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• Samsung introduces smart watch. But without any smartness!

  - by Gopinath

  The era of mobile phone can be classified as before iPhone and after iPhone. When iPhone was introduced they were revolutionary, smart, awesome and technologically far advanced than any other phone available in the market. iPhone is the first true smartphone and a game changer. With the same goal in mind, Samsung tried revolutionizing watch industry by announcing Galaxy Gear watches. They branded them as a smart watch, hyped its release as if it’s going to revolutionize the way we use watches. But in reality there is nothing exciting about it. Instead it’s an expensive (300$) one, battery lasts less than a day, user interface is very very slow, has small memory capacity, not much of use if not connected to a Samsung phone!! With so many negative, how can it be a smart watch? Reviews on Galaxy Gear smart watch The Next Web Smartwatches are still too dumb The Verge Samsung’s Galaxy Gear isn’t really a smartwatch Gizmodo $300 is a lot for a souped up fitness tracker, and as far as the basic smartphone functions Galaxy Gear is capable of, those feel a little strange and counterintuitive ZD NET Samsung has left the door wide open with the Galaxy Gear, which looks both rushed and exorbitantly priced at the same time. Few Tweets on Galaxy Gear 1. Apple surprises with iPhone 2. Tablet rumors 3. Others rush crap to market 4. iPad 5. ‘iWatch’ Rumors 6. Others rush crap to market 7. ? — Matthew Panzarino (@panzer) September 4, 2013 Camera, phone, music… There’s one thing that the Gear doesn’t seem to have: a purpose | http://t.co/raK4Rgy6Fm by @SamGrobart — Businessweek (@BW) September 5, 2013   Galaxy Gear Video demo shows how slow it is Here is a Galaxy Gear hands on video from slashgear. You can see how slow the device performs   With the rumors of Apple building smart watch, Samsung rushed to the market with its own version of (smart) watch as a preemptive strike. But with a half baked product and without any innovation it back fired on it own reputation. This would’ve been great chance to Samsung to prove that the company is innovative and not a copy cat. But it failed to innovate and missed a chance.

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• Character Stats and Power

  - by Stephen Furlani

  I'm making an RPG game system and I'm having a hard time deciding on doing detailed or abstract character statistics. These statistics define the character's natural - not learned - abilities. For example: Mass Effect: 0 (None that I can see) X20 (Xtreme Dungeon Mastery): 1 "STAT" Diablo: 4 "Strength, Magic, Dexterity, Vitality" Pendragon: 5 "SIZ, STR, DEX, CON, APP" Dungeons & Dragons (3.x, 4e): 6 "Str, Dex, Con, Wis, Int, Cha" Fallout 3: 7 "S.P.E.C.I.A.L." RIFTS: 8 "IQ, ME, MA, PS, PP, PE, PB, Spd" Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (1st ed?): 12-ish "WS, BS, S, T, Ag, Int, WP, Fel, A, Mag, IP, FP" HERO (5th ed): 14 "Str, Dex, Con, Body, Int, Ego, Pre, Com, PD, ED, Spd, Rec, END, STUN" The more stats, the more complex and detailed your character becomes. This comes with a trade-off however, because you usually only have limited resources to describe your character. D&D made this infamous with the whole min/max-ing thing where strong characters were typically not also smart. But also, a character with a high Str typically also has high Con, Defenses, Hit Points/Health. Without high numbers in all those other stats, they might as well not be strong since they wouldn't hold up well in hand-to-hand combat. So things like that force trade-offs within the category of strength. So my original (now rejected) idea was to force players into deciding between offensive and defensive stats: Might / Body Dexterity / Speed Wit / Wisdom Heart Soul But this left some stat's without "opposites" (or opposites that were easily defined). I'm leaning more towards the following: Body (Physical Prowess) Mind (Mental Prowess) Heart (Social Prowess) Soul (Spiritual Prowess) This will define a character with just 4 numbers. Everything else gets based off of these numbers, which means they're pretty important. There won't, however, be ways of describing characters who are fast, but not strong or smart, but absent minded. Instead of defining the character with these numbers, they'll be detailing their character by buying skills and powers like these: Quickness Add a +2 Bonus to Body Rolls when Dodging. for a character that wants to be faster, or the following for a big, tough character Body Building Add a +2 Bonus to Body Rolls when Lifting, Pushing, or Throwing objects. [EDIT - removed subjectiveness] So my actual questions is what are some pitfalls with a small stat list and a large amount of descriptive powers? Is this more difficult to port cross-platform (pen&paper, PC) for example? Are there examples of this being done well/poorly? Thanks,

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• Advice on designing a robust program to handle a large library of meta-information & programs

  - by Sam Bryant

  So this might be overly vague, but here it is anyway I'm not really looking for a specific answer, but rather general design principles or direction towards resources that deal with problems like this. It's one of my first large-scale applications, and I would like to do it right. Brief Explanation My basic problem is that I have to write an application that handles a large library of meta-data, can easily modify the meta-data on-the-fly, is robust with respect to crashing, and is very efficient. (Sorta like the design parameters of iTunes, although sometimes iTunes performs more poorly than I would like). If you don't want to read the details, you can skip the rest Long Explanation Specifically I am writing a program that creates a library of image files and meta-data about these files. There is a list of tags that may or may not apply to each image. The program needs to be able to add new images, new tags, assign tags to images, and detect duplicate images, all while operating. The program contains an image Viewer which has tagging operations. The idea is that if a given image A is viewed while the library has tags T1, T2, and T3, then that image will have boolean flags for each of those tags (depending on whether the user tagged that image while it was open in the Viewer). However, prior to being viewed in the Viewer, image A would have no value for tags T1, T2, and T3. Instead it would have a "dirty" flag indicating that it is unknown whether or not A has these tags or not. The program can introduce new tags at any time (which would automatically set all images to "dirty" with respect to this new tag) This program must be fast. It must be easily able to pull up a list of images with or without a certain tag as well as images which are "dirty" with respect to a tag. It has to be crash-safe, in that if it suddenly crashes, all of the tagging information done in that session is not lost (though perhaps it's okay to loose some of it) Finally, it has to work with a lot of images (10,000) I am a fairly experienced programmer, but I have never tried to write a program with such demanding needs and I have never worked with databases. With respect to the meta-data storage, there seem to be a few design choices: Choice 1: Invidual meta-data vs centralized meta-data Individual Meta-Data: have a separate meta-data file for each image. This way, as soon as you change the meta-data for an image, it can be written to the hard disk, without having to rewrite the information for all of the other images. Centralized Meta-Data: Have a single file to hold the meta-data for every file. This would probably require meta-data writes in intervals as opposed to after every change. The benefit here is that you could keep a centralized list of all images with a given tag, ect, making the task of pulling up all images with a given tag very efficient

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• Mexico leading in Business Transformation Strategies:

  - by [email protected]

  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.    

