Tim McLain's eBlog Working out my past, presently.

2011-12-05T12:37:00.000-05:00

8/88 | INXS #1 “Calling All Nations” Tour, The Spectrum, Philadelphia

Last night saw me sitting about two sections away from an electronics-littered stage in the heart of Philly awaiting the coming of a star rock band – INXS – an English (what else?) rock band boasting a sting of recent hits. Sitting beside me for a 20 minute span was Paula Dengler, a girl I’d recently asked out and come to really like. We could barely talk to one another over the din before the rest of the group showed up (brother Todd and Jen Simon) and within minutes the crowd started to cheer in anticipation.

2011-12-04T17:00:00.000-05:00

5/2/88: Exeter HS, notebook #1, p. 1: "Sportive self-expression can be prized because human nature contains a certain elasticity and margin for experiment, in which waste activity is inevitable and may be precious: for this license may lead, amid a thousand failures, to some real discovery and advance. Art, like life, should be free, since both are experimental." -- "The Life of Reason," George Santayana, Page 172

Beginning today, posting 420-character entries from my notebooks to Facebook and archiving here, dating approx. 1988-1994, during my high school (Reading, PA @ Exeter Senior High School) and college (Kutztown University) years. Most entries written in/around Reading, Lancaster, Kutztown, PA.

2011-12-04T16:38:00.013-05:00

WalMart on TV: "We match prices."
In NC: "We DON'T match prices, even less so when you order from us online at a given price for in-store pickup locally. Walmart.com isn't WalMart, technically." HUH?

Today I tried in vain to place a simple order with WalMart for in-store pickup, using walmart.com to set up the transaction.

What I got instead was several hours of my Sunday wasted by a company who's website seems to be blind to in-store stock levels, and the manager of the Cary, NC store offering a litany of excuses which stand 100% at odds with WalMart's current TV ads.

Here's the steps that lead to my disappointment:

1. Visited walmart.com, found the item I wanted to buy, then completed an in-store pickup order for my local Holly Springs location. The website said all three items were in-stock, and I'd be sent a text message when they were ready to pickup. Here's the checkout screens:

2. A few minutes later, I got an email saying all was well, verifying the price of the items and their in-stock status.

About 30 minutes later, I got another email:

WalMart's own internal stock system doesn't know which items are really in stock?! Cancelled the order.

Note that the in-stock immediate pickup price for the items was $119.98, and the order was tallied using this price.

3. Deciding to try my luck at my nearby Cary, NC Walmart store in-person (the website saying there were some in stock), I walked through the door and hurried to the bike section.

Sure enough, there were three waiting for me! The price was posted at $149.99, but no matter. "At WalMart, we'll price match!"

I borrowed a cart, loaded up the three scooters, and headed to the checkout. I had copies of my email orders and the website price on my phone, ready for the cashier to complete an identical in-store pickup transaction, this time in Cary.

4. After asking the cashier to price match, he said he had to call over his manager. This seemed odd to me, since in the TV advertisements the cashiers in each line having the power to match, without an ad in hand, by voice alone. Even showing him my emails and the online price wasn't enough.

Manager "Frank" appears, and I walk him through the story. He immediately denies the request. Why? Walmart stores "never honor prices at walmart.com. We're totally different companies." Huh?

I tell him that I placed an order for in-store pickup from Holly Springs, and that the lower online price was honored. Only Walmart's incorrect stock system caused my order to be cancelled. I said I'd be happy to place the same order via any Internet terminal in the store and use my credit card online, which would make the Cary pickup request identical to the Holly Springs request earlier in the day.

Frank walked me back to the rear of the store and allowed me to do just this, all with his help...

Note the three items, in stock, ready for me to buy.

5. Together, we found the items via their online kiosk, went to add the three items to my cart that were ALREADY in my REAL LIFE cart NEXT to me, and the site said this:

Looks closely. Walmart.com says the items are out of stock online, and OUT OF STOCK at the CARY, NC store. Clearly, they weren't and aren't, they're right here next to us!

Still, he wouldn't budge. Despite the facts being right in front of him.

The facts: Walmart does not price match with anyone, even themselves, when stock and facts are right in front of management's face. Their ads are deceptive, and management's zero tolerance for living up to WalMart's TV promises ads up to a bait and switch. Frank saying: "Pay me the higher price and ignore my company's promises to match printed prices and our own in-store pickup system."

Color me a disappointed North Carolina WalMart shopper, and you'd be hard pressed to get me to recommend or visit any local WalMart location until management and their webteam/local managers get on the same page of their pricing and customer policies. Wall mart, Kmart, sears, price match, guarantee, bait, switch...

2011-11-14T12:41:00.002-05:00

5 Business Promotion Tips for 2012

Like many people, I’m a big fan of New Year’s resolutions. There’s something about one year ending and another beginning that forces us to sit up and take notice of the good, the bad, and the ugly of our situation.

This year, look beyond personal resolutions and instead shine a spotlight on your business. What does your marketing mix look like? Which promotions are getting tangible results, and which tactics are you blindly about to pay an invoice to fund in the new year without knowing its effectiveness? (Yellow pages, we’re looking at you!)

As 2012 arrives, make a resolution to evaluate your business promotional activity, make a plan to fix what’s broken, and be open to new tactics and technology that are proving to be profitable for local businesses. Then follow through and be consistent in the new year.

With this in mind, here are five marketing tips to consider in 2012 and beyond.

#5: Move more of your advertising and marketing budget into online tactics.

Today, your best customers research products and services online before buying from local brick and mortar businesses. People are spending more and more time online, and you need to adapt to this reality in order to survive and thrive.

In fact, the time your customers are spending reading the newspaper, listening to the radio, and watching TV is declining, while time spent online is increasing. A recent Nielson survey found that the average American consumer spends upwards of 40% of their day online.

Your promotional messages need to appear where your customers are. What’s interesting is that businesses are still allocating much of their marketing budget on traditional forms of advertising, and this spending lags behind their customers behavior. “We’re 15 years into the consumer Internet, but lots of people don’t realize that most retail commerce still happens in local markets,” says Brendan Morrissey, Netsertive CEO.

Take Away: In 2012, you must have a conversion-optimized website (that turns visitors into customers), which gets its traffic from a custom online search and display advertising campaign from Netsertive.

Your customers are online, trying to find your business. Even if you don’t sell online, your business MUST be discoverable when your customers try to find you online. A solid website and professionally managed online ad campaign work together to get more clicks to your website, and more foot traffic in you local business.

Today, Netsertive has clients who are getting more than half of their leads and sales opportunities through online search and display advertising. And the longer our client work with us, the better the results.

Read more about this topic: Promotion Plan 2012: Is Your Online Budget Robust Enough?

#4: If your business isn’t using social media (Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn) now’s the time to make the investment.

Once a prospect finds your business online, makes a purchase in your store, and becomes a long-term customer, they’ll want to “follow” you and be kept in the loop. They want online tools to spread the word about you and your business. That’s where social media comes into play.

Facebook and Twitter are today’s must-have communication channels for any local business. Google+ is the newcomer on the block, having opened up the ability to make business pages just a few days ago. Finally, LinkedIn is the perfect place to network with other professionals in your market or vertical, recruit employees, and show your knowledge as a thought leader.

Not convinced that social media is worth your time? Watch this social media introductory video and review these hands-on social media for business tips.

Take Away: Your best customers are seeking to “Like” you on Facebook and “Follow” you on Twitter. Start 2012 by setting up accounts on these two communication powerhouses.

Facebook Business Pages setup help is a click away, while setting up a business Twitter account is identical to setting up a personal login.

Schedule 30 minutes each day to read posts by your customers and competition. Post updates, tips, new product information, and more at least three times a week.

Engage with your customers online and give them tools to help you recruit new buyers to your business. If you make time, daily, to make social media work for your business, you’ll find that your efforts pay off with increased website traffic, online referrals, and ultimately more sales in 2012 and beyond.

#3: Resist the urge to sell to your online followers, or outsource your content generation. Communicate, socialize, and converse with them instead.

Millions of Americans spend 40% of more of their day on Facebook alone, while Twitter’s 200 million+ user base continues to expand year-over-year. LinkedIn recently broken the 100 million mark, and has quickly become the “professional Facebook” for businesses.

Think of these social media websites as today’s “word of mouth” marketing channels. They give you the chance to expand your business by giving customers the information they need to share your message with their circles of friends and family, online.

Take Away: Earning “Likes” and “Follows” to your business social media channels does not entitle you to overtly sell to your online audience. Most social media users head to these sites to see what family and friends are doing, saying, and sharing."

They’d rather see pictures of their nieces and nephews than be hit with a promotional ad masquerading as your latest “post.” Instead, use your channels in 2012 to be yourself. Communicate as if your online followers just walked into your store. Share stories, tips, tricks, and more. Don’t be afraid to let the personality of your business shine through.

This is one reason why outsourcing your social media can backfire. Most of us can easily tell when a company has given over the reins of their channels to a contractor. The writing is flat, the communications become predictable (new product spotlight on Monday, guest blog post on Wednesday, etc.), and getting a response from an actual employee of the business takes more than a few hours to accomplish.

#2: Participate in online communities, be a thought leader.

You know your business, your products, your marketplace. Share your insights, reply to posts, give your opinions, and in general guide discussions on websites that relate to your core business. Be a thought leader, online.

Being a thought leader has been described as “having the answers to the biggest questions in the mind of your customers.” Your customers set the agenda. It’s up to you to address their needs by applying your unique, deep knowledge of your business.

Take Away: Beyond pushing out your own content via your business social media channels, set aside 30 minutes each week to take on the role of “thought leader” online. Your time investment will pay off in increased website traffic, increased visibility for your business and your its brands, and ultimately lead to more sales.

#1: Follow through, be consistent, and watch the sales opportunities flow throughout the year.

As 2012 arrives, it’s time to take action.

Remember, while 90 percent of people use online search, online reviews and so on to research before buying a product or service, 90 percent of consumers still buy most items within 50 miles of their homes, and 90 percent of retail sales still occur over brick and mortar retail counters.

Move more of your advertising and marketing budget into online tactics. Netsertive knows how to turn online searches for your company and its products and services into clicks and new sales opportunities in the new year.

We’ve proven that sustained, localized digital marketing programs, customized to your business, deliver a huge impact. Netsertive levels the playing field and helps you own your market by turning online discovery into offline brick and mortar sales.

If you’re not taking advantage of the Internet and moving a significant portion of your marketing budget into online tactics to harvest online awareness of your business and its products and services, you can bet that competitors are, right in your back yard.

Plus, if your business isn’t using social media, now’s the time to make the investment. Your best customers are seeking to “Like” you on Facebook and “Follow” you on Twitter. Start 2012 by setting up accounts on these two communication powerhouses.

Resist the urge to sell to your online followers, or outsource your content generation. Communicate, socialize, and converse with them instead. Participate in online communities, be a thought leader.

Finally, follow through, be consistent, and watch the sales opportunities flow throughout the year.

BONUS TIP: Netsertive is here to help you turn online discovery into offline sales.

Call us at 800.940.4351 or send us an email today and put us to work for your business in 2012, and beyond.

2011-11-04T12:48:00.000-04:00

What's the difference between P90X and P90X2? Find out!

2011-11-01T20:16:00.000-04:00

Inspiration : How Bad Do You Want It? (Success)

2011-11-01T11:25:00.002-04:00

Local Businesses: Get More Customers with Netsertive Technology

With more than 90 percent of local, Internet-connected prospects starting their research for local businesses online, the decision about who handles your online advertising campaign is crucial.

At Netsertive, three core competencies separate us from the competition to give you the highest return on your online investment:

Our patent-pending technology proactively targets your best prospects on Google, bing, and Yahoo, while capturing volumes of daily data across millions of searches to power informed campaign changes and maximize conversions.

We know your business inside and out, specializing in a select number of vertical industries.

We deliver personal service and transparent, industry-leading monthly reporting. Your report contains detailed, easy-to-understand data to measure the full impact of your online search and display advertising campaign on your business.

Our new blog post explains how Netsertive’s patent-pending technology gives you the edge to win more online advertising auctions, resulting in more visibility for your business and, ultimately, turn more leads into sales.

Contact Netsertive today to learn more and put Netsertive to work for your business.

The Basics: Online Search Advertising Auctions

Whenever someone goes online and conducts a search for your products and services in Google, bing, or Yahoo, a split-second advertising auction occurs.

In this precious moment, the engine decides which ads will be displayed (impressions), where they’ll appear on the page (position), and how much each advertiser will pay per click. At Netsertive, we know what goes into making the most of these auctions.

Three key factors play a major role in online advertising auctions:

To increase the chances of your ad appearing, and achieve the best unit cost, the ad should contain keywords relevant to the user’s search query, have been clicked previously by others, connect to an optimized webpage, and you’ve placed an optimal bid. As an advertiser, you only pay when a prospect clicks on your ad.

The larger your daily media budget for your overall campaign, and the higher your keyword and Ad quality, the more times your ads will appear in relevant results. Revising your budget to match search trends to consistently turn online discovery into offline sales is critical.

Technology Makes the Difference

With so many variables going into who wins and loses an ad auction, it’s clear that no human can successfully manage your campaign alone. Why? A successful online campaign for a business in your industry is powered by dozens of keyword categories composed of hundreds or thousands of unique search terms.

It would take months or years of data derived from a single campaign to most accurately see what’s working and what’s not. Even if you monitor your online campaign daily, you’ll have little time to “read the tea leaves” in your data and make the changes necessary to capitalize on trends.

Netsertive’s intelligent software records and analyzes volumes of conversion data flowing out of every online campaign we manage, spotting trends, suggesting bid changes, and more.

The Netsertive "Learning Engine" Edge

Our "Learning Engine" technology sits at the heart of our proven online marketing campaigns. Once your keyword categories are loaded into our patent-pending system, your budget set, and your custom ads designed, your custom campaign launches in your target market and benefits from the collective intelligence generated by our software.

Our platform continually analyzes conversion data, automating improvements to your hyper-local campaign to maximize your ad spend and keyword mix.

Massive amounts of data flow into our platform daily, giving our Account Representative's the information they need to “tune up” and proactively modify each campaign hundreds of times each month. This level of optimization is only possible as a direct result our technology and its deep, proprietary intelligence.

In a recent head-to-head comparison to a national, our Netsertive "Learning Engine"-powered campaign delivered twice the qualified website traffic and nearly three times the ad impressions, while serving the ads in higher positions.

Our clients give us similar Netsertive reviews every month. Our clients see a doubling or tripling of website visitors within the first few months of their custom, localized campaigns, increased call volume, new customers, and dozens of new sales opportunities linked to their online search and display advertising efforts from Netsertive.

Grow Your Local Business With Proven Online Technology

With results like these, it’s no wonder that we have an industry-leading renewal rate.
With technology like this, it was imperative that we file a patent for our wholly unique platform.
Contact us today to get started!

2011-10-20T06:24:00.000-04:00

Netsertive: Inside Track Newsletter Profile

Netsertive has developed a patent-pending online marketing technology that helps dealers get discovered online, and steer potential local customers to them ...

Netsertive specializes in helping local businesses harvest online demand for their products and services; we work directly with top brands to support digital Co-Op display ad campaigns that increase product awareness and local dealer sales.

Small to medium sized businesses rely on our technology and online marketing experts to create and monitor customized search and display campaigns, which actively funnel qualified consumers to their local businesses. Your best customers are online. Can they find you?

"We know we are in a recession, but we are seeing sales increases."

An in-depth profile of Netsertive was published in recent issue of the Inside Track newsletter, a trusted source of independent, up-front, and daring news and reviews for local businesses and their product manufacturers in the audio video integration vertical.

Send a request to tmclain@netsertive.com to get your copy of the four-page article via email.

Read what participating local dealers and national brands (Lutron, Integra, Harman HPAV, KEF, and more across our verticals served) have to say about Netsertive's online advertising programs, and how online discovery is making a big impact on dealer channels, local market awareness, and sales.

2011-09-01T18:56:00.002-04:00

P90X 2 | Here it comes! Pre-order today...

Only from me, a Beachbody coach! All pre-orders guarantee delivery before Christmas. So, click here -- bit.ly/timcoach -- then click the SHOP button -- and you'll see a link to the P90X2 promotion.

2011-08-30T12:58:00.003-04:00

"It's hard to compete with big retailers. But you can be smarter..." with Netsertive online advertising @ http://bit.ly/TVNets (Video) #sem

Watch how http://netsertive.com and its technology-driven, high-performance online marketing is helping Triangle Visions Optometry of North Carolina turns online discovery into offline sales.

Netsertive drives increased local sales opportunities and targeted online exposure to businesses in select vertical markets, including eye doctors to dentists and beyond.

Based in the Research Triangle Park near Raleigh, North Carolina, Netsertive helps small- to medium-sized businesses and their product manufacturers across the United States attract consumers and increase sales with innovative online marketing technology and a unique Digital Co-Op platform.

The company helps clients transform online discovery into offline sales using a proprietary, data-driven approach to online search and display advertising. Its patent-pending "Learning Engine" ensures that clients acquire the largest number of qualified website visitors for a given advertising budget, through select vertical industry focus and campaign automation. Netsertive serves a wide range of local businesses in North America, as well as manufacturers and brands that leverage local channels for distribution.

With a history of rapid-growth, the strength of venture capital funding from top firms RRE Ventures and Greycroft Partners, a world-class core team and a focus on delivering services to specific vertical industries with its patent-pending technology, Netsertive has moved quickly to the forefront of the digital ad tech industry. The company works tirelessly to leverage its systems to drive exponentially higher value for its clients than any generalist competitor can provide.

For more about Netsertive, connect to http://www.netsertive.com today, then connect to Triangle Visions at http://www.trianglevisions.com to see a visionary small business using the latest online search (Google bing Yahoo!) PPC SEM Internet marketing and advertising techniques to grow their business.

2011-08-17T02:21:00.002-04:00

Anomaly Warzone Earth HD invades our iPad Games of the Week

Management textbooks teach us that sometimes problems can be solved by approaching them from the opposite direction. That’s the approach the developers of Anomaly Warzone Earth HD took to create this week’s top new iPad game, taking traditional turret defense game design and putting us in the role of navigating enemy emplacements on the ground. Do you have what it takes to chart the perfect course through a heavily fortified maze of alien turrets to take out the enemy without perishing? Time will tell!

Add in some more fresh “death from above” action that brings its own new “shock and awe” approach to taking out the zombie hordes, to a brand new 3D action game with stunning graphics to boot, rounded out by a music-focused, neon-inspired space shooter, and you’ve got yourself our iPad Games of the Week.

IPAD APPS REVIEWED

Anomaly Warzone Earth HD
Yes, it’s another turret defense game. This time, you’re in charge of our military forces, charting the best course through the maze of alien turrets, all to survive to fight another day.

Zombie Gunship
When the zombie apocalypse arrives, I want to be in the gunner seat of an AC-130 airplane, raining death from above. This app gets me so much closer to my dream, I may have to conjure another.

Get Outta My Galaxy! HD
Take control of Waka to restore peace and quiet in the galaxy, through lots and lots of high-res graphical… slapping.

Supersonic HD
Fans of Rez HD and Children of Eden will feel right at home in this music-infused, vector-graphics “tunnel racing” game. Turn down the lights, strap on your headpones, and trip out, man.

IPAD REVIEWS

Anomaly Warzone Earth HD ($3.99)

Forget about tower defense for a moment. Think tower offense.

That’s the fresh approach 11 Bit Studios took in bringing Anomaly Warzone Earth HD to life. And brother, is this app a ton of fun. The Earth has been invaded, and our military is overwhelmed. It’s your job to survey the play field from overhead, plan your route through the alien’s turret emplacements, choose your vehicles, and let each level play out. Once your vehicles are in motion, you’ll need to watch for random drops of repair fields, which you can trigger in the path of your convoys to heal them as they progress.

You’ll need to stay on your toes, plan the perfect path, and keep up the repairs, or it’s game over for you and the human race. You can change routes along the way, upgrade your units, move your forces over large sums of cash (with higher risk of death!), and be quick to divert enemy fire to save your troops at the right times. It all adds up to frantic, anti-turret defense action that’s wholly original, and super-fun.

Zombie Gunship ($.99)

Continuing this week’s “death from above” theme, Zombie Gunship lets you rain death upon the undead from the comfort of an AC-130 assault aircraft. If you’ve played the latest military shooters on any console in the past few years, then you know what you’re in for here: The hum of your aircraft and a grainy, black and white night vision view of the ground, with large white reticules to position on or near the enemy below, pulling your trigger to devastate your foes with all kinds of ordnance.

Wait for the reload, keep circling, and keep firing. Be sure to take out the zombies, and not your friends and neighbors who are running to the bunkers. You’ll need to zoom in and out, get used to the flipped up and down controls, and keep even a single bad guy from reaching your home base. If you’re all about AC-130 action, and you’re a sucker for zombie games, this is your dream app, just in time for the end of your summer.

Get Outta My Galaxy! HD ($2.99)

Fans of Super Mario Galaxy will feel right at home in this newcomer, swapping in Waka for Mario, and an invading horde of Wikus who must be slapped back into space for Mario’s foes. Each level takes place on a different kind of rotating, 3D planet, and you’ll need every one of your crazy arms to reach out and slap them into the vacuum from whence they came.

The graphics are top-notch, the action pitch-perfect, and the level movies and animations console-quality. Moving Waka around is a snap, slapping even easier, and picking up power-ups a breeze. Hang in there until more difficult levels open up, it’s worth the wait! Initially easy, the difficulty ramps up super-slowly, making the app a perfect purchase for younger gamers out there. A must-buy for anyone looking for a top-quality game that’s perfect for any age! Burning up the rest of your summer vacation with Waka will be time well spent.

Supersonic HD ($.99)

Fans of Rez HD and Children of Eden will feel right at home in this music-infused, vector-graphics “tunnel racing” game. Turn down the lights, strap on your headphones, and trip out, man. You’ll need to tilt your way through each level, picking up power ups and point-filled shapes, while avoiding pillars and other traps. The longer you go without making a mistake, the higher your point multiplier.

