Viggle

Viggle is a free rewards app that works with TV. This app uses your phones microphone to listen to shows and match them to their database and gives you rewards. Along with that you get bonus for playing in app commercials, trivia games, and fantasy sports games.

Fantasy basketball game you play against 10 other whomever has the most points gets 1000 reward points. 2nd place = 500, 3rd = 300, 4th =200. You can choose a player and each time the player does something good or bad the points go up or down, Your allowed a limited number of substitutions so skill is needed.

Some featured shows that are promoted give extra bonus points but +50 is average. You get 1 reward point per minute. So check in Suits at 10:03pm and you get 57 points + 300 check-in bonus that is assuming you do not check in something after. So if at 10:30pm you check in on another show you just get 27 points + 300 check-in bonus.

Current rewards on my phone are the following:

• Sweepstakes for 777,777 reward points cost 1,000 pts.
• 20% off at Fanatics.com cost 3,000 pts.
• 1-Day Redbox DVD rental cost 4,000 pts.
• 5 digital issues of EW magazine cost 8,000 pts.
• $5.99 DirectTV Movie Money Certificate cost 9,000 pts.
• $5.00 CVS eGift card cost 10,000 pts.
• $5.00 Barnes & Noble eGift card cost 10,000 pts.
• $5.00 Hot Topic eGift card cost 10,000 pts.
• 5 digital issues of PEOPLE Magazine cost 12,000 pts.
• One month of Hulu Plus cost 14,500 pts.
• One month of Spotify Premium cost 20,000 pts.
• $10.00 Sephora eGift Card cost 20,000 pts. 
• $10.00 Gap eGift Card cost 20,000 pts. 
• $10.00 Papa John's Card cost 20,000 pts.
• $10.00 Old Navy Card cost 20,000 pts. 
• $10.00 JCPenney eGift Card cost 20,000 pts.  
• Viggle branded iPhone 5 case cost 25,000 pts.  
• $25.00 in value of participating salons for beauty treatments cost 20,000 pts.  
• $15.00 off Groupon cost 30,000 pts.
• $15.00 Chili's eGift Card cost 30,000 pts.
• Viggle branded water bottle cost 32,000 pts.
• Viggle branded T-shirsts (men or women, sm-xxl) cost 37,000 pts.
• $25.00 McDonalds ArchCard cost 62,500 pts.
• $25.00 BestBuy eGift Card cost 62,500 pts. 
• $25.00 Lowe's eGift Card cost 62,500 pts. 
• $25.00 Travelocity Hotel Card cost 62,500 pts.  
• Viggle branded Vlanket cost 80,000 pts.
• Kindle Fire HD cost 375,000 pts.
• 4-5 night Royal Caribbean Cruise cost 4,000,000 pts.

Conclusion: 
Started Viggling back in July 2012 but did not start doing this everyday until 1 month ago. So after 7 months of light use I got 7,000 reward point, and 2 months of heavy use added another 30,000. Great app but the most recent update has caused frequent crashes when scrolling. 
90% for the great games and quick points earning but the constant crashing should be fixed.

Scroll vs Book

Okay this is not a download but it is something related.

The trend for most internet sites is now Continuous Scrolling or infinite scrolling. This is where all the content is loading on one page and as you reach the bottom its adds more content. Yahoo has just changed to this pattern.

Notice the scroll bar on the right side it just keeps getting longer and jumping while never hitting the bottom.

This is done mainly for the smartphone and tablet market. They find infinite scroll is faster because you do not have to leave the page to search for the next.

Book or reading effect gives each page and the contents their own place so once you reach the end just click on next and you get more. For older computers like mine and slower internet connections it is great plus you always can skip stories and advance to page 10 or 100 without have to load 1,000 unwanted pages on to one.

This guy has a better argument against the scrolling effect...
http://timtfj.wordpress.com/2012/07/14/infinite-scrolling/

Partial scrolling where you are asked to load more is what Blogger.com did for their comment segement and it is horrible. For my blogs with 2,000+ comments per post you will never be able to see the newest comments without spending 2 hours loading and clicking "Load More".

This example shows after 10 minutes of clicking I still cannot see the newest comments and I am only inot comments made several years ago.

Many people have compared this effect to devolving. The scrolls used throughout history gave way to books because it was a better system. Finding information was faster and general thumbing through was better.

This quote from awwards is shortsighted.

It can be a smoother solution to show more content on a site than pagination, as it does not require to refresh the page and dynamic loading makes the site faster.

This is only true when content is limited and not added to on a regular basis. Unfortunately the shortsighted programmers are catering to a short attention span audience. After a few scroll downs most people give up. those who want to look for something specific can always use a search box.

I like browsing and that is why they are called BROWSERS. Often I just have nothing in mind and just want to look for new content. Also I have little to no confirmation bias so even if I search for something I want the right answer not a pat on the back. Both of these actions leads to a vast amount of links and with continuous scrolling it is difficult to keep track of everything.

I hope this trend is temporary or they do like Lifehacker and allow you the option on how your page loads. Still not great as they still have infinite scrolling.

Feel free to let me know your comments and possible solution to the continuous scrolling problem.

Excel Choropleth Maps for Coins

Project:
Have a map of the world that shows all the countries I collected coins from and have the shaded dark if I own a lot and shaded lightly if I only own a few coins, the top ten countries with the most coins owned should be obvious at first glance.

Plan: 
Create a heat map using my existing Excel file of world coins. Search the web for the best solution.

Results:

Map with U.S. and Canada included.

Map excluding U.S. and Canada.

