With some of the larger, more popular social network sites you have several problems that are of concern to some users including the lack of family friendly content and the risk of exposing yourself or your child to offensive or harmful material that may be of particular concern to many families. Additionally, with such large sites it may often be difficult to find others in the crowd who share your particular religious or philosophical views. For these reasons, among others, we are seeing a few religious or ideological themed social networking sites springing up. After scouring the web for such communities these sites proved to be worth a look:

Jewish Social Networking Sites:

Jew Crew: http://www.jewcrew.org/home.php

A social networking site that helps users connect to other Jewish members from around the world.

My J World: http://www.myjworld.com/

A community web site and for personal networking or growing your business by connecting to a Jewish community where you can join clubs, explore videos, or just meet some interesting new people.

Frum Chat: http://www.frumchat.com/home.php

A great site for the Jewish community with easy to use features and over 800 members on an easy to use site.

Christian Social Networking Sites:

Tangle: http://www.tangle.com

A unique social networking site for the Christian community where you can find churches and new ministries, submit and review prayer requests, and read the Bible online.

Holy Pal: http://www.holypal.com

A fairly large christian social network with all the standard features, share videos, upload your photos, create groups, and connect with others.

My Faith Haven: http://myfaithhaven.com

Easy to use Christian site that not only includes some of the traditional social networking features but also features a daily Bible verse and arcade.

My Godly Place: http://www.mygodlyplace.com

Another site that aims to be a christian alternative to myspace boasting hundreds of members along with polls, forums, etc.

Shout Life: http://www.shoutlife.com

Another great alternative to the other sites that offer a “safe and clean” environment for all of your social networking needs.

Generation JC: http://www.generationjc.com

Blogs, music, chat, and more make this site an interesting choice for those looking for christian communities online.

Life Space: http://www.lifespace.cc

A small but growing christian social network that is offering a family alternative to some of the more well known sites out there.

Messianic Social Networking Sites:

The Nazarite Site: http://the-nazarite-site.ning.com

A social networking community for messianic believers as well as others in the religious community of Sabbath observant followers. Nice design and great features make this one a good choice.

Moshiach Now: http://moshiachnow.ning.com

Another small messianic social network worth checking out with customizable profile and easy to use features.

Messianic Evangelicals http://messianicevangelicals.ning.com

A teaching ministry and social network combined that describes itself as a “Union of Two House Messianic Israelite and Evangelicals”.

Messianic Torah: http://messianictorah.ning.com

A small but interesting social network for those in the messianic community.

One to Watch: Another up and coming social networking site for the Messianic community is Kehila which is a brand new site accepting members now but plans to official launch at the end of the month so it might be worth checking out: http://kehilaonline.ning.com

Other:

Buddhist Network: http://www.buddhist-network.com

Christian and Jewish communities are not the only one getting into social networking as you can see with this popular Buddhist community with forums and plenty of interesting people to meet.

Whether it is offering a family friendly environment that you can feel good about your children using, giving you a chance to promote your ministry or service that is of interest to the religious community, or simply giving you an opportunity to connect with like minded individuals, these specialized social media networks are seeing some success and may be worth checking out.

With some of the larger, more popular social network sites you have several problems that are of concern to some users including the lack of family friendly content and the risk of exposing yourself or your child to offensive or harmful material that may be of particular concern to many families. Additionally, with such large sites it may often be difficult to find others in the crowd who share your particular religious or philosophical views. For these reasons, among others, we are seeing a few religious or ideological themed social networking sites springing up. After scouring the web for such communities these sites proved to be worth a look:

Jewish Social Networking Sites:
Jew Crew:
A social networking site that helps users connect to other Jewish members from around the world.

My J World:
A community web site and for personal networking or growing your business by connecting to a Jewish community where you can join clubs, explore videos, or just meet some interesting new people.

Frum Chat:
A great site for the Jewish community with easy to use features and over 800 members on an easy to use site.

Christian Social Networking Sites:
Tangle:
A unique social networking site for the Christian community where you can find churches and new ministries, submit and review prayer requests, and read the Bible online.

Holy Pal:
A fairly large christian social network with all the standard features, share videos, upload your photos, create groups, and connect with others.

My Faith Haven:
Easy to use Christian site that not only includes some of the traditional social networking features but also features a daily Bible verse and arcade.

My Godly Place:
Another site that aims to be a christian alternative to myspace boasting hundreds of members along with polls, forums, etc.

Shout Life:
Another great alternative to the other sites that offer a “safe and clean” environment for all of your social networking needs.

Generation JC:
Blogs, music, chat, and more make this site an interesting choice for those looking for christian communities online.

Life Space:
A small but growing christian social network that is offering a family alternative to some of the more well known sites out there.

Messianic Social Networking Sites:
The Nazarite Site:
A social networking community for messianic believers as well as others in the religious community of Sabbath observant followers. Nice design and great features make this one a good choice.

Moshiach Now::
Another small messianic social network worth checking out with customizable profile and easy to use features.

Messianic Evangelicals:
A teaching ministry and social network combined that describes itself as a “Union of Two House Messianic Israelite and Evangelicals”.

Messianic Torah:
A small but interesting social network for those in the messianic community.

One to Watch: Another up and coming social networking site for the Messianic community is Kehila which is a brand new site accepting members now but plans to official launch at the end of the month so it might be worth checking out.

Other:
Buddhist Network:
Christian and Jewish communities are not the only one getting into social networking as you can see with this popular Buddhist community with forums and plenty of interesting people to meet.

Whether it is offering a family friendly environment that you can feel good about your children using, giving you a chance to promote your ministry or service that is of interest to the religious community, or simply giving you an opportunity to connect with like minded individuals, these specialized social media networks are seeing some success and may be worth checking out and they are just the tip of the iceburg, so if you did not see your particular religion of choice featured here be sure to do some searching and you are sure to find a community that will fit your need for specialized social media. And do not forget that these communities can be a great way to promote your products or services that migh be of special interest to religious communities.

Who Should Used Specialized Media for Music Communities:

If you have a product or service that is of special interest to either music fans or to musicians and bands then networking on these specialized social media networks can be a great form of advertising. This can include businesses that sell music equipment, venues that are looking for new talent, or businesses that meet specialized needs such as creating custom web sites for a band or designing promotional t-shirts, or other service can also greatly benefit from getting their name and products or services in front of the right people.

Of course, anyone involved in the music industry will also want to explore social media dedicated to music fans as a simple and cheap way to promote there own music, find new fans and venues, and sell their own CD’s and other music related items. Additionally, music fans who want to stay up to date on what is happening with their favorite bands or discover great new music that they might not otherwise be exposed to will likely find something worth there time at one of the many music related social media networks.

So whether you are looking to sell your own business or service, promote your own music, or simply spend your online time finding the best new music then checking out music themed social networks may be a great choice. Here are a few great suggestions to get you started:

MusoCity- A great little community for music lovers, fans, bands, and music professionals of various musical genres and a great place to discover new musical artists. Get your free account and start mingling with other music fans and discovering new talent right away.

