Photo by flickr user The U.S. Army

Thank you to all who served in the military especially those who died while serving.

Game Discount: Get 30% off any game priced at $6.99 during Memorial Day Weekend. Sign up for the Daily Game Splash Newsletter BY Saturday, May 29th for daily deals and the day’s new game. Sign up for either the PC version or Mac version. After you sign up for the newsletter, you’ll receive a coupon code to use during Memorial Day Weekend (May 29th through May 31st). Enjoy!

Brain food…

• Reclaim Facebook Privacy: Great easy to use tool to help you deal with Facebook’s privacy annoyances.
• Books for graduates setting out on that next big adventure: Great idea and list! More books… If only I can get some ideas for teachers…
• Lessons from LOST: Get a little LOST fix and some great insights for writers.
• How to write a presentation title that gets people flocking to your session: Tips applicable to writing, too!
• Copy Editing – Why It Works: What copy editing is, when you need it, who should do it and how it benefits.
• Pay day procedures from freelance journalists: Excellent advice on asking about payment, rates, invoicing and prevention. Pam provides a couple of resources for Australian residents — however, much of the advice is universal.

For fun because we’re allowed…

• Cross Panel Comics: Brilliant way to incorporate comics into a crossword. Love it! More Cross Panel Comics…
• Put Google’s Pac Man Game on Your Web Site: One of my fave Google logos ever. Think I’d like this on a tee. [Link: Alan K'necht and Barry Schwartz] Oh, and apparently, good ol’ Pac’y ate up a lot of folks’ time at work. P.S. You can still play Google Pac-Man.
• #Artwalk: Brilliant! “Global community of art makers and art lovers who get together once a month on Twitter and Facebook for a worldwide virtual art crawl.” It occurs on the last Tuesday of the month, but you can catch the goodness by searching #artwalk on Twitter.
• I’m Deaf: Rockin’ video by Sean Forbes. I rarely discover new songs or artists — Count me in as a fan.
• Star Wars Lego Chess Board: I’d love to get this for my husband and the aforementioned son who loves Star Wars Legos and likes to play chess. Alas, it’s the brainchild of a genius not associated with Lego.
• 

  Photo by Picasa user wastrel

  “The MLB nickname ‘Dodgers’ referenced the pedestrians who dodged the trolleys that ran through the streets of Brooklyn.” Fun Fact from Mental Floss in honor of my Dad who hailed from Brooklyn and loved dem bums AND made me a Brooklyn Dodgers fan. (Not LA. Brooklyn.) I also had a beagle named B. Dodger (pronounced “Bee Dodger”).

I wrote about field day 2009 and what it was like in my elementary school. Now I’ve experienced two different elementary school field days. (My younger two go to separate elementary schools — by choice.) One school sets up stations all over its big, long field. The kids wear a color shirt based on the grades they’re in while 5th grade wears its class shirt. (5th grade at both schools gets unique class shirts.)

The kids have laminated cards that volunteers check off when they complete the station. They are free to roam the field from station to station. That’s the nice thing about this school’s big yard — you can see it all in front of you.

The other school has a yard that wraps around the sides and back of the school with many blind spots. Three classes from the same grade rotate from station to station together. They do activities inside and outside. This year, for the first time, the grades will wear the same color shirts.

Unlike the other school, we order a new field day tee every year. It has “Field Day” and the current year on it. (See photo for this year’s quasi-Survivor logo.) The image changes every year. Some good years and some dull years. I’d say this year’s is in-between. Best field day shirt ever: red, white and blue tie dye that I still wear. I volunteered today and worked the Speed Stacks station. Yes, lucked with an indoor assignment away from the heat.

