Proverbic: Learn Some Proverbs

    Lately I've been noticing proverbs being used as decorations in new homes. Some proverbs said by old wise elders in movies just catch your attention. Sometimes you may get tested to know the meaning of proverbs in classes when they have been used in books. Proverbs have always been cool and it's difficult for me to imagine life without them. Whatever your reason(s), the Android FREE app Proverbic is here to help you. 

       I admit some proverbs may be generic, kinda like fortune cookies and psychic readings. Others will be useful words of wisdom that may apply to life lessons, sometimes right away, sometimes not so. If you feel like reading some deep thoughtful observations, open up Proverbic and blow your mind. I'm sure it won't take long before you go "Oh yeah. That is true." There will also most likely be a few that will seem like a joke you have already heard so it will be less entertaining.  When that happens, move on. (my own words of wisdom).

    The app is user friendly, neat, smooth, and has a few neat features. Share or save a phrase as a favorite. It's hard to understand a proverb if you don't know what it means and nobody explains it to you right? Well, the app has a "meaning" button to give you the definition of the current phrase. There is even a search feature to look for phrases that you may want to look at again, or just one that contains a keyword that you want.

   The educational app is brought to you by the developers at Twentycraft. Thanks to them you may even sound smarter at times by popping out some of these quotes. Or just in case an older person pops out one of these phrases, you can be like "I got this" (George Lopez fan).




So what are you waiting for?  
Go get this!

Little Chomp Review

Little Chomp

In a world of game studio closures and constant belt tightening, even years after the first so called credit crunch its always good to see a rainbow pot of gold app story.It is even better, when covering indie apps, if they turn out to be rather good, and Little Chomp certainly is. 

The ClutchPlay studio was formed after "Touch Pets Dogs and Cats" maker Stumptown Games Machine was shut down by Ngmoco. With the alluded game rainbow goal being to now rebuild the app studio and make games they want to play themselves . Little Chomp is the fulfillment of that desire.

Essentially a hybridization of a puzzle and action game your goal is to get Little Chomp to spring his way to the top of the trees found in various locations like Chompwood Forest. Imagine a Doodle Jump where you decide which platform to jump to next and progression is under your own steam and you get the idea.

A vibrant world and enemies await

 Graphically both the caterpillar whom you play, the world and enemies are brightly coloured and filled with personality. With an insect being the main character without a certain likability, even with superior playability, an app would fall flat on its face. 

With enormous teeth contrasting with his fragile body Little Chomp looks like the cute second cousin of Death Worm and is a worthy and likable protagonist. Quick puzzling will help you to get to the tree top and avoid the multitude of Enemies along the way including tree frogs, spiders, bees, nut flinging squirrels and more. There's a big variety in the enemies with some static, some actively hunting you and some even flinging missiles ( those nut hurling squirrels). Luckily variety also comes in the form of numerous Power ups such as health increases or once a level stun moves. The coins you collect can be used to unlock these powerups and the fruit you find along the way to create new and beautifully drawn colourful butterflies.

What is particularly likable about the game is the ever changing challenges that each level brings. You might be asked to collect coins or speed to the top or any other amount of challenges which really adds to the gamification of the app.

Clutchplay's first foray as a studio is the perfect example of what an experienced but once regimented design team can accomplish when the call to indiefication beckons.

JumpBox- Introducing young gamers to jumping games

Jump Box a true "gateway" app

Can we describe an app as a gateway app?  Just like their counterparts in the seedier world of narcotics a gateway app introduces a new generation-luckily in the case of apps to much more innocent pleasure.
Doodle Jump; Mega Jump and so on the list of jumping games is near infinite-for an adult app gamer that's great;  but for the kids hanging over dad or mom's shoulder it can be quite frustrating that a superficially simple game type can be so frustratingly difficult.
JumpBox is a younger gamers gateway to jumping games. The premise is very simple;  an attractively drawn box must jump to escape the box junkyard. Moving platforms present some challenge but importantly there are no enemies or vicious obstacles.
That's why Box Junkyard is a perfect gateway app to show young gamers the fun that can be had with games sans frustration.

AAA Bail Bonds App

These days there apps for just about anything. Introducing AAA Bail Bonds App. 

"AAA Bonding is the best bonding agency in Chattanooga." 
                                                                                   -Google Play description

The smartphone application has many buttons that acts like shortcuts in a time of need. There is even a panic button for when you are getting arrested (assuming you have time and your phone is nearby). The artwork is neat so you aren't just dealing with some simple drawings. You may also call Veteran's hope or get directions to the nearest AAA Bond location. 
 
The App is FREE and can be downloaded from Google Play for Android devices and iTunes for iOS. The actual full name of the app is AAA Bail Bonds Chattanooga TN. I'm guessing this app is more helpful for those who live in the area of Chattonooga (city) and/or Tennessee (state).

Use the app to quickly access a database to find out individuals who are wanted by AAA Bail Bonds. At the time of this writing, there are a couple reward for tips anonymously. Rewards were $250 and $500. You may also use the apps camera feature to take a photo of someone you suspect is a wanted person. 

It's one of the first apps of it's kind as far as I can tell. You can visit AAA bond's website at http://wetalkyouwalk.com/wetalkyouwalk/Home.html. They seem to have a good reputation with good reviews. Not all of the buttons work. For example the Mugshots, Booking Reports and Youtube buttons don't yet work. However, I believe these buttons will increase in functionality as time passes. It's still a fairly new app. From the website, you can also see who else are wanted in other areas. The site has a link to the FRN (Fugitive Recovery Network) which are used by many bail bonds agencies. That site connects you to a bunch of other agencies and has a multistate most wanted list.

