Streaming TV in a land of confusion

In the last 7 days Google and Amazon have started to get their freak on with streaming TV systems, while Amazon have already hit the market with their system, Google wont be long behind it. 

Google's last effort was a bit lackluster to say the least, hardware OEMs missed the mark by some distance and there was a definite lack of hunger from Google to expand the program any further. While Chromecast was hitting the market that already saw Roku and countless other TV streaming systems come and go, Boxee Box was one already out there and that was bought by Samsung - wonderful system let down badly by poor support and under-powered.

OUYA too has been stumbling around the market place trying to find its feet like a crazy drunk man dancing to a fiddle in an Irish bar. That is the closest we have to the Amazon Fire TV, assuming we can include XBMC. Apple TV needed to be jail broken to be enjoyable in any fashion but its still out there. Chromecast works with a handful of apps and there are only so many ways we want to watch Netflix and Pandora. The PlayStation and Xbox have many of the features the Amazon Fire TV has and then some too - including Amazons own Amazon Prime Movie service. 

So what gives, we now have a choice between 5-6 boxes / systems in a market that's already crowded with ways to watch movies and TV over the internet, oh wait we already have TV with smart apps too from Sony, LG and Panasonic et all and now we need MORE ways to access TV.

As I have posted before about crowded market places, sometimes its best to stay out until we have a couple of  "winners" unless you have already backed on one horse. This time though these systems are cheap and cheerful, which is great for the consumer.

Market ? What market ?

I do wonder what exactly is it everyone is fighting over, as I said Boxee Box came and left as quick as it did, you then have Apple TV that's been on the market for at least 2; that's been a bit of a disaster. Chromecast is limited just now - Roku has done well in this space but mention it to anyone over the age of 30 and they say "a what ?!" Amazon will use their name (and Gary Bussey) to promote their new box but lets face it, its a Kindle Fire on a big screen with more power, nothing more; throw into the mix that its Android based and could have a good entry into the mod community - again hardly a big market. What Amazon Fire TV will do is grow awareness - something Google will do well to capitalise on; and +Julie Uhrman too. OUYA would do well to ask to be included into an Android TV eco system, just like OUYA want theirs to be more open to more hardware partners, would be easy to do and since they changed their "Free to Play" policy more inline with Googles they could at least shift some more units rather relay on a non profit making XBMC and side loading apps feature to sell some tin. 

Again only Roku have done well to sell a number of units, which I think will be replaced by Amazon Fire TV's pretty quickly because of its versatility and backed by many vendors over and above Roku's list of supported players. 

Branding Android TV

Google would be wise to re-brand its TV service and create something with far more finesse than before and of course support for games and a controller (any controller), the ability to use the games you have already paid for too, a huge incentive. I think Google with a 'you first' mentality to the streaming TV market is a god strategy but they need to get it right first go, or in this case second go. Google will be all too aware so many gave fallen at the first hurdle and I suspect the Amazon Live TV box will too but awareness sells boxes. 

Right now I cant seem to think why one box would outsell another by a large chunk as they all have pros and cons and they will be left to the consumer which will have the best abilities for the common man.

Streaming also has another big problem, and that's the ISPs themselves. 

Many throttle or packet shape after abusing certain ports after whats been seen as "abuse" by ISPs, certainly UK ISPs have been guilty of this in the past - those being Virgin, Sky, Talk Talk, all of which have some very woolly wording in their FUA (Fair Usage Agreements) and many others too so I'm not just singling those ISPs out. If you are going to cut the cable (dash the dish) then making sure you are with a ISP that doesn't practice those shady activities; you need to be very very aware of those FUAs so make sure you ask direct questions. I'm sure packet shaping occurs in the US too. Many ISPs demanded the BBC help them expand their networks after the iPlayer hit incredible usage in its first 2 years and Netflix were up in arms after ISPs turned on them too. 

So a mass switch over to network based TV will be something rebuffed by ISPs in the not so distant future assuming they tag those ports as an additional cost to the end user for streaming only.

Could streaming TV systems punch themselves out ? In the short term absolutely. Until we see a decent "play"form (my new word for home TV platforms) emerge, the ISPs will be unwilling to play ball and could strangle the whole idea in a heartbeat. 

Until then - stay out of the fight for at least another year.


Sneak usage

These boxes could come in handy for those hotel trips, assuming you can get access to the Hotels TV HDMI port and free wifi or even tether from your phone - goodbye hotel PPV bills and rubbish Russian / German TV.

Orzly® - Premium Tempered Glass 0.3mm Protective Screen Protector For SONY XPERIA Z1 MINI / XPERIA ZI COMPACT

After having the Z1 Compact as my new adopted full time handset, I wanted to get a Temptered Glass screen for it. 

