Eric Ravenscraft
Eric is a snarky technophile with a taste for the unusual. When he's not obsessing about Android, you can usually find him obsessing about movies, psychology, or the perfect energy drink. Eric weaves his own special blend of snark, satire, and comedy into all his articles.

23
Dec
2012-12-23_14h22_26

Devs Clone The Google Now Card View UI, Plus A Bunch Of Other Awesome Interface Elements, Open Source Them All

Posted by in Development, News

While Android continues to get better about making its UI look gorgeous, there are still plenty of trends that have yet to be standardized in any meaningful way. Of course, part of that may be because they don't need to be. After all, Google doesn't want every app in the world to use the Google Now-style card view (though, so far, Google+, Search, and Currents are already among those that find inspiration from them). This leaves implementation up to developers, like those featured over at AndroidViews. Here are just a few samples of their work:

2012-12-23_14h32_09 2012-12-23_14h23_54 2012-12-23_14h24_07

As you can see, it's not just the cards UI.

22
Dec
nemoreeftiny

Disney Releases Nemo's Reef, It's A Small World Live Wallpaper, And Where's My Holiday? All In One Go

Posted by in Games, News

Leave it to Disney to go all out like this. In a very rapid release of new apps, everyone's favorite kid-friendly distributor of films, TV shows, games and anything else that can empty parents' wallets has dropped on us three new titles. For starters, Nemo's Reef. This let's-call-it-a-game expands on the Finding Nemo franchise (naturally), and allows players to create their own underwater reef. You can customize the fish's home, add various characters from the movies including Gill, Dory, Bloat and Bubbles, and even plant a variety of seeds. It sounds a bit more like a virtual aquarium than a proper game, but that doesn't sound too bad to us!

22
Dec
evo4gltetiny

[Download] Full RUU For The EVO LTE JB Update (3.15.651.16)

Posted by in EVO 4G LTE (Jewel), News

Nearly a couple weeks ago, the Jelly Bean (4.1.1) update to the Evo 4G LTE XL BBQ began to roll out. By now, we think it's safe to say that most or all of you have it. If you don't, however, or if you've already updated, flashed another ROM, and want to get back to stock, then maybe I can interest you in a nice RUU?

As a side note, if you're HTCDev unlocked, you'll need to relock your handset or you'll get an error while trying to run the .exe. More information on relocking the bootloader can be found here.

22
Dec
battlebearstiny

Battle Bears Royale Is What Team Fortress 2 Would Be If It Were On Android And Rainbow-Colored Bears Were People

Posted by in Games, News

The hits just keep on coming. Today's delightfully twisted game is Battle Bears Royale and, just like it says on the box, this game features bears. That battle each other. With sniper rifles, machine guns, and cactuses. If you've ever played Team Fortress 2,  you'll feel right at home (though it's hard to seriously say the quality is as high as the Valve game, but what is?) with the class system.

There are seven classes of Battle Bears. Everything from the Soldier to the Heavy, Sniper to the Engineer, and one simple called "Huggable." Though that may be a bit of a misnomer, as his arms are chainsaws.

21
Dec
youtubetiny

Google Announces New YouTube API, Allows Developers To Embed High-Quality Videos Directly In Android Apps

Posted by in Google, News

It's rare that the phrases "developer API" and "holy crap" are uttered in the same sentence, but if anything's going to pull it off, it might just be Google's new YouTube APIs. These allow developers to embed high-quality videos right inside their apps, obviating the need for that silly WebView thing.

Here's the full list of new features that this API allows:

The API, which was pre-announced at Google I/O 2012, offers these benefits:

The news is fantastic for developers, partly because it will make it much easier to include video content, but will also make it possible to improve on the YouTube browsing experience.

