A reader emailed me MapsofWar.com and I was intrigued. But the mystery only starts with the amazing visuals spanning 5,000 years of religion or imperialism.

Many clients I work with ask me to visually simplify complex problems and we use various techniques to deliver stunning solutions. Maps of War has used history as the backdrop for an artist who’s medium is Flash and large data sets. Techlife interviewed the creator and artist of Maps of War, who wished to remain anonymous.

Techlife: MoW is a dynamic project, why did you create the first MoW? Which one is it?

Maps of War: The first map was Imperial History of the Middle East. This map was the original idea I wanted to share with everyone, and the overall site was created to showcase it.

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Thank the readers. Yes, I really mean you the person reading this right now. Last month we passed a huge milestone, more than 2,000 readers have contacted me since we started Techlife. While I know that not everyone can write in, I thank all my readers, especially YOU.

As many of you know Techlife is syndicated column and an online blog. We write much more online than can fit in the print edition. And boy do we cover it, from acapella Nintendo to Muhammad Ali to Doodle to TiVo HD. And that’s all the stuff NOT in this column from just last month.

What we do have is a special interview with an anonymous artist. Why anonymous? We’ll let him tell you. His work speaks for itself, it is site worth visiting.

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Do you have ideas, questions or comments? Not sure how to make them happen? Techlife can do a lot. Just ask us. Hit me via email at: techlife [ at ] dkworldwide [dot] com. Do you subscribe to the RSS feed for Techlife? Visit the TechLife weblog where all you need to do is point and click.(part of the syndicated print column’s writing process exposed to online readers)

When used effectively animation is a great tool, as it helps make complex concepts quite simple.  Does your company run into the complex explanation all to often?  Let me help you simplify that message.  As a marketing and technology proven “venture strategist” I want to meet businesses and organizations that are looking for a way to break out, all it takes is an invitation. Contact me, it’s easy: techlife [at] dkworldwide [dot] com.

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While they last at Amazon, get a TiVo HD for just $257, saving nearly $45. Of course you also get free ground shipping which makes this an even better deal. I have been reading about all the great features, and am pretty excited about Amazon’s Unbox partnership with TiVo. I will be able to download movies from Amazon and have them show up on my TiVo.

Even better with the TiVo HD I can do Progressive Download of Amazon Unbox, which means I can get my movie and start watching just 10 min later. That’s quicker than a trip to the video store!
Techlife has been a long time user of TiVo, since back in 2000 with a TiVo Series 1 when it was a gift from a friend. We thank him every chance we get.

Since then nearly every person who has ever seen our TiVo has not just craved one but bought one. We have returned the favor and bought a few as gifts and the “thank you’s” have been overwhelming. All in all, more than 100 people now have a TiVo home and even more impressive at least 8 come to mind who have multiple TiVo’s in their home.

So it was time. Time for us to consider upgrading the TiVo Series 1. There have been quite a few changes since then, as most people know you are looking at a TiVo Series 2 and a TiVo HD Series 3, but there was an intriguing option that I kept coming back to, the TiVo HD, which didn’t list “series”. This had a lower capacity but still High Definition recording in a PVR with the TiVo software. How could I go wrong? After a bit more research I was sold. It lists for $299.99 in most retailers, but thanks to Amazon’s great deal it is less, at least today.

What is the best feature of your TiVo? What is the best feature of your TiVo Series 2 or Series 3? Leave a comment.

Techlife has just learned that XGen Studios is now a developer for the WiiWare program.  Might Stick Arena or Stick Arena Ballistick be released for the Wii one day? We were pretty shocked too. Nintendo has a developer program with the Wii, known as WiiWare for smaller developers to build content for the platform. Combined with all we know about Stick Arena‘s long awaited title, it appears a multi-platform release might be in the works at some point. While we can’t confirm this, a recent press release from XGen says:

XGen Studios is developing an original title for Nintendo’s upcoming WiiWareâ„¢ service…

It goes on to say:

…inspired by an existing cult classic from the studio, and will allow up to 4 simultaneous players while leveraging the unique capabilities of the Wii Remoteâ„¢…

and

…classic game play enjoyed by Millions is coming to your living room in the form of a new title with compelling additions…

and finally

…jump-in, jump-out casual style appeals to a broad audience for both quick and extended play sessions…

Reading between the lines it would appear that we are in a for a treat. The real question is will the 6.3 million Wii owners be able to interact with the PC gamers, I would think they won’t. But your username might port between the two, allowing a character to travel with you. Imagine playing Stick Arena Ballistick on your Wii online and on your PC online.  Once we all are playing Ballistick on the PC, imagine having a party and Grandma slices Uncle Charlie, only to find herself on the end of a barrage of gunfire.  Brings a whole new meaning to “The war at home.”

