Do people still play real board games, I wonder. One thing's for sure, it's getting harder and harder to find a true toy store that sells these sort of games. The problem is, I guess, that with so many games now being transformed into games that can be played digitally there is a perception that if they ain't on your smartphone or tablet then they aren't worth playing. The introduction of the incredibly user-friendly iPad a few years back and the consequent rise of the tablet revolutionized the market even more and opened up all these games to a new ... Read more
You might have seen an item featured on both The Daily Show and the ABC News with Diane Sawyer programs recently that talked about the wild cost variations for hospital treatment in the US. In the case they cited - a young boy in need of a tonsillectomy - the family were given five different quotes from five different hospital locations for exactly the same treatment. Nothing unusual there, except for the fact that the lowest came in at US$2,800 and the highest was $21,000. Everyone involved agreed that there should be a 'price list' for treatments and somewhere they ... Read more
I think it was writer P.J. O'Rourke that once said that golf combines two of the favorite American pastimes - taking long walks and hitting things with a stick. What is certainly true is that, while it may be a very pleasant place to spend a few hours on a sunny afternoon, golfers take their sport very seriously. The thing that gets me though is the way they keep score. While TV scoreboards are filled with up to the date information,the humble golfer still mostly relies on the simple piece of paper to keep their score and has no idea ... Read more
When people latch on to the idea of the QR Code I think it will take over the world. To the uninitiated, the QR Code is one of those square, pixilated boxes that you see more and more of, these days, as an advertising tool that you can scan and read and it will immediately display on your smartphone. Effectively, it's a barcode that takes you to a displayable place on the Internet and can be used as a great advertising and promotional too for anything from your business, a house for sale or the menu of the restaurant that ... Read more
While MoxieCanvas really does create beautiful animations we should get one thing clear. We're not talking about cute animals like Bambi or CGI'd like Buzz Lightyear here. This easy-to-use web animator creates clean and smooth shapes of all kinds to embellish your web pages, marketing or presentations without the use of any complicated codes. Create any kind of shape you need (you can have a go at Bambi if you like) using drop and drag. MoxieCanvas is a full-featured editor that generates HTML5 content and uses the KineticJS library so your animations will work everywhere you want it to. ... Read more
While Google+ Hangouts has hardly taken over the world since its inception, the chances are that it's profile will increase somewhat when the iOS version is made available in the not too distant future. At the moment, this free video chat service with face to face and group chats of up to ten people, can only be accessed by laptop, desktop and Android. HangoutMagix is a rather cool free graphics creator for your video chat that allows you to put up various graphics to decorate your window. HangoutMagix is a completely free online graphics creator for Google+ Hangouts. While ... Read more
Does anyone really know why games like Angry Birds take off to the extent they do? It certainly wasn't for its cutting edge graphics or for its scintillatingly complicated gameplay, that's for sure. Smashing Egg Tido is a new arcade-style game by developer JaiZee and Gamesutra that throws itself into the ring as the next fun and addictive game for iOS. Tido is a colorful animated egg character who spends his time finding ways of trying to prevent being turned into a tasty omelet by various chefs. Collect points, add power-ups, pick up items as you go and beat your ... Read more
These are busy and stressful times and we probably don't take enough time in our crowded daily schedules for a moment of relaxation and meditation. We probably don't think we have the time to do it anyway - whether we have faith in relaxation techniques or not. MyRelax is a health and wellness app for Android and iOS, narrated by noted Italian author and meditation expert Carlo Boschi, that offers simple ways to take a moment out of your day and turn your mind off. Perfect for all ages, the app offers different methods of relaxation to reduce stress levels ... Read more
Here is a health and fitness app that doesn't come with any weight loss guarantees. It doesn't magically transform you from overweight to lightweight overnight nor is it a mind expanding instant answer to your dieting problems. What it is, though, is a well thought out companion to your weight control program that can give you the same dietary help when you are on-the-go as when you are in the comfort of your own surroundings at home. UControlWeight helps you keep full track of the calorie content of the things that you eat during the day by parking itself on ... Read more
Judging by the fact that CamFind logged up over 50,000 downloads in its first week of release it's easy to see that it is an in-demand commodity in the photo share world. This iOS photo recognition app works in the same way that Google Goggles works for the Android in that it gives you a great search engine for information on the photos you have taken. But, while Goggles has a 15-20% accuracy rate on identifying locations from photos, CamFind ups the ante somewhat with an accuracy level that hits around 85%. What's more, it can identify your photos from ... Read more