GeekwithEnvy

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Xbox SmartGlass Now Available for iOS

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XboxSmartGlass LogoXbox SmartGlass creates a richer, more immersive experience for Xbox owners. This is definitely one of the best things that Microsoft has released for Xbox and now it’s available for iOS devices.

With Xbox SmartGlass you can use your phone, tablet, Windows 8/RT tablets, and PCs to control your Xbox. Basically, you will be able to use any of these devices as a remote control with the added benefit of being able to use gestures to navigate and control your Xbox. Extra content will appear on the device of your choice for games, TV shows,  and movies. You can imagine Xbox SmartGlass as a second screen that you can use to add another layer of content to anything you do on Xbox, this is the same direction Nintendo went with when designing the Wii U.

Some of the cool uses for Xbox SmartGlass include displaying extra content like commentary, map UI for games, and interactive strategy guides that integrate perfectly with your TV experience.

 

Get Xbox SmartGlass:

Windows

Windows Phone

Android

iOS

 

Apple Thinking About Dropping Intel

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Apple has been very successful when it comes to developing  their own chips, like the new Dual Core A6X. These chips are growing more and more powerful with each iteration and soon, according to Bloomberg, Apple feels that they will eventually be able to cram enough power into their chips to run their laptops and desktops as well. In 2005 Apple decided to bring Intel into the mix when it came to processing power for the Mac. Intel makes some of the fastest an most powerful chips on the planet including the i7, which is the current chip used across the Mac experience.

Mac Pro


The idea here is to create a seamless experience across their entire product line up, something Microsoft is also trying to achieve. Having the same chip architecture in each device can make that happen. There’s no doubt that Apple will try their hardest to make everything they can in-house, but how will this impact the Apple community?

Can Apple really create a chip that can do everything just as well as a world class Intel chip can do? After all, were not talking about Angry Birds here. I am trying to imagine running applications like Adobe Photoshop and Final Cut Pro on an Apple CPU, it just doesn’t feel like it’s possible.

Apple can attract the talent needed to design great chips but this is still new territory for them and they will need time to grow and learn as a chip manufacturer. Yes, mobile devices are very powerful these days but the processing demands of pro users is many times that of any current mobile chip and at least for now, I can’t see any immediate change in the near future. As for the the next ten years or so, we could be looking at a much different story.

One of the great benefits of Apple moving to an Intel based machine was the ability to run Microsoft software on Apple hardware. If Apple were to switch chips, would you still be able to run Microsoft Windows on the Mac? How well would other developers receive that new chip line up? I think that this could potentially isolate Apple again and in way that works against them. Could this move be as bad as the decision to abandon Google and release an unfinished Map product? It’s not just the power of the Intel chip, it’s also about the name. Consumers want to see “Intel Inside” their Mac computers, it gives us confidence in that product’s capabilities, it’s a name we have grown to trust over the years.

It’s important to note that these are just rumors at best, but I don’t have any doubt in my mind that Apple is hard at work trying to find ways to put the Apple logo on everything they can inside their machines.

 

 

Should Apple Allow You To Exchange Your iPad?

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With the recent release of the new 4th generation iPad just 7 months after the last release, many 3rd generation iPad owners are a little angry. 7 months is pretty fast, even by today’s standards.iPad4

I would imagine that the biggest complaint among iPad users is that if they had known about a 4th generation iPad they would have most likely waited before making a purchase. This brings forth a good question, should the 3rd generation iPad have been released at all?

Yes, the retina display is amazing but overall the 3rd generation iPad doesn’t seem to cut it as a major improvement over the iPad 2. Perhaps if Apple had waited and included the new A6X processor in the 3rd generation then maybe we would feel a little better about our purchase.

It would seem that Apple wanted to update the iPad with it’s new Lightning connector in order to allow the iPad to fit in with the rest of the line up and decided that something else needs to be added in order to allow it to be considered as an actual upgrade, hence the A6X. After all, it would kind of stand out when it came time to pick out accessories and a significant performance boost will definitely be appealing. Also, we should consider the timing of this update. Apple seems to have moved from a “scattered” release of products to a single, multi-product release that lines up just before the holidays.

