Official ‘Tetris’ App Now Free in Apple Store App Promotion [iOS Blog]
The official Apple Store app for iOS offers free books, apps and other content that users can download to their iOS device, and the company has recently updated its promotion to make Tetris [Direct Link] from Electronic Arts available for free.
The current Tetris offer is advertised as “A throwback for you. On us.” Typically priced at $0.99 in the iOS App Store, the app is free when users redeem the promotion from within the Apple Store app. The program is designed to entice shoppers to use the Apple Store app and is different from the traditional App Store “App of the Week” sale, which is available to all App Store users and this week features the Max Axe [Direct Link] game from Naked Sky Entertainment.
The new Tetris promotion is being offered alongside a free book giveaway in the U.S. and other countries for Franklin’s Valentines that has been active since the Valentine’s Day store makeover launched late last month. The Tetris offer can be accessed from individual store pages in the Apple Store app, which are found by tapping on the “Stores” button in the bottom toolbar. The free app is listed in the middle of the page, directly underneath the company’s “Love is in the Air” Valentine’s Day sale.
The Tetris promotion expires on April 7, 2014 and is subject to availability.
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Aiming Olympus’ Stylus SP-100, the 50x superzoom camera with a gun sight (hands-on)
There are bigger superzooms out there, but Olympus’ new Stylus SP-100 is trying to make you a better long-distance shooter alongside its 50x zoom functionality. A see-thru viewfinder window with a laser-projected bulls-eye right in the middle jumps out from the top of the camera when you press the appropriate button. Then, while you’re at a high level of zoom, the window acts as a short-cut way of ensuring you’re on-target without zooming out to reassess. Olympus even set up a faux flying bird right in the middle of the CP+ show floor in Japan, hanging from the ceiling supports to draw our full-zoom fire. It’s a clever shortcut to assist with framing — it seems pitched at beginner photographers, rather than those already used to telephoto lenses and DSLRs. It’s not perfect, you’ll still need to ensure your shutter speed is up to scratch to grab a decent image, but it’s certainly a good way of adding some extra guidance.
The 16MP Stylus SP-100 feels lighter than an entry-level DSLR and there’s still a built-in flash above that new framing assist system. Alongside that, this superzoom is also capable of up to 7 fps burst shooting (up to six frames) which should also help up the chances of getting the right actual shot. You’ll be able to test it out for yourself next month, when it lands in the US priced at $400.
Filed under: Cameras
The Engadget Podcast is live at 12PM ET!
As always, love is in the air on the Engadget Podcast. Your trio have escaped the video-based black box on the fifth floor of Engadget Towers for the cozy confines of audio-only podcasting in, well, basically a closet. But it’s our closet! At least we’re not out in the snowy streets of New York, eh? Join Joseph, Terrence and Ben (that’s me) in keeping warm from the wintry bluster outside. Bring flowers and chocolates!
What’s that? It’s Valentine’s Day?
Filed under: Podcasts
Herocraft slashes prices for Valentine’s Day weekend
Herocraft, one of the developers we love here at AndroidGuys, has slashed the prices of a few of their Android games. Starting today and running through the weekend you can get Save the Furries! and The Tiny Bang Story for only a buck each. The former is half its normal price and the latter is 70% off the everyday sticker.
Save the Furries!
Help Save the Furries across 50 levels in this puzzle-adventure! Furries are cute green aliens that love to visit strange planets and then stroll about oblivious to the dangers around them.
Tap and swipe pinballs, ropes, logs, crates, carts, switches, fans and all sorts of other items to help create a safe path to the exit. Make sure you keep the Furries safe from strange galactic creatures, spikey pits, huge explosions, giant drops and the evil Furax.
With 50 increasingly-challenging levels to clear, cute design and intuitive controls, why aren’t you already trying to Save the Furries?
The Tiny Bang Story
Welcome to Tiny Planet, a gorgeous steampunk inspired world sadly devastated by a recent asteroid strike. Your mission is to help rebuild this beautiful idyll and restore it to its former glory. To do so you’ll need to hunt hidden objects, solve puzzles and conquer devilish brain teasers.
The Tiny Bang Story is set across five distinct chapters each with their own lovingly hand-drawn location, which combined with the enchanting music created just for this game, adds up to an immersive and crowd-pleasing experience. With no text in the game users will intuitively find their way around the planet, work out what tasks need to be completed next and forge their own path through this unique adventure.
The post Herocraft slashes prices for Valentine’s Day weekend appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Ask HTC Anything on Reddit today
Have you ever wanted to ask HTC why they stopped making Windows Phones? Or… about why it takes so long for them to issue updates? Or how about why the Sense UI sucked for so long? Well now’s your chance.
HTC are hosting an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit today from 1:30pm to 3:00pm PST.
Rules seem to be fairly open, as does the topic choice at the moment, with HTC choosing not to publish any details about the session, only that it’s happening.
I imagine of most interest will be HTC’s inability to deliver consistent up to date Android operating system deltas to the carriers for delivery onto consumers.
What will you ask? Hit up the link to access the AMA on Reddit.
The post Ask HTC Anything on Reddit today appeared first on AndroidGuys.