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• Convert Chrome Bookmark Toolbar Folders to Icons

  - by Asian Angel

  So you have your regular bookmarks reduced to icons but what about the folders? With our little hack and a few minutes of your time you can turn those folders into icons too. Condensing the Folders Reducing bookmark folders to icons is a little more tricky than regular bookmarks but not hard to do. Right click on the folder and select “Rename…”. The folder’s name should already be highlighted/selected as shown here. Delete the text…notice that the “OK Button” has become unusable for the moment. Now what you will need to do is: Hold down the “Alt Key” Type in “0160” (without the quotes) using the numbers keypad on the right side of your keyboard Release the “Alt Key” after you have finished typing in the number above Once you have released the “Alt Key” you will notice two things…the “cursor” has moved further into the text area and you can now click on the “OK Button” again. There is our folder after editing. And it works just as well as before but without taking up so much room. Here is how our “iconized” folder looks next to our bookmarks. Perfect! What if you want to reduce multiple folders to icons? Perform the same exact steps shown above for each folder and pack your “Bookmarks Toolbar” full of folder goodness! As seen here the folders will have a little more space between them in comparison with singular bookmarks due to the “blank name” for each folder. For those who may be curious this is what your bookmarks will look like in the “Bookmark Manager Page”. Note: If you export your bookmarks all bookmarks contained in multiple blank name folders will be combined into a single folder. Conclusion With just a little bit of work you can pack a lot of goodness into your “Bookmarks Toolbar”. No more wasted space… Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Condense the Bookmarks in the Firefox Bookmarks ToolbarAccess Your Bookmarks with a Toolbar Button in Google ChromeAdd the Bookmarks Menu to Your Bookmarks Toolbar with Bookmarks UI ConsolidatorAdd a Vertical Bookmarks Toolbar to FirefoxReduce Your Bookmarks Toolbar to a Toolbar Button 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 OutlookStatView Scans and Displays General Usage Statistics How to Add Exceptions to the Windows Firewall Office 2010 reviewed in depth by Ed Bott FoxClocks adds World Times in your Statusbar (Firefox) Have Fun Editing Photo Editing with Citrify Outlook Connector Upgrade Error

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• Please help me give this principle a name

  - by Brent Arias

  As a designer, I like providing interfaces that cater to a power/simplicity balance. For example, I think the LINQ designers followed that principle because they offered both dot-notation and query-notation. The first is more powerful, but the second is easier to read and follow. If you disagree with my assessment of LINQ, please try to see my point anyway; LINQ was just an example, my post is not about LINQ. I call this principle "dial-able power". But I'd like to know what other people call it. Certainly some will say "KISS" is the common term. But I see KISS as a superset, or a "consumerism" practice. Using LINQ as my example again, in my view, a team of programmers who always try to use query notation over dot-notation are practicing KISS. Thus the LINQ designers practiced "dial-able power", whereas the LINQ consumers practice KISS. The two make beautiful music together. I'll give another example. Imagine a C# logging tool that has two signatures allowing two uses: void Write(string message); void Write(Func<string> messageCallback); The purpose of the two signatures is to fulfill these needs: //Every-day "simple" usage, nothing special. myLogger.Write("Something Happened" + error.ToString() ); //This is performance critical, do not call ToString() if logging is //disabled. myLogger.Write( () => { "Something Happened" + error.ToString() }); Having these overloads represents "dial-able power," because the consumer has the choice of a simple interface or a powerful interface. A KISS-loving consumer will use the simpler signature most of the time, and will allow the "busy" looking signature when the power is needed. This also helps self-documentation, because usage of the powerful signature tells the reader that the code is performance critical. If the logger had only the powerful signature, then there would be no "dial-able power." So this comes full-circle. I'm happy to keep my own "dial-able power" coinage if none yet exists, but I can't help think I'm missing an obvious designation for this practice. p.s. Another example that is related, but is not the same as "dial-able power", is Scott Meyer's principle "make interfaces easy to use correctly, and hard to use incorrectly."

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• Lubuntu: neither shut-down nor restart works

  - by Rantanplan

  aI have a freshly installed Lubuntu 14.04.1 (installed with forcepae option on a laptop with Pentium M processor). The only problem that I have found so far is that I cannot shut-down or restart the laptop. It always continues showing "Lubuntu" and some dots. Pressing Esc it says wait-for-state stop/waiting * Stopping rsync daemon rsync [OK] * Asking all remaining processes to terminate… [OK] * Killing all remaining processes… [fail] ModemManager [597] : <info> Caught signal, shutting down… ModemManager [597] : <info> ModemManager is shut down nm-dispatcher.action: Could not get the system bus. Make sure the message bus daemon is running! Message: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken. * Deactivating swap… [OK] * Will now halt The cursor remains blinking but the only way to switch it off is to hold the power-off key pressed for some seconds. I tried sudo shutdown -h now, sudo halt and sudo poweroff resulting in the same problem. I also tried to add acpi=force in GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" in /etc/default/grub and run sudo update-grub; then, using the taskbar's shot-down button lead to a direct stop of the laptop equal to holding the power-off key pressed for some seconds. Next I followed the answer http://askubuntu.com/a/202481/288322. Now, I directly receive some messages during shut-down starting wait-for-state stop/waiting * Stopping rsync daemon rsync [OK] * Asking all remaining processes to terminate… [OK] [ 240.944277] INFO: task kworker/0:2:24: block for more than 120 seconds. [ 240.944461] Tainted: G S 3.13.0-34-generic #60-Ubuntu [ 240.944623] "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_tasks_timeout_secs" disables this message. followed by some more similar lines and then: * Killing all remaining processes… [fail] ModemManager [576] : <info> Caught signal, shutting down… nm-dispatcher.action: Caught signal 15, shutting down... ModemManager [576] : <info> ModemManager is shut down * Deactivating swap… [OK] * Will now halt [ 600.944276] INFO: task kworker/0:2:24: block for more than 120 seconds. [ 600.944458] Tainted: G S 3.13.0-34-generic #60-Ubuntu [ 600.944619] "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_tasks_timeout_secs" disables this message. Then, nothing more was coming during the next 5 minutes. If you know where can I find relevant error information, I will be happy to search for them.

