Surprising things you can do with your smartphone

Since most brands are now making the move to mobile and nearly everyone out there has an app these days, it's difficult to be surprised by what you can do with a simple app. Are we losing our sense of wonder when it comes to technology, or are we simply running out of ideas? The answer is a resounding no on both counts. We're simply drowning under the proliferation of new apps. So much so, that it's almost difficult for news of the truly innovative ones to get through. Don't worry though - independent tech blogs like this one and doing their best to get news of the best new apps to you, the general public, despite the tide of mediocre ones. Here are some examples of surprising and inspiring things you can do with apps, to help restore your tech lust.   

Look at the stars

Great astronomy apps have been around for a while, but Night Sky Lite is one that comes with a whole community of astronomy enthusiasts itching to tell you about the best places to view the stars. Make use of the detailed stargazing conditions maps and a World Traveller mode which lets you view the night's sky from anywhere in the world. Or, just use the app for its main function: point it at the night's sky and get an amazing overlay of all the constellations, stars and even satellites you encounter.  Real astronomy geeks should supplement Night Sky with Nasa's free app, which keeps you in the loop about space missions, news and countdowns to launches as well as their Space Images app which lets you view the latest images of black holes, solar flares and stars being born.  

Win money, with retro games

Bingo is just one example of a pastime that's enjoying something of a renaissance due to the wonders of tech. It wasn't always cool - your gran would have shuffled down to the local bingo hall not so long ago to meet up with her friends and enjoy this simple pleasure. But things have changed. Bingo has been taken away from the dusty old games halls and it's enjoying a renewed popularity thanks to its new home: the mobile. With some impressive cash prizes on offer and a new platform to do it on, Bingo is now soaring back to popularity amongst hipsters, housewives and businessmen alike. This hugely accessible game can be found on apps like the one made by 32Red Bingo, which are available widely on Android and iOS.

Control your desktop remotely

Mobile apps are increasingly being used for managing other business operations remotely. And that means the ability to control your desktop PC remotely. This opens up a host of new possibilities for those who manage their businesses on the go. There are a few different apps out there that can do the job, but until they've stayed largely hidden from the mainstream. However, the burgeoning trend towards working remotely has put them in the spotlight recently. Chrome Remote Desktop is one such app that, in combination with the companion app for your desktop, makes it possible for you to whizz around your desktop from the comfort of your local cafe or even your bed. Just make sure you don't tell your boss you have it, or sick days are going to be filled with a lot more than playing 32Red games!  

Invest on the stock market

Investing on the stock market is something a lot of people dream of doing and it can be a fantastic way to increase your net worth. The problem is, few people have the time or the resources to get started. That's all about to change with the arrival of stock market apps like Stash, which allows you to set yourself up with the touch of a button. Choose your investment type from a range of simple options: "I believe"(based on the causes the stocks support), "I want" (based on what you want to achieve), "I like"(those you've experienced). You can choose to invest as little as $5 at a time and there are lots of useful guides and glossaries that beginners can make use of.

What are your favourite things to do with an app? And what apps have you encountered recently that have revived your tech lust? Leave a comment below.

Top Free Online Games for 2013-2014

2013 was definitely a good year for online gamers – and there are so many to choose fromthese days – who knows where to start?  Not to mention the surge of online bingo sites – you can’t turn on your TV’s these days without seeing a campaign for one!   We thought we would let you know our top 5 for you to try for free!

DC Universe Online

This is perfect for those comic book fans out there!  You will see some of your favourite characters such as Superman, Wonder Woman as well as some villains too like the Joker! You get to choose whether you want to be a hero or villain and can utilise their weapons in your fight.  You can even create your own custom villain or hero, you can choose how they look and even their combination of super powers.  Have fun trying to conquer the universe.

Dungeons and Dragons

This is possibly one of the most famous online games around.  It is a multi-player game that allows you to visit the unexplored world of Xen’drik.  As it is a role playing game it allows you to essentially to create your own adventure.  It’s action packed so you can expect to meet all kinds of characters and creatures.  It does however feel very realistic – you can even change the camera view so you can see everything in a first person perspective.

Raider Z

After the kingdom of Rendel crumbles you will find that there are all kinds of vicious characters swarming the kingdom looking to make it their own. The tagline of the game is “Hunt Together or Die Alone”.  There is hope for you to save the kingdom but you need to join together with others and fight against those monsters.   You need to be careful though as these monsters are scary and will stop at nothing to complete their takeover.  

Age of Conan: Unchained

This game will introduce you to Conan the Barbarian!  In this game you will be allowed to explore Hyboria and know what it feels like to be one of the most renowned fantasy hero’s ever.  There are 12 different classes that you can choose from and you will have to engage in combat with all kinds of creatures and monsters in your fight to the top.  The graphics and animations are fantastic making everything feel realistic and more enjoyable to play.

