Skip to Content

Free TUAW iPhone app -- try it now!
AOL Tech

space posts

Filed under: Fun, Games, Time-Wasters, Web

Nanowar and Galcon Flash - multiplayer space-conquering Time Wasters

I absolutely love the iPhone version of Galcon, and the couple of weeks when I played it obsessively on the subway were worth the cost of the app. The object of the game is to defeat your opponent by sending ships from your planets to enemy planets and overwhelming them with your number, while your opponent tries to do the same to you. Galcon's fast pace and multiplayer mode add to the fun.

Now, in addition to the iPhone and desktop versions, there's a Flash version of Galcon in beta. It's hard to find opponents for multiplayer right now, but it otherwise looks just like the Galcon we know and love. Flash Galcon has a competitor, though, and it's called Nanowar. Nanowar is the same basic game as Galcon, but it only has one mode in single-player, containing 14 preset maps, versus Galcon's infinite randomly-generated boards.

Nanowar has a couple of things going for it, though. First, there's a level editor, which gives you the opportunity to create and save your own boards. Second, the multiplayer games on Nanowar are currently very popular, drawing players from around the world. When they work, that is. Both the level editor and the multiplayer support in Nanowars have been a bit buggy. With Nanowar not yet at 1.0 and Flash Galcon still in beta, it remains to be seen which will attract the larger horde of space-battle-enthused gamers.

Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Freeware, Windows x64

Rayhound: A space shooter where your only weapon is gravity

It seems a bit odd to call Rayhound a shooter when your ship doesn't actually have a single gun, but that's the best single-word description I can offer.

Your opponents, however, have lots of firepower and they're not shy about using it. How exactly do you go about defending yourself? Use your enemies' strength against them.

Use the mouse to control your ship's movement and left-click to engage your ship's gravity field. Time it right, and you'll gain control over enemy attacks and be able to redirect them to your advantage. Hold the mouse button down to keep the field engaged to drag their fire with you and release when you're ready to strike.

The visuals are simple yet stunning, especially in later stages when enemies become more numerous.

Rayhound is a free download for Windows, and is totally portable so Linux users might also be able to give it a shot using Wine.

Filed under: Fun, Games, Time-Wasters, iPhone

Galcon for iPhone - Time Waster

The single greatest procristination tool I've run across in the past couple of months is an iPhone game called Galcon. It's a deviously simple space battle that can take anywhere from 9 seconds to 5 minutes. The object is to send ships from your home planet out into the galaxy to conquer your opponent's planets. The number on each planet tells you how many ships you need to conquer it, and the size of the planet's icon tells you how fast it will produce new ships for you.

The strategy of the game takes a few tries to get the hang of, but once you know how to play, replaying each randomly-generated map to get a faster time becomes totally addictive.The short timespan of a game of Galcon, combined with the game's multiple difficulty levels, makes it hard to play just one game at a time. The Lite version of Galcon is free, but there's also an upgrade that introduces 4 additional mission types and an online multiplayer mode. I'm afraid to download it, because I might never put my iPod down again.

Filed under: Business, Utilities, Web services

Got space? Rent it out with StoreAtMyHouse

storeatmyhouse rent space outMaybe you are quite the organized individual and have managed to clean up some valuable space in your closet, basement or garage. Now you can either jam it up with stuff over time, or rent that space out now.

StoreAtMyHouse connects people willing to rent out the extra space they have at their apartment, house or condo, matching them up with people who require some extra storage areas.

Whether you have space for rent, or are looking for available space the site is clean and easy to search through. StoreAtMyHouse is mashed together with Google Maps so users can easily check out where the storage location is. One question that I'm sure is on many minds, Will my stuff be safe? StoreAtMyHouse does provide a legal Agreement that states that the custodian shall bear all risks of loss or damage. And of course StoreAtMyHouse is not responsible for any harm against its members.

There are not a whole lot of rental areas at the time of this post, however, if you have space to rent, listing is free.

[Thanks PHills]

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Productivity, Mozilla, Freeware

Tiny Menu: Save Firefox screen real estate

Tiny Menu the Firefox extension
Exactly as its name implies, the Tiny Menu extension allows you to compress your entire Firefox menu bar into one item. And, thanks to a recent update, that item is now even smaller. Setting up Tiny Menu isn't entirely intuitive, so I'll outline the steps to save you a bit of time:
  1. Download and install Tiny Menu (don't forget to restart Firefox)
  2. Click your 'new' menu (the M) and then select View > Toolbars > Customize...
  3. One at a time (not that you have a choice) drag the items from your Navigation Toolbar into your menu bar until there's nothing left in the Navigation Toolbar
  4. Click Done to return to the main Firefox window
  5. Again, click your new menu and this time choose View > Toolbars > and then uncheck the Navigation Toolbar
  6. Bask in the glory of your newly free pixels

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Productivity, Web services, Commercial, Social Software, Unix