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• VSDB to SSDT Part 1 : Converting projects and trimming excess files

  - by Etienne Giust

  Visual Studio 2012 introduces a change regarding Database Projects : they now use the SSDT technology, which means old VS2010 database projects (VSDB projects) need to be converted. Hopefully, VS2012 does that for you and it is quite painless, but in my case some unnecessary artifacts from the old project were left in place.  Also, when reopening the solution, database projects appeared unconverted even if I had converted them in the previous session and saved the solution.   Converting the project(s) When opening your Visual Studio 2010 solution with Visual Studio 2012, every standard project should be converted by default, but Visual Studio will ask you about your database projects : “Functional changes required Visual Studio will automatically make functional changes to the following projects in order to open them. The project behavior will change as a result. You will be able to open these projects in this version and Visual Studio 2010 SP1.” If you accept, your project is converted. And it should compile with no errors right away except if you have dependencies to dbschema files which are no longer supported.   The output of a SSDT project is a dacpac file which replaces the dbschema file you were accustomed to. References to dacpac files can be added to SSDT projects in the same fashion references to dbschema could be added to VSDB projects.   Cleaning up You will notice that your project file is now a sqlproj file but the old dbproj is still here. In fact at that point you can still reopen the solution in Visual Studio 2010 and everything should show up.   If like me you plan on using VS2012 exclusively, you can get rid of the following files which are still on your disk and in your source control : the dbproj and dbproj.vspscc files Properties/Database.sqlcmdvars Properties/Database.sqldeployment Properties/Database.sqlpermissions Properties/Database.sqlsettings   You might wonder where the information which used to be in the Properties files is now stored. Permissions : a Permissions.sql was created at the root level of your project. Note that when you create a new database project and import a database using the Schema Compare capabilities from Visual Studio, imported table and stored procedure definition files will hold the permission information (along with constraints and, indexes) SQLVars : they are defined inside the publish.xml files Deployment : they are also in the publish.xml files Settings : I was unable to find where those are now. I suppose they are not defined anymore   But Visual Studio still says my database projects should be converted ! I had this error upon closing and then re-opening the solution : my database projects would appear unconverted even though I did all the necessary steps previously.   Easy solution : remove those projects from the solution and add them again (the sqlproj files).   More For those who run into problems when converting from VSDB to SSDT, I suggest reading the following post : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ssdt/archive/2011/11/21/top-vsdb-gt-ssdt-project-conversion-issues.aspx   Also interesting, is a side by side comparison of VSDB and SSDT project features : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ssdt/archive/2011/11/21/sql-server-data-tools-ctp4-vs-vs2010-database-projects.aspx

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• MIX 2010 Covert Operations Day 1

  - by GeekAgilistMercenary

  Portland Departure - Farewell Stumptown Off I go on a plane from Portland, Oregon to Las Vegas, Nevada for the MIX 2010 Conference.  Before I even boarded the plane I met Paul Gomes a Senior Software Engineer and Andrew Saylor the Director of Business Development.  Both of these SoftSource Employees were en route to MIX themselves.  Being stoked to already be bumping into some top tier people, I bid them adieu and headed for my seat on the plane. I boarded, and had before the boarding opted for an upgrade.  I have to advise that if you get a chance on Alaska to upgrade at the last minute, take it.  It is usually only about $50 bucks or so and the additional space makes working on the ole' laptop actually possible (even on my monstrous 17" laptop).  So take it from me, click that upgrade button and fork over that $50 bucks for anything over an hour flight, the comfort and ability to work is usually worth it! Las Vegas Arrival - Welcome to Sin City Got into Las Vegas and swung out of the airport.  I then, with my comrade Beth attempted to get Internet Access for the next 3 hours.  Las Vegas, is not the most friendly Internet Access town.  I will just say it, I am not sure why any Internet related company (ala Microsoft) would hold a conference here.  There are more than a dozen other cities that would be better. But I digress, I did manage to get Internet Access after checking into the Circus Circus.  Don't ask why I ended up staying here, if you run into me in person, ask then because there is a whole story to it. At this point I started checking out each session further on the MIX10 Site.  There are a number I deemed necessary to check out.  However, you'll have to read my pending entries to see which session I jumped into. With this juncture in time reached, I got a ton of work to wrap up, some code to write and some sleep to get.  Until tomorrow, adieu. For more of my writing, thoughts, and other topics check out my other blog, where the original entry is posted.

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• Desktop Fun: Google Themed Icon Packs

  - by Asian Angel

  Are you an avid user of Google’s online services, but the icons for your desktop and app launcher shortcuts leave something to be desired? Now you can make those shortcuts shine with style using our Google Themed Icon Packs collection. Note: To customize the icon setup on your Windows 7 & Vista systems see our article here. Using Windows XP? We have you covered here. Sneak Preview For this week’s sneak preview we set up a Google Chrome themed desktop using the Simply Google Icon Collection shown below. Note: Original full-size wallpaper can be found here. We used Chromium to create a set of app shortcuts for various Google services on our desktop. Anyone who has done the same knows that the original icons do not look very good, so these icon packs can make those shortcuts look spectacular. Once the new icons were arranged for our desktop app shortcuts, we then pinned them to our Taskbar. Those are definitely looking nice! The Icon Packs Simply Google Icon Collection *.ico and .png format Download Google icons *.ico and .png format Download Tango Google Icon Set Vol. 1 *.png and .svg format Download Google Tango Icon Set Vol. 2 *.png and .svg format Download New Google Product Icons *.ico, .png, and .gif format Note: This icon pack contains 657 icons of various sizes. The best selection of individual icon types in the same size (i.e. 48, 128, etc.) from this pack is a mixture of .png and .gif formats. Download New google docs icons *.png format only Download Google Docs pack Icons *.ico, .png, and .gif format Download GCal *.png format only (original favicon .ico file included) Download Google Earth Icon Color Pack *.png format only Download Google Earth Dock Icons *.ico, .png, and .icns format Download Gtalk Color Icons *.png format only Download Google Buzz Icons *.png format only Download Google Chrome icon pack *.png format only Download Google Chrome X *.ico, .png, and .icns format Download Google Chrome icon pack *.png format only Download Wanting more great icon sets to look through? Be certain to visit our Desktop Fun section for more icon goodness! Latest Features How-To Geek ETC How To Boot 10 Different Live CDs From 1 USB Flash Drive The 20 Best How-To Geek Linux Articles of 2010 The 50 Best How-To Geek Windows Articles of 2010 The 20 Best How-To Geek Explainer Topics for 2010 How to Disable Caps Lock Key in Windows 7 or Vista How to Use the Avira Rescue CD to Clean Your Infected PC Enjoy Old School Style Video Game Fun with Chicken Invaders Hide the Twitter “Litter” in Twitter’s Sidebar Area (Chrome and Iron) Public Domain Day: Reflections on Copyright and the Importance of Public Domain Angry Birds Coming to PS3 and PSP This Week I Hate Mondays Wallpaper for That First Day Back at Work Tune Pop Enhances Android Music Notifications

