Techie Smarts

Copy: Free Cloud Storage for a Limited Time

2013-04-04T17:32:00.000-04:00

Checkout Copy... And do it now. Copy is awesome. Sure, it isn't a new concept. Sites like Dropbox have been around for a while. But if you want 5GB of free storage, why not take it right? They have a working client for Android, iOS, and PC (Linux, Mac, & Windows). And seeing as how I use Android, Linux, and Windows this is a very tempting offer.

But for a limited time, 5GB isn't the only free storage you can get from Copy. If you sign up for copy using this link: https://copy.com?r=UfAoUE

You will get your 5GB of free storage for signing up (which everyone gets). But once you sign in to any of the client apps (Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android) you will get an extra 5GB of storage. That's a total of 10GB of storage for doing nothing more than signing up and installing the app.

So far, I have used the app to sync pictures from my Android phone and my Nexus 7 tablet. And once I installed the Windows client, any data within selected folders "automagically" syncs to my laptop too. That means no more hooking my phone up to a USB cable to transfer pictures or data to/from my mobile devices.

The sign up process is extremely simple. Basically, just your name, email address, and a password. It takes less than a minute to sign up, a few moments to install the app and sign in. That's less than 2 or 3 minutes for 10GB of free cloud storage. It doesn't get any easier than that.

How sweet is that?

So drop by Copy using: https://copy.com?r=UfAoUE
Sign up and use the mobile app. Worse case scenario, you get 10GB of free storage for future use. Not too shaby!

Big Happenings in Techie's World!

2013-03-30T20:28:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posts everyone! (Although it feels I write this a lot here). Things have been a bit wild and crazy in my world for the last while. Staying busy and enjoying life has been a primary goal. Unfortunately, I haven't been around Linux much as of late. But I have managed to:
-Become madly addicted to "Call of Duty: Black Ops 2"
-Get my Wife madly addicted to "Call of Duty: Black Ops 2"
-Work a lot

-And another HUGE announcement that hopefully should be coming soon.

So stay tuned!

-----
And don't forget to watch Doctor Who tonight!

National Day of Unplugging

2013-03-01T16:00:00.000-05:00

Did you hear? That this evening from sunset until tomorrow (March 2nd), a nonprofit group named "Reboot" has suggested we have a "National Day of Unplugging". The goal is to encourage people put disconnect for technology for the close to a 24 hour period. In attempt to battle "burnout" and stress that comes from being wired into technology all the time (like most of us are).

I see a couple things about the "National Day of Unplugging". First: is it kind of funny that a large portion of the time spent "unplugged" will occur at night while a lot of us sleep? Or it it because a lot of recreational technology use is done of the evenings after we all get home from work?

Second, isn't it kind of funny that instead of starting say March 1st at 8:00a let's unplug. Instead, it's the idea of getting through the business day and then unplugging.

My skepticism aside, I completely understand that with the advent of things such as our laptops, tablets, and smartphones we all are hooked up way more than we probably should. And yes, I am positive that I understand that with these technological attachments comes the added stress from always being "in the know" whether it be for personal or work use.

But for me, one day of being unplugged just isn't enough. For me personally, I try to leave my phone in the other room on occasion. Or go out to eat and leave the smartphone at home. In reality, we will not be gone that long and the phone can wait. With all of that being said, I doubt I'll be participating this evening and tomorrow (as these times are my usual gaming times and that requires being hook into tech).

But for those who wish to participate, I highly commend you. Just don't over do it when you pick up your phone tomorrow evening.

For more on the "National Day of Unplugging" visit: http://www.rebooters.net/

App of The Week: Shadowgun Deadzone

2013-03-01T13:30:00.000-05:00

Our App of the Week for the week of March 1nd, 2013 is: Shadowgun: Deadzone. As always, we always try to highlight apps that are cheap and/or free in most cases. There are exceptions where an app is just so awesome, that paying more than $4 or $5 dollars shouldn't be a problem. But keeping true to our idea that most of us are on a budget (and or just cheapskates like me), ShadowGun: Deadzone is a FREE app. And unlike our usual App of Week pick, this game is cross platform on both iOS device and Android devices. So let's jump into what really makes this game standout.

What is it?

Shadowgun: Deadzone is an online multiplayer, third person shooter title. It follows the release of the original Shadowgun game for iOS and Android created by MadFinger Games. This game is absolutely gorgeous.

The Story

As mentioned above, Shadowgun: Deadzone is an online multiplayer game that throws the player into either a deathmatch style game or a capture point style game. There is very little by way of story for this app. It ideally picks up after the events of the original Shadowgun title. If you missed the original, a "Shadowgun" is basically a professional bounty hunter. In the original game, you played as John Slade and your mission was to stop a mad scientist from making a mutated army. So in Deadzone, your character is either a mutant soldier or one of several Shadowgun skins.

Gameplay

The game plays pretty much just like the original Shadowgun title. It is basically a covered based shooter much like the Gears of War franchise on the Xbox 360. Meaning, you run and gun and use objects that are scattered around the map to hide behind when you need to get out of the line of fire. When hiding behind a barrier or your back is pressed against a corner wall, the camera shifts a little providing a view of the action in front of you. You can then fire from behind cover, which is really handy in a heavy firefight.

The controls are fairly straight forward as well. On the left side of the screen is a virtual joystick which controls movement. You aim by sliding your right thumb around the screen. In the bottom right we have several icons that include aiming/firing, reloading, and sprinting. In the upper right corner of the screen we have your weapon selection icon, your sprinting meter, and a couple empty inventory spots for certain perks or power ups that you unlock as you play. These perks can include the ability to drop ammo or health recharge packs, use motion radars, and grenades to name just a few. Unlike a lot of games that utilize a touch based, onscreen button layout; this one works extremely well with a very low learning curve.

Other Features

What would a game that only offers online multiplayer be without a system for leveling your character? And Shadowgun: Deadzone offers exactly that. As you play matches you gain experience points and cash. Both of these add up over time. Your cash is used to upgrade weapons and unlock new power up. Meanwhile, you're experience points builds up your character's level as you play as well. Here is the important thing, a higher level doesn't necessarily mean a "stronger" character. It does mean, that someone with a higher level than you, has access to different weapons which in turn may be stronger than those who run lower level characters. But this is a fair trade off. As I have been in matches with people who are much higher levels, and still been able to more than hold my own against them.

Character Loadout Screen

There is also a "Casino" feature built into the games main menu. Each day your account will be given a token (or 2 or 3 depending) and you can use these tokens to take a spin on the Slot Machine. The reward for playing the Slot Machine is in game gold. This gold can be used to buy cosmetic items such as skins, hats, etc. for your character. As the tokens are given to your account, you do not have to pay "real-world" money for these.

There is also a buddy list, you can log in with your Facebook account, and you can chat (and voicechat if you have a premium account).

