Sunday Thoughts: Pirates! - TheSixthAxis

This week marked the fourth occasion I’ve bought Sid Meier’s Pirates! It became available on iPad (although not the smaller-screen iOS devices) on Thursday and I paid my £2.49 as soon as it showed up in my repeated searching.

Sea battles can be surprisingly tense on higher difficulty levels.Previously, I’ve bought it on PC, then in its Gold incarnation on the Sega Mega Drive so that I could play it when my dad was being boring and demanding he be allowed to use his old 486 desktop for things like word processing. I even played an emulated version when I had the Xperia Play to review, thanks to the Android Marketplace. Finally, I bought it again in 2004 when they remade it on PC, sprucing up the graphics and adding the dancing mini game. Well, I thought that had been the final time I bought it, an excited reflection in my iPad screen as I hit the “buy” button proved me wrong.

Oh, and then I bought it again via iTunes and gifted it to a friend. So that’s technically five times.

I should also admit that after having bought the game I’ve spent countless hours playing, in different incarnations and on different machines, I then stayed awake until 5AM on Friday morning playing it.

You could say I was a bit of a fan.

I’m not sure what it is about Pirates! that I fell so hopelessly head over heels in love with all those years ago but if I had to guess I would say it was the open nature of the game. I first experienced it when the height of my in-game choices consisted of making Sonic run left for the secret collectible. Pirates! gave me a decent-sized area of the globe to sail around at will.

I know that the sword fights and the remake’s dancing mini game are a little less than exciting but the exploration, turn based land battles and real time sea battles were all more than enough to cement this game’s place in my heart. The terrain plays a significant role in land battles and the wind plays just as big a part in sea battles. At the time, it was amazing and even today I love it.

Trading also played a big part in the game. In fact, if you wanted to ignore the unenforced main quest to find your betrayed family, you could just spend your time in the game world travelling between ports, becoming wealthy by buying low and selling high.

Part of the Pirates! world, open seas ringed with ripened settlements.What a game world it was too. The Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, including the Spanish Main along the North coast of South America, Central America, what is now the Gulf Coast of the U.S.A. and stretching all the way up to Florida in the North. There were cities, towns, Indian settlements and pirate hideouts, all of which had dynamic, fluctuating markets and populations which were altered by events outside of the player’s control. For example, a rich Spanish town might pay well for sugar but if you arrive just after a series of pirate raids, the population will be diminished, the town looted and the funds available for your luxurious sugar cargo depleted. It wasn’t as involved or expansive as another old favourite of mine, Elite, but it did manage to feel like its own little world.

I’m struck by how much time I must have spent playing this game over the years, as well as how much more time I seem destined to spend buying it on various platforms and playing it long into the night. I can’t think of a game in this generation of consoles that holds that power over me. Perhaps it’s just the intoxicating whiff of nostalgia that makes me keen to get back to my Governor’s Letter of Marque and my life of privateering on the high seas but even so, I find it difficult to imagine a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 game having that seemingly timeless pull.

Maybe I’m wrong, maybe it is all a case of perspective and timing. What are your treasured gaming moments that you continue to revisit and do you think there will be any that you’ll take with you from this generation?

Just as I was adding images to this article, I remembered that I also bought the game on PSP. So that’s six times.

View the original article here

iOS 5 Beta 4 Brings Over the Air (OTA) Update to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch - Touch Reviews

Apple on Friday released iOS 5 beta 4 for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. The latest beta release brings the highly anticipated over the air (OTA) delta update to iOS devices.

Apple during WWDC keynote event announced more than 200 new features in iOS 5 but, previewed just 10 key enhancements. The company wants users to truly experience the post-PC era and is finally cutting the cord for iOS devices. With the fifth major release of Apple’s mobile operating system users will be able to sync, transfer data, update their devices and do much more without connecting their device to a computer. 

It’s worth noting that when we tried to download the update the iPad alerts the user if the device has less than 50% battery charge. Connecting the device to a power source let us download and update the device. The update was just 128MB for iPod touch as OTA update are released as delta updates. 

Downloading the update over 3G is also possible however, given the fact that most carriers offer limited data plans it would probably be better to get the update over WiFi. 

We noticed a few error messages while trying to manually check for the update but that may have been due to initial issues in Apple’s server. 

Overall, it’s great to see that Apple has been listening to its customers and iOS 5 will certainly help Apple stay in the lead. 

