BLOGTECHNIKA

Now Play Plants vs. Zombies On Your PC
iPhoto: Head honcho of your photos(Part II) For Macintosh
Zynga Set To Bring Draw Something And Words With Friends To Windows Phone 8
Now Watch The Entire Keynote Of Windows Phone 8 Online
Ways To Make Your Slow Android Phone A Speed Deamon
What Is New In Windows Phone 8?
Make Great Videos With Video Star Using iPhone Or iPad

Posted: 21 Jun 2012 01:53 PM PDT

I Installed it. The next four hours seemed like four minutes. I don’t remember when was the last time I was so engrossed in playing a game for so long on my laptop. This game is that good. I realized why this game has been creating so much buzz and why its a chart buster. Yes, i am talking about the insanely loved game ‘Plants vs. Zombies’.

Plants vs. Zombies is a tower defense-style game. It’s basically an action-strategy game. While it uses the basic mechanics of a strategy game, it boasts charm, personality, and loads of gameplay variety. The result is another addictive experience that will appeal to all walks of gamers.
A mob of fun-loving zombies is about to invade your home, and your only defense is an armada of zombie-zapping plants. Use peashooters, wall-nuts, cherry bombs and many more weapons to mutilate different types of zombies before they can reach your front door. Each zombie has its own special skills, its own strength and weakness. You'll need to think fast and plant faster to combat them all. You have to collect suns from planted sunflowers or falling from the sky. You then use these sunflower points to plant the zombie destroying plants or weapons. The strategy lies in deciding what to plant, when to plant and where to plant for the maximum effectiveness. The game is interesting throughout and new types of plants and zombies keep popping up after every level. This is what keeps a player’s curiosity levels high and one is eager to find out and unlock newer weapons and confront deadlier zombies.

The yard infront of your house is divided into six rows and zombies shuffle in fairly orderly. They won’t cross over into other lanes but you will find multiple bodies coming in on one row. It’s a very simple concept and, in fact, when you first play it you may find it to be too laid back; too easy. But the real draw here is the incredible variety of plants (towers) and zombies. There are 48 kinds of plants with numerous offensive, defensive, and production capabilities, and 26 different zombies. Completing each level in the game will unlock a new plant or item to add to your arsenal. These constant rewards really keep you involved and will have you saying “just one more level” before I turn it off.

At the start of each round you have to pick which seeds to take into battle. You only have a limited amount of slots in your inventory, although you can increase your stash over time. With such an assortment of abilities and resource demands, half the battle is in picking effective weapons. You need to understand the power of each plant that you select. The array of choices means you can customize your strategy and confront the undead on your own terms.

There is also a wide variety of gameplay styles. Some levels take place during the day and some at night, which has a large effect on what plants are available to you, how you harvest sunlight (your resources), and what environmental obstacles you encounter. You may lose the ability to select plants and instead deal with pre-selected weapons that come down a conveyor belt. Or you may be presented with a lawn full of vases waiting to be smashed – some hiding treasure, some zombies. There are even fun mini-games, a survival mode, and puzzles that let you play as the zombies. You can’t go more than a few minutes with this game without discovering something new and delightful. That's where this game is so good. Just like plants keep popping up surprises do the same.

Plants vs. Zombies also has a catchy, organic soundtrack that becomes more intense as your yard is flooded with enemies. The light voice acting gives the undead character as they lurch toward your house grunting and moaning for brains. There is also a surprise video package for you (after you complete the game) that's extremely sweet and funny.

And with five game modes to dig into, the fun never ends. If I disclose all the secrets then I would really be doing injustice to you all because the game deserves to be played and the suspense adds flavour to this brilliant game. There is Loads of content and replayability. The gameplay is Extremely addictive. For those who don’t like strategy games this might just change your views forever. So go out there and show the zombies who’s the boss. Here is your destination for the game.

iPhoto: Head honcho of your photos(Part II) For Macintosh

Posted: 21 Jun 2012 01:40 PM PDT

Now Edit the pictures your way on your Macintosh using iPhoto. iPhoto has everything you will need to modify your photos. You can remove red eye, adjust exposure, brightness and contrast with just a single click. You can use Enhance tool and iPhoto will automatically adjust the dull photos. You can use Retouch for removing spots and blemishes. Today we follow up from our first part that you can read here and tell you some more things that you can use iPhoto for:

Make your photos effective.

