Author: Jared Cash (Page 9 of 41)

Star Wars Pinball for iOS is free until the 9th: May the Force be with you!

September 4, 2013 / Jared Cash

I snatched up Star Wars Pinball for iPhone and iPad a couple days ago, but didn’t realize until today that it wasÂ still free. Not only is it still free, it’s free for 5 more days. So, seriously, if you like Star Wars or pinball or are part of a Venn diagram in which those things overlap and your sexy bits begin to tingle, then go download this. Right. Now.

The first table is included in the download and two additional tables can be purchased for $1 each. Unlocking the extra tables is actually key to one of the other cool features of the game: the ability to team up with your friends on either the Light Side or Dark Side and compete against the world.

Basically, every player has a “Force Score” which is based on your score, the number of tables you have played on, and how many friends you have playing via Game Center. Then, all of your points are used in support of either the Light Side or the Dark Side. The entire app’s interface is used to show which side is currently winning, by splitting it into blue on the left and red on the right. The percentage of the screen covered by each color indicates the current winning side.

Currently, I’m on the Light Side, but I’ve always loved an underdog, so it seems likely that I’ll eventually let my hatred consume me and fall. Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy as blogger and reader!

If we’re not Game Center friends already, send me an invite. My name is Zepfhyr. Be sure to include that you read the blog so I know to approve you.

Now get out there and download the game before it’s too late. Help me, readers! You’re my only hope!

Reflections from a booth in a diner on the first day of September

September 1, 2013 / Jared Cash

I sit at a table in the diner and watch my family eat.

A booth, actually.

I sit in a booth at the diner and watch my family eat.

My daughter asks for more fries. She uses her hands, signing “more” and then “fries”. She’s very precise when she does it, which I always find funny. I find it funny because she’s only precise when she thinks she’ll be told no. Her movements to sign “fries” makes me smile.

My youngest son very carefully dips his fries into a packet of Welch’s Concord grape jelly. The barest amount of jelly comes off onto the fry and he takes a very small bite before dipping it again.

I think back to a moment minutes before when the food had not yet arrived and my daughter dumped the sweetener packets all over the table. Squealing in delight, she snatched them off the table on large fistfulsâ€¦ at least, as large as her tiny hands would allow. Each fistful is crammed back into the container until it is full and the process begins anew.

My son stacks the jelly, jam, and marmalade packets until they tip and fall. Across the table, the sweetener packets spill across the table once again. But then the food arrives.

I’m back in the moment again. My daughter has crawled to my side of the booth and into my lap. She immediately wants to move away. She doesn’t want me. She just wants to be close to her brother’s fries. She steals them, no longer signing “more” and “fries”, but just taking that which she wants.

Eventually, they calm. I sit, drink my coffee, and smile at my wife. Out the window I see a hot, summer day and cars rushing to destinations unknown. I wonder if they wish they could sit with their family and enjoy a late breakfast.

I take a sip, and the warmth fills me. But it’s not the coffee that I feel.

Lock that $#@% up! 1Password for iOS goes on sale

August 29, 2013 / Jared Cash

There are a number of apps out there for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android that are capable of securely storing your passwords to all the websites you visit, but there is one that is king of them all. 1Password started life as a Mac app that did basically the same thing that it does today: stored passwords in a secure database. But, as time passed, AgileBits (the developers of 1Password) began to add more features, like Dropbox and iCloud syncing, the ability to store software serial numbers, and the capability to store encrypted notes and credit card information.

But their greatest achievement was to build an iOS version of 1Password that could remain in sync with the Mac version so you had all of your information with you wherever you went. I’ve been a big user of 1Password since its initial version and have upgraded to each subsequent version with glee. Some of my friends and family can’t justify the cost of the software when there are free (albeit vastly inferior) options.

Well, for those of you cheapskates out there, get excited, because 1Password for iOS is currently on sale for $8, and it’s well worth the price (especially if you already have a copy of 1Password for your Mac or Windows computer). Even if you don’t have the desktop counterpart, the iOS app is still a great way to store critical information that you need to have with you at all times, but that you want to keep secure. All the data is encrypted on your device, can be backed up to Dropbox or iCloud (where it is still encrypted), and is secured with a password to prevent someone from accessing it, even if they have access to your iPhone or iPad.

While the new iCloud Keychain in Mavericks and iOS 7 might make some of the features in 1Password redundant, the extra features that 1Password provides more than make up for the cost (especially if you prefer to use Dropbox to iCloud for syncing your data).

If you’re interested in checking it out, then you can get it here. Please leave a comment or drop me a line if you have questions about my 1Password usage or just want to know more.

