These are my links for September 8th through September 19th:

• Foldit – Solve Puzzles for Science
• Getting Started on the Google+ API – Google+ Platform Blog –
• Freetronics –
• HTML5 Rocks – A resource for open web HTML5 developers
• Shako Solenoid Valve for Water Drop Collision Photography –
• Secularism and Its Discontents : The New Yorker –
• CastingWords – Transcription services: Audio, Video, CD/DVDs… 
• Amazon Mechanical Turk –
• HiViz.com – Learn High Speed Photography. DIY kits
• David Scott Lewis, the mystery hacker who inspired the film "War Games" | VentureBeat –
• David Scott Lewis, the hacker who inspired WarGames –
• 1980s in film – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia –
• UT Painter Hall Telescope –
• Czech Heritage Society of Texas –
• The Algorithm: Idiom of Modern Science –

These are my links for August 14th through September 4th:

• Downloads (2010-2011 Fall) | CS 193P iPhone Application Development –
• UIPickerView – Creating a simple picker view | iPhone SDK Articles –
• Steve Jobs: Jerry Pournelle Reflects –
• Dreamstime – Stock Photography
• Fotolia.com – Royalty Free Stock Photos
• Evernote software company plans new studio, aggressive hiring in Austin –
• Five Ways to Speed Up Lightroom – O’Reilly Digital Media Blog –
• Does the 1796-97 Treaty with Tripoli Matter to Church/State Separation? –
• Python documentation –
• Why most people don’t finish video games –
• Tracking the Trackers: To Catch a History Thief | Stanford Center for Internet and Society –
• Violet Crown Trail | Hill Country Conservancy –
• South Austin Medical Clinic –
• World War II in Photos – Alan Taylor – In Focus – The Atlantic –
• Understanding & Using Ansel Adam’s Zone System –

These are my links for July 7th through July 21st:

• How To Test a Lens –
• How to give your cat a pill in 7 steps –
• Labwarehouse.com – Surplus lab supplies, equipment and goods:
• Old Soul –
• Old School Color Cycling with HTML5 –
• The Truth About Guns – Exploring the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns
• Plnnr – plan the perfect trip, automatically! –

These are my links for June 5th through June 13th:

• Zen Backpacking Stoves – Homemade/DIY Stove Links –
• Independent Video Games – Wolfire Games –
• How to Build an Upside-Down Fire: The Only Fireplace Method You’ll Ever Need –
• Ultra Light Backpacking Gear | Ultra Light Alcohol Backpacking Stoves –
• The Garlington WoodGas Stove –
• AllTrails.com – Discover Camping, Hiking, Mountain Biking & Other Outdoor Trails
• Cool Little Miniature Stove –

These are my links for May 10th through June 4th:

• AOJ Outdoors Tip – Eliminate Yellow Jackets With This Non-Toxic Homemade Yellow Jacket Trap! –
• Regrets of the Dying –
• The "How-to" for making an Arduino controlled smoker –
• Zuckerberg goes on a diet: Only meat he eats is what he kills – San Jose Mercury News – They all want to learn how to do it; they want to come in and watch us cut it up, because I think these days people who have the means to kill their own food want to see exactly what they're eating
• China used prisoners in lucrative internet gaming work –
• Confirmed: Google Wallet NFC payment system launches tomorrow, retail partners in tow –
• Banks launch clearXchange transfer system to rival PayPal –
• The Highly Sensitive Person –
• Roll a D6 – This is a spoof music video of ;Like a G6" by Far East Movement.
• Eternal Earth-Bound Pets –
• Everyday, No Days Off – Gun Blog –
• Linux Commando: How to disable SSH host key checking –
• KnifeKits.com Designer Knife Kits – Knife Making Supplies – Sheath and Holster Making Supplies –
• Grinder – getting started –
• Far Horizon Traders Home Page –

These are my links for April 19th through May 7th:

