Recent Posts

3801

Living Room / Re: The Movie and Book Writing Thread

« Last post by wraith808 on June 22, 2015, 06:16 PM »

I read through the "game rules" -- very interesting!! I didn't quite follow all of the resolution rules stuff, but I loved the idea of an AI being at the center of it.. So I take it this is kind of a role-playing game where the AI player makes up scenarios and guides play and decides subjectively how to tell and interesting story full of conflict?  I think the subject matter of colonizatio and survival is a fascinating one for an RPG.

-mouser (June 22, 2015, 03:57 PM)

Thank you!  Yes, the AI is sort of the GM of the scenario, and I chose to make it as far away from Earth as possible in order to allow people to explore interesting stories that would otherwise be a bit touchy.  One of the ideas that I put in there that I love is the fact that the AI's decisions before the colonists get there might put them in a pickle, i.e. the ideal is no alternate intelligent life as a competitor to the biosphere... so the AI might have wiped the indigenous population out almost to extinction.  Exploring what the leaders do when that is found out would be an interesting question.

The AI represents everything else outside of the colonists conflicts within their schism- so everything else in the biosphere.  And the AI player does frame the scenarios- but the individual leaders set the resolution in order and decide whether to follow the idea that they want a functioning colony- or to grab for their own power even at the expense of the colony's well being.

And yes, I know I need more examples and refinement.  I wish I'd had more time before the actual deadline, but after the competition is over, I plan to refine it- I'm really enamored of the idea, and the kinds of stories that can be told within that framework.

3802

Living Room / Re: The Movie and Book Writing Thread

« Last post by wraith808 on June 22, 2015, 02:16 PM »

Well, cubby seems to not be working for that link anymore, so here are two alternatives.

https://www.dropbox....BiWZDq1cqtD_GHa?dl=0

http://www.wraith808...mation/DriventoTears

And a brief introduction from the Foreword

Driven To Tears

“How can you say that you’re not responsible?
What does it have to do with me?”

I decided to enter Game Chef 2015- I’d heard about it in many contexts, but hadn’t ever happened to remember it at the time it started. It seemed like a good idea at the time, so I committed that I’d at least submit something. Then I forgot about the start date, and saw that I’d missed it with only a few days left. But I decided to try anyway, and read on…

Theme: A Different Audience
Ingredients: abandon, dragonfly, stillness, dream

I have a hard enough time coming up with ideas for … anything, truthfully. Then I saw those, and was disheartened. How could I come up with something in that short of a time.

“What is my reaction?
What should it be?
Confronted by this latest atrocity”

Then the event in Charleston happened. Shootings, in a church of all places- when those within were reaching out to one without- and the one responded with senseless violence. And thinking back on the helplessness and forlorn feelings of powerlessness in the face of so many tragedies, and not understanding how people could have a lack of empathy and understanding. And the idea for this entry was born.

Originally, I was going to use 3 out of the four ingredients- I really didn’t know how to integrate the Dragonfly. But then, talking with my wife, I was able to not only figure out it’s use- but that it would be the central part of the plot- the part to make it a story of hope, rather than one of despair.

3803

Living Room / Re: The Movie and Book Writing Thread

« Last post by wraith808 on June 21, 2015, 07:14 PM »

Thread Arise!

In the spirit of continuing to push myself in writing, I submitted a game for Game Chef 2015.

https://www.cubbyuse...#Driven%20to%20Tears


It was last minute- I'd forgotten the date that the competition was supposed to start.  But I think it's a good idea, and I'm going to continue to work on it.  If anyone has any suggestions, they would be more than welcome!

3804

Living Room / Re: Open Computing Platform

« Last post by wraith808 on June 18, 2015, 05:49 PM »

Facebook built its state-of-the-art data center in Prineville, Oregon, where it invented ways to use less electricity. So Facebook published the Prineville designs to contribute to the green data-center movement.

Then it occurred to Heiliger: Why not share all of Facebook's hardware designs?

“I wrote a short paper, circulated it to Zuck and the rest of team,” he remembers, referring to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Heiliger argued that the technology, particularly the hardware, “is not our competitive advantage." and that "open source should be a core tenet at Facebook.”