		Row Labels	Sum of Value	Sum of Coins
	1	Great Britain	$34.41	228
	2	France	$34.33	160
	3	Spain	$28.28	145
	4	Trinidad & Tobago	$8.83	76
	5	Italy	$31.07	70
	6	Jamaica	$12.02	60
	7	Germany	$33.57	51
	8	Mexico	$53.87	51
	9	Israel	$6.98	47
	10	Greece	$31.08	45
		Grand Total	$274.44	933

To make the map I downloaded Chloropeths maps featured on the Clearly and Simple website, a great site for data visualization. These maps have Microsoft friendly shapes that are associated with data. The shapes color is set by the user and using a formula will increase or decrease in intensity with the corresponding data.

I modified the RGB value associated with the shapes color to this:

=IF(D9>499,(udf_RGB(255,255,255)),udf_RGB(230-C9,255-C9,204-C9))

The reason is this allows certain data that is small to get colored white instead of lightly shaded. Also altered the original color from black to green and changed the background to blue to look like a real map.

The map is not perfect as many countries are missing and the shading is not "extreme" enough. More contrast can be controlled but small changes alters the map wildly. I can see modifying it further to make the top ten a different color or making it change with the value of coins.

Greenland is mislabeled as part of Canada I currently do not know how disassociate Greenland from Canada without erasing all of Canada. Luckily I have no Greenland coins which makes the second map more accurate.

Conclusion:
It works well and has great potential. Learn from Clearly and Simply because the site is a wealth of information. I plan to keep tweaking the map until it is simpler to use and modify then post up somewhere. Warning the maps are both protected and macro filled so you need to deal with that first.

Color Wallpaper

Here is what I need an app that would just show one color on my phone's screen. Why because I was trying to make some light photography design. You know when you set the camera for long exposures and then use a light source to write or draw things.

As far as I know there are no apps dedicated to that so I tried to use a background changer app. I found a few that do solid colors but Color Wallpaper by Song Siyu seemed the best.

You can select from a multitude of shades.

The screen fills up with the color as a nice preview.

Unfortunately ads pop up during the preview leaving and unwanted trail of new colors when trying to make a light photo. It failed to give me what I was looking for in a full screen color app. Granted I did not try this as wallpaper app so it would not be fair to review it.

I had to delete it since it was not what I wanted, also tired Drawing Pad but that kept crashing so it was alos deleted. At the end I use SketchBook Mobile which allows you to fill a sketch pad to any color with no ads or unwanted extra color.

Hopefully soon I will review the other two apps and show off some nice light images but until then have a Happy Holiday and keep downloading.

Moon Phase Pro

A good looking Moon Phase app. It gives lots of moon phase information especially good for us amatuer photographers.

You can change locations and check the calendar for future or past days but I just like the simple interface that sends you a message every week.

Here's why this is a 90% program...
Cons:

1. Sometimes it is slow, but you can modify the picture settings.

Pros:

1. Very accurate.
2. Like the simple interface that can change with a simple touch.

Rating: 9 out of 10 (90%)

Play it at:
Amazon: Moon Phase Pro $0.99 although I got it when they had a free day.

Realm of the Mad God

Okay technically not a download but it had to be mentioned. This is a massively multiplayer online game and is free to play. You are a fighter of  a certain class and go around killing monsters and gods for loot. The more you stuff you get the stronger your character gets and there is no end, unless you die.You play it on Steam or like me on Kongregate.

Above is the entry flash page. You can see the credits, legends of the game, play, choose servers, and review your account. If you play at Kongregate you get bonus content and can earn Kongregate points.

You start out in the Nexus where you can chat with other, trade for better stuff, or get free drops. You can check your vault or change your character. Buying stuff is an option but I do not spend money on games. The guys who now make this game are constantly updating and celebrate many holidays with special items and places. From there you can pick different rooms once they reach 85 people the realm is closed.

The game play is simple, go out and kill monsters and gods. Sometimes they drop pouches full of goodies. Keep and upgrade good things until everything you have is maxed out. The better the item the more rare and the stronger you have to be to get it.

Here's why this is a 100% program...
Pros:

1. Super fun time.
2. Great game play.
3. Mostly cool community.
4. It is challenging.

Cons:

1. Lots of spamming.
2. Super strong players ruin the game by running ahead without clearing.
3. Lots of cheating.

Rating: 10 out of 10 (100%)

Play it at:
Kongregate: Mad God, free to play, some item cost money

My Phone's Home Screen

Not sure what my home screen says about me but it the apps I use the most on my phone. To recap I have a Droid X which is about to turn 2 years old in December and it has about 200 apps installed.

Facebook: A must id your social or bored.

FM Radio: I love the radio and is one of the main reasons I avoid the iPhone. This phone has a real radio tuner which is great.

Text Messaging: A must in modern society.

Settings: I need a quick access to the settings like changing the wi-fi or clear the cache.

Play Store: Best app store around and easy to navigate.

Browser: Just the default browser, I do not search the internet much on my phone so it I have never upgraded.

Shopkick: I like collecting points, even if I never use them.

Google Goggles: Great for QR codes, tags, or just scanning pictures to search online.

Camcorder: The default video recorder, I do not take video often but I would like the option close at hand.

Voicemail: I tend not to answer my phone so I always need voicemail close by.

Amazon Kindle: Again I do not read much on the phone but there are some reference books I like to keep close.

Camera: The default camera app is sill the fastest. Other camera apps tend to crash or get sluggish.

The four at the bottom are defaults also.
Phone, contacts, texting, and more button.


I would say that I like to keep things simple. Even though this phone is a mini-computer I do not need anything complicated in my daily life. Now the 200 other apps hidden by the "more" button are mostly just for fun.