So with limited options I bought the Orzly effort for £9.99 from Amazon - this time I wont give you the link as this is a cautionary tale. 

Having adopted the regular screen install process of having a steamy bathroom for all my other screens I used the same technique for the Orzly. If you don't know what the procedure is a quick re-cap; leave a hot bath or shower running with no extractor fan on if you have one for 15 mins or before the bath is full obviously, take all your clothes off and close the door.

Using masking tape line up your screen protector and apply using a left to right technique or if its a glass screen use a small bit of tape as a loose hinge and apply from a top down motion.

Get dressed and rejoice. 

So with that done and dusted I noticed there was a mark on the screen in the bottom left like a weird chip under the screen - no idea how that got there so I had to lift the screen - when doing so the Orzly lifted the film that Sony installed already. What the hell ! The glue managed to pull off the film, wow, that's a strong bit of glue, so now the Orzly was completely useless and I was left with a handset with a warranty that's invalid from Sony. Brilliant work Orzly, not to mention no Sony logo on the handset.

My opinion here;  Avoid the Orzly Tempered Glass Screen - even for £9.99 its a terrible purchase. 

Deleting Facebook - 1460hrs pay back

Over the last few years I found myself increasing my time on Facebook to around 2-3hrs a day, mostly talking to a few people that I hadn't seen in quite a while, posting updates and the odd picture. Now while this seems very normal usage of Facebook, it caused me to think about breaking down my day, just logging down how much time I was spending on Facebook. I'm a busy parent, and hold down a great career so how did I find the time to sit at a computer and be so non-productive. 

What surprised me was the amount of message sending I was doing, upto 45mins a day sending messages from either my phone or computer; mostly the handset, so that didn't even come into my thought process of using Facebook. Humm so almost 4 hours a day then, using the Facebook. That's a whooping 1460hrs a year "wasted", sounds pretty anti social that.

1460hrs is about the time it would take me to :-

Walk to Iran and back - I know I just checked.

Learn 100 different languages - I know, I just checked.

Build 21 2100sq ft houses - I know, I just checked.

So if I exchange Facebook for my time back, what could I achieve ? What am I missing out on, which is the exact reason many use Facebook, to quench their thirst for "missing out". 

Back in December I deleted my Facebook account, I didn't warn anyone, no clue, just a raw delete; just to see what happened, well the results surprised me. Firstly those who I really didn't need to contact, didn't get in touch - if I wasn't offering the information on Facebook many didn't really seem interested which was fine. Humans seem to like obtaining easy information; not be challenged by the difficult - who walked round to someones house to ask them out for a beer when they could use the phone instead, nobody. The biggest pain point for me was talking to people overseas - I have many family and friends who live in the US and UK but that was replaced with WhatsApp or Google Hangouts. So I lost the ability to communicate with some that in real honestly I didn't care much about, and found a way to communicate with those close to me, and that went the other way round too.

One thing that surprised me was the amount of people that got put out that I had deleted Facebook assuming I had removed them as a friend - One actually didn't reach out to me until I sent her a text asking how she was, she replied "I thought you were ignoring me now" hummm since when did Facebook became the ONLY method of communication ? Text, a call, a whatsapp - anything other than a Facebook message would have done, but this was overlooked. Have we become that lazy ?

The feeling of not sharing all my SMS and handset information with Facebook felt good too. No snooping, no wondering who is using the information I send, to create adverts for me. 

One big part of the big Facebook delete was getting all those hours back, I found I had more time for my family; more time to learn to do new things - I recently learned how to Scuba Dive to a high level. I also have got involved with more business opportunities too. Less time for people I don't care about, and more time to enjoy getting out more. Did Facebook alone prevent me from doing all of this ?! Well there is an argument for that to say otherwise but you cant deny 1460hrs is an immense amount of time to reintroduce into your life.

I think the same can apply for any social media that people seem hellbent on self branding themselves, or collecting friends. 

Deleting Facebook I'm sure isn't for everyone but in the quest for not being left out of other peoples lives, is very much in exchange of missing out on your own life. 

Go on delete Facebook, I dare you.

@ihaveagadget 

Photowall for Chromecast

Now Chromecast has seen a wider release around the world the little HDMI stick has started to see some pretty cool apps come out for it.

One being Photowall for Chromecast by Google Creative Labs.

Photowall for Chromecast is a new Chrome Experiment that lets people collaborate with images on the TV - using phones or tablets. Anyone can take a picture and send it to a Photowall to instantly see it on the big screen.

