Recent Posts

776

Living Room / Re: Congratulations Terrorists, You are getting what you want!

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 13, 2015, 08:16 PM »

Let's follow the logical outcome:

If the government can read it --> so can the terrorists --> and so can other unfriendly governments --> and if encryption is banned, then the government can't use encryption either --> so state secrets won't be very secret.

Yep. This is definitely for "homeland security" and the children!

-Deozaan (January 13, 2015, 12:28 PM)

Heh (several draft long rants deleted).

It just comes down to some kind of slippery moebius-logic that tries to do three things all at once, until the social version of dividing by zero finally dumps out on his head.

Meanwhile, whoever got short term payoffs from all this just slips away, while still sending encrypted emails.

777

Non-Windows Software / Re: LINUX: In-place upgrade of Mint 17.0 Qiana to Mint 17.1 Rebecca

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 13, 2015, 08:07 PM »

The LTS versions of Linux usually run for 3-5 years rather than ten.

That doesn't mean nothing in it's core or kernal won't be changed during that period. It just means that any changes will be fully supported for the duration of the release.
...
To me, the two good reasons for going to a newer release are: (a) security patches; (b) better hardware and driver support.

-40hz (January 13, 2015, 01:09 PM)

All good stuff gang, maybe I can try to clarify a little on my (admittedly fuzzy) defs.

First, I considered security patches to explicitly be "non-core" in the sense that the "underlying engine" isn't getting overhauled dramatically; they're just doing like it says, "patching" something.

And even if a powerful new feature appears, if I don't use it, it's irrelevant in my case. But I normally (!) trust that the feature will get both refined and follow along to new versions. So eventually when enough stuff finally hits a milestone, it's time to upgrade. Then all the new stuff I've noted in passing shows up all at once, and for the same "re-tweak time", it feels more efficient and noticeable.

778

General Software Discussion / Re: Beware of download sites

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 13, 2015, 07:54 PM »

Just linking stuff up, and one point Pillbug was contemplating a DLL to help intercept the worst effects of these download sites, but I think he put the project aside for a while.

But the basic need remains.

Welcome pillbug!

Please do start a new thread on it, and i think it would be wonderful if you took on this task.

In preparation for doing this I downloaded a few examples of "wrapped" installers, but that's all i've done so far, and I'd be happy to provide you with those.
I found wrapped examples from cnet, brothersoft and softonic.

I have some ideas about what the dll should do and how it should react, which we can talk about after you start the new thread.

-mouser (November 22, 2014, 12:33 PM)

New spin on the theme:

Don't these sites *use the same template* "within themselves" for the wrapping? Aka Download.com would have the same five things? So what if someone made an "encapsulating app" that ran the installer but "looked for the things to disable", and automatically (maybe with step by step pausing and diagramming for the user), unchecked/clicked greyed things/custom-installed/etc?

779

Living Room / Re: ideas that will change society

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 13, 2015, 07:38 PM »

Idea: Have devices in emergency vehicles that can change red traffic lights to green... for the direction they are headed or the lane they are in.

-crabby3 (January 13, 2015, 12:00 PM)

Some cities might already have these. I think I even remember seeing one - there's a special little strange light that can flash on top of the stoplight when the override flashes. I really think I recall seeing one in action once even years ago, where all four of the regular directions were red, to reduce the mental load on the driver.

780

Living Room / Re: ideas that will change society

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 13, 2015, 07:37 PM »

I don't think an idea by itself has much effect.  It's not only what is said but who said it.

I suspect during the 50s and 60s in an effort to impress certain advice on people, many quotes were attributed to Albert Einstein.  It stands to reason that if other geniuses, like Woody Allen or Yogi Berra, only produced a dozen or fewer really pithy sayings, it's not likely Einstein uttered all that stuff under his name.  The name was synonymous with genius in those years.  That was promoted and exploited.

-MilesAhead (January 13, 2015, 11:33 AM)

Maybe, but without modern recording tech, it's hard to know.

Some bright people also had talents for just reeling off thoughtful two liner aphorisms like a riverboat dealer with nine people at the table. Ralph Waldo Emerson is the quickest to come to my mind, maybe Mark Twain as well, as two of the "older generation".

781

Non-Windows Software / Re: LINUX: In-place upgrade of Mint 17.0 Qiana to Mint 17.1 Rebecca

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 13, 2015, 04:04 AM »

Maybe not quite set & forget. Not yet anyway. But in Mint's case, this was a happy compromise between the usual "fresh" install hassle and the occasionally dicey "rolling update" approach.

