Search Results

Search found 7194 results on 288 pages for 'completely incomprehensib'.

Page 111/288 | < Previous Page | 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118  | Next Page >

• 12.04: Persistent Gimp 2.2 from Gimphoto or Gimpshop. Cannot install 2.8

  - by Jorge M. Treviño

  I have a very messed up installation of Gimp. Some time ago I installed Gimpshop or Gimphoto (can't really remember which) and it installed Gimp 2.2. Didn't work for me and tried to remove it. I've followed all Gimp remove, autoremove, clean, update and upgrade instructions I've found here to no avail. Now Software Center doesn't even show 2.8 but instead it does 2.6. I've installed and removed Gimp from terminal nth times. Running Gimp from the dash doesn't do anything but entering "Gimp" in the terminal prompt gives me a 2.2 installation screen. Cannot for the life of me find and remove the darn leftover garbage. How can I completely clean my system (12.04, fully updated today) from everything Gimp so I can give 2.8 a try? Anticipated apologies if this is a dupe but I've run through all messages with a Gimp tag and none has helped me. sudo apt-get install -f gives me 0,0,0,0. Thanks in advance.

  Read the article

• SEO impact on subdomain for full name and obscure ccTLD

  - by Dan Christian

  There have been a few questions on subdomains and their impact on SEO, mostly in comparison to subfolders. The closest question I've found is this question but it still doesn't completely answer my query. I'm setting up a blog for 'Sam Smith'. It's imperative the SEO is based around his full name as he is a prominent blogger and his name is his value. All ccTLD variations of 'samsmith' (samsmith.com, samsmith.cc etc) are taken. However there has been the opportunity to register an obscure ccTLD for 'smith'. In regards to SEO value purely from the URL... 1) Will there be any negative SEO implications on searches for 'Sam Smith' when setting up the subdomain as 'sam.smith.' compared to a more regular 'samsmith.' domain? Will a search engine recognise the subdomain as the full name as oppose to just 'smith'? 2) Are there any negative SEO implications with an obscure ccTLD. For instance if Sam Smith was a prominent blogger in Canada with most of his audience based there, would there be any negative SEO if he had, for example, a .co ccTLD.

  Read the article

• Lazy coding is fun

  - by Anthony Trudeau

  Every once in awhile I get the opportunity to write an application that is important enough to do, but not important enough to do the right way -- meaning standards, best practices, good architecture, et al.  I call it lazy coding.  The industry calls it RAD (rapid application development). I started on the conversion tool at the end of last week.  It will convert our legacy data to a completely new system which I'm working on piece by piece.  It will be used in the future, but only the new parts because it'll only be necessary to convert the individual pieces of the data once.  It was the perfect opportunity to just whip something together, but it was still functional unlike a prototype or proof of concept.  Although I would never write an application like this for a customer (internal or external) this methodology (if you can call it that) works great for something like this. I wouldn't be surprised if I get flamed for equating RAD to lazy coding or lacking standards, best practice, or good architecture.  Unfortunately, it fits in the current usage.  Although, it's possible to create a good, maintainable application using the RAD methodology, it's just too ripe for abuse and requires too much discipline for someone let alone a team to do right. Sometimes it's just fun to throw caution to the wind and start slamming code.

