About 2 month ago I just ignored Twitter, everybody talked about it, but I couldn't see how that would help my Blog, my Business or myself.

But some time ago somebody mentioned that he would like to get the App Store Updates in Twitter, rather than reading the website or using an RSS feed. So I  checked the Twitter API and added a few lines of code to my software. So now immediately when a new App or a price reduced App is found the software will create a Tweet with a link.

I didn't expect much from this and I didn't even mention this in my Blog. But to my surprise quite a few people became my "Followers" with-in the first day. And I also got some referals from a Twitter search. I still didn'ty pay much attention to Twitter but the number of my Followers kept growing constantly.

Well I told my wife about this new Twitter feature and it seems she became more excited about Twitter than me. She told me about this great new web-sites she found using Twitter. Finally we watched this interview between Robert Scoble and Guy Kawasaki which changed my view of Twitter. Finally! Guy says "Twitter is a weapon" and some other interesting things. If you have about 20 Minutes time, it's really worth watching.

Firefox Plugin for Twitter

So now I like Twitter but I don't like following the Twitter updates on the Twitter website. So I looked for a plugin for Firefox that shows the updates in the Firefox Sidebar.

I found these 2 Plugins which I quite liked:

• Twitbin
• Yoono

Both were quite good but not exactly what I wanted.

Website in the Firefox Sidebar

During my search I came along a solution that shows how to view any website in the Firefox Sidebar. Of course most websites are too big to fit in there, but websites which are optimized for the iPhone or other Mobile webbrowsers work usually quite well.

Somehow I liked the TwitterGadget website best for my Twitter needs. It automatically updates the Tweets every 3 Minutes and it looks very clean and tidy. So how can you get this Web-site into your Firefox sidebar?

1. Go to the website of TwitterGadget http://www.twittergadget.com/gadget.asp
2. Add this website to your Firefox bookmarks.
3. From the Firefox Menu choose Bookmarks/Organize Bookmarks.
4. Click on the Bookmark you just added.
5. Click on "More" and tick the option "Load this website in the Firefox sidebar"
6. You can now close the Bookmark Window.
7. When you now choose this Bookmark it will be opened in the sidebar.

You can follow me on Twitter here:

http://twitter.com/thomashk

There are only very few Role Playing Games (RPGs) available for the iPhone/iPod Touch. So today Chronicles of Inotia: Legend of Feanor was released. It features according to the developer:

• Old-school action RPG
• PC, console-quality graphics and animation
• Optimized touch control for iPhone
• Gigantic map, items, all kinds of fantasy monsters
• Dynamic weather, various quests, dealing, pet system

Well, I have played it a bit today and it seems a quite solid RPG which plays quite well on the iPhone/iPod Touch.

Some advice for the beginning: Build up your character with some skills before you run through the levels! Battle some of the easy opponents first, this might take some time but battles against tougher opponents will be much easier later-on.

On the graphics side you shouldn't expect "console-quality graphics" at least not current consoles like Xbox360 or PS3. The details of the graphics is fine buy the scrolling is very jumpy. This bothered me in the beginning quite a bit but after playing for a while I got used to it. I think some "old-school RPG" where also like that (e.g. Ultima VII I think).

Sound and Music are quite nice, but you can't listen to your own music unfortunately.

So afterall this RPG looks quite promising and it's worth the money if you like RPGs.

First my ratings (based on Game Version 1.0):
Game Type: Shooter
Graphics: 5/5
Sound: 4/5
Can listen to your own music: Yes
Gameplay: 4/5
Learning curve: Medium
Price: USD 1.99

Check our database for latest price/version changes.

This is another game from Ngmoco, who already released the excellent Topple and a few other games. I liked Topple and the screenshots for this looked quited interesting so I gave this also a try. I didn't regret it. In some ways it reminded me to Geometry Wars for the Xbox 360:

• One thumb controls the direction of the ship, the other one the direction of your weapon
• Achievements ;-)
• Color scheme

But don't get me wrong this is a completely different game apart from these similarities. Your primary objective is to descend onto a planet to retrieve a package. After you have retrieved your package you need to return to the top with-in a time limit. Your secondary objective is to rescue some team members. When you rescue a team member your weapon is also upgraded for a limited time. Of course there are the usual enemies who try to make it difficult for you...

You control the game with two fingers: the left side of the screen is for the ship movement the right side for your weapon. Overall the controls work very well, but you should avoid strong movements. When you move your finger smooth and gently controls are fine.

The game has a campaign mode where the difficulty gradually increases and a free play mode where you can aim for a new highscore.

Graphics are plain, simple, colorful but most importantly they are fast and smooth which is most important for an action game like this.

After a long while I found again a game that tied me to my iPod Touch for more than a few minutes.Actually it had this "OK let's do one more round" effect, where this "one round" lasts for a few hours and eventually leads to sleep deficiency...

Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition by Electronic Arts. (iTunes Link)

First my ratings (based on Game Version 1.2):
Game Type: Board Game
Graphics: 5/5
Sound: 4/5
Can listen to your own music: Yes
Gameplay: 5/5
Learning curve: Well, it's Monopoly. I think almost everybody know this and has played the board game ;-)
Price: USD 7.99

Check our database for latest price/version changes.

If you like the Monopoly Board game, you'll probably also like this game for the iPhone/iPod Touch. In the past played some versions of Monopoly for PCs, Macs and game consoles. This one for the iPhone is certainly the best.

Monopoly Here  & Now: The World Edition is actually based on the new World Edition of Monopoly as the name already implies. So instead of roads, you now buy cities. I haven't played the board game of the Word Edition yet, but it seems to me, that the cities, chance and community chest cards are taken exactly from the board game.

You can play with up to 4 persons passing around your iPhone/iPod Touch. The computer can also take part and play up to 3 person if you like. If a person needs to leave the computer can take over that part, too.

Furthermore this also has a WiFi mode. So if you gather with some friends who have an iPhone/iPod Touch you can play via WiFi also with up to 4 persons.

Interesting features:

• The game automatically saves the game, so you can resume it when you have time again.
• You can adjust some of the Monopoly rules.
• Some Quick Starts, i.e. some or all properties are already owned by the players.

Recently the US iTunes Music stores is offering Special offers for Movies, Music Albums and TV Shows. They are offerred for a reduced price for a limited time. I think they change the downloads they offer every week.

To make tracking these changes easier I put together a little RSS feed where you can see what is currently on offer.

I also included the items that are available for Free in the iTunes Music store.

Here is the link for the RSS feed, I hope you find it useful:

http://feedproxy.google.com/Infoxenter-itunesSpecialOffers