Insights For Success

Strategy, Innovation, Leadership and Security

Emulator

Play 2000 DOS Games for Free

technologyEdward Kiledjian
Image by Jeramey Jannene used Under Creative Commons License

Image by Jeramey Jannene used Under Creative Commons License

If been in the computing business for a long time. I remember the old "classic" DOS based games that provided hours or days of senseless fun. Sure you could download an emulator, find the games and run them but most people would quickly give up. 

The Internet Archive has just added over 2,000 classic MS DOS games that will bring back memories of years gone by.  The great thing is that you play these games via your browser instantly. No messy emulators to install or configure. Some games may not work properly but you have over 2,000 to choose from so go out and waste a couple of hours.

Check out the catalog and play games here (link)

Run any Android 4.2 app on Windows quickly

technologyEdward Kiledjian

 I wrote about Bluestack and how they provide a beta emulation software that allows you to run some Android software on a Windows or Mac PC. Emulation is good when you don't have any other option but now a team of Chinese developers from Socketeq has pushed their Android on Windows just a little bit further.

Instead of using emulation which is slower and more limiting, they have created a system where Android runs on top of the Windows kernel (without emulation). They also claim that this approach allows you to run all Android applications including the resource intensive 3D games.

The app works pretty well for a beta but still has some issues. I had some glitches with sound playback (most of the time), multi touch doesn't work and the default bundle of Google apps isn't installed. For the last point, this is likely a licensing issue and I'm sure some creative user will find a way to solve this issue.

To see the demo video, go here:

To download the app, go to the developers site and fill out their form

 

 

Run any Android app on your Windows or Mac computer

technologyEdward Kiledjian

Imagine being able to run [almost all] of your favorite Android apps on a standard Windows PC or tablet. Bluestacks does just that. Using a proprietary emulation engine, they allow you to run almost any Android app on your Windows PC.

If there are some non PC android apps you absolutely love and can’t live without, you can now use them on your PC (or Mac or tablet).

Windows 8 RT doesn’t have enough apps

The biggest complaint I have heard about Windows 8 RT (aka Surface RT) is the lack of apps. Developers aren’t willing to spend thousands in development costs for a product with an uncertain future. We have heard horror stories of some developers making a measly $100 from their Windows RT apps.

Now Bluestacks is considering to bring its Android emulation technology to Windows RT. What does this mean, it means 700,000 could find their way to Microsoft’s lonely platform and finally make it a little more compelling. Even if Bluestacks released a Windows RT product, Microsoft would have to approve it for distribution through its app store which is far from certain.

Verdict

Right now Windows (not RT) and Mac users can play with the very stable and fun beta of Bluestacks. If you have an Android phone, install their client on it and you can even choose what phone apps you want to copy to your Bluestacks environment.

A great way to have some fruit ninja or Angry bird fun.