ThemePassion is all about premium themes of course, but more precisely, themes for content management systems, most of which are Open Source CMS projects. Right now there are well over 100 theme reviews on WordPress, Drupal, Joomla!, Magento, ExpressionEngine, OpenCart, phpBB, standalones and Photoshop. It’s taken about 3 months to compile all these, and the list keeps growing daily. So far the site has been a success and I’ve grown my readership faster than with any site in the past. Theme builders love to have more exposure, and the great thing about ThemePassion is that I only write positive reviews — I don’t believe there would be any value in people wasting time on themes that look ugly. These are all themes that I personally think look fantastic and in some cases really raise the bar.

ThemePassion itself is based on a template from Elegant Themes, a fantastic theme provider and probably the best value on the market at the time of writing. This was a hard decision for me as I have always built the themes myself for every iteration of this blog and I am quite capable of building and designing my own WordPress template. The issue was time, I wanted to get started, and really what better place for a premium theme than on a site about premium themes. The site is a grid layout so you can easily glance over all the thumbnailed screenshots for each review. The reviews themselves are short, but every one is written by yours truly.

The review process has really exposed me to a variety of designs in a very short time. In the future I plan on releasing some of my own themes through ThemePassion. Viewing beautiful themes every day really lights a fire in you. I would also like to provide more tutorials here on this site with whatever valuable lessons I learn along the way.  So if you are into themes or great design, I invite you to peruse ThemePassion, and if you have any ideas or advice, feel free to get in contact with me.

It is becoming more and more important to at least have a basic understanding of all the information that goes into making a fantastic website. Knowing limitations and pushing those limits makes web design and development fun, interesting, and challenging. If you work in this field you probably already know that web work is all about constantly learning new technologies, tools, tips and tricks.

Smashing Magazine

If you don’t know about this one then you have been missing out. While there is some fluff from time to time, you learn a lot from this site. There are a lot of top website and tools lists which can get tedious, but Smashing Magazine really does have the pulse of the web and this is the spot to be if you want to keep up to date on web trends. Some of their most popular posts are actually their trend posts. Critics will say that Smashing causes everyone to create the same type of designs, but I think it’s good to know what is working out there and what is not.

Noupe

Noupe is part of the Smashing network. It has a huge amount inspirational lists and resources. When you need a break from work or if you are feeling creatively drained it can be a great quick stop for a creative inspirational recharge.

Grafpedia

Grafpedia is the holy grail of Photoshop web design tutorials. The site sells their templates, but the real guts of the site is the full on tutorials. You can create all of their PSD templates by following their extremely detailed tutorials. Most of us won’t want to do that of course, but browsing the designs until you see something that makes you say “how did they do that” and then getting a detailed play by play tutorial on just that question is pretty cool. A fantastic resource for Photoshop web design techniques. Also a great place to start if you are completely new to creating Photoshop mockups.

ProBlogger

If you are a blogger, you should be reading this guys stuff. I started reading ProBlogger about two years ago. Some of the subject matter may be obvious for the more advanced bloggers, but you’ll probably gain new insights regardless of your skill level. Once you digest a lot of Darren’s site it does start to feel a bit regurgitated, but a quick visit every now and then always reveals something new for me. He also does a lot of his own tests and research on analytics and SEO. Problogger is also very professional and way less spamy than a lot of the get rich quick blogging tip sites out there.

Ajaxian

Ajaxian is for the more technically minded web designers and developers out there. As the name suggests they follow a lot of Ajax techniques, but the site has much more to offer than news about Ajax. If you want to know where the future of Web Apps are headed, this is a good starting point. Even if you are not a programmer, there’s a lot of cool bleeding edge stuff to see on this site.

Adobe BrowserLab

The best way to really test your websites is with the actual browser, usually via a virtual machine. Not everyone has time to install a load of browsers under virtual machines and if you don’t need to test the functionality then Adobe BrowserLab is the answer to your testing needs. The layout is slick and easy to use. You can select all the browser you want to test with and save them. The site then quickly renders image screenshots of all the browsers you selected. The next time you need to test out good old IE6 or some other hard to find browser version, give it a try.

