Falcon Pro is Still Kicking

As reported in a post yesterday, one of the best Twitter clients on the Google Play Store was having some issues with Twitter's Access Token limits.  For the time being, things seem to have been worked out.  No Twitter didn't recant on their stand of not increasing Falcon Pro's token limitations.

Instead, looks like the tokens were reset.  Thus freeing up used tokens.  The only catch is that if you are still a user of the app, when you download the latest update, you will be required to log back into Twitter via the app.  Not a big deal whatsoever.

This is great news, as now the app can once again be purchased.  It is unfortunate that Twitter is still sticking to their position as well.  Especially since it is inevitable that the app will hit the 100k token limit again at some point.  In the meantime, the developer has set the price back to a "purchasable" cost at $1.96.  For more information be sure to checkout the Falcon Pro page on the Google Play Store.

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Should Pre-College Students Be Offered Programming Courses?

There is a video circulating the social media networks that was created by Code.org.  If you aren't familiar with this nonprofit, here is a brief explanation.  Their goal is to promote computer programming to the point in which schools across the United States would start offering computer programming courses to their students.  Currently, most schools do not presently offer their students the opportunity to take programming classes until they attend college.  Where Code.org is aiming to expose young people to programming before they get to college.

If you haven't seen the video yet, I would highly encourage you to check it out.  It will be posted below.  But in short, the video features a handful of well know people who are either programmers or are allegedly taking programming courses.  And as the video progresses they all offer their insights as to why programming is important to them or even how they started programming.  Some of the people on the video include Bill Gates (Microsoft/Philanthropist), Mark Zuckerburg (Facebook), Gabe Newell (Valve), and Will.I.Am (I know, I didn't figure him to be interested in programming either).  And by visiting their website you will see a bunch of quotes by other famous people.  So it does "appear" that Code.org seems to be throwing popularity at the young people to make programming "cool".  This doesn't mean that programming isn't cool.  I happen to believe that it is very cool and a rewarding skill.

The big reason Code.org is pushing so hard to educate young people about programming is to expose them to a skill that happens to have a high demand in the job market.  And that demand is being forecast to continue to grow.  So by exposing young people to this as part of their education we are only empowering these kids with the skills and abilities to help them succeed should they decide to pursue programming as a career.

Personally, I feel like to sooner we expose the young people to programming; the better off those who decide to pursue that as an avenue of a career will be.  The Code.org website has a lot of good references and tools available for those interested in learning more about programming.  Some tools are aimed for kids and some are actual paid classes and courses.

There is also a petition to sign if you believe their cause is a worthwhile one.

So, check out the video and see what you think.  And afterwards, head over to our Facebook page and join in the discussion on this topic.

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Ubuntu 12.10 Laptop Issues

Over the past several days I have been attempting to get Ubuntu running the way I want it to on my laptop.  This has been easier said then done.  I have a Pavilion g7 laptop running Windows 8 out of the box.  Windows 8 isn't my choice of OS, but one I can live with for things like playing certain games, and producing our YouTube videos.  However, for everything else, I'd really prefer using Linux.

After disabling Secure Boot in my laptop's BIOS and imstalling Ubuntu 12.10, I had to run Boot-Repair from the Ubuntu 12.10 Live DVD to repair Grub 2 and make it bootable.  So far so good.  The issue began when trying to install my proprietary display drivers for the A8 APU my laptop is running.  The default OpenGL drivers seemed to do ok, but every once in a while the screen would flicker for a brief second.  Not a big issue, but one that made me feel like I was loosing my mind.

I followed numerous guides and tutorials on various Ubuntu blogs, YouTube videos, etc.  And every single method I used returned the same issue.  The driver would install, I could see it and test it as long as I didn't reboot.  The catch is that to fully utilize the drivers I was forced to reboot anyways.  Upon reboot, my Ubuntu setup would boot straight into a TTY session with no LightDM login or GUI of any kind.

Some methods required purging the recent changes to bring LightDM and the GUI back.  But that didn't always work; resulting in reinstalling Ubuntu about 3 times.  After the third installation, it started getting old.  After doing some research, I have found several sites mentioning that the drivers seem to work in Ubuntu 12.04.  Dropping down from Ubuntu 12.10 to 12.04 isn't a big deal to me.  I have been using the LTS releases for a long time anyways.  And with Steam now on Linux, I really want to get into some Counter Strike: Source action on my Linux install.

