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• ffmpeg cutting video duration

  - by Steve Spence

  When using ffmpeg on linux, my 4.3GB 2.21 second video is being chopped down to 1.56 duration. I'm trying to reduce file size, but not lose frames. steve@steve-OptiPlex-170L:~/Desktop$ ffmpeg -i microbe.avi microbe.mp4 ffmpeg version 0.8.3-4:0.8.3-0ubuntu0.12.04.1, Copyright (c) 2000-2012 the Libav developers built on Jun 12 2012 16:37:58 with gcc 4.6.3 * THIS PROGRAM IS DEPRECATED * This program is only provided for compatibility and will be removed in a future release. Please use avconv instead. Input #0, avi, from 'microbe.avi': Duration: 00:02:21.80, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 242311 kb/s Stream #0.0: Video: rawvideo, bgr24, 1280x960, 10 tbr, 10 tbn, 10 tbc Incompatible pixel format 'bgr24' for codec 'mpeg4', auto-selecting format 'yuv420p' [buffer @ 0x9f861e0] w:1280 h:960 pixfmt:bgr24 [avsink @ 0x9f86440] auto-inserting filter 'auto-inserted scaler 0' between the filter 'src' and the filter 'out' [scale @ 0x9f7d800] w:1280 h:960 fmt:bgr24 - w:1280 h:960 fmt:yuv420p flags:0x4 Output #0, mp4, to 'microbe.mp4': Metadata: encoder : Lavf53.21.0 Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 1280x960, q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 10 tbn, 10 tbc Stream mapping: Stream #0.0 - #0.0 Press ctrl-c to stop encoding frame= 1164 fps= 6 q=31.0 Lsize= 3775kB time=116.40 bitrate= 265.7kbits/s video:3765kB audio:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 0.272870% steve@steve-OptiPlex-170L:~/Desktop$

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• which grabber is good enough to get 1000fps?

  - by user261002

  I have two framegrabber with a fast camera (1800+ fps). can anybody who understand the hardware, explain to me which of the following grabbers can help me more to grab 1000fps ? here are the the features of the two grabbers : Inspecta-5 Full Camera Link® Version: · Support for line scan and area cameras. · Video data rate of up to 660 Mbytes/sec. · PCI – X bus interface for 64 Bit data width and 66 MHz clock frequency. · PCI bus interface for 32 Bit data width and 33 MHz clock frequency. · 2 Gigabyte Onboard Memory for fast video streams. · Four opt coupled input- output ports for external trigger and encoder signals. · 528 Mbytes/sec. maximum data rate on the PCI–X Bus. · SDK for Windows 2000/XP SILICONSOFTWARE V-Series Camera Link : “microEnable IV VD4-CL” · Camera Pixel Clock Support 85 MHz · Area Scan Cameras 32k * 64k max. image size · Line Scan Cameras 64k max. image width · Acquisition Buffer: 512 MB DDR-RAM · Sustainable Transfer Rate (max.) 850 MBytes/sec. · microEnable SDK for Windows XP/Vista/ 7/ Linux

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• Monitor flickers in native resolution.

  - by ptikobj

  With my new Samsung Syncmaster BX2450 I have the following problem: In Windows XP (SP2), all resolutions above 1440x900 have either strange pixel errors or an extreme flickering. It seems, that the effect worsens for higher resolutions. In special, I would like to run the monitor with its native resolution (1920x1080), however I can't watch longer than 5 seconds on the monitor because of the flickering... My Graphics Card is a Geforce FX 5200 with the most up-to-date driver (according to Nvidia.com: Forceware 175.19) and I'm having the monitor connected to its DVI-output. The strange thing is, under Ubuntu 10.04, all resolutions work just perfect, so the display must be alright. edit: seems to be a driver problem... if I use the proprietary NVIDIA drivers in Ubuntu, I have the same problem as in Windows. I would like to reformulate my question: Is there a modified/alternative Geforce FX 5200 driver (as there is in Ubuntu) for Windows that allows me to use 1920x1020 without problems ? I already tried the omega drivers: unfortunately, it still looks poor on the native resolution.

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• How do I lower the hardware volume? (volume too high)

  - by Zom-B

  I have a 4yo Dell laptop with Windows XP Pro (modern ones unfortunately don't have a physical volume knob), and lately I'm using my Apple earphones, because they have much better low frequency response than my $10 earphones. They also have the side effect of being much louder. To give an indication of my agony, for most tasks (movie, music, games) I have my main volume at 3 ticks: drag to 0 with the mouse and press the up key 3 times (the handle does not even raise 1 pixel) and my wave volume at 50%. I notice that when I do this, I have a lot of digital noise, because I'm using just a tiny fraction of the 16-bit space. If I drag the Wave slider down until I barely hear the audio, it becomes really distorted and noisy, indicating that this is digital volume (in the DirectSound driver or something) and not hardware volume. I experimented in Audition. When I make a tone of 1000Hz at -50db, (all windows volumes at max) the volume is just below my pain threshold. When I zoom in to see how high the sample values reach, I see that just 8 of the 16 bits are used (about -100 ~ 100). When I generate such tone at -80db (minimum I can specify) then I can still clearly hear the tone, although really noisy. When I zoom in, I see that just 3 out of 16 bits are used. I created a squarewave tone that is just 1 bit high, and I can still hear it! For most uses, this is not a big problem (audiophiles will disagree!), as I just have more noise than usual (about the same as old 8 bit hardware), but I'm also in the process of programming a hearing test program, in which case this problem is a death blow as the test subjects will even hear tones at the bottom of the theoretical range (lowering the windows volume is futile, see above) (I cannot update drivers, as Dell has discontinued XP support for my model)

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• Why does GIMP start up so slow on my machine?

  - by muntoo

  EDIT 2: One way would be to disable script-fu. Does anyone know how to disable it at startup? Is it possible? Would GIMP still work? What wouldn't work? Could I start it later, after loading? Is there any way to speed up GIMP's startup time on Windows Vista Home Premium 32-Bit 1.6 [Dual] Intel Processors? On XP [different computer], it loads in less than 3 seconds. On Vista, it takes 20 seconds: 2 Seconds (other - fonts, brushes, etc) 18 Seconds (extension-script-fu) It just freezes at extension-script-fu. Looking at Process Explorer, I see that it's not taking any CPU at all. EDIT 1: It does seem to be taking 50% of the CPU. It gets stuck for about 18 seconds, and then starts working again. Then, the actual GIMP program pops up [...finally]. I have the latest stable version running (I think). I tried it with XP SP2 Compatibiliy mode and/or Run As Administrator, but that didn't help.

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• Is there any way to customize the Windows 7 taskbar auto-hide behavior? Delay activation? Timer?

  - by calbar

  I'm becoming increasingly frustrated with the way Windows 7 handles showing a hidden taskbar. It's incredibly over-eager to pop out and obscure what I'm really trying to interact with, requiring me to move the mouse away, wait for it to auto-hide again, then resume what I was doing but more deliberately. After closely examining the behavior, it appears that a hidden taskbar "peeks out" from the edge by 2 or 3 pixels, and slowly moving your mouse into this area activates it; you don't even need to touch the edge of the screen. I would love it if there was a way to customize or change this behavior. Ideally, the taskbar would only pop out if you are actively "pushing" the edge of the screen it is hidden on. So activation only occurs once you've reached the screens edge and continue to move the mouse past a customizable threshold. Alternatively, a simple activation delay would suffice as well. So only if the mouse remains in that 2-3 pixel area (a.k.a. on the taskbar) for greater than a customizable amount of time does it pop out again. This would only be a fraction of a second. Often times the cursor simply "careens" off the edge of the screen while trying to focus on something nearby. Anyway, if there are any registry settings or utilities that can achieve either of these effects, that would be great! Thanks for your help.