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• Impulsioned jumping

  - by Mutoh

  There's one thing that has been puzzling me, and that is how to implement a 'faux-impulsed' jump in a platformer. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then think of the jumps of Mario, Kirby, and Quote from Cave Story. What do they have in common? Well, the height of your jump is determined by how long you keep the jump button pressed. Knowing that these character's 'impulses' are built not before their jump, as in actual physics, but rather while in mid-air - that is, you can very well lift your finger midway of the max height and it will stop, even if with desacceleration between it and the full stop; which is why you can simply tap for a hop and hold it for a long jump -, I am mesmerized by how they keep their trajetories as arcs. My current implementation works as following: While the jump button is pressed, gravity is turned off and the avatar's Y coordenate is decremented by the constant value of the gravity. For example, if things fall at Z units per tick, it will rise Z units per tick. Once the button is released or the limit is reached, the avatar desaccelerates in an amount that would make it cover X units until its speed reaches 0; once it does, it accelerates up until its speed matches gravity - sticking to the example, I could say it accelerates from 0 to Z units/tick while still covering X units. This implementation, however, makes jumps too diagonal, and unless the avatar's speed is faster than the gravity, which would make it way too fast in my current project (it moves at about 4 pixels per tick and gravity is 10 pixels per tick, at a framerate of 40FPS), it also makes it more vertical than horizontal. Those familiar with platformers would notice that the character's arc'd jump almost always allows them to jump further even if they aren't as fast as the game's gravity, and when it doesn't, if not played right, would prove itself to be very counter-intuitive. I know this because I could attest that my implementation is very annoying. Has anyone ever attempted at similar mechanics, and maybe even succeeded? I'd like to know what's behind this kind of platformer jumping. If you haven't ever had any experience with this beforehand and want to give it a go, then please, don't try to correct or enhance my explained implementation, unless I was on the right way - try to make up your solution from scratch. I don't care if you use gravity, physics or whatnot, as long as it shows how these pseudo-impulses work, it does the job. Also, I'd like its presentation to avoid a language-specific coding; like, sharing us a C++ example, or Delphi... As much as I'm using the XNA framework for my project and wouldn't mind C# stuff, I don't have much patience to read other's code, and I'm certain game developers of other languages would be interested in what we achieve here, so don't mind sticking to pseudo-code. Thank you beforehand.

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• Book Review (Book 11) - Applied Architecture Patterns on the Microsoft Platform

  - by BuckWoody

  This is a continuation of the books I challenged myself to read to help my career - one a month, for year. You can read my first book review here, and the entire list is here. The book I chose for April 2012 was: Applied Architecture Patterns on the Microsoft Platform. I was traveling at the end of last month so I’m a bit late posting this review here. Why I chose this book: I actually know a few of the authors on this book, so when they told me about it I wanted to check it out. The premise of the book is exactly as it states in the title - to learn how to solve a problem using products from Microsoft. What I learned: I liked the book - a lot. They've arranged the content in a "Solution Decision Framework", that presents a few elements to help you identify a need and then propose alternate solutions to solve them, and then the rationale for the choice. But the payoff is that the authors then walk through the solution they implement and what they ran into doing it. I really liked this approach. It's not a huge book, but one I've referred to again since I've read it. It's fairly comprehensive, and includes server-oriented products, not things like Microsoft Office or other client-side tools. In fact, I would LOVE to have a work like this for Open Source and other vendors as well - would make for a great library for a Systems Architect. This one is unashamedly aimed at the Microsoft products, and even if I didn't work here, I'd be fine with that. As I said, it would be interesting to see some books on other platforms like this, but I haven't run across something that presents other systems in quite this way. And that brings up an interesting point - This book is aimed at folks who create solutions within an organization. It's not aimed at Administrators, DBA's, Developers or the like, although I think all of those audiences could benefit from reading it. The solutions are made up, and not to a huge level of depth - nor should they be. It's a great exercise in thinking these kinds of things through in a structured way. The information is a bit dated, especially for Windows and SQL Azure. While the general concepts hold, the cloud platform from Microsoft is evolving so quickly that any printed book finds it hard to keep up with the improvements. I do have one quibble with the text - the chapters are a bit uneven. This is always a danger with multiple authors, but it shows up in a couple of chapters. I winced at one of the chapters that tried to take a more conversational, humorous style. This kind of academic work doesn't lend itself to that style. I recommend you get the book - and use it. I hope they keep it updated - I'll be a frequent customer. :)  

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• A Slice of Raspberry Pi

  - by Phil Factor

  Guest editorial for the ITPro/SysAdmin newsletter The Raspberry Pi Foundation has done a superb design job on their new $35 network-enabled Linux computer. This tiny machine, incorporating an ARM processor on a Broadcom BCM2835 multimedia chip, aims to put the fun back into learning computing. The public response has been overwhelmingly positive.Note that aim: "…to put the fun back". Education in Information Technology is in dire straits. It always has been, but seems to have deteriorated further still, even in the face of improved provision of equipment.In many countries, the government controls the curriculum. It predicted a shortage in office-based IT skills, and so geared the ICT curriculum toward mind-numbing training in word-processing and spreadsheet skills. Instead, the shortage has turned out to be in people with an engineering-mindset, who can solve problems with whatever technologies are available and learn new techniques quickly, in a rapidly-changing field.In retrospect, the assumption that specific training was required rather than an education was an idiotic response to the arrival of mainstream information technology. As a result, ICT became a disaster area, which discouraged a generation of youngsters from a career in IT, and thereby led directly to the shortage of people with the skills that are required to exploit the potential of Information Technology..Raspberry Pi aims to reverse the trend. This is a rig that is geared to fast graphics in high resolution. It is no toy. It should be a superb games machine. However, the use of Fedora, Debian, or Arch Linux ARM shows the more serious educational intent behind the Foundation's work. It looks like it will even do some office work too!So, get hold of any power supply that provides a 5VDC source at the required 700mA; an old Blackberry charger will do or, alternatively, it will run off four AA cells. You'll need a USB hub to support the mouse and keyboard, and maybe a hard drive. You'll want a DVI monitor (with audio out) or TV (sound and video). You'll also need to be able to cope with wired Ethernet 10/100, if you want networking.With this lot assembled, stick the paraphernalia on the back of the HDTV with Blu Tack, get a nice keyboard, and you have a classy Linux-based home computer. The major cost is in the T.V and the keyboard. If you're not already writing software for this platform, then maybe, at a time when some countries are talking of orders in the millions, you should consider it.

