Near Field Communication, or NFC for short, is a feature that allows our smartphones to wirelessly communicate with other devices over a short distance while using almost no power at all. Think of it like a slimmed-down version of Wi-Fi or Bluetooth that can send a small burst of data two inches away without having any measurable impact on your battery life.
Google's YouTube Red is an awesome service, particularly in the United States where it comes bundled with a subscription to Google Play Music. You don't have to worry about ever seeing ads again on any videos, you can continue playback after you exit the YouTube app or even when you turn your screen off, you can download videos for offline playback, and you'll have access to YouTube Music.
Being an Google fanboy means that I pretty much use anything with the company puts out, so it's no surprise that out of all the cloud services out there, I stick with Google Drive. But, this is way more than just some blind allegiance.
Windows 10 is due to be released on July 29th, and the majority of existing Windows users should be eligible to upgrade to the newer version for free.
Everyone's a music aficionado these days. Whether you're having a party or on a road trip with friends, someone is always complaining about the music. There's no possible way to satisfy everyone, so instead of having your music drowned out by persistent nagging, turn Spotify into a democracy, allowing the consensus to pick what plays.
2015 is quickly shaping up to be the year of the cord cutter, with various media companies finally warming up to the concept of offering live streaming content. In the wake of Dish Network announcing a streaming cable service called Sling TV and Sony unveiling a similar platform in PlayStation Vue, NBC has decided to stream the Super Bowl and all of its festivities online. Before we get to all of the many ways you can stream Super Bowl 49 between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks ...
Thanks to Verizon Wireless, I pay over $220 a month for my phone bill. It's just me on the plan—no family members, and it's not even unlimited data. So, when I receive that data alert message telling me that I've used up 90% of my plan and that I've still got a few more week until my billing cycle starts over, you know that I'm left scrambling to connect to some Wi-Fi.
It's been a great week for Chromecast owners. First, Google released the development kit, allowing devs to install the casting code into their apps. Then, CyanogenMod dev Koush updated his AllCast app to support the Chromecast. That means you can shoot personal movies, music, and photos directly from your Android device over to a Chromecast-connected display.
If you didn't already know, Apple is giving away their newest operating system, Mavericks, for most of your computers. While the folks over at Microsoft surely despise this tactic, those of use Mac users still running Snow Leopard surely do appreciate it.
The day I picked up my iPhone 5S was a very exciting day. I had taken all the correct steps in backing up my old device so that after a quick restore-from-backup (which turned into half an hour), I was right at home on the new hardware.
Google Reader is soon to be no more. Yesterday, the company announced that the service will be shutting down as of July 1, 2013, as part of Google's second "Spring Cleaning."
Are you constantly traveling? Well, as a Hilton HHonors member, you can enjoy special treatment at all of their hotels and resorts. It's free to register, but the difficulty lies in climbing up their membership level. To reach Gold elite status, Hilton HHonors requires that you have a minimum of 20 stays, 40 nights, or 75,000 base points—all in one year. While this may very will be easily attainable for those with jobs that revolve around traveling, it's almost damn near impossible for the re...
You know what I had for breakfast today? A ham and cheese sandwich with a glass of orange juice. Now, there's nothing wrong with a ham and cheese sandwich, but some nice, warm, fluffy pancakes would have made my day. I wish I would have seen this Reddit post earlier this morning.
Free trials are a great way to test out products before a purchase, or simply for the exploitation of free stuff for that limited amount of time. Some trials last a few days and some last even a month or two, but no matter what—these trials will always expire. But like most things in life, there is a way to get around such limitations.
To say that I am disappointed with the new Maps application in iOS 6 is an understatement. And it seems like the rest of the world is with me, so I needed to find a solution—and quick. Installing the Google Maps web application is a nice quick-fix, but those looking for a beefier navigation solution should check out one of these free map apps.
If you're like me, you've already spent a ton of money on your costumes, your badge, and your hotel room, and now you're looking for ways to cut costs. There are all kinds of ways to save money at DragonCon, but many of them involve violating the rules in some way, such as not buying a badge, sleeping on the floor in a hallway somewhere, etc. However, the one thing you can do that is totally not against the rules is eat for free. It requires a little self-discipline and a willingness to eat w...
Whether you're making a poster, drawing a logo or designing a website, the font you use can make a huge difference in any visual design, and the ones available in most word processors can get pretty boring. There are thousands of sites online where you can download free fonts, and even a few that let you design your own. Here are some of the best.
Code a retro style video game using old school sprites or other animated .gifs. This tutorial shows you how you can take a small character and animate him to walk across the screen. Make your own homage to Mario or a nostalgia-fueled video game or animation!
The runaway chainsaw family of glitches for Gears of War 2 enable the player to chainsaw a target to death instantly, without having to wait through the tedious process of watching their victim being sawed in half vertically. This video will teach you how to use the glitch in multiplayer, whether hosting or not. Like most of the game's glitches, this isn't all that useful in the game, but if you've finished all the other content, it's time to turn to the glitches!
This video provides a simple solution explaining how to burn an Xbox360 game onto a CD. This is a great guide if you need to backup your games in case you lose one of them.
If you need to make backups of your Xbox 360 games, check out this video for a simple tutorial guiding you on how to burn Xbox360 games to a CD.