Stay Safe. Let's hope you don't have to use this app, but know that it's there. 

From Blogpost to ebook

Fancy making your blog into an ebook?

When you take into account that the average ebook can range in size from anywhere between 5000 words to 100k you'll see that an awful lot has gone into writing this often epic pieces. Being a video game blogger and of course gaining some fame thanks to all my loyal readers I've been exploring ways to get my blog posts into ebook form. After all with almost a thousand articles and many of our app how to guides getting thousands of daily readers it would be a shame not to reach a wider audience.

Luckily there is a lot of good software available that can make this journey to writing discovery a lot easier. If you're looking at a 100 thousand word length piece then there's a lot of donkey work involved in getting that work into an acceptable and palatable professional
format.

Easy Indexing

Indexing is of course one of those very onerous tasks that can take up so much time but will really make your book shine out as a professionally created and easy to read work.
PDF Index Generator is the software that we've been paying particular attention to in our quest to publish an ebook. Firstly one of the very precise requirements that it fulfills is that it is simplicity itself to use. We just don't want to spend hours mired in complicated menus, we just want to create and let the software do the mundane work-and that PDF index generator does fantastically.

Not just Book Writing Software

Of course it gains a lot more brownie points by having the ability to select and deselect words and categories according to your need. This is a great feature that really allows you to weight your book/writing towards the needs of your readers. A very aesthetically pleasing feature in this customization capability is that the entire appearance of your index can be made just as you want it.
With numerous font styles and layouts if you have a lot of work that you want to make a back of book index for swiftly and have a unique appearance for, this book indexing program really does the job. Another fantastic feature that acts as a link for all your work is that a word can be clicked in the index and you'll be automatically taken to the corresponding page.

Many word categories are also included with the software intelligent enough to recognise commonly used words like pronouns or name variations and exclude them from the index. Autonomy is taken to a new level too with the index able to be written straight to your book or saved PDF wise for later use.

PDF Index generator has multiple options

If you've got a lot of writing down,just like our gaming blog, and are wanting to take the next step to getting more eyeballs on your fantastic work you don't need little factors like how to index hold you back anymore.
PDF Index Generator won't write your book for you but will certainly give you the time and creative freedom that you need to give yourself more time to create.

All the features of Windows 8

With over 120,000 apps Windows 8 is trying to make a strong bid to become an app competitor. In this article we will look at why to get Windows 8 and all the features associated with it.

Why MS says Windows Phone 8 is great
Windows Phone 8 is described as “the most personal smartphone.” To take this further, Microsoft said that they are going to “reinvent the smartphone around you.” Stating that Android and Apple phones are stale in their human interface MS says that Windows Phone 8 is going to revolutionise the way that smartphones work.

The Live App

What is a Windows 8 live app? They are live tiles that constantly update with the latest information, one could argue that this is not new at all but just similar to widgets found on Android phones! A new feature for live apps is a new lock screen that’s powered by live apps that bring you new photos and notifications from your apps on the lock screen. For example, the Facebook app updates the lock screen with your personal photos. Which live apps are available? Twitter, Zynga and Rovio are updating their apps to take advantage of live apps.

Besides Facebook, Microsoft detailed another new live app hitting Windows Phone 8. The new live app version of Skype will be able to run in the background without taking up any resources.MS promises that these live apps running in the background won't consume the phone's power.

Free music is also coming to  Windows Phone 8 in early 2013 in the form of a free Pandora subscription.

What is Windows 8 Data Sense
 Data Sense keeps real time track of your data and allows you to use less of it. Web pages are compressed and automatic adjustment of data to keep within carriers limits is performed. With the feature, Microsoft promises 45 percent more Web browsing on Windows Phone 8 compared to another smartphone on the same data plan. The first mobile carrier to have data sense is Verizon.

Windows 8 for Kids
Kids Corner  lets a parent set aside specific apps that their kid can play without having to worry. It prevents kids from deleting any files, or accessing any harmful content. In effect it is a sandbox mode for kids.

What are Windows 8 Rooms?

 The People app.  includes all of the social media accounts of contacts as well as their contact details, these people can be put into Rooms. An example would be a family room in which all members of the family can be receive exclusive updates from other family members.

The Room can be extended to other phones including iOS and Android devices. The full functionality of Rooms can’t be used on iPhones, but iPhone owners can get important updates from Windows Phone 8 users who have put the iPhone owner in their Room.

SkyDrive, Microsoft’s cloud platform, is being extended across all Windows 8 devices. One example is a voice note on a document. It’s automatically uploaded to the cloud and shared across all of your Windows 8 devices from phones to desktop.

The same goes for photos. Any photos taken will be automatically uploaded to SkyDrive. The photos can then be accessed across all Windows 8 devices. As for storage, Microsoft offers 7GB of free storage on SkyDrive. Photos will also be saved to the cloud forever.

Xbox Music will sync with your computer and match any songs you already own. The sync app will be available on Windows 8, Windows 7 and Macs in the near future.

Bing's Windows 8 Apps
There is a standard Bing app for web search and image search, a Travel app, a Weather app, a News app, a Finance app and a Sports app.

