Showing posts with label ipad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ipad. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Candy Crush Saga is Not What it Seems

By this time, if you have an iPhone, iPad, or are a member of a Facebook, I am sure you have heard of Candy Crush Saga. For over a month now, it has been in the top 5 apps on Apple's App Store and is popular among people of all ages. Its addictive gameplay, cute graphics, and amazing price (free) makes everybody want to download it. Even the icon (shown below) makes you want to have it on your iPhone's home screen. All of this is true until you really start playing.


You beat the first 15 levels easily, no retries needed. Then you start losing sometimes and have to retry some levels. Eventually you come to the point where it says you have to wait 30 minutes before retrying, or you can ask your Facebook friends for more lives, or you can buy more lives right away through an in-app purchase. Well, you decided to wait the half-hour and keep playing and all is fine and dandy, right? Wrong! At some point, your addicted mind will keep you involved in this game until you reach level 35. Why did I specifically mention level 35? Because that is the last level that you can play unless you get your Facebook friends to help you out, or you pay $0.99 to unlock the next episode through an in-app purchase. So already you can see the scheme that is going on, but still it get worse... you have to keep paying or getting your Facebook friends to help you if you want to keep on unlocking new episodes (sets of levels).

King.com (the creators of this game) know that out of the millions of people that play their game, some will pay to unlock the episodes. How did they get these millions of people to play their game? Through the players who went through their Facebook friends to get extra retries or to unlock new episodes. By sharing that you are playing Candy Crush on Facebook, the whole world gets to see the game and learn about what Candy Crush Saga seems to be.

You keep playing the game, despite the whole money-making purpose of it, and eventually you see the charms in the top-left corner (inside the Yeti Shop). They look all cute and very helpful, and they only cost a merely $16.99, $24.99, and $39.99. Once again, out of the millions of people who play this game, some suckers will pay for these charms.

If you couldn't already tell, I will make my point plain and simple. King.com is like a meth dealer. They start you off for free, but once you are addicted, they get you to pay. So if you are smart and don't want to risk being a sucker for King.com, stay away from Candy Crush Saga.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Roku 3 vs Vizio Co-Star vs Apple TV

You have a Netflix account and you are tired of sitting in your bed to watch movies on your iPad, right? Well your top three options for being able to watch Netflix, use Pandora, and more in your living room are the Roku 3, Vizio Co-Star, and the Apple TV. Though Roku does offer cheaper models, these three devices all cost $99, so the price will not be playing a major factor in which is more worth buying. Below you can see the details about each device, and a video of each one in action. Before anything though, you should know that all the devices allow you to use Pandora, Netflix, and Hulu Plus. Also, all the devices have a smartphone/tablet app that lets you control them if you don't have the remote handy.

Roku 3:

-Plug headphones into the Roku remote so you can watch TV without disturbing others in the room
-Access and play music through your Amazon Cloud Player and Spotify accounts
-Play games such as Angry Birds using the remote with motion-control
-Can stream a movie using less power than a nightlight



Vizio Co-Star:

-Turns your TV into a "Google TV"
-Access to thousands of Apps (including Youtube and Wikipedia)
-The Co-Star's remote has a keyboard so it is easy to type in names of movies/shows you would like to watch
-Play video games on demand through OnLive
-Search the web right on your TV


Apple TV:

-Play music and movies from your iTunes library
-Play Youtube videos
-Very simple remote
-View the game/movie that you are playing on your iPad on your TV using AirPlay
-Access to iCloud


Right now, for $99, the Vizio Co-Star seems like the best option for the ultimate TV experience. If you are looking for a cheaper device that does not much more than play Netflix movies and songs from Pandora, than Roku offers cheaper versions of their device called the Roku LT ($49.99, 720p video) and Roku HD ($59.99, 1080p video).

If you are interested in buying one of these TV enhancing devices, follow one of the links below:

Roku 3 (and other models): http://shop.roku.com
Vizio Co-Star: http://store.vizio.com/costar.html
Apple TV: http://www.apple.com/appletv/what-is/

Monday, June 10, 2013

iOS 7 Announced

If you weren't already aware, today marks the start of Apple's annual World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC). This is where, every year, Apple reveals what they have in store for the new operating systems (among other things) for their devices such as the iPhone and iPad. Today, they announce iOS 7, the next version of the software that powers your iPhone.

iOS 7 completely redefines Apple's trademark look for the software their devices run by changing the interface and adding a ton of new features.

Check out the video below to see a preview of iOS 7 in action: