From our Sponsor

Apple iTunes

Bookmarks for January 14th through January 21st

These are my links for January 14th through January 21st:

Hama Time: Pacman Patterns

I’ve been at it again and this time, for your beading pleasure, I present Pacman  Hama patterns.

Pacman Strawberry Hama Pattern

Pacman Ghost Hama Pattern

Pacman Strawberry Hama Pattern

Pacman Cherry Hama Pattern

Pacman Cherry Hama Pattern

Pacman Apple Hama Pattern

Pacman Apple Hama Pattern

Pacman Orange Hama Pattern

Pacman Orange Hama Pattern

Bookmarks for January 7th through January 13th

These are my links for January 7th through January 13th:

Podcast Novel Ordering Solution

I’ve been listening to lots of podcasts recently and particularly enjoying the Solar Clipper series. My main problem has been that the iPod Touch defaults to playing the newest podcast first, so that I always have to skip backwards to get to the next episode.  I found a neat little solution for this that I thought I should share.  It only really works for completed podcasts, or podcast novels though.

I downloaded all of the podcasts to iTunes, then selected the podcast and selected “Get Info” from the right-click menu.  I then changed the content type form Podcast to Audiobook.  This moves the completed podcast into the audiobook section and gives you correct ordering – sweet!

App Review: Bubble Defence

Bubble defence is a tower defence game.  There are several of these available on the Market and this is one of the simplest looking, if no less addictive for it.
The basic concept is to build up defence towers along a path to try to defeat wave after wave of increasingly armoured bubbles which follow that path.
There are four different kinds of towers:
The Basic Tower – shoots a single shot
The Six Barrel Tower – shoots 6 equally spaced shots at once
The Flame Tower – melts ice balloons
The Transporter – transports balloons back to the beginning of the track
The variety of enemies isn’t huge but it’s an elegant solution.  Shooting each enemy removes 1 “layer” of protection until you finally get down to the last layer and destro them
You earn money foe every hit but, unlike many of these games there’s no interest to be earned by saving your cash
These towers are used to defeat the 7 different kinds of enemy.  Most of these are basi
There are 7 different path layouts and Five levels of difficulty.
Bubble defence is available as a free ad-supported version or as a full version for 1.99.  One thing that annoyed me after buying the full version, and is something I’ve seen in several upgrades of that kind, is that your history of high scores isn’t imported to the full version.  It might be a bit of extra work but it would be rewarding for those of us who’d played enough of the free version to cough up the cash.
Battling the Bubbles on the Icy Road

Battling the Bubbles on the Icy Road

Bubble Defense is a tower defense game.  There are several of these available on the Market and this is one of the simplest looking, if no less addictive for it.

The basic concept is to build up defense towers along a path to try to defeat wave after wave of increasingly armoured bubbles which follow that path.

There are four different kinds of towers:

  • The Basic Tower – shoots a single shot
  • The Six Barrel Tower – shoots 6 equally spaced shots at once
  • The Flame Tower – melts ice balloons
  • The Transporter – transports balloons back to the beginning of the track

These towers are used to defeat the 7 different kinds of enemy.  Most of these are basically the same, with different colours and speeds, all nested in one another.  Shooting each enemy removes 1 “layer” of protection until you finally get down to the last layer and destroy them.  The most difficult enemy shoots back though, so be careful

Some maps have more than one entrance for bubbles

Some maps have more than one entrance for bubbles

You earn money for every hit but, unlike many similar games there’s no interest to be earned by saving your cash, so feel free to splash out.

There are 7 different path layouts and 5levels of difficulty, leaving quite a lot of variety and replay value.

Bubble defense is available as a free ad-supported version or as a full version for 99 cents.  One thing that annoyed me after buying the full version, and is something I’ve seen in several upgrades of that kind, is that your history of high scores isn’t imported to the full version.  It might be a bit of extra work but it would be rewarding for those of us who’d played enough of the free version to cough up the cash.

