IT After Hours: Mario Kart Goes Mobile

Welcome to the very first post of the IT After Hours series! This blog series will cover technology-related topics that we enjoy once our office closes and our academics are taken care of. From games and apps to entertainment technology advancements, this is your number one spot for all things innovative and fun!

The beloved game that brought us the joy of red turtle shells and the despair of Rainbow Road is now in your pocket. Mario Kart has been available for iOS pre-order for some time now, but the day of download has finally come. On Wednesday, September 25th at 2:00 a.m. Mario Kart Tour became available to mobile devices across the globe.

Getting Started

The app is free to play, but requires you to register a Nintendo account; either linking a current account or creating a new one. You are then introduced to your first character, kart, and glider by "shooting them from the pipe." This is a new mechanic similar to mystery boxes seen in other games, where players can pay with in game currency (available to earn or purchase) to receive a random item.

Controls

The steering mechanics are also different from other racing games; there is no joystick, or any buttons for that matter. The kart accelerates automatically, leaving the power-ups and steering to you. The steering is powered by moving your finger back and forth on the screen, and led by a shadowed arrow in front of the kart. The power-ups are then triggered by a simple tap of the screen. However, to aim your power up, let's say a banana peel (which typically is only left behind the kart,) simply swipe forward and the banana peel will be thrown in front of the kart.

Around The World

The game features a "tour" aspect that allows the player to compete in different tracks inspired by real cities. The cities will cycle every two weeks, allowing the players to race around the world. The first stop on the tour is New York, as shown below in the trailer.

The app has already taken off around campus, with many students already racing their way to the trophy. "It really brings me back to my childhood, me and my dad used to play all the time." Grant Buchanan, a sophomore at Emporia State remarked. A multiplayer option is coming soon, which will allow you to play and compete with friends and opponents of your choosing; but until then random racers and automated bots
are your only option.

Tyler Parker
Social Media & Marketing Student Assistant
Web & Digital Strategies

A New Way to Experience Campus

Building Maps & Locations

Since this summer, we have been mapping out buildings on campus to further provide directions for students, faculty, staff and visitors. You can find them right now on Hornet 365 —Virtual Campus Explorer.

On Virtual Campus Explorer, you can select Buildings and Locations from the drop down. This will display a list of all the buildings on campus.

These maps have numbered rooms, and are color coded which indicates what type of room it is. This makes it much easier for you to find the room(s) that you are looking for.

Also, you can find these maps that we have created on our interactive digital signs called Hornet TV. They all provide the campus map, parking maps, and the map of every floor in which the digital sign is stationed in.

Kaleb Barber

Student Web Developer

Web and Digital Strategies

Managing your Mobile Devices

Mobile devices are our connection to the world around us, so it makes sense that we would have a lot of information stored in them. The majority of the data stored in our devices, we wouldn't want just anybody having access to. So, it's important to know how to manage your mobile devices. Here's a couple quick areas you can focus on to ensure your mobile device is safe.

Storing

At the end of the day, you are the only one in charge of protecting your information. So, you need to make sure you have a strong front line of defense, also known as a passphrase. This means that not everyone can gain access to your device. Next, really think about what information certain apps need to function. There's pretty good logic that a calculator app shouldn't need access to your camera or contacts. So, why would you let it have access to that information? Finally, turn off your WiFi or Bluetooth if you aren't using it. While these can be incredibly helpful while in use, they can open your devices up to potential harm when not in use.

Connecting

Similar to the last point, always be careful about what WiFi or Bluetooth devices you connect with. If it's not a known and secure network others who manage or are on it can possibly watch what you are doing or get your information. Therefore, never access important accounts like your email or bank on a public network. A common way hackers target your information is through phishing, or using fraudulent messages that appear as real ones to get your information. So, if you don't know the sender or if the message doesn't seem right don't act on it, simply delete it.

Cleaning

Another way to protect the information on your mobile device is to only keep what you need. A lot of times you'll out something important in your phone and then forget it's there. So going through and deleting what you don't need anymore is important. This is also true about apps, many times we download an app just for a specific time like vacation and then we forget about it. Well, many apps request access to your information through contacts or pictures. Just because you stop using the app doesn't mean that it suddenly stops collecting that information. 

Google Begins Rolling out Android P for Beta Users

It's here! Google's next iteration of their mobile operating system has started rolling out through their Beta Program. What does this mean exactly? Well, typically it means the update itself is just around the corner. For us, the devoted Android users, they're bringing in major features such as notch support for the beautiful bezelless phones that companies have been producing this past year.  There are other major UI features such as  narrow top menus, design overhauls and in general a cleaner looking environment. Other big additions were the inclusion of neural network API's (which Google is big on), and other major security updates.

But wait. This Android update brings some bad news with it too. As of this revision, Google has announced that the Nexus series of devices will no longer be getting updates, marking the end of that series. This means it's time for Android users to seriously consider upgrading now.  If you're an Apple user, well, you just need to sit back, relax, and hope Apple doesn't slow your phone down.

-Warrick Rodgers, Student Web Developer (and Android user)