View the original article here

Office Suites for iPad: The Roundup - PCWorld

Complete PCWorld Coverage 

Since the day the iPad launched, zealous mobilophiles have wondered whether it might signal a new dawn in mobile computing--namely, one in which we all use a tablet in lieu of a desktop or laptop PC. With the abundance of native iPad productivity apps in the App Store, the iPad has held a clear lead in the race to tablet-centricity. But the real measure of the platform's productivity power is not the number of apps in the App Store but the quality of its best productivity apps. So I downloaded six of the most noteworthy iPad office apps and spent a week using them for all my daily work.

Because you can't ignore Apple's iWork apps as a force to be reckoned with on the iPad, I made Pages, Numbers, and Keynote my first priority in testing. These three apps bear the distinction of selling separately, which represents a departure from the selection criteria I've been using for roundups. The other three products I tried--Office2 HD, Documents To Go, and Quickoffice--are all-in-one suites that include word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation tools (among other features) within a single app. Since it would have been a glaring omission had I not included Apple's offerings, I've modified the qualifications here in the interest of diligence.

As I did in my roundup of Android productivity apps, I tested each of these leading suites for three important qualities: interface and usability, compatibility with Microsoft Office, and support for cloud services. I also took into account additional features, such as PDF viewing and support for other formats, and I considered price in the final evaluation. For each app, I created documents from scratch, imported rich documents with images and complex formatting from Microsoft Word, and exported edited documents back to Word to check for fidelity. The winner of this roundup is the app (or set of apps) with the best overall performance across all of those considerations.

In the course of testing, two general facts emerged that are well worth noting. First, an external keyboard is an essential accessory if you plan on doing a significant amount of document editing on the iPad. It doesn't really matter which keyboard you use. I've spent a fair amount of time on both the Apple Wireless Keyboard and the iPad Keyboard Dock, and both are excellent. Less-expensive third-party keyboards mostly work well, too.

Second, Dropbox is a phenomenally valuable app for anyone who uses the iPad for frequent document editing, as it acts as a file manager on the device and includes integrated links to all of the apps in this roundup. This means that you can use Dropbox to browse for a document in your synced folders and then launch it in Pages, Documents To Go, Quickoffice, Office2 HD, or just about any other compatible app.

Byte Squared Office2 HD

Office2 HD crams all of its navigation into one long, narrow menu, but it offers a good blend of cloud connectivity and basic editing features.Within the realm of all-in-one office apps for the iPad, Office2 HD has been a leader from the beginning. It's not nearly as robust or intuitive as Apple's iWork apps, but it packs far better cloud support.

Office2 HD creates and edits Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, and treats Microsoft Office formats as native. You can set the app to use .docx or the older .doc format as its default. It also views iWork documents and PDFs.

Office2 HD's Microsoft Office compatibility is generally very good. Partly because the app itself lacks many of the editing capabilities of its Office counterparts, you'll find it fairly tough to create a document in this app that Word, Excel, or PowerPoint won't preserve pretty much perfectly. And in my tests of importing complex documents containing special formatting, tables, and charts from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, the app did a good job of displaying formatting options that it couldn't create on its own.

Interface design is Office2 HD's great weakness. All of the app's navigation happens in a single-column drop-down menu, and the way to reach all of the app's features is not immediately obvious. Once you get the hang of it, you can find your way around, but everything seems to take three or four more taps than it should. Meanwhile, the menu ribbon at the top of the screen scrolls sideways to reveal additional formatting options that you may not immediately realize exist. A novice user could be forgiven for thinking that the app doesn't support image embedding (it does, on the second page of the menu). My sense is that Byte Squared is trying to be clever by packing all of the nav controls into two narrow menus, but the execution falls flat.

When it comes to cloud support, however, Office2 HD comes nicely equipped. The app supports Box, Dropbox, Google Docs, MobileMe, MyDisk, and generic WebDAV accounts.

At $8, Office2 HD is certainly the cheapest office app in this roundup, and it offers some of the best cloud support I found. Its fidelity to Microsoft Office formats is admirable, but the app's interface leaves a lot to be desired. Still, it provides more formatting options than its non-Apple competitors do.

DataViz Documents To Go Premium

Continuing its long tradition of mobile document editing, DataViz has brought Documents To Go to the iPad. The app has come a long way from humble beginnings, and it sports some of the most compelling connectivity and sharing features of the bunch.

Documents To Go Premium is supposed to be able to edit presentations, but instead it forces you to do that work in some other, more capable app.At $17, Documents To Go Premium makes no bones about its purpose: This app is designed as an interim editing tool for those times when you can't get to your full-blown desktop or laptop. Its formatting options are pretty basic, but highly competent in preserving the integrity of whatever Word or Excel document you're working in.

