Best Transition to the iPad
Angry Birds HD
By Chillingo
In making the leap to the iPad, Angry Birds HD kept the core gameplay of the popular iPhone version-defeat egg-stealing green pigs by bombarding their fortifications with the none-too-pleased ornithoids of the game’.'s title-while making the most of the tablet's spacious screen. On the iPad, you can really appreciate the clever animations and intricate level design. With new updates including a new boomerang bird and new levels, Angry Birds continues to improve-and impress.
Puzzle Game of the Year
Osmos for iPad
By Hemisphere Games
When you first hear about it, Osmos for iPad doesn't sound all that exciting: You tap the screen to propel your small blob of matter, aiming to absorb smaller blobs while avoiding those larger than you. And the truth is, Osmos isn’t all that exciting. But it’s undeniably enthralling, combining gorgeous graphics and hauntingly beautiful music-use headphones or you'll miss out-with Multi-Touch gestures that let you zoom in and out and slow down and speed up time. Gameplay is simultaneously casual yet exacting, frustrating yet oddly relaxing. It’s a game that feels made for the iPad, and like the objects on the screen, it will suck you in if you're not careful.
Casual Game of the Year
Fruit Ninja
By iPad version, Halfbrick Studios
Whether in iPhone or iPad forms, Fruit Ninja boasts two ideal qualities for casual gaming-it's easy to learn and fun to master. In this funny, quick game, you slice your way through a diverse array of delicious fruit flying across your screen in a Kill Bill-style pulpy fruit massacre. Adding to the fun are great visuals, including lots of fruit juice flying with every slice, and a great, Eastern-infused soundtrack. Avenging yourself against produce has never been so fun.
Platform Game of the Year
The Incident
By Big Bucket Software
Frank Solway’s having one of those days where it seems like the whole world is falling down on him-which, to be fair, it kind of is. Big Bucket Software’s The Incident is not only gorgeous, featuring detailed 8-bit artwork inspired by platform games of yore, but its simple tilt-to-run and tap-to-jump controls make it a snap for even the casual gamer to pick up and start playing. The game’s appeal goes beyond the retro, too: innovative features let you use your iPhone as a controller for the iPad or-with the help of Apple’s iPad video adapter-use your HDTV as a display.
Tower Defence Game of the Year
Plants vs. Zombies
By PopCap Games
Another game that delivers the goods in either iPhone or iPad form, Plants vs. Zombies is a unique tower defense game in which you must plant peapods, mushrooms, squash, and other deadly legumes to fight back the zombie hordes. The beautiful cartoon artwork is on the right side of zany and sets a light-hearted tone from the get-go. The zombies are silly, distinctive enemies that vary in character-besides your standard groaning zombies, you also have to fend off zombie football players and balloon riders, who each boast their own distinctive battle skills. Various mini-games and numerous achievements to unlock will keep you coming back again and again.
Strategy Game of the Year
Carcassonne
By The Coding Monkeys and Hans im Glück
Though it hews closely to the popular German board game upon which it’s based, Carcassonne seems tailor-made for the iOS. Like its cardboard predecessor, the mobile version is all about laying down tiles, building roads and castles, claiming territory, and trying to prevent your opponents from doing the same. But the iOS offering adds multiplayer modes (via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or pass-and-play) as well as solitaire play against eight different computerised opponents with differing strategies, and the simple graphics look great on the touchscreen. It’s a great iOS app for one other reason: A single game takes about as long as the average American's daily commute.
Multi-player Game of the Year
Words With Friends HD
By Newtoy
Words With Friends for iPhone (macworld.com/ 5520) gave the Facebook Scrabble craze its first real competition, letting you play multiple Scrabble-like word games with friends near and far-even when you’re on the go. But Words With Friends HD eliminates the iPhone version’s biggest frustration by giving you a usable full-board view-no more zooming in and out, in and out. Once you're hooked, you’ll find yourself anxiously awaiting that distinct chime letting you know one of your opponents has finished a turn-and hoping it's not a triple-letter/triple-word play of Q-U-I-Z.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
7 best iOS games of the year
Friday, December 17, 2010
Google Launches Maps 5.0 for Android
Two big new features in this release are 3D view and offline rerouting. The 3D view uses vector graphics to dynamically draw the map on the screen of your device. You can tilt it, rotate it and smoothly zoom in and out the map with finger gestures. Another new feature is the compass mode, which will make the map rotate to match your perspective, so you can get a better idea of where you are.