Brain food…

• My Dialogue Sucks: Tips for Improving Dialogue in Your Novel: A wonderful collection of highlights from various articles around the web.
• 10 Marketing Resources Every App Should Provide: This is a fantastic resource for anyone involved with apps. I’m amazed how many don’t provide much. Most of us need details before we try it.
• 15 Gorgeous and Effective HTML Emails: Great examples. But reality… HTML-emails don’t look readable in all common email clients. I have found lots of funky-looking ones in Gmail, but they look fine in Thunderbird. First rule: Accept your HTML email won’t look identical in all email apps. [Link: BubbleCow]
• Five Reasons I’m Not Quitting Facebook: And I hope you won’t give up on it either.
• You’re Just Not That Into Me: the introvert’s guide to attending a conference: I have a good reason to avoid conferences — I don’t know if I can get my money’s worth considering deafness thing.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Awkward Family Photos: Some of the titles are winners. “Sisters of the traveling hands.”
• 15 Bizarre Prom Photos: Makes my ’80s prom photo look normal.
• Top Five Fonts You Should Never Use: Wish all the locals would watch this… not captioned, but easy to follow and still laugh.
• Recipe Look: OK, the web overflows with recipe sites. But every recipe in Recipe Look comes with adorable drawings. Got a favorite recipe, pencil and paper? Draw away and submit your recipe embellished with your art.
• The City Made of 100,000 Staples: Artist Peter Root plans another project using one million staples. And these things can fall like dominoes. He has worked with potatoes, soap and transformer laminate.
• Twitter Reacts in Horror to 2012 Olympic Mascots: Hilarious article. The new mascots make all the past mascots look like winners. Be sure to scroll through the slide show. [Link: Karen Swim]

What memories do you have of field day or other traditional school event?

I’m a BB-holic, a Bejeweled Blitz-holic. I couldn’t stop playing the game over winter break until I finally set a resolution to break free. I played one day in the first week of January and haven’t touched it since.

Well, Popcap Games — the company behind the addiction — has released a Bejeweled Blitz for Windows. You don’t have to be on Facebook to play it. You don’t have to be connected to the Internet to play it.

The Windows version offers:

• Full screen play.
• Ability to play without an Internet connection.
• More control over your screen size.
• More audio sound and effects.
• One million coins for “Blitz Boosts,” power ups and score-stimulating effects (must buy the game from Popcap to get the coins and use with Facebook Connect).
• 48 achievement badges to earn.
• Connect Facebook from the game’s main menu and play the game from the PC without having to open a Web browser. The game will publish high scores and star medals to your Facebook page when logged in Facebook.

You can download a free trial of Bejeweled Blitz, or buy the game.

Yes, It's the '80s

Where else but Texas can you experience four seasons in less than a week? Last weekend, we had five inches of snow here in Plano (skip north of Dallas). Monday felt like spring. The sun shined hard on Tuesday to give us a feeling of summer. It rained Wednesday to bring us back to fall. I played tennis yesterday on a cold cloudy and blowy day: The wind won.

Oh, what’s up with that embarrassing prom photo? Inspired by “When Prom Dresses Go Bad” link below. Fact: My escort later became my husband.

Brain food…

• Why Keep Blogging? I don’t believe in blogging for the sake of blogging and traffic. I also don’t believe in blogging daily. Sure, this brings more traffic, but it also brings burnout faster.
• Self-Promotion or “That Other Whore” Syndrome: Things you may not know about publicity. [Link: Debbie Ohi]
• How to Master a Subject: Become one with your subject with the help from the library.
• Grants for Writers–As Diverse as You Are: It’s incredible what’s out there. C. Hope Clarke has been writing about grants for years.
• 10 Steps to Create the Ultimate Facebook Fan Page for Your Brand: Begins with why bother and then the deets.
• Self-publishing success story: JA Konrath sells 30K Kindle eBooks in 11 months: One advantage — known author, but the rest are great tips.

For fun because we’re allowed…

• 86 Beautiful Book Covers: Feels like a stroll through a museum of books.
• Robots do a sedar: This is one role many would love the robots to take on especially if they work in the kitchen.
• Rubik’s Cube for the Blind: Metal, six materials and Braille.
• Shilhouettes: Powerful images…
• When Prom Dresses Go Bad: Stop laughing at my big hair and ruffles.
• The Things Facebook Causes, According to Google: If you’re struggling with any of these, maybe you need a break from Facebook

© Copyright Paul O'Farrell and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons License

My family doesn’t have a drop of Irishness in our blood — that we know of, anyway. But that never stopped my dad and me from wearing green on March 17th. Dad went the extra mile by wearing a dark green suit to work with some silly button like, “Kiss me, I’m Irish.” Obviously, he liked to have fun and I am sure some folks today would say the button is harassment. No matter, count on my wearing green.