Focus: Cross-browser testing
browserlab.adobe.com

Web Designer Wall

“A wall of design ideas, web trends, and tutorials.” This is another personal blog with a broad range of web design content. Tutorials, news, funky design techniques and everything in between. There’s a lot of content here and this guy posts often.

Pro Blog Design

This site has been around for a few years, but it only recently hit my radar. The focus is on web design with an emphasis on blogs. It’s got some fantastic tutorials and a lot of discussion.

WebKitBits

I recently discovered this gem of a site and it’s quickly becoming a favourite. WebKitBits is all about really cool projects done using the power of the Webkit rendering engine. Webkit is the browser engine built into Safari, Chrome, iPhone, Palm Pre, and Android, and it’s pretty awesome. This engine blows away Internet Explorer and even gives Gecko a run for it’s money. The stuff here is bleeding edge and some of it possibly years away before we see it in mainstream websites, but it will reignite you passion for everything web and you will be ready for the next wave of awesome.

Learning jQuery

jQuery should need no introduction by now and should be in every web designers arsenal. I would be lost without it or at least spending many more hours on my scripting. It’s the JavaScript framework library that went from “jWhat?” to “oh yeah, that’s easy we can do it with jQuery”. If you’re looking for people who know jQuery like the back of their hand, then this is the site for you as the authors share tips, techniques and tutorials and have written fantastic books on jQuery too.

BrushKing

While not exactly a web design focused site this is still a must see for web designers. It’s a Photoshop brush site with loads of free brushes. There’s always that one brush that you can plop into a web page and just add that little bit of extra wow. The quality of most of the brushes is stunning.

Web Design Ledger

Web Design Ledger or WDL for short is a web design knowledge and resources site. It’s another one of those fully loaded blogs that you can absorb information and inspiration from for hours. If you need a break from Smashing Magazine, check out Web Design Ledger.

COLOURlovers

Colour is so important, and COLOURlovers have got it covered. It’s basically a social media colour palette sharing site. Users share their colours, palettes, patterns and trends with the COLOURlovers community. The site is a great first step in the early design phase. They also oddly spell Colour correctly and incorrectly throughout the site.

Nettuts +

This is another one of those massive resource sites out there that offers free content and premium content. Nettuts + is only part of their huge tutorial network. If you need information on a topic or just want to get exposed to new techniques and ideas than this is the place to go.

A List Apart

This list would not be complete without A List Apart. I my opinion this site is the de facto authority on best web practices and techniques. Many of the well known techniques used today originated on A List Apart. Although they don’t post near as much as some of the other sites listed here, the content is almost always top notch. The topics cover code, content, culture, design, process and user science. A lot of well known industry leaders and thinkers have written for A List Apart.

Did I miss something?

If you think there is some awesome super duper resource that is missing from this list including your own site, please don’t hesitate to post it below in the comments.

Awesome and frustrating

The iPhone has changed how I do many things. It’s changed:

• how, when and where I check email
• what I read and where I read
• how I play games
• what I expect from other small displays
• how I surf the web
• how I judge the quality of other gadgets
• how I view my stocks
• how I listen to music
• how I watch video
• how I get my weather
• how I access things like Facebook and Twitter
• what I do when I’m lost or need to find a coffee shop
• how I find what movies are playing today and at what theater

Is that your iPhone ringing?

The above list are just some of the many things the iPhone has changed for me, but it’s not all awesomeness! I love my iPhone I really do, but it’s also changed how I answer a Phone. Gone are the days of pressing a button and hearing a voice at the other end although you can press a multitude of buttons to silence a call. The iPhone has reinvented the way we use gadgets in every possible way, including how we answer a phone. Now you swipe a pretty little graphic to answer your phone. Got winter gloves on? Don’t worry, answer it later. Fumbling around with your phone while getting it out of your pocket? Don’t worry, that phone call probably wasn’t important anyway. Someone trying to buzz you to get into your building and your iPhone has let you know about it two minutes later with a missed call message? Don’t worry, someone else probably let them in.