While the overall speed of each tunnel run is set for you, it’s your job to tilt your iPad this way and that to maximize your points. Half the fun is enjoying the soundtrack, which makes this dollar menu game a must-purchase. The only drawback? You have limited credits and can only progress so far before the game starts asking you for in-app purchases. Don’t let the opportunity to dive into a sizeable chunk of musical goodness-powered gaming for just $1. Trance out!

2011-07-31T10:12:00.003-04:00

Roboto defies gravity to lead our iPad Games of the Week

Take the hoverboard from Back to the Future, place a cartoony robot on top, add in 2D platformer action with 3D backgrounds, and you’ve just made Roboto. It’s one of the most content-rich, fun iOS games to come along this year, and it’s this weeks must-install.

Add in a gross-out-good puzzler, take to the skies with a spot-on remote control plane sim, and bring your best tile-removal skills to a new Mahjong title, and you’ve got yourself our iPad Games of the Week.

IPAD APPS REVIEWED

Roboto ($2.99)
Side-scrolling 2D platformer with 3D backgrounds and some of the best visuals in any iOS game to date adds up to this week’s must-install game.

Gesundheit! HD ($1.99)
Forget Rudolph and his shiny nose. Take control of a little piggy with some seriously snotty allergies in this gross-out classic puzzler.

RC Plane 2 ($.99)
Put away the balsa wood and airplane glue. Take control of a remote controlled plane and soar through the air from the comfort of your easy chair.

Mahjong Towers Touch HD (FREE)
Tile removal fans, you’ve just found your newest obsession. Mahjong at its in-app-purchase finest.

IPAD APP REVIEWS

Roboto ($2.99)

It’s rare to find an iOS game with a high level of graphical polish and top-notch level design. But Roboto proves that a little extra effort goes a long way. Fusing side-scrolling 2D platformer action with rich, 3D backgrounds adds up to a deeply satisfying gaming experience. The on-screen controls are crisp, with the usual movement stick and jump/fire buttons within easy reach. You’ll need to guide your little robot across 30 game fields, powering up walls, over massive jumps, while barreling along at top speed. Your blaster will take out any enemies in your way, while intense boss battles will truly test your skills. The controls do tend to be difficult to trigger in rapid succession, especially during the boss fights, but it’s nothing you can’t handle. Grab Roboto this week before the price goes up. You won’t be sorry!

Gesundheit! HD ($1.99)

Snot happens. Young boys (and men who act like young boys) will find Gesundheit’s singular focus on snot and sneezing a gross-out-loud barrel of fun. In a Rudolph-like twist of fate, you play not reindeer with a glowing nose, but a little green big with some serious allergies. After your friends refuse to let you play in their little piggy games due to your “different” nose, some serious monsters show up with a taste for pork. Thankfully, they’re easily distracted by your green balls of mucous. It’s up to you to save this jaw-droppingly rendered city and its piggy inhabitants from a terrible fate, using your nose gremlins as bait to lure monsters into traps. You’ll need to hide, send balls of phlegm into various traps, and watch as the monsters pounce and munch away. There are lots of ways to approach each level, and you’ll need to master the “sneeze/hide/sneeze/hide” approach to grab power ups, magical StarFruits, and other important items in order to unlock maximum achievements. It’s 40 levels of… “ACHOO!” “Gesundheit.” goodness.

RC Plane 2 ($.99)

As a boy, I spend many a summer afternoon on the flight line of a nearby RC plane club, watching my father put his remote controlled planes through their paces. He’d spend all winter building, coating, testing, and tweaking his creations, which sometimes ended up as broken wrecks after just a few hours of flight. (Ever try to land one of these suckers?) Now we can all experience the virtual thrill of RC plane flight in RC Plane 2. You’ll get similar on-screen controls to the real thing, moving the levers up and down, left and right to control the flight surfaces of your model plane. The feeling of flight is spot-on, with a reasonable learning curve before you master the controls. Your dollar gets you a starter plane and places to fly, while a few more bucks get you even better planes and locations to soar. Anyone with even a passing interest in flight sims, model plane flying, and planes of all kinds will find lots to love about this app.

Mahjong Towers Touch HD (FREE)

Search the App Store for Mahjong apps, and you’ll find dozens to choose from. As a fan of this genre, I’ve yet to find the perfect tile-removal game for my iOS devices. Mahjong Towers Touch HD comes very close to being the best of the best, once you plunk down an extra $2.99 to unlock the full set of tile sets beyond the six basics included with the free initial download. The touch controls in this new offering are super-solid, which immediately gives the app a massive boost over its competitors. Keep removing tiles by touching the pairs in sequence, working your way down to an empty board. You’ll need to being your A game, strategically uncovering the right sets at the right times to keep the action going. The best addition? A counter shows you how many matches are available every step of the way, so you’ll never wonder if there’s anything left to remove. The usual reshuffle and hint buttons are just a tap away, along with undo and more. With 192 layouts in the for-pay version, a quality musical score, and HD graphics, this could be the best Mahjong title available on the App Store today.

2011-07-28T19:11:00.003-04:00

Online Fitness Club Marketing @ FitLife Club Network (Video)

FitLife Club Network Online Marketing Video from Netsertive Marketing on Vimeo.

FitLife Club Network, visit http://www.netsertive.com to:
✔ Leverage the power of the Internet for health club marketing
✔ Actively target new FitLife Club clients
✔ Harvest demand for your fitness services
✔ Maximize your online ad budget, get the best possible results

A turnkey Netsertive online marketing program will deliver sustained online exposure for your FitLife club. Our patent-pending platform guides purchase-ready prospects to your website and club location(s).

Custom Campaigns. Receive a one-on-one consultation to craft your unique online search strategy. Focus on your sales goals, product
offerings, local marketplace, preferred customer profile and more.

Netsertive's Key Services:

- Managed Campaign - Personal Account Rep. for Your Club
- Better Organic Search Results - Website & Optimization Audits
- Own Your Market - Search & Display Ad Management
- Informed Geo-Targeting - Mobile Optimization & Call Tracking
- Improve Your Campaign - Detailed Monthly Reporting

Leverage Our Expertise & Technology. Our "Learning Engine" continually analyzes online advertising data, automating improvements to your hyper-local campaign to maximize your ad spend. Our wealth of pooled, historical performance data spots trends and predicts keyword and ad placement impact, enabling us to make daily changes to your club's campaign.

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2011-07-24T19:26:00.002-04:00

Cataline HD purrs into our iPad Games of the Week

Dream Track Nation ($.99)

Many moons ago (Ok, 1985) I spent the best days of my youth creating my own race tracks inside Electronic Art’s Racing Destruction Set for the Commodore 64. Along comes Dream Track Nation for our thoroughly-modern iPads, and I’m glad to say that I can now scratch the old itch that is “make it and race it.” The creation module aside, the app delivers a fun, 2D physics racing experience across 60 levels of high-speed insanity. It’s the off-kilter physics that really shines in this dollar-menu offering. Roar around the turns, hit the jumps at high speed, and grab as many stars as you can along the way. Want a real challenge? Try the multiplayer mode, or go online to grab player-made tracks, then make your own. The initial release is not without its problems. Dropping right through a section of track several times takes the fun out of any racing experience, while a scarcity of power ups on some tracks that help you float or otherwise make it across a level in one piece can make for a 100% un-fun game session. And finding an opponent via Game Center was more tumbleweed and crickets than the head to head goodness that was promised. With some tweaks and an update or two, Dream Track Nation will cross the finish line in first place, no doubt.

Cataline HD Mini (Free)

This app has it all: A full port of Angry Birds’ controls and physics, set in a magical land full of embroidered felt castles, rainbows, and landscapes (so soft!), with cute cats standing in for birdie ordinance. Your goal? Launch your kitties into the air (propelled by rainbows!) and get them to land in the pool of water with a waiting fish, or friendly kitties with presents, and more. The artwork alone makes this freebie a must-install, conquering up fond memories of Yoshi’s Story from my N64 days (or even LittleBigPlanet today), with embroidered, soft fabrics making up every element of each level. (So realistic you can almost feel them through the screen.) Add in adorable cats of all shapes and sizes, gray unhappy clouds who cry rain drops (aww!), and tons of other cute touches, and you’ve got the perfect Angry Birds-like experience for young (and young at heart) iPad gamers. You won’t find this gem on the App Store’s top free games listings – yet. Go grab it and help developer Afzainizam Zahari get his 15 minutes of app fame. It’s well-deserved!

Allied Star Police (FREE)

Cheers to PopCap for teaming up with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to turn 9-year-old Owain Weinert’s dream app into reality. While fighting leukemia, Owain worked with the PopCap team to create a super-fun tower defense/RTS game for all iOS devices, and it’s available for free right now in the App Store. The Flamions have invaded Earth, and it’s your job to stop them. Just like Plants vs. Zombies, you’ve got lanes of attack to defend. But instead of standing still and placing turrets and other snares, this time you drop tanks, sniper and machine gun trucks, and other offensive vehicles into each lane. They’ll roar down the game field and attack incoming baddies. You’ll need to focus your attention on the top of the screen to see which lanes contain Flamions, then spend your cash wisely to send over comparable vehicles to take on each threat. The action is wild and wooly, and honestly, refreshingly original. Boredom won’t be an issue with Allied Star Police. A must-have for any iPad gamer looking for a quick hit of free iOS gaming goodness. Thanks Owain, PopCap, and Apple for bringing this gem to the App Store to support a great cause!

Sid Meier’s Pirates! for iPad ($3.99)

They said it couldn’t be done. But Firaxis proves once again that they’re up to the task. Take a fan-favorite from the 80’s, upgrade the graphics and game play, add on a plethora of updates and fresh mechanics to take full advantage of the iOS platform, and you’ve got yourself a rousing success. Sid Meiers’s Pirates! harkens back to the original Commodore 64 edition, complete with the same story line, crazy hats, baron-killing mini games, and full-on bombardment of 18th century harbor towns from the deck of your ship. You can choose to dig into the back story and vie for political power to rule the land, or simply be the baddest, meanest, and destruction-oriented pirate you wish to be. The ship-on-ship battles can overwhelm your original iPad’s processing power from time to time, while it’s the mini-games that really grab and keep your attention. You’ll feel the familiar, Civilization-like “just one more turn!” feeling throughout the game, which is a very good thing. Rining up at a mere $4, Pirates! for iPad is a monster of a game that will keep you swashbuckling, plotting, and doing all you can to ensure Dutch dominance of the high seas.

2011-07-19T19:32:00.001-04:00

Shadow Vanguard HD leads our iPad Games of the Week

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard HD ($6.99)

Like its console predecessors, the first-ever iPad edition of the Rainbow Six game series brings all the best in tactical, team-oriented combat to our tablet’s intuitive first person shooter controls. N.O.V.A. 2 owners will recognize many of the elements, which blend well into the usual routine. A near-dozen single player campaign, where you sneak into a location, take out the bad guys (triple taps, please), and save the innocents. The levels themselves vary nicely, both in terms of the their play style and size (some big some small), and your pair of AI-driven squad mates handle themselves with great aplomb. Be careful to aim for the head (duh) and take out as many as you can on your own. You’ll earn precious XP, which gives you many unlocks, new weapons, fresh armor, and other goodies between levels. These items follow you into both multiplayer modes. So master the campaign and prepare to dominate online. (Which reminds me, where did I put my snake cam? Don’t head into the field without one!)

Pocket RPG ($2.99)

Let’s get one thing straight: Pocket RPG isn’t big on storyline. If you want a plot, read King Lear. No, this little gem of a dual-stick shooter comes off as a Gauntlet hack and slash clone, dropping you right into the Swing! Slash! Kill! action, with one interesting twist: Your character’s development is linked just to the dungeon you’re crawling at the moment. All of the rank increases, power ups, loot, and other items you earn during each session are available for just that level. Once you move on, it’s back to Level 0. Loot whores, be warned. Still, it’s a fresh approach, and it works well. Forget filling your bags with useless junk, or swapping out those level 0 spells for level 1, 2, and 3 as they drop. With six areas to explore, and several unique classes to play (each with their own save slot), there’s plenty to do in Pocket RPG, and everytime you pick up your iPad, you start fresh. Adventure awaits!

Reckless Getaway ($2.99)

Third person view racing fans, you’ve found your new addiction. Reckless Getaway drops you into the getaway driver’s seat for a wholly original experience: You and your mates just robbed a bank, and it’s time to get out of Dodge! (Strangely enough, in a vehicle closely resembling a vintage Dodge. Who knew.) The cops are always just a wrong turn away, so you’ll need to keep your wits about you through all 16 levels of getaway mayhem. Try the freeway, then take an exit, drift through oncoming traffic, and hit the dirt side roads. The physics are spot-on, with flipping police cars and other bystanders soaring past your screen in geometrically correct angles and speeds. Sadly, all of the cars in the game were gassed up within minutes of getting on the road, so there’s explosions aplenty. And with gas prices this high, that’s a real shame. The best part? You’ll need to try various crazy driving maneuvers to earn points. It only adds to the craziness of just trying to get away from the Fuzz. “Hit it!”

Onslaught! ($1.99)

I was an 80’s era dungeon-crawler fan. Yes, first of the paper variety (D&D, anyone?), but soon 8-bit incarnations of my favorite pastime hit the Commodore 64, Atari, and other platforms. Onslaught! is a love letter from this awkward era, when entering a virtual dungeon of wizards, orcs and goblins was de regeuer for middle school-aged boys everywhere. You’re dropped into a dungeon arena where you’ll need quick dual-stick shooter skills to take out the pixel-rich baddies, bosses, and lil’ bats of badness. The music is 16-bits of solid throwback goodness, with a massive play field to get medieval on the bad guys. The newest update brought a thoroughly modern HTML5 Shield to the in-game store, Gold (bling) Armor, and more. While away your middle-age, children of the 80’s. I’ll join you!

2011-07-14T21:26:00.001-04:00

Pardot | Personal Online Marketing Automation Webcast

Personal Marketing Automation Webcast from Tim McLain on Vimeo.

Kevin Goldstein, Senior Account Manager at Pardot, takes webinar attendees through a quick, less than 15-minute product demo showing off the Pardot system and the latest features to date. Register for Pardot Test Drive here.

About the video: I sat with a Pardot rep recently via webinar for a great Salesforce tool recently. So excited by what it can do, I asked for their master video demo from their site and just added zooms and pans w/Camtasia so you can actually see what's going on. Yea, I roll like that. Gratis. Right back to you www.pardot.com -- overwrite the old zoomed out version. More customers for YOU.

2011-07-10T11:31:00.001-04:00

Swords and Soliders leads our iPad Games of the Week

Like a great summer popcorn movie (Transformers 3, anyone?) Swords and Soldiers offers up a perfect excuse to stay indoors where it’s cool, turn down the lights, and fire up some side-scrolling RTS, button-mashing, all-out troop destruction mayhem. With three playable classes to master, you’ll be unleashing attacks and enjoying panoramic battlefields of destruction for days to come.

Add in a fresh, high-powered arcade golf simulation inside Flick Golf Extreme, all-out melee action for nary a penny in Eternity Warriors, and overhead tank destruction fun in Touch Tanks 2: Europe, and you’ve got our iPad games of the week.

IPAD APPS REVIEWED

Swords and Soldiers HD
Pit Vikings, Aztecs, and Chinese against one another in this side-scrolling RTS troop destruction title. Perfect for wiling away another hot, sticky summer afternoon indoors.

Flick Golf Extreme! HD
Flight a golf ball into the air (“FOUR!”) then use swiping gestured to control its direction, spin, and more. With upgraded graphics for iPad 2 owners and some crazy-fun hole setups, and you’ve got yourself an instant classic.

Eternity Warriors
Put on your virtual armor and prepare for some crazy-great melee action on your iPad. You’ll need all the special attacks, combo moves, and heavy/light attacks to win the day.

Touch Tanks 2: Europe
Multiplayer tank madness like you’ve never experience before, Touch Tanks 2 will have you blowing up scenic towns all over Europe.

IPAD REVIEWS

Swords and Soldiers HD ($4.99)

When you come right down to it, a solid side-scrolling RTS iPad game needs just three things to make its mark: Excellent graphics and quirky story lines, at least three factions to pit against each other, and wide-open spaces to unleash ammo and special attacks against each side.

Swords and Soldiers HD brings all three in spades, with a silly storyline that keeps you engaged, Chinese, Aztec, and Viking factions with their own unique strengths, weaknesses, and weaponry, plus a litany of special attacks that rain death from above. Start with the mini-campaigns for each faction to get a feel for their side, where management of build orders and resource collection has been minimized, and the focus put on attacking and resource-collection presented in easy waves of action. Sit back, relax, and zone out in the comfort of your own dark room as this hot, hot summer continues.

Flick Golf Extreme! HD ($4.99)

Remember those mid-90’s McDonald’s ads with Michael Jordan and Larry Bird making trick basketball shots to win a burger: “Off the floor, off the scoreboard, nothing but net?”

If they’d been playing Flick Golf Extreme! HD today, they might have said this instead: “Off the helicopter, onto the aircraft carrier, off the F-16, nothing but a hole in one.”

The premise is simple, just like real golf: Hit the little white ball, chase it until it gets near the hole, then sink it. This time you’ll travel to richly-rendered locations (including an oil rig, aircraft carrier, and more) and flick the screen to launch your ball towards the hole. Whilst in the air, you can swipe the screen to control its direction and add spin to the ball. iPad 2 owners get an extra package of graphics to take full advantage of their devices, while everyone gets a full set of game modes, including nine or five shots to the highest score possible and quick-shot mode with 60 seconds to rack up your score. If you’re a fan of arcade golf games, Flick Golf Extreme! HD is your ticket to fun!

Eternity Warriors (FREE)

Freemium games are all the rages these days. They’re free to buy from the App Store, with premium content available for a small fee embedded inside the app itself. (The first one’s always free, right?)

Glu has essentially converted Gun Bros. into this new game, moving away from ranged combat into close-quarter melee warfare. You’ll battle across Udar with your Facebook and Game Center friends in tow, destroying enemies and then turning in their mangled corpses for coins. (Yes, you read that right.) These slay-coins are free, but you can buy premium gems in the in-app store. (Follow the money, people.)

Buying new weapons, armor, potions, and more will make you even more effective on the battlefield, where you’ll need to button-mash your way to victory. Fantasy fans will love the arcade-style action, while anyone tired of Glu’s reskinning efforts (Men vs. Machine, Star Blitz anyone?) may want to give this rehash a pass.

Touch Tanks 2: Europe (FREE)

Europe is ablaze with war, and it’s your job to man a tank and put your shells into the front, back, and sides of your enemies. The top-down view, solid controls, and power ups add up to a solid free game, although the training offered up a slew of AI opponents who pulled off one-shot kills far too often for this gamers taste.

Pro tip: Use the dual joysticks to steer and shoot, then use your finger to aim your shots by rotating your barrel. You’ll need to stay out of range and keep moving to take out the top scorers.

With 30 tanks to choose from, two-dozen upgrades to apply, both four and six player modes, and tons of maps, there’s a whole lot of free action to be had in Touch Tanks 2: Europe.

2011-07-04T09:51:00.001-04:00

Top 10 iPad Games of 2011 (to Date)

The corn is knee-high, neighbors are setting off fireworks in the cul-de-sac, and people everywhere are spending more time at the pool than the office.

With July and mid-2011 upon us, now is the perfect time to recount the very best iPad games to date. We’ve got nearly every game type covered, with lethal shooters to family-friendly apps topping the charts.

So without further adieu, let’s “dive” right into the deep end and see which apps sink or swim!

1. Dead Space for iPad ($9.99)

Successfully mixing survival horror and first person shooters, wrapped in a healthy does of quality story telling, makes Dead Space for iPad the top game for 2011 to date. This prequel to Dead Space 2 is an original, must-play addition to EA’s franchise. You’re a willing pawn in an unfolding conflict between EarthGov and the Church of Unitology, and you’ll need every gun that’s near at hand to fight your way out of this one. (Hint: Play over a table, you may drop your iPad in fright!)

2. Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP ($4.99)

Anyone who appreciates video game as art will fall instantly in love with Sword & Sworcery EP. This app masquerades as an “experimental treatment for acute soul-sickness,” challenging you to double-tap the screen to make your way through the 8-bit fantasy landscape. Taking on the role of an adventurer, you’ll meet interesting people along the way, swing your sword, interact with the environment, and become one with this unique offering.

3. You Don’t Know Jack HD ($4.99)

Trivia lovers who aren’t afraid of some mild adult humor will be happy to find that they “Don’t Know Jack.” After playing through the CD-ROM originals in the ‘90s, I was totally jazzed to see this animated, pop culture treat coming back for more in the ‘10s. JellyVision’s silly-fun trivia questions are delivered with just the right amount of twisted, semi-adult humor. There are 20 full episodes to digest, making this a must-buy to power car trips and plane flights for months to come.

4. Bloons TD 4 HD ($6.99)

Tower defense fans, it’s time to get your monkey on! Your mission is to place a plethora of monkey-themed towers onto each play field, and pop all the ‘bloons (balloons, get it?) before they can make it through the circuit. All tower types are clearly visible on the right side of the screen, while upgrade options are perfectly visible across the bottom. Once you get beyond level 30, things get a little crazy. You’ll need to use the pause button to get your bearing from time to time, and the last few stages will cover your screen in some downright crazy mayhem.

5. Minotaur Rescue ($.99)

Earlier this year, Jeff Minter kicked off his Minotaur Project to recapture the retro look and feel of early ‘80s games with the release of Minotaur Rescue. Mixing Asteroids and Space War, this fun app puts you in control of an always-firing fighter, which can be moved around the trippy star field with a single finger. Your job is to avoid the gravitational pull of the center sun, while at the same time destroying asteroids floating through the area. C64/Atari 2600 fans will feel right at home.

