If you’re reading this then chances are you’ve come to the stark realisation that Apple have callously removed our lovably simple media interface from its latest OS. Some say this was a move to sell more Apple TVs, some say it was just no longer needed. Either way, I used this feature almost every night to watch Movies and TV Shows in bed, hear me Apple?! Many out there believe it will turn up again in the near future via the Mac App Store. But, what about now? What about today? Sorry, bad song. There are other solutions out there that offer even more features, like apps to check Twitter, the Weather, and even play YouTube content. The trouble is, simplicity was key for me. I’ve tried alternatives, Plex, Boxio, XBMC, but none offer the speed and versatility of Frontrow. Too many menus to get to your content, too many bugs to rely on it to work every time. So what can we do about it? Well, we can restore Frontrow to usable state.

First of all you need to get hold of few files taken from Snow Leopard. Incase you’ve already upgraded to Lion, you can use this simple package installer to install all the necessary files – Download [Thanks to mac-hatter for creating the file]

Once that’s all done, restart your Mac and your Apple Remote should then be capable of launching Frontrow once again. Go ahead and run it, you’ll notice a problem, your iTunes Library is not visible under any of the menus. This is because Apple has stopped iTunes 10.4 and onwards talking to Frontrow. So what can you do now? Well the best workaround I found was to create an alias within your Movies folder.

1. Navigate to your Home folder > Music > iTunes, and create an alias to the ‘iTunes Media’ folder.

2. Drag and drop this newly created shortcut into your Home > Movies folder.

3. Launch Frontrow and go Movies > Movies Folder. You’ll notice your iTunes Media alias in the list. You should now have a list of all your iTunes content.

While not 100% effective, this is the best solution offered at the moment and I am sure to be using this until I can find a reliable and simple alternative.

After last night’s pretty damn epic WWDC Keynote I, like many, were eagerly awaiting footage of the event. In the past Apple have posted a stream on their website followed by an update to their Apple Keynote Podcast. I’m usually the sort to wait for the full download as I hate a busy stream cutting out halfway through. Last night saw no update to the Podcast, though. I fully expected it to be available when I woke up this morning, but it isn’t. At the time of writing this post there’s still nothing. Now I’m not saying they won’t update it, but it clearly shows the focus is shifting towards streaming media, and could lead to a completely new way of handling Podcasts through the iCloud. No more clogging up all your Macs with Keynotes from 2008 onwards, everything will be up on the iCloud and ready to watch. Only got halfway and fell asleep in bed? Resume tomorrow with your laptop, the iCloud will remember, as it does your entire digital life. This will definitely change the way Podcasts work, and for the better I say.

After getting stuck into Resident Evil on my PSP for the past few weeks, I’ve reached the point of near completion. This led me to reading up on Resi 2, and the realisation that I’ve only ever played the demo! How crazy is that. I remember playing Resi 3 but have hardly any recollection of the second game. Some people say the second game is the best in the series. How could I not dive in? I tried loading it up on my PSP, but to no avail. I thought I might as well put my PS2 Slim to use once more, and won a copy on eBay. I ended up paying £12.50 with postage. How could anyone resist an auction with a picture like this….

Everything looks to be in very nice condition so this will be a nice collectors piece, as well as a great gaming experience for me! Not sure which character to start with? I always seemed to use Jill Valentine in Resident Evil. Maybe I’ll go Leon in the second game? I’ll keep you posted.

Since getting my MacBook Air I knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to load my entire iTunes Library onto it’s 128GB SSD. It’d take up all the room and would also leave me juggling libraries, trying to keep them both up to date. I’ve been using the Home Sharing feature instead, and it’s worked flawlessly. But, one massive problem, what about when I leave my home network? That’s where Slink comes into it’s own. Offering the kind of features you’d expect from a £60 a year MobileMe subscription.

So what does Slink do? Well in simple terms, it takes your home network anywhere you go. Download the app, install the preference pane on your home computer (iMac in my case) and you’re good to go. Once I’m out and about, I simply connect to my iMac from the menu bar and it’s like I’m back at home, all the local services are visible, from connecting to your iTunes Library, to using Remote Disc, and even accessing files off computers connected to your home network!

I’m sure I’m going to find this app very handy in the future, especially with the limited capacity of SSD drives. It’s a brilliant solution to take your entire iTunes library wherever you go. Until Apple get their fingers out and offer us a bit more for out MobileMe money, then I would highly recommend this app to anybody. Well worth the £18 fee in my opinion. Top Stuff.

Find out more about Slink at the Slinkware website

A few days ago, while browsing the MacBook Air pages on the Apple website, I noticed one of the images showed a Space themed game and was a little intrigued. Turns out that game was EVE Online, a vast MMORPG set in Space. I liked the idea of that so signed up for the free 14-day trial. After all the login crap I downloaded the 2.9GB DMG file ready to do some Space shooting.

error -4960

The DMG wouldn’t mount. Corrupted download I thought? So I went and downloaded it again. Still the same. Off I went to google, and little was found. After trawling through the EVE Online Forums I found out the only way to get it to run was to download it on a Windows machine and move it over to your Mac. I haven’t got a Windows machine. After a bit more digging someone had kindly posted a Terminal.app command to download the file through that, apparently downloading it through a web browser, the file size becomes corrupted, somehow. Anyway, the fix.

Go to Applications > Utilities > Terminal

Type:

cd ~/Downloads; curl -O http://cdn1.eveonline.com/mac/eve-premium_004577_185699-mac.dmg

The file should then download from within the Terminal.app. Remember the filename I have listed here is the most current one from when I made this post. If the problem is still happening with future versions you’ll have to update the DMG file name.

