Android App Review: Avengers Initiative from Marvel

If you enjoyed the film, you might enjoy the app. Here's our no-holds barred review of Marvel's latest movie tie-in.

Graphics. It’s no secret that this game has been billed as Marvel’s graphical tour de force. And it truly is – the visuals are quite simply stunning throughout. Though the game environments rarely move from grubby generic downtown cityscapes, the characters themselves - dozens of memorable super-villains - are lovingly recreated. A solid 8/10 from me. I’ve taken off a few points as the visual niceties may result in slowdown on older Android devices. Avengers Initiative is really best on an Android tablet to get a bit more power behind the game.

Looking good:Tablet PC display technologies Part-2

 We’ve seen that the majority of displays on the consumer electronics market are active and looked at two kinds of display technology: TN and IPS LCD panels. We’ve also said that these LCD panels are turned in to active displays by way of a backlight. Finally, we’ve briefly touched on passive displays that don’t require a backlight to be visible. Let’s look at backlights first, and then at passive displays.

Looking Good: Tablet PC Display Technologies

From LCD to LED, the acronyms for display technologies can be boggling. Let's break it down in this article, and look at exactly how the different techs work.

All displays are split in to two categories: Active Displays that work by emitting light, and  Passive Displays that work with ambient light -the light that’s already around. A book is similar to a Passive Display; you can’t see what’s on the page unless you have light in the room. Almost all televisions are Active Displays; you could still watch them even if the room was completely in the dark.

Jury Verdict Against Samsung to Impact Entire Tech Industry

The tech industry is still coming to terms with the jury verdict handed out against Samsung a couple of weeks back related to the patent infringement suits filed by Apple.  The jury awarded Apple $1.05 million but nothing is yet final as Samsung is expected to file an appeal.  Many believe, however, that Apple is actually waging a war against Google’s Android and doing it through its OEM partners.  And there is no better Android device to target first than the brand that poses the biggest threat to Apple.

Battery Technologies - From Ni-Cd To Li-Ion

The main factor constraining the size and portability of ultrabooks - in fact, of mobile devices in general - is the size of the battery. In previous years, huge gains have been made in the battery technology sphere - but what form do those take, and what do they suggest for battery technology in the future?

Nickel-cadmium (NiCd) batteries were invented by Waldemar Jungner, a Swedish scientist, way back in 1899. Since then, they’ve been used as the second most prominent kind of rechargeable battery in laptops up until the ban on cadmium use by the European Union in 2004 (cadmium is highly toxic). They’ve been almost entirely superseded by a slight variation on materials: nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries.

A Vision For Apps Revolutionising Education In The Classroom

Technology is seeing a take-up in education unlike ever before. What apps are there that are inspiring the difference?

Before we start, let’s take a moment to explain what we’re not going to talk about here. Though the ‘flipped classroom’ (Google it) model has caught on big time, and been facilitated by the growing education app and e-learning app market, we’re looking at in-classroom education here. Also, nearly all uptake of education in schools is taking place through the adoption of laptops. I’m aware of that, which is why I’ve made sure to use apps that are cross-platform and mostly laptop-enabled. While I’ll use ‘tablet‘ for shorthand here, the word can typically be substituted for ‘laptop‘ with no additional overhead. With that established, let’s dive in.