Just a Digital Native

How To Enjoy Your Comics On Your Tablet Like A Boss

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Mon, 06 May 2013 16:28:00 +0000

On tablet commercials we usually see a random person playing Angry Birds on his tablet, watching YouTube while sipping margaritas at the beach or just sending emails. What about reading comics? Why doesn't that get any TV-love?

The ability to sit on your couch and buy comics without having to worry about missing the next issue is the wet dream of every comic reader. And moreover, who wouldn't like getting their digital comics at a better price (paper costs money)?

But this article isn't about Comixology but about Perfect Viewer, a great free app that lets you view your comics on your device. Imagine having a huge collection of comics but you're afraid that they might get ruined so you decide to scan them and save them on your computer. Wouldn't it be great to also reread them on your tablet?

Perfect Viewer

Perfect Viewer is a comic reading app that supports many image (JPEG,PNG,GIF,BMP) as well as archive (CBZ/ZIP,CBR/RAR,7Z/CB7(No solid mode),LZH) file formats and boasts a bookshelf where your comics are shown in their own separate folders, all nice and tidy.

Although it doesn't have a slick design and looks a bit clunky, it's very easy to use and quite powerful. It even tags the comics that you've read for your own convenience. It's a great application and worth a try!

image credit

The Easiest Way To Keep Your Hard Drive Fast And Efficient

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:24:00 +0000

Computers are complicated devices that are an important part of ours lives. Although the majority of us have devices that operate very similar to computers, like smartphones and tablets,taking care of them is an important aspect that most people neglect.

Whats Disk Fragmentation?
Frequent use of your computer tends to make it clutter and slow down so keeping it fast and in tip-top shape requires a bit of maintenance on your part.

What happens in your Hard Disk Drive is similar to a disorganized file cabinet, files get mixed up with others and most of them end up in the wrong category leading to a disaster.

Your computer tries to load up data but takes more time because first it has to find them since they are disorganized. Luckily for you, the maintenance doesn't involve opening your computer and cleaning in with a brush, just using a specific tool that windows provides you with so its fairly simple and easy.

Defragging and Fragmentation.

When you use your computer to perform various tasks as well as move, download and delete files, your computer keeps cluttering up and getting fragmented with data which end up clogging its digital arteries. To keep it fast and efficient, you must use a defragmentation software to clean your Hard Drive. Think of your PC as a file cabinet which has files stored in a random order. Defragging your computer will put those notes in Alphabetical order according to your usage, thus making it faster and more efficient when it tries to find its data.

Fortunately for you and your wallet, Windows has its own personal program to help you keep your HDD safe and sound.

Steps
1) Go to "My Computer",
2) Right-click on your "Hard Drive" and select "Properties" from the drop down list that appears,
3)Go to the "Tools" tab and click on "Defragment now".

Done, now you just have to sit back and let your computer work its magic. Read a comic, go for a stroll, this will take time.

Enjoy a faster and much healthier Hard Disk, you deserve it!

Note: Solid State Drives(SSD's) don't need any defragging because of how they operate. By defragging an SSD instead of making it better and faster, you reduce its life span and can ruin it. Stick only to regular Hard Drive Disks for your defragging needs.

About Time, Game Center-Like Gaming Social Hub Possibly Coming To Android, Future Plans Leaked Via APK

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:38:00 +0000

If you ask me, its about time they (Google) decided to create a social hub for Android gamers, one like the iOS Game Center, a cool app where people can meet new friends, compare achievements and scores, discover new games and play against, or with, other people all around the world.

Coming from an iOS environment, the lack of a Game Center was the first thing i noticed on my Android Tablet. Lets not forget how competitive we gamers get to become when we indulge ourselves in colorful games. Many are the times when we just want to rub our score in some other persons face and boast our "mad" skills while denying theirs.

Well, Google has heard the warcry of its user base and is planning to make one, regardless if they didn't mean to have their future plans leaked all over the internet.

