{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1", "title": "Dean Bowes", "description": "", "home_page_url": "https://deanbowes.com", "feed_url": "https://deanbowes.com/feed.json", "user_comment": "", "author": { "name": "Dean Bowes" }, "items": [ { "id": "https://deanbowes.com/blog/reviving-my-blog/", "url": "https://deanbowes.com/blog/reviving-my-blog/", "title": "Reviving my blog", "summary": "\"Ahhh, After 10,00 years I am free!\" It's becoming increasingly clear that the web as I'd known it is collapsing in on itself, and at times I'm wanting some space to put down some longer thoughts, recommendations and, based on my tags, #rants. So I'm…", "content_html": "
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\"Ahhh, After 10,00 years I am free!\"

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It's becoming increasingly clear that the web as I'd known it is collapsing in on itself, and at times I'm wanting some space to put down some longer thoughts, recommendations and, based on my tags, #rants.

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So I'm firing up my personal blog again. There has been a few times the past year or so where I've wanted to write up something a bit longer but coming back to my blog has been a PITA because it was running WordPress and whenever I opened it up it was a faf of running the latest upgrade,s backing up, clearing out spam, etc and just sucked all my momentum and I end up not actually writing my post.

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So after some weeks of looking at the options out there in 26 I've settled on Publii. I'll likely write something up in more depth on my choices, and why I made them in case it's of any benefit to anyone else looking to carve their own slice of the web.

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Obviously not much has changes in the intervening 10 years since my last post. I think I have a few new films to recommend. Actually being fun to read back on a few of my older posts (mainly in fixing the formatting - which I still have to do for some). I still think the xbox 360 is a trash console.

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Also gosh I think I need a new keyboard at some point, this one has some horrific ghosting and I am not keen on having to spellcheck all the double typed letters out of this blog post:

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", "image": "https://deanbowes.com/media/posts/73/Rita-Repulsa.png", "author": { "name": "Dean Bowes" }, "tags": [ ], "date_published": "2026-09-27T18:15:47+01:00", "date_modified": "2026-09-27T20:08:39+01:00" }, { "id": "https://deanbowes.com/blog/favourite-lesser-known-films/", "url": "https://deanbowes.com/blog/favourite-lesser-known-films/", "title": "Favourite Lesser Known Films", "summary": "I figured I'd do a bit of a list on some films I like to recommend folks to watch. They're not necessarily films that are on my \"top 10 list\" or my favourite films since there's a lot of cross over with other people lists…", "content_html": "

I figured I'd do a bit of a list on some films I like to recommend folks to watch. They're not necessarily films that are on my \"top 10 list\" or my favourite films since there's a lot of cross over with other people lists there, just films I like to recommend to watch that usually people likely haven't seen. There is likely to be some spoilers here but for most part I'll be giving the \"back of the box\" than the ending. If you watch any and enjoy them, let me know!

\"brazil\"
 Brazil (1985) Brazil is a film I recently gushed about and lead to me wanting to write this list. It's a Terry Gilliam film, famous for being one of the Monty Python members that created the weird little animations fed throughout and this sort of mind is what has created Brazil and other films. It's likely you've seen Twelve Monkeys which is the much more accessible Terry Gilliam film and it's that sort of aesthetic with a steampunk-esque world. The world he creates is a reason I gush over it, it's sort of familiar to us, but so exaggerated and its own world. I love the computers they have with the small 5\" CRTs with a large lenticular lens in front to blow it up, and brass type writers keys and valves and such all wired up. Ultimately the film is a mockery of bureaucracy taken to the extreme as Prices character tries to find the error caused between a literal bug causing an issue with the torture of a Mr Buttle instead of Mr Tuttle. Intermixed with him searching for the girl of his dreams, which his daydreams feature throughout and play out his fantasy as a knight in shining armour. The ending, for the proper release and not the studio tweaked \"happy ending\", is brilliant and one of my favourite lines from Michael Palin.
\"moon\"
 Moon (2009) I think this film actually has quite a strong following but it's worth bringing up. Moon features a cast primarily of Sam Rockwell as a worker on an automated moon mining facility, aided by the voice of Kevin Spacey as his robot companion. Carrying a film by yourself is a great skill, and it's a compelling film as his seeming madness and paranoia unfolds and the conspiracy unfolds. I absolutely love Spaceys HAL-esque character too and it's played off really well against your preconceptions of a robot AI in space in a movie is going to be like.
\"animatrix\"
The Animatrix: Second Renaissance (2003) The Animatrix is a project where Wachowskis had several animation houses from Japan making little spin-off stories set in the Matrix universe, with a few set between Matrix and Matrix Reloaded. Second Renaissance is a two-part story set many many centuries before The Matrix and shows the origin of the human-machine war and a classic sci-fi tale of \"Then man made the machine in his own likeness. Thus did man become the architect of his own demise\". It features a grim future of the machine uprising, human vanity, all set to the toneless narration of the Zion mainframe AI. It features some great quotes too.

