sangsara.net

Tag: Technology

  • iPhone app review – Ferrari GT: Evolution

    (This iPhone review and others like it have been moved to my new app review site, positivemachine.com. Why not have a look?)


    Name/Category: Ferrari GT: Evolution / Games
    What it costs: $0.99 (previously $9.99)


    What it is: Last year’s racehorse, on its last legs


    Why you should buy it: Racing games and first-person shooters are two of the most graphically intensive genres in gaming, so enthusiasts often look to them for examples of what a machine can do. When Gameloft released Asphalt 4: Elite Racing on the iPhone last year, it was hailed as a landmark achievement in iPhone graphics. It was as if a tiny digital Ronald Reagan had approached a programming barrier inside the iPhone and commanded digital Gorbachev to tear it down. A few months later, the company released Ferrari GT: Evolution. Built using largely the same technology, the new game had a (licensed) identity of its own: a slightly more serious driving simulation compared to Asphalt’s nitro-boosted arcade speedfest.


    Why you shouldn’t: Racing games sold on great graphics alone don’t have any long-lasting appeal. Gameloft seems to recognize this, and the game is now being sold at a tenth of its launch price of $9.99. In the time since it ran its first lap, other more impressive driving games have run it into the ground, made it eat their dust, given it a flat tyre, put a banana in its tail pipe, upped its road tax, cut its brakes, siphoned its fuel tank while it parked in the drive-in theatre and made out, parked it in a shipping container meant to be delivered half the world away, and used it as a Bonus Stage prop in a game of Street Fighter 2. Or if you prefer, overtaken it.

    Oh and the controls are a bit crap.


    “But It’s Just 99 Cents” Rating: 3/5

    Buy Ferrari GT: Evolution in the iTunes App Store.
    Try Ferrari GT: Evolution Lite for free in the iTunes App Store.

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  • SingTel DSL Broadband settings

    If you’re a heavy internet user connected with SingTel Broadband via the supplied 2WIRE modem/router, you probably already know that the hardware is crap and tends to spaz out when you open too many connections. Getting your own ADSL modem/router is an ideal solution, but unless it auto-configures to the network like SingTel’s does, you’re looking at some lengthy trial and error while trying to get it connected.

    I had that experience myself a few months ago, and had to look all over the net for the settings (on my iPhone, no less) because SingTel’s helpdesk wouldn’t “support third-party hardware”. That’s funny, because when I called to ask for the admin console password on the 2WIRE router (to enable Modem Only mode, which I could use with my previous Linksys router), I was told that they couldn’t give it to me, and I had to call 2WIRE’s distributor in Jurong or something. In the end, 2WIRE told me to get the password from SingTel. It was hopeless.

    I’d be satisfied if this helps just one person out there.

    —

    DSL connection settings from my 3com modem/router:

    Protocol: PPPoA

    Username: xxxxx@singnet

    Connect Type: Always Connected

    Idle Time: 20 (min)

    MTU: 1492

    VPI/VCI: 0/100

    Encapsulation: VC MUX

    QoS Class: UBR

    PCR/SCR/MBS: 4000/4000/10

  • iPhone app review – Facebook

    (This iPhone review and others like it have been moved to my new app review site, positivemachine.com. Why not have a look?)


    Name / Category: Facebook / Social Networking (v2.5)

    What it costs: Free



    What it is: A way to overshare while on the go.



    Why you should get it: Last week, I was induced to join a cult called iPRAMS, or iPhone Radicals Against MobileSafari. Our group believes that it’s no coincidence MobileSafari’s initials are MS, which makes the iPhone browser part of the conspiracy that began in 1997 when THAT other company bought $150m of Apple shares. Under my newly sworn vows, I can no longer use the browser to access Facebook’s mobile website on my iPhone. Thank heavens for this app which does exactly what the website does!


    Why you shouldn’t: iPRAMS recognizes the independence and diversity of all iPhone users, which includes those who might want to use MobileSafari and the Facebook website instead. So if you want to help the devil spread a thinly-veiled mobile version of Internet Explorer 8, go right ahead.



    “But I’m Not A Member of iPRAMS” Rating: 2/5

    Download Facebook for free on the iTunes App Store.

