In today’s Inside Social Games, King’s MAU (Monthly Average Users) and DAU (Daily Average Users) for newly launched Miner Speed are illustrated, showing a fantastic growth curve.  The game was just released on the iOS as a free app just last week, so these numbers are especially impressive.

The social games industry is moving more towards the cross-platform approach, yet few if any have been able to successfully bridge the divides.  With these results, King is proving they are onto something.  Puzzle Saga, Bubble Saga, Miner Speed and King’s games portal all occupyed spots in the weekly lists of top 20 games by growth on AppData in the last month.  I’m excited to see what’s next!

Today, leading social games company, King.com, announced the launch of Miner Speed on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, the first mobile game within King’s new cross-platform approach. In the new mobile app, users will be able to play with friends via Facebook Connect, or offline to hone their skills for tournament gameplay on Facebook or King.com.

Miner Speed for iOS is free and can be downloaded at: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/miner-speed/id423520924?mt=8.

To become a part of the King.com community and get a taste of some of the world’s most popular games, please visit www.king.com or http://apps.facebook.com/king_com/.

The image above shows what happened to test subjects when they were exposed to a cell phone receiving a call for 50 minutes.  A portion of their brain became more active; burning more energy. What does this mean to us?

“We have no idea what this means yet or how it works,” said neuroscientist Nora Volkow of the National Institutes of Health. “But this is the first reliable study showing the brain is activated by exposure to cellphone radio frequencies.”

Hmm, that doesn’t sound reassuring.  A few weeks ago, I was commuting on the SF to Larkspur Ferry and sat across from a lawyer who was working on a class-action lawsuit against cell phone providers to require them to disclose the amount of radiation we were exposed to on each phone.  He said the iPhone was particularly dangerous, as the antennae issue meant that the phone was struggling to receive a signal more often than not, which meant it was working harder, which meant our gray matter was ingesting more radiation.

Brain imaging physicist Dardo Tomasi of Brookhaven National Laboratory, who co-authored the new brain-scan-based work, to be published Feb. 23 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed radiation emitted from a cellphone’s antenna during a call makes nearby brain tissue use 7 percent more energy.  Apparently, that’s several times less activity than visual brain regions show during an engaging movie, but Mr. Tomasi goes on to state:

“The effect is very small, but it’s still unnatural. Nature didn’t prepare our brains for this.”

Sounds like a very good reason to invest in a headset to keep those rays further away from your brain, and while you’re at it, maybe it’s a good idea to occasionally unplug and put that thing into “airplane mode” at night to ensure your insides aren’t swaying to the sounds of the “dit ditta dit ditta dit” that you hear when you’re phone is next to radio.

Live long and prosper.

Sure, I’m on Facebook and Twitter - they are both indispensible to my social media life.  But there are times when I’d simply like to share photos with a few friends in a single, collaborative place.  Like when I attend a birthday party and there are 10 people taking photos, including me, but I only end up seeing everyone else’s pics after they’ve uploaded them to Facebook or Flickr or Twitter or whereever and I have to track them down like an online treasure hunt.  Well, track no more!  Now I can set up a collaborative album on the fly, invite my friends, and all those great mug shots end up in one live – private – photostream with Cooliris‘ LiveShare 1.2.  Very very cool.  Because there are times when I want to share like a hyperactive ninja.  And there are times when I want to share with an inner circle of real – hyperpersonal – relationships.

Get LiveShare for free on iPhone, Android, or Windows Phone 7, or check it out online at www.liveshare.com.

I’ve been following a Runner’s World plan to run a sub 4 hour marathon for the past 14 weeks, as I made it into the ING New York Marathon via the lottery system (first time I applied – beginner’s luck!).

I’ve been testing out a variety of apps and gadgets to help keep me on track and motivated.

Here is my list of mission critical tools for runner’s who also enjoy technology:

1. Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Watch: I love this thing and can’t live without it.  It keeps track of my distance, laps, time, pace, and more.  I also have the accompaning heart rate monitor, but I don’t use that.  Instead, I rely on my watch to keep track of the stats I care about, and then upload them into my PC after each run so I can see how I’m progressing.  I also use it to input key data into DailyMile (more on that later).
2. Nike Boom: I love the audible motivations (or, what they call “Attaboys”) this iPhone app delivers into my ear.  While it’s geared for atheletes playing football, basketball, or hockey, I enjoy the variety of players and coaches from around the US that tell you things like “This ain’t about being flashy. Aint no second chances up a hill. Aint no do overs either.  You know what time it is?  It’s time to leave nothing!” from DeSean Jackson.
3. Nike+:  Pre-installed on my iPhone 3GS, this app also provides audibles letting you know how far you’ve run.  It’s not as accurate as the Garmin device, but I do like to hear the mile markers in my ear, and also like the countdown at the end, starting at 400 meters to go.  When you’ve reached a major milestone, you’ll also be treated to Lance Armstrong, Paula Radcliffe or other sporting superstars offering you congratulations.  Awesome!
4. DailyMile:  It’s like Facebook for runners.  You can upload your workout data from your Garmin or Nike+, or input it manually.  Then you can see how other runners have fared and leave comments and motivations.  I have a small group of peeps I’ve been following and have derived inspiration – some are running the NYC Marathon as well, so maybe I’ll even meet them in person.
5. Facebook:  Using DailyMile to populate my status update on Facebook (and Twitter), I’ve had my spirits lifted and my confidence bouyed by friends who have seen my log come through the airwaves.  I’ve even had my cousin Sheila’s second grade class give me some good vibes through a Get Well Dance during recess.  Now that’s some serious motivation!
6. Twitter:  As mentioned above, when my DailyMile stats are Tweeted, I often get feedback from some of my Twitter friends giving me kudos or advise. I’m also now keeping track of the conversations about the marathon by watching the official hashtag #ingnycm

Now if there were only an app that would heal my cranky ITB, I’d be in business…