Christmas is upon us, which for many people means a rush of family, friends, traditions, the sounds and smells of the holiday and most importantly… a bit of a break from work.

It’s not unusual for companies to go quiet from Christmas Day to New Years Day, a week where those of us who are workaholics have a small chance to catch up a bit on their workload and try to get organized for the new year.  To that end – we at Appency wanted to offer a few tips:

1. Sit down to your computer…. and turn off your internet.

GASP! Did he say turn off your internet?? Absolutely. Even if only for a day. (Preferably away from your home) – try a coffee shop, the local library… a place where you are not so easily distracted by family or everyday responsibilities. You know how much work you get done on the airplane when you can sit down and reply to, and file those emails without the hassle of the recipient’s immediate reply?  Pulling the plug on the word-wide web (aka world’s best time waster) can help replicate that environment. Now you can reply to emails, organize files and more without the distractions of replies and Facebook.

2. Organize your contacts

Most smartphones, and as of recently the iPhone, have business card recognition software such as WorldCard Mobile. (iPhone version at  http://bit.ly/wcmdl1 and I believe its currently on sale) I believe WorldCard is even pre-installed on many windows mobile devices.  Pull the stack of business cards out of your desk, and start snapping photos. You would be surprised at how quick this can be! When you’re done, sync up your iPhone contacts with Outlook (or whatever you use) to have it all populate in your main address book. A quick Google search can explain how to do this.

3. Socialize Your Contacts

As business people, we use LinkedIn as our social network for the work environment. Thankfully, LinkedIn (and many social networks) make it easy to import contacts once you have imported them as per above. For LinkedIn – check out this link http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=pop_ex_upload_contacts for a quick explanation of how to import all those contacts you have just uploaded as connections. Remember – the more people you are connected to on LinkedIn, the better network access you have to THEIR network as well. The invite to connect on LinkedIn is also a reminder to the contact of your meeting and may bring up a potential piece of business.

Three steps. Its probably one days worth of work, barring the occasional coffee break and trip to the powder room. An organized email box and set of connections is a great way to start off your 2010 business life!

Hotel Mogul, the best selling PC game and now best selling iPhone and iPod Touch game reached the #1 paid app position in Russia and to celebrate, is giving away 5 copies of the full PC version of the game through a twitter Re-Tweet contest!

HOW TO ENTER

1. Follow @AlawarGames on Twitter

2. Tweet this Message:  ” Hotel Mogul #1 #iPhone App in Russia, Giving Away PC Version to Celebrate (RT 2 WIN) – http://shar.es/aO0I1”

(You can also do this using the “Share This” icon at the bottom of this page!)

Thats it! Of course we would love for you to purchase the game and try it yourself! The game is also currently:

• #8 Family Game in Hong Kong and Malta
• #9 Family Game in Thailand
• #11 Family Game in Malaysia and China
• #12 Family Game in Estonia
• #15 Family Game in the Philippines and Singapore
• #16 Family Game Luxembourg, Switzerland and Germany
• #18 Family Game in Taiwan and Guatemala
• #21 Family Game in Austria and Vietnam
• #22 Family Game in Japan
• #24 Family Game in Belgium
• #25 Family Game in Ireland and the UK
• #26 Family Game in New Zealand
• #27 Family Game in Australia
• #29 Family Game in Norway and the Netherlands
• #31 Family Game in Canada and France
• #32 Family Game in Macau
• #33 Simulation Game in the United States (and #34 in Family Games)

the list goes on… but I’m tired of typing…

Up to 10 entries per day, per Twitter account. No purchase necessary to enter. Winners will be given an unlock code to Hotel Mogul for the PC which can be downloaded at http://www.alawar.com/game/hotel-mogul/ (download the free version and use the unlock code). Winners will be drawn Monday, December 28th, 2009 at 5pm PST and notified that they have won via Twitter (Which is why you have to follow @AlawarGames to participate!). Void where prohibited. Must be of legal age in your country to participate. For questions or more information email info@appency.com. Employees and family of Alawar Entertainment and Appency are ineligible to participate.
Best iPhone apps at AppStoreHQ

The full color ‘Children’s Bible’ app tells the stories of the Old and New Testament in seven different languages and is the first comic book style Bible to be made available to iPhone and iPod Touch users.

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain – BCNmultimedia today announced the release of the ‘Children’s Bible’ iPhone and iPod Touch application, a full color comic book rendition of bible stories from the Old and New Testaments of the World English Bible. “While it has become a common occurrence to see worshipers attending their churches with digital versions of the bible on their iPhone’s, up until now that was solely for the adults” said Toni Matas, publishing manager of BCNmultimedia, creators of the app. “We wanted to give the children something that was just as accessible while being entertaining as well.”

