Angry Birds 2 flies onto the Google Play Store for free

Today’s the day, you can get your revenge on those green pigs for stealing your eggs. Rovio has released the sequel to the ever-popular Angry Birds game, with Angry Birds 2. After seeing Rovio release a bunch of spin-off games, and movie-sponsored versions, it wasn’t really known whether a true sequel was in the works. Well, it’s finally here.

The goal of Angry Birds 2 is the same as the rest, use a slingshot to launch various types of birds across the map and destroy the little piggies to try and exact some revenge and get your eggs back. There are a few new variables that Rovio has added with Angry Birds 2.

Previously, you would be stuck with the lineup of birds that was pre-picked for your pig-hunting adventures. Now, with Angry Birds 2, you can select which birds you would like to use via cards. There is also a power-up bar in the top right hand corner, that once filled, gives you an extra card, and putting another bird back in your lineup.

Now, there are lives that you have, so you can’t just re-play the same level over and over again without any penalty. You do start with five lives, and as with most games nowadays, an in-app purchase can restore your life count. There are some other nuances of the game that we will get into later, but in the mean time, hit the widget down below, and get to playing some Angry Birds 2.

If you have already started playing, let us know what you think about Angry Birds 2 in the comment section below.

The post Angry Birds 2 flies onto the Google Play Store for free appeared first on AndroidGuys.

Angry Birds 2 flies onto the Google Play Store for free

Today’s the day, you can get your revenge on those green pigs for stealing your eggs. Rovio has released the sequel to the ever-popular Angry Birds game, with Angry Birds 2. After seeing Rovio release a bunch of spin-off games, and movie-sponsored versions, it wasn’t really known whether a true sequel was in the works. Well, it’s finally here.

The goal of Angry Birds 2 is the same as the rest, use a slingshot to launch various types of birds across the map and destroy the little piggies to try and exact some revenge and get your eggs back. There are a few new variables that Rovio has added with Angry Birds 2.

Previously, you would be stuck with the lineup of birds that was pre-picked for your pig-hunting adventures. Now, with Angry Birds 2, you can select which birds you would like to use via cards. There is also a power-up bar in the top right hand corner, that once filled, gives you an extra card, and putting another bird back in your lineup.

Now, there are lives that you have, so you can’t just re-play the same level over and over again without any penalty. You do start with five lives, and as with most games nowadays, an in-app purchase can restore your life count. There are some other nuances of the game that we will get into later, but in the mean time, hit the widget down below, and get to playing some Angry Birds 2.

If you have already started playing, let us know what you think about Angry Birds 2 in the comment section below.

The post Angry Birds 2 flies onto the Google Play Store for free appeared first on AndroidGuys.

Graphene kirigami could lead to flexible, nanoscale machines

Graphene’s looking more and more like an all-around wonder material that can be used to make armor tougher than kevlar, thin light bulbs, long-lasting batteries and even high-tech tattoos. Now, a team of Cornell physicists have discovered that they can make kirigami out of 10-micron sheets (a hair strand’s 70-micron-thick, for comparison) of graphene, as well. Kirigami is the art of cutting out designs on a single piece of paper like in the image above. The ones made by the Cornell team are much, much smaller — they’re quite literally nanoscale versions of what you see above — but since they’re made of the wondrous one-atom-thick material, they’re also incredibly strong.

During the researchers’ testing, they found that their microscopic kirigamis remain perfect and elastic even after being stretched open and closed (the researchers attached gold-tab handles to them so they can manipulate the shapes) 10,000 times. Here’s how the study’s first author, Melina Blees, describes the experience of watching them get stretched:

It’s one thing to read about how strong graphene is; it’s another thing entirely to crumple it up and watch it recover, or to stretch a spring dramatically without tearing the materials.

The team believes its creations could serve as flexible, nanoscale transistors and machines for medical purposes and experiments, among other things. One of the project’s lead researchers, Paul McEuen, says they “could be placed around human cells or in the brain for sensing.”

[Image credit: Joe Wilensky/Cornell Chronicle]

Filed under: Science

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Source: Cornell University, Nature

Tesco’s self-service checkouts are getting a lot less irritating

You don’t step up to a self-service supermarket checkout unless you’re ready to gamble. Either you hit the jackpot and escape in record time, or you end up wildly hailing the nearest assistant while the infernal machine’s repetitive accusations slowly chip away at your sanity. While Tesco can’t make its automated checkouts any better at weighing up your loose veg, it can train them to be less annoying. So, for the first time since Tesco introduced self-service checkouts over a decade ago, it’s changing their voice alerts, which the supermarket admits “has become a source of frustration for customers.” Most importantly, you’ll never have to listen to chants of “unexpected item in bagging area” ever again, as well as six other “unhelpful phrases” like “please take your items.”

According to Tesco customers, the original voice was “shouty,” “irritating” and put them under unnecessary pressure to finish up and get moving. Based on this feedback, Tesco is rolling out a new male voice that badgers you with “softer phrases” and is allegedly friendlier — it’ll thank you for your business as you leave, for example, rather than pointing you towards your change, your shopping, and the door. The new voice is already relieving stress in a few Tesco stores, like those in Hatfield, Peterborough, Edinburgh and Kensington, and it’ll be on every automated checkout by the end of October. In the meantime, you can get familiar with your new friend in the clip below.

Filed under: Misc, Household

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Source: Tesco

CA offers $75,000 to catch firefighter-interrupting drone pilots

Officials in California’s San Bernardino County are tired of drones grounding their airborne firefighting efforts, that’s why they’ve decided to take action. They’re now offering a total of $75,000 in rewards to catch the pilots who flew their UAVs over three different forest fires — they’re allotting $25,000 in rewards for each one — that took place these past months. During the latest one, which happened this mid-July, aerial firefighters reportedly came across five hobby drones flying over the affected areas that ultimately forced them to land. The 20-minute delay those drones caused was apparently enough for the flames to spread to the Interstate 15 freeway, burning cars in the process.

Officials plan to set up a hotline, and they’re hoping the money’s enough to entice people to call and speak up about what they know. UAVs are considered a hazard for planes and choppers, that’s why aerial firefighters can’t do their jobs while they’re flying around. Authorities aren’t allowed to shoot them down either, though a new bill submitted by California lawmakers wants to give first responders the right to disable drones that hamper their efforts.

.@sheriffmcmahon on the severities, dangers & penalties of flying drones in and around fire zones. pic.twitter.com/eh1dj4Okw1

– SB County Sheriff (@sbcountysheriff) July 29, 2015

[Image credit: Official U.S. Air Force/Flickr]

Filed under: Misc

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Via: Gizmodo

Source: LA Times