Was man nicht alles so entdeckt, wenn man nur ein wenig genauer hinsieht:
Aus der 6. Staffel, Folge “Buds 18. Geburtstag”
Jens Heymann
Kleine Details
Forza Motorsport 2 pre ordered…
Go to amazon now and place your order! :-)
in game advertising
Hmm… Once upon a time there was a guy with an idea. The idea simply breaks down to this:
“Sell full price games to people and get an extra revenue out of in-game advertising.”
So here we are: I just found pacific city in crackdown literally plastered with Dodge advertising. Once day it was Dell… if you’re playing in the UK you’ll probably get army ads… how sick is that.
The first game that got this kind of in-game advertising was Testdrive Unlimited. The advertising was only available in the US of A and when you bought the game there it wasn’t full-price but $20 less than a full price title – because of that in-game ads. As an european player you didn’t see any ads and you had to pay the full price.
To be clear: I don’t think in-game advertising sucks. I just think that if you’re gaining revenue from in-game advertising you should share it with the players who actually bought the game. (e.g. lower the game price).
In the case of crackdown there’s no lower price. And that sucks.
CeBIT-Sensationen
Also was auch immer auf der CeBIT sonst vorgestellt wurde: Für mich war die Sensation (obwohl nicht neu) der biegsame Bleistift. Ich wusste gar nicht, dass es sowas gibt. Und viele andere Leute wohl auch nicht, sonst wäre das Gedränge an dem Stand sicher nicht so groß gewesen.
Jens Heymann
glowing … ehm … fluorescent fish
Okay now it’s getting strange.
“Where do GloFish® fluorescent zebra fish come from?
GloFish® fluorescent zebra fish were originally bred to help detect environmental pollutants. By adding a natural fluorescence gene to the fish, scientists hope to one day quickly and easily determine when our waterways are contaminated. The first step in developing these pollution detecting fish was to create fish that would be fluorescent all the time. It was only recently that scientists realized the public’s interest in sharing the benefits of this research. We call this the GloFish® fluorescent fish.”
It looks like this:
Thankfully they don’t actually glow in the dark. But how sad is this: Just because we can do something does that mean we should? Ethical discussions aside – where do you think that comes from? You’re right. The same country that proudly writes “artificially flavoured” onto the soda cans…
Source: http://www.glofish.com/
YAPS progress (tuxbox, xmltv, xml settings, new gui)
So here we are back again with an progress update on the YAPS project. First of all take a look at the gorgeous new looks (thanks to Dominik):
Currently Dominik is working on the layout. He did the switch to the YAML framework and is working on the integration of new features like the advanced recording options:
Since one of the most anticipated feature was the configurability of YAPS we moved the binary configuration files to a XML based configuration structure. That’s right: you can now configure your YAPS using XML files.
In the course of XML integration several other things came up. For example a better settop box integration. For that matter we are trying to make YAPS tuxbox compatible. That means you can use any Tuxbox/Enigma/Neutrino streaming client to access a YAPS server. That means: Onscreen Display on Xbox Media Center, EPG is possible now on every compatible client (and there are some).
This, when ready, will look something like this (without the debugging information at the top):
And since EPG will be possible we started to integrate XMLtv into YAPS. XMLtv is a free tool that brings several data grabbers with it. It simply creates an XML file in which the EPG information is stored… great tool and a how-to will be available soon.
So the data structures are already in YAPS and now we’re starting to integrate it into the GUI and internal methods. Here’s what the scheme looks like in eye-candy mode:
As usual you can grab the daily build here: http://www.slow-backward.de/YAPS_daily_build.zip or just build one yourself using the great MSBuild tools and a daily sourcecode snapshot. I wrote about that here and you can get the subversion access here.
We appreciate every single user feedback we get. If you got an idea, if you want to have a feature in YAPS or anything else. Don’t hesitate and contact us.
Oh. One last note: the current source might not compile with mono. We did not abandon the mono support so I’ll keep everyone updated on that issue.
