Evening Reading
by Steve Gibson, May 31, 2005 6:09pm PDTToo much sweating. Summer is coming way too early here. :(
- Cell phones on planes still scare feds - Bendy signs are fun! - Deep Throat comes out. It's an old dude! - More old dudes! This one is a blogger - We RobotLastly, the future of TV!
Sony patent would interrupt gameplay to display ad
Weekend Confirmed 114 - Diablo 3, Max Payne 3, Lost Planet 3
New Zone of the Enders project underway
Carmageddon ploughing into GOG
Harry Potter for Kinect announced
Post links of, or pics of your HDTV's. Would love to see what people are starting to get and what is popular. I will start it out.
50" LCD projection Sony
http://www.kungfuture.com/wp-content/tvsony.jpg (pic)
http://tinyurl.com/acr6y (stats)
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I have a nifty little gizmo here for you CS:Source playing men: CSGeiger a little counter that sits on your desktop and keeps track of how many players are on a given CS:Source sever. When it reaches a certain point, you can have it play a sound to alert to the fact. It’s small, unobtrusive, and works great. It has multiple skins, icons, and sounds which you can choose.
Here’s a screen shot of the default layout:
http://www.alwaysnetwork.com/shack/csgeiger.jpg
That’s awesome you say, how can I get hooked up with it? Well first you are going to need Konfabulator for Windows (sorry Mac guys). I only have 2.0 installed on my system, so that is all it has been tested against, but it very well should work with 1.8.x… let me know what you find out. You can find Konfabulator here:
http://www.konfabulator.com/
After you get Konfabulator all setup all you need is to download the widget and open it. You can snag the widget here:
http://www.alwaysnetwork.com/shack/CSGeiger.widget
If you really want to be cool, put it in C:\Program Files\Pixoria\Konfabulator\Widgets\ which is where widgets are “supposed†to be stored. Now all you have to do is put in the IP or Address of the server (Rydogg1’s is ra.gotdns.org) and it will monitor the number of people on the server, updating every 3 minutes or so. If you want to customize it a bit, right click on the it and go into preferences. Here you can set a bunch of fun options.
If you run into any issues with the widget, shackmail me and I’ll get them fixed up. Otherwise feel free to spread the widget about, the more the merrier.
A special thanks goes out to Adrian Gonzales Jr., who’s Gmail Geiger this is based off of, the team behind qstat, and Rydogg1 for running a server that needs monitoring.
Since I’m using qstats for the backend, doing other games doesn’t take anytime at all. Specifically in its current form it should work for HL2DM w/o a problem. When Battlefield 2 comes out, I’ll whip up a revision for that, and maybe one for Battlefield 1942 in the mean time if I feel like it. I can also query a ton of other info from the server, so something like map name or ping would be trivial to add, maybe someday.
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If i'm still alive in 20 years do i win something?
Men's Yellow T | http://www.cafepress.com/poopstewarts.23404652
Women's Pink T | http://www.cafepress.com/poopstewarts.23404651
I'm selling them at cost so no one makes moolah. $14.99 each I believe. Enjoy.
Unfortunately, due to limitations in the Cafepress system, the letters spelling Respect have to be the color of the background. They can't be white.
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So, I just dusted off Sands of Time for the Xbox and ran through it again. Jiminy Christmas what an awesome game. Against my better judgement I'm now toying with the idea of picking up Warrior Within. I've read the reviews (and http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-12-03 ) but I'm wondering... now that it's been out for a while, has the Conventional Wisdom shifted any?
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"Soundblaster Audigy and Extigy users will be interested in the result of a
lawsuit that may allow them a $62 discount on their next purchase from the Creative web site. Creative claimed on their packaging that these products supported 24-bit/96kHz audio, but as I pointed out in my review of both the Audigy platinum eX in SOS November 2001 and the Audigy 2 Platinum eX in SOS April 2003, most of the audio passing through these cards would still be processed through the fixed 48kHz audio engine. Although no liability has been accepted, Creative have graciously agreed to provide the aforementioned discount to anyone who bought an Audigy ES, Audigy Platinum, Audigy Platinum eX, Audigy Gamer, Audigy MP3+ and also the original Extigy external USB sound module before the end of 2004. There's a deadline of September 22nd 2005 to pursue your claim, but if you feel you qualify, you should read the claim form at www.audiocardsettlement.com."
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- http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/
- http://www.mozilla.org/projects/deerpark/releases/alpha1.html
Deer Park == Developer's Preview, so if you're interested in where firefox is going, I highly recommend checking this out.
Major Changes
- http://www.squarefree.com/burningedge/releases/1.1a1.html
And for comparison, check out www.gamespot.com in both ff1.0 and ff1.1a.
