March 15, 2012
At long last, Blizzard game fans will be able to get their hands on the latest installment of the Diablo series. The company has announced a launch date for Diablo III: May 15th. The game is coming simultaneously to OS X and Windows.
The game launches simultaneously in the US and other countries, and is also available for pre-order through the Battle.net Web site; users can buy the game, pre-load it and start playing it as soon as it’s released on May 15th.
Diablo III is a dungeon crawling action game that puts you in the role of wizard, witch doctor, demon hunter, barbarian, or monk as you take on hordes of demons and monsters.
Diablo III costs $59.99. A special Collector’s Edition is also available that includes a behind-the-scenes Blu-ray/DVD, soundtrack CD, Art of Diablo III book, and 4GB “Soulstone” USB thumb drive that includes Diablo II and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction), along with exclusive in-game content for Diablo III and other games.
March 14, 2012
When Apple’s iPad event ended last week, I walked out of the venue, spoke to Phil Schiller for a couple of minutes and went into a meeting with Apple executives. That’s where I picked up my new iPad and Apple TV.
I know everyone will be speed testing the processors and graphics chips, but I’d like to take a different approach and give you some information on how I actually use the iPad. My testing lab is my life, and how a device fits into that determines if I continue to use it or not.
I’ve been using the iPad for a week now and I’m so impressed. From the first time I turned it on and saw the Retina display, I was in awe of how good it was. Trust me, even if you watched the introduction video, you still have no idea how good this display is. You really do have to see it to believe it.
I struggled after the event to put the right words together to describe the display and a week later I’m still lost for the proper analogy. The only thing I can think of that comes close is comparing it to the first time you ever saw an HDTV. Remember how startling it was to go from one of those giant standard definition projector TVs to an HDTV? That’s what this is like.
The Retina display will make you do a double-take the first time you see it. Even on the home screen, it’s crisp and clear — you can notice a huge difference, even from the iPad 2.
So what does that mean in practical terms for me as a user? Plenty. Especially for the way people use the iPad. Granted, I’m not much of a photographer, but when I’m editing pictures in iPhoto I like to be able to see what I’m doing. I want those edits to properly reflect what I’m seeing on the screen. With the Retina display, they do.
Movies are the same — crystal clear and the colors are so vibrant. I can’t think of any reason I wouldn’t watch a movie on the iPad, especially when I’m traveling. I have my iTunes account and Netflix on the device, so movies are only a tap away.
For me, the real benefit comes with the clarity of text. I know that may sound strange, but I use the iPad to read quite a bit of text everyday. Crispness of the text matters to me.
If a device is a pleasure to use, you will keep using it. That’s a simple theory, but also very true. If the words on an iPad are fuzzy or difficult to read, you probably won’t use it that often.
The iPad makes it a pleasure to read whether you zoom in or use it in its normal mode.
I actually don’t read many books on my iPad. I read for my job all day, so I play guitar to relax — the last thing I want to do is read more. (Although my wife said she planned on buying a book and reading on the iPad. I think I’m about to lose this iPad).
I read my RSS feeds on Reeder, look through my saved articles on Instapaper, read Web sites and sometimes even post stories to The Loop. The iPad 2 did a fine job allowing me to do all these things, but the new iPad is just that much better.
Of course the iPad isn’t just about the Retina display. It also has 4G LTE, which is amazingly fast connection to have on a mobile device, a 5-megapixel iSight camera and the ability to record 1080p video.
I love having the ability to capture quality content on the iPad. Having a camera to take pictures and video is one thing, but having a quality camera is quite another. Knowing that the media you take home will be so good that you can make an HD movie or produce a slideshow is a huge plus. It’s the person with the iPad that won’t be saying, “excuse the quality, I didn’t have my good camera with me.”
I also really like AirPlay. This gives you the ability to play content from the iPad on your HDTV through the Apple TV. I played music, videos, trailers and all kinds of things on my TV directly from the iPad.
When you do this with iTunes Store movies, the screen goes blank on the iPad, so it’s not possible to watch it on both, but I don’t care about that, I want it on my TV anyway.
When you play media on your TV from the iPad, you can control the volume and playhead from the iPad. It’s like the iPad becomes your remote control. It really was cool to use.
One of my favorite features of the iPad isn’t really a feature of the device itself — iCloud. Setting up an Apple device is so easy these days with iCloud.
Apple walks you through all of the main settings when you start the iPad and then you just enter in your iCloud ID. Like magic, all of your contacts, iCloud email and calendars are there waiting for you. What’s more, they will automatically sync if you make a change on your Mac, iPhone or other iOS device.
iCloud goes even deeper than that. It’s my login for the iTunes Store and the App Store accounts. After logging in, you can browse through all of the apps that you bought and download the ones you want all at once. You can do the same for music, but I use iTunes Match, so it’s even better.
With iTunes Match, I don’t sync music to my iPad, I have access to all of my music. Thousands of songs and videos, instantly. Anytime, anywhere. That’s the way a service should be.
So, what did I like about the iPad? Simple — the experience. Nobody in the market today can touch the Apple experience.
I love my Apple TV. I love my new Apple TV even more.
I picked up the new Apple TV from Apple after the iPad event, so I’ve been using it for about a week now.
Until recently the Apple TV came with some compromises. Those being 1080p video, Netflix accessibility and the user interface. Over the last few updates, and especially with the new model, Apple has taken care of all of the compromises.
None of these impeded the way I used the Apple TV to watch movies, TV shows and listen to music, but the changes make it better and I use it even more.
Having 1080p video on my 60-inch HDTV is magnificent. I’ve been watching movies and trailers all week and the experience of watching a movie in 1080p that you are streaming from Apple is incredible.
On my network, the movie starts almost instantly, so I don’t have any lag time to download. I walk in, choose a video and watch it.
The Apple TV is the epitome of convenience. With iCloud, I have access to all of my iTunes Match music and videos, so I don’t need to connect to a computer anymore. I can purchase movies, TV shows and I can watch content from Netflix. That’s perfect.
The user interface is the change that everyone will notice right away. I really like it. It kind of reminds me of an iOS device with little app icons on the screen.
The interface is very easy to navigate and use. Like an iOS device, you just navigate to the section you want and select it — it opens and you’re ready to go.
I also like the fact that, for Netflix’s at least, when you launch the section you can setup a new account and have it charged directly to your Apple ID. That’s very convenient. All of my bills and charges in one place.
At $99 the Apple TV is a no-brainer for any home entertainment system.
Apple noted on Wednesday that the new iPad goes on sale at 8:00 AM local time on Friday in the United States and nine other countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and the UK. It’ll also be available in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. It’s priced at $499; the iPad 2 will remain available and will cost $399 in a single 16GB Wi-Fi version.
Over the weekend Apple said that new iPad pre-orders had “sold out”, which has led some wide-eyed moonbats in the blogosphere to charge that Apple artificially throttled iPad production to make demand seem higher than it actually was.
Same old paranoid, anti-Apple hogwash.
Because unlike 2011, the new iPad’s rollout is happening in ten countries simultaneously. Last year Apple introduced the iPad 2 in the US first but held it back from international distribution for another two weeks to accommodate demand in the US.
I’m sure the first time one of these jackasses sees a new iPad on store shelves they’re going to declare it an abject failure because clearly, Apple overestimated demand and people just aren’t lining up to buy them.
Some people are going to see a problem regardless of what Apple does. I call them “assholes.”