So, with the Ubuntu 12.04 Live DVD in hand; I plan on installing Ubuntu again and seeing if the Legacy drivers in fact work under 12.04 as many have claimed they do.  If everything goes well, I hope to be reporting back with success soon.

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Twitter's Token Limits vs Falcon Pro

I was considering featuring the Falcon Pro Twitter app for Android devices as one of our weekly app picks.  However, I am kind of glad that I didn't.  But not for the reason you may first think of. The app is an outstanding Twitter client for Android devices.  It is very fluid and offers a smooth user experience when using Twitter.  In my opinion, it is just much sleeker and useful than most other Twitter clients I have used (including the official Twitter client for Android).

So what is the problem?

You may be thinking that the developer might have nerfed some features or did some funky new thing with an update.  But none of that is true either.  The issue appears to be on Twitter's end.  How can this be?  Are they trying to choke out "3rd party" developers?  Don't they want people to use their service?

How: Twitter's API grants access to their service via "access tokens".  If you have ever used a Facebook or Twitter app that allows you to login using your account for a social media service instead of just setting up yet another account; then you have used access tokens too.  This is a popular way to sign into sites and services using mobile devices as well.  So, an access token is delivered to your app or device when you access your account for a particular service using one of these "other" client type apps.  Simple enough.  On the end user side, this makes it easy to use other services and clients without managing multiple logins.  There are some other challenges on the service side, such as token limitations.

For example, Twitter's access token limitation is 100k for a 3rd party type app or service.  Once you hit the 100,000 token limit.  That is it, new user's are no longer able to authenticate their app on Twitter.  Meaning if you buy a Twitter client app on the Google Play Store, and it can't authenticate on Twitter, you have useless app (at least from the purchaser's point of view).

This is exactly what happened to Joaquim Verges who is the developer of the acclaimed Falcon Pro app.  His app hit the 100k wall in less than 3 months, and that is "all she wrote".  Mr. Verges has since started a petition to try and get the community feedback to help encourage Twitter to raise this limit, but per the Falcon Pro Twitter account (@falcon_android) he has already received a correspondence from Twitter stating:

So let me get this straight, does this mean that Twitter won't raise the token limit at all?  Or if Falcon Pro offered some feature that Twitter's "official" client didn't have, it would then raise the limit?  The later is how I read it.  I know that Twitter controls what, who, how, and when can utilize their service.  I completely understand that.

But at the same time is it right of Twitter to slam a door in the face of a successful app developer?

It doesn't take a person long to realize this app has a pretty good user base by looking at the apps reviews on Google Play Store.

So what happens now?

Well, for Mr. Verges he has done only what one could sensibly do.  He has reached out to the community for participation in a petition and has contacted Twitter with his request.  At this point, Twitter has shot down his request; and I honestly don't know how much a petition would really help at this point.  In the meantime, Mr. Verges has placed a disclaimer on the app's Google Play Store page informing user's and potential buyers not to purchase the app due to the token limit from Twitter. He has also marked up the app price to $132.13 USD.  Not sure how he came to pick this price, but that's how much it costs now in attempt to discourage future user's from purchasing the app thus restricting it's growing user base without being forced to just shut down.

And that is not all.  The app's store page also requests that any user who is no longer using the app to please release the token from their app.  That will free up a token so other people can use the app would essentially drop the count below 100,000 tokens (at least until it is used by someone else).

My advice?

I am not an app developer (or much of a programmer either for that matter); but if I were Mr. Verges my next step would be to prove to Twitter how awesome my app was.  I would drop back and punt for lack of better puns.  Go through the official Twitter app and try to work up a feature or two that the official Twitter app doesn't offer.  And build on it.  Then see what Twitter's excuse is for not raising the cap.  My guess would be they will probably still shoot the request down, and probably add a couple new aforementioned features as well.

To Twitter...

As a company offering a social networking service to the internet community, I understand you're limitations concerning 3rd party developers, apps, and even services.  However, for Falcon Pro to hit this benchmark means that there is definitely something great about this app. Why not make Mr. Verges an offer to help with the current development of the official Twitter app?  Instead of choking out these smaller developers who make awesome apps, why not bring them on board and help build what you currently have going?  Just makes sense to me.

What happens now?