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• Speaking at Mix11

  - by Dennis Vroegop

  In April Microsoft will hold the next MIX event. MIX was usually targeted at web designers and developers but has grown over the years to be more a general conference focused on the web and devices. In other words: everything the normal consumer might encounter. It’s not your typical developers conference, although you’ll find many developers there as well. But next to the developers you’ll probably run into designers and user experience specialists as well. This year I am proud to say that I will be one of the people presenting there. Together with all the Surface MVP’s in the world (sounds impressive, but there are only 7 of us) we’ll host a panel discussion on all things Surface, NUI and everything else that matches those subjects. Here’s what the abstract says: The Natural User Interface (NUI) is a hot topic that generates a lot of excitement, but there are only a handful of companies doing real innovation with NUIs and most of the practical experience in the NUI style of design and development is limited to a small number of experts. The Microsoft Surface MVPs are a subset of these experts that have extensive real-world experience with Microsoft Surface and other NUI devices. This session is a panel featuring the Microsoft Surface MVPs and an unfiltered discussion with each other and the audience about the state of the art in NUI design and development. We will share our experiences and ideas, discuss what we think NUI will look like in the near future, and back up our statements with cutting-edge demonstrations prepared by the panelists involving combinations of Microsoft Surface 2.0, Kinect, and Windows Phone 7. We, as Surface MVPs think we are more than just Surface oriented. We like to think we are more NUI MVP’s. But since that’s not a technology with Microsoft you can’t actually become a NUI MVP so Surface is the one that comes the closest. We are currently working on the details of our session but believe me: it will blow you away. Several people we talked to have said this could potentially be the best session of Mix. Quite a challenge, but we’re up for it! Of course I won’t be telling you exactly what we’re going to do in Las Vegas but rest assured that when you visit our session you’ll leave with a lot of new ideas and hopefully be inspired to bring into practice what you’ve seen. Even if the technology we’ll show you isn’t readily available yet. So, if you are in Las Vegas between April 12th and 14th, please join Joshua Blake, Neil Roodyn, Rick Barraza, Bart Roozendaal, Josh Santangelo, Nicolas Calvi and myself for some NUI fun! See you in Vegas! Tags van Technorati: mix11,las vegas,surface,nui,kinecct

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• Beat detection and FFT

  - by Quincy

  So I am working on a platformer game which includes music with beat detection. I am currently using a simple if the energy that is stored in the history buffer is smaller then the current energy there is a beat. The problem with this is that ofcourse if you use songs like rock songs where you have a pretty steady amplitude this isn't going to work. So I looked further and found algorithms splitting the sound into multiple bands using FFT. I then found this : http://en.literateprograms.org/Cooley-Tukey_FFT_algorithm_(C) The only problem I'm having is that I am quite new to audio and I have no idea how to use that to split the signal up into multiple signals. So my question is : How do you use a FFT to split a signal into multiple bands ? Also for the guys interested, this is my algorithm in c# : // C = threshold, N = size of history buffer / 1024 public void PlaceBeatMarkers(float C, int N) { List<float> instantEnergyList = new List<float>(); short[] samples = soundData.Samples; float timePerSample = 1 / (float)soundData.SampleRate; int sampleIndex = 0; int nextSamples = 1024; // Calculate instant energy for every 1024 samples. while (sampleIndex + nextSamples < samples.Length) { float instantEnergy = 0; for (int i = 0; i < nextSamples; i++) { instantEnergy += Math.Abs((float)samples[sampleIndex + i]); } instantEnergy /= nextSamples; instantEnergyList.Add(instantEnergy); if(sampleIndex + nextSamples >= samples.Length) nextSamples = samples.Length - sampleIndex - 1; sampleIndex += nextSamples; } int index = N; int numInBuffer = index; float historyBuffer = 0; //Fill the history buffer with n * instant energy for (int i = 0; i < index; i++) { historyBuffer += instantEnergyList[i]; } // If instantEnergy / samples in buffer < instantEnergy for the next sample then add beatmarker. while (index + 1 < instantEnergyList.Count) { if(instantEnergyList[index + 1] > (historyBuffer / numInBuffer) * C) beatMarkers.Add((index + 1) * 1024 * timePerSample); historyBuffer -= instantEnergyList[index - numInBuffer]; historyBuffer += instantEnergyList[index + 1]; index++; } }

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• Friday Fun: Snowball

  - by Asian Angel

  It is Christmas Eve and hopefully you are enjoying the start of an early weekend away from work. This week we have a snowball throwing game for you to try out, so bundle up and get ready to let those snowballs fly! Snowball The object of the game is to use your snowball ammo to harass the drunk businessman and send him flying along distance-wise as far as you can. Simply use your mouse to aim and click the left button to throw snowballs. You can monitor your stats on the silver bar towards the top of the window. The sound can also be disabled if the music is bothering you, but keep in mind that all sound will be disabled if you use the option. Time to get those snowballs flying through the air!! Keep hitting the businessman with your snowballs as you chase after him. Make certain that your aim is good or you will quickly run out of snowballs! You can really get him moving along at a good rate and he can even go high enough in the air to disappear off the screen for a few moments. There is a also chance that your aim will be so wicked with the snowballs that you will literally knock the drunk businessman’s head off! Weird but possible… The game ends when one of these two events occur: 1.) you run out of snowballs or 2.) the businessman literally bounces back at and then drops behind you as seen in the screenshot here. The moment either happens your score will pop up and then you have the opportunity to try again. Have fun! Note: The bounce back event can happen when encountering cars. Play Snowball Latest Features How-To Geek ETC How to Use the Avira Rescue CD to Clean Your Infected PC The Complete List of iPad Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials Is Your Desktop Printer More Expensive Than Printing Services? 20 OS X Keyboard Shortcuts You Might Not Know HTG Explains: Which Linux File System Should You Choose? HTG Explains: Why Does Photo Paper Improve Print Quality? An Alternate Star Wars Christmas Special [Video] Sunset in a Tropical Paradise Wallpaper Natural Wood Grain Icons for Your Desktop and App Launcher Docks My Blackberry Is Not Working! The Apple Too?! [Funny Video] Hidden Tracks Your Stolen Mac; Free Until End of January Why the Other Checkout Line Always Moves Faster

