WarLight is an addictive turn-based, Risk-style Time-Waster

Filed under: Fun, Games, Time-Wasters

I don't remember when I last posted a turn-based Time-Waster, but WarLight was so nice, I simply couldn't skip it. It's basically Risk; you get a world map, and you start off with a certain percentage in your color. With every turn, you get a few more "armies" (depending on how much space you've conquered), and you try to take over more of the map by attacking certain territories.

Each turn is made up of three stages. First, you deploy all of the new armies that you received (each country may have more than one army stationed in it). Then, you attack or transfer into new territories.

You can see how many armies are currently stationed in every new territory; if a territory has 10 armies, attacking it with a single army would do you little good.

Of course, while all of this is going on, your rival is also attacking and conquering their own section of the world and rapidly approaching your territories. Suddenly, you need to start fortifying your territories, finding ways to conquer your rival's territories, and figuring out what they're going to do next.

The game is very versatile, and it offers a ton of options. You can even graph your progress through the game in order to see how many armies each of you had on the board at every turn, or how many territories each of you controlled, etc.

You can play against the computer (especially useful for learning the game - there's a tutorial to start you off), but the real fun begins when you play against another person. This is one of those games that can be open in a background window all day long. It's very addictive indeed.

WarLight is an addictive turn-based, Risk-style Time-Waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 23 Sep 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft Security Essentials celebrates one year of destroying malware

Filed under: Security, Microsoft

It's a bit hard to believe, but it's only been one short year since Microsoft introduced Security Essentials to the world. So, how do you celebrate the first birthday of an anti-malware app that is loved by tens of millions of users? With a cake and a couple of blog posts, of course!

Over at the Windows Team Blog, they're focused on numbers -- here are few key ones:

• 30 million users in 74 countries
• 366 million threats removed
• Three certifications (ICSA, West Coast Labs, and AV-Test)

They're also reminding readers of the licensing change, which takes place in October: Security Essentials will be free to use in small business and office settings of up to 10 computers. Also announced: HP is shipping MSE pre-installed on their new Envy laptops.

The next version of Microsoft Security Essentials is currently in beta testing, and it should arrive some time in early 2011.

Microsoft Security Essentials celebrates one year of destroying malware originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 08:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Key Command Generator helps you generate beautiful shortcut key codes

Filed under: Design, Education

A while ago, we had a heated debate on our internal mailing list concerning the best way to note shortcut keys. Is it Ctrl+Enter? Maybe it should be a hyphen, so should it be Ctrl-Enter? And should there be a space? Should we capitalize, or not?

This might seem fussy, but when you're authoring a large body of text (or a collaborative blog), some standards have to be established. It's not just a matter of consistency for consistency's sake - the question is what makes the most sense for users.

Key Command Generator offers an interesting take on this problem. You fill in a simple form for your shortcut key, and you get an embeddable code. When you embed said code within your document, it shows up as a stylized "keyboard diagram" (as you can see in the screenshot).

While we won't be using it ourselves (because the output is pretty ginormous), I can certainly see how this can come in handy for other projects. I only wish it was a bit easier to use. A simpler syntax would be great, because then I could just change a few parameters in my code and avoid having to fill the form in every time. Perhaps something like shortcutkey.com/ctrl+shift+enter. Oh well, I guess there's always the HTML5 kbd element.

Key Command Generator helps you generate beautiful shortcut key codes originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 23 Sep 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Which Android Browser Is Fastest? [Android]

One prime attraction of Android? That super-quick—especially on Froyo—native browser. But if you've got a need for speed, is it possible that there's a better option out there? Yes, actually. More »

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Google expands Android's reach, accepting paid apps from 20 more countries, selling to 18 more

Android may be climbing the charts when it comes to market share, and the Market may be quickly approaching the 100,000 apps mark, but the whole thing is hardly a global proposition. As of earlier this week, paid apps were able to be purchased in just 14 countries, submitted by developers of just nine nationalities. That changes now, with Google adding 20 countries to its list of approved submitters, meaning developers living in 29 nations are eligible to submit paid apps to the Market. Over the next two weeks the purchasing of those apps will be flipped on for users in 18 countries, 32 in all that will have the "buy" button enabled -- music to the ears of Java app developers everywhere. Which flags are newly embracing app capitalism? We have the lists waiting for you below.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Google expands Android's reach, accepting paid apps from 20 more countries, selling to 18 more

Google expands Android's reach, accepting paid apps from 20 more countries, selling to 18 more originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Oct 2010 08:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC Spark leaked in the wild, shows off plenty of WP7 goodness

Well, it was only a matter of time -- first the leaked press shots of this elusive HTC Spark (although possibly misidentified as the Mondrian back then -- note the shinier earpiece in the leaked AT&T ad), and now the real thing is in the hands of some lucky hardware tester. Fortunately for us, this guy also happens to have a naughty friend over at xda-developers -- you'll see in his photos that HTC Hub is alive and well on this 8GB handset, but otherwise, there's not much info coming out of here. Regardless, feel free to head over to the source link for more Windows Phone 7 eye candy -- you'll need to register first, though, so we've grabbed a few shots below to get things going.

[Thanks, Adam]

Gallery: HTC Spark leaked in the wild, shows off plenty of WP7 goodness

HTC Spark leaked in the wild, shows off plenty of WP7 goodness originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 12:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here's How You Get Rid of That Ping Drop-Down In iTunes [Ping]

iTunes 10.0.1 brought with it a Ping drop-down menu. Which some people liked! But if Ping's not your thing, here's how you get rid of that drop-down menu altogether. More »

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