, ifyou land the F-16 heavy, the landing gear will collapse.

Can this be done? Simple Answer: No.Complex Answer: Yes, with much pounding of forehead against wall...That being said, the first generation of Apple Airport base stations (Apple's fancy term for a wireless router station)did in fact have a built in modem so you could share a dial up account. It would be extremely slow with any more than 1 connection, but if you were looking for the mobilty aspect, (being able to sit on the couch and surf while watching TV) it would work.No the wireless is only 11b, but will handle dial up. I'd search ebay to see if you could find a 1st generation Airport base station for cheap.

Laptop:Powerbook1.25Ghz G4 2GB RAMOS 10.460GB HDD120GB Firewire External HDD (share with Desktop)32 MB ATI Mobility Video CardDesktop 1:PowerMacDual 1.8Ghz G54GB RAM2x250GB HDD256MB Nvidea video cardServer:PowerMacDual 1.25Ghz G42GB Ram4x160GB HDDOS 10.4-Server 10 Client edition64MB ATI video card

So long as it still runs on all my PPC machines....I'm happy. Until FCP comes out for Mactel: I have to stick with the POWER processors

3D animation, on any platform, is done by one of or some combination these methods: Keyframing, paths, or scripting. Keyframing is usually the easiest to learn, but is very hard for all but the simpliest animations. Paths are like key framing, but if you need a camera or object to go in a certain course it can be useful. And then there is programming/scripting. If your good a programing, this is the best method because you can clearly define things. Especially if there are objects that mimic nature or your trying to create a simulation. Nice thing about blender: Python is an easy scripting language to learn

Not a bad start other than some of the enviromental textures look odd...that is if they are supposed to be going for the crome look. Are you using 3DS' internal redering engine or a 3rd party?

My PS2 is proably my last console until I have kids. Why? As an adult soon to be returning to Grad school (which I am paying for out of my own pocket), $70 for a game is expensive. I mean that's a good month's worth of other enterainment expenses in my budget and the only time I play games are on the weekends while doing laundry (or on days when I need a 15 minute break, hooray Battlefront II that I just picked up for $20 now that it's in the classic bin). I just don't really care about games much. I have seriously considered getting a new cheap PC (I run macs professionally) and grab my old X45 joystick/throttle just to get a copy of Falcon 4.0 gold (the version of the best modern combat flight sim ever with updated graphics and all the bugs taken out). That's like the only game I am interested in playing anymore...given that I'm going for a PhD in International afffairs, paricularly in the use of the military...not surprising.

For 908% of the work I do, GIMP can do it and sometimes it even does a better job than PS. (Okay, I have to admit, I'm still running on PS7 for Mac...I have no need to upgrade until I switch to Mactel)That being said, that 2% is a major amount of my work. That's because I rely on a couple Photoshop Plug-ins to generate textures and there is no other programs for mac that will do the same thing. Also, there is not any programs for Linux either nor equal plug-ins for the GIMP. So I'm locked into using PS until my needs are met by another application. Considering PS now is only $150 for upgrades and the plug ins were $50....I'd need a new app that is less than that or so riduclusly superior for the added money that i was forced to use it. So I'm stuck with PS, but for most every day users, GIMP will do everything they need and more. Plus I've found it to be pretty stable on the Mac. Sure it crashes, but no more or less than PS in my experience.

every professional recording studio I've stepped in has had a mac in it period. Usually two or three. Before Garage Band I used to use Soundtrack Pro as part of the Protools bundle with DVD studio and Final Cut Pro. In fact I still use ST Pro even though it is no longer bundled with Final Cut Studio. Most of the profesisionals are using Apple Logic coupled with Finale for composing. Logic seems to be the best tool without spending tens of thousands of dollars on the truely professional stuff. That being said, Garage Band probably does enough for my limited needs of mixing and editing sound loops, but I still use ST Pro as I still use FC Studio 4 with FCP upgraded to the HD version. Although, in the next version of Final Cut Pro is supposed to be able to handle 5.1 surround sound from inside the program, so no having to mix the soundtrack in another application and having to sync.