South Korea shuns Huawei over fears that it spies on the US
We’ve long known that the US government has major security concerns about Huawei, despite the Chinese company’s insistence that it’s free of Communist Party influence. As a result, Huawei has been barred from taking on infrastructure contracts within the Land of the Free, but it appears this safeguard still isn’t enough: According to the Wall Street Journal, the US has now risked further diplomatic awkwardness by asking its key ally in the region, South Korea, to re-route all sensitive communications that involve the US away from any Huawei-built equipment. The State Department has partly denied this report, saying that South Korea has changed its policy out of its own volition, but it follows that there must be some degree of concern that Huawei’s systems in Korea are accessible to Chinese spies, and perhaps in turn to North Korean ones, too. The only other explanation is that the US and South Korea are holding a very public and very unfair grudge against a totally innocent company. Who knows what the truth is? Beyond throwing in the obvious pot-kettle metaphor, we’re not really qualified to comment.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile
Via: Reuters
Source: Wall Street Journal
Fujifilm’s dial-filled X-T1 is a manual shooter’s dream (hands-on)
On paper, the most significant addition to Fujifilm’s X-T1 is its weather-resistant housing. But you’ll need one of three as-of-yet-unreleased weather-sealed lenses in order to take advantage — the 18-55mm f/2.8-4 kit optic isn’t up to snuff when it comes to keeping out water, sand and snow, so if you opt for the $1,700 bundle, you’ll be out of luck. Instead, we’re quite taken with the camera’s comprehensive control layout, which includes dedicated dials for exposure compensation, shutter speed and ISO (!) mounted up top. Some lenses also include an integrated exposure dial, so you can set the full exposure manually without any need to dig through menus. There’s also a 16.3-megapixel APS-C X-Trans CMOS II sensor and an EXR Processor II, along with a 3-inch, 1.04M-dot tilting LCD and a really nice 2.36M-dot OLED viewfinder for framing shots.
We spent a few minutes shooting with the X-T1 at CP+ just outside Tokyo this week, and the camera performed phenomenally. The focusing system was speedy and accurate, and the optional extended grip and vertical grip accessory made shooting in either orientation quite comfortable. The UI also felt like an improvement — even reviewing images on the built-in LCD, a process which can often be unnecessarily cumbersome, was a breeze. The X-T1 is one of the only current models to be compatible with the new SDXC UHS-II format (SanDisk announced its first U3 card just this week), so images you shoot in the 8 fps burst mode should make their way off the camera’s buffer very quickly.
Overall, we’re smitten with the X-T1, and depending on where pricing falls for the weather-resistant 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6, 16-55mm f/2.8 and 50-140mm f/2.8 lenses, this may turn out to be one of the most attractive mirrorless combos on the market. Those optics may be a few months out, but if you’re willing to stick with dry conditions for the time being, you should be able to pick this camera up within a week or two for $1,300 body only or $1,700 with the 18-55mm f/2.8-4 kit lens.
Filed under: Cameras
Lenovo’s acquisition of Motorola doesn’t bother LG
Following the acquisition of Motorola by Lenovo in an attempt to boost their mobile presence, Kim Jong Hoon – head of LG Mobile – took the chance to state that despite the boost in market share the acquisition gave Lenovo, LG isn’t worried.
“There are many talks over Lenovo and Motorola in the media right now and how it affects LG, but internally, we aren’t discussing much about it.”
LG has firm plans to regain third place in the smartphone market by the end of the year and they don’t see Lenovo as being a threat to that goal. Currently LG is sitting in fourth place with around five percent of the market.
With LG introducing the new LG G Pro 2 it certainly has the hardware to battle for third place. Lenovo will take some time to get their acquisition in order and get a Motorola product to the market, but should LG be worried?
Let us know in the comments below.
The post Lenovo’s acquisition of Motorola doesn’t bother LG appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Apple and Samsung Fail to Reach Deal Over Patent Issues in Recent Mediation Meeting [iOS Blog]
Last month, it was reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung Electronics CEO Oh-Hyun Kwon agreed to attend a mediation session on or before February 19 ahead of a second patent infringement lawsuit between the two companies set for next month. Now, ZDNet Korea [Google Translate] (via The Verge) is reporting that both companies met in the United States last week but failed to reach an agreement in their ongoing legal battle.
The report notes that Cook met with Samsung mobile division chief J.K. Shin to discuss a possible settlement, but did not make any significant progress towards a deal. Korean newspaper Choshun [Google Translate] states that Shin was originally expected to fly out to the United States next week before the court-imposed deadline on the meeting, but now has no plans to do so, indicating that the session has already taken place.
In late December, The Korea Times reported the two companies had resumed settlement talks in their ongoing negotiations over their patent-infringement dispute, as Samsung executive Shin Jong-Kyun was expected to meet with Cook. Previously, the Apple CEO met with former Samsung CEO Choi Gee-Sung in 2012 to discuss the subject, but talks fell through because Samsung would not accept Apple’s demand for patent royalties. The two companies also met last year in Seoul, Korea but discussions failed to progress.
Notably, Shin was quoted in November 2012 as saying that Samsung has “no such intention” in settling with Apple over patent issues, as HTC and Apple announced that they had reached a global settlement on their patent dispute earlier that month.
The second patent infringement lawsuit between Apple and Samsung is set to begin on March 31, as Apple’s Chief of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller will be among the witnesses. Samsung will only have four patents claims to bring to the upcoming trial, as Judge Koh invalidated two of its patent claims last month.
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Sniff out hard-to-find WiFi in Japan with Navitime’s hotspot locator
You’d think it’d be a no-brainer to find WiFi gratis in a nation with the world’s third most internet users, but as one of our editors put it, “Japan is terrible for free WiFi. Please say this!” Luckily mapping outfit Navitime Japan agrees, and is doing something about it with an initiative called “Free WiFi Spot Search.” Working offline, the free app uses your mobile device’s GPS to suss out the nearest signal and guide you straight there with its AR mode. Japanese carrier NTT East will aid the effort by offering its 40,000 hotspots free to tourists for two weeks if they sign up prior to arrival. Counting Buffalo’s Freespot and Starbucks locations, that’ll quench your thirst for sweet, sweet internet at more than 51,000 locations.
Filed under: Cellphones, GPS, Wireless, Internet
Source: Navitime
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