  Read the article

• 8 Reasons Why Even Microsoft Agrees the Windows Desktop is a Nightmare

  - by Chris Hoffman

  Let’s be honest: The Windows desktop is a mess. Sure, it’s extremely powerful and has a huge software library, but it’s not a good experience for average people. It’s not even a good experience for geeks, although we tolerate it. Even Microsoft agrees about this. Microsoft’s Surface tablets with Windows RT don’t support any third-party desktop apps. They consider this a feature — users can’t install malware and other desktop junk, so the system will always be speedy and secure. Malware is Still Common Malware may not affect geeks, but it certainly continues to affect average people. Securing Windows, keeping it secure, and avoiding unsafe programs is a complex process. There are over 50 different file extensions that can contain harmful code to keep track of. It’s easy to have theoretical discussions about how malware could infect Mac computers, Android devices, and other systems. But Mac malware is extremely rare, and has  generally been caused by problem with the terrible Java plug-in. Macs are configured to only run executables from identified developers by default, whereas Windows will run everything. Android malware is talked about a lot, but Android malware is rare in the real world and is generally confined to users who disable security protections and install pirated apps. Google has also taken action, rolling out built-in antivirus-like app checking to all Android devices, even old ones running Android 2.3, via Play Services. Whatever the reason, Windows malware is still common while malware for other systems isn’t. We all know it — anyone who does tech support for average users has dealt with infected Windows computers. Even users who can avoid malware are stuck dealing with complex and nagging antivirus programs, especially since it’s now so difficult to trust Microsoft’s antivirus products. Manufacturer-Installed Bloatware is Terrible Sit down with a new Mac, Chromebook, iPad, Android tablet, Linux laptop, or even a Surface running Windows RT and you can enjoy using your new device. The system is a clean slate for you to start exploring and installing your new software. Sit down with a new Windows PC and the system is a mess. Rather than be delighted, you’re stuck reinstalling Windows and then installing the necessary drivers or you’re forced to start uninstalling useless bloatware programs one-by-one, trying to figure out which ones are actually useful. After uninstalling the useless programs, you may end up with a system tray full of icons for ten different hardware utilities anyway. The first experience of using a new Windows PC is frustration, not delight. Yes, bloatware is still a problem on Windows 8 PCs. Manufacturers can customize the Refresh image, preventing bloatware rom easily being removed. Finding a Desktop Program is Dangerous Want to install a Windows desktop program? Well, you’ll have to head to your web browser and start searching. It’s up to you, the user, to know which programs are safe and which are dangerous. Even if you find a website for a reputable program, the advertisements on that page will often try to trick you into downloading fake installers full of adware. While it’s great to have the ability to leave the app store and get software that the platform’s owner hasn’t approved — as on Android — this is no excuse for not providing a good, secure software installation experience for typical users installing typical programs. Even Reputable Desktop Programs Try to Install Junk Even if you do find an entirely reputable program, you’ll have to keep your eyes open while installing it. It will likely try to install adware, add browse toolbars, change your default search engine, or change your web browser’s home page. Even Microsoft’s own programs do this — when you install Skype for Windows desktop, it will attempt to modify your browser settings t ouse Bing, even if you’re specially chosen another search engine and home page. With Microsoft setting such an example, it’s no surprise so many other software developers have followed suit. Geeks know how to avoid this stuff, but there’s a reason program installers continue to do this. It works and tricks many users, who end up with junk installed and settings changed. The Update Process is Confusing On iOS, Android, and Windows RT, software updates come from a single place — the app store. On Linux, software updates come from the package manager. On Mac OS X, typical users’ software updates likely come from the Mac App Store. On the Windows desktop, software updates come from… well, every program has to create its own update mechanism. Users have to keep track of all these updaters and make sure their software is up-to-date. Most programs now have their act together and automatically update by default, but users who have old versions of Flash and Adobe Reader installed are vulnerable until they realize their software isn’t automatically updating. Even if every program updates properly, the sheer mess of updaters is clunky, slow, and confusing in comparison to a centralized update process. Browser Plugins Open Security Holes It’s no surprise that other modern platforms like iOS, Android, Chrome OS, Windows RT, and Windows Phone don’t allow traditional browser plugins, or only allow Flash and build it into the system. Browser plugins provide a wealth of different ways for malicious web pages to exploit the browser and open the system to attack. Browser plugins are one of the most popular attack vectors because of how many users have out-of-date plugins and how many plugins, especially Java, seem to be designed without taking security seriously. Oracle’s Java plugin even tries to install the terrible Ask toolbar when installing security updates. That’s right — the security update process is also used to cram additional adware into users’ machines so unscrupulous companies like Oracle can make a quick buck. It’s no wonder that most Windows PCs have an out-of-date, vulnerable version of Java installed. Battery Life is Terrible Windows PCs have bad battery life compared to Macs, IOS devices, and Android tablets, all of which Windows now competes with. Even Microsoft’s own Surface Pro 2 has bad battery life. Apple’s 11-inch MacBook Air, which has very similar hardware to the Surface Pro 2, offers double its battery life when web browsing. Microsoft has been fond of blaming third-party hardware manufacturers for their poorly optimized drivers in the past, but there’s no longer any room to hide. The problem is clearly Windows. Why is this? No one really knows for sure. Perhaps Microsoft has kept on piling Windows component on top of Windows component and many older Windows components were never properly optimized. Windows Users Become Stuck on Old Windows Versions Apple’s new OS X 10.9 Mavericks upgrade is completely free to all Mac users and supports Macs going back to 2007. Apple has also announced their intention that all new releases of Mac OS X will be free. In 2007, Microsoft had just shipped Windows Vista. Macs from the Windows Vista era are being upgraded to the latest version of the Mac operating system for free, while Windows PCs from the same era are probably still using Windows Vista. There’s no easy upgrade path for these people. They’re stuck using Windows Vista and maybe even the outdated Internet Explorer 9 if they haven’t installed a third-party web browser. Microsoft’s upgrade path is for these people to pay $120 for a full copy of Windows 8.1 and go through a complicated process that’s actaully a clean install. Even users of Windows 8 devices will probably have to pay money to upgrade to Windows 9, while updates for other operating systems are completely free. If you’re a PC geek, a PC gamer, or someone who just requires specialized software that only runs on Windows, you probably use the Windows desktop and don’t want to switch. That’s fine, but it doesn’t mean the Windows desktop is actually a good experience. Much of the burden falls on average users, who have to struggle with malware, bloatware, adware bundled in installers, complex software installation processes, and out-of-date software. In return, all they get is the ability to use a web browser and some basic Office apps that they could use on almost any other platform without all the hassle. Microsoft would agree with this, touting Windows RT and their new “Windows 8-style” app platform as the solution. Why else would Microsoft, a “devices and services” company, position the Surface — a device without traditional Windows desktop programs — as their mass-market device recommended for average people? This isn’t necessarily an endorsement of Windows RT. If you’re tech support for your family members and it comes time for them to upgrade, you may want to get them off the Windows desktop and tell them to get a Mac or something else that’s simple. Better yet, if they get a Mac, you can tell them to visit the Apple Store for help instead of calling you. That’s another thing Windows PCs don’t offer — good manufacturer support. Image Credit: Blanca Stella Mejia on Flickr, Collin Andserson on Flickr, Luca Conti on Flickr     

  Read the article

• Guest Post: Using IronRuby and .NET to produce the &lsquo;Hello World of WPF&rsquo;

