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Guess The News – App Store Link

Two Board Styles

Sudoku 2 is another Sudoku implementation for the iPhone, this time from the fine folks at FingerArts. No worries, though, as it has nothing to do with the news! The interface feels much like other Sudoku games, but what sets this one apart is the scoring system and the concept of runs, which are kept track of through OpenFeint for leader board purposes. I’ll be bringing you a more detailed look at this game shortly, but in the mean time go pick it up for free (on May 7th, at least): App Store Link

Things Are Getting Crazy

In Elf Command Santa’s Workshop has been automated, and you control two robotic elves trying to get toys out to all the good little boys and girls. You don’t directly control the elves, however. Instead, you draw lines between the gifts that are traveling via conveyor belts and four terminals that are displaying what the kids want. If the elves can get to the presents in time they will take them to the terminals. Each terminal has a timer on it which starts at some point, and you must get all the presents that are required to that terminal before time runs out or you lose a life. You also lose a life if you accidentally take the wrong present to a terminal. If an elf doesn’t yet have a present you can cancel the command by clicking on either the present or the elf. To cancel once the elf has a gift, simply click on the elf and he will stuff the present in a compartment in his chest. Once you lose all your lives the game is over.

The thing that’s so captivating about this game is how manic the pacing can get. Everything starts off nice and pleasant, but when you start having all four terminals requiring 4 gifts it can be quite a trick to manage, especially if you’re not getting the exact gifts you need to complete an order. The game actually requires you to plan ahead a bit, contemplating the best way to get the robots to move the most presents in the shortest distance. Fortunately you can queue up several presents at once, but then you have to remember to check on your elf from time to time to make sure they haven’t completed their task. You never want to leave an elf sitting idle if you can help it.

The graphics are charming enough. I don’t know that they are quite to the level of other Retro Dreamer products, but everything is bright and colorful, and there’s enough animation to keep things interesting. The sound effects are okay, and the music is decent but gets repetitive quickly. Overall I’d say this is the weakest of their games aesthetically, but it’s still not bad.

The thing about Elf Command is that it really sucks you in. You only get one or two points per correct toy, so you can do the math to realize how many gifts you have to deliver to score 1500 points. When the game’s finally over and you realize that a half hour has passed, you don’t really feel like a half hour has passed. That’s the sign of a good game. Just like Retro Dreamer’s other two games, Elf Command has left me in great anticipation of what this team has to offer next.

Final Verdict: Recommended
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[All About Quick Looks]

Recently, my cable TV signal was disconnected for good. I was getting frustrated with the poor picture quality and the high cable fees. I am located in Toronto, which means I was subscribing to Rogers Cable. I own an older TV that is still analog and I have never subscribed to digital TV. I never felt the added cost justified getting digital picture quality only since most of the digital channels where not really of interest to me. When the paid cable was discontinued, I figured I would have to invest in an antenna in the $30.00 -- $50.00 price range since only 1 channel (CTV -- channel 9) came through. I was surprised without any antenna that CTV looked as good as it did with paid cable. Another channel CBC barely came through. Very grainy with no color with sound or color with no sound. 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw

I looked around town for a good indoor antenna. I was not really able to find any real selection. Philips and RCA were the common manufacturers. Price ranging from $20.00 -- $50.00. The higher priced antenna seemed to be the better choice by reading the package specifications but I was not willing to spend $50.00 if I had to adjust the antenna depending on which channel I was watching since the antenna has an adjustment dial on the front. I decided to do some research on the Internet  and came across some interesting articles and postings. Most posting stated that I should stay away from commercial indoor antenna and just build one myself. I discovered a video on YOUTUBE which showed how to make an antenna using coat hangers and this seemed to capture a great number of channels. The problem I thought initially was my TV is analog and this DIY antenna setup was connected to a newer digital TV. Since I knew that an antenna for a TV are not all that different between analog and digital so I thought I would give this one a try. Before I gathered all the necessary parts to build this antenna, I gave this idea a little more thought and realized it works only on UHF channels which are channels above 13 on the old rotary dial. I would still need a VHF rabbit ear antenna to get channels 2 -- 13 which in Toronto means CBC and CTV. At least I wanted CTV which airs many great US shows like FRINGE and CSI New York.

antenna

I went to my local dollar store and found a rabbit ear antenna for $2.99. This came with two telescoping antenna wires attached to a plastic base with a ribbon cable of about 6 feet in length plus a 75- 300 ohm transformer to connect to the cable connection on the TV. I had to use a 2 way adapter between the transformer and cable since the connections did not match. The small piece in the image is the two way adapter. The white cable is what I already had to connect the antenna to the TV. When I connected this antenna to my TV, I was blown away at how great CTV now comes in. Far better than it ever did even with paid cable. Instead of being able to watch CTV and CBC only, I now get 9 channels since this antenna does support VHF and UHF signals.