Unfortunately, despite DataViz's claims to the contrary on the App Store listing, even this Premium version of Documents To Go doesn't actually edit PowerPoint files. Amusingly, if you create a new PowerPoint document within the app, you can add and rearrange slides on it, but you can't put in any text or pictures. If you tap the little triangle button in the bottom menu, however, the app will give you the option to open (and edit) your presentation in any other Office-compatible app that you have loaded. At first I thought I must have been doing something wrong, but the reviews on the Apple App Store are rife with criticism over this problem. It's almost certainly a bug, and I hope to see it rectified quickly. Otherwise I have to suggest that anyone looking for a way to edit presentations on the iPad should look elsewhere for that functionality (particularly given that even Documents To Go Premium looks elsewhere on your iPad for that functionality).

Where Documents To Go Premium stands out in a good way is in its cloud and sharing features. In addition to support for Box, Dropbox, Google Docs, iDisk, and SugarSync, it includes support for DataViz's Documents To Go Desktop App, which lets you sync files easily between the app and your desktop over a Wi-Fi connection.

Frankly, I had expected Documents To Go Premium to offer a far more compelling blend of features and performance than what it's delivering on the iPad right now. DataViz has had a decade's head start over its competitors in the mobile arena, but between the app's apparent bugs and its outright lack of common editing features, Documents To Go Premium is a big disappointment. There's simply nothing "premium" about it.

Was this article useful? Yes 0 No 0 Read more like this: apple ipad, microsoft office, office

Robert Strohmeyer is a veteran journalist and entrepreneur covering tech since the boom of the mid-90s. He's worked in the field as both a consultant and in-house IT pro. When he's not writing about technology, he can be found exploring the wine world at VineCult. Follow Robert on Twitter.

Subscribe to this discussion via email or RSS Posting comment ...

View the original article here

iPad 2 Display Dock Brings the Apple Store Look Home - The iPad Guide

For those who have an iPad 2 and enjoy the look of Apple Store docks for their devices, the iPad 2 Display Dock provides a solution. Apple recently unveiled acrylic displays in every retail store anchoring iPads to sales displays so that customers could get information interactively.

This version from NewPCGadgets not only holds your iPad 2 and provides a slot for the charging cable, it can also provide storage space for two iPhones or iPod touch devices. This accessory is made from high-quality clear acrylic that is custom milled and hand polished for that sleek Apple look.

The accessory is designed to provide an optimum iPad viewing angle, and comes in two versions. One version includes the additional slots to keep two small iOS devices on hand, while the other is simplified and only holds the iPad 2. The iPad 2 Display Dock with two additional ports has additional slots for charging cables to hook up with all of your devices and runs $74.95.

The iPad-only model is slightly less expensive at $69.95. Adhesive pads are included should you want to affix the iPad 2 to the acrylic stand, and there are cutouts for headphone cables to connect to your devices as well. This product is the closest thing to Apple retail store iPad displays, and with one inch of high-quality acrylic your friends will never know the difference.

View the original article here

Apple's new iPad 2 ad sneaks in Lion reference - Apple Insider

Apple's new iPad 2 ad sneaks in Lion reference

By AppleInsider Staff

Published: 12:30 AM EST

Apple on Sunday released a new ad for the iPad 2 containing a subtle reference to the newly-released Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.

The ad has been posted to the iPad 2 page on the company's website, as well as its official YouTube account. Entitled "We'll Always," the commercial highlights the way the iPad 2 lets users experience in new ways things they've always done and will never stop doing.

"We'll never stop sharing our memories. Or getting lost in a good book. We'll always cook dinner and cheer for our favorite team. We'll still go to meetings, make home movies and learn new things, but how we do all this will never be the same."

The spot has quickly drawn attention because it contains an oblique reference to Mac OS X Lion. During the "learn new things" section of the ad, a child is shown writing the word "Lion" next to a picture of a lion. Of course, the lion reference could be viewed as mere coincidence, but given the company's tight control, it's likely that the allusion is intentional.

Apple has just recently stabilized inventory of the iPad in the U.S., bringing estimated shipping times to 1-3 business days, down from lead times that measured in weeks for the couple months after the device's launch. The touchscreen tablet continues to be on a phenomenal growth curve, with Apple announcing last week that it had sold 9.25 million iPad units in the June quarter.

Meanwhile, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion arrived on the Mac App Store last Wednesday. The $29.99 upgrade has seen early success, attracting over one million downloads in its first day of availability.

Lion and the iPad share a special connection, as Apple has taken features from the iOS and the iPad and brought them back to the Mac by way of Lion.

View the original article here

Did the iPad really lose a big chunk of share to Android?

Almost all market indicators show that the iPad continues to shut out Android rivals. But is that the whole story?

