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Sun Seeker

Navigation and Photo & Video

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App

Provides a flat compass view and an augmented reality 3-D view showing the solar path, its hour...

MotoGP™

Sports and Entertainment

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App

Wherever you are, get the brand new Official MotoGP™ App now and enjoy the best all-inclusive tool...

Microsoft Surface Book 2 Laptop

7.1 (28 Ratings) Rate It

Tech Watch

The most powerful Surface ever Power professional-grade software all day with the latest quad-core...

Daniel Johnson (11 KP) rated Portal in Video Games

Sep 5, 2017

Portal

2007 | Puzzle & Cards

8.9

(42 Ratings)

Video Game Rating

Level design (3 more)

Character Design

Dialogue

Game mechanics

Relatively short story (0 more)

One of the smartest games around

Portal (2007) is one of the best video games around, and led to an even more successful sequel. The games premise is simple- you wake up in a testing room, with only an homicidal A.I to guide you through puzzles as you try and escape the testing facility. The twist comes in the dialogue, and the story that unfolds around you.
Your character doesn't speak, and her past and future are a mystery, which only adds to the intrigue the story incites.

The design is simple, a clean high-tech facility, equal parts simple and beautiful. You navigate through this world with use of a portal gun. Strategically placed, these portals can lead to your victory or your doom, and thus begins the most enjoyable 3D puzzle of the past 20 years.
Dialogue, as said, is a clear highlight, somehow balancing comedy and adventure perfectly, much akin to a Douglas Adams novel. It even manages to make G.L.A.D.O.S, a homicidal A.I, a genuinely endearing character, and one that is welcomed quickly, and missed once the game is complete.

Over all, it is clear why this game has so many devoted fans, and why we were all eager for more. This game, while simple has many levels, that make replaying and exploring a thrilling experience that you can have again and again and never get bored.

Kudos

Nicole Hadley (380 KP) rated Engineered!: Engineering Design at Work in Books

Jun 18, 2018

Engineered! by Shannon Hunt is a great children’s non-fiction book. The book is clear, informative, nicely illustrated, detailed, and logically structured. From the Mars Rover to 3D printing to helping a herd of caribou and more, Engineered! dives into nine stories of modern engineering. Kids will learn about the engineering design process from defining the problem to sharing your solution with the world.
Each story highlights the key components of the design process, taking kids on the journey through different types of engineering (aerospace, biomedical, chemical, mechanical, electrical, civil, geomatics, computer, and environmental) from seeing a problem to creating effective solutions to implementing their ideas. Coupled with great illustrations, Engineered! is sure to be a favorite of any budding engineer!

There is a lot of information crammed onto each page (some pages easier to read than others, due to text size, background colour, and minimal spacing between lines of text). However, this is also works to an advantage, as there's a lot to take in on each page, with full pages of busy geometric-style illustrations. Each time you look at the images you'll be sure to find something different!

There is a helpful glossary at the end, which is useful to look back on if necessary, as there certainly is a lot of information to take in.

I received this ARC from Kids Can Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.