Hangman is a somewhat disturbing game. It's where the player guesses the hidden word before the "Hangman" drawing is finished. Yet here we are, still playing it after two centuries (It was first officially mentioned in 1894). You've probably had PC versions of it, but now you can bring the Hangman game anywhere.

The game evolves to the mobile phone. Leave your pen & paper (Yay! Save the trees!) at home or the office, bring your mobile phone and download the latest game from Skyzone: Extreme Hangman. It comes complete with dangerous environments, fierce enemies, and multiplayer options.

You'll be forced to solve tongue twisters, unknown words, and phrases from various sources. We suggest you bring along a dictionary as there will be new words updated every month to existing customers.

Extreme Hangman crosses the lines between the PC and the mobile phone. The game can be played against your buddies in the PC world. Yes, your measly mobile phone can go against the goliath PC. So now there's almost no excuse why you shouldn't be playing it. The mobile phone game purchase unlocks the PC feature.

The game also utilizes the TAG technology. You can SMS your friend about the game and it'll give him or her the opportunity to download the game without going to their carrier's WAP site. Convenient!

Looks like this game will be played for two more centuries thanks to Extreme Hangman. Save the Hangman!

Korea is a nice place for gamers especially with the country's reliable broadband and country-wide acceptance of games. Professional gamers are actually treated like rockstars over there. Some gamers even download games to their mobile and use those to practice for the real thing. Things are bound to change though as mobile phones get "smarter" and faster; mobile games too are headed toward the same changes.

Some mobile games have been ported from consoles, and that itself is an interesting fact as you get to play games you also enjoy playing in living room consoles. But that's not really a big deal since we're already so used to that. So what if we tell you that you'll be using your mobile phones to play MMO games? And what if we tell you now that for the first time in mobile-gaming history, the character in the game will be able to walk to eight different directions. Now that's more interesting.

We'll take a look at this list of MMO games ported to the mobile phones.

Koguryo Heroes-Chumong - This is a game similar to Dynasty Warriors. It's a large scale game where there will be multiple opponents appearing all at the same time, inside your mobile phone screen, thanks to the graphics engine used.

Epic Chronicle II is more along the lines of Final Fantasy. It includes a lot story development, missions and quests.

Imo: The World of Magic is similar to a game called Ragnarok. It's also got quite a lot of cute sprites, missions, and quests.

Lastly, there'll be Fist of Blast 2006. This is for those who like fighter games. It's almost like The King of Fighters. It introduces a new command system that'll allow you to use 150 attacks. This is martial arts action in the palm of your hand.

Hopefully, we'll be able to see an increase in online gaming not only for the consoles, but also the mobile. We'll be on the lookout for more info as we get it.

Spam used to appease the senses, specifically the gustatory one. It was a treat for us kids when we'd get spam for breakfast. The aroma and the taste really had us going in the morning commute to school. Now, Spam is something that needs to be crushed like the cockroach that it is. At least cockroaches do something for the world, the other just makes the inboxes full to the brim with useless information.

There are now programs out there that limits the spam's clutches. We can finally see the end of our inboxes again. Yet, like a bad movie, there seems to be a twist to this whole story. Remember those movies where in the end the villain seems to have been defeated but somehow you get a feeling this guy's not yet out for the count, example:all 'Friday the 13th' movies. Well, it looks like spam is doing a Jason as well. Photo Spam. It's here and it lives inside your inbox. The moment you open it, you never know what will happen.

According to a leading anti-virus software lab AV-Test in Germany, one third of spam today is image-based. It's where text is included in an image. Most spam filters today look out for text spams only. That can only mean only two things: you have less text spam, but a lot of photo spam.

So what can the emailers who just want to send their vacation pictures to their parents, not land in the spam folders do? Write information relative to the picture in the email. Most photo spams have just pictures in them, no text.

The receivers have more chances of filtering spam if they use online e-mail services, rather than buying a filtering software. Cheaper too. A cautionary advice: one must have at least one alias address. The "real" e-mail address should be reserved for family, friends, and known acquaintances.

Do you remember the old Bugs cartoon where he and Daffy would fight over what "kind" of season it is? Well boys, move over because the Unsecured Wi-Fi Season is on(line).