Also, you don't have to worry (so much) about being offline, as the app now caches the areas next to the one you're currently in, meaning you'll be able to seamlessly keep navigating for a while even when offline. If you're using Google's turn-by-turn GPS navigation, the app can now calculate a different route, even if you're offline. You still need a connection to start a route, however. This feature will be rolled out gradually over the next couple of weeks.
The new version of Google Maps will work on Android 1.6 devices, but only owners of Android 2.0+ devices will be able to enjoy the new 3D and offline capabilities.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Samsung unveils Galaxy Tab Luxury Edition
Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Tab Luxury Edition today at the Millionaire Fair in Amsterdam
The Galaxy Tab Luxury Edition will sell for about $1,000 and be packaged with a leather case and a Bluetooth headset, the TG daily reported.
The tablet included in the Luxury Edition package is the exact same Google Android-powered model as the standard Samsung Galaxy Tab, the report said.
The base-model Galaxy Tab sells for about $599 through Verizon, or $399 from Sprint or T-Mobile -- as long as you're willing to sign up for a 3G data plan.
AT&T is selling the 7-inch-screen tablet for $650 without a contract.
Source : latimes
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Top 10 Ranking Components For Local Company Listings in Google Places
You want to add your enterprise name and get in touch with details to all of the company directories and websites that you simply need to be listed on. Any directory or site that is associated to your location and industry should have your details listed on it. Quite a few directories permit you to add your enterprise by filling out a type. To obtain added to market related websites, you might need to make some calls or send some emails. Having a bit of effort, you may get many citations that may influence your enterprise listings ranking.
2 – Claiming your listing
You should claim your listing. By claiming your listing, you are able to make edits to your profile page and add more facts about your organization. Google desires you to do this and make sure that it is up-to-date.
3 – 100% completion
When you edit your profile page, Google will provide you with a completion rate. To get the best ranking, this needs to be 100%.
4- Contact particulars in your very own internet site
This is often an overlooked factor – be certain your web page has your contact details including your business name, address and phone quantity. In case you can, place it on each page.
5 – Organic Ranking
Your ranking for the chosen words within the organic search results does have an indirect influence to your local small business listing. Attempt and optimise your web-site for a fantastic ranking within the search engine outcome pages.
6 – Add evaluations
Don’t add fake evaluations. Help the approach of obtaining critiques by asking your pleased clients to add critiques. Remind them to add the key phrases you’re targeting.
7 – Add video
Google likes videos and they have made it incredibly simple to add your own videos. If your profile doesn’t comprise videos yet – what are you doing?
8 – Add photos
Add pictures of one’s business, merchandise and staff. Ensure you name the files appropriately so Google knows what the titles are about.
9 – Proximity of small business
This factor place to use to be really necessary but from my own experience, it is not as essential because it employed to be. You still want an address inside the city that you want to optimise for.
10 – Add Coupons
Google desires to see additional interactivity with their Google Places section to folks keep coming back. By adding coupons, it adds worth towards the user knowledge and helps with your rankings.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
WhiteyBoards Introduces The WhiteyNotes and WhiteyPads
Whiteyboards are big panels of dry-erase plastic that you can stick to any wall in the house or office. They are removable without damage to the underlying surface and they're significantly cheaper than any other whiteboard solutions out there. The company just introduced WhiteyNotes, dry-erase sticky notes, and WhiteyPads, to-do list-type sheets for kitchens and/or kink dungeons.
The notes come in Post-It size and cost $5 for ten. The pads come for $8 per 10 and are 5×8 inches. Both are infinitely reusable, assuming a repeating, never-ending universe and not accounting for entropy. The company is a former YCombinator start-up.
Google Voice Number for Santa
Google has set up a Google Voice number for Santa (855-34-SANTA) where you can leave the big fella a voicemail. That's only half of the fun, however Google has set up a website (sendacallfromsanta.com) where you can set up a message that will ring any number in the United States with a personalized message from Santa.
Mac App Store Target for January 2011 Launch
Apple will launch the store in the new year.
While a specific date was not given for the official opening of the store by my sources, Apple will meet the 90-day deadline given during its October "Back to the Mac" media event.
MacRumors points out that a January launch would allow time for 10.6.6 to finish testing and be released, which I think is a logical reason. It also point out that we already know that the iOS App Store won't be reviewing apps over the holidays (shutting down in a week or so), so it wouldn't really make sense to launch the Mac App store just before people go on holidays.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
TweetDeck released released Web client
You can get TweetDeck, the popular realtime stream reader,released its first Web client as a Chrome app in the new Chrome Webstore.
You can sign in with your existing TweetDeck account, and add different realtime streams in different columns—Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare checkins, Google Buzz. Soon it will support Gmail as well. There are combined columns labeled Home (all timelines from various accounts), Me (all mentions and messages directed at you such as Twitter @replies), and Inbox (direct messages, and soon Facebook and Gmail messages).
The Chrome app is supposed to be faster, more stable, and less of a memory hog than the desktop AIR version. Once you installit onto your browser, it exists within its own tab. And it is always available for you, with any other apps you install, when you launch a new blank tab.
Malicious Goo.gl Links Spreading on Twitter
A large number of messages containing only the link goo.gl/R7f68 has appeared on Twitter today, redirecting the users to various malware-laden sites.
The messages are mostly coming from disposable accounts, but they also appear on some accounts that appear to be genuine, which indicates that there's a worm spreading and sending the messages from infected accounts. Furthermore, all of the messages containing the link are sent from the mobile version of Twitter
The Next Web has traced the origins of the link in the messages, which sends users to a French site (http://artcan-developpement.fr) that has apparently been hacked to forward users to sites containing various malware scripts.
While the majority of the messages currently contain an identical shortened link, have in mind that the link is very likely to change in the future. As always, do not click on any suspicious links, and always keep your computer protected with antivirus and anti-malware software.
Paper.li adds Facebook status updates
Paper.li, the startup out of Switzerland added Facebook status updates to its armoury. Currently it's best known for auto-magically curating a daily newspaper from the links shared by the people you follow on Twitter. This time it's public Facebook status updates.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Skype preparing to launch web-based service in 2011
The launch is expected to include integrations with multiple partner sites, such as LinkedIn, and will be based on browser plug-ins rather than being a full HTML5 solution. Apparently Skype wants to transform itself into a platform and needs to embed itself in many places for people to expand its footprint and bring in more dollars. To this end the company is supposedly readying premium telephony features on top of its current set of options currently available.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Tablet and e-reader buying guide 2010
E-readers:
The Kindle
Amazon Kindle (Wi-Fi only: $139; 3G: $189)
Pros: The Kindle's display, which measures 6 inches diagonally, uses "electronic-ink" technology, which makes it easy to read books, newspapers and magazines in direct sunlight. It falls somewhere between an iPhone and an iPad in size and weighs half a pound, making the device from Amazon.com Inc. thinner and lighter than Barnes & Noble Inc.'s Nookcolor, its strongest rival. The Kindle also lasts longer on a charge: up to one week with Wi-Fi on and two to three weeks with it turned off.
Cons: Screen is gray-scale only. The pages are slow to turn, and zooming and scrolling don't work. Lacks a built-in light source. Clunky built-in Web browser. Doesn't accept books from public libraries.
Barnes Noble Nookcolor ($249)
Pros: Displays books and magazines in color. The brightness of the 7-inch touchscreen can be adjusted for comfortable reading in a wide range of lighting conditions. Besides a large library of books, magazines and newspapers, Barnes & Noble sells children's books with built-in narration tracks. Some books can be lent to friends, who can download Barnes & Noble's software for free to read them.
Cons: Children's books are expensive -- $8, compared with child-friendly iPad apps that cost about $2. The screen is too small for comfortable reading of magazines. At 1 pound, it is twice as heavy as Amazon's Kindle, although still lighter than the iPad. Its battery life (eight hours with Wi-Fi turned off) is relatively short, although still sufficient for a round-trip flight across the country.
Tablets:
Apple iPad (Wi-Fi only: $499-$699; 3G: $629-$829)
Pros: Has the same intuitive interface as the iPhone and iPod Touch, but optimized for the iPad's larger 9.7-inch display. Syncs with the popular iTunes software, whose store sells music, movies and e-books. Up to 10 hours of battery life. There are more than 300,000 apps available in the app store; more than 40,000 of them were designed specifically for the iPad, making this the most versatile tablet, by far. All models connect over Wi-Fi, while 3G versions can use AT&T's cellular network, whose plans in the U.S. cost either $15 or $25 per month and require no long-term contracts.
Cons: It is relatively large and weighs about 1.5 pounds, so it's not as easy to use one-handed as a smaller tablet such as Samsung Electronics Co.'s Galaxy Tab. Lacks a camera for video chatting. Students will find fewer textbooks available in Apple Inc.'s iBooks than in Amazon's Kindle store.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab
Samsung Galaxy Tab ($399 with two-year contract; $599-$649 without)
Pros: The Tab runs the same Android software that can be found on many a smart phone. Solid build quality and brisk performance. It is a bit smaller than the iPad and about half its weight. It has dual cameras, something the iPad lacks entirely, allowing people to video chat, record HD movies and snap still photos. The Tab's display is sharper than the iPad's.
