Lara Croft and Guardian of Light hits the Play Store, is exclusive to Xperia devices for now

Square Enix has finally ported its game – Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light – on to Android. We reported that this game is coming to Android way back in September last year, when it was supposed to arrive in November but it took nearly a year to get released. Meanwhile, the iOS version has been selling since last year and even the PlayBook got it in April.

Like we said back then, this version of the game will be exclusive to the Xperia series of devices for a limited time. Also, not all Xperia devices but just the Xperia S, Xperia ion and the Xperia PLAY. Every other device will simply show up as incompatible on the game page.
For those who are not aware, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is a 3D action-adventure game that uses an isometric camera angle like in the RPG games. You control the game’s protagonist Lara Croft through a wide variety of levels as you try to stop Xolotl, the God of Darkness who is out to plunge the world in darkness. With the help of Totec, the Guardian of the Mirror, you have to take the Mirror of Smoke away from Xolotl and defeat him before sunrise.
The game has the exact same level designs as the console and desktop version, except the graphics have obviously been toned down a bit and controls have been added on the screen.
Lara Croft and Guardian of Light is currently available for a limited period discounted price of $1.29 but will soon go back to the full price of $2.99. Unfortunately, the Play Store does not allow you to purchase a game if a supported device is not associated with the account like the App Store, so you can’t buy it now for a lower price and play it later when the game becomes available on more devices.
In other news, the iOS and PlayBook versions are also on sale with the iPhone, iPad and PlayBook version being priced at $0.99, $2.99 and $1.29 respectively.
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Panasonic announces six new LUMIX cameras

Panasonic has unleashed a whole bunch of new camera upon the world, six to be precise, which includes some superzoom cameras, a mirrorless camera and a premium point and shoot.

The first is the LUMIX LZ20 (pictured above), which is a budget superzoom camera. It has a 16 megapixel sensor and a 21x optical zoom on the 25-525mm lens. The LZ20 can also record 720p videos at 30 fps and has a 3-inch, 460k dot display on the back.

Panasonic LUMIX SZ5

The second one is the LUMIX SZ5. This one has Wi-Fi built-in, which can be used to upload images directly from your camera wirelessly to Panasonic’s exclusive cloud service LUMIX CLUB, from where you can transfer images to other social networking sites such as Facebook. You can also use the LUMIX LINK application available for iOS and Android to use your smartphone to remotely control your camera from a distance. The Wi-Fi can also be used to wirelessly connect to your DLNA enabled television. Other than that, the SZ5 has a 14 megapixel CCD sensor, 10x optical zoom, 3-inch 230k dot display and can record 720p videos at 30 fps.

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FZ60

Next is the DMC-FZ60. It has a 16.1 megapixel sensor and a massive 24x optical zoom. It has an f2.8 aperture that drops down to f5.2 at the highest zoom level. Other than that the camera also has a 10 fps full resolution burst mode, 1080i60 video recording and a 3.0-inch, 460k dot fully articulated display.

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FZ200

The fourth one is the DMC-FZ200. This one too has a 24x optical zoom but unlike the FZ60 maintains the wide f2.8 aperture throughout the zoom range, which is quite an achievement. This lets you use a faster shutter speed and this capture fast moving objects even from a great distance. The FZ200 also has a high resolution, 1,312k dot electronic viewfinder with 100% field of view, 12.1 megapixel sensor, 1080p60 video recording with stereo zoom microphones, 3.0-inch, 460k dot, fully articulated display and RAW shooting capability.

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-G5

The next one is the DMC-G5, which is a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. As the name of the category suggests, the camera allows you to swap lenses just like on a DSLR but unlike a DSLR, there is no moving mirror mechanism and the viewfinder is electronic. The G5 has a 16 megapixel LiveMOS sensor that can record 1080p60 videos. It has a high resolution 1,440k dot electronic viewfinder with approximately 100% field of view, 3.0-inch, 920k dot fully articulated touchscreen and RAW shooting capability.

