Where's Google Play Store??

Interesting problem last night.  One of the Android tablets we own had its Play Store missing from the app drawer page, which was just baffling to me.  Noting that the Play Store is a preinstalled, you can't just uninstall and zap it to kingdom come.  After poking around and even going as far as downloading an apk for the Play Store (which didn't work), it turns out there's an easy fix for this.

Go to Settings > Apps and tap the menu button (3 vertical dots).  Then check Show Google Apps.  Why is this even an option?

Most Favourite Nolan Films

I'll keep this brief.  I always wanted to keep track of the rankings I've put on Chris Nolan flicks.  Here's the rankings.

1. Inception
2. Memento
3. Following
4. Batman Begins
5. The Dark Knight Rises
6. Prestige
7. Insomnia
8. The Dark Knight

As always, these lists are subjective.  So, it's just my personal opinion on which is better.  The Dark Knight in particular though... is a very, very distant 8th.

Android Wifi Indicator - Blue vs Grey Signal

In the household, we have our 5th Android tablet and while it's nothing to write about, it is pretty much functional.  Something that bothered me though was that the wifi signal was always grey for some reason.  Past experience leads me to believe that the grey signal means the tablet is attempting to connect, but for this tablet, it seems to surf fine.  After a bit of searching, I finally found out the reason for this.

If your indicator is blue, it means you are connected to the internet and have Google services in sync and connected.

If your indicator is grey and you have Google services saved on the device, it is attempting to connect to a wifi hot spot.

If you do not have Google services set on the machine, your wifi indicator will always be grey.

Reference

*UPDATE* Star Wars: The Old Republic Free to Play Emotes

UPDATE:
Well, as it turns out, clicking the upper left corner lists down the emotes you can do, which renders this list pretty much obsolete.

I figured it would be helpful to provide a list of the emotes that the game provides free players since it seems that when you try to type something, you get the "Restricted to Preferred and Subscribers" message.  The list of emotes was derived from this original list I found: Click Here.  It is unclear if it is an exhaustive list or not.  Either way, the list after the jump.

*UPDATE* Star Wars: The Old Republic - Free to Play - Script Helper

*UPDATE*
The script has been updated to handle multiple running SWTOR processes.  The launcher was updated to also run the server side process that runs the game (although it still freezes on the splash screen).  This update will get the appropriate SWTOR.EXE process' arguments and terminate the running copy.

I wrote a bash script that will help with those pesky arguments when getting the game to run on Wine.  Run the launcher, and click Play.  Then run the script and copy the arguments.  Paste it on Play on Linux and then enjoy the game.  The script is quick and dirty.  As usual, no explicit warranty.

Bash Script *version 2*

Bastion Update

One quick word on Bastion.  The new nVidia drivers 310.14 from Ubuntu's experimental repositories have fixed the performance woes.  It's running now at a very slick frame rate.  Cool.

A Few Wine Thoughts...

I've been sinking my teeth on the Free to Play SWTOR for about a week now and the Wine workarounds are fairly reliable.  One word of advice is to avoid logging back into the game using Windows as you get stuck again with some insanely long loading times.  The game runs pretty fine, but the map and the mouse roll over on objectives are major cause for game freezes, so avoid using them as much as possible.  Also, I'm on the verge of quitting because the Sith Inquisitor quests have become next to impossible.  If this doesn't change anytime soon, I will purge this game and never look back.

I've also tried the following games on Wine and Steam: Mark of the Ninja, Just Cause, Velvet Assassin, and The Walking Dead.  They all work splendidly and without issues whatsoever.  Of the four, Just Cause is just plain crap.  Velvet Assassin is good, but insanely difficult even on the easiest difficulty setting.  Both Mark of the Ninja and The Walking Dead are crazy good and deserve some serious kudos.  I'd give all four games the platinum ranking!