farming

Free farm sims are some of the most popular games in any format. Millions play them online, and more and more users are also playing them on the go, thanks to compact versions optimized for smartphone displays and controls. TeamLava's Story series includes the hugely popular Farm Story, now updated with a Halloween-themed edition, Farm Story: Halloween. Despite the Halloween decorations, your job as a farmer remains the same as it is in the basic game, or for real farmers, for that matter: Grow produce, tend your livestock, and improve your property. But your animals are wearing Halloween costumes, … Read more

While it doesn't quite give the same feeling of tension and excitement as playing in a real casino, the Android app Farm Casino is a fun game that even non-gamblers can enjoy.

Farm Casino is essentially your standard casino game app with rural farm graphics. The graphics don't affect the gameplay, they're just window dressing, but they are nicely done and fun to look at. You will be prompted to set up an account to play, but you have the option of using your Facebook or Google accounts to sign in. There are two games that you … Read more

Zynga is now testing a sequel for "CityVille," the company wrote on its blog today.

The social games creator promises are more "visually rich game" with "CityVille 2," which was released today to specific players for testing.

"It has all the features in CityVille that players love -- from neighbor visits and crews to buildables -- blended with some of the innovations we introduced in CastleVille and FarmVille 2 such a crafting and 3D graphics," according to the post.

The company has said -- and Wall Street seems to agree -- that … Read more

Robot chefs can prepare everything from pancakes to sushi, and now a California startup is trying to put droids to work on farm produce as well.

Blue River Technology this week announced $3.1 million in funding for its plans to develop robots that can automatically kill weeds and thin out plants like lettuce that need adequate room to grow.

Both tasks can require large human work crews, driving up the cost of the produce.

The startup's prototype Lettuce Bot uses a camera to image the plants beneath it. Machine learning algorithms then identify which ones are desirable and … Read more

Most QR codes are little things that are attached to ads or show up in the corner of TV commercials. A farm in Alberta, Canada, has made one that covers 309,570 square feet.

The Kraay Family Farm took a little departure from its usual corn maze themes. Recent years have had homages to Rick Hansen's Man in Motion tour and Alberta tourism. This year, it's a massive QR code that leads back to the farm's Web site.… Read more

If you're one of the tens of millions of former FarmVille players who gave up the old homestead, Zynga hopes it has a way to coax you back.

The game maker unveiled FarmVille 2 today, with the aim of bringing back former addicts as well as attracting new players.

The game was designed to more completely emulate farming with a stronger storyline and a virtual ecosystem. This means that when you grow crops, they're harvested to be used in a kitchen to make baked goods or sold on the roadside for coins. The coins can then be used … Read more

When searching Google for something such as a specific product, it's likely you have come across a content farming Web site or 10. These sites are meant to draw you in to click on their ads or buy their products, which are usually unrelated to the topic or item you were searching for to begin with.

To combat this issue, Google created a Personal Blocklist extension for its Chrome Web browser. The idea behind the extension is to help users easily block content-farming Web sites easily, so they can find what they are actually looking for. Here'… Read more

Ford announced today that some State Farm auto insurance customers may save money on premiums using Sync.

Drive Safe and Save is State Farm's optional mileage-based program that calculates your insurance rate based on the actual number of miles you drive in a six-month period of time. The insurance company generally uses a broad mileage estimate to determine your premium, categorizing drivers as either low mileage or average mileage, with 7,500 miles per year as the cutoff. The DSS program is available in 14 states, and until now was open almost exclusively to OnStar customers and OnStar FMV … Read more