Panasonic LUMIX LX7

Lastly, we have the LUMIX LX7, which is a premium point and shoot camera. It has an astonishingly wide f1.4-2.3 aperture with a 24-90mm equivalent lens. Behind these is a 10.1 megapixel sensor capable of shooting at 10 fps at full resolution for images and 1080p60 resolution videos in AVCHD format. On the back is a 3.0-inch, 920k dot display. The LX7 also supports RAW shooting.
For more information on each of these cameras, click on the links below.
Source 1 • Source 2 • Source 3 • Source 4 • Source 5 • Source 6

Galaxy S gets an Android 4.1 port, makes Samsung devs stare in disbelief

Remember when Samsung said that the I9000 Galaxy S simply doesn’t have enough power to run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich? What if we told you that not only is that untrue, but the smartphone can also handle Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

The proof was, as usual, delivered by the omnipotent indie devs over at XDA-developers and came in the form of a Jelly Bean-based ROM, which performs flawlessly but for a couple of minor bugs.
All the hardware of the smartphone is also supported with the only two limitations being that you are unable to mount your external SD card when connected to a PC and Google Now, which is hit or miss.
So if you know how to flash a ROM manually on your Galaxy S, there’s no need to feel jealous of your Galaxy Nexus-touting friends. Just kiss your warranty goodbye (if you happen to have any left that is) and follow the source link for the instructions and required files.
While at it, you might want to keep an eye on this thread, which will bring you up to speed with the development of the official CyanogenMod 10 ROM for the Galaxy S. That one still has a few issues, but those will hopefully be resolved in the coming weeks, making it a viable option for your everyday ROM.
A hat tip to Magnumutz for sending this in!
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Oppo Finder is as tough as it is thin, proves it by acting as a hammer

Replacing a hammer with a smartphone isn’t something we haven’t seen before. However, there’s now a new kid on the block that wants to test its toughness by hammering a few nails, and that’s the Oppo Finder.

Yep, the thinnest smartphone in the world has decided to chime in and demonstrate its hammer-replacing capabilities. Check out in the video below how it did.
That’s just fascinating! Measuring just 6.65mm in thickness, the unfortunately named Oppo Finder managed to easily drive the nails through the wood without even getting a scratch on its screen.
While there’s an outside chance of the video being fake, as it hasn’t been shot in a single take, I am more inclined to believe that it’s real.
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It’s the Galaxy S III turn to get a taste of Jelly Bean via CyanogenMod 10

It’s a good week for Galaxy devices. First, the Galaxy S II got Jelly Bean thanks to CM10, then it was the original Galaxy S and now the latest of the bunch – the international Galaxy S III.

You could take the early build of the Android 4.1-based CM10 for a spin, but keep in mind that some things may not work properly and others at all.
So far the known issues are a nonworking FM Radio, unstable camera and Wi-Fi tethering, no Bluetooth audio and a chance your first call after booting wouldn’t work (calls afterward should be fine).
To get CM10 on your Galaxy S III just download the needed files from the source link below, install them from recovery, do a factory reset and data wipe and finally, reboot. Keep in mind that doing this will void your warranty and it might brick your phone so proceed at your own risk.
CM10 builds for the Krait-powered Galaxy S III versions available on three of the US carriers (AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile) are also available but those still have more issues and aren’t ready for daily usage.
Source

Samsung release Readers Hub 2.0, sans the Kobo support this time

Samsung has updated its proprietary Reader’s Hub app, which offers popular books, magazines and newspapers to Samsung mobile device users.

The new version does away with the Kobo support, although people who still want to take advantage of the ebook service can download the standalone app from the Play Store.
Compatible with only the Samsung Galaxy S III for now, the app requires that you download Press Display and Zinio to view newspapers and magazines, respectively. Another caveat is that the app does not work on rooted devices.
You can download the free app from the Samsung App store here, while people who want the Kobo standalone app can find it here.
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Windows 8 arriving on October 26

We played with the preview, we learned about the various editions, we found out about the prices, now all that was left to know was when could we get our hands on the retail copy of Microsoft’s latest and greatest desktop operating system.

