Spore

The creators of The Sims present the next big bang - SPORE. Create your unique creature and guide it on an epic journey through a universe of your own creations. Play any way you choose in the five evolutionary phases of Spore: Cell, Creature, Tribe, Civilization, and Space. How you play and what you do with your universe is entirely up to you. Spore gives you a variety of powerful yet easy-to-use creation tools so you can create every aspect of your universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even starships.

PC Minimum - Windows XP/Vista, 6 GB Hard Drive Space, 2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent, 768 MB RAM, 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0 Mac Minimum - Mac OS X 10.5.3 Leopard or higher, 4.7GB Hard Drive Space, Intel Core Duo Processor, 1024 MB RAM; ATI X1600 or NVidia 7300 GT with 128 MB of Video RAM, or Intel Integrated GMA X3100

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars A really enjoyable game
This game is really good. I really don’t understand the snobby remarks about not being able to install it on more than 5 computers. If you go through that many computers, then yes that is a problem, but I’m sure the majority of us use one, maybe two.

I really like the game play, and it’s fun to replay the game to see what different creatures you can create and how they progress. I recommend this game.

5 Stars how can you rate this 1 star?
this is the best game ever! i have no idea how you can rate this 1 star. the people that did so probably have realllllly old/bad/crappy computers or something because it runs fine on my PC. READ THE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS BEFORE YOU BUY SOMETHING! DONT ACT LIKE BECAUSE IT DOESNT WORK OR UR PC, ITS THE GAMES FAULT!

1 Star Awful
Look, even if this game DIDN’T have the securom and install limits which reduce your purchase to a mere rental, the fact is it isn’t FUN. I unknowingly installed this on my laptop on day one, excited about all the promises made to me by EA. I thought this would be on the verge of an MMO, with other people to interact with and the ability to create planets, and customize terrain, plants, animals, and the weather. Boy, was I wrong. You get 5 skimpy minigames that could have been put into separate flash web based games. Instead you rent them for 50 bucks! Absolutely horrible value, and without a doubt the biggest disappointment I have ever had with any purchase, ever. I plan on throwing it out as soon as I’m done grimacing with disgust at the packaging. EA said one thing and delivered another, and I’ll never forget that. I am not buying any EA games ever again until they remove SecuROM and the limited installs.

1 Star All Hype! Don’t listen to game review magazines.
This game got a lot of hype. Game magazines gave it 5 out of 5 stars, but I believe those magazines never played the game.

Spore is like a giant game of “Simon Says”. (You know, the colorful blinking light game with sounds…?) The game is supposed to be open ended, but you’ll be glad the game is over when you reach the space ‘exploration’ stage in less then a day.

This game has a lot of neat technology behind it. Making a creature seems to be the most appealing part of the game. However, people can make their own creatures with the free creature creator; Or go buy a package of play-doe and you’ll have just as much fun.

5 Stars Spore Rocks!
This Spore game is so much fun for my and my brother. We figured out how to have two different accounts on the same game. We enjoy creating some of the weiderst animals and other things. I reccomend this to anyone you likes to create their own little world!

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Micromat TechTool Pro 4 Mac

This is the eagerly anticipated Universal Binary version of TechTool Pro that will run on both Intel and PowerPC-based Macs. It fully supports the hardware changes introduced to the Macintosh platform with the introduction of the new MacIntel chipsets. All of the features of the program that were previously available for PowerPC based Macs are available for Intel-based Macs as well. This includes the innovative eDrive (emergency startup partition) feature of the program, found nowhere else. In addition to Universal Binary support, the new release will also include some significant program enhancements, including improved Disk Controller test routines. Unlike most application software, more than a simple re-compile of the program was required to support the new Intel-based Macs. Because TechTool Pro works with the computer hardware at the lowest levels, it was necessary for Micromat to completely re-engineer the software from the ground up. In order to support the new models, Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) is required to run the program.
TechTool Pro ships on DVD for both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs. The DVD will automatically boot the correct system version.
No product comes close to TechTool Pro for ensuring that all of your hardware and software is operating at peak performance. No other software gives you the peace of mind that comes from knowing that your valuable data is protected by the latest technology. With a single mouse click, TechTool Pro can automatically run a series of sophisticated tests that will troubleshoot almost any problem you are having with your Macintosh.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars I Think It’s Good
Some software’s are so complicated - but this doesn’t appear to be. It seems to be rather quite simple… That is, if I’m taking advantages of all it can do. I bought it because of the reviews on this site and CNET. I guess it “dose” good for the “system” becsue it seems to run better afterwords (CERTAINLY not worse) - however if my computing functions are all that complicated in the first place to need such “refining” remains to be seen. So I recommend it “just because” it’s good to have something that dose what it says it dose… But always remember - don’t fool yourself - run the “advanced” scan at night - it will tip the scales at FOUR HOURS or even more…

5 Stars Works as advertised. I am very pleased with their new 5.02 update.
I am a reluctant “need to maintain this Mac” user. I am a webmaster for my church using iWeb. I looked at Disc Warrior and didn’t understand the features offered. I tried the trial download and still didn’t understand disc warrior.

After generating a “disc error” disc utility couldn’t fix I frantically searched for a solution and found the tech tool version that came with my Appe Care Warranty.

Never could fix problem with that version. I bought the Pro version, at that time 4.6 and got it fixed in 5 minutes!

The new interface is much better when doing volume optimization. There is a graphic that lets you clearly see where you are in this lengthy process. It does take a long time to complete, but the performance of your machine will amaze you.

