I don't play computer games, which I know makes me the exception more than the rule for a self-professed geek. Oh, I've killed a few minutes playing solitaire but nobody really considers solitaire to be a computer game. I did, however, install Labyrinth HD 2 on my iPad after reading about it online and have enjoyed the realism of the game play by tilting and moving the iPad. My wife found Labyrinth on my iPad and got hooked on getting through the different levels.

One day my wife mentioned something about Angry Birds, which is a very popular iPhone and iPad game. I had heard of Angry Birds and didn't give it any thought, but I thought my wife might enjoy it, so I went ahead and bought it. While my wife is the reason why I got the game, I have to admit to getting hooked on it myself. There is something amusing about slinging those birds at those annoying green pigs, even if you can't figure out how to move on to the next level.

If you are not familiar with Angry Birds, it's really a pretty simple game. The green pigs are hidding around or under a variety of obstacles, and you slingshot the birds at the obstacles with the ultimate goal of squashing all the pigs. After all the pigs are gone you move on to the next level. Over time different types of birds are introduced into the game play, such as the the little blue birds that you tap mid-flight to mulitply. The game has nice graphics and nice audio, though I am glad you can turn the sound off because it can get annoying after a while.

Angry Birds is currently officially available for the Nokia N900, Apple iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, but a beta of it was posted to the Android Market this morning. I've played a few levels of Angry Birds on my Nexus One and can report that it plays pretty well, though it is a beta and it did lock up on me once. Personally, I think the game is more enjoyable on the iPad's larger screen, but it is just as amusing on the smaller screen of the Nexus One. Angry Birds Lite beta is available for free in the Android Market.

For iPad owners the most important news from Apple's Music event on Wednesday is that Apple will be releasing iOS 4.2 in November. You might remember that back at the iPhone 4 launch, when Steve Jobs was reviewing all of the new features in iPhone 4 such as multitasking and folders, he said that those features were coming to the iPad later in the year. We now know later in the year means November.

If you are interested to learn more about what iOS 4.2 will add to the iPad, you can now find a summary page about it on Apple's web site. For me the most important feature will be multitasking. Earlier this week I was writing blog posts for this site on my iPad, switching between Evernote and Safari. Switching between apps on the iPad is cumbersome, you have to hit the home button then tap the icon of the app you want to run next. The process is also risky. Normally when you switch out of Evernote with a note open, Evernote saves the state of that note so that when you come back to Evernote you are right where you left off. Unfortunately I learned the hard way that there is the possibility of losing what you write if Evernote did not have the chance to save the state of the note. In my case I lost about twenty minutes of work, simply by not living up to the mantra of "save early and often." Multitasking ought to eliminate the risk of losing information like happened to me.

AirPlay is a feature that will be included in iOS 4.2 that is not already on the iPhone 4. It is designed to work with the Apple TV that was announced on Wednesday by enabling you to stream videos, music, and photos on the iPad to the Apple TV for display on a television. AirPlay also supports streaming music to speakers and audio devices that support the capability, such as one that iHome has announced to be available this coming Christmas. One use case is watching a video on your iPad while traveling that you don't finish watching. When you get home, rather than continuing to watch the video on the iPad you can stream it to your TV.

When Apple releases iOS 4.2 it will unify the operating system across the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad products. Hopefully going forward new features will be available across all the devices at the same time. The best news is that the upgrade to iOS 4.2 will be free, and honestly I think adding multitasking to the iPad will nearly make it a new device.

If you don't already own a phone that runs Google's Android operating system, yet would like to try it out, there will be several options available for you this fall to buy low priced handhelds running Android. Archos, who to my knowledge is the first company to actually sell tablets running Android, has announced an entire line of new Android tablets that they say will be available this fall. The devices have different sizes, starting with the smallest having a 2.8 inch screen and the largest having a 10 inch screen. I personally have difficulty considering devices that have smaller than 7 inch screens a tablet, but that is really not important. What is important is that the 2.8 inch, 3.2 inch, and 4.3 inch devices range in price from $99 to $149, making them very affordable for someone who doesn't need a phone but would like to run Android apps.

Slashgear has a bunch of pictures and video of the Archos 43 if you are interested in checking out these devices. One word of caution though is that these smaller handhelds have resistive touchscreens rather than the capacitive screens on the iPod Touch and Android phones, which means that the screen will not be as responsive nor support multitouch. The handhelds do have fairly good processors and a large amount of storage which can make them ideal as media players.