While October was generally assumed to be the month when the OS will be released to the public, there was no official confirmation yet. That is until now.
Steven Sinofsky, President of the Windows and Windows Live Division at Microsoft, announced at Microsoft’s annual sales meeting that Windows 8 will be available to consumers on Friday, October 26, 2012.
This includes everyone, from people upgrading from their existing version of Windows, buying a new Windows PC or getting a fresh copy for their existing one. With the last piece of the puzzle complete, we can now look forward to using Windows 8 starting late October.
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Google updates the Play Music app for Android

The last time the humble music player app in Android got a major update was when Google launched Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. The latest update comes a bit after the Jelly Bean launch and is now available on the Play Store to download.

In the latest update, you will see some noticeable changes throughout the user interface. The Recent tracks list now shows large thumbnails for the album art. The tabs at the top of the screen in the library have been made smaller. If you have a track playing, then the strip that appears at the bottom of the screen as you go through your library now has music playback controls. There is also a new widget for your homescreen.
The Now Playing has seen the most changes. The track details have been shifted above the album art and the track progress bar can now be accessed without having to open another screen. Same goes for the Thumbs Up/Down keys as well, which now appear over the album art and along with the progress bar scrubber, the Repeat and Shuffle keys, disappear after a couple of seconds and you need to touch the album art to bring them back. You can also access your currently playing playlist from a button above the album art.
The Google Play Music app is free to download and can be installed on any device running Android 2.2 and above.
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UK Judge orders Apple to run ads saying Samsung ‘did not copy iPad’

The Apple vs. Samsung war going on in courts all over the world saw a rather interesting turn of events yesterday.

UK judge Birss ordered Apple to put out advertisements in various newspapers and magazines stating that Samsung “did not copy iPad”. Additionally, Apple has to post a notice on its website for at least six months stating the above.
Apple has filed an appeal to the UK court. However, it’s unlikely to have any success since the same judge will be hearing it. Mind you, this is the judge who previously stated that Samsung tablets aren’t “as cool” as the iPad and that they do not have the “same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design.”
The legal battle between Samsung and Apple still continues in the US, where the preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is still standing. Regardless, it’s going to be extremely interesting to see how the case will turn out and whether Apple will indeed have to post ads which will undoubtedly cripple their ego a bit.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
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UK Judge orders Apple to run ads saying Samsung ‘did not copy iPad’

The Apple vs. Samsung war going on in courts all over the world saw a rather interesting turn of events yesterday.

UK judge Birss ordered Apple to put out advertisements in various newspapers and magazines stating that Samsung “did not copy iPad”. Additionally, Apple has to post a notice on its website for at least six months stating the above.
Apple has filed an appeal to the UK court. However, it’s unlikely to have any success since the same judge will be hearing it. Mind you, this is the judge who previously stated that Samsung tablets aren’t “as cool” as the iPad and that they do not have the “same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design.”
The legal battle between Samsung and Apple still continues in the US, where the preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is still standing. Regardless, it’s going to be extremely interesting to see how the case will turn out and whether Apple will indeed have to post ads which will undoubtedly cripple their ego a bit.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Source

Fieldrunners 2 now available on iPhone, iPad version coming soon

One of the best tower defense games I’ve played, Fieldrunners, is getting a sequel. The first game was very popular on iOS and Android and it was also released on PSP, Nintendo DS, Chrome and more.

Fieldrunners 2 has just arrived at the Apple’s App Store and is available for purchase on all compatible iPhones (3GS or later) and iPod Touch (3rd gen or later).
It offers new graphics, weapons, maps, modes and more.