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• Exchange 2010 UR3 - customizing OWA logon page

  - by STGdb

  I have an Exchange 2010 UR3 deployment that I need to customize the OWA logon page for. I've created a new LGNTOPL.GIF file to replace the existing one in the folder: “C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\ClientAccess\Owa\14.3.158.1\themes\resources” When I bring up OWA, I still get the original “Outlook Web App” logo. I’ve searched and found a couple of other instances of LGNTOPL.GIF in the directories: “C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\ClientAccess\Owa\14.3.123.3\themes\resources” “C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\ClientAccess\Owa\14.3.146.0\themes\resources” “C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\ClientAccess\Owa\Current\themes\resources” I’ve replaced the LGNTOPL.GIF file in each of the above directories but got the same results. I’ve tried clearing my browser cache and even using multiple browsers from multiple PC’s but the same results. I’ve even tried making my GIF file the same pixel size as the original LGNTOPL.GIF logo but still the same results. I’ve tried restarting IIS on the CAS server and restarting the server but same results. Has something changed with Exchange 2010 UR3 when trying to customize OWA? I don't see anything documented about any change to OWA customization. Thanks

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• android webview returns blank page when load dynamic html page

  - by user2962555

  I am trying to click one button to load a page into a div block dynamically. To test it, I try to append a list item with text "abc" into the loaded page. However, I always get a blank page. load function works fine because if I try to load a static page, it works. Following is my main html page code. <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <title>LoadPageTest</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans:300,400,700"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="./css/customizedstyle.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="./css/themes/default/jquery.mobile-1.4.3.min.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="./css/jqm-demos.css"> <script src="./js/jquery.js"></script> <script scr="./js/customizedjs.js"></script> <script src="./js/jquery.mobile-1.4.3.min.js"></script> <script> $( document ).on( "pagecreate", "#demo-page", function() { $( document ).on( "swipeleft swiperight", "#demo-page", function( e ) { if ( $( ".ui-page-active" ).jqmData( "panel" ) !== "open" ) { if ( e.type === "swipeleft" ) { $( "#right-panel" ).panel( "open" ); } } }); }); </script> <style type="text/css"> body { overflow:hidden; } </style> </head> <body style= "overflow:hidden" scrolling="no"> <style type="text/css"> body { overflow:hidden; } </style> <div data-role="page" id="main-page" style= "overflow:hidden" scrolling="no"> <div role="main" class="ui-content" id ="maindiv" style= "overflow: auto"> Will load diff pages here. </div><!-- /content --> <div data-role="panel" id="left-panel" data-theme="b"> <ul data-role="listview" data-icon="false" id="menu"> <li> <a href="#" id = "btnA" data-rel="close">Go Page A <img src="./images/icona.png" class="ui-li-thumb"/> </li> <li> <a href="#" id = "btnB" data-rel="close">Go Page B <img src="./images/iconb.png" class="ui-li-thumb"/> </li> </ul> </div><!-- /panel --> <script type="text/javascript"> $("#btnA").on("click", function(){ $("#maindiv").empty(); $("#maindiv").load("pageA.html"); }); $("#btnB").on("click", function(){ $("#maindiv").empty(); $("#maindiv").load("pageB.html"); }); </script> </div><!-- /page --> </body> </html> Next is code for the page I try to load dynamically. <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <title>Page should be loaded</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans:300,400,700"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="./css/customizedstyle.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="./css/themes/default/jquery.mobile-1.4.3.min.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="./css/jqm-demos.css"> <script src="./js/jquery.js"></script> <script scr="./js/customizedjs.js"></script> <script src="./js/jquery.mobile-1.4.3.min.js"></script> <script> $(document).on('pagebeforeshow', function () { $('#postlist').append('<li> abc </li>'); $('#postlist').listview('refresh'); }); </script> </head> <body > <div data-role="page" id="posthome"> <div data-role = "content"> <ul data-role='listview' id = "postlist"> </ul> </div> </div> </body> </html> I doubt if it is because my javascript in the page doesn't work, cause the swipe js code in the main page seems not work either. Is that possible? I have enabled javascript in the onCreate() function of the activity file as below. protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.activity_message); new LongRunningGetIO().execute(); mWebView = (WebView) findViewById(R.id.webview); mWebView.setWebViewClient(new AppClient()); mWebView.setVerticalScrollBarEnabled(false); mWebView.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true); mWebView.getSettings().setDomStorageEnabled(true); mWebView.loadUrl("file:///android_asset/index.html"); } I noticed there is a warning for statement to enable javascript "Using setJavaScriptEnabled can introduce XSS vulnerabilities into you application, review carefully". Will that maybe the reason? Then, I added @SuppressLint("SetJavaScriptEnabled") on top of the activity. The warning is gone, but the js code in pages seem still not work.

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• Exchange 2010 UR3 - customizing OWA logon page

  - by STGdb

  I have an Exchange 2010 UR3 deployment that I need to customize the OWA logon page for. I've created a new LGNTOPL.GIF file to replace the existing one in the folder: “C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\ClientAccess\Owa\14.3.158.1\themes\resources” When I bring up OWA, I still get the original “Outlook Web App” logo. I’ve searched and found a couple of other instances of LGNTOPL.GIF in the directories: “C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\ClientAccess\Owa\14.3.123.3\themes\resources” “C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\ClientAccess\Owa\14.3.146.0\themes\resources” “C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\ClientAccess\Owa\Current\themes\resources” I’ve replaced the LGNTOPL.GIF file in each of the above directories but got the same results. I’ve tried clearing my browser cache and even using multiple browsers from multiple PC’s but the same results. I’ve even tried making my GIF file the same pixel size as the original LGNTOPL.GIF logo but still the same results. I’ve tried restarting IIS on the CAS server and restarting the server but same results. Has something changed with Exchange 2010 UR3 when trying to customize OWA? I don't see anything documented about any change to OWA customization. Thanks

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• 5 reason why you should upgrade to new iPad (3rd generation)

  - by Gopinath

  Apple released the new iPad, 3rd generation, couple of days ago and they will be available in stores from March 16 onwards.  It’s the best tablet available in the market and for first time buyers it’s a no brainer to choose it. What about the iPad owners? Should they upgrade their iPad 2 to the new iPad? This is the question on the lips of most of the iPad owners. In this post we will provide you 5 reasons why you should upgrade your iPad, if more than two reasons are convincing then you should upgrade to the new iPad. Retina display – The best display ever made for mobile device, a game changer The new iPad comes with Retina display with screen resolution of 2048 x 1536, which is twice the resolution of iPad 2. Undoubtedly the iPad 3’s display is the best display ever made for a mobile device and it’s a game changer. With better resolution on iPad 3 eBook reading is going to be a pleasure with clear and crisp text Watching HD movies on iPad is going to be unbelievably good The new Games targeted for Retina display are going to be more realistic and needless to explain the pleasure of playing such games Graphic artists and photo editors get a professional on screen rendering support to create beautiful graphics 2x Faster & 2x Memory – Better Games and powerful Apps The new iPad is more powerful with 2x faster graphics and 2x more memory. Apple claims that the A5x processor of new iPad is 2x faster than iPad 2 and 4x faster than the best graphic chips available from other vendors. The RAM of  new iPad  is upgraded to 1 GB compared from 512 MB of iPad 2. With the fast processor and more memory, Apps and games are going to be blazing fast. 4G Internet – Browse the web at the speeds of 42 MB/sec Half of the iPad owners are frequent commuters who access internet over cellular networks, the new iPad’s 4G LTE is going to be a big boom for their  high data access needs. With the new iPad’s 4G LTE connectivity you can browse the web at 42 MB/sec and it mean you can watch a HD video without buffering issues. iPad 2 comes with 3G network support and it’s browsing speeds are way less than the new iPad. 5MP Camera – HD Movie Recording & gorgeous Photography iPad 2 has a 0.7 mega pixel camera and the new iPad comes with 5 megapixels camera. That is a huge boost for hobbyist  photographers and videographers. With the new iPad you can shoot gorgeous photos and 1080p HD video. The iSight camera of new iPad uses advanced optics with features like auto exposure, auto focus and face detection up to 10 faces. Amazon Pays up to $300 for old iPad 2 16 GB Wifi and more for other models Do you know that you can trade in your iPad 2 16 GB Wifi for upto $300? Amazon has an excellent trade in program for selling your used iPad 2s. Depending on the condition of the iPad 2  Amazon offers $234, $270, $300.00 for 16 GB Wifi versions that in Acceptable, Good and Like New conditions respectively.  The higher models of iPad 2s fetch you more money. With this great deal from Amazon the amount of extra money you need to spend for new iPad is almost half of their price. Visit Amazon Trade In’s website or read Amazon’s brilliant plan to pay you crazy money for your iPad 2 for more details. Related: New IPad Vs. IPad 2–Side By Side Comparison Of Hardware Specification [Infographic]