I used to take 45 Min. to an hr. to completely back up 141+ GB to a backup disc. After the optimization it takes 7 minutes!

You DO need to read their documentation. Get familiar with what they tell you before you start willy-nilly trying things.

This program is not meant for the highly networked Terabyte business. Again they tell you clearly what they can and can not do on what hardware, running which operating system versions. Excellent job Micromat.

1 Star TechTool Pro v4.6.1 will not work with Mac OS X 10.5
I’ve had Tech Tool Pro from the start. I thought it to be essential. Not so as it will not work for me with Mac 6S X 10.5.

I have a G-Drive 500 GB exterior hard drive. It is the item 4.6.1 cannot deal with. I have just run a complete defrag of the G-Drive in this, my 20th or so attempt to get 4.6.1 to run. Running the medium program, as recommended for periodic maintence, it runs to Volumes, Volume Structures (for the G-Drive) to the point of Catalog File (B-Tree) number 1394362 of 2604014 and freezes. Nothing clicks. The computer must then be completely shut down then restarted in order to get the disk to eject.

This completely worthless. And to think I paid an upgrade from 4.5 only to get the code more perfectly written to serve the Intel processors. My unit is still a Powerbook with G4 chip.

And to think I paid for the 4.6 then the announcements about 5.0 began with explanation mmost all of us would have to pay for an entire upgrade again.

If Micromat thinks we will all be sheep & buy 5.0 they have another thing coming.

5 Stars excellent service
received shipping notice right away. did not receive my software for like a month. emailed amazon and they sent another one right away.

1 Star Do NOT waste your $$$$
To begin with, TTP is not by any means the only game in town. It is however, going to be the the most expensive or completely useless. Micromat will be happy either way. As a current Micromat customer, I am the proud owner of an expensive utility that worked for all of two months. Leopard broke it completely. When Micromat updated their utility to be compatible with Apple’s current OS, they wanted all of us to pay them again. They simply renamed the “update” from “Techtool Pro 4″ r4.5.3 to “Techtool Pro 4″ r4.6.1 an “upgrade”. They’re also calling their all new “Techtool Pro 5″ an “upgrade”. Do yourself a favor, buy Diskwarrior and you’ll only have to pay for it just the one time.

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Parallels Desktop 3 0 for Mac OLD VERSION

The first solution that gives Apple users the ability to run Windows, Linux or any other operating system and their critical applications at the same time as Mac OS X–without rebooting–on any Intel-powered iMac, Mac Mini, MacBook or MacBook Pro.

The killer app for Mac is now even better than ever!
Parallels Desktop for Mac enables you to run Windows, Linux, and more side-by-side with Mac OS X on any Intel-powered Mac, without rebooting. With Parallels’ award-winning virtualization technology, you can run Mac OS X and your favorite Windows applications at the same time. You can even drag-and-drop files between desktops!

The latest release of Parallels Desktop for Mac comes packed with 50+ new features and enhancements, including SmartSelect, Snapshots, and 3D graphics. Learn more about the new capabilities in the latest release of our award-winning product.

Top 5 reasons to run Parallels:
	Run Windows-only applications on your Mac. Many of today’s most popular applications are windows-only. Parallels enables you to run these applications on your Mac. Play computer games? Most PC games only run on Windows. With Parallels, you no longer have to sacrifice your favorite games!
	Run Selected 3D Games and Applications. OpenGL and DirectX support lets you explore a whole new world of 3D games and applications right on your Mac.
	Use any phone, MP3 player, and camera with your Mac. With Parallels, you can use your favorite devices, even if they’re Windows-only. Connect your Blackberry, phone, camera, and MP3 player to your Mac!
	Run OS X, Windows, and Linux at the same time. With Parallels, you can run all of your favorite applications at the same time, regardless of the OS! No more rebooting to switch between OSes to use the applications you need.
	No-worry migrations! Parallels Transporter takes the hassle out of migration. No more losing valuable data, customizing your computer all over again, or reinstalling software. In just a few simple steps, you can move your entire existing Windows system to your new Mac.

With the latest version of Parallels, you can:

• Use Windows and Mac OS X at the same time… without rebooting
• Run Windows programs like native Mac applications with Parallels Coherence
• New! Open Windows files with Mac programs and Mac files in Windows programs with Parallels SmartSelect
• Share files and folders between Windows and Mac OS X
• New! Browse through Windows folders and access files without launching Windows with Parallels Explorer
• New! Run today’s most popular PC games on a Mac with support for 3D graphics
• Achieve maximum performance by leveraging Intel Virtualization Technology
• New! Protect your Windows with Parallels Snapshots
• Migrate your entire existing PC to your Mac with Parallels Transporter

Coherence
With Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac, you can run Windows applications like they were native to your Mac! Experience the new Coherence mode to enjoy the benefits of both operating systems, without managing two desktops. In Parallels Desktop 3.0, Coherence has been enhanced to make running both operating systems simultaneously even easier and more user-friendly.

