Home Blog Page 971

Pokemon GO: massive update adds 80 new Pokemon, new gameplay, and more

AndroidGuys
-
0

Just when when you had all but forgotten about Pokemon GO comes word of a major update to the game. Arriving later this week, the latest release sees the addition of all sorts of wonderful new features.

Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile, and many more Pokémon are nearly here!

Chief among the new details are 80 Pokemon from the Johto region from the Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver video games. Moreover, gender-specific variations are also rolling out.

What else is coming to Pokemon GO? Plenty! And, from the sounds of it, the changes cover a wide variety of areas. Be on the lookout for new ways to customize your avatar, new berries for capturing Pokemon, and new evolutions. The next time you encounter a Pokemon? You’ll have a whole new way of going about it.

New Evolutions: There are now more opportunities to evolve your Pokémon in Pokémon GO than ever before. Some Pokémon originally discovered in the Kanto region will soon be able to evolve—into Pokémon that inhabit the Johto region! Be on the lookout for new Evolution items at PokéStops, which you’ll need to evolve some Pokémon.

New Encounter Gameplay: When you encounter Pokémon in the wild, don’t be surprised if they react in new ways as you’re trying to catch them. You’ll also notice the addition of new item carousels that allow you to select Berries and Poké Balls directly from the encounter screen. Hone your skills and catch those elusive Pokémon!

New Berries: Pokémon enjoy eating Berries, and you’ll have the opportunity to get two new Berries by spinning the Photo Disc at PokéStops—Nanab Berries and Pinap Berries! Giving a Pokémon a Nanab Berry will slow its movements, making it easier to catch. The Pinap Berry doubles the amount of Candy you’ll receive if your next catch attempt succeeds.

New Avatars and an Expanded Wardrobe: Now you’ll be able to give your avatar a complete upgrade! Customize your look with a whole new selection of hats, shirts, pants, and other items.

 

 

New Amazon Tap update might eliminate demand for Amazon Echo

Alexandra Arici
-
0

Amazon Echo is a smart speaker which comes bundled with all-knowing virtual assistant, Alexa. The popular speaker debuted a few years back and can currently be purchased for $179 a pop. Alongside the Echo, Amazon also offers two sibling speakers which were announced last year, the Amazon Tap and Echo Dot.

The Amazon Tap is the closest thing to the Echo. From exterior to functions, the two are very similar. The Tap is a bit smaller and but features the same 7-microphone array as the Echo. But unlike the Echo, which has to be plugged into wall outlet in order to function, the Tap was designed to be a portable companion instead. The gadget is wireless and must use a cradle to charge.

Another notable difference between the two is that the Echo can be activated by voice, while on the Tap you’ll need to press a physical button in order to awake Alexa. However, that’s no longer the case as Amazon has recently pushed an OTA update which allows Tap users to use voice commands to activate the device.

With this new feature on board of Tap, a lot of customers will think twice when choosing between the Echo and the Tap, especially since the latter is $50 cheaper.

But before you make a decision you need to consider a few other things – for example, the Tap is capable of streaming up to 9 hours of audio on a full charge, but with the new hands-free mode battery life with certainly be affected. The Tap isn’t usually on by default, but the new feat will require the mic to say always-on.

You should also consider that audio quality on the Echo will be slightly better than the Tap. So if you’re mainly interested in speaker function, you should probably go with the Echo. But otherwise, the Tap is definitely the best option to choose – it’s cheaper, more portable and it has Alexa onboard too.

Would you buy a Snapchat smartphone?

Alexandra Arici
-
1

Snapchat is a popular mobile app that allows users to send pictures and videos, which automatically self-destruct after the recipient views them.

But even if Snapchat is widely used today, it doesn’t mean the public will continue to be loyal to the app forever. And the company behind Snapchat – Snap – knows this very well.  While Snapchat has experienced tremendous growth since inception, significant slowdown is on the horizon.

With competing apps like Facebook and Instagram adding Snapchat-like features including stickers and disappearing photos and videos, Snap will have to search for alternative ways if it wants to stay relevant.