Now let's see them do it three more times just so we know it's not luck.

-40hz (January 07, 2015, 05:14 PM)

Now I know this example comes from Ubuntu and not mint, but Canonical has put out *eighteen* releases since I began eyeballing them from Dapper Drake. I do NOT have anything remotely approaching the energy to do fresh installs of all that. No, not even the LTS ones that pop up every x skip-versions. Plus, at least a couple of times I ended up with severe problems trying to go to certain new versions at different points of time.

So I really hope they get in-place updating working as the goal for 2020, because that's how I believe a core OS plus updates model should work, aka a very few super-longterm cores, then update it for tons of time, until finally you just one day flip it to a new core. I don't want to flip cores less than every ten years.

I glance at the features of all these releases, and not counting Canonical's disturbing habit where some of them are unstable, I won't do an install and lose that re-tweak time just because "we fine tuned the package manager and put in new copies of about five programs that you use".

782

Living Room / Re: ideas that will change society

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 12, 2015, 03:13 PM »

hello!

tell me please ideas that can change society!

thanks!

-kalos (January 12, 2015, 02:58 PM)

Be nice. : )

No really. Just when you're angry, be nice. Then it changes society : )

783

General Software Discussion / Re: Beware of Freeware downloads

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 12, 2015, 02:25 PM »

CWuestefeld, I really enjoyed your report of your travails (self-inflicted, but still :-). Funny and informative.

I clicked on something by mistake the other week, and spent the better part of two days to route a browser hijacker, using AdwCleander, Malwarebytes, Hitman and JRT. They did the job, but what an ordeal.

Since it is the first time it has ever happened to me (I have probably forgotten one or two), I can vouch for being careful. You get what you pay for!

Hans L

-Hans L (January 12, 2015, 02:21 PM)

Hi Hans,

He didn't do it. He was posting an article by

"Lowell Heddings, better known online as the How-To Geek, spends all his free time bringing you fresh geekery on a daily basis."

784

General Software Discussion / Re: Beware of Freeware downloads

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 12, 2015, 02:23 PM »

Accounting "used to" have a word for this, until a string of scandals almost trashed the reputation of accounting!  
   

It was called "attestation". Done "properly" (and you shouldn't even have to need the finger quotes, it should be obvious!), some third party that you actually do trust, certifies something on a sliding scale of fairness. Lately nasty people are hijacking the attestation concept, but just suppose Mouser decides to open a new side business, if something was Mouser-approved, you'd be pretty sure it was safe.

What doesn't exist yet is a site as big as Download.com that has "alternative revenue streams" so it can afford to snub the bundle-ware.

785

Living Room / Re: Expanded role for Anonymous - Now more like The Watchman than V?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 11, 2015, 05:51 PM »

Got my popcorn.

-Renegade (January 11, 2015, 05:47 PM)

You know that popcorn is GMO, and contains secret messages! You're a courier for anonymous!
 

Damn. Conspiracy parody humor is even more fun than the things themselves! It's like Nathan Poe made his law while time traveling to talk to Edgar Allen Poe!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law
http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe

786

Living Room / Re: Expanded role for Anonymous - Now more like The Watchman than V?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 11, 2015, 04:01 PM »

Saw this in an article by Alan Buckingham on BetaNews. Apparently Anonymous is expanding it's range of target baddies to include non-government and non-corporate SOBs. Most interesting if so. Especially since it drastically ups the stakes (and physical risks) for Anonymous if it becomes their new charter. More here.

From BetaNews:

...Things began just over a week ago when the group [Anonymous] declared war on Lizard Squad, a rival gang, if you will. That loosely run outfit had claimed responsibility for the takedown of Christmas for many people. In other words, it attacked the networks of both Sony Playstation and Microsoft Xbox on the day everyone was getting a new console. A cowardly act that they claimed was done just for fun.

The fun is over, as the group did a poor job of disguising members' identities and several are now in the hands of authorities. Worse for them, Anonymous declared war, which is the last thing anyone wishes to have happen to them.

Now Anonymous is setting its eyes, and considerable technological firepower, on Jihadist groups, looking to retaliate for the recent tragedy that took place in Paris, France...

(see attachment in previous post)
Yeah. This could get interesting. Real interesting...

-40hz (January 11, 2015, 07:59 AM)

If I didn't know better, I'd say this is a guerrilla TV show like a next generation Truman Show, with a little Flannery O'Connor sprinkled on top. "Everything that rises must converge".

