It’s that time of year again: the week in the USA where we give thanks for what we have one day and beat each other up for what we don’t have the next. As businesses continually find more and more ways to market Black Friday, it’s practically become a bigger thing than the holiday preceding it. Every year consumers look for steeper price cuts on bigger and better things, and the pressure’s on retailers to deliver according to expectation. Now, competition and capitalism are great things, and there definitely are some great deals to be snagged out of it on November 28, but let’s face it: Black Friday is all about profits, not deals. The enticing offers are there to get consumers into stores buying things they wouldn’t usually buy in greater quantities than they’d usually go for. At its core Black Friday is just one of the world’s biggest gimmicks, and to make it work businesses are oftentimes willing to cut prices at all costs, so to speak, including total honesty. That’s not to say you...

Although it’s been a while, I was a bit surprised by the popularity of past reviews on points-for-cash smartphone apps and services like FreeMyApps , AppBounty , and FeaturePoints . I suppose I shouldn’t have been—the prospect of earning a little cash on the side for performing simple tasks on a smartphone or tablet is certainly enticing, and considering there’s usually the most money to be made in simply referring other people to use these services, it makes sense that word would get around. Now, back when I first started reviewing these types of things, the apps I chose to review (or—full disclosure—was approached by a company to review), were basically the only options out there. Today the Android and iOS app stores are flooded with them, most promising high and delivering very, very low. There’s no easier way to scam people than to promise money for little to no effort, and while most of these points-for-cash apps genuinely do offer redeemable gift cards or direct payouts, you’d be...

After a long season of silence and dismissal, Sony has finally kicked the Playstation Vita back into high-gear thanks to the release of the Playstation TV—a mini-home-console-slash-streaming-box variant of the system—and the development efforts of Sony-owned Japan Studio, the same that graced us with Gravity Rush a couple of years ago. While it may be too early to call the Vita’s future secure just yet Sony is at least making another effort, and spearheading the charge is none other than the hotly-anticipated Freedom Wars. Originally planned as a PS3/PS4 title called ‘Panopticon’, Freedom Wars is a 3rd-person action/shooter game in the style of Monster Hunter, but with enough twists of its own to make it stand out as much more than just a clone of a popular genre. But is it the killer app Vita owners have been hoping for? Let’s find out. For the Greater Good Freedom Wars follows a mostly silent protagonist who is a member of a society called a Panopticon where natural resources are so...