If you like collecting DVDs and think that DVDs take too much space when you gather them all up, you'd be happy with this latest information. During the Macworld Expo, Twentieth Century Fox and Apple announced the release of the iTunes Digital Copy. It is a way that allows people to transfer their DVD purchase to their iTunes library with ease.

More information about the iTunes Digital Copy after the jump!

We posted an article one month ago that invited readers to do a little thought exercise. Here's what we said: "On the 5th of November we're going to post an article or two about video games, gadgets, technology, and general geekness ... the things about video gaming and technology that ought not be forgotten."

So here's our list of some video gaming and technology moments worth remembering. Hope this gets you thinking (and feeling nostalgic too!). And we look forward to your comments (and arguments). What do you remember and wish that the world will never forget?

New Leopard users who want more bang for their buck may want to try activating one of the missing features that should have made it into the final version of Leopard: the Star Wars hologram effect for iChat and PhotoBooth. We're not sure why these effects were cut our from the final version in the first place, but as long as we get them it doesn't matter, yes?

The steps needed to install or activate this awesome iChat effect involves a bit of tweaking, but the steps written by Mac Rumors poster elbows are thoroughly explained enough to guide even those unfamiliar with manipulating codes. In any case, the end result is worth it, so give it a try if you have Apple's OS X Leopard.


Check out the detailed steps in the Read link!

With barely two days since their last update, homebrew developers nervegas and jordan deliver to the iPhone the latest version of their old-school NES emulator, NES.app v1.4.1. After the addition of the two-player support during their last update, the two developers have now concentrated on making their application run smoother than ever.

This latest update mainly focuses a lot of mapper IRQ fixes for several games. Here we have the detailed breakdown of the different fixes the two developers have put into the game's latest version. If you're interested in reliving some good old retro games on your iPhone then just visit QJ.net's download area through the link below.

1.4.1    
[nervegas]

• Updated mapper 118, added save-state (Pro Sport Hockey)
• Updated mapper 119, rendering issues still exist however
• Cleanup mapper 1 (unnecessary reset)
• Cleanup IRQs in mapper 4
• Began work on list of unsupported mappers (5, 13, 21, 119)
• More mapper 4 IRQ fixes (Rolling Thunder issues again)
• Step 10 instead of 8 before NMI for GI Joe, Bad Dudes

[jordan]   

• Mapper 4 fixes (fixes Star Wars, TMNT 3)
• Mapper 0 fix for games without VROM (BurgerTime)

Download: NES.app v1.4.1

Fighting a war on a different front, two factions have always been at each other's necks. On one side, we have the superpower called Microsoft, and across the border we have the alliance called Apple. Whichever side you root for doesn't change the fact that they've been delivering top quality games and gadgets for everyone throughout the years.

The Wire has had a chance to talk to Glenda Adams, director of development for Aspyr Games, a company responsible for bringing PC games such as The Sims 2 and Star Wars: Empire at War to the Mac. She talks about the perks and quirks of porting games from one system to another.

While the most difficult thing for making games for the Mac has always been the smaller market, her love and background with the Mac has always prompted her to go for this line compared to any alternatives.

Adams states that the difficulty in converting a PC game to the Mac isn't as hard as people think. The bulk of the work really relies on optimizing, debugging and finishing all the small details to make it compatible for the Mac is what takes up the most time. Especially now that the integration of Intel chips for the Mac has resolved more compatibility issues when converting games.

When asked about the pros of the Mac over the PC gaming-wise, she had this to say:

Installing games on the Mac is always easier than Windows, I think. And because Apple has tighter control over hardware, we have a much better chance to test and optimize our Mac games for all the hardware we support than on the PC. There are so many combinations of motherboards, sound cards, video cards, and peripherals on the PC that it can be a mess for a developer to make sure their game works on most configs.

Well, PC or Mac, it doesn't really matter in the end just as long as they deliver to us more goods to keep the gamer in us happy.

Mac News World reports that Aspyr Media has released a demo of Star Wars: Empire at War for the Mac. The demo, which weighs in at 892MB, is free and can be downloaded at Macgamefiles.com. PowerPC users are out of luck, though, as the demo is only for Intel-based Macs.

