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  • Invoking browser on steaming media URLs

    - by Maven
    I have a dirt simple little function that launches the blackberry browser on a streaming media file in order to launch the built in media player. Everything works fine but there is this annoying dialog every time from the browser asking me if I want to save or open the file. My answer is always "open" the file so is there a way I can make it default and not bring up the dialog each time? The code I'm using to launch the browser // Get the default sessionBrowserSession browserSession = Browser.getDefaultSession(); // now launch the URL browserSession.displayPage(url); This is on blackberry OS 5.0 Thanks!

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  • Oracle WebCenter @ OpenWorld 2012

    - by kellsey.ruppel
    This week, we want to focus on giving our blog readers a preview of Oracle WebCenter related events and activities happening at Oracle OpenWorld this year! Today's guest post comes from Jamie Rancourt, Senior Manager of Product Management for Oracle WebCenter. Are you registered to attend OpenWorld 2012 in San Francisco from September 30 – October 4?  If not, the conference details and registration information can be found at http://oracle.com/openworld!  Here’s a brief run down of the planned activities for Oracle WebCenter at this year’s event. WebCenter Sessions This year WebCenter will be featured in 36 sessions across the following tracks: Web Experience Management, Portals, Content Management and Social Network Middleware for Enterprise Applications Financial Management Oracle ADF and Fusion Application Development Applications Tools and Technology Applications Strategy Life Sciences Customer Relationship Management Oracle RightNow CX Cloud Service Siebel Applications SOA and Business Process Management Oracle Fusion Applications Oracle Commerce Retail Social Business Cloud Computing Here are a few of the sessions to wet your appetite: Oracle WebCenter Strategy: Engaging your Customers.  Empowering your Business Oracle WebCenter Sites Strategy & Vision Oracle WebCenter Content Strategy & Vision Oracle WebCenter Portal Strategy & Vision Oracle Social Network Strategy & Vision Develop a Mobile Strategy with Oracle WebCenter: Engage Customers, Employees, and Partners Oracle WebCenter’s Cloud Strategy: From Social and Platform Services to Mash-ups We also have 4 interactive customer panels planned for the event: Using Web Experience Management to Drive Online Marketing Success Land Mines, Potholes, and Dirt Roads: Navigating the Way to ECM Nirvana Becoming a Social Business: Stories from the Front Lines of Change Building Next-Generation Portals: An Interactive Customer Panel Discussion And there are many more sessions for you to attend to learn everything there is to know about Oracle WebCenter from our product experts and partners. Make sure to visit the Content Catalog for the complete session details Labs and Demos This year’s event also features 4 WebCenter hands on labs, each focusing on a different product area including Portal, Content, Sites and Social Network.  In addition to the labs, there will be 6 demos featuring Oracle WebCenter in both the Fusion Middleware and Cloud pavilions.  Make sure you stop by to see the latest demos and meet our knowledgeable product managers! And don't forget about the Oracle WebCenter Customer Appreciation Event, which is sponsored by our Partners and will take place on Tuesday, October 2nd at The Palace Hotel. Be sure to watch the blog for more information in the coming months with how to register! We look forward to seeing you at Oracle OpenWorld 2012!

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  • Which techniques to study?

    - by Djentleman
    Just to give you some background info, I'm studying a programming major at a tertiary level and am in my third year, so I'm not a newbie off the street. However, I am still quite new to game programming as a subset of programming. One of my personal projects for next semester is to design and create a 2D platformer game with emphasis on procedural generation and "neato" effects (think metroidvania). I've written up a list of some techniques to help me improve my personal skills (using XNA for the time being). The list is as follows: QuadTrees: Build a basic program in XNA that moves basic 2D sprites (circles and squares) around a set path and speed and changes their colour when they collide. Add functionality to add and delete objects of different sizes (select a direction and speed when adding and just drag and drop them in). Particles: Build a basic program in XNA in which you can select different colours and create particle effects of those colours on screen by clicking and dragging the mouse around (simple particles emerging from where the mouse is clicked). Add functionality where you can change the amount of particles to be drawn and the speed at which they travel and when they expire. Possibly implement gravity and wind after part 3 is complete. Physics: Build a basic program in XNA where you have a ball in a set 2D environment, a wind slider, and a gravity slider (can go to negative for reverse gravity). You can click to drag the ball around and release to throw it and, depending on what you do, the ball interacts with the environment. Implement other shapes afterwards. Random 2D terrain generation: Build a basic program in XNA that randomly generates terrain (including hills, caves, etc) created from 2D tiles. Add functionality that draws the tiles from a tileset and places different tiles depending on where they lie on the y-axis (dirt on top, then rock, then lava, etc). Randomised objects: Build a basic program in XNA that, when a button is clicked, displays a randomised item sprite based on parameters (type, colour, etc) with the images pulled from tilesets. Add the ability to save the item as an object, which stores it in a side-pane where it can be selected for viewing. Movement: Build a basic program in XNA where you can move an object around in an environment (tile-based) with a camera that pans with it. No gravity. Implement gravity and wind, allow the character to jump and fall with some basic platforms. So my question is this: Are there any other commonly used techniques that I should research, and can I get some suggestions as to the effectiveness of the techniques I've chosen to work on (e.g., don't do QuadTree stuff because [insert reason here], or, do [insert technique here] before you start working on particles because [insert reason here])? I hope this is clear enough and please let me know if I can further clarify anything!

