Microsoft's Xbox One has continued to grow as a platform, delivering it's multimedia all-in-one promise, as well as giving gamers plenty of reasons spend countless hours vegging out on the sofa, including that excellent-looking Elite controller. The next year will be no different, and there's a lot of major releases and promising titles on the horizon to look forward to. Here's our top 25. 25. Assassin's Creed Syndicate We're putting Assassin's Creed: Syndicate here as it's a title we're very much looking forward to, but it's also one we're keeping a little more guarded about on behalf of gamers out there. We may not have had the same amount of problems with Unity as many of you, but Ubisoft's credibility has dropped some over the last few months, so we're going to wait and see if bridges can be unburned. Still, even though we're prepared for bugs and some possible let downs, there's no denying Syndicate is one of the most intriguing Assassin's Creed releases of recent years. With the goal of modernising the franchise, the time period is one of the most interesting yet, set in 1868 Victorian London, and it'll feature two protagonists, each of whom has a different approach to combat and stealth. New gadgets such as the grappling hook will make scaling the verticality of London a breeze, and we'll also be able to raise hell by driving horses and carriages through the murky streets in various chases and fights. It's a promising game, and as long as Ubisoft can nail down the quality control this time, Assassin's Creed will be back on form. 24. Unravel It's certainly not going to be a title for everyone, being a classic style platformer at heart, but Unravel, coming from EA, is a very interesting little platformer that stars a simple, but very cute hero. Channelling Sackboy, Unravel stars Yarnie, a woollen hero who starts each level attached to the starting point. As he wanders deeper into the level, he unravels, and becomes thinner and thinner. He can find yarn balls spread around, which he can wind into himself, thus extending the distance he can travel. This yarn mechanic continues to Yarnie's powers, and he can use his yarn to attach onto hooks and other objects to traverse and manipulate the environment. All of this is covered with gorgeous visuals. Unravel is an odd title to come from EA, a company that usually focuses on sports and shooters, but it's no less welcome, and we look forward to seeing more of Yarnie in the coming months. 23. Mass Effect Andromeda We know very little about it at the moment, hence its lower spot on the list, but if there's one title to get us excited, it's Mass Effect. We know that the new game will be a totally new story, set after the events of the Shepard trilogy, and that it'll take place in the galaxy of Andromeda, our closest galactic neighbour. There's a new Mako, the return of the N7 commando forces, and the teaser shows what looked to be a very frontier-style aesthetic, hinting that mankind, and possibly the rest of the familiar Mass Effect races, are only just stepping foot into new territory. We'll no doubt find out a lot more as the months tick over, but the game is still some way off, so we'll have to wait a lot longer yet.

One of the things I’ve noticed budding Android developers struggle most with is how to properly integrate content being pulled form web services into their Android apps. Many of them have been focusing exclusively on figuring out layouts and other user interface related issues and haven’t yet developed an understanding of the underlying threading model in Android, and the fact that you don’t want to do network IO (or anything that takes time for that matter!) on the “main” thread. Some of them have already discovered ASyncTask, but find the documentation a bit difficult to digest or simply lack a nice clean comprehensive working app that demonstrates the concepts. I recently posted a screencast on YouTube (embedded below) that is actually a recording of a portion of a lecture I give in my mobile app develop course here at GVSU. The video seems to be getting a fair amount of views on YouTube for the short time its been available and I’m also getting a number of requests for the source code. In this video I walk through the implementation of a fictitious app I implemented called TopTracks. The app uses publicly available web services on the Last.FM music social network to display the current most popular music tracks among Last.FM users in various metro areas across the United States. In the course of the code walkthrough we cover how to actually issue the HTTP requests, how to parse the JSON result strings we receive in response, and how to properly code this up in an ASyncTask in a way that moves the time consuming network fetch into a background thread, but still giving us the opportunity to update the view hierarchy with the main thread once the fetch completes. We also take a look at a custom ListView Adapter to demonstrate a typical user interface for displaying an array of data fetched from a network service. The source code covered in the screencast is available here. If you are in the process of learning to develop for the Android platform, you might be interested in a series of Android screencast tutorials I’ve given in my lectures and made available on YouTube. I’ve embedded the playlist below.

