Pictures from the party!

We want to say a big thank you to everyone who joined us for the Parallels Innovation Party at WWDC!  We had a great night and really enjoyed meeting you all.  It was a perfect opportunity to hang out with fellow developers and show demonstrations of some of our cool innovative technologies. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

Jillian's Billiards were great hosts as usual, and we made the most of the pool tables later in the evening when there was enough room to actually play!

Congratulations to our prize draw winners, particularly Ilya Shereshevsky who scooped our grand prize; an Amazon Kindle:

WWDC 2009 is just ending, and the Parallels team wishes all attendees a safe trip back home. We hope to see you again next year!

His love is real. But he is not.

Apple’s WWDC isn't the only June event stirring up comments in the wonderful world of technology. The gamers in the room know exactly what I'm talking about: The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).

Now while I'm not about to turn this into "The Parallels Gaming Review Blog," I urgently need to point out a particularly exciting demonstration that took place during E3, and that would be Microsoft's Project Natal. The project, if successful, could easily have long reaching effects on the technology world in general. Once you learn about it, I think you'll see why.

The project revolves around an add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360, a motion & audio sensor, which basically substitutes any need for a controller with hand and body gestures as well as speech. There have been camera and motion-based themes before in gaming, but nothing on this level, and putting this device to work is Lionhead Studios' Milo (Project Dmitri).

Milo seems to be 30% video game, 30% virtual pet and 30% science experiment. He moves, talks and plays like a real boy, and even asks and responds to questions when you talk to him. The first time I watched him was with a friend, and we were both reminded of the little boy in Spielberg’s A.I. (Artificial Intelligence). Milo knows what you look like, thanks to the Natal sensor, and can recognize your face as well as the color clothing you're wearing.

"Oh, hi Mr. Lincoln, why are you wearing that awful black hat again?"

Users can interact with Milo's world almost as if it were real. A perfect example of this is Milo's fish pond, where you can lean over, ripple the water with your hands, and scare the little fish away. On the surface of the water is a wavy reflection of you, as captured by the sensor. Drawings you make can even be handed to Milo (By holding them up to the camera) and transferred into his universe where he'll reach up and take it.

Realize also that when playing this very fun and interactive game, you'll be seen by any real-world passerby as a lunatic trying to dance and swim into your television set. And you thought playing Wii tennis made you look silly.

To see Lionhead Studios’ E3 video on IGN’s page, click HERE.

Key Notes from the Keynote (WWDC)

Well the WWDC 09 keynote ended a few hours ago, and I've got to say, not too shabby! Phill Schiller seemed a bit more comfortable on stage than at his Macworld 09 keynote.

We’re not looking at anything all that surprising this year: the new 15'' MacBook Pro has the same improved battery as the 17'' announced at MacWorld, as well as faster speeds than the previous 15'' MacBook Pro.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard. Not a lot we didn't already know, and the presentation seemed to focus on the sheer performance factor of running in 64-bit. This is very important to developers, of course, and hey this is a developer conference after all. Multi-threading got its own slide in the presentation, and sky's the limit with available RAM (or maybe hardware's the limit? Either way Snow Leopard can handle it).

So what of the iPhone?  Unfortunately Apple ignored our requests: it seems there was no laser beam or tea-brewing upgrade to the new 3.0 OS.  Serves us right for only submitting them this weekend, but I’m sure they’re working on them now.  Just you wait for WWDC 2010... Back to this year’s keynote, it seems iPhone 3.0 OS will offer expanded horizons on the implementation of landscape view. We will see cut, copy and paste capabilities (woo!), as well as additional language support, the ability to track and remotely wipe your iPhone's data for security purposes, and tethering which will allow you to share your iPhone's Internet connection with your computer (Mac or PC).

The biggest news of the event was the announcement of the iPhone 3GS. Basically just like the iPhone 3G but with a few upgrades you've probably heard about by now. An improved camera, video (with tap-to-focus ability on the screen), video editing, voice control, improved speed and a digital compass. It will be $199 for the smallun' (16Gb) and $299 for the biggun' (32Gb). Will I be getting one? Ahm.... *grin* probably.... (so shiny).