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  • Friday Fun: Play Your Favorite 8-Bit NES Games Online

    - by Mysticgeek
    We finally made it to another Friday and once again we bring you some NES fun to waste the rest of the day before the weekend. Today we take a look at a site that contains a lot of classic NES games you can play online. vNES VirtualNES.com contains hundreds of vintage NES games you can play online. If you’re old enough to remember, when the NES came out, it breathed life back into home console gaming. Here we will take a look at a few of the games they offer that will certainly bring back memories. Super Mario Bros 3 which is a personal favorite from the 8-bit era.   Play Super Mario Bros 3 Excite Bike was one of the coolest dirt bike racing games at the time as it even allowed you to create your own tracks.   Play ExciteBike Of course The Legend of Zelda was one of the first fantasy games many an hour have been spent on. Play The Legend of Zelda We’d be remiss if we didn’t bring up Pac-man since the game recently celebrated it’s 30th anniversary. Play Pac-Man If you don’t like the default keyboard controls you can change them on the Options page. Join their forum and more…this site will definitely bring you back to the good old 8-bit NES days.   The site contains hundreds of different games for you to get on your old school NES fix. If you’re sick of waiting for the whistle to blow, this site will bring you back to the good old days when you had nothing to do but mash buttons all day. Play NES Games at virtualnes.com Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Friday Fun: Get Your Mario OnFriday Fun: Go Retro with PacmanFriday Fun: Five More Time Wasting Online GamesFriday Fun: Online Flash Games to Usher in the WeekendFriday Fun: Online Sports Flash Games 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 Awesome World Cup Soccer Calendar Nice Websites To Watch TV Shows Online 24 Million Sites Windows Media Player Glass Icons (icons we like) How to Forecast Weather, without Gadgets Outlook Tools, one stop tweaking for any Outlook version

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  • More Efficient Data Structure for Large Layered Tile Map

    - by Stupac
    It seems like the popular method is to break the map up into regions and load them as needed, my problem is that in my game there are many AI entities other than the player out performing actions in virtually all the regions of the map. Let's just say I have a 5000x5000 map, when I use a 2D array of byte's to render it my game uses around 17 MB of memory, as soon as I change that data structure to a my own defined MapCell class (which only contains a single field: byte terrain) my game's memory consumption rockets up to 400+ MB. I plan on adding layering, so an array of byte's won't cut it and I figure I'd need to add a List of some sort to the MapCell class to provide objects in the layers. I'm only rendering tiles that are on screen, but I need the rest of the map to be represented in memory since it is constantly used in Update. So my question is, how can I reduce the memory consumption of my map while still maintaining the above requirements? Thank you for your time! Here's a few snippets my C# code in XNA4: public static void LoadMapData() { // Test map generations int xSize = 5000; int ySize = 5000; MapCell[,] map = new MapCell[xSize,ySize]; //byte[,] map = new byte[xSize, ySize]; Terrain[] terrains = new Terrain[4]; terrains[0] = grass; terrains[1] = dirt; terrains[2] = rock; terrains[3] = water; Random random = new Random(); for(int x = 0; x < xSize; x++) { for(int y = 0; y < ySize; y++) { //map[x,y] = new MapCell(terrains[random.Next(4)]); map[x,y] = new MapCell((byte)random.Next(4)); //map[x, y] = (byte)random.Next(4); } } testMap = new TileMap(map, xSize, ySize); // End test map setup currentMap = testMap; } public class MapCell { //public TerrainType terrain; public byte terrain; public MapCell(byte itsTerrain) { terrain = itsTerrain; } // the type of terrain this cell is treated as /*public Terrain terrain { get; set; } public MapCell(Terrain itsTerrain) { terrain = itsTerrain; }*/ }

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  • Crash when using Cocos2d

    - by ipodfreak0313
    Sorry about the poor question title, it's just that this seems to big for a title. So here's the dirt: I am making a game (obviously) and I want the enemies to shoot (not necessarily at the player). I want the shoot method to be in the Enemies file, so as not to clutter up my HelloWorldLayer.m file even more. Here's what I'm using right now: HelloWorldLayer.m -(void)addEnemy:(BigAndStrongEnemy *)enemy { enemy = nil; if((arc4random() % 4) == 3) { enemy = [BigAndStrongEnemy enemy]; } else { enemy = [SmallAndFastEnemy enemy]; } if(buffDude.position.y > character.position.y || buffDude.position.y < (character.position.y + 10)) { } int rand = arc4random() % 320; if((arc4random() % 2 == 1)) { [enemy setPosition:ccp(0,rand)]; }else{ [enemy setPosition:ccp(480,rand)]; } [self animateEnemy:enemy]; [self addChild:enemy]; } -(void)animateEnemy:(BigAndStrongEnemy *)enemy2 { float randX = arc4random() % 480; float randY = arc4random() % 320; int rand = arc4random() % 320; CGPoint moveToPoint = CGPointMake(randX, (randY - rand)); [enemies addObject:enemy2]; action = [CCSequence actions: [CCMoveBy actionWithDuration:1 position:ccpMult(ccpNormalize(ccpSub(moveToPoint, enemy2.position)), 75)], [CCMoveBy actionWithDuration:3 position:ccp(buffDude.position.x,buffDude.position.y)], nil]; CCCallFuncO *a = [CCCallFuncO actionWithTarget:self selector:(@selector(shoot:)) object:enemy2]; CCSequence *s = [CCSequence actions:action,a, nil]; CCRepeatForever *repeat = [CCRepeatForever actionWithAction:s]; [enemy2 runAction:repeat]; } And here's the Shoot info from the Enemies class: Enemies.m: -(void)shoot:(id)sender { self = (BigAndStrongEnemy *)sender; [self shoot]; } -(void)spriteMoveFinished:(id)sender { CCSprite *b = (CCSprite *)sender; [self removeChild:b cleanup:YES]; } -(void)shoot { self = [CCSprite spriteWithFile:@"bigAndStrongEnemy.gif"]; CCSprite *b = [CCSprite spriteWithFile:@"bullet.gif"]; b.position = ccp(self.position.x,self.position.y); b.tag = 2; [self addChild:b]; [bullets addObject:b]; CGSize winSize = [[CCDirector sharedDirector] winSize]; CGPoint point = CGPointMake((winSize.width - (winSize.width - self.position.x)),0); [b runAction:[CCSequence actions: [CCMoveBy actionWithDuration:0.5 position:point], [CCCallFuncN actionWithTarget:self selector:@selector(spriteMoveFinished:)], nil]]; } Every time the 3 seconds goes by, the app crashes, and goes to the breakpoint in the CCCallFuncO file. I haven't touched it, is the thing. I am completely confused. Any help is greatly appreciated.

