Performance videos courtesy of Dave Girard’s Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac review at Ars Technica.

Dave was kind enough to upload them to Youtube to be shared with the world. We’ve been getting a lot of positive mentions about Parallels 6 being great with gaming, so we’re happy to share these demo vids to really show off how smoothly games run.

Crysis

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Half Life 2: Lost Coast

Check out all the Parallels Desktop 6 gaming videos from the Ars Technica review on their Youtube channel.

Today the makers of the popular Mac virtualization software Parallels announced the release of the latest addition to their product line, Parallels Desktop 6, and according to numerous sources, it just plain rocks.

Many may be familiar with previous versions of Parallels Desktop software which allow users to run multiple operating systems on a Mac without having to reboot. The newest version adds a host of impressive features which have never before been seen in the virtualization world. Here’s a few of the new features as seen on the Parallels website:

-A 64-bit engine allowing users to utilize all of their Mac’s power

-5.1 surround sound capabilities (a personal favorite)

-Improved network, hard drive and Transporter performance

-Enhanced 3D graphics that are 40% better than previous versions

-The ability to launch Windows 2x faster than any other solution

-Smoother import of VMware, Virtual PC virtual machines and Boot Camp partitions

To get a hold of PD6 you may have to wait until the official release date, Tuesday, September 14th. However, for all faithful Parallels users (those who are already running a version of Parallels Desktop) you can upgrade to Parallels Desktop 6 as of today!

Here is the pricing layout: Parallels Desktop 6 will cost $79.99 for the standard version, and $39.99 for the student version. Parallels Desktop 5 owners will be able to upgrade for $49.99 (promotional pricing will be available for prior versions of Parallels Desktop). Those who purchased Parallels Desktop 5 on or after August 15, will be able to upgrade for free.

With this ground-breaking new version, Parallels solidifies itself yet again as the undeniable leader in virtualization software. Dare we say this new version is… unparalleled?

Here are some of the latest reviews: PCWorld, BetaNews, DigitalTrends, Tuaw

[via Parallels]

Apple iOS 4.1 is now available. As you will recall, this update brings HDR photography, the ability to upload HD video over WiFi, an antenna reception test utility, TV show rentals and an all-new Game Center. In brief, it will make life better for iPhone users. Since it is still a relatively new development, we are still testing out all of its features. While we are waiting to pass judgment, we’d like to share the opinions of the big boys on a few of these features:

“Apple has changed its super-controversial stance on third party developer tools for iOS apps, now allowing any and all comers, “as long as the resulting apps do not download any code.” We’re guessing this is mostly a nod to game developers, who use ported engines like Unreal and interpreters like Lua, but it also apparently covers apps developed in Adobe Flash CS5.” – Engadget.com

“Apple’s new firmware update for the iPhone 4 is designed to fix the device’s buggy proximity sensor, which is supposed to deactivate touch screen controls when the user hold the phone to their ear to make a call. Many users are reporting that iOS 4.1, released Wednesday, does indeed fix the issue. But others who have downloaded and installed the update say their iPhone 4’s touch screen still fails to shut off when they hold the phone close to their face.” – InformationWeek.com

“Now that I’ve been using the GM release for the past 24 hours, I can safely say- iOS 4.1 on iPhone (including the 3G) is the most solid, responsive iOS release to date. With some cool new features to boot.” – PCWorld.com

“The great thing about the iPhone 4’s HDR feature is that it preserves the original photo along with the hopefully new-and-improved version, so it doesn’t cost you anything to experiment. If you hate the result, just delete it. The iPhone 4’s camera was already awesome. While its new HDR feature doesn’t produce miracles, it does make our favorite phone camera even better, so it’s hard to complain too much.” - Gizmodo.com

“And now, to answer the question that’s on everyone’s mind: Does the just released iOS 4.1 update fix the iPhone 4′s death grip issue — or at least appear to? No, no it does not. At least in our testing of iOS 4.1 in its current state (intended primarily for developers to use to ensure their apps don’t break), the phone appears to drop signal just as easily as it did on OS 4.0.” – MobileCrunch.com

When Steve Jobs first mentioned the updated Apple TV at yesterday’s “special event,” it sent excited murmurs across the industry. Would this be the true TV 2.0 experience that consumers are asking for? It could have sent shock waves to knock Google TV, and Roku, and Boxee, and Xbox 360 on their heels. But it didn’t.