Yes, the iPhone excels at everything except being a phone. The final blow comes when your iPhone is sitting on the desk in front of you; none of the challenges mentioned above are an issue now. Your phone is ringing, all you have to do is slide that beautiful slider to the right, slide once, slide twice, slide three times, maybe one more slide, please please answer the call! I know I am not alone in this, a simple Google search finds thousands of people with the same issue. The slider randomly locks up and does not answer phone calls sometimes.

The iPhone is sold in countries with winter (AKA Snowy and Cold)

Not only that, the whole slider concept is a stupid idea anyway. Yes it’s cool the first few times you try it, but then practicality comes into play. Try answering an iPhone in Toronto on a cold January day with gloves on, no traditional button means no answering your phone. I think my iPhone would be perfect if I could just press the big button at the bottom to answer the phone.

Still no regrets

That said, I still have no regrets, Apple has trained us all to say iPhone, not phone, so that speaks volumes about the customer loyalty, or possibly their marketing, but I think it’s a combination of both. The fact that my iPhone sometimes won’t answer calls and I still put up with it also speaks volumes. I could also just be a sucker for punishment, but in all fairness this only happens every month or so, but it’s still infuriating.

The iPhone has become a way of life for me. When I was recently stranded in Guadeloupe because of a volcano eruption, a local wi-fi connection, Skype and email made communicating with friends and family a lot more affordable. Every morning I also manage to check all my personal email while walking to work (when the weather is warm). When I’m lost I load up Google maps. The amount of hours I’ve put into iPhone games is probably best kept a secret. The quality and feel of the iPhone is also unmatched in my opinion. It has raised the bar for hand-held devices making many other devices feel cheap and flimsy in comparison.

I want to touch every screen

Like expecting every public faucet to magically turn on when I place my hands under it, I also expect many hand held devices to have touch screens and feel silly when I realize they do not.

The iPhone has made the decision to get an iPad easier

A great experience builds trust, and like most Apple products that trust translates into more sales. My decision to get an iPhone involved a lot of research and humming and hawing, my iMac purchase required less scrutiny, and I doubt I will need much arm twisting when the iPad finally arrives in Canada.

Just give me one button!

My only request would be for my iPhone to always answer calls, even when I have gloves on. That big round button at the bottom would be perfect! Are you listening Apple?

12 seconds and you are captivated

The first five minutes of this movie is arguably one of the best parts of the movie, that’s not to say the rest of it is not equally engaging, but the intro is really the definition of Zombie awesomeness. I don’t want to spoil the movie, and I won’t, but everything from the intro song which is just absolutely classic, to the imagery and camera work, you won’t be able to look away from the screen. You will be horrified and laughing uncontrollably simultaneously. Zombie land is all horror and all comedy wrapped up into one nice dark humor package. The gore is over the top and gives Romero films a run for their money. It’s also extremely realistic looking, no cheap fast camera cuts to hide the cheesy zombie makeup that we see in so many other Zombie films, no you really do get to see these zombies nice and close up in their full gooey glory, and no one is spared. You will see every type of zombie imaginable, even cute little zombie children.

Final thoughts

There isn’t much more I can say about this movie without giving too much away. If you are a zombie fan then you have probably already seen it, and if not, what is wrong with you, go see it! If you are not a Zombie fan you will probably be pleasantly surprised, so go see it also. I would go so far as to say Zombieland is the best film I have seen this year, and I can’t wait to see it again. Now we can look forward to the World War Z movie.

• Zombieland YouTube channel
• Apple Zombieland trailer site

An RTS game redefined for the iPhone

For those of you who have not tried the original Galcon, what are you waiting for? If you don’t have the right gear, find yourself one of the many iphone deals out there, pick one up, and then download and start playing Galcon. It’s basically a simplified real time strategy game for the iPhone. As I have mentioned before, simplified yes, but rich with strategy and technique, and that will most definitely be even more true with the newest incarnation.

A tutorial for newbies

Galcon Labs has a Tutorial in the original game play mode against the AI. This is a great way to learn how to play Galcon in under 45 seconds.

Four new game modes

Billiards – not much different than regular Galcon except the planets move! I don’t know how many of you have accidentally hit the wrong planet during an otherwise perfect attack on your enemy, but that scenario just became a lot more likely to happen more often. This should really shake things up.

