An Update On My World of Warcraft

I have been able to install the game now, but I am still getting the graphical glitches. Things like the ground around my feet, the confirm button on dialog boxes. and the moving part of the progress bar on casting spells are visually distorted. Also, when I exit the game in full screen mode, the whole screen turns gray. and the mouse cursor is the only thing the works visually. This has happened twice. I am forced to hold down the power button and force the system to turn off,. When I turn it back on, everything is back to normal. I have also had the Apple menu symbol on the top left edge of the menu bar distort out side the game when I was playing it in windowed mode. I am thinking of installing the combo updater for Mac OS 10.5. What so you think the problem is?

World of Warcraft Technical Problems

I have recently reactivated my World of Warcraft account. When I began playing I remembered that I was getting unusual textures in the game world. The textures for the ground/floor and for the punctuation marks over characters heads were all messed up.  I decided to delete the game completely, including shared and preference files, and reinstall.

The first time I tried to reinstall the installer failed on Disc 4. The next time it went all the way through the install, but failed in the patching process. I was installing the 1.12 to 2.0.1 patch and got an error message saying basically that the installer could not find the game files. The installer was in the games main folder. I have tried installing on both the administrator and standard user accounts. I have used Disk Utility to repair the permissions on the hard drive. I installed from CDs directly and copied and copied the installer files to the hard drive.

I followed the instruction given to me on the phone and in email by Blizzard. I decided to download the game client 2.0 version from Blizzard’s Website. maybe if the installer goes directly to the 2.0 version of the client, it will skip the patching issue and I can install the expansion from my CDs. The full client 2.0 download is over 3 GB and is taking several hours on my 1.5 Mbit/s DSL service.

Have you experienced problems with installing the game and getting errors about the installer being unable to find the game? Have you had trouble with textures on the ground/floor or the punctuation over characters heads after installing the 2.4 client patch?

Google App Engine Easier On Macs

Google’s Official Mac Blog announced today the availability of a Mac launcher application for Google App Engine. This launcher greatly simplifies the process of developing Internet applications using Google’s App Engine. Google is known for allowing its developers to use 20% of their company time to developing personal projects. This launcher is the result of that 20% effort. The launcher is basically a software development kit (SDK) for the Mac platform. The launch can be downloaded on the App Engine Downloads page. The GoogleAppEngineLauncher is under active development as a Google Code project.

(via Official Google Mac Blog)

WWDC Sold Out!

According to a report on Macworld.com, for the first time ever, Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference(WWDC) has sold out. The event will be held June 9-13, in San Francisco. The annual conference of Apple engineers and Mac software developers brings attendees in contact with the people who created the computers and tools they are using to make their applications.

The extremely high interest in this years conference is probably due to widespread interest in developing software for the iPhone. On March 6th Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced their iPhone Developer Program and released a beta software development kit (SDK) that allows developers to create applications for the forthcoming 2.0 version of the iPhone software which apple says will contain an App Store enabling iPhone users to buy, download and install third-party software on their iPhone.

Anyone unable to attend WWDC may buy and download videos of the conference sessions short after the conference concludes.

(via Macworld)

Vidnik: Google Makes YouTube Application

If you want to quickly record a video using the iSight webcam built into new Apple laptops and IMacs and upload them to YouTube, Google has the solution. Enter Vidnik, Google’s latest application on the Google Mac Developer Playground. This is a Google Code Project and is not a final release application. There is a report on the Vidnik project page that some people are having an issue with the current version (0.13.0). They report Vidnik has a slight video/audio synchronization issue when the video is played back on YouTube.

(via Official Google Mac Blog)

My MacBook

I have had the current black MacBook since it was out of Apple’s gates for two weeks. I have used it for both serious and fun purposes. It performed admirably for almost every task I throw at it. It even does well at displaying 3D gamed such as World of Warcraft and The Movies, the later of which claims to not work with the GMA graphics system. The only game that had some visual slowness was Eve Online. That game officially requires a non-integrated graphics card.

While doing everything else the MacBook is snappy and responsive. I have few applications crash and almost no kernel panics. I have thus far been very pleased with the fast Intel processor, 2 GB of system memory and roomy 250 GB hard drive. 

I have used xCode Tools and other developer applications on the system and they work well and quickly. This is a great Mac for new developers.

The Origin of Mother’s Day

If you want to know more about the history of Mother’s Day and what the creator intended it to be like, read this article from The Vancouver Sun to learn how her holiday’s purpose was distorted and how it was, and still is exploied by commercial and political interests.

Mother’s Day creator likely ’spinning in her grave’

This post has been updated for clarity.

For Our Mothers

In many nations mothers are celebrated on different days. In my home, the United States, this is the day we remember the woman who brought us into this world. Lets be especially grateful today for all the sacrifices they made for for us . Whether your mother is near, far or no long with you, remember all the good she brought to your life. Lets be thankful to the women who strengthen us, our mothers, wives and loved ones.

Thanks Mom,

Your son

This post has been updated for clarity.

What am I?

I am trying to make up my mind. Am I a Mac power user or a Mac developer. I am reading the developer documentation from Apple and books about the C language. I am very familiar with how my Mac works and how to use it. When you are studying to be a Mac developer, but have not gotten there yet, what are you? You are an aspiring Mac developer.

I work at two jobs that are not remotely related to computers or technology and my household income is less than most computer programmers. I have been to college, but I did not get a degree. I am making moves to return to college next year and complete my degree in computer science. I will share with you what I know about Mac development and share Mac news and posts from other websites written by people with more experience. I will share information that would interest a power user and beginning Mac developer. We can both learn about writing great applications together, from one aspiring Mac developer to another.

Are You Really Changing the Weblog Name Again?

I have decided on an name for my weblog that does not include my name. Since the main purpose of the weblog is to educate new Mac Developers, I have decided on the title Aspiring Mac Developer Weblog because this weblog is for those aspiring to write and publish software for Apple computers. Maybe the name of the weblog will not change for a long while, I hope.