Well, Mr. Verges has tweeted out that he will continue to update the app and support it for current user's as he uses the client himself, and refuses to use an app that is outdated.  For which, I cannot blame him.  And personally, I will continue to use the app as well.  And in the meantime will continue to follow the progress on this and will report back if anything changes.

Ways to get involved:

It may seem somewhat ironic, but why not show Mr. Verges some support over on the Falcon Pro Twitter Account.

Go sign the petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/extend-falcon-pro

After all, Mr. Verges isn't the first and probably won't be the last that this type of thing happens to. Unfortunately, if we as the community don't get involved then this will continue to happen to other apps even across other services.

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Mortal Kombat Legacy 2

I just saw this today, even though it has been out for better than a week or so.  Over at Machinima's YouTube Channel, there is the preview trailer for the upcoming sequel to the Mortal Kombat reboot/web series "Mortal Kombat: Legacy" and it is aptly titled "Mortal Kombat: Legacy II".  As of yet there is no release date for when the episode's will start filtering onto the Machinima channel, but hopefully it will be soon.  As it looks pretty awesome!

Looks like this time around we'll see more Scorpion/Sub-Zero goodness, will see Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa reprise his roll of Shang Tsung.  Also shown in the trailer are Keshi, Styker, Raiden, Ermac, Mileena, Kitana, Kung Lao, Johnny Cage and Liu Kang.  Remember back to the first season where we saw the likes of fan favorite characters like Sonya Blade, Jax, Johnny Cage, Kano, Cyrax, and Sektor to name a few.  The first web series was somewhat controversial as many believed the initial teaser to be part of a big-screen franchise reboot of the movie franchise based off of the hit game series.  However, when the developers announced it would in fact be a serial webseries many criticized the series and it's original take on these established characters origin stories and even their revised appearance in some cases.

Personally, a fresh look on the series from a "real-life" perspective was pretty cool.  And infact, as the series progressed and gradually got better and better, I looked forward to each new episode.  And in my opinion, the game series has been pretty dormant over the past several years (and since the release of the lasted MK game).  So any decision to launch this movie into a big-screen type release would more than likely see it flop; in my opinion.  But being a web-released series really makes it standout.  As it is definitely one of the more "premium" style series on the web.  And personally, I'd like to see more webseries like this one.

Anyways, if you haven't seen the new trailer, check it out below.

Watch below:

If you missed out on the first season of the webseries be sure to visit Machinima's Channel, as they have all of the episodes online: Machinima: Mortal Kombat Legacy 2

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App of The Week: Temple Run 2 for Android

As the title mentions, our App of The Week for the Week of February 23rd, 2013 is Temple Run 2.  Let's be honest, if you have a Android or an iPhone, then you have probably at least heard of or even seen the original Temple Run.  The original Temple Run became somewhat of a staple of mobile gaming.  Along with the likes of Angry Birds, Jetpack Joyride, and numerous others.  Either way, the original was an awesome game (albeit, rather frustrating at times; but still awesome).

If you happened to have played the original Temple Run then you pretty much know the ropes of the gameplay.  Basic controls involve swiping the screen in order to make your runner avoid obstacles or make turns all while you are running from the likes of a crazed monkey.  As the game opens, you see a nice 3D fly in of the ornate opening of a cave where an idol hovers in the cave's opening.  You tap the screen to play, and that is when we are introduced to our runner.  Who comes running out of the cave's opening and picks up the idol and starts running.  You catch a shot of the giant monkey that is pursuing your runner.  From there the game's camera positions itself behind your runner and you start out on your high speed adventure.

What's new in Temple Run 2?

Temple Run 2 brings several new elements to the game.  All of which makes the game much more involved and in my opinion, brings a welcomed new environment to the Temple Run series.  The environments from the original game were somewhat dark and gloomy looking; which, don't get me wrong served, to set the mood of the game.  But still the newer, brighter environments just look awesome.

The environments aren't the only improvements that Imangi Studios brought to the table though.  Where the original game succeeded in guiding players through a running, jumping, and sliding crazed run while collecting coins and power-ups; the sequel also throws in zip-lines, mine cart rides, and a much larger monkey.

I have been playing the game on my Nexus 7 tablet and my Samsung Galaxy S2 phone.  And it runs so smooth it's almost ridiculous.  I have experienced virtually no lag while running this game on either of my devices.

