I know I had said I would try to do monthly updates again, but I haven't for various reasons. 1. Absolutely no time due to RL and other projects, 2. Lack of visitor participation in the contest I started LAST year showed that no one really comes here for anything other than freebies anyway, 3. Not knowing if I even want to continue the site. But other than that I am occassionally inclined to do something for the site. Case in point; I have a new iconset in the free icons section called "Titans of Tech". The title is a little false as most people in the collection aren't actually titans but they are in my opinion some of the people iconized in that collection are Steve Jobs, Will Pate, Leo Laporte, and John C. Dvorac. You can go to the last page of the free icons section to grab it. The other thing is a 2007 review for WireTap Studio made by the fine people at Ambrosia Software. Check it out. Oh, and if you thought by the title that this was a good-bye post... nope. The end is near for 2007, but I will be back in 2008 at some point with something-or-other. Happy New Years everyone!
Time for an update (27 Jul 2007)
It's time for an update. After some RL issues I'm back and this time I have a software review for the program FileSalvage. Just go to the 2007 Reviews section to check it out.
I'm probably going to do something I haven't done in quite some time too... a new iconset. So, keep your eyes peeled for it. This will be a free set and will feature notable tech celebrities such as Leo Laporte, Steve Jobs, Amber Mac, and more. Also, you may have noticed the banner accross the top. Yes, we are now hosted at GoDaddy. I just couldn't afford the hosting at Bravenet anymore and since GD now offers free hosting to the domains that it sells it just made sense to use that feature and save a few pennies. Until next time...
Rumors of my demise are unfounded (29 Apr 2007)
Contrary to what you may have thought if you are an avid visitor to this site it IS still active. Due to various computer problems, real life issues and the slight depression over the contest going bust (I'll explain more on that later) I just haven't had a chance or the enthusiasm I once had to even to an update. But now with more time and a brand new MacIntel Core 2 Duo iMac I can get you this quick update. I did have three reviews in the pipeline which I am putting up now as a courtesy to the good people who allowed me to look over their products. The first is the game Redline, the next is a great Photoshop plug-in called EZ Mask, and the last is another Ambrosia game called DEFCON.
As for the contest it died without any interst whatsoever. I had tons of goodies to be awarded both toe the winner and the two runner-ups but nothing. Nada. Zilch. The only emails I got to that address were spammers. Quite disappointing. I guess that just proves that even when you think you are popluar in the community you really aren't . Because of this I'm not sure even how long I'll continue MacNation, so after almost 11 years of net presence I'm at a crossroads. Do I continue? Or do I close up shop and call it a day? If I close up shop it may not be for another year, or it could be sooner. I haven't decided yet. If you'd like to let me know you can always contact me at hawk (at) macnation dot org via the contact tab.
Hopefully my next update won't be 8 months down the line. If enough interst is shown I'm sure I will go back to monthly updates, but that is up to the community and their involvement. Until then...
Site Update & Contest News (21 Aug 2006)
The site has been updated with a few goodies. First off are software reviews for the months of June, July, and August (ComicBookLover, celtx, and DEVONthink Pro respectively). You can access these reviews by clicking "2006" in the reviews section of the navmenu. Also we have two new free iconsets. One is inspired by my RL job and SouthPark called SouthPark ICS. The other is a conversion from Windows to Mac of an iconset I found a few years back and thought people of the Mac community would like for nostalgia sake since the creator of the set (TechTV) no longer exists; Call For Help Makeover. In the desktops section is a free desktop for use with the SouthPark ICS iconset.
I'd also like to take this time to remind people of the contest above. So far I have NO submissions. There are tons of cool prizes so I'm not sure why people aren't taking part. I will be extending the deadline for this contest until December 31. Once I start getting submissions I'll make a section of the site to display them. I will try to implement a voting process that way visitors to the site can have a say in which ones they like. I will also be sending PR notices to various Mac websites (I've found two) to try and get the ball rolling. Until next time...
Welcome to MacNation v3! (26 Jun 2006)
Welcome to version 3 of MacNation! Not only do we have a new look but we also have a few new goodies, all of which are free. In the Fonts section we have "Kryptonic"; a dingbat font featuring Kryptonian symbols from the upcoming movie. In the Icons section we have "seaQuest Volume II: Ranks". We have a new software review for DevonAGENT. Most of all the biggest changes are that not everything is free anymore. To save on bandwidth and to help pay the costs for said item most of our things (mainly the large things) are now pay-to-own. Also as a reminder the "Great MacNation Mascot & Family" contest is still going. We have a long list of prizes, yet no entries thus far. You can check out the details here OR click the banner above. Deadline for submissions is September 1.
Changing Times (7 Apr 2006)
Well, it seems this site is too popular for my own good. As you may know if you visit here often last month the site was suspended for some time. This was due to the fact that the monthly bandwidth was about 300% more than it should have been. Bravenet gives a warning the first time, but for any time after that I would have to pay $3 to have the site turned back on. And... since I have yet to get any donations I've come to only one conclusion (especially since the monthly bandwidth for this month at day 7 is already 45%), most downloads are no longer available. Until I redesign the site you will get error messages when you try to download anything here except BG2 mods, Sims stuff, or kaleidoscope schemes. EVERYTHING else is no longer available. I will bring all of it back but it won't be free anymore. From now on only a few things will be free. Everything else will be available only if paid for. I really hate to do this as I'm a big believer in sharing, but it's not monetarily feasable. My day job is working as a grunt for Wal-Mart and I can't afford it. Some time in the near future the whole site will be under construction. When we come back we'll have a brand new look and feel (v3, woohoo!) and I have a contest in mind. But I need to contact some companies about possible prizes beforehand. I should be updating this weekend with a software review. I had planned on it ealier but the programs newest version is no longer working. Until next time folks...
