Doing Free to Play the Wrong Way...and the Right Way

The folks at Extra Credits produce some of the most thoughtful and insightful videos on game design, gaming culture, and the game industry. In this latest video, they cover the topic of free to play games (aka 'freemium') and the ways that many companies create poorly designed freemium experiences that not only aren't engaging for players but also hurt the bottom line. As it turns out, though, it is possible to create a freemium game that provides a great experience for players and encourages players to pay for that experience.

Bonus:

Have iBeacon – Will Travel

Have you ever been at the airport baggage claim area for what seemed like an interminable amount of time? It can be quite frustrating having to wait for the conveyor belt to start and the bags to flow down from the baggage chute. Once the belt has started, everyone from the flight rushes towards the conveyor belt. This, of course, makes finding your own bag more challenging as the scrum of people restricts your view thus complicating your efforts.

With that in mind, the folks at Aww Apps have a solution. Rather than adorning your baggage with your lucky keychain or a favorite ribbon, why not just use an iBeacon that has been paired with the Travel Radar app?

As shown in the video, the idea is simple: pair a Bluetooth-based iBeacon with the Travel Radar app on your phone, place the beacon in your baggage, and you will get a notification on your phone as your baggage gets closer to your location. If you are the less patient type, you can also open the app and see an approximate distance to your baggage.

Folks, this is a nifty use of iBeacons.

P.S. The UI for the tracker is pleasant, but wouldn't it have been cool to have it look like the motion tracker from Aliens?

The iPad Will Not Make Air Fares Cheaper, Folks

Nathanael Arnold, in a post over at Wall St. Cheat Sheet:

Besides using the iPad as a piloting accessory, the airline is also initiating its use as an informational customer service device for flight attendants. It remains to be seen if the airline will be passing its new iPad fuel savings on to the passengers.

Arnold's post notes that American Airlines will save a nice bundle of cash in the form of fuel savings by using the iPad as an Electronic Flight Bag for its pilots instead of a traditional paper-based flight bag. The above quote is something that I often see in aviation reporting...the implication being that everywhere an airline saves money is an opportunity to pass those savings on to consumers.

Folks, that just isn't realistic. Airlines in the USA are having difficulties in being profitable (and quite often have been losing money). Airfares are, oddly enough, actually very inexpensive compared to fares in the past (adjusted for inflation). Every bit of cost savings that an airline can manage in today's market will be used to maintain the health and well-being of that airline, not used to save Joe Traveler a couple of bucks on airfare.

Samsung's Galaxy S4 Commercials are Pretty Good

As I have mentioned before, Samsung makes some good commercials. In this case, the commercials focus on Samsung's Galaxy S4 smartphone. The "Easy Mode" commercial is fine for what it is, which is an appeal to older individuals that are concerned about phones being too complicated. My favorite of the new batch is the "Grad Photo" commercial, which shows off a camera feature that lets users remove unwanted items from a picture. Quite frankly, this is a feature that every phone should have and the commercial does a good job of selling this as an essential feature. The commercial shows potential buyers a real world scenario where they might make use of and value such a feature.

Samsung's Galaxy S4 Comes With Less Available Storage Than You Might Think

Chris Welch, in a post over at The Verge:

Some buyers of Samsung's new Galaxy S4 have been disappointed to learn that the 16GB model offers only around 8GB of user-accessible storage. However, in a statement to CNET, Samsung is reminding irked customers that they can easily remedy any concerns with the help of the built-in microSD slot.

If this was an Apple product, you wouldn't be able to turn on your TV without hearing about this story. Since it's not, you won't hear about it (except here, of course).

Gogo Does Not Have a Monopoly on In-Flight Internet

Jeff John Roberts at GigaOM:

In throwing out the case, Chen accepted GoGo’s argument that it doesn’t have dominant market share because it covers only 16% of all US airplanes, and it’s possible for the remaining planes, which do not offer internet, to sign up with a competing service provider. The internet contracts are sold on airplane-by-airplane basis, and not across entire airlines.