  - by Eric Nelson

  [You might want to also read other GuestPosts on my blog – or contribute one?] On the 26th and 27th of March (2010) myself and Edd Morgan of Microsoft will be popping along to the Scottish Ruby Conference. I dabble with Ruby and I am a huge fan whilst Edd is a “proper Ruby developer”. Hence I asked Edd if he was interested in creating a guest post or two for my blog on IronRuby. This is the second of those posts. If you should stumble across this post and happen to be attending the Scottish Ruby Conference, then please do keep a look out for myself and Edd. We would both love to chat about all things Ruby and IronRuby. And… we should have (if Amazon is kind) a few books on IronRuby with us at the conference which will need to find a good home. This is me and Edd and … the book: Order on Amazon: http://bit.ly/ironrubyunleashed Using IronRuby and .NET to produce the ‘Hello World of WPF’ In my previous post I introduced, to a minor extent, IronRuby. I expanded a little on the basics of by getting a Rails app up-and-running on this .NET implementation of the Ruby language — but there wasn't much to it! So now I would like to go from simply running a pre-existing project under IronRuby to developing a whole new application demonstrating the seamless interoperability between IronRuby and .NET. In particular, we'll be using WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) — the component of the .NET Framework stack used to create rich media and graphical interfaces. Foundations of WPF To reiterate, WPF is the engine in the .NET Framework responsible for rendering rich user interfaces and other media. It's not the only collection of libraries in the framework with the power to do this — Windows Forms does the trick, too — but it is the most powerful and flexible. Put simply, WPF really excels when you need to employ eye candy. It's all about creating impact. Whether you're presenting a document, video, a data entry form, some kind of data visualisation (which I am most hopeful for, especially in terms of IronRuby - more on that later) or chaining all of the above with some flashy animations, you're likely to find that WPF gives you the most power when developing any of these for a Windows target. Let's demonstrate this with an example. I give you what I like to consider the 'hello, world' of WPF applications: the analogue clock. Today, over my lunch break, I created a WPF-based analogue clock using IronRuby... Any normal person would have just looked at their watch. - Twitter The Sample Application: Click here to see this sample in full on GitHub. Using Windows Presentation Foundation from IronRuby to create a Clock class Invoking the Clock class   Gives you The above is by no means perfect (it was a lunch break), but I think it does the job of illustrating IronRuby's interoperability with WPF using a familiar data visualisation. I'm sure you'll want to dissect the code yourself, but allow me to step through the important bits. (By the way, feel free to run this through ir first to see what actually happens). Now we're using IronRuby - unlike my previous post where we took pure Ruby code and ran it through ir, the IronRuby interpreter, to demonstrate compatibility. The main thing of note is the very distinct parallels between .NET namespaces and Ruby modules, .NET classes and Ruby classes. I guess there's not much to say about it other than at this point, you may as well be working with a purely Ruby graphics-drawing library. You're instantiating .NET objects, but you're doing it with the standard Ruby .new method you know from Ruby as Object#new — although, the root object of all your IronRuby objects isn't actually Object, it's System.Object. You're calling methods on these objects (and classes, for example in the call to System.Windows.Controls.Canvas.SetZIndex()) using the underscored, lowercase convention established for the Ruby language. The integration is so seamless. The fact that you're using a dynamic language on top of .NET's CLR is completely abstracted from you, allowing you to just build your software. A Brief Note on Events Events are a big part of developing client applications in .NET as well as under every other environment I can think of. In case you aren't aware, event-driven programming is essentially the practice of telling your code to call a particular method, or other chunk of code (a delegate) when something happens at an unpredictable time. You can never predict when a user is going to click a button, move their mouse or perform any other kind of input, so the advent of the GUI is what necessitated event-driven programming. This is where one of my favourite aspects of the Ruby language, blocks, can really help us. In traditional C#, for instance, you may subscribe to an event (assign a block of code to execute when an event occurs) in one of two ways: by passing a reference to a named method, or by providing an anonymous code block. You'd be right for seeing the parallel here with Ruby's concept of blocks, Procs and lambdas. As demonstrated at the very end of this rather basic script, we are using .NET's System.Timers.Timer to (attempt to) update the clock every second (I know it's probably not the best way of doing this, but for example's sake). Note: Diverting a little from what I said above, the ticking of a clock is very predictable, yet we still use the event our Timer throws to do this updating as one of many ways to perform that task outside of the main thread. You'll see that all that's needed to assign a block of code to be triggered on an event is to provide that block to the method of the name of the event as it is known to the CLR. This drawback to this is that it only allows the delegation of one code block to each event. You may use the add method to subscribe multiple handlers to that event - pushing that to the end of a queue. Like so: def tick puts "tick tock" end timer.elapsed.add method(:tick) timer.elapsed.add proc { puts "tick tock" } tick_handler = lambda { puts "tick tock" } timer.elapsed.add(tick_handler)   The ability to just provide a block of code as an event handler helps IronRuby towards that very important term I keep throwing around; low ceremony. Anonymous methods are, of course, available in other more conventional .NET languages such as C# and VB but, as usual, feel ever so much more elegant and natural in IronRuby. Note: Whether it's a named method or an anonymous chunk o' code, the block you delegate to the handling of an event can take arguments - commonly, a sender object and some args. Another Brief Note on Verbosity Personally, I don't mind verbose chaining of references in my code as long as it doesn't interfere with performance - as evidenced in the example above. While I love clean code, there's a certain feeling of safety that comes with the terse explicitness of long-winded addressing and the describing of objects as opposed to ambiguity (not unlike this sentence). However, when working with IronRuby, even I grow tired of typing System::Whatever::Something. Some people enjoy simply assuming namespaces and forgetting about them, regardless of the language they're using. Don't worry, IronRuby has you covered. It is completely possible to, with a call to include, bring the contents of a .NET-converted module into context of your IronRuby code - just as you would if you wanted to bring in an 'organic' Ruby module. To refactor the style of the above example, I could place the following at the top of my Clock class: class Clock include System::Windows::Shape include System::Windows::Media include System::Windows::Threading # and so on...   And by doing so, reduce calls to System::Windows::Shapes::Ellipse.new to simply Ellipse.new or references to System::Windows::Threading::DispatcherPriority.Render to a friendlier DispatcherPriority.Render. Conclusion I hope by now you can understand better how IronRuby interoperates with .NET and how you can harness the power of the .NET framework with the dynamic nature and elegant idioms of the Ruby language. The manner and parlance of Ruby that makes it a joy to work with sets of data is, of course, present in IronRuby — couple that with WPF's capability to produce great graphics quickly and easily, and I hope you can visualise the possibilities of data visualisation using these two things. Using IronRuby and WPF together to create visual representations of data and infographics is very exciting to me. Although today, with this project, we're only presenting one simple piece of information - the time - the potential is much grander. My day-to-day job is centred around software development and UI design, specifically in the realm of healthcare, and if you were to pay a visit to our office you would behold, directly above my desk, a large plasma TV with a constantly rotating, animated slideshow of charts and infographics to help members of our team do their jobs. It's an app powered by WPF which never fails to spark some conversation with visitors whose gaze has been hooked. If only it was written in IronRuby, the pleasantly low ceremony and reduced pre-processing time for my brain would have helped greatly. Edd Morgan blog Related Links: Getting PhP and Ruby working on Windows Azure and SQL Azure

