you live in montgomery county you can nowet a heads-up as snowy conditions make it unsafe t dre in your nehborhood. residents can log on t the county websitend click on the snow map link. on you eer your zip code you will have access to an interactive map and traffic cameras that will give you a real-time look at road conditions in you ea. there are tens of thousands of apps available for your ione or ipad. you know some of them a developed right here in the washington area. a husband andife team runs a coany right out of their dupont circle apartment. they crted some veryopular games for our phones and they are working on even bigger and better ges. >> hi. welcome to the studios. is is our gamestudio. >> from their hble dupo circle apartment, keithhepherd and his we are building an online ging empire. this is the little r beam. >> keith is a retired government health care software developer. natalia is a stware engineer and assically traid pianist. would years ago when apple launched its wdly popular apps store, just for the fun of , ese two decided to get into the game. >> we waed to be a part of that launch when the store opened just to - you know, be part of the first wave. so we -- had to scramble. we just ca up with a simple puzzledea. >> their idea, word puzzle game, was a big hit. th s important for us. i think it really helped launch our company. >> t company whi they also nad magi. keith quit his day job and talia quit hers. >> i w nervous but cited. >> this is were we build the content. >> keithuilds and edits content. >> like building a movieset. you know, we have to take all of these props and pieces and backdrop. put them all together. >> natali handled the marketing and sound effects. >> sous playedhrough the computer. >> and she wris the music. >> it was really cool to discer tha i could it. >> grawe should do them lik wre you are stomping ruined. >> for him working on th ps is like play time >>ou get to be fun and creative a not doing -- you are trying t play on people's imaginations and not trying to nessarily play on the boring reity of every daylife. >> the creative amangi tam developed six games so far. games like litt red sled, yae yo sparks, hip-o-high div at its peak the number three app in the u. whic you know, is phemenal. >> reporter: together the apps ha been wnloaded more than 1.5 million times on the iphone. more than 35,000 times on the ipad. and they are already working on eir next game. >> it is a 3-d ation adventure game where you are a little kid and that is saving the planet from an aliinvasion. >> it will be reallywesome. ♪ >> creating ap fun for you. still aad on ne4 this eek," how do you decide whichause you want to give to this holiday season? liz crenshaw has a charity checklist. a puzzling package. a maryland family trie to figure out why their christmas gifts from a relative arrive ad whol - thank you. mmmm. ( shattering, thud ) mmmm. ( crash, shatting ) it's good! ( shattering ) wh you add velveeta and rotel tomatoes.. and green chilis to chicken andasta, it's so good. - mmmmmm. - it'll blow 'em away. ( crhing ) man, that's good. man, that's od. ma that's good. 'tis the season for giving. when it comes giving pets as presents the shelt says hold off. the best time toet a pet is when iis cal in your household. shelters beceacked during animmediely after the holiday season becse peoe realize that they can't care for theirpets. the society for t prevention of cruty to imals also suggests picking older pets. puies and kittenare cute, of course. they ruire a lot ofattention. and if yu are set on ging an animal as a gift make sre the recient is prepared emotionally and financially to reive. it is also a good idea to let thperson pick their own pet andou cover the cost that way they get to choose a pet that's right f their lifestyle. many of us are al giving to chities this time of year. t with so many organizations king for your money, how do you decide where to give? and who may be taking aantage of your wallet? liz crenshaw has a chaty's checklist. >> the think i'mrich. i cannot gve to all of these people. robin nancy conders herself and her husband charitable people but not rich. >> we do give to six, even, eight charitiesr sothing and then through the church. >> reporter: the proem, charities continuous solicit them thrghout the year. mailings often arre at the same time. >> this is like in o day. kidney walk. feeding ameri. this goes on and n. toys for to the. and they keep coming d keep coming. >> reporter: many arity appeals come with gifts. >> holiday gift ck. we have som grocery lists. then we have all the retu dresses. yes, we he a million returns. you better le here forer. >> i ow. what am gig too wh all of these things? >> reporter: for staers don' let guilt lead to ve. >> there is a lot of competition to get attention in your mailx. charities are competing with ch other. sende a donation. >> reporter: how do people end upwith so many different peals? >> little amounts to a t of diffent charities that's how you get on merous mailing lists. >> reporter: betr business bureau's wise giving alliance puts charities up against the accountability standards. >> we look at 2 different aspects of a chary's operationsanging from governance to finances to fund-rsing practiceso website