There are some huge advantages to making hardware open source.

Hardware engineers, no matter who they work for, could collaborate. Ideas could flow. New tech could be invented more quickly. Difficult tech problems could be fixed faster. And everyone would be able to share equally in the results.

It would be 180 degrees from the classic culture of patents and lawsuits and trade secrets that has ruled the tech industry for decades. But Facebook didn't make hardware, so there was no risk to its business.

Zuck was in. One argument was particularly persuasive: "A company in Mountain View thinks their tech was a differentiator. We didn’t believe that,” Heiliger says, referring to the fact that Google builds much of its own hardware and a lot of its own software and keeps most of that stuff a closely guarded secret.

That seems to answer that question... or am I misunderstanding?

In fact if you follow from the link you posted, down at the bottom under projects that fall under OSH, i.e. https://en.wikipedia...ce_hardware_projects, OCP is listed there.

3805

Living Room / Re: Bing moving to encrypt search traffic

« Last post by wraith808 on June 18, 2015, 11:40 AM »

You can't put a logo on a Plain-Brown-Wrapper without defeating its purpose.

-Stoic Joker (June 18, 2015, 11:22 AM)

That was exactly my thought.  But wanted to know if other people were reading the same thing...

3806

Living Room / Bing moving to encrypt search traffic

« Last post by wraith808 on June 18, 2015, 11:04 AM »

Bing Moving to Encrypt Search Traffic by Default

I'm a little bit skeptical of the reasons behind this... looks more like they want to lock out outside people from seeing things for their own benefit more than protect users...

3807

Living Room / Open Computing Platform

« Last post by wraith808 on June 18, 2015, 11:02 AM »

How Facebook is eating the $140 billion hardware market

An interesting article on Business Insider?  Say it's not so!

But, I'd not heard anything about this... anyone want to chime in?  Seems like it has far reaching ramificiations...

3808

General Software Discussion / Re: LastPass alternatives? (including premium LP)

« Last post by wraith808 on June 16, 2015, 03:05 PM »

Am I the only person in the world who just remembers all of his passwords, instead of trusting any service (be it online or offline) to store it?

-Stephen66515 (June 16, 2015, 01:46 PM)

I used to... but using a password manager has enabled me to have a lot of different passwords rather than just variations on the same few.

3809

General Software Discussion / Re: LastPass alternatives? (including premium LP)

« Last post by wraith808 on June 16, 2015, 11:15 AM »

Thanks wraith, will check that out.

ah yeah, I'm working from desktop here:
there doesnt seem to be a version of Google's (or MS's) authenticator for windows - well not for Win.7 at any rate.
I came across recommendations for WinAuth (Windows Authenticator) - https://github.com/winauth/winauth
might try that out.
https://winauth.com/

-tomos (June 16, 2015, 10:46 AM)

You don't have a mobile at all?  You should be able to install that on your mobile... and your mobile phone becomes your 'key'.

3810

General Software Discussion / Re: LastPass alternatives? (including premium LP)

« Last post by wraith808 on June 16, 2015, 10:12 AM »

Prompted by the breach at Lastpass (LastPass hacked), I'm looking for a safe alternative to the free version of Lastpass.
(I'm thinking mainly for desktop & Windows.)

One alternative is to go premium with Lastpass ($12 per annum) and get a YubikeyOne problem is that they offer four different Yubikey versions - and the comparison page is all double-ductch to me:
https://www.yubico.c...ts/yubikey-hardware/

So, interested in thoughts on Lastpass *and* also other options that might be safer to use than the free Lastpass.

-tomos (June 16, 2015, 05:54 AM)

You can enable 2-factor even on Lastpass free.  Use Microsoft or Google's authenticator and you're good to go.  I have LP free while I'm evaluating it, and that's what I'm using.

3811

General Software Discussion / Re: LastPass hacked

« Last post by wraith808 on June 16, 2015, 09:33 AM »

LastPass has issued a Security Notice saying that they have been hacked resulting in account owners personal information being compromised.

They claim that no password data was breached, but recommend that all users change their master password ASAP.

