Review: Shark Dash Game

It amuses us when game publishers like Gameloft come up with a cute looking arcade game. Shark Dash is a physics puzzler developed to perfection. With the launch of this game we feel that Gameloft has decided not to stick on to one genre but cover them all. It’s shocking but this might make them related stories stand apart. Shark Dash is undoubtedly unique with distinct features embedded in a single addictive game. Meet Sharkee and his charming crew of bath toys who lived happily until a group of ducks ruined everything. Sharkee and his friends felt the need to end it when those naughty ducks kidnap Sally, Sharkee’s Girlfriend. Join the team as you help them win back their liberty. Shark Dash can be played in 4 different environments and each has 24 levels, which totals up to 96 levels on the whole. In every level you can get 3 stars depending on three factors, shots used to complete the level, coins collected and the ducks hit. Collect Stars to unlock other environments. As the game goes on you will meet the entire crew i.e. Sawy, Hammy and Scuby. Use your head to complete the level soon and just beware of the obstacles and remember Sharkee and his friends do not like staying out of the water for a long time. This puzzle arcade game features touch and drag control that works incredibly well, the music and animation is quite brilliant too. Shark Dash definitely has a wide range of variety to offer and this is what you would expect from a game developer like Gameloft. To sum it all up, Shark Dash is brilliant and simply fantastic. (from:http://www.hindustantimes.com/technology/Game-Reviews/Review-Shark-Dash-Game/SP-Article1-845287.aspx)

FREE! Angry Birds Space gets 10 new levels

Riding on the worldwide success of Angry Birds Space, developer Rovio has added 10 new levels to the recently released game. The new stage is called, Fry Me to the Moon. To show their love for users, Rovio is offering the new stage for free download from Apple's App Store and Google related stories and Google Play. "A new moon rises and puts pigs in motion. If you thought it was hard to pop pigs in space before, just wait 'til they're orbiting around the icy planets in these 10 NEW LEVELS!”, PC Magazine quotes Rovio as saying in a press release. And as if this new update wasn't enough Rovio is giving an added bonus to all users of the iOS version: 20 free space eagles! Angry Birds Space, which was released last month, was downloaded 20 million times in the first week. The popular game Angry Birds has also landed on RIM’s app marketplace and is available for BlackBerry users to download for $2.99.

Google Drive, Dropbox, SkyDrive, iCloud - Review

It's time to throw away those silly little flash drives you've been carrying around all this time. If you're looking for ways to create, store and access your files on different devices and locations, prepare to get spoilt by the number of online storage apps and services in the market. In a related stories connected world you want your data on the cloud so that it's easily accessible. That is exactly what major cloud storage services such as Dropbox, SkyDrive, iCloud and the newly launched Google Drive will do for you. Here's a look at what each service can offer so you can make a choice: DropboxDropboxDrop In 2008 Dropbox launched as a dead-simple cloud storage service that could be used by just about anyone. Even your grandparents can use Dropbox without calling you up, asking you to explain each of its features. Dropbox claims to have 50 million users worldwide. Cloud storage: Parking space in the clouds Apparently Apple wanted to buy Dropbox to launch their own cloud storage services before iCloud but surprisingly Dropbox refused.Dropbox is very easy to get started and allows groups and individuals to share files with minimal friction. You get a space of 2GB for signing up which you can easily increase by referring the service to your friends. Dropbox lets you buy storage space and you can get 100GB worth of space for $19.99 a month. A price which analysts believe will come down due to Google Drive's aggressive pricing strategy. Dropbox recently introduced single-click sharing where users can share any file which others can access using a web browser only. What works? Simple, multiple apps that support Dropbox integration, native apps for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android What doesn't work? Expensive as compared to other services such as Google Drive Google Drive Google's cloud storage service has been in the rumor mills for quite some time now. Everyone believed Google always had the infrastructure to run a service like this. They've finally launched the Google Drive cloud storage services which are basically a facelift for Google Docs with added features and cloud sharing capabilities. Google launches Google Drive Drive will take startups like Dropbox, Box and even Microsoft's SkyDrive head-on. Google Drive offers almost all the basic functionalities you would associate with a cloud storage service. It offers native apps on Windows and Mac which you can use to simply drag and drop files to your account. What stands out here is the deep integration of Drive with all major Google products such as Google+, Android, Gmail and all other Google services where you might need to transfer or access files. Google Drive offers new users with 5GB worth of free space after joining. What works? It can open up to 30 different kinds of file formats in a web browser, cheaper storage plans, deep integration with Google products What doesn't work? No iOS app as of now, Android app won't allow streaming content (from:http://www.hindustantimes.com/technology/Application-Reviews/Review-Google-Drive-Dropbox-SkyDrive-iCloud/SP-Article1-846038.aspx