So the Agencies (from X countries!) are not going to let "them" just randomly decide to do whatever they want. "We as cowed citizens" have to assume a "basic innocence" for Anonymous, that it isn't itself all a fake front to keep stirring up the martial state culture.

It's just tension building like a 24 episode TV show with 8 scripts written and the writers discovered they backed themselves into a continuity disaster and don't know how to get the season successfully over without a "cheapo" near the end. (Super rough timeline - about two months realtime "per episode"?)

(That's what I'm learning about tv writing as I've watched a lot this year, they carefully drip little "reveals" and can't just dump the whole thing, which has to wait for a season/series finale.)

 So we have Anonymous "just doing things", but it's like a Filler episode setting out a new story arc. I just don't know (and I'm a bit nervous of!) the leadup to the season finale!

787

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 11, 2015, 03:48 PM »

(see attachment in previous post)     (see attachment in previous post)
Hello The '90s are calling and your flip phone is ready

-Arizona Hot (January 10, 2015, 03:11 PM)

Bleh. "Moebius Strip Fashion" is so confusing.

(Disdain voice) "Eauh. Flip phones are SO 2014 faux-hip revival. Well, THAT wave is over!"

788

Living Room / Re: ALERT! FreewareBB shutting down. And with a warning from Marko?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 11, 2015, 03:46 PM »

Here's the scam (seems like it is targeted at the less internet savvy age 12-14 script kiddie wannabe demographic).

They promise what that group wants, but have no intention on actually delivering it. Instead, they present a set of options, that no matter which is chosen (to get the code) they make money. You visit a page, install software, or anything else they tell you to do, and they make money...but you will never get a code, nor will anyone's Facebook account actually be hacked.

That's the whole scam, in a nutshell.

You would not believe how many times these kids fell for it and filled out that form. And if they would fall for it back then, kids would just as easily fall for something similar today. The difference in this case would be that instead of someone using the form to alert the intended victim of that kid's intent, they are using it as a money making opportunity, presenting them with sponsored activities.

-app103 (January 11, 2015, 07:43 AM)

Sure.

I'm no expert, but maybe I've at least made it to "junior high" as a kiddie sniffing out trouble.  : )

So I did my digging just to save some of the raw click-work for everyone else, just to get it out there, which your post cap-stones.

I was carefully evaluating options as I went along. To borrow the old joke, I was looking at :
1. Do X.
2. Do Y.
3. Do Z
4. ?????

A very similar "structural scam engine" could have gone a couple of ways. I did notice when I rebooted today a couple new things are also there on bootup, so later I'll have to go unhook them. But a stray extra toolbar didn't seem too bad to deal with. I took the guess that I wasn't going to end up with a botnet zombie node and it looks like I didn't ... I think. (Do botnet zombie comps still look like they work for the user?)

So of the several "scam templates", I was mostly interested in shedding some light on "which menu item off the list did they go for".

And at least the news is out, so we know that former good site is in trouble, and maybe if he can ever rebuild his brand, he can just re-stick the content on a new site and learn his lesson and not sell it this time, or give it to someone else.

789

Living Room / Re: Open Source News anyone ?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 11, 2015, 01:41 PM »

I don't agree with everything they all say. That's one of the problems with how a lot of people view XYZ - they seem to feel that they need to agree with XYZ 100% or hate them. Heck, I like Bernie Sanders but I disagree with most of his ideas. Same for Alan Grayson - I like the fellow, and he has a lot of good ideas, and a lot of bad ones as well.

-Renegade (January 10, 2015, 08:35 PM)

There's a funny B-movie line in there somewhere, probably from some kind of mob boss talking to the Scared New Temporary Alliance Guy.

"Hey kiddo. I disagree with everything you say. But I like ya."

790

Living Room / Re: It took 2 years to build this functioning word processor in Minecraft

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 11, 2015, 01:35 PM »

^Me too!

-40hz (January 11, 2015, 12:50 PM)

hah, I thought you being extra smart in some way I hadn't quite figured out

-tomos (January 11, 2015, 08:15 AM)

So ... he said it was a mistake ... and you *believed him*?

And you wonder why conspiracies work?

791

Living Room / Re: ALERT! FreewareBB shutting down. And with a warning from Marko?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 11, 2015, 12:40 AM »

Well, it's back up. So my notes stand mostly as is.

Someone wanna check and report in on the "hack page"?