I must point out the distinct lack of time manipulation support going on here. Don't worry, it will be announced next year for sure... I've seen it already. Phil Schiller comes out in an Elvis jumpsuit.

WWDC: Key Expectations

Monday morning is not generally the highlight of my week, but I’m making an exception for this coming Monday as it brings with it the start of Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), and with that the opening keynote.  There's already been plenty of speculation over what Phil Schiller will unveil during the session... Being a developer conference, the content is likely going to revolve around the nuts and bolts of Apple software, so I expect we're probably looking at two potential focuses: Mac OS X Snow Leopard 3.0, and iPhone 3.0. I’m pretty excited about both, but being a gadget addict, I'd like to focus on the latter of the two.

Last year's keynote introduced the new SDK as well as the features for iPhone 2.0 firmware, including Microsoft Exchange support and improvements to Apple's App Store.

Hopefully this year the iPhone 3.0 feature set will be just as impressive, and as I said there are plenty of wish lists and rumors floating around. On that note, I talked to a few of my fellow iPhone fans and asked them for their honest opinion on what they wish to see featured in the iPhone 3.0 update:

"I would really like it to shoot lasers this time around. The iPhone has revolutionized the way many people interact with their cell phones, music, and most importantly the apps. It's time we had laser beams to improve that experience further. Also, Ghostbusters."

-Nick G., Apple user

Nick brings up a good point. On release, the Apps for the iPhone seemed to be an afterthought to the iPod, photo sharing and GPS mapping abilities of the iPhone. Now just look at how that changed as more and more people developed Apps. Fans become developers. The Apps are now a huge part of the iPhone experience, and largely thanks to the SDK and App Store updates, both of which have really let the developer community shine.

“I would really like to have the ability to etch-a-sketch with the iPhone, where I have the great ability to shake it so I can clear the screen! Then I can write on it some more, and shake-shake-shake it clean again! I LOVE SHAKING THIS THING!!!"

-Ariel Leroux, Seattle Designer Developer Interaction Group (D2ig)

It's true, while the touch screen is an integral part of the iPhone look and feel, the accelerometer isn't widely utilized in the day to day use of the iPhone, and is usually limited to gaming applications (which happened to be another highlight in last year's WWDC keynote).

"I'd enjoy having a virtual servant. That's basically what it comes down to. It would serve me tea in the morning while it reads my incoming e-mail and tells me how important I am."

-Rawee K., Parallels

This really reflects what a few people have been asking for with the push services proposed last year. The ability to keep data flowing, even while the iPhone itself isn't running a particular app. It applies to many applications where you have data being constantly sent from a server, most importantly e-mail. Somewhat technical stuff, I know, but trust me it's a useful part of the smartphone experience.

Personally, I’m looking forward to the ability to cut, copy and paste. For such a simple feature, it’s going to make a huge difference in my every day use. It’s annoying when you’re trying to post somewhere online and you can’t include a link or quote in your message. As a secondary request, some sort of pan-dimensional or time travel ability would be great, too.

Who thinks they know what Apple has up their sleeve? There's still time before Monday, so respond in the blog comments below, and tell us what you expect/hope will be in the keynote!

Parallels Innovation Party @ WWDC

Next week Parallels is heading to WWDC again, full of excitement to see what Apple has up its sleeve this year.  There’s always a strong emphasis on innovation at these events, and in celebration of that and all our colleagues and customers that develop for the Mac, we’re throwing a small party at Jillian's Billiards @ Metreon (an old favorite of ours as it’s right next to the Moscone Center).

 

Some of our top developers and our CEO, Serguei Beloussov will be there and would love to buy you a drink and hear your thoughts on our products and the challenges you face in developing for the Mac.  We will also have demos of our innovations, prize give-aways, food and a standing challenge to beat us at pool.  We hope to see many of our developer friends for a fun, casual networking event and celebration of innovation.

If you’d like to attend, RSVP and you will automatically be entered into our prize draw.  See you there!

What: Parallels Innovation Party @ WWDC

When: 6.30pm, Tuesday June 9th

Where: Jillian’s Billiards (first floor of the Metreon, located outside of the Moscone Center)

Dress code: Casual

Far From Shorthanded

Time again for the Eclipse Software Professionals (ESP) Network convention. This annual event is pretty exciting and informative stuff for the court reporter community. Before I tell you about the convention, though, what exactly is a court reporter?