  Read the article

• Glenn Fiedler's fixed timestep with fake threads

  - by kaoD

  I've implemented Glenn Fiedler's Fix Your Timestep! quite a few times in single-threaded games. Now I'm facing a different situation: I'm trying to do this in JavaScript. I know JS is single-threaded, but I plan on using requestAnimationFrame for the rendering part. This leaves me with two independent fake threads: simulation and rendering (I suppose requestAnimationFrame isn't really threaded, is it? I don't think so, it would BREAK JS.) Timing in these threads is independent too: dt for simulation and render is not the same. If I'm not mistaken, simulation should be up to Fiedler's while loop end. After the while loop, accumulator < dt so I'm left with some unspent time (dt) in the simulation thread. The problem comes in the draw/interpolation phase: const double alpha = accumulator / dt; State state = currentState*alpha + previousState * ( 1.0 - alpha ); render( state ); In my render callback, I have the current timestamp to which I can subtract the last-simulated-in-physics-timestamp to have a dt for the current frame. Should I just forget about this dt and draw using the physics thread's dt? It seems weird, since, well, I want to interpolate for the unspent time between simulation and render too, right? Of course, I want simulation and rendering to be completely independent, but I can't get around the fact that in Glenn's implementation the renderer produces time and the simulation consumes it in discrete dt sized chunks. A similar question was asked in Semi Fixed-timestep ported to javascript but the question doesn't really get to the point, and answers there point to removing physics from the render thread (which is what I'm trying to do) or just keeping physics in the render callback too (which is what I'm trying to avoid.)

  Read the article

• Start synergy on boot of Ubuntu 12.04

  - by SwimBikeRun

  I am having problems getting synergy to start on boot of my Ubuntu 12.04 desktop machine. I followed the troubleshooting at Start synergy on boot? completely, but I still couldn't get synergy to start on boot up. I tried running my client starter script manually and here is what resulted: m@m-o:/etc/synergy$ cat startsynergyc #!/bin/bash /usr/bin/synergyc -n MWin1 3.22.21.145 m@m-o:/etc/synergy$ ll total 28 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Oct 30 14:29 ./ drwxr-xr-x 143 root root 12288 Oct 30 14:31 ../ -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 54 Oct 30 14:29 startsynergyc* -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 67 Oct 30 14:06 startsynergys* -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 659 Oct 30 14:06 synergy.conf m@m-o:/etc/synergy$ ./startsynergyc INFO: Synergy 1.4.14 Client on Linux 3.8.0-32-generic #47~precise1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Oct 2 16:19:35 UTC 2013 x86_64 It appears that synergy is running. This is exactly what is being told to startup with ubuntu assuming I did the lightdm modification correctly. However, I don't see any synergy running, and I certainly can't control the other computer. Btw, I changed my ip in the log from what it actually is ~ Is this a necessary precaution or are ips local to the network? What does knowing my IP allow someone to do?

  Read the article

• Friday Fun: Christmas Tree Light Up

  - by Asian Angel

  Another week has thankfully passed by, so it is time to take a break and have some fun. This week’s game tests your ability to light up the whole Christmas tree…can you figure out the correct wiring configuration? Christmas Tree Light Up The object of the game is simple…light up all of the bulbs on the Christmas tree. While the game may look quick and easy at first you will need to do some thinking and experimenting to come up with the correct wiring configuration. The instructions are very simple…just click on any of the wiring sections or bulbs to rotate them. Keep in mind that you may have to click a few times to line the wiring sections or bulbs up as desired since the rotation is always clockwise. Note: You will need use all of the wiring sections available to completely light the tree up. Each time you will be presented with a different starting setup coming from your power source. Time to hook up the lights! Note: It is recommended that you disable the sound for the game since the “rotation” sounds can be slightly irritating. A nice start but there are still a lot of bulbs to light up. Getting closer… Almost there…only two more bulbs to light up. Success! Have fun playing! Play Christmas Tree Light Up Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The 50 Best Registry Hacks that Make Windows Better The How-To Geek Holiday Gift Guide (Geeky Stuff We Like) LCD? LED? Plasma? The How-To Geek Guide to HDTV Technology The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 8: Filters Improve Digital Photography by Calibrating Your Monitor Our Favorite Tech: What We’re Thankful For at How-To Geek Settle into Orbit with the Voyage Theme for Chrome and Iron Awesome Safari Compass Icons Set Escape from the Exploding Planet Wallpaper Move Your Tumblr Blog to WordPress Pytask is an Easy to Use To-Do List Manager for Your Ubuntu System Snowy Christmas House Personas Theme for Firefox

  Read the article

• Whew.... what a week!

