Lately, I have been doing a lot of research on Android App alternatives for many of its prepackaged apps. The default Android browser loads quickly and has a decent interface, but it’s overall boring and simple. Dolphin is an awesome replacement for the standard Android web browser. It allows for quick bookmark access, “gesture” browsing, and tabbed browsing.
Bookmark Access
Compared to the default web browser in Android, Dolphin allows for an easier access to bookmarks. It is as simple as swiping your finger to the right of the screen. Doing so will display a fully customizable list of your favorite webpages.
Once in the bookmark menu, you have a few options. You can tap the bookmark you want so that it will open in the current tab, organize the order in which the bookmarks are listed, and edit the information on those bookmarks (URL, gesture pattern, etc…).
Gesture Browsing
This is the most innovative and cool part of this browser. Gestures are basically designs that you draw on top of the browser window. The browser in turn associates that design to a URL or browser command and then executes it. It’s easier to understand if you see it rather than try to imagine it.
In picture 1 you see that I have The Outro open. The button in the lower left section of the screen is the gesture button. Once you tap it, you’ll see picture 2. *Note that the yellow squiggly attached to the pointer is the background for the gesture interface. Once you see this page you have to draw out the gesture that is associated with what you want to do. In this instance, I drew out a cursive o and half of a cursive t (as seen in picture3) which I have set to open www.theoutro.com (as seen in picture4). Picture 5 is proof that theoutro.com has opened.
Tabbed Browsing
This is a nice feature because it mimics the functionality of a desktop browser, like Firefox. However, it isn’t as easy to use as Firefox. To add a tab you have to click the plus sign located to the right of the open tab. Once that is clicked, a window similar to that of the bookmark page with the addition of a URL box will open. From there you can choose to open a bookmark or type in a custom URL.
Overall, I’m very pleased with the Dolphin HD browser. It is a very simple yet capable web browser that destroys the default Android browser and gives Opera mini a run for its money.
I give the Dolphin HD Browser a 4.5/5
An aggregation of my movie reviews from Flixster.
Iron Man 2
A huge disappointment. The focus of the movie is a bit skewed. In some ways is it just one large advertisement for the upcoming Avengers Movie? Yes. Do many of the characters feel forced and or tossed in just to segway into said upcoming movie? Yes. Does Rorke get enough screen time or have enough of an impact on the movie? Hell no. Iron Man 2 was written by the co-writer of Tropic Thunder, but the jokes are cheesy, the plot is mediocre, the villains don’t make sense and overall seems very forced. In what kind of world does a business competitor come off as a more emotional villain then the man who’s family was ruined by the Stark Family. For the part that Rorke was given, he did a great job. That part however was much more of a write-off then anything else. I was hoping for a lot more.
Verdict 2/5 stars.
Kick-Ass
If you think it’s politically incorrect to have a ten year old girl get shot or cut someones leg off with a sword, skip this movie and go back to watching your hundred year old vampire guy nail the 17 year old like in those other movies.
This movie is amazing. Laugh to you cry amazing. Not only is it a wonderful black comedy, it’s also got a solid plot line that heats up and gets quite suspenseful near the end. A total long shot became a top recommendation with Kick-Ass.
Verdict: 4.5/5 stars
The Runaways
If you see this movie for any reason, see it as proof that given good source material, Kristen Stewart is a good actress. Stewart nails the role of Joan Jett right down to her singing voice. Unfortunately for us, the movie centers around Cherie Currie, the bands lead singer played by a now teenage Dakota Fanning. It’s not to say that Fanning does a bad job playing the 15 year old singer, however, Currie is the least interesting of the two. Joan Jett would have been a far more interesting lead. Dakota does play the part extremely well, showing once and for all that she is no little girl anymore. Despite this, the movie spends far too much time during the formation of the band, and acts as if they only had one gig in Tokyo before splitting up. In the end, I would have much rather seen far more of Stewart as Jett than most of the movie surrounding the other members of the Runaways.
Verdict: 3/5 stars
Toy Story 3
I’m not even going to say a word about the plot of this movie. It’s a pixar movie, it’s amazing. What really gets me about this movie is that pixar has kept this story alive practically my entire life. There were only a few films that meant as much to me growing up as the first Toy Story did in 1995 when I was 7 years old. And to sit down today, fifteen years later and still enjoy it every bit as I did then is just something remarkable.
Pixar doesn’t seem to believe in the excuse of “it’s just a kids movie.” and I love them every single day for it. In the third installment, pixar managed to extract happiness, laughter, sadness and even tears from me. Something only a rare few can ever do in one sitting. If you have no soul, skip this movie. If not you owe it to yourself to not only see this movie, but to enjoy it to it’s fullest.