Delayed Sadness

August 14, 2013 / Jared Cash

I wrote this over two weeks ago, the day after my show for the Fringe Festival closed. I was in the middle of something and didn’t have time to finish my thoughts. However, I felt it was important to mark the feelings I had after the show was over, if not for my own memories than to share it with the friends I made during the show and all those that showed up to support us.

â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”

(July 27, 2013)

Last nightâ€™s show was like going to a party and then just putting on a play in the middle of it. The cast had so much energy and everybody was on fire. It was easily our best show, and itâ€™s a shame that we chose to record a different night.

I realized this morning that I would not be having any more rehearsals for anymore shows: thatÂ thisÂ group of people would not be gathering as a troupe to perform again. And for a brief moment, I felt physical loss. A phantom pain.

Lord of the Rings & Harry Potter anthologies on sale (in HD!) on iTunes

August 13, 2013 / Jared Cash

UPDATE (10:40 am):Â Deal prices for several of the bundles have changed. The original article will remain below, but updated prices are listed here. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is now $18 (still a great deal) and the Harry Potter anthology is now $60. There are still a few $10 bundles remaining, so be sure to check out all of the deals here.

Apple is currently selling specially-priced bundles of movies on iTunes. At the moment, you can actually buy entire sets of movies in HD for cheaper than the price of buying one of the movies by itself. This deal is not likely to last long, so if any of these anthologies look good to you, you should snatch them up immediately.

The most notable of selections are the Lord of the Rings trilogyÂ and the complete Harry Potter anthology for only $10 each. You can also snag all 10 of the pre-reboot Star Trek films for $50, which is an absolute steal. There’s a pretty decent selection, with something for everyone. There are some great franchises here for a good deal, so if you like movies and saving money, then you should check out the complete list here.

[plinker heading=”Find this useful? Check out some of the other cool stuff here!”]

The Road Less Traveled: a microfiction horror story

August 12, 2013 / Jared Cash

When the car broke down, I was fifty miles past nowhere with another hundred to nothing. The sliver of the moon that remained struggled to peek past the clouds, as I hunched over the engine, hoping to get a glimpse of the problem and keep moving. No one traveled this road after dark.

When the battery died and the lights went out, I settled in for a long walk, careful to keep my feet on the black river of cold pitch. I checked my phone for reception every few minutes until it too turned lifeless in my hands, just another hunk of technology that betrayed me.

The rustling of the brush caused me to nearly leap out of my skin as a bobcat bounded up onto the shoulder and dashed away into the dark, more frightened of me than I of it. I counted to thirty before taking another step, afraid of drawing it back. Ten steps later, I stumbled and fell to my hands and knees. My hands rested in something sticky, but the moon had retreated once again. I stood and wiped my hands on my jeans as the light poked through the shroud above. The lifeless carcass at my feet grinned up at me. It was likely the bobcat, though what was left of it fostered some doubt. My skin began to crawl and I struggled to remain calm. I rubbed the back of my neck, which had grown much warmer.

By the time I felt the hot breath on my neck and hand, it was too late even to scream.

[plinker heading=”Like my writing? Check out some of my other posts.”]

Chromecast: Polish it all you want, it’s still a piece ofâ€¦

July 25, 2013 / Jared Cash

â€¦okay, that might be a little unfair. I haven’t even played with one yet.

Google announced several new products yesterday, one of which I got really excited about for almost a whole day. Chromecast is a little device that you plug directly into your TV’s HDMI port so that you can stream video to it. At first blush, it sounds an awful lot like an Apple TV, something I feel confident was intentional on Google’s part. And, since they’re only charging $35 for it, versus $99 for the Apple TV, it seems like a really great deal.

At first.

But today, I spent a little more time delving into the details of the device and discovered that it’s not quite as incredible as it appears. I was really hoping that I could use it as an ultraportable AirPlay receiver. Imagine visiting a friend and plugging this device into his TV and streaming photos of your kids from your iPhone or iPad. Or envision being able to connect the Chromecast to a projector and giving a presentation or demoing your latest iOS app wirelessly from anywhere in the room. But, that’s not something it can do out of the box. Or maybe ever.

Okay, maybe not ever. Obviously, dedicated developers should be able to expand the features of the Chromecast, which could (one day) make it a compelling alternative to the Apple TV. A program on your home computer could behave as a web server which could be accessed by your iPhone or Android or iPad and then redirected to the Chromecast locally. And the eventual support of streaming Chrome tabs to the device will open up the content available significantly. But there’s something about the Chromecast that still feels like it’s too much work for the masses. It appeals to the gadget geek in me, and I can definitely see some benefits to it as a cheaper alternative to the Apple TV for those of us that don’t mind doing a little extra work to get our content on the TV. But having to use a phone or a tablet or a computer as your “remote” is daunting for a number of people, and makes this device actually a fair bit more expensive than the $35 for which it retails.