"Searching with the Bing app is fast and fluid, whether you use a touch device to tap and swipe or type and click with a keyboard and mouse," says Brian MacDonald, Corporate Vice President, Online Service Division for Microsoft. "Finger-friendly results and images are front and center letting you quickly find what you're looking for, so you can search less and do more. You can still rely on the same great Bing web experience in Internet Explorer 10, but we've optimized the Bing app to shine on Windows 8."

"The Maps app makes it easy to find the places you're looking for and helps you get there faster," adds MacDonald. "Quickly pinpoint locations, get directions, see traffic conditions and more— all designed to be easily navigable with touch." It remains to be seen whether the Bing Maps app will attract as much controversy as the iOS 6 maps!

The Weather app gives you a preview of the current weather and the hourly, daily, and 10-day forecasts.
What are Bing media apps
Known as media apps- Finance, News, Travel and Sports apps with large media groups such as ABC, AP, Bloomberg, CNBC, Fodor's, Lonely Planet, Reuters bringing complete daily editions of the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Essentially this is news tsand for windows 8 newsstand.
The Sports app offers headlines, live scores, schedules, standings, stats, etc. and is very comprehensive in this way , but more importantly can be customised to bring you a very personalised experience based on the teams you follow.

Xbox Smartglass for IPhone

Iphone and IPad users can now download Xbox Smartglass from the Appstore. Despite the original release date being give as January 2013 last night saw the Smartglass officially appear on the Appstore.
By opening the app , entering your Xbox Live user name and starting up the console a virtual instant connection is made.  The ability to use the IPad or IPhone soft keyboard to browse and enter data on a television through Smartglass and the Xbox internet explorer is great. 
Your consoles media can also be viewed and manipulated with the app.

Eventual game use such as mini maps and inventorys displayed on the device running Smartglass is planned. At the moment the only game with this feature is Forza Horizons and it seems to be only working on the Windows 8 app at the moment.
.

Clash of Clans Port for Android

If you're expecting hit defence build 'email up Clash of Clans on Android any time soon, you can stop holding your breath. Greg Harper of creators Supercell says that "It's something we are constantly evaluating, turning it upside down and peering at it from every angle, but at the moment, it just doesn't make sense for us," Harper revealed to us."The short answer is the revenue is not meaningful enough and the cost to support [Clash of Clans on Android] is much too high."
With so many free apps on android and the difficulty of porting Clash of Clans to so many different handsets running different Android versions preventing this happening any time soon we can only hope that Supercell will find a way to overcome these difficulties.

Two great music features of Windows 8

Pandora on Windows 8

With the surfeit of entertainment available to us on smartphones and our devices music is one of the most established forms of entertainment but still probably one of the most universally popular. The great thing about Windows 8 and other new and advanced control methods for our phones and other smart devices is that music is obviously not only present in a big way but they bring many new ways to interact with our tunes and organise them.

Xbox Music has now officially taken over from Zune and will act as a meta-iTunes syncing all devices with your computer and match any songs you already own. The sync app will be available on Windows 8, Windows 7 and Macs shortly.

How to access Pandora Music on Windows 8

Pandora and Microsoft have teamed up to bring Windows 8 users advert free access to Pandora for a full year. When will the Pandora App be available on Windows 8? from early 2013. Microsft promises that of the top 50 apps on any platform, 46 of them will be ported to Windows 8. Top apps available include Facebook, Skype and Twitter. Games that will be available for Windows 8 are  Windows Phone 8 include Temple Run, Angry Birds Star Wars, Angry Birds Space, Draw Something, Words with Friends and more. 

With Xbox Music and Pandora bringing so much love to Windows 8 in the near future whether you're a potential musician just looking to buy your first Gibson guitar strings at musicians friend to support a growing axe habit or whether you just want to chill and catch your best tunes then these are exciting times to explore how  Windows 8 is changing the world of music apps.

How to program for Ouya

Developing for Ouya

Guide to programming for OUYA

In December the Ouya SDK ,known as the Ouya Development Kit or Ouya SDK will be released. We've gathered the latest facts, information and guidance that potential Ouya programmers will need to make their venture into the soon to be released Android powered console successful.

Overview of the Ouya capabilities

The console is based on Android Jellybean with the developer boards running JellyBean 4.1

Ouya Controller-what a developer needs to know

The controller will be similar to a generic gamepad with a standard number and configuration of action buttons, all games will need to use the controller buttons for  input. When the ODK documentation is released it will have the Ouya key mapping info.

The controller also uses a touchpad that has single touch support- no multi touch in this version.

Disregard using buttons such as menu or volume as they won't be present but there will be a system button that brings up the pause menu from where the game specific settings menu can be accessed.
For typing purposes a soft keyboard will be used.

Is the Ouya Display HD?

All screen resolutions and aspects are supported with full use of the screen geography

How to earn money as an Ouya Programmer?

The policy is that all games will be free to download on the console. This can take the form of a free demo or level and then monetisation of your Ouya game can happen with freemium models and in app purchases allowed

In-App Purchasing API. In-app purchases can either be “entitlements” that are purchased once (e.g., full game unlock or premium item purchase ) or “consumables” which can be purchased repeatedly (e.g., coins or tokens). The ODK will have payment APIs to sell in-app items.