With everything good about the new device, there is something bad. So it’s good that it is smaller at a mere quarter of the size it was before. But this size reduction – a reduction that few people will care about, really – came at the cost of a hard drive, which means that you can’t store content on the device. Sure, everything will be available in HD, which makes sense, but “HD” on Apple TV is 720p, where “HD” on Xbox 360 offers instant-on 1080p. And although Apple introduced $.99 TV show rentals, they announced that there would be no purchasing content on the Apple TV, only renting, an option that is entirely un-American.

But there were two real opportunities lost. The first was not bringing the iOS to Apple TV. The reasoning behind this is likely a matter of input device – the Apple TV doesn’t have a touch interface. So a majority of apps that were developed for a touch interface would be deemed useless. But it would allow for people to develop for the device, likely casual games. And apps could be developed to use an iPhone as the remote control, basically making the gesture controls on a phone run your TV. Without iOS powering the device, it looks and feels a full generation behind http://www.google.com/tv/.

The second big opportunity lost was a lack of content. Apple is currently the most powerful consumer electronics company in the world. When Steve Jobs didn’t want Flash on the iPad, the entire world jumped on the HTML5 bandwagon. But even Apple couldn’t get more content providers on board – just NBC and FOX. This is perhaps because the revenue margins would be so low at $.99 per rental. But it also may be because they still are treating it as a hobby, investing their resources and bartering power in the devices they take more seriously.

So the new Apple TV will be nice for anyone who has always wanted to carry around a set-top box in their back pocket. But for the rest of us, Apple TV is little more than entertainment while we wait at the Apple Store for Genius Bar to tell us why our iPhones’ battery drains so quickly.

With all that happened this week, we wanted to provide you with a quick rundown of tech news to get you through the weekend.

Microsoft Co-founder Paul Allen Sues Everyone within earshot – including Apple, Google, Ebay and eight other companies for copyright infringement. A Google spokesperson’s take on the lawsuits? “It reflects an unfortunate trend of people trying to compete in the courtroom instead of the marketplace.” Read more on WSJ.com.

Google buys social media startup Angstro and hires its founder, Rohit Khare, to help build social networking service, Google Me. What does this mean? Google really, really wants to be in the social networking fight, and are trying to figure out how. More at LATimes.com

The iPod Touch 4G will be shaped more like the iPhone 4G, sans the shatter-prone glass on the back, a source familiar with the matter reports. The shape will be “similar the top of a MacBook Pro, only smaller,which is to say flat rather than curved at the center. Reported by iLounge.com.

Netflix Instant comes to the iPhone and iPod Touch. Netflix announced an app that allows Netflix users to stream Netflix Instant content on their iPhone or iPod Touch devices similar to their app for the iPad, but  re-jiggered for the smaller screens. It will be convenient for some, irrelevant for others. Check out our post here.

CollegeOnly launches as a social network only for college students. Kind of like Facebook 5 years ago. The site’s founder, Josh Weinstein, says that CollegeOnly and Facebook can happily coexist. This is likely true, as Facebook happily coexists with the thousands of other niche social networking sites with their minuscule  market shares. Reported in NYTimes.com.

Amazon launched a slimmer, quicker version of the Kindle. Verdict? It’s an eBook in an iPad world. But that’s what some of use need. Here’s Engadget’s review of the new device.

Microsoft will invest $500 million in the launch of Windows Phone 7 this Holiday season. Time will tell if that will work for them, although I won’t be betting money on it. At least not half a billion dollars. Crunchgear.com reports.