13
Feb
fireballstiny

[New Game] Fireballs HD For Android Is Part Tron, Part Snakes, All Flaming Fun For The Family Of Four

Posted by in Games, News

Mobile games are a hot category these days. Multiplayer tablet games, on the other hand, are a bit harder to come by. The larger form factor lends itself well to multiple players gathered around a virtual game board, but few apps pursue this route. Fireballs HD is one of those few. Up to four players can join a Tron-like game, competing to keep their fireball alive without hitting the trails of others.

fireballs1 fireballs2 fireballs3

The graphics aren't the greatest in the world, but the gameplay is solid. At the beginning of each game, two to four players can select to join in.

02
Feb
image

SwiftKey Announces A Tablet-Optimized, Tron-Inspired Honeycomb Keyboard

Posted by in Applications, News, Videos

We can't say we didn't see it coming, considering we saw this preview of the tablet-optimized SwiftKey keyboard during CES, but what SwiftKey is announcing today looks quite a bit different, to say the least.

Allow me to introduce Swiftkey Tablet - a tablet-only Honeycomb keyboard set to launch around the same time as the Motorola XOOM tablet. Sticking with the 3-way-split design, the new holographic look reminds me quite a bit of Tron. If you watch the video below, you'll see that the UI is quite... magical, with suggestions floating up when clicked. The dual space bar design and the presence of arrow keys are very welcomed as well.

26
Jan
Honeycomb logo

Easter Eggs And Developer Humor In Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" APIs: Tron Bee, Rez, fyiWillBeAdvancedByHostKThx()

Posted by in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, Off-Topic
Last Updated: January 28th, 2011

The Android team sure has a sense of humor. Previously, in the Froyo SDK, besides tons of awesome code, they've also added a function called wtf() (What a Terrible Failure) and an even more hilarious isUserAMonkey() that returns true if the user interface is currently being messed with by a monkey.

Examining the Honeycomb SDK docs released earlier today, armed with a hint from Roman Nurik, I found the following gem: fyiWillBeAdvancedByHostKThx(). The docs are not online yet, but if you've downloaded the SDK, you can find this function at android-sdk/docs/reference/android/widget/

AdapterViewAnimator.html#fyiWillBeAdvancedByHostKThx(). What it does doesn't matter (it's actually a legitimate function), but its name is hilarious.

16
Jan
snap20110116_103530

Now THIS Is How Android Theming Is Done: Tron Legacy Pro Theme For ADW Launcher

Posted by in Applications, Development, News

Android is known for its customizability and freedom, therefore it's not a surprise that it supports a variety of theming methods. Unfortunately, the vast majority of themes are either low quality or incomplete, which is a natural side effect of what happens when everyone is given a chance to contribute. When a truly great theme comes along, one worthy of changing the default launcher, it needs to be given credit. And the Tron Legacy Pro theme by Mariux is definitely one of those themes.

The theme doesn't just change the wallpaper or a few icons - it is what the author describes as "ultra-detailed." What this means is Tron's infamous neon effect was actually studied by Mariux to match the movie, a ton of icons have been changed, including popular applications outside of what ships stock (Angry Birds, Aldiko, Foursquare, Facebook, Goggles, etc), and even widget styles match the overall theme.