Tech Phone

Midomi a sleek little music ID app for Android now available in the Market for free (for a “limited time”) The one key feature that really sets it apart from the current big name, Shazam, is that you can hum the tune into your phone, so even if you can’t get your phone out in time to put it up against a speaker, you won’t be tortured with a mystery song until you get to a proper computer.

After figuring out the song, Midomi offers YouTube videos, bookmarking, sharing, lyrics, artist info, album art, and a bunch of other stuff – very handy. So go ahead an look it up in the on-device Android Market, but if you’re rocking an iPhone, a premium version is available for $4.99.

[Midomi]
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Slacker Radio has been updated for all of the BlackBerry and iPhone users out there. this latest update is a minor one, bringing the killer radio app up to 2.0.91.Slacker for now only service US-only radio service available on a web player, portable radio player (the Slacker G1 and G2) or on your mobile device (iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry).

The cool thing about it is you can create and share your own customized music stations. Start with one of the app’s presets, or browse a list of artists to build your station, and go from there. Very nifty. Earlier this year Slacker had over 2.4 million songs, with 100 programmed stations and 10,000 artist stations available.

[Slacker.com.]
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RA lets you play as either Allies or Soviets across 12 levels of resource gathering, unit building, and, of course, military conquest. Gamers out there will be familiar with name, although understandably wary about gameplay on a smaller screen. By the looks of the screenshots, Red Alert looks wholly playable and potentially a lot of fun if EA took their time and made sure everything was properly redesigned for mobile.

Downloadable expansions will broaden gameplay by adding multiplayer capabilities and another unique faction down the line… Looking forward to it!

Command & Conquer: Red Alert, is now available on the iPhone in the App Store for $9.99



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You have probably seen this game on the Nintendo Wii and DS. The Guiness World Records: The Video Game is a catchy game that allows you to see how you rank with other people in your nation. Now you can do so wherever you go as GameSpy brings the popular video game to the iPhone.

If before you had to stay indoors or where your game console is at, this time around, do it anywhere. Just bring along your iPhone after installing this value app from GameSpy and see how you rank or even try at will until you achieve your goal, any time any where!

Guinness World Records: The Video Game for iPhone gives players real-time feedback on their rankings; the current score is displayed on-screen right alongside the highest score for the state, region or world. The game revolves around the celebration of a player’s progressive achievements and competition with other record breakers around the world, inspiring repeat gameplay and immersing players in the competitive gaming experience.

Sprint has announced that for the fourth consecutive year NFL fans can watch NFL Network's broadcast of the NFL Draft live on April 25-26 on their Sprint TV-enabled phones and receive other exclusive wireless NFL Draft content exclusively from Sprint via NFL Mobile Live.

NFL Network's draft programming will be available on NFL Mobile Live or via Sprint TV, both available at no additional cost to data and text subscribers. To download NFL Mobile Live users can text "NFL" to 7777.

NFL Mobile Live is included at no additional charge in Sprint's Everything plans starting at $69.99, including Simply EverythingSM, which combines unlimited voice, messaging and extensive data services - such as NFL Mobile Live - for just $99.99 per month.

With other Sprint plans, customers can get NFL Mobile Live by adding a Data Pack, starting at $15 per month. NFL Mobile Live is available on most Sprint handsets.

In addition to the live NFL Network TV coverage, fans can follow the NFL Draft in a multitude of ways with content available on NFL Mobile Live delivered by Sprint's Now Network. Highlights include:

* Draft Tracker, featuring live updates during the draft, including the previous selection, the current team on the clock with a live countdown clock, the next team drafting, and continuous access to all previous draft selections.
* Text alerts so fans know who their favorite NFL team picks and when their favorite college players are selected.
* Blogs from former University of Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford and former University of Southern California quarterback Mark Sanchez offering a behind-the-scenes look at their experiences leading up to draft day.
* Exclusive live Draft Day blog by NFL expert Adam Schefter through Rounds 1 and 2.
* The latest news, opinion and analysis, including mock drafts, from NFL.com's draft experts Steve Wyche and Pat Kirwan and NFL Network's Charles Davis and Jaime Dukes.
* A variety of mock drafts created by fans.
* Player bios.
* An extensive library of NFL Network-produced interviews with players, coaches and general managers, including video of the top players, all available on-demand.
* All of NFL Network's live pre-draft coverage from now until the draft concludes.

