This is a dynamically fed article and is not authored by Mac Zen

Section: Mac Software, GamesIf you’re a serious gamer, it’s unlikely you have an all-Mac setup. If you do, there’s probably enough power to comfortably Boot Camp into Windows 7, and enough for a decent frame rate in the latest titles. Otherwise, it seems developers aren’t so keen when it comes to the Macintosh platform. Some titles, such as the highly popular Sims franchise, Spore and a little Star Wars are cross platform. But for the most recent games, you’re lucky if you see a Mac version within the year. The other alternative? Windows. If you’ve done much gaming on a PC, you may be aware of Steam. Steam is a digital distribution platform that, when mixed with the Source engine, brings you a great selection of games you can download?some free, and some paid. Either way, its the best way to play your games on a PC; everything is in one

place, and there’s the infrastructure for multiplayer, too. Mac gamers, as it would seem from Kirk Hiner’s new Single Mac Gamer Seeks… column at Gamertell.com, don’t always get what they want. Luckily, thanks to Valve (the makers of Steam), that’s soon about to change. On Monday, Valve announced that Steam?and the Source engine?will be making their way to the Macintosh platform next month. It’ll take time to see the same amount of titles available for the PC, but there are some popular games planned for the initial launch. Portal 2 will be the first title...
Continue Reading Original Article on Source Site

This is a dynamically fed article and is not authored by Mac Zen

Filed under: Switchers, Productivity, Mac 101One of the adjustments those new to the Mac need to make is to familiarize themselves with the Command key. Although I switch hit and use Windows at work and a Mac when I'm not working, I've always preferred it over Control. Its proximity next to the space bar allows me to use my thumb, as opposed to my pinky finger with the Control key, for keyboard shortcuts. I find it particularly faster for copying and pasting. The clover-looking key (it's actually an infinite loop), which had always been accompanied by an Apple logo until recently, sometimes behaves in ways similar to the Control key in the Windows world. At other times, however, it doesn't. Whether you're a recent Mac switcher or a seasoned Mac user, here are some shortcuts using the Command key to help you speed your way through tasks.
Safari
In Safari and Firefox, right-clicking

on any word or set of words will allow you to do...
Continue Reading Original Article on Source Site

This is a dynamically fed article and is not authored by Mac Zen

Being a student, I often travel with my laptop between home and campus. At school, there’s a lot of things I need

to do, but I often forget to do. For example, I need to mute my machine (it would be embarassing if suddenly a notification from Twitterrific suddenly sounded in the middle of class), disable bluetooth, and close Mail. Locations, a basic application from Codehackers, solves this problem by doing all of this for you. If you’ve ever used MarcoPolo (which isn’t fully Snow Leopard compatible), you’ll be right at home with this app.Locations sits in your system preferences as an icon, complete with its own panel. It’s simple to setup, though you need to be connected to the network you want to establish settings for. Locations will also sit in your menubar (with unfortunately an ugly icon) so that you can manually select a location if you want to quickly change settings.The left pane contains all of your locations. I have two, one for school, and one for home. On the right you have your actions and triggers. Your actions define what happens at that location. Does your screen dim? Does an application launch? The triggers indicate at what known or unknown networks that this location is activated. For my home location, the trigger is my wireless access point’s SSID. At school, it’s their SSID.While the computer isn’t fully aware (it can’t make a change based on peripherals attached), most people will be happy with just the network part. You can tell your Macbook to do a lot of different things – for example when I connect to the school’s network, my monitor dims, the volume mutes, bluetooth is turned off, my iChat status is updated to away, Mail quits, and I am updated about all these changes...
Continue Reading Original Article on Source Site

This is a dynamically fed article and is not authored by Mac Zen

IBM has announced that its scientists have created a system that allows computer chips to communicate using light instead of electrical signals. The device, known as a nanophotonic avalanche photodetector, is claimed to be be ultra-fast while minimizing power consumption....

...
Continue Reading Original Article on Source Site

This is a dynamically fed article and is not authored by Mac Zen

Western Digital on Wednesday announced a new line of 2.5-inch solid state drives (SSDs) that use a SATA 3GBps interface. The SiliconEdge Blue SSD is a consumer focused drive meant for use in both portable and desktop computers

...
Continue Reading Original Article on Source Site

This is a dynamically fed article and is not authored by Mac Zen

We’ve collected the top five reviews, roundups and how-to articles from across the AppStorm network in February. Whether you’re interested in Mac, iPhone, or Web apps, there’s bound to be something you didn’t spot over the course of the month.Now would be a good time to explore a part of the AppStorm Network you’ve never seen before! Don’t forget, you can always keep track of the whole network via the AppStorm Dashboard.Best of iPhone.AppStorm