Could Snapchat’s salvation come from hardware products? After all, the company already offers Snap Spectacles – a pair of smart glasses which allow you to record 10 second Snaps. But this could be just the beginning. Actually Snap’s recent IPO does indicate the company isn’t all just about the app – it’s also interested in developing hardware.

What if Snapchat tried developing a dedicated smartphone? It’s not a new idea. Back in 2013, Facebook teamed up with HTC to create the first Facebook-centric phone called HTC First – a handset pre-loaded with Facebook’s own user interface and Facebook Home instead own HTC’s own Sense. Despite being quite a flop, the phone could inspire companies like Snapchat to create something superior.

If you are curious how a Snapchat smartphone would end up looking, marketing firm Mediakix is offering us a glimpse into a possible future (as they believe a phone is truly lineup in Snap’s future). They have imagined a phone which comes equipped with a Snapchat logo shaped home button and a 360 degree cameras, as well as volume buttons owners could use to scroll through Snapchat Lenses.

Obliviously, everything about the phone would spell Snapchat. As you can see in the concept images such a phone could arrive bundled with Snapchat OS and a home screen designed to diligently alerts users of any new stuff happening on Snapchat.

Even if this concept is fun to look at, we’re not really sure whether a Snapchat would be able to succeed, given how competitive the market it. Sure, the phone might sound promising for Snapchat enthusiasts, but even they might get bored of constantly being bombarded with Snapchat updates and feats. A Snapchat phone sounds like a way too specific device and most customers prefer versatile, can-do-it-all type of handsets instead.

Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 630/635 and 660 chipsets leak out

Alexandra Arici
-
1

While we know the Snapdragon 835 is going to dominate the high-end chip market at least in the first part of the year, Qualcomm is also looking to refresh its middle-to-lower range SoC portfolio, as well.

According to information surfaced on Weibo, Qualcomm is said to be prepping two successors of the Snapdragon 625 – the Snapdragon 630 and Snapdragon 635. Today popular middle-range devices like the ASUS ZenFone 3, Moto Z Play, ZTE Blade V8 Pro and Xiaomi Redmi4 take advantage of the Snapdragon 625.

Sources familiar with the matter indicate the Snapdragon 630 and Snapdragon 635 will be enhanced versions of the Snapdragon 625, benefiting from advanced power management and heat reduction. The leak reveals the two middle-rangers will feature an octa-core arrangement with eight Cortex-A53 chips. The current Snapdragon 625 takes advantage of eight 2.0GHz Cortex-A53 cores.

But that’s not all. Qualcomm is also said to be working on the Snapdragon 660 – a new chipset manufactured on Samsung’s 14nm LLP process. The silicone piece should also feature an octa-core arrangement, but this time we’re going to see both Cortex-A73 and A53 cores added into the mix.

We’re also told the Snapdragon 660 might be coming with an Adreno 512 GPU and support for dual-channel LPDDR4X-1866 memory, UFS 2.1 storage, up to 24MP camera, LTE Cat.10 and three carrier aggregation. The rumor also states Chinese manufacturers like Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi will launch smartphones featuring this chipset in the second part of the year.

Middle-range smartphones are getting better and better in terms of specifications and functionalities. And with the advent of the new chips, they are bound to get even faster and more power efficient.

The Deer God: Bugs impede this game from reaching heaven (Review)

Gerson Noboa
-
0

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be an animal? Having to endure the animal food chain? Hunters coming for your precious flesh? Not encountering food in order to survive? The Deer God, by Crescent Moon Games, tries to put you in the body of a deer, and it is your job to survive through the perils and dangers of this beautiful species. Spoiler: it is harder than I thought, but not all of the difficulty comes from the risks themselves.

Developer: Crescent Moon Games
Price: Free

Setup

When launching this game for the first time, it asks for the Storage permission. It can be assumed that it is used in order to write the save file to your device. After this, a quite interesting story begins. You are a deer hunter, and, while, killing a deer, your body gets possessed by the Deer God, which transforms you into a deer and throws you into the wild as a punishment.

From then on, the game explains its very simple controls. To move, you place your finger in the left region of the screen and from then slide right or left. There are two buttons on the right: one for jumping (pressing it twice performs a double jump), and another one for attacking. To interact with other characters. That’s it, now you know how to play The Deer God.

