Aliens

A Space Shooter brings whimsy and comic-book-style graphics to the crowded touch-driven shoot-'em-up category. You play as Commander P. Jefferson, a Buzz Lightyear-like character whose sole purpose is to protect the galaxy. With your double-barrel spacecraft, you get to hunt down aliens, destroy asteroids, and tangle with enemy ships. While the game's story may be somewhat confusing and disjointed, it doesn't take any of the fun out of the straightforward missions.

A Space Shooter's interface is as simple as it gets. Just touch the screen and drag in the direction you want your ship to fly. … Read more

Android apps will now be able to run on Apple's iPad and a host of other non-Android devices, courtesy of new software from the crew at Myriad Group.

Announced yesterday, Myriad's Alien Dalvik 2.0 will support Android apps on tablets, e-books, TVs, and even cars.

Initially unveiled for the MeeGo OS earlier this year, the software allows most Android Package--also known as APK--files to run on a myriad of devices with little or no tweaking, according to the company. Users can simply trigger the APK file to install and then launch the app on their chosen device.… Read more

Sprint has signed a $20 billion dollar deal for 30.5 million new iPhones, and Adobe releases Flash Player 11 and AIR 3 with accelerated 3D graphics support, and check out CNET.com's live coverage of Apple's announcement of the next iPhone(s).

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

Contre Jour is an arcade puzzler that veteran gamers will see as a mashup of game mechanics and inspiration from several other popular titles. That said, Contre Jour is a well-executed melange, a fun and often challenging puzzle game with polished art and sound.

On each short level of Contre Jour, you're trying to get a charming little alien (essentially, a rolling eyeball) to the level's exit. The alien doesn't move on its own, so you need to use attached ropes (some elastic, some not, some with movable anchors), slingshots, malleable ground (which you can shape with … Read more

R-Type for Android takes you way back to the '80s with its classic humans-versus-aliens storyline and retro shoot-'em-up style of game play. Because it's more or less unchanged from its arcade predecessor, R-Type is sure to keep you hooked for hours at a time, just as it did when you were younger.

While there is a rich plot that drives R-Type, its details are relatively inconsequential. All you need to know is that you are piloting a futuristic star ship, and your primary objective is to kill aliens...lots and lots of aliens.

To begin, your ship is … Read more

TowerMadness has been around for a while now, but the unique challenge and several updates over time make it a must-have for tower defense fans. Featuring 3D graphics that look great on the Retina Display, TowerMadness challenges you to defend a flock of sheep from an onslaught of attacking aliens. You can view the action from above or use a reverse-pinch gesture to zoom in on the action. You'll play on 49 included maps, but you can purchase 28 expansion maps from within the game. A recent update added 5 more maps, and two new weapon upgrades to add … Read more

It's not just the threat of another recession that tells us we're destroying ourselves. We express it in every alien movie ever made.

Save the Earth. Save the Earth. A question that, increasingly, offers the question: "Why?"

Still we, cranially deficient as we are, prefer to muse about "when?" and "how?" Well, the earthy Guardian points me to a new report, written by three researchers from Penn State, and published in the journal Acta Astronautica (PDF).

The report suggests that it's just remotely, theoretically possible that the green, blue, and orange … Read more

On today's show, RIM responds -- if you can call it that -- to an open letter purportedly from a senior executive calling out the company on all its woes. RIM's response? We're fine. Well, we're fine, but we will also agree to form a task force to investigate whether we need a better CEO and management structure. Ya think? Plus, the craziest Computer Love ever.

Just as Bigfeet tend to emerge during the summer period, so it is with UFOs.

It is natural to be skeptical. If these strange phenomena really did exist, why haven't their captains exposed themselves on our streets? Why haven't they sat down with Katie Couric and Oprah?

And yet two events have conflated to, yet again, send a frisson of excitement through the bones of those who seek extraterrestrial contact.

First, as reported by Reuters, a top Russian astronomer, Andrei Finkelstein, director of none other than the Russian Academy of Sciences' Applied Astronomy Institute, declared that we would … Read more