Steam Greenlight: Game Submission (Ballastic)

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In the not-so-distant past, I participated in a sequence of Intel-sponsored global app development competitions. Each of the competitions focused on rapidly developing applications for new and forthcoming technologies that Intel and partners were promoting. In fall-2012, I developed a casual coffee-break style game as part of the first App Innovation Contest, hosted by CodeProject. The competition was to help showcase cutting edge features of Intel's Ultrabook™ line of laptops.

The game that I developed in a very short window of time, Ballastic, utilized many of the Ultrabook's sensors for various creative purposes including touch, accelerometer and ambient light detection. However, the core game itself was equally fun on a standard mouse-controlled computer. Apparently the judges liked it, as it ended up winning the grand prize for the gaming category. Intel conducted a case study with me and this little app even made its way to some part of the Consumer Electronics Show the following year. Read Full Article

Using Bluestacks for Fast Android Emulation

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Testing Android applications on PC or Mac without a physical device can be quite a burden. The configurable Android virtual machines in Eclipse/Android Studio are notably sluggish and don't work well with many third party frameworks, especially those powered by C++. If your development machine has Intel-based hardware you can accelerate the emulation process by using Intel® HAXM technology, but AMD users are not yet so lucky.

The fastest and easiest way I've found to test Android applications is via the BlueStacks app player. BlueStacks is a free, ad-supported product for PC and Mac that enables you to download and run Android applications from your PC, as if using an Android device itself. BlueStacks isn't the only product on the market of its kind, but it does boast higher compatibility and a greater feature set than the competitors. According to BlueStack's feature chart, it supports up to 96% of all apps and 86% of all games on the Android market. Furthermore, BlueStacks offers streamlined emulation of the Android device's camera, microphone, multitouch and more which makes it ideal for testing in-development apps. Read Full Article

Facebook Graph Access Token Requirements

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I apologize for the lack of any blog updates this past month. My available time to write this summer has not been significant.

As is the innate nature of third party platforms, one's reliance on public APIs for use in their own projects is subject to change and can break at any time. One such breaking change for a slew of sites and scripts, one of mine included, happened recently via Facebook Graph.  Facebook Graph provides a simplified means of communicating between Facebook and external sources including websites and applications. Read Full Article

"Relentlessly Gay" Fundraiser by Julie Baker: Suspicions Abound

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The surge of crowdfunding websites has brought about a new wave of innovation and charitable drives.  We've seen products like the Oculus Rift rise up from nothing thanks to a highly successful Kickstarter campaign, ultimately being bought out by Facebook for a cool $2 billion last year.  Many have used personal fundraising sites like GoFundMe to help pay for expensive medical bills that would have otherwise put them in turmoil.  I have friends and relatives who are actively using the venue to help alleviate the costs of reoccurring cancer treatments and to help children with disabilities.

This past week, the "Relentlessly Gay" GoFundMe campaign appeared out of nowhere and took the media world and social networking sites by storm. As the story goes, a widowed mother found an anonymous note on her door from a neighbor scolding her home decor (a line of colored glass jars), which they perceived as "relentlessly gay" and a threat to their "Christian" area.  In retaliation, Julie immediately established a GoFundMe campaign asking for $5,000 to make her home more colorful.  Five days later the campaign has raised a staggering $43,500 and shows no signs of stopping. Read Full Article

Review: BioSport™ Biometric Headphones with Heart Rate Monitor

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SMS Audio BioSport Headphones

When I attended IDF 2014 in San Francisco, one of the most prominently hyped products was the then-forthcoming BioSport™ earbud set with integrated heart rate monitor. There was an impressively large and aesthetically awesome area of the Moscone Center dedicated to it. The headphones, produced by SMS Audio, were featured in the keynote and even Google co-founder Sergey Brin made a random appearance to participate in some yoga as part of its promotion.

For attendees, the coolest part came during the keynote when it was announced we'd all be getting these $150 headphones for free. Months passed with no word, but right before the Christmas holiday a mysterious package appeared on my doorstep. Inside contained the message: "As announced during Brian Krzanich's opening Keynote, and as a thank you for attending IDF14, you are receiving your own pair of SMS Audio BioSport In-Ear Headphones, powered by Intel.  The in-ear headphones include a heart rate monitor so you can listen to music and monitor your heart rate at the same time." Read Full Article