Michael Anderson | Gear Diary

Android Market Gets New Look and New Features!

I noticed changes to the look & feel of the Android Market over the holiday break when grabbing some apps for my Droid, but just had the chance to search the Android blog and found more details. Here is some info from the blog: This new Market client introduces important features that improve merchandising of applications, streamline the browse-to-purchase experience, and make it easier for developers to distribute their applications. With a focus on improving discoverability and merchandising, we’ve introduced a new carousel on the home and category screens. Users can quickly flip through the carousel to view promoted applications…

Game Diary, Reviews

iPad Game Review: Mystery of the Crystal Portal 2: Beyond the Horizon

I made no pretense about how much I enjoyed the original Mystery of the Crystal Portal, both the PSP Mini and the HD version for iPad. It was a well designed hidden object game with a story that offered an ending that pretty much called for a sequel – so now we’re back following Nicole on her quest to find her father in Mystery of the Crystal Portal 2: Beyond the Horizon (which I’ll call ‘Crystal Portal 2’ henceforth)! The Hype: In the end of the first game in the series, Nicole managed to activate the Crystal Portal in her…

Game Diary, Reviews

DS App Review: Korg DS-10 Plus

For a while I thought I would never see my Nintendo DSi again … I mean, my younger son already permanently took over my original copy of Korg DS-10, and when we were playing around with the new Korg DS-10 Plus on my DSi and he realized that I could add a second bank … well, he took the whole deal! Fortunately I managed to get it back and now he just borrows the DSi when he wants to use the Korg DS-10 Plus. The Hype: KORG DS-10 Plus is an enhanced version of the revolutionary KORG DS-10 synthesizer software…

Editorials

Still Using E-Mail? U R OLD!

Communication is an evolving thing. When I was a kid everyone had rotary phones, no one had an answering machine, no one had a home computer, and people quite often communicated via hand-written letters sent over the postal service. If I was taking public transit to see a movie with friends or biking to the tennis courts at the high school, I would be expected to be home by a certain time – and if I actually had an issue I would need to find a pay phone and call. Five or ten years ago we did most stuff by…

Game Diary, Reviews

DSiWare Game Review: Supermarket Mania

I recently reviewed the PC release of Supermarket Mania 2, and found it a ‘casual thrill ride’. I noted the basic plot from the original game – but I had never played it! It has been available for a while for the PC & Mac, came to the iPhone in early 2009, was released for the iPad and as a PSP Mini earlier this year, and has now arrived on the Nintendo DSi as part of the DSiWare store! Let’s take a look! The Hype: In Supermarket Mania, you’ll have to help Nikki operate a small grocery store; satisfying the…

News & Features

Remember: Starting Tomorrow, No iTunes App Store Additions or Updates for a Week

I have mentioned that the flurry of activity this past week on the iTunes is related to the ‘freeze’ that will be in place from the 23rd through the 28th. Well, iTunes Connect sent out a reminder message, so I figured I’d do the same! Basically it comes down to this: the state of the App Store today will remain identical until the 29th, when whatever new additions or price changes or updates have been pending will go into effect. One interesting side-effect is that if a publisher mistakenly scheduled a price change for during this time, it will make…

Editorials, Music Diary

Apple Has a Gift Tree … I Have an iPod Tree!

In the ‘last minute gift’ email from Apple yesterday they included the image at the top, showing representations of various Apple products on the base of a Mac Pro, with different colored iPod Shuffles as ornaments. It is a cool image that immediately struck me. On reason it struck me was that while I was gathering up gear to stuff in the SeV Expedition for my review video, I took all of our iPods and arranged them in a sort of ‘family tree’ and took a few pictures. I had thought it might make a good basis for a post…

Game Diary, Reviews

PSP Game Review: Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep

The Kingdom Hearts franchise occupies a unique place in the gaming world: born out of the combined universes of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy multiverse and the multiple characters of Disney, Square Enix has forged a beloved new franchise that brings both together in a way the emphasizes the strength of each without compromise. The original games for the Playstation 2 remain favorites for games of any age, and the series has been augmented by solid releases on the GameBoy Advance and the Nintendo DS. Now we get an original release for the Sony PSP. Let’s diver right in and see…

Game Diary, Reviews

iPad App Review: Elves Inc: Christmas Mission HD

Whenever I think of Christmas apps I think back to what was one of the absolute worst games ever – Elf Bowling! But when G5 Entertainment offered me their new holiday themed game I was fairly certain it wouldn’t be a Christmas nightmare, so I gave it a shot. The Hype: Plunge yourself into the shining world of a winter fairy tale! Control and master the logistics of Christmas! Help magic elves deliver and load gifts to Santa’s sledge before Christmas comes. Make sure they don’t run into each other or they will drop the gifts and children won’t get…

Reviews

Gear Review: SCOTTeVEST / SeV Expedition 37 Pocket Jacket

To my mind there are four qualities I care about in a jacket: appearance, build quality, useful temperature range and functionality. When you talk about a SCOTTeVEST jacket ‘functionality’ suddenly transforms into ‘massive amounts of usable space’. The Hype: Imagine that you were about to embark on a long journey to a far-off land, and you could carry nothing but what you could fit in your pockets. For this grand expedition, you would need the appropriately named SeV Expedition. 37 pockets – yes, blink a few times and re-read that – 37 pockets in one jacket, the most ever on…

News & Features

eBossWatch Releases ‘Worst Bosses of 2010’

At some point or other, most folks work for someone that makes them think ‘how did THEY ever get put in charge of other people’? Or we think ‘I’m glad that person isn’t MY boss’, or otherwise notice someone who should never have been put into a position of authority. But compared to the folks on the Worst Bosses of 2010 most of those folks would seem a great alternative! eBossWatch is a site that: eBossWatch was launched in June 2007 to help people avoid hostile work environments and workplace bullying. Because it is extremely difficult during the job interview…

Editorials

I Always Feel Like … My Apps Are Watching Me!