5 disappointments in iPhone 4S

Apple's first iPhone launch under the stewardship of new CEO Tim Cook failed to match the unprecedented frenzy and lacked the magical flair of Steve Jobs. Though iPhone 4S will still sell like hot cakes and might possibly become the best-selling phone ever.

Unfortunately, the Apple aficionados may still find a few things short in their latest iPhone. While Apple augmented the new iPhone with a faster chip, much better camera and voice service Siri, Apple fanboys were left disappointed as they were hoping to see a newly designed, completely revamped iPhone 5 after a wait of over 15 months. iPhone 4S missed out many new features that topped the wish list of Apple users. Here is a look at all that is missing:

The new iPhone 4S failed to excite on the looks. The device is absolutely identical in form factor to the previous model, disappointing fans and investors who were hoping for a thinner, bigger-screened design. Like iPhone 4, 4S also sports a 3.5-inch multi-touch display and retains the 960-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi.

While the rumour mill was fueling reports of a possibility of Near Field Communication (NFC) support, iPhone 4S turned down the hopes. NFC is a technology that allows mobile users to use their handsets as a digital wallet.

The technology enables users to pay for retail goods or services such as transit rides by waving their handsets across a reader. Meanwhile, other phone makers like BlackBerry and Samsung are including NFC support in their upcoming lineup.

While the Intel's Thunderbolt technology is making its way to the new line of MacBook Pro laptop computers, it was very likely that the new iPhone will also get it. But strangely, Apple choose to keep it out, maybe for iPhone 5. Thunderbolt technology is a high-speed PC connection technology that brings together high-speed data transfer and high-definition (HD) display on to a single cable. Running at 10Gbps, the technology can transfer a full-length HD movie in less than 30 seconds.

Like its predecessors, iPhone 4S also misses out on the industry standards ports. The new phone also come with Apple's connector to attach to computers, for charging and other peripherals. Apple also missed out HDMI port for sharing with HDTVs. Apple has introduced AirPlay that will let iPhone users to wirelessly stream what's on their phone to HDTV and speakers via Apple TV. In addition, with AirPlay Mirroring, whatever you do on your iPhone appears on the HDTV at the same time.

While Apple announced a new notification center, BBM-like messaging service iMessage, and deeper Twitter integration, there was no word on Facebook integration.

(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/itslideshow/10368500.cms)

iPhone 4S: Meet Siri, rival to Google tech

Apple Inc beefed up its new iPhone with faster chips and better cameras, seeking to set its handset apart from the rising tide of Google Android smartphones.

But the one feature that got the most "oohs" and "ahhs" from the audience at Tuesday's iPhone unveiling was the built-in voice-recognition technology, dubbed "Siri".

Apple demonstrated a variety of scenarios in which users of the new iPhone 4S seemed to hold a conversation with the device, managing calendar appointments, finding restaurants and inquiring about the weather.

"That was a pretty big step forward," said Forrester Research analyst Frank Gillett, who attended the launch at Apple headquarters. "To be able to just converse with your gadget. You've got more options than just poking and swiping at it with your finger."

Whether such high-tech wizardry is enough to make the iPhone 4S a must-have in consumers' eyes, and set it apart from the competition, remains to be seen.

"It's not clear that Siri is sufficient to make or break a purchase decision," said John Jackson, an analyst at CCS Insight. "It's a better mousetrap. History tells us users don't use this technology in great numbers."

Voice recognition technology isn't new. Software companies have offered technology allowing people to do dictation, with varying results, on their personal computers for more than a decade. Even low-tech gizmos like vehicle-GPS units made by Garmin and others can be voice-enabled.

