The new year is knocking. Time to break out your goals for self-improvement and… eh, forget it. For most of us, these things won't live to see the Superbowl half-time show. This year, why not be honest with ourselves and embrace our ever-increasing laziness? Call it maximizing our efficiency, if it makes you feel better.
Luckily there is a slew of tech entrepreneurs (wunderkinds and wannabes alike) out to help us on this noble mission. Below is an extreme use case–call it a lesson in laziness–on how to harness a bunch of "Uber for" apps to get through your day without getting out of bed. I think there's fifteen apps, but who has the energy to count them all?
Strong sunlight wakes you at 10:20 am. Starving, you flail for your new Apple Apple iPhone 6 and open the GrubHub app–after a few taps your breakfast burrito ($ 15 with tip) is on the way. Back in the day, you had to worry about getting up and answering the door, but last week you installed a $ 199 Kevo deadbolt. The Bluetooth-powered lock comes with an app that lets you send eKeys to people as easy as sending a text. You control how long the eKey is active with the deadbolt–since most of the people entering the house today are strangers, best to make the keys one-use-only.
The burrito delivered and devoured, you start to write your next next tech story on your iPhone via WordPress but you feel too full to write. Why not watch a little TV while you digest? The remote is all the way on the other side of the room, so you just open your WatchESPN app and catch the latest Sports Center. The game highlights only remind you how miserable it is to be a New York football fan this year. You switch to an old Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO GO to cheer yourself up.
The Apple iPhone: the ultimate tool for efficiency–and pure laziness
OK, the deadline for your tech story approaches. But as you attempt to write a headline you look around and realize your apartment is filthy. You open home service app Handy and book a two-hour cleaning for $ 54. An hour later a cleaner gets to work on the kitchen floor and bedroom rug.
Once the vacuuming stops, you attempt a catchy headline when you hear a loud bark–it's Rufus, your 150-pound Great Dane. You forgot to walk him again. If you don't act fast, you'll have to summon the Handy cleaner again. Good thing there's Swifto–New York's own dog walking app. You book a thirty minute walk for $ 35 bucks and give poor Rufus some needed relief.
Finally, you swear you'll get this tech story done, but lying in bed all day gets lonely. Tinder to the rescue. You swipe through a hundred potential dates. You get a few connections and tell them about your lazy app experiment. Everyone thinks you're a weirdo, but then, match #21 is intrigued. You convince your Tinder match that you're a normal person, at least as normal as tech writers get. Your new digital pal agrees to stop over on the way home from work to see how you're pulling off this app trial.
Earlier this week, Apple Apple pushed its first automatic security update to Mac users. The security update plugged a vulnerability in the OS X operating system connected to the network time protocol (NTP). Security experts discovered that the vulnerabilities in the NTP could have been exploited by hackers to gain remote control of Mac computers. The network time protocol is used to synchronize clocks on Mac computers.
Hypothetically, remote hackers could have used the NTP vulnerability to send packets of data that overflows stack buffers and allows malicious code to be executed. The Apple software update was sent out without requiring users to accept the changes. However, Apple sent notifications to users that successfully received the security update. Restarting the computer was not necessary for users to install the security update.
Apple issued the security update after information about the vulnerabilities were published by the Department of Homeland Security and the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute, according to Reuters. Neel Mehta and Stephen Roettger of the Google Google Security Team Team originally discovered the vulnerability, which was reported to the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team. The security vulnerability, known as CVE-2014-9295, also affects the Linux and Unix operating systems.
The issue affects operating systems that runs NTP4 prior to 4.2.8, according to Ars Technica. When Apple launched the Snow Leopard operating system in 2009, they also created a database of malware definitions on Macs that prevents users from installing viruses. This feature is called File Quarantine (also known as XProtect).
Apple developed an automatic patching system a couple of years ago, but it was not used until the NTP issue came up. Apple generally asks for permission from the user to update their operating system. Apple said that it has not received any reports of an incident where a Mac computer was targeted by hackers due to the NTP vulnerability. If you do not want to receive automatic updates, you can go to Systems Preferences —> App Store —> uncheck "Install system data files and security updates."
