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Sok and Sao’s Adventure game raises dengue fever awareness

Most games are designed to be entertaining or educational or both, but few carry some social commentary along with them. Sok and Sao's Adventure, a new game that just landed on Android, is one of those, trying to make people aware of the plight of dengue fever-infested areas by, what else, shooting down gigantic mosquitos.



That's not to say that Sok and Sao's Adventure, named after the protagonists of the game, doesn't try to be entertaining. It is basically a side-scrolling shooter but of the less violent kind. That is, unless you consider shooting down freakishly huge huge dengue-carrying mosquitos violence. There are four game worlds and a couple of bullets to choose from and you have the option to use Sok or Sao as your hero.


The game delivers its message both in the target of the game as well as the context. The game's levels take place in locations such as the Angkor Wat in Cambodia and the Amazon jungle in Brazil, places where dengue fever is quite common. That said, unless the player can identify those places or the game has in-game captions or dialogs to bring that to the player's attention, those details might be lost.


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Sok and Sao's Adventure is free on Google Play Store but the developers admit that they also want to make a bit of a profit, mostly through in-game purchases of coins as well as ads. That last bit is both interesting and somewhat more annoying. The ads are 15 to 30 second videos that might auto play in some screens. The video ads, however, also offer an alternative to buying coins in exchange for an additional life.




SOURCE: DirexPlay

Download: Sok and Sao's Adventure on Google Play Store


Battery Genie watches over devices, notifies you of battery levels

One unique situation, especially for those who are consumed fully by tasks that they may be doing at any point in time, is that you lose track of whether your mobile devices have enough charge in them or not. You may be working on something at your laptop while your tablet is left stranded on your couch, draining battery life until it reaches critical levels. Battery Genie was conceptualized for this situation.



For heavy laptop users (like me) it’s easy to forget about your mobile devices – smartphone, tablet, etc. – much less remember to charge them. Battery Genie is an app that you install on all of your devices for monitoring. Then, you install the Chrome browser extension so that the notifications about battery levels can come in via Chrome.


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You can configure the notifications to come in via Chrome at specific battery levels. Also, you can configure to be alerted on your devices as well – like a notification on your tablet if your smartphone is somewhere hanging on for dear life on 8% battery level.


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According to the developer’s Reddit post, the app is free to use for 14 days, which should be enough time for you to try out all the settings. Should you want to continue using it, it will be a USD$0.99 purchase. Check out the Google Play Store download here, and the Chrome extension here.


SOURCE: Reddit





Logitech Protection Plus for Galaxy S5 gets official

Logitech has rolled out a new smartphone accessory called the Logitech protection [+] case. The device is a protective case for the Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone that is ruggedized to survive drops and bumps. Inside the protective case is a rechargeable battery to keep your smartphone running longer.



The version of the case for the Galaxy S5 will extend runtime 80% thanks to the 1800 mAh internal battery. The case meets military drop test standard MIL-STD 810 G for rugged devices.


That means that the case can protect your smartphone from drops of up to 1.2M high. Protection[+] construction features impact channels and a layer of thermoplastic rubber to absorb shocks.


A raised bezel around the front of the case helps to protect the surface of the screen. A magnetic metal plate is hidden inside the case to make it compatible with the Logitech smartphone mounts including the +trip air vent mount and the +drive windshield/dashboard mount.


SOURCE: Logitech


Sharp to debut 7-inch tablet with MEMS-IGZO screen in 2015

Sharp is teasing a new tablet well ahead of its launch. The big feature of the new tablet is new display tech for the tablet market. This 7-inch tablet will use Qualcomm MEMS and Sharp IGZO technology, the result is a MEMS-IGZO display that should be very impressive.



The tablet has no name at this time. The technology used in the display will be able to provide a high-speed color display while having a mode that has nearly the same power saving technology of e-ink when in grayscale.


The Sharp IGZO screen is made from materials that differ from normal LCDs, this alternative material construction allows for thinner panels that can push pixels faster. Thinner LCDs mean thinner tablets; these screens have been used in some TVs and with same smartphones already.


