Angry Birds 2 FLYING MACHINE

Angry Birds is one of those apps that is hover airily above the hugely successful apps in the mobile world, with a serenity and self-assurance that only monstrous success can bring. Angry Birds is more of a Condition nowadays than it is a game.

With more than three billion downloads across all platforms since its release in December 2009, it has become one of the most successful apps on the market and a pop culture phenomenon. It makes one wonder, do the Birds really have to get angry. However, the spectacular birds are in an even fouler mood in Angry Birds 2, and the results are wickedly entertaining. Angry Birds 2 has built on the game’s core and introduced a raft of important changes that will doubtless enhance the playing experience.

One of the most important changes is that players will now have the option of choosing which bird to fling. This means players have complete control over how they will approach any given stage, which is bound to help in strategising. There are new multi-stage levels, with all the ingenious obstacles and exquisitely detailed animations that scored with the users in the first version.

There are also a variety of marvellous new spells available on Angry Birds 2, as well as formidable new boss pigs whose vehement squeals and snorts you’ll have to ruthlessly silence if you want to reach the latter stages of the game.

MICROSOFT TO REPORTEDLY LAUNCH 12-INCH AND ’13- TO 14-INCH’ SURFACE DEVICES

If the Rumors are True, Some Very Big Screens are Heading Our Way

Get ready for big screens. Maybe. DigiTimes of Taiwan reports (citing unnamed sources) that Microsoft is about to make some huge additions to their Surface Pro line. And when we say huge, we mean “common computer monitor size”. Microsoft is allegedly making a 12-inch Surface Pro 4, a long with-- if the rumours are to be trusted-- a large 14-inch touchscreen. It’s reported that the reason for the change is that Microsoft wants customers to have a variety of choices when it comes to their hardware, and this makes a lot of sense, but not enough to make such a massive change. Of course, this is also why reviewers aren’t taking the rumours seriously.

If the rumours are true, what makes more sense, however, is that Microsoft is finally taking reports that desktop computers are dying as a market far more seriously than we had assumed. While tablets are used more for businesses (and the Surface Pro is targeted at the business user), these giant screens could serve another purpose-- to begin migration of offices with large-scale desktop use to Windows 10 and giant 14-inch Surface Pros. If this is Microsoft’s game plan, it is quite the surpris e at first glance (after all, who’s going to walk around with a tablet the size of a small child?) but makes more sense for setting up Surface  Pros that might not move that much from their location. Like, say, in place of a desktop. And if that’s the case, Microsoft has out-thought all the pundits considering its early demise: in fact, Microsoft may be positioning itself in a better position than Apple, and that could have a backwards ripple effect on Microsoft’s suffering phone share.

VERDICT: The rumour simply has to be true. It sounds strange until you think of why Microsoft would make such a move-- and then you realise that perhaps it was Microsoft who had it planned out all along in anticipation of traditional desktop obsolescence.

APPLE EXPLORING OPTIONS OF MAKING ITS OWN MOVIES AND TV SHOWS

With the Apple TV Upgrade, is this a New Direction--Or Too Little, Too Late?
Following reports of Apple TV’s September relaunch with its new, upgraded system, Apple is now reportedly planning to begin independent production of its own independent movies and shows, as Netflix and Amazon have been doing over the past year or two. Since Apple has had original movies on iTunes before, is this the time to move into Netflix’s space?
Apple has been known to make big moves, and they certainly have the capital to follow through. The real question is how the market will bear out towards yet another online streaming service, and this one largely tethered into the iOS ecosystem. Apple is betting that there are a lot of fans ready to make that commitment if they choose to pursue a subscription model-- and the success of iTunes may well prove them right. Still, this isn’t iTunes but a very crowded online entertainment space. Without even some specifics of what they’re planning, we have precious few indicators of how it would succeed.

VERDICT: Apple movies and TV shows? Sure. The real question is: shouldn’t the service be popular first? We just have no idea what the plan is in this case.