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  • Windows file locks allowing multiple users to write to open file over network

    - by JPbuntu
    I have 6 windows computers (xp,vista,7) that need to access a samba share (Ubuntu 12.04). I am trying to make it so only one client can open a file at a given time. I thought this was pretty standard behavior of file locks, but I can't get it to work. The way it is right now a file can be open by two users, and changed and saved by either one of them. The last file saved overwrites what ever changes the other user made. At first I thought this was a Samba configuration problem, but I get this behavior even between two windows machines. So far I have only tested: Windows Xp Windows Vista Windows XP Samba << Windows Vista and both give the same behavior. When I tested the Samba configuration, I had set strict locking = yes and get errors logged like this: close_remove_share_mode: Could not get share mode lock for file _prod/part_number_list_COPY.xlsx Eventually all of the files are going to be moved onto the Samba share, so that is the configuration I am most concerned about fixing. Any ideas? Thanks in advance. EDIT: I tested an excel file again, and it is now working properly in both above mentioned cases, I am also no longer getting the above mentioned error. I don't know what happened, perhaps a restart fixed it? (also works with strict locking = no) Although I still need to find a solution for the CAD/CAM files we use, the software is Vector and it does not seem to be using file locks. Is there any software that I can use to manage these files, so two people can't open/edit them at a time? Maybe a windows application that forces file locks? Or a dirt simple version control system? (the only ones I have seen at are too complicated for our needs).

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  • Using my old PC as a web/file server?

    - by Garrett
    I have an old desktop computer that I've been trying to sell for AGES. I guess nobody is looking for computers because it was advertised at a dirt cheap price on craigslist, local papers, etc. Anyways, I was wondering if it would be worth it to set it up as a home file server, a web dev server (I have a web host for actual production use), and maybe host a few server applications (ex: ventrillo). The computer is actually an old Dell that I cannibalized after the motherboard being destroyed by lightning, so it has fairly new parts in it. The specs are: P4 3.4GHz w/ HT and Artic Cooling Freezer 7 3GB DDR2 533 RAM 80GB hdd (will upgrade the hard drive if it's even worth using as a server) basic dvd rom 430 Watt Thermaltake PSU (it might be important to note that it is only 60% efficiency) ATI Radeon x600 256MB Antec 300 case It's not a really beefy machine, I just can't see giving it away or putting it in the corner to just collect dust. I have Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard and I am confident in my skills in operating most Linux operating systems. I'd also be using it to tinker with when I learn new things in my server admin classes (I'm finishing my 2nd year in college at the moment so I'm still learning) Also, my house is quite old and the electrical wiring is pretty poor (it MIGHT be up to code, then again, where I live most people don't even know what regulations are or let alone know how to spell it...) Would it be safe to leave it running all day and is it going to run up my electric bill because of the PSU efficiency? I only have 5mbit cable internet, but I won't be running very bandwidth intense services on it so it should be ok. I should elaborate on why I am concerned about the power. The circuits should be fine, but I'm more concerned about fire hazard. What is the likelihood that the server could cause an electrical fire? Again, thank you all for the feedback!

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  • Whats the best cloud backup solution for a small scale server envoirnment?

    - by nbv4
    I have a server that runs a postgres database that contains about 200MB of data. Currently I have a cron job setup on my home computer which: ssh's into my server runs a remote script which makes a backup of the database scp's that dump over to my local hard drive for storage. Each dump is 20MiB. does this every six hours (one months of backups is roughly 2GiB) The problem with this setup is that if my local machine goes down for whatever reason, no backups will be made. Also, I can't have the cron run from the server, because I can't have it scp'd to my local machine from my server (firewalls and all that crap). My local machine is running Ubuntu 10.04, and my server is Ubuntu 9.10 server edition. I looked into Ubuntu One, but currently it's gui-only. I also looked into dropbox, but it's a pain in the ass to get setup in linux without gui support. Amazon S3 looks good but it's not free (yet dirt cheap). Is there any other alternative that I should look into? I'd prefer something where I can just have my script dump the database into a directory, and have the backup service 'watch' that folder and sync accordingly. I can maybe also have my local machine sync to the cloud backup so I have even more redundancy, plus easy access to my backups for use in testing.

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  • Whats the best cloud backup solution for a small scale server environment?

    - by nbv4
    I have a server that runs a postgres database that contains about 200MB of data. Currently I have a cron job setup on my home computer which: ssh's into my server runs a remote script which makes a backup of the database scp's that dump over to my local hard drive for storage. Each dump is 20MiB. does this every six hours (one months of backups is roughly 2GiB) The problem with this setup is that if my local machine goes down for whatever reason, no backups will be made. Also, I can't have the cron run from the server, because I can't have it scp'd to my local machine from my server (firewalls and all that crap). My local machine is running Ubuntu 10.04, and my server is Ubuntu 9.10 server edition. I looked into Ubuntu One, but currently it's gui-only. I also looked into dropbox, but it's a pain in the ass to get setup in linux without gui support. Amazon S3 looks good but it's not free (yet dirt cheap). Is there any other alternative that I should look into? I'd prefer something where I can just have my script dump the database into a directory, and have the backup service 'watch' that folder and sync accordingly. I can maybe also have my local machine sync to the cloud backup so I have even more redundancy, plus easy access to my backups for use in testing. Edit: My server is a VPS, so what solution I end up using has to be 100% software based.

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  • Thread safe double buffering

