Love a great deal?  Ever tried a title by SPB Software and want to use more of their software?  If so, check out Handango this week, as they are offering a massive 40 percent discount on all SPB Software titles.  This would be a great opportunity to get your hands on SPB Mobile Shell, SPB Time or any other of the programs.

Today’s JAMM Store Deal of the Day is Neon Themes, a collection of 50 different neon flavored themes for your Windows Mobile device.  You can register Neon Themes for half the regular price today.  Check out the details or register here.

It appears that Microsoft’s need to change everything in their new handsets also includes what the applications actually are.  The .xap is a .zip file with a different name.  That is all.  Apparently it is also the same system that Windows 7 uses for “widgets’” and Google uses for Android’s “apk”.

You can get a sample .xap from here, but you will need to change the extension from .zip to .xap.

Basically Microsoft added one more step to all of us that will take full advantages of our own devices and do whatever we want to do to them.  Here’s looking to customized Windows Phone 7 before it’s even released.  Check out the full thread from XDA member and moderator Da_G here.

This is my favorite time of year, the sun shines over a beautifully kept diamond, and just as the National Anthem draws to a close, we hear my two favorite words, “Play Ball.”  I am a huge baseball fan, and the baseball gods always smile upon the month of April.  This year, like every other year, I attended Opening Day at the Washington Nationals’ stadium here in DC.  For the record, it was a great game for the first three innings, and then the Phillies bats lit up the Nats for more runs than I care to count. 

Unlike a lot of people these days, I love scoring the game and keeping stats as I go; and I am looking forward to teaching my son how to do it as well.  Normally, this means a stubby pencil and flimsy piece of paper, but when I got my iPad, I started thinking what a great solution this would be for scoring a game.  Now, for the record, PointStreak has not optimized its K-ForCE app for the iPad, so I have been running it as an iPhone app upscaled on the iPad display.  You can see from the screenshots why so many people have been critical of Apple for advertising that all iPhone apps will work on the iPad.  While it technically works, the upscaling looks terrible.  I do want to point out, however, that any problems you may notice with the graphics in these screenshots are not the fault of Pointstreak, but are related to the fact that I was running an app designed for the iPhone on the iPad.  So, to the extent the screenshots in this review look a but jagged or pixelated, you know the reason.

I tested this app during several different games, including the Opening Day game between the Nats and Phillies, as well as various games I watched on TV.  So, there may be some inconsistencies among a few of the screen shots.  That is due to the fact that multiple games were used to create them.

When you fire up the app, you will be immediately met with the new game screen, prompting you to input the names and leagues of your teams.  You can manually input all of the information here, but what is really cool is that many common leagues are preinstalled and ready for download, meaning a lot of the hard work is about to be done for you.  Just head over to tools menu, where you can download public leagues.  There are a number of leagues to be found here, most importantly, the current MLB roster.  Every player, every team.   

Just select 2010 Majors as your league, and then you can scroll through to select the appropriate teams for the game you plan to score.  The rosters are pre-completed for you, so all you will need to so is select the lineup order for that particular game.  I am not sure how often these leagues are updated to account for trades, free agency, injuries, or other changes, so I generally hit the update button before any game I plan to score.  

Once you have designated your teams, you are ready to start scoring.  What is nice here is that you can input your lineup before the game starts, or on the fly during the game.  This is fantastic since you often do not know the batting order and lineup until just before the game begins.  If you have designated a player in your lineup, then that player’s name and stats will be displayed when they come up to bat.  If not, then the app will simply designate the batting order number. 

Once the lineup is set, you are ready to start scoring the game.  Now, I am going to continue along here with the assumption that most of you already know how to score a baseball game.  The point of this review is not to teach you how to score a game, but to check out how easy or difficult it is to score a game using this app.

What I really loved about scoring games with this app was the ease of the interface.  You can literally score a game using only one finger, and you do not need to know any complicated codes (not sure what a 6-4-3 DP is?  You don’t need to with this app).  Sure, there is a bit of a learning curve, but that is really to be expected.  Once you get past that initial education, however, scoring is a breeze.  Let’s take a look at the At Bat screen (above), which is where most of the scoring activity takes place.

The main portion of the screen contains a representation of the baseball diamond.  The numbers 1-9 represent each of the players (1 and 2 are the pitcher and catcher, 2-6 are the infielders, and 7-9 are the outfielders).   If the ball is put in play, resulting in an out, just tap the numbers of the players who handled the ball.  So, a hit to the shortstop, who throws to second for one out and then on to first for the second out would be a 6-4-3, resulting in a double play. 

Along the right hand side of the screen (as you are looking at it) lies the menu you will need if the batter hits safely.  Just tap the appropriate button to indicate how far the batter advanced.  If you wish to track where the hits are landing, tap the image of a scoring box (third icon from the bottom of that column) and then tap on the field approximately where the ball landed.  A pop-up menu will allow you to record the type of hit.  I found this location tracking to be a bit imprecise.  It recorded the general location, but often did not accurately reflect the distance or exact position of the play on the field.  Still, it as close enough for statistical purposes.  If the ball was not put into play, you can use the options along the bottom of the screen to record a strikeout, fielders choice, double play, and other special options.

