Dexpot

This is the kind of application I live for. It simplifies the way we use windows, it is perfect for portables with less screen real estate than huge desktops, oh... it is free too.

Deskpot allows you to manage windows and virtual desktops to keep your workspace tidy and streamlined. It will work wonders for your laptop, tablet or ultramobile.

Who's Who?

I'm terrible at remembering names. I also attend a lot of meetings with clients. Invariably, I forget a lot of their names. Lifehacker comes to the rescue with a great little tip.

Draw a map!

I've always got my Tablet PC with me in meetings, to take notes, jot down ideas and draw explanations of complex systems. I always write down the names of participants and meeting attendees, but never before have I drawn a map.

As a visual person, maps help me all the time. I map out ideas, concepts, system flows, business diagrams and more. Why not take an extra 15 seconds to draw a map of the conference table and who was sitting where? Surely, that would save me the embarrassment of not being able to remember someone's name later on. Even DURING the meeting, I could refer to my map in order to remember someone's name.

I think my problem of being bad with names just became a little less of a problem.

2 Cool Tools

Here are two cool tools I came across today. First is EvilRSS. This oddly-named service allows you to make any Google search you want, and save it as an RSS feed. Why didn't I think of that?

The next one is a series of free audio books. Put them on your iPod or on your Treo to listen to stories on the go. Did I mention they are free? Yeah.

I run a 700p

These are some programs that I run on the Treo.

LJP is a program that emulates Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System, Genesis, Super Nintendo, TurboGraifx 16 and more.

TCPMP is a free movie player that runs DivX movies, among other formats, at full framerate. It will playback 640x480 on the Treo's screen, automatically scaling to fit the native 320x320 resolution. This is very handy since you don't have to downsample or convert movies in your collection.

QuickNews is an RSS newsreader that I have configured to download podcasts. Several times a day, the Treo updates the RSS feeds. If it finds any new podcasts, it downloads them directly to the SD card. My Treo is always full of the most recent content.

Listening to Podcasts can be done with the included Pocket Tunes or TCPMP, for free. Shareware alternatives let you customize your music. The enhanced version of Pocket Tunes allows you to download skins for the player, and ties directly into Internet Radio streams. Listen to DI.fm or Soma anywhere you have data connection.

Mocean, a touchscreen-based player that uses a familiar wheel design, also plays audio and video. The interface makes it easy to transition away from other products.

Softick Audio Gateway allows you to wirelessly listen to your music through a pair of Bluetooth headphones, or anything else that receives Bluetooth A2DP signals.

Yes, it has Google Maps.

NPD Sales Number Charts

There has been a lot of buzz over the video game sales data from NPD that covers all of 2006. Every one of the major game companies has put out some form of press release stating that they are the champion for December or all of 2006.

I've gone ahead and created some simple charts of the data. These are a great way to visualize the numbers that Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft are touting around.

A few things to note:
Consoles - Home System
Handhelds - Portable Game Systems
Next Gen / Current Gen - The most recent available systems
Previous Gen - Systems that have been replaced by newer systems

On to the charts!

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This chart compares the division of the current (next) generation console market by grouping all of the data for each company's home console sales for 2006 into their piece of the pie.

Current-Gen consoles include:

Sony - PS3

Microsoft - Xbox 360

Nintendo - Wii

Note:

This chart best represents the home console wars at the close of 2006, as it does not include previous generation systems or handheld systems.

This data is frequently cited by Microsoft, as it shows Microsoft controlling the larget portion of the current (next) generation home console market.

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This chart shows the number of current generation consoles and handhelds that have been sold during 2006 by each of the primary video game players.

Current-Gen consoles include:

Sony - PS3

Microsoft - Xbox 360

Nintendo - Wii

Current-Gen Handhelds include:

Sony - PSP

Nintendo - DS

Note:

This chart provides an easy way to compare volume of current (next) generation systems as they were sole through 2006.

This data is frequently cited by Nintendo, as it shows that Nintendo sold more current (next) generation units (combination of console and handheld) in 2006.

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This chart shows the number of current generation consoles and handhelds that have been sold during December 2006, by each of the primary video game players.

Current-Gen consoles include:

Sony - PS3

Microsoft - Xbox 360

Nintendo - Wii

Current-Gen Handhelds include:

Sony - PSP

Nintendo - DS

Previous-Gen Consoles include:


PS2

Previous-Gen Handhelds include:


GameBoy Advance


(There is no indication in the data provided to me if the GameBoy Advance numbers include all models of GameBoy Advance (Original, SP, Micro, GBA Player) or not.)

Notes:

Sony is the only manufacturer of previous gen consoles in this data.

Nintendo is the only manufacturer of previous gen handhelds in this data.

Total number of current-gen consoles exceeded that of previous gen console sales.

This data is frequently cited by Sony as it shows Sony having sold more home console units (previous and current (next) generation) than the competition.

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This chart compares the division of the current (next) generation console and handheld market by grouping all of the data for each company's current (next) generation handheld and home console sales for all of 2006 into their piece of the pie.

Current-Gen consoles include:

Sony - PS3

Microsoft - Xbox 360

Nintendo - Wii

Current-Gen Handhelds include:

Sony - PSP

Nintendo - DS

Notes:

Microsoft does not produce a handheld game system.

---

This chart compares the division of the current (next) generation console and handheld market by grouping all of the data for each company's current (next) generation handheld and home console sales for December 2006 into their piece of the pie.

Current-Gen consoles include:

Sony - PS3

Microsoft - Xbox 360

Nintendo - Wii

Current-Gen Handhelds include:

Sony - PSP

Nintendo - DS

Notes:

Microsoft does not produce a handheld game system.

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This chart compares the division of the console and handheld market for both current (next) generation and previous generation systems by grouping all of the data for each company's handheld and home console sales for December 2006 into their piece of the pie.

Current-Gen consoles include:

Sony - PS3

Microsoft - Xbox 360

Nintendo - Wii

Current-Gen Handhelds include:

Sony - PSP

Nintendo - DS

Notes:

Microsoft does not produce a handheld game system.

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Gate 88 - a Queasy Game

Here's a sweet little shareware game I found.

It is a cross between Asteroids (Armada), Warcraft and Rez.

No really! You fly a ship around and use it to build bases/turrets/etc. that can be used to build automated fighters. Unlike a regular RTS, you can fight on your own. The whole thing is presented with a Tron/Rez like look to it. The music is excellent (in OGG format so you can play it on your MP3 player too) and it is super fun. Oh yeah, it has online multiplayer too. :D

The developers describe it in the following manner:

A childhood daydream of deep space intergalactic battle inspired by Herzog Zwei, Star Control, Subspace, Homeworld, and Parsec47.

I'm going to work on a GlovePIE script so you can play the whole thing using a wireless Wii remote.

Here's a link to the Windows download...
http://www.queasygames.com/gate88/downloads.html#win32

Enjoy!