Popular Life Hacks in the Philippines

• You can always ask for a free newspaper in the morning from McDo or Jollibee even if your bill is below the required minimum amount for a free one. They don't usually care. 
• Mercury Drug sells bottled drinks and other packed foods that are a lot cheaper compared to 7-11 and Mini Stop.
• Tired of queueing up at BPI? Take advantage of their express assist online service by scheduling withdrawal and deposit transactions.  
• Food hacks - if you are working in Makati go buy your food in Jollijeep much cheaper - Hakwer 101, bang for the buck - Cheap massage? Go Nuat Thai for only 250 pesos. - Going to Enchanted Kingdom? There's a shuttle back and forth in Makati/Ayala MRT - Quick merienda? - Get a Turon in SM malls in Makati for 12 pesos only. - Grab Taxi or Uber - you need this to survive the Hell of Manila - Always look out for Grab Taxi coupon codes - Cheap Karaoke in Timezone - Easy tickets in Timezone just play "Big Drop". I managed to get like 5000 of tickets.
• If you arrive at NAIA and the queue at the taxi rank is full, catch the free bus to Resorts World on the bottom level (you have to pretend you're going to check in) and then once you get to one of the resorts world hotels, ask the doorman at the hotel to flag you a taxi.
• The BPI iOS/Android app has a "Transfer to Anyone" service that does not need for the transferee's account info to be enrolled. Just use wisely.

Terra Battle Strategies, Tips and Tricks

Terra Battle (Apple App Store Google Play Store) is an online free-to-play tactical RPG puzzle game by Mistwalker, Hironobu Sakaguchi's video game development studio. The mobile game is similar to Tetra Master, where you move freely around a grid-based map to flank your enemies and crush them in a pincer attack. 

To help you get the most out of this game, here are a few Terra Battle strategies, tips and tricks:

1. Make sure to login and play everyday. You get bonus coins and energy for consecutive daily plays.

2. You gain additional 5% boost for monster creatures when you get a duplicate monster drop.

3. Farm the 3rd battle in Chapter 3 to level up quickly and get skill boosts. There's a sequence there where you have 4 to 5 monsters arranged vertically that you can kill easily in 1-2 turns, and get massive experience bonus.

4. Grind the Metal Zone 1 early on (opens after Chapter 2) to the max level 20 with your 6 starter characters. You'll need to grind gold during the weekend coin events to pay the 1000 coin entry fee.

5. As much as possible, try to move multiple characters in a single turn. Characters can be positioned to execute chain attacks with allies. Take advantage of bonus items on the map to boost your attack combos.

6. Take some time to raise the second job of your multi-job characters since the stats may end up being way better. Also at level 20 you unlock another slot to use another skill of the other jobs so you can have your second job with the skills of the first as well and vice versa.

7. Having 2 healers in your party of 6 is great for boss fights.

8. Save you energy for recruiting rare characters that can undergo 3 types of job changes.

9. Try to kill as many enemies as possible in single turns, in order to rack up an experience multiplier. Optimal areas will tend to have both large amount of enemies and formations that encourage multipliers.

10. (Added on 8/6/2014) There are some Terra Battle monsters with top-tier skills that can be farmed from certain chapter levels:

Level 3-5
Lizardfolk Hero (Spear) - a little better than the standard knight
Beastfolk Hero (Sword) - a little better than the standard warrior

Level 4-3
Sabertooth King (Spear) -multiple spear attacks

Level 6-10
Cybergolem (Sword) - learns megasword,gigasword and sleep attacks

Level 7-10
Mantledrake (Wizard) - comes with multiple fire spells

Level 9-10
Golem (Spear) - high defense, has both spear and sword attacks

Level 14-7
Regencell (Healer) - definitely an improvement over the standard healer, comes with more healing spells and better stats

Suggested Areas for Power Levelling
-Metal Zones (very high EXP yields, varying stamina and gold requirements)
-Level 5-8 (~11,000 EXP / 7 stamina)
-Level 12-5 (~25,000 EXP / 10 stamina)

Outwitters Strategy Guide

I'm always getting my rear end handed to me in the Outwitters iOS turn-based-strategy game. Good thing the developers of the game, One Man Left Studios, provided some helpful tips to help noobs like me get up to speed on strategy.