Stealth – so far I think this is my favourite mode. In stealth your ships disappear almost instantly as you leave your planet. For the hardcore Galcon players out there, you know that you can change the course of a moving fleet. This will allow you to keep a whole fleet moving around without anyone else seeing it. Just as you think you have won you realize that you forgot the other player had a massive stealthed fleet around you.

Crash – this mode has potential, but I personally think it needs tweaking. In crash you can engage in battle with other ships while en route to your destination. At first I thought this would mean other fleets of ships would be touchable / attackable objects like planets. This is not the case though, instead you will end up taking out your enemies ships if they cross paths, but you cannot plot a path directly towards your enemies ships, only near by planets. With time maybe I’ll get used to it and use the planets near by to my advantage.

Assassin – another great mode where each player has a target. The goal is to destroy your target first. This changes the whole dynamic as being the most powerful or accumulating the most planets is no longer as relevant.

What else is new?

Of course Galcon wouldn’t be the awesomeness that it is without multi-player, and this is all real-time. If you liked the first one, then no doubt you will like the second, and best of all it’s only 99¢.

I don’t think Galcon will ever be known for it’s sound effects or music, but it does have new music in this version and I think it’s better than the last. I usually play this game in public places, so the music is off, but every now and then it’s nice to hear the arcade type sound effects.

There are also all new back drops and the game just looks great. Check out the sceenshots below for yourself and Phil’s YouTube video.

Get it in the iTunes store now, or visit the Galcon Labs website for more information.

Need more screenshots? Visit the Galcon Labs asset library.

Perfectly adapted to the touch screen

In Flight Control you are an air traffic controller. You are charged with one task; land everything on the screen without crashing. The game is probably one of the most simplistic yet challenging games I’ve played on my iPhone.

There are different types of aircraft that you must land by drawing paths on the screen with your finger to the appropriate landing spots. Small planes land on the small runway. Medium and large sized planes land on the large runway. Helicopters land on the helipad. Sounds easy doesn’t it? Well, it is, for the first 60 seconds. Remember that helicopters fly insanely slow while larger craft fly faster depending on their size. This makes for total chaos once you have more than 10 craft on the screen at once.

The game comes with a stats screen which is nice since this game is really always about beating your previous highest stats. It also keeps a tally of your total aircraft landed. I’ve put in a few hours of my work commute into this title including a bit of time on my couch. We need to see more games like this for the iPhone and iPod touch platform. Games that are designed with the touch screen in mind.

• Touch Arcade review and video
• Flight control App Store Download

Galcon is probably one of the most simple games you can play on the iPhone. It’s basically a real time strategy, or better known to the gaming world as an RTS. Unlike traditional RTS games, this one is extremely simple, but rich with strategy and technique. This game has so much going for it. The games are super short, something that’s good for a phone based game. You can easily get off a few rounds while waiting for your streetcar or bus, especially if you live in Toronto. The best part is this game is multi-player even over 3G, and I think that’s what really makes it shine. You will probably tire of the AI quickly, it’s not very bright and every round feels the same, but even the AI in some of the greatest RTS games like StarCraft can be pretty flaky at times. Nothing beats real people, at least not yet, maybe someday.

So how do you play?

Basically the game has 2 to 4 game slots, but I really recommend having 3 or more players. The game does not always start off perfectly balanced for each player, which is actually pretty cool when there is more than 2 players, but when there are only two in the game, the victory will usually go to whoever has the most favourable starting position.

Galcon is a space RTS and the only goal is to claim as many planets as possible and annihilate your opponents, every last stinking one of them. When you start each player will have one large planet with 100 military units. Every unit is the same. You will be surrounded by different sized planets that are neutral each with a number on them. This number is the amount of neutral units you will have to conquer before you can lay claim to that planet. Obviously the first planets people go for are the ones with the lowest numbers and closest to them, but wait, there’s one caveat and that’s the planets size.

