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• 3D Ray Casting / Picking

  - by Chris

  Hi, I am not sure if I should post this link, but I feel this falls into game development just as much as it does math. I have a ray cast's far and near values and I am trying to calculate the end point of the ray so that I can either draw a line to show the ray, or render an object at the end of 3d mouse position. Here is my post on the stack overflow math site, if there is a problem with me doing this just close the thread. Thank you. http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/15918/help-with-matrix-mathematica

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• Gnome Do not Launching

  - by PyRulez

  When I try running gnome do, I get this. chris@Chris-Ubuntu-Laptop:~$ gnome-do pgrep: invalid user name: -u and it is not writable Trying sudo: chris@Chris-Ubuntu-Laptop:~$ sudo gnome-do [NetworkService] Could not initialize Network Manager dbus: Unable to open the session message bus. [Error 17:54:30.122] [SystemService] Could not initialize dbus: Unable to open the session message bus. (Do:2401): Wnck-CRITICAL **: wnck_set_client_type got called multiple times. (Do:2401): libdo-WARNING **: Binding '<Super>space' failed! [Error 17:54:30.649] [AbstractKeyBindingService] Key "" is already mapped. Tomboy.NotesItemSource "Tomboy Notes" encountered an error in UpdateItems: System.TypeInitializationException: An exception was thrown by the type initializer for Tomboy.TomboyDBus ---> System.Exception: Unable to open the session message bus. ---> System.ArgumentNullException: Argument cannot be null. Parameter name: address at NDesk.DBus.Bus.Open (System.String address) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at NDesk.DBus.Bus.get_Session () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 --- End of inner exception stack trace --- at NDesk.DBus.Bus.get_Session () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at Tomboy.TomboyDBus..cctor () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 --- End of inner exception stack trace --- at Tomboy.NotesItemSource.UpdateItems () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at Do.Universe.Safe.SafeItemSource.UpdateItems () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 . Firefox.PlacesItemSource "Firefox Places" encountered an error in UpdateItems: System.InvalidCastException: Cannot cast from source type to destination type. at Mono.Data.Sqlite.SqliteDataReader.VerifyType (Int32 i, DbType typ) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at Mono.Data.Sqlite.SqliteDataReader.GetString (Int32 i) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at Firefox.PlacesItemSource+<LoadPlaceItems>c__Iterator3.MoveNext () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.Collections.Generic.List`1[Firefox.PlaceItem].AddEnumerable (IEnumerable`1 enumerable) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.Collections.Generic.List`1[Firefox.PlaceItem]..ctor (IEnumerable`1 collection) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.Linq.Enumerable.ToArray[PlaceItem] (IEnumerable`1 source) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at Firefox.PlacesItemSource.UpdateItems () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at Do.Universe.Safe.SafeItemSource.UpdateItems () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 . Do.Universe.Linux.GNOMESpecialLocationsItemSource "GNOME Special Locations" encountered an error in UpdateItems: System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not find file "/root/.gtk-bookmarks". File name: '/root/.gtk-bookmarks' at System.IO.FileStream..ctor (System.String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, Boolean anonymous, FileOptions options) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.IO.FileStream..ctor (System.String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.IO.FileStream:.ctor (string,System.IO.FileMode,System.IO.FileAccess,System.IO.FileShare) at System.IO.File.OpenRead (System.String path) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.IO.StreamReader..ctor (System.String path, System.Text.Encoding encoding, Boolean detectEncodingFromByteOrderMarks, Int32 bufferSize) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.IO.StreamReader..ctor (System.String path) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.IO.StreamReader:.ctor (string) at Do.Universe.Linux.GNOMESpecialLocationsItemSource+<ReadBookmarkItems>c__Iterator3.MoveNext () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at Do.Universe.Linux.GNOMESpecialLocationsItemSource.UpdateItems () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at Do.Universe.Safe.SafeItemSource.UpdateItems () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 . ^[^\Full thread dump: "<unnamed thread>" tid=0x0xb7570700 this=0x0x56f18 thread handle 0x403 state : not waiting owns () at (wrapper managed-to-native) Mono.Unix.Native.Syscall.read (int,intptr,ulong) <0xffffffff> at Mono.Unix.Native.Syscall.read (int,void*,ulong) <0x00023> at Mono.Unix.UnixStream.Read (byte[],int,int) <0x0008b> at NDesk.DBus.Connection.ReadMessage () <0x0003c> at NDesk.DBus.Connection.Iterate () <0x0001b> at NDesk.DBus.BusG/<Init>c__AnonStorey0.