Today, Google announced one of their flagship games is now available for iOS devices. Ingress by Google, Inc. is an augmented reality massively multiplayer online pervasive game created by Niantic Labs, a startup within Google. The game allows you to head to locations and place your marks down to keep the portals within your team.

There are two teams – The “Enlightened” Green team and the “Resistance” Blue team. You basically pick a side, then find portals – which are usually landmarks around the city – to place your offensive or defensive items on. You can overtake a portal for your team. But be warned – it can be taken back pretty quick.

Little blue dots are collected while you walk around to bring your life back up to reinforce and repair your portals. You can quickly find yourself needing more if the portals in your area get some heavy damage.

Why Ingress Works Better on iPad Air (or even iPad mini)

One big problem with Ingress is its a power-sucking game. I try not to play it on my phone while on travel due to the battery dropping quick just through my normal use. The iPad Air could be a better option with the 8,827 mAh battery – as opposed to the 1,560 mAh battery in an iPhone or 2,800 mAh battery in the Samsung Galaxy S5.

The iPad mini can even beat the phones with their 4400 mAh battery. The best battery phone out there is the DROID RAZR Maxx with a 3300 mAh battery.

Once the iPad is low on battery, switch to your iPhone or Android to continue while a battery backup charges it up. Remember to close all your other apps for optimal life.

Another issue is triangulation. Sometimes you could be sitting right on the item and the device has you across the street or just too far away. It can get frustrating if you are trying to hack a portal, but keep getting whisked around because the towers cannot triangulate you properly.

Technical details aside, this is a game of conquest while going out to get some fresh air. The graphics are really nothing to boast about and the sounds can become somewhat annoying.

Still, its like playing PONG, or a retro game from Atari days. Even 8-bit games are popular on the iPad, as Tiny Death Star proved.

If you love strategic battle games and enjoy going out and walking around, Ingress will help fulfill both needs. It did get me to walk around the cities I visited in the last year – Vegas, Detroit, Austin, along with places in Madison I haven’t been to in years.

And it gets better when you meet fellow players – green or blue. There are major fanatic boards out there which you can get into the conversation, bantor, and have fun.

Will it Run on iPad1

The program will download and install. If you try to launch, the app crashes instantly. I double-checked using my older iPhone 3GS. The same crash occurred.

Today, we’re taking a look at another Sim game in Megapolis by Social Quantum. This one seems to match a Sim City or Zynga’s CityVille feel. Your task – simply build a virtual city to attract people and control the infrastructure.

You start with a decent amount of coins and some megabucks – both with in-app purchase options starting at .99 cents. When you play Megapolis, you start by building some residential areas, adding markets and wind turbines, then collecting on what was built.

Alice, who’s your virtual assistant, will help you navigate through those tasks and let you know when you’ve leveled up. You can actually go to Alice’ town to see what you can build.

There is an enclosing box around the land you can build upon. As you level up and collect documents, the land will be available for expansion.

There are also unfinished areas, such as the airport and Marina. Once you level up you will be able to build upon those items.

Keep in mind that waterfront property is more desirable, so build the luxury items on the shoreline.

Even though this game looks great, I am having a hard time with the size of the buildings. It would have been nice if I could zoom in a little more. I wouldn’t want to manage the game via iPhone or Android, which the game is also available for.

However, the game gives you a bountiful amount of land to build upon. Just looking at Alice’s city, there are a lot of building potential, even though it loads pretty slow on the iPad Air.

Some of the reviews also mention how slow moving it can be. I am not a big fan of the amount of pop ups you get when you complete a task or level up.

If you overlook these issues, this can become a very satisfying game. Like I said, it’s available for iOS and Android and there are two versions – an HD and SD for older iOS devices.

Megapolis is an online game, so you will need an internet connection to play. You can connect to Facebook if you are looking for friends who play. You can also search for friends – just look for me as my city is called “Geekazine”.

If you ever wanted your own city, then Megapolis might be for you!

Today we are going to take a look at iOS8. Now last week Apple announced at the WWDC conference the new iOS for iPhone, iPod, and iPad. Those devices not making the list would include your iPhone, iPhone 3G, 3GS and 4. 5th generation iPod touch and all models of iPad EXCEPT the iPad v.1 will allow for iOS 8 to be installed.

