Excel Choropleth Maps for Coins

Project:
Have a map of the world that shows all the countries I collected coins from and have the shaded dark if I own a lot and shaded lightly if I only own a few coins, the top ten countries with the most coins owned should be obvious at first glance.

Plan: 
Create a heat map using my existing Excel file of world coins. Search the web for the best solution.

Results:

Map with U.S. and Canada included.

Map excluding U.S. and Canada.

		Row Labels	Sum of Value	Sum of Coins
	1	Great Britain	$34.41	228
	2	France	$34.33	160
	3	Spain	$28.28	145
	4	Trinidad & Tobago	$8.83	76
	5	Italy	$31.07	70
	6	Jamaica	$12.02	60
	7	Germany	$33.57	51
	8	Mexico	$53.87	51
	9	Israel	$6.98	47
	10	Greece	$31.08	45
		Grand Total	$274.44	933

To make the map I downloaded Chloropeths maps featured on the Clearly and Simple website, a great site for data visualization. These maps have Microsoft friendly shapes that are associated with data. The shapes color is set by the user and using a formula will increase or decrease in intensity with the corresponding data.

I modified the RGB value associated with the shapes color to this:

=IF(D9>499,(udf_RGB(255,255,255)),udf_RGB(230-C9,255-C9,204-C9))

The reason is this allows certain data that is small to get colored white instead of lightly shaded. Also altered the original color from black to green and changed the background to blue to look like a real map.

The map is not perfect as many countries are missing and the shading is not "extreme" enough. More contrast can be controlled but small changes alters the map wildly. I can see modifying it further to make the top ten a different color or making it change with the value of coins.

Greenland is mislabeled as part of Canada I currently do not know how disassociate Greenland from Canada without erasing all of Canada. Luckily I have no Greenland coins which makes the second map more accurate.

Conclusion:
It works well and has great potential. Learn from Clearly and Simply because the site is a wealth of information. I plan to keep tweaking the map until it is simpler to use and modify then post up somewhere. Warning the maps are both protected and macro filled so you need to deal with that first.

Color Wallpaper

Here is what I need an app that would just show one color on my phone's screen. Why because I was trying to make some light photography design. You know when you set the camera for long exposures and then use a light source to write or draw things.

As far as I know there are no apps dedicated to that so I tried to use a background changer app. I found a few that do solid colors but Color Wallpaper by Song Siyu seemed the best.

You can select from a multitude of shades.

The screen fills up with the color as a nice preview.

Unfortunately ads pop up during the preview leaving and unwanted trail of new colors when trying to make a light photo. It failed to give me what I was looking for in a full screen color app. Granted I did not try this as wallpaper app so it would not be fair to review it.

I had to delete it since it was not what I wanted, also tired Drawing Pad but that kept crashing so it was alos deleted. At the end I use SketchBook Mobile which allows you to fill a sketch pad to any color with no ads or unwanted extra color.

Hopefully soon I will review the other two apps and show off some nice light images but until then have a Happy Holiday and keep downloading.

Moon Phase Pro

A good looking Moon Phase app. It gives lots of moon phase information especially good for us amatuer photographers.

You can change locations and check the calendar for future or past days but I just like the simple interface that sends you a message every week.

Here's why this is a 90% program...
Cons:

1. Sometimes it is slow, but you can modify the picture settings.

Pros:

1. Very accurate.
2. Like the simple interface that can change with a simple touch.

Rating: 9 out of 10 (90%)

Play it at:
Amazon: Moon Phase Pro $0.99 although I got it when they had a free day.

Realm of the Mad God

Okay technically not a download but it had to be mentioned. This is a massively multiplayer online game and is free to play. You are a fighter of  a certain class and go around killing monsters and gods for loot. The more you stuff you get the stronger your character gets and there is no end, unless you die.You play it on Steam or like me on Kongregate.