To me it looks indeed like it might just be silly graphics going all "whee whizzy!"
There's a few other things there, but it looks pretty light for a high powered hack engine.
--------

<link href="_layout/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/>
<script type="text/javascript" src="jquery-1.7.1.min.js"></script>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
<!--
var total = 31;
var iteration = 0;
var attempt = 0;
function showProgress()
{
   var url = document.location + '?ajaxRequest=true&total=' + total.toString() +
      '&iteration=' + iteration.toString() + '&attempt=' + attempt.toString();
   $.ajax({
      url: url,
      cache: false,
      dataType: "json",
      success: function(data)
      {
         updateProgress(data);
      }
   });
}

function updateProgress(data)
{
   attempt = data.attempt;
   $('#progressBar').width(data.percentComplete);
   $('#information').html(data.information);
   iteration++;
   if( iteration <= total )
   {
      timeOut = setTimeout(showProgress, 1000);
      updateCombinations();
   }
   else
   {
      $('#status').html('Status: <font color="green"><strong>Complete!<strong></font>');
      $('#unlockcode').show();
   }
}

function updateCombinations()
{
   if( iteration <= total )
   {
      $('#attempt').html(attempt++);
      counter = setTimeout(updateCombinations, 1);
   }
}

function validateAuthCode()
{
   var url = document.location + '?validateAuthCode=' + $('#authCode').val();
   $.ajax({
      url: url,
      cache: false,
      success: function(data)
      {
         alert(data);
      }
   });
}
-->
</script>

---------------

792

Living Room / Re: It took 2 years to build this functioning word processor in Minecraft

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 10, 2015, 07:26 PM »

I'm gonna go even broader and call it "the power of 'just because I can'  " .

At its peak is the fundamental clash that created the renaissance!!

-TaoPhoenix (January 10, 2015, 02:00 PM)

And, unchecked by any notion of humility or morality, also brought the human race an untold deal of pain and misery.

That's why I'm always somewhat grateful whenever I see somebody channelling their obsessions into a benign artistic endeavour.

Especially when you consider how the person who has the drive (and gluteal stamina) to program an entire working computer into a computer game - or build a miniature dollhouse within a miniature dollhouse, within a dollhouse - is surely capable of doing ever so much else besides.

 

-40hz (January 10, 2015, 02:11 PM)

I see story material everywhere - it's like a genie offered him salvation. "Look. Your fate was destined for you to make a bomb with its own AI. Let's not do that. How about you play with Minecraft instead, and 4000 people get to keep their lives. Deal?"

793

Living Room / Re:Horses and Zebras

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 10, 2015, 02:08 PM »

It was indeed a truly brilliant response - that sounds oddly familiar. So either I've heard it before...or it just made perfect sense to me initially. Which - since no one else seems to have understood it - could be a very bad sign for both myself and eleman..

-Stoic Joker (January 10, 2015, 09:36 AM)

I feel "reverse confused", why this is apparently so hard.

To me, it's just Occam's Razor. Simplest Explanations First, and all that. Hoofbeats - eliminate the possibility of both horses AND zebras, before you discover someone is parading a camel to make a YouTube video! Or a Monty Python re-enactment! (Everything is possible in pursuit of a viral video!)



A couple of TV shows are fundamentally built on the "zebra" premise. House from the show even stated it point blank in an episode or two - I can't quite recall but he almost used the same language even! Something like "you see, I don't get the ordinary cases (except when Cuddy is being a bitch and making me do clinic duty.) So by the time it gets to me, the hoofbeats *aren't* horses because the other three doctors would have looked for that. So *our* intelligent place to start is with the zebras first."

794

Living Room / Re: It took 2 years to build this functioning word processor in Minecraft

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 10, 2015, 02:00 PM »

I'm gonna go even broader and call it "the power of 'just because I can'  " .

At its peak is the fundamental clash that created the renaissance!! The cutting edge news of 1515 (to be funny about an arbitrary date) was that people were starting to get annoyed/tired of quoting Aristotle for millenia. People just did experiments "just to do stuff". And often enough for it all to be worthwhile, "pure research" does drive tech. A lot of overly efficient "applied science" promoters try to "take shortcuts" by milking dry the lowest hanging results, leaving someone else stuck with the hard ones after they made their easy money, usually with a little smoke and misdirection thrown in.

Our sense of humor is why we put little funny spins on our pure research. So yes, why not a word processor in Minecraft? It's a subset of "functionality in a limited system".

