I do not participate in memes often, but, this one caught my attention today.
It is hosted by Bookish Things & More.
The theme this week is songs that celebrate love.
Still the One ~ Orleans
I love and adore Orleans. I really, really do. I also love Dance With Me. You should give both a listen!
Can't Take My Eyes Off You ~ Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
There aren't enough "loves" to cover how giddy this one makes me! I'll save you some time. The link to the scene from 10 Things I Hate About You.
I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song ~ Jim Croce
I love Jim Croce's music very much. This is one of my favorites. I also love Time in a Bottle.
© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
Thứ Bảy, 21 tháng 5, 2016
The Two Towers
I am still enjoying my reread of Lord of the Rings. The Two Towers consists of books three and four.
The fellowship has been broken, and, as a result the narrative has been completely split. The fourth book follows the adventures of Sam and Frodo (and Gollum). The third book follows the adventures of everyone else: Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, etc.
The book opens with some drama: Merry and Pippin have been taken! Boromir has fallen valiantly in battle trying to protect them. He confesses all to Aragorn moments before he dies. (But the movie does it even better. That death scene in the extended edition is SOMETHING.)
Aragorn knelt beside him. Boromir opened his eyes and strove to speak. At last slow words came. ‘I tried to take the Ring from Frodo,’ he said. ‘I am sorry. I have paid.’ His glance strayed to his fallen enemies; twenty at least lay there. ‘They have gone: the Halflings: the Orcs have taken them. I think they are not dead. Orcs bound them.’ He paused and his eyes closed wearily. After a moment he spoke again. ‘Farewell, Aragorn! Go to Minas Tirith and save my people! I have failed.’ ‘No!’ said Aragorn, taking his hand and kissing his brow. ‘You have conquered. Few have gained such a victory. Be at peace! Minas Tirith shall not fall!’ Boromir smiled. ‘Which way did they go? Was Frodo there?’ said Aragorn. But Boromir did not speak again.The company also learns that Sam and Frodo have left, have "broken" the fellowship. The mission has changed without a doubt, but the remaining members still have purpose.
‘The rumour of the earth is dim and confused,’ he said. ‘Nothing walks upon it for many miles about us. Faint and far are the feet of our enemies. But loud are the hoofs of the horses. It comes to my mind that I heard them, even as I lay on the ground in sleep, and they troubled my dreams: horses galloping, passing in the West. But now they are drawing ever further from us, riding northward. I wonder what is happening in this land!’ ‘Let us go!’ said Legolas.
They decide to pursue the orcs and attempt a rescue of the hobbits. In their quest to save Merry and Pippin, they meet an old friend in a surprising place!
In addition to meeting an old friend, readers also meet some new characters: Treebeard, Éomer, Théoden, and Éowyn. Merry and Pippin encounter the Ents! Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, (and Gandalf) go to Rohan. I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this third book.
The fourth book concerns Frodo, Sam, Gollum. Readers meet Boromir's brother as well. It's good, very good. But I can't help thinking that it is largely redeemed by SAM.
Favorite quotes:
Gimli ground his teeth. ‘This is a bitter end to our hope and to all our toil!’ he said. ‘To hope, maybe, but not to toil,’ said Aragorn.
‘Awake! Awake!’ he cried. ‘It is a red dawn. Strange things await us by the eaves of the forest. Good or evil, I do not know; but we are called. Awake!’
‘You may say this to Théoden son of Thengel: open war lies before him, with Sauron or against him. None may live now as they have lived, and few shall keep what they call their own.
The world is all grown strange. Elf and Dwarf in company walk in our daily fields; and folk speak with the Lady of the Wood and yet live; and the Sword comes back to war that was broken in the long ages ere the fathers of our fathers rode into the Mark! How shall a man judge what to do in such times?’ ‘As he ever has judged,’ said Aragorn. ‘Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men. It is a man’s part to discern them, as much in the Golden Wood as in his own house.’ ‘True indeed,’ said Éomer. ‘But I do not doubt you, nor the deed which my heart would do. Yet I am not free to do all as I would. It is against our law to let strangers wander at will in our land, until the king himself shall give them leave, and more strict is the command in these days of peril.
There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark.
There are Ents and Ents, you know; or there are Ents and things that look like Ents but ain’t, as you might say. I’ll call you Merry and Pippin, if you please – nice names. For I am not going to tell you my name, not yet at any rate.’ A queer half-knowing, half-humorous look came with a green flicker into his eyes. ‘For one thing it would take a long while: my name is growing all the time, and I’ve lived a very long, long time; so my name is like a story. Real names tell you the story of the things they belong to in my language, in the Old Entish as you might say. It is a lovely language, but it takes a very long time to say anything in it, because we do not say anything in it, unless it is worth taking a long time to say, and to listen to.
‘Of course, it is likely enough, my friends,’ he said slowly, ‘likely enough that we are going to our doom: the last march of the Ents. But if we stayed at home and did nothing, doom would find us anyway, sooner or later. That thought has long been growing in our hearts; and that is why we are marching now.
‘My name!’ said the old man again. ‘Have you not guessed it already? You have heard it before, I think. Yes, you have heard it before. But come now, what of your tale?’ The three companions stood silent and made no answer. ‘There are some who would begin to doubt whether your errand is fit to tell,’ said the old man. ‘Happily I know something of it. You are tracking the footsteps of two young hobbits, I believe. Yes, hobbits. Don’t stare, as if you had never heard the strange name before. You have, and so have I. Well, they climbed up here the day before yesterday; and they met someone that they did not expect. Does that comfort you? And now you would like to know where they were taken? Well, well, maybe I can give you some news about that. But why are we standing? Your errand, you see, is no longer as urgent as you thought. Let us sit down and be more at ease.’
They all gazed at him. His hair was white as snow in the sunshine; and gleaming white was his robe; the eyes under his deep brows were bright, piercing as the rays of the sun; power was in his hand. Between wonder, joy, and fear they stood and found no words to say. At last Aragorn stirred. ‘Gandalf!’ he said. ‘Beyond all hope you return to us in our need! What veil was over my sight? Gandalf!’ Gimli said nothing, but sank to his knees, shading his eyes.
Hope is not victory. War is upon us and all our friends, a war in which only the use of the Ring could give us surety of victory. It fills me with great sorrow and great fear: for much shall be destroyed and all may be lost. I am Gandalf, Gandalf the White, but Black is mightier still.’
Go where you must go, and hope!
A king will have his way in his own hall, be it folly or wisdom.
Men need many words before deeds.
‘Yet dawn is ever the hope of men,’ said Aragorn.
That must be my hope,’ said Legolas. ‘But I wish that he had come this way. I desired to tell Master Gimli that my tale is now thirty-nine.’ ‘If he wins back to the caves, he will pass your count again,’ laughed Aragorn. ‘Never did I see an axe so wielded.’ ‘I must go and seek some arrows,’ said Legolas. ‘Would that this night would end, and I could have better light for shooting.’