Last FM- This is a great site for music lovers with videos and profiles for just about every type of music you could be looking for including indie, rock, pop, metal, and even jazz and classical music. Musicians can even find ways to sell their music and build a fan base with Last FM.

ilike.com- iLike is designed for music lovers and utilizes a spectrum of other social networking sites to let users share play lists, discover new music, and get personalized concert alerts.

Diletante- This is a wonderful community for lovers of classical music and new artists and composers looking to gain an audience for their musical talents.

Photo Courtesy of Tuomas Vitikainen

In additional to social networks devoted to the broad spectrum of music, certain artists have also started their own unique versions which is not  only a great way for the bands to connect with their fans but it also presents an excellent opportunity for you to network with others who share your common interest or who might loosely fit a particular type of demographic. One great example of this is the network designed by H.I.M. on their web site at heartagram.com.

Regardless of the type of music that you are looking for or the audience that you wish to capture, odds are there is a perfect social network or two out there that can help you achieve your social networking goals while meeting some interesting people and finding great new talent in an easy and affordable way.

1. Content: Great blogs have great content. Ensure that the blogs overall design and theme coincide with the content. Make any navigation through the content simple by utilizing simple terms and easy to read fonts. Keep your content easily readable by ensuring good contrast between the background and the foreground. Typically white background with black font will have the most contrast and therefore be easiest to read. Whatever colors you choose, be sure to use a very light color with a very dark color to ensure readability.

2. Ease of Use: Readers of your content may never come back if you make your otherwise great content difficult to see or get to. Horizontal scrolling is a huge obstacle for readers, so take that into consideration when designing your blog.

Look at the smallest screen you are targeting and design for that resolution. Many blog creators decide that their blog should have animation or utilize heavy amounts of Flash.

Avoid this urge. Using animation of any kind can be distracting, annoying, and can cause your site to load very slowly.

3. Good Header Graphic: A good header graphic is like a good billboard for a business. It will tell you everything you need to know. Use high quality photos or professional looking logos. First impressions are the most important and a strong, yet non-obtrusive header will be your best tool.

Think of your header as your calling card. Don’t overcrowd it and don’t shroud it with advertisements.

4. Obvious Comment Section: Blogs are all about interaction with your audience, so to encourage this, make sure that the ability to comment on your posts is very obvious. Comment areas are like mini forums with the posts as the header.

Making commenting difficult or not intuitive can be the death of your audience interaction. And since an involved audience is more likely to become a loyal audience, the comment area can be a Make or break section of your blog design.

5. Tie into Social Media: Utilize the existing infrastructure like Digg, delicious, twitter and Facebook to allow your readers to forward link to their family and friends who may also be interested. This can help grow your audience and increase your traffic. Likewise, posting updates from your blog to these social media sites can help drive traffic which will expose your site to more readers.

Be careful not to overload your blog with too many options. Stick with the social media sites you are aware of. This will ensure your posts don’t look like an old suitcase with hundreds of stickers on it. Clutter kills.

6. Illustrate Your Content: If a picture says 1000 words, then you better take heed. Photos and graphics can be your best friend in a blog post. It will help the reader’s visualize your content and make your posts more interesting. Be careful not to over-saturate your posts with too many images. Less high quality images are better than many poor quality images every time.

7. Don’t Overcrowd Your Content: I have said it before and I will say it again, Clutter kills. Ads can play an important role, but don’t sacrifice your entire site design just for a few bucks.

Be very cautious where you add advertisements and other extraneous content. If it isn’t directly related to the content or the blog, it would be better to leave it out.

You don’t want to read a newspaper and have to hunt for the content. Don’t do that with your blog either.

Hopefully these 7 simple tips will help you as you design or redesign your blog for maximum benefit and foster loyal readership.

This article will take three lifestreams and compare them, bring out their pros and cons, and then let you decide which one may be right for you.

1. Chi.mp. (http://www.chi.mp) A slick web site that allows you to amalgamate Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and RSS feeds. The interface is clean and setup is fairly easy. The one stand out feature is the ability to select a custom domain name, for free, to point to this new collection of your internet life. Chu.mp or Pi.mp could be your chosen domains, or the simple BillSmith.mp can make that address much easier to remember. The downfall of the site for me was the use of the site. Once I set it up, I never went back. For my use, Chi.mp had no traction for me. No big payoff.

2. Storytlr.(http://www.storytlr.com) . I am growing more and more fond of this site. Storytlr has access to your accounts on Delicious, Digg, Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, Stumbleupon, Twitter, Vimeo, Youtube, and many others. Besides the broader reach of Storytlr, it also brings sidebar widgets similar to WordPress, comments, and pre-made themes to skin your site. Antoher feature that I find useful is the ability to crosspost, so if you post onto Facebook, you can have it update your Twitter account and link to that post.

3. FriendFeed .(http://www.friendfeed.com) . FriendFeed taps into delicious, StumbleUpon, Digg, Flickr, Picasa, Facebook, Gmail/Google Talk, Twitter, Amazon, and RSS feeds. There are 58 services in total at the time of this writing that they support, and I see just about everything I need. It also has premade themes to transform the look of the site. FriendFeed also added the ability to friend people within FriendFeed, adding another layer to the site complete with direct messaging that can cross over to Twitter. Lastly, and I think possibly one of the most valuable features is the live updates. No site refresh needed, so I can set up FriendFeed and let it spin all day and I can always catch new updates. Of the three sites, FriendFeed is by far the most likely to grow and catch on. If you don’t have a FriendFeed account, go get one now.

Will these sites revolutionize how we use the internet? Probably not, but they will make our daily lives a little easier and maybe they could spark innovations in how we communicate with friends, family and colleagues.

1.  Turn your monitor into a strobe light.  http://www.bobshowto.com/fun/strobe-light.htm
   Maybe it’s a laptop, or a big projector, get a great spooky effect in your house with just your monitor and this web site.  This would be perfect for a haunted data center for the co-workers to walk through!
2. Decorate your workstation for the spooky season with this USB powered decoration set. http://www.thisnext.com/item/C5EB1B00/BC37BE2A/USB-Halloween-Decoration-Kit
   Complete with seasonal mouse pad, lights to hang on the monitor or possibly your collection of action figures in your cubicle. 
3. Build your own talking skull. http://www.kickthefog.com/talking_skull.htm Everything you need to build your own creepy talking skull.  This is an involved build, but the result is one that will make all your geeky friends drool with jealousy. 
4. Create your own Jack o Lantern carving pattern. http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/other_crafts/digital_crafts_jack_o_lantern_templates.php  That’s right.  Want to carve Tux or maybe a portrait of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates?  Follow these instructions and you will have a 100% original pumpkin on your porch this season! Here are a few of the geekier Jack-o-lanterns I’ve seen decorating the porches of probable geeks.

