And as you can see above they used ShiVa 3D game engine (a multiplatform engine), so this game might come to other platforms too.

Let’s take a look at this game! First thing that makes me angry is that this app insists on you being signed-into Game Center, and if you are signed in already then it simply, without asking, puts itself into high scores and logs itself into game center – annoying.

Another another annoying thing is that despite the fact that this game is not free (I paid $0.99) they are advertising their other games inside of this app blatantly (not just in some hidden menu):

And, as you can see above, they are even so petty that they advertise (in rotation) the same game inside of itself! Idiots.

The gameplay is such: you set up the devices and then you open the gate where chicken soldiers are moving – in straight lines, so devices need to be set in such way that chickens don’t get killed.

First 2 levels are annoying because you are being taught forcibly the placement of objects.

If you set up the obstacle wrongl, your chicken may be killed.

Usually the logic is about directing chickens away from problems that would kill chickens.

In the main menu of this game one can find also “arcade.”

But to play it, one needs to buy “coins” via in-app purchase.

And they are not cheap!

This game also supports some kind of social gaming via “Crystal” (accessible from main menu). What is also annoying is it wants to get your location.

Conclusion

This game may be interesting challenge for mobile gamers, but personally I don’t like it as it has too many annoying aspects. Nonetheless it is recommendable.

To buy this app, click here:
Non Flying Soldiers for iPhone.

Special guest: David Artuso from CellHelmet

MISC 

• Edward: Facebook’s entry to stock market not so good as expected: $38, then $42 and then the day ended at $38 but it will reach over $100 so worth buying now
• Edward: LTE starts big time in Eurotrashland , now also for smartphones not only USB sticks and routers
• http://www.cultofmac.com/167907/waterproof-your-iphone-with-this-amazing-japanese-condom/ The Japanese phone condom (?!)

Apple 

• No rumors!

Google and Android

• Edward: already 8 million pre-orders for Samsung Galaxy SIII / S3
• Edward: Siri-clone of Samsung stolen and available for all Android 4 phones
  http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/19/3031621/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-rom-leak-s-voice-available-android-4-0

Microsoft 

• Edward: Windows 8 UI will be more primitive, no transparent windows and glossy effects, what the duck?
  http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/18/3029547/microsoft-windows-8-drops-aero-glass 

App Picks

• Diana – ColorNote https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.socialnmobile.dictapps.notepad.color.note&feature=nav_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDNd
• Alli – CardMunch http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/cardmunch-business-card-reader/id478351777?mt=8 Thanks, Patrick!
• Edward – WhatsApp 2.0
• for Windows Phone, now profile picture can be set:
  http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/218a0ebb-1585-4c7e-a9ec-054cf4569a79
• David – Pic Collage http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/pic-collage/id448639966?mt=8

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You  can do all this directly from the Color Splurge app. Take a new photo, use an existing photo from your photo album, or a photo from your Facebook album. Once you’ve uploaded your photo, you can desaturate the color – you know, add in color to only where you want it.

It’s a very simple app that does exactly what it’s supposed to do. In the above photo you can see a photo I desaturated of my nephew playing soccer. Once you’ve done your color magic, you turn that photo into something special – again, right from the app.

Your photo to a product inside the app. There are a variety of products available from coasters (as seen above), to iPhone or iPad cases, keychains, and bookbags.

For more on the process, see the video with Garry Green, President of Liberty Synergistics, and the full press release below.

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. – May. 3, 2012 – Representing one of the fastest-growing segments in wireless, ivoke™ will exhibit its mobile SDK, API, skinned websites, and mobile web technology applications in booth  #4572 at the International CTIA WIRELESS 2012 show.  For the first time, ivoke will present mobile app partner, Color Splurge, a free iTunes mobile app that allows users to desaturate and color their photos to generate high quality images. Attendees can view the many personalized products that can now be created from the mere touch of a smartphone screen.

As more individuals use smartphones as their primary photo device, billions of photos have been building up in the digital world, creating a pent up demand to create something tangible with them. ivokeMOBILE™, the ivoke mobile technology, created in response to this growing demand, provides an interactive experience that enables customers to snap photos, customize the appearance of the images, then send them to print on a variety of retail products, including mobile accessories, mugs, key chains, wall décor, apparel and other merchandise.