Oooh, what a great game question! If you're a big gamer (or maybe someone else in your household is), you probably get so excited every time you get a new game. You anticipate being able to play it and you just can't wait for the installation process to finish so that you can get started! Well, not to burst your bubble, but there are some things you should do even before you start installing the new game on your computer. Bummer, huh? But I promise it will help you in the long run. Let's see what we've got!

Before you even get the game near your computer, you should first run a disk cleanup. To do that, double click on your My Computer icon and then right click on your C: drive. Select Properties and then click on the Disk Cleanup button. That will remove some unnecessary files on your system in order to make room for your new game. Next, you should run a ScanDisk (called Error Checking in XP). For XP, right click on your C: drive again and choose Properties, Tools tab. Just hit the Check Now button and you'll be all set. Other versions can get there by going to Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, ScanDisk. That will help fix any errors that lie within your system. (Click here to learn how to do a disk cleanup in Windows Vista).
Once that's done, you should run a defrag on your system. We've talked about this several times in the past, but if you're still not sure how to do it, click here to learn how. Or, if you're using Vista, use this link. Finally, before you put your new game in to install, make sure you close any other programs you have open. You can use the Task Manager to easily close those out. Just hit Ctrl + Alt + Del on your keyboard and close them one by one.

If you perform all of those cautionary tasks before you install a new game on your computer, the game will run much smoother and without any freeze ups. You'll also have a better chance of a clean and proper install. You'll probably combat any error messages that may have popped up before as well. So, now that you know your computer is ready, let the games begin!

In a true testament to human priorities, mobile gaming downloads have increased nearly 20% over the last year - possibly because people no longer have "clients" or "jobs" to distract them from Peggle. The driving force behind the increase is the increase in phone computing power, with the new generation of smartphones actually able to run games worth playing.

The real winner is the iPhone, with one in three of all users reporting that they (more…)

Here's something for the older folks among our readers, who at the same time own a Symbian S60-powered smartphone. A new version of the Commodore C64 emulator, Frodo, for S60 3rd Edition has been released.

Frodo 1.5 is better than ever, and now includes support for accelerometers in selected phones like the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N95, N95 8GB, N82, N96 and others. As a result, when playing some C64 classic titles, you can move your phone around to simulate a joystick or steering wheel. In addition, there's also an on-screen keyboard and vibration support included in the mix.

Aside from the S60 3rd edition, Frodo is also available for other platforms — including S60 1st and 2nd edition, Series 80 and UIQ. A short demo video follows after the jump, and more information is available from the official website.

The good folks over at Medialets have compiled a new list of the top 10 most popular downloads in the Android Market. The list highlights downloads for the month of November 2008, and as you can see in the chart above, it looks like Pac-Man leads the way by a fair margin (although, the numbers are pretty vague at best!)

I’m actually a bit disappointed that MySpace Mobile came in a very high second, just above the Weather Channel app. My detest for MySpace has been growing deep inside my gut for years now… and I suppose there’s a little bit of me that dies every time something to do with MySpace does well. I’ll get over it :P

The Top 10 most popular downloads again (in case you can’t make out the chart above!):
1. Pac-Man
2. MySpace Mobile
3. The Weather Channel
4. ShopSavvy
5. Ringdroidv
6. imeem Mobile
7. Shazam
8. Rings Extended
9. Bonsai Blast
10. Brain Genius Deluxe

Well done Pac-Man and Namco. I’ve got to say, I have the Pac-Man app for the iPhone and I love it… I’m a sucker for classic/retro gaming though, so take that for what it’s worth.