App for Managing Expenses

Most of us need help managing our money. A penny saved is a penny earned. If you have an Android smartphone around, another opportunity just came along to help you keep track or your finances.The Expense Manage HandWallet is here to help you. Don't worry, it's FREE and can help you organize your dinero with it's plenty of options. The smartphone application is easy to use even with all those options. They are necessary to accurately record what you have done with your dollars and pennies. The different types of transactions and accounts show you what you did with how much. The user interface is smooth and friendly. You can even back up or restore information. The number of settings really demonstrate the the amount of thinking that was put into the app by it's developers at MediaVision Money and Finance.

The app has many built in categories for you to quickly make your selection. You aren't limited to using only the predetermined categories. You can add in your own categories as well. I can hardly list and name or test all of it's features that are listed on it's Google Play listing. These graphics surpass your average money managing apps. Your information can be password protected. Improve your accounting skills (or at least practice). Personalization is a really important aspect of this app. Quickly view and calculate future costs of bills. Tap on Analyst and you have different ways to display expenses and income such as bar graphs and pie charts. Voice recognition is even integrated into the app. 

On your homescreen the app appears with the title Handwallet. Nobody wants to carry two wallets with them, but this one is FREE and takes up a lot less space in your pocket (about 7 MB on your phones memory). Download it here from Google Play.  It's available for use with difference currencies and languages. This isn't another notebook you have to carry with you to jot down notes or read, it's already conveniently in your phone, something you already carry with you. From just a few minutes with the app, I get the feeling that an accounting professional was involved with the app's development. The only improvement I can suggest for now is to have a button pop up under the top toolbar when "Actions" is pressed besides having the user press on Settings button(menu button) to add another action since the screen isn't being used upon that selection. There are just so many things covered in it. Check it out and see for yourself. 

Pet Pal - Friendly App Reminder

   Have you ever missed an appointment for a pet? Need help looking up for pet services in your area? With Pet Pal - Pet Manager, you have a tool to help you take care of your beloved pets. With many useful tools such as Google Maps, it helps you find various pet stores or other  locations like clinics, clinics and parks. Here are some of the many features that the app possesses. Organizing will be so much easier.

 
Take photos and keep them organized in folders exclusive to your pets. 



Convenient note options let you add additional data specific to the pet's unique attributes or character traits. Write down the pets special needs or other information such as their veterinarian.



With shortcuts as these, you'll save time from having to type in keywords to search for types places you may be looking for. 


Pet Pal - Pet Manager is still a new app and would greatly appreciate feedback and suggestions. It is brought to you by the developers at Apps on Toast. The smartphone application can be downloaded here from Google Play. The app is FREE for 24 hours upon activation. If you find yourself wanting more, it costs only $2.58 to keep the full version. It supports many various languages including English, Spanish, French, and German.

What is Droidfooding?

Droidfooding."
Facebook is encouraging it's employees to use Android devices in their droidfooding campaign.
Droidfooding is their term for "dogfooding," when a company tests or uses the very products it's trying to push out into the consumer market.
In Facebook's case they are integrating well into the Android market with Facebook apps on the Android platform.
Droidfooding on show at Facebook
Posters are even up in Facebook office's encouraging the use of Android phones in one the image of Google's Android logo robot hovers nonchalantly behind a large plate of dog food. Printed behind the robot is the phrase, "Do you 'droidfood?," with Facebook imploring its employees to "switch today" at the poster's bottom.
In the second poster, Facebook prints a simple graph of device shipments for both iPhones and Android smartphones. As Facebook describes it on the poster, "here come the Androids."
It's a sign of IOS falling out of favour with the social network after the early days encouragement of their iPhone support. How many Android phones are now being used by Facebook employees due to the droidfooding campaign is still an unanswered question.

Project Godus inside Curiosity Cube?

What is Project Godus?

So perhaps the hype behind the Curiosity app is all starting tommake sense. Is it all just part of the publicty for 22Cans reimaging of Populous? Yes, you heard that right , given the right Kickstarter funding Populous will soon be on Ipad and Android. 

If you've played Curiosity recently you'll have seen www.projectgodus.com emblazoned across the cube. Follow the link and you'll find the godfather of godgames is raising funds on Kickstarter. Here's the details of Project Godus-go along and fund it to give a great gaming Xmas present to Peter Molyneux! 

Kickstarter Details for new 22cans Game

It’s an innovative reinvention of Populous, the original god game and delivers exciting global co-operation, competition, creation and destruction to a whole new generation..

The dream at 22cans is to make gaming meaningful. We want to engage people in fresh new ways with accessible, delightful games and experiences. We’re calling them experiments. Curiosity – what’s inside the cube was the first of these and we’re taking what we’ve learnt from it and applying it to future projects such as our next step - GODUS. 