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Your flesh is a relic, a mere vessel. Hand over your flesh and a new world awaits you. We demand it!

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The other stories within Animatrix are worth a watch too, including \"Final Flight of the Osiris\" created by Square Pictures of the maligned Spirits Within film. Boy and World Record are particularly good.

\"snowman\"
The Snowman (1982) Depending on the version of this you watch it's opened by the father of the director of an above film; David Bowie. The Snowman is pretty much an annual tradition for Christmas in the UK, with it getting a sequel a few years ago in \"The Snowman and the Snowdog\". I don't know on the international reception of this film, but it's pretty much without dialogue apart from the introduction by Bowie. It's an animated film following the story of a boy who builds a snowman that comes to life to the tune of \"Walking in the Air\". I'm not super sure but I'm pretty sure the animation is done with coloured pencil, so it's an extremely distinct look to any other animated films you'll have seen. It looks like an illustrated book come to life.
\"enemy-of-the-state\"
Enemy of the State (1998) This 1998(!) film features Will Smith on the run from the NSA after accidentally acquiring proof of the murder of a US congressman. Given recent events with the NSA and their over reach in the US it's a particularly relevant film. It probably isn't a particularly shocking film in this day and age, but still worth a watch if you've not seen it. Also weirdly features Jack Black as an NSA agent.
\"Oblivion\"
Oblivion (2013) I'd avoided this one for a while and I think part of it was the overlap with the Will Smith film out about the same time. But I eventually watched it and really liked it...up until some weirdness with the end but I guess endings are hard sometimes. The film sees Tom Cruise, who regardless of personal beliefs is in some pretty great films, as one of two technicians on a destroyed earth helping harvest water for use in fusion reactors for the colonists on Jupiter. As the film progresses Cruise's characters curiosity starts to unfold a conspiracy. I quite liked the design of the drone ships in both their motion and sound, creating quite a bit of tension with them.

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Are you an effective team?

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\"Lord-Of-War\"
Lord of War (2005) Pretty much one of my favourite openings of a film; it follows the journey of a bullet from its production in the factory, transport across oceans and countries into a war zone and towards its eventual final destination. Lord of War features Nicolas Cage in a pretty great role as an international arms dealer, and his journey over the decades as he scales up from selling one off uzis to acquiring shiploads of weapons in the soviet collapse and his mixing with African warlords and competition against both Interpol agent Ethan Hawke and arms dealer Ian Holm.
\"lucky-number-slevin\"
Lucky Number Slevin (2006) Great little flick featuring a bunch of great actors in a sort of \"you'll want to watch it again after to figure where it all ties together\" story. Josh Hartnett is trapped between two rival mob bosses, Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley, in a case of mistaken identity while being hunted by the the steely Bruce Willis. He also hangs out with Stanley Tucci n Lucy Liu. Things happen, it's all cool. I particularly like the \"kansas city shuffle\" scene.
\"penelope\"
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Penelope (2006) I'm not a huge rom com guy (he says being aware of enjoying a bit of Love Actually and Mamma Mia now n then) but Penelope is quite different, and rather whimsical with a light bit of old curses n such. Christina Ricci features as a \"blue blood\" cursed with facial features of a pig. Through the actions of a pre-GoT Peter Dinkleage she is wooed by James McAvoy and befriending Reese Witherspoon (most of the film she's without 'er spoon though). It's all fun, light hearted, the over reactions of her parents, her mother being Catherine O'Hara who perfected being a flustered mother in Home Alone, are great and just kinda sweet. I think involving ancient curses and sort of being set in the middle of the Atlantic ocean helps take it out of usual rom-com region.

