GeekwithEnvy

iOS

Featured App: Happy Street

by Leave a Comment

Every once in awhile you stumble upon an app that is, at first okay, but then after getting into it, ends up being so addicting you can’t put it down. Happy Street is that addicting game and it’s free. You start off with Billy the adventurer, and Pepin the merchant. They will guide you though the tutorial and have you building your first houses, stores and mini games. Every time you build a house you gain a new resident who stays in your village and buys things from the stores and stands you create, which earns you in-game coins so you can keep growing your village.

Happy Street ScreenShot

 You can go to the forest and mountain to gather resources such as fish, rocks, flowers, wood and more to create things like wood planks, which yes, have a timer on them. The buildings and resources eventually get timers that will go up to 24 hours till they are finished, but this game is so fun, I really don’t mind. The time element keeps the game interesting. Other characters will also give quests continuously throughout playing, which will earn you coins and flooz. Flooz is the special currency in the game that is harder to come by and they do give you the option to buy more, just like most apps now. Starting at 99 cents you get 9 and it goes all the way up to $99.99 for 1500. This is just an option and I have had no pressure to buy more, and I have not done so. As long as you keep doing the quests you will earn just what you need.

The game also is linked with GameCenter so you can earn achievements and add your friends. Having friends is a good thing, you can ask them for some resources you may need and they could have it so you don’t have to wait 8 hours for it to be made. So if you are into cute little animals asking you to make them anvils and cider so you can upgrade your medieval house, this awesome crazy addicting game is just for you.

Available in the App Store and Google Play!

Features:

– Meet Billy, Zoe, Pepin and other unique characters.
– Customize your characters.
– Discover 3 unique environments and more to come.
– Trade and visit your friends.

Pondering Apple Software with Jonathan Ive in Charge

by Leave a Comment

The recent shake up in Apple’s executives has left Jonathan Ive in charge of software design as well as hardware design. This change up could have Apple’s next big software release featuring some big changes.

Jonathan Ive
Jonathan Ive, Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple Inc.

Jonathan Ive has always pushed the idea of keeping things simple and clean and he will likely bring this mentality into play when working with Apple’s software. In every corner of OSX and even iOS, you will find bits and pieces of texture and art incorporated right into the UI. One only needs to perform a few common tasks on any Apple OS to find these little decorations. For instance, the wooden bookshelves in iBooks, linen textures on the side panels, and torn paper on the calendar, these are all things that Ive will likely remove in future versions.

I personally don’t have a problem with them but then again I don’t have any doubt that Jonathan Ive will do a great job in overseeing the design aspect of Apple’s software. Simplicity can be just as beautiful as any decorative pattern or texture. If anything, the application itself should be the centerpiece not what surrounds it, but there needs to be some balance. Take away too much and you risk making the OS feel too utilitarian and dull but add too much and it can become distracting. Some critics of Apple believe that these little decorations date the software and make it look silly. It will be interesting to see what the critics say about Ive’s spin on the next generation of Apple OS software.

I can’t help but wonder what other changes are in the works for the next release of Mac OS. It’s not perfect but OSX has been around for sometime now and it’s still just as enjoyable to use as it ever has been. Will we see a move away form the Dock? It is possible that the next Mac OS will more closely resemble iOS, even more than it does already. This seems to be the case with Windows 8 which feels a lot like Windows phone and the Xbox dashboard mashed together. I feel the Dock is effective and elegant but at times unnecessary.

I like the way iOS handles open applications by keeping them out of view at the bottom of the screen, you only need to swipe up to access them. I would like to see the new Mac OS handle open applications in a similar way. I understand you can hide the dock but it’s just not the same. We could have open applications and their corresponding windows be in this bottom slide while all of our other applications could be accessed through the Launchpad. Also, since the Dock will be removed, we will need a quick way to access the Launchpad, preferably by gesture.

We can only offer up our best suggestions, but given Apple’s record of releasing OS software we technically should have little to fear. We will just have to wait and see what Ive and the crew at Apple come up with.

Hmm That Clock Looks Familiar

by Leave a Comment

With iOS 6 came many new changes, but one change has Apple paying up for it’s new clock image. The clock image looks identical to a clock image owned by the Swiss Federal Railway service.iOSClock

The Swiss Federal Railway Service was happy to see the design being used but they were quite upset to see its clock design featured on Apples new iOS release without their permission. Fortunately, it seems that Apple and the Swiss Federal Railway Service have settled their issues with some type of licensing deal. The amounts being paid by Apple to use the image have not been released.

All of this comes at a time when it seems like every company is out for blood in this new, ‘wild west’ of portable technology. Every detail of every product including it’s software is under scrutiny, and in this case it’s definitely an infringement on Apple’s part. Often though the answers aren’t so obvious and we begin to question just what should and should not be patented and protected by the law.

One example of something that I think should be universal to all touch devices is the gesture. Gestures are an absolute necessity for any touch device and trying to come up with anything else to replace the “original” set of gestures is just silly. Nick Wingfield, a content contributor for the New York Times, likened recreating gestures to placing square wheels on a car. I’m not saying that Apple shouldn’t get any credit for initially incorporating these features but locking them down and trying to pull them away from competitors is silly, at least for gestures.

Either way I’m glad to see that Apple and the Swiss Federal Railway Service have reached an agreement.

Looking at The Business of Tech and How To Make a Smart Purchase

by Leave a Comment

Cellphone with dollarsHave you ever just stopped and looked at the technology around you? Take your smart phone for example, it’s pretty amazing how much power these little devices have. Gaming on your phone was virtually non-existant 10 years ago and now we can do just about anything including having a face-to-face conversation with someone.