APK Leak
According to Android Police, an APK teardown revealed much about this so called Game Center and its future plans that Google had it mind. Some of which are:

multiplayer support
in-game chat
lobbies
leaderboards
achievements

Many will cry out that a Game Center is the least of our worries when so many fixes and improvements should be made instead. Well i agree and disagree, Android does need to work on many things regarding performance but i also think that a Game Center will let us forget about those problems and focus more on our enjoyment, which is more important in my honest opinion.

Any thoughts regarding this leak?

There May Be Some Light In The MMORPG Industry After All

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 14:44:00 +0000

Many times i think that MMORPG's are like flowers, they pop up in large quantities on specific times of the year. Before World of Warcraft, the MMORPG market wasn't as successful but after Blizzard made bank with their best seller, the corporate suit guys started looking at the lucrative market as a big cash cow ready to be milked.

Now the market is flooded with hundreds of crappy MMO's, most of them decided to become free to play because no one gave a damn and obviously decided that if a game is worth a subscription, might as well be the most successful one.

Lucky for us, some companies are truly invested in their products instead of wanting to make some easy money, so there may be some hope after all.

Are you looking for a new mmorpg? Check out the 2 games below.

Neverwinter Online

In the beginning, the game was destined to be a co-op but after Carbine was bought by Perfect World, they got the necessary funds to turn their game into an MMORPG, as they wanted from the beginning. It looks great, plenty of lore and the combat system looks interesting. I'm waiting to give NWO a try when the open beta launches in the end of April because only testing will give you a taste of the real deal.

WildStar

Honestly, this game looks like WoW, but in a good way instead of a bad copy-cat scheme. The graphics are simple and great, class progression looks interesting and has a funny vibe to it. Won't call it a WoW killer (i hate that term), but possibly a very good game that could attract many players if it plays its cards right.

Have you found any new MMORPG that you are eager to try? Please, share yours thoughts!

NWO image credit

How To Fix Error 15 On Chrome

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:37:00 +0000

It bugs me when a program doesn't work as it should, and even more when it stops working all of a sudden for no apparent reason.

Two weeks ago, my Chrome browser stopped working and everytime i tried to visit a website, it would respond with an "Google.com = Error 15 (net::ERR_SOCKET_NOT_CONNECTED): Unknown error".

The weird thing that confused me was that the error appeared out of the blue since i hadn't updated or changed any settings for a while now.

After researching about this "Error 15" and using some common knowledge by looking at the error, i found out that it's related to the sockets of the browser. And how do we fix sockets? We flush them.

How to fix the Error 15.

To fix this problem, we have to go under the hood of the Chrome Browser. To do that, follow the instructions bellow!

Type chrome://net-internals/ in the url and press enter,
Click on the tab "Sockets",
Click on "Flush socket pools"
Click on "Close idle sockets".

After doing so, your browser will restore functionality and operate properly. I can't guarantee that this error won't happen again (since a bug has to be resolved in the source code), following the above will resolve your problem every time you face that pesky Error 15.

Happy browsing!

Image credit

Get Rid Of Malware And Viruses With Avast Free Antivirus

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 11:12:00 +0000

Have I ever mentioned how important a good Antivirus program is? Well, it is! For the last 2 years or so, Norton Antivirus was my main choice of protection and one of the few software I actually thought that a subscription was worth buying. But this year, with the state of economy being as it is, I decided to avoid renewing my subscription and instead search for a good free alternative to do the dirty job.

After some researched, i stopped and though to myself "Why not try Avast? Since i have their app on my tablet and it works great, it is worth a try".

Avast Free Antivirus

Upon installing Avast Free Antivirus, the first thing that came to mind was how lightweight the program was. As soon as it finished installing, it got to work enabling and configuring its firewall and Network Shield, as well as scanning my system for malware. A thing worth mentioning is the easy-to-navigate menu which is prettier than all its competitors, more simple to use and doesn't get your lost like the Norton one. The two things that i really loved with Avast was the Software Updater and a new marketing trick of theirs called Recommend.

