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.
WritePad, a note taking and handwriting recognition app for iPad and iPhone has just added Google Drive syncronization funcationality, allowing you to take hand-written notes on your iPhone or iPad and automatically sync them to Google Drive. This brings the number of cloud services that WritePad syncs with to 6! WritePad goes for $8.99 on iPad and $3.99 on iPhone. WritePad, using PhatWare’s handwriting recognition software, can understand the user’s handwriting in their own style and convert it to computer text. WritePad also syncs with other cloud services such as: Box, DropBox, Evernote, Google Drive, iCloud, and Skydrive. WritePad also…
The freemium city-builder Virtual City Playground from G5 Entertainment gets another big update, and this one adds a whole new dimension as you can take to the skies! Construct a hangar, build a weather station, and run an airship to increase the happiness of your citizens! You get 14 new missions and even more fun than ever before! Ever fantasized about touching the clouds? Build a top-of-the-line airship and conquer the skies above your city! – RECRUITING ALL TRADES! Hire your friends to help with everything from hangar construction to crewing the airship. – A NEW BATCH OF SKY-HIGH QUESTS!…
When iOS 7 ships next month, it will include quick access to key controls, search and information. You’ll be able to swipe up to Access Control Center, and swipe down from the top to access the Notification Center. But if you place a finger anywhere on the Home Screen and pull down, you’ll start a Spotlight search. The first two will be familiar. The last may cause confusion. Control Center Control Center will be accessed by an upward swipe from the bottom of the screen. That will reveal a translucent overlay covering about 2/3 of the screen; it will…
In the latest IDC/AppAnnie report, sales from iOS and Android games now eclipse Sony and Nintendo games by a 4:1 margin. Since 2009, we have seen a meteoric rise in the revenues and market share of games for iOS and Android devices and a decline in sales for dedicated handheld gaming consoles. What does this mean for the future of gaming-on-the-go? Here are five thoughts on what this means: Not an Anomaly: I have seen some dismiss this as a passing phase like netbooks, but that misses a larger trend. Since the launch of the initial iPhone people have been moving…
Although there has been no official announcement, Apple will likely release iOS 7, the next generation of their mobile operating system, next month. It is the biggest overhaul to the OS since its introduction, and while visual differences will draw most of the attention the changes that are less apparent are the ones people will truly love… Or hate. I’ve been using beta versions of iOS 7.0 since it was first available a few months ago. I’ve used it on my iPod touch, an iPhone 4 and an iPad 2 and mostly like what I have seen. My biggest concern…
Looking for an easy way to send lots of pictures on your iPhone through email? If so, Photo Sharing by Giacomo Guglielmi, is the perfect app for you. It allows you to send as many pictures as you want, including full albums, directly from your phone to your friend’s inbox. If you’re anything like me, you’ve unofficially traded in your point and shoot digital camera for the camera on your iPhone. With the quality of the smartphone camera increasing with each new phone, I almost never need to use my old digital camera, unless of course, I’m on my Honeymoon…
I’ve been using Mailbox for the past few days – not out of some outstanding desire to revisit the app, but to get a free 1GB DropBox boost. Simply by adding my GMail account to Mailbox, heading to settings and linking my DropBox, I was rewarded with 1GB more DropBox storage! It’s definitely worth checking out if you’re on an iOS device!
