Today’s JAMM Store Deal of the Day is Elecont Launcher for Windows Mobile.  Today you can register Elecont Launcher for half the regular price, so be sure to check it out (see here)!

Small, fast and powerful application launcher with unique features like vibro-touch, touch-protection, touch-controlled sliding and animated effects.
You can start your favorite applications, sites, documents just in one touch directly from the Today screen.
Elecont Launcher gives you the control of your PDA directly from the Home/Today screen ( WiFi, Bluetooth, GSM, Screen rotation and much more)
Elecont Launcher displays the status of your PDA: Flash card, memory, battery, SMS, EMail, Missed calls and much more.
Elecont Launcher has multiple layout modes for the different screen sizes, including 1-line mode with small icons.

Features:

• Provides fast start for:
• Installed applications
• Custom files (html,mp3, notes, office documents)
• Control panel items
• Provides the control on:
• Wifi
• Bluetooth
• Gsm
• Screen rotation
• Phone volume control: Ring/Vibro/Off
• PDA volume control
• Soft-Reset
• Soft-off mode
• Provides indication on:
• Memory (RAM)
• Main storage
• Flash card
• Battery
• Missed phone calls
• SMS
• E-Mail

Minimum Requirements:

• Pocket PC or Windows Smartphone without HTC Touch Flo 3D

Display Dimensions
240×240, 240×320, 240×400, 320×240, 320×320, 400×240, 480×480, 480×640, 480×800, 640×480, 800×480
Operating System
WM5, WM6, WM6.1, WM6.5

I ride the train to work every day…two hours each way, which gives me a lot of time to mess around (I mean work) on my HTC Hero.  The only problem is that the train seats two people on a pretty tight bench, meaning there is pretty much always someone squeezing elbows with me.  Unless one of my friends are on the train, that leaves me pressed up against a stranger, a situation which is ripe for uninvited viewing.  So, what I need is a way to retain my privacy while in a small, cramped space, pressed up against a stranger.  Which leads us to the ScreenGuardz Privacy Film, which the folks at screenGuardz were kind enough to send over for me to check out.

Right off the bat, you can see where this is different from most other screen protectors (that is a standard screen protector on the left).  First of all, this is a very stiff, thick piece of plastic.  I was a little surprised by this, as I am used to the typical screen protector, which is almost an impossibly thin (and flimsy) plastic.  One of the nice things about this thickness is that you can just drop the Privacy Film on the screen of your device.  There is no real need to mess around with smoothing out the bubbles or making it sit just right on the screen.  That being said, you will still want to clean your screen with a microfiber cloth in order to make sure that no dust or dirt gets trapped under the Privacy Film.  For this reason, I was pretty surprised that, unlike most screen protectors, there was no cloth included in this package.

While this thickness makes it extremely easy to place the ScreenGuardz Privacy Film on your device (an area which is a perennial problem for me with other screen protectors), I was concerned that same thickness would interfere with the touch screen.  After some significant testing, however, I was pretty impressed by the responsiveness of the screen, even with the ScreenGuardz in place.  I will not say that it had no impact on the screen responsiveness at all, there was a little loss of sensitivity.  However, any loss of responsiveness was not significant enough to really hinder my ability to use my device.

The other thing you are going to notice straight out of the package is the polarization of the film.  It is really pretty dark, and I will say that it did interfere a little with my ability to see the screen, but not significantly.

Now, here is the real kicker.  What happens when you add the thickness and polarization together on top of your screen?  Well, if everything works as advertised, then you should get a pretty nice privacy screen for your device.   I found this really worked out pretty well.   As soon as you start getting off center from the device, that privacy screen really starts to kick in.  At a slight angle, you will start to notice some blurring on the screen, making it difficult to read over your shoulder.  As you can see in the photos above. at a steeper angle, the screen appears to go completely blank (on the right is a picture of the same screen without the Privacy Film).   The best part is that this is a four way privacy screen, so no matter which direction someone is sitting, they will be blocked from reading the contents of your screen.  Below is one more comparison shot from a different angle (again the “naked” screen is on the right, the Privacy Film is on the left).

I was pretty impressed by the ScreenGuardz Privacy Film.  If you do important work on your device (or unimportant personal tasks) in public places, then you are going to want to check these out for your device.  Despite the fact that I did notice some slight interference with my screen when compared with a standard screen protector, that was pretty minimal and well worth that cost in exchange for the extra privacy offered by the ScreenGuardz.

The ScreenGuardz Privacy Filters are available from ScreenGuardz for $19.95.

The JAMM Store Deal of the Day is MagiCall for Windows Mobile (see here).  MagiCall can be registered today for half off the regular asking price, so be sure to check it out.  And hurry, today’s deal won’t be around forever.

MagiCall is a smart, rule based software for dual-way calls filtering and SMS filtering. You can block unwanted callers, delete SMS spams, and prevent numbers from being dialled. And you can also easier use calling cards because MagiCall can automatically insert card number and pin in front of the original number for you. In addition, MagiCall can send SMS or launch application with filtering, such as replying SMS to the caller or the sender or playing music. Try the fully functional demo today and see for yourself. Features: Rule based (more powerful than just blacklist/whitelist) Time schedule for each rule Filters missed calls Filters predefined numbers (supported wildcard: * and ?) Filters unknown (not in Contact, private) numbers Filters by Pocket Outlook Category Filters by Appointments Filters SMS by its number and/or by its content Filters SMS using regular expressions Auto changes dialled outgoing numbers (often used for calling card) Send SMS or launch program when rules are triggered Password protection Detailed log information And much more

Minimum Requirements: Windows Mobile 2003SE Windows Mobile 5.0 Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional 300KB of memory Display Dimensions 240×240, 240×320, 240×400, 320×240, 320×320, 400×240, 480×480, 480×640, 480×800, 640×480, 800×480 Operating System Pocket PC 2003 SE, WM5, WM6, WM6.1, WM6.5

I think we have all asked ourselves this question at least once since Microsoft announced its tabletop computer, the Surface.  Sure, it looks cool, but does it really have any practical use?  Well, today, I think we have found at least the beginning of proof of concept, and of course that means gaming.

Check this out, as players use a surface table and Windows Mobile phones to play Texas Hold’em Poker.  Obviously, this is not going to be for use at home…at least not yet.  No one is going to spend thousands (or tens of thousands) of dollars to put this in their house, rather than a $2 deck of cards.  That being said, you can imagine what this could do for the professional gaming industry (ie: Las Vegas).  With no cards, no chips, and possibly even no cash transactions at all, this kind of electronic gaming could significantly increase the gaming experience…if you are the house that is…as though they need any more help taking hapless gamblers’ money.

I don’t know about you, but this video actually has me pretty excited to see what else can come out of the Microsoft Surface.  What do you think?  Is this just another novelty, or could this technology have real potential?

[Gizmodo]

Be sure to join us this coming Monday, as we sit down with Astraware’s CEO, Howard Tomlinson.  Howard takes the time to talk with us about the history of Astraware, great game producing company that it is, shed some light on the development process behind some of the most popular mobile games ever made and finally offers a bit of a sneak peek into what we can expect in the future.  Be sure to stop by.  See you Monday!