Angry Birds Epic: Rovio’s RPG may actually hook you [App of the Day]
I am willing to bet that most of you have tried at least one game out of Rovio’s workshop. Nearly all of them are Angry Birds games and most of them work on the same principles. Others, however, employ a completely different gameplay (Bad Piggies, Angry Birds Go). Their latest effort, Angry Birds Epic, definitely belongs in the latter category for sure.
Angry Birds Epic throws you in a well-known world of the everlasting Birds vs. Pigs battle but in a turn-based RPG. Once again, pigs steal birds’ eggs and the war begins. This time, though, you’re not springing birds in the air and crushing down pigs. No, you’re going to bash them in with different weapons and attacks, relying on shields to defend against attacks.
After you start the game you’ll see a map throughout which you can advance. As I’ve mentioned, the game is turn-based and as you progress in the game you’ll be able to add multiple birds to your side and battle a number of pigs all at the same time. Sometimes there will be a dozen characters on the screen at once.
Like other titles in the Rovio portfolio, the game is free to play with in-app purchases.
Let us know what you think, we liked the game, it was somewhat refreshing and… well, quite fun.
The post Angry Birds Epic: Rovio’s RPG may actually hook you [App of the Day] appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Ridley Scott’s ‘Halo’ project is a prequel to the next major ‘Halo’ game
In a way, director Ridley Scott’s Halo-themed project, dubbed Nightfall, brings Microsoft’s tentpole shooter franchise full circle. Master Chief’s galaxy-spanning exploits owe a giant debt to the filmmaker’s iconic tale of deep-space horror, Alien, and now Scott is helping establish where the franchise goes on the Xbox One. As 343 Industries head Bonnie Ross said during my meeting at E3 this week, working with him “kind of upped the bar” on the series, especially compared to 343′s last attempt at live-action, the Halo 4 lead-in Forward Unto Dawn. “Hopefully we get better each time,” she said. Nightfall tells the origin story for Agent Locke, a character Ross said plays a “pivotal role” in Halo 5: Guardians. As far as story, that’s as much as we know so far. Ross isn’t sure how many episodes Nightfall will span, but said that there will be five of them leading into Halo 5‘s beta timeframe.
She cited Forward Unto Dawn as a learning experience. But, without it, we likely wouldn’t have Nightfall.
“I think we had over 59 million views on Machinima for Forward Unto Dawn,” she said. “It was definitely the feedback that we got from all of our research studies that [the series] did actually make a difference” of how people experienced Halo 4. She said that the direct responses to the series makes it a lot easier to tell stories in the future. “Our books are on the New York Times best-seller list, but they’re not getting 60 million [readers].”
The episodic series was eventually released as a single film to home video, but didn’t quite satiate fans clamoring to see Master Chief on the big screen and all that that would entail. Ross doesn’t see the franchise heading that way, though.
“Fans keep asking for a Halo movie, and we feel that with what we have on Xbox One, TV suits us better,” she said. “We’re able to tell al larger story on a regular cadence; this is sort of our training wheels for Xbox One.”
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Microsoft
The Big Picture: Inside the cockpit of the ‘1,000 mph office’
Above is the view Andy Green will have when he attempts to break the world land-speed record in the British Bloodhound supersonic car. The numbers on the dials refer to a legend that can be found here. Among the many controls are a Rolex speedometer (54) and a 3D-printed steering wheel (68). Green’s attempt is still some way off, with an attempt to break the current record (763mph, also held by Green) planned for August 2015. If successful, the plan is to attempt to break the 1,000 mph barrier a year later.
[Image credit: Stefan Marjoram]
Filed under: Transportation, Science
Source: Bloodhound SSC
Social Sweepster mines your accounts for beer pong and bad words
I must have some uncanny ability to hide bottles whenever someone busts out a camera, because I know I’m tagged in more than a few drunken photos on Facebook. According to Social Sweepster, though, the most scandalous images of me online include an Engadget group photo — the caption “final group shot” raised a red flag — and a pic of my mom and I drinking out of skull-shaped glasses. Seriously.