Fieldrunners 2 official screenshots
The game costs $2.99/€2.39 on the iPhone and requires a download of about 44MB.
The iPad version is currently in the works and should be released soon. There is no press info on the Android port, but according to the developer’s official Twitter account, the title will come on Android as soon as possible.
Thank you, Parsoa, for the tip!
Source (official)

Tasker gets updated to version 1.3, now comes with “App Factory” for making your own apps

Tasker, one of the finalists at this year’s Android Developers Challenge 2 (ADC2), has dropped its beta tag and its 1.3 version is now officially available in the Play Store.

The nifty app now lets you integrate JavaScript into your automations, and hosts a plethora of bugfixes and optimizations.
If you’re unfamiliar with Tasker, it’s basically an application that lets you automate almost any aspect of your Android device. For example, if you want to send an message to a loved one when your phone is low on battery, or automatically switch to airplane mode during certain hours of the night, or even automatically call a specific number once you have WiFi connection, Tasker can do all of that.
The new version has been released alongside the official Tasker App Factory, which lets you create and share your own creations as standalone applications.
Tasker can be found on the Google Play store here, while the Tasker App Factory is here.
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Android 4.1 Jelly Bean ported on the Nokia N9

The latest version of Android – 4.1 Jelly Bean – has been ported, surprisingly enough, on the Nokia N9.

The proof has been posted on Twitter by its developer.
Since the N9 is being slowly forgotten by Nokia, it is now up to the developers’ community to keep the thing alive. While official updates are still going on, we all know they won’t continue for long, so it’s good to see that N9 fans are taking matters into their own hands.
Hopefully, the JB port will be one of the many we will see in the near future. A company may abandon its phone, but the community won’t give it up that easy.
Thank you, John Danvic, for the tip!
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CyanogenMod 9 reaches RC2, adds international S III support

CyanogenMod 9 has entered the Release Candidate 2 stage, adding official support for the international Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy S II Skyrocket and Galaxy Note on AT&T, among others.

According to the CM team the final release of CM 9 is just around the corner making this RC2 release most likely the last pre-final one.
CyanogenMod 9 RC2 is very stable and also suitable as a daily driver. If you’re inclined to give it a try, you can get the version you need from here.
We already flashed CM 9 RC 2 on a Galaxy S III we had lying around and can confirm that things are running smooth as silk – including telephony, camera, audio, etc. As an alternative, you could go all out and install the CM 10 Preview 3 on your Galaxy S III (or S II, or S), which lets you give Jelly Bean a try but it is still very unsuitable as a daily driver.
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Apple expands iTunes in the Cloud for movies availability to 38 countries

You may be aware of the iTunes in the Cloud service by Apple. Using this service, you can download music, movies, TV shows, apps or books on one device and have them automatically download on all your other devices if you so wish.

So far the the ability to automatically download movies on other devices was only restricted to the US but Apple has now expanded the list of eligible countries to 38.
The list now includes Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela and Vietnam.
This move comes right after Apple recently added several additional countries which can now purchase movies on iTunes. Now not only can you download movies in these countries but also have them synced across all your Apple devices connected to iCloud.
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Google acquires popular email client Sparrow

In an interesting move, Google has acquired Sparrow, a popular email client for OS X and iOS. The acquisition was announced by Sparrow’s CEO Dom Leca on their website. According to The Verge, this acquisition cost Google under $25 million.

Now, if you are wondering whether this move will somehow result in a better version of the app then you are in for disappointment. This is basically a talent acquisition, which means Google will be using the talented team behind the excellent Sparrow app to improve their own email client. Sparrow, meanwhile, will be pretty much abandoned, with no new features to be added in future. You can also forget about that iPad app that was supposedly in the works.
This move has naturally met with criticisms from those who purchased and have been using this app for a while now. Although the apps are already pretty awesome and will continue to be sold through the App Store, the fact that there won’t be any further improvements is quite a bummer.
Hopefully, Google makes it all worthwhile by releasing some slick new Gmail apps in the future.
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Samsung announces special edition London Olympics themed Galaxy S III for Taiwan

We have already seen Samsung do a special edition Galaxy Note and Galaxy Y in the past to commemorate the London 2012 Olympics, with Samsung being the official sponsor and all. Now they have released another a new variant of the Galaxy S III especially for Taiwan that uses this same theme.