Bubble Defense Free

Bubble Defense Free

Bubble Defense Ad-Free

Solution: Mail Sync failing on G1

Fail Road by Fireflythegreat

Fail Road by Fireflythegreat

I’ve had a problem with my G1 for the past week or two and today I found a solution.  My Gmail wouldn’t sync with the device in the same way that it had before.  It seemed to be stuck in the past and I couldn’t send or receive any new email using the Gmail app.  There was always a big button at the end of my inbox saying “No Conection” with a “Retry” button that didn’t seem to help.

Today I found the solution for the problem on the Google help pages, via the androidcommunity site, and it simply involves clearing the app’s storage.

News Alert: R.O.U.S.s Discovered

Rodent of Unusual Size

Rodent of Unusual Size

All Princess Bride (buy on iTunes) fans knew it was only a matter of time but the BBC are announcing the discovery of Rodents of Unusual Size (R.O.U.S.)

Android Update: I rooted my G1

Tree Roots by Aaron Ecobar

Tree Roots by Aaron Ecobar

Having toyed with the idea for a while I was really excited to see the “one click root” that appeared this week.  Having installed the app from the Android Market (I’d like to see Apple allowing yellowSn0w onto the App store) I ran it, a few times before I worked out the whole system then updated to the CyanogenMod.

I don’t have any benchmarks but my perception is certainly that it’s faster and sleeker than the system I had before, and that’s very exciting.  Having also heard the rumours that the next version of the Android OS might not fit onto a G1 I’m delighted to have the freedom to upgrade past the point that others might see as necessary.

Lifehacker has a nice guide for those interested in following suit.  The only thing that caught me out was that the firmware was reset to the standard after a reboot – I had to re-run the hack software then reboot.

Tech Thought: My New Phone

Image by Sean Dreilinger

Image by Sean Dreilinger

So having only recently acquired my G1 and having fallen fairly significantly for my iPod Touch, I now have about 16 months to think about what phone I’ll have next.  Had I not already bought my touch I’d probably have gone for an iPhone, but havnig had my G1 for a while I’m torn.

The iPod touch is very pretty, very functional and has some great apps available for it.  even though i’ve jailbroken it there is always the fear that an Apple update will break it or that something will stop working.  There have been several prominent examples of tech-minded people abandoning their iPhones in favour of Android based devices.  I have some sympathy with this.

I know that the g1 is not the most beloved piece of hardware on the planet but I’m really enjoying it.  A large part of that is down to the improvements  brought to me by the Cyanogen mod and the huge performance benefits which it brings.  There have been rumours that the G1 might not have enough built in memory to handle future Android updates so I’m glad to have the rooted handset to see me through. Android has a long way to go but it is only now starting to come out if its shell and have proper applications built for it.  The only way appears to be up.

I suppose it’s pointless to speculate which handset I’ll have.  The market has changed significantly in the last 18 months – I’m quite excited to see what happens next.

App Review: Peggle

Busting some Peggle Moves

Busting some Peggle Moves

I heard about Peggle (buy Peggle on iTunes) several times before I actually tried it.  Being Scottish I can be a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to paying for apps.  There a re a good number of high quality apps available for free and the price (£2.99/$5) seemed quite high to me and ignored it.  I had even read about the Peggle pricing experiment, found it interesting but not the game itself.

Then I was in an electronics store waiting (quite a while)  for something to be brought out to me and they had Peggle running on a PC.  I played it without really knowing what it was and became addicted.  So i ponied up the money and bought it.

The aim is to knock out all of the orange pegs on the different boards. There are a majority of blue pegs which help your ball to have something to bounce off and the occasional purple score multiplying peg.

The most interesting pegs are the green ones, which offer new “special powers” depending on which level you are on and which of the 10 Peggle masters you are studying under.  Among the powers are:

  • Super Guide – showing you where your ball will go after its first bounce
  • Space Blast – lights up all nearby pegs
  • Fireball – blasts its way through pegs instead of bouncing off them.

There is a collector barrel moving from left to right on the bottom of the screen then you are able to re-use the ball (useful when you’re running out)

I’ve played it for hours since I downloaded it and am re-playing it.  It’s a great “quick” game, to play in spare minutes, but you could also play for prolonged periods and it’s well recommended.

It does behave very well when I’m listening to my own music, keeping the sound effects but dropping the music (although the “Handel’s Messiah” music when you finish the level is fabulous)

(8/10)