Brain food…

• 8 Must-Have Twitter and Facebook Add-Ons: Oh yes, add-ons go beyond browsers and blog apps. The article forgot to point to the scripts (all use Greasemonkey), which can you find by searching userscripts.org. Facebook Purity explains how to install scripts for other browsers.
• Synopsis Tips for Writers: Excellent short post. [Link: BubbleCow]
• 10 Turnsoffs Keeping Readers from My Blog: These are the unwritten rules I tend to follow… at least, I hope I am.
• 10 Amazing Life Lessons You Can Learn from Albert Einstein: Not a single one has anything to do with relativity.
• 33 Writing Terms You Should Know: When WIP on an ms, be sure to stick to DL while following GL [Link: BubbleCow -- awesome resource... follow @bubblecow!]
• Research Tip: Finding Crutch Words: Do you keep using some words repeatedly? I try not to, but with all that I write… it can be tough. Current challenge is to avoid that and which. Not easy! [Link: @elizabethscraig]
• Top 100 Sites on the Internet: Very cool interactive graphic. [Link: @kirstinbutler]

Image from jimbowen0306 / CC BY 2.0

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 10 Coolest Foosball Tables: Aww… My husband just has an ordinary table.
• 70+ Examples Of Beautiful Night Photography: Breathtaking… [Link: Ruhani Rabin]
• 40 Outstanding Mascot Designs: I’d love to have one… but not sure it would fit this site’s brand. Or what. My favorite mascot: Fort Worth’s TCU Horned Frogs. I found many horned toads in my backyard while growing up. [Link: bkmacdaddy]
• Junkyard steampunk Yoda: Serious, I am.
• 5 Browsers and the Modes of Transportation They Resemble: Pretty darn accurate.
• Top 10 Japanese Etiquette Mistakes: I love reading about cultures and etiquette even though I never get to try them (or avoid them). I learned about #2 from my husband and I have used it.
• Friday Funnies: Words Shape Your Existence: Great way to kick off weekend (and Spring Break for some of us). [Link: @alexkaris]

Can you guess what happens in Diner Dash 5: Boom!? Diner Dash Flo indeed sees her diner go ka-boom! in Flo decides to provide a health conscious menu, so she posts a sign that says, “Fat-Free Breakfast.” Someone removes the “Fat-” on the the sign to show “Free Breakfast.” Naturally, when her diner opens, the whole town rushes in and destroys the diner. The nasty Mr. Big comes in and announces he has a standing contract with the city that any lot that goes unused for a week becomes his.

Hal, a contractor and huge Flo diner fan, offers to help her rebuild her diner within one week. While he gets to work, Flo goes from neighborhood to neighborhood running outdoor diners to help Hal with the rebuilding. As he progresses, he’ll ask you what design and color you want for the diner. The diner you customize will appear near the end of the game.

The game play remains the same in that you fill in as Flo. You’ll take orders, deliver the dishes, clean up, fulfill customer requests for special snacks and fix problems that pop up. You’ll met new customer types as well as some from past Diner Dashes. As usual, customer personalities can drive your strategy. Lawyers and working women have little patience, so you probably want to serve them first in a chain. One customer type takes his time. Librarians and bookworms like the quiet while the working men make a lot of noise talking on their cell phones.

Gain bonus points by matching customers’ colors with the seats and doing a bunch of the same activity in a row (chaining). For example, deliver the check to as many customers as possible ready to check out. The more you chain the same task, the higher your bonus.

For each level, you need to earn a minimum amount to advance. Those who like to challenge themselves can work toward the expert scores. After all, the more money you earn, the more you have for shopping for power ups before starting the next level. Power ups let you speed up activities whether it’s Flo getting around or Cookie cooking faster. But there’s one new type of power up — the kind that’s only good for one level, if you can afford it. You can hire Quinn of Wedding Dash to fill up the salad bar, get another set of hands for carrying things or a hostess to keep the people in line happy.

Oh, that’s right, we have the salad bar element. Sometimes diners choose to go to the salad bar instead of ordering from the menu. You need to drag the salad folks to the salad bar while ensuring the salad bar remains full. If one column of food is empty, the diners can’t move on.

Another new feature is Facebook. Diner Dash 5 can send your game updates to your Facebook page. You don’t have to use the Facebook feature. You can also win virtual gifts that you can give to a Facebook friend. While a cool feature, I didn’t know anyone who is a Diner Dash fan. If you send it to someone who doesn’t have Diner Dash 5, it’s useless.

