Tag Archive for ‘Android’
If you have tried playing this game, then the first thing you might think is that it’s a port of Space Invaders. Actually, it is not. Radiant is a completely new game from Hexage and is a major tribute to the old arcade shooters in the style of Space Invaders, Centipede and Galaga and more. What might throw players off are the blatant duplicates of the Invaders from Space Invaders, but aside from that, this game delivers plenty of original space shooting graphic bliss.
Playing Radiant is easy; simply steer your ship around while shooting down aliens, UFOs and giant space rocks while pickup up the power up items that appear along the way. In terms of skill, the first few stages are easy to breeze by, but later parts of the game will make newbies cringe in horror at the oh-so-expected bullet hell waves. Still, there is nothing in Radiant that cannot be beat without a little practice and the game is made in such a way that repeated playthroughs do not feel so bad.
One interesting aspect about this game is that players can actually upgrade the basic spaceship. This means that handling the later and larger waves of enemies and tougher bosses can become easy if player plan their upgrades carefully. Of course, the best upgrades to get are those that suits one’s play style.
The only downside to this game title is that it does get a little straining on the eyes. The bloom and glow effect of the play ship and the enemies (as well as the laser effects and other things) tend to burn the eyes –especially when playing in dark areas. The audio also gets a little bland, but the sound effects are strong and crisp –with the rewarding explosions for every alien ship you bring down.
Tags: Android, Android-apps, games, Google, Radiant
Google thinks big. Big meaning they want to be visible in virtually every medium they can possibly cover. That being said, Google is out to showcase the Android operating system’s power by bringing it to your television screen. That is going to be the biggest screen used to surf the web and access their variety of online services.
Now this would only be possible if they have actual television and technology partnerships running. That is why they enlisted the help of Sony, Intel and Logitech to bring the online experience to your television screens. For branding and product distribution, Sony is on the job. Intel will be providing the hardware powering the product as a whole and Logitech will provide the navigation related peripherals.
While Google TV is still an unconfirmed project, the New York Times has confirmed that the companies involved all have pending jobs from Google. This project may still be hush-hush for now but the sources having Android related projects are a dead giveaway.
All of the big names involved in the project obviously have a stake in the success of it. Google’s aim is easy to see, they want to reach beyond the smart phone world to showcase the power of the Android. Sony will benefit the most from selling their brand of LCD TVs and the actual set-top boxes. Logitech would get the profit from the accessories and peripherals needed for the product and Intel would have steady revenue from their Atom processor.
If the project is a success, Google TV may be appended as a feature built inside new television models to get rid of the required set-top box. Who doesn’t want PC power built right into the television? If this venture comes into fruition, then Google TV will definitely dominate the market since it is already a loved operating system. Thanks to the Google Android on smart phones of course.
More details about Google TV can be found at Geek.
Tags: Android, Android-TV, Google-TV
Developing for the Android takes serious technical know-how, and with the Android’s feet firmly planted in the republic of all things that is open source, there are a lot of wildcards and technical considerations that often require a quick forum inquiry or even a call to a more experienced programmer.
ARM has created the “Solution Center”, a great help and resource hub for everyone who would like to contribute to the improvement of the Android operating system. This is not for application developers (though in some ways it can be) but it is more for phone developers and designers who would like to use the Android to fully make the best use out of ARM hardware.
ARM recognizes the great potential in the Google Android operating system and believes that “the Android platform represents a fundamental change in the open source ecosystem” (to quote Kevin Smith, Vice President of Segment Marketing for ARM). This recognition from ARM just added another brick to the pedestal of the Android, which has slowly, but surely been making its way to the top since 2008.
For the Google Android to get its own Solution Center from ARM is more than just a boost to its credentials, but it also puts it far above its competitors. With plenty of WinMo phone manufacturers making their own Android phones, Google knows that it has achieved a feat that no other mobile operating system could attain.
The big twist now comes in the new rumors that Google is releasing its own Android mobile phone soon. With ARM telling manufacturers how to use their chips better for the Android OS, getting competition straight from the developer seems to deliver a different message.
There is no confirmation on whether the Solution Center focuses on the currently known 1.6 and lower version or if it also covers the recently released version 2.0 (until this week, Motorola is the only manufacturer to have the Éclair SDK).
Tags: Android