If you are willing to spend a little less than $300 and can live with larger devices, you may want to consider Archos 70 (7 inch screen) or Archos 101 (10.1 inch screen) both of which have capacitive screens and large amounts of storage. If they deliver as promised, these might be the hot devices for this coming Christmas.

CNET reports on a survey done by Pew Internet on cell phone owner's views about cell phones. Ninety-one percent of the people surveyed said that they feel safer owning a cell phone, while 42% said that they get irritated when a call or text message on the phone interrupts them. A whopping 86% responded that they felt it rude when people interrupt conversations or meetings to check their cell phones. In my opinion the survey shows a typical response of "do as I say" not "do as I do." We get quickly irritated by someone else using their phone, but their own phone doesn't irritate them.

I also found the last question in the survey, which CNET didn't write about, interesting. Only 39% of the people said that they when they are bored they use their cell phone to entertain themselves. Given the success that iPhone and Android apps have, I would expect that number to be higher, however it probably reflects a low ownership of smartphones amongst those who where surveyed.

There are a lot of impressive looking apps for the iPad. But, sometimes you want an app that launches quickly, lets you show a bunch of screens that elicits oohs and ahs and then rush out the door for a quick meeting. Some of the impressive 3D animation apps like the Epic Citadel elicits oohs and ahs but takes a long time to fire up and get to a point where you can do something.

If time is of the essence and you want to quickly show something that brings out oohs and ahs, I recommend the new free:

NASA App HD 1.0 (iTunes App Store)

It provides thousands of stunning images, on demand NASA videos, live NASA TV, launch information, NASA's Twitter feed, maps to NASA centers and more. Yes, you could end up standing around a long time looking at all this stuff. But, you also have the option to fire it up quickly, demo it, and dash off.

NASA App HD for iPad (NASA)

Video courtesy of Microsoft - Silverlight required for viewing

If Windows Phone 7 fails, it certainly won't be because Microsoft didn't try to reach out to potential developers. Online tutoroals, free developer tools, and, now, what looks like a quasi-regular vidcast aimed at Windows Phone developers on Microsoft's MSDN Channel 9 site.

Inside Windows Phone #01: Introducing the show

This first 1 minute 26 second long vidcast simply introduces the two Microsoft-ies who, I presume, will host the show: Jaime Rodriguez (WPF Technical Evangelist) and Yochay Kiriaty (Senior Technical Evangelist).

I wonder if I can subscribe to it on iTunes? Cough cough :-)

This is a summary of a Skype for Android story that took a couple of zigs and zags over the course of the past day. Android Central first reported that:

Skype Mobile for Android now works over 3G *and* Wifi (but still Verizon-only)

Ah! Nice! Right? Then, they followed up with:

Skype Mobile update does not allow use of Wifi after all [updated]

This follow-up article provided a reference to Skype's own blog post:

Improvements to Skype mobile for DROID and BlackBerry phones on Verizon Wireless

So, what's the actual story? It is a bit of an oddity and easy to understand how it can confuse even the geekiest of tech fans.

When Skype for Android was released, it came with a couple of restrictions. The biggest is that the app is only available for Android phones on Verizon's network (in the U.S.). Another biggie was that it only worked over a Verizon voice/3G wireless data connection. And, finally, it would not work if the phone's WiFi radio was turned on. The updated app still does not use WiFi data for a Skype voice call. However, it now works even if the WiFi radio is turned on. The Skype voice call still goes over Verizon's network, however. Got that? Clear as mud, eh? :-)

I came really close to buying a Zune HD last year. The reason? One of the handful of free games released for it was PRG which looks and feels a lot like my favorite game series from the old original Xbox: Project Gotham Racing. It was, at the time, the best racing game I had seen on a mobile device. I didn't buy a Zune HD. But, I still think about it now and then when trying out a racing game on my iPhone 4 or iPad.

So, ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley's tip about a possible new Zune HD caught my attention.

(Not so) Crazy Microsoft Rumors: A new Zune HD?

