Briefly: "Lost" iPod game, Mac display dithering, Costco Apple TV pilot

Lost for iPods

Apple through its iTunes store has made available a new game for 5th-generation video iPods that lets users join their favorite castaways in a quest to seek the truth and survive the official iPod game of the hit television series Lost.

"Help Jack search for dynamite, tend to the wounded, and avoid the black smoke," reads a description of the game. "Relive the crash scene, open the hatch, and ultimately try your best to escape from the Others."

The $4.99 title promises to immerse players into a mysterious world with authentic settings and a genuine storyline created by the writers behind the hit show. Players will explore the island's main sites include the beach, the jungle, inside the Hatch and the Black Rock.

Mac display 'dithering'

One tipster conducting research on the recent MacBook class-action lawsuit against Apple has discovered at least one instance in which the Mac maker discloses the use of 'dithering' to produce the illusion of millions of colors on its smaller-sized displays.

A video developer note on the company's iMac line notes that the 17-inch model supports an LCD display size of 1440 x 900 pixels at 100 dpi, where "the graphics card temporally dithers the 6 bits per component to show up to millions of colors."

The 20-inch model, however, supports an LCD display size of 1680 x 1050 pixels at 98 dpi and supports 8 bits per component to show up to millions of colors, according to the note.

Earlier this month, two San Diego private citizens filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple, charging the company with falsely advertising the color display capabilities of its MacBook and MacBook Pro displays.

Specifically, the suit alleged that the Intel-based notebooks are only capable of producing the "illusion of millions of colors through the use of a software technique referred to as 'dithering,' which causes nearby pixels on the display to use slightly varying shades of colors that trick the human eye into perceiving the desired color even though it is not truly that color."

Apple TV pilot at Costco

Around the same time that AppleInsider reported on plans for Target retail stores to begin carrying Apple TV, the folks over at Ars noted that the $299 streaming media device had also cropped up at select Costco wholesale clubs.

AppleInsider has since learned, through a tipster, that only around 50 Costco locations are currently carrying the device. Those locations are said to be part of a pilot program aimed at testing sales of the device in the non-traditional Apple atmosphere.

Should the pilot show signs of success, its likely to see expansion to Costco's more than 375 U.S. locations, the tipster added. As part of the pilot, the wholesaler is pushing the Apple set-top-boxes for $289, about $10 under Apple's suggested manufacturers retail price.

Those readers looking to adopt an Apple TV for even less coin may also have some luck at Apple's online store, where other tipsters have noted that the company is selling refurbished Apple TV's for only $249, while supplies last.

Apple has said that it will leverage its proven capability in the area of software development to gradually add new software features and applications to Apple TV over time.