First of all, you won’t be seeing the OS until about September when new devices will also be announced. What Apple does is they get the buzz going and let developers get beta copies so they can start coding for iOS 8.

With that said, there are some pretty impressive features that your iPad will be able to do once it rolls out. The biggest advantage is what’s called “Air Drop”.

The idea of Air drop is to send a file from phone to iPad to computer. Whereas Apple is using Air Drop, Android uses a technology called NFC – Nearfield Communication. Air Drop does not do tap-to-pay like Android – which is fine by me.

Another new feature is the Continuity mode. In this, you will be able to work on a project via your phone, iPad, or computer. Think of it like a check-out system. You can start working on something on your iPad, then switch it over to your Macbook. Finally, check out on the iPhone to make review changes and send back to the Macbook to publish or send.

If you have multiple iOS devices, the Family sharing option can link these accounts. This is perfect for sharing music, movies, books, photos, calendars, and more. You can even share locations so all Dad has to do is look at the iPad to find out where everyone is.

If you own an iPhone, you will be able to now link with the iPad and take a call from the tablet. That means if your iPhone is on the charging dock, you can still take that phone call. It’s like the days of having 2-3 landline phones in the house – when you get a call, all the phones ring…

Next up – Photos. Apple has linked all photo information with iCloud. The new updated app is suppose to catalog your photos better so you can find important memories. Added editing tools also allows you to clean up photos as best as possible.

Keep in mind the program will do what it can, but if you have a blurry, dark iPad image of Bon Jovi or Brad Paisley, the app won’t be able to fix that.

A new keyboard feature might help you with your typing. Since my iPhone was stolen last year, I switched to an Android phone. One feature I really like is the Swype functionality. When I have to type on an iPad, if I’m not doing the ten finger approach (which I excel at on the iPad), it becomes really archaic.

There have been iPad apps that state they can swipe to create words, but they all have failed. Apple has announced they are allowing a keyboard switch with programs like Flesky, Swype, and Swiftkey. I would have to change the keyboard in the settings, but the end result is a swipe-text option.

The keyboard also has a suggestive word feature. If you type “Thank”, the device will show three possible words that would follow, such as “you”, “you all”, “the…” which you would select.

In the healthcare area is Health – a way to combine your activity tracking devices into one area. If you have a blood pressure cuff, or fitness wearable, your numbers can be collected into one spot for review.The Healthkit also can be linked to your hospital so your doctor can call up your stats.

Finally, Apple has come out with a new developers kit and a new programming language called Swift. I won’t get much into this here, but swift is a condensed programming language that can ultimately turn an app that would take 500 KB to load into a 200 KB file.

What this means is your iPad 1 might start losing more apps than ever before because its not getting upgraded to iOS8. That is sad because I even use the iPad 1 from time to ...

Family Guy – the Quest for Stuff is a game based on the popular show. In the story, Peter has completely destroyed Quahog after the Epic battle between Peter and Ernie the Giant Chicken.

Peter realizes his mistake just a little too late and makes it up by rebuilding the town. In order for him to do that, he will have to enlist the help of his friends and family. Instead of it taking a “Habitat for Humanity” approach, the characters have to do special tasks to clear areas of Quahog and build the city.

Get Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff on iPad

Of course they will have to fart, pick noses, use stripper poles, pull cocks out of bottles – chickens that is – and much more.

The game pulls bits and pieces from the show and all of the characters you see on Fuzzy Door productions show Family Guy. Added is a “Facebook like” page where you can check and share the profile posts of those Family Guy characters.

Doesn’t Stewie need to be 13 to post? Anyway…

You can also check out other players Quahog through alternate dimensions. But the game solely relies on coins and clams – which you can purchase in the app store starting at $1.99.

Family Guy is compared to the Simpsons – Tapped out – although some of the reviews have said it could be better. Then again, Simpsons game was revamped after its launch because of server issues and gameplay. Within updates, it could get better.

Bottom line – Family Guy, the quest for Stuff is a great waste of time inbetween episodes of Family Guy on Fox Sunday nights and the reruns you can see on TBS, Cartoon Network and your local channels reruns at 5, 6 and 9:35.

