Zen Thoughts
REVIEW: Tradewinds 2
Life is a game. One of my fondest moments with computer games is playing addictive trading games like Dope Wars (pun intended). ThIs type of games improve your business and logic skills. Not so long ago, Astraware introduced a similar game with a twist called Tradewinds.
Tradewinds is based on the popular PC game by Sandlot Games. It has been developed and optimized for Palm OS® and Windows Mobile® touchscreen PDAs and Smartphones by Astraware under license from Sandlot. In Tradewinds, you are tasked to do trading, battle your foes and emerge victorious as you build your way to power.
Tradewinds 2 is the sequel to Tradewinds - a best-selling game of swashbuckling adventure and trading in the Far East. This time its an entirely new adventure featuring 5 new characters, and 20 all new ports. As with Tradewinds, players can battle pirates and trade in goods, but Tradewinds 2 has all new booty to trade in and in Story Mode there are over 100 different tasks to be completed.
In Story Mode start by selecting one of the 4 unlocked characters and you'll begin the story in your home port. The game will offer you an onscreen introduction. Complete the game as one of these characters to enable LaRoche to play with and the character generator.
When you see the map screen you'll have a handful of ports available to you. As you play more additional ports can be revealed - for instance you might be rewarded with a map. You'll also unlock new goods to trade in and new Governors who'll give you tasks.
Explore all the buildings in each port. Talk to the characters you find there and they'll offer you useful information to aid you in your quest.
In Free Trade Mode you can buy and sell goods to build your fortune as well as battle pirates.
Make sure to visit the shipyards to repair your ship after battle or to upgrade your ship and weapons. Tradewinds 2 differs from Tradewinds as you only have 1 ship which is upgradeable, rather than a fleet of smaller ships. Start with a simple Sloop and work your way towards a Man-O-War!
The game can be controlled with the stylus or with 5-way controls. If you're using the 5-way access the buildings using the menu button onscreen. Set Sail using the main game menu.
Overall, the game has evolved from a simple trading-battle turn based game into a great game with epic proportion. It feels like playing on your PC for hours and days. I dare say the gameplay evolved by folds (that you need more than just dead hours at the airport to finish this game). The entertainment factor of mobile gaming have never been this fun!
Trial limitation: 36 weeks of sailing across both game modes (1 trip from port to port equals 1 week).
Price: Tradewinds 2 is priced at $19.95. Trial copy of the game can be downloaded here.
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iPhone: Apple's Third Act
I'm as facinated and excited about Apple's iPhone (as much as everyone else) when it was introduced last Tuesday. I've burned midnight candles to do some readings and was ready to drop my Palm TC (and my current Moto phone) right away. Everyone was talking about it with such enthusiasm and awe. Its indeed a wonderful piece of concept, but the reality distortion field (RDF) begins to wear off quickly. Back to reality, I've asked myself if I would be getting one, I could have probably if it was made available right away. If you ask me now, I'll tell you that I'll be holding off until the release of the iPhone version 2 or 3 (if there are such in the making). Why? Let me count the ways...
1. The iPhone is high technology, highly priced but with a crippled feature and its locked. It wasn't designed like the iPod. The iPod started out only to play music and it does what it does with an affordable price. For the iPhone, you have the potential technology that is crippled to the application and features that Apple dictates (with a high price).
2. Steve says you don't need a fixed physical thumboard on the device. This seems to be a viable reason if the phone doesn't do SMS and email, but it does. And it needs a tactile feedback inorder for the concept to be compelling. This is the same reason why Apple's Mighty Mouse created much frustration.
3. No unlocked version available. The choice of network is out of the question. I personally don't like to be tied up if the phone is not even given away for free. The second or third iteration would probably have the unlocked version (not to mention a much lower price).
There are more reasons in the sea on why its an overrated phone, but those three are the main reason for me not to jump on it right away. The iPhone won't kill the ones that Steve shown during his keynote. In fact, I'm even in doubt if the iPhone could make its expected 1% marketshare target by next year. Remember that not all iPod owners could afford an iPhone and not all iPod users would buy an iPhone. Buying a shuffle or a nano for a second iPod is more likely to happen than buying an iPhone as a third or fourth iPod. If history repeats itself, I see the iPhone being another G4 Cube in the making.
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Changing Times: A Palm Makeover
Sometimes, you don't need to buy a new Palm inorder to satisfy your lust of technology. It always boils down to how you badly need a specific hardware feature. The rest are modifiable through software patches and add-ons.
In my case, I have two Palms - Tungsten T and Tungsten C (figures that I haven't bought anything new within the last two years or so). For the past years, I've been switching from one to the other depending on what my needs are. We all know that one has the bluetooth with a smaller form factor and the other has the WiFi and the thumboard - each are unique on its own. Since I've moved here in Canada, I've been carrying the Tungsten T for its smaller form factor. Recently, I've switched back to the C since I need more built-in RAM, WiFi and a thumboard. With the switch, I've done some tweaks to let my Palm look more like an OS X machine.
Here's what I've installed: Palm Revolt with the OS X skin, Font Smoother with the Lucida Grande Bold 13 font, IconsPlus with OS X icons, TMP (to replace the built-in Datebook). Most of these are sharewares which you could try using before buying. This would be a great way of having a new Palm without buying one.
