Geo Challenge on Facebook - by Playfish

After playing two great games (Pet Society and Restaurant City) by Playfish, it is not hard to persuade me to try out another of their older games on Facebook - Geo Challenge.

Geo Challenge is bascially a test of social geographical knowledge, i.e. countries, maps, cities, famous spots. here's the starting screen of the game. Do note that you need to complete all the tests before a score is given. If you quit the test halfway, you will need to restart from the 1st test.

The first of the three tests is Suitcase Shuffle, a test of knowledge about the different flags of the country. As time pass, the 'wrong answers' would fade out, leaving you with a choice among three remaining flags. Normally the harder questions will give more points, but difficulty is subjective I suppose. I always get mix up when I get flags of three horizontal stripes.

After the test, the scores will be tabulated. Players will gain extra points if they get the correct answers fast. Answering many correct questions in one go will also entitle the player to extra time (about 5 seconds I think). The next test is Map Mayhem which is a test of the location of the famous spots.

The last test is the City Blitz, where players need to locate the city on the world map. The more accurate you pin the city, the more points you get. If the players select the USA or Europe options, they get other tests.

The different points at the end of the game will entitle the players to 'ranks' and also trophies. Overall the game is not too bad, since it helps to improve my geographical knowledge. In terms of complexity I will still stick of Pet Society or Restaurant City though. :)

Google Chrome OS vs Microsoft OS!

There are plenty of discussions in the Internet about this coming big fight between the two IT giants - Google and Microsoft, over the Operating System space. Official news can be found on Google's blog, while there are plenty of other traditional news coverage, e.g. New York Times, and Channel Newsasia. Google's Chrome OS is targeting at netbooks with this new open source, light weight OS.

It is not surprising that Google is coming into this OS space. After Android, they would have had some experience in OS development. Moreover, Google started as an Internet based company more than the traditional desktop / work space based company, and thus its experience in Internet applications should naturally lead it to the main applications - Operating Systems.

What will be more interesting (other than the actual Chrome OS) is how Google plans to market this new OS. Google's Click Thru Rate based online advertising has completely changed the online adverts space. Their algo for their search, with a simple search site, has also changed search engine market, till the extent that the word 'google' has now morphed into a verb associated with the phrase 'online search'. Google's maps applications created mash-ups, not just for our terrestrial maps, but for the sky and the seas as well. Google's innovation for the Web has created deep ripples and shaped the Internet of today.

So how Google markets and 'sells' its OS will become a very important case study for those who plan to sell software linked to the Internet, and that is a huge market. Who will be its major partners? Which PC maker will be the first to adopt the OS shipped with its netbooks? Which government / major corporation will be the first to announce a complete changeover of its operating system to Chrome OS?

Of course, there is also the other angle of looking at this news; is Google turning into the next 'evil empire', whose applications and services reaches into every aspect of your life, and knows every single online activity you have done? Google Chrome running on Google Chrome OS, with Google Apps and such...scary?

Creating a YouTube Account - The First Time...

I've never uploaded any video clips and thus did not have a YouTube account. Recently there was an opportunity to take some pretty interesting Science related video and thus tonight I tried creating my very first YouTube video!

The process is simple, and that explains why the huge popularity with self created videos. The process is made simpler if you already have a Google account.

The process of uploading video is also simple. My video upload took nearly 10 minutes for a mere 15 seconds clip because I didn't know how to compress it accordingly. I'm sure there are ways of compressing the raw clip taken from digital camera into more user friendly files.

And so viola, here's the completed product! If you want to look at the Tesla Coil demonstration at the Science Centre, just click on the picture below to bring you to the YouTube page.

Restaurant City is up! Added Photo Feed & Gourmet Street

Restaurant City is up! Initially I was puzzled why there is a maintenance and wondered if Playfish will add in new features for Restaurant City. Some of the online forums have plenty of speculations about what Playfish will add after the maintenance.

Well, they added a Photo Feed function! This is similar to what we have for Pet Society actually so it is not that big a deal. Nonetheless it is still fun to have photos taken of your restaurants (and others too). You can also take photos at the 'Dress Yourself' function screen.

What is more interesting is the Gourmet Street! Now, instead of random street where you could take a look at the decoration of other unknown players, there is this Gourmet Street where most restaurants are well decorated and furnished! It is great to be able to get inspiration about how to decorate your own restaurant using ideas from among the best restaurants in the game.

Keep it up Playfish!

See also:
- Restaurant City: Latest Playfish Game in Facebook
- Restaurant City - New 'Drinks' recipes & option to serve more dishes

Want to know when the new fibre network will reach your home?

The news is out! There is now a website where you can key in your postal code and check the rough dates where the Next Gen National Broadband Network will reach your house.

With the latest network, you can surf from speed of 100Mbps. Currently the network is not ready yet but in the coming quarters we should be able to see commercial offerings.

Hmm I'm paying about $40 for my miserable 3Mbps due to contract. Hopefully by the time the new fibre network reaches my place, my contract will have expired and I can get better deals.

The website is http://rollout.opennet.com.sg/

I think the site is still somewhat buggy and so give them a couple more weeks to sort out the minor map bugs.

CommunicAsia 2009 - Quick Pictures

I was at Communic Asia 2009 today and took some pictures of the phones as well as the event itself. I didn't have enough time to really tour the place or ask more questions about the phones. The number of booths seems to be less and I didn't see any Sony Ericsson or SingTel booth. The CommunicAsia 2009, together with Broadcast Asia and Enterprise IT 2009, will be held from 16th to 19th June 2009 at the Singapore Expo.

Here's the pictures from the LG booth. I guessed I was impressed by the new LG GD900, the latest crystal slider phone with transparent keypad. It comes with a 8 megapixel camera!

Other than the booth girls, we also have the cute mascot! I think there was some lucky draw where lucky participants could walk away with free phones.

he new Viewty model (pic above) looks good. Of course, there were also display of the new phone models. Some were rather weird, e.g. these wrist phones. I think it is not the culture yet to have people speaking to their wrists. T

Of course, we also have the Samsung Mobile booth!

Omnia series continued to be the main highlight I believe.

Yupz, we have the Samsung Galaxy powered by the Google Android. More applications coming for wider range of phones.

Ok that is a very quick post about the CommunicAsia 2009 event and we will definitely see more blogs about it over the next few days. :) Other than phones, there were also a number of interesting announcements, including an extended Wireless@SG programme with higher speed of 1Mbps, that will last until March 2013. So yupz this will be an exciting week!

Afternote:
Here's two more pictures, one of the Powerwave racing car, and the Yahoo! free drinks. Not sure why are there racing cars actually. Free drinks are great crowd pullers, but the two times I was there Yahoo! said their slurpee had not frozen enough yet. Hmm.

Pet Society - New Gardens Function

Pet Society is up after some maintenance and Playfish added in new gardens for everyone! I think everyone has one to two gardens depending on your pet's level. The garden is pretty empty and you can plant seeds to grow vegetables, flowers and trees! My tree has grown a little since last night (lower right).

Together with the gardens, Playfish has also introduced the garden shop that sells you seeds and pots, and potted plants. The seeds are quite expensive, ranging from 100 to 500 coins.

Here's the description of the different seeds that you can buy. I think they will add other new options in future. Planting the seeds is as easy as dragging the seeds from your inventory to the dirt spots in the gardens. It will be fun to grow a fly eater plant. Hmm.

Well, the new garden function makes Pet Society interesting to play again. Keep up the good work Playfish! Guess it's worth the wait during the maintenance.

Oh, after the plants are grown you can sell them for coins or eat them as food! See the pic below.

See also:
- Pet Society in Facebook