    - by kdavis8
    I am trying to implement a draw map method that will draw the tiled image across the surface of the component. I'm having issue with this code. The double buffering does not seem to be working, because the sprite flickers like crazy; my source code: package myPackage; import java.awt.Color; import java.awt.Graphics; import java.awt.Graphics2D; import java.awt.Image; import java.awt.Toolkit; import java.awt.image.BufferStrategy; import java.awt.image.BufferedImage; import javax.swing.JFrame; public class GameView extends JFrame implements Runnable { public BufferedImage backbuffer; public Graphics2D g2d; public Image img; Thread gameloop; Scene scene; public GameView() { super("Game View"); setSize(600, 600); setVisible(true); setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); backbuffer = new BufferedImage(getWidth(), getHeight(), BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB); g2d = backbuffer.createGraphics(); Toolkit tk = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit(); img = tk.getImage(this.getClass().getResource("cage.png")); scene = new Scene(g2d, this); gameloop = new Thread(this); gameloop.start(); } public static void main(String args[]) { new GameView(); } public void paint(Graphics g) { g.drawImage(backbuffer, 0, 0, this); repaint(); } @Override public void run() { // TODO Auto-generated method stub Thread t = Thread.currentThread(); while (t == gameloop) { scene.getScene("dirtmap"); g2d.drawImage(img, 80, 80,this![enter image description here][1]); } } private void drawScene(String string) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub // g2d.setColor(Color.white); // g2d.fillRect(0, 0, getWidth(), getHeight()); scene.getScene(string); } } package myPackage; import java.awt.Color; import java.awt.Component; import java.awt.Graphics; import java.awt.Graphics2D; import java.awt.Image; import java.awt.Toolkit; public class Scene { Graphics g2d; Component c; boolean loaded = false; public Scene(Graphics2D gr, Component co) { g2d = gr; c = co; } public void getScene(String mapName) { Toolkit tk = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit(); Image tile = tk.getImage(this.getClass().getResource("dirt.png")); // g2d.setColor(Color.red); for (int y = 0; y <= 18; y++) { for (int x = 0; x <= 18; x += 1) { g2d.drawImage(tile, x * 32, y * 32, c); } } loaded = true; } }

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  • Free hosting solution for a very low-traffic website [duplicate]

    - by user966939
    This question already has an answer here: How to find web hosting that meets my requirements? 4 answers I run a very low-traffic website (about 40 users, basically all of which are daily active on the site). I don't see it changing anytime soon either, as there is no way to sign up on the site right now. Until now I have just been using a sub-directory on a friend's host (shared), to host the web site. But in only a few weeks from now, his subscription will end, and he has no plans on renewing it. So of course this means I'll have to move on to something else. But I don't think I'll find someone who'd be willing to share a... shared host with me again. And besides, the software used on that server is ancient (PHP 4.4.9 + MySQL 4.1.22). There's one obvious solution that comes to mind, I guess: choose a better host and pay for it myself. The problem here is that I have no real fixed income, as I'm only a student. So even if the pricing is dirt cheap, I just can't be certain I will be able to afford it, every single month, for... at least 2 years maybe? So I've looked at free hosting solutions instead. The least requirement I had was that it was completely free of ads. But no matter where I look, I always find something in a corner or two ("what can you expect from a free host?" - yeah I know, but I guess it was worth a shot). For example, on Byethost (one of the free hosts I tried), if you trigger a PHP error while error reporting is set to E_ALL, you will spawn some hidden ad... Besides Byethost, I've tried 000Webhost, x10Hosting, 2Freehosting/1Freehosting, Wink.ws, and they are only worse. Okay, I'm running low on ideas. But! What if I just hosted the site myself, on my own computer? That could work. I actually do have my computer on practically 24/7. But not really. Sometimes I need to reboot it, and sometimes we even have power outages. And what if the hardware needs an upgrade? It's not such a big deal for me if the site went down, because I know what's going on; but what about the users? If I do decide to host it myself, is there some way to show users an alternate page instead of them just seeing a generic "server not found" page in the browser when the site is not accessible? Or is there something I have been missing out on? Is there a different kind of "web hosting" solution out there that I haven't heard of? Here is what I'm really looking for: Free (as in, no costs) NO ads Bandwidth enough for a low-traffic forum with roughly 40 users (Semi-)Up-to-date PHP and MySQL (at least not older than a year) No standard (non-extension) PHP functions turned off - such as sleep() The mbstring extension is enabled Disk space: at least 5 MB At least one MySQL database Some bonus points would be: Max execution time of PHP scripts can be set Remote access to MySQL database What would be the best solution for me? Is there one?

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  • How can I have multiple layers in my map array?

    - by Manl400
    How do I load Levels in my game, as in Layer 1 would be Objects, Layer 2 would be Characters and so on. I only need 3 layers, and they will all be put on top of each other. i.e having a flower with a transparent background to be put on grass or dirt on the layer below.I would like to Read From the same file too. How would i go about doing this? Any help would be appreciated. I load the map from a level file which are just numbers corresponding to a tile in the tilesheet. Here is the level file [Layer1] 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 [Layer2] 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 [Layer3] 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 And here is the code that interprets it void LoadMap(const char *filename, std::vector< std::vector <int> > &map) { std::ifstream openfile(filename); if(openfile.is_open()) { std::string line, value; int space; while(!openfile.eof()) { std::getline(openfile, line); if(line.find("[TileSet]") != std::string::npos) { state = TileSet; continue; } else if (line.find("[Layer1]") != std::string::npos) { state = Map; continue; } switch(state) { case TileSet: if(line.length() > 0) tileSet = al_load_bitmap(line.c_str()); break; case Map: std::stringstream str(line); std::vector<int> tempVector; while(!str.eof()) { std::getline(str, value, ' '); if(value.length() > 0) tempVector.push_back(atoi(value.c_str())); } map.push_back(tempVector); break; } } } else { } } and this is how it draws the map. Also the tile sheet is 1280 by 1280 and the tilesizeX and tilesizeY is 64 void DrawMap(std::vector <std::vector <int> > map) { int mapRowCount = map.size(); for(int i, j = 0; i < mapRowCount; i ++) { int mapColCount = map[i].size(); for (int j = 0; j < mapColCount; ++j) { int tilesetIndex = map[i][j]; int tilesetRow = floor(tilesetIndex / TILESET_COLCOUNT); int tilesetCol = tilesetIndex % TILESET_COLCOUNT; al_draw_bitmap_region(tileSet, tilesetCol * TileSizeX, tilesetRow * TileSizeY, TileSizeX, TileSizeY, j * TileSizeX, i * TileSizeX, NULL); } } } EDIT: http://i.imgur.com/Ygu0zRE.jpg

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  • AntFarm anti-pattern -- strategies to avoid, antidotes to help heal from

    - by alchemical
    I'm working on a 10 page web site with a database back-end. There are 500+ objects in use, trying to implement the MVP pattern in ASP.Net. I'm tracing the code-execution from a single-page, my finger has been on F-11 in Visual Studio for about 40 minutes, there seems to be no end, possibly 1000+ method calls for one web page! If it was just 50 objects that would be one thing, however, code execution snakes through all these objects just like millions of ants frantically woring in their giant dirt mound house, riddled with object tunnels. Hence, a new anti-pattern is born : AntFarm. AntFarm is also known as "OO-Madnes", "OO-Fever", OO-ADD, or simply design-pattern junkie. This is not the first time I've seen this, nor my associates at other companies. It seems that this style is being actively propogated, or in any case is a misunderstanding of the numerous OO/DP gospels going around... I'd like to introduce an anti-pattern to the anti-pattern: GST or "Get Stuff Done" AKA "Get Sh** done" AKA GRD (GetRDone). This pattern focused on just what it says, getting stuff done, in a simple way. I may try to outline it more in a later post, or please share your ideas on this antidote pattern. Anyway, I'm in the midst of a great example of AntFarm anti-pattern as I write (as a bonus, there is no documentation or comments). Please share you thoughts on how this anti-pattern has become so prevelant, how we can avoid it, and how can one undo or deal with this pattern in a live system one must work with!