 5.  Use a voice changer.  http://www.screamingbee.com/product/download.aspx Sure there are great toy versions of this technology, but here’s a free piece of software that will morph your voice into something a little creepier! 

6.  Dress up like Master Chief from Halo.  http://halloweenaddict.com/2009/08/halo-master-chief-costume.html Who wouldn’t want to be master Chief from Halo?  Hop on your Warthog, although it does looks more like a Puma and go blast some enemies.  Afterwards, kick back and watch a little Red Vs. Blue.

7.  Dress up as Pixels.  Get a bunch of square boxes and spray paint them different colors.  Walk next to each other all night.  Try to look Jaggy.

8. Get answers from the Beyond on the internet.  http://www.witchboard.com/online-witchboard/Online Ouija-like board for your amusement and Halloween fun!  Ask questions like What is the next Apple Announcement and see what the digital spirits have to say.  Hopefully it won’t be a Null Pointer Exception.

9.  Online Trick or Treating?  http://doorlesschambers.com organizes online trick or treating for virtual Disney-themed goodies every year from October 25 through the 31^st.  It may not fill up your pillowcase, but it might be just what you need while you are stuck answering tech support phone calls on October 31^st.

10.  Make your own real Spiderman web slinger. http://www.instructables.com/id/Creepy_Cobweb_Shooter/?contestId=V9T8TI4FLROLS8R  Instructables does it again with a great video and set of instructions on creating a webslinger.  Sure you need an air compressor, but what Spiderman fan didn’t want their own web shooter? 

11.  EVERYTHING Halloween Online.  http://www.halloween-online.com/  Buy a prop coffin, check out some ghoulish recipes ( I like the Skull Jell-O mold), find some costume ideas, check out some Halloween games to play with your friends, and even Halloween party planning ideas and suggestions.  This site has everything you need for a fun and safe Halloween.

Luckily, I become one of 100,000 users who received an invite to try, test and use Wave. My first impression of Google Wave was that of a kid who has a browser open in front of him but no clue which website he should open.

This is the first screen that I was presented with after I logged into Google wave:

After watching a few videos from the Google Wave team, working with Wave became piece of cake.

Here is a video tutorial from Google wave team:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBzuuWZPaXc[/youtube]

Navigation panel is easy to understand and work on. Left sidebar is similar to Gmail with Labels and Navigation bar like Inbox, Sent , Trash… Below the Navigation bar, there is a panel for Contacts, which you can drag and drop to create a new wave.

Creating a new wave is like starting a new conversation. One thing worth mentioning here, when we start a new wave, we can add as many contacts as we want. Simply drag and drop contacts from contact list to new wave. Here is a screenshot with multiple contacts in my wave :

Google Wave works in real time; what ever you are typing can be seen by current users in your wave.

Wave is a mash-up of Google chat and Gmail. For example: if you are ‘waving’ another user, and he/she is not online, they will receive the message upon logging in. If they are online, you can start a real time conversation.

Understanding Google Wave Interface :

The Google Wave interface is divided into 3 columns :

1. Navigation
2. Inbox
3. Wave

Navigation Panel :

The Navigation Panel is where you will see the Gmail style inbox, sent items, settings, trash, search and folder options. Followed by your contacts. (See image below)

The search option is interesting: it will let you save a search, and with one click you can search for your previously saved search term.

Inbox Panel :

The interface of the Inbox Panel in Google Wave is somewhat similar to Gmail, but a new button which you will see here is the Mute Button.

Mute Button: can be used to mark any Wave, which you do not want to appear in the Inbox. Though you can search for a Muted wave, by search or if you tagged it while waving.

I find this feature important and useful; at least my girlfriend can’t disturb me unless I want her to.

Wave Panel :

The Wave Panel is where all of the magic happens. This panel can be used to start a new wave and see the Playback. Playback is another useful feature, which allows you to see all of the messages along the timeline. If you tend to have very long conversations, this feature will come in handy. Another great feature of Wave: you can drag and drop pictures into a conversation, but only if you have Google gears installed.

Generally speaking, the flexibility of Wave is pretty exciting. You can add lots of useful extensions from the Google wave extension library. You can also integrate Twitter within Google wave.

The end result? The full effect of Google Wave is not very impressive at the moment, as it relies on a broad user base that is currently hindered by the limited invites. This will most likely change based on the substantial buzz that Google Wave is generating around the web. Look for Google Wave to become next best thing.

Have you used Google Wave? If yes, feel free to share your first impressions.

———————————————————————————————–

Editor Note : This is a guest post by Harsh Agrawal, who write about technology and wordpress at shoutmeloud and Themepremium respectively.

Wouldn’t it be great to blog a few times a week for a month or two and then begin to make enough money to retire?

You’re not alone in having that kind of dream. Millions of blogs currently exist, but the number of active blogs is much lower. Few people have the commitment to actually see their blog through to the moneymaking stage.

Blogging for money is a great way to start making a part-time income on the side, but don’t expect to turn it into a full-time income for a while. In other words, don’t quit your day job!

A blog, like a plant, needs constant care and maintenance before it will begin to reward you, and you might have to wait months or even years before you see a single reward (a flower or fruit for a plant, a dollar for a blog). If that doesn’t discourage, go ahead and start blogging. Here are some tips to help you make a blog that will be successful and eventually profitable.

Pick a layout carefully
Few things will turn off a reader as quickly as a bad layout. If you have a confusing or distracting layout, they can always go find another blog to read. Make sure it’s simple for readers to figure out what your blog is about, where the latest blog posts are, where the blog archive is, and where the search box is.

If they can’t find something they’re expecting, readers are very likely to simply hit the back button and never visit your blog again.

People usually prefer reading dark text on a light background. The background and sidebars shouldn’t detract attention from the contents of your blog. You want to convey an image of professionalism, so make sure your site layout reflects it.

Proofread your posts, preferably multiple times
Before making a post, proofread it once and then again. Maybe even a third time if you have average language skills. It’s very easy to miss typos and grammatical errors that make your blog look unprofessional.

If possible, publish posts on a schedule that allows you to set aside posts for a day or two and read them over again before publishing them. You’d be amazed at the errors you can find after just a day or two without reading the piece!

Keep up the blog on a regular basis
Try to post daily or every other day, or at the very least, set up some kind of schedule for your posts. Readers like knowing when to expect new posts, and if the blog looks inactive, they’ll probably ignore it and leave your blog for good.

If you need new ideas, keep a notebook with you and list new topics whenever you come up with them. Top-ten lists and similar themes (best three, worst five, seven things you need to know) are popular with readers. Even posting a short list of tips is better than leaving the blog inactive for a week or two.

Don’t focus on money yet
If you’re just starting a blog, be aware that you have to compete with thousands of other brand-new blogs that people start. You have to build up an audience of readers and increase your traffic numbers before you can make money, so the best thing to focus on at this point is high-quality content.

