Thursday Afternoon News

<img class="imgright size-full wp-image-114" title="hc-gk232_jobs_20070627110844" src="http://www.mactalk.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/hc-gk232_jobs_20070627110844.gif" alt="hc-gk232_jobs_20070627110844" width="136" height="226" />Payback is a Grand Theft Auto clone for the iPhone, which is kinda cool, but personally, the controls were foreign and confusing and I'm too old to get used to something that isn't a d-pad. However, it's obviously striking a chord, as it's <a href="http://www.apex-designs.net/payback_iphone_report2.html">managed out sell Trism.</a> They've sold 65,000 copies of Payback, and had 500,000 downloads of the Lite version. Not too shabby.

Some wiz has hooked up his Mazda RX8 (who seems to be an Aussie, going by the licence plate!), <a href="http://hackedgadgets.com/2009/03/31/iphone-controlled-mazda-rx-8/">to an iPod Touch</a>. He managed to start the car, turn it off, unlock and lock the doors, get telemetry such as RPM and temps and even hooked it into Google Maps and GPS to show where it is. The car has a 3G modem in it, which can be controlled over the Internet. Bloody amazing. Someone has told me it could be an April Fools prank, but I hope it isn't. I WANT TO BELIEVE.

An era is over gentlemen - <a href="http://www.tuaw.com/2009/04/01/woz-exits-dancing-with-the-stars/">Woz has been voted off Dancing With the Stars</a>. Aww.



<a href="http://podbrix.com/itemdetails.php?PID=1209444693">Everyone needs a Steve Jobs plushie.</a> I want one, bad. It's US$45 (once it's shipped to Australia) though. Bah.

I also want a print <a href="http://www.20x200.com/art/2009/04/apple-1.html">of this photo of an Apple I laid out</a> in all it's glory. If only I had $1,000 to get the 24"x 30" print.

Guitar Rig is pretty popular with guitarists who want to play around with different amp models and a huge array of effects. <a href="http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/native_instruments_ships_guitar_rig_mobile/">Native Instruments have released a Guitar Rig mobile interface,</a> which lets you use your Guitar Rig software together with a laptop out in the field.

You may or may not know that Apple put up videos on how to use their products, as well as 3rd party products, up online - <a href="http://www.seminars.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/ASPRegistration.woa/wa/sol?locs=us_en">they're online seminars that cover a range of different topics</a>. They're mainly aimed at enterprise/education users, but they're very interesting and you can learn a lot about what Apple's products can do, that you might not have otherwise known about from these videos.

<a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/toby_harnden/blog/2009/04/01/barack_obamas_gift_for_the_queen_an_ipod_your_maje sty">Obama (the prez of da usa if somehow you didn't know) gave the Queen of England an iPod.</a> Wow. Like she didn't have one of those already.

Also on the topic of royalty, his holiness, Mein Gruber, <a href="http://daringfireball.net/2009/04/complex">has written a quality piece on Apple's success - make simple things, then let them grow.</a> A lot of people don't understand this, so take a read and I think you'll agree that the approach Apple takes is quite successful and can be applied to many areas, not just gadgets.

You may be interested to know that MacTalk sponsor, Warcom, <a href="http://forums.mactalk.com.au/42/61955-warcom-group-buys.html">is after ideas for a bulk buy on our Sponsors Forum</a>. If there's a product you're interested in buying, that you think can be brought down in price