Jabra ROX Bluetooth Headset

I’ve been checking out this pair of bluetooth headset by Jabra this week. Jabra ROX is the latest bluetooth headset on the market. The big feature is NFC connection – if your device allows for nearfield communication, to pair can move the volume – pause connector next to the phone. Otherwise you can pair to your iPad simply through the bluetooth menu.

Jabra Rox is small and lightweight so if you are running, coding, gaming, or some other activity – they just don’t get in the way. The ends of the headset are magnetic so you can snap them together and put into a bag. The cable can be in front of you or around your neck.

Purchase Jabra Rox

This is a phone headset so you can call, Skype, or even use the microphone to make podcasts or loops via respected apps. The button system is – 1 tap to pause or pick up a call, then to release the call. hold volume up for two seconds to skip forward, volume down to skip back. You can even release the magnetic hold on the headset to pick up a call.

The Jabra ROX is not a cheap pair of headphones, as the price right now is $129.95. It does have good sound quality and can be tweaked using the Jabra Connect headset apps in the app store. The headset comes with a bunch of sized earpieces so they stay in your head when you are running.

Check out more at Jabra.com

While at SXSW, I ran into a company that is working on cards that you use with your iPad. Cartamundi has some project cards where you place, tap the sequential numbers, and the “sticker” shows up on the scene. We placed a series of smurfs on the screen, which we could easily remove with a tap.

The next type of card was a 3D visor. You move the card around the iPad and it finds hidden items. Once you uncover the items, they show up on the screen. We used Shrek goggles to find the cool items.

Finally, we moved to smell-o-vision for the iPad. Two cards were pulled out which have smells on them. They were placed on the iPad and the smell-o-vision detected the smells and created a new hybrid plant from them. You can mix and match to make other hybrid smells.

These are all concepts for Cartamundi, as they can make apps specific for what you want. Whether a lovable kids character or a smell-o-vision, they cater to your needs.

For more information on getting your own card system, head to Cartamundiusa.com

Ever since the introduction of the gyroscope on iPads, there have been endless running games that make you tilt your iPads to work. Therefore, it’s nice to get a game every now and then that doesn’t rely on that functionality. Case in point – Mini Ninjas by SQUARE ENIX INC. This game has two basic controls – Jump/scale and attack.

Mini Ninjas is also a kid-friendly game – no gratuitous blood or violence beyond the attack.

Your job is to avoid obstacles, attack enemies, and gain coins all to retrieve a stolen artifact from the dragon. You can also free trapped animals to build up Kuji energy.

You can connect to Facebook and challenge your friends.

Mini Ninjas is free for iOS and Android with in-app purchases starting at .99 cents. This game is also available for Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, PC and Mac. Get Mini Ninjas on Amazon

First of all, I would like to thank Jack and Carol Ellis. They sent me their 1st generation iPad because they knew I could use it on the show. Future episodes will include segments called “Will it Run on iPad 1” – highlighting everything you still can do with the first generation iPad.

With this episode, I would like to reintroduce you to the iPad that started it all. Is it worth keeping, or should you get rid of it?

What the 1st Gen iPad Can Do

The A4 processor is a single core chip running at 800 mHz. It contains simple cache of 32 (L1) and 512 (L2). The video runs at 1024×768, and the video still can run a Netflix, YouTube, or Hulu Plus app.

The iPad can also run a lot of apps, although you might not be running the latest versions of them. I loaded several apps, to which I either got messages saying it needs a camera, gyroscope (which iPad 2 does have), or it cannot run the latest version – but will install an earlier version. Therefore, Facebook and Twitter will run on this iPad.

Of course, you can also set up email, use it for photos and video, put music on the device, and more.

What the 1st Generation iPad Cannot Do

There is no camera on the 1st generation, so any app that needs it is out. There is also no gyroscope in there, so any app needing one is also out.

Apple OS is 5.1.1. You can jailbreak and put on programs making the system feel like OS 6, yet you are still on OS 5.1.1.

Bluetooth is 2.1 + EDR. Many devices will still connect to this version. Newer Bluetooth devices might require Bluetooth 3.0 or 4.0 (which iPad Air has). 4.0 has Low Energy mode, so the 2.1 EDR version might take up more battery.