One big improvement in Diner Dash 5 is that it’s easier. I could never get far in past games because they were very (yes, I am using this modifier) hard. This one, I did. Diner Dash pros — don’t fret… believe me, there are challenges in the game. This game does a great job of easing the challenge while retaining it for advanced players.

I still have problems with chaining at times. I’d be running all over, click, click, click only to find something failed and that failure can mean the difference between standard score and expert score. Plus, snacks break the chain. I don’t think that’s fair.

You get a lot of game value for the time. Once you play through the game, you can replay levels to reach expert scores. As of this time, only the Collector’s Edition is available and it requires a Big Fish Games Club Membership. The regular one — read: cheaper and no extras — will be available later. Extras include:

• Advanced levels: Extra game play for those who love a good challenge.
• Strategy guide: Walkthroughs to help you conquer levels and reach Expert scores.
• Story comics: Review the story, which is divided into scenes. I wish it came with fast forward, previous and pause. The game plays the whole scene and repeats.
• Wallpapers: Six screens for your background.
• Screensaver: One animated screensaver, but it doesn’t let you preview how it looks.
• “Flo Over Time”: Looks back to the history of Diner Dash.

The extras may or may not be worth it. You can get walkthroughs from forums around the web. You can review the story by going back to previous levels. I rarely change screensavers and wallpapers, so these had no value to me.

Download Diner Dash 5.

FTC disclosure: Review based on expired review copy received from publisher.

Google has already apologized for some of the problems with Google Buzz. One of those being Buzz automatically followed some users, a big no-no. The company may have said it was limited to people you emailed frequently, but that wasn’t the case for most of us.

Aside from that, Buzz has mixed reviews and a long list of things that need changing. I’ve listened. I’ve participated. I’ve complained. Yet, Buzz still has my attention. Like an infant, it has cute moments and messy ones. It still needs nourishing before determining what it will be when it grows up.

Using Buzz

Because I always have Gmail open, the growing number of new Buzz is distracting as it grows much faster than email even in spite of my being very selective about who I follow. I’m organized when it comes to my email and maintain inbox zero. It’s easy to see why the new Buzz messages annoy and frustrate people especially when the number climbed to 100.

It took a week to get used to that in the same way I let my newsletters and alerts labels sit with over 100 new messages. Those two labels have hundreds of new messages because those messages are “as needed” messages. So I applied the concept to Buzz and the annoyance factor dropped. Or I click “Buzz” and the number starts over.

Although some folks said they turned off Buzz soon after trying it out, I haven’t written it off because it’s new and evolving. First, I want to understand it better and figure out how to use it efficiently should it find its way. Twitter wasn’t a smash hit in the beginning. Neither were blogs. Facebook was limited to college students. Second, I’m stricter about the people I follow in Buzz than I am in Twitter. If I find someone I follow is Buzzing a lot of useless content, then I stop following without regret.

I haven’t decided if it’s a good idea to funnel my tweets into Buzz. I don’t blog daily, so tweets keep me out there. I’ve created new Buzz a couple of times and comment on Buzzworthy items. I haven’t tried using Buzz for any articles I write.

One-way Interaction

Buzz can import your blog entries, tweets and other content. However, if you reply to any of these, they stay right in Buzz. Well, when I see a tweet from Twitter in Buzz, I go in Twitter and reply there instead of within Buzz. Google lost an opportunity here. What if Google adds a checkbox that asks if I want the reply to go to the original source. Hence, if the source is from Twitter, the reply shows up in Twitter.

Google likely did it this way on purpose to keep people in Buzz. But some will go around it like I did. I hardly think I’m the only one to think of this.

Yes, Facebook lets you import the same information and keeps replies right inside Facebook. I just expect more from Google because many of Facebook’s users don’t use other social media applications.

Twitter Fail Whale = Buzzportunity

Recently, Twitter experienced serious fail whaling. People asked if Twitter was failing in Facebook and Google Buzz. Buzz was a better place to find out than Facebook. Again, so many people in Facebook don’t touch Twitter or any other social media. Those of us in conversation mode buzzed about other things knowing Twitter whaled out.