The special edition Galaxy S III comes with a whole bunch of stuff for the phone. Each phone will come with one of the three special stands for the phone that feature a unique character performing one of the Olympic events (cycling, weight lifting and Taekwondo). There is also a tiny ornament designed in the shape of the Queen’s Guard that can be plugged into the headphone jack but apart from looking nice it doesn’t do much. You also get special wallpapers from Samsung Apps.

Lastly, Samsung also has a nice looking case for the back of the phone with an image of the Queen’s Guard but it will be sold separately for NT$299 ($10). Unfortunately, unlike the Galaxy Note, the back of the Galaxy S III itself is not painted with the British theme.
Samsung is yet to announce the price and availability of this special edition model. You will find a lot more pictures in the source link below.
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Emotiv EPOC neuroheadset review: The telepathy device you were looking for (or not)

Here at GSMArena, phones and tablets are our bread and butter, but our love for tech is by no means limited to them. So imagine our excitement when we got the opportunity to test a gadget which reads your thoughts and allows you to do cool things with it on your computer.

The gadget in question is called EPOC and is made by Emotiv. It’s a futuristic looking headset, which reads your brain activity via the scalp of your head and translates it into various actions. With that in mind, I was particularly excited with Professor Xavier and his powerful telepathic powers immediately popping into my head. Sadly, this isn’t the case… yet.
The Epoc is a neuro-signal acquisition and processing wireless headset. It uses 16 sensors to capture the electric signals produced by your brain. Put simply, it’s a thought detector. But alongside this, it’s also a feelings and expressions grabber, so if you blink, smile or sneeze – it’ll know. Let’s take a closer look at the product itself.

Unboxing

Emotive has packed the EPOC headset in a handy box sporting a minimalist design. It has a handle on top so you can easily carry the headset around. Emotive has thrown in everything you need to get started, which is kind of them, as chances are you don’t have the accessories just laying around your house.
Back to the contents of the box at hand, inside there’s a 16-pack of contact pads, which are placed in sockets on the headset to make contact with your head. To improve the signal strength there’s also a bottle of conductive liquid to keep those sensors hydrated. There’s also a USB receiver to connect with a computer, as well as a miniUSB cable and an instructions manual with a software CD.

Design and construction

The Epoc headset is entirely made of plastic has a base similar to a regular pair of headphones. Where it differs are the two octopus arm-like extensions which warp around your head. They are flexible in order to get the best possible contact and at the end have sockets for the soft contact pads. At the top, there’s a switch for turning the headset on or off.

User interface

Emotiv have designed a specialized software, which shows the EPOC’s capabilities. It’s broken down to five different sections:
The first one acts as a status check for all the contact pads. They light in four different colors: green for great connection, yellow of okay-ish connection, red for bad connection and black for no connection at all. Preferably, they should all light up green, but we’ve had cases where the headset worked perfectly fine despite a few red or yellow sensors.
However, when I tried it everything went green and I felt like a Jedi summoned to protect the universe from the Dark side and bring balance to the Force. The other tabs really showed me what the neuroheadset is all about.
Called “Expressiv suite”, the second tab shows a blue face, which actually mimics the facial expressions that you are doing at the moment. So if you blink, it blinks. If you smile, it smiles, and so on.
Next up is the “Affectiv suite”. As its name suggests it detects what affects you at the moment and displays your current emotions on the screen. Those can be happiness, indifference, etc. It’s pretty cool to observe at first but you quickly get bored. Unlike it, the next tab labeled “Cognitiv suite” is where the meat is.
In the Cognitiv suite you get to control a virtual cube using just your thoughts. There are various operations that you can do with it like push it backwards/ pull it towards you, make it go up or down or even rotate it in various directions.
Here’s a video where we try to show the whole magic taking place. We first demonstrate how the software captures brainwaves and translates them into actions on the screen. Then, we get to the really interesting stuff – playing a game, where you control the main character with the headset.
I can assure you I didn’t use a keyboard, mouse or any other input device to control what was happening on the screen. The neuroheadset was the sole initiator of each and every action. Of course, I had to use the mouse to navigate around the applications, as well as in-game for going forward and left/right.
More and more applications, games and other utilities making great use of the headset are being published each day, so it’s definitely interesting to see how far the technology might go in the next one or two years.