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  • MySQL FULLTEXT not working

    - by Ross
    I'm attempting to add searching support for my PHP web app using MySQL's FULLTEXT indexes. I created a test table (using the MyISAM type, with a single text field a) and entered some sample data. Now if I'm right the following query should return both those rows: SELECT * FROM test WHERE MATCH(a) AGAINST('databases') However it returns none. I've done a bit of research and I'm doing everything right as far as I can tell - the table is a MyISAM table, the FULLTEXT indexes are set. I've tried running the query from the prompt and from phpMyAdmin, with no luck. Am I missing something crucial? UPDATE: Ok, while Cody's solution worked in my test case it doesn't seem to work on my actual table: CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `uploads` ( `id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT, `name` text NOT NULL, `size` int(11) NOT NULL, `type` text NOT NULL, `alias` text NOT NULL, `md5sum` text NOT NULL, `uploaded` datetime NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (`id`) ) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=6 ; And the data I'm using: INSERT INTO `uploads` (`id`, `name`, `size`, `type`, `alias`, `md5sum`, `uploaded`) VALUES (1, '04 Sickman.mp3', 5261182, 'audio/mp3', '1', 'df2eb6a360fbfa8e0c9893aadc2289de', '2009-07-14 16:08:02'), (2, '07 Dirt.mp3', 5056435, 'audio/mp3', '2', 'edcb873a75c94b5d0368681e4bd9ca41', '2009-07-14 16:08:08'), (3, 'header_bg2.png', 16765, 'image/png', '3', '5bc5cb5c45c7fa329dc881a8476a2af6', '2009-07-14 16:08:30'), (4, 'page_top_right2.png', 5299, 'image/png', '4', '53ea39f826b7c7aeba11060c0d8f4e81', '2009-07-14 16:08:37'), (5, 'todo.txt', 392, 'text/plain', '5', '7ee46db77d1b98b145c9a95444d8dc67', '2009-07-14 16:08:46'); The query I'm now running is: SELECT * FROM `uploads` WHERE MATCH(name) AGAINST ('header' IN BOOLEAN MODE) Which should return row 3, header_bg2.png. Instead I get another empty result set. My options for boolean searching are below: mysql> show variables like 'ft_%'; +--------------------------+----------------+ | Variable_name | Value | +--------------------------+----------------+ | ft_boolean_syntax | + -><()~*:""&| | | ft_max_word_len | 84 | | ft_min_word_len | 4 | | ft_query_expansion_limit | 20 | | ft_stopword_file | (built-in) | +--------------------------+----------------+ 5 rows in set (0.02 sec) "header" is within the word length restrictions and I doubt it's a stop word (I'm not sure how to get the list). Any ideas?

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  • Problem using structured data with sproxy-generated proxy c++ class

    - by Odrade
    I am attempting to communicate structured data types between a Visual C++ client application and an ASP.NET web service. I'm am having issues whenever any parameter or return type is not a basic type (e.g. string, int, float, etc). To illustrate the issue, I created the following ASP.NET web service: namespace TestWebService { [WebService(Namespace = "http://localhost/TestWebService")] [WebServiceBinding(ConformsTo = WsiProfiles.BasicProfile1_1)] [ToolboxItem(false)] public class Service1 : System.Web.Services.WebService { [WebMethod] public TestData StructuredOutput() { TestData td = new TestData(); td.data = 1729; return td; } } public class TestData { public int data; } } To consume the service, I created a dirt-simple Visual C++ client in VS2005. I added a web reference to the project, which caused sproxy to generate a proxy class for me. With the generated header properly included, I attempted to invoke the service like this: int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[]) { CoInitialize(NULL); Service1::CService1 ws; Service1::TestData td; HRESULT hr = ws.StructuredOutput(&td); //data is returned as expected CoUninitialize(); return 0; } // crashes here with access violation The call to StructuredOutput returns the data as expected, but an access violation occurs on destruction of the CService1 object. The access violation is occurring here (from atlsoap.h): void UninitializeSOAP() { if (m_spReader.p != NULL) { m_spReader->putContentHandler(NULL); //access violation m_spReader.Release(); } } I see the same behavior when using a TestData object as an input parameter, or when using any other structured data types as input or output. When I use basic types for input/output from the web service I do not experience these errors. Any ideas about why this might be happening? Is sproxy screwing something up, or am I? NOTE: I'm aware of gSOAP and the wsdl2h tool, but those aren't freely available for commercial use (and nobody here is going to buy a license). I am open to alternatives for generating the c++ proxy, as long as they are free for commercial use.

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  • Issue with transparent texture on 3D primitive, XNA 4.0

    - by Bevin
    I need to draw a large set of cubes, all with (possibly) unique textures on each side. Some of the textures also have parts of transparency. The cubes that are behind ones with transparent textures should show through the transparent texture. However, it seems that the order in which I draw the cubes decides if the transparency works or not, which is something I want to avoid. Look here: cubeEffect.CurrentTechnique = cubeEffect.Techniques["Textured"]; Block[] cubes = new Block[4]; cubes[0] = new Block(BlockType.leaves, new Vector3(0, 0, 3)); cubes[1] = new Block(BlockType.dirt, new Vector3(0, 1, 3)); cubes[2] = new Block(BlockType.log, new Vector3(0, 0, 4)); cubes[3] = new Block(BlockType.gold, new Vector3(0, 1, 4)); foreach(Block b in cubes) { b.shape.RenderShape(GraphicsDevice, cubeEffect); } This is the code in the Draw method. It produces this result: As you can see, the textures behind the leaf cube are not visible on the other side. When i reverse index 3 and 0 on in the array, I get this: It is clear that the order of drawing is affecting the cubes. I suspect it may have to do with the blend mode, but I have no idea where to start with that.