With iPhoto you will have much more fun tweaking your pictures as do while taking them. With iPhoto effects, you can convert color photos to black and white, try a classic sepia tone, add a vignette border, make it antique, blur the edges and more. You can check all the effects without any worry as you can revert back to original photo by clicking on None thumbnail, which removes all the effects. Every effect made in iPhoto is in fact reversible, make any kind change without worrying about the originality of the photos.

Mail your photos

When your photos look amazing then they are worth sharing. iPhoto turns emailed photos into something much more fun and creative than mere attachments. Everything happens right in iPhoto; you don't even have to open Mail. Start by choosing an Apple-designed theme like Announcement, Cardstock, or Collage. Then just select your photos and watch as iPhoto places them in the template automatically. Swap the position of one image with another. Pan and zoom for just the right focus. Change the size and style of your text. Even attach high-resolution versions of your photos. iPhoto automatically formats your message, so it's always the perfect size.

Well disposed with Facebook

Even your iPhoto is a bigger fan of Facebook now. Not only can you use iPhoto to change your Facebook profile picture, but you can choose to upload photos directly to your Wall or to an existing album. If your photos have names you've added using Faces, iPhoto converts them to Facebook name tags. iPhoto even displays your Facebook photo albums — whether they were published with iPhoto or another application. What's more, when your friends leave comments on your photos, you'll see them in iPhoto.

Carry your photos with you

In case you want to carry your photos with you you can use iTunes to wirelessly sync specific Events, Albums, or even Faces to your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. Or you can have the photos you import from your camera or SD card to your library added to your Photo Stream in iCloud automatically. Then you can enjoy and share them on any of your iOS devices.

Relive your memories with iPhoto

iPhoto slideshows are so cinematic, they'll take you back to the very moment each photo was snapped.You can choose from a dozen animated themes that each do something spectacular. The Places theme, for instance, uses the location of your photos to create a map where you jump from one location to the next through the lens of your camera. iPhoto slideshow themes include professionally designed layouts, titles, and transitions that make a perfect backdrop for your photos. Face detection in iPhoto automatically centers and frames shots with people in them. So the focus of your slideshow is where it should be.

Click a theme to play a full-screen slideshow — accompanied by any song from your iTunes library. Fast-forward or rewind your slideshow using the filmstrip. Reorder photos, set the length of time individual photos remain onscreen, or, with some themes, choose different transitions. When you're happy with your slideshow, export it as a QuickTime movie that's sharable on the web and playable on any Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, or iPod.

Here we have made you aware about the effects, editing etc that you can do with your photos to make them look classic and share them with your friends, family. If you have any queries, please leave your comment below, we will surely get back to you.

Zynga Set To Bring Draw Something And Words With Friends To Windows Phone 8

Posted: 21 Jun 2012 01:15 PM PDT

Windows Phone 8 is definitely piping up the news time lines. And dare we say for all the good reasons too. However, one thing that has steady gone unnoticed is the fact that the App store for Windows Phone has been growing astronomically. There may not have been lot of big developers but most of the essential applications can be found. If not, they have some very useful substitutes that don’t really let you miss the applications. One thing we are all at Blogtechnika a massive fans of is the Xbox integration in the Windows Phone. The games are arguably better as compared to Android at least even though slightly less popular.

However with the launch of WP8 another great bit of story that was unveiled was that the popular Game Development brand Zynga who have given us a lot of games for the iPhone and iPad are set to bring two of its most popular titles to Windows Phone. Draw Something and Words with friends are all set to arrive on the Windows Phone 8 platform. You must have enjoyed both these games on iphone surely and loved them. Draw something is a fun game that lets you draw figures and make your friends guess what you have drawn and you can also play it over social networking sites like Facebook. On the other hand Words with friends is a rather simple word building game like scrabble. They both are hugely popular and getting them on WP8 is definitely a massive coup for Microsoft at least as far as bringing big developers on board is concerned.

What are your views on these two games and WP8 in general? Do let us know.

Via: Technobuffalo

Now Watch The Entire Keynote Of Windows Phone 8 Online

Posted: 21 Jun 2012 12:46 PM PDT

We recently covered all that is new in the Windows next gen operating system named the Windows Phone 8 here. It promises to bring a whole new level of experience to an already very competent and simple to use WP 7. Things changed a little with WP 7.5 however, now it seems like the time is right for a big jump.

We had all been anticipating this move from Microsoft and they did live up to the expectations and definitely released an update that would make Windows Phone even closer as a competitor to the already existing giants such as Android and iOS. However if you missed all the announcements or simply are in the mood for a re run of the show that bought us WP 8, here you can watch it online now.