Overview

As previously said, you control a deer in the nature, and encounter other deers, animals and even humans that are ready to kill you. The game shifts between night and day, and the background itself changes as well sometimes to avoid monotony. Other animals range from primates to bees to wolves.

Controls for this game are really simple but solid.
Controls for this game are really simple but solid.

The environment itself is harsh too. There are many spike pits scattered throughout the world, and the camera makes them hard to spot, but more on that later.

On top of that, you have humans with shotguns ready to fire at you. These enemies are, in my opinion, the hardest to avoid, and if you try to fight against them, it will almost always result in death. After all, the Deer God wanted you to go through the same difficult stuff a deer has to endure every day.

In order to survive, you need to eat food. Since deer are herbivores, you need to find fruits or plants to eat. If you fail to do so, your HP will go down. It normally regenerates by itself but only if you’ve eaten enough. On top of all the hazards you have to pay attention to, you also need to feed yourself in order to survive. It’s hard to be a deer.

There are animals that will attack you and some that won’t. If you confront and kill these aggressive animals, you will see blue particles sprouting from the corpse. It’s like the data a Digimon throws when you kill it. If you murder innocent animals that have done nothing to you, then some red material will come out of the body. This will determine if you lean towards the good or bad side of the Force… I mean, of whatever morale system this game has. I didn’t find any noticeable effect on gameplay, but it could surely become important afterwards.

General Impressions

The graphics are nice but sometimes they make it hard to spot your character.
The graphics are nice but sometimes they make it hard to spot your character.

I think that the premise for this game is very interesting, with all of the becoming-a-deer stuff. You can even get punished by the Deer God by “failing to fulfill your duty” and getting killed too much. It will trasform you into some kind of beaver that is slower and more difficult to control.

How do I know? Because I died a lot while playing this game. I died more than I would like to admit. The problem is that it wasn’t my fault the whole time. The camera, in my opinion, is atrocious at moments. It is very easy to find yourself in a situation in which you are not able to see what comes next. Should you make a big jump? Should you just make a small one because there’s a platform below? What if there’s a spike pit in front but I can’t see it?

Maybe this was done on purpose, but sometimes spotting your deer gets VERY hard, especially at night. This is because its color gets blended with the background easily. There’s a very dim glowing light that helps with this problem but it gets very serious sometimes. Animals and, to a lesser degree, food, can get hard to spot as well.

However, these frustrations are not dealbreakers. The big problem came once when I locked my phone with the game opened and then returned to it. Some moments later, I died (obviously), and when I came back, the game thought I was at the beginning. When it was teaching me how to double jump, it crashed. Then I opened the game again and my save file was completely lost.

Just like Watto after betting with Qui-Gon Jinn, I lost everything. Afterwards, the game failed to load portions of the map, or it loaded them very late. It also crashed extremely frequently. The solution for this problem was to delete the game’s data.

Graphics

The pause menu shows a good vs. evil system that changes depending on your kills.
The pause menu shows a good vs. evil system that changes depending on your kills.

The game features pixeled graphics (surprise, surprise) in absolutely every element displayed. Unlike some other games that incorporate pixeled graphics, this graphic style is preserved throughout the game. Even the font is pixelated.

However, because of reasons explained above, sometimes it is hard to enjoy these graphics. Perhaps a better choice of colors could make it easier for the player, but, for now, the graphics hinder the enjoyment one can get from the game, especially at night.

Sound

It was surprising to see that music in this game changes constantly. Every time I died, the music was different. I can’t fully describe the music I’ve heard. Sometimes it is dramatic, sometimes it is very relaxing, sometimes it is just there. It never gets boring, that’s for certain.

There are very few sound effects in the game. None of them are particularly noteworthy but it is nice to have them there anyways. Most of the effects are heard when you fight against other animals or humans, and they do a decent job of adding some depth to these sequences.

Conclusion

The Deer God blends several interesting elements, such as an intriguing storyline and engaging mechanics, but unfortunately suffers from some annoyances that keep it from being a great game.

I will not pretend that every person in the world will experience the same progress-deleting bug I experienced, but this is the first time I’ve lost a save file in 20 years of gaming and it has been deeply frustrating. Besides, other stuff like making it very difficult to spot stuff in the night and camera woes make the game more frustrating than it should. However, with some small changes, this could be a very solid game, since the foundations are there.