‘We will have peace,’ said Théoden at last thickly and with an effort. Several of the Riders cried out gladly. Théoden held up his hand. ‘Yes, we will have peace,’ he said, now in a clear voice, ‘we will have peace, when you and all your works have perished – and the works of your dark master to whom you would deliver us. You are a liar, Saruman, and a corrupter of men’s hearts. You hold out your hand to me, and I perceive only a finger of the claw of Mordor. Cruel and cold! Even if your war on me was just – as it was not, for were you ten times as wise you would have no right to rule me and mine for your own profit as you desired – even so, what will you say of your torches in Westfold and the children that lie dead there? And they hewed Háma’s body before the gates of the Hornburg, after he was dead. When you hang from a gibbet at your window for the sport of your own crows, I will have peace with you and Orthanc. So much for the House of Eorl. A lesser son of great sires am I, but I do not need to lick your fingers. Turn elsewhither. But I fear your voice has lost its charm.’
Now, Pippin my lad, don’t forget Gildor’s saying – the one Sam used to quote: Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.’
‘Don’t hurt us! Don’t let them hurt us, precious! They won’t hurt us will they, nice little hobbitses? We didn’t mean no harm, but they jumps on us like cats on poor mices, they did, precious. And we’re so lonely, gollum. We’ll be nice to them, very nice, if they’ll be nice to us, won’t we, yes, yess.’
We only wish to catch a fish, so juicy-sweet!
‘Yess, yess, nice water,’ said Gollum. ‘Drink it, drink it, while we can! But what is it they’ve got, precious? Is it crunchable? Is it tasty?’
‘I am commanded to go to the land of Mordor, and therefore I shall go,’ said Frodo. ‘If there is only one way, then I must take it. What comes after must come.’
Sam said nothing. The look on Frodo’s face was enough for him; he knew that words of his were useless. And after all he never had any real hope in the affair from the beginning; but being a cheerful hobbit he had not needed hope, as long as despair could be postponed. Now they were come to the bitter end. But he had stuck to his master all the way; that was what he had chiefly come for, and he would still stick to him. His master would not go to Mordor alone. Sam would go with him – and at any rate they would get rid of Gollum.
All hobbits, of course, can cook, for they begin to learn the art before their letters (which many never reach); but Sam was a good cook, even by hobbit reckoning, and he had done a good deal of the camp-cooking on their travels, when there was a chance. He still hopefully carried some of his gear in his pack: a small tinder-box, two small shallow pans, the smaller fitting into the larger; inside them a wooden spoon, a short two-pronged fork and some skewers were stowed; and hidden at the bottom of the pack in a flat wooden box a dwindling treasure, some salt. But he needed a fire, and other things besides. He thought for a bit, while he took out his knife, cleaned and whetted it, and began to dress the rabbits. He was not going to leave Frodo alone asleep even for a few minutes.
Sam drew a deep breath. ‘An Oliphaunt it was!’ he said. ‘So there are Oliphaunts, and I have seen one. What a life! But no one at home will ever believe me. Well, if that’s over, I’ll have a bit of sleep.’
‘I don’t like anything here at all,’ said Frodo, ‘step or stone, breath or bone. Earth, air and water all seem accursed. But so our path is laid.’ ‘Yes, that’s so,’ said Sam. ‘And we shouldn’t be here at all, if we’d known more about it before we started. But I suppose it’s often that way. The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo: adventures, as I used to call them. I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a bit dull, a kind of a sport, as you might say. But that’s not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually – their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn’t. And if they had, we shouldn’t know, because they’d have been forgotten. We hear about those as just went on – and not all to a good end, mind you; at least not to what folk inside a story and not outside it call a good end. You know, coming home, and finding things all right, though not quite the same – like old Mr. Bilbo. But those aren’t always the best tales to hear, though they may be the best tales to get landed in! I wonder what sort of a tale we’ve fallen into?’ ‘I wonder,’ said Frodo. ‘But I don’t know. And that’s the way of a real tale. Take any one that you’re fond of. You may know, or guess, what kind of a tale it is, happy-ending or sad-ending, but the people in it don’t know. And you don’t want them to.’
Still, I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or tales. We’re in one, of course; but I mean: put into words, you know, told by the fireside, or read out of a great big book with red and black letters, years and years afterwards. And people will say: “Let’s hear about Frodo and the Ring!” And they’ll say: “Yes, that’s one of my favourite stories. Frodo was very brave, wasn’t he, dad?” “Yes, my boy, the famousest of the hobbits, and that’s saying a lot.”’ ‘It’s saying a lot too much,’ said Frodo, and he laughed, a long clear laugh from his heart. Such a sound had not been heard in those places since Sauron came to Middle-earth. To Sam suddenly it seemed as if all the stones were listening and the tall rocks leaning over them. But Frodo did not heed them; he laughed again. ‘Why, Sam,’ he said, ‘to hear you somehow makes me as merry as if the story was already written. But you’ve left out one of the chief characters: Samwise the stouthearted. “I want to hear more about Sam, dad. Why didn’t they put in more of his talk, dad? That’s what I like, it makes me laugh. And Frodo wouldn’t have got far without Sam, would he, dad?”’ ‘Now, Mr. Frodo,’ said Sam, ‘you shouldn’t make fun. I was serious.’ ‘So was I,’ said Frodo, ‘and so I am. We’re going on a bit too fast. You and I, Sam, are still stuck in the worst places of the story, and it is all too likely that some will say at this point: “Shut the book now, dad; we don’t want to read any more.”’
© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
Thứ Sáu, 20 tháng 5, 2016
Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar
Last year I reviewed Jump Back, Paul a lovely biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar for middle grade and up by Sally Derby. I had never heard of Dunbar before picking up that book, and, it hooked me. I have been meaning to go and read MORE of his work ever since. Almost nine months later, I checked out The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar.
It includes:
- An introduction to Lyrics of Lowly Life by William Dean Howells
- Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896)
- Lyrics of the Hearthside (1902)
- Lyrics of Love and Laughter
- Lyrics of Love and Sorrow
- Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow (1905)
- Miscellaneous
I enjoyed reading this one very much. Enjoyed may not convey how deeply I feel about this collection of poetry! I loved it. I truly LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. As in, why did NO ONE tell me about him before?!?! How could I have gone this long without knowing who he is and what he wrote?!?!
So roughly half of his poems--give or take--are written in dialect. Now readers may have valid reactions to this--either loving or hating it. I personally loved it. I did. I think the key to deciphering dialect is to HEAR it as you read.
Here is one of the first dialect poems that appears in Lyrics of Lowly Life. It is called Accountability.
FOLKS ain't got no right to censuah othah folks about dey habits;Dunbar also wrote in "literary English." (That is how they are referred to by Howells in the introduction.) Half of the poems are written in this way, this style.
Him dat giv' de squir'ls de bushtails made de bobtails fu' de rabbits.