    —

    Below: Facebook iPhone app

    Below: Facebook site in MobileSafari

  • iPhone app review – Triazzle

    (This iPhone review and others like it have been moved to my new app review site, positivemachine.com. Why not have a look?)


    Name / Category: Triazzle / Games
    What it costs: $2.99 on sale ($3.99 regularly)


    What it is: A jigsaw puzzle with LSD-inspired effects


    Why you should buy it: If you like jigsaw puzzles, triangles, and getting high, there’s no earthly reason why Triazzle won’t become your favorite iPhone game. You start by choosing either a 9 or 16-piece puzzle at one of four difficulty levels. A new puzzle is randomly generated each time. I’m not sure what it all means, but dragging pieces into place and rotating them usually makes me feel nice all over. Sometimes, the pictures on the edge of my piece actually match another piece next to it! That’s when it starts to get weird.

    When a match is made, the pictures of frogs, butterflies, bugs, and turtles come to life and start to move around the board. They actually come out of the freaking pictures and crawl around on your screen!! It’s not a problem unless you’re hungry. One time, I had a really good conversation with this purple toad who told me to chill out when I was getting a little edgy.

    “Dude, this game has no time limit or scoring system,” he said. “Whoaaaaaaa!” I replied. “So the point is just to kick back, listen to the far-out music, and see the world for what it really is? A system of control that you can escape with psychotropic medication?” I made another match and a turtle nipped at my fingertip. “Right on,” said the frog.


    Why you shouldn’t: I forgot.



    Rating: 5 rainbow frogs out of 5

    Buy Triazzle on the iTunes App Store.

    —

    From sangsara.net
    From sangsara.net

  • iPhone app review – Notespark

    (This iPhone review and others like it have been moved to my new app review site, positivemachine.com. Why not have a look?)


    Name / Category: Notespark / Productivity
    What it costs: $4.99


    What it is: The last notepad you’ll ever buy, as long as the site stays up.


    What it does: Ever seen a sci-fi movie where people on trains read newspapers that are actually moving screens, like e-paper, and they download content from some awesome future internet? Notespark is totally like that, but for notepads. It lets you write down as many things as you want, on sheets of virtual paper that then fly off to a server somewhere for safekeeping. Later that night, when you’re back home in front of your computer and need to remember what that other commuter looked like in great detail so you can write her a Missed Connections post on Craigslist, you’ve got it right there on www.notespark.com.


    What it doesn’t: It’s like, nearly the end of the noughties, and is anyone like, still taking TEXT notes? Are you serious? Why not just record a voice memo of yourself describing her cute clothes and sweet ass and intoxicating body odor, right there on the train in front of her? Or maybe snap a photo under the pretext of looking something up on Google, then jerking the lens in her direction whilst looking deep in thought or absorbed in the financial planning ad above? If you do go down that route – and it is a dark and contemptible one, believe me – Evernote will do the job. Just don’t ask Evernote to handle a bunch of words, because it’s like, totally retarded.


    “Head in the Cloud” Rating: 5/5

    Buy Notespark in the iTunes App Store.
    But first, you might want to sign up for a free online account and test-drive their functionality at notespark.com. It’s many times better than the $1.99 Simplenote‘s online half.


    Update: Notespark now supports SSL encryption on all connections, eliminating its gravest shortcoming (one that drove many to Simplenote). I’m told an update to the iPhone app is pending, while the website already has it in place.

    —

  • iPhone app review – Birdfeed

    (This iPhone review and others like it have been moved to my new app review site, positivemachine.com. Why not have a look?)


    Name / Category: Birdfeed / Social Networking
    What it costs: $4.99


    What it is: Intentionally crippled Artfully restrained Twitter client.


    Who it’s for: A small subset of Twitterers unfortunate enough to suffer from chronic design savviness – that is to say, they’re unable to use any app whose interface was not first sketched out in a Moleskine and then neurotically tuned at the sub-pixel level with symmetrical grids. Very few options exist for these pitiful but gifted consumers, and before Birdfeed came along, it was pretty much between Tweetie and Twitterrific. You know you’re one of them when someone mentions Birdfeed designer Neven Mrgan’s name and your first thought isn’t “wait, how do you spell that?”