Verdict: 5/5 stars
Inception
I cannot help but laugh at many of the negative reviews by reviewers who admitted to not being able to follow this movie. In an age where far to often audiences are treated as idiots or individuals unwillingly to think during cinema, Christopher Nolan proves that an intelligence seeking audience still exists. Nolan raises the bar in action films, all awhile proving that there are still original ideas out there.
Verdict: 5/5 stars
Whether it comes down to bad licensing deals or hulu being poisoned from inside by their parent networks, huluplus is so far a fragmented mess. Despite certain shows like Parks and Recreation and the Office having their back catalog available only on plus, there are many other shows that are just plain cut off. American dad has over 100 episodes available while Family guy has only 20. There are also many cable shows that show up on the free hulu on the desktop that are straight missing on mobile. Making matters even more confusing, the entire first season of cougar town is available on mobile, but only five episodes are available on the desktop while logged in to huluplus. Even though there is actually a chart showing what episodes are available on what platform, no matter what, 15 episodes of cougar town do not exist while looking at the desktop. Combine this with the fact that hulu is charging users $10 for a preview and you have a rather generous 2 star review with a service that leaves a lot to be desired.
Donald Glover / Childish Gambino
You could call me somewhat of a rap fanatic, though you’d be lying through your teeth doing so. My usual playlists of artists like Protest the Hero, Fall of Troy, Nine Inch Nails and Queens of the Stoneage couldn’t be farther from rap. But once in a while something lands on my iPhone that really can’t be ignored. Maybe it’s the Nerd/Geek influence as per the picture left, though that of a Black Nerd was “illegal until like 2003“.
Enter Childish Gambino, otherwise known around YouTube and TV Land as Donald Glover. One third of the sketch comedy group Derrick Comedy, Donald has written and stared in some of the funniest YouTube videos in recent memory. Mainstream audiences may recognize Donald as Troy from NBC’s Community. A talented actor, writer and singer, Donald got his start writing for 30 Rock during college at NYU, while being given the confidence to be himself by creator and head writer Tina Fey. Glover moved on to star in the NBC show Community as Troy, and along with his peers from Derrick Comedy also wrote and stared in the groups first movie, Mystery Team which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
Childish Gambino - Culdesac
Despite his success in comedy, Donald chose to go an entirely different direction when it came to his music. He chose to use a stage name so as to not have his music associated with jokes. Not only can Donald act, he can even sing. As Gambino, Donald moves back and forth between rap and R&B quite often. He’s even released his latest album, Culdesac completely for free. No need to judge the book by it’s cover, you can check it out yourself.
Check out an example of Childish Gambino singing.
And an Example of Gambino Raping.
I am proud today to announce the extension of theoutro.com’s long awaited version 3 ReFlx design to the Digsby platform. Digsby is a multiprotocol client that allows you to connect to various instant messaging networks simultaneously. What sets Digsby apart from other clients of the same nature is it’s in-depth integration with social networking and e-mail. With Digsby, you are able to chat with friends on AIM, YIM and Google Talk among others, all awhile checking your Facebook and twitter updates.
Today we release the first version of both the Messaging theme, seen on the left side of included screenshot and the buddylist, seen on the right hand side. Both styles have been created to bring theoutro version 3, ReFlx, experience to the Digsby client while preserving the chat client style design that we have all become accustom to! Outro users will feel right at home!
Don’t use Digsby? Unsure if you want to switch or not? Why not check out Digsby’s own Demo video to see if Digsby offers what you need in a communication client! After checking out the demo, check out the links below to get yourself the latest version of Digsby and the latest version of ReFlx for Digsby!
Click Here to Download the Digsby Client. (Make sure to opt-out of all third-party offers and the Digsby Research module)
Click Here to Download the Message Theme
Click here to Download the Application Theme
Need help Installing the theme?
To install the Message Theme, make sure Digsby is closed and unzip the above file. Then Copy the folder “ReFlx.AdiumMessageStyle” into C:\Program Files\Digsby\res\MessageStyles or C:\Program Files (x86)\Digsby\res\MessageStyles.
To install the Application theme, make sure Digsby is closed and unzip the above file. Then copy the folder “ReFlx” into C:\Program Files (x86)\Digsby\res\skins or C:\Program Files (x86)\Digsby\res\skins.
Run Digsby, then Go to Tools>Preferences and then Skins. Choose ReFlx on both the Application Skin and Conversation Theme options and click done! You’re all set! Enjoy!
Verizon recently released an update to the Motorola Droid which patches the Android OS up to version 2.1. With 2.1 comes some new features that are more fun than necessary.
Live Wallpapers
One of the unnecessary features in the 2.1 upgrade is the support for live wallpapers. Basically, a live wallpaper is just what it sounds like, a wallpaper that is constantly moving. Currently I have the “Magic Smoke” wallpaper set up on my phone. Here’s a few screen shots of what it looks like. Some other flavors of live wallpapers are grass, maps, neural network, and polar clock.