The Software Updater

I have tried many programs that scan and download automatically any software updates and i must say that the one Avast uses works flawlessly and with minimum resources with no lag whatsoever. Apparently, i had 7 programs that needed updating and it found the files for me automatically so i didn't have to lift a finger, just install them (cant ask for more automation than that right?).

Recommend system

Basically, Avast has this system that provides you with the initiative to tell your friends through Facebook, Twitter, G+ and email that you are using their program and in return, they reward you based on how many friends of yours installed Avast and started using it. Getting 7 friends of yours to install and use it will net you a free year of Avast Internet Security, not bad at all.

7 Friends, Internet Security (1 PC, 1 year)

14 Friends, Internet Security (1 PC, 2 years)

21 Friends, Internet Security(1 PC, 3 years)

Avast Antivirus is a must if you are looking for reliable protection as well as a software that will make your life easier. If you are interested for the free edition, Avast.com is the answer.

More Humble Bundle Goodies, 6 Great Titles Worth Checking!

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Who doesn't like getting more for less? Its like winning the system and everyone loves that. Well rejoice, a new Humble Bundle is in town!

The New Humble Bundle For Mobiles is here to stay for the next 13 days and it has already sold around 6000 bundles so far. By paying what you want, you can rock 4 great games on your device and if you decide to pay the average price of what everyone else is paying, you get another 2 games leading to a total of 6 games.

Don't be intimidated by the word "Average price" because it's usually around $6-7, which is a great price for 6 games if you ask me.

6 Awesome Games + Bonus soundtracks

Contre Jour
Anomaly Korea
Bladeslinger
Plants vs Zombies
The Room (If you pay more than the average price)
Metal Slug 3 (If you pay more than the average price)

A small tip

Humble Bundle usually adds more games as the days come to an end so waiting a few days may be beneficial to you but the average price may go up as well. Go support the companies or charities by getting these 6 awesome games which cost as much as a starbucks frappuccino and an Apple Fritter.

At Last, Magic The Gathering Coming To Android To Fire Things Up

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 18:47:00 +0000

Recently, it was announced that Magic the Gathering will be paying us Android users a trip to spice up our boring gaming life's and add a little magic to it (feel the pun?). Anyone else super excited with Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014? I for one, have been waiting for this game to land on the Google Play for a year now and its finally happening this summer.

The great thing about Magic has always been its features of customization and many people complain about the lack of that in the mobile version of the game. Nevertheless, this is great news for us Android gamers. Time to dig up my blue deck and fool around!

Image Credit

Project Shield, Riptide GP 2 And Tegra 4

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 19:37:00 +0000

When it comes to Tegra optimized games, many companies don't fully take advantage or actually know how to take advantage of Nvidia's processors and end up with a badly optimized game which brings bad rep to Tegra chips.

In a previous rant of mine, i talked about Tegra processors and how they falsely mislead you to expect great graphics and performance but the actually thing is that many games aren't truly optimized and the fault is not on Nvidia.

Riptide GP is one of the few games that play great on Tegra devices and its due to proper optimization and configuration. Nvidia's YouTube channel has a video of Riptide GP 2 running Tegra 4 on Project Shield and it looks amazing.

The fluid gameplay and colorful graphics stand out in the video above, the animations are great and with no lag what so ever. According to Nvidia, Riptide GP 2 will have"enhanced water and particle effects, HDR lighting and full controller support". Could Project Shield be the only actual handheld console to threaten the gameboy with games like this?

RU Golf's Tegra 4 Comparison, Bloom Effect And Why Its Magic

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 10:30:00 +0000

This post is part of a series surrounding the new Tegra 4 from Nvidia -a mobile processor of unmatching speed- and providing coverage on all the information regarding this new chip.

In the last post of this series, i covered the great shadow effects as well as dynamic lighting that Nvidia has implemented in their new mobile processor. The graphics in the Zombie Driver game were stunning so i searched for other game comparison videos to be able to spot the difference like spotting a fly in milk.