If you write great content and genuinely make an effort to provide useful, timely information and connect with your readers, they will notice and begin sticking around. Once you have more blogging experience and a base of readers, you can begin trying to make money with your blog.

Follow these tips and keep your blog alive for at least a few months and your aged blog will begin to gain credibility and maybe even make you money!

The Wii and the Xbox 360 have been outselling the much more expensive PlayStation 3 and Sony has resisted any price drop. Back in June they claimed to be happy with their price point, which even then represented a loss on every console sold. With pressure to stimulate the market amid falling sales they have finally made a move. The new version of their popular console heralds the long awaited price drop and the 120 GB machine will cost $299 in the US, ¢â€šÂ¬299 in Europe and £249 in the UK. By comparison the 120 GB Xbox 360 Elite remains priced at $399.

The new PlayStation 3 slim is 33% smaller and 36% lighter than the old PS3. The interior has undergone a complete redesign and the console will use less energy and operate more quietly than the old model. In fact power consumption has been cut to two-thirds the previous level and as a result the machine does not heat up so much so there is less need for noisy fan operation.

The console looks sleeker and more attractive than ever and the visual redesign has also seen the logo change to lower case and a matte, textured finish instead of a shiny one. It supports Wi-Fi out of the box, it has two USB ports and you can access the hard drive from the front and upgrade more easily than with the previous iteration. In fact you can now upgrade the hard drive without voiding the warranty. The old 80 GB and 160 GB models will now be phased out.

If you are looking for a downside then perhaps you could point to the lack of backwards compatibility for PlayStation 2 games, although it can run PlayStation 1 games. You also can’t store the PlayStation 3 slim vertically unless you buy a stand and they have ditched the option to install another operating system.

Sony didn’t rest there and the announcements continued with a big firmware update for the PlayStation 3 platform. PS3 Firmware 3.0 adds some useful menu updates which make navigation on the console a bit smoother with easier access to the store and a redesigned friends list. There are a few new cosmetic updates as well which allow animated themes and the option of new avatars for your profile. Most exciting for UK gamers is the support for BBC iPlayer. There is also a new video on demand movie rental service offering HD and SD movies due to launch in November.

These new developments look set to take advantage of the superior capabilities of the PS3 and technically speaking it is by far the best console of the current generation. The PS3 supports Blu-ray playback, it offers 1080p HDMI output, integrated wireless, free online support and a 120 GB upgradeable hard drive. The firmware update will combine with a big redesign of their online Home space where companies are now looking to establish an online presence.

The new offensive was not limited to the console space and Sony had news for the handheld market as well. The PSP Go was unveiled back in June. It is a smaller, slide open version of the PSP handheld. At GamesCom Sony announced that they will be launching a mini-game store for the machine and gamers will be able to download casual games which are under 100 MB in size. They also plan to launch a reader for the PSP which will allow people to read full length novels on it and the video on demand service due to launch in November will be extended to the PSP as well. To round things off it will be available in some funky colors.

There are obvious moves here to beat Microsoft on price and also to challenge Nintendo on accessibility and the casual gamer market. Sony is uniquely placed to capture hardcore and casual gamers and their PS3 console is truly an entertainment center. If consumers were to shop for a Blu-ray player with internet surfing capabilities and access to streaming video on demand they would be hard pressed to find a device cheaper than the PlayStation 3 and it offers gaming as well. Perhaps with this new design and all important price drop we’ll see the console really take off at last.

Now, it appears that Obama is going to the source. In an unprecedented move, our Commander in Chief, who has been known to be an out-of-the box thinker, is turning to the CEO and co-founder of Twitter for advice on the economy. Yes, Mr. “Evan Williams goes to Washington” is Obama’s latest chess move in our financial game of woe. On March 6, 2009, Evan Williams and 20 other entrepreneurs met with the president.

However, judging from William’s White House tweet, the Twitter co-founder was perplexed by Obama’s invitation and was not quite sure what he could contribute when he arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Twitter was founded by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams. It began in March 2006 as a research and development project inside San Francisco’s podcasting company Odeo, and officially rolled out as Twitter in April, 2007. Twitter’s evolution and growth during that time span is comparable to Obama’s meteoric rise in popularity and historical electoral victory.

On February 27, 2009, Williams appeared at the Ted 2009 Conference in Long Beach California to discuss Twitter’s explosive growth.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n_EitPb7BU[/youtube]

Actually much of Twitter’s recent street cred can probably be attributed to its role as a new-age electioneering tool used by Barack Obama. Once Obama won and the news media started analyzing his success, Twitter and its world of microblogging experienced heightened media attention, and the twitterati started lining up in droves.

Marking Twitter as a mainstay in today’s culture, the microblogging phenomenon was legitimized when it was satirized by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. In his typical mock-news banter he allowed one of his faux-correspondents to eviscerate this new trend as a self-indulgent obsession.

There are countless other examples of Twitter’s popularity going mainstream. The Chicago Tribune ran an article on Twitter’s increasing popularity among lawmakers in Congress.They noted that Louisiana Governor Jindal tweeted Oregon Democrat Earl Blumenauer during the recent Presidential Address to the nation.The website “OhMyGov.com” lists the Twitter addresses of a good number of our elected officials. On an MSNBC broadcast, even John McCain touted the benefits of tweeting daily and the opportunity it gave him to critique all the earmarks he found in the recent bailout bill.

As Williams told Charlie Rose on a recent broadcast, Twitter is still undecided about the best path to monetization, but what Twitter has embraced closely parallels the themes that surfaced during Obama’s campaign. Obama and Williams seem to have struck a similar chord when they talk about the ability to tap into man’s basic desire for communication and socialization. Transparency and authenticity were components that Obama reinforced as the essential needs of the American people. Evans illustrates how his social network embraces these core elements of our human nature.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B0HvzPbCuk[/youtube]

While Twitter is lambasted regularly by critics for being supported by venture capital and having no real revenue model, with over 6 million registered users and 700% plus growth, Twitter is definitely on to something. But what?

Monetizing Twitter is especially interesting because of its size and structure. One can assume, when there is excessive user adoption, a revenue stream should follow. Conjecture however abounds as to how Twitter can become fiscally sound. Some indicate it will be acquired by Google. Others say that banner ads and keyword ad sales will become its cash cow. Currently, however, the consensus of opinion seems to be that Twitter will eventually monetize itself through the value of its real time search capabilities. But nothing is jumping off the page just yet as the next BIG IDEA, or one worthy of the president tapping into this resource as a potential cure for the economy.

Unless Barack Obama has determined that the best decision for the country is to base that decison on the “wisdom of the crowds!” While Bill Clinton favored polling as a decion-making barometer, this type of metric may not have elicited the most accurate results. Avoiding the filter of sample surveys, and by going direct to the people, the President can gain insight from not only those that put him in office, but also from those that voted for other guy. Perhaps the Obama plan is to examine the collective zeitgeist at this moment in time, so that his next chess move is in consort with general opinion. And perhaps the Twitterverse is the first stage in the mining process for that opinion.