We have been laying with it here at IHAG Towers and had a load of fun with it, the app does have some frustrating issues now but then again its just at v1.0 right now - we are sure those frustrations will be removed shortly. The demo below shows a Childrens party as the main sell, but we can think of many uses even those in business. 

When you’re finished playing with Photowall, a YouTube video of your Photowall party is automatically generated. Perfect for sharing with everyone who took part, or those who didn't. 

You Tube Photowall Demo

Google Glass brings mostly good reactions; uneasy feelings within too.

Since I have been a Google Glass explorer based in the UK I have come across many curious people wanting to ask about my experience - some really surprise me. A middle aged lady who worked in the Sainsburys local, posed several questions on my usage when I had them on last week buying my groceries, I hope she wont mind me saying a very unassuming technophile; she greeted me with a smile and looked at Glass with wide eyes of wonder which is what the explorer program is all about. However there is a side of Glass that does make me feel very uneasy and this brings up questions of our society as a whole but I guess that's down to the individual.

There are two situations that really stand out for me as those moments as, hummm not sure I'm enjoying this. One such occasion arrived unexpectedly on the way home from Somerset a few weeks back. Google Glass had been navigating me home with some ease when I needed to stop for a comfort break shall we call it. I didn't want to leave Glass in the car as there is a high chance of theft at road side service stations and I didn't have enough space to hide it anyway after a weekend of Scuba diving. So I kept them on and raced into the male (obviously) WC and here I had my moment of - hang on I have video equipment strapped to my face in a convenience stop - now call me over zealous but at this point I immediately felt uneasy at the prospect of being challenged by a not so friendly technophobe at why I felt the need to wear them in such a place. Reality is I didn't need them on but had Glass been strapped to my face via prescription lenses I wouldn't have had a choice.  For the months I have been using Glass I hadn't come against this scenario and then as I continued my journey I could think of other less than happy scenarios that Glass would be less than welcome. 

So my question to Google would be how could they implement a retraction method, or at least a way of removing the prism or cover the camera for those moments when you just don't want to be seen wearing Glass. Personally a small design change that could see these uneasy moments disappear would benefit me and others in the same way, including maybe those places where Google is currently banned. Not sure I'm ready to make Glass a permanent feature on my Glasses just yet, and to be fair, I'm not sure society is too - which is one of the reasons why this product isn't on general release yet - acceptance is a long way off and that's from someone who went to great lengths to be an explorer for Google.

Unlock US/UK content on your Chromecast

We all like to watch TV and Movies, however using US services like HBO, FOX, Netflix or Amazon Prime can be problematic for the Brits, just as watching BBC iPlayer and Sky Go can for the Americans - even when you travel too. Dam those regional restrictions.  

Want to work round that ?

Great, although VPN isn't supported on Chromecast because you need both server and Chromecast client to be on the same LAN / Network, using SmartStream from StreamVia you get just this. 

Due to the way SmartStream works you will not notice any slow-down of your internet connection, only the UK & USA sites that SmartStream supports are unlocked and all other local sites continue to work as normal. There is no software to install just a simple configuration change and then sign in to authorize your connection! **

SmartStream also works on devices that would otherwise be complicated to connect to a traditional VPN service - such as games consoles, Internet TVs, media streamers etc - but it can also improve the streaming performance of regular devices, such as computers, phones, tablets etc, when compared to using a VPN.

So how do you get this good stuff, easy, click the StreamVia link on the right of the page and sign up for UK / US VPN, you will get SmartStream included in your package, unlike other vendors who just give you DNS.

Change your router DNS look up, everything on your LAN working with SmartStream, including your Chomecast, laptop and mobile phones.

We recommend changing the router because you don't have to change every device, its just a one off change, to one device. Check your router manual for how you do that, normally you have to log onto the default gateway which is something like http://192.168.x.x.

Open the below website on your SmartStream configured device to ensure that a) it has been configured correctly and b) is compatible with your router or Internet connection, in your browser goto

• http://sstest.streamvia.com

If the above test passes you likely need to sign into SmartStream with your VPN username/password to update your IP address in their system, each time your broadband IP address changes you need to complete the below.

• https://smartstream.streamvia.com

Sign on using the StreamVia credentials you made during setup, then you are done.

Enjoy international content on your Wii U, Playstation, PC, whatever, including Chromecast and its associated services.

Remember for chromecst you will need to obtain various "overseas" apps they may not be in your local Google Play store. How you do that is down to you, and of course the risks that brings.

** Please be aware this method was tested on an older unit when we received Chromecast back in August. The UK model may differ from whats being mentioned here. You may need to force DNS and IP address settings via MAC address to the Chromecast to get it to work with Streamvia's service. Some routers may not have this ability, tested on a Netgear 600U.