Can anyone say "Bloom"?
Other than the dynamic lighting, the Tegra 4 boasts a great feature that adds plenty concerning the depth of realism and it goes by one simple name, Bloom.

Bloom is an advanced shader effect that is used a lot in both computer and console games. It adds a great level of realism, makes surfaces more reflective and colors more vivid.

Hit the jump for a taste of some Bloom, starring the game RU Golf with its fantastic graphics in Tegra 4 magic!

Valve Backs Off From Xi3 Piston

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Via Eurogamer

It all started with some rumors regarding Valve's involvement with a company that makes game consoles. After a while the news leaked, the Steam Box would be the new console on the block by the great Valve. Of course, everyone rejoiced since they could take their paid game collection and play on their big screen. The other great thing are the steam sales that offers great discounts to games, much more than PSN ever offers.

Then the inevitable happened, Valve stated that they don't have anything to do with Xi3's Piston, leaving the new $999 console on the hook. People tend to pay more when they know that big and respectable companies are behind products so in Piston's case, they would be just another product on the internet instead of "The Steam Box", the holy grail.

Would you pay $999 for a cube sized PC or would you rather make one yourself? Is the premium price worth it? Only time can tell!

Heroes Of Destiny, New Battleheart-Like RPG From Glu Mobile

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 07:49:00 +0000

Glu Mobile's latest game is Heroes of Destiny, an action RPG that lets you control up to 4 heroes at the same time to combat an evil entity called The Darkness which has invaded the Kingdom of Lerona.

Gameplay
The gameplay resembles Mika Mobile's "Battleheart", meaning that you have to control all the heroes in real-time,use their abilities while moving them in and out of battle to avoid damage and use several spells and abilities to do more damage while auto-attacking. So that means, moving the tank around the big monsters while keeping your ranged heroes away from monsters and trying to keep them all alive through abilities.

Killing monsters and bosses gets you loot, which you can equip to better yourself in the game or replay for the fun of it. Its always good to have loot in an RPG game so the gameplay doesn't become to linear and boring but as long as its obtainable within the game and not through the store.

Graphics
Well the graphics ain't exactly bad but they aren't perfect either. When talking about RPG's, gameplay is what makes a game interesting and intriguing instead of jaw dropping graphics on a linear game that feels like its bound on rails.

Fallout 2, a game from 1998 is more interesting that any of the RPG's that i played these last years. Why? Well, linear games are plain boring because when you get used to a game with interactive choices and 100% customization, you can't settle for less.

Free or Pay to win?
Glu Mobile has a notorious reputation on the Play Store for its not-so-free games, meaning that the user must pay to actually enjoy the game or to even beat it so lets hope this game doesn't end up as a money-grabber.

Give it a try and let me know in the comment section if you enjoyed it, or if we should add it to the pay-to-win category. Not impressed? Check the video below!

Google Pulls The Plug On Google Reader

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:43:00 +0000

According to the official Google Reader Blog, Google has decided to pull the plug to its once-famous RSS program because of declined usage of their service. Google stated that they, as a company, will pour their energy into fewer products because they "think that kind of focus will make for a better user experience".

Google Reader will cease to operate in three months, meaning on July 1st, 2013, so people can have enough time to find themselves new RSS-reading products. This news is something that was expected from a lot of people since many other great products exist that outplay Google's product (or should i say, ex-product) by providing better features and design, either paid or free of charge without hidden costs.

From this action, Google will probably focus more on their other products instead of wasting energy on a dead one trying to bring it back to life. Maybe focus more on Android? Or maybe on their Google Glasses.

4.2 Jelly Bean On Transformer, First Strong Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 15:27:00 +0000

Not long ago, the Android 4.2 was released for the TF300 of the ASUS Transformer series but only for citizens of the United States of America. The rest of us here in Europe are always second when it comes to releases, hardware, games, movies you name it, but late is better than never right?

Today, as I got up for work I pressed the button of my tablet to see if I had any notifications or emails before hitting the road and I saw the small triangle in the corner, the great sign that comes up when an update is available, so I got excited because I knew that it was the Jelly Bean 4.2 update.

