Parallels Desktop will need no introduction to Mac users who use it to enjoy the best of both Windows and Mac worlds by running programs from the two different operating systems side by side on the same machine.

For them, and indeed many more Mac users, they’d be happy to hear that the latest, newly-minted version – Parallels Desktop 7 – now promises more than 90 new enhancements and features. Key among these is full integration with the latest Mac OSX Lion.

With Parallels 7, Lion functions such as full screen apps, Launch Pad and Mission Control can also be used for Windows programs. While Mac users can already install Windows using Boot Camp, which is included for free on a Mac purchase, Parallels’ advantage is that it can boot a Windows virtual machine and run it simultaneously alongside the Mac OS via its Coherence mode. This means you can effectively use a Mac program like iMovie or Garageband while tinkering with Windows-only programs side-by-side.

Alternatively, you can run a separate Windows desktop, which allows the Mac to  function exactly like a Windows desktop – from Start Menu to Windows Explorer to My Computer, and more, with all the good jazz that PC users know and miss.

For the new user porting from a PC to a Mac, Parallels 7 also includes file-transfer software that makes it easy to transfer the entirety of one’s PC into a Mac. Simply follow the instructions on the installation disk.

Interestingly, Parallels 7 runs smoother than its previous incarnation. Tests run by independent publisher MacTech claim that it starts up 60 per cent faster than Parallels 6 and is up to 45 per cent faster when dealing with 3D graphics for certain applications, such as games.

There is a noticeable improvement in performance when starting up Parallels and running graphic-intensive games from Parallels 6, which took about half a minute to start up and stuttered sometimes during in-game cinematics.

As a gamer who uses Parallels primarily for running Windows games on a Mac, I can say Parallels 7 is a solid choice for a virtual machine software. Side-by-side integration means that I can operate Windows games and programs while still maintaining Mac functionality within easy reach.

While it can be very resource-hungry to run high-end PC games like Mass Effect 2 on it (some graphic hiccups are to be expected), the new Macs with greater graphics capabilities should be able to support it just fine. Take note that Parallels does not yet support DirectX 10, so some applications may not work.

To fully utilize Parallels 7, you’d want a Mac with at least an Intel Core 2 Duo processor or higher, and 4GB of RAM if you intend on running Windows 7. Otherwise, the Mac will feel the effects of running two pretty resource-heavy operating systems and you’ll feel the dreaded lag.

Current Parallels users can upgrade for S$69, while a standard copy retails for S$129, with a student edition available for S$69.

Techgoondu had the chance to be at unConference 2009 held yesterday at the Biopolis, thanks to the kind folks at e27 who had put together an excellent program that brought together some of the top forward-thinkers in the region. Here’s a recap of what I felt were the highlights of the event:

Panel discussion: Innovation in Asia and where is it heading?

The panel was chaired by Benjamin Joffe, founder and CEO of +8* (Plus Eight Star). Participants included Scott Rafer, CEO at Lookery, Dr Gang Lu, co-founder of OpenWeb Asia, Dr Lai Kok Fung, co-founder and CEO of Buzzcity, and Wong Hoong Ann, founder of HungryGoWhere.com.

Each panelist was asked to share how he spotted the opportunity that led them to start their companies. Scott, who started MyBlogLog and sold it Yahoo later, noted that his venture was “almost accidental”, while Hoong Ann of HungryGoWhere identified the need for a marketing channel catered to F&B establishments, particularly among small restaurants. His business and ad model was changed many times, because “you need the flexibility to start a business.”

Dr Lai of Buzzcity, which started as as dotcom company specializing in WAP mobile communications, said his company did not plan for the company’s current successes in South Africa and Indonesia. It was only after the rapid rise in the number of users accessing the Web on the cellphone some time later that spearheaded Buzzcity’s business in the two countries.

