Anyone remember the significance of 9.9.99? That was the day Sega launched their last hardware console in America, the Dreamcast. Despite featuring an extraordinary amount of brilliant titles, graphics that were never before seen on a dedicated gaming device, and an onboard modem so you could actually use the thing to connect to the internet, most people did not buy it and it nearly killed one of the most loved gaming companies on the planet.

Simple, they owned the brands people adored, namely Sonic, Super Monkey Ball, and Virtua Fighter, so they brought said brands over to every console on the market. It may not seem odd to you now to see a blue hedgehog running and jumping around on a Nintendo console, but it was for many of us the first time it happened.

Now Nintendo today is in the same boat as Sega in the 90s. Their recently launched 3DS is not selling as well as they would hoped, and for obvious reasons. The 3D feature is a gimmick, and most people do their mobile gaming on smartphones. Nintendo, being the stubborn bastards that they are, keep on repeatedly saying that their franchisees will never, ever, come to non-Nintendo hardware.

Thats soon due for a change with Pokémon Say Tap?, a new title headed for iOS and Android, but its nothing like the Pokémon games you are used to. Still, we hope that some day Nintendo would ditch their arrogant attitude and all of their bring their beloved characters to new platforms. There is a reason Rovio is kicking ass with Angry Birds, they make sure it runs on everything under the sun. And while the Angry Birds brand is hot, Rovio sells various knick knacks such as toys and t-shirts to their most loyal fans.

The problem with FaceTime, however, is that it can only work between two Apple devices. Presuming you are a proud iPhone owner, you cannot video chat with your buddy who owns an Android smartphone. There’s a solution for this situation you will use some third-party app, instead. Here are 5 apps that allow iPhone and Android users to video call each other:

Fring

The great thing about Fring is that aside from iOS and Android-based devices, it also works on select Symbian smartphones such as the Nokia E7and N8. Moreover, it is the only app from the pack that supports group video calls, allowing up to 4 people to participate in a video call. Plus it also offers VoIP while offering the ability to keep up with your friends across IM networks like MSN Messenger, Google Talk, AIM and ICQ. Highly recommended!

Movicha

Just like Fring, Movicha also goes beyond Apple and Google mobile platforms, making sure Symbian and Windows Mobile users can join the fun, too. BlackBerry version should be added soon or at least Movicha’s website suggests so. According to the app’s description, you can count on end-to-end encrypted calls. Personally I haven’t tried it out, but it definitely sounds promising.

Skype

What can we say about Skype? You most likely already know all there is to know. Recent updates to the iOS and Android apps finally allowed on-the-go users to stay in touch with their Skype buddies all around the world. Because of its popularity, Skype is pretty much a must-have application, which we highly recommend downloading. Aside from basic calling, Skype also allows you to send SMS for less.

Tango

As far as I know, Tango was the first mobile application that enabled iPhone and Android users to see each other in the form of a video call. On the downside, Tango doesn’t support instant messaging which may be a deal-breaker for some. However, it’s worth mentioning they managed to raise some solid capital and I’ve no doubts they’re adding new features as we speak.

Yahoo Messenger

Similarly to Skype, Yahoo Messenger also adds SMS to the mix, with an option to send free texts to your friends in USA, Philippines, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Canada, Pakistan, Kuwait and Thailand. Furthermore, you can use Yahoo’s app to share images with your buddies and chat with them as long as they use Yahoo Messenger or MSN Messenger.

LG has just announced the launch of Optimus 3D in South Korea. This is not actually the news here, but thanks to this press release we learned a few other tasty bits about the device. We finally get to see the list of the free full games to come pre-installed with the Optimus 3D plus the titles to be available at half price.

Much like our pre-release unit, LG Optimus 3D comes with four free 3D games Gameloft Asphalt 6: Adrenaline, N.O.V.A. and Lets Golf! 2. The last free game is LG home-made Archer Craft.

But thats not all. As promised, a dozen of Gameloft titles are available for download at half price for the first three months only for the Optimus 3D owners. Those include Assassin Creed: Altair Chronicles, James Cameron Avatar, Ultimate Spider Man: Total Mayhem, GT Racing: Motor Academy, Shrek Kart, Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus, Real Football 2011, Star Battalion, N.O.V.A. 2 , Dungeon Hunter 2, Fishing Kings, BackStab, Eternal Legacy and Shadow Guardian you can get them at 50% off if you have an Optimus 3D.

LG also created special software that allows you to convert 2D pictures and videos into 3D multimedia right from your Optimus 3D. Even further, LG is working on a similar functionality that will convert standard 2D games to 3D, but it will become available Q3 this year as an update.

There may not be many iPad users who have Bing as their search engine of choice right now, but this latest update to the Bing app might make quite a lot of people reconsider. The Microsoft search engine is yet to catch up with Google in terms of results accuracy, but it just leapfrogged its competitor in terms of usability on the Apple tablet.

So here is the deal from now on initiating a search with the Bing app for iPad is as simple as drawing a circle around the word you want searched. There is no need for holding, copying, pasting any more so the searches are also quite a lot faster.

Video Below!

There are a number of apps and browser extensions that enable saving of YouTube clips on your computer. Now did you know you can do the same with your Android device? Sure enough, there is an app for that. Called "TubeMate", it allows you to watch your favorite clips even in places where there is no cellular or Wi-Fi network signal around.

Once started, the application will show the list of currently popular YouTube videos, while also offering search capabilities through an icon in the top-right corner. Now once you have found the clip you want, click on it and select the resolution of the video to download. Bear in mind that higher the resolution the more it will take to download and the more it will cost you. Likewise, some clips offer HD video download, whereas for some of them that option is not available.

TubeMate (FREE) [Android Market link]