I have sold my PC and purchased an iMac 27″.  This is the first time I have owned a Mac desktop computer so I would like to write up a bit of information about it at some stage.

I have purchased a new phone (Samsung Galaxy S) that uses the Android 2.2 Froyo OS.  Again, this is something that I would like to go into more detail about.

Thirdly, I have been playing Pottery HD on the iPad.  This is a game where you make pottery vases to sell or to advance levels.  I have been trying to find some tips, hints or guides to get better at the game but have not been successful.  I may post on this game more with that type of information.

So I decided to get the phone on a plan through Optus, it’s a $49 plan that gives ~$400 of calls and 1GB of internet quota.  This is the first plan that I have had and I have not had any issues so far.   After opening the phone I had some concerns about the build quality - I am not used to such a light phone for its size (4″ display), the iPhone 3G and 4 feel much heavier – even the iPod Touch feels a bit heavier.  The phone is made of plastic and the back cover is very thin.  I should note that I have had the device for several weeks and have had no issues with scratching or damaging the phone.

The operating system is a big change from what I have been used to (symbian and iOS) and it has taken me up until now to feel confident in what I am doing.  Android 2.1 has been going good on this phone, although a little laggy.  This was resolved by

performing the ‘One Click Lag Fix’ that I have just done – it has increased the speed noticeably.

The Market (app store) has been good to explore, I have only tested the free applications though.  All of the Google applications have been very good – I was easily able to get my email, contacts and calendar setup just by entering my gmail account details.  Facebook contacts are automatically added to the contact list which also has made my life easier when managing contacts.

3G speeds appear to be fine too.  The only drawback to this phone is the battery life – but it is acceptable for what the phone does.  There is a lot of information on the XDA developers forum about this phone.  The only other thing that I have to say is that I am looking forward to the release of Android 2.2 for the Galaxy S which should be available in a week.

From connecting the iPad to my computer I was able to get everything up and running pretty quickly.  After looking at all the standard applications and through the menus, it did not take long to realise that there is not a lot that can be done [iBooks seems to be interesting].   I took a look at Safari, something which I have a love hate relation with on my iPod Touch.  Now, I must admit – the functionality of the browser is much the same, but the added screen space really adds to the experience.  The iPad allows a user to use the internet almost exactly the way they would on a computer, very rarely did I find I even needed to use the zoom function.

Not long after this, I took a look at the App store - Unfortunately I was unable to find a Facebook application that was made for the iPad (Using Safari to browse to the website is much better I ended up deciding).  Another favourite application of mine is Opera Browser – again, no such thing exists for the iPad just yet. I had a look at the Atomic browser but it’s no Opera.

Other applications I looked into:

VNC
Adobe Ideas
AIM
AcientFrog HD
SketchBook
Dropbox
iTeleport
Pages, Numbers and Keynote

Installing Spirit on the Mac allowed me to install Cydia on the iPad.  This process took about 5 minutes – a lot has changed since jailbreaking the iPod Touch 1 year ago.  This gives you the opportunity to see what is available for the iPad.  After looking through the web I found some information on an application called SNES HD, a SNES emulator that allows

you to use an iPod Touch or iPhone as the controller.   After about 20 minutes I had Super Mario World on the iPad and a controller in my hand – this is great, plus there is 2 player support!

To summarise the experience that has been had with the iPad – it would be fair to say that it has not been put down since getting it.  It seems pretty difficult to go back to the iPod Touch now to do anything that can be don on the iPad.

Looking for the iPad was a bit frustrating, I ended up travelog to the apple retail store to get one. The 16gb wi-fi model, as it was the cheapest. Since getting it, it has continuously been used so my worry about not knowing what to use it for has gone away.

More will be posted later when I’m not typing on the iPad!

These are both nVidia simulations which show off some of the effects of the graphics card and the PhysX capabilities. Admit tingly, I have not played may games that take full advantage of the technology. I have played Unreal Tournament 3 (plus the PhysX mod) and GRAW 2, CellFactor would not work.

From what I noticed in these games is that the PhysX component of them is only a small part (extra breakable objects) , nothing which the CPU cant handle. I have been having a great time playing Crysis Warhead, I enjoy the physics in that game, being able to shoot down the trees and blow up the houses, I wonder what it would be like with PhysX.

Sacred II takes advantage of PhysX so I will test that out and see how it changes the game, Mass Effect, although on the supported games list, does not have any changes.

Falling Sand, Oe Cake, Phun, Cortex Command would all be great with PhysX or multi-core support but unfortunately I have not found anything which can do this at this stage.