• 5 CBC
• 9 CTV
• 19 TVO
• 25 CBC French
• 41 Global
• 47 OMNI1
• 52 SUN TV
• 57 CITY TV
• 69 OMNI 2

These are all the local channels and only SUN TV and OMNI 2 are slightly grainy. The rest are crystal clear and far superior to my paid cable channels I used to get. Eventually I will have to invest in a digital TV so that I can get some of the buffalo channels like WKBW, WGRZ, WIVB, WUTV  and PBS. For now, this $2.99 investment on my 28 inch TV is a shear joy. When connecting the rabbit ear antenna, there is no need to extend the telescopic wires out. Also, just orient the wires straight out to the side and place horizontally near the closest window. This will insure you get the best possible reception. Later, I will add the DIY wire hanger antenna that is described in the YOUTUBE video to improve SUN TV and OMNI 2.

I was disappointed to find out today that I am totally locked out from their services after listening/skipping my last song. The impression I got when the first message appeared about a trial service was that my custom song selections saved are not accessible after 30 songs played. No indication that the whole service offered was off limits.

It is truly disappointing for a company like last.fm to not mention upfront that the service I am subscribing to via a FREE account is for a limited time only. The Terms of Use agreement during the signup process  does not even mention I am signing up to a trial account. The information should be BOLD and prominent that I am signing up to a trial account lasting only 30 days plus 30 songs afterwards. I certainly would not have signed up if I knew from the beginning that the service was limited to a trial period only. I hope people do not subscribe to LAST.FM after finding out just like me after the fact. $3.00 per month is not a large sum of money but to expect users to pay this after signing up to what they thought was a FREE account without prior notice that the FREE account will expire after 30 days plus 30 plays is just not ethical.

This revenue is a drop in the bucket when you consider the huge investment made by eBay in 2005. Recently, Skype released a new version of software that allows easier access to features like video conferencing with a larger video, better quality audio and the ability to juggle multiple conversations easily. Unfortunately, there is some competition from other services like Windows Live Messenger and direct VOIP services like Vonage that replaces your standard phone service. Services like Vonage which does not require you to start up a computer and load software also offers FREE calls to other Vonage users. Vonage does have a monthly fee like a regular phone service but long distance anywhere in Canada and the US are FREE. If a user has something like Vonage, it is hard to use Skype to place calls to a landline which is charged on a per minute bases in North America and elsewhere.

Other VOIP services that do not require a PC and software are becoming commonplace with low rates Internationally and FREE calls within North America. Making the use of a charged service through Skype is becoming less and less attractive I feel especially with the recession. There are other lower cost services like even phones cards that offer really low rates Internationally. Skype does have cell phones and cordless phones that also take advantage of the FREE skype to Skype feature but I feel these are not as popular as they could be.

For Skype to truly forge ahead, they need to think about a new marketing strategy that concentrates on low internatonal rates, FREE Skype to Skype calls and downplay the VOIP feature I feel. Companies like comwave are taking advantage of the VOIP feature without mentioning VOIP in their advertising campaigns. It will be interesting to see where Skype is in the fall of 2009.

Sources: Wiki The New York Post

It is always more exciting when you can share your fond memories with others by sending your pictures to friends and family. www.flickr.com is a popular site though there are dozens of many others out there too. Keep in mind most FREE sites like Flickr limit you to the number of photos you can have or the total storage you have available. This means you must delete old pictures as you start to run low on storage space. This can be lots of work and in many cases too much work to maintain once you get into 100′s of pictures.

When considering a new camera, always take the time to look at the software if at all possible. A percentage of the purchase price for the camera goes towards the cost of the software included. Manufacturers state the software is included FREE of charge but in reality it is not FREE for them to develop. A good camera dealer will have a PC available for you to try the software that is included with the camera. If not, at least ask the sales person what features are included. This are the key features I would recommend you have in the editing software to make life real easy for you.

1: Auto adjustments of exposure (contrast and brightness) and color. Best option is when you can select each adjustment individually to see if you like the change or not before finalizing the change.

2: Red eye removal with one click.

3: Batch processing. Meaning you can apply the same feature to a number of images at once. This process can be a tedious and time consuming if you had to open each picture, modify and save separately each time. Having the ability to select multiple images and apply one change to all selected like a new size, orientation or file name will save countless amount of time.

4: Blemish removal. The ability to remove small unwanted areas by selecting the  region to replace.