As noted in the article, Gogo has an astounding 85% share of aircraft that offer in-flight internet service in the USA. However, that is altogether different from having a monopoly on in-flight internet service when that 85% share represents only 16% of all aircraft in the USA. This lawsuit seems like it was brought forward by people who feel that they are entitled to everything that they want.

Companies Suddenly Want to Get Into the Android Launcher Business

Parmy Olson, writing for Forbes:

Messaging app KakaoTalk is gearing up to release an Android launcher that will be similar to the mobile product Facebook announced last week called Home. KakaoTalk’s co-CEO Sirgoo Lee revealed the plans in an interview with Forbes, adding that the launcher would be released “within a couple of weeks” and would make accessing its free-messaging and calling app easier for current users, most of whom are in southeast Asia. “We hope to put in features that will attract non-KakaoTalk users as well,” he added.

Facebook's recently announced Facebook Home, it seems, will be the first of many Android launchers that will attempt to garner greater visibility by catering to their specific user base. Also, I was unaware that KakaoTalk has such a large percentage of users in South Korea (66%) when compared to Facebook's share (17%).

A 'Tablet for Women'

Casey Johnston, in a post for Ars Technica:

At long last, a company has designed a tablet fit for the use of an entire gender that has, thus far, apparently gone unserved. The ePad Femme, designed and distributed by the Eurostar Group, is an eight-inch tablet that comes pre-loaded with apps concerning yoga, grocery shopping, and cooking. Thank the heavens, ladies may never trouble their pretty heads with such difficulties as finding and downloading their own apps ever again.

I'm surprised that the tablet isn't pink.

Folks, this is possibly the worst kind of condescension.

Japanese Airline Offers In-Flight Entertainment Via Smartphones

Courtesy of the folks at Airport News Japan:

Users download movies, TV shows, music, magazines, games or other content to their smartphones or other devices through the airport terminal's dedicated Wi-Fi network, which they can enjoy without limitation while in the airport or on their departing flight.

What makes this more interesting than the usual in-flight entertainment (IFE) news is the fact that this is being done by Peach, a low-cost carrier in the same vein as Southwest Airlines or Ryanair. As noted in the post, low-cost carriers don't typically offer IFE in their aircraft. This is a very smart, relatively low tech way to offer IFE to passengers without incurring the costs of a traditional installed IFE system or Internet connectivity systems/services like Gogo.

Samsung's Galaxy S4 Looks Very Good

Samsung recently revealed its newest phone in the Galaxy S line, the Samsung Galaxy S4. Despite its odd choice of using a theatrical show format during the announcement, Samsung showed off some interesting stuff.

As every one expected, the phone comes with a 5-inch screen. More interesting than the actual hardware specs, though, is the software. Samsung showed off its "Air Gestures" and "Smart Stay" features, which allow for touch-free use of the phone and eye-based tracking of the user's intent, respectively. Changing music tracks without having to touch the phone (such as while driving) is useful, as is the ability for the phone to automatically pause video when the user looks away. I'm skeptical of the usefulness of the eye tracking that automatically scrolls text content, since it seems like that might register too many false positives or false negatives to avoid being annoying. I'm guessing that the ability to use the phone even when wearing gloves has something to do with the Air Gestures feature, but I could be wrong about this.

The S4's integration with televisions and with health and fitness devices makes a lot of sense. It also goes a long way towards flexing Samsung's muscle as one of the largest electronics manufacturers in the world.

A new accessory that seems to have slipped in under the radar is the wireless game controller that connects to the S4. While the design of the controller seems to have been a bit *ahem* 'inspired' by the Xbox 360 controller, it may portend a greater focus in the future on gaming for Samsung devices. There is some criticism of the controller as having limited utility since it is not a standard component that game developers can count on users having, but with Samsung's burgeoning influence in the industry it is simply a matter of time before there is enough of an installed user base to make this close to ubiquitous. Remember, folks, Samsung sells more Android devices than anyone.

In summary, it looks like Samsung has a real winner of a device in the Galaxy S4. Samsung has put together an excellent phone for consumers that will sell like hotcakes.