The US has been bitten by the Wi-Fi bug. There's more than 10 million homes equipped to transmit high-speed wireless internet connections to computers, and not all of them are secured. So when people access this unsecured connection,are they committing a crime?

Most people say it's more like a house that's been left open. The person has the option of going in and taking the TV or just leave. Although, the one who took the TV will be running from the law, the Wi-Fi freeloader may be able to get away Scott-free. This basically just says that it may be the original owner's fault for not securing the connection. Others say it's just like watching the TV from an open "window." You can watch but you can't touch.

What's the danger with sharing the love? Malicious Wi-Fi freeloaders may use your IP address to conduct illegal activities or download illegal or illicit files. The law will be on the original owner's neck. So securing that open Wi-Fi connection is important. So what does one do when they get an open Wi-Fi? First, (unless explicitly advertised that it's free) assume it's private. Then check out your state or national law about siphoning Wi-Fi from unsecured networks. If it's ok, go on ahead; if it's not, you're treading on very deep and murky waters.

Tread wisely.

  
 

Weird aliens come from space and thus, these poor guys are pretty much unwanted and feared. Not this alien though: Alienware, the company known for creating high performance-PCs and awesome-looking cases is equipping two notebooks, the Area-51 m5550 and the m3450, with the mega-powerful Intel Core 2 Duo processors. The Area m5550 is loaded with powerful graphics technology and HD Video. While its little bro, the m3450 is thin and lightweight, with Centrino Mobile Tech.

What does this mean? Doubled performance with more battery life, richer multimedia experience, and faster access to data. So if you're a lowly office worker, you'll amaze your boss with the way you do that report in fewer minutes than you used to. If you're a student, you can bring these with you and make student life more manageable.

Alienware is like a cool, tall glass of water under a hot Hawaiian sun. It's here to quench your speed and power thirst. Whether its playing games or turning your home movies into a masterpiece theatre-type of film, these Alienware notebooks will definitely get you what you need. The Area-51 Notebook series give more power than hard-core gamers and video/audiophiles require.

So, if an alien came to your door with this notebook, welcome him with open arms; Alienware has arrived.

There are times in this blog that we get to post a heck of a lot of screenshots. We love them as gamers but to get screenshots for the Mobile section? Yeah, why not?

Here are excellent additions to you mobile warriors out there. The Samsung Q35 Core 2 Duo Subnotebook. It's got a cutie 12.1" screen and a whopping T5600 Core 2 Duo. It runs at 1.83 GHz, 80GB HDD, 1GB RAM and an integrated video card. For those who like to like their computers small but hard!

The other one is the R55 Notebook. It has an appealing 15.4" screen with the same Core 2 Duo as its little bro. Same with the RAM and HDD. It has a better graphics card with the GeForce Go 7600. Just like its little bro, only bigger and has teeth in the graphics department.

Enough of the specs we want to see the pictures!

   

If you use Windows in your computer, we're pretty sure you've been bugged by that "Windows Update" notice so many times. Don't you just wish that it could do that automatically without grabbing any attention away from your WoW or QJ reading? Now imagine that your cellphone maker can update the firmware in your cellphone as you're taking a picture of your cat. With the Firmware Update Management Object (FUMO), it's possible.

The Open Mobile Alliance has published its FUMO. This is a standard which allows cellphones to be updated over the air, without disturbing your sudoku. However, there will be some technical problems that need to be sorted out first. The memory to hold the new update is an initial problem. Slow connectivity in certain areas, may require the cellphone owner to go to a licensed store to download the new patch. The reliability of the over-the-air updates may also be a problem compared to a USB cable.

There seems to be a chicken-egg problem when it comes to the network operators and handset developers. No network operators will buy servers to distribute firmware upgrades unless the handset makers support the new operations and no handset developer will support network operators without the servers.

With the standard published, the testing can start, beginning September this year. Next year, hopefully, the handset developers start following the standards. So what do these company want to do with our phones in the first place? They may want to change the menus and interfaces to make it look better, especially for premium paying customers.

Let's see what they 'll do next year, eh?

What do you get when you base your laptop's whole memory on a flash thumb drive? A "Flashtop".

Currently, we have the 4GB flash thumb drives available, but expect to see 8 to 16GB in the near future. We've also seen some programs that can be installed and executed from a flash drive. So it seems inevitable that one day, hardrives will go the way of the floppy disk.