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  • Compact data structure for storing a large set of integral values

    - by Odrade
    I'm working on an application that needs to pass around large sets of Int32 values. The sets are expected to contain ~1,000,000-50,000,000 items, where each item is a database key in the range 0-50,000,000. I expect distribution of ids in any given set to be effectively random over this range. The operations I need on the set are dirt simple: Add a new value Iterate over all of the values. There is a serious concern about the memory usage of these sets, so I'm looking for a data structure that can store the ids more efficiently than a simple List<int>or HashSet<int>. I've looked at BitArray, but that can be wasteful depending on how sparse the ids are. I've also considered a bitwise trie, but I'm unsure how to calculate the space efficiency of that solution for the expected data. A Bloom Filter would be great, if only I could tolerate the false negatives. I would appreciate any suggestions of data structures suitable for this purpose. I'm interested in both out-of-the-box and custom solutions. EDIT: To answer your questions: No, the items don't need to be sorted By "pass around" I mean both pass between methods and serialize and send over the wire. I clearly should have mentioned this. There could be a decent number of these sets in memory at once (~100).

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  • how to make it easy for users to register at my site?

    - by rob
    I want to make it dirt simple for users coming to my site to register so they can post comments, vote on things, etc. I would like for them to be able to use their facebook id, twitter id, yahoo mail id, gmail id, AIM id, msn id, or whatever else people are likely to have (not necessarily all of those, but the more the better). I want my mom to be able to do it in 30 seconds or less. (that is, no "enter your open id url here" type thing that would confuse her). I prefer they not have to pick a unique name, as that gets annoying as the site gets more users and it gets hard to find one that is unique. What is the best option here? I'm not quite sure about OpenId vs. OAuth, and whether there are other options. And I'd like it to be as simple for me, the developer, as possible (of course!). I don't want to spend forever learning some protocol, nor have to structure my whole app around this. It would be great if there was a site with sample code that is pretty easy to drop in. BTW, StackOverflow is a good example of a site that was easy for me to register for.

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  • ASP.NET problem - Firebug shows odd behaviour

    - by Brandi
    I have an ASP.NET application that does a large database read. It loads up a gridview inside an update panel. In VS2008, just running on my local machine, it runs fantastically. In production (identical code, just published and put on one of our network servers), it runs slow as dirt. Debug is set to false, so this is not the cause of the slow down. I'm not an experienced web developer, so besides that, feel free to suggest the obvious. I have been using Firebug to determine what's going on, and here is what that has turned up: On production, there are around 500 requests. The timeline bar is very short. The size column varies from run to run, but is always the same for the duration of the run. Locally, there are about 30 requests. The timeline bar takes up the entire space. Can anyone shed some light on why this is happening and what I can do to fix it? Also, I can't find much of anything on the web about this, so any references are helpful too.

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  • glFog causing transparent png to lose transparency

    - by Jamesz
    Without glFog, my transparent png displays fine, but with it you can see the rectanglular background and strips of other colours (notice the other dirt material is working as intended, but not using a png or transparency). Here's my code for the fog: GLfloat colour[4]={0.8f,0.8f,1.0f, 1.0f}; glFogi(GL_FOG_MODE, GL_EXP); glFogfv(GL_FOG_COLOR, colour); glFogf(GL_FOG_DENSITY, 0.1); glHint(GL_FOG_HINT, GL_NICEST); glFogf(GL_FOG_START, 1.0); glFogf(GL_FOG_END, 5.0); glEnable(GL_FOG); glClearColor(0.8f,0.8f,1.0f,1.0f); And my code for the png: glEnable(GL_BLEND); glBlendFunc(GL_SRC_ALPHA, GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA); GLfloat myAmbient[] = {0.7,0.7,0.7,1.0}; glMaterialfv(GL_FRONT, GL_AMBIENT, myAmbient); glEnable(GL_TEXTURE_2D); glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, plantTexture); glColor3f(0.5,0.5,0.2); glPushMatrix(); glTranslated(-1,-14,10); glScaled(10,10,10); glBegin(GL_QUADS); glNormal3f(0,0,1); glTexCoord2f(0,1); glVertex2i(1,0); glNormal3f(0,0,1); glTexCoord2f(0,0); glVertex2i(1,1); glNormal3f(0,0,1); glTexCoord2f(1,0); glVertex2i(0,1); glNormal3f(0,0,1); glTexCoord2f(1,1); glVertex2i(0,0); glEnd(); glPopMatrix(); glDisable(GL_TEXTURE_2D); glDisable(GL_BLEND); I'm completely lost on this one. Any ideas?

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  • Model M Keyboard inputs incorrect characters after logging in to Fedora

    - by mickburkejnr
    I recently bought a 24 year old IBM Model M keyboard. From what I gather, it'd been left on a shelf for the last 5 years, so you can imagine the amount of dust dirt and crap that was on it. Before cleaning it, I plugged it in to my laptop (running Fedora 17) using a PS/2 to USB adapter. What I found was, while it still works, the keys I press don't correspond to what is displayed on the screen. So for example, when I type S on the keyboard, I get ß display on the screen instead. At the time, I put this down to the adapter not working properly. Since then, I stripped the keys off the keyboard and cleaned the whole thing. It looks like it's just come out of a box! I then plugged it in to my computer (also running Fedora 17) via a standard PS/2 plug. The computer loaded up to the login screen, and I typed in my password. Pressed enter, and I logged straight in to my machine. At this point, I opened up a text editor and started typing some stuff. To my horror, the keystrokes I was entering weren't coming up as intended. What came up instead were characters that would map to the pressed key but only under a different keyboard language setting. I opened up a program to see what keyboard language had been selected, and the correct one for the keyboard was selected (which is UK in my case). I opened up a window that would show what characters mapped to what keys, and I pressed every single key on the keyboard, and every corresponding block representing each key lit up. I went back to the text editor to try again, but I was still getting these random characters. Whats more is that the backspace key would not work, although in the other utility it would flash when pressed. What I know is that at the login screen the keyboard must have entered the correct characters, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to log in. Further more, keys that don't respond while using a text editor as sending signals to the computer, as illustrated in that keyboard utility. The question is why random characters are displayed when they really shouldn't be? Would this be a hardware fault or a software issue?