Size matters

The larger your planet, the faster your units will replenish. Tiny planets replenish very slowly, while large ones replenish very fast. The player needs to weight the size vs the amount of units they must conquer. A tiny planet with 1 to 5 units is worth taking over, while a tiny planet with 45 or more units might not as it would take several minutes to replenish those forces. Yes, minutes matter in this game. It’s all about tactics and speed of execution.

Describing the games crack like addiction is hard, but every game is unique. Just when you think you have the upper hand another player will begin to attack you while you attack your initial foe. It can be infuriating at times when another play does something that seems to not be in either of your best interests. Usually if one player becomes very powerful the other players sit tight and see what happens next. Attacking each other when one player is dominating is suicide, but you must also know when you take that big guy down these temporary unspoken alliances with weaker players will quickly break down once the main threat is gone.

This is the main player screen. You can start a round with two or more players, but I really recommend at least 3.

This is a typical starting match. My player is red. Although you can’t see the other players military units, they have a 102 just like me at this point. Once they start attacking other planets it can be hard to keep track of how powerful they are. The 50% at the bottom right corner is your attack percentage. It can be changed from 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. This is the percentage of units that will be deployed from a planet.

In this early stage of battle above white is already attacking blue. While you are playing you can double tap your planets to select all of them, and then single tap planets to deselect some.

The online play is what makes this a killer iPhone game, but there are also several other variations of game play against the AI. Oh did I mention there is also an online ranking system? I really hope the developer keeps updating this great app, and right now it’s only five dollars. If you are a gamer and looking for that killer iPhone game then look no further, I can’t recommend Galcon enough. If you don’t have an iPhone, there are also PC, Mac, and Linux version of this game. If I haven’t convinced you, try the demo.

iTunes App Store links

Full version
Demo version

Beautiful art direction

Maybe it’s just my taste in art, but I think the art direction in this game is stunning, it’s very Tim Burton, only very vivid at times. Every level has a life of it’s own, and as I played I found myself wanting to see the next level and waiting with anticipation. The screenshots that follow are beautiful, but keep in mind these are static shots, in the game everything is animated and moving which makes the experience even more rich. 

The screenshot above is actually in game. Basically World of Goo is a puzzle game, but it’s like no puzzle game I have ever played before. The only games that I could sort of compare it too would be Lemmings or Enigmo, but make no mistake, World of Goo is about as original as you get.

World of Goo is a physics based puzzle / construction game. The millions of Goo Balls who live in the beautiful World of Goo don’t know that they are in a game, or that they are extremely delicious.

Addicted from the start

This game is extremely addictive and the demo comes with the entire first chapter of the game, which is quite a few levels. By the time you are done you should be itching for more, which is fine because there is a lot more to come if you buy the game. As I mentioned already the other great news is that this is a DRM free game. There is no serial or any kind of piracy protection on it, so do the developers a favour and buy the game if you do like it. Once you do it’s yours to install and play when ever and where ever you want. 

It’s raining Goo

Each level is set in a vibrant original World of Goo. There are different types of Goo and the way it reacts to the environment around will vary depending on the type and various other factors. My big question is where is an iPod Touch / iPhone version of this game. The whole concept screams for a touch based interface, but you will have no problems with a mouse either. 

Balloon Goo will help you hold up your bridge of Goo supports, but be careful of those spikes up top. 

Sometimes you have to build your Goo towers quit tall and it will begin to sway back and forth. If it sways too much the entire tower can come crashing down. 

Sign posts are in every level and they will either give witty humour or cryptic tips that will help you get through the level.

This is what the level selection screen looks like. You can go back to any level you have already completed to try and beat your records, which include time you took, number of moves and Goo balls collected. As you collect Goo in each level you get more and more Goo balls on the main screen of the game where you can do anything you want. The more of the game you play, the more Goo you have to play with in this sandbox mode. You can also see how tall other players have built their towers here.

Wind is also another element along with those wind mills which will actually destroy your Goo balls if they come in contact with them.

Scroll down to see the rest of the screenshots, or stop if you don’t want too many spoilers. These screenshots consist of chapter one and two. You can find out more about the game at 2D Boy where you can also download the demo of the first chapter. This is one of the most creative games I’ve played in years. 