Download and install The Deer God from the Google Play Store.

7 apps for monitoring your teen’s phone

Alexandra Arici
-
2

Teenagers today live in their phones – so much, that their parents don’t even have a clue of what’s going on in their lives. To make things worse, not many kids are forthcoming when it comes to sharing details about their whereabouts, group of friends or the activities they like to engage themselves in.

Luckily, the miracle of technology works both ways. Parents who are worried about their child’s well being can employ the help of several apps in order to monitor the teen’s web history, texts and phone calls and even their exact location – for suspicious activity. To make it easier, we have compiled a list of some of the best apps that will help you keep track of your teenager’s activity both online and offline, so your heart can be ease.

Screen Time

Worried your child is spending too much time on his/her phone and tablet? The Screen Time parental control app allows you to manage the time the child spends on their smart device. The software limits deemed as inappropriate for your child and block games and applications at a given hour (bed time) or during a certain periods of time (school hours).

Screen Time is free to use, but a Screen Time Premium upgrade is also available for a monthly fee. The Premium options allow users to manage and limit the whole family’s device usage.

Checky

Checky is a phone habit tracker app that answers a simple question. How many times a day do we check our phones? By giving you insight into your teen’s phone checking habits, Checky helps you become more aware as a parent. If you notice your child is spending most of his/her free time online, you can take steps to redirect their attentions towards something else like spending time outdoors or learning a new skill.

FlexiSPY

As a parent, do you have reason to be concerned about your teens interactions online? Then you should get FlexiSPY. The app’s key features include call recording and interception, monitoring of email, Facebook/Skype (and other popular social media apps), view notes, locations, calendars, browser and app activity. FlexiSPY is a bit more intrusive than the other apps we’ve showed you above, but if you’re truly worried about your child’s well being, the app is a powerful tool you can employ to make sure everything is ok.

However, we should note that in order to take full advantage of FlexiSPY’s features you’ll need to root the device you want to monitor (running Android 4.03 – 6.01).

FlexiSPY is a paid service which means you’ll be asked to pay up to $68 for a month.

Family Orbit

Family Orbit bakes a few extra useful features, other apps don’t bring to the table. The app allows parents to locate their teen in seconds via GPS tracking and monitor photos and mobile data usage.

The app allows your child to send out quick SOS and panic alerts in case of emergencies (like accidents). With the Family Places option, parents don’t have to worry about their children’s whereabouts while they are at work. Family Orbit can be used to create family safe zones like “Home” or “School” and send out notifications when the child has arrived in that specific location.

Glympse

Glympse is a fast and secure way to share your location based via your mobile device. Teenagers can quickly send parents “glympses” to let them know how far away they are from home (plus estimated time of arrival info) or that they reached their destination. Glympse is super easy to use and requires no sign up of any kind.

ZoeMob Family Locator

This GPS-centric locator app aims to be a bit more social than the other that are available in the Play Store. While it let you track family members as they go about their daily routine, it also encourages you to chat with them via a in-built mess anger and to share lists and calendars.

Apart from that, you get the standard locator app features: view everyone’s location, check-in place, set up specific location notifications and set limits for family members who are driving – all with the ZoeMob Family Locator.

TeenSafe

For last we’ve saved a very controversial app. It’s called TeenSafe and it comes equipped with the tools needed to uncover every single detail about your child’s life. It can monitor texted messages, installed apps, call logs, web history, contacts and even give you access to deleted messages (from Tinder, WhatsApp or Kik).

Parents using this app will basically turn into a version of Big Brother, but if you want to have a relationship with your child based on trust, this app won’t help you achieve this goal. Especially if the teen finds out he/she is being spied on.

The TeenSafe app features some really lousy reviews from disheartened parents who regret installing the app. The app does it job, but in doing so it might jeopardize the relationship with your child. So before downloading and installing the app, take a minute to really consider whether you really need to be spying on your kid.

