All Things Appy: 5 Best Windows 8 Entertainment Apps

Apps are threatening to relegate favorites and software to the recycle bin.

MwTTechnology All Things Appy looks at the best apps for our mobile devices today. This week, our focus is on entertainment apps for the Windows 8 ecosystem.
Windows 8, Microsoft's latest operating system, has its own app library. In many cases, these apps can replace now-aging bookmarks or favorites, and the software that we used to install from floppies, CDs or downloads.
Windows 8 apps are often usable on both desktop or laptop PCs, as well as tablets. Navigation tricks include swiping up from the bottom, or right-clicking with a mouse to reveal app command tools.
About the Platform
Apps can be downloaded from the Windows 8 Store, which is reachable only on machines running Windows 8. Click on the Start page store tile and browse to the category you'd like to view.
Alternatively, move your mouse or finger to the bottom-right corner of the screen and choose the Search charm's icon.
No. 1: TuneIn Radio


The TuneIn app is rated 3+ stars out of a possible five with 1,221 ratings in the Windows 8 Store.

 MwTTechnology.............

TuneIn lets you listen to 70,000 global radio stations, and the Windows 8 tile-like interface is suited to browsing across genres and by locality.
While playing, the app is good looking and easy on the eyes. Music, sports, news and current events are available live and on-demand by episode.
Searching is via the Windows 8 Search charm, which takes a bit of getting used to. Favorites can be pinned to Start.

No. 2: Kindle

Kindle is rated three stars out of a possible five with 1,469 ratings in the Windows 8 Store.

      MwTTechnology............      

You can have a million books in the Kindle store synced to your Windows machine.
Sign in with an Amazon account, and your books sync across devices.
There's still no in-app Kindle book store, though. As with other Kindle apps, this one throws you head first into the messy Amazon website, but it's an elegant reading interface nonetheless.
It sports an excellent static tile pin-to-Start screen feature for individual books.
No 3: NBC News

The NBC News app is rated 3+ stars out of a possible five with 328 ratings in the Windows 8 Store.

                    MwTTechnology............   

Read and watch the news -- NBC use the term "fluidly" in its blurb.
This app gives you customizable Favorites tiles that include MSNBC video genres such as World, as well as U.S. video news snippets. Articles are cached offline.
With its colorful tiles, this is a must-have app, but an inexplicable lack of full-length shows like NBC Nightly News, and a static start page tile make this a  MwTTechnology............runner-up.
No. 4: ABC Player
This ABC Player app is rated 2+ stars out of a possible five with 467 ratings in the Windows 8 Store  

 MwTTechnology............

This app provides access to full-length, advertising sponsored, recent episodes of ABC shows like Nashville, Modern Family, Happy Endings, Revenge, and Dancing With the Stars -- all for free.
If you like that kind of thing, this app will keep you entertained for as long as your device or laptop batteries last.

 MwTTechnology............

No. 5: Nick
The Nick app is rated four out of a possible five with 193 ratings in the Windows 8 Store.

SpongeBob and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are among the characters found in this Nickelodeon app.
 MwTTechnology............ isn't suggesting you regress to your childhood; however, this app is a must-have to occupy the kids.Animated clips and childishly amusing videos are interspersed with games including Spongebob's Jellyfishin' Mission.
Charge your batteries, obtain an Internet connection, and don't leave on a family trip without it.

 FOR
MwTTechnology

Crowdsourcing Knowledge with Students

Over the last few weeks I have been playing with a very simple brainstorming and voting website called tricider. The great thing about tricider is that it is incredibly quick and simple to use, and yet it enables users to collect information and opinions from all over the web in a very easily digestible and powerful way.

It's very easy to create a tricider topic or question and you don't even need to register, just type your topic or question into the field.

You can also add a bit more detail and instructions to guide your students.

After you have saved the description, you or your students can start adding solutions.

Once there are some solutions added it's easy to either vote for them or add arguments for or against, using the + or - symbols.

Once you have set up your page you can add your email so that you get notifications when ever anyone adds something new or votes. You can also get a URL to edit the page (in case anyone adds something offensive) and a separate URL to either share with your students or post to Twtter or Facebook.

Here are some examples that I have set up to crowdsource in formation from my PLN.

• What digital skills do students need for the 21st century?
• How do we encourage pedagogically sound exploitation of technology in language learning?
• What do you want from a digital coursebook for EFL / ESL?

So how can we use this with students?