Him dat built de gread big mountains hollered out de little valleys,
Him dat made de streets an' driveways wasn't shamed to make de alleys.
We is all constructed diff'ent, d'ain't no two of us de same;
We cain't he'p ouah likes an' dislikes, ef we'se bad we ain't to blame.
Ef we'se good, we need n't show off, case you bet it ain't ouah doin'
We gits into su'ttain channels dat we jes' cain't he'p pu'suin'.
But we all fits into places dat no othah ones could fill,
An' we does the things we has to, big er little, good er ill.
John cain't tek de place o' Henry, Su an' Sally ain't alike;
Bass ain't nuthin' like a suckah, chub ain't nuthin' like a pike.
When you come to think about it, how it's all planned out it's splendid.
Nuthin's done er evah happens, 'dout hit's somefin' dat's intended;
Don't keer whut you does, you has to, an' hit sholy beats de dickens,--
Viney, go put on de kittle, I got one o' mastah's chickens.
Here is one of his "literary" poems that appears early in that same collection. (It's the second poem.) It's called The Poet and His Song.
A SONG is but a little thing,Here are my favorite 'literary' poems:
And yet what joy it is to sing!
In hours of toil it gives me zest,
And when at eve I long for rest;
When cows come home along the bars,
And in the fold I hear the bell,
As Night, the shepherd, herds his stars,
I sing my song, and all is well.
There are no ears to hear my lays,
No lips to lift a word of praise;
But still, with faith unfaltering,
I live and laugh and love and sing.
What matters yon unheeding throng?
They cannot feel my spirit's spell,
Since life is sweet and love is long,
I sing my song, and all is well.
My days are never days of ease;
I till my ground and prune my trees.
When ripened gold is all the plain,
I put my sickle to the grain.
I labor hard, and toil and sweat,
While others dream within the dell;
But even while my brow is wet,
I sing my song, and all is well.
Sometimes the sun, unkindly hot,
My garden makes a desert spot;
Sometimes a blight upon the tree
Takes all my fruit away from me;
And then with throes of bitter pain
Rebellious passions rise and swell;
But - life is more than fruit or grain,
And so I sing, and all is well.
- The Seedling
- We Wear the Mask
- The Unsung Heroes (about African American soldiers)
- The Poet and His Song
- Dawn
- Christmas Carol
- Riding to Town
- If
- Yesterday and Tomorrow
- A Hymn
- By Rugged Ways
- Sympathy
- Roses
- Ione
- A Negro Love Song (with the refrain Jump back, honey, jump back)
- Deacon Jones' Grievance
- The Ol' Tunes
- The Spellin'-Bee
- Joggin' Erlong
- When de Co'n Pone's Hot
- Accountability
- Signs of the Times (a poem about Thanksgiving)
- Soliloquy of a Turkey (a poem about Christmas)
- Foolin' Wid de Seasons
- James Whitcomb Riley
© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
And the winners of the Google Play Awards are…
Posted by Purnima Kochikar, Director, Apps and Games Business Development,
Google Play
During a special ceremony last tonight at Google I/O, we honored ten apps and games
for their outstanding achievements as part of the inaugural Google Play Awards.
As we shared onstage, when you look at how Google Play has evolved over the
years, it’s pretty amazing. We’re now reaching over 1 billion users every month and there’s literally something for everyone. From real-time
multiplayer to beautiful Indie games, industry changing startups to innovative
uses of mobile technology, developers like you continue to push the boundaries
of what apps can do.
Congrats to the following developers in each category!
Thứ Năm, 19 tháng 5, 2016
Canon LBP2900/2900B Printer Driver For Windows (32/64bit)
Canon LBP2900/2900B Printer Driver For Windows (32/64bit)
Canon LBP2900/2900B Printer Driver For Windows (32bit)
OS
Windows 10
Windows 8.1
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003 R2
Windows Server 2008
Windows 2000
File information
File name : LBP2900_R150_V330_W32_uk_EN_2.exe
File version : R1.50V3.30
File language : English
Android Studio 2.2 Preview - New UI Designer & Constraint Layout
By Jamal Eason, Product Manager, Android
This week at Google I/O 2016 we launched Android Studio 2.2 Preview. This release is a large update that builds upon our focus to create a fast and productive integrated development environment (IDE) for Android. Developed in sync with the Android platform, Android Studio allows you to develop with the latest Android APIs and features. Since launching Android Studio at Google I/O just 3 years ago, we received great feedback from on you on what features you want the most. Today 92% of the top 125 apps & game developers on Google Play, plus millions of developer worldwide, use Android Studio. We want to continue to build features that will continue to make you more efficient when developing for Android and more productive.
Android Studio 2.2 Preview includes a portfolio of new features along the spectrum of developments, ranging from designing user interfaces to building and debugging your app in new ways. This preview includes the following new categories of features:
Design
- Layout Editor: A new user interface designer that helps you visually design the layouts in your app. Features like blueprint mode and the new properties panel allow you to quickly edit layouts and widgets faster.
- Constraint Layout: A new powerful and flexible Android layout that allows you to express complex UIs without nesting multiple layouts.
- Layout Inspector: Debug a snapshot of your app layout running on the Android Emulator or device. Inspect the view hierarchy and corresponding attributes.
Develop
- Firebase Plugin: Explore and integrate the suite of services offered by Firebase inside of Android Studio. Adding services like Analytics, Authentication, Notifications, and AdMob are just a few clicks away.
- Enhanced Code Analysis: Android Studio checks the quality of your Android app code. In addition to 260 Android lint and code inspections, this release includes new code quality checks for Java 8 language usage and a new inspection infrastructure for more cross-file analysis.
- Samples Browser: Referencing Android sample code is now even easier. Within the code editor window, find occurrences of your app code snippets in Google Android sample code to help jump start your app development.
- Improved C++ Support: Android Studio 2.2 improves C++ development with the ability to edit, build, and debug pre-existing Android projects that use ndk-build or CMake rather than Gradle. Additionally, the existing lldb C++ debugger is now even better with project type auto-detection and a Java language aware C++ mode that lets you use a single debugger process to inspect both Java language and C++ runtimes.
- IntelliJ 2016.1: Android Studio 2.2 includes all the latest updates from the underlying JetBrains product platforms IntelliJ.
Build
- Jack Compiler Improvements: For those using the new Jack compiler, Android Studio 2.2 adds support for annotation processing, as well as incremental builds for reduced build times.
- Merged Manifest Viewer: Diagnose how your AndroidManifest.xml merges with your app dependences across your project build variants.
Test
- Espresso Test Recorder: Record Espresso UI tests simply by using your app as a normal user. As you click through your app UI, reusable and editable test code is then generated for you. You can run the generated tests locally, in your Continuous Integration environment, or in Firebase Test lab.
- APK Analyzer: Drill into your APK to help you reduce your APK size, debug 64K method limit issues, view contents of Dex files and more.
