GeekwithEnvy

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The World’s Most Portable Gaming System Reveals UI

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The world’s most portable gaming system, GameStick, is now showing off it’s UI in a developer kit video that has recently been released. GameStick has been pushed into a reality thanks to it’s successful Kickstarter campaign and it’s really nice to see how things are coming together. Now, it’s time to get these devices into the hands of developers so they can start cranking out some great content for the new device.

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GameStick Console

The console itself is quite amazing as it’s basically a controller and a USB stick. The console is Android based and really quite unique and actually has quite a bit of power behind it. GameStick plugs straight into your TV’s HDMI slot and connects to the controller via Bluetooth 4.0. It even supports additional memory through the use of a microSD slot.

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GameStick Controller and Wireless Charging Dock

GameStick’s simplicity is what makes it stand out in a gaming world that still seems to be stuck on big clunky hardware. It may not be the next-gen PS4 or Xbox but it’s a pretty awesome way to bring the world of Android and gaming to your big screen TV in 1080p.

Here are the System Specs:

  • Processor – Amlogic 8726-MXS
  • Memory – 1GB DDR3 / 8GB FLASH
  • Content Download Manager w/ cloud storage for games.
  • WiFi – 802.11 b/g/n
  • Bluetooth – 4.0
  • O/S – Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
  • Controller – Bluetooth 3.0
  • Full 1080p HD video decoding
  • Upgrade memory via microSD card slot (up to 32GB)
  • Support for iOS and Android mobile devices to be used as controllers
  • Support for XBMC.

Antares Rocket Launch Successful

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The Antares Rocket, which was built as a project between NASA and Orbital Sciences Corp, has made it’s first launch as it  successfully carried a “dummy” payload into space. Liftoff occurred at  5 p.m. EDT on Sunday April 21st from Wallops Island, Va.

One thing you will undoubtably notice in the video above is the rate of acceleration, it’s awfully slow, which is because of the low amount of thrust involved in this launch. As the rocket gains altitude it finally begins to break the sound barrier and make it’s way into space.

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Antares launch (Image Credit: NASA)

 

Today’s successful test flight of Orbital Sciences’ Antares rocket from the spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia, demonstrates an additional private space-launch capability for the United States and lays the groundwork for the first Antares cargo mission to the International Space Station later this year. The growing potential of America’s commercial space industry and NASA’s use of public-private partnerships are central to President Obama’s strategy to ensure U.S. leadership in space exploration while pushing the bounds of scientific discovery and innovation in the 21st century. With NASA focusing on the challenging and exciting task of sending humans deeper into space than ever before, private companies will be crucial in taking the baton for American cargo and crew launches into low-Earth orbit. I congratulate Orbital Sciences and the NASA teams at Wallops, and look forward to more groundbreaking missions in the months and years ahead.” – White House Statement

Featured App: Whims

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Whims is a social media app similar to Instagram, except instead of photos, you create text.

Whims Detail

You start off by signing up and making a profile. Then you pick a style sheet, they give you so many to choose from. A style sheet has a theme based on people, such as Harry Potter style. There are two types of font in that style and three color options. You can choose which specific words you want to change to the second font choice, if at all. Other options are, alignment, text size and text spacing.

Afterwards when you click “create” there is another option called “add texture”, this will give your background a different look. You can choose from no filter, crumpled, rust, stationary, vintage, water spill, and notes. These can be layered all together and the more you click, the more intense the texture becomes.

Once you have perfected your design, you can add a comment or tags and share on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, text message, and email. This will post to the Whims page, but there is an option to save as a “Private Whim” which will only save the image to your phone.

I love this app because it has so many beautiful styles for free, unlike other apps that make you pay for packages and different fonts.

Download for free from the App Store

 

Potter Stylewhims styles

How To Test Your CPU Performance with SuperPi and wPrime

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superPi

For a custom PC builder there’s nothing more satisfying than finishing up your build so you can put it to the test. Sure you can open up an application and perform certain tasks to give you an idea of how your new build is performing, but you can also use specific programs that are designed specifically to benchmark.

One of these applications is actually quite simple. SuperPi calculates Pi to a specific number of digits and then displays the time it took to calculate the answer for each iteration. You can also determine the accuracy of the calculation which can also help determine stability of the system, this is perfect for overclocking.

It’s important to note that SuperPi is intended to test single threaded performance, if you’re looking to test multi-threaded performance you can utilize wPrime.

wPrime uses a recursive call of Newton’s method for estimating functions, with f(x)=x2-k, where k is the number we’re square rooting, until Sgn(f(x)/f'(x)) does not equal that of the previous iteration, starting with an estimation of k/2. It then uses an iterative calling of the estimation method a set amount of times to increase the accuracy of the results. It then confirms that n(k)2=k to ensure the calculation was correct. It repeats this for all numbers from 1 to the requested maximum.

 

How To Put Your iPhone in Field Test Mode

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iphoneFieldServiceSS

Field Test mode can be handy if you’re knowledgeable about cell phone technology but it can also help you get a clearer picture of what your cell phone reception is like in a given area or perhaps you’re just somebody who just likes to tinker with things, either way here’s how it’s done.

If you’re iPhone has a recent version of iOS on it (4.1 and up), which covers most phones, then you should be able to access the Field Test Mode with most carriers.

To Access Field Test Mode:

Dial *3001#12345#* 

This will allow you to look at lot’s of otherwise hidden information about your phone and it’s connection to the network. For the average user, the most notable feature is the ability to look at your overall connection to the network.

The number is in dBm and is much more precise than just looking at a set of bars. As a general guideline anything below -100 is starting to get pretty bad, the lower the number the better and -35 or -40 is about as good as it gets.