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  • Oracle OpenWorld Preview: Real World Perspectives from Oracle WebCenter Customers

    - by Christie Flanagan
    Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} If you frequent the Oracle WebCenter blog you’ve probably read a lot about the customer experience revolution over the last few months.  An important aspect of the customer experience revolution is the increasing role that peers play in influencing how others perceive a product, brand or solution, simply by sharing their own, real-world experiences.  Think about it, who do you trust more -- marketers and sales people pitching polished messages or peers with similar roles and similar challenges to the ones you face in your business every day? With this spirit in mind, this polished marketer personally invites you to hear directly from Oracle WebCenter customers about their real-life experiences during our customer panel sessions at Oracle OpenWorld next week.  If you’re currently using WebCenter, thinking about it, or just want to find out more about best practices in social business, next-generation portals, enterprise content management or web experience management, be sure to attend these sessions: CON8899 - Becoming a Social Business: Stories from the Front Lines of Change Wednesday, Oct 3, 11:45 AM - 12:45 PM - Moscone West - 3000Priscilla Hancock - Vice President/CIO, University of Louisville Kellie Christensen - Director of Information Technology, Banner EngineeringWhat does it really mean to be a social business? How can you change your organization to embrace social approaches? What pitfalls do you need to avoid? In this lively panel discussion, customer and industry thought leaders in social business explore these topics and more as they share their stories of the good, the bad, and the ugly that can happen when embracing social methods and technologies to improve business success. Using moderated questions and open Q&A from the audience, the panel discusses vital topics such as the critical factors for success, the major issues to avoid, how to gain senior executive support for social efforts, how to handle undesired behavior, and how to measure business impact. This session will take a thought-provoking look at becoming a social business from the inside. CON8900 - Building Next-Generation Portals: An Interactive Customer Panel DiscussionWednesday, Oct 3, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM - Moscone West - 3000Roberts Wayne - Director, IT, Canadian Partnership Against CancerMike Beattie - VP Application Development, Aramark Uniform ServicesJohn Chen - Utilities Services Manager 6, Los Angeles Department of Water & PowerJörg Modlmayr - Head of Product Managment, Siemens AGSocial and collaborative technologies have changed how people interact, learn, and collaborate, and providing a modern, social Web presence is imperative to remain competitive in today’s market. Can your business benefit from a more collaborative and interactive portal environment for employees, customers, and partners? Attend this session to hear from Oracle WebCenter Portal customers as they share their strategies and best practices for providing users with a modern experience that adapts to their needs and includes personalized access to content in context. The panel also addresses how customers have benefited from creating next-generation portals by migrating from older portal technologies to Oracle WebCenter Portal. CON8898 - Land Mines, Potholes, and Dirt Roads: Navigating the Way to ECM NirvanaThursday, Oct 4, 12:45 PM - 1:45 PM - Moscone West - 3001Stephen Madsen - Senior Management Consultant, Alberta Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentHimanshu Parikh - Sr. Director, Enterprise Architecture & Middleware, Ross Stores, Inc.Ten years ago, people were predicting that by this time in history, we’d be some kind of utopian paperless society. As we all know, we're not there yet, but are we getting closer? What is keeping companies from driving down the road to enterprise content management bliss? Most people understand that using ECM as a central platform enables organizations to expedite document-centric processes, but most business processes in organizations are still heavily paper-based. Many of these processes could be automated and improved with an ECM platform infrastructure. In this panel discussion, you’ll hear from Oracle WebCenter customers that have already solved some of these challenges as they share their strategies for success and roads to avoid along your journey. CON8897 - Using Web Experience Management to Drive Online Marketing SuccessThursday, Oct 4, 2:15 PM - 3:15 PM - Moscone West - 3001Blane Nelson - Chief Architect, Ancestry.comMike Remedios - CIO, ArbonneCaitlin Scanlon - Product Manager, Monster WorldwideEvery year, the online channel becomes more imperative for driving organizational top-line revenue, but for many companies, mastering how to best market their products and services in a fast-evolving online world with high customer expectations for personalized experiences can be a complex proposition. Come to this panel discussion, and hear directly from customers on how they are succeeding today by using Web experience management to drive marketing success, using capabilities such as targeting and optimization, user-generated content, mobile site publishing, and site visitor personalization to deliver engaging online experiences. Your Handy Guide to WebCenter at Oracle OpenWorld Want a quick and easy guide to all the keynotes, demos, hands-on labs and WebCenter sessions you definitely don't want to miss at Oracle OpenWorld? Download this handy guide, Focus on WebCenter. More helpful links: * Oracle OpenWorld* Oracle Customer Experience Summit @ OpenWorld* Oracle OpenWorld on Facebook * Oracle OpenWorld on Twitter* Oracle OpenWorld on LinkedIn* Oracle OpenWorld Blog

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  • Is it Hard to Write a Blog?