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• Internal Mutation of Persistent Data Structures

  - by Greg Ros

  To clarify, when I mean use the terms persistent and immutable on a data structure, I mean that: The state of the data structure remains unchanged for its lifetime. It always holds the same data, and the same operations always produce the same results. The data structure allows Add, Remove, and similar methods that return new objects of its kind, modified as instructed, that may or may not share some of the data of the original object. However, while a data structure may seem to the user as persistent, it may do other things under the hood. To be sure, all data structures are, internally, at least somewhere, based on mutable storage. If I were to base a persistent vector on an array, and copy it whenever Add is invoked, it would still be persistent, as long as I modify only locally created arrays. However, sometimes, you can greatly increase performance by mutating a data structure under the hood. In more, say, insidious, dangerous, and destructive ways. Ways that might leave the abstraction untouched, not letting the user know anything has changed about the data structure, but being critical in the implementation level. For example, let's say that we have a class called ArrayVector implemented using an array. Whenever you invoke Add, you get a ArrayVector build on top of a newly allocated array that has an additional item. A sequence of such updates will involve n array copies and allocations. Here is an illustration: However, let's say we implement a lazy mechanism that stores all sorts of updates -- such as Add, Set, and others in a queue. In this case, each update requires constant time (adding an item to a queue), and no array allocation is involved. When a user tries to get an item in the array, all the queued modifications are applied under the hood, requiring a single array allocation and copy (since we know exactly what data the final array will hold, and how big it will be). Future get operations will be performed on an empty cache, so they will take a single operation. But in order to implement this, we need to 'switch' or mutate the internal array to the new one, and empty the cache -- a very dangerous action. However, considering that in many circumstances (most updates are going to occur in sequence, after all), this can save a lot of time and memory, it might be worth it -- you will need to ensure exclusive access to the internal state, of course. This isn't a question about the efficacy of such a data structure. It's a more general question. Is it ever acceptable to mutate the internal state of a supposedly persistent or immutable object in destructive and dangerous ways? Does performance justify it? Would you still be able to call it immutable? Oh, and could you implement this sort of laziness without mutating the data structure in the specified fashion?

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• Error Copying Source File in Audio Spectrum Visualizer [closed]

  - by David Dimalanta

  I'm testing this code using LibGDX, Java, and Eclipse to test the music player that detects the frequency. I saw this one on this website plus the link on GitHub: http://gtomee.com/2012/07/28/audio-spectrum-visualizer-with-libgdx/ It works when running on desktop project folder but not on Android project folder and the result is this: 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): FATAL EXCEPTION: GLThread 16845 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): com.badlogic.gdx.utils.GdxRuntimeException: Error copying source file: soundtrack 1 bioman.mp3 (Internal) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): To destination: tmp/audio-spectrum.mp3 (External) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): at com.badlogic.gdx.files.FileHandle.copyFile(FileHandle.java:625) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): at com.badlogic.gdx.files.FileHandle.copyTo(FileHandle.java:534) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): at com.bodapps.rhythm.Drop.create(Drop.java:393) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): at com.badlogic.gdx.backends.android.AndroidGraphics.onSurfaceChanged(AndroidGraphics.java:292) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): at android.opengl.GLSurfaceView$GLThread.guardedRun(GLSurfaceView.java:1505) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): at android.opengl.GLSurfaceView$GLThread.run(GLSurfaceView.java:1240) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): Caused by: com.badlogic.gdx.utils.GdxRuntimeException: Error stream writing to file: tmp/audio-spectrum.mp3 (External) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): at com.badlogic.gdx.files.FileHandle.write(FileHandle.java:313) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): at com.badlogic.gdx.files.FileHandle.copyFile(FileHandle.java:623) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): ... 5 more 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): Caused by: com.badlogic.gdx.utils.GdxRuntimeException: Error writing file: tmp/audio-spectrum.mp3 (External) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): at com.badlogic.gdx.files.FileHandle.write(FileHandle.java:293) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): at com.badlogic.gdx.files.FileHandle.write(FileHandle.java:305) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): ... 6 more 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): Caused by: java.io.FileNotFoundException: /storage/sdcard0/tmp/audio-spectrum.mp3: open failed: EACCES (Permission denied) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): at libcore.io.IoBridge.open(IoBridge.java:416) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): at java.io.FileOutputStream.<init>(FileOutputStream.java:88) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): at com.badlogic.gdx.files.FileHandle.write(FileHandle.java:289) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): ... 7 more 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): Caused by: libcore.io.ErrnoException: open failed: EACCES (Permission denied) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): at libcore.io.Posix.open(Native Method) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): at libcore.io.BlockGuardOs.open(BlockGuardOs.java:110) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): at libcore.io.IoBridge.open(IoBridge.java:400) 10-10 13:57:45.320: E/AndroidRuntime(9421): ... 9 more I'm not sure if I come this to the right place for help and suggestions.

