Playing Alien Hive is like building an army within the confines of a puzzle board. First, there are eggs that evolve into cocoons and eventually an alien creature that’s supposed to be amazing (I haven’t, for the life of me, gotten to that part yet). Then, there are seeds that turn into plants that turn into magic fruit which you can use to speed up an egg or creature’s growth twice as fast.

Of course, the challenge of matching these elements by moving tiles (you can’t swap two items) is not enough. Creatures called Naughty Bots pop up on your puzzle, freezing the objects around it. These bots are indeed nasty, as they are a major hindrance to making your moves. Good thing there’s a power up called Power Blast, which blasts all bots away into oblivion.

Okay, so you can get rid of bots and play happily ever after, right? Wrong.

The ultimate challenge of the game is Energy. See, everytime you slide a tile, it lessens the Energy meter. To get more, you’ll need to constantly match three Energy rocks in the board. Energy is to Alien Hive what Moves is to Candy Crush Saga. And in both games, this is where I fail miserably. Most of the time, I get so caught up with breeding plants and aliens that I forget about the energy. There’s an item in the shop to turn certain plants into energy rocks, but that stuff costs a lot of coins.

The game only lets you play in one go, and there is no “next level” or stages you need to go through. Once you run out of energy, it’s game over and you’ll need to start from the top again. This sort of sucks, but it didn’t keep me from playing it one round after another.

Alien Hive is supremely evolved as a puzzle game, and the graphics are not bad either — although that’s hardly the reason why I got hooked.

The game is free in the Play Store and has a running user rating of 4.6.

Download Alien Hive

Puzzle Retreat is not a match-three game, and you don’t have to blow up or clear items to finish a level. It’s a puzzle in the strictest sense, which has only two rules: fill the blank squares by swiping the blocks in, and use all blocks.

Blocks are placed on the edge of the game board, and can be swiped sideways, up or down. Some blocks have one piece of square, while others have two or more. The blank slots may not always equate to the number of squares in one block, so the challenge is how to fill it all with the way your blocks are placed.

As the game progresses, there will be squares with other qualities, like ones that won’t allow other squares to pass over it, and so on. If you find a puzzle is too hard, you can jump back to the menu and choose another world.

Two worlds are free: Welcome and Morning. The succeeding ones are for purchase from the Play Store. This saddens me, but I guess the quality of the game is worth the price.

If you like spending quiet time with a puzzle, this one’s for you. If not, then carry on and don’t let me interrupt you from running and collecting coins.

1. Habit Streak (Free, Pro Version at $2.99)

Habit Streak is a well-reviewed goal-tracking app with a lot of features for encouraging you to stay on track. The app lets you list goals, and check them off routinely. A summary shows you how much you have met each goal since you added it in the list. It’s extremely usable and insightful — something that’s great for even the worst procrastinators. The Pro version sports a new interface and allows adding a widget to the home screen.

2. Wunderlist 2 (Free)

I’ve written about the beautiful design of Wunderlist 1, and now the app is updated to version 2.0 with new features. The update now adds sub-tasks and recurring tasks, as well as sharing and notifications. So you’ll not only have a beautiful way to make lists, you’ll also get extra functionality for accomplishing tasks that are aimed towards a bigger goal.

3. Promodoro Timer Lite (Free; Pro Version at $1.99)

The Promodoro technique is a way to break up a task in 25-minute bursts. Using the Promodoro timer, you start a task (and don’t stop) until 25 minutes is up. You take small breaks (3-5 minutes) in between and start the timer again. Pretty simple, right? This app is the one with the best interface and key functions. The Pro version allows multiple tasks and viewing the history for each.

4. runtastic Pedometer (Free; Pro version at $0.99)

If you’re not into fitness activities because of (insert excuse here), then a good walk around the block should do. This app counts your steps and get stats on how it benefits your health. The free version lets you save five previous activities and sync with the runtastic.com, while the paid version allows unlimited history and a calorie counter.

5. Regularly (Free)

Regularly is not your typical to-do app. This is best for errands that recur in non-specific dates (in two weeks, in 6 months, etc.) Although the app is very flexible and doesn’t tie you to a deadline, it does remind you how long you’ve been delaying a task as well as what’s coming up in the next few days. It also lets you rank tasks in terms of importance so you can decide which one needs your attention more.

These are just a few suggestions. I hope this helps you accomplish your goals for the rest of the year. Happy new year, and may the apps be ever in your favor! Do you use an app that’s helped you with your goals? Share it in the comments!

The good

The app’s look and feel is very similar with the web version, so it should be familiar to you if you’re a regular Etsy user. Curated items such as For Her, For Him and Home can be viewed by swiping left or right from the default Activity tab. Tapping on items bring you straight to the information page where you can tap the heart button to save to Favorites, add it to your cart, or visit the seller’s store.