Also, there are levels of projects you can just dabble at for a week and put away. It doesn't require a full onslaught to be interesting. For example, in Russia in parts of the 1800's, French was actually the aristocratic language. So I once bought five different translations of War and Peace to check how the English translator handled actual French phrases in the original.

795

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 10, 2015, 01:49 PM »

I found another funny use for my odd search system.

I run a Directory and File reader and save as a text file. Then for reasons not wholly clear to me, searches in the text file come up a boatload faster than clunky windows search. But sometimes you can't remember the file name if it had some strange name. But sometimes you can remember where you saved it or maybe notes on it. (Like today I was looking at IRC clients, but later that could be hidden under projects/2015/irc clients/finalists).

So you can just search for the word IRC and it digs that up for you.

796

Living Room / Re: ALERT! FreewareBB shutting down. And with a warning from Marko?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 09, 2015, 06:31 PM »

I see you learned a few things about how websites work Tao.  Lot of people don't realize just how much info you can pick out of someone's web setup just by poking around at information that is already public in order to make everything run smoothly.

There's a good chance that the hack site went down because supporters of the original site are upset about what happened and either attacked it directly to try and kill it, or because you literally saw the transition taking place and they didn't do it right- it resulted in a period where the DNS was pointed to an IP that no longer had a server under it.

This whole situation is downright sad, and just a solid reminder that there are some really bad people out there.

-SeraphimLabs (January 09, 2015, 06:22 PM)

... or some combo of all that. I still think it would be cool if Facebook helped and said so in a press release.

I learned a couple of things, but a good chunk of it I already knew, but wanted to try to just do some legwork and save people some time just to see where it was all going. I haven't seen that particular "scam engine" before, so that was educational.

"Something" is back up "and will launch soon", but I would still like that TV-Episode "closing monologue" to finish out the story.

797

Living Room / Re: ALERT! FreewareBB shutting down. And with a warning from Marko?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 09, 2015, 04:29 PM »

Impressive journey, Tao.

-tomos (January 09, 2015, 04:13 PM)

Thank you!

For completeness it would be interesting to confirm if all/most of the offers "do not complete", which would just make make the "hack facebook" a dumb "chocolate cake lure" just to run the downloader ads.

But wait! More news is developing! They have earned themselves a Set 4!

4a.
http://www.hackfacebookpass.net/
"Cloudflare Ok. Website offline"!?

(A variant of) Whois produces:
https://www.whois.net/
hackfacebookpass.net

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

Domain Name: HACKFACEBOOKPASS.NET
Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 48
Whois Server: whois.enom.com
Referral URL: http://www.enom.com
Name Server: KARA.NS.CLOUDFLARE.COM
Name Server: NORM.NS.CLOUDFLARE.COM
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Updated Date: 10-dec-2014
Creation Date: 10-dec-2014
Expiration Date: 10-dec-2015

>>> Last update of whois database: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 22:30:46 GMT <<<

Which is like SEVEN MINUTES AGO. (Aka just now, limited only by my assembling this post!)

4b. So now I went back to the top to fill in a couple of gaps. (In particular I wanted to see how stupid the "hack" graphic script might have been.) Instead, FreewareBB is *down*!

This time the Whois looks a bit less helpful.

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

Domain Name: FREEWAREBB.COM
Registrar: PDR LTD. D/B/A PUBLICDOMAINREGISTRY.COM
Whois Server: whois.PublicDomainRegistry.com
Referral URL: http://www.PublicDomainRegistry.com
Name Server: NS1.SOFTLAYER.COM
Name Server: NS2.SOFTLAYER.COM
Status: ok
Updated Date: 31-dec-2014
Creation Date: 26-sep-2007
Expiration Date: 26-sep-2016

>>> Last update of whois database: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 13:12:42 GMT <<<

So the guy must have basically just yanked the servers from the web and is thinking about what to do next.

