While some folks express concerns about royalty payouts and business models, the reality is that people love Spotify because it allows them to listen to the music they want to when, where and how they want. And today they are announcing ways that even more people can enjoy the service, and an expansion of the free service for tablet users.
Hale Devices, Joe Born’s newest venture, successfully kick-started the Hale Dreamer via Kickstarter. The Hale Dreamer is an extension of the work that Joe and his team did on the Digital Innovations Speaker Dock. Thanks to the work on that dock, Joe and his team have put together the best alarm dock available for Andrioid devices.
Spacetime Games is on a roll, releasing multiplayer games for iOS and Android across genres that are free to try and a blast to play. The latest of these games is Battle Command. It uses a standard build, battle, enhance format, followed by upgrades and so on. And while it is familiar – it is a blast to play!
Gear Diary has written about PhatWare apps on a number of occasions, including here, here, and most recently, here. One of their best known products is PhatPad, a note-taking app that features handwriting recognition. I’ve used PhatWare products, including PhatPad, off and on for years. I’ve always been impressed with the quality of its handwriting recognition.
It’s good to know the days of all portable Bluetooth speakers being little, black boxes is coming to an end. Leading the way is the Soundfreaq Sound Spot. This small, $69 speaker packs big sound, good battery life and it looks great in any one of its many colors. Mix and match Sound Spots for a great looking sound.
Developer NimbleBit has teamed up with Disney and LucasArts to bring you Star Wars: Tiny Death Star, where you take the helm of the Death Star in order to build, develop, and prepare the planet-sized Death Star. The gameplay is extremely similar to NimbleBit’s Tiny Tower. It’s available for free on the App Store, Google Play, and Windows Store. You hire outer space “bitizens” in order to build the commercial and residential floors of the Death Star. Like many freemium games, Star Wars: Tiny Death Star employs the use of premium currency that help speed up certain in-game actions. On…
I got an email from The Voxel Agents about their game Puzzle Retreat coming to the Kindle Fire, and as I looked at their site and the trailer I noticed it was already on iOS and Android, so I gave it a shot. Guess what? It is breezy, engaging, and loads of fun. Check it out!
Nate over at The Digital Reader had a post about installing Google apps on the new Kindle Fire HDX. Since I use GMail and other Google stuff and have the new Kindle Fire HDX, I figured ‘why not’. Turns out there is a basic reason – not all services work correctly and there are no notifications. As a result, my only recommendation is ‘just say no’. The method to installing everything comes in four steps: • Google Account Manager • Google Play Services • Google Service Framework • Gmail You add one, reboot the Fire the install the next, and…
Strategy & Tactics: World War II from Herocraft is one of the few ‘grand strategy’ games on iOS and Android. Grand strategy games in the tradition of ‘Hearts of Iron’ are difficult on many levels, and attract a core ‘grognard’ audience. You act as commander of huge armies and manage the smallest details of international commerce and military operations.
It should be obvious that the reason for advertising on a web site or app is to make money … and more specifically to make more money than you are paying to place the ad. Facebook’s mobile app is ad-supported, but a new study from Nanigans suggests that the advertising on iOS is nearly 1800% more profitable than on Android!
Supermarket Management is a time-management game, meaning that you are working to accomplish numerous tasks in a certain amount of time to reach your goals and keep your customers satisfied, getting harder with each level. The game is available on multiple platforms, but for today (10/10) only it is FREE on the Amazon Appstore! Go grab it now!
When you think of the classics of adventure gaming, you think of LucasArts and Jane Jensen, of Maniac Mansion and Gabriel Knight. We have seen many LucasArts game brought back through TellTale Games, and now Jane Jensen herself has returned to revamp Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers for a 20th anniversary release in mid-2014.
The new UE MINI BOOM is a small speaker with huge sound. It has simple controls, gets up to 10 hours per charge, and offers a 50′ Bluetooth range. Like its big brother the UE Boom, you can wirelessly pair two UE MINI BOOMs via the free iOS or Android UE MINI BOOM app for big, stereo sound. Learn more. We’ll have our full review and audio samples up soon.