A few weeks back I ordered two things from different online vendors, one for my brother and the other for my parents. I used an email address I rarely use, an account on which I only get a few spam messages a week. Naturally within hours I had received a months’ worth of junk email! One vendor was sending me messages directly advertising their own stuff … but aside from them I was getting tons of other sales messages. Some of those messages were related to the purchase I made from the other vendor and others were classic ‘wide-casting’ spam…

News & Features

Google Ngrams Lets You Search Historical Word Usage

My wife is the Vice President of our middle school PTO, and therefore last Friday night (while Travis was out winning a state championship) I was chaperoning the middle school dance. Aside from all of the expected drama and tears, I noticed that the hip word for everything with the 8th grade boys was ‘ghetto’. Of course, for me that doesn’t have positive connotations, but for them … it means super-cool. I wondered when it came into use and how it had gone from the meanings I associated with the poor areas of World War II Warsaw through the inner…

News & Features

Random Cool Gear: Get Ready for the Next Generation of Commodore 64!

Remember the good ol’ Commodore 64? Between 1982 and 1994 more than 30 million of them were sold. And while they offered excellent programming capabilities and the ability to hook to a TV and run productivity applications, where the C64 found its biggest niche was in gaming. It offered great capabilities for a very reasonable price. And now it is BACK! What? Well, not the same one, but the concept of ‘the keyboard is the computer’ has returned, with Commodore teasing the release of an all new C64. Here are the very modern specs: Technology MODEL: Commodore 64x PROCESSOR: Intel®…

News & Features

Random Cool Stuff: A Guide to the 12 Stages of the Total Lunar Eclipse … in YOUR Time Zone!

Doug told us about the cool App for tracking the total Lunar Eclipse coming tonight, and now Space.com adds to the coolness of the event with a fact-packed page … and a timetable linked to your specific time zone. With the handy info they provide you can check out the eclipse in your area and know exactly what is happening when. Here is the time zone chart: And in case you were wondering what all of the ‘Stages’ are listed along the left column of the table, Space.com has a great informational listing! Here is some of it: 1) Moon…

Game Diary, Reviews

iPad Game Review: Destination Treasure Island

Treasure Island is a beloved classic that has inspired many renditions on stage and screen, as well as many sequels and other add-on tales by a variety of artists in a variety of media. The reason it is such a great work to extend and revisit is that the characters are believable, likeable and work very well within their environment. Long John Silver and Jim Hawkins are wonderful characters and the tales of bravery, honor, friendship and of course piracy fuel the long-standing love for the pair. Destination: Treasure Island was originally released for the PC back in 2007 and…

Game Diary, Reviews

Gear Games Retrospective: Dungeons & Dragons Tactics (PSP, RPG, 2007)

While I always seem to have way too many games to play for review, I always allow myself time for replaying favorites or classics even if it means delaying completing a game review. Generally the choices make sense – my annual trek through the Star Wars ‘Kyle Katarn’ games, for example, or another play through on Gothic 2 Gold. But just after Thanksgiving I found myself with my PSP-3000 in hand, not playing any of the games on my PSP Go awaiting my attention, but instead replaying the 2007 RPG Dungeons & Dragons Tactics (D&D Tactics). Am I nuts? The…

News & Features

Santa Tracker? Forget That … Now it is Time for a ‘Leak-Tracker’!

Image courtesy of Kabobfest.com By now most people know more about WikiLeaks than they ever cared to … have heard various opinions about how founder Julian Assange is either the saviour of journalism, a cyber-terrorist, or a scumbag … and the WikiLeaks site is either a great hero of international transparency or an illegal hacker group threatening lives for fun. But one thing is sure – whenever someone or something gets as much coverage as Assange and Wikileaks, there are sure to be others to follow! And here they come! Last night I got an email from something called ‘TradeLeaks’…

News & Features

Random Cool Video: ‘We’re Not In Kansas Anymore’

Image courtesy of AnalogSherpa How many times have you heard someone utter a movie cliché? ‘I have a bad feeling about this’, ‘I’ll be back’, ‘Say Hello to My Little Friend!’, ‘You Can’t Handle the Truth!’, and on and on. But perhaps the king of them all is the infamous line from The Wizard of Oz – we’re not in Kansas anymore! So here is a great video that shows 58 (!) scenes of someone uttering that line in a movie or TV show. Enjoy! As for the list of every movie and TV show referenced? Find it here: The…

Game Diary, Reviews

PC Game Review: Supermarket Mania 2

How hard can it be running a supermarket? In the original Supermarket Mania Nikki found out that is was much harder than she thought – especially with the evil Torg and his robot minions trying to put the store she works at out of business. Yet through perseverance she succeeds and prevails! Now Nikki is back … but so is Torg! Can you help Nikki Succeed in a new location with new challenges? The Hype: Nikki and her friends are back in Supermarket Mania 2! Help her uncle Ross manage and run his chain of grocery stores on the other…

Game Diary, Reviews

PC Game Review: Order of War

Quick – what pops into your head when you hear ‘Order of War’? Probably that it is a war game, and perhaps that it is a World War II game based on similarity to other game names. But beyond that? With Medal of Honor you got the image of individual heroics that was fitting to the scope of the game. Call of Duty implied a broader action of which you were just a part. Company of Heroes implied an even larger scope with loads of valuable individuals contributing. Order of War for me feels thin and generic. So perhaps that…

Articles by Michael Anderson