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It’s hard for Mac users to be into computer games.

Whenever there’s been a popular title that runs on Microsoft’s (http://www.businessweek.com/ticker/) Windows operating system, Mac users have always had to wait—and wait and wait— until someone decided there might be enough demand, given the smaller market, to make a profit on an adapted version for Apple’s (http://www.businessweek.com/ticker/) Macintosh platform.

Resigned to this fate, many Mac users have bought a Sony (http://www.businessweek.com/ticker/) PlayStation or Xbox system, or even a Windows computer to devote to games. Ultimately, I bought a Windows machine. I told that story in this space a year ago (see BusinessWeek.com, 6/1/06, ), expressing hope for change. Wizardry of Id

With last year’s launch of Apple’s Boot Camp software for installing Windows XP on a Mac, I could pretty much play any game released for Windows that I wanted without muss or fuss. All I had to do was buy a copy of Windows XP. But the Windows-on-Mac phenomenon, now also possible with http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?capId=23817374 virtualization software to run Windows alongside the Mac OS, has unleashed a strange phase in Mac gaming. Having suffered from a lack of options for years, now there are many, and they are confusing.

Take for instance the two gaming-related announcements to come out of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco this week. EA (http://www.businessweek.com/ticker/) and http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?capId=4469709, the company behind the Quake gaming franchise, both made new, but vastly different commitments to the Mac market this week.

Id said it is developing a new gaming engine called Id Tech 5 that works on the Mac. Think of a game engine as the engine of a car. The better it is under the hood, the more fun the car can be to drive. Id’s engine looked pretty impressive based on the video presented at the developer’s conference. In the Windows world, Id can be used to build extremely detailed virtual worlds with stunning graphical features, and now those developers writing for that platform can do so for the Mac, too. From there, it follows that more games developed on that engine—which Id plans to license—could support the Mac natively. This is very good news for Mac games. Apple Wrappers

EA announced it would release a handful of its more popular games on the Mac. This included the latest chapter in Command & Conquer, this one called Tiberium Wars. Other EA games coming to the Mac include a Harry Potter game, Battlefield 2142, and the racing game Need for Speed. More titles are slated for 2008. My first reaction was something like a Jim Cramer-esque “booyah!”

But then I scratched my head. It seems what EA is doing is something else entirely. It’s not building Mac-native versions of these games. Instead, it’s working with a Canadian software company called http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?capId=4876395, which makes a product called Cider. What Cider does is interesting. Basically it takes advantage of the fact that a Mac and a PC are essentially the same inside. They have the same type of processor, use the same graphics chips, and so on.

Cider allows games developed first for Windows to run on a Mac by in essence acting as an interpreter between them. Instead of forcing developers to spend months rebuilding a PC game, Cider simplifies the process of Mac-ifying a Windows game. The original game doesn’t even need to be changed. Instead it’s wrapped with a few needed pieces of software that make the Windows-friendly bits friendly to Mac OS X. My only wonder is whether there’s going to be a performance hit. Will the wrappers that translate the Windows-speak to Mac-speak slow things down? I’ll have to wait and see. Crowded Landscape

Meanwhile, the new Parallels Desktop 3.0 supports 3D graphics, making it a contender for bridging the Mac-Windows gaming gap as well. Still, it would seem to me that if gaming is the primary reason you want to run Windows on your Mac, Boot Camp is the smarter option for two reasons: First, getting Parallels adds another $80 to the overall price you have to pay to get your Windows games running on the Mac. Second, since Parallels runs a second virtual computer within the Mac, you can’t help but lose a little bit of the performance you’d have running Windows by itself.

But these new developments aren’t quite what I had in mind when I bemoaned the lack of gaming opportunities on the Mac a year ago. I had hoped that Apple would do less to bridge the gap between Windows and Mac and do more to encourage, assist, and promote native game development for the Mac.

Instead, the Mac gaming landscape is starting to look crowded. Id Software’s engine is certainly encouraging. Not So Simple

Yet some games, like those from http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?capId=7940888, will continue to be Mac-rebuilds of the Windows editions. Aspyr has put out Mac versions of The Sims 2 and Star Wars: Empire at War. Still more will be “Ciderized” using the Transgaming technology. And then there will be people like me who’ll just install Boot Camp or Parallels and play Windows games on a Mac.