However, all of that aside, the biggest complaint I have with the Chromecast is one that I discovered while writing this article, and is the one thing that keeps the Chromecast from being elegant, even if it is affordable. The device is not powered by HDMI, but rather must be plugged in to a wall outlet or a powered USB port to make it work. Suddenly, the “ultra-portability” I was hoping for is gone, as is my desire to buy the device. I might still pick one up, if only because of the three free months of Netflix that are bundled with it (bringing the total price of the device down to $11, a much more affordable “toy” with which to experiment).

I hope it gets better fast, though. The Apple TV is an amazing device and one I love having in my living room. I can only imagine how much better it or future generations will get if there is real competition in the space.

But so far, this isn’t it.

“Multitudes” opens in less than a week!

July 15, 2013 / Jared Cash

So the show that my wife and I are in opens in less than a week. I’m excited, though I’m a little terrified, as well. Anyway, I’m really hoping that some of you can come and see the show.

Here’s a flyer that our producer put together to promote the show.

You can also get tickets, check showtimes, and get directions here. Tickets are $5 and Fringe Festival buttons (to give you access to all the Fringe shows, both free and paid) are also $5 and can be purchased at the same place as the tickets. Please come see us and tell all your friends!

The Real Iron Throne

July 12, 2013 / Jared Cash

George R. R. Martin wrote a blog post revealing the differences between how he pictured The Iron Throne from the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series and the way it was depicted in “Game of Thrones” (also known as “Die Brotherf***ker, Die!”). Let me tell you, it’s frakking rad.

(Click on the photo above to visit the artist’s ASoIaF page)

This picture shows a throne forged from 1,000 swords, rather than a mere 200, as in the show. If you’ve read the books, the pictures on the artist’s page are pretty awesome. If you haven’t, then you’ll probably only care about the throne (and may have spoilers if you look at some of the photos).

I sincerely hope there’s more of this stuff out there. The worst thing about great fantasy novels being turned into movies (Lord of the Rings) and TV shows (Game of Thrones) is how hard it is to find great art inspired by the books. Most of the time, all you can find are Photoshopped stills from the move or show.

Please, if you have any links to great fantasy artwork inspired by novels like these, please point the way. Especially if they’re large enough to function as wallpapers for computers or iPads. Resolutions of 2048×2048 are tough to find in this genre.

Thanks to Mashable for the heads up.

Best of the best iOS apps free to celebrate App Store’s 5th Anniversary

July 8, 2013 / Jared Cash

To celebrate the iOS App Store’s 5th anniversary, several app developers have decided to make their apps free for a short period of time. Now, free apps are pretty common on the App Store, but a couple of the apps on this list haveÂ never been free before, and are arguably some of the best in the entire storefront.

Infinity Blade II – I’ve talked before (at length) about the Infinity Blade series. It’s easily one of the best games released for iOS devices, and still remains one of my favorite games of all time, on any system. For the first time since it’s release in December of 2011, it has gone free, and I highly recommend you snap it up at this point. Especially if you have already played the original and want to continue the story. Also, since Infinity Blade: Dungeons has been put on indefinite hold, it may be a while before we get to play another game in the series. Also, the original Infinity Blade is on sale for $2.99, as well.

Tiny Wings & Tiny Wings HD – Tiny Wings might just have the catchiest music in the entire App Store. I’m not kidding. It’s incredible. The gameplay is also incredibly simple. You control a bird whose wings are tiny, but all he wants to do is fly. You are racing against time as your bird will only travel while the sun is up. If the sunset catches you, your game is over. Simply press on the screen to cause the bird to descend and let go to let him fly. Using the hills, gravity, and timing, you can soar farther and farther, moving to new islands with new challenges, each more frustratingly difficult than the last. I highly recommend this game, but be warned: you will lose several hours to this game.

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery – I have been a huge fan of point-and-click adventure games in the past, but never have I found one that found such a remarkable combination of art style, musical direction, and action-oriented gameplay as this one. With a story that is at once both familiar and bizarre and a gameplay mechanic that is affected by the actual lunar cycle, this game is easily my favorite iOS title of all time. I cannot recommend it enough and Capybara Games has marked the Universal edition free for a time. There is no reason you shouldn’t be downloading this game right now.

There are a number of other apps that are currently free, and if any new and noteworthy ones appear, I’ll add them here. Check out the list I found over on Reddit.