There's no technical specifications assocaited with this rumor. So, let me add a bit of wishful thinking to this rumor: What if the Zune HD 2 (or "7" as Ms. Foley notes is Microsoft's new favorite number) is a tablet sized device? Since "7" is their favorite number, let's say the Zune HD "7" has a 7-inch display and is based on the Windows Phone 7 (there's that number again) platform. Both current generation platforms (Zune HD and Windows Mobile 6.5 are built on top of Windows CE). A true instant on/off Zune HD Tablet with a decent web browser and the ability to run Windows Phone 7 apps might be an appealing device. It would certainly have a more consistent user interface story to tell than what ever kludge is done to Windows 7 to "tablet-fy" it.

So, how about it, Microsoft? How about a Zune HD 7 tablet? I'd stand in line to buy one.

Android phones have struck a chord in the U.S. The most successful Android phones (the Droid, Droid X, and Evo come to mind) did this by offering some combination of clear advantages over the iPhone: Physical keyboard, higher resolution display (at the time), user replaceable battery, simpler setup (just sync with a Google Mail account), or a choice of carriers and form factors.

Many of these same firms are now making Android tablets. But, they seem to have missed the reasons for the success of the Android smartphones. The various tablets may offer some features missing in the iPad (most notably cameras). But, these tablets will be released when the iPad is 7 or 8 months old. In other words, if Apple follows their normal 12 month upgrade cycle, the Android tablets we are reading about now will have a window of just a few months before they have to compete with the second generation iPad. The features that are somewhat interesting today will probably be matched and surpassed by Apple by early 2011. And, price? Engadget reports that Toshiba plans to price their unreleased Android tablet with a 7-inch display at 399 Euros. That's over $500 US at today's currency exchange rates. That is a bit more than the $499 for the WiFi-only iPad with 16GB storage.

Toshiba Folio 100 goes official, lands in Q4

Sure, Samsung's Galaxy S Android smartphones are selling well. However, the interest in Samsung's unreleased Android tablet fascinates me considering Samsung has not provided price, carrier affiliation, or U.S.availability information.

Samsung Galaxy Tab preview (Engadget)

Samsung's Galaxy Tab Runs Froyo, Has Flash and Measures 7 Inches (Gizmodo)

The 7-inch display for the GT-P1000 model is certainly a tablet display size that I've been looking for. However, the Tab's other specifications are merely "interesting" for something that appears heading to a release date just a few months (or less) before Apple starts gearing up for the second generation iPad in early 2011.

It has just two significant features that the iPad lacks is interesting: Front and rear cameras and a microSD slot. I suppose you can consider voice telephony a third major additional feature. But, I don't think most people expect to make conventional phone calls on their iPad.

Would I buy a Samsung Galaxy Tab? Yes, it were priced at under $400 without tying it to any carrier. I don't need yet another monthly recurring fee.

Here's one of those ideas that seems like a really good one at first glance but may turn around and bite you.

Navteq tries to make GPS directions more 'human' (CNET)

The idea of Navteq's "Natural Guidance" is to use the kind of landmarks humans use when providing directions. An example given by Navteq is "turn right after the yellow shop". How will information like building color and business type be kept up to date? Navteq isn't saying. But, let's assume they will use some kind of crowd sourced technique. We've seen crowd sourcing used effectively in many ways. But, crowd sourcing can also be used to game systems. You can imagine gaming to do things like change "yellow store" to, for example, "hairy spatula".

Yes, GPS speech guidance can always use some improvement. But, I don't see anything wrong with street names and standardized distance units.

The official Twitter app is now available as a free download from the iPad App store. The iPad version of the Twitter app is very different from the iPhone and Android Twitter apps, appropriately so I think as it takes advantage of the iPad's larger screen. In my opinion the application really shines in landscape. Tweets appear in a timeline view in the center of the screen.

When you tap a tweet that contains a link, a pane slides in from the right that displays the web page, and to go back to the timeline you simply swipe the pane back to the right. Curiously, when you swipe the pane it doesn't disappear completely, which I find to be one of the most annoying features of the app. If you go back to the timeline the tweet associated with the still open pane remains pinned to the top as you scroll throw the timeline.

Another cool way that the Twitter iPad app uses the right pane is to create a threaded view for groups of tweets. When you tap on a tweet that is part of a series of @ replies, the pane slides in and loads all the tweets that are part of that series. If you tap a tweet that has no link and no mention you see the profile of the person who posted the tweet.