Our friends at VMWare let us know they are now in Beta for the 2.0 version of their cool virtualization software. Poker fiends rejoice! The beta is free.
Here are the key features:
- multi-display support (now 16 table at Doyle’s Room easily)
- conversion from Parallels, Virtual PC and Boot Camp is now a snap
- better 3D support
Check out the full story here.
The most famous of the poker boot camps are the WPT boot camps. They offer three varieties.
The first is the WPT Boot Camps. These run all year round 5-6 times a year and last two days. They run $1695 at last check and promise workshops, meals and interaction with pros, and a tourney with prizes up to WPT satellite entry ticket.
The second is the WPT Ca$h Camps. The emphasis in these is cash games rather than tournaments. Also about $1695, they run over two days, include all of the same stuff but replace a Cash Challenge vs. a tourney.
The third is the Battle for the season pass. This is a 5 day event in the bahamas, that includes a ton of pros, workshops, tourneys and the big prize is season long entries to WPT events - total value >$100,000. Cost is ~$5000. I want to go.
Check them out here.
Allright Mac Poker on Parallels enthusiasts, serious competition is here. CNET and Lifehacker have come out with reviews/comparisons of the two virtualization options. Lifehacker (which is a great productivity blog - add it to your RSS if you aren’t reading it yet) puts the question to the lazyweb blogosphere: What are you using, Parallels or Fusion. And the answer is? 54% Parallels 46% Fusion (N=~2000). Suprising numbers, since Parallels was first to market. I haven’t made the switch to Fusion, because apparently, moving back is difficult.
Fusion is no fly-by-night app, though. The virtualization software is being put out by industry leader vmware, who appear to be catching up quickly to the Parallels swsoft team - if they haven’t passed them already.
Some of the interesting aspects of Fusion:
Overall - they still seem a bit even to me. I can’t afford to make the switch and as one user put it, end up in a: Parallels -> Fusion -> Parallels situation. However, competition is good. In the end, we are years beyond VirtualPC (ugh) and the Parallels/Fusion debate will only result in better final products from both.
Wow.
The newest build is awesome. As you can see from the screenshot above, coherence now has integrated the functionality of expose. This means that when you are eight tabling with poker tracker open on Parallels on your Mac, you can expose to see all the tables — AND whatever else you have open - Safari, etc…
I still haven’t explored all the other features but this is too cool to wait.
This beta includes the following new feature updates:
It seemed like just yesterday that the WSOP was ending and Jamie Gold was raking in the 12 million. Here we are again. The controversy last year was over several million missing chips during the main event. This year, the news so far is about the new pokerpeek cards which everyone hated, sending Harrah’s officials scrambling to find a bazillion decks of KEM cards. I understand the pain - I’ve been playing at Full Tilt with a new card mod, and my color blind eyes are having a rough time with it. I will go back to the card mod that has primary colors so I can tell whether I’ve got a flush again. It would be cool to have a pokerpeek mod.
On the other side of the country, the coders at Parallels were drinking a couple of cold ones after releasing the latest version — 3.0. Here are the updates straight from the horse’s mouth:
Like the UI integration with Coherence?
You’ll love application and file integration with SmartSelectWant to run the hottest games and graphics applications?
Enjoy 3D with support for graphics softwareWorried about security and system crashes?
Protect yourself with Snapshots and Security Settings
The new enhancements allow you to do the following:
- Open Windows files in Mac applications and Mac files in Windows applications
- Bulletproof your VM from viruses, system crashes, and malware
- Run today’s most popular games & applications on a Mac
- Browse through Windows folders, without launching Windows
They are giving you a bit off right now. Before June 6th release it is $39.99. After the release it is $49.99. The final full price will be $79.99.
I may have to upgrade because Parallels has made my Full Tilt experience so much better. I am trampling the fish with six tables open, poker tracker updating all of the competition’s stats on the fly for me, and PokerAce Heads Up Display serving the info to each of my tables…Heaven.