Settings and Software:

Game settings. After a gamer presses the OUYA system button, the game will pause and bring up an OUYA-standard menu that gives a gamer an option to exit the game or enter game settings.
You, the developer, will have an API to insert your own custom game settings.
Permissions. General permissions that will apply to all apps instead of each app having to have its own permissions.

Ouya Dev Kits

System resources.
 OUYA is not a smartphone so is not designed for multitasking with more than one app running at the same time. Game developers can tune performance confident that full system resources, barring a few basic system services, will be available to them.
No notifications.
OUYA games will have no push notifications at this time this means that they  will not be developing or offering the services that are required to support push notifications for v1.

Store Listing, Metadata, Game Art:

When  the Alpha ODK to the OUYA developer portal is released  in December, specifics as to icon sizes, listing requirements and OUYA store policies will be published at this time. The interfaces have been  designed  with developers and  common assets in mind '

Ouya  hardware:

OUYA’s board is powered by an NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor.
Which Tegra 3 processor is used in Ouya? The Nvidia Tegra 3 processor the T33. That means that a developer can build and test on any Tegra 3 Android tablet. For now, OUYA will be using OpenGL ES2 like all other Tegra 3 devices.

Ouya Keymapping

Specific Developer Questions
Will any Unity Store extensions to provide easy access to things like your IAP, any Lobby system and possibly controller be provided?

A Unity extension for OUYA is being worked on , this should be released soon after the ODK

Is multi-touch something that is being considered in the future? Also a game pad with an lcd display?

An official pack of high resolution button and controller images for use in development will eventually be provided.

Current Developments important to Game Studios

Dev kits will be shipped in December with the company now in advanced engineering testing

"Last week was a huge milestone for us we received our first development run of PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards) for the console," the company announced on its website.

"The first boards came to life without any hitches, and we're now fine tuning software and hardware performance for graphics, wireless, and user experience!"

Gaming Site reaches 500,000 HITS!

Dear Gametrender and it's Editor(s),

    I would like to say Congratulations to you and Gametrender for reaching HALF A MILLION VIEWS! All the hard work and dedication to testing and playing apps and sharing that experience and information is clearly getting noticed. Gametrender.net's growth has been amazing since the time I've joined.  I am honored to have been a part of this(no matter how small) bringing tips, hints, clues, and strategy guides to those who are also interested in what we are interested in. The experience has been enjoyable. Thank you for letting me put my game playing hobby to use. It's exciting to think about where the site will be in 5-10 years. And Thank You to the readers.

Can't wait to hit 1 Million Views! Gangnum Style.

Using NFC enabled phones to the full

With many top mobile phones available with NFC capability, including top brands like Nokia, Samsung , LG, and many of the Xperia range of phones; we felt it was time to test out NFC using our review handset the Samsung Galaxy S3. 

Where to buy NFC Tags

Turning to London's Covent Garden based RapidNFC, who are quickly establishing themselves as Europe's largest supplier of NFC tags and products, we acquired some of the most popular NFC tags for personal use, to see the potential of NFC. 
 What is NFC? 
For those not really fully understanding what the Near Field Communications chip in their mobile device does we think we'd better give a quick Dummy's Guide to possibly the greatest mobile innovation since BlueTooth. That's not to say that this wireless standard is not quickly becoming the media's darling- during the latest London Olympics athletes were supplied with NFC capable Galaxy S3's to better enable micro purchases through collaborating retailers, like Pret a Manger, who had enabled cash points capable of taking preloaded payments for micro transactions for small values, like a lunchtime sandwich. 
 The new wireless standard allows two capable devices to pass information between themselves. The device can be a mobile handset, or even an encrypted object. This really makes a difference as even an innocuous object like a sticker can be encrypted with information that your mobile can read, and it doesn't require a power source.
 Marketing personnel would immediately see the potential in this for multiple uses like encrypting a personalised sticker to be attached and ready to be scanned in a public place which could provide great, inexpensive advertising. For example if the latest movie like Skyfall has prominent posters in accessible areas like a tube station, then those could be scanned by interested people and carry out all sorts of functions like taking people straight to the movie's website. 

 Uses of NFC 
Broadly it can be used for what we can loosely term personal use such as task launching and more commercial uses such as mobile payments, product identification and even security functions. Commercial uses are so wide ranging that they will need a full article by themselves to cover so with the useful products that we obtained from RapidNFC we're going to look in depth at some of the useful and time saving personal functions of NFC. 

 NFC to improve everyday mobile use.

NFC Products from RapidNFC

 In possession of some of the more popular enabled products I set about making my home and office a NFC enabled zone. What's great about the mini nfc logo stickers and hang tags that I had is that use was only limited by my imagination. The Covent Garden NFC suppliers have the means to encode up to 200 thousand tags a day, but it is completely possible, and very simple, for a user to encode their own tags with any of a number of apps readily available, we'll be looking in to some of the easiest apps for an Android user to use to encode their own NFC tags in a later article. At the moment I've got a set up that works for me by having a small sticker on the bedside cabinet that when tapped sets the daily alarm on and the ringtone to silent. The NTAG203 with a scan strength of 7 even works through the mobiles hardback case. On my car keys I've used a hang tag that when touched puts the phone into Android Jellybean's useful driving mode( where incoming callers are verbally identified and text messages read out), turns off Wi-fi, turns on mobile data and activates Google Maps! Office NFC use sees another of the unobtrusive stickers on the desk activating Wi-Fi again, loading a popular news site and setting the phone to vibrate. The NFC enabled pen is yet to be programmed but certainly provides an office talking point when people enquire about it! 