6. Artillery Brigade ($.99)

In Artillery Brigade, you’ll take your place at the controls of a WWII-era heavy weapon, rotating your artillery piece a full 360 degrees to locate and destroy incoming German forces. Sometimes you’ll face light infantry coming in bunches, other times it’s planes, tanks, and other vehicles. The difficulty ramps up nicely as the levels progress, adding additional types of enemies spread out all around you.

7. Ultimate Mortal Combat 3 for iPad ($.99)

Take control of one of 13 different fighters, doing battle to work your way to destroy the dreaded Shao Kahn. Each avatar brings a fresh set up combo moves and gory finishing animations, and the button response times are finally close to being spot-on to allow for near-console quality gameplay. Add in same-iPad, head-to-head action, wifi multiplayer hook-ups, and an expert “take on Shao Kahn” mode to rack up high scores, and you’ve got yourself a near-perfect Mortal Combat experience for your iPad.

8. AR Missle HD ($.99)

iPad 2 owners, take note. In this instant classic, you can take a picture of anything – oppressive dictators, a broken-down car, your mother-in-law on the 9th day of her visit – and then shoot a hail of virtual missiles at the subject. The app’s AI does an excellent job of rendering “attack points” across your image, smartly locking into things like heads, sharp edges, even small animals in the frame, then letting you tap away to send up to 16 missiles at your target.

9. N.O.V.A. 2 – Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance HD ($6.99)

Offering 10-player online matchmaking, hulking mechs and other fresh vehicles, upgraded graphics, and plenty of “shoot to kill” Halo-like action, and N.O.V.A. 2 is Gameloft’s reigning champion of game apps. Kal is back in action, running, gunning, and strafing his way through massive levels, interspersed with choke points of action (think hallway shootouts and small battles in tight corners). It may take you a little time to master the hulking on-screen controls, and learn to precision-shoot using the tilt and gyro controls, but it’s time well spent.

10. BackStab ($6.99)

BackStab from Gameloft delivers an open-world, pirate-themed sandbox game that reminds me of Assassin’s Creed. You take on the role of Henry Blake, who’s out to find and destroy Edmund Kane, a fellow officer who betrayed Henry back in the day. After both arrive on a massive island, Henry sets off on a bloody quest to track down his prey. Getting from one side of the island to the other is where the adventure lies, and each mission offers up new set pieces and tons of button-mashing goodness.

2011-07-01T08:00:00.010-04:00

“The 35 dealers in our Local Extend™ program saw sales ride by 17.5% year over year, compared to 8% for the dealer base overall--a 118% growth rate.”
- AV Manufacturer

Netsertive Powers Local Dealer and National Manufacturer
Search & Display Marketing

InfoComm 2011, Orlando, FL

Netsertive drives increased local sales opportunities and targeted online exposure by providing technology-driven, high-performance online marketing to businesses and their related brands. A Netsertive campaign will drive twice the qualified website traffic, deliver 200% more ad impressions in better positions, all at roughly half the cost to our competitors.

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KEF Local Dealer Online Search and Display Campaigns
Netsertive Local Extend™

In this video, join Stephanie Scola of KEF and Jamie Sasser to see how Netsertive drives increased local sales opportunities and targeted online exposure to KEF USA by providing technology-driven, high-performance online marketing to businesses and their related brands. More @ http://www.netsertive.com.

Netsertive works directly with top brands in select vertical industries, creating digital Co-Op display campaigns that increase brand and product awareness.

Participating dealers then proactively harvest demand for your products in their local markets.   Our patent-pending platform effectively funnels qualified sales leads for your products by targeting consumers through contextually relevant websites and directing them to their nearest dealer. Our clients average over a 100% increase in defined search conversions when a targeted Local Extend™ campaign is applied.

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Unlike generalist marketing solutions, Netsertive knows that no two businesses are alike. We believe that delivering sustained, long-term results can only be achieved through a deep understanding of your industry. Our commitment to this specialized approach led us to hire a team of industry experts. Comprehensive knowledge of your business, plus real-world insight into the best practices for attracting the most qualified buyers, combines to produce superior results.

More @ http;//www.netsertive.com

2011-06-19T11:39:00.002-04:00

Ultimate Mortal Combat 3 brutalizes our iPad Games of the Week

Whether it was at the arcade or back at home on an early console (N64 anyone?), Mortal Combat was the ultimate action kung-fu game of last century, letting us “finish” our opponents in crazy-gory ways, and sending our parents into fits of worry over our glee at each bloody kill. It was the first game I recall actively seeking out combo sequences in gaming magazines and from friends to master each finishing move, committing each to memory where those math lessons were just taking up space. (Oops.)

Bloody arcade action isn’t all we have in store for you this week. Hospital Haste HD will help you cure the ills of incoming patients and our healthcare system inside a free, fun app, while Carcassonne brings this European-classic to our iPad’s after a very long wait. Finally, Dog vs Cat is the perfect free game for your summer travels with the kids.

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

IPAD APPS REVIEWED

Ultimate Mortal Combat 3 for iPad
“Finish him!” Relive the brutal combos and brutal finishing moves of this 20th Century classic on your tablet.

Hospital Haste HD
Fresh out of med school, you’ll need to keep your wits about you to heal the incoming patients in this well-made freebie.

Carcassonne
Arguably the best board game available on the iPad to date. Put all 71 tiles to use to take over the land and put your Meeples in the right spots to win.

Dog vs Cat -- Fish Guard
Cats love fish, and the dog is out to stop every feline from eating these little chickens of the sea. Perfect car trip app for the little ones!

IPAD REVIEWS

Ultimate Mortal Combat 3 for iPad ($.99)

It’s time to put the original Mortal Combat 3 app behind us. With a much-needed revisions, crash-fixes, and better button response times, the Ultimate for iPad edition finally lives up to our Mortal Combat expectations of yore. Back in the day, this black-cartridge 2D fantasy fighting game was the pinnacle of “bad boy” titles for the N64 and other platforms.

Taking control of one of 13 different fighters, it’s up to you to battle your way through your opponents to reach the dreaded Shao Kahn. Each player brings a fresh set up combo moves and crazy-gory finishing animations, and the button response times are finally close to being spot-on to allow for near-console quality gameplay. Add in same-iPad, head-to-head action (get cozy, you’ll need to get close to one another), wifi multiplayer hook-ups, and an expert “take on Shao Kahn” mode to rack up high scores, and you’ve got yourself a near-perfect Mortal Combat experience for your iPad.

Hospital Haste HD (Free)

Do your kids want to be doctors or clinic administrators when they grow up? Good, because Hospital Haste HD will give them a real taste of in-taking patients, treating their odd diseases, cleaning up after them, then sending them on their way. You’ll need to get patients to their rooms – STAT – then bring them a chart, medicines, and let them heal. Once they’re well again, they’ll take off, leaving dirty linen to clean up. You’ll need to be alert and precise in your moves to serve each patient; take too long, and off they’ll go, bill unpaid, dirty laundry to be done. An excellent, free time-sink for any road trip this summer.

Carcassonne ($9.99)

As an admittedly addicted Xbox player of this classic title, I was happy to see the iPad version hit the App Store so I could take the app on the road with me this summer. And the new version, while not as deep as its Xbox cousin, does provide the basic flavor of the original on my tablet.

The goal of Carcassonne is to put 71 different tiles to use to take over the land, then place your Meeples in the right spots to win. Each tile gives you a piece of road, structures, cloisters and fields to place. You’ll want to get them close together, with each landmark aligning to maximize your point gains. The real fun comes in pieces ever-larger cities together, placing Meeples inside, then closing off the walls for maximum size and points when complete. Since, like most games, your pieces are given to you in random order, you’ll need to be tactical with each and every placement, holding your breath while your four opponents place their tiles in turn.

Do the tutorial – twice – to be sure you grasp the importance of your Meeples placements. They’ll make the different between a so-so round and supreme victory. Trust me.

Dog vs Cat -- Fish Guard (Free)

Free and fun? Sign me up! The cats are crashing the kitchen, desparate (as always) to reach the fish bowl of goodness on top of the fridge. As the dog of the house, you’ll need to strap into little Timmy’s toy helicopter to hover nearby, your bone machine gun at the ready to pop the balloons each kitty is floating on to reach the fish bowl.

Your kids will get a ton of laughs from this little gem, watching the little kitty’s fall from various heights as your bones pop their rides. Paced in little chapters just like Angry Birds, it’s a free, fun little app that’s a must-install before your next summer travel spree. Go, dog, go!

2011-06-12T07:51:00.003-04:00

Pirate Subs! explodes into our iPad Games of the Week

Fill your summer with these casual games without breaking the bank!

First, forget Jack Sparrow, Blackbeard, and those other moldy oldy pirates. Today’s ocean-going swashbucklers are better organized, hunt in packs, and use the latest submarine technology to plunder unsuspecting victims. That’s the premise of Pirate Subs, which brings a fresh dual-attack mode to your Apple tablet, along with an eerily familiar soundtrack (Pirates of the Caribbean, anyone?)

The rest of our weekly roundup is a 100% free set of “quick to pickup but hard to put down” sports-related gems, offering table tennis, running, and baseball experiences you won’t find anywhere else.

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

APPS REVIEWED

Pirate Subs!
Tap then swipe your way through a never-ending stream of pirate submarines. Torpedo’s and cruise missiles at the ready!

World Cup Table Tennis HD
Away from your favorite ping pong table? Get your fix in this free, fun app.

Run Run Dash!
Take the role of an 8-bit, pixelated Cary Grant, dodging falling bids and grabbing power ups. Run, run, dash!

XLARGE “X-Baseball”
Another 8-bit freebie, offering a clean, easy baseball experience on-the-go.

IPAD REVIEWS

Pirate Subs! ($.99)

If you’ve seen the new X-Men movie, then you’re ready for Pirate Subs! In this dollar menu explosion-fest, you’ll tap on underwater pirate subs to launch them above the water (no magnetic super powers necessary), then swipe across the airborne swashbucklers to send a deadly cruise missile into their hulls. BOOM! Rinse and repeat.

Avoid the whales and dog-paddling polar bears to keep the game going, and combine your attacks into multiple explosions to boost your score. The game goes even deeper, offering five ways to destroy your foes. Classic mode is a never-ending mode to kick things off. Next is timed mode, where you get a single minute to rain death on the subs. Expert mode cranks things up to 11 in terms of toughness, while Zen mode takes the underwater animals out of the mix so you can’t accidentally kill a creature.

Cheat mode, folks, is where the real fun lies. Turn off gravity, attack only mini-subs, invincibility, crazy-huge uber blasts, and more await. No score is recorded when you cheat, but the fun factor is boosted by 10,000%. Trust me.

World Cup Table Tennis HD (FREE)

I’ve worked at several Internet startups over the years. They all sported at least one ping pong table. I’m happy to report that despite my ho-hum table tennis skills that this new free app does an excellent job recreating the whole paddle and little white ball experience.

It’s you against a disembodied opponent, and you’ll need to simply drag your finger around the screen to get your paddle in the right place at the right time. Your iPad will decide when you’ll smash a return or drop a shot in just the right spot. AI mode was a blast, while head to head lets you play against a fellow human on the same device. Career mode opens up a set of countries to play against, with some players much better than others. Tournament Mode lets you pick a country to play for, then blast your way through a traditional set of brackets.

Finally, Arcade Mode folds up half a table which is marked with specific spots to hit with your ball. While some shots go awry for no reason I could discern, overall this is a freebie that will feed your need for ping pong goodness anywhere.

Run Run Dash! (FREE)

Taking its cues equally from two Hitchcock movies (an 8-bit, angry Cary Grant if he ran from “The Birds” anyone?) and Pixar’s “Bird On A Wire” animated short, this freebie will have you dodging dive-bombing blue birds while running from side to side, gathering power ups and generally trying to stay alive.

With squished 8-bit graphics and an 80’s electronic soundtrack to round things off, there’s a ton of fun to be had in this freebie. How long can you avoid the inevitable? New birds continually land on the wire above, and you’ll need to bring your A game to dodge them all. A poolside time killer that’s worth an install, even if you find it isn’t your cup of tea. Run, run, dash your way to the App Store!

XLARGE “X-Baseball” (FREE)

Another 8-bit gem that will appeal to arcade game baseball fans and iPad owners in general, XLARGE X-Baseball is a hoot from start to finish. (And, trust me, there’s not much difference between the two!)

You’re at the plate, facing a pitcher and open ball field. Above you, birds cross your field of view. Below them is a happy crowd of spectators. Tap the screen anywhere to swing the bat; land a solid hit, and the ball will cruise up into the air and take out a bird. Score! That’s all there is to it. How many birds can you take out before you strike out?

With a fun sound effects track that will take you back to the golden age of Intellivision and the Atari 2600, this is a must-install for old timers and younglings looking for some quick, free fun this summer.

2011-06-05T07:45:00.003-04:00

Cube It 3D stacks our iPad Games of the Week

Edutainment: A form of entertainment designed to educate as well as amuse. This week, meet the living definition of the word inside Cube It 3D Free. Brush up on your spatial abilities by simply adding and removing cubes from each structure. Sounds easy, right? It is, up to a point. Perfect for kids as well as adults!

Jumping game fans will fly to heaven after playing Jump and Fly for a few minutes (or hours!), while art and puzzle gamers will find Feed Me Oil HD to be downright slick. Finally, Companions brings top-notch dungeon crawling RPG goodness to our Apple tables. Watch out Detexx, I’m coming for you!

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

APPS REVIEWED

Cube It 3D Free
Stack, removed, and add 3D blocks to polish your spatial abilities with this fun, educational app from SlickClick.

Jump and Fly
Diesel’s Puppet’s newest addition to the platform jumper genre is a dollar menu must-have. Jump, jump!

Feed Me Oil HD
This slick puzzler challenges gamers to channel black gold into the mouths of hungry oil-eaters.

Companions
Dungeon crawler fans looking for a combo Gauntlet-tactical RPG game will feel right at home in this instant classic.

IPAD REVIEWS

Cube It 3D Free (FREE)

The next time you have a few minutes to burn, you’ll be faced with a choice: spend it mindlessly blasting some baddies or jumping ever-higher between platforms, or work on your 3D spatial skills.

Cube It 3D Free is one of the first edutainment apps to hold my family’s attention, keeping father and son glued to our shared tablet for more than an hour at a time. You’re confronted with stacked cubes of various colors and sporting different designs. The goal? Make the group on the right side of the screen match the one on the left. You’ll need to zoom in and out, then add and remove blocks to complete the puzzle. It’s a right-brain intensive app that may very well enhance your creativity as well as bolstering your spatial abilities.

Jump and Fly ($.99)

Yes, friends, the good people at Diesel Puppet are serving up a fresh helping of platform jumping goodness, and at a dollar menu price, it’s the perfect companion to your next fast food lunch. All the usual elements of jump game success are here – platforms, clouds, fans, springboards, and other elements to launch you ever-higher, along with a cute main character and (honestly) the most sensitive accelerometer code I’ve ever experienced.

You’ll barely need to tilt your iPad to get this wingless (but not flightless) little guy from location to location. Toss in a hearty helping of moving and time-bomb platforms, the ability to jump through the sides of your screen only to reappear on the other, plus power ups and other helpful collectables, and you’ve got yourself a must-have app that jumps to the top of the heap.

Feed Me Oil HD ($1.99)

Leave it to Chillingo and HolyWater Games to turn our angst over high crude oil prices and channel it into a mind-bending puzzle game that’s two parts art to one part physics game, with just a dash of hyper-realistic oozy/gooey oil (World of Goo anyone?) baked in as icing on the cake. Your goal is simple: Guide time Texas-tea from the broken pipe, across the play field, and into the waiting maw of each hungry oil-eater. That’s right, I said EAT. As in Nom nom.

You’ll employ things like wind, oil magnets, windmills, fans, platforms, and other objects to push, pull, or actively fling the dinosaur and plant remains across the screen. The fewer objects you use to channel the flow, the more points you’ll score. And once your items are in place, you’ll have to tweak them seven ways from Sunday to get the flow just right. With an unround 49 levels to tackle, and four bonus levels unlocked as you earn points/stars along the way, there’s more than enough bubbling crude-goodness to go around for the low-low price of two sawbucks.

Companions ($4.99)

I’ve lost count of the number of dungeons I’ve crawled over the years. Add in never-ending catacombs from titles like Gauntlet, and there’s been more loot pillaged and ranged/melee weapons deployed by my magic users, archers, tanks, and humans that I could shake a stick at.

That’s why Companions was a must-download for this RPG fan, and I’m happy to say that if you’re looking for a Gauntlet experience that lets you control four party members simultaneously, crawling your way through never-ending dark and dangerous underground locations, then this game is for you. Ignore the tutorial and jump right into the campaign, where the difficulty of the controls and action ramp up considerably within the first few minutes of play.

Be sure to take advantage of the tactical pause feature if things get out of control, and the hint system (despite 30 second pauses between each) is sure to get you out of the toughest spots. The main campaign will keep you engaged for weeks to come, while survival mode will challenge your skills to stay alive as long as possible. If you’re willing to tough out the trial by fire introduction to the controls you’ll come to appreciate the top-quality game that is Companions. Have at it!

2011-05-29T11:17:00.004-04:00

KAMI RETRO HD jumps into our iPad Games of the Week

“Feed me, Seymour!” Fans of 1980’s Broadway musicals (“Little Shop of Horrors, anyone?) and pixelated arcade gaming will fall for KAMI RETRO HD. Hard. Pro tip? Try not to take a tumble in this stunner, positioning fans, springs, and other objects across each level, helping your ever-faithful troops make their way from one end to the other. Along the way, man-eating plants are just waiting for a snack.

Retro gamers looking for a second cheap, happy thrill will line up on the 80’s free-throw line in Free Pixel Ball, while SimplePhysics successfully combines a structure-building app with all the gravity-crushing fun of Angry Birds and Ragdoll Blaster.

Last but not least, Storm in a Teacup (cute, cute, cute!) puts the fun back in gliding artfully across 40 levels in a magic teacup. Make your kids and your iPad happy this week with my iPad games of the week!

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

IPAD APPS REVIEWED

KAMI RETRO HD ($2.99)
The iPhone hit now on your iPad. Perfectly marries modern 3D with colorful, retro visuals, challenging all comers to guide troops across 60 stages using fans, springboards, and more, while avoiding a litany of death traps of doom.

Free Pixel Ball (FREE)
Relive the ‘80s glory days of pixelated free throws, tossing unlimited balls and other objects at a virtual hoop. The soundtrack and graphics take you back!

SimplePhysics ($.99)
Build your own structures in this simple editor, then let gravity, a ragdoll, or an explosion poke holes in your design. That’s edutainment!

Storm in a Teacup ($.99)
The cutest platformer you’ll ever play on your tablet. Glide across 40 levels in your magic teacup!

IPAD REVIEWS

KAMI RETRO HD ($2.99)

As a triplet, sharing a lone Atari 2600 with my brother and sister was downright challenging. Thankfully, I can revisit the glory days of Atari-inspired, pixelated gaming goodness in KAMI RETRO HD. (And keep it all to myself. Suck it Todd and Kelly!)

This iPad must-have instantly charms its way into your heart with a bouncy, throw-back soundtrack, a hapless band of bearded heros, simple controls, and tons of stars to collect along the way. There’s 60 stages to explore, which rapidly move from training-easy to downright difficult. You’ll need to time your jumps perfectly to score maximum points, while positioning fans, springboards, and more to help your guys avoid a litany of death traps of doom, including “Little Shop of Horrors”-inspired man-eating plants. (“Feed me, Seymour!”)

You’ll want to play close attention during the tutorial, as the basic jumping controls can be a bit challenging to master. I kept swiping in the wrong direction for a left-hand jump. That’s what getting older does to your brain. It all adds up to an original, neon-colored love letter to the 80’s we can all enjoy on our modern Apple devices. Go get it!

Free Pixel Ball (FREE)

Nintendo retro-gaming purists, do I have the app for you. And it’s 100% free. No charge, with easily ignored ads to boot. Free Pixel Ball puts you on a pixelated free-throw line, then encourages you to let loose with multiple basketballs, swiping your finger across your iPad’s generous screen to sink each point. If you have multiple balls in play, they’ll interact in their arcs to the basket, while angel and devil balls, clocks, and other tossable objects add a fun element to the gameplay.

The secret sauce of this must-have game? The music and sound effects. It’s all vintage from stem to stern. Multiple game modes keep the game fresh (and the ads flowing to your brain), including Fight Mode (turn on Bluetooth and challenge nearby opponents), Survival Mode (how long can you last?), Free Throw Mode (timed levels with ever-increasing distractions and interactive ball types), and more. The multiplayer mode alone is worth at least $.99, but the good folks at WedgeKase Games are counting on ad impressions to pay the bills. And that’s good for all of us!

SimplePhysics ($.99)

“Prepare your brain, SimplePhysics is loading!” At first glance, this app looks like more work than play. But once you dive in and start constructing things, the fun side of the app kicks in quick. To start, you’ll make a simple tree house, which has been unceremoniously nailed to a tree in your back yard. A grid of squares represents the construction area, with square anchors bolting the structure to the tree. Tapping on the dots and drawing lines between them adds connective structure to the design. Watch your budget; each additional support costs money!

When you think the structure is solid enough, click the blue icon to put it through a certification test. In the tutorial, heavy boxes stand in for kids. (Phew!) Each box is tossed up into the house, and once all four are in place, there’s a 10-second stress test to see if it holds. (Mine did, thanks!) After an hour of making and testing structures, I was hooked, and so was my 9-year-old. Edutainment at its best, with explosions and rag dolls thrown in to really test your creations (Ragdoll Blaster and Angry Birds, anyone?)

This dollar menu offering is worth every penny, and then some. Suck it, gravity!

Storm in a Teacup ($.99)

Leave it to Chillingo to give us yet another instant iPad classic. This time around, it’s the charm-infused Storm in a Teacup. You’re a speed-loving teacup driver, holding a lightning button to sail ever-higher, and employing a pair of directional arrows to control the direction of travel.