Using Parallels Desktop 3.0’s Coherence, you can:

• Navigate Windows using the Windows taskbar directly on your Mac desktop
• Hide the Windows taskbar until you need it
• Launch your favorite Windows applications and access the Windows Start menu straight from your Mac Dock
• Use your Windows applications right on your Mac desktop, without resizing Windows itself
• Manage your open documents and files on the Windows taskbar while enjoying your favorite Mac Dock applications at the same time
• View Windows applications in Dock at your convenience! Choose your level of integration from Never, Always, and Only in Coherence.
• Maintain seamless access to all of your Windows and Mac documents, files, applications, hardware, and devices, making your user environment truly hassle-free
• Drag-and-drop files and folders instantly between Windows and Mac OS X
• Choose the best application for your needs, without flipping from one operating system to another
• Prefer Coherence over managing two desktops? Boot your virtual system to Coherence at startup, and truly avoid switching between operating systems.
• Mount your Windows operating system directly on your Mac desktop and enjoy instant access to all of your files, regardless of their OS Enjoy two operating systems while managing only one desktop. Coherence eliminates your having to switch between operating systems to enjoy your favorite Windows and Mac applications. You can almost forget that you’re running two OSes!

Transporter
Transporter is a powerful tool that enables you to migrate your entire PC system to a Parallels virtual machine. Migrate your entire PC system, including operating system, applications, files, and personal settings–without losing data or reinstalling any software.

NEW! Now you can convert VMware Workstation/Server and Virtual PC virtual hard disks to a Parallels virtual machine AND migrate directly to your Mac using FireWire!

Installation Assistant built-in tool
Thanks to Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac’s Installation Assistant, installing Windows on your Mac is now even easier than installing it on a PC! This new built-in tool is already included in Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac.

How does it work?
With a powerful, easy to use “Express Windows OS Installation Mode” for Windows Vista and Windows XP, the Installation Assistant completely automates the virtual machine setup and installation of Windows–with almost no user interaction.

Start taking advantage of running Windows on your Mac in just three easy steps:

• Select which Windows operating system you want to install,
• Enter your name, company and Windows activation key,
• Click finish–and let the Installation Assistant do the rest!

You do not need to enter any additional information, select settings, or answer any potentially confusing technical questions. This built-in tool automatically completes the full installation in a pre-designed virtual machine.

After Windows is installed, the Installation Assistant automatically installs Parallels Tools, a free set of useful add-ons that improve networking, video, and sound support, syncs mouse activity and OS system clocks, and enables you to cut, copy, and paste of data, as well as file sharing, between Windows and OS X.

Need to run other operation systems on your Mac?
The Installation Assistant provides improved and user-friendly setup for other versions of Windows, plus any Linux distribution, FreeBSD, Solaris, OS/2, eComStation, and MS-DOS.

NOTE! If you are already using Parallels Desktop for Mac, updating Parallels Desktop 3.0 does not require a reinstall of any guest operating systems or applications. After updating, you should only reinstall Parallels Tools.

SmartSelect
Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac’s new SmartSelect enables Mac users to open any Windows or Mac file with whichever software they choose–regardless of its original OS! Now you can open Windows files with any Mac software and Mac files with any Windows software.

With support in both Windows and Mac OS X and deep document, email, and web-browser integration between the two operating systems, Parallels Desktop 3.0’s SmartSelect frees you to choose the best software for the job, without interrupting your workflow.

Previously, Parallels Desktop users had to copy a file into either Windows or Mac OS X to open the file with the application they wanted. Now, in Parallels Desktop 3.0, you can open any file from either OS and view it with the software of your choice.

With SmartSelect, you can:

• View and edit a file with any compatible PC or Mac software available on your Intel Mac
• Set file-associations to open a file-type with specific Mac or PC software
• Set SmartSelect software settings “on the fly” or as the default

Imagine being able to double-click on a text document in Mac Finder and immediately launch Microsoft Word in Windows. Or synchronizing your digital life by playing all the MP3s in your music library with Mac iTunes–even if the files are located in Windows.

Parallels Desktop 3.0’s SmartSelect goes beyond document integration. It also supports email and web browsing. Immediately view a PPT file a colleague sent you in Apple Mail using Windows PowerPoint. Click on any hyperlink in an email or document and have your default web-browser–such as Apple’s Safari or Microsoft’s Internet Explorer–launch. With SmartSelect, the possibilities are endless.

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Snapshots
Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac’s new Snapshots enables you to erase mistakes and recover your virtual machine from system crashes and viruses with the click of a button. Enjoy peace of mind with Parallels Desktop 3.0’s Snapshots.

A complete record of your virtual machine at the state it was created–OS, data, software, and settings–Parallels Desktop 3.0’s Snapshots enables you to quickly and easily create and save multiple snapshots, even while your virtual machine is running.

In the event a virus or a Windows system crash, you can conveniently rollback your virtual machine to any previously saved state with all of your data and software intact. (As opposed to losing all of your data and reinstalling Windows and all your PC software.) Additionally, periodically creating a set of backups facilitates faster recovery time to get back on your feet, if disaster strikes.

With Parallels Desktop 3.0’s Snapshot Manager, you can manage and view all of your snapshots in a tree pane that includes screen shots for each snapshot. Snapshot Manager enables you to revert back to previous snapshots, delete snapshots, and edit description information for each snapshot.

Snapshots are excellent for:

• Bulletproofing your Windows virtual machine from viruses and spyware
• Creating a regularly scheduled backup to revert your virtual machine to any previous stable state
• Rolling back your virtual machine after a software update, system crash, or software testing

In an unpredictable world, Parallels Desktop 3.0’s Snapshots safeguards your data and creates a more reliable virtual machine so you can focus on more important things.

Parallels Explorer
Just need that one document? Where did that pdf go? Thanks to Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac’s new Parallels Explorer, now you can access your Windows files and folders directly from your Mac desktop, without even launching Windows. With a deeper integration between Mac OS X and Windows, Parallels Desktop 3.0 makes it even easier to run Windows on your Mac.