As soon as i got back from work, i installed it and after playing around i noticed a significant difference regarding frame lag. I know that the upgrade from Jelly Bean 4.1 to 4.2 doesn't involve any lag fixes but for some reason i felt that the navigation was overall smoother and more responsive to my touch!

It took me a while to figure out the new changes but i noticed that the User Interface was still the same from the previous Android version which confused me, until i finally figured out that switching the Launcher had to be done manually from Settings>Launcher and not automatically.

What i loved the most from the latest Jelly Bean update is:

The UI

I must admit, i was pretty biased on this matter because of all the fuss that was made regarding the "new and improved" UI in several forums that i read but for some reason i actually prefer it to the previous one. This actually feels slick, minimalistic and stylish, three things that the iOS always has and Android always lacked.

The new UI makes Android tablets feel like computers and the iPad like a big phone. Don't get me wrong, i like Apples philosophy but the iOS looks and feels ridiculous on the iPad whereas Android's productivity and functionality are great and seem to fit great on a 10inch tablet.

The Multitasking Interface

I remember how my device sometimes lagged when i deleted background apps and made my experience feel sluggish and disappointed but with this latest update, it doesn't lag anymore. I tested this by launching around 10 apps and then closing them as fast as possible to stress the system out and guess what, no lag what so ever. It actually feels great when fixes like this happen because even the small details matter.

The quick launch bar

The best feature for a tablet, hands down. The ability to have 8 of your favorite apps ready to launch without searching for them within the 5 homescreens that Android has? No need to say anything else because it speaks for itself.

At last, it feels that Google is actually working on improving their OS and with this latest update, i'm a happy and satisfied Android user. Keep up the good work, Google!

Easy Uninstaller, Best Way To Easily Uninstall Apps

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 17:44:00 +0000

Who said that uninstalling should be cumbersome, slow and time consuming? The harsh truth is that most of us can't stand the process of deleting apps one at a time because frankly, it's a hassle. We all know that Android can't uninstall many apps at the same time (neither can iOS) but what if i told you that there is an app for that? (yes, that was an Apple pun!)

Android users, meet Easy Uninstaller, the answer to your problems. If you read my blog, then you know how much i like automation in my life. Well, Easy Uninstaller lets you delete multiple apps* just by selecting them and hitting the green Uninstall button at the bottom, simple as that and it saves you from all the hassle of doing it manually.

How to
Step 1: Open the application.
Step 2: Scroll through the lists of apps and select the ones you wish to delete.
Step 3: Press the green "Uninstall" button and let it do its magic.

*Keep in mind that Easy Uninstaller can't remove Bloatware from your device, only apps that you have personally installed.

Humble Bundle Android 5 Offers Another 3 Games, A Total of 9 Games

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:16:00 +0000

The Humble Bundle team just announced that whoever pays higher than the average price, which is $6,65 at the moment, gets 9 games instead of the 6 that were first available when the Humble Bundle for Android 5 began about six days ago.

New Games
The 3 new bonus games that were added to the list are:

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP (including soundtrack)
Splice (including soundtrack)
Crayon Physics Deluxe (including soundtrack)

Unfortunately for me, i got those in the last Humble Bundle For Android but still, 9 great games for just $6,65 is totally worth it! Don't forget that you are actually helping indie developers and/or charity by purchasing this games so go ahead and get yourself some more games for your device!

Oh Yeah, For OUYA! What To Expect And Why Its A Great Idea

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:13:00 +0000

Living in the 21st century certainly has its perks, specifically the (relatively) easy way of life, the automation of everything around us and the internet.

In the past, if you had a dream and you just needed the money, the bank would be the only logical solution but with Kickstarter, many users have made their dreams come true by accepting help from millions of other people around the globe. Who knew that Julie Uhrman would manage to gather $8,596,475 and manage to launch her dream console? No one. People saw a great product and decided to fund the development of it.