disclosures. >> reporter: youan check o a charity reportn the website it includes ways the charities spend itmoney and it says tat 54% of t charities it checks out meet is the accountility standards. >> we are ough. little over half of meet our standards but that's wt we a here to separate the weak from the shaft, to hel people make goodiving decisio. >> reporter: other warnings, be wary of chifrties that spring up overnight oftein kweks current events or natura disasters. watc out for similar sounding name phony charities will use the na that sounds just like a legitima one. bewaref promises or eepstakes winnings in exchang for a contribution. with so many appeals out there, how do they decide which charity to give to? >> i had cancer, i haveive to cancer. richard had heart, we give to heart. we havfriends with diabetes. we give to diabetes. you know,ou would le tgive everybody. but you -- just really can't. >> reporter: lizrenshaw, news4. >> if you want to check t a chity before you donate, you can visit the better business wiseetting aliance. you can call 703-276-0100. the federal trade commission also has a charity checklist that y can tu to. you n find that list atur website. nbcwashington.com. search charity. aaryland milyecently received a box ofhristm gifts. a box that was mailed in december ofast year. darcy spencer talketo the family about the unusual late delivery. >> reporter: last weekhe hry family received a box in the mail full of cristmas presents om justine in orlando. it saidpen the box. so they did. mething wasn't quite right. the clotheswere too tight and belt too small. and the cndy canes, they were stale. >> my s's shirt was a size too small. my daughter's belt didn't -- wasn't en close. >> reporter: debe hen texted her sier-in-law to thank her for thisrather bizarre box of gift >> i said what packe? i didn't send you packe. i am not that organizedyet. wait sclal don't e the candy canes! they are real old! >> reporter: as it turns tout paage had been sent by the nielsens one year ag the date marked cember 17 2009. but just arrived at t henry's doorstep mor th 80 miles away. talk about snail ml. >> it is slow. extra ow. >> wn you heard it wasfrom a year ago i thought that was cry. that's ridiculous how can they misplace a box and then send it at the act ti they were supposed to send it fore a year later? >> reporter: where this box was the last year remains a mystery. was addressed properly and it was paid for d it hadn't been opened until now. the pstal service told the nielsens because the box was not insured it was thangiven tracking number. there's no w to solve this christmas mystery. >> it was -- would make sen to me itust-- it got shoved someere and just was than ever found. >> reporter: as r as the henry kids are concerned when it mes to christmas presents, it is better late than ner. >> i think t sto rings rely cool. i'm definitely going to hang that up in my room. >> reporter: dars writ spencer, news4. folks that come together to help the city's homeless all year long. this winter we have seen the ki of cold that keeps people inside and then there ar those that have toentureout but dot stay out rember long. but wha if you lived on t streets? this time of year harsh on our area's homeless the salvation ar helps em year-round thas to the generosity of one man in particular. news4's crai melvin has the story. >> repter: if you spent any time i downtown d.c., you he seen this. lot of them are veterans. th worked hard for a long time ask came up onard tim. and they drink too much. and here ey are. and it is tough get out of this once you are in it. >>eporter: for many of the roughly 6,000 homeless that live and sleep onthe streets of the nation's capital, this is the dinn bell. >> 365 days a year, chrtmas, thanksgiving, new year's, we are out here feeding them. >> reporr: workers and volunteers set up six times a night, intersecons aroundhe cityand the hungry when wait and line up andet nervous when they are late. and the 25 years ty have been feeding the salvation army estimates it served about 875,000 meals. that's a lotf fo and a lot of moy. the program cts about $125,000 a year. major steve mris ralls eting the man who waed to help. >> came ouand saw itnd said i'm shaped by a mother that insisted share. beyond the simple genuine desire to just do something good, something else field his work, his fait he is a pro muslim and aware of many of the perceptions. >>1.65 bllion muslims. not all the ss are the ones who pua gun under you and said my way or the highway. >> reporter: state-driven service creed a bond with the struggling on the streets and those trng to help them. >> that's where he and i connecte and that's -- we are friends now cause these pele are getting fed based on this >> i believe in the spirit of sharing and tolerance. >> reporter: craig melvin, news4. >> t salvation arm says laconte agreed toickp the tab for thpatrolor the third year. that's it for news4. i'm pat lson muse. thanks for joining us and have a great y. with fios, when you're wating at you i'm standing le a little kid saying wow! male announcer ] if you've ever thoug about ving up to verizon fios, this is the perfect time. because w you can get fie for just $99.99 a month for year. 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