Using Parallels Desktop 3.0’s Explorer, you can:

• Access your Windows files and documents directly from your Mac Desktop
• Browse your Windows system directly on your Mac Dock
• Maintain access to your important Windows documents, even if the virtual machine crashes
• Drag-and-drop files and folders between Windows and OS X
• Save time with direct access to all of your critical files, without having to wait for your virtual machine to start and Windows to boot
• Create and delete files in your Windows system “on the fly”
• Troubleshoot your Windows system for tricky file errors and deleted folders
• …all without even launching Windows.

Enjoy two operating systems while managing only one desktop. Parallels Explorer eliminates your having to wait for your virtual machine to start and Windows to boot just to access your key Windows files, folders, and documents. Running Windows and Mac has never been easier!

3D Graphics
NEW! Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac now supports DirectX 9 and OpenGL 1.5! No need to dedicate a separate Windows machine to running favorite 3D games and key graphics applications. Parallels Desktop 3.0 now brings the world of Windows 3D straight to your Mac like never before!

With Parallels Desktop 3.0, you can:

• Play Windows-only 3D games, such as Half-Life, World of Warcraft, and Unreal Tournament
• Render in complex 3D CAD programs such as AutoCAD 2008
• Work with CPU-intensive video and sound editing software such as Sony Vegas
• Run mission-critical 3D applications on your Mac
• Enjoy your favorite Windows-only games and graphics applications directly in your Windows virtual machine at full native speed–without rebooting

By including deep support for both DirectX and OpenGL, Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac brings a world of Windows-only key productivity and entertainment software to Mac users for the first time. Now you can truly experience the best of both worlds on one machine!

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star parawhat?
Want actually working USB peripherals? buy VM Fusion

I bought parallels 3.0 in November

I was thoroughly disappointed in its performance, I felt cheated because almost none of my usb peripherals worked, it didnt begin to live up to expectations.

My USB GPS or USB broadband modem or my USB Game controller didnt work, making parallels almost entirely useless to me, I could have saved my money and simply used boot camp.

Parallels release 4.0 supposed as a free upgrade to new 3.0 purchasers.

I submitted my proof of purchase receipt on the 1st of Dec 08 its now January 2009 and till this date I still haven’t received a 4.0 activation key for the Parallels Manufacturer.

I bought VM Fusion and imported my VM machine and instantly every one of my usb peripherals worked perfectly.

Do not waste time and money on a product or company that cant or wont even attempt to deliver what it claims.

I dont own stock or interest in either company. but with VM fusion I do have a Virtual windows machine on my Mac with working USB peripherals.

1 Star Be careful
I’m not sure how good this product is, because I am still having installation problems. After installing the program, I was then told my product key was expired (Unless the store gave me a pirated version - which I doubt from the apple store.) I attempted to uninstall the current version and now can’t reinstall. after exhausting my web and user guide resources, I attempted to call ANYONE at parallels and spent an hour being frustrated before calling apple and asking for help. they somehow got someone on the line. So now, finally I have a person to talk to. To add insult to injury - the “tech support” has a decidedly heavily accented english and is talking on a static filled internet phone such that he can barely understand me or I him.

Keep in mind that if I hadn’t called apple, I would be paying 29.99 for this wonderful service PER INCIDENT!!! I sincerely hope that I never need customer service again, because if I do it will likely be for a refund.

5 Stars Parallels 3.0
I am a recently converted Mac user, but there are still many Windows programs I am either not willing to give up or are not available for Mac, thus I purchased this software to be able to run Windows and Mac OS X simultaneously.

I must say I am very happy with it! I simply click on my Windows Taskbar that sits quite nicely above the Mac’s dock and I can go anywhere in Windows I want.

4 Stars Does what it says and makes it easy
I was going back and forth over whether to buy Parallels or VM Fusion and just tried the free download. The product worked so well I didn’t even bother with a comparison test when the free demo expired; I just bought it.

1 Star Stay away
This is a disaster….get fusion instead. I have had nothing but difficulties getting it to load and function.

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Apple iWork 08 Family Pack OLD VERSION

Pages ‘08 offers an intuitive way to create beautiful, media-rich documents using impressive features such as Writing and Layout modes, Change tracking, Contextual Format Bar, Automatic list formatting, Graphics tools and templates. Pages ‘08 supports industry-standard formats to easily open documents from other word processing applications that were created on a Mac or a PC.
Amaze your audience with cinema-quality presentations using Keynote ‘08 and its new features Text effects & transitions, Action Builds, Instant Alpha, Voice-over Recording, Smart Builds and Apple-designed Themes.
Numbers ‘08 does everything from setting up your family budget to completing a lab report using Intelligent Tables, Interactive Print View, Flexible Canvas, Import & Export Excel, Charts, Images, Text Labels and Customizable Templates. Automatic list formatting - List and format on the fly New Templates - Use more than 80 new templates Keynotes ‘08 - Text effects & transitions - Captivate viewers with elegant transitions Action Builds - Move objects along a path Instant Alpha - Change backgrounds with simple click & drag Smart Builds - Add photos with sophisticated animations Apple-designed Themes - 9 themes for creating a professional presentation Numbers ‘08 - Intelligent Tables - Create multiple resizable tables Interactive Print View - Scale and arrange documents Flexible Canvas - Move objects wherever you like with comments, photos and graphics Import & Export Excel - Share spreadsheets with Microsoft Office Charts, Images, Text Labels - Add 2D & 3D charts, photos or a map Customizable Templates - For Home, School and Business System Requirements - Macintosh computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5 or PowerPC G4 (500MHz or faster) processor, 512MB RAM, 32MB video memory, Mac OS X Version 10.4.10 or later, QuickTime 7.2 or later, iLife ‘08 recommended, 1GB free space and DVD drive re

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Very functional for price
Covers much more than the basics for a low cost. There is a learning curve moving from other products. Let’s hope Apple can keep these productivity products updated and avoid dumping them in the future.