• Missing The Point: It Doesn’t Matter If Torture “Works” –
• Transistors go 3D as Intel re-invents the microchip –
• DSLR Mirror Lock-Up – Worth the Effort or Not? –
• Take Shape For Life –
• A Keyboard and a .45 –
• Oleg Volk Photography –
• CrimeReportSearch –
• The First Zombie-Proof House –
• OOSChecker: The Ultimate iPad2 Treasure Hunter –
• Affordable Weekend Getaways and Vacations – LivingSocial –
• Texas3006.com –
• Corps Lakes Gateway: Texas –
• Lily Ponds Cottage – New Ulm, Texas –
• Google Encrypted Search –
• Portal 2 and Steam on PlayStation®3 –

These are my links for March 13th through March 19th:

• debt collection, bankruptcy, personal finance & consumer rights | Caveat Emptor –
• consumerlawyer.mn — aggressive consumer advocacy –
• Y Combinator –
• How to Incorporate a Business –
• Beautiful by Nature – Turks and Caicos Islands – Turks and Caicos Tourist Board –
• FIAT of Austin –
• The Secret World –
• Langley Ranch –
• Japanese Earthquake Implications Quick Q&A –
• Someone is doing something nasty –
• Micromegas –

These are my links for January 5th through January 15th:

• 25 Years Of Graphics History: A Farewell To ATI, In Pictures –
• Epoch Converter – Unix Timestamp Converter –
• The Naked Coder | Sarah White Consulting –
• Cheaper Than Dirt – America’s Ultimate Shooting Sports Discounter –
• TF2 Launch Options List – Steam Users’ Forums –
• LIRC – Linux Infrared Remote Control –
• Partial solar eclipse and transit of the Space Station from Oman –
• cRPG Guide, Read if new to cRPG – www.c-rpg.net –
• cRPG & Strategus forum on TaleWorlds –
• TaleWorlds –
• cRPG Mod – Mount and Blade –
• Ultra-Mini Nano USB 2.0 802.11n 150Mbps Wifi/WLAN Wireless Network Adapter –

These are my links for December 23rd through January 4th:

• Best Buy Masters Computer Science & Information Technology | Ratings & Rankings | GetEducated.com –
• CSU CS Online Masters Degree –
• Portalarium – Game Developer in Austin (Richard Garriott has joined this team)
• Car2Go Sweeps Austin Off Its Wheels – Car2Go to hopefully expand its area, and definitely expand its fleet with new cars
• bunnie’s blog –
• TF2 Backpack Examiner – Blueprints –
• Musican killed in home burglary attempt, authorities say –
• James Jean | Home –
• Chumby Spare Parts at Sparkfun –
• The animal world has its junkies too – Animals that get high
• MakerBot Industries – Robots That Make Things. –
• chumby sphere forum –
• Chumby hacker board beta – ChumbyWiki –
• chumby hacker board wiki –
• Texas State History IMAX Theatre –

If you have iPhone (3GS or newer) or iPad, this demo of Epic technology is stunning running on the IOS platform.

iTunes Link:  Epic Citadel

source: http://toucharcade.com/2010/09/01/unreal-engine-3-tech-demo-epic-citadel-available-for-free/

(if you don’t have one of the devices, you can view the video of it below.)

Although I prefer the stilts on Chell

http://www.minecraft.net/

A game where you can build anything out of an array of elements… anything, rollercoasters, castles, lava moats, etc. It’s like a world building game, but, every night it gets taken over by zombies and you must survive.

Honestly, it’s a hard game to describe, it has elements of Dwarf Fortress, zombie games, super mario, portal, legos… and many of it’s own unique ideas.

The TF2 dev team seems to be enraptured with it:

http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=4130&p=1

And, it is pretty fun. I set up a server, and you can join it here:

http://www.minecraft.net/play.jsp?server=bac3b007f5dd5ab5caf7c20f4c1a5ec9

(or you can find it in the list of servers here, named CoFR Minecraft Server: http://www.minecraft.net/servers.jsp )

It is browser based, so no install needed. If you wish to be admin on the server, send me your registered playername and I will add you (if I know you, that is).
If you purchase the game you can play the alpha versions, which have all the new features, but the server is running classic version, which should be free to play.