Whats OUYA?

In a few words as possible, OUYA is an open source console that has the ability to run games on your television. The console is approximately the size of a rubik's cube so it can fit anywhere and its easy to carry around. Also, setting it up is so easy that even a toddler can do it since all you have to do is just connect the cube-shaped console to the Television.

OUYA Specs

OUYA sports a quadcore Nvidia Tegra 3 processor so you can enjoy your games to the full, 1GB of RAM, has 8GB of flash memory to store your games on and it operates under Android.

It also has a USB 2.0 adapter as well as Bluetooth 4.0 for the ability to transfer games with ease, HDMI support so you can enjoy your games on HD TV's, Wi-Fi connectivity and it was recently announced that Ethernet connection will be possible due to community feedback.

Too long, didn't read? Here is the list straight from their website!

NVIDIA Tegra3 quad-core processor

1GB RAM

8GB of internal flash storage, expandable via USB 2.0 port

Up to 1080p HD (via HDMI)

5.1 surround sound

WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, and Ethernet port

Bluetooth

Micro USB port

Wireless Bluetooth controller with standard game controls and touchpad

Any neat Games?

You can't have a console without cool games now, can you? According to OUYA's website, they have "already lined up some great content from AAA game publishers such as Square Enix and NAMCO Bandai and independent developers like Tripwire Interactive, creators of The Ball, and Adam Saltsman, creator of Canabalt."

A great thing will be the ability to test out a game before purchasing it, something that is very hard to find even in the best consoles of the market. Game developers can make the game free with the ability to unlock the rest of it when purchased, ask for a monthly payment of a game or service, sell in-game items or power-ups in their games or sell downloadable content.

Cost

The OUYA will be available at store for $99 USD and they have stated that they will follow the mobile business model, meaning that a new console will be released every year with updated hardware. Potentially, next year we may see OUYA 2 with Nvidia Tegra 4 but that's a pretty far fetched idea since OUYA hasn't even released their first console yet.

So, whats your opinion?

OUYA seems like a very good idea, even for a PC-only gamer as myself. I never really wrapped around the xbox or PS4, or maybe i never had the time to do so due to me being completely absorbed by the world around PC gaming.

One thing is for sure, if you are interested in getting OUYA do make sure that you buy an additional controller since it comes with only just one. Check out below for some gameplay videos of OUYA in action or visit Amazon to preorder now!

Gameplay videos

Sonic 4

Rayman Jungle Run

CCleaner is Coming To Google Play To Clean House

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 17:20:00 +0000

Piriform, the company that came out with CCleaner, has decided to make an Android version of their famous program for Google Play. According to Piriform, they heard the many requests of the users and decided to show some love by coming out with an Android app version of their CCleaner.

Since the app is still in production, the company hasn't announced a release date yet. Personally, i have been using CCleaner on my computer for the last 3 years and i'm not planning on changing any time soon. Its easy to use interface combined with free updates and fast cleaning pretty much seals the deal for me (plus its free, at least the Basic version).

Piriform has produced other great applications that are worth mentioning but the second best after CCleaner is Defragler, a free program that deals with Fragmentation on the disk. Its in many ways better than the one that Microsoft has on their Operating System, plus its free as well so you can try it and see for yourself.

If you can't wait for this application because your device needs cleaning or you are confused on the matter, you could download Clean Master for now which is very simple and user friendly, and use that until CCleaner is officially out and about but i suggest you try both (when the latter is out) and keep the one that fits your needs the best.

2 Ways to Reduce Your Data Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 13:47:00 +0000

Ever since the internet became the great and awesome thing it is today, we all want to have a constant connection to it, either on our computer or phone. I remember in the past that whoever had internet access on their phones, had extra money to spend.

Now with all the data plans that are available, the programs are more flexible and quite more cheap than the past but who doesn't like to save cash when it comes to bills? Well i have 2 neat tricks for you that will reduce your data plan bill.