Just in time for Christmas, we are offering the story of the First Christmas free with download! The “Birth of Jesus” comic is 24 scenes and tells the story of the angel appearing to Mary, the search for a room at an inn, the birth in a manger and the shepherds visit in stunning full color comics. (Part of the “Land of Nazareth” full comic). Readers can purchase additional packs containing stories and activities from within the application for only $2.99

The first story pack available is “The Land of Nazareth” and contains Over 10 full length bible stories in 144 scenes, rendered in brilliant colors with an easy to navigate interface including:

• Annunciation of the Birth (Included Free with Download)
• Birth of Jesus (Included Free with Download)
• Visit of the Wise Men of the East
• Childhood of Jesus
• Baptism of Jesus
• Temptations of Jesus
• Call of the disciples
• Wedding at Cana
• Sermon on the Mount: the Beatitudes
• Sermon on the Mount: Love the Enemies
• Sermon on the Mount: the Prayer

The iPhone is only the latest media channel to be explored by the 16 year old company, which began producing education and religious text in 1994. Since then they have produced over 75 full length animated features, 50 interactive CD-ROMs  and countless educational comics and text which have been distributed globally.

‘Children’s Bible’ is available as a free download in the iTunes App Store for both iPhone’s and iPod Touch devices using operating system 3.0 or higher.  The application is available in seven languages including  English, Spanish, French, Italian, Deutsch, Portuguese, and Catalan.

Best iPhone apps at AppStoreHQ

Alexandria, VA – Alawar Entertainment today continued their expansion into the iTunes app store with Hotel Mogul – their 13^th game by the global developer. Hotel Mogul is a fast paced business and economic simulation game based off of their PC game of the same name. This solidifies a major expansion for the highly successful developer of PC games, who plans on bringing more than twenty new gaming titles to the iTunes app store in the next year.

In Hotel Mogul, the player takes the role of the business savvy Lynette, who sets out to reclaim her families hotel empire after her ex- husband underhandedly snatches it out from under her. With only a few plots of land to her name and a small amount of cash in her pocket, Lynette must buy, sell and trade her way through the high stakes world of real estate management and fast paced economics. To win back her fortune she will need to amass a vast global empire of hotels, restaurants and amusement parks. Experience comes gradually as the player masters the basics of management.  Later levels build on these essential skills with challenging missions involving the raising and repairing of structures and the buying and selling of real estate.  The player has a limited amount of time to complete each task, so it’s important for him or her to learn to multitask and react quickly to a constantly changing environment.

The premium version of the application contains

• Over 35 different levels in five global regions
• Four mini “find-it” games to continue the story line
• More than 15 building types with upgradeable features
• 12 special awards to work towards throughout the game
• Vibrant graphics and soundtrack

A lite version of the game is also being released to give players new to the Alawar gaming portfolio a chance to experience the game before purchase. This lite version will include ten of the games levels in two of the global regions, and a limited number of building types.

Alawar’s game repertoire is vast, with over 200 high quality games played all over the world though major portals such as RealArcade, Yahoo! Games, BigFish Games, AOL and others. “We received multiple emails asking for more of our games to be ported for iPhones and the iPod Touch,” said Krill Plotnikov, Alawar’s vice president of publishing. “The iPhone is a natural extension to our gaming catalog and makes it easy for our players to take their favorite casual games with them wherever they go.  The company’s iPhone catalog currently consists of such games as Farm Frenzy, The Treasures of Montezuma 1 and 2, Gourmania and more. Hotel Mogul is destined to become a stellar addition to this winning lineup!

Hotel Mogul is available for the iPhone or iPod touch for $1.99 and can be found listed in the iTunes app store under “Simulation Games” at http://appsto.re/hotelmogul . The light version is available at http://appsto.re/hotelmogullite . The app is rated “4+” and is compatible with OS version 2.2.1 and higher.

Blogger Reviews:

AppShouter : “The graphics and the sounds are great. I love how bright and colorful everything is. The levels are interesting and challenging enough that they kept my attention and I did not get bored very quickly.”

UnderTheRadar: “Rich, original and satisfying, Hotel Mogul is simply addictive. I have been playing Hotel Mogul practically nonstop since I downloaded it – warning to everyone, just make sure you don’t drain your battery from playing the game so much. Wheeling and dealing has never been this fun!”

Best iPhone apps at AppStoreHQ

Nominate
Hotel Mogul
for
Best Casual Game

About Alawar Entertainment

Alawar Entertainment has specialized in the development, publication and distribution of casual games since 1999. The company has published more than 200 titles worldwide and is the largest provider of casual games in Eastern Europe. Today, Alawar works with five internal studios and more than 30 external developers, providing a full range of services that includes game production, distribution and marketing, distributing its releases via its broad network of Web sites. The company’s offerings can also be found on popular download portals, including RealArcade, BigFish Games, Yahoo! Games, AOL, iWIN and others. In addition to distributing games online, Alawar works with CD publishers in more than 20 countries. In 2008, the company significantly increased its presence in Eastern Europe and became the leading distributor of casual games in that region. Visit www.alawar.com for more information.