There is a definite lag on loading and installing apps. If you play games like Candy Crush (which mostly rely on a server to run), you will most likely be fine. Don’t expect to run Call of Duty on it, though.

Other Benefits of the iPad 1

Apparently, the resale value of this device is really good. Gazelle notes a perfect iPad 1 is about $60, while eBay sells for around $150.

Still, this iPad could easily become a TV in the kitchen or other room, a recipe holder and more. If you attach the same account from your other iPad, you can even sync up games and play while the spouse is using the other iPad.

I have gone through 4 iPads – the first two I had to take off apps all the time, because they were 16 GB models. Even with the 32 GB iPad Air, I still find myself taking apps off to save space. Best part is I can bring all those apps back. Free or paid.

Do I have to Re-Buy an iPad app?

No. It’s yours until the app is no longer in the app store. However, in-app purchases may or may not be there, depending on how the app has changed.

Will it Remember My Settings?

No. If you move to a new iPad or just reload an app, you will have to put in usernames and passwords again. If the app used your profile information, it may have also saved data information. If you had the data deleted with the app, chances are you will have to start from scratch.

How to Bring Back Old iPad Apps

Simply head to the App store. On the bottom you will see a “Purchases” option. Once selected, you can see all your app purchases. Move over to “Not on iPad” and you can re-install apps.

Additional Notes on Re-Installing iPad Apps

It looks as if old apps that need server connection (such as Pet Treehouse from Zynga and We Rule from Ngmoco) are still available for download. Only problem is the servers have been turned off, so the program will do nothing.

For 2014, I start iPad365 with a bang. Well, a first-person shooter in Call of Duty®: Strike Team by Activision. This is a great game to show off the graphic capabilities of the iPad Air.

With Call of Duty, you can use – or turn off – the built-in accelerometer functions to move your character around. You can also swipe to turn for faster movements. The left side of the ipad will allow you to move forward, and the series of options let you chose weapons, call your teammates, switch to your teammates, and more.

If you don’t like the first-person mode, you can easily switch to 3rd person. You can choose campaign mode or survival mode. There is no multi-player mode, but you can connect up with Facebook to share with others.

Call of Duty Strike Team is compatible with all iPad models, but will not work with iPhone 4 or lower, and iPod Touch 4th generation and lower. The app is $6.99 in the app store.

Lets take a look back at the iPad apps that are not only useful for many, but I find I use everyday. These apps help me do business, play, learn and much more.

Honorable Mentions: Not all apps made the list. I also play Clash of Clans and Snoopy’s Street Fair. For Business apps, I also use iMovie, Evernote, and Prezi

10. DuoLingo

It’s the app of the year. I found it to be pretty productive in learning a language. Jennifer uses it a lot. You can choose between languages and work at your own pace!

9. GarageBand for iOS7

Whenever I am on a plane trip, I try to make a new song. With the new updates, I can make a song then transfer over to my mac and add a lot more sound (like orchestra hits or different drums). A great way to keep my musical side going!

8. Flipboard

Whenever I want news, I go here first on my iPad. Flipboard is a great way to sort out the posts and what is happening around the world. Flipboard gets opened almost everyday

7. Hay Day

Jennifer loves this game. She was just mentioning that she can now make Jam. The best part about this game is the lack of intrusive ads for other games. If I want to watch an ad, I get a diamond!

6. BossJock Studio

I am a podcaster. BossJock is an app which lets me make podcasts right from my iPad. I can also use BossJock as a soundboard to bring effects into my shows. A great app that is very useful!

5.Stitcher Radio

I listen to a lot of podcasts. Apple has yet to make a good podcast app, so I turn to Stitcher for my shows. Since I now have an Android phone, I can keep organization across the devices with the Stitcher app!

4.Keynote for iOS7

Yes, I liked 2 presentation software titles this year. Keynote got a lot more useful with the iCloud upload option. I can even bring presentations down to my PC if I need to. Very versatile.

3. Chrome for iOS

I am not a fan of Safari. Google Chrome is another app that syncs with all my other devices. When I call up the browser, my settings will be the same as from my desktop or Android phone.

2. Dropbox