a post by Griffin, filed in Computer, Review, Video Games, media, program, technology on March 18th, 2008. Read the full post »
Its new segment time! Previously, I’ve been issuing news updates that consist of several stubs of stories that aren’t post-worthy individually. Well, Miscellanea isn’t exactly news, it is more like a collection of unrelated, cool stories that I want to bring to a larger audience. OK then, lets jump right into it.
First of all, Acer’s Vice President, James Wong, had said that they plan to release an open platform gaming console. To quote Gizmodo, “WTF?” Wong allegedly takes issue with the current proprietary, closed consoles that dominate the market. The console should use PC technology. I think the decision to make it entirely open platform closes off some potential money, but since it is good for the consumer, I’m fine with it. My German isn’t good enough to fully comprehend the original source, but if someone is better than Google Translator, feel free to repost it in the comments.
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a post by Griffin, filed in Computer, Microsoft, Review, internet, program, technology, windows on March 18th, 2008. Read the full post »
Finally, Microsoft has honored their promise of SP1, and it ushers in a startling amount of changes. I would have posted the release notes here, but they are several pages long and can be found here instead. The pack, weighing in at 434.5MB (or 726.5MB for the 64-bit version), rolls in 23 security updates and 550 hotfixes. Apparently the update is taking its sweet time showing up, and if you cannot wait to download it, here are the direct links:
In the way of changes, Microsoft says SP1 will bring “. . . improvements that address many key pieces of customer feedback, especially in the areas of performance and reliability.” Release note highlights after the break.
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a post by Jeff, filed in Computer, Review, Video Games on March 14th, 2008. Read the full post »
After months of tediously waiting for the newest installations of Red Alert, gamers everywhere can rejoice at the opportunity to play the new game. In this version of Red Alert, the Soviets had gone back in time to prevent Einstein from assisting the Allies. However, after going back in time, the Soviets allowed a new fraction to enter the fray. This mysterious new faction is the Empire of Rising Sun, the Japanese. After this change in time, the Allies have lost some of their laser technologies, but still kept the mirage technology. Now, a new technology has allowed buildings to be built on water as well as land. Another change was the fact that most of the units are now able to move on land and water, although some weapons might be a little weakened when it’s on a different terrain. The Japanese units are supposedly mysterious: An insider saw some kind of tsunami tank and ninjas. Here is the official press release, a way to get the beta version of the RA3, and the cover of PC Gamer. Screens after the break… Read the rest of this entry »
a post by Griffin, filed in Computer, Microsoft, Review, Video Games, technology on March 12th, 2008. Read the full post »
With the usual spin, Microsoft released figures the other day that claim 42% market share for the Xbox 360. This figure factors in hardware, software, and accessories. Assuming that 360 owners, who usually tend to be more active gamers, buy more games than Wii owners for instance then the figure could be skewed. Also factored in is the Xbox Live subscription fee, and as Kotaku puts it, this figure is good for revenue showboating, but not so much for apples-to-apples dick waving contests. The reported install base of the 360 is about 17.7 million, but we don’t know if that factors in the extra 16% that have failed.
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a post by Griffin, filed in Computer, Review, Video, Websites, internet, media, piracy, technology on March 12th, 2008. Read the full post »
Back in October, Hulu was launched as a joint venture between Fox and NBC. The site was to offer free, ad-supported videos of popular TV shows and movies. Back then and until a couple of days ago, it was still in private beta. I managed to get an invite a couple weeks ago, and I have been enjoying the service greatly (thanks again Alec.) Read the rest of this entry »
a post by Jeff, filed in Review, Video, Video Games, media, program, science, technology on March 11th, 2008. Read the full post »
3D Film and Projection:
After many years of learning from the Jedi, we have learned to make our own holographic film, although it IS a little more crude than those in the Star Wars movies. Right now, our main source of entertainment is that little metal box we call TV. But that all will change soon as a new polymer will develop to help doctors, military personal, and engineers to analyze disorders, plan battles, and plan future constructions respectively. (If you feel offended that doctors cannot plan battles or engineers cannot analyze disorders, please make a mental block on the word “respectively”. Want to move on now?) Best of all, these holograms could soon replace the TV and computer! Score: Mankind-1 Dolphins-0!
