Try These 6 Best Android Games to Play on Your TV with Chromecast

When you want to do some gaming on your TV, the Google Chromecast isn't probably the first thing that would come to your mind. For your information, there are many good trivia, card, and strategy games that lend themselves to this format, as everyone's phone serves as their personal controller and the TV is the main hub for the action.

The Chromecast may not meet the standards with that of Android TV gaming, but here are some options you may want to check out for yourself. These games are nearly all family-friendly and designed for group playing, which is a great idea for those hangout nights with your family or friends.

Scribble Blitz

Scribble Blitz is a great adaptation of the classic word-making game. It's a fast-paced game and you have to form as many words as you can from your block of letters. If ever you don't like the batch of blocks you were dealt, you can shake your phone for a new batch. Since it's a play off of the traditional board game, some letters will have double letter or word point value if you use them during the game play.

Scribble Blitz can be downloaded for free in the Google Play store.

Connect 4 Quads

Another well configured play for Chromecast is Connect 4 Quads. Up to four players can join using their phones to drop the virtual checker pieces onto the virtual game structure. You can use gestures to swipe, rotate, or direct the pieces into specific slots on the gameboard.

You can still play this even if you're going solo, trying to outdo yourself each time by coming up with the highest score. Enjoy this smooth and lag-free game by downloading it from Google Play for free.

Emoji Party

Emoji Party is definitely a party game for the big screen. Compete with your friends using your phone in a funny battle for points. Guess movie titles based on emoji pictures, use action cards to fight your friends, be fast and you'll surely win this game.

Emoji Play is a fun choice you can share with everybody. It throws in a good competitive element by letting you zap other players with cards that slow their progress. This game can also be downloaded for free from Google Play.

Just Dance Now

Just Dance was a trending choice on the Wii, and it makes a pretty good transition to the Chromecast. Launching the game for the first time may take a while, since it will need to download a playlist of 97 different songs.

The game is similar to what it was known to be -- you mimic a translucent dancing figure to rack up points. Your phone's accelerometer tracks you along the way, rewarding you for getting down.

If you enjoy the game with the full song library but don't want the commercials, you can purchase a VIP pass as an in-app purchase. The rates though are quite expensive: $0.99 for an hour, $1.99 for two hours or $54.99 for a year. Because of that, we suggest you to skip the upgrade and just put up the commercials.

Alien Invaders

As a Space Invaders knockoff, Alien Invaders is played by controlling the spaceship with your phone, moving it to the left or to the right using the middle button to blast the aliens. The game is pretty easy at the beginning, but as you reach round 10 there's an almost indefensible armada of aliens to shoot down. The best odds are if you gather as many players as possible to form a stronger defense line.

This game is also free on the Google Play store.

Monopoly Dash

Similar to Scrabble, Hasbro has scaled down its popular real estate game for Chromecast. Both iOS and Android users can play, which involves a mixture of Monopoly and a Go Fish-style element of trying to guess other player's cards.

Once you collect an entire collection of cards from the same real estate group, you can then build houses and start collecting rent. If you're playing against the computer, be patient as the back-and-forth jockeying can drag on sometimes.

You can get Monopoly Dash from Google Play free of charge.

Read More

Ways on How to Minimize Your Business Expenses

As a small business owner, you'll only be too aware that running a business is expensive. This includes day-to-day costs, the odd unexpected cost that crops up; it all mounts up. And that's before you look at the costs involved when trying to grow your business.

Business owners sometimes go out of their comfort zone and spend more than they can afford. These things can greatly affect the business, which can lead to bankruptcy if not eliminated on time. You would be surprised how even the smallest changes can actually reduce the business costs and improve the profitability at the same time.

With this note, one way to decrease costs is by looking at your day-to-day functions and asking if you could make some small changes that would give you incremental savings. Here are some money-saving tips that every small business owner should know:

Environmental Savings

Becoming more environment-friendly doesn't necessarily mean you have to make drastic changes. Even small adjustments that you implement on your business can create a significant contribution to saving the environment, as help you save some money for your business at the same time.

• Shut down your computer and other equipment when you leave. It could cost you around $71 per year if you leave your computer on for a day - even leaving the computer monitor on idle can also add up to your yearly expenses. You can decrease your business costs if you implement a "complete shut down" rule at the end of your business office hours. You can also introduce a "Switch Off" campaign at work, with posters or stickers placed in key areas, such as the printer, photocopier, or even by the stock room light switch.