As a longtime Mac user, I can sort through such confusion. But who’s going to explain all this to the person who’s dumping Windows but still wants to play games on a new Mac?

I can just imagine the scene in an Apple store: “Well, it’s like this,”says the Apple sales associate, proceeding to run through the litany of gaming options. Thusly bombarded, the would-be, first-time Mac owner makes a powerful observation: “I thought owning a Mac was supposed to be simple.”

“If the council want more parkland, we’ll definitely incorporate it into any future application” Mike Towers

LEITH Links would be extended and linked to a new waterfront park under plans unveiled today for the regeneration of the former Whyte and Mackay whisky plant.

The plan would see the existing parkland connected to a new park proposed for Leith’s dockland area.

The redevelopment of the Salamander Street bottling plant would transform part of Leith’s traditional red light district.

A series of new cycle paths, wider pavements and a memorial to the 18th century origins of Leith Links golf course are also being proposed for the site.

The ideas are contained in a planning blueprint drawn up by city council officials for development of the land.

The Links’ existing allotments would be retained and extended under the broad-brush plans expected to be approved by city councillors later this week.

The new parkland is the third such major project announced for the Capital in the past two years, following a 2 million park being created at Leith’s Western Harbour and a major public park planned for Craigmillar.

It is hoped that creating new housing in the former industrial neighbourhood will lead to a fall in the problems caused by prostitution and vandalism.

City planning chief Trevor Davies said: “This is a great opportunity to add green space to this area. The developers will be required to make land available for this purpose in order to build on the remaining land.

“This is part of our continued efforts to provide more green space throughout the city.”

The scheme was first mooted in 2004 by Teague Developements Ltd after it bought the whisky plant site from White & Mackay.

The firm, which was behind the Britannia Quay development of 330 apartments next to Ocean Terminal, announced that it had plans to transform the area into a new housing and retail development.

Strathclyde Homes currently has a neighbouring 23m shore development on Salamander Street, while Forth Ports is redeveloping the dockland area to the north of the site - in a scheme that includes the creation of the new parkland corridor stretching from Salamander Street to the coast.

Local councillor Phil Attridge said he was pleased to see more green spaces being proposed for the area.

However, Cllr Attridge added that he would prefer to see the existing parkland in Leith transformed first.

He said: “These are still only ideas as yet and nothing has been finalised, so we shouldn’t get carried away with the idea of new recreational areas being created.

“If they get the go-ahead, then of course they will be very welcome, but in the short term we should be looking at trying to do up what we already have at Leith Links.

“However, I do believe that any new development here will help to transform the area and hopefully sort out some of the problems that are usually associated with this part of Leith.”

Mike Towers, one of the architects contracted by Teague Developments, said extending the park was central to plans for the redevelopment. He said: “It is something that Teague are very keen to do. Although putting a park strip into the site will mean there’s less land for them to develop for housing, it will dramatically transform the area.

“If the council want more parkland in that area, then we will definitely incorporate it into any future planning application.

“And with the other plans for the docklands proposing a new park to the north of the site, it could help link Leith Links right down to the shoreline.

“This has the potential to be a major addition to the area and could help to curb the problems of vandalism and crime that have plagued it in the past.”

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Will Jobs Keep His Job? Apple’s Stock Continues to Soar, but the Company’s Backdating Scandal Threatens to Bring Down Its CEO By SCOTT MAYEROWITZ
ABC News Business Unit

April 26, 2007 - Apple, the giant technology company, says its CEO, Steve Jobs, has done nothing wrong.

And while the government this week alleged that there was securities fraud at the company, it placed the blame squarely on Apple’s former chief financial officer Fred Anderson and former general counsel Nancy Heinen.

But now the former CFO says that Jobs knew more than he is letting on.

Jobs is a long way away from losing his post — industry watchers were extremely reluctant to speculate about his future — but dozens of top executives involved with backdating at their own companies have been forced to leave.

