By Satish |

Thursday, April 22, 2010

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• Review: Whole New World of Sony Free Realms MMO Game [Massive-Multiplayer Online]
• Awesome iPhone 4G/HD Concept Pictures Wish Were True
• HD video recording: Sony Ericsson Vivaz Phone Is It A Worthy Heir to Satio?
• Free Antivirus Software for Mac – Review

Review: Whole New World of Sony Free Realms MMO Game [Massive-Multiplayer Online] Several friends introduced me to the world of MMO or massive-multiplayer online games. I had no idea that there were a lot of options for in-game purchases for these online games. Some offer monthly subscriptions, pay-per-play, and free-to-play. These MMO games offer a wide array of games from older ones like the ever popular World of Warcraft to new releases like Warhammer Online. But when you look at these games, most of them cater to much older players. This is why Sony created the kid-friendly MMO Free Realms. My Sony Free Realms MMO Review I tried the games for myself. The graphics were rather impressive. I became interested myself after seeing them. MMO Free Realms is free-to-play making it even more inviting. It has now been able to generate more than ten million players, constantly increasing as of this writing, making it a huge success in the industry of online games. When you play these games, other than being free of charge, you don't have to deal with software installations, all that is required is a stable Internet connection. After you log in, the game automatically runs in your Web browser. In the typical MMO games, we choose our characters then go through a series of stages. With these games, the concept Sony used is rather different, this is because Free Realms is meant for much younger players first and foremost. As I started to play, I learned that enjoying these games would need an open mind. If you are only interested in a typical MMO system then you won't probably enjoy Free Realms. Free Realms was designed to introduce first time players to the online world by providing game training and social interaction applications like chat. I started with their line of 2D/3D mini-games. After a while, I proceeded with their Adventure Gameplay feature where most of the games were on combat and exploration. Free Realms also come with Simulation games for those who may be interested in virtual gardening, housing, and pets. Parents will surely be pleased with the kid-friendly MMO experience offered by Free Realms. Not only are the games less confusing but the numerous gameplay options ensures pure enjoyment even for players who are much older. Probably the only downside is the subscription feature because Sony restricts a number of games for paying players only. But considering how Sony intends to support the MMO for a long time, we can expect Free Realms to improve.

Awesome iPhone 4G/HD Concept Pictures Wish Were True Pictures can be deceiving. That's what we thought when Engadget released the iPhone 4G leaked pics, not many were in agreement with the fact that it was the next generation iPhone from Apple. And few days later, Gizmodo, after meddling with the device they owned for over a week, proved the existence of Apple iPhone 4G/HD with a short video preview; Apple fans were enlightened. They praised the design, features and the specifications of the iPhone. This was big! People loved the new iPhone 4G. The iPhone 4G Concept Photos What if the conceptual design of the iPhone 4G were true? Not that the leaked iPhone is a dismal failure, but, the conceptual pictures of the iPhone looks stunningly awesome when compared with the real iPhone HD/4G. Because not much of the work is involved in designing the concept pictures. That being said, we wish to bring those iPhone Concept pictures into the picture to appreciate the time consumed in designing them. So let's check out the best and awesome iPhone 4G/ iPhone HD Concepts:

HD video recording: Sony Ericsson Vivaz Phone Is It A Worthy Heir to Satio? One among the giant names in the electronic industry, Sony Ericsson, is not alienated when it comes to manufacturing the latest model phones with excellent cameras. As a matter of fact, the latest Sony Ericsson Vivaz is just another addition to the company's line of awesome handheld phones with satisfactory camera. Sony Vivaz runs on the European third generation frequencies and is impressively able to be used for incessantly auto focusing a 720 pixels of video recording through its PowerVR GPU and 720MHz Cortex A8. Based on various consumer reviews, Vivaz succeeded the Satio model of one Swedish-Japanese firm in terms of high definition video shoots. Sony Ericsson Vivaz possess an awesome 8.1MP camera designed especially to allow trouble free upload of YouTube videos and store them on the phone's 8GB memory card. Short Sony  Ericsson Vivaz Review This Sony Vivaz is of course equipped with touchscreen technology, a resistive one at that, with an ergonomic layout that fits perfectly with the palm of your hand. Though it is not as smooth as compared to HTC Legend and iPhone, nevertheless the screen is still responsive and does not require additional pressure to get the screen to activate. Holding the phone is already a good experience. Today's social generation will surely want to get hold of the Vivaz for it has an excellent set of multi-media and social networking features. The Vivaz may be placed in line with (and possibly be preferred more than) LG InTouch Max GW620 and Nokia X6. The physical layout of Vivaz fits perfectly on the hand of the user and is lightweight but not necessarily flimsy. The entire surface of the phone is loaded with smoothness, and as a result it can slip from the hand quite often if you are not cautious in handling it. Together with the LCD display and being totally plastic made, there is nothing to be set aside with the Vivaz design. There are four color combinations to choose from if you are interested to purchase a Vivaz, one that I have tried is the Moon Silver. Its back panel is colored silver with sides covered in dark blue shade. Several buttons too are on the Vivaz phone namely the menu, and end call buttons on the handset front, volume and camera buttons on the right side and a power button on the top. The package contains several supplementary items like microUSB cable for connecting it to the PC.

Free Antivirus Software for Mac – Review Although Apple has marketed the Mac as a computer that's free from viruses and other malware, and it is true that the Mac is immune from the majority of viruses written for computers, it's starting to become more important for Mac users like you and I to wake up and take some new preventative measures, as more users flock to the Apple platform. As is the case with Windows, the more users of the operating system, the more lucrative the market is for hackers and cyber criminals to write virus code for that system. Until recently, Mac OS X had about 50 -60 malware code infections. However, recent reports from the Mac community point to increased risks in the platform, and many analysts are pointing accusing fingers at Apple for not taking security as seriously as Microsoft. But we're not going to wait for Apple to take the stand against virus makers; in today's post, I'm going to tell you about a really cool (and free) anti-virus software for the Mac called iAntiVirus. It comes in a few editions, with the basic one being free (the only feature limitations I found were no customer support and the software is for personal use only, but that's OK for me and should be for most of you readers out there). iAntiVirus is really quick to load (it's a small file, so it's quick to download too). It offers full-time protection, and allows you to Quick Scan your Mac (what I did, and posted the screenshot). This process is pretty fast, and from my experience, quite thorough. After a few minutes, it posts a report about the scan, detailing the number of files scanned, and the number of affected files. Luckily for me, my MacBook is pretty clean! What's cool about iAntiVirus program is that is has always-on protection, so in the unfortunate event that you open an infected file, the software will quickly come to the rescue and alert you to the properties of the file. The application displays as a small icon in the menu bar, and clicking the icon opens up a list of options — showing the iAntiVirus screen, setting the the protection to always-on, app preferences and a few other options besides. While this free version is limited in phone-in customer support and is for personal use only, I found it a great way to safeguard my Mac against any threats, in this age of computing when Apple computers are becoming more and more common. Mac OS X comes with great rock-solid UNIX security and a strong firewall, but hey, it's still better to be safe than sorry! iAntiVirus can be downloaded from here. (Direct link)