Minitab is a statistical analysis software that is great for learning and teaching statistics.

It is extensively used by Six Sigma practitioners. The help feature that comes with the software is excellent. It has the capability to generate several statistical distributions, perform a variety of statistical analysis and plot results. Plots can be easily copied to other Windows applications such as Excel and Powerpoint. Data can be easily transferred back and forth between Excel and Minitab making data analysis and visualization very easy. One feature that Minitab lacks is the ability to perform analysis of long-tail distributions. Also, bootstrapping procedures are lacking.

For those of us who must use workstations with limited program capability a thumb or flash drive can become a necessity.

What should you look for in a thumb drive? How much space do you need? These are the kinds of questions you should think about before going shopping. First of all let’s look at your needs. Are you a rough traveler? Do you tend to throw stuff in your bag? If you tend to be a little rougher on your peripherals, look for something that’s shockproof and if you shop around you might even find one that’s water resistant. No matter what you’re carrying on your drive look for something that won’t corrupt your data or shatter if you’re not entirely gentle. How much space is enough? You can find flash drives anywhere from 512 mb to 4 gb. If you don’t need more storage there’s no need to spend the extra money for 4 gb when you maybe only need one. Generally speaking, you’re looking at spending anywhere from 14.00 on up to 150.00 dollars or so depending on your needs. These days, you can find many applications that are available in portable versions. From Word processing programs to Photoshop, you can carry around a few programs that don’t make registry changes, don’t need installation and won’t get you in trouble with the IT department. You can also keep your music handy, documents, homework in case you don’t have a laptop or don’t want to take your laptop anywhere. Surprisingly, picking yourself up another peripheral might make your life a little easier. Work on projects away from home, write that paper that’s due tomorrow, and keep yourself entertained with music. All in all, a flash drive is a good little investment in portability. As with any peripheral or data storage, always make sure to back up your data in a separate place just in case.

If you’ve used a computer in the last 20 years or so, you’ve spent some time playing solitaire.

Now that the iPhone and iPod Touch have allowed a rich computing experience to fit in your pocket, solitaire can come with you on the go. Smallware LLC’s Solebon Solitaire is only 99 cents, but it packs 40 different solitaire games. The classic Windows solitaire – known as Klondike – is there, but Solebon includes some more exotic varieties and even a few that the app developers invented themselves. The simple interface and slick animations make for a compelling solitaire experience. A free version of this app is available under the name Sol Free Solitaire. It has only six games, but it does include Klondike. The full version is worth the dollar though as you will likely find some of the games, such as Aces Up or La Belle Lucie, downright addicting. It comes out to about two and a half cents per game, and it’ll save you from boredom many, many times.

Most of the professional game development community will tell you that you should learn C++ to get into the industry.

In reality, they’re only partially right. The professional game development companies are using C++ to develop their games, while an independent (indie) game developer has the freedom to choose the language and platform on their own. Visual C# 2008 Express and XNA Game Studio 3.0 are superb tools for the indie developer. C# is very easy to learn, and Visual C# 2008 Express greatly increases development speed. XNA Game Studio 3.0 is a framework added onto Visual C# 2008 Express. It takes the headache out of developing a lot of the low level systems in game design. The two together make an excellent choice for indie game developers. You can get games out faster and easier!