    - by Joe Mayo
    Responding to a tweet I received, asking if I found it hard to write a blog and keep it interesting. This is one of the situations where a 140 character response doesn’t do a question justice. There’s a lot to think about between the subjects of writing, subject matter, and entertainment.  Here’s my take on each of these three topics: There’s all types of writing you can do with various degrees of difficulty. If you’re writing a book and you have a gazillion editors bleeding over your every utterance, then the task becomes harder because you’re second-guessing yourself, not knowing whose opinion will be violated. However, if you’re communicating in a public forum, not too many people care about the grammar as much as whether what you have to say is correct.  For a blog, I would say it’s somewhere in-between.  Right now, I’m using Windows Live Writer, which gives me a few advantages to just typing into the blog editor, such as spelling correction and the ability to save my work and resume later.  Overall, writing is one of those things that you just need to get used to.  It’s an essential skill for developers because you need to document your work, depending on what your definition of proper documentation is, and communicate with other developers via various communications mediums. Not begin good (or not thinking that you’re good) shouldn’t hold you back.  Like most things in life, practice will improve your skill.  So, push away that inner voice that keeps you from moving forward and just do it. A good grasp on the subject matter you’re writing about helps.  However, don’t let a lack of knowledge stop you from writing about something. I recall reading something a while back by a developer who didn’t know a technology but wrote about their experience in learning it. They ended up learning more by expressing their thoughts in writing. If you look around out many blogs today, there are many items written by developers learning what they’re writing about.  So, whether you are sure or unsure, you can still write – just be honest with yourself and your readers about what you’re writing. Also, don’t be afraid to have a different opinion or worry if someone will disagree.  I’ll freely admit that it took a while for me to become accustomed to being criticized. Take the good with the bad and use the bad to make yourself better. Guaranteed, someone will disagree with one or more parts of what I’ve written here or think they have a better approach. No problem, more power to them, and whatever constructive comments they have will be a benefit to me in the future; Otherwise, to h*ll with them. :)  Every time you get knocked down, get right back up, dust the dirt off your backside, and keep moving forward.  You’ll learn in time how to align a subject with your own presentation of the material. Entertainment could be hard or could be natural, depending on the personality of yourself and your target audience. It’s even more challenging because you can say something you think is funny and someone will be offended. In fact, there are a lot of things that you shouldn’t say in the name of a joke, but I won’t mention any of them here for want of not offending anyone. Of course, I probably offended someone by saying that and there is probably an organization somewhere in the world out to get me now. I’m probably not the best person to be giving you advice on entertaining an audience.  I mean, every time I try to tell a joke on Twitter 10 people unfriend me. Okay, maybe 15, but you get my point. One thing you might be interested in knowing is that it’s not too hard for one technical person to entertain other technical people, especially when the subject is of interest.  It’s the excitement in each sentence and passion in each paragraph that will keep another developer entertained and interested in what you have to say. Not everyone will like what you’ve written, but the important part is to find your own voice and it’s likely that there is one person in some corner of the world that likes what you have to say, even if it’s your mom and she doesn’t understand a single word you write. :)   If I could leave you with one final thought; Just do it and don’t let anyone or anything hold you back.   Joe

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  • How to Save Hundreds or Thousands of Dollars on Cell Phone Service

    - by Chris Hoffman
    Cell phone contracts are bad. You get a seemingly cheap phone up front, but you more than pay for the cost of the phone over two years. Prepaid phone plans are surging in North America for a reason. Prepaid phone plans will be cheaper and more flexible than traditional contracts with big carriers for many people. However much you use your phone, there’s a good chance you can save money with a prepaid service. No More Contracts Here’s how cell phone service typically works in North America: You get a subsidized phone for “free”, $99, or $199. You sign up for a two-year contract and more than pay back the cost of that phone over the length of the contract. This is similar to leasing something or purchasing it on a credit card and paying it back over two years — you spend less up front, but you’re paying more in the long run. But this isn’t the only option. You could opt for a cheaper prepaid service that doesn’t lock you into a contract. If you don’t use your phone much, you could just pay for what you use and avoid the hefty cell phone bills. If you use your phone a lot, you could get a cheaper plan, too. Now, this certainly isn’t for everyone. If you want the latest iPhone or Galaxy smartphone every two years and require a 4G data connection, prepaid services may not be for you. On the other hand, if you don’t need the latest phone, you can save money here. You can also save a huge amount of money if you don’t use your phone much. Phone Options When you choose your prepaid or contract-free service, you’ll often be able to purchase a phone from them. You’ll generally be able to find dirt-cheap dumbphones and the cheapest, slowest Android phones for not very much money. If you are able to buy a top-of-the-line smartphone, you’ll have to pay the full, unsubsidized price. That’s $649 for either an iPhone 5S or Samsung Galaxy S4. Whatever phones the service provider offers, you could always buy a phone elsewhere — for example, you could buy an unsubsidized iPhone direct from Apple and then take it to your cell phone service of choice. Most services will allow you to get a SIM card and pop it into your existing phone rather than purchasing a phone. If you can get a hand-me-down smartphone, you can often save quite a bit of money. For example, you may have a family member upgrading from an iPhone 4S to an iPhone 5S. You could take their phone to a prepaid carrier and have a nicer phone on a cheap cell phone plan. If you brought an old smartphone to a big carrier like AT&T or Verizon, they wouldn’t give you a discount on your monthly plan. You’d have to pay the same amount of money every month as if you had gotten a subsidized phone. Google’s Nexus phones are also great options for people looking to buy smartphones and pay up-front. Google’s Nexus 4 offered a modern, almost top-of-the-line Android smartphone experience at $299 or $349 when it came out last year. Google will soon be releasing the Nexus 5 and it’s expected to be priced at $349. That’s certainly a lot more than a cheap phone, but it’s a fairly high-end smartphone at almost half the price of an iPhone 5S or Galaxy S4. Nexus phones can be purchased online from Google’s Play Store. Service Options When choosing a service, you need to consider what you actually use. If you’re someone who only uses your phone rarely, you can get plans that will allow you to pay as little as a few dollars per month. If you’re someone who’s usually in range of Wi-Fi, you may not need much data at all. If you want a plan with unlimited talk, texting, and data usage, you can get it for much cheaper than you’d pay on a major carrier like AT&T. The options here range from pay-as-you-go plans, like the ones offered by T-Mobile, which allow you to put a certain amount of money in and only drain that balance when you actually use minutes, texts, or data. If you only make a few calls and send a few texts per month, you’d only pay a few bucks. On the other end, Walmart’s Straight Talk service is a popular option that offers unlimited talk, texting, and data at $45 per month. Which service is right for you depends on a lot of things, including your usage and what each network’s coverage is like in your area. You’ll want to do some research of your own before choosing a service. Prepaid services also offer you even more flexibility after you choose one. If you’re not happy or a better deal comes along, you can switch — you’re not locked into your service for two years and you won’t pay an early termination fee. Image Credit: Intel Free Press on Flickr, Jon Fingas on Flickr, John Karakatsanis on Flickr, kendalkinggroup on Flickr     

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