- Technology

Fun with fraps...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 12:47:57 +0000

ONE LAST UPDATE ** and one more. Laura and Toby are a hoot.

UPDATED AGAIN ** one more video

UPDATED *** HD versions of videos

Went back and captured the video using fraps at full size. My native resolution is 1680x1050; I resized to 1840x1080 which meets the top-end HD requirement and makes the frame size compatible with my h264 codec. Came out pretty good. Now I just need to find the embed tag that tells Youtube you're linking to a widescreen video rather than a 4:3.

Playing around with fraps and Virtualdub...finally uploaded some videos to my Youtube account. Either I'm doing the HD upload wrong, or I'm just doing too much to the video before giving it to Youtube. I get a pretty nice 784x480 video about 10Mb in size, which is pretty good. Youtube resizes it again and seems to cut about half of the picture information out. Can't see a difference between standard quality and 480p. I'll work on it. Here are the videos as they are; the quality is good enough.

It is where it is...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 09:25:00 +0000

Pickup in shop for front-end alignment; this will be followed by another trip to another shop to figure out why the Low-4 won't engage. I'm guessing it's dirty, but I don't know what to wash.

Got new phone. While it's good to know for sure that jailbreaking and rooting phones is not illegal (I mean, according to the law it was legal, but when does a silly thing like written laws stop lawsuits? Or the government?), but I didn't really see where the iPhone 4 was better than a Samsung Captivate. The iPhone 4 has a slightly better screen, the gyroscope and a front-facing camera; the Captivate has more storage capability, a more open OS (and a faster one, in my experience) and a not-buggy antenna. It's taking a bit to get used to doing things differently, but so far I really like the phone. Oh, and it's $100 cheaper than the top-of-the-line iphone 4; same price as the cheaper iPhone 4.

I'll try to get some screen grabs and commentary from Saints Row 2 up later. I never played the first Saints Row, but I remember that it was a fairly popular game when it came out and SR 2 carried some anticipation. Kinda fell off the radar pretty quick; but then, there are sandbox games with mini-games, story missions, side-missions, unlockables and purchasables coming out every week. I've found there is a small but dedicated fan base, and a handful of people working on some pretty major mods. As is, from where I am now I can see playing through the game twice; it's an open-world sandbox but I'm not sure it really should be. At least not to the extent that it is.

Return of 360 vs. PS3

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:35:37 +0000

Very shortly, I will have $100 in Gamestop credit. I'm not the biggest fan of Gamestop in the world, as I mentioned in a Twitter post not too long ago. But, I get credit there easily.

I've got a huge list of games for last gen systems that I need (want) to get, but I'm way behind on games anyway. As $100 is not a small amount, I started thinking once again about picking up a 360 or a PS3. I had been planning to get a PS3 if I ever got anything, but some recent research, and events in general, have complicated the decision again. Here are the relevant facts, my handful of readers may chip in with their thoughts (I would appreciate it, in fact.)

1) I have a pretty good computer (rather, a really awesome computer). The only game, oddly enough, that I have been unable to run at maximum settings recently is the Champions Online Demo. Had to set everything just about to minimum. I think that might be a bandwidth thing, though. If a game is available on PC, I have no doubt that I would be able to play it, and play it better than either the 360 or the PS3. BUT, not everything is available for PC. It would be nice if I could find a list of which 360 and PS3 games are published for PC.

2) I will not pay for Xbox Live Gold. Period. There are rumors that the Playstation Network is going to start charging, but at the moment, it's free.

3) I don't care about the BD drive in the PS3. I have a great HTPC, and GPL BD drivers and software are finally showing up for media programs to use. I figure I'll add a BD drive to my HTPC before the end of the year.

4) Unless the title is programmed well, the 360 usually provides a better game experience with it's more capable graphics chip. What mainly impresses me is that the 360 seldom falls below 30 frames per second on any game, while the PS3 seems to run around 20-25 fps in the same games. To be clear: neither system's visuals look "better" to me, but the 360 does seem to run more smoothly most of the time...

5) when it's running, anyway. I can't find firm numbers, but the newest 360s are supposed to be much more reliable than older models, but that's a hell of a record to overcome. I never bought the anecdotal stories that the 360 had a first-year failure rate of 50%, but the more-likely rate of 15% is beyond bad enough.

6) Do I need both? I don't want to spend that much money, even with $100 in gift cards.

Maybe I should just ignore it all for another six months. Again.

More fun with Google...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:12:32 +0000

From Sankaku Complex (site is NSFW, link is ok):

You know how when you start typing in a search term in Google, the search engine will pop up suggestions? Generally along the line of, for example:

I type "hobbit" Google will suggest such phrases as "hobbit house", "hobbit name generator", "hobbit travel" and so on. If I type in "how can I" I get suggestions such as "how can I keep from singing lyrics", "how can I lose 10 pounds in a week", "how can I tell if i am pregnant" and such like.