More worrying, according to Peter Thomas, former head of IT at Chubb Insurance, is the way in which Google responded to the outage.  Google had reacted to the emergency with a message that suggested users try again in 30 seconds, and as Peter said, “Posting other information would have been a good idea.”  Peter also questions the redundancy capacity built into the network which was so badly compromised for such a long time.  Indeed it is going to send a shudder down the neck of any IT manager who has been praising the virtues of cloud applications to senior management.  The problem was fixed in a few hours but the reason for the break in service has not been given.  In a statement on the Google blog, head of Gmail reliability Acacio Cruz apologized and reiterated that Google takes reliability very seriously.  They may do that, but the service break points to the fundamental weakness of online applications; they are vulnerable because of their size and accessibility, the very features which are supposed to make them appealing as the future of business and personal applications.  How damaging the outage will be depends very much on the causes of the problem. If the mighty Google has been hacked then it is nothing short of devastating for the cloud revolution they promise to bring.  If it is a systemic problem then there needs to be a serious review of the redundancy built into the system, and an even more serious review of the communication lines between Google and its users.

To judge the scope of the potential costs to the  business community, the Guardian estimated the following:

“Let’s count the cost: 25m users, 33% affected; average of $50 per hour lost productivity = $415m per hour economic cost…”

Which is no small change in any one’s language.  Is this incident going to change the way in which IT managers see the idea of cloud computing, and is it going to put Google into spin overdrive as it attempts to play down the seriousness of the system failure?  The next few days are going to be crucial to the future of cloud computing and Google needs to address many problems both systemic and public-relation oriented.

Can these sorts of applications ever be made infallible, and how much redundancy do you need to build into the system to make sure that business are going to feel safe in storing information entirely online?  The answer is unquantifiable, and as Google have traded publicly on being the guardians of our online data, what will this mean for the company?  The stock price may crash if there has been a security issue and the service has been hacked.  As we know from painful lessons in history no system is secure when faced with ever more determined and resourceful hackers.  No system ever will be either and this fundamentally challenges the viability of Google’s ambitions in cloud computing.  There are developments ahead in years to come that may provide solutions to these problems, such as privileged networks and ever more sophisticated security applications, but it seems for the meantime that even the clouds are just one step ahead of the hackers determined to gain the ultimate recognition of being the one to topple Googles record on security.

For more information on cloud computing see this excellent video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PNuQHUiV3Q[/youtube]

The websites we’re about to look at it aren’t necessarily supposed to be examples of the best websites ever; rather they are meant to be examples of sites that do at least one thing particularly well. These sites could be almost any site at all, because almost every site has some aspect about it that can be learned from.

Finally, some of these pieces of advice will overlap, but that’s just because it’s such great advice that you should hear it twice. Also all of this advice isn’t meant to necessarily be used at the same time on the same site, because, well, we can’t have everything we want.

And without further ado, here are the sites!

KINEDA.com

I’m not exactly sure what this site is about; it seems to basically feature hip-hop fashion news and other trendy stuff. But it doesn’t really matter what it’s about, because it’s clean and sharp design immediately drew me in and made me want to start clicking on things.

The interesting thing is that Kineda essentially seems to be just a wordpress blog, but that does not hold it back from being a fantastic design. Its use of high-quality pictures and a simple design, with a solid, readable font,  straightforward white-on-black background colour scheme, and newspaper-like columns makes the focus entirely on the content, and not on anything that the reader shouldn’t be interested in.

The result is that the site has a look very much like that of a magazine, which naturally makes visitors to the site want to dig in and start reading. Just like in a good magazine, nothing gets in the way of the visitor’s experience with the content.

The Lesson: You don’t need crazy-fancy web design to have a great site; a simple wordpress blog with a bit of thought put into presentation can do wonders for the visitor’s experience.

Also, even though print magazines and the internet are two different mediums, there are always lessons to be learned from print when designing a site. Magazines and newspapers have been around a lot longer than the internet, and many of the basic lessons learned by magazine designers are transferable to the world of the web: use columns for readability, include a good amount of high quality pictures to break up the text, and choose your font well for maximum readability.

Finally, pictures of hot Japanese girls never hurt.

NARROWDESIGN.com

This site is a good example of how to make an appealing style of navigation. It’s also a good example of a site that is different and interesting, yet still completely focused on the content.

The main content of the site is a series of links to sites designed by the owner, which is pretty standard. But what is interesting about the links is how they are presented and how the user navigates through them: by simply moving the mouse the links scroll up and down.

This unique method of navigation immediately puts the focus on the links, which is how it should be, considering they are the main content of the site. The user simply can’t ignore them, because upon first moving their mouse they see the links move; the visual cue to pay attention to those links is immediate. This kind of navigation is also very intuitive, making sure the visitor isn’t confused at all by the somewhat unusual approach.

Also, when a link is clicked on, the user isn’t immediately sent to a site; rather, a preview of the site is shown. By getting previews of the work the visitor gets an idea of the content, while still having the opportunity to stay on the main site and play around with the navigation system.

The end result is a site that the user will most likely start using right away, with no other cues than the unique navigation style.

The Lesson: Thinking about how users navigate your site can be very important, and giving visitors a particular way to navigate can bring more focus to your content, whether it is composed of text, pictures, movies or links.

And you don’t always need a flash site to take advantage of navigation; most of the time visitors will just be scrolling up and down and clicking on links, but there are still design decisions to be made. Want everything to be one screen? Then you’ll most likely need links to navigate the site, while not cluttering your screen with too much text. Want users to scroll through your site? Then keep links to a minimum, and what links you do have should open in a new tab, because losing your place on a long webpage and having to scroll back can be annoying.

By putting a bit of thought into how you want visitors to navigate, and a bit of planning and design to support that vision, you can make your site that much easier for visitors to use.

LEGWORK STUDIO

I usually don’t like sites that have a lot of weird stuff going on in the background; they tend to be confusing and end up scaring me away. But this site managed to hold me in just long enough for me to click on the about button, which scrolls you down to a cleverly embedded video that looks like it’s part of the background.

I’ll admit it, this video is pretty much the only reason this site is on the list. Not to say that the rest of the site is poorly designed; it is perfectly functional, stylish site. But the video in particular was entertaining and funny, and managed to draw me in while explaining what the site was about with a ridiculous cartoon. Further, it didn’t feel like a tacked on gimmick, because of the way it was featured seamlessly in the site.

The result is a fun use of media that is not only entertaining for anyone that visits the site, but that also lets visitors know what the site is all about without boring them to death.

The Lesson: Don’t be afraid to get creative with different types of media to get visitors engaged. Movies, music, and sound aren’t always going to work on every website, but if it is an option then with a bit of ingenuity and some smart integration of the media you can make what is normally a boring affair that users might ignore into something that is engaging and fun. The internet is capable of so much more than just pictures and text, and smart use of these possibilities can make your site that much more engaging.