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• URGENT: Firefox circular-dependency hell - Linux Mint 13 (based on Ubuntu 12.04)

  - by Tyler J Fisher

  Having difficulty re-installing Firefox, after an installation to resolve places.sqlite issues. It appears that I'm trapped in circular dependency hell. Need to resolve firefox dependency hell to attempt to resolve Tomcat6 project dependencies (don't ask), ASAP. Have been trying for hours. What I've done (brief) 1) sudo apt-get purge firefox firefox-globalmenu firefox-gnome-support 2) sudo apt-get update 3) sudo apt-get install firefox firefox-globalmenu firefox-gnome-support 4) sudo apt-get -f install Potential error sources: Found in(sudo apt-get install firefox firefox-globalmenu firefox-gnome-support) dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/firefox_18.0~a2~hg20121027r113701-0ubuntu1~umd1~precise_amd64.deb (--unpack): trying to overwrite '/usr/lib/firefox/extensions', which is also in package mint-search-addon 2012.05.11 So, /usr/lib/firefox/extensions doesn't even EXIST! Deleted /var/cache/apt/archives/firefox_18.0~a2~hg20121027r113701 as per recommendations. Errors were encountered while processing: /var/cache/apt/archives/firefox_18.0~a2~hg20121027r113701-0ubuntu1~umd1~precise_amd64.deb E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) Outputs: 1) sudo apt-get purge firefox firefox-globalmenu firefox-gnome-support me@machine ~ $ sudo apt-get purge firefox-gnome-support firefox firefox-globalmenu Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done Package firefox is not installed, so not removed The following packages will be REMOVED: firefox-globalmenu* firefox-gnome-support* 2 not fully installed or removed. 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 2 to remove and 38 not upgraded. After this operation, 460 kB disk space will be freed. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y (Reading database ... dpkg: warning: files list file for package `mysqltuner' missing, assuming package has no files currently installed. (Reading database ... 192642 files and directories currently installed.) Removing firefox-globalmenu ... Removing firefox-gnome-support ... 3) me@machine ~ $ sudo apt-get install firefox firefox-globalmenu firefox-gnome-support Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done Suggested packages: latex-xft-fonts The following NEW packages will be installed: firefox firefox-globalmenu firefox-gnome-support 0 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 0 to remove and 38 not upgraded. Need to get 0 B/24.8 MB of archives. After this operation, 54.3 MB of additional disk space will be used. (Reading database ... dpkg: warning: files list file for package `mysqltuner' missing, assuming package has no files currently installed. (Reading database ... 192619 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking firefox (from .../firefox_18.0~a2~hg20121027r113701-0ubuntu1~umd1~precise_amd64.deb) ... dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/firefox_18.0~a2~hg20121027r113701-0ubuntu1~umd1~precise_amd64.deb (--unpack): trying to overwrite '/usr/lib/firefox/extensions', which is also in package mint-search-addon 2012.05.11 Selecting previously unselected package firefox-globalmenu. Unpacking firefox-globalmenu (from .../firefox-globalmenu_18.0~a2~hg20121027r113701-0ubuntu1~umd1~precise_amd64.deb) ... Selecting previously unselected package firefox-gnome-support. Unpacking firefox-gnome-support (from .../firefox-gnome- support_18.0~a2~hg20121027r113701-0ubuntu1~umd1~precise_amd64.deb) ... Processing triggers for man-db ... Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ... Processing triggers for bamfdaemon ... Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf.index... Processing triggers for gnome-menus ... Processing triggers for mintsystem ... Errors were encountered while processing: /var/cache/apt/archives/firefox_18.0~a2~hg20121027r113701- 0ubuntu1~umd1~precise_amd64.deb E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) 4) sudo apt-get -f install 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove, and 38 not upgraded Ideas? Tomcat6 only deploys my web application successfully in Firefox, not Chrome, so I'm really hoping to resolve this dependency issue.

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• XNA Notes 008

  - by George Clingerman

  This week has been a rough one. I’ve been sick and then in some kind of slump for my afternoon coding sessions. It could be from the cold, could be I’m still tired from writing that Windows Phone 7 game development book (which is out now!) or it could just be I’m tired of winter and want some sunshine. All I know is that even while I’m stick, the XNA world keeps going along at it’s whirlwind pace. Below are the things I caught in between my coughing fits.. Time Critical XNA News: The 2011 MVP summit is almost here so pass along your feelings and thoughts so the MVPs can take them and share them with the team in person http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/76317/464136.aspx#464136 Dream Build Play - there’s no new announcement yet, but you can’t get much more to the end of February than this! http://www.dreambuildplay.com/Main/Home.aspx XNA Team: Dean Johnson from the XNA team shares an excellent way of handling Guide.IsTrialMode on WP7 http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dejohn/archive/2011/02/21/calling-guide-istrialmode-on-windows-phone-7.aspx Nick Gravelyn tries a new tactic in deciding if there’s enough interest to develop a sequel or not. Don’t YOU want Pixel Man 2 to come out? http://nickgravelyn.com/pixelman2/ XNA MVPs: Andy “The ZMan” Dunn finally shares what he’s been secretly working on these past 4 months http://twitter.com/#!/The_Zman/status/40590269392887808 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg8Z0ZdYbvg&feature=youtu.be Joel Martinez lets developers around NYC know they should by signing up for Game Hack Day http://twitter.com/joelmartinez/statuses/41118590862102528 http://gamehackday.org/71fdk XNA Developers: Michael McLaughlin shares an XNA RenderTarget2D Sample http://geekswithblogs.net/mikebmcl/archive/2011/02/18/xna-rendertarget2d-sample.aspx Martin Caine starts a new series on Deferred Rendering in XNA 4.0 http://twitter.com/#!/MartinCaine/status/39735221339291648 http://martincaine.com/xna/deferred_rendering_in_xna_4_introduction ElemenyCy posts about his fun time with the IntermediateSerializer http://www.ubergamermonkey.com/xna/holy-bloated-xml-batman/ Ben Kane releases a narrated dev diary video for Project Splice. Let him know if you’d like to see more! (I know I do!) http://twitter.com/#!/benkane/status/39846959498002432 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EmziXZUo08&feature=youtu.be Jason Swearingen (of Novaleaf) posts his part 1 of Spatial Partitioning solutions http://altdevblogaday.org/2011/02/21/spatial-partitioning-part-1-survey-of-spatial-partitioning-solutions/ Brian Lawson of Dark Flow Studios shares what his been up to lately with lots of pretty screenshots and hints of announcements from Microsoft... http://www.darkflowstudios.com/entry/short-and-sweet-part-1 Luke Avery starts a new blog where he plans on making XNA tutorials for beginners (and he’s got a few started already!) http://programmingwithovery.wordpress.com/ Xbox LIVE Indie Games (XBLIG): GameMarx Episode 10 http://www.gamemarx.com/video/the-show/24/ep-10-february-18-2010.aspx Minecraft clone FortressCraft coming to XBLIG http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-02-23-minecraft-clone-fortresscraft-hits-xblig ezMuze+ starts an IndieGoGo fundraiser campaign to help fund their second game and get it onto even more devices! http://www.indiegogo.com/ezmuze Gamergeddon XBLIG round up http://www.gamergeddon.com/2011/02/20/xbox-indie-game-round-up-february-20th/?utm_campaign=twitter&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter JForce Games loses their Ego http://jforcegames.com/blog/index.php?itemid=121&catid=4 XNA Game Development: @BallerIndustry reminds all XNA developers that the Maths are important ;) http://twitter.com/#!/BallerIndustry/status/39317618280243200 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjV3XDFsjP4&feature=player_embedded#at=106 @suhinini stumbles on an older but extremely useful post on XNA Content Pipeline debugging http://twitter.com/#!/suhinini/status/39270189476352000 http://badcorporatelogo.wordpress.com/2010/10/31/xna-content-pipeline-debugging-4-0/ XNA Game Development Workshops at Singapore Universities http://innovativesingapore.com/2011/02/xna-game-development-workshops-at-singapore-universities/ Indiefreaks announces that IGF v0.3 is out with Xbox 360 support, SunBurn 2.0.12 and it’s now Open Source! http://twitter.com/#!/indiefreaks/status/39391953971982336 @liotral announces a new series on properly designing a game http://twitter.com/#!/liortal53/status/39466905081217024 http://liortalblog.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/hello-cosmos/ Indies and XNA at CodeStock 2011 http://www.gamemarx.com/news/2011/02/20/indies-and-xna-at-codestock-2011.aspx Train Frontier Express posts about XNA Content Hotloading http://trainfrontierexpress.blogspot.com/2011/02/xna-content-hotloading-overview.html Slyprid announces a new character editor in Transmute http://twitter.com/#!/slyprid/status/40146992818696192 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKhFAc78LDs&feature=youtu.be The XNA 2D from the ground up tutorial series http://xna-uk.net/blogs/darkgenesis/archive/2011/02/23/recap-the-xna-2d-from-the-ground-up-tutorial-series.aspx Sgt.Conker posts a “Clingerman” (hey that’s me!) to stay relevant http://www.sgtconker.com/2011/02/posting-a-clingerman-to-stay-relevant/