If I type in "Christianity is" Google suggests some fairly insulting search phrases, although to be fair most of those suggestions are repeated for Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism and so on.

But not for Islam. If you type in "Islam is"...you will get nothing.

Apparently Google has been made aware of the problem, and they deny any type of "favoritism". The suggestion feature has a bug that for some reason the Google programmers can not discover, won't make suggestions on the phrase "Islam is". Weird, but possible. In fact, If you search on "Islam" plus any other preposition, you get suggestions. You even get some negative suggestions...but not many. E.g. search for "Islam should" will prompt you with "Islam should be banned."

If there is any story here, I think it's much more telling that suggestions for all other major and minor religions include predominantly negative phrases, while Islam includes mostly positive statements.

The most wonderful and stressful time of year...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:53:36 +0000

No, not what you think. With few exceptions, the "holidays" aspect of the Fall and Winter is a stress-reliever for me. What I'm referring to is that my financial year usually starts in March, April or May; and ends in December. I start getting some income in December. So, the period from November to the end of the year is filled with making every dollar count. Plus, you never "really" know how good a job you did during the year until this final huge, expensive effort.

The amount of work that goes into a harvest and all of the stress mentioned above means, as I posted last year, that I don't really have a lot of time for posting...and when I do, I don't feel like it. I don't want to just do more re-posting from other blogs. I like to try to keep blog mentions confined to other bloggers' original work rather than contributing to another round of viral videos. OTOH, Wonderduck comes up with some of the more unique and entertaining examples I've seen, there are currently two good videos on his front page.

So, just to force myself, I'll just run through some randomness.

Recently found the Let's Play Archive. This particular LP got me wanting to play KotOR 2 again...he made the game sound pretty good. As I tweeted recently; though, I actually think the writing is WORSE in 2 than in one. Different, yes. The story certainly has the basis for something MUCH deeper and more complex than KotOR. Unfortunately, the writer(s) didn't know what they were talking about half the time. Obviously, somebody made it through the first chapter of the Pop Guide to Chaos Theory and a Psychology 101 primer, but missed out on War Strategy and Tactics That Anyone Can Understand and Principles of Leadership: A Common Sense Approach. Then there are the "moral choices." Bioware games and western RPG's in general have become well-known for their "black and white" moral choices. KotOR 2 was made by Obsidian rather than Bioware, and a lot of players felt that Obsidian did a better job of making those choices more like "multiple shades of gray." I don't see it, myself. Most of the choices are still "Save/Eat Puppy", they just word them differently. Most of the "gray" choices are actually railroading by the plot...which is to say, rather than "Save/Eat Puppy" you get to choose "Eat Puppy Now/Eat Puppy Later." See, the writer(s) don't really give you a lot of freedom in "defining" your character. Sure, you can level and play your Jedi as Light/Dark Side, Neutral or Insane; but KotOR 2 goes well beyond KotOR's "this is who you are and what you did, now what are you going to do?" KotOR 2 says, "this is who you are, what you did, why you did it, who you did it with and for, and what you thought of them. Now what are you going to do? Oh, and you're still mad about this, so you should probably choose A, and even though we've made it perfectly clear to you repeatedly, and you have high intelligence and wisdom, you don't really understand B, so we'll just fill in "duuuuuuuuuuuh" for that answer.

And so on.

End the end, it still comes down to "side with/kill bad guy". But there's so much arrogance and ignorance in the story, and the frequent Character Development railroading make the game less enjoyable than KotOR...at least to a certain degree. On the other hand, the story IS more complex...not better, just deeper. The game is bigger, the mechanics are a little better, the crafting system is much improved, and the animations and graphics are much better. On the third hand, the rushed development time means that something like 20% of the game got cut before release, and you see a lot of the resultant broken bits still in the game. I don't bear any hard feelings about that, though...13 months is not enough time to develop a game like this.

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I'm just about tired of my iPhone. Getting sick of what I can't do with it. It's a decent multimedia phone, but it just can't compare to a full smartphone with better desktop integration. Add to that the number of ways that Apple WON'T service the phone, and the dreaded iTunes. Think I'll switch to THIS.

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Thought about playing Dwarf Fortress. Got over it.

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Can't think of anything else, right now. Although this is good:

No shame...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:55:09 +0000

I've stated repeatedly that the first current-gen console I would buy, if I had an urgent need to spend money, would be a PS3. But the current God Mode really nails the unbelievable levels of Sony Fanboy-ism going on these days:

Two important aniversaries...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:25:36 +0000

Yeah, there's this one: Some guy on the moon...

But there's also this one: Do You Remember Love?

No. No, no. No, no, no, no no...no. No.NO.

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:58:48 +0000

The end is nigh.

