Quick Look: Catchy Cadence, FREE Rhythm Game

Posted by: weiganla on Jul 31 2008 - 59 views

It’s not often that a well-known developer works for months and comes up with a polished, innovative product — and then decides to give it away. This must be Christmas in July, because that’s what PDAmill has just done with their latest release, Catchy Cadence.

They call it a music-rhythm-action game, and sure it’s a made-up genre but it gets the point across. Catchy Cadence is a pack of 12 mini-games featuring everything from escaping from sharks to making sandwiches. Gameplay is a little different for each one, but they all revolve around tapping the screen in time to the music.

Read on for a quick look!

Read more »

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Congrats to Evernote! Lifehacker Top Five Tools For Notes

Posted by: Brandon Steili on Jul 31 2008 - 45 views

HEY! HEY YOU!

I’m not totally sure if you’ve been under a rock lately, so just in case you haven’t noticed, one of the tools I’ve been preaching about for a while now is really starting to hit the big time - including having made it to onto what (if I was a developer) would consider to be a very coveted list … the Lifehacker readers list of the top 5 note-taking tools. With other things in the list like good old pen and paper (moleskine, hipster PDA) as well as things like One Note from Microsoft, this is a big event for the folks at Evernote I’m sure. I’m know I’m thrilled for them!

Anyway, here’s a bit more info from the Lifehacker post - including some links for how to get on the Evernote train. For me its still a daily use application - one I use seamlessly on my work PC, my Macbook and my iPhone. Also, if you have time click on through to Lifehacker to put your opinion in … they’re now voting to see which one is the best!

Evernote (Windows/Mac, Free)Evernote is a free, cross-platform universal capture application. With support for text, images, audio, tagging, and syncing between its web interface and all of your desktop installations, Evernote offers seamless capturing of information no matter where you are. Images you add to Evernote are searchable by text, and Evernote even supports several mobile devices—including the iPhone and Windows Mobile phones. If you can’t install Evernote on a computer, you can also use Evernote’s web interface and clipping bookmarklet to pull anything into your notebook. Evernote is free to use, provides 40MB per month of upload space; for $5 per month or $45 per year, you get 500MB.

(Via Lifehacker)

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

iPod nano 4G more like 2G or Zune?

Posted by: Brandon Steili on Jul 31 2008 - 40 views

You know, I really hope the mock-ups I’ve been seeing around the web are NOT indicative of what the new iPod Nano “Fatty” is going to look like. I’ve just recently picked up a 3rd Generation model and I love it. The form factor is excellent, screen is actually very good for viewing movies (despite how incredibly small it is) and there’s nothing better for tossing into a pocket and hitting the road. Originally when I got it I thought there was no way I would be watching video on this thing, but I’ll tell you after a couple weeks of taking it to work with me and a camping trip that I made with it - I’ve gone through 5 or 6 movies and not once have I thought about the screen size being too small.

The ONLY gripe I have with the device is that they put the headphone jack on the bottom … which is a dumb move considering you have to have the thing on the bottom edge to watch movies (screen doesn’t rotate). But other than that, as I mentioned its so easy to pocket the “fatty” and forget about it being there until you want it. I can’t think that making the Nano taller just so you can gain a few millimeters of screen size is going to be of any real benefit. But what do I know … it’s not like I’ve been sitting around the office winning design awards lately…

(Via iLounge)

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Software Pirates Loot the App Store

Posted by: weiganla on Jul 31 2008 - 48 views

Call me cynical, but you had to know this was coming. If you have no conscience and know where to look, you’ve been able to get DRM-cracked music and movies for iPods for ages. It’s only been a few weeks since the App Store launched, but now you can add iPhone/Touch applications to the list.

Strictly in the name of research, I decided to see just what the pirates are pushing. It took me about two minutes to find 43 warez applications — and don’t look at me like you’re expecting a link, cause that ain’t gonna happen. With around 600 non-free applications to attack, what did the pirates think was worth targeting?

Apparently pirates really like games. Who knew? Games made up most of the list, but there were also a few utilities and useful information programs. The winner for sheer ironic value: eWallet. Yep, a program dedicated to information security is on the pirates’ A-list. Fortunately eWallet’s developers have a sense of humor:

What can I say! We’re honored!

I’ll tell you, I really wish we could use this as part of a major marketing campaign. I mean, if a hacker thinks eWallet is the safest place to store their passwords and other critical information, it really says something about the level of security eWallet gives you. It’s like a skydiver telling you which parachute to buy or a police officer suggesting a particular brand of bullet proof jacket.

For those of us who prefer to stay on the right side of the law, there is a legitimate way to share apps using the 5-allowed-computer-authorizations in iTunes. A step-by-step walkthrough is here.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Vista tuning guide available because you’ll need it.

Posted by: Brandon Steili on Jul 31 2008 - 21 views

You have to love it when someone has nothing else to do now but blog. Why? Well, because this typically affords them the time to find diamonds out there you’d never really think to go looking for on your own - something you wouldn’t had even have realized might be there. Case in point, one of the most recent posts from James over at JKOTR. Seems James has been bit like many of us by the fact that Visturd sorry… VISTA … is a huge resource hog. Fortunately James is now a full time blogger and now has enough time to do some researching and come across this very new gem from Microsoft. (Seems even they know Vista eats memory for breakfast and craps out Intel for lunch)…

You have probably seen any number of articles on the web and in print magazines that tell you how to optimize or tune Windows Vista to provide better performance for providing a better user experience.’ Vista does a lot of things in the background and most of these articles involve turning off some of those background tasks or services as Microsoft calls them so that they are not hogging resources.’ Vista can be improved through this method but it is not something that the uninitiated should start doing willy-nilly as you can really hose things up in a big way by doing them incorrectly.’ That is why Microsoft has jumped into the tuning game and released their own Vista Performance and Tuning Guide.’

(Via jkOnTheRun)

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Google Maps 2.2 for Windows Mobile Released

Posted by: Brandon Steili on Jul 31 2008 - 41 views

Google Maps 2.2 for Windows Mobile Released:

Looks like Google has yet again updated the Google Maps application for Windows Mobile. Given this is one of my most used applications on the iPhone and it was definitely one of my most used on WinMo - I figured it may warrant letting you fine folks know as well.

According to Clinton and the information page this latest update adds transit functionality to the program which now allows you to check public transportation schedules in more than 50 cities around the world.

I did a bit of testing this morning with it here in Dallas and it works fantastically well.”All you have to do to access the Transit information is choose Transit under the Direction Menu.

Google Maps 2.2 is free-of-charge and you can grab it at http://m.google.com/maps from your WinMo powered device.

(Via Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com!)

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!