Selective Cache cleaning
If you want to enjoy the good sides of cache cleaning while skipping the bad side (meaning the pilling of junk files), then you are in luck because its easily achieved. When using a Cleaner application such as the Master cleaner which i reviewed not long ago, you can select to clean specific cache's of apps and skip others.

By doing so, you will keep data that is important to your favorite applications so that it doesn't re-download them again and eat away the life of your data plan. Apps like Google Maps shouldn't be cleaned because once you use it, it will re-download the map of your area leading to more data used.

Going Turbo with Opera
Opera is a very fast browser with an intuitive and smart interface, has a great way of managing opened tabs much better than Chrome and offers some great tools under the hood, one of which is Turbo Mode.

Basically, what Turbo does is compress the images of the websites you are visiting so you don't overburden your data plan. According to their ad, Opera Turbo can compress a website up to 80%, saving your a lot of money in the long run, money you can spend on other things.

How Opera achieves that is fairly simple, Turbo basically just compresses images so their size drops along with their quality. That's the catch, all image data on the website lose quality and you get to spend less of your data plan while Turbo is enabled. And if you decide that you want to view quality images, just disable Turbo and you are good to go!

Pixel Kingdom, Defense Game With Epic Battles And Pixel Art!

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:19:00 +0000

Many times i sit and think about the big difference that Kickstarter brought to the independent gaming industry. I mean, if it didn't exist, how would Double Fine get the money for their adventure game? Well, good thing it exists because a great game like Pixel Kingdom needed funding and after the small wait, it is out!

Pixel Kingdom is a RPG/Defense game from SmashGames that embraces lovely and colorful pixel art. If you were to combine Plants vs Zombies and Pixel art, you would get this game. Basically, hordes of monsters appear from the right side of your screen and you have to summon units on the left part of your screen and place them on the correct places to kill off the invaders.

Pixel Kingdom boasts:

Infinite Levels (yes, crazy!),
9 classes to choose from (so far),
Many unlockables such as gear, items and units (by using gold),
Chance to get ultra epic gear from monsters (Items that provide permanent buff),
Great Art style (Can you say "awesome pixel art"?),
50+ unique enemy units ranging from Dragons to skeletons ,
Achievements,
And its FREE!

Classes

Warrior
Archer
Rogue
Wizard
Knight
Cleric
Berserker
Necromancer
Paladin

Pixel art brings a feeling of nostalgia to old gamer's such as myself so it goes without saying that i downloaded the game. I love it when a game lets you customize and unlock stuff with gold because it actually makes you work hard for it, or just pay real life money but there isn't any fun in that is there?

Pixel Kingdom is a great game and you should definitely give it a try since its free as well!

Why The Last Worms Game Left The Play Store

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 10:09:00 +0000

You can't talk about competitiveness if you haven't played Worms, a wonderful game that combines huge weapons, terrain destruction and funny deaths by lasers, bazookas, grenades, flying explosive sheep or just prodding one into his demise. But, why did the last Worms game leave the Play Store? Did they violate the terms or did Team 17 demand it to be removed? Actually, it was the latter.

The new owner of the Worms franchise is the one that demanded its removal from the Play Store. Before we call him crazy and point fingers, the reasons for this was because he was afraid that the brand would get hurt due to EA's behavior, a perfectly logical explanation.

According to Team 17 Digital, one of the world's longest surviving independent video game developer, EA "was not supporting OS updates" so the company obviously demanded its removal because they "didn't want to damage the brand."

I can't blame them for their action, the majority of EA games i play are plagued by bugs that are never resolved. When you pay money for a game, you expect it to be playable, bug-ridden and in top notch condition. Worms is the game that build Team 17 and it is obvious that they will protect it with any means necessary.

Team 17 is currently working on bring their Worms 2: Armageddon to the Play Store. The game is already out for iOS and it has scored 4.5 stars out of 5 on iTunes, a very respectable ratting.

Worms 2: Armageddon will be making its way to the Android store in the spring so stay tuned and lets hope it will be as good as the iOS version. If it is, i guess productivity will take a plunge for a while since we will all be too busy blowing each other up.