Google I/O ‘16: What’s New in Android Development Tools
Deeper Dive into the New Features
Design
- Layout Editor: Android Studio 2.2 features a new user interface designer. There are many enhancements but some of the highlights include:
- Drag-and-drop widgets from the palette to the design surface or the component tree view of your app.
- Design surface has a blueprint mode to inspect the spacing and arrangement of your layout.
- Properties panel now shows a curated set of properties for quick widget edits with a full sheet of advanced properties one click away.
- UI builder can edit menu and system preference files.
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| The new Layout Editor in Android Studio 2.2 Preview |
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| Edit Menus in the new Layout Editor |
- Constraint Layout: This new layout is a flexible layout manager for your app that allows you to create dynamic user interfaces without nesting multiple layouts. It is distributed as a support library that is tightly coupled with Android Studio and backwards compatible to API Level 9.
At first glance, Constraint Layout is similar to RelativeLayout. However, the Constraint Layout was designed to be used in Studio and it can efficiently express your app design so that you rely on fewer layouts like LinearLayout, FrameLayout, TableLayout, or GridLayout. Lastly, with the built-in automatic constraints inference engine. You can freely design your UI to your liking and let Android Studio do the hard work.
To help you get started, the built-in templates in the New Project Wizard in Android Studio 2.2 Preview now generate a Constraint Layout. Alternately, you can right click on any layout in the new Layout Editor and select the Convert to ConstraintLayout option.
This is an early preview of the UI designer and Constraint Layout, and we will rapidly add enchantments in upcoming releases. Learn more on the Android Studio tools site.
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Constraint Layout |
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Start Layout Inspector |
- Layout Inspector: For new and existing layouts, many times you may want to debug your app UI to determine if your layout is rendering as expected. With the new Layout Inspector, you can drill into the view hierarchy of your app and analyze the attributes of each component of UI on the screen.
To use the tool, just click on Layout Inspector Icon in the Android Monitor Window, and then Android Studio creates a snapshot of the current view hierarchy of your app for you to inspect.
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| Layout Inspector |
Develop
- Firebase Plugin: Firebase is the new suite of developers services that can help you develop high-quality apps, grow your user base, and earn more money. Inside of Android Studio, you can add Firebase to a new or existing Android app with the new Assistant window. To access the Firebase features click on the Tools menu and then select Firebase. You will want to first setup the brand new Firebase Analytics as the foundation as you explore other Firebase services like Firebase Cloud Messaging or Firease Crash Reporting to add your application. Learn more about the Firebase integration inside Android Studio here.
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Firebase Plugin for Android Studio |
- Code Sample Browser: In addition to importing Android Samples, the Code Sample Browser is a menu option inside Android Studio 2.2 Preview that allows you to find high-quality, Google-provided Android code samples based on the currently highlighted symbol in your project. To use the feature, highlight a Variables, Types and Methods in your code then Right Click to show a context menu for Find Sample Code. The results are displayed in a bottom output box.
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| Code Sample Browser |
Build
- CMake and NDK-Build: For those of you using the Android NDK, Android Studio now supports building CMake and NDK-Build Android app projects by pointing Gradle at your existing build files. Once you’ve added your cmake or ndk-build project to Gradle, Android Studio will automatically open your relevant Android code files for editing and debugging in Studio.
For CMake users, just add the path to your CMList.txt file in the
externalNativeBuild section of your Gradle file: |
| CMake Build in Android Studio |
For NDK-Build Users, just add the path to your *.mk file in the section of your Gradle file:
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| NDK-Build in Android Studio |
- Improved Jack Tools: The new Jack Toolchain compiles your Java language source into Android dex bytecode. The Jack compiler allows some Java 8 language features, like lambdas, to be used on all versions of Android. This release adds incremental build and full support for annotation processing, so you can explore using Java 8 language features in your existing projects.
To use incremental build with Jack add the following to your build.gradle file:
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Enable Jack Incremental Compile Option |
Jack will automatically apply annotations processors in your classpath. To use an annotation processor at compile-time without bundling it in your apk, use the new annotationProcessor dependency scope:
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| Enable Jack Annotation Processing |
- Merged Manifest Viewer: Figuring out how your AndroidManifest merges with your project dependencies based on build types, flavors and variants is now easier with Android Studio. Navigate to your AndroidManifest.xml and click on the new Merged Manifest bottom tab. Explore how each node of your AndroidManifest resolves with various project dependencies.
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| Merged Manifest Viewer |
Test
- Espresso Test Recorder: Sometimes writing UI tests can be tedious. With the Record Espresso UI tests feature, creating tests is now as easy as just using your app. Android Studio will capture all your UI interactions and convert them into a fully reusable Espresso Test that you can run locally or even on Firebase Test lab. To use the recorder, go to the Run menu and select Record Espresso Test.
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| Espresso Test Recorder |
- APK Analyzer: The new APK Analyzer helps you understand the contents and the sizes of different components in your APK. You can also use it to avoid 64K referenced method limit issues with your Dex files, diagnose ProGuard configuration issues, view merged AndroidManifest.xml file, and inspect the compiled resources file (resources.arsc). This can help you reduce your APK size and ensure your APK contains exactly the things you expect.
The APK Analyzer shows you both the raw file size as well as the download size of various components in your APK. The download size is the estimated size users need to download when the APK is served from Google Play. This information should help you prioritize where to focus in your size reduction efforts.
To use this new feature, click on the Build menu and select Analyze APK… Then, select any APK that you want to analyze.
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| APK Analyzer |
- Java-aware C++ Debugger: When debugging C++ code on targets running N and above, you can now use a single, Java language aware lldb instance. This debugger continues to support great lldb features like fast steps and memory watchpoints while also allowing you to stop on Java language breakpoints and view your Java language memory contents.
- Auto Debugger Selection: Android Studio apps can now use debugger type “Auto.” This will automatically enable the appropriate debugger -- the Java language aware C++ debugger if enabled and otherwise the hybrid debugger for C++ projects. Projects exclusively using the Java language will continue to use the Java language debugger.
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| Enable Auto Debugger for C++ |
What's Next
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Bring Your Android App to Chromebooks
Posted by Dylan Reid and Elijah Taylor, Software Engineers, Chrome OS
Users love Chromebooks for their speed, security and simplicity. According to IDC1, in Q1 of this year Chromebook shipments overtook Macs in the U.S. That means, thanks to your support, in the U.S. Chrome OS is now the second most popular PC operating system. As we continue to increase our focus on mobility, we want to make sure your apps are easily available on this new form factor, reaching the many Chrome devices while maintaining a great experience.
Today we announced that we’re adding Android apps to Chromebooks, which means users will be able to install the apps they know and love. Later this year you can expand your app’s reach to a new hardware platform and wider audience while maximizing the Google Play ecosystem. With expanded app availability, new use cases and improved workflows can be achieved for all Chromebook users, whether for personal use, for work or for education. As a developer we encourage you to test your app as described here.