<>m__0 (intptr,NDesk.GLib.IOCondition,intptr) <0x00033> at (wrapper native-to-managed) NDesk.DBus.BusG/<Init>c__AnonStorey0.<>m__0 (intptr,NDesk.GLib.IOCondition,intptr) <0xffffffff> at (wrapper managed-to-native) Gtk.Clipboard.gtk_clipboard_wait_is_text_available (intptr) <0xffffffff> at Gtk.Clipboard.WaitIsTextAvailable () <0x00017> at Do.Universe.SelectedTextItem.UpdateSelection (object,System.EventArgs) <0x00027> at Do.Platform.AbstractApplicationService.OnSummoned () <0x00025> at Do.Platform.ApplicationService.<ApplicationService>m__31 (object,System.EventArgs) <0x00013> at Do.Core.Controller.OnSummoned () <0x00025> at Do.Core.Controller.Summon () <0x00027> at Do.Do.Main (string[]) <0x001eb> at (wrapper runtime-invoke) <Module>.runtime_invoke_void_object (object,intptr,intptr,intptr) <0xffffffff> "<unnamed thread>" tid=0x0xb2c81b40 this=0x0x194150 thread handle 0x412 state : interrupted state owns () at (wrapper managed-to-native) System.IO.InotifyWatcher.ReadFromFD (intptr,byte[],intptr) <0xffffffff> at System.IO.InotifyWatcher.Monitor () <0x0005f> at System.Threading.Thread.StartInternal () <0x00057> at (wrapper runtime-invoke) object.runtime_invoke_void__this__ (object,intptr,intptr,intptr) <0xffffffff> "Universe Update Dispatcher" tid=0x0xb29ffb40 this=0x0x569d8 thread handle 0x41b state : interrupted state owns () at (wrapper managed-to-native) System.Threading.WaitHandle.WaitOne_internal (System.Threading.WaitHandle,intptr,int,bool) <0xffffffff> at System.Threading.WaitHandle.WaitOne (System.TimeSpan,bool) <0x00133> at System.Threading.WaitHandle.WaitOne (System.TimeSpan) <0x00022> at Do.Core.UniverseManager.UniverseUpdateLoop () <0x0007a> at System.Threading.Thread.StartInternal () <0x00057> at (wrapper runtime-invoke) object.runtime_invoke_void__this__ (object,intptr,intptr,intptr) <0xffffffff> Tomboy.NotesItemSource "Tomboy Notes" encountered an error in UpdateItems: System.TypeInitializationException: An exception was thrown by the type initializer for Tomboy.TomboyDBus ---> System.Exception: Unable to open the session message bus. ---> System.ArgumentNullException: Argument cannot be null. Parameter name: address at NDesk.DBus.Bus.Open (System.String address) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at NDesk.DBus.Bus.get_Session () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 --- End of inner exception stack trace --- at NDesk.DBus.Bus.get_Session () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at Tomboy.TomboyDBus..cctor () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 --- End of inner exception stack trace --- at Tomboy.NotesItemSource.UpdateItems () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at Do.Universe.Safe.SafeItemSource.UpdateItems () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 . Firefox.PlacesItemSource "Firefox Places" encountered an error in UpdateItems: System.InvalidCastException: Cannot cast from source type to destination type. at Mono.Data.Sqlite.SqliteDataReader.VerifyType (Int32 i, DbType typ) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at Mono.Data.Sqlite.SqliteDataReader.GetString (Int32 i) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at Firefox.PlacesItemSource+<LoadPlaceItems>c__Iterator3.MoveNext () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.Collections.Generic.List`1[Firefox.PlaceItem].AddEnumerable (IEnumerable`1 enumerable) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.Collections.Generic.List`1[Firefox.PlaceItem]..ctor (IEnumerable`1 collection) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.Linq.Enumerable.ToArray[PlaceItem] (IEnumerable`1 source) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at Firefox.PlacesItemSource.UpdateItems () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at Do.Universe.Safe.SafeItemSource.UpdateItems () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 . Do.Universe.Linux.GNOMESpecialLocationsItemSource "GNOME Special Locations" encountered an error in UpdateItems: System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not find file "/root/.gtk-bookmarks". File name: '/root/.gtk-bookmarks' at System.IO.FileStream..ctor (System.String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, Boolean anonymous, FileOptions options) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.IO.FileStream..ctor (System.String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.IO.FileStream:.ctor (string,System.IO.FileMode,System.IO.FileAccess,System.IO.FileShare) at System.IO.File.OpenRead (System.String path) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.IO.StreamReader..ctor (System.String path, System.Text.Encoding encoding, Boolean detectEncodingFromByteOrderMarks, Int32 bufferSize) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.IO.StreamReader..ctor (System.String path) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.IO.StreamReader:.ctor (string) at Do.Universe.Linux.GNOMESpecialLocationsItemSource+<ReadBookmarkItems>c__Iterator3.MoveNext () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at Do.Universe.Linux.GNOMESpecialLocationsItemSource.UpdateItems () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at Do.Universe.Safe.SafeItemSource.UpdateItems () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 . It stops when I try my key combination, ctrl-alt-. It does not pop up though.

