I would like a signal strength grapher, that plots out your signal strength on a little chart over time, much like Windows CPU usage meter.

The idea is that if I’m waiting for a call and I’m out somewhere. I can turn on the meter, drop it in my pocket for a minute, then pull it out and see if the phone was getting proper reception while it was in my pocket. Likewise, women could use this to determine signal strength in their purse, etc.

There’s a few different ways this feature could be implemented other than this, but this seems the most straightforward. Another way could be to have a special ring that lets you know you’ve lost signal; but that seems like it could get annoying.

According to popular technology news blog GigaOM, the most popular MMO behind World Of Warcraft is the shockwave-enabled Habbo Hotel. I know that for a long time now Director has played second fiddle to Flash, but this shows that Adobe Director is still a great choice for games.

The Java-powered dungeon game Runescape comes in at number 3, the Flash-enabled Club Penguin comes in at #4, and PR-savvy SecondLife ranks at a lowly 10. It’s quite an eye-opening list for those who believe MMOs are all swords and dragons *. Check out the entire list over at GigaOM.com

Other Director news: Director Survey

There’s a semi-official Director survey that’s been put together by Charles Parcell. The results will be collected and given to Adobe, who is currently hard at work on Director 11.

Take the Director Survey now

*: If you’re got the hardcore-mindset that a game can’t be an MMO without 3d dragons and swords, check out the excellent free Shockwave game Sherwood Dungeon, and my interview with it’s creator.

... what PC developers have been doing to them for years.

Safari for Windows is out. And so far, I’m not liking it. I am a PC user, but I own a Mac machine as well and I’ve used Safari on it a fair amount.

So what am I hating about it? First and foremost, Apple broke the golden rule that every PC software developer that ported to the Mac was shamed for doing: Apple has forced their OS’s s look/feel and UI conventions onto another OS. Take this screen shot of the Safari for Windows Preferences panel:

Read the rest of this entry

I’m worried that DRM phobia is going to have a negative impact on gaming. Specifically indie games and casual games. Because contrary to what a lot of popular consumer-friendly websites want you to believe, not all DRM is bad.

I’m talking about DRM that enables try-before-you-buy, pay-as-you-go, and rental models. Try before you buy is an absolute boon to the user. Things absolutely sucked for games before it. TBYB allows a person to actually play a game (or a tool, or a service) without having to shell out money for it, to see if they like it. Read the rest of this entry