Friday, October 10, 2014

Archie Meets Predator – A Battle for the Ages

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Archie Comics has been undergoing a resonance the last few years, as the comic company tries to diversify its target audience. They introduced the openly gay character Keven Keller and tapped into our infatuation with Zomibes with Afterlife with Archie. What would happen if Archie married Betty or Veronica? Life with Archie chronicles the quintessential What If scenario. The next chapter in Archie comics has just been announced and it involves the Predator.

Jesse ‘the body’ Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger famously battled the Predator in the 1980’s classic. Since then, the franchise has spawned many sequels, mash-ups and comic books. The next comic book hero to take on the Predator is Riverdales favorite son.

Dark Horse Comics and Archie Comics are combining two popular franchises for Archie Meets Predator, a four-issue series coming in spring 2015 by writer Alex de Campi, that puts Archie and the gang in the alien hunter’s sights while they’re on spring break in Costa Rica.

It all starts with Jughead winning a vacation prize from a lucky bag of chips and hi-jinks start to ensue when Betty runs off into the Jungle after losing a “Best Dressed” contest with Veronica.

In an interview with the USA Today de Campi said “Let’s take this gentle, beloved, classic teen cast and hunt them down and slaughter them one by one. Seriously, if you wouldn’t jump at the chance to write something like this, you need your head examined.”

Archie meeting other entertainment properties is nothing new. It all started with 1994’s “Archie Meets the Punisher” crossover with Marvel Comics, and continued in 2011’s “Archie Meets KISS.”

Archie Meets Predator – A Battle for the Ages is a post from: Good e-Reader

$79 Kindle Review and Video Walkthrough

Amazon’s new Kindle arrived at the beginning of the month. Last week I posted a first impressions review, and now I’ve got the full 2014 Kindle review posted. It includes a video walkthrough showing the new Kindle’s hardware and software in action, there are a few pictures, and a list of all the Kindle-related software […]

Collection Highlights: Trending Titles for October

Learn about some of our favorite new eBook and audiobook releases in OverDrive Collection Highlights: Trending Titles for October. We’ll also introduce you to some of the latest additions to OverDrive Marketplace, including new Chinese publishers, educational content, and streaming video for kids and adults.

Interested in any of the titles you see? Click the links in the presentation to be taken right to the featured content in OverDrive Marketplace.

Note: For the best audio experience, we recommend watching this presentation in Chrome.

 

Carrie Smith is a Technical Writer at OverDrive.

Video – Amazon Fire Phone Review

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The Amazon Fire phone is getting skewed heavily in the smartphone world and the average rating on the main Amazon website is a paltry two out of five stars. This device is basically a gateway to shopping on Amazon and Prime members ultimately benefit the most from having his as their primary handset. How relevant is the Fire Phone in Canada or outside of the US? Today, Peter does a hands on video review to see if this phone is solid or not.

If you have ever heard of the Fire phone before, no worries. It is primary marketed to the US and UK. It is notable for its hallmark feature “Dynamic Perspective”: using four front-facing cameras and the gyroscope to track the user’s movements, the OS adjusts the UI so that it gives the impression of depth and 3D. Other notable Amazon services on the phone include X-Ray, used for identifying and finding information about media; Mayday, the 24-hour customer service tool; and Firefly, a tool that automatically recognizes text, sounds, and objects then offers a way to buy it through Amazon’s online store.

Amazon is really hyping the 4.7 inch IPS display that is optimized to using it outdoors. How does this really perform in real world tests? As an added bonus, Peter does an outdoor reading test, using the Kindle app.


Video – Amazon Fire Phone Review is a post from: Good e-Reader

Snapchat Photos Stolen and Leaked

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It seems Snapchat is the latest victim in what is becoming a long line of apps and services experiencing security breaches and compromises, though it’s a little confusing just how or where it happened. What we do know is that a 13GB database of private user photographs is circulating around the Internet (which translates into as many as 200,000 images now public in 4chan and other forums). They could have come directly from the Snapchat client Snapsave, or from SnapSaved.com, both options allowing users to save the photos and videos they view.

So far, Snapchat is denying they have anything to do with it:

“We can confirm that Snapchat’s servers were never breached and were not the source of these leaks. Snapchatters were victimized by their use of third-party apps to send and receive Snaps, a practice that we expressly prohibit in our Terms of Use precisely because they compromise our users’ security. We vigilantly monitor the App Store and Google Play for illegal third-party apps and have succeeded in getting many of these removed.”

There is a saying somewhere about pointing fingers at others resulting in them being pointed back at you… but it could be the truth as well. Either way, reading about these security breeches should teach you one very important lesson: don’t take photographs of things you wouldn’t like other people to see. As you can imagine, it isn’t the photographs of what you had for supper that people are looking to peek at.

Snapchat tries to help maintain a user’s privacy by alerting the sender if the recipient takes a screenshot of their photo, but many third-party apps can circumvent this feature; and while they actively search for and report these apps, it is near impossible for them to keep up.

Snapchat Photos Stolen and Leaked is a post from: Good e-Reader

Dragon Quest II Goes Mobile with Android App

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The celebrated Dragon Quest series has gone mobile once again with the second installment of the series arriving on Android and iOS this week. Fans of the franchise should feel very fortunate as they have only been waiting a month since the first volume hit the Google Play store last month. Developed by the famed Square Enix, Dragon Quest II bring the fair lands and foul dungeons made famous by the classic RPG to your mobile devices!

Picking up where the first episode left off, you are forced to restore peace to a land on the verge of ruin thanks to demon hosts summoned by the fallen High Priest Hargon. Dragon Quest II is an open-world adventure game, within which you are free to wander monster-infested dungeons or sail the seas; all the while, discovering more powerful abilities, treasures, and gaining the experience you need to succeed.

It never ceases to amaze me how accurately sophisticated RPG style strategy games translate to touch-screen mobile devices, but Dragon Quest II doesn’t disappoint. The game’s controls are very easy to get the hang of and can be repositioned on the screen to accommodate your preference between one or two-handed play (which works well for those of us who cut our teeth on console games with a more traditional controller).

If you are dying to devote some gameplay time Dragon Quest II, grab it now from the Google Play Store for $4.99 USD. Don’t let the price tag scare you off –the game is challenging and the storyline complex enough that you will turn to it time and again for entertainment.

Dragon Quest II Goes Mobile with Android App is a post from: Good e-Reader

Moving pictures

Earlier this year, we blogged about a shampoo ad that was running in the Swedish subway. A Pi hooked up to a motion sensor triggered a video effect on a billboard, so the model’s hair blew around in what looked like a response to the wind created every time a train came into the station.

Swedish ad agency Garberg have done something similar to that original project – but this time something’s different (and all their work on this ad has been pro bono). This has become the most-viewed video in Sweden this week, and it brought us all up short. We think it’ll have the same effect on you.