“Consumers crave individualism and self-expression,” said Garry Green, president of Liberty Synergistics, Inc. “The ivoke technology platform gives people the opportunity to personalize items and gifts, and provides  app and web developers and partners with new revenue streams. ivoke empowers consumers to order personalized items directly from our partners’ websites and/or mobile applications. CTIA is the ideal showroom to present innovative technologies that empower consumers to memorialize life’s events.”

Leveraging the 28-year history of parent company, Liberty Synergistics, ivoke has seamlessly created an ecosystem of content creators, online communities, personalized skinned sites, retailers and other channel partners where individuals can create personalized products, while partners can establish a new, consistent and risk-free revenue stream. To learn more about ivoke, visit www.ivokenow.com.

CTIA WIRELESS is the most comprehensive marketplace for mobile innovation and technology in North America. To learn more, visit www.ctia.org.

About Liberty Synergistics/ivoke™

Liberty Synergistics was founded in 1984, as a supplier to the photo industry.  Doing business as Liberty Photo Products, the company rapidly evolved as the product line grew and diversified.  Liberty has expanded in recent years, through organic growth, a series of acquisitions and further diversification of the products it supplies, taking on the name Liberty Synergistics, Inc. in 2008. The company launched its personalization division, ivoke™ in 2011 to provide channel partners’ loyal followers with new forms of self-expression and the ability to memorialize life events. Through its divisions, Liberty currently serves national, regional, and independent retailers; mobile, web and kiosk application developers; and brand partners throughout the world looking for new revenue streams and new forms of self-expression for their loyal followers. For more information about Liberty Synergistics, please visit www.libertysynergistics.com and www.ivokenow.com.

Life360, which will reach a 15 million user milestone at CTIA (that’s only 5M away from LBS giant, Foursquare), will talk about their expansion plans such as integrating the app with vehicle security systems so that users can see where their car is at any time. In fact, Life360 recently announced a Series A funding round with Bill Ford of Ford Motor Company as an investor.

Life360 is also talking to home security firms about integrating a dashboard into the app so consumers can access their home security system anytime, anywhere.

Calabasas, Calif. – May 7, 2012 – Musubo, the creator of mobile accessories that seamlessly merge fashion and protection, today announces four new additions to its collection of unique, eye-catching carrying solutions. Designed for iPhone 4/4S, the Ripple, Sexy, Eden and Double X cases bring fresh and exciting designs to your device, allowing you to showcase your distinctive style and taste while keeping your phone perfectly protected. Inspired by Tokyo street fashion, Musubo cases turn the real into surreal, ignite the imagination and spark conversation.

“Just in time for summer, Musubo accessories bring color and freshness to case design that hasn’t ever been seen before,” said Jeff Galant, CEO of Smart IT USA, Musubo’s exclusive U.S. distribution partner. “The cases are truly original and imaginative without compromising functionality or protection.”

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once I saw this press release, I was off to the Musubo booth at CTIA, where Jeff Galant gave us a tour and description of the entire new line.

Enjoy!

Toronto, Ontario, May 18, 2012 — iSkin, a premium brand for fashion and technology lifestyle accessories, announced today two brand new protective cases for the iPhone 4/4S that fuse strong protection with sexy style: the fuze and fuze SE.

iSkin once again raises the bar in premium protection for iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S by designing & engineering a case that fuses shock and impact protection into an elegant, low-profile package. The fuze and fuze SE represent months of engineering and research & development, along with the development of an iSkin exclusive interlocking system that combines outstanding protection in a slim and fashionable form.

Protection

Unlike other hard cases, the fuze and fuze SE both feature a soft inner core that cushions the iPhone while its hard exterior absorbs impact. Both fuze models are finished to provide a sure grip on the iPhone, giving owners confidence while holding it. The fuze and fuze SE cover every vulnerable edge of the iPhone. The fuze and the fuze SE feature protected power and volume buttons, as well as a removable charging port (30-pin) cover to keep unwanted dust, dirt and spills from causing damage. In addition, the fuze SE has extended iPhone frontal protection with integrated home button coverage.

Fit and Finish

With aesthetics keenly in mind, the fuze features a modern tri-tone color scheme. It pairs a black matte-finished body with a blue, pink or grey front that’s accented with a white trim around the screen—for a look that’s akin to the sophisticated superhero. The fuze SE steps it up with an über-sophisticated black and grey color scheme that’s accented with a brushed aluminum front plate. Both cases are designed for those seeking robust protection without the bulky, industrial look.