Game Modes

Currently there are only two game modes: Deathmatch and Zone Control. Deathmatch is your traditional free-for-all game mode. Where every player loads out into the map and spends the matches time limit trying to frag each other. He who has the highest killscore wins the match. Meanwhile, Zone Control is a little more tactical. Each map is contains a series of "Control Points" which also acts as spawn points. Two teams (red and blue) each fight for the duration of the match to gain control of more points than the other team. Eventually this leads to some pretty epic battles over points in the middle of a map. I spend a lot of time playing Zone Control as the strategy aspect of this game mode is a lot of fun.

Premium Features?

So at this point you may be saying, "Wait a minute? A game with these features, and it's free?". That's right, it is free to download and free to play. There are a couple ad screens you will see while playing, but the ads are for Shadowgun: Deadzone itself. Players have the option to upgrade to a "Premium Account" if they choose.

Premium accounts get the following:

-50% more Money and Gold for Playing Matches

-Increased Experience Points for Matches Played

-Access to Premium Servers

-Voice Chat

Premium features can be purchased using your in-game gold or you can drop some "real-world" money for it as a microtransaction. Premium accounts can be:

-1 day

-3 days ($00.99)

-1 week ($00.99 USD)

-1 month ($2.99 USD)

-3 months ($9.99 USD)

For example, I ran the month of January as a premium account. And the immediate advantage is being able to change between more than just the original 2 character skins. For me the cost is very little and if it counts towards helping the developers build updates for the game; then I am happy to support it. The Premium cost is a one time charge and no recurring. So when it runs out, you are dropped back down to a "Free Play" account status. Which means you receive less money and experience points.

Overall

This game should be considered a AAA title. It offers gameplay that I have yet to find in any other mobile game. And it feels like a big-console experience that you can hold in your hand. With great controls and graphics and an online experience like no other on a mobile device. I highly recommend this game. With a limited selection of maps and only two game modes, I would love to see this game grow to offer more as time goes on. But even with those limitations, I still give this game 5 Stars.

To play it, you will need a device that has at least 512MB of RAM. For iOS device users this includes: iPhone 4 (and newer), iPod Touch 5th Generation, and iPad 2 (and newer). For Android users a modern device with at least 512MB of RAM and running Android Honeycomb and newer.

I have been playing this on both my Samsung Galaxy S2 and my Google Nexus 7 and it plays smooth and fluidly on both devices.

Check it out:

Madfinger Games

Google Play Store- Shadowgun: Deazone (FREE)

Apple's App Store- Shadowgun: Deadzone (FREE)

Falcon Pro is Still Kicking

2013-02-28T22:34:00.000-05:00

As reported in a post yesterday, one of the best Twitter clients on the Google Play Store was having some issues with Twitter's Access Token limits. For the time being, things seem to have been worked out. No Twitter didn't recant on their stand of not increasing Falcon Pro's token limitations.

Instead, looks like the tokens were reset. Thus freeing up used tokens. The only catch is that if you are still a user of the app, when you download the latest update, you will be required to log back into Twitter via the app. Not a big deal whatsoever.

This is great news, as now the app can once again be purchased. It is unfortunate that Twitter is still sticking to their position as well. Especially since it is inevitable that the app will hit the 100k token limit again at some point. In the meantime, the developer has set the price back to a "purchasable" cost at $1.96. For more information be sure to checkout the Falcon Pro page on the Google Play Store.

Should Pre-College Students Be Offered Programming Courses?

2013-02-28T02:00:00.000-05:00

There is a video circulating the social media networks that was created by Code.org. If you aren't familiar with this nonprofit, here is a brief explanation. Their goal is to promote computer programming to the point in which schools across the United States would start offering computer programming courses to their students. Currently, most schools do not presently offer their students the opportunity to take programming classes until they attend college. Where Code.org is aiming to expose young people to programming before they get to college.

If you haven't seen the video yet, I would highly encourage you to check it out. It will be posted below. But in short, the video features a handful of well know people who are either programmers or are allegedly taking programming courses. And as the video progresses they all offer their insights as to why programming is important to them or even how they started programming. Some of the people on the video include Bill Gates (Microsoft/Philanthropist), Mark Zuckerburg (Facebook), Gabe Newell (Valve), and Will.I.Am (I know, I didn't figure him to be interested in programming either). And by visiting their website you will see a bunch of quotes by other famous people. So it does "appear" that Code.org seems to be throwing popularity at the young people to make programming "cool". This doesn't mean that programming isn't cool. I happen to believe that it is very cool and a rewarding skill.

The big reason Code.org is pushing so hard to educate young people about programming is to expose them to a skill that happens to have a high demand in the job market. And that demand is being forecast to continue to grow. So by exposing young people to this as part of their education we are only empowering these kids with the skills and abilities to help them succeed should they decide to pursue programming as a career.

Personally, I feel like to sooner we expose the young people to programming; the better off those who decide to pursue that as an avenue of a career will be. The Code.org website has a lot of good references and tools available for those interested in learning more about programming. Some tools are aimed for kids and some are actual paid classes and courses.

There is also a petition to sign if you believe their cause is a worthwhile one.

So, check out the video and see what you think. And afterwards, head over to our Facebook page and join in the discussion on this topic.

Ubuntu 12.10 Laptop Issues

2013-02-26T18:30:00.000-05:00

Over the past several days I have been attempting to get Ubuntu running the way I want it to on my laptop. This has been easier said then done. I have a Pavilion g7 laptop running Windows 8 out of the box. Windows 8 isn't my choice of OS, but one I can live with for things like playing certain games, and producing our YouTube videos. However, for everything else, I'd really prefer using Linux.

After disabling Secure Boot in my laptop's BIOS and imstalling Ubuntu 12.10, I had to run Boot-Repair from the Ubuntu 12.10 Live DVD to repair Grub 2 and make it bootable. So far so good. The issue began when trying to install my proprietary display drivers for the A8 APU my laptop is running. The default OpenGL drivers seemed to do ok, but every once in a while the screen would flicker for a brief second. Not a big issue, but one that made me feel like I was loosing my mind.

I followed numerous guides and tutorials on various Ubuntu blogs, YouTube videos, etc. And every single method I used returned the same issue. The driver would install, I could see it and test it as long as I didn't reboot. The catch is that to fully utilize the drivers I was forced to reboot anyways. Upon reboot, my Ubuntu setup would boot straight into a TTY session with no LightDM login or GUI of any kind.

Some methods required purging the recent changes to bring LightDM and the GUI back. But that didn't always work; resulting in reinstalling Ubuntu about 3 times. After the third installation, it started getting old. After doing some research, I have found several sites mentioning that the drivers seem to work in Ubuntu 12.04. Dropping down from Ubuntu 12.10 to 12.04 isn't a big deal to me. I have been using the LTS releases for a long time anyways. And with Steam now on Linux, I really want to get into some Counter Strike: Source action on my Linux install.