  - by [email protected]

  Last week was a busy week for the UPK and Tutor teams at Oracle. It started with the the Collaborate Conference in Las Vegas and ended with our first UPK and Tutor Customer Advisory Board (CAB) meeting at Oracle HQ. The Collaborate Conference is a yearly event sponsored by three of the largest Oracle User Groups. • Oracle Applications User Group (OAUG) • Independent Oracle User Group (IOUG) • Quest - International User Group The User Groups are completely user run organizations with Oracle participation. If you've never attended a conference, time to start planning for the 2011 event in Orlando! If that's out of your reach, there are many regional and industry user groups that meet on a regular basis. They offer a great way to get involved, network with other users, and increase your knowledge around the Oracle applications. For a list of groups near you, check out the Oracle User Group Center. I'll add that the biggest meeting of Oracle users is at the Oracle Open World Conference in San Francisco in September, where we will have many UPK & Tutor focused development and customer sessions. More information on Oracle Open World will be forthcoming over the next few months. We hope to see many of you there! The CAB was a first for the UPK and Tutor team. Although we speak with customers regularly, this gave us an opportunity to meet in a more formal setting to discuss industry trends, business issues, and the direction of the products. Members serve a 2 year term and are required to attend 2 meetings per year, one in person, one via phone. We have some tweaking to do to our meeting format (most members wanted it to be longer!), but the overwhelming consensus was that it was a great success. There were many experiences and ideas shared and the wheels of the UPK and Tutor Development teams have been turning ever since. I'm sure you will see some of these discussions result in new product features over time. What a great week!

  Read the article

• Node.js MMO - process and/or map division

  - by Gipsy King

  I am in the phase of designing a mmo browser based game (certainly not massive, but all connected players are in the same universe), and I am struggling with finding a good solution to the problem of distributing players across processes. I'm using node.js with socket.io. I have read this helpful article, but I would like some advice since I am also concerned with different processes. Solution 1: Tie a process to a map location (like a map-cell), connect players to the process corresponding to their location. When a player performs an action, transmit it to all other players in this process. When a player moves away, he will eventually have to connect to another process (automatically). Pros: Easier to implement Cons: Must divide map into zones Player reconnection when moving into a different zone is probably annoying If one zone/process is always busy (has players in it), it doesn't really load-balance, unless I split the zone which may not be always viable There shouldn't be any visible borders Solution 1b: Same as 1, but connect processes of bordering cells, so that players on the other side of the border are visible and such. Maybe even let them interact. Solution 2: Spawn processes on demand, unrelated to a location. Have one special process to keep track of all connected player handles, their location, and the process they're connected to. Then when a player performs an action, the process finds all other nearby players (from the special player-process-location tracking node), and instructs their matching processes to relay the action. Pros: Easy load balancing: spawn more processes Avoids player reconnecting / borders between zones Cons: Harder to implement and test Additional steps of finding players, and relaying event/action to another process If the player-location-process tracking process fails, all other fail too I would like to hear if I'm missing something, or completely off track.

  Read the article

• How to Disable the Animations on the Windows 8 Start Screen

  - by Usman

  Who doesn’t love animations? They make everything look so cool. But in some cases, animations are a distraction, and the same is true for Windows 8′s start screen (the “Modern UI”). Fortunately, there’s a very simple way to disable all those animations. Keep reading to find out how it’s done. The animations are especially noticeable when you switch from the good ol’ peaceful desktop to the start screen by pressing the winkey. I don’t know about you, but it feels like I’m getting dizzy by watching all those crazy animations over and over again. People have found out ways to enhance the start screen animations, add delay to various elements and stuff like that. But we’re going the other way, disabling the animations completely. To do so, log in, and when the start screen appears, type “Computer” (it will pop up in the search results before you’ve even finished typing). Our Geek Trivia App for Windows 8 is Now Available Everywhere How To Boot Your Android Phone or Tablet Into Safe Mode HTG Explains: Does Your Android Phone Need an Antivirus?

  Read the article

• How do I manage the technical debate over WCF vs. Web API?

  - by Saeed Neamati

  I'm managing a team of like 15 developers now, and we are stuck at a point on choosing the technology, where the team is broken into two completely opposite teams, debating over usage of WCF vs. Web API. Team A which supports usage of Web API, brings forward these reasons: Web API is just the modern way of writing services (Wikipedia) WCF is an overhead for HTTP. It's a solution for TCP, and Net Pipes, and other protocols WCF models are not POCO, because of [DataContract] & [DataMember] and those attributes SOAP is not as readable and handy as JSON SOAP is an overhead for network compared to JSON (transport over HTTP) No method overloading Team B which supports the usage of WCF, says: WCF supports multiple protocols (via configuration) WCF supports distributed transactions Many good examples and success stories exist for WCF (while Web API is still young) Duplex is excellent for two-way communication This debate is continuing, and I don't know what to do now. Personally, I think that we should use a tool only for its right place of usage. In other words, we'd better use Web API, if we want to expose a service over HTTP, but use WCF when it comes to TCP and Duplex. By searching the Internet, we can't get to a solid result. Many posts exist for supporting WCF, but on the contrary we also find people complaint about it. I know that the nature of this question might sound arguable, but we need some good hints to decide. We're stuck at a point where choosing a technology by chance might make us regret it later. We want to choose with open eyes. Our usage would be mostly for web, and we would expose our services over HTTP. In some cases (say 5 to 10 percent) we might need distributed transactions though. What should I do now? How do I manage this debate in a constructive way?

  Read the article

• 2D soft-body physics engines?

  - by Griffin

  Hi so i've recently learned the SFML graphics library and would like to use or make a non-rigid body 2D physics system to use with it. I have three questions: The definition of rigid body in Box2d is A chunk of matter that is so strong that the distance between any two bits of matter on the chunk is completely constant. And this is exactly what i don't want as i would like to make elastic, deformable, breakable, and re-connection bodies. 1. Are there any simple 2D physics engines, but with these kinds of characteristics out there? preferably free or opensource? 2. If not could i use box2d and work off of it to create it even if it's based on rigid bodies? 3. Finally, if there is a simple physics engine like this, should i go through with the proccess of creating a new one anyway, simply for experience and to enhance physics math knowledge? I feel like it would help if i ever wanted to modify the code of an existing engine, or create a game with really unique physics. Thanks!

