Macbook Disaster!!!! Need A New Mac!

Posted on 03. Jan, 2010 by Cameron Reilly in Apple, technology

Tech disasters are like being attacked by a Great White – you never see the danger coming until it’s too late.

Yesterday morning I shut the lid on my two-year old Macbook Pro 17″ to take a shower. Fifteen minutes later, when I opened up the screen again, nothing happened. I tried re-booting it, taking the battery out, etc, but it still wouldn’t boot.

So I dropped it into the Apple Store at Chermside. They called me today to inform me that the logic board is dead and that it will cost $2100 to replace it. An entirely new Macbook Pro only costs about $3500.

Luckily everything was backed up, but my only other machine is a 3 year-old Vista desktop, so it’s not compatible, even in this day of “cloud computing”. Chrissy is also letting me borrow her baby Macbook for urgent Mac-related stuff. But I really need to replace my Macbook Pro asap.

So I’m in the market for a new Macbook. My last one was kindly sponsored by a Canadian company in return for advertising for a year on this podcast. I’m hoping to find someone else willing to do a similar deal. If you’re interested, please email me.

Top 6 iPhone Chess Apps

Posted on 22. Jul, 2009 by Cameron in chess, iPhone

There are a huge number of chess applications for iPhone these days and, as I’m a bit of a chess nut, I’ve been trying to test them all out to find out which are the best chess apps for the iPhone or iPod Touch. There are apps suitable for beginners through to grandmasters as well as apps that will let you play a quiet game by yourself on a plane, through to games that let you play against other iPhone / iPod Touch owners online.

These are the ones I suggest you take a look at. Prices and ratings are from the Australian iTunes store.

Hard Core

If you’re an avid chess player, you probably already know about Fritz and Shredder from their PC apps which have been around for many years and are battle tested against world champions. You might not have heard that they now have iPhone versions.

Fritz

The PC version of Fritz has beaten grand masters from Kasparov to Kramnik. Not enough ratings in the Aussie appstore for an average, but seems to be getting 4 and 5 stars so far, which isn’t surprising.

The Good:

• Suitable for beginners through to very, very, very advanced players
• Claims to have the strongest chess engine on the appstore
• Game analysis
• Allows you to send games to other players via email.

The Bad:

• No online play.
• At $8.99 it’s one of the more expensive chess apps.

Shredder

Another chess app that’s been around on the PC for many years, Shredder claims to be "the most successful chess program ever". It has an average rating in the iTunes store of 4.5 stars.

The Good:

• Comes with 1000 in-built chess puzzles.
• Game analysis.
• Coach for beginners.
• Huge opening book.
• Send games via email.

The Bad:

• $12.99, it ties for the most expensive chess app for iPhone currently.
• No online play.

Best Free Apps

What options are out there for people who want a serious game but don’t want to fork out the big bucks?

Deep Green Chess Lite

Deep Green Chess Lite provides a solid game of chess for beginner or intermediate players. Average rating 3 stars.

The Good

• The best interface of all of the apps tested, IMHO.

The Bad

• Doesn’t resume or save your game if the app is closed down mid-game. Considering how often I receive calls on my iPhone, this is annoying. Might be better for Touch owners. 

iChess

iChess allows for online play on FICS (freechess.org) servers as well as standard play against the AI or human opponents. Average appstore rating 2.5 stars.

The Good

• It has the best of all worlds – online play AND AI play AND it’s free.
• It resumes the game you are playing if you take a call mid-game.

The Bad

• There have been reports of the AI making illegal moves.
• The app has crashed on me a few times.

Best Online Play

Chess With Friends

I’ve been using CWF since it first came out and it’s a terrific asynchronous chess  experience. It will set up games for you with random players or allow you to invite friends via email. Average rating of 2.5 stars doesn’t do it justice.

The Good

• It’s free!
• Works over 3G, Edge & WiFi.
• Also allows for local "pass the iPhone" games.

The Bad

• Doesn’t have push notifications for when your opponent makes a move although I imagine with the release of OS3.0 that will be coming soon.

Cyber Chess

If you want real-time online play, then Cyber Chess might be your best option. It connects to both FICS (freechess.org) and ICC (Internet Chess Club) servers. Only one rating on the Aussie appstore, which is for 3 stars. Price $1.19.

The Good

• Allows for real-time chess against human opponents.
• Training mode.
• Support multiple chess variants.

The Bad

• Currently doesn’t support FICS tournaments.

What’s Missing

What I’d really like, but haven’t found yet, is a chess app that let’s me play against another human iPhone to iPhone on the same network. The same way that apps like Bump set up a private network, I’d love to play chess against the person sitting next to me in a cafe without having a real board. I’d love it if we could both whip out our iPhones and start a real-time game against each other. If anyone knows of an app that has that feature, please let me know in the comments section or on Twitter.