Update October 21, 2014: Alternatively you can get root access to your Chromecast so you can force the Chromecast to use Streamvia's DNS servers. We are not responsible for any damage done to your Chromecast nor do we provide support for the process. This method was developer by the awesome users over at XDADevelopers:

• Root your Chromecast: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2452838
• Install the Flashcast changer to Unlocator http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2455888

A video tutorial is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6c34jqFHxY watch and root !

Android Wear preview - slick and polished

Looks a little like Glass with Google Now thrown in, like the look of this ? Will be arriving on the new Moto 360 and LG thingie watch very soon. 

Massive improvement on anything out right now, including Galaxy and Smartwatch 2 from Samsung and Sony respectively.  

Sending Google Play Music to a UPnP/DLNA device such as ROCKI

You might want to send your Google Music Play collection to a device other than Chromecast or listening on your Laptop / Mobile phone.

Cast to UPnP/DLNA on the Google Play store can help. 

Ensure you have WiFI started and connected to your local network.

Install, run and simply click the START GOOGLE MUSIC button, you may get a warning button like the screen on the left, take note a click "OK"

Google Play Music will start on your device, and then click the usual Cast button on the top left.

When you do the options to select a device to stream to should list contain all your UPnP/DLNA clients on your network. 

On a side note of using ROCKI, you can find out more great ways to utilize your hardware over at the ROCKI community forums.

About time #2 - Google Voice is coming to Hangouts

9to5google.com have posted with information saying Google plan to kill off Voice in favor of integrating the function into Hangouts. 

Im very pleased about this because since voice was removed from Google+ (which worked with my car bluetooth as well) I've been having to use Hangout Video which isnt always the best - both on data usage and call quality. 

So its about time this happened, VoIP seemed to be forgotten 'bout by Google, this is a welcome change for us international users at least.

Xperia Walkman works with ROCKI using "Throw"

Since we took receipt of ROCKI we have been playing around with what does and doesn't work. One bonus is that +Sony Xperia  Walkman app on Xperia phones also works well using "Throw" 

Open your Walkman app and select the throw icon in the top right and select your ROCKI, then have fun firing your music to your speakers. 

If you need the walkman app then you can find "versions" of the apk on various internet sources, so use those at your own risk, and of course the copyright / legal issues that follow. 

About time #1 - Moto 360; a sexy smartwatch

In the last few hours +Motorola Mobility have "kinda" announced the Moto 360, which will be running Google's new Androidware smart watch Android OS.

We don't have allot of details other than this dam sexy picture. Its about time we had a standard OS for smartwatches, and I suspect this is a play against Tizen and startups like +Omate TrueSmart from getting in on the market. However LG and other OEMs are in on the act using this new OS, so lets see what they come up with. Having a single standard like on handsets is a great move for the consumer.

You can see more in the hangout with +Motorola Mobility tomorrow (19th March at 6PM GMT; details are here. 

"Name the Game" on OUYA, physics puzzler of epic proportions

A new game with no name appeared on the OUYA Game store, which actually has no name other than "Name the Game", you can help name the title by tweeting +Gamious with the hashtag #namethegame - so what its it ?

Its a physics based puzzler, which I really enjoy that genre anyway but pretty much all aspects of physics for gaming is here, weight, size, momentum, gravity and mass. The idea is to get your ball through a neon network of blocks, levers, and such to get to the target as quickly as possible, check out the "name the game" over on the store and push it to your OUYA now.

Check it out on Vimeo below or via this link.




#NameTheGame from Gamious on Vimeo.

IHAG gets a YouTube channel (yes at long last)

Yes its true, we have at long last got a You Tube channel. Over the last two months we have been a little quieter than normal. 

However lots of news and items coming up but to start we have got our YT channel live. 

The link is here...enjoy

ROCKI arrives, and is here to stay

Those lucky kickstarter backers of ROCKI have started to receive their units, pretty much on time - I was no exception. 

I was very excited and decided to give ROCKI an early road test.So lets get ROCKI on the road.

First of all you will need the app from either the Google Play store of the course the Apple store too if you are a member of the Apple fan club. 

Hardware wise the basic ROCKI Play has just two ports, a 3.5m jack and the power from a mini USB - the same USB port you find on all Android and Windows phones so chances are you will have a few cables kicking about. However some are included for you anyway.

ROCKI Play+ has the benefit of a HDMI output which is missing from this unit.

Connecting to the ROCKI is very much the same as Chromecast, the ROCKI will create a hotspot that your handset will seek out, then input your local LAN settings - ROCKI will then associate itself with your local network. Then your good to go. You will be guided to look for light indicators on your ROCKI app so look out for those. 

