Alexandru Brie

This morning, I noticed a tweet from @rvbelzen that said, "As a NaNoWriMo veteran, do you have any tips for this NaNoWriMo newbie, maybe an article you wrote about it?" Most of the posts that I've done about National Novel Writing Month for TUAW have focused on the tools, not on the technique. Based on the tweet, I thought I'd give you some hints from a three-time NaNoWriMo winner (that means you wrote a 50,000-word novel in the month of November) about how to prepare for the writing marathon. 1) Make sure you have a broad outline of your plot and characters in your mind or on paper. This was the hardest part for me the first two years I did NaNoWriMo, as I had a story in my head but didn't spend the time to think of characters or how the story was going to evolve. As a result, those first two novels were only about halfway through the total plot line when I got to 50,000 words. What I suggest is sitting down with your favorite writing tool -- whether that's TextEdit, Word, Storyist, Story Mill, Scrivener, or another other writing tool, and just write a quick outline of how the story is going to unfold. Come up with character names and a rough description, locations, etc., and write them down as well. 2) At some point on November 1st, sit down for an uninterrupted spell of writing. In order to write 50,000 words in a month, you'll need to average 1,667 words a day. I find that setting aside time to write in a place where I'm not going to be interrupted by talk, TV, or tweets is essential. If you're enthusiastic about your story, that 1,667 words is going to flow out of you, and you'll find that some days you're writing 2,500 words. Go for it on those days, because you'll have other days when you need to take a break. My favorite place to write NaNoWriMo novels? The kitchen table. The chair is uncomfortable, so I need to write quickly so I can get out of it ASAP. 3) It's all about words, not about tools. I've noticed over the last few days that I see more and more tweets about "which tool should I use?" There are debates going on about the merits of Storyist versus Scrivener, or using one of the many minimalist Read More

It’s almost certain that come a special holiday, developers will hold a sale on their apps inside the App Store.  Easter appears to be no different and despite still being a couple of days away, there are some great offers already appearing. The following list will be updated over the coming days, so keep checking back to see what’s new!  If you’re a developer with an Easter offer on your app and we haven’t mentioned it, feel free to add details in the comments. Hope everyone grabs a bargain! Games: Electronic Arts will start their Easter sale on the 21st April, with prices to be confirmed, however they will be including Dead Space for the iPhone at $0.99/£0.59 and Dead Space for iPad for the same price, plus Fight Night Champion, Reckless Racing and other top titles. G5 Entertainment have a selection of titles on sale between now and the 24th April: Mushroom Age – $0.99/£0.59. Sega have reduced the price of the following games until the 25th April: Individual Games. Train Conductor – Free (part of FreeAppaDay, but has a special Easter Bunny train!) Snooker Club – Free (it’s to celebrate the snooker championship really, but it’s still free!) Books: Others: Read More

En el Especial Halloween de hoy, os dejamos un listado de juegos relacionados con calabazas, brujas, monstruos y demás elementos característicos de Halloween, que podéis descargar desde la App Store de manera gratuita. Listado después del salto. Read More

Creative is hitching its wagon to Bluetooth in its bid to differentiate itself in this crowded speaker accessory category and is in the process of releasing several Bluetooth-enabled iPod speaker options, including the D200 ($130). There really isn't a whole lot to this speaker. It's rather compact, measuring 3.9 inches high by 15.9 inches wide by 3.7 inches deep, and has a nice heft to it, weighing in at 3.6 pounds. Unlike the wraparound speaker grille of its step-up sibling, the $300 ZiiSound D5, this model only has cloth on the front of the unit, covering the speaker drivers. The speaker shell has a nice, glossy black finish that, as you might expect, is something of a fingerprint magnet (yes you will find yourself polishing this speaker with a cloth from time to time). From a distance, the speaker looks simple and understated, much like a small center-channel speaker in a home-theater setup. There's an auxiliary minijack input on the back for connecting other audio devices with an optional cable, and the requisite power button. On top of the unit you'll find volume up/down controls, plus a Bluetooth button. When you hold that button down for a few seconds, a blue light flashes indicating the speaker is discoverable and in pairing mode. As mentioned earlier, if you own a stereo-compatible Bluetooth-enabled phone, PC, iPad, or portable media player (the D200 supports the A2DP and AVRCP profiles), all you have to do is turn your device's Bluetooth on, wait for it to search and find the D200, input the PIN (0000), then hit play on your music; the music will stream wirelessly to the speaker so long as you're within about 30 feet of the D200. You can then use your phone/media player as a remote, controlling what music you want to play from the palm of your hand. Read More