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• Macbook Pro wifi won't work

  - by Chris Dudley

  I opened xdiganose and it told me to go to http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware in order to download and install the wireless driver. I followed the instructions for Ubuntu and it aborted the installation saying something about an unsupported device (I should've saved the output, I'm using a late 2011 13" Macbook Pro.) Now when I trysudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer I get this: Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done firmware-b43-installer is already the newest version. 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 338 not upgraded. What do I do?

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• HTG Explains: How Private Browsing Works and Why It Doesn’t Offer Complete Privacy

  - by Chris Hoffman

  Private Browsing, InPrivate Browsing, Incognito Mode – it has a lot of names, but it’s the same basic feature in every browser. Private browsing offers some improved privacy, but it’s not a silver bullet that makes you completely anonymous online. Private Browsing mode changes the way your browser behaves, whether you’re using Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Apple Safari, Opera or any other browser – but it doesn’t change the way anything else behaves. How to Banish Duplicate Photos with VisiPic How to Make Your Laptop Choose a Wired Connection Instead of Wireless HTG Explains: What Is Two-Factor Authentication and Should I Be Using It?

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• HTG Explains: Do Non-Windows Platforms Like Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux Get Viruses?

  - by Chris Hoffman

  Viruses and other types of malware seem largely confined to Windows in the real world. Even on a Windows 8 PC, you can still get infected with malware. But how vulnerable are other operating systems to malware? When we say “viruses,” we’re actually talking about malware in general. There’s more to malware than just viruses, although the word virus is often used to talk about malware in general. Why Are All the Viruses For Windows? Not all of the malware out there is for Windows, but most of it is. We’ve tried to cover why Windows has the most viruses in the past. Windows’ popularity is definitely a big factor, but there are other reasons, too. Historically, Windows was never designed for security in the way that UNIX-like platforms were — and every popular operating system that’s not Windows is based on UNIX. Windows also has a culture of installing software by searching the web and downloading it from websites, whereas other platforms have app stores and Linux has centralized software installation from a secure source in the form of its package managers. Do Macs Get Viruses? The vast majority of malware is designed for Windows systems and Macs don’t get Windows malware. While Mac malware is much more rare, Macs are definitely not immune to malware. They can be infected by malware written specifically for Macs, and such malware does exist. At one point, over 650,000 Macs were infected with the Flashback Trojan. [Source] It infected Macs through the Java browser plugin, which is a security nightmare on every platform. Macs no longer include Java by default. Apple also has locked down Macs in other ways. Three things in particular help: Mac App Store: Rather than getting desktop programs from the web and possibly downloading malware, as inexperienced users might on Windows, they can get their applications from a secure place. It’s similar to a smartphone app store or even a Linux package manager. Gatekeeper: Current releases of Mac OS X use Gatekeeper, which only allows programs to run if they’re signed by an approved developer or if they’re from the Mac App Store. This can be disabled by geeks who need to run unsigned software, but it acts as additional protection for typical users. XProtect: Macs also have a built-in technology known as XProtect, or File Quarantine. This feature acts as a blacklist, preventing known-malicious programs from running. It functions similarly to Windows antivirus programs, but works in the background and checks applications you download. Mac malware isn’t coming out nearly as quick as Windows malware, so it’s easier for Apple to keep up. Macs are certainly not immune to all malware, and someone going out of their way to download pirated applications and disable security features may find themselves infected. But Macs are much less at risk of malware in the real world. Android is Vulnerable to Malware, Right? Android malware does exist and companies that produce Android security software would love to sell you their Android antivirus apps. But that isn’t the full picture. By default, Android devices are configured to only install apps from Google Play. They also benefit from antimalware scanning — Google Play itself scans apps for malware. You could disable this protection and go outside Google Play, getting apps from elsewhere (“sideloading”). Google will still help you if you do this, asking if you want to scan your sideloaded apps for malware when you try to install them. In China, where many, many Android devices are in use, there is no Google Play Store. Chinese Android users don’t benefit from Google’s antimalware scanning and have to get their apps from third-party app stores, which may contain infected copies of apps. The majority of Android malware comes from outside Google Play. The scary malware statistics you see primarily include users who get apps from outside Google Play, whether it’s pirating infected apps or acquiring them from untrustworthy app stores. As long as you get your apps from Google Play — or even another secure source, like the Amazon App Store — your Android phone or tablet should be secure. What About iPads and iPhones? Apple’s iOS operating system, used on its iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touches, is more locked down than even Macs and Android devices. iPad and iPhone users are forced to get their apps from Apple’s App Store. Apple is more demanding of developers than Google is — while anyone can upload an app to Google Play and have it available instantly while Google does some automated scanning, getting an app onto Apple’s App Store involves a manual review of that app by an Apple employee. The locked-down environment makes it much more difficult for malware to exist. Even if a malicious application could be installed, it wouldn’t be able to monitor what you typed into your browser and capture your online-banking information without exploiting a deeper system vulnerability. Of course, iOS devices aren’t perfect either. Researchers have proven it’s possible to create malicious apps and sneak them past the app store review process. [Source] However, if a malicious app was discovered, Apple could pull it from the store and immediately uninstall it from all devices. Google and Microsoft have this same ability with Android’s Google Play and Windows Store for new Windows 8-style apps. Does Linux Get Viruses? Malware authors don’t tend to target Linux desktops, as so few average users use them. Linux desktop users are more likely to be geeks that won’t fall for obvious tricks. As with Macs, Linux users get most of their programs from a single place — the package manager — rather than downloading them from websites. Linux also can’t run Windows software natively, so Windows viruses just can’t run. Linux desktop malware is extremely rare, but it does exist. The recent “Hand of Thief” Trojan supports a variety of Linux distributions and desktop environments, running in the background and stealing online banking information. It doesn’t have a good way if infecting Linux systems, though — you’d have to download it from a website or receive it as an email attachment and run the Trojan. [Source] This just confirms how important it is to only run trusted software on any platform, even supposedly secure ones. What About Chromebooks? Chromebooks are locked down laptops that only run the Chrome web browser and some bits around it. We’re not really aware of any form of Chrome OS malware. A Chromebook’s sandbox helps protect it against malware, but it also helps that Chromebooks aren’t very common yet. It would still be possible to infect a Chromebook, if only by tricking a user into installing a malicious browser extension from outside the Chrome web store. The malicious browser extension could run in the background, steal your passwords and online banking credentials, and send it over the web. Such malware could even run on Windows, Mac, and Linux versions of Chrome, but it would appear in the Extensions list, would require the appropriate permissions, and you’d have to agree to install it manually. And Windows RT? Microsoft’s Windows RT only runs desktop programs written by Microsoft. Users can only install “Windows 8-style apps” from the Windows Store. This means that Windows RT devices are as locked down as an iPad — an attacker would have to get a malicious app into the store and trick users into installing it or possibly find a security vulnerability that allowed them to bypass the protection. Malware is definitely at its worst on Windows. This would probably be true even if Windows had a shining security record and a history of being as secure as other operating systems, but you can definitely avoid a lot of malware just by not using Windows. Of course, no platform is a perfect malware-free environment. You should exercise some basic precautions everywhere. Even if malware was eliminated, we’d have to deal with social-engineering attacks like phishing emails asking for credit card numbers. Image Credit: stuartpilbrow on Flickr, Kansir on Flickr     

