It’s Friday, it’s five o’clock, it’s… wait, no, it’s not a reference to long-running kids’ comedy series Crackerjack, it’s better even than that, it’s The Week in Android!
Yes, welcome to the weekend, friends of the open source OS, a weekend brimming with boundless break possibilities, possibilities limited only by the human imagination… and which ultimately and inevitably will personally end in the pub for me as the Premiership kicks-off the new season. Oh well.
But before we hurl our fragile bodies off the edge of Friday and into the beckoning abyss of the weekend, there’s just time to stroll back down both Flash and Random Access Memory Lanes as we recap the last five days in the Life of Android…
THE APPS
Despite the fact that the technical term according to my Manual of Medieval Maiming is ‘lance’, never let the facts get in the way of a really poor pun! So, with that in mind, prepare to saddle-up and ‘have at’ a seemingly never-ending stream of opponents in a mano a mano horse-off to the not quite death. Rewarding and infuriating by equal measure, head here for joust the facts and expect a few late knights…
Continuing the conflict now but on a more modern scale, if there’s time to kill and killing is your thing then you might just find a perfect app partner in this amusing armed assault turn-by-turn tactics tester. Assemble your troops, deploy as deemed appropriate against your computer controlled adversary, and let the cartoon-esque shoot-out commence. Perfect play for the weekend warrior, head here for my detailed despatches from the frontline.
Ending the app week and completing my gaming trilogy with something a bit more leisurely and considerably less violence orientated, welcome to Monster Park – redefining the word ‘monster’ and moving it away from the likes of Loch Ness and/or The Yorkshire Ripper, here you hatch, raise and breed your own cutesy beasties in your petting zoo for the deranged, ever expanding your attractions and earning the in-game coin that goes with monster husbandry. Will it be big? Why it’ll be a mon… never mind, just read the review here.
THE NEWS
Android Game-Changer Gets the Go-Ahead
Not just reaching its Kickstarter target of US $950,000 but kicking the start out of it, open to all concept Android console, OUYA’s, fund raiser campaign came to a close with some US $8.6 million racked up in pledges. That done, the March launch date deadline stands for the gaming revolution to take place; and we can’t wait…
An innovative initiative by ARLab of Spain and Israel reared its beautiful techie head on Tuesday offering AR for all. Promising an AR Browser and Image Matching Tool kit capable of adding augmented reality geo-location to any app in under five minutes, the ARLab boffins have opened the floodgates to all developers and, soon, more reality+ for us than we can shake a virtual stick at.
Spy-C Tank Sets Your Android Up For Espionage
Changing remote control to remote cool or remote creepy depending on your viewpoint, the October-release Spy-C is an Android controlled tank with a built in, fully controllable, video camera. Capable of live streaming and recording, built-in speakers and microphone also make it possible to record sound and even have a two-way conversation with the subject of your spying. Expect to see it cited in a tabloid courtroom scandal by November.
On Thursday we bid a fond farewell to Flash as Adobe finally followed through on its threat and removed the option to install from Google Play. Heading away from smartphones and tablets and firmly in the direction of HTML5, to us at LOA it felt like the end of an era so we produced a small video tribute that you can… oh. Never mind.
Shedding its snobby invite-only image one day and then making the leap into optimised for Android app the next, the content collating and sharing is caring bookmarking service made its way onto Google Play this week, humouring the OCD suffering and Narcissistic alike. At last we belong.
AND FINALLY…
Are you still here? Go on, shoo! According to the Atomic Android Clock here in the hallowed halls of LOA the weekend is now officially underway, so whether out and about or in with your apps, playtime has begun! See you on Monday.
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