Developers can start to optimize their app for the Chromebook form factor in advance of launch later in 2016. Here are some of the benefits:
- Android Apps can be shown in 3 different window sizes to allow the best experience
- Users can multi-task with multiple Android apps in moveable windows along with a full desktop browser, all within the familiar Chrome OS interface.
- Keyboard, mouse, and touch input will seamlessly work together
- Users will get Android notifications on their Chromebooks
- Android apps benefit from the Wifi or Bluetooth connectivity setup by the user or the administrator
- File sharing is seamless between Chrome and Android apps through the Files app
- Performance of demanding apps such as games or design apps is excellent
In addition to being a great personal device, one of the reasons Chromebooks are popular in schools and businesses is that you can centrally manage and configure them with 200+ policies. Administrators can manage Android apps on Chromebooks using the same Admin Console. In addition to whitelisting or push installing specific apps to users, admins can selectively enable them for parts of their organization while disabling in others.
Please come to our Google I/O session on May 19th at 4 pm. You will hear directly from our friendly engineers on how to optimize your Android app for Chromebooks. We are making the feature available in early June on Asus Chromebook Flip, Chromebook Pixel (2015) and Acer Chromebook R11 specifically for developers to have sufficient time to test their apps. For the actual launch and thereafter we will keep adding support for the following list of devices. Please see detailed instructions on how to get started with testing your apps.
1 - IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, May 2016
I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced
I am certainly glad I read this one. I wouldn't say it's one anyone could--or should--enjoy reading.
Things you should know:
1) It is a memoir; there are two authors. 2) It opens with Nujood feeling vulnerable as she seeks justice at the courthouse. 3) Though the title gave it away, readers soon learn that she is ten--give or take a year or two--and she's desperate for a divorce. 4) Several months previous, her father announced he had found her a husband who was around 30. 5) Though his age has something to do with the distastefulness of it, HER age is what is shocking. 6) Though he agreed or should I say "agreed" not to consummate the marriage until one full year after her she comes of age--so to speak--he rapes her on their wedding night. 7) She is raped and abused repeatedly. 8) The couple lives with his family, but, Nujood receives no support or comfort from her in-laws. 9) Her case isn't an isolated one. Sadly, some children are forced into marriage by their families. 10) I probably should have mentioned this before, but, the book is set in Yemen. 11) The book has a definite framework. It opens with her seeking a divorce, and, then flashes back in time at several different points. 12) The book is dramatic and emotional. It may not be literary. But does a book have to be literary to be worth reading???
© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
Thứ Tư, 18 tháng 5, 2016
Dell Inspiron 5439 Drivers For Windows 10 (64bit)
Dell Inspiron 5439 Drivers For Windows 10 (64bit)
Dell Inspiron 5439 Drivers For Windows 10 (64bit)
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Realtek High-Definition Audio ALC 275, ALC290, ALC283,
ALC3223, AL3234 Driver
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Dell Inspiron 5439 System BIOS
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Dell Inspiron 5439 Drivers For Windows 8.1 (64bit)
Dell Inspiron 5439 Drivers For Windows 8.1 (64bit)
Dell Inspiron 5439 Drivers For Windows 8.1 (64bit)
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Realtek High-Definition Audio Driver
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Dell Inspiron 5439 Drivers For Windows 7
Dell Inspiron 5439 Drivers For Windows 7
Dell Inspiron 5439 Drivers For Windows 7 (64bit)
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Realtek High-Definition Audio Driver
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The Wicked Boy
Because I was expecting to love, love, love it, I find myself a bit disappointed in Kate Summerscale's latest book. I think if I'd had reasonable expectations of it, it would have proved much more satisfying to me!
I did enjoy reading her newest book. I love reading nonfiction about Victorian England. And this is a true-crime book, which should prove appealing enough to readers.
Who is the "Wicked" Boy and was he really, truly wicked?! The subject of this one is Robert Coombes. He was convicted of murdering his mother, Emily Coombes. He didn't exactly try to cover it up. He left her dead body on the bed, exactly where he stabbed her. He left the bloody knife on the bed as well. He merely locked the door to his mother's room, told his brother he'd killed their mother, and both boys went about their business. Not just for a day or two--but for a week or two. When the smell brought persistent visitors--his mother's friends--and the police to the house, he confessed openly that he did it. He was a boy, and, perhaps not quite sane.
In any case, readers learn about his life before and after the murder; the trial, his time in prison/asylum, his release, his eventual immigration to Australia, his time as a soldier in World War I, etc. Everything is placed into context. The book has dozens of little history lessons in it, little asides that take you off the path, if you will, but ultimately lead you back on it again.
The last section of the book goes behind the scenes in the writing and researching of the book. This section helped me appreciate the book more and make sense of the rambling. In other words, knowing the author's purpose and how she saw things helped me to like the book more.
The trial took place in the mid 1890s. He was released from the prison/asylum a few years before World War I started. He moved to Australia before the war started as well. He joined up as soon as England declared war. He was a musician in his regiment's band. There were lots of little details and asides that add depth to this one. But. It isn't a particularly quick and absorbing read.
© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
Thứ Ba, 17 tháng 5, 2016
In Defense of Food
After watching the documentary In Defense of Food, I sought out the book. The documentary was released several years after the book, and, it may be a little more up-to-date, in my opinion. It also benefits from the video format. It is engaging, fascinating, and fun. The documentary is able to use photographs, print ads, and commercials throughout. That being said, there is something to be said for the book itself. One can read it at your own pace, slowly digesting the information within, and rereading if necessary to make sure you've truly gotten what you needed.
The book is divided into three sections: "The Age of Nutritionism," "The Western Diet and the Diseases of Civilization," and "Getting Over Nutritionism."
So. The book is an "eater's manifesto," and it begins with seven glorious words: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Pollan explains those seven words in the final section of the book. Also in the introduction.
The book explores the question: what should I eat? what should I eat to be healthy? He points out that there is something unnatural about even having to ask--a sign that our culture and society has been damaged or upset. Until recently, people everywhere have known what to eat, and relied upon culture and tradition and common sense. It is only in the past century that this question has been taken over by so-called experts--scientists, doctors, politicians, food marketers, etc. Or perhaps I should say it's only in the past century that the majority have people have decided to follow so-called expert advice.
Other questions addressed in the book:
- What is the Western diet? How did it come to be? What role has technology and new science played in food production?
- What diseases are linked to the Western diet?
- What health risks exist in the present and the future for those on the Western diet?
- What are the alternatives to the Western diet? In other words, how, does one escape eating the Western diet?
- What is nutritionism? How does it differ from nutrition or nutrition science?
- How does one know who to trust and what to eat?
- Can common sense save you after all?
- What is food? How does "food" differ from "edible-foodlike substances" that you find in grocery stores and restaurants?
- What should you be buying? What should you be eating?
- Is it easy to eat healthy? Or difficult?