Tips For New Players

• Complete the tutorial to learn the basics.
• You don't have to use all of your Wits on every turn. Saving up for a decisive strike can turn the tides in your favor.
• Don't play too aggressively. Only launch an attack if you have the capabilities to take the counter-attack which will surely follow.
• All units have their purpose. Learn how to use them. Don't rely on a select few, balance is key.
• Familiarize yourself with all Special Units to understand their role on the field. They are quite expensive and wasting one can easily spell your doom.
• Keep expensive units like Snipers and Heavies alive as long as possible by using a Medic.
• Keeping general track of your opponents movement and units will give you an idea of what is possible for them and what is waiting in the Fog of War for you. They have similar resources as you have.
• You cannot move or see through enemy units and vice versa. It can be handy to form walls with your units on specific maps to prevent your opponent from running or looking past your defenses.
• Your units can indeed move backwards. Taking a Soldier or Heavy back to heal it with a Medic might be advantageous to the alternative of building a new one and take 3 turns to move it across the map.
• Sacrificing a Runner to see what your opponent is setting up can be quite helpful to plan your defense.
• You can win a game by destroying all units and blocking all spawn points.
• Don't underestimate the Medic. 1 Wit to buff a unit can really make a difference, especially with Runners and Snipers.
• Learn from your losses by watching replays and keep at it. The Fog of War is removed in the replay of a finished game, so you can watch your opponent set up his strategy.
• Experiment and be creative to find your own style.
• Play a few Pass'n'Play games against yourself and familiarize yourself with mechanics like 'line of sight' and 'movement range' with barricades and pits. This can also help you understand the special units (Bombshell, Mobi, Scrambler).
• The starting army of your opponent is always mirror-inverted to your own. This allows you to anticipate what lies in the Fog of War to a certain extent.
• If you can not stop an attack from your opponent, you can force him to spend his Wits somewhere else to buy you some time to gather Wits or rearrange your units.
• Your base has 5 HP which are a manageable asset just like anything else. Letting someone pummel you with a Runner for a turn or two while you press a strategic advantage is often a good idea. Don't over-react to having your base lose points.

{source: onemanleft.com}

Pocket Planes Strategy Guide, Tips and Tricks

If you're looking for a guide or tips and tricks on making tons of coins and bux in Nimblebit's latest iOS game Pocket Planes, then look no further because I've done all the "hard" work of collecting and posting information from various sources all over the web on how to best manage your fleet of Pocket Planes on your way to global airline domination. A word of caution though before you plunge into this addictive game -- Pocket Planes will take over your life if you're not careful!

Pocket Planes Online Airpedia List of all planes and their stats and classes!

Gameplay

Pocket Planes [AppStore] is Nimblebit's (the developer of iOS hit Tiny Tower) next game. The game is free-to-play with IAP, bux, which can get you new airplanes, airports, etc.. Tiny Tower was well balanced and IAP was not necessary so expect Pocket Planes to be the same.

In Pocket Planes you take control of your own fledgling airline in a region of your choosing. From there you get to expand your airline however you would like. Your airline can specialize in short-hauls with cargo, become a long-distance airline for passengers or any combination you would like. As you earn more bux you will get to unlock larger more efficient planes, airports and parts. Flights occur in real-time so you will schedule your flights and receive notifications as they reach their destinations

Pocket Planes will also incorporate a new feature called "Flight Crews". Your crew will compete in timed-events in order to win prizes like unique aircraft (as seen in the image below). So far the only example given of a possible event is for most flights completed by a flight crew during a period.

{source: neogaf}

Strategy Guide For Making Tons of Money in Pocket Planes

First of all, when you start you're only going to be able to travel between a close packed group of cities. Since these cities are so close, your flights are going to take off and land (and be ready for their next flight) within at most, 8 minutes. As you can see with 4 flights and the most any one flight will take is 8 minutes, you're going to be busy.

