Recent Posts

9526

Living Room / Re: Do we care about HD-DVD/Blu-Ray?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 08, 2006, 11:30 PM »

Let's just skip to the holodeck already!

I read today in the June 2006 issue of Popular Science magazine about the new 3-D Film capabilities. Apparently it is so much more amazing that previous technology, with no distortion that hurts your eyes or weird colors that your body rejects, and has so much more depth of perception that some famous directors (James Cameron, specifically) have promised to never direct another film in 2D again.

Strangely enough, the magazine had some links to their website which don't seem to work. In fact, the website says the current issue is May 2006. I did a search on the site for "3d movies" hoping to find some shred of evidence to back up my claims and all it returned (that seemed relevant) was this article from March 2005.

There was also something else cool about some strange rain in India in 2001 that was red, and some scientists believe there are cells that don't have DNA in the rain, suggesting that it could be alien life! Sadly, the link in the magazine also does not work on the site. What's the deal?

(also cool is that they made sunglasses for a housefly and a camel fit through the eye of a needle)

9527

Living Room / Re: Extremely cool visualization of global statistics over time.

« Last post by Deozaan on June 08, 2006, 01:36 AM »

Weird... this is the 2nd time I've had rendering issues with Firefox

-Rover (June 02, 2006, 08:17 AM)

That happens to me rarely, but when it does I just refresh the page and it's better. It's as if the CSS doesn't load properly or something.

9528

General Software Discussion / Re: A Warning about Thinkall.com

« Last post by Deozaan on June 08, 2006, 01:33 AM »

I didn't notice this thread until just now (I keep trying to tell you that the Unread Messages link isn't working properly) so I typed all this up and didn't want it to go to waste, so I'm posting anyway.

I just tried it out myself (except for entering in credit card information) and nowhere does it say anything about the subscription. There isn't even a clear and easily visible link to the TOS throughout the ordering process. Where it has the checkbox to say you've agreed, no link to TOS even there. You have to go to the bottom of the page (I have to scroll down at 1280x1024 with a maximized window with minimal toolbars) and click on the TOS.

Very shady practice. 

What kind of software is on those CDs? ThinkAll brand? They all have such generic names, and it looks like some of them are freeware anyway, like Thunderbird E-mail, GIMP image editing, and OpenOffice.

Does the Internet BBB actually do anything? Is it worth reporting these guys?

Another interesting thing I noticed is that all of the navigational links at the top of the page do not work on the final page where it asks for your credit card number. They do not want you leaving that page.

9529

Living Room / Re: Animator vs Animation - one of the best flash animations i've seen in years.

« Last post by Deozaan on June 07, 2006, 11:57 PM »

Here's another one. My brother actually made this. It's kind of like Air Hockey but with three paddles. The red team actually has more complicated AI so it should score higher.

Preview it first.

9530

Living Room / Re: Animator vs Animation - one of the best flash animations i've seen in years.

« Last post by Deozaan on June 07, 2006, 11:46 PM »

I just installed it and it works for me. The small windows in Screen Saver setup shows it in action and clicking Preview also shows it in action.

deozaan how about a flash game staring Cody? i can provide some nice clean images of him

-mouser (June 07, 2006, 11:38 PM)

Got any ideas for the actual game? I'm terrible when it comes to original ideas. 

9531

Living Room / Re: Animator vs Animation - one of the best flash animations i've seen in years.

« Last post by Deozaan on June 07, 2006, 11:37 PM »

Heard it is easy to convert a flash into a screensaver with Screenswift.

-hamradio (June 07, 2006, 11:20 PM)

Awesome, Thanks. The actual SWF file is less than 1KB but the installer is 1.2MB.

If you never watched it to the 'end' I need to warn you that eventually they all merge into one group and hide off to the side of the screen.

9532

General Software Discussion / Re: If you're developing a game, here's the way you should feel about it!

« Last post by Deozaan on June 07, 2006, 11:19 PM »

I didn't know that any MMOs had an ending. Why would people keep playing if they did? He makes it sound fun, but it also sounds like any other MMO involving orcs and elves and dragons.