So, with the Ubuntu 12.04 Live DVD in hand; I plan on installing Ubuntu again and seeing if the Legacy drivers in fact work under 12.04 as many have claimed they do. If everything goes well, I hope to be reporting back with success soon.

Twitter's Token Limits vs Falcon Pro

2013-02-26T15:00:00.000-05:00

I was considering featuring the Falcon Pro Twitter app for Android devices as one of our weekly app picks. However, I am kind of glad that I didn't. But not for the reason you may first think of. The app is an outstanding Twitter client for Android devices. It is very fluid and offers a smooth user experience when using Twitter. In my opinion, it is just much sleeker and useful than most other Twitter clients I have used (including the official Twitter client for Android).

So what is the problem?

You may be thinking that the developer might have nerfed some features or did some funky new thing with an update. But none of that is true either. The issue appears to be on Twitter's end. How can this be? Are they trying to choke out "3rd party" developers? Don't they want people to use their service?

How: Twitter's API grants access to their service via "access tokens". If you have ever used a Facebook or Twitter app that allows you to login using your account for a social media service instead of just setting up yet another account; then you have used access tokens too. This is a popular way to sign into sites and services using mobile devices as well. So, an access token is delivered to your app or device when you access your account for a particular service using one of these "other" client type apps. Simple enough. On the end user side, this makes it easy to use other services and clients without managing multiple logins. There are some other challenges on the service side, such as token limitations.

For example, Twitter's access token limitation is 100k for a 3rd party type app or service. Once you hit the 100,000 token limit. That is it, new user's are no longer able to authenticate their app on Twitter. Meaning if you buy a Twitter client app on the Google Play Store, and it can't authenticate on Twitter, you have useless app (at least from the purchaser's point of view).

This is exactly what happened to Joaquim Verges who is the developer of the acclaimed Falcon Pro app. His app hit the 100k wall in less than 3 months, and that is "all she wrote". Mr. Verges has since started a petition to try and get the community feedback to help encourage Twitter to raise this limit, but per the Falcon Pro Twitter account (@falcon_android) he has already received a correspondence from Twitter stating:

So let me get this straight, does this mean that Twitter won't raise the token limit at all? Or if Falcon Pro offered some feature that Twitter's "official" client didn't have, it would then raise the limit? The later is how I read it. I know that Twitter controls what, who, how, and when can utilize their service. I completely understand that.

But at the same time is it right of Twitter to slam a door in the face of a successful app developer?

It doesn't take a person long to realize this app has a pretty good user base by looking at the apps reviews on Google Play Store.

So what happens now?

Well, for Mr. Verges he has done only what one could sensibly do. He has reached out to the community for participation in a petition and has contacted Twitter with his request. At this point, Twitter has shot down his request; and I honestly don't know how much a petition would really help at this point. In the meantime, Mr. Verges has placed a disclaimer on the app's Google Play Store page informing user's and potential buyers not to purchase the app due to the token limit from Twitter. He has also marked up the app price to $132.13 USD. Not sure how he came to pick this price, but that's how much it costs now in attempt to discourage future user's from purchasing the app thus restricting it's growing user base without being forced to just shut down.

And that is not all. The app's store page also requests that any user who is no longer using the app to please release the token from their app. That will free up a token so other people can use the app would essentially drop the count below 100,000 tokens (at least until it is used by someone else).

My advice?

I am not an app developer (or much of a programmer either for that matter); but if I were Mr. Verges my next step would be to prove to Twitter how awesome my app was. I would drop back and punt for lack of better puns. Go through the official Twitter app and try to work up a feature or two that the official Twitter app doesn't offer. And build on it. Then see what Twitter's excuse is for not raising the cap. My guess would be they will probably still shoot the request down, and probably add a couple new aforementioned features as well.

To Twitter...

As a company offering a social networking service to the internet community, I understand you're limitations concerning 3rd party developers, apps, and even services. However, for Falcon Pro to hit this benchmark means that there is definitely something great about this app. Why not make Mr. Verges an offer to help with the current development of the official Twitter app? Instead of choking out these smaller developers who make awesome apps, why not bring them on board and help build what you currently have going? Just makes sense to me.

What happens now?

Well, Mr. Verges has tweeted out that he will continue to update the app and support it for current user's as he uses the client himself, and refuses to use an app that is outdated. For which, I cannot blame him. And personally, I will continue to use the app as well. And in the meantime will continue to follow the progress on this and will report back if anything changes.

Ways to get involved:

It may seem somewhat ironic, but why not show Mr. Verges some support over on the Falcon Pro Twitter Account.

Go sign the petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/extend-falcon-pro

After all, Mr. Verges isn't the first and probably won't be the last that this type of thing happens to. Unfortunately, if we as the community don't get involved then this will continue to happen to other apps even across other services.

Mortal Kombat Legacy 2

2013-02-25T15:30:00.000-05:00

I just saw this today, even though it has been out for better than a week or so. Over at Machinima's YouTube Channel, there is the preview trailer for the upcoming sequel to the Mortal Kombat reboot/web series "Mortal Kombat: Legacy" and it is aptly titled "Mortal Kombat: Legacy II". As of yet there is no release date for when the episode's will start filtering onto the Machinima channel, but hopefully it will be soon. As it looks pretty awesome!

Looks like this time around we'll see more Scorpion/Sub-Zero goodness, will see Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa reprise his roll of Shang Tsung. Also shown in the trailer are Keshi, Styker, Raiden, Ermac, Mileena, Kitana, Kung Lao, Johnny Cage and Liu Kang. Remember back to the first season where we saw the likes of fan favorite characters like Sonya Blade, Jax, Johnny Cage, Kano, Cyrax, and Sektor to name a few. The first web series was somewhat controversial as many believed the initial teaser to be part of a big-screen franchise reboot of the movie franchise based off of the hit game series. However, when the developers announced it would in fact be a serial webseries many criticized the series and it's original take on these established characters origin stories and even their revised appearance in some cases.

Personally, a fresh look on the series from a "real-life" perspective was pretty cool. And infact, as the series progressed and gradually got better and better, I looked forward to each new episode. And in my opinion, the game series has been pretty dormant over the past several years (and since the release of the lasted MK game). So any decision to launch this movie into a big-screen type release would more than likely see it flop; in my opinion. But being a web-released series really makes it standout. As it is definitely one of the more "premium" style series on the web. And personally, I'd like to see more webseries like this one.

Anyways, if you haven't seen the new trailer, check it out below.

Watch below:

If you missed out on the first season of the webseries be sure to visit Machinima's Channel, as they have all of the episodes online: Machinima: Mortal Kombat Legacy 2

App of The Week: Temple Run 2 for Android

2013-02-23T01:09:00.000-05:00

As the title mentions, our App of The Week for the Week of February 23rd, 2013 is Temple Run 2. Let's be honest, if you have a Android or an iPhone, then you have probably at least heard of or even seen the original Temple Run. The original Temple Run became somewhat of a staple of mobile gaming. Along with the likes of Angry Birds, Jetpack Joyride, and numerous others. Either way, the original was an awesome game (albeit, rather frustrating at times; but still awesome).