 As a way to show off your phones capability NFC is definitely future technology today. But more than that it also allows some real time saving and avoids the stress of hunting through your devices to complete often rote tasks.
 Beyond the personal level there are a multitude of 'commercial' uses for NFC. If you're wanting to look into this for any of the above uses or even just for interests sake, the trial samples from RapidNFC proved reliable and functional and their wide range of products provide a great way for either business or personal users to explore modern mobile's immense NFC potential.

SongPop : Free Music App

        Are you a music fanatic or at least used to be one? Do you want to put your knowledge of songs against a friend's inner library. If that's not you, know that many are. SongPop is one of the top apps on Google Play in different categories; Top Free (57), Top Paid (66), and Top Grossing (96) as of 10/31/12. No end depth information is required, just the ability to recognize the song, it's title and artist.  A category is chosen by the player issueing the challenge. Some examples of categories include Country, Rap, Love Songs, 80's Rock, 90's Alternative, Classic Rock, Pop, and Today's Hits. Once the challenger finishes his or her turn, then they start the next match by choosing a category. A category is either a genre, and or the decade the songs were in.  Your scores are based upon the correct answer, and if correct it's based on the time it took you guess it. If you're 2nd player, you get to see what the opponent chose as an answer during each song when the time they took to make that guess has elapsed. What it doesn't tell you is whether or not that person got it right, so copy at your own risk. The biggest factor in getting points is how many you got in a row. Consecutive answers give you a huge bonus. For example, if you got every answer correct, let's say 3 but your opponent got 3 in a row and took a little longer to answer, that opponent would still have a much greater chance to defeat you(almost guaranteed).

Use Facebook to find opponent and send challenges to them. Once a person is on your list of challenges, you just have to wait until they take a turn. If they don't ever take a turn, then I think they just stay on your list. I haven't done must research and can't figure out how to manage the list. Sometimes a "remove" pops up next to their name. The game has to run incredibly smooth to be accurate to at least 1/10ths of a second to judge who choose what and to distribute points correctly. Each week the counters start over. You keep your points though. Win and you get a small amount of gold coin(s). They can be used to unlock new categories and some advantages.You'll get a notification when a challenge has been answered or sent by someone else.


The app has selections from so many types of songs. It's variety reminds me of Band Hero. (Band Hero is a spinoff of Guitar Hero and had commercials with Taylor Swift). I also loved Band Hero. The questions from SongPop don't suffer from the same problems as Scene It. The songs can be up to date. Some of the older songs I don't recognize or don't know who sings them, but their artists' names usually sound familiar(probably legendary classic artists).  There is a little problem with the game though depending on how you see it. Many of the categories don't have a lot of songs in them, so if I keep playing, there are bound to be repeats and I can pick the answer even before the song is even distinguishable to the other player. This can be fair if both players have about the same amount of experience(Star Level) in that category. In a way it also rewards players for being experienced players of the app. In my opinion, there's a better then 1/4th chance that the most popular artist is the answer. And some artists are more likely than others to show up so once you see their names and know this, you can pick it extremely fast. Tip:Some song snippets have their song titles said in them, so if you don't know the song and you wait you might get to hear the answer.


There is a FREE version and a paid version. The paid one doesn't have ads. After each match, players are shown a song/album cover to each song and their artist, title, and have the option of purchasing that song for 99 cents. I'll just tag a bunch of artists in the labels section. With the app I was able to find out a song that I kept forgetting to look up. That song was in movies a lot and didn't have lyrics played. It's called "Bittersweet Symphony". Maybe it can help you find songs too. I also appreciate the app because it forced me to pay more attention to other genres and at the same time educate me on some of the main singers/artists/bands/song titles of those genres. Sometimes I've heard of the name or song, but haven't connected the two yet. I'm still around 2 stars for most of the categories, so I don't know how many more genre's and songs the app will have.




Have Fun!

iLogic Hero-Logical IPad game

We love the fact that IPad games can vary so much in the experiences that they can give you; from quick 'pop a bubble' type blasts to epic Fantasies. But every once in a while comes along an innovation, so knew that it becomes genre defining. Other platforms have seen the like with GTA spearheading Sandbox gaming and novelties like 'Doom' going where no other game had dated tread before. iLogic Hero is not the forerunner of multi story analysis games, possibly Marion's other game iLogic Crimes has the right to that accolade. And perhaps one can even argue that essentially being a very Cluedo type game that this logical story driven puzzle is not a new genre at all.
If you've read this far in the IPad review you'll be here for a few reasons,one reason is that I hope you'd like to find out how good iLogic Hero is and the second reason is if you're looking for a viable alternative to the surplus of 'hidden object games' on IOS masquerading as puzzle games. 2 Points for you: If you love Cluedo (or previous game iLogic Crimes) or if you fancy putting your logical Sherlock Holmes sleuthing skills to the test ; than you'll love iLogic Hero.

