General

Earlier this week we released NewsBreak 2.0! Now we’re very excited to announce – eWallet 5.0.1! OK, well maybe “very excited” isn’t quite the right description but hey, it’s finished and released so “Woo Hoo!”. We’re happy!

eWallet 5.0.1 is a minor update to eWallet for all platforms. It includes almost a hundred (sorry, I’m not going to try to list all 100!) tiny changes, mostly fixes or tweaks to smooth out things we discovered after the release of 5.0 . None of these are earth shattering and if you never install 5.0.1 you probably wouldn’t notice a difference. For instance, on some cards on some smartphones an extra line got left on the screen when you scrolled through card fields. On the off chance that you use that card on the affected smartphones, 5.0.1 fixes it – no more line! Woot!

Still, we tend to be perfectionists at heart at Ilium Software and if even a few people could run into the problem we like to fix it. So here it is! 5.0.1. If you’ve installed the 5.0 full version (or unlocked the 5.0 trial), installing the 5.0.1 trial over the top of it should result in a full, unlocked version. If for any reason it doesn’t, the same codes that unlocked/registered 5.0 will do the same for 5.0.1.

And we won’t be hitting all your email boxes to tell you about this one so don’t feel bad if you don’t get a notification. Like I said, most folks don’t really need it and spamming you with yet another upgrade email isn’t what we’re shooting for.

So feel free to grab the update if you’re insterested and, as always, if you have any problems or questions, let us know!

Like flying cars and household robots, the future is notorious for its many unfulfilled promises. Turns out it isn’t all talk though! I just downloaded a game called Arcade Reality. Here is what they promise:

“No more killing feeble aliens on the tiny 2″ x 2″ screen! In this game you must handle hostile creatures floating around you in the real world. ”

My first thought is “Um….yeah, right.” I’ve seen these promises of games that you play in the real world. “Just a few more years and every game will be like this!” they promise. Surrre. So when I heard about Arcade Reality all I could think was that it would be one more bit of false hope for my already broken gamer dreams.

But guess what? IT WORKS!!

I’m not kidding. This thing actually works. You look at the screen and search around the room for the aliens. When you spot one you hit the action button on your five way and lasers blast off through the office and the alien invaders a’splode. Suddenly, your device begins to vibrate…you’re under attack again…but from where? You spin in a circle look up up, down, and all around. Finally you spot them behind you and up. Fire! Fire! Fire! YES! BOOM BABY!!!!

Look, the graphics are 1981 I know, but this game is 2052! Definitely download this one and give it a try. The YouTube videos they have don’t even come close to representing the experience.

And NICE WORK to all the folks at Arcade Reality. As a developer I applaud an incredibly clever game that actually comes through on all those promises for the future of gaming.

I’m seeing a lot of Smartphone tips published lately, so am jumping on the bandwagon and adding one of my own. And since I’m suchan advocate of simplicity, mine is a very simple one. It even works on any cellphone, not just Smartphones.

When setting up any kind of off-site meeting, appointment, or date, send the person you’re meeting your cellphone number. When they send theirs back (which everyone does, if you write “in case anything comes up, here’s my mobile number”), put it into your cellphone. It takes about 20 seconds, and if something goes wrong – either on your part or theirs – you have a very easy way to reach them.

If you don’t want their number stored permanently you can always erase it after the meeting (I usually store one-time numbers in the “Temp” category, and just clean them out when I’m stuck in a waiting room.)

I thought most people did this already, but am realizing that’s not true. If people sync their phones with their desktop contacts, and everyone puts their mobile phone numbers in their contact info, this becomes automatic, but it’s clear to me (from seeing and hearing other people in public) that this isn’t the case right now.

I know this isn’t extremely specific to our software or our site, but it’s such a simple way to avoid problems, it seemed worth mentioning.