What is the point of the game?

Run fast, and run far.  All the while, collecting coins and various power-ups that grant your runner abilites like being invincible, attracting all of the nearby coins as you run past them, or a green bubble of protection.  And at the end of the run, try to beat your high score.  There are also achievements built into the game that change as you level up

Is it worth the download?

Most certainly.  And the price is perfect: FREE.  That's right.  It doesn't cost you a dime to pick up this awesome game.  You can spend your real world cash for jewels in-game.  But spending real world money doesn't help you progress through the game.  As each level starts fresh, and each run is different.  So forget about trying to memorize the pattern as you run through the level.  But overall, this game is lush and beautiful, and is a lot of stylized fun.

Sure, the game can be downright frustrating at times.  But if there has ever been a game that makes it fun to be frustrated; then this is it.  So in short, if you are looking for a fun (and free) game to pick up then this is the app for you.

Rating: 

Visit the Google Play Store: Temple Run 2

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Steam is now a Native Linux application

That's right, you read that right. Valve has released it Steam client as a native Linux application. I have installed it on my Ubuntu 12.10 box and can confirm that it does indeed work. And is pretty much just as easy to install as it is on any Windows machine.

If you are using Ubuntu then be sure to check the Software Center that is built into Ubuntu to download and install it.  I have yet to try a game as I am currently in the process of downloading Counter Strike: Source for testing. To be fair I am also downloading CS:S on my Windows box as well for comparison purposes.

So stay tuned and I will try to report back as to how the Linux version runs when compared to it's Windows counterpart.

In the meantime Steam is running a sale which features some pretty awesome games. I picked up Counter Strike: Source for $5 and Half-Life for $2.49. And that's is just a couple of the great games that are on sale. That sale is supposed to run through Feb. 21st and the games that are purchased are unlocked on your Steam account for any platform that is officially supported. Meaning if you buy a game that runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac then you get access to all the on your Steam aaccount. So check it out:

http://store.steampowered.com

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Rooted Nexus 7 Updated to Android 4.2.2

As mentioned in my earlier post (Nexus 7 Rooted via the Nexus 7 Toolkit) I have rooted my Nexus 7 tablet using Mskip's Nexus 7 Toolkit from the XDA Developer forums.  It was an extremely easy (and quick) process.  Mskip did away the daunting and somewhat confusing aspect of rooting the Nexus 7 and he did an outstanding job.  But as my luck would have it, just a couple weeks after finally rooting my device, Google releases an OTA update to bring the device to Android 4.2.2.

What does this mean for my root access?

Well, typically when updating a rooted device using an official ROM or even an OTA update; there is a really good chance it will do away with your root access in the process of the update.  In some cases, if you have loaded a custom recovery during your initial root, the OTA update may even fail.  This is the last thing I wanted to happen, since I like using my device and not necessarily spending the time to fix my device issues.  So I purposefully waited for Mskip to update his toolkit for the Android 4.2.2 update.  Especially as some many were reporting the need to re-root after updating via the OTA push.

Tonight was the night!

So yeah, I decided to make the jump after reading on the XDA Developers forum that Mskip had updated his toolkit.  I figured why not go ahead and update?  Worse case scenario, I'd need to reroot again.  Sure, there are apps like SuperSU (which I have installed) and OTA RootKeeper which both have features that "should" technically preserve your root access while doing OTA updates.  I chose not to even worry with them, as other user's have had very limited success in either solution saving their root.

Anyways, I went ahead and ran the update.  To my surprise, my device rebooted into CWM and prompted whether I wanted to install the update.  I chose to proceed.  Then the update was installed, and towards the end of the process CWM alerted me that there was a "chance root access was lost".  And prompted me to "Fix" it.  So, I selected to "fix" it.  When the tablet rebooted, first thing I did was check my apps where I saw all of my "root-required" apps were still installed and working.  After downloading a Root Checker app for free from Google Play, it also verified that my root was preserved during the update.

That was pretty awesome.  Now keep in mind, per the XDA forums; some people have had this luck. While others have had to re-root their devices.  I'm not sure, but it almost seems like it depends on what version of the Nexus 7 Toolkit was used to initially root the device.  However, I can't state that to be gospel truth as my knowledge of the toolkit is limited to a couple of uses.