Set in a fantasy medieval world that is more Hans Christian Anderson than Grimm Brothers the light tone and PG friendly skill of the Hero in question( he can speak to animals) bely a deep game of deduction. As each game progresses the depth of puzzling here astounds. With the basic idea of 'if that creature likes that and was there at that time, but isn't of that type , then the only LOGICAL SOLUTION must be creature X' an immense brain straining deductive line must be followed to ascertain who can help you find a missing princess.
Not only will each sequence play out with you finding witnesses, but other deduction sequences will follow from that with you needing to select for example the best trackers or assistants to help find the princess.
The robust game engine allows for wonderful variety with each game playing out slightly differently and multiple story endings.
The studio has taken an interesting direction by having a young protagonist and light tone. Of course this fits with the 'talking animal inquisition' that you will be doing, but for those expecting dark and sinister plots from a set up that could quite easily derive from a medieval lost princess story, you might find cute talking animals and young prince/detectives unpalatable.
If you don't expect Gothic Medieval Noir and want a taste of genre defining deductive puzzling on IPad we strongly suggest trying iLogic Hero.

Is UK 4G worth getting?

What UK cities will be covered by 4G by Christmas?

EE has given the UK 4G for a handful of days now, but is the 4G network really better than current 3G networks in Britain?

EE 4G tested and compared to 3G

A major national newspaper did some stringent tests to evaluate whether it was worth upgrading to the mobile broadband with a promised 5 times faster speed than other mobile phone networks. EE was tested in a Railway Station, a lift, a cafe, a cab and in a shop. The biggest difference was found in the railway station with EE having a speed 18 times faster than 3G networks with 36.2 Mbps speeds logged.
Streaming TV in a cafe over 4G was more than workable with 13.2 Mbps speeds.
Generally the test did have a good case for 4G with speeds consistently reaching between 7.3 to 36mbps.
However there are still some teething problems with some websites inaccessible by UK 4G at the moment. It is also a costly business with capped data downloads hitting the plus 30 pound cost margin- a disgrace when some Eastern countries like South Korea offer unlimited LTE downloads for a fraction of the price.

Why 4G isn't for you:
2 Major reasons could stop you from adopting 4G, the first is if your mobile phone supports it. There are not a major amount of devices that support in the UK at the moment, this is the list that Everything Everywhere has said support 4G at the moment:

Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820, the Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE, the HTC One XL and the Huawei Ascend P1 LTE.

 You can add the iPhone 5, Sony Mobile Xperia Ion and Motorola Razr M to the list. 

Ways to connect non 4G phones to EE

Two devices coming out soon might make it possible to connect non 4G devices to a 4G network. The Huawei E589 is a self standing Mi-Fi device with the ability to connect up to 10 non LTE phones to the faster network. The E392 is basically a dongle that can connect to both 3G and 4G.

The second reason to wait is that other competing networks are working on their versions and at the moment EE is supported in only a limited amount of locations in the United Kingdom.

Monster Life : Free Virtual Pet App Tips, Review and Guide

Happy Halloween! Speaking of monsters, I am a big pokemon and digimon fan. When I discovered Monster Life I was stoked. It was a less detailed FREE Pokemon and Digimon game. In the game, the monsters are reffered to as tamanna. You are training to become a master and stop the evil monster named Chaos(who has been stopped before). You raise an egg, hatch the monster, then do various activities to get it stronger and evolve to the next level. There are four forms after hatching (very Pokemon like). The first two evolutions after the egg are easy to level up(very much like Digimon). Pokemon Trainers/Digidestines are referred to as Monster Keepers.  As your monsters level up, they become stronger as their stats increase. Sadly once you reach the third and final stage, that pet doesn't have any way of becoming stronger besides temporarily with in-battle boosts. 

When zoomed into the critter, the background is the same real-time environment that the monster is in.

Unlike Pokemon, you don't travel that far, and eggs takes only a few seconds to hatch.  The eggs all look the same and don't resemble the monster species. The monsters are not as detailed, but they are still creative and cute. The graphics are also not HD, but are still 3D and look nice and cool.

Like Digimon you pet, feed, play, train, and clean your pet when it's time.  When they need attention they'll have an air bubble aboce their heads with the corresponding need.  Each time you do so, your pet gains some experience points. You get experience points by completing goals and world map missions which are battles.  Each pet species has it's own unique attack, variety of petting responses, way of celebrating and dancing.

Design your own ranch!

Petting
There are different ways to pet. Each method will give difference animation responses.
1)Tap the monster
2)Slide your finger across the pet (like a real pet)
3)Accelerometer - sideways
4)Accelerometers - back and forth.

Battling
To start battles you must select the fight from the world map, which is located under . Battling is a little similar to Pokemon on easy mode. You see the lineup of the enemy or enemies and their levels.  Then you matchup whichever monster of yours you want to fight. It's easier for the player because you get to match element types and monster level(and the computer doesn't). The order of element advantages goes as this;

                           Earth(branch)---->Water---->Fire---->Wind(cloud)---->Earth

Once you choose a monster, you may change your selection before the battle starts(before you press "Fight") by pressing the red minus button by that monster. When the battle starts, pay attention to your monsters health bar. Not only for their health, but also became it may turn to a special attack/critical hit button. Press it and that monster will perform it's special ability.
   On the bottom of the screen there are in-battle power ups; Attack, Defense, and Health. Each of them has a cost. The higher the level of battles, the more friendstones are require to use each of the power ups. Early levels don't require that much. Attack and Defense boosts only lasts a few seconds, so it's probably better to make sure your timing of the boost matches the situation. I believe the health power up only restores health, meaning you can't gain more health than your maximum hp. 

   Like a Digimon, after a battle your monster needs to rest whether fainted or not. Higher level monsters will require more resting time. When visiting that monster you will see how much longer until they can battle again. You may also see this time displayed next to the monster during battle setup/monster selection.

