Cory Bohon

We’ve all dreamed of creating our own video games. From that stunning platformer to that great FPS we could probably all come up with a fairly decent game, but implementing such a game might be difficult for some. That’s where Sploder.com comes in. With a simple web interface, this site allows anyone with a video game dream to create it from scratch.

You don’t even have to create an account to play around with some of the features. You can choose from creating either a platformer or shooter game and then hack away at the interface without ever writing a single piece of code. You can choose from various elements like blocks and tiles, walls and decoration, switches and doors, power-ups, and enemies and hazards.

If you want to save and share your game creation an account is necessary. If you don’t have a game idea at present you can go on the site and play the creations of others to get inspired.

Get to creating your game on Sploder.com.

Today Facebook launched their much requested “Lite” version of the social netowrking site, that strips away unnecessary items and only shows your new stories up front.

From the main page you can post a photo, video, or status update, see a short list of notifications. Through the lite interface you also have access to your profile, events, and your inbox. There’s no chat, but that definitely cuts down on the page load times.

You can check out Facebook lite by going to lite.facebook.com.

This morning, the online Apple store went offline. When it came back online a few hours later, Apple fans everywhere were surprised to learn that they released a few new products. Among the top three new products is an updated Mac mini, complete with the new Apple mini display port. Mac Pros and iMacs also received a slight update. You’ve probably already heard the information about the three new computer updates, so I won’t go into detail on them.

Apple also took the time to release a newly updated Air Port Extreme base station and Time Capsule wireless NAT. The Air Port now has the ability to simultaneously broadcast a dual signal (dual-band). You can use either the 2.4 or 5 Ghz spectrum, and instead of choosing which to broadcast in, the new base station will broadcast in both. Another cool thing is the ability to share your Air Port connection without handing passwords out to friends or family. Just use the new guest networking feature to instantly create a temporary network connection while protecting your current network assets. You can also now access a hard drive connected to your base station from anywhere on the Internet using your MobileMe account.

Something that wasn’t really talked about today was the release of a new (OK, slightly new) Apple keyboard. That’s right, another Apple keyboard. There’s now three different versions of this aluminum wonder: the wireless, wired (with numpad), and the new one, a wired one without the (notorious?) numpad. It does retain the two USB ports that have become loved sights on wired Apple keyboards.

There you have it, all the fancy updates without the fancy product launch (and without Steve). See, we knew we’d eventually get through all the fuss about Steve Jobs. But still, I miss trying to watch the hour long keynote stream while thousands of other Mac geeks attempt to watch at the same time.

With the hard economic times, you’ve no doubt been cutting back. But are you suddenly missing your magazine subscriptions? Well, if you are, a new HP project called Tabbloid should make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside (OK… maybe not fuzzy … or warm).

Tabbloid turns you favorite RSS feeds into a “magazine” that’s delivered right to your email inbox. You can choose how soon the feeds get “printed” and delivered too! The web software does a good job at making the design seem like a magazine (even though it’s a PDF).

You set up your own magazine at Tabbloid.com … enjoy!

Many creative professionals consider Adobe Photoshop the “go-to” application for professional image manipulation. However, it’s expensive, and not everyone can afford it.

Here comes a free alternative (and it’s not The Gimp), it’s Pixlr — and it’s online! Best part? You don’t even need to create an account. Just click the “Jump In” button and begin your image editing.

The application supports layers, custom brushes, filters, and more. If you’re a developer, there’s even an API that allows you to expand up on the web app.

You can try out Pixlr by going to www.pixlr.com