If you happened to have played the original Temple Run then you pretty much know the ropes of the gameplay. Basic controls involve swiping the screen in order to make your runner avoid obstacles or make turns all while you are running from the likes of a crazed monkey. As the game opens, you see a nice 3D fly in of the ornate opening of a cave where an idol hovers in the cave's opening. You tap the screen to play, and that is when we are introduced to our runner. Who comes running out of the cave's opening and picks up the idol and starts running. You catch a shot of the giant monkey that is pursuing your runner. From there the game's camera positions itself behind your runner and you start out on your high speed adventure.

What's new in Temple Run 2?

Temple Run 2 brings several new elements to the game. All of which makes the game much more involved and in my opinion, brings a welcomed new environment to the Temple Run series. The environments from the original game were somewhat dark and gloomy looking; which, don't get me wrong served, to set the mood of the game. But still the newer, brighter environments just look awesome.

The environments aren't the only improvements that Imangi Studios brought to the table though. Where the original game succeeded in guiding players through a running, jumping, and sliding crazed run while collecting coins and power-ups; the sequel also throws in zip-lines, mine cart rides, and a much larger monkey.

I have been playing the game on my Nexus 7 tablet and my Samsung Galaxy S2 phone. And it runs so smooth it's almost ridiculous. I have experienced virtually no lag while running this game on either of my devices.

What is the point of the game?

Run fast, and run far. All the while, collecting coins and various power-ups that grant your runner abilites like being invincible, attracting all of the nearby coins as you run past them, or a green bubble of protection. And at the end of the run, try to beat your high score. There are also achievements built into the game that change as you level up

Is it worth the download?

Most certainly. And the price is perfect: FREE. That's right. It doesn't cost you a dime to pick up this awesome game. You can spend your real world cash for jewels in-game. But spending real world money doesn't help you progress through the game. As each level starts fresh, and each run is different. So forget about trying to memorize the pattern as you run through the level. But overall, this game is lush and beautiful, and is a lot of stylized fun.

Sure, the game can be downright frustrating at times. But if there has ever been a game that makes it fun to be frustrated; then this is it. So in short, if you are looking for a fun (and free) game to pick up then this is the app for you.

Rating:

Visit the Google Play Store: Temple Run 2

Steam is now a Native Linux application

2013-02-18T22:15:00.000-05:00

That's right, you read that right. Valve has released it Steam client as a native Linux application. I have installed it on my Ubuntu 12.10 box and can confirm that it does indeed work. And is pretty much just as easy to install as it is on any Windows machine.

If you are using Ubuntu then be sure to check the Software Center that is built into Ubuntu to download and install it. I have yet to try a game as I am currently in the process of downloading Counter Strike: Source for testing. To be fair I am also downloading CS:S on my Windows box as well for comparison purposes.

So stay tuned and I will try to report back as to how the Linux version runs when compared to it's Windows counterpart.

In the meantime Steam is running a sale which features some pretty awesome games. I picked up Counter Strike: Source for $5 and Half-Life for $2.49. And that's is just a couple of the great games that are on sale. That sale is supposed to run through Feb. 21st and the games that are purchased are unlocked on your Steam account for any platform that is officially supported. Meaning if you buy a game that runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac then you get access to all the on your Steam aaccount. So check it out:

http://store.steampowered.com

Rooted Nexus 7 Updated to Android 4.2.2

2013-02-18T00:17:00.000-05:00

As mentioned in my earlier post (Nexus 7 Rooted via the Nexus 7 Toolkit) I have rooted my Nexus 7 tablet using Mskip's Nexus 7 Toolkit from the XDA Developer forums. It was an extremely easy (and quick) process. Mskip did away the daunting and somewhat confusing aspect of rooting the Nexus 7 and he did an outstanding job. But as my luck would have it, just a couple weeks after finally rooting my device, Google releases an OTA update to bring the device to Android 4.2.2.

What does this mean for my root access?

Well, typically when updating a rooted device using an official ROM or even an OTA update; there is a really good chance it will do away with your root access in the process of the update. In some cases, if you have loaded a custom recovery during your initial root, the OTA update may even fail. This is the last thing I wanted to happen, since I like using my device and not necessarily spending the time to fix my device issues. So I purposefully waited for Mskip to update his toolkit for the Android 4.2.2 update. Especially as some many were reporting the need to re-root after updating via the OTA push.

Tonight was the night!

So yeah, I decided to make the jump after reading on the XDA Developers forum that Mskip had updated his toolkit. I figured why not go ahead and update? Worse case scenario, I'd need to reroot again. Sure, there are apps like SuperSU (which I have installed) and OTA RootKeeper which both have features that "should" technically preserve your root access while doing OTA updates. I chose not to even worry with them, as other user's have had very limited success in either solution saving their root.

Anyways, I went ahead and ran the update. To my surprise, my device rebooted into CWM and prompted whether I wanted to install the update. I chose to proceed. Then the update was installed, and towards the end of the process CWM alerted me that there was a "chance root access was lost". And prompted me to "Fix" it. So, I selected to "fix" it. When the tablet rebooted, first thing I did was check my apps where I saw all of my "root-required" apps were still installed and working. After downloading a Root Checker app for free from Google Play, it also verified that my root was preserved during the update.

That was pretty awesome. Now keep in mind, per the XDA forums; some people have had this luck. While others have had to re-root their devices. I'm not sure, but it almost seems like it depends on what version of the Nexus 7 Toolkit was used to initially root the device. However, I can't state that to be gospel truth as my knowledge of the toolkit is limited to a couple of uses.

Anyways, give it a shot. You never know.

Retro Game Curator on YouTube is Now Live!

2013-02-17T02:15:00.000-05:00

Well, you can tell we got snow here in my area today. Why? Because I was finally able to get some time to sit down and do some recording! As mentioned in a previous post, we have a welcome addition to the TechieSmarts network of websites/YouTube Channels! It goes by the name of: Retro Game Curator.

There is also an associated blog as well. Check out: http://retrogamecurator.blogspot.com where we have a growing selection of posts covering topics concerning old school gaming, reviews, news, and yes; links to all of our video content (which will be growing soon).

If you follow me on Twitter, keep an eye out for posts with the hashtag:
#RetroGameCurator as that tag will designate everything concerning that site.

So be sure you drop by and show us some love guys!

Happy surfing!

New Video on Our YouTube Channel!

2013-02-16T17:33:00.000-05:00

After a long hiatus, I'm back! Just uploaded a brand new video to our YouTube Channel, so feel free to swing by and check it out (or watch it below). Regardless of how you watch it, be sure to swing by our channel and subscribe so you stay up to date as we add new videos!

