Pleco – A must have for anybody travelling to China

It’s been a while since my last blog post on this site, but I am finally back! Let’s get right into it then, shall we?!

I’m currently in Shanghai and have, early on, come to the realization that the majority of people here speak Chinese. I mean… what did I expect? Although, prior to arriving in Shanghai, I did think that there would be more English speakers. Anyways, what has really helped me in communicating and conversing with the locals has been Pleco! It’s an application for both iOS and Android and is regarded as one of the world’s best English-Chinese dictionaries. The one feature I really like about Pleco is the fact that I am able to use it even without a wifi or data connection. Everything is stored right in the app! This makes Pleco so handy as I don’t necessarily need to waste my 4G data on it – however cheap it might be!

Click here if you want to download the the free basic version of Pleco for iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad. You’re always able to add on more advanced features or dictionaries from inside of the app; however, the basic version of Pleco is a great starting point that will point you in the right direction. Wouldn’t it be great if you could point your camera at a few chinese characters and have an app, like Pleco, translate those characters into something that you might actually understand?! Pleco actually does this – it’s called OCR. The way it works is that you point your iPhone’s camera at some Chinese characters to instantly look up their meanings. You don’t even have to take a picture, the OCR scanner is built right into the application itself and once the camera recognizes the Chinese word, it will automatically start translating. I do believe this feature is an in-app purchase – and rightly so – but it may be worth it for somebody who’s staying in China for a longer period of time and would like to have a basic understanding of common words in their everyday life.

If you want to learn more about Pleco, click here to visit their website which will tell you everything you need to know about how to use the app and what is has to offer. Furthermore, I belive it also discusses the various prices of in-app purchases.

Wappalyzer – A Tool That Identifies Technologies Used In Websites

If you haven’t heard of Product Hunt, you’re missing out big time! Product Hunt, which was founded by Ryan Hoover, is an online website that shines light on the latest, geekiest products, mobile apps, websites, and more every day!

Wappalyzer, which was posted on May 3rd, has been voted the best product of the day with a total of 376 votes at the time of this writing. What does it do? Wappalyzer is a software – as a startup – that identifies technologies used to build a variety of websites. The fact that it comes as a browser extension makes it so much more valuable to the user – it’s easy to access. Furthermore, Wappalyzer detects content managment systems, eCommerce platforms, web servers, JavaScript frameworks, and even analytic tools just to name a few.

At the time of this writing, Wappalyzer has identified 745 technologies 6,957,299,416 times on 75,981,973 sites. Not only are these numbers very impressive, they continue to skyrocket every second.

On its landing page, Wappalyzer lists the leading technologies of several industry’s. For instance, the “Advertising Networks” industry’s leading technology is Google AdSense. The leading technology for the “Blog” industry, however, is WordPress. And last but not least, the leading technology for the “Maps” industry is Google Maps (a no-brainer :-)).

Wappalyzer allows you to download a browser extension with which you can do a limited number of things; however, it also allows you to pay for website lists which deliver valuable insights to software creators and marketeers.

How To Add More Dock Icons To Your iOS Device

Adding one more icon to the dock on an iOS device does have its benefits. It sure is nicer than just having the four main icons and Jay Freeman, the inventor of Cydia, is responsible for developing a free jailbreak application. The five icon dock will allow you to add a total of five icons on your iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad dock. This application is available in the Cydia store and will allow you to add your favourite application of choice as your fifth icon.

How to install this application on your iOS device:

1). Install and launch Cydia from your iOS device.

2). Once you have launched Cydia, open a search tab, and type “Five Icon Deck.” Cydia is case sensitive, so make sure that you are typing the exact letters shown within the quotes.

3). Now install the package on your iOS device.

4). After installation you can drag and drop your favourite applications to your home-screen.

5). Restart the device for the changes to take place.

6). Now you are able to add a fifth application of your choice to the dock of your iOS device.

That’s it! You’re done! You will see five applications in your dock. Please note that you must have a jail-broken iOS device to use this method. Enjoy!

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Facebook Wants To Cut Clutter

The website that has now more than 1 billion users is, once again, revamping their design. The new design or “template” is designed to cut useless clutter from Facebook’s “News Feed” and in return keep users happy as Facebook receives most of their income from users clicking on advertisements.