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• Silverlight Cream for March 21, 2010 -- #816

  - by Dave Campbell

  In this Issue: Michael Washington, John Papa(-2-, -3-, -4-), Jonas Follesø, David Anson, Scott Guthrie, Andrej Tozon, Bill Reiss(-2-), Pete Blois, and Lee. Shoutouts: Frank LaVigne has a Mix10 Session Downloader for us all to use... thanks Frank! Read what Ward Bell has to say about MVVM, Josh Smith’s Way ... it's all good. Robby Ingebretsen posts on his 10 Favorite Open Source Fonts You Can Embed in WPF or Silverlight Mike Harsh posted Slides and Demos from my MIX10 Session . The download link at Drop.io is down for maintenance until Sunday evening, March 21. From SilverlightCream.com: Blend 4: TreeView SelectedItemChanged using MVVM Michael Washington has a post up about doing SelectedItemChanged on a TreeView with MVVM, oh and he's starting out in Blend 4... Silverlight TV 14: Developing for Windows Phone 7 with Silverlight John Papa hit Silverlight TV pretty hard at the beginning of MIX10. This first one is with Mike Harsh talking about WP7. (Hi Mike ... wondered where you'd run off to!), and you can go to the shoutout section to get Mike's session material from MIX as well. Silverlight TV 15: Announcing Silverlight 4 RC at MIX 10 In this next Silverlight TV(15), John Papa and Adam Kinney discuss Silverlight 4RC ... thank goodness it's out, we can all let go of the breath we've been holding in :) Silverlight TV 16: Tim Heuer and Jesse Liberty Talk about Silverlight 4 RC at MIX 10 Silverlight TV 16 has John Papa sharing the spotlight with Jesse Liberty and Tim Heuer ... geez... can you find 3 more kowledgable Silverlight folks to listen to? No? then go listen to this :) Silverlight TV 17: Build a Twitter Client for Windows Phone 7 with Silverlight The latest Silverlight TV has John Papa bringing Mike Harsh back to produce a Twitter Client for WP7. Simulating multitouch on the Windows Phone 7 Emulator Jonas Follesø has a great post up about simulating multi-touch on WP7 using multiple mice ... yeah, you read that right :) Using IValueConverter to create a grouped list of items simply and flexibly David Anson demonstrates grouping items in a ListBox using IValueConverter. I think I can pretty well guarantee I would NOT have thought of doing this.. :) Building a Windows Phone 7 Twitter Application using Silverlight In the MIX10 first-day keynote, Scott Guthrie did File->New Project and built a WP7 Twitter app. He has that up as a tutorial with all sorts of external links including one to the keynote itself. Named and optional parameters in Silverlight 4 Andrej Tozon delves into the optional parameters that are now available to Silverlight developers... pretty cool stuff. Space Rocks game step 4: Inheriting from Sprite Bill Reiss continues with his game development series with this one on inheriting from the Sprite class and centering objects Space Rocks game step 5: Rotating the ship Bill Reiss's episode 5 is on rotating the ship you setup in episode 4. Don't worry about the transforms, Bill gives it all to us :) Labyrinth Sample for Windows Phone Wow... check out the sample Pete Blois did for the Phone... Silverlight coolness :) PathListBox in SL4 – firstlook Lee has a post up on the PathListBox. I think this is going to catch on quick... it's just too cool not to! Stay in the 'Light! Twitter SilverlightNews | Twitter WynApse | WynApse.com | Tagged Posts | SilverlightCream Join me @ SilverlightCream | Phoenix Silverlight User Group Technorati Tags: Silverlight    Silverlight 3    Silverlight 4    Windows Phone MIX10

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• Rendering Linear Gradients using the HTML5 Canvas

  - by dwahlin

  Related HTML5 Canvas Posts: Getting Started with the HTML5 Canvas Rendering Text with the HTML5 Canvas Creating a Line Chart using the HTML5 Canvas New Pluralsight Course: HTML5 Canvas Fundamentals Gradients are everywhere. They’re used to enhance toolbars or buttons and help add additional flare to a web page when used appropriately. In the past we’ve always had to rely on images to render gradients which works well, but isn’t necessarily the most efficient (although 1 pixel wide images do work well). CSS3 provides a great way to render gradients in modern browsers (see http://www.colorzilla.com/gradient-editor for a nice online gradient generator tool) but it’s not the only option. If you’re working with charts, games, multimedia or other HTML5 Canvas applications you can also use gradients and render them on the client-side without relying on images. In this post I’ll introduce how to use linear gradients and discuss the different functions that can be used to create them.   Creating Linear Gradients Linear gradients can be created using the 2D context’s createLinearGradient function. The function takes the starting x,y coordinates and ending x,y coordinates of the gradient:   createLinearGradient(x1, y1, x2, y2);   By changing the start and end coordinates you can control the direction that the gradient renders. For example, adding the following coordinates causes the gradient to render from left to right since the y value stays at 0 for both points while the x value changes from 0 to 200. var lgrad = ctx.createLinearGradient(0, 0, 200, 0); Here’s an example of how changing the coordinates affects the gradient direction:   Once a linear gradient object has been created you can set color stops using the addColorStop() function. It takes the location where the color should appear in the gradient with 0 being the beginning and 1 being at the end (0.5 would be in the middle) as well as the color to display in the gradient. lgrad.addColorStop(0, 'white'); lgrad.addColorStop(1, 'gray');   An example of combining createLinearGradient() with addColorStop() is shown next:   Using createLinearGradient() var canvas = document.getElementById('myCanvas'); var ctx = canvas.getContext('2d'); var lgrad = ctx.createLinearGradient(0, 0, 200, 0); lgrad.addColorStop(0, 'white'); lgrad.addColorStop(1, 'gray'); ctx.fillStyle = lgrad; ctx.fillRect(0, 0, 200, 200); ctx.strokeRect(0, 0, 200, 200); This code renders a white to gray gradient as shown next: A live example of using createLinearGradient() is shown next. Click the Result tab to see the code in action.   In the next post on the HTML5 Canvas I’ll take a look at radial gradients and how they can be used. In the meantime, if you’re interested in learning more about the HTML5 Canvas and how it can be used in your Web or Windows 8 applications, check out my HTML5 Canvas Fundamentals course from Pluralsight. It has over 4 1/2 hours of canvas goodness packed in it.

