Ink Blotches

Why I will buy the iPad

shami — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:41:55 +0000

From all the reaction It has got, it would seem that the Reality Distortion Field does have a downside. Though in hindsight the difference between the Hype that It had and the actual device that was on Show, seems to resulted in neither satisfying the hard core Fan Boys or the Haters. For me, it comes down to a frequent experience I’ve had while using my ipod touch, which after 2 years of use is now primarily an email reading and gaming device. Uh, make that a gaming and an email reading device. From a music side, it only plays a single playlist of those 3 songs, that we use around the house to quiet down the 9 month old.

While playing this rather addictive top down ibomber, which uses the accelerometer, one of the things you notice about the visuals is the amount of detail they have added to this game. Frequently, I would notice myself squinting a few inches away from the screen trying to find that AA gun which would be about 4 x 4 pixels. Thinking I wish the screen were bigger. And I’ve had that same thought repeatedly while playing other great games on the ipod touch.

That is it. A bigger screen would improve the gaming experience I would have manifold. Add in multi-touch, and with the games exploiting the available real estate, you are looking at an incredible gaming platform of much promise. Imagine playing a game of roulette on this with your friends. The kicker for me is that the increased size of the screen enables 2 to 4 players to sit around it, and possibly play together and that alone is a great game-play opportunity. Though, something in the size of Microsoft Surface would be perfect for something like Texas Hold’em or Subbuteo, but there is a substantial size and real estate available for game designers with the iPad to create experiences that takes the device straight into group games territory.

Liza, There’s going to be a hole in my pocket. Soon.

shami — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:54:54 +0000

Forget the ipad, I’m really kicked about having this old school game console emulator. And interesting strategy about having no name for the product, I guess their brains were shot by the name of Apple’s newest.

The Pocket Retro Game Emulator looks a bit like the GameBoy Micro but that’s where the similarities end. Load on NES, SNES, GBA, Sega Genesis, or Neo Geo roms and play your old favorites in the palm of your hand. With 4GB of built-in storage and a mini SD slot for expansion you can bring every single game from the best classic consoles with you. Of course in typical all encompassing gadget style you can also play movie files, audio files, use the built-in FM radio, view jpg images, Read E-books, do voice recording etc…

More info at ThinkGeek

Found at Uncrate

Grooveshark is my favourite RIA of the moment

shami — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:34:03 +0000

Great user experience on this streaming audio app. Considering the competition spotify/pandora are not available here, it’s got me hooked. Tons of songs and albums a search query away, and some pretty nifty interactions makes using this quite fun. And every other important use case that you can imagine doing on your desktop music software is supported: playlists, favorites and even some that aren’t there: Recent songs as a playlist.

But I wonder how long before the RIAA brings it down for streaming unlicensed music for free.