4 Stars iwork works
Great software for the price, but sure wish I had known the new version was coming out the following month! Upgrade is the same as buying the original. I write articles for magazines and I have to be careful about how I save my documents as they will not read on a PC unless they are exported as a word document so keep this in mind. However, this software is made for a Mac and works great as it integrates with existing software and makes your workflow a lot easier. Love the templates in Ink which are perfect for business and client letters and invoices.

4 Stars Excellent suite of applications.
Keynote and Pages are very good applications that will need some minor tweaks in the future.

Numbers definitely needs more functions built-in (those that are currently standard in Excel). No five star rating until this is fixed. For most users though, this program will perform fine.

5 Stars If you can go the extra mile it is well worth the trouble
This program is very intuitive and will not take that long to get use to. It has many features which are very handy especially in the area of document creation and inserting images and especially in the ease of formatting each document. It seems like it takes 3 less steps to achieve things with iWorks than it does with Office. However, Pages is the one program that I think is better than Word, Numbers and Keynote have great integration with pages, but still are not as good as Excel or Powerpoint.

5 Stars Huge improvement over iWork 06
I use iWork quite a bit and didn’t really take iWork 06 seriously due to severe limitations but when iWork 08 came out, I’ve become so accustomed to using it, I actually hate having to run anything Microsoft.

One thing I did notice is that Numbers is a fair spreadsheet tool if you’re only using it for personal reasons or if you’re not interacting with anyone else using Excel. Many of the formulas and formats I use in Excel don’t work with Numbers.

One other note, the formatting in Keynote doesn’t always play nice with Microsoft PowerPoint. When exporting to PowerPoint, I have to open PowerPoint in VMware’s Fusion and edit it before I can send it along to my coworkers who are running Windows.

Aside from that, iWork 08 is awesome and because I have several Mac’s at home and work, I buy the Family pack to keep everything under license.

Even though I’ve got some complaints with the interoperability between Apple and Microsoft, I still rate iWork with 5-stars for innovation, ease of use, function and presentation - Apple just gets it!

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Spongebob Square Pants Typing

Become more productive and work more comfortably, as you learn with SpongeBob, Patrick, Mr. Krabs and the entire cast of “SpongeBob Squarepants”! Tracking and progress reports help you learn and improve your skills

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Excellent
sponge bob is currently popular with the kids and this utilises that to help educate them, great

1 Star stupid interface, won’t work on os x
On OS X 10.3, it worked when we installed it and has refused to run since then. No customer support we can find. I don’t feel bad criticizing them because encoresoftware.com, listed in their troubleshooting guide, isn’t even on the web any more. Why are they selling this crap in the Apple Store?

And the interface design is laughably bad. It took us quite a while to find the lessons–they’re under “Typing Tournament”

5 Stars A fun typing game
My eight year old daughter loves this game. This game teachs kids enough basic skills of typing but parents still need to be involved to make sure the kids use the right fingers.

1 Star won’t run on current Mac OS X 10.5.1 (Leopard)
Couldn’t get it to run AT ALL on recently purchased MacBook with 2GB of RAM and updated OS.

5 Stars Good product
My 8 yr old received this as a requested Christmas present. He is very happy with it, although he says “it is kinda hard.” He is, however, making improvements in his typing.

Buy/More Info

Apple iWork 08 OLD VERSION

Pages ‘08 offers an intuitive way to create beautiful, media-rich documents using impressive features such as Writing and layout modes, Change tracking, Contextual Format Bar, Automatic list formatting, Graphics tools and templates. Pages ‘08 supports industry-standard formats to easily open documents from other word processing applications that were created on a Mac or a PC.
Amaze your audience with cinema-quality presentations using Keynote ‘08 and its new features Text effects & transitions, Action Builds, Instant Alpha, Voice-over Recording, Smart Builds and Apple-designed Themes.
Numbers ‘08 does everything from setting up your family budget to completing a lab report using Intelligent Tables, Interactive Print View, Flexible Canvas, Import & Export Excel, Charts, Images, Text Labels and Customizable Templates. New Templates - Use more than 80 new templates Keynotes ‘08 - Text effects & transitions - Captivate viewers with elegant transitions Action Builds - Move objects along a path Instant Alpha - Change backgrounds with simple click & drag Smart Builds - Add photos with sophisticated animations Apple-designed Themes - 9 themes for creating a professional presentation Numbers ‘08 - Intelligent Tables - Create multiple resizable tables Interactive Print View - Scale and arrange documents Flexible Canvas - Move objects wherever you like with comments, photos and graphics Import & Export Excel - Share spreadsheets with Microsoft Office Charts, Images, Text Labels - Add 2D & 3D charts, photos or a map Customizable Templates - For Home, School and Business System Requirements - Macintosh computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5 or PowerPC G4 (500MHz or faster) processor, 512MB RAM, 32MB video memory, Mac OS X Version 10.4.10 or later, QuickTime 7.2 or later, iLife ‘08 recommended, 1GB free space and DVD drive required for installation

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars iWork as gift
I purchased iWork as a gift for two granddaughters, ages 11 and 13. I’ve enjoyed using it and I hope they will too.