    Who it isn’t for: You call yourself a power user, and you expect your Twitter client to do useful things like show you who your followers are, and give you one-click access to different views via a thoughtful toolbar along the bottom of the main timeline. Well, if you dare ask for such niceties in Birdfeed, clearly you don’t get it. If you have to question why there isn’t a choice of themes, or any sound effects, or why you can’t view someone’s avatar photo at full-screen size, know that you’re a goddamned philistine and should probably apply for a job at Microsoft. With their legal department.

    By the way, if your current app is something as godawful-ugly as Twittelator Pro, or to a lesser extent, SimplyTweet (seriously, have a look), I don’t think the creators of Birdfeed even want your filthy, filthy money.


    “Art-School Snob” Rating: 4/5

    Buy Birdfeed in the iTunes App Store.

    —

    From sangsara.net
    From sangsara.net
    From sangsara.net
    From sangsara.net

    * This review has been slightly amended for clarity. Some felt it was hard to tell whether I was poking fun at myself (and my own anal-retentive requirements), or slamming Birdfeed for possibly choosing form over function. I don’t believe that it does. It’s a swell app that makes a few tough choices and mostly gets things right, and the 4/5 score reflects that.

  • iPhone app review – I Dig It

    (This iPhone review and others like it have been moved to my new app review site, positivemachine.com. Why not have a look?)


    Title/Category: I Dig It / Games
    What it costs: $0.99 (on sale, regular price $2.99)


    What it is: A cool game for cool cats who dig diggin’


    Why you should buy it: How often do you come across a game that puts you in the shoes of a poor, down-on-his-luck farmer given just four hours to pay off a mountain of debt and save his family from being evicted? And when you do, does that game then give you a hybrid bulldozer/excavation drill/jetpack machine with which said farmer may propel himself into the dark, igneous depths of the Earth’s crust in search of diamonds and rare metals? What? Get outta here!


    Why you shouldn’t: Maybe you think this is too casual for a hardcore gamer like you. It does, however, have RPG elements (machine upgrades), and by connecting to Facebook for the trumpeting of achievements, is a little bit like Xbox Live. Maybe you’re a geologist, or a geothermologist, or work in the construction industy? Fine, you’re not going to like the digging physics. I mean, you can excavate ALL the soil beneath your farm, leaving your house, shed, and gas station floating above nothingness. I’ll understand if a man of science like yourself can’t just SIT IDLY BY and watch this problematic concept generate fun. There, there.


    “Indie Diamond in the Rough” Rating: 5 out of 5

    Buy I Dig It in the iTunes App Store.
    Try I Dig It Lite for free in the iTunes App Store.



  • iPhone app review – Tradewinds 2

    (This iPhone review and others like it have been moved to my new app review site, positivemachine.com. Why not have a look?)


    Name / Category: Tradewinds 2 / Games
    What it costs: $2.99 on sale (normal price $4.99)


    What it is: A port of an old PC game about visiting ports.


    Why you should buy it: Because you have an addictive personality and some misguided, internet-era obsession with pirates and the Caribbean that the makers of this game could not possibly have foreseen, and therefore exploited, back in the 1990s. Thank god for the iPhone, then, as the current rights holders and publishers will finally be able to make good on their foolhardy investment from nearly two decades ago. If they’re really lucky, their children will start calling them again. From jail.


    Why you shouldn’t: If you already played Chocolatier, a game that shamelessly ripped off the look and gameplay essence of this classic title, you might not want to revisit the old sail-around-the-world-making-money genre. Of course, Chocolatier did remove all the pirates, sea battles, and general fun found in Tradewinds 2 in order to include a realistic simulation of chocolate manufacturing – complete with catapults, giant ingredient icons, and indoor ferris wheels. Tradewinds 2 also feels a little more ‘adult’, that is to say people drown at sea by your scurvy hand.


    Alright, fine, I’ll give a rating: 4/5

    Buy Tradewinds 2 in the iTunes App Store.
    Buy Chocolatier ($4.99) in the iTunes App Store.

    ——-

    Below: Tradewinds 2 (touching any of the buildings shows their names)

    From sangsara.net

    Below: Chocolatier’s port view

    From sangsara.net

    Below: Chocolatier’s action puzzle replacement for sea battles.

    From sangsara.net