Cons: The Tab's 7-inch display makes for a less immersive movie-watching experience than the iPad's larger one. Many Android apps weren't designed to fill the Tab's larger screen. Video chat can be slow over both Wi-Fi and 3G cellular networks. The Tab only costs $399 if you commit to a two-year contract with Sprint or Verizon Wireless, which let the Tab run over their 3G networks. Verizon Wireless and AT&T sell the Tab with optional contracts, but it costs more up front ($599 on Verizon and $649 on AT&T). Monthly data plans range from $25 to $60.
Source: "
Top Bing Search Terms 2010
As Bing search engine continues to increase in popularity, they released the top search terms for 2010
The most searched for topic was Kim Kardashian which received 20% more searches than the second most popular term Sandra Bullock. Bings top searched term of 2009 was Michael Jackson, who dropped to the number 11 position for most popular people.
- Kim Kardashian
- Sandra Bullock
- Tiger Woods
- Lady Gaga
- Barack Obama
- Hairstyles
- Kate Gosselin
- Walmart
- Justin Bieber
- Free
Most popular people searched in 2010 on Bing:
- Kim Kardashian
- Sandra Bullock,
- Tiger Woods,
- Lady Gaga
- Barack Obama
- Kate Gosselin
- Justin Bieber
- Jesse James
- Lindsay Lohan
- Jennifer Aniston
- Michael Jackson
The World's Chocolate Shops at Your Fingertips
Already, the site has more than 1,000 listings in over thirty countries. Definitely one for my favourites list.
Test Your Vocabulary and Help others
You gradually work your way up the levels, with the top score around 50.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
HP New Laptop Launched with 8.9 Inch Screen, Features
HP's offering has an 8.9-inch, multi-touch-enabled screen, weighs 1.5 pounds and comes with 64 gigabytes (GB) of storage and a digital stylus pen. It gets five hours of battery life.
It comes equipped with Wi-Fi access but no built-in capability to connect to high-speed cellular networks, as rivals including the iPad, Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Tab and Dell's Streak have.
Features
1. The HP Slate features the Intel Atom processor, which is commonly found in inexpensive netbook computers. Rival tablets run on low-power ARM-based chips found in smartphones.
2. The device is equipped with cameras in the front and back, enabling video conferencing, and a USB port. It comes with a case and a docking station.
3. HP's Slate is now available online, and the company will be selling it to businesses through its direct sales force.
It's $ 799 price tag makes it more expensive than the Wi-Fi-only version of the iPad, which starts at $ 499 and runs up to $ 699 for a 64-GB model. A 3G iPad starts at $ 629.
Verizon Wireless plans to sell Samsung's 7-inch tablet for $ 600. Dell's 5-inch Streak is priced at $ 550 but can be had for $ 300 if bought with a data plan through AT&;T.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
5 Sites To Read E-Books For Free
This is a best website that functions with an agenda of digitalizing books that are out of copyright.Most of the classics can be obtained from this site for free. If you are interested in getting their entire collection, they are ready to send you a DVD with all the e-books they have digitalized for free. You can donate them if you can to show your support.
Google Books contains e-book variant of newer books too but, the preview is limited to certain important pages of the text.You cannot download books from their site. If you are looking for some reference Google Books might suit you. Magazines are also found on Google Books.
This site stocks some of the rarest books you might not find on the sites mentioned above. I was saved by this site at many instances when searching for a book. Get Free EBooks is a similar site.
Hosted by Nitro PDF’s makers, this site has a PDF version of a lot of books which you can find on Gutenberg. The text is bigger and can be easily read. I downloaded ‘Sense and Sensibility’ from this site and loved their edition.
This site has a lot of E-books (both contemporary and classic). You may request any number of books and the agreement is that you delete the books after reading them since keeping some of them in your system is not legal. I regularly download books from this site. You may download the entire collection at the same time after donating the site’s owner.
3 Tools to Send more than 140 characters on Twitter
Below are the best 3 services that allows you to send more than 140 characters on twitter.
Tweet Compressor
Tweet Compressor makes your tweets shorter by replacing groups of two or three letters with a single character that looks the same.
TwitLonger
Twitlonger is an easy way to post long messages to Twitter without the need to write a blog post. Write what you need here and we post the link to Twitter for you
TinyPaste
Tinypaste is a simple web service that lets you to paste any text or code and then save it. Once you save it, you will get a Tiny url where you can share it directly on twitter.