Select your ROCKI from the top green bar and then log into your streaming services, for now only Soundcloud and Last.FM are listed as well as all your lovely local music too. 

Since my business is cloud based you can guess that I'm a heavy user of Google Music, Soundcloud etc, so it wasn't very difficult for me to log into Soundcloud via the ROCKI app and then sync my playlists. The entire set up took around 2 mins to complete to playing music.

I've been trying the ROCKI out on all my smaller bits of HiFi such as a sound bar, portable speakers and the kitchen sound system, all of which it worked flawlessly on as you would expect. Difficult to say anything negative because it does what it says on the tin, it does get a little warm but I guess that's while charging and throwing music at it. You can change the sleeves to funky colours (7 no less)

Very much looking forward to ROCKI adding additional services in the coming months, and expanding the app a little bit. Little things like learning when to swipe to remove items from your ROCKI queue are touches that need a little refinement, but remember this is early days and a start up that's done brilliantly to get the product out the door on time and within schedule.

Streaming various sources to the ROCKI from a few handsets was a joy to use too, meaning many of you can get social with your music at home and on the road, thanks to the internal battery which will outlast many AA based power systems I'm sure. 

Anyway - I will update more on ROCKI as the app changes and more services are added. In the coming weeks I also have a very exciting announcement to make, so stay tuned to IHAG.

To get yourself a ROCKI, head over to http://www.myrocki.com/ starting at $49, very reasonable cost to create yourself a speaker system that will not only give new life to your current hifi set up, but makes sharing your music fun too, especially if you have several of them in your house. Its heterogeneous but good in every sense of the word.

Click here for a quick You Tube demo using ROCKI Play

ROCKI app goes live in the Play Store

If you are awaiting your ROCKI then you might want to download the ROCKI app which is now available to download in the Google Play store (and other platforms) in anticipation. 

On the other hand if you have received your ROCKI and are already using the "Music for all speakers" gadget, let us know what you think. 

Is OUYA Everywhere the Right Move?

I've been thinking about OUYA's 'OUYA Everywhere' initiative, and I like it - I think it's more sustainable than selling its own hardware, but I still have doubts about the whole proposition.

I think the plan is great for developers. More platforms means wider reach and greater sales, but it also means more of the usual compatibility problems. There's really no way around it. Tegra 3 was acceptable because devs could build upon it; squeeze a little more out of it, but what's the incentive now? You can technically create an OUYA game without the intention of releasing it on OUYA hardware.

I love that people without OUYAs will be able to play the system's exclusive without having bought the box itself, but would they be willing to search through the garbage?

I feel like the majority of people who champion OUYA are people who've either backed it or adopted it early and were willing to accept its problems. Like investing in a socially-awkward flower and watching it grow, but if OUYA presents themselves to those people as an App Store (possibly), won't they he expecting something a little more vetted? Especially in the case of the Mojo, where the Play Store will sit alongside it.

I feel like this could be much bigger if they, say, partnered with Samsung to have the OUYA store on their Galaxy phones and tabs with Samsung's GamePad, but I can't see that happening since Julie Uhrman has spoken many times about how much she loves television.

I'm curious to know what you all think about this. I love OUYA as more than anybody, but they aren't above criticism and I just want them to be around for a long time. Still, the idea of having OUYA's platform on a portable device like the Nvidia Shield, with proper controls and a great screen, for me, outweighs the aforementioned negatives of this plan. What do you think?

Mobile networks to confuse the market with Tizen

Ever since Samsung announced they will be bringing Tizen to the masses as soon as MWC, the level of interest has increases incredibly. We all like to see something new however Tizen is nothing but a massive trojan horse which will disrupt the market and could give ultimate control of where you buy some handsets. I'm talking about Orange, +Vodafone and DoCoMo. 


What Samsung have done is create an end to end list of partners from hardware, software and network that could see their products championed quite quickly because each process of the production cycle will offer a piece of the dollar pie. So would this mean for example, a double payday for Vodafone in the event of selling a +Tizen Association based handset, which then renders sales into an unethical mess because Samsung, Vodafone / Orange / DoCoMo depending on your geographic, will be ramming Tizen down your neck like some kind of vet giving a tablet to a Rhino. 

+Sony used the consortium to push Blu Ray(only one of 2 formats outside of digital), as have many eastern companies because they never like making choices on their own because failure brings so much shame. Sony gave everyone a slice of the pie but what happened to Blu Ray, I think it was 2 years too late but with 4k round the corner those large movies wont be available to stream or download anytime soon in many parts of the UK and Europe as most are stuck on slugband.

