Reviews fly around like Circus folks here at JAMM … and the news is non-stop, so we’re going to start something different. I can imagine it’s sometimes hard to keep up with the reviews we’ve written in the past week or two (I know it is for us)… so welcome the first Review Roundup! This is going to be a weekly/bi-weekly re-post of what’s been written (and likely buried by news) in the past one to two weeks. How often you’ll see a roundup is going to depend on how busy we’ve been, but rest assured we’ll cover everything reviewed since the previous roundup so you won’t miss a thing.

In honor of our first round-up… we’re going to cover every review written since May 1st!!!  

In this first edition:

READ ON FOR THE ROUNDUP

Why limit music to the small storage of a mobile device when you can have access to every single song on your PC? With Lobstertunes, you can catch music over the airwaves and stream your entire collection over the LAN or internet! Fresh to market, Lobstertunes may be the solution for next generation music listening.  CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW

Well, get your spelling hat ready, because Smart Box Design apparently remembers Boggle as well.  WordPop is the 21st century rendition of Boggle, with a little bit of Scrabble thrown in to spice things up.  It has everything you remember, including the fun of finding words in the jumble of randomly lettered tiles; and a lot of things you may not remember from the original game, such as the rotating board and helper tiles. CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW

In a nutshell, EverNote is sort of a brain dump location for anything you want to keep track of, be it thoughts, to-do stuff, images, knowledgebase…  you name it. Seriously, I can’t realistically explain all the things you use this program for!!! So, what is EverNote Portable? Well, it’s all of that on a thumbdrive. No install required, just plug it into whatever (Windows) computer you’re sitting at and BAM! … there’s your brain.  CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW

In this review, however, I am not going to look at any of the individual games.  Instead, I will be looking solely at the Real Dice World service and the launcher.  In later reviews, over the course of this summer, I will look at all of the games in each of the four categories. CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW — CLICK HERE FOR PART 2

Outsmarting your environment means finding a way to cancel out background noises without affecting the spoken voices.   This is exactly what is offered by the noise shield technology in the Aliph Jawbone headset, which  allows you to return to the days of controlling the environmental noise around your calls, regardless of the noise around you. CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW

I did not realize the extent of my addiction, or even that it was causing a problem at all, until I played the nefarious Azgard Defence, the latest offering from Moregames Entertainment.  That was when I found myself lying awake at 2:00 am, in a cold puddle of sweat shaking as I worried about the citizens of Azgard Tower.  How would I be able to save them?…..Azgard Defence is among the most original and addictive games I have played on the Pocket PC. CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW

freeHAND is a product from ventureDESIGNworks (vDw) that really pushes the envelope for what we consider a "pocket" or a place to keep our valuables when we hit the road running. The "unique" stretch opening provides safe storage for your iPod, cell phone and everything between the nano and the Treo. *Statements have not been verified 100% but I shoved a ton of stuff into the freeHAND and I couldn’t believe how big it could grow! CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW

Like a carpenter, before you start any job, you must ensure that you have the proper tools, organized in a toolbox.  This enables you to forego the blunt instrument approach in favor of a surgical strike, which will remove the garbage, while leaving the necessary information unscathed.  This is the concept behind WebIS Toolbox, which offers an easy to use interface, based upon descriptive full color icons and wizards.  It provides you with all of the tools you need to clean up all of this unnecessary debris and optimize your device. CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW

Have you ever been away from home and needed to access documents? Or perhaps you wanted to see if you already had this song in your music collection. With DeskFinder, you can get access to the text of most documents as well as search through the hard drive for a certain file on your computer (limited to what Google Desktop can search). Add this with ease of use and security and you have one very powerful search add-on to Google Search. CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW

Not only does the Archos 604WiFi play music, video and photos, it also can record audio, and record video direct from the TV.  It seems the only thing this can’t do is cook breakfast, but I keep hearing rumors that Archos is working on that as well.  So, while there was no kitchen sink in this box, I was certainly not disappointed by what I did find. CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW

Mastersoft Brain School is the (no pun intended) brain child of Mastersoft Mobile Solutions. It’s an interesting mix of high speed, think as fast as you can gaming and slow speed figure out the puzzle gaming. With over 20 games included – there’s a little something for everyone, and every brain type. CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW

Logitech Harmony 890 – Make a mistake in the sequence and the whole system could self destruct.  This is usually when the sitter finally tells me, "Just leave the TV on and tune it to such and such channel.  I don’t want to touch anything."  Fortunately, they usually bring a book, anyway. CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW

Today’s offering, Pocket Heroes, actually serves as a double blast from the past.  Not only does it remind me of my old Dungeons and Dragons buddies, but it is also based on one of the one of the most successful computer strategy games from the 1990’s Heroes of Might and Magic. CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW

 Webis FlexWallet — I have no memory.  Things go into the vast wasteland that is my brain, and never come out.  If I didn’t have my pocket pc with me to remind me to do everything, then nothing would get done.  But I jest.  I’ve always needed something to track all my passwords and secret codes, and things I didn’t want anyone having access to, even if they were to get ahold of my pocket pc.  I just didn’t know that was what I wanted. CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW

SBSH calls MyList 2.0 an update of HandyList. They have completely retrofitted every aspect of this program so that it bears virtually no resemblance to the original. Most people that use PDAs have the need for some sort of checklist other than the simple lists such as a task list that comes bundled with their operating system (OS). MyList allows for the creation of any type of lists and allows the user to create their own templates for lists. CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW

For the past few weeks, I have been anxiously anticipating Astraware’s newest offering.  You guessed it, Astraware Solitaire.  Of course, like most Astraware games, they have put their personal twist on things with amazing graphics, a “trophy deck” and numerous customization options, some of which you will need to successfully play the games in order to unlock. CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW

Rather than searching the Internet to identify freeware games, there has been an increasing amount of reader feedback and suggestions.  For the second month in a row, in fact, four of the five games I will be looking at were requested by readers, just like yourself.  So, don’t be shy.  If you have a favorite game, by all means leave a comment or send me an email.  Ultimately, my hope is that the future direction of The Arcade will be determined by our faithful readers. CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW

Parrot Drive Headset — The one aspect of Bluetooth headsets which I have never liked, however, is wearing them when I am not talking on the phone.  On the one hand, they have to be readily available at your ear in order to facilitate answering a call with them.  On the other hand, however, who wants to have a hunk of plastic stuck in their ear all day.  Parrot offers one possible solution to this problem with the Parrot hand free Bluetooth headset.  With the Parrot, your headset will remain safely plugged into the cradle in your car until it is needed.  Let’s take a closer look and see how it fared. CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW

Well that just about wraps it up … keep an eye out for the next roundup!!!

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