Have you played a good book lately? Huh?!? Well, Silicon Sisters Interactive wants you to curl up with Everlove: Rose, an interactive story where the dialogue choices you make impact your relationships and can change the game outcome as well! It is a very well done game, and while aimed at girls and young women, I found it fun, too! Type of app: Interactive Novel Adventure Game Platform/where to buy: iPad / iPhone, Kindle Fire, and Android. Developer: Silicon Sisters Interactive Description: “Everlove: Rose brings romance to life. Games have that power,” says Brenda Bailey Gershkovitch, Silicon Sisters’ CEO and…
The Ultimate Ears UE Boom wants to be the ultimate portable Bluetooth Speaker. With 15 hours of battery life, great 360º sound, a water and stain resistant acoustic skin, NFC connectivity, and the ability to link two UE BOOM speakers to create a stereo pair, at $199.99 it is definitely in the running. Get one. We’ve seen a number of portable Bluetooth speakers shaped like a cylinder. Among them are the impressive JBL Flip and the Scosche Boom Bottle, and both of those speakers stand out in terms of build and audio quality. While pricier than either of these options, the…
To date, I am aware of only one dock for Android and that was the Sonr Symphony. I reviewed an early version of the dock here on Gear Diary. Hale Devices is Joe Born’s new name for Sonr Labs, and the Hale Dreamer picks up where the Symphony left off. Today they are kickstarting the Hale Dreamer Alarm Dock on Kickstarter. The Hale Dreamer combines both a physical dock with software to help control the phone while it’s in the dock. The software enables the hardware features of the dock like a real snooze button and more. It also includes…
The Ballads of Reemus was a fun adventure game that evoked the classic LucasArts era of gaming. It was fun and funny with plenty to do and discover. Now Reemus is back for another adventure – well, he will be if you back him on Kickstarter! Develop Zeebarf plans to use funding to bring the game out in June 2014. Here is a snip of what the game is all about: A 2D, hand drawn, comedy-fantasy point and click adventure game in the vein of such classics as “Day of the Tentacle” & “Monkey Island” for PC/Mac/Linux. With future ports…
In June of 2012, Google picked up Quick Office and for the longest time, didn’t do anything with it. Today Google has pushed out a brand new version of Quick Office completing the assimilation of this office suite. They have added the ability to save work to Google Drive as well; it’s also now free to download for all. Google has made some significant changes to the mobile office suite they picked up over a year ago. Namely, a brand new look for the application and the ability to use your Google Drive storage. You can also view Google Drive…
I love the under-served genre of dungeon defense games, such as the 90’s Dungeon Keeper games. In these games rather than playing the dungeon-raiding hero you are the master of the dungeon, warding off adventurers! A great looking new entry to the genre ‘Evil Master Overlord’ is coming to iOS and Android soon. Check out the trailer! From the developers: Evil Master Overlord (EMO) is an exciting dungeon defense game with a recognizable tile-matching puzzle style mechanic that will soon be available on the iOS and Android platforms. It will appeal to gamers who cannot get enough of the dungeon…
Games like Infinity Blade offer gorgeous graphics, but the lack of control over movement limits possibilities and immersion. Godfire: Rise of Prometheus takes gorgeous graphics and advanced gameplay and a story set in Greek Mythology and look to set mobile gaming with an iOS and Android release in early 2014! Today they released a great-looking pre-Alpha video. Check out the trailer and follow the game on Facebook or Twitter!
Sony’s new “lens-style” QX series cameras are an interesting beast that look like a pancake-style lens but are much much more. Utilizing Wi-Fi connectivity they transform connected smartphones into powerful cameras. The cameras can be mechanically attached to a connected phone or used as a standalone unit. Priced starting at $250, they will ship later this month.