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• The Krewe App Post-Mortem

  - by Chris Gardner

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/freestylecoding/archive/2014/05/23/the-krewe-app-post-mortem.aspxNow that teched has come and gone, I thought I would use this opportunity to do a little post-mortem on The Krewe app. It is one thing to test the app at home. It is a completely different animal to see how it responds in the environment TechEd creates. At a future time, I will list all the things that I would like to change with the app. At this point, I will find some good way to get community feedback. I want to break all this down screen by screen. We'll start with the screen I got right. The first of these is the events calendar. This is the one screen that, to you guys, just worked. However, there was an issue here. When I wrote v1 for last year, I was lazy and placed everything in CST. This caused problems with the achievements, which I will explain later. Furthermore, the event locations were not check-in locations. This created another problem with the achievements. Next, we get to the Twitter page. For what this page does, it works great. For those that don't know, I have an Azure Worker Role that polls Twitter pretty close to the rate limit. I cache these results in my database, and serve them upon request. This gives me great control over the content. I just have to remember to flush past tweets after a period, to save database growth. The next screen is the check-in screen. This screen has been the bane of my existence since I first created the thing. Last year, I used a background task to check people out of locations after they traveled. This year, I removed the background task in favor of a foursquare model. You are checked out after 3 hours or when you check-in to some other location. This seemed to work well, until those pesky achievements came into the mix. Again, more on this later. Next, I want to address the Connect and Connections screens together. I wanted to use some of the capabilities of the phone, and NFC seemed a natural choice. From this, I came up with the gamification aspects of the app. Since we are, fundamentally, a networking organization, I wanted to encourage people to actually network. Users could make and share a profile, similar to a virtual business card. I just had to figure out how to get people to use the feature. Why not just give someone a business card? Thus, the achievements were born. This was such a good idea. It would have been a great idea, if I have come up with it about two months earlier... When I came up with these ideas, I had about 2 weeks to implement them. Version 1 of the app was, basically, a pure consumption app. We provided data and centralized it. With version 2, the app became a much more interactive experience. The API was not ready for this change in such a short period of time. Most of this became apparent when I started implementing the achievements. The achievements based on count and specific person when fairly easy. The problem came with tying them to locations and events. This took some true SQL kung fu. This also showed me the rookie mistake of putting CST, not UTC, in the database. Once I got all of that cleaned up, I had to find a way to get the achievement system to talk to the phone. I knew I needed to be able to dynamically add achievements. I wouldn't know the precise location of some things until I got to Houston. I wanted the server to approve the achievements. This, unfortunately, required a decent data connection. Some achievements required GPS levels of location accuracy in areas of network triangulation. All of this became a huge nightmare. My flagship feature was based on some silly assumptions. Still, I managed to get 31 people to get the first achievement (Make 1 Connection.) Quite a few of those managed to get to the higher levels. Soon, I will post a list of the feature and changes that need to happen to the API. This includes things like proper objects for communication, geo-fencing, and caching. However, that is for another day.

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• My Thoughts On the Xbox 180