You’ll need to move from platform to platform, collecting sugar (aww, sweet!) and more. The real challenge comes in using your lightning propellant to its best effect. You have a limited supply, but it refills fast. So getting used to boosting a bit, pausing for a second or two, then tapping it again to grab power-ups and other items is key. With Paper Mario-like graphics, sinister dark clouds waiting to rain on your parade, and each level offers fresh obstacles to overcome to collect the most sugar cubes.

At the end of the day, this app’s secret sauce is its “floaty” control scheme, which is executed perfectly using the screen controls. Other iPad developers could learn a lot from this dollar menu gem. A must-download.

2011-05-21T14:38:00.002-04:00

Casey's Contraptions are built into our iPad Games of the Week

If Casey was a real boy, he'd likely be an only child, happily spending countless hours in his toy-festooned bedroom dreaming up the elaborate physics puzzles you'll find in his self-titled Casey's Contraptions iPad game. You'll need a sharp eye and lots of imagination to line up bookshelves, soccer balls, boxes, toys, balloons, and other items to get the ball from the start to finish. It's all about trying things out and having fun, which makes it the perfect lead app in this week's list of top games for your Apple tablet.

Draw Jump takes the usual "tilt and bounce your way ever-higher" genre to the next level by adding bouncy, finger-swiping platform building to the mix, while Battle Dots brings a familiar pen and ink game to our mobile devices. Last but not least is iBLOBS, a must-play for fleet-fingered iPadders looking for a quick, free gaming thrill.

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

IPAD APPS REVIEWED

Casey’s Contraptions
You'll need a sharp eye and lots of child-like imagination get the ball from the start to finish in this spot-on physics puzzler.

Draw Jump
Takes the usual "tilt and bounce your way ever-higher" genre to the next level by adding bouncy, finger-swiping platform building to the mix.

Battle Dots Free
This kid-friendly pen and ink game (connect the dots into a box, score) makes its move into the mobile arena.

iBLOBS
The blobs are coming! Thankfully, you've got a can of blob whoop... cream. Have at them!

IPAD REVIEWS

Casey’s Contraptions ($2.99)

The App Store is littered with rushed, mediocre games. Thankfully, Casey's Contraptions reminds us what a professional-grade game title can offer. Namely, rock-solid physics game play that shines like the light in every little boy's eyes as he merrily plays with his toys in his room.

Only in this iPad exclusive, you'll take on the role of only-child Casey, happily spending countless hours in your toy-filled bedroom, lining up bookshelves, soccer balls, boxes, toys, balloons, and other items to get a ball from the start to finish. It's all about trying things out and having fun, while watching gravity and physics have their way with your setups.

With more than 30 toys and other objects to choose from available inside all 72 starter levels, you'll want to move quickly to solve each puzzle and score the maximum amount of points. That's because the built-in score sharing tools will let you post your best solutions to the Game Center cloud, enabling your friends to see your brilliant work. Plus, their successes are visible as well, adding a much-needed "call a friend" tipline for when you get stuck. (And you will, trust me!)

As you unlock new objects and tools to work with, they'll also unlock inside the game's built-in level editor. Soon you'll be creating your own devilishly clever levels and sharing them with the world, all through the child-like fun and wonder of Casey's Contraptions.

Draw Jump HD ($2.99)

I'm pretty sure I've played every "tilt and bounce an avatar ever-higher" app in both the Apple and Android marketplaces. They're fun, sure, but only to a point. Thankfully, Draw Jump HD is here to bring high-quality sound effects, fun graphics, and an entirely new game play mechanic to this saturated genre -- namely, adding bouncy, finger-swiping platform building to the mix.

Here's the basics: Take control of little Cosmo, a little red rocket that only wants to do one thing -- go higher! It's your job to finger-swipe below him, creating springy platforms for him to bounce upon and thrust him upwards. Along the way, there's items to collect, stars to slingshot-around with a satisfying gravity-boosting effect, and his smiles and frowns will quickly tell you how well you're playing the game.

The title's overall Japanimation theme is cute and emotionally over-wrought (read: perfect), with just the right amout of rewards and obstacles along the way to keep you glued to your tablet. You'll need to be thoughtful in your placement of each finger-drawn trampoline to avoid hugging the edges (yes, like I did), but it's all worth it as you soar higher and higher, watching your meter meter (yep) creep ever-higher. Just like little Cosmo. If you or your kids are ready for a break from traditional "jumping" apps, I highly recommend Draw Jump HD. Cosmo's waiting!

Battle Dots Free (FREE)

My family and I are serious road-trippers. Anything less than 8-10 hours in the ol' minivan is too short. That's why an app like Battle Dots is an absolute time-killing app that is now a permanent part of our iPad collection, never to be deleted. Ever.

If you have young kids, you've likely played this game on paper dozens of time already. Just like the real-world version, Battle Dots Free presents a field of dots to view. It's your job to connect any two dots on the game grid, all in an effort to fill a box (or two or three or more) to score points. The most boxes on the grid at the end of each round wins the round, and you'll grab a special trophy with each win.

Don't have a super-cool, iPad-owning friend (or parent) to play with? No bother. Tab the control to turn one of the four player slots into the computer, and have at 'em. If you think you're in for an easy ride, prepare yourself. Even the easy AI does a superb job of grabbing every last box with that final line aching to be finger-stroked. If you're looking for a perfect one-on-one app to play with your kids, you'd be hard pressed to beat Battle Dots Free.

iBLOBS (Free)

Download this free app and prepare to unleash some serious blob repellent on the invading horde of... blobs. Your little house in the middle of the screen is woefully unprotected from the menace of these multi-colored blob boobs.

Tap the screen with your finger to quickly spray sections of the blobs with some repellent. The blob will instantly disappear. And that's all there is to it -- a never-ending cavalcade of invading blobs (some fast, some slow) all of which need to be put down with maximum prejudice by your suspiciously Barbasol-like can of whoop... cream.

It's perfect for a quick finger-smearing session, anytime, anywhere.

2011-05-17T08:01:00.009-04:00

ProQuestK12.com

The future of the library

Seth Godin, The Unquiet Librarian, Doug Johnson

Readers, first Godin's original blog post, then The Unquiet Librarian's insights. Worth a deep read for anyone with any kind of interest in our libraries.

What is a public library for?

First, how we got here:

Before Gutenberg, a book cost about as much as a small house. As a result, only kings and bishops could afford to own a book of their own.

This naturally led to the creation of shared books, of libraries where scholars (everyone else was too busy not starving) could come to read books that they didn't have to own. The library as warehouse for books worth sharing.

Only after that did we invent the librarian.

The librarian isn't a clerk who happens to work at a library. A librarian is a data hound, a guide, a sherpa and a teacher. The librarian is the interface between reams of data and the untrained but motivated user.

After Gutenberg, books got a lot cheaper. More individuals built their own collections. At the same time, though, the number of titles exploded, and the demand for libraries did as well. We definitely needed a warehouse to store all this bounty, and more than ever we needed a librarian to help us find what we needed. The library is a house for the librarian.

Industrialists (particularly Andrew Carnegie) funded the modern American library. The idea was that in a pre-electronic media age, the working man needed to be both entertained and slightly educated. Work all day and become a more civilized member of society by reading at night.

And your kids? Your kids need a place with shared encyclopedias and plenty of fun books, hopefully inculcating a lifelong love of reading, because reading makes all of us more thoughtful, better informed and more productive members of a civil society.

Which was all great, until now.

Want to watch a movie? Netflix is a better librarian, with a better library, than any library in the country. The Netflix librarian knows about every movie, knows what you've seen and what you're likely to want to see. If the goal is to connect viewers with movies, Netflix wins.

This goes further than a mere sideline that most librarians resented anyway. Wikipedia and the huge databanks of information have basically eliminated the library as the best resource for anyone doing amateur research (grade school, middle school, even undergrad). Is there any doubt that online resources will get better and cheaper as the years go by? Kids don't shlep to the library to use an out of date encyclopedia to do a report on FDR. You might want them to, but they won't unless coerced.

They need a librarian more than ever (to figure out creative ways to find and use data). They need a library not at all.

When kids go to the mall instead of the library, it's not that the mall won, it's that the library lost.

And then we need to consider the rise of the Kindle. An ebook costs about $1.60 in 1962 dollars. A thousand ebooks can fit on one device, easily. Easy to store, easy to sort, easy to hand to your neighbor. Five years from now, readers will be as expensive as Gillette razors, and ebooks will cost less than the blades.

Librarians that are arguing and lobbying for clever ebook lending solutions are completely missing the point. They are defending library as warehouse as opposed to fighting for the future, which is librarian as producer, concierge, connector, teacher and impresario.

Post-Gutenberg, books are finally abundant, hardly scarce, hardly expensive, hardly worth warehousing. Post-Gutenberg, the scarce resource is knowledge and insight, not access to data.

The library is no longer a warehouse for dead books. Just in time for the information economy, the library ought to be the local nerve center for information. (Please don't say I'm anti-book! I think through my actions and career choices, I've demonstrated my pro-book chops. I'm not saying I want paper to go away, I'm merely describing what's inevitably occurring). We all love the vision of the underprivileged kid bootstrapping himself out of poverty with books, but now (most of the time), the insight and leverage is going to come from being fast and smart with online resources, not from hiding in the stacks.

The next library is a place, still. A place where people come together to do co-working and coordinate and invent projects worth working on together. Aided by a librarian who understands the Mesh, a librarian who can bring domain knowledge and people knowledge and access to information to bear.

The next library is a house for the librarian with the guts to invite kids in to teach them how to get better grades while doing less grunt work. And to teach them how to use a soldering iron or take apart something with no user serviceable parts inside. And even to challenge them to teach classes on their passions, merely because it's fun. This librarian takes responsibility/blame for any kid who manages to graduate from school without being a first-rate data shark.

The next library is filled with so many web terminals there's always at least one empty. And the people who run this library don't view the combination of access to data and connections to peers as a sidelight--it's the entire point.

Wouldn't you want to live and work and pay taxes in a town that had a library like that? The vibe of the best Brooklyn coffee shop combined with a passionate raconteur of information? There are one thousand things that could be done in a place like this, all built around one mission: take the world of data, combine it with the people in this community and create value.

We need librarians more than we ever did. What we don't need are mere clerks who guard dead paper. Librarians are too important to be a dwindling voice in our culture. For the right librarian, this is the chance of a lifetime.

The Unquiet Librarian's response:

Twitter is lit up today with divergent responses to Seth Godin’s post, “The Future of the Public Library.” I think Godin is spot-on with his thoughts and observations, particularly the idea that libraries “…ought to be the local nerve center for information.” Note he doesn’t see information only in BOOKS, but information in multiple spaces or “containers”, period.

Although he isn’t the first to do it, Godin’s call to reconceptualize libraries and his emphasis on the real meaning of “library” as being embedded in the work librarians do is powerful; Godin’s call disrupts the traditional precept of the library as being book-driven. I completely agree and if you read my blog regularly, then you know I feel libraries should be idea and learning-driven—that focus and our rethinking what the spaces of library and where librarians can be embedded in our communities is what can make us more central to the communities we serve and increase participation and equitable access to information in many formats by being willing to think outside the traditional “boundaries”.

Read the rest of her response; the K-12 insight is particularly important as media specialists are being largely marginalized, and their media center collections (electronic databases for one) being sustained for content alone and not the ever-important context of their unique interfaces to that content...

How do I imbue and infuse a bit of “librarian” into the work and learning processes of our teachers and students to scale out the possibilities for “library” and learning?

As I learned from our initial design process experience at our Reimagine [Libraries] Ed meeting in April 2011, it is not always easy to hear the “sacred cows” of our profession challenged by non-librarians, but rather than being defensive, this experience reminded me of Dr. Bob Fecho’s (one of the wisest teachers I had at the University of Georgia) advice to embrace the cognitive chaos and discomfort.

These kinds of experiences help me reflect and consider how to better distribute the “library” by improving our efforts to foster the participatory climate we’ve tried to establish in our library program over the last five years.

And finally, Doug Johnson's response:

"O would some power the giftie gie us to see ourselves as others see us", wrote Robert Burns. These lines run so loudly through my mind whenever I read a post that is absolutely dead-on about libraries, but more often than not, written by a non-librarian. Godin's Future of the Library post, echoing so many of the themes of the ECIS Library conference last week, is such a post. Read it, read it, read it.

While I'm not that concerned about whether librarians take attendance, I certainly am convinced that librarians must own the duties associated with teachers if they want to be regarded (and paid) as such...

Looking for hands-on help for tiring media centers and librarians to teacher's everyday work with our kids? Read ProQuest's own Carl Janetka's take on fostering this collaboration with electronic BookCarts.

It's about more than databases and content, folks. More at proquestk12.com.

Video: Differentiating Instruction with ProQuest Resources

2011-05-16T18:04:00.000-04:00

John Stewart vs. Bill O-Reilly = Booyah...

2011-05-16T07:29:00.004-04:00

Closet garbage eaters, this is for you... And me.

Source: P90X's Tony Horton, via Facebook

You know who you are. You've got all the answers and your lousy at taking sound advice because it's easier to be lazy. The tilt-a-whirl of disappointment goes round and round and you pretend everything is okay. You're not fooling anyone and everyone else knows what you're up to. It's easy to lack self discipline because you're not alone. Misery loves company.

I'm sick and tired of hearing why you can't stop eating crap. Stop blaming your thyroid, boyfriend, childhood and ancestry because it's not working. The problem is your inability to face reality. The real issues are your lack of accountability, willpower, determination and the lousy company you keep. It's also your lame plan or lack there of. Your reasons why suck and you don't tell the truth about what you stuff in your face when no one is looking.

Your horrendous eating habits is the American terrorist within. If the level of disease caused by unhealthy choices continues at this alarming rate then we will destroy ourselves without any help from the bad guys. Fad diets, pills and miracle potions used to lose weight never work in the long term and they never will. Dozens of studies show that calorie control diets that still allow you to eat forms of unhealthy food always fail. I've never met anyone who started a "weight lose only" diet and stayed on it. So you lost 50 pounds and kept it off for 5 years. Why did you gain it all back in 6 months during year six? Are you proud of that?

When diet deprivation becomes too much the closet eating begins. Your reasons for falling off the wagon are plenty and you'll defend them till you're blue in the face. Good for you for choosing the option that required you to be lazy again. Choosing gluttony is no way to build your manifesto my friend. What is your reason for being on this earth? Why do you really put that garbage in your mouth? Do you want to know why? Do you want to look at it closely? Do you care enough?

The simple answer is choice. I hope you weren't expecting something more complicated. How do you choose what to be? How will you work to be better than before? Who will you surround yourself with? How long will your better choices last? Will you continue to be the closet garbage eater or will you finally get your act together, stop making it about you all the time and begin to be an example to the people in your life who need your help?

Thanks Tony! Words of wisdom for the week, month, year... lifetime. My workouts this week, below.

Mon. | P90X Chest & Back | Workout
Fitness Blueprint | Insanity/P90X #10 (Get P90X or start with Power 90)
Personal | Weight: 199 (Shakeology Snack Added)
Tracking Calories (iPad App)
Working at my Stand Up Desk (plans) (Why you should, too!)

2011-05-15T04:58:00.003-04:00

Starfront Collision does a ‘zergling rush’ into our iPad Games of the Week

Mine resources, build a base, train troops, defend against rushes of baddies, and attack. If the basics of Starfront Collision HD sound familiar, they should. Starcraft fans will feel right at home in this thinly-veiled knock off from GameLoft that may be the very best iPad game to hit the App Store since the iPad’s launch.

This week, grab the fresh Dofus app that grants iPad owners entry into the World of Twelve MMORPG, set your hair on fire in MetalStorm Online, a Top Gun-inspired dog fighting game, and round things out with the App Store’s first-ever interactive cartoon collection with Super Toonies of the Forever. (Your kids will love it!)

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

APPS REVIEWED

StarFront: Collision HD
Starcraft fans will feel right at home in this thinly-veiled knock off that may be the best iPad game to date.

Dofus: Battles HD
Enter the World of Twelve and enjoy this bloody (literally) good fusion of MMORPG, strategy, and tower defense game styles.

MetalStorm: Online
Channel your inner Iceman and Maverick to get your Top Guns thrills in this free, quality dog fighting title from Z2Live.

Super Toonies of the Forever
What do you get when you combine kid-friendly interactive cartoons with quality character design and animation? Super Toonies, of course.

IPAD REVIEWS

StarFront: Collision HD ($6.99)

Only real Starcraft fans have held on to dedicated Windows XP hardware just to play the game. (Yes, count me in that lot.) That said, there hasn’t been a week that’s gone by when I wish I could play this classic RTS on my modern Apple tablet. Terran, Zerg, and Protoss aficionado’s, your wait is over. Gameloft has shamelessly recreated the Starcraft experience in Starfront Collision HD, and it’s worth every penny of the mere $7 price tag.

All the usual controls are here, made even more interactive by replacing your well-worn mouse with simple screen gestures. Use two fingers to draw a box around your troops, set a squad shortcut, then send them off to do battle. Use the mini map to keep tabs on your game, complete objectives, build up your base, and be sure to upgrade your defenses to stay in the game.

Xenodium is the scarce resource at the heart of the game’s conflict-rich storyline, and you’ll employ it to build 8 unique structures and 10 special units per race, which include the Myriad, Wardens, and The Consortium. (You can guess which is Zerg, Protoss, and Terran-like.) Your iPad’s generous screen is perfectly sized for the app, and with full 4-player multiplayer matches available via your home network or GameLoft live, there’s nothing standing in the way of this newcomer taking the top spot as the iPad’s best game released to date. Period.

Dofus: Battles HD ($5.99)

iPad gamers, behold the very first “Science Friction” game you’ve ever played. This French MMORPG-inspired title combines elements of the best strategy games with solid tower defense. You’re presented with a series floating platforms, which contain spaces to place your attacking and defending heros.

In turns that feel more like waves, you’ll need to search out Jeff Stobbs and the demon (Naz T. Peaseawerk, sound it out) who gave him the inspiration to take over the world. Your hero units (both attackers, healers, and defenders) join Animakhal the Dragon in never-ending battles against legions of baddies who will put your gaming chops to the test. Be sure to pick up the fragments that drop from each fallen foe, you’ll need them to bring new units into the fray. The artwork is jaw-dropping, while the sheer uniqueness of the controls and depth of the game will keep you riveted for months to come. It’s important that serious iPad gamers reward game developer innovation that results in a pitch-perfect experience; pick up this newcomer and do your part to support quality apps!

MetalStorm: Online (FREE)

Like the iPad itself, MetalStorm Online gives you everything you want in a Top Gun-inspired game: a never-ending supply of upgradable planes, tech, and weapons, easy tilt controls, and both solo and local and online multiplayer game play. Ignore the ads and pleas to spend cash to rush through the tech/upgrade tree, and focus on the battle-ready graphics, explosions, and easy lock-on missiles.

Maverick and Goose would feel right at home in Z2Live’s world of air combat, and if you stick to the computer AI battles, the stock planes will suffice. Challenge your real world pals to a few skirmishes, and spending anywhere from $1 to $50 for in-game currency to grab better gear will be hard to resist. The secret to life or a Goose-inspired death upon ejection? Swiping your screen to perform barrel rolls and other evasive maneuvers. With just the right amount of scenery depth and graphical detail, super-smooth accelerometer controls, and non-stop fighter jet action, MetalStorm Online is a no-cost, must-download for iPad gamers everywhere.

Super Toonies of the Forever (FREE)

It’s hard to categorize this kid-friendly “game” from Mongadillo Studios. After a solid year of effort, this innovate developer brings this inspired interactive cartoon to Apple’s Store, with lots of room for growth in the future.

Sporting quality character design and animation, the app is more of an interactive canvas for kids to create their own fun than a traditional game title. There’s a raft of animated characters and a starter scene in which to place them. The initial no-cost release gives kids their first Toonie character, along with some crazy squirrels, hoppy bunnies, and a fun-loving Sasquatch. It’s up to you to place everyone in a virtual forest, and watch them interact. Be sure to seek out the secret awards, and read up on each character’s likes, dislikes, and favorite foods. As more scenes and characters arrive in future updates, your youngin’s will be able to mix and match these assets to create truly unique funscapes. Thrown in original musical scores, and there’s truly no end to the creative products your kids can create inside Super Toonies of the Forever. Grab it today!

2011-05-14T06:30:00.001-04:00

Stand Up Workstation: Weekend Project Success

The plans (for this standup desk build) from Wes worked perfectly, and with some color help from Will, my "No Excuses, Results, Tim Deb Will"-appointed back panel'd standup work desk is complete.

Plans are above, made this and starting using it in early summer of 2009. Cost about $130 w/paint and those two extra top shelves. Early picture above, still have more to tweak. After two years of use, I have zero leg pain, more energy, and gets me through the afternoon Zzzzz's everyday.

Questions? Comment? Email me at timothymclain at yahoo.com.

Also learned that IKEA sells a smaller workstation that it height-adjustable for about the same price. Nice!

Need proof that standing up at a desk like these are worth the cost and adjustment? (Sitting is killing us!) How about cutting your heart attack risk by 40 percent, and more. (Full image below of benefits that's easier to read is here.)

Fitness Blueprint | P90X (Get P90X or start with Power 90)
Personal | Weight: 199 (Shakeology Snack Added)
Tracking Calories (iPad App)
Working at my Stand Up Desk (plans) (Why you should, too!)

2011-05-14T04:10:00.000-04:00

I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element:

It is my personal approach that creates the climate.

It is my daily mood that makes the weather.

I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous.

I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.

I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.

In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is excalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized.

If we treat people as they are, we make them worse.

If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832

2011-05-13T05:02:00.001-04:00

Relief Central is a boon to relief workers and globe trotters alike

Platform: Android

RATING
4 out of 5

PRICE
FREE

TASTY
Opens up a world of information, useful to both relief/disaster workers (think Haiti and Japan), as well as international travelers.

BUMMER
Requires user registration in order to function. Brimming with information, but lacks a Search function, which severely limits its usefulness.

COOL
Useful to travelers and aid workers looking for a handheld-formatted version of the CIA World Factbook alone.

