Games: Gran Turismo 5 Game Show Trailer

Hot off the presses is a first peek at the trailer of Gran Turismo 5 shown at the Tokyo Game Show recently.

The amount of eye candy in the trailer compared to the current Gran Turismo 4 is simply mindblowing and makes one positively salivate at the thought of the upcoming PS3 release...

OS X: Mac The Ripper R.I.P.

It looks like Macrovision has gotten to Mac The Ripper which is a popular utility used to make backup copies of DVDs that you own. At last check, it was up to version 2.6.6 before being taken down. A truly useful tool to have, especially when you have four year olds who are absolutely set on changing their own DVDs...

OS X: 10.4, Mail Default Text Encoding

As noted in this Apple reference document, text encoding in 10.4 (Tiger) has changed the default text encoding used for Mail. Instead of the current standard of ISO-2022-JP, the default setting is for UTF. While newer mail applications support this new encoding, there are many mail clients out there who do not and mail written in Japanese will often become garbled.

To change the default encoding in Mail, enter the following in Terminal (single line):

defaults write com.apple.mail NSPreferredMailCharset "ISO-2022-JP"

which will take effect after your next logout/login.

OS X: Dashboard On The Desktop

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you've probably heard about Dashboard (Apple's version of Konfabulator) and Widgets which are mini-apps that run on a separate "layer" that can be accessed by hitting the F12 key. While some of these Widgets are immensely useful, you probably wish that you could have them available all the time on the Desktop without having to necessarily pull down the Dashboard time after time. In this case, you can simply enter the following in Terminal:

defaults write.com.apple.dashboard devmode YES

Log out and then back into your account to enable the new feature; while clicking and holding on the Widget that you want to bring to the Desktop, hit the F12 key to make Dashboard go away. When you let go of the Widget, it will stay on the Desktop. Option-clicking on the Widget will also show the 'Close' button to make the Widget go away.

OS X: Cool Dashboard Widget (Skype)

Skype has a Dashboard widget which allows you easily access Skype from the Dashboard. It's a dumbed down, simple to use interface for making calls out.

About Skype Widget
An add-on to Skype for Mac OS X 1.3. It provides a handy interface to make calls, look up international calling codes and check Skype Out’s global calling rates.

Enter a phone number or a Skype name, press the phone button and get ready to be connected.

New Product: Apple iPod nano

Apple announced the new iPod nanowhich is the flash-memory based successor to the already hugely sucessful iPod mini. Available in two subtle colors, it has a storage capacity of either 2GB (US$199) or 4GB (US$249) and all the same features as a full blown iPod photo including a gorgeous color LCD screen to view photos on. My guess is that the iPod nanowill be THE Christmas present of choice this year; with Apple having a secure line to flash RAM production, it's likely that there will be plenty to go around.

Random Photo: Impact at 250 km/h

If you've ever wondered what an impact of 250 km/h looks like, this is it. Sandstorming.com has a series of pics of a motorbike that T-boned a passenger car at that speed. Traveling at speeds in excess of 250km/h, the driver was found inside the car along with the two passengers who were all, without question, killed instantly.