Ubuntu 12.10: Install Cinnamon Desktop

OTG Cable for Nexus 7 Makes Moving Files Easy

2013-02-12T15:30:00.000-05:00

As mentioned in a previous post, there is a USB cable you can purchase for your Nexus 7 that will allow you to read from USB Flash Drives (and write to them if you are rooted), use game controllers, etc. But keep in mind that this cable is not a standard USB cable. It is called an "On-The-Go Cable" or "OTG Cable" for short. They are fairly cheap to buy, and in my opinion are well worth the investment for any Nexus 7 owner. Does it work? Do you have to be rooted to use it? Why even worry about it? The answers (respectively): Yes, No, and It's Awesome. See below.

Does it work?

In short, yes the OTG cable works marvelously. Seeing as how it is just a cable, there aren't many ways it wouldn't work. It fits the small connection on the bottom of the Nexus 7 where you plug it up to charge. The opposite end of the OTG Cable, is a female USB connector. This allows you to hook up pretty much any USB Flash Drive or game controller to it. This makes it possible to watch movies or play music or even just access files directly from a USB Flash drive without the need of transferring these files directly to the Nexus 7 using either a PC or services like Box.

If you are using your Nexus 7 as it is straight out of the box (i.e.: not rooted) then you will need an app from the Google Play store to be able to read the USB Flash Drives. And without Root access, that's about all you can do. There have been some reports of certain apps allowing play with a PS3 gamepad without root, but not every app supports it. So if you aren't rooted and just want to be able to access other files using flash drives:

-Visit the Google Play Store and download the Nexus Media Importer by Homesoft ($2.99 USD)
-Hook up the OTG Cable and a flash drive.
-The Nexus Media Importer app should launch automatically.
-Select your files and have fun!
*Just note that without root access you can only read from USB Flash drives, you can't write back to them.

Do you have to be rooted to use it?

No you don't. As mentioned above, you can use it without root access. However, you're somewhat limited to what you can do with the OTG Cable unless you do have root access. With root access you can read and write to and from USB Flash Drives. You can also hook up a PS3, Xbox 360, or even Wiimote to your device for gaming. Using these devices does typically require an extra app to make it easier to setup (for PS3 controllers use Sixaxis).

And for reading/writing files I use the Stickmount (FREE) app and ES File Explorer (FREE) app to access and transfer files as needed.

Why Even Worry About It?

So why even worry about it. In short, if you have no plans to root your device or you are completely happy with your Nexus 7 as it is out of the box, you may not even care about using an OTG Cable. But if you're like me and you like to read books/comic books digitally, or watch movies and videos offline, or even play games with a gamepad; then the OTG Cable is a great workaround. The Nexus 7 is a slick device, no doubt about it. But one of the complaints have been the lack of an SD Card slot (or even a full sized USB Host port). Pretty much, whether you bought the 16 or 32GB capacity versions, that's all the space you get. With an OTG Cable you not only get the internal storage of your device, along with as many USB Flash Drives you could possibly want. This really opens up your devices storage options especially if you get tired of using your PC to transfer files to and from your device.

Get Your's!

I use the IVSO Nexus 7 Tablet Micro USB Host OTG Cable from Amazon which cost me after shipping: $4.97 (USD) which is pictured above.

Nexus 7 Rooted via the Nexus 7 Toolkit

2013-01-30T17:00:00.000-05:00

Last night I did something brave. Something I swore I wouldn't do for a while after I purchased my Nexus 7. Apparently, I lied to myself. As I a little better than a month out of my ownership of my Nexus 7, and today it is rooted. This isn't a definitive walkthrough. But it will hit the high spots. And we can do it in about 4 steps that make the rooting process so easy it's almost ridiculous. Be warned, the rooting process does perform a factory reset during the process which means all of your user data and apps will be erased from the device. Please backup any information or data you may need before starting the rooting process. Read below.

Step 1: Drivers

First thing first, you need the ADB drivers for your Nexus 7. This can be accomplished one of a couple of ways. Way #1: download the Nexus 7 Toolkit and let it install the correct drivers for you. I attempted this, and it didn't work for me. I am using Windows 8, and I had read there were some funny issues about Nexus 7 driver installation under Windows 8. So I had to go to Way #2.

Way #2 is manually downloading the drivers from the ASUS site (click here). This will download the USB Driver Package to your PC. Simply unzip this file to a folder you can easily find. Then open Windows Explorer, right click Computer and click on Properties. Look for the link in the properties box that says "Device Manager". Look for an entry that had a yellow caution sign beside it that reads "Nexus 7".

Right Click the "unknown" Nexus 7 device and select to Update the driver. Follow the wizard and point it to the USB Driver that you downloaded and unzipped. This should fix the driver issue.

Step 2: USB Debugging has to be Enabled

On the Nexus 7 the "Developer Options" menu has been hidden. To access is, open the "Settings" app on your Nexus 7, tap on "About Tablet". Find "Build Number" and tap 7 times. You will see a prompt counting down how many taps until you become a "developer". This unlocks the "Developer Options Menu". Now tap your back button to return to the "Settings" menu and then tap into the "Developer Options" menu. Locate "USB Debugging" and enable it.

Step 3: Download and Install the Nexus 7 Toolkit

This is where the magic is going to happen but you have to be running this from a Windows PC with the drivers mentioned above (unless you let the toolkit install drivers for you). Visit XDA Developer's Nexus 7 section and download the Nexus 7 Toolkit. There is a lot of good information on this page, and if you have any desire to root and load custom ROMs on your device then please frequent XDA. XDA is a great community for this kind of thing. Anyways, click here to visit the thread about the Nexus 7 Toolkit and download it. Once you have downloaded it, install it. It will place a shortcut on your desktop for future use.

Step 4: Hook it all up!

Hook your Nexus 7 up to a USB Cable and your PC. Launch the newly installed Nexus 7 Toolkit. And you'll be greeted with a window that has a black background and green text asking if you want to check for an update to the toolkit (select No). Then select your build of Android (if you aren't sure go back into your Nexus 7 settings and click on "About Tablet" it will tell you Android 4.2 or 4.2.1 or other). Back in the ToolKit enter the number option that matches your version of Android. For example, mine was 4 for Android 4.2.1.

If the Toolkit see's your tablet, your tablet's serial number will be just bove the main menu. If you see it there, you're in good shape (see the pic below). I selected #8 from the menu for "1-CLICK for ALL...". Essentially, it will go through an automated process of unlocking the bootloader, rooting, renaming the recovery, installing custom recovery and busybox. The whole process takes less than 10 minutes to finish. It is prompted. So just follow the instructions as the program prompts you. The Toolkit will handle all rebooting of the Nexus 7 and installation of all software as needed during the process. So basically sit back, answer a few prompts and let it ride until it is done. Once the process is finished your Nexus 7 will reboot and the program will prompt that the rooting was successful.