Often called "the silent man (or woman) in the court room," court reporters are the professionals in charge of quickly and accurately recording everything said during a court proceeding. Their documentation is the official word. Sometimes called Stenographers (after the brand of machine), their documentation is recorded using a machine called the shorthand writer or stenotype.

The shorthand writer has been the tool of court reporters for decades, as well as for CART and closed captioning services (any time you've ever watched a live TV event with captions, like sports for instance, you were likely reading the work of a stenographer). In the right hands, these complex machines produce the quickest human-generated recordings in the world via shorthand abbreviation and codes. The shorthand writer simultaneously resembles an electronic typewriter and a set of piano keys, and they create words and phrases from hotkeys and "chords" of simultaneous keystrokes.

 

Mastering the shorthand machine also means mastering the way reporters mentally process speech. Court reporters need to record words and gestures just as quickly as people speak. It takes most people years of training before they're able to pass certification tests, the minimum of which require 225 words-per-minute (WPM). More experienced users can achieve even more amazing speeds in the 260-300+ WPM range. It's said that the equivalent typing speed using a standard QWERTY keyboard would only produce about 60 WPM with the same amount of keystrokes, so it's easy to see why the shorthand writer is so well respected.

I know, that's a lot of information about stenography. Maybe more than you needed, but I find this stuff pretty fascinating. The career can be closely compared to professional language translators, only in a legally official capacity, and all the while they're working with machines which are so complex, they're literally allowing humans to encode phrases in a different language. Learning and maintaining that skill takes some strong dedication and constant upkeep.

...which leads me back to the ESP Network convention! Many virtuosos of this craft use Eclipse software, and the ESP Network convention is an annual training expo where both new and experienced users go to brush up and chat with fellow stenographers.

The software itself records audio and synchronizes it with the shorthand documentation while it's typed on the machine. It then translates the shorthand to whole phrases in real-time, so the conversation can be checked and referenced immediately by others (like while in the middle of a court case). Very useful stuff.

The catch with this is that Eclipse is a Windows-only program. I know what you're wondering: "can it be used in a Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac virtual machine to run within Mac OS X?"

Why, yes... yes it can.

Like so many applications, Eclipse runs just as well within Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac as it does on a normal Windows PC. Our SmartMount feature even allows a virtual machine to automatically recognize the USB device that stenotypes use as a security key, then automatically connect it to Windows when it's plugged in.

For Eclipse users who love their Macs, Parallels' own David Spackman will be attending the ESP Network convention in Las Vegas this weekend (May 29, 30 & 31) and presenting alongside Mr. Keith Vincent. David will also be at Booth #4; he'll have some box copies of Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac to give away, and it will be a great opportunity to learn about the additional ways virtualization can benefit Mac users in the legal profession.

And now, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I shall reproduce this entire blog in machine shorthand:

     P   R               L  T

  A      

  P          F   B    L

KP                      L

SK                           T

... just kidding. I have no clue what that says.

Happy Anniversary Windows 3.0!

Oh Windows 3.0, I hardly knew ye.

Actually... I didn't know ye at all. When Windows 3.0 released in 1990, I was still rocking Zug the Megasaurus on my Tandy 1000, which used MS DOS Shell. Those were good times... spelling words like "Pteranodon", drawing pictures in 16 colors, and making the computer repeat swear words with its text-to-speech capabilities.

Getting to the point of this blog: today, May 22nd is the 19th anniversary of the Windows 3.0 launch! Its successor, Windows 3.1, happens to be the earliest version of Windows able to run within a Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac virtual machine. Not too shabby for legacy support, right?

This event urges computer users across the world to stop what they're doing and wonder for a moment about what our lives would be like had Windows 3.0 never launched at all. For one thing, panda bears would no doubt rule the skies, leaving the Human race confined to Earth's caverns. We'd all look a bit like Gollum from Lord of the Rings. That's just how alternate realities work: the smallest difference (like a harmless OS release) can dramatically change the outcome of the future. On the plus side, I'm thinking there would be a whole lot more Macs floating around instead of PCs.

And I mean literally floating around. To battle the pandas, our scientists would need to develop anti-gravity devices instead of silly things, like segways and digital cameras, which for the most part perform horribly in caves.