Purchasing items are quite straightforward and is not to confusing as compared to the website. A dedicated Cart button is shown on the  top of the app’s screen, making it super accessible and saves you precious minutes if you’re in a hurry. Deleting items from the cart is also possible by tapping on the x-mark on the right side of each item.

Search filters are also available for this app, but it’s a bit tricky to use if it’s your first time. Once you tap on the Search button, the field below is a drop down list of categories that you can select to filter your search results.

The bad

Although you can add items to your Favorites, there seems to be no Favorites page to speak of. This is a surprisingly overlooked feature, and hopefully the developers add it in future updates. In the meantime, newly added Favorites from the app will be synced to your Etsy account, so you can view them from the website.

The search filter function is good, but they’re only for item categories and not Etsy profile pages or store names. If you’re looking for someone in particular, you’ll have to do it from the website itself.

With a few more additions to missing features, Etsy for Android should be a great mobile support for the shopping site. It’s quite a pioneer for handmade goods, so here’s to hoping they follow through with a better Android app. For now, don’t expect the moon and the stars — maybe just the sky and the clouds.

Etsy is available for free from the Google Play Store.

The game is a world-building game, meaning it’s not something you can pick up and finish in a matter of minutes or hours. You have to play it in short periods a few times a day, making sure your monsters are fed, your resources are in place and money is acquired more than it’s spent. I’ve played other similar games before, but the routine sort of got old and I eventually stopped playing them. This one, however, looks like it could be staying for a while on my phone.

Basically, your goal is to create a world for your monsters so they’re fed, have enough room and things to keep them happy. In return, your monsters give you coins, which you can use for buying stuff for your monsters or your island. At the first part of the game, you need to buy monsters, but once your monsters reach certain levels, you can now breed them and hatch more of them. You can also build structures to support the life on the island, such as bakeries, mines and breeding trees.  Monsters level up when fed, and the higher their level, the more money they make.

There are also a list of goals that you can check out. If accomplished, you get certain monetary rewards. These are not mandatory, so you don’t really have to do all of them if you don’t want to. These goals either require to hatch a certain kind of monster, add friends from social networks, or get a monster to a certain level.

The most challenging part is breeding monsters. Each monster has a profile, telling you what they’re made of (rock, ice, water, tree) but it doesn’t say which monster duo creates which. Pairing monsters is a guessing game, and you’ll have to remember which combination made which monster if you want to be very specific with your breeding process.

The fun part is seeing your monsters together, how they complement each other when they’re singing. You can mute one kind of monster to change up the song, or group the same monsters together for added volume. Sometimes I just find myself staring at these monsters, when I don’t know what else I can do within the game. It’s enough to keep me entertained. If you think that’s pretty shallow, then you’ll have to play the game to know what I mean.

My Singing Monsters is a serene little game you play in your quiet time. It doesn’t take too much of your time (if you don’t let it), and it always makes you feel “productive” in a geeky sort of way. Where else can you bake 1,000 pieces of bread, breed a bogart or buy an island all in one day?

Have you played this game yet? What do you think?

Download Go SMS Pro from the Play Store. If you already have it installed, check that it’s the latest version (4.66).

With the app open, hit the Menu key. Tap on Services tab then choose Schedule.

This is where you see all scheduled messages. To add a new message, tap on the pen icon on the top right corner.

Enter the recepient, date and time, and compose the message on the text box below. When all is done, tap on Commit.

That’s it! Your message is saved for sending later.

To delete a pending message, tap and hold down on it and choose Delete.

Never miss greeting your friends on their special days with this cool, easy feature!

Set up your desktop/laptop

First, you’ll have to check that your computer’s browser is signed in to Chrome. To check this, click on the wrench icon on the top right corner of the browser toolbar.

Under the Downloads link, you should either see “Signed in as youremail@gmail.com” if you’re already signed in, or “Sign in to Chrome” if you’re not. Click on the latter to sign in using your Gmail account. Enter your Gmail email address and password and hit Sign In.

Click on “Ok, sync everything” on the next pop-up window.

Your desktop browser is now signed in to Chrome.

Set up your mobile phone/device

On your Android device, open the Chrome browser. Tap on the sync icon (with up and down arrows) on the bottom right corner. You should see the prompt to sync using your Gmail account.

Once you’re signed in, you should see recently accessed websites on your other devices.

If you followed the first few instructions, you can bypass the instructions above and just tap on the sync icon again to see synced content. You’ll know this when you see something similar as the screen shot below:

Go the the bookmarks tab (star icon) and you should now get your desktop’s bookmarks as well as a separate folder for mobile ones. When saving bookmarks from your phone and you want to see it on your desktop, save them on the desktop bookmarks folder.

That’s about it! Every time you access websites with Chrome on your computer or mobile phone, it should automatically sync within a few seconds — even real time with a super fast connection.