4 Stars iWork, finally I can read…
My mother keeps sending me .pps files, which on a Mac I can not read or even open. However, I found out that Keynote, which is part of iWork, opens and plays them with no problem. There are a few files that should have sound, but I don’t seem to get the sound. However, despite that one flaw I can a least get the images and the slideshow effect that you usually get when on a PC. I’d say it’s worth the money to purchase this because the three programs that come in iWorks are similar programs found on PC so you can now do much more on a Mac than you could before!

4 Stars Pages works beautifully… with room for improvement
I’ve been a Mac user and Microsoft Word user since 1984.

I made the switch to Pages a year or so ago, and while I periodically still need Word, for the most part, I’ve converted to Pages. If I do use Word today, it’s more out of habit than anything else, because Pages has performed to my expectations and has done whatever I’ve asked it to do, including being able to read Word documents and “save as” Word docs for my Windoze friends.

As an author, I put Word through paces; as a Publisher, even more so. Pages is ahead of Word in that it is *ridiculously* easy to create a PDF file in Pages: Simply “save as” PDF. Word, however, involved needing to convert it which would “need distiller properly installed”, and you’d have to “print” it as a PDF file as opposed to saving it as one. It’s an additional and apparently unnecessary step, but typical of Microsoft.

Pages hasn’t frozen on me yet. Always a plus. However, one area that could use improvement is its standard templates. Word comes with far more templates of various types than Pages. There are other areas as well, but it could stem more from my being so used to Word, more than a deficiency on Pages’ part. One thing I wouldn’t want is for Pages to become excessively bloated and inappropriately priced like Word (and Office).

I haven’t needed to use the other software included in iWork yet, so no comments there.

For the price, Pages does the job, and it’s worth it to be free of the Microsoft monopoly.

5 Stars perfect substitute of MS Office
Apple’s iWork 08 is a great product and the perfect substitute of MicroSoft’s Office suite.

5 Stars I Just Love Apple Software
It’s a personal choice. I prefer Apple and it’s software.

Simple and elegant!

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Spore

The creators of The Sims present the next big bang - SPORE. Create your unique creature and guide it on an epic journey through a universe of your own creations. Play any way you choose in the five evolutionary phases of Spore: Cell, Creature, Tribe, Civilization, and Space. How you play and what you do with your universe is entirely up to you. Spore gives you a variety of powerful yet easy-to-use creation tools so you can create every aspect of your universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even starships.

PC Minimum - Windows XP/Vista, 6 GB Hard Drive Space, 2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent, 768 MB RAM, 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0 Mac Minimum - Mac OS X 10.5.3 Leopard or higher, 4.7GB Hard Drive Space, Intel Core Duo Processor, 1024 MB RAM; ATI X1600 or NVidia 7300 GT with 128 MB of Video RAM, or Intel Integrated GMA X3100

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars how can you rate this 1 star?
this is the best game ever! i have no idea how you can rate this 1 star. the people that did so probably have realllllly old/bad/crappy computers or something because it runs fine on my PC. READ THE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS BEFORE YOU BUY SOMETHING! DONT ACT LIKE BECAUSE IT DOESNT WORK OR UR PC, ITS THE GAMES FAULT!

4 Stars A really enjoyable game
This game is really good. I really don’t understand the snobby remarks about not being able to install it on more than 5 computers. If you go through that many computers, then yes that is a problem, but I’m sure the majority of us use one, maybe two.

I really like the game play, and it’s fun to replay the game to see what different creatures you can create and how they progress. I recommend this game.

1 Star All Hype! Don’t listen to game review magazines.
This game got a lot of hype. Game magazines gave it 5 out of 5 stars, but I believe those magazines never played the game.

Spore is like a giant game of “Simon Says”. (You know, the colorful blinking light game with sounds…?) The game is supposed to be open ended, but you’ll be glad the game is over when you reach the space ‘exploration’ stage in less then a day.

This game has a lot of neat technology behind it. Making a creature seems to be the most appealing part of the game. However, people can make their own creatures with the free creature creator; Or go buy a package of play-doe and you’ll have just as much fun.

1 Star Awful
Look, even if this game DIDN’T have the securom and install limits which reduce your purchase to a mere rental, the fact is it isn’t FUN. I unknowingly installed this on my laptop on day one, excited about all the promises made to me by EA. I thought this would be on the verge of an MMO, with other people to interact with and the ability to create planets, and customize terrain, plants, animals, and the weather. Boy, was I wrong. You get 5 skimpy minigames that could have been put into separate flash web based games. Instead you rent them for 50 bucks! Absolutely horrible value, and without a doubt the biggest disappointment I have ever had with any purchase, ever. I plan on throwing it out as soon as I’m done grimacing with disgust at the packaging. EA said one thing and delivered another, and I’ll never forget that. I am not buying any EA games ever again until they remove SecuROM and the limited installs.

5 Stars Spore Rocks!
This Spore game is so much fun for my and my brother. We figured out how to have two different accounts on the same game. We enjoy creating some of the weiderst animals and other things. I reccomend this to anyone you likes to create their own little world!