If you are curious that it infact worked, download one of the many Root Checker apps from the Google Play Store and check. Now you can flash custom ROMs and run apps that require root access. One of my reasons for rooting was to use my PS3 controller for some of my tablet's games. But we'll cover that in another post.

Links used:

Nexus 7 Toolkit from XDA-Developers (does not require site registration)

Retro Game Curator coming to the TechieSmarts Network!

2013-01-29T16:00:00.000-05:00

Do you love games? Do you love old school games? If you answered yes to either of those, then be sure to checkout a new site to the TechieSmarts network: Retro Game Curator! Over at the Retro Game Curator we will cover news and reviews as each pertains to Retro and Vintage style gaming. And some pretty cool YouTube content as well. There is a growing generation of gamers today that have not experienced some of gaming history's greatest games. And our goal is to showcase some of those games and inform younger gamers of what they have missed.

And who knows, maybe inspire someone to be a fellow game collector as well.

Stay tuned!

Nexus 7 Review

2013-01-02T16:00:00.000-05:00

Shortly after Christmas, I found myself purchasing a Nexus 7 tablet. And believe me when I say they were few and far between in our local brick and mortar stores. In early December I saw them on sale at a two of our local Walmart stores. But apparently they were a pretty hot item this year. I ended up finding one at a Gamestop about 30 miles away.

Needless to say, it was well worth the near 60 mile round trip. So here is my quick review.

First up, like most tablets or mobile devices; there are several different versions of the device. The Nexus 7 was made by Asus for Google (as Google doesn't produce hardware themselves). The Nexus 7 is a 7 inch, Tegra 3 tablet and it comes in three flavors.
- 16GB Wifi only (MSRP: $199.00)
- 32GB Wifi only (MSRP: $249.00)
- 32GB Wifi & 3G (3G via AT&T) (MSRP: $299.00)

Most of the local brick & mortar stores around here carry the 32GB WiFi only model for $249. At first, $249 may sound a little steep. But when compared to the price of devices like the Kindle Fire HD or the Nook HD it's still pretty much in the same price range. And from the software perspective, the Nexus 7 is quite a bit more open (out of the box) than either Amazon or Barnes & Noble's offerings.

The market definitely has no shortage of tablets and mobile computing devices, so what makes the Nexus 7 stand out? For me, it's the software that jumps out at me. The Nexus 7 runs Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) out of the box. So big deal, it runs the latest version of Android... Who cares? Well, most Android based devices include apps that aren't used of wanted. Smartphone's are the same way. My Galaxy S2 from Sprint came preloaded with Sprint branded apps and even a couple games that I didn't really care to have on my device without my choice.

This doesn't happen with the Nexus 7, reason being it runs pure Android without any vendor UI overlay or without any Vendor specific apps preloaded. What you do get preinstalled on the devices are the apps from Google that are run of the mill on Android devices:
-Google Play Store (and associated apps)

So what about the specs:
- Tegra 3 Quad-Core Processor
-1GB of RAM
-Storage Capacity: 16GB or 32GB
-WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
-Bluetooth
-NFC
-3G only available is the 3G model
-Front Facing 1.2MP camera
-4325 mAh Battery (rated at approximately 8 hours of battery life)
Screen Specs:
-7 inch (1280 x 800) at 216ppi
-Back-lit IPS display

Other Features:
-Microhone
-Accelerometer
-Magnetometer
-GPS
-Gyroscope

You may have read through those specs and said: "What a minute, where is the SD Card slot or the rear facing camera?!". And you'd be right, the Nexus 7 does not sport either of those. And to be honest with you, I haven't even missed them. Here's why. My phone has a 8MP camera on it. The majority of my pictures are taken while I am out and about in the world on a daily basis. I have a 10 inch Android Tablet that sports both of the Nexus 7's missing features and I rarely use them. I have taken less than 10 pictures with my 10 inch tablet's rear camera. I use the SD card slot only to load a small collection of ROM's to play. That's it. So not having these two features didn't hinder me from picking up the Nexus 7.

And if these missing features might deter you from checking out the Nexus 7, then don't let it. Because there is a work around for the missing SD Card slot. You can pick up what is called an "On the Go" USB adapter. There are a couple types of these available on Amazon. The popular one basically splits the micro-USB connector on the bottom of the device into two USB ports that allows you to connect Flash Drives for extra storage of file transfers (although some of the file transfer features will require ROOT access). That means it is still possible to swap files on the fly. Albeit, with an extra cable. The good news is that most of these adapters are really dirt cheap. And there is even one that has a card reader/USB/HDMI Output on it as well.

So enough about the specs, how does it perform? So far I have read books on the Nexus 7, watched quite a bit of Netflix programming on it, surfed the web and social networks, and yes; I have indulged in quite a few games as well. Everything works just as smooth as silk. The games I have played so far include:
-Need for Speed Most Wanted
-Dark Meadow: The Pact
-Sonic 4 Episode II THD
-Beach Buggy Blitz
-Marvel's Avengers Initiative

And every game has been fast, no lag, responsive and an overall fantastic experience. I am excited to load up the multiplayer version of Shadowgun to see it in all it's glory. One of the common complaints tends to be more with the apps from Google Play; as not all of them are designed to work on a 7 inch display. What I mean is the Facebook app downloaded from Google Play is essentially the same as the phone version of the app. This has been an issue with Android pretty much since Day 1. They call that "fragmentation" and is one of the large reason's Apple fans slam Android fanboys. For me, there are so many other awesome apps out there, I can't let the quirks with just a couple hinder my overall experience on something that really isn't the tablet's issue in the first place.

The 7 inch screen size is perfect for reading books, as it feels like using a paperback sized book. And the tablet is pretty light (weighing in at 340g) so you can easily hold it with one hand and not tired of holding it. And when paired with books from Google Play (or as I prefer to use Aldiko), it really feels great kicking back on the couch with a good book on the Nexus 7.

Battery Life
Sure, it's got great specs with a great screen size and can run movies and games without a problem. The battery life must be terrible, right? Nope. In fact, the battery life is the best I have seen on an Android device this size. For example, over the weekend I pretty much carried the Nexus 7 with me everywhere I went. I haven't altered any of the display or power settings from their default settings. At the end of the day Saturday, I looked at the Battery usage and it had been off of the charger for a little better than 9.5 hours and I was still showing around 32% battery left. My usage that day was connecting to three different WiFi connections, web surfing/Facebooking for a while on each. Did some lite reading, used the web surfing to find resources and information on PC repair for a friend, watching YouTube, playing Need for Speed Most Wanted, and later that evening watching an episode of "Sons of Anarchy" on Netflix.