I worked professionally and as a student in the 3D world since 1999/2000. I started with 3D Studio Max 2.5 (back when it was owned by a little studio called Kinetix) and 3D Studio wasn't bad. I found it easy enough to use and it worked nicely with Autocad. My college had an architecture program, but 3D animation was a hobby of mine and I ended up getting paid by other students to "help" them with creating an animation. Actually, I became the campus expert on the distributing rendering system where we'd take a lab of 40 computers and shut it down for a night and just render with PIII 850's with 512MB of RAM....those were the days.3D Max these days is the top pick for most game designers and architecture firms since 3D studio plays nicely with Autocad since Autodesk bought Kinetix. The only bad thing about MAX is that it only runs on Windows. I still have a copy of 2.5 around here, but I haven't opened it 5 years. (also because I run on Mac now)Lightwave 3D is my top choice. Why? Lightwave is still the only 3D package I know of that can do broadcast quality work out of the box. The rendering Engine is dated now, but it still that good. Lightwave is the primary application at Zoic, who did the FX for Firefly/Serenity and current does the work for the new Battlestar Galactica series. Lightwave also supports Windows, Macintosh, and Linux systems. This was good since our shop was 100% Mac. Final Cut Pro was our primary editing suite and Shake was our compositing app (and the one I spent the most time with. Also Lightwave was half the cost per seat of 3D Max at $1500 each with our volume discount. Now I think LW is about $900 the last time I looked. Lightwave also has a good selection of high quality models for purchase. That was the key in our business. It was cheaper to pay upwards of $500 for a good model and then create the animation than actually hire and pay a modeller and texture artist on staff. If we needed a car for a car add, we bought that car, etc...Blender is also good because it's free. I've been using it as my hobby application at home since 1.8 and is the best tool to learn on because it's free. It is also powerful, but has one hell of a learning curve. That being said, there getting to be more models available and it can do a lot things the big boys can. Also, the Lightwave+Materials import script works wonders for many LW models. Also, Blender has a fast internal rendering engine. Makes it nice to do pre-vis work for clients, you don't have to tie up machines for a couple days to render a 300 frame animation. Maya - frankly I've never used it, but this has become the defacto standard application for motion pictures. However, I've been told you need to couple Maya with Mental Ray as the Rendering engine as Maya's internal renderer is a bit lacking. Softimage/XSI - Again, never have used it, but folks that don't use Maya for motion pictures seem to be using XSI. Also, there are a lot folks in the Print industry that seem to be using it too.Truespace - this is a good package for a beginner as it's preety powerful and they offer an older version for free to learn on. I know a lot of hobbiest that use Truespace and produce some amazing results. Still, I think Blender now might be a bit more powerful and is free....so....Cinema 4D - If you have a Mactel, this was the first application certified Universal Binary not written by Apple. Cinema 4D is a good 3D application. It has it's own fan base, but has been the cheaper entry level application for a lot of folks that before couldn't afford Max or Lightwave. That being said, Cinema can be used to produce some really good effects. And there are a decent amount of models available for download for free and purchase at many sites in this format. Personally, I've only used the evaluation version and we seriously looked at the package for our limited 3D needs before Newtek dropped the prices on Lightwave. There are many more applications out there. Poser is a good character studio. I've never used it, but I don't deal with major character animation work. If you want to learn 3D, I stilll say Blender is the best tool. It's free, opensource, large user community, and you can learn all the basics from it. In a few more years, it will be on par with the Maya's of the world. But the lessons you learn from it can be applied to any 3D package. The basics of texturing, lighting, and animation remain the same, it's only where the menu buttons and terminology used that changes. (Alpha map vs. trasparency map = two names for the same thing | Normal map vs. bump map = two names for the same thing, etc.)