Above is the entry flash page. You can see the credits, legends of the game, play, choose servers, and review your account. If you play at Kongregate you get bonus content and can earn Kongregate points.

You start out in the Nexus where you can chat with other, trade for better stuff, or get free drops. You can check your vault or change your character. Buying stuff is an option but I do not spend money on games. The guys who now make this game are constantly updating and celebrate many holidays with special items and places. From there you can pick different rooms once they reach 85 people the realm is closed.

The game play is simple, go out and kill monsters and gods. Sometimes they drop pouches full of goodies. Keep and upgrade good things until everything you have is maxed out. The better the item the more rare and the stronger you have to be to get it.

Here's why this is a 100% program...
Pros:

1. Super fun time.
2. Great game play.
3. Mostly cool community.
4. It is challenging.

Cons:

1. Lots of spamming.
2. Super strong players ruin the game by running ahead without clearing.
3. Lots of cheating.

Rating: 10 out of 10 (100%)

Play it at:
Kongregate: Mad God, free to play, some item cost money

My Phone's Home Screen

Not sure what my home screen says about me but it the apps I use the most on my phone. To recap I have a Droid X which is about to turn 2 years old in December and it has about 200 apps installed.

Facebook: A must id your social or bored.

FM Radio: I love the radio and is one of the main reasons I avoid the iPhone. This phone has a real radio tuner which is great.

Text Messaging: A must in modern society.

Settings: I need a quick access to the settings like changing the wi-fi or clear the cache.

Play Store: Best app store around and easy to navigate.

Browser: Just the default browser, I do not search the internet much on my phone so it I have never upgraded.

Shopkick: I like collecting points, even if I never use them.

Google Goggles: Great for QR codes, tags, or just scanning pictures to search online.

Camcorder: The default video recorder, I do not take video often but I would like the option close at hand.

Voicemail: I tend not to answer my phone so I always need voicemail close by.

Amazon Kindle: Again I do not read much on the phone but there are some reference books I like to keep close.

Camera: The default camera app is sill the fastest. Other camera apps tend to crash or get sluggish.

The four at the bottom are defaults also.
Phone, contacts, texting, and more button.


I would say that I like to keep things simple. Even though this phone is a mini-computer I do not need anything complicated in my daily life. Now the 200 other apps hidden by the "more" button are mostly just for fun.

CrossMe Color

CrossMe Color

The follow up to the great puzzle game CrossMe is here and in full technicolor.

Menu Screen

Level screen

Game play, I wonder what it will be?

As with the original you are given a blank grid and using colored numbers you must fill it in until the correct picture appears. At first it seems easy but the possible outcomes become more difficult. If you make a mistake and do not notice then it can get frustrating. 

Each puzzle should take a minute or two but it is still tons of fun. Round of applause for the people at Dynamix the makers of this and PrinterShare Mobile Print which I also have installed. They keep it simple and user friendly which is not true for all current mobile applications.

Here's why this is a 100% program...
Pros:

1. Great layout and ease of use.
2. Very calming
3. Works well, never crashed.
4. Can become very difficult and works your brain.
5. I got a $1.00 mp3 credit upon purchase but not sure it is still active. 

Cons:

1. Needs more puzzle for free.

Rating: 10 out of 10 (100%)

Got it at:
Amazon: CrossMe Color $4.95, 

CrossMe

CrossMe

While it has been months since I played Angry Birds but I have been playing CrossMe all the time. This is a nonogram Japanese puzzle where simple pictures are hidden on a grid and number hints on the grid's border tells you how many boxes should be filled in.

There are many puzzles and even a possibility to upgrade to a colored version with more complex pictures.

Here's why this is a 100% program...
Pros:

1. Very calming
2. Works well, never crashed.
3. Can become very difficult and works your brain.

Cons:

1. Needs more puzzle for free.

Rating: 10 out of 10 (100%)

Got it at:
Amazon: $4.95 and you get $1 mp3 credit, CrossMe