Saturday 29 September 2012

25p Apps to Celebrate 25 Billion App Download!

Hey Guys,
This is just a short update to bring to your attention that Google are offering some of the top android apps for just 25p! This is to celebrate the recent event of 25 billion downloads from the store.

To check out what's on offer select the first box at the top of the Play Store homepage.

Some of these apps include legends like Cut the Rope and Camera Zoom FX!

The apps are only there for a limited time so be quick!

I have downloaded 3 apps and will definately get more tomorrow. These are bargains!

Friday 24 August 2012

Nexus 7 Review!


Hey Guys!
This is my review of the Nexus 7 Tab (this is the 16zGB one). This is my only my second review and I did have difficulty recording and using the tablet with my digital camera without a tripod.

Excuse the shakiness and sound, visual blips. A new camera/tripod is on my list of things to buy.

Please Like and Subscribe because it makes me feel happy and motivated to do more things!! :)



Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Teckstation/
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/imthekian
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/the_kian

Monday 6 August 2012

Windows 8 Could be very bad for new Indie Developers

Hey Guys,

Markus Persson (AKA Notch), the creator of Minecraft and founder of Mojang, has echoed Valve and Blizzard on the negative repercussions of Windows 8 for developers.

In an interview with the Reddit community, Notch predicted a bright future for independent game developers as long as there are "open and free" platforms to support their work. However, he believes that Microsoft's plans for Windows 8 could be a serious hindrance.

"If Microsoft decides to lock down Windows 8, it would be very, very bad for Indie games and competition in general," he said. "If we can keep open platforms around, there's going to be a lot of very interesting games in ten years, mixed in with the huge AAA games that we all love."

I agree with Notch, Valve and Blizzard. For brilliant games to happen we need to have more free platforms. Minecraft for example has been pretty successful and we want more great games like that, so it will be a great help if "open platforms" are around.


Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003545315057
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/imthekian?feature=mhee
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com

Galaxy Note 2 Confirmed for August 29th

Hey Guys,

Samsung has confirmed that it will be unveiling the next Galaxy Note later this month. The successor to the Galaxy Note will be unveiled at the Samsung event in Berlin, Germany on August 29th. The confirmation follows past rumours surrounding the device, said to have an even larger screen than its 5.3-inch predecessor. Now it’s official. 


Samsung has yet to confirm anything else about the new Galaxy Note. Rumours suggest that it will have a larger 5.5-inch screen, 12-megapixel camera, a faster quad-core processor, and the latest Android 4.1 “Jelly Bean” operating system.


Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003545315057
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/imthekian?feature=mhee
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/the_kian

Friday 13 July 2012

Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition Update

Hey Guys!


As you will most likely know, Mojang recently released Minecraft for Xbox 360. The one time I had played it at a friends house, I really struggled. There was poor lighting, poor mob AI and default skins.

Well, an update has just come out for and it has many features and fixes listed below!
Features:-
- Added Pistons & Sticky Pistons.
- Added Stackable fences.
- Added Shears – required to get wool from sheep, and to collect leaf blocks.
- TNT needs Flint and Steel or Redstone to detonate.
- Redstone wire will now connect to a repeater.
- New textures for Cobblestone and Brick.
- Added Character Skin Selector to allow players to choose their skin from the default skins, or from Downloadable Content skin packs.
- Added lighting improvements (brought forward from 1.8.2 update) and snow & rain improvements.
- Added a save file cache to improve the speed of displaying the saves list.
- Added ban list functionality to allow players to self-ban from levels they feel contain offensive content.
- Added a ban list section to the How To Play menus.
- Added an option for the host to limit online games to only players in their friends list (no friends of friends).
- Added a seed display to the level load screen (requires existing levels to be saved out again to add the display).
- Changed the tooltip display setting to in-game tooltip display, so that tooltips always display in menus.
- Added the crosshair to the list of things affected by the opacity slider.
- On using the quickselect bar, the opacity of the quickselect, tooltips, splitscreen gamertag display, and crosshair will be set to 80,
and will fade back down to the user opacity setting after 6 seconds of no quickselect bar use.
- Added some more Tips & Trivia to the loading/saving screen display.
Tutorial World changes & additions:-
- Added optional tutorial for Pistons and Redstone.
- Added a self-building bridge to the castle using Pistons.
- Added some sugar cane, cactii and clay to the world.
- Added a few other things for players to discover.
Fixes:-
- Fix for only the host being shown the pop-up when any player attempts to place lava near the spawn point.
- Fixed tooltip for Flint and Steel.
- Fix for Note blocks not showing notes.
- Fix for Leaderboard reads taking too long.
- Fix to block players re-entering a level they have been kicked from, until the level is restarted.
- Fix to stop players being able to join a game when they are not a friend of any player in the game.
- Fix for Netherracks re-appearing after being mined.
- Fix for a rare crash on entering the Nether.
- Fix for attacking enemies at a different level not damaging them.
- Fixed a problem causing some save games not to load.
- Removed Herobrine.


Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003545315057
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/imthekian?feature=mhee

Thursday 12 July 2012

Starbucks app release on android devices, adds PayPal

Hey Guys,
Starbucks, the coffee shop of coffee shops, it finally has an android app. It requires android 2.2 which means no review :( but I can still copy and paste the Google Play description :P

It's the fastest way to pay, track your Stars, and reload your Starbucks Card!A Starbucks Card is the fastest, most convenient way to pay at Starbucks. And Starbucks
for Android™ is the perfect companion to your card. Your Android™ phone will
display a barcode that you use just like your card to make purchases at Starbucks.
With Starbucks for Android, you can check your balance, reload your card with any
major credit card, view your transactions and conveniently track your Stars in
the My Starbucks Rewards program.
Features
• Use a widget to pay, check balance, track you’re My Starbucks Rewards Stars, or find a location
• Check your Starbucks Card balance
• Reload your Starbucks Card with a major credit card or PayPal
• Transfer balances between Cards
• View your transaction history
• Pay with your Android™ phone at participating stores
• Locate a Starbucks near you
• Track your Stars in the My Starbucks Rewards program
Known Technical Limitations
• This application supports US, UK, & Canada Starbucks Cards only, including Gold cards
• Starbucks Store Credit Cards or Duetto Cards are not supported
• Starbucks for Android supports your personal Starbucks Cards. Cards may only
be loaded onto one device at a time. If you wish to reload a friend or family
members’ Starbucks Card, please visit Starbucks.com/card.
For more information, please visit http://www.starbucks.com/coffeehouse/mobile-apps/If you are experiencing login or other technical issues, please email
Starbuckscardmobile@starbucks.com


Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003545315057
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/imthekian?feature=mhee

Ouya Android Console Unveiled

Hey Guys,


I have been taking a break from blogging recently but my friend told me about this android console so I did my research and here is the latest on it.


So as the title give away, news has been released on an android gaming console to be named "Ouya". I have no idea where the strange name came from but it's quite catchy and easy to remember.

According to a range of sources it runs on Android and only cost $99 or in people speak, £60!! This is some cheap ass console and the company insists it will be a next level console. I have high douubs on how many hardcore gamers will ditch their Xbox's or PS3's for a droid console. My thoughts are that the games will consist of small casual games such as Minecraft.

The Ouya has specs that are on par with high-end Android phones and tablets, including a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of storage. It outputs 1080p video through an HDMI slot, uses Bluetooth 4.0 and USB 2.0 for connecting external devices and includes a wireless controller. All sounds very nice, but for £60 it can't be as amazing as the features suggest.


To raise money for a March 13 launch, Ouya has turned to crowd-funding site Kickstarter, where the company is taking pre-orders and other donations. Ouya hopes to raise $950,000 through the site and I give them full support. I'd love to see Google software made for my TV screen at a low price!

Unfortunately, not all games that you play on your phone will be compatible on the big screen. There will be different resolutions and the controller will have a joystick!

Ouya wants to lower the barrier for game development compared to traditional game consoles, so there are no licensing fees, and every console will include a software development kit. There's just one big rule that all developers must follow: All games must have a free-to-play element, whether it's a timed trial, a feature-locked demo or a complete experience filled with microtransactions, so no expensive games to have to waste too much money on.

We don't have any knowledge on when it will be released or a list of games but I really am looking forward to it, for once there will be tech I can afford. It's just a shame getting a TV for that price may be a different story.

So guys, what do you think? Is it worth a buy? Will you be making games? Do you think it will sell? Will Apple, Microsoft and Sony make their console's cheaper and more available to casual; gamers? Leave a comment below!