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THOUGHT: Bootcamping 'til Leopard
Today, Apple introduced the public beta of Boot Camp. What does this move implies towards Apple's future? It looks very very rosy - not that I like to install Windows on my Mac.
iPod was only the beginning - the introduction for the Book 2 in Apple's saga. The success of iPod doesn't really mean that iPod owners would like to own a Mac right away. Apple learned their lesson from the past on how Microsoft grabbed market share away from them. This will be done thesame as well to Microsoft through karma (remember that Steve Jobs fully believes in it). Basically, Microsoft didn't focus themselves on the hardware, instead made their presence on every PCs that were being sold. They copy every single thing that Apple makes with their OS (and Apple couldn't do anything on that). Would Apple compete with Microsoft head on? The answer is No. Steve Jobs is not stupid to waste Apple's resources in competing head-on with the world's biggest software developer. Instead, Apple makes Microsoft its biggest ally and concentrate on what they do best - designing the experience. Don't get me wrong, Apple is not shifting to Windows (its not even included on the next iteration of OS X). They're just providing an alt / option to Windows users, thus making the decision to switch faster than waiting for a blue moon.
This move of Apple will have its casualities. Not Microsoft, but the licensee of Windows in the likes of HP, Dell, Toshiba, etc. You would now understand why Apple wouldn't want to license OS X. If Apple licensed out OS X, the Mac platform would grow a bit but will never be near that of Windows. Aside from that, Apple would not be able to control the insanely great Mac experience if its installed on different hardware designs. If Apple would keep OS X to themselves and offer Boot Camp, this would make it easier for the Windows users to switch. There's no hardware manufacturer can do both Windows and Mac aside from Apple. Apple makes their hardware sleek and sexy as well as the OS. The only contender for the the Windows camp (that makes good hardware) is Sony, but they only have a small overall marketshare. This argument alone would let Apple's shareholders very very happy. And guess what's gonna happen next (when Apple finally reclaims its position as the biggest computer vendor in the industry)?
What are your thoughts?
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THOUGHT: There Goes The Cable TV
There was a time when people started switching to cable television from free TV to avoid commercial ads. At present day, almost 80% of the household have already switched to cable TV, thus sparked competition from cable providers. This resulted to competitive subscription pricing that triggered more advertising minutes on regular cable programming (to cover operating cost). We're now living at the crossroads all over again. Another shift is taking form. Believe it or not, Apple Computer is at the forefront of this upcoming shift.
The iTMS (iTunes Music Store) platform is the best there is right now in distributing any media content in mind (may it music, TV shows, or full-length movie). From download-to-own music to multi-pass monthly download options for various TV shows, it will surely start the transition from cable subscription to online media purchases. With this model, you're no longer obliged to pay for contents that you don't want. It brings more control and consumer freedom. This as well becomes the realization of an age old dream to integrate the computer with the rest of the living room appliances. Or should it be the case of the computer replacing the TV, the Hi-Fi and soon even the microwave oven?
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THOUGHT: Missing Piece on Apple's Pie
Its been in the news that Apple just recently acquired a data center probably to house their upcoming movie store. This is pretty much a predictable move on Apple's part, but they entirely lack a medium of distribution. Currently, you could only buy songs through using your computer. There's no wireless component available yet (that enables consumer to purchase songs wirelessly). The purchase growth will not be coming from introducing wireless enabled iPods either (if there is such a plan). I'm not saying wireless iPod would not be a good followup for the category, but it would not give Apple the immediate boost in music (and maybe movie) sales. One sector that is currently enjoying the steady growth in wireless downloads are the telcos (offerings ranging from ringtones to music and even live TV). Apple partnering with Cingular (for Motorola's ROKR) is a step forward to that direction, but needs to make it faster while the iPod is still hot inorder to ensure success (before Microsoft gets in).
The logical step that Apple must take is acquiring Palm Inc. This thought have been discussed and argued before, but this move would bridge the gap to march the iPod into the wireless direction. Palm has a clout in telco relationship mainly due to the Treo's success. Palm needs further infusion on capital to develop future products and Apple has the money for that. On Palm's end, only Apple has the company principle which devotes itself to innovation than any other tech companies. Its going to be a marriage made in heaven. Time is ticking down, there's not much left to waste. They both have to act fast and materialize a deal right away. The deal would be beneficial to both companies inorder to move ahead.
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THOUGHT: What's The Fuss About Origami
For several days we've seen increasing interest on Microsoft's new Origami Project. Most gadget sites and enthusiast blogs treated it with great anticipation and excitement, but for me its not convincing enough to be put on the pedestal. Neither the product's functionality nor the overall design concept is mind-blowing. Most of its features are already present in today's devices for its only as good as a shrunken Tablet PC (having a Treo 650 will even be better than lugging around a paperback sized computer).
Here's the list of the highlighted features:
- send, receive, edit and preview images.
- send and receive messages.
- browse the web.
- transfer images from WiFi or bluetooth devices.
- locate a map.
- do MS Office documents.
- use to control Media Center PC.
- play 3D games made for PCs.
In a nutshell, its like trying to be your desktop PC while at thesame time act as a PC companion. Reality Check: Isn't it that Palm handhelds were created with that philosophy in mind? This may be the replacement for the current Tablet PC or PocketPC, but either way it couldn't. You can neither put this device inside your pocket nor get thesame screen estate like a Tablet PC.
Features that were highlighted on the video are not worth the hype and excitement that the geek world is celebrating about. This device simply screams the ill-fated OQO. The presentation video (through entering and selecting Work then Brand Theatre) may not well represent this project, but surely be a good one for the Treo 650.
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