Conclusion

The Emotiv EPOC will not turn you into a Jedi, but it’s a solid step into the future of doing everyday tasks with your mind. Imagine turning your PC on or off by just thinking about it, or pausing a movie when you need to grab some more snacks.
Let’s not forget the people with disabilities, who can use the full potential of a personal computer with nothing but their thoughts. This can and should rewrite the history of computer interaction, but unfortunately, the technology isn’t quite ready just yet.
For now, the Emotiv EPOC headset is little more than a gimmick. A nice gadget to show off to your friends and make them scratch their heads in disbelief, until they realize there’s little practical use for it. Its future however is much bigger than this or at least, that’s what we hope.

Nokia N9 plays nice with Firefox OS, video

Here goes another case of Nokia’s already iconic N9 MeeGo smartphone getting some developer love. Barely a day after it got treated to a bag of jelly beans, a video of the Nokia N9 running Firefox OS has surfaced.

The feat has been accomplished by a Russian developer via the Boot 2 Gecko method. The Nokia N9 on the video has been transformed into a dual-boot handset, running the Firefox Engine and featuring HTML 5 desktop.
Here’s the video itself.
Source

Jelly Bean SDK officially released

It seems that Google are wasting no time in getting the development kit for the latest version of Android into the hands of developers.

Less than a month after Android 4.1 was announced at Google I/O, the new SDK allows developers to optimize their applications with a wide variety of new features.
Among the things Google have warned developers to look out for is taking care when optimizing a particular application to work with the larger 7 inch screen size, such as the one found on the Nexus 7.
The Google devs also urge application developers to start taking advantage of the new richer notification styles introduced in JB, as well hardware accelerated rendering to take advantage of the new framerate optimizations.
For more info on developing for Android 4.1, check out Android Developers. Meanwhile, the new SDK can be downloaded from here.
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Microsoft ends the fiscal year with a bang, reports $18.06 billion in revenue for Q2

Microsoft has published its revenue reports for the Q2 and full-year 2012 (its fiscal year begins July 1) and it turns out this was one of the best fiscal years for the software giant.

With revenue of $73.72 billion and $18.06 billion for the full 2012 fiscal year and Q2 respectively, Microsoft is looking forward to Windows Phone 8 and its desktop brethren with a unmatched levels of optimism.
However, it’s not all rainbows and unicorns as the company has reported a net loss of $492 million over the last three months due to the broken deal with aQuantive and its “goodwill impairment charge”. The good news is the Redmond company’s revenue is still about $700 million more than it was in the same period of 2011.
The full year revenue is also up by $3.76 billion compared to the what it was 2011. This revenue increase is partially thanks to the company’s Business and Server divisions, which grew by 7 and 13 percent, respectively. The Skype deal brought good news to the Entertainment and Devices division, which ends the fiscal year with a revenue of $1.78 billion.
To get the full financial scoop, head over to the source link below.
Source | Via

Gameloft’s The Dark Knight Rises hits Android and iOS, takes 1.7GB and costs $6.99

The third Christopher Nolan Batman movie, the Dark Knight Rises, is starting to hit cinemas, and Gameloft has just launched the official Dark Knight Rises mobile game to accompany the premiere.