Populous was created over 22 years ago, and we believe that to date, nothing has come close to emulating its powerfully godlike experience. It’s this experience we aim to reimagine. GODUS blends the power, growth and scope of Populous with the detailed construction and multiplayer excitement of Dungeon Keeper and the intuitive interface and technical innovation of Black & White. The original Populous hailed from the 8-bit era but GODUSwill use the most modern technology the world has to offer. 

And you can help us make it!

• An essential part of GODUS is single player. We all love to take the time to hone our godly powers before venturing into the exciting multiplayer wars with other gods.
• It’s a living world, unique and detailed. And it’s a world you influence, whether you’re good or evil.
• GODUS is instantly accessible, easy to learn but immensely deep.
• As you flourish and build your own cult, you’ll engage in pitched battles with other gods and their cults. It’s a multiplayer power-struggle the way it should be.

• GODUS draws on the cunning battle-psychology of Dungeon Keeper, the living, changing world of Black & White and the instinctive, satisfying gameplay of Populous.
• Plus you get to be a god. In fact, play well and you get to be the ultimate god!
• GODUS will be developed for the PC and Mobile devices, we hope to be able to add more platforms as our Kickstarter campaign progresses.

We are a proudly independent company founded in March 2012, and we’re passionate about creating the next generation of innovative digital entertainment. We believe that a great team with great ideas can lead to great success, and, driven by true innovation and creativity, we’re determined to make some truly unique products.

22cans has been set up with our own personal savings and the talented team we’ve assembled has already built and released the bizarrely popular Curiosity – what’s inside the cube. But we need funding to continue, and rather than partner with a publisher, we’re keen to explore the exciting new Kickstarter platform. It means we can stay independent and it gives you the opportunity to have a voice in the development of GODUS.

Our backgrounds include Bullfrog Productions, Lionhead Studios, Electronic Arts, Microsoft and many others. Most of us have been developing computer games for a long time, and we’ve worked on titles such as Populous,Syndicate, Theme Park, Theme Hospital, Magic Carpet, Dungeon Keeper,Black & White, Fable, The Movies, Risen, Moshi Monsters, Sniper Elite V2, and Curiosity – what’s inside the cube of course.

One member of our team is Tim Rance, who in 1989 as Technical Director for Electronic Arts worked on the two-player multiplayer feature for the originalPopulous as it was released for DOS (those of you unfamiliar, it's the version before Windows). We also have people from Rockstar London, Mind Candy and several other places we really can't mention. Paul McLaughlin has worked with Peter on every Bullfrog game since Populous.

We’re a talented team, highly experienced at playing and creating games and it’s fair to say we’re extremely passionate about them. Plus we love the idea of using Kickstarter to fund GODUS. Why? We’ll tell you…

With GODUS we want to make a game in a culture of openness, co-operation and honesty. Creating a game involves imagination and passion, and we’re keen to share the experience. So we want to make GODUS with you watching and, we hope, participating. Funding it via Kickstarter allows us to stay a small independent team with unlimited freedom in our creativity. It’ll just be you, us and our unbridled dedication (no publishers).

You see, although GODUS is a new idea, we’re keen to return to the spirit which started it all. In 1989, in a small, cramped office in Guildford, England, a hard-working and enthusiastic duo experimented, collaborated, took risks and came up with Populous, a game which would become a legend and which would launch the god game genre. 

We’re going to make GODUS in that same spirit. And your support will enable you to be involved at every stage as we share everything we do and learn with you. We’ll produce video diaries, blogs, live streams, developer chats and a great deal more. We aim to end up with a truly delightful game and as you play it, you’ll be able to say that you also played your part in its very creation.

We’ll fund an experienced team of 22 people to make GODUS. That’s not a big team – we’re doing this efficiently. But we’re committed to quality, so we’ll create outstanding gameplay, characters, artwork, animations, sound and music, and the very world itself. With your help we’ll turn our great idea into successful reality.

We need £450,000 to do this. Yes, games typically cost more than that to make, but we’re sticking to a small, highly effective team and we’ll be employing careful management to keep the project on track and get the most out of our funding.

We are extremely grateful to all the early backers.

GODUS will take seven to nine months to complete, but if we exceed the amount of funding we’re asking for, we’ll use the extra to enhance the game further and support additional platforms which will add a little more time to the development schedule. Should we find ourselves in that happy situation, as a thank you, we’ll collaborate with you to implement the ideas and features you love the most.

What do you get for pledging? The full details are just over there, on the right. As you’d expect, the greater your support, the more you’ll get in return. But everyone who pledges will be able not only to watch as the game takes shape and get cool stuff, they’ll also be able to influence its design. During GODUS’s development there will be many instances where specific decisions need to be taken and choices made. As a valued supporter we see you as part of the Project, so you’ll be able to suggest, comment and vote to determine many elements of the game. As you’ll discover, designing games is intriguing.

Depending where you are are in the world, you might start thinking about Thanksgiving and even Christmas soon. We’ve got you covered...any gamers you know, people who maybe even played the original Populous or Dungeon Keeper, you can now get them a very special gift.

