Kibbles & Bytes Blog

Throughout history, Apple hasn’t been known to appeal to the video gamer market. However, in recent years, Apple has slowly been gaining steam (no pun intended) in this market. I would have to say that their launch of the App Store for iOS devices was a notable push into the hearts of gamers. Doing so opened up a means for all the developers of video games for the Mac to come together and sell their product in one easy-to-use marketplace.

Now, to fill it up. Getting quality content has been a slow process and it is by no means balanced with the plethora of games available to the PC market. However, if you don’t mind waiting around for your favorite games, then you are in the right place. It is my novice understanding of coding that there is a significant difference between developing a game for a PC versus a Mac. It could be that it is easier to develop on a PC, but it is more likely that the companies making these games are looking for maximum ROI (return on investment). PCs still hold the majority of the market, and Mac versions of notable games usually get pushed off to a 3rd party porter.

“*Borderlands 2*”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=https%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fborderlands-2%2Fid570316450%3Fmt%3D12%26uo%3D4%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30 is a perfect example of the aforementioned practice — a game developed for a PC by Gearbox and ported to the Mac by Aspyr. I am extremely happy this has happened it’s frustrating when I try to play with my PC friends. When an update is released for the game, it (so far) has been a PC update only and Aspyr gets its hands on it afterward to work on making it Mac compatible. During that time, I can’t play with my friends, and unfortunately, the solutions to this problem are less than ideal.

The first and most obvious solution would be to simply play the game in Windows via a Boot Camp partition. This solution is all well and good if you play your games through “*Steam,*”:http://store.steampowered.com but if you bought your game on the App Store, you are limited to only playing with Mac users. There is also the investment cost of setting this up. Windows retails over $100 for most versions, so unless you already have a copy, that is a steep price to pay after dropping at least $50 on the game of your choice.

The other option would be to complain to Gearbox to give Aspyr time to make a Mac version that coincides with the release of the PC version. It all comes down to time and money, really. Companies want to make as much money as they can in as little time as possible, so to me, that means gaming on a Mac will still be an afterthought for most game studios. Perhaps someday, Mac gaming will be lucrative enough for studios give Macs a serious chance when the market shifts from predominantly PCs to Macs.

Until that time, I will run what games I can on my Mac partition and the rest will fall to the Boot Camp side. If any readers are also gamers I would love to hear your thoughts about gaming on a Mac — anything from what you play to how you love or hate it.

Earlier this week, I was helping a friend of mine write his resume and cover letter for some jobs he was applying to. We were using my Mac, but he’s a native PC user and seemed somewhat aloof while typing. I blamed it on the fact that he was being forced to write and felt a little resistant to the “Mac lifestyle.”

When the time came to slap a signature on his cover letter, he jokingly asked if I had a digital signing pad. I laughed and said no, though as I am writing this, I realized that I probably could have used my Wacom tablet… Because he is a PC user, I love telling him about all the small neat features that Macs have built-in. I told him that Preview could digitize his signature using the iSight camera. (His demeanor said, “*not impressed*”:http://i2.cdn.turner.com/dr/hln/www/release/sites/default/files/imagecache/textarticle_640/2012/08/10/mckayladisappointed.jpg but I could tell he was jealous.)

If you would like to digitally sign documents without having to print them (and you don’t own a tablet), sign and scan it. (I should note that I am using a MacBook Pro that has a built-in iSight camera and I am running OS X Mountain Lion (10.8). This should work on any Mac that has a built-in iSight camera running 10.7 or newer. “*Upgrade to 10.8 here!*”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=https%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fos-x-mountain-lion%2Fid537386512%3Fmt%3D12%26uo%3D4%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30)

Then, follow these steps: Grab a pen and blank sheet of blank white (non-lined) paper and fill that thing up with signatures. Sign each one the way you normally would; there is no need to make them huge, though — just leave adequate space in between them.

Next, open up your doc in your preferred document editing app (mine is Pages). Go forward as if you want to print, but instead of hitting the Print button, click the *PDF* button at the bottom left of the print window. Then click *Save as PDF* from the drop down menu. Save it wherever you will be able to find it later and you’re all set.

Once we have a PDF version of the document, navigate to it and open it up in Preview. If your PDFs open up in a different app, then you can read this “*Mac Treat #199*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/index.php?id=6953 article about launching files in different apps.

With Preview open, click on this icon !(image)http://blog.smalldog.com/images/3387.png! to drop down some editing tools. Now click on the signature icon !(image)http://blog.smalldog.com/images/3388.png! and click the option to *Create Signature from Built-in iSight…* This will bring up a new window and activate your iSight camera. Simply hold your favorite iteration of all the signatures you wrote so that the base of the signature lines up with the blue line. Hold still for a second, and a digitized preview of your signature will appear to the right. If you’re happy with it, hit accept and then draw it on your doc. Once it is drawn on, you can resize and relocate it to where you want.

Now you are all set to give your documents that personal touch with a signature. If you have any questions or comments, I always welcome them. Send them to “*michaelb@smalldog.com.*”:mailto:michaelb@smalldog.com

_Hola,_

It’s Kali writing for Don this week while he, Grace, his daughter Autumn and granddaughter Khadija sun themselves in a place far more southern and warmer than Vermont in the winter! Most of us are dreaming of warmer weather (with the exception of Art, of course), and will likely be jealous of Don’s sandy stories when he returns next week.

I would definitely classify myself as a “winter person” but sadly, it has lost some of its luster in the past couple years since I simultaneously haven’t been able to strap on my snowboard for a few runs and I constantly have to dress a toddler for the cold (not fun). Well, there’s always next year…

I’m excited to announce our new “Dr. Small Dog” campaign which will be launching for our customers local to the New England area. Do you have a computer issue but don’t love the idea of braving the mall to bring it in? Is there a network problem where being onsite is crucial? Or, do you just want to wear your PJs without the judgement of being in public? We want to come to you, just as doctors would make house calls when someone was sick.

While we’re aiming at folks within driving distance of our retail stores, we also offer remote services far and wide (anywhere there’s internet!), and would certainly be open to traveling a farther distance, should it make sense for all involved.

Have questions about what we offer? “*Click here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/consulting Want to schedule an appointment? “*Click here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/doctor The doctor is in!