Gaming website CVG.com report that Steam for Mac has been given a May 12th release date. This is slightly behind the initial claims of an April release, but I for one can’t wait to test my iMac to it’s limits. I think Half-Life 2 is going to get it’s fourth run through.

I might even buy Episodes 1 & 2 to go with it! Game on!

Valve have finally announced support for the Mac platform, hoooraaar! Yes, that’s right folks, Half-Life & Co will soon be available for your Apple machines. After a series of image leaks, Valve released a statement saying they intended to release their game download service, Steam, in April. I, for one, cannot wait! (as you can probably tell)

Not only will we see the majority of Valve’s titles ported to the Mac, but we’ll also be treated to a simultaneous release of Portal 2 on PC & Mac. Another interesting prospect is that cross platform online gaming will be available, Mac vs PC war-fest anyone?

This announcement is just one less reason for me to be running Windows on my iMac. The only reason I ever have is to play games. There is a major annoyance factor involved in rebooting the machine into Windows just to have a blast on a game. I usually leave my Mac go to sleep, and have all my most used programs open and ready to jump back to. Shutting everything down is a big no no for moi!

Even better news is the fact any purchases on the PC version of Steam will lead to the Mac equivalent being completely free (and I guess vice versa) Great news for me as I have Half-Life 2, and also Episodes One and Two of said game available to download!

So now it’s only a matter of weeks before my 27-inch iMac (i7 incidentally! (stop bragging)) flexes it’s muscles and tears up some Half-Life 2, hell yes!

Since I’m bored and wide awake at the moment, I thought I’d make full use of my iPhone. I rarely use the WordPress App, but after realising today how great the iPhone is as a Netbook replacment, I thought I’d start using it to it’s full potential. Not only have I been listening to my favourite Music, I’ve been playing some great Games. Titles like Chop Sushi, Rogue Planet, Bejeweled, Rock Band, Monkey Island, the list goes on. It’s no wonder manufacturers are chomping at the bit to get their ‘AppStores’ up and running. I recently downloaded the new (and free) Photoshop App, a very cool program that enables cropping, rotation, along with a whole host of visual filters and user adjustable colour balance. Pictures can be shared effortlessy to your favourite online Social Networking sites, whether it be Twitter, FaceBook or Flickr, the iPhone has the power and finesse to keep you up to date at any time. Anyway, enough of my rambling and enjoy the view I’ve had nearly all day (picture edited with Photoshop before you ask!)

Earlier today Apple released a software update for the AppleTV. It’s mentioned in the release notes that it’s been given a “simpler and faster interface”. I’m not sure it’s that much quicker to be honest, the menu lag still pops up on occasions and the remote can be as unresponsive as ever. The front end menu has completely changed, something I’ve been hoping would happen for some time. I got a bit fed up of the bland old menu, this newer look brings more colour to the screen, and uses a menu system not too dissimilar to the PlayStation 3′s. Sorry for the quality of the picture, I took it straight off my TV with the iPhone.

After seeing the ‘Internet’ menu I was hoping we’d see BBC’s iPlayer magically appear, but it wasn’t to be this time. Instead the newest addition, next to YouTube, is Internet Radio. This is a welcome bonus for me as I regularly tune in to the Electronica stations. I tried a couple of stations and everything seemed to work flawlessly, you get a Growl style notification at the bottom left of the screen letting you know what you’re listening while you browse through other stations.

Another new feature added is Genius Mixes. This was introduced in iTunes 9.0 and expands on Apple’s Genius mode. When selected you are presented with a choice of Mixes split by Genre. Once chosen, iTunes (or the AppleTV in this case) will keep playing songs it thinks fit together, until it runs out of ideas music. Notice the notification in the bottom left, showing I’m still listening to a Radio Station.

One of the few new features I was hoping for the most was the ability to view your iTunes LP’s in full screen on your HDTV. Apple granted my wish and have supposedly included this in the update. Only trouble is, the two iTunes LP’s that I own do not show up on the AppleTV no matter what I do. I’ve tried manual sync, creating a dedicated playlist, even tried sharing it off my MacBook, nothing makes the LP’s show up.

UPDATE
After a quick tweet to my friend Sam over at Fruit Bytes, she found a document released by Apple with information about this new feature. It seems we must wait for an email telling us when AppleTV compatible versions of our existing iTunes LP’s are available!

I recently ordered my self a couple of Blu-ray movies from play.com as they had a special “buy 1 get 1 free” offer on at the time. My choices were Valkyrie and I, Robot, both of which I have yet to see at the Cinema. They turned up today and I noticed Valkyrie also included a ‘Digital Copy’ of the film for you to load on your iPod/iPhone. This was the first time I’d come across this before and wondered how it worked. So I went ahead and popped the bonus DVD into my Mac mini and was greeted by this screen.

Once I’d double clicked the icon, iTunes opened and Valkyrie was mounted in the Devices section of the sidebar (much like an audio cd) I then selected that and got greeted with this screen.

The code is found on the inside of the Blu-ray case. Once entered, Apple authorises the movie and it becomes yours as if you’d bought it off the iTunes Store. The file is then copied over from the DVD into your Library.

Overall I’m fairly impressed with the whole process. Whenever I’ve bought a standard DVD lately I’ve always created a digital copy for use in Front Row or my Apple TV. With Blu-ray I’m limited as I don’t have a Blu-ray drive in any of my computers. I’m hoping this isn’t some Sony UMD fad and that more studios decide on including this with their movies.