I recently reviewed Need for Speed Shift on the PlayStation 3 and loved it. Of course, no multi-console EA release is complete without a PlayStation Portable version of the title, so Need for Speed Shift is also now available on Sony's handheld. Aside from the name, about the only thing in common between the console and portable games is the fact that they both feature cars. Don't get me wrong - I didn't come into this looking for a watered-down version of Slightly Mad Studios' driving tour-de-force, but it's definitely worth noting that this isn't a simulation racer in any way, shape or form. Unfortunately, that still doesn't mean it's really all that great. The game is incredibly arcadey, not only in terms of controls but in terms of progression as well. You don't really have a whole lot of options available to you at any one point, nor do you ever really control what cars you have, or what upgrades are applied to them. Instead, you work through a very linear set of events on your way to the top. Cars are unlocked by either beating all of the races in certain events, or beating your current rival in a showdown match. Unfortunately, the track design is not very good. One of my favorite parts about racers is managing my cash flow and diving into the dealership to figure out what I'm going to buy or upgrade next, none of which is available here as you earn this stuff automatically, essentially. The major problem, though, is that about half-way through the game I came to a grinding halt. See, after you beat a rival, you get that person's car and then a new rival shows up. That rival is in pretty much every single one of your events, and they remain there until they're replaced. That's fine for what it is, or at least it was until I got half-way through the game and my next rival showed up with a Dodge Viper. No car available to me was anywhere close to being able to compete with it, and as it started showing up in every event, it basically put me at a standstill.

GTA Vice City Stories Cheat Device Demonstration Part 6 - YouTube

If you can’t eject your disc from your Xbox One console, try these solutions in order. If the first solution doesn’t solve the problem, go to the next one. Solution 1: Perform a full power cycle of the console, then try to eject the disc A full power cycle reboots the console fully. Doing this does not erase any of your games or data. Here’s how: Turn off your console by holding the Xbox button on the front of the console for approximately 10 seconds. Turn your console back on by pressing the Xbox button on the console or the Xbox button on your controller. Note If you don’t see the green boot-up animation when the console restarts, repeat these steps. Make sure that you hold the power button until the console completely shuts down. After the console restarts, press the eject button to remove the disc. Solution 2: Manually eject the disc using a paper clip The following video shows how to manually eject the disc using a large paper clip. Uncoil a large paper clip. Note A standard-sized paper clip is not long enough to eject the disc. You must use a large paper clip because it must be inserted about 1.5 inches (nearly 4 centimeters) to successfully eject the disc. Find the small orange rectangle behind the vents on the left side of the console. Insert the straight end of the paper clip into the eject hole, which is located next to the orange rectangle. You may have to angle it slightly forward (toward the front of the console) as you insert it. The disc should pop out slightly. Pull out the disc the rest of the way with your fingers. Note Make sure the disc isn’t sticky and doesn’t have a label that might prevent it from ejecting again in the future. Was this article helpful? Yes No Thank you for your feedback We're sorry this article didn't solve your problem. We won't give up and neither should you. Try this community option, below.

These days, the basic camera apps included on iPhones and Androids seem like they’re just not enough. If you’ve got a video on your smartphone that you want to share with your friends, but need to add the right finishing touches, many apps that make it easy to add simple things like filters or edit videos to near-professional quality are available for free on iTunes and in the Google Play store. Check out the five handiest free video editing apps for your smartphone right now. 1. Socialcam Think of Socialcam as an Instagram for web videos. Not only can you add filters to your videos and then share it with your social networks, Socialcam also lets you watch your uploaded videos anywhere on any device. The Socialcam app also lets you shoot video in 720p HD quality and utilizes HDR functionality to color-correct videos in real time. 2. YouTube Capture Capture is YouTube’s very own video-editing app. You can shoot and edit videos from your smartphone in 1080p HD quality and instantly share your final product with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. Some other interesting features on this app include a reminder to rotate your phone while filming, image stabilizer, soundtracks and much more. 3. Viddy Viddy came out before Vine, and what sets this short-video app apart is that users can film their videos for longer — up to 30 seconds. Like Socialcam, this app also has multiple filters that help enhance the look and feel of the video as well as more audio tracks for sound effects. To hype up their app, Viddy recently partnered with YouTube to launch a weekly viral video web series.