Next to the diamond (and I am mentioning this a bit out of order) are five boxes.  Well, more specifically, two boxes on top of three.  These are used for recording balls and strikes.  Just tap the boxes to record the pitch as a ball or strike.  The numbers in the boxes indicate the sequence of pitches.  So, in the image above, the first pitch was a ball, followed by two strikes.  The fourth pitch in the sequence was also a strike, indicated by the fact that the batter struck out.  This is a great feature for pitching coaches tracking the number of pitches thrown.  Though for statistical purposes, it would be really nice to add a screen for pitch type and location. 

The other icons can be used to display your status.  Use the runner icon to show which batters are on base.   Likewise, the pitcher icon will show your defensive alignment (above) and allow you to make substitutions or changes.   When you are finished recording an at bat, simply tap the batter icon to bring up the next batter.

Of course, as the game progresses, you might want a more global look at the progress of the game.  Tap the home or visitor buttons to jump to the appropriate scorecard for an overview of the game.  This is exactly what you would see if you had been scoring the game using more traditional methods, such as pencil and paper.  The really nice thing here is that these buttons will always show the score of the game, so no matter which screen you are viewing, you can always see the current score.

Under the More menu, you can also choose to view a box score, in order to see more complete stats.  Unlike a normal box score, which only shows batting stats, you can choose to see the batting, fielding, or pitching stats.  I was really pretty impressed by the depth of stats this app was able to handle, and this makes the app a fantastic option for coaches keeping stats on their entire team.

At the end of the game, simply tap the Finalize Game option (which was hidden under the more menu) in order to complete the game and validate all of the stats.  I did think this finalize button should have been easier to find, and I think I still have a few games that have been going on uncompleted for several weeks because I never finished the games.  When you do hit finalize, however, the app will record the stats from the game, and add them to the season stats for each player.  Again, while this may not be important for the casual fan, it is great for coaches.  With only a quick glance, you can review the entire season and determine how each player is doing at their positions.  Stats are a fantastic tool, but can be complicated to calculate, especially at lower levels of play.  This app makes everything clean and easy.

What really impressed me, though were the detailed reports you can generate from each game.  This is a lot more than just the scorecard.  These reports include dozens of pages of detailed stats about every aspect of the game.   The only concern I had was that while you can record stats over the course of a season, there was no way to generate a season long stats report for your players.  The reports could only be generated on a game by game basis.  Nonetheless, this is an extremely useful tool, and you can choose to view these reports on the screen or email them to yourself to print later.

I have to say that I was really impressed with this app.  From the moment I saw the iPad, I thought it would be fantastic for scoring baseball games (to be fair, I thought the same thing of the iPhone, but the iPad is even better).  The combination of simple interface and powerful stats make this an incredible option for the casual fan scoring a game in the stands, or baseball coaches keeping stats for their teams. 

KForCE is developed by Pointstreak.com, and is available in the iTunes App Store for $9.99, which is a small price to pay for any baseball enthusiast.

I had a bit of a surprise yesterday when I got home from work, there was a package from Sprint sitting on the counter, and inside was Sprint’s 3G/4G overdrive Mobile Hotspot.  Well, let me back up.  The fact that it arrived was not such a surprise, since I had ordered it.  The real surprise was that I had only ordered it the night before.  It arrived in less than 24 hours.  Say what you will about Sprint, but delivering my new device within 24 hours is really impressive customer service.

The Overdrive is essentially Sierra Wireless’ response to Novatel’s popular Mifi Mobile Hotspot.  I have to say that this is where I must disagree with Apple’s claims that the iPad is a magical, revolutionary device, and blabbity blah blah.  The real revolution occurs in these little boxes.  The ability to connect to the Internet from any device, anywhere in the country…now that is a revolution.  On this one, the iPad seems to be just along for the ride.

The most noticeable difference between this and the Mifi is the size of the device.  The Overdrive is considerably more substantial, which is unfortunate.  I have no idea whether this size is required for the 4G modem or not, but it did feel a little larger than I would have preferred.  Not a lot, but enough that it was difficult to squeeze into my pants pocket (a trick I could accomplish easily with the Mifi).

To get started, just hold the power button and wait for the Overdrive to connect to the Internet.  While you are waiting, check out that nice LCD status screen. 

I really liked this a lot, and it served as a great way to set the Overdrive apart from other Mobile Hotspots which use various combinations of colored/blinking lights to let you know what is going on in there.

Once you have connected, your computer, head over to the admin page (just type “Overdrive” in your web browser) to setup your security and other options.   The nice thing about this is that all of your resources and tools for the Overdrive are right there at your fingertips, anytime you need them.

So far, after a day or so of testing, what did I think?  At this point, the 3G connection is pretty much on par with the other 3G Sprint devices I own.  Which is about what I was expecting.  Sprint’s 4G network is expected to role out here in the DC area beginning over the summer, so I will reserve my speed testing for a later time when we can really test the 4G option.  Check back later in the summer for some follow up testing when Sprint unveils its 4G network.

What really intrigued me almost more than that, though, were the little extras thrown into this device.  In addition to connecting to the Internet, there is also a GPS, as well as a micro SD card slot.  This really had the potential to become the ideal companion to the Wifi iPad, which famously lacks these features.  I am still testing all of this, however, I am not aware of any way to direct the iPad to access this external GPS and memory via Wifi…though if any of our faithful readers have some suggestions, I would love to hear them.