In 2014, smartphones thinned down, screens fattened up and software moved to the cloud (again). But, amid those advancements, some technology-industry classics went out with a blaze, while others were unceremoniously put out to pasture before they ever really got off the ground. Here's a closer look at what the tech world lost in the past 12 months.
Aereo
The technology company launched in 2012 on a promise to give subscribers live views and recorded streams of television shows broadcast over the airwaves on just about any device connected to the Internet. It accomplished this by leasing to each user a remote antenna, which picked up over-the-air content to feed into Aereo Inc.'s stream. But the service was too good to be true, because it was illegal.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the company in a case brought by broadcast networks. The court found Aereo infringed on the networks' copyrights by not obtaining permission to transmit their content to its users. Aereo suspended services in June and filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in November.
Microsoft Browser Choice Screen
In the wake of an antitrust case in 2009, the Microsoft Corp. came to an agreement with European regulators to provide new customers on the Continent with a choice of third-party Web browsers in addition to Internet Explorer whenever they booted up Windows 7, as reported by the New York Times at the time. Options were displayed on a so-called "browser choice screen" and on the Web at browserchoice.eu.
With the agreement expiring this month, Microsoft chose to discontinue support for the site, leaving this notice in its place:
"This website was created by Microsoft in accordance with a decision issued by the European Commission in December 2009. The obligations imposed by the decision have now expired and Microsoft will no longer maintain this website. Microsoft encourages customers who want more information about web browsers or want to download another browser to do so by visiting the websites of web browser vendors directly."
Nokia Mobile
After the completion of a deal to acquire the Nokia Corp.'s mobile-phone division in April, Microsoft began rebranding Lumia devices under the umbrella of Microsoft Mobile — and laying off many of the division's employees, effectively killing the Nokia mobile name this year. But not all is lost for the Finnish smartphone brand. Although Nokia has agreed to not manufacture mobile devices as part of its deal with Microsoft, it may have a chance to re-emerge in 2016, when the contract terms expire, according to Forbes.
PlayStation Portable
The PlayStation Portable was the Sony Corp.'s first foray into a portable console design. Unveiled in 2004, the device distinguished itself from Nintendo's offerings with its large screen, support for multimedia and ability to connect to the PS2, PS3 and other PSPs via the Internet. Over the years, it also developed a cult following, as developers found ways to modify the handheld to play custom software and games. Although the PSP had a lengthy run of nearly a decade, Sony retired it this year to focus on its successor, the PlayStation Vita, which was released in 2012.
Windows XP
Most consumers have long since moved on to more-modern Microsoft operating systems, such as Windows 7 and 8.1. But many businesses stuck with Windows XP, released more than a decade ago, because of concerns their older applications would not run on the company's newer operating systems. It was a problem not only for developers, who had to make sure their software remained XP-friendly, but also for Microsoft, due to the fact that keeping Windows XP alive meant providing it with constant security patches.
Microsoft finally pulled support for the OS in April, while encouraging customers to move on to a current version of Windows.
iPod Classic
Featuring a 160-gigabyte hard drive, the iPod Classic could store thousands of songs and hundreds of videos, but that was about it. As streaming services such as Pandora and Spotify began to take off, storage became less important as users turned to their iPhone for just about everything.
Coinciding with the unveiling of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in September, Apple quietly killed the iPod Classic, along with another remnant of its generation: the 30-pin connector. The iPod Classic now lives on in the second-hand market, fetching prices in excess of $ 500 on eBay.
Did any of your favorite gadgets disappear in 2014. Let us know in the comments section below.
There really isn’t anything quite like the App Store. New games flood the market at an insane rate, and while there is a ton of crap released every day, there are also tons of amazing games. The crap-to-amazing ratio is heavily lopsided of course, but the sheer size of the App Store means that even if there’s only one amazing game for every hundred crap games, there’s still more amazing games to play through than any normal person even reasonably has time for. If you’re willing to put in a little effort to sort the wheat from the chaff, mobile devices can be incredibly rewarding as gaming platforms.