Social Sweepster, currently in beta, is a web app that uses language-processing and its own algorithm to comb your social media profiles for photos and text with “incriminating potential.” It looks for beer bottles, bongs and other party paraphernalia, along with words that could be construed as “potty language.” You simply sign in, allow the site access to your Facebook and Twitter accounts and specify how far back in time you’d like to search. Tom McGrath, the founder and CEO, told me that the service will scan Instagram and other platforms down the line, but currently only the two social networks are supported.
When you receive an email with the results, you’ll see images and text divided by high, medium and low confidence, indicating how sure the site is that the content is objectionable. (Objectionable, of course, being a very subjective matter.) You can filter results to see only photos or text, and you can exclude results you’ve already seen. You’ll have the option to delete tweets directly, while you’ll have to hop over to Facebook if you want to scrub any photos or posts. Another useful tool: You can use Google’s reverse image search to see if any of your photos have landed elsewhere on the internet.
For high schoolers applying to college or anyone looking to maintain an online reputation, Social Sweepster is an easy way to find and erase bongs and beer bottles from their searchable past. And as recruiters increasingly turn to social media for screening potential employees, having a squeaky-clean profile’s become more important than ever. But for someone like me, whose worst offenses include tweeting about champagne brunch and a band called The Knife, it’s just plain hilarious. I’m 99.9 percent sure none of this activity would count as a dealbreaker in a potential employer’s eyes, but it’s always better to be on the safe side.
When I scanned my Facebook and Twitter accounts, Social Sweepster turned up 180 high-confidence results, mostly Facebook posts and tweets containing allegedly controversial words like punch, smoke, stolen and alcohol. (Most of those were actually in work-related tweets.) The German article “die” showed up among my results; as it turns out English is the only language that’s fully supported for now. Several Facebook photos with alcohol in the shot were all the way down in the “low confidence” results, too.
This is a product in beta, after all, and testers can help Social Sweepster improve its algorithm by indicating inappropriate items that escaped detection. As the company’s algorithm improves over time, results like the inoffensive Engadget photo will hopefully be eliminated. If you’re interested in taking the service for a test drive, you can apply to become a beta user. Social Sweepster’s sending invites to the first 10,000 applicants, so hustle to it. It’s unclear when the service will be available to the general public, but the fee will likely depend on how many photos you want scanned and how quickly you need the results. The service’s also offering demos to enterprise clients, so it’s possible that companies and universities could use this same technology for vetting purposes.
Finally, if you do nab an early invite, I suggest taking advantage of the slideshow tool for revisiting all those ill-advised college shenanigans. Just add a YouTube link for Green Day’s “Time of Your Life” and you’re set.
Filed under: Internet, Facebook
Source: Social Sweepster
Microsoft Considering Expanding Cortana Virtual Assistant to iOS and Android [iOS Blog]
Microsoft earlier this year introduced Cortana, an intelligent virtual assistant to compete with iOS’ Siri and Android’s Google Now. Cortana was launched as a Windows Phone 8.1 feature, but a new report from Search Engine Land suggests Microsoft may expand the service to iOS and Android.
Speaking at the SMX Advanced conference in Seattle yesterday, Windows Phone Group Program Manager Marcus Ash said the company wants Cortana to be “pervasive” both geographically and among mobile platforms.
We want to scale Cortana internationally and across devices. The Android/iOS question is interesting. We’re asking, would Cortana be as effective if she didn’t have access to the details on your phone? We’re still trying to get Cortana adopted on Windows Phone and figure out what it wants to become there. But we’re actively talking about this.
I think it’s natural to think that an assistant that only runs on one device … the idea that she will be very pervasive is important to us.
