Sony PS4 to be released on Holidays 2013

The long wait is over for us Sony fan boys! Sony has recently announced the release date of PS3's successor. Though there was no exact date specified, Sony's making a lot of its loyal consumers wait until the holidays (in the US, that is).  Officially it is called "PlayStation 4" or simply "PS4," and I'm glad they ditched the rumored name 'Orbis' which I think is crappy. No console was shown during the announcement, though, but official specs were released after the event.

Official listing is as follows:

Main Processor:
Single-chip custom processor
CPU: x86-64 AMD 'Jaguar' 8 cores 
GPU: 1.84 TFLOPS, AMD next-generation Radeon™ based graphics engine

Memory:
GDDR5 8GB

Hard Disk Drive: 
Built-in

Optical Drive (read only):
BD 6xCAV 
DVD 8xCAV

I/O and communication: 
Super-Speed USB (USB 3.0)
AUX 
Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T)
IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth® 2.1 (EDR)

AV output:
HDMI
Analog-AV out
Digital Output (optical)

DualShock 4

Along with the new console's announcement, Sony also unveiled its new generation of gaming controllers, the DualShock 4. Despite of having the same form and layout, there has been a lot of addition in this new generation of controllers. I bet you guys will miss seeing the Select and Start button that were sitting just on top of each analog sticks as they are already combined in the new 'Options' button. Also, with the new 'Share' button, you can easily upload an image or video on Facebook. The controller also sports a touch pad at the front for another input option. On the front side you will find an LED bar which lights in different colors to easily identify players. Another exciting addition are the built in speakers and headset jack which I think will provide us a more immersive gaming experience.

So far, the specs and the addition of new features are quite impressive and this actually got so many gamers excited. But I wonder how Sony's PS4 would fare once it's competitor, Microsoft, releases the rumored Xbox 720? We'll see...

Jelly Bean 4.2.2 is now rolling out!

Android Jelly Bean

Just a few days ago, Google released another update of its newest version of Android, the Jelly Bean 4.2.2.  Though many were excited about this new update, many of its new features and improvements are still yet to be discovered. Many Android fanboys are still on the wait for its release notes. However, known features and improvements are already listed all over the web. According to various sources, these features and improvements include:

1. New download notification

In-progress app download now shows the percentage and an estimated time remaining for your downloads. This is waaaay better than before since you’d have an idea when your download would probably complete. Though this should have been added waaaay before.

2. New quick settings function

I really loved it when Google decided to add the second drop-down quick settings for Android Jelly Bean 4.2. However, it was a pain to toggle stuff before (e.g. Bluetooth, WiFi) since it takes you to the actual settings window for you to turn ‘em on and off. But for Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2, you can now toggle the on/off state of those functions by long pressing on them. Sweet.

3. Bluetooth audio streaming fix

Before, we are experiencing an issue where the audio streamed over Bluetooth would “hiccup.” Pretty annoying, right? Worry no more, Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 comes with a fix. However, it still needs improvement, according to WeeManFoo of Reddit. Though he experienced much less skips, he still finds it imperfect. According to him, he got disconnected from his stereo when it switched from WiFi to 3G. Well, let’s see if Google would attend to this issue in their next iteration.

4. New notification sounds for wireless charging and low battery.

Nothing fancy, really, but I guess the notification sound for low battery is better than it ever was. And oh, haven’t tried charging wirelessly so I could really not say anything on that, lol.

5. New Gallery app animation

I did not actually find Gallery loading times slow before but I guess I am happier now as the update gave us optimised effects and animations for faster loading times.

These are just *some* of the changes that come with this update and I guess there are still a number of features that has not been discovered yet. Well, we’d see those once the release notes are out. Hopefully, we’ll have the full list in the next few days.

The update is currently being rolled out for (most) current Nexus devices and could be installed via over-the-air (OTA) update.

Fireworks

I downloaded this game cause I think it’s pretty cool to make any background for the game with the use of the rear camera of the PS Vita.

The game is pretty simple, trigger the fireworks at the right moment and create awesome firework display, anytime, anywhere.

There are 3 game modes. In Infinite mode you basically play to get the highest score possible. Just trigger the fireworks successively and if you miss 3 fireworks, game over. In Challenge mode, you’ll have to go through different challenges to get to the next game and each round  last for about 15 - 30 seconds. And in Tabletop (personally I haven’t tried this) you can use 3 different AR (Augmented Reality) cards. Each card represents a house and the difficulty of the game. I wish I have some or even printed one for a screenshot.

(Challenge mode: Trigger All)

Overall, the fireworks graphics are awesome, music is simple and actually helps you with the game play, and it's easy to play. Personally, I’m not too fond of this game but it’s one of those games that could you can let your 10 years old nephew play cause your Vita has nothing but FBS games. Another thing that I'm not happy about is that you don’t get to earn trophies for this game. However, the game does have an online leader boards feature so you can still own a little bragging right.

Oh and did I mention that this game is free?