Google introduced voice recognition technology to its Android smartphone software more than a year ago, and the company recently introduced a voice-recognition capability into its flagship Web search engine.

But Gillett said Apple had taken the technology beyond merely recognizing spoken words. The Siri technology could take actions based on people's words, making it closer to a true "personal assistant," he said.

It talks back!

During demonstrations, an Apple executive asked the phone whether he needed a raincoat today, and the phone responded: "It sure looks like rain today."

A separate video of Siri technology in action, screened during the event, depicted a jogger telling his phone to book an appointment at noon, with the phone responding, in a robotic female voice, that he already had an appointment at that time.

Siri will initially be available with support for English, French and German with more languages soon, Apple said. The company acquired Siri, the maker of the technology, early last year.

Apple's iPhone, first introduced in 2007, is the No. 1 selling smartphone in the world. But phones based on Google Inc's Android operating system, which is available for free to handset vendors such as Motorola, HTC Corp and Samsung Electronics, have a greater combined market share than Apple's iPhones.

Inside iPhone 4S is a dual-core A5 processor, designed by Apple, with improved graphics capabilities for video games, as well as special image processing capabilities for improving photo and video performance. The camera got a boost to 8 megapixel resolution, up from the prior model's 5 megapixels.

Apple also provided more details on forthcoming Internet-based "cloud" features on Tuesday. Users of iPhones and iPad tablets will be able to store their music, photos and other data on Apple's remote servers, similar to services offered by Google and Amazon.com Inc.

For all the hardware improvements, Gartner analyst Van Baker said it was the Siri technology that will really make the iPhone 4S stand apart.

"It is very cutting-edge," he said. "They have raised the bar."

(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/hardware/iPhone-4S-Meet-Siri-rival-to-Google-tech/articleshow/10242484.cms)

iPhone's Siri causes a stir

Apple Inc beefed up its new iPhone with faster chips and better cameras, seeking to set its handset apart from the rising tide of Google Android smartphones.

But the one feature that got the most "oohs" and "ahhs" from the audience at Tuesday's iPhone unveiling was the built-in voice-recognition technology, dubbed "Siri".

Apple demonstrated a variety of scenarios in which users of the new iPhone 4S seemed to hold a conversation with the device, managing calendar appointments, finding restaurants and inquiring about the weather.

"That was a pretty big step forward," said Forrester Research analyst Frank Gillett, who attended the launch at Apple headquarters. "To be able to just converse with your gadget. You've got more options than just poking and swiping at it with your finger."

Whether such high-tech wizardry is enough to make the iPhone 4S a must-have in consumers' eyes, and set it apart from the competition, remains to be seen.

"It's not clear that Siri is sufficient to make or break a purchase decision," said John Jackson, an analyst at CCS Insight. "It's a better mousetrap. History tells us users don't use this technology in great numbers."

Voice recognition technology isn't new. Software companies have offered technology allowing people to do dictation, with varying results, on their personal computers for more than a decade. Even low-tech gizmos like vehicle-GPS units made by Garmin and others can be voice-enabled.

Google introduced voice recognition technology to its Android smartphone software more than a year ago, and the company recently introduced a voice-recognition capability into its flagship Web search engine.

But Gillett said Apple had taken the technology beyond merely recognizing spoken words. The Siri technology could take actions based on people's words, making it closer to a true "personal assistant," he said.

It talks back!
During demonstrations, an Apple executive asked the phone whether he needed a raincoat today, and the phone responded: "It sure looks like rain today."

A separate video of Siri technology in action, screened during the event, depicted a jogger telling his phone to book an appointment at noon, with the phone responding, in a robotic female voice, that he already had an appointment at that time.

Siri will initially be available with support for English, French and German with more languages soon, Apple said. The company acquired Siri, the maker of the technology, early last year.

Apple's iPhone, first introduced in 2007, is the No. 1 selling smartphone in the world. But phones based on Google Inc's Android operating system, which is available for free to handset vendors such as Motorola, HTC Corp and Samsung Electronics, have a greater combined market share than Apple's iPhones.

