I have mentioned before that I can be a bit of a closet gamer on the side, and I have even in the distant pass tried to code some basic games. Nowadays I would never have the time to sit and play games, much less sit and spend the time trying to code something.

But I have to admit that I have always had an secret ambition to create my own “empire“ type of game in Python or some other “simple” coding language. If you don’t know what game I am talking about try searching for “classic empire” on Wikipedia or Google. Empire a game I used to play for hours while working night shifts a very long time ago! Actually programming games is really quite hard and you need to be reasonable fluent in a computer language to really get going. This is something that has proved a barrier for myself and my kids.

Things are changing slightly with initiatives like Metaplace which will eventually allow for the easier building of online worlds and games. I the present the ability to create and share homemade games is being easier for Xbox 360 and Windows users with Microsoft announcing the release of a community oriented service based on a set of tools called XNA, which gives amateur game coders a framework through which it is easier to build games. The new community based service will allow people to proudly share their efforts online.

Of course if you really want to take advantage of this new initiative you will really need to get hold of a Xbox 360 if you haven’t already got one. Perhaps it is time to create an XNA version of empire!

All the recent talk about tablet computers and digital pens has reminded me of one particular group of software applications that works really well with these products. That group is the applications known as digital notebooks, which provide ways to collect, store and find information quickly and easily.

My particular favourite, at least on windows is an application called EverNote. I presently use the free version of this software which lets you to capture and search through notes, photos, webpage clips, images of printed and handwritten text, emails, passwords, brainstorms, sketches, …… well you get the idea!

As we mentioned above the one thing these applications really must do well is allow you to easily find things again later and I particularly like the way EverNote does this. It provides a combination of a time line ribbon strip, text search and auto and manual tagging approaches which is really quite powerful.

On the Microsoft bench there is OneNote 2007 which provides similar functionality. I have been looking at this product, as it is a possible candidate to use as a digital notebook when my laptop gets its Office 2007 upgrade. It seems functional enough, and the link with Office may make a change worthwhile.

What do you use for a digital notebook?

Productivity software applications! What on earth are you talking about you say. Well productivity software refers to that group of software that includes word processors, spreadsheets, calendar and email applications etc. In other words all the computer programs that are supposed to make you and perhaps your business more productive. Often of course these programs, especially to start with when you are a new user, are anything but productivity enhancers as you struggle with new concepts and a seemingly infinite number of options and features. Of course if you use these applications regularly, and many people do at work, you will eventually reach a certain level of proficiency and the application will begin to help rather than hinder your work. This learning experience unfortunately can often be a frustrating experience, and in future posts we will look how some of these productivity applications are evolving as a result of the Internet.

The godfather of productivity applications is of course Microsoft Office, which has become the de facto standard for creating documents. Office will in fact provide all that most individuals and business will ever need to write letters and do the budget, and as such is a good choice. In fact most people will assume you have Microsoft Office and will often send you documents in the formats the application creates, without checking with you first.

But are there any alternatives? Well yes, Corel WordPerfect Office provides a nice alternative. Although it is now an also ran against Office, it is just as capable and does have one nice feature which is the ability to look at the style codes in the word processor which makes it easy to troubleshoot any problems with your document. Anyone who has struggled with Microsoft Word happily changing fonts, text size and styles seemingly at random will appreciate this. A second alternative if you are a Mac home user is the Apple iWork 08, which is Apple’s equivalent to Office, and although the functionality is not on a par with Office would be more than adequate for most Mac users.

Happy productivity! If you are a student always make sure you purchase the academic or student version to save money.