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The Sims Complete Collection

The Sims Complete Collection includes The Sims, and all seven expansion packs — all in one convenient package. An entire world of Sims awaits your quirky command. It’s your neighborhood, they’re your Sims, and whether they prosper or perish is completely up to you! With The Sims - Unleashed you’ll add a furry friend to your Sims family. Housebreak your pets, train them to do tricks, buy them toys, and do your best to keep them from destroying the house! The Sims - Superstar lets you experience the lifestyles of the rich and famous and guide your Sims to superstardom. Become a movie star, rocker, or supermodel and spend your cash on extravagant new items for your home. In The Sims - Makin’ Magic you’ll cast spells, hypnotize friends, and even turn a neighbor into a frog. But watch out, spells can go haywire if you’re not careful. The neighborhood will never be the same!

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars great and quick arrival
It was great and you are so quick in mailing out the items. I have bought a few things from you and expect to buy more because of price and speedy delivery.

5 Stars Great fun, but Mac owners beware when upgrading!
In case mac owners don’t know, if you own Mac OS X and are running Tiger or higher you will have a problem in the “Create a Sim” screen. What will happen is that when you switch through outfits, the last outfit won’t leave the screen and all them will overlap over each other making it hard to see them, the same will happen when the sims change clothes in the game and when you want to buy a pet at the pet stores.

It is not the worse thing in the world and will not crash your game, but is very annoying and should be known before anyone spends their money. I’m using Panther. Anything before Tiger is fine. JUST BE WARNED!

After buying just a few of the expansion packs, I FINALLY decided to get the Complete Collection only after buying an external hard drive. I don’t know about anyone else, but there was no way almost 4 gigs would fit on my G4 imac. Although, even on the harddrive the game does slow, but is still playable. I am often surprised that I can stay Downtown, Studio Town, etc. so long. That is a real treat.

Bad side? There is too much to do. I have yet to do anything in Magic town nor Vacation, and the idea of being able to renovate all this and add my own touch is overwhelming.

I had plenty of problems previously with my other expansions, and crashing was one of them. I don’t know why, but objects that I had before, then put them back in my game a second or third time (after needing to reinstall) made the game crash. Frequently, the sofas and paintings just would not pull into the game and when they did it crashed when I tried to save. Now, everything pulls into the game and saves with no problem.

I think that having all the expansion packs made the game more stable–for me and possibly for macs in general, I don’t know, but I know that all the packs seemed to help with the crashing.

Overall, there is little cons to owning this. One thing I will say is that Non-Unleashed fans will tire quickly of stray pets wondering around the lots and into the house.

Still, worth the money to have all 7 packs on one disc, just make sure you have the hard drive space– and spare for downloads– and you’ll be fine.

5 Stars Fun Game w/ lots to do.
This game is worth it. I buy very little games and this one of my favorites. And because of all the expansions packs there’s ALWAYS sumthing to do. definitely recommend it.

3 Stars Well, it’s not working on my MacBook…
I just got the game today, installed it, and i get a prompt that says;

The path “The Sims Complete.localized:the Sims” contains a slash (/), backslash (\), or period (.). Please remove the character from the appropriate folder’s name and try again.

Thus, i can’t even get it running. I’ve tried contacting Aspyr BUT they have a “long distance” call so I can’t call them. I’m getting no help on Forums too. I BOUGHT THIS GAME, IT SHOULD FRICKEN PLAY! I have a 3 month old macbook, brand new.

I played the game a lot on PC, and was excited to play it on a computer that could play it smoother than my old PC…but I guess I was wrong.

5 Stars Sims!
This is my favorite game — nothing like telling a bunch of people what to do instead of having everyone else telling ME what to do. My favorite Sims game is on Gamecube, but there is so much more to having this on my computer. I like the pets and the vacations. I like the ease of movement on the computer.

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Civilization IV Warlords Expansion Pack

Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Warlords is the first expansion pack for the Firaxis Games’ award-winning title, Civilization IV. Paying homage to some of history’s greatest military leaders, the expansion delivers eight unique and interesting scenarios, giving players the chance to change the course of history with the help of their new powerful ?warlord? unit. Civilization IV: Warlords includes new civilizations, leaders, units, and wonders that offer even more fun and exciting ways for players to expand their civilization’s military power as they strive for world domination. Leader Traits - In addition to the many existing leader traits in Civilization IV, two new leader traits accompany the expansion. New Wonders - There will be three new awe-inspiring wonders, all contributing new benefits and culture to your civilization. Unique Buildings - Players will now be able to construct buildings unique to each civilization. Units, Resources, & Improvements - Many new items not available in the core game will be introduced in the new scenarios Core Game Tweaks and Additions - Expanded features and gameplay tweaks will be made to the core game Requires the full version of Civilization IV for Mac OS X to play Requires Operating System - Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later with PowerPC G5 or Intel running at 1.8 GHz or faster

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars end of game is slow, requires disc
you will need to have the disc to start this game. a bummer when you’re on a laptop on the road and you just want to play a video game. most people don’t carry around the cds that come with their software anymore. it also doesn’t stop people from copying games illegally or cracking them to use without discs (do a google search).

that said, the game play is good, the graphics are nice, but the end game gets to be pretty slow moving. i have a fairly recent macbook pro and this game gets really sluggish as there are more units and map revealed. kind of sad since that’s when it gets more interesting.

buy world of warcraft instead. this game is a poor port to the mac platform.