-xtabber (June 15, 2015, 06:11 PM)

That linked statement says something different than your blurb, IMO.

Do I need to change my master password right now? LastPass user accounts are locked down. You can only access your account from a trusted IP address or device – otherwise, verification is requested. We are confident that you are safe on your LastPass account regardless. If you’ve used a weak, dictionary-based master password (eg: robert1, mustang, 123456799, password1!), or if you used your master password as the password for other websites you need to update it.

we have found no evidence that encrypted user vault data was taken, nor that LastPass user accounts were accessed.

Both of those directly contradict what's in your blurb.  At least... unless I'm missing something?

What they say was accessed:

The investigation has shown, however, that LastPass account email addresses, password reminders, server per user salts, and authentication hashes were compromised.

There's a lot more they'd have to compromise to use that.  Unless they can just guess from your reminder.

And I'm not really worried with two factor enabled.  Unless they can get my device, they aren't getting in by the front door.  So why change it?

It's always a balance between accessibility and security.  Because of the fact that I want my wife to be able to access my accounts if something happens to me, and want the ability to change my passwords without updating some monolithic list for her, this is a good enough compromise, IMO.

3812

Living Room / Re: 2014-2015: Best tablet specs for ebook reading

« Last post by wraith808 on June 12, 2015, 04:13 PM »

I'm (hopefully) getting my computer tomorrow... if he's open to that Flip, then there are a *lot* of options that weigh in at a similar place.  It's a little heavier than the Flip, but not so much as the old days to be unusable in that configuration.

-wraith808 (June 02, 2015, 08:31 PM)

I got my computer ... and forgot to post it in this thread also.

My unboxing photos of my inspiron 7000.  I'm satisfied with the upgrade.

http://imgur.com/a/5YvIs#0

3813

Living Room / Re: Matchstick - A streaming stick using Firefox OS [Kickstarter]

« Last post by wraith808 on June 12, 2015, 03:41 PM »

I'm not following the project - more importantly I didn't pay any money - but I don't get the sense that they're scamming. However, if they don't deliver because they found themselves in over their heads, then the end result to supporters is more or less the same.

-mwb1100 (June 12, 2015, 08:56 AM)

Well, not in my opinion.  If you pay and someone fails, you helped someone to try.  If you pay and they run with the money and don't put in effort to deliver... you got scammed.  One makes me disappointed- the other makes me angry.  Mostly with myself for not seeing the signs.

3814

Living Room / The FTC flexes its muscles against a Kickstarter campaign

« Last post by wraith808 on June 12, 2015, 01:13 PM »

FTC Fines Kickstarter Campaign Creator Who “Used Most of the Funds on Himself” (via Slate)

From the looks of things, it's mostly for show, i.e. "On Thursday the FTC released its findings in that case, explaining in a press release that Chevalier had “used most of the funds on himself.” The settlement imposes a $111,000 judgment against Chevalier—presumably the funds raised by the project, less Kickstarter’s own cut and its substantial processing fees—though the FTC notes that this penalty “will be suspended due to Chevalier’s inability to pay.”"

But I wonder if this was more exploratory and precedent setting for folding crowdfunding under their aegis more firmly?

Nothing for the backers, but "you pay the game you take your lumps" has always been my approach to getting involved with kickstarters.

3815

Living Room / Re: [Infographics] WWII deaths compared w. others

« Last post by wraith808 on June 11, 2015, 02:12 PM »

Looking the code, it seems to be standard video, with JS set to overlay at certain times.

-Stephen66515 (June 11, 2015, 06:49 AM)

I presumed he meant what was used to create the video animation - that's what I'd be wondering about anyways...

-tomos (June 11, 2015, 01:10 PM)

Agreed.  The question is in the production, not the implementation.

3816

Living Room / Re: PayPal about to claim rights in all IP sold/licensed using PayPal for payments

« Last post by wraith808 on June 10, 2015, 01:52 PM »

I'll chance adding this here - I know it's not really on topic... but didnt think worth a new thread (?)

PayPal Can Now Call You at Home

PayPal’s new terms and conditions means that users in the United States may receive automated marketing calls, emails, and text messages from the company and its affiliates. The relevant passage states, “You consent to receive autodialed or pre-recorded calls and text messages from PayPal at any telephone number that you have provided us or that we have otherwise obtained.”