Facebook announced the changes during a media event at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California. They also mentioned that the web version would start to roll out on Thursday, continuing over the next couple of weeks if not months. Facebook also announced that they are in the middle of updating their iOS and Android application and that we would begin to see the revamped versions in the coming weeks.

The news feed is sometimes the only page you will see when logging into Facebook and for that reason, we think, Zuckerberg wanted to revamp Facebook’s most-visited page as soon as possible.

“I think that there’s this important and social place in this world for this customized newspaper,” Zuckerberg said.

iPad Mini Event: 5 Things To Expect From Apple’s Special Event

Tomorrow (Oct. 23, 2012)  is the day Apple is planning to hold a special event that will most likely only revolve around the new iPad Mini. There’s been an abundance of rumors about the new mini tablet and it’s supposedly to sport a 7.85-inch screen and give customers up to 24 different configurations to choose from. We’ve been informed that the iPad Mini could start retailing for as little as $249, making it one of the top competitors in the smaller tablet market, alongside the Google Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire HD.

We expect Apple’s special event to mainly revolve around their new unveiling — the iPad Mini — however with occasional tangents here and there. We thought it might be a good idea to look at some of the things Apple will likely do at the Oct. 23 event. 

1. The unveiling of Apple’s iPad Mini

There is an extremely strong chance of the iPad Mini being unveiled at Apple’s Oct. 23 event. If all the rumors are correct, the device will sport a 7.85-inch screen and the lightning adapter. Besides four storage options, three connectivity services and two colors, it’ll come in 24 flavors to choose from. — It would be great if Apple were to offer more variety in colors!

2.  A Mac Mini

When was the last time Apple updated their Mac Mini? It has  been quite a while and if the rumors are true, Apple will end up launching a new version of the computer. However, the Mac Mini isn’t the only device in store for an update, as Apple are also looking at updating their Mac Mini servers.

3. The ubiquitous iPad sales statistics

As with every other Apple event, Apple takes pride in showing off their sales and success. It is to be expected that Tim Cook, or one of his colleagues, will take the time to boast about the amount of iPad sales Apple has to this point in time. Apple seem to enjoy a little bit of boasting now and then, however, it is proven to work — it has us running to the stores to purchase their latest product!

4. A starting price of $249

The latest rumors claim that Apple might start the iPad Mini model at $249.  That price would guarantee a customer an 8GB model with Wi-Fi-only connectivity. Too show a comparison, Apple’s current iPad starts at $499. The Wi-Fi only model might not appeal to the majority of customers, however, for the price it’s an excellent buy!

5. 4G LTE support

Apple might go as far as setting a new standard in their newly entered market. There have been rumors regarding 4G LTE support for the iPad Mini. Apple would definitely be one step ahead their competitors if they decided to integrate this into their new device — no doubt. However, small tablets typically only support Wi-Fi so it will be exciting to see what Apple has decided to do.

FIFA 13 | A New Beginning!

FIFA 13 has not even been on shelves for a month now and EA Sports has already sold over 4,000,000 copies. To be exact, those 4 million copies were sold in just 5 days after the release, which took place on the 25th of September. I guess there is a reason behind FIFA 13 being the best selling sports title in history. That’s quite an achievement EA, congratulations!

Let’s get to the point. FIFA 13 is a major improvement upon FIFA 12 due to numerous reasons. Electronic Arts has implemented a variety of new features such as: EAS FC catalogue, EAS FC Match Day, skill games, and others. The EAS FC catalogue now allows players to purchase various “boosts” and items which give the player certain rewards. For example, I am at level 50 so I could decide to purchase the “Push ups Goal Celebration” for 600 EAS FC  credits. I find the catalogue to be a neat feature because it allows for more fun and less rage, once you start playing you will understand. 🙂

Skill games played a large part in the promotion of FIFA 13, and I find that it has not lived up to its standards. Yes, the skill games are fun at first, however you will find that they become quite mundane as you progress in your FIFA career. With that being said, they are extremely much fun when you’re bored or trying to compete with your friends.

FIFA ultimate team is very different this year, not only has the layout changed dramatically, the modes have been affected as well. The single matches have been removed, however, EA has implemented a new “tournament” mode that replaced the single matches in which you start at division 5 and work yourself towards division 1. I found that FUT 13 is very similar to the “seasons” game mode now, since the only two options of getting into a game is by playing FUT seasons offline or online.