This year was another strong year of great games, and narrowing it down to a manageable “Best Of” list is no easy task. It took some tough decision making, and it goes without saying that this list easily could have been two or three times the size that it is. But sometimes tough decisions have to be made, so below we have a list of what we think are 25 of the very best games released in 2014. (Note: This doesn’t include games in our Game of the Year post. Also look forward to our staff’s individual best games posts as well as more Best Of 2014 stuff tomorrow and throughout next week.) I think it’s a nice, varied selection of genres and game types, and you really couldn’t go wrong with anything here. That said, there’s a lot of great games that we weren’t able to include, and as we all know no list can suit every single person. So let us know in the comments below what games you loved in 2014, and we look forward to another g reat year of gaming in 2015.
A Dark Room, $ 0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – A Dark Room was technically released in 2013, but didn’t hit critical mass until earlier this year. It starts out as an almost painfully simplistic text adventure, but its brilliant progression system keeps you coming back over and over until eventually the game evolves into something more than you ever could have expected. This is definitely one of those games that’s much more than meets the eye.
Banner Saga, $ 4.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – While it initially found success on desktop computers in January of this year, Banner Saga was always envisioned as a tablet game. When it finally came to iOS in early October, it felt right at home on the touchscreen. Gorgeous visuals, a compelling story and highly tactical gameplay make Banner Saga a must-play for any strategy fan, any fan of great storytelling, or really just fans of games in general.
Battleheart Legacy, $ 4.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Mika Mobile’s original Battleheart was revolutionary not just for its genius line-drawing combat mechanics but also in the way it let you mix and match different classes into a party that fit your own tastes. For Battleheart Legacy, they kept that excellent open-ended character development intact but condensed it down into a single character while simultaneously making their first fully 3D game while maintaining their signature art style. The result is a dream come true for fans of RPGs and min/max’ing character builds.
Bean Dreams, $ 2.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – The sequel to one of our all-time favorite platformers on iOS didn’t disappoint. Bean Dreams brings more of the constantly-bouncing platforming that we know and love but with many refinements and even a few twists to mix things up. Overall it’s much easier than the original Bean’s Quest, which should help it appeal to a wider audience, but developer Kumobius still has some challenging new levels planned to please their hardcore fanbase.
Candy Crush Soda Saga, Free – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – The original Candy Crush is a hard game to follow. How can any sequel of a puzzle game that managed to transcend pop culture to the point that your mom knows about it be worthy? Well, Soda Saga is, and while at its core it’s very much just more Candy Crush, the original was a great game, so add in a new set of levels, new obstacles to puzzle your way out of, and sky-high levels of polish on every aspect of the game and you’ve really got a winner on your hands.
Crossy Road – Endless Arcade Hopper, Free – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Crossy Road takes the Frogger formula–crossing busy highways and dangerous waterways one step at a time–and turns the whole thing into a randomly generated, endless high scoring affair. I can’t believe nobody thought of that idea sooner. It works brilliantly as a mobile game, and with its bright, colorful art style and a massive list of quirky playable characters, Crossy Road will have a permanent spot on my iOS device for many years to come.
Eliss Infinity, $ 2.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – The original Eliss is an absolute classic on iOS, but at 5 years old it was starting to show its age. Enter Eliss Infinity, a refreshed version of the full original game as well as some nifty new modes and features. The unique Eliss gameplay proved that it still holds up well today in Eliss Infinity, and now with a modernized version of the game Eliss can live on on our devices for a long time to come.
Flappy Golf, Free – [Impressions] – [Forum Thread] – In “The Year of Flappy” it’s so easy to roll your eyes at all the Flap-likes that released, but Flappy Golf actually stood out as a game that used the flapping mechanic to create a game that rivaled–and some would argue surpassed–the excellent game it was lampooning, Super Stickman Golf 2. Flappy Golf fever spread like wildfire across schoolyards as friends battled each other in its manic multiplayer mode or competed for high score bragging rights.