Works with Speaker Docks

The new cases are thin enough that they may be used with speaker docks and the Apple Universal Dock (with cradle adapters removed).

Altogether, the fuze and fuze SE distinguish iSkin as a continued industry leader in providing advanced protection with premium style for the discerning iPhone owner.

Availability & Pricing

With all features and benefits considered, the fuze retails for an affordable 49.99 USD (MSRP), while the fuze SE retails for 59.99 USD (MSRP). The fuze is available online at iSkin.com and will appear at exclusive iSkin retailers in the weeks to come.

A basic feature of most password managers is data encryption using ciphers such as AES and Blowfish. A cipher is simply a mathematical formula which uses a string of characters (encryption key) and a user password to turn plain text into something unreadable.  To read the information a hacker needs access to the encrypted data, encryption key, password and the formula used to encrypt the data.

One way to access the encrypted data is to obtain the device. A password manager can’t stop a thief but it can provide an alert if a person obtains your device, starts your password manager, and enters the wrong password.

Another way to access your data is to obtain a backup, however some operating systems embed a device identifier so that decrypting them is nearly impossible without the unlocked device.  For example, iOS uses information from the Keychain to protect backups. Apple provides developers with access to store data in the Keychain for additional security.

The next challenge for a hacker is trying to obtain the encryption key. To make this as difficult as possible, most password managers do not store the encryption key in the app but use a formula and the user password to derive it. These formulas are generally referred to as Hash function and often include “SHA” in their names.

The master password is the key element stopping a hacker from accessing your data. It is very important that password managers avoid storing the master password in the app itself. However, as the Elcomsoft study explains, many password managers do store the master password, or an easily decipherable version of the master password, in the app itself.

This leads to a common question. If the master password isn’t stored in the app, then how does it know if the user entered the right one? Good password managers use a sophisticated Hash algorithm, applied over and over to the master password to produce a derived value or “hash” of the master password. This hash should be stored in a secure place such as the Apple Keychain. When a user enters their password, the same Hash algorithm is performed to see if the derived value is the same. It’s important to note that calculating the master password from the hash is virtually impossible.

If a hacker can’t find the master password in the app, they must try guessing it using techniques generally referred to as password recovery attacks.

The first line of defense is choosing a long master password containing many types of characters. If you limit the master password to four digits, there are only 10,000 possible combinations. If you increase the length of the master password to 8 alphanumeric characters, the number of combinations increases to 8 (characters) to the 38th power (26 alpha + 10 numeric) and even more if you include special characters such as “!@#$%”. Even a supercomputer would take a very long time to generate all possible combinations.

The second line of defense to a password recovery attack is to make it difficult to submit a guess. In the Apple environments, this can be done by storing the hash in the Apple Keychain so the hacker would need to get through two levels of security. In metaphorical terms,this would be like breaking into Fort Knox only to find the vault of the Bank of England.

All security systems are vulnerable to attack and experts such as Elcomsoft do a good job of describing these risks. However, good security software can make hacking your data an   extremely difficult undertaking. While not invincible, a well designed password manager offers considerably more protection than commonly used alternatives.

by Marc Bolh
Founder & CEO of Ascendo
Developer of DataVault Password Manager

The colors pop, and most of their cases are textured, so they feel good as well as look good. I really liked the ease of changing the back plates to quickly give your phone a whole new look.

Lewis showed me some hot covers that fit on the MacBook Air, but explained they didn’t have Macs to just leave sitting out. Lucky for him, I happened to have a Mac in my purse! So I took it out and he tried on the cover. Even though I had a skin on it, the snap cover fit quite well, and looked really nice.

Scanbox is what I call a d’oh – no brainer. It holds your iPhone level at the exact distance to photograph an 8.5 x 11 page. Like I said – d’oh! I have hundreds of photos of important documents that I’ve taken with my iPhone. I would say that 100% are not straight, or they’re at an angle so that one side of the page is closer than the other.

So yea…I backed Scanbox. Take a look for yourself on Kickstarter, and be sure to hit up the video below so you can also say d’oh!

Wired and wireless, DBEST has some amazing speakers and headphones.

Here’s Jeff Galant from SmartIT to show and tell more about DBEST.

Jeff also had a piece of sculpture masquerading as a speaker. Or maybe it was a speaker masquerading as a sculpture. At any rate, the sound was awesome, and it had some great features. Here are some photos.