Sony returning to backward compatibility?

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:37:45 +0000

Sony dropped full PS2/PS1 backward compatibility from the PS3 a year ago, presumably to cut costs. The original two models of the PS3 had the Emotion Engine processor from the PS2 included in hardware, which meant that each PS3 came with, in effect, a PS2 built in. This solution apparently worked pretty well, but didn't sell too many $600 - $700 PS3s. Sony came out with a new design WITHOUT the Emotion Engine and dropped the price; that didn't help much either. Finally, this spring saw an increase in sales for the PS3 in Japan, driven apparently by several new A-List software titles. Sales in America have not increased outside of normal variances.

Not surprisingly, one of the most-quoted reasons by gamers for not buying a PS3 is the lack of backward compatibility. Gamers wanted the PS3 as introduced, except cheaper (game developers were pushing hard for this, as well). What Sony gave us was a slightly cheaper PS3 WITHOUT backward compatibility (a few other features were dropped in cheaper models, as well).

Presumably, Sony may have learned their lesson. From Sankaku Complex comes a story about a recently filed patent in America that (supposedly) shows a method for the PS3 to emulate the Emotion engine via software. I'm a bit confused on several issues here:

1) I thought it already did that?

2) Obviously, there IS some confusion about this...

3) The best I can tell, this chart from Wikipedia is accurate. To sum up, the original 20GB and original 60GB had an Emotion Engine built in. In 2007, an 80GB model was released that had emulation, rather than an Emotion Engine processor. Later in the year, a 40GB model was released that had NO backward compatibility. Neither have the current 80GB or 160GB models.

4) I have never understood why Sony dropped the emulation (code, once written, does you no good if it's not used). The only answer I can see is that according to anecdote, Sony's PS2 emulation didn't even work as well at Microsoft's Xbox emulation.

5) Unless the re-introduction of emulation is accompanied by another price drop, I don't see how this will significantly boost sales. If it's GOOD emulation, that means I can go back to buying a NEW PS3 instead of a used one for myself, but...if there's no price drop, why buy it now when you wouldn't buy it before?

6) I seriously doubt that emulation is going to allow you to play ALL of your PS2 titles on the PS3. Even including the Emotion Engine IN the PS3 didn't give you 100% flawless playability. Xbox emulation is pretty good, and you get, what 85% backward compatibility? Maybe close to 90%? Haven't looked in a while. If you're a Sony fanboy, I'm sure you believe that Sony will do it better than Microsoft, but it STILL won't be 100%, or even close to it.

Cyber Revolution?

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:18:51 +0000

Don't have anything to add right now, but you REALLY NEED to read this article by Galrahn at Information Dissemination:

"We may find the Tweeters take political power and what are we going to do then? Talk about a paradigm shift."

- Dr. Anne-Marie Slaughter, Director of Policy Planning for the State Department, June 18th, 2009

There is irony that Dr. Slaughter was expressing this opinion on Wednesday morning, because this week Twitter has become not only a tool for channeling population centric political power against a government, but perhaps even a tool for leveraging population centric military power. As I observe the events unfolding online surrounding the Iranian elections, I see a sustained global, generational, multinational cyber skirmish against the current government of Iran with the intent of expressing political support for the Iranian people.

If that sounds a bit odd to you, all I can say is welcome to the 21st century, because you have just stepped into the reality of Generation Y's virtual world.

Full Article Here: Information Dissemination

Trying Linux for the umpteenth time...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:00:53 +0000

UPDATE AT THE BOTTOM:

Rebuilding the HTPC. Doing some searching for good htpc software (MediaCenter: DO NOT WANT), and find KnoppMyth. Well, this thing looks just peachy.

Now, I wouldn't call my past experience with Linux either great or bad. I WOULD give it a net positive, because my installation of Yellow Dog Linux to a first generation iBook worked great...until it stopped working altogether. Used it one day, shut it down at night. Went to start the laptop the next day...the OS was trashed. Repartitioned, reinstalled; worked great for a few months again, then crapped itself again. Not exactly the same, but similar.

I've tried running Linux instead of Windows a few times...I just couldn't get the same stuff done as easily as I could in Windows. When something doesn't work in Windows, I can get it running pretty quick. Hell, it usually only takes a reboot. To get something to work in Linux, sometimes even a new download that's SUPPOSED to work, sometimes you have to manually modify the OS. If you like that sort of thing, and you have the time and interest, great. You get a powerful, free operating system. If, like me, you want to INSTALL THE DAMN SOFTWARE AND GO...you might want to stick with Windows. Or even Mac. But I would stick with Windows (don't argue with me, I USED OS X for two years. And don't email me about how it's "all better now"...been listening to that crap from Apple for years.)

So anyway, KnoppMyth. Looks great. All-in-one HTPC solution. It's Linux-based, so what? It installs and runs, right?