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

It seems as if the world is facing its share of catastrophes and natural disasters these days. Developer Unbound Medicine has risen to the occasion, creating a free Android app that’s brimming with critical information of interest to first responders, relief workers, and anyone headed into a disaster zone.
Honestly, the app is just as useful for international travelers, backpackers, and others on the hunt for a mobile-formatted version of the ever-popular CIA World Factbook. (Anyone looking for more reliable, locally-sourced cultural information, I recommend CultureGrams as a superior source, but I digress.)

The CIA compiles this trove of basic data about dozens of aspects of most countries on the planet, including updated maps, notes about the political climate, general information about all aspects of the economy, and more.

Also included is a Field Operations Guide, which will be familiar to anyone working in the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance or Department of Defense. If you need to interface with personnel from these organizations as an assisting NGO, then Chapter V will give you a quick course on the lingo and acronyms that are thrown about at high speed during these disaster operations.

The Relief News button will lead you to a solid set of RSS feeds, which are constantly updated with fresh information related to topics of interest to disaster operations. Some of the content sources include the Red Cross, United Nations, FMEA, and even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Travelers will want to skip right to the travel alerts and warnings.

For in-depth, research-quality sources, you’ll want to tap into the MEDLINE Journals link. Here you’ll find article abstracts and citations sourced from a long list of scholarly publications.

The only thing missing from this info-rich app is a search feature. Without it, you’ll need to rely on a long plane ride or extended periods of down-time in order to find, bookmark, and keep the most critical information at your fingertips either on your international trip or next disaster relief operation.

2011-05-09T05:04:00.002-04:00

Mach Defense launches to the top of our iPad Games of the Week

As an old school Mech Assault player (long live XBOX), I’ve spent more hours than I care to admit playing Heavy Mach. 2 HD on my iPad. It’s a top-down mechanic-action RPG, putting you in control of an upgradable mech that you pilot across dozens of playfields to take out the enemy, gather parts, and more.

Recently IndieApps released a followup app: Mach Defense. This newcomer offers the same mech action as its predecessor, with the feel of a base defense game. Grab the best offensive weapons and heat sink you can find, and prepare for action!

Add a combination comic book/casual game to the mix in Imaginary Range HD (from Square Enix, need I say more?), plus a fresh take on solitaire and Frisbee tossing, and you’ve got yourself our must-have iPad games of the week from Appolicious.

IPAD APPS REVIEWED

Mach Defense
Grab the best armor, offensive weapons, and heat sink you can muster, and prepare for fresh heavy mech action with a decidedly fun tower defense flavor.

Imaginary Range HD
Square Enix’s newest tablet game will fill your next rainy day with a combination comic book and casual game that’s cheap, easy, and wholly original.

Heartwild Solitaire for iPad
An engaging story, rich graphics, calming music, and 80 full levels of classic solitaire with a twist will make any solitaire lovers heart go wild.

Frisbee Forever
Disc golf lovers and casual plastic disc throwers alike will love this electronic version of their favorite leisure time activity.

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

IPAD REVIEWS

Mach Defense ($.99)

Heavy Mach. 2 HD stands atop the heap of dozens of games I’ve played since the iPad’s launch. I’m a big fan of heavy mech titles, blasting away across dozens of playfields to take out enemy mechs, collect parts, upgrade my rigs, and generally cause as much destruction as I can along the way. Now the good folks at IndieGames have retrofitted this must-have game into Mach Defense (newly updated this week), which perfectly marries the run and gun fun of the original app with a pseudo tower defense theme.

In truth, it’s really you on one end of your iPad’s screen upgrading and maintaining your base by adding turrets, etc. while simultaneously rushing with mechs to the other side to take out the enemy base and his tanks. You’ll need to keep your eye on energy cell levels and credit allocation, sinking both into upgrades and new units to stay alive across all 70 crazy levels. Pro tip: As you unlock new mechs along the way, be sure to “uninstall” older units from the right-side menu so the better versions can be locked and loaded. Coming soon: A working formation mode that allows you to stack units and unleash them in groups. Bring it!

Imaginary Range HD (FREE)

Comic books and manga are hot with young iPad gamers these days. Leave it to Square Enix, the genius developers behind the Final Fantasy series, to release an iPad confection that’s one part choose your own adventure game, another manga comics, and another casual game.

You’ll read through pieces of comic back-story, then tackle an easy casual game (steer missles into baddies, anyone?), followed by more manga panels, more casual game breaks, and so on. After a while you’ll be engaged in the story, enjoying the easy game breaks, and working your way to the conslusion of this instantly classic. At the low, low prize of zero sawbucks there’s nothing but upside to this must-install app. Be sure not to miss the collectable items scattered through the comic book art sections, which unlocks more content and additional content. Think of this app more as a high-class manga comic delivered to your tablet with embedded interactive content, and less as a full-on gaming experience, and you’ll enjoy every minute of this disposable application.

Heartwild Solitaire for iPad (FREE)

Offering an engaging story, rich graphics, calming music, and 80 full levels of classic solitaire with a twist, Heartwild Solitatire for iPad will make any solitaire lovers heart go wild. (See what I did there?) The story involves a lonely woman’s journal, which traces her lost love and fresh attraction to a new neighbor. “Anne” loses herself in her solitaire games, where you’ll reflect on her past and help her build up the confidence she needs to find new freedom in the arms of her new love.

The solitaire game itself is easy to play, sports cards that are just the right size for both older and young eyes, along with easy controls to drag and drop cards. There’s 80 levels to explore, bonus hands to unlock, power-ups that can turn the tide at any time, and more. Card game lovers as well as anyone with a serious romance novel addiction will enjoy Heartwild on many levels. Keep in mind that the app is programmed to present special cards at random intervals, ensuring that the app can be played more than once and offering drastically different outcomes along the way.

Frisbee Forever (FREE)

Disc golf lovers and casual plastic disc throwers alike will love this electronic version of their favorite leisure time activity. Of course, there’s nothing like heading out to the local park, perhaps with your favorite dog in tow, to throw toss a disc around. But if you’re stuck inside and looking for a worthy electronic version of this fun pastime that plays perfectly in your tablet, then this free app is a must download.

You’re confronted with various themed levels (think wild west, amusement park, etc.) containing sets of spaces hoops aching to have discs thrown through them in sequence. You can choose to tilt or tap the discs into flight, being careful to collect stars along the way that give your disc more lift and speed. Keep in mind that these stars serve as the app’s currency, allowing you to buy new levels or discs from the in-app store. Take your time, and you’ll collect both stars and upgrades over the course of a few hours. If you have more money than patience, you can buy 1,000 stars for a mere $.99, super-charging your fun and helping a developer pay the rent. Your goal? Earn or buy 8,000 stars to purchase the tasty and highly-sought Donut Frisbee. Yum!

2011-05-08T10:35:00.001-04:00

Happy Biological, Adoptive, Birth, Foster, Grandparent... Mother's Day

2011-05-06T08:00:00.002-04:00

What's high school for?

Perhaps we could endeavor to teach our future the following:

How to focus intently on a problem until it's solved.

The benefit of postponing short-term satisfaction in exchange for long-term success.

How to read critically.

The power of being able to lead groups of peers without receiving clear delegated authority.

An understanding of the extraordinary power of the scientific method, in just about any situation or endeavor.

How to persuasively present ideas in multiple forms, especially in writing and before a group.

Project management. Self-management and the management of ideas, projects and people.

Personal finance. Understanding the truth about money and debt and leverage.

An insatiable desire (and the ability) to learn more. Forever.

Most of all, the self-reliance that comes from understanding that relentless hard work can be applied to solve problems worth solving.

Source: Seth's Blog

2011-05-06T06:20:00.001-04:00

2011-05-05T16:58:00.000-04:00

Before summer starts, watch this. And remember.

Show this to your wife, your husband, your kids, your neighbors. Do it before summer starts. And every year. This kind of skin cancer is preventable. Find out how.

2011-05-05T07:58:00.000-04:00

Kodak: "How many of you have bought a roll of film in the last year"

All marketers need to watch this hilarious keynote presentation at the Aprimo Marketing Summit earlier this year by Jeffrey Hayzlett, former Chief Marketing Officer of Kodak. Over the top, insightful, challenging, worth your time.

"At the end of the year, 80% of our business will be digital business... and 80% of the company is B2B(usiness), not B2C(onsumer). Massive change. At the same time, 60% of the people have been working at Kodak for less than 5 years. 19 products drive close to 80% of the revenue, and all the products in those categories are number 1, number 2, or number 3. Every single one. And half of those products didn't exist two years ago." (Sounds a bit like Intel.)

And now for something completely different... Keyboard cat, you will never die. Proof:

2011-05-01T11:54:00.003-04:00

Royal Wedding Flower Girl Photobomb Meme, a set on Flickr.

Yes, it was loud, cute little flower girl. Now you're famous! My 2011 British royal wedding photobomb flower girl meme images. Adding more as they come to me... #RoyalWedding #frowningflowergirl Han Solo Kayne West Numa Numa Annoying Orange FRED King's Speech Roseanne Barr

2011-04-29T06:42:00.000-04:00

NO NUMBERS from Jure Niedorfer on Vimeo.

2011-04-23T06:26:00.001-04:00

Tips: How to run a Facebook contest, sweepstakes, or drawing

So your company is on Twitter (most) and Facebook (increasingly), and you've had a brainstorm: Let's run a targeted marketing campaign in the form of a contest to get more Followers and Likes.

First step: You've got the email addresses of your best prospects and current customers, and maybe (if you're in the K-12 school space) even reached out to the good folks at MDR to put together a segmented campaign to reach even more interested parties. An email campaign to drive interest is key.

Next is applying the same graphics, design, and messaging to setting up a microsite (small set of landing pages on your brand's site) to direct traffic, and explain what your contest is all about -- plus host your legal team's vetted rules.

Your microsite is also a good place to host an entry method for anyone who's not a Twitter or Facebook user. Some companies and schools/colleges block access to one or both of these sites, so having a secondary entry method is critical so as not to sour your visitors to your brand.

Last but not least is the contest entry point or app/tool itself -- this is not something you want to do by hand, setting up a webform and sorting through the results.

That's where Wildfire comes in.

Wildfire offers a turn-key system for creating online promotions in minutes, then deploying them to your website/microsite, Facebook, Twitter, and more. Wildfire also enables automatic sharing of your contest to all major social media channels, so entrants can auto-tweet/FB their entry to encourage others to participate. And it costs less than $50 for a generic campaign, with a decent amount of customization to insert graphics, etc.

Next week ( April 11-16: National Library Week #NLW11 ) you'll be able to see all of this in action at ProQuest's website (landing page, rules) and social media presences: Facebook and Twitter.

We're combining the Wildfire app posted to our landing page and Facebook presence to capture entries to win an iPad 2 and Amazon gift cards daily from M-F, then encouraging visitors to "Like" our Facebook page and comment on daily videos which will appear, letting everyone tell the world why they love libraries.

Here's all the details:

National Library Week, April 10-16, 2011
http://www.proquest.com/go/celebrate

Next week is National Library Week! We have a lot of fun activities planned for librarians and library supporters.

Database Access @ www.proquest.com/go/nlwaccess

We are offering open access to the following products from Sunday, April 10-Saturday, April 16:

· ProQuest Civil War Era
· ProQuest African American Heritage
· ebrary Public Library Complete and Schools Collection
· eLibrary
· SIRS Issues Researcher
· SIRS Discoverer
· Books in Print

New Library Marketing Tools

We have created new Web icons, banners, and a “Live. Learn. Laugh. Love your library!” screensaver. All are available for download at www.proquest.com/go/nlwaccess.

“My library rocks because…?” Sweepstakes

On the ProQuest Facebook Page we will post a video question about libraries every morning from April 11-15.

Facebook Page members can show their support for libraries by answering each question in the Facebook Comments section under each video question. (All of our videos are hosted in our YouTube Channel, and are embedded into Facebook as a Link.)

To enter the sweepstakes, click the Sweepstakes tab and fill out the entry form for a chance to win an Amazon.com gift card, and the grand prize, an iPad 2!

We encourage you to Like ProQuest and answer the daily question. (Official rules are available at www.proquest.com/go/nlwcontest.)

Questions? Feel free to comment on this post, and good luck with your social media endeavors.

2011-04-22T15:28:00.000-04:00

P90X Legs & Back | Workout
Fitness Blueprint | Insanity/P90X #10 (Get P90X or start with Power 90)
Personal | Weight: 199 (Shakeology Snack Added)
Tracking Calories (iPad App)
Working at my Stand Up Desk (plans) (Why you should, too!)

Rocked the ol' legs... wall squats, nice.

2011-04-21T07:50:00.002-04:00

P90X Shoulders & Arms | Workout
Fitness Blueprint | Insanity/P90X #10 (Get P90X or start with Power 90)
Personal | Weight: 199 (Shakeology Snack Added)
Tracking Calories (iPad App)
Working at my Stand Up Desk (plans) (Why you should, too!)

Been too long since I had the chance to hoist those 30's over my head... So good. Still easing back into things, but the reps/weight is back in play. Nice.

More on the Reddit downtime thanks to the ol' Amazon Cloud...

2011-04-20T13:42:00.001-04:00

7.5 mi. Bike Trail Ride | Workout
Fitness Blueprint | Insanity/P90X #10 (Get P90X or start with Power 90)
Personal | Weight: 199 (Shakeology Snack Added)
Tracking Calories (iPad App)
Working at my Stand Up Desk (plans) (Why you should, too!)

2011-04-19T07:36:00.002-04:00

P90X Plyometrics | Workout
Fitness Blueprint | Insanity/P90X #10 (Get P90X or start with Power 90)
Personal | Weight: 199 (Shakeology Snack Added)
Tracking Calories (iPad App)
Working at my Stand Up Desk (plans) (Why you should, too!)

With the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster this year, very glad to see progress being made in funding its new containment vessel. Worth watching this 10 minute video from the Guardian UK.

2011-04-19T05:07:00.001-04:00

Trivia phenom You Don’t Know Jack leads our iPad Games of the Week

In the mid-1990s, Jellyvision’s irreverent and crazy-entertaining You Don’t Know Jack trivia game took the Mac/PC world by storm. Originally delivered in several topical flavors on old school CD-ROMs, the animated, pop culture trivia questions delivered with twisted, semi-adult humor laced throughout always added up to a fun 15-20 minute game, either alone or with friends. Now the game makes its triumphant return to our modern Apple tablets, and not a moment too soon. We could all use a laugh this week, no?

The remainder of our iPad games of the week are focused on young gamers and physics puzzle lovers. Smart Pet HD brings the “adopt and play with your own virtual dog” to your iPad’s generous screen, while Bug Village will challenge your youngest to build, maintain, and decorate their own virtual bug habitat. Finally, Drop The Chicken brings a Cut The Rope experience to an all-new physics puzzler.

IPAD APPS REVIEWED

You Don’t Know Jack HD
A full 20 episodes of insane pop culture trivia laced with bombastic (mostly adult) humor. It’s a Jack Attack worth buying.

Smart Pet HD Light
“Daddy, can we get a dog?” Sure! This virtual pet adoption app gives kids all the fun of interacting with a puppy, without all the mess or expense of the real thing. BARK!

Bug Village
Challenges kids to build, maintain, and decorate their own virtual bug habitat. It’s colorful, fun, and family-friendly.

Drop The Chicken: Training
It’s Cut the Rope, minus the pesky rope parts! An instant-buy for every physics puzzle fan with a iOS device.

IPAD REVIEWS

You Don’t Know Jack HD ($4.99)

My first round of the resurrected YDKJ trivia game kicked off with this question: “How many human bones would two and a half men actually have?” The correct answer: 515. The wise-cracking game show host’s response when I got it right? “The real question is Charlie Sheen’s mistresses. How many bones are in them?”

And that, ladies and gentlemen is pretty much all you need to know about this must-have offering.

After playing through the CD-ROM originals in the ‘90s, I was totally jazzed to see this animated, pop culture treat coming back for more in the ‘10s. It’s silly-fun trivia questions delivered with just the right amount of twisted, semi-adult humor. (Anyone else still find themselves saying “ELEVEN!” with that irreverent crowd-chanting tone? Just me?) There are 20 full episodes to digest, Game Center achievements and leaderboards, plus the usual litany of question types: DisorDats, Jack Attacks, multiple choice queries, Who’s the Dummy?, Funky Trash, and the always-amazing Cookie’s Fortune Cookie Fortunes with Cookie “Fortune Cookie” Masterson. Yes, it’s a must-buy. (Winning!)

Smart Pet HD Light (FREE)

Between my son and his friends, I’ll bet five litters of virtual puppies have been chosen, loved, fed, played with, and then abandoned through the power of the Nintendo DS. Now it’s the iPad’s turn. Smart Pet HD lets you adopt a puppy into the huge virtual kennel that is your iPad, then touch him, train him, put on outfits, play with interactive dog toys, feed and clean him, and play a mini-game to earn money to buy items.

The light version gives you just the right amount of dogs to pick from (two) and toys to play with to decide if the $.99 full version is worth it. While the graphics aren’t as sharp as some of the latest DS versions, there’s more than enough detail and gameplay here to satisfy the most dog-crazed child under 8. Now, if I could just get my iPad out of the hands of my 9-year-old… You see, Maverick is hungry, and that’s all my son can think about right now!

Bug Village (FREE)

Why, hello there little red ant. Of course I can help you build a new bug village for you and your friends! Let’s get started. And with that, an entire hour was spent doing just that. Glu is no slouch when it comes to making addictive mobile games, and Bug Village has all the elements needed to spring it into the top free games listing in a hurry.

The graphics are top-notch, placing new buildings is a breeze, and the sheer variety of missions to take on and items to purchase and place make for a solid experience all around. Separating the “food” and gathering area from the village itself is a nice touch. In-game ads are there but not intrusive, and you will likely run up against the old “buy more coins to keep going FASTER” wall after a while. With a little patience, there’s no reason to hand over any real-world money. But no doubt the die-hard fans of this kind of game will fork over $5-$10 to super charge their villages.

Drop The Chicken: Training (FREE)

If you love Cut the Rope, you’ll enjoy Drop The Chicken. The free training app will get you in the spirit, and fast. Basically, there’s a cute chicken at the top of your screen who needs to make it down (be dropped!) into his nest below. You’ll need to eat the bugs on the screen as you fall and bounce, and arrange the scene to ensure his drop into the soft hay after his tumble.

It’s a tried and true physics puzzler, adding some new elements to the mix. Sure there are trampolines at various angles that you can drag around the screen to control his fall, but there are also blocks of wood to drag into place to stop him cold in his tracks. So there’s no rope cutting or bird-launching (think Angry Birds), but there are critical moments to drop your feathered friend, and some crazy levels that require you to move the elements more than once. Concentrate on getting all the bugs during a single drop, and be sure to concentrate, as you may need to move items into position several times in a row to get the perfect path. It’s one part frustration, and one part fun, just like always!

2011-04-18T07:36:00.001-04:00

P90X Chest & Back (75%) | Workout
Fitness Blueprint | Insanity/P90X #10 (Get P90X or start with Power 90)
Personal | Weight: 199 (Shakeology Snack Added)
Tracking Calories (iPad App)
Working at my Stand Up Desk (plans) (Why you should, too!)

Great to get back into the swing of things after a crazy 7-day flu break. Eased into today, got downright dizzy and nauseous at 75% completion, so bagged it for some deep breaths and stretching. I'll get there.

2011-04-16T18:34:00.005-04:00

Wings Over Wayne Airshow 2011
Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, NC
Before the tornadoes rolled in...

2011-04-15T12:59:00.001-04:00

Sign Language - A short film from Oscar Sharp on Vimeo.

2011-04-14T20:43:00.002-04:00

Trivia phenom You Don’t Know Jack leads our iPad Games of the Week

In the mid-1990s, Jellyvision’s irreverent and crazy-entertaining You Don’t Know Jack trivia game took the Mac/PC world by storm. Originally delivered in several topical flavors on old school CD-ROMs, the animated, pop culture trivia questions delivered with twisted, semi-adult humor laced throughout always added up to a fun 15-20 minute game, either alone or with friends. Now the game makes its triumphant return to our modern Apple tablets, and not a moment too soon. We could all use a laugh this week, no?

The remainder of our iPad games of the week are focused on young gamers and physics puzzle lovers. Smart Pet HD brings the “adopt and play with your own virtual dog” to your iPad’s generous screen, while Bug Village will challenge your youngest to build, maintain, and decorate their own virtual bug habitat. Finally, Drop The Chicken brings a Cut The Rope experience to an all-new physics puzzler.

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

IPAD APPS REVIEWED

You Don’t Know Jack HD
A full 20 episodes of insane pop culture trivia laced with bombastic (mostly adult) humor. It’s a Jack Attack worth buying.

Smart Pet HD Light
“Daddy, can we get a dog?” Sure! This virtual pet adoption app gives kids all the fun of interacting with a puppy, without all the mess or expense of the real thing. BARK!

Bug Village
Challenges kids to build, maintain, and decorate their own virtual bug habitat. It’s colorful, fun, and family-friendly.

Drop The Chicken: Training
It’s Cut the Rope, minus the pesky rope parts! An instant-buy for every physics puzzle fan with a iOS device.

IPAD REVIEWS

You Don’t Know Jack HD ($4.99)

My first round of the resurrected YDKJ trivia game kicked off with this question: “How many human bones would two and a half men actually have?” The correct answer: 515. The wise-cracking game show host’s response when I got it right? “The real question is Charlie Sheen’s mistresses. How many bones are in them?”

And that, ladies and gentlemen is pretty much all you need to know about this must-have offering. After playing through the CD-ROM originals in the ‘90s, I was totally jazzed to see this animated, pop culture treat coming back for more in the ‘10s. It’s silly-fun trivia questions delivered with just the right amount of twisted, semi-adult humor. (Anyone else still find themselves saying “ELEVEN!” with that irreverent crowd-chanting tone? Just me?)