Most camera manufacturers allow easy downloading of the software for FREE thereby allowing you to try the software before buying any camera. You may want to spend some time downloading and trying a few especially if you are not able to decide on a camera just by the hardware features alone. Keep in mind the programs are maximized to work with their own hardware therefore do not try to mix different hardware and software manufactures.

If you use Windows Vista or Mac OS X, you can always use the built in Photo software as an alternative. On Windows, you can use Windows Explorer and the Windows Photo Gallery. On Mac OS X, you can use iPhoto r purchase a more feature rich program called Aperture2.

The control scheme is simple.  You have a picture of a glove in each of the two lower corners of the screen, and these allow you to throw punches.  You tilt the device left and right to move your robot towards the center or edge of the ring.  Retreating gives you a moment to regain some energy, though you can never regain full strength once you’ve been hit.  Two rounds wins a match, and if you get defeated you don’t lose anything except a few minutes of time.  The two biggest drawbacks to Drastic Plastic are that you will have to replay easy matches several times to earn enough money for upgrades, and there really isn’t any replay value once you’ve beaten the game.  If you’re not patient about advancement then this game probably isn’t for you.  If you want something to play over and over again you’ll want to pass as well.

Fighting A Wood Chipper

Graphically, the game is quite enjoyable.  All the robots look drastically different, and you even get to fight a cockroach at one point, among other things.  There are some details that are neat, like the finger that comes down to fix a robot back up the first time it’s been knocked out in a match.  They really did a good job of simulating the playing field for the game they were trying to emulate.  The sound effects are what you’d expect for this type of game, and actually work pretty well.  The music is pretty decent too, including a separate track for each robot.

While  I enjoyed the game, I’m a bit on the fence about recommending because of the somewhat tedious nature of replaying weak matches and the lack of any replay value once you’ve beaten the game.  However, the game is free, so as long as you can tolerate the download time I think in the end it’s worth it for the hour or two of entertainment you’ll get.

Final Verdict: Recommended
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Keep on top of the latest mobile imaging trends and technologies by reading Digital Imaging Thursdays.

EYE-FI

Transferring images from a myriad of memory types and using different camera connections has always made uploading images to a PC or my favorite website a pain in the butt for me. I currently have 7 different cameras with 5 different cables plus 3 PDAs with cameras too. EYE-Fi has been promoting the EYE-Fi SD card with built in Wi-Fi for over a year now and this is the best option going. Though some of my cameras use a different memory card type from a SD card, the cameras I use most often use SD. By using an EYE-Fi SD card instead of a regular SD memory card, I can now upload directly from the camera to the PC or to Flickr or many other popular websites. Over 20 commercial photo sharing and photo related websites are now supported. Hotspot access via Wayport and Geotagging. If you use a camera that supports an SD memory card and constantly upload images to your PC or a website should take a look at the EYE-Fi products at www.eye.fi.

Photo Mosaics

Photo mosaic software have been around for a number of years now but still not that popular with the masses. I feel many are not aware that creating a mosaic is a very simple process. There are a number of FREE programs available and one I would like to mention here is called Photomosaic. All that is required is for you have a good selection of images in a common folder. Most of you should easily be able to locate a few hundred pictures for creating a mosaic. All that you do now is install, run the software and select a few options.

- Select the big picture which will be duplicated using all your images in the common folder.

- Select the number of images to use for the final image.

- Select the size of image to create.

- Once composed, save the image and then print it.

To really make the mosiac stand out. You can spend a little bit of time preprepping your selections that will go into the common folder. As an example, you can select a flower as your big picture. Then select as many other flower pictures you have that have a common color associated with the big picture. Look very carefully at the smaller details and find similar pictures that match that color or have a similar color within its picture. Then place all the pictures in the common folder. Your final product will have a flower theme and will immediately be recognizable by others.

Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera vs Compact Digital Camera

Professional Photo Editing

Many of you are familiar with the Adobe line of professional photo editing software like Photoshop CS4 or Photoshop Lightroom 2. These programs are very costly with Photoshop CS4 costing around $700.00 USD. For those that are strapped for cash or not willing to invest $700.00 at this time can look at GIMP. This is a FREE professional photo editing software program. Don’t be fooled by the fact that this is FREE. GIMP has been created as an OPEN SOURCE project therefore is released as a FREE program under the OPEN SOURCE Licensing agreement. The software is very similar to Photoshop in how the image is manipulated in layers and has a large assortment of tools to work with. GIMP works with:

• GNU/Linux (i386, PPC)
• Microsoft Windows (XP, Vista)
• Mac OS X
• Sun OpenSolaris
• FreeBSD

GIMP is a great way to get your feet wet in professional photo editing and is one program that is not as complicated as Photoshop to learn and take advantage of.