Here's a visual indication of the exciting items you will receive in return for your generosity:

We would love to hear from you. We have a website, can also be found and liked on Facebook and we also send out little updates of 140 characters or less on Twitter.

Our Peter Molyneux can also be found on Twitter @pmolyneux.

Of course we’ll continuously update this page until we've finished and released GODUS, we will also listen to what you have to say and refine our Kickstarter page  accordingly.

Thank you so much for helping us make GODUS. If you are unable to back and pledge (but we really hope you can help us make GODUS a reality with however small an amount) then sharing this page with your friends and family would be wonderful too. 

With your help we will make GODUS a reality and reinvent the entire god game genre.

Shoot That Ball Review

There's nothing wrong with a bit of old school fun. Shoot that Ball offers a simplistic game of hoops, in a timed game of basketball. Think Paper Toss meets Magic Johnson and this bare bones IOS basketball game is the result.
Nice aesthetic touches like being able to upload your own mug, choose the background and ball are the few options on offer. If you want a side on basketball penalty shoot to while away a few minutes then go and check out "Shoot that Ball".

Thanksgiving Specials on the Appstore

Game Insight has a glut of games for the IPad and Iphone, amongst their renowned titles are "The Tribez" and "Paradise Island". Now that Thanksgiving is upon us the game studios are trying to outcompete each other to bring out updates and goodies for their IOS apps and games. If this is the way that the Festive Season is headed with free apps, updates galore and game bonuses we doubt there'll be any time for family! Game Insight is the first studio going at it big style with a cornucopia of game goodies coming our way. So sit back in your carhartt coats this Thansgiving and beyond and enjoy these updates to your favourite Game Insight apps.

Please note: All Thanksgiving content is available for a limited time only. Don’t miss out! These updates are either already live or will be available in the coming days in the iOS, Android, and social versions of Game Insight’s games. And keep an eye out for some additional hidden Thanksgiving surprises that might not be on the list...

From all of us, to all of you—Game Insight wishes everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday. Thank you for playing!

Paradise Island

Throw a lavish, tropical Thanksgiving party at your resort with excusive new in-game buildings or new resource items.

New Buildings (iOS version): Turkey Float, Turkey Restaurant, Festive Dinner, Thanksgiving Day Parade

New resources (Android version): Apple, Cranberry, Corn, Pie

Rock the Vegas

Hit the jackpot this Thanksgiving with all-new buildings and resource items to round out your casino empire.

New buildings: Turkey Float, Turkey Restaurant, Festive Dinner, Thanksgiving Day Parade

New resources: Apple, Cranberry, Corn, Pie

Mystery Manor

Thanksgiving comes to the haunted mansion of Mr. X with new quests, new rewards, and new characters.

Quests & Events: Seven new quests, including a hunt for a turkey whose eggs contain fragments of a precious amulet.

Event Reward: Amulet (increases experience gained for searching a room by 25% and increases the chance of finding an item by 30%; works for 120 minutes)

Additional iOS Features: Settler’s Chest event, new Thanksgiving-themed Snatchin character that exchanges feathers

My Clinic

Hang up the holiday decorations at the hospital and start wheeling trays of turkey to your patients. Thanksgiving is coming to My Clinic!

New Items: Apple Cart, Piece of pie, Maple-Leaf, Turkey, Pilgrim Hat

New Collection: WigWam

Big Business

Bring Thanksgiving cheer to your bustling metropolis with exclusive new holiday-themed buildings and resources.

New Buildings: "Rich Harvest" shop, Turkey statue, Thanksgiving Day Parade, Thanksgiving Day Fair, "Turkey" cafe"

Mirrors of Albion

Roasted Turkeys and Pumpkin Pies aren’t just for dinner anymore. In fact, they’ve started migrating from the Mirror World into Albion! Join Alice’s family for the parade and try not to bump into your Thanksgiving dinner as you walk down the street!

New Quest: Prepare for the Thanksgiving Day Parade by collecting decoration items and Pumpkin Pie

New Monsters: Roasted Turkey, Pumpkin Pie

New Collections: Pumpkin Pie, Festive Parade, Horn of Plenty

My Railway

Thanksgiving comes to the land of trains with new quests and all-new special decorations, for a limited time only!

New Quests: Produce special goods and transport to connected stations

New Resources: Pumpkin Pie, Turkey

Enchanted Realm

It’s a time for giving thanks in the fairytale kingdom of Enchanted Realm. Celebrate with all-new items and quests!

New Quests: Autumn Mood, Musical Disaster, Gorgeous Parade, Back to basis, Cooking, Charity Dinner, Football Game of the Century

New Collection Items: New Hats, Turkey, Pumpkin Pie, Corn

New Charging Items: Ink Bottle, Candle, Basket

New Quest Items: Maple-leaf, Cranberry

New Decorations: Horn of Plenty, Big Turkey Statue, Orchestra, Puss in Boots Giant Balloon

New Building: Stadium

Rule The Kingdom

What better way to celebrate Thanksgiving in your growing kingdom than with a good, old-fashioned brawl? Try arena battles in Rule the Kingdom this Thanksgiving!