Netflix VR – Ultimate Viewing for One (App Review)

AndroidGuys
-
5

Netflix has become a hugely successful movie and TV watching platform, so when I heard they were coming out with a VR app, I was pretty intrigued, to say the least. I had no idea what they were going to do with it besides just watch your shows on a headset. And yes, at its core this is you just sitting there watching your show on a headset, but Netflix decided to up the ante and immersion just enough to make the VR app stand out. Let’s take a closer look.

Developer: Netflix
Price: Free (Netflix subscription required)
Download: Google Play, Oculus Store (for Samsung Gear VR)

Details. Details everywhere.
It’s the incredible amount of details in the room that draw you into a completely wonderful experience.

Overview

Once you log in with your Netflix credentials, you are transported to your own private log cabin up in the snowy mountains. You’ll find yourself sitting on a beautiful red leather couch surrounded by giant posters of popular Netflix shows hanging on the wall. In front of you is a large screen TV framed by some great stonework. There are little details all around the room that add to the immersion, such as a coffee table in front of you with a few magazines spread out on it, a remote control on the couch next to you, a large chandelier above you, snow covered trees outside, and some vases on a table behind you.

You scroll through shows and movies simply by looking at the screen and tapping what you want to play. It’s super intuitive and easy to use. Once your show starts the lights dim, and the light from the TV dances around the room, reflecting gently off the objects around the room much as you would see if you were actually watching TV in the dark in a non-virtual room. I find the whole scene to be super cozy, which is what I’m sure they were going for, but if you are unimpressed or just want a straightforward approach, there is a “Void Theater” mode accessible by looking straight up and clicking on the link above you that will take you to a black environment with just the Netflix interface and your show. It’s efficient, and I’m sure there are quite a few that appreciate the simplicity of this or who may need it for a lower end device, but I found the charm of the whole cabin scene to be a fantastic part of the experience.

Cozy doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Watching Your Shows

I decided to really give this app a spin while my wife was out of town for the night. She’s not a huge Bob’s Burgers fan, and I had only seen 3 or 4 episodes before, so when I fired up the VR and saw it on my “Watch It Again” list, I loaded it up and watched for about an hour and a half. As this was my first time really sitting down to watch something in VR, I was amazed at the image quality as I watched. Everything seemed really crisp and high quality. There were a few moments where I would reach over for the remote to find that, alas, I am in VR and had to adjust the volume with the device strapped to my face. It was at this point of losing myself that I had to both chuckle, and admit that the whole experience is super sophisticated and perfectly achieves what it’s going for, as I was so immersed in my virtual world that for a moment I forgot that I wasn’t actually there for a minute.

I just want to live here.

A Word of Caution

This is a warning that comes with most VR setups, but you will want to take frequent breaks while watching shows. After watching for about an hour and a half, I took the headset off to find that my eyes felt some light strain, and focusing on far distances made my eyes feel off, since when you focus on distance objects in VR, you are really just focusing on things that are the same distance away as everything else. I know that Samsung’s Gear VR recommends breaks every half hour, and that advice is something I strongly urge you to follow. If you are planning on sitting down to watch a movie or something for an extended period of time, you are probably better off watching it on a regular screen rather than in the VR app. If you do want to watch it in VR, I highly suggest breaking up viewing into multiple segments. There have not been long-term studies done on the effects of VR on the eyes, so better safe than marathoning Orange is the New Black and suffering from eye damage.

Conclusion

I was more than pleasantly surprised to discover how Netflix had taken their offerings and made the jump to the virtual landscape. The cozy cabin they put you in draws you in with an incredible attention to detail, and everything you watch is beautifully displayed on a huge “screen” in front of you. It even caters to the crowd who wants no frills, just a basic viewing experience. While extended viewing sessions are not recommended, if you are looking to watch an episode or so of your favorite show, there are worse ways to do it than to curl up on this virtual couch and be transported to the house that Netflix built.

PewDiePie’s Tuber Simulator (review)

AndroidGuys
-
0

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a ‘YouTuber’? The famous ‘tuber, PewDiePie has created a simulation game in association with Outerminds Inc., that allows you to live the life of a YouTube content creator. Start at the bottom while honing your video creation skills to see if you have what it takes to make it to the top.