Cortana is powered by Microsoft’s Bing search engine and Tellme’s natural language processing and speech-recognition technology Microsoft acquired in 2009. The assistant is launching first on Windows Phone 8.1 and the Xbox One game console. It is named after the artificial intelligence in Microsoft’s popular Halo game series and has a female voice powered by actress Jen Taylor, who also provides the voiceovers for the video game.
iOS 8 Simplifies App Login Process with Safari Password Sharing
Logging into and setting up apps will be easier in iOS 8 thanks to new Continuity APIs Apple has introduced to allow iOS apps to access Safari’s stored usernames and passwords. The feature, announced at a developer session at WWDC (via 9to5Mac), will let users quickly log in to an app that is associated with a website they have previously visited.
For example, if a user has accessed Gmail in Safari for Mac or iOS and opted to store a password, that password can then be used to log in to Google’s Gmail iOS app with a single tap, greatly speeding up and streamlining the login process. During the session, Apple demonstrated with a test website and app called “Shiny.”
The functionality is available to all developers and has the potential to be built into any third-party app with an accompanying website. Developers will need to associate a website with their app, which will then give them the option to request credentials saved in Safari, offering the option at login.
The process also works both ways. Apps that have an associated website that a user has not visited will be able to store login information to Safari, later letting a user access that stored information on the web when browsing to the site associated with the app.
As part of Continuity, the new Safari/app integration is designed to make it easier to seamlessly switch between devices, cutting down on the frustration of logging into an app. Apple also hopes the new system will increase security, as users can now select Safari’s randomized suggested passwords for both apps and websites.
iOS 8: Hidden Features
Last week, Apple publicly announced the major new features of iOS 8. Here is a list of unannounced features we’ve also discovered in iOS 8.
Twitter expands Bing-powered translations for iOS and the web
Twitter’s been experimenting with Bing’s translation services for quite some time, but now it’s making it available to more people on a wider range of devices. As spotted by CNET, the company has begun outfitting its iOS app with translation buttons powered by Microsoft’s search service. It’s also making things clearer on the web by displaying a small globe icon beside tweets that aren’t written in English. Results are mixed, as you can see from the image above. Twitter first brought Bing’s services to Windows Phone on mobile and has displayed Bing translation tools inside the detailed tweet view on Twitter.com. Today’s changes make things easier for users who follow non-English accounts or might see more foreign-language tweets in their stream following the start of the World Cup.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Microsoft
Source: CNET
Firefox OS apps run like native apps on Android
The beauty of apps written for Firefox OS is that they’re basically just web apps — they’re built primarily on Java Script and HTML5. That means if you can run the app on Mozilla’s mobile operating system, you can run them in its browser too. In fact, if you install Firefox 29 on Android, you can run so-called Open Web Apps (OWA) on your Google-powered phone. Not only that, but they’re not confined to the browser. Apps installed from the Firefox OS Marketplace are treated just like native apps. They get their own icon in the launcher and home screen, can be uninstalled from the menu and run without the usual browser UI clutter (such as an address bar or back button). Of course, the performance probably won’t match truly native apps, and most won’t abide by Android’s interface conventions. Still, there are some developers who might enjoy the idea of building an app once and running it across all platforms.
Via: Android Community
Source: Mozilla
Pic Nix lets you anonymously shame Instagram friends, with some help from a robot
The blight of oversharing on Instagram is nothing new. Luckily, the image-based social network gives you a very easy solution for cutting out unwanted brunch photos: unfollowing. If you aren’t prepared to diss a friend that strongly, though, A&G Labs has a more passive-aggressive option for you. Its Pic Nix website allows you to anonymously tell friends that the selfies and sunsets have to stop.
After you create a message based on 16 “offenses” listed on the website – from vacation shots and pics of kids to #TBT posts – a robot will build and post the image for you. The robot, dubbed Silent B.O.B, posts to Instagram using a stylus paired with an Arduino X-Y plotter to insert and crop the photo, along with a Bluetooth keyboard to type out your caption. Your message is sent out from the @PicNixer account, and the offending friend will get a notification.
Since you can only choose from a list of images and captions, your friend-shaming will probably remain anonymous. The limited choices also prevent your digs from getting too out of hand, which is definitely a good thing. Awesome robot-posting aside, we still might suggest taking a more direct approach with you Instagram intervention.
Filed under: Internet
Via: The Verge
AIVAnet 