There are 20 full episodes to digest, Game Center achievements and leaderboards, plus the usual litany of question types: DisorDats, Jack Attacks, multiple choice queries, Who’s the Dummy?, Funky Trash, and the always-amazing Cookie’s Fortune Cookie Fortunes with Cookie “Fortune Cookie” Masterson. Yes, it’s a must-buy. (Winning!)

Smart Pet HD Light (FREE)

Between my son and his friends, I’ll bet five litters of virtual puppies have been chosen, loved, fed, played with, and then abandoned through the power of the Nintendo DS. Now it’s the iPad’s turn.

Smart Pet HD lets you adopt a puppy into the huge virtual kennel that is your iPad, then touch him, train him, put on outfits, play with interactive dog toys, feed and clean him, and play a mini-game to earn money to buy items. The light version gives you just the right amount of dogs to pick from (two) and toys to play with to decide if the $.99 full version is worth it. While the graphics aren’t as sharp as some of the latest DS versions, there’s more than enough detail and gameplay here to satisfy the most dog-crazed child under 8. Now, if I could just get my iPad out of the hands of my 9-year-old… You see, Maverick is hungry, and that’s all my son can think about right now!

Bug Village (FREE)

Why, hello there little red ant. Of course I can help you build a new bug village for you and your friends! Let’s get started.

And with that, an entire hour was spent doing just that. Glu is no slouch when it comes to making addictive mobile games, and Bug Village has all the elements needed to spring it into the top free games listing in a hurry. The graphics are top-notch, placing new buildings is a breeze, and the sheer variety of missions to take on and items to purchase and place make for a solid experience all around.

Separating the “food” and gathering area from the village itself is a nice touch. In-game ads are there but not intrusive, and you will likely run up against the old “buy more coins to keep going FASTER” wall after a while. With a little patience, there’s no reason to hand over any real-world money. But no doubt the die-hard fans of this kind of game will fork over $5-$10 to super charge their villages.

Drop The Chicken: Training (FREE)

If you love Cut the Rope, you’ll enjoy Drop The Chicken. The free training app will get you in the spirit, and fast. Basically, there’s a cute chicken at the top of your screen who needs to make it down (be dropped!) into his nest below.

You’ll need to eat the bugs on the screen as you fall and bounce, and arrange the scene to ensure his drop into the soft hay after his tumble. It’s a tried and true physics puzzler, adding some new elements to the mix. Sure there are trampolines at various angles that you can drag around the screen to control his fall, but there are also blocks of wood to drag into place to stop him cold in his tracks.

So there’s no rope cutting or bird-launching (think Angry Birds), but there are critical moments to drop your feathered friend, and some crazy levels that require you to move the elements more than once. Concentrate on getting all the bugs during a single drop, and be sure to concentrate, as you may need to move items into position several times in a row to get the perfect path. It’s one part frustration, and one part fun, just like always!

2011-04-12T19:22:00.002-04:00

McLain Family: April 2011

2011-04-12T12:53:00.000-04:00

The Hobbit: It Begins (Video Blog)

2011-04-12T12:14:00.004-04:00

Japan Sendai Earthquake & Tsunami > Live Videos
March 2011

2011-04-09T12:24:00.001-04:00

Fast Food in America Documentary

2011-04-09T05:08:00.003-04:00

Doodlebug jumps into our iPad Games of the Week

Amiga.

If you’re instantly familiar with this early Commodore PC rocking graphics chips well beyond its time, then no doubt you played Doodlebug back in the day. Now you can relive the glory days of late 1980’s platformers on your iPad. Princess Lady Bug is waiting to be rescued at the end of five themed worlds, so get to it!

If retro games aren’t your thing, don’t miss PAC’N-JUMP, a fresh take on Doodle Jump, and CrosslogicHD which will give any Soduku fan a run for their money. Last and not least is 100 vs 100 HD, a real-time strategy game that gives you control of an army of stick figure fighters intent on destroying enemy castles. Glory awaits the victor!

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

IPAD APPS REVIEWED

Doodlebug
Late 1980’s-era Amiga platformer makes its way onto the iPad, and not a moment too soon. Jump, jump!

PAC’N-JUMP
Combine Doodle Jump with Pacman, and you’ve got an instant classic in PAC’N-JUMP. More jumping!

CrosslogicHD
Picross fans, it’s time for a new addiction. More than 1,000 nonograms wait to be solved! A must for Soduku fans as well.

100 vs 100 HD
It’s time for some serious stick figure real-time strategy mayhem. Have fun storming the castle!

IPAD REVIEWS

Doodlebug ($3.99)

I spent weeks of my first college semester in a new friend’s room, hammering away on his fancy pants Amiga to make my way through Doodlebug. Now my late-teens obession is back, this time on my trusty iPad tablet. What you have here, friends, is a full 20 levels of pixilated platformer goodness, lovingly wrapped into five uniquely-themed levels. Tip: Swipe up to jump, and down to attack. As you progress, you’ll meet vagabond dealers willing to sell you dragons, helicopters, and even space ships to help Doodlebug make his way to Princess Lady Bug, the object of his quest and affections. The secret sauce are is Doodlebug’s magic pencils and erasers. Literally wipe out the baddies that stand in your way, then draw umbrellas, balloons, and even time freeze clocks to move ahead. Be sure to keep pencil eraser smart bombs in reserve to take out a mash of enemies with one release. It’s perfect for retro gamers and children alike, so hop on the Doodlebug bandwagon this week. You won’t be sorry. (As a side note, a Fling Game Controller will help you rack up tons of progress in this app.)

PAC’N-JUMP ($.99)

Apparently the developers over at NAMCO love Doodle Jump just as much as the rest of us. I think that’s why they lovely borrowed the “jump higher from ledge to ledge and grab power ups” game theme, and added a decidedly Pacman feel to it all. PAC’N-JUMP puts you in control of our hero, Pacman, who’s become tired of mazes and just wants to jump, JUMP between stationary and moving platforms, grabbing power ups to eat his arch nemesis ghosts, and gobble fruit to get a blast of vertical life. My favorite part? When the platforms give way to fields of munchable dots, which have the same effect. Through in the usual raft of Pavlovian sound effects (drool!) and the Pacman musical score, and you’ve got yourself a sure-fire, million-dollar app. Crazy fun for the whole family straight from the App Store’s dollar menu.

CrosslogicHD ($.99)

Picross fans, it’s time for a new addiction. More than 1,000 nonograms (or grigglers) are waiting to be solved! Here’s the gist: You’re presented with a grid of open spaces, and numbers splayed across the top and left side. Your task is to figure out how the numbers apply to the empty boxes. So if you see 1-2-3 there would be one box, then some space, two boxes, more space, then three boxes. To select a box to fill in, just tap it with your finger. As you uncover correct boxes, a picture emerges. Too many “MISS” alerts (5) if you guess wrong, and it’s game over. If you get stuck click HINT, but watch time fall off the clock on the later levels as a result. There’s a total of 1,768 puzzles to keep you busy, and you’ll need a mountain of time to solve them all. A must for Soduku fans who will find this a natural extension of their number placement skills. (Trust me, Mr. Will Short is no longer my wife’s favorite purveyor of logic puzzles!)

100 vs 100 HD ($.99)

It takes the average person less than five minutes to eat a dollar menu hamburger. 100 vs 100 HD (and I use HD loosely here) is a similar lunchtime treat, easy on the eyes, stomach, and wallet. Your mission, as Lord of the castle, is to fend off attacks from stick figure raiders. You can generate warriors of your own and send them off across the field to take down your enemy’s castle. You also have access to special attacks (think tornado’s on command) which can cover a wider area and take down larger groups of enemies. One part tower defense, and another part strategy, 100 vs 100 will keep you fighting for the home castle for a few hours at least. And at roughly 10 times cheaper than a movie ticket, that’s not a bad thing.

2011-04-07T18:05:00.001-04:00

Maverick McLain: Welcome home!

2011-04-05T07:37:00.002-04:00

2011-04-04T07:49:00.000-04:00

P90X Chest & Back + Ab Ripper X | Workout
Fitness Blueprint | Insanity/P90X #10 (Get P90X or start with Power 90)
Personal | Weight: 199 (Shakeology Snack Added)
Tracking Calories (iPad App)
Working at my Stand Up Desk (plans) (Why you should, too!)

2011-04-02T12:42:00.001-04:00

Bloons TD 4 HD tower defense madness leads my iPad Games of the Week

There’s no shortage of tower defense (TD) games littering the App Store. But fans of the genre looking for a light-hearted, kid-friendly TD title that nails the interface and upgrade path on your tablet’s ample screen real estate will love Bloons TD 4 HD. It’s not just for kids!

Racing fans looking for a more destructive experience will give Death Rally the checked flag, while Great Little War Game HD brings a fresh, cartoony approach to turn based strategy games. Finally, Quietus bring a retro-80’s Mario-like experience to our tablets, dipped in a thick mixture of dark and dreary dungeon-style graphics. It all adds up to a solid set of iPad games of the week for early April. Get your game on!

IPAD APPS REVIEWED

Bloons TD 4 HD
A tower defense game with a perfect interface, cartoon-inspired graphics, and just enough action to keep kids and adults blasting fast-moving balloons all day long.

Death Rally
Leave those Mario Kart shells behind. This new racing title is all about destroying your racing opponents with extreme prejudice.

Great Little War Game HD
Turn-based strategy game that offers up a bevy of units and multiple mission styles to keep you on your toes.

Quietus
Offers a decidedly dark, 80’s-retro look and feel, challenging all comers to go through Hell (keep going!) to return to life rich and powerful.

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

IPAD REVIEWS

Bloons TD 4 HD ($6.99)

Monkey see, monkey… pop? Bloons TD 4 HD finally makes its way onto the iPad, and it’s a must-buy for tower defense fans of any age. Your challenge? Place monkey-themed towers onto each play field, and pop all the ‘bloons (balloons, get it?) before they can make it through the circuit. All tower types are clearly visible on the right side of the screen, while upgrade options are perfectly visible across the bottom. You’ll need to upgrade your towers, add new ones at strategic chokepoints, and think ahead about which types will work best at various locations. In the early going, the game does an excellent job of unlocking each tower type and giving you a chance to try them out in turn. Once you get beyond level 30, things get a little crazy. You’ll need to use the pause button to get your bearing from time to time, and the last few stages will cover your screen in some downright crazy mayhem.

Death Rally ($4.99)

If you’re in the market for a console-quality racing game that straps some serious firepower onto your racing rigs, Death Rally won’t disappoint. The game opens with a movie-like intro, drops you into your first death race, and never looks back. Winning the race takes second place to seriously messing up your opponents, and with the sheer number of weapons and upgrades available along the way, there’s always a crazy-fun way to unload ordinance during each contest. Put away those shells and banana peels, fellow gamers, it’s time to get serious. Each vehicle you unlock brings new handling characteristics to the table, and the sheer variety of tracks and super-smooth graphics engine add up to a perfect racing experience on your iPad or iPad 2. Pro tip: Strap on your Fling Game Controller to master the turns and dominate your opponents.

Great Little War Game HD ($2.99)

For shooter fans, adjusting to a turn-based war game might take some getting used to, but it’s worth the time. Great Little War Game HD drops your blue soldiers into an enemy landscape, and it’s up to you to move them forward, find the high ground, and attack in turn to wipe out your red foes. Each unit has a radius of movement and attack points to spend in each turn, and you’ll go back and forth over several minutes to see who comes out on top. The lack of an undo button for each move can be frustrating, so be careful before you click in that movement space. With 20 full missions to tackle, ranging from head-on assaults to base capturing, and vehicle support to boot, there’s a massive amount of content to plow through to get to the end of this gem. The graphic engine is clean and crisp, with weather effects adding to the overall experience, and the tap controls make manipulating every aspect of the game easy and clear. Here’s hoping the developers add in the ability to see the attack range of each unit on both sides, plus tanks need to be upgraded to do far more damage to unprotected foot soldiers.

Quietus ($.99)

Run a gauntlet in hell for the Devil himself in this decidedly dark, 80’s-retro 8bit graphics title. If you’re successful, you’ll return to life rich and powerful. Fail and it’s time to take up permanent residence. After dropping into Hell, you’ll need to swipe across the screen to move your little skeleton across each platform, then swipe up at the proper times to jump. You will die quite a bit before mastering the controls, but it’s worth the effort. The lava pits, dark stone environment, and plethora of waiting treasure chests are just wanting to be explored and opened. The one-touch control scheme is unique, and the developer is promising a set of additional games with this scheme in place in the coming months. As a retro-gaming fan, I’ll be anxious to see where Connor Ullmann takes us in the future.

2011-03-30T07:45:00.001-04:00

P90X Shoulders & Arms | Workout
Fitness Blueprint | Insanity/P90X #10 (Get P90X or start with Power 90)
Personal | Weight: 199 (Shakeology Snack Added)
Tracking Calories (iPad App)
Working at my Stand Up Desk (plans) (Why you should, too!)

Staying at the Downtown Marriott in Philadelphia for the ACRL 2011 conference this week, decided to head down to the hotel gym to workout. Nice, except... one single pair of 20lb free weights to share among the faithful? Passing weights around from dude to dude was... interesting. Still got in a nice workout, though.

2011-03-29T12:45:00.000-04:00

Cisco WebEx Meetings links you to the office via your DROID

Platform: Android

RATING
5 out of 5

PRICE
FREE

TASTY
Flawlessly connects users to WebEx meetings over any connection (3G or wi-fi). Look at meeting content full-screen, pinch and zoom to get a closer look, and even integrates free VOIP audio connectivity.

BUMMER
Doesn’t make my slide decks for me prior to my virtual events. Shucks.

COOL
Beyond all the usual online business meeting accoutrements, the WebEx app also delivers on-screen live annotation and collaboration tools.

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

I’ve attended more WebEx online meetings than I can count. Over the years, I’ve relied on the standard, solid PC/browser software client to run events, attend meetings, and all the rest. That’s why I was overjoyed when the Android version hit the Marketplace recently.

Cisco WebEx Meetings doesn’t disappoint. Just like its iOS and Blackberry counterparts, the free DROID version makes it super-easy to join WebEx webinars viewed in full-screen mode, utilize built-in (free!) VOIP for audio, or have the server call your phone to get you into the meeting.

Once in a meeting, accessing shared documents is a breeze, while viewing slide decks is a slick affair with multi-touch controls for zooming in and out (think pinch and zoom) making your phone’s small screen more than adequate to be a full participant in any event. Beyond all the usual online business meeting accoutrements, the app also delivers on-screen live annotation and collaboration tools.

Meeting leader(s) can also easily see who’s in the meeting, how they joined, and whether they’re logged in using a mobile device or PC. Android-specific tools include the ability to view upcoming meetings in a unique calendar view widget, giving you instant access to meetings from your home screen.

If you’re in charge of a full host account, the app also makes it easier to sign into your events, start, stop, and end your meetings, plus invite colleagues in your Contacts list to join any meeting, and even pass Presenter controls to anyone on a call with a touch of your screen. Of course, kicking attendees is also possible.

This bullet-proof app is a must-have for all professionals who rely on WebEx meeting technology to stay connected to the office anytime, anywhere.

2011-03-29T07:55:00.003-04:00

P90X Plyometrics | Workout
Fitness Blueprint | Insanity/P90X #10 (Get P90X or start with Power 90)
Personal | Weight: 199 (Shakeology Snack Added)
Tracking Calories (iPad App)
Working at my Stand Up Desk (plans) (Why you should, too!)

Headache is still around, but nearly gone. Made it all the way through Plyo without any issues. Sweaty goodness... JUMP! Jump!

2011-03-28T07:28:00.004-04:00

P90X Chest & Back | Workout
Fitness Blueprint | Insanity/P90X #10 (Get P90X or start with Power 90)
Personal | Weight: 199 (Shakeology Snack Added)
Tracking Calories (iPad App)
Working at my Stand Up Desk (plans) (Why you should, too!)

Got about 40 minutes into this awesome routine, maxed out a set of pull-ups, and on the last rep kind of screwed up my face and grunted as I crossed the bar... right into an instantly crazy-bad headache.

Clutched my head, drank a ton of water, put on a cold compress, and let it dissipate. Ate into my total output, no ab ripper, but no reason to push it. First time for everything. Still feeling some dull pain, but otherwise it's passed.

Spent the weekend doing some Cub Scout Leader training outdoors in the very cold Spring at Camp Campbell in Virginia, so not a lot of food or water around for that experience. Taking in tons of water and extra calories to get me back on my fitness track today.

2011-03-27T12:35:00.000-04:00

AirAttack HD shoots its way onto your Android device

Platform: Android

RATING
5 out of 5

PRICE
FREE

TASTY
The iOS top-down air combat shooter blasts its way onto the Android Marketplace in two installments, and not a moment too soon!

BUMMER
Requires OS 2.2. Part 1 offers three missions and two planes.

COOL
Top-quality graphics, destructible terrain, and a 1943 vibe all add up to a crazy-fun air combat arcade title.

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

If you’re new to the AirAttack family of games, then you’re in for a real treat. Fans of old-school titles like 1943 will feel right at home, piloting their plane via an overhead view, auto-firing a hail of ordinance at incoming enemies both on the ground and in the air.

AirAttack HD Parts 1 (free) and 2 ($2) combine everything you like about arcade shooters and WWII-era flight sims and takes it to the next level on your smart phone. Rich graphics, the best soundtrack of any arcade game in my library, combine with super-simple controls to offer up an addictive “use your WW II-era plane to destroy all things Nazi in the air and ground” gaming experience you won’t find anywhere else.

Dodge your enemies and their bullets and grab floating coins, stars, and upgrades to kit out your arsenal. Don’t forget to take down the ground targets to drop bombs, all while looking down on a top-to-bottom scrolling battlefield.

Part 1 will get you hooked, with the $2 to pick up Part 2 a total no-brainer. The game is easy to pick up and play, and very hard to put down. Taken together, the two apps offer up eight missions, a full compliment of 58 baddies to destroy, and tons of upgrades and special weapons that auto-equip when you fly into them along the way.

My favorite part: The eight end-of-level bosses. These crazy airships and ground targets are merciless in their attacks. You’ll need to employ your very best dodge and hide technique honed over the years of playing similar Japanese-designed shooters to survive and thrive. Be sure to try all four control schemes – relative, tilt, touch, and joypad – to get the very best gaming experience tailored to your preferences.

Move the big initial install to your SD card and prepare for an afternoon of aerial combat like you’ve never experienced on your Android device!

2011-03-26T07:57:00.001-04:00

Bubble Bunch for iPad leads the iPad Games of the Week

Ever play Hungry Hungry Hippos? Of course you have. Bubble Bunch for iPad brings the same frenetic, family-friendly action to your tablet, but turns the tables on those hungry mammals.

One to four players grab a corner of the screen and fire bubbles into the center of the screen, gunning for maximum color matches, collecting power-ups, and more. It’s the perfect rainy Spring day app!

Add an 8-bit, adventure game that’s super-unique, a Peggle-inspired romp featuring a flying pig, and a fresh sports title that deftly combines handball with hockey, and you’ve got yourself our set of the top iPad games for the week.

IPAD APPS REVIEWED

Bubble Bunch for iPad
The Bubble Wars will be televised. It’s multicolored bubble shooting fun that’s perfect for the whole family.

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
Old school adventure game fans who dig retro 8-bit graphics will have a field day with this 100% unique offering.

Pixel Pig HD Retro Edition
Peggle fans will instantly enjoy this fresh take on removing virtual pegs, while chomping copious amounts of food, and flying through rings before plopping into the lovely mud below.

Speedball 2 Evolution Free
Get a taste of the full version of this mobile sports game, that fuses ice hockey with handball and throws in gobs of violence to keep things interesting.

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

IPAD REVIEWS

Bubble Bunch for iPad ($1.99)

If there’s a board game that’s been made into a iOS app, it’s on my iPad. That’s why my family and I were so excited to give Bubble Bunch for iPad a whirl on a recent rainy afternoon. Within a few minutes, it was clear that the visibly-worn Hungry Hungry Hippos setup would be staying in the closet for the foreseeable future. The basics: Tap your corner of the screen to sign in (or tap a second time to assign an AI player to the spot so you can play solo against the computer), then place your finger just below the colored button sticking out of your bubble gun. Move your finger around to aim, then tap to fire into the center. A mass of bubbles is waiting there. Focus on making the maximum number of color matches you can, collecting and using power-ups, and boosting your sky above your opponents. Pro tip: Bounce your shots off the walls to really stick it to the other players. With three game modes – Aquarium (go for matches), Rogue Drone (a center drone shoots back at you), and Domination (color supremacy is the goal) – Bubble Bunch is truly the perfect, family-friendly rainy Spring day app.

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP ($4.99)

As a child of the 1980’s, it wasn’t hard to fall madly in geek love with Superbrothers. Here’s the perfect iPad app confection for old school adventure game fans who dig retro 8-bit graphics. You know you’re in for a treat when the app launches – an honest to goodness vinyl record spins in the center, urging you to scratch and play with the music. Throw in some headphones, and tap the Play button to begin. You’ll quickly learn than the app is masquerading as an “experimental treatment for acute soul-sickness,” challenging you to double-tap the screen to make your way through the 8-bit fantasy landscape. Taking on the role of an adventurer, you’ll meet interesting people along the way, swing your sword, interact with the environment, and become one with this unique offering. There are embedded moments in the game that can only be experienced once, and they’re deep moments to boot. Carve out 20-30 minutes, jump into a comfy chair, and live in the moment. You won’t regret it.

Pixel Pig HD Retro Edition (FREE)

Peggle, how you vex me. And it’s clear the developers of Pixel Pig are obsessed with you as well, and I mean that in a good way! In this unique take on the “peg removal” genre, you’re in control of a portly pixilated pig, whom you can launch into a game grid just as if you’re standing in front of a pinball machine. Pull the plunger, let the pig fly, and watch him work his way through the pegs. Press the Gas button to give him some gaseous green lift to score more points, touch food items to add to your score, fly through the available rings to increase your multiplier, and finally tilt your iPad to control how he lands in the mud below. The better the landing, the more bonus points you’ll earn. Of course, a litany of score goals, achievements, and medals will keep you pig-farting for many days and weeks to come. If you love the app, it’s super-easy to upgrade to the full version, sans-ads.

