Posts tagged with "mac"

FIFA 2012 Comes To The Mac→

FIFA 2012 Comes To The Mac

Electronic Arts and TransGaming have announced the release of FIFA Soccer 12 for the Mac, The Loop reports. This is the first time the popular soccer franchise is available on the Mac platform, and as usual with TransGaming’s OS X release, the port has been done using the Cider translation engine. Cider has been used in the past years in several Mac games including the recently re-released GTA series.

FIFA 2012 comes with important changes in the physics and artificial intelligence engines:

Chosen Best Sports Game by E3 Game Critics, FIFA Soccer 12 brings to the pitch the game-changing new Player Impact Engine, a physics engine built to deliver real-world physicality in every interaction on the pitch. Revolutionary gameplay innovations inspired by the real-world game make FIFA Soccer 12 deeper and more engaging. All-new Precision Dribbling creates a higher fidelity of touch on the ball for better control in tight spaces, more time to make decisions on attack, and more control over the pace of the game. Innovations in attack are balanced by a re-designed defending mechanism called Tactical Defending, which fundamentally changes the approach to defending by placing equal importance on positioning, intercepting passes and tackling.

FIFA 2012 requires a Mac with OS X 10.6.8 or later, Intel Core 2 Duo or better, 4GB RAM, and ATI HD2600 or Nvidia GeForce 9400M or greater. You can buy FIFA 2012 for $39.99 at GameTree Mac.

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Firefox 7 Officially Released

Last month Mozilla officially introduced a new version of its browser, Firefox 6, but we noted that work on Firefox 7 was already underway as part of Mozilla’s new six-weeks fast release cycle. Firefox 7 has been officially released today, adding a number of memory and engine improvements to make the app speedier, and more reliable. Mozilla says they have “drastically improved” memory handling – this is something that Mozilla announced back in August when they claimed that Firefox 7 would use 50% less memory to address memory leaks, crashes, and general instability with lots of different open tabs. On Windows machines, a new rendering backend is said to be increasing performances of Canvas operations, whilst all platforms are getting better password and bookmark sync with Mozilla’s built-in sync tool.

The most visible change in Firefox 7 is the lack of the http:// prefix in the address bar:

The new Firefox also brings some changes for developers:

New tools in Firefox make it easier for developers to build snappy Web experiences for users. A new version of hardware-accelerated Canvas speeds up HTML5 animations and games in Firefox. This allows developers to build more compelling and interactive Web experiences like Angry Birds or Runfield.

Firefox now supports the W3C navigation timing spec API so developers can measure page load time and website navigation against bandwidth speed, website traffic and other factors. This API allows developers to test user experiences remotely and easily and quickly optimize websites and Web apps for different types of users.

From the release notes:

  • Added support for text-overflow: ellipsis
  • Added support for the Web Timing specification
  • Enhanced support for MathML
  • The WebSocket protocol has been updated from version 7 to version 8
  • Added an opt-in system for users to send performance data back to Mozilla to improve future versions of Firefox
  • Fixed several stability issues
  • Fixed several security issues

With version 7, Mozilla has also implemented a new usage statistic functionality called Telemetry that will help the company collect usage information (memory, CPU, startup speed) to improve future versions of Firefox.

Beginning with version 7, Firefox includes functionality that is turned off by default to send to Mozilla non-personal usage, performance, and responsiveness statistics about user interface features, memory, and hardware configuration. The only Potentially Personal Information sent to Mozilla when this functionality has been enabled is IP addresses. Usage statistics are transmitted using SSL (a method of protecting data in transit) and help us improve future versions of Firefox. Once sent to Mozilla, usage statistics are stored in an aggregate form and made available to a broad range of developers, including both Mozilla employees and public contributors. Once this functionality is enabled, users can disable it in Firefox’s Options/Preferences. Simply deselect the “Submit performance data” item.

Telemetry is off by default and needs to be manually enabled. The feature can also be deactivated from the Preferences.

Firefox 7 can be downloaded here. The latest version of the browser still doesn’t come with Lion-specific fixes and features, but mockups posted recently by Mozilla’s Product Visual Designer Stephen Horlander suggested the Firefox team is experimenting with new interface elements and navigation options for Firefox on OS X. Read more

Western Digital Unveils Next Generation of My Passport Portable Drives

Today Western Digital introduced its newest generation of the popular My Passport portable hard drives for Mac users. They’re more compact and elegant than before with slim, all-metal designs. The My Passport Studio is a great portable solution for photographers, videographers, graphic artists or any creative that needs large amounts of storage data. It offers storage up to 1TB and has multiple connectivity options with two FireWire 800 ports and one USB 2 port. The FireWire port on the device allows for daisy-chaining with other devices such as HD camcorders, as well as Apple’s new Thunderbolt Display (which features Thunderbolt, FireWire, USB, and Ethernet ports).

The My Passport for Mac is another option for students and users that don’t need FireWire ports but still demand up to 1TB of storage.

Whether you are a member of the creative community or simply use your Mac to enjoy digital content on-the-go, users will find the perfect portable storage solution with WD’s My Passport Studio and My Passport for Mac high-capacity portable hard drives,” said Jim Welsh, executive vice president and general manager of WD’s branded products and consumer electronics groups. “We know the value our customers place on their digital content, which is why we set demanding requirements for durability, security, and long-term reliability, with all our drives.

These two drives are available right now via the WD Store (and other retails) and start at $99 for the 500 GB My Passport for Mac, and $129 for the 500GB My Passport Studio.