Edit 1:
I download Warmonger,  alot of the walls and cover is destructable which is actucaly pretty fun when playing.  The cloth looks very nice as it blows in the wind, and shooting it tears little holes into it.

So I got the Touch two weeks ago and have been using it for various things since. After about 1 week of trying a number of free apps I descided to jailbreak the Touch.

Back to the apps, there are a ton of applications (some good physics games too). There are also a number of emulators such as mame, gba, psx, nes, snes which I have yet to test out properly.

The screen itself is pretty sharp, watching movies and reading text is pretty easy. There are a number of applications to convert video into the iPod Touch format and they work alright. The only issue with the touch is the inbuilt speaker, the quality is pretty poor in comparison to the iPhone, but that is expected. uTube works well on the Touch, there are also applications which allow you to save the uTube videos to the device for later viewing.

One thing that stands out on the iPod Touch is syncing with contacts, email and calenders using Google. If you use Google for any of these things then setting up syncing on the Touch is very simple, you can also sync the contacts and calenders to iCal, Outlook and probably a few others, its almost like Mobile Me.

Games I enjoy playing:

• AquaForest
• Edge
• Crayon Physics
• Touch Physics
• Enigmo

Applications I like:

• Cydia
• WifiTrak
• WinterBoard
• BlogPress
• IM+
• TED

Pro’s:

• Display
• WiFi syncing
• Games
• Jailbreak

Con’s:

• Lack of iPhone features (loud speaker, microphone, camera)
• Finger prints
• Wifi download speed (a bit slow I think)

Update:

I have re-written most of this on a computer to fix up some mistakes.

You are required to use these obstacles to your advantage, say, if your hamster is too big to fit into a hole to get to the teleporter, you need to get it to fly though the spinning blades to get it to cut in half. In a level I was playing, it was required to move a rock out of the way so I could access the teleporter. To do this, you need a pile of hamsters, then you light one on fire and land it in the pile, this will result in a explosion that moves the boulder.

The controls are incredibly simple, you use the mouse to position the cannons, and the mouse to click on hamsters to remove them if necessary. I would also like the ability to stop the cannons from firing just so I can position them and thing of how the level works. There is also sound in this game, with little hamster noises if they hit the ground too hard, also some background music that I didn’t take notice of. This is a game that should be played if your wanting to play a little physics puzzle game.

Collapse of a building

When you detonate your explosives, you get to see the building collapse down onto itself and hope you destroy as much of it as possible. If you don’t position your explosives correctly, you may just be left with a building with a few burnt out holes in it, or even worse, blowing up the building next to it too, costing you a lot of money.

Each job you get will give you a certain amount of money. To make a profit, you have to use a small amount of explosives, be careful not to damage other property and try and demolish a majority of the building to save on cleanup costs. You can also specify how much equipment your company has and I imagine this would effect the cleanup times, although the default settings appear to be fine for casual gamers.

There is some form of story involved in the game, where you start in one city and once you finish the 15 or so jobs there, with your money you can fly to another city to finish a number of jobs. There are probably about 100 jobs during the campaign and once you are done you get to put your name on a scores list.

The game it self takes about an hour to complete once you get the idea. There is also a mission editor which allows you to create your own landscape and buildings. Unfortunately I had it crash on me a number of times and got frustrated with it.

Other then a few small hick-ups here and there, Operation Cleaner 2 is a great game and fun to play just to watch buildings explode into little bits.

The menu screen for Dinorun!

Dinorun is somthing that I have recently been playing to fill in those gaps of time inbetween calls or when I have nothing better to do.  Dino run is a 2D side scrolling racing game where you play as a dinosaur who has to run to stay alive.

The game play is fairly basic, you run and jump, you can eat smaler animals for points or grab power ups that will give you various benifits such as a much needed speed boost.  Although the game has basic gameplay, there are some good physics involved, with boulders to dodge, other dunosaus to jump over (or even ride on).

The game has a multiplayer section where you can register a username and play with four other people.  The more you play it the higher the level you get.  This basicaly means you can play with people of your same level and get to make more customisations to your dinosaur.

The graphics give the game an old arcade style while still keeping alot of detail, the background seems to dynamicly change as a giant dust clode slowly gets closer to you and when it is right behind you, the screen is almost compleatly back and red.  Staying in this cloud for any length of time will give you bonus points to what is called doom surfing.  Standing on boulders will also allow you to get bonus points.

This game is free and will play in your web browser so go take a look if right now.

Download from scene.org.