This has caused consternation amongst users, who are being advised to “close your account before July 1, 2015 … [to] not be bound by the amended terms.” PayPal is insisting users will have the chance to opt out of these unsolicited communications, but automatically opting everybody in in the first place is the main source of complaint. Here’s hoping PayPal listens to it users, or they may go looking for alternatives.

from
http://www.makeuseof...ap-tech-news-digest/
(makeuseof.com news digest - so you will have to scroll ~half-way down the page)

and
Making Online Payments – 5 PayPal Alternatives to Consider

-tomos (June 10, 2015, 10:19 AM)

I think the alternatives page by itself is enough for a new thread.  Trying to pay for things online feels like choosing between getting hit with a rock or thrown without a parachute into the hard place to paraphrase a saying.

3817

General Software Discussion / Re: WildOpal - hypothetical new idea for a "find and replace" program

« Last post by wraith808 on June 10, 2015, 01:45 PM »

Be interested to see others programs that can do that if you can find one.

-Twinbee (June 07, 2015, 01:17 PM)

regexbuddy helps more with learning, while regexmagic is the alternative if you just want to make them. 

-wraith808 (May 24, 2015, 12:17 PM)

It's good to have different alternatives- I guess regexbuddy made it so I just use regex.    Good job with translating it into your own language, though.

3818

DC Gamer Club / Re: Umbra

« Last post by wraith808 on June 09, 2015, 12:41 PM »

Interesting analysis wraith808.

My reasons for backing goes along the lines of: Wow! The demo looks amazing! Even if they should fail to complete/deliver the game, they deserve the money for trying.

-phitsc (June 09, 2015, 11:28 AM)

And that's a difference in approaches.  I assess risks and decide if I want to waste the money.  Because no matter what Kickstarter says, there's always a very real risk.  And I've seen before where the demo looked amazing and almost complete... and the item delivers years late, or never delivers.  Not because someone is trying to rip you off (which is where most people go with that), but because they didn't do the due diligence and assessment.  So I've started narrowing my pledges based on doing that myself.  And if they get it out, it's not like (in most cases) you can't just buy it at a premium for waiting (sometimes for no premium).  So that becomes part of the equation also, for me.

3819

DC Gamer Club / Re: Umbra

« Last post by wraith808 on June 09, 2015, 11:03 AM »

I'm not an experienced kickstarter. What negative indicators do you see?

-phitsc (June 09, 2015, 01:04 AM)

1. First created kickstarter- everyone has to start somewhere, but it's a negative indicator for me.  I want to know you have experience delivering.
2. The team hasn't made any other games.  Again, you have to start somewhere, but it's a negative point for me.
3. The team bios are very generic and not really full of any specifics to give confidence.
4. A lot of fluff in the technical area- just blurbs from the technology teams.
5. Way ambitious.  Especially for a first game.
6. Stretch goals are adding a lot of scope.  Especially for a game with a lot of scope already.
7. $225,000 to deliver by Oct 2016?  That could work... but it's tight in terms of schedule and funds.
8. The identity of the ks user is not the identity of anyone on the team.
9. There's a lot of physical rewards that have nothing to do with the game.

The positives are that the video looks good, the domain has been registered for a while, they are engaged on social media for a while and have been, their identity was verified- though again, not by anyone on the team.

They did answer the $225k question:

The short answer is “yes”. That is why we ask for $225,000.
We also have stretch goals, which provide for more features, if we are fortunate enough to achieve the stretch goals.
We are so pleased that everybody likes the quality of our work. We are being compared to very big games. I think maybe this is the source of concern for our development budget. In a way, we take this as a great compliment!
The work you have seen so far has been produced for a budget of zero. This shows that we are committing our own time, at our cost, and that we can achieve a lot!
The full-game design phase is done and all the planning. The budget is calculated based on our project schedule and the staff and resources required to produce the game. There is nothing included for us, until the game is on sale.
Over the last few years we have learned a lot and we believe we have the right foundation to move forward into full production. We have formed great partnerships with excellent providers and we have created a very efficient production pipeline. The last 4 years have been spent, not only on what you can see, but all the development tools and design work necessary.
So, if we are funded, we can focus 100% on game content creation using the various tools we created, in addition to the CryEngine tools which are a very valuable asset for us.
The more funding we raise the more features we can include!