21
Dec
shadowgundeadzonetiny

Shadowgun: Deadzone Update (v1.1) Brings New Maps, Weapon Upgrades, Hats, Bug Fixes, And More

Posted by in Games, News

Wonderful news for the roughly everyone on the planet who plays Shadowgun: Deadzone: a whole bunch of new stuff is rolling out today! Notably, there's the Gangs feature which allows you to create groups of friends to play with. There are also a couple new maps that you can explore. And by "explore" I mean "kill things in."

shadowgundeadzone1 shadowgundeadzone2 shadowgundeadzone3

There are also new weapon upgrades, some additional hats (because every game has to have hats now, right TF2?) and bug fixes and tweaks all over the place. Here's the full changelog:

What's in this version:

☣New Features:
* Two New Maps
* New Weapons Upgrades
* Chat in Main Menu
* Gangs (Play with Friends)
* New Hats
* Rewards for finishing Zone Control or DeathMatch
* Player Rank increased up to 50 now
☣ GamePlay Tweaks:
* Redesigned Weapons Stats
* Weapons&Gadgets Are Limited by Ranks
☣ Bug Fixing:
* Improved Hit Detection
* Fixed VoiceChat
* Fixed Network Code
* Renderer Optimization
* Fixed Wall Exploits in Several Levels

As a side note: I love the radioactivity symbol for bullet points, Shadowgun developers.

21
Dec
sacredgunstiny

In 'Sacred Guns', You're An Afro-Sporting Angel Defending Noah The Pirate's Ark From Teletubbies Because AWESOME

Posted by in Games, News

Artem gives me all the weird stuff. I love it, really. In the last week or so alone, I've covered Shaq fighting mutant zombies, Santa Claus as a rock star, sentient pudding, and a walk in the park. I thought I couldn't be happier. Then he brings me 'Sacred Guns'. This game stars Archangel Mark Leung (which appears to be the same name of one of the primary devs on this project), wielding his dual golden pistols and rainbow sword against an army of "God's unwanted creation." Apparently, when the Lord Almighty wanted to flood the Earth to cleanse it of sin, "sin" was code for "evil Teletubbies." Which makes perfect sense.

21
Dec
autumnwalktiny

'Autumn Walk', Sequel To 'Winter Walk', Wants To Take You For—Can You Guess?—A Walk

Posted by in Games, News

I say, fancy a jaunt in the park, ol' chap? Whilst other games may be of a less than savory nature, sometimes all a proper bloke wishes is to go for a stroll with his dog on a windy afternoon. Autumn Walk affords you just such an occasion, providing an ace simulation of the experience, in case you can't be buggered to leave your flat.

The gameplay consists mainly of following a fancy fellow as he saunters about with his bulldog in a pixelated environment. There's very little excitement, and most of your interaction simply involves controlling your pup's leash.

21
Dec
gta3tiny

Happy Holidays! Have Some Violence: Grand Theft Auto III And Max Payne Mobile On Sale For $0.99

Posted by in Games, News

I don't know about you, but when I think of the holidays, my mind immediately jumps to gang violence, prostitutes and M ratings. Which is great for me, because Grand Theft Auto III (normally $4.99) and Max Payne Mobile (normally $2.99) are both on sale for just a dollar each on the Play Store right now. God bless us, everyone indeed!

gta31 gta32 gta33

maxpayne1 maxpayne3 maxpayned4

If you decide to buy these games, be sure to clear out plenty of space on your device. Grand Theft Auto III is a 1GB download, and Max Payne Mobile clocks in at 1.33GB. So, grab a glass of egg nog, hop on WiFi, put on Die Hard and have yourself a merry little Christmas.

21
Dec
springpadtiny

Springpad Update Brings 'Board' Support For Tablets, Several Tweaks And Bug Fixes

Posted by in Applications, News

I have a confession to make. I don't care for Evernote. 'Hang him from a gibbet!' I know, but I just prefer Springpad. Which is why I was excited today to see that the newest update brings tablet support for one of the coolest features: Springpad Board. This view allows users to look at all the elements of their notebook—be they text, photos, maps, to-do lists or whatever—as though they are sitting on a table. You can slide and move them around as you will. It's a lovely interface.

springpadboard

The new feature works on any Android tablet, though as you'd expect it's a little cramped on devices like the Nexus 7.

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