Come September next year, the Apple scene may be seeing the appearance of an OpenOffice office suite that will work natively with Mac OS X. That is, this new build won't require you to install the Unix windowing software called X11, which has been the source of headaches among Mac users.

This information we're picking is based on a presentation by Eric Bachard, who also noted that September 2008 may see OpenOffice v3.0 getting released. As it stands, OpenOffice most recent build is version 2.3.0. Eric is among the the lead developers of the Mac "Aqua" (the name for the MAC OS X GUI) port of OpenOffice.

At the moment, the most hassle-free OpenOffice port we've picked up is Planamesa Software's NeoOffice. This particular build reportedly works more seamlessly with Aqua since it doesn't require the X11 environment , although at the cost of higher memory usage. The latest build for NeoOffice at this point is v2.2.1, and is based on OpenOffice v2.2.1.

One of the very first predictions to surface for the new iPod is that it would be an iPhone without the Phone and that seems to be the case - to the letter. Gizmodo got some unofficial word from inside Apple that the iPod Touch can run all the applications that the iPhone can (save for the ones that use the phone function of course, which would be useless).

The iPod Touch and the iPhone "use the same damn binaries," according to the source. Except for the interface, there's no real difference between the two devices. Although the iPod Touch will not have Mail or Weather and Stocks as part of its application collection (probably just to differentiate the functions of the device), they both run on the same Mac OS X core.

Logically the iPod Touch can run any application - even third party software - the iPhone can. So even if the iPod Touch doesn't initially have the same programs, all it should take is to allow a method of transfer of iPhone applications to the iPod Touch and voila! Once the iPod Touch comes out it won't be long before this is confirmed. Updates as we get them.

Following the announcement of *takes a deep breath* Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness (boy, that's a mouthful) heading to the Xbox Live Arcade, Hothead Games and Penny Arcade just launched the official website for their upcoming episodic title.

The website will give the fans of Gabe and Tycho some game-related content and news. You can even view some trailers, screenshots, and fact sheets about the game. The website will also be used to launch the individual episodes in the series once they become available for purchased download.

On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One is scheduled to roll out later this year for the PC, Mac OS X, Linux, and Xbox 360 platforms.

Click the Read link below to check out the official Rain-Slick site!

This might be a hit or miss for most of you, but for the Mac enthusiasts (StrmnNrmn and myself included), this leaked video is one geekgasm you wouldn't want to miss. The short clip we are about to see is the introductory video for the new Mac OS X Leopard. Introductory video? What's that, you ask? Basically it's what fires up (in full screen, mind you) once you finally install Leopard into your system.

As introductory videos go, this one has familiar elements from previous OS versions' introductions, but generally, it's way better. The video is simple. It runs for thirty seconds with the word "Welcome" flashing again and again in different languages. Velkommen. Welkom. Bienvenue. Willkommen... You have to see it for yourself to appreciate it:

What everyone's asking though is what song is used in the video. If you happen to know, give us a holler, why don't you?

With people anticipating the new line-up of iPods that Apple plans to release soon, rumors of small details here and there have been leaked concerning the new models.

While everyone was having a big laugh over the fat iPod Nano that's been the butt of many jokes so far, some serious details regarding the new Nano were revealed, namely that it'll come in 8GB and 16GB NAND-based configurations.

Also, a new iPod will also be revealed by Apple perhaps sometime next month. Rumors have been heard of what maybe a full touch screen iPod. Basically, it'll look like an iPhone without the "phone" part.

It's also been reported that a new interface will be implemented for the upcoming series. It will make use of the CoverFlow application, which utilizes images of cover albums to browse through one's digital music library. This means, though, that the iPod will have to make use of an upgraded Mac OS X to handle it. This may not be such a bad thing actually, as other Apple gadgets already run on more a stable OS X system.

If all (or any) this is true then this is a major overhaul to the whole iPod design. We'll have to leave any speculations up in the air for now until Apple actually unveils anything. Until then, we'll keep everyone posted for more details regarding the new gadgets.