\"reign-of-fire\"
Reign of Fire (2002) It's a post apocalyptic film but unlike a nuclear apocalypse, or zombie apocalypse or whatever, it's DRAGONS! In present day slumbering dragons are accidentally awoken during extension of the London Underground and promptly wipe out much of humanity. We cut to the future where Christian Bale and Gerrard Butler are performing knock-off Star Wars plays for kids (it's a great scene) and trying to eke out life that can be snuffed out at any minute by beasts of Arthurian legend. Along comes unrecognisable Matthew Mcconaughey as the tough gunning American soldier with his squad of dragon killers to help out and take the war to the dragons. The dragons from Game of Thrones are a notable knock off in design, especially with moving the fire breathing from just being the mouth to specialised organs and outlets.
\"gattaca\"
Gattaca (1997) Back when \"Designer babies\" was a bit of a fear this film came out capitalising on that idea. In a world where the majority of children are all genetically modified to eradicate most imperfections Ethan Hawke(again?) is a naturally born child with dreams of joining the space program. Through the help of \"Valid\" Jude Law he joins the space program and must avoid detection of his \"Invalid\" status. It's proper \"hard sci-fi\" type that looks are our sort of \"genetic destiny\" and the potential affects of a society with a high adoption of \"designer babies\".

", "image": "https://deanbowes.com/media/posts/68/moon-2.jpg", "author": { "name": "Dean Bowes" }, "tags": [ ], "date_published": "2016-06-08T22:14:27+01:00", "date_modified": "2026-09-27T17:33:29+01:00" }, { "id": "https://deanbowes.com/blog/some-sites-i-like-2/", "url": "https://deanbowes.com/blog/some-sites-i-like-2/", "title": "Some Sites I like", "summary": "

Figured I'd put a few of my favourite sites down to paper, and maybe they might become some of your favourites too. Who knows? (Though do let me know if you find anything useful, might encourage me to share more).

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Figured I'd put a few of my favourite sites down to paper, and maybe they might become some of your favourites too. Who knows? (Though do let me know if you find anything useful, might encourage me to share more).

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\"alternativeto\"
So first up is AlternativeTo.net. It's not a site I use frequently but I use often enough. Basically it's a way to input a program and it will suggest similar programs on a set of criteria. Great for finding free alternatives to paid for software, or for when I'm at work using a Mac and want to make use of a program similar to what I'm used to on Windows. It even has a selection of phone and web apps too, though less of those than there are for desktop programs.
\"darkadia_shelf\"
Darkadia is a site I quite like for sorting out my games. The big \"issue\" (I don't mind it but I know some will) is there's not auto-import. You have to manually add your games, but it's pretty quick and updates over the years made the process even faster. I personally prefer this manual approach since automatic imports tend to pick up titles you might not much care for; that game you borrowed from a friend for a few hours, those many humble bundle games you've built up and so on. Also due to being powered by the Gianbomb list of games means there's a much broader scope than other tools might have (such as Android titles), and you can go in an add any games that might be missing. It's a nice visual, and pretty filterable, way of sorting your games. I regularly make use of it to figure what I might want to play next.
\"punchline_mrFish\"
Manly Guys Doing Manly Things is a video game themed web comic I read pretty frequently. I first found out about it when the adventures of Mr Fish (pictured above) got posted somewhere. Been following it ever since. The base premise was as a rehabilitation centre for retired video game characters, which crops up now and then but has mostly been abandoned in favour of one off comics or self contained arcs like the Nomura Virus. It's quite a fun little webcomic, I'm a fan of the very squishy cartoony feel to it.
\"awesomer\"
The Awesomer is another of my daily sites, it's a pretty eclectic mix of products, apps, trailers, music, videos, games, etc. I scroll past most things, but there's usually a couple interesting things each day.