FTL: Faster Than Light, $ 4.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – FTL was released on the Mac and PC ages ago, but it wasn’t until it hit the iPad that the game felt like it was right. In the game, you desperately try to survive in the harsh realities of space to make it to your goal. Fuel and oxygen are scarce, danger is everywhere, and a series of tiny bad decisions can snowball into catastrophe. “Just one more run” is something you’ll be saying until your throat is sore.
Goblin Sword, $ 1.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – One of the hardest things to do is make a game that’s a throwback to the older generations of gaming but have it still feel fresh and modern like a contemporary game. Goblin Sword pulls this off wonderfully. It’s an action-platforming game that can hang with the best in the genre, with fantastic pixel art, plenty of levels to complete and enemies to beat down, and a killer upgrade system that gives you a lot of choice in how you tackle the game’s challenges. This is the game my 12-year old self dreamt about making.
Hitman GO, $ 0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – When I first heard we’d be getting a Hitman game on iOS, but that it would be a tactical puzzle game, I was bummed. Often mobile gets a stripped down version of a bigger console or PC game and it felt like that’s what this would be. Oh how wrong I was. Hitman GO is not only one of the most challenging and satisfying puzzlers I’ve played, but it also captures the essence of the Hitman series with its stealth elements and carefully crafted scenarios. It may not be a traditional Hitman game, but it’s easily one of the best Hitman games around.
Hoplite, $ 1.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Hoplite is one of the cleanest and simplest roguelikes out there, but it hides some of the deepest strategy I’ve ever seen in the genre. Simply diving down and retrieving the special fleece is the main goal of the game, and can be a decent challenge, but the real test in Hoplite is going after its many achievements. These force you to stretch the core mechanics of the game to the limits and play in ways you might never have imagined otherwise, and it will require plenty of forethought and even luck to tick them all off the list.
Leo’s Fortune, $ 0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Leo’s Fortune could have made this list based on its visuals alone, with its stunning graphics and mustachioed main character, but luckily there’s plenty of stellar gameplay underneath making this one of iOS’s best platformers. One of the things that makes Mario games so timeless is the physics and “feel” of the game. Just running and jumping around is fun on its own, and Leo’s Fortune gives me that same sort of feeling. This will be a game I’ll love to pick up and play through every now and then for may years to come.
Mikey Boots, $ 1.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – We’re huge fans of the Mikey games around that part, and one of the best thing about these games is how each one tackles some major new mechanic. Mikey Boots traded in the standard run-and-jump platformer for the cave flyer, but somehow still felt undeniably Mikey-like. Whether you’re blasting through the levels just for completion’s sake, unlocking outfits to deck out your character, or fiercely competing with friends for spots on the leaderboards, Mikey Boots has a little something for everyone.
Modern Combat 5: Blackout, $ 3.99 – [Review / MP Review] – [Forum Thread] – Gameloft’s Modern Combat series has long been the best full-blown first-person shooter experience on mobile. This year’s entry shook things up with a unified progression system across its single-player and multiplayer modes, and it broke its campaign down into more bite-sized, mobile-friendly chunks. As always it features cutting-edge graphics and takes advantage of all the latest technology of iOS devices.
MONSTER HUNTER FREEDOM UNITE for iOS, $ 14.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – A game with the kind of depth that Monster Hunter Freedom Unite has doesn’t come around on mobile often. You could quite literally spend thousands of hours living a double life as a monster hunter in this game, and the fact that the whole thing fits snugly in your pocket is a miracle. This is the kind of game that can be very hard for newbies to get into, but if you take the time to get into the swing of things you’ll be rewarded with a lifetime of adventures.