Do you find syncing features on apps useful? Share your own experience in the comments!

Image Credit: Mobile Phone On A Computer Keyboard by Graphicleftovers.com

Wrong. Looking good helps build confidence and makes you feel good about yourself. A healthy self-esteem makes you the best person you can be to do the important stuff. Here are five handy Android apps that will help you look great even if you don’t have the time.

1. How to Tie a Tie and How to Tie a Scarf

For men and women who never quite figured out how to get it done right, or for those special days when you want to impress your boss, a friend or even your date. Learn the basic or confusing way of tie and scarf-tying and never be at a loss again.

2. Mirror

It can happen — you can’t seem to find an actual mirror or any reflective surface to check your face. Use your phone’s front facing camera with this app and thank heavens you don’t have anything stuck between your teeth!

3. Calorie Counter – MyFitnessPal

There are dozens of calorie counter apps in the Play Store, but based on experience (and user comments and rating), this one is a winner. With over a million types of food in its database, it gives you the most accurate calorie count possible. Sync your data online, share diet plans with friends and customize your own diet plan — all from a free app!

4. Street Fashion Gallery

Feeling adventurous with your wardrobe but afraid to look like a fashion disaster? Scroll through these trendy yet streetwise outfit ideas. You may not look exactly like the skinny model, but you’ll probably feel extra confident.

5. Hairologie

You don’t have time to get a haircut, let alone find a salon. This app should get that done with a few taps and a zippy Internet connection). Hairologie helps you find the nearest stylist so you don’t have to. The catch? This app works for US residents only.

How about you? Any apps that made you look good or feel good about yourself? Share them in the comments below!

1. Wunderlist

It’s the most attractive interface for making just about any list you can think of. Check items off or put a star to remember specific tasks easily. Change the background image to suit your mood. Making lists will not seem like a chore with this app, and it keeps you motivated to check back since it’s simply a gorgeous looking app. Wunderlist also syncs online, so you’ll need to sign up for the service. Don’t worry, it’s free and easy.

2. Action Method

Action Method is a good way to list tasks that belong to a certain goal or project. This is useful for writers, designers or artists who are hired to complete a project within a specified time. Action Method allows you to create a project and assign tasks and due dates under each one. It also has a Focus feature – where you can tag items which you need to prioritize above all else. Once focus items are set, the app tells you whether you’re getting close to accomplishing your Focus item, or if there are other tasks that get in the way.

3. Food Planner

There are lots of shopping lists in the Play Store. Most of these need you to list down everything you need on the top of your head. Food Planner, however, makes the shopping list based on the recipes you enter as part of your daily, weekly or monthly food plan. Ingredients found on recipes entered in the planner can immediately be made into a list – which you can edit later. It definitely cuts down the time you spend typing in all those grocery items.

4. Pinterest

If you want to make lists with photos, Pinterest for Android is now out and ready for your pinning needs. Create boards for different kinds of lists from your wardrobe wishlist to your most current DVD collection. Share them with friends and discover what others are pinning too. Expect to receive likes and comments for your lists – as Pinterest is also a social network in addition to a great way to pin stuff on the web.

5. Do it (Tommorow)

Do It Tomorrow is the procrastinator’s To-Do list. You only need to list things you want done either today or tomorrow. It’s that simple. Because when you’re a procrastinator, that’s all you can really manage. I like the quirky design down to the coffee stain. This is an app for those who don’t like lists, or don’t take them too seriously.

Your turn! Do you make lists on your phone? Does it work well for you? Let me know in the comments section.

Writing

This part has changed for me in two different ways.

• Handwritten notes flew out the window when I got my Android smart phone. With the abundance of note-taking apps to help you write, save and remember any detail of your life, I found myself grabbing my phone rather than a pen and paper.
• Android gave me something new to write about. This blog and my contributions in other websites are proof of that. Just when I was losing interest in writing anything, my new discoveries with my phone encouraged me to write again.

Mobility

Before Android, I would usually wait until I’m home in front of the computer to do anything in the Internet – check e-mails, write blog posts, and watch videos on YouTube. Now, I can do it all whenever and wherever I choose. I even get notified of new e-mails and Facebook messages, the same way I receive a text message. I can interact with people on the go and not have to wait until I’m home. It amazed and delighted the web junkie in me.

Interest

With the attraction I had with the Android platform, it was inevitable for me to eventually gain interest in other mobile technologies. I started visiting and reading technology sites more often and find all the information interesting, albeit overwhelming at first. What I used to perceive as something I would not understand is now what I crave to learn more of.

Doing More

There’s a lot more other things I do with my Android phone – like paying bills online, checking PayPal balances, track my spending habits, scanning documents, look for recipes and even measuring objects. It seems like the possibilities are endless with the apps found in the Google Play Store.

How about you? How has Android changed the way you live?