I did like his definition of the American Immersion, although his definition of Imagination sounded like  Fanaticism. Buy the shirts, draw pictures, talk to everyone you know about it, think a week ahead of time what you're going to do in the game. If only every company's clients were like that.

9533

Living Room / Re: Animator vs Animation - one of the best flash animations i've seen in years.

« Last post by Deozaan on June 07, 2006, 11:03 PM »

Deozaan - you did all those animations on big hed's studio? cool!!!!
sticks in space has great atmosphere! very fun.

and i've seen your flash experiments before - i think you should make #040425 into a screensavers - it's very cool to look at.

-mouser (June 07, 2006, 10:12 PM)

Yes I did everything there. I had some great ambition for SiS but as I've found is usually the case with my ideas, my ambitions seem to be greater than my motivation. I really like starting projects but I have a hard time finishing them some times. As far as I know, if I had gone through with it, it would have been the only stick figure animation/series that took place in space. Unfortunately, my computer was stolen and I lost all the original files for Big Hed's Studio.

#040425 (April 25, 2004) is actually not even my own creation. I just did a tutorial from the website I got the inspiration from to make the Idler Projects in the first place: Bit-101. Awesome place which, back then, had new experiments almost daily. It's in the lab section. I've never seen the new lab until just now so I'm not sure how to navigate it to find the past projects, but if you go to the old lab it has a calendar with the days highlighted of new experiments.

If you or anyone here can direct me to instructions on making a flash program into a screen saver, I don't think it would be difficult to do that.

9534

Living Room / Re: Do we care about HD-DVD/Blu-Ray?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 07, 2006, 08:04 PM »

From what I understood, the whole Blu-Ray/HD-DVD thing was to provide movies in high definition. Obviously this technology is still expensive as Hi-Def televisions are still expensive. And it isn't just an HD TV you need to view HD (or so I've heard). They NEED the extra storage space to provide the higher quality video.

As for consumer data storage, as with all technologies, the discs will be expensive at first until production costs have been reduced and prices not just for discs, but recorders/burners are available to a larger majority of people. I don't have any statistics, but I think that the average consumer still thinks that DVD-RW drives are still prohibitively expensive or are just barely getting used to the idea that they aren't. Even still, Dual layer DVDs are kind of expensive. I spent about $15 for just 3 DVD DLs only a few months ago. Yet most movies and sometimes even the bonus discs that come with them are dual layer.

I would love to have a bunch of Dual-Layer DVDs but they're too much money for me right now. I backed up my relatively small mp3 collection about two years ago and it took me 11 CDs. My music collection has grown since then and I thought it would be nice to fit it all onto a few DVDs, But what would be even better would be to fit it all onto one DVD DL. And even DVDs have different, confusing formats. There's DVD+R or DVD-R.

Aside from all that, I heard a few months ago that physical media is going the way of vinyl records. Right now I say "Yeah right" to that but at that same time I heard about another format in the works. Holographic storage. These discs can hold almost 4 TB of data.

a 3.9 TB HVD could hold between 4,600–11,900 hours of video—just over one year of uninterrupted video at usual encoding rates. [Emphasis Added]

My memory is a bit hazy on this but I think they said that the technology should be widely available by 2010.

So, when it comes to entertainment media, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray will make a difference, and Sony, who claim they made DVD broadly accepted because of their PlayStation 2 system, are trying to push their Blu-Ray format with the new PlayStation 3 system which sells for a ridiculous $700 later this year.

When it comes to consumer data storage, I'd probably be fine with DVDs--Dual-Layer or not--until HVD becomes more widely available.

9535

Living Room / Re: cool myst style flash click game

« Last post by Deozaan on June 07, 2006, 07:39 PM »

Intriguing, but incomplete.

9536

Living Room / Re: Article: Why Adobe and Microsoft Hit Delete on PDF Deal

« Last post by Deozaan on June 07, 2006, 07:17 PM »

Personally I've found Adobe programs (especially Acrobat) to be very invasive. You can't install them without having new toolbars pop up somewhere in your other programs.

Maybe I should do a rant on bundled programs for next month's podcast. But I wouldn't want to invade on SuperBoyAC's territory.