Developer: Outerminds, Inc.
Price: Free (with premium content)

Along the way you’ll discover a multitude of additions that may make it easier for you to draw in new subscribers and viewers that may become addicted to your content. Can you continue to grow your audience, or will you lose out to more popular ‘tubers?

Keeping it simple

PewDiePie’s Tuber Simulator is presented in a retro, isometric view that allows you to watch your avatar as he or she creates videos and increases viewership. The premise is fairly simple–start small and gain viewers by watching for trends and adding new items to your prop arsenal. As you gain viewers and subscribers you can visit the shop to add new pieces to your setup.

The overall user interface is clean and simple to understand. Moving between your main room and other areas like the shop is easy. Just click the corresponding icon at the bottom to switch from quests, user info (where you can name and link your accounts), shop, upgrades, and the standard room where you make your videos.

The simplistic graphics leave a little to be desired, but considering the audience, the overall feel and look of the game is quite fitting. This game will not tax your smartphone or tablet with flashy graphics, conversely it relies on simplicity and a classic feel that many long-time gamers will appreciate.

Taking it to the next level

Eventually you will discover that your ‘Tuber will level up and learn new tricks of the YouTube world. This progression system works quite well, although you’ll quickly discover that customization costs in-game “bux” that are difficult to acquire unless you’re willing to spend real money.

pewdiepie tuber game
Save up to make your ‘Tuber room the best it can be

After purchasing an item you must wait for it to ship, just like in the real world. This shipping time can be sped up by playing mini games that cost viewership. This system works, but is often times plagued by the over-abundance of advertising. Considering the game comes from PewDiePie, the amount of advertising is no surprise.

Want to speed up a process or circumvent the overall time required to make progress? Simple solution; watch an advertisement to skip ahead. This is the major drawback with PewDiePie’s Tuber Simulator. Everything feels as if it’s a cash-grab for the developer, which draws away from the fun of the game.

Sounding off

The bells and whistles within PewDiePie’s Tuber Simulator range from basic, but effective to overall fulfilling. Having Felix Kjellberg’s voice within the game is both a blessing and disadvantage. PewDiePie has an abundance of spoken word littered throughout the game that provides for decent feedback and substantial commentary. Whether or not it’s something that the player will enjoy, is completely subjective.

Nonetheless, the games chip-tune music feels fitting and complements the visual style quite well. The little blips and beeps are familiar and fit within the game world while providing decent feedback to the player’s interaction.

pewdiepie
PewDiePie in all his pixelated glory

The flair (and annoyance) of PewDiePie

PewDiePie’s Tuber Simulator does a great job of guiding the player through each section of the game spaces. It’s nice to see clear direction in a simulation game such as this, especially for gamers that may be new to the genre. Unfortunately, PewDiePie can be annoying to those that are not used to his over-the-top delivery style. PewDiePie’s loud and ridiculous comments are coupled with some fairly poor-to-average writing that leaves a lot to be desired. Be prepared to cringe at some of the audio comments that are littered throughout the game. In fact, you may be better off playing with the audio turned way down or skipping the comments altogether.

tuber simulator pewdiepie
PewDiePie will talk to you–and he might just annoy you too

PewDiePie’s Tuber Simulator does a nice job of recreating the life of a YouTuber in the virtual world. Where the game falls short is in the delivery and presentation of the overall experience. Limiting a player’s ability to progress through the game by charging for the experience is a quick way to turn off almost any casual player. Instead, it would have been wise to allow the player to play through the majority of the game without hidden costs while promoting PewDiePie’s brand. This shortcoming has severely hindered the overall enjoyment of the game and will most likely turn away gamers that just want to have fun experimenting in the world of a YouTuber.

PewDiePie himself can be quite divisive in nature as evident by his recent trouble, but in the end, PewDiePie’s Tuber Simulator is the best game for experiencing what it takes to make it in the life of a ‘Tuber. It’s fun at times and frustrating in others, but if you can get by the obnoxious commenting and general pay-to-progress limitations you may find that this game offers a nice insight into the simulated world of a successful YouTube personality.

pewdiepie tuber simulator
Check out PewDiePie’s Tuber Simulator on Google Play

 

 

This smartwatch wants you to spend more time with people who matter

Alexandra Arici
-
0

Technology affects our social life and social skills. Armed with a smartphone and apps like Tinder, WhatsApp and Facebook, people don’t even need to go out into the real world to have a conversation anymore.