4c.
"Cloudflare/other 'claims there is no cached version available' (at wherever)", but since all this is happening at a good clip today, here is a Google Cache copy of that page.
http://webcache.goog...mp;ct=clnk&gl=us

4d.
Google Cached versions do apparently keep certain links "live". The "click here to hack" link has a starting address of:
http://www.freewareb..._is_my_password.html

That apparently also used to go to a (legit?) password security informational service, and they re-wrote that link as well to be the "hack script" link. Looking at Google Cache produces this older content that used to be there. (The new one from today is of course down with everything else when they yanked it.)
http://webcache.goog...mp;ct=clnk&gl=us

4e.
Just one of the previous DC threads on this, exactly two years ago in Jan 2013.
https://www.donation...x.php?topic=33786.10

4f.
It looks like the former owner was involved and helping!
https://www.facebook.com/freewarebb
"Freewarebb
2 hrs (ago)

Looks like it's 1-0 to me "

I wonder if he was clever enough to put any post-sale clauses in his sales contract, whereupon "using the site for a crime" might have invalidated the sale. Those "Windows Drivers" are "weasel-able", but "click here to break a Facebook password" is a whole other animal! Especially since (again, that facepalm-which brand of stupid was he), his *other* example of who to hack was ... wait for it ... Mark Zuckerberg!! So, maybe the RIAA is lazy, and Ms. Minogue didn't yet get a call from Joe at the police, but you better bet Mark Z's Friendly Borg Henchman Hugh (remember, the nice Borg? Mark Z gave him a nice new job to work on content!    ), who reported that a formerly rather obscure but honest site was now showcasing cheap Hack Facebook scripts... Mark Z though his chain of command said "Oh. That's bad news to hear about them. Boss? How would you like me to destroy this guy? Should I press the blue button with yellow spots, the turquoise button with green stripes, or just dump a tractor trailer of free pizzas in his yard and organize a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume party?"

I jest, gentle spoofing and all that. But it would be cool if Facebook occasionally lent a hand to help a little guy when someone is dumb enough to say "Hey look! A Hornet's nest! Maybe it's a pinyata and if I hit it hard enough with a bat, I can get candy!"

So ends Chapter 1, for now!!

Let's see what happens next! I expect a couple days of smoke and Like-able hornets to be involved for a few days!

798

Living Room / Re: This Robot Is the Best Limit Texas Hold'Em Player in the World

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 09, 2015, 01:37 PM »

Hmm, I don't play poker so I don't know how limit works. But if in that variant the math and "perfect basic strategy" is stronger than the bluff side, then it just reverts back to comps playing calculation-based games as well as they tend to do if they can get the "wide angle lens" mostly within their heuristics + search horizon. So while interesting, it doesn't really interest me. You can basically "automate" any of X class of games, and even invent new ones solely for that purpose.

Even at the meta level, tons of X classes of games are comp-bait, limited only by us not having access (yet!?) to a "bored millionaire" to hire someone to program an AI for them. So I am having a little trouble thinking of games that people such as me can "learn easily" but would be tough for a computer *disregarding Shrdlu traps*. (That means don't cop to the cheap excuse that the first 1000 lines of code are "hard". In this class of games, they're not "hard", they're just "tedious". Someone mentioned the mobile game Clash of Clans yesterday to me. I essentially "broke" the first phase of the game in about six hours, where it all resolves to "Yay, you got to level three and barely squeaked a level four base, now you get to sit there and stew for an entire week waiting for your resources to come back up, or you can spend money to keep playing at a sane non-abusive rate. Piece of cake conceptually.)

To me, an experiment I haven't seen (thoroughly?) tried is an "emotional tabulator". Where, let's say you "borrow" some human raw interpretation skills to get past the dumb Loebner Prize comp-breakers, like "which is bigger, Queen Elizabeth or the boat?", you start with "neutral evals" towards subjects, then for each piece of data that floats by, you just "form your opinion" and adjust your "opinion markers" on how you feel about it. Then when something in a similar category floats by later, you have partially built opinions you get to keep modifying.

We normally consider that "higher level intelligence", but I feel that once some "front end processing" is done, it's actually disturbingly easier than we might think.

Nany 2016 anyone?

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Living Room / Re: For the writers...

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 09, 2015, 12:26 PM »

I'm a little off my writing game, but I can see that with some effort you could get a good story nugget in there.

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Living Room / Re: ALERT! FreewareBB shutting down. And with a warning from Marko?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 09, 2015, 10:48 AM »

So something with a big Y on it but labeled Angry Birds appears.
Now we visit France!

YappyZ seems to be one of those encapsulating Flash game sites.





And somewhere under here is something at at least looks like Angry Birds:


A portion of AngryBirds / DecentLookingClone


So I played a game of Angry Birds. I have now played it four times in my life. No sign of a code though - it says "offer not completed".

So that's as far as I can take it. But at least y'all have the next steps of what all it wants to do. It's def sneaky, but still seems to be playing "by slippery rules" like accepting a Platypus as both a mammal and an egg laying animal.