Apple has released new MacBook Pros, with the new Sandy Bridge processors and Thunderbolt connectivity. Early reports indicate that they are much faster than the previous generation machines -- to the point where the new baseline 13" model matches or betters the old 17" model on many speed and performance tests.
It has been revealed that Mac OS X Lion will drop Rosetta, a software abstraction layer which provides support for PowerPC binaries on Intel machines. This is an interesting move that some are labelling premature, as, on the one hand, it forces developers to get their code up to modern standards, but, on the other, it breaks compatibility with some professional software still actively in use. Some of the other features slated for Lion are looking promising, though.
At a media event on Wednesday, Apple announced a second-generation iPad, complete with a processor upgrade (the iPad 2 sports a 1GHz dual-core A5 processor), front- and rear-facing cameras, Smart Covers, and an option to get it in white colour. The new iPad models will be available in the US from March 11, and in other countries over the following weeks. In the meantime, you can pick up the first-generation iPad at a discount.
Also announced at the event was iOS 4.3, which features some useful enhancements to AirPlay, allows iTunes Home Sharing, improves performance in Safari, and offers the long-demanded iPad side-switch preference (rotation lock or mute). It will be available from March 11, and is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 GSM, 3rd-gen iPod Touch, 4th-gen iPod Touch, iPad, and iPad 2 (I guess that means iPhone 3 and 2nd-gen iPod Touch owners should upgrade now).
We've had a quiet month in Mac emulation news, but there were notable updates to VICE, Dapplegrey, and gbpablog, amongst others. Hit the jump for details on these and other minor emulator updates, as well as a couple of Mac gaming tidbits.
Nintendo 64 emulator Mupen64Plus has been updated to version 2.0. This release improves all the plugin modules, notably adding support for video window resizing and six new joysticks. It also fixes emulation issues with a number of games, including Donkey Kong 64 and Ocarina of Time. 
After two years without an update, Eric Shepherd aka SheppyWare’s Sweet16 Apple IIgs emulator has seen a major new release and a subsequent minor update. Version 3.0 drops support for PowerPC Macs, implements drag-and-drop support between the Mac and Apple IIgs Finder, adds a bunch of long-overdue features, fixes loads of issues, and improves everything else. Check out the release notes for both this and the 3.0.1 update at the 
One year to the day after its previous release, Atari ST/STE/TT/Falcon emulator Hatari has been updated to version 1.7.0. This release adds an experimental MMU for the 68030 mode, improves accuracy in several areas, and makes a few other fixes. From a gaming perspective, 15 titles that previously had issues—including James Pond and Microprose Golf—should now work. The full release notes are included in the download (
NekoLauncher Mednafen, a frontend/launcher for multi-system emulator Mednafen, has been updated to version 0.9.29. As has Mednafen itself, courtesy of idyll and Weedy Weed Smoker. For the uninitiated, Mednafen handles Game Boy Advance, Virtual Boy, Super Nintendo, and several other classic systems with aplomb, and it’s also an excellent choice for Mac folks looking to emulate PlayStation games. You can 
CrossOver Games is no more. Codeweavers has rebranded and merged its two "Windows apps on a Mac" products, CrossOver Pro and CrossOver Games, into CrossOver XI. The new version comes with a huge 
FS-UAE, an Amiga emulator focused heavily on games, has received several updates since its initial release on February 4 this year. FS-UAE is built on the WinUAE code base, and can be fully controlled with a gamepad. The most recent update (0.9.10) adds experimental net play support. Check out the 
Nintendo 64 emulator Mupen64Plus received its first official update in more than 13 months a few days ago. Version 1.99.5 updates the audio plugin, input-SDL plugin, video plugin, RSP plugin, core emulator, and Consule-UI front-end for Mupen64Plus 2.0 API versioning; adds support for the Nintendo 64 real-time clock; allows 8-bit PNG images to be loaded for hi-res textures; and fixes many bugs. The full list is on the 
Boxer, a DOSBox-based DOS emulator, has been updated to version 1.2.2. This version adds the ability to paste text into the DOS prompt, makes improvements to keyboard input, changes the default games folder location to ~/DOS Games, and fixes several bugs. See 
In Apple and Mac gaming news, 
Atari 2600 VCS emulator Stella received a big update last month. Version 3.3 lists around twenty bug fixes, improvements, and additions to graphics display, application performance, debugging, and more. See the official 
Cycle-exact and Cocoa-native NES emulator Macifom has been updated to version 0.15. This new version adds support for games that use the MMC3 mapper on TxROM boards and games that were designed for SUROM boards, in addition to providing various other improvements. See the 