Like pokemon you can battle 1vs1 or 2vs2 to 3vs3. It starts off 1v1 and gradually increases to 3v3. This causes the game to become much harder to progress later on as you just wait for timers to run out. Each battle will make your team down 3 monsters so will have to wait until you have 3 available to fight again. When you highlight a point on the map, it will tell you a description of the battle(but not how many monsters required).

Glossery of Important phrases
Friendstones - Heartshaped stones used for in-battle power ups. Can be obtained by liking a neighbors ranch, sending a gift to a neighbor, petting 5 times in a neighbors ranch. 
Gold - Not super rare like other games. May be obtained by completing battles, Goals, non listed objectives, and attractions. Sometimes petting your own monsters will get you gold.
Attractions - Not the kind of attraction between two lifeforms. This kind of attraction gets you gold. Each generates a certain amount of Gold after a certain time. Once they have generated that gold, they stop generating until their current gold is collected. Some of these attraction move, and you can see them move in the background while up close to a pet. They give the app liveliness.
Neighbor - other monster keepers. Two of them are A.I.(NPC). You can real human players via Facebook. There is also an option to visit random players. However, this option became difficult to get to work after a few levels. 
Crystals- The more expensive currency of the game. Hard to get (sorry I'm not sure). The easiest way is to purchase them with real money. These are used to buy some exclusive pets that would decrease the amount of monsters you have to wait in order to battle again.
Habitat - a location which you can place your monsters on. If they like or are compatible with that habitat, they will have hearts coming out of them upon placement. They will also receive bonus exp from either battles or from pet activities like grooming and feeding and such.

I would really really Highly recommend this game if it didn't have a few annoying flaws.
   One problem frequently occurs before the app even starts.  The app takes 1-4 taps to open up. Upon the first tap the screen goes black like the app is activating. Then it goes to the homescreen like nothing has happened. Another click or two or three and the app will either open normally or just click and go stay on the homescreen.
   Later level battles requires lots more friendstones. This is understnadable, if it wasn't so difficult to visit random ranches. The game takes a while to connect you to a server, then it may or may not find you a random ranch for you to do your business(pet and like to get stones). This connection problem seems to have almost disappeared soon after I posted this article. I doubt that it had anything to do with my post but I am glad the change was made. Only one like is allowed each day or so, but petting 5 patient times in a neighbors ranch gets you 25 friendstones. Almost all the time, connecting to find a random neighbor ends with "failed to connect" or the app crashing and closing altogether(no longer in RAM). The only good thing to this is that after this happens, it only takes one tap to open up the app and load again.
   The cooling off period between fights is extremely long at stage 3 battling, about 11 hours.  And I'm only at the 2nd of 4 islands.
   Another big no-no is the amount of notifications you receive. This was also a problem with another gameloft game NFL PRO 2012. The problem is different in that each notification only beeps once, but you get many of them. This only happened once, but one night I received 30 notifications(Even with all the notification options turned off in the options menu). Some days are busier than others, but on busy days this can be quite bothersome. I kept thinking I got messages, texts, or communication from people I knew, but it was just the game. This has also been fixed after this review was posted.
   I Just found out that there is a special limited time update for Monster Life until the end of 10/31/12 (Halloween). Sorry that only some of you in the world have a few hours left. I Highly DO NOT recommend this update. With some digging in the comments section, many users have found a very big flaw with the update. Instead of getting 25 friendstones per 5 pettings in a random neighbors ranch, you only get 3. You do however get to buy things using friendstones now, but that's almost impossible to pull off. And the main part of the applications playability just went way down. It's also been stated by some to have closing or finding random neighbor issues.  I also found out that it's under "My Apps" on Google Play, but it is in the apps section of my phone. Clicked on install and it took me to download "additional files". However, it's waiting for response from the network to proceed. I don't want to have to start over! (Even though I'm not actually progressing in the game any more anyways even with playing). I do however have 6 monsters now so I can have two battles before waiting another 15hrs. Plus I like the friendly atmostphere of the default style anyways.

This is where they hatch. The Green arrow means it's ready to evolve. After hatching they are level 0 and cute.

     If these problems are just device specific(Sony Xperia Play 1GHz single core), then maybe you can enjoy the good without the bad from this app. After a few attractions, I also notice lag in the smartphone application. It gets worst the more you have going on in current ranch. Coins will take longer for their animation to complete and you'll have to wait longer until petting your pet will count towards getting coins again if applicable. You can pet will the coin lags because the petting animation will be done before the coins. You can get by this a little quicker by exiting the up close view right after you collect the coin. Then you go up close to the pet again and pet em. This will get you another coin without having to wait for the coin animation to finish before starting to pet.
     Hint: Lag seems to be reduced when 1) there is nothing running in the background up close to a pet. 2) The app is installed on your device and not on your SD Card.

Trivia:
-If you created a Free Gameloft account, the app stops at 68% of loading to welcome you back. Not sure if  this stops the loading, or just the loading animation. 
-Below your "Edit" button in the Menu, there is the Option button. You can also access the Options by going to Help then clicking on the surrounding icons in the background. 
-There are over 20 monsters to choose from, but they require levels and gold to purchase. So most players will have the same stuff as you.
-Most player ranches (random neighbors) that you visit will have the first few monster that you have.  Only dedicated players and players that have spent money will have different monsters, attractions, habitats than you.
-Without spending any money, you may still play the game and use the diamonds available to buy at least 2 diamonds only monsters. 