9537

Living Room / Re: Article: A Sixth Sense for a Wired World - implanting a magnet in your finge

« Last post by Deozaan on June 07, 2006, 06:56 PM »

That would be cool until you accidently ruined your USB flash drive or any other EM sensitive device.

9538

Living Room / Re: Stick Figure Death Animations

« Last post by Deozaan on June 07, 2006, 06:35 PM »

The other would be the original Stick Death webpage. Warning: Very graphic (for stick figures, that is...):
http://www.stickdeath.com/

-Edvard (June 06, 2006, 11:05 AM)

Actually, I think the first ever Stick Figure Death website was Stick Figure Death Theatre made by Matt Calvert, an old acquaintence of mine. Back then it was just four simple gif animations (that weren't even really that great) but it became extremely popular. Later he added a few more animations and eventually turned his site into the portal it now is.

I joined the fun about 8 years ago when I decided to take my comic-style stick figure death drawings (done in my high school sophmore math class, Geometry, when I finished with my classwork) and turn them into animations and post them online. I hadn't heard of it online until that time. I joined a Yahoo! club, The Stick Figure Death Club (which sadly turned into a teenage flame forum with tons of porn spam), and met some good people there who were all making their own stick death animations. I have lost contact with all but one of those people, who today is the longest internet-only friend I've ever had, and quite honestly, my best internet buddy.

But as I said, I made a website and published my animations for others to see. The teenage enthrallment with gore gradually passed and I started making some non-stick death animations and other experiments in Flash. I haven't updated the website for at least two years now, but it's still there. Big Hed's Studio is what I called it. Feel free to browse through my small portfolio of animations.

I also did some Flash experiments to help me learn some things with ActionScript that I posted there. I mentioned these when I first joined DonationCoder. There is no link from the website to see them, but you can access them directly here: The Idler Projects is what I called it.

Oh, and by the way, Allen is my best internet buddy.

9539

Living Room / Re: Dinky MP3 player - cheap and fun ...

« Last post by Deozaan on June 07, 2006, 06:09 PM »

Yeah that is really cheap! The only price listed for it I can see is £0. I'll take a thousand!

9540

Living Room / Digital Distribution of Music

« Last post by Deozaan on June 06, 2006, 12:09 PM »

This is technically political, but I had no idea that this was even happening and I thought many of you (in the USA) would like to know. This was dated yesterday and they'll be voting on it Wednesday if I understand correctly.

In 24 hours, the music industry may succeed at getting the obscure SIRA bill changed in committee in Congress. At issue is their plan to change copyright so that you're going to need separate licenses for "incidental" copies of digital music: copies in RAM, copies in browser caches, and so on. Changing the act this way paves the way for a ban on digital radio recording devices, and what's worse, the companies that presently sell digital music are supporting this!

From BoingBoing

If this bothers you, there is a link to find your representatives to tell them that you are opposed to it.

9541

Living Room / Re: June 4 Podcast

« Last post by Deozaan on June 05, 2006, 03:36 AM »

Great Podcast all around!

What was with the 30 seconds of nothingness at the end? I was almost expecting a final comment by Shawn in there after he was dotted around in the podcast so much.

I still get a kick out of his definition of Shareware. I look forward to next month's.

EDIT: And I agree with Superboyac in welcoming JavaJones! I don't think I've replied to anything you've said but I have found all of your comments to be very informative and well thought out. You make a lot of sense and I value your opinion. Welcome to DC!

9542

General Software Discussion / Re: Why is so much software cracked?

« Last post by Deozaan on May 29, 2006, 01:40 PM »

There aren't many people I know who haven't pirated software at some point or another, and most I know currently do it.

I think a really good point that was made is that some of the software is so expensive that there are people (like me) who would never pay full price for it, therefore the company would not get a sell from them. And those people who pirate it generally won't be using it professionally.

On the other side, I have actually pirated some software which then turned into a sale. A friend of mine gave me a copy of the game Starcraft and I liked it so much that I went out and bought my own version and the expansion and every PC game that company has made. Also, years ago when I was animating stick figures, Flash suddenly got really popular. I pirated version 4 and learned how to use it. I was 14 or 15 at the time and there was no way I could have afforded it. However, I have owned a legal copy of every Flash version thereafter.

