April 20, 2020 Posts

The Three Best Android Apps You’ll Ever Need

20 04 , 2020 No Comments

As technology advances, most phone applications will become obsolete or integrated into the phone upon purchase. But here are a few that do not apply to that statement.
1. Vignette

Unfortunately, this is a paid app, but by far the best photo app in the history of taking pictures on your phone. The developers respond quickly to your problems and the app is updated with better and better features almost weekly. The effects you can apply to your photos before and after the fact (you can import as well) are endless and well-known to professional photographers. From vignetting to portra to cross-processing to light leaks to pastels to faded to instant to ilford b w; to highlights to night vision to tilt shifts and filters to technicolor, you will be truly amazed by how your average picture, be it two megapixels or ten, looks like it came from a film camera. There are also options to apply frames, and you can shoot blind, choose between auto focus or fixed focus, there’s a time lapse and a self timer, on and on and on and on. This is the only app I’ve ever paid for, and I am rewarded every day for it. No matter what photo app you’re using now, this one will destroy it the moment you try out the demo.

2. iMusic

This free app is simple. Type in the song you’re looking for and download it. Free. Will you find every song you want to hear? No. But if you stick to more mainstream tunes, even classic ones, more than likely you will be successful. Played on your phone, you will be amazed by the clarity. Export it to your computer and hear it on some earbuds, of course you will notice some degradation of quality, but nothing that will take away from your enjoyment. A thousand times better than radio, anyway.

3. Craigslist (Craigsnotification)

Be ahead of the curve with this Craigslist app. Insert keywords of things you want to keep an eye on, like a job in graphic design or those Prada sunglasses or the cheapest guitar pedal, and the app begins to capture all the listings pertinent to your interests in real-time. You will be the first to know when a listing goes live long before others who are using their computer. Get instantly notified in the first few seconds and you’ll always be the one who gets the best deal.

Nintendo Calls Out Apple & Android

20 04 , 2020 No Comments

During the 2011 Game Developers Conference, Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata took part in the keynote speech on this past Wednesday. For the most part it was the usual Nintendo presentation. Game were shown off and the features of the new 3DS were highlighted. Towards the end of the keynote, Iwata’s presentation took a turn and went on a little polite rant. He began showing slides on “industry concerns.” He said that big app companies were flooding the market with lackluster titles. This would cause game developers to have trouble “making a living.” He emphasized that Nintendo has always maintained high values as a priority. He implied that the app business does not offer the quality of Nintendo.
This makes me wonder if Iwata and Nintendo has looked at the Wii and DS catalog of games. There is no doubt that the games that Nintendo officially publishes are top notch. When you look at the whole catalog of shovel-ware and trash that is constantly released, one must think that Nintendo is doing the same thing as Apple and Android. Both Apple and Android offer market places to which developers can create and publish games. This is the same as with the Wii and DS.

What made this seem strange was the place where Iwata said this. This is at GDC. Where game developers come together to talk shop. Here Iwata is almost trying to scare them into not developing any more games for the mobile systems. The reason why there is over saturation in the handheld market is the fact that is where the developers are. Most developers have embraced the mobile market. Mostly because of the ease of and cost of creating games for the operating systems. Why did EA decide to bring Dead Space 2 to the Iphone and Ipad and not the DS? Short answer – MONEY. They would make more using IOS and spend less; even though they created a completely new game for a touch screen. How many one man studios have built a Nintendo hit? It does not happen, but on handhelds it has happen many times.

The awkward feeling in the room during this part of the presentation said it all. While Nintendo is trying to scare developers away from their competition, Apple was setting up for the new Ipad 2 announcement. I am sure the keynote over there had much more excitement.