YOULOVE.US

First of all, this site has a really cute name. I’m not sure how much that’s worth, but it can’t hurt.

Right off the bat this site looks like a pretty design with a full background image of a nighttime cityscape, but doesn’t immediately blow you away with anything amazing. But as soon as you scroll up or down or click on a main link, the website does a very cool effect where the movement of the background gives the impression that the time of day is changing in the little cityscape.

The effect is interesting and engaging, but not distracting, since the buildings in the background stay in place, acting as a visual anchor so that the site doesn’t give that nauseating feeling that most full-scrolling-background sites give. Also, the site makes great use of colour, managing to change the background colour from dark blue to bright red without making the text unreadable.

The result is that you don’t even have to care what the site is about to stay around, because you want to keep exploring it to get more of the unique and attractive scrolling effect. And the better chance someone has of sticking around at your site, the better chance they have of getting into its content.

The Lesson: Keep visitors interested with whatever you can. Sometimes it doesn’t even matter how relevant the interesting aspect of your site is, although ideally it will be with something that gels well with the overall presentation and content of your site.

And you don’t have to come up with a groundbreaking new clever design to do this; a catchy title, a funny picture, some pretty colours, or anything else that might catch a visitor’s attention will help keep them around long enough to let your page make an impression.

VIGET LABS WEB DESIGN BLOG

This site is a simple blog about web-design, fittingly. It’s got the usual setup, with blog posts, an about section, comments, and so on.

What makes this site worth talking about is how nice it looks. It has a beautiful watercolour background that blends with the blog perfectly, and is just plain easy on the eyes. The colours used are soft and inviting, and this theme is carried through to the rest of the site, which can be seen in the pictures of the various editors, which have the same mild, faded style. The end result is a website that is a pleasure to look at.

The Lesson: If you have the resources to do it, make your website look as nice as possible. Some people might argue that information is information, and that it shouldn’t matter how many nice frills your site has, as long as it gets the points across. But the simple fact of the matter is that most people like stuff that looks nice, and a pretty looking webpage with some attractive graphics — even on something as simple as a blog — just gives visitors one more reason to stick around.

MAGNIVATE

Magnivate is a pretty unusual site: it is almost like a video game, in that you get to explore a little world with a character that you control. It’s a fun and interesting approach that will most likely get any visitor immediately involved with its interactivity.

But the epxloration you do on the Magnivate site isn’t just about exploring the strange little world you are presented with, because by getting your character to run around, you also end up learning what the site is about. As you reach certain points, information about the site is presented to you, making what would normally be dry and boring info become a quick and fun game.

By giving the visitor a fun way to find out what the site is about, Magnivate skips the whole boring about page that no one cares about, and instead integrates exploration of the site into the exploration of the game.

The Lesson: Try to keep things organic when explaining to any visitors what your site is about. A small about section doesn’t hurt, but ultimately you want people to naturally figure out what your site is about while exploring it, so that they aren’t forced to swallow any information about the site without first experiencing what it’s like first hand. When visitors interact directly with the site in learning about it, they build a much stronger connection with it than if they simply memorized a block of text explaining what it’s about.

Of course, you don’t need to take the same route as Magnivate; its flash-based approach takes the exploration-as-information idea to a very literal conclusion, but it’s far more elaborate than is appropriate for most sites. Nonetheless there are ways to make sure that users get an idea of what your site is about without first needing an explanation.

For example, make sure to give the user plenty of options in exploring the content of your site, so that no matter what they click they’re getting content that the site is focused on, and not periphery stuff. A lot of blogs do this well, by not only showing the latest blog posts up front, but by also giving the archives or last month’s posts in a sidebar, or implementing an option that allows users to access a random post. With lots of different ways to get to the same content, the user will quickly figure out what the site is about just by clicking on stuff.

TED.COM

Ted.com is a site meant to showcase various talks given at TED conferences. The site actually has quite a few things going on, with a fair amount of links and options that the user might take some time to become familiar with.

Nonetheless, TED’s main focus, the videos, is undeniably the first thing any visitor will notice. The central feature of the site is a neat visualization of various categories of videos, and it presents the visitor with an interface that immediately asks to be investigated. By making the video visualization feature so prominent, TED gives the visitor direct access to all the videos, and also organizes them according to a number of interesting and intuitive themes, making the visitor comfortable to dive in and get acquainted with the site’s content.

The end result is that, even though TED has a fairly busy design with a good deal of periphery information, most visitors will ignore all that info and instead make use of the much more intuitive visualization feature.

The Lesson: Your site’s content must be the main focus at all times, because it is what the visitor is there to see. If anything gets in the way of that, then the visitor’s focus shifts away from the content, and they may lose interest or miss the point.

Make sure that every design choice you make puts your content, whether that be articles, movies, music, or pictures, front and centre.

WEB ZEN

Web zen is a site that lives up to its name quite well: it is sparse and straightforward and keeps features to a bare minimum, letting nothing get in the way of the content, which consists of a themed set of links to interesting stuff.

It might almost seem ridiculous to have a webpage with so little on it, but the result is a very focused design. There is no explanation of what the site is about, but there doesn’t need to be, because the content is right there in front of the visitor. With no ads, blocks of text, or distracting graphics to get in the way, web zen loses no time in getting the visitor to start digging in to the site.

The Lesson: Keep things simple. You don’t have to be as minimal as web zen, of course, but the basic design principles it embodies are important: if you have ads, make sure they don’t get in the way, make sure nothing that isn’t the main content is distracting, and if you don’t need it on there, get rid of it.

The challenge is balancing simplicity with the other important features included on your site: the more features you add, or have to add, the more complex the site becomes. But with a bit of organization and some smart cuts, a simple design that ensures the visitor doesn’t get confused, lost, or frustrated can be achieved.

With Primrose, set to be released on Feb. 19th, Jason Rohrer takes a step away from the games as art debate to bring us a game that’s just a game –  a compelling puzzle game.

Probably best known for Passage, a game about the inevitability of death, Jason Rohrer has made a name for himself as a primary figure in the growing movement of art-games. Until now his games have essentially been an experiment in artistic expression through game design, exploring themes like regret, death, and creativity with basic game mechanics.

But Primrose takes a break from the debate with some unique puzzle gaming in the same vein as Tetris. Like most good puzzle games, the idea behind Primrose is simple: your goal is to accumulate points by surrounding blocks of one colour with blocks of another colour on a 7×7 grid. When a group of blocks have been surrounded, they disappear, giving you a certain amount of points depending on how many blocks were collected. Then the surrounding blocks are changed to the colour of the blocks that were eliminated.

But like always, it’s not quite as simple as that. Blocks are given to you randomly, two at a time, and must be placed in a particular order. So, you might get an orange block and a green block and be required to set down the orange block first. Further, the second block of a pair must be placed in the same row or column as the first block. This restriction adds depth to the game, forcing the player to come up with a particular strategy for block placement to ensure that no blocks are placed where they can’t be used.