Bingo! offers WebDAV storage with perks

Bingo! offers oodles of webDAV storageThe online storage biz sure is heating up, what with Xdrive and Files-Upload being two of the most recent and spacious notables. Now Joyent, providers of other online services like TextDrive and Connector (web-based apps for small business), is entering the space with Bingo!, a WebDAV storage solution with some handy perks. For starters, let's get the storage space and price points out of the way:
  • 100 gigabytes of storage (10 gigabytes of bandwidth) for $199 a year
  • 50 gigabytes of storage (5 gigabytes of bandwidth) for $99 a year
  • 25 gigabytes of storage (2.5 gigabytes of bandwidth) for $49 a year
Powered by "Sun's amazing X4500 platform," customers receive one user account with a whole lotta goodies, such as a public folder for hosting things like images and podcasts, the ability to use your own domain or simply mycompany.bingodisk.com, as well as a complementary 5-user subscription to Connector.

All things considered, I prefer the ease and cross-platform friendliness of WebDAV from folks like Bingo! and DreamHost, as opposed to the constrictive and proprietary web UI many of these online storage newcomers employ (on a side note to developers and marketers: can you please stop using exclamation points (!) in your product names?). Of course, it is sometimes hard to beat 'free,' but with the nice array of extra options for the serious storage user that make the icing on the cake taste that much sweeter, Bingo! has a lot going for it.

Filed under: Google

SpaceShipOne bought by Google?

spaceship one googleDid Google buy SpaceshipOne? Michael Arrington has a scoop that Google has acquired the ship and is planning on storing it in building 43 at the Googleplex. The Ship is rumored to be still in the Smithsonian museum, since it won the $10 million X prize in 2004, but could be on the way to Mountain View California. We all know that Google can afford it with their sizable bank account, especially after the recent third quarter earnings released on Thursday. Larry Page is on the board of trustees of the X Prize foundation, so he does have some insides there if indeed it came onto the market. If you have a picture of SpaceShipOne taken on October 21st, Arrington wants it, and he's willing to give an iPod shuffle to the first person with evidence. This would be a great investment for Google, and then they could get back on track with their interplanetary operations. Stay tuned for further developments.

UPDATE: It looks like Google bought a full scale replica of SpaceShipOne. If you feel the desire, you too can get one from here.

Filed under: Utilities, Linux, Productivity

Graphically view your disk space usage with Filelight

Filelight

Filelight is a Linux utility that creates a concentric graph of your computer's disk usage. Each color represents a different type of file, such as documents or apps, so it's easy to tell which is the biggest bully on the block. I found a utility like this for Mac OS X over on TUAW by the name of Disk Inventory X - has anyone seen a similar app for Windows?

No specific OS flavor is required, though Qt 3.2 and KDE 3.2 are. Filelight is available from MethyBlue and is released under the GNU General Public License.

Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Macintosh, Freeware, Time-Wasters

Gamma Bros. - Today's Time Waster

Gamma Bros.Maybe I'm just a sucker for 8-bit-style games, but I'm really enjoying Gamma Bros. It's a space shooter that comes in web-based Flash as well as downloadable Windows and Mac flavors, and feature pixely graphics and fast action. You play as one of the Gamma Bros. who must destroy an endless stream of UFOs that invade from every direction. Use the arrow keys to move your craft around and the WASD keys to fire in four cardinal directions. When your energy gets depleted, running into your brother will swap your ships, tag-team-style. The rest is easy to pick up, but a solid challenge to complete.

Filed under: Fun, Web services, Google

Google Maps lands on Mars

Google MarsFor the interplanetary traveler, Google has launched Google Mars which lets you pan and zoom around the red planet's surface. It gives you three different views: visible, color-coded elevation, and infrared. Unfortunately there's no cheesy easter eggs a la Google Moon, but there are a bunch of markers for locating landmarks (including the legendary "face" and the less well-known Happy Face Crater) and landing sites. Google Mars and the mars-themed logo at Google.com commemorate the 1855 birth of astronomer Percival Lowell.

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

View more Time Wasters

Featured Galleries

Defective by Design, London: Protest Pictures
Microsoft Security Essentials
Chromium Pre-Alpha on CrunchBang Linux
Safari 4 Beta
10 Firefox themes that don't suck
IE8 RC1
Download Squad at the Crunchies After-Party
Download Squad at the Crunchies
WordPress 2.7
Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals
Windows 7 Hands On
Comodo Internet Security
Android First-look: Amazon.com MP3 Store
Android First-look: Twitroid
Google Reader Android
Android Hands-On
Twine 1.0
Photoshop Express Beta
Mozilla Birthday Cake
Palm stuff
Adobe Lightroom 1.1

 


Follow us on Twitter!

Flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

More Tech Coverage

AOL Radio

Joystiq

TUAW

Daily Finance

Autoblog

Urlesque

Engadget

WoW

Switched.com

FanHouse