", "image": "https://deanbowes.com/media/posts/67/punchline_mrFish.png", "author": { "name": "Dean Bowes" }, "tags": [ ], "date_published": "2014-09-23T12:08:35+01:00", "date_modified": "2026-09-27T17:42:37+01:00" }, { "id": "https://deanbowes.com/blog/why-i-like-my-galaxy-note/", "url": "https://deanbowes.com/blog/why-i-like-my-galaxy-note/", "title": "Why I like my Galaxy Note", "summary": "I own a Galaxy Note, have done for about 15 months now. And it's an unusual phone for many. In fact for many it's not really quite a phone. \"That's a phone?!\" is an exclamation I hear somewhat frequently. Though given we're now looking at…", "content_html": "

I own a Galaxy Note, have done for about 15 months now. And it's an unusual phone for many. In fact for many it's not really quite a phone. \"That's a phone?!\" is an exclamation I hear somewhat frequently. Though given we're now looking at the launch of the Note III next month it's a surprise that's slowly declining. I've been asked a few times what I like about the Note, and normally it's over twitter where 140 characters can't really do justice to a phone with with a screen nearly 140mm across. Firstly I guess I should cover why I have a Note over other phones. My brother was the first person I know with a Note, and at first my mother and I mocked him Dom Joly style. But I quickly warmed to the idea of having a device that would still act as a phone, and fit comfortably in my pocket, while also being big enough to act as a tablet for media consumption. The stylus was quite appealing too for making \"notes\" on the go. Few months later and my contract on my HTC Wildfire ends and I'm on a Galaxy Note N7000. As a phone it works quite well. It could be a bit lighter, but it's not uncomfortable to hold and I frequently have half hour long conversations without bother. The huge battery (and I've now gotten an even larger battery recently) powers through the day quite fine, the screen is the big killer for the battery consuming around 40-50% of battery life. Somewhat hoping later models have improved upon this as it's a bit silly, though totally understandable. As a smartphone it's many times better than my Wildfire purely due to the size being a bit more functional, and with the higher specs and Android version I could do a fair bit more than my Note can do. Apps load faster, there's more in my streams to see at once, and with newer apps comes more functionality. The Jellybean update brought along multi-window, Samsungs own little Android trick and it only works on a handful of apps so it's pretty much all but useless for most apps. The Note launched with the function to have a hover window for videos which has been nice to have around. Watch Korra while browsing the latest tweets. Though certainly nothing I'd want to watch a full movie on. As a tablet it's pretty serviceable, though I am eyeing up the 2013 Nexus 7 as a potential buy. My main tablet-like use I have of my Note, at least something I couldn't really do on many other phones, is reading comics. The size of the screen is smaller than most physical comics, but it's crisp enough to easily read whole pages displayed at a time. I've tried reading books on it, but it doesn't really work that great just due to the screen type. Nice to have RPG books on it for reference though. I do read quite a few articles on it through BBC News, Feedly, and Pocket. I guess it's more a case of reading a book on the go isn't a huge habit I've got regardless of Note or paperback. My main issue with the phone, and this is because it's a Samsung more so than anything else, is the power button on the side of the phone. Quite frequently you'll hold the phone in a way that would be comfortable should it be a pad of paper or similar and the screen will then power off. When having others take pictures with my phone, or look at pictures, they also tend to hold the phone that turns off the screen. Which is a shame as sharing pictures for people to peruse through is a great use of the device. A big screen lets everyone gather around, something you couldn't really do on many other phones. The S-Pen has proven to be quite limited in function. It's mainly due to lag, which at least the Note II has improved and the Note III looks to have made a dream. In fact the Note III finally fixes a flaw all previous Note devices have which is the pen now works off the screen, it used to be that to open the menu or hit he back button you had to use your finger, which can break the flow somewhat. But the Note III the hardware buttons will work with the S-Pen. I find when making notes I want them to be a bit more permanent than my scrawls so have mostly shifted over to Google Keep and Drive. I do wish the handwriting recognition was more reliable and speedier though as there's many times (winter especially) where scrawling something would be much better than typing. So there's my Note stuff. Any queries? p.s Most of this was written on a PC. Bit of \"on the go\" editing on my Note though. Some of the articles on here and PXOD have been done on my Note though, it's quite nice to write up chunks of text big and small.