The battery doesn’t seem to be effected much by running a live wallpaper.
Pinch to Zoom
One of the greatest new features in version 2.1 is the ability for pinch to zoom. The pinch to zoom works exactly like it does on other devices such as the iPhone. Pinch to zoom is mainly useful in the new gallery, maps, and web browser.
Gallery
The way that the gallery looks and functions has been significantly changed as well. Now, the gallery has more of a photo album look to it. The Gallery still organizes photos/videos based on folder locations and where the photos originate. You can see in the first screen shot shot that I only have one category of photos. The second screen shot shows how the pictures come up once you open an album. The third screen shot demonstrates how a picture looks once it is selected form the album. In this mode you can use the new pinch to zoom feature.
News and Weather
The next addition to Android’s arsenal is it’s News and Weather app/widget. The first screen shot illustrates what the widget itself looks like. You can also choose a widget that only shows weather or news. The second screen shot shows the full fledged app on its weather page. As you can see, it shows an ample amount of information for the average weather inquirer. One problem that I did have with the weather aspect of the app is that it seemed to show different temperatures than what weather.com or weather.gov show. What puzzled me about this was that the original weather.com app is more accurate than the new app that is run off of weather.com information.
Finally, the third screen shot show the news part of the application. The news it shows mostly consists of nationwide news and categorizes it by sports, entertainment, and top stories. Where I think this falls short is its lack of support for local news.
Latitude
Alas, we are brought to the final addition in Android 2.1: Latitude. The function of Latitude, in layman terms, is to be able to stock friends at all times of the day. This application allows you to sign up for a Google Latitude account and then add friends that also have Latitude accounts to your friend list. The first screen shot shows what the friend list widget looks like. As you can see, I have a friend named Todd. If I tap his name, it brings up a google map window that shows the current location of both my friend Todd and me, as seen in the second screen shot. I can, from there, choose to get directions on how to get to Todd from me, chat via google talk, e-mail, or find out information on local restaurants, bars, gas stations that are near by Todd, as seen in the third screen shot.
If I had to sum up Android 2.1, it would be by saying, “meh.” There isn’t a whole lot that has been added that is either impressive or necessary.
This week in Cinema covers what’s been on my Television and Computer all week long that I just can’t stop talking about. Whether it be a Movie, Television Series or Internet show, this stuff is something special.
For the very first this week in Cinema, I’ve reached into my mailbox and pulled out two different works courtesy of the Netflix subscription kindly paid for by my credit card. Without the existence of Netflix I probably wouldn’t have seem either of these, so I feel that’s important enough to mention from the get-go.
The first standout of the week is “The Informant” starring Matt Damon. Damon stars as an up and coming business man working for a large corporation, ADM who is being investigated by the FBI for price fixing among other things High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). Taking place Primarily in the early to mid 1990s, the Informant catalogs the in going investigation and hilarious antics if Damon’s character.
Though based on true events, the creators make a point to inform that most of the movie is embellished. This isn’t True TV after all. Without giving anything away, Matt Damon is hysterical in this movie not for jokes or physical gags, buy in how he portrays this man deciding to give up his company and speak to the FBI. Think Get Smart (the 1960′s TV series not the recent Movie), or Inspector Gadget being an FBI informant. If cliches and pop culture references are your kind of humor, this movie will go over your head. This movie appealed to me for two reasons. Matt Damon and “From the makers of Oceans 11, 12 and 13.” while 12 and 13 weren’t very good, Oceans 11 was Amazing, and so is Matt Damon. Luckily the movie lived up to my personal hype. “The Informant” is definitely one to add to your Netflix.
Also straight out of the mailbox this week is the Second season of Breaking Bad. Bad stars Bryan Cranston as Walter White, a severally over qualified High school Chemistry Teacher who is diagnosed with lung Cancer and must find a way to make sure his family is financially secure, despite his teachers salary, poor insurance, and less than two years left to live.
Before I go on, to the two people reading this that think to themselves, where have I heard that name before, Bryan Cranston was once a main cast member on a FOX sitcom in complete contrast to Breaking Bad, am hour-long drama on AMC. In fact, Bryan was cast in the role of Hal on the popular early 2000′s show Malcolm in the Middle. Despite this role being the sole role that I based Bryan’s acting upon, I came into Breaking Bad not expecting humor, but not bring sure what to expect from Bryan’s acting. It only took about ten minutes to realize how the series was going to turn out. Bryan Cranston is a great Actor. He has two Emmy’s as Walter White to prove it too.
Since Breaking Bad is a true Serial Drama, speaking of the second season without speaking of the first would leave the reader lost and confused. During the first season Walt finds out about his cancer while hiding it from his family. He has one son with bells palsy that requires him to use arm braces to get around. Shortly after being told of his cancer his wife announces that she is pregnant. Faced with the situation of leaving his family poor and homeless over his medical bills and family need, Walt resorts to the otherwise unthinkable. He uses his expertise in chemistry to formulate a product that everyone wants to get there hands on, and that will make Walt the money he needs to keep his family financially secure. The purest Chrystal Meth ever seen.