Set a few years before Star Wars: A New Hope, the game lets gamers experience the creation of the Rebel Alliance and the Empire's struggle to keep its iron grip on the universe. Players can choose to play as one of the two aforementioned factions. As in all RTS games, they must collect resources, build bases, recruit units, and research new technology.

If you're thinking of getting a copy of the demo, here are the system requirements for the game, courtesy of Mac News World and the Mac Game Store: Intel processor, Mac OS 10.4.8 or later, a CPU speed of 1.83 GHz or greater, 512 MB of RAM, and one of the following video cards: ATI Latest News about ATI Radeon X1600, Nvidia Geforce 7300 or Intel GMA 7300 with at least 64 MB of VRAM.

Star Wars: Empire at War is slated for a North American release this week for a price of US$ 49.95.

Maybe it's too soon, maybe it's too late, but we surmise that everyone's gearing themselves up to the new era of downloadable content. The iPod suddenly feels as valuable as a lifejacket in the middle of the sea. Even George Lucas has felt this, and we don't wonder anymore why he suddenly decides to focus on creating TV and downloadable "on-demand" programming. It's all about the money -- and today, according to Lucas, online is where the money is.

Put simply, a budget of US$ 200 million on a traditional film can make 120 hours worth of downloadable movie content, instead of 50 to 60 two hour movies. And it's all going to be more profitable to sell on a pay-per-view basis, instead of the financially risky silver screen. This, coming from the guy who gave us the million-dollar box-office hits such as the epic "Star Wars" movies and "Indiana Jones" series, just to name a few.

A meeting with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter should hint us of what's to come. With "Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Vol.1 and 2" already available on iTunes, only time will tell when finally we'd be seeing less movies in the theaters and more on our mini-screens. And that's not too far in the future, we think.

Remember  the Vacuum Cleaner Robot? Well, here's another possible Robot ancestor. Miuro, the music innovation based on utility robot technology.

So what does this music on "rollers" do? You basically attach your 3rd Gen iPod on it's head (just like a brain) and have it blast sonic waves (music, for the meantime) from its rolling arms. You control the robot by remote control. It also receives signals from the PC to play iTunes and other programs (safe programs, yes). As you can see above, it comes in 4 different colors. Additional accessories will include a camera and sensor so it can map your house and remember all your rooms.

The Creator, Shinichi Hara, designed it so that it would look gentle and become part of everyday life. He's hoping that 10,000 Miuros will be rolling inside houses by the first year. They remind me of those enemy fighters in Star Wars to tell you frankly. Will this change the way we listen to our music? Instead of carrying the iPod, it will plod on right behind you when you least expect it. Then it will blast you with sonic vibrations. But that's just us thinking.

Maybe the UBOT and Miuro can be molded into one. Imagine, it's going to make music and vacuum your floor! Multitasking robot. But putting too much power in one thing can be dangerous.

It's now available online.

Wacky Stephen Colbert announced yet a new challenge for digital video enthusiasts: integrate Stephen and his lightsaber skills into a digital environment. No relation to Lucasfilm's Star Wars though. Since Colbert issued his green screen challenge, there has been a explosion of videos in different media sharing websites like Youtube.

Here's one of them from brassrocket, an interesting 24-second video of a man with an iPod for a lightsaber. Oh yeah, we dig the cool music background and nice editing of the sequences.

It has only been a few days since a new application called the MacSaber 1.0 came out. It's a program that lets users take advantage of this feature by playing at countering imaginary threats ala Obi Wan Kenobi or Luke Skywalker. In other words, you can use it as a light saber and the application senses speed for the "light saber" movement sounds and acceleration for different levels of striking sounds so you could really feel like a true jedi master.

Personally, as soon as I became aware of this one, I was pretty sure that the Star Wars geeks of the world are rejoicing once more and would be swinging their laptops around like crazy in no time and most probably they would be the butt of most jokes at late night talk shows. Although I can't help but wonder if someone would come up with a Jedi Mind Trick application (ha, ha!).

So as a parody to all those who will be swinging away with their "light sabers", a guy named Matt Haughey put on his tight khakis, an equally tight-striped shirt and combed his hair down and gave us a demostration of just what this latest application can do to you.