Ampers & Dot

If you’ve stopped by here before you likely know that I’m a bit of a Windows Mobile enthusiast. I have the ability to refute nearly any argument of the iPhone’s superiority and counter it with a robust list of things that WinMo can do that other devices still cannot (copy and paste is the least of the problems).

One argument I find myself in often is about the iPhone App Store, because on one hand - it’s amazing. You just tap a button on your device and you find yourself an almost limitless list of programs and games. On the other hand - it is indeed limited and overly regulated and seemingly overrun by stupid fart applications (seriously: if you’ve downloaded one of those then you should be ashamed… and chances are that you have downloaded one).

Well, although Windows Mobile is working on its own App Store (Skymarket anyone?) I’ve still had the last five years of WinMo use during which I’ve been forced to download applications the old fashioned way. This has been great because there are almost no limitations to what can be built, but also leaves a bit to be desired when trying to actually find new games. The problem with no central repository is that you’ve got to hunt them out.

Over the last half decade of Windows Mobile use I’ve played dozens and dozens of games - some have been awful, some have been great. So as part of my good Windows Mobile Evangelistic dead of the day - here’s a list of games I actually play on my phone. I’ve weeded it down to a manageable list - and please not that none of these involve any type of farting application (seriously iPhone… you should be ashamed). Let’s do it:

(Please note: although every game listed below also has a Windows Mobile standard version (non-touch) - the links to .cabs are for Windows Mobile Professional 6.0+ and please use at your own risk)

Crosswords (aka xWords — aka Scrabble)

Crosswords is an almost perfect recreation of Scrabble. You can play against a computer (with multiple difficulty settings) or against others locally (no online play… but that’s ok). It’s really truly a great game - my ONLY complaint is that the dictionary isn’t OSPD4 and doesn’t recognize a lot of fancy Scrabble words. You can override the dictionary to still play these words, but there is no option to “Add to dictionary”. Otherwise it’s a perfect game. Direct link to .cab here

Astraware Casino

I have played every casino game made for Windows Mobile and absolutely none compare to Astraware Casino. There are 11 games all built into the casino (Blackjack, Texas Hold ‘Em Limit and No Limit Poker, Video Poker, Video Derby, 3 Card Poker, Roulette, Craps, Baccarat, Slots, and Video Keno) as well as rewards for different achievements (like “First blackjack” or “Win $50,000 on a single bet!”) that keep this game fun and engaging for a long time. It’s not free… it’s $15 - but there is a free demo period built into the game (.cab available here). Play the demo and then happily hand over your money. Also - this game is beautiful on VGA screens.

Dopewars

Yes, the popular Graphing Calculator game has been ported to other mobile platforms… and the graphics haven’t changed much. Fortunately neither has the game play - it’s still fun! Let’s first put the drug thing aside - and look at this game as a classic buy low/sell high day trading game. It’s just fun. This version also has the ability to edit names, values, and descriptions of “items” - so if you’re uncomfortable with the seedy underbelly concept - you can change everything into stocks (or is that even sleazier these days…?). Anyway, it’s 100% free - download the .cab here.

Kevtris - The only Tetris clone you’ll ever need

There are many, many Tetris like games out there. Kevtris is by far and away the best. And the free-est - which is a great treat. I don’t play it much anymore (now that I have a Touch Pro which crippled the arrow buttons…) but this game plays well and looks great on every phone I’ve owned. Download the .cab here.

Now I know I already put in Astraware Casino, which is $15 bucks… but this list wouldn’t be complete without the other games that are actually worth paying for:

Bejeweled 2

100% everything you’d expect to be in Bejeweled 2. The full game. Unfortunately comes at the full price of $15 - but well worth it if you like the gem-swapping gameplay. There’s a free, but limited, demo - available here.

TextTwist

I played this game so often on my last phone that I permanently dented a few spots on the screen from tapping the letters so often. I’m a bit of a word-game nut, so this one might not be your cup of tea- but I just can’t get enough of it. Download the (unlimited…!) demo here. Or pay $15 for it… your choice.

And that’s pretty much it.

I’m not saying there aren’t better games out there - I’ve paid for a handful of others that really disappointed me and downloaded a few dozen free ones that REALLY REALLY disappointed me - but the ones listed above are what I play. What else should I play?

Anyway- once Skymarket is alive we’ll have a better repository of these things (that will hopefully be free and unregulated… but there’s no way in hell that will happen). So in the meantime - go crazy - download everything - play them all. And Enjoy!

Earlier this week I had lunch with a good friend (who writes an awesome architectural design blog) during which he told me about a great news piece he found online. After a few minutes I said that I’d love to read it and asked him to send me the link, he informed me it was a Podcast, and I informed him that I probably wasn’t going to listen to it. Let’s back up a minute…

I consume a LOT of internet. A lot. To quantify this statement: bazillions of pages.

I’m an RSS junkie with moderate speed reading abilities. Plus, I like to batch-process my data intake to increase the amount I can consume (for example: I sort my feeds as finitely as possible, so that my brain can access the topic schema more easily - so that if I have multiple stories on the same topic I’ll recognize it quicker, discard the piece, and move on).