The game looks stunning which justifies the pretty high $6.99 (£4.99) price tag it carries. Gameloft also says it’s optimized for the Google Nexus 7, so it’s a perfect title to spend your $25 Play Store credit that comes with it.
The great graphics take their toll, as the game takes 1.7GB of you storage, which includes the huge Gotham City map and gorgeous visuals. Head over to the source link below to download it. In the meantime, here’s the game’s teaser trailer from a week ago.
Source | Via

Is this Canon’s first mirrorless camera, image leaks the EOS M

Mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras are on the rise as of late but one key player was yet to make an appearance in that market. But that might be about to change as an image leak shows an unannounced Canon mirrorless digital camera, that goes by the name EOS M.

By the looks of it the EOS M features a new EF-M lens mount and comes with a wide and bright 22mm f/2 STM (Stepper Motor) pancake lens.
The image reportedly comes from an online store, while tips suggest a full-blown APS-C size sensor will be inside the EOS M. The EOS M is believed to be unveiled officially on July 23 but you should take this information with a pinch of salt.
Currently, Nikon, Panasonic, Sony and Olympus all offer mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras but only Sony, Pentax and Samsung provide units with the large DSLR-tier APS-C sensor.
Source | Via 1 | Via 2 |

CM10 comes to the Atrix, DEFY, DEFY+ and One X

It’s been a busy week for CyanogenMod – to accompany the almost daily ports popping up for various devices, some users over at the xda-developers blog have achieved an unofficial CyanogenMod 10 port to the Motorola Atrix, DEFY, DEFY+ and the Tegra 3-only HTC Endeavor (One X).

While CM 10 does bring Jelly Bean to the aforementioned devices, it’s important to keep in mind that the software is still in its early stages of development and you will experience bugs, and there’s always the risk of bricking your device.
Still, most of the basic functionality is there – phone calls in particular shouldn’t have any major issues.
Among the more active devs that helped make this happen are user Quarx, TripNRaVeR and rogro82.
So if you own any of these devices and are eager to get some Jelly Bean, you’ll find the links below complete with instructions. As always, proceed with caution, and know that the procedures below will void your warranty.
Thanks to Kenpachi Zaraki, Shyam and Ibhati for sending this in!

Upcoming ‘Dead Trigger’ update brings new weapons, enemies and environments

It’s not even been a month since launch and Madfinger Games are already planning to release a major update to their newest game Dead Trigger.

The upcoming 1.1.0 update brings a ton of new content to this game. This includes:

• Four new weapons – Chain Saw, Lewis Heavy Machine Gun, Marine Engine with sharp-edged blades and Repeating rifle. The chainsaw and Marine Engine are especially exciting as they will allow you to get up close and personal with your zombie friends
• A new enemy type – armored SWAT members. Expect to spend a lot more bullets on these as you pierce through their armor and helmets.
• Two new environments – underground car park and secret research base institute
• One new gadget – The Head-Flator X100 which, wait for it, expands the heads of your enemies for easier headshots.
• Ability to try out new gadgets
• Earn money by slaughtering zombies in the survival arena
• Visit the Casino and try your luck with the slot machine
• Ability to save game data with cross platform backup
• Support for Adreno 205 and Xperia PLAY

No dates have been given but the update is expected to arrive shortly. You can read our full review of the current version here. After watching the video below, it seems we might have to bump up our rating for the game.
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Latest BlackBerry 10 SDK now available for

The second in a line series of SDK releases for BB10 has been released, allowing developers to now upload apps to the BlackBerry 10 App World.