  - by Chris Gardner

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/freestylecoding/archive/2013/06/21/my-thoughts-on-the-xbox-180.aspx Everyone seems to be putting their 0.00237 cents into the wishing well over Microsoft's recent decision to reverse the DRM policy on the Xbox One. However, there have been a few issues that nobody has touched. As such, I have decided to dig 0.00237 cents out of my pocket. First, let me be clear about this point. I do not support the decision to reverse the DRM policy on the Xbox One. I wanted that point to be expressed first and unambiguously. I will say it again. I do not support the decision to reverse the DRM policy on the Xbox One. Now that I have that out of the way, let me go into my rationale. This decision removes most of the cool features that enticed me to pre-order the console. No, I didn't cancel my pre-order. There is still five months before the release of the console, and there is still a plethora of information that we, as consumers, do not have. With that, it should be noted that much of the talk in this post is speculation and rhetoric. I do not have any insider information that you do not possess. The persistent connection would have allowed the console to do many of the functions for which we have been begging. That demo where someone was playing Ryse, seamlessly accepted a multiplayer challenge in Killer Instinct, played the match (and a rematch,) and then jumped back into Ryse. That's gone, if you bought the game on disc. The new, DRM free system will require the disc in the system to play a game. That bullet point where one Xbox Live account could have up to 10 slave accounts so families could play together, no matter where they were located. That's gone as well. The promise of huge, expansive, dynamically changing worlds that was brought to us with the power of cloud computing. Well, "the people" didn't want there to be a forced, persistent connection. As such, developers can't rely on a connection and, as such, that feature is gone. This is akin to the removal of the hard drive on the Xbox 360. The list continues, but the enthusiast press has enumerated the list far better than I wish. All of this is because the Xbox team saw the HUGE success of Steam and decided to borrow a few ideas. Yes, Steam. The service that everyone hated for the first six months (for the same reasons the Xbox One is getting flack.) There was an initial growing pain. However, it is now lauded as the way games distribution should be handled. Unless you are Microsoft. I do find it curious that many of the features were originally announced for the PS4 during its unveiling. However, much of that was left strangely absent for Sony's E3 press conference. Instead, we received a single, static slide that basically said the exact opposite of Microsoft's plans. It is not farfetched to believe that slide came into existence during the approximately seven hours between the two media briefings. The thing that majorly annoys me over this whole kerfuffle is that the single thing that caused the call to arms is, really, not an issue. Microsoft never said they were going to block used sales. They said it was up to the publisher to make that decision. This would have allowed publishers to reclaim some of the costs of development in subsequent sales of the product. If you sell your game to GameStop for 7 USD, GameStop is going to sell it for 55 USD. That is 48 USD pure profit for them. Some publishers asked GameStop for a small cut. Was this a huge, money grubbing scheme? Well, yes, but the idea was that they have to handle server infrastructure for dormant accounts, etc. Of course, GameStop flatly refused, and the Online Pass was born. Fortunately, this trend didn’t last, and most publishers have stopped the practice. The ability to sell "licenses" has already begun to be challenged. Are you living in the EU? If so, companies must allow you to sell digital property. With this precedent in place, it's only a matter of time before other areas follow suit. If GameStop were smart, they should have immediately contacted every publisher out there to get the rights to become a clearing house for these licenses. Then, they keep their business model and could reduce their brick and mortar footprint. The digital landscape is changing. We need to not block this process. As Seth MacFarlane best said "Some issues are so important that you should drag people kicking and screaming." I believe this was said on an episode of Real Time with Bill Maher about the issue of Gay Marriages. Much like the original source, this is an issue that we need to drag people to the correct, progressive position. Microsoft, as a company, actually has the resources to weather the transition period. They have a great pool of first and second party developers that can leverage this new framework to prove the validity. Over time, the third party developers will get excited to use these tools. As an old C++ guy, I resisted C# for years. Now, I think it's one of the best languages I've ever used. I have a server room and a Co-Lo full of servers, so I originally didn't see the value in Azure. Now, I wish I could move every one of my projects into the cloud. I still LOVE getting physical packaging, which my music and games collection will proudly attest. However, I have started to see the value in pure digital, and have found ways to integrate this into the ways I consume those products. I can, honestly, understand how some parts of the population would be very apprehensive about this new landscape. There were valid arguments about people with no internet access. There are ways to combat these problems. These methods do not require us to throw the baby out with the bathwater. However, the number of people in the computer industry that I have seen cry foul is truly appalling. We are the forward looking people that help show how technology can improve people's lives. If we can't see the value of the brief pain involved with an exciting new ecosystem, than who will?

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• HTG Explains: What Does “Bricking” a Device Mean?

  - by Chris Hoffman

  When someone breaks a device and turns it into an expensive brick, people say they “bricked” it. We’ll cover exactly what causes bricking and why, how you can avoid it, and what to do if you have a bricked device. Bear in mind that many people use the term “bricking” incorrectly and refer to a device that isn’t working properly as “bricked.” if you can easily recover the device through a software process, it’s technically not “bricked.” Image Credit: Esparta Palma on Flickr HTG Explains: What is the Windows Page File and Should You Disable It? How To Get a Better Wireless Signal and Reduce Wireless Network Interference How To Troubleshoot Internet Connection Problems

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• How to Factory Reset Your Android Phone or Tablet When It Won’t Boot

  - by Chris Hoffman

  Safe mode can help you troubleshoot your Android, but sometimes you’ll need to wipe everything and restore your device to its factory state. You can even perform a factory reset when your Android phone or tablet won’t boot normally. Ensure you have any important data backed up before doing a reset. This includes your Google Authenticator credentials, which will be lost during the reset. Disable two-factor authentication on your accounts first or you’ll experience some trouble afterwards. How to Factory Reset Your Android Phone or Tablet When It Won’t Boot Our Geek Trivia App for Windows 8 is Now Available Everywhere How To Boot Your Android Phone or Tablet Into Safe Mode

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• HTG Explains: What’s the Difference Between CC and BCC When Sending an Email?

  - by Chris Hoffman

  The CC and BCC fields when sending email work similarly. CC stands for “carbon copy,” while BCC stands for “blind carbon copy.” While these terms may have been immediately obvious when email was invented, they’re antiquated today. CC and BCC are both ways of sending copies of an email to additional people. However, you can also send copies of an email to additional people by specifying multiple addresses in the To field. How To Play DVDs on Windows 8 6 Start Menu Replacements for Windows 8 What Is the Purpose of the “Do Not Cover This Hole” Hole on Hard Drives?