The goal for levels 1-20 is to get as far spread out as possible, and get rid of your gray airports when possible. They by far have the fewest jobs. After level 20, you can get a plane large enough to fly over the Atlantic easily, and you should know what you are doing at that point.

What you want to do initially is to balance between airplanes and units. For example, if you buy too many planes, you may find that your planes are sitting at cities waiting for new jobs to come in. At this point, buy airports! However if you're buying too many airports, you're leaving available items and money at these airports! So its important to find a balance.

Once you start getting blue Airports, you want to start to spread out and push the boundaries of your airplanes. Remember, the further you get away, the longer and more profitable the flights are.

Your first Red airport will cost between 45,000 and 51,000 coins, and will seem like a poo poo ton of money. It is at that point. However getting one of these Red Airports will probably stay with you for the rest of the game: Los Angeles, New York, London/France, or Jakarta.

When picking Aircraft, always pick the "M" type of airplanes.

 Plane Classes

There are three classes of planes in Pocket Planes: 

Class 1 planes are small, can only carry up to at most (at the best plane which is the Kangaroo) 4 units, fly short distances slowly, and can land in any city.

Class 2 planes are medium planes, can carry up to 6 units, fly much longer distances and faster and can only land at blue or red dot cities.

Class 3 planes are large planes, can carry up to 20+ units, fly huge distances, and at fast speeds, and can only land at red dot cities.

{source: somethingawful}

Tips and Tricks

Posted below are some Pocket Planes tips and tricks collected from all over the web to help you enjoy and get the most fun out of this game.

#1 You can get free coins (worth 1 and 10) and free bux while flying from one airport to another. Just click on the coins and bux that pass by your airplane.

#2 The dots signify how busy the airport is. Red is busiest, then blue then black.  Busier airports have more available jobs.

#3 To see how many times you did an event, click event then click the check mark.

#4  You can get anywhere with any plane regardless of their range, you just need to make more stops.

#5 Upgrading the airport gets you more jobs and layovers.

#6 You can buy parts in the market. You have to level up to unlock more plane models and parts.

#7 It's cheaper to build if you already have a part.

#8 You can also get bux through certain jobs.

#9 Aim to buy the fastest machine pieces for new planes first up; 2 seater/cargo planes are your ideal starting point because 1500 coins per hour is better than 500 coins per hour.

#10 Close airports so that you don't saturate your job list with low paying jobs. It's also a way to make some coin to open up other stuff, or to move your operations around when you are at your city limit for your level.

Triple Town Tips and Tricks

 Triple Town Tips:

[1] 4 or 5 bears is about right, sometimes 3. The key is to pay attention where you put the LAST bear, because if you have enough tombstones that's where the church will go. It's not the square the last bear was placed on, it's the space where he is when he dies, so you can let the last one wander where you want him and then drop a bush or something to seal up the area.

[2] The reason you want to do that is because a church that doesn't end up in a cathedral is useless and a waste of space. Three cathedrals ending up as a chest is your best possible result; not only do you get coins from it, but that's at least 27 bears ending up as one item you can click to clear. Two cathedrals + a crystal is almost as good.

[3] Annoyed when the piece you want to drop would be perfect if that ONE loving BEAR would just take one more step? When you buy an item from the store, it displaces your current item rather than eliminating it. Grass is very cheap and easy to get rid of, so buy that and drop your crystal or whatever on the next turn.

 [4] As noted, try not to kill ninjas until they're in a place where the tombstone will help you. They're annoying, but only troublesome when space starts getting very low. If there's just one, try to wait for a bot rather than buying one. Of course, sometimes the game will send you four ninjas in five turns just to gently caress with you. When this happens, call the game a motherfucker and shake your fist at it.

[5] If you put a crystal down where it DOESN'T make a match, it forms a rock. Two rocks + a crystal -> a mountain, two mountains + a crystal -> an 1800-coin chest and 50K points. Always nice to have, especially early when you might have a rock as a starting piece and you don't have anything useful on which to use early crystals.

