StaceyG over at JayIsGames.com points us to a beautifully stylish flash "adventure" game today, called Mr Coo: El Laberinto Esférico.

You might want to click the "English" button at the start if you want to play in English since the native language is Spanish, though in truth the words aren't that important, and you might enjoy not understanding the words.

It's a very simple point and click adventure with no inventory and very few places where you actually choose an action to perform, and there are a few action sequences.

But mostly it's just an incredibly well animated and stylish cartoon mystery.

http://www.mistercoo.com/laberinto.html

I found this a couple of days ago but I can't remember how.

Smash planets together, introduce rogue stars, and build new worlds from spinning discs of debris. Fire a moon into a planet or destroy everything you've created with a super massive black hole.

You can simulate and interact with:

* Our solar system: the 8 planets,160+ moons, and hundreds of asteroids
* Nearest 1000 stars to our Sun
* Our local group of galaxies
* An unlimited number of fictional scenarios

Tinker with your creation or sit back and watch the effects of gravity unfold. It's fun, accessible, and easy to use.

-http://universesandbox.com/

It's pretty fun to play around with. The trial version allows you to play around for 60 minutes before locking out some features. I'm not sure what the exact term is, but the software appears to be (required) donationware to me. You can pay whatever you think it's worth to you for a personal license. If your payment is $25 or more then he will send you a pair of Red & Blue 3D glasses which can be used with this software.

Be sure to check out the video!

http://universesandbox.com

This is a pretty big deal.  Launchy is a very popular open source Launcher tool (much like my own FARR: Find And Run Robot).

Lifehacker reports today that Launchy is now available for linux.

Obviously I'm biased for FARR but it's not going to be ported to linux anytime in the forseable future, so for those of you who have been wanting a top-of-the-line launcher for linux you now have one you should be happy with.

http://sourceforge.n....php?group_id=132975

I know there are a few people who frequent DonationCoder who have back and other pain problems.. Saw this today that i thought might be interesting.  Anyone have any experience with similar devices?

TENS stands for Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation, and that’s basically what the device does. It uses a set of electrodes attached to the skin that deliver up to 60 milliamps of current into the nerves where the pain occurs. This jolt serves to disrupt the pain signals coming from those nerves, and instead of hurting, the area ends up feeling tingly or even numb.

The output current can be adjusted, so you really only want to dial in enough juice for the pain to disappear, and it seems to include individual settings for the knees, shoulders, lower back & hips, upper back, and your hands & wrists. Normally I’d raise an eyebrow or 2 at an electronic device that promises relief from pain, but according to Joel Durham Jr. who writes for ExtremeTech, the TENS was quite effective at relieving his own back pain. And while this doesn’t seem like the kind of device you should use without the approval of your doctor, they do appear to be available for sale online to the general public, but expect to pay upwards of $800 if you’re interested.

http://www.extremete...,2845,2321737,00.asp

The software development procedures NASA uses for these mission critical things is fascinating and unique because of the cost associated with mistakes.

The Mars Phoenix Lander Mission is a short-term mission to Mars to search for signs of water and a potential habitable site for an eventual manned mission to the Red Planet. This mission is a collaboration between NASA and the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.

Sending hundreds of pounds of equipment millions of miles through space to land and operate independently from direct control presents several interesting software development challenges. O'Reilly News recently discussed the project and its technology with NASA's Peter Gluck.

(mp3 of interview is available for download)

http://news.oreilly....hind-the-mars-p.html

When I (seldom) go to Start > All Programs, or (almost always) Quick Launch (True Launch Bar) to search for whatever program I am in need of, very often I cannot remember the name of the program in question, or I cannot remember if I am in need of program A, B, or C - because I cannot recall their features!

All shortcuts have this tooltip feature, point to the link and a tooltip can tell you what the linked program can do, but very few programmers use the feature. I also forget myself to type in such informations, when I create the shortcut.

So, my idea is for some app to prompt the Properties > Comments to pop up, whenever a shortcut is created for an exe file. This way, when I find a new program that I would like to test, I can copy the description of the features, from the site, and when the program has been installed and a shortcut must be created, this app 'you' are about to author, will force me to remember to paste that description into Properties > Comments. And from now on and for ever I can merely point at the shortcut and remember what the heck it was that this particular program was supposed to be able to do.