These are my links for July 29th through July 31st:

• Minecraft –
• Dave Ramsey –
• The Slickdeals Approach to Negotiating the Price of a New Car –
• TrueCar –
• Postalicious –

The previously mentioned 20 minute gameplay video… in HD:

The big announcement that Blizzard has been keying up to is indeed that Diablo III is in development.  This makes me happier than Starcraft 2, although I’m sure  will enjoy both immensely.  The official Diablo III website has a 20 minute gameplay video already, and it looks really great.  The bread and butter of the Diablo series for me are the animations and immersion, and the video seems to show that in spades.  Not to mention new sparkly weapons and multilayered creatures that come at you from all sides.

Two classes are revealed in an interactive way, the Barbarian and the Witch Doctor, with more to come as they draw out expectation.

No release date is announced.

Here’s the teaser trailer:

The Call of Duty : World at War trailer was just released, along with the revamped callofduty.com website.  The new game will take place in the Pacific theater of World War 2.

• Michigan laser beam believed to set record for intensity » If you could hold a giant magnifying glass in space and focus all the sunlight shining toward Earth onto one grain of sand, that concentrated ray would approach the intensity of a new laser beam made in a University of Michigan laboratory.
• SvSIP » SvSIP is a software that you allow to use your Nintendo DS-like phone. For this, it uses SIP protocol. This protocol is an open standard for creating, modifying, and terminating sessions with one or more participants. It is widely used as a signaling
• NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT 512MB G94 Tested :: TweakTown »
• C&C: Red Alert 3 Announced for PC, Consoles »
• Can’t wait for September 7? Creature-only Spore to launch sooner » EA confirmed with us that the stand-alone product will let players begin creating crazy creatures, although it won’t include other components of Spore’s Creature Phase. Those creatures will then be able to be used in the full version of Spore.
• DealExtreme »
• Wicked Lasers » High quality lasers
• EA to Deliver PC Version of Mass Effect »
• How Sticky Is Membership on Facebook? Just Try Breaking Free » Some users have discovered that it is nearly impossible to remove themselves entirely from Facebook, setting off a fresh round of concern over the popular social network’s use of personal data.
• Tolkien heirs sue Lord of the Rings studio for $150m » JRR Tolkien’s estate is suing the studio behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy and threatening to block production on the planned prequel, The Hobbit over claims it has not been paid its share of profits from the massively successful fantasy series.
• Installing Windows XP on the Asus Eee PC ~ EEEguides.com »
• Audiosurf Coming To Steam » to include Orange box music in this nice indie game
• Computer Sciences Professor Wins Highest Honor In The Field » E. Allen Emerson, professor of computer sciences at The University of Texas at Austin, has been awarded the 2007 A.M. Turing Award, widely considered the most prestigious award in computing, for original and continuing research in a quality assurance proc
• Bluetooth Modem via GPRS » on an eee

• Nuclear Dawn – Welcome » Half-Life 2 mod
• Drawn to be alive » inventive mod
• Darsana » standalone multiplayer medieval game
• Troubleshooting a Peer to Peer Networking » on Windows machines
• Htaccess file – Rewrite »
• Pepakura Designer » Turn 3d computer models into paper models
• University of Texas Videogame Archive »
• South Austin Museum of Popular Culture »
• Vulcan Gas Company posters » Austin myusic venue from the 60′s that was the predecessor and inspiration for the Armadillo World Headquarters
• Device wakes man with severe brain injuries | U.S. | Reuters » A man with severe brain injuries who spent six years in a near-vegetative state can now chew his food, watch a movie and talk with family thanks to a brain pacemaker that may change the way such patients are treated, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.
• Will playing games create a two-tier society? » Scientists say gamers are more visually intelligent. But what does that mean for the future of the net?
• Beer in space: A short but frothy history »
• Firefox/Thunderbird Extension Wizard »

Nintendo announced WiiWare, which allows anyone with some developer moxie to produce games for the Wii.

