It’s been a while, but welcome again to another exciting edition of our Android App Roundup series! This time I’ll be showing you how you can kill some free time with Abduction! 2 while Evan explains how you can discover the best articles from your RSS feeds and social networks with my6sense.
If there are any Android apps you feel you can’t live without, we’d love to hear about them! Drop us a line by commenting on this article, sending us an e-mail, or talking to either of us on Twitter.
Kevin’s Pick – Abduction! 2
In an article on Android games earlier this year I extolled the virtues of Psym Mobile’s Abduction!. At the time it was one of the finest games in the Android Market, and it’s sequel (the aptly named Abduction! 2) found its way into the Market late last week. Don’t let the screenshot fool you, Abduction! 2 is more than just a simple update, and well worth the roughly $3 it will set you back.
Abduction! 2 takes the polished gameplay of its predecessor and piles tons of extras on top. You’ll still be guiding an animal (a cow by default) left and right using the accelerometer, bouncing off platforms in an effort to reach the top. There are some additions, such as different types of platforms, including spikes and a trampoline, and new powerups, but for the most part the core game remains largely unchanged. The draw of the game lies in the revamped Adventure mode and various unlockables.
For purists there is a game mode similar to the first Abduction!, called Classic mode, that plays almost identically to the first game. However, it’s likely you’ll spend the majority of your time in Adventure mode. In this mode, each stage has two objectives. Each level contains three caged animals for you to free. As you free more animals, more goodies are unlocked for purchase in the game’s shop. You also want to make it to the top of the level as fast as possible, which means you’ll be doing several runs through each level, one to free the animals and another to get to quickly make it to the top.
Depending on your time, you’re awarded a gold, silver, or bronze medal. These medals are then used as currency to purchase the aforementioned goodies in the shop, including new characters, accessories to trick out your animal, and extras like an 8-bit or 3D mode. With 60 hand-crafted levels to go through, the Adventure mode alone will keep you busy for a long while.
If you’re looking for something to kill the time between classes or any other spare moments you get throughout the day, you can support one of the best Android game developers and pick up Abduction! 2 by searching for it in the Android Market or scanning the QR code below.
Evan’s Pick – my6sense
I’ve gone back-and-forth with ways to read news, social networks, and RSS feeds on my Droid X. Sometimes I’ll check out mobile versions of my favorite tech sites like Techmeme, and other times I’ll use a specific publisher’s app like USA Today or TIME. These methods all give me plenty of news to read, but there is never a guarantee it will be something I’m personally interested in.
my6sense is a new app for Android that lets you import news from your social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Google Buzz as well as your RSS feeds. my6sense then uses a proprietary technique they call “digital intuition” to figure out what news is most important to you, and sorts items by relevance instead of chronologically. This gives you a personal news feed taken from your favorite news sources and only shows you information you really want to see.
Digital intuition is based off how you interact with your news items, so at first it won’t be very good (a bar at the bottom of the screen will show you how “smart” it is). my6sense will keep track of what articles you interact with, including how long you read the article and if you read the whole thing. After awhile, it will become very good at suggesting relevant articles for you to read.
my6sense is so proud of their digital intuition technology that they boast on their website:
Digital Intuition is a secret. Something sort of like the Da Vinci code, except Tom Hanks isn’t involved and no one is trying to kill us. Yet! If you think you figured it out, send us an email with a video or description to whatisdigitalintuition@my6sense.com
Since I’m a big fan of Google Reader, I simply logged in with my Google account and it automatically imported the 25-30 feeds I follow. If you don’t use RSS, my6sense provides a large “Topics” directory where you can subscribe to any categories that interest you.
If you add social networks, my6sense will automatically pull tweets and status updates with links into your news feed and combine them with the other news sources you’ve imported. You can fully interact with social network items, including Liking the article on Facebook.
Since some news is only fun when its shared, my6sense lets you easily send articles to your friends.
Simply put: my6sense is my new favorite way to get news and follow my social networks on my phone. It’s completely free, and can be found in the Android Market or by scanning the code below.
Want more great Android app reviews? Check out the rest of our Android App Roundup series!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.