New Event: Arena Tournaments

Airport City

Real air travel during the Thanksgiving holiday can be…challenging. Celebrate a virtual Thanksgiving in your airport with these new quests and items in Airport City!

New Items: Unique passenger, fuel, and mystery building goods

New Quests: Gather Thanksgiving Day collection

My Country

After experiencing tons of prosperity under your watch, the happy citizens of My Country seem like they’re ready to give thanks. Celebrate the holiday with all-new quests and items.

New Quests: Getting Ready For The Holiday, Collect Pilgrim Feather

New Items: Turkey, Thanksgiving Decorations

How does Movi Kanti Revo work?

Technology behind Movi Kanti Revo

If you haven't yet heard of it Movi Kanti Revo is a Chrome experiment from Google that is trying to change the way we interact with our smartphones. Initially Smartphones will reap the benefits of Movi with it's ability to use multiple gestures, the accelerometer, the front camera and the touch screen to control the phone. Showcased as an interactive non video embedded experiment with Cirque Du Soleil providing the material, many software designers are of course excited to find out how this new uber-Kinect type of software works.

What does Movi Kanti Revo mean?
The name comes from the Esperanto terms for moving, singing, and dreaming.

The technology behind Movi Kanti Revo

The technology is  client-side with no part of it running on a server. Site developers used HTML to get the elements on-stage, and then created complex, nuanced transitions and transforms via new CSS3 animation properties. The team used Javascript to do facial detection for motion through the experience and changing the “camera” orientation live according to a user’s gestures, and delivered high-quality video, much of it drawn by hand, in Google’s own WebM format for Chrome users on a desktop machine, but substituting H.264 for mobile users.

Is the technology just for mobile games?
 “And not just for casual games but for the big games too. Imagine playing Halo and having the webcam going automatically to chat with your friends.” says a Google spokesman.
On mobile, there’s more sensor availability: orientation, movement, and, in newer phones, a front-facing camera. That promises to give developers abilities in the future that can only be imagined on an Xbox 360 Kinect-like environment today.

What hardware is needed to run it?
 A good GPU seems essential, as everything on the site is hardware accelerated. But they had tested on Nexus 7 tablets and Chromebooks with a fair performance.
With improved hardware in the future the performance can only improve.

How does it change Smartphone interaction?
You can interact with the site by moving your body or speaking to your computer
But unlike Microsoft's Kinect softwareMovi.Kanti.Revo is fully built in HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript -- the same tools that power many modern Web sites and a growing number of mobile apps.

The world of the Movi Kanti Revo demo
 You're invited into a magical world by a tour guide who speaks in a made-up language, who invites you through a series of tableaus such as a forest, a desert, and a tree of life. You have a certain control over each of those environments. It's a message of joy and hope and play and the beauty of life, it takes about 10 minutes to explore.
Pete LePage, a developer advocate for Google's Chrome team, explained that the project came from Google's ongoing interest in creating Chrome Experiments to showcase what Chrome and the modern Web are capable of.  Google wanted to make sure that this one works across all browsers.

The technology needed to make this work across all browsers
For CSS transforms they coded for all the available browsers. Movi.Kanti.Revo code does have browser-specific flags for CSS transforms, but that was just to ensure that browsers that haven't yet built full support for the technology can support it as it comes online.
Movi.Kanti.Revo will work on most tablets and some smartphones too because it supports deviceOrientation and deviceMotion, so your device's accelerometer will respond to motion instead of your body.
Why Cirque collaborated with Google
Cirque's interest in making a Web-based version of their shows dovetailed with Google's interest in showing off modern Web standards, with Chrome as the platform. "Cirque wanted to start building a show that lived beyond their normal performances, and Google wanted to use stuff that's just coming online, such as HTML5 and CSS3."

Chrome experiments spokesman LePage speaks out

Specifically, he said, "we talked about the getUserMedia API to get access to the users' Webcam and microphone."

CSS3 3D Transforms leverage your device's graphics card to render complicated graphics smoothly.
The new HTML5 API getUserMedia, LePage explained, becomes far more useful with WebRTC, a new open-source JavaScript API that allows for real-time communications (RTC) through the Web browser when you give it permission to do so. It allows for the browser to control your computer's Webcam and microphone, and it contains a "communication protocol" that allows media to be sent from and received by your computer.
WebRTC has a lot of modern media tools built-in, like support for high-quality audio and video, lost strain compensation, and jitter correction. LePage said that it's already in the Firefox nightly builds, and he said that Opera has plans to support it, too.
However, like much of the modern Web, the standard is still developing. "Just landed in Chrome Canary yesterday was response to voice control," he noted.
Beyond the technical challenges of building a robust, interactive site with technology that is still under development, what Particle and Google created, as well as filming some of the acts with the camera moving, is that it replaces the old 3D. It works, and it feels alive."