• Go Paperless. Even though the cost of printing and mailing might seem insignificant, they still cost you a lot of money. Going paperless is one of the options you may want to consider in order to cut some business expenses. Instead of printing, you can save some important paperwork on your computer and pay the bills online. Not only you will eliminate some costs, you will also make your office less cluttered.

Contract Savings

Similar with our personal lives, it is a smart way to shop around to get the best deal on insurance and utilities for your business. Here are some things you can try:

• Make a note on your calendar to determine when existing contracts are due to end. Set a reminder at least a month before the said due date so that you'll have ample time to search the market.

• Make a note of how long your notice period is (usually between 28 and 120 days). If you missed it, your contract will automatically roll-over.

Office Savings

• Evaluate your staffing costs. The first thing business owners should do is to identify your business costs and to eliminate some cost categories that may cause some negative effects. Identify what is a fixed cost and what is an optional cost. Your employees, for instance, are your fixed cost, so make sure that they actually contribute positively to your business. If you want to reduce the employment costs, it's considered better to offer three-quarter-time job that includes benefits instead of a full-time job.

• Cut travel expenses. Small businesses don't really need to allocate to much budget on travel. But if your business is a big one, then make sure you plan every trip you make wisely. There are times when people get carried away and spend more than they allowed to do. Even if you plan to outsource some services, make sure you stay local in order to cut some expenses.

• Reduce the number of phone calls. Most business owners use the phone for advertising purpose. If you want to actually advertise your business and attract new clients, it's recommended to spend more on mailing services instead of doing it over the phone. It is a must to cut the number of phone calls, or to hire a person that will manage the incoming calls instead of you.

It won't hurt practicing some of these money-saving tips and see how your business will benefit from it in the long run. After all, every penny counts.

Read More

HP Pro Slate Tablet Review: HP's Giant Android Tablet

With the hopes of boosting its market sales for large-screen Android tablets, HP rolled out its very own Pro Slate 12, which stands out with a rugged 12.3-inch display and its ability to digitize notes from regular paper. The new HP Pro Slate 12 is considered to be a standout when set against a backdrop of seven other tablet announcements. Despite its enormous display, this tablet is surprisingly easy to handle. And weighing at 850 grams, it's somewhere in between heavy and light -- in short, it's just perfect to bring along.

Let's take a closer look at its specs, as well as its features, to give you a better visibility on the HP Pro Slate 12 tablet.

When it comes to this tablet's screen, it's 1600 x 1200 display is fairly good. Similar with the iPad, the company chose to go with a 4:3 layout, since consumers spend most of the time using tablets in portrait orientation. The tablet is the company's first with a durable screen based on Corning's Concore Glass technology, which protects the glass from drops on rough surfaces such as asphalt. Another first with the Pro Slate 12 is that it comes with a "Duet Pen" stylus that you can use to take notes on paper and on the tablet. When you're using it, the pen emits an ultrasonic sound that the tablets can track and triangulate with internal microphones, which is supposed to increase suspension. You can also swap the tip out for an actual ink tip, and the tablet will map and store whatever you're writing on actual paper. Pretty neat, huh.

Under the hood, the Pro Slate 12 packs a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 2 GB of RAM, and 32 GB of storage, along with an 8-MP rear camera and a 2-MP shooter at the front. Weighing a little less than two pounds, you can say that it's actually light for its gigantic size. It also sports a microSD slot and microUSB 2.0 input -- sorry, but it doesn't have any USB 3.0 or HDMI port. Of course, it also supports the latest 802.11ac Wi-Fi networking.

If you want to experience the Pro Slate 12's feature set and Duet Pen but in a smaller and sharper display version, you can go with the Pro Slate 8. It utilizes a 7.9-inch, 2048 x 1536 Gorilla Glass 4 screen, starting at $449. As for the Pro Slate 12, you'll be shelling out around $569.

The Pro Slated 12 was one of many ElitePad, Pro Slate, and Pro Tablets with Android and Windows OSes announced by HP. Screen sizes of the new tablets range from 8 to 12 inches, and are now shipping. Its closest competitor is the Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2, a $749 mega-tablet known for its rich 12-inch display and the ability to multitask four apps at once. Apple has also been rumored to enter this super-sized space, with a possible 12-inch "iPad Pro" expected to be in the company's pipeline sometime in the future.

Read More