Finally, combos can be achieved to multiply your point total when eliminating blocks. Through strategic placement and planning, the colour changes that occur when you surround a group of blocks can be used to eliminate multiple groups of blocks. For example, when a group of green blocks are surrounded and turn their surrounding blocks green, those newly-green blocks may complete the surrounding of another group of blocks, which will also be eliminated for even more points.

The combo technique is of course the key to getting a high score, and success depends on the player’s development of various combo strategies; anticipating colour changes and careful placement of blocks is central.

Like any good puzzle game, Primrose is easy to get into but difficult to master, and presents the player with some simple mechanics that blossom into a difficult problem as higher scores are strived for and more blocks fill the screen. Adding to the difficulty is the fact that new colours are introduced after a certain amount of moves, increasing the complexity of the dynamics between the blocks considerably.

The game is quite challenging, but of course most puzzle gamers wouldn’t have it any other way; the best puzzle games present us with an essentially unsolvable problem that will keep even the most expert of players coming back for another challenge, and that is exactly what Primrose does.

Primrose also features some very clean and simple graphics with no clutter and plenty of soft, bright colours. The result is an interface that is reminiscent of a computer console from a classic sci-fi movie, with big bright buttons and lights. The sound effects reinforce this look, with different retro-sounding, synthesizer-like tones that accompany the placement of each colour of block.

All of this adds up to a very clean, simple, and presentable game that is easy to get into. I played the PC version of the game, but you can tell it is clearly optimized for the iPhone; the iPhone’s touch controls should be completely intuitive in Primrose, and the style of gameplay is perfect for a quick game while trying to kill some time waiting for the bus. Further, the game presents the player with no fluff, meaning iPhone users will be able to get straight into the game with the tap of a finger.

Overall, Primrose, while not being a groundbreaking title by any means, is a great example of very solid puzzle-gaming that will be right at home on the iPhone or any PC. It’s very tightly-crafted, and shows a great understanding of gameplay mechanics and the way they interact to make a compelling game.

It also shows that Jason is not only an artist, but also has the chops to make some addictive and professional-quality entertainment as well.

Primrose is set to be released February 19th for iPhone, Mac, Windows, and GNU/Linux.

Since iLife 2009 has now hit the market, it promises to make a lot of things easier for users with iPhoto ’09, iMovie ’09, Garage Band ’09, and iWeb ’09.

This year’s iWeb ’09 has some website design applications that promise web design for the rest of us. A user can create a site using some good themes. It is as easy as choosing a theme with coordinated fonts, backgrounds, and colors to give a consistent look on the site. No more unorganized sites.

Once the theme is picked out, the user can customize it with photos, movies, text, and widgets. As you might have guessed, you can take the photos off of iPhoto, movies from iMovie, and songs from Garage Band. All of these can be easily uploaded on the iLife Media Browser.

Then there is the interactive widget feature which gives iWeb ’09 drag-and-drop, easy-to-add RSS feeds, iSight photos, videos, a countdown timer, YouTube videos, HTML snippets, as well as other features.

It is also easy to publish and manage using MobileMe, with built-in FTP. You can even program iWeb to automatically update your Facebook friends every time you make an adjustment on your personal site.

So how will this change the world of web design as we know it? Keep a look out for a lot of homemade web sites that will look similar, because they have iWeb themes and widgets in their design. If you are on Facebook, be prepared for a lot of updates from iWeb users. Indeed, iWeb won’t change everything, but enough to make your life more interesting.

iLife Site

But what about the smaller games, from smaller developers? The games with charm and style and character? The games that take risks and experiment with gameplay styles that big developers might be unwilling to try?

Luckily, with the seemingly unstoppable growth of the industry is coming something of a renaissance for indie-style gaming; online gaming portals like XBLA are not only giving us a way to get the little guys’ games easily, but they’re also giving those smaller developers a way to make a living of their games, by harnessing the profit-making potential of the throngs of console gamers out there.

The result is that some of the smartest, most exciting, most experimental, and most interesting games are making their way to the mainstream. So without further ado, here are nine of those games!

BOUNCE (Tentative title) (Strawdog Studios)

Not a lot is known about the tentatively titled Bounce, other then that it may have cute little cartoon animals in it and may also involve bouncing.

What we do know for sure is that it’s from the same developers as Geon, which is described on its XBox Arcade profile page as a “fast-paced abstract sports game that lets you explore your emotions as you compete against opponents.”

Sound weird? Well, it is. But it’s also a lot of fun. With Geon, Strawdog Studios made a game with the simple gameplay and charm of old-school classics like Pacman or Marble Madness while managing to keep it relevant to today’s gamers. It’s safe to say we can expect some of the same entertaining, frenetic, off-the-wall interpretations of classic arcade-style play in Bounce, which is definitely a good thing.

According to Dan Marchant of Strawdog Studios we can look forward to some updates about this game in the near future, including a name change, so stay tuned for more info!

In the meantime a video of Geon’s gameplay ought to tide us over!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oddDXr1nvkw[/youtube]

WALLACE & GROMIT (Telltale Games)

Wallace & Gromit, Aardman Animation’s popular dog and inventor cartoon duo, are pretty much the perfect characters for an old-school point and click adventure game in the same vein as King’s Quest and the Lucasarts series of games; Wallace & Gromit’s charming style, whimsical humour, and wacky adventures in invention mean the game is pretty much half done already.

All that’s left is for someone to develop it, and that’s just what Telltale Games is doing. Telltale Games are the same people who brought us the Sam & Max and Strongbad episodic adventure games, so you can rest assured that Wallace & Gromit are going to get a great videogame treatment.

Classic adventure-style games have almost become extinct in this day and age, so it’s good to see this game bringing back the fun, puzzles, and story-telling of this style of gameplay. Plus XBLA is pretty much the perfect forum to distribute episodic games with, letting people buy the game in discrete chunks at a reasonable price.

And on top of all that, this will probably be the first instance of the term ‘cracking toast’ being used in a videogame, which in itself is noteworthy.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACo09CSIeUI[/youtube]

CLETUS CLAY (Tuna Snax)

Cletus Clay is essentially a platformer like any other, with sidescrolling, shoot ‘em up action through a series of different worlds, except that the main character is an inbred, alcoholic redneck who regularly kills aliens with a shotgun.

Oh, also, every character, monster, and environment in the game is rendered completely with real clay and stop-motion animation.

This very uncommon approach to game art gives Cletus Clay an unmistakable style, and was enough to win Cletus an award for Excellence in Art at the Independent Games Festival. It’s great to see smaller developers taking novel approaches to graphics like this, and even better that we get to see them professionally distributed on XBLA; so few big-name developers would be willing to take the risk of taking such a radical approach to game art.