• Set up some controversial statements and get students to vote for the ones they agree / disagree with and leave pro and con comments. You could assign groups of students to all think of pros and another group to think of cons and see which can come up with the most convincing arguments. Example: Controversial Issues
• Your statements could be about a particular book your students are studying and they could add arguments for or against. Example: Goldilocks and the 3 Bears
• Get students to brainstorm word or phrases based around a theme. Example: Computer Phrases
• Get students to vote on a list of topics they want to study. Example: Topics
• Put up a list of favourite films or books or bands and get students to vote and debate which is best. Example: Favourite films
• Get students to brainstorm, debate and share knowledge about any particular topic or even language point. Example: Present Continuous
• Set up true false questions to check comprehension of a text.
• Create action research questionnaires to get feedback on the things you do in class. Example: Things we do in Class
• Create needs analysis questionnaires for your students or other colleagues. Example: Needs Analysis
• Get students create their own questionnaires and circulate them online (through Twitter or Facebook) to collect opinions. You could also get the students to use this information as part of a written assignment.

What's so good about tricider?

• It's free and really quick and easy to use.
• It's allows people to interact and share opinions.
• It doesn't require any registration.
• It's very simple for students to add their arguments or just vote.
• It updates very quickly so you could use it live in class and just click refresh as students add opinions or vote.
• It's versatile.
• It can help students pull in opinions from outside their classroom and also share opinions beyond their school.
• It creates easily digestible information.

What's not so good?

• Well there's not much wrong, but a couple of nice extra features would be:
• An embed code to allow me to embed the page into a blog or wiki.
• An archive button to enable me to close some of the debates so they don't go on forever.

The ability to export the results to pdf or csv.

BEST REGARDS;

MWT

2030: A Manned Mars Odyssey

Buoyed by the recent success of its Mars rover Curiosity, NASA on Tuesday announced plans for a multiyear Mars program that includes launching a new robotic science rover in 2020.

This computer-generated view depicts part of Mars at the boundary between darkness and daylight, with an area including Gale Crater beginning to catch morning light. (Photo: NASA)

Even more significantly, it's also eyeing the possibility of a manned expedition just a decade later.
"The Obama administration is committed to a robust Mars exploration program," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "With this next mission, we're ensuring America remains the world leader in the exploration of the Red Planet, while taking another significant step toward sending humans there in the 2030s."

A Multifaceted Push ;

This latest announcement further extends NASA's Mars focus, which already encompasses numerous efforts:

• the current Curiosity and Opportunity rovers;
• two NASA spacecraft and contributions to one European spacecraft currently orbiting Mars;
• the 2013 launch of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) orbiter to study the Martian upper atmosphere;
• the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission, which will take the first look into the deep interior of Mars; and
• participation in ESA's 2016 and 2018 ExoMars missions, including providing Electra telecommunication radios to ESA's 2016 mission, and providing a critical element of the premier astrobiology instrument on the 2018 ExoMars rover.

The new rover planned for 2020 will be based on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) architecture that carried the Curiosity rover to the Martian surface this summer. Details regarding its payload and the scientific instruments included will be openly decided, NASA said, beginning with the establishment of a science definition team that will be tasked to outline the mission's scientific objectives.

'NASA Needs Visionary Missions'

"The Mars Curiosity rover has justifiably generated huge excitement," Mario Livio, senior astrophysicist with the Space Telescope Science Institute, told mwttechnology. "It combines the romantic appeal of exploration with an attempt to answer one of the most intriguing questions: Is there life elsewhere?"
Still, "undoubtedly many questions will remain unanswered, and Curiosity's findings are likely to generate new questions," Livio pointed out. "Consequently, it is crucial to have an imaginative plan that will keep the excitement alive.
"The planned new Mars rover will help pave the way for the ultimate exploration goal -- for now -- of putting humans on Mars," he concluded. "NASA absolutely needs visionary missions that will ensure its leading role in both science and exploration."

A Narrow Focus

At the same time, "while maintaining our Mars exploration program is very important, we are effectively ignoring -- or reducing dramatically our pace of investigation for -- the rest of the solar system," said William Newman, a professor in UCLA's departments of earth and space sciences, physics and astronomy, and mathematics.
"While some would complain about the new Rover's cost, it is significantly lower than the price tag on a single B-2 stealth bomber -- by about 1/3!" Newman pointed out.
"Our return on basic science, as NASA has demonstrated for more than a half century, can never be calculated in advance, yet remains much greater than the original investment," he told mwttechnology.