That is way more activity than my phone could handle without begging for a charge midway through the day. So you shouldn't have to worry about battery life. If you can charge it up before bed, you'll not have much to worry about. The only issue I can forsee is that the battery is enclosed (much like the iPad devices). So you can't replace it when it's charge cycles are used up. Hopefully, by the time that happens; it'll be time to upgrade devices anyway.

Cons
The Nexus 7 only has one downside that I have found thus far and I wanted to save it for last. And really, it isn't that big of a deal (it can be resolved); but out of the box it may be an issue for some people. The Nexus 7 has one speaker bar in the bottom of the back of the device. Out of the box with the volume turned all the way up, it is still somewhat difficult to hear the audio anywhere but in a semi-quiet room. You can however download a Speaker Booster app from Google Play that will fix this. So not a serious issue by any means.

Overall Verdict: Must Buy!
Today marks 1 week spent with the Nexus 7, and I haven't regretted purchasing it yet. It is a great device, offering the latest and greatest that Google has to offer on the software side. And the awesome specs that Asus slammed into the Nexus 7's casing. I honestly gave thought to initially purchasing the iPad Mini. But with it's price point higher than the Nexus 7's, and the fact I really didn't like the idea of having to use iTunes again. So I veered away from Apple's offering. And honestly, I'm glad that I did.

For more information on the Nexus 7 please visit:
Google Play's Nexus 7 Product Page

Happy New Years!

2012-12-31T15:52:00.001-05:00

Well, here we are again folks. Another year is in the books. This year has been pretty wild, if I do say so myself. You can't deny that 2012 has had it's up's and down's, the impending Apocalypse that was much hyped; but didn't happen. The Presidential Election (depending on which way you voted, was either a happy moment or a not so happy moment). And the tragic acts that were committed in Aurora, CO and Newtown, CT.

On top of all of the happening in the news we had the big screen introduction of The Avengers and the conclusion to the Dark Knight trilogy. Android had a big year, and Apple launched the iPhone 5 and iPad Mini as well as basically relaunching their entire line of mobile devices and MP3 players. This only fueled the Android vs. Apple fanboy debates. Not too mention the Appl Patent Lawsuits, and the deadline of the looming fiscal cliff rapidly approaching.

So regardless of where you are right now, we've all experienced high's and low's this year more than likely in our personal lives and definitely as a country. Personally, I look forward to 2013 and the journey ahead of us. I am not putting stock in our Government or our President. But am confident that God will continue to bless in the upcoming year.

So tonight as we ring in the New Year here in the U.S.A. Count your blessings, maybe make a few resolutions. And please be safe tonight and start the New Year right.

I'll see you all in 2013!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2012-11-22T07:15:00.000-05:00

This year has been a wild one so far hasn't it. With all of the build up to the elections, the results of the elections, and the resulting news of corporate layoffs that seem to slowly be spreading through large businesses that have been around all of my life. Yet, as our folks here at home are starting to see tough times in a lot of areas, we still have our military servicemen and women overseas doing their jobs too. Let us be in prayer for all of those in need, those fighting abroad for our freedoms and rights, and continue to pray for the leadership of the great land we call home: America.

Remember, though times may be tough; we have so much to be thankful for.
"O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy endureth forever." -Psalm 107:1 (KJV)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Finally! I made an Android App!!

2012-11-18T23:59:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I know it's a small accomplishment but tonight I made my first Android app! I haven't programmed anything since 2003, so I'm relearning all over again. Using help from YouTube (Checkout Lecture Snippets on YouTube). He has some pretty awesome videos on his channel.

Basically, it is one screen with some basic text, a button, and an empty text box. When the button is clicked, the text box is filled with a canned message. Like I said, it isn't much but it's a start!

Samsung and the Galaxy S4??

2012-09-17T19:30:00.000-04:00

It's unofficially-official, that Samsung is expected to unveil the next in it's line of Galaxy phones in February 2013. Is this Samsung's way of trying to sucker punch Apple. Within recent weeks Samsung has gotten into heaps of hurt with Apple of their intentional copying of the iPhone design (which they admitted too by the way). And only mere days after Apple releases the iPhone 5, Samsung basically teases us with their new phone.

I know these manufacturers like to stay ahead of the game and they are all in direct competition with each other, but common Samsung. People are just now learning the in's and out's of the Galaxy S3. And some of us are still loving out S2's (me included). But here is the kicker, what changes will be made to the S4 that still make it great. Or even can changes be added to make it greater than the iPhone itself?

And it gets even better, not only is Samsung no doubt trying to put the bug in people's ear who may be looking to upgrade their phone with their provider. But also those who may be coming due for an upgrade between the end of 2012 and February. Because buzz on the interwebs is that even though they are unveiling the phone in February, the phone is expected to hit the wild no more than a month later. Making it available sometime in March.

As always, I'll be keeping watch on future developments. Even though I am not due for another phone for a year still, at this rate by the time I am due for an upgrade maybe the S6 will be out. lol

Android App: Box for Android

2012-09-17T19:15:00.000-04:00

This week our Android App Pick of the Week is Box! I'm sure you have heard of Box before. Commonly referred to as Box.com it is a sweet service that allows you to store your data and files online or "in the cloud". Cloud backup and online file storage has turned into big business these days. As devices become even more mobile than ever before, so do we. People are always on the go. And a lot of us need access to certain files while we are out and about in life's adventures. That is what Box can do for us.

Sure, Box isn't the only service that gives us this type of file mobility. But it is the one I prefer. Basically, here is how it works. You sign up for the service on their website at Box.com. In return you get 5GB's of online storage for free.You are limited to uploading files 100 MB's or less with a free account. You can upgrade you plan if you like for a monthly fee:
- 5GB's / max file size is 100 MB's = Free
- 25 GB's / max file size is 1 GB = $9.99 per month.
- 50 GB's / amx file size is 1 GB = $19.99 per month.

Earlier in the year, Box gave it's Android App user's 50 GB's of storage for life for free. That's why I use them. Using the app on both my phone and tablet make it a perfect way to share pictures and pdf files among several devices. And the files are accessible on any PC that has an internet connection. Always remember, the limitations of cloud storage services like these are based on your network speed and bandwidth. Obviously, a slower connection will mean longer upload times. However, unless you are uploading crazy large files, it should work just fine for you.

The service and the app are free.
Visit: Google Play- Box App
Visit: Box.com for more information on the service itself and to sign up.

Ubuntu 11.04 Nearing It's "End of Life"

2012-09-17T18:00:00.000-04:00

Well, it's that time again. Another Operating System is nearing it's end of life. And nope, I'm not talking about the April 2013 Doomsday for Windows XP users. This time it is Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal". For those are are unfamiliar with the "Natty" it was the first time user's saw the Unity Desktop. From that day forward Canonical would either have people who loved Unity or those who didn't care at all for it. Some of us use it and have become somewhat fond of it, but still care for the traditional look of the Gnome/Ubuntu desktop environment.