[6] Take it easy on the store until you're well into six figures. Build your stockpile of coins up. If you're making mountain-mountain-crystal once and an occasional cathedral-cathedral-crystal, you will probably end up coin-positive if you're not buying crystals or bots from the shop. The higher up the housing chain you are, the more effort a crystal is replacing, so save the expensive ones for when they're a big deal.

And the biggest tip:

 [8] Dropping pieces randomly kills you. Don't match things because they match, match them because you can match what they create intelligently. Same-type pieces that are a knight's move apart or farther are non-optimal because even a crystal can't match them, and the higher valued they are the harder it'll be to fix.

Start by thinking at the tree level. Where do you want your next tree to be? That means bush-bush-bush with the third bush in that spot, so DON'T put anything in that spot if it'll block you from that order. Figure you'll get bushes or higher instead of grass now and then, use your storehouse liberally, and build trees near other trees.

Got the hang of it? You can put a tree right where you want it reliably without buying from the store or relying on crystals? Good. Since you can stack up trees, use them to build huts. Lather, rinse, repeat on up the housing chain.

{source}

Junk Jack FAQs, Strategy Guide, Tips and Tricks

I was snooping around the App Store and came across this retro-inspired Minecraft-y gem from PixBits - Junk Jack.


Junk Jack [AppStore] is a 2D sandbox game where you can explore, build your home and survive in random procedurally generated worlds full of treasures and hidden secrets. If you have no clue what you're doing, posted below are some of the frequently-asked-questions, guides, tips and tricks collected from the web to help you get  started.

Beginner's Guide {via Tye-Dye of Junk Jack Official Forum}

To begin crafting open up your inventory and there should be a 3x3 box on the right side - this is the crafting box. You can split a stack of wood by double clicking it. Then when you are ready, press the crafting button beneath the crafting box. Some items may require you to be standing near a crafting add-on, such as an anvil used for making metal tools.

First off you will want to punch some trees to death and make a picaxe. Then make some Wooden planks from the wood from the tree.
W wood
_ nothing
[_] [_] [_]
[_] [W] [_]
[_] [_] [_]
Wood can be placed anywhere in the crafting slot.
Wooden planks will be referred as just planks from now on.

Picaxe crafting
[S] [S] [_]
[S] [P] [_]
[_] [_] [P]
Where
S = wood
P = wood plank
_ = nothing

After getting a good haul of stone (maybe some coal too), make an axe (probably for getting more wood) and a new picaxe.
You will also want to make a swords
S=stone
P=plank
_= nothing

Axe
[S] [_] [_]
[S] [P] [_]
[_] [_] [P]

Sword
[S] [_] [_]
[_] [S] [_]
[_] [_] [P]

Chop some more wood and find the closes cow to you.With your sword beat him to death and hopefully get leather (you need 2 leather so find another cow maybe:))

Then look for a sort of light green plant with beans on top. Mine it and get some papyra (what you make paper with).

Then make some paper with the papyra with
P= papyra
_= nothing
[_] [_] [_]
[P] [P] [_]
[P] [P] [_]
Get enough papyra till you have 4 paper (I think about 8 papyra should do it)

Then make your self a book
L = leather
P = paper
_ = nothing

[_] [_] [_]
[L] [P] [P]
[L] [P] [P]

Then you can start adding page to book. Put page on hot bar then click on it (when you are out of menu). It will be stored in your book, which acts as a little collection tutorial / craft book (collect all page will really help).

You will probably want to think of making a place of residence now (ie house :L). Your first house shouldn't be too fancy, just out of dirt or random blocks and will be designed to last you your first night.

On your first night I would advise just making a mine like tunnel down like steps:
____[ ]
__[ ][ ]
[ ][ ][ ]

This should get you enough stone, ores and coal or everything.

Your next step (after making a  house) will be to start making furniture and crafting additional tools.