While some would champion Samsung's vision to do this, it does mean there will be a whole load of people who could end up buying a dead duck. Many many iOS owners couldn't make the jump to Android as they have invested too much into App Store, same for Android owners going the other way, but the thing that worries me is those who don't have awareness of what they are buying, they get a dose of Tizen and lose out on their purchases and then begs the question about app support, oh that's why Samsung have the smart watch out running Tizen, sure it doesn't matter which OS your watch runs right, I agree with that, however its being used as a dev kit of sorts so some get try out their apps before a general phone release. 

Blackberry died because it didn't keep with the times, but it was much more than that, having 3 major platforms is too much of any market. There is only really two types of fuel, derv or petrol. Desktop you have Mac or Windows, I can think of so many instances both in and out of the technology sector.

My point is the third option is almost always an also ran. Windows Mobile is already the 3rd OS for mobile, electric is the other option to dev or petrol - you can say LPG too but who uses that. TV options you have 3 - satellite, cable or aerial. Any Linux distro is another option to the desktop while Chrome has started to gain traction. 

I cant see Tizen being much more than an also ran option 3 or 4, but if the powers of the greedy networks rather than +Samsung Mobile  are wanting to get in on the mobile platform game, then it could mean iOS and Android are in for a ruff ride at the point of sale. My advice is avoid Tizen, its just a trojan horse for the mobile networks to control more of your wallet, your mind and your soul (ok a bit dramatic).

Ridge Racer Slipstream drifts on Android

Yesterday Namco Bandai released Ridge Racer Slipstream into the Google Play store. Its free but has plenty of in app purchases. 

You can download it here.

Let us know what you think, but we think its very good and in tune of RR4 of old. 

The ultimate arcade racing franchise brings the console experience to your Android device! Slipstream past your rivals and drift around tight turns at over 150 MPH!

A NEW BREED OF RACING MACHINE
• 12 powerful machines speed you to victory
• 300 customization possibilities to create your dream machine
• 6 game-changing Perks give you advantages you’ll appreciate

EXCITING CAREER AND ARCADE GAME MODES
• Make a name for yourself in the full featured career mode
• Need a quick fix? Take on Regular and Knockout Races in Arcade Mode
• Connect with Facebook to gain rewards and share achievements and milestones with the Ridge Racer community

BREATHTAKING COURSES & INSPIRING RACES
• 10 unique venues and 20 courses for head to head racing
• 108 racing competitions across 6 Grand Prix Series
• Push the limits of high end graphics in beautifully detailed locations: Lost Ruins, Industrial Drive, Harbor Line, Old Central, and others

RIDGE RACER – THE ULTIMATE ARCADE RACING EXPERIENCE!

Dating back to its original release in 1993, Ridge Racer has the honor of being the longest running racing franchise in history. Over 25 releases on arcade, home & portable consoles, PC, mobile, smartphones & tablets.

For this application, the system requirements are:

- Ice Cream Sandwich or higher
- Dual Core processor or higher
- 1GB RAM minimum
- Dedicated GPU.

If you’re able to determine to determine your GPU, the minimum chipsets are:

- Tegra 3 (Nvidia)
- Adreno 225 (Qualcomm)
- PowerVR SGX-544 (MediaTek, others)
- Mali-400 MP4 (Samsung, MediaTek, others)

For more about Namco Bandai Games America, follow us!
https://www.facebook.com/ridgeracerslipstream
https://twitter.com/RR_Slipstream

For technical support, please visit:
http://www.namcobandaigames.com/company/support.html

Nike breaking golden handcuffs with Apple

After a long wait, Nike are now moving onto Android after posting a job advert for an Android SDK developer(s).

Nike have been in Apples back pocket since the early days of iPod and the Nike+ footpod they were touting around to budding athletes, so making the break is a sign that many of the last "Apple Only Campers" are now starting to want some of that green robot dollar. Plus its exciting to get the fuel band to use with your shiny new phone after MWC.

There has been a reluctance for most Apple only fitness companies to stay on one platform but since the middle of last year thats been changing, maybe there are more fatties using Android too, since everyone in Apples walled garden must now be fit huh.  

Why Facebook is a social disaster for Whatsapp

Lets make this clear from the start, I don't like Facebook, never have - never will. So before the "haters gunna hate" brigade start off here, the exit is that way.

Whatsapp, for those that don't know is a multi-platform messaging app that can send, text, pictures and audio / video as well, the app costs around 69p / $1 a year to use and is advert free. Pretty simple really. I have used it happily for many years and until today, thought I would continue to use it. The app install base is huge of course and millions of those messages flying about will have many uses to FB. Firstly there is nothing stopping the new owners changing the Terms and Conditions to include all the items you share over the app becoming the IP of Facebook, sounds familiar ? Sure it does, so sending anything which could be a little personal, be it data or some flesh could spell out a bit of a disaster waiting to happen.