Nobody but Anderson is saying that Jobs has done anything wrong, but even the remote possibility of his departure has left some investors struggling to imagine a post-Jobs world at Apple.

“Steve Jobs is synonymous with Apple. In reality if he isn’t there, the company is a totally different company,” said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a technology consulting firm. “He is the heart and soul of Apple, and without Jobs’ driving vision and innovation, Apple would most likely be just another computer company.”

Bajarin said prior estimates said that Jobs had added $20 billion to the company’s overall value.

Even with this cloud hanging over the company, sales are still strong at Apple.

The company’s extremely popular iPod continues to fly off store shelves, and sales of Macintosh computers remain strong. There is also a lot of hype surrounding the company’s forthcoming release of the iPhone, a cell phone, personal organizer and MP3 player that allows users to surf the Web and check e-mail.

Wednesday afternoon the company released its quarterly earnings, showing an 88 percent increase that sent its shares higher than $100 for the first time.

So, amid the prosperity, who is responsible for Apple’s backdating, and is it possible that it could still ultimately hurt a company that seems otherwise invincible these days?

The Backdating Problem

The company’s backdating scandal stems back to 2001. At that point, some Apple executives, including Jobs, were given backdated stock options — meaning the company allowed the executives to exercise stock options on dates that would be most financially advantageous, possibly illegally.

An internal inquiry by the company cleared Jobs of any wrongdoing, but the Securities and Exchange Commission continued to investigate.

On Tuesday the SEC announced that it was filing a securities fraud lawsuit against two Apple executives: Anderson and Heinen.

On the same day, it was announced that Anderson had agreed to pay $3.5 million in fines to settle his suit. Heinen is fighting the charges.

Some industry watchers believed that the exclusion of Jobs in the SEC announcement had exonerated him and would allow the company to move on.

But that sentiment was quickly shattered when Anderson asserted that Jobs had been personally involved in the backdating scandal, renewing speculation on whether Jobs’ role could have legal ramifications for the CEO.

The SEC has not commented on whether Anderson’s allegations might further implicate Jobs.

Jobs sits on the board of directors for the Walt Disney Co., parent company of ABC.

So What Is Backdating?

Stock options are often given to executives as a form of compensation. The holder of an option is allowed to purchase stock at a later date at a price set when the option is granted.

For example, a company president could be given the option to purchase 100 shares at $20 each on March 1. This price — called the “strike price” — is determined by the market value of the shares on the date of the grant.

If a company’s stock rose to $25 in June, that executive could “exercise,” or buy, the 100 shares at the strike price of $20, immediately realizing a profit of $500 if they sold the options. If the price dropped, the person would not have to purchase the shares at all.

The idea behind giving executives stock options is that it gives them a personal incentive to have the company’s stock price rise.

But some companies went one step further by backdating those options, effectively setting the strike price lower than it should have been.

Under that scenario, an executive is given the option to purchase those same 100 shares in March. But instead of using the March 1 stock price as legally required, the company would say the options were issued on Feb. 5 when the stock price was $17 a share — effectively “backdating” the options.

Beyond Apple

The options backdating scandal goes well beyond Apple.

The Wall Street Journal, which recently won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the issue, says that 140 companies have been implicated and that 80 executives have lost their jobs.

“In terms of the culture in general, we’re talking about something that started during the ’90s. Everybody was doing it,” said Alexandra Higgins, senior compensation analyst with the corporate governance research firm The Corporate Library. “You’ll find people who will admit to that. They didn’t really think they were doing anything wrong because everybody was doing it.”

“That’s not to say that’s [an] excuse, but that’s how the practice perpetuated,” she said.

The old saying on Wall Street is: Buy low, sell high.

The problem is, investors never know when a stock is going to go up or down. With backdating, though, company executives are guaranteeing that they are buying low.

“They intentionally went to a date, prior to the date of grant, where they saw their stock price was at a low,” Higgins said. “Shareholders don’t have that option.”