Make a Wooden work bench by first making a hammer out of wood
(hammers are used for removing furniture, doors, ladders, etc)

W wood
P plank
_ nothing

[_] [W] [_]
[W] [P] [_]
[_] [_] [P]

Then make the bench like this
W wood
P plank
H hammer
[_] [_] [_]
[P] [H] [P]
[W] [W] [W]

Torches are also a must have as it stops monsters spawning!
C coal
P plank
_ nothing
[_] [_] [_]
[_] [C] [_]
[_] [_] [W]

After making a work bench a nice looking furnace will be on your mind (keep house warm and for making better tools and widgets)
S stone
T torch
_ nothing

Furnace
[S] [S] [S]
[S] [T] [S]
[S] [S] [S]

You will also want a door and a chest (to store treasure in)
First you will need something called a widget
Widgets are made with iron ingots and copper ingots
Ingot crafting (by furnace)
L ore lump
C coal
_ nothing
[_] [_] [_]
[_] [L] [L]
[_] [_] [c]
The lumps and coal can be anywhere as long as there is two lumps and one coal next to a furnace
When you craft a iron and copper ingot make a widget
Widget
I iron ingot
C copper ingot
_ nothing
[_] [_] [_]
[_] [_] [I]
[_] [C] [_]

Then with widget
Chest
P wood
W widget
_ nothing

[_] [_] [_]
[P] [W] [P]
[P] [P] [P]

And door
P plank
W widget
_ nothing
[P] [P] [_]
[P] [W] [_]
[P] [P] [_]

You will also need to make an anvil to craft metal tools (iron silver gold Mithril)
To make an anvil
I iron ingot
S stone
_ nothing
[_] [_] [_]
[I] [I] [I]
[_] [S] [_]
Then when you stand next to one you will be able to make a metal tool (advised to have furnace and anvil close to each other)

As you go you will find many crates containing items for crafting and building
Vases - contain treasure but, be warned may spawn spiders upon breaking
Chest- use hammer to break them (contains items varying on what kind of chest) better the chest better the items

Strength of tools on material from weakest to strongest:
Wood
Stone
Iron
Steel
Gold
Mithril

Full list of recipes (Tools, Interactive Items, Blocks, Items, Crafting Add-ons)

iOS 5 Tips and Tricks + New Features

The iOS 5, will be ready for download any moment now (available for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch 3rd and 4th generation, iPad and iPad 2) and here are some tips and tricks collected from the interwebs to help you get the most out of Apple's latest version of its mobile operating system.

Quick Camera Access
Want to take a quick photo? Double tap the home button when your phone is locked and a camera button will appear next to the "Slide to Unlock" at the bottom of the screen. Clicking this immediately takes you into the camera app. Have a password? Fear not, you can still quickly access the camera. The camera app is sandboxed and won't have access to your previous photos and files!

Take a photo using the volume button!
Finally! We have a real shutter button. Turn your camera sideways and hit the "+" volume button to snap a photo.

Notifications Panel (or, "No more annoying popups!")
Finally! We iOS users get to have a taste of a proper and legitimate notifications panel. All alerts, popups, and push notifications get displayed and archived inside this panel. Access it by swiping you finger down from the top of the screen. Note: this only works if your phone is unlocked.

View notifications from your phones lock screen
Is your phone locked? Guess what? You can still recent alerts and notifications from various apps. Just hit the home button or power button as if you were turning on your phone to check the time. Boom! Want to act on a notification message and open up a specific app? Just slide to app icon to the right with your finger. It will directly open up the app (and in theory, take you to the specific message or alert).

iCloud -- Backup your contacts, calendars, reminders, and more!
Want to take advantage of iCloud for storing and syncing your data? Check out the options in Settings → iCloud.

Read articles, blog posts, and webpage content without all the cruft
Safari has a new feature called Reader. Basically, it strips away any of the extraneous content on a webpage and displays only the important bits of the article or blog post in an easy to read -- almost ebook like -- format. All you need to do is navigate to any page and hit the "Reader" button in the URL bar.