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• View Link inConsistency

  - by Abhishek Dwivedi

  What is View Link Consistency? When multiple instances (say VO1, VO2, VO3 etc) of an EO-based VO are based on the same underlying EO, a new row created in one of these VO instances (say VO1)can be automatically added (without re-query) to the row sets of the others (VO2, VO3 etc ). This capability is known as the view link consistency. This feature works for any VO for which it is enabled, regardless of whether they are involved in a view link or not. What causes View Link inConsistency? Unless jbo.viewlink.consistent  is disabled for this VO (or globally), or setAssociationConsistent(false) is applied, any of the following can cause View Link inConsistency.  1. setWhereClause 2. Unreferenced secondary EO 3. findByViewCriteria() 4. Using view link accessor row set Why does this happen - View Link inConsistency? Well, there can be one of the following reasons. a. In case of 1 & 2, the view link consistency flag is disabled on that view object. b. As far as 3 is concerned, findByViewCriteria is used to retrieve a new row set to process programmatically without changing the contents of the default row set. In this case, unlike previous cases, the view link consistency flag is not disabled, meaning that the changes in the default row set would be reflected in the new row set.  However, the opposite doesn't hold true. For instance, if a row is deleted from this new row set, the corresponding row in the default row set does not get deleted. In one of my features, which involved deletion of row(s), I resolved the view link inconsistency issue by replacing findByViewCriteria by applyViewCriteria. b. For 4, it's similar to 3 - whenever a view link accessor row set is retrieved, a new row set is created. Now, creating new row set does not mean re-executing the query each time, only creating a new instance of a RowSet object with its default iterator reset to the "slot" before the first row. Also, please note that this new row set always originates from an internally created view object instance, not one you that added to the data model. This internal view object instance is created as needed and added with a system-defined name to the root application module. Anyway, the very reason a distinct, internally-created view object instance is used is to guarantee that it remains unaffected by developer-related changes to their own view objects instances in the data model.

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• How can story and gameplay be artfully merged?

  - by NauticalMile

  Let me give some context. Three of my friends and I have a pretty good game idea cooking. It's based off of a prototype I made that's evolving into a cool game mechanic. The mechanic itself is a toy that's fun on its own, but we haven't designed any puzzles around it yet. We have a design document going, and we are answering a lot of questions about what's in the game. It's become clear early on that everyone (including myself) likes the characters and the story a lot. Considering what our favorite games are, this is unsurprising. A story driven game makes sense to me. I like the emphasis that Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year-Door, Portal 2, and Tomb Raider place on story, and I imagine our game will have a similar feel (lots of dialogue, plot twists, lovable characters). However, one team member raised this point in the design doc: I am feeling like [fleshing out the story] is our biggest hurdle right now for making more design decisions - like more specific decisions about levels etc. Is this true? I am uncertain about working on the story extensively before gameplay, and my uneasiness was reinforced when I read this question about story vs. gameplay. What I want to say is: "Let's continue to work on the story, but also start brainstorming and prototyping abstract puzzles and combat sequences, and we'll creatively match them together later." Is this a reasonable approach? If so, how much of the development of these elements should be done independently? Should I try and create a whole bunch of puzzles while my other teammates focus on story and aesthetics? Then when we have a lot of story and game 'chunks' we can match them with eachother to build something meaningful. Or should we focus on iterating individual levels as distinct units where puzzles, story, etc... are designed together? Or maybe we need to put our excitement about the story on hold and just focus on gameplay. Is there another approach to design that we can take? Am I missing something crucial? I have discussed story and gameplay because they seem the most likely to be at odds with each other, but we also have to consider user interface, music, art direction, etc... Can we design these independently as well?

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• What's Old is New Again

  - by David Dorf

  Last night I told my son he could stream music to his tablet "from the cloud" (in this case, the Amazon Cloud).  He paused, then said, "what is the cloud?"  I replied, "a bunch of servers connected to the internet."  Apparently he had visions of something much more magnificent.  Another similar term is "big data."  These marketing terms help to quickly convey topics but are oversimplifications that are open to many interpretations.  At their core, those terms a shiny packages holding recycled ideas. I see many headlines declaring big data changes everything, but it doesn't.  Savvy retailers have been dealing with large volumes of data since the electronic cash register was invented.  But the there have a been a few changes to the landscape that make big data a topic of conversation: 1. Computing power has caught up to storage volumes. Its now possible to more thoroughly analyze the copious volumes of data retailers have been squirreling away.  CPUs are faster, sold state drives more plentiful, and new ways to store and search data are available.  My iPhone is more power than the computer used in the Apollo mission to the moon. 2. Unstructured data is everywhere.  The Web used to be where retailers published product information, but now users are generating the bulk of the content in the form of comments, videos, and "likes."  The variety of information available to retailers is huge, and it meaning difficult to discern. 3. Everything is connected.  Looking at a report from my router, there are no less than 20 active devices on my home network.  We can track the location of mobile phones, tag products with RFID, and set our thermostats (I love my Nest) from a thousand miles away.  Not only is there more data, but its arriving at higher velocity. Careful readers will note the three Vs that help define so-called big data: volume, variety, and velocity. We now have more volume, more variety, and more velocity and different technologies to deal with them.  But at the heart, the objectives are still the same: Informed decisions Accurate forecasts Improved optimizations So don't let the term "big data" throw you off the scent.  Retailers still need to execute on the basics.  But do take a fresh look at the data that's available and the new technologies to process it.  The landscape will continue to change and agile organizations will always be reevaluating their approaches.  You can just add some more weapons to the arsenal.

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• How to Modify a Signature for Use in Plain Text Emails in Outlook 2013

  - by Lori Kaufman

  If you’ve created a signature with an image, links, text formatting, or special characters, the signature will not look the same in plain text formatted emails as it does in HTML format. As the name suggests, Plain Text does not support any type of formatting. For example, if you include an image in your signature, as shown below, the plain text version will be blank. Active links in HTML signatures will be converted to just the text of the link in plain text emails. The How-To Geek link in the image below will become simply How-To Geek and will look like the rest of the text in the signature. The same thing is true in the following example. The active links are stripped from the text. The picture of the envelope that was inserted using the Wingdings font will only display as the plain text character associated with it. There are times you may need to send email in Plain Text format, but still include your signature. You can edit the plain text version of your signature to make it look good in plain text emails by manually editing the text file. To do this, click the File tab. Click Options in the menu list on the left side of the Account Information screen. On the Outlook Options dialog box, click Mail in the list of options on the left side of the dialog box. In the Compose messages section, press and hold the Ctrl key and click the Signatures button. This opens the Signatures folder containing the files used to insert signatures into emails. The .txt file version of each signature is used when inserting a signature into a plain text email. Double-click on a .txt file for the signature you want to edit to open it in Notepad, or your default text editor. Notice that the links on “How-To Geek” and “Email me” are gone and the envelope typed using the Wingdings font was converted to an “H.” Edit the text file to remove extra characters, replace images, and provide full web and email links. Save the text file. Create a new mail message and select the edited signature, if it’s not the default signature for the current email account. To convert the email to plain text, click the Format Text tab and click Plain Text in the Format section. The Microsoft Outlook Compatibility Checker displays telling you that Formatted text will become plain text. Click Continue. The HTML version of your signature is converted to the plain text version. NOTE: You should make a backup of the .txt signature file you edited, as this file will change again when you change your signature in the Signature Editor.     

