Source: http://feeds.primarygames.com/~r/primarygames/rss/~3/SimGn76f-bQ/concentration-class.html
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
FrostWire for Android brings quick, slick P2P file sharing to your phone
Until now, there hasn't been a true peer-to-peer application for Android, or indeed any smartphone. There are a slew of helper apps, like the excellent Transdroid, but their main purpose is to allow remote, on-the-move management of your installed-at-home BitTorrent and Gnutella clients. FrostWire is different: it brings P2P transfers to your phone -- yes, FrostWire shares ringtones, camera photos, music and apps that are stored on your phone.FrostWire for Android is just for phone-to-phone transfers, too. Despite there being an excellent desktop version of FrostWire, the Android version doesn't seem to search the same network. Perhaps that's a good thing, though: do you really want to download 700MB movies over 3G? It is quite fun to download photos from other people's phones, however...
First off, I should warn you that I haven't tried FrostWire over a cellular network -- I honestly don't know how well it would perform, or even whether mobile operators allow peer-to-peer transfers over their networks. I used my local Wi-Fi network and it worked well -- but even then, some transfers refused to start. Basically, FrostWire has all of P2P's usual problems -- and probably a few more!
Setup
When you first install FrostWire (grab the free version if you don't want to spend $5 on the Market), the first thing you're asked to do is provide a nickname, and select which file types you want to share. There is no folder/directory selection, so be careful! If you select 'pictures', every JPG, GIF and PNG on your phone will be shared with the world.You have the choice of sharing Pictures, Videos, Applications, Documents, Music and Ringtones. I wouldn't suggest you share everything, but it's up to you.
Searching & Chat
Finding stuff to download is as simple as on the desktop: either click a peer and pore through their files, or hit 'search' at the top and type something in. There weren't a whole lot of peers online when I did my testing (20 or so), but there was plenty of stuff to download, from pictures to ringtones, TV episodes to applications. As FrostWire for Android grows, I am sure you'll be able to find just about anything.
FrostWire for Android also has chat functionality built-in, if you feel like chatting... about stuff. There's a global chat room (which would no doubt be unusable with thousands of peers), and you can also send private messages. During testing no one returned my private messages, though, so I have no idea if they actually work.
Downloading
Here's the rub: ultimately, you're only going to get decent download speeds if you and the other peer are using Wi-Fi on a decent Internet connection. If the uploading peer is on 3G -- or 2G! -- it feels almost like Napster with a dial-up modem.
Still, files on mobile phones tend to be small -- ringtones, music, photos and apps are only a megabyte or two each -- so it rarely takes that long to download a file with FrostWire.
Conclusion
No matter which way I look at it, I can't see FrostWire as anything other than the first serious piracy app for Android. There will be those that claim there are valid, legal uses of FrostWire... but other than voyeuristically sharing photos, I can't see any.
I'm also uncertain that cellular peer-to-peer is ready for prime-time. If the American mobile network is already struggling to keep up with demand, imagine what the crushing force of peer-to-peer traffic would do!
FrostWire for Android Tech Specs
- Installed Size -- 700KB
- Speed/Responsiveness -- Nippy, could not discover any slow-downs (Android 2.1 @ 600 MHz, LG GT540)
- User Interface -- Not fantastic, but easy enough to learn -- it's a very simple app, after all
- Configurability & Extensibility -- Lots of network configuration available -- but I still don't see why you would use this app on your home network... and you can't control your mobile operator's network setup!
- License -- Free, open source, but it costs $5 from the Android Market (free download here)
FrostWire for Android brings quick, slick P2P file sharing to your phone originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=499f412108353f4678135bac31402ddb
Fate of the World ? review
Saving the world from your armchair brings home the enormity of climate change, says Jack Arnott
Being asked to save the world while sitting in your living room is the kind of request gamers take in their stride. And while Fate of the World arms you with environmental data and renewable energy policies rather than grenades and rocket launchers, the result is still compelling.
The action takes the form of a turn-based data-management simulator ? think Football Manager, but with biofuels. You're given a budget with which to implement various schemes across different geopolitical areas, each of which have different long- and short-term costs. Put an emissions cap on a growing economy, stifling growth, and they'll get fed up and throw your agency out of the area. Encourage investment and prosperity and there'll soon be environmental consequences. Each turn sends you forward five years ? and you're informed as the game progresses of the many changes that take place in the world as temperatures increase. As if the sheer difficulty of Fate of the World wasn't sobering enough, watching the planet crumble ? wars and natural disasters are often triggered inadvertently by your decisions, and you're informed each time a major species becomes extinct ? really brings home the enormity of the impact of climate change.
Multiple scenarios are available offering differing challenges and targets ? from managing the oil crisis to protecting the Amazon rainforest ? meaning there's a great deal of replayability for those wishing to learn as much as they can about the issues handled in the game.
There's even an anarchic "Dr Apocalypse" mode in which your goal is to raise temperatures around the world as much as you can without losing the political support of different regions.
This dark humour crops up throughout the game and helps alleviate moments where things may get a little too dry. If a regime is refusing to bow to demands, why not sponsor an insurgency force to take them out? Better yet, if a country has an unforgivably high population to emissions ratio (I'm looking at you, North America), why not covertly sterilise the population?
Though the variables on offer can be a little bewildering,, by using real data models the game provides a fascinating simulation of what the next 200 years have in store for Earth. President Arnott not only failed to prevent catastrophic climate change but ended up being barred from most continents ? I can only hope my real-life counterparts fare better.
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/oct/31/fate-of-the-world-review
Is Zynga Trying To Patent Virtual Currency?
sarysa writes "Techcrunch spotted a recent patent application by Zynga, attempting to patent virtual currency purchased with real money for use in a gambling context. It is unlikely that the application will pass due to a plethora of prior art where free MMOs that have gambling minigames would qualify, but Techcrunch also spotted that the application mentions Farmville as an example of embodiment. This indicates that Zynga may be attempting to patent non-refundable virtual currency as a whole. Should be interestering to see how this develops."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
9. Halloween Hair Studio
Halloween's just around the corner, and this trick-or-treater's needs a killer costume!Source: http://www.agame.com/game/halloween-hair-studio.html
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