The question that comes to mind here is should Apple allow you to exchange your iPad 3 for a 4th generation version? Now, I am not talking about those of us who bought one 6 months ago but rather those who purchased an iPad within the last month. The good news is that if you feel frustrated by this unexpected release of the iPad 4, you’re not alone. There is significant buzz going around about the possibility of Apple having some stores exchange your iPad 3 for an iPad 4 of you have recently purchased and iPad, which would be a very cool move on Apple’s part. However, just because we think that Apple should do the exchange doesn’t mean they have to though and I’m not so sure about how this would affect consumer opinion of the company over an update of one product in a large line up.

The bottom line here is that when we decide to shop for technology, we should always assume it’s already out of date. I go through this every time I buy a new electronic device. I always have that thought in the back of my head that says, “They are going to release a new version of this next month, I just know it!”. Even if Apple doesn’t offer up an exchange or if you bought yours too long ago, you can always sell it. There is a huge demand for iPads and iPhones out there and those people don’t care if it’s not the latest or greatest, they just want a good deal on a solid product.

 

Handheld Gaming and Mobile Quietly Moving In

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Ever since the mid seventies we have had hand held gaming devices that we could bring with us anywhere and as with anything in technology, these little devices have changed a lot over the years.mobile gaming 3d concept - smart phone with gamepad

When I think back to the first handheld gaming experience I had, I remember playing Frogger on a Tiger electronic handheld gaming device. Not too long after, I got ahold of my first Nintendo GameBoy and it was one of my favorite gaming experiences. I am not alone in my love for the original Gameboy line up which included Tetris, Mario and although it was difficult to play, the original Castlevania. I also had the luxury of owning a Sega Game Gear which was somewhat ahead of it’s time.

Today we have handhelds like the Nintendo 3DS and Sony PSVita, which are great ways to game but another strong competitor has started to move in to the handheld gaming territory, the cell phone. The cell phone over the years -as I have mentioned in earlier posts- has previously never been noted for it’s amazing gaming capabilities. Actually, many graphing calculators had better gaming than most of the cell phones on the market. Most early cell phones featured snake or Tetris which we saw again when the next generation of color LCD screen cell phones came out. These newer games usually ran on java and actually started to look a little better but let’s not kid ourselves,they mostly sucked.

Cell phones weren’t even close to being considered any type of competition for devices like the Gameboy, in fact they weren’t even in the same class, there were strictly handhelds and cell phones (mobile gaming). However, the lines have now basically been erased and the term “mobile” gaming encompasses both cell phones and handhelds.

I have to ask though, when did this happen? Well, most of my personal experience comes from using devices like the original iPod and eventually the iPhone. The gaming  experience on the iPod in later versions, (iPod video) was also done quite well and this is when I began to see a future for gaming on these new devices.

Gaming on devices like the iPod and Samsung Galaxy, is extremely popular these days and it looks like these devices have started to take over mobile gaming. Just look at games like Angry Birds, what device would you say is most likely being used to play this game?

How we know things have changed-

When you look at the latest handheld devices like the Sony PS Vita, we see features that were previously only available on devices like the iPhone. 3G, GPS, front and rear facing cameras, and even motion sensors are all now standard components for handhelds. Another point to consider is that I see many more people with their phones in hand on a daily basis than any “gaming only” device and for good reason, we need the cell phone capability, it’s how we survive these days, so it only makes sense that we would prefer to game on them. An added bonus of developers getting their games on a cell phone OS is that you can reach an audience that would otherwise remain unreachable, a large group of people who would never buy a device like a Nintendo Gameboy but would definitely  own a cell phone. It’s all in the numbers and app purchases are huge, the amount of games sold on the App store is impressive and it shows where consumer attention is.

Mobile gaming has never been better than it is today and it’s largely due to the impact of these new cell phone devices. As history shows us, it takes competition to drive forward innovation and creativity. With the addition of all of these new ways to interact with your applications, like motion control and touch,we have seen changes in gaming that we haven’t seen in years and we can now interact with our games in a way we never would have thought  to be possible in a mobile form factor. Again, the mobile gaming space is not any different than any other in that it’s driven by competition and I would argue that without devices like the iPhone, mobile gaming may look quite different today. There has never been a better time to not only create a gaming app but any app, and it’s all thanks to the latest evolution of the mobile gaming space.