Multi-communication Integration

I don’t think Google, Facebook and Microsoft are onto anything in combining status/buzz with email. (Facebook is trying to build up email to become a powerhouse like Gmail.) When I want Twitter updates, I go receive them and nothing else. Not email. Not trivia. Not games. Nothing. Just short status updates and direct messages (DM). Of course, I could be wrong about this.

Buzz integration with email doesn’t work for many. It creates more noise and people haven’t come to the point where they want multi-communication opportunities thrown at them. They would rather have a choice, but a choice that goes beyond turning off Buzz. Perhaps, a way  to access Buzz outside of Gmail.

I remember when Newsgator would deliver feeds as Outlook email. I never liked that idea. When I tried it briefly, it overwhelmed me more than Buzz because it took more effort to delete those messages.

Social Media Expert: Is There Such a Thing?

Buzz demonstrates exactly why no one can be an expert in social media. Social media evolves and fast. New things pop up. You can’t become an expert on what works and doesn’t work as soon as it comes out. You have to see how people respond to it as they learn their way around.

Nonetheless, Google has accomplished one thing for itself — Buzz keeps people in Gmail longer as several have admitted this.

What do you think lies ahead for Google Buzz and unborn social media?

Related articles

• 10 Things You Should Know About Google Buzz (eweek.com)
• 30+ Google Buzz How Tos, Tools and other Resources (SEOptimize.com)
• Google Buzz No Facebook , No Twitter Killer, Google Exec Says (eweek.com)

Howdy, all! Thanks for sticking with me. I know I have not reviewed a game in a while — for a good reason. I’ve had eye pain that interferes with playing games on top of the regular work I do on the computer all day, every day. So for now, I’m bringing you updates and what I think are good games. Does that work for you?

Social Gaming Survey

PopCap Games shares the results of a social gaming survey [pdf file]. I admit I used to be hooked on Facebook’s Bejeweled Blitz, but finally kicked the habit. It’s a great game to play when you need a stress break or can’t think. That is the only social game that has sucked me in. I avoid discovering new ones as I do not have time for this stuff! It’s easier with downloadable PC games because you generally have a start and finish.

The survey says that a population of about 100 million in the U.S. and U.K. play games on social media sites like Facebook and MySpace. And the cool news? The average social gamer is a 43-year old woman. That’s good news for PopCap Games because it’s the company behind the addiction of many of my friends: Facebook Bejeweled Blitz.

New Releases from Big Fish Games

Black Circle: A Carol Reed Mystery: Summer arrives and a neighbor asks English private detective Carol Reed to look into the discovery of a dead body that mysteriously disappears. In this hidden object game, Carol interviews suspects and helpful residents to get to the bottom of this stranger’s death. What starts as a routine investigation quickly becomes something more as Carol uncovers broken alliances and a cult long thought to be inactive.

Aveyond: The Lost Orb: Continuation of the popular Aveyond adventure game series. Mel’s wedding day isn’t going according to plan. Her worst enemy stole her man, and a mysterious ghost appears to tell Mel that her evil ancestor, Mordred Darkthrop, has passed down his most precious possession to her: a magical orb with the power of death. Wanting nothing to do with her wicked ancestor, Mel must now seek out the orb and destroy it, before someone else with the power to use it discovers its location.

Ancient Rome: In this time management game, you help grow the ancient Roman Empire by setting up cities and providing valuable resources throughout the land. Produce goods, construct new buildings and attract new workers as you expand the reach of the Roman Empire, a fast-paced strategy game. Meet your goals and accept valuable rewards from the emperor to set up your own piece of land and carve your name into the annals of history.

Awakening: The Dreamless Castle: After awakening in a mysterious castle it’s up to you to collect clues and valuable items needed to solve perplexing puzzles and escape. Listen to the fairy as she guides you towards the exit. The game comes with minigames and lock puzzles that lead you to the next room in the castle. In this hidden object game, you search for the next hint and discover a young Princess’ destiny.

Play anything good lately?

Image credit: Zsuzsanna Kilian

I avoid in-person events as much as possible. It’s not because I’m an introvert. It’s not because I look hideous. (Although we should know better than to let our looks get in the way of meetings.) It’s because I’m deaf. Most people understand me when I speak. It’s the other side — the more important part– of the conversation that’s a problem for me: Listening.