Here’s the detailed changelog:
20.03.2007
- added XMLtv scheme and data structures
19.03.2007
- added Tuxbox data structures for future use
- added Tuxbox /xml/ handling path to http server
- added CanAccessTuxbox to Authentification handling
18.03.2007
- fixed some bugs in the recording table
- changed all templates to make use of the skin-setting
17.03.2007
- changed the layout based on YAML (www.yaml.de)
- changed the default design
- fixed some layout bugs, everything should be conform to W3C standards now
- changed some minor issues in footer and help section
- added new options for add recording form
15.03.2007
- changed the settings data structures do actually do something
- changed the multicast processor to use the multicast prefix stored in settings
- you define the prefix like this: “239.255.2.” – YAPS now adds the last number which is the channel number (23 for example) and then the port number 50 + channel number = 5023
this leads to the multicast adress 239.255.2.23:5023
14.03.2007
- changed copyright notice
- removed binary SaveSettings() functionality
- added new setting element to Recording Data structure (createdby)
- extended authentification data structures and HTTPAuthProcessor code to allow mapping of
- usernames to ip adresses
- added Authentification XML settings file
- added new capability “CanDeleteOwnRecordings”
- changed capabilty “CanDeleteRecordings” to “CanDeleteAllRecordings”
- changed RemoveRecording/RemoveRecordingFile/Deleterecording behavious according to the new capabilities
- added “CreatedBy” handling to the AddRecording HTTP Server method
- added “%createdby%” Template Keyword for Recording-Listings
12.03.2007
- added XML based configuration files (replacing the old binary ones)
- changed the logfile behaviour so that when YAPS is restarted everything is appended to the logfile instead of overwritten
- authed another client
- fixed a bug that leads to the corruption of the xml files…
11.03.2007
- there’s a remaining bug in the html encoding –> leads to corrupted letters in browser
- added some todos
11.02.2007
- fixed an encoding bug in the http server that caused firefox and other browsers to corrupt the html
Source 1: http://www.schrankmonster.de/SearchView.aspx?q=yaps
Source 2: http://www.yaml.de/
Source 3: http://wiki.godofgta.de/Ehttp_api_doku
Source 4: http://www.dbox2.info/
Source 5: http://www.tuxbox.org/
Source 6: http://xmltv.org/wiki/
Source 7: http://www.slow-backward.de/YAPS_daily_build.zip
Source 8: http://www.slow-backward.de/YAPS_daily_source.zip
disecting a blu-ray pickup
Someone put the $80 down and got himself a replacement laser unit of a Playstation 3. And he disassembled it:
Many more interesting pictures and facts after the jump.
Source: http://www.fineartradiography.com/hobbies/lasers/blu-ray/index.html
Attention: no VLAN settings with Intel Network Interface Cards
When you’re using Windows Server 2003 R2 64bit Edition with SP2/IE7 you will most likely not be able to access the advanced settings of an Intel Network Interface card (Teaming, VLAN settings). Instead you get the simple dialog:
Damn it. I don’t have a solution for this right now and it does corrupt my plan using one of the servers for VLAN games….
Anyone reading this got a solution how to get the VLAN settings tabs back?
hmmm force feedback…
Great that is – one of my 360 favourites just got updated and now you can have force feedback through the wireless wheel and a hardcore mode that injects realistic driving physics…
You don’t know jack episode 1 available for you to be played online…
XNA got a new website…
“We’re delighted to offer you this place where you can learn and share experiences with the XNA family of products. Whether you’re using XNA Game Studio Express or the native DirectX tools and APIs, this is the place to come to!…”
I really do love the pivot function of my display…
Source: http://www.xna.com
private space mission (the one with 20 megapixels…)
It just seems like make is going to get some interesting pictures tomorrow:
“We’re using weather balloons to go up to approximately 100k feet armed with 4 cameras… 20 megapixels of camera! We’ll be taking shots every 7 seconds for two hours and measuring the temperature with the Make: controller and thermistors!
It took 16 people working on this, countless cases of mountain dew, lots of take-out food, and a lot of sleepless nights, and we intend to fly Sunday!
Cloud cover, snow, and mechanical failure may postpone the launch, but we’re ready to give it our best shot this weekend.
In this Make: Video Podcast, you’ll learn all the details of how to put a weather balloon up into space! The weather balloon will make it up to about 100,000 feet. That’s almost 20 miles up and more than twice the height of being in an airplane. It’s high enough that the sky is black and you can see the curvature of the earth.”
So be sure to check back if you’re interested.
Remote Control your presentation… or music … or …
It’s almost a year now since I bought a tool named Salling Clicker. Since Salling Clicker is available for OS X and Windows and the fact that I am maintaining my Music Library on my Mac I went with the OS X version of the tool. Sad but true: You have to pay twice if you want it for Windows and OS X.
I now stumbled across a tool for Windows called “Bluetooth Remote Control for Windows Mobile” which seem to does the trick – not as cute and extensible as Salling Clicker but useable.
“With this software, you will be able to control remotely applications like Winamp, the Windows Mixer, the Windows Media Player, PowerPoint, Media Player Classic, PowerDVD, with more coming… such as the Vista’s Media Center.”
The downside is that the author says it’s not working with the WIDCOMM Bluetooth stack at the moment – but maybe in the future he’ll/they’ll update the support.
Source: http://jaylee.org/RemoteControl/
you are a X-COM Enemy Unknown Defense fan?! read this.
SMKSoftware has something free to play with:
“The Pocket UFO is a remake of the popular game of the last century X-COM Enemy Unknown (UFO Defense) for the Pocket PC devices. The game is a turn-based strategy with the RPG elements. The excellent graphics and exciting gameplay are attracting the gamers all over the world till present. This game is absolutely FREEWARE!”