", "author": { "name": "Dean Bowes" }, "tags": [ ], "date_published": "2014-01-19T21:34:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-09-27T17:29:23+01:00" }, { "id": "https://deanbowes.com/blog/initial-impressions-of-galaxy-gear/", "url": "https://deanbowes.com/blog/initial-impressions-of-galaxy-gear/", "title": "Initial Impressions of Galaxy Gear", "summary": "Unfortunately over the christmas period my trusty Note N7000 met near death and in trying to resolve the issue I left the phone shop with a Note 3 and a Galaxy Gear. Note 3 I'll likely write about in future, probably as an overall ode…", "content_html": "

Unfortunately over the christmas period my trusty Note N7000 met near death and in trying to resolve the issue I left the phone shop with a Note 3 and a Galaxy Gear. Note 3 I'll likely write about in future, probably as an overall ode to the Note line and form factor. For now this is a look at the Galaxy Gear it came bundled with. I've had it for shy of two weeks at the moment, I wanted to give it a spin in my usual day to day life first before I started giving an impressions on the smartwatch. Since my current watch is a Casio Waveceptor I'm going to be comparing it to that as my frame of reference.  Which means on battery life the Gear does suck considerably given the 2-3 day long battery on the Gear and the roughly 5 billion year solar power source of my Casio. Though so far I've been fine with charging up the Gear so no problems at the moment, though if I was to accidentally find myself in the 18th century then the Casio will certainly work out best in the long run. As a day to day watch, since really of all tasks that's where it should at least be fine in, if not excel, it performs admirably well. There's a variety of clock faces to choose from including traditional analog styles, and digital world clocks. My clock face of choice is the shortcut clock which I'll delve into more on later. It's actually not much larger than a regular watch, though we found my housemate can't wear it due to it being larger than his ridiculously thin wrists. So if you find you've got to choose your watches with care then I'd avoid the Gear due to ill-fit. As a smartwatch I'm warming up to it's capabilities but there's certainly many frustrations. So far it's primary \"smart\" function has been as a secondary screen for my notifications. Though for the most part all you can do is read the notification, you still need to check your phone to act upon most of them. The other two major smart functions I use are the media player controller, which is pretty handy to not need to take your phone out of pocket to change tracks, but I do miss having the playlist to check ahead with. It's pretty much just skip and volume buttons with album art in the background. The touch actions are simple, making them both easy to learn yet limited in functionality. You tap to open, and swipe from the top to go back. On the homescreen you can swipe from the top to quickly access the camera, more on that later, or swipe from the bottom to access the phone keypad. Unfortunately while the Gear companion app can allow you to customise a fair few features these two shortcuts are hard coded. Which sucks because while it's nice to have access to the camera on the fly,  there's rarely even been a reason to use the phone keypad on my mobile let alone watch. Pretty much anyone I care to call is a name and picture in my contacts. The Gear is also an abysmal replacement for your mobile. Having tested it out a few times there's distinct distortion in voices and it's just plain awkward to speak into your wrist.  And certainly nothing I'd do in public. In fact it's use in public is pretty much it's biggest con. While it's fine to use as a watch and you're not going to get much odd looks for that, the camera is a bit of an awkward feature. Both in a camera \"snap\" sound that has no option to be disabled (all other noises can be disabled), and the fact you look like you're out of some childrens spy movie. The lens is not a well integrated component. The watch in general looks fucking fantastic and then there's this big old \"no I'm not here on behalf of the NSA, what were you saying?\" camera lens stuck on the wrist strap. It's hardly noticeable in promotional images., but once you have it in your hand it's a massive black blister on your wrist. I imagine the black strap model it would be less noticeable, but the brown and beige models it's pretty obvious.

", "image": "https://deanbowes.com/media/posts/47/20140110_224745.jpg", "author": { "name": "Dean Bowes" }, "tags": [ ], "date_published": "2014-01-18T21:59:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-09-27T17:27:27+01:00" }, { "id": "https://deanbowes.com/blog/30-day-video-game-challenge-favourite-character/", "url": "https://deanbowes.com/blog/30-day-video-game-challenge-favourite-character/", "title": "30 Day Video Game Challenge: Favourite Character", "summary": "
\"30days_Vivi\"

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Welcome to day two. Favourite Character is actually quite a bit easier because my mind throws up \"Vivi\" without hesitation. What makes it hard though is when I turn to my brain and go \"Why?\".

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\"30days_Vivi\"

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Welcome to day two. Favourite Character is actually quite a bit easier because my mind throws up \"Vivi\" without hesitation. What makes it hard though is when I turn to my brain and go \"Why?\".