Movi Kanti Revo-is this Guitar Heroes Future?

When Kinect first emerged it was hailed as a revolution in gaming, but over time it still remains a poor sideshow to conventional gaming. Google is attempting to create another game kinaesthesology revolution. Could this be the way to play Guitar Hero in the future, or even the mobile phone led way to learn how to play a real guitar and other haptic exercises? They promise that you will be able to Control a browser with your eyes and wave your hands in the air to play a smartphone based web brower game.

Google's new project if it goes ahead will have big repercussions for any budding musicians and indeed for any other gamers and gadget users in the future. Can you imagine playing a guitar by strumming invisible chords, or upping the bass by waving your hand in front of your phone's screen. You certainly won't be limited by the touchscreen if your're able to control your device via voice, gestures and more.

Indeed looking very far ahead and beyond the remit of learning a new instrument or becoming a proficient guitar hero player you could even imagine that creative geniuses could even take this new technology and make whole new musical instruments out of it.

This new technology is of course being experimented on by Google and strangely enough Cirque du Soleil are also lending a hand (remember their involvement in marketing the kinect?)
Touted as a brand new way to control smartphones the Google technology will eventually make it's way into all forms of internet connected devices.
The project is Movi Kanti Revo, which just won an award from TheFWA.com, and it’s an experiment in how to build and control native web pages and apps in news ways — for example, by accessing your device’s camera and allowing you to point your way through the interactive experience by tilting your head. In a way the experiment mimics the Myst-alikes of the past as it seeks to create full-motion photorealistic environments that play out in front of you like an interactive movie and more importantly no video code is included.
Movi Kanti Revo is part of Chrome Experiments which has been noted for bringing us full blown Google Navigation in the past. All the technology runs on your device itself and is being heavily plugged for Smartphones because of all the various ways that these devices have to interact with a user. Definitely a new way to interact with the gold tone guitars of the future!
That's why in our humble opinion this Chrome experiment could be used to change the way we use guitars and other musical instruments, and of course all the other benefits coming from it.

Clash of Clans Seasonal Update

Christmas is upon us and Supercell has given us an early present in the form of a Clash of Clans Christmas update. It doesn't bring us as major changes as previous Clans updates but with the self-styled best snow effects and a festive feel to troops and village inhabitants a lot of graphical makeovers have been made to the game.

Using the new Boost in Clash of Clans
One of the biggest changes in the Winter update,is the new boost in the training house, and a few other buildings, this barracks boost costs a few gems and enables you to speed up troop training by  to four times.

Another feature that actually came out before this update is that due to a poll on the Facebook fan page troops in camps are now no longer destroyed if the camp is. A great benefit if you've saved upfor ten  expensive PEKKAS that you would've lost to enemy action before.

Also watch out for the new rare Christmas Tree in Clash of Clans,we've yet to find out what the reward is for removing the tree but we're sure it must be something special.
Fears that the new snow effect creates lag seem unfounded but if it proves to be a problem then we're sure that yet another seasonal change might change it. With anther little bit if controversy in this latest version is the new Santa Spell which seems to be overpowered.

(To answer a previous question about destroying the Clan Castle: Troops inside the CC won't be killed but won't emerge from the castle)

New Matchmaking: this is probably one of the bigges changes yet and reports are varied as to whether it has killed off low level farming or if the changed atchmaking to match trophies and town hall levels is a good thing in the way of improved speed and balancing.

Airplane Mode saves battery life

Admittedly it is obvious that always having Airplane Mode turned on will save Smartphone battery life. But we're going to teach you another trick in this article that will use aeroplane mode in a very clever way to get the most juice from your Smartphone battery.

What is the link between Airplane Mode and Signal strength?

Firstly you have to understand how a mobile phone decides which tower to choose to use for signal. It's not necessarily the closest tower but the one with the strongest signal. When you move from one area to another, generally your phone will automatically switch to another tower as the signal/connection to the current tower degrades. While on the move this presents no problems as you'll soon be moving to another location. 

However when you reach home or work your smartphone won't automatically connect to a stronger signal tower, it will remain with the last mobile tower connected to until such a teas the signal degrades and it has to switch to keep mobile reception. 

It's at this stage that you can use Airplane Mode on/off, when the radio turns back on it will search for the strongest signal and will now connect to the Tower with superior signal and your battery wont be consumed by fighting for reception.

Why does a Stronger signal improve battery life?

 The better your signal, the less power is consumed for ALL radio operations (Including Cell Standby, Data, and Voice)! When the signal is weak, the radio requires more power to transmit to the receiver (the tower), which translates to higher battery use. Remember to just use Airlane mode to boost that signal until such a time as you need to go here for eneloop batteries to replace your current one.