Speedball 2 Evolution Free (FREE)

Get a free taste of this popular newcomer, which will appeal equally to retro arcade game lovers coming of age in the 1980’s and sports game fanatics alike, with an added layer of cartoony violence and mayhem that will make any adult gamer smile. The game is simple and simply fun. Your team of footballers faces an opponent on an open field. A metallic ball is launched, and it’s your job to tackle the other team members to get it. Once you’re snatched it, head for the goal, making strategic passes and power-up picks along the way, and fling it into the net. Score! The subtle touches of grandstand food sellers shouting out there foodstuffs for sale, and some seriously retro sound effects, and you’ve got yourself a throw-back app that will keep you glued to your tablet for days to come.

2011-03-25T07:45:00.000-04:00

P90X Legs & Back + Ab Ripper | Workout
Fitness Blueprint | Insanity/P90X #10 (Get P90X or start with Power 90)
Personal | Weight: 199 (Shakeology Snack Added)
Tracking Calories (iPad App)
Working at my Stand Up Desk (plans) (Why you should, too!)

2011-03-25T05:03:00.000-04:00

Illusia offers the perfect fusion of anime visuals and RPG action

Platform: Android

RATING
4 out of 5

PRICE
$4.99

TASTY
Zenonia fans will feel right at home in this story-rich side scrolling RPG game.

BUMMER
No free demo available. Can’t move 18MB install to SD card. Controls are touchy.

COOL
Add rush mode and mission mode to the standard story, and you’ve got yourself weeks of entertainment for less cash than a movie.

SIMILAR APPS IN THE MARKETPLACE:
Zenonia
Path of a Warrior – Imperial Blood
Dungeon Hunter
Parallel Kingdom

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

Paging all mobile RPG lovers: Illusia has arrived, and the gang at GAMEVIL has raised the bar to new heights. The perfect fusion of anime visuals and side-scrolling RPG action, Zenonia fans will feel right at home in this story-rich side scrolling title.

It’s time to strap on some virtual armor and take on the role of Hero. Aztaran and its seven stages of story mode await you. The game’s anime art style is a treat for the eye, and each battle takes on a decidedly “animated” feel (think cartoons) as you take turns attacking each other.

You’ll start with just two character choices – magic user (ranged attacked) or melee (physical fighter) – but 14 unique sub-categories mean you’ll want to carefully choose your active, buff, and passive skills. While you can’t name your character, and the avatar images are set at the start, you can apply unique armor sets and weaponry along the way.

As you ding and level up, you’ll want to immediately put your XP points into strength, intelligence, and dexterity. Be sure to keep an eye on your xp meter, as you’re likely to level up without noticing it. The quicker you allocate new points to your abilities, the less likely it is that you’ll perish.

While the game itself is a wonder to behold, the installation and initial game play experience can be off-putting. With an initial download of 18MB of content (which can’t be moved to your SD card), and more than 10 minutes of tutorial to play through, that leaves you five short minutes to play the actual game before the Android Marketplace’s refund window shuts on your tender fingers.

Do your research before you plunk down your $5, because there’s no demo to give you a taste before committing to this beast. The touch screen controls are also touchy in intense moments, and here’s hoping GAMEVIL releases a patch soon to clean up this annoyance.

Add in a rush and mission mode, and the game expands well beyond the usual RPG offerings. Zenonia lovers, grab Illusia today. You won’t regret it.

2011-03-24T07:55:00.002-04:00

P90X Yoga | Workout
Fitness Blueprint | Insanity/P90X #10 (Get P90X or start with Power 90)
Personal | Weight: 199 (Shakeology Snack Added)
Tracking Calories (iPad App)
Working at my Stand Up Desk (plans) (Why you should, too!)

2011-03-24T07:00:00.000-04:00

Sports Illustrated Front Row gives you unlimited access to championship sports

Platform: Android

RATING
5 out of 5

PRICE
FREE

TASTY
Just in time for March Madness, this app puts you in the thick of the basketball action with the latest photos, text, and current scores.

BUMMER
Ad supported. Doesn’t include free court-side or 50-yard-line tickets to each event.

COOL
Only care about basketball? Football? Hockey? Olympics? Choose only the photo sets you want and get them auto-streamed to your Android device.

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

Sport fans, no matter which events or leagues you enjoy most, you know Sports Illustrated writers and photographers will be there to capture all the action. The new Sports Illustrated Front Row app gives you unlimited access to this timely content, streamed right to your Android device.

Just in time for March Madness, there’s never been a better time to grab this app and revel in the eye-popping imagery, tap into the latest scores and stat updates, and full text coverage of each and every game.

My favorite navigation feature? Finger-swipe your way through the NCAA brackets, then select a specific matchup from the list. Images and other content immediately appear. It’s a slam dunk.
Once the NCAA champs are done cutting down the net and kissing the trophy, the SI team will roll on to other big sporting events spread out across our sports-loving globe.

The app makes is super-easy to get notifications of upcoming coverage, and lets you choose only those photo sets you wish to get auto-streamed to your device. (Thanks, SI, for helping us keep our Droids clean and clear of clutter.)

Front Row is your free ticket to the NCAA Basketball tourney, The Masters, NBA Playoffs, Wimbledon, U.S. Open Golf, World Series, BCS Championship, NFL Playoffs, and even the 2012 Olympics.

The design of the app is telling: Time Inc. has created a single content container that can be updated with fresh content on an event-by-event basis, obviating the need to develop multiple apps for each event and jumping through the usual hoops getting them into the smart phone marketplaces. Look for this format to drive similar, magazine-linked apps from Time Inc. in the coming months.

2011-03-23T12:33:00.000-04:00

AR Missile HD turns your iPad 2 into an aperture of destruction in our Games of the Week

When I showed my wife AR Missile HD, her first reaction was: “You mean I could take a picture of an old boyfriend and then blast away at him with missles? That’s awesome!”

Given that we’ve been married for 16 years, I’m thinking she meant “current husband.” That said, this is a fresh iPad 2-only app that turns your shiny-new camera into an aperture of destruction, and it leads our Games of the Week round-up.

Add in an always-fun ragdoll physics puzzler/shooter, a pipeline puzzle app that challenges you to connect things like gasoline sources to thirsty consumers, and a full-on strategy, hex-based board game set in a post apocalyptic/cyberpunk futurescape, and you’ve got yourself a solid set of fresh titles for your Apple tablet.

APPS REVIEWED

AR Missile HD
iPad 2 owners: This augmented reality app allows you to shoot missiles at anything in your camera’s sights, then share the carnage via Twitter.

Nuclear Ragdoll for iPad
Load your cannon with ragdolls and blast away at the targets across 30 challenging levels.

Gas Tycoon 2 HD: Water World
Connect natural resources with consumers in this pipeline-laying puzzler.

Neuroshima Hex Puzzle
Strategy hex puzzler that lets you blast away at raging mutants, bloodthirsty gangs, and evil machines.

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

IPAD REVIEWS

AR Missle HD ($.99)

Smartphone users have been using their built-in cameras to augment reality (AR) for a few years now. AR apps let us find fast food locations, star clusters, live Tweeters and their Tweets, and more, just by pointing our cameras at the space around us.

Now that the iPad 2 sports a pair of cameras, it only makes sense that games would start to emerge to take advantage of AR on our new tablets.

In this instant classic, you can take a picture of anything – oppressive dictators, a broken-down car, your mother-in-law on the 9th day of her visit – and then shoot a hail of virtual missiles at the subject. The app’s AI does an excellent job of rendering “attack points” across your image, smartly locking into things like heads, sharp edges, even small animals in the frame, then letting you tap away to send up to 16 missiles at your target. The icing on the cake? You can take a picture of your most vicious attacks, then post them to your Twitter feed. TAKE THAT!

Nuclear Ragdoll for iPad ($.99)

Boasting 30 levels, an unlimited supply of hand-drawn ragdolls, real-time physics, and absolutely no time limit, Nuclear Ragdoll for iPad will have you shooting hapless, cart-wheeling avatars at various targets for days to come.

At a dollar-menu price, it’s hard to shoot any holes in this fun offering. Load your cannon with a ragdoll, drag your finger to aim and increase the power of your shot, then release to FIRE! Your avatar will hit objects and platforms as it flies across the screen, all in an effort to crash into the very large, shiny, red target. Hit the target, and its on to the next level. Miss, and it’s time to reload and re-think your trajectory. The hand-drawn levels, rendered on top of a crumpled up piece of graph paper, give the game a down-home feel that will keep you coming back for more.

Gas Tycoon 2 HD: Water World (FREE)

Our ocean is filled with any number of natural resources. Lucky for you, a ready-made set of pipeline pieces have been arrayed between each resource and any number of containers, gasoline pumps, etc. Your job is to tap each pipeline piece and container so the resource flows from the ocean floor to all destinations simultaneously.

Sound easy? On paper, sure. In reality, these extra-large play fields (over the other Gas Tycoon titles) can be frustratingly difficult to line up perfectly. But that’s what puzzle fans crave, right? You’ll spend hours working your way through this free set of puzzles, and will likely want to grab the full version to get all 10 skins of this popular series, including: Oil Tycoon, City Tycoon, Bamboo Tubes, Flying Land, RailRoad Tycoon, and more. New animations, bonuses for nailing each puzzle quickly, and the calming under-water theme is sure to please.

Neuroshima Hex Puzzle ($2.99)

It may be the end of the world, but who says you can’t go out with a bang? This strategy hex puzzler lets you blast away at raging mutants, bloodthirsty gangs, and evil machines. If you’re confused by the term “hex puzzler,” don’t worry.

Here’s the jist: You’re presented with a post-apocalyptic game field of approx. 20 hexagonal tiles. Your headquarters takes up one spot, while your enemy fills a second. It’s your job to place attack tiles on the board near your opponent, the rotate their attack points so they inflict damage (reduce the HP or hit points of other tiles.) The winner is the side who’s HQ has more HP than the enemy’s at the end of the battle. As you can imagine, there are any number of special tiles to place in very specific locations across all 100 levels of this monster, and rotating the tiles so their attack points line up perfectly is a real challenge as the levels wear on.

Plan your attacks wisely, and you’ll be the next Mad Max blazing a path beyond the Thunderdome. Take too much damage and you’ll be scavenging for food with the rest what’s left of humanity. Serious strategy puzzle fans will revel in the artwork, game play, and uniqueness of this app.

2011-03-23T07:18:00.002-04:00

P90X Shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper | Workout
Fitness Blueprint | Insanity/P90X #10 (Get P90X or start with Power 90)
Personal | Weight: 199 (Shakeology Snack Added)
Tracking Calories (iPad App)
Working at my Stand Up Desk (plans) (Why you should, too!)

Maxing these routines this week, looking forward to a crazy-awesome July result!

2011-03-22T07:55:00.001-04:00

2011-03-21T07:27:00.000-04:00

2011-03-20T09:55:00.002-04:00

We the People: Charlie Chaplin Echo's Today's Headlines

2011-03-19T07:35:00.001-04:00

2011-03-18T03:49:00.002-04:00

Can Knockdown 2 brings this carnival classic to your phone

Platform: Android

RATING
4 out of 5

PRICE
$.99

TASTY
“BOOM, CAN-SHOT!” Sporting some of the best graphics I’ve seen in any quick pickup Android game, and super-simple controls, Can Knockdown 2 is a quick thrill that surpasses the original.

BUMMER
Owners of older DROIDs will notice stuttering when the action gets intense. My Droid 1 needed a trio of reboots and a thorough cleaning out (Marketplace and Download caches) before the app would install successfully.

COOL
A pair of new timed modes vaults this paid sequel past its first iteration, and even adds explosion effects to your best-aimed shots. Who doesn’t like explosions?

SIMILAR APPS IN THE MARKETPLACE
Can Knockdown

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

Like most things in life, the “keep it simple, stupid” principal is what separates good from great. Can Knockdown 2 takes the simplest carnival game of all time, renders the experience in rich, satisfying graphics, adds two new timed modes to separate it from its no-cost original version, and will end up being your go-to quick pickup game obsession for many weeks to come.

Pick up a virtual ball and hurl it at the cans. A simple finger-swipe is all it takes to get in the game. Gone are the pushy carnival hustlers trying their best to separate you from your walking around money, and there’s nary a Chinese-made plush toy prize in sight.

Instead, the app turns the game into a satisfying arcade experience, serving up never-ending game fields that ramp up considerably in toughness. Be careful with your aim and limit the number of balls needed to take out the cans, and you’ll be rewarded with bonus points. Get reckless and you’ll quickly find yourself back at the main menu with a fully depleted supply of ordinance. It may take a few tries to master each level, but it’s time well spent.

If you’re a fan of the original, you’ll find the controls to be 100% identical. Aim your shot by swiping in any direction. Swipe quickly, and the ball will match your speed. Don’t miss the two new times modes; the first randomly has cans appearing in your field of view, which can be knocked down or exploded with a perfect hit to their midsection (BOOM CAN-SHOT!), while the second has cans shooting into view from a series of tubes at the bottom of the screen. Some are fast, others are slow, so you’ll need to be on your game.

So as we all look forward to heading out to the midway this Summer, get your hands on Can Knockdown 2 for a little practice anywhere, any time. You’ll need it!

2011-03-17T15:48:00.002-04:00

Ninja Dash rushes from fun to boring in 10 minutes flat

Platform: Android

RATING
2 out of 5

PRICE
FREE

TASTY
Ninja fans used to helping their stealthy avatars jump or run ever-higher in similar games will love Ninja Dash, challenging the player to help our hero to fall downwards between platforms.

BUMMER
Gets repetitive and, let’s face it, pretty boring very quickly.

COOL
Power ups help recharge health, protect our avatar from harm, and more. Don’t miss them!

SIMILAR APPS IN THE MARKETPLACE
NinJump
Super Jump
Ninja rush
Fruit Ninja

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

I’ve been helping stealthy martial arts experts climb and jump their way up the sides of my Android’s screen for many months now. Ninjump and Super Jump, I’m looking at you two. That’s why I was excited to give Ninja Dash a whirl.

I mean, who can resist a free, ad-support game that’s deadest on turning the tables on our expectation. Jump and climb higher, avoid obstacles along the way? Been there, done that!

Ninja Dash turns this concept on its head, challenging all comers to help this stealthy avatar fall ever downwards between rising platforms. Stay on any flat surface for too long, and you’ll run into the top of the screen and its spikes of everlasting pain and agony!

As you fall, you’ll want to avoid spiked platforms (pain!), pay attention to surfaces that will propel you left or right very quickly, and pick up falling power ups along the way. These bonus items will stop your bleeding on the inside, protect your little toes from the bad, bad spikes, speed you up for a time, and more. You’ll need as many of these as you can get to get through the toughest parts, trust me.

There’s nothing wrong with the game, per se. The ads aren’t in your face, and tilting your phone from side to side to control your ninja is easy as pie. The trouble is that the whole experience quickly becomes a bit boring. If you love spending tons of time doing repetitive motions to drop ever downward, then Ninja Dash is the game for you.

In my experience, the app succeeded in dashing from pretty fun to pretty boring in less than ten minutes. Results may vary, but it’s worth a try. Stay stealthy, my friends!

2011-03-17T07:34:00.001-04:00

P90X Yoga X & Ab Ripper | Workout
Fitness Blueprint | Insanity/P90X #10 (Get P90X or start with Power 90)
Personal | Weight: 199 (Shakeology Snack Added)
Tracking Calories (iPad App)
Working at my Stand Up Desk (plans) (Why you should, too!)

2011-03-17T01:54:00.001-04:00

Japan earthquake's tsunami wave as it rolled into in Tiburon, CA

Where is Tiburon, CA? It's just north of San Francisco over the Gold Gate Bridge. Mapped it here: http://bit.ly/e49cvk. Tweeted Photo: http://plixi.com/p/83945400.

What was it like to watch the Japan tsunami wash into one town, steady video for about 6-10 minutes from start to finish? Watch.

Comment from Brad Hicks, a former WGAL news anchor who commented via Facebook: "This is the most disturbing video (also here) I have seen yet of the tsunami. The wide shots that show entire towns disappearing are awful, but this takes you right into one of those towns. How terrifying it must have been."

2011-03-16T12:56:00.002-04:00

Turn your iPad into a TV with Time Warner’s TWCable TV app

RATING:
4 out of 5

PRICE:
FREE

TASTY:
Time Warner Cable customers can turn their iPad into an additional TV viewing device, watching a small selection of live content at home over Wi-Fi.

BUMMER:
The app only functions over a strong, stable wireless Internet connection provided by Road Runner at home. (Sorry road warriors!) Limited selection of channels in initial release. No volume control on-screen, and lacks DVR-style controls (fast forward, rewind, pause, etc.) Registering to get the app up and running can be hit or miss; keep trying until you get a username and password! No parental controls.

COOL:
TWCable TV is the perfect companion app to Netflix and Hulu, giving cable subscribers nearly rock-solid access to a set of live TV streams that can be viewed anywhere in your home.

SIMILAR APPS IN THE MARKETPLACE:
Xfinity TV
Netflix
Hulu Plus
CNN App for iPad

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

It’s been a long time coming, but Time Warner Cable came through yesterday with a killer app that finally lets me watch live TV channels on my iPad. While not perfect, it’s an excellent start, and I’m hopeful that we’ll see significant improvements in the coming weeks.

So what does the free TWCable TV app get right? It’s free, comes pre-loaded with a fairly healthy channel lineup, and if you’ve got a solid (read: wireless N) Wi-Fi network in your home being served through the Road Runner service from TW, you’ll be up and running in a few minutes time.

After grabbing the program from the App Store, you’ll need to register at Time Warner’s website in order to verify that you subscribe to their TV service at the appropriate level (Expanded Basic or better), get Road Runner Internet connectivity, and finally, link your iPad to your offical TV account number. (Some users are reporting issues with generating login credentials; keep trying and you’ll get through. Took me a pair of tries.)

Once all of that is set, the app will display a black screen with a very spare menu system. Tap the left side of the screen to force the channel list to appear. Scroll up and down to see what’s playing right now. The initial list of available channels include: A&E, Bravo!, CNBC, CNN, Discovery, E!, Food Network, Fox News Channel, HGTV, CNN Headline News, History Channel, MSNBC, Syfy, TLC, and USA Network.
Just tap your choice to change the channel. A small pause will give the app time to cache a few seconds of video, and then you’ll be off and running. The image is clear, crisp, and fills the top two-thirds of you screen. (Why the channel list wasn’t programmed to appear in the black space at the bottom of the app I’ll never know.)

As you surf between channels, you’ll be able to click the only available control – Channel History – to switch between recent streams.

In terms of what the app is lacking, there’s currently no support for on-the-road (read: outside of your home) access to your channels. (Sorry road warriors!)

While a great start, the channel lineup is currently very limited compared to a standard digital cable TV lineup. There’s also no volume control on-screen, and the app completely lacks any DVR-style controls (fast forward, rewind, pause, etc.) For concerned parents, there are also no parental controls to speak of.

Still, all Time Warner subscribers with TV and Internet service will want to install this app sooner rather than later. Adding another TV viewing device to your family’s home collection is more than enough justification to bring yet another must-have capability to your Apple tablet.

2011-03-16T07:59:00.000-04:00

Head in the cloud... computing, powered by WorkXpress

This article originally appeared in today's Harrisburg, PA Patriot News. My brother, Drew, is a co-founder of WorkXpress.

Clients such as auto manufacturers constantly send work-order changes to R.T. Grim Electronics. Before cloud computing, implementing those changes meant calling on a Massachusetts software designer. "Every change took weeks, months - some would even take years," said MikeWentz, business operations manager for the Hampden Twp.-based consumer electronics business. "It was the combination of the complication of the software we had, and we were at the mercy of the person that was doing the software design." When the software designer retired, the company sought flexibility at a reasonable cost. With cloud computing supplied by Harrisburg-based WorkXpress, R.T. Grim embraced a solution that makes software revisions a simple, in-house affair.

Call it a ripple effect of economic development efforts for startups in the midstate. R.T. Grim managed a large contract for Ford Motor Co. and will market its capabilities to new customers because WorkXpress followed the region's support paths for tech startups.

WorkXpress hopes to capture a giant share of the cloud computing market, expected to rocket from $68 billion worldwide in 2010 to $159 billion by 2014, President and CEO Treff LaPlante said.

Cloud computing customizes infrastructure, platform and software to serve businesses' individual needs, LaPlante said. His company specializes in developing the platform that "manages and orchestrates the other two components" and makes software changes as easy as writing a PowerPoint presentation, he said.

"It's a lot more drag and drop," he said.

The software business is "broken," and cloud computing can fix it, LaPlante said. "There's a communications barrier between a programmer and a businessperson," he said. "The programmer doesn't know the businessperson's business. In the end, it doesn't meet anybody's needs." R.T. Grim's cloud solution from WorkXpress cost about one-fourth the price of traditional software, Wentz said. It was running within a 90-day window imposed by Ford after the company won a contract to remanufacture instrument clusters for about half of the nation's Ford dealers, he said.

"We make changes on the fly practically every day," Wentz said. "If there's something that changes in our process or wording on reports or documentation, we're able to very quickly institute them, roll them out overnight, and they're available tomorrow. In some cases, they're even available today." LaPlante, of Middletown, is a 1987 Central Dauphin East High School graduate who developed video games in California during the tech boom and helped to incubate a tech company bought out by eBay. Inspired by businesses' unhappiness with software, he brought his best programmer back to the midstate in 2002 and established WorkXpress in the Murata Business Center, Carlisle, the Harrisburg Regional Chamber and Capital Region Economic Development Corp.'s business incubator. Revving up the business required two years of "knocking on doors, trying to find anyone that would help me build this business," LaPlante said. "After a lot of networking, I came to realize there was a significant amount of support," he said, but much of it was disjointed.

Today, the region's economic development specialists say they're strengthening networks to eliminate barriers - and discouragement - for startups.