It’s true that the average lipreader catches only one-third of what people say. Try reading every third word in this post or another and see how much you understand. I can usually fill in the gaps, but not always. “My name is [mumble]” is a biggie. I might ask the person to repeat once, but no more. In a book club meeting, someone mentioned that reading the book and seeing the movie version was not a good movie. I asked the name of the book. Missed it. Repeated once and missed it again. Gave up.

While this sounds innocent and no big deal, it is. People judge you when you don’t catch things because it makes a person look obtuse or not smart. With online marketing, I don’t miss a single thing and I catch every name and title. What you see of me online is all me without the barriers or presumptions. Writers can do more than just publish content to market themselves. These work well and take up whatever time you put into it.

1. Create a web site with a personal URL. It’s easier and cheaper than ever to build and update a web site. Using blogging applications like WordPress and Tumblr work well. They also have a lot of free and low-price templates available. A customized design adds a personal touch to your brand, but sometimes people don’t have the funds available right away. You can work it out so the only cost you incur is the yearly fee to buy your own URL. writer.blogspot.com hurts the professionalism. You have a lot of options for creating a web site using a blog app. Whether you should blog or not is a different discussion.

2. Set up social media profiles. The web site and blog is your home on the Internet. Social media sites give you a meeting place. Many, many social media sites exist. Forget that. Don’t let it faze you. Pick two or three and completely fill your profile on those sites. Currently, the biggies are LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. That can and will change. Remember MySpace was hot? I have a page that receives updates from my blog and Twitter account, but I don’t visit it. I’ll set up accounts on other social media sites, but only on a “come across it” basis. Usually I get an invite from a colleague and join up then. I fill in the profile as much as I can.

3. Join conversations. It doesn’t matter where. I go to blogs and leave comments, participate in scheduled Twitter chats, respond to people’s Facebook messages and reply and retweet tweets. Some people love to talk in forums. Notice this says “join conversations,” not “give soliloquies.” People who talk to no one in particular or don’t acknowledge other people’s existence are not listening or becoming a part of the community. The only folks who can get away with this are celebrities.

4. Do the guest thing. Invite and ask. Invite others to be a guest in your blog or community, and ask if you can do the same for others. You’re reaching two new audiences: the other person’s audience and the other person. The other person has a following and will ask people to check out the guest post in your community. Most guest posts come with a byline, which means link juice for your site and getting your name out there.

5. Link to your site and accounts. On your web site, link to your Twitter and other IDs. In your email signature, link to your web site and important IDs. Make sure everything points everywhere else. Do you have an email newsletter? Put your links there, too. This covers all your bases. Those who prefer email updates, RSS feeds and social media IDs.

These five I do on an almost daily basis. It works because I have a comfortable workload. You can do much more with online marketing, but other online marketing tools take more time. Some people do videos. Some do podcasts. Some do webinars. Some do email newsletters. Doing a video or podcast requires thinking about the goals, writing the script, recording and editing before you can publish. With social media, you have control over how much time you spend.

What online marketing tools work well for you?

Growing up in Fort Worth, we always had a day off from school at the end of January and received a free ticket for the Fort Worth Stock Show and Radeo. You didn’t have to go or use the ticket. I went a couple of times to the cattle and sheep barns to see the animals and to watch the rodeo in Will Rogers Coliseum.

Vote for your favorite books on writing.

Nominate a favorite social media book.

Brain food…

• Tools to record what is on your screen: Screenr is good, too.
• What Twitter Lists Say About You: Replace my name with your Twitter ID.
• Interview: Lauren Moran, Yankees’ Media Relations: Fascinating insight into working for pro baseball team. I’d love to work for a sports team.
• How to Better Engage Facebook Fan Page ‘Fans’: I still dislike the use of “fans” and would like to see this change to “members” or something similar.
• Myth Busting: Write what you know? Maybe… maybe not. See what Lori says.

For fun because we’re allowed…

• 10 Creative Shower Curtains: I love these! But I like my glass shower door better.
• 12 Most Realistic Lego Sculptures: Incredible. Legoclick gives Lego artists a place to share their work. The web site will blow you away. Check out the film — no words.
• Sleep Talkin’ Man: What a guy says when he sleeps.
• 12 Most Bizarre Things Ever Listed on eBay
• Leaf Carving Art
• 8 Unbelievable iPhone Stories