Qualcomm's MEMS tech is still very new and hasn’t been widely adopted at this time, about the only place the MEMS tech has been used is in the Qualcomm Toq smartwatch. Combined these technologies will allow for high color reproduction with less power consumption than screens in use today provide. Other than a fancy screen, the tablet is tipped to get a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, Android 4.4, and to be waterproof. LTE and WiFi models will be offered, pricing and availability are unannounced.


SOURCE: SlashGear





London phone booth turns green, now known as SolarBox

One of the many things popular in London is a red phone booth. Sadly, most of the red telephone booths in the city have been unused the past years. In the United States, such phone booths are already being removed from their places but in London, some are being repurposed.



Some red phone booths have been repurposed to house emergency medical equipment. The idea is ingenious that is why two local students thought of doing the same thing for a few booths and turning them with a “greener” purpose. There are about 8,000 red telephone booths in London that are not often used so this should be a good thing.


Winning second place in the Mayor of London's Low Carbon Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Harold Craston and Kirsty Kenny came up with the SolarBox. Six stations have been opened to the public complete with an 86 centimeter solar panel placed on the roof. The booths have been painted green and are now available to use for free.


Anyone who needs to charge his phone can do so inside the SolarBox. So you won’t be bored, a screen plays advertisements inside. A mere 10 minute stay inside will give the phone about 20 percent of battery so it’s good enough. A SolarBox unit can charge up to 100 phones a day. An average of six users per hour can go inside the SolarBox to charge.


The SolarBox isn’t open 24/7 though. It’s locked overnight and is checked everyday to ensure the green booth is clean and not damaged. The goal of the booth is to give people running out of phone battery juice a quick and green way to get extra power. By April 2015, five more green SolarBox units are expected to be opened to the public.


VIA: SlashGear


SOURCE: BBC





Lenovo SmartBand appears at FCC, an OS-friendly fitness tracker

It seems Lenovo is not going to let itself be left behind in the wearable device trend. There have been little to no noises about a wearable device until now, as the fitness-centered Lenovo SmartBand appears at the FCC – seemingly just about ready for launch.



So here’s the lowdown on Lenovo’s new gadget. The SmartBand comes with the usual fitness tracking features, and it connects and syncs to your phone via Bluetooth support. That said, it doesn’t matter if you’re using an Android, iOS or Windows 8 device – that’s just fine for this specific fitness wearable. The fitness band also has a small display where it can show you fitness stats, display the time, and offer reminders.


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The SmartBand will also vibrate and display a notification when there’s an incoming call to your phone. The documents at the FCC say that the device will give you 7 days of uptime on a full charge, and is IP67 grade for dust and water resistance.


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Lenovo has probably made a calculation to land this device not squarely against smartwatches, but more against multi-purpose fitness trackers like the Jawbone or the Fitbit. Against those, the Lenovo SmartBand has a distinct advantage of its long battery life. We do not have any information yet regarding pricing, or when this device will be launched.


SOURCE: FCC





New Nexus 9 tablet image leaks

Another image of what appears to be the HTX Nexus 9 tablet has leaked. The leaked image comes only a day after the Nexus 9 tablet is thought to have been spied going through the FCC for its approvals. With the FCC hurdle cleared (presumably), the tablet could be hitting the market at any time.



The newly leaked image shows a device with flat edges and rounded corners with what appears to be matte plastic. Some rumors had pegged the tablet to use a metal body and that doesn’t appear to be the case. Along with the leaked image comes an apparent confirmation that the tablet will use matte plastic as the Nexus 5 by LG did.


Those are the only new tidbits about the tablet that we have learned. Previous rumors tipped that the tablet has integrated WiFi, NFC, and it may use the NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor.


We expect the tablet to have an 8-inch Full HD 1080p display and it may run Android L for the operating system. Interestingly, the tablet is tipped to feature 2.4GHz and 5.xGHz WiFi.


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SOURCE: Twitter





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