Also, the top of shacknews mainpage scrolls a lot nicer too.
Plus a shed load of other improvements.
Wohoo firefox \m/
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In a related question, does anyone know why Windows would stop updating the correct amount of space avaialble on certain of my drives after I delete stuff from it? It's like it's deleting stuff, the stuff isn't there anymore if I look for it, but Windows doesn't clear the memory so the disk still says it has X amount of data.
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I need help.. stuck on #12. Any clues?
These puzzles are getting damn hard!!
http://deathball.net/notpron/ -- Starts from Level 1.
Shortcut to Level 12 below:
http://deathball.net/notpron/blame/crossview.htm
UserName: fucking Password: pans
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http://www.vgcats.com/comics/
Nooooooooooooooo
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Shackers, I have a dilemma and I don't know what's wrong. First I'll provide you some backstory.
On Sunday, I decided I needed to fix a slight farmer's tan/whiteness I have, so I went out swimming/laying out. Well it ends up I was outside for about 4 hours before I decided to come back inside. I notice that I'm pretty red and figure I'm sunburnt. I don't notice it until nightfall where I get this tingling sensation all over. I decide to take a cold shower.
Monday, I'm in some discomfort. I check it out and I'm just red, no blisters or anything. I buy some aloe vera gel. The aloe cools me off pretty good and I apply it several times a day. I get home and take a cold shower again and apply the aloe before sleep.
Tuesday rolls around, I take a cold shower and reapply the aloe before I go to work. Fast forward Tuesday evening, I decide to do the same routine. However, this time around I start itching while I'm in the shower, mainly on my chest and back. It gets worse as I try to wash up with my washcloth. I get out of the shower and I notice small blisters all over. At this point, I'm like WTF?? I reapply the aloe, but the point of itching has gotten out of hand and I'm totally uncomfortable. At one point I have to bite my hand to cause more pain so I'll quit thinking about the itching. It slowly dies off and I'm able to fall asleep. I wake up a couple times due to my itching.
Wednesday morning (today), I wake up and decide not to take a shower because I'm afraid of itching like I did last night. I don't apply any aloe either because I didn't get those blisters until after I started using it. I just wash my hair and come to work. I still have occasional itching though... I checked and I'm not peeling yet.
So wtf is wrong with me? Am I allergic to aloe or do sunburn blisters take a few days to form?
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http://theonion.com/opinion/index.php?issue=4122
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Three years ago I bought a new truck. Since my old truck had been carelessly damaged on a few occasions parked in the general parking area, I began to park my new truck far away from the doors to work, in a deserted area of the lot.
Now my truck is 3 years older and I have parked in this inconvenient spot nearly every workday during that time, come rain, snow, or sleet.
Tuesday, some unknown person had bought a new Tacoma (and must arrive a few minutes earlier than me). That son of a bitch somehow picked my spot as his new space.
I know it's petty and stupid, but the last two days, seeing his truck in the spot I've used nearly uncontested for 3 years has started my day off as bitter as burnt coffee. Believe me, I don't need help being miserable at work. I know find myself wanting to show up early for work only to spite this jackass.
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Gone are uber buffs and solo groups (an irony if ever there was one). Groups of people actually playing as a group are all around now. I also think the devs have struck a nice balance between your characters power and that of mobs. You arent super uber, but you arent a pushover either.
And melee stacking is gone, which really toned down melee damage. Blasters play a much more prominent role now, as they should. I always found it odd that swords and pikes used to be the best weapons.
But, in typical SOE fashion, they did hose Docs, who now gain medical exp only by healing those in combat. But overall, the CU has made the game a lot more fun.
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http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/226531_tl101.html
Yup, married and the wife loves it.
I need to up my skill in sneaking out during an episode to play WoW in stead of watching another whodunnit. +10 vanish.
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I'm talking cutting edge news
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The thing is, I can replace the file with any mp3 and get maximum roofles when people go to the page.. I need suggestions stat!
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http://andrediamant.free.fr.nyud.net:8090/videos/duracell@barden%27s%20boudoir19032005.wmv
if you can ingore the dancing guy on the right
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Specs:
- Intel Celeron M Processor 350 (1.30GHz/1MB Cache/400MHz FSB)
- 15.4 inch WXGA LCD Panel
- 512MB, Shared DDR2, 400MHz 2 Dimms
- Integrated Intel Media Accelerator 9000 Graphics
- 30GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
- Image Restore
- Microsoft Windows XP Home Service Pack 2, English
- Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
- 8X DVD Drive
- CyberLink PowerDVD v5.3.1012, Decoding Sofware for DVD Drives
- Intel PRO/Wireless 2915 Internal Wireless (802.11a/b/g, 54Mbps)
- MCAFEE Anti-Virus, Firewall
- 53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
- Paint Shop Photo Album 5.1 Standard
- WordPerfect Productivity Pack 12, English
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http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y285/stjkus/monopoly.jpg
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That mood that you get into that you really want to listen to some music but CANNOT seem to find or the randomer can't seem to find anything you like.