I of course jumped on the iPhone bandwagon, but before I did I spent a lot of time researching many of the smartphones out there. At the time just before the second iPhone was launched there were a lot of great smartphones on the way, but none were out yet. Now that the iPhone has been out for a few months a lot of new devices have emerged. One of the reasons I bought the iPhone was because Apple was ahead of the curve, now a lot of the other manufacturers have similar offerings, but are any of them really iPhone killers? I decided to do a quick smartphone round up to see what’s currently out there.

Android is the newest cool kid in town

Of course you can’t talk about smartphones without talking about Android and their new G1 offered by T-Mobile in the US. This phone by HTC came out a couple of weeks ago, but even before a phone was announced, the Android platform had huge buzz in the blogsphere and tech news sites. I wrote about it several times and was pretty hyped about it myself when I wrote Android Android Android! everyone’s talking about Android and I still am pretty buzzed about it.

Android promises a lot of innovation and is really shaking up the industry. First it’s open source, which means anyone can play with the innards of the code. Up until now this was practically unheard of, and this could be the end of locked down phones, which I think is great. I can do what I want with my computer, I should be able to do the same with my smartphone, which is basically a portable mini computer. This is one flaw with Apple’s phone, without special applications I can’t even treat this phone as a storage device or copy my music on to different computers. The Open Handset Alliance is another great by product of Google Android.

Everything I have read about the G1 says that it is no iPhone killer, but there is massive potential and that this is just the start. Google is on to something here, and one of these days there may be a Google phone that is an iPhone killer. Remember this is Googles first phone.

See Engadget’s review on the G1

Blackberry Bold and Storm

Research In Motion is one of the big players and has been around for a long time. The big toys from RIM this year are the Bold and the Storm. If any phone could have swayed me from my iPhone purchase it would have been one of these. In the end I’m glad I went for the iPhone because the Bold does lean towards business users, and the Storm is taking forever to come out.

The Bold is the newest and greatest Blackberry in town, with a higher resolution than the iPhone but smaller screen this thing is crystal sharp. I have played with it once and it is pretty clear, but you have to wonder what the point of such high resolution is with such a small screen? It’s a nice phone, but it still feels a bit flimsy, I’m not a fan of how easily the Blackberries tend to scratch, but with that said if I had to pick a second best phone, I would probably go with a Blackberry.

The Blackberry Storm may be a different story, this is RIM’s attempt at the consumer market and is a direct competitor to the iPhone. It has what RIM calls “tactile-touch” which is basically a spring loaded screen. You basically have to push all the way down to hit a key, which sounds pretty cool. I’m used to not having to push down, so it might be hard to get used too. So far I have read that the new touch screen is awesome, to not so great, so only time will tell. I think what you are used to will have a lot to do with how much you like the screen. Blackberry is late to the game and a lot of people who use touch screens have gotten used to how they work now, but this may appeal to the users who have not switched to a touchscreen yet.

You can find first impression reviews at Gizmodo and Engadget along with a gallery of PowerPoint slides on The Boy Genius Report.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1

Sony’s EXPERIA X1 has been rumoured and talked about so long that I almost forgot about it. Its already available in some places, but still pretty hard to find.

This is a pretty sweet looking phone, but I’ve read a lot of good and bad about it. First it’s Windows Mobile, so depending on how you feel about Windows Mobile, your decision may be already made. There have also been claims of slow response on the touch screen and that the keyboard keys do not provide enough tactile feedback. Either way, I don’t think this phone will be viable until it’s on major carriers. Rumours are that it will be available on AT&T at some point.

Unboxing of XPERIA X1 and some nice high resolution shots and a very early review at The Boy Genuis Report.

HTC and a world of cool smartphones

HTC has so many cool phones it’s hard to mention them all. They build the G1 Android phone and had a hand in the XPERIA X1. They also released the Touch Diamond this year, and the Touch Pro will be out soon. There is also the really cool HTC Touch HD which unfortunately will not be showing up in North America, but it has been called an iPhone killer.

HTC definitely makes a whole lot of cool phones, and I’m sure we will be seeing Google’s Android on a lot more HTC phones.

