Angry Birds Update

Ladies and gentleman, Angry Birds is back again and better than ever!  The newest update features a whole new chapter, which brings the total number of chapters to a whopping 195 levels. This recent update now makes the Android version of the incredibly popular game equivalent to that of the iPhone version.  

Another great addition is that QVGA screens are now supported.  I was happy to hear this because the previous version  had lots of white spaces where the graphics were missing.  I couldn't see the bottom of the levels and anything that remained stationary (couldn't be knocked over or destroyed with a bird) would be completely white.  Thankfully that has all changed with this version and Angry Birds can now be viewed by Android users in all its vivid color greatness as it was intended to be.  Use your phone's browser to head over to Getjar, which will make sure you're downloading the correct version for your phone. And if you're really smart you'd just use Fox to Phone send the link from your computer right to your phone, hassle free.

Related articles

• Android Angry Birds Update Brings Fixes and QVGA Support (pocketnow.com)

Good News: The Kinect is Not Racist

Kinect, via Ubergizmo

Yesterday Microsoft's Kinect, a new peripheral that allows you to control the interfaces and games using only your body, and I just had to have it!  For fear being unable to get a Kinect due to it selling out, I decided to pick one up from Target during my lunch break.  Luckily Target had about 20 on the shelf and I couldn't wait to get home to play it.  In order to get my fix in before I got home and setup my Kinect I figured I'd watch a few reviews.

However, a review by GameSpot review is the one that has been causing all of the controversy: 

[Our] testing suggests facial recognition features of Microsoft's motion-sensing camera system might not work properly for some gamers... In testing the Kinect, two dark-skinned GameSpot employees had problems getting the system's facial recognition features to work. 

This testing caused some people to perceive the Kinect as racist.  I'm not gonna lie though, a similar thought had crossed my mind because it failed to identify my face during the facial recognition portion of the calibration (the facial recognition allows the Kinect to scan your face and automatically log you in).  I went through the sequence three times and each time I received an error telling me to make sure I was facing the camera.  I even put on a brighter shirt in hopes that the difference in contrast would help.  NOPE!  After that I did some searching online and came across some information from Consumer reports.

Here's what we found: The log-in problem is related to low-level lighting and not directly to players' skin color. Like the HP webcam, the Kinect camera needs enough light and contrast to determine features in a person's face before it can perform software recognition and log someone into the game console automatically.

Yup, that was my issue!  I didn't have enough light in the front of the room.  It was hard to figure out what the problem was because Kinect was able to recognize every single one of my movements.  While video game console peripherals do see color, it's good to know that they don't discriminate.  

Related articles

• Consumer Reports Claims Kinect Is Not Racist (escapistmagazine.com)
• Is Kinect Having Problems Recognizing Darker Skin Tones? (g4tv.com)
• Consumer Reports Knocks Down Kinect Skin-Color Claim [Controversy] (kotaku.com)

Angry Birds: THE Game to Play on Android

It's been a while, Angry Birds has finally come to Android. If you haven't heard of this game, just do yourself a favor and click this link to get the free beta version with 15 levels of pure angry fun. You use a slingshot to fling angry birds across the screen in hopes of hitting the evil pigs that are hiding beneath the structures that you must knock down. It sounds weird but trust me, you'll need to keep your charger handy because you'll be playing it so much. Peep the screen shots below.

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• App Review: Angry Birds (Android) (engadget.com)
• Angry Birds Lite Beta Launches on Android [Android Apps] (gizmodo.com)