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tldr; Googles upcoming translator is gonna own.
"Currently, most machine translation technology, including consumer-oriented programs such as Systran's Babel Fish, have been "taught" the rules of language, such as verb tenses and when to use parts of speech. Programmers painstakingly hand-build systems based on such rules. "The computer is told, if you see this thing in Russian, replace it with this thing in English," explains Yarowsky.
"While somewhat effective, such systems are time-consuming to build (consider how long it takes most humans to learn a language and all its rules), and resulting translations are still marred by grammatical and other errors. Those that do work fairly well usually tackle popular Western languages, such as French, German, and Spanish; there are few translation programs developed for other important tongues, such as Chinese, Turkish, or Arabic, let alone for more obscure languages like Tajik.
"To tackle a broader range of the world's languages, and to improve on the quality of machine translation, Yarowsky and his Hopkins colleagues are developing computer programs that can be trained to figure out any language using statistical analysis, i.e., looking at the probabilities of language patterns. In what's known as automatic knowledge acquisition, the computer could "learn" Serbian well enough to translate future documents or conversation, or at the least pick out pertinent words like "bomb."
"As Yarowsky explains: "Say you want to teach a computer how to translate Chinese: You give the computer 100,000 sentences in English and the same 100,000 sentences in Chinese and run a program that can figure out which words go to which words. If in 2,000 sentences you have the word Washington, and in about the same number of sentences you have the word Huashengdun, and they occur in the same place in the sentence, these words are likely translations.
(..) As Yarowsky notes in his 100,000-sentence example, one way to accomplish automatic knowledge acquisition is to use bilingual or parallel text. The program "reads" a document in English and then a version in a second language. Such texts used by Hopkins researchers include the Bible, which is available on the Web in more than 60 languages."
Full text here
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=151214&threshold=1&commentsort=0&tid=217&mode=thread&cid=12683644
/ V
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Here is my current setup.
Video card: ATI Radeon X800PRO 256MB GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail
Power Supply: THERMALTAKE Silent Purepower W0014RU ATX 480W Power Supply - Retail
Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo Platinum Socket 754 NVIDIA nForce3 250Gb ATX
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Newcastle Socket 754 Processor Model with Retail fan & heat sink
Memory: GeIL Value 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) With Extreme Performance Heat Spreader
Optical Drive: NEC DVD+/-RW ND-2500A Black
Hard Drive: Maxtor drive, 250 gigs, 7200 rpm, 8 meg cache, 9.3 seek, ultra ata133
Case: COOLER MASTER PAC-T01-EK Black All Aluminium Alloy ATX Mid Tower
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LONDON (AP) - Britain has a new public enemy - the teenager in a hooded sweat shirt.
Why's it got to be the hoodie? :(
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http://www.shacknews.com/ja.zz?id=10155874
http://www.shacknews.com/ja.zz?id=10156101
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Microsoft: PS3 is a lot like Xbox360 but with useless features we think are far fetched. We have a good feeling we will beat Sony, and Nintendo is just being silly. (And we don't want to use a new disc format because we're on the fence about that one.)
Sony: PS3 WILL KICK XBOX360'S ASS! IT WILL POOP IT IN IT'S MOUTH AS IF IT WAS A CHINESE SCHOOL GIRL! YEAH BITCHES! Just like how we, uh, kicked Nintendo's ass, cos, you know, it wasn't like the SNES was four years old when we released the Playstation or anything, and people totally gobbled up our PSX. See, I have good examples! Oh yeah, and Nintendo sucks too. (And the success of the DVD format is solely because of the PS2. So, obviously, the PS3 using Blu-ray will make Blu-ray famous and help us sell a lot of HD TVS!)
Nintendo: We want to make fun games. That's about it, really, ho-hum, we don't think that being all flashy and big and stuff will make us more money like the other guys, so we're focusing on making a fun and cheap product people will feel willing to buy. (And we're not using a new storage format because we see absolutely no reason to, aside from potentially rasing prices.)
(I like MS's stand point the most, but I'll be buying neither console, but if I had to attribute fanboi-ism to me, it would be to MS. I own(ed) both an Xbox and a Gamecube, neither of which I have played in over a year and half. Had a PSX, NDS, GBA, SNES, N64, DC.)
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MrLonghairs Stockholm Shackmeet write-up : in reply
Woddemandreds Stockholm Shackmeet review : http://www.shacknews.com/ja.zz?id=10160143
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