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So for those who haven't played Final Fantasy IX Vivi is the black mage of the game. He starts the game just wanting to go see a play, and by the end of it has discovered that he was a prototype war machine. He pretty much stumbles into the whole series of events accidentally and really wasn't made out for the adventuring type but he perseveres throughout. Even the knight of the bunch, Steiner, notes that Vivi is the bravest of them all. He's not a foolhardy bravery either. When they land in terrifying situations the others put on a show; the cocksure thief impressing the ladies, the knight trying to shrug off his reputation, the princess trying to act like Queen, and the little child black mage shaking at the knees. He had no reason to act brave, he showed no qualms in showing his fear, yet when the time came he still stood up to his challengers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqMkKZj1OO0 He also faces struggles that the other members don't. They're just dealing with a genocidal madman from another planet. Vivi has to deal early on with the fact he was not only artificially made, he was made with the express purpose of a weapon of war, with many of his kindred mages responsibly for the deaths of many people. He suffers through a massive identity crisis, his friends assuring him of his free will and ability to be whoever he wants. And no sooner does he come to terms with this than he finds out that his kindred Black Mages, and also likely himself, suffer from a very short lifespan. A child, assumed to be nine or ten years old though hinted at being barely over one year old, suddenly made strongly aware of both his and his brothers mortality. He doesn't have a very happy time. \"30days_second_grave\"
I've always felt Vivi was somewhat relatable. I certainly wouldn't be acting all brave in the situations he's in. And a 12 year old at a new school certainly having a bit of a time finding themselves. Though I can't say at the time there was any mortality scares, but I'm sure as I get on I'll find more appreciation in that aspects of him too. As a video game character he's also pretty nifty too. Black Magic is pretty strong, and his later abilities such as ReflectX2 and Auto-reflect make him nigh godlike.

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\"30days_sorrow\"

", "image": "https://deanbowes.com/media/posts/66/30days_second.jpg", "author": { "name": "Dean Bowes" }, "tags": [ ], "date_published": "2013-04-19T23:02:12+01:00", "date_modified": "2026-09-27T17:43:03+01:00" }, { "id": "https://deanbowes.com/blog/30-day-video-game-challenge-first-video-game/", "url": "https://deanbowes.com/blog/30-day-video-game-challenge-first-video-game/", "title": "30 Day Video Game Challenge: First Video Game", "summary": "
\"30days_First\"
So I thought I'd do this 30 day Video Game Challenge as something to fill in a bit of time each day (for at least a month), and get me in a habit of writing.

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\"30days_First\"
So I thought I'd do this 30 day Video Game Challenge as something to fill in a bit of time each day (for at least a month), and get me in a habit of writing.

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So up for day one is my first video game. Now this is a bit of a hard one as my memory is a bit foggy so it could be one of several games. It's either Super Mario Bros 3, Lemmings, or Kung Fu, all for the NES. They'll have all been within the same \"my first gaming session\" when my dad brought out his old NES and what few games he had for it. I'm thinking, given it was my dads favourite of the bunch, it was Super Mario Bros 3. I pretty much sucked at it, in fact I sucked at pretty much all of those games. Main reason we ever even saw World 2 was due to my Dad, who had a habit of dying on purpose. \"Duck!\" we would cry as a flying turtle made it's way to him. \"Where?\" he'd reply as he jumped right into it. We did rather enjoy the Versus level though, you get to it by both being on \"Start\" and starting the level. \"30days_SMB3Versus\"
We made all our own rules and such for that. And played about with the weird jumping glitches it included too. Lemmings didn't get too much of a heavy play from myself, I did do fairly well at Kung Fu. A memory that'll stick with me forever is the laughing of the bosses. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTIAw6ZxJlg Of course this is all moot if it's not first video game played but first video game that is mine all mine, in which case that would be Pokemon Blue (which is the Pokemon game all the cool kids had).

", "image": "https://deanbowes.com/media/posts/65/30days_first.jpg", "author": { "name": "Dean Bowes" }, "tags": [ ], "date_published": "2013-04-18T14:18:01+01:00", "date_modified": "2026-09-27T17:43:18+01:00" }, { "id": "https://deanbowes.com/blog/my-recommended-android-apps-for-august/", "url": "https://deanbowes.com/blog/my-recommended-android-apps-for-august/", "title": "My Recommended Android Apps for August", "summary": "
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I've not done one of these for a long while. But new phone, and one that can run apps rather decently compared to my last, and a want to write has spurred me on for an update of sorts.