Golden Shorts Locations-Mikey Shorts

With all the hidden shorts and new mystery disguises making Mikey Shorts a hot item on the App Store we're going to keep on updating this article to tell you where to find the hidden Golden shorts in Mikey Shorts , particularly those difficult ones secreted away in dark nooks and crannys. Prepare to negotiate watery worlds, fiery infernos , mysterious disappearing platforms. my particular pet hate the bouncy platforms and many,many hidden corridors, all in a quest to find the most elusive item of clothing since The Emperor's New Clothes! Are you ready for the complete Mikey Shorts Guide to the Golden Shorts? So stand by for spoiler alert :

Mikey Shorts Golden Shorts locations
Level1-1: 57% through the level
Level 1-2: 62%
Level 1-3- 20% through ( look down!)
Level1-4: 79%
Mikey Shorts Hidden Shorts for level 2

Level 2-1: 17% up high!
Level 2-2: 47%, use the moving platforms to get to the top
Level 2-3: 31%-slide across the hidden ledge
Level 2-4: These shorts are at 85% and need to be traversed to by going up as high as you can and then jumping across the platforms back the way you came.

World 3-1: In this icy world you'll find them at 77% and will have to slide down a hidden corridor or two.
World 3-2: Get as high as you can at 27 % to obtain them
World 3-3: Jump up to get to the hidden corridor at 21%, what initially looks like a dead-end cliff face...isn't
World 3-4: Up and then back the way you came sees the shorts at 7% after following the hidden passage

Level 4-1: Don't let this ominous looking level bother you, just follow another of those hidden areas to find the golden shorts at 44%
Level 4-2: A level filled with tricky jumps, jump straight into the cliff fave at about 70% to find the Midas touch pants
Level 4-3: At 43% jump on the moving platform to get up and find the shorts hidden away to your left
Level4-4: 52% percent via the hidden passage, look for slight discolouration from the background to distinguish them, gets you one shot at the shorts if you don't mess up the jump via the disintegrating platform

Level 5-1: Gravity still seems to apply in this watery world,find your prize near the bottom at 45%
Level 5-2: 42% near the top of the world via the disintegrating platform
Level 5-3: Up we go to get them at 80%
Level 5-4: Nice and quick to find these at 8%


Golden Shorts level:6-1-> at 58%
6-2: 40%
6-3 at 71%
Location level:6-4-> at almost 100% head down and to the right



Oh and while we're at we'll throw in the list of achievements for your gaming pleasure!
List of Mikey Shorts Achievements

ACHIEVEMENTS
Bronze Touch - 5 pts
Touched 100 Statues
Silver Touch - 10 pts
Touched 500 Statues
Golden Touch - 20 pts
Touched 1000 Statues
Coin Finder - 5 pts
Collected 500 Total Coins
Coin Collector - 10 pts
Collected 2500 Total Coins
Coin Hunter - 20 pts
Collected 10000 Total Coins
Adventurer - 25 pts
Completed Sory Mode
Head Honcho - 5 pts
Bought a Head Disguise
The Eyes Have It - 5 pts
Bought an Eyes Disguise
Face On - 5 pts
Bought a Face Disguise
Intern of Disguise - 5 pts
Bought 10 Disguises
Manager of Disguise - 10 pts
Bought 25 Disguises
Captain of Disguise - 20 pts
Bought 50 Disguises
Master of Disguise - 30 pts
Bought 100 Disguises
Quick Change Artist - 5 pts
Randomized 50 times
Clock Beater - 10 pts
Scored 3 Stars on a Story Level
Speedy Shorts - 20 pts
Scored 3 Stars on a Challenge Level
Star Child - 10 pts
Earned 10 Total Stars
Star Scrounger - 20 pts
Earned 24 Total Stars
Star Hoarder - 30 pts
Earned 48 Total Stars
Star Gatherer - 40 pts
Earned 72 Total Stars
Star Earner - 50 pts
Earned 144 Total Stars
Star Wizard - 60 pts
Earned 216 Total Stars
Gate Breaker - 5 pts
Broke 50 Gates
Gate Smasher - 10 pts
Broke 100 Gates
Gater Crusher - 20 pts
Broke 500 Gates
Local Hero - 10 pts
Beat the top Local Score on a Story Level
Local Legend - 25 pts
Beat the top Local Score in Challenge Mode
Honorable Mention - 5 pts
Viewed the Credits
Company Friend - 5 pts
Tapped the Twitter or Facebook Button
Challenge Accepted - 10 pts
Completed 12 Challenge Levels
Challenge Surpassed - 20 pts
Completed 24 Challenge Levels
Challenge Dominated - 30 pts
Completed 36 Challenge Levels
Challenge Destroyed - 40 pts
Completed 48 Challenge Levels
Golden Secret - 50 pts
Collected all 24 Golden Shorts
No Coin Left Behind - 25 pts
Collected all the coins in each Story Level

Little Bird flaps onto iOS

Little Bird App

Where's My Water, Angry Birds, Bike Baron, Coco Loco... the list of fun physics games on smartphones has never been so populated, so is there room for another contender? Does Little Bird from Indie creator Roentgen LLC have the panache and playability to join this instant fun list of games that require just a little bit of thought (and finesse-never forget the role of finesse in physics games!)?