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• 8 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do In Windows 7's Task Manager

  - by Chris Hoffman

  The Windows Task Manager is often used for troubleshooting – perhaps closing an application that isn’t working properly or monitoring system resource usage. However, there’s a lot more you can do with Windows 7’s Task Manager. To quickly open the Task Manager, right-click your taskbar and select Start Task Manager. You can also press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to quickly launch the Task Manager with a keyboard shortcut. Windows 8 may have a great new task manager, but Windows 7’s is still useful. HTG Explains: Is ReadyBoost Worth Using? HTG Explains: What The Windows Event Viewer Is and How You Can Use It HTG Explains: How Windows Uses The Task Scheduler for System Tasks

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• How to Fix the “Firefox Is Already Running” Error

  - by Chris Hoffman

  The “Firefox is already running, but is not responding” error has haunted Firefox users for years. You don’t have to restart your computer when you see this error – you can usually fix it with a quick trip to the Task Manager. This error occurs when Firefox is closed but is still running in the background. Firefox is either in the process of closing or is frozen and hasn’t quit properly. In rare situations, there may be a problem with your profile. Secure Yourself by Using Two-Step Verification on These 16 Web Services How to Fix a Stuck Pixel on an LCD Monitor How to Factory Reset Your Android Phone or Tablet When It Won’t Boot

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• HTG Explains: What’s a Browser User Agent?

  - by Chris Hoffman

  Your browser sends its user agent to every website you connect to. We’ve written about changing your browser’s user agent before – but what exactly is a user agent, anyway? A user agent is a “string” – that is, a line of text – identifying the browser and operating system to the web server. This sounds simple, but user agents have become a mess over time. How To Customize Your Wallpaper with Google Image Searches, RSS Feeds, and More 47 Keyboard Shortcuts That Work in All Web Browsers How To Hide Passwords in an Encrypted Drive Even the FBI Can’t Get Into

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• How to Turn Your Ubuntu Laptop into a Wireless Access Point

  - by Chris Hoffman

  If you have a single wired Internet connection – say, in a hotel room – you can create an ad-hoc wireless network with Ubuntu and share the Internet connection among multiple devices. Ubuntu includes an easy, graphical setup tool. Unfortunately, there are some limitations. Some devices may not support ad-hoc wireless networks and Ubuntu can only create wireless hotspots with weak WEP encryption, not strong WPA encryption. HTG Explains: What Is RSS and How Can I Benefit From Using It? HTG Explains: Why You Only Have to Wipe a Disk Once to Erase It HTG Explains: Learn How Websites Are Tracking You Online

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• 11 Ubuntu One Features You May Not Be Aware Of

  - by Chris Hoffman

  While Ubuntu One might seem like a Ubuntu-only file synchronization service, it’s more than that – you can use Ubuntu One on Windows, Android, iOS, and from the web. Ubuntu One offers 5GB of free storage space to everyone. Ubuntu One includes features for sharing files or folders online, streaming music to your smartphone, synchronizing installed applications across all your devices, and more. How to Use an Xbox 360 Controller On Your Windows PC Download the Official How-To Geek Trivia App for Windows 8 How to Banish Duplicate Photos with VisiPic

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• Event-based server-gameloop in a server based game

  - by Chris

  I know that this site is full of questions about fixed gameloops and variable gameloops and different types of threading. But I coult find barely nothing that is related to server loops. The server has no screen to draw on. It could just run as fast as possible, but of course this makes no sense. But should it really use single "ticks" and send the updates periodically after each tick and wait for the next "tick" to update its state. Is it applicable to replace the gameloop by multilpe events? Suchs as incoming network traffic or timers? I often heared that a gameloop should be determistic, but does it really matter? For instance, when you play a shooter game against humand players and/or AI you proably would never be ably to repeat the same input twice. Is it a good idea to lose determistic behavior if it is nearly impossible to reprodruce the same input twice? So this question is more or less about whether an strictly event-based gameloop is adviseable or not and what are the pros and cons. I could imagene that an event-based gameloop could perform much faster and smoother, since you don't have bug CPU-spikes during the beginning of a new "tick". The fact that I could not find much about an event-based gameloop for servers leads me to the conclusion that inefficient or too complicated to get a real benefit from it. I'm sure if this is enough to get an idea from what I'm interessted to know, but I hope so.

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• Videos of my MonoTouch and Mono and Mobile sessions from NDC 2011

  - by Chris Hardy (ChrisNTR)

  Two weeks ago, I was in Oslo, Norway getting ready to present a few talks at the Norwegian Developer's Conference 2011 and now two weeks later, it's about time I point you to my MonoTouch and Mono and Mobile talks from the conference! First I would like to thanks for everyone involved with the conference, the hosts, the staff, the speakers and the attendees. There was so many great talks going on that you're forced to download the videos afterwards! All the videos from the conference are up on the...(read more)

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• Part 5, Moving Forum threads from CommunityServer to DotNetNuke

  - by Chris Hammond

  This is the fifth post in a series of blog posts about converting from CommunityServer to DotNetNuke. A brief background: I had a number of websites running on CommunityServer 2.1, I decided it was finally time to ditch CommunityServer due to the change in their licensing model and pricing that made it not good for the small guy. This series of blog posts is about how to convert your CommunityServer based sites to DotNetNuke . Previous Posts: Part 1: An Introduction Part 2: DotNetNuke Installation...(read more)

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• Modular Open MMO RPG

  - by Chris Valentine

  Has there been an MMORPG type attempt at some kind of open universe where you could host a server on your own if you wish and it would merely be added to the collective of possible places to travel within the MMO? Two types come to mind, a DnD Neverwinter Nights type place or something like EVE online. Where there is a "universe" and each hosted space is a planet or solar system or galaxy and players can travel between them using the same characters/ships/portal system and each new server is than just a new adventure or place to go. I would also assume there were dedicated/replicated servers that housed the characters/inventory themselves so that the environment was decentralized and always expandable. Not sure thats clear but has there been any such attempts or WIP? thanks