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• How to Crop Pictures in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2010

  - by DigitalGeekery

  When you add pictures to your Office documents you might need to crop them to remove unwanted areas, or isolate a specific part. Today we’ll take a look at how to crop images in Office 2010. Note: We will show you examples in Word, but you can crop images in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. To insert a picture into your Office document, click the Picture button on the Insert tab. The Picture Tools format ribbon should now be active. If not, click on the image. New in Office 2010 is the ability to see the area of the photo that you are keeping in addition to what will be cropped out. On the Format tab, click Crop. Click and drag inward any of the four corners to crop from any one side. Notice you can still see the area to be cropped out is show in translucent gray. Press and hold the CTRL key while you drag a corner cropping handle inward to crop equally on all four sides. To crop equally on right and left or the top and bottom, press and hold down the CTRL key while you drag the center cropping handle on either side inward. You can further adjust the cropping area by clicking and dragging the picture behind the cropping area. To accept the current dimensions and crop the photo, press escape or click anywhere outside the cropping area. You can manually crop the image to exact dimensions. This can be done by right clicking on the image and entering the dimensions in the Width and Height boxes, or in the Size group on the Format tab.   Crop to a Shape Select your photo and click Crop from the Size group on the Format tab. Select Crop to Shape and choose any of the available shapes. You photo will be cropped into that shape. Using Fit and Fill If you wish to crop a photo but fill the shape, select Fill. When you choose this option, some edges of the picture might not display but the original picture aspect ratio is maintained. If you wish to have all of the picture fit within a shape, choose Fit. The original picture aspect ratio will be maintained.   Conclusion Users moving from previous versions of Microsoft Office are sure to appreciate the improved cropping abilities in Office 2010, especially the ability to see what will and won’t be kept when you crop a photo. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Import Microsoft Access Data Into ExcelEmbed an Excel Worksheet Into PowerPoint or Word 2007Add Artistic Effects to Your Pictures in Office 2010Embed True Type Fonts in Word and PowerPoint 2007 DocumentsChange The Default Color Scheme In Office 2007 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 Xobni Plus for Outlook All My Movies 5.9 CloudBerry Online Backup 1.5 for Windows Home Server Snagit 10 TimeToMeet is a Simple Online Meeting Planning Tool Easily Create More Bookmark Toolbars in Firefox Filevo is a Cool File Hosting & Sharing Site Get a free copy of WinUtilities Pro 2010 World Cup Schedule Boot Snooze – Reboot and then Standby or Hibernate

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• View Mobile Websites in Windows with Safari 4 Developer Tools

  - by Matthew Guay

  Want to try out mobile websites designed for the iPhone and other mobile devices on your PC?  Safari 4 for Windows lets you do this easily with their developer tools. By default, Safari will show standard desktop websites.  But by making a simple change, you can switch it to work like Safari Mobile on the iPhone or iPod Touch. Getting Started First make sure you have Safari 4 for Windows installed.  You can download Safari directly (link below) and install it as usual.   Or if you already have another Apple program installed, such as QuickTime or iTunes, then you can install it from Apple Software update.  Simply enter apple software update in the Start menu search box. And then select Safari 4 from the list of new software available.  Click Install to automatically download and install Safari. Accept the license Agreement, and then Safari will automatically install. Once this is finished, Safari will be ready to use. View Mobile Sites in Safari First, we need to enable the developer tools.  Click the gear icon on the toolbar, and select Preferences. Click the Advanced tab, and then check the box that says “Show Develop menu in menu bar”. Once you’ve closed your settings box, click the page icon, select Develop, then User Agent, and then choose one of the Mobile Safari settings.  In our test we chose Mobile Safari 3.1.2 – iPhone. To make your browser emulate a mobile device better, you can hide the bookmarks and tab bar to have a more streamlined interface. Click the Gear icon, and select “Hide Bookmarks Bar”, and then repeat and click “Hide Tab Bar”. You can also shrink your window to be closer to the size of a mobile device screen.  Once you’ve done these things, Safari should look similar to this screenshot.  Here we have loaded Google.com, and you can see it in its iPhone-style interface. Simply enter any website into the address bar, and it will load in its mobile interface if it has one.  Here is Google’s other mobile offerings, right inside Windows. Gmail loads messages with the default iPhone interface. One especially interesting mobile site is Apple’s online iPhone User Guide.  When loaded in Safari with the iPhone setting, it loads with a very nice mobile UI that works just like an iPhone app.  In fact, you can even click and drag to scroll, just like you would with your finger on an iPhone. Conclusion Even if you do not have a Smartphone, you can still preview what websites will look like on them with this trick. Not all sites will work of course, but it’s fun to play around with different sites that have mobile versions. Links: Safari 4 Download Apple iPhone online user guide Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Make Safari Stop Crashing Every 20 Seconds on Windows VistaCustomize Safari for Windows ToolbarSave Screen Space by Hiding the Bookmarks Toolbar in Safari for WindowsEdit Text in a Webpage with Internet Explorer 8Keep Websites From Using Tiny Fonts in Safari 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 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional Windows Media Player 12: Tweak Video & Sound with Playback Enhancements Own a cell phone, or does a cell phone own you? Make your Joomla & Drupal Sites Mobile with OSMOBI Integrate Twitter and Delicious and Make Life Easier Design Your Web Pages Using the Golden Ratio Worldwide Growth of the Internet

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• SQLAuthority News – Top 5 Latest Microsoft Certifications of 2013 – Guest Post

  - by Pinal Dave

  With the IT job market getting more and more competent by the day, certifications are a must for anyone who wishes to get a strong foothold in the industry. Microsoft community comes up with regular updates and enhancements in its existing products to keep up with the rapidly evolving requirements of the ICT industry. We bring you a list of five latest Microsoft certifications that you must consider acquiring this year. MCSE: SharePoint Learn all about Windows Server 2012 and Microsoft SharePoint 2013, which brings an advanced set of features to the fore in this latest version. It introduces new capabilities for business intelligence, social media, branding, search, identity management, mobile device among other features. Enjoy a great user experience with sharing and collaboration in community forum, within a pixel-perfect SharePoint website. Data connectivity and business intelligence tools allow users to process and access data, analyze reports, share and collaborate with each other more conveniently. Microsoft Specialist: Microsoft Project 2013 The only project management system that works seamlessly with other applications and cloud solutions of Microsoft, MS Project 2013 offers more than what meets the eye.  It provides for easier management and monitoring of projects so that users can ensure timely delivery while improving the productivity significantly. So keep all your projects on track and collaborate with your team like never before with this enhanced release! This one’s a must for all project managers. MCSE Messaging Another one of Microsoft gems is its messaging environment which has also launched the latest release Microsoft Exchange Server 2013. Messaging administrators can take up this training and validate their expertise in Unified Messaging, Exchange Online, PowerShell and Virtualization strategies, through MCSE Messaging certification in Exchange Server. If you wish to enhance productivity and data security of your organization while being flexible and extremely efficient, this is the right certification for you. MCSE Communication An enterprise can function optimally on the strength of its information flow and communication systems. With Lync Server 2013, you can introduce a whole new world of unified communications which consists of audio/video conferencing, dial-in, Persistent Chat, instant chat, and EDGE services in your organization. Utilize IT to serve and support business objectives by mastering this UC technology with this latest MCSE Communication course on using Microsoft Lync Server 2013. MCSE: SQL Server 2012 BI Platform The decision making process is largely influenced by underlying enterprise information used by the management for business intelligence. Therefore, a robust business intelligence platform that anchors enterprise IT and transform it to operational efficiencies is the need of the hour. SQL Server 2012 BI Platform certification helps professionals implement, manage and maintain a BI database infrastructure effectively. IT professionals with BI skills are highly sought after these days. MCSD: Windows Store Apps A Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer certification in Windows Store Apps validates your potential in designing interactive apps. Learn The Essentials of Developing Windows Store Apps using HTML5 and JavaScript and establish yourself as an ace developer capable of creating fast and fluid Metro style apps for Windows 8 that are accessible on a variety of devices. You can also go ahead and Learn Essentials of Developing Windows Store Apps using C# mode if you’re already familiar and working with C# programming language. Hence the developers are free to choose their own favorite development stream which opens doors for them to get ready for the latest and exciting application development platform called Windows store apps. Software developers with these skills are in great demand in the industry today. In order to continue being competitive in your respective fields, it is imperative that IT personnel update their knowledge on a regular basis. Certifications are a means to achieve this goal. Not considered to be an optional pre-requisite anymore, major IT certifications such as these are now essential to stay afloat in a cut-throat industry where technologies change on a daily basis. This blog is written by Aruneet Anand of Koenig Solutions. Koenig Solutions does training for all of the above courses. For more information, visit the website. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology Tagged: Microsoft Certifications