To read more about 3D-Projections, click here.
Teleportation:
As there could be a possibility to hack the universe, why couldn’t there be a way to teleport from point A to point B? In fact, it is very easy to teleport with a new, revolutionary idea. First, we must understand that the shortest distance from point A to point B is a straight line that can be called line AB. Then, there could be a number of different ways to get from one point to another by a route of more than one point. Let’s call any such path A…B. Finally, let’s consider the mechanics of going forward or backwards. When we head toward point A from point B, we are going forward in the right way. However, if we begin to walk away from point B, we would be going forward in the wrong way. Finally, we can see that we are still approaching point B even if we are going the WRONG way. As a result, by going the wrong way toward our target, we must be going faster at our target the RIGHT way than a straight line. Thus, by going the WRONG way, we have discovered how to get to point B in a shorter distance than a straight line. What do we get if the shortest distance between two points is not a straight line? Teleportation!
a post by Griffin, filed in Review, Video Games, weird on February 22nd, 2008. Read the full post »
a post by Griffin, filed in Art, Computer, Review, Websites, internet, program, technology on February 19th, 2008. Read the full post »
I recently came across a site called Social Wallpapering. This site takes a Digg-like angle to wallpaper. All wallpaper is user-submitted, and members thumb-up or down the wallpaper so that the best climbs to the top. However, I have found that even going to the middle of their archive, the wallpaper is excellent. I have downloaded over 60 wallpapers from their site and am using WPchanger to cycle through them.
Their site features great web design, incorporating PHP, CSS, XHTML, and AJAX. It looks amazing and works seamlessly, with almost no load times. They have a great community of users and a forum community. You can also mass-download their wallpapers via bittorrent.
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a post by Griffin, filed in Apple, Computer, Review, cell phones, internet, program, science, technology, windows on February 5th, 2008. Read the full post »
Firstly, a new development in the Middle East internet cable story has come in. Earlier this week, two cables were supposedly cut in the Mediterranean Sea by a boat anchor during a storm. The fact has now been revealed that those two cables were in a restricted area that no boats were allowed into. The cables are only 2 cm thick. It also seems that a third and possibly fourth cable has been cut and Iran had a short outage but is now operating at %40 capacity. Repair of the cables has been delayed so all traffic going through the Middle East and some of India will be significantly slowed.
EDIT: According to this article, a fifth internet cable has been cut.
Windows Vista SP1 has recieved an RTM status, which means that it is slated for a release in mid-March. Although it fixes some driver problems, it reportedly introduces some more, so Microsoft has made it a non-automatic update for those who have known errors. At least Microsoft knows that they have made mistakes. SP1 will increase operating speeds and should fix some other errors, but we’ll have to see once it comes out. Read the rest of this entry »
a post by Nick, filed in Review, Video Games, game, nick on January 30th, 2008. Read the full post »
Right-o, so here I am, to make a review on Team Fortress 2. Now, you’ve probably heard about this game. If you haven’t, you are not a true gamer/geek, and should be executed at sundown. Anyways, this game became famous after being delayed for 8 years. It was announced as a sequel to the still-popular Team Fortress Classic, a mod for Half-Life, and went into development hell until 2007, when it was eventually released on October 10, 2007. In the developer commentary on Dustbowl, one of the maps, an employee stated that it took so long because they were trying to find a version they were happy with. Apparently, there was an idea for a commander, but it was scrapped due to the fact it could ruin the players’ fun if there was a terrible commander, or vice versa.
I picked up the Orange Box from my local Best Buy on Black Friday, when it was priced at a measly $20. I also got a copy of BioShock, which is pretty fun too. (I have yet to finish it.) I played Portal while waiting for Team Fortress 2 to download, which took a while. Portal was epic, and I suggest you play it if you haven’t already. Read the rest of this entry »