Source: SMKSoftware
Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe
You are a fan of SIM* games? You want something light to take on your travels and play from time to time? I got good news for you: Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe is available in it’s final version 0.5.
It’s running on Windows, Linux and MacOS and you will need the original Transport Tycoon Deluxe files because OpenTTD just reuses the graphics of the old version.
But when you got all that you get a very very great game that doesn’t need much resources and is insane fun.
Source: http://www.openttd.org/index.php
XNA is tracing rays…
I had this very same idea just a week ago and now someone has done it: A Raytracer written entirely in C# and running upon XNA.
“Ok, I’ve got most of what I want done on the Ray Tracing project — enough at least to publish some code and do some blogging. This first article describes the overall coding structure, and how to use the project. I’ll get into some of the more difficult aspects of ray tracing in future posts.”
It obviously doesn’t run on the 360 yet – so keep on watching this project. (due to some limitations on the 360 XNA Implementation I would also recommend waiting for the next run)
interested in next-gen coding for mobile devices?
For those of us who want to write software for phones/pdas there’s also something new available for download. The Windows Mobile 6 SDK!
“Using the Windows Mobile 6 SDK you can test your application using the emulators in the Windows Mobile 6 SDKs. The SDKs together with Visual Studio 2005 mean you have everything you need to build and test applications for both Windows Mobile 5.0 and Windows Mobile 6. Read the “What’s New” guide to learn why your Windows Mobile 5.0 application should work on Windows Mobile 6, what to expect from new screen resolutions and why Windows Mobile 6 makes it easier to build and deploy Line of Business applications.
Don’t forget that around May 1st we’ll release the Windows Mobile 6 SDK Refresh featuring new documentation, the latest emulators, support for basic AJAX applications and links to Line of Business frameworks, samples and documentation.”
Source: Download
speedup Mail.app (or at least try to)
“As everyone knows, it is possible to get quite a speed boost out of Mail.app by stripping all the bloat out of its Envelope index, an SQLite database Mail uses to store senders, recipients, subjects and so on.”
It can lead to a speedup of Mail.App. Despite the fact it decreased the Envelope Index for me it wasn’t really noticable… but your mileage may vary.
Source: hawkwings
take a look at how far virtualisation will go on the next window server operating system
In this demo you will see:
- Windows Server Virtualization running on Server Core managed from another Windows Server Longhorn box
- 64-bit hosts and 32-bit hosts and a Linux running on the same server core box
- An 8-core virtual machine
- System Center Virtual Machine Manager
- System Center Operations Manager
- Monitoring the VMs on the Server Core box
- Fire off a PowerShell script to hot-add another NIC to a SQL VHD Image
want to do next-gen .net coding?
Go and grab the bits of the brand new March CTP of Orcas (which is the codename for the next iteration of Visual Studio).
“Visual Studio code name “Orcas” delivers on Microsoft’s vision of smart client applications by enabling developers to rapidly create connected applications that deliver the highest quality rich user experiences. This new version enables any size organization to rapidly create more secure, manageable, and more reliable applications that take advantage of Windows Vista and the 2007 Office System. By building these new types of applications, organizations will find it easier than ever before to capture and analyze information so that they can make effective business decisions.
This download is the March 2007 Community Technology Preview of Microsoft Visual Studio Code-Named “Orcas”. This CTP is available in English only.”
It’s available in 2 formats and 2 flavours:
Visual Studio Team System
Visual Studio Team Foundation Server
I personally prefer the Virtual PC Image until the product gets do something like beta stage…but it’s your choice.
behold the scientify beauty! one of the ten worlds best webcams.
Oh well it’s no big deal really :-). The theory behind it was discoverd in 1851 and it proofs that the earth rotates under the pendulum. Uh, of course you can grab some more sophisticated theory insights here. So what’s up with that thing? It was voted to one of the ten best webcams on earth. Go and have a look.
Source: EarthCam.com Top Ten
Source: Webcam
want great music today? try Silje Nergaard.
I am in the middle of a jolly exiting jazz-swing-neo-whatever phase when it comes to the music I am listening these days. There’s “Big Bad Voodoo Daddy” – a band which I will talk more about in the next days and there’s one (for me) very very new
“Silje Nergaard (born June 19, 1966 in Steinkjer, Norway), is a very successful Norwegian pop and jazz musician. While some very old titles of her (e. g. Si det, si det from 1985) rather have a distinct pop feel, she has now almost completely given up making pop music, which is the reason why virtually the entirety of her later releases consists of jazzy tunes.”
Want to get an impression of one of my favourite songs of her (it’s “You Send Me Flowers”) ? Go ahead:
(thanks to last.fm)
Source: http://www.siljenergaard.com/