The book is a true must-read. Or. Perhaps the documentary is the true must?! I haven't made up my mind which is best. What I love is embracing common sense and grounding everything in reality. It isn't snarky or pessimistic. It is encouraging and inspiring.
From the introduction:
My aim in this book is to help us reclaim our health and happiness as eaters. To do this requires an exercise that might at first blush seem unnecessary, if not absurd: to offer a defense of food and the eating thereof... I contend that most of what we're consuming today is no longer, strictly speaking, food at all, and how we're consuming it--in the car, in front of the TV, and increasingly, alone--is not really eating, at least not in the sense that civilization has long understood the term. (7)
That eating should be foremost about bodily health is a relatively new and, I think, destructive idea--destructive not just of the pleasure of eating, which would be bad enough, but paradoxically of our health as well. Indeed, no people on earth worry more about the health consequences of their food choices than we Americans do--and no people suffer from as many diet-related health problems. We are becoming a nation of orthorexics: people with an unhealthy obessession with healthy eating. (9)From part one:
The first thing to understand about nutritionism is that it is not the same thing as nutrition. As the "-ism" suggests, it is not a scientific subject but an ideology...A reigning ideology is a little like the weather--all pervasive and so virtually impossible to escape. Still we can try. In the case of nutritionism, the widely shared but unexamined assumption is that the key to understanding food is indeed the nutrient. Put another way: Foods are essentially the sum of their nutrient parts. From this basic premise flow several others. Since nutrients, as compared with foods, are invisible and therefore slightly mysterious, it falls to the scientists (and to the journalists through whom the scientists reach the public) to explain the hidden reality of foods to us. In form this is a quasireligious idea, suggesting the visible world is not the one that really matters, which implies the need for a priesthood. For to enter a world where your dietary salvation depends on unseen nutrients, you need plenty of expert help. (28).
We eaters, alas, don't reap nearly as much benefit from nutritionism as food producers. Beyond providing a license to eat more of the latest approved foodlike substance, which we surely do appreciate, nutritionism tends to foster a great deal of anxiety around the experience of shopping for food and eating it. (53)From part two:
A diet based on quantity rather than quality has ushered a new creature onto the world stage: the human being who manages to be both overfed and undernourished, two characteristics seldom found in the same body in the long natural history of our species. (122)From part three:
Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. (148)
Avoid food products that make healthy claims. (154)
Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle. (157)
Eat meals (188).
Do all your eating from a table (192).
© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
Thứ Hai, 16 tháng 5, 2016
The Hunt for Vulcan
If The Hunt For Vulcan had been a documentary instead of a book, I think it would have been even better for me. It captures what I love about a good documentary: human interest stories and a mystery to be solved.
This reader-friendly astronomy book is about how a planet, Vulcan, came in and out of existence.
This book tells Vulcan's story: its ancestry, its birth, its odd, twilit journey in and out of the grasp of eager would-be discoverers, its time in purgatory, and finally, on the 18th of November, 1915, its decisive end at the hands of Albert Einstein. (xii)
The story of Vulcan suggests something much deeper, an insight that gets to the heart of the way science really advances (as opposed to the way we're taught in school.) The enterprise of making sense of the material world turns on a key question: what happens when something observed in nature doesn't fit within the established framework of existing human knowledge? The standard answer is that scientific ideas are supposed to evolve to accommodate new facts....Ideas, though, are hard to relinquish, none more so than those of Isaac Newton. For decades, the old understanding of gravity was so powerful that observers on multiple continents risked their retinas to gaze at the sun in search of Vulcan. And, contrary to the popular picture of science, a mere fact--Mercury's misplaced motion--wasn't nearly enough to undermine that sturdy edifice. As Vulcan's troubled history reveals, no one gives up on a powerful, or a beautiful, or perhaps simply a familiar and useful conception of the world without utter compulsion--and a real alternative. (xiii)But that's only one of many options of what the book is about. You could also say the book seeks to answer these questions:
- how does the universe work?
- how do we know what we know? and can we be sure of what we know?
- what is the scientific method? and, How good are scientists at following through with it in their lives and their works?
- who are some of the key scientists and astronomers since Isaac Newton?
© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
Thứ Sáu, 13 tháng 5, 2016
Dell Inspiron 5425 Drivers For Windows 7/8/8.1 (32/64bit)
Dell Inspiron 5425 Drivers For Windows 7/8/8.1 (32/64bit)
Dell Inspiron 5425 Drivers For Windows 7 (64bit)
Audio (1 file)
Conexant High-Defination CX20672-21Z Audio Driver
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Thứ Tư, 4 tháng 5, 2016
Acer Aspire F5-572G Drivers For Windows 10 (64bit)
Acer Aspire F5-572G Drivers For Windows 10 (64bit)
Acer Aspire F5-572G Drivers For Windows 10 (64bit)
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Version
Size
Mirror
Intel
SATA AHCI Driver
14.5.2.1088
11.7 MB
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Realtek
Audio Driver
6.0.1.7553
442.4 MB
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320.7 MB
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Acer Aspire F5-572 Drivers For Windows 10 (64bit)
Acer Aspire F5-572 Drivers For Windows 10 (64bit)
Acer Aspire F5-572 Drivers For Windows 10 (64bit)
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Size
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Intel
SATA AHCI
Driver
14.5.2.1088
11.7 MB
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Realtek
Audio Driver
6.0.1.7553
442.4 MB
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Atheros
Bluetooth
Acer Aspire E5-574G Drivers For Windows 10 (64bit)
Acer Aspire E5-574G Drivers For Windows 10 (64bit)
Acer Aspire E5-574G Drivers For Windows 10 (64bit)
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Intel
SATA AHCI
Driver
14.5.2.1088
11.7 MB
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Realtek
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6.0.1.7553
442.4 MB
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Atheros
Bluetooth
Acer Aspire E5-574 / E5-474 Drivers For Windows 10 (64bit)
Acer Aspire E5-574 Drivers For Windows 10 (64bit)
Acer Aspire E5-574 Drivers For Windows 10 (64bit)
Vendor
Description
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Size
Mirror
Intel
SATA AHCI
Driver
14.5.2.1088
11.7 MB
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Realtek
Audio Driver
6.0.1.7553
442.4 MB
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Atheros
Bluetooth
Thứ Hai, 18 tháng 4, 2016
How To Block A WebSite From TP Link Router
How To Block A Web Site From TP Link RouterHello friend!How are you? Hope you are very well. Every company has some employee whom browse some websites out of companies work and that companies top management don’t want that types of employee. If you are in a renewed biggest companies, IT officer you need to block that website which sites are not good for your company. Today I am going to show you
Chủ Nhật, 17 tháng 4, 2016
Toshiba Portege Z30-B Drivers For Windows 10 (64bit)
Toshiba Portege Z30-B Drivers For Windows 10 (64bit)
Toshiba Portege
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Intel Active
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18.1.1539.2349
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HP ProBook 455 G3 Drivers For Windows 10 (64bit)
HP ProBook 455 G3 Drivers For Windows 10 (64bit)
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Intel Chipset
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Intel Management
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Approaching the mobile games market as a small team in 2016
These days, I am preparing to launch my own company focused on mobile games. As a result, a lot of the time I have to struggle with agonizing questions. A few of those questions come from other people, but most of them are from hypothetical voices in my head:
- Isn’t the mobile gold rush long over for small teams?