After a Dev App has been uploaded to App World, it is available for download to other developers, who can try it out on the BlackBerry developer alpha unit released by RIM a few months back.
The new SDK version includes API’s for BlackBerry WebWorks epublishing platform, as well as Adobe Air.
The BlackBerry developer blog have also listed some dates, which highlight the release of the other forthcoming SDK versions, which include two more releases in September and October, before finally going gold in November.
You can get the current release here.
The first devices from RIM, which will run the upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS are scheduled for Q1 of 2013.
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Tiny Wings for iOS game review

You may have heard about the game Tiny Wings by now. It was released in February last year and so far has only been available on the iPhone and iPod touch.

A few days ago, developer Andreas Illiger released the v2.0 of Tiny Wings that introduces some new gameplay mechanics, along with an iPad version. Let’s take a look at it.
Just in case you don’t know about this game, here is a quick recap. Tiny Wings involves controlling a bird with small wings that cannot fly on its own. Instead, it uses the terrain to its advantage and slides down slopes to cover ground. As a player, you have just one thing to do: tap the screen, which causes the bird to slide down the slope faster, which in turn causes it to jump higher when the terrain slopes upwards.

You have to time your taps properly so that you attain maximum speed while going up the slope and thus cover the most distance. You have a limited amount of time on your hand and the more ground you cover in that time, the higher your score.

Tiny Wings makes use of procedural graphics, that is, graphics that are generated on the fly. This means that the terrain never looks the same no matter how many times you play the game.
v1.0 of the game had just one level that involved covering as much distance as possible and performing certain challenges, such as staying in the air for a certain amount of time or covering a certain amount of distance.
v2.0, however, brings a new game mode called ‘Flight School’ that adds four more birds. In Flight School, you can choose from any of the four birds (they have the same abilities; only their color and the sound they make are unique). The current version of Tiny Wings has three islands and each island has five levels. Once you choose a bird, you will be competing against the other birds to reach the destination first. If you are in the top three, you progress onto the next level, or you try the level again.



The gameplay is basically the same as in the main ‘Day Trip’ game mode, although the environments have been slightly changed. There are no coins to collect here and the blue boost points have been replaced with sunflowers, which will boost you if you land directly on them. Certain depressions in the terrain now also contain water and if you land in it you lose your speed and you can’t jump out.


The new game mode is fun and it gives you something to compete against, even in single-player mode. I also noticed that although it’s easy to come in at second or third, the first position is substantially more difficult to attain, which keeps things from being too easy.
Since there are only three islands for now (with more coming soon) and with fifteen levels between them, it’s not too time consuming to finish them all in once sitting. After completing each island your bird gets an upgraded nest. Once you fully upgrade the nest of one bird, you can choose another and play the levels again, if you so wish.
Another major thing that this update brings is an iPad version. The iPad version is a separate download and supports the Retina display on your new iPad. This version also comes with a split screen multi-player mode, where the screen is vertically divided in two parts so that two people can play and compete in a single game simultaneously.
Now, if you have played this game before, you know that it can be very addictive. Tiny Wings falls in the category of games that includes the likes of Canabalt or Temple Run, where the gameplay is ridiculously simple and repetitive, yet you keep on playing it again and again in the hopes of doing better next time just because it’s so much fun. Tiny Wings also complements the fun gameplay with beautiful hand-drawn visuals that look especially stunning on the Retina display and lovely, soothing music that stays with you long after you stop playing the game.
Overall, Tiny Wings is simple, fun and beautiful. It can be enjoyed by anyone, anytime and does not cost a lot. v2.0 isn’t a substantially major leap forward but then again, the game was already very good so even small improvements can go a long way. A must buy, if you haven’t already done so by now. Too bad it’s only available on iOS right now. Hopefully, the developer will release it on other platforms soon.
Rating: 4.5/5
Pros: Simple yet addictive gameplay, beautiful visuals and sound
Cons: Not a universal app (iPad version is separate and slightly expensive)
Developer: Andreas Illiger
Content Rating: 4+
Size: 15.7/22.3MB
Price: $0.99/$2.99
Download: iPhone / iPad