Fruit Ninja: Taking Someone Else's Idea Done Right

It is very difficult to come up with a novel idea that becomes successful. For every successful channel such as Freddiew and FinalCutKing, there are thousands of imitators who attempt to emulate their traits with little success. One of the most popular and imitated videos on Youtube is FinalCutKing's "I am Fruit Ninja" with over sixty video responses. Our team wanted to take advantage of the popularity of the video and game without looking like another cheap carbon copy.  The video ended up being the most liked, viewed and commented video response by far. How did we do it? The first thing we did was study all the differences we could find between the original video and the video responses. Such differences included camera placement, background, presentation, acting, pacing and seemingly trivial details such as size and color of the fonts.  The next step was to figure out how we could make it better. First, we realized that all the backgrounds were either black, a hastily photoshopped image or took place in someone's living room. We set to find a background that could pass as a place in which a Ninja would train. More importantly we noticed that not a single video out of all the video responses had martial arts, which is one of the most known characteristics of the ninja! Luckily for us, we had martial artists in our team. Good things can happen from taking someone's idea, but only if you put the effort in to contribute your share and make it better. After all, it's not just the idea that brings success, it's the execution. I'm certain we all know plenty of people who could learn this.

iOS and Android Over the Video Games Market

In the last years, we have seen some incredible games at the App Store from Apple and now we also have games at the Android Market from Google. But before that, we had great portable consoles such as the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP, and currently they continue their own way.

But now with these App Stores we have access to an easier world where with just a tap we can download an incredible game right from our smartphone. So, lets check these statistics.

Mobile analytics service Flurry Analytics has launched a study on the percentage of revenue from mobile platforms in the gaming industry based on 12,000 million records captured from 80,000 applications anonymously iOS and Android. Thedata show the remarkable growth can be seen in the graph you will find on theselines and if already in 2009 the iPhone OS at that time exceeded U.S. to the PSP with 19% versus 11% of the latter, the entry of Android and the evolution of iOS in 2010 further increases the difference.

Sales of games and Android iOS U.S. have increased during 2010 to reach 8% oftotal revenues estimated at 800 million dollars, most of which are the grace, asFlurry, games for iPhone. This cake does not include data for PC games, although these are estimated at 700 million, anything that smartphone and tablets have notalready left behind.

It is clear that 15% iOS and Android have been scratched in notebooks from Sony and Nintendo in 2010 was largely due to a combination of factors, including a family of devices they always have, with uninterrupted access to a growing catalog software with a very low cost or even free supported by advertising or purchasing systems within applications.

Twitter

HTC Evo View and Evo 3D: First Impressions

My first impressions of the new HTC View tablet and Evo 3D phone.

Click to read more ...

My Love for Android and the Galaxy Tab

You all probably know I am somewhat of an Apple fan. After all, I was born and raised Apple. My dad had one when I was young, and it was the first computer I had ever used. I still own that same computer, mint condition and still working, today. However, the Apple orchard can become dull at times, especially if one has had the same apple juice year after year. So a month ago, I picked up the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

As a complete noob to Android, I found the Tab to be quite a fun device. I have seen reports lately of the Galaxy Tab and its sales rates, but I completely satisfied. I love the fact that the screen is seven inches, compared to the iPad's almost 10 inch screen. The Galaxy Tab has proven to be more portable when carrying it around for long periods of time. Back when I had an iPad, my hands would fatigue after about 10 minutes. With the Tab, it's lightweight and feels like I am carrying a small paperback book.

The interface itself is your typical run of the mill Android Froyo OS. Very impressive on a Tablet computer, just as it is on the smartphones. A lot of people complain about this, and I really can't find a legitimate reason why. After all, didn't Apple do the same?

The Android store is my only complaint. There are so many spammy and janky apps on there that you really have to be careful what you install. Also I've noticed there are a lot of Chinese knock-offs and poorly coded apps. The upside though is that if you buy an app and decide you don't like it, you can get a refund. And the fact that you can choose to bill paid apps to your phone bill is amazing.

I am very happy with Android, and more specifically, the Galaxy Tab and I don't care what the reports say. High return rates do not phase me. I love my device.

Apple's App Store hits 10 Billion Downloads

The Apple iOS App Store has today reached ten billion downloads. Just a few days after launching a counter on