'They Could Thrill and Inspire Us'

It's the possibility of a manned mission that makes the prospect so intriguing, suggested Randa Milliron, CEO and cofounder of Interorbital Systems and Trans Lunar Research.
"The public is no longer interested in robotic missions -- they simply are not compelling," Milliron explained. "Unless people are involved in real exploration on the surface of another world -- on what could be a future home for the human race -- no one cares. The total focus of NASA should be manned spaceflight."
Astronauts on such a trip "could carry the experimental equipment that the rovers haul," she added. "These explorers could make on-the-spot assessments, repairs, determinations about life on that planet... and what is most important of all, they could thrill and inspire us with reports from the scene.
"Without human presence, the endless line of robots to Mars on billion-dollar missions is simply a waste of mankind's time and resources," Milliron concluded. "The course of action is obvious: SEND PEOPLE!"

A 7-Month Trip

Of course, the success of a mission like that is entirely dependent on our ability to carry it off, and Paul Czysz, a professor emeritus of aerospace engineering with St. Louis University, isn't at all sure that's close within reach.
Whereas the moon is roughly a 48-hour trip away, for example, "with nuclear propulsion, you can get to Mars in seven months," Czysz told mwttechnology. "It's eight months to get back."
Because of the Red Planet's orbit, meanwhile, "Mars is sometimes on the other side of the Sun," Czysz added. "We have to wait until it gets into a position in which you can get there without frying yourself alive."
Mars is also very cold, with a maximum summer temperature of zero degrees Celsius, he added, and "there's no water, no animals and no navigation system."

'A Lot of Homework to Do'

Human survival, then, would depend on the ability to generate water as well as an automatic greenhouse sent up ahead of time to grow food, and also the ability to generate rocket fuel for local exploration trips on the planet.
Also critical, of course, would be pressurized living quarters with oxygen and a shield system to protect humans from solar flares and plasma storms, Czysz said.
Multiple cargo vehicles would have to travel to the planet along with the human crew, and any repairs would have to be made by the visiting humans without any help from those on Earth. That's particularly daunting, given the Red Planet's orbital pattern.
"You get 44 days on the surface; if you miss your window to leave, you have to wait eight to nine months for the next one," Czysz explained.
Bottom line: "We have a lot of homework to do before we start talking about going to Mars," Czysz warned.
With temperatures that dip as low as -40 C to -60 C, "you'd better have some pretty warm underwear," he quipped.

Dish Network Gets Down to Earth

The Federal Communications Commission approved a proposal from the Dish Network that would allow it to convert spectrum currently allocated for satellite service into airwaves that could support a land-based wireless network.

Dish did not lay out specific plans for its next step with the spectrum, saying only that it would "consider its strategic options and the optimal approach" to putting it to use.
The company could use the spectrum to serve a TV market that is demanding more features, as cable TV companies offer bundled packages of Internet, phone and TV services.
Providing wireless services is a move Dish has been working toward over the past few years, acquiring telecom companies DBSD and TerreStar Networks. Dish said in an FCC filing last May that its entry into the wireless market could provide relief to American consumers in need of more mobile broadband services. Its proposed wireless network, which Dish said would be speedier than its competitors, would not roll out until 2016.

What's Next?

Branching out from its core television business would be a smart move for Dish as communications services continue to merge, said Peter Koeppel, founder and president of Koeppel Direct.

"This could provide Dish with a new source of revenue that they are currently missing," he told the E-Commerce Times. "Their TV business is mature, and this acquisition will allow them to compete more effectively with competitors who offer a combination of TV, phone and Internet service."
It's also possible that Dish might be looking to team up, said Koeppel.

"Dish could form a partnership with another carrier or even with someone like Google, who has the resources to compete with carriers such as AT&T or Verizon and may be looking capitalize on their Motorola acquisition by adding a wireless network to their business," he pointed out.
"Since there is a need for more bandwidth to address the increased consumer demand from mobile devices, the timing of this seems fortuitous for Dish," Koeppel added.

Freeing Airwaves

In addition to the Dish approval, the FCC approved a proposal for a spectrum auction of the H Block to take place next year.

The decision to free up airwaves might be one that the FCC is forced to make more often, going forward. As more consumers turn to smartphones and other mobile devices that eat up data, the country's available spectrum is diminishing each day. Many wireless providers have urged the FCC to allow more spectrum sales and deals that would help ease the crunch.