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I've not done one of these for a long while. But new phone, and one that can run apps rather decently compared to my last, and a want to write has spurred me on for an update of sorts.

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Apps

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Twicca - My Twitter app of choice for a while. It's Chinese made so a bit of Engrish here or there, and it's not one of those fancy holo-themed ICS type apps that are cropping up. But dig into the rather ample settings menu and it's a twitter client you can really make your own. My main gripe is the difficulty in singling out a single tweet, if just to thrust the phone at someone to read the tweet. Hackers Keyboard - My current keyboard of choice, mainly because it's a tablet orientated keyboard and I've got a phablet. I don't think it would work so well with people that have dinky phones. Since I have the real estate to have a full keyboard it makes sense to go for one instead of a more spacious, but lacking, keyboard. Steam - Great for chatting with Steam friends and keeping an eye on sales when a PC isn't on hand. Shame on the lack of group chat, and that there's no way to get games for Android. Yet.

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Solid Explorer - My file explorer of choice. It's kinda large for a file explorer app though. But for people with dual-memory phones (as in 16gb on board and then a MicroSD on top) the dual panel layout is great for shifting files around and quickly jumping between the two. Some nice simple features too, as well as a sort of WinDirStat type tool for scanning your phone storage breakdown. Barclays Mobile Banking - Only useful for Barclays customers, but a rather useful app for keeping an eye on balances on the go. You can pay using it too, but only with people you've already set up through the online banking site first. I haven't used Ping It yet, so no opinion on that (no one to use it with).

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Pulse - a great news reader, I rather like the non-vertical layout. I'd say a main grip is that clicking \"more\" on RSS feed articles takes you to Pulse's own in-built browser than your browser of choice. There's now a website too which makes using the app a bit of a better all round experience. Perfect Viewer - a fantastic comic and PDF reader. If you're only doing it for PDFs you might want something else, but for reading comics this is the one. I'd say my mine gripe is a general disregard for any android design guidelines modern or old. It looks like a windows program. Also the \"bookshelf\" is pretty much just a raw file structure with thumbnail covers, I'd like to be able to tag comics together or filter them like \"Read\" \"Batman\" etc. It does have a nice progress bubble that fills up as you complete a comic.

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Games

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Triple Town - A pretty neat and addictive game of join-three. Main issue is the turn limit that means you get a few minutes of play every two hours, unless you buy the game. Temple Run - Another neat game. Rather popular. No turn limits or anything yet wholly free. You can buy coins which can be spent on power-ups, but you earn coins easy enough in the game. Radiant Defense - Another free game with in-app purchases. It's a tower defense game, rather well polished, not the most unique. But if you like TD and would like some on your phone it's this or Field Runners (which is also neat and in the current Humble Bundle). Flow Free - A simple puzzle game, connect the dots without crossing the lines.
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 LEGO 4+ - That's the name of the game, that's the age of the players. Not one for you lot to play, but a great \"game\" that can instantly shut up moaning children. Anyone under the age of phone may eat your phone, so make sure they're 4+. Gyro - Polished and simple game that involves spinning a tri-coloured wheel to catch incoming balls and power ups. So there you have it, some of my top picks from the app roster for this month. I may throw up a few more next month. Maybe next decade. Who knows...

