Green: Mobile Games That Help Emphasize Green Efforts and Conservation

Do games help change our behaviors in real life? There are a lot of debates about that. They are ongoing and subjective to interpretation based on one's philosophy on the matter.

But I believe green games can help in ways children's games help teach certain learning skills.

Take for instance the games mentioned in this Sci Tech Today post. They teach about recycling, saving mythical whales, learning about a delta ecosystem, or knowing what to price to set at a yard sale based on what can be reused. Those kinds of games are valuable to teach aspects of conservation and what is involved in green living.

Fate of the World puts the player in charge of a full city dealing with 200 years of near real world scenarios of population growth, food management, and other socioeconomic issues.

Okay the last game might be a bit far fetched but nonetheless brings attention to problems we deal with outside of the confines of a virtual earth.

All of these are excellent topics for gaming developers, especially mobile ones, to consider working on.

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Privacy: Apple Removes Access To Unique Device Identifier; For End Users, No Diff Will Be Noticed But Ad Guys Might Not Like It

Privacy is a big big deal for me.  It's why I detest Facebook and I have virtually stopped using it and why I am hoping Google+ will act as a good counterweight.  So, when I read that Apple has removed the unique device identifier (UDID), I initially did not pay much attention to it until I realized that this could be a preemptive move to protect user privacy.  At worse, give Apple an advantage over other networks and developer.

So, what is this UDID, what is used for, and why did Apple remove access to it?  Privacy concerns, to gain an unfair advantage over others on the iOS devices, or both.

Why Apple Will Not Release The iPad 3 This Year - It Has Nothing To Do With Retina Display Yields

All along, I believed that Apple will not release another iPad this year.  Certainly, not another 10" iPad, as some would call it, iPad 3.  However, I still do hope out hope for a larger screened iPod touch.

Why am so sure?  iPad 2.  And iPhone 5.  But there's also a third reason.

Should Apple Buy Web OS From HP? Web OS Ran Faster As Webapp On iPad 2 Than on Touchpad

I don't remember where I read this but before HP finally bought Palm, Apple was reported interested in Palm. If this is true, I wonder if Apple would still be interested in Web OS and its own treasure trove of patents.

Considering that Palm has its own zealots, it would not br a bad idea for Apple to own them as well.

Furthermore, there are multiple reports today that Web OS ran faster on the iPad than on the native Touchpad hardware. And that was running Web OS as a Webapp.

So what do you think? Apple hooking up Web OS to iOS? Oh, man...

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Analyst Upgrades RIM Because HP Abandoned Web OS; Shows Wall Street Doesn't Get It

Via Bloomberg, a Wall Street analyst upgrades RIM, maker of Blackberry and Playbook, because HP decided to end its mobile experiment and kill of all Web OS development.

This really shows just how much brilliance it takes to work on Wall Street. Which is to say none at all.

RIM's problem isn't HP. Nor was HP's problem in the market blackberries specifically but rather it's the iPhone and the legions of Android devices out there.

Right now, everyone's problem in the tablet market is the iPad. And the only mobile platform out there that will challenge Apple's iOS is Android.

RIM's dismal performance in the tablet market isn't that Touchpads were outselling Playbooks. Now, I know that just maybe RIM might begin to pick up some disenchanted Web OS users but I doubt that'll be enough to suddenly vault the company back to a rate of growth that puts it on par with iOS or Android's growth.

The analyst might just as well be ready to upgrade RIM should ever decide to change the name of Playbook to something that can be taken more seriously be enterprise users.

Source: Bloomberg.

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HP Admits "iPad" Effect Is Real; Which Dell Announces Shortfall, Is the PC Market In Trouble?

According to HP, the tablet effect that Microsoft and other PC makers tried very hard to ignore is all too real. While HP doesn't specifically mention the iPad, no one thinks HP is referring to its own Touchpad, Playbook, Xoom, the Tab, or other Windows-based tablets. Obviously, with the iPad controlling a majority of the tablet market, consumers as well as some businesses are buying iPads and not buying laptops.

 Last quarter, even Apple admit that the iPad has cannabilized some Mac sales. The only thing is there is a way bigger chunk of PC market for the iPad to cannibalize. What's funny is that data companies like Gartner, which refuses to admit that the iPad is a computer but rather categorize it as a media tablet, never admit that the iPad was affecting PC sales.  Now that the world's biggest PC maker admit the "iPad" effect, I wonder what will these firms say the next time they release their PC data.

 And speak of the biggest PC maker in the world, HP may not be the biggest computer maker after all.  Apple would be the biggest computer maker in the world by volume if iPads were counted along with the Macs.  It means Apple shipped 13.6 million computers to HP's 9.7 million.  And to make matters worse, Apple has over 30% in operating margin while HP was pulling in less than 6%

So, what is going on here?  Is the PC market in trouble?  It's is difficult to say.  While Microsoft and others refuse to admit it public, they know that the iPad is killing them.  Microsoft's Windows revenue shrank last quarter just as Apple sold over 9 million iPads.

Furthermore, Dell provided a lower guidance this week when it reported its quarterly earnings but it did not mention the tablet market.  However, given today's HP news, it is not a difficult leap to believe that Dell also was affected by the iPad and anticipate rough waters ahead.

Meanwhile, in western Europe, Apple's Mac share increased to 7% from 5.6% a year ago.  And how did the other PC makers do?  On a while, the PC market shrank nearly 19%.  How much of that is because of tablets in general and the iPad specifically?

Microsoft promises Windows 8 for tablets next year.  We may see a reversal of the PC makers' fortune in 2012.  However, there is also the issue of the global economic condition.  At this time, things are not going well.

And given the economic risks and failure after failure of non-iPad tablets in 2011, Windows 8 tablet rollouts may not be as robust.  Keep in mind that Apple isn't done yet.  The iPad and Mac sales in Asia, especially Greater China, is continue to outpace the market by a wide margin.

Even with home field advantage, Apple's revenue in China is now bigger than Lenovo's own - $3.8 billion to $2.8 billion.  And that's before Apple's iPhone and iPad are being offered on other major carriers' networks.  Furthermore, Apple's retail reach is not as extensive as those as Lenovo.  Just wait until Apple opens up more stores.

It'll be interesting to revisit this issue in a quarter, in six months, and a year from now.  I wonder if we'll be able to recognize the PC market as we remember it today.


 Source: Light Reading, Appleinsider.

Back To School Apps? Some of Them Overlap With Work Ones Too

Pretty soon, you'll see some very good back to school apps posts all over the Internet.  And you know what?  If you're a student and you are lucky enough to have an iOS device, like an iPod touch or iPad that you'll be taking to school with you this fall, you could be arming yourself with some pretty neat apps.

Here are some from iSmashPhone.

And if you're not a student, you might think this doesn't apply to you.  But it does.  Evernote is one of the apps and sevices recommended.  And it's definitely not build with students in mind but definite has its uses across multiple disciples:  school, business, or just our plain old lives.

Dropbox is the other app that is recommended, which, too, has uses beyond school or work.

Growing up, I sometimes thought of school as work.  You don't get paid but you go anyway.  Obviously, as a kid, you don't appreciate some of the good times (and awkward ones) that go on until you're out of school and joined the workforce.

So, I recommend any journal app that you can use to record your thoughts as you go through your school years and get ready for life outside of textbooks, finals, and Friday night football.  Personally, I like Momento.

And like Dropbox and Evernote, Momento works even if you're not going back to school this fall.

Any app you would recommend that has uses for both school and work?