I have done similar things with some music. Back when the original version of Napster was available, I vaguely remembered one song I had heard years before. I couldn't remember the title or the artist, but after some research I found it out and downloaded almost an entire album. I have purchased every single one of their 6 albums since.

I'm not advocating piracy, because I know it's illegal. But there are instances where it is actually good for the business. For penny pinchers or those with a low income like myself, I want to be sure I'll like something before I buy it. Music isn't an issue anymore because of the many online opportunities to preview before you buy and pay less than buying a CD. Most software I try out isn't that expensive and comes with a 30-day trial or some such thing anyway. But for some of the really expensive ones, it would be very nice to be able to test out the UI and see what it can do before plunking down hundreds of dollars.

9543

Living Room / Re: World's worst pop-up dialogs

« Last post by Deozaan on May 25, 2006, 07:44 PM »

My friend sent me this one a few years back:



Prodroduct.

And I just got this one yesterday:

9544

Living Room / Re: Invent a new term

« Last post by Deozaan on May 16, 2006, 12:33 AM »

Returd - Adjective. Derogatory. An idiot; moron; simpleton; one who is stupid. Also, funny to think about the literal meaning.

Example Dialogue:
Returd: Should I try printing on white paper instead of yellow paper?
Rude Person: YOU ARE SUCH A RETURD!
Returd: OGM LOLZ!!!!1

9545

Mini-Reviews by Members / Pandora.com - Internet radio for EVERY taste! FREE!

« Last post by Deozaan on May 13, 2006, 09:25 PM »

For those of you who like Pandora and, like me, use WinAmp, you can now Listen to Pandora in WinAmp!

9546

Living Room / Re: Reinstalling Windows XP ... how big is yours?

« Last post by Deozaan on May 12, 2006, 07:23 PM »

Windows XP by itself is "only" about 4GB.

9547

Developer's Corner / Re: The Koolaid point and Popularity Breeds Contempt

« Last post by Deozaan on May 11, 2006, 08:52 PM »

What does it mean to drink the koolaid?

9548

Living Room / Re: Cool site with videos on how stuff gets made

« Last post by Deozaan on May 04, 2006, 04:40 PM »

Here's my contribution!

HowStuffWorks explains hundreds of subjects, from car engines to lock-picking to ESP, using clear language and tons of illustrations.

HowStuffWorks.com

-jgpaiva (May 04, 2006, 11:37 AM)

A few months ago Allen showed me a cool article about how scientists have been able to slow down light to a virtual standstill. I told my roommate about it and he just couldn't understand how that was possible, so we looked up How Light Works on that site and found out some very interesting things. For instance, the lowest form of light is a radio wave. And everyone knows the visible colors from ROYGBIV. Infra-red is the light just before red that we can't see, and ultra-violet is the light just after violet that we can't see. I never made that connection before. Cool stuff. 

9549

Older Newsletters / Re: The First DonationCoder Audio Podcast Radio Show - Broadcast Schedule

« Last post by Deozaan on May 02, 2006, 07:08 PM »

what accent does superboyac have?

-mouser (April 30, 2006, 07:31 PM)

I didn't notice that Superboyac had an accent.

9550

Older Newsletters / Re: The First DonationCoder Audio Podcast Radio Show - Broadcast Schedule

« Last post by Deozaan on May 01, 2006, 05:16 PM »

That was an awesome podcast! Everyone was great (except my part ) and the music was very charming. It reminds me of some old-school happy cartoon, like Peanuts.

I just have to tell you that the Blue Man Group is awesome! They make good music and while I've never been to a live concert of theirs I've seen a video of one and it was very, very fun!

I share the same concerns with UIs. I took me years to upgrade winamp past version 2.8 lite (as in, since '99 to this year) because I didn't want all the clutter. I still don't like the default skin's bigness, but it provides some options I've been wanting, like repeat one track. It seems to run slower, though, sometimes taking a few seconds to show my playlist. But, yes, I even make the size of the minimize, maximize and close buttons in Windows smaller. They're just huge by default.

Good job everyone and thanks Mouser! My only suggestion would be to make it a little louder next time. I keep my speakers at a slightly loud volume and I had to turn it up and -still- couldn't hear a word here and there.