And in other Stick Arena Ballistick News…there is an impatient group of loyal Techlife readers who have logged over 700 comments about how excited they are for Ballistick. For all of them, I want to give them a heads up, an exciting announcement is coming shortly. We are targetting next week on Techlife and TechlifeTV the news. As a teaser, we have confirmed that there are 6 new weapons for Ballistick. For a bit of fun, we are going to release their initials…

• CG
• LS
• TH
• FT
• CS
• RG

Got any guesses? Let the comments begin!

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Loyal Techlife reader Alan wrote in asking if we knew of a solution to run a simple office pool about when the CEO’s wife was going to give birth. This is actually a really good problem and we jumped in with two feet.

Alan shook off our first two attempts which involved loyal stand-by Google Docs and their spreadsheet application. I suggested he create a spreadsheet, invite everyone in the office to share it, have them add their guess for dates and times. I also suggested Google Calendar. He could create a shared calendar and everyone could input their dates and times. As I said, Alan was pushing for something better. That’s when I remembered Doodle.

Doodle is a free service that is designed to do one thing very well, schedule people to a single event. It really shines when those people don’t use the same shared calendar. Doodle was created by Michael Näf and Paul Sevinç and their company Inturico Engineering out of Zurich, Switzerland.

Since the launch they have been written up by 43folders among others. Development is constantly continuing, Doodle is available in 16 languages and also has a polling tool. It is a simple site and the Techlife friends have used it to organize parties, a trip to a winery, and a fantasy football draft, as well as the boring and mundane meetings and conference calls.

The reaction from first-timers usually is, “So easy. I am going to use it for the next meeting.”

In Alan’s case he would need to just “schedule an event.” Give it a title, most likely, When will the CEO’s wife give birth? Add a description like, enter you name and check the date, and drop $5 off at my desk. Each person’s name may only have one checkbox checked.

The best thing to do is try Doodle so we created a poll to help you get started. Visit our poll to answer, and leave a comment below about how you have used Doodle.

What do you do with all the Amazon Gift Cards you got for the holidays?

Amazon has long offered some treasures, one treasure that’s been out for a while is GOAT, a mammoth book about boxing legend, Muhammad Ali. Ali’s nickname GOAT, (Greatest of All Time) is among his many nicknames. And the tale of the tape is this 800 pages measures at 20 inches by 20 inches and weighs in at more than 75 lbs. Of course the Champion Edition is the one to have, setting you back slightly at $11,250, but hey, it’s on sale right now saving you $1,250.

The regular hardcover GOAT book is on sale for a steal at $3,600, a $400 savings off the list price. There were a total of 10,000 printed and the first 1,000 are the Champion Edition. All of them are signed by Ali and Jeff Koons the author, with the Champion Edition additionally coming with silver gelatin prints.

As always Ali is a trend maker. The NFL followed by creating Super Bowl XL Opus MVP Edition (Leather Bound) a special limited run item available for just $40,000. Of course the limited MVP Edition has a signed page by every living Superbowl MVP, and only 400 were made. Of the 20,000 Opus run, it too measures 20 inches by 20 inches with 850 pages it weighs more than 80 lbs. Both the MVP Edition and the Super Bowl XL Opus Limited Edition contain embedded microchips to ensure authenticity. Oh yeah, that limited edition is available without the signed MVP’s for just $3,000, but seriously who wants that?

And while your gift certificates might leave you a little short, the next time you give a gift, tell the person they should apply your gift card to either book. It will at least get a laugh. Let us know how many of these books you will be buying in the comments.

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Techlife TV gets submissions from readers all the time, send yours in. Allan sent in the Christmas bonus level, but while checking it out, we came upon the coolest 8 Bit Nintendo video we have seen in a while. How many games can you name? Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, Tetris…

[youtube]TSBIAGCulDw[/youtube]

8-bit Awesome

[youtube]2Fe11OlMiz8[/youtube]

The12 Days of Christmas

by: Straight No Chaser – Indiana University

1+1+1 = 2008.  This first month of the year 2008, the first Techlife column of the year, and “one” of the most unique people to ever walk the earth.  Looks like 2008 will have some uniqueness right off the bat.  In the online edition of Techlife we covered the newest Google toy and tool, as well as a very unique news organization in Minnesota that is really picking up steam.  Visit the site to see these and other interesting articles.  For now let’s meet Leonardo da Digital.
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One of our print readers, Andy K., suggested making the links easier for each print column. It was a great idea! Starting in this column we will be implementing that idea. Do you have ideas? Not sure how to make them happen? Techlife can do a lot. Just ask us. Hit me via email at: techlife [ at ] dkworldwide [dot] com. Do you subscribe to the RSS feed for Techlife? Visit the TechLife weblog where all you need to do is point and click.