- Don’t you need hundreds of thousands in advertising to even get noticed?
- Doesn’t your game need a well known IP or prominent youtubers playing it 24/7 to have any chance of succeeding?
- Why would your game do any better than the thousands that get submitted every single week?
- Why even bother on this very difficult and competitive platform? Why not Steam?
- Why not go back to work at EA?
Thanks a lot, voices. You no doubt exist because of every single piece of news that comes out of the mobile market, which seems like bad news for small independent developers. Thanks to the massive successes of a few, costs to reach an audience are going up, while at the same time that same audience has less attention to devote to an exploding number of available games. In other words, people are too busy playing Candy Crush, Clash Royale, Covet Fashion and many other established games to care about *any* of the hundreds of new games that come out each day, let alone yours. The top of the grossing charts is largely locked to established games, many of which are becoming very recognizable brands and are unlikely to be displaced from there any time soon. Every month, new high quality games come out from teams that have a long term horizon and start capturing more of the audience for themselves, for a very long time.
How can a small team hope to find any kind of success in this environment?
I have no idea. But I intend to try and find out. My goal is to build a business with a long term horizon: I’d much rather end up with a company that can comfortably sustain a small team of 5-10 people after 10 years, instead of a one hit wonder that makes a lot of money in the first few years and struggles to survive later on.
So just before I begin my journey, I thought it might be a good idea to present the thoughts, rules and guidelines I intend to use when operating my company through the mobile market. I can’t promise these will be of any use to anyone, but at least it should be fun to revisit this post in a few years and compare to how all these thoughts worked in the real world.
Avoid one-off games
There are mobile games you might play for an afternoon, a week, or in some cases even a month. They are very simple games that might rely on a simple infinite mechanic, or require the player to go through limited content before you’ve beaten the game. They have non existent or very limited interactions with other players (maybe just leaderboards). They have you flipping birds, crossing streets, chopping wood, throwing spitballs. They can be extremely fun for a while, are a perfect time waster for those times you only have a minute to play, and some of them are even very successful.
For lack of a better term, I call these “one-off” games. Making these kinds of games is still very popular, because of how easy it is. There are even services you can pay for “source codes” to put such an app in the store in mere days. I’d guess quite a bit of the new games that make it into the app store every day are such one-off games.
I think it’s a bad idea for a new studio to focus on these kinds of mobile games in 2016 and beyond. The reason is that with the flooding of simple games in the app store, these games are becoming interchangeable commodities. It’s extremely hard to build long term customer recognition and loyalty in such an environment, even if you do find initial success. These kinds of games are also extremely easy to clone.
Making this kind of game may have been a viable business strategy 5 years ago, but not today
To reduce the impact of the hundreds of games that flood the app store each single day, you need to take a number of approaches. Ensuring you’re not competing directly with the majority of them is just the start.
Even if you have one of these simple games, there may be some ways to ensure it doesn’t fit my definition of “one-off” games. These are the best ones I know of:
- Truly social features: If you have a way for players to have meaningful interactions between friends and/or strangers, they are more likely to stick to your game despite its lack of depth. Community doesn’t transfer between games no matter how similar they are.
- Meaningful progress over time: Players who are invested in what they have gained in your game and see value in gaining more down the line are more likely to keep playing your game in the long run.
- Frequent updates: Keeping the game fresh and giving the players new goals can help with building loyalty over time.
Implement your business model with the goal of building a long term relationship with your players
If you’re a small team just starting out making mobile games in 2016 or beyond, you’re presumably using the F2P model. Maybe there are a few exceptions, but I see any other approach as suicide. There is an enormous and growing amount of high quality free content. Asking for money up front for an unknown game from an unproven team with no community around it sounds like a tall order.
Since it’s already 2016, we’ve all hopefully moved on from the pointless conversation of whether F2P is universally bad and evil, and into more focused discussions about specific implementations of the model.
I’ve seen quite a few disasters from teams trying to shoehorn F2P in a game in a way that not only ends up not making them money, it also destroys trust with players. My golden takeaway rule from those is this: To implement fair F2P, you have to play and have seen value from spending in a F2P game yourself (ideally, a game you have been playing for months). If that’s not the case, you need to get out of your inner circle and talk extensively to people who have.
There’s two common examples I’ve seen of misapplied F2P leading to hurt relationships with players:
- Trying to be nice (“We’ll get a small amount of money from a large amount of players”). This usually involves implementing a paywall to progress, or cutting important features for non payers. Not only does this not make more money than a paid game (a big percent of mobile players are not interested in paying anything for a game, no matter how much they play it), it also leads to soured feelings. For better or worse, mobile players have been trained to have access to all content for free in other F2P games. You asking them for money to access important parts of your game doesn’t look right to them.
- Trying to be too aggressive: If you keep nudging your players for money, or make it too hard to progress without paying, you’re alienating the majority who have no interest in paying anything.
Also: Destroy your childhood memories with pushy micro-transactions!
Think about it: If you don’t understand why some (but not all) of your players might want to spend money on specific parts of your game, the items you do sell are unlikely to meet anyone’s definition of value. Making sure at least some of the people on your team understand that value is important. And instead of agonizing over maximizing the amount of spenders, you should make sure you are offering an excellent experience to people who never pay a dime.
What about ads?
At first glance, this may seem like a very good time to have ads in your game. If you don’t like in-app purchases, it gives you an easy way to make money out of people playing your game. And the payoff is good and getting better, thanks to the massive success of many F2P games that keep pushing advertising costs up.
But consider this: Mobile games are largely in competition with each other to get a shortening piece of the player’s attention. If your way of making money now is to jeopardize your long term chances of building a meaningful relationship of trust with your players, maybe it’s better to find an alternative for making money. It doesn’t even matter how ads are implemented. In their best implementation (incentivized video ads that somehow fit with the theme of the game), they are still diverting valuable attention from your game to other people’s products and games.
Try to offer something different
If you look past what I call “one-off” games, many of the other games on the app store seem to be fitting pretty neatly in a limited number of archetypes. There’s the build your base and attack other bases game. There’s the match 3 edible objects game. There’s the grow your creature and go to battle game. There’s the assemble your deck and face other players card game. There’s the social casino game. You get the idea.
Within the archetypes, there is a variety of themes and in some cases interesting mechanics variations. But very often, some of these games are more or less clones of each other.
There’s a reason for this clumping of game types: They can still be profitable. Making a high quality Clash of Clans-like game, especially if accompanied by interesting changes and/or recognizeable IP, can definitely make money in 2016’s app store. Data-obsessed teams that use numbers to decide what game to do next are very likely to look at the marketplace and decide the safe bet is to make a game that is quite close to an already successful game.