  Read the article

• Creating an ITemplate from a String

  - by Damon

  I do a lot of work with control templates, and one of the pieces of functionality that I've always wanted is the ability to build a ITemplate from a string.  Throughout the years, the topic has come up from time to time, and I never really found anything about how to do it. though I have run across a number of postings from people who are also wanting the same capability.  As I was messing around with things the other day, I stumbled on how to make it work and I feel really foolish for not figuring it out sooner. ITemplate is an interface that exposes a single method named InstantiateIn.  I've been searching for years for some magical .NET framework component that would take a string and convert it into an ITemplate, when all along I could just build my own.  Here's the code: /// <summary> ///   Allows string-based ITempalte implementations /// </summary> public class StringTemplate : ITemplate {     #region Constructor(s)     ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////     /// <summary>     ///   Constructor     /// </summary>     /// <param name="template">String based version of the control template.</param>     public StringTemplate(string template)     {         Template = template;     }     /// <summary>     ///   Constructor     /// </summary>     /// <param name="template">String based version of the control template.</param>     /// <param name="copyToContainer">True to copy intermediate container contents to the instantiation container, False to leave the intermediate container in place.</param>     public StringTemplate(string template, bool copyToContainer)     {         Template = template;         CopyToContainer = copyToContainer;     }     ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////     #endregion     #region Properties     ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////     /// <summary>     ///   String based template     /// </summary>     public string Template     {         get;         set;     }     /// <summary>     ///   When a StringTemplate is instantiated it is created inside an intermediate control     ///   due to limitations of the .NET Framework.  Specifying True for the CopyToContainer     ///   property copies all the controls from the intermediate container into instantiation     ///   container passed to the InstantiateIn method.     /// </summary>     public bool CopyToContainer     {         get;         set;     }     ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////     #endregion     #region ITemplate Members     ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////     /// <summary>     ///   Creates the template in the specified control.     /// </summary>     /// <param name="container">Control in which to make the template</param>     public void InstantiateIn(Control container)     {         Control tempContainer = container.Page.ParseControl(Template);         if (CopyToContainer)         {             for (int i = tempContainer.Controls.Count - 1; i >= 0; i--)             {                 Control tempControl = tempContainer.Controls[i];                 tempContainer.Controls.RemoveAt(i);                 container.Controls.AddAt(0, tempControl);             }                         }         else         {             container.Controls.Add(tempContainer);         }     }     ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////     #endregion } //class Converting a string into a user control is fairly easy using the ParseControl method from a Page object.  Fortunately, the container passed into the InstantiateIn method has a Page property.  One caveat, however, is that the Page property only has a reference to a Page if the container is located ON the page.  If you run into this problem, you may have to find a creative way to get the Page reference (you can add it to the constructor, store it in the request context, etc).  Another issue that I ran into is that the ParseControl creates a new control, parses the string template, places any controls defined in the template onto the new control it created, and returns that new control with the template on it.  You cannot pass in your own container. Adding this directly to the container provided as a parameter in the InstantiateIn means that you end up with an additional "level" in the control hierarchy.  To avoid this, I added code in that removes each control from the intermediate container and places it into the actual container.  I am not, however, sure about the performance penalty associated with moving a bunch of control from one place to another, nor am I completely sure if doing such a move completely screws something up if you have a code behind, etc.  It seems to work when it's just a template, but my testing was ever-so-slightly shy of thorough when it comes to other crazy scenarios.  As a catch-all, I added a Boolean property called CopyToContainer that allows you to turn the copying on or off depending on your desires and needs. Technorati Tags: .NET,ASP.NET,ITemplate,Development,C#,Custom Controls,Server Controls

  Read the article

• Dell Latitude will not boot after fresh Ubuntu 12.10 installation. Black screen

  - by James

  I have an old dell latitude d610 that I've just installed ubuntu 12.10 onto, and now unfortunately it will not complete booting up. The screen flashes purple but then fades out and dies. I'm fairly sure there is an issue with graphics drivers, as I had to turn on "nomodeset" in the options when installing off a DVD to see the installer, but I'm very new to linux and don't know terribly much at all apart from what I've read on the net. I have been able to hold down shift and bring up GRUB, and entered into recovery mode, and when I enter into the low graphics mode, the xserver log file says it can detect a screen but found none with a useable configuration, then goes on to say a fatal server error has occurred and no screen have been found at all, telling me to check a log file at "/var/log/xorg.0.log" I have no idea how to check this specific log file! Attempting to actually go further than this in low graphics mode and restart the display simply artefacts the screen. It is all very strange and annoying because I did once by random have the machine boot completely for no apparent reason, but upon restarting the issue reoccurred.

  Read the article

• Copy wrongs and Copyright

  - by Tony Davis

  Recently, a Chinese blog website copied, wholesale and without permission, a Simple-Talk article on troubleshooting locking and blocking. Our initial reaction was exasperation and anger, tempered slightly by the fact that there was, at the top, a clear link to the original, and the book from which it was extracted. On the day the copy was posted, our original article saw a 30K spike in visits, so the site clearly has a substantial following! This made us pause for thought. Indeed, we wondered whether it might not be more profitable, and certainly more enjoyable, to notify the offender of similar content and serve a "put up" notice, rather than the usual DMCA "take down" . The DMCA request, issued to protect our and our authors' assets, is a necessary but tiresome, chore. So often, simple communication and negotiation could have averted the need for it. We are, after all, in the business of presenting knowledge, information and help to the SQL Server Community. If only they had asked! Of course, one's attitude changes according to the motivation behind the copying of content. One of the motivations seems to be pure vanity; they do it to try to enhance their CV, or their company's expertise, by pretending to expertise they don't possess. There is a class of plagiariser, however, that is doing it purely for money, getting advertising revenue by attracting hapless readers to their site. Not content with stealing content, sites can invest in services that provide 'load-testing' for websites that is so realistic that even the search engines can be fooled. Stolen content, fake visitors, swindled advertisers. Zero-tolerance is really the only way of dealing with plagiarism, and action will only be completely effective once Bing, Google, and the other search engines strike out from their listings the rogue sites that refuse to take down plagiarised content. It is, after all in everyone else's interests. Cheers, Tony.

