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News: Xposed Framework Coming Soon for Lollipop

The main developer behind the Xposed Framework just teased Android 5.0 compatibility for his popular mod. Rovo89 posted a screenshot on XDA that shows the framework running on a Lollipop-powered Nexus 5. Android Lollipop's switch from Dalvik runtime to Android runtime—better known as ART—made Xposed compatibility a problem for the OS. But alas, our favorite modding platform is just about ready for primetime.

How To: Play Google’s New Geo-Trivia Maps Game on Android & iOS

Somewhere in a back-end update, Google snuck a Google Maps Trivia game into its mobile Maps apps. The game is accessible through the Google Maps side-navigation menu on Android and iOS (hidden right at the bottom, of course), and it's ready to play right now. It's a rather fun game, too. SmartyPins, as it's called, asks you a series of geography-based trivia questions, where the penalty for wrong answers is deducted in miles. A correct answer within a set amount of time nets you bonus points,...

News: Google Just Acquired Instant Translator Word Lens—All Language Packs Free for a Limited Time

According to a statement on its website, Quest Visual, the company behind the highly-regarded live translation app Word Lens, has been purchased by Google. This news has ripple effects across both the Android and iOS platforms, as it is likely Word Lens will be discontinued in the near future in favor of incorporating the technology into Google's own Translate app. For now, however, Quest Visual has made all Word Lens language packs available for free in celebration of their new deal with Goo...

Altruistic Hacking: The Rise of the DIY Radiation Detector

Understandably, the tragedy in Japan has substantially risen the level of worldwide radiation-related hysteria. So much so, as an alternative to stampeding health food stores for iodine tablets, crafty individuals and organizations are hacking together personal radiation detectors. Rather than relying on the government, the creation and modification of handheld Geiger counters provides a self-sufficient solution to today's questions regarding radiation. Profiled below, three admirable organiz...

An App for Stalkers: "Creepy" Geo-Locates Based on Social Networking Activity

With the globally rampant use of such social networking platforms as Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare, the issue of privacy has become a prevalent concern for many. And for good reason—there's the violation of Facebook employing user names in ads, the Etsy slip-up, and of course, the everyman act of recklessly sharing too much information via common social media outlets: a night of drinking results in morning after embarrassment, or worst case scenario, sloppy Facebook posts and tweets resul...

How To: Install a drop-down attic stairway

Who needs more storage space? We all do! You may have an untapped gold mine of storage space just over your head, but it is probably too impractical to access. Of course we are referring to your attic, which unfortunately has only a small access door through one of your closets. Every time you need to get into your attic you have to clear out the clothes in the closet and find a stepladder. Maybe it is time to consider a disappearing stairway and put the attic space to good use. (If your atti...

How To: Hack Your Xbox Gamerscore

Nearly everyone has the capacity to be a cheater. Sometime or another, all Xbox users have yearned to get their gamerscore to unimaginable thresholds—for bragging and egotistical purposes. I can relate to this desire. However, I also don't want to mod my gamerscore, because it's just unfair and not nearly as much fun as doing it the honest way. To me, it's synonymous to entering the cheats into a game after you've beaten it. Cheats can add new life into a game once you're done, but since the ...

How To: Encrypt your Skype Messages to Thwart Snooping Eyes Using Pidgin

Skype is a great service. It allows a free solution for VoIP to VoIP calls, and cheap VoIP to landline calling. However, a very disturbing, little known fact that might push you away from Skype does exist. If you closely read the terms of service agreement, it clearly says that Skype is allowed to decrypt your messages whenever they please. Here at Null Byte, we tend to enjoy our anonymity, don't we?

News: Will Games Ruin Google+ Like They Ruined Facebook?

Last week, Google+ took a crucial step towards becoming exactly like Facebook. As of now, there are games available for download within the service, most notably Angry Birds, which is already available on at least one of the devices owned by everyone in America today. Some of the other popular games include Bejeweled Blitz and Zynga Poker, and out of all of the available titles, all come from four companies that have come to form the four-headed dragon of U.S. casual gaming: EA, Zynga, PopCap...

News: The Brilliant Work of Zeboyd Games Highlights Some Hideous Flaws in XBLIG

Games like Minecraft and Braid have proven that there is money to be made in the indie game marketplace, which means more and more designers are following suit, one being Zeboyd Games. The two-man indie design team released two excellent JRPG spoofs on the Xbox Live Indie Games (XBLIG) Marketplace in 2010: Breath of Death VII ($1) and Cthulhu Saves the World ($3). Both have been well-reviewed and spent time near the top of the XBLIG sales charts, but its success couldn't be rivaled by what wa...

Outland: A Polarizing Experience

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.

How To: Add a Dislike Button to Your Facebook Page

Are you one of countless Facebook users who find the classic Thumbs Up symbol tiresomely sycophantic? You're not alone. Back in August of 2010, the widespread addition of an "official" Thumbs Down symbol to Facebook pages quickly revealed itself to be a scam, but only after countless users opted in.

News: Microsoft SharePoint 2010

Microsoft SharePoint is a business management system introduced by MICROSOFT. It has many build in functions to work in web based environment easily. Microsoft SharePoint 2010 is released on April 17, 2010. It is introduced with the promise of better performance than its predecessor version for both developers and IT professionals. It is entitled as “Business Collaboration Platform for the Enterprise and The Web”.

Arduino Air Force: DIY Robotic Cardboard Quadcopters

You're hellbent on taking over the world, but one race of robotic minions isn't enough for you. With your hexapod robots acting as your ground forces, it's only natural to take to the skies. These cardboard quadcopters are the perfect air force for you. Combined, you are mere steps away from starting your evil takeover. Now you just need some water bots. The cardboard flying quadcopters are built around the MultiWii platform with the twin power of Processing and Arduino, so they are actually ...

How To: Find the Minecraft Easter Egg in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

This has got to be one of the most clever Easter Eggs I've seen in a long time, especially considering current relations between Mojang (makers of Minecraft), and Bethesda (makers of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout). As seen in the video below, if you go to a certain part of The Throat of the World, the highest point in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, you'll find a Notched Pickaxe. For those who don't know, Markus "Notch" Persson is the lead designer of Minecraft, and the head of Mojang.

Fragment 3D: A 3D Point and Click Adventure Game for Android

From The Day of the Tentacle to Syberia, adventure games have come a long way. We now have games developed exclusively for the Google Android platform and iPhone. The newest game is the episodic Fragment 3D, a point and click adventure game focusing on the adventures of a robot who is left to rust in the underworld. You will have to help him escape and help him unearth secrets and conspiracies.

News: What Was the First Adventure Game?

Adventure gamers would love to know what was the first adventure game. Well, it was a 1970s computer game titled "Colossal Cave Adventure", also known as "Adventure". Designed by Will Crowther, the game was in FORTRAN and initially had 700 lines of code and data, which was later expanded to 3,000 lines of code and more than 1000 lines of data.