As a platform, Android has been business-ready for quite some time. However, it's often difficult to find the right app to do the job. Considering how many apps are available in the Google Play Store, digging out the business-gems can be a long, involved process. With that in mind, I've developed a list of what I believe to be the must-have business-centric apps for your Android device. 1. Dropbox There are plenty of cloud-based storage apps out there (my favorite being Ubuntu One), but few of them can hold a candle to the wide-spread support that Dropbox enjoys. Nearly any third-party app with cloud support works well with Dropbox. And since Dropbox is supported across almost every available platform, it makes perfect sense that this would be your go-to cloud storage app. Price: Free (unless you need more space for your account). 2. Kingsoft Office My go-to mobile office suite for the Android platform is Kingsoft Office. With support for more file formats than the majority of other applications of its nature (23 different formats), Kingsoft Office can work with nearly any document. This particular take on the mobile office suite also has built-in support for many cloud-based storage services and offers one of the easiest-to-use interfaces. Price: Free. 3. TouchDown If you're looking for the closest take on Outlook for the Android platform, TouchDown is the app you want. TouchDown can connect to your Exchange server and offers a single interface to access your email, calendar, contacts, and tasks. There are versions for both phones and tablets (if you're installing it on a tablet, be sure to install the HD version). What makes TouchDown better than the built-in email client (outside of the one-stop-shop approach) is all of the configuration options. If you're looking for an email app that can be set up to exactly fit your needs, TouchDown is the real deal. Price: $19.99 (USD), but you can give it a test run with their 30-day free trial.

Most of the computer users are familiar with the term Firewall. Firewalls are Hardware or Software programs that monitor incoming and outgoing connections analyzing the packet data for malicious behavior. Like the definition says, there are both Software and Hardware Firewall. In this modern age, we are literally at war with hackers and malware and virus developers, all the time and data security has become the number one concern. To protect our computers, we use security software like AntiVirus and Firewalls – and as we just mentioned, there are two kinds of firewalls – Hardware firewalls and Software firewalls. In this article we’ll talk about difference between Software Firewall & Hardware Firewall. Hardware Firewall Hardware Firewalls are mostly seen in broadband modems, and is the first line of defense, using Packet Filtering. Before an Internet packet reaches your PC, the Hardware Firewall will monitor the packets and check where it comes from. It also checks if the IP address or header can be trusted. After these checks, the packet then reaches your PC. It blocks any links that contains malicious behavior based on the current Firewall setup in the device. Hardware Firewall usually do not need a lot of configuration. Most of the rules are built-in and predefined and based on these in-built rules, the Packet Filtering is done. Todays technology has improved so much that it not just the traditional Packet Filtering which is carried out. The Hardware Firewall has built-in IPS / IPDS ( Intrusion Prevention Systems ), that earlier used to be a separate device. But now these are included, offering us greater protection. When an IPDS detects a malicious activity it sends and signal and reset the connection and block the IP address. It uses signature-based, statistical anomaly-based, and stateful protocol analysis. You can read more about this . But the main drawback I find, is that it allows all the outgoing packets i.e. if by chance, a malware got into your system and started transmitting data, it would be allowed unless the user became aware of it, and decided to stop it. But in most cases, this does not happen. Hardware Firewall are typically good for small or medium business owners, with 5 or more PC or a co-operate environment. The main reason is that it then becomes cost-effective, because if your to purchase Internet Security/Firewall software licenses for 10 to 50 copies, and that too on an annual subscription basis, it will cost a lot of money and deployment could also be an issue. The users will have better control over the environment. If the user is not tech savvy and if they choose to inadvertently allow a connection that has Malware behavior, it could ruin the entire network and put the company in risk with data security. A hardware firewall could thus be very useful in such cases.