That's not how things turned out, obviously, but the next time some PC user raises an eyebrow at you and your MacBook, remind him or her of the terrible price Mac users paid to keep the pandas at bay... then go ahead and show off how much more flexible a Mac running multiple operating systems can be, running not just OS X but Windows and Linux as well... at the same time! Quite impressive, compared to their oh-so-fragile and limited netbooks (wouldn't shield against the force of a panda attack even if you had two of them stacked on top of each other).

Parallels Bulletin on Latest Mac Update

We just wanted to let Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac users know that they can update to Apple’s new release – 10.5.7 for all Macs with OS X (10.5 Leopard) – in safety.  Some may have been concerned by reports that VMware is encouraging certain Fusion users to not update their computers as it may result in "slow performance, ...incorrect rendering, and even crashes, when you run your 3D applications." 

To make certain our users are not vulnerable to similar problems, we tested 3D applications using Fusion and the new Apple update and unfortunately experienced the crashes and artifacts in the rendering they warn of.  We ran the same tests using Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac with no such problems.  We've tested multiple systems, double-checking this scenario, and everything is spot on. 

If for some reason you prefer not to use Apple Software Updater, the 10.5.7 update can be found HERE, along with the release and change notes.

If you do experience any problems of any kind with 3D graphics, be they related to the update or not, please do let us know – we’re committed to delivering the best possible 3D graphics rendering possible in a virtual machine and all feedback helps us with that.

All in the Family

I wish my family had multiple Macs while I was growing up. Alas, it was not meant to be. I think my Mom used an abacus for figuring out the bills. Not exactly tech savvy. By the way, happy late Mother's Day, Mom (I'll print and mail this to her later)!

For cool families, however, Parallels is happy to offer the Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac 3-user Family Pack! Many parents out there love how Macs bring the family together, and this package deal is perfect for that. With Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac, everyone in the house can equip their Macs with the flexibility to run both the Mac and Windows software that's important to them.

That means “the folks” can utilize the office software they need, like Microsoft Outlook, little Lindsey can play Half-Life 2 Deathmatch and Grandpa can post on the UFO abductees anonymous forums using whatever Internet browser he trusts the most.

The Family Pack offers a $40 saving from the normal price of buying 3 separate products. The official promo page is HERE. Introduce a little harmony to the household while saving a few bucks in the process. It means you can improve your wonderful Macs, get that science project out of the way, and still afford the extra-large popcorn on movie night (I hear the new Star Trek is good).

Apple Eats Bird

You'll never believe this, but I found another rumor on the Internet. Gasp! Do you need a moment? No? Then I shall continue:

Apple plans to buy Twitter, or so this rumor went, for $700 million dollars. Twitter, the popular social networking tool, has been the target of quite a few of these stories lately, including supposed purchase offers from both Google and Facebook. All these big companies want to give us the bird, but Biz Stone and Evan Williams, the co-founders of Twitter, have already laid the latest gossip to rest, stating during an interview on The View: "No. We are not for sale." Once again, Barbara Walters shines truth where before there were only dark whispers and deceit.

You have to hand it to the two gentlemen for holding on to their baby, especially when in many people's opinions Twitter itself has very few options for ever generating a decent income. Does that matter? Well, surely Twitter requires money to keep operational, and even with private investors they must eventually expect some kind of return. More than once I've heard people comment how Twitter needs some kind of "exit strategy" as if they're in dire need of some sort of escape.

Imagine you had a great invention you thought would change the way people communicated across the Internet, but the more it grew, the harder it was to control. Would you hand the stick over to someone you didn't know, who had more resources, or would you hang on to your original ideals and go down with the ship?

I give them more credit than that, of course. These guys were smart enough to make Twitter the beast it is today without any large corporation stepping in, and I don't doubt for a second that they have their own plans to keep Twitter going strong in the future. Aside from a few server hiccups due to the ever-increasing mass of accounts, everything is hunky dory. In fact, Twitter continues to improve their service! As of yesterday, the e-mail notifications you get will show the pictures for your new followers, plus the number of followers your new followers have, and how many people your new follower follows... I wonder how they’ll follow that.

Now come follow us.