Inside iPhone 4S is a dual-core A5 processor, designed by Apple, with improved graphics capabilities for video games, as well as special image processing capabilities for improving photo and video performance. The camera got a boost to 8 megapixel resolution, up from the prior model's 5 megapixels.

Apple also provided more details on forthcoming Internet-based "cloud" features on Tuesday. Users of iPhones and iPad tablets will be able to store their music, photos and other data on Apple's remote servers, similar to services offered by Google and Amazon.com Inc.

For all the hardware improvements, Gartner analyst Van Baker said it was the Siri technology that will really make the iPhone 4S stand apart.

"It is very cutting-edge," he said. "They have raised the bar."

(http://www.hindustantimes.com/technology/Technology-Update-PersonalTech/iPhone-s-Siri-causes-a-stir/SP-Article1-753811.aspx)

iPhone 4 v/s iPhone 4S – What changed, what didn’t?

At Apple’s ‘Let’s Talk iPhone’ event, Tim Cook took the stage at Apple’s TownHall campus in Cupertino, in his first event since being named Apple’s CEO. Lets’ see what went down at the keynote.

iPod gets redesigned
iPod Nano gets a refresh and the new iPod Nano sports a redesigned interface with bigger icons, 16 new digitalclock faces and improved built-in fitness features. It will come in seven colours - silver, graphite, blue, green,orange and pink and will be available for $129 for the 8GB model, followed by $149 for the 16GB model.

New iPod Touch running on iOS 5 with iCloud services, will be available from October 12 in new black and whitemodels starting at $199 for 16 GB model, followed by $299 for the 32GB model and $399 for the 64GB model.

iPhone 4S launched
Retains the same design from iPhone 4 with an addition of Apple A5 chip (Double the Power),8 megapixel camera, 1080p video capture. It comes in black and white variants and will be available in the USfrom October 14 with pre-orders starting from October 7.

The prices will start at $199 for 8GB version, followed by $299 for 16GB and $399 for 32GB. Sprint will also begetting iPhone 4S in US this time around, along with AT&T and Verizon Wireless, calling it the World Phone.

Siri, an intelligent voice assistant has been integrated into the phone. It understands the context based on yourquestions and allows you to send messages, schedule meetings, set remainders, make phone calls or use serviceslike Yelp and Wolfram Alpha through voice. It is currently in beta and supports English, French, and Germanlanguages with more languages and services to be added over time.

Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the UK will get the iPhone 4S from October 14 and it will berolled out to 22 more countries by the end of October including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark,Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands,Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

In the US, 8GB iPhone 4 will now be available for $99 and iPhone 3GS will be available for free with a two yearcontract.

New iOS 5 Apps
61% share in mobile browser usage in the US, with Android coming second at 31%. Cards: An app which allows you to create and mail gorgeous cards right from your iPhone or iPod touch. Apple willprint it on a high quality 100% cotton paper and mail it. You will receive a push notification upon mail deliverythrough USPS. You can choose between 21 designs in the app. The app will be available from Oct 12 and will beavailable for $2.99 in the US, $4.99 elsewhere.

Find My Friends app: You can locate your friends and family using this app, provided they are sharing theirlocation. Also, you can temporarily allow location sharing on your device for a specific blocks of time. At the endof the day, the location sharing stops automatically. The app also comes with some parental controls so that kidscan’t share their location with others or they cannot disable location sharing with parents and so on.

iCloud to be available for iOS 5 and OS X Lion users from October 12. This includes iTunes in the Cloud, Photo Stream, Documents in the Cloud and iTunes Match (US-only).

iPhone 5 a No-show
My only question is where’s the legendary water-drop model shape [referring to the back of the phone]? The four-inch screen?The seamless frame? Wait for the next generation of iPhone. The best product is always the next one. Yes, the iPhone 4S is pretty badass in itself, but everyone was expecting too much, so it’s hard to avoid being disappointed. The announcement of the iPhone 4S means we have to wait until next year for the iPhone 5!

(Article by Daksh Junega: http://www.hindustantimes.com/iPhone-4-v-s-iPhone-4S-What-changed-what-didn-t/H1-Article1-753825.aspx)