FIFA 13 is by far the better game when compared to the previous FIFA’s, however there’s still some bumps here and there. It’s a really fun and enjoyable game that can be enjoyed by nearly any age groups and provides for a lot of fun and competitiveness among friends. I would recommend to pick up your copy as soon as possible, as I think the price has gone down a bit. Watch the official FIFA 13 trailer below!

FIFA 13 for iOS Screenshots

There hasn’t been a whole lot of news regarding FIFA lately, however, this will be better than nothing. EA Sports has released a few of the FIFA 13 screen-shots for iOS. It looks as like the graphics were improved slightly when compared to FIFA 12. It also looks as like that FIFA 13 will have its own skills stick. I’m guessing ‘skilling’ will be a lot easier and simpler to control in FIFA 13.

There isn’t a whole lot more to say as this news is so vague, but I’ll leave you with some screens from both FIFA 12 & FIFA 13 to compare.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Microsoft Purchasing Xbox 8 Domains

It looks as like Microsoft has purchased and secured the rights to Xbox 8 domains. Microsoft have won two disputes filed in May with the National Arbitration Forum over domains owned by Chinese resident Chen Juan. As it stands right now, Microsoft is the owner of multiple domains:

• XboxPhone.com
• XboxTablet.com
• XboxLiveTV.com
• XboxCompanion.com
• Xbox8.us
• Xbox8.org

There have been speculations that Microsoft purchased these domains in relation to the next-generation Xbox.

After all Microsoft have announced their new Windows 8 operating system, which is due to launch later this year.The next Xbox will reportedly use a form of Windows 8 to facilitate Microsoft’s multi-screen strategy.

However, Xbox 8 is only one of many speculated names for Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox, for there’s also the ‘Xbox Infinity’ which makes sense in a way when you turn the 8 on its side to form the infinity symbol.

Other rumoured next Xbox names include Xbox 720, Xbox Loop, and Project 10. It is code-named Durango.

A Cheap Upgrade To Windows 8!

 

It looks as like Microsoft have set out to make it as easy as possible for everyone to upgrade to Windows 8. If your PC runs any of the following: Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7, you will be entitled to a download that will upgrade your system to Windows 8 Pro for just $39.99 in 131 markets! To make life even easier, you’ll be able to  add Windows Media Center for free through the “add features” option within Windows 8 Pro after you finish the upgrade.

When you use Windows.com to purchase the upgrade to Windows 8 Pro, the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant makes upgrading very simple by walking you through the upgrade process step-by-step from purchase to download and then of course installation.

The Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant will check to make sure your PC is ready for Windows 8. It will also provides a report in order to let you know if there’s anything you may want to address prior to the upgrade or after. Don’t worry, you will be able to bring along with you your old Windows settings. Personal files, apps, pictures, videos, and so on will be transferred onto Windows 8 at your discretion. You will also have the option of starting fresh without any of your previous settings.

However, a packaged DVD version of the upgrade to Windows 8 Pro will be available for $69.99 during this promotion.

Temple Run – The Endless Running Game

 

Temple Run is such a fun time-waster developed and created by Imangi Studios, LLC. It is obvious that the developers behind Temple Run are a very hard-working bunch. Temple Run makes for a very enjoyable and entertaining game, especially when you find yourself bored out of your mind.

Temple Run tests your reflexes as you race down ancient temple walls and along sheer cliffs. Swipe to turn, jump and slide to avoid obstacles, collect coins and power-ups, and see how far you can run. There’s quite a lot of things to do in the World of Temple Run; however, Imangi Studios, LLC has already published their second game in the series: “Temple Run: Brave.”

Temple Run allows you to play with at least 7 different in-game characters; although, you are required to unlock them as the game goes on. Temple Run is compatible with Game Center Leaderboards and Achievements so you can compete with your friends. Trust me, this game will bring out your competitive side… even if you find yourself non-competitive; that’s why having Game Center enabled is such a great feature. As the game continues, one is also able to level-up their character and use crazy power-ups!

Something that I would like to see happen would be a Multi-player mode. I’m not going to lie, the game does lack a bit of competitive fun when it comes to playing with other people and friends. Hopefully that will be something Imangi Studios, LLC might consider for the next update or even the next game.

From what I’ve said, I can tell you that Temple Run is not a bad game; in fact, it’s a must have if you own an iOS device. You can’t go wrong with a free game that offers so much fun and entertainment. I encourage you to download this game as soon as possible.