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• Audio Stutters at gdm

  - by Allan

  Ok I have a problem every 2 times out of 3 I login (I cant be specific it fairly random) I get a Stuttering GDM warning (not the login sound just the Bell sound to wake you up) the only way to stop it is to login I have a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo 1718 with a 2gig of memory (only hardware mod) using 10.10 Maverick and I have disabled KMS as my system was freezing as per the release notes. The only time this has happened before on the same machine was when I gave Kubuntu a try when 10.04 came out then it happened at the login screen and at random times while listening to music in any program. By the way audio is fine as is almost everything else once I have logged in. I would like an answer to this as I am an advocate of Ubuntu and its kind of embarrassing when the first thing that happens is *bing*. as requested Daniel alsa-info Pulse verbose log Not sure how useful the pulse log will be as I cant replicate the bug with a terminal open but I wouldnt be asking the question if I knew the answer so..... Edit 24/12/2010 ......been living on cocktail sausages and pickled onions for five days now made a make shift splint with cocktail sticks..... oops so updated the alsa drivers but I still get the same message in the dmesg No response from codec, disabling MSI: last cmd=0x10a90000 googleing it brings up a forum post from some other distro with a green logo the only common denominator seems to be graphics ie ATI Radeon XPRESS 200M which is why I have had to turn of kms as the chip is so old that small mice try to eat the "kernel" ;) funnily enough following the bug link at the end of the post, I found a comment about "Ubuntu Black Magic" so mabey I am coming at this from the wrong angle...... Bad Joo Joo any one. I will try the second part of Daniels Fix and Update with the result. The final Edit: (Plays air guitar) In the end neither of these solved the problem as such However I have given Roland a tick for reminding me of the solution and I gave Daniel the Bounty for the effort in trying to solve the problem. The answer for future readers was the enable the correct HD Audio Model I found the answer back when using Karmic Koala 9.10 in this forum post Amilo Li1718 Skype - Can't get it working... the model is options snd-hda-intel model=3stack position_fix=1 enable=yes which can be added to the end of alsa-base.conf thanks all for helping and hope anyone with a similar problem will find the answer here.

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• Display Driver Issue on an hp TX2-1160ea Notebook

  - by Sam

  I'm new to Linux and recently switched to Ubuntu 11.04 due to my project requirement. My laptop has been freezing and going to black screen of death when I run anything related to display (Share desktop, stream video, etc). Today I went through the Ubuntu forum to install the appropriate graphic driver and, after doing it, I rebooted my PC. It gave an error before login saying "select the recovery mode" and after clicking OK, it didn't give the same error on reboot but I've lost the 11.04 graphical interface and all I see is the interface of Ubuntu v10 with slow visuals (even scrolling up/down on browser is really slow). For the reference, here's a desktop screenshot so that you can understand the situation. Also the laptop is overheating. How can I fix this problem? How can i get the Ubuntu 11.04 view back? I also tried Google, but couldn't find any issue like this. Some general Information: Laptop: HP TouchSmart TX2-1160ea Processor: AMD Turion TX2 Memory: 4GB OS: Ubuntu 11.04 Some debugging information:: $ report-hw | grep controller lspci -knn: 00:11.0 SATA controller [0106]: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [1002:4391] lspci -knn: 00:14.3 ISA bridge [0601]: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC host controller [1002:439d] lspci -knn: 01:05.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc RS780M/RS780MN [Radeon HD 3200 Graphics] [1002:9612] lspci -knn: 08:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4322 802.11a/b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:432b] (rev 01) lspci -knn: 09:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller [10ec:8168] (rev 02) And: $ dpkg -l '*fglrx*' Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold | Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend |/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad) ||/ Name Version Description +++-==============-==============-============================================ ii fglrx 2:8.840-0ubunt Video driver for the ATI graphics accelerato ii fglrx-amdcccle 2:8.840-0ubunt Catalyst Control Center for the ATI graphics un fglrx-control <none> (no description available) un fglrx-control- <none> (no description available) ii fglrx-dev 2:8.840-0ubunt Video driver for the ATI graphics accelerato un fglrx-driver <none> (no description available) un fglrx-driver-d <none> (no description available) un fglrx-kernel-s <none> (no description available) un fglrx-modalias <none> (no description available) un xfree86-driver <none> (no description available) un xfree86-driver <none> (no description available) un xorg-driver-fg <none> (no description available) un xorg-driver-fg <none> (no description available) If you need any more information that could help, just ask.

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• What if you could work on anything you wanted?

  - by red@work

  This week we've downed our tools and organised ourselves into small project teams or struck out alone. We're working on whatever we like, with whoever we like, wherever we like. We've called it Down Tools week and so far it's a blast. It all started a few months ago with an idea from Neil, our CEO. Neil wanted to capture the excitement, innovation, and productivity of Coding by the Sea and extend this to all Red Gaters working in Product Development. A brainstorm is always a good place to start for an "anything goes" project. Half of Red Gate piled into our largest meeting room (it's pretty big) armed with flip charts, post its and a heightened sense of possibility. An hour or so later our SQL Servery walls were covered in project ideas. So what would you do, if you could work on anything you wanted? Many projects are related to tools we already make, others are for internal product development use and some are, well, just something completely different. Someone suggested we point a web cam at the SQL Servery lunch queue so we can check it before heading to lunch. That one couldn't wait for Down Tools Week. It was up and running within a few days and even better, it captures the table tennis table too. Thursday is the Show and Tell - I am looking forward to seeing what everyone has come up with. Some of the projects will turn into new products or features so this probably isn't the time or place to go into detail of what is being worked on. Rest assured, you'll hear all about it! We're making a video as we go along too which will be up on our website as soon. In the meantime, all meetings are cancelled, we've got plenty of food in and people are being very creative with the £500 expenses budget (Richard, do you really need an iPad?). It's brilliant to see it all coming together from the idea stage to reality. Catch up with our progress by following #downtoolsweek on Twitter. Who knows, maybe a future Red Gate flagship tool is coming to life right now? By the way, it's business as usual for our customer facing and internal operations teams. Hmm, maybe we can all down tools for a week and ask Product Development to hold the fort? Post by: Alice Chapman

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