{source: gdgt.com}

New Features

• You can use iCloud to synchronize your data, including music and photos, across your Apple devices.
• The ability to edit photos right on the phone. This includes red-eye removal, cropping and auto enhancement of whole pictures.
• iMessage, a new, free text-messaging service exclusive to users of iOS 5. It detects whether you are using the new system and routes a text message over the Internet instead of using the standard cellphone text services. It allows group messaging and notifies users when messages are read and/or delivered.
• Built-in Twitter support. Without adding a Twitter app, you can tweet directly from within functions like photos, maps, the browser and YouTube.
• Notifications of alerts, messages and dates can be gathered together in a drop-down panel, or can appear briefly at the top of the screen instead of displaying one at a time in a box that blocks your screen.
• There’s quick access to the camera, by simply double-clicking the home button, even if the phone is asleep. And you can use the volume up button as a shutter button.
• On the iPad, the browser has tabs, and you can split and move the onscreen keyboard to make thumb typing easier.
• You can create customized typing shortcuts, such as “tks” for “thanks.”
• In Mail, you can now format words so they appear in bold, italics or underlined.

{source: allthingsd.com}

Click the image above to view other iOS 5 hidden features via Macstories

The #1 Result When You Search for "Tiny Tower Guide" in Google...

...is my post about Tiny Tower FAQs, Strategy Guide, Tips and Tricks! Huzzah!

Tiny Tower FAQs, Strategy Guide, Tips and Tricks

Posted below are some Tiny Tower tips and tricks I've collected all over the interwebs to guide you in building floors, stocking stores and operating elevators in Tiny Tower.

What if tiny digital people could live inside your phone? 

They would need a place to live and work...

Something like a tiny tower building underneath the glass!

Tiny Tower is the latest freemium game from Nimblebit (of Pocket Frogs fame) that lets you build a tiny tower and manage the businesses and bitizens that inhabit it!

★Make money to build new types of floors and attract bitizens to live and work inside.
★Special events and VIP visitors will earn you special perks as you build your tower towards the clouds.

★Customize the look and placement of each floor and the bitizens that live in them, and upgrade your elevator.
★Game Center integration to let you see your friends towers, back up your game and earn awards.
★See what is on your bitizens' minds by peeking at the "BitBook" virtual social network for your tower!

Bitizen costumes are coming soon! Woot woot!

How To Play The Game

You build your 1st residential floor and your 1st production floor, move in your first bitizen and give them a job. You earn coins by having your bitizens get to work and creating items to sell. You spend those coins on building more floors and eventually your tower will be sky high.

Godzilla not included

Tiny Tower Google Docs Spreadsheet (Business Type, Business Name, Stock Item, Amount, Restock Time)

{source: sooz of toucharcade forums}

Tips and Tricks

#1 The fastest way to get coins is to grind until you get 50 tower bux, then buy the 100k coin package. With around 1 hour of gaming time, it is possible to get 30+ tower bux and 6 floors.

#2  Bitizens will never move out on their own. Employee skill levels affect how big of a discount you get on restocking products.

#3  The more bitizens working at the businesses, the more products you can sell at once and the more money you earn.

#4 Always fully staff a business before moving to the next one. Always have ample residential floors.

#5 You get tower bux for doing various tasks during the game which can fast forward any stock/build time you have.

#6 Match the jobs you assign to Bitizens to their job-skill ratings. Don't shy away from evicting Bitizens whose skills don't fit into the vacant floors you have.

#7 For an initial boost, save up 50 cash and trade it for 100,000 gold. Instead of spending cash to speed things up initially, sacrifice your first day's gameplay by waiting for constructions and restockings to complete by themselves, while transporting Bitizens on elevators manually to hoard up your bux.

#8 To help with the above... get into a habit of saving cash! Bored of transporting Bitizens up and down the elevator? Multi-task out into a game of NBA Jam, lap of Real Racing 2 or match of First Touch Soccer and come back while your floors are being built or items are being restocked.

#9 Make sure all of your shops' three employment-slots are filled with skilled workers. Keep your floors fully stocked with items before logging off or taking a break, letting you sell maximum stock while away. If you're 15-20 stock away from hitting empty on a Level 2 or 3 item, consider spending Cash to restock it fast before logging off.

#10 Plan your next move. You will usually have more unemployed Bitizens in your hotel than working ones initially, since only 3-slots exist per store. Decide which shop you want to open next and invite only Bitizens with that particular skill-set to stay at your tower while you save up gold for the next floor.