  Read the article

• SQL Azure Pricing

  - by kaleidoscope

  Microsoft’s pricing for SQL Server in the cloud, SQLAzure has been announced: $9.99   per month for 0 – 1GB $99.99 per month up to 10GB. There’s currently a 10GB maximum size cap for SQLAzure. For larger data storage needs, you’ll need to break the databases into smaller sizes. Scaling SQL Azure Applications If you think you’re going to need 100GB in the near term, it probably makes sense to break your application up into multiple separate databases from the get-go (10 x $9.99 = $99.99 anyway) and just make really sure none of the individual databases exceed 10GB. Beep Beep, Back That Database Up The bandwidth costs for SQL Azure are $.15 per GB of outbound bandwidth.  Assuming that you don’t compress the data before you pull it out of the cloud, that means daily backups of a 1GB database will add another $4.50 per month, and a 10GB database will add another $45/month.  Daily backups will cost about half of what your monthly service charges cost. It’s not completely clear from the press release, but if Microsoft follows Amazon’s pricing model, bandwidth between the Microsoft cloud services will not incur a cost.  That would mean it might make sense to spin up an Windows Azure computing application for $.12 per hour, use that application to compress your SQL Azure database, and then send the compressed data off to Azure storage for backup.  That would eliminate the data in/out costs, and minimize the Azure storage costs ($.15/GB).  Database administrators would back up their SQL Azure data to Azure Storage, keep a history of backups there, and restore them to SQL Azure faster when needed. Of course, there’s no native backup support in SQL Azure, and it’s not clear whether Windows Azure will include tools like SQL Server Integration Services. More details can be found at http://www.brentozar.com/archive/2009/07/sql-azure-pricing-10-for-1gb-100-for-10gb/   Anish, S

  Read the article

• Ubuntu Desktop Environments, No Internet Access

  - by Sneha429

  Windows has been a pain, so I installed Ubuntu 13.10 on my parent's HP Pavilion first with Cinnamon. For the first few days, it worked wonderfully, and then stopped connecting to the internet. I tried using the windows partition and it worked fine. Posted a question about this - no answer yet. Since then, something happened while my parents were using it. The Windows partition was completely erased. I reinstalled Ubuntu and the Cinnamon desktop. Worked great for a day, then same connectivity issue. Since Ubuntu works fine on my netbook without Cinnamon, I thought perhaps this was a Cinnamon issue. Removed Cinnamon and installed LXDE. LXDE, much like Cinnamon, worked well. Then I rebooted and couldn't connect to the internet. I encountered the same issue when using KDE. I would personally like something with a bottom panel as my parents are familiar and comfortable with Windows and can barely use their cell - phones so I do not think Unity will work too well for them. Ubuntu with Unity seems to be the only way to access the internet. My parents mostly use the internet to check email/facebook/watch video. Anyone know how to fix this?

  Read the article

• Mexico leading in Business Transformation Strategies:

  - by [email protected]

  By [email protected] on April 15, 2010 8:31 AM By John Burke Group Vice President Oracle Applications Business Unit I recently completed a business tour in Mexico, and was surprised by both the economic vibrancy of the country and the thought leadership expressed by many of the customers I met. An example of the economic vibrancy of the country: across the street from my hotel was the local Bentley dealership, Coach Store, Yves Saint Laurent and of course a Starbucks. I only made it to Starbucks. Both the Coach Store and YSL had a line of folks waiting to get in... As for thought leadership, there were several illustrations only on the first day. I had the opportunity to meet with a branch of the Mexican Federal Government. Their questions were not about clerical task automation, far from it! We discussed citizen on-line access to fees and services - for example looking up the duty on an international goods shipment, or tracking that my taxes have been received, or the status of my request for a certain service. Eligibility, policies and status. Having an integrated rules or policy automation system that would allow businesses and citizens to access accurate information and ensure the proper collection of fees and payment for 3rd party provided services. Then in the afternoon, I met with the owner of a roofing company (note: most roofs in Mexico are flat and made of cement). This CEO started discussing how he wanted to transform his business from a cement products company to a service company and market 5-10-15 year service contracts which would guarantee the structural integrity of the roof and of course that the roof would remain waterproof. Although his products were guaranteed, they required an annual inspection and most home owners never schedule that inspection until it is too late and water damage has occurred. These emergency calls reduce his margin and reduce customer satisfaction. This lead to a discussion of business models in general and why long term differentiation can only come from service, not just for the music or news industries, but also for roofing companies! I completely agreed with the transformational concepts described in both meetings and quickly understood why there is a Bentley dealership near my hotel.

  Read the article

• How to install OpenCV without nVidia drivers

  - by Subhamoy Sengupta

  I have a laptop with on-board Intel graphics. I have been using OpenCV for years with this machine and I have managed to avoid manual compilation so far. But in Ubuntu 13.10, when I try to install libopencv-dev from the repositories, it brings along libopencv-ocl, which seems to be dependent on nvidia drivers. Letting the driver install messes up my xserver completely and when I do glxinfo afterwards, I get this: name of display: :0.0 Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0". Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0". Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0". Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0". Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0". Error: couldn't find RGB GLX visual or fbconfig Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0". Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0". Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0". Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0". Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0". Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0". Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0". To solve this, I purge all nVidia drivers and reinstall xserver, much like it has been suggested here, and when I purge the nvidia drivers, OpenCV development libraries are also removed, as apt-get tells me they are no longer needed. This is foreign to me, because I expected a warning that I have installed packages that depend on this, but how can removing a dependency automatically remove the package I installed without warnings or asking? I understand it has something to do with nVidia being the provider of the libopencv-ocl in the repo. How could I get around it? I would rather not compile OpenCV if I can help it. I have seen similar questions, but not a suitable answer.