Glitches are everywhere in the video game world, and you can call them what you want... glitches, cheats, cheat codes, hints, secrets or tips. In order to find a glitch, you have to keep your eyes open or follow a recommendation from a gaming friend. Either way, to catch a secret glitch, you need to be ready; the cheats for the taking, whether a weapon or secret passageway, so take it, before it gets patched.
This is Episode one of our new show/series of "Minecraft: Hardcore Objective". In this episode we will be trying out a little design that flag made up in around 20min. This episode is the the best due to the fact it was recorded 40min after it was decided to be done. All future episodes will be harder, more planned out, and better objectives. If you have any ideas feel free to leave them in the comments below.
As my in game name (TehGeekFather) would suggest I tend to like things on the Geekier side of things. Games being one of them. (duh I'm on a Forum dedicated to Minecraft) That being said I am a huge Fallout fan. (NO! not the band. <Sigh>) I'm referring to the post apocalyptic series first developed by Black Isle Studios, the roll playing game division of Interplay, back in 1997. Fallout 1 and 2 were pretty big back then open game play, being able to complete tasks in different ways depending ...
This week's review roundup is a diverse lot. They really only have two things in common—their indie origins and puzzle elements. Otherwise, they come from France, Spain and the U.S., a few from unknown designers and one by the guy who inspired Minecraft.
Most kids who play video games will never become professional gamers. Those that do are part of a very select group— it's like being a professional actor or athlete. It's nice work if you can get it. For everyone else, the sad realization usually arrives sooner or later that time spent playing games might not have the practical rewards that homework or working hard at your job might deliver.
Many of the indie games featured at PAX Prime have been in development for years. That's how long it takes to make a great game. But the two-man development studio in eastern Europe called Stabyourself has existed for less than a year and has already created two games—three more are on the way. They may be spitting out games left and right, but they've got a few to be excited about.
Indie developers and their games have enjoyed massive success distributing through Steam, notably Zeboyd Games and Carpe Fulgar. While that bodes well for the future of indies on the platform, Steam has to devote a lot of front-page real estate to AAA games and thus can't promote small indies as well as a dedicated indie game distribution service could. IndieCity out of the UK seems like it could be that, but today a consortium of three German game companies launched their attempt at beating ...
Hard drive space is one of the cheapest things you can add to your computer. But people take it for granted, thus game developers have given up any efforts in keeping games compact. With all of its expansion packs, World of Warcraft takes up more than 60 GB of hard drive space, and almost any AAA game consumes a gig or two.
The debate over whether video games can be considered art or not has intensified in recent years as games like Braid and Flow have taken the digital aesthetic experience to new heights. These new games are great examples, but there are much older ones that present compelling arguments as well. The best is a 1986 ZX Spectrum/Commodore 64/Amstrad CPC game called Frankie Goes To Hollywood.
The relationship between developers and publishers in the video game industry has always been awkward. Many great game developers such as Bizzare Creations, Clover Studio, and Bullfrog Productions have been disbanded due to corporate shenanigans involving their publishers and owners. The indie game movement has risen largely as a response to this.
A woman from space that who has been dead hundreds of years has been resurrected on the internet and you're the IT assigned to fight the viruses attacking her. Child of Eden is a mesmerizing musical game, with fluid animations, great game play, and lots of replay ability.
Sticking with our theme of XBLA games with uninspiring names, we have Outland. This game shares its name with an unrelated sci-fi cult film from 1981, unrelated comic strip from the '90s, and unrelated region in World of Warcraft. Didn't exactly try hard to build name recognition. Other than that, Finnish developer Housemarque has created the best 2D platformer I've seen in years.
This is a link to a PDF containing an incredible amount of free information. Drew Williams of Satyr Sculpting Studio gives away every part of the polymer clay sculpting process from start to finish. I know Drew, he and I shared a studio in grad school. Drew is not greedy or selfish, and this book proves it. Everything you ever wanted to know about how to sculpt with polymer clay, especially characters, miniatures, toys, or game pieces.
The New Yorker profiles Shigeru Miyamoto, the father of modern video games, whose spawn includes world-changing classics such as Mario and Legend of Zelda:
WonderHowTo member Katie S. runs great and vibrant communities at FarmVille World and FrontierVille World. She got quoted in a recent CNET article on how the virtual farm games are taking off like wildfire on the Internet.
If you want Star Wars, look to the games and not the movies to satisfy your hunger. The original Force Unleashed was a great game and a surprise hit. Later next year another Star Wars MMO will debut from Bioware. Maybe the Star Wars novels are also a good source for Star Wars material, but that's a realm I know nothing about.
Pick of the Week: Au Revoir Simone / Alexa Wilding / George Sarah @ Echoplex ($14) I'll be at this show and can't wait to check out this all girl band from Brooklyn, NY. I've been following them for a while and really dig their electronic dream pop music.
6 FREE new Co-op multi player Mission modes out for Red Dead Redemption on the 360 and PS3! A much needed boost to the bare multi player of Red Dead, you and a few friends can now take on more dynamic Player vs NPC missions.
It's been almost a century since we've last seen Kid Icarus start in his own game! The result of Project Sora, Kid Icarus will be released for the Nintendo 3DS!