More rumors, sightings and speculations have come to bolster the new iPod's pre-release hype. Info has come in from two Apple sites about a new iPod that will not only be touch screen but will be run by Mac OS X as well.

If the rumors are true, we should expect to see a sweet new addition to the Apple tree this holiday season. For drooling purposes, let's pretend all the rumors are true. What do we get? First, the new iPod will essentially be an iPhone without the phone, which is the most popular theory. It's been dubbed the iPod Touch for - great goobers how completely unexpected - its touch screen.

The new iPod Touch (which will probably not be nicknamed iTouch) will have 480x320 resolution with a dedicated button for home navigation. Also, the iPod touch will be run by a watered down version of the Mac OS. This would be a good move by Apple since it would provide the link to bring all of their devices together.

An Apple media event is expected to be held next month. Maybe it's all rumors, maybe it's all true. For now, it's just nice to imagine. Stay tuned for updates.

As the next-generation Mac OS X Leopard prowls closer, Apple Inc. is making sure that all major bugs are killed and that general stability is at an optimum level.

To do this, Apple asked for the assistance of their development community through a survey that the developers must fill up based on the experience they've had with a near-final build of the software.

The near-complete Leopard was tested under six categories, specifically Mail & Web, Graphics & Media, Setup & Mobility, Desktop & Interface, Productivity & Communication, and Sharing & Devices.

Results have yet to be brought back in, but Apple is confident that there will be positive results after they issued a 505MB system update called the Mac OS X Leopard 9A500n build. The update is geared towards creating the most stable OS environment possible as well as a general bug fixer.

Apple made no announcement as to whether or not the results will be made public, but it said all is going according to plan, and the October release of the much-anticipated software should happen barring any more delays.

Electronic Arts has finally made good on one of its promises as it announced that four EA titles are now available for Mac users to play and enjoy. EA's offering includes the following four titles:

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Need for Speed: Carbon
• Battlefield 2142
• Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

The four titles listed above are the first games ever published by the company for Mac OS X. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 and Madden NFL 08 are also being readied for release sometime in the next two months.

Here's hoping that this trend continues and that more and more developers and publishers give Mac gamers some much-needed love. All of these games are now available for purchase at the Apple Store.

There seems to be confusion with regards to publishing rights on id Software's upcoming Rage (PC, Mac OS X, PS3, Xbox 360). id Software's mainstay publisher is Activision, and many have assumed that they (Activision) will be the ones to release the game, especially its console versions.

It turns out though that the publishing rights still haven't been determined. Shacknews was able to get a hold of Tom Hollensend of id during the QuakeCon. He clarified that no deals have been signed yet between id and Activision. Now, despite this, a non-existent deal doesn't directly and automatically mean that Activision won't publish it. There still is the chance.

We're just hoping that they settle things already so that, finally, we get to even more footage of the game as it goes through development.

 

Since when did StrmnNrmn do Get a Mac ads? Well, his latest blog update is all about compiling Daedalus PSP on Mac OS X, and if there's one thing that you should know, it's that he's been able to speed up his process in coding everyone's favorite Nintendo 64 emulator. With a quick conclusion, StrmnNrmn has what it takes to boot out Justin Long from his role as the Mac guy:

Daedalus PSP compiles perfectly under OSX. On my 2.4 GHz Macbook Pro it takes just under 50 seconds. On my 2.4GHz Windows machine it takes over 2 minutes to compile, so I'm very impressed with the results.

Talk about free promotion for Mac. But moving on, StrmnNrmn's kept true to his word the other day about posting a very detailed - a very, very, very detailed - tutorial on how to compile Daedalus on Mac OS X. This will also help other homebrew developers in general since a large portion of the how-to revolves around setting up the PSPSDK on a Mac.

As we've stressed, the post is highly detailed since it tackles the many nuances and obstacles that you might/will encounter while trying to set up your homebrewing space on the Mac system. So, for those who are interested, the Read link is attached below. StrmnNrmn's also welcome to constructive discussions in the comments section on his blog, so drop a line, why don't you?

For StrmnNrmn's tutorial, dock into the Read link below!