Nokia

Nokia is huge in a lot of the world, but not so much here in North America. That may all change if they start bringing out slick phones like the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. It comes with a stylus so you can write out your messages, so if a stylus is your thing, then the XpressMusic might be for you.

Engadget has a hands on review.

Samsung instinct

Samsung has also jumped onto the touch screen smart phone bandwagon, the big one this year was the Samsung Instinct. I’m a huge fan of Samsung products, especially their LCD displays, but for some reason their phones just don’t do it for me. The instinct did perk my interest, but then the reviews came out and laid my anticipation to rest. The Omnia on the other hand seems to score a bit higher, but it’s a windows mobile device and it doesn’t have the prettiest interface. Samsung is also a member of the Open Handset Alliance, so we may see a Google Android phone from them in the future; fingers crossed.

Openmoko, truly open

Although a much smaller player in the smartphone field we cannot forget Openmoko, the truly open source smartphone platform and the device it runs on, Neo FreeRunner. I have been keeping an eye on Openmoko for many of the same reasons I watch Google’s Android platform. I believe in the concept behind these platforms, but Openmoko steps it up a notch, this is a truly open source project, everything from the OS to the phone itself; even the CAD files can be downloaded so you can modify the actual phone itself. Openmoko is definitely a hardcore computer geeks dream.

More information can be found on the wiki entry for Openmoko. The phone can be purchased at the official Openmoko website, and you can also visit the Openmoko wiki website which has much more information.

Apple iPhone, the darling of touch smartphones

And of course this roundup wouldn’t be complete without the iPhone. Apple has lead the way here the same way they lead the way for mp3 players. Whether you love or hate Apple there is no denying that they are market leaders in innovation and have consistently upped the bar delivering a compelling product that’s hard to beat. Almost every review I have read on smartphones uses the iPhone as a measure of quality. You always hear references to Apple’s iPhone or “the iPhone Killer” catch phrase.

That doesn’t mean the iPhone has no flaws, one of the most mentioned features that is missing is “copy and paste” functionality. I don’t know if Apple will ever add this, but it’s a much needed and requested feature, especially for sending web addresses to people in applications such as Twitterific. There is an option to email someone a link from Safari, but copy and paste would be a lot more useful. Another thing that needs fixing is the browser, although it’s a fantastic mini browser, possibly even the best, it does tend to crash an awful lot, at least for me. That said, I am more than happy with my iPhone and it really is the best device I have bought in years. Many of the games are simple but very addictive, just what you want on a small device like this and there is a constant stream of new applications every day. When I was showing my phone to someone once they asked “is there anything it can’t do?”, well yes, it won’t do your laundry yet.

An amazing year for gadgets

It really has been a great year for great gadgets and smartphones in particular. I can’t help but get excited about 2009′s lineup. Where will Apple be this time next year, and the one I’m really keeping an eye on is Google’s Android. It will also be interesting to see how the Blackberry vs Apple battle turns out, I personally think Android is more of a threat than the Blackberry. The Blackberry has a strong loyal consumer base and owns the business sector. They are also making their phones pretty, because lets face it, even business men and women want to have a cool cell phone.

For the third iPhone next year I’m predicting a higher resolution, better GPS and a better camera as obvious places to work on. I hope all the other smartphones have surprises up their sleeves also. 2008 was an amazing year, lets hope 2009 is even more ground breaking.

So how good is this game? Well, it’s pretty fun for a few rounds, but you will quickly find the AI is bad, and I mean real bad. Enemy AI will do idiotic things like destroy their entire army against the next biggest army leaving you to dominate the board. There are even times when the AI could easily take out an opponent and score their cards but does not for some reason. After playing a few times I find it hard to lose now, which is disappointing. There are also no game options that I could find and only the classic map is included.

The great news is the developers over at Sillysoft have plans for a more full featured version called Lux DLX which will have Harder computer AI, more settings and options and lots of maps, all features it desperately needs. The only down side is that the updated version will not be free, but it’s a game I’m sure I will fork out a few bucks for once it’s ready, for now I suggest trying out the free version, it’s still quite fun.