As a developer who wants to make interesting games, nothing sounds less appealing to me than cloning an existing game. Luckily, there’s also a business reason why this would be a bad idea in 2016: because it is unlikely to be a sustainable strategy in the long term. With a growing number of similar or identical games, I think it’s inevitable one day that even the very high quality ones among them will stop being sustainable. The ones that have a head start and a strong community will be fine: People will still be playing Clash of Clans 5 or 10 years from now. But jumping on the bandwagon at this particular moment in time strikes me as a bad idea, because everyone else is doing the same thing. I would much rather take my chances trying to explore interesting ideas that haven’t already been done.
Of course, trying for innovative games is also extremely risky. There is lots of experimentation required, and multiple failures are likely.
Prepare for failure, aim for sustainability
It’s a pretty common and scary sight: A well funded team of experienced veterans are setting up a large-ish team (for mobile standards), prepared to take on the world. They cite a lot of important-sounding market research about how they will succeed. Cool sounding and largely meaningless terms like “mid-core” are thrown around quite a bit. Then they go off trying to make it all work. A couple years later they fail, lay off everyone, and blame it on the rapidly changing market environment. They forget to mention that the fact mobile was (and is) a rapidly changing market isn’t some kind of shocking new insight: we have all known that even before the iPhone came out.
When you walk into any kind of unpredictable, rapidly changing environment, the first thing you care about is survival. If somebody forces you to enter a dark forest and says there could be a murderer and/or a chest of gold, you will first put 100% of your attention to make sure you’ve neutralized the murderer first before looking for the chest of gold. Similarly, when you walk into mobile games, the first questions you answer are:
- What happens when game A fails?
- How will the failure affect game B? How will you change the way you build it? How will you change the way you market it? How will it change the way you create and maintain a community around it? How will specific performance of game A on various metrics affect all this?
- What happens when game B fails?
If you’re confident none of these answers might be “We will shut the company down”, you probably have a better shot than most already.
Michael Martinez describes the closure of JuiceBox Games, basically blaming the shifting market environment. From that we learn that Honorbound made over 2M in its first year, and reached #31 in the US top grossing list. This is a great performance for a first time game from a new company. Regardless, the company failed shortly after that, despite 8M total revenue in less than 4 years. Not only was this team not prepared for failure, they were also not prepared for moderate success. Betting that your new game will reach and stay in the top 20 in this particular market environment is a fool’s bet, regardless of game quality, team or IP. Companies that have been building relationships with their players for years have rightfully solidified their positions there, and know how to keep it. If you are to have a shot at joining them, you have to work for many years at it. And you will work at it from the shadows, not from the top of the grossing list.
Honorbound: A decent game that did well, but not well enough to sustain its team
Using some guesswork and pieces of publicly available data, I would estimate that a tiny team of 4-5 people can be sustained by having a game in the top 200-250 grossing games in key markets. Aiming for the top 250 games is now a completely different proposition than aiming for top 20. It’s still by no means easy, but it’s certainly at least an order of magnitude more realistic of a goal. Moreover, sustaining the team for a few years gives them the opportunity to plan longer term, and think how they may upgrade from sustainability to success. They can continue their conversation with existing players, and start looking for new players. They can show they care about player feedback, either via regular updates or new games. They wouldn’t be able to do any of that if the company had run out of money in the meantime.
Pick carefully who you work with
I mentioned above that a team of 4-5 may have a somewhat realistic shot at being sustainable on today’s app store. But is that enough people to make a high quality game that can sustain itself, market it, and build an ongoing relationship with players?
People are funny business. Very often, we agree that each individual is unique and that an exceptional person can have orders of magnitude more impact compared to an average person. But then when we plan, we exchange those unique creatures with numbers. “I need 10 programmers to build this important-sounding server infrastructure”. If you go seeking funding, you may be asked why you have less or more people than X successful team, and the difference may be seen as a weak point.
When talking people, I think all of that focus on numbers is garbage. I outright reject the premise that a team on any platform needs a specific number of people to become successful. It has been proven before that exceptional individuals can create excellent experiences of all kinds, that can also be commercially successful.
But I do want to set a maximum amount of 5 exceptional people for my company, until we are proven sustainable. There is a certain magic that happens from severe limits on people. Certain extraneous features get cut, and everyone focuses on the absolutely essentials. Communication is far easier. Achieving chemistry happens almost automatically – bad fits are extremely easy to spot.
A small, completely independent team has the added benefit that it can define success in a more flexible way than VC funded teams. I personally couldn’t care less if my team stayed in mere sustainability forever. If we can make respectable salaries while working on the kinds of games we love, that is already success for us.
My personal view is that you can absolutely have a high quality game with 5 or less people, developed on a reasonable timeframe with no crunch whatsoever, as long as they are the right people in the right environment. I’ve seen it happen with small teams when they were part of larger companies, and I think it can happen with a completely independent small team as well, as long as it has proper support structures.
Have the right support structures for your small team
Making good games, marketing them, evolving them over time, building and supporting a healthy community of players requires a lot of specialized skills. No matter how good the people, because of the small size the team as a whole is likely to have blind spots and lack of expertise in some of these areas. Big companies, for all their myriad of problems, have this covered: a small team that’s part of a big organization usually has solid support structures.
But a fully independent small team doesn’t come with any such built-in support structures. It has to create them from scratch. My approach for doing that is reaching out to other developers in a similar spot, and helping each other out when and if it makes sense.
You see, this blog post was kind of a Trojan horse. If you’re still reading carefully up to here, maybe you are also building a mobile game and thinking about similar things as me. Maybe you’re on a small team and are overwhelmed with everything you have to learn to make your game, market it and provide proper support for your players. It’s daunting. If you agree about the need for support structures, maybe you’ll see value in reaching out to other developers such as myself. Maybe we can stay in touch for a long time, and if and when it makes sense we can help each other out in small ways. It could be sharing tricks in Unity, discussing when or how it makes sense to buy ads for our games, sharing the contacts of good freelancers, or just playing each other’s milestone builds and offering feedback.
I’d love to hear from you.
Ask yourself if it would still be worth it in case of total failure
None of the above is meant to make me or anyone else feel better about their odds going into the mobile market. The odds are clearly not in our favor, and massive failure is a very likely outcome. Take a moment to ask yourself: how will you feel in the case of total failure? How will it affect your personal life, your relationships, your desire to make and play games? Are you OK with that outcome?
This, in the end, is the main reason I am so excited to be entering the mobile games market. Because at this point, the first time in my career I am truly free to do whatever I want, there’s nothing I’d like more than focusing on the platform I love. If it wasn’t for mobile games, I would probably have stopped playing games completely. And I know that no matter what happens, I will survive the ride, no matter how bumpy. Maybe I’ll even enjoy it.
To my future self reading this, I will say the same thing I say to the voices in my head: I regret nothing!
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