5 Stars Great
My sons have spent hours creating their civilizations. This game seems to be very entertaining.

3 Stars Great game but terrible programming
Civ IV is a a lot of fun. Similar to old PC games like Master of Magic.

Unfortunately, the Mac version is moderately buggy. Let me count the ways:

1) Audio glitches. Occasionally an old sound will seemingly ’stay in the buffer’ as an annoying buzz for several minutes.

2) Video. After playing for a few hours some of the terrain improvements turn completely black. Restarting the game works for this one.

3) Video. After a few hours it gets slow and the video glitches. The menus become partially unreadable. Restarting also works here and there is no noticeable corruption of the autosave files.

4) Complete Crash. Several times I have had my whole machine lock up when playing in full screen mode. Its interesting in that its not a complete freeze, but instead the mouse slows down to 1/100 of its normal speed. However, I am unable to exit the game at this point and am forced to Hold Down the Power Button !!! to hardware restart. This is atrocious and the only program I know of that actually crashes the OS.

I have a 2.4 GHz iMac Intel Duo with 2 GB of RAM and running Tiger.

1 Star Will not run and Amazon will not help
I received this program and loaded it into my Mac Book. The software gives an error message when starting up and cannot use. I tried to contact Amazon but they do not answer and make it very difficult to find them. I had no option but to begin a dispute through American Express.

A waste of time and money.

1 Star Terrible, until Aspry decides to support this game…
Im going to start by saying that the Mac port compared to the windows version is ok at best. What I am truly frustrated by is the lack of support Aspyr is placing in its software. I bought this game with the intention of playing multiplayer with my friends, all of which own PC’s and were able to buy the gold edition for half what I payed. Regardless, I put up the absorbent amount of money for this three year old game and attempted to play multiplayer with my friends. To my dismay I discovered that Mac users were not allowed to play multiplayer with PC users because Aspyr has not released a patch compatible with the windows patch 2.13. To make matters worse I also discovered that gamespy is no longer supporting the internet play of the Mac version. So even when the patch is finally released I will only be able to play direct IP connect. After learning this crucial information I called Aspyr support to find out if they plan on releasing a patch soon so I could make my $80 investment worth while. But to no avail, the tech support told me that the incompetent Aspyr “is working on it” but have no definite date for release. The final nail of the metaphoric coffin was the fact that Mac users could also not get the latest Expansion beyond the sword. What makes it even more offensive is the fact that Aspyr has no plans of releasing this half year old expansion pack in the future. Please heed my advise and do not buy this game until Aspyr gets their act together!!!

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Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 Mac

Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 software combines power and simplicity so you can make your photos look their best, share them in imaginative ways, and easily find and view all your photos and video clips. Get tips and tricks, download video tutorials, and a free issue of the Photoshop Elements Techniques newsletter. Register online for free eSeminars that help you get the most out of Photoshop Elements 6. Easily order prints, share photos on the web or on CEIVA Digital Photo Frames, and more. See a full list of books, DVDs, and other materials that will help you get the most out of Adobe Photoshop Elements. Express your ideas in customizable layouts Create photo books with greater ease and flexibility Entertain friends with custom slide shows and interactive web galleries Share with family and friends using a variety of fun options Instantly download photos from your camera Categorize photos and video clips with easy-to-use visual tags Group photos into convenient Albums Develop creations more quickly by gathering the photos you need for a specific project in one place View and organize your photos quickly, even when your library grows to include thousands of photos System requirements - PowerPC G4 or G5 or multicore Intel processor, Mac OS X v10.4.8 through 10.5, 512MB RAM minimum, 64MB RAM, 1GB free space, 1,024×768 display resolution, DVD-ROM drive, QuickTime 7 software required for multimedia features, and Internet connection required for Internet-based services

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Excellent for basic image editing
I find PSE a great option when either budget, or need leans away from it’s full featured relative. For most people looking for basic image editing options, it has more than enough punch, at a reasonable price point.

1 Star Buggy, buggy, buggy
This software would not install at all on my Intel-based Aluminum iMac running Leopard 10.5.6. I was able to get it to install on a PowerPC G5 running Leopard 10.5.6, however, it is barely usable due to constant crashes. I’m very disappointed.

4 Stars Wish it came with a users manual
Photoshop Elements is a great tool for editing your photos …once you get the hang of it. I wish it came with a users manual or quick reference guide. You can purchase books, but they cost about as much as I paid for the software!

5 Stars Works fine for me with Mac OS 10.5.6
For those who are hesitant (as was I) to buy this product because of the comments about it not working with Mac OS 10.5.5 or later, I’ve been using the free demo version of Photoshop Elements 6 for a few hours now on an Intel Mac with both Mac OS 10.5.5 and Mac OS 10.5.6, and everything seems to work just fine. The only thing that made me a bit nervous at first is that it seemed that layer styles (and effects) were not working. It took me several minutes to notice the small ‘Apply’ button (unlike Elements 4); once I clicked on that, the effect took effect. I definitely plan on buying this (from Amazon, of course).

2 Stars Elemnts for Mac, thumbs down
Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 (Mac)I’m not nearly the Adobe basher you’ll find in most reviews. For years I was actually an Adobe supporter and in fact gave a five star review for elements on windows. I recently converted to a mac. It claims to work with iPhoto. If it does I never found the connection as opposed to other products like Aperture. Reluctantly I gave up and went a different direction. It’s not up to par on Mac as it’s Windows counterpart. I’d look elsewhere for a photo editing product. It wasn’t without it’s attributes, some of the tools still worked well but if you’re on a Mac, iPhoto is the best organizer and Elements doesn’t work and play well with it.

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