Either way, if you are still using the 11.04 release of Ubuntu it is time to upgrade. No need to panic, as "Natty Narwhal" will continue to get it's updates and security patches until October 28th, 2012. You can still use 11.04 past the 28th if you like. However, you will not be able to get any updates and this leaves an open security issue that you definitely don't want. You can use the system updater from within Ubuntu to upgrade your installation.

It is suggested for the best upgrade experience, that if you are still running Ubuntu 11.04, unless you are going to do a clean install of Ubuntu 12.04.1 it will not matter. Just backup your files and install away. However, if you are upgrading from 11.04 here is the path you need to take.
-First, upgrade to Ubuntu 11.10.
-Then upgrade the installation to 12.04.1.

Personally, I like to take the time to do a fresh install of my Operating Systems rather than upgrading. It not only gives you a fresh start. It also gives you back a lot of used storage space that you probably weren't utilizing anyways. I mean, we all install packages and after a few uses, we move on to something else. Then these packages are left behind taking up space.

The choice is yours, but either way. To stay secure, you need to upgrade.

For more visit: Ubuntu.com

A Week in Guild Wars 2

2012-09-17T17:00:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned a week ago, I finally made the leap from Guild Wars to Guild Wars 2. I have also been able to log in to the game and play some almost everyday (with the exception of Monday, that day sucked). And I have some initial thoughts on my time spent in the game thus far. My stats as of this writing is a level 16 Necromancer with a focus on minions (build 1) and a focus on AoE attacks (build2). Let me say first hand, I absolutely love this game. Now read on and find out why.

Probably my first half hour to forty-five minutes of playtime were a little familiar yet a little confusing for me as well. The character creation portion of the game is pretty awesome. The character is pretty much customizable from head to toe. You pick from a set of preconfigured parts and can tweak them from there. For example, you pick from a set of faces for your toon. Then you can make adjustments to things like the chin size and angle of the eyebrows, etc. This system allows for a greater range of design than Guild Wars offered.

The confusing thing for me had to be the way the skill system works. In Guild Wars, you would unlock skills by gaining experience points (like a traditional RPG). Then you would visit NPC characters and purchase more skills. Elite skills were often captured from instanced bosses during your adventures using a Signet of Capture right after the battle. Not in Guild Wars 2.

Here is the just, you do unlock Utility Skills using Skill Points earned during play. You gain skill points by completing Skill Challenges and from leveling up. Your Combat skills are directly tied to your weapon set. Meaning if you happen to pickup and equip a new Ax or Mace, they new weapon will equip your character with a different set of skills for combat. And without equipping a particular weapon, you never know what skills you will get.

If the skills have not been used yet on a particular weapon, only one skill for that weapon will be available. As you use that skill, the second skill in the set will slowly unlock. This unlocking happens across three of the four combat skills. It's not a bad system, but it takes a little getting used too. I am used to picking what skills I want in my builds. Instead of "micro-managing" skills you will mange your inventory. Because obviously, if you had a nice skill set that you liked; you'd not want to discard or sell that weapon.

You Utility Skills cover things like buffs, healing skills, and in my case summoning minions and other Necrosis based monsters. These skills can be swapped on the fly as long as you aren't engaged in combat. Remember in Guild Wars, to make any skill or weapon changes you would have to map travel back to a city and make the necessary changes and swaps. Not both gear and skills can be swapped any time other than when in combat.

Speaking of gear, we can now swap between weapon sets. We three sets of weapons (2 slots for land based and three slots a piece for water based). This covers a primary and off hand weapon in each set. Which gives you additional options when trying out new skills. I like to use new weapons on one skill bar that I am unlocking. And my primary bar has a full, working set of skills. That way I am never stuck with just one skill on each bar.

The majority of the game world is no longer instanced. Meaning you take part in dynamic events that happen in real-time with other players. Kind of like Warhammer Online has. These events often become daily tasks as they pop up frequently and are a lot of fun to play.

Let's chat about loot. In the first Guild Wars, it seemed that I didn't come by crafting materials in loot drops from combat quite like it does in GW2. From my first fight, I have been collecting things like leather squares and Iron Cores. Which is nice, because crafting feels much more fleshed out in GW2. Forgive my ignorance on crafting, as I have only been at it for about two days now. Essentially you get the crafting recipe and the crafting materials and craft away. Unlike my brief time Aion where you could special d forever trying to successfully craft a single, simple item. So far I have bee crafting in the leather working g profession to make my 8 slot bags. And it has been a blast.

The Trading Post is another endeavor I have just started playing with. I have purchased some crafting materials with in-game gold with much success. And I have sold probably 50 or 60 silver worth of the items with success. And I love it. It's like a virtual eBay for your unwanted items and loot and craft materials. Included as part of the Trading Post is the Gem Store. Admittedly, I was concerned when I first heard about this. But it seems to be a nice complement to the core game. Essentially the Gem Store is for the much dreaded microtransactions we have seen in other games. But this one reminds me of "Lord of The Rings Online" and "Runes of Magic" in that you don't have to use real world money for the microtransactions. In LoTRO you could gain Turbine Points to make purchases by doing tasks in the game or buying the Turbine Cards and using those.

In GW2, if you decide you don't want to use your hard earned, real world cash. You can convert your in-game silver and gold into Gems to use instead. So what is for sale in the Gem Store? Mostly things like extra character slots, XP boosts, locked chests, and mini pets. You can also upgrade your copy of the game to the deluxe version and get the special skills and Rytlock mini too. There are also armor skins and cosmetic items up for grabs too. But who needs those right? lol

I have heard some complaints about leveling so far. I haven't had any complaints myself as the leveling feels pretty balanced to me. Not really having to grind much helps this out a lot too. Here is my progress so far:
-Levels 1 - 10: Flew by quick and painlessly.
-Levels 11 - 14: Took a little while longer than the first 10. And a little grind was necessary.
-Currently a Level 16 Necro and should hit level 17 pretty quick at this rate.

Overall, I have no complaints about the game. Is it perfect? No, it's not. Does it feel entirely original? Not 100%, as you can definitely find inspirations gleaned from the likes of WoW, LoTRO, and even Warhammer Online. But it feels seamless and they manage to keep it very interesting. One complaint t I have been following on their forums and in-game is balance within some of the classes (like the Necromancer) where people are complaining that the class feels to weak and unbalanced. Personally, this hasn't been an issue for me. But I'm sure AreaNet will address it in due time. On my second day in the game I had already been invited (and joined) a nice, active guild that is a little shy of 400 people strong as of this writing. It took me months to find a decent guild in Guild Wars. The inclusions of Points of Interest, Skill Challenges, and Vista's are awesome as well.

It looks like AreanNet has done it again. And with sales for Guild Wars 2 breaking the 2 million units sold mark. Looks like the rest of the world likes it too.