Out There, $ 0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – There are few things scarier than being lost in the vastness of space, and Out There captures that feeling perfectly. It’s a brutal game, often leading you to defeat through no fault of your own, which has made it a divisive title among gamers. However, the trepidation you feel as you make each move knowing it might be your last and the overwhelming sense of joy you get by a particularly strong run are the things that have turned Out There into a cult favorite.
Papers, Please, $ 7.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – It’s hard to describe Papers, Please as “fun,” since the gameplay loop the game itself hinges on is intentionally monotonous. What makes Papers, Please incredibly special and potentially one of the most memorable games you’ll play this year is how much it makes you question when it is and isn’t appropriate to break rules- Even if it means being punished yourself. It’s an incredibly clever game, and while it will only take a few hours to play, it’ll leave you thinking about it for much, much longer.
Seabeard, Free – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – The Animal Crossing brand of lighthearted sim game seems like it would be a perfect fit for mobile, and although several have tried, no one’s really nailed it just yet. Seabeard definitely comes the closest. While there is some freemium stuff to navigate, Seabeard has heaps of charm and a staggering amount of content to (slowly) play through. A few tweaks could make it even better, but as it stands now this is by far the best Animal Crossing-alike on iOS today.
Sometimes You Die, $ 1.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – This is one of those games that will make you think, and challenges the whole concept of a video game. It’s a clever platformer that embraces the frequent deaths that are a hallmark of the genre by forcing you to use your own corpses in subsequent playthroughs in order to pass its levels. Beyond the unique gameplay, there’s a lot of deeper questions being asked by way of clever storytelling as you play, and it’s also one of those games that isn’t quite done even when you think you’ve beat it.
Threes!, $ 1.99 [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Threes! is like a guidebook of great design. From its ability to give huge personalities to a bunch of numbered rectangles, to the satisfying feeling of swiping to move the game board around, to its ingenious number-doubling gameplay, Threes! is about as close to a perfect mobile game as you can get. Often imitated but never duplicated, the original Threes! is still the leader of the genre it created.
Vainglory, Free [iPhone Version] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Many developers have set out to make a MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena, think DOTA) for mobile, and each have left a little to be desired. Vainglory is the best mobile MOBA we’ve seen so far, and they fully utilize iOS 8′s Metal. So, the game not only plays better than any other MOBA out there, it also looks significantly better, provided you’ve got a newer device to play it on.
VVVVVV, $ 2.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Lots of games have used the old “gravity flipping” mechanic, but no game has explored it as thoroughly as Terry Cavanagh’s VVVVVV. The controls are simple, and for such an exacting platformer it translates surprisingly well to the touchscreen. The level of genius in the designs of its massive Metroidvania-like world will constantly leave you with your jaw dropped, and completing each and very bit of VVVVVV has been one of the most rewarding gaming experiences I’ve ever had.
XCOM®: Enemy Within, $ 6.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – When the original XCOM, the tactical turn-based RPG that was a smash hit on console and PC, arrived on iOS last year it felt like it had landed on the perfect platform. This year, the massive content expansion Enemy Within also arrived on iOS, and this is now the definitive mobile version of XCOM. This game will take your strategy skills to the limit, and the expanded version offers all sorts of new ways to play.
80 Days, $ 4.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – I’m not a big reader, and I don’t play a lot of gamebooks. Still, somehow developer Inkle was able to create one of my all-time favorite games with 80 Days, a gamebook-like adventure that’s based on a classic Jules Verne novel. Go figure. This is like the perfect blend of gaming and written adventure, and with so many routes around the world and so many crazy things to do along the way it’s the kind of unique experience that will keep on giving for a long, long time to come.
There really isn’t anything quite like the App Store. New games flood the market at an insane rate, and while there is a ton of crap released every day, there are also tons of amazing games. The crap-to-amazing ratio is heavily lopsided of course, but the sheer size of the App Store means that even if there’s only one amazing game for every hundred crap games, there’s still more amazing games to play through than any normal person even reasonably has time for. If you’re willing to put in a little effort to sort the wheat from the chaff, mobile devices can be incredibly rewarding as gaming platforms.