Stay Connected with Us! Follow TechnoBuffalo During its yearly financial call, EA confirmed that the Need for Speed racing franchise will be returning to high end consoles and PCs in 2015. Details are few and far between at the moment aside from the release window, and EA doesn’t even have a name chosen yet. The Need for Speed franchise has been rather quiet as of late with EA famously breaking an annual chain of releases that stretched for 13 consecutive years. This eruption happened after the previous development studio, Criterion Games, laid off most of its staff and co-founder Alex Ward moved on to other possible prospects. In the meantime, EA has given its new dedicated studio, Ghost Games, a chance to wrap its brains around the current-gen consoles and evolve the series beyond Criterion Games’ ridiculously high standards. Ghost Games’ first attempt, Need for Speed: Rivals , was a solid game to bring the franchise to the new generation, but it paled in comparison to the previous efforts. Since then, all we’ve seen is a confirmation for an iOS/Android game, Need for Speed: No Limits , also coming out in 2015. Whatever this new game turns out to be, I hope Ghost Games can bring back the same consistency that Criterion Games’ helped hammer down. Previous Need for Speed releases under various studios gave the franchise an unreliable image. The new Need for Speed will be released in the second half of 2015 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Stay tuned to E3 for more.

Share This article From the get-go, Sony’s PlayStation 4 has been selling well. It’s only been about a year and a half since it launched in November of 2013, but Sony announced today that the PS4 has sold over 25 million units worldwide. We still don’t know the exact number of Xbox Ones sold to consumers, but if the estimates are correct, the PS4 has now sold more units than the Xbox One and Wii U combined. In the second quarter of calendar 2015 alone, Sony sold about three million PS4s worldwide. In that same time frame, Microsoft shipped 1.4 million Xbox consoles (both 360s and Ones). Unfortunately, Redmond doesn’t disclose the breakdown of those sales. However, the folks over at Ars Technica have assigned a ballpark estimate of 0.95 million Xbox Ones sold in Q2. And Nintendo? The Wii U sold a paltry 0.47 million units. But what about the big picture? How many consoles have been sold to date? With over 25 million PS4s, over 10 million Wii Us, and an estimated 14.32 million Xbox Ones sold by the end of June 2015, the PS4 holds over 50% of the current-gen console market. At this point in the cycle, it’s safe to say that the PS4 has unambiguously won the battle for sales and consumer support. While the PS4 has the most horsepower of the existing consoles, that’s not nearly enough to explain the massive sales gap. Microsoft made a number of egregious mistakes leading up to the Xbox One launch, and wasted a lot of the good will it created during the Xbox 360’s lifespan. Redmond has since made huge improvements to its console strategy, but it still hasn’t quite been enough to win back a significant portion of the audience it took for granted. Despite a few excellent exclusives like Splatoon and Bayonetta 2 , the Wii U continues to disappoint. Nintendo bet big with the tablet controller, and it still has yet to pay off. Third-party support has been poor, and the handful of meaningful first-party releases aren’t enough for me to recommend spending $300 on a new console. Mario Kart 8 and Smash Bros. are nice and all, but the value proposition is pretty awful. Add in the fact that is already being discussed publicly, and the Wii U might as well be relegated to the status of “legacy platform” along with the Vita. With all of that said, the current leadership at the Xbox team has been doing a bang-up job lately. From the Xbox 360 backwards compatibility to the price drops, the Xbox One has become a respectable machine in the last couple of months. While Microsoft probably won’t be able to take back the sales lead this generation, don’t count that team out in the long run. After all, Sony is in a much weaker place financially, so anything could happen by the time the next generation rolls around.