Why Cleaning Your Android Device is Important

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 10:29:00 +0000

The other day i wrote an article on the importance of cleaning your device because when browsing and watching videos, it tends to gather a lot of junk files that are literally useless and all they do is take up space and burden your disk. After having written the article, i decided to purposely avoid cleaning my own tablet as a part of experiment so i could demonstrate with pictures the results of my actions.

If you don;t know much about the subject, reading how the cache works and affects us as well as how we can speed up our devices by cleaning them will clear things up.

Preparation

Before starting the experiment, i completely wiped out all the junk files on my Tablet so the results would be precise. Personally, on my tablet i usually stick to checking out Facebook, extending out to others on Twitter, reading news on Pulse, checking out apps on Google Play, trying out games and watching my favorite YouTube channels.

Results

After a week of using the above apps on a daily bases, the result was quite big. I had accumulated 221.56 MB in my internet cache with the majority coming from the system cache which had 120.93 MB worth of junk files. Don't mind the Google Maps application since it needs those files to work locally without internet.

Other ways to look at it

Many could say that Android takes care of the cache or that you actually need the caches (which is actually true regarding specific apps) so cleaner apps are a waste but keep in mind that 221.56 MB was gathered on my tablet in a week.

To get to the point, 221.56 x 4(number of weeks in a month) leads to a whopping 884 MB of junk files a month. To have a more precise number we could reduce the sum by a 20% which takes into account some days of less usage or other factors regarding web data, leaving us with around 707mb of junk files, equal to a movie or 141 songs (max file size of 5mb each), quite a lot right?

Be organized, download Clean Master or some other Cleaner app and start cleaning your devices on a monthly bases. Who knows, it could save you enough space to store more stuff and skip the need to buy an SD card.

Humble Bundle Android Madness

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:12:00 +0000

The last Humble Bundle for Android was 6 months ago and now comes a fresh new one with 4 great games, or 6 if you decide to pay the average price, along with their soundtracks and steam keys.

Pay what you want and get:

Beat Hazard Ultra

Solar 2

Dynamite Jack

Night Sky

Super Hexagon (only if you beat the average price)

Dungeon Defenders (only if you beat the average price)

for Android, Mac, Linux and Windows

You also get to choose if your money will go to the developers, the humble bundle organization or to charity by adjusting a percentage to each one. I usually divide it equally so that all people involved get a cut from my money paid.

A small tip, Humble Bundle usually adds more games to the pack as the days go by so if you don't mind paying a bit more, since the average price will increase, wait it out and get the pack with more goodies in.

Internet Cache, Good or Necessary Evil?

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Effraimidis) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:40:00 +0000

Many people often find themselves with a surprisingly big cache when they first attempt to clean their device, and they often end up on Google trying to find an answer to it. I decided to write this article explaining both the good and bad side of the Cache folder since i got many emails regarding this subject.

Don't know whats a cache? Do you use Tumblr/Instagram/Maps/Facebook/Youtube a lot? If yes, read on and find out more about it!

The Good

When you visit a website, your browser stores any files it finds on it into a folder called the Cache. This is done so that your browser can load the website faster if you decide to revisit in the near future. It is a convenience that browsers provide so that the website loads faster the next time the user decides to visit it.

Without this function, your data plan would end up much bigger because the browser would have to re-download the same files it needs to display your favorite website, leading to a bigger bill.

The Bad

Websites are usually loaded with images and other multimedia which lead to a very big cache folder and if the user doesn't clean it out once in a while, it could eat up many gigabytes of space and clutter the device.

The Ugly

Leaving the cache folder to fill up may lead to heavy loss of space and even slower response time in some browsers. I was once called to help a friend out with his computer and i witnessed a cache that held data worth of 6 GB. which is a lot no matter how you look at it.

Taking action is beneficial for your device and i suggest you do that at least once a month for optimal performance. Personally, i try to clean it 2 times a month, every 2 weeks to be more precise.