Track Your Sent Gmail Messages
For Gmail users, there is another verification option. EmailOracle is a plugin especially for Gmail that tracks sent messages. It uses a small graphic to tell whether or not an email has been opened by the recipient—when the graphic opens, obviously the email has displayed on the recipient’s screen.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Mozilla: Google Making “Sneaky” Installations on PCs
Mozilla director of community development Asa Dotzler is concerned about the unintended installation of software on PCs. While Microsoft and Apple are named as usual culprits for this, Google was also singled out as well for this practice.
It's surprising to hear at first, since Google doesn't have many natively installed applications. But when someone installs Chrome, it appears that a plugin for Firefox called the Google Update Plugin is installed as well. There appears to be a way to remove this plugin on the Mozilla forums, but the next time Chrome is updated it will return.
According to section 11.1 of Chrome's End User License Agreement:
Chrome may automatically download and install updates from time to time from Google. These updates are designed to improve, enhance and further develop the Services and may take the form of bug fixes, enhanced functions, new software modules and completely new versions. You agree to receive such updates (and permit Google to deliver these to you) as part of your use of the Services.
Still, I do not understanding the purpose for Google to install an update plugin for Firefox, and sneaky persistent installations are probably not the best way to go. Agreed?
via InformationWeek
Facebook's 'Like This' Button Is Tracking You
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Photography Accessories for iPhone
Factron Quattro Cases
The high-end Factron case for your iPhone will add some metallic and leather chic to your mobile, giving it a classic camera look and feel. The five interchangeable lenses (sold separately) will add more effects to your shooting repertoire.
More Information: Factron
Flip-Cage with iPhone 4 Mount
Flip-Cage is folding tabletop stand for your iPhone 4 or 3GS model can be used as a small tripod and doubles as a desktop stand for watching movies or making Facetime calls.
More Information: Flip-Cage
Zacuto Zgrip iPhone Jr. Handgrip
The Zgrip iPhone Jr. is a handgrip system for shooting more stable video on the move with your iPhone, and it also offers a thread to mount the handgrip to a tripod for stationary shooting.
More Information: Zacuto Zgrip iPhone Jr
ZoomIt SD Memory Card Connector
This clever dock connector accessory (and the free app) allows you to use SD memory cards with your iPhone. It lets you view, access and share all of your photos (and other files) from your SD cards on the go without the need to connect to your camera, Mac or PC. It's slightly costly, but a good solution for anyone who favors the SD memory card format.
More Information: ZoomIt
USBFever Special Effects Lenses
If you can't afford to splurge on Factron's case-and-lenses system above,then USBFever offers some affordable alternatives. Its range of detachable lenses for mobile devices include fish eye, wide angle, macro and telescopic.
More Information: USBFever
Griffin Clarifi
Designed for iPhone 3G and 3GS, Griffin's Clarifi case boasts a built-in lens that claims to give your iPhone a boost in camera resolution. Macro and close-up shots are instantly finer in detail, while you can still slide the lens aside for normal photography.
More Information: Griffin Clarifi
Joby GorillaMobile for iPhone 4
Joby is offers stand-alone bumper protects your phone, while the detachable, flexible tripod offers adaptable positioning. In addition to photography, the GorillaMobile can also be used as a desk stand, or even, suggests Joby, attached to a treadmill to watch your favorite show while working out.
More Information: Joby GorillaMobile
iPhone Tripod Holder
This tripod holder is low price, making it ideal for anyone who might have an occasional need to stick their iPhone on a tripod. For just under $10, you'll get a simple but useful sturdy mount that features durable brass threads for a secure attachment.
Cost: $9.95
More Information: iPhone Tripod Holder
Owle Bubo
The Owle Bubo transforms the mobile device into a camera with some comprehensive features. It adds a full-size lens, an external microphone, four tripod mount points and an integrated cold shoe for adding lights and the like.
More Information: Owle Bubo
FarmVille will soon be launching in Japan
FarmVillage is going to be available on Mixi, which is the top Japanese social network. But it will only be available for mobile 'feature-phones', at least for now.
Do More With PDFs
Wesite:Adobe
Create your internet desktop - iBigBang
Once you signing up, the first thing you'll want to do is go to "settings" to customize your desktop. If your bookmarks are already saved in your browser, you can download and important them to your desktop. You can also do things like customize the color of your menu bar and add your own wallpaper/background or use a predefined one.
Go to iBigBang www.ibigbang.com