“Independent developers armed with small budgets and big ideas will be able to get their original games into the marketplace to see if we can find the next smash hit,” said Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime. “WiiWare brings new levels of creativity and value to the ever-growing population of Wii owners.”

I am getting so sick of this thorn-in-the-side, supposed copy-protection program. I really really wish software producers would not be so lazy about copy protection and find a better way rather than schluffing it off to this inept third party program.

In the last few months I have had troubles with Command and Conquer 3 in that you can’t use a Microsoft application called Process Explorer at any time before running it. If you HAVE, it will give you an error when trying to start the game, until you reboot. There is no other way to clear the error except to reboot, and not run the legitimate Microsoft application again.

I would think Microsoft would be pissed off about this. I am pissed off enough for the both of us. I hate having to reboot, especially for this arbitrariness.

This isn’t the only error, I get random other ones from Securom all the time. Either balking at other system utilities I run, or about virtual drives, or network drives, or wearing yellow feathers in a purple cap while dancing a jig.

Now I try to play the demo of Overlord, and I get the same damn message.

Googling Securom and Process Explorer shows that they’ve pissed off thousands of other people.

Please, game producers, I hate to break it to ya, but your games and apps are being copied and played despite Securom. The only thing this program does is piss off people that actually legitimately pay for these games. Even before you release your precious software, the net floods with replacement executables which are stripped of any copy protection you so diligently paid for. Oh, how do I know, you say? Because I have to use these stripped executables TO BE ABLE TO PLAY THE DAMN GAME I PAID FOR WITHOUT JUMPING THROUGH FRICKIN HOOPS!

update: While searching a bit more, I found out that a dutiful member of the Sysinternals forum (the software group that originally made Process Explorer and were bought out by Microsoft) whipped a “hider” program for Process Explorer’s services. I’ll admit I was surprised Process Explorer left a residual driver after running, which is what is detected by Securom. This worked perfectly with the Overlord demo. Thanks, throx!

Bloomberg catches a blurb from a Microsoft executive.

“We are well aware that the sweet spot of the market is really 199 bucks,” said David Hufford, a director of Xbox product management.

This would definitely make me buy one. I want a Wii as well, but man, there are some very good games for the XBOX360 platform. Everyone knows that they make all of their money off of the game sales anyways. While a price drop would make it take longer to accomplish breaking even per user, it would make the overall users explode in number.

Unfortunately Sony will never learn this lesson. They are far too proud and pompous of their visionary PS3. It is time for Microsoft to be smart and take the hit for the future of their console, as the Wii is leaving everyone in the dust.

Here’s a robot done by some GarageGeeks guys that physically plays Guitar Hero. They call it Guitar Heronoid. With the help of some optical color sensors, a programmed “brain”, and some, uh, “extra” appendages (one hand with an extra finger for that elusive orange guitar button) it powers through the songs like a pron00b.

But this is a good thing, because moments after they conquer our video games, the robot armies will be setting us up for Matrix battery-mode.

Geomerics is a company dedicated to computer graphics and other algorithms. They have recently unveiled their Enlighten engine which coordinates several of their software/middleware advances to provide enhanced lighting in games. The foremost of these is their real-time radiosity, which serves to compute lighting, shadows, radiosity and others at run-time and on existing hardware.

According to their site, they use studies in geometric algebra ( a kind of multi-linear algebra) to come up with new and efficient algorithms to process real-time lighting and even physics calculations.

Recently, Geomerics announced that the Enlighten engine will be used to incorporate into games that are developed for the XBOX 360.

Here is a movie demonstrating some elements of Enlighten and what scenes look like without it:

Telltale Games is on-track to release a new Sam and Max game this fall. After much todo over at LucasArts involving the Sam and Max license and the dropping of the game Sam & Max Freelance Police.

There’s a trailer up on the main site that has the same personality and feel as the original game. It should; with the original designers behind the new title.

Here’s to reviving some old favorite characters that seemed lost in the abyss of forgotten licenses. While it won’t be as stupendous an event as when(if) Duke Nukem Forever is released, it will still be a great nostalgia trip.