When we first get our new shiny device home we feel great about our purchase and can’t wait to use it. However, with todays tech culture we quickly lose this good feeling as internet buzz and advertisements start to roll in featuring a new product that outshines ours. This phenomena isn’t anything new, it’s been going on like this forever, but it’s the pace at which change is happening that really makes you feel left out.

It used to be that when you bought something it would last you for a few years or more before you needed to update, now it only takes about a year or sometimes even just a few months before we feel pressure to buy the latest and greatest. Were are told our current gadget is inferior and won’t be able to have this feature or our current device won’t work with this version of new software, then we are asked to shell out the big bucks again to play catch up.

So, what are we going to do about this? Is this ever going to change?  No, quite honestly it will probably get worse if anything. Is this really a bad thing though? I’m not so sure. I think that keeping the industry moving forward does drive the economy and can breed innovation, although I think that most of these updates are mostly cosmetic to begin with, but I digress.  It’s really about the consumer (us) and how we decide on what to buy and what not to buy. Even if you can afford it, upgrading every year can really put a hurting on you financially.

The idea here is to really think ahead before you make a purchase. Think about what you need the device for and consider all of the features it offers and how it will fit in with your life. Remember, these devices are here to work for you, not the other way around. Also, take the time of year into consideration as many deals can be found earlier in the year, and make sure you’re not buying a product right before a company is about to release it’s next big thing. Making your purchase should be a planned event and not spontaneous, do your research at home where theres no sales person trying to push you. Walk into a store well informed about the devices your interested in and that way you’ll have some confidence when it comes to making smart decisions on what you’re buying.

A little research can save you big headaches later on, look into the details like storage space for example. Do you have enough space for what your doing? Can you upgrade the device later on if your needs change? Answering these questions only takes a few minutes and the benefits are huge.

What’s not so great about the latest and greatest? Well, if you have ever bought something when it was just released you will most likely have figured out that waiting might have been a better idea. Rushing out and buying the latest can leave you to deal with all of the new bugs that come with your device. Although most new products go through varying amounts of testing in-house, the biggest test comes along on launch day. Sometimes it’s best to wait a month or so after a new product hits the market then check online forums to see and any undesirable functionality has been occurring like things failing or major glitches.

Reviews have been an extremely popular way to help you decide on what to buy next, but I caution you to take these reviews with a grain of salt. Firstly, many manufacturers will submit their own positive reviews on a product and can mislead you into thinking they are fellow consumers. This happens on more then just electronic devices, these fake reviews can pop up anywhere, like for apartments.

Sometimes you can get someone who has has a bad experience but it’s only limited to one bad unit. These people have had a truly poor experience because they happened to be unlucky enough to get the oddball defective unit. The best way to jude a review of a defective unit is to see how easily their problems were resolved, find out how their customer service responded to the problem.

Good customer service is unfortunately very rare these days and should also be considered when choosing a particular brand over another. Good customer service should be considered as a feature of the device. Look into device coverage, you may even find that you can receive discounts towards new products by sticking with that brand for the next upgrade, this happens with video card companies quite often.

Resale value is another thing to consider here, the smart phone market is a great example of how easy it is to save money on your upgrade by selling your old device. Chances are that old Android device or iOS device will sell really well, mostly because consumers have realized that they can get a great “last generation” phone for a great price from those who absolutely have to have the next best thing. This means that you too can get a great deal, look on online auction sites around the time a new product like the new iPhone is released and I’m sure you will find a ton of great deals.

The best advice that I can offer is to take your time when making decisions. Don’t be the should have, would have, could have person, be the, I planned ahead and made a smart buy person.

iOS 6 Rundown

by Leave a Comment

So, we got the update but.. what changed? I notice a few different icons on the screen but what else has happened? Well, we round up some key features of iOS 6 here so you don’t have to. Apple Logo

Facebook

Facebook is now fully integrated into the OS it self, which is really nice for Facebook users out there as it allows you to connect with Facebook without you having stop what your doing and switch apps. Facebook events are tied directly into Calendar and sharing links is super easy. ‘Likes’ are now part of iTunes and the Apps store.  It almost feels as if Facebook was meant to be a part of iOS from the start.

Maps

Well, no more Google Maps as Apple has decided it’s time to do the map business all by itself. The new map application looks really good and it would seem that, at least initially, Google Maps users should’t miss much. The new maps are quite detailed and look really slick even standard mode. I test drove the the 3D view by flying around Los Angeles and everything seemed to work really well. Turn-By-Turn navigation also makes an appearance with this map update, which has been long overdue.

Siri
Our old friend Siri gets some improvements as well, including movie reviews,facts and trailers from Rotten Tomatoes. Siri can also help you find something to eat by listing restaurants by price and rating. Need to know any sports scores? Siri covers that for you too, simply ask what the score is of a specific team and you’re good to go. You can also open applications by simply asking Siri what to launch.  Siri has seen quite a few improvements with this update and I can see Siri becoming more and more useful in the future, especially if Siri is to be integrated into new automobiles.

 

Safari

Safari gets iCloud Tabs which will allow you to view any open tabs form one iOS device on any other connected iOS device. Safari now features full screen landscape browsing, which looks great. Safari will also save entire webpages so you can view them offline later.

 

Facetime

Facetime will now work over a cellular network. Simple enough but I have yet to see it in action, I am wondering how the overall quality will be.

Phone

Well with everything the iPhone can do I think we tend to forget that it actually makes phone calls. Apple has added some features for the phone including being able to instantly send a text message to a recently declined phone call. You can also set call reminders when you decline a call or use a do-not-disturb mode to completely block all calls or only allow calls from high priority contacts.

 

Mac will also see the integration of Facebook into OSX Mountain Lion along with a few other updates in the new version 10.8.2. These are just a few of the new features on iOS 6, if your interested in everything head to Apple’s official site.