Well looking at the figures it seems that Little Bird by right away rolling into the list of top 50 games on the Appstore is already generating quite a following. Perhaps even the words "cult following" might already be started to be whispered in certain circles. It's quite certain that it's creator knows videogames having been an ardent arcade game follower for many years. Of course as many an app creator has found this is not nearly enough to ensure success in the mystique filled world of the appstore. However look a bit more deeply into the developer's resume and you'll see that he is also responsible for the viral video "Whack a Kitty". Not having seen the Youtube sensation  we can't comment, but if the same skills that can make a video go viral are applied to an app it could certainly be a harbinger of good things to come.

3 great ideas in 1 screenshot. Awesome!

So skilled developer who knows what's popular, does that make for a good app?

In this case, yes! Initially the game seemed quite lacklustre, the quite chagrined looking bird morosely rolling across the first level under accelerometer control picking up a few coins on the way to an exit. An exit which naturally is best reached swiftly to get the level achievement. At this stage play on! We can't emphasise that enough, it might be a slow start but rest assured the Little Bird app has a lot of tricks up it's sleeve. 

Moving on to level 2 and those tricks start to make the game shine and stand out from the normal type of physics apps. At this stage it's probably appropriate to mention the art style which is very reminiscent of PSP classic Loco Roco, cutesy, sweet and vivid pastel colours lending a great depth of fun a la Rainbow Islands to the app. On to level 2 then...

Notice the screenshot below , that basket moves. So, what exactly does that mean? It means ideas and thrills in abundance! It means that rather than rolling around the levels by tilting the iPad or iPhone under an, albeit well rendered, artificial gravity there is more... a lot more. The game is filled with little inventions and contraptions like the basket that zooms across the screen when the bird enters it, the moving platforms, the lurking creatures in dark crevices, the cannons, the...

Invention is the spice of life

Little Bird's endless inventions

It's all the fun things that Little Bird can do and which can be done to him(?) and by him all in the name of Newtonian -lite physics that apps are so well at doing these days that make this a fun app to play. We hope that later editions will up the level count from 20 to a lot more and that more achievements will be winging our way. In the meantime it embodies all that is good in the world of apps and particularly physics driven fun apps. 

The price of admission is free and the wonderful inventions that await in Little Bird fully justifies the time that has been lavished on creating it and that will hopefully be lavished by gamers playing it.

Show your love for indie physics games at: the Little Bird Facebook Fan Page

Unique Use for Smartphones:Quit Smoking

Ever since this smartphone craze has been started, an unimaginable amount of apps have been created for just countless purposes. One of those purposes is to Quit Smoking (also the name of the app this article will be discussing). By now it's quite clear that smoking is an unhealthy habit. It's difficult to kick a habit, especially if the side effects aren't too apparent. There are many reasons for quitting whether it be to save money, increase physical abilities, prolong life, or just to stop the lectures and interventions. Whatever your reason may be, I encourage you to watch out for yourself and those around you. A tool that may help you out is Quit Smoking, a FREE Android app that can be found on Google Play.

 Quit Smoking is simple to set up so that it can track the amount of money you've saved (by not purchasing) and how much time you have saved from losing. There are other neat features to keep you motivated. One of them gives you reasons(facts) why you should stop smoking. Another goes through chemicals found in cigarettes and remind you what other products those chemicals are also found in(usually things you wouldn't want to eat). Under the settings you can choose the type of currency so that you can relate to the information better. It also keeps track of how long it has been since you quit (after you input the date of course). The Android application also has a display of how long until certain negative impacts from smoking are expected to leave your body. This is assuming it isn't too late and you haven't developed some sort of cancer. 

 Sorry I don't mean to be rude, negative, or mean. I'm trying to be objective on this subject. Other motivations include secondhand smoke or causing family members and friends worry. If you are serious about quitting, I am glad for you. 


There is also a paid version for $0.99 if you choose to support the developers in improving the app. It hasn't been long since the app's launch and the developers at Grooving Apps would appreciate any advice and feedback. Thanks for reading.



Good Luck.

 

What's in the Cube?

Peter Molyneux you are a genius;  but a frustrating one! Curiosity from his 22Cans studio is another grand social experiment, and as reward driven ideas go very tantalising-but oh so bugged.

What's in the Curiosity Cube?
22Cans will have an exclusive videolink to the contents and promises that only one person in the world will receive that link. Is a Swiss Bank Account number at Curiosity's Cube Centre? Is money in the middle of Curiosity Cube? Is it an exclusive video of Peter Molyneux in the nude?

Only your Curiosity will drive you on to find out.But there are the bugs... Coins you earn disappear; your clicks don't get counted and so popular is the app that there have been multiple server crashes.