The ZiiSound D5 is a higer-end Bluetooth speaker that retails for $300. As the iPhone-iPod audio docking systems move into a more mature phase, Creative is hitching its wagon to Bluetooth in a bid to differentiate itself in this crowded category. Bluetooth compatibility allows the wide range of A2DP devices--which includes iPhones, iPads, recent iPod Touch models, most recent smartphones, and many PCs--to stream audio wirelessly to the speaker. On the PC speaker side, Creative has the $130 Inspire S2 Bluetooth system, and now the company has bulked up its audio line with several Bluetooth-enabled iPod speaker options, including the ZiiSound D5, a higher-end model that retails for $300. The nice thing about the ZiiSound D5 is that it's pretty compact, measuring 3.5 inches high by 16.7 inches wide by 4.3 inches deep, with a low profile that's well suited for shelf placement. The attractively designed speaker has nice heft (8.4 pounds) and appears to be well-built, though the speaker cloth that covers the front and top of the speaker seems susceptible to fraying (keep this away from cats) and does attract some dust. In an ideal world, we would have preferred a matte-finished top and metal or plastic grilles to cover the speakers. If you own any of the stereo Bluetooth-enabled devices mentioned above (the D5 supports the A2DP and AVRCP profiles), connecting to the D5 can be as simple as turning your device's Bluetooth on, waiting for it to search and find the D5, inputting the PIN (0000), then hitting play on your music. The music will stream wirelessly to the speaker so long as you're within about 30 feet of the D5. Read More

How long before you really need to upgrade your smartphone? Let me start by saying that I bought my iPhone 3GS in October of last year and have no plans to upgrade to the iPhone 4. Luckily, while the new iPhone--antenna issues aside--has certainly been enhanced, the differences between the new model and my "old" 3GS aren't huge, especially now that I've installed iOS4. However, even if there was a big difference, I knew going in that I would largely be ignoring whatever next-generation model Apple put out because I'm not a serial upgrader. But recently I've been thinking about how long a phone (and not just an iPhone) should last. The common consensus I've heard from cell phone manufacturers is about two years, even if some carriers allow you to upgrade every 12 months (at a subsidized price), depending on your plan. With my old phone, the Sprint Mogul, which was made by HTC, I actually logged more than two years, and fellow editor John Falcone has remarkably stuck with his Mogul for over two and a half years as he awaits the arrival of the perfect phone. I know plenty of people who've held on to the original iPhone and its 2G service, but most of those people (the ones I know anyway) aren't heavy data users. I would have moved on if I owned the first iPhone (I didn't buy it), but I'm thinking the 3GS could do me just fine for well over two years, though I'd probably have to replace the battery, which isn't that difficult. (See Rick Broida's article on replacing the iPhone 3G's battery). Phones like Sprint's Android-powered Evo, which truly uses a 4G network, should also be able to put in a solid two to three years of service before seeming too ancient. And if all you care about is making voice calls, your phone can theoretically last for years. (In fact, I know one guy who five years ago received a flip phone in a goodie bag for an event. It came with free service that the carrier has forgotten to cut off, so he's never upgraded the phone.) Of course, your phone can meet an untimely end in a number of ways. Death by dropping, drowning, abandonment, or plain old thievery seem to the most prevalent forms of demise. But those who take extra care with their phones, protecting them with Read More