Popcap and EA Games have teamed up to bring you the greatly anticipated follow-up to the original Plants vs. Zombies. The premise of the Plants vs. Zombies series is that you’re a homeowner who is trying to defend his house against a horde of the undead. Your weapon? Plants. Good Luck! Plants vs. Zombies 2 is out now for free on the App Store. After a lengthy beta testing period and a soft launch in New Zealand, Plants vs. Zombies 2 is finally available to all of us Americans. This time, instead of only defending your own home from the…
While the first Righteous Kill game pretended to adhere to the basis of the (awful) movie, the sequel is original. Similar to the original game, Righteous Kill 2 is a fairly standard Hidden Object genre game. But unlike the original, Righteous Kill 2 is actually a decent game and worth checking out. Type of app: Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure Game Platform/where to buy: iPad, iPhone; available in the iTunes App Store Developer: Starz Media / G5 Entertainment Description: Here are some of the features: – 37 intriguing levels – 16 original mini-games – Police files for 11 victims – Heart-pounding…
When I was a wee preschooler, my morning TV schedule ran from Sesame Street to Mr. Rogers, and then to Julia Child’s cooking show, The French Chef, which helped plant the seed that influenced my interest in cooking. Why do I mention this bit of minutiae? Well, it so happens that today is famed chef Julia Child’s 101st birthday, and to celebrate, Random House Digital, Inc. slashed the price of their iOS app Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Selected Recipes from $4.99 to $1.99 from August 15 through August 18! Based on Child’s acclaimed book Mastering the Art of…
I was reading Facebook this morning, and I saw a three-year-old video that details how posting pictures on Facebook or other social networks can reveal your location. Keep reading for 10 different ways I’ve found that you can unintentionally share your location, and how to combat it if you prefer not to be so transparent. 10. For Amateur Radio Operators Only: The FCC Database This one is listed as number 10, and it’s only for amateur radio operators. I will detail some of the other ways your location can be revealed as a ham operator in another post, but this is…
If you are an avid user of Documents to Go you probably already knew about some of DataViz, Inc.’s product offerings in the software office arena. One aspect that is critical to office integrity is security, and DataViz has recently stepped up to the plate with their new Passwords Plus cross-platform password security software. Starting at $9.99, Passwords Plus works to keep passwords, PINs and related sensitive information secure from prying eyes and keep that data synched between devices. No more struggling to remember passwords or hunt through filing cabinets for password lists! It should be no secret that…
Echoes is an episodic mystery game with a distinctive style and where your choices impact the gameplay. The first episode is called Greanhearth, and drops you right into a dark & gritty world as you find out the story behind detective Rocky Fox investigating a murder. Let’s take a look. Type of app: Interactive Mystery Adventure (HOPA) game Platform/where to buy: iPhone/iPad; available in the iTunes App Store Developer: Nova-box Description: You are Ricky Fox, a brilliant detective from NYPD. Your best friend, Arthur Petrovski, a renowned psychiatrist, just passed away in strange circumstances and you travel there to make…
When my family and I went out to visit family in northern Washington, we were treated to the sight of many boats and ships sailing across Puget Sound and surrounding waterways, something of a novelty for us Midwestern landlubbers. In fact, we were able to take advantage of the ferry system at Mukilteo (and lunch at Ivar’s right next to the ferry landing) to help get us to our destination. During this same visit, I was semi-press-ganged into rowing on the Erica with the Old Anacortes Rowing and Sailing Society, and let me tell you, being in a small wooden…
I have become quite dependent on my Pebble smart watch. Being able to see my messages without looking at my phone is actually extremely convenient. When I am in front of a class teaching, on the field coaching or even driving, the watch makes it super easy to glance at my watch when I get a message. It only takes a second and I never skip a beat in what currently is going on. Really, the only reason I like to check is to just make sure it is not an important message from my wife or anything dealing with…
Sometimes a title tells you all you need to know about a game – in the case of G5’s Alchemy Mysteries: Prague Legends, we know it is a casual game because of G5, that it is a mystery involving alchemy, that it looks back into history and that it takes place in Prague. We quickly also learn that the game centers around an orphan named Eva who returns to Prague to claim an inheritance and hopefully learn more about her past and her real family. But just after entering the house strange and mysterious things occur! Let’s take a look!…
It is often said that the best camera is the one in your hand. This is true and our mobile devices have become the main photography tools for most people. Most modern cell phones and tablets have fantastic cameras and chipsets, but there often is something missing to make them the perfect shot. My favorite aspect of using my iPhone for photos is the ability to immediately edit and enhance images on the fly. I take pride in my ability to make my phone pics look great and use my iPad to edit images from my DSLR. With the use…
Imagine a futuristic world of a new Dark Age where the only hope for humanity is locked away in a massive labyrinth of a space station called the Basilica. In order to free him you need to help a robot named Bishop 7 navigate the space station. It is a puzzle game with a bunch of twists – read on to find out what I thought! Type of app: Sci-Fi Action Puzzle game Platform/where to buy: iPhone/iPad; available in the iTunes App Store Developer: Kyttaro Games Description: -Sleek, versatile slider controls! – Or play with HeadTwister, our experimental head-tracking technology!…
I love the Virtual City games including the free social version Virtual City Playground, as I noted in my review of the Android version. In the review I noted that the game took all of the fun of Virtual City and brought it to a free ‘playground’ mode that allowed you to just have fun. Of course, for G5 the big thing is monetization, and they have been very successful trading ease of upgrading and building things for small amounts of real-world cash. It is the classic example of eventually paying $20 for a game that you wouldn’t pay $5…
“Just because you can include some technological advance in your consumer product, it doesn’t mean you should.” That’s really the thought that came to mind when reading about a pair of new, upcoming headphones. Muzik (while I’m on a rant… I hate it when companies intentionally spell words incorrectly) just announced their first product – a pair of “smart headphones”. As the company release notes the company is, “pioneering a new space called social smartware”. The term describes their goal of connecting consumer electronic devices to content and social media platforms with the goal of making “music instantly discoverable and…