I have to hand to Apple now with the Mactels. I still do some consulting in the summers while I'm in grad school at a video production company that was 100% mac, and they still are 100% PPC on the editing side because the Protools aren't in universal binaries yet. However, the office just switched to shinny new iMacs and we also bought a couple copies of XP pro to turn the machines into Dual boot to install our lone copy of Premiere Pro. (Sometimes we get projects in Premiere and need to do some work to get them into Final Cut for our production line). We used to keep a couple HP's on hand just for Windows when we needed it, but now they've been given to a couple employe's for their kids. (2.4Ghz P4 with 2GB of ram, good gaming machine for $100...)I'm still on a PPC 1.25 Ghz G4 Powerbook with 2GB of ram because I do some video editing still on a limited basis (I create video biographies for people to earn $$$ during grad school and because I enjoy hearing other people's story, especially the last of the WWII vets that will soon be gone.) Anyway, I plan to get a new Macbook pro next summer and hopefully that will be it until I finish with my PhD around 2011...hopefully.

Was there any beeps from the internal speaker on start up? Once I had a motherboard go bad and got a series of beeps from the CMOS system basically saying the MB was bad. Also, any recent thunderstorms move through? Finally, my first guess would be powersupply. I've had more of these go bad in the last few years it's crazy. I still have an 80086 that will still boot with it's original powersupply unit from circa 1985 (granted I boot it once a year to see if it still works, but it did get heavy use from 1985 - 1994).

I didn't bother to read all the posts, but here is my opinion on the subject.The climate is chaotic. It is always in a flux and always has been. There have been periods of no ice and of total ice and all that have been due to natural cycles. The conculsions that most scientists use for "global warming" has been measurements taken over the last seventy years or so. That's seventy years out of how many billions? Anyone that's had a stats class knows that's a pretty small sample size to base conclusions upon. We know that the Atlantic conveyer has broken before leading to a global cooling. There was once in the 19th century where a volcanic eruption in Indoesia had a massive impact on global climate for a number of years. Including famines, crop failures, etc.. Futhermore, if you look around the solar system, "global warming" is also occuring on Mars, oddly enough. There are many, too many, varibles that could be at work here. Human actitivity is one, but the sun and natural processes are another. I think the real questions we need to ask is how will humanity cope with these changes. The real challenge is our ablity to adapt. Now that's not to say we should go around and pollute out the wazzu. There are other effects of pollution upon humanity that we know are harmful barring climate change.

Anyone know if Apple is planning to release 10.5 in October or is this still a while off. I haven't heard boo and none of my Mac friends have really said anything either. Usually I hear them squawking about six months in advance when they get beta releases.

At least Apple is up front about not giving you root access unless you really know what the hell your doing and can access it...but this only serves to remind me why I switched four years ago...

I wish Lucas arts would hire Totally Games to make some new Xwing series games. Tie Fighter Collectors CD still is one of the all time great computer games along with Xwing Vs. Tie Fighter being the first great multiplayer fligh sim over the internet. Hell it worked great even with everyone having 56k modems! Hell I'd buy a new PC if they released such a game. Well Actually I'm buying a cheap one so I can play Falcon 4.0: Allied something arouther...basically Falcon 4.0 with all the bugs taken out and some cool upgrades. Last, no one makes games I want to play anymore...Ubi ruined the Rainbow 6 games from good tactical shooters to arcade games and the same with Ghost Recon 2. You don't respawn in real life!

As a long time user on the Mac of the product back before microsoft bought the program, it works pretty well. I remember having some trouble with a few features with Windows 98, but hey even wireless internet worked with my Airport card. Still this is of no surprise to me since Apple switched to Intel chips, there isn't going to be much of a Market as us Mac users switch over to the Mactels in the coming years. This is cool though, because I still have a couple unused Win98SE and Windows 2000 Pro licenses around here, so I can install them now on my new Powerbook i just bought from a friend. I'm guessing 1.33Ghz G4 with 2GB of ram should run windows the way it was meant to be run: in a window on a Mac