Well, apparently is does for some people.

I had to do a work-around to get the install to work, but it worked. Took two days to find the right answer to my problem, but I found it, sure enough. Got the software installed (I'm skipping a bit here)...didn't find the network card, didn't identify the sound card properly...those could be problems, but it's working. Played a DVD, played some wrapped mp4's. Copied some movies to the hard drive. The shell crashed. Won't start again. Reboot the computer...the screen fills with gibberish and the box locks up. Wonderful.

FDISK. WINDOWS XP Pro SP 3.

.........

This is my experience with Linux, just about every damn time. Please quit telling me it's "almost ready to replace windows on the desktop". It's not. It's not even close enough to WISH it could. Is it powerful, and reliable, and usable? Yes, if you know how to work it, and don't mind the time and effort. I DO MIND THE TIME AND EFFORT. Computers are HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES now, and Linux is just a hobby.

Want to see the next part of the argument? Kaedrin ran into it while looking for some software recently.

UPDATE:

A clarification to be fair, especially since Kaedrin was nice enough to link me back (Thanks, Kaedrin!) and I don't want to get flamed. It is certainly unfair of me to make the blanket statement that Linux, as a whole, is nothing more than a hobby. I am aware that Linux is not only a viable, but possibly even the best solution for many backend applications. THIS website is hosted on Linux, and I have no complaints. I should have been specific: Linux as a *Windows Replacement" is almost entirely a hobby. There have been MANY attempts to provide a Linux desktop solution professionally and unprofessionally, but they all suffered from the same faults: fixing even minor issues sometimes requires major customer support. While Microsoft and other major software producers have to deal with general computer-user ignorance and even stupidity, Linux has to provide this support from within the user community AND have to deal with fixes that involve manually modifying the OS at the programming level.

And that is why I say that Linux not only missed it's desktop opportunity, but never really had a chance at it in the first place.

Mike Rowe on Work

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:18:26 +0000

If you don't know who Mike Rowe is, he's the guy behind the Dirty Jobs television program on Discovery Networks. One of the best things about the show is that he's brought a lot of traditional jobs back into the public consciousness. Below is part of a wonderful talk he gave at a Silicon Valley conference. Via Brickmuppet.

The one (major) part of owning an iPhone I don't like...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:58:15 +0000

is iTunes. You HAVE to use iTunes for your updates, and it's the ONLY program that successfully does ALL of the media management required on an iPhone. But I REALLY HATE iTunes. I never liked it, and it's only gotten worse. It's not even all that buggy, from what I can tell...iTunes is just simply designed to work in a way other than how I like to use my computer. It's also bloated and slow. My regular media player, the KMPlayer, can play anything (especially if you install a good codec pack) and takes up about 5MB of memory. iTunes, just sitting here, takes up 105MB.

Now thankfully, with the new computer, iTunes launches in only a few seconds, rather than about 50. It does everything almost instantly, except connecting to the iPhone. Still, this computer throws every other program around like it's nothing. iTunes still takes some pushing.

Finished computer pics

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 20:31:47 +0000

Last few computer pics, now that I've got the computer done:

Now you can see both processors, both banks of memory, and both video cards.

Nighttime shot.

In the dark with the new monitor.

Done

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:14:09 +0000

New computer is completely finished. Got the new monitor in, got the new mouse in, got the second processor, second bank of memory, second DVD drive, and second video card. Everything is working, still getting the kinks out of Vista. Anything that isn't network related happens instantly. Video encoding happens like copying a file.

As long as I keep her clean and keep good fans in, Saya should be done for a long time. This is one of the few computers I've built that I've been able to over-spec. I don't really game; even on the consoles I stay previous-gen. I DO encode video, because rather than keeping stacks and stacks of DVD's I like keeping all of my anime in one-or-two disk packs, which means ripping and re-encoding everything. What I wanted was a computer that would keep me from worrying about speed and compatibility for at least a few years. I wanted a quad-quad, rather than a dual-quad, but I really didn't like any of the available motherboards. I also wanted Nvidia rather than Ati, although I tried to stay open-minded. In the end, though, I still think Nvidia has the edge. Not really much of one, but their price/performance ratio is slightly better. Plus, while many people (reportedly) have trouble with Nvidia drivers, I never have; BUT I have had tons and tons of problems with Ati drivers. I use an Ati card in my HTPC (cheapest card I could find on the day that included a component cable breakout) and I had to install a startup manager program because the Ati drivers take SO LONG TO INITIALIZE that they cause the computer to crash when another program starts to load any time within 30 seconds after the Ati driver loads. And no, that's not the ONLY Ati story I have, but it IS the best one.

I didn't mean to talk about that.

Anyway, Saya is done, and I'm happy. Hopefully, I'll be able to start working on the Nanoha comic soon.