The FCC seems to be listening; it said its actions were part of the president's larger goal of freeing up 500 MHz of spectrum for broadband by 2020.

If the FCC makes similar moves going forward, especially ones that would give companies other than the four major carriers a chance to compete in the industry, the consumers will be the ultimate winners, Daryl Zakov, attorney at Bennet & Bennet, told the E-Commerce Times.

"Any additional spectrum that is made available for small and rural players to counter the glut of spectrum held by the Twin Bells (AT&T and Verizon) is a good thing for the industry and especially for consumers," he said.

"The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 mentions other bands that the Commission wants to put to commercial broadband use," noted , "so this represents just two steps with hopefully many more to follow."

Test Could Reveal Which Side of the Looking Glass We're On

For those who spend enough time playing World of Warcraft, the line between what is "real" and what isn't probably blurs from time to time. However, a far deeper and more philosophical question has been raised: whether life, the universe and everything is actually just a computer simulation.

The conical (red) surface shows the relationship between energy and momentum in special relativity, a fundamental theory concerning space and time developed by Albert Einstein, and is the expected result if our universe is not a simulation. The flat (blue) surface illustrates the relationship between energy and momentum that would be expected if the universe is a simulation with an underlying cubic lattice.
(Martin Savage)

The center of this theory is that any civilization that evolves to a "post-human" stage would in turn be capable of running a simulation on the scale of the universe. Given the size of the universe -- with its billions of worlds around billions of suns -- and its billions of years of existence, this could have happened.

If so, are we in it?

This concept, which has been the basis of such movies at The Matrix and The Thirteenth Floor, hasn't exactly been easy to prove or disprove






.

However, researchers at the University of Washington, led by Martin Savage, Ph.D., have concluded there  that could be a test to determine if the world is just a simulation.

 Sim Universe?

                                                The basis of the test that Savage has theorized is itself rather   complicated. It suggests that if we are in a simulation, then that simulation would have to have been constructed with the same finite resources that we could use to create such a simulation. In other words, we could see the shortcomings a programmer made.

For example, this could include the behavior of ultra high energy cosmic rays to determine if there is a set of preferred direction. This in itself wouldn't actually prove that the universe is a simulation, but it would be the sort of thing that would be in a simulation.


To understand this further requires a bit of understanding the mechanics of the universe.

"We believe we live in a quantum universe," said James Canton, Ph.D.,"We are only now taking the baby steps to prove it."



As for looking for those patterns that Savage would seek out, they would be there in the mechanics.

"There are some constants in the universe," Canton told Mwttechnology. "All matter, everything you can see, is the smallest part of the cosmos. The largest part, which we can't see, is the dark matter. But these are still constants."

High-Tech Creationism?

 

While this concept of a simulated universe is often compared to the dystopian film series The Matrix, a more apt comparison might be another film that came out at the same time. Now largely forgotten, The Thirteen Floor speculated that simulated worlds could be created, and those within it didn't even know they were just simulations.


So while video games have created believable worlds, those bad guys and other characters are just scripted and don't really exist. Could the next step be imbuing them with some sort of self-awareness, but not giving those characters the ability to know they are in a simulation? And if that is possible, does it then make the theory that we are in a game all the more possible?

"It seems quite unlikely that we exist as virtual beings living within a computer simulation being operated by some future species descendants," said Glen Hiemstra "However, at the same time I do accept the proposition that the day will come when computer/AI entities will be intelligent enough to be self-aware by some definitions.

"If that is true, then of course we might in fact be those computer/AI entities," Hiemstra told MwTtechnology..

There are fundamental questions that would remain, even if Savage's theory is upheld -- that is, that preferred direction could suggest the universe is a simulation. However, other questions might be answered.

"Many mysteries become more sensible, such as where our energy goes when we die, or the idea that we may live many lives," added Hiemstra. "Other mysteries remain, such as why our simulated universe still shows no clear evidence of other intelligent beings, when putting them into a simulation would make the simulation more entertaining."

From Games to Reality

Whether this universe is a simulation isn't easily answered, but could technology create a simulation that would be indistinguishable from reality? Today the most immersing experience is staring at a computer screen, but technology is moving quite quickly.

"We haven't ported emotion and feeling, but that is a cognitive step. That will come," he said.
"Big data and cloud computing will allow this immersive universe to be created," Canton predicted. "We didn't even have the bandwidth until recently. But and now there is more technology that exists in a single laptop than was available throughout the world in 1974."
Whether that laptop -- or world -- actually exists is still to be proven.