Tips/Hints: Be Careful while scrolling through your ranch. It's really easy to drag and misplace one of your monsters if you touch them while doing this. I do this everyday. Sometimes it may take a few seconds to find your pet because they are behind an object. 
    -There is a trophy for using power ups, use power ups on the first island at the first three battles because their cool down periods are short, and they cost a LOT less friendstones at this location.
    -If one of your goals is to do a certain recreational activity with your monster, and all you have are level 3 monsters then maybe it's time to purchase a new monster. Young monsters need a lot of attention and Stage 2 monsters take only an hour before their next petting activity is available. 
    -The first 3 fights on the world map (single battles on the green island) have really short waiting periods, so they can also be used for goals that require you to fight multiple times with a specific monster.
 - Be careful collection coins during battle. I accidentally clicked on revive while doing so. This used up precious diamonds when I didn't need to revive to win that battle. As long as you beat all the opposing monsters, losing monsters during that fight doesn't seem to affect the prize from winning.


If you are looking for a digital virtual pet monster in a device that can fit in your pocket then this is the app. Monster Life is brought to you by the incredible developers at Gameloft.Gameloft is a top developer and are behind big hit games such as Asphalt 6, Asphalt 7 etc, Six Guns,  Dungeon Hunter 3, Real Soccer 2012, NFL Pro 2013, and some app versions of Assassin's Creed. If you haven't heard of them, then you are really behind on app news. The smartphone app can be downloaded at Google Play (4.5/5 rating) for Androids and on iTunes for iOS. Remember it's FREE.



 I might uninstall the app to see if I can get the special download today. The beginning of the app was funner anyway. Rushing to finish this posted up on time. Might update later.

Enjoy, 

(Update 12/12/12 : Since approximately November 14th 2012, users with an ASUS Nexus have reported a problem with opening the app. I myself have the same issue since then. After loading to 100% it closes. Again, upon installation the app didn't show up under "My Apps" in the Google Play app. But I've been playing it fully functionally even completing story mode until this date) 

Answers for the Guess Who app

Did you really think that Id be so kind as to provide the 'Guess Who' answers without a fight? Truth be told, the mildly entertaining app is founded on a good idea: a series of progressively less defined drawings of famous people need to be guessed. The drawings on the easiest level are well defined, on the hardest barely legible.
But this is a hardcore guessing game with no clues whatsoever as to who they are,and no prizes for correct guesses either ! As a result it is very easy to hit a frustration wall and give up on the app.
So if you've been baited to this app review of Guess Who with the promise of answers then I'm sorry to disappoint. However if you know the answers please share them in the comments below.
The frustrating, but kinda fun app 'Guess Who' is available for IPad and iPhone.

Comfort and convenience with the i-Music Hat

i-Music Hat

MP3 Player: Check, Wooly Hat: Check, Gloves: Check . Yes, Winter is here and if you're going to go out there's a lot to remember to bring with you and the last thing that you're wanting to have to do is drag around yet more things that can be lost. So think back to that little Winter list up there at the top of this article, as a modern day lover of gadgets whether you're going running or commuting or whatever; you're going to want your personal tunes with you in some shape or form. Whether that's in the form of a dedicated MP3 player or a top of the range Smartphone personal music is where it's at. but wait! Something was missing from that list, of course, what good is a personal music player without headphones!

We're reviewing another idea with the thematic similarities of Winter + Smartphone (or equivalent) needs specialised accessories-just like our Tocuhscreen friendly gloves from a prior review. Yes, tech lovers, it's another of those funny secret santa gifts that will appeal to this Smartphone loving audience. This time we're heading up in the world , but not too high, just as high as your head really. With the great idea of combining built in speakers with a warm "beany" type hat comes the i-Music Hat.

They've gone for a very generic hat type which is a good thing, you'd be quite unlikely to pop out with a Stetson or a Top-Hat upon your head-even if it was iPod friendly. But by going for a stocking type beany hat the makers have not only attempted to capture some urban suave but have probably hit upon the most practical hat design.

Made of polyester and in a one size fits all format the i-Music Hat is a great way to enjoy your tunes on the move without the hindrance of easily lost headphones. The speakers produce a good range of sounds and most importantly,in keeping with the convenience idea, are simply powered from your music device. Luckily it is possible to wash the hat too-as I can quite happily see it as a must have for a jogger, thick enough to keep the worst of the chill off, but not thick enough to make anybody doing even the lightest of exercise uncomfortable.

More importantly for the audiophiles amongst us is the fact that the speakers deliver much more superior sound quality than a conventional hat/headphone setup. The nasty thing about Winter is that it isn't very technology friendly and so generally even something as basic as headphones when paired with cold protection don't work to their potential-irrsepective of if they cost hundreds of pounds or mere pennys. This combined hat/speaker idea negates those bad experiences.

We've been jogging and commuting and generally wandering around with the built in speaker hat for just over a week now and it is still performing admirably, despite a lot of sweat and rain exposure! At first the speaker lead doesn't seem very strong, but as we have had no problems so far that doesn't appear to be the case.

If you're wanting to keep comfortable this winter and avoid having yet another item to get tangled, lost or inconvenience yourself with then try the hat that avoids these headphone/speaker woes.
We particularly recommend the i-Music Hat for joggers, runners and others whose personal music is important to themselves.