", "image": "https://deanbowes.com/media/posts/64/android_play-2.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Dean Bowes" }, "tags": [ ], "date_published": "2012-08-23T22:37:37+01:00", "date_modified": "2026-09-27T17:54:11+01:00" }, { "id": "https://deanbowes.com/blog/memories-erased-by-a-storm/", "url": "https://deanbowes.com/blog/memories-erased-by-a-storm/", "title": "Memories Erased by a Storm", "summary": "
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\n\nSix. That's the number of platforms I have played Final Fantasy IX on. Originally released in 2000 for the  PlayStation Final Fantasy IX has cemented itself as one of my favourite games of all time. And what has helped it is the ease with which I've generally been able to play it regardless of the fact I haven't had a working PlayStation for nearly a decade.", "content_html": "
\"Image\"
\n\nSix. That's the number of platforms I have played Final Fantasy IX on. Originally released in 2000 for the  PlayStation Final Fantasy IX has cemented itself as one of my favourite games of all time. And what has helped it is the ease with which I've generally been able to play it regardless of the fact I haven't had a working PlayStation for nearly a decade.\n\n[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNWdSp1aEpE]\n\nFinal Fantasy IX has been played by yours truly on PSone, PS2, PS3 (via disc not the PSN version), PSP, PC and Android. Sure not all to completion on every device, but not without trying. Despite the Playstations death in 09 the games made for it are still playable today, either officially via PSN or not-so-officially via the many playstation emulators available for a myriad of platforms. And many more consoles alongside it; pretty much all the Nintendo consoles and handhelds are emulated, Segas, pre-crash stuff etc.\n\nWhen talking of old games; \"oh you should play Oracle of Ages\" \"Second Generation is best\" \"You never played Legend of Legiea when it came out?\", it's actually quite simple to boot up an emulator on the platform of choice and play it. Regardless of these games being on decades old dead platforms and quite often out of circulation.\n\nBut this virtual immortality for video games may soon be coming to an end with the current generation. I don't forsee being able to play FFXIII on my phone in a decades time, nor on my PC for that matter either. Come the hardware failure of current consoles, and their eventual discontinuation that may be the last time we will get to play our 7th gen games. 7 years into 7th gen and not even a proof of concept emulator for 360 or PS3 has risen, their somewhat exotic architectures (especially for PS3) barring entry. The raw horsepower needed, nevermind the code, doesn't even seem to be around yet. PCSX2 was up and running within a couple years of the PS2 release, even if 10 years later it's still yet to be 99% capable. The humble Wii is the only current console with an emulator, and that's largely because of the \"two gamecubes duct taped together\" status means it can use Dolphin, the Gamecube emulator.\n\nAnd that's just talking of the hardware side of things, a whole other topic when it comes to the digital side of modern gaming and how that will likely be lost forever, emulation or not.\n\nIt's not a dead cert that these consoles, and maybe 8th gen with it, will never be emulated on PC and more, but it's something that is seeming highly unlikely and even should emulators come we're going to be seeing a gap of decades where unless you have one of the few still working consoles these modern games will be but a memory to only those that played them when they were still around. Especially for the more niche titles that are unlikely to see an \"Assasin's Creed 4K-3D Collection\" port. I'm playing Valkyria Chornicles at the moment, and come the death of my PS3 I'll likely never be able to play that game again. Yet that little JRPG that could will be there on my death bed emulated on my Brain Chip 3000.", "author": { "name": "Dean Bowes" }, "tags": [ ], "date_published": "2012-07-31T21:19:38+01:00", "date_modified": "2026-09-26T22:34:56+01:00" }, { "id": "https://deanbowes.com/blog/game-completionist-2011/", "url": "https://deanbowes.com/blog/game-completionist-2011/", "title": "Game Completionist 2011", "summary": "

So it’s kinda coming up to the end of my time at university. And as it stands I’ve got quite a bit of free time at the moment over summer in which to complete a bunch of games. Last year I completed:

So just 7 games. Now this year I’ll be starting much earlier so I’m pretty sure I’ll easily beat that 7 this time around.

", "content_html": "

So it’s kinda coming up to the end of my time at university. And as it stands I’ve got quite a bit of free time at the moment over summer in which to complete a bunch of games. Last year I completed:

So just 7 games. Now this year I’ll be starting much earlier so I’m pretty sure I’ll easily beat that 7 this time around.

 

So once again I’m going to be completing games and blogging my thoughts and mini reviews on them.

My main games to beat are:

Mostly a bunch of RPGs. And that’s not counting games I intend to buy and games I don’t intend to buy.

I also picked up a PS Move the other day so I’ll maybe throw up some thoughts on that at some point. Not got any games for it (apart from Heavy Rain) just demos. But I hope to expand my library quick enough.

If you’re wanting to see where I’m at on my backlog I’ve got a handy link I’ve being updating here.

Oh yeah I’m also coming up on my end of Uni so I might post about that one day. Maybe a fair few months down the line though. Also since I’m off soon I’m hoping to spend more time n effort over at Press X or Die so make sure that’s bookmarked or RSSed or whatever.

", "author": { "name": "Dean Bowes" }, "tags": [ ], "date_published": "2011-04-18T11:33:13+01:00", "date_modified": "2026-09-26T22:34:56+01:00" } ] }