But what if we told you not all forms of technology promote social segregation? Some actually want to combat it. Like this smartwatch released by Japanese company, Veldt.

Hailing from the Land of the Rising Sun, where more and more people are opting for a life of solitude and scarce social interactions (the term hikikomori defines reclusive adolescents or adults who withdraw from social life) Veldt’s new product aims to remind us of good old family values.

The smartwatch called the Tattori West Family Time Watch is even part of a government program meant to encourage people to relocate from the busy, urban area of Tokyo to the rural Tottori prefecture.

Modern life is increasingly putting a toll on our well being and life satisfaction, so in Japan people are encouraged to give up the stress of the overcrowded metropolis and embrace the peace and quiet of country life instead.

Japanese countryside

As for the Tattori West Family Time Watch – the wearable has an interesting feature – it’s able to measure how much time you spend with your loved ones. Like most smartwatches out there, this one pairs with a smartphone. But to start tracking the time you spend with family members, you’ll need to give your kids, parents, pets a beacon which in turns communicates with the watch when you’re 30 meters of each other.

Time spent together is then shown on the watch’s display and once you hit on of Veldt’s pre-set targets you’ll receive an alert.

The creators of the watch believe that seeing you are able to spend more time with those that matters to you, will make you feel better about your decision of moving into the country side.

But apart from offering this unique feature, the smartwatch is also bundled with more “mainstream” features like being able to deliver email and social media notifications (there’s Facebook in the countryside too, right?) and count steps and track your sleep cycle.

Aesthetically the watch doesn’t look like much, but given that it was created with a higher purpose in mind, we’ll let that slide.

Get legal help through your smartphone: 3 apps to install on your Android (PROMOTED)

AndroidGuys
-
0

There is reason it takes many long years of extensive test and schooling to become a lawyer; law is incredibly complex and every state has different intricacies. It takes a long time to learn the ins and outs of the law. Even though you may not be an actual lawyer, you should be informed about the law of your state, or have instant access to someone who has enough legal knowledge. This way, you won’t find yourself in a mess when you get involved in some legal issue.

Technology makes things easier for us and we’re no longer constrained by having to visit websites for getting PI attorneys. We now have the option to download and install the best legal apps to our Android smartphones and stay in close proximity with legal assistance. It never hurts to be prepared. Let’s check out the names of few of such legal apps.

Fastcase

Would you want to have a library of law at your palm top? If yes, then Fastcase is an app you may want to install in your smartphone. With this app, you are allowed to look up for cases from any state and federal government by keyword, citation or browse through the different statute collections. Simply insert a keyword, select the state which you want to check out, or the dates on which the case fell and any other related information. The app will soon bring cases which are complete with citations. Although it is entirely free, you would yet need an account. Download it on Android for free.

Ask a Lawyer

It is always recommended that you consult licensed lawyers from trusted or eminent legal companies in person. But, when you’re going through a potentially serious issue, you can at least use an app such as Ask a Lawyer to get help. You only need create a profile and you can start online chatting with a lawyer. You may even use the Find a Lawyer feature if you’re looking for someone locally to help. If there are some favorite lawyers that you discover, save them to your ‘Favorites’ or call them directly through the app. Download this app on Android for free.

Law Dictionary

Sometimes when reading a law document, you might feel as if you’re reading some foreign language; some of that jargon can be overwhelming. For comprehending the legal terms or phrases you might wish to download the Law Dictionary app. Before long you’ll be able to make sense of what you read on websites or in legal books. The app is extremely simple to use as you just have to look for the term you don’t fully know to get an instant definition in simpler terms. You can thereafter bookmark it and save it for later use. With this app, you will get everything that you may need to help get through a legal document or letter. Download this app on Android at no cost.

As long as you’ve got that Android smartphone, you can be sure having access to amazing tools and resources. Android developers keep developing all sorts of useful apps in myriad aspects of life. Install the aforementioned legal apps to take one step closer to becoming or consulting a law expert.

1...970971972...1,314Page 971 of 1,314