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• Google, typography, and cognitive fluency for persuasion

  - by Roger Hart

  Cognitive fluency is - roughly - how easy it is to think about something. Mere Exposure (or familiarity) effects are basically about reacting more favourably to things you see a lot. Which is part of why marketers in generic spaces like insipid mass-market lager will spend quite so much money on getting their logo daubed about the place; or that guy at the bus stop starts to look like a dating prospect after a month or two. Recent thinking suggests that exposure effects likely spin off cognitive fluency. We react favourably to things that are easier to think about. I had to give tech support to an older relative recently, and suggested they Google the problem. They were confused. They could not, apparently, Google the problem, because part of it was that their Google toolbar had mysteriously vanished. Once I'd finished trying not to laugh, I started thinking about typography. This is going somewhere, I promise. Google is a ubiquitous brand. Heck, it's a verb, and their recent, jaw-droppingly well constructed Paris advert is more or less about that ubiquity. It trades on Google's integration into any information-seeking behaviour. But, as my tech support encounter suggests, people settle into comfortable patterns of thinking about things. They build schemas, and altering them can take work. Maybe the ubiquity even works to cement that. Alongside their online effort, Google is running billboard campaigns to advertise Chrome, a free product in a crowded space. They are running these ads in some kind of kooky Calibri / Comic Sans hybrid. Now, at first it seems odd that one of the world's more ubiquitous brands needs to run a big print campaign in public places - surely they have all the fluency they need? Well, not so much. Chrome, after all, is not the same as their core product, so there's some basic awareness work to do, and maybe a whole new batch of exposure effect to try and grab. But why the typeface? It's heavily foregrounded, and the ads are extremely textual. Plus, don't we all know that jovial, off-beat fonts look unprofessional, or something? There's a whole bunch of people who want (often rightly) to ban Comic Sans I wonder, though. Are Google trying to subtly disrupt cognitive fluency? There's an interesting paper (pdf) about - among other things - the effects of typography on they way people answer survey questions. Participants given the slightly harder to read question gave more abstract answers. The paper references other work suggesting that generally speaking, less-fluent question framing elicits more considered answers. The Chrome ad typeface is less fluent for print. Reactions may therefore be more considered, abstract, and disruptive. Is that, in fact, what Google need? They have brand ubiquity, but they want here to change accustomed behaviour, to get people to think about changing their browser. Is this actually a very elegant piece of persuasive information design? If you think about their "what is a browser?" vox pop research video, there's certainly a perceptual barrier they're going to have to tackle somehow.

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• concurrency::accelerator_view

  - by Daniel Moth

  Overview We saw previously that accelerator represents a target for our C++ AMP computation or memory allocation and that there is a notion of a default accelerator. We ended that post by introducing how one can obtain accelerator_view objects from an accelerator object through the accelerator class's default_view property and the create_view method. The accelerator_view objects can be thought of as handles to an accelerator. You can also construct an accelerator_view given another accelerator_view (through the copy constructor or the assignment operator overload). Speaking of operator overloading, you can also compare (for equality and inequality) two accelerator_view objects between them to determine if they refer to the same underlying accelerator. We'll see later that when we use concurrency::array objects, the allocation of data takes place on an accelerator at array construction time, so there is a constructor overload that accepts an accelerator_view object. We'll also see later that a new concurrency::parallel_for_each function overload can take an accelerator_view object, so it knows on what target to execute the computation (represented by a lambda that the parallel_for_each also accepts). Beyond normal usage, accelerator_view is a quality of service concept that offers isolation to multiple "consumers" of an accelerator. If in your code you are accessing the accelerator from multiple threads (or, in general, from different parts of your app), then you'll want to create separate accelerator_view objects for each thread. flush, wait, and queuing_mode When you create an accelerator_view via the create_view method of the accelerator, you pass in an option of immediate or deferred, which are the two members of the queuing_mode enum. At any point you can access this value from the queuing_mode property of the accelerator_view. When the queuing_mode value is immediate (which is the default), any commands sent to the device such as kernel invocations and data transfers (e.g. parallel_for_each and copy, as we'll see in future posts), will get submitted as soon as the runtime sees fit (that is the definition of immediate). When the value of queuing_mode is deferred, the commands will be batched up. To send all buffered commands to the device for execution, there is a non-blocking flush method that you can call. If you wish to block until all the commands have been sent, there is a wait method you can call. Deferring is a more advanced scenario aimed at performance gains when you are submitting many device commands and you want to avoid the tiny overhead of flushing/submitting each command separately. Querying information Just like accelerator, accelerator_view exposes the is_debug and version properties. In fact, you can always access the accelerator object from the accelerator property on the accelerator_view class to access the accelerator interface we looked at previously. Interop with D3D (aka DX) In a later post I'll show an example of an app that uses C++ AMP to compute data that is used in pixel shaders. In those scenarios, you can benefit by integrating C++ AMP into your graphics pipeline and one of the building blocks for that is being able to use the same device context from both the compute kernel and the other shaders. You can do that by going from accelerator_view to device context (and vice versa), through part of our interop API in amp.h: *get_device, create_accelerator_view. More on those in a later post. Comments about this post by Daniel Moth welcome at the original blog.

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• Code is not the best way to draw

  - by Bertrand Le Roy

  It should be quite obvious: drawing requires constant visual feedback. Why is it then that we still draw with code in so many situations? Of course it’s because the low-level APIs always come first, and design tools are built after and on top of those. Existing design tools also don’t typically include complex UI elements such as buttons. When we launched our Touch Display module for Netduino Go!, we naturally built APIs that made it easy to draw on the screen from code, but very soon, we felt the limitations and tedium of drawing in code. In particular, any modification requires a modification of the code, followed by compilation and deployment. When trying to set-up buttons at pixel precision, the process is not optimal. On the other hand, code is irreplaceable as a way to automate repetitive tasks. While tools like Illustrator have ways to repeat graphical elements, they do so in a way that is a little alien and counter-intuitive to my developer mind. From these reflections, I knew that I wanted a design tool that would be structurally code-centric but that would still enable immediate feedback and mouse adjustments. While thinking about the best way to achieve this goal, I saw this fantastic video by Bret Victor: The key to the magic in all these demos is permanent execution of the code being edited. Whenever a parameter is being modified, everything is re-executed immediately so that the impact of the modification is instantaneously visible. If you do this all the time, the code and the result of its execution fuse in the mind of the user into dual representations of a single object. All mental barriers disappear. It’s like magic. The tool I built, Nutshell, is just another implementation of this principle. It manipulates a list of graphical operations on the screen. Each operation has a nice editor, and translates into a bit of code. Any modification to the parameters of the operation will modify the bit of generated code and trigger a re-execution of the whole program. This happens so fast that it feels like the drawing reacts instantaneously to all changes. The order of the operations is also the order in which the code gets executed. So if you want to bring objects to the front, move them down in the list, and up if you want to move them to the back: But where it gets really fun is when you start applying code constructs such as loops to the design tool. The elements that you put inside of a loop can use the loop counter in expressions, enabling crazy scenarios while retaining the real-time edition features. When you’re done building, you can just deploy the code to the device and see it run in its native environment: This works thanks to two code generators. The first code generator is building JavaScript that is executed in the browser to build the canvas view in the web page hosting the tool. The second code generator is building the C# code that will run on the Netduino Go! microcontroller and that will drive the display module. The possibilities are fascinating, even if you don’t care about driving small touch screens from microcontrollers: it is now possible, within a reasonable budget, to build specialized design tools for very vertical applications. Direct feedback is a powerful ally in many domains. Code generation driven by visual designers has become more approachable than ever thanks to extraordinary JavaScript libraries and to the powerful development platform that modern browsers provide. I encourage you to tinker with Nutshell and let it open your eyes to new possibilities that you may not have considered before. It’s open source. And of course, my company, Nwazet, can help you develop your own custom browser-based direct feedback design tools. This is real visual programming…