Will there ever be a computer or laptop based on flash memory? Yes. There's a 32 GB, 1.8-inch solid-state drive by Samsung presented last June. At the time, flash memory was at $30 per gigabyte, so this flashtop's memory alone would cost around $960. The whole flashtop was in the $3,000 range. A bit too expensive for ordinary office employees but prices will be going down as researchers find ways to come up with cheaper ways of manufacturing silicon wafers.

The market? Flashtop makers are targetting people who like their computers spartan. Meaning, that most likely, they'll be using their flashtops for e-mailing, internet surfing, write and store word processors and spreadsheets. With faster performance, silent operation, lightweight form, and improved battery life this will surely attract business people on the go. Sorry, gamers, it's really not made for gaming, yet.

The hard drive makers say that flash memory is nice, but if you want to play games, HD movies, etc. you'll be needing the good, 'ol hard drive for that one. So gamers will have to stay glued to their HDDs until something better comes along, eh?

Uses? You can bring your entire desktop with you on a single flash drive. If you need to work on something, all you need to do is pop in that flash drive in a computer. Everything that was on your office computer can be copied down to your flash drive. After working, you can just pop it out and leave the computer like it was. There won't be any residue or mark that you ever were there.

So what's in store for flash memory? According to industry experts, eventually it Will replace the HDD in laptops to save space and energy. There's also the benefit of less maintenance as there will hardly be any moving parts inside. As for the price, it will definitely go down as flash memory manufacturing gets cheaper and cheaper. Let's hope the prices get lower fast enough for us to buy one soon.

It's a fact that we are more connected to our employers, teacher, friends, classmates, strangers, and the internet more than ever thanks to PDAs, mobile phones, and laptops. What's wrong with that? Isn't that supposed to make life better?

Too much of a good thing is bad.

It's lead to the idea of "CrackBerries". It's what most people cal their BlackBerries, these days. It's called as such because of the way that people depend on the gadget so much for their daily lives. Studies have shown that out of 2,300 executives surveyed, 1/3 of them believed they spend way too much time with their gadgets. Most would probably grow anxious if they didn't have their Blackberries near. Thus, the connection with the addicting drug "Crack" and BlackBerry.

There have been books and seminars written about turning off BlackBerry, mobile phones, and PDAs at selected times of the day to slowly get off the gadget dependency. Some suggested that lunch and driving on the way to work and going home would be appropriate times. This would result to less stomachaches and vehicle accidents.

However, the "addicted" are making their stand. They're basically saying that their lives have improved thanks to BlackBerries and gadgets. 77% of the executives surveyed earlier said that it improved work/life balance. It helped them manage office matters when they're out in the field or at home; they became efficient workers.

How many people are CrackBerry addicts? Let's take a look at some figures. First quarter fiscal 2006 ending June 3, Research In Motion Ltd.(RIM) shipped 1.2 M units of BlackBerry, totalling to 5.5M subscribers. Although, not all of them may be addicted, but even just a third of that would be a large enough population. What is the US Government doing to help decrease this addiction? They warned employers that keeping employees on the CrackBerry gravy train could lead to lawsuits due to employees suffering with their personal lives.

In the end, Aristotle's Golden Mean would be better. "Keep everything in moderation."

There was a time in the mobile phone's life that the screen was really small and the keypads were the biggest part of the whole gadget. Now it seems to be getting smaller and lower. In 2007, it just might disappear altogether.

There are plans in the works for mobile phones to get touch screens as well. Immediate benefits? More space for the screen; yes, you can finally see more of yourself. More possible applications; the keypad itself will be integrated into the screen; faster typing/texting speed. How does it work? According to Immersion, a tactile or haptic ("touch" for us lay people) technologies developer, a small electric motor behind the screen delivers the actual tap for you.

The main system involved with this new technology is Immersion's VibeTonz system. Once implemented, your "mobile phone experience" will change. For instance, synchronized vibrations in ringtones will make your mobile sound like a Subwoofer, gaming would have touch feedback, etc. You'd be able to find the right menu quickly, you can also change the vibrations from a subtle tap to a vibrations as strong as Big Ben at noon.