Secondly the question of that 69p yearly sub ? Will it become replaced with adverts, based on the information it reads from your messages no doubt. Sounds a bit Google Search like but will I be able to see that data and remove it at will, like I can with Google ? I doubt that too, even if I could I suspect it would be kept for years on end just like the main business line of social ripping Facebook.com when you "remove" yourself from that site.

So the classic customer who likes to pay for something is going to lose out by surrendering their info in exchange for something free, yes everyone else is doing it these days and I personally think that trend could be changed - I'd much rather have a "paid for" service over free any day - but the internet isn't like that so much these days. Imagine if EVERYTHING was like that - "taxi please, sure I'll need all of your likes, personal pictures, friends names, phone numbers, birthdays, locations you have been oh and emails - hop in - Tescos was it ?" I'm not sure a single person would give up that information. What information Facebook will rip from your messages - nobody knows but the Facebook Messenger app is pretty intrusive compared to Whatsapp and merging the two would make sense for them to reap the benefits of Whatsapp huge database. 

There is another reason why I think this purchase is going through, and that's a defensive play against Google - there is/was a rumor going round that Google bid for Whatsapp but regardless if they did or did not, Facebook letting Google purchase Whatsapp would have been a bit of a disaster for them. The reason being that Google would have merged it into Google+ quickly, increasing its ever growing user base, regardless of what everyone says about Google+ it is growing, and of course would have become free with G+ / Hangouts, which in my opinion is much better than most other message apps on the market anyway. No change to the Terms which read your SMSs would have been required either. 

In some ways what Facebook are trying to do is stop the rot that's started to creep in, its becoming uncool, unsafe and most of all unsocial, purchasing an app with a massive user base giving it a new way of getting users data is great for them, but a social disaster for us - the end user.

Find Your Stuff with the Help of Find'Em Tracking Card

I am terrible for losing things, I am so absent minded its ridiculous. So you can kinda guess how much I enter all my safe keeps either in Google Drive, Calendar etc on a regular basis to organise my life a little bit.

Although, this doesn't stop anything physical from going from my side, including the time I manged to lose two mobile handsets in one day, ouch.

Therefore this year I have been on the hut for something to help me - there seems to be plenty of item tracking devices about to come to market too, Chipolo has been having a few issues since its Kickstarter campaign ended late last year with various recalls. Not to mention Gear Tag which failed with its campaign but managed to get to production in small numbers, but one that's managed to get it right is the Find'em Tracking card. 

Its very small, about the size of a credit card or business card that could easily slip into the wallet, and the same thickness as a CR3032 battery - which is no coincidence as its powered by two of them slotted into the side of the card itself. 

The app that comes with the Find'em card is pretty easy to use, although in both cases I have a pre-production app and card so I expected it to be a little buggy, luckily it wasn't. It managed to sync with the Google Nexus 5 - but the baseline here was Android 4.3 and above, it didn't want to work with the LG G2, again I guess that's a pre-production problem that will go away.

Once you have sync you can set how far the card can get before it starts to alert on your handset, which will give you its last know location, the display is like a radar so its kinda fun to see it slip out of range before havoc kicks off. The alarm on the card is a little quiet and made quieter if its inside the wallet, but you can kinda get "warmer" using the radar on your handset to locate. Plus the phone really does kick out a racket when the alarm is hit. 

In terms of functions - this is very simple but its highly effective in what it does. While the card is a little flimsy it does hold true in a wallet if left or indeed stuck inside a travel case or purse in much the same fashion. 

I will be testing this further and will update this page with some app screen shots, if you want to check out Find'em Tracking then head over to http://www.findemtracking.com/ and pre-order for a very well priced $24.99 !!

Sony Z1 Compact is the iPhone migration choice

Sony have really landed one square on the chin of Apple with the Sony Z1 Compact. Its clear that the size and form factor of being close to the iPhone 5 size is no accident, as really there is no natural competitor to Apples flag ship until now.

While many other OEMs are hell bent on making the biggest screen, everyone seems to have forgotten about the iPhone 5 from Apple which still sells by the buckets. Most of the minis on the market are an underwhelming version of its big brother - HTC and Samsung have been guilty of making a mini in spec, mini in price policy which hasn't really worked out well for either of them.

Making the footpath to Android more accessible from Apple is something OEMs really needed to be address, sure Apple are making a bigger screen iPhone but the hearts and minds of those who accuse Fandroids of carrying a TV in their pockets needs to be won. I think the Z1 Compact is the handset to do just that.