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• HTG Explains: Why You Shouldn’t Disable UAC

  - by Chris Hoffman

  User Account Control is an important security feature in the latest versions of Windows. While we’ve explained how to disable UAC in the past, you shouldn’t disable it – it helps keep your computer secure. If you reflexively disable UAC when setting up a computer, you should give it another try – UAC and the Windows software ecosystem have come a long way from when UAC was introduced with Windows Vista. How To Create a Customized Windows 7 Installation Disc With Integrated Updates How to Get Pro Features in Windows Home Versions with Third Party Tools HTG Explains: Is ReadyBoost Worth Using?

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• Java default Integer value is int

  - by Chris Okyen

  My code looks like this import java.util.Scanner; public class StudentGrades { public static void main(String[] argv) { Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in); byte q1 = keyboard.nextByte() * 10; } } It gives me an error "Type mismatch: cannot convert from int to byte." Why the heck would Java store a literal operand that is small enough to fit in a byte,. into a int type? Do literals get stored in variables/registers before the ALU performs arithmatic operations.

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• HTG Explains: Why It’s Good That Your Computer’s RAM Is Full

  - by Chris Hoffman

  Is Windows, Linux, Android, or another operating system using a lot of RAM? Don’t panic! Modern operating systems use RAM as a file cache to speed things up. Assuming your computer is performing well, there’s nothing to worry about. While it may seem counterintuitive to those of us who remember our computers always being starved for RAM, high RAM usage means your RAM is being put to good use. Empty RAM is wasted RAM. HTG Explains: Why It’s Good That Your Computer’s RAM Is Full 10 Awesome Improvements For Desktop Users in Windows 8 How To Play DVDs on Windows 8

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• How to Sync Any Folder With SkyDrive on Windows 8.1

  - by Chris Hoffman

  Before Windows 8.1, it was possible to sync any folder on your computer with SkyDrive using symbolic links. This method no longer works now that SkyDrive is baked into Windows 8.1, but there are other tricks you can use. Creating a symbolic link or directory junction inside your SkyDrive folder will give you an empty folder in your SkyDrive cloud storage. Confusingly, the files will appear inside the SkyDrive Modern app as if they were being synced, but they aren’t. The Solution With SkyDrive refusing to understand and accept symbolic links in its own folder, the best option is probably to use symbolic links anyway — but in reverse. For example, let’s say you have a program that automatically saves important data to a folder anywhere on your hard drive — whether it’s C:\Users\USER\Documents\, C:\Program\Data, or anywhere else. Rather than trying to trick SkyDrive into understanding a symbolic link, we could instead move the actual folder itself to SkyDrive and then use a symbolic link at the folder’s original location to trick the original program. This may not work for every single program out there. But it will likely work for most programs, which use standard Windows API calls to access folders and save files. We’re just flipping the old solution here — we can’t trick SkyDrive anymore, so let’s try to trick other programs instead. Moving a Folder and Creating a Symbolic Link First, ensure no program is using the external folder. For example, if it’s a program data or settings folder, close the program that’s using the folder. Next, simply move the folder to your SkyDrive folder. Right-click the external folder, select Cut, go to the SkyDrive folder, right-click and select Paste. The folder will now be located in the SkyDrive folder itself, so it will sync normally. Next, open a Command Prompt window as Administrator. Right-click the Start button on the taskbar or press Windows Key + X and select Command Prompt (Administrator) to open it. Run the following command to create a symbolic link at the original location of the folder: mklink /d “C:\Original\Folder\Location” “C:\Users\NAME\SkyDrive\FOLDERNAME\” Enter the correct paths for the exact location of the original folder and the current location of the folder in your SkyDrive. Windows will then create a symbolic link at the folder’s original location. Most programs should hopefully be tricked by this symbolic location, saving their files directly to SkyDrive. You can test this yourself. Put a file into the folder at its original location. It will be saved to SkyDrive and sync normally, appearing in your SkyDrive storage online. One downside here is that you won’t be able to save a file onto SkyDrive without it taking up space on the same hard drive SkyDrive is on. You won’t be able to scatter folders across multiple hard drives and sync them all. However, you could always change the location of the SkyDrive folder on Windows 8.1 and put it on a drive with a larger amount of free space. To do this, right-click the SkyDrive folder in File Explorer, select Properties, and use the options on the Location tab. You could even use Storage Spaces to combine the drives into one larger drive. Automatically Copy the Original Files to SkyDrive Another option would be to run a program that automatically copies files from another folder on your computer to your SkyDrive folder. For example, let’s say you want to sync copies of important log files that a program creates in a specific folder. You could use a program that allows you to schedule automatic folder-mirroring, configuring the program to regularly copy the contents of your log folder to your SkyDrive folder. This may be a useful alternative for some use cases, although it isn’t the same as standard syncing. You’ll end up with two copies of the files taking up space on your system, which won’t be ideal for large files. The files also won’t be instantly uploaded to your SkyDrive storage after they’re created, but only after the scheduled task runs. There are many options for this, including Microsoft’s own SyncToy, which continues to work on Windows 8. If you were using the symbolic link trick to automatically sync copies of PC game save files with SkyDrive, you could just install GameSave Manager. It can be configured to automatically create backup copies of your computer’s PC game save files on a schedule, saving them to SkyDrive where they’ll be synced and backed up online. SkyDrive support was completely rewritten for Windows 8.1, so it’s not surprising that this trick no longer works. The ability to use symbolic links in previous versions of SkyDrive was never officially supported, so it’s not surprising to see it break after a rewrite. None of the methods above are as convenient and quick as the old symbolic link method, but they’re the best we can do with the SkyDrive integration Microsoft has given us in Windows 8.1. It’s still possible to use symbolic links to easily sync other folders with competing cloud storage services like Dropbox and Google Drive, so you may want to consider switching away from SkyDrive if this feature is critical to you.     