During the second season of Bad, Walt and his partner, former student, Jesse expand their cooking roles to that if major supplier, and eventually complete sellers with a network of their own dealers. Despite the actions of other local thugs, Walt and Jesse keep selling, with one goal in mind, at least in Walt’s eyes. Walt must keep cooking despite setback after setback all while hiding his dirty secret from his family. Walt has to keep it all a secret, and often has to come up with outlandish stories and excuses to cloak his whereabouts and behavior. Especially to his Brother-in-Law who just happens to be a DEA agent.
I’m am about halfway through Season Two of Breaking Bad, and am greatly looking forward to the rest. Unfortunately AMC does not currently have Hulu or Netflix streaming for Breaking Bad, nor do they have a good listing available at AMC.com. To check this great show out you will have to do what I did and add Season 1 and 2 to your Netflix and get them by Mail.
A Doodle Fly – Fly to the Moon is an additive “see how high you can go” game where you control a spaceship trying to reach the moon. Along the way their are springboards and power-ups to help you make it. While nothing new in concept, what sets Doodle Fly apart is it’s upgrade system that allows the player to upgrade their ship to enable it to reach each level’s goals. For example, one of the first levels has a goal of reaching 1,500ft in the air. This is pretty difficult without at least a few upgrades.
Each run is scored on Flight Duration and Distance, as well as Max Altitude, resulting in money gained. In-game Money is used to buy upgrades such as more rocket fuel, a stronger rocket launcher or things like an airplane lift to help you get just a bit further. Though the game can be beaten in just a few short hours, the upgrade system does add replay value considering different upgrades may be more effective on one level than another.
The Game also features a create-a-character mode where you take a photo, or import one from your stored photos. Editing tools are built-in, including cutting objects out of photos and different color brushes that I used to create the crude OTR logo for the game. If customization isn’t your thing, there are a few built in characters that can be used that get the job done.
Currently A Doodle Fly is available for FREE for a limited time only. (Previously $1.99)
If I were to tell you that I could get you Windows Home Premium 7 onto your computer for the price of around $127, you’d probably think I was bootlegging it or out of my mind. Crazy as I am, it seems that Microsoft could be cheating its customers, or at least so it seems.
Recently, I had a Sony Vaio laptop given to me with the task of repairing it. Once repaired and returned to its owner, the owner stated, with disgust, that the laptop has run like crap since the day she bought it. She asked if perhaps the laptop could have been a lemon. “Its not the laptop,” I told her. “Its most likely Windows Vista that’s making your computer run like crap.”
In desperation, she forked over the money for a Windows 7 Upgrade Disk. Once purchased, I took it home with the thought of what a headache I had before me. According to Microsoft, I was going to have to format the computer with Vista, install drivers in Vista, and then upgrade to Windows 7 via the upgrade disk. Turns out, that the Windows 7 Upgrade disk is bootable and has the same interface that you would expect from the Windows 7 Home Premium disk.  I was able to format the partition and install a fresh copy of Windows 7. Let me remind you that I didn’t install this over top of Vista’s file system.
I haven’t been able to test this on any other machines yet, so it could have been a fluke. So don’t rush out getting upgrade disks unless you have a legal copy of Vista or XP, just in case. My only hope for this article is that it potentially saves you the $70+ you could be spending for a full Windows 7 disk.
If you attempt this install, please share your experience by commenting below!
*NOTE:Â It has been brought to my attention that although it is possible to install Windows 7 without having XP or Vista previously installed, it is ILLEGAL to install it without owning a copy of XP or Vista.
Parachute Panic, a release from FDG Mobile Games is a hand-drawn casual game available on the app store for $2.99 $0.99. Your goal is to safely land each skydiver down to the boats below, controlling their parachutes with the power of wind deployed by the swiping of your finger. To make things a bit more challenging, obstacles will enter your path including helicopters, lightning and some other fun surprises.
While now on the high side of the price scale for me personally at $2.99, this game packs a lot of fun into what amounts to the price of a value menu item at a Fast Food joint. Complete with buddy integration and high score list, along with never ending game play, this game can easily be picked up in a heartbeat, and depending on skill, fit even the shortest time period. You will find yourself replaying and replaying, figuring out different ways to make it to the next stage, and getting a higher score each time. Can you beat my high score Add “PhillAholic” as a buddy to find out!
Get Parachute Panic from the App Store (Or get the FREE lite version to try it out!)
Update 3/12/10: There was a price mix-up between Parachute Panic and Geared that has now been corrected. The correct price of Parachute Panic is $0.99 as of today.