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• Enable Multi-Column Google Searches with a User Script

  - by Asian Angel

  Are you wanting to improve the search results view at Google and make better use of the webpage space? With a little user script magic you can make those search results look and fit better in your favorite browser. Note: This user script may conflict with the AutoPager extension if you have it installed in your favorite browser. Before Here is the standard single column view of search results at Google. Not too bad but the available space could certainly be better utilized. Note: For the purposes of our example we are using Google Chrome but this user script can be easily added to other browsers. After If you have never installed a user script in Chrome before it is just as simple as the regular extensions at the official Google website. Here you can see the details for the user script we are installing. Notice that you can view the source code if desired. To add the user script to Chrome click on “Install”. Once you start the install process you will see an intermediary message asking if you wish to continue in the lower left corner of your browser. Click “Continue” to move to the next step in the install process. From this point on the install process is practically identical to the official extensions. You can see the final confirmation window here…click “Install” to finish adding the user script to Chrome. As with regular extensions you will see a post-install message in the upper right corner. So, what does a user script look like in the “Extensions Page”? You can see the user script entry here…outside of an icon it looks rather identical to a normal extension. After refreshing the search page shown above we now have two columns of search results (default setting). This looks much much better than a single column view and there is little to no page scrolling required now. To switch to a three column view simply use the keyboard shortcut “Alt + 3”. To return to a single column view use “Alt + 1” and for the default two column view use “Alt + 2”. Three keyboard shortcuts for three different views…definitely a good thing. Note: On our test system we needed to use the number keys at the top of our keyboard to switch views…this is most likely the result of unique settings on our test system. Conclusion If you are wanting a better viewing experience when conducting searches at Google then this user script will make a very nice addition to your favorite browser. For those using Firefox you can add user scripts with the Greasemonkey & Stylish extensions. Using Opera Browser? See our how-to for adding user scripts to Opera here. Links Install the Multi-Column View of Google Search Results User Script Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Hide Flash Animations in Google ChromeEnable Google Search From Shortcut Key in KDE on (k)UbuntuSet Gmail as Default Mail Client in UbuntuSet Up User Scripts in Opera BrowserHow To Enable Favicons for Google Reader Subscriptions 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 Yes, it’s Patch Tuesday Generate Stunning Tag Clouds With Tagxedo Install, Remove and HIDE Fonts in Windows 7 Need Help with Your Home Network? Awesome Lyrics Finder for Winamp & Windows Media Player Download Videos from Hulu

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• Silverlight Cream for December 16, 2010 -- #1011

  - by Dave Campbell

  In this Issue: John Papa, Tim Heuer, Jeff Blankenburg(-2-, -3-), Jesse Liberty, Jay Kimble, Wei-Meng Lee, Paul Sheriff, Mike Snow(-2-, -3-), Samuel Jack, James Ashley, and Peter Kuhn. Above the Fold: Silverlight: "Animation Texture Creator" Peter Kuhn WP7: "dows Phone from Scratch #13 — Custom Behaviors Part II: ActionTrigger" Jesse Liberty Shoutouts: Awesome blog post by Jesse Liberty about writing in general: Ten Requirements For Tutorials, Videos, Demos and White Papers That Don’t Suck From SilverlightCream.com: 1000 Silverlight Cream Posts and Counting! John Papa has Silverlight TV number 55 up and it's an inverview he did with me the day before the Firestarter in December... thanks John... great job in making me not look stooopid :) Silverlight service release today - 4.0.51204 Tim Heuer announced a service release of Silverlight ... check out his blog for the updates and near the bottom is a link to the developer runtime. What I Learned In WP7 – Issue #3 Jeff Blankenburg has been pushing out tips ... number 3 consisted of 3 good pieces of info for WP7 devs including more info about fonts and a good site for free audio files What I Learned In WP7 – Issue #4 In number 4, Jeff Blankenburg talks about where to get some nice free WP7 icons, and a link to a cool article on getting all sorts of device info What I Learned In WP7 – Issue #5 Number 5 finds Jeff Blankenburg giving up the XAP for a CodeMash sessiondata app... or wait for it to appear in the Marketplace next week. Windows Phone from Scratch #13 — Custom Behaviors Part II: ActionTrigger Wow... Jesse Liberty is up to number 13 in his Windows Phone from scratch series... this time it's part 2 of his Custom Behaviors post, and ActionTriggers specifically. Solving the Storage Problem in WP7 (for CF Developers) Jay Kimble has released his WP7 dropbox client to the wild ... this is cool for loading files at run-time... opens up some ideas for me at least. Building Location Service Apps in Windows Phone 7 Wei-Meng Lee has a big informative post on location services in WP7... getting a Bing Maps API key, getting the data, navigating and manipulating the map, adding pushpins... good stuff Using Xml Files on Windows Phone Paul Sheriff is discussing XML files as a database for your WP7 apps via LINQ to XML. Sample code included. ABC–Win7 App Mike Snow has been busy with Tips of the Day ... he published a children's app for tracing their ABC's and discusses some of the code bits involved. Win7 Mobile Application Bar – AG_E_PARSER_BAD_PROPERTY_VALUE Mike Snow's next post is about the infamous AG_E_PARSER_BAD_PROPERTY_VALUE error or worse in WP7 ... how he got it, and how he fixed it... could save you some hair... Forward Navigation on the Windows Phone Mike Snow's latest post is about forward navigation on the WP7 ... oh wait... there isn't any... check out the post. Day 2 of my “3 days to Build a Windows Phone 7 Game” challenge Samuel Jack details about 9 hours in day 2 of his quest to build an XNA app for WP7 from a cold start. Windows Phone 7 Side Loading James Ashley has a really complete write-up on side-loading apps onto your WP7 device. Don't get excited... this isn't a hack... this is instructions for side-loading using the Microsoft-approved methos, which means a registered device. Animation Texture Creator Remember Peter Kuhn's post the other day about an Animation Texture Creator? ... well today he has some added tweaks and the source code! ... thanks Peter! Stay in the 'Light! Twitter SilverlightNews | Twitter WynApse | WynApse.com | Tagged Posts | SilverlightCream Join me @ SilverlightCream | Phoenix Silverlight User Group Technorati Tags: Silverlight    Silverlight 3    Silverlight 4    Windows Phone MIX10

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• Silverlight Cream for December 13, 2010 -- #1010