  Read the article

• Game Components, Game Managers and Object Properties

  - by George Duckett

  I'm trying to get my head around component based entity design. My first step was to create various components that could be added to an object. For every component type i had a manager, which would call every component's update function, passing in things like keyboard state etc. as required. The next thing i did was remove the object, and just have each component with an Id. So an object is defined by components having the same Ids. Now, i'm thinking that i don't need a manager for all my components, for example i have a SizeComponent, which just has a Size property). As a result the SizeComponent doesn't have an update method, and the manager's update method does nothing. My first thought was to have an ObjectProperty class which components could query, instead of having them as properties of components. So an object would have a number of ObjectProperty and ObjectComponent. Components would have update logic that queries the object for properties. The manager would manage calling the component's update method. This seems like over-engineering to me, but i don't think i can get rid of the components, because i need a way for the managers to know what objects need what component logic to run (otherwise i'd just remove the component completely and push its update logic into the manager). Is this (having ObjectProperty, ObjectComponent and ComponentManager classes) over-engineering? What would be a good alternative?

  Read the article

• Suggestions for implementing a dynamic 2D level

  - by Wouter

  I am working on a game that needs a level that is completely generated. Currently my approach is to draw textures for the levels pixel by pixel during the game (in XNA with SpriteBatch). This is too intensive unfortunately. The game has frame drops even when I only draw 1 level texture each draw cycle. Here is an example of the current prototype. It is a simple sidescroller with the avatar swimming through a cave. The shape of this cave will alter throughout the level (textures and physics collision shapes). You can clearly see the boundaries of the level tiles in the screenshot below. These are generated just before they move into camera view. For inspiration I looked at PixelJunk Shooter 2. These levels are obviously not generated, but some of the levels have movement. How do you guys think they implemented it? My guess is that the level and other objects in the game are actually flat 3d models, but I am not sure..

  Read the article

• Linking a facebook app's page to an existing facebook business page

  - by Dan

  I have a facebook app page, and a separate facebook business profile page. The business page was created, but not by me, some time before the app and its page were created. Is there any way to connect the two pages, or import the content and friends from one to the other? The older profile page has some content; a set of friends and wall posts that I don't want to lose. It was created before I had a chance to set up an app page. Since the app was created more recently, it does not have any content posted to it. I intended the app page to eventually hold some advertising info for my main website itself (non-canvas, just using fb for the connect api etc). The idea being that as people sign up on my site through facebook's OAuth, I could use the graph api to post to their wall. The wall posts are working as expected but naturally they are directing users to the facebook app page, which has no content, friends etc. I'd prefer to be directed to the original business page, where the party is really happening. Now it seems that the two pages are completely separate; what would I need to do to direct the users to the business page?

  Read the article

• JavaScript objects and Crockford's The Good Parts

  - by Jonathan

  I've been thinking quite a bit about how to do OOP in JS, especially when it comes to encapsulation and inheritance, recently. According to Crockford, classical is harmful because of new(), and both prototypal and classical are limited because their use of constructor.prototype means you can't use closures for encapsulation. Recently, I've considered the following couple of points about encapsulation: Encapsulation kills performance. It makes you add functions to EACH member object rather than to the prototype, because each object's methods have different closures (each object has different private members). Encapsulation forces the ugly "var that = this" workaround, to get private helper functions to have access to the instance they're attached to. Either that or make sure you call them with privateFunction.apply(this) everytime. Are there workarounds for either of two issues I mentioned? if not, do you still consider encapsulation to be worth it? Sidenote: The functional pattern Crockford describes doesn't even let you add public methods that only touch public members, since it completely forgoes the use of new() and constructor.prototype. Wouldn't a hybrid approach where you use classical inheritance and new(), but also call Super.apply(this, arguments) to initialize private members and privileged methods, be superior?

  Read the article

• Disable the Old Adobe Flash Plugin in Google Chrome

  - by The Geek

  If you’ve just updated to the Dev or Beta release of Google Chrome, you might have noticed that a special version of Adobe Flash is now integrated into the default distribution of Chrome. But what about your old plug-in? As it turns out, the old plug-in is generally still installed… but you can easily disable Chrome plug-ins in the latest version, so let’s get to work. Disable the Extra Flash Plug-in Head over to about:plugins and look through the list—you should notice two Shockwave Flash plugins. The first one should be in your Google Chrome installation folder, and has the filename gcswf32.dll. This is the NEW one, so don’t disable it! If you keep scrollling down, you’ll see the old one, with the file name NPSWF32.dll. This is the OLD plugin, and you can safely disable it. Of course, if you only use Chrome you could just completely uninstall Adobe Flash from your system by heading into Control Panel’s Uninstall Programs screen, and then finding and uninstalling Adobe Flash Player Plugin. The ActiveX version is for Internet Explorer. We’ve not done any testing to see if the old Flash plugin is even still active or not, but may as well disable it just to be sure, right? Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips How To Disable Individual Plug-ins in Google ChromeSearch for Install Packages from the Ubuntu Command LineStop YouTube Videos from Automatically Playing in ChromeHow To Disable Javascript in Adobe Reader and Patch the Latest Massive Security HoleStupid Geek Tricks: Compare Your Browser’s Memory Usage with Google Chrome TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Outlook Connector Upgrade Error Gadfly is a cool Twitter/Silverlight app Enable DreamScene in Windows 7 Microsoft’s “How Do I ?” Videos Home Networks – How do they look like & the problems they cause Check Your IMAP Mail Offline In Thunderbird

  Read the article

< Previous Page | 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118  | Next Page >