iPhone Mania!

It has finally been released! And Apple fans in the US waited in line by the hundreds at their local Apple and AT&T stores to get their very own iPhones. For the rest of us who live outside the US, we'll just have to contend ourselves with internet pictures & videos, and hope that one day, the shelves of our local Apple retail stores shall also be lined with iPhones so that we, too, can have the chance to own this revolutionary phone, widescreen iPod and breakthrough internet device rolled into one.

Check these out:
iPhone unboxing photos on Flickr
Flickr group for pics taken using the iPhone
Pics of the iPhone being disassembled (gasp!) at ifixit.com

And here is a video of the iPhone being unboxed:


[via TUAW]

Ligaw Liham: 2007 Cinemalaya Finalist, Proudly Made On A Mac

Ligaw Liham, a film by Jay Abello, is one of the 10 finalists in the upcoming 2007 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Festival. It stars the very talented singer, Karylle, and newcomer John Michael Lee. This film also features two of Bacolod’s finest actors, John Gilbert Arceo and George Macainan. Ligaw Liham was shot entirely in Negros and beautifully pieced together on a Mac.

The film was edited seamlessly using Final Cut Pro HD on a fast Power Mac G5 2.5GHz Quad supercharged with the Blackmagic Decklink HD realtime engine and 1.22 terabytes of hard disk space.

Synopsis
Sometime in the 70’s, in a small town in Negros, the post office simply stops its operations. No one knew about this except for the postman and his caretaker. When Nor, the town simpleton, finds out about this secret, he finds an opportunity to sway to the dance of love when he assumes the identity of another man. Nor reads the letters hidden in an old warehouse and takes over the pen of Karen’s husband who was working in Saigon. Soon after, a correspondence between Nor and Karen takes place. And Nor finds himself truly falling in love.

I encourage you all to support Philippine independent cinema and watch Ligaw Liham at the CCP Theater on July 20-29, 2007. It will also be shown at the UP Cine Adarna, formerly UP Film Center, sometime in August, and at the Robinsons Galleria's IndieSine some time after. You may visit the Ligaw Liham website or Ligaw Liham on Multiply for more details.

Playing WMV Files On Your Mac

I looked at the downloads page of the Apple website today and saw that the Windows Media Player 9.0 for Mac was among the top 10 downloads. I was a bit surprised to see that a lot of people are still downloading this player since Microsoft had already ceased its development (which they announced in January 2006) and it also isn't universal binary. But if you're looking for a way to play WMV files on your Mac, don't worry. There are still a lot of great options out there such as...

VLC Media Player
The VLC Media Player is a cross-platform media player (which means it can run on many different operating systems). It supports a large number of video formats including WMV, WMA and ASF. Best of all, it's FREE! I've installed it on my Mac and I find it to be a great alternative to the QuickTime Player.

Download the VLC Media Player for Mac OS X

Flip4Mac
Flip4Mac's Windows Media® Components enables Mac users to play WMV files using the QuickTime player. This feature comes with the FREE trial version. You can also purchase software upgrades which give you added features such as the ability to import Windows Media files in QuickTime Pro and to export to WMV format using iMovie or Final Cut. Visit flip4mac.com to download WMV components for QuickTime and to get more information.

Related articles:
The VLC Media Player: A Great Alternative To The QuickTime Player
Perian: Adds QuickTime Support For Many Different Video Formats
Making Sure QuickTime Plays DV Files At High-Quality
Downloading Videos From YouTube And Playing FLV Files On Your Mac

Widget World: Sudoku Fun

Sudoku is this highly addictive numbers game where you have to place numerals in a 9x9 grid. But it has to be placed in such a way that each of the nine rows, nine columns and nine 3x3 internal boxes contain the numbers 1 to 9 without any of the numerals repeating themselves. It's definitely one of my favorite brain teasers. So if you're a Sudoku fan like myself, or simply want to try it out, then you might want to download the Sudoku Fun Widget by James Pitts. It's a great way to exercise those brain cells.

How Do You Type An Inverted Question Mark In Mac OS X¿

Just hold down shift + option + ? and you get ¿

Now go forth an invert your question marks!