My day job is to research the internet and then write and advise on what I learn, so in all fairness, I’d better be pretty good at getting through the vast amount of “news” out there. But that’s the problem - there is SO much news out there relating to the internet and a lot of it is actually very good.

Unfortunately, what all this is leading up to is my distaste for (and inability to utilize) Podcasts.

You cannot speed read or batch process Podcasts. I have trouble listening to something while working (especially talking…), so this deters me from listening to Podcasts during the day. Which only leaves me with commuting time - during which I like music too much to give up. I just don’t listen to Podcasts.

The problem is that there are some truly awesome people talking about truly awesome topics in Podcasts, and there’s a pretty good chance I’m missing out on a lot of great material.

To take yet another step back: the title of this post stems from a discussion about Social Technologies - and how Podcasts aren’t actually social at all. It’s a one way speech, not a conversation. Sure it’s a rich-media, but that doesn’t make it a social media.

But back to the point: Podcasts have value. There are a lot of people who love Podcasts and I think end user adoption is likely only growing - which means people will continue to produce great content in audio form… and I’ll continue to miss out.

So to sign this post off- here’s a short list of the Podcasts that people recommend to me the most… that I haven’t ever really heard.

Topics on Fire (Leslie Poston’s social media chat)
This American Life (NPR)
Bill Simmons (Sports Guy - link on the right)
The Moth (Short humorous stories)
Major Nelson (Microsoft / Xbox guy)
GDGT (The ultimately gadget podcast)

It’s that time of the year - when we plan to do a bunch of things throughout the rest of the year, that we’ll probably give up on in a few weeks. The Resolution Phenomenon explains why Google search volume for “Gym Membership” and “Quit Smoking” spike significantly every January 1st. But hey, I’ll play the game too - and we’ll see how closely I can stick to my 2009 plan.

So as a devout technology enthusiast, my 2009 tech-related resolutions are to:

• Keep better control over my RSS feeds. I subscribe to a few hundred feeds. This is overwhelming, but through batch processing, speed reading, and skimming so quickly that I don’t really gain much, I’ve learned to deal with it quite well. In 2009 I aim to keep my subscription list clean (remove any feed that isn’t providing value) and under the 1000+ line.
• Help at least five people quit AOL. This really should be on everyone’s list this year, as part of making the world a better place. It’s not that I have a problem with AOL, it’s that I have a serious problem with people paying for email. To me this is like paying for air. AOL knows that it needs a new business model and is adapting to keep up. But while it does this, I just can’t go on knowing that people are paying for the service. If you also want to help friends, family, and other loved ones leave AOL, check out AOLeave.com
  
• Make 40-50% of tweets replies. Twitter, by nature, is more communicative than any other social computing form I know (and I know them all…). Instead of just shouting out to the world, Twitter provides the ability to have conversations with many people: ask questions, get help, answer questions, give help. Unfortunately I’ve found that as I’ve started following more people, I’ve lost focus. By reading a lot of tweets, I don’t actually interact with as many any more. So my 2009 resolution is to aim for 40-50% of my tweets to be replies- AND to have them be to more people, not just the same few over and over. I follow so many awesome people - it’s high-time I get to interact with more of them.
• Sign up at least three friends to Twitter. Look, Twitter is going to hit it big in the coming years. Its reach will extend beyond the early adopters (2007) tech and marketing types (2008), in 2009 Twitter is going to reach out to more of the mainstream - and I don’t want my non-early-adopting-tech/marketing friends to be on there too.
• Contribute more in online Forums. I’m pretty active in a number of tech forums (few coding forums, many Windows Mobile forums, and a handful of misc. discussion boards), but in previous years “pretty active” has meant reading a lot… in 2009 I’d like to give more back to the forums that have helped me so much - I’ll do this by answering more questions and contributing where possible.
• Buy ZERO computers. I don’t need another one - but I haven’t needed one in a while and that hasn’t stopped me… so I’m finally to a point where I can no longer justify buying another. In 2009 I will add NO computers to my home collection. You know… unless there’s a really good sale on some netbooks…
• Redesign my website. It’s time for a new look (and possibly has been since I launched this design…). No idea when I’ll actually get around to this one. But in 2009 I will redesign this site, as well as a handful of others that I oversee. Oh, and I want to do it myself - get back into the fun of CSS.
• Use more features of Facebook and LinkedIn. I research social technologies for a living, but use them rather weakly. I’ve still never uploaded pictures to Facebook, or written a recommendation on LinkedIn. In 2009 I want to get better at using both - and connect with more great people on each. Let’s start now: Zach on Facebook - Zach on LinkedIn.
• Write more conversational blog posts. Ok, I’m not going to delude myself into thinking I can write more. I’m just not a high volume poster. I tried that… and it didn’t really work. So in 2009 I want to write better posts - ones that make people think - and then respond. In 2008 my Post-to-Comment ratio was about 1:2.4 - I’m actually pretty happy with that, but I’d like to see it grow to 1:4 by the end of 2009. But of course I can’t do this one without your help.

And that’s it for me. I think that if I complete each of these resolutions by the year’s end I will have had a happy tech year and will be a better person because of it. So what about you? What are your tech resolutions?