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Farewell Gary Gygax - the Dungeon Master

• Darren Waters
• 4 Mar 08, 19:19 GMT

Sad news: Gary Gygax, the co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons, has died, according to reports in the US.

His creation - together with Dave Arneson - was an inspiration to millions and I spent many happy years rolling the dice with friends in search of a miscellaneous magic items.

I had the chance to on the 30th anniversary of D&D a few years back and it was a pleasure.

An estimated 20 million people worldwide have played D&D, with more than $1bn spent on game equipment and books.

"I thought we would sell about 50,000 copies," Gary Gygax told me back in 2004.

Without the creation of D&D, the video game landscape would be very different indeed. Would World of Warcraft be the global hit it is today, for example?

Time to dig out those rule books, I think.

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Mac virus alarm is sounded - again

• Darren Waters
• 4 Mar 08, 16:34 GMT

I hesitate to write this, mainly because I fear the response, but does anyone who owns a Mac actually use any anti-virus software?

I ask because Kaspersky Labs have told they had readied a prototype anti-virus package for the Mac and could launch it "within days", if needed.

Is it me, or does that sound unnecessarily alarmist? Almost as if, they are expecting a tidal wave of Mac viruses.

Interestingly enough Eugene Kaspersky, co-founder and head of anti-virus research at Kaspersky, predicted a "significant rise" in Mac viruses back in April 2007.

Has it happened? Not yet....

Symantec and McAfee both sell anti-virus software for Macs. So does anyone have any anti-virus software installed on their Macs?

I don't on my machines. So am I smug and stupid or smug and wise?

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Nokia shines a Silverlight

• Darren Waters
• 4 Mar 08, 10:53 GMT

The next stage in the evolution of the mobile web has become clearer after the that Nokia is going to use Microsoft's on its handsets.

Silverlight has been dubbed a "flash killer" and while that's an ambitious claim it also underestimates Microsoft's own plans for the product, which it hopes will become the default platform for the next generation of rich web applications.

We're going to hear a lot more about Silverlight in the coming week at in Las Vegas, including some new applications for the platform.

But this first announcement is a powerful message to the internet industry. Because Nokia's phones, and specifically those running the S60 operating system, have a dominant place in the market, with more than 53% of the market share.

It means that Silverlight could well become the standard platform for web development on a phone and that in turn could have a knock on effect on the PC because smartphone sales will overtake laptop sales any day now.

And interestingly it also means that the distinction between the web and the mobile web could soon be at an end - because one of the aims of Silverlight is the creation of rich web applications that are totally independent of browser, operating system and physical hardware.

It could mean that the latest cool web 2.0 application that you've been playing with on your Mac or PC will run just as well on your mobile phone.

The meaty sub-plot to this is what this all means for Adobe's Air, its next generation web application platform.

Adobe has already signed up some big players to Air, such as eBay, but the mobile dimension is a big one.

So this feels like a good round for Silverlight, without actually being a knockout blow.

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Building mobile bridges

• Darren Waters
• 4 Mar 08, 10:34 GMT

While in San Francisco I called into see mobile firm , whose application had been powering my transfer of video direct from the phone to the أغر؟´«أ½, and other online destinations.

I was interested in finding out why Nigel Clifford, the chief executive of , the world's most popular mobile OS, had cited the application as an example of the always-on, always-connected mobile experience when I had spoken to him during the Mobile World Congress.

I have been using Shozu mainly as a heavy lifter; my phone uploads to Shozu once and then it pushes the content out to other destinations.

But the application on your phone also works as a bridge to your online content, including your friends. For example, you can configure Shozu to notify you whenever one of your Flickr friends has posted new pictures.

The firm's Jen Grenz showed me the latest version of the Shozu client, and how the firm is re-packaging itself as more of a community bridge.

Instead of an application centred on distributing your content the new client is focused on your online communities - be it Facebook or Flickr, for example.

From Shozu you can change your Facebook status, see your Friends latest photos, or upload news ones of your own.

As the mobile web finally begins to coalesce around your communities Shozu is clearly gearing up to be one of the glues that bind those friendships and your shared content.

The new client will also feature adverts for the first time on Shozu. Adverts always tend to divide users but Shozu is promising they will be low bandwidth and won't interrupt the user experience.

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