The Lord of the Rings

If you were a fan of the Lord of the Rings books or movies – then you will love this game!  It allows you to be part of the action and even get your chance to explore middle earth in your own fight against the evil Salron.  You will find some of your favourite characters features such as Gandalf, Bilbo Baggins, Strider and more.  Throughout the game at specific times the game will put you in control of one of those characters to earn rewards.  

We did mention that there are some great new casino sites that have launched too – so if you want to try something a little different, you can and for free with some of the best paypal casinos in this site paypal-casinos.co.

The Best Flash Games 2013

Now that computers have made our working lives so much more efficient (ha!), what are we supposed to do with all that extra time we’ve created for ourselves? There are only so many paperclips you can unbend, only so many rubber bands to be made into a ball...

Bright Idea

Luckily, someone had the bright idea of using Adobe’s Flash technology to allow us to play games within our browsers – and now the sheer variety of instantly available, often free games means there’s very little time left to actually do the stuff we came to the office to do in the first place. Let’s have a look at a few of the best ones...

Top Games

Happy Wheels, despite the innocuous-sounding name, is a gore-soaked platformer in which you attempt to conduct your vehicle to the finish line without loss of limbs or decapitation. It’s extremely unlikely that you’ll succeed, based on my experience. Very funny; not very nice.

At the other end of the spectrum are educational games such as Eight Letters In Search Of A Word. This is one for Scrabble players and fans of Countdown; make the longest word you can from the random letters, with an eight letter anagram every five rounds.

Crashing one’s balloon in a wasteland at night, and having to fend off weird creatures with increasingly advanced weaponry: it’s something we’ve all done, and at last there’s a Flash game that reflects our experiences. It’s called Balloon In A Wasteland, as you may have guessed.

Online bingo is a good way to use up those empty office hours. At bingo.com you’ll find all the bingo-related thrills you’ll need to keep you going until hometime. Bonuses are available for new players, and there’s a chat function.

Old people (i.e. people born in 1981 or earlier, like me) will be thrilled to hear that classic shooter Doom is now available as a play-for-free Flash version. Prepare to be sacked, as the chances of you stepping away from the game are exactly the same as they were twenty years ago, i.e. zero.

Learn Stuff!

There’s a profusion of poker sites of course, but if you want to practise before you play for hard cash, you could do worse than either Poker Practise or Learn Texas Holdem, both available at Flashgamepoker.com.

Finally, another brain-tester that’ll maybe teach you something. Flags Of The World is fast and attractively designed, and really quite addictive as you battle the clock and other players to identify as many flags as possible. It’s online at Geography-map-games.com. Enjoy!

(Images via Wikipedia, totaljerkface.com, bingo.com, geography-map-games.com)

Gaming - there’s never been so much choice

The rise of casual gaming over the last few years has changed the face of ‘video gaming’ and made it far more mainstream. Once the sole provenance of teenage boys, gaming has blossomed into a multi-million dollar industry with so many different choices, there is a way of playing games out there for everyone.

The emergence of wifi and hyper fast internet speeds have opened up online gaming to the masses, for example. Not that long ago, you had to be a dedicated gamer to want to get online and play with other people, necessitating as it did waiting for dial ups and tying up the phone line for hours. These days, anyone and everyone can hop online whenever they fancy - and from wherever they fancy with 3G and 4G making it pretty much instantaneous to play games from buses, trains, while shopping, eating and walking. In fact there isn’t anywhere where games can’t be played today!

Consoles are, of course, hooked up to fast internet as well, allowing players to play against people all over the world in complicated games like Call of Duty, requiring skill, dedication and many hours of gameplay.

Smartphones and tablets have given us simple games like Plants vs Zombies and Bejewelled Blitz, which are phenomenally popular with the casual gamer market - the vast number of people who have become interested in playing games, often following first exposure through social networking sites like Facebook. There are literally thousands of gaming apps available, catering to lots of different interests, from sport lovers to brain training experts and the number of people playing them continues to rise.

Added to these are online gambling and casino sites, which offer a different way to play games online. Although poker and casino games have always been popular, with console games and simple card games available for many years, the rise of online poker recently has seen a huge uptake in players. The ability to play professional players and play many hands at once has opened up real life tournament play to dedicated online poker players as well - they can win places in tournaments and go on to advance their game that way.

In a similar way, online bingo sites have also taken off in recent years, with many thousands of regular players discovering a way to harness an old favourite in a completely new way. It’s possible to play online bingo on sites like chitchat bingo and enjoy socialising with other players, as well as play bingo in many different ways.

With online games also aimed at children - for example Disney’s Club Penguin and Mind Candy’s Moshi Monsters proving phenomenally popular and introducing children to the world of online gaming at a very early age, it seems that no age group or interest group has been left out of the rise of online gaming. There really is something for everyone, and it;s fantastic to see something that was once so niche, become so popular and educationally important. You can’t underestimate what can be learned from video gaming and online game playing and, of course, the fun that can be had exploring all the different ways to play.