  - by Dave Campbell

  In this Issue: Rénald Nollet, Benjamin Gavin, Dennis Doomen, Tim Greenfield, Mike Taulty, Jeff Blankenburg, Michael Crump, Laurent Duveau, Dragos Manolescu, KeyboardP, Yochay Kiriaty. Above the Fold: Silverlight: "Silverlight RIA Services and Basic, Anonymous Authentication" Benjamin Gavin WP7: "lving Circular Navigation in Windows Phone Silverlight Applications" Yochay Kiriaty SQL Azure: "SQL Azure Database Manager – Part 1 : How to connect to your SQL Azure DB" Rénald Nollet Shoutouts: Yochay Kiriaty has a post up on the Windows Phone Devloper Blog about open source (MSPL) projects helping WP7 devs: Windows Phone Recipes – Helping the Community Jesse Liberty's latest Yet Another Podcast is up and thie time it's Joe Stagner: Yet Another Podcast #18 – Joe Stagner Josh Schwartzberg sent me this link to what is apparently his yearly web-only rock Christmas album: MetalXmas... done in Silverlight and RIA Services From SilverlightCream.com: SQL Azure Database Manager – Part 1 : How to connect to your SQL Azure DB Rénald Nollet posted Part 1 of a series on a SQL Azure database manager all in Silverlight... has a live demo running, some description, and is making us wait for the next part! Silverlight RIA Services and Basic, Anonymous Authentication Benjamin Gavin has a quick post up resolving a basic RIA Services problem that I bet a lot of folks are looking for the answer on... like 500 series errors... cool little find he ferreted out... A night of Silverlight, WPF, unit testing and Caliburn Micro Dennis Doomen in concert with his employer gave a couple talks at the local DotNED user group, and covered literally a cornucopia of topics... slides, and example code for both talks... lotsa material here... Tim Greenfield on PuzzleTouch WP7 Application Tim Greenfield is the latest WP7 app developer to be interviewed by the SilverlightShow crew... lots of interesting comments and insight from Tim. Rebuilding the PDC 2010 Silverlight Application (Part 4) Mike Taulty has part 4 of his PDC 2010 Silverlight app construction project up and is taking the app into Blend, and the considerations that brought to the table. What I Learned In WP7 – Issue #2 Jeff Blankenburg continues his "What I Learned" series with this discussion about fonts, the Non-Linear Navigation service I mention below, and possible WP7 jobs. Part 3 of 4 : Tips/Tricks for Silverlight Developers Michael Crump has Part 3 of his Tips/Tricks up today. Lots of goodies this time: underlining in a TextBlock, getting browser info, startup params, VisualTreeHelper, and child windows. My Windows Phone 7 presentation in Montreal Laurent Duveau gave a WP7 presentation in Montreal as part of the Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Developer's Briefing, and has posted his materials and slide deck WP7 Code: Mocking Event Streams with IEnumerable Dragos Manolescu has a very cool post up on using IEnumerable to Mock event streams by leveraging the IObservable/IEnumerable duality, and uses the 2D bubble app that you can run and test in the emulator without needing an accelerometer Transparent Wallpapers – Video Tutorial KeyboardP has had so many queries about his Transparent wallpaper for WP7 that he produced a video tutorial for it... Solving Circular Navigation in Windows Phone Silverlight Applications Yochay Kiriaty discusses the first recipe they are releasing ... see the shoutout above, a Nonlinear Navigation Service ... to help with apps that have loops in navigation. Stay in the 'Light! Twitter SilverlightNews | Twitter WynApse | WynApse.com | Tagged Posts | SilverlightCream Join me @ SilverlightCream | Phoenix Silverlight User Group Technorati Tags: Silverlight    Silverlight 3    Silverlight 4    Windows Phone MIX10

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• In GLSL is it possible to offset vertices based on height map colour?

  - by Rob

  I am attempting to generate some terrain based upon a heightmap. I have generated a 32 x 32 grid and a corresponding height map - In my vertex shader I am trying to offset the position of the Y axis based upon the colour of the heightmap, white vertices being higher than black ones. //Vertex Shader Code #version 330 uniform mat4 modelMatrix; uniform mat4 viewMatrix; uniform mat4 projectionMatrix; uniform sampler2D heightmap; layout (location=0) in vec4 vertexPos; layout (location=1) in vec4 vertexColour; layout (location=3) in vec2 vertexTextureCoord; layout (location=4) in float offset; out vec4 fragCol; out vec4 fragPos; out vec2 fragTex; void main() { // Retreive the current pixel's colour vec4 hmColour = texture(heightmap,vertexTextureCoord); // Offset the y position by the value of current texel's colour value ? vec4 offset = vec4(vertexPos.x , vertexPos.y + hmColour.r, vertexPos.z , 1.0); // Final Position gl_Position = projectionMatrix * viewMatrix * modelMatrix * offset; // Data sent to Fragment Shader. fragCol = vertexColour; fragPos = vertexPos; fragTex = vertexTextureCoord; } However the code I have produced only creates a grid with none of the y vertices higher than any others. This is the C++ code that generates the grid and texture co-orientates which I believe to be correct as the texture is mapped to the grid, hence the white blob in the middle. The grid-lines are generated in the fragment shader, sorry for any confusion. I have tried multiplying the r value of hmColour by 1000 unfortunately that had no effect. The only other problem it could be is that the texture coordinate data is incorrect ? for (int z = 0; z < MAP_Z ; z++) { for(int x = 0; x < MAP_X ; x++) { //Generate Vertex Buffer vertexData[iVertex++] = float (x) * MAP_X; vertexData[iVertex++] = 0; vertexData[iVertex++] = -(float) (z) * MAP_Z; //Colour Buffer NOT NEEDED colourData[iColour++] = 255.0f; // R colourData[iColour++] = 1.0f; // G colourData[iColour++] = 0.0f; // B //Texture Buffer textureData[iTexture++] = (float ) x * (1.0f / MAP_X); textureData[iTexture++] = (float ) z * (1.0f / MAP_Z); } } The heightmap texture I am trying to use appears like so (without grid-lines). This is the corresponding fragment shader // Fragment Shader Code #version 330 uniform sampler2D hmTexture; layout (location=0) out vec4 fragColour; in vec2 fragTex; in vec4 pos; void main(void) { vec2 line = fragTex * 32; // Without Gridlines fragColour = texture(hmTexture,fragTex); // With grid lines // + mix(vec4(0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0), vec4(1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0), // smoothstep(0.05,fract(line.y), 0.99) * smoothstep(0.05,fract(line.x),0.99)); }

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• Stay on Schedule in Chrome with DayHiker

  - by Matthew Guay

  Do you keep your schedule and tasks in Google Calendar?  Here’s a handy extension for Google Chrome that can keep you on top of your appointments without having to open Google Calendar in another tab. Integrate Google Calendar with Chrome DayHiker is a handy extension for Google Chrome that can help you stay on schedule in your browser.  Desktop applications typically can keep you notified easier with popups or alerts, but webapps require you to visit them to view your information.  DayHiker takes the best of both, and can make your Google Calendar work more like a desktop application. To get started, open the DayHiker page from the Chrome Extensions Gallery (link below), and click Install.  Confirm you wish to install it at the prompt. Now you’ll have a new extension button in your Chrome toolbar.  Click the calendar icon to view your Google Calendar.  You’ll need to be signed into your Google account for your calendar to display; click the key icon to select your account if it doesn’t show your appointments automatically. If you’re signed into multiple Google accounts, such as your public Gmail and a Google Apps account, you can select the calendar you wish and click Continue. Now you can quickly see your upcoming appointments.  Simply hover over the icon to see your upcoming events.  Or, just glance at it to see if there are any appointments coming up, as the indicator icon will change colors to show how long you have until your next appointment. Click the icon to see more information about your appointments. Or, click the Add link to add a new appointment.  If you need to edit the appointment details, click Edit Details and the appointment will open in Google Calendar for you to edit. You can also view and manage your tasks in Google Calendar.  Click the checkmark icon, and then add or check-off tasks directly from the extension pane. You can also set an alarm clock in DayHiker.  Click the green circle icon, and then enter the time for the alarm to go off.  Strangely it will only chime if the extension pane is left open, so if you click anywhere else in the browser or even switch to another program it will not chime.   If you’d like to customize DayHiker’s settings, right-click on it and select Options, or select Options in the Chrome Extensions page.  Here you can customize your badges and the DayHiker icon, or enter a custom domain for your Google Apps Pro calendar.   Conclusion If you rely on Google Calendar to stay on top of your schedule, DayHiker can help you stay scheduled and know what’s coming up.  We wish DayHiker supported multiple calendars so we could combine our Google Apps calendars with our personal Google Calendar, but even still, it is a very useful tool.  Whether you’re a tightly scheduled person or just like to jot down to-dos and keep track of them, this extension will help you do this efficiently with familiar Google tools. Link Download DayHiker from the Chrome Extensions Gallery Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Configure Disk Defragmenter Schedule in Windows 7 or VistaSchedule Updates for Windows Media CenterOpen Multiple Sites Without Reopening the Menus in FirefoxFind a Website’s Actual Location with Chrome FlagsSubscribe to RSS Feeds in Chrome with a Single Click 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 HippoRemote Pro 2.2 Xobni Plus for Outlook All My Movies 5.9 CloudBerry Online Backup 1.5 for Windows Home Server Dual Boot Ubuntu and Windows 7 What is HTML5? Default Programs Editor – One great tool for Setting Defaults Convert BMP, TIFF, PCX to Vector files with RasterVect Free Identify Fonts using WhatFontis.com Windows 7’s WordPad is Actually Good

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