What are your initial reactions to the launch of WP8? Do you think it will be a massive hit it promises to be? Do share your views with us.

Ways To Make Your Slow Android Phone A Speed Deamon

Posted: 21 Jun 2012 12:26 PM PDT

Are you still hooked up with that 600Mhz android smartphone and had enough with that laggy hardware? The best way to get about things is to root your phone. If rooting is not your cup of tea (be it warranty issues or a locked bootloader) and you crave for a snappy experience then look no further than these android apps that optimize your smartphone without rooting it.

Task Killer: You think exiting an app closes it. Well you are wrong. Most of the core apps like calendar, notes, clock, etc do not close. Nor do the apps that have notifications turned on like gmail, chomp/handscent sms, facebook, foursquare, whatsapp, gtalk are turned off. Instead they run in the background and take up precious estate in that low RAM(assuming you have a slow/old hardware Ram is generally less than 512mb). Add to that they drain out lots of battery juice. What more? Some games like lane splitter don't exit on pressing the back button and one has to resort to pressing the home button.

Download and run an application like advance task killer and you'll be amazed o find out a lot of apps run at the startup without your knowledge. Through the task killer interface you can kill all running apps and save tons of RAM and add hours to your battery. You can also check which apps are not to be killed. Download now and see the difference for yourself.

Battery saver: Hardware technology of yester-years isn't as efficient as that comes out today. Its very likely that your processor has been manufactured by a 45nm process as opposed to 32nm or 28nm used these days. The older processors take up more energy and deliver less for the same. Even if you bought a budget phone quite recently, its very probable that it uses older internals.

In such a scenario, it’s always advised to equip yourself with a battery saver app. Some apps like anTuTu Battery Saver, adds about 20-25% battery to your phone. Another app like 2x battery takes it steps further by disabling all wireless networks other than cellular when the screen is turned off.

Fast Reboot Pro: Even though you use a task killer, your phone will never be as snappy as when you restart it. But shutting down and then starting it up again takes a lot of time. Fast Reboot pro is one of a kind app that simulates a reboot by closing/restarting all core and user processes (configurable) and thus frees up memory. Your phone should be much snappier after using Fast Reboot Pro and mind you it does all that magic without killing any app.

It also lets you select processes that should be excluded from being restarted/closed. Schedule automatic fast reboots (e.g. every day at 4am), Option to automatically fast reboot when you unlock your device (from standby) and Comes with a widget to instantly start a reboot.

The whole process takes not more than a couple of seconds. So you barely waste anytime at all.

Change the home-launcher: Leaving aside the Sony Xperia Active Launcher, almost all the home screen launchers that come default with your phone do not do the best job of going around. Accept it, Touchwiz or Sense, there are better and snappier alternatives and when you have a slow hardware, its best you make that jump.

Some home launcher replacements like Zeam launcher or He launcher are very light on space and feel much faster because they are stripped of most unwanted animations. A special mention to launcher pro, it has been around in the market\play store since the very beginning. If simplicity and bug free operation are what you are after, look no further and with a little time spent on it, you can customize almost everything about it.

I hope these little tricks and apps would help you to attain a much snappier performance from your Android device. If you have any comments or questions, please feel free.

Blogtechnika would like to express its gratitude towards Mr. Ankur Jangra for his contributions towards the above post.

What Is New In Windows Phone 8?

Posted: 21 Jun 2012 11:57 AM PDT

Yesterday Nokia took covers off what will be their next Operating System for the range of Mobile phones called the Windows Phone 8, an increment from the WP 7 and WP 7.5. So let us see what exactly is new in the mobile version of Windows 8. Here are the detailed features from Microsoft team itself:

“

Multi-core processor support: As reviewers have noted, Windows Phone runs buttery smooth on phones with a single processor. But piggybacking on the Windows core provides support for multiple cores—so we're ready for whatever hardware makers dream up.
Bigger, sharper screens: Windows Phone 8 supports two new screen resolutions—1280×768 and 1280×720, opening the door to amazing new handsets with high-definition 720p displays.
More flexible storage: Windows Phone 8 supports removable MicroSD cards, so you can stuff your phone with extra photos, music, and whatever else is important to you, and then easily move it all onto your PC.
NFC wireless sharing: If you haven't heard the term "NFC" yet, I'm betting you soon will. This emerging wireless technology lets phones share things over short distances. In Windows Phone 8, it helps make sharing photos, Office docs, and contact info easier—just tap your phone another NFC-equipped device. How cool is that?
Internet Explorer 10: The next version of Windows Phone comes with the same web browsing engine that's headed for Window 8 PCs and tablets. IE10 is faster and more secure, with advanced anti-phishing features like SmartScreen Filter to block dangerous websites and malware.
Wallet: Windows Phone 8's new digital Wallet feature does two great things. It can keep debit and credit cards, coupons, boarding passes, and other important info right at your fingertips. And when paired with a secure SIM from your carrier, you can also pay for things with a tap of your phone at compatible checkout counters.
Better maps and directions: Windows Phone 8 builds in Nokia mapping as part of the platform. Our partnership will provide more detailed maps and turn-by-turn directions in many countries, plus the ability to store maps offline on your phone so you can work with maps without a data connection.
Cooler apps and games: Basing Windows Phone 8 on the Windows core will unleash a new wave of amazing apps and especially games, for reasons I'll touch on in a moment.”

Not just these features, there were a lot of other new things such as:

A Brand New Start where you have the ability to chose more sizes of tiles. It is not just set to the 4×1 or 2×2 or 1×4 how it earlier was. The live tiles are even better now with even more theme like customizations possible. There are a lot more customization possible such as those shown below:

For those who are currently using the Windows Phone 7 or 7.5, an update named Windows Phone 7.8 will be released which will bring the awesome new start to their phones, so no need to feel left out if you are using one of these devices.

The applications of WP8 would be entirely written in C and C++ so as a result more and more developers would be able to get on board easily with the new Windows Phone 8 so that would definitely mean more applications. In App payments have also been enabled now. Also new is the ability to make integrated VoIP calls which was a glaring miss previously. Multi-tasking has been improved a lot with plenty of applications now being able to run in the background. The phone security has been taking to a high level too with things such as data encryption now available out of box just like on Android. About 50 new languages have been added too to the WIndows Phone 8 now. The OS updates would also be available now Over The Air just like Android and iOS which must come as a huge relief to everyone. So far you had to connect your device to Zune in order to update your device. All the WP8 partners such as Samsung, HTC, Nokia remain on board and will be delivering new handsets running WP 8 running on Qualcomm chipsets.

So it does seem like most of the features that were glaring misses have been covered very well by Microsoft in the update to WP8. However, we cannot say for sure that there has been one standout feature. Maybe the new start screen will be better or more attractive when we see it running on an actual devic rather than just the computer screen. Apart from that it seems like most features were necessary and Microsoft has done just about enough to make Windows Phone a little more competitive.

What are your views on WP8? Do you like the update? Would you be looking forward to a WP8 device? Do let us know in the comments section below.

Via: Windowsteamblog

Make Great Videos With Video Star Using iPhone Or iPad

Posted: 21 Jun 2012 07:27 AM PDT

Video Star is a glitzy and an app for the video savvy that lets you record pop star-style videos using your iPhone or camera-enabled iPad. It’s not a serious video recording and editing program, but a lightweight app that uses a variety of effects to spice things up but i must mention that it is amazing.

Every good rock song must have a good video but professionally it costs a lot. Video Star lets you import an audio track from your iTunes library on your phone or iPad. Selecting the audio is the first thing you do when you create a new clip. You can tweak the audio clip by cropping it or adjusting the speed and the pitch. If you don’t want audio, you can just skip this step and move ahead.

Once the audio is selected, you can move on to the video making part of the app and for Video Star, it’s all about the effects. You can choose between different layouts, overlay icons like hearts or balloons, add blur, change the colour effects, use green screen and add borders and more. If the default set of customization are not enough, you can buy add-on packs for 99-cents using an in-app purchase but if u don't want to spend that amount then you can jailbreak your device and use iAppCracker tweak to buy free in app purchases.

Video Star lacks any editing features, so you can’t go back and edit or omit a section of the video. Shooting a video with Video Star is a one take process, unless you use a more sophisticated app to crop and mix clips. When you are done recording, you can review the video in the app and save it to your camera roll or can also send it to someone via email or upload it to YouTube.

Video Star is perfect for teens and anyone else who wants to make lively or funny video using their iOS device. It would be a big hit at a birthday party or struggling musicians can use it to make a video for their band and then promote their song. It would also be great for parents who want to grab a quick video when their children are acting silly. If you are creative and plan your shots, you could use it to record an amateur music video, but one might have to use another app like iMovie to edit any imperfections or anomalies in the video just taken.

You can download Video Star From iTunes here.

id33b1

joi, 21 iunie 2012

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