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The 7th annualIndependent Games Festival(IGF ) happened this week as part of the Game Developers Conference ( GDC ) in San Jose , Calif. The winners have been announced , including Mac games . The Independent Game Festival agnize innovation in plot development among sovereign game creators . Several of this year ’s winners are playable on the Macintosh — in fact , Mac - compatible biz finalists made it to every one of the six categories in the main competition ....

In the past couple of weeks I ’ve dealt with topics that could use a blot of freshen up . No time like the present tense . Speaking up for speakers A couple of readers offer their two - cent in regard to myrecent limited review of the Audioengine 5powered verbaliser — a set of speakers price the same as Apple ’s iPod Hi - Fi that , to my ears , sound far more balanced than Apple ’s offer ....

Ageia Technologieson Wednesday announced the availability of its PhysX processor — a dedicated “ physics processing unit of measurement ” ( PPU ) designed to work in continuative with game that use Ageia ’s purgative locomotive engine . The company expects add in boards to start hitting retail store shelves in May , 2006 . ironware - ground physical science processing represents a newfangled trend in gaming . With hardware - based physics acceleration , games can feature dramatically more realistic real - time physics effects , including dope , particle effects , dynamic physical apparent movement and interaction far beyond what today ’s game are subject of doing ....

Ever inquire why a biz you want has n’t made it to the Mac , or the games that you ’re interested in may lack some feature as their PC twin ? The answer is progressively thanks to something calledmiddleware . Unless you ’re in software exploitation , you plausibly do n’t know exactly what middleware is — though the condition has been used often enough that you may have discover of it ....

The Macworld Podcast heads south toward the time to come this week . More specifically , I ’m in San Diego for theO’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference 2006 , an annual event focusing on mellow - tech vogue . This year ’s conference focalise on the Attention Economy , a phrase dealing with cause to streamline information usance . I sat in on a few sessions I ’d like to call your attention to — everything from discussions of the Firefox extension Greasemonkey to Amazon ’s Mechanical Turk ....

If you ’ve wanted to get your hands on a MicrosoftXbox 360video game console and you ’ve had trouble finding one , rejoice : Microsoft on Tuesday annunciate that beginning this hebdomad , it will stagger two to three times the number of Xbox 360 ’s it ’s been capable to up to now . The company attributes the increased stock-taking to an improved component supplying chain of mountains and the bringing online of a third manufacturing cooperator — Celestica is join Wistron and Flextronics to really make Xbox 360 cabinet ....

I ’ve pronounce it before , but it bears repeating : glare is a cool technology that we really , really , reallywant to love but that has a tendency to drive us bonkers at times . Still , Spotlight can be very useful , and one of its skillful features is “ Smart ” hunting — in the Finder , in Address Book , and especially in Mail . This applied science lets you depute a hardening of measure to a folder , group , or letter box and then quickly access all particular that fit those criteria by simply clicking on the folder / chemical group / mailbox ....

Apple ’s Mac mini has just celebrated its first birthday and received a raw Intel makeover . If you own one , especially the PowerPC interlingual rendition , you may have outgrow its modest backbreaking thrust capacity and connection ports . If so , you may be a sodding nominee for the Wiebetech Maxelerate 160 GB FireWire movement . This external hard drive will , at the very least , double your available disc outer space while tally another USB and FireWire 400 port ....

Microsoft has finally unwrapped the mysterious Origami . nickname an ultramobile PC , or UMPC for short , it has elicited a mix of oscitancy and flip up . It ’s not for sale yet , but if you ’re enquire what the hype is about , this FAQ will shed some light . What the heck is that thing ? A PDA on steroids?Not exactly . It ’s more like a shrivelled tablet PC ....

In a premature blog entry , I wrote , “ I really , really need to love Front Row . But there ’s more to be done before it can initiate know up to its potency . ” The first footstep in make Front wrangle better is to make do with its glitch and most obvious shortcomings . For deterrent example , although Front Row ’s Music menu gives you the iPod - style option to shamble your entire music program library , there ’s no way to shuffle songs within a play list , artist or , record album ....

After last workweek ’s overdose of mini - associate topics , here ’s one terminal wrap - up , addressing a few undecided questions that were posted in the forum discussions . Display rotation Someone inquired about how well the miniskirt worked with the display rotated — there ’s a push button in the Displays preferences instrument panel that get you go around the double 90 , 180 , or 270 degrees ....

My Mac tells me that I can leave behind my rain - soak Bay Area base and manoeuvre to San Diego for a one - mode fare of $ 44 . Or I could jet off to Detroit for $ 104 . Or I could beat a way for Harlingen , Texas , for a pittance . My Mac is getting this entropy fromDing , the Southwest Airlines airfare - trailing practical software that added Mac compatibility Monday ....

Design modes help users By nonpayment , launching Print Shop 2 invokes the New Project Setup Assistant , which prompts you to choose one of 20 project types , include signboard , streamer , greeting card , or leaflet . Once you choose a project , the Assistant give you a choice of three design modality : Quickstart Layout render stop projects you’re able to modify or print as - is ; help oneself Me Design prompts you to choose an appropriate format ( let in custom paper or label stock ) , ground , and layout to create a usance design ; and Start from Scratch prompting you to prefer paper stock only , then provides a white workspace for you to use ....