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• How to Buy an SD Card: Speed Classes, Sizes, and Capacities Explained

  - by Chris Hoffman

  Memory cards are used in digital cameras, music players, smartphones, tablets, and even laptops. But not all SD cards are created equal — there are different speed classes, physical sizes, and capacities to consider. Different devices require different types of SD cards. Here are the differences you’ll need to keep in mind when picking out the right SD card for your device. Speed Class In a nutshell, not all SD cards offer the same speeds. This matters for some tasks more than it matters for others. For example, if you’re a professional photographer taking photos in rapid succession on a DSLR camera saving them in high-resolution RAW format, you’ll want a fast SD card so your camera can save them as fast as possible. A fast SD card is also important if you want to record high-resolution video and save it directly to the SD card. If you’re just taking a few photos on a typical consumer camera or you’re just using an SD card to store some media files on your smartphone, the speed isn’t as important. Manufacturers use “speed classes” to measure an SD card’s speed. The SD Association that defines the SD card standard doesn’t actually define the exact speeds associated with these classes, but they do provide guidelines. There are four different speed classes — 10, 8, 4, and 2. 10 is the fastest, while 2 is the slowest. Class 2 is suitable for standard definition video recording, while classes 4 and 6 are suitable for high-definition video recording. Class 10 is suitable for “full HD video recording” and “HD still consecutive recording.” There are also two Ultra High Speed (UHS) speed classes, but they’re more expensive and are designed for professional use. UHS cards are designed for devices that support UHS. Here are the associated logos, in order from slowest to fastest:       You’ll probably be okay with a class 4 or 6 card for typical use in a digital camera, smartphone, or tablet. Class 10 cards are ideal if you’re shooting high-resolution videos or RAW photos. Class 2 cards are a bit on the slow side these days, so you may want to avoid them for all but the cheapest digital cameras. Even a cheap smartphone can record HD video, after all. An SD card’s speed class is identified on the SD card itself. You’ll also see the speed class on the online store listing or on the card’s packaging when purchasing it. For example, in the below photo, the middle SD card is speed class 4, while the two other cards are speed class 6. If you see no speed class symbol, you have a class 0 SD card. These cards were designed and produced before the speed class rating system was introduced. They may be slower than even a class 2 card. Physical Size Different devices use different sizes of SD cards. You’ll find standard-size CD cards, miniSD cards, and microSD cards. Standard SD cards are the largest, although they’re still very small. They measure 32x24x2.1 mm and weigh just two grams. Most consumer digital cameras for sale today still use standard SD cards. They have the standard “cut corner”  design. miniSD cards are smaller than standard SD cards, measuring 21.5x20x1.4 mm and weighing about 0.8 grams. This is the least common size today. miniSD cards were designed to be especially small for mobile phones, but we now have a smaller size. microSD cards are the smallest size of SD card, measuring 15x11x1 mm and weighing just 0.25 grams. These cards are used in most cell phones and smartphones that support SD cards. They’re also used in many other devices, such as tablets. SD cards will only fit into marching slots. You can’t plug a microSD card into a standard SD card slot — it won’t fit. However, you can purchase an adapter that allows you to plug a smaller SD card into a larger SD card’s form and fit it into the appropriate slot. Capacity Like USB flash drives, hard drives, solid-state drives, and other storage media, different SD cards can have different amounts of storage. But the differences between SD card capacities don’t stop there. Standard SDSC (SD) cards are 1 MB to 2 GB in size, or perhaps 4 GB in size — although 4 GB is non-standard. The SDHC standard was created later, and allows cards 2 GB to 32 GB in size. SDXC is a more recent standard that allows cards 32 GB to 2 TB in size. You’ll need a device that supports SDHC or SDXC cards to use them. At this point, the vast majority of devices should support SDHC. In fact, the SD cards you have are probably SDHC cards. SDXC is newer and less common. When buying an SD card, you’ll need to buy the right speed class, size, and capacity for your needs. Be sure to check what your device supports and consider what speed and capacity you’ll actually need. Image Credit: Ryosuke SEKIDO on Flickr, Clive Darra on Flickr, Steven Depolo on Flickr

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• How do you create a .XNB Font file for use with CocosSharp?

  - by Chris Pietschmann

  I know the .XNB file format is an XNA thing and that CocosSharp inherits this from its MonoGame roots. However there doesn't seem to be any information on how to create your own .XNB fonts to use with CocosSharp. I've tried searching but can find any information. Could someone explain it here or point me to a tutorial on how to create .XNB font file for use with CocosSharp? A site to download already compiled .XNB Fonts would also be acceptable. Update: Another thing that makes this tricky is that I guess XNA Game Studio could be used, but it's not compatible with Windows 8.1; which is what I currently use for my dev machine...

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