First, let's take a look at some recent headlines that seem to point to the iPad's unassailable market position:

iPad, iOS adoption heating up the business world
Apple's iPad surpasses 100,000 app mark
Apple's Runaway Train: 9.25 Million iPads, 20 Million iPhones sold in Q3
All the world's an iPad? Maybe
Apple iPad awaits back-to-school boom

These kinds of stories (of which there are way too many to count) are not encouraging for forward sales of Android tablets like the Motorola Xoom, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the Lenovo ThinkPad tablet, or the Acer Iconia, among others. The 100,000 apps mark headline especially stings.

But wait. Dig a little more and this recent headline pops up: iPad share of tablet shipments fell in second quarter, says report. The story continues. "For the second quarter of the year, Apple grabbed 61 percent of the global tablet business, shipping a record 9.3 million iOS-based tablets. Though still a healthy chunk, that number was down from the 94 percent share the company scooped up a year ago."

Are these numbers representative of Android's growing market strength in tablets?

(Credit: Strategy Analytics)

So, what's going on here? Are we at last seeing some real market gains by Android? It appears that the key metric is sell-out. Apple undoubtedly sells out all the iPads it can make. Is that the case for Android tablets? Sell-in numbers are notable, but what about sell-out?

The latter--also referred to as sell-through--appears to be murky for Android. That said, Android sell-in (shipment) numbers may increase as more large players enter the market, like Lenovo and Sony.

Which raises the question, will bigger sell-in translate to large Android sell-out numbers? Android, after all, does have maker momentum (if not market momentum). Name all of the top device makers in the world and pretty much every one of them is selling Android tablets or will sell them soon. Samsung, Sony, Motorola, Lenovo, LG, Acer, HTC, and Asus.

That market clout is already manifested in the U.S. via a phalanx of kiosks and displays at Best Buy and Staples proclaiming that Android tablets have arrived. (And count Hewlett-Packard among those making a big tablet-market play.)

And the Android camp's decibel level is rising every month--and it will only get louder. Will that noise be enough eventually to distract more consumers and make them tune in to Android? Just visit a major U.S. electronics retailer now and you may get your answer.

View the original article here

Apple iPad Awaits Back-To-School Boom

The Apple iPad will dominate an influx of  tablet computers into classrooms this fall, according to an education technology expert and industry reports.

"The iPad is the best tablet out there today that we've seen reviewed," said John Connolly, technology director for Chicago Public Schools, during the TechWeek conference this afternoon at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago.

The iPad's market dominance will translate to dominance in schools as educators adopt tablet computing this fall, experts agree. The iPad accounted for 90 percent of tablet sales in the third quarter, according to the research firm IDC.

Chicago had 700 iPads in 23 public schools during the past school year. This fall it will add 4,500 iPads in about 50 schools.

This week the U.S. Consumer Electronics Association predicted better-than-average sales for consumer electronics, led by tablets.

"I think they're ideally suited for the classroom for a variety of reasons," Sean Murphy, a senior analyst with CEA, told NPR. "A tablet gives you the functionality of a notebook, but it's easier to use, it's smaller. And I think what we'll see, in addition to the ease-of-use, is professors will be much more interested in incorporating lesson plans."

The CEA predicts tablet sales will grow 157 percent in 2011, with more than 26.5 million units shipped to dealers, resulting in $14 billion in shipment revenue.

“One year ago, tablets were a new and unproven market, and now they, along with other mobile connected devices including smartphones and eReaders, are leading the entire industry to positive growth,” said Steve Koenig, CEA’s director of industry analysis. “The revenue boost from these innovative products is undeniable as a number of other CE segments are reaching maturity and sales are naturally declining.”

Also this week, IDC predicted tablet sales would triple in the coming year.

While Connolly expects iPads to dominate the 2011-12 school year, he does not they'll retain that position for long.

"I know there's like ten more tablets that have come down the road since we took that route," Connolly said. "If I had to predict three years down the road, it's not going to be one device. It's going to be a mixture of devices."

It's not clear yet whether schools or students will bear the cost of technological transformation in the classroom: "I think in the next year we'll know whether it's a bring-your-own or a district-supported" effort, Connolly said.

CPS purchased the 4,500 iPads coming to Chicago classrooms this year with Illinois state grant funds. Its current iPads were published through a federal grant.

In the short term, districts will have to purchase educational apps to operate on iPads and other tablets, Connolly said.

"When we look at content and we start discussing content, today, CPS and other public school systems need to purchase that content because we don't possess it."

But Connelly predicted that would change as well, as school districts nationwide collaborate and utilize their own experts to develop their own apps.

"Years down the road we may not need to purchase content. That's what I foresee happening," Connolly said. "The markets not there yet, the system may not be there to deliver the content to the teachers."

Also Read

View the original article here