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The holidays are over, time for your New Year’s resolutions for your company to come true.  It’s 2008!  One of my resolutions is to meet more readers.  As a marketing and technology proven “venture strategist” I want to meet businesses and organizations that are looking for a way to break out, all it takes is an invitation. Contact me, it’s easy: techlife [at] dkworldwide [dot] com.

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Leonardo da Vinci was a master of hidden messages and code. The label of genius could be applied easily. But how would Leonardo cope in today’s world of the interconnected web? Techlife has uncovered a few gems that would make Leonardo da Vinci drool.First one of Leonardo’s favorite things is codes and hidden messages. And what better way to show that off than this:

Ë™sʃıɐɯǝ ʍǝɟ ɐ ɥʇıʍ Êžsɐʇ-ıʇʃnɯ oʇ pǝǝu I ‘ɐsı⅂ ɐuoW ǝɥʇ ʇuıɐd puɐ ʇıs I s∀

BoingBoing was clever when they brought Leonardo this trick, originally from here. But another idea Leonardo would like is the collaborative nature of people improving on other people’s work. This developer took it one step farther and added capitalization, to allow upside down or flipped text that looks nearly 100% accurate based on unicode.

da Vinci would also love the organic search of the internet, and while researching his upside down text, he might have found Local Font List from the same programmer who added capitalization to the flip text. This unique utility can show all the fonts on your computer using your browser and flash. It works for Windows, Mac and Linux.

The screen shot is a great help to understanding this. Those are some of the fonts on one of the Techlife machines. Local Font List even includes a “print” button to get a useful list of all of the available fonts.

Finally da Vinici was a master linguist. He loved wordplay and using words in code and creatively. Friend of Techlife TV, Chirag Mehta, a modern day Renaissance Man himself, would probably have loved to show off Tip of My Tongue to da Vinci.

This online web application can help decipher partial words that begin or end with letters, help unscramble a word, find synonyms all in real time. Try it today and see the cool, way it starts filtering based on what you type.

My request would be to see Chirag develop this same interface for Wikipedia.

Do you have any cool Leonardo da Vinci web tools? Tell us in the comments.

As a weary web traveler, Techlife’s journey is to uncover the small stuff and review the larger stuff, but how about the things in between. MinnPost is rare gem, a non-profit web startup with a local focus that is ready to expand past their roots. I recently had a chance to sit down with Joel Kramer, editor and founder of MinnPost.com. Joel and his band of writers, akin to Robin Hood and his band of merry men, are forming the next wave of journalism. No filters, they are the company. They believe in bringing good journalism to the reader without corporate oversight.

This unfiltered experience has the feel of a well written newspaper but the flavor Techlife readers will enjoy. Their roster of experienced writers might not be globally known, or even nationally known, but their local flavor of delivering quality reporting to Minnesotans gives them credibility in their local community. As a syndicated columnist who covers technology and life, maybe Joel will consider adding another budding journalist to his crew. Joel’s balance of digitizing the newspaper is something many publishers around the country are watching closely.

Techlife: What is MinnPost.com?

Joel Kramer: MinnPost.com is a high-quality news site for news-intensive people who care about Minnesota . We publish ambitious stories and shorter posts five days a week. The work is done by top-notch professional journalists, many of them with decades of experience.

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Google has achieved the “Field of Dreams Effect”. Simply put, this effect coined by Techlife, means there is no longer a preceding qualifier to the famous phrase by author W.P. Kinsella’s character of the “Baseball Announcer” in the book Shoeless Joe and the movie Field of Dreams:

If you build it, he will come.

Techlife’s “Field of Dreams Effect” states:

“Build it and they will.”

Purposely left open ended, this phrase intends to cover both people who build (in this case Googlers) who build cause they can, and users or customers (Google’s users) who will use what Google has built, because it exists.

Google Image Labeler is one of these creations, hatched using some licensed technology from Carnegie Mellon University. Google wanted to improve the results from the Google Image Search tool, and realized that using the power of “us” they could improve their results dramatically. They created a social game, where the blindly pair up two people for 2:00 minutes and let you race to match terms about random images that show up.

It is easy, free and rather addicting. For those of you social context types, you could be helping improve search results for a global audience. For you cynical types no question it is a sweatshop and you get paid in points redeemable for nothing. For you gamers, it is a highly addictive free game where the goal is to be cooperative with your partner to gain the most points.

Techlife previously covered Guess the Google, a very addictive game also based on Google Image Search. Which do you like better? Tell us.