Still that doesn't stop us tapping to find out what's in the cube...read the terms and conditions carefully to find out how you can beat 22Cans Cube:
Curiosity: What’s in the Cube? Official Competition Rules:
The competition is organised and sponsored entirely by 22cans.
The competition begins when the App is first made available for download.
The competition is open to anyone who downloads the App “Curiosity What’s in the Cube” and starts tapping
It is not necessary to log in to Facebook to take part in the competition. Logging into Facebook will allow you to track your progress and rank against friends, see where your friends are tapping, accrue bonuses through your Facebook friends joining and provides an alternate mechanism to contact you if you are the one who discovers what’s hidden in the cube.
There is only one Cube in the world and the state of the Cube is stored on our servers. Subject to latency, the Cube appears the same to all those in the world taking part.
The Cube is suspended in a white room and is composed of billions of smaller cubelets. Players can come in close to the surface of the cube and destroy the tiny cubelets by tapping on them. It is necessary for the world to entirely remove one layer of cubelets before the next layer becomes available for destruction. It is possible to accrue coins as a result of tapping and use these to buy chisels and other devices to remove cubelets more quickly. This means that there are skill mechanics in the App which you will need to master.
Inside the Cube and under an undisclosed number of layers, there is an amazing discovery waiting to be found. The surface image on the Cube for the last layer will make it obvious to all that it is the final layer.
The person who removes the last cubelet on the final layer is the winner and will automatically be sent a video link on their device explaining what is at the centre of the cube. The decision of which user on which device removed the last cube will be made automatically by the 22cans Cube servers. Our decision is final and cannot be appealed.
The winner is free to do what they wish with the video link information – they can disseminate the link via social media or keep the content to themselves. However, the video link information should not be traded for any personal monetary gain.
It is only permissible to take part in the competition by using the Curiosity App and the mechanics contained inside the app for breaking down the cube. It is permissible for a player to have the app on multiple devices. It is not permissible to use any other means of breaking down the Cube such as automated bots and 22cans reserves the right to ban any players otherwise attempting to break into the cube.

How many cubelets left?
I've found out about Obama's victory and Shigeru Miyamoto's birthday on this app-the scrolling messages passing on this wordly info. As of today 400 thousand have tapped away at this layer-hint on a Jellybean phone multiple finger taps are supported -but no massive hints show how many taps are left.
Let's hope all this tapping and bug contention will make the Curiosity's app prize worth getting!

Free PC Keyboard and Mouse (App Review) Precise Controls

Ever get tired of using your old controls or wished you had a controller with more features, or just didn't feel like controlling your computer from right in front of it? Lazy you. Well, I won't get anything from judging you so I'll let you know of an app that can help you with your little dilemma. Introducing the Free PC Keyboard and Mouse app. With a quick set up you can be moving your computer mouse and typing into your desktop from your Android device. There's a left click and middle mouse button as well. Don't worry, the application is smooth and accurate. Oh a good reason the app is great is because it can save you money from having to by a specific device for doing what this app does. The Android OS app has a large mouse track pad area for easier usage. It can be found on here on Google Play.

Getting the app to work is so easy it's scary. Reminds me of a scene I've seen (or imagined) where an operator controls your computer through the internet. The mouse moves on it's own. Kinda scary as if I'm getting hacked. Of course it's only me hacking myself, but if I can do this, what can pro's or computer guru's do? 

Playing with it makes it feels really cool line in the movies where characters control their home entertainment system with a tablet. For example, like Dwayne The Rock Johnson does in The Game Plan. It also gave me that new game system feel. One big advantage this had over game consoles or traditional t.v. remotes was that it had an onscreen keyboard to type on. This is a lot quicker versus using the number pad to type. Number pads on remotes are even harder to use than on older cell phones. This would be a great addition to game consoles. Then i realized the wii- U just came out. However, I'm not sure how detailed the controller screen is. The screen size may be good for tablet type of usage, but for gaming the wii-u's contoller screen might take me a while to get used to and accept. I only have two small suggestion. One is to allow taps to act as a click (the way mousepads do). The second is to let me see what I'm typing on my phone instead of the screen(as it's far away and harder to see). However I can guess that this is trickier because the feedback from the computer might not be compatible with the app. This second one could also be device specific. Maybe the app can keep the letters or message on the device and not send the letters to the computer until you press ready or enter. That way it can show you what's been inputted so far.

There is also a paid version for $1.99 called Media PC Keyboard / Mouse  made by the same developers, Touchsquid Technologies.  

This version enables a Windows Media Center shortcut button. From there it will take you to all sorts of control features(full screen, mute, volume control, menu, guide, toggle subtitles, caption, directional buttons, play, stop, fast forward, skip, change channel up and down, and more). That's a small price compared to extra hardware. The developers are based in North Vancouver, BC Canada. These apps are actually more ideal to use from on your tablet to operate media players or home entertainment systems/Home Theater PC (HTPC) where you may be more comfortable moving around more freely. Uses include Netflix(instead of having to type using the numbers on a media player remote or navigate through letters with a Sony Playstation 3 controller). Touchsquid also has other remote apps you may find useful. Again you can DOWNLOAD it from Google Play.


Thanks for reading.