But that answer is just smoke and mirrors IMO.

Again, I could be wrong.  But I figure I'll just wait, and if it's successful in completing, buy it then.  But it just doesn't indicate that I should support it currently.

3820

Living Room / Re: The End of my Macbook Pro Experiment

« Last post by wraith808 on June 08, 2015, 10:16 PM »

The Apple thing really is basically a political thing.  That is, the details of it aren't the issue, it's the superficial stuff that everyone is talking about.  Even the specs people throw around are superficial specs, that ultimately either don't really matter or is a purely marketing point.  These things matter to non-techies, but for power users (like most here) we don't care that much.

-superboyac (June 08, 2015, 09:06 PM)

How... politics?  Or is that just a general term?

3821

Living Room / Re: The End of my Macbook Pro Experiment

« Last post by wraith808 on June 08, 2015, 08:41 PM »

Intrigued by the "Apple make better hardware" at the top of this thread? They use motherboards from Foxconn just like many PCs - as I understand it they are pretty much identical and quality. They use standard graphics cards (usually a generation or two behind window), standard intel cpu, RAM and hard disks and SSDs

Apart from the white box with an apple on it what is so much better than a bog standard Windows laptop?

For the price you should get gold plated keys !!!

Given the number of people using Mac these days I get about the same proportion of Mac users phoning up and saying "my Mac is very slow" as I do Windows users. In 7 years I have only had one person phone me and say can you help - I use Linux.

-Carol Haynes (June 08, 2015, 07:41 PM)

The design.  And from working on them before, it's a lot easier to work on once you get past the mandatory you're not supposed to be in here locks.  The art doesn't just extend from the outside, it carries to the inside.  At least, the last time I had to work in there.  It's one of the things that made them so far ahead on the battery and heat dissipation for so long.

3822

DC Gamer Club / Re: Umbra

« Last post by wraith808 on June 08, 2015, 08:35 PM »

Yeah... there are just too many negative indicators for me to throw my support behind this one.  I'll take a look again when it gets on early access and/or at release.  But now, it's a pass.

3823

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Version Bin - Versioning software

« Last post by wraith808 on June 08, 2015, 07:29 PM »

Version Bin keeps the entire code as a version, what ever you want. You can drag/drop a file (any plain text file) or pass to the EXE. Then just select the item and select Create New Version when you need to upload the latest version of that file. Up to 10mb (which is plenty for a text file IMO) which is the limit of pastebin.com.

-c.gingerich (June 08, 2015, 02:35 PM)

So maybe I'm wrong... but it doesn't seem to support project structures and such.  It's just individual files?  That's the reason I didn't view it as a full SCM or anything approaching that.  Without a project view, I know I'd never use it.

3824

Living Room / Re: The End of my Macbook Pro Experiment

« Last post by wraith808 on June 08, 2015, 07:28 PM »

The Mac's main remaining advantage at this point is reputation, the *idea* that it's easier to use.

-JavaJones (June 08, 2015, 12:57 PM)

Well, technically the Mac *is* easier to use by virtue of the fact that OS X software usually has one-third the options and settings of something comparable on Windows so therefore, there being less to learn makes it easier to use.

-Innuendo (June 08, 2015, 06:54 PM)

Nope.  That's fallacy.  After having tried to get into it as my *only* laptop for 4 years, it's decidedly *not* easier to use.

3825

General Software Discussion / Re: Scary Windows error: Failure to log in to profile, loading of temp profile

« Last post by wraith808 on June 08, 2015, 02:24 PM »

wasn't happening with the admin profile/login.

-mouser (June 08, 2015, 01:13 PM)

But a little different than the admin profile- can you create a new user with it's new resulting profile?

One reason I ask is for troubleshooting, the other because you can copy parts of the user profile over the problematic one and recover it that way.

http://windows.micro...rofile#1TC=windows-7