The state Ben Franklin Technology Partners, an earlyWorkXpress funder, offers seed capital, mentoring, commercialization help and incubator space for startups "that are most likely to create jobs and growth," said John Sider, managing director of statewide initiatives.

The midstate is strong in manufacturing and medical devices, but "this is a very diverse economy here in central Pennsylvania," Sider said.

"Any high-potential company can come to Ben Franklin for seed funding and get a close look at whether they'd qualify for one of our investments and other services," he said. "It's not as though any sector is left out, and that would be an unwise strategy around here, because we have lots and lots of companies coming through." On Feb. 3, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central and Northern Pennsylvania and CREDC announced creation of TechCelerator, giving Murata tenants access to Ben Franklin's mentoring services.

"There are so many good ideas out there," said PamMartin, regional director for Ben Franklin Technology Partners and TechCelerator's executive director. "There is no lack of good ideas, but what's needed is, how do I get from a great idea sitting in my garage to something that can be implemented and to build value so somebody will buy the great idea?" While Ben Franklin's Transformations Group uses seasoned, upper-level management to mentor new companies such into stability, a new "entrepreneurial immersion group" being planned will create fellowships and groommanagement to take maturing startups to the next level, Martin said.

"Often, there's a piece that says, 'I've got to find somebody else to help me grow this company,'" Martin said. "We're trying to build people to become those candidates to grow those companies. We're trying to build our own ecosystem."

About WorkXpress

WorkXpress moved out of Carlisle's Murata Business Center in February to become the LECG IT Support Services Center's first tenant.WorkXpress will draw student interns and employees from Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, a center partner.

On the Web: workxpress.com.
Phone: 421-1280
Address: 304 Market Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101

2011-03-16T07:46:00.004-04:00

Post 1337... very ELITE my friends... is all about the workout! Appropriate? You bet.

One on One with Tony Horton
Road Warrior (With Free Weights!) | Workout
Fitness Blueprint | Insanity/P90X #10 (Get P90X or start with Power 90)
Personal | Weight: 199 (Shakeology Snack Added)
Tracking Calories (iPad App)
Working at my Stand Up Desk (plans) (Why you should, too!)

Took a creative approach to an "on the road" workout, bring very heavy free weights and push up bars to the party.

How will you find new solutions to an old problem today? Here's a brick|Lego patch visual to inspire you...

2011-03-16T02:47:00.002-04:00

MLS Matchday 2011 delivers video highlights, scores, and more... BUT...

Platform: Android

RATING
2 out of 5

PRICE
FREE

TASTY
Soccer fans, rejoice! Live scores, play by play coverage, video highlights, and in-depth team information is now just a finger press away on your Android device.

BUMMER
Lacks live match streaming capability. Video isn’t rendered to play perfectly on the Android platform. App requires a large download, and is cannot be moved to your SD card. Some users report crashes in this initial version, requiring multiple reloads.

COOL
The app makes it easy to choose your favorite club so you can jump right to the news, rosters, photos, and scores that matter the most to you. (That is, if it doesn’t crash when you select yours.)

SIMILAR APPS IN THE MARKETPLACE
Soccer Scores – FotMob
Soccer LiveScores
Goal.com Mobile – Football

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

The first release of any app can make early adopters feel as if they’re beta testing an imperfect product. That’s certainly the case with MLS Match Day 2011, which seems to be a quick port of the iOS version with the live match streaming capability removed.

Add in some random crashes when trying to select your favorite team as the default view, video rendered to fit an iPhone and not your DROID, and a huge download that can’t me moved to an SD card, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for some pretty serious footie frustration.

That said, diehard Major League Soccer (MLS) fans will find overcoming these issues to be worth their time. The developer is actively working on fixes to many issues, and has promised that live match viewing (for a fee of course) is coming in a future version.

Today I recommend grabbing the app (after cleaning off some unused apps to make some room internally), and using it in its default view mode. Club news, images, rosters (some fresh, others stale), and scores are easily accessed. No-cost video highlights are available within a few minutes of each match ending, along with complete game roundups. Of course, there’s no missing the fact that live match streaming is missing. For many, that alone will be a deal breaker.

If you can live with poorly formatted video, live scores and textual play by play of every MLS game, and special video channels that sometimes play, and sometimes don’t, then this app will fill a void in your sports-loving world.

Here’s hoping the manifold issues with the app are fixed quickly so soccer lovers can get back to doing what they do best – watching their favorite teams play real football from the comfort of their beloved Android devices!

2011-03-15T07:54:00.000-04:00

P90X Core Synergistics | Workout
Fitness Blueprint | Insanity/P90X #10 (Get P90X or start with Power 90)
Personal | Weight: 199 (Shakeology Snack Added)
Tracking Calories (iPad App)
Working at my Stand Up Desk (plans) (Why you should, too!)

2011-03-12T17:59:00.001-05:00

Prayers to everyone in Japan...

2011-03-12T09:26:00.003-05:00

Land-a Panda will melt your heart in our iPad Games of the Week round-up

Angry Birds. Cut the Rope. Trucks and Skulls. All instant iOS classics, providing a massive set of levels to clear, ramping up the difficulty along the way, but never forgetting the fun factor.

This week’s top new game, Land-a-Panda HD, takes cues from all three, only this time you’ll need to guide Yang Guang, a lovestuck panda, to his dream partner, Tian Tian. Throw in some barrel blasting from Donkey Kong Country, add in some Mario coins, and see how quickly you can clear each level and help this pair get together.

Add in another Japanese-themed stacking game (with sushi!), plus a fun puzzle game sporting 3D, geometric shapes, and a final crazy-fun take on Pong, and you’ve got my list of the top new iPad games for the week.

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

IPAD APPS REVIEWED

Land-a Panda HD
Pandas need all the help they can get in the baby department. Help a lovelorn pair of black and white cuties connect across dozens of levels in this combo puzzle and physics game.

Sushi Stacker HD
How high can you stack the sushi? Here’s a time killer that combines two of my favorite things: sushi rolls and Japanese artwork!

GeoSpin HD
This geometric 3D puzzle game will have you spinning your way through tons of levels across score and time attack modes. (You knew that geometry class would pay off someday!)

Anger Management ‘_’
One part Pong and one part instant cult classic, this crazy (and I mean insane) app challenges you to keep a flaming potato bouncing across your iPad’s screen while the AI randomly messes with you. You’ll manage to like it, if you can cure your anger issues. Trust me.

IPAD GAME REVIEWS

Land-a Panda HD ($1.99)

Pandas: cute, fuzzy, and endangered. Now you can do your part to bring a pair of lovesick pandas together to help propagate this beloved species. Yang Guang needs to find his way across each play field in Land-a Panda HD to reach his dream partner, Tian Tian.

This crazy-cute, fun, and addictive title takes its cues from Angry Birds (level design and stages), Cut the Rope (physics puzzles), Donkey Kong Country (moving barrels), and even Super Mario Brothers (coin collecting), to create a wholly original experience that will keep your glued to your iPad for weeks to come.

You’ll need to grab every love coin, time your mating dance moves perfectly to clear each obstacle, and land on the final hearts with a hero stance to win Tian Tian’s affections. The retina graphics are stunning, the sound effects are spot-on, and the overall game play will appeal to iOS gamers of all ages. Time to get your panda on!

Sushi Stacker HD ($.99)

My son and I have been enjoying Sushi Boy for many weeks now. There’s something about an action-packed “how many sushi pieces can you grab” app to get the blood pumping and the fingers flying.

Sushi Stacker HD takes the same yummy theme, wraps each luscious piece of heaven in a to-go box, and challenges all hunger comers to stack these individual happy meals on top of each other. How high can you go? You’ll need to center each box on top of the last as precisely as you can, taking into account gravity and the occasional breeze that will send your pricey tower crashing to the ground.

The artwork is decidedly Japanese, with a fun musical score to keep you on your game along the way. Keep your eyes focused and your finger poised over the screen to maximize your chances to keep the tower climbing. Add a dash of luck and a ton of fun and you’ve got another sushi-game combo plate that’s sure to please palates young and old.

GeoSpin HD ($.99)

Back in the day, I spent many months playing Tetrisphere on the Nintendo 64 console. It was one of the first 3D puzzle games I’d ever played, and spinning a ball covered in Tetris-shaped pieces and dropping matching layouts on top of them to clear each level made for a fun, addictive challenge.

GeoSpin HD brings a similar experience to our Apple tablets, only this time you’ll be spinning a geometric shape covered in colored bocks, triangles, and other shapes with your finger, then dragging and dropping matching shapes on top. Drop the same shape and (oops!) colored piece on top of another, and they’ll both disappear.

You’ll be spinning your way through tons of levels across score and time attack modes for many weeks to come. Compare your score with others via OpenFient, enjoy the 60 frames per second game play, and watch your fun and matching skills increase exponentially!

Anger Management ‘_’ (FREE)

In today’s gaming world, there’s always room for a healthy dose of originality. Anger Management is probably the most crazy-unique, teen-rated game (for language) that I’ve played in a very long time.

Start by selecting your “anger level” to set the mood: hipsters, teen angst, pink eye, PETA, or baggage fees. Next, the app’s instructions give you a clue of what’s coming next: “1. Use the joypad to play Pong. 2. The computer will mess with you. Deal with it. 3. Control an overwhelming urge to destroy everything.“ Got it?

Once your game of pong begins, you’ll need to keep a flaming spud bouncing across the screen (filled with an image of President Lincoln bobbing his head) while the app inverts your controls, speeds up the little carb-bomb, makes it invisible, slows it down, or abruptly changes its direction.

After a few games, I found myself gritting my teeth through a sincere smile. As one early reviewer wrote: “[Developer Super Boise] invented a game like pong but you don’t have control over the damn thing!” Silly fun!

2011-03-11T22:47:00.000-05:00

Bejeweled 2 offers flawless Android gaming, if you can get it to work

Platform: Android

RATING
2 out of 5

PRICE
$2.99

TASTY
If matching sparkling gems to make them explode in a colorful shower is your thing, then this new addition to the Bejeweled family is a must-have for your Android device.

BUMMER
Missing popular Blitz mode. Very finicky in terms of which phones it will run on; if you have a new, high-powered Android device, you’re likely set to go. Lacks Facebook posting ability to challenge your friends to reach higher scores. Requires a large content download (25MB) to work properly.

COOL
Offers some of the best-looking graphics (eye candy!) and sounds in any Android game, bar none. Drink it in, gem-clearing fans!

SIMILAR APPS IN THE MARKETPLACE:
Bejeweled
Bejeweled Blitz Live
Gem Spinner
Gem Buster
Papaya Diamond
Dropwords

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

With four game modes, crystal-clear graphics, and insanely great sound effects, there’s a lot to love in Bejeweled 2 by EA. Unfortunately, there’s a 50-50 chance you may have issues running or even installing the app, so buyer beware.

If you’re luck enough to enjoy a solid purchase process, followed by a full download of 25MB of additional content (moved to your on-board SD card ASAP), and finally a successful launch of the app, then the game will quickly become your go-to gaming experience when you’re on the go.

Most of the best parts of the original Bejeweled are here and ready to rock, challenging all comers to match at least three sparkling gems to make them explode in a colorful shower of gaming goodness. Match four or more and you’ll create a power gem that elevate your score with eye-popping cascades and combos.

The game ships with Classic mode, which offers the usual gameplay. Next is Action, challenging you to beat the clock to get the highest score possible in the allotted time. Puzzles offers a brain-bending extension to the Bejeweled experience, and finally Zen is all about limitless play. (Don’t mess with my Zen thing, OK?)

Missing, however, is Blitz mode, a purchase-killer for many diehard fans of the franchise. (Note that a free knock off of this mode is available in Bejeweled Blitz Live.) The app also lacks Facebook posting ability, which gives players of other versions of the game the opportunity to challenge FB friends to reach higher scores.

With so many issues getting in the way of the fun factor, I recommend that you watch for a future update before installing this finicky, addictive beast. May the gems be with you, and EA, as they work out the kinks!

2011-03-11T12:06:00.000-05:00

Need your input: Planting Zoysia lawn this year...

Ok Southerners (NC/SC/GA/FL/TN): I'm considering planting Zoysia seed this year. Lots of open, bare ground, ready for some seed.

Do you have zoysia? Which variety? Best place to buy seed or plugs? How much did you pay?

Tips/tricks/comments? Looks like I'll need about 32-35lbs of seed to cover 15,850 sq. feet of lawn. Considering this source for the seed online.

Leave a comment to this post if you have any insights or tips. I'm listening, and thanks!

2011-03-11T06:45:00.001-05:00

2011-03-10T12:53:00.001-05:00

Charlie Sheen: WINNING Recipes

Charlie Sheen's Winning Recipes from Charlie Sheen

Be sure NOT to be drinking anything when you fire this up. You will spit it out laughing. Guaranteed.

2011-03-10T06:44:00.000-05:00

2011-03-09T12:41:00.002-05:00

Thanks, Shuttle Discovery

...the last few seconds of Discovery flying on it own this morning.

Recap of this amazing vehicle: 39 missions, 365 days in space, 5,830 orbits of the Earth, 148,221,665 miles traveled. It has gone through 39 sets of landing-gear tires since its first flight in 1984.

But what did Discovery accomplish beyond the numbers? Nicole Stott, one of the astronauts on Discovery's final mission, said Discovery is remarkable.

"It is kind of cool that the vehicle named Discovery has this kind of history, the most flights," she said in a preflight interview with ABC News. "I think it really sums up what the space program is about -- it is about discovery."

Discovery flew both return-to-flight missions after its sister ships, Challenger and Columbia, were lost. It launched the Hubble Space Telescope. It carried John Glenn, one of America's first space pioneers, on his sentimental return to space in 1998. It assembled the first components of the International Space Station.

It has flown more times than any other spaceship in history.

"Without Discovery, and the other space shuttles, we would not have built the space station," said Leroy Cain, NASA's deputy space shuttle program manager, who marveled how a 900,000 plus pound orbiting lab was assembled on orbit, thanks to the space shuttle. "Nothing else has the capability to carry up those big modules, and the parts needed to keep it functioning, it is truly a remarkable spacecraft."

Deb, Will, and I got to see STS-133 take off -- truly something we'll never forget!

2011-03-09T05:46:00.001-05:00

Townsmen 6 puts you in the role of France’s liberator

Platform: Android

RATING
5 out of 5

PRICE
FREE

TASTY
Townsmen 6 is a real time strategy (RTS) game that sets the standard for all other similar Android games. Do you have what it takes to fend off the King and liberate France in the name of freedom?

BUMMER
Steep learning curve, finicky control scheme that takes time to master. Ad supported.

COOL
Fans of the Civilization franchise will immediately feel at home in Townsmen 6, especially when it comes to empowering your townspeople (think Workers) to do the heavy lifting for you. Build your city, repel attacks, and use propaganda to spread the word. France needs you!

SIMILAR APPS IN THE MARKETPLACE:
Pocket Empires Online
The Settlers
UniWar
A Brief History of Rome
Battle for Mars

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

In Townsmen 6, the French Revolution is raging across your homeland. It’s your job to work with your local residents (townspeople) to expand your village, construct buildings, gather resources, and generally work day and night to take down the nefarious King.

Freeing France from the King’s tyranny is easier said than done. First there’s a complicated control scheme to master. Add in some oddness from time to time, and it will take you a few hours to really get a feel for for game. Once you’re comfortable, Townsmen really shines. Upgrading structures is a must, and repelling attacks from the King’s soliders can be difficult.

Expect to lose some territory along the way, but don’t give up. You’ll need to put your townspeople to work on your behalf, adding in some much-needed, Civilization-style delegation to work to carry the game along. You’ll also need to gather local resources to power your schemes, and don’t forget to use some good, old-fashioned propaganda to work for you to spread your influence whilst training up your troops to eventually stick it to your King.

Add in some crazy weather AI, an overhead map view to keep tabs on your important work, and a truly non-linear campaign (plus an open-ended mode for hardcore players), and Townsmen 6 roars into my personal top 5 for strategy games on the Android platform.

I recently learned that Townsmen 6 was awarded the “Best Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year” award by Pocketgamer magazine at a recent Gaming Developer’s Conference (GDC). In a recent interview Markus Kassulke, CEO of HandyGames, said: “Townsmen 6 is the highest quality for an international audience and offers unlimited entertainment for all fans so it made perfect sense to bring our game to Android as consumers take to the Android platform in droves.”

Thanks Markus, and Viva la France!

And now it's time for something complete different...

Mario Brothers. With realistic sounds. Strange.

2011-03-08T12:21:00.001-05:00

Why fund libraries? This is why...

Are you listening, GOP?

2011-03-07T17:55:00.001-05:00

Why Dead Space is Insanely Great

Listen to the staffers who made this... digital experience. It was a creative endeavor that went far, far beyond the "usual" development cycle. The story, the themes, the integrated moments.

One of many reasons Dead Space is, today, my favorite "game" franchise spanning several consoles. Bar none.

2011-03-07T07:33:00.002-05:00

P90X Chest, Shoulders, Tris + Ab Ripper | Workout
Fitness Blueprint | Insanity/P90X #10 (Get P90X or start with Power 90)
Personal | Weight: 197 (Shakeology Snack Added)
Tracking Calories (iPad App)
Working at my Stand Up Desk (plans) (Why you should, too!)

New week, new workouts. Time to bring it people!

2011-03-05T09:12:00.003-05:00

Wisconsin vs. Wall Street... Logic, anyone?

Video putting all of this into nice, neat context. Where's the outrage? Thanks Mr. Stewart.

2011-03-05T00:06:00.001-05:00

Big Boss is the big cheese of our iPad Games of the Week

My nine-year-old son is constantly sketching things on every bit of paper he can find. Little monsters, comic characters, and crazy animals are his favorite subjects. So when I showed him Big Boss, it was no surprise that it took more than an hour before I could wrestle our family tablet from his little hands.

This instant classic from Chillingo gives players the ability to create their own “boss” character, tweaking everything from his eyes to his arms, legs, mouth, armor, weapons, and more. And once he’s perfectly unique, it’s time to crush the many kingdoms of Wackylands!

Add in a learning game to help your kids identify the birds returning to your locale as Spring arrives, a family-friendly puzzle game featuring a greedy sponge, and a free, testosterone-boosting wrestling app, and you’ve got yourself an eclectic mix of new iPad games to keep you occupied over the ides of March.

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.

IPAD APPS REVIEWED

Big Boss
Fee Fi Fo Fum, who’s the nastiest monster of them all? Make your own towering, custom Bosses and take down local towns in this kid-friendly romp. How dare they block your view from your cave?

What the Bird!? Lite
The birds are returning, so you know Spring is about to… spring? This app offers a fun, educational method for learning all about our fair weather feathered friends.

The Greedy Sponge Free
In the beginning, there was the Greedy Sponge, and he’s a hungry primordial beast! Feed him by solving the puzzles in this relaxing casual game.

Ultimate Arm Wrestling Free
You won’t need crazy huge biceps to take down your opponents in this fun freebie. But you will need to be the quickest finger-tapper around to topple your tabletop opponent.

IPAD GAME REVIEWS

Big Boss ($1.99)

Who hasn’t wanted to be a massive giant, laying cartoony waste to a quiet little medieval kingdom? (Just me? Naa.) In Big Boss, kids and the young at heart can make their own towering, custom Boss who’s looking to take down local towns. Why? Well, the pesky humans have built castles that block your view. It’s time to crush the thoughtless brutes (and their pretty Princesses) to restore your line of sight!

Start by tweaking everything from your Boss’s eyes to his arms, legs, mouth, armor, weapons, and more. And once he’s ready, set off and crush the many kingdoms of Wackylands. Along the way your Boss will pick up new armor, weapons, coins, upgrades, and more. Be sure to visit the menu often to buy and equip the newest, best items. There’s hours of kid-friendly mayhem to be had, a full dozen side-scrolling scenarios to play through, and many “ridiculous” special items to equip. Go forth and maul, Big Boss!

What the Bird!? Lite (FREE)

The birds are returning to their spring and summer homes this month, and there’s no better way to welcome them home then to learn more about them! This fun, ad-supported app combines a hangman-like interface tied to a photo puzzle reveal, complete with audio of bird calls, to bring even the most young and/or amateur bird watchers up to speed in a hurry.

You start with just the sound of a bird. As you begin typing the letters of their proper name into the on-screen keyboard a small portion of their picture is uncovered. Keep typing and eventually the full correct name is filled in, along with the bird’s image. When you complete each hangman puzzle, basic information about the bird appears, along with a link for more information (connects to Wikipedia entries for the breed). You can get up to six letters wrong before the app simply gives you the answer. A super-helpful free app that’s worth an install to get you and your family ready for the new season.

The Greedy Sponge Free (FREE)

“In the beginning… the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep…” But under it, who knew there was a voracious, cartoony Greedy Sponge intent on eating every last primordial creature in sight? It’s your job, time traveler, to feed this beast. You’ll need to quickly disconnect the hapless little Sponge food from their clingy hive, and the more you rip away from their warm descending home, the more points you’ll get! (Karma points?)

Keep your eye on the colorful hive and tap on connected clusters of five or more scrumptious swimmers all bearing the same markings. You can also bring the little bon bons closer together by tapping the sides of the screen. In no time the smiling Sponge will gobble up the strays you’ve tapped and your score will multiply. Be sure to work from the bottom up before the little guys swarm the Sponge!

Ultimate Arm Wrestling Free (FREE)

Well, its finally happened. I’ve found the perfect iPad drinking game, and its name is Ultimate Arm Wrestling. The premise is simple. Play against the computer or a friend on the same iPad, tapping the dots on your side of the screen to help your virtual arm wrestler triumph over your opponent. The faster you tap, the more leverage your avatar will have, and the further his arm will move to win the match.

No big biceps are necessary, but a keen eye and a quick tapping finger are a must. Once you get by the in-your-face ads, there’s tons of fun to be had in this bar-friendly app. Here’s hoping my full-tablet case and screen protector will keep the errant beer splashes and deep fried food crumbs from damaging my device.

Must, tap, FASTER!

2011-03-04T07:43:00.002-05:00