The drop in IT spending has been forecast because of a looming U.S. consumer recession, according to global investment bank Merrill Lynch. Research group IDC has predicted that global IT market growth will slide from 6.7 percent to a modest 5.5 to 6 percent in 2008–again as a result of the weak U.S. economy.

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“The U.S. is on the precipice of its first consumer recession since 1991, which was the last time the market suffered from a confluence of high energy prices, weakening employment conditions, real estate deflation and tightening credit,” said David Rosenberg, Merrill Lynch chief North American economist in a statement on Tuesday.

Despite these concerns the bank has also predicted that the global economy will stay resilient in the face of turbulence in U.S. markets and embark on a “rebalancing” period, which could occur over a number of years.

According to Merrill Lynch: “Imbalances in the global economy, stemming from historic dependence on the U.S. consumer, have peaked and will unwind throughout the coming year… This ‘rebalances’ the growth within countries. At the heart of this rebalancing, which could occur over a number of years.

According to Merrill Lynch: “Imbalances in the global economy, stemming from historic dependence on the US consumer, have peaked and will unwind throughout the coming year … This ‘rebalances’ the growth within countries. At the heart of this rebalancing, which could last several years, is the growing power of consumers outside the US.”

The Asia-Pacific market is expected to remain largely unaffected by these changes. Analyst firm Gartner has predicted that IT budgets in the region “are expected to grow about 5 percent in 2008″, according to CEO Gene Hall, speaking at the company’s Symposium in Sydney a fortnight ago.

Marcus Blosch, research VP at Gartner, believes the US will go into recession but the relative strength of the Asian economies will help Australian companies survive.

“Personally I don’t believe the outlook is too great for America next year. With China and Asia, the economies are so strong that we will be able to weather the storm.

“The old joke is that if America sneezes, Europe catches a cold and the same with Australia because we are very tight. Hopefully what will happen is that America will go through its recession but many of the companies in Australia and New Zealand will be immune to it because they have got closer links to Asia,” said Blosch in a video interview last month.

Economic uncertainty in the US is one of a handful of “key disruptions” foreshadowing the predicted global IT market dip, according to IDC.

Other “disruptions” listed by IDC included open delivery, the growth of open source development and emerging markets.

“Disruptive technologies have been a persistent theme in IDC’s predictions over the past several years,” said Frank Gens, senior vice president of research at IDC.

“These technologies have been creeping into everything from enterprise software and hardware to consumer gadgets and telecom services, forcing vendors to rethink their offerings,” he said.

IDC’s latest announcement on the year ahead for IT markets falls closely in line with those predictions cast by Merrill Lynch for the global economy at large as Gens has indicated that what are currently considered “disruptions” will go through a normalising process in 2008 as market leaders “jump in with both feet” to these emergent trends, setting the scene for what the firm has dubbed as “the post-disruption marketplace”.

“In 2008, the era of experimentation will end as industry leaders get serious about transforming their products and services to take advantage of — and meet the challenges posed by–these new technologies and business models. The status quo is about to change,” said IDC’s Frank Gens.

THE newly-formed Alcohol Health Alliance yesterday called for a higher taxes and a pre-9pm advertising ban for drink.

It will also campaign for the drink-driving limit to be reduced, with a near-zero limit for new drivers.

The alliance is made up of 24 health organisations and is chaired by Professor Ian Gilmore, the president of the Royal College of Physicians.

It wants greater dedicated funding for alcohol prevention and treatment strategies and more publicity about the negative effects of alcohol on health.

The alliance cites evidence that a 10 per cent hike in alcohol prices would cut alcohol-related deaths by between 10 and 30 per cent.

Its figures show a 95 per cent rise in alcohol liver cirrhosis rates since 2000 and a 36 per cent increase in the two years to 2006.

Alcohol-related deaths increased 18 per cent from 2002 to 2005. And 13 children per day are hospitalised as a result of alcohol misuse, the alliance said.

Prof Gilmore said: “Unless we act now to stem the rising tide of excessive drinking, particularly in the young, we will see yet more people dying prematurely in early adult life.”

The alliance is made up of medical bodies, patient representatives and alcohol campaign groups.

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