Dr Gang Lu, shared his experience with start-ups in China, which comprises three groups. The first are the copycats who will copy successful products and business models, but “the problem is everyone else will be doing the same thing”. It will be hard for copycats to stand out from the pack. He noted that at one point, there were over 150 YouTube clones in China, but only 10 are surviving today.

The second group will take successful products and localize them accordingly in their target markets – an example would be Xiaonei.com, which is now more popular than Facebook in China. Finally, the last group of entrepreneurs would chart their own path through innovation that would eventually lead to their own unique products.

The panelists largely agreed that selling to businesses is always more profitable than selling to consumers, since consumers are typically unwilling to pay for Internet services – advertising is thus the most common way of monetizing their services. In some market segments, selling virtual goods has proven to be a viable as exemplified by Xiaonei.com and Kaixin001.com.

Panelists were also quizzed on what they were doing to mitigate the dependency on search engines, particularly Google, for their site traffic. Hoong Ann of HungryGoWhere.com shared his company’s brush with Google which reduced his business by half in a single day after his website was placed on page 945 in the search results. Dr Lai suggested that start-ups should grow their organic traffic, while Dr Gang added that they try to grow traffic from social media platforms, which allow them to seed communities and build their brands without Google.

Techgoondu also checked out some promising products and start-ups, and these caught our eye.

iTwin was born out of Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) and will be commercialized by Exploit Technologies, A*Star’s marketing and commercialization arm. Essentially, it is a device that can be split into two halves. By plugging each half via a USB port into a home and remote PC respectively, a secured communication channel is established to allow the remote PC to access files on the home PC. In fact, the solution is so elegant that no password is required. The communication is encrypted and authentication is provided through a random key generated by the home PC’s device.

The folks behind iTwin expect the device to be launched by Fall 2009 at a price of between US$40 and US$50. Work is for the device’s software for Windows XP is almost completed, and there are plans to support Windows Vista and Mac OS X. The product roadmap also includes video conferencing applications and even mobile device file transfer.

Fusion Garage was founded by R. Chandrasekar, a familiar face in the Singapore tech circle. Chandra was the founder of Radixs, which previously developed the Motion Experience Interface (MXI) operating system and the Velvet Puffin integrated online service that marries social networking and instant messaging.

The company is currently developing the software for the CrunchPad, a web tablet hardware device conceived by the folks at Techcrunch:

The idea is to get a new type of device into people’s hands for as cheap as possible (we were aiming for $200, it looks like $299 is more realistic). It fits perfectly on your lap while you are sitting in front of the TV, so you can look up stuff on Wikipedia or IMDB as you channel surf. It plays Flash video flawlessly so you can watch movies and TV shows on Hulu or Joost or wherever. Or listen to music on MySpace Music. Or use TokBox to have a video chat with your parents. Then check email and call it a day. Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Hulu, Wikipedia, Google Docs and Gmail are the killer apps for this device.

Because the device skips the resource-sucking parts of the operating system and focuses on one application – the browser – very low end hardware can be used and still give users a desktop-like Internet browsing experience.

The team from Fusion Garage did not show off any working prototypes of the Crunchpad at the event. For more information, check out this video:

It’s quite obvious what these guys are trying to do – they are trying to fight piracy. But they end up alienating the users. I have played RTS since the first Dune 2, and I have never had to go online to fight against the computer. In fact, I have never played a PC game that requires me to do this, unless it is an MMOG like World Of Warcraft.

I understand that piracy is really killing the PC business, but in an environment where console games are outselling PC games (revenues for console games are about 8x more than PC games worldwide) and beating the shit out of them, you don’t want to make you legitimate PC gamers angry.

And what about selling to the countries without much of a Net penetration? Or have they given up on these countries altogether?

Update: Some forumers are asking if this will work if Steam is running in offline mode. I will try that tonight. Another issue is whether you need to have a Windows Live account logged-in to play. Will also test that tonight. But having played this game for about 6 hours, I do like it a lot.