Anyways, give it a shot.  You never know.

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Retro Game Curator on YouTube is Now Live!

Well, you can tell we got snow here in my area today.  Why?  Because I was finally able to get some time to sit down and do some recording!  As mentioned in a previous post, we have a welcome addition to the TechieSmarts network of websites/YouTube Channels!  It goes by the name of: Retro Game Curator.

There is also an associated blog as well.  Check out: http://retrogamecurator.blogspot.com where we have a growing selection of posts covering topics concerning old school gaming, reviews, news, and yes; links to all of our video content (which will be growing soon).

If you follow me on Twitter, keep an eye out for posts with the hashtag:
#RetroGameCurator as that tag will designate everything concerning that site.

So be sure you drop by and show us some love guys!

Happy surfing!

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New Video on Our YouTube Channel!

After a long hiatus, I'm back!  Just uploaded a brand new video to our YouTube Channel, so feel free to swing by and check it out (or watch it below).  Regardless of how you watch it, be sure to swing by our channel and subscribe so you stay up to date as we add new videos!

Ubuntu 12.10: Install Cinnamon Desktop

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OTG Cable for Nexus 7 Makes Moving Files Easy

As mentioned in a previous post, there is a USB cable you can purchase for your Nexus 7 that will allow you to read from USB Flash Drives (and write to them if you are rooted), use game controllers, etc.  But keep in mind that this cable is not a standard USB cable.  It is called an "On-The-Go Cable" or "OTG Cable" for short.  They are fairly cheap to buy, and in my opinion are well worth the investment for any Nexus 7 owner.  Does it work?  Do you have to be rooted to use it?  Why even worry about it?  The answers (respectively): Yes, No, and It's Awesome. See below.

Does it work?

In short, yes the OTG cable works marvelously.  Seeing as how it is just a cable, there aren't many ways it wouldn't work.  It fits the small connection on the bottom of the Nexus 7 where you plug it up to charge.  The opposite end of the OTG Cable, is a female USB connector.  This allows you to hook up pretty much any USB Flash Drive or game controller to it.  This makes it possible to watch movies or play music or even just access files directly from a USB Flash drive without the need of transferring these files directly to the Nexus 7 using either a PC or services like Box.

If you are using your Nexus 7 as it is straight out of the box (i.e.: not rooted) then you will need an app from the Google Play store to be able to read the USB Flash Drives.  And without Root access, that's about all you can do.  There have been some reports of certain apps allowing play with a PS3 gamepad without root, but not every app supports it.  So if you aren't rooted and just want to be able to access other files using flash drives:

-Visit the Google Play Store and download the Nexus Media Importer by Homesoft ($2.99 USD)
-Hook up the OTG Cable and a flash drive.
-The Nexus Media Importer app should launch automatically.
-Select your files and have fun!
*Just note that without root access you can only read from USB Flash drives, you can't write back to them.

Do you have to be rooted to use it?

No you don't.  As mentioned above, you can use it without root access.  However, you're somewhat limited to what you can do with the OTG Cable unless you do have root access.  With root access you can read and write to and from USB Flash Drives.  You can also hook up a PS3, Xbox 360, or even Wiimote to your device for gaming.  Using these devices does typically require an extra app to make it easier to setup (for PS3 controllers use Sixaxis).

And for reading/writing files I use the Stickmount (FREE) app and ES File Explorer (FREE) app to access and transfer files as needed.

Why Even Worry About It?

So why even worry about it.  In short, if you have no plans to root your device or you are completely happy with your Nexus 7 as it is out of the box, you may not even care about using an OTG Cable.  But if you're like me and you like to read books/comic books digitally, or watch movies and videos offline, or even play games with a gamepad; then the OTG Cable is a great workaround.  The Nexus 7 is a slick device, no doubt about it.  But one of the complaints have been the lack of an SD Card slot (or even a full sized USB Host port).  Pretty much, whether you bought the 16 or 32GB capacity versions, that's all the space you get.  With an OTG Cable you not only get the internal storage of your device, along with as many USB Flash Drives you could possibly want.  This really opens up your devices storage options especially if you get tired of using your PC to transfer files to and from your device.

Get Your's!

I use the IVSO Nexus 7 Tablet Micro USB Host OTG Cable from Amazon which cost me after shipping: $4.97 (USD) which is pictured above.

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