The size is very pocket-able, the specs have remained the same, and the screen is arguably better than its big brother regardless of the lack of pixels but it has more than the iPad 3, and everyone loved that. I hold both the iPhone and Z1C in my hands and cant help but think the Z1C is much better quality to feel and looks better than the iPhone - the battery life is also better then the iPhone.

Now the trick is, can Sony get anyone to listen ? I fear it will take a huge Samsung-esq assault on the media to get many to take note and with MWC round the corner the other OEM voices will become deafening.

If you have a friend sat in Apples' walled garden who is looking to kick down the fence gate, then send them to the Sony Z1 Compact to investigate, its so close in many ways with the dimension and spec wont have them running back to repair the gate. Lets kick down those walls !

Motorola being sold again - to Lenovo

Such a shame the sale of Motorola is going through in the next few hours, Google have really helped Motorola make cracking handsets in the X and the G. 

Motorola have been a bit of a burden on Google, the sale will see a huge loss with the patent book not being worth much in the eyes of the court and $3billion is small change on the investment which also saw Motorola stay in the red for the last few years; not a penny made in profit.

I cant help but think that Lenovo will make a shed load of people redundant and the brand will become a budget OEM that will fade into obscurity. 

Lenovo themselves have been kicked about like a hot potato nobody wants, and seems like they will smoother Motorola but I could be wrong.  

For the consumer this could see the end of the new improved Motorola as we know them, which is a massive loss to all things Android - I for one will avoid Moto if this goes though.

Sony Z1 Compact actually better than its big brother ? You Bet !

When I took a look at the Z1 late last year I gave it a bit of a rough time, you can read all about that on our blog posts after living with Sonys flagship for a few weeks.

Problems I found with the Z1 were less than stella battery life, camera which under delivered on its promise (although by no means a poor camera, its actually very good) and I had a few question marks around its size, those extra bezels were just a leap too far for me - the Z1 felt awkward in the pocket as a result. 

So you can understand why I took note when Sony announced the Compact was on its way. 

Same old, Same old new stuff

Pretty much all the hardware that's in the Z1 is in the compact minus the screen and the battery, of which one drains the other so I was quite happy to see that battery draining screen gone. The chip set has been pretty much left untouched as memory size has too, of course that waterproof body is still in full effect. One thing that also came across is those over-sized bezels, there is slightly less of them but still they are big.

To cut to the chase, the experience is pretty much exactly the same as the Z1 - the UI skin feels the same, the camera feels the same; with a few tweaks on low noise which is most welcome, the premium feel is still there in that sexy body.

The screen doesn't feel like its been dumbed down in size and quality, the display is still rich and in fact has better viewing angles then the Z1 despite its lower dpi and 720p res spec.

One of the big selling points of this phone is the battery, for a "mini" its way out in front in its class, and here is where it beats its big brother by a country mile. While I ran our own 'not so lab tests', the Z1C managed an average of 11 hours of bashing the battery with YouTube, e-mail, some browsing, and social media activity. On screen time broke 6+ hours easily each time when I was active with the handset. 

Comparing the Z1 to the Z1C, I can honestly say I would pick up the Compact every time. Its practical, the camera is slightly better and there is no looking for the power supply within 4 hours of using the active screen, there have been some bloggers claim silly numbers with the Z1 - oh it lasts me 7 hours etc, seriously thats the biggest load of BS I ever heard, and maybe they are on Sony's payroll. However the Z1C in part is something the Z1 should have been. Practical, fast and stylish and most of all actually last all day.

Sony have done very well making this less of a mini and they have been smart NOT to call it a mini, but a compact. Having all the same USP as its big brother is quite an achievement - the only issue I have is thinking is anyone going to make the mental leap of paying flagship prices for a compact ?! Maybe so.

This over view of the Z1 Compact is just that, the Sony rep kindly left it with me for a few days, so no long term until I get to have one full time.

Soul Fjord hits OUYA right NOW !

Yes at long last Soul Fjord has arrived on OUYA, send it to your OUYA if you cant get to the store here.

Soul Fjord is a rhythm based action game made exclusively for your OUYA console by the team at Airtight Games that brought you Quantum Conundrum. Become the legendary champion of funk, Magnus Jones, as he sets out for revenge and fights his way to Valhalla, the hottest club in the afterlife.

I must say this game is epic, a killer app for +OUYA maybe ? 

While playing this game I thought of how I could sum it up easily, think RPG PaPappa The Rappa - its the best I can do to be honest. 

Its free to play but lots of in app purchases, which you dont have to do but I guess on the later levels it might be handy to buy some "records" which can be used to purchase new items from the superfly guy selling his shizzle under his jacket.