But Cletus Clay is not just pretty, it also looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun too. If you’re a fan of enemy-filled side-scrolling action in the same vein as Super Mario, then keep your eye on this game. If you’re also a fan of XXX hooch, then this game will be a must play!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE6EJUnLTmE[/youtube]

DARWINIA+ (Introversion Software)

Darwinia was originally released on PC a few years ago to critical acclaim, but is still difficult to describe. Essentially it is a blend of the real-time strategy, action, arcade, and god-game genres. But this description probably doesn’t do it justice, as the game manages to blend all those different genres seamlessly to make something that doesn’t quite resemble any of its individual influences. To put it simply, it has to be played to be understood.

The goal of Darwinia is to save the Darwinians — little digital life-forms who live in a virtual world — from attacking viri. What makes the game unique is how you go about doing this; controlling the little Darwinians involves more than just clicking on them and telling them to attack, because you have to manually choose where they shoot, making the game more than standard RTS fare.

The entire game is full of this sort of genre-twisting gameplay, but it doesn’t stop there. Darwinia’s award-winning graphics and art are also striking and original. Its portrayal of a virtual, wireframe world with 2-dimensional inhabitants is both sparse and lively, and somehow manages to give the world’s simple-looking inhabitants more character than the most painstakingly rendered models.

Darwinia has all that, and for the XBox release will even include Multiwnia, the multiplayer version of the game!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig_GYvmBHDQ[/youtube]

GRIDRUNNER+++ (Llamasoft)

From Jeff Minter, sheep enthusiast and developer of the insane, trippy, sensory-overloading, musical sort-of-shooter Space Giraffe, comes Gridrunner+++.

The original Gridrunner++ was a vertical space shooter for the PC that was released long long ago. Since then, Jeff has developed a very unique, psychedelic style for his games that is one of a kind, and the new Gridrunner+++ looks like it is going to embody that development, both in visual style and gameplay.

So what can you expect in Gridrunner+++? Well, “sheepies” that you use as powerups, non-stop streams of abstract bullets all over the screen, and a vertical shooter experience that is far from conventional. According to Jeff, “rather than dodging through bullet hell you become bullet hell.”

By using gravity points, players can make their bullet streams arc, which will combine with the beautiful, colourful and kinetic graphics to give a classic arcade shooter-on-3-hits-of-acid look, making Gridrunner+++ a game that is not only a fun reflex space shooter, but also a graceful and beautiful experience.

But my mere words probably can’t do it justice. For an idea of Jeff’s style, check out the video of Space Giraffe below!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl6vKTP7KPs[/youtube]

ROCKET RIOT (Codeglue)

This game just looks like it’s going to be downright enjoyable. Looking kind of like Worms put through an old-school, real-time, 2D console blender, Rocket Riot may just be the game that will remind you of what it was like to play videogames when you were a kid.

The game will include, among other things, some very neat, pixelated 2D-in-a-3D-world graphics that look like a love letter to 8-bit gaming, hilarious sound effects, and destructible levels with tons of different missions to accomplish.

It basically looks like a charming throwback to days when games were a straightforward affair of firing rockets at enemies and collecting powerups, but it also looks like it is going to be a genuinely strong game that can compete with any modern blockbuster in entertainment value.

As usual it’s hard to describe just how fun this game looks, so check out the video!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzS3DCabkk4[/youtube]

ZOMBIES!!! (Big Rooster/Twilight Creations)

Zombies!!!, the cult hit tabletop game that has spawned loads of expansions throughout the years, is set to make its debut on XBLA in 2009, bringing with lots lots of zombies (and exclamation points.)

What is Zombies!!! about, you ask? There’s not a lot of info on the videogame version just yet, but if it’s anything like its tabletop predecessor it’s going to involve an ever-growing horde of zombies for a group of players to escape from, and plenty of opportunities to mess those zombies up. And who doesn’t love messing up zombies?

Nobody, that’s who.

It’s always great to see an underground classic tabletop game make its way to a big-time forum, and it’s good to see that XBLA is making it happen. A lot of these tabletop games are well-crafted examples of get-together party games, but don’t get as much exposure as they deserve because of their unusual (and nerdy) medium.

But with a release on XBLA, more players get exposed to a great game they might never have known about before, the developers get some serious support, and alternative styles of gameplay get just a bit more mainstream love.

Plus, I mean, there’s zombies in it.

QUARREL (Denki)

Continuing with the tabletop gaming theme, we have Quarrel. Quarrel is a game about words and strategy, like a mix of Scrabble and Risk. This probably sounds insane, but the combination of the two is actually quite ingenious.

Denki is a developer focused almost totally on making games that are fun. They go about this by fashioning games to be digital toys that are entirely designed to entertain and engage, and Quarrel is no exception to this strategy.

The goal of the game is to take over as many territories on the map as possible, like in Risk. The difference between this game and its tabletop influences is that instead of rolling dice to see whether you succeed in taking a territory, you play a word game and try to out-vocabulary your opponent in order to claim your stake on a piece of the map.

Clever game mechanics like these — that re-imagine the way classic games work by finding the crappy parts of good games and replacing them with fun parts — are what creative game development is all about. By removing the random element of dice-rolling from table-top style gaming, Genki are making Quarrel a game that is all fun and is accessible to everyone. The results look like they’re going to be a truly entertaining party game that will get everyone fully involved, by making the outcomes of the game depend on simple and familiar mechanics.

Plus it looks downright charming!

BLOBBIES WARS (Fishing Cactus)

Finally on our list we have Blobbies Wars. Originally a DS title, Blobbies is ostensibly a cute little game about little blob things that eat each other to death. But there is much more to it than that.

As Blobbies makes its way to XBLA it will become what its developers are calling the first ever turn-based tactical party game.

Like Quarrel, Blobbies Wars is a blend of two seemingly disparate game mechanics, and just like Quarrel  it looks like it’s going to combine them to draw the maximum amount of fun and minimum amount of suck out of each.

Blobbies Wars is made up of two parts. The first part is a tactical strategy game: Teams battle on a hex-based map by getting their blobbies to attack one another each turn, with the goal being to eat the other team’s blobbies. By using magic, special abilities can be performed to give your blobbies an advantage.

The second part, which sets Blobbies apart from other strategy games, is the mini-games. During the downtime of your opponent’s turn you get to play rhythm and reflex-based mini-games in order to get yourself more magic.

This is a brilliant twist on the genre that gets people involved with engaging mechanics, kills boring downtime, making everyone have fun all the time, brings an exciting and visceral aspect to the normally very dry turn-based genre, and finally, forces players to take their turns quickly, so that other players only have a short amount of time to accumulate magic.

I’m a big fan of turn-based games, but even the most die hard fans have to admit that turn-based tactical games aren’t exactly accessible to the average gamer. Blobbies looks like it’s going to bring turn-based to the masses, and I’m proud of the guys at Fishing Cactus for having the ingenuity, understanding and foresight to do it.

And with that concludes the list of games to look out for on XBox Live Arcade! Keep an eye out on our site for updates on these games and their release dates. And if you have any suggestions for games we missed, let us know in the comments, because we always want to hear about games we’ve missed!